/AN This is where the story really starts and isn't background setup anymore.

Opening my eyes I glanced around. Everything looked the same as my room but it wasn't. It just didn't feel right to me. Going downstairs I saw a note on the island table in the middle of the kitchen. It read:

Ryan,

You're going to be alone until 5. Be ready to go meet our new neighbors that invited us over. Since I know you're going to ask go fancy casual for dress code. Stay safe.

Love Mom

It didn't seem like it was my mommy (yeah I call my real mom, mommy, gonna do something about it?) and it didn't seem like it was her. Putting it down I started to make breakfast since it was 10 in the morning. Suddenly a feeling of Deja Vu came over me like I had done this hundreds of times before but in an actual different house. Shaking myself I finished up and wanted to go take a shower. When I walked into the bathroom I was shocked. Instead of seeing my normal self I saw a 2ish year younger version as if I was still around 14-15. Now I wasn't big and jacked but compared to what I was than it felt so. Back then I was short and lanky. More recently I've just gotten taller and still haven't filled out exactly, but I've always been able to say I had a 6 pack. While examining myself I received another flashback. It was my mom telling me to eat my dinner or else I wouldn't be able to go shopping for my school supplies. That was a bit shocking because I have never been all that interested in shopping but in the flash back I felt really excited to be able to do so. After finishing up I went back to my room I saw an object on my bed side table. It looked like a stick but as I picked it up I felt warm and as if there was a rush going through my body.

Now here's where it got a little strange so I'll skip a bit to explain and go back. As I've found out Fate provides for her Agents. When you move into a world you are put into a critical point in time and the background to get you there is provided. What is normally supposed to happen is that you are to get a bit of time to yourself to slowly integrate the memories of the stand in you as you are ready to handle it, but unfortunately for me that never happened. The longest I've ever gotten was 14 hours and that's because I played sick to stay in bed. When I picked up the object everything came rushing at me I understood it was my first wand, a 9 5/8 inch with a feather from a griffin. I also learned I had been in America studying at Salem and was going to be a 4th year. I was apparently a loner that studied everything I could and did all I could to get ahead in everything I could. I learned spells, and all class material. I should have been completely overwhelmed but as I closed myself up I was able to go through and sort everything into where I knew it from. That's when I was finishing up one of the last things my other self-learned was Occlumency. I had been able to do it on my own for so long and I figured I would probably need it if I was in the world that I knew of as Harry Potter.

"We're home!" a voice called out. I looked at the clock and it read 4:53. I had been sitting there all morning and afternoon sorting through "my" memories.

"Why aren't you ready?" I looked over and saw my mom standing in the doorway.

"Because I lost track of time?" I questioned.

"Well than get ready we have to be over at the Dursley's in twenty minutes."

Hurriedly I looked in my closet and pulled out a pair of jeans, a red t-shirt and a striped button up dress shirt to go over it. As I looked in the mirror I felt as though I was presentable.

"Time to go!" this time it was my dad that yelled at me.

"I'm coming!" I looked back into my room and grabbed my wand. Looking through my new memories I found out I had received a wand holster for my final grades for my 3rd year. I quickly found it buried in my closet and put it on my left arm because that felt most comfortable. When I tightened the last strap it turned invisible. Apparently my other self hadn't used it yet so he didn't and therefore I didn't know that was what should happen. Putting on my shoes I met my parents out in the front hall. My dad was carrying a wine bottle which I assumed to be a house gift, since my parents were caught up on what proper edict is in the muggle world despite being magical themselves.

"I'm ready now I had to find my wand holster." I said.

"Oh you're using it now? Does it feel comfortable on you? I wasn't too sure because most of the people who get it are older and applicants in the program." my dad replied. He is an auror who recently transferred to the British Ministry of Magic.

"Well I'm assuming you still shrunk it and it's still a little uncomfortable but I'll get used to it if I wear it enough. So I might as well start now."

"Make sure no one sees it, young man.", my mom said.

Rolling my eyes I said, "Mom its invisible how could they?"

"Doesn't matter. Okay now let's go."

We walked over to the house next door. I looked at the number and saw that it was number 4. It couldn't have been a coincidence. I was now next to the one person I probably had to be able to influence the most, Harry Potter. My dad knocked on the door. A... not so skinny boy answered.

"You must be the Rains. Pleasure to meet you my name is Dudley. Please come on in."

Stepping into the house we saw another not so small man and an actually normal sized woman.

"Ah you met Dudley. I'm Vernon and this is my wife Petunia." the man said.

"I'm Richard, my wife Rachael, and my son Ryan." my dad replied. I didn't see Harry anywhere so I assumed he was told to stay up in his room. I had to come up with a plan to get him involved so we could get to know one another.

"I'm sorry to interrupt Mr. Dursley, but where is your loo I wasn't able to go before we left because someone said we had to go." I said as I glanced at my mom.

"Oh it's right up stairs on the left. We will be in the lounge when you come back."

It was working out better than I thought it could have, now to find Harry's room. That wasn't so hard either; it was the only one with a lock on it. Walking in I saw him lying on his bed reading a book.

"Oh sorry I thought this was the loo." I said.

"It's across the hall." he replied easily.

"Sorry to interrupt I'm Ryan Rain.", I said as I put forth my hand. Getting up to shake it he said, "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

I did my best to look shocked and try to cover it up to arouse his suspicion and I thought it had worked a little bit. Deciding to just be blunt I asked, "If I said I knew of a boy who was protected by his parents form an evil man. What would you say?"

"I'd say I know that boy perfectly well. Almost as if we were the same person."

"So you are him? The one whose parents defeated Voldemort?"

"Yeah I di- wait did you say it was my parents?"

"Of course. How could a child have done something any other adult couldn't do?"

"Good question. One I don't even understand completely. Not for a lack of trying though."

"You'll find out at some point. So why aren't you downstairs greeting me and my parents?"

"Not invited." he said sadly.

"Well you are now. Come on I don't really like that look of the Dudly kid. He seems like one of those kids I've had to put down because they tease other kids." I said while looking in my past and saw I had done exactly that. A girl had been teased for studying so much that I pranked the bullies and let them know it would continue unless they changed. It only took another week for them to see my way.

"I'm not so sure my Uncle would like that."

"Okay then if you don't go down I'll just stay up here."

"I … alright so what are you doing out here?"

"Well my mom wanted to move and so my dad got a transfer to the British Ministry and so here I am. You go to Hogwarts what's it like?" I asked steering the conversation away from myself.

"Well its... home I guess. I love it there and I get to do as I what within reason and be with my friends, but that also includes some non-desirable students."

"I'd like to hear about them, but can I ask a slight favor can you just say their names so I can just see if I can get your impression of them? It's something my dad says he does as an Auror.", I said this in an attempt to start getting him to see his views of people in a different perspective.

"An Auror?"

"Dark Wizard catcher."

"I... sure why not. Okay so there's Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Flitwick, Trelawney, Seamus Finnigan, Fred and George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Thomas oh and Remus Lupin. Those seem like people I'm more familiar with."

"Okay I'll start with the easy ones you abhor this Snape and Draco people right?"

"Was it that obvious?"

"Dreadfully, next I read enough about Hogwarts to know you probably look up to Dumbledore, Flitwick, and McGonagall with them being professors and all. Also the Lupin guy, but you don't care much for the Trelawney woman."

"Yeah I guess you could say that for the most part in general terms."

"For the last of the easier ones I'll say that you are good friends with Ron and you really like Hermione.", I said this trying to push my luck hoping he'd realize what he has with her.

"I- no I don't.", he said blushing madly.

"Oh but I think there is something there. If you want to leave it alone I will. For the rest of them I'd say that you are probably just friends with everyone else, but you probably only know the other Weasleys through Ron."

"You're right for the most part, but I do know most of the Weasleys I've spent time with them a couple years ago and I'm going to visit in a couple of weeks for the rest of summer.", he replied still blushing slightly.

"Oh hope you have fun. Now could you tell me what happens during the school year?" I asked so I could be able to bring up certain topics as much as I could.

"Well I don't I'm the best person to ask what a normal year would be."

"Why would that be?" I asked as if I was clueless.

"Let me start with my first year. I think you'll see the pattern soon enough." Harry said jokingly. I got him to explain everything that I could get him to, but I held off on asking long answers so not to deviate from our current conversation. When he finished I was surprised that he told me the truth about his godfather, Sirius Black, and I called him out on having told me.

"To be honest I don't know why I should either, but I figure you can't know anyone yet who would believe you if you decided to go after him or me. And plus I could always deny having told you." he replied. It seemed like he was struggling to tell me some of his story, but I had the feeling that this was a kind of confession for him.

"You don't have to worry about me betraying you. Quite the opposite. I believe you about what you've said and if I can I'll try to help you I might even be able to get my dad to look into it maybe.", I said to ease his concerns and started to figure out how I could mention it to my dad.

"Thank you that means a lot to me.", he said relieved.

"So you got your broom from him that's awesome and I wanted to ask this before, but why were you so upset with Hermione for telling your professor? It seemed like she was just trying to look out for you? Compared to what it seems like here I would think that you should be bowing down to her.", as I said this I felt bad for trying to make him feel guilty, but I wanted to find out the real reason why and also how much work I'd have to do to get them together. This is because I've never really believed in Harry and Ginny. Especially since Ginny was once compared to his mother. That is creepy. Also Ginny seemed like she was in love with The Boy-Who-Lived not Harry Potter.

"I wasn't upset... I was just disappointed that she just didn't tell me why she did it. Also Ron was really upset with her too." he replied. He was looking really confused and seemed to be questioning his past actions.

"Why was Ron upset with her? It is your broom and how come you let his feelings dictate your own?" I said hoping to plant a seed of doubt so that he could grow up to be who he could be without Ron there to hold him back.

"His rat went missing though in retrospect he was in the wrong but he was my first friend and best mate," he said back.

"Than what does that make Hermione? And aren't the two of them friends too?" I said trying to reinforce just how stupid he sounded to me. You can rely on friends for almost anything so long as you know their true and won't ever leave you alone in your darkest hour. That is why I dislike Ron so much; he left Harry when he was needed the most during the Triwizard Tournament and their camping adventure.

"Hermione is my best friend too and they are friends how could they not be after all we have been through?" he asked thinking that he could turn it back on me. Oh how wrong he was, I was just getting warmed up to rip him to shreds.

"So Ron wasn't the one to make Hermione cry and run off to the bathroom first year and almost get killed? Or how about all the remarks about being a know-it-all and being the only person to read 'Hogwarts a History'? And how could he get mad at his friend for his rat that he didn't even like? He even got mad at her because she was trying to protect you and dragged you into his recluse with him." I spewed at him. I hope I could get through to him because it was starting to get really late and even if my parents suspected that I didn't like the Dursleys they could only hold them off for so much longer because my previous self-had left dinner parties before because I couldn't handle the people, but my parents always made excuses for me even if I had to pay for it later. Usually my dad would make me do an Auror workout, it had been pure torture from a memory standpoint, but now I knew I would need to so that I could increase my stamina and learn all I could to help Harry out. I figured out that Fate had given me the bare minimum to get started and I would have to do the rest.

"Well he doesn't mean them though. And it was still his pet he should care about him before he knew the truth about Wormtail. Also he didn't exactly drag me," Harry said and trailed off. I was pretty sure I was getting to him, but I had to deliver the final blow to make him totally guilty and recount everything he thought he would know.

"You do know that those are the comments that hurt the most right? From what I can tell Hermione was probably the kid who was alone most of the time. She studies because she thinks that by proving she is smart people will respect her and want to know her. Especially in this society where she is looked down on because of who her parents are. She is the type of person that if they trust someone it is all or nothing there is no in-between. I should know I have been this kind of person my entire life." As I said this I felt very guilty because the look on his face was... well... pathetic and he had a guilty look too because I think he realized the truth in my words. Now I had to do damage control.

"Harry, just because you are just realizing this now doesn't mean you can't change yourself and possibly some others. If you tell off Ron for any comment he makes against her than others will take the hint that you won't accept them from anyone. You can protect her by just being there for her just as she has been there for you even when you didn't want her. That is why she turned your broom into your professor; she hoped that you would understand and that you would do the same for her if it came to a judgment call. I'll leave you to think about this, but if you still want to talk I will be right next door." I said as I left the room leaving him among his thoughts. I crept quietly downstairs as I heard the loud oaf, Vernon, talk about some of his business deals to my parents. As I went through the front door and walked home I began to plan out the next few days. I knew Harry was going to go to the Quidditch World Cup, but I had to prevent him from getting in trouble with Crouch for his wand use.

As I went inside and got ready for bed I had a brilliant idea and it was on me the whole time. The Auror holster. If I could convince my dad to get Harry one I could say it was a birthday present. Now the harder part to convince my dad. Normally if I ever wanted something all I would ever have to do is ask because I almost never ask for anything beyond another book to read. However now that I made my parents cover for me once again I would need to work for it. Now going back awhile my parents have always said that I was too skinny, but that was because I am tall and lean. I decided that to gain my dad's favor I could do what I considered before and workout on my own. So as of tomorrow I would try to get buff even if I know I won't be able to because I don't have the frame to be really big and strong. I figured that would be enough and especially if I continued even when he wasn't around. I went to bed and didn't bother to set my alarm because I always wake up before nine o'clock at the latest because I have never managed to stay asleep with sunlight pouring into my room.