The Incubus Who Lived

A/N: There isn’t going to be much deviation from canon for the first few years, so I’m going to be basically skimming over them in the next few chapters and then the pace will slow down again. So this chapter is all of Harry’s first year.

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Colin grabbed his nephew before he could get lost in the hustle and bustle around the platform 9 ¾ (though truth be told it was still relatively empty since they were over an hour early).

“Slow down Harry; there’s still plenty of time before the train leaves.” The brunet advised.

“I’m sorry,” Harry replied, head still whipping around every which way taking in the funnily dressed wizards. “It’s just that I’ve never seen so many people before.”

Colin felt a brief pang of guilt at that. In their effort to protect Harry from his adoring (and not so adoring) public he and Geoffrey had rarely let Harry out of their sights. And even when they were with him, they didn’t like taking him to crowded areas where his incubus side’s natural empathetic abilities might be overwhelmed due to the sheer number of people, energy and emotions. Even when Colin had been sure that Harry’s occlumacy shields had been able to take the strain they’ve only taken him to smaller plazas and always in the muggle world. And when they had gone to Diagon Alley for Harry’s school supplies they had done it as soon as the letter had arrived and made sure to be there as soon as the stores opened to avoid any crowds.

Worried, Colin crouched down to speak to his nephew eye to eye. “Harry, if this is too much for you we can always go home. It wouldn’t be hard to get a permit to home-school you or hire private tutors. Or we-“

“No!” Harry interrupted. “Please Uncle Colin; I really want to go to Hogwarts! It’s where you went and where my parents went. I can handle it, don’t worry!”

“Fine,” Colin sighed as he stood up, ruffling Harry’s already messy hair on the way. “But if you ever feel overwhelmed, or you want to come home we’re just an owl away. And I want you to promise me if it gets too much for you.”

“I promise, I promise.” Harry replied. “Don’t worry, I can handle it.”

With a quick spell Colin had Harry’s trunk follow them and Harry carried his snowy owl Hedwig (a birthday gift from his aunt Allison and a way to make sure he can keep in touch with his guardians) as they walked along the length of the train for an empty compartment. Harry chose one somewhere near the middle of the train and Colin helped his nephew get settled for the long ride.

“Remember, no one knows about you’re incubus heritage and we want to keep it that way. So when you-“

“I know Uncle Colin!” Harry interrupted again. “I know how to make it look like I’m eating at every meal, I remember to pretend to use the bathroom once in a while and I know I should never drain anyone enough that they’d notice what I’m doing.”

Colin gave the boy a small smile before he wrapped him in a hug. “We just want you safe. Geoffrey and Allison were so upset that they couldn’t take the day off work to see you off to Hogwarts and they made me swear to make sure you’d be safe.”

Geoffrey had opened his own small gym after getting custody of Harry and moving away from Privet Drive. Though it was a small business it was fairly successful. The only down side was the fact that Geoffrey and Allison – Geoffrey’s wife and Harry’s new mother of 3 years – could rarely take personal days as they saw to running their business.

“Speaking of which, aren’t you supposed to be at work now too?” Harry asked pointedly.

A few more minutes of quick reminders and a hug later finally found Harry alone at last. Harry looked at his watch; 10:08. With a sigh Harry went digging in his trunk to find something to waste the time with.


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“Hello?”

Harry looked up from his Charms textbook to see a pudgy, red faced and sweating boy dragging a trunk behind him. Obviously the boy had dragged his heavy trunk all by himself and was rather winded from the effort.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” The boy asked.

Harry subtly probed the boy and couldn’t find any negative energy from him. He was just nervous, shy and exhausted.

“Go ahead.” Harry welcomed. “Here, let me help you with your trunk.”

Finally both boys were settled in and sitting comfortably across each other.

“Thanks again.” The other boy said, giving Harry a shy but grateful smile. “My name’s Neville Longbottom.”

“Harry Potter.” Harry replied, shaking Neville’s outstretched hand.

Neville’s eyes widened and immediately looked up to Harry’s forehead. But the next second he lowered his eyes in shame and embarrassment.

“I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have done that.” The chubby boy muttered.

Harry let out an understanding smile. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve read some of the stuff they wrote about me and I’d have done the same in your shoes. I assume that means you’re not a muggleborn?”

Neville almost slumped in relief at how easily Harry had brushed off his rudeness. Imagine if Gran had seen him gawk like that! He never would’ve heard the end of it.

But what Neville didn’t know was that had he not apologized or if Harry hadn’t felt his genuine remorse and embarrassment Harry would have been far more annoyed. Yes the green-eyed boy knew of his hero/celebrity status, but that didn’t make him some sort of walking exhibit to goggle at!

The two boys continued their conversation as 11 o’clock finally arrived and the train began rolling out of the station. And for 8 long hours they kept talking. As time passed Neville lost some of his shyness and opened up more and Harry was happy to find a friend his own age since he was rarely out of his uncles’ supervision long enough to make lasting bonds with others. There were a few interruptions; a couple of people stopped by to talk to the Harry Potter, but after a minute of small talk and some awkward staring they usually excused themselves. Well, one boy who introduced himself as Draco Malfoy had wanted to be friends but Harry had rejected the offer when the blond had made fun of Neville and his pet toad.

The only other potential friend Harry had made was with a somewhat bossy muggleborn named Hermione Granger. She had come to remind them to change into their robes before they got to the castle when she had caught sight of Neville’s open Herbology book and had started a conversation involving the subjects taught at Hogwarts and what they expected their schooling to be like.

All in all it was a good trip, and despite Harry’s unvoiced unease of leaving his uncles care for over 24 hours for the first time since he was adopted (though Harry wouldn’t have admitted it even under duress), he was glad he had come to Hogwarts.


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*Thwump*


Neville groggily opened his eyes and tried to make sense of his surroundings as he was forced into wakefulness. A giggling Harry armed with a pillow let him know how he came to be awake so abruptly and the pudgy boy struggled with himself to get up before Harry decided another whack with the fluffy weapon was in order.

“Hurry up Neville! You have to get up now if we want to have breakfast before classes start.” Harry exclaimed as he hit his best friend once more for good measure.

“I’m up, I’m up!” Neville insisted sleepily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and gathered his clothes for the day and headed to the bathroom. It didn’t take him too long to get ready and only fifteen minutes later found Harry and Neville on the way to the Great Hall.

“Hermione’s already waiting for us there.” Harry stated as they turned another corner. “She had wanted to go early so she could ask McGonagall about something for our essay on transfiguring metal to wood since we don’t have Transfiguration today.”

Neville let out a smile; only Hermione would bother to show up early to breakfast to ask about an essay due a full-week later. The smile slipped off his face however at the look Draco Malfoy gave him as they passed each other in the corridor.

Malfoy, angry that Harry had rejected his friendship had taken out the brunt of his spitefulness on Neville. Harry was too much a guarded victim, what with being the boy-who-lived and everything, and Harry never bothered to pay attention to Malfoy’s insults anyway besides a roll of his eyes. Thus the blond started to concentrate on Neville, who was insecure, pudgy and an all-around easier target. True, Harry always defended Neville when he was around (which was almost always) but it didn’t stop Neville from feeling bad. Actually it often made him feel worse since it pointed out the fact that Neville wasn’t worthy of Harry even more to the clumsy boy.

Neville knew that Malfoy wasn’t the only one who thought that Neville wasn’t worthy of being the Boy-Who-Lived’s best friend. Even the other first year gryffindors (whom Harry and Neville were all on friendly terms with) seemed confused as to what Neville contributed to their bond. Neville knew that they were right too; even his own family hadn’t paid that much attention to him growing up, only trying to induce accidental magic out of him. The majority of the things his Gran had said to him were reprimands or instructions. Even the seldom heard praise would come with a backhanded comment to his failings. For example, when he had learned to talk or had first done magic though his relatives had rejoiced they hadn’t failed to mention how much sooner his father had accomplished the same task. Or when he discovered his green thumb how his grandmother had acknowledged how his mother had the same gift, before stating how it was too bad that such a gift was useless to the average wizard.

But even though Neville knew that Harry deserved better, he couldn’t bring himself to cut their friendship even for Harry’s own good. Harry didn’t laugh when Neville fell off his broom in their first flying lessons, and had even retrieved his remembrall from Malfoy for him. Harry didn’t get mad when Neville had accidently exploded their first potion (and many more after that) and had caused them to go to the hospital wing with a zero for their efforts. Harry didn’t care if Neville was the last in the class to change his toothpick into a needle, or that he blushed and stuttered if a teacher called on him in class. Harry didn’t care about any of those things and said that he liked Neville for himself, something that made the pudgy boy’s body grow warm with happiness. And therefore, even if it was selfish and not a very Gryffindor thing to do, Neville was determined to keep Harry by his side forever. No matter what.

And now, almost half-way through their first year Neville felt that he was making progress. He was slowly but surely improving in his grades; during Halloween Neville and Harry had made friends with the smartest witch in their year (Hermione Granger) when they had tried to warn her of a troll that got loose in the castle (she hadn’t been in the Great Hall for the announcement due to a mean comment from fellow first year Gryffindor Ronald Weasley). Thanks to her help Neville (and Harry for that matter) was doing better in his classes and was no longer considered last place (though he still exploded a cauldron in potions every now and then). He was becoming more confident (it helped that Hermione was obviously as new, nervous and happy with their friendship as Neville) and was trying to cut back on the sugar (mostly not by choice; Hermione’s parents were some type of muggle anti-sugar people and she made sure that neither Harry nor Neville had too much either).

In fact, he was enjoying his friendships and Hogwarts so much that when he heard that Harry was going to stay for the Christmas break he got permission from his Gran to do the same. He could barely wait for the last two weeks of classes before the break to finish – two whole weeks of no classes and no one but him and Harry! (well, the Weasleys were apparently staying too, but still!) Neville smiled as he settled into the Gryffindor table; Hogwarts was better than he had ever imagined!


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“Uncle Geoffrey! Aunt Allison!” Harry cried out as he leapt into their awaiting arms. Geoffrey wasted no time in picking up the boy and swinging him around in a circle like he used to do when Harry was half his age. After everything that had happened, it was such a relief knowing that his adopted nephew would spend the next two months safe and sound at home.

Colin – who had picked Harry up from the station and therefore had already had his own private reunion with his nephew – hung back to allow the couple time with their adopted boy.

“Don’t hog him honey.” Allison reprimanded her husband, prying Harry loose so she could check over and hug the 11 year old herself.

Though Harry pouted over being treated like a little kid who scraped his knee, the messy-haired boy secretly relished their attention and understood their actions. Earlier that year Harry and his friends had stumbled across the knowledge that Dumbledore was keeping the Philosopher’s Stone in the school and that Voldemort himself was after it. It eventually came to the point where Harry, Neville, Hermione and Ron (who had known that the trio were up to something and was adamant that he come too) had gone down the secret trapdoor in the forbidden corridor to try and steal the stone before the Dark Lord could. And though Harry got into an unforeseen confrontation with Voldemort himself, thankfully nobody was terribly injured (except for their DADA professor who had been working for Voldemort who had died).

Harry let himself soak up a bit more of the freely given affection and energy from his guardians (and boy was it nice to take as much as he wanted without worry if his victim would notice) before pulling away and starting to talk a mile a minute about his year, his friends and his hopes for the summer. Geoffrey, Allison and Colin shared a smile at Harry’s enthusiasm and antics – Harry always became somewhat hyper after absorbing large amounts of positive energy. They were just glad that Harry didn’t seem badly affected by his near death experience and hoped that he wouldn’t have to suffer like that ever again.


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