"English couple arrested for Child Abuse! Nephew to go into foster care. Son to go to maternal aunt."

That was the paper that adorned his wall after he was adopted at age seven. That day he quit being Harry Potter and was raised as Skye Epps, mathematical prodigy and son of the famous Charlie Epps. While he had yet to meet his new uncle, his grandfather was not surprised when he showed his intelligence. Instead his new family was highly supportive and his IQ soared to close to his new father's level.

Add to the fact that the college his dad worked at had magic classes for those with potential, and he became a qualified Mage at age ten. He still took classes anyway, as there was always a new branch to learn. Not to mention it meant he got to spend more time with his father. He filled his days with activity, like mixed martial arts lessons every Thursday and Saturday, Gymnastics on Tuesday, jogging to random destinations Monday and Friday, a break on Wednesday, and taking care of the garden (which was officially his main chore) on Sunday.

When his uncle moved back to work at the FBI, Skye decided to wait on meeting him. Until his dad needed him to deliver a flash drive to the office while he did a lecture. That was the first time he had ever seen Don.

Though Don didn't have a clue he even had a nephew. Apparently his grandfather failed to tell him. So when he showed up at the front desk, he left all his new gardening things at the front and put on the Visitor's pass. Walking into the place, he tried and failed to find the man. So he asked someone with short dark hair.

"Excuse me, but where can I find Agent Don Epps?"

Don took a look at the kid asking for him...when he was standing in front of him.

The kid wore a comfortable hoodie with the emblem where his brother worked at. He had a pair of faded jeans and jogging shoes. His hair was shoulder length and in a pony tail, and it was midnight black. A pair of the clearest emerald eyes shone through a pair of silver wire frames with blue tints. A student's ID was around the kid's neck, partially obscured by the hoodie's zipper. The name read Skye, and he looked about twelve.

"I'm Agent Epps."

"Oh, then here."

Skye handed him a flash drive...and it looked identical to Charlie's.

"Dad wanted me to deliver this, and tell you Gramps is making prime ribs tonight."

"Who's your dad?"

The kid gave him an odd look.

"Sorry, but I have to get going. I'm already late for my usual run as is, and I need to get my new gardening supplies put up before supper."

The kid dropped off the pass, and retrieved his things. He also put a sharp knife around his neck. Don watched as the kid looked both ways before taking off jogging.

He took a look at the flash drive and realized it was something he had asked Charlie to calculate for a case. Charlie showed up two hours later and explained it to them. Finally Don asked about the kid who dropped the drive off earlier.

Skye finished putting in the new flowers, which complimented the garden nicely. Putting away the new tools and the compost, he went inside and took a shower. Afterwords he took out a guitar and started playing for a few hours, working on a song composition. He finally put the finishing touches right when his grandfather put on the ribs.

His dad came home with the Agent from earlier. So that was his uncle Don. He hoped fervently that he was nothing like his Uncle Vernon.

Don asked his father about the kid, which prompted him to call Skye down.

"Skye, come down and pick your ribs!"

The same kid from earlier came down, only this time he was wearing a tee shirt reading "How do you keep an idiot busy? Look on the other side." Turning around the back said the same thing. It was clear he had just come out of the shower recently, since his hair was still wet.

"Don, meet my son Skye. Skye this is your uncle Don," said Charlie.

"Hello."

"I didn't know you had a kid."

"I'm adopted. My maternal aunt was arrested for child abuse while on vacation in the States, and Dad adopted me a month later."

Dinner was slightly awkward, as Don got to know his nephew. He was quite surprised to find Skye graduated High school in two months and was already a college grad. He still attended, and was well known in the English and Math departments. His two nicknames were the 'Human Computer' and 'Literary Wizard'.

He still didn't know the biggest surprise about Skye. Skye was an actual Wizard. One who was legally allowed to cast magic in the States. Skye was adamant about not going anywhere near the UK until he was close to twenty, since their ridiculous under age magic alarms would go off if he went there.

Skye had turned eleven, and they had had a huge birthday party at the college. Even his uncle attended, with some of his co workers. Seems Skye's deliveries of fresh home cooked meals whenever a major case came up made him a huge hit at the office. He never told him he was the one who cooked all the food.

So imagine their surprise when the owl appeared with a letter. Or when the second bird showed up about to dive bomb it.

"Phoebe, come here!"

The second bird was clearly beautiful, with the different shades of silver, blue and white. Almost like living ice. It's eyes were a clear green, almost emerald. It had a long flowing tail with sapphire streaks, close to eleven inches long. Its claws were three inches at least, and weren't filed down. There were five feather sticking out of the top of its head, each a different color. Gold, grass green, deep blue, pure white and crimson red.

The bird's wingspan was close to two feet with both wings open fully. Each feather practically shimmered.

Phoebe trilled.

"What have I told you about dive bombing other birds?" chided Skye. The bird looked slightly downtrodden.

"What is that?" someone finally asked.

"This is Phoebe. My pet bird. I let her out all the time, but she has an bad habit of dive bombing foreign birds. And yes I do have a permit for her," grinned Skye.

The owl kept circling them, which Skye was surprised about.

"Odd. Delivery birds only do that when the name is either printed wrong or the person has died. Phoebe, bring it down and let's see who it's supposed to be for."

The owl gratefully landed, and was taken to the aerie for recovery. All he had to do was read the name and he knew the letter had the wrong name listed.

"There's no one named Harry Potter on campus. Obviously someone wrote the wrong address down."

The party continued until five, then it ended. Skye was happy as a lark. Best birthday ever.

The owls kept coming, practically flooding their mail box. Finally Skye told Phoebe to keep the other birds far away. After inquiring about the school listed on the Ley Line BBC, and the name, he found out that Hogwarts was probably confusing him for the boy who lived. Who had gone missing years ago.

Irritated with all the birds that now swarmed the campus, he finally captured one of the owls and sent a letter to the school.

"To whom it may concern,

I would like to wish you a good day, but Harry Potter does not live in the US. The address you have been flooding with owls for the past two weeks (and by the way, that is a blatant violation of the Statute of Secrecy you tote about so much) does not have Harry Potter, or anyone by the name of Potter. Please quit sending your owls to this address, or I will allow my phoenix to have her way with the owls, which will result in loss of birds and or tail feathers which I undoubtedly will have to clean up.

Yours, Skye Epps.

P.S. Even if Potter did live here, why would he go all the way to SCOTLAND when there is a perfectly good college with multiple courses here that also offers muggle classes?"

McGonagall was shocked to find that they had been bothering an American wizard with the owls meant for Harry. Asking around, she was even more surprised to find he was an Arithimancy prodigy, with a mathematical genius for a father, and an FBI agent as an uncle. Which left only one course of action. They had to find Potter the old way.

Dumbledore had to pull many strings just to get someone to America in L.A. just to find his missing boy who lived. Severus Snape had lost the bet and was the one chosen to located him. He still wanted to hex Dumbledore's beard off for fixing the game.

Now he was at a muggle college, which shared it's facilities with the professors of magic. Magic classes were available for night courses, except potions which shared a pocket space with the chemistry lab. The one who taught that class was well respected, and the only thing he had to look forward to was discussing potions with the man.

Walking into the college proper, he saw a teen boy riding his bike to the library. Feeling this would be his best lead to find Potter, he approached him.

The boy saw the obvious wizard approach, and said, "Chemistry lab is in the fifth building to the left, and the password to the Potions lab is 'Veritaserum'. It's best to enunciate clearly before entering."

"While that does answer one question I had, do you know of someone named Potter?"

The kid stopped and gave him an odd look.

"Are you from that school who kept flooding our house last week?"

"I am the potionsmaster of Hogwarts."

"Then you're looking at the only eleven year old around here. And my name isn't Potter, it's Epps, the Literary Wizard of the English Department."

Snape took a good look at the boy before him. Long hair in a tail, clear green eyes...and if he didn't know any better, a spitting image of James Potter. Clearly something was going on here.

"Do you know where I can find the owlery?"

"We call it the Aerie, and I can take you there. Today's my jogging day anyway."

Interested, he talked a bit with Skye. Never had he met a more learning oriented boy. Skye took his studies seriously, and attending classes when he should have been hanging around with friends. Add to the fact that he was the only preteen in the place, and he hung around adults more than three times his age...

"Would you be interest in Hogwarts?"

"Not really. The people I talked to said the classes have taken a turn downhill ever since the current headmaster canceled half the classes there. Here there's at least fifty different subject to learn available on request. Besides, the arithimancy department works closely with my dad and he helps out at lot. Despite the fact that he's a muggle."

Surprised, Snape had to ask, "What about the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Only England and the neighboring countries even HAS that. Here magic works with the government on the sidelines."

Snape sent an owl to Dumbledore, and went straight to the Potions lab. He ended up lecturing for a few days as a fellow professor to intelligent students until he got a reply. It was a refreshing change in his opinion. Instead of talking to 'dunderheads' who liked to blow up their cauldrons too much, he spoke with twenty year olds who knew what ingredient did what and tried like hell not to blow their experiment up.

(The usual cover story was HE or mustard gas depending on the smell.)

The resulting owl back had Snape cringing. Apparently Dumbledore wanted the boy tested for his heritage.

Charlie Epps was a bit reluctant to have the heritage test done, but eventually complied. He even had one done, if only to find his ancestors. Snape's suspicions were confirmed when the test revealed Skye's birth parents.

Skye Epps

Father: James Potter ((Charlie Epps))

Mother: Lily Potter ne Evans

Aunt: Petunia Dursley

Cousin: Dudley Dursley

Uncle: ((Don Epps))

"What do the marks next to the other names mean?" asked Charlie.

"Blood adoption. It means legally your his family. And his guardian in the magical world."

"How long have you had this child in your family?" asked the goblin, looking over the statements.

"Going on four years?"

"Have you ever withdrawn funds from the Potter account?"

"No."

"Then we have a problem. Someone claiming to be his magical guardian has been withdrawing funds and sending it elsewhere."

After that, all his vaults except for two were frozen, and were only allowed to accumulate funds until ordered otherwise by him personally. He also got a card that acted like a debit for normal banks. At least now he could afford that new laptop he had his eye on for weeks.

Dumbledore wasn't happy. He was being audited by the goblins, the boy who lived wasn't coming to Hogwarts like he was supposed to, and Severus was taking a sabbatical in America for the rest of the year. So now he had to fill the potions post. Maybe he should have Fawkes kidnap the boy like he planned when the letter from this Skye came.

But the option was taken out of his hands when Fawkes went missing for months on end. The first year passed peacefully enough if you didn't count the loss of the Defense teacher from magical backlash...yet another DADA gone. Maybe he should just abolish the post altogether.

Skye enjoyed yet another year of classes. Snape mentioned a few things about Hogwarts that still made him sure he wouldn't go...at least until third year. No way was he taking two years of useless classes until he could actually pick electives in the third. And he said as much.

He mentioned his decision to his family, and they agreed he could do that. After all, what was the point of taking classes he had already passed years ago?

Two years passed since then, and Skye was a regular at the FBI building, usually dropping off something from his father. Or food for lunch. Or simply spending time with his uncle, occasionally helping them think outside the box. Sometimes they went shooting paint balls at the range with Charlie.

That was how Don found out Skye was a natural sharpshooter, often killing them and turning both brothers whatever color he happened to have in his gun at the time. So for his 13th birthday, Don got Skye a BB gun.

Skye was mildly eager to go to Hogwarts, since it would mean he would be working with students his own age for a change. He even had the Hogsmeade slip signed and sent. The only downside was that he would be away for months.

But he was packed and ready to cause hell.

Inside Skye's bag was:

Guitar, skateboard, Gi, BB gun, food for Phoebe, staff, personal Runes, scrying bowl, Apparating license (wizard version of Driving lisence, only it could be obtained when someone was eleven), a full sack of galleons (he still didn't understand why he had to carry the heavy coins around when he had the card), firebolt, laptop (magically powered), cell, mp3, several hoodies/tees/sweaters, jeans, fresh underwear, toothbrush, hair ties, cauldron, crystal (for locating lost items), books, cell, going away gifts from friends, small cooking stove, pans, enough food for three months, water canteen and spare, and a notebook.

All in his expandable bag, most of it shrunk. His wallet had a Japanese anime series on it, and his paperwork. He also had a hundred dollars in twenties just in case. He was fully prepared for practically anything.

Phoebe had been sent ahead, and was awaiting him at the castle. Inside his carry on was a heavy duty make up kit. Ever since he could remember, he had been using cover up for his scar. If the baseball cap with the FBI logo on it didn't cover his scar, the make up would. It was water proof after all.

The plane ride was boring, but Skye caught up on his reading when he wasn't sleeping. He hated port keys with a passion.

Much to his relief, Snape was there waiting for him. He had a feeling the man would be, since he was the only one who even knew what Skye looked like.

While he raised an eye at his clothing, he still lead him to Diagon. Where Skye's clothing drew more attention than he would have liked. He was just glad no one knew his birth name. Since his staff was shrunken to resemble English wands (without the underage trackers) all he really needed was to refill his potions gear and get his robes.

He got a major discount from the bookstore after telling them the old method to calm the Monster Book of Monsters down...which helped with his other purchases. He nearly cleaned out his available funds. He avoided the Quidditch shop...mainly because he didn't see the point of the game. He bought the required robes, but only put on the cloak. He would have felt ridiculous wearing the actual robes.

Going back to the room, he took out his card and crystal necklace. Then he went exploring the other alleys. Knockturn had by far the most interesting, though he had to keep his knife out at all times. He bought a few rare tomes at Burgins and Burkes, and shrunk them into his pocket. Afterward he had the goblins send it straight to his vault back home.

Next stop was muggle London, which proved to be a veritable playground for him. Jogging from store to store, he bought a few new outfits for later. He also updated his music collection and manga selection.

He debated on calling the Bus, but when he reviewed his available funds for Wizards, he decided against it. So he pulled out his crystal and said "Cauldron."

It pointed south, and it was bright. He followed the direction it pointed until he got back to the Pub. Apparently they were in a panic because he went for a run. Something about a serial killer on the loose.

"Oh please. Like this Sirius Black is really that dangerous without a wand."

He did it again and again until they got used to the fact that he wasn't going to listen at ALL to the English Ministry. When the day arrived for him to go to Hogwarts, he decided to skip the hustle and bustle and just apparated there two hours early. He got onto the train and took a light nap that was interrupted by a woman worrying about missing the transfer student.

He tried like hell to hold back the snicker. A pair of twins came in, and greeted him.

"I'm Gred and this is Forge. The Weasly twins at your service!"

Skye didn't hold back the laugh.

"Name's Skye Epps, the Literary Wizard and new transfer student. Did no one tell that woman that I'm legally allowed to apparate wherever I want?"

"Mum! He's already here!" yelled Gred.

He ignored the woman completely after that. Soon he was debating pranking methods with the twins, who were delighted to find a kindred spirit in the transfer student. Then they asked why he was coming so late.

"I'm only coming to spend some time with kids my own age for a change. Besides, I really don't have much hope for Hogwarts. The arithimancy department back home is far more accurate, and we have a very good defense professor...who's still there the next year. Actually I'll be in advanced potions instead of regular."

Jaws dropped, they then badgered him about his school. He even bought out the cart...and kept the blood pops to prank his uncle with. He absolutely refused to change into his robes, saying they felt stupid.

So he went up to McGonagall with blue highlighted midnight black hair, hoodie with the FBI emblazoned on the back, ball cap, new blue jeans, sneakers, black cloak and crystal necklace.

His house?

"RAVENCLAW!"

"As you are all aware, we have a transfer student from America here with us. Mr. Epps is the son of the math genius Charlie Epps in the muggle world. I hope you will all give him a warm Hogwarts welcome!"

Everyone could clearly see Skye was very bored with his speech. Though he did make a note to ask for the House Elves treacle tart recipe.

Skye mostly ate a large salad and some meat. He easily solved the math riddle that was the password. (Chosen in case he was sorted into the house.)

He took to hiding in the kitchens around lunch, after finding out the location from the twins. The elves were delighted to give him several recipes, and more food.

While he somewhat enjoyed some of the classes, he was still annoyed at the headmaster for his blatant attempt to mess his schedule up.

Like Dumbledore replacing his arithimancy with Divination. He had yet to forgive that one.

Still, now he had friends his own age. Like Draco who was utterly fascinated with muggle devices, or Luna who helped him get a subscription to her father's magazine.

He also found a rival in the Gryffindor girl Hermione. She was really fun to annoy by beating in grades. Ron was just plain annoying, always trying to become his best friend. (If only he knew that Skye could recognize a cheater from a mile away.)

He found a fellow gardener in Neville, who loved plants and often enjoyed arguments about compost and soil composition. The herbology professor seemed to encourage the arguments, and even joined in when she had time.

When the first attack on the Fat Lady happened, Skye wasn't even in the castle that night. He loved camping out, so instead of returning to the castle after going to Hogsmeade, he told his head of house he would be camping...in the Forbidden Forest. He fortunately escaped before any of the teachers could get him to stay inside.

So while he was surprised to find the dog in his tent the next morning, he still fed it all the food it could eat. He wondered if he could take it back with him when he left for the holidays.

Which is why he was glad he owled his father about the matter and got a 'yes' in return. The next Hosgmeade weekend, he found the dog and talked to it. He was relieved it was friendly...and highly intelligent.

So when he went camping again, he secretly took the dog to get all the shots required and filled out the paperwork needed to transport him back. The owl came a week later. He even put a new collar around the dog's neck that read 'Padfoot'.

He took the dog onto the train for the holidays, and after locking the door, groomed it thoroughly. It looked presentable, though still thin. He walked out of the station and onto the port key platform in the ministry. Though he hated traveling with them, he didn't feel like air port security.

Don picked him up at the designated spot, and they spent a fun Christmas at home. Skye even got to keep the hound in the house once it proved to be house broken.

NEW POLL UP ON PROFILE FOR HAWK-EYED CHARLIE PAIRINGS. WILL BE GONE REST OF WEEK, AFC. ENJOY!