I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION. ALL RIGHT GO TO J.K. ROWLING

-24th July 1991-

Harry peered down at the envelope and then back at the woman, "Who are you?" He asked.

"I am Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she explained. Harry's eyebrows shot up, Witches and Wizards are real, so there were others who could also do magic other than his parents. "May I come in?" She continued as if it was the most regular thing.

"Of course." They both walked through into the living room where Dudley was still in his school uniform watching the TV whilst eating a big bag of crips. Eating might be a bit too polite to describe the action. Harry would probably argue that stuffing his face would be a more accurate term.

His Aunt was sitting in a chair reading one of her romance novels. As soon as he walked in the room with Professor McGonagall behind him, she peered over the top of the book and then jumped to her feet. "YOU!" She shouted as she pointed her finger at the Professor and started to march over to her. "HOW DARE YOU ENTER THIS HOUSE, WE WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND YOUR FREAKISHNESS!" She ranted. "THE BOY IS NOT GOING."

The Professor just stood there, stone-faced until she had finished her rant. "Nice to see you again as well Mrs. Dursley." She saw that Aunt Petunia was not going to sit back down or move out the way, so she took a wooden branch out of her robe. He knew that in fictional books that wands could be used to do magic, but wands were real as well! She then swished her wand conjured a red armchair with a golden trimming for her to sit down on. Harry's eye bulged out of his sockets. He knew he could do magic but to make an entire armchair appear out of thin air was insane.

"Now Mr. Potter, I do not know how much you have been informed but in case you do not know, you are a wizard." She stated calmly, completely ignoring his Aunt who had somehow turned Uncle Vernon Purple.

"I know I have magic," Harry said still having reservations about the Professor, she would probably turn out to be like every other adult in his life, even if she was also magic.

It was now Petunias turn for her eyes to bulge as she took in the fact that Harry knew he could do magic and sounded completely comfortable with the fact. Professor McGonagall clearly saw this, "I'm guessing you came about this discovery yourself and not because your Aunt and her husband chose to inform you." Harry just nodded. "Tell me," she continued, "how much do you know about us, more specifically your family?"

"Well, that my parents were drunks that…"

He didn't get to finish before the Professor shot up from her armchair, "Excuse me?" She was clearly staring right into the soul of his Aunt.

"They were drunks and died in a car crash," Harry muttered a bit quieter this time.

"You told your nephew, that his parents, one of whom is still alive, and the other was your sister, were drunks and died in a car crash? How dare you!" He could tell that she was getting more and more angry as her Scottish accent was becoming more and more pronounced the angrier, she got.

"Well, what difference does it make, he wasn't going to know anything about you freaks!"

"His father is still alive, as is his brother, and you were going to tell him none of that?"

"Well, his father didn't care enough about him to keep checking up on him, last we heard of him was almost 3 and a half years ago!"

"Wait, my dad is alive," Harry interrupted, not sure if his hearing was working properly. Of course, his dad had abandoned him though, he must just be like all the other adults in his life.

"Yes, as is your twin brother, but that is a discussion for later. Now, Mrs. Dursley, as you can clearly see Harry here knows about magic and therefore, if he chooses to will attend Hogwarts as both his mother and father did before him." Petunia clearly did not like that at all and so stormed off through to the kitchen.

"Now Mr. Potter, you already know you are a wizard, I am here to officially offer you a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of the finest magical educational schools in the entire world as well as introduce you to the magical world."

Harry found his head nodding along with what she was saying. Finally, a place where he could fit in, where he wasn't a freak!

"Now, if you will please grab onto my arm we will introduce you to the rest of our world in just a moment."

Harry looked around to see Dudley still engrossed in the TV eating his crips, hesitantly he reached out and grabbed onto her arm only to feel a somewhat familiar feeling of being compressed on all sides. Only this felt so much worse than he remembered and when he felt the solid ground beneath his feet he staggered off to the side only to walk into something.

He balanced himself and took a look around only to see that they were in a side alley and that he had just walked into a dumpster. He looked over to the Professor to see the faint outline of a smile on her face.

"What on Earth was that?" Harry asked. "A little warning next time would be appreciated."

"That was apparition, most people throw up when they experience it for the first time, and I forgot you wouldn't know what me offering you my arm meant, I apologise" McGonagall explained.

"Well, that wasn't my first time," Seeing McGonagall's raised eyebrow he continued, "I once teleported, no apparated you called it? Anyway, I ended up on my school roof once."

"Truly, that is quite an impressive bit of accidental magic Mr. Potter."

"Thank you?" Harry wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not to do something impressive but also accidentally.

"It was a compliment," She said obviously seeing the contemplation on his face. "Now, follow me."

She turned on her heel and started marching out the alley. They were in the middle of London! The pavement was crowded with people who were walking up and down the street on their way home from work. He had only apparated about 100 metres, but they had just travelled over 38km! She must be a very powerful witch if she could do that so easily.

Harry could see she was heading towards a small, rundown-looking pub with a wooden sign hanging over the entrance saying, 'The Leaky Cauldron'. He saw on the pavement everyone else seemed to be completely ignoring the pub and did not even spare it a glance.

Professor McGonagall did not seem to mind however, and she just pushed the door open and walked in. He followed and was surprised at how dimly lit it was. He guessed he was in quite an important place as this was the first place that the Professor had taken him, but he couldn't imagine why. It was full of old people and a lot of them seemed to be wearing hats that were similar to McGonagall's. It looked dark and slightly damp but the people in it looked friendly enough he supposed.

"Ah, Professor McGonagall, showing another muggleborn student around, are we?" The barman asked, he clearly knew who the Professor was, and she must be the main Professor to introduce people to the wizarding world. What was a muggleborn though? His best guess would be someone who was magical but their parents were not. That would mean that someone without magic is a muggle. That would make sense. But is magic genetic, it must be as both his parents had it. But then why didn't his Aunt have it. There were too many questions that he wanted to ask.

"Not exactly Tom." Professor McGonagall replied. "Now, follow me Mr. Potter."

At the utterance of that surname, all activity in the pub seemed to cease as people started staring at him. Evidently his surname had some sort of importance as he couldn't see why else everyone was looking at him like a bug under a microscope.

The Professor again seemed disinterested in what others thought and just carried on walking to the back exit of the pub, Harry quickly followed her, having to do an odd shuffle-jog to catch up with her. They left the pub and were then surrounded on all sides by brick walls. McGonagall removed her wand, looked over her shoulder at Harry and said, "You would do well to remember this pattern Mr. Potter." She then turned her attention back to the wall in front of her and tapped 3 specific bricks.

Suddenly, with a low rumble the wall started to change shape until it formed an archway into another street. That would be a disservice to the street however, it was the most colourful, lively looking street Harry had ever seen. There were people of all ages, wearing all sorts of different clothes and colours. People with hats, people with bright orange robes, people with bright pink hair. He even saw one person wearing a robe that changed colour every 2 seconds. It was awfully distracting.

The buildings along the sides were some of the strangest he had ever seen. They were all crooked and looked as if a strong breeze would send them tumbling to the ground. Just like the clothes people were wearing, the buildings were a multitude of different colours as well, some blue, some green. A few that were plain black or grey, but most were just gave him a headache if he looked at them for too long.

Professor McGonagall had stopped and waited for him to get over his stunned silence. It was one of the more considerate things an adult had done for him. Let him move on in his own terms, it was a small thing, but it did help him relax around the clearly stern Professor.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley Mr. Potter" When he looked up at her and nodded, she said, "Now, take your letter out and read it."

He did as instructed and saw two pieces of paper within the envelope. He took them out read the first letter:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme
Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all
necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress

That all made sense to him, it was the next letter that made him have to reread it multiple times to fully understand it.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT
Wand
Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set
Glass or crystal phials
Telescope set
Brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED
THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Gloves made of dragon hide, were dragons real, or was it just a fancy name given to another material. And broomsticks? Witches and wizards actually rode broomsticks; when he first read that he had almost laughed.

"Now, let's go and buy what you need, I would recommend that we get you your books first." She suggested.

Harry didn't have an issue with that, he loved books, so he just nodded eagerly.

"Let's go then." She said and started walking over to a shop that was painted green. It had white words on the walls above the windows which informed him the shop was called, 'Flourish and Blotts'.

He followed the Professor through the door, and he was almost in heaven. There were bookshelves stacked from the floor all the way to the ceiling. And the best thing was, they were all completely full. He could spend all day in here. However, he knew he was here for a reason and so made his way over to the middle of the floor where there was a long table. It was separated into 7 parts with each part being labelled 'First Year', 'Second Year' and so on.

Hogwarts had 7 years he deduced as he made his way over to section labelled 'First Year'. He checked the list and picked up one of each book, carefully stacking them all on top of each other. It was not going well and since the shop did not have any trolleys or baskets this was all he could think of. He could feel his arms getting heavy when all of a sudden, the weight on his arms disappeared and he watched all the books float their way over to the till.

He looked over to see Professor McGonagall give him a reassuring smile. It was another small thing she did, but it was reassuring him that not every adult was a rude, dismissive, negligent fool.

The man at the till checked all the books and said, "That will be 10 galleons, 15 sickles and 23 knuts please sir."

Harry didn't have a clue what half those words meant but luckily for him Professor McGonagall stepped in and said, "I'll be paying for him today."

"Of course." Was the simple reply from the shop keeper.

She handed over some gold, silver, and bronze coins, they must be the galleons, sickles and knuts that the man was talking about.

She levitated the books to hover alongside them as they left the store, Harry made sure to thank the shopkeeper. It was one of the more useful things that Uncle Vernon had taught him, first impressions matter, even if he thought all of Uncle Vernons first impressions were horrible, the advice was true nonetheless.

"Now Mr. Potter, getting a wand can take a while, so while you are getting one of those, I will get everything else on this list for you," She told him. He nodded, he didn't know why getting a wand took a while, were they not all the same? "Now, do you see that black building there saying Ollivanders, that is where you will get your wand, it's where I got my wand along with the majority of the British population. If you get your wand quickly, wait in the shop until I come and collect you, understood?"

"Yes Professor." Harry replied sincerely, he didn't want to get lost in the middle of a brand-new world and McGonagall seemed reasonable so far.

Harry made his way through the crowd, he wondered if it was always this busy or was it because the Hogwarts year was starting soon. He walked into the store, and it looked completely deserted. "Hello?" He called out into the empty shop. Suddenly a man popped out from one of the aisles of boxes that must have wands in them.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, I can't say I was expecting to see you."

Harry was instantly on guard; how did he know his name and why did he not expect him. "How do you know my name?"

The man ignored his question and asked, "Wand arm?"

"Excuse me? I'm right-handed if that's what you mean" Harry hadn't a clue what he meant, he had never had a wand so how was he supposed to know what a wand arm was?

"Very well, hold it out for me please." The man instructed, Harry did so whilst the man and his tape measure measured Harry in every different length he could imagine.

"Now Mr. Potter, every wand we sell here at Ollivanders has a magical core, a hair from a unicorn, a heartsting from a dragon or a tail feather from a phoenix." Harry was right, not only were dragons real but so were unicorns. "No two wands are the same here and it is my job to match a wand to you, no wand will ever work as well as your own wand will, so let's get to it then." He said as he clapped his hands together and disappeared into the shelves of wands.

Harry just stood there not knowing what to do until the man, Ollivander he guessed, came out with a box. "Beechwood and dragon heartsting, nine inches. Nice and flexible this wand is." He handed it to Harry as if he were passing him a new-born baby. Harry took hold of it and started at it in his hand. "Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a wave."

Harry did so only for the wand to heat up and cause Harry to drop it. "Hmm, evidently not, no worries." He picked the wand up from the floor and disappeared again.

This process went on for about half an hour, trying a new wand only for something to go wrong. Until "Hmm, odd combination but why not?" He said as he passed Harry another wand. "Holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches. Nice and supple."

As soon as Harry touched it, he could feel something deep within the wand connect to him. "Now that is interesting." Ollivander said as he grabbed the wand from Harry's hand. "Not to worry, it seems that this core is destined for you but is in the wrong wood. I will have to ask you to come with me Mr. Potter."

He disappeared into the back of the shop for at least the thirtieth time. When they got to the back of the shop, it was spotless which was odd given how dusty the rest of the shop was. "Now, time for the fun part," Ollivander said, Harry didn't know what he meant by 'fun part' but he guessed he was about to find out. "I need you to take a deep breath for me Mr. Potter and exhale it slowly, allow your magic to leave your body when your breath does."

Harry did so and felt something away in the corner of the room. He opened his eyes to see that Ollivander had detected it as well. He went over to it, "Ahh, Fir wood I see. Yes, that does make sense indeed."

There was a glass jar with a lot of wooden branches inside of it. He took them all out and laid them out onto a piece of cloth that was on the table. There was about 12 pieces total all different shapes and sizes with slight variations in colour in all of them. No two looked the same, "Now Mr. Potter, I will need you to do the same thing again, extend out your magic and we will detect a match, I'm sure of it."

Harry did so again and felt a warm pulling feeling from the one third to the left. He was about to point it out but before he had the chance, Ollivander had already snatched it from the cloth. "How curious, from a silver fir tree that was over 120 years old at the time. If I remember correctly, it always seemed to be a favourite for any Jobberknolls that seemed to have taken up residency here. How fascinating indeed. Very well Mr. Potter, I will need to craft this wand for you and I'm afraid that you cannot be here to witness that process. It will be done in about an hour or so." He then turned his full attention to the Holly Wand

Harry took that as a dismissal and left to the front of the store only to see that Professor McGonagall was looking around outside frantically, well, as frantically as he guessed the old woman could act. When she noticed him in the store she called down and walked in.

"Is everything alright Professor?" He asked.

"Yes, I just could not see you in the shop nor outside. Now, let us see your wand." She announced, clearly a bit excited to see what his wand was.

"Um, about that, Mr. Ollivander is currently making it, apparently the core was in the wrong wood."

"Ah, not to worry Mr. Potter, he will make you the correct wand, this happens about once every 2 years. If I were to be honest it is people like you who are probably his favourite customers. Now, if I am correct, he said it will take about an hour," Harry nodded, "Then let us go get something to eat."

As much as The Leaky Cauldron looked run down and not somewhere you would want to eat, the food was delicious, and Harry was sure he would be coming back for more. "Now Mr. Potter, I can see you have questions, ask away."

That was all Harry needed and he launched into a myriad of different questions that he asked so quickly that it didn't even sound like English.

"Try again, this time a bit slower please Mr. Potter."

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself and asked. "So, do you have a scar as well?"

McGonagall raised a single eyebrow, "What do you mean do I have a scar?"

Harry raised his right hand to show her his palm. McGonagall's raised eyebrow disappeared into her hat and was joined by her other eyebrow. "Merlin, what is that?"

"I don't know, I thought it gave me my magic, doesn't everyone have one?"

"No Mr. Potter, your magic does not come from this scar, rather your soul but that is a different discussion, that scar, it looks almost identical to the one your brother has, but his is a faint white line now, not this inflamed still fresh-looking scar. I will need to ask Professor Dumbledore about this."

"No, it's okay, it's probably nothing." Harry said, the last thing he wanted was more adults asking personal questions only to betray his trust later.

McGonagall just nodded, but Harry knew that she would inform this Dumbledore person anyways. "Moving on then, do you have any other questions."

"If my dad and brother are still alive, why did I have to go and live with the Dursleys?"

"That is a good question Mr. Potter, one that I cannot answer. As it was generally believed that you died alongside your mother 10 years ago so when I got the letter address to yourself, I assumed you would just be a muggleborn student who happened to have the same surname as James Potter, that is the name of your father."

"How did my mother die, based on your reaction I'm guessing it was not in a car crash?"

"No, it was not in a car crash, the mere insinuation of such a thing is a disservice to the very memory of Lily Potter, who was known by all to be an exceptionally powerful and more importantly kind witch. How she died however requires a bit of history. As you know, muggles can be good people and bad people, the same applies to wizards and witches and a few decades ago one of the worst wizards in history was at large. I along with both your mother and father opposed him. We lost many good witches and wizards in that war however, for some reason You-Know-Who decided to personally come to your house for unknown reasons. Both your mother and father had been offered positions within his ranks and so some believe he was there to personally convince them to join, Personally I doubt it but that is neither here nor there. Anyways, it does not matter now why he decided to come, somehow, he never left your house, all that is known is that You-Know-Who killed your mother and you, although I guess that is no longer true. He then turned his wand to your brother, Toby, but somehow his curse rebounded and hit himself, leading to his defeat. Toby is known within our world as The Boy-Who-Lived as he is the only person in history to survive such a curse and he is practically worshiped for defeating You-Know-Who."

"Who is You-Know-Who?" Harry didn't know who that was for sure, "And what was the curse?"

Her expression darkened slightly at the second question, "An 11-year-old boy should not even know of that curse so I will mention it no further. To answer your first question. You-Know-Who was the man, if he could even be described as that, that killed your mother. He also is known as The Dark Lord and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named so if people mention those pseudonyms that is who they are referring to. You see Mr. Potter, people were so scared of him that even now, we do not even speak his name."

"But what was his name?" Harry desperately wanted to know who had robbed him of a peaceful childhood with his mother, whom he could tell was a wonderful woman based solely on the way the Professor talked about her.

"His name was Voldemort." She whispered to him. A slight shudder ran up her spine as she said it and she looked around uncomfortably. This reaction surprised him given what he guessed about the Professor; she didn't seem the type to be easily scared. It just showed him how much that name scared people. "Anyway, he's long gone now, nothing to worry about."

"Okay," Harry said, he was going to go and research this 'Voldemort' fellow as soon as he got the chance, but he would let it drop for now, "How did you know I was who I am."

"That is an easy question Mr. Potter, you look identical to your father when he was your age, except your eyes, they shine brightly just like your mothers did, with so much life and energy. The exact same kindness that defined her shows within your eyes."

Harry personally thought that was a bit far-fetched but wasn't going to say anything so just nodded. It was clear that Professor McGonagall thought very highly of his mother, "Another question, what are galleons, sickles and knuts?"

"That is wizarding money Mr. Potter, Knuts are the bronze coins, sickles are the silver ones that are worth 29 knuts, and galleons are the gold coins that are worth 17 sickles or 493 knuts. I always find that muggleborns, or in your case muggle raised students take a while to understand it but you will get the hang of it."

Harry just nodded again; his mind was whirring over those numbers trying to commit them to memory. "When will I meet my dad and brother?"

"When do you want to meet them Mr. Potter?"

"As soon as possible please." He requested.

"Well then, instead of back to the Dursleys I can take you to Potter Manor where you can meet your family."

"Yes please," Harry said emphatically.

"Now, I believe that your wand should be about ready now so let's go and get it." She stood up and walked back towards the alley whilst putting a pile of coins onto the bar top.

"Ah, Mr. Potter and Professor McGonagall, Fir, Dragon heartstring, 9 and a half inches and quite stiff if I remember correctly, serving you well I hope?" He and Professor McGonagall had the same wand wood! He didn't know what that meant but if your wand helped you become powerful, he was sure he would be powerful if the Professor was anything to go by.

"It is indeed," she replied clearly not amazed at how he seemed to remember every detail about her wand.

"Ah, you shall like this one then, Mr. Potter, here is your wand, I must say, it is a beautiful wand. Fir, phoenix feather, 11 and a half inches, and rather rigid. It will be an excellent wand for transfiguration, I would watch out for this one Professor, he will be one to watch I am sure of it." He presented the wand to Harry with the same care he seemed to hold all wands with. It was a pale wand, a white almost silvery colour but it looked extremely elegant, the wand sloped upwards towards the top where it came to a rounded end. The handle had clear contours on it that seemed to be there for him to grip onto the wand.

Harry reached out and took hold of it, warmth spread throughout his body, he felt welcome and felt what he imagined a hug would feel like. The slight indents of the wand fit his fingers perfectly. He swished the wand and a jet of multicoloured lights shot from the end of it and danced around in the air.

"Bravo indeed Mr. Potter, but the fact that this core should choose you is fascinating to me."

"Why is that fascinating?" Harry questioned, the euphoria of the wand choosing him was starting to wane.

"I remember every wand I ever sold Mr. Potter, the phoenix that gave this feather gave one other feather, I sold it that wands brother 53 years ago to the man who eventually gave your brother that famous scar, and I have a feeling he also gave you that scar you have on your hand. We can expect great things from you Mr. Potter. Afterall He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things, terrible, but great."

By the end of his speech Harry was thoroughly unnerved as was Professor McGonagall who was eyeing him as if he would start going on a rampage any second. "Anyway Mr. Potter, that will be 7 galleons."

Professor McGonagall spoke up, "I am paying for him, I will get the money back from his father."

"Very well, and Mr. Potter, I have a feeling that you and that wand will do some truly marvellous things together." He turned and went back into the maze that was the wand-filled corridors

"Now, Mr. Potter, let us go and meet your father." She walked out of the store and held out her arm. He grabbed onto it and felt the familiar compression for the second time that day.

Authors Note

I once again hope you enjoyed this chapter, I really enjoy the trope of Harry getting a custom wand as long as it is not too over the top so I decided to include it, I also really enjoyed writing the combat transfiguration in the first chapter of the prologue so wanted an excuse to do more of that.

Next chapter we will meet James and Toby and see how they react to Harry.

Finally, again all reviews are welcome!