Prologue
Posted: 10.7.12
Re-Posted: 11.7.13 (wow, Happy Birthday Mr Fic)
Re-Re-Posted: 31.12.14
Summary: What if Harry had a younger sister who was named the Girl-Who-Lived. What if Harry remembers growing up in the Wizarding world and steps were taken to ensure that he would be ready for when he re-entered Wizarding Britain? Here is my version.
If you are reading this for the first time ignore the A/N
A/N – So I decided to go around the awful writers block that I was suffering by trimming down some of the plot points that I had wanted to cram into this fic, hence the revamp. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm foreseeing this version being more realistic, and less time between updates, than the previous versions. -
A/N2) Happy 2015 Y'all good luck for the coming year and party safely! XD
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My parents and weren't the 'normal' lovey dovey couple, not many in Wizarding society are. My father James deluded himself into thinking that he was head over heels in love with my mother, and that she felt the same, while my mother Lily could barley stand being in the same room as him. She was more Slytherin than anyone ever gave her credit for. They were married straight out of Hogwarts and I was born less than a month after the ceremony. Lily married James despite the fact that she absolutely loathed him, the bullying toe-rag that he was to anyone he deemed unworthy to be in his presence. If she hadn't she wouldn't have been able to actually do anything with her talents in the Wizarding world, due to everyone believing that she was a muggleborn.
In the British Wizarding world those born from the mundane have… limited rights. Many of the laws (mainly unwritten) that restrict them were put into place during the blood wars, and none who follow the Old Ways deign to remove them. On paper the limitations aren't too terrible, they can own land, create businesses, vote and have right to a trial. However, in reality the stigma they carry due to the changes some tried to force way back when still lingers. The mundane-born are not allowed to have any station higher than the equivalent of 'commoner' unless they marry into an older family, and even then they usually have trouble moving in those circles. They also are never allowed to have seats of power like Headmaster of Hogwarts, a seat on the Hogwarts Board or the Wizengamot, nor could they become department Heads in the Ministry. It wasn't terrible being mundane-born, just terribly inconvenient if you actually wanted to stay in the Wizarding world. The few who leave either struggle getting their mundane education to get a well paying job in the mundane world. However some, if they did their homework properly, move to a different magical community where fresh blood is always welcome, this choice being in a minority due to the limited information available to the mundane-born because of the various Ministry restrictions.
Lily was one of the lucky few mundane-born who were able to marry into a house higher than Noble, the House of Potter being Most Ancient and Noble. I always found it fascinating to watch her go from a loving and doting wife, to cursing James' name, she was lucky that at the time I had no interest in repeating anything she said, it would have gotten her into a lot of trouble, mainly of the line theft variety.
Due to her better than average station Lily was allowed to go much higher than she would have otherwise in the ranks of the St Mungo's healers. She became one of the best healer/researchers that they ever had, even though by marrying James she technically shouldn't have needed to work. Unfortunately she was never able to complete any of her research.
James, as I said before, was a toe-rag. From the stories that I overheard him telling my sister about his time at Hogwarts and the pranks he and his friends used to pull, he was downright vicious to his victims. James was one of those people who thought that those around him were put on the earth to do his bidding and give him what he wanted, when he wanted. Even though he was the heir to the House of Potter, James was an Auror Captain along with his best friend, and my godfather, Sirius Black. And although at the time, they were some of the Ministry's best law enforcement, those who follow the Old Ways most zealously would never have accepted him.
The reason why he and Lily had to work was because my Grandfather put many restrictions on Vault access after he took me in, almost immediately after I was born, due to James and Lily 'just starting their lives' and 'having no idea how to care for a baby', not that they ever really tried. It wasn't long after my second birthday that my father was removed as heir to the House of Potter since he still hadn't taken any interest whatsoever in me nor how I was being raised. So I lived with my grandparents Charlus and Dorea in their wing of the manor until they passed away when I was about three and a half. They were the closest things to real parents that I've ever had.
Because I developed faster than average, even for a magical child, I had started lessons soon after my third birthday due to the almost violent accidental magical outbursts that I suffered. These lessons included the Pre-Hogwarts core four (which usually started around seven): history, etiquette, customs and calligraphy, as well as occlumency to hopefully curb some of my excess magic. It was very fortunate that Grandpa Charles and Grandma Rea had commissioned their portraits before their deaths; otherwise I probably would have lost myself long ago.
It wasn't long after my Grandparent's deaths that Lily and James started being home even less often than usual, and I soon found out that it was because they were fighting some dark lord person. Sometimes they would be home for days because they had been injured and Uncle Siri and Remy would come over and help look after them. I loved it when they visited, they would actually acknowledge that I was there and spend time with me… and bring me presents, I mean, who doesn't like presents. My favorite was the child broom that they got me for my fourth birthday.
It was around that time that my Lily and James publically announced that they were going to have another baby. Not long after the announcement Albus Dumbledore (apparently he was the leader of one of the sides of the war) dropped around to give congratulations and was quick to tell them of a prophesy that said a child born at the end of July, to a family that defied Voldemort, the "current" dark lord*subject to interpretation*, three times, would be able to bring his downfall. (I think that my parents forgot that I was born a minute to midnight July 31st, but whatever) He demanded that they go into hiding to keep the baby safe. Lucky little me got to sit in on the whole conversation because they didn't expect me to understand.
A decision was made to leave for the safe house that Dumbledore had organized the next day, which gave me enough time to talk to the portraits to sort out the packing of the manor, as my parents decided to only take personal possessions, the idiots.
With Grandpa Charles' portrait's help I had the elves (we had quite a few) pack up the manor, including clippings from the greenhouses, into a few trunks that were to be deposited into the family Gringots vault. I especially liked the trunk that I was given; it had three compartments that you could access by touching certain parts the Potter crest that decorated it. My favorite compartment was like a mini bookshelf that could be rotated through (*think Wall-E*) which contained the entire Potter library. The second compartment could morph into a closet if you stood the trunk on end, and the last was a miscellaneous compartment that was divided into individual expanded spaces. It was decided that 12 of my ancestors' portraits would come with me so that I could continue my heir studies.
If you haven't realized, I was a very astute child. I was also very good at overhearing adult conversations (only occasionally with the help of the elves) because those around me always underestimated me, which is the only reason I not only know why we went into hiding but who our secret keeper really was and why my sister and I were put in the care of my loving relatives.
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A/N – Reviews feed the monster XD