It wasn't anywhere close to immediate; his memories of his past life came back to him slowly at first, then all at once as soon as he was old enough to even slightly comprehend them. But by the time his fifth birthday rolled around, James Potter knew with absolute certainty that he was once called Izuku Midoriya (or rather, Midoriya Izuku).

He'd felt like crying later that evening, when Euphemia Potter tucked him into bed and kissed him goodnight. Not because he'd had a bad birthday, or gotten presents he didn't like, or hated his bedtime. No, he cried because that was the night it had truly hit him; he'd died young, in only his second year of Yuuei, and had left everyone behind, including his classmates, friends, All Might, and his original mom.

Euphemia was a wonderful mother. But Izuku had had Inko Midoriya as his mom for far longer, and he missed her dearly. He'd never be able to see her again.

As soon as his new mother left the room, he finally let the tears roll down his cheeks, splashing onto the silk bed sheets.

(James Potter would never be wanting for anything material. Izuku Midoriya would never get the things he truly wanted.)

—

It didn't take long for Izuku to realize he was in a very different world than the one he had inhabited in his previous life. For starters, when he had glanced over at the newspapers his mother and dad liked to read, he'd learned that the date was several centuries in the past. That was the first clue, as who'd ever heard of a person reincarnating backwards? A far more logical answer was that this world was simply younger than the one he'd come from.

The kicker, though, had come the day after all of his memories had settled in. Sixteen years for Izuku had quickly crowded out his far younger memories in this life, most likely because he'd really been to young to retain them for long anyways. If he'd had, Izuku might not have been as shocked when his mother made the toy trains he was playing with come to life and zoom around the room all on their own. He'd chalked it up to being her quirk at first, but then watched her flick a wooden stick (her wand, his memories supplied), and saw the toys react by flying up in the air and traveling across the room, before settling neatly right where they were usually stored.

Izuku's little mouth fell open. "How did you do that?" He asked, astonished. Animating toys and levitating objects were two different quirks! Well, he supposed they could possibly fall under a single quirks category of controlling a certain type of object, but it was still pretty wild.

His mother smiled and patted his head. "Levitating charms, sweet. They're one of the first things you'll learn when you go off to Hogwarts. But that's for when you're older."

Levitating charms? That sounded like some sort of magic. If this really was a new world, was magic real here? It didn't seem possible, but then again, a new world could probably have new rules.

Izuku had so many questions, he didn't know where to begin. If he decided for the moment that magic was real, then it would make sense for there to be a place to learn it, which lead to that 'Hogwarts' mother had mentioned. So if he asked about that, he could also know if his theory about magic was correct.

So that was the question he would start with. "Is Hogwarts a magic school?"

"Yes, and a very good one at that," Mother affirmed. "Your father and I both went there when we were young adults. It's one of the best magic schools in the world."

Izuku's eyes went as wide as the cucumber slices his dad liked to munch on. That had answered a few of his questions, but had also generated about fifty more of them. "Can you show me more magic?"

"Of course!" Mother indulged him. She pulled out her wand again and swished it gently. Small golden lights appeared wherever her wand had been, hovering in the air and shimmering softly. Another wave, and they started changing colors, the ground around them lit up by the glow.

Izuku may have had the memories of a teenager, but at the same time, he was still just as childish as his current physical age would have people believe. Out of curiosity and pure five year old instinct, he reached out and tried to grab one of the lights in his fist.

Warmth spread from his hand out to the rest of his body, like sitting next to a roaring fireplace, except the fizzling was inside of him and not surrounded by stone. "It tickles!" He giggled.

"It does, doesn't it," Euphemia agreed, smiling indulgently. Izuku let go and she waved her wand once more, causing the lights to vanish and leaving Izuku with a faint sense of disappointment. "Come now, it's bedtime."

Izuku allowed himself to be picked up in her arms. "When do I get to go to Hogwarts? I want to learn how to do that!" He paused, years of bullying for being quirkless flashing through his head. "Do I have magic?" He whispered, almost too softly for her to hear. "What if I don't? What will happen to me then?"

"There's no need for you to worry about that," Mother chuckled. "Do you remember a couple weeks ago, when that painting burst into flames? Or when the cookies somehow ended up in your room, even though your father and I had been with you the whole night?"

Izuku did remember those things. He'd hated that weird painting from the minute dad had brought it home, and had wanted it out of the house. Just as he'd been glaring at it from across the hall, it had spontaneously burst into flames. There hadn't been enough to salvage, so dad had thrown it out. With the cookies, he'd been craving them all afternoon, but with his parents around, hadn't been able to sneak one. Yet they'd somehow shown up in his bedroom that evening. Luckily his parents had found the situation funny, and they'd all shared the cookies that night.

He nodded in response to his mother's questions. "Well," Mother continued, "Those were bits of accidental magic you performed. You've been doing things like that since you were a little baby. There's no doubt that you grow to be a fine wizard."

So those were little acts of magic he'd done? Izuku's head spun at the implications. Setting a painting on fire with his mind was very different than somehow transporting cookies to his room. Then again, levitation and little balls of light were also two very different types of powers. Was magic anything like quirks were, or was it as unpredictable as it was in some books?

"How does accidental magic work exactly?" He asked. "I mean, do people generally do specific types of accidental magic based on what they end up being best at? Around when does it usually develop? Is there any way to control it before you go to Hogwarts?"

Mother laughed. "So many questions, I love it! Maybe you'll be in Ravenclaw once your at Hogwarts. Fleamont has been so sure you'd be a cinch for Gryffindor."

"What's Ravenclaw? And what's a Gryffindor?"

"They're Hogwarts houses, sweet."

"Houses? Like places to stay in?"

"That's right." She was carrying him up the back staircase, holding him tightly so he didn't bounce around too much. Their house was really, really big. "They're dormitories, where all the students sleep."

"Oh, okay." Izuku was reminded of the Yuuei dorms. This had obviously been around for a long time, however. "How many houses are there? And what does asking a lot of questions have to do with being in the Ravenclaw dorm - I mean - house?"

They had reached Izuku's room. Mother took one hand away from him to open the door and they walked inside. It was almost as big as the entire bottom floor of his old house, with its own comfy blue couch and chairs, soft gold carpeting, and a giant four-poster bed, the curtains and sheets made of red and gold.

Mother sat him down on the bed, and Izuku crawled under the covers. "There are four houses," She answered patiently. "Really, you can ask a lot of questions and be in any house, but it's more of a Ravenclaw trait, because people are sorted into houses based on what they value the most."

Izuku frowned, pulling the expensive bed sheets up. "And Ravenclaw is the house of valuing questions?"

Mother laughed. "Sort of." She went to smooth out his hair. "How about your father and I tell you about all of the houses another day. It's bedtime for you right now."

Izuku pouted, as five year olds are want to do. "Aww man." He brightened up. "Can you answer my first question though? About how old I need to be to go to Hogwarts? I really want to know the answer to that one."

"Of course," she agreed. "Kids start Hogwarts when they're eleven years old. So you've got six more years before it's time for you to go."

"That's a really long time." He wasn't sure if he could stand not being able to properly learn and understand magic for another six years. Then again, maybe he didn't have to. His own home had a library, and his mother and dad seemed perfectly willing to answer any questions he had. Izuku promised to himself that by the time he went to Hogwarts, he'd be more than prepared.

"It goes by fast," Mother assured him, kissing him on the forehead. "Trust me, I've been where you are."

—

It was much easier to think of Fleamont Potter as his dad than Mother as his mom, hence the terms Mother and Dad respectively. While he loved Mother a lot, and she was a wonderful parent - even if he did recognize that she spoiled him more than a bit - the term "Mom" would always belong to Inko Midoriya, no matter what. She had been there for him at the hardest times of his life, and while there were some times when he wished she had been more supportive of his dreams and aspirations, he couldn't think of a better mother.

On the other hand, Hisashi Midoriya hadn't been around in years. He'd been gone when Mom had taken him to the doctor that had told him he was quirkless, he'd been gone when Izuku had found All Might and was given the power to be a hero, and he'd never once showed up in either of Izuku's years at Yuuei. He was almost always overseas on work, stopping by every few years for a few weeks, then leaving again. Izuku hardly remembered anything about his father's interests or personality, and had only a vague idea of what he'd looked like.

Dad, on the other hand, was a constant presence in his life, and it made everything so much better. He also worked hard, on hair potions that could fix peoples hair the way they wanted in seconds, but he always made time for his wife and only child. He had a nice, if very dad-like, sense of humor, and was always willing to drop whatever book or paper he was reading to play with Izuku and answer his endless questions.

One day, while Dad was reading the paper and Mother was just coming home from brunch with some of her friends, Izuku opened up the line of questioning he had been sitting on ever since his talk with his mother about accidental magic and Hogwarts houses. "Dad? Mother? A few weeks ago, Mother told me about Hogwarts houses, and how different houses value different things. Could you tell me more about that?"

"Of course kiddo," His dad grinned at him, eyes twinkling. "Learning more about the houses so you know to try for Gryffindor?"

"Don't pressure him, Fleamont," Mother pulled her handkerchief out of her coat and tossed it lightly at him. It landed square on his face. Dad chuckled and pulled it off, tossing it back to her. "I think he's just as likely to end up in Ravenclaw anyways."

Their son shifted impatiently. "I still don't know what each house values," he reminded them.

"Of course." Dad set his paper down, and Izuku caught a glimpse of the moving photos that had been the subject of his fascination for the last couple weeks (and the reason he had left this line of questioning until today; he'd been far to busy asking how they worked).

"Well for starters," Dad said, "Gryffindor is the house I was in when I was a boy. Gryffindors value bravery and chivalry above all others. It's a house that always fights for what's right."

"That sounds like a really good place to go," Izuku noted. He imagined that if All Might were here, that would be the house he'd end up in. Yeah, now that he thought about it, that made a lot of sense. But could Izuku get into a house like that?

"Don't count the other houses out," Mother laughed lightly. "I was in Ravenclaw, for instance. We value wit, wisdom, and creativity. That was why I said it was the house for asking lots of questions. I think, with your curiosity, you'd do very well there."

He probably would. But who could blame him? Magic was fascinating! Really, Izuku wondered why every wizard didn't end up in Ravenclaw. Who could look at this world and not want to know everything about it?

"That's pretty fair." Dad squeezed his hand. "But most kids aren't like you, Kiddo. Especially those from wizarding families, they aren't that interested in how magic works, just what it can do for them." Izuku winced slightly, he must've been mumbling again. While he didn't do it nearly as much in this life, it still came out now and again.

"There are two other houses, of course," Mother continued. "The students in Hufflepuff value things like honesty, loyalty, kindness, and hard work. They're generally a very nice group of people."

"I like the sound of that." Izuku wondered which of his friends would end up there. Kirishima, definitely. Maybe Tsyu? No, she was probably a Gryffindor. Now that he thought about it, Aizawa valued those things more than anything else, so he'd probably be a Hufflepuff. "It sounds like a good house."

"It is," Dad agreed, "even if they aren't always taken seriously." He sighed dramatically. "And then there are the Slytherins."

"Fleamont," Mother admonished, looking more amused than anything. "Please don't bring your personal bias into this." She turned to Izuku. "Slytherin values ambition and cunning above the others."

Izuku frowned. "That doesn't sound too bad." Were Slytherins and Gryffindors rivals?

"You got it," Dad admitted, somewhat chastised. "And it isn't bad, per say. Everyone needs some ambition to get places in life But would you honestly trust someone who made it clear they value ambition itself over things like kindness or bravery?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't a villain that popped into Izuku's head, but Endeavor, who valued his own status as a hero over being a hero itself, so much so that he forced his own child to be someone he could live vicariously through, and neglected his other kids. He gritted his teeth at the thought of that man.

"Yeah," he managed to get out. "Yeah, that doesn't sound very nice."

"There are some very nice Slytherins," Mother pointed out, sitting down beside Izuku at the table. "A few of my school friends were from that house, and they were good people."

"You just couldn't trust them," Dad snarked.

"Fleamont!" Mother chided. Izuku could tell it was teasing on both sides, but he vowed right then that he wouldn't be in Slytherin. He wanted to be better than that.

But to be better, he had to know how one's house got chosen, so that he could aim for one of the other three. "How do you get into each house?" He questioned his parents, who were still gently teasing each other.

"Ah," Dad forced himself to stop laughing. "That's a secret Kiddo, sorry. School tradition."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Mother smiled down on him. "Wherever you go, we'll be proud of you. We may not be able to tell you what the sorting process is, but we can tell you neither of us have heard of an instance where someone was sorted wrong." Izuku nodded, feeling reassured.

Still, he'd try to find out more later. He didn't want to go into this at all unprepared.

—

"James, sweet, it's bedtime." Mother poked her head around the door to their library. "Still reading all those books, I see. You haven't come out of there all day, save for meals. What are you reading that has you so interested?"

"Lots of things!" Izuku picked his head up from the current volume he was reading. Scattered around him were many other books of varying sizes, containing all sorts of different subjects. "Did you know that no one ever figured out a pattern to how accidental magic manifests itself? It can appear at any age, in tons of different ways. But why? Why does it do that?"

"It's magic, Sweet." Mother sat down next to him, gently stacking the books up and sending them away with her wand. "Magic does what it wants, it seems. Every magic user is different, so it appears in many different ways."

"So is magic sentient then?" Izuku wondered aloud. "Is it okay to use it then?"

His mother gave a small shrug. "I wouldn't call it sentient, so much as unpredictable. But with proper learning, it becomes more and more predictable, and easier to use. That is why we have schools like Hogwarts, after all."

"I was wondering about that too," Izuku admitted. "How does one get accepted into Hogwarts? I mean, how do the teachers know who's magical, and who isn't? Especially with muggleborns and squibs." He'd done research into that subject, and like everything else, found frustratingly little on the subject. It seemed some people were born with magic, and some weren't. Although the idea of people possibly being exiled from their communities for not having magic was uncomfortably familiar.

Mother folded her hands on her lap. "If what I've heard is true, there's a magical quill and book, charmed by the founders of Hogwarts themselves, that are able to detect when a child is magical, and write their name down. Apparently, they haven't been wrong yet."

"Wow." Izuku thought about that. "I wonder what sort of charm they used to do that?"

"That I don't know." Mother shook her head, smiling. "But what I do know is that you can continue your reading tomorrow. For now, it really is bedtime."

Izuku pouted.

—

Izuku always knew technology had been held back by the appearance of quirks, but now that he was so far in the past, he was seeing it firsthand, and the shock of it was even greater.

While technology hadn't progressed to the point it was at in his past life, it was actually pretty close, with similar cars, radios, and television. Cell phones and the internet weren't a thing yet, but with the way things were improving, it would only be a matter of time.

Even more interesting than that, however, was the fact that wizards were way way far behind when it came to technology. Sure, they had radio and trains, and could replace things like phones with talking through fires, but wizarding society as a whole was still super far behind!

Izuku had searched their library for information on wizarding technology, but couldn't find anything. He decided to ask his dad about it.

"Technology, hmm?" Dad stroked his chin, pondering the question. "That's a very interesting question. Sorry we don't have any books on it." He brightened, and lifted his head up. "Oh, I know! How about we go to the London Public Library, and see if they have anything there?"

"Isn't that a muggle library?" It hadn't been a big shock to find out he was now living in England; he'd been speaking English this whole life, after all. Still, it was a big weird, walking out of the house and into the English countryside, like something out of a storybook.

"Sure it is," Dad agreed. "But there's a magical section hidden from muggle eyes there as well."

"That sounds so awesome!" Izuku couldn't help but bounce up and down. "Yeah, let's go there and see if they have anything."

They took floo powder to get to London, which was still both neat and somewhat terrifying. Once there, they walked the few blocks to the library, Dad holding Izuku's hand the whole way there. Izuku looked around at the rows and rows of books, itching to get his hands on them. However, his dad led him to a door in the back, which everyone else seemed to be overlooking.

They entered to find even more shelves filled with books. These ones, however, were flying off the shelves and into people's hands of their own accord. The people reading the books were wearing robes of all sorts of bright colors, some of which almost hurt to look that.

That was okay, of course. Izuku would much rather look at the books than the people reading them.

A wizard with a bright green robed glanced up as they approached, looking somewhat disinterested. "Can I help you two?"

Dad smiled at him. "Yes, thank you. We're looking into wizarding history, technology more specifically. My son's interested in the topic." Izuku waved at the man.

The man's bored expression morphed into one of surprise. "Huh. Not many wizards or witches look into that sort of thing. Usually just as a passing curiosity, or to write some sort of article. Follow me then." He lead them off into a corner, where the books all looked dusty and less used. "Hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thanks!" Izuku waved at him. He gave a short nod back and walked away.

—

When Izuku was six, he finally decided to test out One for All, to see if he still had his quirk or not. It was obvious that quirks as a whole didn't exist in this world, at least not yet. But he had to try and see if his still worked.

It was late at night when he decided to test if out, after Mother and Dad had both gone to sleep and he was alone in his room. Izuku slipped out of bed and onto the soft carpets that covered his room.

He focused as hard as he could on the feeling One for All gave him, how it felt with all of that power rushing through his veins. Izuku clenched his fists and waited.

At first, nothing happened. But slowly, green sparks started to fly around his body's coursing through his veins like an old friend. It was light, weaker than it had even been before. But it was there. If Izuku had to guess, he was able to use less than one percent of One for All at the moment. But the fact that he could use it at all was encouraging.

—

Despite the equal feeling of being loved he received from each, were many differences between the Midoriya family and the Potter family. Besides the fact that he lived with two parents instead of one, and the fact that while Mom was making good money as a middle class citizen, the Potters were sitting pretty on a massive fortune, there was the parents themselves.

Euphemia Potter - Mother - was beautiful for her age, especially considering she'd had Izuku when she was around forty. She had long flowing dark red hair, speckled with strands of gray. While she was equally kind, Mother was much more self assured than Mom had been, radiating confidence. More than a few times, Izuku wondered guiltily if that had to do with the fact that he was born magical in this world, but quirkless in the previous one. Pictures and stories, however, told a different story, one that said Mother had always been like this. He hoped it was just that.

Fleamont Potter was just a few years older than his wife, with smooth salt and pepper hair and sharp hazel eyes hidden behind glasses. Izuku couldn't exactly compare him to his previous father, as he didn't know the man, but a huge difference from his previous life was that while he had taken his looks from his mother then, now they came almost completely from Dad. It still shocked him everytime he looked in the mirror, expecting green hair but seeing messy black.

Another major thing that set the Potters apart from Mom, however, was that the Potters had lots of friends. Lots and Lots of friends.

"Come on Sweet." Mother gently pulled him along. After weeks of pleading, She and Dad had agreed to take Izuku on a broomstick ride, which had proven to be even more of a thrill than he'd imagined. Now that they were at their destination, however, his nerves came rearing up, threatening to consume him.

"What if he doesn't like me?" Izuku voiced his hesitant thoughts. "What if we get off on the wrong foot, what if I say something dumb and he thinks I'm an idiot, what if-"

"It won't be like that Sweet, I promise," Mother assured him. "I've met Frank before, he's a very nice young boy, and only about a year older than you. I'm sure you'll get along splendidly."

That would be nice, except the anxieties wouldn't leave him. They walked up to the front steps of the Longbottom's house, a huge estate that almost rivaled their own.

The door opened as they approached, and a small creature in rags appeared at the door.

"Miss Augusta and master Frank are waiting for you, Sirs and Madam." The thing spoke with a deep croaky voice, as it bowed them inside. Mother thanked it kindly as they passed.

"What was that?" Izuku wondered.

"A house elf," Dad explained. "They work for some rich wizarding families."

Izuku glanced back at the house elf. "Why's he wearing rags?"

"They hate clothes. Giving a house elf clothes is essentially firing them, which they consider a great failure on their part. Ah, Augusta!" Dad spread his arms out wide as a sharp looking woman approached, kissing her on the cheek in greeting. The greeting she and Mother shared was equally warm.

"It's about time you visited. Your son is already six, and I've barely met him." Augusta Longbottom leaned down to meet Izuku's eyes. "You must be James. You've grown since I last saw you."

Izuku didn't remember seeing her before, but he nodded his head politely anyways. "Thank you ma'am."

"So polite! He and Frank will get along splendidly. Frank!" At his mother's call, a boy came thumping down the stairs, and locked eyes with Izuku. Frank was tall for his age, with brown hair and curious eyes.

Izuku gave a shy wave. "Hi. I'm James."

Frank smiled. "Hello! It's nice to meet you."

Mother gave his hand a squeeze. "Why don't you two get to know each other better?"

"Right." Augusta nodded firmly. "Frank, give him a tour of the estate. Be sure to ask what he wants to see the most."

"Okay." Frank gave Izuku a smile and motioned for him to follow. Izuku walked with him as their parents talked in the background. "Is there anything you want to see?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "Well, what do you have? I mean, this is your house, after all. Well, actually if you have a lot of books I would love to see them. I've read almost all the books in my house, which is both great and frustrating because not many books talk about how magic atcually works. And you'd think they'd have something on it in different magical libraries, but it's like not many wizards seem to care how anything works, and isn't that weird? I mean-" Izuku cut himself off when he saw Frank staring at him with wide eyes. He winced. So much for making a good first impression. "Sorry, I tend to ramble a lot."

"It's fine, that's not-" Frank cut himself off. "Midoriya?"

Oh.

Well this just got a lot more interesting.

—

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!