7/20/15 update and edits by my dear beta dianemalfoy.

AN: The Ranch that Harry is going to is based on a similar place from another fic but I am sorry I can't remember the name of it. :(

Godric's Hollow will not be cannon either.

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The port key to the Ranch took forever. As it turns out, Potter Ranch is a huge nature preserve, in the middle of nowhere. When he first arrived, he was just inside a massive clear dome. Outside was a sandy desert but inside was lush grass. There was a road that went around the dome and straight down the middle. On either side of the road were fenced in areas with various environments. He started heading down the road to see if there were any people here.

In the center of the dome there were several buildings, and he saw another road perpendicular to the one he followed, which cut the dome into quarters. In the main building he found the staff. Most were glad to meet him because he was the only one that could change the finances and fire the manager, whom no one liked. Which he did when in 3 minutes, the man had made no less than 5 veiled comments about filthy creatures and uppity mudbloods. He was unhappy with the decision, but Dobby gave him the same treatment as Lucius and not so nicely threw him out.

Harry interviewed the other employees and found Markus Kvakusik to be the best qualified. Under the bigoted former manager, he had been an undervalued secretary due to his 1/4 orc blood. But the man was smart and had training in both the magical and muggle world. Harry found out that as well as a nature preserve, the Ranch was also a potions 'factory'. They protected the animals but also safely and humanely used them and the plants in their environments for ingredients.

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Portkeying from the USA back to Ireland to see Potter Castle took just as long as the trip from Greece to America. Harry was surprised when he found himself in a well decorated sitting room. There was a man in a non-magical suit sitting on one of the couches.

He stood and walked over toward Harry. "Hello sir. I wasn't aware there were any magical visitors scheduled today. Can you tell me who you are?" He said politely.

"My name is Harricius Potter-Perciville. Is this Potter Castle?" Harry asked confused.

The man's eyes widened. "Yes my Lord. I did not know you were aware of your inheritance."

"I only found out recently. Why were you expecting visitors?"

The man smiled. "For several generations, much of Potter Castle has been open to the public. We have magical and non-magical tourists through all the time."

"How can that be? I thought the castle was unplotable?"

"It is, and it isn't. The above ground floors and part of the first underground floor are not unplotable and they are open to the public. The rest of the lower levels are even hidden from the staff. Several of us know where the entrances are but cannot access them."

"So the secret underground levels are hidden by a tourist attraction?"

"Yes My Lord. Amon Potter was fond of saying; 'The best place to hide is in plain sight.' He was the one who opened the Castle up to tours. Would you like to join one?"

Harry just blinked at him. "Sure why not."

The man, Kevin, took him up and out a secret door which let him out not far from the front gate. The Castle itself was a large 3 story stone building with towers on each corner that rose 10 stories. It was surrounded by a 4 story wall with battlements. The wall also had towers at the corners but they were shorter at only 7 stories. The wall was very thick, and made ingeniously. There were 2 portcullises and 2 sets of doors. The first set of doors was outside the iron portcullis and opened inward so the iron bars had to be raised. The inner doors worked the exact same. The large doors were on the outer side and would have to be taken down by an enemy to make use of the holes in the portcullis. But both portcullises were raised and the doors wide open right now.

Harry entered and saw a few gift shops and food venders in the court yard. He decided to join the tour that was just about to leave. The tour guide was amazing. The lady really knew her stuff, she kept them entertained with stories and tales of times when the Castle was besieged and of the Lords and Ladies who had once lived here. Harry learned so much about his family and who they really were. Such as that there were many houses and farms that once occupied the lands between the castle wall and the forest and in times of hardship or even unusually bad weather, the Lords would open the gates and allow the villagers to stay within the castle. There were few tales of the Lords ever being cruel or malicious. They mostly seemed to be the best of leaders, till the family was whittled away by disease and wars till there were few left. Near the end, when they entered the hall of ancestors as the tour guide called it, she told of how the last Lord Potter and his young bride were killed by terrorists. And how their young son was taken into hiding until he came of age to defend himself.

Harry smiled at that. At least the non-magical side got it right. He was happy to see that so many of these strangers, people he had never met before in his life were sympathetic to his loss. One man even spoke up about losing his son, the soldier. The hall they were in felt very melancholy and many were remembering or even speaking of lost loved ones. The hall was filled with paintings of Potter's, and each painting had a small plaque that gave the names, birth and death dates.

When the tour was finally over, Harry headed back to the room he met Kevin in. "Kevin?" He said and saw the man setting in the same place he was when Harry arrived. "Have you been there the whole time?"

"Yes. It's my duty to guard the magical entrance. Is there something you needed My Lord?"

"How can you just sit there? Don't you get bored?"

"No My Lord. I... well I'm a vampire. A daywalker, to be precise. My kind are much like statues, we have little need or desire to move most of the time. I have been in the service of the Potter's for 270 years and out of all the jobs I have held, I like this one best. It allows me long unbroken moments of stillness." Kevin explained.

Harry just blinked at him. He was glad the man was happy, but the thought of his job made Harry uncomfortable, he didn't like to sit still for the length of his classes much less be motionless for hours on end. "Kevin, can you show me how to get to the other parts of the castle?"

"Of course My Lord would you like me to give you a tour of those?"

"If you wouldn't mind. I guess you have been here so long that you can pass right through the unplotable wards?"

"No My Lord. Vampire magic allows me to see through wizard wards, even this one. There are other types of wards placed on the castle and grounds but those have me keyed in so they are also of no effect."

As they explored the 3 underground levels, Kevin told Harry more about the wards around the castle and personal stories of all the Potters he knew. Once they had cleared all the levels, Kevin showed Harry the most secret part of this structure. It was a series of mind boggling catacomb like caverns and half form passages that wound and snaked all the way down the several hundred feet cliffs that the Castle sat on to a secret beach and dock. The beach was cold, wet and very windy even during the summer but it was a near fool proof escape route.

Kevin told him that the Potters would stash secret supplies and treasures in the caverns before they finally moved it all to Gringotts. Though there were still well preserved wines kept there since the dark caves were the perfect temperature and humidity for proper aging. Harry chuckled at that. He had no interest in wine but did ask Kevin to give him a good couple bottles. He planned on taking them to Serpens. Kevin selected a nice sized case and told him he could use it for the ball. The vampire winked and said that would silence any Lords who got their knickers in a twist. Harry laughed at that thinking of Lucius choking when he realized he was drinking wine that cost more than some made in a year.

Once he returned to the surface, Harry called Dobby to take the wine back to Perciville Palace. He would have done so below but Kevin said there was a house elf ward to prevent other families from sending their elves to raid the stores.

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Harry's last property gave him a sense of foreboding. Godric's Hollow was little more than ruins. It looked as though it had burned in the past. There was nothing salvageable. Harry just stood there looking at the wreckage not understanding the significance of the sight. After a while, an elderly man tapped him on the shoulder.

"James?" the man asked.

"No sir. I'm Harry."

"Harry? James' baby? I haven't seen you since the night your parents' house vanished."

"Vanished? Wait, this was my parents' home?" Harry looked at the ruins with a new light. Now understanding why it was ruined.

"Yes son. James and his lovely wife Lily bought this home just after they married. Three years later you can along. Then, when you were around 8 months old, all of a sudden the house and your whole family vanished. 7 months after that, it reappears in a fiery explosion. It's been like this ever since." He said motioning to the ruins.

Harry teared up. "Did you know them? Can you tell me about them?"

"Sure son. Come on let's go have some tea while we talk. I'm Father Mylard by the way." Mylard put an arm around Harry and lead him to a nearby church.

Once they were seated in the Father's office with hot tea, Mylard spoke. "When they first moved in, Lily and James were quiet and I didn't meet them till 6 months after. They were never very religious and I only ever recall them attending a handful of services. I first met them after a storm damaged this chapel and a few houses. We at the congregation went door to door asking for help and both of your parents and their friend Remus all did everything they could. The Potter's donated not just their time but their money. And not just with the rebuilding, James often made donations to the children's fund and the food pantry. Lily was often found at the local orphanage playing with and reading to the kids.

Their friend Remus was obviously a poor but proud man. From what I learned, he has some kind of disease that makes it hard for him to keep a job." Mylard frowned sadly. "But he was a good man and helped out whenever he came to visit. Sometimes their other friends would visit as well. Sirius was a bit lazy and seemed to think just throwing money would help. Alice and her husband came by on rare occasions, Alice was much like Lily and over flowing with kindness. Her and Frank were some kind of police officers. There were two others but I only met them once and neither were very pleasant. Peter was a shifty eyed, stuttering boy. The other was Severus... Snape I believe James called him. He was very cold and ill tempered. Do you know any of them?"

"The only one I know is Severus Snape. He's a teacher at my school, but he's terrible and abuses his power. I know Sirius is my godfather, and there was a journal of Remus' in my parents' things. I've never heard of Peter." Harry wondered were Peter and Remus were. Were they dead? Or did they just not want their friend's freak child?

"You look lost my boy? You should know that Remus loved you very much, as did Sirius I believe. I didn't see Sirius very often but he seemed like a happy child himself when you were around. And Remus would light up as though you were the most beautiful and precious thing in the world to him. But as I said Remus is ill. He could barely take care of himself and with his disease, he would have never been able to care for you. He has come by here a few times to visit your parents' graves and look at the ruins. Hetold me that he looks for you when he can. According to him you vanished, taken from the wreckage and none of the Potter's friends and allies knew where to."

"He looks for me? He... he wants me?" Harry broke into a face splitting smile. He was so happy that his parents' friends wanted to find him. After a moment he asked. "What sort of illness does Remus have? Is he dying?"

"I don't know. All I know is that during his spells he is extremely tired and irritable. He's a good man though. If you like I'll tell him when he comes. He's usually here around your birthday. July 31st right?"

Harry nodded. "Please do. Would you mind if I left him a note?"

"Of course." After Harry had written the note. "Would you like to see your parents graves before you go?"

"Yes." He choked up a bit.

The graves were well tended with flowers on either side. Harry stood there and the Father left him be. Harry decided to tell his parents all about his life so far. Just speaking some of the things aloud lifted a weight he had never realized he was carrying. Tears were running down his face by the time he was finished but he was smiling. He wiped his face and headed back to Father Mylard.

"Thank you for everything. I'll come back and visit again some time."

"Of course my child. I'll see if there are any old things of your parents for your next visit." He hugged the boy gently. "Have peace child. It will all work out."

Harry smiled at him. "Thanks. I have to get back home now."

"Good bye Harry."

Harry headed to a secluded part of the village to portkey back to the Palace.

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AN: there were a few sad parts but I wanted to throw some more info about the Potter's in there.

As for the castle I always liked to imagine that there were secret rooms in castles and old manors.

Not sure where Kevin came from I was not planning for him at all. :S