Chapter 2: Growing Up Different

A/N: I would first like to apologize profoundly for the extraordinary long delay in my posting of this chapter. I have been very busy lately, but have continued to write this story out. I hope to have Chapter 3 posted by the end of this weekend if not, then by Monday.

A/N 2: I want to thank everyone that took the time to read my story and for all the reviews. I would like to also say to Cinsir, I completely agree with the fact that Dumbledore needs a better reason for why he wants Harry. So if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to mention them and I'll try to make a change to it. Well that's my bit and now on with the show.

Chapter 2: Growing Up Different

Harry Potter grew up with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. They seemed to hate young Harry with a passion. They beat him on a regular basis, forced him to clean their house, and punished him if something went wrong; even if he wasn't even capable of doing it, like making his hair grow back in one night after his aunt had given him a horrible haircut. His cousin, Dudley, made things worse by bulling him at school and frightening almost everyone away.

Harry would've had no friends if his neighbor and best friend, Hermione Granger, hadn't been just as bullied. Hermione was a small girl who had long, bushy brown hair, with chocolate brown eyes that complimented her hair. The only thing 'wrong' with her, was her two slightly overgrown front teeth.

The two kept no secrets from each other. Since they spent all their time together, they soon learned just how much they had in common. For instance, they were both born on July 31, they both loved books, neither of them could control their hair, and neither had good 'parental' figures.

Hermoine's home life was only slightly better than Harry's. She too was forced to keep the house clean, she was completely ignored by her parents (unless she didn't complete a chore), and she too was punished for the odd things that happened. They both came to hate the others guardians (for they refused to call them parents/family) for how they mistreated their charges.

The two friends were seen as 'Freaks' because they liked to read, and do their homework. They were out-casts and had only each other for support. Needless to say, the two grew up hating everything, except each other and their books.

Their hatred towards authority worsened when, at the age of six they finally tried to stand up to their guardians. They went to the local police station and told the on-duty officer at the front desk that they were being neglected and abused. The officer took them to their homes and went to have a chat with Vernon Dursley. The two children looked at each other hopefully. It seemed luck was finally on their side. Fifteen minutes later, the officer walked out of the living room slipping what looked like several 50 pound notes into his pocket. Fear set into Harry as he heard Vernon yell for him. "BOY! Get in here!"

"Hermione, get out of here!" Harry whispered as he stepped forward to enter the living room. Hermione fled from the house hearing a whimper of pain coming from Harry as she ran out the door. The result of their actions ended with Harry walking with a limp for several days, and the two losing their trust to all adults, especially those in power.

The duo spent most of their time in the library. They had discovered a force field of such from Dudley and his gang. Harry said once, "They're afraid of the library! They think they'll become smart, like us!" This quickly became one of their favorite sayings while hiding in the library.

As they grew older, the two children's attitude started to change. They soon started to act coldly towards all, where once the two were fearful and submissive to everyone. Of course, their guardians still put fear into them, and the duo never challenged them.

Private Drive, Surrey

25 July 1991

Today found the two children running out of their respective houses with two letters and an envelope, all made with parchment (I'm having Harry smarter and more cunning then cannon, so he hid his letter in his cupboard before handing the mail to Vernon on that fateful day).

"Harry, Harry! I've got great news!" Hermione yelled upon seeing Harry. He staggered as Hermione slammed into him, giving him a Hermy-hug. "I've got great news myself 'Mione!" Harry whispered in her ear.

Pulling back, Hermione gave Harry her toothy smile, one that was reserved for Harry alone. "What's your news, Harry?" She questioned. "It turns out, I'm a wizard, which would explain the odd things that happen around me. Anyways, I got into this boarding school called Hogwarts." Hermione squealed when what he said.

"Harry, I'm a witch! I got an invitation to the same school!" Delighted at knowing his best friend would be joining him on this new quest, Harry pulled her into another hug.

Pulling back from the hug, the two children started walking towards the town library, discussing what they thought they were going to be taught. When they got to the library, they gathered as many books as they could find on magic and witchcraft, and proceeded to their corner.

Once they had scoured the library for all the books, they started to go sort out which books were considered useful and which were useless. The useful books were placed on one end of the table, close to the next table, where a stern, elderly woman sat.

The two noted that this woman had on a dark green blouse, with a matching skirt that stopped at her knees. The two children ignored the woman and continued to organize their books. They got so focused on the organization, that they didn't notice the woman slip a small black book into their pile of 'useful' books.

After they had finished sorting the books, Harry and Hermione started looking towards their small pile of books left. They each grabbed one book and started to scour the contents. A few short moments later, Hermione closed her book, and headed up to the front desk of the library. She returned with a stack of papers and two pens (god I love pens). "It's so we can take notes of what we find," Hermione said to Harry when he shot her a confused glance. Harry gave a small nod and, grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen, and went back to reading, stopping occasionally to write down something he found.

The woman smiled slightly at the sight of these two children studying so diligently. She could tell that they would be Ravenclaws for sure.

Going through the pile, Harry eventually picked up the book the woman had slipped into their pile. Harry looked at for a second, not remembering adding to the pile. It was titled; A Beginner's Guide to Magic: Muggleborns by Bathilda Bagshot. He shrugged and started to read the book.

Chapter 1

The muggleborn witch or wizard is one whose parents are muggles, or non-magical folk. They are often at a disadvantage in modern Britain, because of the pureblood families, families that have several generations of witches and wizards. These pureblooded families usually have high power in wizarding Britain, with the exception of the Weasley family which, in recent years has been labeled as blood-traitors. Several of these families have beliefs that muggleborns are inferior and have weaker magick then them. However, records from prominent magick schools can prove otherwise. During the 1970's two muggleborn students were considered to be the top of their classes, Lily Evans, Class of 1975, and Daniel Watson, Class of 1971. These two fine scholars excelled at their schools, Hogwarts and Beauxbaton respectively.

Harry blinked in surprise at what he had just read. "Hermione," he said in a whisper, remembering that he was in a library, "Hermione, look at this."

Hermione looked up from her book, "What Harry?" she moved closer to Harry and looked at the offered book. "I think we found a winner here, 'Mione!" Harry said in an excited whisper. Surprise showed on Hermione's face as she read the chapter Harry had read.

Her surprise soon turned to excitement as she continued to read. She sat down in the chair next to Harry, and together they started to read the book. _

They were just finishing Chapter 4 when they noticed, out of the corner of their eyes, someone sit down across from. Glancing up slightly, Harry noticed that the elderly lady he had noticed earlier. A sixth sense seemed to kick in and instinctively he knew that she was someone of authority, and so he tensed up. I don't like the looks of her he thought to himself. Hermione noticed him tense, looked around to see why and tensed herself when she saw the woman.

Noticing that the woman seemed to want to talk to them, Harry initiated the conversation, "Can we help u ma'am?" speaking respectively to her, knowing that not doing could get him in trouble with his uncle.

Straightening up, the woman said, " Good morning, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. My name is Professor McGonagall, and I am one of the teachers at Hogwarts." For a second, surprise showed on Harry's face before he slipped back into a calm poker face. It happened so fast, McGonagall wasn't even sure she saw it.

"Can you prove it Professor?" Hermione asked. McGonagall smiled and shook her head, "Not here dear. If we could head to your parents house so I may speak with them, I can show both you two and your parents magic," she replied.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and held a silent conversation, with just the way they could look at each other.

Should we trust her? Harry asked.

I don't know. She hasn't shown us any reason to. I say we take her to my house. At least my parents won't beat me just for inviting someone over.

OK. I just hope that the Dursleys don't find out.

" If you would follow me professor, I will take you to my parent's house, " Hermione said. Harry went and put the books away, except for the last one they were reading, which McGonagall took and put in the purse she carried with her.

Heading out f the library, led the professor the four blocks to their street, Private Drive. Walking up to the door of Number 5, Hermione lightly knocked before entering. "Mum! Dad! There's someone here to see you," Hermione said in a small voice that just reached the living room where her parents were.

The trio entered the living room and saw Daniel and Emma Granger. Daniel was a tall man with smooth muscles running down his arms. He had short sandy hair, complete with moustache, and blue eyes. Emma was short but not too short. She had a nice build, and had long, flowing brown hair and deep brown eyes.

"How may we help you Ma'am?" Daniel said as he stood up to great McGonagall. "I would like to wait for Harry's aunt and uncle, before I answer that sir. If you would wait, I will gladly explain what's going on, " was the response.

Taking his cue, Harry silently left the house to get Vernon and Petunia. Dread filled him as he walked into Number 4 and asked his aunt and uncle to follow him to the Granger's. together the three of them walked in as Emma came out with enough cups of tea for all the adults. Daniel and Vernon exchanged close friendly pleasantries, having talked before about their punishment of the two children in great detail.

Harry and Hermione tried as sneakily as possible to huddle together in a corner knowing that they were probably in for one hell of a beating by the end of the day. They knew of Dan and Vernon's afternoon talks. They were what led to Dan starting to hit Hermione in the first place. The punishment had started small, a spanking when he didn't do a chore correctly.

Now she was getting slugs to her body when she made mistakes, which were luckily not often. However, once a week after each afternoon discussion, both Harry and Hermione could expect a harsh beating for no reason other then Dan and Vernon playing a game to see who could get the most bruises without any of them being noticeable when the children were at school.

McGonagall started talking after everyone had taken a seat on the sofa. "Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Granger and Dursley. I am a professor at the boarding school that Harry and Hermione here, have been invited to. Now this school-"

"What do you mean they were 'invited'? We have Hermione down to attend public school. We never signed her up for any boarding school, nor have we received any letters from your school stating interest in Hermione." Dan Granger interrupted. Vernon nodded his agreeing with Dan, "Same with the Boy," he stated.

Harry and Hermione both shrunk in their corner, they had forgotten to tell their guardians about the letters they had received. With a shaking hand, Harry pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it to Vernon, Hermione was at his side handing hers to Daniel. Harry saw Dan and Vernon exchange smiles that he knew meant that another 'beating contest' would be coming soon.

Fearing the worst Harry and Hermione made their way back to their corer as quickly as they could without running.

Reading the list the two men handed them to their wives to read. "What does this mean, 'School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'?" Emma asked.

"Well, Mrs. Granger, your daughter is witch, but not the medieval witches with warts and newts. It means that your daughter can use magic." McGonagall replied. "Both Harry and Hermione can go to this school and learn how to control their magic lest they have a bout of accidental magic and have the non-magical population persecute them. Hogwarts is a school here in England, which will teach them hoe to control it."

Can you prove this 'magic'?" Vernon asked.

Without responding, McGonagall took out a small piece of wood, which Harry took to be a wand, and pointed it at an unoccupied chair. With a simple flick of the wand, the chair turned into a real life Siberian tiger. The tiger stretched its legs before it walked to Harry who froze.

Don't show any fear and NEVER run Harry thought remembering a African Safari Tour Guide brochure he had found in the library.

The tiger lowered his to Harry's and sniffed him. Its mouth opened and its pink tongue rolled out of its mouth and rested on the bottom lip. Suddenly the large cat's tongue swiped up and licked Harry on the face several times.

Grinning, Harry reached up slowly and scratched the tiger's fluffy ear. Its eyes closed in contentment as Harry's fingers found the base of the ear and scratched the soft spot there.

As Harry pulled away, the tiger turned back into the chair which floated back to its original location in the living room. Instantly, Hermione had pulled him back into the corner, for he stepped out slightly to pet the tiger, and hugged him to ensure that there were no injuries on him from the tiger.

As Hermione hugged him, she could feel the scars that ran down his back from when his uncle had whipped him when he was nine and had accidentally burnt the toast, which unfortunately happened to be on Vernon's Birthday. She was the only person besides Vernon and Dan that knew of Harry being whipped. This is when Hermione had made a promise to kill Vernon someday for hurting her Harry.

Hermione was pulled from her thoughts as the adults started to talk again.

"Okay, you've proven this magic, but how will we pay for this school?" Dan asked. "I doubt it will be cheap." He added.

"Well Hogwarts offers loans to students who need it. They would not have to pay back the loan until they graduate after their seven years of schooling." McGonagall answered. Having heard about the Dursleys from Lily, McGonagall 'conveniently' forgot to mention that Harry was rich enough to pay for both students and any children he might have for several generations.

"May we take some time to discuss it?" Petunia asked, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started. At McGonagall's nod the four adults stood up and went into the kitchen for some privacy.

Harry and Hermione sat in silent anticipation. They knew exactly what their guardians were discussing, the pros and cons of this decision.

The pros: They would be rid of the 'Freaks', as they called them, for nine months a year; they wouldn't have to pay for them to go to school, since once they got out of the school they could force the two to pay off their own debt; and they wouldn't have to worry about being caught disciplining their charges.

The cons: they would make the 'Freaks' happy; the children might bring home that would attract the neighbors attention; the chores the kids usually did would have to be done by the adults.

However these cons could be fixed. The happiness could be easily be beaten out of them when they returned for the summer, they could take away all their school supplies and lock them up to keep them from doing something to get them recognized, and finally the adults could pile chores on the 'Freaks' all summer.

After ten minutes of deliberation the adults came back into the living room with their decision. "We have decided to let both Harry and Hermione go to this school. Under the condition that they don't come back until the summer break, and that we do not get stuck with their loan bill," Dan said, speaking for the group.

"That will not be a problem. The school keeps its doors open during all holidays, and the loan can be put down in the children's names. If you would like, I can take these two to get their school supplies and set up the loans today, so that you won't have to worry about it."

And so with the guardians approval, the Deputy Headmistress and the two children headed out the door, ready to take their first few steps down the path to darkness.

A/N: Again thank you for waiting for this next installment of Rise of A New Lord, and if you'll kindly, R&R.