The Tall GoblinPrologue:

Sunday 1st September 1991, 7.10pm:

"Abbott, Hannah." The sharp voice of the distinguished Deputy Headmistress cut through the entirety of the Great Hall of Hogwarts as another Sorting Ceremony started.

Watching as young student after young student approached Godric's Hat to be sorted, some with anxiety written clearly on their faces, others with wonder and excitement at the magic that was permeating the very air of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore couldn't keep his gaze from returning to the dwindling mass of huddled first years. Eyes taking in every detail, in spite of his advanced 110 years, he searched for any sign of the child he had left on that doorstop almost 10 years before. Unfortunately he didn't see any hint of his friends James and Lily in the faces before him.

"Perks, Sally-Anne." The Scottish Witch called out and then looked up at her senior and raised an eyebrow. With a defeated nod Albus looked down at his empty plate, racking his brain for what this could all mean.

"Potter, Harry." There was an audible mumble through the Hall and the shuffling of wood on stone as the students all moved to try and get a clearer look at the Boy-Who-Lived. No one stepped forward and a shocked whispering erupted. "Harry Potter?"

Waiting a whole minute after calling for the boy a second time Minerva knew she had to keep the Ceremony going and not cause extra attention to the absence of the boy and called out for the next student on the list. She had to act like it wasn't a big deal and hope that some of the students would believe her. She bit her lip with worry as another child put on the Hat. Where was the son of her former Gryffindor's? Where was Harry Potter?

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Monday 2nd September 1991, 6.45am:

This early in the morning the Great Hall was practically deserted, with only Filius sharing the Head table with Albus. The Head of Ravenclaw was going over a thesis one of his Mastery Students had submitted over the Summer, annotating in the margin while eating with his spare hand. A pair of older students with blue and bronze ties, indicating them to be members of Filius' house, were comparing homework notes showing the same level of dedication to learning that the diminutive professor next to him embodied and categorised their house. The only other person currently in the room was the eldest of the Weasley children still at Hogwarts who was sitting alone at the Gryffindor table with his back straight, eating carefully with his cutlery, the prefects patrol roster open on the table next to him as he finalised details for the coming term.

Looking up at the flapping of a solitary owl winging its way towards him, the old man put down his spoon waiting for the paper that was clutched in its talons. Picking up a red, sugary circle from his bowl of cereal he fed it to the bird while collecting the morning issue of the Daily Prophet. The big, bold text staring back at him from the middle of the paper was exactly what he feared it would be.

Harry Potter Not Attending Hogwarts!

Missing? Too good for the diminishing school?

Doesn't want to learn from Dumbledore?All this and more as our experts discuss this shocking news!

Skimming through the paper Albus quickly found that it was full of the usual scandalous inference, hints at further knowledge, but an overwhelming lack of anything substantial.

Losing his appetite for his tasty Froot Loops (those silly but amazingly creative muggles) Albus stood from the table, giving Professor Flitwick a polite nod and left the room by the small back door that led to a private staircase up to his office. The soft whirring and whizzing of his various doodads greeted him, as did a welcoming trill from his friend Fawkes, as the old man slowly made his way across the room to his desk and slumped into his chair. Tapping the desk in front of him with his finger Albus looking at the large open tome on the desk in front of him.

The soft clearing of a throat dragged the Headmaster out of his daze as he scrambled to his feet, panicking for a moment at being caught off-guard. Realising that it was just his loyal Deputy Headmistress he sheepishly invited her to take a seat. Her sharp eyes running over both his desk and his face, concern softening her usually strict appearance. Looking away from her insightful gaze Albus set about tidying some paper on the desk catching the time on his clock as he did. 08:42. Where had the time gone?

"I see that you have been looking at the Registrar again, Headmaster. Did you uncover anything new or is it the same as it has been for years?" While she held deep respect for the man, it was clear that she did not hold out hope for uncovering the books secrets after all this time.

Turning the Registrar around so that it would be easier for the woman to read even thought it was exactly the same as it had been since they discovered the boy was missing in 1982. "It still just says Harry Potter: *blank*. I ran every standard detection charm on it once more last night, and a few less usual ones as well, but I can quite confidently say that the book has not been tampered with. Maybe he is constantly on the move? Living on a train or boat so that it never has a set location? Even hiding charms such as the Fidelius just make it unreadable and not remove the location."

One unfortunate side effect of such an ancient, powerful magical artefact created by Rowena Ravenclaw herself is that there was no known information on the creation of the Registrar or the spells used to enchant it. With all his many years of magical research Albus was sure of many of the spells used but not all and so couldn't be sure of what exact gaps there were that were being exploited to obscure the lads location. Heck he couldn't even guarantee that it was intentional and not an incredibly unlucky stroke of fate. With any other child he might even think that it was unintentional. But not with that child. Not with Harry Potter.

It was barely 3 months after the boy had been left on the doorstep of his Aunt when the monitoring devices he had created to make sure Harry had a safe childhood all exploded simultaneously. Albus hadn't been in his office at the time and had returned to discover quite the mess, both literally and figuratively. He had been halfway through vanishing the glass shards when he realised what their destruction could symbolise and he had rushed out of the room, his long, white beard flowing behind him.

As soon as Albus was outside of the wards he apparated to Privet Drive and rushed to the familiar stoop. His pounding on the door was quite impolite the residents of the house were all too happy to inform him as they tore the door open, such was his panic on full display. A hurried, loud and quite rude conversation followed between the aged wizard and the younger married couple.

Even after all this time he could vividly remember Petunia's horror at him leaving the baby on the doorstep and her adamant assertion that they had never discovered the boy. That both the child and basket weren't there come morning was the truth, Albus knew it was because he had used legilimency to confirm they were not lying to him, and very disturbing news. Albus had stumbled away, somehow finding his way to his brother's pub and the bottom of a pint glass, the panic never leaving him.

Shaking his head to pull himself out of the memories he focused on his Deputy who was waving her wand over the book while muttering under her breath. "Have you found anything I overlooked?"

Minerva didn't respond right away, instead she continued casting detection spells for several more minutes. Eventually she looked up with anguish clearly written on her face. "No Headmaster, I found nothing else. What do we do now? I don't know if you saw it but the news is already in the Prophet that Harry was not here for the sorting last night."

"There is nothing I can do. I have the most skilled people that I know looking for him whenever they are able but it would be more chance than skill if we stumble upon him at this point. The trail was cold by 1982 and even with the wide array of magic at our disposal we couldn't find anything then, and have found nothing since with our sporadic searches. I imagine that the D.M.L.E will want to follow up on this with me and will summon me either today or tomorrow but apart from that there is nothing we can do." Reaching across the desk to close the Registrar, Dumbledore left his seat and returned the book to its plinth for storage until Minerva needed to next consult it for Hogwarts Invitational Letters.

A scratching at the window alerted the pair to the arrival of an owl with a letter for the Headmaster. Minerva excused herself to attend her first class of the semester, leaving Albus to the waiting owl. With a sigh he went to see what the message for him was knowing full well it did not bode well.

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Thursday 31st October 1991, 7:21pm:

It had been a rough start to the school year for Albus Dumbledore. He had been run ragged with summons after summons to appear in front of one Ministry Department or another, as well as in front of the Wizengamot or one of its subcommittees. On top of that he still had his duties as the Chief Warlock and the Supreme Mugwump and as Headmaster all of which had their own commitments and challenges. He would also have had to be blind to not have noticed that Riddle was subtly making moves for the first time in a decade. He really needed this celebration.

The infectious joy of the youths in front of him eating, laughing and chatting with their friends brought a smile to his face. It was the first true smile for Albus Dumbledore in weeks. His heart soared as he absorbed some of the abundant joy in the room. The future looked so much brighter when he spent time with the young of Hogwarts.

It was at this point that Professor Quirrell came scurrying into the room, dishevelled and clearly frightened. The man made it all the way up to Albus before gasping out about a troll and then fainting. Panic replaced laughter. The student lost themselves to the startling news and Albus was disappointed that it took multiple firecrackers to regain control of the populace. Usually he kept a much tighter grip on their behaviour.

"Prefects, lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" He barked out his orders, having finally regained control of the room.

"Headmaster! That might not be the best idea." Filius spoke up as the diminutive professor jumped up onto the table. "I mean the Slytherin students would have to go through the dungeons, where Quirinus just said that the troll was. Do you really want a column of students led only by the prefects to come upon the troll? They should all stay here where it will be safe."

"Filius is right, Headmaster. Lock the doors with all the students in here with all the prefects and myself to protect them, you and the other teachers can locate it." The Deputy Headmistress added her agreement and opinion on the correct course.

Albus didn't like being publicly disagreed with, especially by his employees like this, but they raised a good point. And enough of the students had overheard them to make it difficult on him if he tried to implement his original plan now. "Good thinking Professor and Deputy Headmistress. Students! You will now stay here in the Great Hall where it will be safe while the situation is dealt with."

"Albus I have a safer solution then sending the teachers out, besides apart from you and I most would not have the experience required for dealing with a troll. Give me a moment." As he spoke up once more Filius knelt down and started scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

"Filius I think you will find that more of us are capable than you give us credit for and can handle a single troll." Snarled out Snape as he approached.

Standing up straight Filius crumpled up the paper and tossed it forward and watched as it turned to a thousand little butterflies made of neon light. "I've called for a goblin professional who will deal with it. You should stand back Severus."

"You overstep your bounds Filius! We will not be having a goblin come into the castle to take care of a problem that we are quite capable of dealing with ourselves. It will all be handled before they even get here." How dare Flitwick attempt such a stunt! The shame of getting an outsider to deal with this? Albus would not let it stand! "After the troll has been dealt with I expect…"

He was interrupted as there was a flash and a bolt of lightning descended from the ceiling and scorched the marble just in front of the Head Table. The large Crack of thunder that followed almost knocked Albus and Severus off their feet but Filius had known to expect it and was able to brace for the impact. As the smoke cleared audible gasps could be heard from around the hall.

Standing amidst the dissipating vapours was a lithe figure wearing shining, grey, metallic armour. Looking like a figure out of antiquity or Greek myth wearing a breastplate, grieves, bracers and holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other the students were both scared and intrigued by the intruder. More than a couple let out screams, others sat or stood there pointing at it drawing even more attention to the person.

Albus whipped out his wand, soon followed by Minerva and Severus, and they all levelled them on the intruder. "Halt! Who are you?"

The figure ignored them, something that Albus was not accustomed to, and raised its spear in salute to the diminutive figure still standing on the table. "Hail Professor Flitwick! You called and so I have come."

"Ah Kopis! Thank you for coming so quickly, there is a situation that you could greatly help us with. A troll has somehow made its way into the castle. The Headmaster was going to send the student back to their rooms but I figured it was best to get your tactical insight on it and go from there. Do you think a troll was enough of an excuse to call you?" Flitwick was practically bouncing up and down as he rapidly spoke to the figure that was almost at eye level with him.

"I will remove the danger. Keep the children all here and I will seal the door behind me that should…" The monotone voice was quite disturbing to listen to, especially given it was fairly high pitched and would have been more at home coming from one of the students and not an armoured individual.

Whatever he, at least those watching guessed it was a he beneath the armour, had been about to say was cut off by an angry Headmaster. "Whoever you are, identify yourself! This is a school and I won't have anyone interfere with the safety of my students. And how did you get in here?"

The figure turned on Dumbledore so fast that most just saw him go from facing one direction to the other with no turn. There was a blaze so intense in his stare that the old wizard took a step back and clutched his wand more tightly. The rich green iris looked hauntingly familiar to him adding further to his discomfort around the whole situation.

"Safety of the students? You must be the idiot who wanted to send children out there with a threat!" The pure vitriol in his voice carried to all. "Now stay out of the way as I go hunting."

The figure stormed off, heading straight for the main door. The congregating students parted before him which created a tunnel down the aisle between the Head Table and the door. Switching his spear from his right hand to his left the armour clad individual pushed open the door and stepped out before closing the door behind them.

Albus couldn't believe it! This person appeared out of nowhere, somehow breaching the anti-apparition wards of Hogwarts, dared to yell at him, then unbelievably turned around and walked away completely ignoring the Headmaster. The Headmaster watched as the door slammed closed and then started glowing with a golden light as a new encharntment was placed upon them. A new player had chosen to reveal themself and he had no clue as to who it was or what their angle was.

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The interloper had been gone for several minutes but Albus' mood had not improved. He watched as a calm and collected Filius split his time between casually chatting with his colleagues and reassuring his Ravenclaw's that everything was going to be okay. He had told several of them that Kopis had been extensively trained and a single troll would serve as no trouble to him. At least that provided Albus with confirmation that it was a he.

It was also clear that Flitwick knew more about who this "Kopis" was and how they had breached the castle wards. As soon as the students were back in their dormitories the Charms Professor would have some answering to do. Perhaps he had given the man too much leeway over the years, or just needed to remind him who Filius worked for and what his place was.

Those blazing eyes, however, warranted more thought. The anger in them hinted at a personal relationship which combined with the familiarity left Albus sure that he should know who this "Kopis" is but he just couldn't piece it together. The name Kopis certainly sounded foreign, and the figure had spoken with a weird accent… Perhaps someone from the Grindelwald war days?

It didn't matter who they were, Albus would have his answers soon. Assuming the person even survived the troll that was. Barely a murmur left Severus mouth as the Potions Professor sat beside him casting spells under the table, and Albus knew that his own exertions produced even less noise. When "Kopis" stepped back upon the dais after returning he would find himself in a complex trap laid by two powerful spellcasters who would both be there to make sure it held. Then, after the students had left, Albus would get his answers.

The large double-doors that functioned as the main entrance to the Great Hall burst open as a gust of wind preceded the armoured figure, this time with a young student clinging to his arm. Albus rapidly finished the spell he was weaving and rushed out another before standing to receive the approaching pair. The shield had been slung across the back of the stranger leaving his left arm free to support the student, and the helmet was now tucked under the right arm leaving his head bare.

The pair had a fair amount of black ichor on them that the Professors and N.E.W.T Potions students recognised as troll blood, and the female student was obviously still terrified, but the stranger walked with a dignified grace. Without the helmet his face was clearly visible to all and those present could see that it was a human boy who looked about the same age as some of the youngest students present. His dark hair was cut short and he clearly was far too young for facial hair. His vibrant eyes darted constantly around the room, not in a fearful manner just out of habit for one who is always aware of their surroundings. His short stature was further highlighted by the fact that the student he was supporting appeared to be about the same height or maybe even slightly taller.

The student, Ginger? Gringo? Something like that, Albus couldn't be expected to remember all the students, especially the unimportant ones, was still unaware of her surroundings and just let her protector lead her towards the Professors. Making eye contact with the boy Albus tried to gain entrance to his mind only to slide off some rudimentary shields. They wouldn't be enough to keep Albus out long but was enough of a surprise that he had to regain his footing before trying again. The boy had not blocked him so much as had set up angled defences so that non-sustained attempts at legilimency would just slip off and he would not be able to be pinned down without effort.

"Legilimens." Albus whispered as he maintained eye contact with the boy.

Knowing what to expect this time Albus was able to grip the mind of the boy who just smirked as he continued marching forward. The Headmaster had to keep a snarl off his face at the boy's impertinent attitude but he would soon learn. Just as he felt he was breaching the outer layer of defence a vivid image of a basket and blanket came to the forefront and was seared into his mind before Albus was forcefully ejected. Such was the strength of the boy's will that the old man winced and took a step back before he composed himself.

The intruder stepped up onto the raised platform that the Head Table was on and came to a sudden stop as the trap bound him in place. Despite what must have been a surprise the youth didn't react and his eyes casually scanned the occupants of the table. Raking back and forward he didn't seem to see what he was looking for so turned to Filius once again.

"Miss Granger here should be seen by whatever medical staff you have. She has suffered quite the fright when the troll trapped her in a bathroom. She appears uninjured but I would prefer a medic checks her over." He stood back straight, like a soldier reporting to his superior officer.

Poppy Pomfrey rushed over and started leading the now identified Granger away to be checked out, the boy reassuring her that it was safe to go with the matron. Distracted as he was, it gave Albus the chance to approach and study him closer now that the helmet was not being worn. Even though the hair was short it was starting to show a messy nature that spoke of a connection to Albus' past, much like the vibrant green eyes, that just kept slipping from his grasp.

"Harry Potter!" The Headmaster exclaimed loudly as he made the connection and his eyes darted up to the forehead where there was a lack of a scar.

The boy did nothing but smirk at him and careful place the helmet on his head once more. The ripple of noise around the room let Dumbledore know that in his surprise and excitement at working out who the boy was he had voiced that theory much louder than he had thought and now all of the staff and students alike were straining to get a look at the figure once again.

Albus felt a large build up of magic coming from the boy and was only able to yell out a quick "No!" before he disappeared and the kick-back caused the Headmaster to lose consciousness.

A/N: Hey all its been a long time since I did any writing so figured this was a good way to get back into it. Please leave reviews. This prologue was a limited 3rd person perspective from APWBD's perspective but going forward it will be from Harry's. Not from the UK so any word choices or expressions that don't feel natural for those living in the British Isles I can only apologise. Also haven't decided on an eventual pairing so feel free to let me know who and why, I generally prefer the slightly less done ladies like Susan, Katie, Luna, Daphne, Fleur or Tonks - but those last two are the hardest to get to feel natural given age difference.

Cheers,

Musings.