Chapter 1: 01 Captain Potter

Members of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Dr. Erksine and Howard Stark, had everything set up for the Captain America experiment. It was the culmination of Dr. Erskine's life's work to create the perfect soldier with Project Rebirth.

Steve Rogers stood in front of the golden coffin and gathered his courage after hearing Agent Peggy Carter's words of encouragement. I can do this. I have to do this. “All right, I'm ready.”

Everyone turned away from him, some to check the equipment and the rest to go to the observation platform. Steve took one more breath and took a step forward just as there was a crack of thunder. Before he could react to the sound, something slammed into him and bounced off as he was flung off to the side. Whatever it was, it fell into the golden coffin and the doors closed.

“Subject is inside. Prepping the injections. Engaging.” Dr. Erskine said and the sounds of the various electronic needles echoed from inside the golden coffin and the gurgling of fluid joined it.

“Initiating the Vita rays.” Howard Stark said and started up the machine. He turned the dial and the inside of the golden coffin started to glow with a bright light. The more he turned the dial, the brighter it became. When the dial reached 50%, nothing happened. When it reached 75%, there was still no reaction from inside the chamber.

“He should be feeling quite uncomfortable by now.” Dr. Erskine said and looked over at Howard. “What do you suggest?”

“If he's not freaking out about being torn apart and rebuilt with stabilizing electromagnetic radiation, there's no need to stop.” Howard responded.

“I agree.” Dr. Erskine said. “Go to full power.”

Howard turned the dial all the way up to 100% and the light inside the golden coffin was so bright that almost everyone had to turn away and cover their eyes.

“Mr. Rogers, how are you feeling?” Dr. Erskine asked.

“I'm okay, I think.” Steve's voice said from off to the right and Dr. Erskine turned to stare at him as he sat up and rubbed his chest. “My ribs are bruised after being hit so hard.”

Dr. Erskine spit and sputtered incoherently, because it wasn't possible. His chosen test subject, one that had taken years to find and months to convince the army and government to allow, was not the one that was inside the chamber.

Just as the stunned doctor started to regain his marbles to start yelling at the impossibility, several electricity transformers sparked and started to blow. It cascaded across the room and Howard Stark had to shut the console down before everything blew up in their faces. Uncontrolled electronic radiation was not a good thing to be around.

The bright glow in the golden coffin died away and the doors opened. A light mist flowed away and everyone in the room stared at the muscular teenage boy that stood there and wore rags. No one said a thing as the boy reached up and took off his glasses and stared at them.

“Look at that! I don't need my glasses anymore!” Harry Potter said with a distinct English accent.

Everyone's mouths dropped open, especially Agent Peggy Carter's. She hadn't heard a familiar accent in years and it felt like stepping into a warm bath after years of cold showers.

“Excuse me, young man.” Peggy said with her own English accent and Harry lifted his head from contemplating his useless glasses to look at her. “Could you tell us your name?”

Harry smiled at her and Peggy's heart sped up at his expressive green eyes. “It's Harry. Harry Potter.”

Peggy returned his smile and walked forward. “How did you arrive here?”

“I dunno. I was running from my bullies so they couldn't beat me up again and jumped, wished I could be anywhere else, and landed in that thing behind me.” Harry said and glanced around. “Where am I?”

“Don't answer that!” A stern man in an army uniform ordered in a strange accent and strode forward angrily. “You shouldn't be here.” He said and started to reach for Harry.

Harry had backed up slightly and fear showed on his face at the man's shouted order, then he saw the angry man's hand reach for him. His mind flashed back to the last time an adult reached for him like that, his Uncle Vernon, and he didn't want to be grabbed and his arm yanked out of the socket again. He swatted at the hand to push it away and the sound of bones shattering filled the room.

“ARGH!” The general yelled in pain as his hand flopped at the end of his arm.

A dozen guns were pulled from their holsters and pointed at the clear threat as everyone crowded near the platform the golden coffin was on.

“STOP!” Peggy shouted and stepped in front of the scared boy with her hands up. “You're scaring him!”

“He just assaulted the general.” One of the general's aids said and didn't lower the weapon. “Step aside! He's under arrest!”

“He's not in the army you fool and he's only a teenager!” Peggy spat. She didn't turn around when she felt a hand lightly touch her back.

“I'm only seven.” Harry whispered to her.

“Oh, heavens.” Peggy whispered back and then spoke loudly. “I was wrong! He is only seven years old!”

That shocked everyone, including the man that was supposed to steal one of the test serum vials. His plan to blow up the observation platform as a distraction was ruined because everyone was now standing on the floor near the golden coffin and he couldn't get to the rack of vials.

The spy waited until there was a clear path to where he needed to go, then he strode forward and lifted his Walther PPK and took aim at Dr. Erskine.

Harry wasn't sure why he moved, he just did. He lunged across the platform as a shot rang out and he put his hand in front of the guy in the lab coat's chest and caught something. Everyone froze once more as Harry opened his hand and dropped the bent bullet. A second later, his fist slammed into the face of the spy and knocked most of his teeth out.

“GAH!” The spy dropped his gun and put both hands up to catch his shattered jaw.

Everyone stared as the teeth landed and one popped open and cyanide powder flowed out of it. All of their guns moved from pointing at where Harry used to be standing and were now pointed at him. He said some words in whatever language he spoke and then he was tackled to the floor and handcuffed.

“Thank you, my boy.” Dr. Erskine said and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry felt his face heat up at the warm smile on the man's face. He had never seen anything like it before and he felt embarrassed.

“He still assaulted the general.” The aid said as a medic tended to the general's shattered hand.

“I didn't know I could do that. I just tried to push his hand away before he grabbed me.” Harry responded and ducked his head to wait for the slap he expected. “I didn't want him to hurt me.”

Peggy's heart melted as she saw his sad face and she did something she never did for anyone. She stepped close and took him into her arms to hug him. Harry stiffened up at first, because he had never been hugged before, then he let out a shaky breath and leaned into her. He was almost her height, so it was an odd feeling for the both of them.

All of the men around them kind of ignored the tender moment. Things like that were meant to be done in private and not in front of a bunch of military men and scientists.

The general grumbled and complained the entire time that his hand was being set and then he growled something about being sidelined because of a stupid kid. Before anyone else could stop him, he pushed the medic out of the way and strode from the room as if his ass was on fire. His aid glanced around at everyone, shrugged, and motioned for the other observers and military men to follow him.

The room was empty a minute later except for the scientists, Howard Stark, Dr. Erskine, Agent Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers, and Harry Potter. No one said anything for several minutes, then a light cough caught everyone's attention.

“Hey, doc. There's still enough serum left for another dose, right?” Steve Rogers asked.

Everyone exchanged looks and Dr. Erskine smiled that same warm smile.

“We'll get those transformers replaced!” Howard Stark said and he and the other scientists got to work.

Half an hour later, Steve was ready and he stepped into the golden coffin. With no observers to impress, there was no speech made and the process was started right away. Steve yelled when the needles injected the last of the serum into his body and bones and only Peggy glanced at Harry.

Howard slowly turned the dial to increase the amount of Vita rays bombarding Steve inside the golden coffin. When it reached 50%, Steve let out a few low shouts of pain. When it reached 75%, Steve yelled loudly several times in a row. This time, everyone turned to stare at Harry.

“What?” Harry asked and Peggy put an arm around him to hug him close.

“We all thought Mr. Rogers had the strongest fighting spirit around.” Dr. Erskine said and looked at Howard. “Steve seems to be in a lot of pain. What do you recommend?”

Howard let out a sigh. “We should stop and try again when...”

“NO!” Steve shouted. “No, I... I can take it! Keep going!”

“Steve? Are you sure?” Peggy asked.

“If a kid can do it, so can I!” Steve responded.

Dr. Erskine nodded. “Go to full power, Howard.”

“Okay, that's two insane people you've found to go through with this crazy stunt.” Howard said and turned the dial all the way up to 100%.

Everyone turned their heads away from the constant screaming and covered their eyes, all except Harry. He looked right at the bright light, just like he had while inside the thing, and smiled. He felt something inside of himself that he had never felt before. Pride. He hadn't screamed once.

The screaming had stopped after a minute and a few minutes later, the process ended like it had the first time with several power transformers sparking and blowing. Howard cut the power to the console before it blew up and saw that there was quite a bit more smoke from the thing, which meant he had missed something when checking it over the last time.

Howard grabbed a fire extinguisher and opened one of the panels and sprayed the overheating circuit boards. Unfortunately, it was the wrong type of extinguisher and compressed water sprayed all over the thing instead of insulating foam. It made hundreds of connections between circuits that shouldn't be connected and more sparks and pops happened all over the internals of the thing.

“Goddammit!” Howard shouted and tossed the useless extinguisher aside and grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and stuffed it inside the console to staunch and smother the flames. Thankfully, this desperate ploy actually worked and the console didn't blow up.

The golden coffin opened up and the light mist dissipated. A tall and muscular Steve Rogers was revealed and everyone stared at the success of the experiment. He looked asleep, which explained why the screaming had stopped. He had passed out from the pain.

Harry's pride swelled inside him once more. He had more proof that he was stronger than an adult and he savoured that feeling as he mentally hugged it close and held it. This moment was his and he would never forget it. It would also shape how he grew as a person. He was no longer weak and he would never be bullied again. Never again.

Dr. Erskine woke Steve with some smelling salts. “How do you feel, Steven?”

“I... I feel... strong.” Steve said and flexed his arms a little. “Really strong.”

Peggy's heart fluttered at the happy look on Steve's face. She fought down her own emotions and how much she liked the man. Not the way he was now, even though he looked delicious. It was who he was underneath. He was a good man and she liked his personality, as cheesy as that sounded. He wanted to help his country and now he had the means to do just that.

Peggy looked at the boy beside her... no, the young man beside her... and she wasn't sure why she didn't fight down those same feelings. She knew he was lost, had been scared, and needed someone to look out for him. He seemed very similar to Steve when he was growing up and she realized that was what had caught her. This young man was what Steve used to be... and she had no idea what she was going to do with that information.

“I think we should retire to our rooms and we can commence with the testing tomorrow.” Dr. Erskine said with a fatherly voice.

Harry looked and felt uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to speak up because he always got into trouble for it.

Peggy felt the boy's change in demeanor and turned to look at him. “Don't worry, Harry. I'll make sure you're taken care of until we can figure out how to get you home.”

Harry's stomach dropped and the blood drained from his face.

Peggy saw the immediate scared reaction and stopped herself before she sighed. “Forget I said that. You can come with me for tonight and then we can work on finding out what's going on. Is that all right?”

Harry relaxed and nodded. He definitely didn't want to go back to the Dursleys like this. They had called him a freak before. If they saw what he looked like now, they would probably beat him for hours and lock him into his cupboard for weeks. That thought made him pause, because he was so big and tall now that he wasn't sure if he would even fit inside the cupboard under the stairs.

Peggy took off her uniform coat and put it around his shoulders. “We'll stop at a nearby shop to get you some better fitting clothes and then go back to my hotel.”

Harry didn't trust his voice, so he nodded and gave her a small smile.

“Gentlemen, we will see you tomorrow morning promptly at eight.” Peggy said and took Harry's hand, which made the boy blush, and she left the room at a fast walk.

Howard's voice broke the silence that had descended. “That boy is going to change things.”

Both Steve and Dr. Erskine nodded. They had been just as observant of Harry's behavior as Peggy was and knew that boy was an abused child. In their minds, each of them promised themselves to help Harry as much as they could.

*

Peggy stared at the well-fed muscled teenager as he washed himself completely. It was a bit of a shock for her to see that someone so young didn't complain about bathing and knew to wash everywhere, even their special places, without her help. She didn't ask him about it, however. It was much too soon for her to pry like that and she would wait for as long as possible before asking about his home life.

Harry emptied the tub and dried himself off. He stepped out of the tub to finish with his feet and hung the towel on the shower rod to dry. He usually had to throw the thing a few times to get it to hang properly and now he was tall enough to set it right the very first time.

With that done, he went to the sink and grabbed the proper cleaning things and went back to the tub. He knelt on his knees and scrubbed the tub like his Aunt Petunia had taught him. He was thankful that Dudley hadn't used it first and there was barely any grime on the tub's sides. When he finished with the job well done, he nodded at it and stood to leave the bathroom.

Harry stopped walking when he saw the look on Peggy's face. He blushed a little and ducked his head as he spoke in a sheepish voice. “I'm done cleaning my mess. Can I get dressed now?”

Peggy fought down her gasp at his reaction and barely managed to not curse at whoever had taught a seven year old boy how to scrub out an entire bathtub. Instead of answering his question, she smiled her best smile and stepped forward to take him into a hug. She held him for several seconds before she let him go.

“Harry, you did great and I'm very thankful that you did so well.” Peggy praised him and Harry's embarrassed blush rose to epic proportions. “Your pyjamas are in the second bag from the door and you can grab a pair of underwear and the socks from the third bag, too.”

Harry once again didn't trust his voice to speak without cracking or stuttering and nodded. Peggy stepped aside and watched as Harry chose the right clothes for himself and dressed right there. He looked at the large bed and glanced over at her. She smiled and waved him towards the bed and entered the bathroom herself with a bundle of clothes.

Peggy didn't take a bath and had a shower instead. She felt guilty about ruining Harry's work and let out a sigh at the odd thought. They were in a hotel and the boy had cleaned the tub as if it was a highly valuable possession that was never allowed to be dirty after he had used it. She fought off her instincts to severely beat his parents for what they did to him and finished her shower.

She dressed in her own pyjamas that on a whim she had bought to match his. She vehemently refused to wear what she usually did to bed, a slip and a pair of panties, because she didn't want to traumatize the boy even more than he already had been that day. Her thoughts about him possibly being thrilled to see her like that were ignored.

Peggy left the bathroom and she smiled widely at the surprised look on Harry's face. He had the blanket tucked up under his neck and his wide eyes let her admire the bright emerald green. She walked over to the bed and did a little twirl to show off her blue outfit that was covered in little yellow ducks.

“It seems I mistakenly bought a set of pyjamas that match yours! What a surprise!” Peggy gushed and Harry let out a soft laugh. “I hope you don't mind if we look like twins for a while.”

Harry almost snorted and laughed some more, as if they could ever look like twins with him being a boy and her being a girl. Peggy grinned at his reaction and pulled down the blanket on her side of the bed and climbed in. She rolled over onto her side for a moment to look at him.

“You can relax tonight, Harry. I'm on the side of the bed closest to the door, so if anything happens, I'll be right here to protect you.” Peggy promised. She had stashed her gun in the nightstand before Harry had his bath.

Harry looked confused for a moment, then he gave her a pointed look. “Switch places with me.”

“What?” Peggy asked, confused herself.

“You saw what I did for Dr. Erskine. I caught a bullet.” Harry said, a little proudly. “If anyone needs to be protected, I should be in front.”

Peggy opened her mouth to protest, to explain that she had a lot more experience with danger and could handle anything that might happen, then she looked deep into those bright emerald green eyes. Her words died at the resolve she saw there and she had to smile at him. His budding instincts to protect those weaker than him were already kicking in, just like they had with Steve when he was younger.

“All right, Harry. Budge over to give me room and come around.” Peggy said.

Harry beamed the brightest smile at her that she had ever seen and her heart went pitter-patter. She watched as he slipped out of bed as if he was a dancer, then he was around to her side of the bed and stared at her expectantly.

Peggy didn't comment that he had moved almost faster than she could track. She slid across the bed under the blanket to his side of the bed and turned back onto her side to watch him.

Harry climbed in and laid down on his side to face her, too. “It's really warm here.”

Peggy didn't tell him that her hips were a lot wider than his and she had a bit more mass on her backside than he did. She also had a lot more mass hanging on her front and a good portion of it had been right where his arm was now.

“We have an early morning meeting, so we need to get to sleep.” Peggy said.

Harry nodded and rolled onto his back. A moment later, Peggy's hand moved the blanket up and tucked it in for him. He glanced at her face and wanted to ask her why she did that, except the words caught in his throat when he saw her happy smile. He felt his face flush and looked up at the ceiling.

“Goodnight, Harry.” Peggy whispered and couldn't stop her hand before she had run her fingers through the slightly fluffy hair on his head.

Harry's face went bright red and he squeaked out something.

Peggy assumed was an appropriate response for a flustered boy and she gave his hair another finger comb before she reluctantly pulled her hand away and tugged the blanket up to her own neck. She stayed there on her side and watched Harry for a long time before he fell asleep and she drifted off to sleep herself soon after.

*

“This is amazing.” Dr. Erskine stated as he watched both Steve Rogers and Harry Potter performing fantastically in all of the tests. “Absolutely amazing.”

Peggy Carter, whom was 22 years old and already an agent of Britain's MI6, could only nod her head as she stared at the two perfect male forms in front of her. Their sweat-covered bodies as they ran ten miles on treadmills made her emotions boil and her body react in a womanly way to seeing such manliness.

It was unseemly and unprofessional, so Peggy fought her instincts to not swoon at them, even though she wanted to. She was a professional and had given up such pursuits to become a valued member of the military and was assigned to the Strategic Scientific Reserve to ensure the program was a success. With what she had witnessed so far, she was very glad that she had accepted the assignment.

“We're going to need to make some reinforced clothing for them.” Howard Stark informed his colleagues. “Normal every day wear shouldn't be too bad; but, if they are going to perform at the peak of their abilities, they need uniforms made of stronger stuff.”

Peggy started to nod and then frowned. “Hold on, Mr. Stark. Uniforms? As in plural?”

Howard nodded and motioned at the two treadmills. “Until I can rebuild the Vita ray machine and Dr. Erskine can whip up some more serum, those two are the only examples we have that the Super Soldier concept has been proven.”

Peggy's frown changed to a scowl. “Don't you dare think you're going to put a seven year old boy on the front lines!” She shouted at the ignorant man and he backed up from her with hands raised.

“Agent Carter, I doubt we will have much say in the matter.” Dr. Erskine said. “The director of this program, General Chester Phillips, makes all of the decisions.”

Peggy remembered what happened to the man and she let out a sigh. Harry had pulped his hand and it would take a very long time for the General to recover from it. He had been bitter about running the program before and now he was irritable, short tempered, and quite pissed off at the whole thing.

“Bloody hell.” Peggy swore under her breath.

Dr. Erskine and Howard Stark gave her commiserating looks and had to agree.

A week later, they knew for a fact that the general was not going to be reasonable.

“I have to go to boot camp?” Harry asked, surprised.

“It's not going to be as hard as you think it will be.” Steve said with a smile. “Trust me. I did it when I was a scrawny weakling and I made it through. With the way you are now, you'll blow through it.”

Peggy wanted to fight the general's decision, she really did. Unfortunately, Harry was considered an illegal immigrant because there was no such street as Privet Drive in Surrey and there was no one named Dursley in England. Harry was immediately put into the government's war orphan program, documents created and altered to make him seventeen, and enlisted into the army.

“Dr. Erskine still can't explain why the serum aged you up, Harry.” Peggy said instead of telling Harry how sorry she was that the favors she had called in were not enough to grant the boy English citizenship.

“It should have only perfected your body to bring it to peak human efficiency and then boosted you to grant enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes, senses, and increased your mental processing. The accelerated healing was also a benefit.” Dr. Erskine explained. “However, your seven year old body was injected with an adult's dose of the serum and absorbed far more Vita rays than Steven's did.”

“What does that mean?” Harry asked.

“You have been boosted far past any of my calculations.” Dr. Erskine said. “Even my friend Howard is stumped as to why the procedure worked so well instead of killing you.”

“Doctor!” Peggy gasped and pulled Harry into a hug. She silently rejoiced when Harry hadn't flinched and hugged her back.

Dr. Erskine didn't look chastised in the least. “Please, Agent Carter. Harry is more mature than that. A mention of him dying won't scare him, considering his home life before now.”

Peggy held Harry tighter at the reminder. He had told them what it had been like and her heart had melted for him, despite her resolve to remain distant enough to look out for Harry's best interests and not her own.

“You'll be shipping out tomorrow for Camp Ford.” Steve said.

“What about Peggy?” Harry asked without lifting his head from her shoulder. They had lived together ever since he had appeared and he was reluctant to give up the best time of his life.

“Agent Carter will have quarters on base to stay nearby. She is to monitor you for the experiment.” Dr. Erskine said. “However, you will need to stay with the other soldiers in boot camp and not with her.”

Harry tensed slightly and then lifted his head to look at her face. “What about...”

Peggy put a hand on his cheek to stop him from saying anything. “I'll keep all of your things with me. The army will provide what you need for as long as you are a soldier.”

Harry let out a sigh and nodded.

Peggy rested her forehead against his. “Don't worry. You might not see me around; but, I will be there watching you.”

Harry smiled and nodded again. He was used to someone watching him bathe to make sure he got it right, that it was a beautiful woman like Peggy and not his horse-faced Aunt Petunia was a huge improvement in his opinion.

“Be sure to follow orders and don't talk back or mouth off to the drill sergeant.” Steve said. “Believe me, getting on his bad side is not a good idea. He'll have you doing all of the grunt work around the entire base if you're not careful.”

Harry knew that was sound advice after the week of studying and testing that Peggy had put him through. Army regulations were pretty strict and Harry knew that he had to follow them to complete the course. He would learn as much as he could during basic training and would make Peggy proud. That was the least he could do for everything she had done for him and for the things she had tried to do.

As things stood, this would be their last night together for the next three months. Harry wasn't sure what he could do to make it memorable, though. Despite the legal documents he carried on himself at all times that said he was legal age, he was only seven and had no real experience with anything.

When they left the meeting, the only thing Harry could think to do was to take Peggy's hand. He waited until they were alone in her hotel room and changed for bed before he attempted it. He was glad he did, because the slight jump and startled look on Peggy's face would have alarmed everyone around them if he had done it in public.

“S-s-sorry.” Harry said sheepishly and let her hand go. He almost ran for the bed and climbed into his side, his face red from embarrassment. He mentally berated himself for thinking he could do anything like that and swore that he wouldn't try anything like that ever again.

Peggy's heart raced as she watched Harry retreat like a kicked puppy. Even though she hadn't said a word, her rejection of his attempt to initiate personal contact like that was all too clear. Her heart withered at his hunched form under the blanket and she wanted to reassure him that it was okay, even if it wasn't. She couldn't let him develop those kinds of feelings for her. She just couldn't.

It would not end well for either of them.

Peggy stopped her sigh at taking a firm stance on that front and climbed into bed. She didn't turn onto her side to watch him and he stayed facing away from her. His shallow breaths let her know that he wasn't going to be going to sleep for a long time and she felt the same way. This would be their last night together and it was going to be memorable, only for all the wrong reasons.

Little did Harry realize that what he thought about only being gone for three months at boot camp was wrong. Once you joined the army, you were in it and that was it until your term of service was over. He would not be getting out to continue living with Agent Carter. It was thanks to General Phillips being the asshole he was that Harry had become a ward of the state and would never be discharged.

*

Harry Potter excelled at boot camp for the first month. It wasn't because of the super soldier serum, either. It was because life in the army was a cakewalk compared to how he was raised. There were only half as many rules, he didn't have to cook unless he was assigned to KP or Kitchen Patrol duty, and he had always taken care of his clothes and things at home.

Learning the drills and things was easy as well. Dr. Erskine said it was a result of the serum and he had to agree. He could remember everything he read and he could recall it without trouble. His body adjusted to marching and exercises as if it was programmed to and he learned to fight faster than the other recruits.

When a few of his fellow troop members gathered together late one night to bully him and force him to stop being so perfect and outperforming the rest of them, he informed them that he hated bullies and if they didn't leave him alone, they would be reported.

Of course, they didn't like him defying them and their greater numbers gave them bravado, so they attacked. Harry easily beat them all unconscious without breaking any bones, tied each of their belts together, then dragged the whole lot of them across the training grounds to the base CO's office, in front of everyone, and reported them.

“I am placing you on report, Recruit Potter!” The CO spat at him after his report.

Harry tried to not show anger as he spoke. “Can I ask why, sir?”

“It is every soldier's job to work with their fellow soldiers! Teamwork gets your men through the rough spots! Hotdogs and glory hounds will never have anyone at their backs to defend them when they need it most!”

Harry's eyes squinted. “With all due respect sir, I would rather go at it alone than have to trust these backstabbing bullies to help me. They never do their work. They never complete their assignments. They also intentionally force the other recruits to perform down to their level so they can look better.”

“That's enough, recruit!” The CO shouted.

“No, sir!” Harry shouted back. “This isn't a competition! This is work! We are here to learn to fight, not to make friends! We are training to kill!” He took a deep breath and let it out to calm down. “I refuse to let bullies tell me I have to slack off because I make their pathetic efforts look even more pathetic.”

“MP!” The CO shouted and two officers with MP on their shoulders appeared at the door. “Escort Recruit Potter to the stockade. He is being charged for Conduct Unbecoming.”

“Will you be joining me, sir?” Harry asked as the MPs put the cuffs on him.

“Excuse me?” The CO spat. “Did you just talk back to a superior officer?”

“No, sir. I'm not an officer or have any rank in the military until I graduate from boot.” Harry said with a huge smile. “You're the only officer embarrassing himself by shouting and yelling at someone for revealing blatant bullying on the base.”

The CO's face flushed red from anger. “I hope you enjoy the next thirty days in solitary.”

“If it gets me away from bullies like you that cover up for other bullies because you're too lazy to deal with them, I welcome it.”

The CO glared at him. “I'll be adding insubordination to that as well.”

“You can't, unless you're breaking your own rules. See you in a month for my trial.” Harry said and walked out of the office. “I hope you bring in an impartial judge so that someone with common sense will listen to the facts.”

“Make that 60 days!” The CO shouted.

Harry ignored him and walked ahead of the MPs to the stockade building. He noticed a familiar head of hair and uniform at the corner of his perception and smiled. The CO was in for it now.

Agent Peggy Carter was furious as she watched the boy she cared a lot about was carted off to the stockade. She had stayed off to the side and listened to the entire encounter and she had to wait for the crowd to clear before she approached the CO's office. The man still looked angry until his eyes widened when Peggy unceremoniously stepped on and walked over the unconscious men still piled in his office.

“Are you going to explain your cowardly actions before or after I contact General Phillips to inform him about how you are intentionally torpedoing his multi-million dollar project?” Peggy asked with an ice-cold voice.

It was at this moment that the CO realized he had screwed up by the numbers. He couldn't reveal that he knew Harry Potter was really only a child in an adult's body or that he needed to have the boy cowed and meek to keep him in line with the rest of the trainees so that it actually would undermine the general's project. He never expected to be called out on it, though.

*

It was a week later when Harry was disturbed from his exercise routine. He had just finished his one thousandth and one push-up when the door opened. The MP gave his sweat-soaked t-shirt a glance and shrugged. He waved Harry out of the cell after cuffing him and brought him to the mess hall. It was the only place big enough to hold court and Harry noticed that the CO was not sitting behind the head table.

It took barely ten minutes for him to tell his story and how he had only incapacitated his bullies and didn't hurt or maim them in any way, even though they had already been taught how to do that.

It took half an hour for the CO's version to be told and it was almost completely different from what Harry had said. Upon cross examination, Harry's intelligence was questioned and Harry proved his recall was perfect by reciting exactly what the CO said, word for word. That shocked everyone in the audience that had believed the CO.

Agent Carter hadn't been called and the CO's secretary and the two MPs had been. Their stories matched Harry's and the CO kept his face blank. After a few more character witnesses for both sides, the presiding judge put on a grave face.

“After careful deliberation, the actions of the former CO of this base are clearly suspect. Therefore, his decisions are hereby overturned and the two formal charges against Recruit Potter are dropped.” The man said and tapped his gavel. “As for any additional tacked on charges resulting from those first two charges, I find there is some basis for them. I sentence the accused to a week in the stockade. Since he has already served the sentence, it is therefore completed. Case dismissed.”

Harry stood and the MP took off his cuffs. He felt a familiar hand on his shoulder and turned to see Peggy's face. “Thank you.” He said and smiled before he walked away.

Peggy caught her breath at the casual brush-off. It was such a surprise that Harry had already left the room before she shook it off and walked after him. He was out of sight when she stepped outside, however. She started searching for him and tried to justify his behavior. They hadn't parted on the best of terms and she hoped that her rejection of his advances hadn't cost her his affection completely.

The barracks was where Peggy found him half an hour later and he sat on his bed, looking sad and lonely with his head hung down. She took several breaths before she entered the barracks and walked over to him.

“You knew, didn't you?” Harry asked without looking up.

“Knew what?” Peggy asked.

“That you lied.” Harry said and wiped at his eye before the tear fell.

“What are you talking about?” Peggy asked and reached for his shoulder.

Harry moved back slightly and her hand dropped. “You said you would make sure I was taken care of until I could find a way home.”

“Harry, I have been taking care of you.” Peggy said.

Harry shook his head. “Not like that stupid trial. I mean...” He paused and sighed. “Boot camp is only three months long.”

“Yes, and you only have two more months to go.” Peggy said, not really understanding what he meant.

“I thought that would be it. I'd learn the basics and I was done. I thought... I thought I would be going home afterwards... with you.” Harry said as his voice trailed off into a whisper.

“Oh.” Peggy said and closed her eyes. She felt her inadequacies mount up and she folded her arms under her chest and almost hugged herself. She kept screwing up with him and each mistake just made things worse between them. It never occurred to her to clarify what being enlisted in the army meant.

“You were so nice and... and nothing like them. I thought... for years they told me that they didn't want me. Then you said...” Harry shook his head. “I should have known that you didn't want me when you wouldn't even let me hold your hand.”

Peggy felt her heart breaking at the despondent tone of his voice. “Harry, I... there's a difference between taking care of someone and...” She paused and tried to think of how to explain things to him. “Acting like a mother is very different from...” She wasn't sure why she couldn't say the next part. How should she make the distinction? Partner? Girlfriend? Lover?

“My mother's dead.” Harry said and he wiped both eyes this time. “I have no right to ask you to try and replace her, even if I never knew her.”

Peggy's breath caught in her throat when Harry stood up. He was several inches taller than her now and his muscles were almost as big as Steve's.

“I'm sorry about getting you involved in my problems again. It's not fair to you.” Harry said and walked over to the side of his bed where his schedule was. “I have class in ten minutes. I need to go.”

Peggy could only stand there and watch as the boy she had come to care about and forced herself to keep at arm's length, ignored her as he grabbed his books and walked out of the barracks. When he was gone, she sat on his bunk and stared at the floor, just as Harry had when she had walked in. She knew exactly how he felt and she hated herself for hurting him like that.

*

Harry still excelled at boot camp for the next two months and the other recruits gave him a wide berth. No one talked to him and they avoided him, thanks to his previous bullies chasing them all away from him, just like Dudley and his gang used to do in grade school. He didn't care about that, mainly because Peggy never stepped in to help. That all changed on the final day and they all graduated.

They had one last night to spend in the barracks before they received their orders the next morning and would be shipped out to their respective posts. When everyone was asleep in bed, Harry slipped out of his bunk and went to each and every person and used a submission move to knock them unconscious.

Once Harry was sure that none of them would cry out, he went to work and dislocated their little fingers to cause pain and not permanent injury. He also used a lighter and heated up a small metal 'HP' that he had carved out of a piece of scrap metal and pressed it to their foreheads above their right eye, exactly where everyone would see it.

Everyone would know that those men weren't soldiers. They were bullies.

*

Peggy stood on the dias and tried to keep the horrified look off of her face as each of the graduates with a bandaged hand and dislocated finger winced and shook hands with the CO. That wasn't the worst part, though. It was that every single one of them had been branded with a stylized 'HP' above their right eye, right below where a soldier saluted, which highlighted it perfectly.

Oh, Harry. Peggy thought and barely held back her tears. I am so sorry that I failed you.

Harry Potter was one of the last ones to be presented with his Private stripes with collar tabs and his orders.

“If I had my way, you would be drummed out of the service for what you did to my men.” The CO whispered and gripped Harry's hand so hard that a normal man would have cried out.

“They bullied and ignored me, ostracized me, and made fun of me for two months and none of you did anything to stop them.” Harry said in a normal voice, so that everyone could hear him. “You should be happy that I didn't execute them all for hundreds of charges of Conduct Unbecoming.”

The CO and everyone stared at him in shock. “Why didn't you file...”

“Your aid shredded them all.” Harry said and smiled. “How is he?”

The CO muttered something.

“Medical discharge? That's all? Not dishonorable?” Harry asked and the CO didn't respond. “At least he's branded, too.”

“You won't get away with... AHHH!” The CO cried out as his hand was crushed.

“You really need to be careful about who's hand you try to crush in anger, sir. Sometimes they can be a lot stronger than you.” Harry said and let the man's hand go and saluted. “Thank you for all the lessons on proper army etiquette that you, your staff, and the other recruits have taught me, sir!”

Nearly everyone witnessing the exchange let out muttered curses.

“Agent Carter.” Harry said and crisply saluted her before he walked away.

Peggy stopped fighting her emotions and let the tears fall.

*

Six months later, General Phillips laughed as he read the reports on the second super soldier. The senator that had provided a good portion of the money for the project had pretty much stolen the test subject and branded him as Captain America to start a USO tour to sell savings bonds. Rogers was a red white and blue dancing monkey and that just tickled the ornery general's funny bone because he never wanted Rogers in the program.

The next file stopped the general's laugh and he dove into the multiple pages of the reports inside. The unexpected first test subject had turned out very different than the head in the clouds Rogers. Potter was pragmatic, didn't take crap from anyone, and got the job done. He had already risen to Lieutenant and had completed more solo missions than any other soldier in the entire army.

General Phillips picked up his phone. “Yeah, get me central.” He waited for the connection. “I have a lieutenant to poach from the normal roster rotation.” He chuckled. “No, nothing so crass. I'm building a special forces unit and I need a commander.” “Yes, really.” “Uh huh. Right.” He gave the man on the phone Harry Potter's details. “Get it done. Don't keep me waiting.”

The aged general hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. He looked down at the black and white photo of Harry's stoic face and nodded. He was going to be the backbone of the rebuilt One-Oh-Seventh, The Howling Commandos.

*

For the next year, Captain America toured the United States and raised money for the war effort and entertained the crowds and thousands of children. He did a fantastic job with it and everyone loved him. His presence sparked an entire media franchise that consisted of films, comic books, television spots, and Halloween costumes.

Meanwhile, Captain Potter led the Howling Commandos on raid after raid behind enemy lines. He fit in well with the men of the platoon, because all of them were troublemakers and thought the rules of conduct were just guidelines. They were all pragmatic, didn't take crap from anyone, and no one survived if they crossed one of them.

General Phillips loved having direct command over them and didn't bother worrying over the constant problems that Dr. Erskine and Howard Stark had trying to duplicate the original experiment. The last two attempts resulted in the test subject getting violently sick, mutated their bodies, and they lost all their hair. It was like cancer, only it didn't kill them. They also went a little crazy and had to be disposed of.

Agent Peggy Carter kept her word and stayed with General Phillips to watch over Harry, except for the fact that she was continually disillusioned about how the soft spoken and scared little boy had changed so fundamentally and became a merciless killer. She also knew it was her fault and she berated herself every night over it.

The Howling Commandos eventually discovered the Third Reich's science division called Hydra and started raiding them for advanced weapons, vehicles, and munitions. To say that the soldiers in that platoon loved their jobs was a severe understatement. The more powerful they became, the more missions they completed.

Needless to say, they eventually came upon a weapons facility that wasn't on any maps. When they raided it with their stolen tanks and weapons, the enemy was easily overrun and they found a large plane being loaded with biological weapons and a lab where a glowing blue cube was being used as a power source to charge advanced weapons.

The fighting didn't last long, probably because the main bad guy named Johann Schmidt, wasn't there. A quick demolitions job later, the factory and the plane were no more and the science guys hacked the communications and tracked the other hidden bases.

Less than a year later and the loss of the Tesseract to the Allied Forces, Hydra was in ruins, the Nazis were routed back to Germany, and millions of internment camp prisoners had been freed. The entire war effort culminated into a huge push by the Allied Forces through Europe that was led by the Howling Commandos.

The bootleg film of Captain Potter storming Hitler's bunker and putting a bullet into the dictator's forehead, was a favorite of everyone in the world.

They had won the war.

*

“You know, Congress is trying to claim your shield is a national treasure and they want to put it into the Smithsonian Archives.” James Dugan said with a laugh and chugged a beer.

Harry laughed and clinked his glass against the bottom of his friend's. “They'll get this thing from me over my dead body. It's saved all of us more times than we can count!”

“Here, here!” Bucky said and raised his glass. “Three cheers for the shield!”

“Hurray!” “Hurray!” “HURRAY!”

The entire bar laughed and everyone applauded.

“The shield humbly thanks you.” Harry said and lifted it up to pretend it bowed to everyone, which made everyone laugh.

“Well, this is it.” Gabe Jones said. “What the hell are we going to do now?”

All of the platoon looked a little sad.

“We retire.” Harry said and everyone looked over at him. “How many times have we refused shore leave or to be rotated out from the front during the last few years?”

“More times than we can count.” James Dugan said.

“That's not much! You can't count!” Bucky shouted and they all laughed.

“We accept reserve commissions and leave active service. We can actually rest and relax for a while.” Harry said, warming up to the idea. “With the way the armed forces are ramping down after wartime production...”

“They have more soldiers than they know what to do with them.” Gabe said and smiled. “You know, I always did want to visit Mount Rushmore.”

“Dammit, Jones! I told you a hundred times that they DON'T have a whorehouse there!” James Dugan exclaimed.

“BAHAHAHA!” All the guys laughed, except for Harry Potter. They all knew he enlisted when he was 17 and now he was 20. He never told them that he had actually been seven when he was drafted and now he was only ten. On the plus side, he was taller and had more muscles than Steve Rogers.

The thought of him had Harry laugh as loudly as the guys. He had never gotten past his stage act or been in an actual fight besides the faked ones on the stage. Harry hadn't heckled him when they had met during Captain America's USO Tour through Europe, either.

They had shaken hands and Steve had told him how jealous he was that Harry was doing what he wanted to do and Harry countered that Steve was doing important work, too. The people's morale about the war was at an all-time high and it was all because of him.

Steve was also married to a pretty blonde woman he had met backstage at an army base and they had a kid on the way, which meant Steve was about to live the American dream. Harry didn't bother telling him he was jealous of the man and only let it show on his face. Steve had nodded, said goodbye, and that was it.

“Well, I'm going to bed.” Harry said as he stood and upended his mug, let out a cheer that the rest of the bar responded to, and he walked out of the door just in time to see Peggy standing there. She wore casual clothes and they hid her body just as much as her uniform did.

“Harry.” Peggy whispered. “Can we talk?”

Harry nodded and Peggy reached for his hand. He gave her a surprised look and pulled his hand away, and Peggy caught her breath. His automatic reaction had reminded the both of them of that very last night they had spent in the hotel when Peggy had reacted the exact same way.

“Oh, god.” Peggy said and tears came to her eyes. She didn't bother wiping them away as she motioned for him to follow her. They ended up in a small hotel room and Harry easily saw the devastated look on her face.

“What do you want to talk about?” Harry asked.

“Harry, I... oh, Harry.” Peggy said and covered her face with her hands. “I am so sorry.”

“Why?” Harry asked and she flinched like she had been slapped. “You intentionally kept me at arms length when you knew I needed someone to care about me. Why are you sorry now?”

Peggy dropped her hands and shook her head. “I didn't want to give you ideas about... about...”

“About what? Romance? Having sex? Making babies?” Harry asked and Peggy flinched with each question. “I had no clue about any of that back then. I only wanted someone to hold my hand.”

Peggy cried harder and hunched over slightly.

“The very first time I tried to show someone that I was willing to accept their affection, you recoiled as if I was a snake about to bite you.” Harry said and she sobbed. “I swore at that moment that I would never try again because no one would want to touch a freak.”

Peggy dropped to her knees and hugged herself as she tried to stop her wracking sobs. “S-stop, please. I don't... don't want...”

“What? To be compared to my abusive Aunt Petunia?” Harry asked and she nodded. “I won't do that, because she never lied to me. She hated me from the very first moment I can remember and she made sure I never forgot what a freak I was.” He said. “Unlike you, whom I thought would take care of me. You lied. You gave me false hope. You hurt me more than a hate-filled woman ever could.”

“I'm sorry.” Peggy whispered as the tears dropped off of her face and onto the floor. “I am so sorry.”

“You watched over me for years and only once came forward to help me when I would have been discharged. I knew then that you never cared about me.”

“No! I did that to let you get an education and...”

“If they had discharged me, I could have lived with you and gotten that anyway. I wouldn't have learned how to fight, how to kill, or how to become vindictive and hurt others that hurt me, all while being completely within the rules and regulations of the organization I was drafted into without being asked.”

“H-Harry...”

“I was a child and didn't know any better. You said you would take care of me and you didn't. It's been three years since then and do you know what I've learned?” Harry asked and she shook her head. “Even though you're sorry it happened, so sorry that you're a crying mess on the floor, you would do it all again to ensure that I became what I needed to become.”

Peggy let out a sob and a whine so loud that it was almost the wail of a banshee.

“That's why you know I can never forgive you. Even if you had taken my hand back then, which would have made me adore you until the end of time, you still would have led me down the same path.” Harry said and Peggy closed her eyes. “Is that all? Are we done or was there something else you wanted to talk about?”

Peggy's hand shook as she slowly pointed at her nightstand. Harry walked over to it and opened the top drawer. He took out the folder and saw the details of a nice house in the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire county, in England. All of the information was there, as was the deed to the house.

“I assume this is only for me and you're not coming with me?” Harry asked and Peggy shook her head. “Even after your emotional breakdown, you reject me again and are shuffling me off to another country to stay away from me? Do you really despise me so much after you made me into a killing machine?”

Peggy sobbed again and laid down on the floor as she cried and cried.

“I always did want to see jolly old England again. Perhaps I'll wait for fifty years before I hunt down Petunia's analogue and see how much she likes verbal abuse and a frying pan to the head.” Harry said jokingly, which made Peggy sob loudly, and he tucked the folder under his arm. “I hope you have a wonderful life back in the United States, Agent Carter.”

Peggy stayed on the floor and cried for most of the night, because she knew Harry was right. Her poor choice at the time had only changed how Harry had felt about her and wouldn't have changed anything else, because it was all out of her hands. She felt something inside of her break at the realization that she had ruined their relationship and it was all for nothing.

*

Not surprisingly, the army was more than happy to discharge their well decorated super soldier. They had the poster boy Captain America to keep the country's morale up and they no longer needed the killer.

Harry kept all of his ill-gotten gains from the Hydra raids and moved to England. He accepted the house that Howard Stark had given to him and he was also allowed to keep the shield. Not that anyone had tried to take it from him after he broke the arm of the idiot that tried to claim it as army property the last time he had been on a base to get his discharge papers.

With nothing else to occupy his time, Harry started studying normal things and read up on everything he could. He also kept up his exercise routine to stay in shape. Just because he was retired, that didn't mean he had to let himself go to sod, assuming that he could. He had an amazing super soldier body, after all.

*

Four years later, Harry was relaxing at home and felt something stir deep inside himself. He had never once ignored his instincts during the war and he immediately ran to his hidden stash and grabbed his emergency bug-out bag. It was actually two dufflebags sewn together and they had everything he would need if he was ever recalled to be sent into a conflict.

A bright blue flame formed at his feet and Harry didn't try to put it out. He somehow knew it wasn't a hot burning flame that could be put out by stamping on it. It actually tingled a bit, then it surged up and covered him completely. Instead of screaming in pain from the fire, Harry felt a tight squeezing sensation.

Harry's mind immediately recalled the first time he felt that sensation and knew he was travelling in a similar manner and allowed it. With a loud crack of thunder, he disappeared.

*

Everyone in the Great Hall of Hogwarts sat in stunned silence, because a name that had been lost to them for seven years had just come out of the Goblet of Fire. Harry Potter. Their anticipation of the Tri-Wizard Tournament had changed to confusion, because there should only be three champions in a three champion tournament.

A small swirl of blue flames flowed out of the goblet and down onto the floor. It formed a circle and then grew and grew into a seven foot tall gout of flame. Several of the girls that were closest to the flames screamed and dove away, only to stop and stare in confusion. The flames weren't hot.

*CRACKOOW!*

Everyone covered their ears at the loud clap of thunder and they all stared as the blue flames reduced down to the floor to reveal a 6 foot 4 inch tall muscular man that wore an extremely tight green t-shirt and beige pants that left little to the imagination.

There were a lot of French whispers from the Beauxbatons students and more than a few similar English whispers from the older girls. Most of the rest were still stunned by the sight of a full grown man appearing from the Goblet of Fire.

“Harry... Potter?” An old man with a beard down to his belt asked. He held a piece of odd colored paper with the name on it.

Harry turned around to face the man. “That's Captain Potter, senior citizen.” He said, as if humoring the old man. “Only my friends can call me Harry and that's usually over a pint of the best draft on tap.”

Not a single person knew how to react to a statement like that.

Harry took the piece of parchment and walked over to where the old man indicated. He stepped through the door and dropped his duffle bags as the two young men and a very pretty young woman turned to stare at him.

“Excuse the intrusion and the implied insult my following action will imply.” Harry said and walked right over to the platinum-haired woman and took her hand into his own. “I am Captain Potter, winner of the second world war and decorated military hero. May I ask the name of the beauty before me?”

The Beauxbatons champion had to take a moment before she gathered her wits about herself. “I am called Fleur. Fleur Delacour.” She said and managed not to blush before such a superb male specimen. “I am the Champion for Beauxbatons.”

“Ah, you're French?” Harry asked in perfect French and bent over her hand to kiss it tenderly. “It is such an honor to meet you, my dear.”

Fleur couldn't stop her blush as she responded. “Likewise, Captain.”

Harry beamed a smile at her and let her hand go before he turned to the young man that wasn't scowling at him and spoke in English. “And you are?”

“Cedric.” The Hogwarts Champion said and held out a hand. “Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff House and Hogwarts School Champion.”

“By the tone of pride your voice, I have to assume this is Hogwarts.” Harry said and shook the offered hand. “Forgive me for not kissing it, since only beautiful women should benefit from the press of my lips.”

Cedric laughed and let his hand go. “I completely agree. Only the birds need to feel pleasure from a bloke's lips.”

“Ha!” Harry barked and turned to the last person in the room. “Should we bother with introductions or shall we declare eternal rivalry without spoken names?”

Victor Krum huffed and smiled. “Victor Krum, quiddich star and Durmstrang Champion.”

“Well met, Krum.” Harry said in perfect Bulgarian.

“You speak the mother tongue?” Victor asked in Bulgarian.

“Of course. I've had several incursions in Greece and Romania.” Harry said and clapped the man on the shoulder. “I would never insult the locals by not speaking their native tongue!”

Victor looked pleased at his words and nodded.

In the next moment, several people seemed to storm into the room. Harry drew his pistol from behind his back and aimed it at them, which caused them all to stop walking and they stared at him.

“I would caution you to not barge in on a man while he is commiserating with colleagues.” Harry warned them and uncocked the pistol and tucked it behind his back once more.

The headmasters of the three schools gave him a wide berth as they walked around him and went to their respective champions. There was a heated discussion about the legality of having a fourth person in a three person tournament and Harry let it go on until several insults were hurled his way.

“I would thank you for not involving me in whatever petty rivalry you have with the other schools.” Harry said and showed him his parchment. “As far as this is concerned, I am under an unnamed school. Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hogwarts do not have any kind of advantage in the upcoming tournament that I am also a participant of.”

“You're not fighting against that?” A greasy-haired man asked, clearly surprised.

“I was summoned here by some unknown means, so I am obviously bound to compete. Whatever rules have been instated, I seemed to have qualified already.” Harry said with a shrug. “I suppose I should try and find some kind of compatible school.”

“No, that's quite alright, my boy.” The man with the long beard stated. “I'm sure that Hogwarts will be more than suitable to... URK!”

Harry grasped the man by the throat and lifted him up. “You wouldn't dare suggest that your own school would have two chances to win by suggesting that I enrol here, would you?”

“Let him go!” An elderly woman and the greasy-haired man said as one and raised sticks to point them at Harry.

Harry chuckled and dropped the elderly man. “My point has been made. I will not participate on behalf of this school any more than I would participate for the other two schools.”

The tall French woman and the dark haired man both nodded in agreement.

The old man coughed several times. “You... must have... a school... to represent.”

“Are there any other English schools?” Harry asked and everyone shook their heads. “Then I request a list of schools that are eligible. I will choose one at random and I will represent that school.”

The tall French woman and the dark-haired man opened their mouths to protest.

“None of the three already chosen are eligible.” Harry said and they nodded. “I will need accommodations for the night, if not for the entire tournament, however long that may be.”

“It's all year.” The elderly woman said, her mouth pursed as if she had sucked on a lemon.

Harry looked at the other two champions and back at her. “I sincerely hope that proper meals will be provided for our dietary needs.”

Both Fleur and Victor looked pleased at Harry's words.

“The kitchen staff have been made aware of the different dishes to prepare.” The woman said.

“Excellent.” Harry said. “I expect a hearty American breakfast with appropriate lunch and supper meals to compensate.”

“But, you're British.” The woman said, confused.

“I've had the accent since I was a child; but, I grew up in America.” Harry informed her. “I pray that you do not disappoint a visitor's expectations.”

The woman let out a sigh. “I canno' be promising tha', lad.”

Harry chuckled and spoke in perfect Scottish. “Oi! Wee lass be flagging on 'er charges!”

Minerva couldn't stop her laugh and responded in kind. “You mus' be expectin' a good beltin' teh yah backside, are yeh?”

Harry laughed. “Only if yer hand's be as firm as a strap! Me ass can' take nothin' less!”

Minerva laughed and shook her head. “I won' be askin' how you've learned the language of me homeland.”

“Studying the most interestin' languages I had access to, lass! There be no better reason.”

“Aye, I agree.” Minerva said and switched back to English as she held a hand out to him. “I am Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. It's nice to finally meet you, Mister Potter.”

“It's Captain Potter.” Harry said and took her hand, then he bent over and kissed it. “Both active and reserve commissions. It's a pleasure to meet a proper Scottish lass.”

Minerva blushed a little and nodded. “I'll have one of the house elves clear out one of the guest suites for you and I'll have a school list prepared for you by the morning.”

“Thank you, Madam McGonagall.” Harry said and let her hand go. “If there is a library handy, I'll head there to wait until my room is ready.”

“Of course. Mister Diggory? Can you show Mister Potter the way? An hour should be sufficient.”

“No problem, Professor.” Cedric said and motioned for Harry to follow him. “It's not that far.”

“Thanks, mate.” Harry said and followed him out of the back room after picking up his bug-out bag. When they were alone in the hallway heading towards the library, he spoke. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. We're fellow champions.” Cedric said.

“Where am I?” Harry asked.

Cedric stumbled a bit and then laughed. “Of course you wouldn't know.” He said and then explained where they were, what they were, and what was going on.

Harry was stunned. Not only was he a super soldier, he was also a wizard. He put a hand on Cedric's shoulder when they reached the library. “Thank you for telling me and not leaving me in the dark like the adults did, Cedric.”

Cedric looked startled at the thanks, then he smiled. “I'm a Hufflepuff. Friendship and loyalty is our specialty.”

“HA!” Harry barked. “I look forward to future talks with you.”

“Same here.” Cedric said. “Goodnight and I'll see you at breakfast.”

Harry nodded and entered the library. Since nearly everyone had been at the unveiling of the champions, they had gone back to their common rooms and Harry was pretty much all alone in the library. He saw the stern face of the librarian and walked over to her.

“Fair maiden, I am but a babe in the woods in such an establishment. Could I implore you for guidance? I would hate to annoy you or cause you distress by not knowing what I was doing.”

Madam Pince blinked her eyes at the handsome man for several seconds, then she realized he had asked her for her help. “What can I do for you?”

“I just learned that I am a wizard. Can you guide me to the beginnings and point to where I can go from there?” Harry asked her.

Madam Pince nodded and stood to lead him over to the copies of the first year textbooks. “I suggest you concentrate on the Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts schoolbooks. The others you can pick up at your leisure.”

Harry stared at them for a moment before he turned to her and smiled. “Thank you for your help, madam. I appreciate it.”

Madam Pince smiled at the thanks and returned to her desk. Harry picked up the suggested books and sat down at the closest desk. Thanks to his enhanced memory, he flipped through the three books in only half an hour and had memorized them. With them as a basis, he went back to the shelf and started on the other first year course books.

When the hour was up, Harry put the books back and left the library. He didn't miss the librarian's pleased smile at how he had treated the books and that he had returned them to their proper shelves. He reached the Entrance Hall and realized that he had no idea where to go now.

“I need a house elf.” Harry said and a little grey being that was barely three feet tall appeared. It had large floppy ears and wore a tea towel with an embossed 'H' on the front. “I'm sorry to bother you. Can you tell me if my room is ready yet and where it is?”

“Its be ready and Jinky be showing youse.” The house elf said and trotted off at a fast pace.

Harry followed it up to the fifth floor to a locked door. The creature handed him a key and waved at the door and disappeared. Harry chuckled and unlocked the door and stepped inside as he put the key into his pocket. It was a nice room and he put his bag down beside the bed and saw there was an attached bathroom. After a quick shower, Harry climbed into bed and went right to sleep.

*

Albus Dumbledore was both happy and terrified that his plan to hoodwink the Goblet of Fire into finding Harry Potter had worked. He had expected a pile of bones, however. The boy had been missing and declared dead seven years ago and the entire wizarding world mourned his loss.

Harry's relatives on the other hand, had thrown a celebration party and a mob of upset wizards had quickly taken care of that little problem. The headmaster sighed at that memory because the intricate wards that he had put into place to protect those muggles had been non-existent. His belief that family would take care of family was apparently misplaced in the Dursley household.

Albus looked over at his empty shelf and lamented destroying his tracking devices years ago. It wasn't like he needed the shelf space and he should have kept them, if only for remembrance sake. He just didn't want to keep being reminded of his failings every time he turned his head, not realizing the empty shelf did the exact same thing.

On the plus side, Voldemort's followers had gone almost completely silent when word of Harry's death had spread far and wide. With the savior of the wizarding world gone, they seemed to lose the will to cause mayhem and chaos. The shade of Voldemort had remained in Albania and hadn't done more than possess the local animals.

Would the prophecy become active again with this man-sized Harry Potter here? Albus asked himself and his phoenix Fawkes let out a trill of sadness. “Yes, my friend. I don't know what to do about the situation.”

Fawkes made an inquiring sound.

“Hmm, check the Hall of Prophecy? That's a good idea.” Albus said and stood. “I just hope my old acquaintance still has his penchant for working late after all these years.”

Fawkes hopped from his perch and landed on the old man's arm. They flamed away to the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries.

*

“Do you think that's really Harry Potter?” Ginny Weasley asked her older brother when the subject of their conversation entered the Great Hall.

“He has to be.” Ron said and kept eating.

“The Goblet of Fire is a powerful magical artifact.” Angelina said from several seats down. “Harry's name came out of the goblet and then he did as well. If it's not him, then he couldn't be here.”

Ginny nodded and turned her head to stare at the man as he went to the Hufflepuff table and sat beside Cedric. Her expectations of meeting the boy-who-lived and marrying him when she was older, had been destroyed when she was six years old. She had never really given that up, even knowing that he was dead, and now he was back.

“I suggest you don't embarrass yourself, Ginny.” Katie Bell said and glanced around. “A lot of others have set their sights on him.”

“Not you?” Alicia asked with a smirk.

“I wouldn't mind a snog or two... and maybe a little more.” Katie said with a slight blush. “I doubt a grown man would want to date a fifteen year old girl, though.”

“And you think sixteen and seventeen make that big of a difference?” Angelina asked with a soft laugh.

“Well... no, but...” Katie stopped talking when Professor McGonagall walked past her and watched as their Head of House gave Harry a sheet of parchment, then the two seemed to put their heads together and had a conversation. “What do you think that's about?”

“Probably McGonagall trying to get Harry to sit with us at her House table.” Ron suggested.

“That or what classes he'll attend.” Fred said as he stared at them. “She just mentioned a wand.”

“You're reading her lips?” Angelina asked, surprised.

“Hey, he's not just another pretty face.” George said and pointed at his identical twin. “Oh, wait! Yes, he is!”

That made most of the students at the Griffindor table laugh.

“Look at that! He's doing the hand kiss thing!” Alicia harshly whispered. “Is McGonagall blushing?”

“Suave.” Fred and George said at the same time. Anything that could made the older woman react was impressive in their opinion.

“And there he goes.” Katie whispered and nearly everyone's eyes watched as Harry Potter strode out of the Great Hall with a purpose. “Where did he find pants tight enough to hug his sexy butt like that?”

The other girls around the table blushed, because they had been staring at the exact same thing. They would have also been thoroughly embarrassed if they knew that Harry could easily hear everything they had said.

A flight of owls entered the Great Hall through the upper windows to make their deliveries and Katie accepted the Daily Prophet newspaper. Her eyes widened at the headline and the blasphemous article below it. She immediately thought she would never show it to Harry, because it was one of the worst slandering pieces of filth she had ever read.

By the looks of dread on the faces of the other members of the quiddich team, they thought the same thing.

*

Harry stared at the creature across the desk inside Gringotts bank. “You want my blood.”

“It's the only way to prove you really are the last Potter.” The goblin barked and glared at him. “You're lucky that we haven't ejected you for the ridiculous claim as soon as you made it.” He waved at Harry's height. “You are obviously not 14 years old.”

Harry glared right back. “I was experimented on when I was seven and aged up ten years. It's been seven years since then and I've fully grown up.”

The goblin laughed and it sounded like a growl. “Even with your key, you need blood to confirm it.”

Harry thought about it and then nodded. “If you agree to destroy the blood and the parchment afterwards, I will give up a single drop of blood.”

The goblin nodded and handed over a knife and a piece of enchanted parchment.

“I have my own knife, thanks.” Harry said and reached down into a pocket of his fatigues and pulled out a foot long Bowie knife that made the goblin's eyes widen.

“That's a muggle warrior's blade.” The goblin said.

“It's been bloodied by the deaths of hundreds of enemies.” Harry said and used the point of the knife to press very hard into the tip of his index finger.

The goblin stared at how difficult it was for a single drop of blood to be extracted. When it touched the parchment, Harry Potter's full name appeared and then his parents and his father's parents.

“It only tracks magical blood, nothing else.” The goblin said in explanation. He copied down the information and waved a hand at the original. It burst into flames and took almost a full minute to burn up. He glanced at Harry and didn't comment that it should have burned up instantly.

“What's next?” Harry asked.

“Next we reclaim all of the gold, properties, and businesses that were confiscated and claimed by the Ministry after your death.” The goblin said with a tooth-bearing grin. “The fight to get everything back will be glorious.”

Harry barked a laugh and nodded. “Agreed. Take them for everything they have, plus interest that all of those assets should have gathered after seven years under your care.”

The goblin laughed, too. “And any businesses and farms bought and sold since then?”

“If they can't pay the money and compensation owed, take it over and ruin them financially and publicly. They knowingly stole and profited from the saviour of the wizarding world and from my family. Even if I was declared dead, it should have been locked down and placed into receivership to be held by your people until such time that someone comes to claim it, just like after my parents died.”

The goblin nodded and made note of the ruthlessness of the Potter heir. “You also have documentation claiming you are of age?”

Harry handed over the papers and things he had. That the dates didn't make sense didn't matter to the goblin. He copied everything, including the army service records and medals, and handed them back.

“It will be a pleasure working with you.” Harry said and reached across the desk to shake the goblin's hand. “Good hunting.”

The goblin stared at their clasped hands for a moment, then grinned. “I get three percent of all proceeds. It will be a slaughter!”

Both Harry and the goblin laughed.

*

Ollivander stared at the man that entered his shop. He had been too stunned by the strong magical presence to do his normal scare tactic, not that doing so would have been wise with the current client. He felt that trying anything untoward with Mister Potter would end with his death.

“Let's find you a suitable wand, Mister Potter.” Ollivander said without preamble and the first wand he tried was the holly and phoenix feather one that Dumbledore had told him to keep aside years ago. He knew it was the brother wand to Voldemort's and wasn't that a neat bit of trivia to keep to oneself.

How unfortunate that it barely reacted.

Ollivander's eyes went to the man's forehead and there was no scar. He also didn't wear glasses or looked much like his father. Whatever had happened to the boy, it had changed him fundamentally.

It took half an hour and twenty five wands before an Elm and Dragon Heartstring wand shot out golden sparks like a road flare. Harry tried to order a dozen more and Ollivander laughed and told him he was only allowed a single wand. A grumbled comment about not having a backup weapon had the old man smiling until Harry left.

“The wizarding world won't know what to do with you, young man.” Ollivander whispered.

*

“Oh, sweet Merlin.” The young woman that worked at Madam Malkin's said when the 6 foot 4 inch tall hunk of a man entered the shop wearing the tightest muggle clothing she had ever seen. It looked like his muscles had muscles and her mouth went dry and another part grew went when he smiled crookedly at her.

“I hope you can help me.” Harry said and handed her a piece of parchment. “I need a set of Ilvermorny robes done up.”

The young woman accepted the paper without looking at it. “Wh-what... what house patch should we use?”

“Wampus, please.” Harry answered, because it reminded him of the Howling Commandos. “The giant magical cat embodies the virtues of the Warrior and it's the House representing the body of a witch or wizard.”

You are reading story Harry Potter’s Accidental Apparition Oneshots at novel35.com

“And what a body it is.” The young woman said without thinking and blushed hard.

“Thank you. I work out every day to maintain it.” Harry told her.

Her eyes roamed down his muscular chest and back to his face. “You're doing a great job with it.”

“Thanks.” Harry said and tapped the paper in her hands. “Do I need a proper fitting or is that handled with magic?”

The young woman let a huge smile spread across her face. “Please come with me to the back. Extensive measurements need to be made so that you can move in them without tearing anything or impeding yourself.”

Harry nodded and followed her into a back room with a little dais and he stepped onto it.

“How much clothing are you comfortable removing? Those pants have a lot of pockets and...” She stopped talking when Harry dropped them to the floor and pulled off his t-shirt. Years spent changing and showering with the Howling Commandos had removed any body embarrassment years ago.

Harry let her stare at him for several minutes before he motioned to the measuring tape hung around her neck. The young woman blushed and took it from around her neck, pulled out a wand, then she seemed to change her mind and put the wand away.

Neither of them said a word as the young woman used the hands-on method to gather all of his measurements. His arms, biceps, legs, thigh thickness with the leg sheath for the Bowie knife, chest, shoulders, waist, and hips were all measured with a diligence that would have been indecent, even if she hadn't groped him every time her hands moved.

When she was done with the very long list of numbers, she looked up into his eyes. “How often have women asked you out?”

“It would be easier to ask how many haven't.” Harry responded with a grin.

The young woman laughed. “Should I ask like the others or should I stay silent and hope?”

“That depends. Would you ask a Tri-Wizard champion for a date?” Harry asked her.

The young woman looked down at the piece of parchment with the Ilvermorny uniform details on it. “Oh. I just got it. I didn't even wonder why you would want a foreign school's uniform.”

Harry chuckled. “You have been pretty distracted by helping yourself.”

The young woman smirked at him. “Don't you dare blame me for that. You're hotter than the sun!”

Harry laughed. “That's a new one I haven't heard before. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” She said and then looked thoughtful. “What about not asking at all? Can we just meet up somewhere and see if anything happens?”

“Asking like that doesn't count?” Harry asked back instead of answering.

“Ha ha.” She said and smiled warmly. “If I happened to be sitting in a booth at the Leaky Cauldron tonight at around eight and you just so happened to be walking by, maybe I'll say hi and get your attention. That's only a random encounter and no one asked anyone about anything.”

Harry had to admire the ingenuity. “I'm sure I might be a bit thirsty tonight.”

The young woman smiled. “I'll have the uniform and outer robes ready in half an hour. Will you hang around here or should I send them somewhere?”

“I'll come back to try them on.” Harry said and pulled his pants on over the thigh sheath. His t-shirt was next and he saw the admiration on the young woman's face. He left the back room and the clothing shop to head over to the big bookstore. He browsed the titles for several minutes and thought about buying a few things, then changed his mind and asked if they had an order catalogue or something.

Harry bought that instead and took out the list of things that Minerva had given him. He needed a trunk to hold everything, a cauldron for brewing, and a pack of potion ingredients. So, he went to the equipment store and bought the trunk, scales, and vials he would need.

The cauldron shop was next and he bought a standard size 2 pewter one. The apothecary had the standard potion packages for every year, so he bought one of each because he needed to practice seven years of course materials and added several silver knives. He was confident that he could get through it all by the time the first task arrived in a month. He had a supercharged brain for a reason and he was going to use it.

Harry bought the last few things that Minerva thought were necessary and went back to Madam Malkin's. To his surprise, the young woman had been replaced by a middle-aged plump woman. She ushered him into the changing room and presented him with his ordered uniform. He put it on and she hummed and made a few little swishes with her wand for some reason, then she nodded.

“I need dragonhide gloves as well.” Harry said as he tucked his normal clothes into the trunk.

“I keep them behind the counter.” The woman said and he followed her to the main counter. She handed him a couple different pairs and Harry tried them on. He chose the second pair and then paid for them and the custom uniform. “Thank you. Please come again for any of your clothing needs.”

“I will.” Harry promised and left with his purchases. He needed to get back to the school and continue studying, now that he had the means and the tools to actually do the work.

“He's gone.” Madam Malkin said.

The young woman that Harry had met before came out of the office and her face was red as she clutched the Daily Prophet newspaper in her hands. “I can't believe I flirted with that man!”

Madam Malkin smiled at her. “I assume you're not going to keep your date with him tonight?”

The young woman shook her head from side to side. “Absolutely not! If even half of the things in the paper are true...”

Madam Malkin lost the smile. “I should have told him to buy one so he knows what everyone else will be reading about.”

“Do you want him to kill you like he killed Harry Potter and stole his blood?”

Madam Malkin sighed. “You need to stop believing everything you read, Miss Clearwater.”

Penelope dropped the paper onto the counter. “Harry Potter would only be 14 and can't legally enter the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Whoever that man is, he is not Harry Potter.”

Just as she said that, a Gringotts owl flew in through the high window and dropped an official letter onto the counter on top of the crumpled newspaper. Madam Malkin opened it immediately and started to read. Halfway through it, her face drained of color.

“Madam? What is it?” Penelope asked, concerned.

“It seems the Potter Family is calling in all debts, loans, stolen properties, and unpaid rent for the last seven years since he had been illegally declared dead.” Madam Malkin said, her voice strained.

“How does that affect you?” Penelope asked, confused.

“This building was owned by the Potters until the Ministry claimed it and sold it to me.” Madam Malkin said and her hands shook as she read the rest of the notice. “The deed for the building has already reverted to the rightful owner. If I can't pay the owed back rent and penalties by the end of the month, my business will be forfeited to the Potter Estate and they will own everything.”

Penelope could only stare at the notice and felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Her eyes caught movement outside the display window and she walked over, only to see a bunch of Gringotts owls fly to several of the businesses in the alley.

“It seems a lot of people have failed to keep their contractual obligations.” Madam Malkin said from beside her.

“What are you going to do?” Penelope asked. Please don't fire me! Please don't!

“I am going to send as heartfelt of a plea as possible to Harry Potter and beg for more time as I explain my circumstances of being swindled by the Ministry. If he refuses, I'll become just like you, an employee, until all of the money is paid back.” Madam Malkin said, sadly.

Penelope put an arm around the woman's shoulders and they both contemplated their unsure future.

*

Editor in Chief Barnabus Cuff stared at the notice letter that informed him the majority shareholder of the Daily Prophet had reverted from the Ministry of Magic to the legal owner, the Potter Estate. The paper also owed profit shares for the last seven years and non-payment fines of a ridiculous amount to the Potter Estate, because the business had defaulted on their contract.

The shocked man looked at that day's issue and how it blatantly slandered the person that had just served him notice that they were the new owner. Rather than try to write up an immediate retraction, the man wrote up his resignation instead. When he tried to give it to the post owl, it refused to take it. He tried three times before the owl flew off without taking the letter.

Barnabus sighed and read the notice again, since he had nothing else to do. His eyes caught the caveat about a third of the way through that if he couldn't pay, the Potter Estate assumed ownership and shutting down or quitting was not an option. He would have to work until all moneys had been recovered and then he could quit if he wanted.

His problem now was that he couldn't run the paper into the ground, because he needed the money and had to keep the business running. He also needed to apologize to the new owner before there was too much fallout from the defaming article. He thought about firing Rita Skeeter and decided that if he was going to suffer because of her, then she was going to suffer, too.

Barnabus went to his office door and opened it to step out. He used his wand and made a loud whistle sound to get everyone's attention. “We're doing a rushed special release of a two page pamphlet with a full retraction of today's front page article and also issuing a formal apology for insulting the owner of the newspaper.”

Rita's head popped up from her cubicle. “I never wrote anything about the Ministry to apologize for!”

Barnabus waved the Gringotts notice at her. “The Ministry illegally seized the Potter Estate's shares seven years ago and this newspaper is now in default of our business contract.”

A whole bunch of curses came from everyone and a lot of them were aimed at Rita Skeeter.

“Don't give me that! You all loved the article and had a good laugh at it!” Rita shouted at them and they shut up.

“That's a good point. I need you to write the retraction and you better be sincere about it.” Barnabus said.

“I don't think so.” Rita said. “My sources were solid and I may have embellished a few things...”

“Rita.” Barnabus interrupted.

“That man is not a 14 year old boy, no matter what anyone says!” Rita said and held up her own piece of parchment. “ I just heard from my source in the bank that proves the man claiming to be Harry Potter is of legal age and can enter the tournament.”

Barnabus sighed. “Rita, we can't piss off the boss.”

“If the truth pisses him off, that's not my fault.” Rita said. “We don't need to print a retraction. If that imposter tells everyone the truth or gives us an interview and we can tell everyone the truth, we still don't have to apologize for reporting a legitimate story.”

“We are so screwed.” One of the other reporters said.

Barnabus gave everyone a pointed look, then he sighed. “Cancel my previous order for a special edition. Whatever happens, we're all in this together.”

“I quit!” Someone else shouted.

“I'm sorry, Higgins. By contract, and by the new owner's mandate, none of us can quit until all owed money is repaid.”

“We have great sales all across the British wizarding world and some international sales to France. It shouldn't take long.” Rita said, a bit proudly.

Barnabus thought about keeping the amount secret, then chuckled. He told them the total owed plus the fines for seven years of non-payment of profit sharing for all those great sales. Everyone gave him shocked stares and Barnabas nodded and went back into his office. He just hoped that the new owner didn't visit to tell him how the paper would be run in the future.

“How do you feel about your journalistic integrity now, Rita?” Someone asked as Barnabus shut his office door. He didn't hear her response.

*

“Thanks for the ride.” Harry said as he stepped off the Knight Bus at the gates of Hogwarts.

“Anytime ya need us, just give us a call.” Stan Shunpike said and waved. “Don' be a stranger.”

Harry waved back and the purple bus let out a bang and sped away as it disappeared. I have to learn how to make a vehicle do that. He thought and looked at the closed gates, chuckled, and climbed them like he had when he left and hopped over them to land on the inside. Rosmerta was a nice lady, too.

Since Harry didn't have a wand at the time to call for the Knight Bus, Minerva had told him to go to the Three Broomsticks and use the floo there to go to the Leaky Cauldron. Rosmerta hadn't been shy about flaunting her large breasts for attention and to entice people to eat and drink more, so the view was quite nice as Harry drank his very first butterbeer.

Harry entered the castle just as supper was being served. “Jinky.” He said and the little elf that had shown him his room the day before appeared. “Can you put this trunk into my room for me, please?”

Jinky looked shocked. “Jinky be doing that for youse, polite sir!” He almost shouted and then he and the trunk disappeared.

Harry held in his laugh at the creature's reaction, because it was so similar to his own when he was younger and someone had treated him nicely. He pushed the thoughts of Dr. Erskine aside and how the man had retired with only two successful super soldiers to show for his life's work.

Cedric waved to get his attention when Harry entered the Great Hall and the man walked over to where Cedric sat and joined him. “Did you get done what you needed to?”

“Surprisingly without incident.” Harry responded. “It was a new experience for me.”

“HA!” Cedric barked. “Yeah, I got that impression with how you appeared here.”

“I was just as surprised as everyone else.” Harry said and started dishing up some food for himself. “I'm just glad I had the foresight to be near my bug-out bag and I brought the essentials with me.”

Cedric didn't know what a bug-out bag was; but, he understood the part about bringing the essentials. “That makes it sound like you left a lot of things behind.”

“I did.” Harry said. “Most of my larger equipment, my fully decked-out motorcycle, my APC, a 50cal assault rifle, an absolutely bulging bank account that I never touched, and ten years of packed rations.”

Everyone nearby stared at him with wide eyes.

“I wonder if I can hunt down a good army surplus store?” Harry asked absently and started eating.

“Hey, freak!” A whiny voice spat and Harry froze with his spoon partway to his mouth. “Is it true? You murdered the Potter heir and took his place and now you're pretending to be the boy-who-lived?”

Nearly everyone at the Hufflepuff table slid several places away from where Harry sat as Draco Malfoy and his two friends approached the man.

“Did you steal his family money too, you great big oaf?” Draco asked as he dropped the Daily Prophet onto Harry's plate of food.

Harry's eyes read the article in an instant and he very slowly put his spoon down on top of it. He kept his face blank as he started to stand, stepped over the bench seat, and then he stood up to his full 6 foot 4 inches of height.

“It was the Ministry of Magic that stole the Potter Family fortune when Harry Potter was illegally declared dead. No body, no seizure. They broke their own laws and a treaty with the goblins when they claimed all that money.” Harry said and glared at the idiot.

“You... you're lying.” Draco said, his pale face even paler. His father would have told him if it was a scam.

“The goblins have already taken the stolen money back from the Ministry's coffers, both the official ones and the hidden ones for emergencies, and fined them for breach of treaty and taken that as well.” Harry said. “The compensation for seven years of interest it would have gained and for the investments they could have made with all that money was also confiscated and put into the Potter Family's vault.”

“Oh, no.” Susan Bones whispered with a soft groan. “Auntie will be pissed.”

“Bugger.” Cedric cursed. “Dad's going to be in a right state.”

A lot of students had parents that worked at the ministry and they made similar statements. They all knew that a sudden shortage of ready cash was going to cause a huge problem, especially with a very expensive Tri-Wizard Tournament to host this year.

“What was it you called me?” Harry asked to get the conversation back on track and the boy took a step back. “Freak, wasn't it? A great big oaf?”

“POTTER!” Severus Snape's voice called out as the potions professor strode over to stand beside the blond boy, whom now looked very smug.

“What do you want?” Harry asked derisively and several people took in sharp breaths.

Snape wasn't used to being talked to like that and sneered. “You need to show respect to your betters, Potter!”

“If you point them out to me, perhaps I will.” Harry responded and several students let out 'ooo' sounds.

Snape glared at him. “Perhaps a few nights in detention will smarten you up.”

Harry stepped forward and looked down at the 4 inch shorter man. “You seem to mistakenly think you are in a position of authority over me, whoever you are.”

Snape couldn't seem to stop the surprise that showed on his face at the blatant dismissal.

“Mister Potter.” Minerva McGonagall said as she walked over to him. “You are causing a scene.”

“No, the cocky blond ponce did that. I just confronted him and then a second cocky ponce stepped in.” Harry said and both Snape and Draco looked angry. “Now you are here and everyone in the Great Hall is staring at us to see what great pearls of wisdom you're going to add to the conversation.”

Minerva looked around and saw that he was right. Everyone stared at them to listen and not one single person was eating or making noise. “Mister Malfoy, I recommend you return to your House table and refrain from embarrassing yourself in such a way in the future.”

“What!?!” Draco exclaimed, clearly shocked.

“You have openly insulted a visiting student from a foreign school who is also a Tri-Wizard champion. Everyone here will soon be writing home to tell their parents about it.” Minerva reminded him.

Draco's surprise changed to anger. “When my father hears about this...”

Snape put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from saying anything else. He stepped back and led Draco back to his table.

Harry looked from the retreating blond boy to Minerva. “That's it? He gets to insult me like that without punishment?”

“I believe this schoolyard argument has been peacefully resolved.” Albus Dumbledore said as he approached them.

Harry turned and stared at the man. “Mister Dumbledore. The goblins informed me that you were the self-appointed magical guardian of Harry Potter and that you abandoned him in the muggle world.”

Since everyone was still relatively quiet, they all heard the accusation.

“My boy, that is an oversimplification to a very delicate situation that...” Albus started to say before a hand like steel grabbed him by the neck and he found himself airborne and flung all the way across the Great Hall. He was grateful to have already discreetly drawn his wand and cast a cushioning charm on the stone wall.

A lot of the students gasped then the headmaster bounced off of the wall and fell to the floor.

“Mister Potter!” Minerva exclaimed.

“Those people abused and starved me for seven horrible years and it took me three years of therapy in the army to understand that it wasn't my fault.” Harry said and eased out of the combat throw to stand up straight again. “I was just a child and adults are supposed to take care of them. I bore no responsibility at all to how I was treated.”

Minerva was conflicted in how she felt. She knew that Harry was right and that it was Albus Dumbledore's fault that he was sent to his muggle relatives. She had also known Albus for over 60 years and they had been friends for almost as long. Now she couldn't decide who's side she should be on.

“The goblins also retrieved the seven years of school fees that were prepaid for my magical education and all the interest that money could have made if it had stayed in the vault and been taken year by year like it was supposed to be.” Harry told her.

Minerva closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

“If you will excuse me, there's a newspaper office I need to visit and a reporter that needs her sensationalism curbed and her hands crushed.” Harry said and picked up Draco's copy of the newspaper. “I'll be back later to correct Mister Malfoy's behavior.”

Everyone watched as Harry strode from the completely silent Great Hall.

“He... he was joking, wasn't he?” Susan asked into the silence.

“I guess we'll find out tomorrow.” Cedric said and moved back to his place setting and started eating again. As far as he was concerned, whoever wronged Harry deserved whatever he did to them.

Snape went back to the head table and sat down at his assigned seat as he ignored everyone and pretended to eat. He suppressed the shivers as he remembered the deadly look in Potter's eyes when he was told that he had no authority over the adult that should be a teen. Being told you were ineffectual was bad enough. Being told that in front of hundreds of witnesses was almost soul crushing.

Albus Dumbledore was surprised that no one had rushed over to help him up. He might not have been hurt, thanks to the cushioning charm; but, he had been thrown across the room like a ragdoll. Apparently, no one seemed to care about that and he held in his sigh as he walked back to the head table and sat on his throne.

Minerva sat next to him and the look in her eyes told him exactly what she thought of his manipulations with the Potter account by not refunding all of that money the moment Harry had been declared dead. In all honesty, Albus merely forgot about that little detail and it hadn't been a manipulation at all. He sincerely doubted she wanted to hear that excuse, however.

Everyone in the Great Hall started talking again and it was mostly about what they had just witnessed. The confrontation with Draco hadn't been a surprise for most of them and Snape interfering was also expected. Snape being told off and dismissed and then the headmaster being thrown across the room as if he weighed nothing was a shock and everyone would be writing home about it.

A lot of the older girls looked turned on, especially the French girls from Beauxbatons, and their talk ranged from if Harry was single and if it actually mattered if he wasn't. The guys were all impressed that Harry had gotten away with everything and hadn't been punished at all.

Draco was the only one in the entire student population that was fighting to not piss his pants. He actually did when he read the next morning's newspaper. In bold print it explained that because there were no libel laws in the wizarding world, Rita Skeeter, her photographer, and three other reporters were in St. Mungo's Hospital to have the bones of their hands regrown for insulting the owner of the newspaper.

*

It took a week for the responses to the Gringotts notices to be sent to Harry and he sat in his room to read them. Not surprisingly, most of them were insults and refusals, so Harry put them into the 'ruin publicly' envelope.

There were two that were actual apologies for the mistake and one also blamed the Ministry of Magic for screwing them over and taking their money for the building, which left them working day to day to earn a living and they would need time to build up the capital to correct the mistake.

“Madam Malkin, the nice older lady at the clothing shop.” Harry said out loud and looked over at his Ilvermorny uniform. “After all the paperwork the goblins and I found about how the Ministry screwed me over, in so very many creative ways, I actually believe her.”

After a few moments of contemplation, including ignoring the young woman not showing up for their non-date, Harry drafted a formal letter to Gringotts to refund the woman's original purchase price for the building to be deposited into her account and then told the goblins to work out an equitable deal for her to make monthly payments for both the back rent and to buy the building.

Harry made a similar arrangement with the other person that offered an apology, less the building purchase, and sent everything off to the goblins using the Gringotts owl they had provided. With that done, he dressed in his school uniform and made his way down to the Entrance Hall. He had the Ilvermorny school contingent to greet and to find out what kind of conveyance they would use to show off.

All of the Hogwarts students were out front to greet the visiting school as well, just as they had for the other two schools, and they looked forward to whatever showy thing Ilvermorny would do to arrive in style. Harry started laughing when the castle gates opened and a normal-looking Greyhound Tour Bus in Ilvermorny colors drove up the road to the castle.

The staff and students stared at the muggle monstrosity as it came to a stop and the door hissed open. The headmaster of Ilvermorny stepped down onto the ground and his eyes immediately saw Harry's immaculate blue uniform with cranberry trim and walked over to him.

“Your new alma matter's colors look good on you, Mister Potter.” Agilbert Fontaine said with a smile and shook his hand in greeting. “Thank you for inviting us to attend this momentous event.”

“What kind of former student would I be if I didn't invite the school I was representing?” Harry asked with a similar smile as he continued the lie that he had attended there. “I hope the scramble to roust a contingent wasn't too taxing on you and your staff.”

Agilbert barked a laugh. “Lexi almost chewed all of her hair off trying to arrange a fair lottery for the students! Everyone wanted to come, the little blighters!”

Harry laughed and turned to wave at Minerva McGonagall. “May I present the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Madam Minerva McGonagall? She's in charge of everything at the school, much like your own Vice Principal.”

“Aha! The most important member of the staff!” Agilbert said and strode over to her to take her hand and kissed her fingers. “Greetings and salutations, Madam McGonagall. Just like my Lexi, this school couldn't function without you.”

Minerva couldn't stop her blush at the sincere greeting from yet another handsome man. “You honor me, Headmaster Fontaine.”

“Oh, pish-posh! If anything, I'm downplaying it.” Agilbert said with a laugh before he looked around. “You managed to pull off a full student attendance to greet us on such short notice, too. Well done.”

Minerva's blush stayed as the man waved at the bus and thirty students and three staff members disembarked, then they shocked everyone by greeting all of the students as if it was normal to do so, instead of ignoring them like the other two schools had.

It quickly devolved into a large social gathering that had several lively discussions about the similar subjects taught and the different ones that Ilvermorny offered. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Creature Care were similar to Hogwarts. They did not offer Divination, Herbology, Astrology, Muggle Studies, or Flying.

On the other hand, they did over muggle subjects for study and one particular student was visibly upset by the knowledge. Her fairly loud proclamations that she might have immigrated if she could have had both a magical and muggle education at the same time, set off a lively debate over the merits of such a diverse curriculum with the Ravenclaws.

Minerva let it go on for ten minutes before she drew her wand and let off a cannon sound to get everyone's attention. “Despite how enjoyable it is to hear you all argue, we are missing breakfast.”

“HA! I actually felt the sarcasm! Lexi would be so proud!” Agilbert laughed and turned to the gathered students. “You heard the lovely lady, everyone. It's time to head into the school to stuff our faces.”

That earned a good laugh from most of the gathered students before they started entering the castle.

“Can we have another discussion later?” Hermione Granger asked.

“Of course, Miss Granger. It's always a delight to share differing opinions.” Agilbert said and waved her forward to go inside and motioned for his three staff members to join him. “Madam McGonagall, where should we sit?”

“I've prepared chairs at the head table for you, and please, call me Minerva.” Minerva said.

Agilbert smiled sweetly. “Then you can call me Agilbert or Bert.”

Minerva nodded and they followed the students inside. Harry Potter had already sat at the Hufflepuff table with Cedric Diggory, so the rest of the Ilvermorny students sat at the table as well. Minerva silently lamented that Griffindor was the only table that didn't have a visiting school sitting with them.

The students talked in subdued voices as they ate and the new teachers were greeted amicably by the other Hogwarts staff. Even Severus Snape was on his best behavior, which meant he wasn't scowling at everything.

“I haven't participated in any of the local classes.” Harry responded to one of the questions that an Ilvermorny student asked. “I've had too much to try and catch up on to figure out what year of classes I could sit in on.”

“So, it's true? You arrived here by the Goblet of Fire and had no idea about magic?” A very pretty girl wearing Ilvermorny robes asked.

Harry nodded. “I've spent more time in the Library here than I've spent asleep.”

“Haha! I told you that you're a Ravenclaw!” Cedric said and clapped him on the shoulder.

“You're confusing knowledge for knowledge's sake and learning to survive.” Harry said. “If I ever did go to this school to get sorted, I'm pretty sure with my past experiences, I'd be a Griffindor.”

“Oh! You wound me!” Cedric said and pretended to die as he slumped to the table. “I thought... we were... friends!”

Everyone laughed and Harry lightly patted his back in commiseration.

“How did you choose Wampus as a House?” An Ilvermorny boy asked.

Harry pulled open his outer robes and stuck out his muscled chest that his tight shirt didn't hide.

“Oh, my.” Several of the girls responded and a few giggled.

“I see your point.” The Ilvermorny boy said with a laugh. “So do Sally and Gwendolyn.”

Two glares and slaps to the head quickly shut him up.

“And that's why we won't date you.” Sally said, smugly.

“Sorry, sorry.” The boy said as he grinned at her and rubbed his head.

“Don't mind him. He's a glutton for punishment.” Gwendolyn said. She was a tall redhead with short spiky hair and hazel eyes. “I'm Gwen and the brunette is Sally.”

“We're Thunderbirds if you haven't noticed the patches on our robes.” Sally said between forkfuls of eggs. “Fiery and full of personality and enthusiasm.”

“The headmaster wanted an even mix of houses, so five of each were chosen from the upper years to make twenty and then ten wildcards were added to make up the rest.” A blond boy said. “I'm James and my best bud is Carl.”

“Yo.” Carl said with a nod of his head. He had short black hair and looked like the complete physical opposite of the blond boy.

“After you're given your placement tests, we will be spending a lot of time together.” Sally said, her voice full of anticipation.

Harry smiled at the implication. “I've only studied the local courses for Charms, Defense, Potions, and Transfiguration. I'll need a few days to read up on Ilvermorny's courses to compare to what I already know.”

“He hasn't flown yet, either.” Cedric added. “I even offered my broom and he refused.”

The Ilvermorny students looked at Harry's 6 foot 4 inch tall form and exchanged knowing looks.

“Flying brick?” Gwen asked.

“Flying brick.” The others responded and then they all laughed.

“That was my thought, too. I'll get up into the air and that's about it. I'm a bit too large to do much more than that.” Harry told them.

“How much do you weigh?” Sally asked and then leaned back. “You don't need to answer that, Harry. I'm sorry I asked.”

Harry chuckled. “If you can believe it, the last time I tried to check two years ago, I was about 320 pounds and I've gained both weight and muscle mass since then.”

All talking at the table stopped and Harry laughed at the surprised expressions on their faces.

“I told you it was hard to believe.” Harry said.

“You must sink like a rock when swimming.” Gwen stated.

“If I try to just float without treading water, I go right to the bottom.” Harry admitted. “I scared the hell out of my company sergeant the first time we did a water insertion and beach assault exercise.”

“You're military trained?” James asked.

Harry nodded and decided not to tell them about his service record. “Three months of boot and then on the job training for three years. Honorable discharge when my services were no longer required, a chest full of medal salad, and a nice pension.”

“Wow.” Carl whispered and a bunch of the other students nodded.

“Now that I'm here, I had to leave that and my nice house in Portsmouth behind.” Harry said.

Sally reached across the table and briefly took his hand. “Don't worry, Harry. I promise that we'll do our best to include you in everything.” She said and smiled. “You're one of us now.”

“Yeah, what she said, only with less clothes and a lot more fun.” Gwen said with a wink.

“We haven't been here two hours yet and you're already hitting above your weight class.” James said with a laugh. “Quite literally! Ha ha!”

“Shut it, you.” Gwen said and laughed, too.

Harry watched as his new fellow students talked and carried on. They were a lot more relaxed than the Hogwarts students and seemed a lot more welcoming. He wasn't sure if it was because they didn't know about his supposed celebrity status for defeating a dark lord or if they were just that nice. In either case, he freely admitted that he liked them and looked forward to spending time with them.

After breakfast, Harry was brought to the bus and climbed aboard with the other students to see it was massively expanded inside. Rooms for the students and staff were inside, as was classroom space and a small library. They even had a nice kitchen for when they wanted to eat food from home.

“I'm glad you didn't fill your head with the useless subjects that Hogwarts teaches.” Agilbert said as he and Harry entered one of the classrooms. “No one needs Astronomy knowledge to do mathematical calculations for Arithmancy. It's included in the formulas already.” He chuckled. “Don't get me started on their Herbology and Muggle Studies courses!”

Harry chuckled as well. “The librarian Madam Pince told me what to concentrate on as the core of a magical education and I focused on that.” He told him and sat down. “Like I told the other students during breakfast, I'll need a few days to look over your school's course books to compare them and see where I'm lacking.”

“That's another thing. I'm also glad you didn't waste your money buying unnecessary books. Even a small library like the one we brought with us will have everything you need to pass your Owls and Newts to international standards.” Agilbert said.

“Just pass and not excel?” Harry asked with a knowing smile.

Agilbert laughed. “You've caught on! Excellent!” He said and waved at the open door and the other three teachers entered the room and they carried several books each.

“I hope you're in the mood for the most intense cramming session that anyone in history has ever undertaken in the next two weeks.” The female teacher said and put her books on his desk. “I'm Helena Gravestone, Transfiguration and Potions Mistress.”

“David Tenten, Charms and Defense Master.” The dark-haired man on the left said and added his books to the stack.

“George Lightfoot, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Creature Care Master.” The Native American said and plopped his books onto Harry's desk. “We will hurt your brain before we're done.”

That made the other teachers chuckle and nod in agreement.

“And I'll handle checking your non-magical education standards and qualifications.” Agilbert said and gave Harry an intense stare. “Ilvermorny has never had a graduate that has under-performed and we are not going to start now.”

Harry couldn't stop his huge smile at what that meant and nodded.

*

The champions gathered in the tent before the first task of the tournament. Cedric and Harry chatted about their favorite subjects while Victor Krum brooded in the corner and Fleur Delacour paced back and forth while also staring at Harry. The flap of the tent door opened and the judges walked in with Ludo Bagman in the lead and he carried a bag.

“Gather 'round, gather 'round.” Ludo said amicably and waved them closer. “The task is about to start and you need to know what you're going to face and in what order.” He said and shook the bag before he opened it. “Ladies first.”

Fleur stopped pacing and slowly put her hand into the bag, winced when she grabbed something, and pulled it out. A model of a Sweedish Shortsnout was in her hand.

“Dragons!” Cedric gasped. “We're facing dragons?”

Harry cursed under his breath before he spoke. “It sure looks like it.” He looked at the resigned faces of the French and Bulgarian champions. “It also seems the two of us are the only ones that didn't know already.”

Both Madam Maxine and Igor Karkaroff looked guilty.

“It's fine. Cheating is a normal practice for events like these.” Ludo said, offhandedly.

“Really? Then I could have brought a high powered rifle with me when I'm only allowed a wand?” Harry asked, pointedly.

“Ah... well... no, that's against the rules.” Ludo said with a strained smile.

“Then you need to issue a statement about what's considered legal cheating and what's not.” Agilbert said and gave the man a good glare.

“You are delaying the draw.” Igor said and motioned to Victor, whom pulled out a Welsh Green model and stepped back out of the way.

Cedric sighed and reached in to find a Chinese Fireball, then he groaned.

“You've got this.” Harry said and lifted out the last model, a Hungarian Horntail.

“And there you have it!” Ludo said and tossed the empty bag aside. “The little numbers on the model's necks state what order you go in, so Krum first, then Delacour, then Diggory, and last is Potter.”

“Of course I'm last.” Harry grumbled.

Ludo ignored him. “Your task is to retrieve the golden egg from inside the nest of the mother dragon.”

“That's insane!” Cedric said, freaking out a little. “Fighting a dragon was bad enough and you're telling us we have to fight a nesting mother that's guarding her eggs?”

Harry put a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

“Yes, that's the task.” Ludo said. “Does anyone have any questions? No? Then good luck!”

“I have a question.” Harry said as the man turned to leave. “Are we allowed to claim the carcass and their eggs when we kill the dragons?”

“E-e-excuse me?” Ludo asked with stuttering speech and the judges looked surprised.

“I'm not planning on torturing the poor beast to entertain you, so I'll make it a nice quick death.” Harry said, to everyone's shock. “I just need to know if I'll be getting some nice souvenirs to share with my fellow Ilvermorny students and if my headmaster needs to arrange an international portkey to send the thing back to the school for display and the eggs for proper care.”

No one said anything in response, so Harry decided he could claim the spoils anyway.

“George Lightfoot is the Creature Care professor.” Agilbert said.

Harry smiled. “That's right. I guess he can handle them here. Thanks, headmaster.”

Agilbert nodded and left with the other judges and Ludo to get the event started.

“You really plan to kill the dragon?” Cedric asked.

“It's going to be a lot easier for me to kill it than trying to get around it to steal from it.” Harry said with a shrug. “Flying brick, remember?”

Cedric huffed and barked a laugh. “You're going to rush in head first, aren't you?”

Harry grinned at him and nodded.

“I was wrong. The task isn't insane, you are.” Cedric said with a shake of his head.

“That's completely and totally... true.” Harry said with a laugh and motioned at the side of the tent. “Step into my office and we can work on what you can do with your dragon.”

“There's no way I can kill it.” Cedric said.

“You're not me, so that's fine.” Harry responded and put an arm over his shoulders. “I know your strengths, so let's strategize about the best way to use them to your advantage.”

Cedric nodded and went over to the side of the tent.

Fleur stared at them and couldn't believe what she had heard. Harry Potter planned to kill and then claim his dragon. He had openly stated it to the judges as well, so they knew he was going to attempt it and none of them told him not to. She agreed with the Hogwarts champion. Harry Potter was insane.

Victor Krum on the other hand, had listened to Potter's words. When he said he was a flying brick and then told the Hogwarts champion to play to his strengths, it gave Victor the idea to use his broom. With luck, he could distract the thing long enough to swoop in and claim the prize. He wasn't the world's best professional seeker for no reason.

*

“He can still fly professionally with only one leg!” Igor Karkaroff exclaimed as a bloodied and slightly charred Victor Krum was carried out of the arena on a stretcher. He ignored the crunching from the dragon as it chewed up its recently delivered unexpected meal.

“He has to get through the rest of the tournament first.” Agilbert said. “Then again, doesn't a maiming injury qualify for dismissal from the rest of the tournament? He can't walk anymore and I sincerely doubt he can use a broom for the other events.”

“He's right, Dumblydore.” Madam Maxime said. “Mister Krum cannot participate anymore.”

“Shall we vote on it?” Albus asked and everyone's hand went up, even Karkaroff's. “It seems we all agree. Mister Krum is disqualified and is no longer a Tri-Wizard champion.”

“We will pack and be off by tonight.” Igor said and stood, bowed to the other judges, and left.

“He didn't even bother to stay and judge the other competitors.” Agilbert said and shook his head.

“Then there will be no unbiased judging.” Madame Maxime said and both Albus Dumbledore and Bartimus Crouch nodded.

“I see.” Agilbert said and watched the next dragon be brought out for the next contestant.

Fleur Delacour performed admirably with dodging, blasting spells, fire spells, and a conjured image of another dragon to distract the real one. She earned top marks for it, too.

Cedric entered the arena and was greeted with cheers and yells, which gave him a visible confidence boost. He started casting ten transfiguration spells, then ten more, and he started to look exhausted by the time he had a hundred Yorkshire terriers yapping and barking for attention. There were so many that they were jumping on and over themselves.

With a wave of his wand, that mass of fluffy fur moved as one and only five of them succumbed to the dragon's fireballs before the dragon was covered from snout to tail by jumping and biting dogs. The dragon howled and roared at the annoyances, because they couldn't hurt it. It also couldn't move around with all that weight on it and its wings.

Cedric walked over to the nest uncontested and retrieved his golden egg to raucous cheers and hollers and he had full marks from the judges, too. As soon as he was in the champion's receiving tent, the dogs changed back into tiny rocks, sticks, and debris and fell off of the very annoyed dragon. It took twenty minutes for the dragon wranglers to calm the beast down enough to remove it from the arena.

Harry Potter walked out into the arena and only the Ilvermorny students and half of the Hufflepuffs cheered and applauded. He waved to them for a few seconds, then he reached up and unhooked his outer robes. When they were slipped off and stuffed into a pocket, everyone stared at him.

Underneath the robes was Harry Potter's skin tight super soldier uniform. Surprisingly, it was the same blue as his school robes and it had the British flag on the chest. There were a lot of girly moans and squeals at how much of his muscular body that it revealed and showcased.

Harry put on the protective hood that left his mouth exposed and then he held his hand out to the side. A few people started to ask what he was doing, then the clang of metal sounded and a flying disc flew into his waiting hand. He slipped the thing onto his left arm and everyone saw the shield with the British Coat of Arms in the center.

Everyone was impressed with the sight and Harry held a hand out to the side again. A few seconds later, his thigh strap and the large Bowie knife was caught and he strapped it to his leg before he drew the knife and held it up.

“He can't seriously think he can fight a dragon with a knife!” Someone shouted.

Harry pointed his knife at them and then straight up. “Engorgeo!”

The crowd gasped when his knife became a four foot long sword in the shape of a Bowie knife.

“Let me introduce myself. I am Captain Potter and I will prevail.” Harry tapped the sword-knife on the shield to make it ring, then he crouched down as if to charge.

“He really is insane!” Ludo Bagman said.

Harry laughed and ran forward at a pace that everyone could see, especially the dragon. The Hungarian Horntail roared and blew a blast of dragonflame at him. Harry intercepted it with the shield instead of dodging and several girls screamed.

“Don't worry, ladies! The flames of passion are much stronger!” Harry shouted James Dugan's catchphrase to reassure them. “If a man can survive those, he can survive anything!”

“That sounds like something the famous author Gilderoy Lockhart would say!” One of the girls said and the others cheered.

The flames died as the dragon took another deep breath and Harry charged forward, his sword-knife at the ready. Just as the dragon opened its mouth to blast him with another gout of dragonflame, Harry swung the shield up into the creature's jaw. The clang of metal on dragonscales was loud in the arena and the dragon's head snapped upwards, which exposed its neck.

Harry thrust his sword-knife right into the underside of the creature's muzzle and jammed the sword-knife up into its brain. Two quick twists of his wrist caused massive damage and the creature was dead before it felt what had hit it. Harry pulled the sword-knife out and stepped back to watch as the dragon lost its life and it dropped to the ground, dead.

“Two summon charms, one enlargement charm, and two impervious charms.” Harry declared as he shrunk the knife to holster it, slipped the shield onto his back, and picked up the golden egg. “Headmaster Fontaine? I'll leave gathering the spoils to you and Professor Lightfoot.”

Agilbert nodded and watched with everyone else in complete silence as Harry left the arena.

“Did that happen?” Minerva asked, shocked. “Did we just witness someone killing a dragon and they made it look bloody easy?”

Everyone remained silent after hearing the stoic Transfiguration Professor speak crassly. They were all thinking the same thing. It was too unbelievable to be true.

No one noticed the Malfoy Family leave the stands at a fast walk or saw the puddle that Draco had left behind.

*

The Daily Prophet reported the first task with facts and pictures that showcased all of the champions. There was no slander from the interviews or libel in the article itself. Nothing was made up, since the entire thing was already too outrageous to be believed anyway.

Harry weathered the comments and questions from his fellow students in Ilvermorny and pretty much ignored the Slytherins and their whispered comments. The Hufflepuffs looked shell-shocked and Cedric was subdued, which was not his normal behavior. There was nothing Harry could do about that, though. Apparently, providing proof that he was a deadly soldier had changed a lot of people's opinions of him.

The Gringotts owl delivered a shrunken sack to Harry that evening and he dumped it out onto his bed. It was hundreds of letters from all over Britain and a few from France. Harry knew that the cursed ones would have been held and tracked back to the senders and he was happy to let the goblins handle those kinds of people.

Harry went through every single letter and sorted them. The marriage proposals were in the first stack, the praise for single-handedly killing a dragon were in the second and biggest stack, the lingerie photos and date requests were in the third stack, and the last and smallest stack had the hate-filled letters that weren't cursed or poisoned.

There was never a shortage of women that wanted Harry for his body or his fighting prowess. Those he could easily ignore and did on an almost daily basis. It was the desperate pleas for sex or begging to take their virginity that were much harder to put aside.

Harry looked through the photos again and saw a pretty woman whom looked to be in her thirties and her letter claimed that she was both a virgin and never dated, because she was waiting for the right man. He was apparently the right man and she didn't want to get married or be tied down because of her career.

It wasn't until Harry read it through for a third time that he recognized the woman's last name. Bones. He thought back to the people he knew and Susan Bones came to mind. She had mentioned her aunt at one point and Harry had to smile. She worked for the Ministry of Magic that was currently in dire financial straits because of him.

“I wonder if that's why she is the only Ministry worker to contact me and speak of me favorably?” Harry asked himself with a laugh and patted the stack of angry letters. Most of them were from the different departments that the Minister of Magic had cut the funding to. “I think I need to have a talk with Susan about what kind of woman her aunt is.”

Harry left his room and locked it before going down to the main floor of the castle and down to the first basement floor to use his wand on the barrels to tap out the entry code. The barrel opened up and Harry walked inside. Everyone in the common room stopped talking and turned to stare at him.

“I'm sorry for disturbing you.” Harry said and motioned to the girl wearing a Prefect badge. “Would you mind going to the fourth year girls dorm and asking Susan Bones if I can talk to her about her aunt?”

The young woman nodded and walked across the common room and disappeared into the dorms.

“What was it like to kill a dragon?” A girl's voice asked.

Harry turned to give his attention to her and saw a first year student on one of the couches with several other girls around her. “Honestly, it was a mercy. She was extremely agitated from being taken from her home, her eggs and herself were mauled by human hands, and she had been herded and prodded to perform. I'm surprised she hadn't snapped her chains and killed everyone.”

All of the girls had their mouths drop open in shock.

“If I hadn't ended her, she would have killed all of her children when they hatched, because they no longer smelled like her.” Harry said with a sigh. “Professor Lightfoot has already cleaned and removed as much of the human traces and smells as he could from their shells. It might not be enough, though. He said we won't know what will happen until he can get them fostered with an appropriately tempered dragon.”

“That's so sad.” She said and looked about to cry.

Harry walked over to her and knelt on one knee in front of the couch. “It really is sad and I'm sorry I had to tell you the truth.” He said and gently took her hand. “The Professor has already gone to the dragon handlers to explain and to show them how to do the same thing, which means the rest of those eggs are going to have a good home life and are going to grow up into big strong dragons like their mothers.”

The girl smiled and then her eyes dropped to her hand in his and blushed. Harry chuckled softly before he bent down to kiss her fingers. That made her and her friends giggle and he winked at them.

“Harry?” Susan asked when she appeared from the dorms.

The Prefect went back to where she was before and sat with her friends to continue her homework.

“Please excuse me, ladies. I have another pretty girl to talk to.” Harry said to the first years and they giggled and blushed. He let the girl's hand go and stood, gave them a slight bow, and walked over to Susan.

“Having all of us older girls after you isn't enough and you have to charm the first years, too?” Susan asked before she realized what she said, then she blushed to a beet red.

Harry barked a laugh and motioned to the door. “I can ignore that question if you can take a walk with me. I wanted to ask you about your aunt and a bit more privacy would be best.”

Susan nodded and they walked out of the Hufflepuff common room together. The barrel hadn't closed all the way yet and everyone in the common room started talking loudly about him.

“I seem to get that a lot now.” Harry commented when the door was actually shut.

“Yeah.” Susan said and waved to the right or left.

“More light, if that's okay.” Harry said and she nodded.

They walked up the hallway and then up the stairs to the first floor. They crossed the Entrance Hall and Harry pointed to the hallway where the Astronomy tower was. They were soon up the long winding staircase and stood on the parapet as they gazed out over the grounds.

Harry thought about how to start the conversation, then shrugged. He had never been very good with this kind of thing, so he took out the letter and handed it to her. “Your aunt sent me that and I wanted to get your opinion.”

Susan accepted the letter and quickly read through it. Her face flushed red as she did, then she made a cough sound. “Ahem, I... I'm not sure what you... what do you want me to say?”

“Out of all the offers and marriage proposals I've received today, that was the only one that struck me as being genuine.” Harry said. “I was hoping you could tell me what kind of woman Amelia is. By the wording alone, I can guess that she is pragmatic, stern, quietly intimidating, and probably as no-nonsense as anyone can get.”

Susan blinked her eyes for several moments and then nodded. “That's a really good description of her.” She said and handed the letter back. “When I was a baby, my whole family was killed by You-Know-Who. Auntie put her life on hold and took me in and raised me like a daughter.”

Harry kept his mouth shut and crushed his envy about it. They had both lost everything and she just so happened to have an aunt that wasn't a completely horrible person.

“She scary when you get her riled up.” Susan said with a fond smile. “Not that I tried to, mind you. It just happens.”

Harry motioned for her to continue.

“You'll never find a more caring person or more fiercely loyal.” Susan said.

“She was a Hufflepuff.” Harry prompted.

“Yes, she was. One of the best if you ask Professor Sprout, and I love her with all my heart.” Susan responded. “I want to be an Auror just like her when I graduate and I'm well on my way to achieving that.” She smiled. “She's head of the department already.”

Harry smiled back. “She sounds like a great woman.”

“She is. She really is.” Susan said with fondness in her voice, then she smirked and turned to look at him. “Are you going to become my uncle now?”

Harry laughed and shook the letter at her. “You know she would never agree to that.”

“I know.” Susan said. “That doesn't mean I won't be mercilessly teasing the both of you about it.”

“And that's the downside of trying to get background information from you. It gives you enough ammunition to open fire.” Harry said and Susan grinned at him. “It's getting late. I better walk you back.”

“I think I can tell you a story or two about Auntie on the way back.” Susan said and the pair left the Astronomy tower in good spirits and walking very slowly.

By the time they reached the Hufflepuff common room, Harry had been convinced to accept Amelia's offer to take her virginity. He wouldn't tell her until they met face to face to discuss the details that she would be taking his virginity, too.

*

“The Yule Ball is a Tri-Wizard Tournament event and everyone fourth year and up can participate.” Minvera McGonagall announced at breakfast the next day. “The three remaining champions and their dates will open the ball, supper will be served, and the gardens will be charmed with warming and growth charms.”

“Open the ball?” Harry asked Cedric in a whisper.

“We dance the first dance.” Cedric said. “Which reminds me, I better get a move on and ask her.”

Before Harry could ask what he meant, Cedric was up and around the Hufflepuff table and approached a pretty Asian girl. She let out a squeak before shouting something and leapt into his arms to kiss him.

“I'd say that's a yes.” Gwen said with a laugh.

“Harry? I was thinking...” Sally started to say.

“I'm sorry, I already have a date.” Harry interrupted her.

“Huh? How? You didn't even know you needed to ask someone!” Sally said, a bit loudly. “Who are you taking?”

“I can't say because I didn't ask her yet.” Harry responded.

“What?” Sally asked, confused. “How can you have a date with someone you haven't asked out yet?”

“It's complicated. We had a tentative agreement before this came up, so now we'll know when it happens and can plan appropriately.” Harry said. “I just have to send off an owl a bit sooner than I thought.”

“Oh? What makes you think she'll agree?” Susan Bones asked and barely hid her knowing look. She didn't want anyone else knowing she knew who he was going with.

“I can't answer that without sounding arrogant and full of myself.” Harry said and started to eat.

“So, a normal day, then?” Susan's friend Hannah joked and a few people laughed.

“None of you are going to let it go, are you?” Harry asked and all the girls around him shook their heads. He turned around on his seat and waved. “Hey, Colin! I need one of the 8x10s of me deflecting the dragon's flames to send to my prospective date.”

“Will you sign my camera?” Colin asked back.

“I'll sign that and your favorite t-shirt!” Harry counter-offered.

“I'll have it done by lunch!” Colin shouted and ran out of the Great Hall, his half eaten breakfast abandoned.

Harry laughed and waved to his brother. “Dennis, can you bring him some toast and cheese after breakfast? Colin didn't finish eating first.”

“Sure thing, Harry.” Dennis said and kept eating, even though he wanted to run after his brother to do what Harry said.

“Fan club?” Gwen asked Harry in a whisper.

“Biggest fan and his brother.” Harry whispered back. “It's pretty useful to have my own press gang.”

Gwen snorted and then laughed. “I can imagine.”

“He already sold a bunch of pictures to the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly.” Cedric said as he sat down.

“You're wearing more lipstick than Cho Chang is.” Susan pointed out with a laugh.

“It's a badge of honor and I like cherry.” Cedric said.

“Someone's got it bad.” Gwen said. “I think that means she's your girlfriend now.”

Cedric nodded with a happy smile on his face.

“I certainly hope so.” Sally said. “If that was just a kiss between friends, imagine what you'd be doing if you were going out.”

Cedric's face flushed red as his friends laughed and he ducked his head to keep eating.

*

Madam Amelia Bones was a practical woman. She had simple vices, minimal personal requirements to be happy, and she liked a good sniffer of brandy on occasion. She loved her job, worked her ass off to keep the wizarding world safe, and she wouldn't waste her spit on the idiot of a Minister of Magic if he was on fire.

The moron was slashing her budget again instead of slashing his own exorbitant salary to a more reasonable rate and Amelia had no idea what in the world she was going to do to keep her department running if she had to lay off even more of her staff.

A runner from the Owl Post office knocked on her open door and she raised her eyebrows at him. “Special delivery, Madam Bones. Priority mail. Paid extra and everything.”

Amelia accepted the large manila envelope and she could tell that it contained a picture frame by the feel of it. “Thank you, Jensen.”

“Madam.” The runner nodded and closed her door.

Amelia popped open the end flap and slid out a brown paper wrapped frame and a letter. She opened the letter and her mouth made that little 'o' of surprise at the eloquent response to her inquiry. Her approach had been a pragmatic one and she had thought of it more as a business transaction than anything else, and now she was invited to the Yule Ball as the Ilvermorny Champion's date.

Her mind raced over the implications of that and her hands moved automatically as she put the letter aside and unwrapped the picture frame. She caught her breath as a scandalously dressed muscular man ducked and used a physical shield to deflect a roaring dragon's dragonflames for several seconds, then it repeated. The caption at the bottom of the frame sent her heart aflutter.

'The Flames Of Passion Are Stronger Than This. - Harry Potter'

“Sweet Merlin.” Amelia whispered and felt herself grow excited and a little damp between her legs. It was one thing to hear about the man's exploits secondhand, it was another to see him face down an angry dragon and then kill the thing. She reached for a fresh piece of parchment and started writing her acceptance to the date when another knock came on her door.

“Another one, Madam Bones.” Jensen said and handed her a Gringotts letter.

Amelia nodded and the door shut. She didn't hesitate as she opened the letter and once more caught her breath at what she saw. It was a bank draft for ten thousand galleons, donated to her personally as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and not to the Ministry, for her to pay her Aurors, fix or upgrade their equipment, and to buy herself a nice dress for the Yule Ball.

She put the draft down on her half-written acceptance letter, picked up her quill again, and added a specific line that would definitely catch her date's attention, assuming she didn't already have it in full.

'I have already promised you a night to remember, Harry. Shall we make it two? I invite you to my home on Christmas Eve to stay for the weekend after our date at the Yule Ball. - Amelia'

Amelia smiled at the implication that he would get from that and cast the spell to dry the ink and folded it up. She couldn't trust the normal mail system for this, so she stood and walked to the door and opened it, only to see Jensen standing there waiting for her.

Without a word and a small smile on her face, Amelia handed him the letter in her hand. Jensen nodded and ran from the room like his ass was on fire. She shut her door and let her smile out fully as she sat down behind her desk, because she always enjoyed it when someone showed that they had some hustle in them.

*

The last week in December marked the end of Harry Potter's cramming session and the start of his equivalency examinations at the Ministry of Magic. They had been arranged anonymously by the headmaster of Ilvermorny and the head examiner, an elderly woman by the name of Grizelda Marchbanks was his tester.

Because Harry Potter was registered as an adult, he was allowed to sit for his written Newts in the mornings and sat for his practicals in the afternoons. Since they were much harder than the normal Owls examinations, any Newts he earned counted as Owls as well.

Thankfully, his Ilvermorny instructors hadn't settled for 'acceptable' and had pushed him in both studying and his spellwork. They even taught him how to do most of the first and second year spells wandlessly, since that was a course offered in their seventh year.

With Harry's perfect recall that let him recite answers and add his own vocational twist to them so that he wasn't parroting the books word for word, he more than satisfied Grizelda's harsh standards for excellence and he had impressed her with the sheer power of some of his spells. The elderly woman didn't bother making him wait for two weeks for his results and gave him a copy when he was done on Friday evening.

Harry stared at the perfect results for his ten Newts for only five seconds before he took the old woman into a hug and held her tenderly. He whispered words of thanks and told her that she would be forever remembered as the best examiner he had ever met. Grizelda had a blush on her face when he let her go and she threatened him with bodily harm if he ever took such liberties with her again.

After a hearty laugh, Harry took both of her hands and kissed the backs of them, then he ran for it and successfully dodged the spellfire she had launched at him.

*

Everyone in the Great Hall stared as Cedric Diggory walked in with his girlfriend Cho Chang, Fleur Delacour entered with her unnamed date, and Harry Potter entered the room with the Head of the DMLE on his arm, Amelia Bones.

The champions had the first dance to open the Yule Ball and everyone performed perfectly. Everyone joined in after the first song and they all had fun and danced for an hour. It came to a stop and everyone went to their tables and enjoyed a great meal. Half an hour later, they were all back on the dance floor and continued the ball as if the meal hadn't interrupted it.

At eleven that night, Harry Potter and Amelia Bones excused themselves and left to go to her home. Amelia took Harry by side-along apparition and they barely entered her home before they tore each other's clothes off and ran to her bedroom. They didn't leave it until noon the next day and that was only because they were starving.

Harry wouldn't open the brown paper wrapped present until that evening and discovered the invisibility cloak that used to be his father's.

*

By the time of the second task in February, Harry Potter and Amelia Bones had become a regular thing and neither of them objected to it. Both of them being virgins for their first time had formed an emotional bond between them that they didn't want to break or demean by ignoring each other.

Instead of being in the audience like she had promised, Amelia was missing. Harry went to the docks and his glare at the judges told them exactly what he thought of them, which surprisingly included his school's headmaster. Agilbert's words of protest fell on deaf ears as the canon sounded and Harry jumped into the cold water to retrieve what he would miss most.

The super soldier swam as fast as he could on the surface of the water, then he hyperventilated to gather as much oxygen into his lungs as possible, and dove down into the depths of the Black Lake. He reached the hostages quickly and saw Amelia floating next to Fleur's date and Cedric's girlfriend.

A wandless cutter to the seaweed holding Amelia in place freed her and Harry swam with her back to the surface. They broke the surface of the water and Amelia started cursing meddling headmasters and uttered promises to destroy them and the Minister of Magic for approving it all.

Harry heartily agreed and said he would deal with them if she couldn't remove them by legal means. It earned him a wet kiss on the cheek and a promise of a lot more tonight when she was done waging war. Harry laughed and said he was a soldier and would follow her orders for as long as she needed him to.

They were the first couple back and as soon as Amelia was on the dock, she cast debilitating curses at all of the judges and at the Minister of Magic, then berated them for being stupid and kidnapping the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before she swore to take them all down.

Not a single person in the audience, student or adult, said a thing or tried to stop her or be a voice of reason. Asking for participants was one thing. Forcibly kidnapping them and using them as hostages against their will was a crime beyond expectations.

The very next day, Cornelius Fudge was ousted from office and put under viritaserum, which implicated his Undersecretary, Deloris Umbridge, half of the senior members of the Ministry, and Bartemus Crouch himself in all of the crimes he was involved in. When they delved into the excessive bribes, Lucius Malfoy had already emptied his family vault and left the country to return to France.

It was just too bad that France had extradition treaties with Britain and he was easily caught and handed over. That exposed a whole bunch of other people and it just cascaded from there. By the end of the week, Azkaban Prison was overflowing with criminals awaiting their trials. Anyone that tried to buy their way out before facing justice, were quietly disappeared with the help of a particular super soldier.

*

The final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament happened, even with the judges being disgraced for their crimes that they couldn't be charged with for as long as the tournament was ongoing.

Harry Potter was in first place and he had a five minute lead on the other two champions. It was a ridiculous amount of time, because of who he was. As soon as the cannon sounded, he summoned his shield and knife, made it into a sword, and charged into the maze as if there was nothing that could stop him.

And there wasn't.

It only took Harry three minutes to kill everything he came across. Nothing was as big or as dangerous as a dragon, so it was almost too easy to deal with everything. Harry grabbed the Tri-Wizard cup and was caught up in the swirl of a portkey and landed in an old graveyard.

“I am sorry it has come to this, my boy.” Albus Dumbledore said and cast a stunning spell at him.

Harry easily dodged and batted the spell away with his sword-knife.

“The prophecy must be fulfilled and only you can defeat Voldemort, once and for all.” Albus said and kept casting spells.

Harry continued to dodge and batted away the spells he couldn't dodge.

“Come now, Harry. Your destiny calls to you.” Albus said and cast a blasting curse at the ground.

Harry jumped backwards and was hit with a stunning spell. When he woke up, he was lashed to a tombstone and Albus was brewing a potion in a huge cauldron.

“It's taken me years to dig up this ritual to restore Voldemort to a rudimentary body.” Albus said and stirred the huge thing. “Bone of the father, unknowingly taken, you will resurrect your son.”

A pile of dust flew out of the dirt from between Harry's feet to land in the cauldron.

“Flesh of the servant, unwillingly given, you will resurrect your wayward master.” Albus said and took out a scraggly rat from a pocket and lopped off one of its legs. The potion changed colors and the headmaster walked over to Harry. “Blood of the marked enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your fated opponent.”

Harry almost laughed as the old man tried, and failed, to cut his extremely tough skin. When Dumbledore pulled his wand out from his robes to cast a cutting curse, Harry stopped pretending to be captured and broke his bonds. He then tackled the old man in a classic football takedown and broke both of his arms and gave him a concussion.

Harry picked up the dropped wand and it sent out gold sparks. “It works as well as my own wand. Good to know.” He said and tucked it into a pocket. He cast a freezing charm at the potion with his own wand and it changed completely to ice. He used a sticking charm on the three-legged rat and attached it to the ice, then tossed Dumbledore on top.

A diagnostic spell Amelia taught him told Harry that the Tri-Wizard cup was a return portkey, so he gripped the large cauldron and summoned the cup. The portkey dropped them at the plaform at the start of the maze and everyone stared at the two Dumbledores.

“This is the real one. He's gone barmy and tried to create a fake Voldemort.” Harry said and six stunning spells hit the fake Dumbledore and he dropped to the ground.

Amelia ran over to them and she cast several spells on the fake headmaster. “Whoever that is, he's using polyjuice. We just have to wait for him to change back.”

Everyone was on guard for anything else out of the ordinary and nothing happened. The fake Albus eventually changed back and revealed Remus Lupin. He would not be waking up for a long time.

“The rat is an old servant for Voldemort, too.” Harry pointed out and Amelia cast the animagus reveal spell on the scraggly rat. It changed into an equally scraggly man and they discovered that he was Peter Pettegrew, supposedly dead for thirteen years.

“I knew getting involved with you wouldn't be boring.” Amelia said.

Harry laughed and hugged her, then he kissed her in front of everyone, despite her orders to never do that. Just this once, she let his defiance of her will go and kissed him back. Tri-Wizard winner or not, he would pay for it later.

*

Six months and a lot of investigating and searching later, Sirius Black was released, Peter Pettegrew and Albus Dumbledore were put into prison in his place, and the frozen Babymort was tossed into the Veil of Death with his gathered horcruxes.

Harry Potter and Amelia Bones were married a month after that and they both kept their last names. They had found the love and acceptance they had always wanted and had given up ever finding.

They lived happily ever after.

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