AN: Hi, this is my first fanfiction. It won't be anything big, I'm planning on about 7-10 chapters so far, and not too long. Harry will start out similar to cannon Harry, but will gradually fall into darkness. I'll write the fic mainly as Harry's diary entries. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Did Dumbledore take Harry and put him with the Dursleys before Sirius was sentenced to Azkaban? If yes, I don't own Harry Potter.

Summary:

I am Lord Harry James of the Ancient House of Potter. I am now the de facto ruler of the wizarding world. I've come further on the road to immortality than anyone before me. I am beloved by most wizards. But it wasn't always so. My path to greatness is written in this diary which I bought before I left for Hogwarts.

Dark!Slytherin!Harry Potter

Harry's diary

Chapter 1: The Fatal Question

September 1991

Hogwarts is amazing! Unfortunately, I'm in Slytherin. Maybe it's not so bad. I was talking to the Sorting Hat - it looked something like this:

I was like, "No Slytherin, no Slytherin" and the hat was like, "No Slytherin you say? Why?"

So I told him that Ron and Hagrid said it was a house for dark and evil wizards. And he said, "Dark and evil? Not just cunning and ambitious. Sure, they have their fair amount of dark wizards, but Slytherin won't make you evil. He could help you on your way to greatness." And then he sent me to Slytherin. I'm just afraid of what Ron will say.

September 1991

Ron won't talk to me. He thinks I'm dark. I tried to explain what the hat said, but he wouldn't listen. The lessons weren't good either. Snape doesn't seem to like me, and Herbology is too much like working in the Dursleys' garden.

4. September 1991

The broomstick flying was great. But Longbottom fell off his broom and had to go to the infirmary. Malfoy stole something called a Remembrall and hid it in a tree. He lost Slytherin points because of it. The History is terribly boring - I may read up on it myself but I quite like DADA. For some reason, though, the scar around Quirel hurts me.

5. September 1991

I don't know what to think of the Transformation - it sounds interesting, but for some reason I can't get into it.

6. September 1991

The Charms are interesting. It's just a theory for now, though. Astronomy is boring. Snape still doesn't like me. But the good thing is that Blaise Zabiny helped me in Potions and now we're talking. Maybe we can be friends.

31 October 1991

I think I figured it out! It's a intent! We were supposed to practice levitation spell in Charms class. It didn't go well at first, but then when I concentrated hard on wanting the feather to levitate and performed the incantation, it floated. I've read a bit about it, and it seems there are two ways to master the spell: try to master it until it succeeds, or fixate all your willpower on the spell and after a few tries the spell will be fixed and all you need is the incantation, a flick of the wand, and a weak intent. Maybe I should read more - magical theory is interesting. Something strange happened tonight - I didn't go to the feast - I don't like celebrating the day it happened and a troll got into the school. I tried to use a levitation charm on the troll's staff and stun it. But I hit the troll and the troll floated up and over the railing. I took the life of a sentient being. It's not my fault. The troll attacked me and I fought back. That's not bad, is it?

December 25, 1991

It's Christmas! And I got presents! Blaise gave me a book on wizards traditions and someone gave me an invisibility cloak. I tried it on and snuck into the restricted section of the library. But Filch spotted me, so I grabbed a book and ran. I came across a room with a mirror and in the mirror I saw myself, but powerful, defeating my enemies and bringing my parents back to life. On the mirror was written backwards: "I show not your face but your heart's desire". I decided not to go back there. The mirror made me feel weird.

December 26, 1991

The book I picked up yesterday from the limited section is called Magic is Might by Vinda Rosier. It looks like a book on magical theory. I find it obscure though - why else would it say that the only difference between normal and dark magic is intent. It doesn't hurt to read it, though, does it? It's just a theory.

December 27, 1991

I finished the book. It's fascinating. Why does it make sense? That dark magic is just magic made for fighting? But if that were the case, why are people so afraid of it? Is the book lying to make me a dark wizard? I need to do more research.

December 28, 1991

I sneaked into the restricted section again. I pulled out a few more books on magical theory - Some talk about dark magic as the only true and most powerful magic - obviously a bunch of bullshit, others as a despicable evil. But most more or less agree that dark magic is driven by the intent to hurt, but otherwise differs little from normal magic. I prefer to stay away from it for now - evil or not, it's still dangerous.

December 31, 1991

When I read about magical theory, I was intrigued by the question about the origins of magic - what separates us from Muggles? I've spent the last 3 days searching a restricted section, but haven't found a satisfactory answer yet.

May 9, 1992

According to Malfoy, Weasley and Granger tried to sneak a dragon out of the school. It seems something really happened - according to Blaise, Gryffindor lost a lot of points. But so did Slytherin! That fool Malfoy got caught!

June 4, 1992

Granger and Weasley are up to something - I can almost smell the tension. I wonder what they're up to. I can hear them whispering things like, "Snape wants it," "The Philosopher's Stone," and "He'll probably do it soon."

June 8, 1992

Voldemort is almost back! 4 June I followed Weasley and Granger - they were heading for the third floor corridor. I could almost feel something pushing me to follow them. They brought Longbottom with them. I followed them through the traps: the Cerberus (put him to sleep by singing), the devil's snare (just conjure fire), the enchanted keys, the giant chess set, the room where the troll is supposed to be, and the riddle? Was that to protect the philosopher's stone? Maybe I'm beginning to understand why most of the Slytherins consider Dumbledore senile. Eventually I reached the room where Longbottom was chained up and Quirrell was trying to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone from the mirror. Quirell told me he was waiting for me there. He then revealed that Voldemort had possessed him and attacked me - I cast the first spell I could think of: Lacaro - Dark Cutting Curse (not bad if I used it in self-defense, right?) and almost hit him. He was surprised and I managed to free Longbottom quickly. But he beat us with a single spell! When he touched me, he burned himself. So I put my hands on his face and burned him. Then I passed out and woke up today.

I tried to ask Dumbledore if I could stay at Hogwarts for the summer. He refused. When I said I would then spend the summer with Blaise (he invited me a few days ago), he said it was important that I stay with the Dursleys.

June 30, 1992

The year is over and I have to go back to the Dursleys. Slytherin won the cup. We also got my test results - I did well: got an O+ in DADA and Charms, an O in Transfiguration and an E in Potions (only because Snape doesn't like me), Herbology, History and Astronomy.

As soon as I arrived at the Dursleys, they confiscated my wand and textbooks. I need to find a way to get at least some of them back.

AN2: I hope you enjoyed the first year. Please write reviews so I can have feedback. I don't quite know how much AU I'll make the magic system yet, write me ideas. If you find any bugs, write - I'm not writing this in English, I'm using the AI translator deepl, which should be almost as perfect as a human translator, so I'd like to know if that's true.