Author's Note: Its been a long time, and this will probably take a while too. i AM still working on my other stories, they are not abandoned, but life is busy. With regards to THIS story, i have a mostly fleshed out plan for the main story line, and the three main subplots that will make it up. in addition to chapters for these three main subplots, there will also be scattered chapters that act more as appendices to the main story.
Premise: Tom Riddle was adopted shortly after his birth by a muggle couple who heard Tom Riddle Sr. ranting about the audacity of a certain orphanage to contact him about the child of a witch. He grows up loved and well cared for, and as a result, takes a less destructive path through life, eventually becoming a professor at Hogwarts as he searches for an apprentice to whom he can pass on aall of hiis accumulated knowledge.
But in a world without Lord Voldemort, something older and darker rises to threaten the world and all life as we know it.
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1 September 1991
Harry awoke the sound of his little sister's excited shouts outside his bedroom.
"Wake up! We gotta go or we'll be late! It's already ten!"
Slowly, Harry rolls out of bed.
"I'm up, I'll be down in a minute!" He hears Holly's footsteps on the stairs and knows she will be back in a minute if he isn't on his way.
He looks around his bedroom, mostly empty now as his personal belonging have all been stuffed haphazardly into a trunk that appears too small on the outside. A few posters, dresser with the drawers open, his raided closet, some of his muggle clothes in a hamper behind the door. He wouldn't see this room for months. Not until the Christmas holidays. It would mark the longest he had been away from home in his life.
He grabs his trunk and steps out into the hall, taking another moment to look around. His sister's room down the hall. The bathroom they have shared for years. The warded entertainment room where Sirius had set up a muggle television and video games. He sighed. He was already homesick. Not to mention nervous.
He knew he had nothing to worry about. His mother was a teacher, along with Remus. And he had his mirror if he ever needed his dad or Sirius. But his parents had been so tight lipped about what he would be walking into, he had been getting more and more apprehensive about the whole thing for weeks. He tried to focus on seeing his friends and the Hogwarts Express, and the castle was supposed to be incredible.
"Harry, come on! It's been at least two minutes!" He rolled his eyes. He would even miss Holly, as much of a pest as she could be. She would be spending most of her time during the school year with the Greengrass family, since their parents and the Longbottoms would both be busy most of the time. They weren't quite ready to leave her home alone yet. Next year, they said. Harry had his doubts.
He entered the kitchen to find Sirius and Marlene already waiting with his parents, Holly rushing past him up the stairs to get something or other that she had left behind.
"Are you excited Harry? I remember my first day like it was yesterday..." Sirius grinned at him and flicked his wand behind his back, silently casting a weightlessness charm on his trunk. Harry mouthed 'thank you' as the weight of all his belongings suddenly became much more manageable.
"I'm nervous. You guys really won't tell me what the sorting is? What about the other teachers?" Harry had asked before, many times, and was not surprised when the adults all smiled and shook their heads. Holly chose that moment to return, a pink notebook under her arm and her junior practice wand behind her ear.
"What are you so worried about? You already know Mom and Remus and Severus. And you already know you'll be in Gryffindor. I don't see the big deal." Holly sat on the sofa between Sirius and Marlene, taking her wand in hand and practicing the gestures she had been learning. The wand didn't actually cast any spells, but it was able to give a warm glow and hum when she did a motion or incantation correctly.
Harry had traded in his own practice wand for the real deal on his birthday a month ago, and much to his sister's delight, his new wand was made of Holly. "You thought you would get away from me, but you will have to deal with me all the time now!" He remembered her teasing when Olivander had told them about the composition of his wand.
"You don't know that, Holly. Grandma Dorea was in Slytherin, so was Uncle Regulus, and Severus." It was something that had bothered him since the reality of his own sorting struck him one day, and he realized he may be sorted differently than his parents and their friends.
"Harry, you know we won't think any less of you, no matter what house you end up in. Anyway, James and Sirius' favorite teacher is now head of Slytherin, so they have no right to complain." Lily said as she dug through the drawer of the table next to the fireplace. "James, we're out of floo powder, you need to pick some up. I guess we're aparating. Sirius, Marlene, we'll see you there in a couple of minutes. Take Holly ahead?"
"Sure Lily, no problem. Come on, Holly, I bet Astoria is ready to pull her hair out waiting on us!" Sirius took Holly's hand, Marlene taking the other, and the three disapparated, leaving Harry and his parents.
"Alright, today's the day. The next seven years are going to be some of the most important of your life. You will make friendships that will last the rest of your life, and you'll start to learn what you want to do in the future. Remember, no matter what happens, your mother and I will always, always love you. I want you to call us with the mirror tonight after the feast and everything is settled in, tell us about the sorting and how day one went. We also better see Hedwig at least once a week." James hugged his son, followed by Lily.
"And remember, I'll be at Hogwarts starting tomorrow morning, and all you have to do is ask your head of house or one of the Prefects to find me." Lily kissed his forehead. "And try to relax. I promise, everything is going to be fine. All the secrecy is just tradition. No one knows about the sorting ceremony before they walk into the Great Hall."
"I'll try... Thanks. We should probably go, before they leave without us." Harry grabbed his trunk, Hedwig's cage, and made sure his wand was in his back pocket, before hooking his arm through his mother's and being sucked through an invisible straw all the way to King's Cross Station.
Platform 9 3/4 was a chaotic sight, families running all around, some in robes, some in muggle outfits, and some in outlandish amalgamations of the two. Children running in and out of the train, exchanging last minute kisses, or panicking as they realized they had forgotten to pack something important. A few temporary stalls set up to one side, selling emergency goods at double the price for those in a desperate rush.
Harry immediately caught sight of Daphne and Neville and ran over to them. James went to join Sirius and Frank, probably talking about Auror business, or just as likely Quidditch. Marlene and Daphne's mother stood watching Astoria and Holly pretend to duel with their practice wands, while Lily and Alice hugged and gossiped about the last few months. Daphne's father stood stoically to the side, observing the chaos, but keeping himself clear of it.
"Hey Daphne, hey Neville, how was summer for you two?" Harry had missed his two best friends since his parents had dragged him and Holly on the single worst vacation he could remember. Six weeks in a castle on the shores of Ireland with his mother's sister and her family. It was a wonder no one had been killed.
"I spent all summer cleaning 'four hundred years of Longbottom family heirlooms' out of my gran's attic. I still smell mothballs. Why did she even use moth balls? There's a charm to repel insects. There are plants to repel insects." Neville sighed. His grandmother was widely considered to be the most intimidating old lady in Brittain, and if she said to use moth balls, Harry doubted anyone was going to correct or disobey her. "Is it true your dad burned down a castle?"
"Ah... that was a little exaggerated in the Prophet... He actually only started a grass fire outside the castle, there was no actual damage, and the only muggle witnesses were my aunt and her family." Harry scratched his head. That had been embarrassing to come home to. His mother had been mortified. His father had been ecstatic. "What about you, Daph?"
"I guess France was okay." She tried not to look guilty. While her best friends were apparently suffering through the worst their extended families had to offer, she had been on the beach every day for more than a month. Even still, what she would call a very nice tan was still what the average person would put between porcelain and corpse.
"Daphne, we have got to talk our parents into vacationing together again." Harry said. That had been the best summer he could remember. They had all gone to Greece, and nothing had burned down, and no Aurors had been called.
"It was so boring without either of you." Daphne looked over at her sister, who had resorted to trying to hold Holly in a headlock to win their duel. "And I know Astoria missed Holly."
"Hey guys! Phew! I thought we were gonna be left behind!" The three turned to see Ron coming toward them, his mother still shouting at the twins for whatever they had done to make them run so close to late. "Good summer?"
"My dad almost burned down a castle." Harry said, knowing better than to try to get in to the whole story.
"I cleaned out several generation of junk and dust." Neville said. Ron came from an old pure blood family and would understand the true horror.
"I tanned on the beach in France... I guess I win?" Daphne looked at her feet. Her family was by far the most well off. Harry's dad had started off with a lot of money from his family's business, and Neville's grandmother had never spent a single penny she didn't have to, while Ron's family had struggle from time to time between his father's peculiar interests and her mother's family splitting their inheritance three ways. Daphne's father was a lifetime politician, and her mother was a socialite, hosting parties throughout the year for the movers and shakers of the magical world. Everyone knew, if Daphne decided that she never wanted to work a day in her life, she would never want for anything. She was all the more motivated to earn her own way once she graduated.
"Right, well, we got to visit Charlie in Romania! We even got to see some of the dragon hatchlings! Charlie introduced us to this crazy old guy who fed the baby dragons out of his hand, didn't even take his wand in the enclosure with him, it was wicked! Newton Shambler or something like that. He supposedly wrote the book on magical creatures and is the worlds leading authority on d-" Ron was cut off by the sharp horn of the train blaring through the station. "We gotta go get a conpatment!"
"You guys go ahead, I gotta say goodbye to Holly! I'll be right behind you!" Harry ran over to his family, hugging his little sister, who was sitting victoriously on top of an exhausted Astoria. "Hey Holly, I'm going to miss you, even your wakeup calls at ungodly hours on weekends when we should be sleeping in! And remember, I have a little bit of Holly with me all the time now!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You just don't want me to take your room while you're gone!" Holly stick out her tongue but hugged her brother back. "Good luck, Harry."
"Thanks sis."
He waved goodbye to his parents, promised Sirius that he would pass on his note to Remus when he arrived, and met up with Daphne as she reached the train doors, having said her own last minute good byes.
He looked at her and smiled.
"Well, here we go."
She smiled back, blushing and taking his hand.
"Yeah. Here we go."
They rushed through the train as the last call rang through the air, just barely getting in to their seats before the train lurched into motion.
The two were introduced to Hermione Granger, a muggle born student who they were sharing their compartment with.
Daphne, Harry, Ron, and Neville took turns answering the girl's seemingly endless string of questions about the magical world, and in turn she answered some of their questions about Hogwarts. Turns out, she had read the book on the subject, something none of them had ever thought to do.
"The book seriously has the entire history of adding modern plumbing, but doesn't mention what the sorting ceremony is?!" Harry was ready to start biting his nails. The closer he got, the more he worried that he would end up separated from his friends.
"It DID say that families tended to be sorted to the same house, but not always." Hermione offered.
"I'll probably be in Slytherin then. Well, I guess Ravenclaw is a possibility, since that was my mother's parents' house, but mom and dad were both Slytherin." Daphne shrugged. She knew enough to know she would still see her friends. No house drama would keep them apart.
"Are you all aiming for Slytherin?" Hermione immediately felt she had said the wrong thing from Daphne's eye roll and the looks of horror on the boys' faces.
"These guys all come from Gryffindor families." Daphne explained. "There is a lot of bad blood and competition between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Has been for 1000 years."
"Oh, I see. But you're still friends?"
"Forever. Even if I have to constantly bail these dumb lions out of trouble." Daphne smiled fondly at her friends.
"Do any of you know anyone at hogwarts?"
"Harry and Ron do." Neville said. "Harry's mother is the muggle studies teacher, one of his close family friends is the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and Ron's got three brothers there this year."
"And Severus is the new Potion's Master." Harry pointed out. The sour man was a childhood friend of his mother, and seemed to be on relatively friendly terms with Remus, but could barely be left unsupervised with his dad or Sirius without blood being drawn.
"Right, forgot about him. I can't believe he got a job near children. He never seemed to have the patience. I always figured he would end up brewing potions in a back room of St. Mungo's where he would never have to interact with the general public. Your mom and Remus are the only people I have ever seen him be more than civil with." Neville said. Ron nodded his agreement.
"I heard that the old potions master retired and they weren't able to find anyone else to fill the position. Severus agreed more as a favor to mom than anything else. He's probably only going to stay till they can find a replacement." Harry looked out the window. "Which means maybe next year or the year after I'll have a chance at passing that class."
"You dont think a teacher would treat you unfairly, do you?" Hermione sounded horrified at the very thought.
"He hates my dad so much, I am surprised he hasn't gotten into a duel with him. I look a lot like my dad, and Severus has always held that as about the highest crime I could have ever committed. Mom has shouted at him a dozen times over it. He adores Holly though, she lucked out and looked like Mom." Harry shrugged. "Its okay. Remus does a pretty good job of mediating. He and Mom are the only ones who manage to keep the peace between Dad, Sirius, and Severus."
"If he has such a problem with you and your dad, why is he involved with your family?" Hermione asked.
"Well, he's godfather to my sort-of-cousin Draco, and Mom's best friend, and drinking buddies with Remus. He has just always sort of been there a few times a year." Harry explained. To be honest, he is pretty sure the man has a thing for his mom that he does NOT want to contemplate, but mostly, he thinks Severus is lonely, and they are the only people who tolerate him.
Some time later, Tracey joined then, sitting next to Neville and leaning her head against the window with a dull thud.
"I'm going to get expelled for punching Draco before the year is out, I can feel it." Tracey grumbled.
"Right, I forgot he was starting this year too. I'll help you hide what's left of him." Ron offered.
"What's he done now?" Neville asked, ignoring Ron.
"He's just such an insufferable, arrogant..." Tracey trailed off for a moment. "He's trying to convince people to get on board with his father's political agenda."
"Can you imagine, Minister Malfoy? There would be a civil war!" Ron shouted. Most of those around rolled their eyes.
"Who's Minister Malfoy?" Hermione asked. "I thought the Minister for Magic was Bartemeus Crouch..."
"That's... Yeah, Crouch is the Minister, but Lucius Malfor wants the position. Its a toss up whether it will end up being him, Daphne's dad, or Kingsley Shackelbolt. Malfoy is pushing for the preservation of old wizarding tradition and culture, and Kingsley is more focused on the integration of muggle culture and modernizing the magical world. Daphne's dad is the main voice of moderation between the two. Ron's dad is a big supporter of Kingsley." Neville explained. "Gran leans more toward moderate. Sorry Ron."
"S'fine. Better than Malfoy."
"Draco is Lucius' son. He's my sort-of cousin. His mom is my godfather's cousin, so we see each other a lot. He's... very on board with his dad's ideals. Which means he thinks people raised muggle are less deserving than people raised magical. It's all nonsense, but he will probably give you a hard time." Harry frowned as he shrugged. "Their family is filthy rich, even more than Daphne's, so he's a bit spoiled."
"You're one to talk, Sirius Black has more gold than the Potter's, Longbottom's, Greengrass's, and Malfoy's rolled together. Personally. And he was all but disinherited. If the Black family ever decided to throw their money around, they could single handedly destroy magical Brittain's economy." Tracey pointed out. "What did he get you for your birthday?"
"A Nimbus 2000..." Harry stared at his shoes. Sirius had a bad habit of acting impulsively and letting his charm, good looks, and money get him out of trouble. He had never really grown up. Probably why he and Marlene were in a perpetual on-again-off-again relationship for as long as he could remember.
A loud honk startled the group and they began to feel the train decelerating.
"We must be close. I still need to go change. I guess we'll see each other again inside." Hermione smiled at them and then rushed out of the compartment and down the hall.
"She's a bit odd." Ron commented.
"We're keeping her. Goodness knows I need another level head to keep you all in line." Daphne laughed.
"Hey, no one I know tried to burn down a castle." Neville held up his hands. "I don't need to be kept in line."
"One of your plants almost ate Ginny last year." Ron pointed out.
"She shouldn't have tried to sniff it."
"It had flowers."
"It also had teeth, how does someone miss that?"
"Easily when they're nine."
"Enough, come on!" Harry and Daphne were the first out of the compartment. And led the other three on the long shoving match from the rear of the train to the doors.
Harry immediately grinned and rushed to the dock, hugging Remus and pressing the envelope from Sirius into his hands.
"Mom and Dad send their love. Sirius sends... I don't even want to know." Harry grinned. Of all his parents friends, he had always liked Remus the most. The calm, quiet, snarky voice of reason, and the only one who always seemed to be prepared for the shenanigans his dad and Sirius would get in to.
"I think I will wait till I am somewhere away from witnesses before I open this, then. Are you excited? I am sure you've been asked a dozen times already, forgive me. Seeing the castle for the first time really is a once in a life time experience." Remus smiled and tucked the envelope into his coat pocket, then waved to a giant of a man at the other end of the dock. "Hagrid, load them up!"
Harry reunited with his friends, happy to see that Hermione had even made it back to them and was sharing their boat. Remus gave him a wink as he took their boat personally to the lead, letting the mountainous man known as Hagrid bring up the rear.
"Woah..." Daphne's mouth fell open as they rounded an outcropping of rocks and the enormous castle, a light with candles and lanterns, finally came into view.
"Its beautiful." Harry grinned. Suddenly, sorting didn't seem quite so daunting.
The rest of the journey to the castle passed in reverent silence, all the first years taking turns to look up at the ever growing facade of Hogwarts. Soon, they found themselves inside a large entry way, with an enormous set of double doors.
The sorting came and went (a talking hat, of all the things to be scared of) along with the opening feast. Harry, Neville, Ron, and to their surprise Hermione were all sorted into Gryffindor. Daphne, as predicted, became a Slytherin, along with Draco and Tracey. After the feast, the prefects guided the first years to their respective dormatories.
Inside the Gryffindor common room, Professor McGonagall passed out their class schedules. Tomorrow he had a free period, Potions, a break for lunch, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Charms. He sat on the edge of his bed, thinking briefly about unpacking, then decided he would do that during his free period in the morning.
He pulled out his mirror.
"James Potter"
A few moments passed, and then his dad's face appeared, grinning widely at him.
"So, how did it go?"
"Easy, and I'm in Gryffindor!" Harry smiled. "Remus says hello."
"Glad to hear he is doing well, I'll have to make an excuse to visit soon." James waved behind him and Sirius wedged between Harry's parents.
"Gryffindor! I knew you would be!" Sirius laughed. "What classes have you got tomorrow?"
"Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Charms." Harry recited from his schedule.
"Ah, well, at least Potions will be done and out of the way early." Sirius muttered. "On a brighter note, you'll love Defence!"
"Your father and Sirius actually got their Mastery certification in Transfiguration because of the Defence teacher's help. He might just be the only wizard alive who could best Albus Dumbledore." Lily said, shoving Sirius back so she could see her son. "I'll be there in the morning for breakfast, go get some sleep, you have had a long day!"
Harry yawned and nodded.
"I love you guys, I'll see you in the morning, Mom."
A few minutes later, he was asleep.
He slept like the dead, drained from his worry the preceding week, and awoke to the rest of his dorm mates getting dressed, in various states of half-awake, and Neville nudging him.
"Come on Harry, breakfast."
Harry grunted something that didn't sound nearly as much like 'I'm up' as he had intended, and began pulling on his own robes.
He wandered down to the Great hall, following his dorm mates more than actually navigating himself. He found a seat between Neville and Ron and began piling bacon onto his plate.
After a few bites, he felt he had the energy necessary to look around. At the head table, most of the seats were already filled. On one end, the giant man named Hagrid, then Remus, then his mom (who smiled and waved enthusiastically at him), then Severus, then a man he did not recognize, but who seemed to be friendly and sociable to the Potions Master. Next was a very short man, who didn't look entirely human, and then a tall man with a long white beard at the center of the table. That must be Albus Dumbledore. On his other side sat his head of house, followed by what looked like the school nurse, then a cheerful woman covered in dirt. As he continued to scan the table, he realized he didn't know a single person to the right of the headmaster, besides McGonagall.
He finished eating, then went to unpack, before setting out to try and find the dungeons.
Potions passed better than he expected, Severus opting to ignore him more than anything. He finished his notes and the first simple assignment, and then went to lunch. This time, Daphne joined him, along with a few of her classmates. Draco looked like he would rather be with his own house, but also knew that house unity was always second to family unity, and that meant he would compromise. Sometimes. When they heard he had Defence next, they grinned at him.
"The Defence professor is our head of house! He's incredible! You can feel magic in the air when he walks by!" Daphne said. Draco nodded.
"He's descended directly from Salazar Slytherin. Dad says if he made a bid for minister, he'd now out. We would be in good hands. That's the highest praise I have ever heard from him."
Soon he found himself waiting in a normal looking classroom, flipping through the index of a heavy text book, waiting for the Defence professor to arrive.
'Magical Diagnostics - Identifying and Countering Dangerous Magic'
Then, without warning, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He remembered a time when he was younger, he, Neville, and Daphne had gone out into the woods near Daphne's house, and gotten lost as the sun had fallen. They had heard a noise and turned and found a wolf that seemed as big as a bear, feet away. He remembered the way his heart had pounded in his chest, his skin crawling into bumps along his arms, and his hair standing on end. The wolf hadn't growled, or made any threatening moves. It just turned and walked away into the night. They had ran in a panic until they finally emerged into the Greengrass estate lawn. He felt the same now. In the presence of a powerful and dangerous creature. Not one that necessarily meant him harm, but definitely one not to cross.
The man walked calmly to the front of the classroom, the collective hitch in breathing telling Harry he was not alone in what he felt. The man was tall, with youthful features that made him appear younger even than Harry's parents, but the way he carried himself and the way he looked around the room made him feel much older. Brown hair, and dark eyes, and suddenly Harry recognized him as the man who had been talking to Severus at breakfast.
"Good morning, class. I am Professor Tom Marvolo Riddle, welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts."