Things you need to know before reading:

This story follows most of the major canon events of book two.  How the events come about might be different, but the major, underlying plot won't change at all. 

This story takes a while to get going.  In other words, the first few chapters are mostly contemplative and (possibly) a little boring.  It will pick up.

Snape and Harry interaction (at least the nice kind) won't start for a while.  You'll have to wait patiently.

There is an OC who plays a major part.  This was necessary because none of the canon characters fit what I needed.

Harry might seem a bit OOC at times (though I've read enough HP fanfics by now that I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as an OOC Harry anymore), but there's a VERY good reason. 

Finally, there is child abuse in this story (though you should be able to gather that from the warnings).  If this bothers you DO NOT READ!

All that being said, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the ride.