Title: Legacy
Author: Shutsumon
Pairings: None yet. We'll see in the sequels.
Summary: How would Harry's life have been different if Petunia had acted like a Human being, if Dudley had been a wizard too and if Lily had left a legacy for her beloved son? How would it have been the same? Just another AU of book 1.

A/N: Unbeta'd… it is with the beta so I'll reupload once it's done but I wanted to get it up because it's been so long. Oh, and I now have a forum on and a yahoo group you can join if you want to nag me between updates. In fact I'd be grateful if you did. I respond well to nagging. The forum can be found on my user page and the group is shutsumons-writings (the full URL can be found on the forum).

Disclaimer: Belongs to JKR not me.

LEGACY

Chapter Four

On the Train

The next month really was not fun for Harry. Uncle Vernon was still blaming him for Dudley's being a wizard. Worse yet while Vernon was still ignoring Dudley his cousin was back on speaking terms with his gang. Which meant that 'Harry hunting' was once again a favoured pastime. As a result Harry spent much of his time locked in his room reading through his mother's diaries and his school books. His only real company was his owl — whom he named Hedwig after someone mentioned in A History of Magic. Both the diaries and his school books were interesting and he found himself reading them late into the night as he tried to make sense of them. After a few days of obsessive reading he even began to dream about talking to his mother about them.

As August drew to a close Aunt Petunia began the process of ever so carefully bullying Uncle Vernon into taking them to Kings Cross. It was fortunate that over the years they had been married she had learned to handle him because this allowed her to succeed at this with minimum explosions on his part. He was, however, rather sulky about the whole business and stayed in the car once they got there. Aunt Petunia, on the other hand, came in to see them off.

"What platform does your train leave from?" She asked once their stuff was loaded onto trolleys. Harry consulted his ticket.

"It says platform 93/4's." He said slowly. Aunt Petunia blinked and looked over at Dudley who was also checking.

"That's what it says, mummy."

"How odd." She led them towards platforms Nine and Ten. "It must be some kind of magic thing so we can't really ask a guard — now I wish that I had come along when Lily used to go."

They hovered around in the vicinity of platforms Nine and Ten and tried to figure out where to go next.

"I think that Hagrid must have forgotten to tell us some.." Harry began and then trailed off as he heard somebody behind him mention muggles. He turned round quickly enough to spot a family of red heads walk past them with a trolley loaded with trunks and an owl. He heard them discussing the platform number. "Lucky." He muttered under his breath and headed towards them quickly. The eldest of the boys had already gone onto the platform by the time he reached them but in spite of watching carefully Harry had failed to see how because a group of tourists had blocked his view at the key moment. He screwed up his courage. "Excuse me." He said to the plump woman who seemed to be the mother of the kids. She turned and surveyed him and Dudley with a kindly smile.

"Hullo, dears. First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new too." She pointed at the youngest boy — a gangling red head.

"That's right." Harry nodded. "But the thing is we don't know how to get onto the platform."

"Not to worry." She smiled. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Don't stop and don't be scared that you'll crash into it. That's very important. Best to do it a run if you're nervous."

"Erm, okay…" Harry said wondering how he was supposed not to worry about crashing. "Thanks." He ran a nervous hand through his hair and the woman spotted his scar.

"My goodness! You're Harry Potter!" She gasped.

"Yes, I am!" He admitted bracing himself for more gushing. She must have noticed because she smiled again.

"Sorry, dear, I was just caught by surprise. Getting fawned over must get old after a while. I'm Molly Weasley and these are Fred and George," she pointed to a pair of twins, "Ron, as I said." She gestured to her youngest son again. "And this is my daughter Ginny." She gestured to a young girl.

"Pleased to meet you." Harry said and gestured to his aunt and cousin. "This is my cousin Dudley and my Aunt Petunia."

"Ah, you must be Lily's sister." Molly smiled. "I only met her a few times but she was a lovely girl. Nice and Polite just like Harry seems to be."

Aunt Petunia nodded and was about to reply when she glanced up at one of the clocks. "Huh … we only have five minutes."

"Oh!" Molly said and turned to the twins. "You two go first. Show Harry and his cousin how it's done."

"Rightio!" said the first twin. Harry thought that it was Fred unless they had swapped places. He set off towards the barrier. Harry watched carefully and in the split second before he would have crashed he vanished. A moment later the second twin, probably George, followed and also vanished.

"You and Dudley go next before Ron." Molly said.

"Er – OK." Harry glanced over at Dudley and was relieved to see that his cousin looked even more nervous than he felt.

"Like I said do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous." Molly reminded them. "And you'll have to say goodbye to your aunt here, I'm afraid. She can't get on to the platform at all."

"Okay." Harry hugged Aunt Petunia before heading towards the barrier at a run with his eyes closed. In spite of Molly's warning he was sure that he was going to crash –

But he didn't and when he opened his eyes again he was next to a steam train on a crowded platform. He glanced back just in time to see Dudley appear through a wrought iron archway where the ticket box had been. Platform Nine and Three Quarters it declared.

Finding space on the train proved difficult and with a sinking heart he realised that he would have to share a compartment with Dudley. Which was definitely not something that he had wanted to do – but there was no helping it. On the upside while he and Dudley were trying to get their trunks into the compartment that they had finally found the Weasley twins appeared and offered to help which saved Harry, who had already dropped his own trunk on his toes twice from being bullied into struggling with Dudley's trunk as well. Once the trunks were stowed Harry and Dudley sat down in opposite corners of the compartment and studiously tried to ignore each other while the twins returned to their family having heard their mother calling them. Harry was relieved. They'd looked like they wanted to ask loads of questions.

From his seat by the window Harry could see the Weasley's gathered on the platform. Molly was currently rubbing at Ron's nose with a handkerchief while the boy tried to wriggle free.

"Where's Percy?" She asked.

"He's coming now." Fred, or was it George, pointed to where the oldest boy had just come striding into sight. He was already in his robes and Harry saw a big silver badge with a 'P' on it on his chest.

"Can't stay long, Mother." He said in a ridiculously pompous tone. "I'm up front with the Prefects."

Harry decided that Percy the Prefect was something of an ass. The twins obviously agreed because they started mocking him but Molly was obviously proud of him and had bought him new robes. From the envy that the rest of boys showed about this Harry gathered that they weren't too well off.

After Percy had gone he heard Molly exhorting the twins not to blow up any toilets – which apparently only served to give them ideas – and to look after Ron. They teased Ron a little bit about that before mentioning how they had helped him and Dudley onto the train.

"Poor dear." Molly said – and Harry knew that she meant him. "He seems like a nice polite young man. He looks like his father except for having his other's eyes and I think he takes after her more as well."

"Yes, yes … but do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

"Don't you dare ask him that Fred!" Molly snapped. "The poor boy does not need reminding of such things."

"All right!" Fred seemed taken aback by her vehemence. "Keep your hair on!"

It was then that the train whistle sounded and the twins and Ron clambered on to the train. Not long after the train began to move and Harry felt a great leap of excitement. Surely this was going to be wonderful… even if he did have to put up with Dudley. A few minutes passed and then the door slid open and Ron Weasley peered in.

"Anyone sitting there?" He asked pointing to the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

Harry shook his head and the boy sat down to Dudley. He kept glancing at Harry and then looking away – trying to pretend that he hadn't looked.

"Hey, Ron!" The twins returned long enough to tell their brother that they were going to see a giant tarantula – a fact which, Harry noticed, made Ron shudder – and to formally introduce themselves to Harry and Dudley even though their mother had already done it.

Almost as soon as they had gone Ron went back to casting furtive glances at Harry who found it irritating and amusing by equal measure.

"You can look at me you know; I don't bite." He said finally and Ron's ears turned red. After that they sat in silence for a while but at least Ron had stopped pretending not to stare.

"Do you really have – you know…" Ron blurted suddenly before trailing off as his ears turned red again.

Harry did indeed know and pulled back his fringe to show off his scar. Ron stared even more if that were possible. Harry, however, risked a glance at Dudley and saw that his cousin did not look happy at all. Of course he was used to being the popular one so he was probably jealous.

"So that's where You-Know-Who … ?"

"So I've been told." Harry said. "I don't remember what happened."

"What nothing?" Ron seemed delighted that he'd mentioned it. Probably since it got him round his mother restriction.

"Well I remember lots of green light but nothing else."

"Wow!"

"So are all your family wizards?" Harry asked. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dudley lean forward to catch Ron's answer and suppressed a grin. Apparently his cousin was as interested as he was.

"I think so." Ron seemed to think for a moment. "I think mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant but we don't talk about him."

"Why not?" Dudley finally spoke up.

"Well, you see, squib relatives are sort of embarrassing." Ron looked a little guilty about that. "So they sort of get swept under the carpet."

"What's a squib?" Harry asked before Dudley could.

"It's what we call someone from a Wizarding family who doesn't have any magic." There was an uncomfortable pause and then Ron said. "So what's the Muggle World like?" the question was aimed at both Harry and Dudley.

"Sort of mixed." Harry said after a moment. "I guess that people are people whether they have magic or not. Which means they are a right mixed bunch."

"I like it." Dudley said. "I had lots of friends. It was rather a shock getting the letter."

"Yes, I suppose it must be if you don't know." Ron agreed.

"So, what's it like having three wizarding brothers?" Harry asked.

"Five." Ron looked gloomy. "And one witch sister but she isn't starting at Hogwarts until next year. But be glad that you aren't the sixth in your family to go to Hogwarts. Bill was Head Boy, Charlie was Quidditch captain. Now Percy is a prefect. Even Fred and George get good grades and they mess around a lot. So I'm expected to do as well but even if I do no one will care because they did it first." Ron sighed. "And I never get anything new either. I have Bill's old robe, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat." He pulled out a fat, grey rat that seemed to be sleeping. "His name is Scabbers and he's useless. Sleeps all the time. Percy got an owl from dad because he was made prefect but they couldn't aff- I mean I just got Scabbers instead." Ron turned red again and went back to looking out of the window.

Harry realised that he must be embarrassed about not being able to afford an owl. He didn't think that it was anything to be ashamed of but guessed that that would sound like hollow platitudes to Ron so he decided to ask more about the Wizarding World instead.

"Um… until the letter came I didn't know anything about being a wizard or my parents or Voldemort… Could." He trailed off as Ron gasped.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron sounded shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought that you of all people …"

"It's just a name, Ron." Harry rolled his eyes. "And a silly one at that. I've said it several times and I haven't been struck by lightning yet." Harry paused. "But what I was going to ask is if you could tell us more about the Magical World. We have no idea what to expect."

So Ron spent the next little while telling them about the Wizarding world. He was just explaining the rules of Quidditch and why it was such a great game when there was a clattering in the corridor and a woman popped her head into the compartment.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" She asked. Ron's ear went red yet again and he muttered something about having sandwiches.

It was a long time since breakfast so Harry and Dudley both went to see what she had. Not that she had any brand of sweet that they knew. Instead what she had were things like pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs and liquorice wands. Neither boy wanted to miss anything so they both bought some of everything. When they came back and tipped it onto the seat Ron stared at it.

"Hungry?" He asked.

"Well we had to set out early to catch the train." Harry explained and took a bite of a pasty. Ron had taken out his sandwiches in the meantime and was muttering about not liking corned beef. Harry considered for a moment and then offered to trade him a pasty.

"You don't want this – it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time." He added defensively.

"Go on, have a pasty." Said Harry who thought it was a rather nice feeling to finally have someone to share stuff with. Rather predictably Dudley was less inclined to share and was hoarding his sweets in the corner. After a moment Ron agreed and they sat there eating their way through Harry's pasties and cakes. After they'd finished Harry picked up a Chocolate Frog.

"These aren't really frogs are they?" He asked. He didn't think he'd be surprised if they were but ugh.

"No," Ron said. "But see what the card is, I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Card?" Dudley asked simultaneously as he opened one of his frogs. A card fell out and he picked it up. "Oh! Collectible Cards! Cool!" Dudley was a collector of such cards that came in certain muggle sweets he liked. Harry opened his own frog and looked at the card as Ron explained.

"Oh, of course you wouldn't know having live in the Muggle World. Chocolate frogs come with cards of famous witches and wizards. I collect them but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy – They're both rare."

"I've got Medea." Dudley said as he read the back of his car. Harry looked at the wizard on his card and realised that it was Dumbledore.

"Ah, so this is Dumbledore."

"What! You'd never heard of Dumbledore." Ron seemed flabbergasted. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa."

Harry nodded and handed Ron a frog as he read the back of the card.

"Hey! These pictured move!" Dudley nearly dropped the picture he was holding.

"Well you can't expect them to stand still all day." Ron looked at his card. "Morgana again." He sighed and offered it to Harry. "Here, you can start collecting."

"Thanks." Harry took the card and handed Ron another Frog. "In muggle pictures the people don't move." He told him.

"Weird." Ron looked at him. "That must be uncomfortable."

"Erm … no … don't think so." Harry said neutrally. "Muggle pictures work differently."

While Dudley wouldn't share his chocolate he was perfectly happy o swap cards with both boys and soon both he and Harry had the seeds of a decent collection. Harry thought that it might well be the most civilised couple of hours that he had ever spent with his cousin. After a while though he tired of chocolate and reached for a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans.

"Be careful with those!" Ron warned. "They really are every flavour. George even says he had a bogey flavoured one once." He proceeded to bite into a green one and declare that it was sprouts. They were eating the beans and watching the countryside get gradually wilder when there was a knock on the door and a tearful looking round faced boy came in and asked if the had seen a toad. They had a good look round the compartment then shook their heads. This only made the boy wail that he'd lost him. Harry patted him on the shoulder and offered him a liquorice wand.

"Here, have this." He said in a calming tone. "And sit down. You need to calm down and think about this. Then you'll work out where to look."

"Y-yes, thank you." The boy nodded after a moment and sat down opposite Dudley. "You're right. I'm Neville Longbottom by the way." They introduced themselves in response and when Harry said his name Neville started so badly he literally nearly fell out of his seat. "Uh – wow!" He said. "I should have known that you'd be on the train – your birthday is the day after mine." He paused. "But I forgot…" He trailed off somewhat lamely as there was a rap on the door and a girl with bushy hair and large front teeth came in.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" She asked in a bossy tone. "Nev…" She stopped as she saw Neville sitting there. "Oh you're here."

"We're trying to calm him down." Harry told her. "I'm Harry Potter and you are?"

"Hermione Granger … and are you really? I've read all about you. You're in all the modern history books about the magical world. I bought several for extra reading but I haven't memorised them yet." She paused and then added in a defensive tone. "I have, however, learnt all out set books by heart of course. I just hope that it's enough."

The four boys stared at her for a moment and Harry was relieved to see that he wasn't alone in not having learned the books by heart. Come to think of it he wasn't sure it was even a good idea.

"Should you have done that?" He asked her after a moment. "I mean if magical school is anything like muggle school they won't like you just quoting the textbook. The want you to understand it."

Hermione, however, just stared at him blankly for a moment. She obviously completely missed his point. After a moment she shook her head. "So do any of you know what house you'll be in yet? I've been asking around ad I hope I'm in Gryffindor. It sounds the best. They say Dumbledore himself was a Gryffindor but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. Anyway come along Neville, let's go and find your toad." She told him and dragged the boy out of the compartment.

"Whatever house she's in I hope that I'm not." Ron said after a moment. "She's scary."

"What houses are your brothers in?" Harry asked.

"Gryffindor… my parents were as well." Ron said gloomily. "I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I guess they'd be okay with Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff but imagine if I get put in Slytherin." He shuddered briefly.

"Why does everyone have this giant bias against Slytherin house?" Harry asked.

"Well they're evil aren't they?" Ron said after a moment. "You-Know-Who was a Slytherin!" He added as if that clinched the matter.

"I know which house Voldemort was in." Harry said making Ron jump again. "But why would they let the house exist if all its members were evil?" Ron looked confused by the question.

"Slytherin's are evil!" he said finally. "Everyone knows that." It seemed that Ron had an even bigger prejudice than Hagrid about Slytherins. Harry decided to play his trump card on the issue.

"Ah, I see. So my mother was evil?" He kept his tone mild and managed to keep his amusement out of it.

"Eh?" said Ron.

"Given the nature of the war my parents knew they were likely to die and left letters for me. My Aunt gave them to me on my birthday. Among other things I learned that my father was a Gryffindor and my mother was in Slytherin."

"Oh…" Ron turned red again. He was obviously embarrassed to have called a heroine of the war evil.. He seemed to think for a moment before conceding. "Hum… I guess there exceptions to every rule."

Harry snorted to himself but decided not to push it further. His mother's letter and what he'd read of her diaries were enough to tell him that there was enough attitude problems and just plain nasty people in Slytherin to cause this misperception – but then all the houses had their problems but only Slytherin got so much flak. Still he decided to change the subject. "So what do your brothers do now they've left?"

"Oh, Charlie is in Romania studying dragons and Bill's in Africa working for Gringotts." Ron seemed relieved by this change of topic. "Oh, did you hear about Gringotts? I don't suppose you get the Daily Prophet with muggles. Someone tried to rob a high security vault."

"What happened to them?" Dudley asked before Harry could. From his tone it was clear that he wanted all the gory details.

"Nothing!" Ron said. "That's why it's such big news. Dad says that only a really powerful Dark Wizard could get round their security. That's why everyone is scared when something like this happens. They worry that You-Know-Who is behind it."

"You know things are a lot less scary if you use their proper names." Harry said dryly but Ron was obviously not convinced. Harry sighed. "So tell us more about Quidditch… it sounds like fun."

"Oh it is!" Ron was about to say more when the compartment door slid open again but it wasn't Neville or Hermione this time. Instead three boys piled in. The Middle one looked vaguely familiar and after a moment Harry placed him as the boy that they'd seen coming out of Madam Malkins. He was looking at Harry with interest.

"Is it true? Everyone is saying that Harry Potter is in the compartment. So it's you is it?"

"Yes, it is." Harry replied blandly as he looked at the other two boys. They were big and mean looking and reminded Harry of Dudley's gang.

"Oh this is Crabbe and Goyle." The boy said in an offhanded kind of tone when he saw where Harry was looking. "And I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

At that Ron made a coughing noise that was meant to cover a snigger but failed badly. Draco Malfoy glared at him.

"You think my name is funny? No need to ask who you are. My father says that all the Weasley's have freckles and more children than they can afford." He turned his attention back to Harry. "You'll soon find out that some Wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." And he held out his hand for Harry to shake.

Harry shook the offered hand perfunctorily, no need to antagonise anyone after all, and looked from Draco to Ron with a raised eyebrow. "Are you two quite done with insulting each others families in an attempt to impress me and score points because I'm not impressed." He looked back at Draco. "And thank you but I prefer to make up my own mind about people."

Ron's ears turned red yet again and a faint pink tinge appeared in Draco's cheeks. Both looked a little sheepish as if they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"I'm sure that you do, Potter." Malfoy said after a moment. "But if you hang around with… with riff-raff like this mudblood here…" He pointed to Dudley. "They'll rub off on you." Harry got the impression that Draco really wanted to mention Ron's family again but had refrained because Harry's astuteness had embarrassed him.

"What?" Said Dudley. Much to Harry's surprise his cousin was apparently bright enough to realise he'd been insulted.

"He's my cousin!" Harry told him just as Ron leapt to his feet and yelled.

"Don't call him that!" His face was even redder than before. Mudblood must be a really bad insult. Looking from Ron to Draco and back Harry realised that he had to stop this before it got out of hand.

"Look I think you should leave before you insult anyone else." He suggested mildly.

"Ah, but we don't feel like leaving, do we boys?" Draco said. "We've eaten all our food and you still have some."

Goyle in the meantime was reaching for the remaining sweets but then he stopped, let out a pained yelp and jerked his hand back. Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp teeth sunk deep into his knuckle. Goyle howled and started to swing Scabbers round and round. Crabbe and Malfoy backed away but Harry just sighed again and grabbed Goyle's arm.

"Stop that! You'll make it worse!" He told the boy as he firmly but gently prized Scabbers jaws from the finger and handed the rat back to Ron. The three boys disappeared without so much as a thank you and a moment later the door opened yet again and Hermione Granger came back in.

"What has been going on here?" She asked, staring at the chaotic sight before her.

"Ron, however, was too busy checking Scabbers for injury. "I don't believe it! He's gone back to sleep again."

"Well biting Goyle was probably enough excitement for one day." Harry grinned and then turned to Hermione. "Can we help you?"

"I thought that you might like to know that we're nearly there so you'd better get changed." She told him and looked around again. "You haven't been fighting have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there."

Ron scowled at her. "Scabbers was defending us!" He told her. "And would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right!" She said sniffily. "I only came in because people outside are behaving like children."

"Maybe because they are children?" Harry interrupted neutrally. The girl glared at him and stomped out. Ron and, to Harry's surprise, Dudley both grinned.

"Maybe because they are children?" Ron repeated. "That was class, mate, you really told her."

"Thanks." Harry said as they began to get into their robes. Ron's Robes seemed a little short for him Harry noticed. As the driver announced that they would reach Hogwarts in five minutes Harry began to feel nervous. Looking over e noticed that Ron had gone pale and Dudley was actually sweating. Somehow Dudley being nervous than he was made him feel better.

When the train finally stopped and they managed to disembark onto the dark platform it was a cold night and the stood there shivering until a lamp appeared bobbing over their heads.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!" Hagrid's voice boomed over their heads and a moment later he appeared and beamed at Harry over the sea of heads. "All right there, Harry? Dudley?" He asked. The two boys nodded and he beamed again. "C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs'-years follow me!" Hagrid led them down a steep, narrow path that was extremely slippery. Harry rather thought that they were in a forest because of how dark it was … Everybody was quiet because they were concentrating on keeping their feet.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sigh of Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "Jus' round this bend here."

"Ooh!" Everyone exclaimed and Harry stopped short at the sight of the vast castle and lake. He was glad that his cousin did as well because he was just in front of Dudley and could easily have been trampled if his cousin had kept walking.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called and Harry spotted a fleet of little boats floating near the lake shore. He, Ron and Dudley ended up in the same boat as Neville. A moment later Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, called out. "Everyone in?" When there were no negative responses he shouted. "Right then – FORWARD!"

The boats glided across the lake under their own power accompanied by an eerie silence as everyone stared at the approaching castle on it's cliff. Just as it seemed that they would hit the Ivy covered cliff Hagrid yelled for them to put their heads down and did just that as his boat disappeared through the ivy. The other boats followed and soon they were under the castle and travelling towards an underground harbour. They all clambered out onto the rocks and pebbles as Hagrid found Trevor the toad much to Neville's delight. Then they followed Hagrid up a passageway and emerged onto a lawn in front of the castle's doors.

"This place is cool!" Dudley whispered as they climbed the stone steps to the huge oak door. As Hagrid knocked on the doors Harry could not help agreeing with his cousin for once.