Anything you recognise in this I don't own. If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be a lot richer than I am!

The next day his dad was at work again, so it was his granddad who he accompanied to Privet Drive at 10 o'clock in the morning, after taking a portkey to a deserted alley near Harry's given address. His uncle had agreed to look after the shop for the day. John hated it here and had no idea why anyone would want to live in such a dull and uniform place. Where was the character? Eventually John was forced out of his musings by a feeling of cold washing over him and was filled with a sense of fear. He stopped and his granddad looked behind him in surprise.

"You felt that John?" At Johns nod Ollivander looks thoughtful.

'Most unusual. What you felt was us crossing the borderline of the wards outside young Mr Potters home. What exactly did you feel?'

"I felt cold, like I had a pile of snow chucked over me. And then I felt fear, kind of like you or dad had caught me doing something wrong."

"Do you feel anything when you come home, or come to my shop?"

John thought for a moment. He had never felt anything as obvious as what he had just felt, but now that he thought about it, a sense of warmth and welcoming had always washed over him when entering those places. He told his granddad as such.

"Interesting. The warmth you feel when entering my shop or home is wards you are keyed into, meaning you can enter with impunity. The cold you felt here are wards you are not keyed into, but which you are allowed to enter. The fear you felt was you picking up on the fact that these are intent wards. I presume the intent is harm to Mr Potter or his family. If either of us meant them harm, we would not be able to enter this place. And should our intentions change while in there, we will be evicted to outside the ward lines and barred entry."

"I get it. Why did you say it was unusual though?"

"Most wizards would not be able to sense these things until their magical core is more mature, typically around the age of fifteen. For you to feel them at eleven you are either very in tune with your magic, or will have an affinity for warding. Now come along John."

John was a little too stunned to do anything else other than 'come along'. Either way he knew he was lucky. Warding was a skill not many people possessed beyond the very basics. And people who are in tune with their magic were often the more powerful of wizards or witches. This gave him a lot to think about.

He was pulled up short by his granddad walking up a path, knocking on a door and waiting until it was answered by a very skinny woman with an abnormally large neck.

"Good morning. You must be Mrs Dursley? I'm here about your nephew Harry. May we come in?"

Despite looking as if it was the last thing in the world she wanted to do, she allowed them into the house and led them into what John presumed was the living room.

"Well what do you want with the boy?" she asked, her distaste for her nephew evident.

"I'm Garrick Ollivander and this is my grandson John Williamson who will be starting Hogwarts with Harry. We were wondering if Harry wanted to would he be able to stay the rest of time until he goes to Hogwarts with us?"

"Very well. It'll be a burden off us." She started before going to the bottom of the stairs and yelling for him to get his things while she unlocked a cupboard under the stairs. Neither John nor his granddad missed the use of the word 'boy' rather than his name.

A couple of minutes later Harry came down the stairs with a white snowy owl looking confused and not a little scared. When he saw John and Ollivander however he brightened up a little.

"Hello Mr Ollivander, John. Not to sound rude but what are you doing here?"

"Not to worry Harry," Ollivander started to reply "we were wondering if you'd like to spend the rest of your time before Hogwarts with us?"

Harry's face lit up for a second before he started looking downcast. "I'd love to, but I wouldn't want to be a bother."

"Nonsense young man!" exclaimed Ollivander, "If you'd have been a bother we wouldn't have asked. Besides, it will do both you and John good to get to know each other before you go to Hogwarts."

"Please come Harry, it'll be so much fun having someone my own age to hang around with."

At Harry's nodded assent both John and granddad smiled, before he flicked his wand over Harry's trunk. "I have placed a featherweight charm over your trunk now Harry. It should be easy for you to carry. Have you got all your stuff?"

"Yes I have sir."

"Good. Now we'll be traveling by portkey, a form of magical transportation. It would be rather uncomfortable for your owl so can I suggest you let her out of her cage and she fly to my house? She'll know how to get there as long as you're there even without a letter."

"Her name is Hedwig sir." Harry told them while he was letting her out of her cage.

"Ah a lovely name Mr Potter. It means refuge from battle. I only hope you don't need it."

"Please sir, can you call me Harry?" Ollivander nodded his assent before turning towards the woman. "It is obvious you care little for Harry. As such I will make sure he gets to Hogwarts and at the end of the year and returns here at the end. Goodbye Mrs Dursley."

With mumbled goodbyes they all left the house and made their way to the same alley they had arrived in half an hour earlier and his granddad pulled out an old boot before turning to Harry.

"Harry this is a portkey. Once I say the activation word it will transport us to just outside my house. You'll feel a pull behind your navel and like your flying round in circles in the air. The landing can be quite tricky to master. If you move your legs in the air as if you're walking that will at least help. Are you ready?"

At Harrys nod his granddad spoke the activation word and John felt the pull behind his navel.

o-0-o

The landing was a perfect demonstration of the three different types of portkey landing. Ollivander landed perfectly, John landed on his feet, but did stumble a little. Harry, on the other hand, landed directly on his backside, much to Harry's embarrassment.

In between chuckles John said to Harry "Don't worry. I had a similar landing for first dozen or so times I used a portkey."

John then turned around to face the house and started walking in before noticing Harry wasn't following. Instead he was looking at the house with a look of awe on his face. Turning to John he just said to him "I didn't know you're rich?"

John looked at his house and supposed it was rather impressive compared to Harry's house. The outside was made with grey stone that had weathered a little over time but not a great deal. Large ornate windows decorated the three stories of the house and a plain but grand looking black door marked the entrance to the house.

It was his granddad who answered. "Rich my dear boy? We're quite well off but this is nothing compared to your own holdings."

"I'm rich!?"

"Yes you are, though I dare say you can't access most of it at the moment due to your age. I will tell you more about it later on today. Come along Harry."

They started walking towards the house and as they crossed the ward line John, focusing this time, immediately felt the wards he had never paid attention to before that his granddad told him about. Harry stopped and shivered in an almost eerie impression of what John did earlier. It was also eerie at how the conversation Harry and his granddad almost exactly mirrored the conversation that took outside of Privet drive.

As soon as they entered the house they were greeted by a house elf, much to Harry's surprise.

"Dippy, please take Harry's things up to the room next to Johns and then get another elf to bring us light refreshments in the living room"

"Yes Master Ollivander. Old Master Williamson said to pass on a message he plans to be back for around 1 o'clock."

"Very well Dippy. Please delay lunch until that time."

The house elf nodded and popped away leaving a very confused Harry left with John and Ollivander. "What exactly was that sir?"

"It was a house elf Harry. They are bound to wizards to serve us, and in return they use our magic to help keep them strong. Many people new to our society view at as slavery, but in truth without our magic, their life expectancy would be cut by a quarter. Now follow me to the living room please Harry where we will discuss our plan for the rest of the summer."

As they walked down a corridor Harry John watched Harry marvel at his surroundings. Though his grandfather had understated their wealth a little it was true they were not amongst the richest of families. Rather they were on the verge of middle to upper class. However the wood panelled walls lined with portraits and fine carpet did give a sense of elegance and was likely a lot fancier than anything Harry had encountered before.

The living room was similarly decorated as the hallway, with a deep blue carpet and wood panelled walls. A large open fire (currently unlit) was at the back of the room around which several chairs and a sofa were arraigned. On one side of the room stood a display case with several family photos of various ages along with a multitude of decorative glassware and silver trinkets. On the opposite wall stood a large bookcase crammed full of books.

As they sat down a tray of tea and biscuits appeared, along with a house elf who made the tea to each of their likes before Ollivander started the conversation.

"Harry, yesterday I mentioned Houses and you thought I meant Hogwarts houses. Can I presume that to mean you have not been told about how our world works in terms of families and government?" At Harrys shake of the head Ollivander launched into an explanation of houses in the wizarding world.

"Our world is very family based and families can be sorted into houses which are ranked in various ways. At the bottom of the pile you've got what would be known simply as a House. This is a young family which has little standing in the world, an example being House Hobday. Very little attention is generally paid to these families in high up politics, but they make up the majority of our world.

"Then you have noble families which are subdivided according to age. A Noble house means they have a vote in the Wizengamot. A simple Noble family is a family that has been elevated in the last two hundred years. That may sound a long time but keep in mind the average witch or wizard would be considered to have died young at eighty. An Elder and Noble family is a family that has been elevated since the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066. Elder House Malfoy is the best known example of this. A Venerable and Noble family is a family that has been in existence in Britain since before this date. My family is an example of that.

"Finally you have the Ancient and Most Noble Houses. These are the top of the tree and are families who helped Merlin rule our world under King Arthur after the Romans left Britain. These families used to hold the most power under the old system of Wizards Council until it was disbanded in 1707. There are five dormant families who have an heir but whom is unknown, these been Emrys and the four founders houses. The active families are Weasley, who lost their noble status in 1660, Bones, Longbottom, Black, Nott, Parkinson, Greengrass, Peverell and your own family, Potter."

"You mean I'm nobility!?" squeaked Harry, causing John to laugh while replying.

"Not yet, but as soon as you claim your head of house ring you will be."

"Wait a second. If I was that important why did I live in a cupboard under the stairs for ten years?"

"You did what!?" roared John and Ollivander at the same time.

"I'm sorry?"

"Harry" started Ollivander, "you have no need to be sorry. It was your families fault and rest assured I will be speaking to Albus and my son in law about this."

Harry barely looked mollified at this and asked "Who's your son in law?"

"My dad" replied John. "My mum died just before your parents were murdered. Since then my dad has raised but my I see my grandad often. My dad's an auror so he has odd working hours."

"What's an auror?"

"A dark wizard catcher. They deal with protecting the Minister of Magic and catching wizards who use dark arts."

"Kind of like a policeman?"

"Yes, but they only go after the worst criminals."

"Cool."

o-0-o

Ollivander just sat looking amused as the young boys carried on talking. It did his old heart good to see his grandson, whose life had not been all roses talking so freely and opening up.

His daughter, Margaret, had worked as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries since she graduated Hogwarts in 1975. In 1978 she married her Hogwarts sweetheart Mark Williamson, who had just graduated the Auror academy. They had originally held off having a baby due to the war, but eventually decided not to let the Dark Lord dictate their life and she fell pregnant with John, giving birth to him in June 1980. Six months later, she had been murdered after refusing to give information to the Death Eaters. It later turned out her murderer had been a fellow Unspeakable, Augustus Rookwood who was ousted by Igor Karkaroff after the Dark Lords downfall. Mark had helped the infamous Mad-Eye Moody capture Rookwood and put him in Azkaban.

Mark had originally planned on quitting the Aurors to be able to raise John but Ollivander had soon put a stop to that. Instead they'd moved into Ollivander Hall. While Mark was it work, Ollivander would be responsible for John. Running a wand shop wasn't too difficult in many ways. Apart from the run up to Hogwarts customers were generally rare. Ollivander would send his son, Brian, to collect the required components for wands while he stayed in the shop to tend to customers and teach John the various things a child needed to learn. The arraignment suited everyone and there were few problems.

Ollivander was pulled out of his musings by the door opening and his son in law walking in. Mark was a tall man, standing at 6ft 5 and was well built with a muscular frame with blonde hair and grey eyes. His size leant him a slightly intimidating look, a look a he often put into use with conjunction with his formidable duelling skills. His deep voice helped add to the intimidation factor.

"Hello everyone. This must be Mr Potter?"

"Yes sir. Please call me Harry."

"Then you must call me Mark, none of that sir business. Makes me feel like I'm back at the academy with the trainees!" As soon as he sat down in his favourite chair, the one with its back to the wall facing the door and out of shot of the window a lunch of tomato soup with bread rolls arrived, accompanied by Pumpkin Juice and tea.

"I'm afraid I've got to go in tonight" Mark spoke between mouthfuls, "We've got a raid."

"A raid! Cool! Can you tell us anything?" asked John, always keen to know more about his dads work.

"Obviously I can't tell you who or where but they're suspected of brewing some very nasty poisons and selling them on the black market. Normally we'd leave it to the MLEP or Hit Wizards, but this person has a history of using some very nasty curses, including unforgivables. We've got to be back at the office for seven tonight."

John sucked his breath in a bit at his dads mention of unforgivables. He hated it when his dad had to face those.

Seeing Harrys blank look John decided to fill him in. "The MLEP is the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. They're your normal every day police who can be distinguished by blue robes. Hit Wizards are a group similar to Aurors. They handle criminals who are particularly dangerous, such as those who are talented duellers. The main difference between Hit Wizards and Aurors are Aurors are more experienced when it comes to dark magic. Think of the MLEP as normal police, Hit Wizards as Armed Response and Aurors as anti-terror police."

"You seem to know a lot about muggle police John?"

It was Mark who answered this. "I'm a half blood. My mum was a witch but my dad was a muggle who worked for their police fighting the IRA in the 1970s."

Harry nodded before asking what the unforgivables were, noticing the three of them stiffen up slightly before Mark gave an explanation.

"The unforgiveable curses are the only three curses for which there is no known magical defence or counter-curse. Other curses can perhaps be considered worse, such as the organ-rotting curse, but all have a magical way of blocking them, apart from those three.

The Imperious curse allows you to force someone to do what you want, though that can be fought by those with sufficient mental will. The Cruciatus curse causes the sufferer a great deal of pain. The Killing curse is self-explanatory. The only known survivor of that curse is you Harry."

"Me!?" Harry asked, with a squeak to his voice again.

"Yes you. It's the reason you're so famous. Nobody knows how you did it. Anybody who uses these three curses and is found guilty earns themselves a life sentence in Azkaban, our prison."

The mood grew pensive after the explanation before Ollivander decided to move it onto other topics.

"Well then I'll tell Dippy to leave the afternoon tea and serve dinner at the earlier time of 6. While you're here Mark would you mind me going over what I have planned for the two boys for the summer?" At Marks shake of the head Ollivander carried on talking.

"Well tomorrow John will be extremely happy. In the morning we are going to go the shop and begin the process of making his wand."

"Yes! Thank you grandad!"

"No problem John. Harry you are of course free to come and watch the first part of the process or you may stay in bed a little longer. I'm afraid the first part is not very exciting and it will be two days time before we can move onto the next part."

"I'd love to come." Harry said with a little bit of excitement.

"Very well. Then Harry we will be going to St Mungos, the wizards hospital for you to receive a check up and various protections against the illnesses we can immunise you against. Don't give me that look Harry, if we didn't do it now it would only be done by Madame Pomphrey once you got to Hogwarts. Then we will head to Diagon Alley so Harry can get some better fitting clothes before we return home and the rest of the day will be yours.

Over the weekend your time will again be yours, apart from Sunday when we must go and start the next stage of John's wand. Again, you will be able to join us if you so wish. After the weekend comes the bad news I'm afraid. As the future Lord of an Ancient and Noble House you will be required to know about certain etiquettes those of us in the upper echelons of society abide by on formal occasions. John has had some basic lessons however has he is not in direct line to inherit, they have been limited. He will join you in these lessons so neither of you are alone."

Both John and Harry groaned at this, much to Ollivander's and Mark's amusement.

"Your lessons will be conducted by Madame Andromeda Tonks. Madame Tonks is a former member of the House of Black, disowned for political reasons. For a brief time she was a lawyer until she decided to turn her hand to tutoring etiquette. She is a very kind woman who will not ask for anything from either of you bar your best effort. She will join you for breakfast at 8am every weekday where she will go over the morning's plans. You will lunch at 1230 where you will review the morning. At 1o'clock I'll return and Madame Tonks will leave.

Your afternoons will be spent with me. On Monday we will have a trip to Gringotts so Harry can claim his House Ring and sort out the Potter accounts with them. John and I can only stay with your permission and do not feel obliged to give it if you don't wish. Though the Goblins have a reputation for being sneaky, and they are, they are also fair to a fault and will never cheat you. Indeed a Goblin found to have cheated his client will receive the death penalty."

"I don't mind you coming in sir. You've took me into your home, it's the least I can do."

"Nonsense dear boy. The decision is entirely yours, though I thank you for your trust. After that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you will have lessons with me, mostly on estate management. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, along with your weekends are your own time. Is all that acceptable?"

Both boys nodded their agreement. Though neither were particularly excited by the idea of lessons, they accepted it was somewhat necessary and at least been together would mitigate the pain somewhat.

"Now then John I need to speak to your dad. Why don't you show Harry his house then give him a tour. We may go out for a bit. If we do send Dippy if you need us."

o-0-o

As the two boys left the room Ollivander turned to Mark. "I need to show you some memories and Albus will want to know. Who at the ministry would normally deal with possible child abuse?"

Mark looked horrified before looking thoughtful. "Normally the investigation would fall under MLEP while action would be undertaken by Children's Services headed up by Claire Brown. However if its Harry we're talking about, perhaps it may be better to take it to Amelia."

"Yes it may be. Do you know if she's free this afternoon?"

"Yes she will be. Scrimgeour is leading the raid. The person isn't on the most wanted so Amelia is barely involved. Do you want me to speak to her?"

"Yes do so. I'll go and prepare the pensive in the study. Can you speak to Amelia and then once your back fire call Albus? I'll open up the wards for the transport room."

Mark nodded his ascent before leaving the room and walking down the corridor to the transport room. This room was the only room in the house where floo travel was permitted. It was shut off at all times from the main house apart from when Ollivander opened it. In the first war a team of six Death Eaters including Bellatrx Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood and Antonin Dolohov had flooed into the room and tried to bring down the wards. After two hours of trying they had eventually given in and retreated. When the fireplace was used Ollivander was notified and could unlock the door or initiate a full lock down of wards, depending if he was expecting guests and who the guests identified themselves as. Any attempt to apperate into the house would result in person landing outside the ward boundaries. The same happened to anyone using Portkeys apart from the reusable one on the Head of House and Heir of House rings.

o-0-o

Arriving at the Ministry Atrium he flashed his Auror badge in order to skip the queue of wizard trying to get into the Ministry and headed straight to Amelia's office where he announced himself to her secretary before waiting for a couple of minutes until he was called into the office.

"Mark come in and sit down. If this about the raid tonight you really should be talking to Rufus about it."

"No it's not about that Amelia. I don't know the details but there's a possible case of child abuse I've been informed of."

"While this is very serious is there a reason you're reporting it to me instead of Claire?"

"Yes, my father in law informed me of it. The child is Harry Potter."

"Merlin's beard! Are you sure?"

"No not really. Garrick just told me had some memories and he requested someone come see them with him, Albus and me."

"Ok. Just let me finish the last bit of this report. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

Mark's eye brows raised a little at the head of the DMLE personally investigating this but said his goodbyes and left to go back home and firecall Dumbledore. Half an hour later Ollivander, Mark, Dumbledore and Amelia were stood around the pensive waiting to go in.

The first memory they saw first was Ollivander, John and Harry at the Dursley house. Although it was a decent looking house, if not to the taste of most wizards. But one thing Mark noticed was the pictures. There were pictures of a very overweight man and boy and a very thin woman. But obviously none of them was Harry Potter. The way the woman called him 'boy' was extremely distasteful and when he came downstairs Mark again noticed how oversized his clothes were and how thin Harry was. Indeed his clothes seemed second hand and Mark realised with a start that they were probably the old clothes of the boy in the picture. Then the memory ended.

Before anyone could speak the memory moved onto the next one. Ollivander had just finished informing Harry about the Houses and Harry had just mentioned sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs.

o-0-o

Everyone exited the memory and it wasn't hard to see the anger in all their eyes. It was Dumbledore who spoke first, his voice laced with sadness.

"Minervra warned me about them, but I didn't believe her. I thought over time they would love him, treat him as their own."

"They obviously did not" replied Ollivander, "how anyone could do that to a child is beyond me."

It was Amelia who spoke next. "Fortunately he hasn't technically being abused. However the neglect is enough that I have no problems with authorising Child Services to launch proceedings to find a new family for next summer and future summers."

"There could be a problem there Amelia, about why he was placed there in the first place."

"Are you referring to the blood wards that are present there Albus?"

"You sensed them Garrick?"

"Yes. Interestingly John also sensed the presence of the wards, though he didn't know what it was. Harry also felt the presence of the wards around our house."

Eyebrows raised at this, all of those present knowing what exactly that meant before Amelia questioned Albus about the blood wards.

"When Lilly sacrificed her life, it provoked ancient magic to provide a protection around Harry. This is the most likely reason for his survival against the killing curse. When Harry resides within the walls of those who directly share blood with him, that protection continues. This protection will last until it needs renewal after a year, or until he becomes an adult."

"The question is Albus" started Mark "is the protection worth the sacrifice of the neglect he is obviously suffering?"

"I don't know Mark, but I would say it is overall."

"There is another alternative here. How long would the wards take to recharge Albus?" asked Ollivander.

"A month Garrick. For a month every year Harry must reside in those walls for the protection to stay."

"It's simple then. I'll offer Harry protection under the Venerable and Noble House of Ollivander. The Hogwarts express always leaves on the 30th June, every year. I will pick him up for platform 9 ¾ with John before portkeying to his relatives. He will stay there until the 30th July with the expenses of the Dursleys provided by House Ollivander. On 30th July we will pick him up and he will spend the rest of the summer with us, if he is agreeable."

"That is an excellent plan Garrick. I thank you for thinking of it. His parents paid his Hogwarts fees through their will so you will not need to worry about that expense. Are you happy with this Amelia?"

"Not really, but I see little choice. I will request I be present when you see the Dursleys however Mr Ollivander."

"I find that acceptable Madame Bones. I was planning to go Monday morning. If you are not free send me an owl and we'll organise another time"

With that the four of them milled around a little before Madame Bones and Professor Dumbledore headed off back to the Ministry and Hogwarts respectively. Left in the room was Mark and Ollivander, both privately vowing to make up for the years of neglect Harry had suffered.