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Chapter 4:-

Life at the McGonagall Manor was different than what he was used to. He, Harry and Minerva spend a lot of time together. They ate breakfast each morning in the large dining room and went to the library to do research on their abilities or go though their text books which were interesting to say the least. They have retrieved Noah's trunk and Lily after Minerva adopted him with the help of their parent's will which had been modified a little to hide the magical world. He got to meet with John and Kate one late time and give them presents as promised and say his goodbyes. He missed them already and planned to visit them on Christmas and Summer holidays every year.

Till dinner they had sit in the library, and learn and practice magic as much as they want under the close eye of Minerva. The Department of Underage magic can only identify where magic is done but not by whom. This meant only purebloods and halfbloods could us magic but not muggleborns. She would help them in understanding anything they wanted when she was not busy with her own paperwork or meetings at Hogwarts. They only took a break for lunch and got back to the library. Lily always curled up on Noah's lap or played with Hedwig, who swooped in and out of the open window as she pleased and occasionally coming for a scratch. After dinner they would sit in the living room or the sitting room in front of the fire as they got to know about each other or Noah would play some songs on his guitar or Minerva would teach them how to play chess. Noah sucked terribly at it as he didn't have patience for anything as boring as chess and just read a book as Harry and Minerva played. Every night before they went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. Noah had watch amused at what he was doing but couldn't stop the excitement he got whenever he thought at the prospect of going to Hogwarts.

Minerva did not act like the Strict Deputy Headmistress in the house. She was kind and gentle with them and made them feel at home. She let her hair down which fell to her lower back in soft curls which made her look like she was in her later twenties, instead of the sixty year old she was. In the magical world the older people looked much younger than their original age but due to her hair she looked even younger. She spent as much time as she can with them and let them do whatever they wanted if they followed some rules she had made which were only few and simply. They had even baked cookies and cakes together ignoring the protests of the house elves. Noah will never understand why she didn't show this side of her to anyone in public. Probably only a few are privileged to see this side of her with Harry and him being two of them.

They sometimes explored the Manor and grounds or went to a swim in the indoor pool that Minerva had built for them in the basement. Minerva and Noah had been surprised when they learned that Harry did not know how to swim. They immediately rectified it by teaching him.

One morning as Noah read an old tomb about magical seers he found out that he was really Noah Harry Potter and not Noah Patrick Podds. Due to this he had to come to terms with many things in his life like how his entire muggle life after the accident had been a vision, his birth parents were James and Lily Potter and his little brother was Harry Potter. He was not alone and had a real family who loved him for who he was and that he was not intruding anyone's body or lives. He belonged in this dimension and had not done any dimension traveling or the like. He had first thought of telling Harry and Aunt Minerva but the timeline has already changed and if he told them they would want to change it even more. Then it would get messed up and unpredictable. So he kept the knowledge to himself and tried to make only changes when absolutely needed. He felt like a manipulator but he knew that this was for the best.

Amelia had visited them after two days as promised and had started instructing them in Occlumency and fitness. They had started running and exercising in the morning and practicing Occlumency before bed. She had visit whenever she was free and sometimes would bring her niece Susan. Susan had been shy at first but had warmed up to them and visited them whenever she wasn't with her own friends.

She had even told them stories about their parents and the Marauders getting help and comments from James and Lily's portrait. It was truly a surreal thing for them to find the portrait where Harry and Noah spent hours talking to them and mostly learning in case of Noah.

Sirius' case was going slowly but Amelia had promised them that he will be released by the end of this month and they could meet him by Christmas after he was released from St. Mungo's. And as for Remus, only Merlin knows where he is. He had left the Magical world ten years ago and there was no record of him as to where he left to in the muggle world. Amelia had said that after solving Sirius' case they had start tracking him down.

A week after their visit to Gringotts, they received the files containing the amount of money and the properties they held. Let's just say that they didn't have to work for a single day for the rest of their lives and they had properties all around the globe.

As the end of the month neared Aunt Minerva would leave to Hogwarts more frequently. She would leave in the morning and arrived back at dinner time. This left them alone in the house except for the house elves but they didn't mind it as they had each other.

Harry and Noah woke at five o'clock the next morning and were too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. They got up and pulled on a pair of shorts and tank tops and went for their morning run. After running two miles, they took a little break and then started doing sit ups, pushups and crunches. They then had a steaming shower and got ready for the day. They made sure that they had everything they need and shrunk their identical trunks. They had exchanged Harry's trunk and bought one similar to his when they went to shop for Harry's clothes. They had gleefully burnt Dudley's hand me downs.

After pocketing them they packed their backpacks which contained some sweets and books that they want to read on the train ride, they then saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage and Lily in her carrier, and set off down the stairs and into the dining room where they found Minerva dressed in her fine emerald robes with her hair up in her customary bun sipping a cup of tea as she read the Daily Prophet.

She looked up from the newspaper her glasses resting on the bridge of her nose and smiled as they approached. They wished her good morning as they placed Hedwig's cage and Lily's carriage near the door and let them out so Malcolm a male elf can give them some food.

After breakfast which contained a full English breakfast, Minerva hugged them and kissed their cheeks as she handed them a portkey. "I am sorry that I can't come. This is a portkey which will take you directly onto the platform. Be good and study hard. And write to me whenever you want and don't hesitate to come to my office if you want anything or just want to relax and talk. If anyone asks who you live with just tell them that it is confidential for your safety," said Minerva as they watched Star a female house elf pack different varieties of sandwiches for their lunch and other items to snack on while in school. They were thankful that the bags had undetected extension charm and a feather light charm at the rate she was packing as Malcolm handed her one item after the other.

They smiled and nodded as they made sure that they had grabbed everything and were whisked away by the portkey which was a quill. They soon slammed into the ground in an undignified way. They slowly got up and dusted their clothes and made sure Hedwig and Lily were not hurt. They then looked up to see a scarlet steam engine waiting next to the platform packed with people.

They pressed on through the crowd until they found an empty compartment near the end of the train. They sat down next to the window opposite each other where, half hidden, they could see a red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose."

The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.

"Mom - geroff" He wriggled free.

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the identical twins.

"Shut up," said Ron.

"Where's Percy?" said their mother.

"He's coming now."

A boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and they noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"

"Or twice -"

"A minute -"

"All summer -"

"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. Noah grinned as he caught Harry's eye. "We should get to know them. They sound funny". Harry smiled as he nodded his head.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.

"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there."

She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.

"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -".

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thanks, Mom." Harry and Noah snickered as they watched.

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.

A whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mom."

The train began to move. They saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.

They watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. They grinned as they felt a great leap of excitement.

The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat beside Noah. "Everywhere else is full."

"No, Come on in", invited Noah and the boy sat down.

"Hi I am Noah and he is my twin Harry," introduced Noah as he stuck out his hand trying to be friendly.

"I am Ron Weasley. It's nice to meet-" he was interrupted by the compartment door sliding open and the twins from earlier came through "Hey, Ron."

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"We will see you later then". The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry curious to know more about the weasley's.

"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"How many brother's do you have?" asked Noah remembering his vision. He had a photographic memory, and could remember every single day of his life beginning from the day he was born. This also helped that he could remember his visions perfectly even it was only one for now.

"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes,

Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat." Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. Noah's eyes narrowed at the familiar rat but the other's dint notice. It was missing a paw. He will have to catch him somehow.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.

Harry and Noah shared a look. They didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, they'd never had any money in their lives until a month ago.

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

Noah took out a book on Dueling tactics which earned a grimace from Ron. Harry quickly diverted the attention away from him to give him peace by asking Ron questions about the wizarding world. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

"No thank you. We brought our lunch", said Harry as he patted our backpacks, which were beside him and, Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches.

"Hey Noah, let's eat," Harry nudged Noah with his foot who was too engrossed in his book. He looked up and nodded his head as he closed it.

They took out their boxes from their bags and opened them to find many various types of sandwiches. They then took out two cans of thumps up's.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a ham sandwich. "Go on -"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

"Oh don't worry. Have these," said Noah as he handed him a grilled cheese sandwich and a can of thump's up. "They are tasty". They dint mind sharing their lunch as they had had a huge breakfast and if they wanted they could have other snacks they bought.

"What is this?" Ron asked as he held up the cool can.

"Oh, it's just a muggle cold drink" replied Harry as he swallowed his bacon sandwich.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"try searching near dark and dank places", suggested Noah as he recognized Neville.

"Oh, thanks" He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again.

The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er - all right." He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. Noah stifled a snort behind his book and Harry covered his grin by turning towards the window.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you." She said all this very fast. Harry's and Noah's eyebrows rose at the name. They had read all they could about the soul bonds they could find in McGonagall Library and had decided that they would let the bond grow in its own time as they were too young to be married so soon. They had agreed that they would be friends with them first and ask them out in their fifth or sixth years and see what happens from there.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"I am Harry and this is my twin Noah," said Harry as Noah waved his hand.

"Do any of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking Neville with her. Noah went back to his book as he partly listened to their conversation. It was going as it should. The sky outside was beginning to get darker. And soon the train did seem to be slowing down.

He, Harry and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minuteS. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Harry's stomach lurched with nerves, Noah fidgeted with his sleeves nervously even though he knew how they will be sorted and Ron, they saw, looked pale under his freckles. They joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Noah frowned and cast a warming charm on himself and Harry which got a great full look from him. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, dark narrow path. Nobody spoke much. Neville sniffed once or twice.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry, Noah and Ron were followed into their boat by Hermione.

Finally, Hagrid led the first years up to the castle and knocked three times on the door.