Here's a summary of what happened as a result of Harry's being absent from Hogwarts. It's almost entirely built upon what I believe to be logical conclusions drawn from the events of the books.
First year: Despite Harry's absence, Hermione escaped the troll with minimal injury. However, she was severely traumatized, and spent several weeks under the care of a professional Mind Healer. As planned, Quirrelmort easily made his way to the Mirror of Erised, where he was stumped for hours by the puzzle of how to get the Stone out of the mirror. Dumbledore arrived with the aurors and easily apprehended him, but the shade of Lord Voldemort, after a brief conversation with Dumbledore, abandoned his host, who was then arrested. Thanks to the aurors' presence, Lord Voldemort's survival became known to the Wizarding World. Auror recruitment is increased, and a higher priority is placed on self defense training in the wizarding world.
Second year: Without Harry present, Ginny was more clear-headed, as she was not obsessing over him. When she encountered the diary of Tom Riddle, she remembered her father's advice to "never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brains," and took the diary to Professor McGonagall for examination. The Horcrux was destroyed, and the Chamber of Secrets was never opened.
Third year: Without Harry's intervention, Sirius and Pettigrew's encounter was private. Without Harry to convince him to do otherwise, Sirius did murder Pettigrew, but was clear-minded enough to make it look as if it was during a fight, so that he could claim self defense. With Pettigrew's body as evidence, Sirius was able to bring his case to the Wizengamot, where he plead his case and was exonnerated.
After his exonneration, Sirius decided to do further research into Harry's apparent death, and managed to track down his godson. At Harry's request, Sirius has not told anybody that Harry is alive-ish, but he has moved in with Harry and Mick Taylor (the guy who shot Harry in chapter one).
Fourth Year: With Harry dead, Voldemort felt no need to interfere with the Triwizard Tournemant. Voldemort was aided in his resurrection by Barty Crouch Jr rather than Pettigrew (since the rat-bastard is dead), and the victim used in the resurrection was a random ministry worker, who was killed after the ritual. Dumbledore, through Snape, is aware of Voldemort's return. Because of the earlier warning that Voldemort wasn't in fact dead, the message went across much better than in cannon. New measures are taken to prepare for the war, such as increase auror recruitment, better training, and better background checks for Ministry workers. Unfortunately, the blood-supremesists still control much of the ministry, and are able to prevent many of the necessary major changes.
A/N- Originally, all of this stuff, especially Sirius' finding Harry and Mick was gonna be explained in flashbacks as the story progressed, but I remembered how much I hate reading a story that does that, and figured I'm probably not the only one, so I decided to just do this.
There yah go. I fudged Hermione's survival, yes, but that's because I wanted her to be able to but heads with Harry. Originally, I was planning on her being dead, but I decided it would be so much more fun to screw with her. I also fudged Ginny a little bit, but I don't feel like it was too unreasonable- after all, most of what she wrote in the diary was about Harry, according to Riddle. Besides, the only other option was having Voldemort resurrected in year two, like in Harry Potter and the Natural Twenty. The only reasonable explanation for the ridiculously easy obstacle course followed by an impenetrable defense is if it were a trap, and Harry screwed it up, and Sirius, as the Head of an Ancient and Noble House, would have been able to play the "self defense" card fairly easily and get away with it no matter how obvious an excuse it was- after all, Lucius Malfoy got away with the "Imperius Curse" excuse, didn't he?
Now, a word of warning- this is gonna come across as a "bad ass Harry" fic. In a way, it is. In a way, it's not. He's not super powerful. He's behind in classes, except a few areas he excels in, and he's only of average power. His strengths come from his willingness to combine muggle weaponry and wizard magic. He's also slightly unhinged from his time in the footlocker and completely obsessed with his revenge on the Dursleys. And I may decide to make him a borderline sociopath. I'm not sure about that one. But yeah, he's got weaknesses, including a few which will come as surprises later.
Lastly, WTF, PEOPLE? One review? Come ON!
This chapter is dedicated to Darkth Shadow, the only person who took three seconds out of their time to tell me what he/she thought.
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Hermione and Ginny looked up as the door to their compartment opened and a boy stepped in. His long, black hair was in the ponytail traditional to many purebloods, he had a brown leather knapsack at his waist, and he was wearing jeans and a Def Leppard T-shirt, but that was where normalcy ended. He had a blood red patch over his left eye, and his right hand appeared to be made of smoke made solid, while his left was missing its index finger. Hanging from his neck was a necklace of a theatre mask, across his back was what Hermione immediately identified as a combat shotgun, and strapped to his waste was a Bowie knife, while three grenades hung from a bandolier on his hip.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked.
Hermione and Ginny, too stunned by his appearance, simply nodded and scooted to make room for him.
"I'm Harry," he said as he took the shotgun off of his shoulder and put it on a seat before sitting down. He waved his wand, and a trunk followed him in from the corridor and levitated up to the compartments above the seats.
"I'm Ginny, and these are Hermione and Luna," the youngest Weasley said, pointing at herself and her friends.
Luna, who had been absorbed by the latest edition of the Quibbler, finally looked up at hearing her name. When her eyes fell on Harry, she froze.
"You're dead," she said. "Why haven't the wrackspurts gotten to you yet?"
Harry looked shocked for a moment before recomposing himself. "I'm sorry? What's a wrackspurt?" he asked. Luna, however, had already gone back to her reading as if nothing had happened.
Harry looked quizically at Ginny, who shrugged. "Luna can be a bit... odd, at times," she explained while giving Harry a look that plainly invited death if he dared to make fun of Ginny's friend.
"I see," Harry said, looking at Luna again before shrugging off the matter. He reached into his knapsack and withdrew a large paperback book, which he then began reading.
Hermione was having none of that.
"Why do you have a shotgun? And grenades?" she asked in her general bossy tone.
"To kill things," Harry answered without looking up from his book.
Hermione simply gaped.
"I'm sorry," Ginny asked, "but what's a shotgun or grenade?"
"They're weapons, Ginny," Hermione explained. "A grenade explodes and throws shards of metal around, and a shotgun fires several lead balls at an extremely high speed. Both of them are extremely dangerous, and should not be anywhere near a school or children in general, and I would very much like to know what in the world Harry's parents were thinking when they allowed him to have such dangerous weapons. Honestly, just because wizarding law doesn't regulate muggle weapons doesn't mean anybody can carry them wherever they like." As she said this last part she gave Harry a scowl.
"I'm not a child, thank you very much," Harry said from behind his book.
"Firstly, you are a child, since I very much doubt you're older than I am, and secondly, I was talking about the other children in the school," Hermione responded. "What if a first year gets their hands on your weapons? Besides, you honestly can't expect to keep those when you get to Hogwarts. School rules clearly state that no weapons of any kind are allowed on the premises."
"They'll make an exception," said Harry bluntly.
"I'm sorry, but how can something that fires balls of lead be that dangerous?" Ginny interrupted.
Hermione blinked, and Harry looked at the girl for a moment, before busting out laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" Ginny asked angrily.
"It's not that funny," Hermione said, also glaring at Harry.
"I'm sorry," Harry said, after he'd calmed down. "It's just... I've seen what a gun can do firsthand, and the idea that they aren't dangerous..." he chuckled again.
"But how is that dangerous?" Ginny asked again.
"The bullets fired by a gun are so fast, Ginny, that they tear straight through bone and flesh. Depending on where they hit, they can be extremely lethal. A shotgun," at this, she glanced at Harry, "is exceptionally deadly because it fires so many balls of lead."
"That's half the reason I use one," Harry commented. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to kill an inferus without just blowing the fucker's head off. A pistol doesn't do shit, and a rifle takes too much time to aim properly when the bastard's already up close to you."
Ginny and Hermione stared at him for a moment, before Hermione asked quitely. "You've fought Inferi? How?"
"The woods I live in are full of the damn things. Mick says they started showing up a few years ago. We're not sure why that is. Sirius has some ideas, but nothing really concrete." What Harry didn't mention was that the inferi had started showing up shortly after his incarceration in the footlocker, or that Sirius suspected that the inferi were attracted to Harry's own undead state, a theory that was supported by the monsters' tendencies to head straight for Mick's cabin, and by the fact that even when the three of them went on vacation to France, they still had trouble with various undead.
"Wait, Sirius? As in Sirius Black? Nobody's seen him since his trial, when he went to find out what happened to..." Hermione trailed off, her eyes widening as she put the clues together. "You're Harry Potter!" she whispered. "But you're dead! The goblins said so and everything!"
"Yep," answered Harry. "In fact, they still say I'm dead. They'll let me access my vault and everything, but they still say I'm dead. Bugs the hell out of me."
Ginny giggled while Hermoine just stared.
"But the goblins," started the brunette.
"Oh, hush, Hermione. He's obviously not dead. Somehow the goblins must have gotten it wrong for once," Ginny said, before adding "I guess Bill was wrong about how 'untrickable' their magic is."
Harry smiled slightly before going back to his book.
"So, where have you been all these years?" Hermione asked.
"And what happened to you?" Ginny added.
"Around. And I told you, the woods around my house are full of inferi. You can't expect me to fight them all and not get harmed, can you?" the boy said as he turned a page.
"What do you mean 'around?' The whole world thought you were DEAD! How could you let everybody just think that their savior had died?"
At that, Harry looked up. "Listen carefully," he said. "I'm not anybody's savior. I didn't do shit. Whatever happened that night, obviously had nothing to do with me. My parents were both there, so obviously they managed to kill Voldemort- oh for Christ's sake, it's just a fucking name," Harry interrupted himself at the scream from Ginny and the gasp from Hermione. "Anyway, it seems obvious that one of my parents managed to kill Voldemort at the same time he killed them."
"But Dumbledore said..." Hermione began, but Harry interrupted her.
"Dumbledore said? Dumbledore said that my parents were both killed without a fight, and that I was hit by a killing curse, which bounced off and destroyed Voldemort- oh get over it. Then Dumbledore came and took me to a 'safehouse,' but Death Eaters must have followed him and killed me to avenge their master. That doesn't sound just the least bit unlikely to you? Firstly, my dad was one of the best aurors there was. You honestly think he just died without a fight? Second, you expect that the killing curse, which has never been blocked in all of history, somehow bounced off of me and destroyed Voldemort? And Dumbledore just happened to know about that? Thirdly, why didn't Dumbledore just apparate to the 'safehouse?' If he had, the Death Eaters wouldn't have been able to follow him, now would they?" Harry's voice didn't rise throughout his rant, it fell to a low hiss that Hermione almost had trouble hearing. "So, given all that, don't you think it's a little bit likely that Dumbledore just may have been wrong?"
"But Professor Dumbledore is the greatest wizard alive! I'm sure he knew what he was talking about. He wouldn't just say things like that without any reason. And I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he went to the safehouse. Maybe..."
"Maybe you're clutching at straws, and refuse to admit the truth. Dumbledore was wrong. The old man's going senile. He's part of history now, he just doesn't know it yet. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go find somebody intelligent to talk to."
With that, Harry got up, grabbed his shotgun, and left.
In reality, though, Harry wasn't really in the mood to talk to anybody, so he went to the last compartment of the train, figuring it was likely to be empty, and sat down to read his book.
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"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! C'mon, firs' years! What are you doin' here? Yer no' a firs' year," said a bearded half-giant, who Harry recognized from Sirius's memories as Hagrid, as Harry joined the group of first year students.
"No, but I am going to be a transfer student," Harry replied. "My understanding is that the tradition of going across the lake applies to all newcomers, not just first year students."
"Ah. Right you are. Ye'll have teh get a boat teh yerself, though."
Harry nodded, and carefully boarded one of the tiny boats used to carry the students across the Great Lake. As the boats slowly moved across the lake of their own accord, Harry took in his first true glimpse of Hogwarts Castle (outside of Sirius's or Mick's memories). It rose over the lake like a castle over a body of water, with hundreds of lights shining from the windows. As they approached the castle, they went under a cliff, at which point the half giant shouted "Heads down!" The boats entered a long, dark tunnel, which led to an underground harbor, where the students got off onto a shore of rocks and pebbles. The bearded man led the new students up a passage in the stone tunnel and onto a grassy lawn, then to a pair of tremendous doors in the front of the castle. He raised a gigantic hand and knocked three times on the castle door.
Immediately, the door swung open to reveal a stern looking middle aged woman who Harry immediately recognized as Professor McGonagall.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall. Also, this lad here says he's a transfer student."
McGonagall's stern eyes immediately fell onto Harry. "I was not informed that we would be having any transfer students this year," she said firmly.
"You wouldn't have been." Harry stated. "I'm a last minute addition."
"Well, I'm afraid that will not be possible, then. All transfer students must apply at least thirty days before the beginnin of the school year."
"Just let me talk to Headmaster Dumbledore. I guaruntee you he'll make an exception."
"Oh? And why is that?" McGonagall said coldly.
At this, Harry raised his hand to his forehead and raised his bangs, revealing the scar on his forehead.
McGonagall's eyes rose considerably past her hairline and her eyes bulged. "Im...impossible..." she muttered.
"I assure you, it's not. Just give me a few moments with Professor Dumbledore before the Sorting, and I promise you he will make a few exceptions to the rules."
"Very well. I will guide you to his office. Hagrid, if you will lead the first years to the Charms room, and then tell Professor Dumbledore that he is needed in his office."
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." Harry said politely.
"You're welcome, Mr. Potter. If you will follow me, we will go to the Headmaster's office immediately."
Harry winced as the first years began talking animatedly amongst themselves, but didn't say anything about McGonagall revealing his identity- it was going to come out in a few minutes anyway, after all. Instead, he simply followed the woman through the maze of corridors that was Hogwarts until they were led to a large statue of a gargoyle.
"Lemon Drops," McGonagall said, at which the gargoyle leapt to the side, revealing a spiral staircase. The moment Harry and McGonagall stepped onto the staircase, it began moving upwards, until it stopped at a small landing in front of a large door.
McGonagall stepped up to the door and knocked once.
"Come in," said a grandfatherly voice.
McGonagall looked at Harry, her stern eyes falling on his cold green ones.
"Would you like for me to come in with you, Mister Potter?"
"No thank you," Harry replied. "It would be best if this conversation remained between the headmaster and myself."
McGonagall frowned, but nodded, and stepped back onto the staircase, which descended once more.
Harry sighed, looked at the closed door, and took off his necklace.