Author: scap3goat
Summary: Harry gets to know that he isn't his father's son and his life seems to be a lie.
A/N: I came across severitus' challenge but my story doesn't really match the requirements. Hey guys, I just had a different idea about Harry discovering his true appearance.
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The life I used to have
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Chapter 1 - An ominous letter and new school robes
Dumbledore looked down at the letter once more. The envelope made of cream parchment still had a faint scent of lavender. This letter was sixteen years of age. And it should not be delivered for two years at the earliest.
But the times had changed since he had given this promise. The times had been rough and they had become even rougher for the addressee. Even as he wasn't of age yet, it seemed to Dumbledore that he was mature enough to face the truth in this letter, no matter what was written down on the heavy parchment.
Dumbledore looked down at it one last time before leaving his office and heading towards the Entrance Hall to see the one he should hand that letter before dinner.
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Harry was hurrying to the Great Hall along with the other students, following Hermione and Ron, when suddenly Dumbledore called his name.
"Yes, Professor?" he replied.
"Would you mind a quick chatting in my office?" Dumbledore kindly asked.
Ron and Hermione stopped, but Harry waved at them and they moved along.
A quick chatting? Why couldn't they do it right here? "No, professor."
Harry followed Dumbledore on the heel, wishing it already was over. Normally he fancied a chatting with Dumbledore, it was an indication that things were going right and his biggest problem was a grumpy potions master.
And then Harry realized that nothing seemed to be right when Dumbledore fetched him for 'a little chatting' right before the Sorting and the feast.
"Condemn the living" Dumbledore mumbled at the gargoyle and Harry followed him to his office. "You know the new password. I will inform you if there will be any changes. In the present days you should know how to contact me."
"I think this password doesn't fit you, even considering the present days."
"Speaking of those" Dumbledore began, as if Harry had brought up some change to the subject. "I want... I need... to give this to you." He held out a rather old-looking letter.
"What is this?" Harry asked, as he looked questioningly at the professor and the letter.
"It's a letter. A letter your mother gave to me. You were to receive it when you were of age. Well, considering the present days, I came to the decision that you are old enough to receive it."
"And I guess there isn't anybody willing to take a bet on how long I will survive!"
Harry took the letter and tried to open it carefully.
"We don't know what she wrote down for you, but it could be useful."
Useful, yes, this it was, Harry had to be useful, nothing more. No one cared if the contents of the letter were important to him or not...only if it could be useful to defeat the dark.
Harry threw the envelope at the direction of Dumbledore's desk unfolding the sheets of parchment. With a tingling sensation in his stomach he began to read.
Dear Harry,
I'm not sure what your life has been like in the last years, but I'm sure you've grown up to be the fine man I always wanted you to become one day.
But there is something I have to tell you which may be a hard blow for you to take. I'm well aware that this might destroy the world you built over the past years. I hope you look up to James as your father, as he is a fine man, and I don't see any point you shouldn't, but the fact is.... James is not your father.
I think you should know about your past so you can live in a proper future.
After your birth I performed a charm so you would look like James. I wanted to assure you a safe childhood.
Harry felt like a huge snake was wrapping around his chest, making it difficult to breath. He hadn't expected such a great emotional response, since the image of his father wasn't as glorious since he found out that James had been bullying Snape during their time at school.
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked, confused.
Harry looked up, finding his vision was blurred. Then suddenly his feet were aching as if his shoes had just shrunk about two sizes.
"Harry?" Dumbledore began again.
"Yes professor?" Harry almost jumped at the sound of the voice that couldn't be his, but saying the words he had intended to say. He took off his glasses and his vision was clear. The first thing he noticed was his school robes seemed to have shrunk, also. The sleeves were at least two inches too short and it wasn't a reaction from the letter that left him breathless, but the too tight robes. "What's happened?"
"I wanted to ask you, Harry!" Harry clenched his jaw and threw off the shoes. Then he took a closer look at his hands and stared at them. His fingers had become longer, and more graceful.
"Professor, what's this all about?" Long strands of black hair fell into his view and he turned to the mirror Dumbledore pointed at. With wiry steps he walked closer and felt someone was punching him when he saw his reflection: obviously it was his, but it didn't seem to be him. He saw the lean frame of a tall teenager.
Even as this was already strange, the changes to his body was not as strange as the changes in his face. His more or less child-like features had ended up in a long face with high cheekbones and fine smoothly arching black eyebrows. His once rounded nose had become longer and had a slim back. Also his mouth had changed. His lips had become fuller, more passionate. Only his green eyes hadn't changed. Long black hair framed his face, falling onto his shoulders in soft waves. This all gave him a rather distinguished look.
"Sir! My mother hexed me to look like my fa... to look like James Potter, and this charm seems to have been lifted now." Harry took a deep breath. "She... wrote that James Potter isn't my father and that I ought to know the truth about my family."
"So there is a problem. It's not only that you haven't got any clothes in your size, but you don't look like Harry Potter anymore, besides the scar hidden by your hair." Harry checked it and the scar was still there as the headmaster had assumed. "But the last one could also be a great opportunity. We could introduce you as a new student. You would be out of the sight of Voldemort for at least some time."
Harry looked into the mirror once again. "Guess I don't have any other opportunities, do I?"
"Unfortunately this is the best one I can offer you right now. And it seems to be the only one at the moment." Harry remained silent. "You would be sorted right along with the first years. You would be in your sixth year. There would be no other changes than..."
"I would have to change my identity and give up everything... along with it. That means my friends." Harry stopped. "But anyway. I'm dragging them into the line of fire with me, aren't I? Didn't I do this the last five years? I condemn Harry Potter!"
Dumbledore looked at Harry's severe face and nodded sadly.
Harry had made his decision.
"Harry, you need to pick a name."
"Sheldon Richard McGraw." He said, after pausing for a moment.
Dumbledore nodded again and conjured simple black dress robes and a pair of shoes.
"These will be enough. Tomorrow morning you can go buy new clothes in Diagon Alley. You can change here. I'll be awaiting you in the hallway to the kitchens."
Dumbledore left and Harry put on the new robes. While he was hurrying down the hallway, he wondered how his life would change. He had to write new names in his books, needed new school robes and a lot more had to be done.
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"...You will be sorted into your new houses." Harry could hear at least a little bit from the ceremony even through the closed door.
"And Wilde, Timothy." He became a Hufflepuff.
"Please Minerva, leave the stool and the hat for a few minutes. We have to sort another student tonight." Dumbledore paused. "A new student is coming to join us as a sixth year: Sheldon McGraw." This was the signal. Harry opened the door and stepped out of the little room, standing behind the teachers table. He walked down to Minerva McGonagall and waited for Dumbledore to say something.
"Sheldon is a transfer student from a little school in southern Alaska. It doesn't happen very often that students change their schools, and it seems to me that Sheldon is the first one in about fifty years in Hogwarts history. So please, let the sorting begin."
Harry was as nervous as he was on his first day at Hogwarts. Slowly he sat down on the stool, and felt a piercing look in his back. Snape. McGonagall placed the hat on his head and the little voice was whispering to him.
"Oh, it's difficult to sort you... let's see... yessss... clearly a Gryffindor..." Harry had almost sighed. "But... you've got many strong traits of Slytherin, too. No... it's too difficult... no... I can't sort you. I'm sorry. I CAN'T SORT HIM. THE WISDOM OF THOUSAND YEARS HAS TO BOW TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THIS BOY'S MIND."
Harry felt like he had to die in the very moment. He couldn't be sorted? That was even worse than becoming Slytherin.
He took the hat of and walked towards the main entrance of the hall.
"Wait, Sheldon. Where are you going?"
"I'll get my stuff and leave. I don't seem to belong here." Harry sighed. "The hat couldn't sort me. How could I stay without being sorted to one of the houses?"
"It's not the sorting we are here for. We are here to learn something. We will find a way, I'm certain of this. Sorting hat? Why couldn't you sort Mr. McGraw?"
"His mind is too complex. He is brave and stubborn, a Gryffindor, indeed. But he also has a lot of the abilities and traits a good, a true Slytherin should have."
"Thank you. You see, Sheldon. You have some of the best traits of those houses. That makes it difficult to sort you. But you won't have to leave. You will stay as an independent student. You will follow the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's schedule. And I think both, Minerva and Severus, will agree to be your tutors."
"Thank you, sir." Harry said and saw the odd expression on Snape's and McGonagall's face.
Please review this first attempt. I will consider rewriting my story, will leave the first chapter untouched.