A/N : Sorry for updating late. My real life is coming to the fore now because my first dose of vaccine is just done and my studies are also on the forefront of my mind right now. Even my beta's college is now open. So expect even more irregular updates. But don't worry. I will ensure to complete this fic and maybe even write some naruto crossover series. Now onwards to the story.

Harry was in a hurry to reach the train.

A few days after rescuing Sirius and before visiting the Weasleys, he was visited by a house elf called Dobby. That elf had warned him about a 'great danger' at Hogwarts that year and had requested him not to go back. When Harry refused, Dobby cast magic mimicking Harry's signature to get him an expulsion notice from the Office of Improper Use of Magic.

But since his main wands didn't contain the trace and also the reason that he was in a protected area, he never got any notice. By the time Harry could react, the Elf had vanished.

Since then, Harry and co. had warded the property against foreign elves and people trying to infiltrate the manor. Sirius went back to the Grimmauld place to pick up books about wards so as to strengthen them at the Potter Manor.

During their stay at the manor, Harry snuck Sirius out to the Gringotts. The goblins there acknowledged his claim to be the head of Blacks and gave him his signet ring. He donned it and assumed the title of Lord Black. (Though Harry and Snape had to convince him a lot for him to accept his lordship. It included giving him a permanent stay at Potter manor and an unrelated side trip to Turkey and Hong Kong after the trip to Mexico)

He also made Harry his heir, much to Harry's protests, who quietened after the Goblins told him that him being a heir apparent would be permanent until Sirius produces an heir to his legacy and if he wouldn't accept being the heir, it would go to Draco to which Harry immediately sobered up and accepted his position as a Black Heir. He didn't have anything against Draco, despite their frequent clashes. However, he didn't want a death eater, former or not to have access to the Black fortune which was quite large.

Since it was his mother who blasted him off the family tree and not his father, he still was considered a Black Heir since his father was the head at that moment. Sirius, then had reinstated Andromeda and her family into the Blacks while removing Bellatrix, Narcissa and the Malfoys from the Black tree. Since he had removed them as Lord Black, it was pretty much permanent unlike what happened to him.

On an unrelated note, Harry was itching to see Malfoy's face, when the self- proclaimed upholder of the Slytherin legacy will learn that he had lost his position as heir to the Black family.

Disowning a person causes them to lose access to family magics, secret arts long lost to others, heirlooms or artefacts that perform a specific function. Disowning also causes specific traits special to the family like Metamorphaguses to disappear. Andromeda's daughter still had her ability because only her father disowned her and not the Black head. Otherwise, her metamorphagus ability would have been blocked.

Since Sirius was free (atleast in the eyes of the goblins), he reclaimed his position as a guardian and godfather of Harry Potter and also granted him some concessions and permissions that Dumbledork (Dumbledore's new name from Sirius among many others) would never give him. All the time there was maniacal laughter echoing from Harry who was busy plotting revenge on Dumbledork(*snicker*) in his mind.

At Hogwarts, Dumbledore suddenly had a chill running down his spine. Shrugging it off as him feeling cold, he cast warming charms around while reviewing his knowledge about the Flamels by use of the Pensieve. He thanked his past self that he had at least considered this possibility and had contingency plans in place.

Feeling warm again, he went into the pensieve again for regaining his old (new?) memories. The thing he had last observed before he went back into his memories was a rune that was engraved on the Pensieve. It was a P with motifs of a Lion and Griffin on either side.

Dumbledore had stolen the Pensieve from the Potters'.

After both of them conferred with the goblins, they left Gringotts very happily with their family grimoires safely tucked away in their robes.

A family grimoire has all spells ever used by the family. This includes all the spells from ones who come from other families as well via marriage. The grimoires contain the secret spells, spells created by said family, ability of locating lost or present family heirlooms, magical strength of the family that use them, their strengths, their weaknesses, etc.

The grimoires are a great tool for either understanding or destroying other wizarding families. Only members of said family can use the Grimoires. That fact is true for all cases except one where the head's last will states that it'd donated to another person instead of the heir apparent. Both Sirius and Harry, for that specific reason, had removed their own grimoires from the vault. They wouldn't put it past Dumbledore or Voldemort to either permanently seal them away or even fabricate a fake will stating that the grimoires are to be left for them.

Many dark curses and spells were derived from observing a grimoire's contents. The body-binding curse and the unforgiveables are some of the examples, mainly the killing curse.

The Killing Curse was originally a spell from Ravenclaw's grimoire that was used in hospitals to prolong a person's life for maybe a day (at most) so that the said patient could spend his/her last moments with their family and would suffer a painless death after their magical power was redirected to their family. A dark wizard, who was a Ravenclaw descendant had come across the grimoire and understood the spell's workings. Tweaking it a bit, he used it with the conjunction of a coma curse and created the Killing Curse which would kill the victim in the span of a moment and drain their magical power to the caster for a temporary boost.

Gaining knowledge of the event, many dark lords started to use this spell and it was subsequently banned from the mainstream society. The grimoires from which the spell was thought to be derived was destroyed and its copies were considered lost. But like many before and after them, they failed to conduct a thorough search except Harry Potter who had found all the copies of the grimoires of the founders in the lounge.

Harry and Sirius had taken out their grimoires from their vaults to take them back to the manor. They planned on putting to use their whole arsenal in the future showdown with Voldemort. They would make sure that the dark wanker would never have his wishes fulfilled as long as they were alive.

When the summer vacation was complete and they were to return to Hogwarts (Snape had requested Harry to create a Clone of Darkness for him as his substitute for teaching that year since he and Sirius would still be travelling for the majority of the school year, like until Christmas and another reason is he still didn't learn to cast it), Harry observed Dobby's magical signature lingering on the barrier separating the muggles from the Hogwarts express. Pressing against it, he found out that the barrier had sealed off. Not wanting to waste time, Harry apparated to the platform when the train was just about to leave which leads to the present situation.

After calling out to the driver and stopping the train, Harry loaded his trunk into the train and boarded it. After a few moments of searching, he came across Ron and Neville who were playing chess. Neville was the first one to observe him coming into the compartment all sweaty and tired.

"Harry! Where were you?"

"I am fine Neville. Just tired. One house elf is hell-bent on trying to not let me come to Hogwarts this year. It stopped me from trying to enter the platform until the last minute and I had to run very fast to board the train."

Hearing this both Neville and Ron had dumbfounded faces, not understanding what he said and not wanting to bother him about the topic. Ever since they made friends with him, strange incidents (stranger than the things happening in the magical world) kept occurring to them and they learnt to just forget said incidents.

"Say, where is Hermione? Isn't she with you?" asked Harry

"She was, but she told us that she was going to search for you." said Ron still dumbfounded

After a few minutes, Hermione came back and upon seeing Harry hugged him close to death.

"Hermione! Air!" rasped out Harry turning blue due to lack of oxygen supply to his brain.

Hermione then released him and started to hyperventilate while talking frantically.

"OhmyGosh!Harry!Howareyou?!Didyoucompleteyourhomeworks?Howdidyouprepareforthisyear? Icantwaittolearnthemall!"

"Hermione, breathe, slow down, be calm, repeat." intoned Neville with a stony face though anyone can see his lips quirking upwards.

After spending a lot of time with Harry and his friends, he had overcome much of his shyness and cowardice. He had also started exercising causing him to lose some of his baby fat and giving him the beginnings of a muscular physique. In short, he had become a person worthy of being called a Gryffindor though he still regressed to his former self at some moments when too much attention is focused onto him.

Hermione then calmed down enough to talk while everyone just shook their heads at Hermione's obsession about academics (Seriously, that girl needs to sort out her priorities).

When Hermione's language became understandable and all 4 of them were discussing about the coming school year (mostly Hermione. Ron was talking about Quidditch while Neville and Harry were listening to them), the compartment door opened. Turning around, Harry saw flaming red tresses that he came to associate with Ginevra Weasley, with whom he had made an acquaintance at the Burrow.

Flashback,

After the day Sirius and Snape left for Mexico and other side trips, Harry used the Knight bus to go the Burrow since he didn't go there as far as he can remember. Harry had seen and experienced the Knight bus from both his mom's and voldemort's memories and wanted to experience it himself not knowing that this incident would go on to be one the incidents unrelated to either voldemort or Dumbledore he'd come to hate. The other being floo travel.

After a long ride during which he was thrown side to side while bouncing up and down continuously, the bus finally stopped near Otter St. Catterpole and Harry disembarked rather quickly bidding good bye to the driver and the conductor and started to dry heave on the ground. After regaining his bearings, he straightened his clothes and walked towards a mishappen but surprisingly steady building that matched Sirius's and Snape's description of the Burrow.

Knocking on the door, he was greeted by a young red-haired man who Harry assumed to be the Weasley Patriarch.

"Excuse me sir, is this the Weasley household?"

"Yes, it is. Who might you be young man?" spoke the man while casting an air of neutrality around them laced with a bit of discomfort and distrust.

"I am Harry Potter sir. I believe that my friend Ron lives here and he invited me here today." spoke Harry civilly.

When Harry mentioned his name, the man's eyes shot up to his faded lightning bolt scar that was given to him by Voldemort. The fading of the scar was a testament to Harry no longer hosting Voldemort's soul sliver in his body though most people don't know about it.

The presence of Voldemort's soul sliver in his scar made it seem irritated and inflamed all the time while never healing properly and giving him a dull ache in the area but after the horcrux was destroyed, the scar healed completely while fading to a dull black. The soul shard also took away the pain accompanied by its residence making him feel rejuvenated.

Harry felt uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze of the older male. He desperately wanted to leave the sight of the man who unnerved him so easily.

Even with him having maturity far greater than his other peers, never let be said that Harry still felt like a little child.

After what seemed like hours for Harry but just a few seconds, the man broke out of his neutral countenance and gave a small smile.

"Well Harry, it is true that Ron had invited you here. Come on in."

"Thank you, sir!" spoke Harry with a sigh of relief that the scrutinizing gaze on him was lifted

"Don't call me sir. Call me Bill although my full name is William." said the now named 'Bill'

"Thank you, s-, I mean Bill" stammered Harry to which Bill laughed.

"No worries Harry. Now I think that you are here to meet my brother. Ain't I right?"

"Brother?" asked Harry inquisitively

"Yeah, I have to forgotten to mention that. My name is William Weasley, first son of the Weasleys Arthur and Molly and heir apparent. Father is busy with work today and the family went for buying their school items. I am the only one in the house now. They should be here shortly." said Bill checking something inside the house that Harry assumed to be the Weasley family clock whose function was to show the location of the said family members. Or that is what Harry presumed from his mother's memories.

Just then, the fireplace roared while the fire turned green and spit out an ash covered Ron

Harry observing the phenomenon, rushed to his friend who was coughing and sputtering incoherent words and then observed Harry beside him.

"Blimey Harry! When did you get here?"

"Just a little while ago Ron. My transport was not ... comfortable to say the least." stated Harry while effectively hiding his mode of transport and reminding himself the horrors of the Knight bus simultaneously.

"Oh!" said Ron not quite understanding Harry's predicament. (Seriously Ron! Start trying to understand other people)

"Enough about me, what happened? Shouldn't you send me any letter stating that you are leaving today for school shopping? I would have come some other day." chided Harry

"But I did! I did get a reply from you stating that you would not come here right now so I assumed you knew." spoke Ron confused

"I didn't get any letter Ron. Maybe someone snagged your letter and sent you a forged copy with my writing." said Harry while internally cursing Dobby for his assumed 'safety' about him.

"Maybe". Said Ron sceptically while Bill frowned at the implications of what might have happened to the letter.

"By the way, Bill, is it? I am honoured to meet the eldest of the Weasley siblings. Ron told me a lot about you and others." spoke Harry

"Thank you, Harry. It is nice to know that you have a good impression on our family."

While the conversation was about to continue, the fireplace flared green again and spit out the rest of the Weasleys whose faces Harry committed to his mind. Dusting themselves off, the oldest person among them, came up against Ron and started shouting.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! What was the need for you to go that fast? You could have at least waited for Ginny?" The now confirmed (by Harry) Weasley matriarch shouted while screeching and hurting poor Ron's ears. Then she turned her attention to Harry and her demeanour suddenly turned soft.

"Oh, and who might you be dear?" spoke Molly very softly and projecting a small aura of protectiveness on him.

Harry witnessing this, was a bit sceptical about the mindset of the Weasley matriarch. She just turned her behaviour into calmness while Ron got a severe lashing when he was present. Even if that might be considered normal for this family, the protective aura projected on him was a dead giveaway that something was wrong.

Usually, mothers belonging to any species are wary of outsiders while protective about their own kids. Here, the scenario was reversed. The Weasley Matriarch is projecting a protective aura on him but even less on her own children. He was sure that Dumbledore was behind this situation and made a note in his mind to research about other spells and counter spells that might break others from mind control. Breaking away from his thoughts, he answered the woman's question.

"I am Harry Potter ma'am, Heir to the house of Potter. Ron, here, invited me to the Burrow and hence, I have come here to stay for a week or two. Please take care of me." spoke Harry in a formal tone used by purebloods. The Weasleys (as a whole), right now, were in a neutral ground for him and he didn't know much about them and so spoke to them formally. They might be pureblood bigots but project an outward dislike for their traditions while not attempting anything to improve the situation like Dumbledore or they might be purebloods that are genuinely in trouble due to their support against reigning customs that they chose to oppose.

When he said that he was Harry Potter, Harry heard a gasp and feet running off. When he turned towards the rest of the Weasley siblings, he noticed that the girl, who came in with the rest of the boys, had disappeared and the boys were snickering, as if they knew the reason.

Ginny's POV,

Ginny was having the best day of her life. Her Hogwarts letter and her oldest (and favourite) brother arrived on her birthday, which was a few days ago and today, her mother decided to take her shopping for her school items. Granted, they would be second hand but she was too excited on the thought of learning magic that she took almost no notice of it.

On the way home, they stumbled onto Gilderoy Lockhart's newest book release, Magical Me, autographed by the author himself. Her mother was a big fan to Lockhart and even brought his books (all sets), which brought a side effect of having too low money to buy her a wand. Her mother, then, realising the shortage of money, gave her grandmother's wand to her as an apology so she could use it to practice her magic. Though the wand was so old and worn out that it looked like an heirloom rather than a wand of her own.

When they were about to return, they found that Ron had left quicker than them. Her mother was beside herself with worry though there was a strange glint in her eyes, as if she was anticipating something but she didn't care much about it. Ron promised to write her letters from Hogwarts, every week at least and month at most but she didn't get even a single letter. As far as she was concerned, Ron is about to get his just treats.

When they returned to home, they were greeted by the sight of a black-haired boy who was apparently conversing with Bill and Ron. Curious on who the boy is, she is about to ask them when her mother started screaming her throat out scaring poor Ron out of his mind when her mother asked the unspoken question that was gnawing at her. And the answer she got was that raven haired boy was THE Harry freakin' Potter.

Unlike what everyone thought, Ginny was no fangirl nor was she obsessed with Harry Potter. She had heard stories about him since she was little and after hearing them for so long, she had fantasies of him being a prince rescuing her who would be a princess. The books did no help on the matter, though she could tell that they are fake. Seriously, how can a 4-year-old toddler slay dragons with just the help of some animals and no knowledge about magic since Dumbledore himself stated that he was left with the muggles.

But witnessing the real Harry Potter, who was apparently the only person to survive a killing curse, had come to her home, her fantasies resurfaced and overwhelmed her. Squeaking, she rushed out of the hall and into the room ignoring the snickers from her brothers. (She would pay them back later)

She did not come down for her things even until late into the night. She was hungry yet decided not to go down. She might have humiliated herself completely in front of him and she doesn't want to talk about it.

She was startled when she heard a knock on her door and after making herself presentable, allowed the person in and was shocked on seeing Harry Potter enter her room.

Harry's POV,

After the commotion in the hall died down, Harry questioned the Weasley twins the reason for the snickers and got his answer promptly. Ginny Weasley, their youngest and only sister was a bit obsessed with him (as they think) and always listened to stories about him created by others from her childhood.

On hearing this, Harry groaned and mentally facepalmed himself. He had enough of the whispers behind his back during his first year and he didn't want any crowds of fangirls following him. If the pictures of his parents showed their true selves, then he'd be a lady killer in the future. (quote unquote by Sirius)

Harry thought of confronting Ginny alone and talk to her but Ron didn't leave him and acted as an unofficial tour guide for the Burrow. After a long 2 hours, the tour ended and everyone was down to eat dinner except the youngest Weasley. Taking his chance, he went to the entrance of her room and knocked on it. Then he heard muffled shuffling and after a few moments, she opened the door.

Harry was generally a straightforward person, dedicated to his goal. He just went to fetch her from her room and afterwards, tell her on how he is not the one in the books later. But when he saw her up close, she intrigued and diverted his mind.

She had chocolate brown eyes which sparkled in the light with a hint of mischief. Her hair, a shade darker than her brothers and looked like real fire at that moment. She was shorter than her brothers and may remain shorter than them but he could say that she held herself with confidence and dignity. Her clothes, even if second hand, had still not faded and made her look beautiful and cute at the same moment.

No women or girl he met or is/was acquainted with gave him this kind of impression, well, except for his own mother (but that was a different feeling from this), which actually made Harry take one step back. The boy stood their speechless for a couple of minutes, as if in a trance.

'It's strange, I feel like I want to keep staring at this girl for hours. What's happening to me?'

When she observed that he was present in her room, her demeanour changed to surprise with a light red dusting on her cheeks.

"Umm….well Miss Ginny…..uhh….we are waiting for you to….join us for dinner." Our spectacled protagonist stated with a dumbfounded face.

To which she dumbly nodded and arrived to the kitchen with him. Ignoring her brothers' snickers, she loaded her plate with food rivalling Ron's when he is hungry and started eating.

After everyone's dinner was complete and everyone had gone to their beds (Harry met Arthur at dinner, who asked him about the ways of the muggle world and importantly, the function of a rubber duck), Ginny was still moving to and fro in her room. Finding herself restless, she snuck out of her room and took a broom from the shed (read picked the lock open) to fly and relax for some moments.

As she was enjoying the flight, another person also climbed onto his broom and flew right next to her. Sensing another person beside her, she turned her face to see Harry Potter keeping pace with her, a curious look on his face.

Sighing now and slightly turning angry, she turned onto him, slightly raising her voice.

"Excuse me, is there any problem?" asked Ginny hotly while accelerating to the top speed of her broom.

"No, there is no problem." said Harry coolly, surfing on his broom.

After sometime, there was still no signs of Harry relenting his flight and Ginny finally burst.

"Why are you following me?" asked Ginny finally snapping while performing a barrel roll.

"I just wanted to know about you." spoke Harry yet again, this time trying a wronski feint.

Ginny had no comeback for that. After some internal discussions with her inner self, she landed on the ground. Harry landed beside her as well.

"Why do you want to know about me?" asked Ginny after her internal debacle was over.

"You intrigue me and I want to study you."

"I WHAT!" shouted Ginny after hearing Harry

"Don't shout. Jeez, you have a loud voice. What would happen if your whole family wakes up?" stated Harry cooly to which Ginny fumed but became silent upon hearing his statement about her family.

Not noticing Ginny's fuming, Harry continued.

"Of all the girls I met, you intrigue me quite a bit. I sense something special within you. Even after spending time with members like Daphne Greengrass, Hermione Granger etc. I didn't get this feeling. I want to know you better. I feel that some of my troubles would fade away if I knew you." spoke Harry rubbing the back of his head.

"Besides, you would also get to know me as well. We can learn about each other and confirm ourselves on what is special with us, mainly you." said Harry completing his speech.

Ginny wanted to vehemently deny it, but she was interested in learning about this mystery known to the world as Harry Potter. Maybe she could get some solace from the dreams that plagued her, all the way trying to know about Harry as well and also discover this 'special thing' Harry found in her.

"So, friends?" asked Harry while stretching out his hand

Ginny wanted some time to think about it but her mind, against her better judgment, did the opposite.

"Friends." said Ginny while shaking his hand firmly signifying a new start in both of their lives, even if they both didn't know about it then.

"Soo, how good are you at using a broom?" asked Harry inquisitively

Now that is something Ginny was willing to discuss.

End Flashback

After that night, the situation at the burrow mellowed out somewhat. Ginny started to interact with him more and accidents with butter dishes went down while they became friends and came to know each other's personalities.

He also came to know several things about the Weasleys which he filed away for future use.

The day before he left, he asked Bill on why he was here when he should be working in Egypt (Ginny and Ron mentioned it to him), he answered that it was due to constructing new wards around Azkaban. Harry thanked his lucky stars yet again on leaving the prison quickly. He was not sure that he could stand after battling people of Bill's level, all by himself that is, Snape was another story. (Yes, he saw how the eldest Weasley duels).

After the week ended and he was about to leave, he told her that he'd be corresponding to her via letters and she accepted it.

"Hey Ginny, did you get my letters?" asked Harry

"What letters? I didn't get any from you." spoke Ginny after losing her patience. She thought that Harry misled her into thinking they were friends and was very sad about it.

"Oh! Sorry about that then. One house elf is hell bent on not letting me come to Hogwarts this year and is trying his best to make me agree to it. He even stopped me from entering the barrier until the last moment." said Harry apologetically.

After observing him for a few moments and finding out he's not lying, she spoke again with her tone laced with anger and regret.

"Oh! So that is what happened. Make sure that it doesn't happen again. Or you will see why even my brothers fear me Potter."

"Oh yes Miss Weasley. I will try to make sure but trouble follows me, rather than me following it." said Harry meekly to which the Gryffindors snickered, while Ginny internally grinned at having the ability to dominate the Harry Potter, any time she wanted. Ron was about to say something but was silenced by a kick from Hermione.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful except for Ginny and her friend Luna staying with them (Ron was a little miffed) and Malfoy and his cronies making their visit and the white-haired ferret proclaiming that times were about to change in Hogwarts and they would be the first examples of it. The response Harry and his friends (including Ginny) gave him was a jelly legs jinx in addition to a bat bogey hex and a leg locker curse. It resulted in Draco and his cronies running away screaming like a little girl with bogeys clawing their faces and the three of them, hopping and tripping along the way.

Once the Malfoy fiasco was over, they changed into their school robes and disembarked the train. After bidding Ginny good bye so she could meet them after the sorting, they walked away towards the carriages where Harry encountered the thestrals tied to the carriages. After nuzzling one of them and getting a strange look from Hermione, they embarked the carriage. Travelling for a few minutes, they reached the entrance of Hogwarts which welcomed him back by giving him a warm and fuzzy feeling. However, many times he experienced this, he would admit that this was the most relaxing.

Once they were seated and Harry had greeted the Slytherins (Daphne, Blaise that sort) they were waiting for the sorting to begin, the first years entered, many of them looking timid. Harry sympathized with them as he knew how stressful it was.

Once everyone was in the hall and the sorting about to begin, there was a flash of light and Fawkes materialized with the sorting hat, which was looking as good as new. After whispering something to the hat and having an intense and silent discussion, the phoenix disappeared while not even glancing at others though Harry internally swore that he winked at him before he vanished. The sorting hat then proclaimed that the heir of Hogwarts had returned and since the said person returned, all decrees established after them (relating to the school) had vanished and the sorting would start anew, including reinstating the secondary house selection as well. Harry hadn't known that there would be many changes since he decided to return and was genuinely shocked on hearing it. He'd need to discuss this with Fawkes later.

The secondary house selection was created by the founders' to stabilize internal conflicts within the school and also make students more flexible in their behaviour. Every student would sit under the sorting hat but they would not go to the house suggested by the hat by stating several reasons. This secondary house system was designed to put them in the houses the sorting hat had suggested when they are first sorted. If they are first years, they would get the two houses right there. This process would be redone every year so the students would not stay biased and would also to adjust to their behavior if their mindset changes during the term. If they have different qualities at different levels, they would remain in their same house or shift to another permanent house, based on the said qualities.

One insidiously 'light sided' headmaster (no, not Dumbledork) decided that this system was 'too dark' and was liable to corrupt the students and scrapped this program. But what he didn't know was that the founders' or their heirs are the ones who could truly disable the programs surrounding Hogwarts. If they don't and only the headmaster does it, the magic would simply be deactivated. Once a founder or their heir (who remains true to their ideals) returns for more than one year while supplying magic continuously to the castle, all the restrictions would be terminated and every enchantment would be fully active again.

Harry, right now, was observing Dumbledore whose face resembled his 'uncle' when he was angry but still trying to maintain his patience.

Dumbledore's POV,

Dumbledore's summer contained every mishap he didn't want to happen to him. It started at the start of the summer (read the preceding chapters to know about it). Then he lost the knowledge he gained as an apprentice from the Flamels, though he regained those from the duplicated memories he had stored in his memory chamber, but losing the memories about the Flamels' knowledge was a painful affair. His lemon drops seemed to vanish without a trace and his other sweets turned into various insects when he put them in his mouth.

And when the calamity of his sweets had just ended, he had gotten the news that the wizard prison Azkaban's wardens, the Dementors' had apparently been killed. When he tried to call upon his phoenix, he couldn't find him and found out that his bond was severed with him permanently. Fuming and vowing to teach a lesson to that damned phoenix if and when he appears again because he left 'the greatest wizard alive since Merlin', he used the floo, muttering all the way about the unfairness of him, using the floo like a common wizard, to reach Azkaban.

Upon reaching Azkaban, he did not expect to see the carnage of the dementors. Many grotesque heads were strewn about and cloaks that were seemingly torn. Dumbledore lifted one of the said tattered cloaks with his wand and heard screams escaping from the cloak. Every few metres, there were a few spheres of blue light that were either dissolving into the ground or rising into the sky.

But the most shocking thing was that Azkaban was shining with sunlight. The presence of the dementors ensured that no sunlight would be cast onto the prison. It was seemingly a curse that the dementors carried with them. But witnessing the sunlight streaming onto the prison told him that maybe, all dementors had indeed been killed.

He was furious. The dementors were kept here so that the prisoners could never feel hope or even have the strength to retaliate against him. That is one of the reasons he kept the scroll detailing the charm about the destruction of the dementors. Granted it was incomplete, but he was a great researcher and a skilled arithmancer which helped him complete the charm which turned out to be an elemental version of the patronus charm to which he scoffed. Maintaining his patronus to look like a phoenix by itself was difficult but creating an elemental version of it would really sap his magical strength, wielder of the elder wand or not.

However, his main worry was not that particular topic. Rather, it was about a particular person housed within the prison i.e Sirius Black.

He knew that Sirius was innocent but didn't do anything to make him a free man. There was no evidence that would back his statement. Also, he didn't know the location of Pettigrew so he couldn't convict him.

But the benefit outweighed the loss. Harry Potter would be under his control and even maybe follow him like a lost cruppy anywhere. If Black were free, Harry would not listen to him and the prophecy would be doomed to fail. Only he could lead the boy since he was the 'leader of the light'. Others might corrupt him and lead him to destruction.

Another benefit was that Sirius could be used to test the resolve of The-Boy-Who-Lived. If he were presented as a dark wizard, Dumbledore would just reinforce his charms on Privet Drive to suppress those tendencies. After all, in the future, he might be killed by taking out Voldemort's horcruxes and maybe Sirius himself, leaving him the fortune of both the Blacks and Potters. It would be a win-win situation to him.

Arriving near the entrance, he was about to enter when he was blasted off by a ward that was placed at the entrance of Azkaban. Picking himself up, he examined the ward and started to cast negating charms on it. The arrival of the ministry members did little to alleviate the situation. After all of them toiling for an hour, the ward finally broke and allowed them entrance. Dumbledore immediately rushed off towards Black's cell where he found him prone on the ground. Casting diagnostic charms, he found out that Sirius was in near critical condition.

He might have killed him right there but everyone would know that he had done the deed since the anti-apparition wards were still active and many ministry personnel saw him walking towards the cell. Even if he pleaded that he did it 'for the greater good' his reputation would nosedive due to the kill. So, he left the comatose Black alone, returning to the ministry to spread word about the 'Massacre of Azkaban''s Guardians' while not noticing that Sirius had a dark sheen on his skin.

After that, he was swamped by many meetings and conferences leaving him without time to check upon Harry or force more magic from him into the wards while weakening 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'.

He tried to call on the phoenix many times and also casted many point-me spells that might show its location but all in vain. The sorting hat was quiet on the matter and was not responding to him. Albus had to consume several calming draughts so as to not destroy the hat in a fit of rage.

But witnessing that the phoenix had suddenly appeared with the sorting hat in tow, which in question looked brand new while proclaiming that the heir of Hogwarts had returned set off alarms in his mind. The heir had absolute power within and outside of Hogwarts, even surpassing his own authority. The Dumbledores were believed to be one such heir but Albus's research showed that his family had no relationship with the founders except for being their vassals from which they were not released when the founders died. If even one of their heirs was still alive, they could force his family (mainly him) into servitude again.

One of the main reasons that Voldemort was an equal to Dumbledore was the above said reason. And that was still when he is not under the vassal magic. The lords were stronger than the vassals because some of the vassal magic is redirected to the lord. And Voldemort was the Heir of Slytherin (but not anymore).

The ministry gave every founder honourary seats in the wizengamot for their heirs to be claimed. That would give the heirs more power in the ministry to pass laws. Even he couldn't use those votes like he did for the Black and Potter family seats to pass more laws favourable to the traditionalist side.

Another reason he didn't want the heir to return was the 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'. If they find news about him, they would train him and pull his (Dumbledore's) misdeeds out into the open, leading everyone to lose their trust in him. If the rumours he heard about the founders' and their heirs' powers were true, even a sliver of them, then he would be in deep sh*t that is buried, deep fried and rolled across on the lands of hell. Snapping out of his delirium, he heard that Harry Potter was placed in Gryffindor and Slytherin together to which all teachers' jaws dropped down to touch the floor.

Harry's POV,

After seeing that everyone had snapped out of shock, McGonagall called out the names of the first years while names of other students, written on parchments, also zoomed towards her and settled before her, reinforcing what the sorting hat talked about putting every student in their secondary house or changing their primary house. Sighing to herself, she started the sorting, waiting for the results.

After a few moments,

The results were... genuinely shocking to say the least. Since the sorting hat insisted that everyone in the hall right now be put under the secondary house act, things got hectic.

Teachers, students, ghosts, poltergeists and even the caretaker and the groundskeeper were put under the sorting hat to either be sorted again or be put into their secondary house. The teachers, mainly Dumbles, tried to avoid it by stating that they had completed their education and hence were not needed to be sorted but the sorting hat silenced them by stating the Hogwarts rule book (which now, is updated and is being updated constantly to keep up with change in time while trying to not alter it as much as possible) that they would lose their jobs. That promptly shut the teachers up.

Perhaps the most shocking moment then, was Harry Potter being sorted into Slytherin as a secondary house along with Ginny Weasley and the Weasley twins. Actually, not exactly the secondary house but rather a declaration from the sorting hat that, Harry belonged to both the houses equally. Many people tried to destroy his reputation by stating that since he's in Slytherin, he must be a dark wizard but most of them remained silent or were silenced when they themselves were about to be sorted or really be put into Slytherin. And also, many death eaters' children like Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Flint etc. were put into Hufflepuff as both their primary and secondary house. Hearing that elicited various reactions from the said people. Malfoy and Flint looked like they swallowed a quaffle and excreted a dragon's egg at the same moment. Parkinson was about start shouting and screaming that it was trickery but a silencing charm shot from somewhere silenced her (On an unrelated note, Clone-Snape was pocketing his wand just then), who was crying, by the way. Nott lost all of his swagger and was looking deathly pale.

And the less said about the other death eater children, the better.

The minority that didn't stop ranting about Harry were silenced when Dumbledore himself (after a great deal of threats issued from the Sorting hat with promises of him losing his magic) was sorted into Slytherin. The ones who were quite vocal then changed their opinion about Slytherin house proclaiming that 'Dumbledore can never be a dark wizard' to which Harry scoffed internally musing about the single-mindedness that all witches and wizards possessed along with a lack of common sense. Though Dumbledork's expression on witnessing that he was sorted into Slytherin gave him much happiness that one would think his birthday and other holidays were celebrated in one day. It also started sowing doubt in those less confident of Dumbledore's motives.

Other honourable mentions of people having secondary houses are Hermione in Ravenclaw, Cedric Diggory, the neutral Slytherins (Blaise, Daphne, Tracy etc.) in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, Neville in Hufflepuff, Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe in Slytherin and so on.

Ron was one of the persons who didn't have a secondary house and the same primary house. He was angry and a bit jealous that everyone he knew had a secondary house or at least changed their primary house. The sorting hat told him that he didn't have suitable qualities for being in any other houses' but came close to being either a secondary Hufflepuff or Slytherin which dulled some of his anger. He thanked the stars above for not being put in Slytherin unlike some of his friends including Harry to whom he decided to give a lashing on how Gryffindors behave properly.

As for the teachers, Snape (well, his clone but the sorting would be valid since the clone had the same magical signature) got Ravenclaw as his secondary house, McGonagall got Hufflepuff as secondary, Sprout's primary and secondary houses remained Hufflepuff, Flitwick got Gryffindor as the second house, Hagrid got Gryffindor and Slytherin (surprise …. Surprise).

After everyone's sorting was completed, the sorting hat spoke out the rules. They would still be getting house points which would be given to their primary and secondary houses randomly. There would also be points given to them individually unlike before where it was given to the whole house. At the end of the year, the person having the most points would be awarded another cup for gaining the most points in school (year wise that is). Also, they were to spend their time in both common rooms while the school year was progressing and As for the Quidditch teams, the members would have to switch from their primary house to secondary and back with each consecutive session.

Also, the sorting hat proclaimed that many other changes would be introduced during their stay here in due time and he wouldn't spoil them, bid them good night and vanished after Fawkes came back to take him away.

Still dumbstruck, the others just walked away mechanically to their new/old rooms. Some of the former Slytherins tried to enter the Slytherin common room but were banished to the great hall without their clothes which shut up some others trying to get into their former common rooms and they resigned themselves to go their resorted rooms. The repercussions of that day would reverberate deep into the Wizarding world whose after effects started showing the next day.