None of my current stories are co-operating with me at all at the moment, so given a choice between stopping writing until they speak to me again or trying something new…. well I've decided to try something new.

Some of the HP 'time travel' stories here have been quite fun, so that's what this one will be, Harry and Hermione are thrown back to the start of their time at Hogwarts and their memories are triggered when they meet each other on the Hogwarts express for the first time. As with all my HP related stories, Harry is with Hermione and Dumbledore and Molly and Ron Weasley are despicable, haven't decided about anyone else yet.

Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.

The small boy was sitting quietly in the compartment on the Hogwarts Express, reading the text books that he had been forbidden to look at since he bought them with Hagrid on his birthday and talking to the beautiful snowy owl in the cage in front of him. He had been panicking that they would miss the train, because Hagrid had just told him to go to Platform 9 ¾, but he couldn't find any Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross station and that station attendant had been angry at him when he asked how to find it. Luckily the man had been called away before he could hit him like Uncle Vernon always did.

Just after that though a couple came along with a young girl, their daughter obviously, who had a similar trunk to his and an owl in a cage on her trolley, and they had just walked straight through the wall between platforms 9 and 10. When he saw that, Harry summoned his courage and, with a 'Wish me luck!' to Hedwig in her cage, pushed his trolley straight at the wall.

Even though he was hoping that there was something on the other side of that wall, it was still a shock to see a whole platform with groups of people scattered all about in front of him, and a big red steam engine and carriages waiting by the platform. One of the fathers saw him struggling to get his trunk up onto the train, so he came over to give him a hand and get him settled into one of the empty compartments. He waved off Harry's thanks for the help as if it were nothing, even though it was the first time anyone had ever helped him with anything, except Hagrid maybe, Harry couldn't understand that.

An hour or so after the train left Kings Cross Station, the door opened and a red headed boy came in, asking if he could share the compartment because everywhere else was full. Harry frowned at that, because there was no way that enough students had gotten onto a train this size to fill it up, and where the hell had he been for the past hour? But he just said "Yeah, Sure." and went back to reading his text book, at least until the git roughly grabbed Hedwig's cage and went to all but toss it out of his way.

Harry jumped up and wrenched the cage off of him to put it back where it had been, checking that Hedwig was OK before rounding on him. "What the hell do you think you were doing, grabbing Hedwig like that? What gives you the right to touch my owl?"

The git wasn't about to back down and started shouting back at him, raising his voice like Harry to be heard over Hedwig's angry hissing. "What's your problem? It's just a ruddy owl and I wanted to sit down!"

"She's my owl and she's sitting there because I was talking to her! You come in here with some cock and bull story about everywhere else being full and straight away start interfering with me and my owl…. Look, piss off! Get out of here! There's no room for you here, go find somewhere else!"

The taller red head tried to intimidate him by standing over him and shouting back. "You can't tell me to get out! If I want to stay here I will..."

He broke off because the look that suddenly came into the smaller boy's eyes quite frankly terrified him. Harry had endured ten years of being abused, attacked and beaten by his Uncle and his cousin, who were both much bigger and stronger than this git, so he wasn't about to be intimidated by some lying bigmouth kid with an attitude.

The red head suddenly decided that this kid didn't match the description he'd been given to look for Harry Potter with anyway, and he was surprisingly scary for someone that small, so he muttered something about finding another compartment that didn't have nutters in it and high tailed it out of there.

The next four hours or so were fairly quiet, he got a few things from the lady who came through with a snacks trolley and a few other students came by looking for Harry Potter, but they all apparently decided the same thing as the red head had. That the small boy in ragged oversized muggle clothes didn't match what they'd all been told about Harry Potter, and the look in his eye when he looked up whenever someone stopped to look in at him promised that he'd be more trouble than he was worth to anyone who bothered him.

About five and a half hours into the trip though, the door opened again and a girl asked. "Excuse me, have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one." but as Harry looked up to answer her, they both froze, because over seven and a half years of memories of each other suddenly came crashing over them.

Hermione staggered and would have fallen if Harry hadn't jumped up and pulled her inside to sit down, but ten years of avoiding his Uncle and cousin and his cousin's gang made Harry rather quick and nimble and ten years of hard work and his magic constantly healing him had made him rather stronger than he looked. Once she was safely seated inside he closed the door and pulled the blinds closed.

Hermione managed to calm herself a little while Harry was getting them a little privacy, and when he sat down in front of her she asked. "Harry? What happened to us?"

Harry shook his head in confusion, he'd had none of these memories until the moment he saw Hermione, but now he remembered the life that the two of them had led from now, up until the day that they were both drugged and killed by their spouses and the mother-in-law they had in common.

They spent a while discussing what they remembered, but most of what they talked about was what had been revealed while their 'loved ones' were taunting them as they died. They were told how they had both been dosed with increasing levels of love and lust potions for most of the time since they started at Hogwarts, that Hermione's were keyed to that red headed git that Harry had thrown out earlier, Ron Weasley, and Harry's were keyed to the git's sister Ginny. In the later years, Ginny had also been taking fertility potions to ensure that she got pregnant to trap Harry into marrying her, while Hermione had been dosed with fertility potions as well so that she'd get pregnant and marry the git straight away instead of waiting until she'd made a name for herself as she'd wanted to.

The mother-in-law, Molly Weasley, took great delight in telling them that originally the idea had just been to keep Hermione out of the way so that Ginny didn't have any competition to land Harry. She'd been dosed with the lust potions to ensure that her Ronald would have his fun with her to make up for having to keep a filthy little Mudblood like her occupied. That changed after they discovered that she wasn't a Mudblood after all, she was in fact the scion of more than one Noble and Most Ancient house and loaded, so at that point the plan was changed from using her and then tossing her aside once Harry and his money had been locked into the family, to ensuring that she was married into the family as well so that they could get control of her money and then get rid of her, permanently.

For once, Molly Weasley's children had followed her instructions to the letter, and Hermione was six months pregnant and married to Ron Weasley when she did her NEWTs, but of course being Hermione, she'd still gotten Outstandings for every one. Ginny was five months pregnant and Lady Potter when she did her end of year exams, but Molly had done some deal with Dumbledore that guaranteed that she'd get good scores on her NEWTs without having to go back for her Seventh year.

Molly and her children had waited until the babies were born and the midwives were confident that the heirs to the houses that Harry and Hermione were the heads of would live before they killed Harry and Hermione, to ensure that the Weasleys would get full control of the power and money of their houses. The only relief for Harry and Hermione as they lay dying came from Molly's derision as she laughed about how Arthur and his sons (which she'd qualified to Bill, Charlie and the twins when Harry asked what she meant by that) had had absolutely no idea about any of this.

She'd also laughed as she told them how she'd had to convince her husband that he couldn't stand in the way of young love when Hermione and then Ginny were found to be pregnant. She admitted to having been rather surprised that she had to work so hard to convince him though, seeing as he was still being dosed with the potions himself.

One of the last things that Harry and Hermione had heard before they died was that their deaths would be pinned on some people who were getting in the way of Dumbledore's plans for Magical Britain now that Voldemort was finally out of the way, using planted evidence to show that they had been secret followers of Voldemort who were trying to pave the way for their master's next return.

When they finished discussing the horrifying memories of their lives that they'd apparently been sent back to redo, they just held each other for a while, but Hermione's mind wasn't something that could be turned off by what they were feeling and she turned to Harry. "Harry, we need to do something to change how our lives go and prevent all of that happening again."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but what?"

"In the last cycle, you didn't find out what you were entitled to until after you were emancipated because you'd been forced to compete in that damned Triwizard Tournament, and it was nearly two years after that when we found the Ravenclaw diadem before you managed to talk me into doing the inheritance tests as well, so I discovered what I was entitled to. If we could call on what's rightfully our's from the start this time though, Dumbledore shouldn't be able to force us down the same paths that he did last time."

Harry just looked at her musingly for about half a minute and then nodded, standing up and holding out his hand as he said. "I, Henry James Potter, claim all titles and holdings that are rightfully mine!"

Hermione had to look away as a bright light surrounded Harry. When the light faded, Harry was revealed to be several inches taller and more filled out, as it appeared that the family magic of the four houses that he'd been accepted as the head of and the house he was accepted as heir of had corrected most of the depredations of ten years of neglect, abuse and malnutrition and removed the compulsions, charms and blocks that had been put on him. Harry looked frightened because everything had suddenly gone blurry, but when he said that, Hermione stood up and removed his glasses, sharing a laugh with him because he obviously had no need for the glasses now and could see perfectly without them.

They embraced, excited about how successful that had been, and then Harry said. "OK, it's your turn now Mione."

Hermione nodded hesitantly, took a breath, held out her hand and said. "I, Hermione Jean Granger, claim all titles and holdings that are rightfully mine!"

Like Harry, she was bathed in light, and when the light faded, she too had changed, though it was nowhere near as dramatic as Harry's changes. Hermione was a couple of inches taller and more developed, but Harry smiled as he saw that the two things that she'd hated the most about her appearance at this age had been corrected, as her teeth were even and her hair was a shimmering cascade of silken curls down her back rather than the bushy mop of hair it had been before.

Hermione now wore three house rings on her finger, representing the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and the Noble house of Granger. They may not have been as impressive as the Head of House rings for the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin and the ring of the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black that Harry wore, but they gave her quite enough status to demand the same rights as Harry.

They somehow knew that any students who had been acknowledged as the Head of at least a Noble and Ancient House had the right to demand private chambers, and they also had the right to leave the school when required to conduct business for their houses and to be accompanied by whatever staff that they deemed necessary anywhere at Hogwarts. The right to employ private tutors for any subjects where they did not believe that the standard classes would meet their needs could actually be applied to any students once it had been established by a Noble and Ancient or higher House. Furthermore, these were inalienable rights, so no staff of Hogwarts, up to and including the Headmaster, could try to deny or interfere with them if the head of a Noble and Ancient or higher House claimed what they were entitled to.

They had hardly had time to get their heads around the changes to their bodies before someone knocked on the door and called out that they were almost at Hogsmeade, so anyone who wasn't in their robes yet needed to get changed. The voice also told them to leave their trunks and animals on the train as they'd be taken up to the castle for them.

Harry called out. "Right, thanks!" and the person moved on.

While they both had eleven year old bodies at the moment, they had the memories of eighteen and nineteen year olds who had been intimate with their partners for years and their memories of their true feelings for one another were no longer masked by the potions they had been poisoned with, so they weren't as modest as normal eleven year olds would be and had no trouble stripping down to their underwear to get changed into the clothes and robes that they would be wearing at Hogwarts together. Both of them needed to transfigure these clothes and robes to fit their new bodies, and Hermione had to also alter her bra quite a bit to fit, so they were thankful that they had retained the memories of the requisite spells and the ability to cast them.

They smiled at each other when they caught the appreciative looks the other was giving their new forms as they were getting changed, and before they left the compartment they shared a kiss that they would have been shocked and horrified to see if they had actually been normal eleven year olds.

Harry had also had to take the time to make sure that his other girl was OK with the changes in him. Hedwig was tentative at first, but it didn't take her long to accept that this was still her human, even though he looked different now, Hedwig also accepted that she had another human now, because she could feel the link between these two.

At the station, no-one paid any attention to the fact that the scrawny little kid who'd kicked the youngest Weasley out of his compartment was missing. Neville did notice that the girl who had been helping him look for Trevor was missing but while he was looking for her, he was suddenly pulled aside by another girl who rather like her and had the same voice, and who promised quietly to explain later but begged him to keep it to himself until they had a chance to speak to him in private. Neville was no fool, and when he looked pointedly at the new house rings on her fingers, Hermione flashed him a conspiratorial smile and nodded. He nodded to accept that for now and followed the giant of a man who was leading them down to the boats with her and the taller boy she had came off the train with.

When they were told that it was four to a boat, Neville called out to Susan Bones to come join them. Susan didn't want to be separated her friend Hannah, but something in Neville's voice said that this was important, so she told Hannah she'd see her in the castle and hopped into the boat with Neville and another boy and girl. Neville introduced her as the niece and ward of the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and introduced Hermione to her, then looked at Harry. Harry glanced at Hermione and then held out his hand to Susan and Neville. "Henry James Potter, but you most probably know of me as Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

They just stared at him at first, because he didn't look anything like the stories said he would, but they both shook his hand and when they did so they noticed the house rings. Neville waved at Hermione and said. "Hermione looked different when I first saw her on the train and I'm betting that so did Harry. The fact that they both felt the need to accept their titles and family magic on the train rather than go through the normal processes at Gringotts implies that there's something going on here that your Aunt might be the best person to help out with Sue."

Susan looked from Harry to Hermione. "Has Neville outlined the situation correctly there?"

Harry glanced at Hermione and she nodded, so he answered. "Pretty much, yes. We're not at liberty to discuss how we know just yet, but we do know that someone is trying to derail our lives and trap me into doing what he wants, at great risk to the two of us and a great many others." He held up his hand to show the rings. "We're banking on the fact that these, and Hermione's house rings, will be sufficient proof to get us the private chambers and other rights that the Heads of the high ranking Noble Houses can rightfully demand. As soon as we get to Gringotts to get everything established, we're going to take charge of our lives. There are a few other things of considerable importance that we need to discuss with your Aunt though, and we would greatly appreciate it if you could help set up a meeting with her for us Susan."

"Sue." Harry looked at her quizzically. "I'm called Sue by those who are close to me, and I have the strong feeling that the four of us, and I dare say others, are going to become quite close here."

Hermione grinned, she had never gotten close to Sue the last time around and she could see that she had missed out in that. "I think you're right Sue, and I for one look forward to it!"

Harry nodded with grin. "That goes for me too! Until we get things sorted out though, can we ask that you keep things about us to yourself, aside from your Aunt at least?"

Sue nodded. "Yes, of course, but I'm afraid that it will take something big to convince my Aunt to talk to you in any official capacity."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other for about thirty seconds and then Harry looked back at Sue. "Yes, we understand that, it will take time to gather the evidence to prove this but the one who was behind destroying my, Neville's, your and many other families in the war and since then is Dumbledore, he's prepared to sacrifice anyone to make his vision of what Magical Britain should be become a reality."

Sue stared at him. "Headmaster Dumbledore? The Leader of the Light? How can that be?"

"The Leader of the Light is no more than a title that he created for himself, just as Lord Voldemort is a title that the Halfblood Tom Marvolo Riddle created for himself. The only proof that I can offer to your Aunt that can be confirmed at this point is that my parents' wills were sealed by Dumbledore to prevent me being placed with any of the guardians that my parents had chosen for me, your Aunt was on that list by the way, so that he could place me where my parents were adamant I was not to go, my mother's Muggle sister and her husband who hate anything to do with magic and spent the last ten years punishing me for it. Sirius Black could not have betrayed me and my parents to Voldemort because the official records will show that he completed the formal Godfather ritual and made me his heir, which would have prevented him from doing anything which might harm me, and he was never tried or found guilty of the crimes he was sent to Azkaban for. The lack of any trial for him will be confirmed by the DMLE's records. The fact that the official records show that he is Lord Black and I am his heir are further proof that he wasn't found guilty of the crimes he was accused of, as he would have been stripped of the title by his family if the magic let them. It was Peter Pettigrew who was the secret keeper for the cottage in Godric's Hollow and he is still a live Death Eater. He has been hiding in an illegal animagus form for the past ten years though we have to catch him to prove that."

Sue was staring at him, she wanted to question him about all of this but there was no time as the boat was coming into the landing under the castle, so she quickly said. "I'll. I'll let Auntie know that. I'm sure that she will want to talk to you in the very near future Lord Potter."

Harry took her hand. "Harry, Sue. Like you said, I'm sure the four of us will be close friends and I'm Harry to my friends."

She squeezed his hand and nodded. "Yes… Harry, I'm sure we will!"

Then they were at the landing and climbing out of the boat. Harry and Hermione smiled at each other as they watched how Neville put his arm around Sue to support and settle her, as that last news had certainly knocked her off kilter.

Hagrid called out to ask whether anyone had lost a toad, because someone had found one on the train. Neville went to collect it and thanked Hagrid, then looked at the toad for about thirty seconds before walking to the edge of the landing and releasing it into the water. It was obvious that they were going to be in for challenging times with this situation that Harry had told them about, and he doubted that he would have any time to deal with an unwanted escape artist pet toad so letting him go was the best move.

Harry and Hermione shared another look as they watched Neville releasing Trevor. They smiled fondly at the toad because they knew that Trevor had already played his most important role, as he was what brought Hermione to Harry's compartment and triggered their regaining their future memories.

They didn't have a chance to savour that moment though, as Draco Malfoy came strutting up with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering after him. "So it's true, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts!" He stuck out his hand, supremely confident that everyone would bow to his superiority. "Draco Malfoy Potter, stick with me, I can help you understand the type of people you should be seen with, and who you should avoid…." He faltered as Harry raised his eyes from the outstretched hand to look him in the eye with cold disdain.

"Have you not been educated in proper etiquette for our society Master Malfoy?"

"What?…. Yes, of course I have!"

"Apparently your teachers were woefully inadequate then, if you do not know that a social inferior does not offer their hand to their betters, they wait for their superiors to decide whether to initiate contact with them. The fact that you have come up to address me in such a familiar manner without waiting for an invitation in itself shows that you have no idea of how to behave properly. Perhaps the House of Malfoy should seek advice from the Houses of Longbottom or Bones on where they might find someone suitable to educate you in how to behave, and hopefully avoid further damage to the name of your house, as neither Heir Longbottom nor Heiress Bones were so presumptious to assume familiarity as the son of a barely Noble house did, even though the Noble and Ancient Houses of Longbottom and Bones are obviously vastly superior houses to your's."

Neville and Sue tried to hide their smiles as he bowed and she curtsied to Harry, saying as one. "We thank you for your kind words Lord Potter."

A bemused Professor McGonagall interrupted at that point, before the situation could escalate. She went through the usual sorting and house spiel on autopilot while her mind tried to process the scene that she just observed. She knew that Harry had been left with those awful Muggles over her objections after James and Lily were killed, so how had he become so obviously well versed in the rules and etiquette of their world? He had apparently also been accepted as the Head of House Potter... She caught sight of the rings on his fingers then and realised that it was more than that, because he was wearing the rings of four or five houses.

Then there was that girl he was with, she looked rather familiar but she couldn't quite place her… and she was wearing two or three house rings as well…

As she wound up her spiel, she wondered whether she should tell the headmaster about this development, but shook her head. No! It was his games had buried that poor boy away from their world but Harry had somehow found a way to beat him at his own game. The old bastard would find out soon enough and she was looking forward to what Harry would pull out of the hat here…. The Hat! Oh yes, she was quite looking forward to seeing what happened in this sorting!

As she led them into the Great Hall, Hermione leaned towards Harry with a smile and said quietly. "They've enchanted the ceiling to look like the night sky, I read about it in Hogwarts, a History!"

Harry grinned back at her as he remembered how she'd been saying that to the girl beside her as she walked into the hall last time.

Harry was standing beside Neville as they were waiting for their sortings, Hermione had joined them in the applause for Sue when she was placed in Hufflepuff and he and Neville had applauded Hermione when she was placed in Ravenclaw (enjoying the confusion when she was announced as 'Lady Hermione Jean Granger'), but now Neville was looking nervous, so he leaned in to speak to him quietly. "I know that you're under pressure to follow expectations and go into Gryffindor Neville, but it's more important to follow your heart and go where you'll be happy. I am sure that your parents would rather see you go into a house where you can flourish than suffer in a house that you only chose because you thought it was expected of you. Being in Gryffindor doesn't make you any braver, being in Ravenclaw doesn't make you smarter, being in Slytherin doesn't make you more ambitious and being in Hufflepuff doesn't make you more loyal. You're meant to go into the house that fits your core values the best, and I don't think that it hurts to be with the people who mean the most to you either… Well if it's a toss up between Ravenclaw and another house, I can tell you that I'll try to get into Ravenclaw so I can be with Hermione…."

Neville flashed him a smile at that, he didn't miss what Harry was telling him, and he found that he was relaxing as he accepted that what Harry was saying resonated within him. When his name was called, he smiled again at Harry and walked forward confidently, and his smile lit up the room when the hat proudly announced. "HUFFLEPUFF!" Harry smiled fondly when Sue hugged Neville as he sat down beside her.

The 'P's came up soon enough, and Professor McGonagall smiled as she announced. "Lord Henry James Potter!" because she saw out of the corner of her eye how Dumbledore almost dropped the goblet he was holding as he gawked at her in astonishment.

Harry inclined his head respectfully to her as he walked up to the Sorting Hat, sharing a smile with her as she whispered to him. "While I would dearly love to have you in my house Harry, I see more of Lily than James in you, so you would probably do better in her house..." and the Sorting Hat nodded in agreement.

The Sorting Hat began speaking to Harry then. "Yes Lord Potter, the sound advice that you gave to Heir Longbottom applies to you as well. You would fit your mother's house the best, and after seeing inside both your and Lady Granger's heads, I see no good for either of you in separating you, so…." "RAVENCLAW!"

Before Professor McGonagall stepped up to take the Hat off his head the Hat was grousing. "That interfering old bastard tried to insist that I place you in Gryffindor because he has some plan for you Lord Potter, but he told me to put Harry Potter in Gryffindor. I don't know what happened to him, do you Lord Henry James? But what do I know, I'm only a Hat!" Harry chuckled and the Hat added. "I have passed on your and Lady Granger's wishes for shared chambers with room to expand on to Hogwarts Lord Potter, and she is creating them for you now. We must also discuss control of Hogwarts, now that between you and Lady Granger you represent the four founders."

"I thank you Sir Hat..."

"Merlin, your Lordship."

"What?"

"My name is Merlin, Merlin put an image of himself into this hat, much like magical portraits are made now, and cast protections over it to ensure that it would survive. Godric was a direct descendent of Merlin, which makes you one as well by the way, so I was handed down to him. After they created Hogwarts, they were trying to determine the best way to sort students into the respective houses and Godric tried using me. That proved to work the best so they came up with a story that he'd created me for the purpose of sorting students. My prime purpose was supposed to be to advise the Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts, but it's been over half a millennium now since anyone has listened to my advice."

"It is an honour to meet you Merlin, please call me Harry, after all you're my ancestor in a way. Perhaps we can find some way to talk sometime? I would love to hear what you have to tell me."

"I would like that Harry, we'll work something out. Now don't worry, this might have seemed to be a long conversation for us but it was only seconds for everyone else."

"Thank you Merlin."

With that, Professor McGonagall took the Hat off his head and smiled at him. He whispered "Thank you Professor." and started to head for the Ravenclaw table, only to be brought to a stop by a call from the High Table. "Stop Harry! You need to come back and be re-sorted!"

When he turned to cast a cool look at the High Table, no-one could work out how he did it but even though he spoke in a quiet voice, he could be heard throughout the hall. "That is Lord Potter Headmaster, or Mister Potter if you insist on being informal. I do not know you Sir and therefore such a familiar form of address is inappropriate."

Severus Snape snarled from his position beside Dumbledore. "Potter! You will address the Headmaster with respect!"

Harry shifted his attention to Snape. "You appear to be hard of hearing Professor! As I just told the Headmaster, my title is Lord Potter, or Mister Potter if I choose to allow you to be so informal! As you were raised in the Muggle world, I will explain to you once, how this works. You have publicly addressed the Head of several Noble and Most Ancient Houses in an insulting and aggressive manner. Your only options here are to make a genuine public apology and ensure that you never make a mistake of this nature again or…."

"You insufferable brat! You're just as bad as your father! I will ensure that you will pay for trying to threaten me every day of your miserable existence here!"

"Or the names of the Houses of Prince and Snape will be eradicated and everything belonging to those Houses will be forfeit to the House of Potter for the insult given here in front of so many witnesses. But now you have escalated this by actually threatening the Head of several Noble and Most Ancient Houses in front of all these witnesses. Therefore the option of offering an apology must now be retracted and you will have to be tried and sentenced for your crime."

He turned to Professor McGonagall. "Professor McGonagall, would you be so kind as to call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to come and address this matter please?"

She curtsied, saying. "Most certainly Lord Potter. I will do so immediately." before heading for the door.

Just before she reached the door, Dumbledore came out of his stupor and shouted. "Professor McGonagall! I forbid you to contact the DMLE! This is a purely Hogwarts matter and it will be addressed internally!"

She turned and looked at him. "Headmaster, as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, I find your lack of understanding of the legal requirements of our society astounding! As Lord Potter has stated, the only option available to us in the event of what has just occurred is to call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately and turn the matter over to them. I for one fully intend to do my duty to the school and our students."

With that, she proceeded on out of the Great Hall, returning twenty minutes later with the Director of the DMLE and a team of Aurors. While she was gone, Professor Sprout continued with the sorting of the rest of the First years. It took the Aurors a fair while to collect statements from many of the people in the hall and take Snape into custody, pending his trial.

In the midst of this, after Sue had a quick word with her Aunt, Madam Bones took Harry and Hermione off to Professor McGonagall's office to get an explanation for what her niece had told her. This resulted in a trip into the Gryffindor first year boy's dormitory where Ron Weasley's pet rat was forced into its human form and secured with magic suppressing shackles by the Aurors before being taken away with his fellow Death Eater Severus Snape. They also made another trip to a room on the seventh floor that she had not been aware existed and retrieved an object that was so foul that it was hard to bear being anywhere near it.

Madam Bones advised Harry that she would have Sirius Black collected from Azkaban immediately and that she would ensure that he was kept safe with his health issues being addressed pending his trial. She also promised to bring a trusted Auror escort with her to take him and Hermione to Gringotts first thing in the morning to do what they had to do to take over their estates and obtain copies of his parents' wills.

She still wanted answers about how they knew all of this, but she'd already seen proof of at least part of it in Lord Potter and Lady Granger's identification of who and where someone who was supposed to have been dead for the past ten years was hiding in his animagus form and that foul object from the seventh floor. The explanation that they both started having visions when they met on the train was hard to swallow, but then this whole thing was so bizarre that it made more sense than any logical answer would have.

After they finished with Madam Bones, Harry and Hermione returned to the Great Hall and sought out Professor Flitwick. In the fifty five minutes that they'd been out of the hall, Professor Flitwick had been notified by the house elves that Hogwarts had prepared the Nobles Tower for the two heads of house who were newly arrived at Hogwarts, as per what was laid out in the Hogwarts Charter. As he'd never heard anything about that before, he'd asked the elf if he could bring him a copy of the Charter, and had read the relevant areas. That made for very interesting reading, which in turn led to an even more interesting discussion with the Grey Lady (the Ravenclaw House Ghost), where she informed him that the rights decreed in the Hogwarts Charter could not be overturned or denied. She took great delight in telling him about how the Ministry had tried to overturn the Charter a number of times since it was created in seventeen hundred, but it had failed every time because the Hogwarts Charter was absolute and the magic of it was stronger than anything the Ministry could come up with.

When Harry and Hermione sought him out, the Sorting Feast was almost over, so at his suggestion they just waited until the rest of the students were sent off to their respective house quarters, so he was free to escort them to their new tower. The Grey Lady was waiting there for them, and explained how to get in and what the protections were. She stayed on to explain the rules of the Charter to Professors McGonagall and Sprout at Professor Flitwick's request after Harry and Hermione told him about the other rights that they intended to claim.

Harry and Hermione stuck to the largely true story that they had both been having visions of a possible future ever since they met on the Hogwarts Express, and that was what had led them to claim their titles and what they had a right to at Hogwarts. The professors (including Professor Flitwick) were pretty much set on the idea that Harry and Hermione were reincarnations of soul mates who were being given a second chance, and the pair didn't argue with them on that as the idea was close enough to the truth and it sat well with them. That did create one problem though, in that the professors were uncomfortable with the two of them staying in their tower alone under those circumstances. The solution that was agreed on was that Professor McGonagall assigned her elf, Bonnie, to them and she would stay with them to look after them and act as chaperone.

The answers to the inevitable questions about what happened after Harry was left with those awful Muggles led to a great deal of tears and anger, much of the latter being directed at Dumbledore for his part in that. Professor McGonagall was especially outraged as she realised that she must have been obliviated of most of it, almost certainly against her will, because the only thing she could remember about it was arguing against leaving the infant with those terrible people, she had no memory of where it was, or that it had been Lily's sister he was taken to.

The professors were shocked, of course, when Harry and Hermione revealed that between them, they had been accepted as the heads of all four of the Founders' houses, but they were delighted with the idea of how much that would shake up their society, and especially the school itself. They were concerned when Professor McGonagall pointed out that Dumbledore had had himself made Harry's magical guardian, but Harry in turn pointed out that that was one of the things that they planned to have addressed in the morning when they went to Gringotts, because Edward Tonks, who had been made the Potter family solicitor by his father, and his wife Andromeda were the first available choice as guardians in his parents' wills, so when they read the wills the Tonks would almost certainly become his guardians.

Their relief over that was short lived, because Minerva also remembered that the Headmaster was automatically assigned as the magical guardian for all Muggleborn students at Hogwarts. That caused a panic until Hermione held up her hand to display her house rings and pointed out that she wasn't strictly speaking a Muggleborn, so with the goblins' help, they would hopefully be able to locate an acceptable relative from one of her three houses to assume that role for her.

The professors could see that the events of the day had worn the children out and suggested it was time for bed. Professor Flitwick assured them that he would handle all the arrangements to remove them from the regular classes for Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Astronomy, and that he would make the arrangements with Professor Sinistra for them to do the end of the year Astronomy exam as soon as possible so that she understood that their skipping her class was no reflection on her, merely the fact that they already knew the subject matter.

When Harry saw his room, he just stopped and stared, because it was so different from anything he'd had so far in this cycle, for that matter he had never had anything like this in the previous cycle either. He had a long, luxurious shower in his magnificent bathroom and then climbed into the softest bed he'd ever slept in.

Bonnie fussed over him and watched as he went to sleep, because she'd heard enough in those discussions to know that the young master had had a terrible life so far, and she vowed to do what she could to make his life better from now on. She had been upset when her mistress had assigned her to look after these children instead of her, but as she heard about the lives they'd led and what their visions of another life were, the young master in particular, her heart went out to them and she understood that her mistress hadn't been rejecting her, she was doing the best she could to give these children a better life. That was enough to relieve her upset and make her resolved to justify her mistress's faith in her.

In the morning, Bonnie had them up, breakfasted, dressed and ready by the time that Madam Bones arrived to take them to Gringotts, so they left as soon as she arrived. Meeting Ted and Andi Tonks was interesting, because while Harry and Hermione had heard a lot about them from Sirius and their daughter, they had never actually met them in the last cycle. Ted was confused about how they had known that he was the Potter's solicitor, as that was something that had been kept a secret, but Andi was even more confused about why she was required to be there. The way Madam Bones glanced at Harry and said. "That will be explained when we meet with the Goblins Missus Tonks." just added to her confusion.

Once inside, Harry went to the counter, made the appropriate salutations and requested to speak to the Potter Account Manager. The Goblin he was addressing demanded to know what it was about until Harry held up his hand to display the Potter House ring and said. "That is something for me to discuss with my Account Manager, the Head Goblin, and I do not believe that he would appreciate you interfering in matters that are no concern of yours."

The Goblin kept blustering, but the one working beside him had heard what was said and ran off to inform the Head Goblin of what was going on in the banking chamber, as there was something about this young human that said he knew what he was talking about and that he was not to be trifled with.

Ten minutes later, Harry, Hermione, Madam Bones and Ted and Andi Tonks were being escorted into a rather imposing office. The figure who stood up and came around the desk was like no other goblin any of them but Harry and Hermione had ever seen, he was about five and a half feet tall, with a thick mane of raven black hair and his hands and features were more human than goblin. He looked into Harry's eyes and then put his hands out. Harry knew what was expected and held out his hand with the house rings. The Head Goblin touched each house ring in turn, nodding musingly before he looked up at Harry again. "Your father and his fathers before him only wore the Potter ring Lord Potter."

Harry nodded. "I was in a dire situation Grand Chief Gringott, expecting to need all the influence that I could bring to bear, so I claimed all titles and holdings which were rightfully mine. I was not expecting the House of Slytherin, that must have come from my mother."

The goblin's eyes widened when he heard this young wizard addressing him by his proper name and title, because they were something that very few wizards or witches had ever been privy to. Harry nodded at his surprise. "That is something Lady Granger and I need to tell you..."

At that Gringott looked at Hermione and she held out the hand with her house rings. Once again, he touched each in turn and his eyes widened as he realised that she had been accepted as the head of the other two Founders' houses. Looking up, he realised that all seven of the original Noble Houses of Magical Britain were represented between these two, as Lord Potter was also the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. He mused that something was definitely going on here.

Gringott waved them to seats and indicated that they should tell the story they came here to tell. He got more and more angry as he heard how the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot had interfered with the inheritance and threatened the very existence of the most important wizarding family in Magical Britain in the eyes of the Goblin Nation. He called for the Potter wills to be brought to him while he did full inheritance tests on both children.

When the wills showed exactly what Harry had said they would, with Ted and Andi the second choice after Frank and Alice Longbottom, who were in St Mungo's after losing their minds from being cursed almost to death by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Junior. Gringott formally registered the Tonks as Harry's guardians (as the wills had legal precedence over whatever Dumbledore had wrangled in the Wizengamot), and they moved on to securing Hermione a suitable magical guardian.

Madam Bones suddenly burst out laughing as they were poring over Hermione's family trees. "There! No-one would be brave enough to try anything against Hermione with him as her guardian, and they're closely enough related to shoot down any arguments."

The others looked at the name she indicated and laughed in agreement, even more amused by the fact that the terrifying Baron Alastor Moody was actually part of the Hufflepuff family. With Hermione's agreement, Madam Bones floo called Alastor and asked him to come through because there was something important to discuss. He came through ready to fight, but Amelia Bones was one of the few people he trusted enough to stand down at her word.

He took in the office at a glance and knew that it belonged to a highly ranked goblin, but when he saw Gringott he stopped, because Alastor was actually an unspeakable, and as such was privy to far more information than most wizards. This meant that he was one of very few wizards who could recognise (or knew of) the Noble Goblins who ruled the Goblin nation, and that gave him a good idea of who it was standing in front of him. That was confirmed less than a minute later when the goblin nodded his permission to Harry and Harry made introductions. "Baron Alastor Moody, please allow me to introduce Gringott the Eighth, Head Goblin and Grand Chief of the Clans of the Goblin Nation."

Alastor bowed to Gringott, greeting him with the proper salutations that few wizards knew, and Gringott returned the greeting with equal respect, something that wasn't missed by Alastor or Harry (they were the only ones in the room with enough knowledge of goblin protocol to recognise it). They showed Alastor Hermione's family tree and explained the situation to him, something which required them going over a lot of the same ground that they'd already covered. Seeing the wills, and the evidence that Dumbledore had deliberately sealed them to allow him to act totally against the wishes of the Potters after having witnessed both wills eliminated what trust that he had held in Albus Dumbledore.

Having Amelia show him the transcript of what Harry and Hermione had told her the night before, which had since been confirmed by the wills, as well as locating Peter Pettigrew in animagis form in the Gryffindor dorm, the horcrux made out of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem in the Room of Requirement and the horcrux made out of Helga Hufflepuff's cup in the Lestrange vault was enough to break down any remaining disbelief of what Harry and Hermione were saying. Amelia also showed him the proof confirming that Sirius Black had never been tried (or his so-called crimes investigated for that matter) and Gringott confirmed that Sirius had been Lord Black since his Grandfather had died earlier that year, and that Harry, as his heir, was formally listed as Heir to the House of Black.

Gringott formally registered Alastor as Hermione's guardian, and at Alastor's request and with her agreement she was formally made heiress to the Noble and Ancient House of Moody, as he was the last of the Moody family. The magic showed when Alastor was accepted as Hermione's guardian (just as it had when Andi and Ted were accepted as Harry's guardians), and Hermione glowed and changed slightly again as she was accepted by the Moody family magic as the Heiress to the House of Moody.

Searches were kicked off by both sides for Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, as they had been trusted and talented friends of Harry's parents and they could uphold their promises made to James and Lily to look after Harry by tutoring and protecting Harry and Hermione.

When they finished at Gringotts, Ted went with Amelia to meet with Sirius and prepare the case for his trial tomorrow, while Andi and Alastor accompanied Harry and Hermione on a shopping trip, getting all new clothes and robes for both of them, along with a collection of top of the line multi-compartment trunks.

There was a little known and ridiculously expensive option that could be added by the select few who knew how to do it to trunks that had the requisite charms frameworks, private floo connections or networks to link them. The twenty trunks they got with the floo option along with extensive security and protection charms and wards and other extras cost more than the shop could normally make in four good years, so the people who owned the shop did not argue about being obliviated of all details of the sale once everything had been proved to be working and they had confirmation that the money had been transferred to their vault. The floo option was so expensive that they'd never heard of more than three being ordered together before so ordering nearly seven times that many at once was hard to comprehend, but they weren't about to ask any questions of the scary man who came in to place the order as they didn't want anything to jeopardise the incredible windfall of this sale.

When they got the trunks, one went to Alastor's house, two to the Tonks' home and Ted's office, two to Amelia's home and office, one to Gringott's office, one to Potter Manor, one was placed in a chamber in Nobles Tower and Harry and Hermione each got one as a safe room, the other ten were kept for when their group expanded, though three more were already earmarked for Black House, Longbottom Manor and Professor McGonagall's office. After the shopping trip, they dropped off trunks to Gringott, Amelia and Ted, and Alastor's house, then used Harry's Potter House ring as a port key to take them to Potter Manor.

Even Alastor and Andi were astounded by Potter Manor, because it was the most magnificent Manor House in Magical Britain (possibly all of Britain), and the best hidden as well, so very few people outside the family had ever seen it. The Potter house elves didn't need the Potter House ring to recognise Harry though, they recognised the magical signature of the baby who had been born there eleven years before as soon as he entered the wards, even if he had been gone from the Manor since before his first birthday, so they flocked out of the house to greet him.

They didn't stay long at Potter Manor, the visit was mainly to get the others added to the wards and leave one of the trunks there to serve as a portal to the Manor, but they had another significant meeting while they were there, with ones who had been bonded to Harry at birth. One of Harry's more adventurous ancestors had brought back a breeding stock of Mngwas from Africa in the late eighteen hundreds, and tradition had it that at least one of them was bonded to each of the Heirs of House Potter at birth. This pair had been born just before Harry was taken away to Godric's Hollow, and when they felt his magic as he entered the wards, they came running.

It was a shock for Harry when they 'talked' to him in his head, and an even bigger shock for Hermione when they did the same to her, because they recognised her link with Harry. At first, they thought that the cats were kneazles, or half kneazles, but they were disabused of that notion when Alastor got impatient and tried to pull them away from Harry and Hermione so that they could leave. In a flash, they both transformed into ferocious looking donkey sized big cats and started stalking towards him with murderous intent. It took quite an effort to calm them down and get them to change back into their 'cat' forms.

When he had his breath back, there was no animosity in the look Alastor was sending the cats' way, just awe and admiration. "OK, I've changed my mind, you definitely want to bring these two along! You couldn't get better protectors than them, especially the way they look like fairly ordinary cats most of the time." Harry and Hermione asked whether they wanted to come with them and there was no question that the answer was "YES!", so as soon as Hermione, Andi and Alistor's magical signatures had been added to the Manor's wards, Crookshanks and Bastet (for some reason, those were the names that were accepted for the male who got on with Hermione and the female who only really warmed to Harry) were in their arms when they apparated back to Hogsmeade. They let them down then and they trotted up to Hogwarts beside them.

Of course, Dumbledore tried to ban Andi and Alastor from Hogwarts when he was advised that they were the first of the staff that Lord Potter and Lady Granger would be retaining there, and he started ranting that the original Hogwarts Charter didn't apply any more. Unfortunately for him, Gringott and Amelia had dug out confirmation of what the Grey Lady had told the professors the night before, that the magic of Hogwarts Charter was too strong to be overturned by the Ministry or anyone else and anyone who tried to overturn it would fail. Furthermore, trying to use underhanded measures to go against the charter had always had disastrous consequences for anyone who did so. Dumbledore still fought tooth and nail against every one of the rights that they'd decided to claim, but that seemed more an attempt to maintain his self image than anything else.

Andi had mixed feelings about one development at Hogwarts, as Madam Bones had taken her daughter Nymphadora out of the Auror Academy where she'd just started and assigned her as part of the protective detail for Harry and Hermione at Hogwarts, with Alastor taking over her training. While this meant that Dora would almost certainly be far better trained than any other new Auror, from the stories Harry and Hermione had told them, being at Hogwarts and near Harry was going to be a very dangerous place to be.

When she arrived in Nobles Tower via the trunk floo, Dora was shocked to see her mother there and blurted out. "Mum? What the hell are you doing here?"

The others could see from the smirk on Andi's face that she was planning to have fun with this, and Harry and Hermione were reminded of Sirius's rather twisted sense of humour. Andi showed that she shared it when she said. "Nymphadora, say hello to your foster brother Harry."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?… Wait, what? Did you say foster brother?"

Andi flashed a look of anger as she replied. "Yes Dora, Harry was supposed to be raised by Frank and Alice Longbottom until your Aunt and that loathsome family of her's destroyed them. Your father and I were James and Lily's next choice to raise him but some interfering old bastard sealed their wills and sent him to the one family that James and Lily were adamant Harry was never to go anywhere near, Lily's Muggle sister and her husband. We were confirmed as his guardians today, so I'll be staying here to look after him and Hermione until we locate the friends who will be brought in to tutor them in the subjects that they will be studying separately, and I'll be popping in and out after that, tutoring them on some subjects and dealing with the business of Harry's houses, as he's made me his Regent."

She waved to Alastor. "Have you met Baron Moody before Dora? He was confirmed as Hermione's guardian today and has made her his heir. Alastor has agreed to take over your training for Madam Bones, and I expect that Harry and Hermione will be joining you in that training. He will also be staying here as well."

Andi suddenly smiled. "Don't say anything but Harry has given us all the evidence we need to get Sirius cleared of all those charges and have him released. Your father is working on the case with Madam Bones and it's going in front of the Wizengamot tomorrow."

That got her, Harry, Hermione and even Alastor hugged, because 'Uncle Siri' had been a favourite of Dora's when she was a little girl.

As Dora sat down and started chatting, Harry and Hermione looked at each other, thinking the same thing, they preferred Dora to Tonks. They had liked Tonks, but the outside world, and probably having to give in to what men wanted, had hardened her, Dora was more fun, open and happy. They silently agreed that they had another goal, to help her keep Dora.

Dinner that night in the Great Hall was tense, because Dumbledore and most of the Slytherin table kept glaring at them, and they could hear what was being muttered at the Slytherin table as well. To blend in, Dora wore her school robes (silently thanking her mother for not letting her burn them when she finished a few months ago like she wanted to), and while some students wondered who the Hufflepuff sitting with Potter's group was, she was generally ignored.

After dinner, Neville and Sue came to Nobles Tower to see Harry and Hermione's new digs, and they were quite impressed, even more so with those incredible trunks that provided almost impregnable safe rooms and secure portals to the Tonks and Bones homes and Gringotts among other places.

To avoid another incident like Alastor's, Harry and Hermione had Bastet and Crookshanks transform into their full Mngwa forms, so that the others, including Bonnie, knew what they really were, XXXX (almost XXXXX) creatures that could be extremely dangerous when provoked. Of course, that meant that the other girls were a little frightened and less inclined to cuddle the Mngwas after they saw what they turned into.

Dora escorted Neville and Sue back to the Hufflepuff dorms before curfew, but Harry and Hermione had trouble sleeping that night, it wasn't nightmares, they were nervous and excited about what was going to happen tomorrow. It was mainly excited, because they were sure everything would go as planned, but there was still the niggling little worry that something might go wrong.

A/N: I've seen the idea of trunks with floo connections in a few stories before, but it's never been quite how I'd do it and I thought I'd have a go as it's a cool idea IMHO.