Previously: Harry had removed all magical blocks and spells on himself including tracking charms, the horcrux of Voldemort with the help of some goblins, all the while uncovering more of the headmaster's schemes to control him. He also gained several abilities and the influx of magic from Voldemort's soul shard; the founders and his mother had strengthened his magical reserves and occlumency barriers by a significant amount. He returned to Privet drive after that so he can misdirect the headmaster and plot his downfall.
A/N: I wanted everyone to know that I am very happy that many have liked my fic. Please continue supporting me and R/R. Also, I have changed the amount of wizarding money that will be refilled to Harry's trust vault because it was too close to the Potter account money.
1st September 1991,
King's Cross station
Harry was dropped off at king's cross while the Dursleys were going to an operation of removing Dudley's pig-tail (courtesy of Hagrid). Harry was fingering the wand he had taken from the Hufflepuff's vault. It was made up of 3 wand woods, holly, red wood and Rowan with a phoenix feather and a griffin's tail feather interwoven together as the wand core. This wand was created by Godric and Helga themselves for their future heir. He also took a wand from Salazar's vault which was made up of snakewood, hornbeam and yew with basilisk horn mingled with basilisk venom and merged with a dragon heartstring as the wand core. This particular wand was created by Rowena herself and its wand cores are supplied by Slytherin.
He also found that there were many other wands in addition to the two wands he took. The founders had told him that they had created all those wands and had put them in their vaults in order to prevent theft and only a true heir of the theirs could know about them. They had also allowed him to lend those wands to the people he could trust provided that the wand chose them. He decided to use the snakewood and hornbeam hybrid as the primary wand to be used daily and the holly and elder hybrid wand as secondary while the Ollivander's wand would be a tertiary wand because it still would be a little compatible to him due to the blood binding ritual conducted by Dumbledore.
Harry, after waiting for some time, thought of entering the barrier separating the Hogwarts express from the muggle world before anyone magical or not comes to question him when he heard whispers of 'how to enter the barrier?' Turning around, he saw a family of red-heads, having trunks stowed onto trolleys like him and heading towards the barrier. He also noted that a little girl clinging to the boys was chatting animatedly while the woman was talking about pranks and detentions to the set of twins all the while appearing to be waiting for someone.
On his guard, Harry slunk away quietly into the barrier while making a mental note to keep an eye on this family that he had assumed to be the Weasleys(He had gotten some knowledge about some wizarding families from his mother's memories). He entered the barrier to witness the Hogwarts express which left him dumbstruck on seeing it for the first time in reality. He had seen it in his mother's and Voldemort's memories where it was awesome but he never thought that it could look even better.
He put his trunk into the luggage lounge and settled into a compartment while watching others say goodbye to their parents. Seeing that struck a chord in Harry, who had seen his mother finally pass away to the 'next great adventure' from his mind. He had hoped earlier that his mother would stay with him at least until he left Hogwarts but circumstances didn't let that happen. So, he had vowed to himself and his mother that he will help others who suffered like him and would ensure their well-being.
Harry was snapped out of his musings when he observed that the train had started to move and there was a red-haired boy knocking on the compartment door. Specifically, the red-haired boy who he had seen at the station. He looked about his age with some freckles on his face.
"Hi, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." spoke the red-haired pre-teen.
"Yes, of course." answered Harry. The other boy then entered the compartment and fully collapsed onto the couch muttering a thank you to Harry.
"My name is Ron Weasley." introduced the newly named red-head.
"Oh, I am Harry Potter." spoke Harry on confirming his hunch about the red-heads being Weasleys.
"Blimey, are you really?!" spoke Ron in shock
Harry didn't like Ron's manner of speech and expressions. It seemed too artificial and strained to be true. He also sensed that Ron had been showing signs of having an inferiority complex and had expected Harry to be present here on the train.
Strengthening his occlumency shields and subtly using legilimency on him, Harry delved into Ron's mind. There, he found some memories locked away. Curious, he peered into them, in one of which he saw that Dumbledore speaking to Ron's mother about helping Ron make friends with Harry so that he will stay 'loyal to the light.' He saw that Dumbledore convinced her rather easily by blackmailing them and saying that their family owed him debts he saw that Ron was peeking through and listening to the discussion. Being in a hurry and making up a plan, he locked away this memory instead of removing it so when the time comes, Dumbledore can unlock it to convince Ron, Harry and their friends to 'stay loyal to the light.'
Seeing this memory made Harry hate Dumbledore even more. When he explored other memories, he found a pattern of Dumbledore manipulating everyone he saw in Ron's memories to do his bidding. None of the Weasleys or Hagrid himself who was a frequent visitor to the burrow (later Harry would find out that it is the name of the Weasleys' home) were capable of malice and were merely brainwashed and unwillingly subjected to Dumbledore's plans and machinations. Also, he found another memory of Ron's mother (after Dumbledore locked away a part of his memory) instructing Ron to stay loyal to the light and maybe force Harry to be his friend and make him support the light as well.
Confirming his ideals to be true and Dumbledore, not contributing to everyone's good will, Harry began revising some of his plans. He wanted to make Dumbledore's life a true hell and make him lose all his support and allies, starting from the moment he entered Hogwarts and the wizarding world. He would show that he cannot be controlled by anyone and let everyone know about Dumbledore's blunders. For now, he would kick back and gain himself allies and break the iron-clad trust Dumbledore had gained from others over the years.
Harry, after checking Ron's mind completely decided to undo Dumbledore's brainwashing on the Weasleys starting with Ron. Also, he wanted a friend and Ron, despite his brainwashing to Dumbledore's ideals (indirectly) and shortcomings seemed to be a good person, based on small talk exchanged between them. He again vowed to himself that he will not let the likes of Dumbledore and Voldemort to play with others' life.
Harry, while talking to Ron also found out many changes and general things he had not known from Lily's or Voldemort's memories. He also met several of his soon-to-be classmates like Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Hannah Abbot etc. After stopping at Hogsmeade station, the first years were led by Hagrid towards the lake and climbed onto boats in groups of 4 where they were greeted by the sight of Hogwarts.
Harry, for the first time in the physical world, felt at home truly with the castle's magic giving him a warm welcome, as it recognized him as the heir. Soon, all of them reached the entrance to the Great Hall where Harry met Draco Malfoy and gained an instant dislike to him upon hearing his thin veiled insults about others who were not purebloods.
Clenching his hands to relieve the tension, he saw that he had entered the Great Hall and it was filled with people. Based on what he had learnt from the founders, he recognized the sorting hat and planned to have it put him in Gryffindor as he eyed all the teachers. He saw Hermione and Neville getting sorted into Gryffindor, Draco into Slytherin and so on.
When Harry's name was called and the sorting hat put on his head, he found himself in his subconscious and together with the sorting hat.
"Hmm, I never expected such a strong magic or such a strong barrier to protect one's mind. Ooh! The heir of Hogwarts! Just the one I was waiting for since a long time. Pleasure to meet you heir Potter." spoke the sorting hat.
"Please, call me Harry. I am not a big fan of formalities. Also why are we here in my mind? Shouldn't you talk about my sorting in the great hall?" replied Harry.
"Oh, that is because everyone doesn't have such strong occlumency shields. By my estimation, you have occlumency shields on par or surpassing the headmaster himself." spoke the sorting hat which shocked Harry. Not letting the shock subside, the hat started speaking again, "Also since you are the heir of Hogwarts and have already claimed your lordships, you have access to the founders' lounge. But if it becomes a deterrent to your plans, I can place you in any house but I suggest placing you in Slytherin." stated the sorting hat.
Harry, rethinking what the sorting hat had told him had an internal monologue with himself. After sometime he came up with a decision and started speaking again,
"Place me in Gryffindor. One has to to keep an eye on Dumbledore after all. Also, I do plan on reclaiming my heritage and working in secrecy while gaining allies. So please give me the directions to enter the founders' lounge while putting me in Gryffindor so I can spy on Dumbledore and what he plans."
"As you wish then, Harry Potter."
Dumbledore was feeling uneasy and had some forebodings about Harry. The sorting hat was silent from the moment it was placed on Harry's head and it had been 10 minutes. The tracking charms he had put on Harry were missing and he also felt a change in the wards the moment Harry entered Hogwarts. He also used legilimency on Hagrid to find out that Harry had explored Diagon Alley without Hagrid's supervision. He wanted to control Harry so that he could defeat Voldemort when he returns and be portrayed as a champion of light.
He knew that Voldemort made horcruxes but put off the hunt and wanted Harry to do it and when he eventually sacrificed himself to destroy the horcrux in his head, Dumbledore would come in and destroy Voldemort completely and be hailed as a saviour again while gaining Harry's wealth as well claiming that he will use it 'for the greater good'. It was a win-win situation for him.
Shaking himself out of his delusions, he saw that the sorting hat had made a decision and put him Gryffindor just as he wanted and everyone (except the Slytherins and Snape, who he made others believe were evil by manipulating him) applaud him loudly. Now, he could get closer to Harry and put him through a series of tests and leave him a set of half-assed clues which he, with his friends' help could piece together and solve them and be prepared for his destiny. He often told himself that "it's for the greater good and the only way" and Harry should face his destiny as Dumbledore tells him. But he failed to consider other methods to help Harry.
After the sorting hat gave him the knowledge on the whereabouts of the founders' lounge, how to enter it and announcing that he will be in Gryffindor, Harry sat beside Ron waiting for the sorting to end, meanwhile observing the teachers sitting on the head table
On landing his eyes on a turban wearing teacher, Harry's scar prickled a bit. Harry found out that even after the horcrux in him was destroyed, he still maintained a faint connection to Voldemort and his horcruxes and could pin-point his location somewhat accurately. He found out every teacher's name and committed it to memory.
While conversing with his housemates and eating to his heart's fill for maybe the first time, Harry found out that Snape was present in Hogwarts as the potions professor and was sitting beside Quirrel. Lily told Harry that Snape was always a good friend to her and even after their fifth year incident where he called her a mudblood, he still was friendly to her and apologized to her for causing the incident.
Lily also had known that Snape and James were acquaintances during their first 2 years at Hogwarts and were on friendly terms at that time but after the end of summer before their 3rd year, both begun bullying and playing pranks on each other. It started on the day, both of them returned from Dumbledore's office where he had called them at the start of the welcoming feast. Lily suspected that Dumbledore had put the both of them under a compulsion spell to act like that when they were close to each other. She started checking them for signs like spacing out, uncontrollable twitching near the eyes, enlargement of pupils for a few moments and found them as well which verified her resolution about Dumbledore.
She had written another letter for Snape to read and through Harry's body cast a compulsion charm breaker on it which would activate when Snape touches the letter. She wanted Harry to let him know everything about what happened to him and Dumbledore's faults to which Harry agreed.
After completing their dinner, they were given a mandatory speech by Dumbledore about not being allowed into the forbidden forest, magic usage in halls being frowned upon etc. and an additional information to not enter the 3rd floor chamber or suffer a painful death. Upon being dismissed for the day, the students got up and followed their prefects to their dorm rooms where they were told about the rules of the dorms.
Harry and Ron found themselves sharing a room with 3 other boys namely Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. After introductions and talking between themselves on how amazing Hogwarts was, what classes they might get and like, they slowly drifted to sleep. Harry, happy that he could finally sleep comfortably decided that he'd lay low and after the first potions class, would hand over the letter to Professor Snape and bring him over to his side, making the first step in making Dumbledore's life a true hell.
A/N: This is the best from me (for now). On a happy note, my exams are cancelled and the readers may expect regular updates now.