I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter One

Rain pelted the windows of number 4 Privet Drive, echoing throughout the house as Harry put the kettle on the stove turning the heat up as far as possible. His hands were shaking, recent developments had made him go crazy. As he walked to the French doors leading out to the patio he stopped and looked in the mirror, taking in the new changes that had occurred in the last day since he sent the owl to Sirius begging for help. One of his eyes had changed color, gone was the emerald green that he had inherited from his mother, instead there was a bright cold blue. Running his hands through his hair he pulled the ebony strands to one side to look as the lightening brown that some of them had become.

Had it not been for the blue eye, Harry would have thought it was all because of stress. Summer homework, the chance to live with Sirius being taken from him, the nightmares of strange places and people. He had woken up sweating more than a few times, but these changes were starting to frighten him. He needed Sirius' advice.

As if on que a knock from the French doors drew his attention. Running to it he saw the man he had been waiting for standing underneath the roof as far from the rain as he could. Harry hurriedly unlocked the door and let his godfather into the warmth of the house.

"Good to see you, Sirius" Harry said as he hugged his godfather despite the wet overcoat he was wearing.

"You too, pup," Sirius said returning the hug, "now what's so bad that you needed to have me come here?"

"There have been some," Harry hesitated before continuing, "changes."

Sirius looked at him for a moment before bursting to laughter.

"Changes? Harry, we all go through changes at this point in our lives. They may be scary but trust me in a couple of years you'll really enjoy them, especially the ones that girls go through."

"This isn't about puberty, Sirius. This is serious."

"I know you just didn't say something like that."

Harry grabbed Sirius by the arm and looked him in the eye and said "look at me. This isn't puberty this is something else."

Having said that Harry could see all playfulness leave Sirius' eyes as he looked at him. His free hand rose to Harry's face, tracing around the eyes that was now blue.

"Well, shit."

Harry's hand left Sirius' arm as his godfather walked over to the table and sat down. This was not what he had expected when he had asked for help. It was almost as if…

"This has happened before hasn't it" Harry asked as he joined Sirius at the table.

"May 1980. James and I had just gotten back from an Order meeting…"

"Order meeting?"

"The Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's anti-Death Eater group. We were three dozen of the best and the bravest souls to go up against You-Know-Who and his army. I was a member, as were your parents, Mooney, and…and even Peter. We just got back from the meeting and we decided to head to Godric's Hollow, where your parents were hiding out. We got to the house and found Lily in hysterics, she couldn't say anything except your name. James and I ran up the nursery expecting to find the worst possible scenario, instead we found something else."

"What?"

"You. Except it wasn't you, not at first anyways. You looked different, your hair, your eyes, even your skin was lighter."

"What had happened?"

"Mistaken identity, someone at the hospital where you were born had gotten you mixed up with another baby. But it wasn't just a mix up. Someone had transfigured you to look like James, there was no other way we could have taken the wrong child."

"You're sure it was a mix up? You're sure my mother hadn't…"

"What? Merlin, no we were as sure as possible. A simple heritage spell was all we needed to determine that the child we were looking at, the child we had known for the past eight months was someone else's child."

Harry sat back in his chair as he let this information sink in. His parents weren't his real parents, what else in his life was a lie?

He was jolted from his thoughts by a steaming cup of tea being placed beside him. He couldn't bring himself to look at Sirius, not now.

"Harry, look at me," Sirius said, "you are still Harry Potter. You are still my godson. Lily may not have given birth to you, but she died for you, both her and James died so that you could be sitting here with me."

Harry ran his hand through his changing hair as he took this information in. Looking up at Sirius he received a warming smile which he couldn't help but return.

Sirius looked around the kitchen and the den and asked "speaking of family, where are your relatives? I was hoping to have a talk with them."

"Dinner with family friends" was all Harry could say before a thought crossed his mind. If he wasn't Lily's son, his wasn't Petunia's nephew. The Dursley's weren't his real family. The protecting enchantments Dumbledore said were there for that reason couldn't exist.

"Did Dumbledore know" he asked.

"No, nobody apart from the three of us knew. James was easily able to transfigure you to look like him again, though he kept your mother's eyes for good measure. Lily managed to find a potion to suppress any unwanted…genes, I think she called them, whatever you inherited from your birth parents would stay suppressed forever."

This caught Harry's attention. This potion must have failed causing him to start to look like someone else with all the genes that he should have grown up with.

"Did you ever try and find out what happened to the other me?"

Sirius looked confused for a moment before saying "you mean the Harry Potter that Lily gave birth to? No, we couldn't find him. There were two many variables to take into account. Three days before your parents went into hiding for the foreseeable future they went to France, a place called Rennes. Lily had always wanted to go it was where her parents met and fell in love, she thought it significant that she and James go there. Anyways the second day they were there your mother went into labor and you, the…other Harry Potter was born."

"And nobody noticed anything weird or out of place?"

"There was only one person we were focused on, so no, we noticed nothing wrong or out of sorts. They came home, went into hiding, and eight months later we found out the truth."

Harry sat there taking this information in before Sirius drew him out of his musings.

"Harry, pup, I need you to do something for me" Sirius said holding Harry's hand affectionately.

"Anything" Harry replied.

"Contact Gringotts, send Hedwig with a letter to Blightfang, he's the Potter family estate manager there."

"But I'm not a Potter."

"It was your blood James brought to Gringotts to have you included in the vaults. You may not be a Potter, by blood, but you are by name. Until you concede that fact you have access to the family vaults."

"Vaults? I thought I only had one, my trust vault."

"One? No, no, the Potter's are an ancient family, almost nine hundred years old, there's few families in Britain that can claim that fact, even the Malfoy's aren't that old. You should have been told this when you were eleven and you should have been given the keys to Potter Manor. Honestly, it's outrageous that no one from your allied families has told you about this."

"Allied families? Potter Manor?"

"The Potter's were very well off, even when they were only a generation or two old they made friends with the other magical houses and they eventually became allies through the witch hunts and the various Dark Lords. House Potter came to be one of royal seven families, the seven most influential families in Britain. I think by 1980 there were almost fifty families indebted to the Potter's several of which had children at Hogwarts last year at least."

"What about Potter Manor? If they had a manor, why did my parents go into hiding in a cottage?"

"Two years earlier your grandparents, Fleamont and Euphemia were killed when You-Know-Who imperiused one of the house-elves and made her kill them in their sleep. Since then James never stepped foot in the manor. Couldn't bear to live with the memories. He and I bought a small flat in Hogsmead before he married your mother."

Downing more of his tea Harry's mind raced as his took in this information, if this was true then he was far richer than he thought, but these allied families were of concern, if they knew that their families were indebted to him, why didn't they tell him, why did they keep this a secret from him. What did they have to gain from keeping him in the dark.

The two sat in silence for a moment before Sirius said "so, any girls at Hogwarts catching your eye?"

"I'm not talking about my love life, Sirius" Harry said sternly.

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the tension. I'll take a look and see if I can't find some glamour spell to keep this change from spreading."

"The Weasley's are picking me up on Friday. Ron and Hermione will notice there's something different."

"I'll have something ready before that, don't you worry. Is there anything else you want to talk about before I leave?"

"You're leaving already?"

"Tomorrow's the first full moon, pup. Been dealing with Mooney's furry little problem for the past couple of days now. I need to get back and help him prepare."

Just as they finished with their tea the sound of the garage door opening stopped them, looking at the clock Harry realized the Dursley's were home earlier than expected.

Sirius looked at him and said "Harry, remember what I said, contact Blightfang and have him tell you about the Potter finances, don't mind about the bloodlines it won't matter, you'll be okay. He can tell you everything you need to know about the Potter family. You might even find some magic that can help you beat You-Know-Who."

This immediately grabbed his attention, but it was also the moment the door joining the garage and the kitchen opened letting in his oversized "uncle" and his "aunt" and "cousin".

"Boy, what are you doing just standing there? Get over here and take our coats," Vernon said throwing his coat at Harry. But the coat never made it to him as Sirius' arm reached out from behind one of the pillars and caught it in midair.

"Who to bloody hell are you?"

Sirius tossed the coat to the ground and reached inside his own, pulling out his wand. Petunia gasped at the sight of the wand hugging Dudley close as if it would save him from a wizard.

"I'm Sirius Black," his godfather said, "you know the mass murdered escapee you've been hearing about for the last year. Turns out I'm a wizard. Also turns out I'm Harry's godfather."

At that the Dursley's eyes shifted to Harry who just looked back unable to keep a smirk off his face.

"Now then," Sirius continued, "I've been made aware of the treatment Harry has received over the past thirteen years, and it ends now."

"I don't know what the boy's told you" Vernon began but a simple jab of Sirius' wand shut him up.

"It ends now."

Vernon's head shook so fast and hard Harry thought it would come off.

Sirius put his wand back in his coat pocket before turning to Harry and giving him a hug before exiting through the French doors.

Three days later he was sitting in an enormous room in Gringotts across from who he guessed was an elderly goblin, the name Blightfang elegantly etched in gold into the silver nameplate on his desk.

"We meet at last, Mr. Potter," Blightfang said, "I was rather worried that you weren't going to come and find out your family finances. Dumbledore said he would inform you of them when you arrived at school."

"Dumbledore? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Oh, dear, I feared this would be the case. After that Halloween thirteen years ago, your parents will was read, Dumbledore was given custody of you as per that section of the will. With Sirius Black imprisoned the Ministry was given no other choice that to give him custody."

'He knew,' Harry thought, 'he knew and did nothing.'

"Dumbledore overstepped his bounds on multiple occasions, he attempted to forgive debts to some allied families who signed for him despite their contracts with yourself not being finished yet. Dumbledore could where the money went to and from but couldn't determine who paid what."

Harry was seething at this Dumbledore had tried to rob him of his money, regardless of how much it was it was his birthright, it was his legacy. And Dumbledore had tried to rid him of it.

"I was told that there were allied houses that had children at Hogwarts that should've told me about these things, is that true?"

"While not necessarily required in the contracts that are signed between the houses it is generally accepted that one house will notify another allied house of an issue, after the end of the war, where several hundred families were destroyed it became social taboo for an allied house not to reach out to the house they signed for during circumstances such as yours."

Harry took the papers Blightfang slid across the desk to him. The papers, at least ten pages thick, was covered in names, dates, and numbers. He looked across the names; Greengrass, Bulstrode, Abbott, McMillian, Higgins, Longbottom. The dates next to the names were old going back almost a hundred years at the least.

"That is the list of allied families for House Potter," Blightfang explained. "I'm sure you recognize a few names. The dates are when they first signed to House Potter, as you can see the Potter's haven't accepted a true allied house in over a century, though they have given out loans of considerable amounts to many people."

"Did Dumbledore ever give out any loans" Harry asked, his stomach clenching in anticipation of the answer.

Blightfang turned to his enormous ledger saying "I cannot tell at this moment, it is entirely possible to transfer money between vaults without being physically present all it takes is a signature. It will take me a couple of days to scour the last thirteen years before I can definitively say so. Now that we have that issue over with, what say you to finding out about the Potter accounts?"

Harry nodded, encouraging Blightfang to talk.

"The Potter's are an old family, almost but not quiet a thousand years. They never truly engaged in any activities that would put them in the spotlight, they preferred to control from behind the scenes, outside the public view. This resulted in them being rather wealthy, gaining control over properties and companies that would bring in several hundred galleons a year, that was when they started buying up properties. Now the Potter family takes in over a million galleons a year in revenue."

Harry's eyes widened to the point he thought they would pop out. A million of anything was a lot, he could easily live for the rest of his life without having to worry about anything. He took another piece of paper from Blightfang and looked it over, it had the names of companies and properties that he owned, how long he had owned them, they worth and how much money they brought in. But he noticed something immediately; half the properties where it said annual gross income, was completely blank.

"It stands out rather quickly doesn't it," Blightfang said guessing what Harry was thinking about. "Since Halloween 1981 many properties and even businesses that owe you money have not paid. We here at Gringotts were unable to enforce payment, not without your signature first. I have the papers drawn up if you so wish to do so."

"Was it Dumbledore" Harry asked dreading the answer, there was only so much he could take.

"I don't know, Mr. Potter. If Dumbledore was the cause of this issue then he did not send anything from the Potter account, I cannot check if he sent it from his own account, and of course cannot determine if he visited them in person. With that said, Mr. Potter, we have one more issue that we must address. Potter Manor."

"Wait, what about the Potter vault? Shouldn't I go see it?"

"We can do that first of course, but there is nothing but gold there, all manuscripts, jewels, and artefacts were moved from the vault to the manor as per your fathers will. You can go down to the vaults after we tour the manor if you'd prefer since you have to come back to London, don't you?"

Blightfang had come around from behind his desk and held out a small jewelry box. Harry took it and opened the lid. While the box had been fairly bland the ring inside was anything but. Set inside the gold band was an octagonal ruby. Taking the ring from the box he placed it on his right middle finger, the only finger it would fit onto. There was no spreading of warmth or tingling sensation when he did so. The ruby just sat their shining in the light of the office.

"The ring is a portkey, Mr. Potter. A method of transportation faster than floo travel, but also rather uncomfortable. Remember inhale before you activate it, it's rather difficult to breath when portkeying. To activate the ring simply speak the location you want to travel to."

"Can't anybody access the manor then if they just have to speak its name?"

"Hardly, Mr. Potter, the ring is tied to the bloodline of House Potter. When your father brought your blood to us almost fourteen years ago you were added not just to the Potter vaults, but to the ring and Potter Manor. If you had not been then we would not have gotten this far in our conversation."

"What would happen if someone who wasn't a Potter put the ring on?"

Blightfang paused for a moment before saying "come to think of it, I don't know. It's never happened before."

With that Blightfang took hold of Harry's right hand, almost causing him to jerk his hand away as the scaly flesh touch his own. Inhaling deeply as he had been told he then said, "Potter Manor." He immediately felt a jolt in his hand and the next moment he was in a blur of lights with no sound to accompany them. This was brief as the next second saw him on his back looking up at the cloudy sky somewhere that was diffidently not in the middle of London. Getting up onto his feet he looked around taking in the sight of the countryside around him, but his attention was then drawn to the enormous house that sat in the valley. Through the wrought-iron gate he could see the four-story house, as wide as a quidditch pitch.

"Simply press the ring to the gate, Mr. Potter," Blightfang instructed. Harry walked forwards and pressed the ruby to the black gate before a loud boom, like a car backfiring or a firework going off echoed around them. Once all the echoing had stopped, the gates opened slowly without any creaking despite Harry knowing they hadn't been opened in at least fourteen years. As the two walked down the bare stone path to the manor, Blightfang told him about it. Built in 1317 by a still unnamed Potter, there were few pureblood manors that could rival it in size and grandeur with the Malfoy's being the closest. There was a basement level where the kitchen and the potions room had been, his great-grandfather having been a master potioneer had it constructed. Harry couldn't help but smile at the thought of Snape scowling at there being a Potter potions master.

The first floor held an enormous ballroom on the west wing that took up two full floors. There was also the master dining room, the drawing room, the den, and the sunroom. The second and third floors were mainly bedrooms apart from the Heads study on the third, but it was the fourth floor that Harry was really looking forward to. The Potter family library took up the entire floor and if what Sirius said was true, that he would be able to find books that would teach him how to fight Voldemort, then it would be an invaluable resource to have.

They finally made it to the massive French doors under the massive wrap-around porch, looking at the lock he noticed the small indent in the brass lock that was the same shape as the Potter ring. Placing the ring in the slot he felt his hand move on its own as it slowly turned upside down and an audible click could be heard from within. Removing his hand from the lock he took the doorknob and turned it slightly, opening the door to his inheritance.

Potter manor was dark, and the floors were covered in a thick layer of dust. Walking inside kicked up a fine cloud of dust to be waved away from the door. "Can you clear the dust for us, Mr. Potter," Blightfang said, "it will make this much easier."

"I can't use magic outside of Hogwarts, the Ministry…"

"The Ministry will be unable to tell it was you. Potter manor predates the Trace, the method used to find magic cast by minors. Your forefathers incorporated anti-Trace magic into the protective enchantments surrounding the property. So, if you could clear the dust for us it would be much easier."

A quick cleaning charm and the dust had disappeared. "Much better," Blightfang said. "No then, I won't go into the details of the history of the manor, I believe that they can be found in the Heads study. Regardless you should take a look around."

The foyer of the manor was enormous, to one side there was a large fireplace, large enough for a grown man to stand inside. Harry thought it might have been for a floo connection. He carefully walked up the spiral staircase that lead to the basement or to the upper floors. "Lumos" Harry whispered causing the tip of his wand to light up, bathing the staircase in a pool of whitish blue lights. Harry ignored the second and third floors, he didn't care about the bedrooms, the library was where he wanted to go. Stepped up off the final stair he found himself face to face with case upon case of books.

Floor to ceiling, with little room to maneuver between the stacks, Harry was surely impressed by the size of the library. 'If Hermione could see this' Harry thought as he looked over the books. Unlike the ground floor and the staircase there was no dust on the floor or on the books, the library had been even more taken care of then the rest of the house. Looking through he immediately noticed that the books were arranged alphabetically by subject. Alchemy started in the front and slowly worked their way back to something called Xylomancy. He stopped around the middle where he saw a book titled Journey into Undeath: A compendium of Immortality. He immediately removed the book from the shelf and looked at others. He found a few others, from Remedial Potions: A Zero to Hero Way to Get Better, Survival or Competition: Dueling a Superior Opponent, and a strange book with no name, only the appearance of a gold and red bird stretched out on the cover, a picture that reminded him of Fawkes. Placing it on top of the others he turned towards the spiral staircase to go meet Blightfang when he noticed something in the corner, another staircase.

Unlike the main staircase, these stairs were loud and creaky. Walking down them he found himself in an office-like room. 'The Heads study' Harry guessed as he walked over to the large desk. He placed the books down on it and looked around. Moving pictures of smiling people, he saw his parents, well James and Lily Potter standing underneath an archway on what must have been their wedding day. Four years earlier Harry would have broken down crying at such a picture, now he felt weird looking at it. He didn't know how to handle it. Next to it was an older couple. The man looked like an older copy of James, must have been Fleamont Potter. The woman next to his was obviously James' mother from the way they were holding each other. They waved at him and he absentmindedly waved back. He quickly turned away from them and looked at the wall fighting back tears as he went. The wall behind the desk was full of books, the gold lettering on the brown leather covers glittered in the wand light.

The rest of the room had books strewn about as though there had been a fight years earlier. Picking up one of the books he saw the words on the front of the book. There was an image of a dragon, flames spewing from its mouth, wafting over the sides of its heads. Underneath the dragons head, in silver letters that shown like moonlight it said Potter Family Grimoire. Flipping through it he was confronted with drawings and words he couldn't understand but he could tell this magic was advanced, far more advanced than what they taught at Hogwarts. He closed the book and was about to go back to the desk when he noticed a small piece of paper that must have fallen out of the book. Picking it up he was surprised to see what was written on it.

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.

It was a prophecy, there was no doubting that, he remembered what Trelawney had said at the end of last year about a lost servant rejoining him, it sounded similar enough that there was no doubt. But it was the annotations to the prophecy that drew his attention, someone had obviously tried to determine who this prophecy was about. The question was answered as right about where it said Dark Lord was a single name. Voldemort. Harry stopped breathing as he went through the rest of the annotations. Where is said "trice defied him" there were three places named. Cokeworth, Cardiff, and Dundee. Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know what had happened there. A date was on top of "born as the seventh month dies." 31 July. Harry lost the urge not to look at the end of the prophecy where a single name had been written. His name.

This prophecy was about him and Voldemort. Harry inhaled before loudly exhaling. There was no way this was real, prophecies weren't real, were they? The last time the manor had been occupied was before the deaths of Fleamont and Euphemia, or at least before the deaths of his parents. Had Voldemort gotten his hands on the prophecy? Was that why they had been targeted? Was that why he had been orphaned, over a few lines of mystic writing? Harry crunched the parchment into a ball and threw it across the room, causing it to land in a dark corner. Wiping the tears that lined his face he walked back to the desk and picked up the other books before leaving the study and walking back to the foyer.

The portkey back to Gringotts was less intense than it had originally been, this time Harry managed to stay on his feet when he touched down. "Before we are finished, Mr. Potter, I need to give you these" Blightfang said. He handed parchment across the desk to Harry who picked them up and said "what's this?"

"Guardianship papers. You've officially claimed your inheritance. You may now be emancipated, it won't get you out from underneath the trace, but Dumbledore will have no control over your finances any longer. Would you like me to arrange a cart down to the Potter vaults?"

Harry shook his head unable to speak as he relished the idea of being free from the Dursley's forever come Friday.

The trip from London to Little Whining was exceptionally quick on the Knight's Bus. It was still midday when Harry got back to number 4. Petunia was watching one of her soaps and either didn't notice or didn't care when he entered. Walking into the kitchen he saw that Vernon was home early from work and unlike Petunia, Vernon noticed when he entered the room.

"Boy, bring me more tea," Vernon said. Taking the kettle from the stove he poured more hot water into Vernon's cup before placing the guardianship papers in front of him. "What's this rubbish?"

"Guardianship papers. I need you to sign them."

"Guardianship papers? For what?"

Harry picked up a pen from the drawer and said "emancipation." Looking over he noticed that Vernon's face had been frozen in its usual grimace.

"Emancipation? Why so that you can be a burden on the state?"

"Of my world, not yours. Sign the papers and come Friday I will be out of your lives for good."

This drew Petunia in from the den. "Your leaving" she asked timidly.

"Hopefully" Harry replied handing the pen to Vernon who took it and signed his name at the bottom so fast he thought the parchment would comically burst into flames. Once Vernon was done Harry handed the pen to Petunia, who unlike her husband was more hesitant about signing it.

"Dumbledore said you had to stay here until you were an adult."

"Dumbledore has kept a lot of secrets from me. I should have been able to have this signed when I was eleven."

"Eleven," Vernon said, "you mean we dealt with you for three more years because that cuckoo headmaster of your forgot to tell you this?"

"The forgot part is starting to look more like he did it on purpose but pretty much yeah."

That was all Petunia needed to hear for her to take the pen from Harry and sign her name on the parchment under Vernon's. Harry couldn't help the smile on his face as his took the parchment and went upstairs to send it to Blightfang. He urgently placed it in an envelope and sent it off with Hedwig before he noticed a small envelope near Hedwig's perch. He recognized the handwriting as Sirius' and ripped the envelope open.

Dear Pup,

After what we talked about a few nights ago I did some looking into the old Black family library and found just the spell I thought would help you with your "issues." I tied the spell to the necklace I've included, I thought it appropriate. It won't stop the changes, but it will cover them up, so that I can find something more permanent. Remember James and Lily risked their lives for you, they are your parents, they loved you.

Until next time,

Mischief Managed.

Harry reached into the envelope and removed a tarnished gold chain with a silver stag charm on the end. He couldn't help but smile as he put it on and felt a small wave of magic wash over him. Moving across the hall to the bathroom he looked in the mirror and smiled when he saw his eyes had changed, they were both back to their emerald green and the lightening of his hair had vanished, it had returned to the black mess it usually was. Harry smiled as he turned back to his room, intent on finding a way to defeat Voldemort, permanently.