A Harry is adopted as Leona fic!
It had become a major uproar in the royal family when the adopted child that the king had taken in on a whim inherited that magic. Most of the nobility had taken it in stride upon learning the circumstances...the king had found a magic-born child in an absolutely abhorrent situation and with little to no resistance, took the boy in and adopted him as his own son. The child was ridiculously adaptive to the magical adoption and even inherited the features of the royal family.
But for his signature spell, that which defined him as a mage to be of the infamous King of the Savanna when even the first born hadn't inherited it? It was inconceivable.
Leona hated the nobility, because they considered him the 'lesser' prince due to being adopted. Add in the royal magic and the gossip mongers were having an absolute field day.
It only got worse when he got a letter from Hogwarts of all places. Wizards were notoriously xenophobic and absolutely refused to allow those of creature heritage to attend their precious school. Their bigotry and hatred of anything that didn't look almost completely human and came from damn near immaculate magical background was well known.
Needless to say, any being of real power hated them, and refused to do any business with them unless absolutely necessary.
Finding out that the second prince was a wizard-born made his life even worse.
Still, in order to inherit his original accounts, he would have to spend at least 5 years at that ridiculous school.
Leona was not happy about this in the least. Especially when his parents decided to place a glamour on his ears and tail to keep his true nature a secret.
It was only five years, and Hogwarts had gone downhill for years. The odds of it being discovered were very low.
And for the first four years, everything passed normally. Fifth year was upon him and he couldn't be happier. He would be out of that damn school and the over abundance of herbivores once and for all.
On the train...
"Harry", as he was forced to call himself, was half asleep on the carriage. His friend Luna, who was one of the rare few to call him by his actual name, was braiding his locks into an interesting pattern. It amused her and she didn't mind him crashing on her lap occasionally, so it worked out. Even better, having her around meant the other herbivores left him alone. He could care less about dating the weak willed females of this school.
When his followers finally left the prefect carriage, he barely looked up. He could care less about reigning in the herbivores that dominated Gryffindor.
By this point Hermione and Ron were used to "Harry's" slacker tendencies.
Hermione cast a glance at the book her friend was using to shield his face from the light, since Luna didn't want to close the curtains.
"Lions again?" she asked.
Harry's fascination with lions and other predatory animals was well known. Considering he was in Gryffindor, it was openly encouraged to an extent.
Hermione made a face because she also caught him reading a book about traditional harems, and it had caused a ridiculous discussion among the boys (and a few girls) about the idea of having multiple partners.
Weirdly enough it was also one of the rare times Harry put his foot down around her when she brought up her own opinion about the matter around the third years. She never expected him to actually snap at her and tell her to 'shut the hell up'.
She had quietly simmered for days before she demanded an apology. Harry still refused to give up or explain why.
"How was your summer?" asked Ron.
Harry actually scowled at that, causing them to look at him.
"Dad sent me to the Scalding Sands as a personal favor to the royal family. Kalim was very annoying, and I kept having to babysit," said Harry annoyed.
Just because he was good with kids did not mean he liked to be stuck babysitting. Especially thirty of the blighters.
It wasn't the first time he really cursed having that ability, regardless of how useful it could be.
He honestly got along better with Jamil than he had with Kalim, regardless of how charismatic the twit could be.
At least he got some new recipes from Jamil to play around with.
Ron looked uncomfortable.
"Mate, I keep telling you not to mention those places."
Harry lowered his book long enough to glare at him.
"And I keep telling you, I don't give a shit about your damn prejudices towards those with real power. The pure blood magicals can go fuck themselves," said Harry flatly.
Hermione was once again clueless, as Hogwarts made a point to keep any mention of the magical lands out of their library and the purebloods refused to talk about it.
Ron shifted uncomfortably. It had come to light last year that Harry had been adopted into a very wealthy and prestigious family and even had a nephew. It had come as a shock because everyone had been told that he was living with his aunt who was a muggle...not an obviously magical family who outranked the Malfoys without being obvious about it.
Coincidentally it was said that Harry's adopted father and older brother had cursed the Headmaster out for not trying at all to keep underage students out of what was clearly a death tournament.
The way they reacted when he was kidnapped showed he was a highly valued member of their family, because they ripped the Minister a new one and took Harry home once it was revealed that the Defense professor was the one who set up the portkey and had even killed someone on the school grounds without anyone being aware of it. It was bad enough he had also cursed the other champions to insure Harry was taken.
"I'm surprised your parents let you return, after the fuss they made last year."
"Long story short, the only reason I'm in Hogwarts is to claim the inheritance my birth parents left behind," said Harry flatly. "Not that I need it, but it's the principle of the thing. Besides, I'm going to Night Raven next year anyway."
"Night Raven?" said Hermione.
"Night Raven College. It's a magical college for boys," said Harry.
"Mate, serious shut up. If people find out you're going there..." said Ron. Though he couldn't quiet hide the look of jealousy in his eyes, as only the magical powerful and rich could attend such a well known and powerful school.
Harry had already dismissed Ron as a lost cause as a friend. The nonsense he pulled last year was herbivore behavior at it's worst. He had no use for people like that.
Seeing the expression on Hermione's face, Harry sighed.
"Hermione, you won't find any information on Night Raven or the other magical colleges because the pure bloods refuse to admit they're not at the top of the food chain in regards to magical ability. Night Raven openly allows those of mixed races to attend and the Ministry hates it. I'm pretty sure Remus got his education as a professor from one of the lesser colleges, actually."
"I thought Hogwarts was the most prestigious magical school though."
"At the high school level, maybe," said Harry dismissively. "But at the college or university level, Night Raven is superior."
Ron looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Hermione looked interested. Harry made a note to give her some books on the girls academies later.
Harry took one look at the pink monstrosity and began to growl. He knew damn well who that woman was and was not happy seeing her here.
"Harry, do you know that woman?" asked Hermione.
"Personally? No. However I know of Umbridge, one of the most bigoted and hateful witches in the Ministry. She's one of the most vocal people who hate werewolves and anything that isn't a pureblood. She once tried to have the Merfolk tagged and is the reason centaurs have been loosing lands outside the magical realms," growled Harry. "What the fuck is she doing in Hogwarts of all places?"
Just hearing that fake ass cough of hers made his skin crawl, and he couldn't help his growl learning she had somehow forced herself into the Defense position this year.
Harry's expression was thunderous, especially at the snide, smug look on that bitch's face.
The second they went to the dorm, he took out his phone.
"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Neville.
"I'm calling my dad and telling him to have a barrister waiting. There's no way having that bitch as a core teacher is going to end in anything short of bloodshed," snarled Harry. "She's not going to teach us a damn thing, I can assure you of that."
It got even worse when he saw his schedule for the year. Like hell was he suffering double Defense with that woman. He stormed up to the professor's table and made a beeline for Flitwick.
"Professor Flitwick, I'm giving you my formal notice of self-studying for Defense this year," said Harry bluntly.
Flitwick blinked.
"And why are you informing me and not Minerva?"
"Considering the headmaster tried to force me into divination instead of ancient runes third year until I made it clear I wasn't going, I have sincere doubts my head of house would try overly hard to argue for my request. You, however are a dueling master and a known holder of a Mastery in the subject. Ergo I can turn in any formal essays or spellwork to you and it will act in place of a grade in the actual class so long as I actually put the effort in. You are also a head of house, even if it's not my own, which is all the Hogwarts charter actually requires for self-study in a core subject."
Flitwick, rather than be upset about this, beamed at him instead.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor for forward thinking. I expect actual effort if you are going through this."
"...Would putting in essays regarding healing magic count?" he asked seriously.
"Considering the complexity of healing magic and the high grades required to even take Healer and Mediwizard exams, yes...yes it does," said Flitwick.
All of this was done in the Great Hall at a volume level for everyone to hear...including his head of house, the headmaster and the students.
Umbridge was seething. And it only got worse when Harry refused to attend even one class and was later found in the library. And after the second week, more students would start studying in the library or in the great hall reading actual defense books.
It did not help that she had the sneaking suspicion that the one leading this mess wasn't entirely human. The issue was how to prove it.
Some time later...
Leona knew Umbridge was after his blood. The foolish herbivore continued to wear that awful perfumed crap that gave her away every time she was in the area, and that was without the special map.
Avoiding her became second nature, as she had no legitimate business with him as all his homework was going through Flitwick and by extension Madam Pomphrey due to the nature of his self-study. He was also involved with Snape to a much lesser extent, but the two had come to an understanding after the first...incident.
Snape never looked in Leona's mind a second time, and he still flinched whenever he saw a cat. It was small, but noticeable.
They had a neutral relationship at this point since Leona was nothing like James and apparently resembled his mother more in some way. Snape wouldn't admit this, but Leona suspected the man had known his mother before Hogwarts.
In any case, Umbridge clearly had it out for him because he was openly snubbing her classes and decrees by cheerfully citing the charter which superseded any new 'rule' the ministry tried to pull, as Leona was technically following the school's rules.
He dodged the first spell, and narrowly avoided the second. The third one finally pissed him off enough to draw his wand and start cursing back...and not with just magic.