A/N Most characters and plot belong to J.K Rowling
Chapter 3: The Introductions
Remus knew when Harry asked to speak that it would be big news. He knew about Harry being the heir to the House of Potter ever since James died. Harry seemed to be wanting to talk about more than just his new position, which scared Remus the unknown was never very friendly to him. Harry and Remus decided to sit at the dinner table to talk; Harry sat down and waited for Remus to get comfortable before asking his first question.
"Why did you never tell me, Uncle Remus?" Harry asked sharply. Remus sat there thought for a moment answering, "I knew you were the heir for the House of Potter, just both me and Albus decided it would be better for you to learn about this after your birthday." Harry sat staring at Remus with eyes precisely like Lily's; they seemed to search his soul looking for any lie or exaggeration.
Harry seemed to accept the response as he explained to Remus he wasn't just the Lord to Be for the Most Noble House of Potter but also the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell. This revelation was something Remus had never expected, "that house has been lost for centuries, Harry, are you sure that's what Gorbot told you?" Remus asked.
Harry made his rings visible for Remus, who looked down immediately to inspect the rings. He had seen the Potter ring before from James, but the Peverell ring was somehow just that bit more elegant, like an old wine. Harry then explained what had happened in the office with Gorbot presenting the rings then showing Harry the contents of the vaults plus all financial information that came with being the Lord. Remus sat very still and was shocked by what he heard from his young nephew.
When Harry was done explaining, he continued to stare at Remus across the table, hoping he would at least acknowledge that he heard everything. Neither Harry nor Remus noticed that an owl had just landed outside their window. Not until it screeched at them did Remus once again move; he took the rolled-up parchment from the owl, which flew away back to where ever it came from. Remus unrolled the letter and started to read it silently to himself; Remus, as you may know, Harry has now learned of his exalted status in our society. He needs to be ready for the threats that may try to influence him behind closed doors away from prying eyes, so please, before he leaves for Hogwarts, teach him the basics of Occlumency so he can be prepared. Hoping you are well -AD
Harry also stood up but didn't get to read the letter as Remus hid it from sight; all Harry saw was the writing; it was golden and looked more formal. Harry had never seen Remus get letters like that before except once, but Harry can't remember who sent it that time either.
After Harry had put away all his shopping, he once again found the wand he bought at Ollivander's, He knew he wasn't allowed to use magic, but he picked it up and flicked his wrist just to see, curious as he was, he regretted the decision moments later. Remus was cooking dinner when he heard a tremendous crash coming from Harry's room. He ran to the door and took out his wand, but the second he opened the door, all he could see was the smoke coming out the cracks.
Remus performed the bubblehead charm on himself to breathe and moved towards the bed, where he found Harry trying to shield himself from all the smoke. Remus grabbed Harry and took him into the living room, where he sat the boy down before going back and removing all the smoke from the house to not alert and muggles that might be looking in. Once Remus was done, he returned to Harry and asked calmly, "What happened?"
"I'm sorry, Remus. I just couldn't wait to imitate you; I always see you doing all these spells and didn't think just flicking the wand would do anything. Remus just started smiling and roughed up Harry's hair warning him not to try it again, but he knew Harry desperately needed to learn Occlumency or he would never be able to control his magic. Once the house started was finally clear from all the smoke, Remus went back into the kitchen to finish making dinner. His mind was focused on the letter he received early that afternoon; how could he introduce Occlumency for Harry without scaring the boy.
The next couple of days flew by. Harry would hold up in his room reading all the books he got on the trip to Diagon Alley; while he read the books, he sometimes believed he already knew everything in the book, he just kept reading on knowing he couldn't, as he never had spellbooks in the house. This day, in particular, was different as it was his, "Happy Birthday Harry," shouted Remus as he burst through the door shooting small fireworks out of his wand.
Harry jumped out of skin almost from the surprise and ran over to hug Remus. "Thank you, Uncle." they left his room which looked like a bomb had gone off with books scattered on the floor from all of Harry's late-night studying. They had received a couple of cards from his Muggle friends he met around the building. He quickly opened them, and each had 20 pounds or so inside; he was looking around for the rest of his presents and didn't see them. He turned to ask Remus, but he knew what Harry was going to ask, "Your presents are at Neville's; we decided to hold the party at their place instead this year;" Remus smiled.
They finished breakfast and started getting ready for the party. Remus wore his more formal robes; they looked very tattered and old, but Harry knew most of his clothes looked like that; Harry wore one of his new school robes, as he was told to wear robes like his uncle. Once they were both dressed and ready to go, they gathered at the fireplace, threw a handful of floo powder into their fire and stepped in one at a time, announcing Longbottom Mansion.
Harry stepped out of the fireplace and was greeted by the most extravagant scene; fireflies were flying all over the room, candles were floating, a banner had been erected on the wall opposite the fireplace reading "Happy Birthday Neville and Harry."
It was nothing like they had back home. He was starting to tear up when we was hugged by Neville and Augusta, both wishing him a happy birthday. They all sat around paying wizards chess and talking about life at Hogwarts until a house-elf named Hina came up and said very politely, "Dinner is ready, Lady Longbottom if you and your guests wish to eat now."
They all started to get up and move towards the dining room, still chatting and laughing; Harry was the last person to move into the Dinning room, where the food was almost as extravagant as the room before. It was all sitting on gold and silver plates with nothing out of place, he sat down beside Remus, but across the table from Neville, Augusta took the seat at the head of the table. They all started to dig into the stuffed hen with mashed potatoes with assorted vegetables. Never had Harry had a meal with third helpings; the food was spectacular, and once dessert consisting of chocolate mousse and the birthday cake came out, Harry never thought he would be able to leave his seat.
They all slowly started to move back into the sitting room, where Harry now saw two neat piles of presents; Harry's pile had always been smaller than Neville's, but that never bothered him. He sat down and started to open his gifts. The first was from Augusta, a book on ancient families of wizards and the etiquette they all followed. He smiled and knew Neville must have known about Harry's family. The next gift was from Neville, and it was a giant box of chocolate frogs; Harry hugged Neville and moved on to his last present, which was from Remus. He opened the box and found two books inside. The first was Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimensy, and the second book was Beginner's Guide to Dueling. Harry knew that wizards duelled for sport, but he had never heard of Legilimensy and would later ask Remus what it meant.
Neville had a couple more gifts to open when Harry finished, so he watched Neville unwrap a new set of Dress robes, and he saw Neville receive a remembrall. Both boys hugged and said thank you to everyone after they finished unwrapping the gifts. Once the gifts were unwrapped, they all had a last cup of tea before Remus and Harry decided it was getting kind of late. Remus went first into the fireplace, waving bye and thanking Augusta for the meal. Just before Harry stepped through, he was lightly grabbed on the shoulder by Augusta.
"Harry, I'm sorry if you wanted to keep your heirship hidden from us; Neville had seen the glimmer of your rings before you hid them and told me you had received them. I hope you are okay with it." Augusta said sincerely; Harry smiled and replied, "I did want to hide it from strangers, but you two are family to me, and I'm glad you both know," "Just don't go telling anyone at school, Neville." Harry said with the slightest grin. Augusta again hugged the boy, then motioned for him to enter the fire and head on home, and with a last look and smile, Harry whooshed back to his home.
Harry had begun to wipe the soot off his robes once Remus came out of his room, asking Harry, "What took you so long? I was starting to worry." Harry told Remus about Augusta pulling him aside to talk, which Remus nodded and took as her talking to Harry about his ring. Once they settled in, Harry finally remembered the curious book and decided to ask about it. "Remus, what is Legilimency?" He was ready for the question and quickly handed the curious letter to Harry. Harry scanned the note taking in every word of the golden writing, and once he finished, looked up at Remus and asked, "Whos AD, and how did they know about us visiting Gringotts?"
Remus took a second then answered, "AD is Albus Dumbledore, the Head Master of Hogwarts, and he was the executor for the vaults once James and Lily died, so they must have sent him a letter saying you took control over the vaults."
"Harry, if you look at the end of the letter, he also asked me to teach you Occlumency, which is the ability to protect your mind from Legilimency or to put it plainly, so people can't use magic; to read your mind." Harry looked at Remus like he was joking, but the serious look on his face told Harry he was not joking around. "Where do we star,t uncle?" asked Harry.
The next couple of days were fuzzy for Harry as instead of filling his head reading books, he was instructed to empty it and organize his thoughts and memories. Harry thought he had caught on quickly, but even Remus's weak legilimency could break his defence in a matter of seconds. No matter how hard he tried to empty his thoughts, he could never entirely focus due to all the noise from the bustling streets; after a week, Harry sent an owl asking Augusta if he could continue his training in her Mansion as the silence he believed would do well. The letter came back a couple of days later, and instead of just being able to train, he and Remus were invited to stay the last two weeks before he left for school.
So for the last two weeks, Remus and Harry packed up and moved into the guest rooms of Longbottom Mansion; Harry found it much quieter, which helped him focus. The added benefit was Neville and Augusta; both were adept with Occlumency and gave more tips and strategies Remus just didn't know about. Once the last couple of days were coming up, he finally felt he had accomplished what Remus could teach him; Remus could no longer penetrate his mind and even Augusta, who only tried once, took two minutes to finally make a hole.
September 1st, 1991
Harry had woken up to a house-elf placing his morning tea on the bedside table and the clock reading 8am. Harry thought to himself, three hours and ill be on the train to Hogwarts. He got up and finished packing the final bits and bobs scattered over the floor. Once he was packed and Hedwig was in her cage, he went downstairs to have breakfast. He walked in and noticed he was the last to arrive, seeing Remus and Augusta chatting and sipping on their tea and Neville just finishing his toast and eggs.
Harry had finished just before 9am, and they all moved into the sitting room, asking Harry and Neville if they had packed everything. Once the clock chimed for 10am, Remus and Augusta told the boys to collect their trunks and get ready. Harry was the first back with his trunk and waited with the adults for Neville, who came out five minutes later carrying a trunk that seemed double the size of Harry's. Augusta threw some floo powder into the fire and directed the boys, who both said Hogwarts express and were lifted up the fireplace.
They arrived on platform 9 ¾, which had begun to fill but wasn't busy. Harry had lifted his trunk onto the train before helping Neville, who he could swear had rocks in his trunk. He gave a goodbye hug to Remus before turning to Augusta before bowing to her, which made her smile, knowing he had started to read his etiquette book. They found an empty compartment halfway down the carriage and lifted their trunks into the holding racks. Harry took the seat facing the window, and Neville did the same on the other side; both boys watched as the Platform started filling up with more families; some were even running out of the walls in the middle of the platform. Harry imagined how it looked on the other side, wherever the other side was.
The conductors were starting to close the doors on the carriage, which made the students on the platform quickly say their goodbyes before jumping on the train.
The train whistled and started to move a minute later, everyone waving out the train's windows at their families. Once the train began to speed up, the door to their compartment opened, it was a girl the same age as them. She had long blonde hair and seemed to not notice the boys till she was entirely inside the compartment. She started to leave when Neville said, it's all right, lots of room in here for everyone. She turned around and smiled at Neville; once she sat down, they introduced themselves; she said her name was Hannah Abbott first year, followed by Neville. Once Harry introduced himself, she looked at him in awe, quickly looking up to his head where the famous lighting scar was. Harry always liked having such a cool scar, but when Remus had told him why it turned into the worst reminder a kid could have.
Another five minutes went by when another girl walked into the compartment, this time she didn't much come in just asked, "Has anyone seen a rat? Boy named Ron has lost him." they all shook their head no, though Hannah got up and told the girl she would help look. They both left, and Neville and Harry were again alone in the compartment. It wasn't till nightfall did Hannah come back saying they finally found the Rat. She told them one of the older Slytherins had stolen the rat, which didn't surprise either boy. They both grew up knowing people in Slytherin house weren't always the most upstanding citizens, producing many dark witches and wizards. They continued the rest of the trip talking about their lives back home and if both their parents were magical or not; Harry knew both the Abbotts and Longbottoms were part of the scared twenty-eight were all families labelled with truly pure-blood. He went along acting as if he didn't know to not try and flaunt his knowledge, he never had many friends, but Hannah seemed like someone he could get along with.
It was now dark out, and out of nowhere, Harry heard someone talking like they were right beside him. "We are almost at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry; please take this time to change into your school robes." The message was repeated then the feeling had gone away; looking at both Hannah and Neville, he knew they had heard the message as well. Harry and Neville both left the compartment to allow Hannah to change privacy and switched with her when she was finished.
They had reached Hogsmead Station twenty minutes later; as the doors opened, they heard a great booming voice yell, "First years come with me, First years over here." The trio ducked and dived through the students finding the voice coming for a large man taller than all three stacked atop each other. They waited for a couple more students to join them, and the man introduced himself as Hagrid; they would be taking a unique way towards Hogwarts. They followed him down the hill and towards boats.
He instructed them to join up in groups of four and get into a boat. Harry, Neville, and Hannah shared a boat with a boy named Dean Thomas. The boat seemed to know they were all in the boat and started to sail off on its own; no rowing or sails needed. The boats all turned the corner to show a magnificent castle sitting atop a large mountain bordering the sea, all the students continued to look in awe, and some students even let out some noise of excitement.
They had reached land not much later and followed Hagrid up the path until they came to the steps leading into the castle where they were met by an older woman, They all quieted down, and she announced. "Welcome to Hogwarts through these doors is the entrance room, and on the right is the main hall where you shall be sorted into your houses before you may be seated. At Hogwarts, your house is like your family; you will earn points by doing well in classes any rule-breaking, and you will lose points; at the end of the semester, the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup, now please wait here I will come back to get you."
They all started to whisper among themselves until a boy with slicked-back white hair said, "So it's true then Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." Harry looked back towards the boy who continued, "This is Crabbe," motioning to his right, "And this is Goyle" motioning to his left, "I'm Draco Malfoy, you learn that some magical families are better than others." He quickly glanced at Hannah and Neville, then looked back at Harry, "You don't want to be making friends with the wrong sort; I can help you there." Harry looked at Draco and said, "I'm sure to figure that out for myself, thanks" Draco then moved back and looked furious at Harry.
Before anything else could be said, the older witch came out and said, "We are ready for you now." Leading the first years into the Great Hall, where Harry saw candles floating up near the roof, which seemed to mimic the sky above. Four giant tables lined the room, which appeared to sit students based on the house; behind him, he could hear a girl talking about how she read the ceiling is bewitched to look like the night sky in a book called Hogwarts A History. They all stopped in front of steps that led up towards a beaten laying on top of a stool.
"Once I call your name, you will step up, and I will place this hat on your head, and it will determine where you will be placed." The witch said. The first person to be called was Hannah, and after a couple seconds, the hat announced; BETTER BE HUFFLEPUFF; cheers came from the table. Harry guessed it was Hufflepuff and Hannah jumped down to join her new house. The following couple names were people Harry didn't recognize, but then he heard Filligan Seamus. The boy walked up and sat on the stool. This took about a minute before he heard it yell Gryffindor more cries rang out from another table, next was Hermione Granger, another girl he didn't recognize but she seemed to slowly catch everyone's attention when the hat kept so silent. One minute goes by nothing, two minutes still the hat hasn't said anything, three minutes everyone starts to whisper and Harry can see Hermione start to blush from embarrassment, finally in the fourth minute the hat says Ravenclaw the table shouts louder than everyone else, Must be unique if the hat takes to long.
More names get called, and Harry starts to feel the exhaustion set in; it's been a long day. He comes back to life when he hears, "Longbottom, Neville" he watches as his friend walks up more nervous than anyone else, again the hat takes so long and finally shouts Gryffindor the table shouts and howls, clapping for their new member. A couple of people go by until his name is finally called "Potter, Harry" he walks up, hearing the room get quiet as they all seem to focus on Harry. He sits on the stool, and the hat is placed on his head.
Not a bad mind at all, a thirst to prove yourself yessss, but where to put you? I don't think you are a good fit for Hufflepuff. Outside of his head, no one has said a word; everyone enthralled by Harry and where he will be, I see then… "BETTER BE RAVENCLAW," The hate announces to the room at large. Harry slowly walks down to the table as people cheer and clap for Harry, but people are booing and making sure he feels unwelcome at the Slytherin table.
Finally, Ron, the boy who lost his rat, is placed in Gryffindor, and lastly, Zabini, Blaise, joins the Slytherins. Once everyone is seated, Albus Dumbledore rises from his chair and says, "Let the Feast Begin," as he finishes the plates in front of every came stacked with food, everything from turkey to pork and even fish, potatoes, rice. When everyone had their fill, desserts, chocolate mousse and cake, pumpkin pasties, and ice cream. Only the feast this past birthday could compare to what he had seen. All the first years introduced themselves during the meal, for boys was Harry, Terry Boot, Michael Corner, and Anthony Goldstein. The girls were Amanda Travers, Mandu Brocklehurst, Sue Li, Padma Patil, Lisa Turpin and, Hermione Granger.
Once everyone was done eating, Albus rose again and spoke to the students. "To all the new students, Welcome and to everyone returning. Welcome back, I have been asked by Mr. Flitch, our caretaker, to remind you of the Dark Forest, and the 3rd-floor corridor on the right side is forbidden to all students who do not wish for a most gruesome death." Harry got chills after he noticed Dumbledore was not joking, "Additionally, we have a change in staffing. I wish to announce Professor Kettleburn has decided to retire to spend time with his grandchildren and his remaining limbs. To replace him is our own Rubeus Hagrid. Good luck Professor."
The clapping had finally calmed down, and Dumbledore said, "Now everyone to their common rooms, you will need some sleep before classes tomorrow." Harry followed all other first-years who were collected by the Ravenclaw prefect and shown to the common room, which was on the west side of the castle is a tower befitting of the House, Ravenclaw Tower. They reached the door, and out came a soft voice that asked, "What gets wetter the more it dries?" The Ravenclaw prefect turned to the first years and said, "If you want to sleep better, have the answer" He smiled. The first years all huddled up, but before they could talk amongst themself, Hermione answered "A Towel" the voice cheerily said, "Correct," and the wall swung open to let them in. Harry went up to his room which he shared with all the other Ravenclaw boys, changed into Pyjamas and fell asleep, anxious for the days to come.
A/N Thanks everyone for the reviews and questions on the last story; please keep them coming can't wait to hear what everyone has to say makes me enjoy writing even more when I can add more ideas.
Replies: Harry and Neville got the wands they use during the 4th book+ and has been updated to reflect that in Chapter 2
Yes, Harry is currently only a Lord of Two, but it will make more sense later.
Next time: Harry has his first days at Hogwarts and makes a new friend.
It will be continued tomorrow. Lost a bet with a friend and will be doing daily uploads till the weekend.