Squib's Revenge
Harry looked up from his copy of Ancient Runes Vol III: The Norse Legacy as the train jerked into motion, he glanced out the window to see smiling or crying parents waving to their children as the train set off, he turned back to his reading as his former family passed the window, anger and humiliation clouding his mind.
Harry Potter was both excited and terrified by the prospect of going to Hogwarts, excited because he'd been looking forward to going since he learned he could and he was able to perform magic, terrified because despite his now meagre but growing ability his family and the staff believed him to be absolutely incapable of performing magic.
They wholeheartedly believed he was a squib.
His anger stemmed from the fact his parents had siphoned his magic from him to save his twin brother's life, the Brat-Who-Lived Aaron Potter, which had left his magical core drained to a dangerously low level.
His core had recently begun to recover after the trip to Ollivander's wand shop had revealed that the ritual his parents had used had been left active by accident due to a mistake in the preparation, essentially the open link continually prevented his core's recovery by transferring any replenished energy to Aaron, making every scan make his core look magically inert.
This had resulted in his father ignoring him, placing him in the most remote room in the manor, and only focusing his attention on the 'healthy twin, Aaron, and lately his 'healthy' little sister Violet.
His mother did her best to treat Harry the same as Aaron, and had in fact nurtured his interests in potions, ancient runes and ancient Norse magic and even taught him how to fly, overcoming her own fear of flying on a broom in the process.
Lily however, was less of a factor in their lives since Violet's birth, she'd suffered from some form of magical backlash after That Halloween which had made her weaker and Violet's birth had worsened her condition, she was currently in a ward in St Mungo's with a research team looking for a cure.
James had used Lily's departure from the house to send Harry to Lily's sister, Petunia Dursley. What followed was five years of hell on earth.
Harry hadn't seen his mother since she first visited the hospital, he had been sent away shortly after and the Dursleys had been careful to ensure he was isolated.
Mr Ollivander had ended the ritual and then begun the wand selection process.
Surprisingly, two wands chose Harry: the first was Holly, 11 inches long and possessed a Phoenix feather core; Ollivander idly commented that he thought that wand would go to the Boy-Who-Lived. The second was 14 inches long, Oak and Willow, with a combined Griffin feather and Unicorn tail hair core, Ollivander said that it was the product of an experiment over a century ago and that his mother had a strong reaction too, although it obviously wasn't the wand for her.
After that he'd secretly bought a copy of all the books on the regular students booklists as well so he could practice and secretly keep pace with his classmates, despite his class schedule only having subjects that didn't involve the use of wands.
He'd asked Hagrid, the staff member escorting him, about his family, and it was from Hagrid he learned his mother had been in St Mungo's since he was sent away.
He'd visited his mother that night and told her, she'd been shocked and ashamed that they hadn't considered a fault with the ritual being the cause of his problems, and furious at her husband for how he treated Harry and promised to set him straight once she could go home.
A healer had come in shortly after and informed them a monitoring charm had gone off indicating a change in Lily's condition, after a few minutes the healer informed them that Lily's condition was improving, it seemed she was connected through the ritual like Harry and it had affected her too, with the ritual magic ended she was beginning to recover, unfortunately she'd never recover fully as she was due to her long term condition. Both Potter's had been shocked, but the healer promised to try and find a way to repair the damage done, and also promised to keep Harry's recovery secret too, neither wanted the wrong people to find out until he was ready to face them.
Harry had then had his core scanned to make sure they were right, the scan showed a badly depleted but recovering core.
Harry had promised his mother he would go to Hogwarts and make her proud, despite the advice of the healer that he should wait a year so his core could recover properly.
Harry intended to use fine control of what little power to prove you don't need raw power to be a great Wizard.
Unfortunately that meant spending at least a year labelled as a squib and being forced to perform magic in secret.
Hagrid had then promised to keep what he saw secret, and started learning Occlumency from Lily in order to do so.
He had just begun reading a chapter on the imprisonment of Fenrir when the door of the compartment opened, he looked up to see a very pretty girl with waist length wavy red hair, flawless skin and sapphire coloured eyes step in.
"Can I sit her for a while?" the girl asked, "I was meant to meet up with my friends but I couldn't find them on the platform."
"Take a pew, if they're looking for you too they'll pass by soon enough," Harry replied, gesturing to the opposite bench.
"Thanks," the girl said, sitting down roughly halfway along the seat, "My name's Tracey Davies," she said.
"Harry Potter," Harry said holding out his hand, Tracey blinked and stared for several seconds before taking it, finding out Harry had a very firm handshake.
"Potter? But I didn't think the Boy-Who-Lived had a brother, never mind one the same age," Tracey said amazed.
Tracey flinched back as Harry's expression visibly darkened, both missing the door opening and a boy and girl step in. "It is not common knowledge, my brother was left with a dangerously depleted magical core after That night and my parents used a ritual to transfer my magic to him," Harry said, staring unblinkingly into Tracey's eyes. Tracey and the other girl gasped at the implications.
"They screwed up the ritual; it worked but left a connection that has continually siphoned my magic since, every time my core replenishes the tiniest fraction the energy is sent to my brother, leaving my core drained for ten years, which led them and the staff at Hogwarts to believe I'm a squib.
And for that I was sent away after my mother went to hospital.
I only learnt about the drain and had it corrected a month ago so I'm very weak compared to you but the healer I saw said my core should be completely replenished by next May, I decided to attend this year anyway even though I'll be labelled as a squib, I intend to prove its control not raw power that makes the difference," Harry continued, his voice becoming stronger as he went on, until a sly grin crossed his face, "I may not be a squib any longer, but I see no need to correct the fools, after all, they won't bother me until I decide to reveal my abilities and by then it may be too late for them" he said slyly.
Tracey sat in silence as she took it all in, before breaking out into a smile, "I think you might be the first Slytherin Potter," she said.
"Not the first, the first in four centuries," Harry corrected.
"I think hell might freeze over by this evening," an accented male voice said, drawing Harry and Tracey's attention to the door.
Standing in the doorway was a vaguely familiar dark haired boy with bright hazel eyes and a tall girl with silvery blonde hair, pale skin and ice blue eyes.
"Blaise Zabini," the boy introduced himself, holding out his hand for Harry to take.
Harry shook his hand, "Harry Potter, James Potter's best kept secret. I remember you, you were at my brother's party six years back, I never did thank you for knocking him down a peg."
Blaise smiled warmly at the recognition and waved of his thanks as the other girl looked on amusedly.
"Daphne Greengrass," the girl said, holding out her hand.
"A pleasure miss Greengrass, care to sit" Harry said, indicating the seats.
The two sat down, Tracy moving up to make room for Daphne with Blaise sitting next to Harry.
"So, what classes are you looking forward to?" Harry asked, Blaise chuckled and Daphne groaned as Tracey's eyes lit up and she began talking excitedly about how much she wanted to start potions. Harry soon drew her into a discussion of the likely class material for first years and the different techniques he'd been taught instead of the book instructions, which proved both interesting and informative to Daphne and Blaise especially after learning that the Slytherin Head of House Professor Snape had tutored him for several years as a favour to his mother.
The talk had turned to the other lessons by the time the Lady with the sweet cart came, Harry bought a little of everything and shared with his new friends, even starting a game of 'Bean Roulette' which continued for an hour until Daphne picked earwax and Harry got something that made him spit the bean out the window and swear off Bertie Bott's for good.
The teasing only ended when the door opened and a pale faced boy with blonde hair that seemed to be held in place by a quart of hair gel, who was flanked by two Neanderthals.
"What do you want Malfoy," Blaise asked in an annoyed tone.
"Just seeing how many mudbloods made it into our year," the blonde boy, Malfoy, replied carelessly, adding, "And I'm looking for Aaron Potter."
Tracey's eyes shot to Harry, who was looking at Malfoy with a sneer worthy of Snape. "If you are looking for my brother you're wasting your time, he's two carriages further towards the engine," Harry sneered, surprising Daphne and Blaise and sending Malfoy for six.
"You're the brother of the Boy- Who-Lived?" one of the Neanderthals asked.
Malfoy's face went from shock to calculating, "Why haven't I heard of you before?"
"My brother loves the limelight, in fact he practically bathes in it, I prefer to walk with the shadows which is much easier when he's strutting about in the spotlight," Harry replied evenly.
"That makes sense," Malfoy agreed, nodding. "I'm Draco Malfoy, these two are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle," he said introducing himself then indicating each Neanderthal.
"A pleasure gentlemen, I'm Harry Potter," Harry said and held out his hand for Malfoy to take, Malfoy ignored it.
"I take it your brother thinks he's great because of some scar?" Malfoy asked.
Harry lowered his hand, "his arrogance is quickly becoming legendary, our father has always promoted his fame and without our mother to instil humility and keep our father in check it's gone to his head, especially as I was labelled a squib after that night, he thinks he's the closest thing to Merlin reincarnated because his feats of magic seem so advanced compared to me," Harry explained, Blaise winced and Daphne and Tracey's eyes widened.
"You're a squib?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed.
"I was labelled a squib," Harry corrected, before drawing his wand and performing a colour change charm on Tracey's tie, turning it silver and green instead of inky black.
"Dumbledore himself said so, which is why so few people know about me, and why should I correct someone on something that makes my enemy underestimate me," He continued, repeating the charm, silently this time, on Malfoy's tie, shocking everyone.
"It's not how much power you have that matter's, it's what you can do with what you have," Harry finished, leaving everyone staring.
"I take it he has a low opinion of Slytherins?" Malfoy asked, trying to recover from his shock.
"Hates them blindly, he never liked Snape when he came to tutor me in potions and spent too long listening to my father talking about his schooldays and picked up his prejudice. He thinks all Ravenclaws are boring bookworms, Hufflepuffs are useless nobodies and Slytherins are evil, he lacks the brains for Ravenclaw, the Loyalty for Hufflepuff and the subtlety and cunning for Slytherin," Harry explained, one of the things that annoyed him most about his brother was his blind prejudice and ignorance.
"And what do you think of Slytherins?" Malfoy asked, surprised a Potter didn't mind his godfather.
"Being cunning, subtle and ambitious doesn't make you automatically evil," Harry replied, again surprising the people around him.
"A word of warning, my brother's favourite entertainment is hearing stories of our father hexing Snape at school, Snape had a friend in Gryffindor to deflect trouble and stick up for him, you don't so don't antagonise him as you'll be outnumbered and outgunned several times over even with those two, he'll think it hilarious to re-enact those stories or to make his own," Harry said very seriously.
Malfoy nodded by seemed to ignore his advice, "You're not so bad, for a Potter, Maybe we can be friends, I hope to see you in Slytherin," he said before leaving and heading toward the engine.
"If he provokes my brother or his fans he deserves to be hexed," Harry said, leaning back into his seat and picking up his book again.
"Well, I'm impressed, Potter. You handled Malfoy very well," Daphne said, carefully looking him over.
"Thank you, but once you've learned to deal with one arrogant ponce you've learned to deal with them all," Harry replied before going back to his book.
The others sat in silence for over a minute until an announcement played over a loudspeaker.
"We will be reaching Hogsmeade station in ten minutes, please leave your luggage on the train as it will be collected and sent to the school separately."
Blaise, Daphne and Tracey left to put on their school robes, Harry put his book in his trunk and pulled out his robe.
The train started to slow as Harry finished putting on his robe so he went into the corridor, joining the dozens of other students.
He stepped onto the dark platform, thankful the weather had yet to turn cold, briefly wondering where to go, when he spotted Blaise, who waited for him, he'd just met up with Blaise when a loud voice started calling for the first years, which turned out to be the gamekeeper Hagrid holding a large lantern.
He followed the other first years, Blaise beside him, over to Hagrid who led them all down an earthy path to the nearest shore of the lake, where a small fleet of oarless rowboats awaited.
An odd thing happened as Harry first saw the castle across the lake, like his classmates he felt awe at the sight, but he also felt a familiarity and that he was finally home.
Harry followed Blaise to the boat where Daphne and Tracey were waiting and sat in the back. He was silent as they crossed the lake as was Blaise, Tracey and Daphne chatted away however.
The boats passed a wall of ivy to enter an underground harbour, Harry spotted Aaron and his friend Ron Weasley get caught on the ivy because they were standing up and get dragged from the boat and into the lake.
Harry laughed along with nearly everyone else until Hagrid hauled the pair from the water and Aaron glared at the people near him.
The followed Hagrid up a brazier lit series of stone steps to the great doors of Hogwarts castle, where they were met and received by a tall, older, black haired witch with a very stern look; Professor Minerva McGonagall.
Harry quietly bet Blaise that they would see her yelling at Aaron at least once a week during their time at the school, Blaise said he didn't bet unless he had at least an evens chance of winning, which made the people around them chuckle quietly.
Professor McGonagall left them in a small side chamber as she went to prepare for the sorting, he wasn't the only one who waited nervously, even Daphne was showing a few signs of fear, and Weasley's story about a mountain troll didn't help.
After a few minutes that felt like hours, Professor McGonagall returned and led them into the hall, he was awed by the enchanted ceiling as he entered, although there was a niggling feeling that he'd seen it before, he even missed a bushy haired girl in front of him talking about it.
His eyes lowered when the group stopped in front of the staff table, there was an old hat on a stool, suddenly a rip above the brim opened and it started singing.
Once it finished, Professor McGonagall unrolled a scroll of parchment and started reading off names. Harry ignored most of the sorting, only taking note of Tracey, Daphne and Malfoy being put in slytherin.
Then Professor McGonagall stopped hallway through the Ps.
Dumbledore stood up, "Today is a historic occasion, Hogwarts was built to be the premier magical school in the known world, the school charter states that any magical citizen may study in these halls, this includes squibs."
The hall broke out into curious and angry whispers, 'a squib can study at Hogwarts?"
"However, in 1803 the Ministry declared all squibs born to magical families after that year would no longer bear citizenship, which meant that by 1811 there were no longer any squib students, the law only states that a born squib cannot possess citizenship, there is no restriction on those who become squibs due to misfortune attending Hogwarts. However, only the most able and gifted of those individuals are permitted to attend, due to certain standards that must be upheld," Dumbledore continued before looking at Harry who was now as pale as any of the ghosts.
'He couldn't… not here… not like this…'
"I am pleased to announce there is finally a prospective squib student who meets the necessary qualifications and is ready to be sorted…"
'NO!'
"That student is Harry Potter."
Harry mentally called Dumbledore something that would make Bellatrix the Strange blush as he walked up to the stool and sat down.
The four houses were caught between curiosity and apprehension, they were curious of what this squib was capable of due to the way Dumbledore had phrased his introduction, it sounded like only truly remarkable squibs could attend and once such a thing was common, they were apprehensive because they didn't want their house to be the first to host a squib in two centuries.
Aaron Potter froze when his brother's name was read out, 'How did the squib get into Hogwarts? How did he even get a letter?'
The hat was placed on Harry's head, the last thing he saw was a mixture of anger and curiosity throughout the sea of faces.
"Greetings Mr Potter, I'm glad to see you made it, despite your father's efforts" a quiet but wise voice said.
'Hello?' Harry thought.
'I am the sorting hat, Mr Potter, now let's see.' the voice replied.
'Hmm, very difficult, in fact you're the most difficult student I've had to sort in 800 years, you're labelled a squib but that's not true, is it? A victim of an old ritual that was botched, but now you and your mother are recovering. I must warn you though that without intervention your magic will never reach its full potential.
You have plenty of courage, a thirst for knowledge, encouraged by your mother but magnified by your status, your loyalty is unquestionable to those who have earned it, your cunning is impressive as is your ambition, planning to restore your and your mother's magic? That's going to be difficult if not impossible, but what's this?
Ah, so you have the gift.'
Harry gulped, the hat knew he was a parselmouth?
"Indeed, and it changes things quite a bit.
You could go to any house, but I think there's only where you could possibly reach your full potential, better be…'
"SLYTHERIN!"
The hall was silent as the hat was lifted from Harry's head, it didn't last long though. He'd barely taken three steps towards the Slytherin table when a Gryffindor started laughing, and this set off the rest of the table. In seconds three quarters of the hall was laughing at him and Slytherin.
Harry stopped and looked over at the Gryffindor table; he suddenly turned a glare colder than the depths of space on the ones laughing.
The Gryffindor who had first laughed stopped, scared by Harry's look, then another and then another, until the Gryffindor table slowly fell silent.
This was noticed by several Hufflepuffs, and the silence started there too, and the Ravenclaws noticed when Hufflepuff stopped.
The whole hall was suddenly watching Harry, one quarter amazed and curious, the other three quarters afraid.
Harry finally spoke, his voice was cold and nearly a whisper, but the silence was so complete that everyone heard it, "There is more to magic than uttering bastardized Latin and waving a stick, I am capable of more than any of you know and more than some have forgotten, do not underestimate me."
Harry then walked over to the Slytherin table, where Daphne indicated a seat next to her and opposite Tracey, As he sat down he noticed several older students glaring or sneering at him, but they were fewer than he had expected, in fact most of the house seemed to sending him calculating looks.
The hall's attention was brough back to the sorting as Professor McGonagall called out, "Aaron Potter."
"I thought he was sorted before me," Harry whispered to Daphne.
The blond girl shook her head, "no, I think Dumbledore may have wanted to deflect attention from you," she said.
Harry watched as his twin stepped up to the stool, apart from the red hair and hazel eyes they were identical apart from their scars, Harry's was a jagged lightning bolt while Aarons was a Delta symbol under his flame red fringe.
Harry waited apprehensively with the rest of the hall as the hat sat on his head for several seconds before shouting… "GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry clapped politely with about half his house as Aaron went to the Gryffindor table, which was cheering like the crowd at Wembley during a cup final.
"This is going to be interesting," Harry murmured as his brother glared at him from across the hall.
The sorting continued and eventually finished with Blaise being sent to Slytherin.
"Congratulations," Harry said as Blaise sat next to Tracey.
"Thanks," Blaise said, before everyone looked to the headmaster.
Dumbledore stood up and made a few announcements about school rules and the updated contraband list before saying "Please note that the third floor corridor, on the north side, is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death," Dumbledore sat down and the food appeared on the plates.
"Idiot," Harry said, surprising and intriguing everyone who heard him.
"What do you mean?" Blaise asked, unsure of his new friend.
"The old coot has closed off the third floor, right? And there's obviously something dangerous down there. So you DON'T announce to an entire school of curious children that there is something down there, it's like waving a red rag to a bull," Harry muttered angrily, some of the purebloods missed the muggle reference but most understood and were curiously following him.
"Which means there's going to be at least one student every week trying to sneak in, most are likely to be injured. His JOB is to keep the students safe, not put them in danger, so why bring something dangerous into an environment with a few hundred curious and rebellious kids, if it has to be done, say the area is closed for repairs to the architecture or refurbishment don't say it could get them killed, there's always someone stupid enough to go snooping," Harry continued, surprising everyone in that not only was he not a fan of the man who let him attend but his argument made a lot of sense.
"You're right, it sounds like he wants someone to start snooping," a sandy haired fourth year boy on Tracey's right said, he turned to Harry, "Marcus Tranton," he continued.
"Harry Potter," Harry replied, taking the offered hand.
"You've thrown everyone off tonight, Potter. The whole house was ready to crucify you for being the first squib in centuries but you surprised us all," Marcus said, ignoring the glares from a seventh year who looked a bit like a troll.
"Not everything is as it seems," Harry said mysteriously, "I intend to shatter many illusions here, and hopefully before Christmas, after is time for justice," Harry said, looking from Marcus to glare at his former brother.
The meal continued from there, Marcus, Blaise, Tracey, Daphne and a few others answered Harry's questions about the wizarding world and even entering into discussions about house elves, goblins and the way the Ministry worked that left most listening thinking over his unique perspective.
When the feast ended Harry joined the rest of the Slytherins down to the dungeons, most of the slytherins were ignoring him but a few glared at him, eventually they came to a brick wall below two staircases with an arch over it and a water cistern and water channel twenty feet away opposite the arch.
"This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room," the fifth year prefect Samuel Winters said, "the pass word changes monthly, the current password is Emrys," he saying speaking the last word to the wall.
The wall opened like the courtyard of the Leaky Cauldron to reveal an archway that the prefect lead the students through.
The common room was a long and relatively wide underground room, with an entire wall consisting of windows that looked out into the murky waters of the black lake, the walls were dark, hewn from the rock in places, and old fashioned lanterns hung from the vaulted ceiling on chains. A fire roared beneath an elaborately carved mantelpiece, the glow silhouetting several slytherins in a collection of armchairs and couches of several designs.
The first years gathered around the prefect as the rest either mingled in the common room or went to their dorms.
"The dorms are down that staircase, the boys are on the left and the girls on the right. The rules of the house are as follows:
Any disagreement with a fellow housemate is dealt with here in the common room, the other houses are against us and most of the teachers are biased so we must present a united front.
If there are any issues, go to either a prefect or Professor Snape.
Unlike the other houses we hold quidditch tryouts for all years, check the notice board for the date, first years are very unlikely to make the first string but not impossible, we also don't show favouritism for any line up, if you earn a spot one year you'll have to fight for it next year and every following year until you graduate or are replaced.
Professor Snape will be down to talk to you in roughly twenty minutes, until then get used to the common room and your dorms," Winters said before leaving the first years to mingle.
Harry talked to Blaise, Daphne and Tracey for about ten minutes before he and Blaise decided to pick their beds and check their trunks were still secure.
Unfortunately Crabbe and Goyle flanked the door; they let Blaise pass but grabbed Harry by the arms and threw him back, into the path of a mild stinging hex fired by one of the third years.
Blaise looked ready to hex both the Neanderthals and the third year, but Harry waved him down, his action drawing everyone's attention to him so they missed Professor Snape's entrance, he then looked to the two thugs and raised an eyebrow at the, before turning his head and sending the same look to the now slightly scared third year, he subtly drew his wands.
Suddenly there was a pair of loud bands and a blue bolt shot at the third year who nearly didn't move away in time, leaving a freely bleeding gash in the third year's cheek and Crabbe and Goyle curled up on the ground with their hands hovering over their noses, which were now sporting clusters of massive, and obviously very painful, pus filled boils.
The third year rose with his wand ready, his left hand covering his bleeding cheek when a deep voice bellowed "ENOUGH!"
Everyone turned to see Professor Snape standing in the middle of the archway, looking very displeased. "Spencer! Care to explain yourself," Snape commanded.
The third year remained silent, which was all Snape needed to hear.
"So you decided to hex your housemate because of his so-called status? Ignoring the fact that just because the Headmaster believes he is a squib doesn't mean the boy is defenceless?" obsidian eyes swept the common room, many had their heads down or would not meet his gaze, they obviously had considered the same thoughts and actions.
"You aren't a squib, are you?" Snape said to Harry, his tone questioning.
"As of one month ago, no. Mr Ollivander discovered an accidental connection that was transferring my magic to my brother due to a incorrectly performed ritual, leaving my core near permanently drained which led my father and the headmaster to believe that I am a squib, while my core is now recovering and I am capable of casting spells, feel free to inspect my wands to prove their not pre-programmed training wands and to perform Priori Incantato, I will never reach what could have been my full potential due to the constant drain on my core. I see no need to correct the fools until I can face them on my terms," Harry said, impressing and intriguing Snape.
"The true nature of Potter's abilities is NOT to leave this common room, outside this room and the dorms until such time that Potter decides to reveal them, until then you are to treat Potter as if he was a normal student but do nothing to enlighten the other houses to the deception, Snape commanded, his eyes sweeping the room to find any trace of defiance.
"Potter, in light of your previously unrevealed status I will arrange for you to learn from the regular courses as well as you modified schedule," Snape said, an unreadable look on his face as he addressed his former pupil.
"Thank you sir, I was intending to ask you anyway," Harry said, immensely grateful to his head of house.
Snape nodded and left the common room, dragging a still moaning Crabbe and Goyle to the hospital wing while a chastised Daniel Spencer had his cheek healed by a golden blonde haired classmate.
Harry re-joined Blaise on the stairs, who looked impressed and pleased by how Harry had handled the situation, and they both went down the steps and turned into the first year dorm.
Harry and Blaise found their trunks next to the two beds nearest the door on the right as they entered, with Harry closest to the door, the beds themselves were mahogany four posters with dark green curtains.
Harry was the last to fall asleep, apprehensive of what the morning would bring.