Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter J. K. Rowling does. I am using a few lines from the first book but that is not my work that is hers.
A/N: Italics mean Parseltongue or thoughts.
As you know the previous version was written by myself and Coastalfirebird. However this story will be written by me alone. Coastalfirebird, will still receive credit for chapters he helped me with though.
Ravenclaw Tower
Daphne was still in dreamland when she was rudely woken up by her best friend Tracey throwing a pillow at her head. Daphne slowly opened her eyes. Her long hair was obscuring her view from her nearby pillow assassin. She raised herself up into a sitting position and looked opposite to her bed. She saw Tracey was just getting dressed.
Daphne groaned, "Honestly, Tracey, why did you have to wake me. Harry and I were just about to be married. Damn, now I am going to have to wait till tonight to finish that dream!"
Tracey looked over to her friend; she watched as Daphne drifted out of bed and over to the bathroom area. She sighed then picked up her bag and began to transfer all her books into it. Lifting up her bag she found it really heavy. It was then she had an idea. Briskly she dragged her bag down the stairs and waited in the common room.
Meanwhile, Harry had just got dressed. He was busy placing all his books into his bag. He shrunk them down and placed a feather light charm on his bag so that they wouldn't be so heavy. He then made his way downstairs and found Tracey sitting on one of the sofas.
"Morning Tracey, how long is Daphne going to be? Why does it look like you're carrying the whole world on your arms?" Harry watched Tracey's reaction and sighed. He then waved his hand and watched as her bag glowed.
Tracey smiled, "Cheers Harry! Exactly what did you do?"
Harry smiled, explaining. "Your bag has a feather light charm on it."
One of the prefects had noticed what Harry had done, and was shocked, to say the least. He strolled over to Harry and Tracey. He tapped Harry on the shoulder and heard a threatening hiss. The prefect pulled his hand away and watched as Rex appeared around Harry's neck.
Harry turned to the prefect and frowned, "Yes? What can I do for you today?" Harry tried to keep his snigger in check, while watching the prefect in front of him pale.
Harry watched the prefect gulp. "Sorry, I just noticed you performed wandless magic, as well as a feather light charm. I am just curious seeing we don't learn that charm till our 4th year, not to mention wandless magic is incredibly rare for one so young."
Harry grinned at the prefect; he knew everything the prefect had just said was true. Harry had been doing wandless magic since he was in nappies. Of course Daphne and Tracey had known this as they were always in the room when he performed magic.
Flashback
Martha walked into the nursery, she spotted Harry banging his rattle on the side of the pen. That day Martha had a splitting headache; she had just found out that she was pregnant again, so she was feeling rather under the weather. Martha took the rattle away from Harry and placed it on the table near the nursery door. She saw the disappointment in young Harry's face.
She sighed then looked over at her daughter playing with her building blocks. She picked Harry up and placed him on her lap. She spoke in a quiet voice. "Harry, aunty has a splitting headache, and your noise was making it worse."
Harry looked at her then smiled. Martha placed Harry back in the pen and walked out of the nursery, as soon as she was gone Harry stood up and held out his hand to the rattle. Suddenly he saw it racing towards him. He caught his rattle and took it to the back of the pen. He then started banging again happily.
End of Flashback
Harry continued smiling then explained, "I have been doing wandless magic since I was very young, plus it doesn't hurt reading ahead on what we will be learning in the later years. At the moment I am reading all the fifth year material. I have already studied all the first to fourth year stuff. Now if you will excuse me I am waiting for my betrothed."
Harry turned his back on the prefect and carried on talking to Tracey. The prefect saw this as an insult to be dismissed in front of most of the lower years. He stepped back and pulled his wand out and pointed it at Harry.
"Potter, I am your superior you will not disrespect me in front of the rest of our House!" The prefect quickly fired off a spell, "Petrificus Totalus."
Harry turned towards the spell and waved his hand to create a shield. He watched the spell hit the bluish shield, and then saw the prefect's surprised expression. Harry took this as an open opportunity to embarrass the prefect. He pointed his hand out and sent three silent red streaks at the older boy. Harry watched as the prefect cry out, "Protego!"
Harry saw his stunner hit his shield and watched as it cracked. The prefect then was hit with the two followup spells. Harry watched the prefect fall backwards onto the common room floor.
The rest of the common room gasped and turned to Harry. They watched his face show no emotion and turned to carry on with his private conversation. Harry ignored the whispers as his attention was drawn to a slim blonde with blue eyes bounding down the stairs. Harry held out his arms, and Daphne took the opportunity and launched herself into his arms. Harry wrapped his arms around her waist then leaned in and kissed her. There was wolf whistles all over the common room while many of the first year girls were glaring. Harry ignored them and took hold of Daphne's and Tracey's hands. They then made their way towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
As they made their way down the corridors Harry and the girls were getting stared at a little by the other students. The boys seemed to be smiling at him while the girls were staring at Daphne and Tracey like they had just injured their familiar. When they arrived in the Great Hall Tracey broke off to get to the table first. While she liked to eat at least Tracey was more mannerly about it compared to the red headed boy at the Gryffindor table. Harry felt sorry for those sitting next to the boy.
"What are you thinking about Harry?" Daphne's voice sounded a bit harsh.
Harry looked over at his betrothed and trying to sound tactful as he stated his thoughts, "That boy from the Welcoming Feast."
"Which one Harry?" Daphne sounded a bit put off by his answer.
Harry let out a sigh. "The red headed Gryffindor boy from our year."
"What about him?" Tracey asked as they took their seats.
"He makes a pig look mannerly," was all that Harry needed to say for Daphne to push her eggs and bacon away.
"Please, Harry, people are trying to eat, and all I can say is I am glad I am not in that house. I don't think I could stomach sitting anywhere near that boy." Tracey said as she looked down at her food.
At that moment their Head of House walked by and gave them their class schedules and for some reason the overly cheery professor looked upset. When Harry asked about it he was told it was nothing the Lord of Hogwarts need to be concerned about. Harry looked over at his friends who just shrugged their shoulders. Harry looked down at his schedule and saw that they had Potions first thing today.
"Oh lovely, Potions first thing today," Daphne said this with a marked measure of displeasure.
"What? Daphne, I thought you liked Potions?" Tracey looked up in confusion.
"I do, but if what my dad said is true, and it always is, the Potions Master is a personal friend of the headmaster." Daphne spoke the last part with a certain amount of disdain.
"Well, in any event he is a professor, and he should be motivated to teach." Harry said this with a smile. "Or he will be, after he meets us."
"If you believe that then I suggest eating faster Harry." Tracey said this as she took the last bite of her food.
"Do you breathe at all when you eat?" Harry quizzed.
"Of course I do." Tracey said this while placing one hand her chest.
Harry and the girls were making their way towards the dungeons and trying to figure out which potion they might be doing first. Tracey had a bet going with the other two on which Harry had it down for a sickle it would be a simple laughing potion, Tracey was going for a simple healing salve, and Daphne was the one going way out there with the hiccuping potion. When they arrived at the class Harry noticed a few Gryffindor students standing there, and much to the displeasure of his appetite the redhead from the Welcome Feast was standing there eating in the hallway.
"Oh my God, it's Harry Potter!" the boy said standing up, causing his food to spill everywhere. "I am Ron, Ron Weasley. It is amazing we will be in the same class together!"
"Really?" Harry asked with a raised brow, looking the boy up and down. Harry noticed the boy had food dripping off his robes.
"Yes, and I cannot wait for us to become friends!" Weasley said this with a smile on his face.
"Why would I want to do that?" Harry asked with a look of disgust on his face.
"Well, Professor Dumbledore says you have no friends." Weasley said with a look of innocence. It struck Harry thatthe poor boy does not realized he's being used by Dumbledore.
"Well, Professor Dumbledore is obviously wrong." After saying this Harry walked past the boy and into the classroom.
After the three of them took their seats the redhead stormed in and took a seat next to a dark skinned boy who looked disgusted with the appearance of his dorm mate. After a few minutes the professor walked in. His cloak billowing behind him, and to say the man was trying to scare the students by looks alone was an understatement.
His opening statements to the class sounded more like a personal mantra than anything realistic. Bottle fame, brew glory, and putting a stopper in death all things Harry knew were truly impossible to do. You could brew luck sure, but no one could truly put a stopper in death.
"Potter!" Snape snapped. "What would I get if I powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry eyes widened. Surely he wasn't serious, how the hell were they supposed to know that? That plant wasn't covered until third year. Harry was just lucky that he had studied in advance.
"If you add just a few more components sir you would get Draught of Living Death." At that moment there was a sharp intake of air from some of the other students.
"And where would I find a bezoar?"
"In a goat's stomach sir," Harry said this flatly and by the look on the man's face he was totally surprised by the answer. With that Snape turned to the black board and flicked his wand at it revealing the hiccuping potion. Harry almost let his jaw drop he didn't mind losing the sickle it was the absurdity caused by the professor's lack of instruction to the students. Harry was certain if he hadn't studied so hard he would have failed in making this potion.
50 Minutes before dinner
Albus was sitting at his desk wondering if rearranging the house lineup for the first years had worked. He needed Ron Weasley to befriend Harry at almost any cost. While he hoped that wasn't the case he was uncertain seeing as Harry had been raised in the magical world. His plan had to work. One life to save many was a viable plan, and if he did it right Harry would have a child to pass on his things to, and the Weasleys would be better off. He lifted his spectacles off the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes for a moment. At that moment the room got deathly cold. The headmaster looked up immediately. Looking around his room he could see nothing out of the ordinary aside from Fawkes acting a bit jittery. Albus walked over to his familiar and started stroking his beak. The bird looked right past him, and as the headmaster turned to look towards the back portion of the room a cloud of smoke started billowing from the floor.
"You do not scare me Tom." The old man said with conviction.
A scratchy voice that was unknown to him responded "If it were only that simple Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore."
"Who are you?" Albus started to draw his wand, and upon contact with the foul thing his fingers began to burn. He immediately dropped the wand.
"I am many things Dumbledore. I am the rock that falls." The smoke got thicker and grew higher. "I am the freak wave that swallows ships whole." Albus started spinning in circles looking for the man or woman who was saying this, and when he finally found the person they were wearing a thick black cloak. The person also had thin bony fingers, and even though the hood was up Albus could tell the persons face had no more meat on it than the rest of the body. "And to be frank I am the debt that ALL men pay."
"Death," was all Albus could say.
"Correct." The figure floated over to the wand the old man had dropped not even five minutes ago. The wand jumped into the entity's hand. Death then floated up to where he had stored James Potter's' cloak. Albus started running to stop the being from even getting near the chest, but at that moment the ground gave way in front of him. Albus had to step backwards to avoid falling to his death. "Trying to play God, young man, will not work, and denying me my just due is a crime of the highest calibre."
"I am not denying you anything thing!" shouted Dumbledore with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Death's red eyes glowed, forcing Dumbledore to fall back with fright. "You are denying me the right to choose when someone dies." Albus could hear the chest open, and he could feel the charms he placed upon the cloak shatter. "I will give him the cloak now, and the wand when he has learned enough to use it."
Ravenclaw Boys dorm
Harry was putting his things away when a thick black smoke filled the room. Spinning around and drawing his wand. Instead of the senior year Harry had embarrassed earlier that day stood a being in a thick black cloak. This thing looked different from what he had seen last night; that thing had robes more well done than this entity's robes. To Harry's surprise the being bowed before him.
"Hello descendant of Ignotus Preverell I've come to return something that was stolen from you." The being held out a cloak. "This once belonged to your father, and was being hoarded by Albus Dumbledore." Death then held up a very elaborate cloak and a pale coloured wand. "This cloak was handed down in your family from one person to the next. The wand here shall only be yours when you have proven yourself knowledgeable enough to use it."
Death then handed over the cloak. It was as the being was fading into vapour that it dawned on Harry who it was. "You're Death, aren't you?"
"Yes." And with that the entity was gone.
Harry looked at the cloak in his hands. He then turned to Rex, before hissing. "Do you think this is what I think it is?"
"One of the Deathly Hollows?" Rex hissed back. Harry nodded. "Yes master I do. Put it on."
Harry did not need that incentive to do so. To have Death itself show up and hand him one of the Deathly Hollows without any strings attached was incentive enough. Once the cloak was around his shoulders Harry looked down, and sure enough his body was gone.
Rex hissed. "I would say, master, that you have been given quite the boon." Harry nodded, before hissing back.
"The girls are going to love this."
A/N: Here Ends Chapter four. Hope you enjoyed it, and please review.
Big Thank you to my beta/proof-reader HowlnMadHowie