Not What They Expected
AN: Firstly I want to correct something, there was a typo in the last chapter that implied Vernon and Harry were on good terms, that is false, they are neutral towards each other and nothing will change that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I British, so if I get British slang or tradition wrong I hope you can forgive.
"Wotcher? A little nervous are you?"
The question came from behind him, so Harry turned around and came face to face or more like face to chest with a girl who looked to be 16 or 17, wearing ripped black jeans, a blue jean jacket over a striped black and white shirt, she had a pale heart shaped face and bubble gum pink hair.
"Just a little yes." Harry admitted, he had been standing in front of the pillar marked as 9 ¾ for about five minutes just staring at it. He was standing behind a cart loaded with his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage.
"Nothing to it, if you're really nervous just build up a little steam and plow right through." the stranger said with a smile.
Harry scrutinized her carefully, he didn't shy away from people but he also didn't trust right away either, his early years had taught him well. "You wouldn't trick a child into hurting himself for a laugh would you?"
"What am I a Slytherin? Watch me; I'll wait for you on the other side." And saying so, she power walked towards the pillar and passed right through.
Harry gave it a second and then gripped the bars of the cart, he took a deep breath and then pushed towards the pillar, his eyes widened momentarily as the front of his cart passed through; then he screwed his shut as he came upon the pillar, his eyes snapped open as his cart was abruptly stopped.
"Easy, you made it through okay." she said holding on to his cart.
Harry didn't notice that he was being led away from the enchanted entrance his full focus was on the large red steam engine.
"Quite a sight isn't? I'm Tonks by the way, 7th year Hufflepuff." the pink haired teen introduced herself as.
"Harry Potter, 1st year unaffiliated." Harry said in response.
If it was possible Tonks' smile stretched even further across her face. "Well cousin, it's very good to meet you.
"Cousin?" Harry asked only slightly confused, from speaking with his grand- parents portraits, he knew he had family out there that was not the Dursleys. It was just to what degree he was related to these people.
Tonks' smiled vanished in an instant and her hair went completely black "I was a kid when Mum took to me to your parents funeral, she said we were cousins to your father because of our Black family blood." she shrugged her shoulders "we never talked anymore about it except to wonder what happened to you."
"Well firstly, it's nice to meet you too and second, how did you do that with your hair?" Harry asked avoiding any discussion of his home life.
"Come on, let's get you on board and then we can talk." Tonks said as she guided Harry to the train.
It was only around ten o'clock so the train was relatively empty; Tonks led Harry towards the middle of the train and helped him lift his trunks to the rack above their heads.
"Do you always come to catch the train this early?" Harry asked
"Both of my parents had early days today, I didn't feel like sitting around so here I am." the once again pink haired girl said and took a seat across from Harry. "I'm a metamorphmagus, that's why my hair changes color like that, sometimes my hair changes according to what kind of mood I'm in, other times it's all me." she demonstrated by rifling through all the colors of the rainbow and stopping on purple.
"That's great; can you teach me to do that?" Harry asked excited at learning that bit of magic.
"Sorry Harry, you have to be born a metamorphmagus" Tonks said
"Can you be a metamorphmagus if you can grow your own hair back in a night?" Harry asked
"Why do you ask?" Tonks wondered
"I got a really horrendous haircut once, but it grew back in a single night in time for me to go to school." Harry said excitedly at the prospect of being able to change his appearance.
"I can't say for sure, it might have been a case of accidental magic or it could be latent metamorph ability, Mum told me that my hair changed colors the day I was born." Tonks stroked her chin as her hair cycled through numerous colors before landing on a golden blonde "There's not a lot known about metemorphs, could be I'm the norm or could be I'm a special case, only way to know for sure is if I help you find out if you are one." she said with a smile before her hair went back to its bubble gum pink.
"That sounds like a plan to me." Harry said leaning back in his seat.
"I see a couple of my friends out there" Tonks said looking out the window "I'm going to go speak to them, will you be okay?" she asked concerned.
"I'll be fine." Harry assured her
Tonks nodded and left without another word. When she was gone Harry started feeling his lack of sleep catching up to him. He relaxed into his seat and closed his eyes. He was awakened in what felt like seconds later when the door to his cabin was opened.
It was Tonks and she was ushering in two other girls, they were both Harrys age and they both looked very nervous.
"Harry, if you don't mind, can these two join you?" Tonks asked placing a hand on each of the girls' shoulders.
"I don't mind at all." Harry said as he stood up.
"This is Hannah Abbott" Tonks said slightly pushing the young girl forward, Hannah had light blonde hair and brown eyes she stepped forward with confidence and shook Harrys hand with a slight smile.
"And this is Susan Bones" Susan was a redhead with blue eyes and a shy smile. She shuffled forward timidly and settled for a small wave.
"Girls, this is Harry Potter"
The gasps from the two first years were not surprising and neither were the looks at his forehead, apparently his scar was also famous, if those books he came across in Flourish and Blotts were anything to go by. He ignored it, at least for now.
"Alright, you three get along and I'll check back with you as soon as we get on the move." Tonks said after helping the girls put their trunks away.
The three first years lapsed into silence as soon as the door behind Tonks closed. Harry eyed the two girls who were now seated across from him and shooting him nervousness and disbelief.
"Are you excited to be attending a magical school?" Harry asked before the silence could get uncomfortable.
"I think I'm more nervous than excited actually." Hannah answered. "I was homeschooled, and the only real friend I had was Susan growing up."
"I see." He turned his attention to the quiet redhead. "What about you Susan, nervous or excited?"
Susan looked like a deer caught in the headlights when Harry spoke to her. It took her a moment to compose an answer. "I'm nervous…I guess." She answered quietly.
"What house do you think you're going to be in?" Harry asked trying to draw out the conversation.
"Hufflepuff most likely, most of my family has been in the house of badgers." Susan said.
"I don't know myself, my dad was in Ravenclaw and my mom's a muggle, so I guess, I'll just have to wait and see." Hannah said with a shrug. "What about you Harry? Any particular house you want to go to?"
"Not really, my parents were in Gryffindor but unless the house you go into is hereditary, I'll take the wait and see approach as well." Harry said.
"Did you really slay a dragon and rescue a princess when you were 9 years old?" Susan suddenly blurted out before covering her mouth and turning an impressive shade of red.
"Susan!" Hannah yelped at her friend.
"I'm so sorry! I have no idea where that came from." Susan said desperately.
"It's okay, I was expecting a question like that and many more like it. I've never seen a dragon that was drawn on paper or on the telly, nor have I met any princesses as far as I know." Harry said mildly. "The only thing those books got right about me was my name."
"Harry I think you better prepare yourself for a major headache. Children in the magical world have grown up hearing stories about; they're probably expecting you to be some kind of super wizard by now." Hannah said with a compassionate look in her eyes.
"Yeah, I kind of got that feeling when I saw a whole section in the bookstore with my name on it, with books detailing parts of my life that I don't recall living." He said with a bitter smile. At least they didn't ask to see the scar, his hair was fairly long and it always hung over his forehead hiding the lightning bolt shaped scar.
The 3 first years lapsed into another period of silence only this one a little more comfortable. Hannah and Susan had a whispered conversation between themselves, while Harry retrieved one of his text books from his trunk to help pass the time. It wasn't until the Hogwarts express lurched forward that Harry tore his eyes away from his transfiguration book to look out the window and see the platform and the people on it roll by his window at steady pace and then become smaller and smaller as the train built up speed.
"We're finally on our way." Harry said with a lopsided grin. "How are those nerves doing girls?"
Hannah returned Harry's grin with a thumbs up and Susan started out at the passing landscape with a wide eyed look frozen on her face.
"Calm down Susan, you won't be alone at Hogwarts even if we end up in separate houses." Hannah said as she rubbed her friends arm.
"Thank you Hannah." Susan whispered but still didn't take her eyes from the window.
The next hour came and went in a flash; Tonks came back to the compartment not long after we left London just to check on the trio of firsties before disappearing again. The next time the compartment door opened it was to reveal a smiling dimpled faced woman.
"Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked with a pleasant.
Harry didn't have much of a sweet tooth but he still grabbed a few things just to say he had tried them. Susan was particle to the Licorice Wands and Hannah stocked up on Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.
Harry looked between his Chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and the Broomstick Lollipops he bought and decided to start with the jelly beans. He tore open the box and dumped an assorted color of beans in his hands. He chose a brown one thinking it was root beer. Harry was up out of his seating and fumbling for the latch on the window to spit out the horrible candy.
"Ugh! What kind of mad man would create a piece of candy that tasted like mud?" Harry asked rhetorically as he continued to spit it the window.
"Sorry Harry, we should have warned you. But when the box said every flavor, it meant every flavor." Hannah said. "I got one that tasted like broccoli once."
"They used to be my favorites at one time, until I ate one that tasted like sweat." Susan added.
Harry tossed the beans and the rest of the box out the window before he closed it and sat back down. Harry looked at the rest of his treats warily; he saw the Broomstick Lollipops were clearly marked with flavors like strawberry, grape and lemon so he didn't worry about those.
He looked at Susan and Hannah before holding up the Chocolate Frogs. "These aren't really frogs are they?" he deadpanned.
Susan and Hannah broke into a fit of giggles, before surprisingly Susan spoke first. "Just plain chocolate, although they are charmed to hop at least once so be careful or you're going to lose it. Also each pack comes with a collectible card of a famous witch or wizard."
"I'll save those for later then." Harry said, and then he tried a lemon flavored broomstick.
The countryside continued to zoom pass the windows as the trio enjoyed the individual treats. All eyes went to the door as someone knocked on it, it was opened to reveal a round faced boy who looked on the verge of tears.
"Neville, what's wrong?"
"Hi, Susan, have any of you seen a toad at all?"
"Trevor got away from you again eh?" Susan said in exasperation.
"I don't know why he keeps running away!" he wailed.
"Why don't you ask an older student to summon it for you?" Harry suggested.
Hannah beamed at Harry's solution and Susan gave him a grateful nod.
Neville cut himself off mid wail and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I don't really know any older students. I don't really know anyone really except for Susan." He said with a whimper.
"I know someone that could maybe help if we can find her." Harry said standing up heading for the door. "If Tonks comes back could you ask her to wait for me here?" He asked Susan and Hannah.
"Sure Harry." Hannah said, while Susan nodded her head.
"I really appreciate your help; Trevor always seems to get away from me as soon as I blink." Neville said from behind Harry as he looked into each compartment he passed by.
"It's really not a problem. I wanted to stretch my legs anyway." Harry replied.
"Oh Merlin!" Neville said pitifully.
Harry spun around to see what was wrong. Neville was looking at him in horror, as his mouth gaped open. "What's wrong with you, have you seen a ghost or something?"
"I just realized I never introduced myself to you." Neville said in a horrified whisper. "If my Gran ever found out I was so rude she would have my head." Neville cleared his throat and stood as straight as he could get. "Neville Longbottom" he said and stuck his hand out.
"Harry Potter" was Harry's simple reply before he turned around and continued his search for Tonks. He missed Neville's fish out of water imitation as he finally spotted a shock of pink hair in a nearby compartment.
Harry knocked on the door and thankfully it was Tonks who answered.
"Wotcher Harry?" Tonks asked with a curious smile.
"Hi Tonks, Neville here lost his toad I was wondering if you could summon it for him?" Harry asked her.
"Sure that won't be a problem." Tonks turned to the hopeful looking first year. "What's the toad's name?"
"Trevor." Neville said with a tremble in his voice.
Tonks' wand shot into her hand right hand from the sleeve of her jacket. Since they were nearer the front of the train, Tonks pointed her wand back down the corridor Neville and Harry had come from. "Accio Trevor the toad!" she said with a flick of her wand.
Moments later a dark object came zooming down the corridor. Harry watched in fascination as Trevor hovered in front of Tonks for a split second before settling in her open palm.
"Here you are." Tonks said as she handed the shivering toad to Neville.
"Thank you! I'm so happy to have him back!" Neville said rapidly to Tonks, he turned to Harry and was practically beaming. "Harry, thank you for all your help."
"Tonks did all the work." Harry said simply.
"Thank you both, I'm going to go back to my compartment and call off the search." Neville said and took off down the corridor.
Harry turned back towards Tonks and was about to thank her for her help, but he paused when he saw 3 additional sets of eyes peering at him.
"Well don't be stingy Tonks; aren't you going to introduce us?" The face that hung over Tonks' left shoulder asked with a smile.
"Get back vultures." Tonks said as she started shoving the 3 girls back into the compartment. "Would you like to meet this riff raff?"
"Sure, I don't want to be rude." Harry said resigning himself. Harry was never overtly cold to anyone unless they gave him a reason. Even growing up in the Dursleys home, where the only warmth he got was from the furnace, he still tried to be polite to people.
Harry stood in the doorway as he was introduced to the 3 teenage girls sharing a compartment with Tonks.
"Over here is Brenda Oswald and Rene Miller." Tonks said as she pointed to each on them as she introduced them, they left side of the cabin. "And this is Jessica Cranbrook." Tonks said waving to the right side of the compartment.
Brenda Oswald had wavy black hair that fell like a curtain over her shoulders; she had bright green eyes and an olive complexion. She tipped her head in Harry's direction and responded the same way. From the robes she was wearing, Harry figured she was in Hufflepuff like Tonks from the badger on the front.
Rene Miller had smooth café au lait skin, straight black hair pulled into a pony tail and brown eyes that reminded Harry of hot chocolate. She gave Harry a cheery wave that he returned with a smile and a nod of his head. She was wearing the robes of a Ravenclaw.
Jessica Cranbrook had curly blonde hair pulled into pigtails at the sides of her head. She had dark blue eyes and she had a pale complexion although not sickly. She was also wearing Hufflepuff robes.
"Girls, this is Harry Potter, I met him this morning on the platform." Tonks said and took her seat next to Jessica.
Thankfully, like Tonks none of the 3 girls made a big deal out of meeting him which Harry was grateful for. Harry exchanged some pleasant talk with everyone but didn't stay long. He made it back to the compartment only to find that Susan and Hannah had dosed off. Harry entered as quietly as possible not wanting to disturb the two of them; he picked up his book and continued on with his reading.
It was several hours later that Harry along with the rest of the student body stepped off the Hogwarts express onto a cold and dark platform in Hogsmeade. Harry pulled his robes tighter against his body to try and ward off the cold, and as he looked around at the other students he saw that he wasn't the only one feeling the stinging cold. Hannah and Susan were standing so close together people might think they were joined at the hip.
"Firs' years! Firs' over here!" a deep voice bellowed.
Harry turned at the loud voice and saw a lamp seemingly floating out of the darkness. Harry's eyes widened as the person came into full view.
He was honestly the biggest person Harry had ever seen in his life. Aside from his size the other most distinguishing feature the man had was long mangy hair and a wild tangled beard to match. Black beetle like eyes glittered out of an almost completely obscured face.
"Is tha' all of ya? Follow me and mind ya steps." The large man said and led the gaggle of first years down a steep narrow path. With everyone having to watch their steps to keep from falling down the trail it was a quick and quiet trip.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' look o Hogwarts in a sec." Their chaperone said.
There were quite a few "Aaahs and Oooohs" when the first site of a glittering castle sitting on top of a high mountain came into few into view on the other side of a large black lake.
"No more'n four to a boat!"
There was a scramble for boats and Harry made his way to the closest to him and he was followed by Susan, Hannah and a tall black boy that had a look of indifference on his face.
"Everyone in? Right then…FORWARD!"
The small fleet of boats lurched forward with its passengers across the black lake. It was total silence as everyone stared in awe at the sparkling castle that they were drawn closer to by the second.
"HEADS DOWN!" Their chaperone yelled as their boats took them through a curtain of ivy which turned out to be an entrance to a dark tunnel that carried them all underneath the castle to an underground harbor.
After ensuring that none of the boats had taken a detour, the group of first years, were then led up a passageway made of rock before eventually coming out onto smooth damp grass, they were then led up a set of stone steps to a large oak door.
After their chaperone roamed his eyes over his charges he raised a large meaty fist and knocked 3 times on the castle door.
The door was immediately opened to reveal a tall black haired witch in emerald robes who had a stern no non-sense expression on her face.
"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you Hagrid, I will take it from here."
The gig guy now known as Hagrid gave a nod of his head and disappeared through a side door as the witch now known as Professor McGonagall led the new students to the entrance hall across a flagged stone floor and to an empty chamber were she turned to address them.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, the welcoming feast will start shortly but before that you will be sorted into your houses." Professor McGonagall explained. "The sorting ceremony is very important because while you are at Hogwarts, the House you are in will be your family here at Hogwarts. You will have classes with your House, sleep in your House dormitory and spend your free time in your House common room."
Professor McGonagall paused and stared out at the nervous crowd of faces to make sure everyone was listening. "Each House as its own noble history and each House as produced outstanding witches and wizards, the Houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. While at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn you House points and any rule breaking will see you losing House points. The House with the most points at the end of the year is awarded the House Cup, I hope each of you become a credit to whichever House you becomes yours."
"The ceremony will begin in a few moments; I suggest you straighten yourselves up." She said and gave a pointed look at a gangly red head towards the front of the crowd and Neville who was standing off to the side, "Wait quietly, I shall be back when we are ready for you."
"How are we going to be sorted?" someone asked.
"One of my brothers told me we have to wrestle a troll."
Harry rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of that statement, he then blocked out the rest of the theories that went from jumping off the highest tower to swimming laps around the lake they just crossed.
(Inside the Great Hall at the head table)
Over the last month Severus Snape, the youngest Potions Master to teach at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been running the full gauntlet of emotions. And it all started with a snow white owl dropping into his life one inauspicious morning.
(Flashback)
Severus was ignoring the post owls as he wasn't expecting any potion ingredients or any other correspondence, when a thunk sounded directly in front of him. He looked up into the intelligent amber eyes of a snow white owl with two letters attached to its legs.
"Blimey, init she a beauty?" the question was asked by the resident half giant and groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid.
Severus ignored the question and took the letters from the owl's outstretched leg. The owl took off immediately and settled on the big oaf of a groundskeepers' shoulder where it was fed bacon and cooed over. He looked over the envelopes both were addressed to him, the first one was child- like, his name written in big blocky- letters, he was curious because the only child he knew that would write to him would be his godson Draco, but the Malfoys didn't own a white owl. He opened it with a blank face and as he read it, it took tremendous effort to control his outward expressions and the rising flood of emotions.
To Severus Snape,
My name is Harry Potter, I am the son of Lily Potter or you might know her as Lily Evans. I've been in possession of this letter for some time now but have only recently been able to get it to you. You see although I have known about the magical world for some time now, I've been raised in the muggle world and there is no Severus Snape listed in the phone book. Once I got my owl I thought you should have this. I have to admit though that I have a reason behind giving this letter to you. I know of Lily Evans the sister but I don't know of Lily Evans the Witch, so I guess you can think of this as a bribe to pick your brain about my mum, I know from the diary I found this letter in, that you were goods friends until the last year of Hogwarts when you had some kind of argument. I hope whatever bad feelings the two of you had were resolved before her death. You can send a reply back with Hedwig or if you want to think about it contact me at any time.
Harry J. Potter
He sat the first letter down and stared at the second envelope, his name was written neatly in a flowing script that he recognized immediately after seeing it so often for the first half of his life. He stood from his seat and packed away his list and the first letter and went to his quarters knowing without a doubt, good or bad, whatever was in the letter he needed privacy to read.
So he retreated to his private office in the Slytherin dungeons. He sat at his desk and stared at that hand writing, dreading what he would read. His hands shook as he slid a pure white sheet of parchment from the envelope and choked back a gasp at the first sentence.
My dear Sev,
It's amazing, that after everything we said to each other that day and everything we haven't said to each other since, that immediately after receiving life changing the first person outside of James I wanted to tell was you. I'm pregnant Sev, and I'm so happy I could go to Azkaban and destroy every dementor there with a single Patronus. I've missed you terribly, you were my first friend in the muggle world and my first friend in the magical world, and how could one word end our years of friendship and make us virtual strangers? I'm writing to hopefully gain back a most precious friendship. There's something very important I want to ask you, will you be the God-father to my child? Please think about it Sev, imagine the look on James' and Sirius' faces if you accept. Sev if our friendship has to end, I don't want it to end the way it did. Please write back to me, I want my friend back.
Lily
Severus had read both letters every day since he received them, he constantly thought about how things could have been if he had actually gotten that letter before he caused Lily's death. As Severus was lost in the past he was not aware of the start of the sorting ceremony until the old ratty hat shouted. "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Severus' eyes were immediately drawn to the line of first years and it didn't take long before he spotted who he was looking for. He stood with a straight back, head held high, he had that same hair as his tormentor from his years at school but shining with intelligence instead of mischief were Lily's green eyes.
Severus' first instinct was to curl his lip at James Potters almost progeny, but he reined himself in and decided to withhold judgment on the Potter boy until he could see for himself exactly who he takes after.
Severus watched the Potter boy as he stood patiently throughout the sorted only briefly taking his eyes away from him so he could watch his godson Draco swagger up to the stool and be sorted into the House of snakes.
The potions master watched with a look of indifference as McGonagall ran through the 'Ps' until she called "Potter, Harry"
Severus raised an eyebrow in slight amusement as the young Potter barely kept his lip from curling when the students began to whisper about. None the less, the boy walked forward without a hesitant step in his gait and stuck the hat on his head. Severus found himself leaning forward in his chair in anticipation and he exhaled sharply in surprise when the hat called "RAVENCLAW!"
AN: Well there goes another chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.