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DISCLAMER:

I unfortunately don't own Harry Potter

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CHAPTER 1

Pain is a friend

June 18, 1996 11:30 PM

Had there been anyone to look upon Hogwarts on this summer night, they would have seen a shadowy figure leaning against a column of the astronomy tower. There, looking off from a ledge some hundred meters in the air towards the moon and stars, Harry Potter stood and wondered just what he had done to suffer so much. He had lost his parents when he was only a year had then suffered abuse for 10 years at the hands of his Aunt and Uncle. Now, mere hours ago, he had lost the last of his family when his godfather, Sirius Black, has been knocked into the veil by Bellatrix Lestrange. He felt crushed. Emotions were overwhelming him to the point that he was struggling to think straight. All he could think of was how much he had lost when Sirius had passed through it. Memories flashed through the front of his mind as he recalled their time together, whether it was just a hug or their late night discussions that were hours long and deeper than any coversations he'd had their lives. He remembered all of it from when Sirius asked him if he wanted to come and live with him to all the stories he told him about his parents.

However, there was another emotion that was playing across the front of Harry's mind. Righteous anger. In all of his brilliance, Albus Bloody Dumbeldore had decided that it was now the perfect time to tell him that there was a prophecy saying that he was the only one who could kill Voldemort. When Dumbeldore had shown him this, Harry realized that meant that what the order had been doing for the past year was literally useless. It also meant that had he been told sooner, it would have also prevented the death of Sirius.

He was the weapon they planned to use to defeat Voldemort. Thats all he was to them, a weapon to make ends meet. He saw red. He whipped out his trusted wand, before proceeding to cause as much damage to the office as he could, leaving practically nothing unscathed. Not even Fawkes perch, that had been created to withstand Phoenix fire, had survived his temper tantrum. Once his anger has calmed slightly, he made a quick escape from the Headmasters office to think things through and decide what he was going to do next.

That brought him back to the present as he contemplated what he was going to do this summer. He knew he wouldn't be able to return to the Dursleys, no matter what the Order wanted. Harry was more than certain that should he return, they would likely beat him worse than ever before, which is saying something considering his past beatings. And that was assuming they didn't plain out kill him. He also knew that he would have to go somewhere he couldn't be found by either the Order or Voldemort, as he had much training to do if he wanted any chance of making it out of this war alive and well. That brought him to his final concern; he would have to find a way to remove the trace from his wand so he could practice magic without the risk of being expelled. Fortunately, he knew just the person for that.

Contrary what most people chose to believe about him, Harry Potter was much smarter, thoughtful and curious about the Magical world than the image he portrayed to others. Back before third year, when Harry spent a couple of weeks at the Leaky Cauldron, he had spent time exploring not only Diagon Alley, but also some of its neighbor alleys who couldn't afford the high rent of Diagon. That summer he had discovered that there were actually several different alleys that all had a focus in different areas. Among the more notable ones he had visited were Hometown Alley which focused in (you guessed it) home appliances, Newton Alley which focused in all things muggle from clothes to pens, and Crossroad Alley that focused in items that could be used on trips to all sorts of places around the world. He had also spent large quantities of time in Knockturn Alley. Despite his initial bias against it, he had d discovered that in truth it merley housed several specialty businesses, that were more Grey than anything else, bars, casinos, and dubious looking brothels. He had actually spent a lot of time and money in one of the specialty stores called Medusa's Bookstore. It seemed to be filled with many books that contained knowledge that had disappeared from general use or had been banned by the ministry. In truth the magic they contained could be classified as anywhere from light magic to the darkest types of dark magic. The young women in charge of the store, Brooke Reed, had taken over the store following the death of her father the previous year. Over the course of the time he spent there, under an alias of course, they had developed a very close relationship similar to that of an older sister and younger brother. He had eventually revealed his true identity near the end of the summer, surprising the girl to another level. However, despite her initial annoyance, she had understood why he had been hiding his identity considering some of the unsavory residents of the alley. To this day they continued to exchange letters on a daily basis and had even meet up in the muggle world several times as well.

While exploring Knockturn, another store he had noticed was a shop called Wands of Fury. It advertised that it sold custom wands and other wand related objects. As he did not need another wand or anything for his current wand at the time, he hadn't thought much of it. Now though, it may be the perfect time to visit and see if they could provide him with a second wand, as well as remove the Trace from his current holly and Phoenix wand.

However, that summer was not the only thing that he had been keeping a secret from his "best friends", Ron and Hermione. Since his first year when he had meet Ron, he had realized that someone was trying to set them up to be friends as he knew damn well when Ron came into his compartment that there were plenty of other empty ones, despite his claims. It was also interesting that it had been his mother who had been breaking the statue of secrecy loudly asking where platform 9 3/4 was, despite having been there so many times before. It was also odd that she had come through the muggle entrance and not the floo, as it would have been much easier for her and her family. Harry also knew he couldn't trust Hermione very much, as he knew that the moment he started doing something she didn't think was in agreement with the rules, she would report him too either Dumbeldore or McGonagall. She was far too blinded by her trust in authority figures. He had lost almost all his trust in her back in 3rdyear when she had reported his Firebolt to Proffessor McGonnagol.

It was also because of them that Harry's grades showed him as only a mediocre student in Hogwarts, when in truth he was one of the smartest students in the entire school all together. He his his intelligence for similar reasons as to why he had at the Dursleys. While there he had hidden it to about being beaten and starved by his relatives, at Hogwarts he did so too avoid the jelousy and ire of Ron and Hermione. He also highly suspected that they were intentionally trying to sabotage his work sometimes, as Hermione almost always ruined his papers right before they were due by scribbling useless notes upon them claiming he needed to fix them, while Ron always tried to get him to do something else, whether it was chess or quidditch. Hermione in particular annoyed him when it came to academics as she acted like she was so smart even though all she did was memorize information, not understand it. She also wasn't the smartest witch of their age, despite her claims. In reality, he had learned she was only ranked 11th in their class ranks last year.

However, unlike previous years, this year Harry had decided that for his OWLs he would stop hiding his smarts and actually do his best, as he knew they would have a direct impact on what he could do in the future. That is should he every actually even make it to that point. He has even managed to convince Madame Marchbanks to allow him to secretly take his OWLs in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, as well as the lesser known OWL of Duelling. By the end of his exams, he knew that he had done spectacularly if the faces of his graders was anything to go by.

As far as the summer was concerned, Harry had originally planned on convincing Sirius to take him on a vacation, preferable to tropical island, so they could both relax before the war with Voldemort started in earnest. However, now, that plan had been thrown completely out the window, leaving Harry to wonder just where he could go when the school year finished.

He was suddenly startled from his pondering when he heard a soft voice from behind him, "Would you mind if I stay here too Potter?".

Quickly turning around, Harry came face to face with a girl who was about 5"6 with blonde hair, and sky blue eyes that seemed incredibly sad and looked as if they had been crying recently. Recognizing her immediately as the emotionless, ice queen of Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass, he decided to take pity on the girl as she looked to be in as much distress and pain as he felt. "Of course you can stay here too Greengrass."

Without another word Greengrass leaned against the same column before sliding down it so that she was sitting down. For about half an hour the only sounds that could be heard through the awkward silence were Greengrass's quite sobs and Harry's foot tapping against the edge. Neither of them could bring themselves to say a word to the other until Harry could no longer take the awkward silence and joined her sitting down before asking, "Are you ok Greengrass?"

When all he heard from her was a louder sob, he turned towards her and saw her shaking her head, showing that she wasn't able to talk just yet. He reached out and put a hand on her back and started rubbing circles on her back in an attempt to calm her. Despite initially tensing up when she felt his hand, Daphne slowly began to relax. After a couple of minutes, she finally brought her face out of her lap and looked up. She took few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself before she turned towards Harry, "Why are you being nice to me Potter? Aren't you supposed to inherently hate all Slytherins?"

Harry sighed, "Just because most Gryffindors hate Slytherins, you shouldn't assume I do. Hell, I would have been put into Slytherin if not for Malfoy".

Daphne snorted "The boy is an idiot. He and a few others are an exception, not the rule. He probably doesn't even realize how bad it is to make an enemy of heir to a most Ancient and Noble house like you."

Harry looked up sharply at her. "What are you talking about?"

Daphne's face took on a look of disbelief "You can't possibly not know what I'm talking about?"

Harry just stared at her before finally saying "I genuinely have no idea what you are talking about. Whatever it is, it can wait. You do not look like you are having a very good day and you need to relax, not stress yourself. So, can you tell me why you're up her crying?"

"Why would you care?"

"Because it's a part of my personality to want to help people. Especially when that someone is as beautiful as you." Came Harry's quick response as both blushed lightly.

"And if I tell you that its private?" Daphne said.

"Then I will respect your wishes, but do my best to make sure you're fine. After all, can't let you leave without your ice queen persona in place." Daphne frowned at that.

"What makes you so certain that's not who I am, and this is just a mask?" Harry looked away from Daphne and off towards the pale moon before quietly responding.

"Because after using a mask for years myself, I've gotten quite good at recognizing when someone else is using one or if they are being themselves." Daphne looked at Harry in wonder at what could possibly have caused the Golden Boy to want to wear a mask before deciding that she likely wasn't going to get an answer. She sighed before looking back to her lap.

Harry, seeing that she had quieted down looked back at her and once more asked "So, just what is it that has you in such a terrible mood?"

Several moments of complete silence passed before Daphne angled her head towards Harry and began, "I should probably begin with the fact that my parents have never been the most caring of people. Both of them have rarely shown much affection to either myself or my sister. They care mostly for elevating their own reputations and name than anything else. It's what my grandmother says has been her biggest failure towards my mother. I was practically raised by my grandmother until I was 8 years old and my parents sent her away so that they could teach me to be a "proper pureblood". They both desire for me to be sold off in a betrothal contract to someone of higher status. Since they sent my grandmother away, its been a constant argument between me and Astoria against my mother and father. I knew that I was always backed my by grandmother, and knew that as our family is a matriarchal family, it was my grandmother who would decide if we would be sold. She was strictly against it and always supported Astoria and I in our desire to marry for love instead of for money. However, a couple of hours ago I received a letter from my parents telling me that my Grandmother passed away earlier today. Now, without he control over the family, I know that both me and my sister will more than likely have no choice but to marry some 70 year old wizard for whom we will produce heirs."

Harry looked at her with an unrecognizable look etched upon his face. He couldn't even begin to express his anger towards parents who would treat their children merely as cattle to be profited off of. "Tha-That is absolutely disgusting!"

Daphne's face took on a blank look said "Yes it is, but there isn't really anything I can do."

Harry looked at her with pity in his eyes, "If you discover a way to do something and there's anything I can do to help, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. Nobody deserves to ever be in a position like that."

Daphne just gave a sharp nod of her head before looking straight into Harry's jade green eyes before repeating Harry's earlier question, "So what brings Dumbeldore's Golden Boy up here?"

Harry growled lightly, "Please don't call me his Golden Boy. The Headmaster and I have not seen eye to eye for some time now."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"My godfather was killed a few hours ago." Harry slowly replied back.

"Sirius Black? But why would you be sa-he wasn't guilty was he?"

"How'd you get that?" he questioned with surprise filling his voice.

"I got that feeling because you seem really sad about it. Unless you're disappointed you didn't kill him yourself as revenge?"

"No. He was innocent and he died a couple hours ago when Bellatrix Lestrange knocked him into the veil of death."

"Wait, isn't that in the deep parts of the Department if Mysteries? How on earth would he get there?"

"Well, that's a long story. The short story is I thought he was being tortured in the Department of mysteries by Voldemort so I went with some friends to save him. We realized it was a trap too late and he came with the ord-I mean Dumbeldore to help us. He fell through the veil just before Voldemort revealed himself in the ministry atrium a few minutes later."

"Oh... I'm sorry for asking something so personal."

"No, its fine. Honestly I needed to get that off my shoulders and it's nice to have someone I can talk about it with. It's just that I really didn't need to lose him with all my current problems at the moment."

The two descended into a much more comfortable silence then earlier. "Hey, Potter?"

"hmm?"

"Do you really not know that you're the heir of a most ancient and noble house?"

"Well, I tried to find information on the Potter family after I entered the magical world, but it seems that my family is incredibly secretive in comparison to others or something. I hadn't thought much of it at the time but the only book I found had mentioned anything was that the Potter family was part of the higher-ups in society. It also said something about how the Potter family had at one point practically ruled the world of trade, and had a vast empire of resources at their disposal before almost completely dissapearing. It never mentioned why and I never could find out why. Other than that though almost all books I've seen mention almost nothing about what the house system is and how it works. It doesn't help that most people assume I know, but nobody tells me anything about my family or its history."

Daphne let out a small gasp at that and looked at Harry with wide eyes "I would have though smeone would have told you. I mean anyone. Dumbeldore should have been telling you about this when you were a kid, especially after he claimed to be your magical guardian. It-"

"What do you mean magical guardian?" Harry interrupted

Daphne glared at him for a moment for the interuption "A magical guardian is an adult who is appointed to a magical child who's own parents are either dead or whos parents are muggles. A lot of the time the Chief Warlock is appointed as their magical guardian, except in the cases of orphans when their next closest kin is. As I was saying before, I was also surprised that Longbottom never told you about it, as the Longbottom family is one of your oldest allies."

Harry sighed quietly "Neville just doesn't seem to have it in him to stand up for himself let alone me. I also think he's been blocked by Ronald at times when he's tried to talk to me."

"I'm sorry you never learned. I think I can assume that this is why you don't wear expensive clothes?" Daphne asked.

"Actually it's because of my Aunt and Uncle. If they ever learned I had any money, they would find a way to make me give it to them. I also don't have enough gold in my trust vault at Gringotts to waste it anyway." Harry responded.

Daphne stood up at that with a look of undiluted rage on her face. "Of course. Fucking magical logic. You manage to save everyone from a fucking Dark Lord who had almost conquered the entire country, and what do they do? They throw you away and hope you're someone else's problem. Literally any family should have wanted to take you in. But no they throw you with bloody muggles who don't even realize that you are still their family. And I bet it was Dumbeldore too, wasn't it? The man has gone completely mad. He should have removed you the moment he even thought they were treating you anything but like true parents. But no he just leaves you there and expects shit to work out. After all how could he possibly be wrong, he is Albus Dumbeldore know-er of all and Man-Whos-Never-Wrong" Daphne cynically finished. Harry just stared at her with his jaw dropped. It was several moments before Harry regained his bearings and led Daphne to sit down again in the hope she would calm herself. He completely understood where she was coming from considering her own upbringing. He hadn't even told her everything they did to him. Somehow he didn't doubt that if he did that Dumbeldore might be running for his life very quickly.

After several minutes had passed and Daphne had calmed considerable, she looked at him with a questioning look on her face "That sounds fishy on a few different levels. First off, why would your Aunt and Uncle act like that towards you, I mean they are still of your blood. And secondly, why is it you are going to Gringotts for your banking? I know for a fact that the Potter family doesn't trust the Goblins because off all the Goblin Wars against Wizards. As far as I know, they used the Dwarves Banking Clan like the Greengrasses."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that "I don't really want to talk about my relatives right now. Besides the fact I don't want to bring up old memories right now, I still barely know you, so please don't take offense to the fact I can't completely trust you right away even though I want to. As for my inheritance, well, until you just said so, I didn't even know there was such a thing. As for why I use Gringotts, it's all I've been told about. Apparently Dumbeldore has been keeping me in the dark about it like so much else. " Daphne ignoring the insult towards Dumbeldore decided to try and help him out.

"You should go visit the Dwarves when school is over. They might be able to help you with some of your problems. If you want I could take you to them? I mean that is if you haven't already decided to bring your friends. I'd also have to bring my sister but she wouldn't say anything. I mean it isn't li-"

As Harry chuckled lightly and interrupted her rambling, Daphne blushed a bright red realizing what she sounded like. "I would absolutely love for you to show me where the Dwarves are. Though you should probably check with your sister first."

Daphne quickly replied "Of course I will, but for now, I just want to stay here a bit and try to forget my pain." Harry nodded to her before relaxing besides her, with an arm around her shoulder, as they starred off into the night sky. A short time later, Daphne's head dropped to his shoulder, as she fell asleep before Harry leaned his head against hers and joined her in sleep, dreaming of a future without the pain and chaos his life currently held. One where there was peace.

A.N. Thank you for reading this first chapter. I would appreciate any constructive criticism so I can improve my writing. I'm also open to any ideas anyone has and would appreciate that as well. I plan to have the next chapter out by Sunday evening. Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you come back for more soon.