Chapter Text
Scene Collection 1
Dumbledore poked at the device on the bookshelf with a worried expression. Although young Harry Potter was still at the Dursleys, where he had been placed five years previously, the blood wards had faded almost to nothing and were on the verge of shattering.
A second device wheezed and slowed, causing Dumbledore's frown to increase. That device measured Harry's magical capabilities and it had almost stopped moving, indicating that Harry was at Squib level, almost a Muggle. Given that he had once been a potential Grand Mage, the loss of magic was… worrying.
He would need to go to Privet Drive to see what was going on.
.
Harry curled up in a ball of misery in his cupboard. Once again, he wondered what he had done to deserve his life.
"What are you doing here!?"
Harry blinked as Petunia shrieked in the hallway, then another voice spoke.
"I am here to run a few tests, Petunia. Nothing more."
"Nothing more?! Damn you, Dumbledore! You dumped the freak on us, you could at least take him…"
"Stupify!"
A thud sounded, then the old man sighed. "I shall remove your memory of this meeting later. Now, let's see… oh dear. Oh, Harry, you had such great potential, but it is gone. You were to be the greatest, the savior… Oh dear. Well, at least I shall ensure that when you reach the age of majority, your family's wealth will go to those who are deserving."
Harry frowned. Savior? Family wealth? What was that old man muttering about?
"Obliviate. Goodbye, Petunia, you will never see me again."
A crack sounded and Harry rolled over, his brain working furiously.
.
Dumbledore stood in the middle of the Wizengamot and waited for the noise to decrease, a sad expression on his face. After a while, the witches and wizards attending the emergency session finished settling down and Dumbledore started to speak.
"My Lords and Ladies, it is with a heavy heart that I come before you, bringing truly heartbreaking news.
"Five years ago, our world was saved by a small boy, the Boy Who Lived, the only one to ever survive the Killing Curse. He survived and Voldemort did not.
"But there was a hidden cost."
The slight murmuring amongst the members of the Wizengamot halted and Dumbledore almost smiled at the feeling of power caused by everyone listening intently to what he was saying.
"The curse did not slay young Harry Potter, but perhaps it would have been for the best if it had. Instead… instead it damaged his magical core. Yesterday, he lost the last of his magic.
"It is with great sorrow… that I must confirm that our savior… is now a muggle."
The entire Wizengamot erupted in shouted questions and denials before Dumbledore raised his hand for silence.
"I have personally crossed his name out from the Book of Hogwarts as it would be greatly unfair for him to learn of our world, a world that will be denied him. I would not condemn any child to a life of knowing that they could not live in the world in which they were born. It is better by far that he grows up thinking only of himself as a muggle.
"I now call for a moment's silence in honor of his final sacrifice."
Dumbledore lowered his head as if in mourning and hid a smirk of triumph.
The secrets of the Potter line would be his in just over a decade.
Nothing could stop him now.
.
The Blood Wards placed by Dumbledore around number 4 Privet Drive were a true masterwork of sorcery.
Using the sacrifice performed by Lily Potter, Dumbledore had placed an enchantment around the house that blocked owls, that hid the area from any magic user not keyed into the wards and which cast a fidelius variant that prevented anyone from noticing anything wrong with how Harry was treated.
But he had made a single mistake.
He had planned to fuel the wards from the feelings of love that he expected Petunia and Vernon Dursley to have for their nephew.
In the absence of that love, the wards instead latched onto the most powerful source of energy that they could find.
Harry Potter.
The wards drained his magic only slightly faster than it could replenish, but even as his magical core developed to counter the drain, the drain increased until Harry could no longer support it and the wards started to break down, fading away even as they tried to pull more energy to repair themselves.
The wards collapsed half an hour after Dumbledore placed a line through Harry's name and shut down the instruments monitoring the Boy Who Lived.
As a result, Dumbledore missed what happened when Harry's magical core no longer had the constant drain on it.
.
Vernon Dursley swore as he stomped in from work. The greatest deal that he had ever been responsible for had fallen through and even though it hadn't been his fault (as confirmed by his boss), he still had to take some responsibility for it.
His foul mood got worse as he saw an odd light suddenly flare around the door of the cupboard under the stairs accompanied by a shrill, fading screech and he slammed a fist against it.
"Boy! What are you doing?!"
His answer wasn't verbal, but instead took the form of the cupboard wall exploding outwards, slamming him against the other side of the hall. The same not-quite-an-explosion ripped the stairs out of their frame, sending them onto the landing. A brief flicker of motion followed and the front door slammed shut as Vernon pulled himself to his feet.
"BOY!"
.
Harry ran as fast as he could, not realizing that he was outpacing most vehicles because of the magic snapping through his body. He had no idea of what had just happened, but he knew that he'd be blamed for it, so he ran, not noticing that he was leaping over cars and even houses as he headed south through the gathering dusk, hoping to find somewhere to hide.
His mad dash came to a sudden end when he crashed into someone, sending them into a wall.
"Whoah! That was amazing!"
Harry looked round and his eyes widened at the sight of a lady in a wheelchair.
"You knocked him out!"
"I… I'm sorry…"
"Don't be." The lady smiled as she wheeled herself forwards. "I'm Sandra, who are you?"
"…Harry…"
"Nice to meet you, Harry." Sandra said, catching his hand and shaking it. "Now, what do you say we get out of here before that bastard wakes up?"
.
Scene Collection 2
Harry stared at the book in his hand, as did Sandra.
"How did you do that?"
Harry relaxed. There was no condemnation or anger in her question, just simple curiosity.
"I… don't know. I just… wanted the book."
"Wow." Sandra said, rolling closer. "Hey, perhaps you're telekinetic! Ummm, can you grab that?"
Harry looked at where she was pointing and saw one of the three juggling balls that Sandra occasionally used. Reaching out, he concentrated hard on sending an invisible rope out to pull it to him in the manner of his favorite superhero, Spider-man.
The ball leapt off the shelf and smacked into the palm of his hand.
"Amazing!" Sandra breathed. "It's almost like magic!"
"I don't have magic." Harry protested. "Dummydore said so."
Sandra paused, giving him an odd look. "Wait. Dummy… Dumbledore!? Are you Harry Potter?"
Harry swallowed. He'd never actually told her his last name.
"No point hiding it then. My sister's a witch." Sandra said in explanation. "I had the choice, but after the accident… well, let's just say that everyone agreed that learning magic wasn't a good idea for me."
Harry nodded, although he didn't really understand.
"Anyway," Sandra said. "If you are Harry Potter, then that means that you are one of the richer members of the magical world."
"Dummydore said that my wealth would go to the deserving." Harry reminisced and Sandra growled.
"That bastard! All-right. As soon as you hit eleven, we're going to Gringotts to claim your position as Head of House."
"But…"
"And we're going to work on your magic." Sandra added. "My sister was killed by the Dark Lord, but I know enough to get you started."
Harry nodded.
"And you need to start studying martial arts." Sandra added.
"What?"
.
Harry slowly went through the Katas he had been taught while Sandra watched approvingly. Part of the reason for her pride was that over the last few years Harry had learned to control his magic in such a way that, like now, he could walk on any surface, even the ceiling.
His magic could manifest as ropes that allowed him to swing from solid objects, ropes he could lengthen or shorten at will, while he could also create a shield that acted like a sci-fi forcefield or a kinetic blast that could topple a tree (as they had accidently discovered one day in the park).
Harry finished his final Kata and dropped to the floor, landing lightly on his feet, then he looked at Sandra in surprise as she handed a small box to him.
"Happy birthday, Harry."
Harry opened the box, then he frowned at the sight of the small model broom inside it. Lifting it out, he gasped as it expanded to become a full-sized broomstick.
"It's a Cleansweep Seven, one of the better brooms for learners." Sandra said. "There are instructions in the box and you can practice in the woods if you promise to be careful."
Harry nodded.
"Tomorrow, we are going to go to Diagon Alley." Sandra said and Harry spun to look at her in shock. He had heard several stories about it, but had never expected to actually see it himself.
"We'll visit Gringotts so that you can claim your inheritance." Sandra explained. "As the last of a Noble House, you can do that now that you are eleven."
Harry nodded.
.
Scene Collection 3
Albus looked out over the soon-to-be-sorted First Years, his eyes twinkling and a smile on his face that belied the anger underneath.
The inflow of galleons into the vault used by the Order of the Phoenix from the Potter Vault had dried up without warning and when he went to Gringotts to find out what had happened, he had been informed that the House of Potter had a new head, one who had cancelled the transfers.
Who it was, he had no idea. It couldn't have been Harry since Squibs were not capable of making the magical connection with a Lord's Ring, but he wasn't aware of any other Potter who could have claimed the title.
The first student stepped up and Albus pretended to pay attention as his mind churned.
He would have to find out who the new Lord Potter was if he was to have a chance of gaining the wealth of that house.
For the good of Wizarding Society, obviously.
.
Harry stared at the burned ruin that had once been the Pottery, the ancient home of the Potters.
"If you wish, Gringotts can recommend several trustworthy builders who can build it anew." Account Manager Slashblade said. Harry nodded, then he grinned.
"Out of curiosity, can Granite be transformed into anything?"
"Granite?" Slashblade echoed in surprise. "Yes, briefly, but the magic wears off quite fast. Why?"
"What would happen if it were turned into water, poured into a large mold and allowed to revert?"
Slashblade's eyes opened wide. "It would hold the new shape…"
"I want a tower." Harry said with a grin. "And are there such things as floating chairs? I want one for Sandra."
"I can have a small flying carpet made to order…" Slashblade agreed after a few seconds of thought. "Where did that idea come from?"
"Cartoons."
Slashblade nodded, making a mental note to check to see what they were.
"How long to build the tower?"
"With your idea and enough builders, a couple of days after you finalize the design."
"Great, know any good architects?"
.
A crack of apparition marked Lucius Malfoy's arrival outside Number 4 Privet Drive. Looking round, he glared at the Sold sign in the front garden.
"Bloody muggles." He grumbled as he turned to leave, only to stumble on the kerb and fall straight into the path of a car.
.
Draco Malfoy paled as he read the letter that had arrived for him from Gringotts.
What in Merlin's name had his dad been doing in a muggle slum?
"Hey, you look like you've seen a Potter." Blaise Zabini joked and Draco turned the letter slightly so that the dark-skinned lad could read it.
"Bloody hell!" Zabini whistled. "Nice to make your acquaintance, Lord Malfoy!"
.
Scene Collection 4
"What the…?"
Harry grinned as Sandra stared in shock at the large door tucked behind the main staircase. Through the doorway, another room could be seen with floor-to-ceiling windows showing the London skyline.
"It's a Portal." Harry explained. "Cost me over a hundred thousand Galleons to have it installed, but it links the Tower to the Penthouse in London. I didn't want you to have to leave your friends behind."
Sandra reached out and hugged him, then she floated through the archway.
"What if someone sees it?" She asked, turning round, then she blinked. Instead of an arch, there was a large oil painting hanging on the wall showing a static view of Hogwarts. A moment later, Harry emerged from the wall, grinning.
"It's hidden on this side." He laughed, then he ducked back through the portrait. Sandra shook her head as Harry stuck his own head through, then moved left and right, making it look like his disembodied head was floating.
"Whooooooooooooo, I'm a floating head!"
"Idiot." Sandra sighed fondly, then she looked round.
"So, the Tower is your secret base?"
"Yep." Harry said as he re-emerged from the Portal. "I always wanted to be a hero like Spider-man…"
"And you're richer than Bruce Wayne." Sandra interjected. "Fine, but not yet. We'll wait a few years."
"Awwwwwwww."