Chapter 1
"Boy, we're going to the optometrist and you're coming with us."
Now, Harry Potter wore glasses for the reasons that most people do normally: bad eyesight. So in reality he really did need to see the eye doctor, since his prescription had changed. Lacking the depth perception to dodge a bludger shot at him in one practice had really driven that point at home.
So the words themselves hadn't shocked him.
Rather, it was who was saying them.
Vernon Dursley.
More than any of his relatives, Harry despised Vernon Dursley. Petunia could be absolved because she just wanted to be normal and had an intense fear of the magical. Her fear drove her to lash out emotionally but that was as far as it went.
The sad part was that considering the general opinion of the magic world to muggle society, her fear was actually justified. Especially with people like the death eaters hanging around. He was still sure that she kept a shotgun beneath her bed.
Vernon Dursley had no such excuse.
The man didn't just despise magical people but he also despised (in consecutive order) people with odd taste in clothes, foreigners and liberals. The man virtually disliked anybody that was different from himself, and those who he liked he was constantly competing with in material goods such as his car. Harry honestly pitied the man almost as much as he hated him.
Needless to say where Petunia had been prone to occasional nice things to say (never in the presence of Vernon), Vernon Dursley never had anything decent to say. Harry was pretty sure they hadn't actually tried to literally beat the magic only because eventually it would have gotten noticed by the school teachers who actually liked him. Harry often wondered if they had called social services, only to mysteriously have their memory rewritten.
Earlier he would have just called it paranoia.
With his current knowledge of obliviators, the paranoia seemed all too real.
So Vernon Dursley was the last person he expected to show him concern.
Not wanting to risk ruining such an opportunity by questioning it and knowing that Vernon was far too scared of Dumbledore to even consider abandoning him in the middle of London, he rushed to get dressed.
If he had stayed just a bit longer he would have seen a relieved expression cross his uncle's face.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Harry quickly found that 'us' was just Vernon and him.
The ride into London was incredibly silent only punctuated by the sound of breathing. Neither of them particularly wanted to say anything nor did they have anything to say. Most of Harry's life revolved around the magical world and Vernon already bragged about every single success in his company.
Both of them were very happy when they got to their destination and the tension disappeared.
Harry hadn't been left out of Surrey for almost his entire life. The only other places he went where Hogwarts, Diagon alley and the one time at the zoo. Needless to say the last one was a bad experience during and after.
So when he got his chance to come out and saw an underground parking lot, he wasn't disappointed.
"Come on boy. The sooner we get this done with the better." Vernon gruffly announced pointing to the stairs.
The trip up the stairs ended in broad daylight with Vernon grumbling about increased ticket prices and crappy parking positions.
Harry Potter caught his first glimpse of the building his uncle was taking him to.
Having already passed through the square, he'd seen his share of tall buildings. However, he expected to go to a rather small one seeing as his uncle wasn't likely to spend more than necessary on him. His expectations were once again flattened when he saw that the building had to at least be fifteen stories tall.
As much as he hated to do it…he was going to have to thank his uncle.
He turned his head to thank his Uncle…and saw something that scared him.
Vernon was pale white. Something within that building was scaring him to the point where even magic could not reach. Considering that magic scared the living crap out of him that was really saying something.
Harry was immediately thankful that he had his wand with him.
Harry found himself riding the elevator after walking past the secretary who had to be related to Madam Pince in some way.
The tension finally tightened to a choke point when Harry finally brought up the courage to ask a question "Uncle…you're not taking me to an eye doctor, are you?"
His uncle's face already sweaty swung towards his direction so fast that Harry was sure he sprained something. Beady little eyes looked at him for a moment before he said in the most silent voice he had ever used "Boy, if you know what is good for both of us, you won't do any of that weird stuff around here."
Harry was about to call him out on that, when he mentally retraced the conversation.
'Good for both of us'
What the hell could he mean?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The 'eye-doctor's' office was of very Spartan-liked design. Nearly everything was either black, brown or white-Harry honestly couldn't see any bit of color anywhere. The resident of the office was no different.
The woman was dressed in a black suit and pants with a black tie. Harry would have bet several galleons, that the shoes were shiny black as well. Her brown hair was cut short into a sort of bob cut/military hair cut, to the point that it looked exactly like a young man. From behind, the woman would have seemed like a young man.
The woman's expression shifted a minute bit from the impassiveness it formerly had when he had been called in. Now it was back to stone-like expression with her eyes subtly taking in his appearance. McGonagall would have been proud.
Harry on the other hand was more nervous than anything else.
"Mr. Dursley, if you could please leave. The envelope is with the secretary." The woman quietly commented, eyes never leaving Harry.
Vernon Dursley moved so fast that the door was still swinging when he got to the secretary.
Harry was suddenly aware that he was very much alone and with no idea of what he was involved in.
Carefully he removed his wand and shifted it so that the woman couldn't see it. Preparing to stun first ask questions later, he was going to move his wand in just-
"I wouldn't do that." The well dressed woman rapped out.
"Huh?" Harry shocked out of his planning, intelligently said.
"You are obviously planning to cast a spell in my direction. If your ridiculous attempt to hide your wand" Harry winced "from me is any indication." Setting down her hands to show that they were empty, she continued "Mr. Potter, your disappearance, would make my life incredibly difficult with the ministry. I'd rather not have to go into hiding from a bunch of logic-impaired wizards if you please."
"So what are you suggesting?" Harry asked still on his guard.
"I am suggesting that you sit down and we can talk like two civilized human beings."
Harry, keeping his eyes on her, slowly sank into the comfortable chair. As an added show of grace, he placed his wand on the desk-still within reach but visible.
The woman's lips twitched and she removed the handgun from her lap and quietly placed it in front of her.
His eyes bugged out at the sight of the weapon and he realized how close he had become to being a corpse on the floor.
Pretending not to notice the pale expression on Harry's face, the woman introduced herself "My name is Jane Ockham. Apologies for having to meet you in such a manner but Dumbledore's interference gave me little choice. The message we tried to send you by owl was intercepted."
"You tried to contact me before this?" Harry asked.
"Indeed." Ockham waited for Harry to process this.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Dumbledore" Ockham commented "didn't apparently feel that you had the right to know that you had other options to do magic outside of Hogwarts."
"What!" Ockham looked at him annoyed at the outburst and Harry quieted down "…what exactly are you talking about?"
Ockham sighed and rubbed her forehead "Get comfortable Mr. Potter. This is going to be a rather long story." Seeing Harry settle down "You must be aware that there are other magical schools that exist besides Hogwarts-"
"There are?" Harry interrupted.
"…Yes." Ockham fairly growled out and Harry decided to grow silent "Some of them are more recent while others are a fair bit older than Hogwarts. The one I work for is the Licens school for magic."
Harry frowned "Never heard of it."
"Not surprising, if Dumbledore is monitoring your mail and deciding what you see and read." She continued before Harry could try to rise up in Dumbledore's defense "The Licens school of magic is a school that was set up in the late 1970's by the last heir of the Licens family. Upon his death, his will stated to leave most of his funds to create a school for magic in London in direct defiance to the death eaters who had killed him."
"Why did the death eaters kill him?" Harry asked curious.
"Alexander Licens was a squib, who by fantastic luck and good survival skills, managed to survive when all his wizarding relatives died. The inheritance naturally went to him no matter how much the purebloods argued. Blood is thicker than magic, after all." The smile that appeared on Ockham's face was just a tiny bit vindictive and spiteful "The first thing he did was write a will and make multiple copies to send to beneficiaries many of which disliked the ministry, and wouldn't be bribed to hush up. When Alexander Licens died by an…unfortunate accident, the school was already halfway being set up. It was his way of spitting at the death eaters and the society that despised him." Ockham explained.
"Oh." Harry awkwardly said.
"Naturally, the death eaters very much didn't like that." Harry snorted at the understatement "They attempted to kill all the teachers."
"What stopped them?" Harry said half expecting to hear Dumbledore.
"The mundane who had a personal interest in creating a school close to home. We answered spells with bullets." Harry gulped "The ministry fell into a tizzy. They would rather mundane get slaughtered than fight back-we were of differing opinions of that regard."
Ockham continued after drinking from her tea cup "Instead of getting in a losing battle with the magical government, we went straight to the prime minister and told him of the situation."
Harry who had been drinking tea spat it out "Bu-statute of secre-"
Ockham carefully made sure that her papers were away from the spat out tea on her desk before responding "The prime minister is by necessity informed of magic upon his acceptance of the office. Meaning that we did not break the statute. Seeing as the magical government was already having problems dealing with death eaters and didn't want to add such things as the mundane government interfering, they left us alone. In return we produce the majority of mundaneborns who work for the sections that deal with magic in the mundane government and occasionally give the man advice of magical matters."
Harry was rapidly trying to absorb the knowledge imparted on him. He wasn't getting anywhere and was becoming numb with shock at all the information imparted on him. He was saved by Ockham continuing her speech.
"The fact is that Hogwarts detest us."
Harry blinked in surprise "Uh-"
Ockham shook her head at Harry's denial "Do you know how British magical society works, Mr. Potter?"
Harry shook his head after a moment of thought.
"It depends on the influx of mundaneborns from the outside. Each year the society stagnates more and more in the face of the mundane government's progress. If you were only to count the purebloods and half-bloods there wouldn't be enough for a society to function, and it would slowly degrade in isolation. Magical Britain needs the mundane world a lot more than the mundane need it." Ockham finished.
Harry Potter frowned at that "That's not true."
Ockham raised an eyebrow "Please continue."
Harry suddenly was on the spot and bravely decided to tread forward "In Hogwarts there are an even number of purebloods with muggleborns. If what you said was true there would be far more muggleborns than purebloods."
"Good observation, Mr. Potter." Ockham conceded "However…do tell me something about Hogwarts. Would you consider it prestigious?"
Harry blinked in surprise. He really was beginning to hate that feeling "Yes…I guess so."
"Luxurious?"
Harry thought of the beds, dormitories and foods provided "Yes."
"Stocked with many books that you won't find anywhere else?"
"Yes."
"So naturally this wouldn't come cheap wouldn't you say?" Ockham led.
"I guess n-oh." Harry paused finally seeing the point.
"Many pureblood families have accumulated wealth because of their long histories and bloody conquests. As such more of them are able to attend than the average mundaneborn."
"This doesn't answer why Hogwarts detests you." Harry truculently pointed out feeling very much like an uninformed idiot.
"You needed to know the facts before I get further. Over the last ten years, word of Hogwarts declining standards has spread. Your appearance in the school signaled a more significant decline."
"Are you saying that because of me, the school has become more dangerous?" Harry asked as calmly as he could.
Judging by the scathing look he was sent, it wasn't calmly enough "We both know the facts. The school was plenty dangerous already before you showed up-but you set a fuse."
Ockham smiled at Harry's deceptively impassive face "While the pureblood and half-blood community are content to simply roll with the changes and put their children in death's jaws repeatedly, mundane are not like that. All we had to do was point them to newspaper articles detailing the incidents, and Hogwarts lost a full 2/4th of their mundaneborn potential students-when they were already losing plenty."
Harry fought not to yell. He loved Hogwarts but everything that the woman was pointing out was true. He had just never considered what an impact on Hogwarts it would have.
"Let me guess. All of them go to Licens now." Harry said.
"Hardly. We are not the only school in London. There are apprenticeships out there as well. We do take the majority though."
"So Hogwarts detests you…"
"…because we simply give the mundane more information. We actually call them when their child is put in danger instead of thinking of them as unimportant. We have e-mail. We are closer to the mundane world and provide a portal. We are simply that much more hospitable to the mundane world than Hogwarts will ever be." The smile on Ockham's face grew brighter as she continued "We are the new. The practical. The non-traditional. In the end, we have simply developed faster than Hogwarts has. We are the future."
Harry Potter rose an eyebrow "You realize how much like a classical evil overlord you sounded right now."
Ockham coughed and blushed in embarrassment "Sorry, habit of mine. Too many drama classes."
"Ah."
"Anyway, let me get to the point. We can't offer you the full course of tuition because you are already attending Hogwarts. What we can offer you is a place to practice magic freely within the school for the summer."
Harry frowned. The offer was excellent but…"Won't the ministry get me for practicing magic illegally?"
Ockham smirked "The underage magical law specifically states that you can use magic so long as a capable magical adult is near you and you are under his/her/its supervision. Meaning that technically there can be…oh, thirty mundaneborns within a single room and two magical adults. The ministry would be able to do nothing to limit them."
Harry grinned "Really?" Harry looked puzzled for a second "Does it really say 'its supervision'?"
"Transfiguration incident."
"Oh."
Harry thought about it. He would be able to get away from the Dursleys. He would be able to practice magic and get the assignments that he formerly had to do under the cover of darkness done in broad daylight. He would be able to be more informed of the magical world. Harry furiously thought of a downside.
He could see none.
"Miss Ockham, you have a deal."