Hello and Happy Easter.

As promised the second part of this two-shot story. If I get enough positive reviews I might sometime write a sequel.

Disclaimer: All belongs to JKR.

Thanks to all those who wrote a review to the first part. I hope you will like the new chapter as well.

Have fun. I would love many reviews.

Results of the Conspiracy

Seven boys and girls stood near an old woman who showed them around London. They were a typical private school class as far as the workers at the Tower of London were concerned. It often happened that small groups of students came with their teacher to learn more about British history. It was always good for young children to see the historical places for themselves instead of just reading about them in their books. They got a feeling for history. If they had listened to the things the teacher told her students they would have been shocked.

"We are now at the Tower of London. This is as well a historical place for wizards and witches as it is for muggles. This tower has two concealed floors underground that are completely safe from muggles. The part of the tower the muggles know about has been used to imprison dangerous criminals, been the home to many rulers of Great Britain and is until today the place where the famous crown jewels are kept. Many prisoners were executed in this place.

For wizards the tower was a secret meeting place during the time of the Dark Lord Hunnard Reginus. An alliance with the dwarfs in 1263 was the base for the two floors being built without the muggles ever knowing. Even today the muggles are kept in the dark in case another Dark Lord rises and there would be a need for a safe place.

During the last war, the secret organization called 'The Order of the Phoenix' used the two floors to hide those who were hunted down by the Dark Lord Voldemort and his followers the Death Eaters."

None of the magical children was scared hearing the name of the last Dark Lord. At their school Mrs. Figg, their History teacher, had taught them the importance to not give those who wanted to hurt them more power by fearing them more than necessary. So they were used to hearing the name of Voldemort.

"Throughout history Dark Lords and Ladies gained power because people were ignorant and easily scared. Even if they had only small amounts of the population supporting them, because of them being ruthless they managed to control a majority of people. So the best way to prevent a Dark Lord from gaining too much power is knowledge and training. A witch or wizard who is confident in his or her abilities is less prone to being overpowered than one not well trained.

And fear is mostly based on the unknown. This is one of the reasons you are learning how to live in the muggle world. 90 % of the population of Great Britain are muggles. They have built big cities and are able to use technology to achieve things you can do with magic. They are different but if we understand them, we don't have to fear them and can live alongside them easily. They won't even notice us being different from them."

Arabella proceeded leading the children through different parts of the Tower, telling them the history of them. When they left the Tower, she looked at the seven children, which were currently educated at Longbottom Manor. The first two were of course now ten years old Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Minerva had already voiced concerns of them following in the footprints of the marauders. Both boys were highly intelligent and liked a good laugh. A remarkable change for both previously shy boys. But with the right encouragement they had come out of their shells and now showed their hidden personalities. And they very much reminded Minerva of the young James Potter and Sirius Black in being inseparable. But they were very sure that those two wouldn't betray each other.

Even if that theory had gotten some serious doubts when Augusta had started teaching her young students about politics and famous wizard trials. She hadn't been able to find any records of the Sirius Black trial and was currently paying a professional to do some research for her. If the man really didn't get a trial, she would make sure this blunder of their law enforcement was remedied. While she still didn't think that a man would have been sent to Azkaban without ironclad proof, she didn't like laws being broken. It left a bad taste of the Ministry being as bad as Voldemort and his group of terrorists.

The next two were Susan Bones, her aunt Amelia had been included in the Witches' Conspiracy soon after they had decided to include more children in their learning group, and her friend Hannah Abbot. Hannah was a halfblood like Harry, with a pureblood father and a muggleborn mother, but she only had one parent left in her mother, who was Amelia Bones' best friend since their Hogwarts days. Both girls would join Harry and Neville at Hogwarts next year.

The witches of the Conspiracy had thought hard who they would include. They had ruled out all those families who had supported Voldemort during the war, all the families of war profiteers, reasoning that they would probably not keep Harry a secret, the neutral families which had a bit of a bad taste to them, like the Zabinis. It just sat wrong with them that Ophelia Zabini was always losing her husbands shortly after marrying them. No her son was not the right company in their opinion.

They had offered the Greengrasses to attend, but Gabriella Greengrass had wanted to teach her two daughters personally. Cedric Diggory was too old, even if his mother had been really interested in their idea and told them if they ever wanted to promote their idea further she would gladly support them. With the Patils Antacho Patil was the one who made the decisions in their family and his wife just followed his lead. And men tended to boast to their friends when they met in pubs. It was too big of security risk.

The last three were a year younger. They were Luna Lovegood, her mother Celine was also teaching the kids in the basics of Runes and had taken over Math for Minerva as her duties at Hogwarts were too much for her to teach more than one subject, Ginevra Weasley, they had only allowed her after Molly had sworn an oath not to reveal anything about their activities to Dumbledore, she had agreed after all she knew that men most of the time forgot to look into the important details of how to raise children properly and the last one was Marius Holberth, who was a distant nephew of Minerva.

They had asked if Molly wanted to include her son Ronald into the group but the boy hated working hard on anything and the lessons the children took demanded full effort on their parts. He wasn't told anything what his sister learned at the Manor or who her comrades were.

The seven children who attended at the moment were all on good terms with each other. They all learned the same things. The witches who taught them with the occasional help from Augusta's brother Algernon didn't think it would make any difference if the younger children learned the things they taught one year earlier. They would start Hogwarts only one year after the older four after all.

Only those families who were undoubtedly against the things Voldemort stood for were invited to have their children taught before they attended Hogwarts. In the beginning this had also included Rose Holberth as well as Fred and George Weasley but they were now second years at Hogwarts already. And they were doing well, which made Molly Weasley and Cynthia Holberth extremely happy. As long as her sons didn't slack in their studies Molly could live with the constant letters from Minerva informing her about her sons' newest misdeed. Of course they were told of by her. But she knew it was an impossible task getting them to stop.

The next destination of the group's excursion to London was Big Ben, a purely muggle place of interest, followed by the London Library, where a secret wing was kept for the National Magical Library, the only library in Great Britain more extensive than the one at Hogwarts, then they went to Buckingham Palace, where Arabella informed them about the ties the royal family had with the magical world. The Queen was the monarch of all of Great Britain, magical and non-magical. This was important for the children to know as many pureblood families forgot to teach this to their children. And sadly Hogwarts taught nothing about it as well. Normally it would be part of the History curriculum but Binns only taught outdated facts. And with Dumbledore refusing to replace the teacher, History of Magic was severely lacking.

They briefly visited Kings Cross station, where Arabella showed them the barrier to platform 9 ¾ from where the Hogwarts Express would depart and finished their tour at Charring Cross Road, where the Leaky Cauldron was situated.

"Well, we are finished with our tour of London. For your next History lesson please write an essay about the important things I showed and told you today, the points where muggle world and magical world connect to each other and why each of the sights you have visited today was important to know about. Now here at Charring Cross Road you can find the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron hidden from muggles. Only magical persons can see it. Others will just look left or right from it. It is a powerful notice me not charm that secures the secrecy statute. Parents of muggleborns need to be told the whereabouts of the entrance to see it, but they will be unable to find it without a magical person leading them" Arabella explained.

"We will now take our portkeys back to Longbottom Manor, where you will have one hour to begin your essays before dinner will be ready."

The seven children nodded and followed Arabella into a small alley near the Leaky Cauldron and all activated their portkeys.

The quarterly meeting of the Witches' Conspiracy was held at Amelia Bones' manor this time. The witches present were the four founding members, Arabella, Minerva, Augusta and Pomona, as well as Molly Weasley, Amelia Bones, Marian Abbot, Cynthia Holberth, Poppy Pomfrey and Celine Lovegood.

"Ladies, thank you all for coming tonight. I am happy to present you the last evaluation of our little protégées" Augusta told them.

The others smiled and looked expectantly.

"Our little preparation course for our children has borne better results than we would ever have expected. Let's begin with the three younger children learning the basics of magic and muggle science. Ginny, Luna and Marius at the moment have the overall knowledge of the subjects we teach that equals a very good first year at the end of the year. They know the reactions certain plants have in potions, can properly prepare the ingredients used in potions for first and second year curriculum at Hogwarts and grow them successfully in a greenhouse.

They have a good understanding about the theory of magic and how they can connect with their magic properly. This will be an advantage when they get their wands. From our experience with Rose, Fred and George we know that the basics they learned here have helped them enormously when they went to Hogwarts so we can securely assume it will be the same for the other seven. All three are capable of doing calculations their muggle comrades are doing at second year of secondary school and have a good understanding of some important literature.

As a matter of fact Ginny has asked if it would be possible to have something like English literature as a lesson at Hogwarts. She thought it would be good for all witches and wizards to know which works of famous authors muggles think important.

Marius would like to have more possibilities for physical activities as only seven people from each house are on the Quidditch teams. He would like to continue with his fencing lessons and perhaps have the possibility to learn martial arts.

Luna would like to have Care of Magical Creatures being an elective from first year. She suggested that all the first years could get a period of a month to get used to living at Hogwarts and be introduced to different magical subjects. Then at the end of the month each student gets to choose two electives for the year. They would be able to either continue with their chosen subject the next year or change it for another one."

The suggestions of the students were noted with approval. They would try to convince the board of governors, most of the times through their wives, to make the changes happen. It would probably take some time, but each advancement throughout history had taken time to happen. Augusta continued her report.

"Now to the four older students. They are well capable of all the theory required in the subjects up to third year. As I described before for the younger students, they are proficient in ingredient preparation but they have learned it up to fourth year, and they have begun brewing potions from first and second year curriculum. They will have done all those which are taught up to the end of second year, perhaps even some of the third year by the time they will attend Hogwarts."

This was a core element in their schooling the children. They all knew that Severus Snape, while being a genius with potions, had no patience to teach children. So it was vital for their future success in potions that they learned the basic techniques before they started Hogwarts. They all knew that the pureblood families made sure their children had a thorough grounding in potions before going to Hogwarts.

"All four have a professional work ethic and if they work as a team the results are really astonishing. They were given the task of growing and analyzing the properties of the plant Lion's Pride and they not only found the properties experts in Herbology have found over the years, they also managed to discover a new one. This was mostly the result of analyzing the plant both in magical as well as muggle ways.

Harry and Neville have managed to engrave some interesting runes into special muggle glass that is normally used for greenhouses in the muggle world. Since they exchanged the old glass in one of our greenhouses for the engraved glass, our plants are growing at a 15 % faster rate.

Susan and Hannah have raised a patch of crups which have been judged by the experts at the Magical Menagerie as some of the best specimen they have seen in the last five years. I think we can hope for great things from those four."

The others looked very pleased with Augusta's report.

"That is wonderful Augusta. I am very happy that our idea to help Harry brought such a success for all the children" Pomona said smiling.

"Arabella, do you know anything problematical from his relatives?" Minerva asked.

"No, they are behaving normally. I think they are just glad that they don't have to take care of Harry anymore. They have signed the documents for Harry to attend the two weeks trip we have planned without a question. I think the reason they are not boasting about Harry in the neighborhood is that their own son is totally stupid and lazy. And they can't blame Harry for anything because he isn't at their house for more than the nights. That and they fear that I would tell the Foundation, which would give them a bad reputation, which is their worst fear. Public appearance is really important for them."

"I am just glad that you took actions to get him out of their immediate control early on. That way it was possible for me to counteract the symptoms from the years of neglect. Now he has a healthy weight and is at an average height for a boy his age. And I always have to smile seeing him and Neville running around, planning something new. They remind me so much of Harry's father and Sirius. I still cannot understand how he could fall so far. I would never have thought him capable of such a crime" Poppy said.

"Yes it is a shame. But I am sure Harry and Neville will be spared that fate. Both come from good families and we cut the bad influence of the Dursleys on Harry early enough. Now there are only four months left until Harry and Neville should get their Hogwarts letters. And Albus doesn't have an inkling of what is going on. He still thinks Harry has grown up completely isolated from the magical world" Minerva said chuckling.

"I still don't know why he thought keeping Harry ignorant would have been the best course of action. Harry would have been overwhelmed with his fame if he had been, metaphorically spoken, been thrown into cold water. And from the few times I have seen his relatives, they would have done their utmost to make Harry's life miserable and probably would have tried to prevent him going to Hogwarts" Amelia said frowning.

While it was perfectly normal to place an orphaned child with his closest living blood relatives, placing a magical child with muggles who were known to despise magic was frowned upon. And none of the officials who should have been involved in the matter had been contacted. From Poppy they knew that Harry had been treated for his injuries from the Avada Kedavra at Hogwarts for the day. While Dumbledore had been at the Ministry to try running damage control with people all over the country celebrating the fall of Voldemort in the open, Hagrid had taken Harry to Poppy to get him checked up.

"Yes, understanding Albus is sometimes impossible" Minerva agreed. "But we have reached our goals. Harry has grown up happily since he was seven, he has found good friends in the other children and the children we have sworn to protect have gotten a good education before going to Hogwarts. From the success of our project I would like to suggest to the Ministry starting something like we did for all magical children. I mean I have seen the results the training prior to Hogwarts has given Rose, Fred and George. While your sons are pranksters to the core Molly, they are top of their class in all subjects, even History. But I credit Arabella for this. Cuthbert should have been replaced long ago. And Filius is always praising my niece as one of his best Ravenclaws."

"Don't I know it Minerva. I am glad my boys are doing so well. I just wished Ron would have been interested in learning with the others but we left the decision to attend the lessons to our children. Arthur and I thought that it would be best. I am really proud that Fred, George and Ginny wanted to learn more before starting Hogwarts. They are always raving about the new things they have learned and Arthur was fascinated with the stories they told him about how muggles do things. You really started a fantastic project" Molly said smiling.

She was also happy that Ginny would have some friends before going to Hogwarts. The problem with living so isolated in the country was that the children rarely got to play with others their age. Ginny had been somewhat lonely being the only girl in a house with six older brothers. Usually magical families didn't send their children to muggle schools. So the first time they got used to being at a school was when they started Hogwarts. Now she had Luna, Susan and Hannah to talk to. And Harry, Neville and Marius were also close to her. Rose was an older sister figure especially for all the girls, while Fred and George were the cool big brother figures for the boys and girls equally.

They spoke some time for the coming goals of the Witches' Conspiracy. They were planning to continue their work, even after the youngest three had started Hogwarts.

Time Skip

"The Hogwarts letters have arrived Gran" Neville told his grandmother one morning at the end of June.

He held two envelopes in his hand. One was his and one was Harry's. Harry was grinning and took his letter from Neville. Both read the letters and looked over their equipment lists.

"The texts they use are pretty basic" Harry commented.

"You are right. But we knew they would be for us. Many at Hogwarts don't have the advantage of having learned about magic beforehand like we did Harry. Especially the muggleborns have to get used to magic first" Neville said.

"It will be great studying at Hogwarts. We can finally do real wand-magic and not only keep to the wandless subjects. Oh the things we will be able to do" Harry had a grin on his face.

"Just try giving me some reprieve. And don't you dare start doing harmful pranks. I know I can't stop you from doing pranks, I have known you two long enough, but I won't tolerate you bullying those you don't like" Minerva said sternly.

"Of course not Professor McGonagall" Harry assured her.

Neville and Harry knew how far they could go. They had already made plans with the twins to do some great pranks together.

"You know we know better than that. Pranks are meant to make people laugh, not to harm them. Even the people who are getting pranked should be able to laugh about them after some time" Neville said assuringly.

Minerva had to smile. Those two were so similar but yet so different to James Potter and Sirius Black. Inseparable, really smart, they would become very handsome men when they grew up, their constant physical training had done them good, Neville was even junior champion in fencing of South-East England. Augusta had been so proud when he won the tournament. Harry they knew would become a really good Quidditch player like his father had been. The boy had been born to fly. Minerva wasn't sure if he would be better as chaser or as seeker, but she was sure he would soon join his house team at Hogwarts. She had high hopes he would be sorted into her house.

Both boys had a natural charm that drew people towards them. Minerva was so glad that Harry had been given the chance to get out from under the neglect and abuse of the Dursleys and that they had found out about the introversive nature of Neville's magic. Both boys had thrived with the right motivation.

"Well, I think we will have to visit Diagon Alley then. Minerva, you still have Harry's key to his trust vault?" Augusta asked.

"Of course. Albus hasn't even noticed I took it years ago. I think he never really spent a lot of thought on Harry before it was nearing the time for him to attend Hogwarts. It was easy to find out that while James and Lily had set up a stipend for Harry's care, the final order to the goblins to transfer the funds to a muggle bank has never been given. Albus just doesn't know enough about the details in dealing with muggles to have seen to it. And it was better that way. Vernon and Petunia would just have spent the money on their son instead of on Harry."

Harry had a sad smile on his face. He knew his relatives would never love him. He had resigned to that thought. It was one thing he wished for, having somebody who was his family. While the others had readily greeted him in their midst it was different. But with his godfather having betrayed his parents and rotting in Azkaban for it and Remus Lupin being prevented from taking him in due to being a werewolf, there was nothing to do about it. But at least Remus was like an uncle to him.

Harry had met him when he was eight and had been told why Remus never had visited. His status prohibited him from taking Harry in and it would have been bad if Harry got into trouble with the Dursleys for having contact to a wizard. It also would have hurt both of them not being able to spend time together, with the Dursleys hating magic like they did. With spending his whole days at Longbottom Manor, this problem could be circumvented and so Remus and Harry had built a friendly contact with each other.

"Alright boys, get ready. Harry, use the make-up to conceal your scar. Normally this should grant you some privacy" Augusta told them and both boys left the room to get their things ready.

As Harry more or less lived at Longbottom Manor during the summer holidays, the Dursleys believed he had to work on school projects and let him stay away gladly for some weeks, Harry had his own room there. Minerva had asked Albus how the wards could be maintained at Privet Drive while Harry was at Hogwarts three years ago during a discussion where Harry's name had been brought up by Pomona and had found out that Harry only needed to stay there for three weeks to keep the wards powered. Minerva had wanted to strangle the man.

It would have been possible for Harry to leave them for most of the year only to visit them for three weeks. Everybody would have been happier that way. Petunia would have been thrilled to have the least possible contact with her nephew. While the woman obviously didn't want her nephew dead, after all she had taken him in, she didn't want to have him around her either. It would have been so simple to arrange that. Harry could have moved in with the Longbottoms and would have been raised alongside Neville. For three weeks the Dursleys would have housed him and then could have been left alone.

But logic obviously wasn't something Albus practiced regularly. She sometimes had the suspicion that the wars had driven him slightly into madness.

The two boys and two women arrived at the Leaky Cauldron through the floo at 11.00 and swiftly went through the pub without gaining interest by the other customers. Tom, the barman, greeted Augusta and Minerva but didn't recognize Harry. Harry, due to him being completely unable to tame his hair if it got to a certain length, wore his hair short and in spikes, leaving his forehead bare. With the muggle make-up he used, nobody even wasted a thought of him being the famous Harry Potter.

Thanks to Arabella he had muggle contacts instead of the hideous glasses the Dursleys had gotten him after the school nurse at his primary school had told them he needed them. If he wanted to, he could hide his eye color too. He had blue contacts at home, but for now he thought he didn't need them. He had gotten them for a prank he and Neville had planned. It would be funny to see how people reacted to him changing eye colors.

Minerva opened the entrance to Diagon Alley and both boys were again fascinated with the things that were up for sale. And today they would be able to get them. Before they had been kept into close proximity of the adults and only visited the places they needed to go to, mostly Gringotts and then had left again. Today they would be able to have a better look around. But first they needed to go to Gringotts and get some gold from their trust vaults.

As they both were heirs to old wizarding families, traditionally a trust vault had been opened when they were born. Now that they had gotten their Hogwarts letters, the contents of those vaults were available to them. Each boy had fifty thousand galleons in the vault, this amount had to suffice them for the whole time they attended Hogwarts. Of course it was more than enough. The amount was about what a normal ministry employee earned in five years. But the Longbottoms and the Potters had the wealth of many generations safely kept at Gringotts. Their heirs were expected to properly represent their families.

Minerva acting as Harry's magical guardian, had managed to get the intended stipend for Harry's care to be made available to her and had paid for his supplies while he was learning with the other children with that money. The Hogwarts tuition had already been paid from the Potter family vault. It was the only exception the goblins allowed in accessing the vault. Hogwarts tuition was always paid from the family vaults by the old families. Otherwise Harry had to wait until he turned seventeen to gain access.

After getting their money, Augusta and Minerva let Harry and Neville roam the Alley, after having them promise they would stay at Diagon Alley and not wander off into side alleys like Knockturn. The boys readily promised and then they were gone. First stop for the adults was a trunk shop where they got each boy a three compartment trunk. Each trunk had customary charms inbuilt like feather-light, fire-proof, water-resistant and password secured. One compartment was a wardrobe, the other one a storage area with many shelves for things like potion ingredients, equipment and everyday items. The last compartment was a miniature library with a desk and armchair for studying peacefully. It was the standard version for family heirs. This meant that it was a bit more exclusive than the two compartment trunks most students got. There the storage area had some shelves specially designed for books.

Then they went to get parchment and quills as well as the books for the boys. While they were also getting some notebooks and pens in the muggle world for some classes they needed the official supplies. They had agreed to meet with Harry and Neville after one hour to get the boys their wands.

Harry and Neville meanwhile were admiring the new Nimbus 2000 at Quality Quidditch supplies. With the encouragement of Harry, Neville had gotten quite good at flying and he knew a lot about the game. But he knew that he wasn't cut out to play for a house team, his forte lay with swords. Harry meanwhile dreamt about all the tricks he would be able to do with a broom like that. Sadly first years weren't allowed their own brooms, so he would have to wait for a year.

They went to Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Harry got a beautiful snowy owl. He had just glimpsed at her while looking at all the owls in the shop and had immediately known she was meant to be his. The owl seemed to agree with him and had flown onto his shoulder. Their next stop had been the Magical Menagerie. Neville didn't want an owl for a pet. He could use one of the school owls to write to his gran during the school year or borrowing Harry's owl and his gran had three family owls. They didn't need any more. While he had gotten a toad from his uncle after they had determined his ability to use magic, he had never really developed a bond with Trevor. So the toad was happily living near one of the ponds at Longbottom Manor where Neville often visited him.

Neville was looking around and then his eyes fell upon a kitten with greyish blue fur. Harry saw where his best friend was looking and identified the kitten as a Russian Blue. Neville felt the bond with the kitten and got it with some equipment like a transport basket, toys and cat food. Harry liked Neville's new kitten as well. Thanks to Arabella both boys knew how to look after a kitten. Taking care of her half kneazles had been part of their lessons in Care of Magical Creatures.

They happily met with Augusta and Minerva and showed them their new pets after the hour was up. Minerva smiled at the two animals and scratched the kitten behind the ears. Being a cat animagus she had a certain connection to all felines. Augusta approved of her grandson's choice for a pet. Russian Blues were known to be really intelligent cats and Harry's snowy owl was just gorgeous. They would decide on names for their new pets when they got back to Longbottom Manor.

Finally they went to Olivander's to get their wands. The store was creepy. Suddenly an old man appeared startling both boys who had not seen him coming.

"Ah, Misters Longbottom and Potter. I had been wondering when I would see both of you. Minerva McGonagall, walnut, ten and a half inches, stiff, good for Transfiguration, I assume it is still working well" Olivander said, getting a curt nod from Minerva.

"And Augusta Longbottom, rosewood, nine inches precisely, supple. Very balanced for many branches of magic." Augusta also nodded.

"I also remember the wands your parents got" he said to Neville and Harry.

He first turned to Neville.

"Your mother bought a wand of oak, nine and three quarter inches, bendy, strong with offensive spells, your father took a liking to a wand of ebony, twelve and two third inches, powerful wand. Very well suited for offensive as well as defensive magic."

Then he looked at Harry.

"Your mother had a wand of willow, ten and a quarter inches, swishy, nice for charms work, your father preferred a wand of mahogany, eleven inches, pliable, Mr. Potter. Very good for transfiguration. Well I said your father favored the wand but it really is the wand that chooses the wizard" he explained to the startled boys.

How was it possible that Olivander remembered all those wands years after he had sold them?

"I see you are concealing the scar" he said to Harry looking at the point at his forehead where the make-up covered the recognizable lightning bolt shaped scar.

"Well, I am sorry to say that it was me who sold the wand that gave you the scar, thirteen and a half inches, yew, very powerful wand. Well, if I had known what that wand was going out to do in the world." He seemed to get lost in his thoughts until Minerva coughed into her hand.

"Oh yes, well. Which one of you wants to be first?" he asked.

Harry pointed at Neville. It had taken Minerva, Amelia and Celine days to convince Augusta that Neville needed his own wand. He couldn't just take his father's wand and expect to get proper results in his work. So Harry thought it best if Neville started.

Olivander pulled out a long tape to take measures and then went looking for a fitting wand.

Finally after seventeen or so wands, Neville showered the shop with golden sparks with a cherry wand. Then it was Harry's turn. He took nearly an hour and what felt like three quarters of all the wands in Olivander's shop before Olivander gave him a wand of holly with a phoenix feather core, which shot red and gold sparks into the air. Glad to have finally found his wand, Harry was a bit overly curious to ask why his wand was a curious match. Finding out that the murderer of your parents possessed the brother wand to the one that just chose you tended to make you queasy.

Finally they returned to Longbottom Manor. Harry and Neville took their new pets to their rooms and arranged everything for them to be comfortable. Then they met and tried to decide how to name them. Harry soon discovered that his owl seemed to have a dislike for ridiculous names. He finally got her to agree listening to Hedwig, a name from 'A History of Magic' the set text for their History classes.

Neville's kitten ran around Neville's room, looking into all corners and into the cupboard. It was a little rascal so he called him Puck, like the figure from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Harry thought it fit the little cat. Puck also seemed to like his new name.

Minerva walked into the office of Albus Dumbledore.

"Ah hello Minerva. How are the replies of the new students coming along?" he asked.

"It's going well. I have already visited two thirds of the muggleborn children who are invited and so far none has declined the invitation. The children from wizarding families have already answered."

"Well, what about Harry Potter? Do you have his reply yet?"

"Yes, it came today with the one of Neville Longbottom. Both have accepted their places here."

It was not necessary to make Albus aware that Harry knew about magic for four years now. But it was really tempting.

"Very good. I had hoped Petunia had told him everything he needed to know. See I had been right about letting him grow up with her" he told her with this damned twinkle in his eyes.

She really wanted to swipe the smile from his face. But the Witches' Conspiracy had other plans. But a little rebuke was fine. They had planned for this. They had a believable story.

"I have to disappoint you. If it had been up to that vile woman Harry would know nothing. I know for a fact that it was Augusta Longbottom who told him about magic. It was really a big coincidence. Neville had to learn something about how muggles live and the only person Augusta knew who lived there was Arabella. So she went to her house by the floo. Arabella was looking after Harry while the Dursleys went on a family trip and yes they always leave Harry behind. Harry saw Augusta arriving through the fireplace, Augusta recognized him and when he pestered her with questions, she found out about him not knowing anything about the wizarding world.

By the way, you will get an earful at the next Wizengamot meeting, I can promise you that. She was not amused at all because Harry is the heir to the Potter family and should have learnt about his responsibilities long ago. So Augusta being like she is, told Harry everything about magic, his place in the magical world, his parents, Voldemort and his followers, the war and what his accidental magic really was. His relatives had told him he was a freak. I told you they were the worst sort of muggles, but Albus-I-Am-Never-Wrong-Dumbledore knew better than me, who had watched them a whole day.

Augusta then introduced Harry to Neville and the boys are now the best of friends. By the way, you have an appointment with the Department of Magical Education because I have put in an official complaint against Cuthbert Binns still teaching History of Magic. I understand why you keep Severus Snape even if he is a horrible teacher but I draw the line by keeping a ghost as a teacher. The marks of our students have been falling steadily and I won't take it any longer. Good day Albus" Minerva said, and left the office. This felt so good.

Augusta had a lot of fun denying Albus entry to Longbottom Manor for the summer. The old fool would only try to force Harry to spend more time at the Dursleys. As if they would allow that. She had no problem arguing with him at the Wizengamot or in the adjourning meeting rooms. But her home was private and only those she invited had the right to be there. And nobody questioned her decisions as everybody understood her need for safety after the fate that Frank and Alice had suffered. All was going like planned.

Time skip

Minerva happily looked at the first year students Hagrid had led to the castle. There were the four she had helped teach for the last years. Harry was smiling at her as were Neville, Susan and Hannah. They all listened to her customary welcome speech before she led them into the waiting chamber. It would have been interesting to have seen the train ride.

When Minerva left the room, Harry chatted happily with his friends. As he had covered his scar again, nobody was bothering him. Yet. When he was called to be sorted they would all find out who he was, but he knew he had true friends he could depend on.

"Where do you think we will be put?" Susan asked.

"Hm, I don't know for sure, but I would guess you and Hannah probably Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, I can't really tell which traits are stronger in you, bravery or loyalty. For Neville and me I would say Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. While I have some Slytherin traits I don't think they are dominant over my other ones" Harry said.

The others nodded. It sounded plausible.

On the other side of the room they saw a red haired boy talking with a tall black boy and telling him about having heard they had to wrestle a troll.

Harry looked at Neville. This was a perfect opportunity to play a little prank. Neville understanding his best friend even without words followed his lead and walked over to the group so they could pretend just having overheard this suggestion.

"You know Nev, it makes perfect sense. After all we haven't learned anything about magic yet. So doing spells to judge our house would not work. But by fighting a troll or another strong creature they could see which way we would go about it and then tell us which house we belong to" Harry started.

"True mate. If somebody would try to fight the troll he would belong to Gryffindor, if he would try to befriend it, it would be Hufflepuff, by outsmarting it the one would belong to Ravenclaw and if he would use a dirty trick it has to be Slytherin" Neville added.

The faces of the other first years were priceless. Many really believed the story Neville and Harry had spun. So when Minerva returned she was confused why suddenly the first years were more nervous and twitchy than normal. She looked at Neville and Harry who both had completely innocent faces. So it was safe to say they were involved in this. It didn't help to dissolve her suspicion that Hannah and Susan were trying to keep a straight face.

"We are now ready for you, follow me" Minerva said, leading them into the great hall.

Albus Dumbledore sat at the head table looking out to spot Harry Potter. Why did nobody tell him earlier that Harry had learned about magic early on? He had put the boy with Petunia to shield him from his fame. He just hoped that Harry wasn't totally spoiled. At least the Longbottoms were a known light family. Then he spotted two grinning boys coming out of the chamber. Why were they some of the few not to looked totally scared? And why were the others looking so scared? Something must have happened. But Hagrid hadn't told him of any problems, neither had Minerva just a few moments ago.

He recognized the Longbottom boy Neville, the other one the prophecy could have meant. But the boy next to him didn't look like he had thought Harry Potter would look like. While the boy had black hair, it was tamed in spikes and the boy had no glasses. What was more important, he couldn't see the curse scar. Albus knew that all Potters suffered from untamable hair and more often than not needed glasses. And why did he have the bad feeling of deja-vu?

Harry and Neville gleefully listened to their peers' fears. It was really hilarious that they believed the troll story. Finally when all of them were at the front of the hall, the sorting hat began his song. As it ended Harry and Neville couldn't hold their laughter anymore. Susan and Hannah followed soon.

Many were shouting accusations at them.

"Why are you so angry? You didn't really believe they would make first years without any experience take on a troll? That was just a joke. I can't believe you truly fell for it" Harry laughed.

Minerva saw Severus contorting his face in anguish. He had been right, the incarnation of James Potter had come to Hogwarts to haunt him. He began banging his head on the table, much to the amusement of Minerva and disquiet of Slytherin house.

Neville and Harry high-fived. This was a good start for their school career. Albus Dumbledore now could tell why he had a feeling of deja-vu. Those two boys behaved a lot like James Potter and Sirius Black. Brothers in all but blood. Hopefully they wouldn't end like them.

"Calm down everybody. I will now call you alphabetically to try the sorting hat on" Minerva yelled over the noise. She could have sworn the Weasley twins were laughing their asses off.

"Abbot Hannah" she called and a laughing Hannah stumbled forward.

"Hufflepuff" the hat shouted, the girl happily and still laughing went to her new house table, where Susan immediately joined her.

After many other children Neville was called forth. The hat took some time to decide. Then he sent Neville to Gryffindor. When Harry was called the hall went silent. He stepped out of the crowd and went to the stool confidently, causing Severus to bang his head harder on the table.

"Hm, another difficult choice. You would do well in any house. You are really smart, have cunning in spades, are absolutely loyal to your friends and your courage would do Godric proud. Now where to put you?"

"If I may suggest anything, put me into Gryffindor with Neville please. While I don't have prejudices against any house I want to be in the same house as my best friend" Harry told the hat.

"Hm, I see, well I am interested to see the full results of the schooling program Minerva, Pomona and Poppy were part of. Oh yes you could change the world. But to do it you need your friends at your side, therefore you go to GRYFFINDOR" the hat shouted, causing thunderous applause to erupt.

Harry took off the hat and went to sit next to Neville.

"What took you so long?" Neville asked.

"I could have gone into all the houses. I had a nice chat with the hat too" Harry answered.

"Ah, same for me, but the hat told me it would be cruel to put me into Slytherin. Cruel for the Slytherins that is" Neville said grinning.

"Well, what do you say about exploring the castle tomorrow? It is Sunday and I am sure Fred and George would gladly give us a tour. After all, we can hardly surpass the marauders if we don't know our way around" Harry said, making Dumbledore, who had listened into their conversation blanch.

Minerva just sighed resigned. She had known this would happen ever since Remus had told them stories about the marauders at Hogwarts. At least they had only the most sensible one as a role model. This would be seven exhausting years.

Fin.

That's the end of this part.

I hope you liked it. If you did, please write a review. I will also update 'Forging Destiny' later today.