Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine, anything you recognise is from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone.

A/N: Hello everyone!

If you have read Growing Up At Hogwarts or Nightmare Most Real, hello again! If not, that's okay. Although it is recommended that you read them in order to get a better idea of this story, it is not necessary as long as you know a bit of background.

Growing Up at Hogwarts: Dumbledore decides to take Harry in instead of leaving him with the Dursleys, and Harry grows up at Hogwarts in the primary care of Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. The story goes through scenes of Harry's life up until his ninth birthday.

Nightmare Most Real: When Harry is nine years old, he is kidnapped and tortured by Death Eaters and Voldemort. By the end of the story, the Minister knows what has happened but decides to not alert the general public to Voldemort's secret return. The teachers at Hogwarts know, several important Aurors know, and that's about it. Voldemort is in hiding.

This story is basically set two years after the events in Nightmare Most Real, and it is mainly going to be about how Harry is still struggling with what happened, how he deals with it, and how the story changes from what happens in the books. Harry is mostly okay and normal, but he still gets flashbacks, nightmares and is still impacted by what happened. Over the years he has tried to block out most memories of the event, and has tried his hardest not to think about it again. So there you go.

At the moment I've got up until 5th Year planned.

So thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!

- StrawberryTrebutchet :)

Chapter One: First Year At Last!

Over two years had passed. Two years since Harry had been kidnapped by Voldemort from the very grounds of Hogwarts and tortured. And many things had changed. He had grown older, of course, as everybody does. Wiser. Harry had been forced to grow up fast. He had been exposed to the dark truths of the world, knew that it wasn't all fun and games before he even turned ten. Though the years had passed now, and things had gotten steadily better, the horrors of what had happened to Harry were still there, like a lingering fly, hovering over Harry as a dark cloud would on a stormy day. There had been no sign of Voldemort since Harry had been rescued. The Ministry had worked hard to find him, silently, in the first few months afterwards, but had mostly given up since then. The large majority of the Wizarding World remained ignorant to The Dark Lord's return.

Harry stood next to Minerva McGonagall. They were at Kings Cross Station, and Harry was about to get onto the Hogwarts Express for the very first time in his life. He may have grown up at Hogwarts, he may have seen rounds and rounds of First Years come through every year to be sorted, but he had never come close to the Hogwarts Express. This time he would finally be going to Hogwarts as a student.

Harry couldn't wait.

Smoke from the engines of the Hogwarts Express drifted over their heads and floated down amongst the chattering crowd around them. Cats of every colour wound here and there between people's legs, and Harry smiled as a purple-coloured kitten darted between his legs and disappeared behind a red-headed family standing a little way away. Owls hooted to each other through the smoke, and Harry's attention was brought to his own owl- a beautiful snowy-white one that he'd called Hedwig. They'd bought her when they'd gone shopping for his wand in Diagon Alley a week previously. She was Harry's first real pet, and although he had no one to send letters to, at least not yet, and Hedwig had spent the rest of the holidays flying around the castle and staying in his room instead of flying off on important letter-delivery missions, Harry thought she was the best pet he could ever have.

The first few carriages of the train were already packed full of students, some hanging out of the windows to talk to their families, some fighting over seats and luggage space. Harry clutched his trunk tightly against himself, gazing around in amazement. Minerva was holding Hedwig in her brand-new cage. Occasionally a few students who spotted them glanced their way, waving and calling out a cheerful 'Heya, Professor!' or 'See you there, Potter!' All the students, minus the new First Years, were more than familiar with the sight of Harry Potter being accompanied by a teacher, especially more in recent years.

The train's whistle suddenly rang loudly above the noises of the crowd, and Minerva leant forwards and gave Harry a tight hug.

'I'll see you soon,' she said, smiling at him.

'Won't we take until dark to get back?' asked Harry, taking Hedwig's cage from her and looking around again.

'Yes,' answered Minerva. 'But the time will go by quickly, just you wait. Now have fun, okay? Try and make some friends with the other first years. You'll be sharing a dorm together with some of them, after all.'

She caught the worried look on Harry's face and gave him another small hug.

'It's going to be fine, Harry. You know that, right?'

Harry looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. 'Yeah. . .'

He was nervous. Nervous he would make any friends. Nervous he wouldn't fit in. Harry couldn't say he'd had a lonely childhood, or even an isolated one, but he'd never really had any friends his age before. Everyone at Hogwarts had been older.

The train gave another whistle, and Minerva led Harry up to one of the carriage doors, where she helped him lift his truck inside. Harry stepped through and went into the nearest empty compartment, dragging his very heavy trunk behind him. Most of his stuff was already there, but as he would now be living in a dormitory instead of his room next to Albus' office, Harry had packed several of his favourite books and a good number of his clothes as well as his school supplies. It would be easy enough to pop back to his room if he forgot anything, but of course, it was better if he never forgot anything in the first place.

Yep, Harry was nervous all right.

After placing the trunk under his seat, and putting Hedwig's cage on one of the shelves at the top of the compartment, Harry sat down and peered out of the window. Minerva was standing back on the platform and gave him a wave when she saw him. Harry lifted his hand up to the glass and gave a wave back.

'Goodbye!' he yelled, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. Harry sat back in his seat, feeling a small thrill of exhilaration as the train began to move. It gained speed, and soon the platform had disappeared behind a corner to be replaced by houses flashing past the window.

After a few minutes, the door to the compartment slid open suddenly and a red-haired boy who looked to be about his age poked his head in.

'Anyone sitting there?' he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. 'Everywhere else is full.'

Harry shook his head slowly, and the boy smiled and sat down.

'I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley,' he said.

'Nice to meet you,' said Harry nervously. 'I'm Harry. . . Harry Potter.'

Predictably, the boy gave an exclamation of surprise. Harry was used to it by now, of course, but it still made him want to grimace. 'Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?'

'Um, yeah,' said Harry, shifting in his seat.

'Woah! That means you grew up at Hogwarts, with Dumbledore an all!'

Harry blinked. Usually people weren't interested in where he lived, though to be fair, most of the children he'd met had already been at Hogwarts.

'Yeah, I did.'

'That's really cool,' said Ron matter-of-factly. 'What's it like? My brothers are already there, but they never tell me anything.'

'You have brothers?'

'Yeah. Five of them, actually. Bill and Charlie are adults now, so they're not at Hogwarts, but Percy and Fred and George are.'

'Wow.'

There was a short pause.

'So. . . did you really defeat You-Know-Who?' asked Ron hesitantly.

Harry looked down, immediately aware of his heart thumping hard against his chest. 'Yeah,' he mumbled quietly, trying to push away the thoughts that had suddenly been brought to the forefront of his mind. No, no I haven't. . . I never defeated him. . . he was never gone. . . he was there. . .

'Oh. So you have the scar.'

'Yeah.'

'Cool,' said Ron again, and Harry felt a rush of relief that he didn't say anything else. He took a deep breath and rushed to change the subject.

'So. . . five brothers?'

'Yes, and I also have a sister, but she's a year younger than us. Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was Quidditch Captain. Now Percy's a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and I used to have Percy's old rat.' Ron's ears had gone pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he trailed off and glanced out the window. Harry didn't mind, though. He liked listening.

'What happened to him?' asked Harry. 'Did he die?'

'No. Well, we don't really know. Disappeared a few years ago. I reckon he just ran away, ya know?'

'Hedwig's my first pet,' said Harry, indicating to the edge of the cage he could see poking out from the shelf above Ron. Ron stood up to get a better look.

'Woah, an owl!'

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of sheep and cows, and even the occasional horse. They were both quiet for a time, watching the fields and small farmhouses flash past. Then, at around half past twelve, there was a great clattering outside in the corridor, shortly followed by the sight of a smiling, plump woman appearing at their compartment door.

'Anything off the trolley, dears?'

Harry, who had heard about the Trolley Lady and had brought some pocket money he had been saving for a while, stood up eagerly. Ron's ears went pink again, and he muttered something about sandwiches. Harry went out and looked at the wide range of sweets and chocolates the trolley supplied. In the end, he decided on some Chocolate Frogs and Every-Flavour Beans, bought them, and sat back down in his seat. Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. It contained four sandwiches.

'Mum always forgets I don't like corned beef,' he said, pulling one of them apart.

Harry made a face. 'Have one of these,' he said, pointing to a chocolate frog. 'Go on-'

'No, it's fine, really,' said Ron. 'I can just. . . She hasn't got a lot of time, you know, with five of us.'

'Come on,' urged Harry. 'I've got too much anyway.' He wanted to share. Ron looked uncertain, but eventually reached forwards to take a frog. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron as they ate their way through the sweets.

'Do you collect the cards?' Harry asked, holding up the one he had just unwrapped.

'Yeah!' exclaimed Ron. 'I'm missing Agrippa. You don't happen to have her, d'you? Or Ptolemy?'

'Nope,' said Harry. 'I haven't got them either. I'm also missing Alberic Grunnion and a few others- Merlin, I think, and he's meant to be one of the really common ones!'

'Ah, well, you never know what you're going to get.' Ron took another Chocolate Frog and unwrapped it, taking a bite out of its head. 'Dumbledore again.'

Harry grinned. 'He always finds it funny, when I get one with him on it,' he said. 'Says they got his picture all wrong, that he doesn't scratch his nose that way!'

Ron laughed.

They had a good time eating the Every-Flavoured Beans. The first one Ron got was sprouts, and Harry ended up getting one each of toast, coconut, baked beans, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardines, and was even brave enough to nibble the end of a funny grey one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be a very mild pepper.

The countryside they could now see past the window was becoming wilder. Gone were the neat fields and cottages. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills. Soon after they'd finished most of the sweets, there was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy came in. He looked tearful and upset.

'Sorry,' he said, 'but have any of you seen a toad at all?'

They shook their heads, and the boy gave a wail.

'I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!'

'He'll turn up eventually,' said Harry. 'Right?'

'Yes,' said the boy miserably. 'Well, if you see him...'

He left.

'Don't know why he's so bothered,' said Ron. 'If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quickly as I could. Then again, if Scabbers hadn't run away. . . I wish I had a pet,' Ron finished miserably.

'You can use Hedwig later if you need to send any letters to your family,' offered Harry, and Ron smiled.

'Thanks! Tell you what, one of my brothers taught me a spell to change your hair colour. Wanna see?'

'Yes!' said Harry. 'I don't know any spells yet- I didn't think we were allowed to learn any.'

'Yeah well, not sure if I was allowed, but I'm going to learn eventually, right? What difference does it make.' Ron stuck his hand into his pocket and brought out an old, weathered looking wand, and had just raised it to point at Harry's head when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her Hogwarts robes.

'Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one,' she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

'We've already told him we haven't seen it,' said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

'Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then.'

And she sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

'Er- all right.'

He cleared his throat and waved his wand.

'Trees, grass, sprouts and peas,

Change his hair to green, with ease!'

Harry braced himself, waiting for the spell to hit- it would be interesting to see his hair in a different colour other than black- but nothing happened. There was an awkward silence.

'Are you sure that's a real spell?' said the girl. 'It's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple ones just for practice, and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magical at all- it was ever such a surprise to get my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of Witchcraft there is, I've heard. I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?'

She said all this very fast. Harry looked at Ron and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he didn't have a clue of what half she'd just said either.

'I'm Ron Weasley,' Ron said.

'Harry Potter,' said Harry.

'Are you really?' said Hermione. 'I know all about you, of course- I got a few extra books for background reading and you're in them! They say you grew up at Hogwarts!' The last bit was said slightly hysterically. Harry tried not to look too baffled.

'Um, yeah, I did.'

'That's amazing!' cried Hermione. 'What was it like?'

'Ummm. . .'

Hermione suddenly seemed to realise why she had come into the compartment in the first place, and stood back up with an apologetic look at Neville. 'That's okay, I suppose you can tell me later when we get there. I'm ever so excited!'

And she left, taking the other boy with her.

Ron sighed and threw his wand to the side. 'Stupid spell- George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud.'

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, occasionally glancing out at the ever-changing landscape, before the compartment door once again slid open.

'Oh for the love of-' said Ron, making as if to stand up.

But it was not Hermione and Neville again. Instead, three boys had entered. The one standing in the middle had a long, pale face, and he seemed to be flanked on both sides by two thick and mean-looking. . . bodyguards?

'Is it true?' the pale boy said. 'They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. Is it you?' He was looking at Harry pointedly, and Harry immediately felt uncomfortable. The boy seemed strangely familiar somehow as if Harry had seen him before, but he was certain he hadn't. . .

'Yeah,' he said slowly, glancing at the other two boys.

'Oh, this is Grabbe and this is Goyle,' said the boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. 'And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.'

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

'Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford.'

He turned back to Harry.

'You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.'

He held out his hand to shake, but Harry didn't take it. He was starting to quite dislike this boy.

'No thank you,' he said as politely as he could. Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.

'I'd watch out if I were you, Potter,' he said slowly. 'Unless you're a bit more careful you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and it'll rub off on you.'

Harry felt a surge of anger seep through him, and he and Ron both stood up at the same time, Ron's face as red as his hair.

'What did you say?'

'Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?' Malfoy sneered.

'Unless. . . unless you get out now,' said Harry, more bravely than he felt. He hated fighting.

'But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some.'

Goyle reached towards the last few chocolate frogs, which lay next to Ron- Ron leapt forwards, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Hermione appeared again in the doorway, looking tired and out of breath.

'What on Earth is going on?' she cried. 'Are you fighting?'

'No,' said Harry, taking Ron's arm and pulling him away from Goyle. 'We-'

But he was interrupted as Malfoy turned to look at Hermione with a look of disgust on his face. 'Who are you?'

Hermione seemed to falter a bit at his glance, but stood up straighter all the same. 'Hermione Granger.'

Malfoy grimaced even harder. 'Haven't heard of that name. You must be. . . muggle-born.'

'Watch it Malfoy,' said Ron, scowling, as at the same time Hermione spluttered, indignant;

'And so what if I am?'

Malfoy ignored both of them and turned back to Grabbe and Goyle. 'Let's get out of here,' he told them. 'See you at school, Potter.'

And they left.

'What simply awful boys!' said Hermione. 'Especially that blonde one!'

'Malfoy,' offered Harry.

'Yes, him. Well, I better be off, then. I was just up the front speaking to the driver and he says we're nearly there.'

After Hermione had left, they began to pull out their robes to get changed, Ron muttering about Malfoy under his breath as he went about putting his things in his pockets. The sky outside had begun to turn dark, and soon dull lights turned on inside the compartment. Harry felt another rush of excitement as he realised just how close they were to arriving.

He had lived at Hogwarts for as long as he could remember, but now, it was different. He would be, for the first time, seeing things from the perspective of a student. He was excited. He was nervous. But it felt good. Soon, he would be officially sorted.

And Harry really couldn't wait.

A/N: Please review!