AN: Been playing Hogwarts Legacy and I'm loving it so far! It's got me on a Harry Potter kick so I'm taking this story's original couple chapters and reworking them. I wasn't happy with how they read anyway and now I can incorporate some of my newer ideas. Haven't beaten Legacy yet so if anyone has then no spoilers please.

AN2: The original story was going to pair Harry with Dean's muggle half-sister. I still like the idea but I think I'll save that for some other story that just takes place during a summer. I'd rather use a pairing that's at the castle for more interactions. Considered some I haven't used before, like Lilith Moon or Morag MacDougal. But undecided overall, leave who you'd like in the reviews.

My Way's the Fun Way

Chapter 1

-Harry-

At the sound of his compartment door opening he looked up to see a dark skinnedfirst year standing hesitantly in the partially open doorway. "Hey…do you mind if I sit here?" the new guy asked with a hesitant grin which he calmly returned.

"No problem," Harry shrugged, gesturing with his pencil for his classmate to take a seat before proffering his hand "I'm Harry by the way, Harry Potter.".

"Dean Thomas." the newcomer said with a grin, taking the offered hand before they both moved Dean's trunk onto the overhead rack. "So," Dean asked after they got the trunk settled, gesturing towards the books he was scribbling notes into "what's that you're working on."

"I'm studying ahead on some of the subjects." Harry admitted with a somewhat bashful grin, "My new Guardian he…well he told me a bit about my parents. Apparently my mom was amazing at Charms and my dad was a master of Transfiguration. I wanted to look into their favorite subjects along with Potions which I honestly just find interesting."

Dean, if he noticed the implied past tense of Harry's parents, thankfully didn't bring it up "Potions?" he was surprised about that bit though.

"Well ever since I was little my relatives made me do all the cooking," Harry explained, his easy going grin slipping into a slight scowl "and they would demand new unique dishes a lot. So, I had to learn what ingredients would taste good with what and have what effect. I'm using the same kind of idea with this. It was also something I could study without worrying about the Ministry trying to butt in."

"Your relatives…and you said you had a new guardian. You don't live with your parents?" Dean asked with a small, confused frown. Sighing, Harry closed his book and thought back to when he'd first met his new headmaster.

-Flashback-

The knocking at his door woke him up as he got out of his four poster at the Leaky Cauldron with stretch, "Harry," the voice of Tom, the landlord, called out from the other side of the door "Headmaster Dumbledore is here to see you.".

"Thanks Tom!" he called out "I'll be down in a minute!" before putting on the clothes he had worn yesterday and walking downstairs to meet his new headmaster. Yesterday, when Hagrid had been about to take him back to the Dursleys, he had told the giant man flat out that he refused to go back to them ever again and then walked over to Tom to rent a room. Hagrid seemed confused and nervous, not really understanding why Harry was putting his foot down like this but also not wanting to fight him on it and cause a scene. The giant man had simply stated that he'd be back with Professor Dumbledore to speak about the situation.

Getting down to the dining room he saw Tom point to a corner booth where he saw an old man with a long white beard sitting, "Ah, Harry," the old man said with a nod "good to see you. I was wondering if you could explain why you don't wish to return home to be with your relatives." Harry tried to squash out the glimmer of hope he felt at the old man actually asking for his reasons.

Keeping himself from scowling as he knew that wouldn't help right now, Harry answered "They may be my relatives…but they're not my family, not with the way they treated me. And thanks to seeing how easily Hagrid stopped them, I know I don't have to be scared of them. Not anymore."

At his statement the old man frowned but just as he thought the man would brush off his statement and take him back Dumbledore asked "What do you mean when you say you don't have to be scared of them anymore?"

At that question, the glimmer of hope glowed brighter as Harry didn't try quashing it this time "You…you're not just going to brush me off? You're not going to send me back like all the others did?"

The old man's expression became both concerned and serious, "Harry," the man pulled out several crystal vials and placed them on the table "I want you to think of the situations that show why you were scared of your relatives. And the ones related to why you thought I'd ignore your wishes on the subject. I'll be using my wand to extract a copy of the memory to view. With your permission of course."

Nodding hesitantly, he began thinking of the first memory, nodding when he it was ready as Dumbledore proceeded to extract it. The process repeated a few more times before he finally told Dumbledore that he was done. "I'll be back in about an hour," Dumbledore promised, "I just need to go view these. For now," the old man put some coins on the table "have some breakfast on me." Sure enough an hour later Dumbledore flooed back into the Cauldron, the old man looking incredibly shaken before walking over to the booth where he was eating breakfast his new Headmaster had kindly paid for.

"Did…did you view the memories?" he asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer given the far off look in the man's eyes.

"I did. And I must beg for your forgiveness Harry." The old man said weakly, the headmaster seemingly aging ten years before his eyes.

"For what?" Harry blinked in confusion, that being the farthest thing from what he had expected.

"For placing you with them in the first place," Dumbledore said sadly "I…I didn't have any other choice but I'm still sorry. You see your godfather was arrested the day after your parent's death and your godmother…well, she refused to take you."

"What?" he breathed in shock "I have a godfather? A godmother? Why? Why was he arrested? Why did she reject me?"

"You see Harry," Dumbledore explained "on that night in nineteen eighty-one, a Dark Lord by the name of Lord Voldemort attacked your home in Godric's Hollow. You were there, along with your parents, your god brother, and your god brother's grandmother. Voldemort attacked and your father tried to hold him off to buy your mother time to get you and the others to safety. After Voldemort killed him, he ordered your mother and your god brother's grandmother to step aside so he could kill you and your god brother…he told them that he would spare them if they did so, but they refused. So he killed them before trying to kill you and your god brother."

"What was his name?" he asked weakly, wondering if his god brother had died and if that was the reason his godmother had rejected him.

"His name is Neville Longbottom and he's still alive Harry." Dumbledore explained softly. "After killing your mother and Neville's grandmother he turned his wand on the two of you and cast the killing curse, but it rebounded and destroyed him."

"How do you know all of this is Neville and I were the only ones to survive?" Harry asked, noting the strange 'plot hole' in the tale.

"Your mother," Dumbledore said with a sad smile that still conveyed how proud the old man was of the woman in question "she was trying to develop new rune arrays and uses and managed to create a rune that could record an image and then allow it to be projected from a crystal. She had them set up throughout your house as security. When it got to the point where he pointed his wand at you and Neville…well the angle of it prevented us from seeing who the actual curse would have struck. On top of that, the rebound destroyed the recorder rune so the crystal didn't get any more footage. The ministry declared Neville Longbottom as the boy who lived as he's what's known as a pureblood."

"Hagrid explained that term to be along with the others," he said with a scowl at what was said "but that doesn't explain why my godmother rejected me. Or why my godfather was arrested."

"Well, your family's home was under the protection of something known as the fidelius charm which prevents anyone from finding a location unless told of it by the 'secret keeper'. Your godfather was the secret keeper for your family…or at least that's what was believed."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his mind swimming from all he'd learned.

"Your parents, along with your godfather Sirius, were talking about how he would be too obvious of a choice for Secret Keeper and wanted to change who it was. I never got a chance to do so; and should have been the only one able to make such a change as I was the one who cast the spell. However, I'm positive your mother would have been able to learn the spell. I believe that she learned the spell and they took down my fidelius before replacing it with her own and her own choice of secret keeper."

"But let me guess," he scowled "like with them deciding Neville was the one to rebound the curse…since my mother wasn't a pureblood they declared that theory flawed at best, impossible at worst?"

"In a nutshell," Dumbledore agreed with a wince "your godmother had your godfather arrested, as she blamed the man for the death of Neville's grandmother. I believe she used her new influence as the mother of the Boy-Who-Lived to have Sirius sent to prison for life without trial. I've tried to get him one since then but the Ministry managed to make the position of Chief Warlock to be little more than a glorified judge with a voting seat."

"Thanks for at least trying," he said with a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair at all of the new information he was being told "and my new godmother?".

"She told me you'd just grow up to be average and jealous of Neville's 'great power'," Dumbledore said with a clearly angered scowl "and refused to take you in. I was given no other choice but to send you to live with your only other living relative, your Aunt."

"But now?" he asked hesitantly.

"Now I am going to ruin them." Dumbledore growled "I'll see them locked away for life." Dumbledore forced himself to breathe and calm down "You will, however, still require a guardian during the break periods. And I believe I know someone who might be willing." Harry tilted his head in confusion as the old man's eyes began to twinkle.

-End Flashback-

"That's messed up." Dean said with a disgusted scowl after he had explained what had happened.

"No kidding." he said, just as upset before he felt a shifting on top of his head as he reached up and plucked the small black kitten off. "Have a good nap Loki?" he asked the small black furred bundle who simply gave a kittenish coo and batted his nose happily.

"Was he…in your hair?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow as his new friend looked at the small kitten.

"He always makes sure to nap there." He said with a shrug as he placed the small feline on his shoulder and scratched Loki's ear, "He blends in with my hair and thinks he's a ninja."

"Ninja kitties aside-" Dean began only for the door to the compartment to be forced open as he turned to see a tall lanky red head and a pudgy brunette who was on the shorter side.

"Get out," the pudgy brunette "this is my compartment now."

He and Dean stared blankly at the two for a moment before resuming their conversation "As I was saying-" Dean began only for the Brunette to start yelling.

"Didn't you hear me you peons?!" the brunette demanded "I am Neville Longbottom! The Boy-Who-Lived!". At the name of his 'god brother' he froze before narrowing his eyes as the corners of his mouth tilted upwards in the hints of a smirk which he idly noted out of the corner of his eye that Dean had seen.

Before he had been planning on giving his god brother the benefit of the doubt, it wasn't Neville's fault that his godmother had tossed him aside…but that plan just went flying out the window to have a painful death. "Do I look like I care Mr. Bigbutt?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's Longbottom!" Neville yelled angrily.

"Oh yeah, like that's any better." He snickered as Neville turned a lovely shade of puce.

"Why you-" Neville began before Dean decided to return the favor from before and cut the asshole off.

"Just go away, will you? Neither of us grew up in the magical world and we don't give a shit about your title."

"Fine," Neville scowled "but know this…you've made the enemy of house Longbottom this day."

Watching Neville stalk off down the corridor with the red head he grinned and stuck his head out the door for one last parting shot "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elder berries!".