Chapter Four: Castle Potter

"Only you Harry Potter."

Neville Longbottom's teasing voice greeted Harry when he stepped out the bathroom and into the guest bedroom the next morning. Startled, Harry tensed and looked up at his former roommate. Neville had changed a lot in the few weeks Hogwarts had let out for the summer. It was obvious he'd been working out. Most of his pudge had turned into muscle. He looked good, but Harry didn't appreciate anyone laughing at him, especially right now. Harry opened his mouth ready to deliver a nasty retort, but stopped when he saw where Neville was looking. In the end, he laughed as well when he realized what had caught Neville's attention. Harry had worn another of his graphic t-shirts, only this one read 'I used to be a people person . . . but people ruined it for me.'

"I thought it was fitting," he said with a grin.

Neville frowned, his face tightening with remorse so profound it couldn't be faked. "Gran told me what happened. I'm so sorry Harry, I should've realized, I'm surprised Ron hadn't . . ."

Harry shivered and wrapped his arms around himself at the mention of his best friend. "It's hard to think about. Are my friends really my friends or spies for Dumbledore? I hope I'm just being paranoid. Ron and Hermione have been great friends to me, it seems wrong to doubt them."

Neville shrugged. "It's easy to see why you'd wonder. They're possessive and make it hard for others to get to know you."

"They do?" Harry said surprised.

"Yeah, we, the other Gryff's talk about it a lot. But, I can understand where they're coming from. Ron's always had to share everything and he's hated it. So, he doesn't want to share you. He's a kid with his first toy. Didn't you ever notice that whenever you tried to do something on your own, he distracted you into spending more time with him?"

Harry shook his head, but paused mid shake as he thought about the countless offers to play chess when he wanted to leave and find a quiet place to study. He flushed.

"I see what you mean."

"As for Hermione, it's obvious she's not used to having friends so she pretty much does whatever you and Ron wants and is clingy." Neville added making Harry pause, he never thought of them that way, but as Neville spoke, it was obvious he was right. Merlin, what else had he missed. Neville shrugged and continued speaking. "We get why they act the way they do, even if we're annoyed by it. Most of us had little to no social interaction outside of family before Hogwarts. If anything, I think you should stop letting them smother you. Half your problems last year could've been avoided if you hung out with more people, even people from other houses. Despite how Ron loves to go on about how all Slytherin's are evil, they aren't. You and Ron seem to judge them all by Draco who'd be a git no matter what house he was sorted into. There are half-bloods and muggleborns in Slytherin, and Snape, despite being a jerk to the rest of the school, protects his snakes no matter their blood status and teaches them real magical history and pureblood etiquette."

Harry sat heavily on the bed reeling from the longest speech he'd ever heard Neville deliver. Neville was right. Harry had wanted everything to be cut and dried, to be told what was right and what was wrong in this new world, which was what Ron and Hermione had done. So, he made their opinions his own. He'd been stupid, but he couldn't blame them, they'd acted exactly like he had wanted them to act, which was shame on him. He should've noticed. He was just as culpable as Ron and Hermione were. Merlin, what a mess. He was so busy wondering what type of friends they'd been to him, he hadn't thought about what type of friend he had been too them.

"I feel like my brain is about to explode," Harry put his head in his hands and slunk down on the bed to emphasize his point.

Harry felt the bed dip beside him as Neville sat and wrapped his arms around him.

"Tuggle," Neville called out softly. There was a soft pop and the house elf he'd met yesterday was before them. "Can you tell Grandmother Harry and I will be eating breakfast in his room and I'll meet her afterwards? Then can you send up breakfast?"

"Of course, Master." The beaming house elf popped away. For the first time Harry noticed how different the Longbottom elves behaved compared to Dobby. The Longbottom elves spoke clearly and wore neat little uniforms with what he assumed was the Longbottom crest on them. He asked Neville about it.

"Wizards and house elves have a symbiotic relationship. House elves need to bond to a wizard to utilize the energy around them to perform their own brand of magic and wizards need house elves to help run their homes and other functions. The better the relationship between master and servant, the stronger the magic of the house elf. It's obvious the Malfoys mistreated Dobby, he would've never acted like that otherwise."

Harry flinched. "Dobby was so miserable I tricked Mr. Malfoy into freeing him. Did I condemn him to die?"

Neville laughed. "No, it's not instant, he has several years to find another family to bond with, and from what you said Dobby sounded like he'd rather take his chances being free than be bound to a family that mistreated him."

Harry nodded but still felt his ignorance had once again hurt someone. Neville was great though, he sensed Harry was overwhelmed and spoke about his summer his fencing lessons, his greenhouses, the kids at Hogwarts he was friendly with which to Harry's surprise included several Slytherins in their year. They made plans to meet after Harry's healer appointments to get lunch before walking through Castle Potter. Another regret Harry had to deal with was never seeing what a valuable, insightful person Neville was.

It was good thing he had something interesting to look forward too. Getting his immunizations and checkups weren't too bad, but meeting with the mind healer was hell. The healer was an empath and a natural at legilimency. She talked him through the feelings of confusion and betrayal he'd been experiencing over the last few days. The healer didn't tell him what he should think and feel, just asked him questions that helped clarify his memories and recollections so everything was sorted correctly in his mind. She also suggested he start learning occlumency as soon as possible and gave him meditation exercises to do every night. The only good thing about the session was discovering the necklace Archblade had given him really worked against mind intrusions, as Healer Raymond had him remove it before their session.

Still, having to discuss feelings for an hour left him feeling raw and he was ready to leave her office on Horizontal Road and meet Neville in Horizontal Way at the upscale Indian restaurant Neville said the Patil family owned. He met Neville outside, when they went in the first person they saw was Pavarti who was acting as hostess. She squealed, gave them a big hug, and led them to a table right away. Since he never had Indian food before he told Pavarti to pick some of her favorites. With the horcrux and bindings off his body, his energy increased, as did his appetite. He and Neville had a great time going through the many dishes and chatting up the twins when they had a free moment. Talking with the outgoing sisters did a great job of getting Harry out of the dumps and he saw clearly how he had restricted himself by just hanging out with Ron and Hermione. He still wasn't sure what to do about them; he supposed the test would be their reaction to him dropping out of Hogwarts. Would they be angry or would they understand and keep in touch?

"Hey Nev, do you mind if we make a stop before going to the Castle? With everything that happened to me, my wand no longer fits and Archblade recommended a wand crafter in Knockturn. We can use my cloak to get in, but I feel weird walking around without a properly functioning wand."

Neville nodded although a little apprehensively. They paid their bill and walked out the shop, when they got close to Knockturn they ducked in the corner and placed the cloak over themselves before making their way to Jensen Wand crafters. An hour later, both he and Neville left the shop with wands attuned to their core making it impossible for anyone but them to take and use. They also purchased wand holsters with anti-summoning charms on them. Walking out of Knockturn, Harry took Neville's hand and used his Lord's ring to port key them to Castle Potter. The port key dropped him off at the edge of the property and Harry gasped loudly once he looked through the massive iron gates and saw the house in the distance.

"It's, it's a castle," he stammered. "I mean its Castle Potter, I knew it would be a castle, but this . . .. I mean, I know Hogwarts is taller, but this . . . this makes Hogwarts look like a shack. I never expected . . .. This, this is my house."

"One of your houses," Neville replied amused, "granted this is probably the largest out of the lot."

"I hope so."

Harry couldn't keep his eyes away from the home. A huge dome dominated the main building at the center of the castle and there were spacious wings on each side of the center building. The home had to be several kilometers long and the landscaping was lush and beautiful. Off in the distance, he could see a massive stone fountain in the courtyard and people milling about. Archblade had told him that Castle Potter was a working estate that opened daily to tourists, but he never expected this. Awed, Harry sliced his thumb with a knife and placed his bloody hand on the heavy, wrought iron gate that displayed the Potter Crest only to gasp once again when he felt the wards transfer over to himself as the last surviving Potter. He felt a flood of information about the wards, who put them there, what needed upgraded, what he had to do himself, and what he needed to contact Gringotts to update for him. Once the wards finished downloaded the information into his brain, the massive gate swiveled open. They walked through and the moment they did, a faint pop was heard and a middle-aged man appeared before them bowing. The man had a wide smile on his face and an excited air about him. It took a moment for Harry to realize that the man was actually a house elf glamoured to look human.

"Master Harrison, it is an honor to have you back. I am Jouri, the Head Potter Elf here at the castle and the estate manager, per your parents' wishes."

"It is nice to meet you Jouri. It's obvious you've done a great job, I've only taken one step inside, and I've never seen anything like this in my life. Call me Harry."

Jouri beamed at him. "I am just following the orders of your grandparents and parents for the vision they had for the property. Would you like a tour Master Harry?"

"And a history lesson if you please. I only found out about this place yesterday and I have no idea of the Potter family history. I'd be grateful for a full tour and as much information you can give me."

Jouri's eyes widened dramatically. "That is a travesty. If you'll follow me Master Harry's friend, and Master Harry I have a golf cart we can ride. It's the best way to see the estate while I explain its inner workings. If Master Harry's friend—"

"Neville Longbottom."

Jouri beamed. "It's an honor, you and Master Harry would play together often as babies."

Harry and Neville gaped at each other.

"We did?"

"Oh yes, before Master and Mistress moved to the cottage at Godric's Hollow, Mistress Lily kept an office here and went over family business. Mistress Alice would stop by for lunch and bring you, Master Neville. There are photographs in the family wing I can show you later."

Harry found his heart pounding wildly in his chest. "Yes, I'd like that."

Jouri led them to a golf cart and turned to Neville. "Master Neville, do you mind if I transfigure your robes into muggle attire while we are on the tour so the tourists don't suspect anything?"

Neville shook his head and Jouri transfigured his robes into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before they got in the cart and traveled around the grounds of the estate.

Jouri was amazing. The perfect tour guide, he explained when the castle was built and by who. Harry was awed by the working estate, the farms both magical and non-magical that provided the estate and community with meat and produce, as well as the greenhouses that made Neville hyperventilate much to Harry's amusement. Harry was astounded to learn he owned a thriving holiday park where people paid him a lot of money each year to own vacation homes near his estate as well as other property in the area that was rented out to estate workers and people in the community. Then Jouri went on to explain about the revenue the estate made in tours, events, weddings, and movie and television shows that requested to be filmed on site.

That his home was a multimillion-dollar business that employed hundreds of house elves, squibs, muggles, and magicals was amazing to Harry and doubled his anger at Dumbledore. He could've grown up knowing who he was and how he fit into both the muggle and magical world if it weren't for him. They finished the tour at the courtyard, where there was a café, restaurant, and garden center was set up for visitors.

"Harry," Neville said reverently. "This is amazing. I've never seen anything like this. Your mother must have been a genius to think this up."

"I know right. I keep pinching myself. I can't believe this belongs to me."

When Harry walked into the interior of his home, he felt his jaw drop at the grandiose staircase, the dome, the ceiling paintings, the marble busts and sculptures, and the larger than life portraits lining the walls.

"Are the portraits magical?" he asked Jouri.

"Yes Master, there is a spell that prevents them from moving whenever visitors are about."

With that, Jouri took him on a tour of the castle, explaining its history, pointing out his ancestry, and his family history before the International Statue of Secrecy. Apparently, one of his ancestors had a squib as a youngest daughter. This daughter Katherine became a mistress to one of the sons of the King of England, they eventually married, and her grandson became King and began the Tudor dynasty. Another ancestor became mistress to King Henry VIII and bore him a son. That son thought dead to muggle history, but who in reality was a wizard who had finally escaped the craziness of the Royal Court and retreated into the magical world after being helped by the magical Potters. By saving the boy's life, a boy who was a royal despite not being legitimate created a massive life debt against House Potter and made him and his descendants perpetual vassals to the Potter family line. The wizard changed his name from Fitzroy to Longbottom. Harry and Neville gaped at each other at this revelation.

"I knew we had vassal status to the Potters, but I never knew how it came about," Neville said awed. "Our records don't go back to Fitzroy, just his grandson."

On the wizarding side, he learned he was the descendant of Godric Gryffindor and Ignotus Peverall who was famous for being one of the three brothers in the classic wizard's children's story the Tale of the Three Brothers. Neville gasped.

"Oh my God Harry. Your cloak. I never put it together before. Your cloak must be THE cloak from the story. I wonder if the other items are real."

"I lived with muggles Nev," Harry interjected wryly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We have several copies of the Tales of Beedle the Bard in the Potter Library, even the original in Ancient Runes," Jouri informed them.

Near the end of the tour, they reached the private family wing of the castle.

"Master Harry you'll have to walk in and then invite Master Longbottom. After your parents death this wing was locked to anyone not of Potter blood or House Elves bonded to the Potter family."

Harry stepped forward and entered the family wing. He felt the magic of the wards wash over him when he stepped over the threshold. He pulled Neville inside and relaxed when he saw the entryway. It was warm and inviting with modern furniture not the grand spectacle he had seen in the rest of the castle. Then he saw the portrait.

"These are the family apartments. There are seven bedrooms, ten bathrooms, formal living and dining room, a large family room, library, offices, and a large game room on the lower level that has a bowling alley, pool tables, media room, as well as a magical game room. Your parents added the game rooms."

Harry barely heard Jouri; he was too busy gaping at the image dominating the entryway. It was picture of his parents in front of the castle at Christmas. His father was holding him and it looked like he was only a few months old. His first Christmas. He and his parents were happy, smiling, and giggling. He didn't remember ever being as happy as he looked in that picture.

As he looked at the life-sized portrait, he felt moisture on his cheek and realized he was crying. Embarrassed, he furiously wiped his cheeks and looked back to see that Jouri and Neville must have seen his reaction and disappeared. He was alone.

He dropped to his knees, his shoulders shaking with his sobs as he saw what could've been, what he'd never have. He didn't know how long he knelt there, his face ravaged, chest knotted, but when he could cry no more he got up and toured the house on his own, which is what he would've preferred anyway.

Harry loved the house. The only thing he wanted to change was to switch some of the furniture from one of the bedrooms into the master bedroom to make it more masculine. He had to let out steady breaths so he didn't tear up again when he came across a Quidditch themed nursery and his parents' clothes still in the closet of the master bedroom. He quickly backed away and found an office that looked as if it had belonged to his mother because the furnishings were feminine. Neville and Jouri appeared when he sat down behind the desk and Jouri brought him and Neville tea. Harry regained his equilibrium as they devoured the tea and sandwiches much to Jouri's happiness.

"Jouri, Neville explained a little about the relationship between wizards and house elves. Have you and the other elves been effected by not being bonded after my parents passed away?"

Jouri smiled. "No Master Harry. It takes about ten years after a severed bond for house elves to loose enough magic to die. Fortunately, our bond with House Potter was stronger than normal because of the trust Lord and Lady Potter placed on us, as well as having clearly defined orders on how Mistress Lily wanted Castle Potter to grow and prosper. We exceeded her expectations and are always busy which helps our magic and us. We are the luckiest house elves in Europe and everyone envies us."

"Do you need me to renew the bond?"

"You did so automatically when you touched the wards of the castle that's how I knew you were there. You should be able to call any Potter elf around the world to you."

Harry then explained about what he knew about Dobby and asked if Jouri could have someone find out if Dobby was okay and needed work and if so have someone help him with his training and elocution. He also told Jouri he'd need an elf who could act as a secretary to him, and explained about the mail that had been blocked and hidden from him and how inundated he'd be once it was all found. Jouri quickly summoned his daughter May and if Harry ignored the nepotism, she seemed very excited and pleased to be working for him.

"Jouri, do you know anything about Potter Hall and its condition?"

Jouri nodded. "It was damaged in the war. It was the home Master James primarily lived and where Lord Voldemort assumed your parents lived. It was the attack on Potter Hall that convinced your parents to go into hiding at one of the lesser known properties in Godric's Hollow."

Harry looked at May. "Can you please contact Archblade my account manager at Gringotts? I'm going to the Hall tomorrow at nine. I'll need blueprints, a construction manager, and an interior designer. Also tell him to them I'm looking for modern Victorian and for the interior designer and to look up steampunk which is a muggle term. Also, anything he can tell me on the history of Potter Hall, please."

May beamed and popped away. Jouri bowed as well.

"Please call me if you need anything else Master Harry. You can floo out from the fireplace in the great hall. It's been an honor sir."

Jouri changed Neville's clothes back to robes and popped away as well.

"I'm going to find the game room, come get me when you're ready to leave."

Harry smiled gratefully when Neville slipped out of the room. He knew if had been with Ron or Hermione, they wouldn't have just left, he would've had to tell them to leave him alone, and it would've resulted in hurt feelings. Harry felt guilty for thinking of his friends that way; maybe he should send them a letter? Speaking of letters and ornery friends, it had been a couple days since he's seen Hedwig. She should've known he wasn't at the Dursley's any longer and would've made her way back to him. He hoped she was okay.

Worried and seeking to distract himself, Harry glanced around his mother's office. On the desk were wizarding photographs of him, his dad, and their friends. Friends he had never heard of. Were they alive or had they died in the war too? If not had they been blocked from trying to contact him as well? Other than Sirius Black who had been thrown in jail and the Longbottoms who couldn't contact him, Harry wasn't sure if he was ready to forgive his parents so called friends, they had put Dumbledore's decrees over their friends and Harry's well-being.

On a ledger sitting on the desk in his mother's handwriting were her sketches and ideas for Castle Potter. Ideas that Harry was happy to see Jouri had implemented already. Harry continued to rifle through his mother's desk until he found a never-ending scrapbook full of pictures that chronicled his mother's life from the time she was born until his family went into hiding. Harry gasped horrified when he saw several photographs of his mother with an ill dressed Snape that went back before Hogwarts. Snape was obviously as poor and as ill taken care of as he had been. So why had Snape been so awful to him if he had been his mother's friend? Harry's anger increased when he saw Aunt Petunia glaring at them from out of the corner of a picture. Snape had known Aunt Petunia, known what an awful person she was and he didn't say anything when Dumbledore dumped him there? Harry had quill and parchment and was halfway through a scathing letter to Severus Snape before he calmed down and was able to see through the red haze. Once the haze was gone, he ripped the letter, rose from the desk, and wandered through the rooms when he came to the library. Behind the massive masculine desk was a portrait of a regal man and woman who he had learned from Jouri was his grandfather Charlus and grandmother Dorea. They beamed at him when he walked through the doors.

"Our little Harrison. We felt the wards change hands," his grandfather said. "The castle's feeling much better being under the hands of a Potter again."

"I don't know anything about being a Potter."

"You'll learn," Dorea answered cheerfully.

Harry remembered Hermione telling him that while portraits were somewhat sentient, you needed to ask a direct question in order to get a good answer back from their memories.

"What's the best way to learn about the Potter family?"

Charlus beamed. "The Potter Family Histories. It's the responsibility of each Lord Potter to record their history for the next generation. The journals are lining our portraits."

"Did my father keep a journal?"

"I don't know. He was too caught up in the war and his job as a Hit Wizard."

Harry walked to the wall of red leather journals on the spines of the journals were the name of the author and their date of birth and death. To his amazement, there was already a journal with his name Harrison James Sirius Potter and his date of birth. The mind healer had told him that he should keep a journal so he figured this was a good time as any. He took down the journal with his name on it, as well as his father's and grandfather's journals. He figured he'd start with them and work his way backward.

"Grandfather, what spells and enchantments are on the journals."

"They are enchanted so only a Potter my remove and read them. If someone else tried to read it, all they would see were indecipherable symbols. The journal is never ending and impervious to damage. They're tied to your life blood and the wards of the castle, when you die, it automatically comes back to the library."

"Wicked. How do I find copies of Beedle the Bard?"

"On the stand there is an index just write what you want and the index will guide you to what book you want."

Harry followed his grandfather's advice and soon found himself a copy of Beedle the Bard and found several books on basic Occlumency.

Happy with his finds, Harry wandered the three-story library that looked as if this room had been his father's domain while the office had been his mothers. He found an auror's handbook and a journal that detailed his father's Hogwarts years. He went to shove everything into his backpack only to pause when a picture fell out the journal and onto the floor. Harry picked it up and saw it was of his father and three other boys waving and hamming it up for the camera. The amazing thing was that all but one of them were transforming into animals and chasing each other. Harry flipped the picture over and read the handwriting, 'Marauders, Year 5: James (Prongs), Sirius (Padfoot), Remus (Moony), Peter (Wormtail). Harry gasped when he saw Peter because he suddenly had a very good idea where Peter Pettigrew had been hiding all these years. He had to get to Madame Bones. Harry started racing through the house towards the basement screaming Neville's name.

Author's Notes:

*Hi. Thank you for the amazing response you have given me for this story. I appreciate each and every visit, review, favorite, and follow. I am so grateful to you. Despite reading a lot of fanfiction, I have only recently joined the site, so I haven't really played around with what you can do here. I recently responded to all my reviews, if you reviewed my story and haven't gotten a response it maybe because you your PM is turned off or you reviewed without being a member of fanfiction. If you still haven't gotten a thank you, and you don't fall into any of those categories, I apologize. If you do fall into those categories, I'm sorry I couldn't respond personally and thank you, thank you, thank you.

*Once again, this story is complete and I am self-editing. All flaws with content, style, and grammar are the fault of me who has never been in the British Isles or Japan much to my dismay.

*I don't own Harry Potter or Ouran High School Host Club

*Oh, P.S. In a side note, can anyone tell me if in Doc Manager if you update the chapter how do you get the new chapter to post? I found some grammar glitches in early chapters that I had fixed in Doc Manager but didn't automatically update on fanfiction. Sorry to be a bother.