I've fixed a few minor things in this story and toned Harry's power down a bit. Hopefully now that I think I have things figured out it won't give me as many problems. This story will also be leaning towards light slash later on.

ShadeDancer

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Harry Potter, I just like to write my own version of it.

Chapter 3: A Bit Unexpected

Lucius was the first down to breakfast the next morning as always, knowing that his wife and son would soon follow in order to spend a bit of time with him before he had to head off to the Ministry. And as was routine a smiling house-elf met him at the doorway to the dining room with a steaming mug of coffee. Said cup of coffee almost went crashing to the floor though when Lucius caught sight of the raven-haired, emerald-eyed boy sitting at the table as if he belonged there, enjoying his breakfast as if nothing was wrong. A small smile traced its way across the aristocratic Malfoy features, the boy had surprised them yet again and by judging the grin on his surrogate sons face the child knew it.

"Lucius, what are you doing just standing in the doorway like that" Narcissa's melodious voice spoke out softly from behind him "is something the—"

Lucius had moved aside so that his wife could see inside the dining room.

"—Harry" Narcissa cried out warmly as she swept regally forward to hug Harry "I'm so glad to see you. When did you get here? Does Draco know yet?"

"Obviously not mother" Draco drawled from next to his father "I hadn't expected him to slip away from his watch dogs and follow through with my suggestion to come home quite so quickly."

A mock frown of disappointment crossed Harry's features "well if I'm so obviously not wanted now I can leave and come back later—"

Draco pulled Harry into a brotherly hug that neither would dare give in public as appearances must be kept, not only of them being 'enemies' but the Malfoy's adhered strictly to the rules of pureblooded etiquette when in public.

"You're not going anywhere you git, you're staying right here and having breakfast with us at the very least."

Lucius was the next to come forward and pull Harry to him in a fatherly hug "how long do you think you can stay before someone becomes suspicious of your absence?"

Harry shook his head sadly "not too long after breakfast I'm afraid. As it was so elegantly put the old fool keeps me on a tight leash whenever he can."

Narcissa made a noise of disappointment; it wasn't often that both Harry and Draco were at home. They would have officially adopted Harry a long time ago if the bastard Dumbledore hadn't taken measures to ensure that no one could remove Harry from his relatives without first going through him. And with the Dark Mark having once been on Lucius' arm even though Harry had charmed it invisible by using complex spells in parseltongue so that those not bearing the Dark Mark couldn't see it, no one would believe that he did not support Voldemort and had actually been a spy during the first uprising since he hadn't reported to any of the major known powers in the war. Lucius was his own man and Malfoy pride prevented him from bowing down to an insane megalomaniac without a bloody damn good reason; protecting his family and himself by feigning loyalty in order to spy on Voldemort was the only reason he had taken the mark.

"We will just have to make the best of what time you can spend with us then" Narcissa stated cheerfully, her next words drawing a smile from Harry "and we will have to do our best to free you from Dumbledore's machinations even if it means hiring someone to kidnap you."

A delicious breakfast filled with comfortable conversation ensued, Narcissa occasionally running her fingers through the lengthening strands of Harry's unruly hair commenting that she liked him growing his hair out and was glad he didn't plaster his hair with gel like Draco used to. The comment drew a glare from Draco before the blonde stuck his tongue out childishly. Once breakfast was over with Lucius excused himself to head to work and Narcissa went to prepare herself to head over to the Parkinson's for tea and left Harry and Draco to engage in a fierce round of sparring. In keeping with tradition both boys saluted each other with their blades then clashing them once up and once down before assuming a ready stance with their swords pointing down to the ground and slightly behind them. An unseen signal passed and Draco launched himself forward with a flurry of thrusts which Harry parried, dancing around Draco while looking for an opening. Draco was pure aggression with a sword and while Harry also favored a similar technique he was using this duel to study the moves of his opponent; pure aggression would not always win in the clash of blades, tactics and strategic planning were needed as well.

All too soon Harry and Draco had to call their duel to a draw and saluted each other as they worked on keeping their breathing even. Fencing was both an art and a battle to them and control was a necessary factor that needed to be employed. Glancing at his watch Harry realized that he had just enough time to say goodbye to Narcissa before he had to be back at Hogwarts, they wouldn't miss him over breakfast but if he wasn't seen by lunch someone would come looking. They found Narcissa waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs and after quick but loving hugs Harry and Draco transformed and raced to the apparition point, paws thudding across the soft grasses that coated the land of Malfoy Manor. At the apparition point the black wolf with vivid green eyes and a silver lightening bolt across its muzzle transformed back into a human only to be jumped upon playfully by a grey panther.

"And you tell me to sit and heel" Harry murmured shoving Draco off of him and straightening his robes "I think you're the one that needs the obedience training, or at the very least a leash."

The panther slunk off of Harry and pretended to pout before batting at him with a paw.

"I know, I know" Harry groaned "I need to get out of here. I wish you guys could just adopt me and be done with it, screw the rest of the Wizarding world."

It was with sad eyes that the unusual looking panther watched the boy disappear with the softest touches of magic before sauntering with a lonesome gait back to the house while no more than a mere instant later Harry appeared in a shadowed corner of Hogwart's library. Yes, he had apparated straight into Hogwarts even though it was thought to be impossible, but Harry Potter was a master of the impossible. He also had not apparated as normal witches and wizards did. He had apparated silently upon the waves of magic, allowing his body to flow with the waves and break up to become part of the magic.

When they apparated, other witches and wizards would force their complete bodies from one place to another, running the risk of splinching. This created a vacuum in the air around them both where they disappeared and then reappeared resounding in a loud crack. Harry's form of travel was silent and much more suited to one that employed stealth in their movements. Elemental traveling would also enable him to bypass through Hogwarts' wards as he became part of the Earthly surroundings and was not recognized as a being to be kept out, but the elements took more power and without showing proper respect and having a firm control over what he was doing the elements could backfire and harm him severely. It was so much safer to become a part of the pure magic surrounding him since as a wizard magic was just as much a part of him as his flesh and blood.

Harry sat down at the table in the corner he had appeared in, a place he had claimed as his own where he could freely study without Ron or Hermione or anyone else questioning him. It was also an inconspicuous place to run into some of his Slytherin friends. Then adopting a studious air the young Potter pulled out the potions text Professor Snape had went over the night before and began going through the first potion marked. Hours passed and he had only gotten through two of the potions that due to their placement at the beginning of the book were some of the easier ones. He was currently working on the Bezovis Potion and while he couldn't see anything wrong with the instructions he knew he had read something about it before.

Sighing he slipped his glance over the many books pertaining to potions now cluttering the table, he had summoned them from all over the library but none seemed to be what he needed. Unless—calling himself a million kinds of fool Harry realized that there was one book in this library that would have a lot of the answers in it and save him the trouble of cross-referencing two or three different texts. Within seconds the book Moste Potente Potions was zooming across the library to him. He had discovered, quite by accident, that there was a way around the alarms in the restricted section. The alarms only went off if a book was physically carried through the wards without Madam Pince's authorizing signature, so if the book was summoned there was nothing to set off the alarms. Of course the person summoning the book also had to have enough power to force their will through the minor detection wards.

"Bezovis, Bezovis " Harry murmured as he ran a finger quickly through the list of potions listed "here it is! Bezovis: see Vivari Potion."

Page 1075 yielded the answers he sought. The Bezovis Potions was rendered ineffective unless mixed with five drops of the Vivari Potion after it had cooled and the Vivari Potion was more potent if brewed upon the night of the new moon due to the fact that the potion was supposed to revive the drinker's life-force or magical reserve. Quickly Harry scrawled this notation on the page for the Bezovis Potion in his book and closed it. For the first day having three of the potions corrected wasn't that bad and Harry was ready to do something else. Banishing the books back to their proper places, it wouldn't do for Madam Pince to get suspicious when he was currently the only student in residence, Harry left the library contemplating hunting down Peeves. The mischievous poltergeist was always up for some fun, especially if it involved chaos and mayhem. He ran into Professor Flitwick first.

"Hello Mr. Potter" the small man greeted him cheerfully "you just missed lunch I'm afraid."

"I wasn't all that hungry Professor" he replied, which wasn't quite true, he had asked Dobby to bring him some sandwiches so he didn't have to go to the hall and quit working on his research.

Professor Flitwick took a few more steps down the hall before turning back to Harry.

"Are you busy right now Mr. Potter? I was going to do some work around the classroom and work on some charms. Would you like to help?"

Harry shrugged "sure Professor, I'll help."

Harry figured that he might as well work with Flitwick for a little while, there was always the chance of learning something new even offhandedly, and Flitwick was one of the few teachers he knew wasn't trying to act as his professor and keep an eye on him. The Charms professor was too open for such a thing and Harry couldn't remember seeing him at any Order meetings in the past. In the end it did turn out to be an amusing afternoon and Harry found himself heading to dinner in a good mood. They had spent some time rearranging the room and Flitwick had taught him a few housekeeping spells that would come in handy if he ever got sent back to the Dursley's, not that he planned on staying there if he did.

Flitwick had also turned out to be very knowledgeable in spells useful for pranking. The little man had even winked at Harry before teaching him some of these as if to say that he wouldn't tell if he recognized the spells in use during the school year. They had spent the last hour or so when done their work discussing some more advanced charms and the theory behind them while sipping Butterbeer. Harry was sort of wishing that he had talked more to the man besides during classroom discussions in previous years and had felt slightly pleased when the man had mentioned that he would have made a good Ravenclaw if the Sorting Hat hadn't put him in Gryffindor. Harry didn't bother mentioning that if he had allowed the Hat to put him in Slytherin that he would have been as close to being a Ravenclaw as one could without actually being sorted into the noble house of knowledge. It was ironic how similar Ravenclaws and Slytherins were except that Ravenclaws desired knowledge for knowledge's sake while Slytherins desired knowledge to compliment their cunning nature so that they weren't taken advantage of.

Repost: April 13, 2005