All those stories that people told about Harry Potter happen to be somewhat true. Harry did have to constantly fight monsters daily, but what they didn't get correct or didn't want to say was that this wasn't a child's fantasy packaged up for consumption by the masses. This was real life and Harry was too young to be battling dragons, trolls or manticores. But he always managed to survive, but that does not mean he got through things unscathed.

When Harry was walking along with the other first year students up the steps to Hogwarts, he made sure his cloak was pulled up to cover his body and he remained in the back. It was always a hassle to be seen and the last thing he wanted was to add any extra time between now and when he could get a meal. So he shuffled along doing his best to blend in and waited while the other students were sorted.

"Harry Potter," Minerva McGonagall called out as she proudly read the name of the young boy she was hoping to see after all these years, the son of two of her favorite students.

The students watched as the cloaked figure slowly and quietly made its way to the front of the room. There were whispers about if this was the mysterious Boy-Who-Lived and why he was hiding himself so much from the other students.

Seating himself on the stool Harry realized he'd have to remove his hood. With some hesitation he gripped the sides of the fabric and pulled it back. He hated the gasps of shock and looks of horror on people's faces whenever he showed his face; at least his neighbors had gotten used to seeing his disfigurements.

He knew he looked a mess, missing an eye with burns and claw marks adorning his features, with an ear that looked like it had been chewed through. "Just get this over with," Harry said flatly as he felt the cloth hat placed atop his head.

"Oh my goodness," The hat said to him as it sifted through his thoughts. "Well my word Mr. Potter, I am very sorry you had to go through all of that."

"Someone has to be," Harry tiredly replied with a sigh. "So where am I going?"

"Where do you want to go?" The hat asked kindly. "I will not force you anywhere you don't want to be. You deserve at least that much."

"Fine then, just put me where my parents went," Harry said as the hat announced Gryffindor for him to a roaring applause. When he finally made his way over to the other students the teachers were now able to get a good look at what caused the students to be so startled as Harry had his back to them the entire time.

Harry just hoped that the looks of pity wouldn't stay for too long, they got annoying fast.

His meal went quick and quietly, knowing that he needed to eat to keep his strength up. The awkward silence around the table was one he knew to mean that people wanted to talk to him but didn't know how to ask the questions without seeming rude.

Looking around he could see the others flinch back when his one remaining eye met their gaze. "Yes, I know I'm hideous and I look nothing like those story books that you all read said I would." Harry verbalized what they had all been thinking. The students cringed at how blunt Harry was being even if the statement was accurate. With a sigh he stood up from the table. "It's late, I'm going to bed," Harry said as he started to walk out of the hall, if it wasn't the overly long train ride that tired him out, it was all the staring. That had always been the worst part of it.

He could hear footsteps hurrying to catch up to him as he meandered through the halls of the ancient castle, with no real destination in sight. "Mr. Potter," Minerva McGonagall called out to him, having abandoned her meal when Harry had decided to not remain in the Great Hall with the other students. "Mr. Potter, please wait for me," she said as she picked up her pace to catch up to the student who stopped in a hallway.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked as he raised an eyebrow to the older woman.

"Why did you not remain in the hall with the other students?" Minerva questioned, wanting to know Harry's reason for leaving.

"I'm tired," Harry responded flatly.

"The headmaster normally has things he wishes to say to the student body after they have gotten a chance to eat." Minerva informed Harry.

Reaching up to scratch one of his facial scars, Harry shrugged. "I'm sure if it's important someone will tell me later."

Minerva pursed her lips at the dismissive behavior from a new student, famous or not. "That is not how things are done here at Hogwarts Mr. Potter."

"Well, it's how I do things," Harry responded to the curt statement. "And how I do things has kept me alive until now, so I don't plan to change."

"On that topic, what happened to you?" Minerva asked softly as she started to lead Harry to the Gryffindor common room, stopping outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. When she last saw him he was just a cute little baby in a basket being left on a muggle doorstep. She knew that many things had to have changed in his life for him to be like he is now.

"Those books they sell to kids, they aren't wrong," Harry looked at the floor. "They just don't tell everyone that fighting a nundu by yourself is incredibly dangerous and you'll be lucky to get away with all your fingers and most of your organs." Biting back a cough as his remaining lung compensated for his walk up the many flights of stairs in the castle.

"But those are fantasy," Minerva shook her head in disbelief. "They can't be real."

"They were, and I was made the one to deal with it all, just as I suspect I will have problems to deal with here in school," Harry sighed as he looked at the portrait, startling the woman who hadn't seen any that injured since Mad Eye Moody came in. "Are we done now?"

"For now Mr. Potter," Minerva replied as she told Harry the password to get into the common room. She needed to get more information about those darn children's books.

Harry was already asleep after encasing his bed in numerous wards and spells to keep others out. "Woah, someone is really serious about getting his sleep," Neville gulped as he could see the faint shimmer in the air of a spell that was the polite way of telling others to leave them the hell alone.

Harry being asleep missed the conversation between the other first year boys as he caught up on as much sleep as he could, it was only two days ago when he was chasing a gargoyle through the streets of Marrakech late at night trying to stop it from snatching up anyone unawares enough to be out at that hour, so he hadn't gotten a chance to sleep for more than a few hours and he just hoped it would be some time before he had some other monster, demon or mad sorcerer to deal with.


After waking at dawn Harry quickly went through his normal morning routine before dressing and heading down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. The only other people there were the Potions Professor, Severus Snape and the Astronomy Professor, Aurora Sinistra. "Good morning professors," Harry yawned as he walked down the length of the tables to sit close to the head table.

"Oh hello," Aurora said jumping in her seat, surprised that anyone else besides Snape was up this early, and he never talked to her or anyone at this hour. "Mr. Potter" she added on after she had seen who addressed her.

"Where are your robes Mr. Potter?" Severus's lip twitched when he saw that the hated child of James Potter was not wearing the customary robes and instead had worn a loose fitting t-shirt and shorts.

"Bag," Harry said, patting the satchel hanging from his shoulder. "Don't need to put them on until classes start and I prefer to not wear them when I don't have to. They are restrictive and a liability in case a fight breaks out."

"And you really think you are going to be getting into fights at this school?" Severus smirked, already having expected that the son of James Potter would cause problems which inevitably lead to fights.

"I've been attacked in more secure places before, so yeah, I'm not giving anyone an easy time," Harry responded dismissively to the drab tone of the potions professor.

"As arrogant and delusional as his father," Snape said under his breath, but still loud enough for the two other people in the hall to hear his mutterings.

"Never knew my dad, so I couldn't tell you," Harry shrugged. "But a lethifold could be hiding under this table or a hide-behind could be behind me right now, I don't take chances, those cost you organs and flesh." He spoke from experience as situations like that had been a somewhat common occurrence in his short life.

"I assure you Mr. Potter, there is no lethifold or hide-behind in this Hall," Aurora said, hoping to alleviate some of the young boy's paranoia.

"And I'm sure you're right but a few quick spells will confirm it," pulled out his wand to give it a wave. "Hmm, a few oddities, but nothing dangerous," Harry said as his charm was designed to inform him of anything dangerous to him in the last twenty-four hours and only found a few things which was quite a bit less than he had expected.

"You know how to silently cast your spells?" Aurora asked as that was something that was only taught at the N.E.W.T. level, so unfortunately she didn't know what spell Harry had cast for detection.

"I had to learn, too many things can hear even the faintest whispers. It can get you killed if you say a spell, even more so it gives them a chance to prepare a counter to it," Harry nodded as he looked at the table, wondering when food would appear.

"Ahh Mr. Potter," Albus Dumbledore said as he strolled into the Great Hall, he had instructed an elf to come wake him once young Harry was seen outside the common room. He was a bit grumpy that this child was an early riser as he was an old man and liked his sleep, but with what he saw the previous night, he would just take a nap sometime around lunch to compensate.

"Headmaster," Harry greeted as he continued to stare at the empty plate. "Do I need to request some food or am I too early?" Harry asked as he wasn't sure how Hogwarts handled feeding its students.

"Normally breakfast isn't served for another hour or so," Albus nodded as he took his place at the head table. "But you can request for simple things," he said as he tapped his plate. "Such as eggs and toast," speaking into the dish and a few moments later a serving of what he ordered appeared.

"Oh," Harry let out a noise of surprise. "Can I just get some orange juice and scrambled eggs," he said, hoping the more liquidy eggs would be tolerable to him.

"I mean to ask you-" Albus coughed to get Harry's attention.

"About my scars," Harry finished the question for the headmaster. "Just read the books and then substitute the real world for the happy endings," Harry instructed as he took small bites of his meal. "That'll be as close as you'll get to the truth."

"And you aren't going to tell me?" Albus inquired why Harry could not just tell him.

"Because I don't want to talk about it." Harry replied as he finished up what he could stomach. "I'll have to remember to tell the elves that I can't eat too much in one sitting." Hating that he was wasting food but knowing if he ate more he'd just puke it up later. "I need to check on some things, so just send an owl when you need me to come to class." Waving to his professors as he started to leave the hall.

"How absolutely arrogant," Snape gripped a fork tightly in his hand as the son of James Potter left suddenly and then told them to summon him when they were ready as if he was too good to act like a normal student.


Harry had barely made it into Transfiguration on time as he took the second to last available seat in the back. A minute later another boy burst in panting heavily as if he'd been running all through the castle. "Oh good," Ron wheezed as he looked around. "Made it here before the teacher did," wiping his brow just as McGonagall leaped off the desk and turned back into a witch in front of him.

"I would think not Mr Wealsey," Minerva said flatly, looking down her nose at the nervous student.

"It is a surprise to me that you didn't recognize her," Harry stated just loud enough for the other students to hear him. "You carry around an animagus in your pocket, I figured you'd notice when an animal didn't act like the real thing." As an animagus had been something one of his spells had detected earlier when he cast it.

"What?" Ron tilted his head in confusion at the famous boy's comment.

"Your rat," Harry pointed to Ron's pocket where the red head kept his pet. "Is it one of your family members keeping an eye on you?" He questioned as Ron pulled out Scabbers to look at him curiously.

Minerva quick as a flash shot out her wand at the small brown rodent. "If this is Molly I am going to have a serious talk with her about boundaries," Minerva said as she levitated Scabbers over to her desk and forced the person out of their animagus form only to stumble back in shock as she recognized who she was staring at. "Peter Pettigrew?!" She said loud enough for others to hear the name.

For those raised in the magical community this was quite a shock to see someone who was supposed to be a dead war hero in front of them.

"Uhh, hello Professor McGonagall," The untransformed man said with an unsure wave while nervously looking around the room for an escape route. He was hoping that he could slip away in the confusion because getting caught in Hogwarts would see him rot in Azkaban.

"How are you-" Minerva started to ask before a burst of light soared past her head and impacted the supposed dead man freezing him in place before he could leap off the desk.

"If you have time to be dumbfounded, you have time to act," Harry rolled his eye, stepping around his professor to get a closer look at the immobilized man. "So, who are you then?" wondering who this person was that surprised most of the class.

"Harry, oh dear sweet Harry," Peter said with a tone dripping with fake innocence hoping to successfully suck up to the Potter child having come to the conclusion that this was the only way to avoid either a life spent in prison or an execution. "It's me, your Uncle Peter, this is all just a big misunderstanding."

"Yeah not buying it," Harry scoffed, easily seeing through the obvious facade. "So Professor, I assume this is not how a usual lesson goes?" he asked McGonagall, not knowing if this was the norm for Hogwarts or not.

Shaking her head, Minerva looked between the young boy and older man. "No, it's not." She answered as this had never once happened in her class and she was determined to ensure it didn't happen again.

"Great," Harry smiled back and with a wave of his wand he transfigured Peter into a tennis ball that he caught and handed to Minerva. "Then you get to be the one to deal with this."

"Mr. Potter, silent human transfiguration is beyond N.E.W.T. level," Minerva commented on Harry's display when he waved off the rest of the class and left the room to their chatter. She knew not to dwell on that tidbit since Minerva knew it was more pertinent to deal with the sudden discovery of the supposedly dead man so she let class out early and thus in minutes the entire castle was aware of what had happened.

As a result of Peter's reveal classes for the day had been canceled and Harry Potter could not be found even as the students ran all over the school looking for him. It wasn't until dinner when Harry strolled back into the Great Hall and the students all rose as one before Dumbledore shouted over them.

"You will all remain seated," Dumbledore said firmly as his voice echoed through the room stopping the students from mobbing Mr. Potter. This was followed by himself standing up and coming around the table to speak to the student. "Mr. Potter, how did you know that Scabbers was an animagus?"

"Hominem Revelio, pretty simple spell, I cast it when I woke up in the morning and noticed there was one more person than should be in the dorm, pretty obvious after that," Harry shrugged as he really wanted to get something to eat.

"Interesting that is normally a spell for the fifth years," Albus hummed as he looked over Harry.

"It's dead useful to know if you're not alone though," Harry countered. "Not foolproof but good enough to start with."

"I see, well, that does bring up a good point." Albus agreed with the reasoning behind Harry's actions. "Attention students, while we are all here, I will send the professors to the dorms to check for any more animagi in the castle, we wouldn't want any more surprises. After that you will each be checked before going into the dorms to ensure there are no more passengers on you." This would normally have gotten an outcry from the student body but since a supposed dead man had just been discovered on another student, they didn't argue since they might trust themselves but they didn't trust everyone else.

"So can I eat now?" Harry asked as he didn't enjoy being kept from food for so long.

"Yes my boy, I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time." Albus smiled as the four heads of houses left the hall to check their houses for any others who should not be there, each was bringing with them another professor so they would not be alone.

Fortunately no other animagi were discovered in the dorms, so the students were relieved that no one else had snuck into the castle.


Harry awoke the next day at the same time and came down to see that there were quite a few other people besides the two professors from the earlier day in the hall talking. "Good morning," Harry said as he sat down in a different place, not wanting to have a pattern of where he sat in case someone booby trapped the seating.

This group of people hurried over to speak with Harry who raised his hand. "Before you all bombard me with questions, can I eat first?" he requested as politely as he could to them. The adults nodded as they took spots around him at the table. "Scrambled eggs, a quarter portion than yesterdays and orange juice a half glass." he instructed as this would be a more manageable meal for him to consume. After watching him eat his simple food the adults had questions for him.

"Why do you eat so little?" Albus set up his question first as he'd only ever seen Harry consume small quantities of food in the few days that the students had been in the castle. That didn't seem to mesh with how many of the younger students ate quite a bit as they were growing children.

Pulling up his shirt to expose the large scars on his torso before resuming his breakfast. "I'm missing most of my stomach, so I can't eat a lot or I'll end up hurting and feeling bloated. A flock of harpies nearly disemboweled me in Greece, and I'm pretty sure that's what counts as divine comedy." Harry chuckled flatly.

"We'll come back to that," a stoic looking red headed woman said as she would like to discuss the young boy's injuries because she felt it was important to know how he got them. "The man from yesterday, do you remember him?"

"Yeah the man hiding as a rat?" Harry nodded easily recalling the previous day's events. "What about him?"

"His name is Peter Pettigrew, he was assumed to have been killed by the man that we all thought had betrayed your parents to You-Know-Who," Amelia informed the young wizard as to the identity.

"And?" Harry asked, wanting to know where this conversation was going.

"He did not, he was the traitor and an innocent man was punished for his crimes," Amelia answered honestly as she felt that being as upfront with Harry was the best option at this time in regards to the situation with Sirius Black.

"Oh, well that's that then," Harry shrugged as this didn't particularly affect him and if it did, he wasn't aware of how so it wouldn't do him any good to worry or put much thought into it at this time.

"What do you mean that's that? Doesn't this, I don't know, make you angry?" Minerva questioned as she had expected Harry to rage and throw a tantrum like any other child.

Harry shook his head. "This all happened when I was a year old right?" looking around to see that the adults were nodding. "Then it'd be quite silly of me to be mad about something I didn't know about that took place a decade ago. As long as he's properly punished that's all I need to hear."

"As to your magical knowledge?" Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic inquired as he wanted to know where and how Harry learned all that he did.

"Just read the books, they're mostly accurate, some artistic liberties were taken so they could be read by children, but I ended up conceding that point to Xenophilus since he wanted his daughter to be able to read them too. Well I have things I need to do, so if you need me just send an owl." Harry told the adults as he got up from the bench. Then after stretching a bit he began his normal morning routine of finding problems before they became his problem. Harry also noticed that he was not alone as he walked into the Forbidden Forest.

"Mr. Potter, this forest is forbidden to students, which is why it is named the Forbidden Forest." Minerva scolded as she followed behind Harry, tasked with finding out what he would be doing while Albus, Amelia and Cornelius discussed what Harry had told them about the books.

"Well we both know that's a lie, if it was forbidden, there would be wards to keep students out," Harry said, giving his professor a dismissive wave while he still continued his trek into a part of the woods covered in spider webs.

"Mr. Potter, do you know where you are going?" Minerva said with some concern. Being a professor for as long as she had, she knew what lived in this area of the forest and it was certainly not something that Harry and herself should be walking towards.

"Yes, towards a huge nest of acromantula," Harry said as he yawned. "Alright, come on out, I know you know that I'm here." he shouted once he could hear the skittering of multiple legs on the ground and trees around him.

"Who dares, come to my domain," Aragog's voice boomed. The massive acromantula pulled himself out of his nest to address the intruder. The approach of Hagrid's pet made Minerva take a few steps back because she was aware of how dangerous this could be and now regretted not intervening prior to them arriving.

"Name's Harry Potter, and I have some questions of my own for you," Harry answered to the car-sized spider's question. "Are you or are you not a threat to the students in the school?" He asked.

"You have come to us, which makes you our food," Aragog's voice boomed as a veritable army of massive spiders came from all sides intent on attacking Harry.

"Going to take that as a yes," Harry bobbed his head as he drew his wand and unleashed a massive gout of magical fire that started to consume the surrounding trees and those who lived in them. All around him he could hear the shrieks of the acromantula burning to death, directing spellfire through the flames towards the ones that managed to avoid being incinerated. After just a few short minutes all the arachnids had been eliminated, the smell of burnt flesh and smoke permeated the air making it hard to breath and not retch.

"Mr. Potter," Minerva took some deep breaths to calm herself now that the chaos had ended. The carnage that Harry Potter unleashed had been terrifying to witness and it only left her with a single question in her mind. "Why did you kill them?"

"It's an army of evil spiders that lives next to your school. If they tried to attack, how long would it be before they overwhelmed the wards and got in, five, ten minutes?" Harry asked his teacher's inquiry before he flicked his wand to snuff out the flames he had created. "This keeps all the students safe and will prevent me from getting a headache in the future." As he just knew that a colony of this size would eventually attack the school once it ran out of local prey. There had been hundreds of these things, it couldn't possibly have been sustainable long term and had practically been a miracle that nothing bad had already happened.

With his work done Harry strolled past the silent woman who knew she would need to tell Hagrid about this, she just hoped he wouldn't completely break down on her when he heard the news.

"Ye killed them all!" Hagrid shouted as he saw the young boy enter the Great Hall for dinner, his voice booming over the other conversations. He had been inconsolable after hearing that Aragog and his children had all been slain and wanted answers. "Why'd ye haf to do it?"

"Because they were a threat, given the size of the colony and the age of the head spider, it would only be six, seven years tops before they ate the local ecosystem away and had no one restraining them from coming towards the next biggest food source, us," Harry waved his hand around the room of students who wondered why Harry and Hagrid were arguing.

"We could have done things peacefully Harry," Albus said, taking Hagrid's side as Minerva had informed the rest of the staff as to what had transpired in the forest after Harry left. "Found a new home for them, further from the school."

"Peace only works if both sides are agreeable. That the lead spider could speak was incredible on its own, but it was highly territorial and as food dwindled it would only get worse." Harry said firmly. "And I offered peace, it wanted to attack and eat me."

"And what spell exactly did you use to destroy the colony," Albus Dumbledore asked.

"Fiendfyre," Harry stated his answer loudly enough that the older students gasped in shock at the famous child's casual admittance of using dark magic.

"Who taught you-" Albus demanded to know, looking almost angry upon hearing the spell chosen to deal with the spider colony.

"I am self-taught," Harry answered. "Dark magic or light magic, it's all the same, a means to an end, a way to make sure at the end of the day I survive. I'm not going to bemoan that I've had to use what you call the unforgivables to not die. If I hadn't I wouldn't be here in the first place."

Albus looked horrified at Harry's statement about the magic he was using. "You have used the unforgivable curses?" He asked as he did not like this version of Harry at all. What was supposed to be a quiet and reserved boy who would have grown up without his fame to become a humble hero, and instead he got a child who seemed more like Mad-Eye than he would have liked.

"I don't like using them, but when a cyclops is trying to crush you into paste, the Cruciatus is very effective if you hit it in the eye, when vampires want to drain you of every drop of blood, using the Imperius to make them walk into sunlight is much safer than going into their lair." Harry said as he would rather be alive through dubious means, than be dead as a saint.

"What are you?" Albus asked cautiously to the child while palming his wand, wanting to be ready should conflict arise.

"I am what you need me to be," Harry shouted as he matched the headmaster's action. "You want to live in your happy little world, then someone has to go around and keep the monsters at bay. Someone has to find the inferi nest in the sewers of Paris before they burst forth and consume everyone they find. Someone has to go into a museum in Greece and hunt down a gorgon so that they don't turn an entire school field trip into the next exhibit!" Harry's voice rang in the quiet halls full of shocked students.

"I did this because you needed a hero to keep you safe, so don't you fucking get mad when the hero isn't as shiny and noble as you wanted them to be, you all are alive and so am I," Harry pointed his finger accusingly at the rest of the student body.

"So yes, I killed the acromantula colony, because there were hundreds of them and they were going to be a threat one day. Maybe they'd slowly pick off students one by one who got too close to the boundaries of the forest, the ones walking back late at night on the grounds alone, or maybe they'd attack en masse and cover the entire school in webs and devour you all at once, little sacks of children dissolving into drinkable goo for them." That particular visual had many of the students gagging.

"All I know is that I wasn't going to try and fight them one by one, because that's a load of hippogriff shit if you think they would do the same for me, so I did it quickly, efficiently and as painless to everyone as possible, mostly me, because I have learned time and time again to not be gentle. I have paid for it in flesh and blood and death, so I'm not going to slowly try to de-escalate, I am going to use overwhelming force and end the threat as swiftly as possible."

Turning on his heels Harry stormed out of the Great Hall while the others were left there to absorb Harry's rantings and weigh the merit of his words.


For the next few days Harry was seen around the castle but was not approached by many, his tirade in the middle of the Great Hall had been such that many were simply scared of him and didn't want to incur his wrath. Harry found it the most peaceful few days he'd had in the castle. But like all good things, it must come to an end, and it did so in potions.

"Potter," Snape hissed at the child once he looked at Harry's blank expression. "Our latest celebrity."

Harry rolled his one eye as he sat and waited for the professor to begin the lesson, but instead he found himself singled out for a pop quiz. "My pocket," Harry answered as he pulled out a bezoar. "I keep one there in case I get poisoned."

"Arrogant child," Snape growled in frustration because he did the same thing, any decent potioneer keeps a bezoar on them in case of emergencies. He just didn't like that James Potter's son seemed to be sensible about potions. Snape was letting his hatred cloud his mind enough to ignore that Lily was very talented at potions and he didn't want to believe that Harry could have any of his mother's positive traits.

"Whatever, can we get on with the lesson or do you have more pointless questions to ask me?"

The students, both Gryffindor and Slytherin, looked scared as they had no idea who would back down first. Professor Snape had a reputation around the students but Harry Potter was practically a legend. So they were afraid of what would happen if these two personalities clashed.

Snape's lip twitched as he turned and put the instructions on the board for the class as he couldn't do anything more to Harry than what he had done, Dumbledore wouldn't let him.

The teachers had been having numerous discussions throughout the previous days to discuss what to do with Harry, and nothing productive came from them, but they were still had regardless.

"I say we have him sit his O.W.L.s now, that way we can gauge where he is academically," Filius suggested.

"He's too young," Pomona disagreed with the charms professor's suggestion, seeing it as too advanced for a boy his age.

"He's clearly gifted or at least knowledgeable in some regards," Minerva considered as she was trying to look at Harry objectively.

Snape scoffed. "He's arrogant and just throws around a few spells and suddenly everyone is falling over themselves to give him special treatment."

"He is capable of Fiendfyre, and likely has been so for a while, then to top it off he's only eleven," Filius countered his colleague's dismissal of the famous student. "That is far beyond just a simple few spells. The power, control and understanding of magic needed to use that spell and not have it turn on you shows he's well trained. But I suspect it's only in higher level combat or security based spells meant to detect. His mundane repertoire may be lacking."

"He-he cl-clearly doesn't ne-need help-p in de-de-defense," Quirrel stuttered out his answer as his lord commanded him. Upon hearing Harry's rant in the Great Hall and admittance to using the dark arts, Voldemort had instructed Quirrel to observe and gather information while he decided on the next step because the child who stopped him a decade ago was unlike what he had been expecting.

"And we still cannot get a copy of his book series?" Poppy inquired of Dumbledore. "I would like to read them to see what injuries he possibly sustained so that I might have a treatment plan before dragging him into my office." Wanting to help the young child with his scars or do something for the pain they likely cause him at the very least.

"Unfortunately, they are sold out," Dumbledore shrugged. "I have tried to contact the seller but Mr. Lovegood says that the next seven batches have already been pre-ordered and it will likely be months before I can even get a single book." Admitting that he couldn't get his hands on the books as he, like the other adults, considered them to be children's fantasy for years. But with Harry's reappearance they were selling out as fast as they could be reprinted

"Maybe we could ask a student if they have them?" Minerva suggested since it was likely that one or more students collected the books.

"Who would read such mindless drivel." Snape said sourly.

"It's possible that some of the younger girls might be willing to part with them for a period of time," Filius said as he ignored Snape's comments.

Pomona nodded. "But they might not want to do that since he's here in the castle. He'll be a hero to them, except now he's the scarred, rugged bad boy that every mother warns their daughters about."

"We can always check and see if someone would be willing to assist us," Poppy smiled as the students who owned the books long before this came to light would be most likely to help them.

So the teachers were tasked with finding someone who would part with their copies of the books so the teachers could get some insight into Harry's life before Hogwarts because he had been adamant about not talking to anyone about it.

In the meantime the professors were instructed to be passive with Harry and see what he knew and to find out ways to still teach him along with the other first-years. That didn't mean much to Professor Snape who hated doing so and had snapped at Harry when he saw him begin brewing in an unconventional way. The other first-years had abandoned the classroom when Harry Potter and Professor Snape began to yell at each other, fearing that it would come to spellfire.

Which served to attract the attention of the other classes when a crowd of eleven year old children came screaming down the halls. It didn't take long for the other professors to come to the conclusion that Severus had picked a fight with Harry and that was the one thing they didn't want to have happen. But before they could get halfway towards the dungeons a massive explosion rocked the castle.

Forgoing all decorum the professors sprinted down the hallways to see Harry coughing as he dragged Snape out of a smoke filled room. "Maybe… don't put," he tried to say as he wheezed. "Potions… near the foundations," he said before he passed out onto the floor.

Harry groaned as he awoke in the hospital wing, taking in his surroundings he could see that the headmaster was seated on a chair opposite him. "Hello headmaster," Harry greeted as he sat up, allowing the sheets to fall off his torso.

Albus winced as he saw the damage to the boy's body, he had seen it when Poppy was doing a thorough examination of him when he was brought it and the staff had been shocked to see how much of his body was scarred. Further made worse as Poppy explained to him what all he had wrong underneath the skin.

"I would very much like it if you could tell me what happened at the Dursleys?" Albus quietly asked as he had taken time to reassess what he knew and concluded that it all had to stem from some incident after he had left Harry with his aunt and uncle.

"A griffin attacked when I was four, Vernon got eaten, I used accidental magic to fend it off, not before it clawed my face," Harry shrugged as he swung his legs over the bed. "Papers reported it as a freak bear attack, because those happen in the middle of suburban Britain, Aunt Petunia took me and Dudley out of Surrey, told me about my mom and magic since there just weren't any other options."

"We traveled around Europe, trying to find a place that was less crazy, but something would inevitably come up and what we later called The Potter Luck meant that I was there to get involved," Harry said over his shoulder as he tugged on his clothes that were set next to the bed. "Almost all of my stories Xenophilus would put in the books and they became best sellers for children."

"Almost?" Minerva asked.

"Some of the stories don't have a way to be made child friendly," Harry answered, his tone tired and hinted at his dark history. "Are we done here or do I need some tardy note for classes?"

Poppy sighed as she stepped out of the way for Harry to leave. "I would like you to come see me later today, I think I might have some potions that can help with some of your more debilitating injuries, it won't be perfect but..." the nurse said as even with magical healing methods, there was only so much that could be done.

Harry gave a weak smile for it was the first time someone offered, mostly because people before just assumed he was alright. "Sure, maybe it'll help with some of the aches and pains."

After Harry left the hospital wing the nurse bustled over and slapped Professor Snape awake. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed angrily at him as he laid in the bed confused at how he found himself. He moved to sit up when the nurse hit him again. "You start a fight with an eleven year old boy because of your grudge against his dead father, all for something that happened when you were children. That is inexcusable, it is horrid behavior and that it got to the point that your class evacuated in fear before the room blew up, I should leave you in this bed so that you can tend to yourself," Poppy said before shoving a potion vial in his hands, stomping away before she tore into the petty man even further.

"Severus, I'm disappointed in you." Albus said to his professor with his grandfatherly tone of voice.

"He's an arrogant-" Snape started to say before Dumbledore interrupted him.

"He is a child, practically a war hero and after his discovery of Pettigrew last week the ministry is trying to piece together what he knows that they don't," Albus said as he cut off his Potions Master. "I have even been told by the ICW that other countries are trying to find out what Mr. Potter has been doing in their borders. There are talks about medals and awards as they find more and more information that coincides with their findings of mysterious events."

"So if word gets out that a former Death Eater traded spells with him, in what amounts to a potions lab," Albus growled out because that had been potentially disastrous to the entire school regardless of any other details. "Then pressure might be put upon the minister to be seen doing something and we both know that will not end in your favor."

Snape paled as he realized that despite his completely justified hatred of the boy, he was the precious Boy-Who-Lived, the public would be unfairly against him.

Harry settled himself in the line with the other students for flying lessons, he'd come in late but not by too much. "Sorry, just got out of the hospital wing," Harry said as he bowed respectfully to his teacher.

Rolanda Hooch slowly nodded. "It's okay Mr. Potter, not everyday a classroom explodes," as everyone in the school had been aware what happened because the rumor mill was fast and seeing both Severus Snape and Harry Potter being levitated to the hospital wing told her mostly what had happened.

And for the most part the lesson had started off well, only a few people had difficulty with getting the brooms to come to their hands, but that had more to do with lack of belief and conviction in their voice. "Now then, firmly grasp the broom and when I blow the whistle you'll kick off the ground," Madam Hooch said as she pulled the whistle up to her lips. Before she could blow, a boy started to rise into the air.

"Mr. Longbottom, come down here at once," Madam Hooch demanded as the student rose ever higher.

Harry shook his head and drew his wand. "He's going to fall," Harry dryly commented as he waited for the inevitable. "Arresto Momentum," Harry incanted as soon as he saw Neville slip off his broom. What would have been a fall far enough to break his wrist was changed into a gentle lowering to the ground.

"Thanks Harry," Neville nervously said while he held onto the ground tightly, as if he would float back up into the sky.

"Mr. Potter, I had things well in hand," Madam Hooch scolded. She was annoyed that a student decided to act in her stead.

Harry rolled his eye. "Yes, I'm sure you did, which is why you were standing on the ground without your wand in your hand, just waiting for him to fall."

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Madam Hooch said, docking the house for Harry's apparent rudeness.

Harry only gave a simple shrug before he went back over to the brooms with the other students for his flying lesson.

The other first years were shocked at how Harry Potter was given a point deduction for his actions to protect another student, just because he wasn't polite about it. After the incident with Professor Snape earlier, it was setting in their minds that there was a distinct divide between The-Boy-Who-Lived and the professors of Hogwarts.


The divide was practically visible when Harry Potter didn't arrive at the next potions lessons, held in one of the remodeled greenhouses. After the previous lesson, the staff decided it was no longer safe to have potions that far underneath the castle and the old lab used before Snape appropriated one in the dungeons didn't have adequate lighting or ventilation, so for the time being the lessons would be held outdoors. Snape practically ripped his parchment in half when he found that Mr. Potter was not only late, but not even showing up at all.

Harry was found sitting in the restricted section of the library just before dinner. "Mr. Potter," Minerva sighed as she had been informed of his whereabouts by other students who had seen him so she was obliged to go and collect him. "Why did you not go to potions today?"

"Oh, I figured that after we threw spells at each other and blew up a classroom that it would be for the best if I took potions as a self-study course," Harry answered the question without even looking up from a book on dark curses.

"That is not a decision for you to make," Minerva shook her head. "In addition the restricted section is off limits to students unless you have a pass and only for specific books," pointing to the pile of books Harry had gone through.

"Wasn't too hard to get into," Harry commented dryly because he found that it wasn't a rule he intended to follow.

"Professor Flitwick did the charms himself and I dare say I don't believe you have the capability to undo them," Minerva commented as while Harry was well learned in many areas, countering Filius' own work should have been a task that required too much knowledge he wouldn't have.

"Well yeah," Harry chuckled in acknowledgment of the insurmountable spells he encountered. "I couldn't figure out how to get those spells down around the lock, so I just took the door off the frame," Harry explained as he pointed to the door resting against the wood off to the side.

Minerva finally noticed that she hadn't even had to open the door to enter the restricted section to come talk to him. That detail hadn't even crossed her mind until it had been pointed out to her. "But… you?"

"I know, it seems silly," Harry smirked because he did find enjoyment in these types of situations. "But I learned that with many of the magicals, they think linearly. You put a magical lock on a door and you expect that to keep people out and ignore that there's nothing protecting the door against being removed all together."

"I'll need to discuss this with Filius," Minerva said to herself as she realized that yes, that was a security flaw that she never considered.

"But anyway," Harry sat up and waved his wand, the books flying back to their proper place on the shelves. "It's time for supper and I am dreadfully hungry."

It took Minerva a moment to remember that she came to the library to chastise Mr. Potter for his skiving off Potions and had been sucked into a completely separate conversation. Mr. Potter, we still need to discuss your attendance in potions," she called out after the child, hurrying to catch up to him in the halls.

"I'll do the work, I just won't go to class with the man who pointed Voldemort in the direction of my family all because he carried a torch for my mother since they were neighbors," Harry said loud enough to be heard when he entered the Great Hall followed by Professor McGonagall. However what he said meant that any conversations students were having ceased immediately to listen in on what the famous child had to say.

"Mr. Potter, Severus did not-" Minerva tried to deny Harry before he turned on her suddenly, anger apparent on his face.

"That MAN!" Harry shouted and pointed up to the head table where all the teachers were seated. "Was a Death Eater. He got off because Dumbledore needed a spy. I don't object to that, I understand that wars are fought with information and having a man in the opposing ranks is necessary. What I have a problem with is being made to learn from the man who got my parents murdered. What I have a problem with is that in the first five minutes of class he insulted the only man who might have loved me like a son, because of an incident that happened when they were students at Hogwarts."

"I have a problem with the man that gave Voldemort the prophecy that led him to killing my parents," Harry shouted at the witch who looked as if she wished she could disappear. She was that embarrassed. "So no, I'm not going to potions if it is taught by Severus Snape, he may be one of the best potion masters in the country, I do not deny his skill in his craft. But to make me learn from him would be like forcing Neville Longbottom to be taught Defense Against the Dark Arts by Barty Crouch Jr. and then you being offended that he doesn't feel like attending those classes."

"So no Madam McGonagall, I will not go to potions. I will do whatever work he assigns outside his classes because that is required of me as a student, but never, NEVER expect me to see him as anything more than the man who played a part in orphaning me," Harry said as he stormed over to the table and sat down. Despite every part of him wanting to make a show of walking out of the great hall and blowing something up to vent his frustrations, he was incredibly hungry and knew he had to eat.

Albus had at one point stood up during Harry's rant to try and get him to calm down, but with his comments being so accurate, he knew it wouldn't do anyone any good. The child knew about the prophecy somehow. That his aunt had told him about Severus being their neighbors and his history with Lily, was not surprising for him to know if Petunia was forthcoming with her understanding of magic.

With a heavy sigh, the headmaster seated himself and turned to Severus who looked white as a sheet as most everyone in the castle was glaring at him with a gaze that wished him to die on the spot, even some of the other teachers were not subtle in their looks. "Severus, I believe that your tenure at Hogwarts may be coming to an end."

Snape nodded slowly as he realized that Harry Potter had destroyed him, any trust he'd had from the students in Slytherin was irrevocably ruined as they would never put their faith in him now that it had been outed that he was a spy for Dumbledore. And he was already aware that he was not well regarded in other houses, but now there would be a level of contempt towards him that would rival the worst criminals in history for the part he played in the demise of the Potters.

It would be a few weeks for Albus to coax Horace Slughorn out of retirement, and in that time Potions was a lesson that was only ever half full at the best of times. Almost no Gryffindor students would be found in the lessons, a few Ravenclaws would rotate to ensure they had the proper notes to distribute to the rest of the house and even students in other houses. Hufflepuff and Slytherin tended to be the most numerous but that was likely more to keep an eye on each other or the professor during the lessons that they attended.

But Severus knew he was through teaching at Hogwarts, he had his bags pre-packed and he was no longer invited to the meetings the other teachers held. Albus had been all but forced to confirm that what Harry Potter had said was the truth to the rest of the staff. The other professors were disgusted that Severus was given any sort of position of authority over Harry and that they hadn't been informed of the connection between the two of them before this to prevent this exact situation from happening earlier.

Harry on the other hand was still the same enigma that seemed to always be present in the castle but never one that was easy to find.


"Mr. Potter," Filius called out as his students were packing up after his lesson finished. "I was wondering if you would wait a moment after class?" The charms professor knew he'd have to catch Harry before he wandered off again.

"Certainly professor," Harry nodded as he waited for the other students to filter out. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing at all, I just wanted to discuss with you your method of circumventing my security charms on the restricted section," Filius shook his head with a smile, wanting to dispel the notion that Harry was in any sort of trouble.

"Oh that." Harry remembered what he had done a few weeks ago.

"If you don't mind," Filius said as he transfigured a few books into a door and frame that looked similar enough to the one in the library. "I'm going to put the same charm on this door as I had on the other one, if you could show me any other methods you would use to beat it, I'd greatly appreciate it."

Harry shrugged as he drew his wand. "Well the first time I did it was easy," waving his wand and causing the bolts to come out of the hinge.

"Hmm yes, Minerva informed me of that method," Filius commented as he realized he never considered the idea of just taking the door off completely.

"I won't go about removing the hinges themselves, as I feel that's pretty much the same thing," Harry said as he put the bolts back into place.

Filius nodded. "I can see how those two similar but different methods would work to circumvent the charm, anything else that comes to mind?" As already the charms master was concocting ways to make his spellwork more secure in the future.

"Well, the tried and true muggle method tends to work," Harry said as he raised his fist and punched through the glass to grab the handle on the other side. "You stop people from opening it on one side but not the other," Harry explained as he easily opened the door from the "inside" part. "Done that a few times to get around magic locks."

"Ah," Filius popped his lips as he'd never considered the standard burglar entry with a castle full of students. "Yes, a bit shortsighted of me."

"I'm sure if I asked a house elf nicely enough they also might take me to the otherside," Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"They might not," Filius countered. "But they also might if they didn't think it was against the rules." Realizing that the elves probably hadn't been told not to take people into restricted sections of the castle, as no one ever used a house-elf for the act of apparating. "That's something I'll discuss with Albus, it would beef up the security in the castle as a whole, and thankfully none of the older students realized that."

"Why would that be an issue for the older students?" Harry asked curiously.

Filius chuckled. "Why then they could get up to the female dorms without triggering the alarms." He got a wistful smirk on his face as he thought back to his time as a student and how much trouble he could have gotten up to if he knew that trick back then.

Harry tilted his head in confusion. "Why would they want to do that?"

Filius coughed into his fist. "Uh when you're older Harry," he said, not wanting to discuss the birds and the bees with the young man. That was going to be someone else's problem.

"Okay, I guess if I couldn't get in through the door, I'd just try and go through the wall, since I doubt they're charmed the same way, even if I had to vanish or transfigure it to get through," Harry said as he went back to the topic he'd been kept after for.

"So we need the security charms on the entire wall then?" Filius questioned.

"No, of course not," Harry shook his head.

Filius breathed a sigh of relief since that would be a lot of work to do to get the charms done on the entire wall that he couldn't imagine-

"You'd have to do all the walls, the floor and ceiling. Someone could just come from outside the library, use a window or even a room above or below to get in," Harry explained as he realized that his professor didn't get what he was saying.

Filius squeaked as he understood that Mr. Potter was right in his assessment, but that would take ages to do properly.

"Of course none of that matters if there's nothing that tells you if someone is inside," Harry shrugged. "Or if the door doesn't shut. Here," Harry said as he pulled out a stick of gum then chewed it before sticking it in the doorframe. "See, it looks like it's shut but it's not secure, a quick tug opens it." Demonstrating how simple it was to beat a charm to prevent a door from opening if it never fully closed in the first place.

"Thank you Mr. Potter," Filius sighed as he realized there were tons of flaws in the charm he'd used that either no one ever thought of or were more careful to not get caught and he'd never known until it was brought to his attention by a student who did not care about getting in trouble.

"Not a problem professor," Harry smiled as he stretched. "Will that be all, I have another lesson to get to?"

"For now Mr. Potter," Filius smiled as he knew that in the future he'd come to Harry for a question on if his work was beatable in ways he never thought of. "I'll send a patronus along to Pomona letting her know I kept you behind."


Harry found that this particular Halloween was going surprisingly smooth, compared to his previous ones over the years. He'd even gotten a letter from his Aunt Petunia saying that she and Dudders were in a bunker just in case something happened. It made him smile to know that his remaining family was being smart about the day as every prior Halloween something or someone had attacked them.

Sitting down for dinner that night, surrounded by students enjoying the day for once, Harry was about to let his guard down when Professor Quirrel burst in screaming about a troll. "Hold it," Harry shouted with his own sonorous empowered voice to counter the Headmaster's declaration. "Students do not return to the dorms. Madam Pomfrey, are there any students currently in the hospital wing?" He asked the nurse who was sitting up at the head table.

"No Mr. Potter," Poppy answered, wondering what point Harry was making.

"Is there any student who is currently not here at the feast?" Harry asked the next question, as he looked around the room.

"Um Hermione Granger isn't here, she's been in the bathroom on the second floor crying all day," Parvati Patil said to Harry after she raised her hand as she knew that Hermione wasn't here at the feast.

"Anyone else?" Harry asked as he looked around the room and only got shaken heads from the other students. "Okay good, so we have only one student unaware of the troll, while everyone else is already here. The logical thing to do is to keep the students in the Great Hall with the door shut and secured while some of the professors go to deal with the troll." Harry instructed as he stepped over the table and started walking towards the door. "Oh and have someone tell the house elves to stay away from the dungeons for the time being," he added on at the last minute as he didn't consider that the elves could come across the troll.

"And where are you going Mr. Potter?" Minerva questioned as she and some of her colleagues came around to go and search for the troll.

"I will go get the missing student and bring her back here," Harry said as he turned the corner out of sight.

"Well you heard him, we'll get the troll, he'll return Ms. Granger to the Great Hall," Filius said in quick agreement with Harry's plan. He felt that Mr. Potter's reasoning was sound and there wouldn't be any point in arguing against him.

Quirrel cringed on the floor when he heard the doors to the Great Hall shut and secure themselves, he had hoped to use that as a distraction so he could steal the stone. But now he was locked in with all the students and a few of the teachers and there wasn't anything he could do but wait.

Harry strode purposefully towards the second floor with his wand at the ready. "I probably should have just told the professors that the troll would be where Hermione is knowing my luck," grumbling as he walked his way towards the offending stench the troll exuded. He could hear it stomping around and Hermione's screams which told him everything he needed about the situation.

"Bombarda Maxima," Harry shouted immediately after he stepped in the bathroom and struck the troll in the back, sending it tumbling across the room. "Ms. Granger, if you would please head towards the Great Hall, I will deal with the troll," Harry motioned for the girl to vacate the bathroom to the Great Hall, which she did now that she had an opening. He twisted his wand around with a sleeping spell on his lips when he was suddenly struck by the club the troll flung towards him. "Dammit," Harry wheezed out after he finished rolling into the hall. "Shouldn't have taken my eye off the troll, rookie mistake." Coming to stand with a grunt and saw the troll barreling towards him.

With a slash of his wand, Harry sent out a jet of flame which impacted the troll in the chest, sending it off course and crashing to the floor next to him. "Reducto," firing the spell pointblank in the creature's face, turning its skull into a fine red mist as Harry put the creature down. "Fuck," Harry hissed in pain now that the adrenaline had worn off and he felt that some of his ribs were cracked. "And Madam Pomfrey is back at the Great Hall, awesome," the young wizard grumbled knowing that he would have to slowly make his way back to the other students.

Stepping into the room he could see the students staring at him in disbelief, he was covered in a thin layer of blood and clutching his injured side. "The troll's dead," Harry commented to the crowd while he sat himself down on the bench. "Damn that smarts though." He hissed from the pain caused by moving that way. He didn't have to wait long for the nurse to come by and start healing his bones. "Oh that's so much better," Harry all but moaned when the numbing sensation swept through his body.

It didn't take much longer for the other professors to return when Harry got back to his feet. "I take it you didn't find the troll?" Harry asked even if he already knew the answer.

"No, it was not in the dungeon," Albus replied. He and his professors had been unable to find the large intruder.

"Yup, cus it was on the other side of the school," Harry drew his wand then pointed it at the defense professor lying on the floor. "Now we do the interrogation."

With a flick of his wrist ropes shot out of the tip of his wand and wrapped around Professor Quirrell tightly. "Okay, you're going to tell us why you lied about where the troll was," Harry said as he reached down to grab the man who then began to scream in pain, steam rising off his body where Harry had touched him. "That's new?" Harry said as he stepped back from the writhing body quickly.

"Potter, you vile child," Quirrell shouted furiously, dropping his fake stutter. His body had begun to disintegrate in front of the entire student body.

Harry looked to the professors hoping they would chime in with their thoughts on what was transpiring. "Nothing, anyone?"

As everyone in the Great Hall stood back and watched as Professor Quirrell turned into dust, they felt sickened having witnessed a man die but that sickening feeling they were getting turned into shock when out of the ashes that had been their teacher rose a black smokey wisp. "I'll get you for this Harry Potter," the shade of Voldemort swore as it flew through the crowd of students and out of the doors of the castle, disappearing into the night sky.

Harry scratched his head in confusion. "Who the hell was that?" Harry questioned because he certainly didn't know why this ghost had a vendetta against him, beyond him destroying the body he was possessing. Not that many things needed a reason to curse his name, but he did prefer to know why they did so.

"I believe that we should have this discussion elsewhere," Albus said as he recognized the face of Voldemort in the black smoke.

Harry shrugged. "Fair enough, we'll need the aurors here anyway to report that your employee had been possessed and is now dead. Tonight's going to be another long night," Harry grumbled at what was likely going to be hours of discussions. Reaching over for some food, he took a few bites of a pumpkin pasty that was next to him on the table.


"Why are neither of you surprised that Voldemort is still alive?!" Amelia Bones shouted as she, the head unspeakable and the minister were all convened in Albus' office after gathering up enough people to take charge of Hogwarts once she had been summoned. She and the others had just been informed of the events that had taken place in the castle tonight and gotten both Albus and Harry's thoughts on the event. "And why was I not informed?" the furious witch demanded to know.

"I had my suspicions but no proof, I did not want to spook anyone with talk about him still being around," Albus replied first, expertly deflecting away any criticism of himself. "Which is part of the reason why I had an elaborate trap set up was in case he was still around, if nothing happened then I would accept he was gone for good, but if not then I'd know more."

The witch then turned to look at Harry Potter, someone who was constantly finding himself in the center of most of her paperwork now.

Harry however just tossed his hands up in exasperation. "I figured you knew, after all I apparently survived that night, so what's so crazy about him surviving it too."

"There wasn't a body Mr. Potter," the unspeakable spoke up with a retort to Harry's comment.

Harry shook his head as it was frustrating to continue dealing with such straightforward wizard thinking. "No body, no kill. Do you even horror movie cliche?"

"What do we do though?" Minister Fudge said with terror in his tone, after hearing what happened he was still pacing around the room in a panic. "He's still alive!"

"Yeah but so are we," Harry interjected over the man's hysteria. "Plus we know he's alive so just, don't let him get a body and we should be good yeah?" the eleven year old looked around the room for support.

"It may not be that simple," the unspeakable disagreed. "We aren't sure how he has managed to survive as he is not a ghost, otherwise he wouldn't look like what he did. Something else is in play that we'll need to study to determine how we can banish him from this world once and for all."

"That can take quite a lot of time since we're only starting from him not being dead," Albus nodded thoughtfully, he agreed with the unspeakable about the difficulty of the task.

"Well we can't just do nothing," Cornelius wrung his hat in his hands. "We have to be seen doing something, don't we?"

"Then give me resources so I can hire more aurors," Amelia said to the minister. "If he's back, then war may be on the horizon, and I for one am not going to wait for him to build up his forces so he can topple the ministry."

"We can make pleas for international aid," Albus suggested as well. "If he was able to survive, then it's only a matter of time before some other upstart dark lord attempts something similar."

"Maybe drag in some of his death eaters, they must know something after all," Harry chimed in with his own thoughts. "You have truth potion, use it."

Cornelius shook his head. "It's not that simple Mr. Potter, those are old families, we cannot just potion them without just cause."

Harry tossed his hands up in frustration. "I'm pretty sure Voldemort still being alive is just cause enough. You're a resourceful bunch, you'll figure out some way to get people to talk. I'm pretty sure you could stretch being a Death Eater into treason if you have to. Or do what the Americans do, just drag them off the street and beat them until they tell you what you need to hear."

"We are not abducting our citizens and torturing them for information." the unspeakable said in a huff.

To which Harry nodded and tapped his nose. "Good good, plausible deniability. Anyway," Harry clapped his hands. "I'm going to bed, it's been a long day." He said as he strode out of the room without waiting to be dismissed.

"I'm really starting to not like that kid," Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Please, I have to replace two teachers this year because of him, and I've just barely gotten Slughorn to accept the job back. I don't know who I'm going to be able to find to fill in for Defense on such short notice." Albus grumbled because he actually had to have Harry in the castle and not have the luxury to just show up whenever Harry did something.

"Just give the job to Mr. Potter, if we're lucky the curse will get him out of our hair for a while," the Minister suggested, as Harry was unearthing a lot of problems that he did not want to deal with.

"There is not a curse on one of the teaching positions in Hogwarts," Albus said as that was a rumor he hated circulating.

The unspeakable tapped his nose mimicking Harry from earlier. "Right, right. No curse at all."

Amelia growled in frustration. "You are not to start picking up the bad habits of an eleven year old. You are a grown man Saul," her annoyance at her colleagues was reaching new heights.

"Well one thing I am going to pick up from Mr. Potter is going to bed, it's already after midnight and there is no use trying to come up with a plan when we know so little," Albus said as he motioned towards the door. "We will be much better suited to do so when we can approach the problem with rested minds and bodies."

As the group of three started to make their way out of the castle, Fudge turned to Amelia. "By any chance where are we on the Sirius Black issue?"

"The trial is scheduled for next week, it's been hell with the paperwork because the last minister didn't even give the man a trial," Amelia sighed. "Plus he's Harry Potter's godfather, can you imagine the nightmare that's going to come out because of this?"

"Oh it won't be good that's for sure," Saul chuckled. "I'm just glad I don't have either of your jobs, otherwise I'd have to be in the same room as him when he's told that the man who was supposed to take care of him was illegally sent to prison."

"I hate you," Amelia groaned as she realized that the famous child would likely let out quite a tantrum when he learns this.

"Why am I not allowed to fire you again?" Fudge asked as he'd wondered that a few times over the years.

"Because the last minister gave me tenure," Saul chuckled as he'd gotten that concession just before the man left office, and he used it whenever he could.


Harry awoke the next morning early to head to the owlry to send a letter to Aunt Petunia as he'd promised to find out if she and Dudley had made it through the night while also informing him of what transpired in the castle.

But after that he headed back to the great hall for some breakfast. To his surprise the entire Hogwarts staff was present. "Good morning," Harry said as he let out a yawn.

"Mr. Potter," Minerva coughed into her hand. "We have a unique opportunity for you," as they would need a defense professor to bridge the gap that Quirrell's death left at least until they could find someone else to finish out the year.

"Aurora, Bathsheda and Septima yes, the rest of you no," Harry said as he had his limits.

"Yes for what?" Pomona questioned as she had no idea what Harry was agreeing to.

"I'm fine with those three professors propositioning me," Harry clarified before the teachers reacted to what Harry had assumed were their intentions.

"We-" Albus sputtered. "That was not the- my word." He didn't even want to know when Harry became aware of the concept of prostitution.

"What was I supposed to think huh?" Harry looked at the teachers like they were idiots. "You come up to a person and say you have a special offer for them, it typically only means one of two things, sex or murder." Harry stated. "And since I don't think you're all the type to put out a hit on somebody…" Harry trailed off as he let them finish the train of thought for him.

"We were not trying to, to do… that Mr. Potter," Minerva said as she looked furious and exasperated with the young man. "What we need is a defense professor and in the interim we would like it if you would take to teaching the classes as you are quite skilled."

"I am, but why would I want to do that? I have my own things to work on." Harry shrugged at the offer.

"It wouldn't be for too long, just a few weeks at most," Albus said as he thought that the amount of school work he already had was the reason he was objecting.

Harry shook his head as he could tell the professors didn't get his complaint. It wasn't that he was worried about being overworked, but rather this infringing on his own time that he used to put out fires around the school before they became a problem.

"In what way would I be required to run my class, because if it's just to have them practice out of a textbook, then they should all just be given a free period instead, or have a few of the older students teach the younger ones. I'm pretty sure most of the seventh years are on self-study already." Harry said as if he agreed he most certainly didn't want to just waste it by reciting boring words out of a book at kids who wouldn't listen to him anyway.

"You would have some-," Minerva looked at Albus to see if this was the right thing to offer, when he nodded she continued. "Freedom to tailor your lessons as you need, but they must be approved by the heads of houses, to ensure that there are not any gaps in the education, especially for the OWL and NEWT students."

Harry groaned and looked up at the ceiling as he thought of the admittedly generous offer. "Fine, but only until the end of the month or whenever you can get someone else into the castle to take over," Harry agreed finally.

"Welcome to Defense and Offense," Harry said as he looked over his first class, which also happened to be the first year students. All the students had been informed of the temporary change and even the most vocal against the idea were still curious as to what Harry would do as a teacher. "Now you might be wondering why I'm not calling it Defense Against the Dark Arts. That answer is simple, not everything or everyone you need to protect yourself from is dark and the best defense is a good offense. Questions?"

Every hand in the class was raised and Harry looked over the faces of the other students. "Good, let's begin with today's lesson," He said as he ignored the confusion of not even calling on a student to hear their questions or concerns. "I'm going to start throwing spells at you, you will defend yourselves, starting now." He said as he started flinging spells around the room wildly as the students screamed and panicked. It didn't take long before everyone was in some form of submission, either being petrified, stunned, trussed up or stuck in some comedic fashion. "Well I can tell that every single one of you would be dead had any of you been attacked. Now who wants to try and be the first person to tell me what you all did wrong?" Looking around before seeing a redheaded boy attempting to get his attention.

"We didn't fight back?" Ron asked as he thought that was what Harry wanted them to say.

"Wrong," Harry shouted as he hit Ron with a spell that would leave the words Walking Corpse on his forehead for the rest of the day. "You the blonde one," Harry pointed towards Draco.

"We didn't uh… try to use a shield charm?" Draco guessed as if fighting back wasn't the right answer, then defending should be.

"No!" Harry again shouted as he put the words, Tired Then Dead on his face. "I am far more skilled than all of you combined, even if a single one of you knew a shield charm, it wouldn't last long before you exhausted yourself and it failed or I used something the charm couldn't stop."

"The first thing you have to do in a dangerous situation is get out of the dangerous situation, a mad man comes into the room and starts flinging spells so you get out of the room. You are students and children, you don't know how to fight and you shouldn't anyway, you need to flee when in danger," Harry said as he looked over the first year students.

"But you don't Professor Harry," Hermione commented as Harry had gone towards the danger when he saved her.

"And I'm an idiot who keeps getting himself into fights that he can't just walk away from," Harry said. "That's how I got all these," pulling up his shirt to show the litany of scars all over his body. "No five year old should be trying to fight off a minotaur, no sane five year old at least." Harry paced in front of the class as it seemed they were starting to get it. "It's more important to get away from something or someone dangerous than it is to try and fight them off."

"For many reasons and one of the main ones is if you all died, who would get help or warn others about what danger was present?" Harry said as many times people died because they didn't know there was a threat to them nearby.

"If that doesn't work, then you fight back," Harry continued. "A shield charm however Mister Malfoy is almost always a waste of time and energy. If I am defending, I am not attacking and that means I do not control the flow of battle."

"But you need to block spells thrown at you?" Neville questioned that mentality.

"No, you really don't, if your opponent throws a stunner at you, you don't need to waste your energy to block it, you can just move out of the way," Harry said. "That has the added benefit of repositioning yourself and making you a harder target for their next spell. But once you hunker down under a shield, then whoever or whatever you are fighting no longer has to put in as much effort. I assume because you suggested a shield, that you can produce one Mr. Malfoy?" Harry asked as he let Draco loose.

"Of course," Draco straightened out his robes. He had an arrogant smirk on his face about his magical capabilities that his father had drilled into him over the years to get a leg up in his lessons.

"Good, put up a shield and I will demonstrate to the class why it's a bad idea to use one." Harry nodded as Draco nervously brought up the shimmering barrier before he was immediately smacked in the back of the head by a book. "Sorry, I said put up a shield, not something that only protected one side of you," Harry shook his head as Draco rolled around on the floor clutching his head.

"But a shield spell only…" Daphne Greengrass started to comment before she realized what the point of that demonstration was.

"Exactly Ms. Greengrass," Harry nodded. "Draco stood still so I was able to freely hit him in the back because he was so focused on the front. Had he been moving, then rather than just throwing a book at a stationary target, I would have had to expend more energy to direct the book to make sure it struck, which in an even match would tire me out ever so slightly more. And those slight fluctuations are what determine the victor of a battle, not flashy spells."

After sharing some more wisdom with the first years he gave them their first assignment. "You all need to learn how to dodge, so when you have some free time, play spell tag with each other. There's a decent enough painting spell that you can start with that will allow you to safely see how easy it is to get hit and get better at avoiding getting hit by a spell," Harry said as the students left the classroom and Harry waited for the next class to enter, where he'd subject them to the same lesson he gave the first years.

"Mr. Potter," Albus coughed into his hand as the teachers were seated for the end of the week report on the students. "I have some questions about your chosen method?"

"I know the caretaker is throwing a fit over all the paint in the castle, but really the students are improving, the house elves are enjoying the extra work and for once the spells being thrown in the hall between houses are harmless," Harry answered as he saw that there was a marked improvement in the students behavior even if they would at times get out of hand with how much they threw the paint spell around. Nearly every meal time devolved into a shoot out at this point, but Harry saw that they were naturally learning to dodge, block and create tactics of their own.

"Why I saw the other day a roaming group made up of all four houses, they used the confusion to take shots at everyone in a hallway," Filius commented as he thought it was a brilliant plan since no one was sure how to view that team.

"While I do have concerns about the amount of painting done in the castle, it is some of the other spells that you have students working on that I have an issue with." Albus said as he didn't so much mind the students running around and using each other as target practice as much as he probably should, but that was mostly because no one took a shot at him.

"Look it's simple, the best way to defend yourself against something first off is to know what it is in the first place." Harry said, defending his particular choice of educating the students by teaching them the dark arts alongside the counters for it.

"Those were the unforgivables," Minerva shouted as the young interim professor.

"And those are the spells I want each and every student in this castle to be able to recognize in an instant. Part of why I'm teaching them to get out of the way is so they don't do something boneheaded like try and block a killing curse when they need to be getting the hell away from whoever is throwing them."

"But do they have to cast the spells as well?" Pomona questioned as she had a few students of her own that were sobbing from being made to use them on spiders that Harry kept in jars.

"Yes, because now they know what that power feels like and I have not had a single student, even the children of death eaters who didn't react negatively to being made to cast the killing curse on an insect. They are revolted by doing it, because the spell has a backlash that you feel when you use it to take a life, they hated it," Harry said. "I can't see a single one of those kids going out and wanting to use that on another person because of how much anger and hatred I forced them to feel to even be able to use it on an insect."

"Furthermore, I'm going to be putting each and every student under the imperius," Harry said even as the teachers all shouted at him in reaction to his statement.

"They need to know how to fight it off," Harry shouted over the outraged professors as he had a reason for what he was doing. "How many death eaters claimed to have been under Voldemort's control, sure those were all lies, but the man used the unforgivables like he was giving out candy on Halloween and the better equipped they are to resist it the safer they will all be if we fail to stop him from coming back, so that no child gets used as a weapon in a war."

"I'm not subjecting kids to the torture curse and I'm not killing them, but each and every student is going to feel what it's like to be under that spell, so they know when they have to fight back and everyone else is going to see what someone being controlled looks like so they know that they need to get help."

"I don't like that Mr. Potter, I do not like it at all and I can't imagine the Ministry will like so many kids being subjected to that unforgivable spell," Albus shook his head.

"Then the ministry can shove it, I'm going to make sure these kids are able to protect themselves before this war starts and that means putting them through their paces, but by the time I'm done teaching them, they will be at least able to know when something is wrong and get help rather than let a problem spiral out of control."

Harry left the meeting room without listening to any counter arguments from the other professors.

The next day each and every student was put under the imperious, every single student hated being controlled like that. All they were made to do was walk around or do jumping jacks while everyone watched at how unnatural their movements were, the way the eyes looked different and how dulled the reactions of the person were. By the end of the day Harry Potter was easily the most hated professor in the entire castle, but every student was eventually able to fight off his imperius and were able to recognize if someone was under the effects. They all were told various ways to end the control, and the first person to discover that attacking Harry broke the control was awarded one hundred and fifty points by Harry for having the courage to attack a teacher when they couldn't take watching any longer.

Harry was then subject to a large horde of furious parents who were backed by the aurors demanding Harry be imprisoned for what he did. "You ungrateful fucking idiots," Harry shouted over the cacophony of sound. "I did you all a favor, every student in this castle can now recognize the three worst spells in our world, they know what they look, sound and even taste like. Each student is capable of resisting the imperius enough to fight it off and every child here is able to tell when someone is being controlled."

"In the future when some new mad dark lord begins trying to take over the world again, and attempts to use your children as his pawns, he will fail. There won't be a headline of a child coming home and stabbing their parents to death before slitting their own throat. No more husbands tying up their wife and children in the basement as they set the house on fire. No more mothers poisoning their children all because they couldn't resist a single spell," Harry shouted as those had been quite common throughout the war with Voldemort. The Dark Lord used those spells not only to hurt and destroy families but to demoralize the populace into fearing him and make them not want to stand up to him if that was the fate awaiting them.

"Your children are being taught to protect themselves because there are really bad, mean, evil and nasty people out there that will see a defenseless person as a victim. Your children will not be victims, not if I can help it. So boo and hiss all you fucking want but your children will leave Hogwarts this year knowing just a little bit more about how to stay alive if someone wanted to hurt them."

Harry swept his single eye over the parents he had shouted into submission. "Each and every student has improved by leaps and bounds in the last few weeks and I dare say if someone came in this room to try and kill them, they'd all survive, because they would know what to do."

When Harry didn't back down the parents weren't sure what to do, normally yelling and screaming got them their way but they didn't know how to handle someone ignoring their complaints and then telling them to shut up and go away.

Finally they started to leave as Albus Dumbledore just sat in his chair not saying anything for or against Harry Potter, the Minister was awkwardly wringing his hat in his hands and the aurors were looking for direction from Amelia Bones who just shook her head. There wasn't anything they could say or do because Harry's method had worked, the students were showing incredible improvement in the lessons he gave and with the threat of Voldemort slowly brewing they unfortunately couldn't arrest Harry Potter as he might be the only one who could stop him and making sure the magical children were better equipped to survive might be what keeps them alive.

But the position required a permanent replacement. And the student body was relieved when just a week before November ended a new person was finally sitting at the head table. "May I introduce Eleanor Crumpet to take on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts for the remainder of the year," Albus said as his announcement got a vigorous round of applause from the students who would enjoy having a much less intense learning experience.

Until December started and nearly all the students were requesting to have Harry continue teaching them as going back to learning from a book was slow and the spells they were taught about they didn't actually practice nor breakdown it's uses, counters, what it was good for, bad for and everything else Harry had done with them.

Essentially since the students were being properly challenged when Harry taught them even if he spent most of his lessons kicking everyone's asses they got much better much quicker. But the professors said that Harry was only a temporary solution until they could get a qualified teacher for the class. And there wasn't anything they could do nor would the professors want to change back to having Harry teach.


The holidays came around and the professors had finally gotten their hands on a complete set of the Harry Potter novels, it would seem that Ms. Tonks was reading through them all again now that she was able to realize how much was cut out of the real story. She still wanted them back and if they could convince Harry to autograph them all for her, she'd be really happy.

"Okay, you each have a book, now let's try to figure out what the hell we're missing," Minerva said as she pulled out parchment and began to read through the book, stopping to write down notes when she realized something didn't make sense and would need to be investigated to determine what really happened in the story.

"I'm amazed that he survived a battle with a wendigo in the Canadian wilderness," Pomona said after finally closing the book she had been assigned. The copy of Harry Potter and the Wendigo, the Witch and the Wild had been far more engaging to the older woman now that she understood that it was based on an actual event. She could see now where the artistic liberties were inserted into the story and how gruesome the tales had actually been.

Septima was furiously scribbling on parchment. A detail in Harry Potter and the Bubbling Brew tickled at her and she was trying to figure out if it was simply something Xenophilus added to the story for a child's enjoyment or if Harry had actually broken Gamp's Law when he conjured a cake that was able to feed a tribe of giants, since she couldn't imagine that a cake that size existed anywhere in the world at the time nor could one that large could have gone missing without someone noticing. Since conjured food does not have any sustenance to it, the giants shouldn't have gotten full and he wouldn't have been able to save the witch in the end.

Albus leaned back in his chair while he took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "My word, if what actually happened is what I think happened."

He had just finished reading through the copy of Harry Potter and the Continental Coven, which told a rather dull to an adult mind story of Harry stopping a group of hags from binding a powerful demon and then he saved the witch in the end. That was typically how they all ended, Harry would save the little witch in the finale and the day would be saved. But now that he knew how to separate the fantasy from the truth, the stories read more like a horror novel.

"I think we may need to have Mr. Potter see a mind healer," Minerva said. She had just finished her own book and her emotions were a mix of revulsion, sadness and admiration for what had happened.

"I agree, there is no way that boy survived all of these adventures without some sort of mental damage, especially not against…" Filius shivered as the description of the horrific beast in the book he had read was truly frightening and made him question if these were actually meant for children.

The following morning the staff were ready to confront Harry Potter about some of his adventures but to their surprise he was nowhere to be found. This wasn't the first time that Harry Potter had made himself scarce in the castle and the faculty resigned to seeing him later in the evening as he didn't show up to any of his classes.

It became worrisome when he was not in the Great Hall later eating dinner with the other students and no one could remember seeing him around the castle that day, not even the ghosts, portraits or elves could locate him.

Harry still had not returned by the next day nor the day after that and that was when people in the castle began to worry. There was no notice or any indication as to where he had gone or when he would return which was making people fear the worst.

It was when the second term began that during lunch, the doors of the Great Hall slowly creaked open and a bleeding and ragged looking Harry Potter started to shuffle into the room. He was clutching his shoulder while he dragged one of his legs behind him in a weak limp before he fell onto the floor exhausted, a sickening sound came from his body hitting the stone floor as blood splattered away from him, causing students near enough to see it to scream in fright.

The next few hours of Harry's day were a blur of motion as he could tell he was being moved around alot but he didn't have the strength to resist or keep his eye open long enough to focus.

Finally he awoke to a dim room and a splitting headache. Slowly sitting up he fumbled around for his glasses. "Hello?" Harry called out hoping to get a response. After he spoke he could hear sounds bustling about in another room before nearly half a dozen people hurried into the room he was in. Each person came over to him and tried to talk over the others before Harry shouted at them to shut up.

"Where am I?" Harry demanded to know before the adults could pester him more.

"The hospital wing." One of the people said, Harry might have known who they were if he had his glasses but those seemingly weren't around anywhere.

"Great," Harry said as he tried to get out of the bed before he was forced back onto the mattress. "Come on, I have things I have to do," he complained.

"The only thing you have to do is rest and tell us what happened to you." Poppy firmly stated.

"It wasn't that bad, just a pack of chuchunyas that I was hunting managed to get me in the back during a blizzard before I took them out and I had to walk for a while to get to the nearest landmark to get my bearings," Harry protested. This had been a more normal adventure of his as the information he put together had the creatures hunting ground in the northern parts of Siberia and it was expanding to eventually encompass a town of about ten thousand people who would have been the perfect prey for them to feast upon.

He just didn't expect a snowstorm in Russia during the winter. In the winter. Harry chuckled under his breath. "What was I thinking, then again it's not like monsters ever give you the courtesy to attack on a nice sunny day on a warm beach," Harry muttered because that would be the day.

"You will rest so that I may attend to your injuries, and I will be calling my colleagues to come in and assist," Poppy explained to the young wizard what would be happening to him over the next couple of days.

Harry was finally let out of the hospital wing after six days of intensive care and he was sure the last two days had been out of spite for him complaining about not being proactive. But the holidays were coming to an end and the students were returning to the castle.


He was sitting in the common room, scratching on some parchment as an owl flew in through the window and winged its way over to him. Taking the envelope off the leg, he flipped it over before letting out a sigh. "Damn alchemists and their dumb secrecy," Harry muttered as he called out for a castle elf to bring him a lemon.

"What is that?" Hermione asked because she, among many other students in Gryffindor, had taken up watching Harry to see what they could learn from him. "Invisible ink?"

That was what she had concluded after seeing Harry cut the fruit and then squeeze out the juice onto the paper.

"I know right, some alchemist comes up with it centuries ago and like always they never consider the fact that muggles figured it out too," Harry rolled his eyes. "Normally I'd just use a UV lamp, but you know how Hogwarts hates progress. Maybe someone made a spell for that a long time ago to kill vampires, who knows."

Running his eyes over the now visible writing Harry crumpled up the paper before chucking it into the fireplace. "Alright, guess that's going to be what I do today," Harry grunted as he stood up from the couch and started to head out of the common room in search of a professor.

"Mr. Potter," Minerva said with a forced smile. While she respected his skills and what he had to do to earn them, she did not care very much for his attitude towards the school, the faculty or the other students.

"I just need to know the password for Dumbles office, need to talk to him about that philosopher stone he's got stashed away," Harry reached up to scratch his cheek, something he'd done after a pretty creative mediwitch had given him a skin graft to try and see if it was possible to replace some of the damaged tissue. So far it seemed to be holding up, but it was just a test in a small section and it would be some time before they were certain the new skin wasn't rejected by the body and that would lead to larger possible replacements with magic. Harry didn't rightly care one way or the other about the cosmetic changes to his body but it still felt odd to not have a patch of burned skin where he'd gotten used to it being.

"I don't think the philosopher's stone is any of your business," Minerva looked down on the student who had a knack for sticking his nose into things he had nothing to do with. Over the year it had been quite helpful at curbing the more dangerous behaviors of the students but it irked her something fierce that he handled things himself, rarely bringing in a professor until after he made his decisions.

"It is when Flamel wants me to destroy it," Harry rolled his eyes. "He doesn't trust that he and his wife would be safe if they had it returned to them, and frankly I don't trust that the headmaster can protect it or that he wouldn't be tempted to use it himself."

"That is not for you to decide," Minerva stated firmly. She did not like that Harry Potter was making himself the sole arbiter of the fate of the important stone.

"Look, you can either tell me the password and I can try to negotiate the destruction of it with the kook who runs this madhouse or I take it anyway," Harry offered the witch a choice on how she wanted things to go down. "And if he thinks keeping it on him will stop me from getting it, I'll tell you right now, I'm not afraid to jump an old man in a bathroom. And eventually I'll get past his gargoyle, so it's just easier if you cut out the extra crap."

"It's Flamel's anyway, he doesn't want it returned to him now that word is getting around you have a semi-immortal dark lord floating about the world, and frankly keeping it in the school is just putting unnecessary risk on the students," Harry ran a hand through his hair. "If Voldemort doesn't make more attempts to get at it, which if he was able to possess Quirrell, then who is to say he doesn't try a kid. Not to mention he could paint a target on the school by blabbing to any unscrupulous reprobate that this would give them infinite gold and immortality. You'd be lucky that even people you like don't make a go at it."

Minerva had wanted to stand by her earlier statement and tell Mr. Potter that he was to drop the subject but as she listened to him, she knew he was right. When only the staff was aware of the stone being in the castle, that still had been enough to draw the Dark Lord to them. If word got out, every desperate fool would make a try at the stone in the hopes that they could get it, and desperate fools tended to not care who else got hurt for their gain. "Very well, we will go see Albus and discuss this with him," Minerva relented because she would at least like to hear out Albus' reasons for keeping it or returning it, she still felt as though the destruction of the historical artifact was going too far.

"No I agree Harry, if Nicholas wants it destroyed, then destroyed it shall be," Dumbledore agreed almost immediately after Harry had informed him of the letter he received.

It was a surprise to her that he didn't fight against it, just pulled out the stone and used a reducto to break it into pieces. "Glad you can see reason," Harry smiled as he got out of his chair and made for the door.

"Why might I ask did you agree so swiftly?" Minerva asked.

Harry stopped with his hand on the knob. "Isn't it obvious, he's been using it all year. Albus Dumbledore might not be quite at the skill to create a philosopher's stone, but he still learned from Flamel, so he should know how to use it. He's probably got more gold stashed away than Scrooge McDuck and a few centuries worth of the Elixir of Life, probably in a nice little insurance safe."

Minerva looked to Albus expecting him to deny the accusation when he just simply shrugged in response.

"We are likely going into a war Minerva," Albus said sheepishly. "I would like to have at least a starting advantage this time."

"Yeah and I'm sure once this is all over you'll happily dispose of your fabricated benefits?" Harry rolled his eyes as he left the room.

"Well I might," Albus shouted at the doorway. Then he saw the nonplussed look on Minerva's face. "I-I might."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Minerva turned around and left her employer. She still had final exams to grade before the year was up.

Harry sipped his juice as the winners of the house cup were announced, it would seem that Hufflepuff would take the trophy this year, they had gotten a significant lead after Harry had awarded those extra points when he was running the Defense lessons and it kept them from falling behind even as the other, more outgoing houses tried to claw their way back into first place.

With his first year at Hogwarts coming to a close, Harry knew that things were only going to get more complicated because with Voldemort on the loose and a new defense professor coming in the fall, he just worried about how much free time he'd have during the summer with his usual problems. And he'd heard word that the man who was framed for betraying his parents was trying to claim custody of him, so he would have to deal with that as it came to him.

But unlike his previous experiences, the other students came by to thank him for everything that he did, be it teaching them or helping out when trouble brewed in the castle. His actions were noticed and it wasn't so much the hero worship that he had expected when that book series was published by Mr. Lovegood, but people who were grateful for him being there. So maybe it wasn't going to be that bad at Hogwarts after all.

As soon as he thought that Harry watched as a hydra climbed out of a lake and started plodding its way towards Penrith. Knowing that his belongings would end up at King's Cross either way, he let out a sigh and opened the window of the compartment, leaping out the window to catch his fall with a spell. "Just another day for Harry Potter," he muttered to himself as he raced after the beast before it could attack the innocent.


Author's Notes: There will be a sequel at some point in the future in the same vein following the next year, the time frame is whenever the hell I get it done.