I've found lately that I've branched out from where I was writing and have mainly been reading alternative Harry Potter stories here, and I've enjoyed them so much that I decided to try my hand at one. This won't be everyone's cup of tea, as I find some of the original characterisations loathsome and pairings ridiculous, so I'll be going with Harry and Hermione together (as JKR later admitted was a better idea) and calling a spade a spade as far as a few of the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Snape etc go.

Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this isn't the real world or a Disney Princess story.

The woman looked down at her infant son and smiled as she lovingly brushed the hair off of his face. Her smile smile faded though as she looked over at the table that was covered with sheets of parchment, quills and ink pots, she had to craft a protective charm that would would be strong enough to keep him safe from the evil that was coming after them.

She bent down to gently kiss her son on the forehead and then moved across to the table to work on the charm. A few hours later she pushed her hair out her eyes in frustration, inadvertently leaving a smudge of ink on her forehead as she did so, but she suddenly stopped and read what she'd written.

After picking up the other sheets and stepping through the charm from start to finish she jumped up, excited, and ran down to show her husband what she'd created. Her husband didn't truly understand what she'd crafted, even after she stepped him through the process and explained each part of it to him. He was neither surprised nor worried about that though, because she was the one who was the smartest witch of their generation, he just asked her one thing.

"Are you confident that this will keep him safe?"

She hesitated. "I... I think so."

He just looked at her and after a while she nodded confidently. "Yes! If we cast this together the way I showed you, it will keep him safe from…..Him."

He picked her up and kissed her, then took her hand and led her back up to the room where their infant lay. She quietly walked him through the spell and when he nodded to indicate that he had it, they cast the spell over their son. Casting it together, the greatest witch of their generation and her equally powerful wizard husband imbued the protections over their greatest treasure with all the love and power that they possessed. When it was done she collapsed and he picked her up, carrying her across to gently lay her on the bed, but he could see the power of the protections that they'd wrapped around their son and knew that once again his wife had crafted something truly amazing. He lovingly kissed both his wife and his son, then left them to rest.

The bizarrely dressed old man walking up the street had silver hair and beard, and both were long enough to reach his waist. As he walked up the street he kept flicking something that looked like a cigarette lighter in his hand and each time he did so, the street grew progressively darker as another street light went out. As he reached his destination, he stopped to look at a tabby cat that was sitting stiffly on a wall with what by all appearances was a disapproving look.

He said. "Ah yes, I thought you might be here Minerva." as he flicked the device in his hand again and the street light went out. As the light went out, there was a glimpse of the cat leaping off the wall, but what came into view was no cat, it was a thin, severe looking woman dressed as bizarrely as he was.

"Surely you cannot be thinking of leaving the boy with them Albus? I have been watching them all day and they are terrible people! They are truly…..."

"The only family that he has!"

"Blood is not enough Albus! I wouldn't leave a dog with those people, let alone a treasure such as that child."

"It is the only place that he can be safe Minerva. Do not worry, I've made all the necessary arrangements with them and I assure you that I will watch over him and keep him safe, after all the hopes of our world are resting on him…."

He broke off as they heard a puttering noise growing closer, and looking up they could see a large object coming towards them, flying over the houses of the estate. They watched as it swept around to line up with the street and then came down to land, its tyres chirping on the asphalt. When it came to a halt, they could see that what appeared to be a mini-bike was in fact a large motorcycle, it was just the giant figure riding it that made it appear so tiny.

The giant, or rather half giant to be precise, nodded to them in turn as he stepped off the motorcycle and addressed them. "Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall."

Dumbledore solemnly nodded to him. "Hagrid. No problems I trust?"

"No sir. The poor little tyke's been as quiet as a mouse and he fell asleep as we were flying over Bristol."

Dumbledore looked at the motorcycle as Hagrid was carefully untying the baby carrier that he was strapped across his chest. "Where did you get the motorcycle Hagrid?"

"Young Sirius Black Sir, he turned up at the cottage just as I was leaving. He said that the little tyke should be going with him because he's the boy's godfather and all, but he agreed that he'd be safest where you know who can't find him for now. That's why he loaned me the bike, to get him well away from there. He says he'll talk to you about when young Harry can come to live with him."

That answer seemed to make Dumbledore testy and he held out his hands for the baby carrier and said. "Yes. Yes. I will talk to him at a better time but we must be quick about it now. Give me the boy and get going before someone sees you, and you too Minerva."

"Albus, I beseech you, do not leave this child with these people, I fear for him to be left to the care of such as them."

"Professor McGonagall! I have already assured you that I will be watching over him and will ensure that the child will be well treated, do not question me again!"

They both thought his behaviour was very strange, but they had been indoctrinated to follow Albus Dumbledore without question, so as soon as Hagrid had untied the baby carrier and handed it over, they both disappeared. That was why neither of them saw him just tuck a note in beside the sleeping infant, dump the baby carrier on the doorstep of Number Four, Privet Drive and leave.

When Dumbledore returned to the castle they'd come from, he hurried to Professor McGonagall's office, speaking as he opened the door. "Minerva?"

She looked up. "Yes Albus?" "Obliviate!"

Soon after that he was knocking on the door of Hagrid's cottage.

"Professor Dumbledore, what can I do for you?"

"The motorcycle Hagrid, what did you do with it?"

"It's around the back Professor."

"That won't do at all Hagrid, if he who must not be named finds it here, he will not stop until he finds the boy."

"What should I do with it then Professor?"

"Take it and hide it deep in the Forbidden Forest."

"But"

"This must be done Hagrid!"

Dumbledore smiled to himself as Hagrid kicked the engine to life and rode off into the Forbidden Forest, patting himself on the back for getting rid of a major weak spot and irritation so effectively, there was little chance of that soft headed fool coming back out of the forest.

That was why he was shocked when the oaf appeared in his office an hour later, pleased as punch as he told him. "You know what is you know where Professor, you know who will never find it where I left it."

Dumbledore snatched up his wand. "Obliviate!"

Harry cried out as something broke when he landed in a heap after his Uncle Vernon slapped him hard enough to send him flying across the room. When he sat there and cradled his arm as his Uncle was demanding that he get back in the kitchen and get everything ready before his guests arrived, Vernon grabbed him by the broken arm to drag him to his feet and Harry screamed.

His Aunt Petunia screamed a moment later when Vernon came crashing through the door in a flash of light. Two very angry house elves stood protectively over Harry as the larger one shouted. "You will not hurt Master Harry!"

Vernon flopped about like a wounded walrus until he managed to get to his feet and stomped angrily to the door, eager to crush these freakish creatures who had attacked him. He moved faster than a big fat lump like him should be able to though to avoid the fire ball that the larger elf hurled at him. He bolted, or more to the point waddled, straight out the back door as fast as he could then, leaving his wife and son to their fates. When Petunia peeked through the door way with a fry pan raised threateningly after that though, her nephew and the two elves were gone.

The next thing Harry knew, he was waking up in a soft bed in a room he'd never seen before and the two elves appeared beside the bed with soft pops with the smaller female one anxiously asking. "How are you feeling Master Harry?"

Harry jumped in fright at that, because he hadn't noticed the sounds of them appearing as he was looking around in wonder.

The elf was mortified at this, saying. "Tally has frightened the young master, Tally must be punished!" as she moved to the nearest bed post and began slamming her face into it.

Harry was frantic as he cried. "Don't! Stop! Tally, please stop hurting yourself!"

She did as he asked, but turned to look at him quizzically. "But Tally must punish herself, she frightened the young master when she surprised him."

"No, you mustn't!"

Harry drew a breath in an effort to calm himself, and threads of memory came back to him. It was very tenuous but he knew what he had to do.

"Tally, I'm sorry, but what exactly are you? And who are you?" He asked as he looked at the male elf.

Tally answered first. "I am Tally Master Harry, I am a house elf bonded to the House of Potter."

The male elf answered then. "I am Dommy Master Harry, I am also a house elf bonded to the House of Potter."

"I guess that means that you must obey me then?"

"Yes Master Harry, you are the last in line of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, so you are the head of the House of Potter now."

He had to pause for a moment to take that in. "Then there is a new rule for both of you. From now on, you are not allowed to punish yourselves unless I tell you to. If you do something that you believe that you should be punished for, you must tell me, and I will decide what is appropriate and tell you what to do. Do you understand?" He looked from Tally to Dommy and they both answered. "Yes Master Harry."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and then looked at Tally. "Tally, you didn't frighten me, you just startled me. In answer to your question, I feel fine, in fact….." He stopped as he realised that his arm wasn't hurting and moved it about. "My arm, what happened to my arm?"

Dommy answered this time. "We healed it Master Harry. It was broken when the fat one attacked you….. Master Harry, under your new orders, I must tell you that I should be punished. The fat one harmed you, and your pain called us to you, but I let him escape when we brought you back here to heal you."

"No Dommy, you did the right thing, both of you, so there is nothing to punish yourselves for. Where is 'here', by the way?"

"This is your home Master Harry, this is Potter Manor."

Harry was staring at him with no idea what to say to that when his stomach rumbled and Tally blurted out.

"Master Harry is hungry! Tally will make you something to eat, what does Master Harry want?"

Harry rubbed his stomach ruefully, of course he was hungry, he was always hungry because Uncle Vernon and Dudley never left him enough to eat, if anything. "Whatever is quick and easy Tally." She disappeared with a soft pop and Harry was suddenly made aware that he had other pressing needs as well. "Where is the toilet please Dommy?"

Dommy indicated a door to his left. "There Master Harry."

Harry jumped out of bed with a quick 'thank you' and hurried to the bathroom. When he came out, the table by the window was all but buried under a massive spread of dishes. He scandalised the two elves when he insisted that they join him, as there was no way he could eat more than a fraction of this, but he made it an order so they couldn't refuse.

As they ate, the two elves told him about Potter Manor, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, and how he came to be the head of the house before he was eight, in fact he'd become the head of the house at just fifteen months old when his parents were killed.

Harry didn't understand most of what he was told about what protected Potter Manor, but he was prepared to accept what Dommy said about them being the strongest wards and charms that the goblins and his family could create. When he asked why his parents hadn't stayed here where it was safe, Dommy explained that his parents had wanted to protect the House of Potter from the reprisals of Voldemort and his Death Eaters so after his grandparents died, they had chosen not to take the new secret of Potter Manor's location to protect the well over a thousand years of Potter heritage that resided here.

Dommy stopped at that point and begged to be allowed to punish himself, because he had failed the family and hadn't saved Master James and Mistress Lily, or him when he was taken to that terrible place. Harry thought for a moment on what Dommy and Tally had told him about Potter Manor's wards before he answered him.

"You told me that I am safe from detection here, even from elves who haven't been told the secret, because of the wards and charms that had been placed over the manor." Dommy nodded. "Would my mother have known about these wards?"

"Oh yes Master Harry, Mistress Lily was so clever, she created some of the most clever wards."

"Were either of you given the secret for our cottage in Godric's Hollow?"

"No Master Harry, Master James and Mistress Lily said that it would be safer if there was no direct connection between them and the Manor."

"So you couldn't see where they were, where we were? Did they have any way of contacting you?"

"No Master Harry, we could not see them when they were inside of the wards. They could contact us by calling us and we could go to them when they did."

"So you could only go to them if they called for you. Did either of them call for you that night?"

"Yes Master Harry, no, they did not call for us that terrible night. We have been getting the newspapers via Gringotts and we found out what happened to Master James and Mistress Lily, but no-one knew what happened to you. It was only when we felt your pain that we found you to come to you."

"I'm sorry, but could you explain that please?"

"You are the head of the House of Potter Master Harry, so it is our duty to protect you, but because you didn't call us, we couldn't come to you until you were in pain."

"Well that's why I cannot allow you to punish yourself Dommy, you couldn't detect anything inside of the wards of the cottage in Godric's Hollow, and my parents didn't call for you, so there was nothing that you could do. As for me, I didn't know to call you so there was nothing that you could do there either."

Dommy looked at him quizzically as he tried to find a hole in Harry's logic, when he couldn't he nodded. "Thank you Master Harry, I see that now."

After Harry had had a shower and allowed Tally to examine him, she started the course of potions and spells to address the malnutrition, ailments and injuries that he had as a result of his treatment at the hands of the Dursleys. With that done, he dressed himself in the new clothes that Tally had gotten for him, his very first new clothes, and was taken to meet his family.

Talking to the magical portraits of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, his father's parents, and Henry Potter, his great grandfather who he was named after, was a something of an experience for Harry. It was his grandfather who explained to Harry how the magical portraits can hold the essence of magical beings and allow them to interact with the living after their deaths. His grandmother wept about the fact that James and Lily hadn't lived in times that were safe enough for them to have portraits made, so they were lost.

Harry's first few days were mainly spent talking to his grandparents and great grandfather, as they were educating him about the magical world and making plans for his life. One thing that they were determined about was that he get a good grounding in the magical arts and history, as his mother in particular would have wanted this for him. He couldn't do much more than listen and respond for these days, as one of the treatments that he had to have was to fix his eyes, because they had been ruined by the malnutrition and blows to the head that he'd been subjected to by the Dursleys. This process essentially involved the regrowing of his eyes, so he couldn't see for days, but when it was done his vision was perfect and his grandmother cried because he had his mother's eyes.

So it was that Harry began an intensive training in magic in May 1988. Of course, there were a few things that Harry needed to do that, so Dommy and Tally took him to Diagon Alley to get them. Their first stop was Gringotts, and their reception was quite a surprise to Harry, as silence descended in the banking chamber when the goblin that they spoke to called for a suitable escort to take them to the Head Goblin. Harry was trying to quietly ask Dommy why everyone went quiet when they heard that they were being escorted to the Head Goblin, but it was the head of the escort who answered him.

"It was because the Head Goblin never bothers dealing with customers Lord Potter, he is much too important and busy managing Gringotts. The last human who I escorted to the Head Goblin was your Grandfather, Lord Fleamont Potter."

Harry looked at Dommy and Tally, but they shook their heads to indicate that they knew nothing of this.

When the Head Goblin stood and bowed to him, saying. "Lord Potter, I am pleased to see you safe and well, we knew that you were alive through the magical instruments managing the Potter estate, but we were concerned when you disappeared." their escort was shocked, they had never seen the Head Goblin behave like this. They were even more surprised when he told them to leave him alone with Lord Potter and his house elves, but disobeying or questioning the Head Goblin was not something you did if you valued your life, so they bowed and quickly retreated.

They spent some time with the Head Goblin, and he explained enough about the special relationship that the House of Potter had with the Goblins, going back way past where Harry's great, great, great grandfather had led the campaign in the Wizengamot to give Gringotts back to the Goblins over a hundred and twenty years ago, for him to understand what was going on. He then brought out the copy of Harry's parents' will, which had been magically delivered to Gringotts upon their death. When he saw how much magic was radiating off Harry when he read that his parents' will specifically stated that the Dursleys were not to be given custody of him, and that Albus Dumbledore, the one who had left him on their doorstep six and a half years ago and he knew from Uncle Vernon's repeated rants had been to speak with them on numerous occasions, was one of the witnesses to that will, the Head Goblin shuddered at the thought of how powerful a wizard this young Lord would be. The fact that the child maintained control of his magic in his anger was a very good sign though.

The Head Goblin explained that Harry had become Lord Potter upon his father's death, but he would not be able to claim his seat in the human government until he as Lord Potter reached his majority at sixteen, and nor would he be able to assume ownership of all the Potter assets that he was bequeathed until then. In the interim, he did have access to his trust vault that had been set up for him to cover his needs and had the use of the Potter properties. It was also pointed out that his majority would have been at seventeen if he had not been the head of a noble house.

He then went on to advise Harry of the attempts that had been made since his parents died to seize the Potter estate, using the claim that all the Potters were dead. When these were rebuffed with the proof from the magical instruments that Harry lived, there were also attempts to assign a magical guardian over Harry to gain control of the Potter fortune that way. Harry was frighteningly controlled when he politely asked the names of those who had tried to seize the fortune and name themselves his guardian, and was not at all surprised to hear that most of those attempts had been made by Albus Dumbledore.

The Head Goblin also advised Harry of the law that had been passed while Dumbledore was first in power that allowed the magical government to seize all assets of families if the heirs did not live to reach their majority and showed him the contract that his father had entered into with Gringotts to manage all of the House of Potter's affairs and ensure the safety of the heir until he reached his majority in the event of his own death. He pointed out the specific reference to this contract in the will and told Harry that when Gringotts contacted Dumbledore after his parents' deaths so that they could honour all terms of the contract that they'd made with his father, Dumbledore had claimed to have no knowledge of where Harry had disappeared to. When he said that, Harry told him about Dumbledore's visits that Uncle Vernon had abused him for.

It was agreed that the magical protections for Potter Manor were sufficient, as the magical instruments which testified to the fact that Harry lived were apparently the only things capable of piercing them and the strength of the wards had been fully tested when they were established. With that side amply covered, the Head Goblin had a suitable force of goblin 'security guards' assembled for Tally and Dommy to transport to Potter Manor, as the Head Goblin agreed that it was best if no-one but Lord Potter and his house elves knew the location of the Manor.

A detachment of elite goblin security guards accompanied Tally, Dommy and Harry on their shopping trip in Diagon Alley. Harry hadn't needed to go along when Tally and Dommy collected most of the items he needed, but there was one item that he needed to get for himself, that was why they went to Ollivanders Wand Shop, for Harry to get a wand. After trying dozens of wands and almost destroying the shop, he was matched to an eleven inch holly wand which had a phoenix feather for its core. When Harry politely asked about his reaction when the wand chose him, Mr Ollivander's response was "I remember every single wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar."

When Mr Ollivander said that Headmaster Dumbledore would be excited to hear about this, Harry froze. "You cannot tell him anything about this Mister Ollivander!"

"I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about Mister Potter, Headmaster Dumbledore will keep your secret safe, but he needs to know this. This is so exciting!"

Harry looked at Dommy, and read his request for permission in his expression. Harry reluctantly nodded in agreement as he knew that he couldn't trust Dumbledore. He barely had enough time to say. "I'm really sorry about this Mister Ollivander." before Dommy wiped out his memories for the day and knocked him out for a while.

Harry's grandfather had pointed out that having backup wands was very useful in both duelling and battle, so Harry cast a general wandless summoning spell for wands using elf magic, thinking that a wand that fitted him would be most likely to react to that. Three other boxes popped out of the ones piled to the ceiling all about the shop and Tally quickly retrieved them, moving other boxes in place of the ones that had been taken and dusting the stacks to cover up what was missing, while Harry left enough galleons to cover twenty wands on the counter.

When Mr Ollivander knew where he was again, he was surprised to find himself in the shop as he had no idea about how he got there. He quickly counted his takings and confirmed that he had been paid for twenty more wands than he had any record of selling, but looking around the shop he could see that there weren't twenty wands missing, a few perhaps but not twenty.

Back at Potter Manor, Harry expected his grandparents and great grandfather to be disappointed with him for what they did in Ollivanders, but both his grandfather and great grandfather were quite impressed with the clever way he'd covered up what wand had chosen him. Some of his ancestors scolded him for throwing money about like that, but from the looks he was getting from his grandparents' and great grandfather's portraits, he got the impression that they had a good idea of what he'd found when he'd been shown his personal vault.

When the door opened, he'd blurted out. "There must be millions in here!" and Griphook, the goblin who was assigned to assist him, responded with. "Yes Lord Potter, your vault contains three million, seven hundred and eighty six thousand and six hundred and fifty two galleons, twelve sickles and twenty five knuts at this time."

Harry had been told that time is money is the goblins' creed, so he'd quickly grabbed handfuls of galleons, sickles and knuts and thrown them into the purse that Griphook had given him. When he stopped and tried to count what he'd taken, Griphook held up a sheet of parchment and said. "This parchment will tell you what you have taken Lord Potter."

Harry looked in the bag. "Oh, how much is it then?"

"Five hundred and forty three galleons, six sickles and twelve knuts Lord Potter"

"That should be plenty for what I need to buy, thank you Griphook, I think we're done here."

For the next three and a quarter years, Harry was strenuously trained in the magical arts and history, but it certainly wasn't a conventional training by any stretch of the imagination. His Grandfather instructed him in defensive spells and duelling, as well as potions, as he was a master of both of these fields. His Grandmother instructed him in charms and his great grandfather instructed him in transfiguration and magical history. Other Potter ancestors' portraits also provided instruction in some of the fields, like runes.

Being instructed by magical portraits wasn't the last of the strangeness though, because they also drew ghosts to Potter Manor who were masters in a number of fields of magic and Tally and Dommy trained him in elf magic. Members of his goblin security force trained him physically, as well as showing him some forms of goblin defensive magic, while they brought in curse-breakers and other experts to give him further instruction in wards and other goblin magic.

They'd also dug up living tutors for him, Remus Lupin and Angela Fawley. Remus had fallen on hard times after James and Lily died as distrust of anyone with Lycanthropy pushed him out of most jobs and society, but Harry's grandparents knew that his parents had liked and trusted Remus. It wasn't too difficult to coax Remus away from the life he was living to come and be Harry's tutor, especially when Harry's grandfather promised to oversee the preparation of the wolfsbane potions that Remus needed to maintain sufficient control of himself when the full moon was out. Angela was coaxed away from her position as a rising star in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's Auror Division to tutor and protect her best friend's son.

As well as his magical training, Harry's grandparents insisted that Remus and Angela keep Harry up to date in his non-magical education because Lily had convinced them of the value of this. He was home schooled in a wider array of subjects than he'd covered at the second rate school he'd been sent to and now that he was no longer required to get lower scores than his cousin to avoid getting beaten, Harry was doing quite well and his results were never outside the top ten percent.

The three and a quarter years that they trained Harry in magic were busy but happy times, certainly happier than the six and a half years that he was enslaved, incarcerated and abused by the Dursleys at Dumbledore's instigation. It certainly wasn't a normal life.

The majority of the living in Potter Manor were the goblin guards, and in fact one of the only other living humans in the Manor wasn't even considered that by the ministry and most of the wizarding world because of his Lycanthropy affliction. Much of the company that Harry had was from his ancestors' magical portraits and the ghosts, and for the most part his face to face interactions were restricted to Remus, Angela, Tally and Dommy because even though he was fluent in gobbledegook, most of the goblin guards were rarely good conversationalists.

Of course, all good things come to an end, and on Harry's eleventh birthday his Hogwarts acceptance letter arrived. Harry laughed to see it addressed to Lord Henry Potter C/- Gringotts Wizarding Bank, as Hogwarts itself generated and addressed the letters, so Dumbledore and the rest of them had no idea about his title or the fact that everything sent to him would come via Gringotts as yet.

Even with the proof that he'd been shown, Remus still had trouble fighting to shake his indoctrination about 'the great Albus Dumbledore' and the mistaken belief that he owed Dumbledore something so he had problems with the distrust that Harry, his family, Tally, Dommy and the goblins held for Dumbledore, but he didn't argue against taking all precautions. Angela was raised in a noble house and was by nature suspicious to start with.

The first thing that Harry's great great grandfather insisted on was that he require the private quarters that were the right of the head of a noble house for him and his staff. This right hadn't been used since his day, but the Gringotts lawyers had confirmed that it was still valid via the wizarding lawyers that they worked with. The second non-negotiable requirement came from his grandmother, he would have a goblin security detail with him at Hogwarts, this was another right of the noble houses that was still in place. It was his grandfather who insisted that he exercise his right to use private tutors for classes where his education had already progressed beyond what the first years would be taught or the professors were inadequate or untrusted, or any combination of these. He would attend the examinations but not the classes with the rest of his year for those subjects.

Once everyone was happy with the requirements, Harry looked through the list of required items and realised that the only item that he had any need to get was a pet or familiar. While he had no interest in a pet, he went to Diagon Alley with Dommy under a glamour charm to pay his Hogwarts fees, top up his money bag and see whether there was a familiar who spoke to him like his wand had. As he wandered about Eeylops Owl Emporium looking at the owls, the store owner called out in a panic. "Watch that one young sir! She bites fierce that one does!"

Harry turned to look at the snowy owl that he'd just been warned about with a smile, only to find her looking at him with intelligent interest. He held his finger up to her. "Do you want to bite me?"

The small squawk she gave as she cocked her head and looked him in the eye sounded distinctly like a 'no'.

"Would you like to come home with me?"

This time she bobbed up and down, giving the definite impression she was nodding vigorously, then she squawked softly as she leant forward and gently nibbled on his finger. Harry grinned at her in delight and reached up to stroke the feathers on her head, which she gave every indication of enjoying. He turned to look at the store owner. "How much is she?"

"Seeing how she's taken to you, I've got half a mind to put the price up, but she's a menace that one and I'll be glad to be shot of her, so two galleons and she's your's young sir."

"Done, now I'll also want a nice cage for her….." The squawk from the owl made him look at her and the look in her eye said that she'd be the one to decide what was a suitable cage for her, so Harry grinned again and unhooked her tether from the perch. She happily hopped onto his shoulder and perched there as he walked around the store and selected a cage and perch that met with her approval, she also made her opinion known about which owl treats were, and weren't, up to her standards.

It didn't take long to find a name that the owl would accept, she was Hedwig.

Of course, there were further arguments with his ancestors' portraits, Tally, Dommy and the head of the goblin guard when Harry pointed out that he really had to take the Hogwarts Express, the first time he went at least. Once he'd gotten past that hurdle, he had to convince Rackclaw that he couldn't have guards with him on the train. The final compromise was that they would watch and listen with the relevant magical devices and if he felt threatened at all, he'd call for Dommy or Tally, knowing that they'd both come.

When the day came, Reamus took Harry to Kings Cross station, telling Harry how to get onto platform 9 ¾. He did so with no problems and he settled into an empty compartment as soon as he boarded the train, talking to Tally when no-one else was near because she was worrying about him. Both she and Dommy still considered themselves responsible for him, but Tally really had trouble letting go.

Once they'd left London, a red headed boy came by and asked whether he could share the compartment as everything else was full. That set some alarm bells off, because Harry didn't think it was possible for his compartment to still be empty if everything else was full, and where had he been up until now? But Harry just said. "Sure!" and the boy settled down right across from him, introducing himself as Ronald Weasley. As soon as Harry introduced himself as Harry Potter, Ron jumped into a big hero worship act and asked him about the scar, going on about that as well. Harry was starting to have serious doubts about this one.

Just then a lady came through with a sweets trolley and asked whether they wanted anything from the trolley. Ron put on a big sad sack act about having to eat the sandwiches that he had with him, so Harry asked how much it would be for some of everything on the cart, pulling a handful of coins out of his purse to find the coins he needed to pay the lady before he realised his mistake, because Ron's eyes lit up when he saw the gold.

It didn't take too long to go through most of the sweets, especially with the way Ron was desperately shovelling as much as he could into his mouth. It was difficult for Harry to get any of what he'd bought because most times he reached for something, Ron grabbed it and shoved it into his mouth. Of course he never stopped eating to talk so anything he said was forced out past a mouthful of sweets, but Harry made a point of not asking him to repeat what he said, it wasn't worth hearing the first time.

Ron then thought that it was important for Harry to be introduced to his rat Scabbers, of course coming out with more woe is me about how pathetic his pet was. It wasn't showing enough intelligence to be anything but a pet, mind you, with its focus purely on eating and sleeping it was a good match for Ron. Just as Ron was about to show Harry a spell to change the rat's colour to yellow, a girl came along looking for something. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one."

She was a little bossy, the way she said that, but she was trying to help someone, and the way Ron glared at her and said 'No' dismissively made the implied 'So piss off!' quite obvious. That got her back up so she came back with. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then!" With all the pomp and ceremony of an eight year old's school talent show he came up with an obviously made up spell that didn't do anything, which gave her the opportunity to blurt out. "Are you sure that was a real spell? It's not very good, is it? I've only tried a few simple spells so far because my parents are non magic folk but they've all worked for me. I got my books a few months ago so I've already read all of them over and over again, I'm so looking forward to practising magic. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, and you are?" She looked at them expectantly as she stopped to draw a breath.

Harry glanced worriedly at Ron, but his shocked and worried expression told Harry that he wasn't the only one who hadn't already read all of their text books for the year. Harry wasn't worried about half of the classes, but the more challenging ones that he hadn't done the first year work for yet, yeah he was a little worried about them. He held out his hand. "Harry Potter, pleased to meet you."

"Are you really? I've read all about you, too, you're in all the latest history books! I'm sorry, I'm just so excited to be going to Hogwarts and meeting someone who's part of history like you…..I'm sorry."

They sat there smiling at each other for a while before she suddenly realised that she was still holding Harry's hand, she went bright red and snatched her hand back, saying. "I'm sorry." again.

She looked at Ron to avoid blushing at Harry again and was about to ask him who he was again when be mumbled. "Ron Weasley." around another mouthful of sweets. From her expression, the sight that gave her turned her stomach and she stood up, saying. "You two better get your robes on, according to the schedule we're nearly there."

She blushed when Harry smiled at her again and rushed out, unfortunately not fast enough to miss the snarky comment of "I hope I'm not in the same house as her, she's mental!" from Ron.

Harry stood to lift his trunk down and get his robes out, and if Ron hadn't been so busy stripping down to his dirty underpants he probably would have been surprised about how easily he'd lifted the trunk down. When Harry got his robe out of his trunk and turned to say something to Ron, he saw him standing there nonchalantly in his dirty underpants, hunting for more sweets in the pile on the seat.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for another chocolate frog."

"I mean why are you standing there in your underpants? Why did you get undressed?"

"Mt brothers told me that this is what you're supposed to wear under your robes."

"Well put your bloody robes on then! Don't just stand around in your underpants!"

He didn't make any move for his robes, he just stood there with a vacant expression on his face and wanted to argue. "You'll have to get used to this in the dorms, what's your problem?"

That got him a mild stinging hex cast at a sensitive part of his anatomy using elven magic and Harry bit out. "Put. Your. Bloody. Robes. On. Right. Now!"

Ron opened his mouth to argue again and he got a stronger stinging hex to the same area. Even he got the message then and grabbed for his robes. When he had shrugged the robe on though, he went to argue more until Harry raised his hand again and he scrabbled to button it up. As he did so, Harry scooped all of the sweets boxes, both empty and full, into Ron's open trunk.

As soon as he thought that he was covered enough to be safe from further stings, Ron started screaming at Harry. "What's your bloody problem?"

"At the moment, some git who wants to stand around in his dirty underpants right in front of me! I don't swing that way and even if I did, I'd have absolutely no interest in what I was just forced to see!"

"Awww, poor little prince born with a silver spoon in his mouth and can't stand sharing a room huh? It'll be fun to see you cut down to size when you have to share a dorm room then!"

The knee that impacted in the same location as the stinging hexes caused several times as much pain and damage as they had, which meant that Ron didn't see Tally appearing in the compartment, enraged and ready to tear whoever had upset her Master Harry like that apart so that Harry could send her off again with the quiet assurance that he was alright before anyone saw her. Reassuring Tally also calmed Harry enough to quietly tell the boy who was curled up on the floor that he didn't know what he was talking about, he better not come near him again and he would NOT be sharing a dorm room with anyone before anyone else arrived.

The first one to arrive was Percy Weasley and when he saw his brother curled up on the floor moaning he had his wand out and pointed at the boy in the compartment with him, he may not like the little git but the family honour was at stake! The second to arrive was Oliver Wood and when he saw the wand in his hand he shouted. "Weasley! What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing? Put that bloody wand away now!" When Percy ignored him, his wand was poked in Percy's ear as he said "Now! I said!"

That threat was enough to make Percy comply, and Wood asked what had happened after taking in the scene in the compartment. Harry drew a breath and summed it up quickly. "Another first year reminded us that we needed to change into our robes quickly before we got there and I got my robes out of my trunk and turned to say something to Ron, only to find him standing there in nothing but his dirty underpants making no effort to put his robes on, he was too busy trying to find more chocolate frogs. I told him to put his bloody robes on but he just wanted to stand there in his underpants and argue so I made him put his robe on, then he shouted at me…."

The students packing the corridor outside the compartment took it up then. "We heard everything after that! Weasley shouted 'What's your bloody problem?' at him and he said 'a git who wants to stand around in his dirty underpants in front of me' and told him that he didn't swing that way and even if he did he'd have no interest in what he saw. Weasley shouted something about him being born with a silver spoon in his mouth and wanting to see him forced to live like the rest of us and then he started screaming in pain!"

Wood could see the scar on Harry's forehead and knew who this boy was, so he looked in disgust from Ron to Percy. "Obviously the twins got all the sense in the Weasley family! Get your brother out of here Weasley, I can promise you that there will be repercussions for the two of you attacking Harry Potter without cause, with any luck you'll both be thrown out of Hogwarts!"

Percy drew himself up. "I'm a prefect Wood, you can't talk to me like…..Harry Potter?"

"Yes, you prat! Harry Potter, now grab your idiot brother and get out of here!"

He ignored them as Percy dragged Ron away and turned to Harry. "I'm sorry Mister Potter, I hope that you won't allow this to colour your view of Hogwarts, I promise you that most students aren't like these two, in fact I know their brothers and they're nothing at all like them."

Harry responded politely. "Thank you, I've had to deal with people like them before. I hope you're right about the rest of the students though or I will be looking elsewhere for somewhere to go to school."

When the train pulled into the station at Hogsmead, they were told to leave everything on the train. Harry saw Remus and he nodded for Harry to go along, letting him know that they'd look after Hedwig and his things. There was a massive man on the station calling for the first years to follow him. There was something very familiar about that man, well you weren't likely to forget someone who was twice the height and several times the bulk of most men, and Harry knew that there was something gentle and reassuring about him.

Harry had no trouble gasping in awe at Hogwarts along with the rest of the first years when the boats they were in came around the corner in the late, because the sight they were met with was magnificent. As they were led into the castle, they were met by a thin, stern looking woman who also seemed familiar for some reason, or at least her voice did when she was explaining how they'd be sorted into houses. Once again Harry felt something reassuring about her, though he couldn't understand the look of relief and the unshed tears in her eyes when she looked at him. If Ron wasn't totally oblivious, he would have been terrified of the look she shot him though.

As they were led into the great hall, Harry could hear Hermione telling the girl she was walking with that the starry ceiling was enchanted and how she'd read about it in Hogwarts, a History, looking up he conceded that it was certainly impressive.

The Sorting Hat was a strange looking thing, in fact it was so rough and bedraggled looking Harry thought that it would have been binned long ago, so it was a shock when it spoke and made it clear that it was at least semi-sentient. The sorting wasn't a quick process, and Harry was tuning it out until he heard. "Hermione Granger" and started paying attention. She was one of the ones who made the Sorting Hat take its time deliberating, and its declaration of "Gryffindor!" was a surprise, because he thought a clever girl like her would have been sorted into Ravenclaw, but her brilliant smile said that she was happy with the choice.

When it was Harry's turn, Professor McGonagall stopped and read the name again before she called out. "Lord Henry Potter." he could hear the whispers swirling about the hall but they were cut off when the hat was set on his head and he heard the dialogue of the hat inside his head.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his head. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting.… So where shall I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, 'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin'.

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that - no? Well, if you're sure - better be Gryffindor!"

He almost didn't hear the cheer that went up as he was led to the Gryffindor table, he was so relieved that he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, he was happy to be in Gryffindor, he knew from what Remus had told him that his parents and Remus had all been in Gryffindor, but Remus had also told him that Voldemort and his Death Eaters, who'd killed his parents and so many others, had nearly all been in Slytherin so he didn't want to have anything to do with them.

Harry tuned out most of the sorting after him, but his ears pricked up when he heard. "Ronald Weasley." The Sorting Hat took a while with him, and from the looks and whispering going on it was obvious that this was unusual, Harry later found out that four of his older brothers had been sorted into Gryffindor pretty much immediately, like that smarmy looking Draco Malfoy boy when he was sorted into Slytherin. Apparently the only other Weasley who took any time to sort was Percy, who Harry suddenly noted had lost his prefect's badge. Eventually the Sorting Hat called out. "Gryffindor!" Harry was a little disappointed, but it was hardly a surprise as all of the Weasleys appeared to end up in Gryffindor.

When the sorting was done, Dumbledore stood to welcome the first years, introduce the staff and make what were apparently his usual announcements. When he was looking at the Staff table, Harry saw one of them, Professor Snape, staring balefully at him as he was talking to Professor Quirrell, and a piercing pain shot through the scar on Harry's forehead that came from the killing curse that had failed to do its job on him. When the pain receded and his vision had cleared, Harry saw that Snape had looked away, Harry was going to have to talk to Remus about that later.

The ghost who sat beside him introduced himself as "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower." Harry introduced himself politely and was happy chatting with him, not noticing the looks he was getting at how comfortable he was chatting with a ghost like that until Ron Weasley all but shouted. "I know who you are! My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

The Ghost looked affronted at that, saying. "I prefer Sir Nicholas if you don't mind!" but one of the other first years, Seamus Finnigan, asked.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked rather miffed now and snapped. "Like this!" as he reached up to tug at his head so it flopped over onto his shoulder. His neck had been cut most of the way through but was still attached in a failed beheading that obviously had managed to kill him. His enjoyment of the chat he was having with Harry was ruined now, so he took his leave and disappeared.

When the dinner was finished, Professor McGonagall announced that the prefects would lead the first years to Gryffindor Tower and Harry asked if he could have a word. When they had stepped aside, Harry got straight to it. "Professor McGonagall, as the head of the House of Potter, I will be requiring the private quarters that I am entitled for myself and my staff, I will also be using private tutors for those classes where Hogarts' teachers are not acceptable."

"Mister Potter..." He looked at her. "Lord Potter, I have never heard of anything like this before!"

"Neither had I before I received my acceptance letter Professor, but these were the conditions that I was made to agree to before I was allowed to come here."

"May I ask who made you accept these conditions Lord Potter?"

"My ancestors Professor, for the last few years since I was rescued from where I was left as an infant, I've been raised under the guidance of the magical portraits of my ancestors."

Minerva remembered how her objections to leaving the boy with those terrible people had been overruled and she caught her breath. "Those muggles didn't hurt you, did they Harry?"

"Yes they did, actually Professor, but that's not important now. I have been informed that Hogwarts would have created the private quarters, attached to Gryffindor Tower, for myself and my staff as soon as I was sorted into Gryffindor as Lord Potter."

Minerva nodded. "I am afraid that I know nothing of this, so I will have to come along to see what is required Lord Potter. May we have details of who your staff will be?"

"It will primarily be my steward and goblin guard Professor, though my house elves and tutors will be popping in and out as well. My understanding is that they would have been allowed in by Hogwarts as soon as I was sorted in as Lord Potter and they will be waiting outside of the great hall."

Minerva nodded again. "Very well Lord Potter, do you have a list of classes that you wish to use your private tutors for? And will you be requiring Hogwarts facilities for these classes?"

"Here is the list Professor, for some of them we can use our quarters, for others, such as Potions, we will either require time allocations for the potions labs or have rooms allocated for us to create our own facilities."

She nodded again and led the way out of the great hall, thinking to herself that this would be interesting. Outside the great hall she stopped, because Lord Potter's staff was indeed there, half a dozen goblin guards and a couple of other goblins, two house elves, a witch and….. Remus Lupin? She returned Remus's greeting fondly, because she'd always liked him when he was a student, member of her house and prefect, but knew that there would be trouble with Snape, and probably Albus as well.

There was quite a bit of confusion when the fat lady greeted Remus, and on his say so accepted the rest of Harry's staff as well. Once inside, Minerva wasn't at all surprised to see a new stairway that obviously led up to Lord Potter's quarters, which had been sized to comfortably house the people present. Nor was she surprised to hear that they would be implementing their own wards inside his quarters for Lord Potter's protection.

Oh yes, this would be interesting!

She had something else to address before she left the Gryffindor Tower though, and called the youngest Weasley boy aside to tell him that the rest of his year mates who would have been sharing a dormitory room with him had been worried about all the stories they'd heard from the train about him stripping off and sexually attacking Harry Potter, so they'd been asking if they could change houses or leave Hogwarts until a suitable alternative was arrived at.

Ron was shown a closet that had been magically expanded just enough to hold a small bed and wardrobe and told that he would be sleeping in here, she also told him that the wards had been set keep him out of the boys' dormitory, and he would only be allowed into the boys' bathroom if no-one else was in there.

Her last notice was that they wore clothes under their robes at Hogwarts and if he was found without proper clothes under his robes again he'd be expelled as he'd already used up all his warnings. She finished with. "Stupid boy, why do you think you have so many other clothes in your trunk if you aren't supposed to wear them?"

Minerva was shaking her head as she left, Merlin help them all if those prankster twins were the only ones in the Weasley family who didn't shame the house!

A/N: So now I guess we wait to see whether there's enough interest in this to continue with it. Did it bomb, interesting or what?

BTW: As I have to repeatedly remind people in the other space here that I write in, 'Anonymous Reviews' will be deleted, you can say what you like about me and my stories as long as you're prepared to stand up and put your name on it so I can respond to you privately, but if you want to hide behind anonymous reviews and attack, they'll just be deleted.

OK, very slight modification from uniform to clothes in case anyone else is tied up in the same minutia as someone was.