It was morning of Harry's 11th birthday. Harry's uncle Vernon was quite pleased to find none of those mysterious letters had arrived that morning and said they would be staying in the miserable shack until he was sure who ever was sending the letters had stopped. Harry just wanted to know who was sending him those letters and why.

It was right after lunch when the door to the shack was blasted down. When the dust settled, a tall, long black haired man with a beak shaped nose was standing just outside the shack holding what appeared to be a stick in his hand.

"You! You're that awful boy my sister used to play with! Go away! We don't want your kind here! Shoot him Vernon! Quickly!" Harry heard his aunt yell.

Harry's uncle quickly grabbed the gun he had and proceeded to aim it at this strange man standing in the door but before he could pull the trigger, the man pointed the stick at him, yelled Expelliarnus, and a red beam coming from the man's stick blasted the gun out of his hand. Harry couldn't believe what he had seen.

"Nice try Dursley. It appears you, Tunny, have forgot what we freaks are capable of. In addition, the two of should have realized that you can't prevent your nephew from being a wizard because he was already born one." the man said as he walked inside.

Harry was confused. This man knew his aunt and said he was a wizard. This had to be the strangest thing ever...

"Now Harry, I believe its time you got your letter." the man said as he handed a letter to Harry.

It was identical to the ones that he had been getting for the past several days except it was address said Hut-On-The-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

 

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

 

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"What does it mean, they await my owl?" Harry asked.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'll inform the school you will be going unless you would rather stay here." the man said.

"He won't be going! When we took him in we agreed to put an end to this magic non-sense! We're his legal guardians and we get to choose what school he goes to." Vernon yelled.

"I would like to see how a Muggle such as yourself would be able to stop him. If word got out that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, wasn't going to a wizard school, it would be hard to keep your secrete from your neighbors due to all the hate mail that will be delivered to your house and hate mail in the wizarding world explodes if it is not opened immediately." the man said. Harry's aunt whispered something to her husband that caused him to look a little scared.

"Wizarding World?" Harry asked.

"You don't know anything about the Wizarding World?" the man asked Harry. Harry simply shook his head.

"Very well. You see Harry, witches and wizards are real. Witches and Wizards are people who can perform magic. Not the kind of magic like pulling rabbits out of hats but real magic like turning tables into animals. A long time ago Witches, Wizards, and Muggles, that is people who can't do magic, used to live and work along side of each other. However, Muggles over the centuries became fearful of witches and wizards and fighting broke out between people who could do magic and those who couldn't. Eventually it was decided that all those who could perform magic would create their own society which is referred to as the wizarding world and that it would be hidden from Muggles who would be unaware of its existence. You, Harry, are a wizard."

"I'm a what?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you are a wizard and can do magic. Have you ever noticed that strange things happen when you are angry or upset?"

Harry stopped to think. Strange things always did seem to happen when he was angry or upset...

"Those strange things that happened is called accidental magic. All witches and wizards as they learn to control their abilities will grow out of doing accidental magic. That is why it is unwise for you to go to a Muggle school as your aunt and uncle want you to. You will fit in just fine at Hogwarts. There will be a lot of other students in your year, that like you, had no idea that the Wizarding World existed before they got their acceptance letter as you did." the man said to Harry before turning to Harry's aunt and uncle.

"I believe Mr. Dumbledore would not be happy with you two for to not telling Harry about the Wizarding World. Am I correct in assuming he is unaware of the circumstances of his parents' deaths as well?"

Harry was told his parents were killed in a car crash. Was there more to that then what his aunt and uncle had told him he thought. His thoughts were interrupted by his aunt.

"He was asking questions so we told him his parents were good for nothing drunks that died in a car crash. We didn't want to tell him that some evil wizard broke into his parents' house and blew them up. What if he told people?" Petunia said looking scared and upset at the same time.

"You simply could have said they were murdered. That would be the truth. The truth is always more preferable then a lie. The complete truth, Harry, is that when you were 15 months a old, an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort was going around trying to take over the world and kill all Muggles. He believed that you were some prophesied savior that would grow up and defeat him so he went to kill you before you had any chance of being a threat to him. You and your parents went into hiding, however a person who pretended to be a friend of your parents told Lord Voldemort where they were hiding and he showed up and murdered your parents before attempting to kill you. For some unknown reason, your parents died while trying to protect you placed a powerful protection charm on you and the spell Lord Voldemort used to kill countless people failed to kill you. Instead, it bounced off of you leaving you with that scare on your forehead. Lord Voldemort disappeared that night and no one has reported seeing him since then. As a result, you are quite famous in the wizarding world. There isn't a witch or wizard who doesn't know about you or will soon learn about you."

This was so much for Harry to take in. In just a few minutes, his life had more or less turned upside down. He had found out he was a wizard and that his aunt and uncle had been lying to him for almost his entire life.

"Now Harry that you have been brought to speed on the wizarding world, its time for me to go take you to get your school supplies. Your aunt, uncle, and cousin don't have to come if they wish to."

"We're not going. I'm not going to have my son contaminated with that magic nonsense!" Vernon yelled.

"Very well. Come Harry." the man said.

Harry went with the man to a wizarding shopping center called Diagon Alley using a type of transportation the man said was Apparition. To Harry, it felt like being forced through a tube. Harry soon learned that this man's name was Severus Snape and he was the Potions professor at Hogwarts. The first place Snape took Harry on Diagon Alley was Gringott's Bank. Harry learned he had inherited a lot of money from his parents which was being kept in one of the many vaults under ground, but before they could leave the bank, Snape had to swing by vault 713 to pick up a small item. After the bank, Snape took Harry to get robes, stationary (parchment paper and quills), potions supplies, and books. At the bookstore, Snape got Harry some books to help him better understand the Wizarding World and Hogwarts School. Snape also got Harry a snowy owl and explained to him that the owl could be used to send letters and packages to other people. Everything was going smoothly until it came time for Harry to get his wand.

Snape took Harry to a wand shop called Ollivander's. The owner of the shop, Ollivander, gave Harry the creeps. Ollivander had him try a couple dozen wands before a wand that choose him was found. After Ollivander explained the wand contained a tail feather from a phoenix who also provided the tail feather inside of Lord Voldemort's wand, Snape spoke up.

"Are you sure it is wise for Harry to have a wand with the same core as Voldemort's? After all, Voldemort did not die due to some dark art spells he performed and his wand is unaccounted for. When he decides to return, he will no doubt make another attempt on Harry's life. I've heard some things about wands with cores made from parts of the same animal not being able to work properly against each other."

"If you were any other person, I would probably say you are insane for believing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named isn't dead. I can see your concern Mr. Snape. I could attempt to make a wand for Harry for using some of his hair... A wand with that type of core usually works for extremely tricky customers." Ollivander replied.

Ollivander removed some of Harry's hair with a spell and with another spell, made some new hair grow so Harry wouldn't have a bald spot that he would have to explain to his aunt and uncle. Ten minutes later, Ollivander came back with a new wand.

"Being that the wands made with holly reacted the best with you, I used an incomplete holly wand to make this."

Harry gave it a wave and gold, red, green, and silver sparks came pouring out of the end of the wand, more so then the wand that had the phoenix tail feather in it.

"Curious..." Ollivander said.

"What's curious now?" Harry asked fearing this was some bad sign.

"I never saw a wand that produced more then two colors during a fitting. Usually the colors of a wand with that type of core say something about what house at Hogwarts a person will end up in. It seems that you may go into either Gryffindor or Slytherin depending on your prefaces though based on the amount of green and silver sparks I say you tend to have more Slytherin tendencies then Gryffindor..." Ollivander said.

"Houses?" Harry asked.

"Hogwarts is divided into four houses Harry." Snape explained. "Students are supposed to be divided based on what personality traits tend to stand out the most. Some students, especially those from families that have a tradition of being sorted into the same house, will beg the sorting hat to place them into a particular house even though they may have a personality that is more inline with a different house. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindors tend to be braver then most other students, Hufflepuffs tend to be hard workers and very friendly and loyal to others, Ravenclaws like to learn all that is learnable, and Slytherins are cunning and ambitious. But there are always exceptions."

"What house were my parents in Professor?" Harry asked.

"They were both in Gryffindor." Snape answered.

"But that doesn't mean you will be in Gryffindor Mr. Potter. Its your choice. We all have our paths in life and only you can choose your path. Personally, I think you might be better off in Slytherin with Mr. Snape. Mr. Snape is head of Slytherin house. Its your choice where you want to go."

"Very well. How much will the wand be?" Snape asked.

"Seven galleons." Ollivander replied.

Harry reached into his money pouch and took out seven galleons and paid Ollivander and he and Snape left.

Snape, after returning Harry to his relatives, was some what disappointed. He wanted to remove him from their care but didn't have any thing against the Dursleys that would hold up in a court of law. If the issue of how the Dursleys treat Harry were to come before a court, Dumbledore would surely appoint himself to the case and at this point in time, his voice tended to influence others in the Ministry. Unless he could get Harry to say something, which he doubt he could, the only way Harry could be removed from the Dursleys care with out the Ministry getting directly involved would be to free Black from Azkaban. Black, being Harry's godfather, could just use his 'authority' to remove Harry from the Dursleys' care.

But getting Black out of Azkaban would be easier said then done. The only way to get him out legally would be to prove his innocence. To do that, Peter Pettigrew needed to be caught. Snape knew Pettigrew was masquerading as the Weasleys' pet rat Scabbers. Snape wasn't about to barge into the Weasleys' home and capture Pettigrew. He needed to get Pettigrew to be in the same room as Lupin, who would surely recognize a rat he spent several full moons with. Snape had up until the end of the school year to figure out how to do that... It would be easiest if Harry and Ronald Weasley were in the same house like in the old time line. However, that was something that was no longer certain since Ollivander had opened Harry's mind to the possibility of being in Slytherin house. Knowing the youngest Weasley boy's attitude towards people in Slytherin house, it would be unlikely Harry would have any ties to the Weasley family if Harry got sorted into Slytherin. He would have to figure something out if Harry got placed into Slytherin.

Snape before heading back to Hogwarts, decided to swing by the book shop on Knockturn Alley. If there was any place besides Dumbledore's office the had books on horcruxes, this would be the place. The shop was dark and was lit just enough to read. Snape found some books containing information about horcruxes and an extremely old book (published 9th century) about blood magic that contained a ritual that seemed legal enough to use that could make anyone be able to provide Harry with the protection he got from living with his aunt through a type of adoption that added to an individual's blood line rather then replacing it. Snape wondered why Dumbledore wasn't aware of that ritual. But then again, Dumbledore couldn't have read every book in the world and he didn't seem like the type of person to go to this book shop let alone any place on Knockturn Alley. After paying for the books, Snape returned to Hogwarts.