The Protagonist System

I woke up inside the cupboard under the stairs as 10 years of memories seeped into the back of my brain. Unlike what happened in canon, the Dursleys were much harsher with their berating and their punishments whenever I did anything bad or when either of them were having a bad day and took it out on me. At least the belt they used to lash me was much softer than Dudley's fists.

I sat up and took off the useless eyeglasses that had ruined young Harry's eyesight more than not having them would have. Constant eye strain had given him constant headaches and would continue to until Hermione's Occulus Reparo spell on the Hogwarts Express. Assuming that happened this time, anyway.

This world was a little bit darker right from the start and I would have to do something about the Horcrux in my scar. Since I knew I could sell bound spirits to the system, which I was eternally grateful for, I cast a small expansion charm on the cupboard and it spread out to the size of an apartment. With the extra room available, I summoned all of the Horcruxes to me and not the items themselves.

Twelve of them landed in front of me and I shook my head at Tom Riddle being so careless with his soul. Not only did he miss the magic number of thirteen pieces, since I was one as well and he was still a spirit, he had actually crippled his own magic. I could feel the malevolence inside each item, with some more active than others, since they were kept in a more magic rich environment.

Some of them were a bit odd items, too. There were the classic Founder's Artifacts of course, Ravenclaw's Diadem, Slytherin's Locket, Hufflepuff's Cup, and Gryffindor's Sword. Then the other magic items, Marvolo Gaunt's ring with the Peverell Crest on it and the T.M. Riddle personal diary. All of them were cursed as well, because Tom was a real bastard in this world and didn't want people touching his stuff.

What was unexpected was Voldemort's wand, a Time-Turner, a slightly battered kid's yo-yo, a tarnished harmonica, a silver thimble, and a plaque that was an award for special services to the school. Each of them had been enchanted and altered to hold the small pieces of soul they contained and there wasn't enough presence in them to give off more than an ominous feeling, which meant he had done them later in life, probably when he visited Hogwarts to apply for a job.

I chose them all, including the one in my scar, and sold them to the system for a whopping two million (2,000,000) Karma Points. I felt the metaphysical weight in my head disappear and almost laughed out loud at the immense amount of magic that flooded into me. Apparently, getting rid of Voldemort while under the blood wards at Privet Drive had transferred all of the potential magic he could have had into me.

Not surprisingly, the blood wards slowly faded away. The sole reason for them to exist was to protect me from Voldemort and their purpose was now completed.

Luckily, they hadn't broken or caused a magical backlash that sent off any kind of magical pulse to be detected, namely by Albus Dumbledore through Mrs. Figg and her half-kneazle cats. As far as everyone else was concerned, everything was still hunky dory and proceeding as normal.

I disenchanted the curses on everything and then stored the four Founder's artifacts, the Gaunt family ring, the time turner, and the award plaque. The rest were only normal items now, so I left them there on the floor and cancelled the expansion charm. A mental check of the time told me it was just after the break of dawn, so I unlocked the cupboard door and stepped out.

I glanced towards the kitchen to where I would usually slave over the stove to make breakfast for everyone but myself, then smiled. I turned and walked over to the stairs and went up them, quiet as a mouse, and checked on Dudley first.

Dudders was even bigger than he was in canon and I didn't feel guilty about casting a modified notice-me-not on him and stepping him into an empty cell in Azkaban. It was the real prison and not the one John had gifted to me. I didn't even try to summon it, since I knew it would either conflict with the current one or would merge them together and I would lose it.

I went to Vernon and Petunia next and sent them along as well. Separate cells, of course. I didn't want them finding solace in each other while all their happy memories were devoured over the next few decades. With luck, they'll assume it's all a bad dream and won't even question it.

I stripped the house of valuables, right down to the bare walls, just because I could. It actually looked just as clean empty as it did with everything in it, and I mentally applauded my previous efforts to do so.

With a touch of clairvoyance to find the best realtor in the area, and the deed I had found in the small safe Vernon had in the bedroom's closet, I put the house up for sale for a reasonable market price. Why did I do that? I didn't want people to question why it was going for so cheap if I undercut what it was actually worth. People asking questions was not what I wanted to happen.

I also didn't want to live here anymore, either. Despite the temptation to make it into another castle, there was no point. I only needed to wait for a certain letter to arrive later this morning, addressed to the cupboard under the stairs, and everything would be taken care of.

*

Minerva was tired of hearing about the greater good every time she asked Albus how Harry Potter was doing. She always regretted not taking the babe herself, even if she was too old to care for him properly. Checking up on him shouldn't have been so difficult, though. She knew where he lived, so why had she never gone there herself and only asked Albus about him? Why was she so lazy?

Resolve filled her and Minerva prepared for the quick trip. She just had to see the boy with her own eyes after so long, so she donned her scarf and her handbag, nodded at her reflection in the mirror, that nodded back, and she used the floo to go from her castle lodgings to the Three Broomsticks and then apparated to the street where Harry Potter lived.

It was still early morning and she suspected the little tyke was still tucked away in bed and enjoying a nice sleep before starting his day. The summertime was a good time to be a child and she imagined all the fun he must have had without any worries or pressures about being a celebrity in their world.

She heard a predatory hoot above her and she glanced up to see one of the school owls winging by carrying a familiar envelope in its talons. A smile grew on her face, because not only was she going to see him after so long, she was going to witness him opening his acceptance letter.

Minerva's steps picked up until she was close and then she ducked down near the hedge at the house next door to Number 4. She was almost giddy with excitement as the owl swooped down and tossed the letter perfectly through the front door's mail slot. Precision like that was always appreciated by her.

After a few minutes, the front door opened and Minerva barely stifled her gasp. The boy was taller than a normal 10 year old, looked well fed, and he moved with such grace that she was sure he had dance training.

Harry let out a low whistle call and the owl that had made the delivery came out of the nearby tree. He held an arm up for it and it glided down and landed with poise, then lost composure as it gobbled up the torn and bloody piece of raw meat Harry offered it.

“Oi, watch the fingers.” Harry said with a chuckle. “I'll give you another piece after I give you my response.”

“Hoot.” The owl answered.

“You want two pieces? Didn't you eat before your long flight?” Harry asked.

“Hoot.” The owl responded.

“The hunting chances on the way sucked that badly?” Harry asked with a laugh. “All right, I'll let you have the whole thing.”

“Hoot.” The owl happily agreed.

Minerva blinked her eyes as Harry brought the owl inside and the front door closed. Did she just see what she thought she saw? Did Harry have an entire conversation with an owl and all it did was hoot back?

She was so stunned by the whole thing that she stayed right where she was for several minutes. When the front door opened again, her eyes locked onto the owl and the fancy envelope tied to its leg.

“Make sure to bring that right to Professor McGonagall, okay? I don't want her to spend one more moment unaware of the situation.” Harry told the owl that looked well fed and happy.

“Hoot.” The owl said and leaped off of Harry's arm and flew up into the air.

Harry nodded and stepped back into the house and closed the door.

Minerva was gld that he did, because the owl swooped right back down to the hedge where she was crouched and landed on the ground beside her. It held out its leg for her to take the letter and she did so. She spent a moment to savour the feeling of having Harry's acceptance in her hands and the owl used the opportunity to take off and fly away.

With a deep breath and ignoring the thought to save the letter until she returned to her office, Minerva carefully opened it to read Harry's words. As she did so, her mind couldn't process what it was seeing. It wasn't an acceptance letter at all. It was a clear rejection!

She read it several times in disbelief, mostly because it had become an official response to the invitation, now that she had it in her hands. It took her quite a while before she recovered from the shock, then she stood and held the letter in her hands. This travesty would not be allowed to stand.

Minerva walked around the hedge and across the well manicured lawn to the front door and knocked. She waited for several seconds before she knocked again. When there was still no response, she glanced around before pulling out her wand and used a bit of magic to unlock the door. She stepped inside and caught her breath, because the place was completely empty and the walls were bare.

It was another shock that Minerva was having a difficult time accepting. By the look of things, the house had been empty for quite some time and Harry had only been there to get his letter. But, that didn't make sense. He was left completely ignorant of their world and shouldn't have known that he was getting a letter today, let alone what it was for.

Minerva took a deep breath and let it out, then decided this situation was far above her pay grade, even if she was the one that handled enrollment at the school. She closed and locked the door, then apparated back to Hogsmeade and barely nodded at Rosmerta as she used the floo to return to her office in the school.

She walked right out into the hallway without taking off her travelling clothes and made her way towards the headmaster's office. She knew he would handle things properly and would leave the rejection letter with him.

*

I stepped from the house to Diagon Alley after changing my appearance to look like Atlas. I still wore my t-shirt that said, 'If I was Harry Potter, I'd be the best Harry Potter' and no one paid me any attention. It was quite early in the day and only a few shops were open, so I ignored them and went to the bank. I paused outside before going up the steps and summoned all vault keys belonging to Harry Potter.

To my surprise, 35 keys appeared in my hands, one of which belonged to the Potter family and another belonged to the Black family. I made a pouch and put them inside of it and kept out the Potter one, since that was enough to gain me entrance to the bank.

Unlike the trope that was prevalent in most stories, Gringotts was just a storage bank. You rented vaults from them and you stored your money and valuables inside. That was it. There were no such things as account managers, or stock portfolios they handle, or anything else dealing with rich clients. It was a business, pure and simple. They had tellers to exchange money and people to drive the carts to take you to your vault, and that was all they did.

I presented the Potter key and the goblin teller gave it a look, then gave me a look. He shrugged and called another goblin over and handed the key back to me. The second goblin led me by the tellers through the bank to the mining carts and hopped in. I did as well and he gave me a knowing look, then pushed the lever to full throttle.

Instead of being scared like he expected, I laughed and held my hands up and enjoyed the rollercoaster-like ride. He actually looked a little impressed when we came to a stop and climbed out. I followed him over to vault 673 and held out the key. He took it and used it on the vault door and revealed a much smaller pile of gold than should have been there.

“I don't suppose you have a record of who used my vault key and stole my money.” I asked.

“No.” The goblin said and didn't elaborate. “If they had your key, they had access to your vault.”

I guess that explains the teller's reaction to my appearance and the t-shirt blatantly saying I'm not Harry Potter, even though I am. I thought. “Okay.” I said and pulled out a small cloth bag from my pocket. I waved a hand at the gold and used telekinesis to make it all fly up into the air and then it all funnelled into the bag as I stored it.

The goblin looked gobsmacked and didn't say anything as the entire vault's contents disappeared into the bag. It wasn't until I stepped back out and he started to hand me the vault key back, that he realized there was nothing left inside for me to need the key for. He pocketed it instead and motioned to the cart.

“We might be here a while.” I said and took out the bag of keys and pulled out the Black family one.

The goblin checked it and his eyes widened, then he walked along the row of vaults and accepted the key. He used it in the much larger vault and opened the door. When it was fully opened, I whistled at the mounds of gold, silver and bronze inside. I took out the other bag again and repeated the same trick. All the money vanished into my inventory and the vault was soon empty.

Without missing a beat, I switched bags again and handed him another key. The goblin chuckled and we walked on, leaving the cart behind, and I went to each of the vaults I had keys for and emptied them. It wasn't until we reached a particular vault that was full of duplication charms that I realized who the extra keys belonged to. Voldemort's inner circle of Death Eaters.

I actually laughed and cancelled the charms on everything, then stored the money and items as well. We moved on and the last key was used and the vault emptied. It was actually funny to see the look of awe on the goblin's face as I walked without being burdened by having so much gold on my person.

I left the bank and the teller looked sad as the goblin handed over 35 keys for vaults they would no longer be receiving payments for. I had thought about converting the gold to actual money, then remembered that gold was almost a universal currency and that any paper money I had was limited to whatever world I was on at the time.

I paused on the steps of the bank and thought about what I could do while here, and mentally nodded. I stepped off of the steps and out into London beside the Ministry of Magic's muggle entrance. The phone booth was there and the muggle repelling spell didn't affect me as I entered. I dialed 62442, which stood for MAGIC, and a woman's voice came out of the telephone.

“Please state your name and the nature of your visit.” She said with a bored voice.

I used a bit of telepathy to discover it was an actual woman that sat at her desk in the administration office and not a recording, so I couldn't help teasing her a little. “My name is Harry Potter and I'm here to give you an authentic photo of me with my autograph as an excuse to enter the Ministry of Magic without an appointment.”

There was no response for a few moments, then the telephone dinged and a nametag popped out of the coin return. I laughed when I read my name and it had 'Solicitation of a Ministry Employee' underneath it.

The elevator started to descend and I changed my appearance back to Harry Potter before I equipped a different outfit from the muggle one I wore. It was my Harry Potter costume that my house elf named Nanny had made for me a long time ago. It was a very fine and expensive suit and dress robes combination that had the attached cape and made me look very dashing.

Like the last time I had worn it, I had to use my minor metamorphmagus abilities to give myself the prominent scar again and I put on the fake glasses that had many other options enchanted into them. I needed to keep up the disguise if I was going to do what needed to be done here.