A/N I don't own any of this except for my general ideas, based off an concept in the story "A wizard's magic"

As all stories tend to start, ours will begin with "once upon a time…" a tad bit cliché? Many may think so, but with a story about to emerge, it is the general opinion that nobody cares.

In Britain there once was a man named Tom Riddle, Tom didn't have a happy childhood and did all he could to make it better. He tried to make friends however he could; he tried to excel at school and help his peers, he tried to be helpful and supportive. No matter how many different things Tom tried, he was unable to fit in with this peers. There was something special about Tom however, Tom was magical; wizards were about as magical as one could get, and he was one of them.

As Tom grew up, he slowly gave up hope that he would fit in and decided to make friends with solitude. He began to experiment on his own, away from restrictions and away from supervision. In his solitude he found many things; many marvelous things were discovered, some good, many bad.

At the school that Tom went to, there was a man in charge. The man in charge was Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore himself was the one to bring Tom to the school. It was Dumbledore that kept an eye on Tom and when Tom began to conduct some more questionable experiments, Dumbledore took it upon himself to stop Tom.

As grateful as Tom was to Dumbledore for showing him the wonders of magic, Tom didn't want to stop. Dumbledore resorted to more drastic measures and Tom snapped.

Thus the creation of Lord Voldemort.

It was a dark and stormy night in Godric's hollow as everyone was tense. Sirius had just departed by call from Dumbledore on a possible Death Eater's meeting. The only ones left in the house were Lily and James Potter along with their few month old son, Harry.

Lily was in the living room with James while their son slept in his room on the upper floor.

"When was the last time we were all together?" asked lily as she thought to the Marauder's. With the war at hand, it had been many months since they were all together in one room. Remus and Sirius had always been off on a mission and the last time anyone heard anything from Peter was weeks ago.

"Feels like years" commented James, as he warily looked out the window.

Outside the window thunder struck and on a flat horizon, suddenly a figure appeared.

"Lily, grab Harry and run, the wards will hold him off for a few moments!" James shouted as he began to chant and activate the security wards in place.

Lily acted immediately and ran upstairs to their son. Now under normal circumstances they would be able to all portkey as a group out of the building; but due to wards that made it impossible to portkey in, it acted the same way towards outgoing portkeys.

A simple precaution made to protect them all seemed to be the simple reason they would all die.

Lily turned to her son as she heard James yell, "The wards have been breached! I'll hold him off for as long as I can!" Turning to Harry, she spoke her last few words.

"Harry, even though you can't understand us, know that we love you and always will." As she said this, tears were dropping and last thoughts and regrets were flowing through her head.

Earlier that month Dumbledore had gone through the effort of researching a spell that would rebound magic upon the user no matter what the spell. The cost however was the life of caster, and thus Dumbledore had only taught the spell as a last resort.

Beginning the chant for a spell she had realized that there were ways to improve it.

Lily had been among the top percentage of her class and had always kept a stable mind regardless of how hectic a situation may seem. Charms was a subject she had excelled in and held a mastery at. Seeing a spell that seemed half finished, she was unable to drop the final challenge she would ever get. The chance to risk her life on a spell that would amount to the future of her son and the collective efforts of her life.

Switching a few fragments and adding a few words, Lily was able to change the spell, though just by a bit.

Finishing her chant, she heard a voice behind her. "Saying goodbye are you?" smirked Voldemort as he lazily threw a curse at her.

Avada Kedavra, are the two words that make up the killing curse. The killing curse is green in nature and easy to recognize. It was a variation of a regular spell made to easily kill livestock. The alterations made it stronger and required a killing intent behind the spell. The spell was made to sever the connection between the body and soul.

It was the same curse that he threw at Lily, and it was the same curse that she saw before she died.

With this, Voldemort turned to Harry.

"What a long and enjoyable life you may have had, it's a shame that it's about to be cut short." He said, as he chatted away while pacing back and forth.

"I suppose all good things must end," and with the final statement, he threw the killing curse at Harry. What he didn't expect to happen was for the curse to rebound as if a mosquito, slowly sucking him dry of all his magic essence and a grand explosion occurred with them at the center.

Fading to dust, Voldemort disappeared, shortly after two figures appeared in the wake of destruction.

The two figures looked at each other for a moment before turning to the scene.

"So many lives lost, and to amount to what?" commented Dumbledore as he turned to Minerva. Surveying the scene, they found Harry at the epicenter. As they walked over to him, they found him sitting in his cradle blinking up at them without a care in the world.

Surveying the scene, the destruction was forever imprinted into his mind as Dumbledore bent down to pick up the silent child.

"So what is to become of him?" asked Minerva as she looked around, finding interest in a cracked picture frame.

Albus Dumbledore had made several hard decisions in his lifetime; however, in this instance he was clueless on what action he should take. On one hand if he was to read the will of James and Lily, then Harry would most likely go to a magical family and would grow up spoiled in a life of fame and in constant danger from any remaining death eaters. While if he sent them to a muggle family, he would not be able to keep a constant eye on Harry and Harry would not gain the basics that most magical children learned from their parents.

A sudden tugging interrupted him from his thoughts as Harry began pulling on his beard while giggling softly.

"I believe he has taken a liking to you, Albus" commented Minerva as she watched the scene with amusement.

A sudden thought struck Dumbledore at that moment.

"I believe you are right Minerva, he will stay with us at Hogwarts" he stated while chuckling about the possible outcomes.

Minerva was dumbstruck at the thought of a child being raised by the Hogwarts staff. Most of the professors were experienced with handling children, however, the children they were used to dealing with were a great deal older than little Harry. Outside one or two of the professors, none of them had ever even had children before.

"Surely you can't be serious!" exclaimed Minerva as she looked back and forth between Albus and Harry.

"Of course I am, and don't call me Shirley" chuckled Albus, the whole ordeal seemed to be a joke to him from the public eye.

"I am going to announce the fall of Voldemort now, with all the deaths as of recent, the people need something to rejoice about" and with that statement, he began to walk away from the wreckage when something out of the ordinary happened.

While walking away from the wreckage Harry had noticed his favorite toy missing.

As Albus was walking, a toy from the wreckage seemed to fly at him and right into the arms of a patiently waiting Harry.

This action led to a sudden pause in… well everything.

"Did you just see that?" Minerva asked Albus as she blinked her eyes in disbelief. Most children have accident bouts of magic; however the magic normally started around the same time an average magic core would begin to develop, and for Harry that wouldn't occur for another few years.

"I'm not quite sure what I saw," replied Dumbledore, before he pulled the toy away from Harry and threw it lightly into the air. As if expected, the toy floated gently down back to Harry.

"I'm beginning to think that the magic is more intentional than it is accidental," commented Dumbledore as he repeated the action several times to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

In the head of the old professor, many things could be mentioned, but at that time the only thing flying through his head was possible explanations for the most unsettling surprise. The only believable explanations that he could come up with were either that Lily or James infused their power to Harry before dying, or that somehow the killing curse acted as a funnel when it rebounded and transferred all of Voldemort's powers to Harry.

Either way, the results would be most unsettling. The power could easily go out of control and overwhelm Harry or cause accidental harm to someone if he were to go on a tantrum.

"Another reason for him to come with us, is it not?" said Dumbledore rhetorically as he smiled to Minerva. Any doubt on the future residence of Harry was squashed at that moment.

The magical world of Britain lost its gloom as the news of the dark lord was spread. Shops were reopening and people were walking back onto the streets. What was empty only hours ago were now full and lively.

Hogwarts was a different story however. While school was not in session, the staff was gathered inside the headmaster's office.

"Could you repeat that again?" asked Professor Vector in speculation mirroring the concern in all of the other professor's faces.

"You heard me correctly the first time, Harry will now be a resident of Hogwarts until further notice," stated Dumbledore in a tone of finality.

"Who is going to watch… that thing?" asked Snape in a tone of obvious disgust. For Harry represented the death of many people. Harry being alive meant that the dark lord was dead along with Lily. Lily as a childhood friend had meant more to Snape than anyone else alive. She had been the closest human connection he had ever bothered to establish, after marrying James however, things had died off to a few letters back and forth and for some reason he had never bothered with any other relationships.

"A team effort will be required if we are to get anything done," announced Minerva as the other staff chuckled nervously.

"Watching over a child will give you a sense of experience Snape. Keep in mind that she lives on inside him, and do not let her sacrifice be in vain," commented Dumbledore as he ignored the staff's questioning glares.

"I suppose I can make an effort in memory of her," replied Snape before walking out of the office with his cloak bellowing out behind him.

"He'll warm up eventually," mused Dumbledore as he turned to his staff. "So who's first?"

Sitting in Minerva's office Harry just sat there watching her with wide eyes while occasionally making some small noises.

Minerva had been the first to take care of Harry because she had been the obvious choice at the time. Snape had just come to terms with the fact that he would be taking care of a child in the near future and Professor Vector, Professor Sprout, Pomfrey, and Professor Flitwick all had matters to attend to outside of school. Of course Filch and Trelawney were both out of the question because of what Harry might pick up from them.

With no one else available, Harry had joined Minerva while she was grading papers for the summer. Minerva was never one for the theoretical part of studies but more for the practical portions, so instead of a final test, she had a final assignment where the student would demonstrate the extent of their transfiguration knowledge.

The students were given a small pebble and were asked to transfigure it into the grandest thing they could handle. Things that contained metal received more credit than transfigurations that were made entirely of wood or other things similar.

To sum things up, Minerva was sitting in her office filled to an unprecedented proportion with useless knick knacks with and uncountable number of flaws. Things ranged from grandfather clocks to silver spoons all the way to wooden bird houses. The assignments were easy enough to recognize due to the magical signature the caster left behind.

She would grade them by inspecting their current form for all flaws before canceling the transfiguration to make sure it was the original object she had given them.

Harry had taken notice of what she was doing and found sudden interest.

"Enjoying the show are you?" smiled the professor as she continued to grade a few more assignments, dispelling things left and right.

Delighted with what he was seeing, Harry began clapping his hands and laughing loudly.

This produced mixed results.

As Harry clapped, every clap he made with his hands dispelled another objects, Minerva just stood in shock before grabbing Harry's hands and stopping his clapping.

With Harry in her arms and still laughing joyfully she looked around at the half empty room and looked down back at Harry.

"What am I going to do with you?" she laughed as she thought of all of the upset student that wouldn't receive a grade.

After Minerva's turn, Snape had been the only adult left in the building that was available to watch Harry. While Snape had been hesitant at first, when Minerva passed Harry off to him, he accepted him reluctantly.

In the dungeons, Snape was preparing potions for future use should anyone in the castle be in need. Harry was just sitting on a table a distance away from the cauldron to avoid any accidents.

"Mandrake root, poppy seeds, cat whiskers…" potions ingredients spilled out of Snape's mouth as if a mantra to remember all of the separate things that go into the potion.

Professor Snape was somewhat of a potions prodigy, while not a big name due to his ex-death eater status, he had several books published on brewing techniques along with advanced potion guides for substituting and theory crafting potions. He was one of the youngest people ever to receive a potion's mastery along with one of the few people to ever receive multiple awards for an original creation.

As Snape was throwing ingredients in with measured precision, he felt a tugging on his robe on the left side and paused. Looking down he saw Harry on the ground having apparently appearing at his side, tugging at the bottom of his robes.

Shaking off the shock of the possibility of a toddler apparating he went back to adding potion ingredients.

As he was attempting to add the ingredient again, the tugging resumed.

"Is there something you want?" asked Snape, almost as if he was expecting the toddler to reply.

Harry didn't say a word, but looked over at a vial near the wall instead.

"What is this?" out of curiosity, Snape looked over to the wall and found the vial labeled as Snake's tear, this had Snape wondering.

Looking over at the potion he was working on he realized that the vial Harry had pointed at would be a much strong catalyst than the one he was about to add.

"A little potions prodigy are you?" said Snape in a dry voice with a hint of humor to it. One simply doesn't obtain a mastery in their respective subject though without general curiosity.

Snape's curiosity was centered in solid results, and due to this he had to figure out if Harry could actually feel a potion's composition or if it was just a fluke.

Placing Harry on a Table, Snape began preparing a potion and left it half finished, then placed all of the necessary ingredients along with some vials of odd things in the mix, he then let harry go.

The potion he had left unfinished was a variation of a calming draught, not wanting to expose Harry to anything that might be harmful he allowed the toddler free reign.

What he didn't expect though was for Harry to levitate the majority of the supplies and throw it all into the cauldron.

Quickly using a summoning charm, he summoned Harry to him and took cover behind a desk as if expecting the potion to explode.

Cautiously peeking out, he looked over the cauldron to see a translucent potion. The average calming draught was a silvery grey and there were many variations of the draught that could be judged from color to determine the effect. The strongest draught anyone had ever managed to make was a opaque white variation that could double as a sedative.

The potion Harry had thrown together was clear.

Snape turned back to look at the toddler behind the table. Harry was sitting quietly while looking at the potion as if expecting something.

"I dearly hope you don't expect me to drink that," said Snape in a calm controlled voice.

At this point, Harry began wailing, at first a slow quiet whimper, then erupting into a full out tantrum. The potions master was at wit's end trying to figure out what to do, while he could simply use a silencing charm, he doubted that it would be a permanent solution. On the other hand he could drink the possibly life threatening potion.

Looking at his options, he inspected the potion and rationalized to himself. "The ingredients were none of the deathly type and in combination I can speculate that it won't have any permanent harmful effects, the worse that could happen would be a severe case of vomiting"

Pouring some of the potion into a flask, Harry stopped crying. Snape looked suspiciously at the potion before looking back at Harry.

The toddler just gave him a pointed look once again.

"Here goes nothing," said Snape as he drank the potion with gusto.

Harry's laughter was the last recognizable thing he would remember that night.

Snape's euphoric experience would be remembered for many years to come among the staff. Apparently Harry's potion had induced a sense of high similar to the experiences of drug uses in the 1960's.

Since then Snape had been using Harry as a detector for potion ingredients that would increase the strength of a potion.

While Harry's persistence and crying had been a major issue that Snape abhorred, he began to realize how much of an impact the toddler had on him and found it hard to imagine brewing without the toddler.

Snape hadn't been the only professor to find that Harry had interest in their respective subject. When Professor Flitwick had returned from his business he had been tasked with watching Harry for the afternoon.

Not one to leave something half done, Flitwick set out to make the afternoon enjoyable for Harry. The small professor had been levitating hundreds of objects around Harry for his enjoyment. While Harry and been laughing uncontrollable and undoubtly having a good time, the highlight of the evening was when Harry levitated the professor himself.

Filius had been caught so unaware and by surprise, all he could do was laugh himself as he was levitated around the room next to all of the objects flying around under his control.

Accidental magic seemed to be the theme while dealing with the young infant. Filius had been informed by Minerva of his accidental bouts of magic before taking charge of Harry.

While most wizards would have been shocked and amazed by the magic the occurred as a result of the young boy, the Hogwarts staff took it in stride. Under their tutelage, they knew that Harry would grow up into a fine man who would go on to leave his imprint in history and of course, all the professors wanted a hand in that, even the reluctant potions master.

The only time his accidental magic wasn't warmly welcomed was during his diaper years. The professors would always be shocked when they opened the diapers because they would never know what was in it.

An incident that occurred was one day Harry had seemingly transfigured his waste into a golden egg, and another incident when a ball of feces exploded.

Many precautions were taken by the fearful professors from that point on.

Harry's early years were enjoyable to all, but as all good things; everything has to come to an end.

I saw a story with lots of potential left alone, so I did my variation of it.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I hope everyone enjoys it.

I find spaced formats easy to read, but if anyone has specific formats they would like to request, do tell and I will see what I can do. I just find big stories with block texts hard to keep up with.

Pairings to be discovered later, I have a basic idea of what I want to happen and there isn't much that's going to dissuade me.

-The Purple Critic