A/N: I'd like to start this story with an author's note. After this, I will try to keep any future notes brief. This is my first story on this site (or any other), so any opinion, good or bad, is appreciated. So, down to business, I plan for this story to have a Powerful!Harry, but not Super! or Godlike!. I'm having Dumbledore and Voldemort be equal in power, with Harry perhaps just a tiny bit stronger. He will come out of his shell and show intelligence, but again, not in an unrealistic manner. There will be Ron!Bashing and Dumbledore!Bashing, but some other characters, such as Snape and other Weasleys are yet to be determined. Also, pairings are undetermined, but I'm leaning towards either a Slytherin or a foreign student. Please review, I need all the advice I can get!

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is owned by J.K. Rowling, and I am not her, so I own nothing.

Chapter 1

Harry Potter had just experienced one hell of a year. Emotional roller coaster didn't even begin to cover it. Quite frankly, the easiest part had been when he thought someone was out to kill him. He was beginning to get rather used to that, and had a sneaking suspicion it would continue to be a regular occurrence in his life. But emotions, well, he'd never been good at handling those. He supposed no 13 year old boy was particularly good at handling them, but he felt particularly... stunted. Yes, stunted sounded about right. Harry suddenly shook his head. He needed to focus on thinking through, and processing, everything that had happened at the end of the year. True, he may have had time to think through it all while he was still at Hogwarts, but he wanted to do it in private. If he had no thoughts on anything, then Hermione couldn't pry them out of him. Sure, she meant well, but Harry's years at the Dursley's had taught him to be a private person. And so here he lay, in the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive, in the town of Surrey. The savior of the wizarding world, on a bed that appeared to have somehow been set on fire at least twice, and stained in ways that he didn't even want to contemplate. Harry snorted in derision, wondering what they would think if they all knew their "savior" was living in squalor. A small hoot suddenly caught his attention, and Harry turned to look at his owl, Hedwig. One amber eye stared at him reproachfully. Harry sighed

"Yes I know. It's just difficult, you know?"

He chuckled as Hedwig simply turned back to her nap. Her job was done, and now Harry needed to stop avoiding this, even in his own head. It was just that this particular incident seemed exceptionally cruel. To have a chance at a family, however strange of one, to be dangled so tantalizingly close, only to be wrenched away, probably forever, was the most pain he had ever felt, even compared to some of the beatings he had endured over the years. The one thing he had truly longed for in life was a family and that hope had been rekindled shortly after he had given up on it, only to be immediately extinguished, and he wasn't sure he was really coping. As a matter of fact, considering that on the first day of summer he had become so upset that his magic ran wild and almost set the bed on fire a third time, he was quite sure he wasn't coping at all. Frankly the only thing he could be thankful for was that the Dursley family had decided to completely ignore him this summer. Apparently the fact that he hadn't been expelled, or punished in any way for blowing up Aunt Marge, had convinced them that he could use magic on them and get away with it.

There were a lot of things bothering him about the year. First, was Professor Lupin. If he was such good friends with his parents, why didn't he ever contact him? And when they met why didn't he mention it? Sure his lycanthropy was a reason not to be his guardian, but he could have at least visited. The other thing bothering him was the lack of trial for Sirius. Sure, everyone seemed to agree that the Ministry is relatively incompetent, but supposedly Dumbledore had incredible political influence, yet used it to save people like Snape who were proven to be Death Eaters, and not Sirius, a man he now knew for certain to be innocent. It all seemed very suspicious to him, and he decided it was time to write a few letters.

First to Sirius,

Padfoot,

I hope this letter finds you safe. It's only a few days into the summer and I already find myself lonely. My hopes were so high that we could be a family, and now that may never happen. But I don't want to make you anymore miserable than you need to be. Mostly it seems okay here. My relatives are utterly terrified of me, so I now have some privacy. I've decided to take a hard look at the things around me, and I have a few questions. They're rather sensitive and I'd rather not put them in a letter, since some of them are even about the people who know Snuffles doesn't belong in the pound. I was hoping there was a way we could talk face to face. SAFELY! I absolutely do NOT want Snuffles to go back because of this, it isn't important enough.

Stay safe,

Prongslet

P.S. I'd like to earn my own name as soon as possible if you can help with that!

Harry sat contemplating the letter. Finally he nodded, it seemed good enough. Straightforward, to the point, and not enough information to tip anyone off about anything. Any mushy stuff could wait until he found out if there was a better way to communicate. Next he decided that the best way to get an answer out of Lupin was to confront him head on.

Professor Lupin,

I hope this letter finds you well, and that your "furry little problem" isn't causing anymore issues. I'm just going to get to the point. All my life, all I've ever wanted to have is a family that cared about me, or at least someone to reign in my relatives. You are the only person alive that I know of who was in a prime position to do such a thing, even if your "issue" prevented a full guardianship. I'd like to know why it is that someone who supposedly was essentially my adoptive uncle, would never even bother to write a letter, or at least tell me of that connection when we met for the first time. If you decide not to give me a real answer, then please don't bother to even respond.

Harry Potter

Harry looked over at Hedwig, "Alright girl you ready? I need you to deliver this one to Sirius, and the other to Remus Lupin. Can you do that?"

Hedwig just glared at him indignantly.

Harry laughed, "Yeah okay, I'm sorry for even asking. I'll never doubt you again. I have some more letters to send, so let them figure out how to reply on their own okay?"

Hedwig gave an enthusiastic hoot before taking off with the letters. With a soft groan Harry sat back down at the desk. He had at least one more important thing to take care of. After the debacle of not speaking to Hermione over the Firebolt he'd had a sudden realization. You see after they got all the apologies out of the way, the first thing Hermione had done was ask what schoolwork he needed help getting caught back up with. As soon as she'd said it Harry had felt a sudden rush of embarrassment at the state of his school, and just how much he seemed to rely on Hermione to do it. He'd started to think about it and realized that there was no real reason for his lack of effort in school. Sure, in first year he was sticking to the rule of the Dursley household that he wasn't allowed to do well, but Petunia and Vernon had made it clear they couldn't care less about his marks at the "freak" school. Since then he should have gotten back up to the standard that he knew he could achieve, but instead he continued to slack. He had a sneaking suspicion that he had subconsciously been trying to remain invisible as he had his entire life. He also knew that it was partly because he was terrified of losing his first friends. He didn't know how Hermione would react to him being able to potentially match her, and he flinched just thinking about how Ron would react when he found out about what he was about to do. He had determined that it was time for him to stop hiding who he was, and so with that in mind he began a letter to Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall,

I am writing to ask if it would be possible to revise my current course choices. You may be aware that during my first three years of schooling at Hogwarts I have not put forth my best effort, and I have resolved to change that. So, with that in mind I would like, if possible, to drop my Divination and Care of Magical Creatures classes, and instead take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. I understand that I would be a year behind, and I am willing to do any revision necessary, or take the classes with the third years.

All the best,

Harry Potter

Finally, satisfied with the days work, and knowing he could do no more until Hedwig returned, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, settled onto his ratty bed, and slept.