Hogwarts…

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Harry got off the train as it came to a half at Hogsmead Station. He joined Susan and other first years heading over to Hagrid from where they all were led towards the black lake. It was all very familiar to him. It hadn't even been one full day since he had arrived into this new world where his parents were alive and he had a sister.

He got on one of the boats with Susan when he felt something strange. I was as if he hated it but he couldn't put a finger on what it was. The feeling seemed to be coming from under the lake and so Harry looked down. However, it was impossible to see anything below the surface during the night time so Harry decided to let go as two more students joined him and Susan and he was surprised to see that it was Daphne and Tracey.

"Sorry, everywhere else is full," Tracey said.

"No problem," said Susan as Harry looked at Daphne.

"I'm Harry," he said as everyone on the boat looked at him weirdly. He wondered why. "Uh…" he didn't know what to say seeing them look at him.

"We know," Tracey said with a forced smile while Daphne just rolled her eyes before looking away.

"Are you okay?" Susan whispered to Harry. He could only nod as their boat started to move and soon enough they could see the castle. As Harry looked at it all he could remember were the ruined towers and smoke rising from the castle with people's cries filling the air. He felt the shiver as he thought about how things had changed so much for him. He wondered whether he was still being missed by his friends and others from his previous life. Did that world even exist anymore? And if it did how was everyone? Did they win? Was Voldemort defeated? He had a lot of questions.

Their boat came to a stop by the lake's bank as Harry got off of it and joined Susan and the others around Hagrid once again before the half giant took them inside the castle. Unlike last time he didn't see McGonagall until they were by great hall's entrance where Hagrid handed them over to the deputy headmistress.

Standing in the group Harry looked around at his peers and spotted Hermione, Neville, Ron, Draco and others. He wondered how many of them he could trust this time. Ron was out of the question along with the rest of the Weasely family. He didn't know how Dumbledore's relations were with his own family as Harry didn't have any time to get to know his parents and sister. Hell, he wondered how he would bring up the conversation of them telling him about the people that they knew. While Harry had been given this second opportunity he now realized how complicated it was. He knew nothing about his life that he had been living this time for the last ten years. He needed to be careful with what he said and who he talked to as he knew it could create the time paradox thing that Hermione had warned him about when they first travelled back in time using her time turner in their third year.

But could this be considered a time travel, Harry wondered. He had been sent to a world where his parents were alive and there seemed to be a lot more changes as well. If he were to be sent back in time then everything would've remained the same – him an orphan, Voldemort looking for a way to return and other such things. No, this was different and it made Harry wonder whether he could take the risk of telling someone the truth about him. But who, that was the main question.

He came out of his world of thoughts when McGonagall cleared her throat before giving her 'house is family' speech, telling the first years about the points system at Hogwarts and other such things before she let them to the great hall.

As he entered the place his eyes immediately went over to the head table and he didn't miss Remus sitting there beside Filius Flitwick. Because there was only Quirrell missing from the head table Harry reckoned that maybe Remus taught the defense subject. He also looked at Snape – the most honorable man who Harry had the opportunity to meet in his life…in a way.

Memories of him seeing Snape dying by the boathouse came back into Harry as he tried not to get emotional about it. After knowing what that man had done for him…how much he had sacrificed Harry held Snape in high regards. He wondered whether this Snape was the same as the previous one.

He also saw Dumbledore sitting in the middle of the head table in his throne-like chair, looking at the group of newly arrived first years when their eyes met. Harry looked away immediately while McGonagall announced how the sorting process will take place before she started to call the first years one by one. Eventually it was Susan's turn as Harry saw her walk up to the stool and sit on it. McGonagall put the sorting hat on her and a few seconds later it yelled Hufflepuff. Harry clapped along with the rest of the Hufflepuff students as Susan got off and walked over to her house's table and the sorting continued.

When Hermione's turn came Harry was a bit surprised that she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor but rather Ravenclaw which made more sense than last time. She was too intelligent to be a Gryffindor and while she was brave her intelligence was what saved them during Harry's previous life. Harry wondered if someone else's house will change this time as Hermione's was the first as of yet. His question was answered rather soon as Draco was called next and to everyone's shock he was sorted into Gryffindor

Harry almost slapped himself thinking that he was dreaming as he saw the blond haired boy heading over to the Gryffindor table. Draco didn't look much excited about it either as he sat at the end of the table, away from everyone else. That was a shock – Draco getting sorted into Gryffindor. While Harry had noticed the guy regretting his decisions by the end during his previous life Harry had never thought that Draco would be a Gryffindor because of it. Well, it took a lot of courage to do what Draco did – disarming someone like Dumbledore and keeping his wand aimed at him – but still…Harry sighed as thinking about it was tiring him mentally.

Ron was sorted into Gryffindor as the sorting hat once again made the joke about all the Weaselys ending up in Gryffindor and then came Neville's turn and he, too was sorted into Gryffindor. Eventually Harry's turn came as well and surprisingly not many people looked at him unlike last time when the entire great hall had gone completely silent upon hearing his name. It seemed he hadn't been treated like a celebrity this time and for that Harry was honestly grateful.

He walked up to the stood before taking a seat on it as McGonagall put the hat on his head and Harry felt the familiar sensation of the sorting hat going through his thoughts. He wondered if the hat would figure out that he was living a second life but it said nothing of such sort to him. It simply sorted him to Gryffindor as Harry got off the stool and headed for the table.

It was weird not being given a choice of house this time but he wasn't complaining as Harry sat beside Neville when he again had the same feeling like he did when he was on the boat while crossing the black lake. For some reason he felt angry towards Neville. Even Neville was looking at him a bit differently as id he was also angry with Harry.

Harry was confused as to why he felt like that and realized that maybe he shouldn't sit beside Neville for now and so he looked around but found no empty spots other than the one beside Draco. He sighed. How bad it could be sitting beside Malfoy, he thought as he got up and headed to sit next to the blond boy who was clearly confused as to why Harry was approaching him. He was even more confused when Harry sat next to him as the sorting continued.

Harry looked up again when he heard Daphne's name being called up as he saw her walk up to the stool and take a seat. He wasn't surprised when the hat put her in Slytherin again but he wondered if she would be safe there. After knowing that she would be his possible wife in the future Harry had suddenly began to feel more protective of her, not to mention that with her being in Slytherin it would be difficult for him to approach her. Maybe their mothers' friendship could help him out a bit, he thought as the sorting continued until the last student was sorted into the Hufflepuff house.

Dumbledore then got up from his chair and gave a short welcoming speech before the feast began. Harry was pretty hungry so he went straight to eating. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast except for a few candies that he'd bought on the train when he saw Remus look at him. The werewolf smiled at him, lifting his glass. Harry smiled back. He really adored that man. Remus was like a big brother that Harry never had. He was now a big brother though with Grace being his younger sister as Harry wondered if he'd have a sister in his previous life too, if his parents were never murdered that is.

He looked at Draco who was slowly munching on his pie while looking at nothing, in the manner of speaking. It was still weird seeing him sit at the Gryffindor table as Harry wondered what had changed. It probably had something to do with the letter he'd written when he first got back maybe. Maybe the aurors found the diary at the Malfoys' place and arrested Lucius? It could be a possibility.

There were lots of questions in his mind but Harry decided to keep them all to the side for now. He first needed to sort out how he was going to change living his new life now that he had his family. The voice had told him that he was never meant to fight Voldemort but the prophecy was probably in this world too so one way or another Voldemort would come for him and that meant that Harry was still a target.

He first needed to know where and in what condition Voldemort was. Perhaps the news from the last decade would help him know that. The school library kept copies of the Prophet from where he could gather what had happened in this world in the last ten years. However, for some reason they kept it in the restricted section of the library and it would be difficult enough as is to sneak into the library after hours though as he had neither his father's invisibility cloak nor the Marauders' map this time. Maybe he could get his hands on the latter though.

He remembered that the twins had the map last time as they had stolen it from Filch's office. Harry glanced and saw them sniggering over something. Perhaps they were planning on their first prank of the new term. He felt happy seeing Fred for some reason. The twins never seemed to be those who would lie to him in his previous life though. Also, the voice had only mentioned Ron, Ginny and Molly. Maybe the twins were good?

He wondered if he could just go and ask them for the map because technically it belonged to Harry as a sort of family heirloom. It sounded a bit selfish though but without his invisibility cloak Harry at least needed the map to roam around the castle after curfew hours if he wanted to avoid being caught.

It seemed like he'd have to steal the map from the twins after all. He knew it was going to be hard because Fred and George always had the map on them at all times and even if in rare cases where they left the map in their dorm Harry was sure that it would be secured under a series of some nasty spells.

"Why are you sitting with me, Potter?"

Harry came out of his train of thoughts as he looked at the blond boy and the image of him saving Draco from falling into the mountain of fire in the room of requirement came back. He also remembered seeing a helpless Draco from that night on the astronomy tower when he was being forced to kill Dumbledore until Snape arrived just in time to stop him from doing that. He wondered how the Draco from this world or rather time had grown up to be. He was already in Gryffindor so there must've been a huge change in his personality or life, maybe.

"I didn't want to sit next to a crowd of students," Harry said.

"There are lots of empty spots on the table other than the one next to me," Draco said.

"Well, I'm here now and I'm already eating so I can't just get up and go sit somewhere else," Harry said sounding a bit annoyed. He did, however noticed the lack of smugness in Draco's tone. Maybe this Draco was different.

Draco said nothing and went back to eating. An hour later dinner came to an end and McGonagall instructed all the first years to follow their respective house's prefects to their house towers. Harry joined his peers following Percy to the Gryffindor tower. He tagged behind the rest as did Draco but they both kept their distance from each other.

Percy showed them the stairs and corridors that they'd need to take in order to get to the Gryffindor tower along with the password necessary for them to enter the common room. He then showed them their dorms and Harry walked inside and found his trunk already under his bed inside the dorm. Just like last time he had the corner bed for himself as Harry changed into his pajamas before getting to sleep.

As he lay there on the bed he thought about what changes he needed to make now that he was getting another chance at life. The first thing that came to his mind was that he needed to make himself more skilled when it came to magical duels. During his last life he had little to no experience and that is why he couldn't even protect himself, Ron and Hermione from the snatchers when they were on the horcrux hunt.

He figured the room of requirement would be the best and only place for him to train. It could provide him with things to practice his aiming and other things just like he'd done in his previous life during his fifth year.

He turned to his left and saw Neville on his bed, sitting and staring at him. The room was dark so maybe Neville thought that Harry was asleep but he wasn't. Harry found it odd – Neville staring at him. He had done so on the boat as well. In his last life Neville had shown the most amount of personality development. Harry knew that he was the potential subject of the prophecy after Harry himself because they both had been born only twenty four hours apart which is why Voldemort had sent Bella and Barty Crouch Jr to the Longbottoms' house that night to kill Neville as well while he himself went over to Harry's to kill him – eliminating both subjects of the prophecy who were prophesized to pose a threat to the dark wizard.

Harry wondered if Neville's parents were sane in this world but as he thought about it he realized that maybe they weren't. He didn't know for sure but if they weren't sane than it would be his fault. He probably could've saved Frank and Alice too if he had enough time. Harry hadn't thought about it before when he was first brought into this world. But he wondered how much he could've helped. If he'd ended up facing Barty or Bella then he'd have definitely lost to them. Both were unpredictable duelers, especially Bella whose crazy persona made her ever so more dangerous than anyone else, even Voldemort.

At the end Harry decided that he couldn't have saved Neville's parents even if he wanted to. This made him more determined to teach himself how to duel and learn to control his magic more accurately and efficiently as sleep enveloped him.

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Dumbledore sat in his office in deep thought. Harry had finally arrived at Hogwarts but with how things were between Dumbledore and Harry's parents he doubted whether he could convince Harry to trust him. He still needed to figure out who stopped Peter from bringing Voldemort to the Potters' place in Godric's Hollow that night. It had been ten years and he didn't have the faintest of clues as to who could've done it. No one knew that Peter was a death eater, no one but Dumbledore.

Dumbledore had placed tracking runes around the fidilius ward of the Potter Cottage so when he didn't feel the wards come down he went to the place the next morning only to find a bunch of aurors there while Amelia questioned James and Lily. When Dumbledore asked them what had happened James told him how Peter was actually a death eater and probably could've brought Voldemort to their very doorstep last night. However, someone had stopped the rat from doing so as the couple had found the man in the early morning lying dead on the street.

They called Amelia after they saw the dark mark on Peter's arm. However, being who he was Dumbledore tried to look through the Potter couple and realized that they were definitely hiding something from him. He wondered what it was but the main issue at that moment was Pettigrew had failed and James and Lily were still alive. This had put Dumbledore's well established plan in jeopardy. He now needed to plan the whole thing again…if he could that is, because Voldemort was also suppose to lose his original body that night but because he never came to Godric's Hollow he was still out there wrecking havoc. This meant that Dumbledore would also have to deal with a very alive and powerful Voldemort, something the old wizard hadn't plan on doing.

As he got up to retire for the day Dumbledore decided what else he could do to win the boy's trust…if there was any because in the course of these ten years both James and Lily had become distant from Dumbledore and that meant Harry, too. He saw the boy today and Harry looked somewhat different and not in the sense of his appearance but rather in the way he looked at everything. There was something weird about that boy from what Dumbledore could understand. He didn't see the excitement or the nervousness that every first year students had whenever they came to Hogwarts for the first time. Even with pureblood kids whose parents had been students of this school at one point…they couldn't help but be surprised, awed, excited or be nervous when they first came to this place.

That wasn't the case with Harry. He looked as if he'd been here before or rather knew how the sorting would take place or how the great hall looked like. It made Dumbledore wonder whether he was missing something about the boy. Well, he clearly was because he hadn't been in contact with the boy or his parents for the last decade in any manner whatsoever. The Potters had even left the Order after that supposed fateful night and soon after them left Sirius too. Remus stayed but not mentally and Amelia was too busy with her auror work, conducting raids and arresting death eaters. The Order became close to nothing with its most active members leaving and all Dumbledore was left with were the Weaselys, Mundungus Fletcher and other non-important members. All he had whom he could actually rely on were McGonagall, Snape and Alastair 'Mad Eye' Moody and he knew he couldn't face Voldemort or his army of death eaters with just three people behind him.

Deciding that he couldn't think more with a tired mind he got into the bed, letting sleep take over him. Dumbledore needed to talk to the boy though, get to know if there was any chance of him making Harry trust him. While it would be difficult with Harry's parents alive now at least he could try to make the boy listen because without Harry Voldemort could not be defeated and Dumbledore needed the dark wizard gone for his actual plan to take action.

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Thanks for reading…