In this chapter, I'm going to be referring to Harry as "Harry", though later, when he starts being referred to by his longer name (Hadrian), I'm going to be calling him "Hadrian" in dialogue. Sound good?

Also, I'm going to tell you straight here and now: I'm not going to push myself. Oftentimes I feel as if I have to reach a limit on words in my chapters. Most of the time, I try to reach my goal of 2,000 words per chapter. However, I find that pushing myself that far in a short time sometimes leaves my writing strained. So, though I will not cut my chapter(s) shorter, this will, at times, cause me to take longer to bring chapters out. I have a basic outline for my story thus far and cutting chapters short would kind of set that outline off-kilter, so don't expect shorter chapters, only longer time in which the chapters come out. 'Kay?

Chapter 1

November 1, 1986

Harry Potter is Six Years Old

Five years later, Harry Potter could be found beneath layers of rock and dirt, far underneath Gringotts bank, in an area known as the "Resting Place".

The Resting Place was so named by the goblins years ago when they first came to Gringotts bank. It was called the "Resting Place" because, as far as the goblins were concerned, that was all it was. Their plans to escape enslavement caused them to believe it was only a temporary living space, not a home.

The Resting Place was very far away from any dangers within the bank, such as the dragons and entrapments. It was deep underneath even the last level of the bank, and no humans knew about it.

It was built into the rock around it, so that it was only a very, very long hallway with hundreds of homes built in various ways along it. It was not elaborate, or fancy in any way, but it was exactly as Harry liked it.

Harry Potter had been placed with the family of Zignok, one of the goblins that had gone to the ministry to ask for a favor in the first place. He had been placed under Zignok's care by request of Millicent Bagnold, incidentally.

Zignok had a wife, Laizare, and two kids, Chiznok (a boy), and Raizare (a girl). As was custom for goblins, they had been named with the ending –nok for Zignok and –zare for Laizare. All goblin male children were to be named with their male parent's suffix, and all goblin female children named with their female parent's suffix. Those that had no knowledge of their parents were named with the suffix of their guardian's suffix, no matter the sex of the child and/or guardian.

Harry got along brilliantly with Laizare, who, though not human, was the only mother figure Harry had in his life. Her children were fun to play with and pull tricks on (as was custom among goblins—so they could learn to be more cunning), even if they were a few hundred years ahead of him age-wise. Harry also got along with Zignok well enough, though he was often out of the "house", since his job was more important than most.

Zignok was one of the three "generals" (Harry learned) appointed to keep everything to do with the goblins in order. The three generals shared a joint power. They did not make decisions for the goblins, but instead dealt with the humans outside of the bank. They were the ones still working towards the ultimate goal of freedom. He worked with two other goblins named Radnork and Goblane (Harry didn't like the latter much).

Harry had also learned much else. He had grown up learning of pureblood etiquette, pureblood customs, wizarding customs in general, the difference between Dark and Light and Neutral (without biased teaching), goblin history, the history between goblins and humans, Dark and Light Creatures (vampires, elves, etc.), varying Creature history, the basics of wizarding education, a little on wandless magic (though Harry taught more to himself afterwards), magical theory, a few spells (Light, Neutral, and Dark), and a lot else.

Most of Harry's day was consumed by his education, and, to the surprise of all, he had no complaint. As the goblins had learned, Harry was a very intelligent child. He was often more on the quiet side (more than most human children), but he was very perceptive. He could be cunning when he wanted to be, and, to the thankfulness of all, he thought before he acted. He was very brave, it seemed, but he did not act irrationally because of it.

He was fluent in both English and Gobbledegook, though he expressed his extreme dislike for speaking the former. He preferred, it seemed, the much more complicated language of the goblins.

He was also able to speak, though not perfectly, Mermish (the language of the mermaids), Elven (the Elves' language), and Latin (he was able to write Latin better than speak it, however).

He had many teachers. For half of his education he was taught by various goblins. The goblins were the ones to teach him about goblin history, the different languages he knew, and other subjects that were able to be taught under goblin tutelage. They also expanded on his Light and Dark teaching, because they wanted to ensure that when his choice between Dark and Light came, he made it without outside influence.

For the other half of his education, he was taught by humans. He was taught the history of Light magic and Light theory by Jessica Bell (he was told she had a daughter around his age named Katie Bell). She was kind, but slightly annoying because it was obvious she held high regards for him, due to him being the "Boy-Who-Lived".

For the history of Neutral magic, he was taught by Amelia Bones. She had a very tight schedule and only came around twice a week, but she was okay company and a brilliant teacher.

His writing, reading, mathematics, and science teacher was a muggleborn named Stacy Fell. He didn't like her much—she was a little bit too stuck-up for his tastes. Harry knew that if all muggleborns were this way, he would begin to agree with his favorite teacher that muggleborns were lower-class.

His favorite teacher was, by far, the one who taught him Dark magic history and theory, pureblood etiquette, pureblood customs, wizarding customs, wandless magic, and spells. His name was Lucius Malfoy. Though he was a little stuck-up himself, Harry thought he was much better company than the rest of his human teachers. He had found out that Lucius had a boy his age.

Lucius was also his favorite teacher because he was the only one that would go into detail about his past and the world outside. Lucius told him his family's history, bloodline, and ancestors, along with stories about his parents—even if they were few because he didn't know them that well. He informed him about what the outside world was like—both wizarding and muggle (though he could tell Lucius wished he didn't have to find information on the muggle world). On the side, Lucius also taught him how to survive in the outside world (Lucius's words, not his). He taught him how to be clever, how to twist his words, and how to be "Slytherin". Harry knew that he wasn't supposed to be taught anything "biased", but he enjoyed his lessons, so he didn't say anything to his goblin family.

Harry was content with his life. He enjoyed his schoolwork, his family, and his life in general.

Believe it or not, Harry Potter was beginning to fear the day he would first go to Hogwarts. Perhaps it was cowardly, but Harry had no desire to step foot into the unknown world he had come to know as the "aboveground".

Harry liked to have control, and you did not have control in an unknown situation.

Where he got his like of being in control was a mystery to all the goblins around him, but it should have been obvious that the blame could only be pointed in one direction: Lucius Malfoy.

Being a child, Harry knew he did not yet have much control. He had nearly no control over his magic, none over any of the adults he knew, nor his life thus far, or anything else of great importance that Harry could recall at his six years of age.

Therefore, it was because of this that Harry felt the need to assert control in small ways.

Such was the reason he changed his name to Hadrian. Though it was not his real name and most still referred to him as Harry, he knew that none of the wizards aboveground knew that his new, "real" name was Hadrian. Because of this, Harry held the element of surprise over them all.

When Harry chose to tell them of his new name, they could—and hopefully would—be sufficiently surprised.

Little did Harry know, they would have much more to be surprised about than just his new name.

…

Is anyone else amused by Harry's childish reasoning yet? Because that's all it is—he's just a six year old :)

I tried not to make Harry SUPER smart and intelligent, but I have a feeling that goblins don't really know exactly what humans are supposed to be taught. So, if that was the case, wouldn't they try to teach him as much as possible before he was sent off to Hogwarts?

Anyways—reviews appreciated! Especially 'cause this is just being started, I need to know how well this is being received, so I can make adjustments as I see fit.