Inversions of the Truth

(Harry)

As I arrived at the headmaster's office, I heard a bird's call. Looking over I saw the bird fly over and land on my shoulder. "It seems Fawkes likes you," said the headmaster. Turning my attention to him, I felt a slight probing at my mind, not enough to get past basic defense, but to see what my mind brought up.

The headmaster asked me to sit down, which I did carefully so as not to dislodge Fawkes. "May I ask why I have been brought here when I have done nothing wrong and my head of house is not present?" I could tell he wanted something, but I wasn't sure what.

"I simply wanted to ask you where you have been the past seven years," was his reply. I could feel a slight push to get the information, but he didn't get anywhere.

"I see no reason why it should matter to you headmaster. After all, you are not my legal guardian."

His eyes tightened, "you are my responsibility, your aunt and uncle are your muggle guardians, I am your wizard guardian."

I smirked, "weren't you aware, the contract has been voided. You only held onto my vault key, nothing else." I looked him straight in the eyes, "you have no claim over me, nor do my 'aunt and uncle'."

"Where have you been Harry?" I could tell he wasn't happy that I would face him, too many people bowing and scraping to him I suppose.

"With those who truly care for me." I remained calm. I would not give him a way in.

"Harry I must insist that you return to your aunt and uncle's home, it is the safest place for you."

I could feel my face flush, "you mean the safest place so you can place me in an information blackout. The ones who care for me tried to figure out your logic, the only solution they could come up with was so that you could control what I knew, and make sure information got to me on your timetable."

I glared at him, "tell me, why is it in the two years I resided in that place that Remus Lupin never once came and visited? Why would he not try to see me, when he cared for my parents so much? Was it because he's a werewolf?" Dumbledore flinched. "Oh we have met. Tell me, would you have let him drown in his sorrow until it was beneficial for him to be introduced to me? Would you have hid that Sirius Black is my godfather?" I could see he was uncomfortable.

He sighed, "Harry, the reason you were placed with your aunt was your mother died to protect you, her death allowed those that share the same blood to be able to protect you."

"In case you haven't realized professor, I am more than safe enough as I have never been caught and I have visited the wizard world on several occasions. You can't find me and you have been looking for seven years. So it stands to reason that I am more protected than you originally thought I was."

"There is still the danger of Sirius Black to consider."

"What danger? Do you honestly believe a man so against the dark arts would suddenly bow down and kiss Voldemort's feet? Are you so blinded by your power that you can only see what is beneficial for you? Sirius Black loved my parents, probably more than his own life."

Dumbledore sat quiet for awhile. I waited until I got tired of waiting. "If you have nothing else, may I go to my common room?" He nodded and summoned McGonagall. She took me to the common room and showed me where I was to sleep. Once I arrived, I noticed that Neville had a bed right next to me, and he snored. Chuckling softly, I got dressed for bed, raised a silencing ward around my bed, set wards to alert me if someone attempted to get in and set an alarm for the morning.

In the morning I joined up with Neville and Hermione for breakfast. Once we had sat down, the owls came in. Hedwig landed in front of me with out any letters, not that I was expecting any yet. As I was feeding her some toast, a black raven swooped down and landed on my shoulder. I noticed several people look at me oddly, as ravens weren't common message carriers. Taking the note from her I read:

Harry,

We haven't found anything yet. We do know that he wasn't able to leave the country, but that's all the information we have. Learn lots and be safe.

Mom

Quickly pulling out a piece of parchment I wrote:

Mom

I understand, I will keep a lookout. Spoke with Dumbledore, remind me to tell you some time.

Harry

P.S. I'm in Gryffindor.

Attaching the letter to the raven I said, "you know who to take this to." Mom and Padfoot were back in country all ready? I wonder where they got the information so fast.

As the raven flew off, Neville asked, "why did someone send you a letter by raven?"

Jerked out of my thoughts I replied, "ravens are incredibly intelligent and it's more common to see a raven than an owl."

One of red head twins leaned over, "but they are wizards aren't they? It would be easier just to use an owl wouldn't it? After all, you have one."

I shrugged, "they're just that way, I never asked why." Of course I knew why, mom's form was a raven. We continued talking about various things as the time tables were handed out. After breakfast we headed off to Transfiguration.

Once we arrived, I sat with Neville in between Hermione and myself, easiest way for either of us to help him was my explanation. Once McGonagall entered, she transformed her desk into a cow and back. I rolled my eyes at the amazed sounds from everyone. McGonagall began giving us the basic of basics, diagrams and the like.

After all the note taking she gave the task of changing a matchstick into a needle. While she was helping another student, I was explaining an alternate route to get the same results to Neville. "All you really need to do is visualize the needle. The entire field of transfiguration is based on visualization. The more complete the image, the better your product. Much like conjuration."

"Mr. Potter, are you so sure? After all, I have yet to see you actually attempt the set task."

Sirius was definitely right, she was strict. Looking down at the match, I flicked my wand and changed it into a needle. The effect was humorous. McGonagall blinked several times before saying, "change it back." After I did so she awarded me five points and left to help the other students.

After class McGonagall had me stay. "Mr. Potter, how were you able to perform that on your first try?"

Deciding telling the entire truth wouldn't be a good idea I said, "the explanation I got was that magic is only limited by the belief that something is impossible and the power to make it happen."

She smiled slightly, "that was a very good way to view magic Mr. Potter. I trust you will keep your current level of achievement. You may leave." As I went out, Neville and Hermione were waiting for me. I explained what was discussed, Hermione seemed surprised at why I had been able to do it on the first try.

"You were taught a very unique way of viewing magic Harry," Neville said, "most simply abide by the rules that others have figured out. I bet you could do silent magic because of it." We talked on our way to Herbology. We viewed various plants we would be work on and with during the year. Charms was fun, although I hated the reaction Flitwick gave when he called my name. We worked on some very basic charms, Hermione had been paired up with another Gryffindor and I paired up with Neville. All our classes went smoothly through the day and soon it was supper time. While we talked about the day, a couple of other first years came up and asked me some questions about myself.

While I glared at them for being rude, a red head, Ron, said, "how come you vanished from the wizard world Harry?"

The phrase 'if looks could kill' was definitely in effect. I just stared at him, he balked under it. Finally I said quietly, "I have my reasons, and at no point do I feel the need to tell anyone." Another red head, Percy, came up and told everyone to disperse as they were blocking the path. Once we left, Neville gave me a look that said he was annoyed by their actions. Hermione was a little more vocal.

We went to the library to do homework and finished quickly. Returning to the common room, Ron decided to challenge me to a game of chess. I accepted and we began to play. As I was borrowing someone's pieces, they constantly argued with my decisions. Finally I got tired of being told to move another piece that I cast a silencing spell on them. "I know what I am doing, you just need to obey my orders as the soldiers you are." The game continued with Ron barely surviving with a stalemate.

I told Neville if he or Hermione needed me, I would be sending a letter. I walked to the Owlery muttering curses under my breath about wizard chess pieces. Once I got there, I was met with an unexpected sight.

"Mom?" I whispered it softly. Activating a perimeter charm, I learned no one was around. Nodding to mom, she changed back into her human form and gave me a hug.

"We are so proud of you Harry, James would be as well. How was your first day?" I told her about the various things we had learned, she picked up that I was bored with the slow pace of the lessons. When I told her about the reaction of various students, she frowned slightly. "They view you as a hero, which means you will be in the public eye a lot." When I told her about Dumbledore's insistence, she started to get mad. I calmly told her that we could deal with that when we came to it.

She asked why I was up here, and I told her that I was going to ask if I could be sent my wizard chess pieces, as the ones I borrowed nearly cost me the match. She nodded and said she would have Hedwig bring them tomorrow. Mom kissed my forehead and warned me to be careful, Peter wasn't the only one who could hurt me.

Once she flew off with Hedwig, I returned to the common room. Hermione was reading a book on potions, as we had it first thing after breakfast. Remus warned me that Snape, an old school enemy, was teaching potions and hated James. While they told me that my dad was arrogant when he was younger, he mellowed out after his fifth year, mostly because of mom.

We went down in the morning and began breakfast when Hedwig flew in with my set. Smiling I set them in my bag, I would put them up after I finished, and gave her several pieces of toast. Neville asked what I had been sent, and seemed surprised that they were chess pieces. Ron heard this and said he wanted a rematch, to which I agreed.

After putting up the set, I joined Hermione and Neville outside the potions classroom. Neville said he was nervous to which I responded, "don't think about what could go wrong, simply focus on the task at hand. No matter what anyone says, relax and focus on your task." Neville smiled and nodded as we entered the classroom.

Snape entered with a bang and a flourish, trying a little to hard to intimidate people. I wrote in short hand every word he said about potions. When he decided to call role, he came to my name and sneered. " Potter, our new celebrity." I returned his look of contempt with a flat stare, like hell I would give him an inch.

"What would I get if I added powered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"A potion called the Draught of the Living Death." He blinked

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of a goat."

"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"Nothing sir, they are the same." Snape glared at me and I felt a probing at my mind. I created a rather vivid memory of being burned and shoved it at him. He flinched ever so slightly. He went back to instructing us on the potion we were to work on and had us start. Neville took a couple steadying breaths before beginning, but otherwise nothing of importance happened. At the end of class, Neville's potion was very slightly off color while only Hermione and me had it as near perfect as possible.

I waited until the class left to ask Snape a question. He glared at me and asked what I wanted. "Why do you hate me? I'm not my father, I have no memories of him save what others have told me."

He stared at me for a minute before saying that he had more important things to do than to explain himself to a child. I continued to my classes that I had. The week was uneventful, except when I crushed Ron in the rematch. Malfoy kept giving me death glares but I ignored them.

Neville, Hermione and I were fast becoming close friends. Between Hermione and me, Neville was quickly gaining confidence which seemed to be the only thing he needed. The three of us seemed to stand out as the best students in our year, though Hermione out shone Neville and me by a fair margin (mostly because she was better at writing essays).

Days flew by, and sooner than we expected it was time for our broom riding training.


A/n: Ok, I'm going to start forward fasting here soon. My question is should I have Harry become seeker or not? Please be warned that I stink at writing anything to do with sports. Thank you for the reviews!