In another world, the luck of Lord Voldemort was great. He was weakened by his defeat in Godric's Hollow, but many things went right for him afterwards. Quirrinous Quirrel, soon to be hired as a Defense Professor at Hogwarts, stumbled upon him and was weak enough in mind to be possessed. Some years later, Sirius Black failed to secure Peter Pettigrew, who escaped to find his master. Bartimaeous Crouch was convinced by his wife to save his son, long before that, and his son eventually escaped from Crouch's care to help his master return. But in this world, none of that happened.

Quirrel was never unfortunate enough to find the wraith of Lord Voldemort, and returned to Hogwarts sound in mind and body. Sirius Black had the presence of mind to tell the Minister that Ron Weasley's rat was actually Pettigrew, and was cleared by the Ministry as an innocent man. Much earlier, Crouch refused to rescue his son from the tender care of the Dementors in Azkaban. And so Lord Voldemort remained in his dark forest, skulking in Albania. Harry Potter, though renowned at first, was able to take his place in the wizarding world and become an ordinary boy – talented, but not extraordinary. He happily left his relatives' care to live with Sirius Black, cheered for Cedric Diggory along with the rest when he won the Triwizard Tournament, and was made prefect, and following that Head Boy. He did well on his OWLs and NEWTs, and is about to graduate from Hogwarts.

But even Lord Voldemort's lesser luck can eventually win out.

"…and so, I'd like to wish all of my fellow students farewell. I hope that you all go out into the world and do great things," Harry finished, stepping away from the podium.

"Thank you for those words, Lord Potter," Dumbledore said, stepping forward. "Now that we've heard from out Head Boy, I believe that our Head Girl, Hermione Granger, has something to say. Miss Granger?"

Harry smiled as his friend began her speech. It was long-winded and rambling, but she was far less overt in displaying her intelligence than she once was. The rest of Hogwarts listened attentively to her, and clapped enthusiastically when she was finished.

"Well done, Hermione!" he told her as she stepped back to stand next to him. She had refused to let her friends read her speech before she gave it.

"Yeah, good show," Ron Weasley, Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, told her. He, along with the other seventh-year captains (Draco Malfoy and Terry Boot), was sharing the stage with the Professors and the Head Boy and Girl.

Hermione smiled, a little wider at Ron than at Harry. She had dated the redhead for several months at the beginning of their seventh year, and although they had broken it off and were still on good terms, Harry knew she still held a torch for the Gryffindor Keeper. 'Weasley is our king' indeed.

"I just hope that it wasn't too long," she fretted.

"It was fine," Terry assured her. "Mind you, if it had been much longer you'd have been pushing it, but you finished before it got tedious."

Draco, the only person left who hadn't commented, wrinkled his nose. "It wasn't bad," he finally admitted. He was on better terms with Harry and his friends since sixth year, but they would never be great friends. At least they weren't hexing each other anymore. Although Harry was sure that Ron was tempted.

"I wish that our NEWT scores weren't delayed," Hermione said. "Normally we would have gotten them already!"

"But we didn't," Ron said with a shrug. "We'll get them tomorrow."

"Don't stress out," Harry advised her. "It makes your hair frizzy."

The graduation ceremony finished without incident. It was, truthfully, exactly the same as Harry had seen it the six years that he wasn't graduating. A speech from the Head Boy and Girl, a speech from the Minister about the importance of children, a speech from Headmaster Dumbledore, speeches from any graduating Quidditch captains, and acknowledgement of all graduating students. There was a party held in the Gryffindor common room, and parties in the others as well, if the rumors were true. Luna Lovegood had confirmed that there was a relatively subdued party in Ravenclaw, and Theodore Nott, who took Arithmancy with Harry and Hermione, had agreed that there was one in Slytherin as well, but it was 'for those who're of-age only'.

"Congratulations, Harry," Sirius Black, his guardian, said as he stepped off the platform. "You made it through seven years at Hogwarts without anyone nearly dying!"

"Well, there's still tonight and tomorrow morning," Harry joked. "There's still time!"

"Sure, but how likely is it that someone will die in the next 15 hours?" asked Remus Lupin, hugging Harry.

"It depends," Sirius began. "If we–"

"No, Sirius."

"Oh, fine. Not very likely."

"I think we can make it through 15 hours," Ron said with a snort. "It's not like Harry is a magnet for trouble or anything."

The next-morning – the last day at Hogwarts for the graduating seventh-years - they would finally get the NEWT scores. There had apparently been some sort of mix-up with the Address quill the Ministry of Magic used, and it had Addressed half of the seventh-years' results to Antarctica before it had been noticed. All the letters had had to be readdressed, and the delay, while only of a few days, had caused Hermione and all of the Ravenclaws to go frantic.

Harry, despite his strict orders to Hermione that she had to eat, found himself quite unable to eat breakfast. The NEWT results were expected at 9:00, and breakfast ended at 8:45, though, so he had to eat something. Or he would if not for Fred and George's Christmas present to him back in 3rd year, that is. The Marauders' Map had let him find the kitchens easily. He would drop in to get some food from the elves.

"I don't know how you can eat, Ron!" Hermione wailed. "They come in half an hour!"

True to their word, at exactly 9:00 o'clock, 37 beautiful golden owls from the Ministry swirled in to drop heavy letters in front of each seventh-year. Harry held his breath as he tore open the letter and scanned his results.

Harrison James Potter, your scores on the 1998 Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests are as follows:
– Advanced Arithmancy - O
– Advanced Charms - E
– Advanced Defense - O
– Advanced Potions - E
– Advanced Transfiguration - E

Your overall average is E/O.

Tiberius Ogden, Head of the Department of Magical Education

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief. He had done it. He had passed all five of his NEWTs – even Potions, which he had the most difficulty with. It was only thanks to Hermione's patient tutelage that he had made the O required to enter Professor Snape's Advanced Potions class (and then only by a single percentage point). Defense had been simple, of course, and he had always had a knack for Arithmancy which only Hermione and Theo had been able to match.

"Hey, Ron," he said, poking his redheaded friend. "How'd you do?"

"Here, let's swap," Ron said, passing him his letter. Harry ran an eye down Ron's page. There were no 'O's there, except for Ancient Runes, of course. Ron was a polyglot – he had no trouble keeping up with the many different languages they had to learn for Ancient Runes. Harry, on the other hand, had happily dropped it after OWL year, having only gotten an 'A'. Ogham, Atlantean, and Norse runes were too many for him to keep track of, and you only got more to memorize in NEWT years.

"Hermione, how'd you do?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Not bad…" she said slowly.

Ron snatched it from her. "You did great, Hermione," he snorted. "Stop acting depressed. Look, Harry, she got an O in everything but Defense, and there she has an E."

"Of course," Harry said with a snort. "Anything less than perfection isn't good enough for our Hermione."

"I'm not that bad," Hermione protested. "…am I?"

"Not anymore, no," Ron assured her while Harry rubbed his brow. "Hey, what's wrong, Harry?"

"Nothing," Harry said, shaking his head to clear it. "I thought for a moment… nevermind."

"Harry?"

"I thought for a moment someone was hexing me or something, but it's gone now," he assured his friends. "It felt, just for a second, like my scar was burning."

"Potter?" said Professor Snape, glancing up from the paperwork he was filling out. "What do you want?"

"A little while ago, something strange happened," Harry said, grimacing with the necessity of going to Snape for help. "It felt for a moment like my scar was on fire. It wasn't very bad, and it lasted for less than a second, but considering how I got it…"

"Not something to ignore," Snape finished.

"Yes. And you're the most knowledgeable person I know about the Dark Arts, so I came to ask you what you thought."

"Not your werewolf uncle?" Snape asked with a sneer.

"Remus is great, but his expertise is in Dark creatures," Harry said, ignoring the sneer. "You know more about the magical part of the Dark Arts. Do you have any idea what might have done it?"

"Not at present, Potter, but if you are willing I can look into your mind to feel it for myself," Snape suggested.

Harry could tell that Snape didn't expect him to agree. But really, legilimency wasn't that bad. True, when Dumbledore had begun teaching it and its counterpart, Occlumency, as a one-year elective for NEWT students, both had been very unpleasant – but he and his friends had spent some time practicing both, and were more comfortable with it now. He mentally prepared himself to receive a foreign presence, and nodded.

Snape raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment, merely raising his wand and murmuring "Legilimens." A moment later, Harry felt the Potions Master's presence enter his mind. Harry's mindscape was pretty simple – his memories and thoughts were kept hidden as books in a massive, mazelike library. He guided Snape's mind-self along the shelves to where the memory of his scar burning rested, a thin pamphlet resting along with a dozen other memories relating to the scar. They were near a large black door made of solid stone which Harry had sealed when he found the strange passage within his mind, as he built the mindscape. He barely ever thought of it anymore. Ignoring the door, Harry caused the relevant memory to glow red, and Snape selected it.

A moment later, Snape was absent, and Harry opened his eyes to see the Potions Master stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I'll have to talk to the Headmaster about this," he said after a moment. "What was that door, Potter?"

"The black one?"

"Obviously," Snape drawled.

"I don't know," Harry said. "It's always been there, I think. I found it while I was building my mindscape in Professor Dumbledore's class last year, and I just sealed it off. I don't think of it often."

"Is there a reason it's near the memories about your scar?" Snape asked.

Harry shrugged. "As I said, I don't think about it often. It never stirs or anything." He paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, I think it stirred a little when my scar hurt. I didn't notice because of the physical pain, but… yeah, it definitely stirred little. Not as if someone was trying to open it, more like someone was moving around behind it, I think."

"Well, you did well to come to me," Snape told Harry. "Now go away. I may not hate you anymore, but I don't like you."

Harry merely grinned and waved at the taciturn professor as he left.

A/N: Welcome, welcome, to another fanfiction tumbling out of the twisted depths of my tormented soul. This one is based around the idea of "What if Harry made it through his school years without anything really happening?" So, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Voldemort has been unsuccessful in his attempts to return thus far (but he will return soon). Since nothing really happened to keep Harry in the public eye, he's just another guy, although people do remember that he used to be well-known. Most people know his name, but they aren't fawning over him or anything. Some more backstory will be revealed as the story progresses, but at the end of each chapter I'll list the confirmed changes from it, as well as the most important ones to remember, which will be underlined.

Harry is no longer famous.
Harry took Arithmancy and Ancient Runes as electives.
Harry is excellent at Arithmancy.
Ron took Ancient Runes as an elective
Ron is excellent at Ancient Runes and is in fact a polyglot.
Snape has pretty much gotten over his hatred of Harry, and no longer sees him as another James, but instead as his own man.
Harry doesn't hate Snape.
Sirius told the Minister that Ron's rat was actually a transformed Peter Pettigrew, leading to his release about halfway through third year.
Cedric won the Triwizard Tournament, which Harry didn't compete in.
Dumbledore teaches Occlumency and Legilimency to NEWT students who wish to learn to.

Otherwise, know that while there will be pairings, there will not be slash. Any pairings are likely to be secondary to the main plot.