I'll go ahead and say all of the biggest changes that I can think of now. Tonks is only two years older than Harry, Luna is the same age, this is obviously an AU (in case you didn't notice), and chocolate frogs rebelled and cause the second goblin war…. okay maybe not that last thing. Anyway, enjoy.
Avery collected Harry from the ministry officials and began his trek to the flooing area. Unsurprisingly, he ran into Malfoy on the way out. "What's the play, Malfoy? Off the kid in an unforeseen 'accident' that way he can't be a threat to our master," Avery questioned.
"No," replied the dark wizard, "I want you to raise him as your heir. Teach him the ways of a proper pureblood and care for him. I leave this task to you," and like that he left for Malfoy Manor.
"Come, child. Time to get a meal in you. You're going to need it for what's next."
Time skip
6 Years Later:
An excited seven-year-old awoke before the sun to prepare for his day. It wasn't every day that a boy's adopted father pulls some strings to get a wand three years early and be allowed to cast magic at home even though he's underage. That's the perks of being the heir of an Ancient house, though.
"Harry," called a male voice, "Come down here after you put on your clothes." Harry then put on his casual wizarding robes with the Avery crest on them and looked in the mirror. He looked in the mirror and saw his classic untamable black hair and green eyes. The boy focused and after a second he had short brown hair and violet eyes. He then slipped on his shoes and made his way down stairs.
"Ready, milord," Harry spoke. "When will we be leaving?"
"Right after breakfast, do not be impatient. It is unfitting of someone of your position. How are your occlumency and legilimency lessons going?" Avery asked.
"My tutor said my mental shields were strong enough to stop any unwanted emotions from showing, but they can still be breached by a trained legilimens. She also said that I have the makings of a natural legilimens. I can put some pressure on her shields even without a wand. I still haven't broken through though."
"Although I am disappointed at the progress in your occlumency, I am quite curious of what you could do with a wand in legilimency. Perhaps I will sit in on your next lesson and give some pointers to you. Enough talk of the distant future, I believe you are ready to collect your first wands now," he finished standing up.
"Wands?" Harry said confused, "I though I was only getting one."
"Seeing as today we began your dueling training, I'll give you the first rule. Always have a backup plan. If a wizard disarms you of your wand, they often write you off as beaten and let your guard down. With a second wand you would be able to take advantage of that and catch even a greater opponent off guard."
"I guess I never though of it like that," Harry said pushing his plate away, "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, my heir, let us depart for Ollivander's shop." He then rose and made his way towards the apparition point of the house. Harry took hold of his wrist and they disapparated in front of the store. As they entered, Mr. Ollivander seemingly appeared at the desk.
"Ah, Lord Avery, 11-inch elm with dragon heartstring core. And who is this? I wasn't aware you sired any heirs unless, of course. Mr. Potter, here for your first wand I assume?"
"Correct as usual, Mr. Ollivander. Harry here is looking for two wands. We will let you match both, as long as you can."
"You insult me, Lord Avery. Of course, I can find him at least one suitable match as long as it is in this shop. Come, try this wand. 10 inches fir with unicorn hair," Harry picked up the wand and fireworks started shooting out of the end uncontrollably. "Definitely not that, what about this one? 13-inch hawthorn with threstral tail-hair core. Very rare wand, indeed." He picked it up and nothing happened. "How does it feel?"
"Um, cold? I really can't feel anything," and so this went on for two hours, slowly going through the stock of the shop not finding a match until,
"Hmm, I've never matched a wand made of this before. 11-inch, silver lime wood. It also has a dragon unicorn hair core which makes this wand very likely to be used in mind arts and healing magic. A little-known fact is that there are less than twenty silver lime wands left because it was once in such high demand for nobility." Harry picked up the wand and a tight stream of silver flames. "Looks like we have a match. You should have no problems preforming most charms with that wand, although some of the nastier curses may give you some trouble. Now I wonder if that wand chose you, would its brother?" He then went in the back and returned with another silver lime wand. "12-inch, silver lime with a threstral core. The threstral core blends nicely with the woods magic to make it more in tune for cutting and piercing curses than healing magic. Unfortunately, it also limits the potential of mind magics because of the threstral's natural ability to remain hidden from most magics. Please, try it out also." Harry, passing his first wand to Lord Avery, picked up the second wand when suddenly all of the light from the room left.
"Finite," called of Avery, cancelling the effects of the wand.
"Thank you, it seems that we have not one, but two matches for one wizard. This hasn't happened since Grindelwald matched with both one of my own and Gregorovitch's wands. This is amazing. Now to talk payment, Lord Avery."
"I believe I'll let young Harry here handle the negotiations. After all, it is his wands and he will have to handle much rowdier crowds in the future."
"Ah, I see. Well Mr. Potter, since this is the first time I've match a silver lime wand, I can give you half price on the first one. Unfortunately, with the wand being so rare, the original price is 200 galleons for the unicorn hair wand. The threstral hair wand cost 700 galleons because of the rarity of not only the wood, but the core also."
"Um, how long have these wands been in your shop, if you don't mind me asking," Harry asked. Avery smirked, seeing the obvious play he was going to make.
"The threstral tail-hair has been here for near 400 years while the unicorn hair was around for nearly 200. Both being made by my ancestors."
"Well, what makes you think you will ever find another match for the wands before the integrity is tarnished?"
"Do you doubt my wands, Mr. Potter?" Ollivander asked with a smirk.
"No sir, I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe them to be of the best quality. I'm just saying that you could sell them to me as a set instead and then cut the price in half, knowing you did what hasn't been done for many years, twice. I believe 500 galleons would be a fair price, not including personal compensation for taking as much time as you did to find me not one properly matched wand, but two. I make my offer at 600 galleons," Harry made his bargain, thankful for all the lessons he had received in business negotiations for the last year.
"You make a good point," Ollivander returned, "But I simply cannot let them go for at least 700."
"650," Harry stated as firmly as he could.
"You're pulling my leg here boy, 675 galleons, final offer." Harry took a slight glance at Avery, and upon the nod he received, said
"You just sold yourself two wands, Mr. Ollivander. Good doing business with you."
"As was it with you, Mr. Potter. You have trained him very well, Lord Avery. He managed to get a free wand and another at a discount. You must be very proud," Ollivander praised.
"He did surprisingly well, considering he thought he would have to pay full price. He saved up nearly a thousand galleons from his allowance over the years to make sure he got a properly fitted wand. I believe it's safe to say that he will no longer need classes in negotiation or money management," Avery said coolly. "We will also be taking two auror grade holsters, one for the back and one for his wand arm, on me. Consider this your gift for working so hard Harry.
"Thank you," Harry said letting his shields down and smiling at Avery.
"That will bring your total to 755 galleons. Shall I charge your account at Gringotts?"
"Yes please, Mr. Ollivander, thank you for your service. Come Harry, it's time to learn your first spells," and like that they apparated back to the manor.
Line Break
2 years later (Harry is now 9)
"Focus, Harry, if your opponent can't see, they can't duel effectively. The conjunctivitis curse can be healed easily by a healer and gives you a major advantage in battle. Now try to hit me with it again and put your intention behind the spell. Don't forget to try to chain your spells together so my attention is focused on defense and not countering your attack," Avery coached.
Harry stood there, dripping in swear and magically exhausted, but having the time of his life. He picked up on the basics of dueling very quickly and it soon became apparent that training dummies would not do much for the boy. Harry raised his threstral core wand and started his next spell chain.
"Flipendo, incarcerous, stupefy, locomotor mortis, conjunctivitis, levicorpus," Harry chained together. He did this for a reason, the beginning of the spell chain would cause him to put up a normal protego for defense then he switched to curses at the end, making an opening in his defense when he had to change to protego horribilis.
"Good, now show me what you really got Harry," Avery taunted.
"Periculum, nox," Harry casted, disorienting Avery with the contrast from a bright light to a lack of it. "Everte statum," Harry called out, taking the moment to land a solid hit on Avery.
"Hold," Avery called causing the light to return and spell fire to stop. "That was excellent, boy. I wasn't expecting you to change the environment to your liking. How did you see in the dark, by the way?"
"Well I was playing around with my looks the other day when I started thinking about how cats can see in the dark. I started researching how it works and eventually was able to recreate it after about three months of trial and error. I was waiting until I learned a spell to help me capitalize on it. After the lesson on signaling people with periculum could be used, I decided to try my luck and press myself extra hard this lesson and take a risk," Harry replied.
"Perhaps I should take lessons from your dueling instructor, if he has you landing hits on a fully trained wizard at your age, just imagine what I could do after a couple months of training," he cracked a smile. He was the one instructing the boy after all. "What about the bone-breaking curse? Have you made any progress in it?" Harry smirked and wordlessly turned and blasted the training dummy with a dull orange curse, shattering the armor on its leg. "Not bad at all, not only was your aim good, but you did it wordlessly too? That's amazing. I can't even cast it that easily without saying the incantation. How'd you manage that?"
"Well," Harry started, "I snuck in here one night after learning the spell to unlock the door and wanted to practice it, so I could surprise you. For the first three weeks I never managed to cast it even with the incantation. When I asked Uncle Lucius for help he told me it's all about intent. So that night I snuck back in here and put all my frustrations from not being good enough to cast the spell into one thought, break. Add a swish and flick and it flew out of my wand. I still can't do it with the incantation though, for some reason."
"Incantations are not required when using spells," Avery explained, "It just acts as a sort of focus for the right emotions to preform the spell. Kind of like your wand focuses your magic so you don't waste as much when you cast a spell. This study is called Arithmancy and is an elective at Hogwarts from your third year forward. I won't hire a tutor for this, but we do have some books in the library if you would like to use those late-night sessions to do something productive instead of disobeying my rules," he said with a small glare.
"Sorry," Harry said shrinking back a bit.
"You will not be punished this time, for the sheer fact that you managed something great by doing it. I am curious though, how did you manage to sneak past my study without me noticing you?"
"I may have studied ahead and learned the disillusionment charm," Harry said scratching the back of his head.
"We're taking your wand for the rest of your life, at this rate you'll be better than me by your second-year at Hogwarts," he half-joked. The kid was a prodigy with offensive magic. Not to mention how powerful his legilimency is when he uses his other wand. He nearly could know what spell you were going to cast before you did.
"Have you ever thought of dueling with both of your wands at the same time, Harry?"
"Well, no. I thought it was best to only cast spells with your wand hand?"
"Hmm, I need your other wand and to contact Mr. Ollivander harry, no more legilimency lessons from here on out. Your good enough as it is."
"Yes sir, may I ask what you plan to do with it?"
"Well considering you don't use any memory charms, I was going to inquire if we could make a new holster for your other wand out of the wood."
"What about having a second wand for duels?"
"If it all works out, you'll be able to use the holster for basic shield spells and possibly still give you a boost to your legilimency. I'll make no promises though. Besides, if any of those Hogwarts kids can last more than five minutes in a duel with you, I may have to challenge their teachers to an honor duel myself," he joked.
"Alright, I'll be going to bed then, if that's alright with you?" Harry questioned.
"That's fine, good night Harry."
"Night."
Line Skip (2 years later)
In front of Gringotts:
"Why must you insist on looking like that while in public? People will mistake you for Draco at this rate," Avery asked.
"I'm trying to avoid the press, milord. You can surely see the benefits of being able to shop for my school supplies in peace," Harry replied.
"Spoken like a true diplomat, boy. Remind me to give your tutor a bonus before we tell him he is no longer needed later this week." William Avery was never a very popular man. Even when attending Hogwarts, he was very quiet and was avoided by even most of his fellow Slytherins. Despite this, he had rose in rank and amassed quite a fortune by going into business with Lucius Malfoy. It was no surprise when Lucius had joined the Death Eaters, that their funding had increased by a large margin. Despite being part of the neutral faction, Avery never left the side of one of his few friends and supported his cause to the end. It was his international business contact that prevented him from taking the dark mark and having to live his life carefully. Money was no problem for him, as his investments in Ollivander's shop after years of business provided a steady source of income and brought in many more customers.
"Would you like to go see Mr. Ollivander before we leave for the train station, Harry?" Harry's eyes changed into the grey color of Ollivander as he considered this. The thing with the ability metamorphmagus is that there is usually one body part that reacts more strongly with situations. For some people it would be hair color or facial features. Harry had the tendency to change his eye color unconsciously.
"That would be nice. I haven't saw him since the flop with my holster a few months ago," Harry winced, remembering the occasion.
"Yes, it was quite unfortunate that your magic reacted violently and caused it to shatter. It was quite the beautiful creation if it would have worked. It can't be help though, come on." With that they entered Ollivander's shop.
"Hello Lord Avery, hi there Harry. What brings you to my shop? Your wand isn't giving you any problems, is it?"
"No, Mr. Ollivander, just figured that I would com visit for a minute before I leave to go to Hogwarts," Harry replied.
"Ah yes, you are eleven now huh? I suppose you deserve a gift since you have helped me in my shop so many times, huh," he said with a wink.
"Oh, there's no need for that," Harry started.
"Nonsense, my boy. I've been working on something for you," and with that he pulled out a box. Inside was a wand holster made from ebony with some type of leather for the straps. "Since I ruined your other wand and one of your holsters trying to combine it all that time ago, I decided to make a custom holster for your other wand. The base is ebony to contrast the sharp color of your wand and the leather is the skin of a Ukrainian Ironbelly to further contrast the ebony. It is enchanted to work just like the auror one you have now, except it is more spell resistant than it.
"Wow, I… how can I ever repay you Mr. Ollivander," Harry sputtered out.
"Consider it a gift to future business between our houses. Have a good year at school, Mr. Potter. Try not to break too many wands with that blasting charm of yours. Good luck and goodbye."
"Goodbye Mr. Ollivander and thank you again."
Hi there. Tell me if I'm rushing it TOO much, but it should slow down now since We'll be introducing characters and actually doing some social interactions with more than three people. Other than that, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. We've had some awesome follows and favorites, but not any reviews yet. I need some feedback so I know yall like what I'm doing.
This is Cloaked Protagonist,
Signing Off