Harry Potter and His New Standards

* Chapter 1 - A Sign, A Girl, & A History *

The hardest habit of all to break

Is the terrible habit of happiness.

*()%()*

>First of all, let's pretend that this story begins after J.K. Rowling's 4th Harry Potter novel. Those who are alive in the end of book 4 are alive in this story. Yet, this doesn't start in the summer before Harry Potter's 5th year at Hogwarts...<

Harry Potter lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. He knew it must be very, very late at night, but he couldn't sleep. For, once again, he was debating something he had been considering since the age of four - running away from the Dursleys.

But tonight Harry was no longer young, helpless, and without friends. Harry Potter was a fifteen-year-old wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And, his room was full of things that most common people would find very extraordinary. They, in fact, would find Harry extraordinary himself. Although, the family he lived with didn't see him, his possessions, or anyone related to his kind special in any manner.

He looked around his bedroom - everything was slightly blurred in the darkness. Some of the streetlights below on number 4 Privet Drive mingled with the light of the moon cast a darkened, midnight blue glow around the part of his room. Apart from all of his wizarding devices, anyone could see that it was quite ordinary and empty.

Harry's thoughts were rather dreary and joyless. If he were to run away, he'd have to drag along his heavy trunk and carry a cage large enough to fit a great snowy owl all the way to London if he didn't want to break a few underage wizarding laws on the way.

"If I'm going to permanently leave this house before I complete my seventh year at Hogwarts, would you just give me a sign?" Harry asked out loud. He was sure no one would hear him, and he knew that this wasn't exactly a 'wish' that could come true either. But, none the less, he opened his eyes and slid on his glasses so everything in his small bedroom came into sharper view.

He wasn't really expecting a messenger to appear out of thin air and read him some sort of telegram proclaiming whether or not he would leave the Dursleys, but...

Tap, tap! Harry jolted. He was out of the bed and on his feet, quivering, looking towards the door. "What was that?" he thought frantically. Tap. Harry wheeled around on the spot and soon was facing his bedroom window overlooking Privet Drive. Immediately he felt about as stupid as he ever had for panicking when the object outside his window met his eyes.

It was a large tawny owl carrying two envelopes; one attached to either leg. He opened the window and the owl swooped in, landing on his bed. Harry didn't recognize this one, and figured it must be a school owl. He detached the letters from the bird's legs and it swooped back out the window without even stopping to drink water from Hedwig's empty cage. Professional. Must be a school owl.

First he opened the note which contained his school supplies list, and his ticket to get onto the Hogwarts Express, the school train that departed from King's Cross station on Platform 9 ¾. He hurriedly read over his school list.

6th Year Students Will Require:

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of the following:

"Looks like Snae is working us hard this year..." Harry thought, grimacing. In fact, it looked as though each sixth year was purchasing a whole new set of books, instead of the normal Miranda Goshawk textbook and ones for new electoral classes. This list had to be nearly as long as that book one he had gotten in second year, containing each of Gilderoy Lockhart's published works.

He then he grabbed for the next envelope. Harry thought it might have been another school notice. The envelope was labeled with his name, in that loopy handwriting he recognized. After opening it, he found it was a letter along with several clippings from the Daily Prophet.

Dear Mr. Potter,

As you know, your godfather, Sirius, has been working hard trying to receive his legal freedom from Azkaban by the ministry, to avoid the Dementor's Kiss he was sentenced to. I am very pleased to inform you that his name has been cleared and is no longer bound to the wizard prison in any way. ("Way to go Sirius!" Harry said under his breath with a cheery smile seen by no one.)

Sirius has been given a house as a well-deserved apology from the Ministry of Magic along with a handsome sum of 2000 galleons. He would like you to come and live with him in his new home (which he has been busy furnishing this past week) in Bolkinwick, Scotland, a village occupied mainly by witches and wizards. There is no doubt that Sirius will show you the passage into the wizarding shops walkway after you get there.

If you wish to join him there, as I'm quite sure you do - he and I will come to pick you up at 9.00 A.M. on 30 July. Alert your current guardians, and I'm sorry for the short notice. I took advantage of owling you this letter by also sending you your school list and train ticket; as you would have been receiving that in only a few days, anyway.

Sincerely, Professor Dumbledore

Harry read through the articles. Judging by the dates written in the corner of each, Harry saw that it all started with "PETER PETTIGREW, STILL ALIVE & CAPTURED - VERITASERUM TELLS ALL!" and ended with "SIRIUS BLACK - CLEARED BY MINISTRY OF MAGIC "

Just then, with a whooshing sound, Harry's beautiful snowy owl, Hedwig, flew through the window and landed on his tousled bed. She had yet another letter, this one bound to her leg. "I was wondering where you had gone!" he whispered, untying the letter. He unknotted the piece of navy ribbon that tied the rolled up piece of parchment, and began to read.

Dear Harry,

I'm cleared! Did you get Dumbledore's letter? Do you still want to come and live with me?

He could practically see Sirius' wide smile and hear his excited voice; stammering questions of altered echoes. He would probably be talking as he had when he first received that motorbike he used to love. Harry absently wondered if the cycle had a name.

We'll be picking you up at 9:00 in the morning, day before your birthday. If you choose not to live in my new house with me, that's perfectly fine - we'll return you that night. But I still want you to come and visit. If you want to stay - pack up! I've spent the last week moving in, and buying furniture with the money I received from the Ministry. I think they were a bit generous, but I took their gift to me anyway. What kind of git would turn that offer down? I think the leftover money will go into savings. I would gladly split it with you, so you could get some more money in your vault.

Thanks for all your encouragement! Send my best to the Muggles.

Sirius

(P.S. Hedwig came and found me on her own - she's a very fine owl. Oh - and I have a surprise for when you come. Big surprise.)

After reading through both of the letters a couple more times, Harry noticed that his hands were trembling and his mind whirling. It was as if he had forgotten where he was or what was happening. "I'm leaving the Dursleys.... I'm going to live with Sirius.... He and Dumbledore are coming the day before my birthday...."

Harry crawled back into his bed and took off his glasses, glancing at his luminous alarm clock. It was two o'clock in the morning. In twenty-seven hours he'd be leaving the Dursleys once and for all.

*()%()*

When he told the Dursleys that he was leaving, he was surprised that they acted as if this wasn't the best thing that has happened to them since Dudley was born. Dudley seemed torn between extreme happiness and the morbid thought that he would no longer be able to torment Harry, even though he didn't do so near as often as he used to.

The reason for this was stated clearly in visible fact - Harry had grown a lot over the last year. He was a head taller than Dudley, who was tragically stout, Aunt Petunia's head came up to Harry's nose, short like Dudley, really, and he could just see over his Uncle Vernon's balding head. He hadn't noticed so much when he was younger, but that whole family was tiny as far as height went.

"How will these - people - be 'retrieving you'?" Uncle Vernon said in his usual snarling voice. Harry was surprised at how he could sound utterly unhappy. Maybe it was because he didn't like seeing Harry so overjoyed.

"Er..." said Harry after a short pause, "Not sure." Now they were all looking a bit nervous. He recalled the last few times a wizard had come to find him. First, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid, had knocked a door right off it's hinges in the small shack that Uncle Vernon had forced his family into hiding in. This was the night Harry found out he was a wizard.

After that, Fred, George, and Ron Weasley had managed to steal their father's flying Ford Anglia and smuggled Harry out in the middle of the night, doing damages to both the Dursley's house and their pride.

Just two years before now Fred, George, and Ron returned with their father, Arthur, and blasted apart the electric fireplace when they arrived by means of Floo powder. Brick dust everywhere, the spotless sitting room looked as though Voldemort had had his way with it. Then there was the toffee... that was classic.

But, by all means, the Dursleys encouraged him to leave. That is, if you could consider grim forcefulness as encouragement.... Harry started packing everything he owned in his trunk and having to bring along an extra shoebox for his non-wizard possessions along with Hedwig and her cage.

*()%()*

At the most, Harry only slept about four hours that night, dozing on and off, but at 7.00 the next morning he was wide awake, anxious, excited, and nervous all at the same time. He couldn't eat anything at breakfast, feeling like there was something holding tight onto his stomach, clenching and unclenching it. The Dursleys were all looking nervous, but just barely hiding their effervesce as Harry was to be out of their sight at last.

He sat in the living room next to his trunk, Hedwig, and his sneaker box, two hours later. Harry maintained that Sirius or Dumbledore could help him carry his trunk downstairs, but Uncle Vernon insisted on helping him. For a moment, this random act of kindness left Harry very surprised, yet puzzled. But now he was pondering whether that was because he wanted Harry gone as quickly as possible, or because he was afraid one of the wizards would turn them all into rabid skunks if they saw how tiny and bare Harry's bedroom was. Either that or they would find their bedrooms full of leaping, mold infested mangoes in a fit of good spirits...

Hedwig was hooting, and as last-minute torture to the Dursleys, he let her out to sit on his shoulder. She peered at them all in a superior and menacing way. Harry decided to delight himself with these last few moments he spent with his "ex-family" by giving them some wizarding details.

"Well, after I'm staying with Sirius in Bolkinwick, I'll be shopping in Diagon Alley for all my new school supplies. Then onto Platform 9 ¾ for the trip to Hogwarts! I can't wait to get back and learned some more advanced magic!" Harry was very delighted to see Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia looking furious at this word, and Dudley terrified. But they didn't dare round on him when his godfather, a convicted murderer, and Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of his time, could be there any moment. Harry had let it slip that Dumbledore was very, very powerful and probably knew every spell known to witches and wizards in th world, including the illegal ones among with those that murdered Harry's magical parents. And, he has also forgotten to inform them that Sirius wasn't truly a murderer.

Harry dearly wanted to tell the Dursleys everything that he thought of them before he left, but decided against it. He just couldn't muster up the courage when he knew he'd get pounced on then pounded into his chair (which happened to be a rickety wooden one-unlike the fine leather sofa and recliners that the Dursleys sat in, he took a kitchen chair).

Just as the clock neared 9.01 Uncle Vernon opened his mouth to say "They're late", although that was making a bit of a big deal about it. Just then with a small pop Albus Dumbledore appeared out of thin air in front of them. He was wearing long canary yellow robes that looked significantly thinner and lighter than the robes he usually wore around Hogwarts. Harry figured this was because it had been extremely hot lately.

Harry's smile that had been frozen on his face since he first read the letters widened. "Hello, Harry, having a good holiday?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Before answering Harry amused himself by looking from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's horrified faces to Dudley, who looked dually terrified. He was clamping his buttocks and biting his tongue. Professor Dumbledore, to the Dursleys, must have looked exactly how they imagined a wizard. Long white hair and beard, robes, and ancient. A bit like the Muggle known and portrayed Merlin. But, Professor Dumbledore didn't always look as powerful as he truly was, and perhaps that was because a majority of the time, his light blue eyes were twinkling kindly.

"I am now," he replied. "How are you Professor?" Professor Dumbledore grinned and winked at him. He took that as Dumbledore's way of saying 'I'm excellent, thank you'. Dumbledore was very tall, still at least half a head taller than Harry. And fact held true, no matter where you were, you felt safe if you were with Albus Dumbledore.

"Are these all of your things?" he asked. Harry nodded. Dumbledore's smile flickered slightly, as he looked at the small shoebox sitting on top of his trunk, next to Hedwig's cage. She had fluttered down to perch on top of it.

Professor Dumbledore introduced himself to Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley. He took a step towards them, and they all cowered backward slightly. He held out his hand to greet them, but the Dursleys didn't make a move. He frowned slightly, then must have figured out that they were absolutely frightened of him. "Am I truly that terrifying?" he asked Harry in an undertone. Harry laughed.

"No, but their idea of magic is very fourteenth century," he explained. A look of understanding crossed Dumbledore's face before he nodded. Harry wondered why Dumbledore hadn't known of his family's feelings about magic... surely he remembered how many letters had been sent to Harry, telling him he had been accepted at Hogwarts. "This is my Aunt Petunia, my Uncle Vernon, and my cousin, Dudley," Harry introduced.

"I see. Good morning to all of you. Harry, Sirius will be here any moment. He said to wait for him...he wanted to meet the Dursleys before he stole you away," Dumbledore said.

"Okay," said Harry, a malevolent smile crossing his features involuntarily. He chanced a glance at his current guardians. Dudley had let out a whimpering moan, and even Vernon and Petunia looked a bit more panicky. This was just too funny.

A moment later Sirius appeared with another small pop. He smiled at Harry, and Harry thought it was the happiest smile he'd ever seen on Sirius' face, and he smiled back. He was positively shivering with anticipation now. They greeted each other. "Ready, Harry?" he questioned.

"Yes..." Harry replied, his voice breaking slightly. He introduced Sirius to his relatives, and he, unlike Professor Dumbledore, just nodded. Sirius knew the Dursleys were rather horrible to his godson, and he wasn't quite as forgiving as Dumbledore was.

All three, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley, were looking blotchy, to Harry's delight. "Have the portkey, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, Professor, right here. 9.10 A.M. to Bolkinwick, Scotland," Sirus said. He was holding up an old book that looked heavy.

"Very well. Ready, Mr. Potter?"

"Yeah," Harry said. Sirius gave him a warm smile and put his hand on Harry's shoulder in a fatherly way.

"Any last comments to the Dursleys?" Sirius asked Harry so Dumbledore couldn't hear. Harry knew that Sirius had been quite the troublemaker when he was at Hogwarts and best friends with Harry's father, James. Harry had inherited many traits of his dear 'Pronged' father, but not quite the mischievous way of disregarding the rules.

"Er, bye," Harry said gently.

Sirius shook his head. He had certainly grown up since his days of rule breaking at school, but the grin he flashed at him told Harry he wasn't exactly asking Harry to say something with his toes in line. The Sirius Harry had been most accustomed to was rather grim, because the most he was ever told about was everything that was going wrong, and he had to skirt along on the wrong side of the tracks, avoiding the Ministry and the normal life he had once had. Now, that he had been given a new life to start out, it seemed he started taking the happier and puckish way about it.

"Oi, Dudley!" Dudley's reply was a faint whimper. Currently Dumbledore was dragging Harry's trunk, Hedwig and her cage, and his small box over to where Sirius stood. "Do get back on that diet, I don't think your parents will be able to get a Smelting's uniform tailored for you - - that would be quite a bit of fabric to pay for."

At this, Uncle Vernon miraculously forgot about being harrowed over what Sirius and Dumbledore could do to him with a motion of a hand. He flew out of his chair and stomped toward Harry. Vernon grabbed the front of Harry's shirt, preparing to lift him up, choke him, hurl him across the room, or hurt him in any way possible... via t-shirt collar.

Sirius and Dumbledore had been deciding that they would hold the trunk in between them, Harry could handle Hedwig and the box. Quick as a flash Sirius had his newly purchased wand out and with a bang like a gun, Uncle Vernon was ripped away from Harry and flew into a wall.

"Sirius!" Dumbledore said sharply. "That is a very serious violation!"

"He's been treating Harry like that for nearly fifteen years, and that deserves a violation," Sirius said with all-over simplicity. He was glaring at Harry's uncle with a look of intense dislike on his face. Aunt Petunia was fussing over Uncle Vernon, who had clearly been knocked out, shrieking for him to wake. Dudley had taken off down the hallway and into the kitchen, running as fast as his short, fat legs could carry him. Harry liked Sirius so much right then, it was unbelievable. He wasn't sure Sirius needed to blast Uncle Vernon against the wall with the power of a wand - - but it was definitely the quickest way. "Right, ten...nine..." Sirius began to count down, looking at his watch.

As he said 'two' Harry's excitement was at an all-time high. A second after Sirius hit 'one', he felt like an invisible hook was just behind his naval, pulling him forward with so much force and so fast all he could hear was air whooshing past him. The Dursleys were gone out of his life, and he was never returning to them.

*()%()*

As Harry landed on his feet once more, he steadied himself on the ground. At this point he was nearly ready to explode from the excitement pulsing through him. He held onto Hedwig and his box of belongings he had received at the Dursleys' and looked at the house in front of him. It was a two-story stone house without window shutters, but curtains and rooms visible through them. The air seemed to be literally buzzing with magic.

Harry could hardly hear Sirius telling him that he would show him to his room, and he could just barely realize that his legs were taking him up the walkway and closer to the front door. Sirius magicked Harry's trunk into the air and it floated ahead of them as they entered the house. He followed him up a staircase and down to the end of a hallway where his room was. Sirius moved Harry's trunk down to the floor at the foot of his bed and it landed with a loud thump.

His room was on the far west side of the house. Positioned on his wooden floor were a wardrobe, full-length mirror, a desk and chair, a bed and bedside table, a small bookshelf, and a squishy-looking armchair. The curtains, floor rug, bedspread, and armchair all matched with the same deep scarlet color.

"Do you like it?" asked Sirius who now had Dumbledore standing at his side, beaming down at Harry. Through his smile his eyes were a bit wary, as though Harry wouldn't like it.

"It's perfect, thank you, Sirius," Harry replied. And so it was.

"Now, I have that - - er - - little surprise for you before I show you around. Come with me," Sirius said. In the letter it had been a 'big' surprise - - now it was little. Oh well. Harry followed him down the hallway and back down the stairs. He walked through the kitchen and into a sunlit sitting room. There in the corner sat a girl that was about Harry's age with a large green-covered book open in her lap.

Harry looked blankly at her considering the possibilities of who she was, and why she, apparently, was his big/little surprise. Arranged marriages weren't really his thing, and Sirius couldn't possibly be engaged to a girl so young. A maid! Yes! She was a maid! Sirius probably wasn't into the whole house-elf enslavement-

"Harry, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Holly," Sirius introduced. The girl looked up now and looked from Harry to Sirius and back again. Then she shut the book. Harry glimpsed the title, Dangerously Interesting Quidditch Maneuvers, before she put it on the coffee table in front of the armchair and stood up.

-Or his godsister. Ha! That was all too evident to him...

She had long, dark brown hair with loose curls that hung all the way down to her elbows. Her round, light brown eyes had some sort of mischievous look about them, but other than that she looked very refined. She was dressed in Muggle clothing, in a style most unlike that of the people Harry normally was around. Tight khaki pants with flared bottoms and a t-shirt with some sort of varsity sports logo emblazoned on it.

"Hullo, Holly," Harry said, feeling a bit timid. This was like being introduced to a long-lost relative... and that was a more strange experience in his mind.

"Hey, Harry," said Holly with a clear American accent (yes, yes-to be tortured with another American thrown in the world of Harry Potter). She strode forward and after a pause, awkwardly held her hand out to Harry. He shook it. Moments later she had pulled away and said, "I wasn't sure you'd be back quite so soon, otherwise I woulda... cleaned or... got a big cardboard birthday cake to pop out of or... something." Her eyes turned to her father. She didn't look at all like him, to Harry, but the shape of her eyes seemed a bit similar to Sirius': almond-shaped and impish.

"Sirius, why didn't you ever tell me you had a daughter?" inquired Harry. Sirius looked as though trying to figure out the correct answer to his question.

"Well, I s'pose it was because I didn't want to get your hopes up about having another near-relative. Holly is just a few months younger than you, her mother died giving birth," Sirius began.

"I didn't know that - - I... I'm sorry Sirius," said Harry, glancing at the floor. Nicely done, Harry.

"It's alright, Harry. But that's only the beginning, really. The night I began to track down Peter, I left Holly with Albus. He wasn't truly sure what was going to happen - - but he kept watch over her for me anyway. When I was caught and brought to Azkaban, Albus asked me what I wanted done with her, as a sort of 'final request' of mine, since he probably figured I'd lose my mind sooner or later... being stuck in the fortress with the dementors." At this, Sirius gave a slight shudder, which they uncomfortably overlooked. Then he continued, "I told him that I wanted her sent away in any possible direction, preference: overseas, to live in an orphanage, because I didn't want her living here... where she'd know that her father was in a jail cell out on an island, convicted of murder, probably losing his mind. You can see how the idea would torture her..."

Harry listened. He couldn't imagine what it was like to tell someone that you wanted your only child sent across an ocean to an orphanage so they wouldn't know about you. He could see Holly fidgeting slightly.

"But, when my name was cleared, Albus tracked her down for me. She was attending Three Winds Witch Academy, where he had requested for her name to be put down as a future student. He has had connections with the Headmistress for a good amount of time. He retrieved her from her foster parents and brought her to Hogwarts to try on the Sorting Hat. Naturally, she was sorted into Gryffindor," continued Sirius. He patted the girls shoulder lovingly and she gave him a funny look.

Harry was relieved to find this out - - he wouldn't be able to stand having a Slytherin as a sister, for example, although, right now, this was all sounding very cliché. Now Sirius smiled at Holly who looked at him shortly, and grinned warily in return.

"Were you a Gryffindor?" asked Harry.

"Pfff of course," said Sirius, waving a hand. The lines in his face showed Harry that he had definitely had a childhood - - and when a lot of Gryffindor pride in his youth was evident through his expression. "Anyway, she now lives here with me - - and you - - nd will be attending Hogwarts. She will be getting her school list soon, now that she has applied for her... er... elective classes."

Harry could hardly believe what he was hearing. He had a godsister who was coming with him to school, going to be in his house, in his year... maybe even on his Quidditch team. He marveled at this for a moment.

"That's great," said Harry. He smiled at Sirius, Dumbledore, and Holly, feeling that the next year of his life would be one of the best. Then again, he didn't know Holly too well, so he shouldn't have been quite so sure.

He was living with his godfather and his godsister, in their new house. It was his birthday in only several hours...and he wasn't facing the prospect of seeing the Dursley's everyday of his summer life any longer. To Harry, this was like being freed after a very long enslavement.

*()%()*

QUOTE: Happiness - Theodosia Garrison

*()%()*

A/N: Okay, I went through this chapter... long after I put it on the site... and edited it a little. Just a little...yes. I realize now that my story has, I daresay, evolved.

Bolkinwick is a completely made up city, and if it actually ends up being a place that I just don't know about... ehh - - oops.

As for Holly Black. Now, I've done everything I can to prevent her from being a Mary Sue. There's a few things that she must have inherited from her father that would put her in that lovely category (brains, for example, but she'll never beat 'Mione, don't worry). She won't click quite so easy with the other canon characters, and won't be dating one a month into term. But, not to say she won't be infatuated with one, now.... And she isn't really American, for those who didn't catch on, just raised there (as a Muggle, minus her education at TWWA). Her faults are things that develop in others' sight over time, because most of them originated in her unspoken (dun, dun, dun, dunnnn!) past. Do you want some faults I can give you right now? Yes, let's do that.

Holly Black's Faults That She Can Help But Doesn't Realize She Has All Of Them Which Don't Make Her A Mary Sue Currently Running In The Mind Of The Author, Sno:

NEXT CHAPTER: Happy Birthday to Harry! Yes, he gets a mob (well, almost) of visitors, gets to know Holly just a tiny bit better, and practices Quidditch. Nice and easy before the *ahem* PLOT is set out.