Chapter two: Return to the Magic

In 1991, Harry Potter, "The Boy Who Lived", started his magical education. He started his year by being Sorted into Gryffindor, just as his parents were before him. People were curious, causing teachers and pupils alike to swan around him, wanting to know more, wanting to be close to the famous Harry Potter. This was the boy who managed to survive an Avada Kedavra attack and defeat a Dark Wizard at the same time. He hadn't been seen in the magical community for ten years. It is rumoured that the Death Eaters, He Who Must Not Be Named's followers, were hoping to rally around him, something which Potter naturally knew nothing about. If he had known, however, there is no doubt, given what we now know about his delusions and his history of mental illness, that his eleven-year-old mind would have relished this idea, and the outcome of this story may have been very different indeed.

The appearance of Potter within the magical community for the first time in ten years caused all sorts of rumours to hit my ears, setting the writer in me to overdrive. However, at the time, certain workers at the Daily Prophet joined together to silence me- at the time, Potter and his "amazing feat" were still flavour of the month (or decade), and certain other people mentioned were contributors and sponsors of the paper, so it was not in the best interests of the Prophet. However, my meticulous filing means that I can share the article here.

Saturday 28th September, 1991

Potter's Power over Dark Lord's Death Eaters

By Rita Skeeter

Harry 'The Boy Who Lived' Potter, the young boy who defeated He Who Must Not Be Named in, it must be said, suspicious circumstances, has come back into the spotlight after ten years of exile in the Muggle Community. But strange rumours are being detected by this writer's ears; unsavoury rumours of respected members of society and their relationship with the Dark Lord. The rumours seem to point towards the young Potter boy and the strange way in which he defeated the Dark Lord.

Some of these people, ex-Death Eaters who fobbed off the Aurors with lies of bewitchment (and the ridiculous excuse for an Auror office believed them), seem to believe that this young, innocent boy could be the next big thing on the Dark Wizard front.

Obviously, dippy Dumbledore will have a huge cover-up planned, someone with Potter's history is perfect for his style of secret, but the cover-up isn't going to cut it, not if the Death Eaters decide that some eleven-year-old boy is perfect Dark Lord material, which they are stupid enough to do. These are the people who followed a wizard who was finally defeated by a one-year-old!

However, whether this little boy is dangerous or not, people need to know, and it's down to me, Rita Skeeter, to get to the bottom of it, and more importantly, let the faithful readers of the Daily Prophet know of the dangers they may be in.

However, the article was silenced by the powers that be at the Prophet. If it had been allowed to run, Potter would have found out about the rumours of the Death Eaters' plans to rally around him. If he had known, there is no doubt, given what we know now about his delusions and his history of severe mental illness, that his eleven-year-old mind would have relished the idea, and I, who was supporting the poor child at this point, would never have forgiven myself, as the outcome of this story would have been very different indeed.

Potter made just one friend when he first attended Hogwarts, according to those who attended with him. This friend was Ronald Weasley, son of the Muggle-loving fool and Ministry of Magic employee Arthur Weasley, whose pure-blood family are known for their red hair and penchant for getting themselves into trouble. Ronald Weasley, who would later be known purely for being Potter's friend, may not have been the sort of person people would choose as a best friend for someone as famous as Harry Potter, but for some strange reason that is who he chose. Later on in their first year, the duo became a trio when they joined forces with Hermione Granger (now married to Ronald Weasley), who seemed a much more obvious choice as a friend for the famous Boy Who Lived, with her brains and cleverness. Potter would go on to be romantically linked to Miss Granger later on in their school lives, a fact that Weasley seems to have either forgiven or forgotten.

Potter, Granger and Weasley were a trio of schoolchildren who would go down in history. Had they known this, they would probably have been a little more careful when in school. In their very first week at Hogwarts, Potter and Weasley, according to records kept by caretaker Argus Filch, were found trying to break into a restricted area of the school; a vision of what was to come, perhaps, and also showing that Potter was desperate to follow in his father's footsteps as a rule-breaker.

Of course, this was only the beginning of Potter's rule-breaking. Filch's records show that, along with Weasley and Granger, Potter fought a troll that for some reason was loitering in a girls' bathroom in the castle at Halloween. What Potter and Weasley were doing in a girls' bathroom in the first place is a mystery, but it is a recurring theme in Potter's school life, according to Filch's records. The fact that Potter and his friends were not killed by the troll may be another sign of possible Dark Magic that Potter is rumoured to harbour.

And although this was one of the worst situations that Potter and co found themselves in during their first year, it was not the last bout of rule-breaking. Filch's records listed midnight duelling, magic in corridors and, most extraordinarily, a confession of dragon smuggling, which although probably true, has never been proven.

However, even dragon smuggling could not compare to the claims that Potter made near the end of his first year, regarding the death of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Quirrell. Potter's delusions were rife at even this young age, as he claimed (and apparently does to this day) that Quirrell was possessed by You-Know-Who, and was killed through this possession while Quirrell, obviously blinded by its power, was trying to get his hands on Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone. The fact that Flamel's stone was destroyed while residing at Hogwarts and Flamel himself died suggests that there may be some truth in Potter's amazing story. However, the question remaining is how the stone was destroyed. Did the stone have its own powers, as yet unknown by any of the top witches and wizards? Did Potter destroy it to stop Quirrell using it, or indeed did Quirrell destroy it to stop Potter from strengthening his Dark Powers? Only one person who is still alive who knows for certain, and as Potter refuses to speak to me, we can only guess what actually happened.