A Change In Plans

Harry Potter was a happy, normal boy. Or well, mostly normal and usually happy, after all nobody is really normal as everyone is quite different and everyone has their bad days. The little boy himself however, was a surprise to both his guardians and the neighbourhood and left them gossiping for weeks.

Petunia Dursley, his aunt, was horrified to see a child on her doorstep that fateful November morning, and after quickly reading the letter left with her nephew decided there was only one thing to do; raise her sister's child to be as normal as possible and hope he wouldn't follow in his parents footsteps. That decision, of course led to quite the argument with her husband, Vernon Dursley, but in the end it was decided that Harry's upbringing would be left to Petunia and Vernon would just ignore the boy that was living the spare 2nd bedroom.

Of course the next few days followed their son and Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley pinching and prodding at the strange new person in his house, stealing his Mum's attention. Everytime Petunia saw such a thing however, she told her son to play nicely or she would, following the neighbours example, put him on the "naughty step". Dudley quickly decided to leave the strange boy alone.

Over the next few years, Harry had a normal life and when he was four he started primary school alongside his cousin, and everything went well until the parent-teacher meetings.

Petunia attended and was pleased to hear how well her nephew was doing, how he near top of the class and how he had made friends with some of the other children. What she was not pleased to hear was how bad her son was doing and how he was bullying the other students. When she shared this news with Vernon, at first he was convinced that "the little freak must have done something" and wanted to lock him in the cupboard under the stairs. After a long talk with his wife and a threat involving a rolling pin in an...unpleasant area he soon reconsidered and decided they could just about afford to get Dudley a tutor for the next year to get him up to date and some anger management sessions. Some changes to their budget had to be made, but they wanted both the boys to be healthy, productive members of society and the cutting back on bad foods was worth it in Petunia's eyes.

Life continued on for the next few years, Dudley learning to manage his anger and become friends with the other children, him and Harry becoming quite close because of them being in the same class, and could often be seen out at the park together or playing video games at home. Then, about a month before Harry's 11th birthday, Vernon got made an offer he couldn't refuse.

Vernon Dursley came home from work and instantly called for a house meeting. When everyone was sitting down in the living room, he began to speak.

"As you all know, Grunnings has been thinking of expanding into other countries recently," he paused to look at his family's reactions before continuing. "And I'm pleased to announce that such a thing has been made possible."

"Oh Vernon that's wonderful news," aunt Petunia said as shot up from her seat to give him a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

"It doesn't end there, I'm afraid." he took and deep breath and carried on. "The country we're expanding into is the Republic of Ireland."

Silence followed his statement and he quickly continued before anyone could voice their concerns.

"The Irish economy is strong right now, so their giving pretty big tax breaks to any company sets up business there. I'll also receive a larger paycheck as I'll be the director of two different branches. So far we have a license for 5 years, after that we'll either renew it or shut up operations and move back over to England."

"But Vernon, what about the IRA?" Petunia asked, almost whispering the last part. Vernon smiled in what Harry supposed was meant to be a comforting way.

"I'm afraid it's a risk we'll just have to take."

A week later, the Dursley/Potter household were in the Republic of Ireland.

Harry settled in quite quickly to their new house, and after a few days could be seen with the other children on the road on the weekend. The two that he seemed to be friendly with first however was a 13 year old boy called Thomas Murphy and one of his siblings called Laura, who had just turned 11. They took him and Dudley under wing and introduced them to everyone else, while also teaching him about different games that everyone liked to play, like cerbs, rounders and both of the G.A.A sports. Petunia was glad to see how happy her son and nephew were, but that all changed a week before Harry's 11th birthday.

The family was in the kitchen eating breakfast, when there was a knock on the door.

"Harry, would you go get the door please?" asked Petunia as she barely looked up from her plate.

"Yes Aunt Petunia." Harry pulled back his chair and out the room, following his aunts requests, only to find a stranger behind the door.

The man had black hair, and blue eyes and he was smiling down at Harry. He was dressed pretty well too, wearing a wool black coat over a white shirt, and a pair of black leather shoes.

"Ah, isn't it?" the man asked and Harry gave a reluctant nod.

"Yes sir. How can I help you?" the man just kept smiling at him.

"My name is Seán Rafferty, Principle of Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht and I would like to extend an offer for you to join our school."

"...Aunt Petunia!" Harry called as he looked over his shoulder for her. "Somebody's here to offer me a place at their school!"

Petunia looked up from her spot of the table caught Vernon's eye, where he was slowly starting to turn red.

"...Bring him in then, I'll talk to him with you in the living room." she quickly turned to Vernon. "Don't worry dear, if he's from that Hogwarts place there is no way hes going." Vernon nodded his approval.

"Come in then, sir." Harry said pushing the door open wider and the man nodded his thanks.

When Petunia came into the room the first thing she said was "If you're from that Hogwarts place, there is no way my nephew is going with you. He is going to receive a good, normal education."

The man, Principle Rafferty, blinked and shook his head while Harry looked on in confusion. What was Hogwarts?

"No, I'm from an Irish school, Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht. We unlike Hogwarts, teach non-magical subjects-"

"He will not be attending magical school!" she told him firmly and he frowned at her.

"But he needs to learn to control his magical core." he explained calmly, while Harry watched the conversation continue for a moment before he decided to stop it.

"Stop fighting!" he said loudly, and both adults turned to look at him. "First, Aunt Petunia, let's listen to what he says first and then we can make a decision." she frowned but nodded. That was the best she would get she supposed. "And Mr...Rafferty right?" at his nod Harry continued. "What do you mean 'magical core'?"

He sighed. "You didn't tell him anything?"

"The letter that came with him told us not too. I hoped that by not talking about it he might not turn out like his mother or no-good-father." she responded with a shrug.

He decided to put that first bit of information away for later and launched into an explanation of his fame and what Hogwarts was before he came to his own school.

"My school, Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht, was founded in the 1920's after the Republic was formed. Originally, it was meant to serve as a place to unify the Republic and up North and teach our children together in a safe environment. After a while we decided to add non-magical, or muggle as most of wizarding britain call normal people, to our curriculum as some children simply weren't being thought enough at home to be at the level needed to structure an essay correctly or how to understand the science behind non-magical inventions, something that is becoming more necessary by the day. Recently we've also opened our doors to any sorcerer in Europe, Australia and Britain who wishes to join us, and certain magical creatures."

"What magical creatures? Where is it? What will I be learning? Why don't Americans go to the school as well?" Harry rapidly asked the man, excited about such a place existing. His aunt Petunia sighed, and inwardly resolved to let the boy attend if they covered enough for him to go to college afterwards so that he could leave the wizarding world and get a normal job if he wanted, unlike her sister who got trapped in there when she was Harry's age.

"Wow, slow down kid. Give me a chance to answer," the Principle joked. "We let leprechauns, elves, werewolves and veelas attend. Starting this year we will also allow squibs to attend, who are like the reverse of your mother Harry, a non-magical born to magical parents. The school itself is in Tara, and you'll be learning the core subjects of Maths, History, Geography, English, Irish, Science, C.S.P.E, Transfiguration, Charms and Defense Against The Dark Arts. After that you will select 5 electives to take, 2 magical and 3 non magical, and next year you will drop 2 and continue a total of 13 subjects for your Junior Cert Course. Here, this is the letter explaining subjects and extracurricular activities." He pulled out a letter detailing school equipment and a pamphlet describing everything else he would need to know, including subject choices.

Harry took it and glanced at the list but before he read it the Principle kept explaining.

"At the end of your acceptance letter is a spot for you and your guardian to sign as well as say which subjects you want to take. Normally you post it back but you can just give it to me seeing as I'll be back tomorrow to get your school supplies with you. And as to your last question, the reason is quite simple. Americans don't trust non-magicals in the slightest and by extension don't trust muggleborns very well, and while we do have wards that prevent physical bullying, we won't be able to prevent verbal bullying. We would rather not take the risk with having British students and American purebloods in the same school either. That's just asking for a disaster to happen."

Harry nodded and sat back in his chair to look at the pamphlet and his aunt joined him.

"Well, I need to head of now, but if you think of anymore questions I'll be back tomorrow at 11:00 a.m to get Harry if that's okay with you?" When she nodded in reply the man disappeared with a small crack and the two of the returned to the pamphlet.

Core Subjects

*These subjects are mandatory and must be taken by every student until he/she has taken the Junior Certificate Exam.*

Transfiguration

Charms

DADA

Maths

English

Irish

Civic, Social and Political Education (C.S.P.E)

History

Geography

Science

Choice Subjects

*O.W.L Students please choose 2 magical subjects and 3 non-magical subjects*

Magical

Potions (This also include Herbology as both subjects go hand-in-hand together)

Ancient Runes

Arithmancy

Spell Creation (4th years and up only, only if Ancient Runes and arithmancy was taken)

Rituals and Blood Magic (4th years and up only, only if Ancient Ruins and Potions was taken.)

Alchemy (4th Years and up only, only if Arithmancy and Potions was taken.)

Druidic Magic (4th years and up only, no pre-required subject)

Divination (Only if proven seer)

Warding and Curse Breaking (4th years and up, Rituals and Blood Magic or Spell Creation recommended)

Care of Magical Creatures (2nd and 3rd year course)

Healing (4th years and up, potions necessary along with at least an A in Charms)

Non-Magical

Classical Studies

Physical Education

Religion

French/Spanish/Italian/Japanese (One Language Only)

Technology

Art

Music

Home Ec.

Graphical Design

Ancient Greek (not if taking Classical Studies or Latin)

Latin (not if taking Classical Studies or Ancient Greek)

Jewish Studies (Junior Cert Level only)

Business Studies

Extracurricular activities

*These are all optional clubs that the school offers that can be joined or quit at anytime.*

Homework Club

Dueling Club

Scouts

Quidditch

Hurling/Camogie

Football

Soccer

Rounders

Debate

Basketball

Field Hockey

Drama

Choir

Orchestra

Radio

Potions

Karate

Chess

Tag Rugby

Rugby

After looking at the list, Harry felt a bit overwhelmed, he looked at his aunt, who had just finished reading before him.

"Can I? Can I? Can I pleaseeee go Aunt Petunia?" he begged and she glanced at the pamphlet again. The school seemed decent enough and actually gave the children a choice in what careers they want to take, and the selection seemed decent enough...

"All right, but if you ever want to drop out, say the word." Harry's grin brightened up the whole room and he ran of to get a pen to fill in the form as fast as he could.

A.N: Hey guys! I just was looking for fanfiction where Harry moves to a different country and chooses to attend their school. Seeing as I'm Irish and still in school myself, I thought this would be fun for an idea. Still don't know when or if I'll post another chapter but hey, any suggestions or reviews are welcome :)

A.N 2: I keep updating the list of subjects and clubs here so if I reference them in later chapters and you haven't checked over this chapter since an update then just remember that I probably added it later.