A.N.: This is the story of William August Garlant. It's a retelling of the Harry Potter story, but with an added character who befriends the trio (and others) from year one. The story is told from his perspective.
The fic opens with two short (and quickly submitted) chapters from year one, just to get an idea of where and how William is introduced to Harry and the others - and also to discover a bit of background on our new character. Mostly though, William will be explored when the story takes place, which will start to happen in year 4 and begins from chapter 3. The period in between the time skip will be somewhat seen via flashbacks (and Pensieves) and references, but for the most part we can assume the major plot points of the books have during that time unfolded pretty much the same as in the books with just the added factor of another character into what used to be the trio.

I'll also preface by saying my favorite character is a tossup between Ginny and Hermione, my favorite ship is H/Hr, my favorite teacher is Lupin, and my House is Gryffindor (duh). I love Ron, though I also love making him suffer a bit, mostly because he hurts my favorite characters so much. But it'll all come good.

Everything, except William August Garlant, belongs to JKR.

"Hi!"

"Oh - hi," answered the red haired boy, startling around as William greeted him. He had a dark blotch on his nose, covering some of a freckled canvas on which two blue and at the moment quite surprised eyes met William's hazel-green ones.

"Trouble finding a compartment?"

"Yeah," he said, casting sideways glances as if one would suddenly appear out of thin air. "I'm Ronald, er - Ron Weasley," the boy finally said, holding out a hand.

"William Garlant," the slightly shorter boy returned, shaking his new friends hand.

"Garlant? I know your family! You're the ones who -"

"Stand by You-Know-Who? Yeah, that's us lot. Got a problem with that?" said William, not breaking his gaze with the Weasley boy. Ron's eyes widened at the apparent careless admittance of guilt from the young boy in front of him, before he managed to collect himself with a slight cough.

"Sorry, I know… er - I'm… don't support You-Know -"

"Relax, Weasley. I'm messing with you," William smiled. Ron copied his smile and did seem to relax a bit, before nodding them both on in search of an empty compartment. Some were filled with older kids loudly catching up after a long summer break. Others were silent with shy first years stiffly trying to acquaint themselves with new people and circumstances. A couple of compartments had what William was assuming to be teachers, who were busy chatting about the new term and a certain "Potter".

A girl with bushy hair and an awkward, scared looking boy walked past them, quickly asking about some toad the boy had lost. Two red-headed twins greeted them and introduced themselves as Fred and George Weasley, while swearing they had no relation to William's new friend Ron. A very red-faced Ron swore after them as they ran away, causing some giggling heads to pop out of a couple compartments. More and more students walked along the train and in between the rooms as it sped through the countryside, trading chocolate cards, gossiping, or showing off new learnt spells. A stern looking Ravenclaw Prefect had to drag two fourth years into a teacher's compartment after they had managed to vanish said Prefect's hair. All the action and fun brought an unprecedented joy into William, which Ron seemed to pick up on as his mood also greatly picked up before they finally found a compartment with one boy sitting alone. It was Ron who knocked on the door before popping his head in.

"Is it okay if we sit here? Everywhere else is full," he pleaded. The jet-black haired boy had round glasses that looked to have been broken many times over, covering a pair of emerald green eyes. He bore a kind of distant look on his face before gladly beckoning the two of them to enter. "I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley," he shook the boy's hand.

"William Garlant," and the small boy took his hand as well, smiling at the both of them as they sat down.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter." Ron's eyes went even wider this time, his jaw dropping as he mouthed "Harry Potter" back at the boy. So this was the Harry Potter. He was small - very small, even for an eleven year old, and quite skinny. It was hard imagining this boy had defeated the greatest dark wizard of all time, yet beneath a wild mess of hair on his forehead, a thin lightning shaped scar was clearly visible, proof of their deadly encounter all those years ago.

"So… it's - it's true? You have the… the scar, and everything?" Ron said, still shocked that the famous Boy-Who-Lived sat in front of him. The boy, to his credit, simply smiled and withdrew his hair so that they could have a clearer look. He didn't do it proudly, as if showcasing a great trophy - rather, he did it gladly, as if happy he had someone who was curious about him. "Wicked," said Ron, and Harry's face shone with happiness again.

"Is this your first year, Harry?" asked William, though knowing the answer. It was too intriguing not to get the famous boy to talk about himself.

"Yes, how about you?" he said simply. Not one to talk much about himself, it seemed. Strange. William's older brother Edward had often spoken about the boy, and had been absolutely adamant that he would have grown up to be quite full of himself - "Dumbledore's favourite new pet", he had predicted, stating that he was sure both the Ministry and the Hogwarts Headmaster would try to use him as a puppet in their constant tug of war.

"First year. I'm absolutely buzzing, to be honest. Can't wait to be sorted. Have any idea where you'll go, then?"

"I'm bound for Gryffindor, I think," said Ron, though with some doubt creeping into his voice. "My whole family's been there for generations. I reckon they'd be decent with Hufflepuff. They'd take Ravenclaw as well, though if I become a Slytherin you'll find me on the train back tomorrow, I'll tell you." Ron continued, though casting a worried look towards William, remembering his family history. "Sorry, Will, I didn't mean -"

"No offence taken, Ron," William smiled and laughed at the nervous boy. "I'm fairly sure I'd join you on that train if that was the case. I'll be Gryffindor or a Claw for sure. My aunt said so, and she's always right about the sortings. Don't tell my mother or brother, though, they'd kill me if they knew. How about you?" he nodded towards Harry, who had been looking at them almost confused up until that point.

"Er - I don't… really know. I only found out about the houses the other day… I grew up with muggles." he looked almost ashamed to admit it. It was a shock, even for Ron, William saw. The Boy-Who-Lived, raised as a muggle?

"That's… it's nothing to be embarrassed about, Harry. There are plenty of muggleborn in Hogwarts every year, many of them most likely won't even know what houses there are before they're sorted!"

"Really?" Harry looked up at William with a hopeful look, but it was Ron who opened his mouth to answer after seemingly shaking away his stunned look at the news that Harry Potter had been raised by muggles.

"Y-yeah! There's really nothing bad about it. Some people think so, but they're idiots!" he cast another half-apologetic half-frightened look at William, who only chuckled at his clumsiness, which seemed to give him confidence to continue. "My father works in the Ministry with muggle stuff, he'd love to talk to you about all the weird things your lot do, I'm sure!" Harry laughed at that, shaking his head slightly at the ginger boy.

They chatted for some time about muggles, Ron's many family members, whatever Ron had heard about Hogwarts with the occasional correction from William, and sometimes even touched upon some things personal to Harry. The boys became quite comfortable with each other's presence, to the point of sharing some fears they had about their upcoming time at the school. Harry had admitted to being afraid he'd be left behind due to him being raised by muggles, before William and Ron assured him he'd probably be one of the best students due to his fabled legendary powers. Harry seemed unsure, but brightened remarkably when the boys promised they'd help him with homework if he'd ever needed it, even managing to get the same promise from him. It did not take them too long to move on to what William had hoped they wouldn't talk too much about. As Harry had started to open up more, he braved to ask William about his family and where he came from, given that Ron had already told them all about himself. Not wanting Harry to shun him due to his family's, mainly his father's, allegiance during the last Wizarding War, he was trying to be careful in answering. Thankfully, Ron seemed eager to help, perhaps due to the many times he had put his foot in his mouth.

"William's family are the Garlants! They're quite famous, actually. Not as famous as the Potters, mind you, but they've been known longer I reckon. My dad once said your granddad was the greatest wizard he ever met, besides Dumbledore of course." William was happy Ron had answered. It was also true that William's grandfather, who was also named William, had been a powerful wizard. No one had known how he had died. When William asked his mother about it, she struck him on the cheek before banishing the question from their house. Edward had been equally silent, though he once let slip that grandad William was intimately connected to the Dark Lord. Other times, William had overheard some Garlant relatives discussing his grandfather, relaying gossip regarding his mysterious death. What William knew for sure was that his grandfather had began teaching him when he was young, and he had some memories of him reading to William, and caring for him those many nights his mother and older brother were away. When William was eight, his grandfather died. There was no funeral, no vigil, nothing. All he had left of his grandfather was his personal library, which he had been in the process of combing through when one night, his mother caught him in the act and punished him severely for doing so. Afterwards, he always felt a sharp pain in his cheeks whenever he neared the books.

"Wow," said Harry, taking William back to the Hogwarts Express. They sat in silence for a while, before Harry added "who exactly is Dumbledore?", which made the three of them laugh heartily.

Before long, a small witch knocked on the door asking if they wanted to buy anything from the trolley. Harry bought a little of everything, gladly sharing it all with his new friends. Again, the Boy-Who-Lived had surprised William. Edward would say Harry had been bragging with his handful of galleons, but William knew all Harry wanted to do was to share what he had. He appreciated the gesture, though did not eat to much of it, flinching as he was remembering how his mother often screamed at him when she caught him eating snacks and candy at home. William thought Harry noticed, but was being too polite and kind to ask such a personal question so fast into their friendship. Perhaps Harry knew what he was feeling at that moment? Perhaps those muggles didn't treat him as kindly as Edward thought Harry would have been treated? He was wearing rather dreadful clothes - they didn't fit him at all, and looked as if they'd been shoddily repaired many times over, before being given up on. William's thoughts were interrupted by another knock on their door, as the familiar girl with the bushy brown hair entered into the frame.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a toad? Neville's toad is missing, and - oh, are you doing magic? Go on, let's see it then," she said, with a bossy sort of voice, to Ron. He had been talking to Harry about a spell one of his older brothers had taught him that was supposed to turn his pet rat yellow. William had been absentmindedly listening while contemplating the enigma that was Harry Potter. Ron looked somewhat nervous as he cleared his throat, and waved his wand above the elderly rat sat on his lap.

"Sunshine daisies, butter mellow… turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" he commanded. Nothing happened. Harry and William smiled a bit, not wanting to laugh at their new mate for his failed piece of magic.

"Is that a real spell? It's not very good then, is it?" said the bossy girl as she took a step into the boys' compartment. "I've tried a couple of spells and so far every one has worked. For example," she sat down and turned to Harry, drew her wand and tapped the boy's broken glasses. "Oculus Reparo," the glasses instantly cracked into place perfectly. Harry's mouth opened, and he took off his glasses to inspect them.

"Whoa," he said. "Thanks."

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said, sticking out her hand. Harry was still too busy being in awe of the girl's magic to respond. William took her hand instead. He was impressed by the girl, but it wasn't the first time he had seen magic up close, and as such was understandably a bit less surprised than the Boy-Who-Lived.

"I'm William Garlant. This is Harry Potter, and this," he nodded towards Ron, "is Ronald Weasley." Ron sloppily shook her hand, and Harry followed suit after he had collected himself, placing the round glasses back on his nose.

"Pleasure," Hermione said, still with her bossy attitude. "Sorry, the Harry Potter?" Harry nodded shyly. "I've read all about you, of course!" she blurted out. Harry blushed somewhat, while Ron and William chuckled. "And Garlant! Your family is famous for - OUCH, Ronald!" William silently thanked Ron for kicking her before she continued. Hermione's anger seemed to ebb away as comprehension dawned on her face while her gaze darted between Harry and William. "Oh, sorry… Anyway, I should be going. Neville's still looking for his toad. I think we're almost there, by they way. You might think about changing to your robes." With that, she walked out, leaving the three boys to change in anticipation of their arrival.