Redirection by the Heart

Summary: When eleven-year-old Harry decides to stand up for the Slytherins Consequences he never thought of are reaped. Unfortunately, things don't always go well as he hopes. One such thing being the stack of paperwork involved for anything.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, form or fashion.

Chapter 02: I Love Hufflepuffs!

Harry sighs deeply, McGonagall is debating with the Runes mistress about accepting him early. She had seen his work and had offered to promote him and his runes. The runes mistress seems to be pondering it before she nods curtly and speaks sternly to McGonagall before walking off and away. McGonagall heads straight for him as he now sits at the Hufflepuff table to avoid the rest of the student body. For the most part they have either gone batty or they have become somewhat random in their attitudes toward him.

The crazy Gryffindors are the worst right now. Everyday this past week they have tried cornering him to 'pulverize him' as Ronald said himself. Harry was disturbed and started calling upon the phoenix that seems to appear at random. The phoenix usually takes him to just about where he needs or wants to be at. He is pretty sure that the majority of them are even targeting him now just because he did the right thing.

As for the fanatical Ravenclaws, they seem too interested in asking him dozens of questions and get annoyed when he doesn't answer their questions. One day he expects to be forced to explain his reasoning and his upbringing. He did however, tell them that it was against his morals. However, that just got them excited and many started asking about his morals.

Then there is the confused Slytherins that he doesn't really mind as much. They literally don't know what to make of him and some are pressing hard to get on his good side. Even now Draco is staring at him thoughtfully along with the majority of his house members. Though the good thing is that the staff respect him more, other than the angry Dumbledore.

In fact, Hufflepuff is much more accepting than any of the former. They also won't try to ask a million questions, attack or mob him. And they don't have the mindset to manipulate someone for their own benefit either. That Harry is glad for as it means those sitting next to him will be actual friends.

Thankfully today is Saturday again so he might be able to get left alone for the day. As soon as McGonagall arrives she gives him a note and nods curtly to him. Eating leisurely, he nearly blinks when a Hufflepuff sits next to him. Looking at the older student he raises an eyebrow as he nibbles on his chocolate chip muffin. The older boy is a tall and extremely handsome young man with chiseled features, dark hair, and bright grey eyes. He is well-built and burly in appearance.

The boy offers his hand to him with a bright smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm Cedric Diggory. I thought I would stop by and see how you are doing. I thought it was awful considerate for you to think of the Slytherins like that. Since I've been here Dumbledore has been subtly pushing the Gryffindor students to hate them and vice versa. If there is anything that I can do to help you out let me know and I'll try." Harry smiles genuinely at him as he nods to him gratefully. Turning back toward his meal he quickly finishes his food before opening the missive and wincing.

Bathsheba Babbling and Septima Vector, the Ancient Runes and Arithmancy teachers respectively, have agreed to test him for early admittance. He sighs forlornly at the extra work McGonagall accidentally gave him. Gently folding the letter, he feels Cedric tap his shoulder.

Looking at him he sees a worried look on his face. "You alright?" Harry nods as he decides to show him the missive. His eyes roll over the parchment as they widen. Cedric turns to grin at him happily. "You must have showed McGonagall something impressive for her to actually try to attempt to convince the two of them to teach you early. What did you come up with?" Harry shifts nervously.

Fiddling with his hands he decides to tell the truth. "I was trying to make a runic array that would copy another book if an empty book with the seal was placed on another with information inside. It would be mighty useful to have extra copies of books without having to pay such steep prices." Cedric grins happily at him.

"That is brilliant. I wish I had thought of that. Say, do you mind if I start trying to make my own array on it? I'll not use your notes at first but if I get nowhere after a long period of time I'll ask for the notes and credit you for the help." Harry tilts his head to ponder about it before shrugging. Cedric passes him a note discretely and Harry slips it into his robes before leaving the room to meet with the two professors nearby.

Before he even arrives at the door of the great hall Shacklebolt appears. And nearly bumps into him before clutching at his arm and dragging him down a few halls and into a meeting room where several staff and three goblins wait for him. A centaur and a spider are also in the room as if invited for the meeting.

One of the goblins steps forward and offers his hand. Harry takes it and shakes it readily even though he is confused about their appearance. "Lord Potter, it has come to our recent attention that you now own Hogwarts and have placed your trust in us goblins for several tasks. We have come to bargain about the different things we see Hogwarts needing sooner rather than later." Harry allows him to guide him over to a lavish chair and he sits cautiously to the open-eyed stares of several people in the room.

"You mean to tell me that Harry is the Lord of Hogwarts?!" Madam Sprout asks with amazement. The goblins nod to her and begin business like everything is normal.

"Now the first things we need to do is set a standard for the classes. For this we will be interviewing each of the teachers one at a time with each accountant independently. Once we have compared notes and have come to a ready agreement we will discuss what changes we see as needing done. Now this door here is mine, that one Irgroff's, and that door there is Irggirtt's office. We will call you one at a time to enter the room for testing. Lord Potter you are required to stay in this room here while we settle our tests. If you excuse me, Minerva McGonagall will come with me while Severus Snape follows after Irgroff and Pomona Sprout will follow Irggirtt." The three goblins gather their 'testing partners' and enter the three chambers for the test. All the staff brought paperwork and the likes to tend to while Harry didn't bring anything.

"Lopsy." The elf appears as readily as she did a week ago and bows hastily to him. "Could you go fetch my arithmancy and runes stuff, please?" Lopsy nods to him eagerly before vanishing to grab his things. The staff shift nervously as they sit waiting around the room. Right now, the main class teachers are here, the ones teaching first years that is. Seconds later and Lopsy appears with the requested items before popping away abruptly. After he begins studying over the materials Lopsy reappears with a few more elves to serve drinks and snacks. Harry snatches a cinnamon roll before going back to his work.

/.-.-.-.\

Harry stretches as if tired; sitting in the same chair for hours will do that to him. He walks toward the Founders dorm to study some more. Hopefully he can stand while brewing a potion or two. Reaching into his pocket he pauses as he hears a scuffle in the hall to his right. Peering inside his eyes widen as Malfoy is being trashed by four or five Gryffindors with his broken wand laying paces away. "PROFESSOR! HELP!" Harry screams at the top of his lungs.

Shacklebolt appears promptly as spells are flung at him before he quickly disarms the children. Several teachers arrive, including Snape, to find Shacklebolt yelling at the Gryffindors. Harry simply pulls a pain relief potion out and carefully feeds the barely conscious boy. He looks over his shoulder as Snape hurries over. "I just feed him a pain relief potion, with the amount of damage it may just make it less likely to be felt. We need to get him to Madam Poppy, or to Saint Mungo's." Snape uses his potions to stabilize him, taking care not to hurt him too much before Harry sighs and helps him carefully lift him into a stretcher.

Turning toward the five boys he knows how pissed he is. "You boys are no longer students here. You were obviously trying to kill him and that proves that you are insane and mentally unstable. Until you have completed the provided Mind Healer's sessions and he approves you are not welcome here."

To his surprise all the staff second his decision. The boys are marched toward the Gryffindor dorms, and one tries to kick Malfoy's skull only to be blocked by Harry's foot, which makes a crunching sound. Several professors realize what would have happened and begin screeching at the students at the top of their lungs. Shacklebolt kneels and says, "Grab on around my neck." Harry obeys and is lifted by the auror before he grabs the end of the stretcher conjured under the now unconscious Malfoy. It takes them barely any time to arrive at a feasible floo network before they step out at Saint Mungo's.

"We need a healer, quickly now!" Snape roars causing several nurses to come over and some are instantly looking green at the sight of Malfoy. A nurse levitates the stretcher before Snape helps Harry limp after the wounded boy alongside Shacklebolt before another blond haired man appears.

"Severus, is that my boy?" He sounds half panicked.

"Yes, you have Potter to thank that he is currently not dead. A kid tried to kick his skull in and shattered Potter's foot where he blocked their attack." The elder Malfoy looks at him curiously before inclining his head at him.

"You have my thanks, if you ever need anything…" The statement goes unfinished despite being understood.

"Could you arrange somebody to teach me Etiquette that Dumbledore conveniently forgot to teach me?" the blond man twitches before he nods curtly. After that, Harry prepares to be healed and scanned before people notice the scars on his torso and upper arms. He knows it is going to be a real pain to explain where he got them.

/.-.-=-.-.\

Harry sighs as he enters the great Hall Tuesday morning for breakfast. He sees Pansy, Draco's apparent girlfriend, crying before a few gently point him out. Harry walks over to her and taps her shoulder. She looks over at him and lunges, hugging him and crying. Harry sits carefully as he starts comforting her. Draco has some memory problems now, he doesn't remember her, Harry or Draco's own friends.

Draco sits across from them fidgeting a little. "Malfoy, you need to eat. I would appreciate it if you ate cause then I won't have to mail your father." The boy winces, apparently he remembers most of his family, and can instinctively cast the spells he has been taught, but he does have some trouble now. Turning toward Pansy's plate he frowns, it doesn't even look to have been used. He grabs a few pieces of bacon, some eggs, toast, sausage and three chocolate bars at his request to the elves.

She hiccups as she slowly starts eating before Draco looks down at his plate and piles some more on. After a few moments of silence an obvious jinx is fired toward the Snakes from the Gryffindor table. Harry doesn't even have time to deflect it before a prefect, who was watching from the Ravenclaw table, intercepts it with a barrier. Several Gryffindors groan when Professor Flitwick yells, "Fifty points from Gryffindor and thirty to Ravenclaw." The prefect nods to the professor before a Hufflepuff, Cedric, comes over and sits next to him.

After several more moments of silently eating Cedric comments. "I don't think I ever remember Flitwick taking that many points before." Several others pause to try and remember but can't think of any such time. Harry sighs, knowing that he could be right before finishing his meal and heading to class along with some Slytherins, who share the Potions class with them this morning. As they arrive they see Snape standing beside another man, arguing behind the desk.

"Good Morning class!" The new guy says cheerfully. Harry notices the more friendly atmosphere and realizes that Snape may be fired.

"What is going on?" Harry asks plainly.

The man looks at him. "I've been hired by the management to take over Snape's place. As you can see he is quite stubborn." A few Gryffindors laugh loudly with dark humor.

"Snape, you can stay on to brew potions and be an assistant for McGonagall and the new Headmaster whenever they are chosen." Several Gryffindors begins yelling before a shrill sound echoes through the room, hurting their ears.

"That will always happen when arguments start in my classroom. Also, only Lord Potter is allowed to determine that." Harry pulls his hand up revealing the Lord's Ring causing many students to gape or stare in confusion.

"He is Lord Potter, you Dunderhead." Snape drawls with amusement as he nods to Harry.

The Professor stares wide eyed at him. "I'm still a student and I expect you to treat me as such. Though, through the test of the ring, I was made aware that I am far more mature than what most give me credit for." The professor nods to him, with a small smile.

"Very well, today we will be going over more potions preparation." He says earning an attentive look from Hermione.

/.-.-=-.-.\

Harry sighs as he goes over more mail from grateful parents again, as well as the mail from Gringotts for business. Draco is watching him again and has been spying on his in the least subtle way possible despite attempting to be subtle. "Draco, come here and explain this to me." The boy quickly steps out of his failed hiding spot before walking over and looking at the parchment as he sits next to Harry at the desk. His eyes roll over the paper, with eyebrows going askew, before he looks at Harry.

"This is basically telling you that you can collect debts owed by other families and that most of them are 'Outstanding Debts' instead of normal ones. An Outstanding Debt is a debt that was owed over 100 years ago and the interest has made it where the family can barely pay it if they are ven able to. Unfortunately it also mentions some Obsolete Debts which means that you can act as the head of that family should you wish to claim them as your own lineage." Harry frowns at the thought of 'owning' people if his understanding is correct. He rubs his forehead tiredly before turning toward Draco.

"I don't know what to do about all this. It is kind of strange knowing that I could potentially be the richest family in the entire world and yet I don't know what to do with all the money. I'm planning on having the goblins help me come up with ideas for such things if possible." Draco nods to him before he scowls at the parchment. Harry tilts his head and turns toward him questioningly. "Is something wrong?"

Draco looks at him with a frown. "Yes, this contract is much too bad. Apparently they want their child to be the head of your house and for you to be the submissive one in the relationship. That is an absurd thought with how famous you are." Harry takes it and rips it in half, startling Draco badly. The parchment turns to ashes instantly.

"Thank you for helping, Draco. Can you help me with the rest of this too?" Draco nods to him, understanding that Harry is sincere from the very way that he is wearing his heart on his sleeve. They continue going through Harry's fanmail without knowing about the gleaming red eyes, watching from under a disillusionment charm.

Harry smiles as he sits beside Draco, chattering pleasantly next to him. He is now much more aware of the social blunders he has made and, though he knows it should be Dumbledore apologizing for it, he has still sent an apology letter to every single person that he may have offended, including every student. The majority of the student body is staring at each other and giving him understanding looks. Almost everyone is glaring at Dumbledore. Harry continues his plans for the day, not realizing that everyone is looking at him with pity.

"Hey Potter! Why the hell you pretend to be abused!?" Ronald say, hurling it as an insult at him, earning a flinch from Harry.

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" McGonagall screeches at him, beyond pissed off at him.

Harry shrinks in on himself as he finally notices the pity as everyone, including most Gryffindors, heckle Ronald with insults themselves. After a few moments Cedric is next to him, offering a napkin as he finally realizes that he has tears in his eyes. Harry starts sobbing and Cedric hugs him, gently rocking him as McGonagall announces that she is expelling Ronald.

Harry briefly realizes he loves hufflepuffs as a calming draught.

/.-.=.-.\

Here are the answers to reviews...

Critique du PE: Merci d'avoir lu. Je vais continuer cette histoire simplement parce que je vois que ce sera la meilleure façon de faire Harry. Avec son ancien abus, je suis sûr qu'il est ou sera beaucoup plus mature que ce à quoi tout le monde s'attend.

Fallow55's Review: This isn't the same winky, I actually forgot that was her name when I used the Harry Potter name generator on Fantasy Name Generators, a website to help with creativity.