Disclaimer: Don't own any of it. 'Cept Diana. She's half mine.

Extended summary: Severus is Harry's father. Exactly four (living) people know this: Dumbledore, Sev, Remus, and Harry himself. As far as the Ministry knows, Harry is being looked after by Remus Lupin -- wards and other precautions have been put into place to keep Harry from being bitten during the full moon. What the Ministry does not know is that Severus visits Harry whenever possible during the school year, and that Harry lives with Severus during the summer and Christmas holidays. This story starts when Harry is on the train to Hogwarts for his first year. Someday, I may write a prequel. Until then, enjoy!

Chapter One: Meeting New People

Harry Snape, known to all but a few as Harry Potter, sat in the corner of one of the compartments on the Hogwarts Express, idly twirling his new wand. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts. His "guardian," Remus Lupin had told him countless stories about the castle, as had his father, Severus Snape.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" asked a voice from the doorway. Harry looked up.

"Not at all," he said. "Have a seat."

The two girls standing there smiled at him. "Thank you," said the one who had spoken first as they moved to sit down. "I'm Diana Greengrass, and this is my sister Daphne. We're first years, how about you?"

"First," Harry replied, grinning. "My name's Harry."

"Pleased to meet you," Diana said. Daphne nodded shyly. "You can call me Di, if you want. So, do you know what house you want to be in? I'm Ravenclaw, definitely, and Daph wants Hufflepuff."

Harry shrugged. "I don't much care. The Sorting Hat always knows best, or so I've heard."

"I dunno. I heard that the Sorting Hat will put someone into a House where they don't belong because they asked for it. Personally, though, I couldn't care less which house I'm in, so I'm not going to try and argue with the Hat." The boy in the doorway grinned at them "Blaise Zabini," he said, by way of introducing himself. "Does that toad belong to one of you?" he asked, pointing under Harry's seat. "Because I think that it wants to leave."

Sure enough, the toad started hopping towards the door, apparently trying to escape from the compartment. Blaise caught it easily, and looked at the other three expectantly.

Diana shook her head. "Not ours."

Harry shrugged. "If it belongs to another student, they'll come looking for it," he said reasonably. "If not, well, there's a lake near Hogwarts. We can let it go there."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Blaise said, taking a seat.

The twins nodded, and Di launched into a discussion about classes. They had gotten as far as deciding that Charms sounded the most fun, History of Magic the most boring, and Transfiguration the hardest, when a bushy-haired girl stuck her head in, followed by a timid looking boy.

"I'm sorry," the girl said, "but have any of you seen a toad? Neville's lost one." She gestured toward the boy.

Blaise grinned, producing the toad he had caught earlier. "This it?"

"Trevor!" Neville said, reaching for the toad.

"Please, sit down," Daphne said softly, speaking for the first time since entering the compartment.

Neville and the girl did, taking the last two empty seats in the compartment. "I'm Hermione Granger," the girl said.

"Diana and Daphne Greengrass."

"Blaise Zabini."

"Harry."

Blaise turned to face Harry. "What's your surname?" he asked curiously. "Everyone's going to find out at the Sorting anyway," he pointed out.

"Potter," Harry said reluctantly, bracing himself for the inevitable storm of comments. He was not completely disappointed.

"Are you really?" Hermione asked excitedly, leaning forward. "I know all about you, of course. I got a couple of extra books for backround reading and you're in /Modren Magical History/ and /The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts/ and /Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century/."

"I know," Harry said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Why?" Diana asked. The Greengrass girls were apparently Muggle-born.

"He deafeated You-Know-Who when he was a baby," Blaise said, inspecting Harry again.

"Who's You-Know-Who?"

"Lord Voldemort," Harry explained, ignoring the winces from Blaise, Neville, and Hermione. "He was trying to kill all Muggle-borns -- anyone who wasn't pure-blood, really -- about ten years ago. Anyone that tried to stop him got killed as well."

"And you defeated him when you were only a baby?"

"I don't even remember it," Harry protested. "Forget about it, alright?"

Nothing more was said, but everyone was shooting glances at him every couple of seconds. Finally he stood up. "Look, if you guys can't forget or ignore that I'm Harry Potter, I'm leaving," he said.

"Sorry, Harry," Di said. "We shouldn't treat you any different just because you're in all those books and stuff." Daphne nodded. Blaise and Hermione looked down at their shoes, both looking slightly ashamed of themselves.

Neville smiled tentatively at Harry. "Diana's right. Sorry, Harry."

Harry sat back down, trying to think of a way to lighten the mood. "Anyone follow Quidditch?" he tried.

Blaise looked up, grinning. "Of course."

Neville shook his head. "I don't. Gran doesn't much like Quidditch."

"What's Quidditch?" Diana and Hermione asked at the same time. They grinned at each other and Daphne laughed.

"It's the best sport in the world," Blaise said, launching into an enthusiastic description of the rules, players, balls, and teams. He finished just as the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station. "I support the Prides," he said as they stood to exit the train.

Harry grinned. "It's the Wanderers all the way," he disaggreed.

"Yeah, if you want to have a meat cleaver on your chest," Blaise retorted, rolling his eyes. Everyone laughed as they stepped onto the platform, heading toward a very large man calling for all of the first years.

Harry was pretty sure that he was the Hagrid that both his father and Remus had talked about. After all, how many people that size could on castle have?

Hagrid led them down to the edge of the lake, which had a small fleet of boats waiting there. "No more'n four to a boat," he instructed.

Harry, Blaise, and the twins got into one boat, with Neville and Hermione joining two other first years in another boat. Once everyone was settled, the boats started across the large lake. It didn't take as long as Harry expected to get across the lake and soon the boats were pulling into a small harbor in Hogwarts's shadow.

After they got out of the boat, Harry, Blaise, Daphne, and Diana rejoined Neville and Hermione, who was glaring at a red-haired boy who had been in her boat. Together, the first years followed Hagrid up to the main entrance. The door opened almost as soon as he knocked.


A/N: There's the first chapter! Can any of you guess which House he's going to be in? If you have a question about Harry's history, or where this story is going, please leave it in a review!