The Beginning
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The Platform was noisy, that's all he had to comment on it. Visibility of potential security risks was at a minimum, due to the fact there were so many students running in, families clogging the platform and numerous Apparation and Floo points. Harry was really regretting his promise to catch the train like a "normal" student.
Harry had entered the platform alone, and his long black cloak, black hair and observant green eyes were making the families around him shoo their children onto the train faster. H didn't exactly look sixteen. His clothes were cut to make him seem older, his hair made his cheekbones more pronounced and his fringe covered his forehead (and conveniently, his scar) so his eyes were stark against it.
He shrugged off the attention and made his way onto the train, stopping in an unoccupied compartment. His trunk was in his pocket, having being shrunk, and his owl cage was rattling against his broom, also in his pocket. His absently stroked his left forearm.
He had only a short wait before a whistle was blown and shrieks were heard, the train lurching into motion. He looked out the window and noticed they'd already moved well away from the platform, now in the outskirts of London.
The compartment door opened and five students came in, talking animatedly between themselves, until a tall red-head finally noticed the compartments only other occupant.
"Bugger, sorry about that, didn't notice you! Who are you anyway? New Defence Professor or something?" Harry quirked his brow and allowed a small smile to find its way to his lips.
"Not quite. I'm a new student, transfer." All five of the students exchanged quick looks before a bushy haired witch smiled warmly and held out a hand.
"Hermione Granger, Sixth year Gryffindor!" She grinned as if this was her best quality. He reluctantly took her hand.
"Harry Potter, new sixth year." Silence. Hermione looked slightly embarrassed for a moment before sitting down next to him, again with a wide smile.
"Oh really!? Where have you been! Of course, I've read all about you, there have been so many theories surrounding your disappearance! And of course, you're sixteen now, and Lord Potter to boot! What house do you think you'll be in?" She said all this very fast and Harry couldn't help but grin at her slightly out-of-breath speech.
"Uh, living with my guardian, I have also read all the theories, many of which are highly amusing, yes I'm sixteen, yes I'm Lord Potter and I believe I'll be in Slytherin." Another long silence.
"Slytherin?!" The younger girl with red hair exclaimed, "What makes you think that? Honestly, who wants to be a Slytherin?" Harry smiled.
"Uh, me. I think it suits me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not typically evil, but in my line of work, you have to be cunning." Crap. How had he let that slip!
"Your line of work?" this came from a tall goofy looking boy.
"Err... yes." Again, there was that silent exchange, before the small dreamy looking blonde smiled.
"You're working with Fudge silencing the wizards who advocate for the freeing of Neutkins, aren't you?" Harry blinked. Finally the red-headed boy spoke.
"Harry, this is Luna Lovegood, fifth year Ravenclaw, Neville Longbottom, Sixth year Gryffindor, Ginny Weasley, fifth year Gryffindor and my sister and I'm Ron Weasley, sixth year Gryffindor." Harry nodded but instead of responding stood up.
"Well, I best be off to change." And he walked out, looking for the loo and secretly just wanting to escape. He'd never really had to talk overly much to strangers.
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"And finally, our newest sixth year student, Harry Potter will be sorted." Harry rolled his eyes at the silence and stares that followed him as the Hat settled over his eyes.
Potter eh? Usually I wouldn't have to think about a Potter being anywhere but Gryffindor, but I see you are a bit tougher to place. You've definitely led an interesting life boy. Courage you have plenty of, but also a cunning and perceptiveness valued in the Green house. I see intelligence in abundance, but Ravenclaw would be a horrible fit for you. Loyalty, but it seems you only have it for a certain amount of people. Agent, spy, emissary, master wizard, national icon, Lord, half-blood. Many titles you have, but I really cannot place you. I know you lean toward Slytherin, but Gryffindor would be as good a match as Slytherin. And I see you've met some fine Gryffindors already.
Uh, with all respect Hat, theGryffindors I met seemed a bit too, err extroverted and open. I'm not like that.
But you could be! You have such potential to be a kind friend and caring person!
Oh, well, I really am not sure what house I want to be in now. Gryffindor sounds alright, when put like that. I want to have friends.
But in Slytherin you could have followers and friends, depending on what you chose. They are power hungry but not completely oblivious to their own feelings of camaraderie. Most don't see it their whole life, but Slytherins make life-long friends as they only choose people most compatible to themselves.
So are you giving me the choice?
Usually, I would not. But you're old enough to know who you want to be. Who do you want to be Harry Potter?
"SLYTHERIN!" Harry lifted the hat off his head and was met but a hushed silence from the rest of the Hall, but a polite applause started at the Slytherin table. Smirking, he left the dais without a word and glared at a little first year, who immediately moved so he could sit down next to a pretty brunette.
"Well! Now that we are all sorted, tuck in!" Harry's eyebrows went up slightly as the plates filled with food, and he was nudged, only to find it was the brunette.
"Mr Potter, pass the carrots please." He nodded and smiled, handing the bowl to her.
"And what is your name Miss?"
"Daphne Greengrass, sixth year. Such a surprise to see you at Hogwarts this year Mr Potter, you have been missing for some time."
"Harry, please. Yes, I've taken private training for most of my life." Soon Daphne had started speaking across the table to a tall coffee-skinned boy, and Harry tuned out, eating and surveying the Hall in silence.
"So, Potter, do you want to dorm with me and my friend here?" The other boy clapped another, smaller sandy-blonde boy on the shoulder.
"I suppose. Sorry, I don't know either of your names, you may call me Harry."
"Well I'm Blaise Zabini and this is Dale Baine, call me Blaise, you may as well call him Dale. We're both finished, so is Daphne here, want to come with us and we'll show you your dorm?"
"Sure."
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"So, before we take you up to our dorms, we have to let you make an informed decision." Blaise nodded solemnly to Daphne, Dale watching Harry's face intently. He got the feeling these kids were a little strange.
"We're all outcasts, us and Millicent Bulstrode, you'll meet her, she always gets to Hogwarts late. Anyway, all four of us have gotten on the bad side of Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Self-Proclaimed King. He's in our year. He's rich, handsome and a total bastard. But if you don't want pranks being pulled, your dorm trashed, being the slime of the school..." Daphne looked up at him after her speech, obviously trying not to look too hopeful. She obviously expected him to leave them alone.
But they'd spoken to him kindly, he was even starting to like them, they'd offered him a room and they all seemed to accept he wasn't about to go blabbing about his past. They'd shown him some trust, his diplomatic training told him to give them some back.
Flashing a winning smile, he clapped a staring Dale on the back. "Of course I still want to dorm with you! So, your rooms get trashed? If you don't mind, I like my privacy, so would it be okay to ward our rooms, and key them so only us four, plus Millicent and anyone else you trust, can get in?"
All three students beamed.
"Good! Well, come on, I'll show you our Dorm, then Daphne will show you hers and Millicent's."
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Clearly they had had a rough five years at Hogwarts.
The room stank of god-knows-what (it smelled terrible, whatever it was), there was only two little, beaten and uncomfortable-looking beds with shabby coverings, and a small fire, along with walls littered with dents, scorch marks and slime running from the roof, probably from shifted stones and a heavy body of water above them.
"Well, this will never do." All three heads turned toward him and he smiled again, whipping his wand out and firing numerous spells around the room. He cleaned. He transfigured. He summoned. He Vanished. He lit. He expanded. He created.
And within a matter of moments, the four of them stood in a whole different room. Fluffy comfortable lounges, three sturdy and comfortable beds, clean new green hangings, clean walls, black rugs, silver ornaments, white workbenches, a larger fire... it was the epitome of comfort for a dungeon dorm room.
The door opened and a rather tall, sturdy girl walked in saying, "I'm here, god the Floo network is a nightmare today..." And she bumped right into Harry and looked up slightly. She then blushed furiously.
"Err, sorry." She looked around and gasped, "Wrong room? Guys, what are you doing in this man's room?" Harry chuckled and held out a hand.
"Harry Potter, Blaise and Dale's new room mate. I just re-arranged the room a bit." She absently took his hand, whilst looking past him to the still-dumbstruck teens. "Harry Potter?" he noticed Millicent miming. Chuckling, he extracted his hand.
"Well, I'm off to take a shower, and I'll probably clean up in there too." That said, he left the mute students for the connecting door to the bathroom, and set to work fixing it with silver fittings and tasteful white tiles.
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Harry had always been an early riser. He silently padded his way over to the bathroom and shut the door, glaring at his own reflection. He didn't suit his surroundings. He had rough black stubble covering his face, a long-ish black shabby hair-cut, his scars stood out starkly on his neck, the one on his forehead still covered over. All was done to make him look unnoticeable and older, but in this environment, it made him increasingly noticeable, much older (Defence Professor! Honestly!) and shifty. He needed a hair-cut and a shave.
Taking out his wand, his used the severing charm to cut his hair so it was shorter, sticking up all over the place but quite attractively so. His stubble was gone with the flick of a wrist and down-stroke. He looked himself over in the mirror and realised he actually looked sixteen.
He left the bathroom sometime later, washed and clad in a towel, into a room filled with four laughing Slytherins.
"Hey guys, I see you're finally up." They all looked over and the girl's jaws dropped, taking in his very muscular bare chest, wet and tousled hair, surprisingly short and his clean-shaven face. But what caught the attention of all four students were the scars.
There was, of course, the famous lightning-bolt. But this was not the most interesting, or only, scar of the sixteen-year-old's body.
A long scar ran from his left armpit down his side, ending just above the towel he wore around his lower body. His hands and arms were flecked with smaller cuts, his left arm sporting a large scar from elbow to wrist.
His whole torso was cut in some way, and a few bruises were visible, recent and looking a lovely shad of purple.
"Oh Harry! Where did you get all those scars and bruises?" Daphne ran over to him, touching his torso and tracing one of his scars, Harry emitting a small wriggle and moving back.
"Hey that tickles!" He turned and walked to his bed, and Dale shouted, "Hey is that a tattoo?!"
Indeed, someone had finally noticed the ring of names surrounding his right bicep. MOONY-PADFOOT-PRONGS. He sighed and called out from behind his hangings "Yes! It's not my only one!" He only had one other, a small lily flower on his ankle.
He emerged shortly wearing dark blue jeans and a black button-up shirt, and sat on a chair, facing the others who had resumed their places on the lounges.
"So, since its Saturday, you want to check out Hogwarts? It's pretty confusing." Millicent smiled toward Harry, not blushing this time.
"Sure, I did want to have a look around today, and I'll ward the room properly before we go."
They spent the rest of the day visiting every floor of Hogwarts, Harry receiving many strange and questioning looks as he walked.
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Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who has either reviewed, read or is watching this story, It makes me indescribably happy to have gotten so many hits after just one day!
I wasn't so sure I'd continue writing this fic, I'm still working out its direction, but I got such a positive response I'll keep it going! Reviews would be lovely, and if you've got a criticism, a suggestion, or a pairing you want to see happening (although I have an idea already), don't hesitate to write it out!
Sadly, I'll even accept flames if this fic deserves it!
Happy reading,
Fool
P.S I do not have a beta, so it's my own spell-checking and Word spell check, so I apologise in advance if there is a mistake, I did try my best to spot them all!
