AN: If you are reading this, you were at least neutral to the first chapter. Yay!

Harry got up out of bed and fumbled around his desk to try to find his glasses. Finding them on the ground (How do they always get there?) he picked them up and put them on before changing out of his sweat-soaked clothes. He still had some time before his alarm would go off, so he took his time packing up the rest of his belongings that he would be taking to Hogwarts with him. Nothing much, just a few things that would be necessary for the train ride and his room: his school robes, a few quills and pieces of parchment so he could write his parents, and a few miscellaneous items from his friends at school.

Although Harry was excited about starting at his new school, he would dearly miss his old friends. Most of them had decided to go to other schools; Durmstrang being the most notable one, with others going to Beauxbatons, and even a few going across the globe to an American school. While there were still a few classmates left in his old school that he would know at Hogwarts, from what he had seen of them and what he had heard about the Houses he assumed they would probably be placed in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. At least he could write his friends with Hogwarts's owlery.

His alarm started ringing, and Harry quickly packed the rest of his things into his trunk. The last thing he picked up was his Remembrall, noting its clear smoke before placing it in his pack and heading toward the stairs. As he got to the bottom of the stairs he smelled the telltale scent of bacon and eggs, and his stomach responded by giving a loud grumbling noise. He walked into the kitchen to see a man obscured by an open newspaper and a woman who was trying to cook enough food to feed a dragon.

"Morning Mom, morning Dad." he sleepily yawned, while taking a seat next to his raven-haired dad.

"Morning honey/son." they replied and he noticed there was a little...okay a lot more sadness to it than usual. Oh not this agai-

"Do you promise you're going to write us every day?" Lily asked as she turned toward Harry with an obvious I'm-about-to-cry face.

He had to stop from rolling his eyes and put on his best comforting face as he said with the same kind of false sweet voice that vile writer Rita Skeeter had "Of course mummy. I'll miss you so much. But I may not have time to write much for the first few weeks; you know, while I'm getting used to everything."

"That's my boy. You're sure to get in the same House as your mother and I were in." James said as he affectionately ruffled the boy's hair.

Harry decided now might be a perfect time to glean a bit more information about his soon-to-be-house and asked "What's Slytherin like dad?"

"You'll love it son. While the Common Room's location leaves much to be desired, the people you'll come to befriend will make sure that you'll never be in want for life. It's the house of ambition after all. Nearly all Slytherin graduates get into high-status Ministry jobs right out of Hogwarts. And not a damn Mudblood can be found there either." James finished with a chuckle.

Good, Harry thought. No need to endanger poisoning my blood by being around that filth. Little did Harry's parents know that he wasn't quite planning to befriend the other occupants of Slytherin; at least not in the traditional sense. He was going to befriend his fellow Housemates up to the point that they would follow him, but go no further than that. He was going to rule his school!

...Okay sure, he hadn't exactly worked out the fine details of how yet, but who needed plans when you were already able to cast most first year spells? He'd been training with his father's wand ever since he learned how to pull off puppy dog eyes, and then a few weeks ago he had gone to Diagon Alley where he had finally gotten his own wand. It was an interesting experience to say the least...

Diagon Alley; a few weeks earlier

Harry Potter was having the day of his life. It had all started in the morning when his parents had announced that it was time for Harry to do his school shopping, and that they were all going to Diagon Alley for the day. Normally Harry's parents wouldn't let Harry go to Diagon Alley; it was often home to more of the less refined members of the wizarding world, so often during shopping trips Harry would instead be dragged along to a posh store where anything remotely close to looking fun was disallowed.

But this time he had finally been able to go to the place he had wanted to see since he was little. And what a sight it was! There were bright colors everywhere, and every shop seemed more magical than the last: Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop where Fanged Frisbees were flying in and out of aisles trying to scare unaware shoppers, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where Harry had the most delicious treacle ice cream sundae he had ever tasted, and most importantly and thus still being saved till last was to enter the crux of all wizard-kind, Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Oh, sure it wasn't all fun; there had been a few stupid parts as well: Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions where Harry had to stand still for what seemed like an hour while an old bat measured him in ways he thought were completely unnecessary (weren't there resizing charms for these kinds of things?) and Flourish and Blotts, a rather drab bookstore stood out among them (like I need to know the history of Hogwarts to do magic...completely moronic is what it is!). But Harry couldn't see why his parents disliked his being here so much; it wasn't like he was hanging around with muggles. These were his people...wizards and witches!

And now the time had finally come. Harry had been patient all day; the shops could really only keep him distracted for so long, and now he couldn't wait anymore. His parents finally began to navigate toward Ollivander's. Harry's excitement was roaring to a high as he tried to imagine what having a wand that specifically chose him would be like. Would it feel like the first time he had flown on a broomstick? Would his wand grant him what he wanted dearly more than anything else...the power that the man in his dreams had held? Questions were firing through his brain so fast that none of them could be held on to long enough to formulate an answer. Fortunately, they had kept him occupied long enough that he was very surprised to find that they were suddenly right outside of the shop.

Upon walking inside Harry had two very conflicting thoughts: one) that this shop contained the very symbols of wizard essence and was a sort of holy ground, and two) that this shop was not nearly as interesting as the joke shop; heck even the book store was more interesting than this run down place. All that this place had were shelves stacked with boxes, each shelving unit marked with strange characters that Harry had no intention or interest in trying to decipher.

Harry had just enough time to wonder whether he should mentally a) apologize to the store or b) make fun of it more when he was nearly startled to death by the sudden appearance of a man behind him who very softly said "Why hello there Mr. Potter, it is good to finally see you in my shop. I've had more than a few Potters pass through during my time in this store...oh yes, quite some good wands they have left with. Let us see what wand has lain in wait for you all this time. For the wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter, let there be no delusions that it is the other way around..."

Harry turned around to behold a very tall, very old-looking man with eyes that pierced through him like the light of the moon pierces the night sky. In that moment Harry got the feeling that this man was no weakling. He instinctively knew that while this man was not as powerful as the man in his dream, he was closer to that kind of power than anyone else Harry had ever come into contact with. And as 10 year olds are wont to do when they meet someone who they can feel great power from, Harry became rather afraid and decided right then and there to choose option A and inwardly apologized to the store for his sacrilegious thoughts upon his first entering the holy ground.

The man disappeared behind one of the shelves, only to appear moments later with a box containing a reddish-brown wand that Harry instantly recognized as the same color wand that his father and occasionally he had used.

"Mahogany with a dragon heartstring core. 10.5 inches. Pliable and a good wand for Transfiguration, as your father can attest to. Take the wand and give it a flick, nothing more, nothing less" Ollivander stated with a touch of affection in his voice.

Harry picked it up and gave it an excited flick, maybe a little too excited, because the wand flew out of his hand and hit the shelf. Correction...make that went straight through the shelf... and make that through the wall of the store as well. Harry quickly stammered out an apology but Ollivander simply muttered a few words and the wand returned through the hole, after which the wall and shelf magically repaired themselves.

"No worries, Mr. Potter. Seldom does a wand find their wizard on the first attempt." Ollivander said as he disappeared once more behind the rows of shelves. He appeared with another box; this one contained a rather strange-looking wand that was a light brown on the two ends of the wand with a whitish hue in the middle.

"Rowan with a unicorn tail hair core. 11 inches. Moderately unyielding and unparalleled for defensive spells. It's said that rowan wands have never chosen wizards that go on to become Dark; even that no rowan wand has ever done an evil act. A flick if you would, Mr. Potter..." Ollivander stated.

Harry went to reach for the wand, but right as he was about to touch it he received a painful shock that elicited a loud yelp from his mouth. Ollivander looked thoughtful, even concerned for a few moments, and then his aura lightened as he said with an air of amusement "I suppose it was silly of me to think you could be a gossiper, Mr. Potter. Very well, there is a wand for everyone in this shop." Next the man brought out a box containing a rather yellowish wand.

"Hornbeam with a dragon heartstring core. 12 inches. Extremely unyielding and used most by wizards who have a single, passionate vision they want achieved. You know the drill, Mr. Potter."

Harry reached for this wand, knowing that the effects would be similar to the last two attempts. As it had turned out, he would be wrong. For at the instant his skin touched the wand, he knew that this wand was his, and his alone. It was nothing like the feeling of using his father's wand; in fact he felt that he could never again hold another person's wand now that he knew the feeling of his own in his hand. It was as if for the first time he could feel his magic flowing through him, and he became aware that he was wearing the stupidest looking grin on his face.

Ollivander said "It looks like we have a match. Congratulations, Mr. Potter. You will find that your wand will very quickly attune itself to your magic. Hornbeam wands in particular become adapted to their owner's style of magic so strongly that it will refuse to do even the simplest of spells for other wizards and witches. It will even absorb your principles and refuse to act against those principles. It is a very sentient wand wood, perfect for someone ambitious coming from such a predominantly Slytherin family..."

Present

Unfortunately he hadn't had many chances to test out his new wand as his parents were much more leery of letting him use his own wand (Like I'm going to flick my wand and cause an explosion, really...although that would be cool). However, the few times he had been able to sneak in a spell, the results seemed very promising. It wouldn't take much to impress his fellow classmates anyway; anyone who could cast a levitation charm on the first day of classes would quickly gain status, and Harry was convinced that he could do much more once he was actually in classes.

The rest of breakfast was rather ordinary (if not still a little somber on his parents' sides) and before long they were getting ready to leave for the Hogwarts Express.

I feel my greatest challenge in this story will be making Harry walk the line between being a complex character, just being a jerk, and acting his correct age. He definitely has some not-so-endearing qualities; some explained by his age, some due to his upbringing, and others are just character flaws.