Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter universe. All characters, baring the ones I have created, belong to J..
Harry Potter and The Butterfly EffectChapter 3
Hogwarts
Tom Marvolo Riddle, more commonly known as Lord Voldemort sat idly within his chamber, down in the dungeons of Malfoy Mannor. He had recently moved in due to his ancesteral home in Little Hangleton being compromised. Lucius had graciously offered the use of his home to his lord and master. Not that he ever really had any choice in th matter. Voldemort was currently pondering the situation that had arisen beteen himself and the Potter twins.
Cleraly there had been a huge mistake if Erin was hailed as the chid who had, loath he was to say it, temporarily defeated him. He remembered clearly looking into the emerald eyes of the boy, Harry, before casting the curse. He was very surprised when he had found out that it was Erin and not Harry who had been hailed as the Girl-Who-Lived. After much thought, he had decided not to mention that it was Harry that he had 'marked as his equal', hoping that the wizarding world would be more focused on Erin, rather than Harry. Imagine his surprise, yet again when, as he was masqurading as Quirrel, he discovered that Harry had dissapeared and was presumed dead.
So, Voldemort continued his quest to return to power, a task which he completed just over a year ago, with the unwilling help of Triwizard Champion Erin Potter. Her blood, while not as convinient as Harry's would have been, sufficed and delivered him a new body. Voldemort stood and paced as he thought about his next moves. He hadn't planned on the girl being able to elude him. The thought of it made his veins boil with fury. No one escapes him, let alone a teenage girl with no real magical powers. So, for the next year, he had consolidated his power base and sent emisaries to some of the magical creatures with promises of equality within his ranks. Voldemort snorted at the mere idea of any creature being the equal to a wizard.
Things were going perfectly until he had lured the girl to the Department of Mysteries with visions of her parents being tortured. Sending the girl the visions had been the most difficult part as there was no real connection between them. After weeks of research, he had finally come across an obscure Ancient Egyptain curse that allowed temporary access to an undefended mind. The girl was useless at Occlumancy so it was with ease that the Dark Lord had penetrated her mind and planted the false vision. Timing was critical as he needed to make sure that there were no members of the Order stationed within the castle that she could turn to for help. Voldemort had found his window of opportunity at the end of the year and had struck ruthlessly. He had found out the hard way that it was a very painful and draining curse. One he would not be performing again unless absolutely necessary.
Predictably, the girl had come to the Ministry to save her parents and everything was going according to plan. The girl had removed the prophecy from the shelf and his loyal followers had ambushed her and her little friends. What he didn't count on was a group of rag-tag teenagers being able to outwit and avoid his inner circle long enough for the Order to arrive. The whole situation had gone downhill from there in the sense that most of his inner circle had been captured, the prophecy had been destroyed and his existance had been revealed to the world. Grinding his teeth in frustration, Voldemort took a deep breath and tightened his Occlumancy sheilds. Anger would not help him now. First, he would relieve Azkaban prison of their latest additions. With his inner circle back, he would plan his next move.
-SCENE BREAK-
Harry strode purposfully down Diagon Alley at 8:00 on September the first. He needed to make a quick stop at the bookstore to pick up his school textbooks and some top of the range potions equiptment. He wanted to make a good impression on Snape, which was the other reason he had been studying potions non-stop since he decided to attend Hogwarts. He was also sure that their mutual hatred of James Potter would come in handy at some point. He also needed to make a trip to Gringotts. Whilst in the bookstore, Harry picked out a few books on advanced dueling and warding for light reading before proceeding to the checkout with his new acquisitions.
Making his way to the apothecary, Harry picked out the best potions equiptment, and almost all of the ingredients they had in stock. That done, he had a quick breakfast at a nearby café before making his was to Gringotts to finalize some arangements. Stepping through the large marble archway, Harry couldn't help but admire the structure and the architectural magnificance of the bank. Not even the Mnistry of Magic could come close to the craftmanship that had gone into building Gringotts. Harry walked past a large marble statue of a goblin, presumably a goblin of importance, and up to one of the free tellers.
"I'd like to make a few changes to my account, please." Harry said to the goblin polietly. Manners cost nothing and there was no gain from alienating anyone, let alone the goblins. The goblin looked at him over thick glasses.
"Key, please." He rasped after a moment. Harry handed over the key to the only vault that was his in name. He had two others with Gringotts, all three having a few thousand galleons in. One account was in his name, the other two were under alias's. His muggle accounts had far more money in them, with his net savings numbering in the high millions. Harry never exchanged his counterfit money for galleons for two reasons. One, the goblins coould tell easilly, and two, respect. The goblins had always kept his identity a secret and he wasn't going to repay that by flogging them dodgy money.
"Account manager Sharptooth will see you now." The goblin said, handing Harry his key back. "Down that corridor, third office on the left." He pointed to a corridor, before motioning the next person in the que to come forward. Spinning on his heel, Harry made his way down the corridor and stopped at the afformentioned office, knocking twice on the mahogony door.
"Come." A voice called out. Harry entered the office and stood in front of the goblins desk. The room was very bland, as was the way of the goblins. There was a bookshelf on the far right wall, with a large collection of old looking books. In front of the desk was a pair of straight back chairs. The account manager was sat behind his desk and looked up from the papers he was reading as Harry approached.
"Take a seat, Mr Potter." Obliging, Harry slid into the uncomfortable chair and waited.
"How can I help you today, Mr Potter." The goblin asked, not unpolietly.
"I'd like to transfer all the assets in vault 344 into vault 539, please." Harry said to Sharptooth. Nodding, Sharptooth made some notes on a piece of parchment before looking back up.
"And the reason for this transfer?" Sharptooth asked.
"Well, I don't want my funds tracked by certain parties." Harry said cautiously. Sharptooth nodded in undertanding.
"Say no more. The funds will be transferred immediately. Neither Albus Dumbledore, the Potters nor the Minister himself will be able to track the funds. There will be no record of Harry James Potter ever holding an account with us." Sharptooth said smoothly. Harry's eyebrows flew into his hairline. Clearly this goblin was well informed on current afairs.
Harry nodded greatfully. "Thank you. I was worried Dumbledore or my parents might have tried to follow my transactions."
"Have no fear Mr. Potter. We take our clients privacy very seriously. If that will be all…" He left the remainder of the sentence unsaid. Harry shook his head.
"That's it. Thank you for your help." Harry stood and with a nod to the goblin, exited the office and the bank. Checking his watch, Harry realised he had 40 minutes untill the Hogwarts express was due to leave. Strolling casually to the apparation point, Harry spun on his heel and vanished with a barely audible pop, reappearing in a secluded alleyway near Kings Cross Station. Meadering his way through the throngs of muggles in the station, he made his way to platform 9 ¾. Wondering how the magical world had managed to stay hidden with barriers in plain sight, Harry looked around quickly before stepping through the gateway and onto the platform. Harry smiled faintly when he saw that that the platform was relitively empty. There were a couple of families dotted about, mainly parents with first year students, though a couple of older students were loitering around the platform.
Harry walked over to the train and stepped on. Finding an empty compartment this early would not be a problem. Entering the first one he came to, he flopped down into the seat and leaned back, putting his feet up on the opposite seat. Pulling his trunk out of his pocket, Harry waved his hand over it and watched as it expanded to full size. That was about as much as he could do wandlessly. Harry couldn't do much wandless magic part from a few detection spells, summoning charms, shrinking and enlergment charms and the like. He didn't consider his glammour trick, telekinisis or healing as wandless magic. He conidered them unique talents.
Pulling a book on potions from the third compartment, Harry re-shrunk the trunk and popped it back into his pocket. As Harry read on, the platform got more and more full. It wasn't long before there was a loud honking noise and the train slowly began its journey from London to Stotland. About fifteen minutes into the journey, the compartment door slid open and a girl stood in the doorway uncertianly.
"Everywhere else is full…" she trailed off when Hary looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Is there a question in there Miss…?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Granger. Hermione Granger. Do you mind if I sit here?" The girl asked shyly. She looked to be about his age and was kind of cute. She had Ravenclaw robes on and clutched several books to her chest.
"Miss Granger." Harry inclined his head. "Please, sit down." Harry motioned to a seat. Hermione smiled gretefully before sitting down on the oppotise bench. Placing her large pile of books on the seat next to her, she took the top one and began to read. Every now and again, Hermione would glance up at him from the book she was reading and chew her bottom lip before looking back down at the book she was reading, N.E.W.T transfiguration if he wasn't misaken.
After she glanced up for the seventh time, Harry called her on it. "Is there something you want to ask me, Miss Granger?"
Hermione's eyes widened at getting caught and he blushed furiously, her head snapping down to stare at her book. Man, this girl had self-esteem issues. She muttered something under her breath.
"What was that?" Harry asked, again, in a friendly manner. He suspected that this girl was picked on, or at the very least, had no friends. Since it was something Harry could relate to, he decided to put her at ease as much as possible.
"Who are you? I've never seen you here before and I'm fairly certain Hogwarts does not take transfer students." She murmered quietly after a moment.
"Well," Harry began. "The reason you havent seen me before is because I have never been to Hogwarts before. And you are quite right, Hogwarts does not accept transfer students."
"So…"Hermione stopped, thinking hard.
"I tell you what. How about I tell you my name, and you can figure it out from there?" Harry offered innocenly. Hermione nodded.
"Harry Potter." Harry waited for th reaction and wans't dissapointed. She dropped the book she was holding and almost fell off the bench.
"The Lost Twin." She breathed in wonder. Harry arched an eyebrow. Blaise hadn't told him that one before.
"Is that what they're calling me these days?" He asked in an amused voice.
"Well, it's an unofficial name for you given by Hogwarts students. There are so many roumors among the students about where you have been. Erin and Hayley won't even talk about you."
"You are friends with my sisters?" Harry asked cautiously.
"I'm kind of friends with Erin." Hermione said slowly, as if asseing the validity of the statement she just made.
"Kind of friends?" Harry repeated.
"Well, we don't really hang out, but we have been paired up together in class and sometimes study together in the library." Hermione said. She looked like she really wanted to ask another question but was restraining herself. Barely.
"London." Harry answered, knowing what she wanted to ask.
"What?" Hermione said blankly.
"London." Harry said again. "That's where I have been all these years."
"London." She asked sceptically. "You have been in London this whole time."
"Pretty much." Harry anwered with a shrug.
"People have been scouring the magical world for years looking for you and you have been in London the whole time?" She asked incredulously, before stifiling a giggle. Apparently she was becoming more and more comfortable with him. As the train ride went on, Harry and Hermione chatted idly, Hermione talking about Hogwarts classes and its professors and Harry talking about living alone and having private tutors. Harry was surprised no one had interupted them. He had assumed Dumbledore would have contacted his parents as soon as he got his letter. Following that logic, it was a safe bet to assume that his sisters knew he was on the train. And how right he was.
Erin and Hayley Potter were currently inside a compartment on the other side of the train, sat with their best friends, Ron Weasley, his sister, Ginny Weasley and Nevile Longbottom. Erin was currently going into her sixth year with Ron and Nevile. Hayley and Ginny were going into their fifth.
"If you think he is on the train, why don't you go and talk to him? He's your brother for Merlin's sake." Ginny said in an exasperated voice. Erin and Hayley shared a look before shaking their heads in usion.
"We don't even know him. We talked about this over summer. When we meet, we want to make a good impression. And that does not include barging in on him on the train." Erin said, as though the thought of not being able to see her brother pained her. Nevile nodded symathetically.
"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you both once we get settled at the castle." Nevile said with a smile.
Hayley smiled back. "I hope your right."
Harry stood up and stretched his aching muscles as the train slowed to a stop at Hogsmead station. Glancing over at Hermione, he saw she was fast asleep. Raching over, Harry gently shook her shoulder.
"Hermione. We're here." Harry said softly. Hermiones eyes fluttered open and once she regained her barings, flushed bright red. Harry sighed. Hermione was so socially askward that something as trivial as Harry seeing her asleep embarrased her. He would need to work on this.
Pretending not to notice, Harry opened the compartment door and walked out into the corridor. Students were crushed together, all trying to get off the train at the same time. Keeping a grip on Hermione's arm, Harry guided them through the masses of students and out onto the platform.
"Where to now?" Harry asked, looking around. He noticed a huge man standing near the lake, calling out for first years. He assumed that he would have to travel with them since he was new.
"Well, looks like this is where we part ways." Harry said. "I'll see you later, okay?" Hermione smiled and nodded before making her way over to the carriges, alone. Turning around, Harry made his way over to the giant man.
"Firs' years only." The man boomed gruffly.
"Transfer student." Harry said, craining his neck to look up at the man. Technically he wasn't a transfer student but…whatever.
"Ah yer'. Dumbledore mentioned a transfer student. I'm Hagrid. Just 'op onto one of the boats and we will be away in no time." The man, Hagrid apparently, said. Nodding, Harry stepped onto one of the rickety row boats and waited for the others to fill up. After a time, all of the boats were full and Hagrid made a motioning with his umbrella. As the boats started moving, Harry snorted when he realised that Hagrid's wand was inside his umbrella. As the boats rounded a bend, Harry got his first look at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had to admit, with the moon shining above it, the castle was breathtaking. The boats continued to float across the lake until they came to cliff edge on which the castle sat.
"Heads down!" Hagrid shouted as the first boats reached the cliff; Harry lowered his head as they passed through a thin curtain of ivy and into a tunnel that seemed to burrow right under the castle itself. After a time, they came a large dock where the boats all began to line up against small walkways. Hopping off his boat, Harry glanced up the stone steps at a huge set of oak doors. Once everyoe had gathered around said doors, Hagrid raised a huge meaty hand and gave three hard knocks.
The doors creaked open almost immediately, revealing a tall, stern looking old woman. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid boomed.
"Thank you." The Professor replied in a mild Scottish accent. "I wil take them from here. Opening the dors wide, she led them into a huge enterance hall, stopping when they reached another set of enourmous double doors that Harry assumed led to the Great Hall. Spinning on her heel, she surveyed the group of new students, her eyes lingering on Harry for a moment longer.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," She finally said. "The start of term feast will begn shortly, but before that happens, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony here at Hogwarts. While you are here, your housemates will be your family. You will attend classes with your house, spend free time in your house common room and sleep in your house dormitorys." Here she took a breath and looked over the gathered students once more.
"The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Whilst school is in session, your achievements and acomplishments will earn you house points and any rulebreaking will cost you house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most house points will win the house cup, a great honour. I'm sure you will be a credit to whichever house you end up in. Now, form a line." Turning, she pulled her wand out and flicked them at the Great Hall doors and watched as they slammed open with a bang. Striding through, Harry watched as the students formed an orderly line and followed McGonagall. Apparently she wasn't a professor anyone wanted to be on the bad side of. Harry glanced around the Great Hall as he followed the first years up to the front. He caught Blaise's eye at what he presumed was the Slytherin table and smirked. Revieving a smirk and a wink in reply, he continied his scan of the hall. He got a few odd looks of some of the students but simply ignored them.
Spotting Hermione, he smiled and got a shy one in return. Letting his eyes wander further, he spotted his sisters. They were sat at the Gryffindor table and were staring right at him. They looked like they wanted nothing more than to run to him but were restraining themselves. Turning his attention back to current events, he stopped when they had formed a line at the front of the hall; sandwiched between the student tables and the staff table. That's when he noticed them. His parents. They were staring at him with joy and in his mothers case, tears, in their eyes. Although, his father didn't look like he was that far behind. Staring coldly at them, he tore his eyes away and focused on the small stool which Harry knew would soon be occupied by the sorting hat.
Blaise wasn't originally going to tell him but after his three hundreth press up in one particular Muay Thai lesson he had given in and spilled the 'Big Secret'. Harry watched as the care taker, Phill, or Liltch or whatever his name was, limped up and placed the tattered old wizarding hat on the stool before making his way to the far end of the staff table.
After a few seconds the hat began to twitch before a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth before it burst into song. Harry listened, disinterested as the hat sang on, in a perticularly bad voice, about troubled times and trials and tribulations. After what seemed like forever, the song finally ended and to Harry's surprise, the whole hall erupted into applause for the song, and whispers about its ptential meaning.
Here, Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a large scroll in her hand. "When I call your name, you will step forward, put the hat on your head and take a seat on the stool. Jackson Arnold." A small mousy looking boy with sandy hair nervously stepped forward and put the hat on his head. He sat down and after a minute of silence, the hat boomed out; "HUFFLEPUFF!". The young boy whipped th hat off his head and scurried over to the Hufflepuff tabe which exploded into cheers at its new member.
"Abbott, Leslie."
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat cried again.
"Nott, Elektra."
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled.
The hat continued to sort the newest generation of witched and wizards. This years batch of newbies were evenly spread, no one house getting significantly more of less students. Excited whispers broke out when Harry's name was called.
"Potter, Harry."
"The Harry Potter?"
"I thought he was dead."
"The lost twin has returned!"
Harry remained expressionless as he picked the hat up off the stool and placed it on his head. It came to rest just above his eyes, obscusing his view of the hall, but not completely removing it.
'Well well well.' Purred a voice in his ear. 'I expected you a few years ago but never mind, better late than never I suppose. Now, let us take a look inside. Now that is interesting. Such strong occlumency sheilds at your age is very impressive. Would you mind lowering them so I can sort you?'
'I will create a small hole for you to look through.' Harry thought before doing just that.
'Much obliged young Master Potter. Now then, difficult. Very difficult. Plently of courage I see. You would do well in Gryffindor. But I see cunning too. Only someone with vast amounts of cunning could stay hidden for as long as you have. Slytherin would suit you well, but I suspect the headmaster would be most displeased if you were to be placed there. You are exceedingly loyal to thoe you call friends and the thirst for knowledge is just as great. I daresay you would fit right in to any of the houses. What would be your preference?'
Harry thought about it. In a secure area of his mind, obviously. If he went into Slytherin with Blaise, he would be under constant survelienve from the old man. But if he went into Gryffindor, his movements would be less retricted. It would also give him the opportunity to get to know his sisters. Maybe. After a few more minutes of inner debate, Harry reached his decision. 'Gryffindor.'
'Ah yes, Gordric's house. I suspect we will be seeing great things from you, young one. GRYFFINDOR!" The hat roared.
The roar of the hat was nothing in comparison to the roar of the Gryffinor table. The noise was incredible. Standing up, Harry pulled the hat off his head and tossed it back down onto the stool. Walking up the Gryffindor table, he hesitated near Erin and Hayley before moving down to an empty seat away from everyone at the end of the table. He wasn't going to meet his sisters for the first time in front of the whole population of Hogwarts. Apparently they had the same idea for Hayley smiled slightly and gave a tiny nod. Sitting down, Harry tuned out the rest of the sorting and went over a few meditation techniques to pass the time. When he opened his eyes, Dumbledore was already stood and seemed to be in the middle to some kind of speech.
"…should know that the Forbidden Forrest is just that; forbidden. A few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that no magic is to be performed in the corridors and the list of banned items, which has reached two hundred and thirty seven can be veiwed on his office door." Taking a pause, Dumbledore took a long look at the hall before continuing.
"We have had two changes in staffing this year. Please give a warm welcome to Professor Potter." Here, his mother stood up and gave a quick modest bow before sitting back down. "Yes, Professor Potter will be our new Potions Mistress. As soon as the sentence had left his mouth, there was silence over the great hall. Looking around, Harry wondered if everyone hated her as much as he did. He realised that this was not the case when he heard snippets of conversation as whispers broke out.
"Potions?"
"But that means…"
"Snape's…defence…"
Harry remembered Blaise and Hermione telling him that Snape was the resident potions teacher. That meant that either Snape had been fired, which clearly wasn't the case since he was sat at the head table, or, the more likely scenario, he had switched from potions professor to defence against the dark arts professor. Harry scowled. He had been spending a lot of time brushing up on potions in order to impress Snape any maybe convince him to tutor him in Dark Arts. 'Waste of fucking time' Harry thought bitterly
"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Dumbledore called, raising his voice so that it carried over all the muttering, "will be taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post." There was groaning from three quarters of the hall and cheering from the other quarter. Snape raised a hand in lazy acknowledgement of the aplause.
Dumbledore didn't mention anything else about staff apointments but did wait until there was absolute silence before continuing.
"Now, as you all know, Lord Voldemort has finally come out into the open." The silence was deafening as the students and staff alike listened to the only man that Voldemort had ever feared.
"I cannot emphasize strongly eough how dangerous…" Harry tuned out th rest of he speech. He knew all of this stuff. Harry closed his eyes and didn't open the again until he heard the scraping of benches. Standing up, Harry was about to make his way towards te exit when a seventh year student walked up to him.
"Potter. The headmaster told me to give this to you." With that, he handed over a torn piece of parchment before wandering out of the hall. Opening it, Harry wasn't surprised to find a summons to his office.
Harry,
Please join your parents and myself in my office, please. It can be found by following the south corridor outside of the Great Hall. Look for a statue of a large gargoyle.
Professor Albus Dumbledore
P.S. The password is fizzing whizzbies
Sighing, Harry made his way towards the office for the confrontation he knew was inevitable. Best to get it out of the way early. Lay down the law, so to speak. Strolling casually down the southern corridor, he stopped at the stone gargoyle and reluctantly gave the password. He couldn't decide if he was looking forward to, or dreading the meeting.
Steeling his resolve and tightening his occlumency sheilds, Harry knocked once on the office door before entering.
A/N: I know, pretty boring, but all stories have those boring beginning chapters that set the scene. Hopefully the next chapter will be more entertaining. Peace out.
