Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or its characters, a misguided author called JKR does...

News- 'And people, if you want to read the chapters at your earliest, then read the same story in Inkitt. My profile name is the same and same is the name of the story. It's user-friendly and rather comfortable to use, so I'll be continuing there, but I will also be updating 'here'.'

The link to my profile page is 'triple-w dot inkitt dot com(slash)joenaruhina57'. You'll find the story there…

Warnings: An alternate universe which will closely resemble the canon… Mildly Dark beginning… Minor to 'maybe major' bashing of Dumbledore and Weasleys… Snape bashing… Unique yet Grey Harry Potter and it will definitely be an eventual Harry/Hermione pairing…


Privet Drive (1991, July 11th)-

Several stone slabs with runic wards embedded onto it were buried deep around the house. They were all placed there as a precaution by a certain time-traveller almost four years ago. The runes on the wards were glowing and shimmering every now and then, indicating that it was active. The wards were placed there to contain the strain while in the event of powerful magical surges; it would prevent the magic from causing any structural destruction to the house and any harm to anyone who may be within the range of the magical surges. The wards would allow the detection of the usage of magic, but the stronger power surges the more effectively would it be suppressed from the monitors, hence the Ministry's magical sensors would register the usage of magic as accidental. As the wards were doing its work, inside the house, in the cupboard, under the stairs, in the dark there a certain ten-year-old raven-haired boy was sitting cross-legged on his mattress. It was a little past four in the morning and his uncle, aunt and cousin were all fast asleep.

If one were to switch on the light, they would be shocked to see a number of objects that were levitating in mid-air while circling around the sitting boy who was acutely scrunching his face in order to concentrate better. It was an event of advanced telekinesis, a raw form of the magic's manipulation in the physical realm. He was testing his control over his own magic without losing his concentration over the number of circling objects. To make the exercise even more challenging, he was doing it in pitch black, hence without being able to see the objects that were around him, he will have to feel the centre of mass of the target objects and use his telekinesis on them sequentially and control their movements accordingly.

Four years ago, he started practising his wandless magic by trying to move small inanimate objects without physically touching it. In the beginning, it started as a simple exercise of trying to push or pull some small stones or pebbles, but now, he can bloody well lift, levitate and move multiple objects within a range of fifteen metres in any direction around him, but only if the objects weigh between a few kilogrammes. When he began with this practice, his control over magic was minimal, but with training done over the course of the last four years, he was able to further develop it, to levels that even adult witches and wizards wouldn't try to practice without their wands. As the overall control over his magic grew, even more, advanced forms of magical manipulation were possible. Nowadays he could levitate an object, slice it, transfigure it and the list went on and on. Yet it had the downside of taking more time to accomplish it if he were to combine two of those exercises. For example, he could levitate an object within a few minutes of concentration and focus, but at the same time transfiguring the same object would take him a 'minimum' of ten minutes.

However, if asked, he would unhesitatingly answer that the several hours of hard training that he had done every day for the last four years were worth every bit of his effort. What he or his time-travelling counterpart had failed to anticipate was the effect of his early years of training. When he began his training as a seven-year-old, he had begun stretching his physical and magical systems to levels that only a first year Hogwarts student would attempt to practice when using a wand. And now with his control training, he was stretching himself to levels equivalent to a third year Hogwarts student and as his training progressed, his physical system got used to the levels of strain employed on it. As such he was far above in terms of raw power when compared to anyone in his equivalent age group.

In the diary entries, his older-self stressed several times that the first step at gaining power wasn't to learn new skills, instead, the key to it was to enhance his existing abilities to extraordinary levels. He took this lesson to heart and questioned himself about his prowess. And in the end, he arrived at the conclusion that the only things he was good at were hiding, studying and identifying emotions, and so he started improving himself in those aspects.

He rather liked conversing to his older self's consciousness via the diary, but there was a downside, the diary could only hold the interaction to a short time because once the magic stored in the diary runs out, it would need quite a lot of time to recharge. Hence he can only converse with his older-self for maybe five times in an entire year. And during their conversations, his older-self would often suggest and stress the need to avoid contacting each other unless there is a necessity.

As he progressed with his wandless magic, the effectiveness of his ability to cast spells increased. In the beginning, it would exhaust him to even cast a simple illusion, but now, he can wandlessly cast 'notice-me-not' charm, noise and light suppressing spells and a few layers of optical illusions together after a couple of minutes of concentration with only a lazy wave of his hand. He often used these specific series of spells because they would hide him better in order to blend in with his surroundings. He learned of these spells and charms from the diary. And these spells helped him in enhancing his skills because at the beginning he knew how to hide, and two years ago he could very well disappear, but now, he can truly be invisible and none would notice him even when in broad daylight.

When he successfully developed his skills at hiding himself, a chain of events took place. He realised that being able to effectively disappear without a trace when amongst a crowd had several more uses than he first perceived them to be and this revelation proved to be a boon for him. It gave him both ideas and opportunities for him to practice his skills on his sleight of hand. Thus, money was no longer a problem for him. In the past, he would've had to literally beg his aunt for money and every single time she would throw a fit, but that was another time. Now, he would simply nick the needed money from the older boys in the neighbourhood, but only from the boys who don't deserve his compassion.

Once he developed the ability to effectively disappear, his money problem was solved. And as his money problem was solved, he no longer starved every day by only eating meagre portions of food while cooking for his relatives, he could very well buy what he want, when he want it and eat it, however, it would still require him to use some illusion when shopping. After he corrected his eating habits, making some healthy changes in his diet, he reached the average weight and height of his classmates and he was able to better fit into Dudley's oversized hand-me-downs. Most of the boys in the neighbourhood wouldn't suspect him because he was simply too subtle, and those who did notice would often meet with some harmless yet unfortunate accidents that would make them deter. He rather liked bullying the 'bullies', even if his targets had no idea that he was the one who was behind their misfortunes, it was still satisfying to watch them being overly 'confused' about what was happening to them. Hence now, he was no longer the short, thin and meek boy who would constantly be tormented by Dudley and his gang. Now, even Dudley wouldn't dare complain to his parents about him fighting back to the bullying although, for the first time, Dudley may have had a solid reason to complain since Harry would never hold back in retaliation against him.

For some reason, self-defence always came easily to him and it often felt odd to him. He has never learned any form of advanced hand to hand combat before and yet whenever he fought back to Dudley and his gang, he would move so fluidly like it was second nature to him. Little did he know that it was the result of Voldemort's knowledge and awareness seeping into his mind, this was exactly what the time-traveller had intended to happen when he destroyed Voldemort's consciousness in the Horcrux and gave his younger self some minimal access to Voldemort's knowledge and information bank. Fortunately, this event also gave him some minor Occulumency barriers that were developing on its own, subsequent to his training on keeping his concentration resolute while multitasking. And above that as per the instructions left in the diary, he did some basic Occulumency training like breathing and emotion control exercises on a regular basis. It was for these reasons, why studies always came effortlessly to him even when he didn't bother studying, and he for one had no idea 'why' all of this was possible.

With all of his timely improvements, he no longer seemed to be an abnormal child to anyone. As such, over the course of the last four years, his classmates slowly reduced and eventually stopped their ill-treatment of him which was something they only took after Dudley's example and finally at long last they warmed up to him.

Nowadays he was able to go playing cricket or chess with his classmates whenever he wanted to, he was even invited by one of his classmates to visit her house, which of course he ignored and placed the blame on his relatives. Sports acted as a stress relief for his engaged mind, it refreshed his mind and body. With his mind and body no longer being tensed and agitated, he started paying attention in his classes and soon he was able to concentrate not only on his studies but also on his magical exercises. Dudley often at times being jealous of him made it a point to deny him of his precious study and homework time by regularly disturbing him with his running on the stairs. Nonetheless, he still remained one of the best students in class. Nowadays whatever punishment his aunt or uncle would concoct regarding his overachieving nature compared to their whale of a son, he would simply endure through it by convincing himself that 'whatever that doesn't kill him only made him stronger' and in the end, he would still be at the top of his class, while Dudley remained at the bottom.

Having lived most of his life with his relatives, he could instantly pick up the presence of nasty emotions like hatred, rage and misery in conversations. He did this via judging the subtle change in vocabulary and the modulation used in their tenor. However positive emotions were almost impossible for him to differentiate, if seen or heard, he would know how to recognise it as a positive emotion, but at the same time he wouldn't be able to distinguish them from each other. As such, he wouldn't know the difference between the feelings of being happy and being content. This affected him socially because whenever mingling with his classmates at school he would essentially be lost within their discussion. For this reason, he constantly put himself in socially awkward positions and developed skills that he would need to essentially fit in. Communication, eye contact and understanding non-verbal cues were all overly difficult for him at the beginning. And when he realised that just being able to disappear wasn't enough, he persevered through it with his pure will and now he can have an open conversation with a random stranger and at the end of their conversation, he would essentially be an acquaintance to the stranger.

Four years ago his older-self, made him promise that he should be compassionate to others, however, his compassion came with a price. He trusted his older-self, the man was like a bigger brother to him, who looked out for his well-being and meant him no harm. But was he to trust the people that he was to be compassionate to, no, not in any bloody way. Hence the way to solve this problem came with him being very judgemental of others and so his approach onto others may seem overly rude however it wasn't without good reason. His older self's opinions on various people's behaviours gave him the base perspective for him to build his own personal opinions. In the end, his opinions, which are augmented after very careful observations from his part, are the only ones that matter to him.

He loved a challenge, solving puzzles excited him and having the experience of being bored for most days in his life, he cherished adventures. The more challenging his training is, the more involved he becomes with it. He liked reading about and viewing the exploits of his future-self from the diary, his older self would have rambled on about some interesting events in the diary, most likely intending to teach him moral values, but in the end, he learned more than just a moral, he acquired a finer perspective. He understood the fact that simply having a number of abilities won't help him; he realised that with these abilities he would need to have an unshakable will and a captivated focus.

On the other hand, he was also aware of the effects of time-travel. Last month on Dudley's birthday, they were all supposed to go to the Zoo and he was expected to talk to a snake there using Parseltongue. According to the diary, Mrs Figg was thought to have broken her leg and that leading him to go with his relatives to the Zoo. But however, Mrs Figg was perfectly fine and so he stayed with her that whole day watching Star Wars movies on her new VCR. That made him wonder if things may change if he went to Hogwarts, but since he didn't know much about the changes than what contradicted with the events left in the diary, he with great difficulty decided not to 'judge' or overreact in any way.


It was four in the morning, he woke up a little while ago and he couldn't sleep because according to the diary today was the day, he'd get his first Hogwarts letter. He didn't know for sure if it would arrive today, but nonetheless, he was so excited that he couldn't go back to sleep again, hence he kept practising his control over magic as he waited for the sunrise.

Hours passed and his relatives woke up and soon aunt Petunia came downstairs opened his bedroom door. She then ordered him to cook breakfast as soon as possible because apparently his uncle, aunt and Dudley were going to a marriage in a few hours and that they had no time to waste with him lazing around, as it were.

As he finished his cooking, Vernon and Dudley finished their breakfast and then he and his aunt began with theirs. Soon everyone finished with their breakfast and he was distributing snacks to his uncle and Dudley in the living room. Suddenly the doorbell rang and Petunia yelled out to him from the kitchen, "Get the mail, boy."

"Yes, aunt Petunia." He spoke uninterestedly.

He walked to the front door and retrieved the letters from their doorstep. He instantly began searching and was relieved to find the Hogwarts letter among the three other letters. And then he closed his eyes for a minute and hung his hand over the letters in a wave-like motion and suddenly the Hogwarts letter became invisible, he then proceeded towards the living room and handed the remaining letters to Vernon. And as Vernon began looking through the letters, he went to his cupboard and hid his letter beneath his mattress and went to the kitchen in order to clean up the dishes.

He hurried through the dishes and washed them as quickly as he can, being unable to contain his excitement and wanting to read the letter so badly. By the end of the hour, Petunia, Vernon and Dudley all were on their way to Vernon's co-worker's wedding. Just as soon as they left the house, he closed his eyes and concentrated deeply for a few minutes and when he was sure that he had the necessary focus, he waved his hand over the dirty dishes in the sink and within a second it was spotless.

He then immediately rushed to his 'makeshift cupboard bedroom' and he excitedly opened the letter that was addressed to him by name, Mr H. Potter, the Cupboard under the Stairs, No 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey and he read the first page out loud.


HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)

Dear Mr H. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress


He flipped over the first page of the letter and revealed the attached page, he then mumbled to himself in a low tone as he read the contents of it.


HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)

By Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic

By Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory

By Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration

By Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

By Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions

By Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

By Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

By Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions


Once he finished the letter, he knew that back in Hogwarts they would've known that he had read it and that meant that Dumbledore would most likely send the half-giant named Hagrid in a few more days in order to introduce him to the magical world. He breathed out in relief and relaxed into his bed and kept thinking of his next obstacle.


Four days later-

It was a fine Monday morning, a little past ten o'clock. Petunia was in the living room enjoying a magazine article, Vernon was at work and Dudley was with his friends most probably bullying children in the neighbourhood and he was carefully mopping the floor.

Everything was fine with the world until suddenly the doorbell rang and his aunt turned to look at him and ordered sternly, "Look who it is and be respectful."

"Yes, aunt Petunia." He replied in a bored manner and went to the door.

He assumed it as another salesman, for the last two days every time the doorbell rang he would go to the door hoping that it was the Hogwarts's representative. But after enough disappointments, he stopped hoping and started waiting for his birthday instead; as he knew that it was only on his birthday did Hagrid come to pick him up.

As he opened the door, he saw a tall, rather severe-looking woman peering straight into his eyes. She was wearing an emerald green robe with a tartan pattern embedded on it. She also wore a pointed hat cocked to one side and had a very prim expression on her face. And beneath the hat she had her long hair combed back into a tight bun. She was none other than the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall.

Meanwhile, Minerva McGonagall who was known for her strict composure, staggered back for a fleeting moment, as she could have sworn that she was looking at James Potter when he first came to Hogwarts all those years ago. The boy standing in front of her was the splitting image of his father with the exception of a beautiful set of emerald green eyes, something she believed to be his mother's.

"Hello, Mister Potter…" She spoke to him kindly in a knowing tone, while sporting a rare smile on her face.

He stared at her for a long moment and took in her appearance. He was positive that this woman was undoubtedly from the magical world, looking at her old-fashioned attire and besides he could sense the immensely strong magic bubbling around her. Practising wandless magic gave him the ability to sense magic around him, which was how he gauged the amount of magic he has used from the volume he had within him. However, he had instructions to act defensively, hence he replied back, "Pardon me ma'am, but I don't believe we were acquainted." Instead of being offended by the rather crude statement, she simply nodded with the smile still on her face. Before she could introduce herself to the young boy, she was interrupted by a shrill shriek that came from inside the house.

Meanwhile, Petunia who had been listening to the brief conversation from the living room immediately rushed to the door to see who it was. And just as soon as she saw, she recognised the woman as the professor from 'that wretched school'. She then rushed past her nephew to the door and spoke to the deputy headmistress with evident distaste in her tone, "What do you want?"

"I'm here to introduce Mister Potter to the magical world, of course…" Minerva spoke in a stern yet obvious manner assuming that they have read the letter and accepted Harry's difference as a wizard.

"Go away; we don't want you darkening our doorstep again. Harry is a normal boy; he will be going to Stonewall high and not to your freakish school." Petunia spoke loudly, spat at the deputy headmistress and rudely slammed the door shut.

If Minerva felt insulted she didn't express it in the least, instead she rang the doorbell again continuously for a few minutes and waited until Petunia partially opened the door again, and this time she spoke sternly, "Mrs Dursley, may I come in?" Petunia seemed both unsure and incredulous at the demanding question. Minerva, who usually wouldn't choose to intrude on someone's privacy, made an exception here, and she took a step into the house and stood her ground meaning that she wasn't going to yield.

"You cannot just barge into my house as you wish…!" Petunia shouted in her usual shrill voice.

"Apparently, I can…" Minerva replied having nothing but impassiveness in her tone.

This time Petunia took a step back and moved away from the door and at that instant, Minerva swiftly moved into the house and closed the door behind her. Minerva who respected others' privacy would never intrude anywhere like this, but then again she knew how terrible these muggles actually are and above all, for her, Harry Potter's welfare was more important than these muggles' privacy.

"This is trespassing." Petunia again yelled in her shrill voice, which was becoming rather irritating for the remaining occupants of the house.

Minerva who had enough of the yelling decided to silence the woman, "When you read the letter, it meant that you understood the terms of 'the Statute of Secrecy', it's not something that's taken lightly. It also stands as a proof that Mister Potter is anything but normal." Minerva sternly asserted to the despicable woman standing in front of her.

"You're not making any sense, we haven't read any letter." Petunia replied back perplexedly.

As this was happening, Harry who was leaning on the glass door of the living room kept hoping that his aunt would get hexed by this woman. He had instructions to make it look like he had no idea about magic rather than the doubts about the unusual things that have happened in his early life. As he was listening to the conversation, he was in deep thought. He kept wondering a few confusing things, the Hogwarts acceptance letter arrived on the exact same date as mentioned in the diary, but however, this woman was the one who came to introduce him to the magical world and not the man named Hagrid. He didn't know why one of the events in the diary would come true while the other proved false. He was shaken out of his musing when he heard his aunt's defence and so he decided to intervene in at that moment and put his point in the discussion.

"Is this letter by any chance a parchment mentioning a place called Hogwarts?" He pointed the question at McGonagall pretending to be confused and curious.

"Were you the one who read the letter?" McGonagall asked the boy to clarify her doubts.

"Yes…"

"Frankly, I thought of the letter to be a prank note."

"It's not a prank Mister Potter, Hogwarts does exist and so does magic."

Hearing the brief conversation and its intended path, his aunt became so furious that she yelled at him in rage, "GO TO YOUR ROOM THIS INSTANT…" It wasn't until after her yelling did she realise her mistake. By ordering her nephew she most likely revealed the fact that her nephew's room was an improvised cupboard, to the already disillusioned deputy headmistress.

"Fine…" Again he replied back uninterestedly with a loose shrug of his shoulder and then he walked forwards to the cupboard near McGonagall and he opened the door and went in and closed the door. Minerva who saw Harry walking inside the cupboard looked dumbstruck, as she realised that the young Potter's room was a makeshift cupboard. Her expressions turned from being shocked to being furious and it further progressed to being almost murderous.

Minerva McGonagall when furious was an imposing woman who even Albus freaking Dumbledore would think twice before daring to trifle with. And being known for her strict controlled behaviour, people have rarely seen her lose control of her emotions. And unfortunately for Petunia Evans Dursley, she was just too unlucky as she was about to witness and endure Minerva's ire.

Minerva slowly procured her wand from inside her robe and held it at Petunia's face and asked in a cold threatening tone, "Is that Mister Potter's room?" Petunia who was already scared stiff at the very sight of the wand was now terrified beyond belief at the woman's threatening tone; however her fear prevented her from replying to the woman's question.

"IS THAT MISTER POTTER'S ROOM?" She asked again rather loudly and this time his aunt mutely nodded a 'yes' to the question.

"How long has he lived there…?"

Petunia hesitated for a brief a moment, but was effortlessly persuaded by the wand that reached even closer to her face and almost touched her skin, she replied hurriedly, "Almost ten years." Hearing this, Minerva fury rose to levels that progressed beyond murderous, it was only due to her years of experience in life did she manage to maintain her emotional composure from faltering any further.

She pointed her wand at the cupboard and a second later the door swung open, as it opened she saw the young child silently sitting on his mattress, "Mister Potter, please move to the dining room and bring the acceptance letter with you."

Minerva then led Petunia to the dining room and made her sit down on the settee. Then she asked him, "Mister Potter, I'll ask you the basic question. What do you know about your past and the existence of the magical world?"

"Before answering that, could you tell me who you are, first?"

Minerva raised a single eyebrow at him and then she looked thoughtful for a moment and then began as it was an acceptable query, "My apologies… I'm Professor Minerva McGonagall, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Oh…" He correlated the name with the information at hand. This woman fitted the description of the strict disciplinarian deputy headmistress and transfiguration expert and the woman's introduction confirmed his hunch.

"Now, please…" Minerva looked at him closely awhile, already expecting an answer which she surely knew that it wouldn't impress her.

"Okay…, from what you've told me and from the letter I read, it's possible that 'this magical world' may indeed exist and I choose to believe in it because many unexplainable things that often happen around me when I'm sad or distressed, it vaguely makes sense with this theory. And I'm not quite sure what you meant when you asked about my past."

Seeing that her ward was unaware, she explained, "Your past, as in who your parents are, what happened to them and why it happened to them. And apart from that, the question about 'who you are', your heritage and your social standing..."

"I know that my parents' names are James and Lily and that they died in a car crash, but that's nearly all I know."

"Oh, for heaven's sake…" Minerva tiredly muttered to herself and looked at him sombrely and then she glanced at Petunia with pure disgust.

"You haven't disclosed anything to him, have you?" She demanded to the slightly trembling woman in front of her.

To that Petunia mustered all of her remaining courage and spoke, "My husband and I are the boy's guardians, not you. We decide what the boy should know and what he shouldn't. We swore when we took him, that we would stamp out all that freakishness he had in him. Harry won't be going to your freakish school to learn magic tricks and that's final."

"I'm afraid, you're not in any position to make decisions regarding, Mister Potter anymore. Do you understand? Whether he is going to Hogwarts or not, it was never your decision to make, to begin with, that choice solely belongs to him and him only." Minerva replied back as sternly as she could and that literally made Petunia flinch back and nod in fear.

"You knew…?" He interrupted while pointing his eyes towards his aunt in a ghostly tone.

"Of course, I knew. You being your mother's freakish son, I knew you would be just as abnormal as her. My parents were so happy the day she got her letter, Lily this and Lily that, their perfect daughter… Only I saw for what she was, a freak." Petunia spoke with such contempt that even disgusted Minerva, who with her years of experience knew how to handle all sorts of people.

Seeing that Harry was about to yell at his aunt, Minerva decided to intervene and interrupted, "Enough…" That successfully shut up Petunia's ranting and stopped Harry from erupting.

"That being said since we're all here, let's ask Mister Potter and find out whether he wants to go or not, shall we?" Minerva prompted the woman in front of her. Petunia looked frightened as she was sure that the cursed boy would agree to go with this woman to that school.

"Mister Potter, would you like to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Minerva asked the raven-haired boy in front of her.

He shouted out his reply happily, "YES…" That was all the assurance Minerva needed to carry on, she turned to look at the boy's aunt with a barely concealed superior smile. Meanwhile Petunia looked very frustrated and rather angry at him, but he didn't care what she thought about him in the least.

"Mister Potter, we have a very long conversation ahead of us, but unfortunately, I'm on a tight schedule."

"Will you take a look at the list enclosed with your acceptance letter and tell me what you see?"

"There are many items mentioned here…"

"Yes, as you can see the list of things mentioned in the second page of the letter, we have to buy those before the day ends. I suggest that you make haste and pack all your things, we'll be leaving soon."

Just as Harry moved to the cupboard to pack his things, she turned to Petunia who looked afraid, confused, embarrassed and a little happy at her nephew's apparent departure. Minerva then gained the other woman's attention with her threatening tone, "This behaviour towards Mister Potter is unacceptable, it is simply offensive and unacceptable. When I leave this house, informing the proper authority or choosing not to, depends entirely on what reply you're about to give me now, so choose your next words very carefully."

"You act as if this is wholly our fault. It isn't like we were asked or consulted with any of this. One morning, you lot just dumped the boy on our doorstep with only a letter. We never wanted him to begin with; you should be grateful that we've allowed him to live under our roof and gave him food from our table." Petunia angrily defended herself vehemently.

Before Petunia could continue, Minerva held her hand up and said sternly, "Enough…, I've heard enough from you. Expect some legal summoning from the child protection services. And remember this Petunia, if it was you and your husband who had died and if it was your son who was sent to live with Lily, she would've raised him as her own and you too know that to be true. How someone as despicable as you can be related to someone as compassionate as Lily, escapes me entirely, you and your husband should be ashamed of yourself."

With that, the headmistress walked away from the dining room, leaving a fuming Petunia who unsurprisingly had no reply. Minerva walked towards the front door and waited just outside the cupboard door as the child packed whatever things he thought he would need. As he finished his packing, Minerva immediately shrunk the bag and handed it to the astonished boy. With that, Minerva McGonagall opened the front door and held it for Harry to exit and when he did, Minerva followed outside and then she led Harry away without looking back not even once. She had nothing else to say to Petunia and all that mattered to her was satisfying the boy who was walking with her.

Little did Minerva know, that what had just happened was partly due to the effects of compulsion charm placed in the house by a certain time-traveller four years ago, that was what made Petunia rebel back the way she did. The thirty-seven-year-old had anticipated the possibility of his younger-self returning to that 'wretched' house every year after school having no choice but to listen to his headmaster. Hence he placed a lasting compulsion charm that would compel his relatives to act snobbishly towards anyone with magical authority who may or may not visit the house in the future. He did so in hopes that any of the magical people who come in contact with the Dursleys would be able to understand just how despicable of people they really are and to some level his plan worked, because now, Minerva McGonagall had no intention of returning young Mister Potter back to these muggles, if she had a say in the matter.


Leaky Cauldron-

Minerva opened the door of the small, dingy but welcoming pub. Minerva led a young raven-haired boy behind her; he was still a little wobbly from their ride in via the Knight Bus. Harry looked around and found many strangely dressed people sitting, chatting and having a drink. He noticed that the fireplace burned with a dark greenish hue and also noticed a man having his face immersed in the fire and he was more than a little disturbed by it.

"Minerva, Gillywater I presume?" The bartender greeted loudly.

"Sorry Hamish, maybe another time, on official Hogwarts business I'm afraid." She replied back to the man.

Minerva didn't want her charge to be exposed to the circumstances of his fame before he really knows about his early life and ancestry; hence she had the forethought of placing both 'glamour' and 'notice-me-not charm' on him, so none in the pub, noticed who he was.

"Professor, what was that man doing having immersed his face into the green fire?"

"Oh, that is what we refer to as a floo-call in the magical world. You can contact other people through your fireplace connected to their fireplace, it's the magical equivalent to the telephone. One usually steps into the fireplace and loudly calls out his/her destination and throws the floo powder at the fireplace below, to activate it."

"Wow…" Minerva smiled at the boy curiosity.

A few moments later, he again began, "Also, professor, I don't think we can buy all these things in London…"

She in return to his statement smiled at him and silently led him to the back door of the pub and there she tapped the brick wall five times with her wand and the wall opened as the bricks slowly cleared away and revealed a large archway. He peered inside the alley in amazement and saw a breath-taking sight of an assortment of restaurants, shops, and other sights. There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon and many more that he couldn't possibly remember.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley, Mister Potter. This is where we're going to buy all of your supplies." She replied casually and then walked in through the archway.

He walked in through the archway following behind McGonagall. Just as soon as he stepped on the cobblestoned street, he sensed the magic around him to be so dense that it was almost suffocating for him. Having lived in a magically inactive environment for a very long time, he was unaccustomed to this atmosphere; therefore his overdeveloped sensory abilities were overwhelmed by the sheer density and strength of the ambient magic in the air.

He stopped walking and staggered around in confusion being unable to breathe. Minerva who failed to notice this kept walking forward and disappeared into the crowd. Meanwhile, he staggered and found a sidewall to his left and he used it to support himself from falling. He then kneeled on his left knee, closed both his eyes and balled his right palm and held the knuckles to his forehead and concentrated on his senses. A few minutes later, he was successful in closing off all of his sensory abilities and all of a sudden the choking feeling left him and he felt normal.

Minerva who was walking towards Gringotts slightly turned her head to the right and said, "Mister Potter, this is the Grin…" She never finished as she realised that the boy who was supposed to be following her was missing. She looked around for a few minutes and when she couldn't find him she drew out her wand, just as she was about to cast a spell, she spotted her charge kneeling on one knee beside an empty wall.

She immediately walked over to him, the closer she got more she realised that her charge was in distress. "Mister Potter, are you alright?" She asked him with obvious concern etched in her tone.

"I'm alright professor." He stood up and faced her as if everything was fine, Minerva eyed him dubiously for a brief moment, but then she nodded and led him towards the bank, deciding to inquire about the situation at a later time.

"Mister Potter that is the Gringotts Wizarding bank..." She pointed at an imposing snow-white multi-storeyed marble building that towered over the neighbouring shops, located partway down the street near its intersection with another nearby street.

"Professor, why are we going to the bank?"

"We have to buy the list of things mentioned in the letter, Mister Potter, and for that we need money, don't we?"

"Are we going to take a loan?" He asked acting oblivious.

"No Mister Potter, we're about to withdraw money."

"But don't I need an account with money in it, for us to withdraw it in the first place?"

"Oh dear…" She realised her mistake, as she remembered that the boy who was following her had no idea of his parents' wealth and his inheritance, "Mister Potter, I forgot to tell you that your parents were reasonably wealthy. They've left you with quite a lot of wealth."

"They have…? But aunt Petunia said that my father didn't have a job or anything for that matter."

Minerva looked at the boy with an unhidden sympathy and then she replied, "Your parents did have jobs, Mister Potter. When your mum graduated from Hogwarts she immediately applied for an apprenticeship under Professor Filius Flitwick, who is a specialist in Charms, and she continued on by acquiring her Mastery on Charms within a year's time, which is no mean feat, she then joined the Department of Mysteries as an 'unspeakable'. Your father, however, joined the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as an 'auror' just as soon as he graduated from Hogwarts. Your parents were the Headgirl and Headboy of their year at the time of their graduation."

"Professor, what does an 'auror' and 'unspeakable' mean?"

"Aurors are the magical equivalent of law enforcement officers and Unspeakables are researchers who do research on magic itself but under strictly classified laws."

"So my mum was a scientist and my dad was a police officer? Wow, to be frank, I never expected that."

"What kind of money, do we use on this side of the world?" He asked curiously, he knew that if his ploy was to work then he needed to make things convincing.

"We use Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Galleons are gold coins; one Galleon is equal to 17 Sickles or 493 Knuts. Sickles are made up of silver, whereas one Sickle is equal to 29 Knuts. And Knuts are bronze; they are the least valuable of the three."

"Professor, I've saved a great deal of regular money, will it be useless?"

"No Mister Potter, you can exchange muggle money for Galleons in the bank and vice versa." She replied with her rare smile, seeing his curiosity to be a wonderful thing which reminded her of his mother. Today was an exception since Minerva's usually rare smile was visible several times in the last few hours alone.

"Hold your questions until later, I'll answer them in due time. We're here…" She said as they walking up the steps of the bank. As they walked up the set of white stairs that led up to a set of burnished bronze doors, which were flanked by a goblin guards in a uniform of scarlet and gold. As they walked through, they entered a small entrance hall with another set of doors also flanked by goblin guards, but these doors were silver and words were engraved on the silver doors.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there

Through the last door, was a vast marble hall with long counters stretching along its length, with doors leading off to the vault passageways and having around a hundred goblins sitting at them. They continue to the centre spot, where a smallish, wrinkle-skinned creature with the longest, sharpest-pointed ears he had ever seen. He assumed this creature to be the goblin bank's head teller; its squinty eyes looked up from the desk it sat at and peered down its long, pointy-as-its-ears nose at them both.

"Professor, what are these things?" He asked whisperingly while eyeing all around him.

"They are goblins, Mister Potter. Beware they are extremely intelligent and rather very cunning, but not the friendliest of beings that you'll come across in this world. If you be careful and respectful you'll get along just fine." Minerva advised very seriously.

Minerva took a step forward to meet with the head teller's gaze and spoke loudly enough, "Mister Harry Potter would like to make a withdrawal."

"Does Mister Harry Potter have his key?" The head teller asked peering past the professor to meet with his eyes, with a menacing smile in place.

"He does…" Minerva said as she retrieved the golden key from inside her robes and showed it to the teller.

Minerva, however, wasn't finished as she held a letter to the teller and said, "Headmaster Dumbledore has sent this letter to you."

The head teller took the letter and quickly read through it, a few moments late the teller replied, "Very well…, Daggerskin will show you to the vaults."

Then a young goblin walked up to them and led them to the mine carts and the ride down to the vaults was fun. First, they reached vault 687 there the goblin named Daggerskin stepped out of the cart first and said, "Vault 687"

"Lamp please…"

Minerva handed the lamp to the goblin and they both stepped out, meanwhile, the goblin walked towards the vault and said, "Key please." Professor McGonagall then handed the key to the goblin and the said goblin inserted it into the vault's door and twisted it to its right once. The Vault door opened and there was a pile of gold coins in various heaps and he was obviously astonished despite knowing that he was wealthy. As soon as the door opened, the goblin returned the key back to her.

"Professor, how much would I need for the school supplies?"

"Normally fifty Galleons would have been enough, but under the circumstances, I would suggest withdrawing one hundred Galleons."

"Why, professor?"

"You're new to this side of the world, Mister Potter. You would need to 'learn' what it is like to 'live' here and for that, you would need materials that will help you on a day to day basis to better take care of yourself, materials that are additional to your school supplies."

He accepted McGonagall's answer and he gathered around a hundred Galleons and he deposited them in the pouch Minerva provided him with.

"Mister Potter, here is your key." She said and handed him the small golden key.

He took the key in his hand and he beheld her curiously, she seeing his look, began, "Mister Potter, this is your vault; hence I cannot hold the key, at any cost. That being said, you shouldn't lend or give this key to anyone, not even for a short period of time. Do you understand Mister Potter?" He stiffly nodded, sensing the seriousness of the situation from her impassive yet stern tone.

After that, they got back on the cart that led them further down the mines and they reached vault 713. "Vault 713…" The goblin said out loud as they reached their destination.

They exited the cart and the goblin named Daggerskin went to the vault door and placed the pointy nail of its pointer finger on the vault and drew it upwards horizontally. As the goblin finished, he heard the noises of several metals clinking together behind the door and finally, the door opened.

Inside the vault, at the centre beneath the light, there was a small grubby bag. Minerva walked inside and retrieved the small bag from the centre and she placed it inside her pouch and then she exited the vault. Seeing his curious look Minerva said, "Mister Potter, I would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself."

He mutely nodded to the professor's request and with that, they both stepped into the mine cart and headed back upwards to the bank. As they exited the mine cart, he set his next phase of plans in motion taking his time-travelling counterpart's suggestion. So he asked feigning his curiosity, "Professor, the amount of money we saw in my vault, is that the extent we can normally save when working here in this world?"

Minerva instantly understood the intended path of the question and so she replied straight away, "No, Mister Potter. The amount left behind as your inheritance mostly comes from your father's side. There are twenty-eight major pureblood families and many lesser families. The Potter family is one of the lesser pureblood families in our society. They had power and influence, I'm not saying that they didn't, but it cannot be compared to major pureblood families like Notts or Malfoys. Nevertheless, they were wealthy both in terms of riches and in terms of talent."

Seeing that she understood the general intent of his curiosity, he asked unhesitatingly, "Professor, I have some questions regarding my wealth. Could you spare some time for us to make some quick inquiries to the bank?"

"Mister Potter, we're still on a tight schedule, you could very well visit or owl the bank for some monthly or annual statements at a later time."

"Owl…?"

"That's how mail in this world works, Mister Potter." Minerva clarified with a faint smile on her face.

"Professor, sending an owl to the bank and asking for sensitive information hardly seems wise and even if I did visit at a later date, I'd need an adult to accompany me, don't I, and professor, I'd prefer you to accompany me more than my uncle or aunt." He replied back logically.

Minerva whipped out her wand and cast a 'tempus charm' to check the time, it was a little over eleven o'clock and her deadline to submitting the 'philosopher's stone' to Albus was at six in the evening. It may seem like a lot of time, but she knew how quickly the time would run out. She had to finish shopping for Harry and explain things about his family and his identity to him and then figure out Harry's accommodation away from his relatives. And she had to do all of this before six o'clock in the evening. She thought for a few minutes, Harry's argument had merit in it too, it didn't seem wise to let an almost completely magically isolated boy like Harry deal with the cunning goblins alone without adult supervision and even if there was to be an adult, then she definitely wouldn't trust the Dursleys.

Minerva sighed shortly and she stated, "Perhaps, I could spare a few minutes Mister Potter, however, I have a better plan than your solution on the topic of your doubts hence shall I try a different approach?" He in return grinned brightly and excitedly nodded in agreement.

Minerva again led him to the head teller and requested, "Mister Potter would like a clearly detailed and most recently updated written statement explaining the former and current statuses of his assets."

The head goblin stared at Minerva for a few minutes to which she stared back and then the head goblin glanced at Harry for a second. The head goblin then whispered something into the nearby goblin's pointy ear. And immediately the other goblin turned around and walked into the bank. Almost five minutes later, the goblin returned with a huge tome-sized file that seemed rather heavy.

The head teller claimed the tome-sized file from the other goblin's hand and opened it and glanced at the first page for a few minutes. Minerva who was watching closely noticed the slight sneer on the goblin's face, whereas the boy behind her was lost because he couldn't distinguish the sneer from the goblin's natural look.

As the head goblin finished glancing through the first page, the goblin placed the file on the desk. Minerva immediately reached upwards to the desk and took it and then she stashed it into the bottomless bag she made for Mister Potter, in which he was holding the money and then she turned around and walked away leading her charge away with her. It was obvious to her that the goblins were unnerved by her request and she was sure that for whatever reason it was, it would most likely be mentioned in the file.

"Professor, why did you ask for a detailed written statement, I only had a few doubts?"

"It's better to read extensive details from a material and find facts rather than ask several questions to the goblins which would undoubtedly tarnish your reputation and above that we don't have any guarantee that the goblins will answer your questions impartially. Now, since we've this file, I can very well take my time to read this thoroughly and explain everything to you or you yourself can read this and clarify your doubts by discussing the things you don't understand with me. It's a much better option than asking long tedious questions and wasting precious time."

"I have a reputation? Why would asking simple questions to the goblins tarnish my reputation?"

"I'll explain everything in due time, Mister Potter. All in due time…"

Seeing her charge's frown she calmly asked, "Now we still have lots to buy and a little time, so shall we get going?"

"I promise you that I'll answer all of your questions and clarify all your doubts at the end of the day. Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes…" He replied understanding her situation.

"Good…, let's go." With that Minerva walked out the bank and he followed behind her.


With this, I'm wrapping up this chapter. And lads, I would like to know what I lack in the story and where I lack it. I'm all ears people, so you don't have to complain about me not listening.

And this is a fanfic, the characters being OOC is an unwritten rule. If you want a 'not OOC' canon character story then read the books again because when it comes to fanfic, the individual authors are bound to change the story, the attitude and personality of the canon characters. And for the last time, this won't be an immediate Harmony romance situation; over time the Harmony background will be built to establish a healthy relationship. So you don't have to scream at me every time I make a mistake.

And people, considering from the readers' point of view, give me tips on how to make this story more likely and believable. In my previous attempts at fanfictions, I tried making the main heroic characters humble and modest or my best at least, but that doesn't seem to be enough. Please feel free to review and criticise, but when do you criticise, at least be a little respectful and not use foul languages and even if you do, please, leave my parents out of it.

Until next time,

Thank You…