Title: Harry Potter always knownAuthor: Debsthesnapefan

Chapter 1

Harry Potter was currently loathing his existence. He wondered what Dumbledore and Voldemort had up their sleeves next, for between the two of them, Harry realized he could never be himself. Sometimes, he wished his mother hadn't died for him.

When Dumbledore had enough of his golden boy, Harry was left to be beaten and abused with his so called family, all in addition to suffering through watching Voldemort every night.

Harry knew more about Voldemort than both Dumbledore and Snape realized. Both still believed his information came only from Voldemort induced visions, but what no one knew was that Harry was a multi-animagus, thanks to the Room of Requirement. Since learning how to turn into bugs, he was able to spy on Voldemort more effectively. Harry accidentally figured that out that he could do wandless magic in his animagus forms on one of his forays into the insect kingdom. He had been mad at Voldemort for hurting a little girl, and cast a spell without realizing it.

He went out at night to fly and spy, as he hated falling asleep, for falling sleep meant punishment. He remembered the letter Dumbledore had sent; with the threat of Sirius Black gone, Harry was totally defenseless against the Dursleys.

Harry had known since entering the Wizarding world that Dumbledore was aware of the maltreatment, starvation and hatred that was his childhood, but had not and would never help him. Even worse, he made lame ass excuses about the blood wards protecting him, supposedly based on his mothers sacrifice. Not only was Dumbledore insulting his parent's memory through his manipulations, but Harry could see magic and there was defiantly no wards anywhere near Privet drive.

Harry never told anyone that he could see magic or that he had known about the Wizarding world as well as Parsletongue and magic long ago. He remembered when he was ten and had stumbled upon the Leaky Cauldron. He had started going there using the coins people had given him to buy sweets and food. He wore a hat, since he overheard people going on about the boy who lived with the lightning bolt on his forehead. He also heard what both dark and light wizards and witches said about him in the darkness of the leaky cauldron, and wanted to avoid notice. It had been then that he decided to gain more freedom in secret. Harry did what was expected of him, and played his part perfectly; Dumbledore never suspected a thing.

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Flash back
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Eight year old Harry Potter knew he could do magic, but if he was caught he was beaten. Despite the risk, he thought it was great fun practicing, so he used his magic whenever he knew he wouldn't be caught. As long as muggles didn't see magic, it would not be recorded. Since Vernon and Petunia knew about magic, they were exempt from that rule and therefore every bit of magic Harry did was not recorded.

That day, Harry knew his aunt and Uncle would not be back for ages, so he did what he always did in that situation; he left. Harry loved it when the Dursleys were gone, since he could do whatever he wanted as long as he was back at Privet Drive when they got back. They neither knew nor cared what he did on the days they locked him out. After spending the day at the library, he felt hungry but didn't really notice, having grown accustomed to hunger. When he saw a sign and door suddenly appear out of thin air, he immediately recognized it as magic, so he made himself invisible. No wizard could have seen him, even though some could see throughcloaks, no one could see through Harry's invisibility. Of course at this point Harry had no idea how rare this ability was, but he wasn't likely to tell anyone.

He made his way into the pub, eating everything people left on their plates, and was never caught. They left quite a bit, and the leftovers were like a feast to Harry, having never eaten so much in his life. During his invisible buffet, he also listened to the gossip, learning more about himself in those two weeks than he had in his entire seven years at the Dursleys.

That day, Harry found out that he was the Boy-Who-Lived, and better yet his parents hadn't died in a car crash, but were killed by a Dark Wizard, so evil that they dared not speak his name, instead calling him You-Know-Who.

He also learned that everyone thought he was Dumbledore's golden boy, and it was assumed that he would be in Gryffindor. According to public opinion, he was a spoiled brat and treated Dumbledore like a hero who could save him from all the evils in the world. He also heard the Dark Wizards talking about Dumbledore, specifically, how he would use Harry and chuck him away when he was no longer useful to him. According to a wizard called Malfoy, the headmaster had similarly used someone else to help him defeat Grindelwald and then had the man locked up in Azkaban.

Dumbledore had a history of using people to his advantage and tossing them aside like broken toys once they had served his purpose. Harry also realized that Dumbledore liked having control over everyone, treating them like pawns that he could maneuver however he felt. He found out that Dumbledore was the headmaster of the Wizarding school, he was considered the most powerful wizard of the time, serving as head of a secret organization as well as chairman at some ministry. Harry realized that Dumbledore had more control over the world than he first thought. Harry had always been a Slytherin and always would be, so he kept his masks firmly in place when in the Wizarding world.

The two weeks passed with Harry sleeping in the attic of the Leaky Cauldron (after realizing that no one ever went up there) eating whenever he wanted and getting more information than he ever imagined. Harry then slowly made his way back to Privet Drive, sad that he had to leave, but comforted by the knowledge that he would return. The Dursley's went on holiday at least five times a year, sometimes for more than 2 weeks at a time. With a smile on his cute eight year old face, he could not wait for the time to come when he could go back into the world which he belonged. His disgust for the man who had left him on his Aunt and Uncle's doorstep eating away at him he knew he would never trust that man. Never.

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End flash back

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Harry smiled when he remembered his first time in the wizarding world. He could no longer become invisible though, as Dumbledore had dampened his magic. He could never reach his full potential because of that. For many years Harry tried to get rid of the spells Dumbledore had placed on him, but he could not. He knew at least two of them, a dampening magic charm as well as a tracking charm. They had been there since he entered Hogwarts.

This infuriated Harry every time he thought about it. He loved his magic and he knew he had been able to do wandless magic before he entered Hogwarts. He would have to be stupid to not realize what Dumbledore was doing when he had conveniently stopped doing wandless magic, and that was one thing Harry Potter was not. He also hated the way the Slytherins viewed him; he had always wanted to be with them but knew he could not if he was to keep Dumbledore ignorant of his true self. He knew they would understand him better than most would, after all they were Slytherins and the hat did say he would be great in Slytherin. Harry clearly remembered the sorting hats words.

"Hmm…you are extremely difficult to place. You have a thirst to prove yourself and not a bad mind either and not as trusting as you seem. Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness. Your house would understand you and you would draw them from the darkness that has been forced on them their whole lives, but your movements will be watched and I see you are already thinking along the same lines…but where to put you, it is up to you Harry Potter, I realize your struggle… I would not trust Dumbledore either, as I have seen things that I know Gryffindor and Slytherin would immediately disagree with. Godric and Salazar were not enemies, but were like brothers. Who would build a school with an enemy? No one. I hate how Dumbledore spread rumors otherwise in order to create prejudice. Watch what you say to your friends as they are not true to you. They have been manipulated into looking after you, wanting the fame promised from being your friend. Dumbledore has your account watched and has been taking money out of it for a long time. I just hope I'm around when he gets the letter telling him he doesn't get the money anymore. I suggest you don't cut off his access until you are of age. He would just get guardianship of you. When you are ready to show your true colors come to me and I will tell the world. I will make sure to resort you to your rightful house! So we will set you where you need to go not where you want to go, better be………"

"GYFFINDOR"

Yes he still remembered those words, and a small part of him wanted to go to the hat now, but he would loose the needed public approval. For all he knew, Dumbledore might get him sent to Azkaban for some trumped up charge should he be resorted. He knew the Prophecy that Dumbledore had given him was a fake, as he had perfected Occlumency and Legilimency. He had let some of his mild memories through during his lessons with Snape, as he would hate for Snape to actually have something on him to use at him in class. Snape was stupid enough to think he was incompetent even when he "accidentally" entered the man's head. Harry had laughed that the man who is meant to be a spy didn't know when someone entered his mind purposely. What an idiot. But he didn't truly think of him that way. Harry respected Snape far more than he ever respected Dumbledore. He may hate him, yes, but he did trust Snape with his life. He knew they would never get along, for Severus Snape would always think that Harry Potter was a spoiled brat. Unfortunately, Harry would never be able to tell him he was wrong, so he would have to let the man keep his preconceived notions based on his father's behavior. Harry would respect him, but knew he could do nothing else.

Harry didn't know how wrong he was, for Severus Snape would realize how incorrect he was in regards to Harry.

Harry began remembering his other times when his relatives went on holiday and left him alone.

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Flash back

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Harry watched as his Aunt, Uncle and nine year old cousin drove away in their car, keeping his face impassive, not wanting them to know how exited he was. It was a good thing they were blind to him, for once in his life he had been glad for the baggy jeans when they had gotten home, because they hid the weight he put on over the two weeks they were away. With the extra food, Harry was stronger and had done his chores on time, getting him a small portion of extra food.

As soon as they were gone, he bolted down the street and kept running for a good two hours. It was night time when he got to the place he was looking for, his safe haven; for no matter how dirty the place was it was home to him.

Walking in, no one noticed him as he walked over to the corner and ate the fish and chips that a couple had left before gulping down the goblet of pumpkin juice that they had not bothered drinking. Harry went around and ate a few deserts, strawberry tart and a toffee apple, which he enjoyed very much.

After he listened to the conversations around him, he walked up to the attic and conjured a mattresses before falling asleep, unconsciously putting an anti dust charm on himself. He wasn't even aware of what he did; he had just hoped the dust didn't get on him.

He learned that night he was rich. A rich pure blood, the Minister of Magic, stated that he had wanted control over the famous Boy-Who-Lived, but Dumbledore had refused, down right telling him that Harry was only a child. He remembered what it was that had made him so angry.

"I could have had more control! Can you imagine what I could do, all the votes I would get? But Dumbledore wouldn't let me no matter how many times I keep asking. Though he did offer me money and from the Potter vaults too. They are rich yet he is only giving me one thousand a month! Better than nothing I suppose, plus Lucius gives me money now and again." said Mr. Fudge to his companion, the Under Secretary for the ministry.

Harry had nearly lost control over his magic. How dare they use money his parents had worked for? How dare they sit and act as if it was a crime that they don't get more money from my parents! They sacrificed themselves for the wizarding world and this is what they get? Boy, how he wished he could show that bastard that he would not get another penny, but he didn't want Dumbledore to know about his adventures to the Leaky Cauldron.

The next morning he walked into the wizarding library not far from Flourish and Blotts and began reading the history books all morning, only going back to the Cauldron at night. The woman working at the library gave him a sandwich for lunch which he took with a dazzling smile making the woman blush, unaware that he had used the charm his father used at school. This was what he did for the next four weeks, reading wizarding books on the history of their world and eating at the Leaky Cauldron.

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End flashback

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Harry smiled, remembering that the woman was still there in the library, a bit older but still there. He had spoken to her a few times, but she never recognized him as the young boy. It was a shame as he never really did thank her for feeding him and showing him what books to read. He had to admit books she had given him were interesting to read, they were about Merlin's time and the founder's time as well as Grindelwald and Voldemort's time. He also learned that Salazar Slytherin was not the one who set the basilisk Hogwarts, but one of his descendants.