Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter Universe. That belongs to Ms. Rowling. I am just letting my imagination run amuck for a while.

AN: I have read several dozen stories where Harry travels back in time to change things. Some run smoothly, some run into problems, but it seems that most of them run along the same lines, of change a few things, and save the world from a dark and terrible fate. I have enjoyed each and every one of these stories, and they have made me want to write my own. I didn't want to fall into the same trap of Harry goes back, Harry breaks free, and Harry goes shopping story lines, so I have decided to write a story that comes out of left field.

This story will be written solely from Harry's point of view, so we will not get an in depth look at anyone else's motivations and thoughts. I will try and explain everything in conversation at some point, but some things that may cause confusion will take a while to explain. Please be patient with me I will try and fill all the holes by the end of the story.

AN: I need to apologize to everyone. I had the next couple chapters written for this story and for Winter's Child as well, and stored on a flash drive along with a good amount of my school work from the last few years. Then like the almost brilliant person I am, I left the drive in the computer lab up on campus. Needless to say it was not turned in, and I was unable to find it. So I have had to re-write the chapters for both stories. I'd blame genetics, but we all know that would be a lie.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to point out that in this story, Voldemort is not main antagonist. In fact he is pretty much more of a side note and will be taken care of quickly with very little fanfare. The main plot goes off in a much different direction.

-DCM-

Harry watched in shock for as a young boy moved out from the back of the crowd of eleven year olds. The Great Hall had gone silent as everyone watched this new Harry push his way to the front of the group of first years. There he paused, as if for dramatic effect, and with a slightly puffed up chest, and a superior look on his face made his way towards the stool where Professor Sprout waited.

Harry took a close look at 'non-Harry' while his brain did a reboot and he tried to figure out just exactly what was going on. This non-Harry stood taller and looked much healthier than he had at eleven. His hair was still messy, in fact it was Potter messy, and he had the vivid green eyes of Lily Potter. The curse scar on his forehead stood out prominently, and Harry got the feeling it was on display for all the world to see. Non-Harry also wore clothes that were made of some of the finest materials available, and had on dragon hide boots. He still wore glasses, made of the same black round frames Harry had worn as a youngster, but Harry could tell they were new, and not the often broken and repaired with tape he had worn.

'He's an attention seeking, stuck up pillock!' Harry thought to himself as he watched non-Harry strut slowly to the stool while soaking up the attention he was receiving. A slow, evil smile graced Harry's lips for a brief moment before he stilled his features to a neutral expression. Just as non-Harry moved within a few feet of the stool, Harry snapped his fingers while they were surreptitiously hidden under the table.

Harry had to hide his smirk as non-Harry tripped and landed face down in front of the whole school. There was a startled gasp and then the hall was silent for several seconds, then several students giggled. At the Slytherin table, Draco and his goons were out-right laughing as non-Harry slowly picked himself up with as much dignity as he could muster and brushed off his robes.

"I seem to have tripped." He reached over and picked up the stool, while a surprised Professor Sprout picked up the fallen sorting hat, and handed it to the embarrassed student. Non-Harry sat on the stool, and put the battered and now disgruntled hat on his head. Harry watched the sorting in interest wondering where the imposter would be put.

He was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Hadn't his simulacrum been discovered? Had the hocrux Harry pushed out of himself been powerful enough to take over and animate it into a semblance of life? Or had someone took advantage of his death to steal his life? That one seemed most likely as it was well known the Potters were wealthy both politically and financially. Well, they had been financially, but Harry had emptied the Potter vaults and sealed them. So if it was someone pretending to be him, then they wouldn't have been able to access the family vaults and from the looks of the imposter, he obviously had money, or access to money. Harry decided he needed to figure out who or what the imposter was, then he would make a plan to deal with him in the best way possible.

Harry knew he would have to watch and observe non-Harry for a while before making his move. He still had Voldemort to deal with, but that should only take a few weekends to round up the pieces of Riddle's soul that were lying about, then he would make his move on Quirell, and get the main piece of his soul and place it in a special soul cube he had made, enchanted and protected so Tommy couldn't get out. When all of the pieces were contained in the cube, Harry planned to stop by the Department of Mysteries and simply toss the cube through the Veil of Death and be done with him. Then he could focus on unraveling the mystery that was non-Harry.

Harry turned his attention back to the sorting and noticed that the hat seemed to be arguing with non-Harry. Finally after another minute, the hat seemed to grudgingly call out "Gryffindor", to the applause of that table. The twins were doing their 'we got Potter' dance with half the table, and even Percy was joining in. Harry thought it odd as Percy hadn't been this excited the first time around. 'Curiouser and curiouser' Harry thought.

Non-Harry stood and throwing his arms in the air, started running over to the lion's table which had again erupted in a roar of cheers. 'You have got to be kidding me!' Harry decided right there that, though he had a few too many things on his plate at the moment to unravel this latest mystery, he couldn't, as the true son of a marauder, pass up any opportunity to make this peacocks' life miserable.

Harry again snapped his fingers under the table, and this time non-Harry tripped and fell, face first, into the end of the table. There was an audible crunch as his nose broke on impact with the edge of the table. Several students jumped up to help non-Harry while Madam Pomfrey quickly made her way to his side, and began moving her wand in a complicated pattern.

"Epskie" she said and his nose was righted. She then vanished the blood on his face and robes. "Mr. Potter, perhaps you should come to the hospital wing and let me check you over for further injuries."

Non-Harry refused quickly and moved to the table to take his seat a bit more sheepishly than when he had started. Madam Pomfrey watched him for a moment, trying to decide if she would drag him to the hospital regardless, but then decided to simply return to her seat at the head table and sit down.

Harry took a moment to look at the other teachers at the table. Headmistress McGonagall was looking surprised, yet pleased at where non-Harry had been sorted, and most of the rest of the teachers only had concerned looks on their faces. The exceptions were Snape, who had his face in his right hand in an attempt to cover up his almost giddy amusement at the humiliation the perceived son of his most hated rival had just experienced, and Quirell, who was looking at non-Harry with barely disguised anger. Harry thought it both odd and fortuitous that "Volde-Quirell" was here. Odd because even without Dumbledore's Philosopher's Stone scheme to draw him here, he was still here. Fortuitous because now he didn't have to go to Albania and hunt his wraith down and entrap it in the soul cube, which made getting rid of him that much easier.

The rest of the sorting went off without a hitch, but Harry noticed something else that was different from his last life. There were more students attending than had attended in his time. When he went through there were only 30ish students in his year, but now there seemed to be almost 50, with several new names he had not recognized before.

He turned to Professor Flitwick and got his attention. "Professor?"

"Yes Evan?"

"I'm a little surprised at the number of students being sorted. I had thought this class would be smaller due to the last war here in England."

"Ah yes, this is actually one of the smallest classes ever to attend Hogwarts. But Headmistress has taken it upon herself to reach out to all the families and ask them to send their children. There were also more than a few muggle-borns that she helped attend by giving them scholarships to pay for tuition, and buying their supplies for them. In one case from her own personal account."

Harry was surprised and more than a little heartened at how much Minerva cared for her students. "Perhaps' he thought to himself 'a little help is in order.'

"It is impressive to see such devotion to the students."

"Indeed it is. Since she took over after Albus died, she has revamped the curriculum, raised the standards of teaching, and brought back a few subjects that were no longer taught. I know she wants to do more, but the Board of Governors would only give her so much money."

Harry nodded in understanding. Money was usually at the bottom of a lot of things.

The sorting had finished with Blaise Zambini going to Slytherin, and Headmistress McGonagall stood to make some announcements.

"Before the feast begins, I have a few announcements. This year we are pleased to offer a couple new courses that have been added to the curriculum. Dueling will be taught once a week by Professor Flitwick, and is an optional course for third years and above. Wizarding Customs and Culture will also be taught once a week and will be hosted by Madam Longbottom and Madam Marchbanks, who have agreed to give a series of lectures together. This course is mandatory for all muggle-born students, and is optional to everyone else. Conversely, there will also be lectures highlighting Muggle Society and Customs that is required for all non-muggle-born students and optional for muggle-borns. This will be taught my Mr. Jones, who is a muggle-born himself, and lives and works in the muggle world."

"We are pleased to welcome back Professor Quirell from his sabbatical, and he will be taking the Defense against the Dark Arts position. Madam Hooch has been promoted to Athletics and Activities Director, and she has hired two assistants, who will be assisting her with Quidditch, broom racing, teaching flying, as well as I believe this year Ms. Higgins has informed me she will be teaching ball room dancing for those that are interested."

Harry thought that most of the girls looked very interested in this last announcement, while most of the boys simply turned a light shade of green, and tried to ignore the growing whispers in the hall.

"Lastly I wish to introduce you to Mr. Evan Jamison. Evan could you please stand up? Mr. Jamison has come to Hogwarts in a rather unique position. He is here to earn his masteries in Charms, Transfiguration and Runes and will be working with Professors Flitwick, Dante, and Babbling in an arrangement similar to an apprenticeship. He will be doing this four days a week, and on the other three he will be devoting himself to furthering himself towards becoming a master enchanter. "

Harry again sought out and found Susan at the Hufflepuff table and made eye contact with her. Her eyes were wide with understanding and she had a surprised look on her face. Harry smiled at her, and gave her a small wink. He was sure most everyone had seen it, but didn't care as most people wouldn't know who he was winking at.

"He will not be taking any classes to teach at this point, but will be having some set office hours where he will be available to help students in those three subjects. Thank you Mr. Jamison."

"Now I do have one other small matter that I need to address before we begin eating. There has been a rumor circulating for several years that Headmaster Dumbledore hid a rather unique treasure here at Hogwarts for safe keeping. I want to dispel those rumors for once and for all. The castle has been searched from top to bottom and I have poured over Albus Dumbledore's personal journals and have found no reference to any such treasure. So anyone with thoughts of finding this treasure and taking it for themselves will certainly be wasting their time. If anyone is caught doing such a thing, they will be punished accordingly. Mr. Filtch has an updated list of banned items on his office door, and reminds us all that there is to be no magic in the halls." Minerva smiled once again at the students. "With that said, let's eat!"

As she sat down, food began to appear on the table before them and everyone began filling their plates. 'At least that explains Volde-Quirell being here. I wonder where those rumors started, and how long ago?' Harry pondered while filling his own plate with chicken and roast potatoes.

Never having socialized with any of his teachers to any great extent outside of school, Harry was unsure of what to expect. He was pleasantly surprised at how casual and easy going his conversations went. He could tell the other professors were curious about him, and were including him in the small talk to get a better feel for him.

It was Professor Vector that finally broached the subject of his enchanting. "So Mr. Jamison. You are from Sydney correct?" Harry nodded and looked at her. "Any connection to Jamison Enchanted Goods in Sydney?"

"Yes, in fact I am the owner of JEG, and I do all the enchanting for the business." Several of the professors looked surprised.

Professor Snape openly scoffed. "An enchanter at eleven? Even the Potter brat isn't arrogant enough to claim that." He looked at Harry as if to challenge him.

Almost all of the head table was paying attention to the by play now, and were waiting to see how Harry would react.

Harry simply looked at Snape for a sort time, and then slowly reached up and picked up his knife while not taking his eyes off of Snape. Maintaining eye contact, Harry slowly started running his finger up and down the length of the knife. After the fifth pass of his hand along the knife, he set it back down upon the table, and returned to his meal.

Again Snape scoffed and made to look back to his own meal. It was then that he noticed the knife twitch. He frowned and continued to look at the knife and watched as two arms and two legs slowly grew out of the sides and bottom of the knife. When they were done growing, the knife slowly stood up and turned around. It seemed to be studying the occupants of the head table for a few minutes, then turned and gave a small bow to Harry and then walked across the table and jumped down onto the floor and made its way towards the Hufflepuff table. Once there it jumped up on the end of the table, surprising several of the first years seated near the end. Once it was on the table it reached out and pulled several small sparkling flowers out of the air and started giving them to the all the girls, as it walked down the length of the table. When it reached the far end of the table, it turned to Nymphadora Tonks and gave her a flower that changed the color of its petals to match her current hair color. Then turned and made its way back towards the head table.

"Impressive Mr. Jamison!" Professor Flitwick was delighted.

Snape scoffed one last time. "Useless parlor trick. What good is a knife that gives out flowers?" He continued eating.

"I'm sure it will help when I decide to start dating."

Snape again rolled his eyes. "Like I said, useless."

"Perhaps" Harry agreed with him, "But you aren't considering all the implications of an animated knife." Harry resumed eating, leaving the thought hanging in the air.

After a minute Snape asked in a rather annoyed tone "and what are those implications?"

Harry finished chewing his food and swallowed then turned to address him. "Imagine what could be accomplished with not just a knife, but a full set, or even several full sets of animated potions utensils that knew when to chop, slice, mash, and add ingredients to a potion? For that matter what a fully enchanted potions set could accomplish? If the enchanting is done properly, an enchanted potions set could almost brew a complete potion by itself. All you would need to do is set the ingredients in place for it. Thus freeing up time for a potions master who owned such a set. Time that could be spent researching and inventing new potions."

Everyone was silent while they digested this information. Finally Snape scoffed again. "Can't be done." He stated with no small amount of conviction. "Potion making is too subtle of a science for animated objects to handle."

"Come by my quarters Saturday and I'll let you watch my set brew pain relieving potions, and calming draught." Harry looked at Snape and saw him sneer. He knew he was about to be turned down. "I'll tell you what. If the potions don't turn out perfect, being judged by yourself and Madam Pomfrey, I will enchant you a number 4 cauldron to enhance the strength of any potion brewed in it."

Snape thought for a few minutes then he leaned back in his chair. "And if they are perfect? What do you get in return?"

Harry knew he had him hooked. "You teach me how to brew wolfsbane potion." Severus Snape was one of three potions masters who knew the recipe and how to brew it. Being able to brew it would give Harry an additional project he wanted to tackle eventually. He was curious what the potion would do when it was brewed in an enchanted cauldron.

Snape again was silent while he thought it over. "Not that I think you can do it Jamison, but that recipe is worth more than one enchanted cauldron." He did look thoughtful. "I will tell you what though. If you can brew those two potions with your enchanted toys" He watched as the knife finished it journey back to Harry and sat down on the edge of his plate. "Then I will teach you how to brew it. However, you will still enchant me a number four cauldron. If you fail, like I believe you will, you will enchant me a number four and a number eight cauldron. Agreed?"

Harry thought over the proposal for a few minutes. He knew he could make the potions, in fact, he had pepper-up potions brewing all day for his apothecary business back in Sydney. One of his goals was to get the potion, and he figured he would have to eventually deal with Snape to get it, and was prepared to trade a cauldron for it. "Agreed. 10 am on Saturday?"

"10 am, you will bring your equipment to my lab."

"No." Harry startled the potions master by refusing that condition. "My equipment stays in my lab, which you and anyone else who would like may visit."

"And where is your lab Mr. Jamison?" Snape was looking at him confusion. "Surely you don't expect us to travel to Sydney?"

"Of course not, my lab is in my trunk, which is in my pocket." Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I see" Snape turned back to his food lost in thought.

The feast was soon over, and Headmistress McGonagall dismissed the students back to their dorms with a word of caution to get some sleep as classes started the next day.

"I will show you to your quarters Evan."

"Thank you Professor Flitwick." Harry held out his hand to his animated knife, which jumped up on his hand and climbed his way up his arm and took a seat on his shoulder.

Professor Flitwick watched in amusement. "How long will it last? The knife?"

Harry looked at the knife for a moment "It's permanent, so it will last until the knife is unmade."

Professor Flitwick seemed impressed and smiled even wider. "Excellent! It is a wonderful piece of work! I look forward to seeing what else you come up with while you are here."

In very short order they were standing in front of a door on the second floor in the same hall as several other teachers' quarters.

"These will be your quarters while you are here Evan. You may change the rooms to your liking, including decorating them as you choose. The back wall of your quarters faces west, so if you want you can put in some windows or a door and balcony. To set the password, simply put your hand on the name plate and state your password. You can also key others into the door to allow them in, by doing the same, and then having them put their hand on the name plate. Your office is located right next to mine on the third floor west wing." He checked to make sure Harry had gotten all of those instructions.

"Is there anything else you need tonight Evan?"

"No Professor, I think I have it all."

"Very good. Please remember to get me your schedule of office hours by the end of the week so that I can post it for the other students."

"Of course Professor, thank you."

Professor Flitwick nodded "All right then, if you're set, I will head to my own quarters which are right across the hall and down three doors, and see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Professor."

Harry watched him go, and then turned to his door. He reached up and put his hand on the name plate, and set his password, then opened the door and walked in. The room itself was actually quite a bit larger than he expected, but in reality it didn't matter, as he would be living out of his trunk while he was here. He decided he would figure out what to do about his quarters the next day as he was feeling pretty tired. Plus he was still adjusting to the time change from Sydney to England.

Harry looked to door to his quarters, and set a couple simple wards to keep unwanted guests out. He then took out his trunk and set it down. He touched his finger to his trunk and it resized to its original size. He was about to open the lid and climb in for some much needed sleep when he remembered the map. With a sigh he turned back around.

Harry closed his eyes and changed his cloak to a non-descript cloak and pulled the hood up. With another wave of his hand he cast a few charms to keep himself from being recognized. He then cast a disillusionment spell on himself and 'stepped' into the Gryffindor third year boys dorms. It was empty when he arrived, but he only had a moment to wait when the two young wizards he was looking for walked into the room with their friend Lee Jordan.

All three wizards stopped short, and looked at the cloaked figure before them. Harry took the initiative, and pointed to Lee. "Leave, I have business with these two."

Lee was apprehensive and wasn't sure what to do. He hesitated, but then turned and walked back out. "I'll just be outside the door. Call if you need me." With one last look he walked out the door, closing it behind himself.

Harry looked at the boys before him for a moment.

"You said"

"you had"

"business"

"with us?" Harry smiled at the twin speak. He had missed this about them.

Harry knew he could just take the map from them, and they would never know it. But he wanted to help them. Fred and George had always played it strait with Harry, and he had a desire to help them more this time around. He pulled out a leather bound book and a money bag. "You have something that my father and his friends created. I would like it. In return I will give you a copy of his and his friend's notes from their time in Hogwarts, and 100 galleons."

Fred and George looked at each other and then back at the book and the money bag.

"And just who"

"was your father?"

"Prongs" The twins were more than a little shocked, and stared at him for several seconds.

Finally the twin on the right spoke. "You want the map?"

"If you are the son of prongs"

"then the map belongs"

"to you, why pay for it?"

Harry knew they were rattled because their twin speak was just a little off. "Because I want to help the next generation of marauders, not hurt it. Do we have a deal?"

The twins eyed the money and the book for another moment. Then they both started nodding at the same time. "Deal!"

Harry handed them the money and the book, and received the map from them.

"Say chap!"

"would you"

"let us borrow"

"the map once"

"in a while?"

"I'll tell you what, I will make you a new one. In return, you will owe me three small favors of my choosing. Nothing too big, and nothing too against the rules. Favors involving pranking. Agreed?"

Again the twins didn't even need to look at each other to communicate, thus further confirming to Harry that they had some sort of telepathy between them. "Agreed." They both spoke at once.

"Thank you gentlemen, I will be in touch."

With that he 'stepped' away, leaving two very surprised red heads behind.

-DCM-

AN: There is now a poll up dealing with Nature of Magic. It's my first poll, so not sure if I did it right. Please let me know if I didn't.