There is no comparison to the warmth I felt when you all responded to my little fantasy world. I hope you keep enjoying this trip, because I think it is a good ride.

I own nothing! The Harry of my world has a backbone and a brain!

Harry waited for some information on the search from Professor Quirrel, but so far nothing. The Professor avoided him, which was fine because Harry didn't want anyone to know what he was doing.

It was the Professor's constant staring that was starting to worry him. In the classroom, in the hall, during meals. He started to become nervous just a bit. Harry also found himself looking over his shoulder quite often. Nothing like a bit of paranoia to keep oneself awake during History class.

The problem was, he had no idea of the problem! Quirrel surely wouldn't be staring unless he wanted to keep an eye on Harry, but Harry was going out of his way to be a good boy and keep Dumbledore from noticing him. Professor Quirrel was going to bring the Headmaster's attention to him if he didn't stop. Harry even forced himself to keep from sniping back at Malfoy whenever Malfoy corned him and tried to force a fight.

Sometimes arguing with Malfoy was fun, he just didn't indulge often. He didn't think poor ol' Malfoy could handle much more. The last time he corned Harry, one comment about how often Malfoy tried to get Harry to himself in the hall with no one watching seemed to deflate the boy and make him start looking over his shoulder.

Making a game of it seemed like a good idea. Harry was thinking of mentioning the fact that Malfoy always had those big, burly boys with him everywhere he went. Well, at least now he was looking forward to the daily Malfoy attack.

Two weeks had gone by, and no word. It was still some time before Christmas, so no worries. The year wasn't over yet, no reason to wonder what was going to happen. Best just to keep his head down and keep his hope alive. He believed Quirrel was going to help him, so practice patience he would.

Tom Marvolo Riddle stepped from the cauldron, examining his new hands with joy. Quirrel had performed marvelously. Retrieving the stone without setting off the alarms, performing the ritual, and giving the Dark Lord the one thing he needed more than anything else.

Now that he had a body, immortality with the stone, and unlimited wealth it was time to get what he wanted more than anything else next. Lord Voldemort, with his body restored to what it had been before the rituals he had performed, his sanity restored (he needed to send some flowers to Flamel in gratitude, anonymously of course) with the power of the stone, decided he had a need for an heir. And what Lord Voldemort wanted, he invariably got. Time to set his plan in motion.

Harry was startled when the house elf appeared before him. It was a bit flaky, and overwhelmed with joy. When Harry asked him what it was, and thanked him for telling him, it burst into tears.

"So, Dobby, what is it that you want from me?" It was a reasonable question, and it shouldn't have inspired a new round of tears.

"The Great Harry Potter is so polite, he is. I is just to tell you to dress nice, my master has a plan to help you, and he is telling Dobby to be telling The Great Harry Potter to please dress in clean school robes." Dobby had calmed down to sniffling, and that made it easier for Harry to understand him.

"Who is your Master Dobby, and how can he help me?" Dobby started bouncing on his feet, smiling from ear to ear.

"Dobby only knows Master says he is going to get the Great Harry Potter a family." Harry immediately jumped up and started going through his trunk, his thoughts awhirl about Tom Riddle and Quirrel. It escaped his notice that Dobby didn't tell him who his master was.

Lucius Malfoy found himself standing before a hastily convened session in the Family and Children Wizarding Services of the Ministry of Magic. The Court consisted of five judges, all of who were pure blooded, self-righteous, and old. To sway this group, all he needed to do was present his case. The facts would speak for themselves, and tradition alone would see him win. The facts were insurance in case the mighty Dumbledore found out and tried to stop him.

Mrs. Marsh, the oldest member of the Court, banged her gavel. "It is time to begin." She turned and looked at the member on her right, and received a nod. She returned he attention to the political powerhouse in front of her. "Please begin, Mr. Malfoy."

Lucius Malfoy took a deep breath, and stepped forward with confidence. "Members of the Court, my I present to you a family tree of a man named Tom Marvolo Riddle." He slowly walked down the bench handing each member a copy as he talked.

"Mr. Riddle is the last known member of the Slytherin family, a family more pure than most. As is the case with pure blood, insanity was a result. Instead of leavening the line as most do with a half-blood before the instability set in, they came clean by adding a muggle." The shocked voices were a pleasure to his ears. This should eliminate any arguments by Dumbledore when he found out that Riddle was a muggle or a muggleborn hater. "The result was a cure for the insanity of the Gaunts, and that generation's most acknowledged genius. A master of all he set out to learn, he was the highest scoring in all of his tests, setting records yet to be beaten. In the interests of self-preservation, he took his Masteries in other countries, trying to outrun Grindelwald, who wanted Mr. Riddle to join him. In Mr. Riddle's desire to survive the war, since he believed Grindelwald would lose, he turned Grindelwald down and stayed on the move after graduating Hogwarts. Once he turned 21, he was able to inherit under Slytherin Family Laws the last of the money and homes hidden by the last sane head of the Slytherin family."

Lucius Malfoy was enjoying this. The looks of interest, the undivided attention he had focused on him, was a strong potion to a man who liked having such powerful people listen to him. "It came to his attention just last week, as he was thinking of marrying to continue the family name, that there might be an option of just finding a distant relative to adopt under the old Line Laws."

Here Lucius took a deep breath and scanned the faces of the members, since it was well known the Line Laws involved blood magic which had been outlawed by the Ministry in all cases except for special circumstances and by Gringotts. This all rested on whether they believed in the old ways. Since they were all old, each over one hundred years old, the chances were good they would think nothing of it and approve.

After he waited for and received their nods to continue, he knew he had already won.

"If you will look, it turns out he had a bastard daughter, and she in turn had a son. Since both she and her husband are dead, the son has been living in the muggle world. The paperwork giving permission for his placement there, and the check-ups he should have received from this department, do not exist."

He waited until the shock had passed after they checked the authenticated Family Tree which couldn't be faked since it was based on blood rituals before they were outlawed, and realized who he was talking about before he continued. "I assume there must be something Mr. Riddle missed, which is why I am here. Since the placement of a magical child in the muggle world when there is magical family left is against the law, Mr. Riddle would like this fixed now, and all paperwork, if any exists, he wishes to have copies of as soon as possible."

Time to close up this case. "I have here the signed papers by one Petunia Dursley, the muggle aunt, giving custody of Mr. Potter to his Grandfather. I believe her words were, 'Why were we saddled with the freak when he had other family?'" He was mollified at their outraged expression after they heard what she had said. "That is what Mr. Riddle would like to have answered, as well as an exemption for the blood magic to make Mr. Potter his blood heir. Since so many laws were broken to place him in the magical world, he wants it ironclad so no one may keep his Grandson from him again."

"Mr. Riddle would like to know who placed his Grandson illegally and to press charges since he was deliberately deceived. He should have been informed immediately, and he wants Mr. Potter to be adequately compensated for it. Even if Mr. Riddle didn't exist, Mr. Potter would have left the muggle world as soon as he learned of his inheritance of being the Potter heir after being recognized by the family ring and moved to Potter Mansion to protect the family magic. This should have happened when he turned eleven, I am sure you know. It was not accidently overlooked, the goblins would have told him immediately when he came to Gringotts. Since it didn't, someone acting as Mr. Potter's magical guardian had to have told them not to. Mr. Riddle wants the magical guardian, whoever he or she might be since there is nothing on file regarding as to who it is, to be brought up on charges of line theft." He paused the let them express their disbelief of hiding an heir's heritage before continuing.

"What say you, Court for the Children, about the requests of Mr. Riddle?" Lucius stopped his pacing, and looked at the serious faces of the court.

"One moment, Mr. Malfoy, while we discuss our decision." Mrs. Marsh then cast a silencing spell to keep their conversation quiet. Only a few minutes had passed before the spell was dropped. "May we see the Masteries of Mr. Riddle, Mr. Malfoy?" She asked this question quietly, all five members were silent as they waited.

Lucius handed a copy of the papers to each woman, wondering if Harry Potter would even be called. In most cases, the wishes of the child were carried out, unless a gross miscarriage of justice had occurred. Then what was best for the child was decided for them without their input. He anticipated Potter being called just because he was the darling of the Wizarding World.

The silencing spell was cast again, as those august members discussed the masteries. The spell was dropped even faster than before, and Mrs. Marsh made the request he had been waiting for. "We need to speak with Mr. Potter before handing down our decision. Do you have objections?"

Mr. Malfoy raised his hands and lowered his head, and said, "I was hoping you would ask him, I think he might be just as offended as I am as to how he has been cheated by the world he helped to save." He stood back and waited.

"Let it be known, the Children's Court has requested the presence of the child Harry Potter to present him with the request of guardianship, since he is eleven years of age and able to inherit the Potter Lordship according to the Old Laws." Mrs. Marsh stated the date, time, and requested a Ministy elf to retrieve Mr. Potter without notifying anyone since the injustices done to him were perpetrated by an unknown person.

The room was silent as they all waited for the elf to return with Mr. Potter. It seemed to take a long time, when it was only a few minutes before Harry Potter was standing before the Court.

"Hello. Who are you?" He was curious, but since he knew something was going to happen Harry wasn't scared. He had no idea that it won him points with the Court to see him well dressed and collected. He also had no idea Mr. Malfoy was standing behind him.

Mrs. Marsh began. "Mr. Potter, this is the Court of Children's Services, and my name is Mrs. Marsh. It has come to our attention that you live with muggles. Is this true?" Harry had no reason to hide it, so he answered her right away.

"Yes Ma'am, I live with my Mother's muggle relatives." He gave her a shy smile.

"Do you like living there?" Harry again had no reason to hide it, so he quickly answered.

"No ma'am, they hate me. They told me not to come back when I was leaving for Hogwarts." He liked the look on her face when he told her that.

Why not add more? This could only help him, after all. "I don't want to go back either. I want to spend my summer learning more about the Magical World, rather than cooking, cleaning, gardening, and dodging the punches and kicks I usually get. Not to mention I have discovered that I like to eat every day, and regular meals at that!" He could feel her outrage it was so potent.

"Is that why I am here? They told you to keep me, didn't they, so you are trying to find a place for me?" He smiled again, giving her an eager, excited look. "Surely there is someone, a cousin or something of my Dad's, that would take me." He let his eyes moisten, hoping to seal the deal.

The hard nosed, no-nonsense Mrs. Marsh, gave Harry a soft smile. "Mr. Potter, you are here because you have a Grandfather on your Mother's side who wants custody of you. It seems your mother was not a muggleborn as we had all supposed, but a half-blood. Her Father has found out about your existence, and he wants custody of you. How to you feel about that?" She leaned back in her chair, waiting for Harry to respond.

Harry was so excited! Here it was, a way out of the Dursleys, and way to escape whatever Dumbledore was up to. Freedom! He was wanted. "Oh yes, please, I want to have a real family, I want to be wanted. Please, may I go to him?" He was going to bake Quirrel cookies, he was.

The illustrious court members could see that he meant it, so without further ado, they announced what they had decided if he had agreed to Mr. Riddle's petition. "We, the Court of Children's Services, do remand the guardianship of Mr. Harry James Potter over to his maternal Grandfather, Mr. Tom Marvolo Riddle. Furthermore, the discrepancies of Mr. Potters' case makes is paramount that all children's cases be looked into, and legal counsel provided to right any wrongs found therein. This hearing is adjourned." With such simple words, the destiny of the Wizarding World changed, and maybe Fate would start looking for a new chew toy.