Come What May

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter works belong to J.K. Rowling.

Mildly Inspired by Knowledge is Power by Fetucini

Chapter 03: Summer & The Express

Harry finished shopping for his books and went back to the Leaky Cauldron where he had a large plate of beef stew for dinner. As he finished the last of his meal, he saw Tom, the barkeep approach him.

"So young master, Mr. Potter. How was your first time in the alley?"

Harry smiled at the kind old man. "It was great, Tom, thanks. It's the best place I have seen. And please call me Harry."

"Glad you liked it Harry." Then he spotted a man waiting at the bar. "Ahh… It looks like Mr. Pumbleton is checking out," said Tom as he walked back to the bar.

Harry saw Mr. Pumbleton, a portly man give Tom a set of keys and a bunch of galleons before he left through the muggle entrance. Harry scrunched up his eyebrows in thought. He really didn't want to go back to his bastard relatives.

He picked up the empty plate and walked toward the bar, where he laid his it. Tom smiled through his toothless mouth. "You don't need to do that, Harry. I would have taken care of the plate."

Harry shrugged. "It's fine, Tom. I do have a question… Do you rent out rooms here?"

"Oh yes, Harry. We have about thirty rooms, which we rent out on a regular basis."

"How much do you rent them out for?" asked Harry as a plan unfolded in his mind.

Tom scratched his baldhead. "It depends on how many day you want to rent it really, and if you want meals with it. I'd say around thirty galleons a week for everything."

Harry did a quick calculation. At 30 galleons a week, he would only spend around 120 galleons before he had to go to Hogwarts and he can definitely afford that. Making the decision, he looked up at Tom.

"Can I have a room until the first of September, Tom?"

Tom scowled at him slightly. "I do have a room, but why would you need it? Where were you living before now?"

"My muggle relatives and they don't really like magic. They would prefer if I stay somewhere here for the rest of the summer."

Tom shrugged. He didn't have a problem with the young boy staying at his pub. After all the Potters were well known even though their story is one of tragedy.

"All right lad." Harry's heart leaped in joy as he took hold of his room key. He was about to pay when Tom stopped him.

"Don't worry about paying right now, lad. Just pay me at the end of every week and it will be fine."

"It's room nineteen. Here let me show you." He took Harry up a floor to a room at the far corner. Harry gazed inside and couldn't help but smile in jubilation. The room was much bigger than Dudley's second room. It had a nice bed, a table and a chair and an attached bathroom. What else would he need? And he also had access to Diagon Alley and he can visit his parents whenever he want.

"This is brilliant, Tom. Thanks."

"Now, don't go and make any trouble and we will get along just fine. Do you need anything else?"

"I need to go back to my relatives house and get my stuff." He said more to himself.

"You got a wand don't you? Then, just call on the knight bus. It will get you there in a jiffy."

Seeing Harry's confused expression, Tom explained how to summon the knight bus. Harry thanked him once again before he left his trunk in his new room and went outside to the muggle side.

He stood on the sidewalk and raised his wand in the air. A few seconds later they was a huge BANG, which made him jump a few feet in the air. He looked around startled, when he saw a violently purple Triple Decker Bus with the name "The Knight Bus" sketched on its windshield appeare before him.

As soon as it stopped, a conductor in purple uniform jumped down and began to speak loudly to the night.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening."

Harry just stared at the man with his mouth open. Even though Tom explained how the Knight bus worked, he didn't expect this. Stan caught site of Harry gaping at him.

"What are you standing there for? Get in."

Harry scrambled into the bus. "Where choo now?"

"Little Whinging, Surrey," said Harry.

"Eleven Sickles," said Stan, "but for firteen you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen you get an 'ot- water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

Harry declined the up sells and paid the 11 silver coins. He looked around for the first time since he entered the bus. There were no seats; instead, half a dozen brass bedsteads stood beside the curtained windows. Candles were burning in brackets beside each bed, illuminating the wood-paneled walls. There were a couple of passengers other than him, who seemed to be sleeping.

And as soon as he sat on an empty bed, the bus gave a violent jerk nearly throwing him off the bed and sped away. It was a jerky ride, but Harry loved it nonetheless. It felt like he was on a continuous roller coaster. He got to Little Whinging in a record time of 6 minutes.

He stood before #4 privet drive and gathered himself. He knocked on the door and soon his Aunt opened it. "Oh, its you again. Come back have you?" she asked with a sneer.

Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "No. I came back to collect my things and then I will be gone and if I can help it I will never see you lot again."

He pushed his way through. He quickly went up the stairs and packed everything he had in a bag he got from Tom. It was the same size as a backpack, but was able to hold 3 times as much. Harry stuffed all his clothes and the second pair of shoes he recently bought in it. He left the stonewall high uniform on his old bed and walked downstairs to see his aunt, uncle and cousin gathered around.

Dudley looked confused and his aunt flustered. His uncle had a grin on his face. "Leaving then? Good… Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. I hope you enjoy living on the streets."

Harry sneered at him at first but that turned quickly to a smirk. "Oh! I won't be living on the streets. My parents are filthy rich you see… In fact I am a millionaire. I will be living in a wizarding lodge."

He laughed at his relatives' stunned face, before he opened the door and walked out of the house, which he hoped will be for the last time. He quickly summoned the Knight Bus again and was back in his Room at the Leaky Cauldron in less than 10 minutes. That night he slept thinking that this was the best birthday he could have hoped for.

The rest of the month flew by fast for Harry. The very next day he started on his books. First he read the book on Occlumency. It was a thin book with about 100 or so pages in it. It came down to clearing one's mind of all thoughts. The book suggested a couple of methods to doing that.

One is to meditate and think of nothing and the other is to focus on only one object and object alone. Harry found the first method hard to follow as he kept thinking of one thing or the other or ended up thinking about the fact that he was not thinking.

The second method proved to be much more fruitful. He put a quill on the study table in his room and just started at that. Half way through the holidays he was able to focus on the quill and nothing else. By that time he memorized each and every aspect of the quill. This helped him to get to the next step, which is to remove the quill and just think about it as he meditated. By the time it was to go to Hogwarts, he was able to clear all thoughts and bring up the image of the quill in about 10 minutes. He would practice on it each morning at Hogwarts until he was able to do it instantaneously. He would need to do that to proceed to the next step.

He also learned from the book that those who master Occlumency would focus better when doing spells. It also mentioned being able to do spells without speaking the incantations, which Harry decided was much cooler.

He read through all of his first yearbooks and more. A couple days after he arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, he finished reading the book on ministry of magic, how it operates and what its laws are. One that caught his attention was that of the underage magic law. It stated that no one below 17 years of age can do magic outside school. Harry casually asked Ollivander on one of his trips there, how the ministry tracked magic.

Ollivander smiled knowingly. "The ministry tracks magic in two ways Harry. One through a tracking charm built into the wand when it is first made and second through the location. There are wards throughout England, which will notify the ministry if someone performs magic especially in front of muggles."

Harry thought about that statement. "You said, the tracking charms are installed when the wand was built… But you did not make my wand… So it doesn't have a tracking charm does it?"

Ollivander smiled and nodded. "And the location?"

Harry looked outside the shop at the different adults performing small feats of magic. "Diagon Alley is a magical place right? So there are no muggles and there are too many people performing magic to say who did what…"

Ollivander clapped his hands. "A very astute observation."

Harry liked the old man. He told him different tales of the wizarding world and clarified any doubts he had. At the same time he allowed Harry to do whatever he wants, including learning from his own mistakes, which Harry appreciated.

Since that meeting, Harry practiced all the spells he read about. He was able to perform most of the spells in few tries. When he mentioned this to Ollivander, he asked Harry to transfigure a matchstick to a needle, which Harry did. Then, Ollivander did the same and then showed the difference between the two needles. Where as Harry's needle was just that a needle, Ollivanders was a work or art. Not only was it shiny but also decorated with tiny drawings and was beautiful to look at. "Don't just learn a spell, Harry. But do it so that each and every spell you perform will be a masterpiece."

Harry took that advice to heart and practiced on improving his performance in each spell. He used his creativity to get more from each spell. He also read a few of the healing book he bought. Most of them were beyond his knowledge. But he understood that Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Ancient Runes were integral part of healing. He went ahead and bought a couple of beginner guides to Ancient Runes.

He visited his parents once every 2 days. He simply sat there with them holding their hands and providing them with a sense of affection and gaining some back with just their presence.

He also enjoyed his time sitting out in the alley eating ice creams at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, while reading his father's journal. He visited his family vault a week after settling down at the pub. There were as he expected piles and piles of gold. But there were also 30 odd huge tomes in different subjects like Warding, Arithmancy, Charms and Transfiguration.

But the best find in his opinion are a couple of trunks with all his parents personal stuff in them, including school books, personal research notes from his mother and in his father's case, his journal. When Harry asked the goblin who accompanied him, how these got in here, he was told that his father might have stored them in the vault.

Harry only took the journal and a few photos of his parents in their younger years for the time being. He wanted to know his father better and the journal helped him. He knew that his father was the only son of a wealthy and old pureblood family and grew up to be arrogant but grew out of it during his seventh year, when he started dating his mother. He learned of his love for all things Quidditch and that he was offered a chance to play for England as a chaser in the 1978 Quidditch World Cup but declined because he wanted to help in the war.

He also learned of his dad's love for pranks. He and three of his friends formed a group called the Marauders who performed many pranks through out their Hogwarts years. He gathered from his father's journal that James thought his three friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew to be life long friends. Harry was first confused when he read this. Where were these three people? From later entries he knew Sirius was his godfather. And so he asked Ollivander where he could find old newspaper archives, and he directed Harry to a public library in Diagon Alley. After browsing through a few additions, he finally hit gold in an article, which described how Sirius Black sold out the Potters to the death eaters, and later killed Peter Pettigrew and 12 other muggles.

Harry was devastated when he read that. His own godfather sold him and his parents. His blood boiled as hot tears tickled his eyes, but he controlled himself. He will have revenge on the people who betrayed and harmed his parents.

Soon, it was time for him to depart for Hogwarts. On 31st of August, he packed everything he owned including the muggle clothes he bought into his trunk. His eyes landed on the Potter Family account statement he got from Gringotts on his first Diagon visit. The first time he read it, he nearly destroyed his room.

From 1975, the year when his dad took control after Harry's grandfather passed away, till before they were cursed to insanity, his dad gave away over 20 million galleons in support of the war effort. There were deposits ranging from a few thousand galleons to hundreds of thousands of galleons to different vaults, prominent being Albus Dumbledore. Remus Lupin's name was there to be found as well. Though the amounts were much smaller. This was the same werewolf friend for whom his father became an animagus. This was the same friend who took thousands of galleons from his father.

It angered him not because his dad gave money in support of a war (he thought it was for the war as it was well known the Potters fought against Voldemort) or to a friend who needed a helping hand. No. That was his right. What angered him the most was that these people, who took so much from his family, would not even care to visit them at least once a year. These so called friends abandoned them when they had no use for them. He will show them. He will show them what it means to be a Potter.

Harry spent the rest of the day with his parents. They remained the same. But at least whenever he visited they stared at him, and now and then even returned a gesture of affection. Harry told the matron that he would return back during Christmas and the matron gave him a hug and wished him luck.

The next day he woke up bright and early. He said his good byes to Ollivander and Tom and took the Knight Bus to the Kings Cross station. His trunk was shrunk and was in his pocket with a feather light charm on it. This allowed him to go unnoticed and he reached the barrier-protecting platform 9 & ¾ with 30 minutes to spare.

He ran through the barrier as directed in the Hogwarts letter and when he came out on the other side he saw a Brilliant scarlet steam engine. He grinned at the fact that he made it. He walked toward the train and saw that the platform was partially crowded with students and parents alike. He climbed inside the train wondering why there were so many reporters around.

He found an empty compartment quickly vowing to the fact that many students are yet to come. He sat down and stared out of the window at the families wishing their children fond farewell. He felt a pang of sadness that his parents won't be here to send him off. That they were lying in a hospital with no knowledge of who they were. But it also gave him a sense of determination. He knew what his purpose was and he also promised himself that he would live a life, which will make both of them proud of him.

Just then, a hush fell over the compartment followed by a ruckus of rushing feet. Harry opened his window and leaned outside to get a better view of what was going on. What he saw made him laugh. He sat back still laughing. An old lady who was clothed in dark green robes, a fox fur scarf and a large formal hat topped with a stuffed vulture was escorting a chubby boy. The elderly woman made for a bizarre if not intimidating image with her cold and stony facial features. Whereas the boy was smiling and waving at the reporters and students alike as he answered some of their questions.

Harry knew who the boy was. He has seen many pictures of him in the newspapers. He was Neville Longbottom, the boy-who-lived. Harry knew Neville would be in the same year as him and wondered what kind of person he would be. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't realize the time pass by until the train gave a lurch and rolled out of the platform.

Harry smiled to himself. He was on his way to Hogwarts. He took the shrunken trunk out of his pocket and enlarged it. "Oh! Wow, you can already do spells? That's great."

Harry looked up to put a face to the voice when he saw a lanky boy with curly brown hair, curious blue eyes and an eager expression on his face.

Harry gave him small smile. "Just a few." Harry never had friends before and he was not eager to quickly make one after what happened to his father. With friends like those, who would need enemies.

Terry extended his hand. "Terry Boot."

Harry shook it. "Harry Potter."

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Go ahead. I was just picking out a book to read." He leaned into his trunk and picked out one. He closed the trunk and hefted it to the baggage holder above the berth.

He saw Terry struggling with his trunk. "Hang on. Put the trunk down."

Terry looked at him questioningly but followed. Harry touched his wand to the trunk and it glowed for a moment. He smirked at Terry. "Now, lift it."

"What did you doooooo…" He lifted the trunk expecting it to be heavy and fell flat on his back with the trunk landing on top of him. Harry chuckled and lifted the other boy's trunk and put it up in the baggage holder.

Terry got to his feet in awe. "What was that?"

"It's called a feather light charm. It reduces the weight of the target object to that of a feather." Said Harry as he put his wand back in the holster and settled down in his seat.

"Brilliant, mate," gushed Terry as he sat across from Harry. "Will you teach it to me? Are you a first year too?"

"No I won't teach you and yes I am a first year."

"Why not?" whined, Terry.

Harry who had the Runes book open in front of him looked up from it. "Because it's in the standard book of spells grade 2," said Harry and went back to his reading.

Terry looked lost for a moment, before he leaned in close to read the book cover. "Runes?"

Harry looked up from the book. "They are used in rituals and warding."

"Oh wow! So you like… Know a lot about magic huh?"

Harry shook his head. "A little. I read a few books and did a some spells."

Terry nodded. "My birthday is in February and on my eleventh birthday I got the letter. Professor McGonagall came by and told us about magic and Hogwarts. I am what you call a muggleborn. It was very exciting. The very next day I went to Diagon Alley and bought all the course books. I have been there a few times since then. I tried a couple of spells. They felt hard, but I got some results."

Harry listened to him attentively. It's important to know who is who and what kind of persons they were. He was not going to repeat the same mistake his father made by trusting the wrong people.

"I am a Half Blood. My mom is a muggleborn, not that it matters."

"Oh! You think so do you?" replied an arrogant voice. He looked towards the door to see a boy his age with silver blonde hair gelled back, leaning on the doorway with two boys that could give Dudley a run for his money behind him.

"Yes. And you are?"

"Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy line. A pureblood." He said with a smirk. He pointed vaguely to the two large boys behind him. "These are Crabbe and Goyle."

Harry recognized the Malfoy name from the newspaper archives. Lucius Malfoy was one of the few people who escaped from Azkaban by claiming that he was under the Imperius curse and was not a death eater.

"And your relation to Lucius Malfoy?"

Malfoy smirked. "Oh, you heard of him did you? He's my father."

Harry nodded his head. He knew what kind of boy this Draco Malfoy was. And he knew how to press his buttons.

"Yeah. I did hear about your father. He was a death eater, wasn't he?"

Malfoy developed a pink tinge to his pale cheeks. "How dare you… He was innocent."

Harry acted as if he was thinking. "Oh yeah. I am sorry. I forgot."

Malfoy nodded imperiously as if accepted the apology. Harry continued with a smile. "He said he was under the imperious curse wasn't he? It's really sad such a noble pure blood can be so weak minded."

Malfoy started fuming. He took out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "My father is not weak minded."

Harry kept a weary eye on the wand but looked confused. "Well… Make up your mind. Either he is a murdering lunatic or a weak-minded fool. What is he?"

"How dare you! Crabbe, Goyle, get him."

The two gorillas standing behind Draco stepped out front cracking their knuckles. Harry got to his feet and flicked his wand into his hand. Behind him Terry followed him and took his wand from his pocket, though he looked scared.

Goyle took a wild swing at Harry, who dodged it. Who knew all those times he dodged Dudley would be so useful. He pointed his wand at Goyle and fired a mild banisher. "Depulso."

Goyle went flying back taking Crabbe and Malfoy who were behind him. All three landed outside the compartment and Harry shut the door on them.

He sat back down and worked on clearing his mind. He hated death eaters, though he shouldn't have taken it out on eleven year olds. They were not responsible for what happened to his parents. But he was sick of being pushed around. He decided when he entered the magical world that he will put a stop to that. No one will ever push him again and this was his first step. It also proved how important knowledge is for survival.

He opened his eyes to see Terry looking at him in awe. "You are scary mate. Brilliant but scary! What was the spell you used?"

"Depulso, the banishing charm. Standard book of spell grade 4."

Terry gave him an uncomfortable smile. "So… You read all the books did you?"

Harry just shrugged and went back to looking out the window. Then, the compartment door opened and in stepped none other than Neville Longbottom and a red haired lanky kid. Harry for the first time took a good look at Neville and the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

"Yes?" Asked Harry.

Neville looked surprised at Harry addressing him as a nobody. Everywhere he went people flocked to him, even people much older than him.

"I am Neville Longbottom, the boy-who-lived. I saw Malfoy being pushed out of this compartment. Who did it?"

"Sorry, wrong compartment. I think it's the next one?"

Neville looked confused. "Really?"

Harry nodded. "Does it look like two first years will know how to banish people?"

Neville scrunched up his face and then nodded. "Of course not. If I cannot do it, how could you?"

He and his red haired friend walked out of the compartment without a second look and without closing the compartment door. Harry scowled at him. "Arrogant git," he muttered to himself as he closed the door.

"Huh! So that's the boy-who-lived, doesn't look like much," said Terry.

Harry chuckled. Terry scowled at him. "Aren't you afraid you will be punished for banishing them?"

Harry shrugged. "I doubt Malfoy will tell anyone that he lost to another first year. And that monkey took the swing first."

"And what's all that regarding his father?"

Harry explained to Terry about what he knew from his research and the stories he heard from different sources in the alley regarding Voldemort and his merry band of followers.

"So there are people like that boy, Malfey who only care if someone is from a pure blooded family and they hate muggleborns like me?"

Harry smiled. "Though I like what you said better, its Malfoy. And yes, they only care about blood. It's rumored that they were part of Voldemort's closest circle."

Terry looked stunned. "You said his name?"

Harry looked out the window. "I don't fear his name. Besides he is dead. Who cares?"

Terry nodded and they talked more about the different subjects they will have in their first year.

A few hours into the 8-hour ride, the lady with the food cart arrived. Both Harry and Terry bought enough food to last them till the evening and some more. Harry explained how the chocolate frog worked. He had them enough times in the alley to know.

"It's not a real frog, just an enchantment. Bite its head off and the enchantment wears off."

Terry did as Harry suggested. He swallowed the frog and looked at the card in his hand. "Morgana. Who did you get Harry?"

Harry looked at his card. "Albus Dumbledore." Harry stared at the face of the wizard who will be their headmaster and is considered the most powerful wizard currently alive. He was also the man who abandoned his parents.

"So what house do you think you will be in?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't really care." Harry really didn't like the stereotyping business that was the Hogwarts sorting. But there was nothing he could do about it.

Terry continued. "I always liked to study. I think I will be a Ravenclaw."

And soon it was time for them to change into their school robes. A voice called out announcing their impending arrival and that they need to change into their school robes.

Harry and Terry both changed into their robes a few minutes before the train came to a stop at a train station in Hogsmeade, a village on the outskirts of Hogwarts.