Number 4 Private Drive: July 1991

Harry should have been thrilled to go to Hogwarts, it would mean he would get away from his relations and finally be able to be himself. Yet someone, the fates maybe or God had it in for him as on a bright summer day as he was sent to get the mail (he did not dare look at it as he did not want to get smacked by his aunt for that) two letters had come. He had given the mail to his relations and then, before he could finish what breakfast he was given (two pieces of bacon, an egg and two slices of toast) he was forced into his cupboard which was his bedroom. As always he was to be blamed for anything that went wrong or anything that was strange. So something had to be strange in the mail for his relations to act this way.

Young Harry knew the rules of survival very well by now, he knew to keep quiet, to speak only when spoken to and only short respectful answers at that. In this house he was to be invisible as much as possible, he was given few chores as his relations did not want to have to oversee him and if he was seen his aunt would more often than not find something wrong with him and hit or pinch him. He was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs and to wear his cousin's castoffs and had no friends at school due to his cousin. At least his family did not care what grades he got so he was free, at least in that area to do as good as he wanted and what with being in different classes than Dudley he at least could get away from him for a short time that way. Still at home and school he was an outcast and would be even more so when he went to Stonewall high.

Yet for all that Harry knew it could be worse and he, at least deserved to be treated this way as he really was different. Strange things always happened around him, once a teacher's wig had turned blue and just before school got out he had ended up on the roof of the school when Dudley had been chasing him (it was good that the teachers had not seen that or the beating from his aunt would really have hurt). No he was far from normal and knew something had to be wrong with him to do the things he did. He was surprised after an hour to be allowed out of his cupboard and even more surprised at what his uncle had to say to both of the boys. He did so in the lounge, Dudley was sprawled out on the couch, Harry stood respectfully and dared not move or ask questions as his large uncle paced then turned to face the boys.

"You have these letters." Vernon said, "seems you are both wizards."

"As in magic?" Dudley asked his piggy eyes lighting up in amazement, "so I can do magic, but Harry is a freak, what about him?"

"Unfortunately he can do magic as well." Petunia said hoping to get a reaction out of Harry, but as always the boy did not even react, "his useless parents got themselves blown up and left him with us."

Harry refused to show any surprise, after all his aunt had tried to get to him by trying to convince him his parents were worthless and drunks. Somehow Harry had known this was not the case and had never believed her, yet he was not stupid enough to ask her questions, she hit hard. Vernon did not hit him, then again he did not believe in using more energy than he had to or so Harry had convinced himself. There was one change that Dudley normally would have thrown a tantrum over but now he just sneered at Harry as Harry was moved into his spare bedroom. This was to keep up appearances as a professor was coming to see the family and take them to Diagon Alley for their shopping. Harry was not looking forward to that, he knew his relations would not like buying anything for him and would make sure he continued to look as ragged and bad as he did now.

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Diagon Alley July 1991:

Harry was sure professor McGonagall was not fond of him at all, every time she looked at him she scowled, making her look more severe than before. He was not sure if it was due to his messy black hair, or his large glasses or just him she did not like. She had taken the family to Diagon Alley, Harry was surprised that his aunt and uncle did not protest at the magical way this was done. They were fawning over Dudley who was clad in his best suit that to Harry made him look like a pig in a wig in a suit. This was because Dudley was very fat, his blond hair was plastered on his head and his suit barely fit him. Harry followed his family, keeping his head down and not really looking at the alley as they headed to a large snow white building. It was here his luck changed and for the better as he ran into a short very fat man and very nearly fell to the ground.

"Easy there lad." The man said helping Harry up and Harry looked up to see two watery green eyes in a round face that was aged with a large white mustache that would give uncle Vernon's a run for its money. "You alright then?"

"Yes sir, I am sorry sir." Harry said knowing his relations would not like this.

"Merlin, you are Lily's child." The man said just as Vernon came up.

"I am sorry about the boy bothering you." Vernon said.

"No, not at all." The man, Horace Slughorn said looking at Harry keenly, "I knew his mother quite well in school, oh I am Horace Slughorn."

"Vernon Dursley, pleased to er meet you." Vernon said.

Horace Slughorn had once been the head of Slytherin house before he retired. In his time there he had seen many children who were abused as he was one of those at Hogwarts who helped take care of the abused children. He could see Harry was not as cared for as he should have been, he could not see bruises on him and he did not flinch when his uncle came up. Still he acted extremely submissive and did not speak when he was berated by his uncle. It was then Horace made a decision, it was not to gain more fame, he was going to help this boy as he had helped others in the past as he could see Harry needed it. Besides seeing those eyes again reminded him of a pure light that was snuffed out from the world ten long years ago. He had to be very careful about this as he was sure what kind of people the Dursleys were. Besides he owed Lily Potter nee Evans for her sacrifice that saved her son and allowed Harry to live and gave the magical world ten years of peace.

"You know sir I knew Lily Evans." Horace said, "I taught at school, I would not mind taking your nephew around the alley."

"We have to get his things." Vernon said, "heaven knows his parents left him nothing."

"Well, there is a fund for students who cannot pay, that could be used for young Mr. Potter here." Slughorn said, "in fact I can take him, still owe the headmaster a few favors."

"Very well." Vernon said turning to Harry, "you behave boy, you don't and I will tell your aunt you got me?"

"Yes sir." Harry replied quietly.

"Good, see that you do." Vernon said glad to not have to deal with Harry, he did not hate the boy but he did not like how Harry always managed to get his dear Petunia upset, "or you know what will happen when your aunt deals with you."

"Yes sir." Harry replied knowing full well what would happen, he still had the bruises from the last 'lesson' from his aunt under his clothes.

"Well then, good, come along Mr. Potter." Slughorn said.

He took in Harry and was not happy at what he saw, the boy was not starved, he was at least a healthy weight and though an inch or so on the short side for his age he did not look as if he was denied food. Clearly it was not his uncle he feared, his aunt who Slughorn knew about as when he questioned Severus about a bruise he came back to school with over one Christmas break, he had said she had hit him, hard. Slughorn wanted to know exactly what the headmaster was thinking leaving Harry Potter with such a one as her when she hated her sister and those like her. Merlin she would have done well in the middle ages as part of the inquisition as she was just as bad as them. He walked up to a goblin and watched Harry as he looked at the creature warily but did not seem to fear it, he was just being cautious.

"How can I help you sir?" The goblin asked.

"Ah Griphook, this is Harry Potter." Slughorn said quietly, "he needs to get to his vault but well we don't have the key."

"I see, I will need to verify that." Griphook said.

"He needs a few drops of blood Harry, so you can get to your vault." Slughorn said, "he will do his best not to hurt you."

"I have money?" Harry said doing his best not to look bewildered.

"Yes you do." Slughorn said, "just put your hand there, goblins do not really enjoy hurting others, no matter what some people say."

"No just eat you in a pot." Griphook said grinning and even Harry smirked a bit at the joke seeing it for a joke, "now then a few drops here."

"Yes sir." Harry said holding out his hand and letting Griphook prick his finger and have a few drops fall to the paper below, at once his name and that of his parents came up at once. "That is brilliant sir."

"Yes, makes it easy to tell who is who, blood does not change even with magic disguise." Griphook said, "I will have a new key made and will take you to your vault."

The rest of the day went by in a wonderful blur for Harry, he found one adult he could trust by the end of it. Slughorn did care about him and not the fact he was the boy-who-lived, the only one who had ever survived the killing curse. He cared about Harry and educated him on the magical world, which came first in his vault as he learned all about the money and found his grandfather's trunk ready for him to use, it had six compartments, one for his school things, one where he found his mother's books from school, all the way through fifth year, one that held a full potions cupboard, a compartment that could hold food, a weapons compartment and one that held what looked like a twenty foot by twenty foot cell with a toilet block in one corner. It could be shrunk to the size of a large book and carried in his pack. It was his grandfather's Auror trunk and was left here for him to use, Harry was relieved by the books as it meant he could save his money as he was not sure how long what money he had would last.

Slughorn helped him in getting his school uniforms, he helped Harry get his school robes and the uniforms that went under them and had him put on his cloak and put the hood up so he could keep his privacy. Then he led the boy to Glad-rags, a wonderful thrift store that sold new and used clothing at very reasonable prices. Here Harry got things he would need at Hogwarts, both winter and summer under things and a pair of used leather boots that Slughorn charmed himself to grow for the boy up to three sizes. It was when they went for his wand Harry realized that Slughorn did care about him and did not see him as the freak he was even in this world. It started when Ollivander had appeared by his side and started to fit him with wands. After half an hour he had his wand and he wanted to sink into the floor as Ollivander proclaimed it was the brother wand to Voldemort's.

"Well it is not the wand that shapes the wizard." Slughorn said, "it is what the wizard does with it. I see Harry here doing great things, yes great things indeed."

"Yes he will, he already has." Ollivander said, "he has had much sorrow."

"Yes, but there is much light in him, in fact if all our young witches and wizards were like him." Slughorn said, "well I have to get going, Harry needs lunch I am sure."

"You wish me to keep your being here secret." Ollivander said.

"Thank you, now Harry where would you like to go?"

Again Harry was shocked someone would ask him what he would like. He stammered out a restaurant, a very muggle one and Slughorn beamed at him and took him out of the alley changing his clothing to muggle ones before they headed to McDonalds. Harry had his first Happy Meal ™ and nearly smiled as he found this day was turning out very well. Slughorn took him back to the alley and helped Harry finish his shopping, he got Harry a new backpack, charmed so it could carry far more than normal and then got him what he called an "abuse case" this was a case of healing potions, food packs that would keep fresh for a long time and a stone that would put up a kind of notice-me-not charm around the child protecting him from harm from the abusers. He had made so many of these over his career, ironically not many of his Slytherins had been abused, it seemed many Gryffindors and Ravenclaws and quite a few Hufflepuffs were the main ones to be abused.

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Hogwarts: September 1 1991:

Harry knew that his life was better now despite the fact that he was going to Hogwarts with Dudley. He had read up on the different houses, studied his course books and had even studied on the train. He had shared a compartment with another student, a Ron Weasley who, like all his family had flaming red hair, lots of freckles and hand-me-down-robes, he spent most of the train ride talking about Quidditch. Dudley had gone somewhere away from Harry which pleasantly surprised Harry. He had met other students, a timid shy boy with round face, light brown hair called Neville Longbottom, a bossy girl with lots of bushy brown hair, large front teeth called Hermione Granger. The last person he met gave him a bit of peace and a lot of information on Wizarding families. This was in the form of a white blond haired boy who came to the compartment to speak with Harry.

"You must be Harry Potter, I heard you were on the train." Draco said to Harry.

"Yes I am Harry." Harry said clearly annoyed by the boy but not daring to show it, not wise to make enemies when he was sure he would have quite a few by the end of the week if not day due to his cousin. "You are?"

"Draco Malfoy." Draco said, "you will find some Wizarding families are better than others, I can help you there."

"Well Draco, I am new to this world, I was raised by muggles, I will consider your offer if that is alright." Harry said politely.

"Very well," Draco said then at Ron snickering he turned to him, "think my name is funny do you?"

That was it, both boys were off and Harry turned back to his book and acted as if he was studying, in fact he was taking notes on the boys who were insulting each other. He found out that Ron had several older brothers, one was a curse breaker in Egypt, another a dragon wrangler in Romania and three more still in Hogwarts. Draco was from an old rich pureblood family and his father was on the board of governors of the school and had been a death eater, or so Ron said. After a time Harry had tuned them out and went back to studying his potions book, something he was having a hard time with as he was not sure why certain ingredients reacted the way they did with others. That is until he dug through his trunk (getting the boys to look at him for a moment before they went back to arguing) and saw a thin book that explained potions. Grinning he grabbed it and spent the rest of the time reading it and learning all about this most daunting of classes.

Things got even better for him once the train stopped, he got into a boat with Ron and Draco (still arguing now about Quidditch) and Neville Longbottom and enjoyed the ride over to the large beautiful castle. He still did not think professor McGonagall liked him (he did not know she was worried about him and how he was treated by his relations and really did care for him) but he loved the school from the first time he saw it. He was more amused by the ghost, though he dared not show it and he was a bit nervous about the sorting. He should not have been, his cousin ended up in Slytherin and he ended up in Gryffindor. He nearly grinned, but knew better than to do so (showing emotions had got him in such trouble in the past) and enjoyed all the wonderful food offered here. Finally after the headmaster's speech (stay out of the third floor corridor unless you wished to die?) he was off to bed. Several staircases later he came to the Gryffindor common room and went up to his dorm room with Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom and two other boys. He changed to his night clothes, slid into bed and was fast asleep at once.

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Yea I have Petunia as the main abuser here, when a woman is an abuser the husband is usually too scared or really does not want to upset his wife so does not stop it always. I see Vernon not as the abuser but one who does not really have full control of his family at home. Petunia has more of a reason to keep Harry down and beaten as she is a jealous little shrew. Oh and yes Dudley does fit in Slytherin, think about it for a bit, he may be muggleborn but I am sure even that house has them.

I thought of having Slughorn able to redeem himself, and that was why I did things the way I did.

Anyway review and let me know what you think!