I don't own Harry Potter. Aaand now I'm sad.
Chapter 6: The Hogwarts Express!
Harry and Henry were taken to Diagon Alley a couple of days later to get their wands and other school supplies. The only cause for concern was that Harry already had his wand.
Because Harry already picked up his school supplies a few weeks ahead of his letter arriving he just waited around until he and his mother met up with James and Henry at Ollivander's.
James, rather obnoxiously, insisted that Henry be the one to go first. It made for an awkward atmosphere and it seemed that even Henry was being bothered by it. Harry took a careful look at his brother.
'With only James to look after him I'd half expected him to have an equally pompous attitude. Guess there's some hope for him after all.' Harry was a bit mystified by the whole ordeal as he tried to stay away from Henry and his father as much as possible.
Ever since Harry came back to his younger days, the Potter family seemed to be divided. As far as anyone who paid enough attention could tell it was Harry and Lily on one side and James and Henry on the other.
This didn't mean that there was no interaction between sides. In fact, Lily repeatedly made an effort to try an undo any likely damage that James brought on Henry. Harry didn't seem to mind her trying as long as she was careful.
Why he wanted her to be careful is the same reason he led such an awful life before. James was a manipulative bastard and Henry's wretchedness was the byproduct of his machinations. Lily, he assumed, was merely a convenient tool to help shape Henry into who he was.
It took almost two hours to find Henry's wand and when they did James, who was too keen on getting away his wife and other son, took Henry and quickly left the shop.
There was a moment of silence after the twosome left and Harry could almost feel the trepidation and depression coming off of Lily. He knew she wanted to have her family back in one piece, but he also knew that she understood it would never happen.
Mr. Ollivander, who had stayed quiet through their open display of family drama, spoke up about Harry's need for a wand so as to break the tension in the air.
It didn't surprise him, unlike it did his mother and Mr. Ollivander that none of the wands in Ollivander's had chosen him. "Hmm. I do believe that you are a special case Mr. Potter. It seems to me that your wand must be suited for you and only you."
Harry, with his past life's experience, knew what Ollivander meant but couldn't show it. Most eleven year olds wasn't supposed to know anything about the technical side of magic. "What does that mean? Am I not getting a wand?" 'Ugh, I hate this acting clueless crap.'
The older man laughed at Harry's guess "That's not what I mean Mr. Potter. What I am saying is that your wand simply hasn't been made yet. Which means that rather than getting your wand today, you would be getting it before you leave for Hogwarts. My owl should reach your home the night before the train leaves the station."
Harry wore a look a childish disappointment at his words. "Okay." What followed after was Mr. Ollivander taking Harry's measurements, testing and recording his affinities with several types of woods and cores, several under the breath comments from Mr. Ollivander about the joys of "difficult customers" and "challenging wands"
At this point Lily had already finished her apprenticeship with Mr. Ollivander and had become a certified wand maker. However, she didn't open her own shop out of respect to Mr. Ollivander. Harry felt this was a good choice. Getting on the wrong side of one of the only wand maker around wouldn't be smart.
Scene Break
After dealing with the wand situation, Harry and Lily took a trip to Gringotts to see Director Ragnok. Over the years the Director came to evaluate Harry higher and higher. Ragnok would often say to his employees "The boy isn't so bad, for a wizard" after meeting with Harry, and sometimes his mother, to discuss their interests.
When Harry first came to Gringotts, he did his best to make a lasting impression. The Goblin's have always hated wizards and looked for any opportunity to obstruct them.
These obstructions became more frequent in the couple of years that came before Harry graduated Hogwarts. Their most destructive acts came during Voldemort's second grab for power.
He convinced them to cut off any influential Light wizards from their fortunes and give away Ministry secrets. How he did so Harry never found out. He just knew that this time he needed to be the one to get the Gringott's aid.
Harry was very happy that his idea to tell Lily about who he really is didn't blow up in his face. She has been more helpful with his plots and plans then he ever expected her to be. Without her he wouldn't be as prepared as he is.
When he told Lily of his plan with Gringotts she was able to point out several things that would have come back to hurt him. Originally he planned on telling Gringotts the names of the companies and stocks that do well in the future.
It was a little known fact that Gringotts pays attention to the Muggle economy. So Harry, who was aware of this little tidbit of information, figured that with the boost that it would provide Gringotts he would gain their partnership.
Lily pointed out the major flaw in his otherwise flawless plan. Goblins are tricky little creatures that'll suck you dry and leave you to hang if you didn't manage to play their little game correctly.
Goblins are well known to be greedy and may even boast that fact. They use it to death because of the advantages it brings. But it's also, at least according to Lily, a major flaw. Their greed is near insatiable and if one played their cards right it would also be their weakness.
Harry knew of several companies that became successful in the future. If he played his hand right then he could have the Goblins around his finger for a time. Harry was flabbergasted when he was done talking with Lily.
He was shocked that he missed such a giant hole in his plan. Since then, he and Lily have made regular trips to Gringotts over the years to drop a name and secure the secrecy of the Evans' Family vault.
Since all Family vaults are known to the Ministry, Harry and Lily needed to pay for its concealment. The deal made by Ragnok, Harry, and Lily was for a name to be given every two years in exchange for a certain amount of money and the contained privacy of the Evans' family and its assets.
Harry found it interesting how it came down to paying Gringotts off to maintain their secret. The Evans' family, to the surprise of both Lily and Harry, was actually a forgotten branch of the Gaunt family and is therefore a member, albeit a very distant member, of the Slytherin line.
Lily was stunned into silence when she found out and Harry was mostly nonchalant about the situation. He personally didn't much care for the whole bloodline aspect of the wizarding world. But he did find the situation itself faintly interesting.
He knew that Godric Gryffindor's bloodline split into the Peverell family that eventually became the Potter family. He had the bloodline of Gryffindor; that he knew. He also had a very likely suspicion that Muggleborns technically didn't exist.
And in reality, he was right. Muggleborns are essentially the children of squibs whose bloodline had been so watered down by inbreeding that their magic was virtually nonexistent. At least, it was nonexistent until some random genetic thing happened and the magic suddenly began working.
That's about as far as he was able to research into that topic before he died. He'd made a mental note when he discovered his other origins to possibly continue his research. Maybe.
It wouldn't be as big of a deal if Voldemort wasn't going to resurrect within the next seven or eight years. After their little stop at the lovely bank that is Gringotts they went home.
Scene Break
As Lily went to get ready for bed, she had long since stopped sharing a bedroom with James, Harry held a meeting with his house elves. It was about time his little spies reported in.
"Dobby. Tizzy." Pop. "Master Harry be calling for Dobby and Tizzy?" Harry had the good sense to use his house elves in a more productive manner than just servitude.
All throughout the day they spied on his father, brother, and sister. Every month he would get a report on how each of them behaved behind closed doors. What they told him as of late has been peculiar.
His father, as usual, is the same git he's always been. Plotting this and that and trying to gamble more of their fortune away. Not really as much of a concern anymore but always something to watch out for.
His sister is, much to his ongoing shock, a parseltongue like he is. Another oddity to add to the family pile. Great. But why she hasn't told anyone is beyond Harry. He would have to keep an eye out for her when she got to Hogwarts. Lord knows what kind of trouble she'll get them dragged into once she starts school.
But the most surprising, if not disturbing, report he got was the one on his brother. He's been acting weird lately. He talks to himself a lot and he's been writing in a journal. Harry felt a chill go down his back. It couldn't be…Tom's journal. It's not supposed to happen until second year.
Shit. "Dobby if you can get your hands on that journal I want you to copy it without him realizing. Okay?" Dobby stood at attention like he usually does when Harry gives him orders and Tizzy flustered a bit and did the same for some odd reason.
"Tizzy you help Dobby by distracting him and keeping Hokey away from the room. She's bound to the family so she's obligated to tell if one of us is being conspired against. Even if I'm the one who's plotting." Tizzy's salute became sharper and the smile on her face became a few inches wider.
"You two work on that. I'm going to call it a night" He yawned in exhaustion. Today had been a busy day. After sending Dobby and Tizzy off Harry laid down on his bed. A good night's sleep too tempting to pass up.
Scene Break
A few weeks later Lily and Emily saw Harry and Henry off at the Hogwarts express, James was caught up in a Wizengamot session that he couldn't miss, and they were fussing over him like any family would.
It was, in Harry's opinion, wholly degrading and extremely embarrassing. 'I'm twenty six years old for Merlin's sake. I can already hear everybody having a good laugh about Harry Potter 'mummy's little sweetheart'. Ugh. Kill me now.' God forbid the twins see this.
After escaping her death grip he quickly found his way into another, Emily's. She and Harry were quite close to each other, something he made sure of. When Harry got his letter she went to her room and cried for an hour before he went up to calm her down.
It took a very long list of compromises before she would let him leave. Such as writing to her every day and teaching her everything he learned when he came back during the holidays.
It was funny to think about. A tiny pipsqueak like her allowing him to leave for Hogwarts. As she was squeezing the life out of him he started to laugh.
This was a mistake. Funny, but a mistake nonetheless. She stopped squeezing and glared at him with a very familiar look on her face.
"Harry. James." Emily ground his name out. "Are you laughing at me?" 'Oh dear God. She's learned it. She's learned The Look…' He silently pleaded to his mother in hopes of salvation. Lily, rather than helping, just smiled at him. Betrayal splattered across his face as Emily's gaze became harder and colder.
Seeing a bushel of frizzy brown hair whiz past him and onto the train he stopped playing around and became serious. He removed himself from Emily's bone crushing hug and kissed her on the forehead. "We'll be back before you know it, Em. Okay?"
He smiled, gave his mom one last kiss on the cheek and headed towards the train car he saw Hermione get onto. Hopefully she would be his friend this time around. The last time he was at Hogwarts he ignored her and came out worse for it, they both had. She had been bullied and he was alone.
Henry, who was standing nearby receiving the same spine crushing hug Lily gave him, let a look of surprise wash over his face before looking disinterested once more. This look was not missed by Harry. Things had changed between them after he had gotten his hands on the diary. How could they not have?
Running to get on board the train he looked at his family one last time. They smiled and waved at him. He smiled back. 'Nothing will happen to them.' He looked at his brother who was climbing into another car. 'Any of them. Not while I'm here…Well, except maybe James.'
Scene Break
Harry found Hermione alone in a cabin towards the back of the train. It looks like she had been crying. 'Wow. Not even five minutes into the trip and someone already has her in tears. Considering how she had been before it's not really surprising.'
"Hello. Would you mind if I sit here with you?" She looked up and he gave her a friendly smile. She gave him a shy smile back.
The entire trip to Hogwarts consisted of him and Hermione talking about anything and everything both magic and not. Actually it was mostly Hermione talking and Harry listening with avid interest.
'It's no wonder she was always bullied. They stuck someone with such an advanced mental capacity, at least for someone who's eleven, in Gryffindor of all places. The better placement would have been in Ravenclaw, or at the very least Slytherin.
About an hour before the train would get to Hogwarts Harry noticed a look of hesitation on Hermione's face. He smiled on the inside. 'I wonder…'
"You want to tell me what's on your mind?" Her eyes widened in shock. "I've noticed you've been fidgeting in your seat for the last ten minutes with an unsure look on your face" He was met with stunned silence.
"Yes I'm impressive that way. How about that question you may or may not have?" Hermione's face turned an impressive shade of tomato red. "I-I w-was wondering if this m-makes us…friends?"
I smiled at her. How anyone can bring grief upon this girl is beyond me. "Yes, Hermione. We're friends." No sooner had the word 'friends' left his mouth was he met with a delighted, yet very high pitched squeal. "Ow."
And for the third time since waking up this morning Harry found himself in the midst of another back snapping hug. 'Why me?'
Hermione, lost in hugging her first ever real friend, quickly found herself being given a hug back. "I think you and I will make one hell of a team. Don't you think?" However Harry had gotten something different from the expected agreement.
Instead he found himself being lectured on why it's not proper for him to curse. It was a twelve minute lecture and he found himself almost smiling on occasion which didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.
'Note to Self: Don't smile during Hermione's lectures.' Harry sighed. He could already tell that it was nothing more than a pipe dream; for he knew he would always struggle not to smile during her lectures. He could feel it.
He could also feel the bruise on his arm where Hermione gave him a nasty wallop. Other Note to Self: Never laugh out loud when being lectured. Pain is painful.