A/N: Yet another chapter, yet another author's note. Please let me know if you want recaps every chapter (pm not review). Now for the recap because I won't stop until people tell me to stop; Harry declines the tempting offer to learn the dark arts, doing so made him an enemy to many students (not every kid in Slytherin is best buddies with Draco, this is Harry punching Slytherin in the face, not just Draco). Harry, some Ravenclaws, and Parvati have a party in the Ravenclaw dorm (sorry Hufflepuffs). The attendees of the party oversleep and miss breakfast. Someone slips Harry an anonymous note saying not to go to meals for the rest of the week. Harry obeys. That's it for the recap, folks. As always, enjoy the chapter, and please leave constructive criticism (I am really hoping to find ways to improve my writing so that you, the reader, can enjoy the fanfic more).
"You really didn't see who slipped me the note?" Harry asked.
"No, I really didn't. Now, if you don't mind, I have to go to the Gryffindor common room." Parvati sounded annoyed as she picked up her tote bag filled with all of her books and stationery (and feminine products but let's skip over that part).
They both walked in opposite directions, one to the library and one to the Gryffindor common room.
Harry looked over the note again, as he kept doing all day. He couldn't tell who wrote it, all he knew was that it was one of the Gryffindors or Slytherins in his year.
xXxXxXx
As the week flew by so did Harry's concerns about the anonymous savior. He told the Patil twins, Anthony and Terry about the note (he thought he should probably make friends with boys his age, and the majority of Gryffindor and Slytherin were already a no-go so that left Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw). He made the four of them promise they wouldn't tell anyone.
Saturday morning came with a bad feeling in Harry's stomach. He couldn't keep asking his peers to bring him food.
He shoved his glasses on, tightened his tie, put his shoes on, straightened his robes, and left.
It probably wasn't exactly smart to walk alone in this situation, but he wasn't about to go cry to the Ravenclaws about how he was a scared little boy.
No signs of weakness allowed.
Harry put his hands in his pockets as he walked to the great hall, partially because the castle was cold, partially because why not?
Overall, the rumors died down a bit but when you were Harry James Potter, they would never fully go away.
This showed when a group of fifth-year Slytherin girls saw him and immediately gave each other the weirdest glances. Were they talking, with their eyes?
Harry decided not to dwell on this.
He finally reached the great hall. He walked through the great hall's doors. Thankfully nobody seemed to notice that he was in their presence.
He sat down trying to remain unnoticed. A few people saw him but didn't say anything to indicate he was there.
The breakfast was great. It wasn't just some toast in a napkin brought up by Padma, he could choose whatever he wanted as long as it was on the table.
xXxXxXx
As the days came and went, Harry, got used to being ignored, by everyone except Snape who didn't hesitate to assign Harry detentions.
Before Harry knew it, it was Halloween. He was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room doing Snape's essay, which he was cruel enough to assign on Halloween.
"Harry," Padma approached him with a skip in her step, clearly happy about something.
"Yeah?" Harry looked up from his book.
"So… you know how it's Halloween right?" Padma asked.
"Of course he does!" Terry walked over, leaving Anthony who was spray-painting a giant pumpkin on the art wall.
"Well," Padma started, "We were thinking that you could sneak over to the Ravenclaw table for the feast."
Harry was too stunned to speak.
"Nobody should be alone for the Halloween feast. Besides, the staff and students will be too busy enjoying the feast to notice, let alone care," Anthony put down the orange spray paint.
"It was Padma's idea," Veronica closed her book about werewolf mistreatment.
"What's the worst that can happen?" Terry asked.
"Dumbledore turns into Gandalf, Snape turns into Gollum, and one of us becomes Bilbo Baggins," Harry said sarcastically.
They all stared at him weirdly.
"You guys don't know about Lord of the Rings?" Harry asked.
"Is he like you-know-who? Is he dangerous?" Padma asked.
"It's a muggle book…" Harry muttered, embarrassed that nobody understood.
They had a moment of awkward silence.
"Well," Anthony tried to lighten the awkward mood, "We should go down to the feast before all the food is gone."
Murmurs of agreement came from the other four.
"Let's hope for the best," Harry untied his tie and threw it on top of his pile of books.
Harry had mixed emotions as he, Anthony, Terry, Veronica & Padma left the Ravenclaw common room together. He wasn't sure whether to be nervous, excited, both, or neither.
Anthony was probably right, he couldn't imagine any students being too upset by him moving between tables.
There were only two teachers that he thought would chop his head off if they saw.
Slimy Snape and Dumbledore.
Snape was perfectly sane but a real bitch. Dumbledore was off his rocker. It was obvious from the first time Harry saw the headmaster that he lost it long ago.
But he was also said to be one of the most powerful wizards ever.
Stop thinking like that! Listen to Anthony, he makes a good point.
Harry zoned into the conversation.
"I hope they have butterbeer!" Padma said, "I could really go for a nice warm mug."
"What's butterbeer?" Harry asked.
Do these kids drink ALCOHOL?
"It's a drink," Veronica said.
"Think of root beer, but really sweet," Terry said.
Oh.
They approached the doors.
Harry realized his shoelace was untied.
Great timing.
"You guys go ahead, I gotta tie my shoelace," Harry kneeled.
Even though he told them to go ahead, Harry was slightly disappointed when they all walked into the great hall without him.
He listened to the pounding thunder as he tied his shoelace and got up.
He took a moment to stare out the window, at the flashing lightning. He saw his reflection in the window.
Lightning struck. In his reflection, a pair of scarlet eyes were staring back at him. Another flash of lightning. His eyes were back to the normal green.
Well, now his scar hurt like hell. The pain slowly subsided. He walked into the great hall. Harry stared up at the ceiling as he walked over to the Ravenclaw table.
He sat down with Padma, Veronica, Anthony & Terry.
"How long does it take to tie a pair of shoelaces?" Terry asked, knowing Harry took at least twice the amount of time required.
"Oh no," Padma buried her face in her hands, "Did you get into another fight with Malfoy?"
"No," Harry served himself a slice of pizza.
"Then what took you so long out there?" Terry asked again.
"You know, stared at lightning a bit, hallucinated, felt like someone was repetitively smashing wine bottles against my forehead, went fucking mental," Harry refrained from saying.
Thankfully, Harry didn't have to answer that question because, at that moment, Quirrel came running into the great hall.
"Troll! Troll in the dungeons!" Quirrel yelled, "Thought you'd want to know."
The professor fainted. Screams of terror filled the halls. Harry looked up at the staff table. Professors McGonagall and Snape were both looking directly at him.
"Silence!" Dumbledore commanded.
The hall immediately fell silent under Dumbledore's orders.
"Prefects, lead the students to their dormitories, teachers, report to the dungeons immediately."
Harry followed the rest of the Ravenclaws out of the great hall.
He saw the rest of the Slytherins, who remained stationary. Harry laughed at the sight of them as he walked amongst the Ravenclaw students.
Veronica tapped him on the shoulder.
"Harry," she was practically whispering, "Was this what took you so long?"
Harry stared at her in disbelief.
"You think I did this?" Harry asked.
"Well… you are acting slightly suspicious, and you took a while out there. You were alone doing who knows what!" Veronica raised her voice slightly.
Harry sped up his walking speed and managed to get away from her.
xXxXxXx
That night he didn't dream about the stone and fire. He had a different dream. He had it every Halloween, he wasn't sure why it was every Halloween that he had this terrible nightmare but it's been happening as long as he could remember.
A man who looked to be in his early twenties was making ringlets of smoke from his wand.
"James," the woman who was holding Harry's tiny body said, "What do you think it'll be like, raising Harry. You know after we win this war."
"Well, I will make him the best Quidditch player ever. He'll be playing for Gryffindor of course. I will come to his first Quidditch game and all around, I will make sure he knows how much I love him," Harry's presumed dad, James said.
"While you turn him into a smaller version of you, I-" Harry's mom got cut off.
"Lily! He's here!"
"What?! But Peter said-"
"Peter lied! Lily, listen to me, you take Harry and you run. You get far away. Leave me behind, live a happy life. Find Remus and Sirius."
"No! I won't leave you!" Lily let a few tears leak.
"Go!" James yelled.
"James please!" now she was really crying.
"It's fine! You two can live a happy life, one without me," James kissed baby Harry on the forehead and then Lily on the lips, "Go!"
Lily, holding baby Harry, darted up the stairs.
"Avada kadavra!" someone yelled from downstairs.
"James!" Lily was sobbing uncontrollably as she placed Harry in a crib.
She gripped the crib tightly, placing all her weight on it.
"Mama loves you, Harry," Her tears landed on the floor of the nursery, "Be a brave boy."
The door opened.
"Ah, Lily," The ugliest man Harry's ever seen walked in.
She wiped her eyes and faced the figure.
"It's not too late for you, you can live," He grinned a nasty, nasty grin, "You have the choice to live a happy life with Severus."
"No!" Lily pointed her own wand at him, struggling to stand from the uncontrollable crying, "I won't marry one of your goons and I won't let you have Harry!"
She cast a spell sending jagged shards of a mirror heading for the man's throat, chest and face.
With just the flick of his wrist, the shards dissolved into harmless sand.
She stood directly between Harry and the other man.
"I'd rather die than join you and hand over Harry."
"Have it your way," the man laughed, "Avada kadavra."
The jet of green light hit her square in the chest, she didn't even get a chance to scream. She seemed to be falling in slow motion.
She fell gracefully, her flaming red hair falling behind her like a feather. Her dead body hit the ground.
It was agony to watch.
Harry tried to scream. Harry tried to bawl his eyes out and run to his mom's body. He couldn't do anything. He was trapped in the body of a scarless, clueless baby.
The man laughed louder and louder.
"Now, Harry Potter," The man stepped over the body of Lily Potter, "Time to die."
Harry looked into those scarlet eyes. Those eyes that've seen so much death. Those evil, cruel, maniacal eyes.
How could he stand himself, a cold-blooded killer, a villain, a terrorist?
He pointed his wand at an innocent baby.
"Avada Kadavra!"
He grinned at first but watched in terror as the spell rebounded.
Harry felt, sharp, immeasurable pain in his scar. It took all his guts not to scream out in agony.
He didn't even realize he was in the Ravenclaw common room. The pain persisted.
xXxXxXx
Harry had been staring at the ceiling for hours. He couldn't fall back asleep. When the sun finally rose, he went to the library. He didn't want or need people talking to him. He had let his parents down.
It was their dying wish and he didn't fulfill it. Harry understood the dream so much better now. Those were his parents, he watched his parents die once a year, on the anniversary they died.
He sat down in an armchair with a book. He stared at the pages without taking anything in. Hopefully, then people wouldn't try to talk to him, clearly, this didn't work.
"Erm, excuse me," an older student approached him.
He noticed they were a Ravenclaw. Clearly, someone had a sleepless night, trying to study.
"What?" He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, no matter their age, house, whatever.
"Can… could I borrow that book? I need it to study for my NEWTS."
Someone had bad social skills.
Harry silently handed the book over and grabbed another random book.
xXxXxXx
Potions class was the usual bad, Neville managed to burn water.
Harry packed up his books, wand & quills. He was about to head to transfiguration.
"Potter, one moment," Slimy Snape said.
What the fuck did I do this time?
Snape waited until he and Harry were the last in the classroom.
"I knew your filthy father and his deadly pranks," Snape sneered, "Any funny business, and I'll see to it myself that you are expelled from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Dismissed."
xXxXxXx
Somehow he got through the whole day without getting any homework. He decided to go to the lake where it would be peaceful.
Harry sat on the edge of the doc.
Was it selfish to want to go back in time and reverse what happened that night in Godric's Hollow? Dumbledore could've easily taken care of Voldemort. Harry could've had a family. Harry could've been happy.
He watched the sunset. The sky and lake glowed glorious shades of orange and red. He wished he could sit there forever, just watching the sunset over the lake.