Hello everyone and welcome to Hidden Lies!

This fic, before you get too into things, features an Evil!Dumbledore, so if that isn't your cup of tea then you'll just have to scoot right along.

This fic is also a sort of Creature Inheritance fic, so...yeah hope you enjoy those xD

Fair warning, I intend for these chapters to be massive X3 Updates...ahhh let's say Fridays? Thursday can be Twisted Timelines, Friday Hidden Lies, at least for a while :3

One last thing, before you ask, I have no clue any ships I want to put into this/if i should even do any, so if you have any suggestions feel free to leave them, I'll at least consider them ;)

UPDATED: 4/1/19 - Many thanks to Sydney Alexis for that review you left, it really helped me plan how things are going to go, hopefully it will inspire the rest of the revamped fic. I know you've got your pms turned off, but if you ever want to help beta this/offer more ideas, my email is always open!

Anyways, didn't do much in terms of rewriting this chapter, I just cleaned up some things, especially in the first half.

On to the fic!

The fifth year of Hogwarts was quickly approaching, and for a certain resident of Number 4 Pivet Drive, the day could not come soon enough that he could escape. The Dursley's, still threatened by Harry's magic, despite knowing he couldn't use it legally outside of school, were about as bad as normal. Magic, and the fear it instilled in them, was still Harry's most powerful weapon.

But then, something seemed to change. It started one night after he'd noticed an unusual amount of animals around the city. Cats and dogs emerging from alleys, birds of all sorts flying abovehead and followed by seeming hoards of birdwatchers. That night, there was a massive storm that kept him up half the night, but from the silence in the house, his relatives slept right through it. But the next morning, Aunt Petunia and Dudley seemed...different almost.

Harry first noticed it when Petunia didn't smack him in the back of the head for causing the bacon fat to splash out of the pan. The fat made an undesirable odor waft through the house as it landed, and stuck, onto the stovetop. Vernon complained of course, but Petunia and Dudley hadn't said anything, had acted as though the smell hadn't existed. Before Hogwarts, it would have earned him no breakfast, likely no lunch, and an entire day in the cupboard if he was lucky, three if he wasn't. Last year he'd probably be sent up to Dudley's spare room for a few hours, and maybe be given a smaller portion of food. Now, with the exception of Vernon who left early for work to escape the smell, it was like he hadn't done a thing.

After that day, when he'd been allowed to eat all of his food and remain out of his sleeping quarters, Harry started to take notice of things. It wasn't a major change, Petunia still yelled at him to do his chores, and woke him early enough to cook and made sure the lights in the room he slept in were off before it got too dark for the neighbors to notice anything strange, but she also let slide things such as unpleasant smells, and staring out the window while Vernon was gone.

Dudley too had changed in his behavior. No longer were games of 'How Quickly Does Potter Bleed' played, in fact the most life threatening thing Dudley had done to Harry over the summer was wrench his shoulder nearly out of socket to stop Harry from reaching for the discarded envelopes of the mail one morning.

Harry was starting to worry. He'd tried writing out his worries in several letters to his friends, but whenever he tried to put to pen everything that was confusing him, it was like a haze settled on his mind, and he simply...couldn't. It was like when you know what's on your mind, but you physically cannot find the words to explain it. It was frustrating, even more so when every time he tried to put the quill to the parchment, something happened to stop him. Whether it was Petunia yelling for him, or Hedwig screeching at him.

In a few days though, Harry would be picked up by the Weasley's, who'd been instructed to arrive by Muggle means this time, and then he'd be able to talk to Ron. Being around Ron, around any of the Weasleys actually, soothed Harry. He wasn't sure why. But being around the family of redheads felt like being locked in a room filled with steam. You couldn't help but relax.

In a few days the Weasley's would come, they'd go to Diagon, he'd pick up his supplies, and then in no time at all Harry would be back at Hogwarts. It wasn't just his school, it was his refuge. His place of peace.

In only a few days he would be back, and everything would be fine.

The days passed in a blur, and finally, finally, Harry watched as Petunia opened the door to let in a woman with bright red hair and wearing...well at least robe's looked like dresses. Especially dull magenta robes. Thankfully she wasn't wearing a cap.

Harry smiled up at Mrs Weasley, and picked up Hedwig's cage. His owl hooted softly as Harry shifted to double check that his trunk was locked before lifting it as well, and Harry stepped forwards. "Thank you Mrs Weasley," he said as he slipped past the two women, one of which was clearly trying to get rid of the other, while said other was oblivious and seemed content to stand there and thank the one while said one's face turned the same shade as the other's robes.

Half walking half running to the car that was parked on the curb, Harry beamed at the family of freckled people as the car all but erupted with redheads. Ron took hold of Harry's arm, as the twins assisted with his trunk. "You aren't going to believe what we've got to tell you!" Ron said, grinning as he all but dragged Harry into the car.

"Save it!" The twins called in unison, as they both got back into the car "You aught to know better Ron," the one on the left said while grinning "We're telling him when we get there." the one on the right scolded. Five years of knowing the two, and Harry still wasn't sure how to tell the two apart. Harry frowned, the words catching up to him "When we get where, the Burrow?" The twins and Ron shared a look that meant 'we know something you don't'. Harry had gotten a lot of those looks and it made him nervous. The last person who'd given him that look was Barty Crouch Jr, while still disguised at Professor Moody.

"Is...Everything's alright, isn't it?" Harry asked, green eyes darting between the three redheads. Ron beamed "Alright? Everything's brilliant! Just you wait, this is going to be the best year we've had!"

Whatever news the Weasley's wanted to tell him, Harry never got the chance to find out.

They went to Diagon immediately after leaving the Dursley's, picked up their books, thankfully only needing three new ones, and then after that it was to someplace Harry hadn't been expecting. They'd pulled into a rather dim street, shadows lapping up everything, and then Mrs Weasley had given Harry a piece of paper, with the words 'The headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix is at 12 Grimmauld Place'.

Harry had thought he'd seen all of what magic could do. He hadn't. Because he'd had no clue that magic could make a building hide in plain sight, or reveal it to people who knew of its location.

Almost the instant Harry had set foot in the building, Dumbledore had appeared, rushing Mrs Weasley into a separate room, with barely enough time for her to say "Not a word about our surprise."

That night, around dinner, Harry had been happy to see both Remus and Sirius, but they seemed...tense. "Things are changing," Remus had said "And not for the better. The Ministry is pushing for creature status to be lowered even further than it is now." He glanced at Sirius "And not just for creatures, but for people affiliated with them, and to Ani-" whatever he'd started to say, Harry guessed Animagi, although that didn't make much sense, was interrupted by Mrs Weasley, who'd been in a sour mood ever since her meeting with Dumbledore and the other adults. "Enough, this isn't the time nor place."

Ever since that night it was as though the entire building was tense. Even Sirius and Remus seemed to be out of sorts. In fact, the only one who seemed content with the situation, whatever the situation was, was Dumbledore.

Even though Dumbledore seemed to be avoiding Harry, having him be calm helped sooth Harry as well. The fact that nearly the entire Weasley family was also in the building with him probably wasn't doing any harm either.

Harry may not have been the brightest wizard in the world, but he could tell that something big was about to happen, something major.

He just hoped that when things finally exploded, no one that he loved would be hurt.

Things exploded.

Oh man did things explode.

First, was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a Dolores Umbridge from the Ministry.

Then there were her 'helpful' changes.

Things had been at what Harry had thought would be an all time low for several weeks, until it finally happened.

The one thing happened that he'd never thought could.

Umbridge managed to kick Dumbledore out of Hogwarts.

And that's a wrap.

This was mostly an introductory chapter, sort of setting things up, because this is going to be a rather insane Alternate Universe.

Hope you guys are ready for a wild ride :D

Remember to review, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

~Savannah