"Harry" talking
'Potter' thinking
$the$ parselmouth
{boy} enhanced volume
CHAPTER ONE, BOOK ONE
Harry Potter was a peaceful young boy living on number four pivot drive, he didn't cause trouble, and he didn't scream or yell. But the Dursley's seemed to hate him, and he didn't know why. He was stuck in a labyrinth of misery, but he's learned to live with it, well most of the time anyway.
"Boy, I swear to God if you don't get your ass down here in 2 minutes, your gonna get the flog!" bellowed Uncle Vernon
Oh yes, the flog, it was something Uncle Vernon came up with while lazying around during his job at Grunnings, a firm that made drills. The flog is when he gets seven whips with the leather belt for seven consecutive days (because to Uncle Vernon, the lucky number seven will beat the "freak" out of Harry) while holding a bar of nasty tasting soap in his mouth. It wasn't hardcore abuse, but it still hurt, so Harry became quick on his feet after the first few times.
"I'm here sir, what is it you require?" responded Harry.
"I know I tell you this every year, but your birthday is coming up so you'll have your 24 hours of freedom. However, this doesn't mean you can slack off now, you have 12 more days so keep studying and don't ignore your sport activities, you need those scholarships because I don't want to pay a dime for your high school and college tuition, but if you go somewhere low standard, Petunia and I will look bad. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Also if Petunia sees that damn snake one more time, well three strikes and you're out, in other words, flog."
"Yes, sir."
"Now scram brat and heads up, you're not having a cake this year, your turning eleven, double digits. When you were ten Petunia convinced me to let you have the cake, but not this year. You have to stick to your nutritional diet."
"Yes, sir."
Now to Harry, Vernon was a bit of a prude, but Harry knew he cared for him in a weird way. After all, he is paying for his Karate lessons, his cross country, and track&field membership, and he was able to skip first, second, and fourth grade. But then Harry remembers the gardening, cleaning, cooking, and constant studying he has to do he has to do, so yea Vernon is a bit of a prude in Harry's opinion.
***Harry's birthday***
It was Harry's birthday and he's been up since 4:00 doing everything he could before the day ended, his aunt Petunia anticipated this and cooked a meal for him the night before and left it in the fridge.
'It's 4:25' Harry thought to himself, 'Maybe I should go to London, after all, I don't really have friends here because of my intelligence and that fatso Dudley. The amount of pounds I have should be enough for a whole day if I use every pound I have. Well, you know what they say, your only eleven once.'
So Harry ended up taking the train to London and had a blast. He got to see monuments like the Big Ben, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace. Then, he got himself a ticket to ride the London Eye. Afterward, he got off he lounged around in Hyde Park until the sun started to set. So he when back to Pivot Drive he was in for a surprise when he saw a flock of owls surrounding his house dropping letters all over the yard.
'Oh no' thought Harry.
"HARRY you little shit you're getting the flog, I don't care if it's your birthday look at his mess!" bellowed .
"Nooo not my yard, there's dung, feathers, and paper everywhere, and oh Lord, is that the snake I told you to kill!" screeched .
"That's two weeks of flog Harry!" yelled
'How did everything go downhill?' "Yes, sir." said Harry
"Just take your letter and get the hell out of my face!" he yelled again.
"Yes, sir."
So Harry went up to his room and took a look at the snake he snatched up before he ran up with his letter.
'Man this better be worth two weeks of flog,' $Patriot what were you doing out there?$
$Ssorry masster, I ssaw a ssea of mealss that I had to grab.$ replied Patriot, the Faint-banded sea snake.
$I thought I've told you to sstay insside, and sstop calling me masster!$
$Onsse again I'm ssorry masster.$
$Ugh, never mind letss look at the letter.$ "Mr.H Potter, the room upstairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey," mutters Harry, "hmm, a little weird that they know which room I live in but I'll ignore that for now."
"Dear Harry Potter, If you have received this you are a wizard... wait, what!" 'I guess that makes sense I have witnessed some pretty weird things that have to be magic, like the time in 3rd grade when Grant Gardner tried bullying me, and then he ended up tripping everywhere for 3 days.' he pondered. "you are a wizard. Now you are presented with two choices, try to live a normal life, or embrace your gift and attend Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please check one of the two boxes below. The choice is yours! -Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."
'Well I'm an eleven-year-old in ninth grade, so if I don't want to be a wizard or if I'm a horrible wizard I would still be ahead of others, it's just the money that's my concern.' Harry looked up. "Hey, owl!" "Coo?" "Yea you, listen I need to ask for the pricing and if there are any scholarships can I give you this message to give to them? Thanks!"
If was 4 days later when he got another letter
"Alright lemme see what it says here,"
"To Harry Potter, Hello there, I'm Minerva McGonagall, the head of house for Gryffindor... 'Gryffindor? What's that?' Hogwarts is actually a tuition-free school, paid for by the Ministry of Magic. You just need to pay for your own materials, which I admit can be a bit costly. Usually, a list of materials are sent to a child's house after the child checks off the "Go to Hogwarts" box in the invitational letter, but I included one in this envelope. I would recommend going to Gringotts Wizarding Bank to inquire about your financial status if you have any questions. Inside this letter is also a portkey going to the entrance of Gringotts Wizarding Bank if needed, it will activate 5 minutes after the seal to the envelope has been broken. Good luck and please do consider Hogwarts. -Minerva McGonagall, head of house for Gryffindor."
$Cool it sseemss that I have ssome ssort of wissarding bank account, perhapss left by my parentss, come, Patriot, letss check it out$ Harry looked inside the envelope and found a sock. 'Huh it's a sock, is this a joke set up by someone, I should of kno-' "ahhh!"
***Entrance to Gringotts Wizarding Bank***
The portkey seemed to have worked because we now see Harry and Patriot right in front of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, people were eying him suspiciously it seemed to Harry as he looked around.
'Hmm probably because I'm dressed differently' he thought.
$Masster, they sseem to be whisspering your name.$
$Huh your right, they're ssaying my name and... ssomething about my sscar... what can it mean?$
$Uhh masster they're freaking out perhapss parsseltongue issn't ass common ass we thought, uh oh, I think we messssed up.$
"Quick come with me!"
"Huh, woah slow down, let go! yelled Harry.
They ran down a few blocks and went into an empty alley. The person stopped and turned around, from what Harry could tell, the person was tall and had a slim build, but the hoodie obscured Harry from seeing more.
"You simple-minded fool! Why would you use that skill in London of all places, you know how people feel about parselmouths, your incredibly lucky I saved your arse, some of the adults looked ready to seize you or worse!"
'He seems to be a boy, perhaps around my age, based on his voice.' "Umm, how exactly do they feel about parselmouths?"
"... are... you... a mudblood?"
"Erm a what"
"A mudblood, someone with no wizarding relative you dolt!"
"Umm well both my parents were wizards from what my aunt told me."
"Your aunt, where are your parents? Did they die or just ditch you with your aunt?"
"They're dead actually..."
"Oh, sorry about that are you ready to cry on my shoulder, hahaha, oh I'm funny. By the way, what did your aunt say if I may ask because I don't really believe you." said the stranger in a rather condescending tone.
"Well, I think she was jealous of my parents or something because she said, "You freak! Get out of my face. Oh why did my freakish sister have to marry a freakier man!"" said Harry as he tried mimicking his aunt's voice.
"So your aunt... she's a squib."
"Huh?"
"A squib, you know, someone who has wizarding parents but didn't show any signs of magic."
"No, my grandparents are normal people."
"Oh, so you mother must be a mudblood. What about your father?" he sneered.
"Umm I don't know I've never met anyone on my father's side of the family, and my dad is dead remember."
"Well he must've been a pureblood or something, how else would you be a parselmouth with only mudblood blood running in your veins. Anyways people in Britain despise parselmouths because the last dark lord in Britain was a parselmouth, common knowledge really."
"I guess that makes sense, I didn't really know, sorry. Listen, thanks for the advice, I'll try not to use my parseltongue, but I have to go to Gringotts before they close."
"Alright see you half-blood." said the stranger as he walked away.
"Wait! How do I get back to Gringotts!" yelled Harry to the stranger.
"When you leave this alley, make a left and go down two blocks, you should end up at the entrance again." said the stranger as he kept walking without looking back.
$Did you hear that Patriot? I know you like it when I usse parsseltongue , but I won't be able to usse parsseltongue when I'm around people anymore. Got it? Also, you sshould hide in my backpack sso nobody can ssee you.$
$Yess masster.$
$Don't call me masster!$
$No masster.$
'Sigh, oh well let's go.'
***Gringotts***
"Hey, uh sir, I was wondering about my financial status." 'I didn't know that goblins worked here!'
"Do you have a meeting with an employe organized?"
"Well, no... truth is, I just found out about magic within the last month sir."
"Well, then why would you have a bank account."
"I heard my parents have one, I'm Harry James Potter sir, uh maybe my name is in your records?"
"A Potter huh. Alright well since your new to this I set up a meeting with your chief financial officer, he'll explain all of this to you. {Bogrod, calling Bogrod to station 3, you have a client}."
"Thanks, sir."
"No problem."
"Are you Harry James Potter?" said the new goblin.
"Yes I am, you must be Bogrod, nice to meet you."
"Likewise, let me walk you to your vault as I explain this whole process to you, "
"Umm Harry is fine."
"Ok Sir Harry."
'That's not what I meant' sweatdropped Harry.
"Anyways there is a whole load of history going into Gringotts but I'm sure a young boy like you would be bored to death by that.
"Hehe, yea..." said Harry sheepishly.
"In a nutshell, Gringotts is a place where wizards store their money, and us goblins hold onto it with our lives."
"Ah, thank you for your services then."
"Nonsense I'm just doing it because this job pays well. It seems we are arriving at the entrance to the vaults. Before we enter the cart, I must ask you to show us what's in your bag, it's a safety code we have in Gringotts."
'Oh no, what if they see Patriot' panicked Harry.
The goblin must've noticed this because he said, "I don't care what's in your bag Sir Harry, as long as it's not a weapon."
'Phew.' "Ok, sir here you go." Harry opened his bag and the goblin looked inside.
"I must ask you to leave your pet in the animal center, it won't be hurt."
"Oh ok if you say so, did you hear that Patriot?" The snake nodded its head.
"Good now that everything seems to be in order, let us enter the cart. Just making sure though, you have your key, right?"
"Um, sorry Bogrod, I don't."
"...Did you lose it?"
"No, I never had a key." said Harry defensively.
"You never had a gold key."
"No, not in my life."
"...Sigh, alright let's get this whole nonsense over with. While you seem to fit the description of being the son of James Fleamont Potter, it could be a spell or potion. Sir, I'll need you to come with me so we can verify you are or aren't Harry James Potter, son of James Fleamont Potter."
"Ok." said Harry. 'I have no reason to be worried I'm his son, right?'
***Deoxyribonucleic acid testing Chambers***
"Welcome to the Deoxyribonucleic acid testing Chambers, or the DNA room, as people prefer to call it." Said Bogrod.
"Wow, this is really cool Bogrod, how does it work?" Said Harry in awe.
"Well if you would pipe down I would show you." snapped Bogrod. "First I will cut your palm with a decontaminated knife, you will then proceed to squeeze your palm and blood will flow out into the goblet. Now, this is the magical part. The goblet will be able to decode your ancestors by using different databases from all over the world, muggle and magical ones. This will take approximately 10 minutes because I'm only setting the goblet to go back one generation. Are you ready?"
"Yes Bogrod I'm ready." said Harry firmly.
"Ok, here we go!"
"Ouch!"
"Oh, pipe down, I have a potion to heal that up later. Ok, steady now, right into the goblet, just like that. Good job boy."
"... So now what?"
"We sit and wait, what did you expect brunch?"
"Oh, ok."
***Ten minutes later***
"Okay, let's see what we have here. Will it be " " or some nobody. " said the Bogrod.
Bogrod turned the goblet around to face them. To Harry, this was a big moment, he never knew his father's name, only his mother's. If he really was the son of James Potter, then to Harry that would uncover a whole part of him he never knew. Time felt as if it slowed down, the seconds ticking slowly in his head, tick... tock... tick... tock... Then what felt like a hundred years the goblet was finally facing them and Harry exhaled in relief. He really was the son of James Fleamont Potter, he was overjoyed.
"Congratulations are in order, Sir Harry James Potter, son of Lord James Fleamont Potter, it seems you have the right to claim your inheritance as heir to the house of Potter."
"So what does this mean exactly Bogrod?"
"What it means Sir Harry, is that you now have to fulfill a certain standard, after all, the Potters are one of the most influential houses in Britain. Whatever you thought you knew on etiquette, I would recommend throwing it out the window and starting from scratch, not to mention the politics you have to cover once you reach 18. You should get started now Sir Harry, after all, as a sole member of the Potter house, there will be times within the next few years where the public or even political rivals will put you on the spot and tarnish your name and reputation."
"Woah, that sounds like a lot."
"That's because it is, Sir Harry, not to mention it is crucial you are ahead of others with your grade. If the sole heir to a house was some sort of nitwit, then the house would lose reputation."
"But surely they wouldn't expect me to know all of this, after all, my first contact with the magical world was today!"
"Sadly, Sir Harry, they do expect you to know all of this and more. Did you know, the people in Great Britain actually call you the Boy-Who-Lived. Well, it's between you and this other lad actually, but that's not the point!"
"What does that title even mean Bogrod?"
"It means, that either you or the other boy managed to "kill" He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named."
"Eh, who's He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named?"
"Oh, I forget Sir Harry that you don't know all of this, my apologies. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is the Dark Lord."
"Oh, is it because the people fear him so much they can't even say his name?"
"Why yes, Sir Harry, aren't you a bright lad." beamed Bogrod.
"Thank you Bogrod."
"No problem Sir Harry. Anyways the point I'm trying to make is that you have to study like a starving man eating a meal, otherwise things may not be so fruitful for you at Hogwarts. You must always be aware of other heirs within the school. As you will find out within time, Hogwarts is used by the heirs to establish early alliances, truces, or even enemies. As the heir to an almost extinct house, you must show them the house of Potter never lost their original power."
'Wow, this is like something out of a dream, finding out you're the heir to a dead house and then having to reclaim lost fame. If it wasn't for the fact that I know this is real, I probably would think I'm dreaming.' "Umm Bogrod, is there perhaps a book that you own that could help me with this?"
"Well actually Sir Harry, your family vault contains a whole library of books. After your parents' deaths, all the properties were shut down, and anything of value was stored in the house of Potter vault, vault 687. All we need is to get a key for the vault that Gringotts has in cases like these and then we'll be ready to go."
"Great! But what about the lost key you were talking about before, can you retrieve it or something."
"Well since you didn't lose it, the key must've been stolen the night that your parents died. Luckily for you, the thief either never had the chance to get to the vault, or they didn't know what was in their hands. However, we will still have to replace the lock in case they duplicated the key, but it will be on us since there was no way to prevent this."
"Ok let's go to the vault!"
"Of course Sir Harry."