* * July 1 1991 * *

Harry woke up excited. Today was the day he would get his Hogwarts letter. No longer would he have to remain here. He would be learning wand magic now.

Maybe, he'd even get away from the Dursleys. He'd just have to get the letter someplace safe. Harry got up to cook breakfast.

'Cooking has gained a level! 666/1000'

'New Recipe learned!

'Demon Food Cake. Gives the eater a temporary physical change into a mythological creature. Which one depends on the picture on the cake.'

"Well, that can be useful." Harry muttered. Far better than the Seraph Food Cake. That one had turned him into something out of nightmares. "Does that mean I can be a Kitsune? That would be awesome. I wonder how many tails I'd have."

Harry served up breakfast before the mail slot opened to give them the daily mail. Harry slipped his Hogwarts letter down his shirt before handing the stack to his uncle.

* * Next day * *

A very grumpy Potions Master walked up to the muggle doorstep. He didn't want to take the oh so beloved Harry Potter to get his school things. He wanted to stay inside to brew potions. Sadly Dumbledore had given him the boy's Gringotts key and had sent him off.

He knocked on the door.

A familiar horse faced woman opened the door and glared.

"That still doesn't scare me, Petunia." He said. "I'm just here to take Potter school shopping."

She slammed the door in his face before banging on the door to the cupboard under the stairs. She had learned long ago that was the best way to get his attention if he pulled one of his disappearing acts. He had straight up told her about his new abilities a year ago. She had thought that magic had driven him insane before he had shown her.

She had asked why he had told her and he had replied that he trusted her not to tell anyone and she'd probably be the only normal person who would need to know.

Harry appeared behind her. "Did they send someone?" Harry asked, grinning.

"Yes, Severus Snape. He's an old friend of your mother's." Aunt Petunia said. "Don't anger him. He knows a lot of dangerous magic."

"Yeah, I know him." Harry's grin faded. "Grumpy grudgeful git."

She tried not to laugh. In three words Harry had summed up her thoughts on Severus Snape.

"Take that letter with you. He might take pity and keep you away from here." She said.

"Yeah, right. I look too much like my dad for that to happen." Harry said. "See ya, later!"

Harry opened the door. "I'm ready, Professor."

Harry knew that while he was a git, Severus Snape could be a useful ally.

The man too them to an alley several streets away from the Leaky Cauldron. "I really don't feel like getting mobbed today." He said before casting several spells on Harry to disguise him.

"Why would we get mobbed?" Harry asked innocently.

Snape looked at him as if he had asked an incredibly stupid question. "How much do you know about the wizarding world, Potter?"

"That it exists and I'm going to be a part of it." Harry was hoping that he was playing the foolish naïve child card right and was hiding his true knowledge enough.

Snape cocked an eyebrow.

Harry knew that his shields were failures.

"Don't lie to me, Potter." He said finally.

Harry bit his lip. "The truth is far stranger than fiction. Can we talk about it in Gringotts?"

Snape paused before nodding. "I'm guessing you have most of your school things?"

"Yeah, got the books by saying it was for my older brother a few years ago. Same thing up to third year." Harry said.

Snape sighed. "Please tell me you haven't been in Knockturn Alley."

"Nope, not yet. I don't plan to until after I take my OWLs if I can avoid it." Harry said going through the pub. He noticed the slight parting of the crowd from the potion master. "I got enough to get my wand, trunk and robes."

"I'll give you your key then." Snape said. "How do you know that I won't tell the Headmaster about your situation? Whatever it is."

"He'll figure it out soon enough." Harry said as they entered Gringotts. "Vault 6, please." Harry told the goblin teller.

"That's not your vault." Snape said.

"Not my school vault." Harry said. "I had to do a inheritance test to get my key and this is one of them."

They descended to Syltherin's vault.

Snape stood in the entrance dumbfounded. "There's now possible way you could own this one."

"I blasted the last living direct descendent out of his body. The vault is mine by Right of Conquest." Harry said. "Now, some of this you'll have to take on faith but here goes."

Harry spent the next hour what had happened. Snape was quiet the entire time. Once Harry was done he proved the inventory bit by producing a comfy chair for the confused potions master to collapse into.

Snape groaned. "So that's the 'power he knows not'."

"Well, maybe. I had almost defeated him for good the first time around."

"Then you died." Snape paused. "I really killed the Headmaster?"

"Yeah, he had tried to destroy a horcrux on his own and it cursed him. Really it was more of a mercy kill." Harry said. "Once we're away from Gringotts I'll show you an ID."

Snape looked around the vault. "I didn't know Slytherin coveted knowledge."

"Knowledge is power, professor." Harry said. "Oh, you might want this one." Harry ran over to one of the bookcases and gently pulled out a worn book with a pictograph for steam on it. Harry had long since cast an observe on each and every book.

This one was a true grimoire. Not like the ones that granted him skills but one that contained hundreds of items. In this case, potions.

Snape turned the first few pages. "I can't accept this."

"Look at the forward, professor." Harry said. "It says that it belongs to the Protector of Slytherin. The Gryffindor vault has one who but it had a note that explained the Heads of Houses used to be called the Protectors of Houses. I'll have to give McGonagall Gryffindor's Book."

"I'll have to explain this to Dumbledore." Snape said clutching the book to his chest.

"Yeah, I know. I'll probably have to explain it more when I get to Hogwarts." Harry said.

"He'll think it is dark." Snape said.

"It is our choice that make us who we are, not our abilities." Harry said. "Dumbledore himself told me that. Maybe this ability is dark but I'm not going to use it for that."

"You will have to be completely upfront with him about it." Snape said.

"No, there are some things I don't want him to know about." Harry said. "Just as there were plenty of things he didn't want me to know. Let's go get my stuff and show you an ID."

Snape sighed. Of course Potter was special. At least he wasn't as stuck up as his father. If anything he was far more like Lily.

* * Later * *

Harry looked at the wand shop. Last time he had been here for a wand Ollivander had gotten a little creepy. Though that may have been his 11 year old mind over exaggerating the incident.

"Welcome, Mr. Potter. I've seen you go past many times." The creepy old man said. "Ah, Severus Snape, ebony and dragon heartstring. Very well suited for combat."

"We're here for Potter's wand." Snape said.

Harry knew that tone of voice. That tone usually meant many lost points and detention. He wondered what the older man would do to a non-student.

"Indeed, you are." Ollivander turned to Harry.

"I'm right handed." Harry said quickly.

Several wands later they came to his former wand. Holly and Phoenix feather. Ollivander frowned.

"How odd. It seems it should accept you but it isn't." He said. "You've master some wandless magic."

"Nothing illegal!" Harry said. "Actually I've focused more on healing spells than anything."

"Hm, which ones." Ollivander said. "Tell me all of them."

"Cure, Cura, Curaga, Repair, Mana Shot, Mana Arrow, Observe, ID Create/Destroy/Escape." Harry paused. "And an exorcism spell I used twice."

"Hm." Ollivander seemed to focus on something other than the outside world. "Given all of that I won't be able to match you with a wand given my current stock. That Holly wand would make do but I would suggest going to one of my competitors. 'Wands, Staffs and other Foci' is the one I'd suggest."

Harry flicked the Holly wand. It was like meeting someone you hadn't seen in forever and finding out that they haven't changed but you have. Harry sighed. "Where is it?"

"Just beyond the entrance to Verdict Alley." Ollivander said. "I'm surprised you haven't been there."

"Never been interested." Harry said. "I didn't think that I'd have to get a special made wand."

* * Later * *

'Wands, Staffs, and Other Foci' was an old shop that looked new. Spelled plate glass showed the window shopper what was in the shop.

Harry and Snape walked in. Something in the air made things seem fuzzy to Harry. "That's a lot of magic." Harry said, remembering one of Slytherin's IDs that held condensed magic. It was quite a trip.

"Indeed it is. I'm assuming Ollivander couldn't match you?" A middle-aged looking woman said. "Haven't gotten this kind of build up in a while. Eli's slacking." The woman held up her hand and drew the magic into her palm. A bright star like gem formed in her hand. "Well, what was your closest match?"

"Holly and Phoenix feather, 11 inches." Harry said.

"And what magic have you used in the past?" She asked.

Harry listed off the spells he knew and used.

"Right, since your school list insists on a wand, I'm sure that I can make one." She said.

"You still look down on them?" Snape bristled.

"Not as a magical focus. I just think that many would have better results if they tried using other kinds of foci." She scoffed. "Really, jewelry foci are perfectly useable and far easier to hide than a wand."

"However, my list says a wand, so can I get one of those first?" Harry asked.

"Which is your wand hand?" She asked grabbing a rod off of a shelf.

"Right-handed." Harry said holding his hand out. The rod felt freezing cold, seemingly sucking the warmth out of his hand. 'No, it's drawing my magic out.'

The rod morphed into a scroll which was plucked from his hand. "Most interesting I haven't gotten to work with Honey Locust in a while."

"I've never heard of that wood." Harry said.

"It's from the US. Give me a moment and I'll have your wand ready. Look around if you like." The woman walked into the back.

Harry looked into the cases, rings, earrings and necklaces gleamed back at him. Each had a small card labeling the gem, metal and if it was geared towards and particular magic.

Harry was looking at one particularly complex choker that claimed to boost all White Magic and some Black Magic when the woman came back out with a light colored wand. It was smoothed out but not polished.

Harry gripped it. Heat flooded up his arm. It was like when he got his Holly wand the first time around but far more intense.

"Excellent. Honey Locust and Thestral mane." She said. "Good for the Cure line and most Black Magic."

"I didn't know that you could use other stuff." Harry frowned.

"Ollivander figured out that, in general, what he uses is best but sometimes you need something special." She said. "That'll be 10 galleons, unless you found something you like."

Harry shook his head before handing the woman 10 galleons. "Thank you ma'am."

"Have a nice day." She walked over to the cash register to deposit the money.

"Ready to go now, Potter?" Snape was getting a bit testy.

"Sorry we had to do the detour, sir." Harry said. "But yes, I'm ready."

The pair left Verdict Alley and ducked into a deserted side street.

"Enter ID:Transport." Harry said holding the man's arm. Silence reigned.

"Where are we?" Snape said.

"This is one of my IDs, instant dungeons. I use this one to get places without dealing with people." Harry said.

"You have others?"

"One was an entrapment ID. I trapped Fenrir Greyback in there for a couple years. He ended up killing himself to escape the loneliness I think."

"And you don't care about that?" Dumbledore would not be pleased if he didn't.

"Well, I feel like I should but Fenrir Greyback ruined so many lives and killed so many more." Harry frowned as he walked. "If it were a normal person, yeah, I probably wouldn't have left them in a blank ID."

"Blank ID?" Snape was interested.

"Yeah, blank IDs are just empty like this one. There are also a variety of mob IDs. Zombies, wolves, these weird things called kobolds and a few others. You can also make ones that have a faster rate of time. I don't think you can have one that goes slower though." Harry rambled. "Currently the fastest I can make is 20 times. It feels really weird to enter one though."

Snape was quiet during the explanation. "Why not just stay in one of these?"

"I tried that. I found I couldn't stand the silence. There's no animals, no people. The only sounds you get are the wind, waves and maybe storms." Harry said. "I repaired one of my cousin's boomboxes and used that to have some kind of sound. Any kind."

"Very well." Snape said. "Let's get you home."

"Yes, sir." Harry said allowing the man to apperate them back to Privet Drive.

Holy shit. Longest chapter so far. Sorry if I wrote Snape weird. Or if I wrote Harry weird. And skipped over 10 years.

So far Harry's stats are

HP 1400/1400

MP 1500/1500

Str 28

Int 30

Agi 32

Con 32

Will 30

Regen 35

Chr 29

Wis 29

Luck 40

Skills

White Magic 200/1000

Cure 500/1000(yeah, Dursleys were still abusive)

Cura 200/1000

Curaga 10/1000

Repair 500/1000

ID Create 30/1000

ID Escape 100/1000(Leaving Slytherin's IDs helped)

ID Destroy 25/1000(Harry made some permenate for transport, storage and shit like that.

Black Magic 190/1000

Mana Shot 150/1000

Mana Arrow 200/1000

Other Skills

Resilience 100/1000

Observe 200/1000(Very good way to learn about the world)

Cooking 666/1000

Cleaning 400/1000

White Magic/Black Magic thing is more from Final Fantasy than anything. Stuff like the disarming spell and the killing curse are both Black Magic even though the killing curse is Dark but not the disarming spell.

Light and Dark are more social constructs here than actual categories of magic. Here it is either White or Black.

Harry is going to have an easier time learning White magic due to the fact that he has spent so much time using the Cure line(and yes he will get Curaja eventually.)