Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: This is an alternate universe wherein Harry really did vanquish Voldemort as a child. It will be told in eight chapters, one for each year at Hogwarts plus one after that. While the main pairing is slash, Neville/Harry, there will be other side pairings that are not slash. I hope you enjoy the story!

The Christmas Wish

First Year-

Harry's entrance to Hogwarts had been much like any other student's. He'd been called to place the hat upon his head, and he'd done so gladly. This hat would tell him where he'd do best at Hogwarts. He'd been excited, gleeful even. Finally, finally he would have a place where he belonged.

Except… he'd chosen badly. Because as it turned out, he would fit in one of two houses, and Harry had wanted to be so much better than he was. He'd chosen Slytherin, because that was the house that would help him on a path to greatness, and Harry wanted to be great so very badly. He wanted to be better than what he was, better than what the Dursleys thought he could be.

But there was nothing for him in Slytherin. He'd thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to make a friend or two in his new house, but he'd had no such luck. His housemates were all… they were worse than the Dursleys, in their own way. They were snobs and purebloods, and because Harry wasn't that meant that he would have no friends among them. Not to mention, many of them apparently held him responsible for the death of the wizard who would have elevated their families to greatness.

It was funny how nobody had bothered to warn him of what he'd be walking into at Hogwarts. The reputation he'd gained when he was just a child had come as a total shock to him. He'd been unprepared to be… hated by his classmates for something he'd done as a baby. And they did hate him, they all had made certain that he understood that.

He'd thought, for a bit, when Malfoy and his other dorm-mates had begun to educate him on the ways of the wizarding world, that maybe he might make some friends, but no. It turned out they just didn't want him to embarrass the good name of their house by acting improperly. Hogwarts, it seemed, was just like the Dursleys, only there were even more people to dislike him here.

He was miserable, and he had the feeling it was entirely his fault. The one friend that he'd started to make, Ron Weasley, had been entirely uninterested in speaking to him once he'd been sorted to Slytherin. Harry had tried, on several occasions, but it did no good. Ron had finally told him that he didn't speak to slimy snakes, and that was that.

Even Hagrid had seemed to lose interest in him as the year went on. At first Harry had gone to visit him every Saturday, but gradually the Keeper of the Keys had started being less welcoming. It was like he'd been waiting for Harry to do something, anything, and then as the year went on he just sort of… gave up. Hagrid grew more and more distant, and eventually when Harry went on one October, he wasn't there at all. Harry could take a hint, and he hadn't gone back. He was truly alone at Hogwarts.

Except, of course, for Hedwig. Hagrid had given him the owl for his birthday, and Harry treasured her. She was fantastic. When he could speak with nobody else, when everyone around him ignored him, Harry could go to her. When Hagrid stopped being available for Harry on Saturdays, Harry found himself passing the time with Hedwig. She was wonderful, and the Owlery was nice and quiet and no students were there to bother him. To tease him. To chase him, or to tell him how he was an embarrassment to his father, or… or anything. He was alone with Hedwig most of the time, and it was… it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible.

It was better than he'd had at the Dursleys, anyway.

And so it was that Harry's very first Christmas at Hogwarts passed much like the others had at the Dursleys, with two exceptions. He had a friend to visit with, and visit he did. Hedwig was always happy to see him, and Harry enjoyed her company greatly. She was always so affectionate, and Harry felt safe talking to her about anything and everything. And he received a gift. Just the one, but the gift he was given was so very precious to him that he would have done anything to keep it. It was an Invisibility Cloak which had belonged to his father, and he adored it.

Other than that, things were much the same as they had always been. He watched in the morning as his dorm mates opened up dozens of presents of their own, watched as they ignored him entirely. The ignoring was better than their lessons and their mockery, and to be quite honest he would take any of that over Dudley's cruelty any day. At least when he was being ignored or mocked there was no physical pain to accompany the emotional.

But it was fine. He was at Hogwarts, he was learning magic, and he now had something that had once belonged to his father. His life was looking up. He even had a friend he could share things with, even if Hedwig couldn't actually talk to him.

Sure, he was a little bit lonely, but that was fine. He would be just fine. This was a better life than he'd ever anticipated growing up with the Dursleys.

He didn't need other people. He'd never had them before, why should this place be any different?

He spent that Christmas with Hedwig in the Owlery, and never noticed the other person up there with him, listening to him spill out his secrets to her. He didn't see the other person leave the Owlery, and never knew that he hadn't actually been alone that Christmas.

Bonus A/N: Just to give you guys an idea of how long this will be, other than the eight chapters, I started out with the idea that this would be a one-shot. Then it hit 10K words.