Usual thanks to Silverly for proofreading.

And usual reminder that I own nothing.

Prologue IV

September 1, 1986

The trip to King's Cross had been as uneventful as Waver had imagined it would be. It was essentially a repeat of the trip to Diagon Alley: head out to portkey in the woods, use it to get to London. He also had, like the trip to Diagon Alley a few months prior, needed to stop and catch his breath rather frequently, though the escort was seemingly sent at an excessively early hour to account for that.

Upon boarding the train, Waver chose the corner of an otherwise empty compartment, took out one of the novels he had received as a birthday gift from his mother a few years prior, and opened it to begin reading it for what felt like the twenty-seventh time. Waver already knew essentially everything about the book, but he felt that way about all the books he had with him, textbooks included. If he could, he would have brought books from the library with him, but as he'd be gone for several months on the other side of the country, he couldn't.

Some other students eventually entered the train compartment, which Waver realized was inevitable. There were only so many compartments, he couldn't realistically expect to have one to himself. Waver ignored them as they chattered amongst themselves and ignored him, only leaving once to change into their uniforms. Thankfully, the trip was otherwise simple.

When the train arrived at the station, Waver was glad to leave behind the three older students as he stepped out onto the platform. First years were being beckoned in a different direction than the rest, and compared to his disastrous encounter with that older student in Madam Malkin's, Waver was considerably more confident in his ability to save face and be taken seriously amongst a crowd his own age. Having read all his textbooks cover to cover, which these other first years surely didn't do, he had an upper hand on them. Or at least the ones with backgrounds similar to his, no magical parents.

The man beckoning the first years was quite a bit bigger than anyone else Waver had ever seen. Unlike Waver, he wasn't really taking any measures to hide his accent. He introduced himself to the first-years as Rubeus Hagrid, and ushered them over to a set of small boats docked by the lake.

Waver supposed this use of boats to cross the lake was part of some kind of entrance ceremony, though he wasn't sure what the point was if the only ones to witness it was the first years themselves and Mr. Hagrid. His co-occupants of the boat seemed to be others of non-magical background, judging by the sheer amazement on their faces when compared to some on the other boats.

To Waver, though, just seeing boats move on their own wasn't enough. He wanted to know how. He wanted to know the precise mechanism behind the movement. "It's magic," now that he knew it to be real, wasn't explanation enough.

After crossing the lake, Mr. Hagrid led the group of eleven-year-olds across the grounds and through the front gate of the castle. Waver kept silent on the trip to the castle, despite some murmuring chatter between his peers.

Professor McGonagall greeted the group as they approached the entrance hall, while Mr. Hagrid went around to resume his place at the staff table via the back entrance.

Waver quietly listened to Professor McGonagall's explanation of the sorting. From what it sounded like, it was how the school handled dormitory assignments and class scheduling. He had no idea what it entailed, but he'd read all his books. Whatever it was, he was most certainly ready.

Waver kept his back straight as he followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall, well aware of how many eyes were following him and the other first years after this point. To be taken seriously, he had to present himself seriously. He'd quickly learned that in his childhood. After all, someone who knew they were a genius would not act unconfident. A lot of the other first-years looked scared out of their minds. Waver felt somewhat sorry for them, with their lack of understanding of the requisite for confidence.

Waver took his spot among his peers at the Hall's front as Professor McGonagall turned around next to an old hat on a stool. The dinginess of the thing reminded Waver of the portkeys, and it probably smelled terrible up close. Waver would have wondered if it was a joke, but he already knew enough about Professor McGonagall from the shopping trip to know she was not the type to joke about these things. Whatever the hat was, it was most certainly relevant to the ceremony.

Waver found it rather unsurprising, given what he'd seen of the magical world thus far, when the hat began to sing. He thought it could really use some lessons, though the rest of the school seemed to disagree judging by the large amount of applause the hat had received.

Waver took the time as Professor McGonagall began calling names to contemplate the hat's song. He'd already heard about houses a bit from that annoying older student in Madam Malkin's, though the hat had graciously provided some extra details.

The older student had firmly believed that the only house worth speaking of was Slytherin, and the hat's comment on it indicated that they, like the boy, were not the type to take to those of non-magical heritage. What a silly rule, in Waver's mind. Heritage does not define people, he'd firmly believed this since he was small. That an entire fourth of the school might value it was annoying, he'd just have to show them he was worth as much as anyone else.

Hufflepuff gave him mixed feelings. The older student had scoffed at it, that was a plus. The hat had described it as the "house housing the hardest of workers and the loyalest of friends." Hard work was something that Waver put into anything he actually set his mind to, but he'd never felt truly devoted to anyone. Even his mother was not much more than an annoyance in his eyes.

Gryffindor seemed to be the house the older student had disdained the most. "Cocky show offs" he had called them. The hat's description did not seem to match the assessment, "house housing the bravest of defenders and most chivalrous of knights." Well, he supposed they could overlap, but he didn't really see how the hat's description would lead to the older boy's. Regardless, Waver didn't see himself as brave. He'd been so scared out of his mind in situations like the schoolyard bullies when he was five that the accidental magic trigger was all he could do. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone, of course. He had a feeling the hat would know, though, as it was likely reading the students' minds to glean the necessary information to sort them.

The older student in the robe shop had seemed ambivalent to Ravenclaw. In Waver's mind, it seemed the most appealing. None of the blood-purity mania that seemed to define Slytherin, which without it would have been reasonable. Intelligence was the one thing Waver had that he prized the most, after all, and the hat's description as "house housing the smartest of knowledge seekers and wisest of scholars" had been exactly the sort of thing Waver personally valued. Yes, if he had a choice, he would pick Ravenclaw. It seemed like the best of them.

He'd nearly missed Professor McGonagall calling "Velvet, Waver" in his lost in thought trance. Waver straightened his back a little more as he marched up to the stool. As he suspected, he was last. He idly wondered why his mother didn't bother having a last-second marriage to his father so he could use his name instead of hers. At least then they wouldn't be close to last in anything that involved the alphabet.

The hat felt much too big as Professor McGonagall set it on his head after he sat on the stool, falling past Waver's nose due to his particularly small stature.

"Oh, you're a fairly open book, aren't you?" a voice in Waver's ear commented. "The sort that would simply lock themselves up to study all day, really… but there's also a rather strong desire to show that you're the genius you so strongly believe yourself to be… a certain arrogance to you..."

Waver said nothing specific in response, though he was mentally fuming at being called arrogant.

"Don't take criticism well, do you?" the hat asked. If he could, Waver would (try and fail to) give it a glare that could have made a child collapse in freight. "That's no good… Not terribly open-minded of you, regardless of your love for study, a trait Rowena hated and one she loved. Non-magical parents… you fit what Salazar valued aside from that… I do put those of non-magical heritage in there on occasion, but only if they really fit."

"I would rather not share dorm space and class with a group of people of which the majority would hate me for existing." Waver bluntly gave the hat his thoughts on the matter. "And don't say it's not taking criticism well, as I have no means of controlling who my parents were."

"A fair point," the hat replied. "In that case, you'd be better off in: RAVENCLAW!"

The hat shouted the last word so the whole hall could hear, causing spontaneous applause from the table second from the left.

Professor McGonagall removed the hat from Waver's head and moved to take the hat and stool from the front of the hall as he stood up to join the rest of the Ravenclaw table. He found the handshakes and shoulder claps as he sat down a tad annoying, but for the sake of maintaining composure, accepted them.

The noise at the Ravenclaw table quickly died down when the headmaster, whom Waver recognized from his History of Magic textbook, stood up to say something. Albus Dumbledore, supposedly strong enough to take down possibly the most powerful dark wizard Europe had faced in the last century, Gellert Grindelwald. Waver figured he'd probably not be all that different from Professor McGonagall. He had to be. Running a school wasn't easy, running a school whose students could break the laws of reality must be torture. Only someone strict could possibly handle it. Showing mercy would only result in potentially disastrous consequences if students failed to take him seriously.

"Now that we are sorted," he began. "It is expected that I say something to you! So I shall say this: Lollipop! Kitten! Fly! Hawthorn! That's all." He sat down. Waver could only stare in total confusion. That was anything but a proper opening speech. What was the headmaster thinking?

"He's usually like that." The boy who was sitting across from Waver noted, seemingly in response to Waver's incredulous staring. "He's a genius though, don't underestimate him just because he's weird."

"Surely one needs more… discipline, to administrate the teaching of magic?" Waver asked him. "From what I've read, this stuff is dangerous if used improperly. Keeping control over irresponsible teenagers is vital, correct?"

"Apparently not!" He laughed. "Well, I suppose maintaining order is important. But you can be weird and still maintain order." He paused. "I assume your family are muggles, yes? Based on what you just said about needing to read about magic to know how dangerous it can be."

"They are, yes," Waver muttered. This again. There was no point in lying, the truth wouldn't be able to hide itself if he did. Waver just hoped the conversation would resolve itself quickly.

"You don't seem happy about that," the boy observed. "I'm Kieran Burns, by the way, sixth year. Waver Velvet, was it?"

"Yes, that's my name. And don't worry about my parents." It came out more harshly than Waver really intended. Based on the boy's tone when noting Waver didn't seem happy, there was a chance that he didn't really care about Waver's non-magical upbringing.

"Just so you know, most people won't really care about who your parents are. A few will, but they have a tendency to be from the old wealthy families who refuse to change their views. Best just ignore them." And that was likely confirmation of that.

"So long as there are people who do care, I feel it's best to not bring it up." Waver started to eat as an excuse to look anywhere but at the Burns boy. He didn't take much, as Waver had never had much appetite even when he was in a better mood than he was now. "I'd rather not open myself up to getting insulted."

"I suppose that's fair." the other student allowed. "How much have you heard about recent history in our world? There was a pretty big war that ended just a few years ago. I can tell you some, if you want."

This was a slightly more comfortable change of topic. "All I really know is the information in first-year textbooks and some explanation Professor McGonagall gave me about the basic culture. I haven't interacted with magical folk for more than two days, those being Professor McGonagall explaining everything and buying school books with her back in mid-July, and today." Well, maybe not entirely comfortable. It still concerned his lack of any knowledge of this society beyond books.

So the boy told Waver all about how right as he had been starting his first year, the most powerful British Dark Wizard of the twentieth century, who had been terrorizing magical Britain for years to an extent that no one would say his name, had fallen due to a one-year-old child.

"So this war abruptly ended because somehow, an unblockable spell was blocked. By a toddler." Waver stated. Privately, Waver was already trying to work out how that could have happened. From the limited understanding first-year spellbooks provided, he could think of a few possibilities.

Possibility one: it could have been a particularly impressive display of accidental magic. If true, Harry Potter must be incredibly gifted. Unfortunately, the fact that Potter was living with a group of non-magical relatives meant it was impossible to know the general scope of his accidental casting.

Possibility two: James and Lily Potter knew a countercurse, but never told anyone. Compared to the first theory, this had several holes. First, there was no apparent incentive for them not to tell anyone. They were fighting this "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" guy actively, and would want to neutralize as much of his threat as they could. Second, the explanation caused a simple question to rise in response: "If Mr. and Mrs. Potter knew a counter to a curse of instant death, why did they only use it on their son and not themselves?" It also made one wonder why they would hide if they could counter the curse normally.

Possibility three: and the most likely, it was caused by something that couldn't be explained by first-year spellbooks. As soon as he had the chance to look at the library, he supposed looking into the use other kinds of magic when countering curses could be a place to start for class-independent studying.

"Well, there was a bit of cleanup after," Kieran replied. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had a lot of followers, and they remained active. The Ministry managed to catch most of them, or they claim they did anyway. Either way, things are finally beginning to settle down again."

Waver really wasn't too interested in that part compared to the idea of an unblockable spell being blocked by a child. Another first year had taken up questioning Kieran on the events as he recalled them, leaving Waver to think it over to himself. Even Professor Dumbledore's proper start of term announcements prior to dessert did not completely break Waver out of thinking about it, though he did pay enough attention to make sure he didn't miss any particularly important information. He mentioned something about Cursed Vaults, which sounded vaguely interesting, but explicitly forbade any investigation. Professor Dumbledore had, seemingly uncharacteristically if the student reactions were any indication, shouted part of this announcement, and the last thing Waver needed or wanted was expulsion or death. Studying the rumors in the library was thus as far as he was willing to go. No need to endanger himself or others over a matter of curiosity.

After eating, first years were to be led to the dorms by prefects. Chester Davies, a seventh year, ushered Waver and the eight or so other first year Ravenclaws in the direction of the staircases. Waver was uncertain if he'd be able to remember the route, not helped by the fact the staircases moved. Spatial awareness was not his strongest suit, and he couldn't help but wonder why maps were not standard issue among first years in such a confusing castle. They could be magical maps that changed layout with the castle, or listed the pattern in which the layout would change.

Davies led the first years straight to one of the castle towers, where a wooden door with a bronze knocker shaped as an eagle awaited them. Upon Davies knocking upon it, it sang quietly: "One may choose one of three prisons to receive punishment. One is filled with the dementors. One with flames. One with a dragon who has not eaten in many millennia. Which would be the safest punishment to choose?"

"Do any of you know?" Davies asked.

"How long can dragons go without eating?" Waver asked in response. "They're probably big, so they'd need a ton of energy to sustain themselves, unless the 'many millennia' thing is a hyperbole, it would have died of starvation. I fail to see why the door is asking this question, however."

"Access to the common room is granted from solving a riddle such as this one. After all, only a true member of Ravenclaw house would be able to answer," Davies explained. "Is everyone in agreement on Waver's reasoning for the dragon?"

Davies' question was met with general assent among the first years. "All right then, the dragon."

"Well reasoned," the door replied before it swung open.

Waver thought the riddle was a somewhat silly security measure, as the hat's debating on his own placement indicated it was possible to qualify to similar extents for multiple houses. Had he been placed in Slytherin, it would not have affected his ability to answer that riddle. Of course that'd require knowing where the Ravenclaw dormitory was. In a way, Waver thought, the architecture of the castle was far better at keeping members of other houses out of the Ravenclaw dormitory than that riddle could ever hope to be.

A lot of students had arrived at the room prior to the first years and Davies. Most were studying; some playing chess. Davies ignored them as he explained the layout of the tower: common room being where they currently stood, dorms through the door at the back with boys dorms up the right stairway and the girls on the left, with this year's first years taking the third door of each stairway.

Waver dashed upstairs as soon as Davies finished his explanation and let them go. As soon as he reached the third door in the boys' stairway, pointedly labelled "First Years," he burst in and located his belongings. Idly, he wondered how bed assignments had been made so quickly, considering they had been sorted only an hour and a half or so ago, and the staff had been eating at the same time as the students as far as he could tell. He supposed there was a staff member absent from the feast after sorting had finished, though he hadn't seen a single person leave.

Waver changed into his nightclothes quietly, drawing the drapes around the bed to ensure some privacy. Part of him wanted to stay up and study, but the confusing hallways and staircases had made him think twice about that idea. He'd need to wake up early if he wanted to reach his morning classes on time in the future, so it would be wise to get in the habit of not staying awake.

There was also the matter of having learned of some interesting recent events, for as much as five years prior could be seen as recent. The matter of just how Harry Potter had deflected the undeflectable was still the most interesting thing on Waver's mind, and he doubted he'd be able to concentrate on studying. Sleeping, he felt, would be able to refresh his mind, to let him focus on other things.

And he was tired. There was that too.

Waver ignored the three other first year Ravenclaw boys shuffling into the room and changing as he leaned back and let himself drift off.

I usually dislike including OC's in fanfiction, as I personally read fanfiction to read about the canon cast not someone's OC, but for this and with how I'm defining "Nasuverse to HP transition" (namely, strictly maintaining characters home countries and birth dates while attempting to maintain general background) it was somewhat inevitable that I couldn't get away with leaving everyone unnamed. We're never actually introduced to any of Waver's peers from prior to the Fourth Grail War, aside from Melvin (the guy who gave Waver the plane tickets) who, since that part of Case Files remains untranslated to my knowledge, I can't actually use due to not knowing enough about the character. Maybe once the anime airs this summer, I will go back and retcon him into the story somehow. Maybe.

As such, the way I'm largely going to approach OC's is they are there primarily for worldbuilding purposes. Their purpose is to make Waver not the seemingly only person in the class of 1993 (the only canon characters in this year are pre-retcon Marcus Flint, and probably Stan Shunpike who was 21 when he was arrested in mid-September 1996), they're an extra I can't avoid naming without seeming awkward (this is the case with Kieran), etc.

On Waver's house: Well, if you wanted him to be a Slytherin, that means you agree with Silver, so, uh, congrats, you're not the only one. I went back and forth on it, but eventually decided it'd be really weird to put a muggle-born in Slytherin during the 1980's and would probably just make Waver's life excessively miserable. Plus the hat takes what the student wants into account to at least some degree (it did for Harry, but not Neville or Albus Potter). I'll interpret that as if a student qualifies for multiple houses to similar extents, the hat will go with the student's wishes. So for Harry, who qualified for Gryffindor and maybe Slytherin, asking "no Slytherin" got him Gryffindor. For Neville, he simply was far more qualified for Gryffindor in the hat's eyes, so the hat refused to listen to Neville plead for Hufflepuff. Etc.

I will be treating the events of Hogwarts Mystery as more-or-less canon for the purposes of the story, mainly because it's the only notable source of information for what might have happened Waver's first five school years as no one really talks about what was happening in Hogwarts while Harry was with the Dursleys in the books. As with Harry's adventures, Waver will remain uninvolved with what the HM protag is doing, being two years below them (and for convenience's sake in a different house). However, events that are visible to the whole school will be noticed by and affect Waver, such as Dumbledore's speech about Cursed Vaults here. I'll also be looking to it to get a clearer idea what exactly is taught in which year and when in the year it's taught. Harry doesn't exactly provide a lot of detail about, say, First Year Charms class, outside of Halloween's lesson on the Levitation charm.

Apologies for the lengthy AN. There was just a lot to say on this chapter...

Anyway, review replies:

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-Glace