Little info:

I am very much writing this story from the seat of my pants as Stephen King would say.

But i do have a general direction for it.

It is very much AU but I will borrow from canon when i feel like it. I hope you enjoy, but feel free to let me know if you don't.

It will be a HHr story, and i wont bash Ron, but I wont be making his life easy at the beginning.

Due to the recent review I will reiterate: this is an AU story. It doesn't follow canon events. Some canon characters do not exist. For example Pettigrew doesn't exist in my story. The Tri Wiz tournament didn't happen. If I wanted to follow canon I'd just read Harry Potter by J K Rowling

His eyes shut tightly. The emotions inside him were roiling, waging war, making him feel like utter shit. He didn't want to be here. Not now. After spending a year alternately begging and crying when he was ten years old, and not getting what he wanted. He decided that it was for the best and just moved on.

Yet here he was now. Hating the fact that he had to wait four years. Four long years. Yeah it was fun. Moving around, being home-schooled by his mum and his uncles and a variety of tutors all over the world. But he waited so long to be on this train.

He didn't want to talk to anyone during the journey. To that effect he locked himself in a compartment and threw every concealment and privacy charms he knew. As well as a mild notice-me-not on the door.

Perfectly aware of how the majority of the people will react to the fact that Harry Potter is on the train, or the fact that he's even alive… No he would rather enjoy the journey in peace.

A deep sigh escaped him.

"Hogwarts. The school where my parents met… where my dad spent most of his life…"

When he was ten, he could not understand why he wasn't allowed to go to Hogwarts to learn magic. He cried and begged. He even stopped talking to his mum for a whole month. It took a long time for their relationship to mend. His mum, Lily, she took the route of honesty with him. She slowly told him everything. The reasons why he had this strange nomadic life. Starting with his father's death. James died when Harry was just a baby, defending him and Lily from a Dark Lord who was hell bent on wiping the Potter's from this world. Lily didn't know what happened. When she came to, James was lying dead and Harry was crying next to him, and the Dark Lord's robes and wand laid beside them. His body nowhere to be found. It was this Dark Lord, the so called Lord Voldemort, that made Lily keep Harry away from Hogwarts. No one believed that he was dead, and his followers were still everywhere.

The other reason is that the entire world believed that Harry was the one to vanquish Voldemort. It started off as a rumour, Hagrid drunk in a tavern telling anyone who would listen, that the "young 'Arry, is the hero who defeated He-who-must-not-be-named."

Lily was furious apparently. Harry let out a chuckle as he thought back to when she told him this. Her eyes ablaze as she explained the sheer stupidity of the man. Followed by expletives that she usually tries to keep in check around Harry. Not that it really helps, what with Sirius being around more often than not. The expletives, however, weren't directed at Hagrid. No, it was at Albus Dumbledore.

When the rumours started Lily wanted them put to rest. She reached out to Albus. With his pull in the wizarding world he would be able to stop them in their tracks.

"What happened instead? That old fucking nitwit went ahead and corroborated Hagrid's story! With the great almighty Albus the-fucking-idiot Dumbledore, no one was going to question it!"

That was about the jist of what Lily had to say before she trailed off to calm herself down. She didn't want to raise Harry in a world that hailed him as a hero for something that he will not even have a single recollection of.

And this is why Harry eventually agreed with his mum. That the decision to not go Hogwart's was the right one. Which is also why he was now both angry that he was being sent there and excited to be finally going.

About an hour into the journey Harry felt his communication mirror vibrate and answered to find Sirius on the other side.

Sirius hasn't changed much in the 15 years that Harry has known him. His long unruly hair was the same as ever, though Harry did like to remind him of the occasional grey hairs. His mischievous, or to some maniacal, grin always plastered on his face.

"Hey Prongslet, haven't blown up the compartment yet I see, good on you"

"You know I've gotten better at controlling my bouts of anger Padfoot… no the compartment is fine. Did mum ask you to check on me?"

"Nah, though she's so worried I could tell she wanted to know. Also… "bouts of anger" is that what you call it?!"

"Oi! If you're referring to my 12th birthday that was your fault!"

Sirius looked affronted "My fault? You shattered the bones in my leg and elbow!"

"And you locked me in the basement.."

Sirius tried to interrupt, "and for that I get the…"

"Without my wand. And promptly forgot about me. It took me 7 hours to unlock that door!"

"Ok ok," he said raising one of his arms in defeat, "no need to rehash this again. Though you must admit, without that you may have never learned wandless magic." The grin plastered on his face again.

Harry just sighed.

"I guess… Tell mum I'm fine, and to stop worrying."

"Will do, made any friends yet? No don't answer, let me guess. You locked yourself in your compartment alone to brood"

"I'm not brooding…" Harry replied with a little huff

"No no, you're just delaying the inevitable. Remember to let me know the shock on everyone's face when they read out your name. Boy what I'd give to be there!

"And Harry, good luck. Give us a shout if you get anymore of those nightmares." Sirius finished with a somber tone.

"Thanks Padfoot, bye."

With that, Harry turned put the mirror away. His gaze returning to the window, watching the rolling highlands whizz past. "The nightmares", the real reason why he was going to Hogwart's now.

As Harry rested his head against the cool window. He slowly fell asleep. A dreamless sleep luckily for him. He would stay like this until they arrived at Hogwart's

The first thing Hermione noticed as she took her place down at the Gryffindor table was that the staff table looked absolutely hectic. All the professors were animatedly discussing something, clearly not something they wanted the students to hear because no sound escaped their little bubble.

As she glanced down the table she spotted the sea of red heads, groaning inwardly as she realised that this year, her and Ron would need to spend more time together. She could not believe that Ronald Weasley made prefect. Though I guess the choices were poor. The obvious candidate was Neville, but his shy demeanour ruled him out. He just didn't have the leadership skills necessary.

Her eyes followed the table. No friendly faces amongst the Gryffindors. What else is new. Following along the other house tables, she nodded to a couple of her friends from the Ravenclaws who smiled back at her. Hermione always disliked the welcoming feast, it was the only time when she was forced to sit at the Gryffindors table. To this day she could not understand the hat's choice to put her there and even her resorting demand didn't help. The hat stayed adamant that she belonged with the lions.

The voices around her died down as the doors to the Great Hall opened to reveal Professor McGonnagal with the new intake of first-years. The sorting ceremony was about to begin. The staff table has quietened down too, and Hermione turned her eyes to follow the professor and a line of students.

Until she spotted a boy at the end of the line. The difference between the boy and the rest of the first years was striking. Not only was he sixteen, maybe seventeen. He was also dressed in muggle clothes.

Hermione quickly scanned him up and down. Hiking boots, dark blue jeans, incredibly worn. A black shirt roughly tucked in. Round-rimmed glasses on top of his nose and jet black hair unruly as if he'd just been exposed to a mild hurricane.

Hermione noticed the emotions changing on his face. From wonder and marvel, to anger, to panic. Cycling between them until they settled into a passive mask. All but his eyes. As green as a grass on a spring morning, shining with a twinkle she'd only ever seen in the eyes of their headmaster.

The buzz around the Great Hall was deafening. Clearly everyone discussing who this mystery boy was. Why was he here? Why was he with the first years? So many questions and Hermione hated that she had no answers to any of them!

She continued to study his face. Wondering how someone can look both annoyed and smug at the same time. His mask falling momentarily to reveal a grin when he noticed everyone talking about him, before being replaced by an annoyed frown again.

"He's clearly not happy with this attention…"

It took Professor Dumbledore's shout to silence everyone. Possibly the second time she heard the man shout. By the end of the day it won't be the last.

As the sorting began, and student by student were placed into their houses the older boy stood along with them. Until finally he was the last person there.

"And now, something that has not happened for many years now. We have a student starting late. He will be joining the fifth year as soon as the sorting hat decides on his house.

Harry Potter, if you would come up and place the hat on your head." As Professor McGonnagal said his name. You could hear the pin drop in the hall. The entire place, devoid of any sound. So much so, that everyone could hear him say, "Thank you, Professor".

And as the hat was lowered onto his head, Hermione's focus from him was broken by a rising crescendo of voices. Each throwing their own question into the incoherent mess of sound.

When Harry thanked the professor and put the hat on his head. The last thing he saw before the enormous size of the hat covered his view, was people beginning to shake out of shock. Some questioning their hearing, some wondering whether he was "the" Harry Potter. Others trying to decipher what sort of prank this was.

As the hat rested firmly on his head, he could no longer hear any of the noise. All he could here was a voice in his head.

"My my, Mr Potter. I have to say, you are the last person I expected to sort today. Oh I know exactly where to put you, but let's have a little chat first, no one's gonna hear my pronouncement at this stage anyways"

The noise level around Hermione has reached its limit. Hermione was one of the few people not voicing her questions. Not that she didn't have any, more that she knew they were pointless. No one would answer them.

Instead she focused on the staff table and the boy on the chair. The hat was taking a long time. Was he a hat-stall? Could it be that sorting someone when they're older is more difficult? Maybe she'd be able to ask him later. She watched the futility with which Professor McGonnagal tried to calm everyone down and it took Dumbledore's Sonorus'ed voice to shut everyone up.

"He should do that more often," Hermione thought to herself.

And as the voices died down under Dumbledore's glare. The hat's rim opened up,

"Gryffindor!"

Her entire table cheered. She watched him return the hat to Professor McGonnagal and exchange a few words with her before giving a short bow and walking down to the end of the table. As he walked past people stood up to shake his hand, introduce themselves, ask them to sit beside them.

He seemed polite, but he declined everyone and made his way to the end of the table where he joined the first years.

"If you would all please, give Mr Potter some breathing space." Dumbledore's voice broke her from staring, thankfully. "I'm sure this is incredibly overwhelming to both him, and you. Therefore I ask that you carry on as you normally would and not let him joining us at Hogwart's be a distraction. And now. Dig in!"

Hermione saw him smile at Dumbledore at his words. Though she noticed the look of apprehension too.

"I wonder what that's all about"

The welcoming feast was now almost finished. The excitement in the hall has not died down. People from all house kept coming over to speak to Harry. Hermione watched their interactions. He would shake everyone's hand and within a few minutes they would leave him alone disappointed.

He has remained with the first years. Seemed to even engage in conversation with a couple of the more confident ones, and he even taught them a charm that sends warm air out.

As people started leaving the hall, the first years looked around a little worried. Unsure what to do. It was time for Hermione's first prefect duty, lead the first year's to the dormitories. She looked around to find Ron, but couldn't see him anywhere. She just sighed, "Typical, a little responsibility and he's gone…"

"First-years, Hi, I'm Hermione and I'm a fifth year prefect. Let's make sure everyone's here and I can show you to your dormitories." Hermione said as she made her way down to the end of the table.

All the kids, including Harry Potter turned to her.

"Right-" she started to say.

"Ms. Granger. As you can see we have an unusual situation- Where's Mr Weasley?" Professor McGonnagal interrupted Hermione.

"He's… erm, he's not here professor."

"Oh for goodness sake. It's the first day! I'm sorry Ms Granger, just so you know I opposed choosing him but it was out of my hands. Now as I was saying, unusual situation-"

"You know, you could just call me by my name." Harry spoke from behind her, eliciting giggles from the first years and making the professor give him her exasperated look.

"Yes. Mr Potter will need showing to the dormitories too and around the school too. I was going to ask Mr Weasley, but this actually works out better."

"Ah, sure professor, what do you mean better?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Just that Mr Potter is taking all the same subjects as you so your schedule will be identical. You can save Mr Potter from getting lost."

"Sure professor, if that's ok with Mr. Potter-"

Harry interrupted her here, "could you both, just call me Harry? Mr Potter makes me feel really old. But that would be great, Hermione was it?" She nodded "it'll be nice to have a guide." He shot her a grin.

"I wonder if he practices that in the mirror…"

Professor McGonnagal clapped her hands, "That's settled then. You will get your schedules tomorrow at breakfast. Good evening everyone"

Hermione put a smile on her face as she addressed them all "Right, first years, and Mr-Harry, if you'd follow me I'll show you the most direct route to the dormitories. I think it might also be nice if we all met up in the morning at 7:45 in the common room so that I could also take you down to breakfast. That way no one gets lost on their first day and no one goes hungry."

She noticed, them all nodding and a general murmur of agreement and she led them away. Harry quickly stepped up next to her and matched her cadence as he looked around marvelling at the castle.

"I wonder if I looked like that when I first came here." Hermione thought to herself. Glancing back to check that all the first years were following. She started pointing out landmarks that would help them guide their way in the future.

"You know… when Sirius told me about the moving staircases I honestly thought he was just pulling a prank on me." Harry told Hermione as they climbed up to the Gryffindor tower.

"Sirius?"

"Mhm, he's my uncle, went to school here… like I don't know 20 years ago? Something like that."

"I can't blame you for thinking it's a prank. The stairs are a real menace." Glancing back she noticed the kids panicked faces and quickly added, "but they do have a pattern that they follow. You quickly learn it as you move around the castle. Though do be careful between the 3rd and 4th floor on the East side. There's a disappearing step, and sadly that one doesn't have a pattern."

Harry laughed.

"I'm sure we'll keep that in mind.

"It is a wonderful place though" He added after a short pause.

"It really is" a small voice piped up from behind them.

Harry smiled and responded to the girl "Magic feel real yet Katie?"

"Mhm!"

"This is it then. The entrance to the Gryffindor common room. You need to give the Fat Lady a password for her to open the entrance. Passwords are routinely changed by prefects so be sure to check the notice board in the common room. The current password is FireBird"

"It sure is Ms Granger, and who's this? You look familiar, that hair must mean you're a Potter. Knew your father, I did. Complete menace that man, and what a flirt!"

"Oh boy, thanks, urm Fat Lady? I'm Harry. Would you mind telling me a bit about him? James Potter… Though," he looked around atHermione looking impatient and the kids a little amused, "maybe later."

"Of course, I can share some of the stories we portraits witnessed. I better let you in before that one burns down my painting"

Hermione just huffed, as the door opened and she led the group into the common room. Directing the girls and boys to their dormitories and going over the general rules of "don't cause disruptions and no boys allowed in girls dormitories".

"Hey Harry!" A loud shout came from a red-headed boy heading their way.

Hermione's face fell and was quickly replaced by a look of annoyance.

"Where were you Weasley? We were supposed to take the first years up to the dormitories and you just left!" She confronted him.

"Woah there Granger. You managed on your own didn't you. 'Sides, wanted to catch up with Seamus."

"That's not the point though is it. You shirked your responsibilities. I'm sure McGonnagal will be having a word with you tomorrow." Hermione retorted standing her ground.

Harry stood beside and watched knowing that the red-headed guy will soon turn back to him. As soon as he thought that, he did

"So Harry, why you hanging out with Granger over there? Come over I'll introduce you to the boys in our year."

"Hermione was showing me to the dormitories and-"

"Well you're here now. So scoot Granger"

Hermione's eyes narrowed as Harry tried to get a word in edgewise without being interrupted, "and. She's going to be helping me find my way around the castle, so if-"

"She'll only show you how to find the Library and all the classes. Come on we'll show you some of the fun-"

"And what's wrong with that Ronald?" She huffed angrily "I've not got the energy for this. Night Harry"

And she turned on her heel and followed the first year girls up the stairs.

"Mental that one, I tell you." Ron said loud enough for Hermione to hear as she climbed the stairs.

Harry was starting to lose his cool. The irritation of being ogled by everyone and talked about by everyone for the last few hours was one thing. Now not only was he being constantly interrupted, it was by someone who was clearly, a bully. He looked Ron up and down, from his red hair not too dissimilar from Lily's, but duller. More orange, than fiery. He was tall but a bit gangly.

"Weasley? Ron? That, was not nice. Actually, let me rephrase that. That was fucking rude.

"I don't like bullies. Or anyone thinking they're above others really. This is a school for god's sake. Honestly, what is more important than knowing where classes are and where the library is? Anything else I can find later.

"My uncle told me to make some friends when I get here. Currently, you're definitely not on my shortlist."

And with that Harry stood and walked over to the rest of the boys to get their names and introduce himself before crashing for the night. Leaving Ron standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face, unsure of what just happened.

"I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom." A slightly awkward boy said as Harry raised his hand in greeting.

"Longbottom? You don't say, my mum talked about your parents a lot. It's good to meet you."

"S-she did? I- are you really the Harry Potter?"

Harry sighed.

"Well, I guess I should have seen this coming. I take it you mean whether I'm the person who they attribute the killing of Voldemort to, if so then yes."

He noticed that everyone looked terrified at the mention of Voldemort. "Sirius wasn't lying… that's gonna take some getting used to".

"Sorry, I asked Harry. Just, no one's seen you, or heard of you s-since that night. Then suddenly you're in the Great Hall at Hogwart's. I can tell you a lot of people will ask the same thing once the shock wears off. A lot will probably not believe you."

"Eh, not my problem really. Whether they believe me or not."

"Why didn't you come Hogwart's at eleven then?"

"Hmm, well, my mum and I travelled a lot. A boarding school would not work for that sort of lifestyle. I did have to do all the tests you guys taken until end of fourth year over the summer to make sure I can attend though, god that was gruelling."

"So no school at all? Must have been fun."

Harry laughed, "yeah you can say that. I was homeschooled, and had different tutors depending where we were. So it was still hard work. But at least I had no exams, don't know how you guys deal with that every year, honestly."

With that the conversation took an easy turn and they talked about their past years and Harry's schooling. Ron joined them after a few minutes, but kept from directly addressing Harry. Which was fine by him.

Sand all around him. Tall dunes. The beating Sun scorching his skin. Nothing else around him. He started running, his feet sinking in the sand with each foot strike, taking all the energy out of his strides. Panic started settling into the pit of his stomach. His chest tightening. He recognised this place. From before.

He waited, he knew it was coming. Just then, the shadows started swirling. Gathering together, forming a solid black shape of a man, like a silhouette in a painting of a desert.

As the man reached his arm out, Harry finally snapped back to attention and jumped back immediately falling over in the process.

The man laughed. A deep, hollow sound.

"You cannot escape me boy. I will return. I will have my revenge. And you. You will help me."

Harry tried shouting that he won't. That he won't help even if he had to die. The laughter started echoing as the darkness enveloped him.

Just like that, Harry's eyes snapped open and he jolted upright in bed, breathing heavily.

"Fuck. Not the best first night."