Full Summary

Meet Elanor, an unusual girl who goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Meet Harry Potter, a mysterious young boy, who shows up in her life one night, and everything is Harry Potter? And why is he interested in Elanor? And just what is Harry searching for? Plans long in the making will be torn asunder. The Darkness is returning. In a world where Neville Longbottom is the Boy Who Lived, everything is clouded, and nothing is what it seems. Nothing is black or white, in a world with Elanor. Something is coming, and it holds the key to everything...

Powerful!Harry, Grey!Harry, BWL!Neville.

General Stuff

Alternate Universe, HarryxOC, No 'Horcrux' in Neville but Horcruxes included, Canon til end of 5th year, Actual wartime. Mild language in later years as people mature. Other relationships are included.

Lonely Star

Elanor awoke to the faint sound of birds chirping through the small slightly ajar window of her room. Easing herself upright, and rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes, she sighed softly in boredom. It was always the same, she found. Nothing ever really changed here in the orphanage. At least, not for her.

No one ever came to see her after all. Not once, through all these years. And if that wasn't proof enough that she was unwanted or even just disliked, it was how people always seemed to look at her, with either apprehension or just outright distaste. She didn't look like she wasn't normal, being what most people would actually call moderately good looking, with straight and sleek black hair, dark brown eyes, and a slim physique with slight curves. She seemed to be just like a normal young developing girl. If it wasn't for the fact she was a witch with magic, she would be a perfectly normal girl.

She had come to the conclusion that there was something about her and her magic that made people dislike her. Even amongst her fellow students at Hogwarts, she seemed to be a social pariah. She remembered, when the old white-bearded man Headmaster Dumbledore had come to visit, feeling almost elated at the fact there were people with magic, people that she could possibly relate to, and even be friendly with. It wasn't until later, when she finally got to Hogwarts that this fragile hope and been brought crashing down. Nobody liked her. And wasn't that just unfair? They didn't even really know her!

The battered old Sorting Hat had even seemed… sad when it was sorting her. If even a magical object of a thousand years ago didn't seem to like her, the actual people seemed to downright hate her, or just outright ignored her. Oddly enough, even the professors looked at her as though they were afraid she might attack them or something! And when she had been sorted into Slytherin of all places, it was worse than she could have imagined. She was outright hated and even mocked by her own housemates for not daring to be a pureblood of all things. Even if they might grudgingly accept half-bloods into the 'noble House of Slytherin', Mudbloods were unacceptable, and they wasted no time in letting her know she was worth less than dirt to them.

At times, she even wished she was back at the orphanage. At least there, she could lock herself away from the disgusted stares and distrustful glances she got. And here she was, locking herself away for another summer, actually dreading the day she had to go back to Hogwarts, yet again. She had spent three long and miserable years there now, with only her own magic as comfort. She had long since decided that no matter how disliked she was, she would learn magic, and learn it well. And she was good at it. Of course, even that wasn't enough to overturn the fickle minds of others, but some had grudgingly begun to accept she was a halfway decent witch, all things considered. At least they didn't mock her anymore, aside from a few more outspoken people, like Draco Malfoy, the pretentious stuck-up peacock, as she liked to think of him as.

And so here she was, in her little dreary room in Wool's Orphanage, peeling paint on the walls, dusty wooden floorboards, which were practically like ice in the winter, sitting on her thin and uncomfortable mattress wrapped up in a drab grey sheet as a makeshift duvet. Finally she looked out of her small grimy window at the warming early morning sunlight before murmuring to herself.

"Another day Elanor."

/

After breakfast, she had informed the matron she was going out for the day, as usual. The expected scoff and disgusted reply, "Do I look like I care what you do during the day?", and the sarcastic response Elanor gave, "Of course not, matron." was equally as expected by the matron. She and Elanor had never had a particularly good relationship, even if she had been brought up in the orphanage since she was but a babe. Another person that disliked her with no good reason, she had thought bitterly at times.

Having gone to a local park, one that wasn't frequented very often, she sat back against a tree, eating an apple she had snuck out with her. She liked to spend her days watching the clouds go by, looking back on her life, almost like a ritual. On other days, she simply holed herself away in her room, more often than not staying in bed. Nothing was ever simple in her life it seemed. And if only it could be, she often bemoaned to herself.

Her first year at Hogwarts was… bad to say the least. No one liked her, wanted to talk to her, openly mocked her in her own common room, and even hexed her if they could get away with it. The amount of times she had ended up in the infirmary under the disapproving, if kindly Madam Pomfrey was bordering on the absurd. She was in there nearly every other week, fixing all sorts of bumps and scrapes, and the occasional bigger problem, especially if one of the upper years had decided to use her as target practice. At least Madam Pomfrey didn't dislike her. In fact, she had seemed exasperatedly expectant to see her every week. She had even jokingly reserved her own bed in the infirmary, especially after one incident involving a troll. A troll that had chanced across her while she was wandering the hallways during a Halloween feast. She was at least one person she could trust to listen to her and take good care of her.

Second year was… better in a way. She still received the same treatment, but she was more capable of avoiding trouble, now she knew what to expect from everyone around her. She had hoped she might be able to befriend one or two first years, but the train ride there, most people had already spread the word about her, so to speak, so there was no hope on that front. Everyone seemed to feel she was dark or something, which most Slytherins would be fine with, but not even her 'dark aura' was enough for their prejudices against muggles and mudbloods.

Even the society didn't seem to treat women as completely equal either. Besides, how could anyone feel that she was dark? She hadn't hurt anyone in her life! Once people had started being petrified, everyone had seemed to look at her, as though she were the one harming everyone. And not once did anyone suspect otherwise. There were those murderous cries she kept hearing through the walls occasionally, but how could they suspect her? It was like a knife to the heart every time someone called her out and claimed her to be the Heir of Slytherin of all things! In fact, most Slytherins saw this as an insult to them as well, and took out their frustration on her. Which again lead to a round of more infirmary visits.

Sadly, Madam Pomfrey had even been suspicious of her this time, and that hurt, even if she still patched her up. At least by the end of the year, all the petrifactions had stopped, though some people felt that by hexing her, they had caused her to stop setting the monster loose on people. At least others simply thought it may not have been her. Not that they would have stopped people hexing her. It wasn't their problem.

Third year, she was mostly left alone. This was mainly because some deranged murderer had escaped Azkaban, the wizard prison, and was assumed to be out to kill the Boy-Who-Lived, Neville Longbottom. On the Hogwarts Express though, she had met her first Dementor, and it was the most horrifying experience of her life. The students had already made her life miserable enough, but being made to relive all the taunts, and horrible experiences she had been put through, had been hell. She could still feel the Dementors auras from where they were stationed around the school, becoming oddly jumpy and nervous all year. The chills in her bones had been there for months, before Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House and Potions Master had taken pity on her for a change, and prescribed her a regime of calming potions and chocolate to stave off the effects. He had seemed oddly sympathetic at the time, but simply went on treating her as normal, by ignoring her to the best of his ability.

Eventually the Dementors had finally been removed, with the story going round that Sirius Black had escaped from them once again, having gotten increasingly closer to murdering Longbottom with each attempt he had made. Apparently he had escaped from a locked cell in the highest tower of Hogwarts under strange circumstances too. Somehow, she felt that Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic had become one of her most hated people, just for stationing the Dementors around Hogwarts in the first place. Of course, once people had started recovering from the general gloomy atmosphere the Dementors had created, everything was back to normal, with Elanor being the target of their frustrations once more.

This time she was starting to really hate magic in general, despite all the brilliant things that could be done with it, she had been on the receiving end of the darker side of things. It really was getting to her, but Dumbledore had informed her she was legally required to attend, when she had finally snapped at him and demanded to leave. She was really beginning to resent being a witch at all. Worse still, she couldn't transfer to another school, because she couldn't afford tuition fees elsewhere, and her guardian had to sign off on it. In this case, it was that damned twinkly-eyed Headmaster Dumbledore who was her legal guardian in the magical world. And that was because she was an orphan with no living magical family or otherwise. And that was just disheartening. Apparently, no one even knew who her parents were, not even the matron at the orphanage. And no one would have her in their family. She'd already learnt that from all those years being overlooked by prospective families.

Unknowingly to Elanor, the day had slowly faded away while she was lost in her thoughts, and she had slowly drifted to sleep thoughts blending into her dreams, head resting against the tree, and an apple core dropped haphazardly next her.

/

"Master? Must we be out this late, in the cold?"

"Now Bella, did I not say to you that we could be out here for a long while yet? I did tell you that you didn't have to come with me."

"And leave me all alone with that vicious harpy?"

"Now, don't call dear Hedwig a harpy, just because she frightens you!"

"She does not!"

"Ack! Ok, Ok! Stop squeezing me!" a distinguishable male voice wheezed out loud.

"Honestly!" it grumbled at Bella's antics. "We are-" the voice continued in a hiss before cutting off all of a sudden.

"You know, is that someone asleep over there by the tree?" It's very late for that kind of thing, unless they're homeless or something."

"Yes she is." Bella replied in an indistinguishable hiss.

"Ah, thank the gods for your fine senses Bella." the man replied in an almost amused hiss. "What say we take a detour hmm?"

"Just hurry up and do whatever it is you're planning on doing Master." a slightly mocking hiss replied.

"Hmph, you're no fun Bella."

"Not when I'm cold Master."

The young man did not reply this time, instead strolling over towards to the sleeping figure of Elanor, whose face seemed to be twitching slightly, as if in a bad dream.

Bending down, he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a soft shake. "Hey there, wake up will you?" he called out gently.

Almost immediately, the girl mumbled in her sleep, turning away from his hand as she did so. "Mhmm, go away matron."

The boy let off a slightly amused chuckle before this time shouting, "WAKE UP!" causing her to bolt upright in a scream.

"Whaaa?" she gasped out, breath heaving as she looked around for a moment before narrowing eyes on the boy she could see. "What was that for!?" she demanded imperiously, ignorant of the few leaves stuck to the side of her face, making for a slightly comical sight.

Eyebrow cocked slightly, he replied simply. "It's past midnight. I figured you needed to be somewhere else, not sleeping outside all night or something."

Dark brown eyes blinked slightly, before taking in the dark. "Oh no! I was meant to be back before ten!" she panicked slightly.

"Well, I'm sure your family will be happy to see you, despite it being so late." The boy replied simply to her panicking.

At this, she stopped short with a slight sad look, causing the boy to blink for a moment. "Oh. No family then?" he asked gently.

"Ah, no, I live in an orphanage." She murmured, averting her eyes from his searching green.

"I see. Want me to escort you back? It would be bad manners if I left you to walk back alone at this time of night." He responded cheerily.

"No! That won't be necessary. I'll just find somewhere to stay for the night." She responded hastily.

At this, the boy blinked in surprise. "Surely you'll be let in if you knock?"

"She won't open the door past ten 'o'clock." The girl responded slightly hesitantly. "I'm sure I'll be just fine."

"Well that wouldn't be right of me." The boy frowned at her, green eyes sharpening slightly. "I'll give you a place to stay for the night, I don't live too far away from here."

"Ah no I couldn't really!" she mumbled at him.

"Ah ah, I have to insist, I can't leave you out in the cold all night, and I know you have no intention of finding a place. I'm pretty sure you would just stay here as soon as I left." The boy responded firmly, pulling her up to her feet gently.

"But-" she began hastily.

"But nothing." The boy cut across. "One night is no problem, I have plenty of room!"

Flushing slightly in embarrassment, she mumbled. "Thanks…"

"Harry. My name is Harry, and no need to thank me. This is no trouble for me." The boy replied kindly.

"Elanor. And thank you." She returned softly.

"Well, nice to meet you Elanor. Now, I have a spare room, so just follow along and it's yours for the night!" he spoke with a small smile.

She responded with a small hesitant smile at the stranger's… no Harry's kindness, before following him almost shyly. She felt slightly nervous at following someone she hardly knew, but he put out a trustworthy air, and she considered the fact that he was probably the only person who had ever approached her without hesitance or even with a kind word to say. Besides, she was pretty certain no one else would have been that pleasant with her, or would probably have tried something less favourable. She still placed a hand against her pocket where her wand had remained hidden however. Hopefully, he did nothing to remove that small piece of trust she had in him.

She didn't notice his slight knowing glance at that particular pocket, before she fell into step alongside him.

/

"And here we are!" Harry called out as he stopped by a small building, incidentally just down the road from the orphanage she resided in. "I should tell you, I only moved in yesterday, so I don't have everything set up yet, but there is a spare bed and some food in the fridge if you need anything." He continued, leading her up some grey concrete steps to the black wooden door with a brass knocker. The house seemed to be fairly old, grey and dreary looking at the same time. The windows were old and the paint peeling slightly at first glance. Instead of taking out a pair of keys, he simply touched the door, much to Elanor's surprise, especially when the door swung open by itself.

"Oh and don't worry, any magic you do here on the premises won't be detected, so have fun with that if you want!" he called out with a teasing tone, as he walked straight in, leaving her stood on the doorstep, mouth agape.

After a moment or two though, she forcefully shook her head and walked inside, door shutting softly behind her.

"Ah, I was beginning to wonder whether you had fallen asleep on the steps." Harry smiled at her, when she walked straight into the living room.

"Y-You're a wizard?" Elanor looked at him in shock.

"Obviously." He responded dryly, rolling his eyes as he did so, much to her slight annoyance.

"I'm just wondering why you didn't tell me before!" Elanor grumbled, arms crossed as she stared him down.

"Fun." He replied swiftly.

She spluttered slightly at the answer, before he spoke up again. "Would you have even come with me if I had said I was a wizard? It sounds like some horrific pickup line."

"Like, Hey, I have magic babe. Wanna see?" he continued in a mock husky voice. This drew a stifled giggle from Elanor, as she sat down in an armchair across from him.

"Fair point." She acceded.

"So!" he clapped his hands together while looking at Elanor. "You want something to eat or are you just gonna go get some sleep? Spare room is first door on the left upstairs. Pillows and stuff included."

"Yeah, I think I'll get some sleep." She yawned slightly in reply. "And you are going to answer some questions in the morning. There's a few things I want to know." She looked at him with eyebrow raised.

"Ah, sure, I have nothing to hide. Good night!" he responded with a lazy grin, before yawning slightly himself. "I think I'll be sleeping as well anyway."

"Night." She grinned slightly, before stepping out of the room and heading up some slightly creaky wooden stairs. Opening the door to the room she was directed to, she smiled at the practical cosiness, which was a far cry from the drab orphanage room she lived in. Planting her head on the pillows, she allowed sleep to wash over her, no longer worrying about Harry's intentions. He was a bit of a mystery, but a very nice person, and her heart panged slightly at realising she was already friendlier with him than people she had known for years. And that was something that really shouldn't be true.

/

Flicking his wand gently, Harry set up a small silencing dome surrounding the living room when the charms on the guest bed had alerted him to Elanor finally nodding off to sleep.

"So, what do you think of her Bella?"

"She's a lonely one master."

"Yeah, it seems so. But her aura is so… familiar. She's interesting."

"It's too soon to be thinking of mating yet master."

Harry spluttered incoherently for a minute before replying incredulously.

"Are you mad!? I'm not even thinking of anything like that!"

"Of course master." She responded amusedly.

"Ah shut up. Just go up to your little room. There's a few mice in there for you."

"Of course master." she parroted her reply once more.

"And don't you start either Hedwig!" he grumbled out loud at the snowy owl perched above the fireplace, drawing out an indignant hoot and narrowing amber eyes.

"Yes well, you girls are always teasing me!" Harry crossed his arms firmly. "It's maddening!"

"But anyway, good night Hedwig." He grinned slightly, watching Hedwig shake her head slightly before closing her eyes, and Bella's rippling black coils wind out of the doorway.

"Night Isabella." He hissed.

"Good night Harry." The faint reply could be heard, as the silencing dome was pulled down with a snap of Harry's fingers.

AN 12.08.2014

I found this idea interesting. It's rarely done, and of the ones similar that I have actually seen, rarely done anywhere near completion. There's a lot of new things as far as I'm aware too. Also, it's not a complete cliché with some things, or at least it is written well, so it should be a fresh read. Boy-Who-Lived Longbottom, for example has been done before. Not everything is revealed in first chapter, but we have Elanor's life at Hogwarts, and some background for her. Harry has no background to speak of right now, but he's living alone in an outwardly grungy old house, he has Hedwig, his snowy feathered, amber eyed owl, and Isabella, a black scaled snake. She'll get a full description next chapter, along with how she and Harry ended up with each other. Also, it's very obvious that Harry doesn't go to Hogwarts, because Elanor did not know who he was. She would have at least recognised his face, if not his name. Elanor is a somewhat ironic name for the content of this fiction, but it's from LOTR, meaning Sun-Star in 'Sindarin'. I have my reasons for using it, as well as it flowing well with her full name.

And yes, this is a 4th year start. Harry is still born on July 31st 1980(or '81, I can't remember which it was.) And he will not be a walking god or anything, so don't worry on that score. He will still be powerful, and I showed you a slight glimpse with a silent 'Silencing Dome/Ward' and a wandless cancel. I also stated Elanor was good with magic, but isn't on Harry's level. More on that next time.

Do leave me your opinions on this start so far!

Also, I am available for Beta-Reading, if anyone wanted someone reliable. Just read my Beta Profile for that. Only reason I'm looking to Beta things is because I only get one or two days a week where I can devote a few hours to writing, but I can read stuff every day of course! PM me if you're looking for a beta, but otherwise, just enjoy this as its updated! Second chapter will be out this week as well anyway.