Disclaimer: My name is not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own Harry Potter
A dark-haired baby listens as his mother sings a few verses of song to him while his father brushes the woman's beautiful red hair. James, stops and the lady picks up the baby. The child, Harry pats his mother's head and talks in his childish voice…
"Mommy's hair pwetty. Why me no have hair like mommy?" Then Baby Harry grabs a handful of his mothers auburn locks and concentrates. His father is about to ask what the child is doing when Lily stops him with a look. She's seen Harry do this before.
All of the sudden the child's hair changes to the same deep red as his mothers! "Oh, Harry! Another power we will have to show you! At this rate, you won't have time to play at all when you can start learning these things!" says Lily. James on the other hand was contemplating: "Do you think he could change his whole body?" "Oh, James", exclaims Lily, "He must've gotten it from Sirius!" Tap. Tap. Tap!
"Wake up, brat! It's time for you to make breakfast", demands a horse-faced, black-haired woman. "Yes, Aunt Petunia", comes the reply. And so begins another day at the Dursley household.
A few hours later the five year old boy is sitting on his favorite swing in the park. He is skinny, tan (from working in the garden), relatively fit, and covered in bruises he's acquired from beatings his Uncle, Aunt, and cousin gave him. He's thinking about the dream he had last night.
"So my mother used to sing to me", the young boy thinks to himself in wonder. For you see Harry could use magic like his parents and, unfortunately, unlike his Aunt. Harry often has dreams of his parents (this is how he knows so much about them), but this dream is different. In this dream he found out he could do things others couldn't. In this dream, Harry learns he is special. Of course his family had always cruelly pointed this out…
"Maybe Aunt Petunia's right and I am a freak", he thinks darkly. "But this power would be awesome, not to mention dead useful", says a voice in the back of his mind. So, the little boy ignored the tiny part of him that still begged for his family's forgiveness and pondered this new ability. "Besides, I can't control the fact that I'm different and weird things always happen to me" thinks that voice again.
"I should probably start slowly and concentrate on something small. I ought to try just my hair length for now." And Harry starts his "practice". Finally, after much time, the boy becomes frustrated. "Why isn't this working? I got it within two minutes when I was just a baby!" So he practices some more. About an hour later Harry notices his hair has become about an inch longer! He did it! That achievement opened the world of possibilities to Harry.
Everyday after his chores, Harry went to the park to practice the new trick. Three days after the dream, Harry has mastered hair length. He could even grow a mustache! "It probably looks kind of weird on a five year old, though." After hair, he started on nails then hair color, and finally skin tone.
While doing all these things Harry noticed something a little weird. When "changing" it was like a bit of energy from right behind his heart moved. At first the energy had to be pushed, but after practice it became easy and flowed quicker. "Why is it taking so long now when it was easy when I was a baby? It's like I have to force the energy to work!"
A month later found Aunt Petunia dropping Harry off in front of the day-care. He has a backpack with clothes, bathroom supplies, and his secret money stash. Harry wasn't a regular child, he had picked up on the fact that money was important. He had done odd jobs around the neighborhood as well as keeping any spare change from shopping for his aunt. Given the recent skill he has discovered, Harry's decided to do something about all the bullying his family puts him through.
"Now don't do anything freaky that will get any attention, boy. We'll be back to get you in two weeks", asserts the horrible woman. "Yes, Aunt Petunia. Have a good time at Aunt Marge's", replies Harry. He watches as his aunt drives away then memorizes where he is so he knows how to get back. Harry proceeds to walk into a small alley and use his newly-learned of powers. Walking out of the alley is a taller, blond with blue eyes boy who looks around eleven. His skin is tanned and his eyes slightly slanted. This is the chance Harry has been waiting for! The chance to learn something is not a thing this child will pass up.
Reading, writing, and math have always come easily to Harry, mainly because of his love of learning. Of course, being five, Harry doesn't know all that much, so he has decided to try to fix that, by getting as many books as he can. Harry has never actually read a book but he had to be able to read recipes and instructions. Literature was learned by writing the many lists for chores and shopping. He learned math by measuring for the numerous meals he has made for his family.
Harry's relatives have always called him "stupid" and "dense." He would prove them all wrong. He crosses the street and timidly asks an old lady where the nearest bookstore is. Luckily, it was only two blocks away! After thanking the nice woman, Harry starts the short walk. As usual, something unusual happens.
Harry was only about halfway there when he sees a store across the street. The sign says "Books for All". "I wonder why that nice woman didn't tell me about this store" he thought. After thinking it over the youngling decided she probably just didn't know about it. So Harry crossed the street and entered the non-descript shop.
Inside was the tallest man Harry had ever seen. The slim figure was probably over 7 feet tall. He had chestnut red hair and warm brown eyes. He was also surrounded by piles upon piles of books. Everywhere Harry looked books were laying about. Behind the counter the man was sitting at Harry saw a big shelf of many stones and gems. When Harry walked in a bell tinkled and the man looked up from the giant tome he was reading.
"Hello, cub" he spoke in a deep voice "My name is Beorn. You must have a great desire for knowledge to be able to see my store. I went through great lengths to make it invisible to regulars. We have a great variety of books on… just about everything. What information do you seek today?"
Beorn looked like he really wanted to get back to the huge script he was reading. He didn't even get a good look at Harry or wait for an answer before going back to his book.
"Blimey, did he just say invisible? Maybe magic isn't so "unreal" as the Dursley's would like to believe. I wonder if he has any books about my body shaping thing." All these thoughts ran through the young boy's head in a few seconds. Instead of any of those questions, Harry just asked one thing: "How late are you open?" Beorn looked up again from the tome and got another look at Harry.
He then glanced at an enormous blue stone that was gleaming behind him. "Well the wards are still up. How did a boy get in here? Can you read yet, child?" he asked in a questioning tone. Then his eyes opened wide and his face paled. "Do you mind if I do a quick scan on you, youngling?" Beorn asked. "Wonder why" thought Harry. To Beorn he just shrugged and said "Sure". What's the worst that could happen, right?
Beorn got out what looked like some old paper. He had Harry prick his finger and put a drop of blood on the paper then drew some funny symbols on the back. "These are runes, child. I'm doing a test to find out who you are. If you wanted to cause harm the parchment would turn red." The man explained. "Who I am? Well, apparently you don't mean my name. It's okay as long as you tell me what it means then" Harry replied. Suddenly more strange symbols appeared on the front of the paper until it was finally it stopped.
Beorn clarified what was going on. "Okay, this is pretty much a summary of who you are starting with your past, then possible abilities/traits, inheritances/family matter, and finally any miscellaneous information. I'll have it read out loud what is written as it is quite a lot but before you need to know some things about this store and myself"
"As you know, my name is Beorn. My full name is Beorn Arkouda Swiftclaw. I came into this shop when I was twenty-three for knowledge of how to cure my mother of a disease she had at the time. When the owner before me passed on, I decided to continue helping others and run the shop.
We help anyone who seeks knowledge by assigning them any number of books to read. I have discovered that there are other "worlds" out there. Not planets but cultures but I'm not supposed to talk about them. Just keep an open mind about anything you learn, okay? Now, I'm curious about you. This part can be a little personal but it is the only way I can allow you to take books. Do you want to continue?"
Harry was curious, to say the least. Although he didn't want to share any of his life with Beorn he decided to continue… but first he had questions!
"All of that's fine but first I need you to explain a few things. First, did you find what you were searching for? And is there a limit to how many books I can get? Will I be able to come back? And finally, is magic real?" Harry said in a quick breath.
Beorn had a surprised look on his face then leaned his head back and laughed a deep throaty laugh, startling Harry. "Oh, child, I think we're going to get along grandly! To answer your questions: Yes, No, Maybe, and what do you think? Ha-ha! I'm just teasing, cub. Of course magic is real! And you may or may not be able to come back depending on this list. Can we start now?" Beorn answered just a quickly.
"Yeah I guess but… please don't pity me, okay?" answered Harry a little sadly thinking of his 'family' and what the paper might say. "I can't promise anything child, but I'll do my best. Has your life been that hard…? Don't answer that. Listen kid, I know we just met, but you're... just a boy who, apparently wants to learn. You remind me a lot of... a friend I used to have. So I'm going to try and help you" rambled Beorn. And so begins Harry's chance at a possible new and better life.
A/N: So this ch. has been edited some and tweaked in other places. Don't you just love Beorn! He's so awesome. Did he seem... mysterious? He still has a few surprises up his sleeve, yet! Does anyone know where the name's from? I'll give you a hint; it's a classic! By the way, Beorn is the OC in this story. It will mainly just be him and poor old Harry.