Chapter 3

The truth

July 25, 1991

Dursley smallest bedroom

Surrey, England

Harry Potter woke up shaking his head to clear it from a light headache and reached for his glasses quickly to not let the slight pounding in his head become worse. After putting on his glasses he immediately reached for the letter, except it wasn't there. Bolting out of bed and dropping to his knees in an instant he began looking everywhere.

After nearly fifteen minutes of throwing around the entire room and searching his bag multiple times, harry had to admit his growing fear, and the letter was gone. Which meant one of two things, either Petunia had checked on him and stolen it, it destroyed itself like one of Dudley's spy movies, or the much more terrifying choice, the person who sent it entered his room while he was sleeping last night.

Shaking off the chill that had settled in his spine Harry glanced at his clock and dashed around his room cursing quietly to himself. It was nearly six forty in the morning, which meant he would have a maximum of a fifteen-minute shower, he was only allowed to use the bathroom between six and seven in the mornings.

Hopping into the shower and giving the water no time to warm up Harry had to grit his teeth as the small parts of his mind still asleep snapped to full consciousness. After a hurried shower that had barely gotten warm by the time he left the bathroom, Herry made his way back to his room brushing his teeth as he went.

Tossing open his wardrobe he shook his head wishing he had better clothes to meet a self-proclaimed witch. His wishes disappeared into his hanging clothes as they always did. A pair of cheap unbranded black trainers, five plain black shirts, five white shirts, and ten pairs of jeans.

Pulling out a black shirt and a pair of jeans Harry thanked the world for the small mercies, at least these clothes fit, unlike the hand-me-downs he'd had until he was four. Hurriedly pulling on his clothes Harry took a second to stop and spit out the toothpaste into the bathroom sink making sure it was washed down the drain by the running water.

Snagging his bag and making his way downstairs Harry began cooking breakfast. A heap of eggs scrambled in a pan, an entire pack of bacon rashers, and finally, some scones and jam cluttered the Dining room table as Vernon and Petunia made their way downstairs.

Normally he would be happy to have such time to himself without Vernon's muted glares or dealing with Petunia's holier-than-thou act because she didn't let Vernon beat him every day. Today, however, he had places to be and people to meet, and most importantly he had answers to find.

"Good morning, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon." Harry's wishes were altogether ignored by them both as Vernon led Petunia through the room to her seat pulling it out and helping her into it. From the way, her eyes were somewhat cloudy, and the way she seemed a bit weak and shaky it was rather easy to see that Petunia wasn't feeling well, sadly Harry didn't care and simply gave them the morning rundown as always and got permission to leave as soon as possible.

Keeping a tight rein on his thoughts and imagination Harry made his way through the streets of Surrey at a Hurried pace waving and smiling at the people watering their lawns or opening their shops for the early morning crowds and soon enough he was at the entrance to the library.

Harry let out the breath he was holding as he approached the front doors, there was no one there. And then suddenly, right as he placed his hand on the door he felt it, a presence, almost as though someone was standing next to him. But when he followed the small feeling his gaze fell to a cat sitting on the ground.

At first, Harry was going to simply ignore the feeling and continue inside, but then he really looked at the cat, it was rather cute and even had rings around its eyes as though it was wearing glasses. He'd never seen this cat before, he knew just about every cat in the neighborhood, and there was always the chance that this one was a runaway, but it had no collar.

And then suddenly as Harry tried to deduce whether the cat and his feelings were connected the animal did something quite suspicious. He'd been staring at the tabby for a while as it stared back, and then suddenly it became quite interested in its paw nibbling and licking it profusely. Unnerved by the cat's behavior and urged on by his senses Harry decided to test his theory and pulled the library door open.

Instead of entering the library, he let the doors handle go and nearly the second after the door closed the cat lost interest in its paw and looked up. Seeing that he was still standing there the cat stared at him wide-eyed for a short time before licking its paw even more vigorously than before.

"Now, I may just be paranoid and weaponless, but I do have a bag full of heavy books, just how much do you think it would hurt if I swung it at you?" Harry didn't really intend to go through with his threat, but it seemed to work perfectly. As he made a show of gripping the handle of his bag the cat let out a wavering 'meow' and bolted around the corner with Harry giving chase.

Suddenly as they neared the corner of the building the cat put on a burst of speed, chasing the cat and turning the corner at top speed Harry had to do everything in his power to stop as he was suddenly face-to-face with a stern-looking woman.

"I believe that it would hurt very much Mr. Potter even in this form, so please don't do that." In a way, the woman standing in front of him resembled the cat and based on her glasses and the eyes underneath that Harry realized that the woman hadn't been controlling or seeing through the cat like in old stories, this woman had somehow been the cat.

"Well, I apologize…Minerva, was it? But I don't think anyone in the world likes to be followed around or spied on, let alone both at the same time." The woman's harsh gaze softened a small amount and she even nodded at him. Between the fact that she didn't deny being the cat or say her name was anything else Harry decided to be 'the bigger man' so to speak, in reality, this woman was quite tall and stood nearly a half meter taller than him, but she had answers he wanted.

"My name is Harry Potter ma'am although it seems you already know that. If you don't mind my insistence, I'd say you have some explaining to do." The woman nodded again and shook his hand before walking past him and pausing at the corner of the building, it seemed that she wanted him to follow.

As Harry followed the woman inside the library he tried to glean as much information from her behavior as possible, there were things he did like and things he didn't care for whatsoever. The first thing he noticed was the quiet authority the woman held; despite the somewhat odd clothing she wore she strode through the library without a care in the world completely comfortable in her own skin. It was something that Harry envied quite a bit from the woman, the confidence he wore around was utterly manufactured and only done so because he knew nearly everything there was to know about where he was.

The other facts that Harry learned by watching the woman were all things he didn't approve of, like how she walked to the back of the library and sat down at "his" table. Not only did she know where he sat on a near daily basis, she even stood next to the chair on the outside allowing him to have his back to the wall indicating she'd been watching him long enough to know he preferred to seat with his back to the window, what could he say he like the early sun warming his back.

Taking his seat Harry watched as the woman took hers across from him, he decided to make his displeasure clear on his face frowning quite rudely at the woman and refusing to break the silence between them. He truly resented the fact that she and presumably other people had been spying on him, and of course, his paranoia was going wild. Where did it end, did they watch him eat, sleep, or go to the restroom? But most of all he had to wonder, did they know about his plans?

"Good morning, Mister Potter, I had hoped to follow you inside and reveal myself in a bit more tactful manner but nevertheless here we are, and I must say you are a testament to your father's skill. How was it that you detected me in the first place?" Harry listened to the woman speak as intently as possible, he wanted to know if she was truthful, and more importantly, if he should be as well, deciding to go for it he responded.

"I sensed you, don't ask me how but I could feel you, or rather a person standing next to me, I truly have no idea how or why, but it was as if someone was standing right next to me." As he finished the woman, Minerva nodded along clearly captivated by his very rudimentary explanation.

"Interesting, it seems you've gained another trait from your father, it's not simple or easy to explain but attempting to simplify it each wizard as they grow older or are born has innate abilities, some of them are small like your mother's penchant for charms or your father's easy grasp of transfiguration. It seems like you may have inherited a sort of detection for the use of magic, every witch and wizard has one but yours seems a bit advanced."

"Well, I'm sorry but I've never performed magic before today, and all I did was sense you, so I don't think I have any, and if I do, I don't think it's much at all." It took a second to reply to the woman, as much as he truly hoped to have wonderful magical powers he simply didn't.

"No, I believe quite the opposite. The Hogwarts letters are automatic so if you had no magic then you simply wouldn't have received one. However, I've been watching you, you see while trying to unintentionally suppress your natural release of magic you have essentially split your magic in half, one half is trying to get out as all magic does and the other trying to keep it in. You could almost think of it as trying to pull up with one hand and push down with the other, but in the case of magic, you've been casting a low-powered spell for the majority of your life increasing your magical power by a small amount each year. In fact, some researchers think this may be what makes obscurus so dangerous even to fully trained Aurors."

His mind was spinning as he tried to digest the information, he had magic, or at least the possibility of it. Deciding to pose another question to buy him more time he asked. "What's an obscurus?"

The question left his mouth and near immediately the woman blanched, it was the first true sign of emotion he'd gotten from the woman, and clearly whatever an obscurus was happened to be quite the touchy subject.

"Oh, it's nothing you should worry about, you're far too young to learn about such things."

"Okay, I'll just read about it when you're not looking." His tone came out a bit sharper than he'd wanted it to, but he simply couldn't help it, first, the woman spied on him for weeks supposedly and now she went against her words and didn't want to answer his questions. Their meeting was not going quite as smoothly as she wished it seemed as she answered him with a sigh.

"An Obscuros is when a young witch or wizard begins to actively resent their magic and it starts much how your magic did pushing against itself and building power, now somehow you were able to control your magic but in a regular case the magic doesn't agree to be chained, it lashes out violently against everything surrounding the child and even the child itself, this further fuels the child to despise their magic and over time it becomes corrupted before it completely engulfs the child turning them into an obscurus."

"So, so, then why didn't I turn into one?"

"Truthfully I don't know, we do our best to prevent the formation of obscurus, so we don't exactly have a large amount of data on them. I believe it's because you didn't resent your magic or deny its existence with all your might. Instead, you were simply unaware of it, you kept locked down not because you hated it but because you didn't know about it, I believe the reason you didn't become an obscurus is that like all things magic even such horrid transformations are fueled by a witch's or wizards' intent. What did you think your magic was?"

Taking a second to break his gaze from hers for the first time Harry looked at the table as he searched his mind as deeply as possible. "I don't- wait, dreams, I remember having dreams where things happened that weren't possible. Aunt Petunia was angry that her hairdresser was closed before a party and soon after she left the bathroom screaming…Her hair had been cut and styled perfectly, but she didn't do it."

Looking up from the table he saw the woman's perpetual frown twitch upwards as she nodded. "That sounds exactly like accidental magic, you wanted to make your aunt happy and your magic made it happen, normally a child would have been punished or applauded for an act like that, but if no one acknowledged it positively or negatively and simply let the events fade then…well they fade."

Leaning back in his chair Harry thought as hard as he could to remember other events as he stared at the ceiling. And in flashes they came back to him, Dudley's laces being tied together by a mysterious force, the poor cat that's paw healed itself in his hands, a pencil falling off the teacher's desk and rolling to him when he broke taking a test. As he tried to remember more to remember wondrous events he'd somehow forgotten or decided were dreams he was interrupted by the woman.

"Well, Mr. Potter, I have taken the day to be with you and answer your questions, and we could simply sit here with you asking one after another, but I think a demonstration of the magical world is in order. Don't you?" Harry nodded at the woman in wonder, he was still angry about the spying but as he talked with the woman, he could start to understand it, and needless to say, his happiness and curiosity were quickly overwhelming his anger.

July 25, 1991

Malfoy Manor

England

"Belladonna, it's time to get up sweety." She could feel her aunt sitting on the bed next to her and softly stroking her face to wake her up. Despite her aunt's comforting gesture, she opened her eyes and squinted her eyes at her aunt's face before pursing her lips and turning over trying to snuggle back into her warm duvet. "No, none of that now Belladonna, you have to get up and get dressed. Breakfast is ready downstairs, and we all want to beat the morning crowd to the alley. Trust me, love. I'll be waiting downstairs with your uncle and cousin."

Sighing as her Aunt left the room she turned over and rolled out of bed picking up the book that had fallen out of her bed as she moved. Picking it up she sighed and shook her head, she hadn't even remembered falling asleep with her new book, that's where obsession gets you she mused as she replaced it on the shelf.

Turning away from her bookshelf Belladonna when to her wardrobe and tossed a lovely bright red sundress on her bed before she turned to her bathroom, a nice hot shower and teeth cleaning later and she was pulling on her dress and finding a nice pair of black ballerina flats and rushing downstairs. By now her stomach was starting to rumble and her excitement was building as she thought of the shopping trip.

She couldn't believe that she'd almost forgotten that today they were going to Diagon alley, which wasn't that special, but today she and Draco would be getting wands. She would also be getting her Hogwarts robes and books. She would finally start going to Hogwarts this year, and she'd finally be able to meet Harry Potter, the real Harry Potter.

By the time she was downstairs and found Draco waiting for her she was wearing a smile even wider than his as he led her to the family dining room. This one was much less opulent than the other dining room, but it was also much comfier. It was where they usually ate when they had no guests and her Uncle wasn't trying to impress or intimidate some poor witch or wizard into giving them what he wanted.

Taking her seat in the comfortable chair and resting her hands on the chair's arms she was practically shaking with anticipation as food appeared on their plates. Auntie and Uncle still hadn't entered the room and between the delicious breakfast in front of them and being eager to start the day it was pure torture for Belladonna and Draco to simply sit by and wait.

Suddenly it snapped together and Belladonna realized that's exactly what they were doing for some reason. And after nearly five minutes of waiting in silence, Belladonna had to smile as Draco's control failed and he snatched a bacon rasher and stuffed it in his mouth quickly to try and hide the motion. Smiling to herself Auntie and Uncle opened the door right as Draco started to chew and gave him disproving looks.

"I told you that he'd break before her dearest." her Aunt had a mixture of pride and disappointment in her voice as she fixed Draco with a disapproving stare and then flashed Belladonna a covert smile. Her Uncle's only reaction after staring at Draco was to sit down and grab the paper with an affirmative grunt.

Soon enough breakfast was over and Belladonna had to say she quite enjoyed it, the perpetually amazing cooking done by the house elves was perfect and the excess guilt rolling off Draco for his lapse in willpower made it taste even better. With breakfast finished the family split she and Auntie would be going separate from Draco and her Uncle so that when shopping was over her and Auntie could look at dresses whilst Draco could look at brooms or whatever else caught their fancies.

A quick floo trip and she and Auntie were off to the alley. Leaving the floo point they walked down the nearly deserted alley with strides exuding power as they made their way to the first shop on their list, Olivander's. It was one of three shops that her aunt said were suitable for both those of their stature and the common folk or 'filthy beggars' as her uncle put it.

The other two shops were Madame Malkins because of the respect Auntie had for her Malkin following her dreams and splitting off from a larger magical boutique, and Flourish and Blotts. Flourish and Blotts made the list because, "People of our stature were the only ones allowed to purchase here until two generations ago, and we will NOT let ourselves be run off by the common rabble."

As they entered Olivander's wand shop Belladonna gripped her Auntie's hand as hard as she could causing her knuckles to whiten. Looking down at her she could see her Auntie's relief show as her aunt realized that she wasn't afraid, in fact, she was excited as they waited for the man and was doing everything in her power to remain lady-like and, stop herself from screaming out in joy.

At home where the only people that could see her were her family or people too terrified of Uncle to speak badly, she could act however she wanted, but in public, she had to remain the perfect picture of a pureblood who in their world was practically Royalty. And if she was honest, she hated it, she didn't want to walk around wearing a cold haughty expression and wait for people to fawn over her dress, instead, she wanted to run over to the other girls that seemed to have fun discussing their clothing and see where they got their dresses as well.

Suddenly snapping her out of her thoughts was a man who looked more like a giant human-colored pixie practically leaped out of his shelves of wands at them. Speaking quickly, it took less than a second for a wand to be placed in her hands and snatched away equally as fast.

"Hmm, the first customer of the day, here we are ivory wood and thestral tail-hair, a cold wand for a cold lady? No, no, not at all, a horrid match. Hawthorn and unicorn hair? No, just as bad. Cyprus and unicorn? No. Hmmm, how about this, obviously I've got you all wrong miss, Dogwood, and the heartstring of a teenage Hebridean Black."

The wand hadn't even left the man's hand as he brought it to her, instead the man opened his hand, and the wand flew from his to hers in an instant. As the wood touched her skin Belladonna couldn't help but smile down at the wand, she just knew they were going to be up to no good.

"Ah, be careful young miss, that one is quite temperamental and feisty, why just last week she decided that she didn't like where I put her on my shelves and brought the entire thing down, make sure that when you cast you are in control if not, I'm sure that the results will be quite hilarious, or horrific."

Belladonna was struck by the man's words and simply stared down at her knew wand as her mother paid the man for the item and a few others that she would need. She couldn't tell if she should ignore the man's advice or take it to heart, after a while of thinking and a few bursts of warmth she decided to do both, she wouldn't fear her wand or let it take control, instead, she silently promised her wand they would be the best of friends.

July 25, 1991

Diagon Alley, Tom's pub

England

Harry shook his head trying to clear the horrible dizziness as quickly as possible as he braced himself against a brick wall and tried to keep his small breakfast down. McGonagall had said that app-apparition was a difficult and often unpleasant way to travel for those new to it, but from his current experience, unpleasantness had barely scratched the surface of the emotions he was feeling.

As the nausea worsened somehow Harry felt someone, McGonagall most likely, started to touch his shoulder. At first, she simply tapped him, and right before he whirled around, she placed her hand on his back, and a few seconds later her hand began to move around his shoulder in slow, unsure, circles, it seemed obvious that she was trying her best but was far from the best at comforting children.

Standing up straight and straightening his clothes Harry took a deep breath and turned to his guide and supposed Godmother nodding to her. Nodding back at him she swiftly turned and exited the alley they were in turning and walking to the right, by the time Harry had exited the alley and turned she was holding open the door to a rather old and dirty-looking pub.

Entering the building Harry wasn't surprised to see that its interior matched its exterior to a 'T'. The pub was large and old, not old like it had been built during or after a WW, old as in it seemed to step right out of the medieval ages. The floor was cobblestone covered in straw and it had a dark and gloomy presence that was illuminated in parts by its many candles and colorful patrons starting their mornings with a drink.

As he followed McGonagall closely through the pub Harry saw the di-dichotomy created by the pub. The actual building itself gave off a sense of darkness and foreboding just like nearly all medieval buildings did, the patrons however gave the pub the exact opposite atmosphere. The pub's inhabitants, despite the early hour, were cheering and jeering, laughing and singing as they shared drinks with their fellows, even those who weren't taking part and instead leaned in a shadowy corner tapping their feet or wearing smiles, Harry had to admit he liked the place quite a bit.

Exiting the pub through the back and entering a small, enclosed brick alley Harry had to look around in confusion, from what McGonagall said this was the entrance of the magical world, wasn't it? Before he could even start to ask, she whipped out a long piece of wood and began tapping bricks.

As she touched the last brick with her stick it sank in as though it was a trap from a movie, and then suddenly the entire wall began to move, folding in on itself before suddenly it was no longer a wall but an archway. As McGonagall moved through it Harry followed diligently but allowed his eyes to wander and allow everything to sink in, between floating cauldrons, animals that shouldn't exist screeching from cages, and clothes that shifted through the colors of the rainbow Harry was simply trying to understand and absorb what he was seeing as they made their way down the wide street filled with fantastical streets.

"Har- ah, Mister Potter?" Turning back to McGonagall and seeing her small smile he nodded to ensure she knew he was listening. "So, our first stop is the wizarding bank, Gringotts, we'll access the money your parents left for you, and then we'll go down the alley gathering everything you need for school, after we get your wand, we'll return to Tom's pub and you'll get your answers, is that acceptable?"

Nodding to the woman as she seemed well versed in this trip he followed once again as they approached the biggest building on the street made from white marble that sparkled enough to hurt his eyes.

As they exited the bank Harry's anger had returned just slightly, his anger was tamed by his thoughts of reason, but he could tell from the way that McGonagall avoided his gaze that it was clear. His anger was about the fact that he had a fortune simply sitting here, not only that but from what he'd asked the goblin to find out anything exact about his money, like how much there was, or how it was made, interest rates, anything he'd have to come back in a week when they could find an account manager for him.

Between his inability to get answers about his own family's money and the fact that people he didn't know nor trust by any means had been in possession of his key, Harry wasn't the happiest person in the world. The only reason that his anger was cooled was because of reasons like if he'd had his key, he obviously would have asked questions, and that the goblin had confirmed that no one had accessed the vault since his parents had died.

Standing in the street he was addressed by his guide once again. "Mister Potter, the closest shop is that one right there, Madam Malkins, our robe shop. How about we split up and you get your robes while I acquire your trunk, give you some well-deserved time to cool off?"

Not bothering to give her anything more than a nod Harry left her and made his way through the small crowds to the shop, entering it and looking around. At the moment there was a wide variety of robes and other attire lining the walls to choose from, from utterly featureless black robes to once with a purple star pattern, from standard slippers and oxfords to shoes he would see on a Christmas elf, bells and all.

"Oh, hello deary, Hogwarts yes, come on back we've already got someone else being fitted at the moment." Following the woman who'd ambushed him out of the rows of robes they soon walked past the racks of clothes and entered an area full of stools in front of mirrors. Standing on one of the stools was a girl around his age with dark curly hair, exceedingly pale skin, and most shocking of all black eyes.

Harry had seen dark eyes before but looking at this girl seemed more like looking into space than at a person's eyes. Letting his surprise die and his gaze continue around the room, he did his best not to flick his gaze back to her and be rude by staring. Following what he assumed was Malkin's instructions he stood on the stool next to the other girl.

Lifting his arms as directed and trying to keep his body as still as possible Harry waited as a tape measure spun around him on its own and the woman waved her wand around the other girl causing pins to sink into the loose fabric she wore. Soon enough the tape measure was finished, and a piece of paper began glowing. Harry simply waited diligently as the seamstress eventually ran out of pins on the girl next to him and retrieved the paper before she addressed them both.

"Very good young man, these measurements shouldn't take long at all, in fact, I'm sure I have some pre-made robes that will do the trick nicely, as for you miss Lestrange I'm afraid I need to retrieve some more pins for your dress, please try not to move too much I'll be back shortly."

The woman left in a rush clearly not happy about having to make the girl wait. As soon as she left them the girl spoke to him. "Are you a muggle-born? I'm sorry, I'm sure that's a bit rude as you seem new to this, but I've never actually met a muggle-born before?" Her tone was curious and light as she turned her head to examine him closer, wincing as one of the pins on her side caught her neck.

"No, I'm not a muggle-born, but I am new to this, I suppose muggle-raised would be more accurate."

The girl's eyes widened along with her smile. "Wow, muggle-raised are even rarer than muggle-born; it rarely happens, you must be quite special Mister?"

"Ah, sorry my name is Potter, Harry potter, miss Lestrange." He hadn't thought much of it but the second his name left his mouth the girl's head snapped to him eyes wide and mouth agape, she didn't even seem to notice that a pin was pushing into her neck far enough to draw a small but steady stream of blood.

"Miss Lestrange you're bleeding." Turning her head back to face the mirror, the girl cursed quietly and moved her left hand to her neck as it was the only appendage not restricted by pins. As the girl began dabbing her neck with a bit of cloth Harry decided it was time to take his leave before he accidentally caused the girl to hurt herself again. Bidding the girl, a light farewell and turning to leave he was stopped by her voice as he went.

"Uh-um, excuse me, Mister Potter, I hope I'm not being rude, but…I was wondering if, well you see my Auntie and Uncle say that the train is a long journey, and well, I was, if. Would you be okay sharing a compartment on the express?" Between the way, the girl's eyes looked at him from the mirror and the stuttering in her voice he was beginning to think there was much more going on with her than he suspected.

"I, well, I don't see why not Miss Lestrange, I suppose company would be nice if it's a long ride and if you're okay with it I'd like to ask you about some questions I might have." The girl nodded vigorously into the mirror still holding her piece of cloth to stop the bleeding. "Well, then I'll see you on the journey to school Miss Lestrange, I hope your dress turns out well."

July 25, 1991

Ollivander's wand shop, Diagon alley

England

Harry entered the wand shop with renewed energy after their last stop in the alley, flourish and blotts, what had to be simply the best bookstore he'd ever been to. The man that ran the place had it set up well, sectioned off between shelves were the most popular books and categories like household spells, potions, charms, magical beasts, and even an entire shelf dedicated to the Hogwarts curriculum. From top to bottom were the books needed for the year, if you were in the first year like Harry then you simply needed one of each book in the first column on the bookshelf, if you were in the second year you moved over one column, and so on.

And that was just one shelf that held unimaginable knowledge for him to plunder, after grabbing his Hogwarts books he'd made his way around the entire store taking at least a single book from each subject, save for the ones marked romance, fantasy, or worse the ones with his name on them. But he now had a book on everything from the basics of diverse ways to hold your wand to a thousand and one curses to the only book the store had on 'the dark arts.

While McGonagall hadn't exactly endorsed him buying the last book nor the book about curses, she'd gleefully followed him around, and he could almost swear that every time he placed another tome on the increasing stack in her hands a small smile crossed her face. Her happiness was from his thirst for knowledge apparently, from what she said the vast majority of the wizarding world simply stopped learning new spells once they left Hogwarts.

Essentially unless it was vitally important to their jobs like defense for Aurors or detecting curses for curse-breakers they simply didn't learn it. There were two main reasons for this, the first was evidently a stigma around the gathering of too much knowledge as those who continued their studies past school tended to be very powerful and either ended up going crazy or spending their lives alone inventing things for others and never having true relationships or happiness.

The second was that wizards and witches tended to fear those with power whether good or bad and the ones that didn't fear the powerful coveted them. From what McGonagall said the life of a powerful witch or wizard was split in half between rejecting people who craved their power and trying to convince the others you weren't simply going to kill them.

As McGonagall entered the shop behind him a man Harry assumed was Ollivander leaped out from the shadows. Steeling himself Harry took the wand the man offered and had to keep himself from jumping as the man snatched it away. That was how nearly the entire encounter went, the man giving Harry a wand only to take it away. But eventually, they had success and Harry left the shop with a holly phoenix feather wand and a very ominous message.

Shaken by the man's words he decided to let McGonagall guide him back to the pub and sat gratefully in the chair she'd pulled out for him at a secluded table. "Well, given Mister Olivander's rather tactless speech We'll start with the biggest truth you need to hear today, Mister Potter."

And so, Harry simply sat and listened, he learned about the genocidal maniac named Lord Voldemort who rampaged and ravaged the countryside in the name of an ethical cleansing for reasons no one truly knew. He learned that his father stood up to the man not only as an Auror but as a future lord. He learned that his grandparents were killed, along with his parents.

He learned that his father was a good man and not a drunk, he knew his mother was a smart woman not a whore as he'd been told. He learned they'd given their lives to protect him and that despite, or because of their sacrifice as a child with unknown means he'd stopped Lord Voldemort and become a hero to nearly everyone in magical Britain, and the world beyond.

There was another thing he learned as he listened to McGonagall's tale as well, something she didn't tell him but instead something that simply came to the surface. He learned that he hated the Dursleys. A sense of rage and hate had been bubbling just under the surface…ever since he got his letter really, and with nearly every word he heard from McGonagall about this new hidden world, it grew.

"Excuse me, Minerva, um can I call you Minerva?" He'd interrupted her in the middle of talking about the basics of something called the Wizengamot which sounded like it was this world judicial system, but the truth was for the first time in his life he was overwhelmed and was having trouble absorbing what she was saying.

"Ah, yes, yes I suppose calling your Godmother Professor constantly will get old, but you'll have to do so when we're in class or with other students okay Harry?" Nodding to Minerva he stood rather suddenly from their table causing her to mirror his movements with a slightly worried look on her face.

"I'm sorry Minerva, but truthfully I'm really struggling to grasp all of this at the moment, would-would it be okay to continue this later?" She nodded at him and gave him the tiniest of smiles as they began walking to the pub's exit. "And I was just wondering, how would I get back here if I needed to say, get more books, or talk with the bank?"

July 25, 1991

Dursley Residence

Surrey, England

When Harry got home on the Knight bus the sun was beginning to set, bathing Surrey in rapidly encroaching darkness, and soon enough Petunia would be home from sitting at the local council meeting. That was good, he needed to speak with her.

Waiting for the bus to drive away Harry simply stared at the house he'd lived in for so long, and another fact added to his rage as he did so, the reason he was waiting for the bus to leave was that he didn't have a key to the door and didn't like others watching him scale the fence, he'd already had the bobbies called on him once before.

Walking towards and scaling the fence with practiced steps he bitterly thought about that fact, both Petunia and Vernon always made sure to lock the doors when they went out, Dudley had a key, but he didn't. Walking into the empty house nearly everything Harry passed added to his rage, walls full of pictures none of which held him, a single trophy that Dudley had gotten for a spelling bee, the answers to which he'd beaten out of Harry.

Taking breaths to calm himself he made his way to the living room and scanned looking for a delightful place to sit. And suddenly like a message from above, he saw Vernon's plush reclining chair. Taking a seat and waiting for his aunt he let his anger simmer and die; he had the feeling that it wasn't the only thing that was wanting to lash out based on the fact that Petunia's favorite lamp was just thrown across the room by a mysterious force.

By the time she got home Harry had been waiting for nearly fifteen minutes and the living room was bathed in a pool of darkness completely covering him, he thought it was rather apt for his "ambush". When Petunia came home and opened the door Harry decided to move first and flicked on the lamp sitting on the table next to the chair.

"Oh, Harry, you scared me, what are you doing over there? Be careful Vernon wouldn't like it if he saw you sitting there." He didn't respond to her in the slightest, instead he simply stared at her trying to decide what he wanted to say. "Harry, are you okay?"

Again, he didn't answer, instead he decided to control the conversation and pulled his wand out placing it on the chair's arm. Despite the fluidity and innocence of the act Petunia stilled and dropped her bag on the ground at the sight of the wand. "H-harry, what is that?"

"I think you know Petunia, and I think that you've spoken enough, or lied enough I should say, I think it's time to listen now, don't you?" She gave him a nod, eyes not leaving the innocuous wand sitting still on the chair's arm as she took a seat on the couch across from him. "You've been lying to me for a very, very long time, Petunia."

"Harry, harry listen, you don't understand Vernon, he forced me."

"Oh, did he hold a knife to your throat or beat you senseless to the point where you told me my mother was worthless and my father a drunk who got them killed in a car crash?" Harry had barely even realized that by the end of his question he was standing and had taken his wand into his hand. Between Petunia's shudders and the flickering of the lights, Harry decided it was better to end this sooner rather than later. "I'm going to say what is probably the first truth spoken in this house Petunia. You disgust me with your treatment of others and how you think you're better than they are when you are simply horrid. I don't even hate you; I pity you because you have seemingly no idea how horrid you are or have any desire to change it. I'm leaving and I'm not coming back."

Turning and leaving the house Harry snapped up his wand summoning the knight bus and tossing the driver a few coins whilst ordering a ride back to tom's pub. As he took a seat and gripped a railing so as not to go flying Harry got one last glance at the Dursley's house before the bus shot forward. Petunia had begun to move, and he couldn't tell what hurt more, the fact that her first thought was to pick up her purse or the smile on her face as she did so.

AN: Alright we got a long boy today and a few things to address, first off someone said that my transitions are a bit all over the place, you have a point but sadly I don't have a beta so I added dates and locations so that they'll be easier to grasp and not as jarring, other than that what did you think of Harry and Belladonna's first meeting, I tried to make her awkward and kind of surprised that she met her crush so soon but you'll have to tell me if it read well. You've got to tell me about your views on the McGonagall relationship and her trying awkwardly to connect with Harry.

Lastly, what did you guys think about the last scene with Harry and Petunia, I was hoping for a clean break kind of thing. Hope you enjoyed it.

AN2: So, I ran this through a second word processor trying to improve the grammar and readability of it for you guys, also yes I already use programs like grammarly but the longer the chapter the more my writing worsens, you have no idea how much I want grammarly premium.