The Academy of Magical Excellence: Book One
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit work of fiction based of the wonderful works of JK Rowling. All credit to her for giving such a wonderful world to play with.
A/N: This is important to read before you get into the fic properly. This fic will follow Harry as he comes to terms with many things, like magic, his fame and life in general. He will not be attending Hogwarts and as such much of the original series will not feature. If this style of story doesn't interest you then please, don't read this and complain about the lack of book content. I'd rather you skipped the story entirely. That being said, yes this story is AU, and it features Intelligent! Harry, Powerful! Harry, Independent! Harry. No pairings for this book. If you're still with me, then without further ado I present: Harry Potter and the Academy of Magical Excellence!
Chapter One: Curious Letters
Harry Potter was woken as usual by a sharp rapping on the door to his cupboard, followed swiftly by his Aunt's voice calling through.
"Up, get up boy!"
Any chance he had of remembering the dream he had been enjoying was gone now, though he desperately clung to it. Something to do with a flying motorcycle though he couldn't be sure. All that remained was the sensation of gliding through the air. Sighing heavily the young scruffy haired boy sat up and brushed a spider off his socks before pulling them on. Dressing swiftly he stepped out into the hall of Number Four, Privet Drive, making a futile effort to flatten his hair. Entering the kitchen he took his usual place at the stove and starting cooking the enormous amount of bacon and eggs required to feed his Uncle and Cousin, both of whom were approaching the approximate size of gorillas. Aunt Petunia's beady eyes on him as he added sausages to the pan and turned the bacon over while she sat and sipped some tea and had her own breakfast of toast and jam. Soon enough the thunderous footsteps that heralded the arrival of the rest of the family reverberated through the house and Harry wondered briefly why the neighbors never complained about the noise as it certainly seemed loud enough. Putting the thought away he deposited the portions onto to plates (re-purposed platters, to be big enough) and gave himself a much smaller portion. While he wasn't given as much food as Uncle Vernon and Dudley demanded, Aunt Petunia didn't care to limit his portions beyond ensuring he always had less than Dudley. Harry supposed he ought to be thankful, given that he himself wasn't the size of a small gorilla. As they were eating the post flap rattled with the days letters.
"Dudley, get the post" grunted Vernon, as he looked up from the paper.
"I don't wanna, make Harry get it" whined the pudgy blonde.
"Make Dudley get it" replied Harry
"Hit him with your Smeltings stick, Dudley" Vernon retorted grumpily, his morning coffee still not kicking in. "And don't talk back"
Harry dodged the Smeltings stick, the action a reflex as Dudley had taken to carrying the thing around everywhere since his parents had taken him to London to buy his uniform for his new secondary school. That night Dudley had paraded round the front room while Uncle Vernon beamed and Aunt Petunia was in tears over her 'handsome little man'. Harry had to hold onto his ribs so hard he thought they would crack to stop himself from laughing at the required uniform. Knickerbockers? Really? He still shook his head at the thought. Harry picked up the mail, and vaguely heard his Uncle speak before laughing and his Aunt's strained but polite laugh following a little later. Harry however had his eyes locked on two letters. Both addressed to him. On was written on heavy parchment in emerald ink with the address:
Mr H Potter
The Cupboard-Under-The-Stairs
Number 4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
The other was an official looking letter, still heavy but not otherwise remarkable. It too had his address on it, but much more conventionally.
Mr H Potter
Number 4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
Stood there in the hall Harry knew two things. He had never received any letters like these before, as any mail with his name on it was usually junk mail. Secondly he new his Uncle would take them both from him given the chance as both of these letters were just unusual enough to trigger his Uncle's dangerous temper at the odd things that seemed to focus on Harry. Harry tucked the letters into his waistband and tightened the belt to secure them until he got back to his cupboard later and delivered the mail to his waiting Uncle. He moved the empty plates from the table and began washing up as the rest of his family moved into the front room to watch TV. Finishing up he checked with his Aunt to see if there were any other chores she wanted him to do and after receiving a negative he asked if it was okay for him to go to the park a few streets over. One non-committal shrug later and he was lacing up his ratty white trainers and grabbing his much too large jacket.
Making sure the letters were still secured in his jeans he slipped out of the house and began the walk over to the park, the summer sun beating down on his head. Perspiring by the time he reached the park he found a shady spot beneath a tree and pulled out the letters. Deciding to examine the most unusual one first he turned it over and saw a seal of red wax, pressed with a stamp that left a rather complex coat of arms. A lion, eagle, snake and badger all wrapped around a large ornate H. Perplexed he broke the seal and pulled out a sheaf of the same parchment the envelope was made of. Still in the same green ink was written:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than 31st July
Yours sincerely,
Minerva Mcgonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Harry was bewildered. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? He could hardly believe it. If he hadn't known the Dursley's had no sense of humour he would suspect a prank. It sounded to good to be true, and knowing his luck it probably was. They await his owl? What in the world did that mean? Feeling like he couldn't possibly figure the letter out and not wanting to hope what it could mean to be true, he set it aside. Glancing around at the park as if to centre himself on something more normal took in the swing set that he knew Dudley had broken last week, the furthest swing hanging limply from one chain. The faded paint on the see-saw currently used by the siblings who lived one street over and went to Harry's school. He smiled when they waved to him and he waved back before turning away and pulling out the second letter.
Equally heavy, Harry definitely felt this one couldn't be anywhere as exciting, and when he turned it over to see an ordinary sealed envelope he felt that it was probably just some more junk. Still, he couldn't resist opening it anyway and gasped as he saw the top of another crest. Quickly discarding the envelope he smoothed out the crisp white paper and examined the crest, this one comprised of crossed staffs that were eerily reminiscent of the staffs fantasy novels liked to give wizards, with a tiny pentagram set above the cross point of the staffs and a wand below. This one again had a similar opening to the Hogwarts letter but very quickly became something much more. It read:
Dear Mr Potter,
We are delighted to offer you a place at The Academy of Magical Excellence, a highly prestigious school of magic that accepts only the most magically gifted, intelligent or those born with latent magical potential. If you wish to attend, term begins on the 1st September. Further explanation can be given to those who request it, as we are aware that first-generation wizards or those brought up away from the Wizarding world may be unfamiliar with concepts that are commonplace to those raised within the British Magical society. Do not fear if this sounds like gibberish, as much is explained with the information provided on the following sheets.
Yours Sincerely
Alastor Anderson
Headmaster
Order of Merlin 1st Class.
Harry's head was spinning by this point yet he felt in his very bones a peculiar tingle, his veins thrumming with excitement. He felt like he could jump up and run for miles or climb a mountain. One letter could be dismissed as a prank, but someone going to the trouble of writing two separate letters and inventing two separate schools and all the information he could see was on the remaining pieces of paper? He knew this was real. Suddenly as though he had been thinking about it all along, all the weird coincidences that he had been through lined up. That time he ended up on the roof of his school when he was being chased by Dudley? Magic. That time he turned his teachers wig blue when she was being particularly cruel over his always missing homework? Magic too. Even earlier in the month, when the Dursley's had to take him to the zoo, hadn't he actually spoken to a snake? Hadn't he then made the glass disappear? He knew that it had always been him, and now he knew it was magic. Smiling broadly at the revelation he had discovered, he read the remaining sheets of paper the came with each letter. The only other sheet the letter from Hogwarts had a list of the necessary equipment for schooling on it, spell-books and cauldrons. A wand. Harry had no idea where to go to get any of the things it said he needed and the letter didn't say. As for the other information provided by the academy it gave him an overview of the structure of the school, the curriculum, the facilities and general background information in addition to a similar list of required supplies. Harry guessed that the Academy wanted any of the people it contacted to be capable of making an informed choice. The Hogwarts letter sounded good, and the feel of it all seemed more.. enchanting Harry thought though he really wanted to get more information before making a choice.
To that end, he retrieved the sheet of paper that explained how to contact the Academy of Magical Excellence for more information and found that they had several ways, mundane and wizarding, Harry worked out as the telephone number and return address were easy enough to figure out. The owl address and floo address were clearly magical and Harry couldn't wait to learn what they actually meant by them.
Carefully packing away all the bits of paper he tucked them back into the waistband of his trousers and stood up, stretching out the kinks from being hunched up reading for so long. Harry started to make a plan on how to get in touch with the Academy as he couldn't write back. The eager young boy decided to ring the telephone number they gave in the letter when the Dursley's went out for the day next. They often went out once a week to take Dudley to the beach or the cinema while leaving Harry with Mrs Figg (a batty old lady down the road, who had a lot of cats) so Harry wasn't worried he'd miss the date to reply. He was however concerned as to how to contact Hogwarts, but filed that away for another day. Reaching the place he called home all his life, after being left with his Aunt and Uncle when his parents were killed in a car crash when he was just a year old he sighed heavily. Faced with the plain, boring but above all normal house it was hard to believe in magic or schools that teach it.
Carefully wiping his shoes on the mat he slipped them off and hung his jacket on the hook before quietly tucking his letters under the thin mattress he slept on. He headed into the front room where his uncle had fallen asleep to the TV and was snoring up a storm in his favorite armchair while Dudley had set up his Playstation on the big TV and was currently decimating waves of enemies. Harry watched for a while until he realized his cousin had put cheats on. Even something that required no effort was beyond Dudley sometimes. Aunt Petunia was looking at him curiously and Harry shifted nervously under her scrutinizing gaze hoping he didn't appear too distracted. His Aunt beckoned him into the kitchen with a jerk of her head and Harry obeyed, tip-toeing around the back of his uncle's chair.
He found his Aunt sat at the table an unreadable expression on her face. Harry sat opposite wondering just what he had done this time to require a conversation like this. Last time was after the zoo incident when he had actually been allowed out of his cupboard.
"So, you got the letter then?" asked Aunt Petunia asked without preamble.
Harry though about lying but decided against it.
"I, uh, got two letters, Aunt Petunia" he answered
"Two letters?" murmured Petunia "I didn't know there was another school like that"
Harry's confusion grew. How could his Aunt know about this?
"Your mother got the same letter when she was your age, I'm guessing" Petunia continued "She got her letter and disappeared for most of a year for seven years learning god knows what at that place. Coming back every year, our parents so proud of her 'gift'. She was a freak, her husband was a freak and when they got blown up it served them right. Now you've inherited that same freakishness."
Petunia wasn't getting louder but her voice became harsher towards the end of the rant. Harry was blown away by everything his Aunt was saying. His parents were magical? They didn't die in a car crash? What had happened to them? Harry didn't even register the tone, really, too wrapped up in the mystery of his life.
"Hogwarts, it was called" Petunia snapped "Witchcraft and Wizardry, they said. A school for weirdos, and oddballs was what it really was. The question is, what do we do with you?"
Harry picked up his head at looked his Aunt right in the eyes knowing that his future rested on whatever his Aunt decided.
"You can go to either of the schools that have contacted you" she said after a long pause "But we are going to make an agreement"
Harry expected his Aunt to lay terms on this, but even that couldn't burst the rapidly swelling bubble of happiness expanding in his chest.
"You can go provided you perform no magic at home when your here, you do not speak of it to anyone, not even us. I don't want to know anything that goes on and when you finish school and come of age you move out immediately" Petunia said firmly.
Honestly Harry only understood the first half of the deal, but he had no doubt his aunt would remember. Really he wasn't going to stay here forever anyway so even moving out when he finished his magical education seemed fair.
"Okay, I promise I won't use what I learn, tell anyone what I learn or where I go and that I will move as soon as my schooling is finished" Harry vowed, hoping it would be enough.
"Acceptable" said Petunia, wondering why she had allowed her nephew to follow her sister into that world. It had taken her sister from her, and left her with a reminder of what she had lost she saw every day. Even so, she felt that her normal life would be better protected if she just let Harry to go into the world his parent's had lived in.
Harry was ecstatic but refrained from showing his joy. He explained to his Aunt that he would need to use the phone sometime soon to call one if the schools and was pleasantly surprised when she told him that the rest of the family were going to London again the following day. Each a little uncomfortable they parted and life returned to normal for the inhabitants of Number 4 Privet Drive.
A/N: So there it is, the first chapter where we get hints of the Academy and Harry's magical life. Reviews are always welcome and this story will be updated again soon as I have much already planned for it. If you have any questions feel free to PM me and I'll answer them and I am accepting OC's for Harry's classmates and other students.