Disclaimer: All characters and recognizable story elements belong to J. K. Rowling.

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"And now Ladies and Gentlemen," Albus Dumbledore, Warlock extraordinaire and headmaster of Hogwarts, school for the magically gifted, raised his voice. "One last announcement before we head out to meet our students." His usually twinkly eyes seemed even brighter today, and there was an edge of laughter to his otherwise solemn mien.

"It concerns one of our more ... prominent ... pupils. Mr. Harry Potter ..."

"Bah, I should have known it would be about the Gryffindor Golden Boy," a cold voice interrupted him with disdain. The potions master raised his eyebrow in challenge and continued with a bored expression. "So what has your little wonder-boy done this time?"

"Yes, yes, Severus, I know you do not approve of him, and think him an arrogant attention seeker," Albus' eyes were twinkling merrily in anticipation.

"Therefore, it might come as some slight surprise to you to learn that Mr. Potter appears to partially share your sentiment. As a result he has, with my help and full support of course, recently changed his name. Or as he put it to me, 'he was fed up with being Harry Bloody Potter all the time', and thus he wished to be known henceforth as Mr. … Harold Evans."

'Yes, Severus," Albus all but purred, as the suddenly utterly dumbfounded face of Severus Snape was indeed priceless to behold. The rest of the staffroom bore almost equally shocked expressions.

"He told me that he was really tired of his old name, as it has become to mean too many things he considers himself not to be. And while he did not wish to renounce his father as such, he would still prefer to be known and addressed by his mother's maiden name from now on," he continued his explanation calmly, all the while inwardly all but bouncing in glee.

"As a consequence, he has this summer undergone a magically binding name change, fully divesting himself of the Potter heritage. He is therefore no longer required by either law or magic to respond in any way or form to the name of 'Potter', as he is in effect legally no longer a member of that family."

The headmaster beamed happily as babble broke out all over the room. However, he kept most of his attention on Severus Snape, old enemy and indeed oft-time tormentor of the late Harry Potter. Or to be more precise, enemy of the boy's father. Severus had never forgiven James Potter for tormenting him and aiding in his separation from Lily Evans. Who had been the only real friend ever of the dour and bitter potions master, as Albus knew only too well.

And the man had been unable to see past the boy's looks and name to actually consider Harry himself. Whose character was in fact rather different from his father's. And while Severus had loved Harry's mother dearly, he had always failed to recognise her strong influence in the boy. But now Severus Snape was looking even paler then usual, and there was a pained look on his face. He was also staying uncharacteristically silent.

Harry had presented him with a lot of reasons for wanting to change his name, but Albus rather suspected that one had been absent. However, he was secretly rather sure of this other, unvoiced one: that Harry didn't want Severus Snape to continue hating him for his father's name and looks. And yes, dear Severus was in for some more surprises there. The old wizard smiled contentedly to himself as he made his unhurried way out of the staff-room, knowing full well that he was leaving confusion behind him.

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Several hours earlier, Harry had been feeling rather nervous. How would his friends and all the others at Hogwarts react to the changes that the last summer had made in him? Of course he was still really the same person, but the glasses were gone, and he wore his dark hair long and held back neatly at the nape. It had also acquired a decided auburn tint thanks to a nifty hairdressing charm. He still had to wear some of it in his face to cover the scar, though. He simply could not bear to have that visible all the time. But the hairdresser had done an amazingly good job and the result was quite stylish. Having most of his hair pulled back also affected the general shape of his face. Taken together with his now very obvious startling bright green eyes, the total effect made him resemble his mother a lot more than before.

Add to that a rather more graceful and upright posture, as well as a new wardrobe, and the picture he presented was astonishingly different. This summer had truly been the best of his life. Not only had there been interesting lessons in a variety of subjects, but not being constantly overworked allowed him to actually prepare well for the upcoming school year. He had never felt so confident about himself before - which clashed horribly with the bad case of nerves he was currently suffering from. How could one possibly feel both ways at the same time?

He settled more comfortably into the back seat of his uncle's car - Uncle Vernon had been studiously ignoring him during the drive so far - and let his mind drift back to the start of this amazing summer.

Harry remembered his moment of epiphany quite clearly. He had been weeding the flowerbeds, and had felt terribly bothered and upset. He had absolutely hated being Harry Bloody Potter in that moment. He had been taking this out rather forcefully on the weeds, pulling them out and throwing them almost spitefully into a bucket. And then he had found it. Under the bushes behind the flowerbed there had been an old shed snakeskin, by the looks of it from some harmless grass snake.

And then inspiration had suddenly struck. He would always be himself ... but he was not the name. That was just a description. A designation. Just a skin waiting to be shed because it no longer fit him. Because the name was not him. Really not him, as everyone seemed to have their own idea what the name meant. It was the stupid name that was constantly giving him trouble. Okay, it did not cause all of his problems, but definitely a lot of them. And he remembered grinning almost manically as he thought: 'yes ... yes ... the name has to ... go!'

Later, after cooking dinner and doing the dishes afterwards, he had escaped to his room and penned a note to his headmaster:

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Dear Professor Dumbledore,

I have come to a realisation today. I really do NOT like being Harry Potter.

But as much as I often simply wish I was not me, I cannot ever escape being me. I'm aware that this sounds a bit stupid. But I know that I can't change who I am. However, what I can change, and would really like to, is my name. It seems to me that it represents a lot of what I feel is wrong with me. Harry Potter is the Boy-who-lived. Harry Potter is a magical freak. Harry Potter is constantly in the papers. Harry Potter is who everyone either adores or hates, just for being Harry Bloody Potter. But Harry Potter is a myth and a fantasy. I have never really lived the life of Harry Potter. To everyone who likes me, I'm merely Harry. To all the people who hate me, I'm 'Potter' or 'Mr. Potter'.

I don't want to hurt my dad by getting rid of his name, but well, I can't anymore really, can I? It's not as if he will ever know. And if he is still around in some way, and does love me, I hope he would realise that his name has unfortunately come to mean a lot of bad things to me. And that he would not grudge me a (possibly) happier life without it. After all no matter what, I will still be his son. I will always be his son. But I don't want to be 'Potter' anymore.

So I have been thinking, and I wonder if it is possible for me to change my name to my mother's maiden name? I think I would quite like to be Harold "Harry" Evans. It's even (pun intended) a much more even name, which might help me become more even-tempered. I might feel less cross all the time, if people keep reminding me that I should be Evans instead. Yes, I know, this last bit was probably very silly but still ...

Anyway I hope this finds you well, and I would very much like to have your advice and help in achieving this, my heartfelt wish.

Yours,

sincerely,

Harold "Harry Potter" Evans (hopefully)

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Yes, it had felt good. And perfectly right. It was the thing to do, and it felt like a huge stone had been lifted from him. He would not have thought a name could feel like a millstone round one's neck, but it really was a shackle. A constraint he desperately longed to cast aside. And he felt his heart lift with hope as he watched Hedwig lift away on silent wings after he gave her the message to deliver to the headmaster.

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He also remembered the following day when he had received his answer. Hedwig had winged in and he gave her an owl-treat as he relieved her of the scroll, letting her settle on her cage. His heart had been beating rather fast, which made him realise again just how important this matter was. He had clutched the scroll tightly for a moment, dreading a negative answer, that the headmaster would have good reasons to deny him his wish. Because he really wanted to shed 'Harry Potter'. Exactly like the snake sheds her skin and is reborn ... still exactly the same, and at the same time ... all new. He suddenly smiled and opened the scroll.

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Dear Harry,

I must admit your letter took me very much by surprise. My first impulse was, I have to say, to question your reasons for such a drastic step. But upon further thought upon your situation, I must sadly agree that the constant expectations which the wizarding world has of you add a considerable burden to your already difficult life. And if the solution you have proposed can ease this load, I should do what I can to help rather than hinder you.

There are, however, consequences which you need to take into consideration before taking this step, and they depend on how you wish to achieve this. Because to the best of my knowledge, there are two possible ways for changing one's name.

One is to change your name the Muggle way, which would merely affect certain official documents, and that mostly on the Muggle side of things. Consequently the outcome would be largely cosmetic, as this has few ramifications in the magical world.

The other way would be a magically binding name change, which would likely have considerably more drastic effects. I cannot fully advise you about all of them at the moment, as I first need to look into that matter in detail myself.

But one of them is that you would probably end up rejecting your Potter heritage, including part of your inheritance. As I mentioned, I do not know yet if this would really be the case, but I fear it is likely. I will need to consult with the experts at Gringotts, as well as some contacts at the ministry. The benefits of such a magical change, however, would be that you would definitely not be constrained anymore to answer to 'Mr. Potter'.

But most of all you must realise, dear Harry, that if you should take this severe step, there would be no going back. Once you have shed the Potter name, you cannot ever take it up again. So while I do agree that this could be a good thing for you, I need you to be absolutely sure of it. Therefore I would like you to write down all your thoughts about the matter, and the reasons why you wish to bear a different name. Because you will need to be truly certain of your decision, if you really want to go through with this.

But be assured that if you and I come to the conclusion that yes, this is your true wish, and also the best for you, then I shall do all that is in my power to help you achieve it.

Yours,

sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

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Harry couldn't help but smile as he put the scroll down onto his rickety desk, carefully smoothing out the parchment. The headmaster's reply was … promising. And while he already knew what he wanted, it would still be a really good idea to also know exactly why he wanted it. So there could be no doubts and second thoughts later on. And he would have all his arguments collected together, in case anybody else questioned him about his decision later. But his mind was made up. Now to convince Dumbledore that he had really thought it through … and to go along with it. He drew out a piece of paper and slowly started to compose his answer ….

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