Harry Potter was paranoid.

Personally, he'd say that on a scale from Ron Weasley to Mad-Eye Moody, he was probably closer to Mad-Eye in the paranoia department.

Of course Harry Potter had always been paranoid, how could a person that had systematically abused their whole lives and constantly put in dangerous situations not be? If he wasn't dealing with his Uncle Vernon he was trying to survive Lord Voldemort's latest scheme each year. These schemes hadn't worked until this year.

A week ago Harry had witnessed the resurrection of Voldemort; he'd even had the honor of providing one of the ingredients for the ritual. His own blood was "forcibly taken" from him. As per what the ritual instructed. After Voldemort was resurrected he had his first taste of the Cruciatus Curse. He'd barely escaped with his life, after dueling him. Cedric Diggory wasn't so lucky. When he got back from the graveyard he warned Albus Dumbledore, who believed him, but he could tell others were not at willing.

With a scream on his lips, Harry sat up in bed. He'd been having constant nightmares since coming back from the Third Task. Sometimes he was afraid to go to bed. "Tempus," he muttered. The spell informed him that it was only 6:14AM. People were going to start getting up in an hour or so anyways so Harry climbed out of bed and took a quick shower to get the sweat off of his body.

After getting ready and coming back into his room he looked at his best friend, Ron's, bed. He was still snoring away. Lately he and Hermione acted not as his best friends, but his minders. So Harry quietly grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, so that Ron and Hermione wouldn't be able to find him. He need a little time alone and he wouldn't get that with his minders.

When Harry reached the bottom of the stairs to the Common Room he put the Invisibility Cloak on, it wouldn't be good to be seen by anyone when all he wanted was to be alone. He was also pretty sure the portraits reported his movements to the Headmaster because wherever he was he always felt eyes on him. The Invisibility Cloak would slow him down, but at least he would be alone, which was exactly what he craved. When he reached the front doors he couldn't believe his luck. He hadn't seen any professors and only one ghost. He opened the front door and made his way to the lake.

This year the lake had been his go-to place when he wanted solitude from all the jeering faces around him. His shoes were getting slightly damp from the mildew on the grass, but he kept walking towards to boulders so he could watch the end of the sunrise over the lake. He slumped onto what he claimed to be his boulder and started throwing stones into the lake.

"Why couldn't I be normal?" He asked nobody. "Just a regular student that just had to worry about grades, who took girls into broom closets, and just had fun with friends. I don't want to worry about Dark Lords and their followers trying to kill me!" Harry threw the rest of the rocks he was holding into the lake. Harry hadn't been paying attention that the Giant Squid had been throwing his rocks back to shore, so when he threw about 20 rocks into the lake they all came pelting back at him, "Hey!" Harry could have sworn the Giant Squid was laughing at him. He felt it was time to leave the lake.

He didn't want to disturb Hagrid, he would probably report his movements to Dumbledore anyways, and so he snuck by and walked on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He heard some rustling and drew his wand only to see Firenze the Centaur, "Firenze?"

Firenze bowed his head slightly, "Harry Potter." They were silent for a moment before Firenze spoke again, "I told you many moons ago that Mars had been bright that night. I didn't want it to be true, but it seems the stars were right. Be careful Harry Potter." With that Firenze left.

That talk gave Harry a lot to think about as he made his way back to the castle. He'd never thought much of divination, but what Firenze had said to him in his 1st year had always stuck with him and it been correct. Mars meant war and they were on the verge of war.

Harry opened the front doors of the castle and decided rather than going straight to the Great Hall he'd check to make sure everything in his trunk was packed tight. Normally he'd take the back way to avoid the whispers, but he took the direct route now since it was the fastest. He was almost to the Tower when the staircase moved. Usually this wouldn't be abnormal as most of the staircases at Hogwarts do move, except for the one right before the Tower, the one he was on.

His wand was already out when he stepped off the staircase and into the deserted corridor. He'd never been in this corridor and it wasn't on the Marauder's Map. It was beyond dusty so obviously the house elves had even seen the need to stop cleaning it, but Harry couldn't stand the dust. He'd already sneezed three times and he'd only taken two steps into the corridor.

"Scourgify!" He said powerfully. Usually the spell was only used for small messes, but hopefully if he put enough energy into it; it would clean the whole corridor. He wasn't disappointed the dust settled in the far corner of the corridor. Now that the corridor was cleaner it gave Harry an easier time to observe the corridor. It was larger than the other corridors in Hogwarts and more ornate, on the left side there were two long windows separated by a portrait of a group of four people. On the right side there were multiple doors that he'd love to explore later on.

Suddenly he heard a noise to his right, but before he could turn to see what the noise was he was hit with a tripping jinx, "What the-" He fell to the ground, but his Seeker reflexes wouldn't allow him to fall straight on his face. He wasn't going down without a fight so he sent a jelly legs jinx in the general direction of his assailant, it didn't hit them, but it got their attention, "Harry, Harry, stop! I'm not going to hurt you!"

Harry looked up from where he was laying, "Susan?" The red head had been one of the few at Hogwarts that had believed that he hadn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire this year.

"Yes Harry!"

Harry stood up slowly and brushed off the non-existent dust on his robes, "How can I offer my services to you Miss Bones?" He smiled.

She sighed, "It's more how can I offer mine." Harry cocked an eyebrow, "I need to talk to you."

"And you thus decided to lead me to a deserted corridor and shoot a jinx at me? Was that necessary?"

"Yes."

That wasn't the answer he was expecting, "Wait, what?"

"I needed you by yourself, away from your minders," Susan explained.

Harry chuckled softly, but it was lacking humor, "A very astute observation Miss Bones."

"Thank you, I've been planning this for a while."

Harry stepped closer, "Have you? And what exactly is this plan?"

Susan looked up at the boy in front of her, "I need to talk to you, about things you should have been told a long time ago."

Harry's eyebrow's furrowed, "What information is this?"

She bit her lips, "Before we get onto that let's move to one of the rooms."

He nodded, "Where exactly are we, I've never been here and that is saying something."

Susan smiled, "And it isn't on that map of yours," At the shocked look on his face she continued. "Everyone at Hogwarts knows about your map, Ron has a big mouth." Before Harry could get really angry Susan continued, "You wouldn't be able to find this on your map because it's invisible to anyone who isn't a direct descendant of the Founders."

Harry started, "Wait, does that mean…"

Susan continued, "That you're a descendant to one of the Founders?" Harry nodded. "Then yes, you are. There are rumors that the Potters are descendants of Gryffindor, but they've always kept it secret from the public."

Harry nodded slowly, it made sense. Gryffindor was a powerful name, "So are you going to give me a tour?"

She shifted on her feet, "I think I'll just tell you what each room is, they need a bit of work besides the room that we'll be talking in."

Susan and Harry walked down the Founder's Corridor and she told him what each room was. There was a small library, dueling platform, armory, bedrooms, a greenhouse, and where they were sitting: the Founder's Common Room.

"This is the only room that is completely clean." She gestured to the entire room. "I decided that maybe next year we'd make it a year long project to clean the rest of the corridor?" She phrased it more like a question than a statement.

"I'd love to do that!" Harry exclaimed. The Founder's Common Room itself was amazing. Usually the school had a difficult time incorporating every Founder's insignia, but in this room they easily did it and made it look good. There was a large fireplace with couches and armchairs surrounding it, a desk, and book cases, he also saw a door that he assumed led to the previous room.

"It didn't take as long as I thought it would to refurbish everything, but when I'm here I never want to leave."

"I can understand, just standing here I feel…"

"Like you're at home," Susan finished. "I think that was the point the Founders were trying to get across when they designed this room.

He nodded then sat down on the couch beside Susan, "You wanted to talk to me?"

Susan shifted uncomfortably, "What do you know about our government, Harry?"

The question caught Harry off guard, "Not much really. We don't learn about it in History and no one really talks about it, but from what I gather we have the Ministry run by the Minister with the support of various departments."

"Oh Merlin, it's worse than I thought," Susan mumbled.

Feeling more than a little insulted Harry replied, "Like I said no one has really told me about our government."

She waved her hand, "It isn't your fault Harry! You should have been told on your 11th birthday so you had time to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Harry asked, genuinely confused.

Susan stopped herself, "Before I get ahead of myself I should tell you a story," Harry huffed. "Don't give me that it is very important, you'll be grateful after." She took a deep breath, "Most witches and wizards believe that Merlin was of the first generation of Magical beings, but that is false."

"Merlin was the second generation of Magicals, born from two members of the original families. Before Merlin, Magic blessed 3 families with a gift, the gift of magic. They vowed that they would only use their gift for good. They built bridges, grew crops, and cured diseases for the muggles. Muggles and Magicals lived in harmony for generations, but then the Muggles grew resentful and jealous of our gift. That's when the first wave of witch hunting began.

"The 3 original families knew the only solution was for their world to split from the Muggle one. They made and agreement with the king at the time to interfere as little as possible if the Muggles stopped killing them."

"The 3 original families took over the task of organizing their new world. They assigned relatives of theirs to build a school for children to help control their magic, at that time witches and wizards had been trading goods and many were nomadic, so that everyone could get their goods they established shopping centers, and they created the Ministry."

Susan looked at Harry, "You were right about having a Minister and various departments, but you never said how our laws are made."

"That's what the Wizengamot is for, it's comprised of the Minister and high ranking Ministry officials, the 3 Originals, and the Most Ancient and Nobles."

Susan looked Harry in the eyes, "Do you want to know who the three original families are? Their surnames?" Harry nodded. "They are Bones, Longbottom, and Potter."

"P-p-potter?" Harry was doing a very good impression of his first year defense professor, "But that's my family!"

Susan nodded, "Yes, it is."

"But, why are you telling me now?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Because at the first Wizengamot meeting after your birthday Neville, you, and I have to present ourselves to the Wizengamot."

"Why?"

"Because our seats are judged by Magic herself, if you don't present yourself you'll be possibly forfeiting your magic."

Harry sucked a breath in, "So we don't always have a seat on the Wizengamot?"

"We do, but a regular seat doesn't have as many votes as our Original seat and we can't claim the other seat until we're 17."

"When was the last time our Original seats were claimed?"

"I believe with our great-great grandfathers, Wilhem Potter and Johnathan Bones."

Harry nodded his temper rising, "I just can't believe no one told me! How could they not?" He looked up at Susan.

"I don't know Harry, no one has an excuse. Ron is a pureblood, Hermione is clever, and Dumbledore is part of the Wizengamot. The only reason I can think of is that they want you to embarrass yourself and then come crawling back to them for support."

"Embarrass myself?" Harry asked.

"You don't know anything about pureblood etiquette or how the Wizengamot is run, you'd look like a fool if you didn't know the protocol."

Harry nodded, "So I should…"

"Get some books, I suggest you talk to Neville he can tell you more on the topic than I can. If you need anything just owl me, okay?" Susan said.

They left the Founders Common Room and down the long corridor, both immersed in their own thoughts. When they reached the end of the corridor there were two staircases, "I'll see you later Susan." He stepped onto the staircase and it started moving.

He just barely heard her say, "Bye Harry."

The staircase took him directly to Gryffindor Tower, "Tempus" it was only 9:23, he still had an hour and a half until the train left. He walked past stragglers in the Common Room and up into his dorm room, he wasn't expecting anyone to be there but he found Neville closing his trunk, "Neville!"

Neville stumbled, "Merlin Harry! You nearly gave me a heart failure!"

"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly, but then realized what he wanted to say to Neville, "Why didn't you ever tell me Nev!?"

"Tell you? Oh, well at first I just thought you didn't want to bring attention to yourself, but as time came closer to this summer and Susan realized that there was the possibility that no one had ever told you so she obviously made the decision to tell you."

"Glad she did," Harry said.

"Yeah," Neville said.

"Susan said that you could tell me what I should do before the Wizengamot meeting."

"Indeed! You need to go to Gringotts as soon as possible."

"Gringotts, why?"

"Gringotts doesn't just provide our gold it also has multiple services. The services you need are a Heritage and Abilities Test, bank statements, and getting lots of money, because you'll be doing lots of shopping."

"A Heritage and Abilities Test?" Harry asked. "And shopping?"

"The Heritage Test shows the families you're heir to and their holdings, while the Abilities Test shows what skills you may have and if you have any blocks. You have to go shopping, Harry, you need clothes that fit your station. Wizard and Muggle clothing."

"Then you need to get books on pureblood etiquette, the Wizengamot, politics, economics, etc. you will be in charge of a very influential family, you need to know the ropes."

Harry looked at Neville like he'd never seen him before, "What have you done with Neville Longbottom?"

Neville chuckled, "It's me, I've just been observing for the past 4 years, but now I'll have no choice but to get involved due to my status."

"That is very Slytherin of you," Harry said.

"Thank you, I think."

"No, it is a compliment."

"Yes, no one pays attention to those they believe are lower than them so I overhear many conversations that will be useful in the future," Neville said.

"Like what?"

"Harry, you need to be careful around Hermione and the younger Weasleys. I don't think they have your best interests at heart."

"I kind of have been figuring that out lately, what have you seen?" Harry asked curiously.

"They constantly break into your trunk, but tracking charms on your things, and steal from you." Neville said.

"And they don't see that you're in the room?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Like I said people underestimate the meek looking." Harry shook his head and Neville continued, "You can trust Susan and me. Bones, Longbottoms, and Potters have been sticking together since the beginning."

"Together?" Harry looked at Neville.

"Together," Neville agreed.

Neville left.

He left Harry to deal with Hermione and Ron by himself, when Harry tried to convince Neville that they would see the greenhouses next year he came up with a convincing argument.

"This isn't about whether I'll be seeing the greenhouses next year or not! Don't you think Ron and Hermione will find it suspicious if I suddenly start hanging out with you guys?"

"I'll just tell them that you were one of the only ones that supported me when my name came out of the Goblet!" Harry said almost pleadingly.

Neville shook his head, "This is something you have to face sooner or later Harry, better to do it sooner."

With that Neville turned away.

Harry was left facing the doors of the Great Hall. He knew he had to go in and he had to act normal and aloof towards the whole situation. He could do it, all he had to do was eat some breakfast then on the train he could pretend to sleep the whole time.

He ignored the whispers and stares that surrounded him and made for his regular seat at the Gryffindor table where Hermione and Ron were. When they saw him they waved him over.

"Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione asked.

"I needed some fresh air so I walked around the grounds for a while," Harry said as he piled eggs onto his plate.

"That's dangerous Harry, there could be spies waiting to attack at any moment," Hermione said.

Harry now put toast on his plate, "I had some precautions with me so that would be less likely to happen."

"Like the Marauder's Map and your Invisibility Cloak?" Ron asked loudly.

"Shh," Harry said. "Do you want to give away some of the few things that give us an advantage in this war?" He saw Hermione and Ron look at each other. "Yes, I did have those with me and didn't meet anyone on my walk."

"I still think it's dangerous," Hermione said putting her nose in the air. How did he never notice that look?

"Well I am fine and feel much better." He said as he ate his eggs.

Hermione harrumphed, "Is your trunk packed?"

"Done, we can go straight to the Express if we wanted to," Harry said.

"Blimey, this is probably the first year we're on time and not rushed!" Ron said.

Harry gave a believable fake smile, "Yes, but I believe this is the first year many people want to leave the school."

The three of them nodded, "It will be easier when we come back after the summer." Hermione said.

"I'm sure," Harry said as he finished his breakfast. "Tempus," It was now 10:34AM. "I believe we should make our way to the carriages if we want a good compartment on the train.

Harry stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Susan Bones and she subtly looked over at him and gave him a smile.

The trio made their way to the carriages and were intercepted by Neville, "Mind if I join your carriage?"

Harry could tell that Ron and Hermione did mind but Harry said, "Of course Neville, climb on in, what plant is that…?"

Ron and Hermione contributed very little to the conversation Neville and he were having, but he didn't care. When they got off the carriage Harry invited the Longbottom heir to sit with them and he accepted.

"I usually just stay in any available compartment and sleep the whole ride back to London," Neville divulged.

They boarded the Express, "That's no fun, though right now I'm thinking about sleeping the way back. I'm knackered."

As they walked the length of the Express they found an empty compartment, "Here's one." Hermione said.

"Good, now I can get some shut eye," Harry said.

"Why don't we play some Exploding Snap instead?" Ron said.

"Because I'm tired from all the nightmares I've been having lately," Harry said.

"That's right, you have been getting up early lately. Ron I think it would be best if you'd just let him sleep." Neville said.

"No one asked you Longbottom," Ron said.

"But I already told you that I was tired, now I'm going to sleep. Play with Hermione or Neville," Harry winked at Neville and closed his eyes.

"I'm going to sleep as well," Neville said.

"I've got a new book, sorry Ron," Hermione said.

The 4 hour train ride went smoothly with Ron and Hermione barely talking, and of those conversations, none of them were of consequence.

When Harry's group stepped onto the platform he was immediately accosted by Mrs. Weasley, "Oh, Harry! We've been so worried about you, you poor child! As soon as possible we'll have you away from those horrible muggles!"

Harry gave her a small smile, "I hope so Mrs. Weasley, I don't think I can stand Dudley's diet." The whole group of them laughed. "I'll see you later!"

Neville and Harry walked towards the platform exit where his Gran was waiting, "Harry this is my Gran, Madam Augusta Longbottom. Gran this is Heir Harry James Potter. She's holding my seats on the Wizengamot, Harry."

Harry nodded in understanding, before Augusta Longbottom said, "So you finally learned about your position in our society?" Harry nodded. "Good, I look forward to seeing you at the Wizengamot on August 12th."

"As do I, good-bye," Harry raced through the platform.

On the other side was a family of three that looked like a walrus, hippo, and giraffe. The Dursley family.