Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Harry Potter, and find the need to state it ridiculous.

Rated M for violence, adult language, and sexual situations in later chapters.

Warning: This fic contains book, movie and AU elements. Generally i'll go with book over anything, i'll use movie if I like the aesthetics better for that part without it significantly changing anything. AU elements will be brought in to deal with situations where there are contradictions to canon, things were left vague, or something just flat out doesn't make sense.

I typically give in-story reasoning for things. Some times i'll add additional reasoning in the bottom AN if I feel I can't convey everything through the character believably. This story will not contain bashing, any negative portrayals of characters will be backed with canon evidence for their behavior.

If you've read my other fic, this story is literally as far as I could get from it while still enjoying writing the character and story so don't expect similar character behavior, story theme's or overall tone.

Lastly, as you'll see at the end of this chapter, I don't rewrite canon. I assume anyone reading this knows it and honestly J.K. Did it better than I can without me writing it word for word. When things are following canon without the MC changing anything, events will be glossed over and summarized.

Chapter 1

-8AM 07/31/1990-

Waking up in a small cupboard under the stairs was simultaneously familiar and foreign. I have nearly nine years of memories saying that I've always woken up here. I also have over twenty years of memories showing that the worst place I've slept is a college dorm room. Somewhere that was practically a palace compared to this. I remember growing up as little more than a servant and whipping boy for my aunts family. I remember books and movies about the life I have, and apparently will, live.

I'm currently a ten year old boy, secretly a wizard, with the memories, and blended personalities, of two beings form two separate universes. Harry James Potter, a verbally and often mentally abused, malnourished child. Jasper Grant Barry, a twenty seven year old widow, still mourning the loss of his wife and daughter three years ago. Both of their memories fill my head, both of them feel like me, or at least a part of me.

I have memories of hundreds of stories like this where someone wakes up in the body of another. Some where two people become merged and form a new person. Some where one dominates and supplants the other. A few where they exist separate from each other but equal, sharing a body like two sides of the same coin. From the best I can tell, upon just waking, I seem to be a blend of the two people who's memories I contain.

Unlike the stories I've read though, I have no clue how I got here. I didn't die, I didn't meet with a super powerful being. Jasper and Harry both went to sleep last night and this morning on what would have been Harry's, now my, tenth birthday I woke up. The question I keep asking myself, that I've been asking myself for the last two hours is, who the fuck does that make me?

On one hand the majority of my knowledge and experience in life comes from Jasper. On the other, Harry's body is the one I'm in. It's his magic that I will hopefully be exploring. His resources that I will hopefully be using. His fate that I will likely be forced down. His life that people will expect me to live. I suppose when it's all laid out like that it's a lot simpler. I am, for all intents and purposes, Harry James Potter, with a more mature and self centered mindset admittedly.

Most importantly though, I'm Harry James Potter with the memories of a, self admitted, Harry Potter fanboy. A fanboy to the point of having read the complete series nineteen times, some books well over thirty. The movies weren't as big of a hit with Jasper but he still watched all ten movies in that universe at least five times. That's not including of course all the short stories, author interviews, and the hundreds to possibly thousands of hours spent pouring over the wiki and Pottermore.

Simply put I'm Harry Potter with a more adult mindset. Less self sacrificing and self doubting. More intelligent, cunning and self aware. Armed with a large amount of detailed knowledge concerning magic, the past, and most importantly, the future. The only question facing me is what exactly to do about the situation I find myself in? Or better said, how best can I capitalize on the opportunities I now have in front of me.

"What's taking so long on breakfast boy!" Also, how can I get through the next year without murdering my shrill aunt and her obese family. Honestly getting used to being little more than a servant, even with Harry James Potter's memories won't be easy. Though between his memories and my body's muscle memory, I have made short work of cooking breakfast.

"Coming aunt Petunia!" You must not murder your family members, you must not murder your family members. Trying to keep myself calm, I carry over the three plates of food and set them on the table in front of the Dursley's. It's hard to understand how harry could have been so malnourished when he was the one cooking the food. A look through my memories shows that he, I, was so terrified of being punished I never considered sneaking food. Luckily I also have the memories of a twenty seven year old, and now pockets full of food.

"About time boy! Now get the dishes clean and get back in your bloody cupboard!" The more I sink my mind into the memories of Harry James Potter, the easier it is to deal with Vernon. On the downside, I also feel myself becoming more meek and submissive. With a shake of my head I throw off the meek mindset and fear from the first Harry's memories. Luckily it seems the emotions from either set of memories only affect me when I let them. So far at least.

Fifteen minutes later with the dishes done, and my journey back to my 'room' complete, I have the time to think. Really think that is and more crucially, plan. I have exactly one year before Hagrid comes to take me to Diagon Alley. Conventional fanfic wisdom would tell me to go to Gringotts, ask for an inheritance test, call back all keys to my vaults, claim said vaults full of gold from long dead ancestors, accept lord/heir-ship rings from those houses and then move to the Leaky Cauldron until the start of school.

Of course that's complete and utter nonsense not supported by a shred of canon material. There are most likely no such thing as inheritance tests. Any lines outside of Potter and Peverell that I may come from probably had hundreds of descendants by now. The chances of me inheriting a single knut from them is slim to none. Regardless of how I feel about living with the Dursley's, it is, factually speaking, keeping me safe and perhaps more significantly, it's keeping Dumbledore from worrying that i'll let the fame go to my head.

That's so much more important than it sounds. There are perhaps wizards or witches I could live with that could possibly keep me safe, but if I don't have Dumbledore's full confidence and trust, I'm not surviving the future. Period point blank. Dumbledore, despite what a lot of fanfics suggest, is not evil. He's actually very far from it, he's a man willing to sacrifice someone he honestly loves more than anyone else living to put a stop to the complete destruction of the wizarding world, and the soon after destruction of the muggle world.

And it's not even his idea to do so, it's fate's. As soon as he realizes there's a way for Harry, me, to live he goes out of his way, including willingly dying, to make sure I come back from death. Albus Dumbledore is an old man haunted by the mistakes of his past, that's just trying to balance the love he has for Harry, and the duty he has to the wizarding world as a whole. As a result of his sacrifice, he manages to ensure the future of both. I can't risk a scenario where he isn't willing to take the same actions for this new version of me.

So no, even if there was an actual way to access my vaults early I wouldn't take it. With my living situation and finances set in stone for the next year, the biggest question left is arguably the most exciting. Magic. As in I actually have real live magic now. I've been trying to contain myself and not freak out but it's hard. Both of my past selves would have given anything to have magic and both... died(?), thinking that it was impossible.

I know from the original Harry's memories that I've already performed accidental magic. My hair has grown back overnight from a hair cut, I've changed a teachers hair color, shrunk one of Dudley's sweaters and most excitingly, I've teleported to escape Dudley and his gang. I say teleport because, I didn't feel the squeezing sensation described in the books, and it happened instantly so I didn't fly/jump like Lily Potter did.

I can only assume that it was some crude dangerous form of apparition, one I'm in no hurry to try out any time soon. I remember reading just how bad Ron's splinching accident actually was. Still this means I clearly have magic, and can even direct it. When I was upset or scared enough, things I wanted to happen, happened. Tom Riddle in the orphanage further refined his own accidental magic into focused wandless magic that he used to, somewhat justly, terrorize the other children.

Outside of wandless magic practice, the thing i'll need to concentrate on the most, magic wise at least, is Occlumency. I'm not stupid, I'm aware that it will take years to get good at the mind arts, especially without instruction. I don't need to fend off a mind probe though, just block the casual surface thought from coming out. Skilled and naturally talented Legilimensers seem to not be able to actually stop themselves form surface level mind reading, or at least Queenie claims she couldn't. And J.K. Rowling describe Snape's skill as a natural talent that he had to slightly train.

As the magic side of things is temporarily squared away, I start thinking about the next most important thing I can accomplish while I'm stuck here. Improving my body. Fix as much of my undernourishment as I can, and train my reflexes and speed. I'm lucky in that, going by the green eyes, I'm in the book universe. I have nothing against Daniel Radcliffe as a person but he's 5'5 and I have over a decade of memories with me being 6'3. And all the advantages of being over six feet.

In the books. Harry's height is a bit hard to pin down but by using logic and context clues, it seems to be anywhere from 5'11 to 6'2 by the end of Deathly Hollows. Specifically Harry is described as being as tall as Narcissa Malfoy at one point, while not being taller than Sirius yet. Narcissa is described as a tall woman which should put her between 5'8 and 5'11. Sirius is described as being shorter than James and Remus but taller than Snape who isn't described as short or even average.

Since sirius has to be taller than Narcissa that makes him between 5'9 and 6'0. James Potter is described as being taller than Sirius, and by extension Snape and Narcissa, so to me that's a minimum of two inches making him between 5'11 and 6'2. Harry by the end of the series is described as being as tall as his dad James, so again 5'11 to 6'2. Any taller and I think both Harry and James' heights would have been more remarked on. Though Voldemort, who is described as tall, refers to James as a tall man so he could have potentially passed 6'3.

If that's the height range I can expect even after growing up malnourished, there's a strong chance that with an extra year of good eating and exercises, plus any potions that may be able to help when I do actually get to the wizarding world, I could achieve the higher end of that range. Maybe even a bit higher. Regardless I won't be a shrimp and will hopefully have a head start on developing the athleticism needed for long, fast paced duels and combat.

As soon as I finish the sausage and egg sandwich I smuggled, I can get started on the most basic bit of magic I can think of, levitating something, specifically one of my school pencils.

-11PM 10/31/1990-

It took me three months to be satisfied with my ability to wandlessly levitate something. Not because it really should have, but because three weeks into my new life, the Dursley's realized food was running out faster than it used to. They had no direct evidence it was me but still blamed me for it anyway. The punishment wasn't starving me... exactly. They still fed me a very small breakfast each day, and a smaller dinner. It was even less food than they used to feed me, and significantly less food than Jasper ever had to suffer through. Even as a broke university student.

As a result all Levitation, Occlumency and physical training stopped. I put every ounce of energy and spare moment I had into learning Alohomora and Colloportus. Or at least wandless equivalents that achieved the same or similar results. With a singular focus and a determination born from near starvation, I managed it by the end of my second week of punishment. Once I was able to start sneaking out of the cupboard at night to steal food, my magic practice started back up in earnest.

Though not immediately with learning to levitate objects. Instead, I moved on to the more difficult but far more needed Disillusionment charm. Not only was it harder to learn, it was incredibly difficult to test if I actually did it. It took six weeks, and leaving the school bathroom disillusioned without anyone seeing me, to be certain I had achieved something similar to the canon spell. Admittedly because all my classmates and teachers are muggles, this could simply be a muggle repelling charm or something similar.

I wont know for sure without testing it around wizards, but I do believe it's an actual disillusionment effect. Mostly because of how I learned it, how i learned all the magic I've managed so far actually. I focus my mind on one single goal, in this case invisibility, then I sink my mind into memories that have strong feelings attached. In this case the memory of running for my life from Dudley's gang. When I eventually felt a slippery feeling over my body, I tried dropping it by getting out of that memory, and by extension those emotions.

From there it's just a matter of refining it. Working on at first entering and exiting the memory quicker. Then trying to feel the emotions without the attached memory. Finally trying to push my magic to follow my intent with no emotion at all, just a focused goal. Or at least that's how far I've gotten with any of my spells. Eventually they'll need further refinement to make my magic respond faster, then after that getting the magic to function without having to devote my full focus to achieving the effect desired.

After the six weeks it took to get to a skill level where I could become 'disillusioned' after thirty seconds of focus, I moved back to the original charm I started trying to learn. I left off being able to make a single book hover for five minutes before I couldn't maintain concentration. As of right now I've added a second book and have then floating in circles around me while I do my homework. My plan for this spell is to eventually increase the weight I can lift, the height I can lift them, the speed I can move them at and the duration I can hold them at.

I have the feeling that Voldemort's early mastery of wandless levitation charms is what lead to his ability to fly unassisted. I'm a long way off from that, and I know i'll never reach his and Dumbledore's level of ability by the final battle but I'm improving way faster than the original Harry did. Sadly I've discovered that magical cores don't exist and I wasn't born with some massive core that makes me an instant god of magic.

Instead the best way I can describe magic is like a... muscle. A magical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and maybe even physical muscle. The more I use my magic the faster it responds. The more I practice a particular spell the faster and more potent it becomes. When I keep using magic without breaks It gets hard to focus on the spell. My thought process slows down a little and my body feels a bit lethargic. The closest thing I can describe it to is getting sore form working out too much.

Once I've taken a break, I'm good to go again and I've noticed that it's taking me longer to get tired from magic use. I've also noticed, mostly with the levitation charm, that the more I use the charm, the less that specific charm seems to tire me. That's usually my cue to up the difficulty on what and how I'm levitating an object. What has me a bit excited though is that I know wandless magic is far more difficult, and I assume more tiring, than wand magic.

I hope that means that I'm developing faster than anyone who practices just wand magic is capable of. Sadly Voldemort and Dumbledore are very skilled and accomplished at wandless magic so again, there's no hope of catching up to their level before the battle. I'd be lucky to hit the Snape/Bellatrix level by the time I'm seventeen and ready to face off with Voldemort.

Occlumency has been a far more mixed bag in the three months I've had. Partially because the three months was actually closer to one month due to learning two unexpected charms, partially because I really have no clue what I'm doing. Well to be exact, due to my two sets of memories, and the unique mental landscape it's created in me, I have the beginnings mastered. It's very easy to clear my mind of emotion, memories, even thoughts.

I just sort of let my consciousness drift into one of my sets of memories without actively bring those memories into my mind. I had that down in the three weeks before punishment started. I can basically blank slate my active mind, but I can't also do anything else. Like walk for instance. My body is on a sort of subconscious autopilot, just breathing and blinking. I've been trying to simply let my mind go blank while still staying consciously aware and in control of my body but I haven't had any real success.

My physical situation really didn't start improving until school started back up and I had finished 'disillusionment' training. So far I've been making my self invisible and running to and from school. On top of that, after second period during our break, I've been playing with a tennis ball I stole from the school store room. By 'play' I mean throwing it as hard and unpredictably as I can at a wall five feet away and trying to catch it. It's been... pretty hit and miss but I do think I'm getting better.

As for school itself well things have been... boring. Outside of have the full memories of a complete education, I'm intelligent. I'd go as far as to say I'm unusually intelligent. It's not a big surprise given what Jasper knew of the canon world. Harry's parents, James and Lily were extremely bright. James was stated to be at the top of his year academically every year. Not mention creating the Marauder's map and learning to become an animagus in secret.

Lily was, according to both her charms and potions professors, one of the best and brightest students they had. Considering each has likely had well over a thousand students that's extraordinarily high praise, especially given her blood status. The original Harry himself, while not overly studious or fond of academics due to his upbringing, was clearly intelligent and often showed it when he needed to. Then we have Jasper, someone who graduated American high school at sixteen and received a full academic scholarship to M.I.T.

So while I'm not a super genius with an eidetic memory, school has proven to be trivial even when I choose not to use my memories and just learn normally. I decided to sit right in front of the teachers desk so Dudley and his gang has been unable to harass me in class, outside of class and lunch I'm disillusioned. All this has resulted in me having the best grades in class and not getting bullied once so far, this has though come with 'negative consequences'.

The Dursley's are absolutely furious that I'm showing up their precious 'Diddykins'. I'm apparently a liar and a no good cheat, little better than my drunk father and whore mother. It takes everything I have in me not to try and kill them. Meditation has helped... sort of. Outside of them making me angry though, their idea of punishment is locking me in cupboard when I'm not in school. I haven't had to cook or clean for over a month now. Every night I sneak food and eat more than I would if I wasn't being 'punished'

Since I do my homework during school and only seem to need to sleep six hours a night, I've been having over eight hours of alone time a day to practice magic and Occlumency. Outside of the cramp dinginess of the 'room' I'm in, this is the closest thing to perfect I can hope for at this point of Harry's, my, life given the canon events.

-9AM 3/31/1991-

Four months. That's all I've been able to think about since waking up. I have four months before Hagrid shows up and rescues me from the monotony of being trapped in this cupboard under the stairs. I'd still rather be down here practicing magic over cooking and cleaning though, and during the weekends I can sneak out during the day and spend a few hours in the park exercising disillusioned. But still, I hate being trapped in here during the week.

It's starting to seriously effect my magic and Occlumency training as well. My growth and learning of new spells has significantly slowed this last month. In the four months between Halloween and the end of February I managed to learn Reparo, a silencing charm that has a similar effect to Quietus, Lumos and Nox. Well, I can fix things, suppress the noise roughly a foot around me and create a bright ball of light in my hand then extinguish it. I have no clue if it's the actual spells or just new ones I'm inventing that function like them.

My general use of magic has also improved. I'm not having to start off learning a new spell by reliving emotional memories and forcing my magic towards a goal. I've been able to concentrate solely on achieving a specific effect and then pushing my magic towards it, trying to mimic the way I've felt it respond to the other spells. I'm sure for emotionally fueled spells i'll still have to use emotions as a catalyst, but for the more simplistic intent spells I'm in a good place.

Granted it does actually take me longer to learn the spell and get it to work repeatably and dependably without emotions. And when I say longer I don't just mean the amount of weeks it takes. I also have to concentrate on each specific outcome for longer before I get my magic to try to make it happen. I've also failed more often in the beginning stages than I'm used to. But still, three and a half spells, Nox is really just an extension of Lumos, in four months is good progress to me.

I hit a sort of breakthrough with Occlumency, well a small one. I can now clear my mind of thought while still actively going about my day and interacting with the environment. It came down to not actually suppressing my conscious thought or even masking it, just letting it gently fade into the recesses of my mind, not into my memory sets, and simply letting my instincts carry me through. The next thing I need to work on is actively masking my thoughts while presenting an empty mindscape.

It's what I've been trying for the past month actually. That and trying to learn an Incendio equivalent. I haven't gotten anywhere on Occlumency and my 'Incendio' is a small dime sized fireball that peters out after a few seconds. It's getting harder to dedicate my every waking hour to magic and honestly I feel like I'm going absolutely crazy. My concentration is half shot and even the spells I have down pat are starting to get a bit shaky when I use them.

Something needs to happen soon or I might actually start regressing. It's that thought, that fear, that's had me contemplating something massively stupid. Potentially suicidal. There happens to be an extremely important canon character that lives just forty miles from me. Roughly an hour taxi ride. Well, if I walk it's only about twenty five miles, but that's a stupidly long walk. Like over seven hours as a ten year old boy, in admittedly pretty good shape.

Of course I have no money at all for a taxi or even a train ticket. Not to mention my second hand ill fitting clothes will make for a horrible first impression. Which leads me to three options. Don't go, stay here and let my magical potential and drive waste away. Steal some new clothes, and use disillusionment to hop a train. Or spend today disillusioned and breaking into people's house stealing as much cash as I can.

The first one is definitely out. I'm not sure I can last another four months like this. If I has just the original Harry's memories I'm sure I could no problem. But I know what freedom's like and have way too many memories of it to just stay in this cupboard going slowly insane. The second one has it's appeals, I wouldn't be stealing from an individual person, just an insured store. The problem is there would be camera;s potentially seeing an invisible person interact with things. If I would even be invisible to cameras.

The best thing seems to be breaking into houses and stealing any money they have laying around. If I move fast most of them should be at Sunday service still. Plus if I get a big enough score in one house I wont have to keep robbing other ones. Or I could get as much as I can today so it'll last me till my birthday. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

It took me until just after 10 AM to pick out a nice looking house roughly thirty minutes walk from the Dursley's. Of course I've been disillusioned and under a Quietus since leaving the Dursley's, I even have on a pair of dish washing gloves. I have no clue how prominent CCTV is at this time, Jasper isn't from London and Harry has no real experience with life to draw from. Jasper's memories do suggest it was at some point in the 90's or early 2000's that it became really common but there's nothing more specific than that.

The first house I chose was two stories and well manicured. It doesn't look particularly different than the house's next to it but it does have the car missing and there's no visible cameras on any houses in the area. In fact i'll probably try to hit the whole block. Between being invisible, not making any noise and being able to open any non-magical lock, this should be ridiculously easy.

By the time I was finished for the day it was noon and I had cleaned out seven house's. That's not even a third of the houses in the area, but apparently less people in this neighborhood go to Sunday church than Jasper's memories of America would suggest is the norm. then again the Dursley's don't go and they're obsessed with seeming normal so I should have expected it. Still I have to admit I managed a nice haul, I'm glad I picked a more affluent looking neighborhood.

5200 pounds sterling in straight cash. Fun fact, Alohomora can open safes as well. While I'm unsure of exactly how much that would be in 2020 where Jasper comes from, and Harry has no real frame of reference for that kind of money, it should be plenty for four months of food, clothes and taxis. I'm sure if I did this to a bunch of houses in a rich neighborhood I could get more, but that draws in heavy police attention and that could draw in Aurors. Not worth it at all, even though I don't think there would be any evidence left behind.

I also got a lot of jewelry, mostly women's but some men's watches and cufflinks as well. I have no clue what they're worth and I really didn't take the time to investigate them. After that I did take a trip back to the Dursley's to sneak in and start yelling for Vernon from my cupboard. His pounding down the stairs shook dust into my face. I heard him fiddling with the lock trying to open it despite the Colloportus he didn't know was on it. I had to cast a quick Alohomora before lock could be undone and the door swung open letting me be met with the angry visage of a walrus glaring down at me.

"What do you want boy! How many times do we have to tell you not to make a bloody noise!" Good he's already nice and worked. Probably isn't getting enough sex in his life. Not that I can blame aunt Petunia for not putting out with a husband that looks like him. Then again if I was Vernon I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole so she's in no place to judge.

"I don't want anything uncle, I just thought you could use the exercise. A heart attack is right around the corner if you don't lose any of that blubber." Huh. His face really does turn purple. I've seen it in Harry's memories but still it's kind of shocking seeing a human turn that color.

"You ungrateful little freak! How dare you! If I even so much as hear another peep out of this cupboard before you go to school tomorrow i'll come down hear and tan your hide nice and good you hear me?!" Vernon apparently doesn't like his questions to actually be answered because he slammed the door shut and locked it before I could respond then thundered off. Well looks like I have until tomorrow morning before anyone will check the cupboard for me. Mission accomplished.

I waited fifteen minutes to make sure the cost was clear before hiding the jewelry I stole along with 4200 pounds under a disillusionment. After I sneaked out of the house, again, I made my way to the park and in particular the phone both at the park. I need to both call a taxi but also use the phone book to look up the address I need. It's never specifically stated in the books but the film showed the house as being in Hampstead, so there's a fair chance it's accurate. Even if the neighborhood is a bit too rich in my opinion.

Ah and there we have it, or at least I assume this is it. It's the only family with this name in Hampstead so I think it's safe. If not well it's worth the trip and there are other ways of getting the right address. When the taxi showed up, I had to pay him extra to actually drive around a kid and then more to leave the meter running while I shopped at a London mall for about a dozen outfits, a nice jacket and gloves and a large back pack. The looks in the mall at a child spending so much money alone was a bit bothersome but people seemed to mind there own business for the most part.

With everything said and done, it took me until 3:30 PM to get to the address. I ended up buying more clothes than I planned and a few pairs of shoes as well. In addition to the backpack I also bought a large duffle bag to put everything in. All told this trip cost me 900 pounds. I spent way too much money and I know if I was just harry I never would have spent nearly a full fifth of the money I had in one day. The Jasper in me however is certain that this quality of clothing is more than worth cost.

I'm a bit worried that this little shopping spree will draw attention when the robberies are reported. I'm hoping between the physical distance, my physical age and the low quality of security cameras in mall at this time, that i'll be overlooked. Or at the very least it won't be traceable back to me specifically.

Worries aside, here I am standing in front of the house disillusioned trying to get up the nerve to go break in. There's a car in the drive so I can assume everyone's home. This is probably a horrible idea. It could completely derail canon and make a lot of what I know useless. If I handle things perfectly I should be able to keep my future knowledge still relevant while also getting a nice head start on an important friendship. Also I'm kinda depressingly lonely. Harry never really felt that way, but Jasper, he doesn't do solitude well and it's bringing up a lot of dark memories I'd rather not relive.

Making up my mind, I head to the backyard to stash and disillusion my bags before... knocking on the front door? Or should I just sneak in? Or is that super weird and creepy? That's probably super weird and creepy. Fuck. This is a bad I dead, but I'm here now. Besides this could still be the wrong house. A quick Alohomora gets me through the locked wooden fenced and as I'm setting down my bags then disillusioning just them, I hear I sound to my left. Well this is the right house at least.

Sitting under a tree and reading a book in the shade is Hermione Granger. One of my two future best friends. Hopefully at least. I have no clue how to play this at all, but I walk closer trying to think of something as I do. When I get five feet from her I see a slightly younger looking version of Emma Watson from Philosopher's Stone. I was not expecting this and honestly it's a bit unwanted. I assumed based off my appearance this was book canon. Book Hermione grows up to be a reasonably attractive witch.

Emma Watson, while always cute, grows up to be stunningly beautiful. Not only will this make puberty a lot more awkward than I wanted, I was fully prepared for her and Ron being a couple, while enjoying a brother sister relationship with her. I mean I am still prepared for that, mostly. Damnit I'm so not pulling a Snape here, being a half-blood sneakily staring at the pretty muggle-born girl. Wait a second I just noticed something. Hermione and Lily are both muggle-borns that are best friends with half-bloods but end up marrying pure-bloods.

Maybe the whole Ron Hermione thing really was foreshadowed from the beginning. Or wait if this world is real does that mean that J.K. Was just interpreting visions and could have been wrong about or changed things to suit her preferences? How the fuck am I just now thinking of this? Have I really been that obsessed with magic? No stop it now isn't existential crisis time. It's get a best friend time. There's just so much riding on this conversation.

Hermione is the only person my age I'm sure I could actually end up truly being best friends with. I'm physically ten. I'm mentally ten, mostly. I think. I feel a lot maturer than harry did in his memories, but I don't see myself as necessarily older. I remember from Jasper what being a father, husband and responsible adult feels like. I'm no where close to there. I guess that's the root of the problem for me. I'm more mature than most kids my age, more experienced but I'm not an adult yet. I'm at this weird place in between.

I think Hermione is a lot more mature than our future classmates as well. Or at least she seemed to be from Harry's perspective in the books. She certainly was portrayed as being so in the movies. But can I get along and befriend an ten year old Ron? Or any of the other boys for that matter? I have no clue. I wish I had the freedom at school to have tried making friends as a test run, but Dudley's long since got the message out not to talk to me.

I'm stalling. I realize I'm stalling but... fuck it man up time Harry. Or boy up time? That just sounds weird. Focus. I need to make a good impression and not seem like I was creepily stalking her in her own backyard. Wow that sounds bad. I shake myself a bit and walk back to the fence before dropping the disillusionment on me and just my backpack then started to walk over.

"Hi! I think I'm a bit lost can you help me?" What the fuck was that? Like what the actual fuck brain? Why choose now to be stupid. Hermione jumps a little, startled before looking at me in confusion.

"Who are you? How did you get in my backyard?" when she stands up I notice we're almost the same height. I'm just an inch or so shorter than her. I have noticed a bit of a growth spurt so I'm super surprised but it is nice confirmation.

"I'm sorry my names Harry Potter. I tried to take a taxi home from the mall and I think I gave the wrong address or something. After I paid and got out he took off before I could even see I was in the wrong place." Better much better brain. I don't think she should have heard of me at this point. While McGonagall should have already brought her letter and given her and her parents the whole welcome to the wizarding world speech, I doubt she took her shopping for supplies nearly a full year early.

"I'm sorry to hear that Harry, My name is Hermione Granger. How did you get into our backyard though? The fence should have been locked." Of course she picks up on the little things, she's the brightest witch of her age. Or will be at least.

"It was?... I'm not sure then, I...well I kinda got scared about being in the wrong place and then I closed my eyes and then I was in the backyard, I guess I walked through it when my eyes were closed maybe...but that doesn't... I don't know I um don't think the house I got out at even had a fence... or was this big actually." I finish that by looking around in bewilderment like I'm not sure how exactly I got here or where here even is. Hermione's eyes go wide before she rushes to me clutching her book.

"Harry... are you sure, absolutely sure you don't know how you got here?" Good she also picks up on the fake little things I want her to.

"I'm sure. I got out at what I thought was Privet Drive-" That's all I can get out before Hermione is in my personal space with her hand on my shoulder.

"Privet Drive? Where exactly is that? I don't think I've ever heard of that street." I don't expect you would have heard of a random street in town miles away that you most likely have never been to.

"Little Whinging. It's a town in Surrey-" She cut me off before I can finish, her eyes even wider than before as she looks at me with incredulity and a bit of... excitement?

"Surrey! Harry Surrey is no where near here! Are you certain you got out close to home? That you gave him the right address?" She looks far more excited than concerned. Her eyes are practically gleaming and she looks like she's stopping herself from bouncing up and down.

"I'm sure, the whole area around my house looks the exact same, I'd recognize it anywhere. I doubt I got out more than few blocks from my house. Um... where exactly is here?" I try to go for concerned bewilderment as if I can't fully process the situation.

"This is Hampstead Harry, in North London!Surrey must be an hour away!" Yeah she's beyond excited now. Not that I blame her, she's a lonely friendless kid who found out she has magic but has to wait a year to meet other kids like her. Kids she thinks she'll finally fit in with. And then here I come, a kid who obviously performed accidental magic and traveled miles somehow.

"Are you having a laugh? That's not... that can't be true! I couldn't suddenly be in London from Surrey in the blink of an eye!" Hermione's giddiness dies down a bit and she looks at me in slight shock.

"Harry... how old are you exactly?" Great question Hermione. She really is way smarter and more observant than an eleven year old should be.

"What does my age have to do with-" Her eyes roll and she starts looking slightly impatient.

"Please just answer the question OK, it's really important." I make a big show of mulling it over in my head acting like I'm debating things before finally sighing and looking her in the eyes.

"I'm ten. Now can you tell me what that has to do with anything?" Her face breaks out into a smile and there's visible triumph in her eyes.

"Hurry come with me Harry! We have to talk to my parents." Instead of answering my questions Hermione grabs my hand and pulls me inside her house and to the kitchen where her mom is making dinner.

"Mum! You aren't going to believe whats happened!" Hermione's mom seems to look up in shock at her daughter without even noticing me. She raises an eyebrow and Hermione's face starts to pink lightly. I guess her parents aren't used to her being so energetic and shouting?

"What's gotten into you Hermione?" Hermione pulls me forward and her mother finally notices me. She stares between the two of us in confusion, maybe trying to see if she recognizes me from school or the neighborhood?

"Oh! Hermione... have you made a friend?" Her daughter looks down for a moment and shakes her head a little. Ouch Dr. Granger you could have at least said 'new friend' so she didn't sound so... well like Hermione actually. Wait are dentist doctors here? Jasper's memories say yes in America, Harry's... Harry has never been to a dentist apparently. He does however know what one is. Really hoping magic is keeping my teeth in good condition. Well I do floss and brush, but still it's worrying.

"No we just met mum. He just appeared in the backyard and he says he was all the way in Surrey before that. Oh! His name's Harry he's only ten, Harry this is my mother Mrs. Granger." Mrs. Granger looks at me in shock and I wave back. I guess that answers my question about dentist being doctors. Though doctor would have been kind of a weird way to introduce your mom, so maybe that doesn't answer my question.

"Hello I'm Harry Potter... um thanks for having me?" Why did I say that like I was invited or something? I'm not sure if it's my brain or mouth I should be mad at.

"It's nice to meet you Harry, My name is Emma Granger, so you say you were in Surrey right before you ended up in our backyard?" Ha so that's Hermione's mom's name. How all those fans were never told the name of the main female character's parents exasperated the hell out of jasper, me. I get that J.K. wanted them in the background, even got rid of Hermione's younger sister to make them less important, but if she wrote a Pottermore article on Scottish Rugby, she can give us Hermione's parents names. Wow apparently Jasper's memories on the subject have a lot more emotional attachment than I thought.

"Yes ma'am. I got out of a taxi in Little Whinging, it was at the wrong house. I didn't realize right away because they all look the same. When I turned around the taxi was driving off and I guess I kinda panicked, I know I was probably only a few blocks from home, and I had been outside by myself before but...it just felt scarier not knowing exactly where I was. I closed my eyes then my stomach felt weird so I opened them then I saw your daughter reading under a tree and said hello." Emma looks at me with concern before nodding to herself and looking at Hermione.

"Hermione, why don't you and Harry wait here while I go talk to your father." After Hermione nodded Mrs. Granger smiled at me one more time and then walked out of the kitchen. The both of us just stand there awkwardly, neither of us used to talking to kids our own age let alone actually making friends.

"So...uh how old are you?"my voice came in the middle of a protracted silence and startled Hermione a bit before she looked at me. After another moment she seemed to have finally really heard my question because she gives me a shy smile and answers,

"I'm eleven. So... when's your birthday Harry?" we've begun the twenty questions portion of early friendship. In the ten minutes it took Mrs. Granger to come back with Mr. Granger, we exchanged birthdays, favorite colors, favorite subjects in school and both kinda ended up admitting we don't have any friends. That was actually the topic when Emma and her husband came back in.

"...my cousin Dudley and his friends bully anyone that tries to be friends with me. He's mad because I'm the best in every subject." Hermione was nodding along in shared school trauma.

"That's how it is in my school too! They call me a know-it-all just because-" The rest was cut off by Mr. Granger clearing his throat next to us. Hermione was startled but I saw them walk in out of the corner of my eye.

"You must be Harry, I'm Hermione's father Dan Granger. Why don't you two follow us to the sitting room." He stuck his hand out to shake and when I met his grip it was firm but not in an intimating or malicious way. I followed after them as they turned around.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Granger, uh you have a lovely home." Note to self, small talk is not your strong point. The Grangers just look back and nodded at compliment graciously though. Once we're seated, me and Hermione on one sofa, her parents across on another, the questioning began.

"My wife tells me your in a bit of trouble Harry, that your pretty far from home?" It's strange, the memories of America that I have suggest that a forty mile drive is actually relatively close. Harry's memories are no real help as he rarely went anywhere outside of school and home.

"Well I live in Little Whinging Surrey, uh I think Hermione said I'm in North London right now?" Hermione nods at me in confirmation while her father takes a second to process things and nods himself.

"And how exactly did you get here Harry?" what followed was the same story I told Hermione and Emma. Eventually Mr. Granger came to the same conclusion they did and he started looking at me with sympathy.

"Well Harry why don't we give you parents a call? They must be worried sick about you by now." Yeah no way I'm letting them talk to the Dursley's. It's fine though I have a plan.

"Well... I... my parents are um dead sir I live with my Aunt and Uncle, um but they aren't home so uh you don't have to worry about letting them know." That of course draws the expected I'm sorry and the obligatory thank you.

"Harry, do your Aunt and Uncle know you left home while they were gone?" Damnit Mrs. Granger why do you have to look and act like an older Hermione, paying attention all the details and stuff.

"No ma'am, I um well we don't exactly get along great. I don't think they like me very much, they're always blaming me for stuff." At the mention of blaming me for stuff the female Grangers get a suspicious look on their faces.

"What kind of things do they blame you for Harry?" That time it was Hermione asking the question so I turned to look at her.

"Different things really. Anytime something weird happens it's somehow my fault. Then that say I'm just like my parents. It doesn't make sense, most of things they blame me for don't even seem possible." all three Grangers share a long look with each other before Dan clears his throat and turns back to me.

"Harry what do you know about your parents? Before they died I mean?" I make a show of getting a little melancholy and sad, looking down at the rug before answering.

"Well not much Mr. Granger... just that they died when I was a baby in a car accident ant that my aunt Petunia really hates my mother, her sister." That gets a bit of confusion and sympathy out of them, though Hermione seems to also come to a realization about something given how her eyes widen. The four of us fall into an awkward silence before Mr Granger Stands up and clears his throat.

"Well Harry people express their grief in different ways. It can be hard to tell how someone truly feels. Now what do you say I get you back before your aunt and uncle get home?" It's a bit abrupt but I get it. There's a big gray area they're in right now, and they need time to talk about it as a family and come up with a plan. After all if I was actually a muggle and they exposed magic to me they could get in serious trouble. If they try to be more subtle I could think they're crazy and it could cost Hermione a potential friend.

"Does he have to go so soon dad?" Hermione not wanting the first kid her age who seems to get her to leave is cute.

"Yes Hermione but if it's OK with Harry he can come over next weekend." I noticed he didn't say if it's OK with my aunt and uncle. I guess he's drawn some pretty strong conclusions from what I've told them. With a goodbye hug from Hermione, and a sheepish stop at the side of the house to pick up a bag I 'forgot' Mr Granger ushered me to his car. He did take a nice long look at my duffle bag before looking at me with sympathy. Maybe he thinks I was actually running away when a bout of accidental magic took me to his backyard.

The hour long drive to the Dursley's was done mostly in silence. It was only interrupted when we got there and Mr Granger wrote done there home phone number and told me call them if I needed anything, or just wanted to come visit Hermione for a while. After taking my bag out of the car and waving to him at the door, I had a tricky maneuver to pull off. Mainly getting inside and into the cupboard without being seen or heard.

While I have magic I can't cast anything in front of Mr. Granger which means i'll have to open and close the door before. Really it all comes down to being lucky. Getting in quickly, I gently close the door, look around and see no one so instead of going invisible I unlock the cupboard then re-lock it as fast as I can. Just as I'm disillusioning by bags again I hear loud foot steps and someone trying to open the lock, a quick Alohomora later and I'm rewarded with Vernon looking down at me in confusion.

"Did you hear the front door open boy?" When I shook my head no he started mumbling under his breath before closing and locking the cupboard door. Great, home sweet home. At least I got to meet Hermione though. Hopefully weekend with her will make the next four months more bearable. I'm not really worried about messing up the future, from how things went. We should be close friends when we enter Hogwarts. The only thing that could affect is the troll on Halloween.

There is a chance that Ron wont call her friendless, or that she wont be as effected. If that happens though I don't thinks will change negatively. All saving Hermione from the troll did was upgrade her from annoying hanger on to reluctant friend for the original Harry and Ron. That wont be needed this time around on my end and facing the obstacles on the way to the Philosopher's stone should do that for Ron. Not mention Norbert. Plus it's not like I wont be working on helping them get closer as well.

-7AM 7/24/1991-

Today is the day. The day my letter arrives. The day I have to pretend to be stupid and not hide the original letter. I would love to just do things the easy way, hide the letter, write a reply, then... what? You see the reason I can't do that is simple. Whoever is in charge of the letters being sent out is an idiot. Namely the fact that they sent me a letter in the first place. I should have gotten a visit from a professor to explain this all to me, after all I may not be muggle-born but I am muggle-raised.

Instead they sent a letter and what? Expected the Dursley's to take me to Diagon Alley? Maybe they would have sent someone to come take me shopping. Maybe. But even if they did, it might not be Hagrid. I need it to be Hagrid. He's kind, Loyal, spills so much information I can always use him as a reason for some knowledge I have. He's also going to be a good friend I the future and give me Hedwig. Most importantly I've already planned for it to be Hagrid.

Outside of today being the big day though, the last four months have been the best four months of my short one year old life. The main reason is Hermione Jean Granger. I know how great having a friend is from Jasper's memories, but experiencing it for the first time, and for myself was, pardon the pun, magical. She really does get me. She's smart enough to get my jokes and sarcasm. She has a thirst for knowledge that we both bonded over. She's also teaching me French. Well technically Jasper knew French, German an Mandarin.

The only point of contention is her strict rule following, but even there I've been making slow progress getting her to be a bit more rebellious. Her parents are also great and very caring without being smothering like Molly Weasley is always shown to be. If I thought visiting all those months ago was a good idea, I was wrong. It was a great idea, chiefly because even though I lost both weekend days visiting with her, my weekday magic studies rebounded and I finally started making noticeable progress again.

I've manged learning Incendio and a wandless switching spell admittedly, but I also wasn't trying to learn any others. I got my Incendio like spell to the point of being able to send a jet of flame roughly forty feet from one end of the tunnel by the park to the other. The same tunnel Harry 1.0 fought the Dementors off in. it took longer than I would've liked mainly because I had to sneak out at night to practice it safely in the park.

The switching spell, I can use at a distance of roughly twenty feet, even if I can't directly see the target, I just have to have an accurate picture of it in my head. Outside of those two spells, I've mostly focused on improving the spells I already know. Their duration, activation time, effectiveness etc... I completely stopped Occlumency two months ago when I hit a plateau. I got to the point of being able to present a false blank mind while suppressing my real thoughts, I think at least, there's only one way to actually find out.

From there... I know what the next milestone is. What I should focus on next, but I honestly have no clue how to do it. No even an idea of a starting point. I have serious doubt i'll get better without instruction. All together it's not actually much. If I faced off with virtually any wand wielding second year right now I'd get creamed. Between their faster casting time, and larger variety of spells, I'd be lucky to get a single spell off.

Still though, when I look at the level first Harry was at coming into Hogwarts, when I look at the level any other students in my year will be at, I can't help but feel proud. I came from basically a magical nothing, to a full out spell casting wizard in just one short year. And the most exciting thing is I've only just started. I'm just now starting my magical journey.

After I left my cupboard, thing went fairly similar to how Jasper remembers them from the books. I got the mail pretended to excited, got the letter taken. The Dursley's freaked out and gave me Dudley's second bedroom. The letters kept coming and Vernon tried to destroy them for days, culminating in them shooting out of the kitchen fireplace. Vernon did the mature thing and decided to run in fear from owls carrying letters.

We ended up at decent hotel for a night before driving to the iconic hut on the rock. For some reason this make sense to Vernon. Somehow in his mind this will protect his family. From birds that can fly. And are armed with apparently deadly weapons. Or you know, letters that will get the person he hates most out of his house for nine months out of the year. Honestly the day my letter arrived should have been the happiest Of his entire life. Well second, he did have sex that one that produced Dudley.

Still Dursley's aside, I find myself laying on the floor just a few minute before midnight waiting. The only thing making this cold, hard, dirty floor bearable is knowing that any minute now Hagrid will bust through the door and start me out on my new life. Speaking of... the door crashes open as the massive form of Hagrid can be seen ducking inside it. I play my part and hide in the corner while everyone gets up and Vernon pulls out his.

Watching how deadly serious Hagrid is about never insulting Dumbledore in front of him was awesome. Dudley getting a pigtail without having the chance to lay finger on my cake was just hilarious. The indignant outrage Hagrid displays over the idea that my parents were drunks that died in a car crash was honestly cathartic. It's nice hearing someone actually say it, I knew it was true but still, it's different when an outside party gives you confirmation that the beliefs you hold are true and you aren't crazy.

On a slightly on related note, the cake was actually delicious. Like surprisingly so given how bad some of his other food is described. After talking for a while, Hagrid and I went to sleep. Only a few hours left before I can really start moving and setting things in motion, all with the help of my over-sized and easily manipulable new friend.

AN: Next upcoming chapter is shopping and brings us to the subject of this AN. Harry's vault. Specifically the contents of it. Now I've researched this as much as I can, the best I've found is to combine book and movie. Specifically, in the movie Harry's vault contains roughly 50,000G. This number has been checked and independently reached by multiple people analyzing the clip and calculating the amount of galleons in the mound of gold shown.

The problem with that is, the mound in the film is smaller than the mound in the book. More importantly there are mounds in the book as in more than one. On top of that there are also ceiling high stacks of sickles and knuts. I came about my answer by using the, smaller, movie sized mound and then reasoning as to how many mounds there should be. I figured if there would two mounds it would be described as two, so I figured at least 3. The vault is described as cavernous so i could realistically see it being dozens of mounds, but I capped it at a max of eight.

I rolled a d6 then added two to get a result between 3-8. I got a two so four mounds total for 200,000G. Then there's the sickles and knuts. I decided to just estimate and went conservative with the amount at roughly 15,000 galleon worth of sickles and knut for a grand total of 215,000G.

The next thing was prices and purchasing power. At least for the things that have prices not listed. For this I looked through the books and found a base item I can create other prices off of. The firebolt's price is described multiple time by different people. Harry says that Dumbledore wouldn't spend hundreds of galleons on a student in regards to it's price. He does also say that the price would clean out his vault but there's no way that's possible so I'm taking that as a joke built from his poor upbringing.

Luscious says he could get a whole team's worth of nimbus 2001's for the same price, meaning seven. Then we have the 1,000G tri wizard tournament prize that is treated like a significant amount money by everyone, and likely more than a firebolt cost. So after crunching numbers I came up with the firebolt costing 900G, a nimbus 2001 costing 125G, with a full teams worth costing 875G and then the nimbus 2000 costing 100G.

I feel like that fits with the story, they're expensive but not exorbitantly so. Sirius did buy Harry one. And entire quidditch team bought seven at one time. As for the nimbus 2000, McGonagall bought one on a teachers salary so I felt like 100G fit. For anyone who cares those prices in muggle currency are, Firebolt in 1991( I know it came out after that) : 4500 pounds, 8100 USD. In 2020 9000 pounds, 16200 USD.

That's based on the original 1G= 5 pounds. Historic currency exchange showing 1.80 USD = 1 pound. And inflation rates showing, 1991 currency has basically doubled in value by today. As an American I feel like 16K for a top of the line racing broom, that isn't used as primary transportation, is reasonable.

That being said if wants to provide research or a compelling argument for why some or all of these figures should be different I'm willing to hear them out.

Lastly, the pairing. Unlike my other fic the pairing isn't up for vote and isn't subject to change, the pairing I have planned is a large reason I chose to write this fic over another harry potter fic I have planned where the MC is inserted into Minister Fudge. Feel free however to comment on who you'd like for the pairing if you want, but it's locked I place already.