Author's Note: If you're reading this chapter, I can only presume you like it or it has caught your attention; therefore I'll explain a bit about where this story is heading.

Like many people, I have read several fanfics, including a few that show how the story would change if Harry ends up in another House, has other friends, etc. I've felt that a lot of times these stories take creative liberties (which is fine) about the characters (and therefore you feel that they're other people) and/or spend their time narrating the same events from the books but simply from another point of view; when it no longer makes sense that Harry would find himself in the same situation. No offence intended, it doesn't strike me as particularly logical, so I decided to write myself a fanfic that solves these inconsistencies. Without a doubt, there will be many who won't agree and that's fine, everyone writes their own stories :)

And so, this story will advance in a way where both characters and events that occur before the previous chapter, follow the canon of the books; while characters and events that occur after said chapter will only change if the fact that Harry ends up in another House would alter said events. Therefore, the story will at first be similar to the books, yet as the story progresses it will change more and more.

Finally, sometimes at the end of the chapters I will put a note about why certain changes occurred or simply fun facts. More than an invite to argue or discuss, it's simply a small window into my mind and a fun way to clarify certain events.

I hope that you enjoy the story! :)

PS: This is actually a translation of "La Casa Inesperada" done by myself, the author. If you know Spanish, I recommend you go read it there.


The Hogwarts Express

The month that followed Hagrid's arrival, was both the best and worst month of Harry's life; well maybe second worst after the one that passed after the incident with the boa. On the one hand, Dudley was terrified of him and refused to be in the same room as him; a nice change of pace from scurrying away from Dudley's fist all his life. In fact, he may have taken advantage and gone to the rooms where Dudley was at just to annoy him. His aunt and uncle no longer bothered forcing him to do chores, nor locked him in the cupboard or yelled at him, in fact they practically didn't speak to him. Half furious, half terrified, they pretended Harry didn't exist.

And so, what might have been the best month in his life, became a rather lonely and depressive month. Harry had never thought he could miss his family's mistreatment, but at least that admitted his existence.

So Harry decided to spend his time walking around during the afternoons and his nights reading his school books in his room. Harry had never thought of himself as studious, his grades were good but more so because Harry had no friends and therefore nothing better to do. However, with books about magic that were so interesting, Harry was reading them non-stop, choosing a different book each night. Harry knew that it was probably not the best way to learn, he was even skipping chapters; but he couldn't decide between so many different curiosities, and he certainly didn't have the dedication to read one book at a time.

It was in 'A History of Magic' that he found a name for his owl: 'Hedwig'. She entered and left his room at her pleasure, and after a few days seemed to be taking a liking to Harry. She no longer spent her time sleeping and ignoring him, rather she came to him from time to time so he would pet her a while.

Ten days after his birthday, he was surprised by Hedwig arriving at midnight with a letter, which was from Hagrid. Excited to receive his first letter, he quickly opened it.

'Dear Harry,

How goes the remainer of your summer? Excited to start Hogwarts? Almost everything is ready at the castle to receive the students once more (and of course, those starting their first year like yourself). I'm pretty busy with some animals that have decided to take a stroll thru the Hogwarts grounds, taking advantage that there are no students. The large majority are harmless, but Dumbledore says it's better to avoid accidents and it's better to listen to him.

I hope your relatives are treating you well; if there's any problems though, you just let me know and I'll go and knock some sense into those muggles.

PS: I already knew your owl was smart (one of the reasons I chose her) but she still managed to surprise me by appearing just after I finished this letter!

Yours,

Rubeus Hagrid'

Harry quickly got to writing Hagrid a return letter, which became a difficult task as he had no idea how to use a quill and ink spots appeared everywhere. After he ruined the third parchment in a row, he looked for a ballpoint pen so he could answer.


Dumbledore sighed, he knew there was a good chance his life would become slightly more complicated once Harry Potter began school. What caught him off-guard was for it to be before he even arrived at school.

First the difficulty in reaching him, until he was forced to send Hagrid. Then all the details he had mentioned about his relatives. He knew the Dursley's weren't kind or hospitable people, after all Ms. Figg kept him informed. What he didn't expect was that they would keep him in the dark about his legacy and had even tried to 'remove his magic' according to Hagrid. Of course, Hagrid was quite prone to tell tall tales, especially about matters such as this. It was for this reason that he hadn't given him permission to take Harry to the Hogwarts Express.

Harry's answer however, to the letter Dumbledore had asked Hagrid to write, seemed to indicate that Hagrid wasn't exaggerating. Minor details however, in comparison to the wand that had chosen Harry. He had almost fallen from his chair, when Hagrid told him that Tom's twin wand had ended in Harry's hand. A fact that Ollivander himself had confirmed afterwards. Normally, he wouldn't divulge such information about the wands he sold nor their owners. He was quite careful to protect the privacy of his clients, especially around Dumbledore and people like him, whom he would describe as perceptive.

Nonetheless, as it was his phoenix who gave the twin feathers and being about Voldemort; Ollivander had deemed worthy to inform him. He was far more detailed than he had expected. He was particularly worried about the difficulty Ollivander had to find him a wand as 'it seemed he had to find a single wand for two clients with different personalities'.

He sighed again and looked at the letter once more 'I imagine that I will have to speak with them soon, even if they aren't speaking with me, to see if they will be amenable to take me to King's Cross. Regardless, I don't think it will be particularly hard to get there by myself, it'll be like an adventure! And of course, I have no intention of staying home'.

If the child stopped considering the home of his relatives as his own, then the magical ward that protected him would vanish. The logical thing, a priori, would be to force the child to stay the longest time possible with his family. That way he would always consider it his house, his home. But if the relationship was already so broken, trying to get the pieces close to each other could be counter-productive; like forcing two magnets that repelled each other close, eventually they would go flying in opposite directions…

"It would be best if you let Harry know that you will pick him up the 1st of September and that you will travel by muggle transport to King's Cross. Make sure you leave early enough Hagrid"

"Of course, Professor Dumbledore" he answered with a large smile.


Harry couldn't believe his luck when Hagrid replied, telling him that he would take him to King's Cross so he could get to Hogwarts. He jumped in his bed in excitement until he heard Aunt Petunia climbing up to see what the ruckus was.

The next two weeks somehow flew by and yet went at a snail's pace. He had read at least a third of all the books and he felt slightly more prepared for Hogwarts, but he was quite worried that, generally speaking, he couldn't really understand beyond the first few chapters.

When the morning of the 1st of September arrived, Harry was so excited he woke up at five in the morning and was unable to go back to sleep. He took a while deciding what to wear, until he decided he didn't fancy walking thru the train station in his wizard robes.

Hagrid arrived a bit earlier that Harry expected, yet had no reason to worry about the Dursley's, as they had taken refuge in the master bedroom when Hagrid knocked.

"All good, Harry?"

"All good, Hagrid!" Harry smiled widely.

"We have to hurry, as we have to travel strictly by muggle transport" Hagrid informed him.

"I know, I know" Hagrid said when he saw Harry's face "I would also prefer to travel normally; by magic that is"

Traveling with Hagrid was far easier that Harry expected; he had somehow managed to stuff the birdcage with Hedwig inside a pocket of his coat (and the groundskeeper had only needed to say a few words to the owl for her to calm down). He also carried Harry's trunk as if it was a small and lightweight bag. Of course, people (or now that Harry thought about it, muggles) would keep staring at them. Harry chuckled imagining how they would react if they saw Hedwig.

Finally, after a couple of hours, they arrived at King's Cross Station, and to their surprise, early. There were lots of people going from one place to another, looking for their train or exiting it, yet no matter how hard Harry tried, he couldn't see any wizards or witches.

"Are we the only two wizards here?" Harry asked.

"No, no. As I've been told, there are always a few from the Ministry of Magic, just in case any issues arises. Of course, most of those who travel come dressed as muggles." Harry didn't say anything, but having seen a few wizards dressed as muggles; he very much doubted he wouldn't have recognized them already.

"We just arrived far earlier than we tend to. We wizards tend to arrive just in time. Well, it's time to enter platform nine and three quarters" he exclaimed, giving Harry a small shove.

Harry looked and saw platform nine by the side of platform ten, yet he couldn't find platform nine and three quarters. As they were walking, Harry realized that they seemed to be walking directly to a wall and began wondering when they would turn left or right.

"Umm, Hagrid?" he exclaimed alarmed.

He tried to get out of the bind, but the groundskeeper overlarge size prevented it, and he had no choice but to close his eyes and pray he wouldn't die, quite literally, squished.

When he didn't feel anything, he opened his eyes to a different scene. A beautiful and ancient scarlet red locomotive was in the middle of what seemed to be a single platform from a very different King's Cross. Dozens of witches and wizards, dressed as both muggles and wizards, were gathered around the train. Many talking and others sad because they would not see their family members for an extended period of time.

Harry looked behind him and only saw a wall, from where an older black-haired girl with a trunk appeared only seconds later.

"Incredible" he murmured.

A few parents and students greeted Hagrid as they walked to the train, clearly he was someone somewhat popular. Nobody however seemed to pay attention to Harry; whether because they couldn't see him next to Hagrid or because most wizards didn't know what he looked like, he didn't know.

"Well Harry, here we are" he said with a grand smile "have a great year"

"Umm… thanks Hagrid, thanks a lot" Harry answered looking at the floor and blushing slightly.

Hagrid just smiled softly and pushed the trunk inside then train, before giving him a big hug.

Harry dragged his trunk to the middle of the train where there was no one yet and entered one of the compartments. He stuffed the trunk under the seat as he didn't have the strength nor the height to put it up top.

Little by little, the train started to fill up. Seeing the students entering, he couldn't help but notice how poorly dressed (as always) he was with Dudley's clothes, that were three sizes too big. Wanting to avoid others laughing at him, like they did at his old school, he quickly changed to his black school robes.

A small knock at the door moved his focus from the families that were arriving, to a well-dressed boy with airs of grandeur that was standing at the door. "Excuse me, is this compartment occupied?"

Harry shook his head and the boy, who looked his age, left his fancy looking trunk under the seat as well.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley, a pleasure" he introduced himself presenting his hand.

"Harry, umm, Harry Potter" he answered feeling somewhat foolish, especially when he shook his hand clumsily.

To his surprise, Justin didn't mock him as his cousin would and just nodded "a pleasure"

"I presume you're from a wizarding family, did you come from your home in your robes?" Justin wondered.

"Umm yes, my parents were wizards, but I came dressed as a muggle, I just changed" Harry answered. He expected that not being dressed in Dudley's clothes would mean he wouldn't be mocked; what he didn't expect was that they would automatically assume he was from a wizarding family. Of course, that made him wonder if there would be many of those 'muggle-borns' he had heard of.

Before Justin could answer, the compartment door opened once again and after inquiring, another boy entered who presented himself as Kevin Entwhistle, a surname that caused Harry to giggle quietly.

Harry found it curious that neither of the boys had reacted when he said his name, and shortly after the train left the station he discovered why, both were muggle-borns.

"Do you reckon there won't be many of us?" asked a slightly worried Kevin to Justin.

"I wouldn't know, Harry probably knows more"

"Well, as it turns out, I was raised by my mother's sister who's a muggle. So I know very little about the wizarding world. I didn't even know it existed a month ago" Harry clarified.

"Really? They didn't tell you anything?" a very surprised Justin inquired.

"Nope, my aunt and uncle don't like magic"

"I'm sorry to hear that. They probably weren't too pleased when you got your letter, were they?" Kevin answered.

"Nope, they were furious" Harry sighed.

"Don't worry, they'll get over it eventually. My mom isn't too pleased about it either; my name was down for Eton, and it was shock that not only was I a wizard, but that they had to change their plans for me" Justin soothed him.

Harry gave him a grateful look. Of course, he had the strong impression that Mrs. Finch-Fletchley was much kinder than his Aunt Petunia and that she loved Justin, wizard or not. Also, the fact that he had a spot at Eton confirmed his hunch that he came from a well-off family; it was obvious by his accent, his double-barrelled surname and his clothes. And yet he was quite kind, merry and certainly not even a fraction as stuck-up as Dudley.

They kept chatting and moved to the subject of accidental magic. Harry made them laugh with his stories about the multitude of times they would take him for a haircut and it would grow the next day. Kevin made winter flowers bloom in summer and vice-versa. Meanwhile, Justin had at a very young age managed to prepare himself tea in the middle of the English countryside, without his parents figuring out how he had heated the water (or from where he had gotten the house tea set).

A little while later, a woman with a kind smile and a cart full of food and sweets came. Harry who had never had money to buy sweets, jumped at once to buy everything he could. He found himself stymied however, when the woman didn't have a single candy or chocolate he knew.

Between the three they managed to choose what they wanted, with Justin insisting they couldn't just buy sweets and so made sure to buy some pies and pasties, which Harry had to admit looked pretty good. When they went to pay, Harry insisted he would pay everything, but Justin wouldn't let him. Poor Kevin wasn't even allowed to give an opinion, and in the end Harry settled for paying half plus a sickle.

After eating a few pasties and pies (some were in the shape of cauldrons), they went for the sweets and were left quite impressed. There were chocolate frogs (that moved as if they were real frogs!), liquorice wands, flavoured beans that were literally every flavour (like grass or dirt) and they were left particularly impressed by the cards with pictures that moved.

"Incredible! We are really entering another world, aren't we?" Justin exclaimed.

"Yes… Do you lot think we'll be able to compete? I don't know anything about magic, and all of them will have spent their whole lives surrounded by wizards" Harry asked.

Kevin nodded, clearly it was a worry that had also been in his head.

Justin clasped his hands and spoke slowly "my mom talked about that; I think that's part of the reason she preferred for me to go to Eton, that I would be at a disadvantage if I went to Hogwarts. But she told me if I strived, if I kept my head help up high and honoured my name, then I could achieve whatever I desired in the wizarding world"

Harry and Kevin looked at each other and shrugged, it was something very like those people who went to places like Eton.

A little time afterwards, the door of the compartment opened and a pale girl with lots of wild brown hair and prominent front teeth entered along with a chubby and shy boy.

"Neville has lost his toad. Have you seen him?" she asked in a particularly bossy voice without even introducing herself.

"The closest that we've seen are our chocolate frogs, I think one hopped away" Kevin answered quickly, as if the thought the girl would scold him.

"No, a real one. If you see one, let me know" the girl demanded and went to close the door.

"A pleasure, I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley" he said happily, but with a demeanour of someone trying to remind her good manners.

"Hermione Granger and this is Neville Longbottom" she answered shortly, as if they were wasting her time.

"Kevin Entwhistle"

"Harry Potter"

The girl who was already leaving, turned and fixed her stare at Harry "Are you really? I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in 'Modern Magical History', 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts' and 'Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century'"

"Really?" Harry asked amazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know? I'd have found everything I could if it was me. Do you guys know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad, I expect we'll be there soon" and as soon as she was finished, she left in a heartbeat.

"You would think she was a teacher" Justin laughed.

"She probably will be" Harry mumbled.

"So, you're famous then? Why hadn't you mentioned it?" asked a very impressed Kevin, while Justin looked at him curiously.

"Well, it's something kind of new" Harry replied scratching his head "I mean, I just recently found out that apparently, I defeated a dark wizard when I was a baby, I honestly don't remember"

The other two were looking at him with their eyes wide open "seriously, at least that's what everyone says" he assured them.

"Well" Justin intervened seeing that Harry seemed uncomfortable "what house would you prefer to go?"

Since it was the first Kevin and Harry heard about the houses and had no preference; Justin explained the little he knew from a professor called Sprout, who had been the one to tell his family about the existence of wizards. There were four houses called Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; each had different qualities like loyalty, ambition, bravery and intelligence, respectively.

Harry didn't know which he preferred. His grades were good, but not excellent, as to go to Ravenclaw. He didn't think he was brave enough to go to Gryffindor if he spent all his time running away from Dudley's gang. He had never felt particularly loyal to anyone (he had no friends to whom to be loyal) and his ambition was limited to having a better place to sleep than the cupboard under the stairs.

As he was brooding about it, the compartment door opened once more and this time a pale blond-haired boy stepped in.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment" he said with great curiosity, trying to figure out which of the three was Harry.

"You really should have told us before that you were famous" Justin laughed "I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley, this is Kevin Entwhistle and as you can probably presume, this is Harry Potter, a pleasure"

The boy nodded solemnly, being treated with such respect; Harry however got the slightest impression that he disliked the other two for some reason.

"These are Crabbe and Goyle" he said nodding at his friends that looked more like bodyguards and less like students "and I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, a pleasure" he exclaimed grandly while looking only at Harry.

The three returned the greeting at the trio that had entered.

"So, what do you say Potter, are you coming to our compartment? Many of those from the old families are anxious to meet you"

Even though he didn't say it, Harry was sure that Malfoy thought he was far better that Kevin and Justin, and wouldn't speak with them unless it was necessary. What's more, he slightly reminded him of Dudley (although with manners) but as he had been courteous, he decided to refuse him politely "Thank you, but if I leave then they would be alone. Maybe some other time?"

Malfoy looked at him surprised, clearly the last thing he expected was for Harry to refuse the invitation "well Potter… if you're sure, then we'll chat another time"

"I don't think he liked that you refused his invitation" Kevin mentioned after Malfoy had left.

"I don't know, he just rubbed me the wrong way" Harry shrugged.

"If my mother was here, she would more than likely be saying that it was foolish to refuse such an invitation; that it was the perfect opportunity to present oneself" Justin mentioned, and Harry just shrugged again.

Sometime after sunset, the train stopped in a station surrounded by a forest. They were about to take their trunks when a voice that they couldn't tell where it was coming from, told them to leave their belongings in the train, that they would be taken to the castle.

As they came out, they stumbled upon Hagrid calling those from first year and Harry smiled; if Hagrid would be leading them, then everything would probably be alright.

They took a dark and narrow trail through the forest, and Harry who was almost never allowed to go anywhere, observed curiously the few things he could discern through the darkness.

Soon, they came out of the last bend in the trail and the forest opened to grand and narrow loch, and on the other side, rising above the peak of a ridge, there was a grandiose castle with a multitude of towers, spires and turrets.

"No more than four a boat" Hagrid yelled when they reached the shore. Justin and Kevin, whom were still with him, quickly joined him. A young girl asked if she could join and then did so. As if by magic (or better said, literally by magic) the small boats glided through the loch in synchrony, moving without anything propelling them that they could see.

The girl, who was called Morag Macdougal, was far more nervous than Harry, worried about the sorting ceremony. Apparently, her parents who were both wizards, had explained that there was a hat that when you would put it on, would choose the house you would go to, and she was worried that she would end up in a different house that her parents.

Harry, who had thought that they would choose his house after they had seen how he performed at school, started worrying even with Hagrid close by. He couldn't think of a single quality for him to be selected in one of the houses.

The boats finally stopped at an underground cave under the castle, and even anxious, Harry couldn't help but be impressed by how magical everything was.

They climbed through narrow passageways, carved out of the rock they were in, until they arrived at a small and refined hall with a grand oak door.

They had arrived at Hogwarts!


Last Chapter's Note: As some of you who remember well how the story starts may have noticed (and have not gotten confused with the multitude of fanfics you've read) the butterfly's flutter that changes the whole story is simply Hagrid sending Harry to Amaneusis Quills instead of Madame Malkin.
This way, he doesn't meet Malfoy before reaching Hogwarts, and more importantly, Draco doesn't make him feel bad for his muggle upbringing nor learns about the Houses. A strange consequence is that Harry is far more talkative the rest of the trip and dares to ask Hagrid to pick him up.
Practically everything else, including his wand, remains the same as there is no reason that not meeting Draco would affect something so deep.

Chapter's Note: The chapter changes a lot since it is Hagrid and not the Dursley's who take him to King's Cross. Of course, this causes the great change that he no longer meets Ron or any of the Weasley's!

Choosing whom would travel with Harry was particularly interesting. I knew that I had to choose someone who would not give him a biased opinion in favour of any House in particular, and the muggle-borns were the best option. So I got wrapped up in searching for the best options (Hermione already has a pretty biased opinion). To my astonishment, there were almost no other muggle-borns besides Hermione. In fact, after researching (with cross-references and everything!) I discovered that out of the 42 classmates from Harry's year, only three were muggle-born! (Dean Thomas isn't aware of it, but he's a half-blood; his father hid the truth and left to protect them. Unfortunately, he was murdered by Death Eaters, but his family survived thanks to his sacrifice). Considering that they don't even represent 10% and they arrive without political or social power; it's far more understandable how they're discriminated against so easily.

As a fun fact, you will probably not be surprised to learn that Slytherin is the only House without muggle-borns in Harry's year, the one that has the most pure-bloods and the one that has the most students coming from the "Sacred Twenty-Eight". What may surprise you is learning that Gryffindor is the second House with more pure-bloods and tied with Hufflepuff in students coming from the "Sacred Twenty-Eight". Finally, Ravenclaw is the only House without students coming from the "Sacred Twenty-Eight"; possibly making it the most meritocratic House. In total, there are 11 pure-bloods, 13 half-bloods, 3 muggle-borns, 8 who are either pure-blood or half-blood and 7 whose blood status is unknown.

Back to the chapter, Dumbledore shows his chess master's face and intervenes. I would like to clarify that, according to canon, Dumbledore has no proof that Voldemort created Horcruxes until Harry brings him Riddle's Diary (in the sixth book he clarifies it); therefore, Dumbledore's worries about Harry have nothing to do with a plan to sacrifice Harry or because he's worried that the piece of Voldemort's soul in Harry is corrupting him.

Finally, Harry meets Draco and the interaction is quite different! In the original version, Ron immediately mocks Draco's name, and being a Weasley, Malfoy responds immediately (after all, the Weasley's hate the Malfoy's and vice-versa). In this case, although Draco recognizes that Justin and Kevin are probably muggle-borns because of their surnames; as he is treated with respect, his sense of supremacy isn't attacked and therefore doesn't respond by insulting their families.