Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Squib's Revenge

Harry looked up from his copy of _Ancient Runes Vol III: The Norse Legacy_ as the train jerked into motion, he glanced out the window to see smiling or crying parents waving to their children as the train set off, he turned back to his reading as his former family passed the window, anger and humiliation clouding his mind.

Harry Potter was both excited and terrified by the prospect of going to Hogwarts, excited because he'd been looking forward to going since he learned he could and he was _able_ to perform magic, terrified because despite his now meagre but growing ability his family and the staff believed him to be absolutely incapable of performing magic.

They wholeheartedly believed he was a squib.

His anger stemmed from the fact his parents had siphoned his magic from him to save his twin brother's life, the Brat-Who-Lived Aaron Potter, which had left his magical core drained to a dangerously low level.

His core had recently begun to recover after the trip to Ollivander's wand shop had revealed that the ritual his parents had used had been left active by accident due to a mistake in the preparation, essentially the open link continually prevented his core's recovery by transferring any replenished energy to Aaron, making every scan make his core look magically inert.

This had resulted in his father ignoring him, placing him in the most remote room in the manor, and only focusing his attention on the _'healthy_ twin, Aaron, and lately his _'healthy'_ little sister Violet.

His mother did her best to treat Harry the same as Aaron, and had in fact nurtured his interests in potions, ancient runes and ancient Norse magic and even taught him how to fly, overcoming her own fear of flying on a broom in the process.

Lily however, was less of a factor in their lives since Violet's birth, she'd suffered from some form of magical backlash after _That_ Halloween which had made her weaker and Violet's birth had worsened her condition, she was currently in a ward in St Mungo's with a research team looking for a cure.

James had used Lily's departure from the house to send Harry to Lily's sister, Petunia Dursley. What followed was five years of hell on earth.

Harry hadn't seen his mother since she first visited the hospital, he had been sent away shortly after and the Dursleys had been careful to ensure he was isolated.

Mr Ollivander had ended the ritual and then begun the wand selection process.

Surprisingly, two wands chose Harry: the first was Holly, 11 inches long and possessed a Phoenix feather core; Ollivander idly commented that he thought _that_ wand would go to the Boy-Who-Lived. The second was 14 inches long, Oak and Willow, with a combined Griffin feather and Unicorn tail hair core, Ollivander said that it was the product of an experiment over a century ago and that his mother had a strong reaction too, although it obviously wasn't the wand for her.

After that he'd secretly bought a copy of all the books on the regular students booklists as well so he could practice and secretly keep pace with his classmates, despite his class schedule only having subjects that didn't involve the use of wands.

He'd asked Hagrid, the staff member escorting him, about his family, and it was from Hagrid he learned his mother had been in St Mungo's since he was sent away.

He'd visited his mother that night and told her, she'd been shocked and ashamed that they hadn't considered a fault with the ritual being the cause of his problems, and furious at her husband for how he treated Harry and promised to set him straight once she could go home.

A healer had come in shortly after and informed them a monitoring charm had gone off indicating a change in Lily's condition, after a few minutes the healer informed them that Lily's condition was improving, it seemed she was connected through the ritual like Harry and it had affected her too, with the ritual magic ended she was beginning to recover, unfortunately she'd never recover fully as she was due to her long term condition. Both Potter's had been shocked, but the healer promised to try and find a way to repair the damage done, and also promised to keep Harry's recovery secret too, neither wanted the wrong people to find out until he was ready to face them.

Harry had then had his core scanned to make sure they were right, the scan showed a badly depleted but recovering core.

Harry had promised his mother he would go to Hogwarts and make her proud, despite the advice of the healer that he should wait a year so his core could recover properly.

Harry intended to use fine control of what little power to prove you don't need raw power to be a great Wizard.

Unfortunately that meant spending at least a year labelled as a squib and being forced to perform magic in secret.

Hagrid had then promised to keep what he saw secret, and started learning Occlumency from Lily in order to do so.

He had just begun reading a chapter on the imprisonment of Fenrir when the door of the compartment opened, he looked up to see a very pretty girl with waist length wavy red hair, flawless skin and sapphire coloured eyes step in.

"Can I sit her for a while?" the girl asked, "I was meant to meet up with my friends but I couldn't find them on the platform."

"Take a pew, if they're looking for you too they'll pass by soon enough," Harry replied, gesturing to the opposite bench.

"Thanks," the girl said, sitting down roughly halfway along the seat, "My name's Tracey Davies," she said.

"Harry Potter," Harry said holding out his hand, Tracey blinked and stared for several seconds before taking it, finding out Harry had a very firm handshake.

"Potter? But I didn't think the Boy-Who-Lived _had_ a brother, never mind one the same age," Tracey said amazed.

Tracey flinched back as Harry's expression visibly darkened, both missing the door opening and a boy and girl step in. "It is _not_ common knowledge, my brother was left with a dangerously depleted magical core after _That_ night and my parents used a ritual to transfer my magic to him," Harry said, staring unblinkingly into Tracey's eyes. Tracey and the other girl gasped at the implications.

"They screwed up the ritual; it worked but left a connection that has continually siphoned my magic since, every time my core replenishes the tiniest fraction the energy is sent to my brother, leaving my core drained for ten years, which led them and the staff at Hogwarts to believe I'm a squib.

And for that I was sent away after my mother went to hospital.

I only learnt about the drain and had it corrected a month ago so I'm very weak compared to you but the healer I saw said my core should be completely replenished by next May, I decided to attend this year anyway even though I'll be labelled as a squib, I intend to prove its control not raw power that makes the difference," Harry continued, his voice becoming stronger as he went on, until a sly grin crossed his face, "I may not be a squib any longer, but I see no need to correct the fools, after all, they won't bother me until I decide to reveal my abilities and by then it may be too late for them" he said slyly.

Tracey sat in silence as she took it all in, before breaking out into a smile, "I think you might be the first Slytherin Potter," she said.

"Not the first, the first in four centuries," Harry corrected.

"I think hell might freeze over by this evening," an accented male voice said, drawing Harry and Tracey's attention to the door.

Standing in the doorway was a vaguely familiar dark haired boy with bright hazel eyes and a tall girl with silvery blonde hair, pale skin and ice blue eyes.

"Blaise Zabini," the boy introduced himself, holding out his hand for Harry to take.

Harry shook his hand, "Harry Potter, James Potter's best kept secret. I remember you, you were at my brother's party six years back, I never did thank you for knocking him down a peg."

Blaise smiled warmly at the recognition and waved of his thanks as the other girl looked on amusedly.

"Daphne Greengrass," the girl said, holding out her hand.

"A pleasure miss Greengrass, care to sit" Harry said, indicating the seats.

The two sat down, Tracy moving up to make room for Daphne with Blaise sitting next to Harry.

"So, what classes are you looking forward to?" Harry asked, Blaise chuckled and Daphne groaned as Tracey's eyes lit up and she began talking excitedly about how much she wanted to start potions. Harry soon drew her into a discussion of the likely class material for first years and the different techniques he'd been taught instead of the book instructions, which proved both interesting and informative to Daphne and Blaise especially after learning that the Slytherin Head of House Professor Snape had tutored him for several years as a favour to his mother.

The talk had turned to the other lessons by the time the Lady with the sweet cart came, Harry bought a little of everything and shared with his new friends, even starting a game of 'Bean Roulette' which continued for an hour until Daphne picked earwax and Harry got something that made him spit the bean out the window and swear off Bertie Bott's for good.

The teasing only ended when the door opened and a pale faced boy with blonde hair that seemed to be held in place by a quart of hair gel, who was flanked by two Neanderthals.

"What do you want Malfoy," Blaise asked in an annoyed tone.

"Just seeing how many mudbloods made it into our year," the blonde boy, Malfoy, replied carelessly, adding, "And I'm looking for Aaron Potter."

Tracey's eyes shot to Harry, who was looking at Malfoy with a sneer worthy of Snape. "If you are looking for my brother you're wasting your time, he's two carriages further towards the engine," Harry sneered, surprising Daphne and Blaise and sending Malfoy for six.

"You're the brother of the Boy- Who-Lived?" one of the Neanderthals asked.

Malfoy's face went from shock to calculating, "Why haven't I heard of you before?"

"My brother loves the limelight, in fact he practically bathes in it, I prefer to walk with the shadows which is much easier when he's strutting about in the spotlight," Harry replied evenly.

"That makes sense," Malfoy agreed, nodding. "I'm Draco Malfoy, these two are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle," he said introducing himself then indicating each Neanderthal.

"A pleasure gentlemen, I'm Harry Potter," Harry said and held out his hand for Malfoy to take, Malfoy ignored it.

"I take it your brother thinks he's great because of some scar?" Malfoy asked.

Harry lowered his hand, "his arrogance is quickly becoming legendary, our father has always promoted his fame and without our mother to instil humility and keep our father in check it's gone to his head, especially as I was labelled a squib after that night, he thinks he's the closest thing to Merlin reincarnated because his feats of magic seem so advanced compared to me," Harry explained, Blaise winced and Daphne and Tracey's eyes widened.

"You're a squib?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed.

"I was labelled a squib," Harry corrected, before drawing his wand and performing a colour change charm on Tracey's tie, turning it silver and green instead of inky black.

"Dumbledore himself said so, which is why so few people know about me, and why should I correct someone on something that makes my enemy underestimate me," He continued, repeating the charm, silently this time, on Malfoy's tie, shocking everyone.

"It's not how much power you have that matter's, it's what you can do with what you have," Harry finished, leaving everyone staring.

"I take it he has a low opinion of Slytherins?" Malfoy asked, trying to recover from his shock.

"Hates them blindly, he never liked Snape when he came to tutor me in potions and spent too long listening to my father talking about his schooldays and picked up his prejudice. He thinks all Ravenclaws are boring bookworms, Hufflepuffs are useless nobodies and Slytherins are evil, he lacks the brains for Ravenclaw, the Loyalty for Hufflepuff and the subtlety and cunning for Slytherin," Harry explained, one of the things that annoyed him most about his brother was his blind prejudice and ignorance.

"And what do you think of Slytherins?" Malfoy asked, surprised a Potter didn't mind his godfather.

"Being cunning, subtle and ambitious doesn't make you automatically evil," Harry replied, again surprising the people around him.

"A word of warning, my brother's favourite entertainment is hearing stories of our father hexing Snape at school, Snape had a friend in Gryffindor to deflect trouble and stick up for him, you don't so don't antagonise him as you'll be outnumbered and outgunned several times over even with those two, he'll think it hilarious to re-enact those stories or to make his own," Harry said very seriously.

Malfoy nodded by seemed to ignore his advice, "You're not so bad, for a Potter, Maybe we can be friends, I hope to see you in Slytherin," he said before leaving and heading toward the engine.

"If he provokes my brother or his fans he deserves to be hexed," Harry said, leaning back into his seat and picking up his book again.

"Well, I'm impressed, Potter. You handled Malfoy _very_ well," Daphne said, carefully looking him over.

"Thank you, but once you've learned to deal with one arrogant ponce you've learned to deal with them all," Harry replied before going back to his book.

The others sat in silence for over a minute until an announcement played over a loudspeaker.

"_We will be reaching Hogsmeade station in ten minutes, please leave your luggage on the train as it will be collected and sent to the school separately."_

Blaise, Daphne and Tracey left to put on their school robes, Harry put his book in his trunk and pulled out his robe.

The train started to slow as Harry finished putting on his robe so he went into the corridor, joining the dozens of other students.

He stepped onto the dark platform, thankful the weather had yet to turn cold, briefly wondering where to go, when he spotted Blaise, who waited for him, he'd just met up with Blaise when a loud voice started calling for the first years, which turned out to be the gamekeeper Hagrid holding a large lantern.

He followed the other first years, Blaise beside him, over to Hagrid who led them all down an earthy path to the nearest shore of the lake, where a small fleet of oarless rowboats awaited.

An odd thing happened as Harry first saw the castle across the lake, like his classmates he felt awe at the sight, but he also felt a familiarity and that he was finally home.

Harry followed Blaise to the boat where Daphne and Tracey were waiting and sat in the back. He was silent as they crossed the lake as was Blaise, Tracey and Daphne chatted away however.

The boats passed a wall of ivy to enter an underground harbour, Harry spotted Aaron and his friend Ron Weasley get caught on the ivy because they were standing up and get dragged from the boat and into the lake.

Harry laughed along with nearly everyone else until Hagrid hauled the pair from the water and Aaron glared at the people near him.

The followed Hagrid up a brazier lit series of stone steps to the great doors of Hogwarts castle, where they were met and received by a tall, older, black haired witch with a very stern look; Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Harry quietly bet Blaise that they would see her yelling at Aaron at least once a week during their time at the school, Blaise said he didn't bet unless he had at least an evens chance of winning, which made the people around them chuckle quietly.

Professor McGonagall left them in a small side chamber as she went to prepare for the sorting, he wasn't the only one who waited nervously, even Daphne was showing a few signs of fear, and Weasley's story about a mountain troll didn't help.

After a few minutes that felt like hours, Professor McGonagall returned and led them into the hall, he was awed by the enchanted ceiling as he entered, although there was a niggling feeling that he'd seen it before, he even missed a bushy haired girl in front of him talking about it.

His eyes lowered when the group stopped in front of the staff table, there was an old hat on a stool, suddenly a rip above the brim opened and it started singing.

Once it finished, Professor McGonagall unrolled a scroll of parchment and started reading off names. Harry ignored most of the sorting, only taking note of Tracey, Daphne and Malfoy being put in slytherin.

Then Professor McGonagall stopped hallway through the Ps.

Dumbledore stood up, "Today is a historic occasion, Hogwarts was built to be the premier magical school in the known world, the school charter states that any magical citizen may study in these halls, this includes squibs."

The hall broke out into curious and angry whispers, 'a squib can study at Hogwarts?"

"However, in 1803 the Ministry declared all squibs born to magical families after that year would no longer bear citizenship, which meant that by 1811 there were no longer any squib students, the law only states that a _born_ squib cannot possess citizenship, there is no restriction on those who become squibs due to misfortune attending Hogwarts. However, only the most able and gifted of those individuals are permitted to attend, due to certain standards that must be upheld," Dumbledore continued before looking at Harry who was now as pale as any of the ghosts.

'_He couldn't… not here… not like this…'_

"I am pleased to announce there is finally a prospective squib student who meets the necessary qualifications and is ready to be sorted…"

'_NO!'_

"That student is Harry Potter."

Harry mentally called Dumbledore something that would make Bellatrix the Strange blush as he walked up to the stool and sat down.

The four houses were caught between curiosity and apprehension, they were curious of what this squib was capable of due to the way Dumbledore had phrased his introduction, it sounded like only truly remarkable squibs could attend and once such a thing was common, they were apprehensive because they didn't want their house to be the first to host a squib in two centuries.

Aaron Potter froze when his brother's name was read out, _'How did the squib get into Hogwarts? How did he even get a letter?'_

The hat was placed on Harry's head, the last thing he saw was a mixture of anger and curiosity throughout the sea of faces.

"_Greetings Mr Potter, I'm glad to see you made it, despite your father's efforts"_ a quiet but wise voice said.

'Hello?' Harry thought.

'_I am the sorting hat, Mr Potter, now let's see.' the voice replied._

'_Hmm, very difficult, in fact you're the most difficult student I've had to sort in 800 years, you're labelled a squib but that's not true, is it? A victim of an old ritual that was botched, but now you and your mother are recovering. I must warn you though that without intervention your magic will never reach its full potential._

_You have plenty of courage, a thirst for knowledge, encouraged by your mother but magnified by your status, your loyalty is unquestionable to those who have earned it, your cunning is impressive as is your ambition, planning to restore your and your mother's magic? That's going to be difficult if not impossible, but what's this?_

_Ah, so you have the gift.'_

Harry gulped, the hat knew he was a parselmouth?

"_Indeed, and it changes things quite a bit._

_You _could_ go to any house, but I think there's only where you could possibly reach your full potential, better be…'_

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hall was silent as the hat was lifted from Harry's head, it didn't last long though. He'd barely taken three steps towards the Slytherin table when a Gryffindor started laughing, and this set off the rest of the table. In seconds three quarters of the hall was laughing at him and Slytherin.

Harry stopped and looked over at the Gryffindor table; he suddenly turned a glare colder than the depths of space on the ones laughing.

The Gryffindor who had first laughed stopped, scared by Harry's look, then another and then another, until the Gryffindor table slowly fell silent.

This was noticed by several Hufflepuffs, and the silence started there too, and the Ravenclaws noticed when Hufflepuff stopped.

The whole hall was suddenly watching Harry, one quarter amazed and curious, the other three quarters afraid.

Harry finally spoke, his voice was cold and nearly a whisper, but the silence was so complete that everyone heard it, "There is more to magic than uttering bastardized Latin and waving a stick, I am capable of more than any of you know and more than some have forgotten, do not underestimate me."

Harry then walked over to the Slytherin table, where Daphne indicated a seat next to her and opposite Tracey, As he sat down he noticed several older students glaring or sneering at him, but they were fewer than he had expected, in fact most of the house seemed to sending him calculating looks.

The hall's attention was brough back to the sorting as Professor McGonagall called out, "Aaron Potter."

"I thought he was sorted before me," Harry whispered to Daphne.

The blond girl shook her head, "no, I think Dumbledore may have wanted to deflect attention from you," she said.

Harry watched as his twin stepped up to the stool, apart from the red hair and hazel eyes they were identical apart from their scars, Harry's was a jagged lightning bolt while Aarons was a Delta symbol under his flame red fringe.

Harry waited apprehensively with the rest of the hall as the hat sat on his head for several seconds before shouting… "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry clapped politely with about half his house as Aaron went to the Gryffindor table, which was cheering like the crowd at Wembley during a cup final.

"This is going to be interesting," Harry murmured as his brother glared at him from across the hall.

The sorting continued and eventually finished with Blaise being sent to Slytherin.

"Congratulations," Harry said as Blaise sat next to Tracey.

"Thanks," Blaise said, before everyone looked to the headmaster.

Dumbledore stood up and made a few announcements about school rules and the updated contraband list before saying "Please note that the third floor corridor, on the north side, is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death," Dumbledore sat down and the food appeared on the plates.

"Idiot," Harry said, surprising and intriguing everyone who heard him.

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked, unsure of his new friend.

"The old coot has closed off the third floor, right? And there's obviously something dangerous down there. So you DON'T announce to an entire school of curious children that there is something down there, it's like waving a red rag to a bull," Harry muttered angrily, some of the purebloods missed the muggle reference but most understood and were curiously following him.

"Which means there's going to be at least one student every week trying to sneak in, most are likely to be injured. His _JOB_ is to keep the students safe, not put them in danger, so why bring something dangerous into an environment with a few hundred curious and rebellious kids, if it has to be done, say the area is closed for repairs to the architecture or refurbishment don't say it could get them killed, there's always someone stupid enough to go snooping," Harry continued, surprising everyone in that not only was he not a fan of the man who let him attend but his argument made a lot of sense.

"You're right, it sounds like he _wants_ someone to start snooping," a sandy haired fourth year boy on Tracey's right said, he turned to Harry, "Marcus Tranton," he continued.

"Harry Potter," Harry replied, taking the offered hand.

"You've thrown everyone off tonight, Potter. The whole house was ready to crucify you for being the first squib in centuries but you surprised us all," Marcus said, ignoring the glares from a seventh year who looked a bit like a troll.

"Not everything is as it seems," Harry said mysteriously, "I intend to shatter many illusions here, and hopefully before Christmas, after is time for justice," Harry said, looking from Marcus to glare at his former brother.

The meal continued from there, Marcus, Blaise, Tracey, Daphne and a few others answered Harry's questions about the wizarding world and even entering into discussions about house elves, goblins and the way the Ministry worked that left most listening thinking over his unique perspective.

When the feast ended Harry joined the rest of the Slytherins down to the dungeons, most of the slytherins were ignoring him but a few glared at him, eventually they came to a brick wall below two staircases with an arch over it and a water cistern and water channel twenty feet away opposite the arch.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room," the fifth year prefect Samuel Winters said, "the pass word changes monthly, the current password is _Emrys_," he saying speaking the last word to the wall.

The wall opened like the courtyard of the Leaky Cauldron to reveal an archway that the prefect lead the students through.

The common room was a long and relatively wide underground room, with an entire wall consisting of windows that looked out into the murky waters of the black lake, the walls were dark, hewn from the rock in places, and old fashioned lanterns hung from the vaulted ceiling on chains. A fire roared beneath an elaborately carved mantelpiece, the glow silhouetting several slytherins in a collection of armchairs and couches of several designs.

The first years gathered around the prefect as the rest either mingled in the common room or went to their dorms.

"The dorms are down that staircase, the boys are on the left and the girls on the right. The rules of the house are as follows:

Any disagreement with a fellow housemate is dealt with here in the common room, the other houses are against us and most of the teachers are biased so we must present a united front.

If there are any issues, go to either a prefect or Professor Snape.

Unlike the other houses we hold quidditch tryouts for all years, check the notice board for the date, first years are very unlikely to make the first string but not impossible, we also don't show favouritism for any line up, if you earn a spot one year you'll have to fight for it next year and every following year until you graduate or are replaced.

Professor Snape will be down to talk to you in roughly twenty minutes, until then get used to the common room and your dorms," Winters said before leaving the first years to mingle.

Harry talked to Blaise, Daphne and Tracey for about ten minutes before he and Blaise decided to pick their beds and check their trunks were still secure.

Unfortunately Crabbe and Goyle flanked the door; they let Blaise pass but grabbed Harry by the arms and threw him back, into the path of a mild stinging hex fired by one of the third years.

Blaise looked ready to hex both the Neanderthals and the third year, but Harry waved him down, his action drawing everyone's attention to him so they missed Professor Snape's entrance, he then looked to the two thugs and raised an eyebrow at the, before turning his head and sending the same look to the now slightly scared third year, he subtly drew his wands.

Suddenly there was a pair of loud bands and a blue bolt shot at the third year who nearly didn't move away in time, leaving a freely bleeding gash in the third year's cheek and Crabbe and Goyle curled up on the ground with their hands hovering over their noses, which were now sporting clusters of massive, and obviously very painful, pus filled boils.

The third year rose with his wand ready, his left hand covering his bleeding cheek when a deep voice bellowed "ENOUGH!"

Everyone turned to see Professor Snape standing in the middle of the archway, looking very displeased. "Spencer! Care to explain yourself," Snape commanded.

The third year remained silent, which was all Snape needed to hear.

"So you decided to hex your housemate because of his _so-called_ status? Ignoring the fact that just because the Headmaster _believes_ he is a squib doesn't mean the boy is defenceless?" obsidian eyes swept the common room, many had their heads down or would not meet his gaze, they obviously had considered the same thoughts and actions.

"You aren't a squib, are you?" Snape said to Harry, his tone questioning.

"As of one month ago, no. Mr Ollivander discovered an accidental connection that was transferring my magic to my brother due to a incorrectly performed ritual, leaving my core near permanently drained which led my father and the headmaster to believe that I am a squib, while my core is now recovering and I am capable of casting spells, feel free to inspect my wands to prove their not pre-programmed training wands and to perform _Priori Incantato,_ I will never reach what could have been my full potential due to the constant drain on my core. I see no need to correct the fools until I can face them on my terms," Harry said, impressing and intriguing Snape.

"The true nature of Potter's abilities is _NOT_ to leave this common room, outside this room and the dorms until such time that Potter decides to reveal them, until then you are to treat Potter as if he was a normal student but do nothing to enlighten the other houses to the deception, Snape commanded, his eyes sweeping the room to find any trace of defiance.

"Potter, in light of your previously unrevealed status I will arrange for you to learn from the regular courses as well as you modified schedule," Snape said, an unreadable look on his face as he addressed his former pupil.

"Thank you sir, I was intending to ask you anyway," Harry said, immensely grateful to his head of house.

Snape nodded and left the common room, dragging a still moaning Crabbe and Goyle to the hospital wing while a chastised Daniel Spencer had his cheek healed by a golden blonde haired classmate.

Harry re-joined Blaise on the stairs, who looked impressed and pleased by how Harry had handled the situation, and they both went down the steps and turned into the first year dorm.

Harry and Blaise found their trunks next to the two beds nearest the door on the right as they entered, with Harry closest to the door, the beds themselves were mahogany four posters with dark green curtains.

Harry was the last to fall asleep, apprehensive of what the morning would bring.


	2. Chapter 2

Squib's Revenge

Chapter 2

Harry woke after one of the most peaceful nights he could remember to Crabbe and Goyle blundering around the room trying to get dressed, Malfoy was waiting for them and Theodore Nott was nowhere to be seen.

He collected a clean set of robes, his shower bag and went for a shower. He returned to find Blaise finishing getting dressed, after putting his shower bag away they went up to the common room, where Tracey and Daphne were waiting for them.

As the four headed up to the great hall for breakfast, Harry noted that the other slytherins were all ignoring them, apparently following professor Snape's command.

Once in the hall, all conversation stopped for a moment before starting again, a few insults and hexes were sent at Harry but the quick appearance of Professor McGonagall stopped them quickly.

It was while they were eating the Daphne noticed something, "Your brother is smiling at you," she said to Harry.

Harry looked up to see his brother and his idiot friend Ron grinning like madmen, but at the same time seemed to be waiting for something.

"He probably sent a letter home last night, which means I'll be getting a howler from my father, two if he gets the paper first," Harry said, annoyed.

"Anyone know a _very_ good silencing charm?" Blaise asked the third and fourth years around them, three, including Marcus Tranton, nodded and got their wands out.

Ten minutes later a loud screech echoed over the hall and over a hundred owls descended into the room, flying in great circles around the perimeter of the hall until they spotted the recipient of their cargo.

A regal looking eagle owl headed straight for the slytherin table, an ominous red letter in its talons.

"Harry?"

"I know, that's Apollo," Harry said, watching the bird descend then land.

Harry removed the letter and drew a six inch, double edged dagger as Apollo fled, showing more common sense than most of the people in the great hall.

"You might want to put a charm on your ears first, my father has likely enhanced the howler's volume," Harry said, waiting until everyone around him had performed the charm on themselves, Marcus casting one on Harry too.

He slit the wax seal open just as the corners started to smoulder and threw it onto the table.

"HARRY POTTER!"

The whole hall fell silent, most clutching their ears at the volume of the Howler, even Aaron seemed to be thinking getting Harry sent a Howler was a bad idea.

"HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE OUR FAMILY FURTHER! HOW CAN YOU BE AT HOGWARTS, YOU ARE A SQUIB! AND HOW DARE YOU SULLY OUR NAME AND AARON'S REPUTATION WITH YOUR PRESENCE, NOT TO MENTION BECOMING A FILTHY SNAKE, YOU ARE TO COME HOME AT ONCE OR…"

The Howler suddenly fell silent as Harry managed to signal for someone to 'shut the damn thing up' and it continued to silently mouth the words of its letter until it noticed its silence and glared mutinously at Harry.

Harry just stared back with a defiant look, surprising everyone including his brother, and gave the letter a two fingered salute, which made it stiffen in shock and collapse with a massive tear in it.

"Well that was interesting," Blaise said dryly, everyone in the hall was staring at the now ruined Howler, Aaron's jaw was nearly on the floor, no-one had seen a Howler dealt with like that before.

"I think your brothers upset," Tracey whispered in a teasing tone, Harry looked over to find his brother was indeed sulking.

He was about to say something when Professor Snape arrived and began handing out timetables.

Harry's schedule was very different, his classes were mainly electives but there were several openings, with a note from Snape that said he would assign _'additional'_ classes in these blocks, Harry surmised that he would be having his magic lessons with tutors in those time slots.

He was taking Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Flying and History of Magic.

Harry said goodbye to his friends and hurried back to his dorm to get the books he needed for History of Magic and Muggle Studies, and then rushed off to his first lesson.

Harry entered the muggle studies classroom to find it full of different muggle items, from old fashioned light bulbs to a mangle, heck there even seemed to be an Army BSA motorcycle at the back.

He took a seat in the second row behind a partially dismantled portable FM radio from the 1970's, on the table next to the radio and assorted (and mismatched) components was a sheet of parchment detailing instructions for the examination and study of the device.

Harry idly began examining the radio as the rest of the class filed in, mostly third years with from all houses (only one other slytherin though) and a few Ravenclaw fourth years, one of whom decided to sit with Harry after seeing that he was drawing a rough schematic of the radio's fitted components and listing the missing parts as well as what were in the box of bits provided.

"May I sit here?" a soft voice asked, Harry looked up to find a girl in Ravenclaw robes with curly brown hair, fair skin, and light green eyes looking down at him. "Sure," Harry said simply, and put down his quill as the girl sat down and got her stuff ready for the lesson.

Professor Burbage entered within a minute and began her introductory speech, explaining that muggles didn't have magic, or at least couldn't use it, and had developed technology to perform the same tasks that simple charms did in the magical world, but also explained that there weren't always direct counterparts and that in some areas particularly transportation and communications muggle items were in fact superior.

That didn't go down well with the purebloods so the professor asked Harry what was in front of him.

"A portable FM radio"

"And what does a radio do?"

"This example or the technology as a whole?"

"Both,"

"The concept of the radio is to broadcast messages across energy waves to other radio sets where they can be received and understood. Originally this was done using a series of beeping noises produced by the radio wave transmitted, one beep for one wave, this was developed into a usable system by the invention of Morse code which allowed the previously unintelligible beeps to be transmitted in recognisable series of beeps with particular patterns corresponding to certain letters and numbers. This same code was previously used on the telegraph system which was in extensive use throughout the world by the time of the invention of the radio. The first radios were called Wireless Telegraphs, which is why the wizarding world knows this technology as the wizarding wireless," Harry said, surprising and intriguing most of the class. "This particular device functions only as a receiver just like a wizarding wireless."

"Well done, Ten points to Slytherin," Professor Burbage said.

"The Wizarding Wireless Network was taken from a muggle invention?" one student asked.

"So was the Knight bus and Hogwarts express," Harry said, again surprising everyone but it wasn't as profound, it made sense considering Kings Cross was a train station and there were buses outside it every September.

The lesson continued after that, the magically raised students learning how muggles compensated for a lack of magical ability and to a lesser extent their culture.

After the lecture the students were asked to attempt to assemble the items in front of them, Harry having an advantage due to working on a radio of the same model for his uncle, after Dudley broke it of course. He actually got along quite well with his partner, Penelope Clearwater, and a half blood like him but raised in the magical world, and together they managed to finish early, Harry even managed to engrave a pair of Norse power and flow runes onto the batteries and got the radio working, which meant BBC Radio 2 was heard in Hogwarts for the first time, earning both Slytherin and Ravenclaw twenty points for completing the task and another ten for house unity.

At Lunch Harry was approached by Professor Babbling about the Runes he used on the radio as that had never worked before. Harry explained he just used a Norse power rune with a flow rune to regulate the energy from the power rune.

The two talked for a further ten minutes about Harry's solution, earning ten more points to Slytherin, before Professor Babbling left and Harry returned to his meal. He missed some of the older slytherins eyeing him and the hourglass that showed the house points for slytherin, maybe it wasn't so bad having _this_ squib in the house after all.

The good feeling didn't last long as a tall man with shoulder length blonde hair, and somehow a bald patch too, strode into the hall and went straight to Dumbledore, with whom he argued for several minutes until Draco Malfoy walked up and apparently asked to speak to the man and led him out of the hall.

Harry and Tracey headed off to History of Magic a few minutes later, but stopped by the barely open door of an empty classroom.

"…old fool thinks he's doing? Allowing a disgusting squib…" an older male voice said.

"There's more to this than you know, Father," said the voice of Draco Malfoy.

"What else could there possibly be?" the older voice snapped.

"Harry hexed Crabbe and Goyle last night."

"A squib can't… You mean to say the boy _isn't_ a squib?"

"He told me as much on the train, and later in the common room, he claims his parents used a magic transfer ritual but screwed it up which left any magic his core replenished being sent to his brother."

"Yes, that is a possible side effect of such rituals, but he announced this on the train? And to the common room?" the older voice becoming softer, more calculating.

"Yes, he knows that slytherins know the value of information, he knows that we won't reveal his secret, not just because of Snape's order, but we understand the political consequences, it's unlikely that James Potter will survive the backlash and come out of it smelling of roses. Which means it's in the interests of at least our families to go along with the deception, that we see the Brat-Who-Lived squirm or get brought down a peg is a bonus," Draco replied.

"I would be careful of your words, Draco, it is not… prudent, to appear less than fond of our proclaimed saviour," the older voice scolded gently.

"I think we got the better deal, fake squib or not he's far easier to get along with and while he has no interest in politics he's cunning enough to outwit his opponents and has a certain presence… I can't really describe it, but when he's displeased he's doesn't need to say or do anything for you to know it."

"Maybe there's hope yet…"

"Don't get your hopes up, he's still a champion for muggleborns, but some of his suggestions last night… he's not completely blind or ignorant like most, he thinks things through, asks why things are the way they are and how could they be done differently, he looks for compromise and accepts that not everything has a parallel in the muggle world or that they just have to be," Draco said, surprising both the eavesdroppers, who quickly scurried away after they heard movement.

The pair spent the next lesson taking notes and discussing what they'd heard, well, Harry was taking notes while Tracey tried not to fall asleep, Harry noticed that the bushy haired girl who got sent to Gryffindor was the only other student paying any serious attention but she kept shooting glares at him and Tracey for talking.

By dinner the two had come to the conclusion that the slytherins would keep the secret, if only to enjoy watching his father and brother flounder in the fallout, but that now Mr Malfoy was aware he would likely be drawn into the power plays of pureblood politics.

Tuesday was much the same, having Ancient Runes in the morning and Herbology in the afternoon.

He arrived early for ancient runes and spent the time until the rest of the class entered and the bell rang discussing the particular runes used to power the radio and how he did it, earning a deserved reputation from not only the professor but his new classmates for having a good understanding of the subject, enough that some Hufflepuffs actually asked him to tutor them, something he quickly agreed to as he was having trouble with the Saxon alphabet normally used in Britain and the north coast of west Europe.

Herbology was his second class with his year group, this time it was with the Ravenclaws. The lesson was mostly to find out how much everyone knew and then setting out to identify the different types of magical plants, their properties and how to care for them. Harry went through the actual treatment of the plants quite well, the techniques being nearly identical to the ones he was forced to use in the Dursley's garden, and earned Twenty points for not only proper technique but assisting his classmates.

Wednesday's schedule was a repeat of Monday's, with the exception of Astronomy at Midnight. While Harry enjoyed the subject, he was told off twice, first by Professor Sinistra for staring at the stars for too long and the second time followed a nudge in the ribs after staring at the reflections of the stars in Tracey's eyes. Both left the tower blushing from the teasing by their friends that night.

With the exception of a late start to compensate for the previous night's Astronomy lesson, Thursday was the same as Tuesday's schedule.

Friday however was the day Harry feared the most, Double Potions with the Gryffindors.

Harry and his friends arrived early and chatted as the rest of the class arrived, Harry noted that one of the gryffindors, a slightly large boy with brown hair, was trembling and that the bushy haired girl from History was watching him, he decided to talk to her after class.

He also noted that Aaron and his friend Ron Weasley weren't there as Snape arrived.

"In," Snape commanded as he opened the door with a flick of his wand.

The gryffindors went in before the slytherins, taking seats to the left of the classroom with the notable exceptions of the bushy haired girl and the nervous boy taking seats in the two centre desks and they were joined by Tracey and Harry respectively.

"Hey," Harry said as he sat down behind the small Flanders cauldron, "Harry Potter."

"Oh, hey. Um, Neville Longbottom," the boy replied nervously.

"Don't worry about Snape, while he has no tolerance for fools that don't take his craft seriously, just relax and everything should be fine. If you find yourself not able to concentrate, step back and think of the ingredient's properties, how they react to other ingredients and how they work in this potion," Harry advised, Neville glanced at the formidable Potions Master and whispered, "Thanks."

Just as Snape was about to take the register, Aaron and Ron burst into the room looking like they'd run all the way from Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor. Harry thought that they probably had.

Twenty points each from Gryffindor for being late," Snape barked, ignoring both boys pleas, "I don't care, I saw you both receive your schedules an hour ago, you would have been here on time if you were motivated to do more than stuff your faces at breakfast."

The whole room burst into low chuckles and giggles, even the bushy haired girl and Daphne were smiling.

The two grumbled mutinously as they took the remaining seats at the front of the classroom on the Gryffindor side.

Snape took the register, only pausing when he reached Aaron's name – "Aaron Potter, our new celebrity," he said softly.

"That's me," Aaron said arrogantly, earning a raised eyebrow from Snape and making Harry face palm.

"Harry Potter," Snape continued.

"Sir," Harry replied respectfully.

Snape then continued calling names until he was finished with the register. He then stood and walked to the front of the class and leaned back against his desk.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began.

He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but the whole class caught his every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Harry grimaced when Snape finished his speech, it wasn't the best way to inspire them, especially as Neville was shaking again.

"Just remember what I said, if it gets too much just start reciting the properties of each ingredient," Harry reminded him, putting his hand on Neville's shoulder to calm him, Neville nodded and his shaking stopped.

"Potter!" Snape barked.

"Yes" "Sir!"

"Gryffindor Potter," Snape amended, rolling his eyes slightly as everyone sniggered.

"Yes," Aaron repeated.

"Yes, _Sir_" Snape corrected.

"There's no need to call me Sir, Professor," Aaron replied, winking to a sandy haired Gryffindor boy to his left and shooting a patented Potter grin to a girl with long golden blonde hair who blushed furiously.

"Detention Potter," Snape drawled, smirking at the incredulous look on Aaron's face, a complete contrast to Harry's _'what in the name of Merlin's left effing nut are you doing?'_ "And thirty points from Gryffindor for insubordination."

"Gryffindor Potter," Snape continued, cutting off Aaron's indignant spluttering, "What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"

Aaron's eyes suddenly went wide and he paled dramatically, Harry thought he looked like Prongs caught in the crosshairs of a loaded 88mm flak gun. _'I bet he's regretting going flying with father instead of being tutored in potions with me by mum and Severus,'_ Harry thought.

Aaron opened and closed his mouth twice before Snape ended his misery. "You don't know?" Snape asked sarcastically, shaking his head slightly.

"Let's try again, where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" Snape continued.

Aaron looked to Ron who shrugged helplessly.

"You don't know," Snape deadpanned. "Clearly, FAME ISN'T EVERYTHING," he said loudly, making several students on both sides of the room snigger.

Aaron looked offended by this but Snape didn't let him speak, "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

"I don't know _Sir_, but I think that know-it-all Granger might," Aaron shot back flippantly.

Snape raised an eyebrow, then glanced at the bushy haired muggleborn who Tracey had worked very hard to keep in her seat.

"Another detention I think and twenty points from Gryffindor for insulting a classmate," Snape said silkily, making most of the gryffindor's jaws drop and then glare at Aaron who now looked very uncomfortable.

"Let's see if your brother can do better," Snape said softly. "Well, Mr Potter?"

"Powdered Asphodel root to an infusion of Wormwood would make the Draught of Living Death, a Bezoar would come from a goats stomach and will save you from most poisons but I would expect a large number in the storeroom as their a vital part of most antidotes, and monkshood is the same thing as wolfsbane and is also called aconite," Harry said, surprising everyone except Snape and making Aaron and Ron glare.

"Thirty points to Slytherin," Snape said, looking very pleased. "I am glad that one of you inherited your mother's intelligence."

He turned around and flicked his wand at the blackboard making a set of instructions appear in chalk, "These are the instructions to a simple boil cure potion, you have one hour, begin,"

Things didn't really improve for the gryffindors after that point, Snape swept around the classroom criticising nearly everyone except Malfoy, who he seemed to like, Harry, probably because he knew Harry was somewhat competent from the tutoring sessions and Tracey and Granger, who he couldn't find anything to criticise about.

Harry had just made Neville calm down by going over the ingredients properties as Snape swept past them for the third time, preventing Neville from making a mistake again, when he heard a faint but ominous hissing from the Gryffindor side of the room.

Ignoring Snape, who was telling the class loudly about Malfoy's preparation technique, he looked over to the gryffindors to find his brother and Ron's cauldron now had a bright green potion that was hissing angrily and shaking on its stand.

Once again Harry's mind erupted in expletives that would make Bellatrix the Strange faint (not a typo, just Harry's nickname for her), he pulled his robe, which he'd taken off so the sleeves wouldn't dip into the potion, and covered his and Neville's cauldron.

"HIT THE DECK!" he shouted, grabbing Neville by the shoulders and pulling him under the desk.

Everyone looked round when Harry shouted, even Snape. Several people, including Tracey and Granger, either covered themselves or their cauldron with their robes while the rest dived for cover.

BOOM!

The cauldron exploded, sending great dollops of green liquid in all directions, most people were either covered or in cover so they were safe, but Aaron and Ron each a got face full of the potion which caused large and painful boils to erupt on any exposed skin and in some places where their robes had been simply drenched.

Harry wrenched his now soaking robe off the cauldron he was sharing with Neville before any of the ruined potion could drip through and pollute the one he wanted to protect.

"Idiot Boy!" Snape snarled as he vanished the remaining potion.

"My face!" Aaron exclaimed in agony, "My beautiful face!"

"Get these two to the hospital wing," Snape growled to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas who were working next to Aaron and Ron and were lucky their cauldron hadn't gone off in a secondary explosion.

Finnigan and Thomas hauled the two moaning and whining gryffindors out of the classroom as Snape levitated their ruined cauldron to an alcove the older students compared to a Hazmat site.

"Thanks Harry," Neville said as Harry helped him off the floor.

"Don't mention it, you two ok?" Harry said to Neville before turning to the two behind him.

"We're ok, Thanks for the warning, Harry," Tracey replied with a smile that made Harry's stomach do a backflip.

"Thank you," Granger said in a small voice.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked in a concerned voice.

"I'll be ok," she replied, looking behind Harry as Snape returned.

"Twenty points to Slytherin for quick thinking and preventing further injury," Snape said to Harry before turning to the class and asking them to leave any potion drenched robes and that he'd arrange for them to be cleaned then returned.

It wasn't long until Harry and Neville finished their potion, shortly followed by Tracey and Hermione and the Blaise and Daphne, Snape collected samples from each cauldron and told them to pack up.

Harry caught sight of Granger leaving the room just as he finished packing, he said bye to Neville and hurried to catch up.

"Granger," the girl in question turned around, apparently surprised that Harry had followed her, "Got a minute?"

"What do you want?" she said neutrally.

"You know how nearly everyone falls asleep in History of Magic?" Harry asked.

"Of course," she sniffed, "It seems that only you and I can stay awake."

"It's a challenge for me too," Harry admitted, "I was thinking, maybe we could start a study group for that class, I mean nearly everyone else is likely to struggle if they can't take notes and it's a little unfair for almost the whole year to fail because of the affect Binns' voice has," Harry said, hoping she'd agree to his idea.

"If they can't stay awake it's their problem," she said, "I'm not going to let lazy people copy from me.

"That's not what I'm asking," Harry replied, "I'm suggesting that we use an old classroom, read from our notes and the textbooks and get help from a prefect or older student to watch over us, maybe get copies of past test papers."

Granger bit her lip, "that could work," she admitted.

"We don't let them copy from anything but the textbooks, we use the study group to make sure we can actually pass the test," Harry reassured her.

"Ok, but only if your there too," she agreed.

"it's my idea, of course I'll be there," Harry said indignantly.

"We should approach McGonagall at dinner," Granger said.

"Good idea, its Harry, by the way," Harry said holding out his hand.

"Hermione Granger," Hermione replied shaking his hand.

"Friends?" Harry asked.

"Hermione blushed, "I'd like that."

The pair went up to the great hall, talking about how their lessons had gone so far, oblivious to the stares from the other students at seeing a Gryffindor and Slytherin talking civily for the first time in twenty years and the grins from Harry's friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Squib's Revenge

Chapter 3

The second week was much the same as first except for the start of Arithmancy on Wednesday and Flying on Thursday. It also marked the beginnings of Harry's large net of friendships across all the houses, first with the two Gryffindor outcasts, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger, and then the Ravenclaw fifth years thanks to his Muggle Studies partner Penelope Clearwater and the fourth year Hufflepuffs led by Cedric Diggory he tutored in Ancient Runes who all established for him a reputation as an honest and fair guy, despite being a Slytherin.

Arithmancy was based on Muggle mathematics and was used to calculate the component make up of spells and enchantments using Algebra, Trigonometry and a basic form of calculus, which made him and the few other muggle raised students thankful for their old maths lessons.

The study group Harry proposed for History of Magic only had a few members at the first session on the Saturday after Potions, but the people that did turn up were soon grateful as Harry and Hermione's notes were far superior to anyone else's, even the Prefect who was watching them admitted they were better than hers were in first year. Between them, Harry and Hermione were able to help the mixed group of Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws, five Slytherins and two Gryffindors compile informative and user friendly notes. Hermione had blushed as red as the scarlet trimming on her robe when Harry pointed out her notes were very cumbersome for someone without a photographic memory.

Harry awoke on Thursday morning to the same Arithmancy induced headache he went to bed with, he got up and headed for the showers, trying to ignore what felt like a rugby player kicking the inside of his forehead.

After showering, getting dressed and grabbing his books for the day he headed up to the common room to find most of the first years crowded around the notice board, he reached Blaise just as Tracey and Daphne did, "What's with the crowd?"

"Flying lessons start today," Blaise said, making Tracey squeal loudly, which made Harry clutch his ears and shout a few expletives that shocked the whole common room into silence.

"Harry?" Daphne asked uncertainly, keeping an eye on Tracey whose brain seemed to have stopped working in shock.

"Arithmancy induced headache," Harry growled in explanation, the first years stared at him in confusion until a fourth year passed him a headache potion, saying _'The first Arithmancy lesson gives everyone a headache that doesn't go away.'_

Harry downed the potion as they all left for breakfast, Tracey having finally returned to normal, which was when Blaise told them that their flying lesson would be with the Gryffindors.

"Just great, between my brother and Malfoy something is bound to go wrong," Harry muttered as his headache receded, fading completely by the time they made it to the hall.

Breakfast was fairly normal, except for trying to ignore Malfoy's boasting and seeing Aaron make great sweeping gestures with his arms at the Gryffindor table as he talked, probably boasting like Malfoy.

He dragged his feet as they all headed for the lawn in the Training Grounds, hoping to not be anywhere near his brother, he got his wish as Aaron had got to the grounds first and was next to Ron at the head of the line, Harry took a spot next to Daphne and opposite Hermione who looked excited and nervous.

Madame Hooch arrived soon after and the lesson began.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Stand next to a broomstick, come on, step up."

Everyone stepped up to their broomstick, Harry's was old with a well-worn grip but was in surprising condition compared to some of the others, including his brother's and Neville's.

"Hold your right hand out over the broom and say 'UP!'" Madame Hooch commanded.

"UP!"

Harry's broom rose quickly but elegantly into his hand, surprising everyone, Aaron and Ron's jaws were practically on the floor which made every Slytherin grin.

A few, like Aaron's, Blaise's, Malfoy's and Daphne's, shot straight up into their hands, others did some strange things: Hermione's rolled over several times, Neville's stayed where it was, Ron's shot up vertically and broke his nose.

Madame Hooch shot a mild healing charm at Ron, which fixed his nose with a sickening crunch, before walking up and down the lines of students, correcting everyone's grips. Aaron and Ron sniggered when Madame Hooch told Malfoy he'd used the wrong grip for years but the tables turned when she did the same to them, both glared at Harry when she passed him with only an approving nod.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off from the ground, Hard! Hover for a moment, and then gently lean forward and touch back down," Madame Hooch instructed. "On my whistle, 3… 2…"

At 2 Neville, who was terribly nervous, kicked off early and too hard. He shot up ten feet above their heads, hovered for a moment before his broom started rising in jerky steps.

"MR LONGBOTTOM! Come back here at once!" Madame Hooch bellowed, but Neville slipped as she mounted her broom and fell nearly fifty feet into an old oak tree near the curtain wall, the branches managed to break his fall.

He hit the ground with a sickening crunch, Madame Hooch rushed over with most of the class following.

Madame Hooch knelt beside Neville and inspected Neville's right wrist, "Oh dear, a broken wrist," she said quietly.

"Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground," Madame Hooch commanded as she helped Neville up and started leading him to the hospital wing. "If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will be out of Hogwarts before you can say quidditch."

Everyone waited in silence until Madame Hooch was out of earshot when Malfoy burst out laughing. "Did you see his face? I'm surprised the fat lump made it into Hogwarts."

Harry was about to warn Malfoy when Aaron opened his big mouth, "A bit rich coming from the house with a squib in it."

Ron and the other male gryffindors started laughing, missing the girl's glares and Harry's raised eyebrow.

"At least I am here because of my own abilities, not because my magic is so weak I have to steal my brother's," Harry retorted coolly.

Ron and the others stopped laughing as Aaron went red, "you weren't worthy of magic, that's why I got yours and why dad dumped you with the muggles," he growled.

There were loud gasps from the girls at this admission. The Gryffindor girls and the slytherins began whispering to each other at that.

"And I still overcame your actions and those of our relatives to earn the right to come here while you just strutted around like a peacock. That makes me the better brother," Harry replied, making the slytherins and every Gryffindor girl grin at Aaron and Ron.

"Why don't you prove it?" Aaron challenged "a race to the edge of the forest and back."

"And when you get back, try to catch this," Malfoy added, holding up a small glass orb.

'Neville's remembrall' Harry thought, he couldn't let his friend down, he wouldn't.

"Maybe we shouldn't bother," Aaron said loudly, "After all, squibs can't fly."

Ron and the other male gryffindors laughed but Harry silenced them as he mounted his broom and kicked off.

It was just as amazing as when he was five – the air rushing through his hair, the weightlessness as he dived, the crushing pull as he banked hard – he banked around to face the class and laughed openly at the gobsmacked looks the gryffindors and Malfoy's group were giving him.

"B-b-but… h-how… you?" Aaron spluttered, oblivious to Ron imitating a goldfish beside him.

"Mum taught me," Harry said simply, which made Aaron go red for some reason, jump on his broom and take off.

He tried to kick Harry as he closed but Harry moved away and he missed, there was a fair amount of dissenting shouts from the class but Harry couldn't tell if they were about him dodging or Aaron trying to kick him.

The two lined up, just out of arms reach of each other and faced the forest.

"Ready," Malfoy shouted, flying up beside them, "Set… GO!"

The two brothers shot off, Harry gaining an early lead due to his lightweight compared to Aaron and his slightly better broom. Aaron steadily caught him and aimed a kick, but missed and nearly fell off as Harry rolled over him and kept going.

Harry reached the edge of the forest with Aaron nearly on his heels, he slowed down slightly and grinned as Aaron shot past and nearly ploughed into the treeline in a wide banking turn because he couldn't slow down. Instead Harry used an Immelman Turn and was accelerating back to the castle at least five seconds before Aaron left his turn.

The rest of the class gasped at the never seen before manoeuvre, even the muggleborns who knew about aerial combat, the slytherins quickly recovered and began cheering loudly, the grffindors, minus Hermione and two girls with black hair, started shouting for Aaron to catch up.

Harry made it back to the class well before Aaron, who headed for the ground when he saw Harry win.

Malfoy grinned and tossed the glass ball as hard as he could towards one of the towers.

Harry shot past him, racing the little glass orb, it seemed to fall in slow motion, arcing toward a spot just below one of the windows.

With only feet to spare he caught it and slowed himself using a sloth grip roll, he missed Professor McGonagall leave her desk and step up to the window as he flew back to the group.

He hit the ground running, the slytherins rushed to meet him except for Malfoy's group, all cheering and congratulating him.

He dropped his broom and pocketed the remembrall, "I'm heading up to the hospital wing to return this to Neville," he told Blaise, who nodded in understanding, before running to the castle through the south gate, missing professor McGonagall coming out of the east gate.

Ten minutes later Harry entered the hospital wing, to find Neville on one of the beds. "Hey Neville, how's the hand?"

"Ok, the bandage will be off by tonight," Neville replied, holding up the bandaged wrist.

"I brought this back, you dropped it and Malfoy got it," Harry said, pulling the remembrall from his pocket.

"Thanks," Neville said as he took the glass ball from Harry, he would have said more but the doors burst open and Professor McGonagall came through looking furious.

"Potter, follow me," she commanded, turning on her heel.

Harry glanced at Neville and followed Professor McGonagall; she led him along several passages and up two floors to stop outside a statue of a Griffin in an alcove. "Ice Mice," she barked, the statue retreated backwards six inches and then began to rotate clockwise and rise upwards, a staircase rising with it. McGonagall hopped on closely followed by Harry, the griffin stopped facing a heavy oak door.

She walked through not bothering to hold the door for Harry and stopped in front of the desk, between Aaron and Snape and in front of Dumbledore.

Harry looked to his head of house, "Professor?"

Snape was cut off by Professor McGonagall scolding him for breaking the rules, disobeying Madame Hooch, recklessly endangering himself and his brother, stealing from a classmate…

"What do you mean? I didn't steal anything, Neville dropped his remembrall when he fell, Malfoy picked it up when I was arguing with Aaron and decided to use it as an extra task after the race Aaron challenged me to," Harry protested.

"DO NOT LIE!" professor McGonagall growled.

"I'm not lying" Harry protested again, "Malfoy shot his mouth off about Neville falling, then Aaron said that it was rich coming from the house with a squib. I then said at least I earned my right to attend instead of relying on stolen magic to do everything…"

"ENOUGH!" McGonagall shouted, "You will serve a week's detention and lose fifty house points."

"And what about Aaron?" Harry demanded to know, "He broke the rules too, he instigated it. What's his punishment?"

Aaron smirked and the three professors were silent, McGonagall looked very uncomfortable while Snape glared mutinously at her, Dumbledore watched the two with a neutral expression.

"He's… not being punished?" Harry said disbelievingly, looking between the two heads of house. "But… that's not fair! It's against the regulations _you_ have to follow."

McGonagall opened her mouth to respond but was herself cut off by Dumbledore, "That is quite enough Minerva, Harry is right, Aaron must be punished too. Harry, given your fervent protests I assume you wish to appeal against your punishment?" he said firmly to McGonagall, making Aaron stare in disbelief, before turning to Harry.

"Yes Sir!" Harry replied firmly, making Snape smile and McGonagall roll her eyes, "Really Dumbledore, we have bet…"

"If you are so confident in _your_ student's version of events, then it will make no difference to spend a few minutes checking the facts," Dumbledore reasoned.

"I'll take Veritaserum if that's what it'll take," Harry declared, making Aaron go pale, something which was not missed by any of the professors.

"Is there something you wish to add Aaron? Or confess too?" Dumbledore asked innocently, Harry knew that Dumbledore knew that using their first names was unprofessional but was really the practical choice as saying Mr Potter would get confusing. He also knew that Dumbledore knew Aaron was lying.

"Er… I, er… may have goaded Harry into the race," Aaron admitted, rubbing his neck and not looking at his head of house who looked likely to breathe fire, "And Malfoy was the one to take the remembrall, Harry actually rescued it."

"Thank you for _finally_ telling the truth Aaron," Dumbledore said softly, delaying his deputy headmistress' impending explosion. "And I thank you Harry, while I cannot condone breaking school rules it was a kind thing you did in rescuing your classmates property _and returning it_."

"He's my friend professor, his own housemates only support him when it suits them and then they toss him aside, I won't abandon a fellow outcast," Harry said firmly, making Aaron sweat under professor McGonagall's gaze.

"An admirable view, Harry. Now, I think it would be best if you returned to your common room, I need to have a discussion with Aaron and both Professors," Dumbledore said in his grandfatherly tone.

"Yes sir," Harry said and turned to the door.

He made it back to the Slytherin common room uninterrupted, surprisingly no one tried to trip or hex him on the way, to find most of the first years lounging around with his friends in the armchairs by the lake windows farthest from the entrance, a spot quickly becoming known as their corner.

Daphne was the one who spotted him approaching, "Harry!"

Tracey and Blaise turned around; the former had faded fingernail marks on her cheeks, "What happened?" Daphne asked.

"McGonagall came out and lapped up the hippogriff dung your brother fed her and marched off ignoring everyone else even her own house," Blaise explained.

"I know, she found me in the hospital wing and dragged me to Dumbledore's office," Harry told them as he slumped into the spare chair next to Blaise. "She then laid into me, saying I stole the remembrall, tricked my brother into the race, stuff like that. She even tried to refuse me my right to appeal."

Daphne looked scandalised while Blaise looked furious, "Right to appeal?" Tracey asked.

"There's a system in place that allows students to appeal against an unfair punishment to a higher authority, it usually goes to the heads of house or deputy head but in this case it would go to Dumbledore," Blaise explained, "It's one of the founding tenets of the school charter, it cannot be refused by law, to do so is a massive abuse of power and grounds for immediate dismissal or even being arrested by the DMLE.

It's sometimes used by gryffindors to protest some of Snape's punishments, so McGonagall knows how it works, to refuse it…"

"Dumbledore stepped up and overrode her; he said that if she was so confident in her student then she had nothing to lose from the appeal going forward. Aaron sang like a canary when I mentioned Veritaserum," Harry told them, smirking at the end.

"I can just imagine his face," Blaise said, a faraway look on his face as he grinned.

"So what is your punishment?" Tracey asked.

"Don't know, I'll probably find out when Snape comes down," Harry shrugged. "Of course, Aaron wasn't going to be punished until I asked, the git looked so smug."

"What?" Daphne exclaimed, "You mean that you were being lined up for expulsion and he got off scot free?"

"I know, and mum always said McGonagall was the fair head," Harry said despairingly.

"So you're punished but he isn't?" Tracey said disbelievingly, "but he broke the rules too! Just as badly as you did."

"That was before he admitted he lied to McGonagall," Harry explained, "she looked ready to breathe fire when he confessed."

"I can't imagine that he'll be too heavily punished," Daphne said sadly, "he is the Gryffindor golden boy after all."

"According to Neville, he's not that popular in Gryffindor," Harry said surprising them. "I was right; he's as arrogant as Malfoy, worse at times. They only put up with him, nothing more."

"I heard that the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are thinking of rallying behind you instead of him in the future," Blaise said.

"I'm that popular?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you've made some influential friends and are seen as a much nicer guy than Aaron," Daphne said.

"Come on, we'd better head up for lunch," Blaise said looking at the clock, the four rose and headed up to the hall.

The four entered to find that the Gryffindors were ignoring Aaron, in fact Ron Weasley was the only one to sit within ten feet of him and McGonagall still looked furious.

There was a lot of excited whispering across the hall as the four sat down; Harry managed to overhear some Ravenclaws wondering it was true that he'd out flown his brother.

Half way through his meal, Professor Snape came up and told Harry to meet him in the spare Charms classroom during his next period for his tutoring session.

Harry went up to the charms corridor after collecting his wands, it took a moment to find the right room but he definitely wasn't ready for the surprise awaiting him inside.

Professor Snape was waiting inside with Professor Flitwick and his mother.

Harry could only stare as Lily smiled, "Mum?"

"Hello Harry," Lily replied, smiling broadly. Harry dropped his bag and ran to hug his mother, completely forgetting about the two professors.

"I missed you mum," Harry mumbled into her jumper.

"I missed you too, Harry. But why did I have to wait until Filius called to find out where you'd been sorted?" Lily asked, releasing her son.

Lily smiled as Harry's eyes went wide the same way his father's used to when he was caught out, "I was going to on the first Friday, but the catastrophe in potions drove it out of my mind, and this week has been just as eventful," Harry admitted as Snape snorted and Flitwick chuckled.

"Eventful is an understatement," Snape said.

"Filius called to ask whether it was true that you weren't a squib and mentioned you are getting tutoring this year, well this year at least," Lily said, "And I wanted to see what you can do."

"Oh," Harry said, surprised and touched, "I can perform a colour change charm silently, only on small stuff like ties though. I can perform most of the first year spells to a degree…"

"The point of these sessions is for you to master your abilities," Snape interrupted.

"Yes, yes," Flitwick said, "we must get on, and don't worry Harry, no one will hear of these sessions or the truth of your abilities from me," he reassured Harry before instructing Harry to step up to a table with several feathers on it.

"Now the first charm I want you to try is the Levitation charm. The incantation is Wingardium Leviosa… repeat after me, Wingardium Leviosa, very good. Now the wand movement is a swish and flick, draw your wand please, or perhaps both, It might be a good idea to practice ambidextrous casting…"


End file.

Harry Potter, Family, Romance