AN/ Here is the revised version of Overlooked that I believe will be so much better than the original, some things will stay the same but a lot of has changed, a major one being that this isn't a WBWL story, simply because I feel that is much too cliché. Hope you enjoy this version more!
It was a cold, stormy night in the usually crowded Diagon Alley, today though, only a few wizards and witches roamed the old worn cobblestone roads, and they all appeared to be adults. Which wasn't surprising, seeming as the cold bit through the wards in a way they typically didn't. It seemed the fate of the world was about to change, unbeknownst to the peasants, lords and ladies, and even Death itself. Fate was about to change.
Though, if you looked closer, you would have seen a small boy, with dirt, sweat, and other disgusting things plastered not only to his face, but his entire body. Don't worry about overlooking the boy, he was quite used to it, and it came as second nature to him now. If one was to ask how they boy got there, you would receive a glare colder than ice, and then a touch of breeze as he zoomed off to his rat hole.
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Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel walked down the crowded streets of Diagon Alley, admiring the beautiful shops that sold every type of knick knack, and the more proper shops that sold robes, and other wizarding attire, that only people in the middle to higher class could purchase. Walks like these were always appreciated by the couple, as something as simple as a warming charm made it seem like a summer day. It was a surprise more wizarding folk didn't use something like it but then again Wizards didn't often use much common sense or rationalities.
Their leisurely stroll that included that included window shopping was cut short as a young boy exploded out of The Leaky Cauldron chased by the Bartender they recognized as Pepper, who was a quite pretty lad but downright terrifying when she wanted to be.
Nicolas and Perenelle both glanced at each other, unsure if they wanted to draw attention to themselves to stop something as simple as a dine and dash.
That decision was made for them when the boy abruptly turned direction and crashed directly into Perenelle sending her crashing to the ground in a heap. This wouldn't have bothered Nicolas much if she had just fallen, he heard a crack as well that signified she had broken something and that was when Nicolas truly became enraged. Well, more enraged than he had been in over two hundred years. He was extremely good at controlling his emotions so it wasn't red-hot anger but it was still definitely noticeable.
He grabbed the youngster by the scruff of his shirt and intended to give him a long lecture that stealing was wrong and how you just need to ask your parents for money and if they said no that you would just have to deal with it.
The anger soon changed to sympathy and even pity when he truly looked at him. It was obvious that at that point stealing was the only option he had. His clothes were extremely tattered and he was so skinny it looked like his bones were about to pierce his skin.
He let go of the scruff of his shirt and with a glare that was quite hard to muster given the circumstances but was still quite menacing and said, "Stay put let me help my wife, she is rather fragile and I fear she has broken something."
The boy just nodded with wide eyes, he didn't know how to react it seemed.
Nicolas cast a quick diagnostic charm with his wand and sighed when the diagnostic came back with a positive reading, which meant she had broken something and he delved deeper into it and saw that she had fractured her femur. He put his hand into his pocket and grasped a ruby red stone, he muttered some words under his breath and began to transfigure the empty space that the fracture created into new bone material.
He was done in less than thirty seconds but it still felt like a lifetime, for everyone involved including the boy.
After he was finished he turned to Pepper and said "Let me handle this dear, put the price on my tab as well and we will pay as soon as we are finished." Nicolas said nicely although there was a current of dismissal underneath the nice words. She caught on and left rather quickly with wide eyes.
His breath was caught in his throat when he turned to look for the boy, he was nowhere to be found but he hadn't sensed him leaving, which is all but impossible. It was only something a wizard with more experience than Nicolas could achieve and that was all but impossible.
He sent out his aura to look for the signature he had picked up when he grabbed the boys shirt, he was quite surprised to find the signature right in front of himself, he quickly rationalized and assumed the boy had a priceless artifact and clearly stated, "Accio Cloak of Invisibility.
He was once again surprised when nothing showed up, as it left only one option. He quickly called the spell that detected if a disillusioned person was near and found his reasoning was correct when the boy shimmered into existence.
"You have some explaining to do young man" Nicolas and Perenelle said at the exact same time, as if they had practiced such things for years, which of course they had.
He remained silent.
Nicolas then said, "I don't want to do it but I can take the answers from your mind, so please explain how you came to this place and you acquired a wand, and the knowledge how to cast that spell."
The boy then tentatively spoke, "Can we go somewhere more quiet if I have to tell you my life story."
"Of course honey", Perenelle all but gushed, does the Leaky Cauldron work for you Dear?"
He hesitated, and looked down the street, making it quite obvious he wanted to run but knew that it would be of no use, and resignedly said, "If I have too."
Once they were in a private room of the Leaky Cauldron more commonly used for birthdays and such Nicolas stated "I don't want to be to pushy but please tell us why your all alone and what happened to your family."
"What is your name as well? My name is Nicolas and my wife here is Perenelle." It was more of an afterthought than anything but he decided it would create some familiarity.
"My name is, um, Jeff?" He said it like he was asking if his name was Jeff more than anything that he had heard.
Nicolas and Perenelle were both skeptical as well and called him on it. "I wasn't born yesterday, your true name."
He once again hesitated, and looked as if he was internally debating whether to tell them or not. Once it was clear that he had made his decision he squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and said the sentence as fast as humanly possible.
"I never knew my name my relatives hated me because I could do magic so they called me boy they never fed me either I ran away about a month ago because I was so tired of it all and I was so hungry I had to eat. I'm sorry for stealing but don't take me back there please!" His eyes looked wet by the time that sentence was done and he gave himself a look of disgust as if saying that tainted him.
Nicolas ran through his options, and decided to ask another question, "Where did you acquire a wand with your lack of money? Presumably stealing?"
The boy had calmed down by that time and said, "I've never used a wand, one day I just wanted to disappear when I was in my Cupboard and I didn't notice that I did until Aunt Petunia unlocked my door and screamed to Uncle Vernon about how I had ran off."
"That's what gave me the idea about running away and I just practiced really hard on being able to disappear, I can just think about it now and it will happen but it lasts about three minutes at the maximum before I get tired so I don't use it much"
The adults in the room shared a look at that; both of their thoughts went along the line of "Wandless magic at this age! Even if it is only one spell it is still quite impressive."
"My husband might be able to find out your name, he will have to look in your memories though, he won't look at anything you don't want him?"
He obtained a thoughtful look, before smiling a bit and nodding.
"Ok, to make this easier and faster focus on wanting to know your name, and memories that may be buried should come to the surface and he will be able to view them, you won't be able to view them yourself but the job will be done."
He nodded, showing that he understood.
At that Perenelle counted down and Nicolas dove in, and with a light and gentle touch fished out the memories that he had needed.
Nicolas found the answers, but was disgusted with what he saw along the way, abuse and bullying and labor that a grown man would struggle with seemed like a daily occurrence for this boy, he had to fight to keep the anger and surprise off his face, or the boy would know he had stumbled onto something that he definitely didn't want him to see.
"Your name is Harry Potter."
Perenelle wasn't so good at keeping her emotions under check and gasped at that.
The boy, now known as Harry gave her a sidelong glance that showed he definitely didn't miss that but otherwise looked happy to know something that he had probably wondered his entire life.
"You are also seven, I didn't know if you knew that but I figured you would want to know if you didn't."
"Thank you for all of this, I really mean it too, I have some questions for you though too if you don't mind me asking?" Harry questioned with a tone that utterly surprised Nicolas. It was an order, and everyone in the room knew it, something like that was treading dangerous ground when you had two wizards who were certainly stronger than him in every aspect.
Nicolas thought it over, and soon answered, "I will answer the questions to the best of my ability, if those questions don't affect me or my Wife's safety.
"Why did your wife gasp when she heard my name, she definitely recognized it so what does it mean?"
Nicolas sighed at that, "How much do you know of the wizarding world Harry?"
"Enough," was the stiff response he got at that
"Okay… How much of the past, more specifically the Dark Lord named Voldemort and how his demise happened?" Nicolas deliberated even further.
I know that he tried to murder a family but a little boy killed him or something, I think he survived the killing curse why does that involve me though?
Perenelle took over at that "Harry, the family he killed was the Potters, you are The Boy Who Lived."
Harry gasped at that, "That's, that's impossible, The Dursley's said my parents were drunks and they killed themselves and threw me in the garbage!" he finished that statement with tears streaming down his face.
Nicolas hadn't caught that memory and gasped in rage! "No such thing happened, you are the Scion and last survivor of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, and The heir of the Noble House of Black! You have more riches and power awaiting you when you come of age then anyone in the Wizarding World had ever seen! I must find a decent family for you to live with at once!"
Harry's eyes filled with tears once again at the outburst, he could care less about the money but a chance at a family! He almost believed it too good to be true!
Once Harry was calmed down he asked one more question.
"Why is your pocket radiating power?"
Perenelle gasped again and Nicolas sighed. He though to himself, "I really need to have Perenelle work on her emotions, It would have been much easier."
He cleared his throat and said "It appears you have some natural talent with sensing Aura, the aura you sense is my wand as it is crafted with extremely rare materials that are quite hard to find and even harder to craft."
Harry looked skeptical but nodded.
"Please excuse me and my wife, we have some talking to do." Nicolas stated as he was rising from his chair.
Once they were in the hallway, and anti-listening spells were cast they began to converse.
"Perenelle, I believe we should take this boy in, and train him to be a fighter that will one day be able to defeat Voldemort, our way of life is also at risk if he goes to different family and accidently reveals how I was able to fix your broken bone with a powerful wand. People know that it would be impossible and might figure out the true power of the Sorcerers stone, and that it can sustain permanent transfiguration."
"I agree with you, but for a different reason, this boy needs a home and someone to trust! You know that I have always wanted children as well, us not being able to really devastated me and we could have a chance at a family!"
With their minds made up, they went back into the room and proposed the idea that he come stay with them.
He had tears in his eyes for hopefully the last time that day and tenderly stated, "You guys want me, to be apart of your family?"
Perenelle was already starting to show some qualities of a great mother and rushed towards him, saying comforting words as he cried into her shoulder.
In that moment, Nicolas didn't think that Perenelle had ever been so right about something before this.
Once the tears stopped flowing, he explained apparition, and once he said he was ready the arrived at the Flamels area of residence.
The outside looked like a cozy cottage that resided directly in the middle of a meadow that had a flowing river in the front, and a mangrove of what appeared to be apple trees behind the house.
Nicolas warned Harry that looks are deceiving and the inside was much more impressive than the outside.
Nicolas looked extremely smug when they walked into the house, and for good reason too.
Harry gasped and then laughed like a kid in a candy store, and began to run around and look at the magnificent house that looked very similar to the Buckingham Palace.
Harry asked "Did you guys purposely make your house look like Buckingham palace?"
Nic scoffed at that " No, the Buckingham Palace is based off of my house, dumb Brits stealing my house design."
Perenelle laughed at her husbands misfortune and said "Nic is rather sour about that to this day."
Harry looked intrigued at that and Perenelle continued.
We invited Queen Anne for some tea to talk about trade relations and she was so impressed with our home she modeled her castle over it! Nicolas was so mad he didn't resume trade until she had died!"
The reason Harry looked so intrigued soon came into the open, and reminded Nic and Perenelle why they weren't sorted into Slytherin; they were simply quite terrible at scheming and keeping secrets.
"How have you guys lived so long?"
Nicolas sighed at that and began a rather long explanation.
"Have you heard of the Sorcerer's Stone Harry?"
He shook his head left and right and then left again, signaling he did not.
"It is a stone that people think I crafted to produce gold and immortality. They would be wrong to think that. The truth is that this is a Deathly Hallow, which most people believe to be fake. It can sustain transfigurations permanently, but it cannot truly bring people back from the dead, which it states in the legend. It's quite simple actually, you can transfigure all other organs, but you can never transfigure the brain to be exactly the same, which will lead to extremely erratic behavior and suicidal tendencies. Which is why I stay away from using it like that."
"Is that what you used on Perenelle?" Harry asked.
Nic sighed again, "Yes, I wanted to make sure I could trust you before I revealed secrets that could possibly kill either one of us."
Harry nodded at that.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes.
"Well you should get some rest before tomorrow, I plan to train you to be able to protect yourself, if you want of course?" Nic questioned.
"Why would I have to protect myself Voldemort is dead isn't he?" Harry asked, somewhat scared.
"I hate to break it to you but there is a very high chance he somehow survived that night, and when he comes back he will definite look for revenge." Nicolas warned
Harry took it in stride, and even managed to look a little angry as he thought to himself "This monster killed my family and I'll die before he can have a chance to ruin this one!"
All Harry said was "What time"
Nic smirked; he could tell this boy was going to be fun to work with.
Nicolas told Harry to follow him, and showed him the location where they would be starting to train. To say Harry was surprised would be a definite understatement.
The place that Mr. Flamel had brought Harry, was a library, with a ceiling that looked to be a starry sky, the stars shined with a warm light that was artificial but just didn't feel like it. It was comforting to say the least.
"Hush, how are books supposed to help me Mr. Flamel?" Harry questioned.
"First off it's Nicolas, or Nic if you prefer and secondly let me find a book as it will make more sense once you can see it."
Nicholas went up to something that appeared to be a front desk and wrote something down on the ledger, a moment later, and after a lot of papers went flying a book flew into Nic's hand. The title of the book was Occlumency and Controlling Your Magic!
The first question Harry asked was "What is Occlumency?"
"It's sort of complicated, but it sort of forms a mental barrier, that could keep someone from invading your mind, and seeing your thoughts and memories, like I could have done with you today if you would have been a little difficult. It works to help your magic too; a clear mind in most situations wont let your emotions affect your magic. Anger makes a wizard become quite unpredictable, and also makes them much more likely to use spells that could seriously injure someone."
Harry nodded at that. It made sense to him because whenever Dudley and his gang or his Aunt and Uncle hurt him and made him angry he wanted to retaliate, and kill them. If he had the means to do it without getting caught he probably would have.
He visibly shuddered at that.
Nicolas was wise to not ask.
"Okay so meet me here at 9 AM sharp Harry, don't be late or the house elf might wake you up in a scary fashion and you don't want that, trust me on that Harry."
Nicolas shuddered at the thought of his house elf, Toppy, shaking him awake while straddling him, his business quite noticeable as the holes in his clothes sometimes let some stuff poke through. Toppy would refuse an outfit change as well because he liked his tattered clothes, said they were comfortable or something like that.
The thing that Nic probably didn't know was that Harry would have been there at 9 AM whether the threat of the house elf was there or not.
They might not be close, but Harry had told this family more than he had told anyone in his life, especially about the Dursley's and he wanted to have chance at a normal life, he wanted someone to call Mom and Dad and have birthdays and get tucked in at night. This was his first real chance of that happening and even if they didn't become as close as he hoped, he would still give everything he had to make them proud.
"You alright there Harry?" Nic asked
Harry realized he had been spaced off for probably quite some time and nodded with a blush of embarrassment.
"Well, as I was saying I will now show you your bedroom and what to do if you need some food or water in the middle of the night, or just general directions of where to go in the house." Nicolas said.
Harry nodded and began to follow Nic through the house and gasped at each room they passed, such as a weight room, a potion brewing room, a ritual room that appeared rather dusty, and some more guest rooms that didn't seem to be all that special to Nicolas.
They finally arrived at a door that had an ornate handle of a Phoenix, which Harry would later learn was the Flamel family crest.
Nic opened the door and ushered Harry inside, and Harry gasped with more enthusiasm than all the other rooms combined, probably because he knew this space was his and he finally owned something.
It really wasn't all that special, just a Queen sized bed, a dresser, a desk, and in the corner a trunk with the Flamel family crest.
Nicolas ushered Harry onto the bed, and began to explain the rules of the house.
"First, off, if you ever need something just say Toppy and she will appear."
At him saying Toppy, a house elf appeared out of thin air and surprised the crap out of Harry, who made himself invisible just out of habit.
Nicolas was quite happy at the warrior instinct that was already there, and would have been very hard to train and that was to just react. He had known extremely powerful wizards who were just terrible at dueling and fighting in general simply because they weren't able to take new things being thrown at them in stride, he knew even if Harry didn't become as powerful as Albus Dumbledoor he would still be just as nasty to fight against just because of the ability to react, which he was still going to work on training.
His train of thought was cut off from Toppy.
"Toppy heard Master say Toppy's name what can Toppy do for master." the house elf gushed.
"Toppy, as you have probably felt we have a new person who will be staying at the house, Harry Potter. You are to treat him just as you treat us and answer his call if he needs something."
Toppy nodded excitedly and said, "Toppy will do whatever small master says just as Toppy does whatever big master and pretty master say!"
"Thank you Toppy, that means a lot to me," said Harry sincerely.
Toppy's eyes grew extremely large, almost twice the size that already were. Which were quite large the way there was and began to cry.
"Little master says thanks," Toppy said in amazement.
"Uhh, yeah?" Harry said with some hesitation.
Toppy just nodded at that, and disappeared to whatever crevice he lived in, which seemed to be the attic as he heard faint crying sounds come from that direction.
Harry turned to Nicolas with a look of disbelief.
"That is precisely why we don't say thanks, Toppy has been with us for 30 years and the 10 that we said thank you for this happened every single time." That statement was followed with an exasperated sigh, which was also filled with a trace of humor, showing that Nic was at least a little amused by the showing.
Nicolas then continued explaining the rules.
If you break something don't worry about it, just tell one of us and we can fix it, it really isn't a big deal. Don't leave the boundaries of the meadow, as someone could be out there that is looking to hurt you, and we wouldn't be able to know. The last thing I need to tell you is that trunk over in the corner can act as a safe room of sorts. If you open the trunk, and think of some type of room you want, it will make that room come to existence. It does have limits though which I will let you find out for yourself. Oh, and me and Perenelle are right across the hall if you need anything as well, just knock before you come in."
Harry nodded at all that and sat down on the bed, his bed! He was so happy he didn't even notice Nic leaving the room.
He was asleep less than 10 minutes later.
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Perenelle heard a scream, which she thought was quite strange considering it was 1 in the morning, once she woke up a bit more, and came to her senses she realized that the screaming was coming from across the hall, and that Harry was having some sort of nightmare. She rushed across the hallway and flung open the door, she gasped when she saw what was going on.
Harry was as pale as a sheet, and writhing around as if some force was taking over his body, and slamming him repeatedly into the headboard. There was no force controlling Harry though, it just seemed like he was trying to put as much distance between whatever was in his dream and himself.
She tried shaking him awake to no avail. She then tried screaming his name directly into his ear, which didn't work either, at that point she only had one option left and that was to use Legilimecy. Luckily for Harry, she had a gentle touch that only years of practice could achieve. She washed her aura over the memory that was causing him fits, his uncle standing over him with a belt, and swinging at him over and over and over until he started to bleed profusely.
It took a while, but eventually he began to wake up, and started to cry as he remembered what he dreamt, and whom he had woken up.
I'm sorry it won't happen again please don't kick me out I'll try to stop just please don't make me leave!" He all but screamed!
Perenelle gently grabbed the boy and pushed his head onto her lap, laying him down in the process.
They remained like that for what seemed like eternity until Harry had calmed down.
"Harry, I know we don't know each other very well at all, and that it will take a while for us to grow to love and trust each other, but we do want you. I wasn't going to tell you this because I didn't see much point but Nicolas and I aren't able to have kids, no matter what we have tried, and no matter what parts we have transfigured it just hasn't worked out. I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself but hopefully one day you can be our child, and we can be your parents, something that neither of us have had before. I know it won't happen tonight, but we are going to stick together, and we will become a family." Perenelle finished that statement with a lot of emotion, the main one being hope.
"Do you want me to stay with you tonight Harry?" Perenelle asked, hoping she wasn't moving too fast.
Harry's reaction of his head bobbing up and down fast enough to jolt his skull was indication that she had indeed asked the right question.
They resituated, so that they were both comfortable, and they went to sleep, where Harry slept peacefully, for the first time in a very, very long time.
AN/ There Chapter Number One is! I am going to pick up next chapter on the lessons, but Harry will be at Hogwarts in Two or Three chapters so don't worry! I wont be walking you through his entire childhood. I just hate stories where he gains a mom and dad overnight, it seems so forced LOL!