Chapter 2 (ASL)

It was September 1st and Harry was happily squared away on the Hogwarts Express in his lightly warded compartment. Harry had discreetly placed eavesdropping charms near the entrance to Platform 9 3/4s to let him know when Molly Weasley endangered the Statute of Secrecy to lure him in...

Why? Molly Weasley's actions were entirely too suspicious for Harry's tastes.

Eventually Harry heard Molly Weasley break the Statute and his smile was pure evil... Harry wanted some leverage to bring the Ancient House of Weasley into vassalage to counter their future resurgence and due to his past life reading Harry Potter fanfiction he was permanently paranoid in regards to them. Unknown to Harry, Molly was simply a loud idiot and not an evil master mind.

Harry sent off the evidence to the DMLE and the Daily Prophet.

Unknown to Harry, Ron would have seen the lightning bolt scar on the platform and would have sought him out to befriend him and then become popular. Ron hadn't seen him though.

Harry was disturbed the first time by Neville Longbottom looking for his toad. Harry wasn't impressed by him and was in fact extremely disappointed.

"Sorry," he said. "But have you seen a toad at all?"

"No. Perhaps you could ask a Prefect or older student to summon him," Harry suggested politely.

"Thank you!" he said, before leaving.

Roughly a minute later he returned with none other than Hermione Granger.

"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost one," Hermione said, in her annoying and bossy voice.

Harry simply informed her that he hadn't seen a toad, again advised having a Prefect summon him, and he politely rebuffed her attempts at conversation and making friends... Harry never liked her personality while reading the books in his first life and it would be cruel to give her false hope by being welcoming.

Harry's actions had also kept Draco Malfoy from finding out where he was through gossip which was very disappointing; Harry wanted to be on peaceful terms with the Malfoy's while not trusting them or giving any of them a chance to betray him.

It was finally the time for the Sorting, an event that Harry had looked forward too for several years, and he would be sorted into either Ravenclaw or Slytherin...

Finally, after Sally-Anne Perks was sorted, Harry Potter was called up to the stool.

"Potter, did she say?"

"*The* Harry Potter?"

Harry went up to the stool indifferent to the whispers about him by the others.

*"Ah, such intelligence and ambition, yet you have all of the houses traits to excellent degrees and with few real flaws. But your ambition... the desire to surpass Merlin and Morgana and to be the absolute best there ever was and you actually demonstrating the will to achieve it and investing the effort... there is only one house for you and it's the one that you want most... my Lord.* Ravenclaw!" The Sorting Hat said, shocking those who expected him to be sorted into Gryffindor. Ravenclaw applauded and they did so with great enthusiasm.

Harry rose from the stool and went to join his new house, indifferent to the feelings of his inferiors.

Harry watched the rest of the sorting with mild interest.

Dumbledore rose to his feet. He beamed at all of the students, his arms opened wide, like he wanted to hug everyone and knowing Dumbledore he probably would have actually done that if he was asked.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" Dumbledore sat back down. Most clapped or cheered, but Harry merely feigned a look of confusion. Harry began loading his plate with sausages, steak, fries, and ketchup.

Harry soon had several first and second years furtively looking at him.

"Am I having a good hair day? Or am I just too irresistible to not look at?" Harry asked jokingly, causing several nearby students to laugh at the students being caught looking.

"You're a celebrity. I don't know how to talk to you." Anthony Goldstein said with a blush.

"Using verbalized words that convey information; ideally with the correct pronunciation, grammar, and punctuation. Much like you just did." Harry replied, amusing his fellow intellectuals. That broke the tension though and Harry began engaging in conversations with his fellow Ravenclaws.

The feast ended and Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridor."

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore cried. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick and long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!"

Harry absolutely refused to sing and instead lip synced, once that was over he followed the Ravenclaw Prefect Penelope Clearwater with the other first years.

Once they were inside they began to get settled in... Harry was thinking about his new plot.

Harry couldn't sneak around Hogwarts in secret with the Weasley's in possession of the Marauder's Map and that meant that Harry would be busy for a few hours tonight.

Harry began strategizing his theft and he decided to also copy the map and improve it... Harry was glad that members of the Ravenclaw house had private one person rooms due to differing study habits.

Harry waited an hour before disillusioning and silencing himself, and masking his scent and then exiting his room while using Mage Sight and Magic Sense to locate any spells or enchantment that could expose him.

Walking to Gryffindor Tower took Harry thirty minutes, entering was easy enough due to him knowing the password and being a Metamorphagus, and Harry was soon inside Fred, George's, Lee Jordan's, and Oliver Wood's room. Harry wandlessly placed them into an even deeper sleep and then he began searching through Fred and George's mind for leads... quickly learning where the Marauder's Map was.

Once Harry retrieved the map he Obliviated the twins and Lee Jordan of all knowledge of it and the secret passages and then stole their Dungbombs and Stink Pellets and placed them all around Gryffindor Tower and even McGonagall's office and magically detonated them all from afar with a time delay spell before leaving.

Poor Gryffindorks, Harry mused before escaping, pleased with his success and his new toy.

Harry would return to his dorm and sleep like a baby.

As their classes began, Harry quickly confirmed that he would need to test out of some classes... History of Magic was pointless and Defense Against the Dark Arts had a teacher who was too difficult to understand and the course had inconsistent teaching. Both were wastes of time and Harry would be freeing himself of that burden.

But it was Potions that Harry was looking forward too... Snape had already commented on his celebrity status and Harry was looking forward to the entertainment.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began, being dramatic. "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 minds, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

"Potter!" Snape said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"

"The Draught of Living Death, sir," Harry answered respectfully, much to Snape's surprise. Harry felt the Legilimency probe, but he only showed Snape trivial surface memories, or painful or unhappy memories.

"Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"The stomach of a goat, sir, but they are also commonly kept on-hand for emergencies." Harry replied, respectfully and with a hint of feigned confusion.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkswood and wolfsbane?"

"It's the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."

Snape observed Harry critically, but Harry seemed to have grudgingly impressed him.

It wouldn't last.

Harry and Padma partnered together and brewed a perfect Cure for Boils and even heated until it turned pink to increase its potency. Snape accepted the potion and then nudged it off his desk and onto the floor... thankfully the vials were charmed unbreakable and Snape's witty excuse for the 'accident' died on his lips.

Harry picked it up and put it back onto Snape's desk while giving him a knowing look.

"Mind if I bottle this and sale it?" Harry asked Padma. "I'll split the money with you."

"Absolutely not, Potter!" Snape yelled, intervening. "Selling potions requires a license!"

"That's unfortunate. Is there an age or education requirement?" Harry asked as Snape's eye twitched.

"You must have your OWLs for potions at a fifth-year level and below and NEWTs for fifth-year and above, the latter of which I doubt that you'll ever achieve."

"You're *that* type of Professor," Harry realized.

"*What* type, Potter?" Snape asked dangerously.

"You challenge your students to prove themselves. I had some doubts about you at first, but you clearly have an effective teaching method. You're distant but you still watch your students for mistakes, which can also encourage them to experiment so long as they are willing to accept the consequences. I accept the academic challenge that you set and I will earn the right to sale potions legally and will hopefully earn your respect in the process. Is it possible to get extra lessons in potions to increase my rate of learning?" Harry had actually fooled Snape into believing what he was saying.

Snape searched Harry's mind and face for signs that this was a prank, but he didn't find anything. Severus did see this as an opportunity to get Potter out of his class for good though.

"You can hire a tutor or pay for private lessons from another Potions Master. The Hogwarts Charter allows for students and their families to act in their best interests. You can even hire teachers in subjects not taught at Hogwarts." Snape said, thinking that this was a brilliant idea.

"You wouldn't take offense to me choosing another teacher?"

"Not at all," Snape replied.

"Okay. I'll look into it. Might even hire someone to teach me Defense Against the Dark Arts too." Harry said. Harry loved being a master of Occlumency and having a great poker face. Harry misled Snape, gave him a few hollow compliments, and Snape ended up using Harry's leading question about getting more lessons to get Harry out of his class... exactly what Harry wanted. It wasn't a guarantee, but Harry could have always claimed to have sought out another teacher that could help him progress at his own speed.

Snape had been pranked by yet another Potter.

The class would be dismissed soon after and Snape would bottle Padma and Harry's potion.

Hiring Horace Slughorn to teach him Potions was easy. Harry's fame and parentage did most of the work. Horace got to collect another prized student and Harry was eager to learn. Harry began brewing near constantly in his spare time and he was progressing rapidly.

House Weasley was fined 1500 galleons because of Molly's risking the breaking of the Statute of Secrecy.

Harry didn't join any Quidditch Team and instead used the Room of Requirement to its theoretical maximum potential.

Hallowe'en came and the troll injured Hermione Granger, but it fortunately didn't kill her... she only spent a few days in the Hospital Wing and she and Ron Weasley became friends after he apologized out of guilt. Harry had honestly forgotten about her.

Harry had finally received the Invisibility Cloak from Dumbledore at Christmas and continued sneaking off to the Room of Requirement, but without the drain of a Disillusionment Charm on his magic. Harry had tested a theory demonstrated in a Harry Potter fanfiction: that the Room of Requirement could become a library with any book that had ever entered Hogwarts. Harry had access to the greatest libraries in existence and an excellent sorting system to exclude books that Tom or Harry had already read. Harry had also accessed some powers that should propel his power and skill level to new heights.

Harry had also reported Hagrid's possession of a dragon egg to Dumbledore and Dumbledore had it sent away before Hagrid's stupidity caused any deaths.

As for right now? Harry was asked to interfere in Voldemorts attempt to steal the stone by the being who sent him here.

"Hey Quirrell," Harry said casually, walking into the room. "Steal the stone yet?"

"You knew this whole time?!" Quirrell asked.

"Yeah. Your stutters fake and so was your fainting in the Great Hall. But you did deceive everyone else, so well done there." Harry replied.

Quirrell nodded, pleased about that.

"Is it the theoretically limitless wealth or lengthened life-span that has caught your interest?" Harry asked.

"Neither," Quirrell replied, surprised that Potter only wanted to talk.

"You know the Flamel's look disgustingly old, right. You'd eventually look like a recently deceased corpse if you did want the life-span." Harry said, to Quirrell and inwardly Voldemort's amusement. "So it would be for the being possessing you?"

Quirrell's head snapped to Harry's direction in shock, but he quickly realized that he couldn't move any more than that. Harry smiled at Quirrell.

"Hello, Voldemort," Harry said before continuing speaking... "Goodbye, Voldemort!"

Harry unleashed arcs of lightning from his fingertips, electrocuting Quirrell to death and forcing Voldemort to flee in anger... Harry absorbed Quirrell's soul for his theoretical knowledge and his well above-average skill.

Harry left the chamber after extracting the Philosopher's Stone, which was actually real, and destroying it.

In short order, Harry would cleanse Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem while Dumbledore and Voldemort were focused elsewhere and if Tom felt it then he would assume that it was because of damage taken in Harry's attack.

But there was one final thing for Harry to do...

"By right of magical conquest, I claim all the titles, assets, wealth, and properties of Tom Marvolo Riddle!" Harry said. Two rings appeared on his right hand, one for each of the two Most Ancient and Noble Houses; Slytherin and Gaunt. Harry willed them both too become invisible, needing his new status too be kept a secret.

That done, Harry began raiding the Room of Hidden Things... gaining himself a trunk full of jewels, a Goblin battleaxe, rare and forbidden tomes, poisons, cauldrons, and trophies; some made of valuable metals... All of which was stored inside of a magically expanded trunk, which was then shrunk, and then placed into Harry's heavily warded trunk.

Harry would take his OWLs and NEWTs in History of Magic, and his OWLs in Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts before Hogwarts was dismissed for the term. Harry, with Tom's knowledge and what Horace Slughorn had taught him, felt that he would get excellent grades. Harry had worked hard and had worked to make history by surpassing Snape and Slughorn in their Potions OWLs.

Harry was enjoying his time with his friends on the Hogwarts Express; Padma Patil, Sue Li, Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Fay Dunbar, and Draco Malfoy. Harry wasn't all that close to Draco due to his bigotry, but he was slowly working on changing Draco for the better. Draco was already being polite to Harry's other friends.

"I can't believe you took your OWLs after one year of study..." Draco commented.

"I have an Eidetic Memory, I can remember everything that I read. Besides with Professor Snape not having the time to give private lessons, the inconsistent instruction in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Binns' general inability to keep his students awake and interested, testing out will be a far better usage of my time. If I can get my NEWTs before third-year then I'll have less classes and then I can focus on my electives and other classes. Plus I can continue my self-study too." Harry replied.

"You could have used the History of Magic class time to self-study!" Draco argued.

"I still have the free time, but I can spend it studying in the comfort of my room this way."

"Your room is very nice," Sue Li agreed.

"You've been in his room?" Draco asked, with a hint of disapproval due to his conservative upbringing. "What'd you two do in there?"

"Candle lit dinners, slow dances, and passionate declarations of our undying love," Harry joked, causing Sue to blush and everyone else to chuckle or laugh. "We're *eleven*, Draco. We studied and I helped her with Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"What are you going to do this summer, Harry?" Susan asked.

"Return to my aunt and uncles home and once I recharge the wards with my power, I'll go to my family manor and study for the summer. Professor Slughorn will be continuing my Potions lessons throughout the summer too. I'll relax too, of course, but I enjoy practicing magic."

"But underage students aren't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts," Fay said in confusion.

"There are several legal exemptions including for tutoring. Some people are required to learn family magic for their future as a Lord or Lady or require tutoring to improve their grades. Hiring tutors or teachers is fairly expensive though." Harry replied and Fay nodded.

"You're going to exhaust yourself by overstudying," Terry pointed out.

"I don't get tired of learning and I amuse myself with pranks," Harry returned.

"Like what?" Anthony asked.

"I convinced my cousins friends that they had accidentally murdered me and that I was a ghost. Since I'm a metamorphagus I had plenty of tools at my disposal... I turned my eyes blood red and told them that I was going to drag them to Hell."

"That's mean!" Susan exclaimed.

"They bullied me and actually nearly killed me," Harry replied, causing Susan to regret her words. "I simply scared them straight. They are all now well-behaved but still not productive members of society."

"Those muggles are animals," Draco commented in disgust, getting some glares.

"Yes, but there are good ones. The muggle world has great investment opportunities that can carry over into the magical world for benefits; real estate, land, currency conversion, precious metals, gems, stocks and bonds, music, art, and other advancements that could be emulated by us." Harry said and Draco looked disinterested. "Oh well. More opportunities for me." Harry had researched great investments in his first life and he was ruthlessly exploiting that information now.

"So you're just going to study and make money this summer?" Padma asked in confusion. Harry never did anything fun that Padma was aware of.

"I'll be making *a lot* of money this summer. I enjoy those two activities and I'm great at them." Harry replied, amused by his friends confusion about his love for study and money making. "The Houses that I've inherited aren't really that wealthy compared to muggle billionaires; granted that magical currency are pure metals instead of paper fiat currency, but I've always been competitive. Besides, I could become a drunk instead to occupy my time so there are worse things that I could do with my free time."

"Would you want to visit us?" Padma asked and the girls and Draco all looked hopeful.

"Of course," Harry replied. "I just need to get settled in and handle some other matters first."

The Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross Station and everyone began to disembark.

"I'll see you all soon," Harry said before silently disapparating away.

"Do you think he knows that's illegal to do without a license?" Padma asked in amusement.

"No," Susan replied with a smile.

"If he can do it silently then I doubt that he would care," Draco pointed out. "He *mastered* the skill by age eleven. He's so going to surpass Dumbledore!"

Draco would tell his parents about this, impressing them with Harry Potter's prodigious skills.

Susan would tell her aunt Amelia who would politely warn Harry that what he did was illegal, but due to Amelia's friendship with Lily it wouldn't be an official warning or even be documented. Harry would plot to legalize his usage of apparation and other magic.

Harry arrived at the Dursley home and entered.

"Auntie! Uncle! I'm home!" Harry shouted, announcing his presence.

"Quiet!" Petunia said harshly, having sped into the room so that no one heard her nephew.

"Fine, fine," Harry replied. "I'll only be here a few days to recharge the wards and then I'll be off to study the entire summer. Unless you want the wards to collapse and me to never return, thereby endangering your entire family."

"Dudley's second room was cleaned for your temporary usage," Petunia replied stiffly.

Harry nodded and went to partially unpack and he would receive a polite warning from Madam Bones about his illegal apparating thirty minutes later. Thankfully it wasn't an official warning and she said that she wasn't documenting it, but Harry would have to be more careful. It was apparating or taking the Knight Bus though and Harry didn't want to waste any time. Harry kind of wanted to test Susan's willingness to keep secrets for him too, but Harry would still offer her a Line Continuance Option eventually. Harry liked her and he wanted her and his 'reset' at least made it seem okay.

Harry certainly *felt* like an angsty pre-teen again and he didn't like it. Harry wasn't looking forward to having crushes, acne, drama, or any of the other many irritating things about being a teenager again... but Harry was looking forward to all the sex. This soon-to-be twelve-year dry spell was torture. Harry had his previous level of knowledge and was more mature, but he felt like the merger with the true Harry Potter had made them one being.

Harry would leave Privet Drive a week later, but would also depart with a joke.

"What did the lesbian vampire say to her mortal lover?" Harry asked and Dudley was too interested not too take the bait.

"What?"

"See you next month," Harry quipped, and Vernon and Petunia looked disgusted. Dudley got it a moment later and laughed. "Thank you, Dursley house! Good night!"

Harry promptly exited the wards and Portkeyed away to Potter Manor using his Lordship Ring.