The headmaster at Harry's primary school takes pity on the young boy and does the only thing he can to protect him, he has him sent to a junior military school. When Harry turns eleven he finds the family denied to him for so many years. Or the one where Harry grows up in a nurturing environment and his godmother has been trying to get custody of him for years. Female Snape. Thanks to weirdhead for the idea! Oh and don't do drugs, seriously don't.
Harry Potter was bored, his aunt and uncle were hostile but not overtly so. They dared not harm Harry was top in his military school, was well liked by the neighbors and their own son at the moment was sitting in jail where he belonged after he beat little Michael Evans so badly he had two broken arms and a broken leg. He had been seen and now he and his little gang were going to find out that they were not really all that tough. Yet Harry was liked as he was polite, never argued and even if his parents had been bad seeds he was not. It must be his aunt who passed the bad seeds on, not Harry's mother after all.
Harry was average height for his age, his black hair was cut in a short military cut with enough hair on the top to style a bit and hide his pale silvery lightening bolt scar. He was clad in neat clothing, he had a clothing allotment at his school, his uniform and one or two day outfits. This was as neat as anything of his as he was well disciplined and extremely neat, everything in his room had a place and nothing was out of place. It looked like the place a military man might stay and Harry was happy with that. He thanked his headmaster for having him sent to St. Michael's Military Academy for Young Boys (and Girls in another building). He had learned French, Latin, German, was very good at maths and could write essays in his sleep. That and the military training was simply the best.
Yet now instead of heading to a military high school, he was going to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was a school of magic and he had written to accept, his relations dared not say anything as they had Dudley and his crimes to deal with. On the dot the doorbell rang and Vernon ushered in a tall thin woman with long black hair tied in a bun. She was clad in a dark green pantsuit and had a pale face with a large nose and black eyes. Yet Harry thought she was pretty as she smiled at him and seemed to like him at once. She reminded him of his history teacher who looked severe and strict but loved her students no matter what they tried to get up t.
"I am professor Selena Snape, I am here to take you to Diagon Alley." She said.
"I would be honored to go." Harry said.
"Take him and don't bring him back, we don't want him." Petunia said.
"Are you sure?" Selena said, "if you do this there is no turning back."
"I agreed eleven and that was it, well he is eleven and yours now." Petunia said.
"Then sign here, pity I could not take Harry earlier, but no matter, I will take him now."
Petunia signed Harry over who really did not mind. He went upstairs and packed his duffle bag and backpack and headed out of the house. Selena was talking loudly to Petunia at the door, stating that she wished she had thought more of keeping Harry as he was the top of his class in school never caused problems and so on. Then she helped Harry load his bags into the trunk of her small car and drove off with him. Once where no-one could see her she pressed a button and then they were in London parking in a car park. The next few hours were fun, Harry got a ring from the goblins that showed he was the last Potter, he got a trunk from his vault that had everything he needed for school accept his books and robes, there even was a wand that he could use! Once done with shopping they headed to Selena's home in Cokeworth.
"The town is not much but the house is nice, I lived a few doors down from your mother." Selena said, "my father helped run a garage and we did well, the investments do help. My parents are traveling and so the house is mine now. I must tell you it is different than what you are used to."
"I don't mind different miss." Harry said.
"Call me Selena, I am your godmother I should have got custody of you from the start but for the ministry."
"Okay Selena." Harry replied.
He walked into the house and saw a normal entry with stairs and walked down a hall into a beautiful space. On one side was a kitchen and across from that a dining room, then behind the entry wall was a cozy living room, all rooms opened to each other. Harry was in awe, he saw in the L shaped kitchen with small island the counter tops were solid and was told they were quartz. The cabinets were white as was the backsplash. The appliances were stainless steel and Harry had never seen such a kitchen in his life. It screamed posh to him. The floors looked like rich redwood and there was not any carpet to be seen.
"They are stone tile floors, there is in floor heating." Selena said, "upstairs are three bedrooms and a bath, where the copper used to be is a half bath and washer and dryer, yes separate, American appliances are better, there is a fully furnished basement with telly room and a potions lab."
"Oh, I like it." Harry said.
"Good, it is your home too." Selena replied. "The ministry is going to be so unhappy, they are the ones that came up with the contract I did not contact you until you agreed to go to Hogwarts and I could, with your permission take custody of you once you were eleven."
"That is today." Harry said, "and yes, I did state as much I was in need of new guardians."
"Smart lad, now let's get you set up in your room."
Selena took him upstairs to his room, it had been set up for a child that much was true. Looking at it, it was clear that this room had always been for him, that it was waiting for him. It was spotless and airy with a four poster bed in the corner. The walls were painted a soft light olive color, the curtains at the windows and around the bed were blue with green ties. A bedspread on the bed was of a red dragon on a blue, green and white background. There was a book shelf, a wardrobe, a nightstand and desk under the window. Harry hugged Selena, and felt her hug him back, if there were a few tears that was alright as he finally was wanted and home.
Summer was fun, Selena liked to wear jeans and band tee shirts with sandals. She was a known as a chemistry professor here of high morals, yet still very much a free spirit. She wore her long black hair down, with only a small part tied back so it did not get into her face. She liked to sit in the park with a few friends who all were intellectuals like her and play a small drum while they played the flute or danced. Harry even found himself clad in a real Viking outfit headed to a Fair. Selena was clad in a simple green gown with what she called an apron dress in maroon over it with a belt that held bags and a knife. It turned out she was very good at ax throwing.
Then there was studying, Harry read the muggleborn packet on manners geared to boys (he guessed girls had their own packet) and learned all sorts of things. He read the introduction to all his texts and the first chapter, and learned about his duties as the last of his house. All in all he was ready for Hogwarts and headed for the train ready as he could be. There was a portal in Newcastle and so he stepped through to end up on the platform in London. He would have hated to end up driving there or what have you. The train ride was amazing, he met a Ron Weasley who apparently was to become steward to his house, a Neville Longbottom (where Potter goes a Longbottom follows) a Luna Lovegood and a muggleborn called Hermione Granger.
He loved Hogwarts at once, it was beautiful and well kept, the school was so very old but it looked like it was well cared for. There were no cracks in the floors or walls, everything was patched and well cared for, the plaster on the walls clearly was tended to each year. There were no torches as in the past, but glow-globes that were like muggle light bulbs but ran off of magic. This was to keep new soot off the paintings and indeed they were clean and looked new. In the great hall, chandeliers hung from the air from nothing and the bulbs glowed between the crystal and looked very nice. Harry saw Selena, her hair tied up in a bun, clad in a gown of green under a loose over-gown tied at the waist by a sash of purple and silver.
"She looks scary." Ron said to him.
"Nah, she is really nice." Harry replied, "I live with her."
"Oh, she is your guardian?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, she loves AC/DC and will be nice in class as long as people don't fool around." Harry replied, "She did tell me what she did in detention."
"Oh, I am horrible at potions." Neville said looking fearful.
"We will help you, don't worry." Luna said.
The sorting was grand and Harry was glad to end up in Gryffindor with Luna, Hermione and Ron. A real friendship bloomed there and at the head table, Albus Dumbledore smiled. The ministry thought they had won, but in fact they had not, Harry was with his real family now. Back in his quarters he had a large shaggy dog and poor Sirius Black had died alone in Azkaban. That and an illness had hit the death eaters, pity who knew tiny one's self to a dark lord like that would end this way and using a ring for a Horcrux, the only true Horcrux? Tom clearly had not read the Lord of the Rings. What a waste, oh well the muggleborn were making a delightful mess of the magical world in all the good ways and were saving it. He raised his glass of mead and sipped at it wondering if he was really ready for the Druidic rights this Samhain. Only one way to find out if he was worthy was to do them, the white rights, not the blood rights of course.
"The students seem happy." Dumbledore said, "Selena, did all go well with Harry?"
"Yes Albus, very well." Selena said.
"Very good, very good indeed, you will make a great guardian as it always should have been. It is nonsense that you should have been denied, but the ministry is loosing power and well, now he has family."
"Yes, I am not dark no matter what any say." Selena said, "I did take the healer path and the healer rights after all, no one dark can do that."
"True that." McGonagall said.
"It was fun to be there." Sprout added, "and all women, well, such a lovely day."
"Yes it was." Felicity Flitwick said, "and all the heads are women, is that not a great thing."
Flitwick was a small woman, barely the height of an average eight year old human. She had long black hair and dressed like a banker, abet one who wore a long walking skirt instead of trousers. Hogwarts was healing, and even Dumbledore felt it and it felt good. That was why he sat back and watched the magical world changing and the purebloods howling but unable to do anything. Pity that. Oh well, Draco Malfoy was turning out well from his mother's influence as Lucius was not there anymore. Theo Nott too was learning from his father's mistakes, or would, he was only eleven. Then there was Harry Potter, muggle raised and in a military school! My what fun times they lived in! Dumbledore poured himself another goblet of mead and sipped at it feeling content that things were looking up and he had not much to do with the changes.
At first he wanted a lot to do with the changes, but when it turned out that was not going to happen he went on a trip. He came back with a liking for pipes and smoking something that was not tobacco. He had to keep the windows open in his office as Selena was not impressed at least at his use of a certain weed. It was legal the magical world over and it helped him so much in aching joints and, well one small bowl before the sorting and he was doing just fine. He was fully able to concentrate and gave a rousing speech he was sure the students loved. He even had the school song sung to the tunes the students wanted to! What fun.
"I don't think he is mad." Harry said quietly to Hermione.
"No, Harry you can't, he can't, how could you think?" Hermione stammered.
"I have seen people high." Harry said.
"What are you taking about?" Neville asked.
"The headmaster, we think he is using marijuana." Harry said.
"Oh well, yes he is." Ron said, "then again he is rather nice and it's fine to use for adults."
"My gran has used it and we sell it, half the potions we use contain dragon's blood, the oil of the marijuana plant." Neville said.
"Oh, I was not aware." Hermione said.
"My family grows herbs for potions" Neville said.
"We don't learn about that until the upper years, but my mum grows it." Ron said.
"Oh, okay then, it's illegal in the muggle world." Harry said.
"Mental that." Ron said. "Still the headmaster should not smoke it as much as he does."
Selena watched as Harry was settling in well, for so long she was denied her rights, called a dark lady and then blocked off. But now, now Harry was gong to grow and thrive and become a force for good in the world. Despite the ministry, and despite how his relations had raised him. The future was looking bright and Selena was going to make sure that Harry was able to do what he wanted, even if he became a Quidditch star. Which seven years down the road he would, and then he would go on to marry the Hollyhead Harpies chaser, but that is a story for another day.