Disclaimer:- The Harry Potter universe is owned by J.K. Rowling. I just play in this sandbox of hers and own just the plot of the fic.

Harry woke up to find himself on a comfortable couch, he looked up to come face to face with Enyo who was grinning at him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Harry. I'll give you a moment to pull yourself together, it's not everyday that you find yourself to become one of the most powerful wizards alive." Enyo said to Harry, while she helped him sit up.

Hermione and Houndclaw were sitting a few feet away. He stood up, approached them and sat back down on an offered seat.

"So Mr Potter, as I was telling Ms Granger your training will not have any obstacles. You both are capable of performing all spells that will be taught to you by Ms Arms here. Now we have to discuss your safety at Hogwarts." Houndclaw said.

"Okay, I understand the need. But I want all the protections for Hermione as well. The same, if not better ones." Harry said with determination. The two kids shared a shy smile while Houndclaw and Enyo grinned knowingly. They too had once been young and could clearly see the early signs of attraction.

"Don't worry Mr Potter. We at Gringotts will do our best to arrange this. That leads us to the matter of your Lordships, will you accept the duties of your houses?" Houndclaw asked.

Harry was prepared for this. He had thought a lot on this matter and had finally decided. "Houndclaw, I accept." He said. Houndclaw turned to Hermione who, though feeling a little clueless, nodded her acceptance, trusting Harry's judgement. Houndclaw nodded and signalled to another goblin.

Soon the house rings were brought in and kept in front of them. "Now, you have to wear these rings on the forefinger of your right hand. The rings will resize accordingly and will merge with the other rings in your case Mr Potter."

Both the eleven-year-olds took a ring in their hands, Hermione taking her Ravenclaw one while Harry started with the Potter ring. They put the rings as instructed and a flash of light showed the acceptance of magic. Harry repeated this thrice more for his other houses.

"Now that this matter has been taken care of our job has been significantly reduced. No politically informed person would ever attack you without very careful planning. Of course, if you wish to keep your inheritance a secret we have to do something else." Houndclaw said and on getting their nods continued, "Mr Potter it is common knowledge of your being able to inherit the Potter house seat, so I recommend not hiding that. Your rings can hide with a thought so that will not pose a problem. What you should do is declare Ms Granger as your protectorate. She will have the same protection as a member of the Potter house."

Harry glanced at Hermione, the question in his look. Hermione nodded, Harry smiled at that and said, "Okay Houndclaw we'll do that."

"Excellent now we have to identify your magical talents," Houndclaw said but Hermione interrupted.

"Sorry, but didn't we just do that? I mean the coloured spheres showed us our affinities right?"

"You misunderstand me, Ms Granger. What we checked earlier were your magical affinities. When you have a magical affinity for a particular area of magic you pick it up instinctively and can learn it easier compared to someone who doesn't have the affinity to that area. On the other hand, magical talents are the innate abilities that you may have. These are of numerous types, each with various levels of power. This process is longer and more difficult since we have to observe the abilities manually." Houndclaw explained patiently.

He took out a book and led them to a couch, while explaining, "This book has all the known abilities listed in them along with the usual common signs that we use to identify them. You can sit here and try all the signs you identify with."

It took almost an hour for the duo to go through the book. The most that they could deduce was that Harry was a metamorphmagus. When they asked Houndclaw why they had only one ability between the two of them he told them, "You are still young, give it some time. Magical abilities surface at all ages so we'll let you check again after a couple of years." Both the children brightened at this prospect.

After having a discussion regarding their training, the trio left, having decided to rest for the rest of the day. Houndclaw though had the foresight to provide Hermione with a warded charm necklace to keep her safe from Legilimency attacks.

Enyo took them back to just outside the Hogwarts wards with another portkey. They had spent almost five hours in Gringotts and it was nearly lunchtime. Enyo bid them goodbye, telling them to be ready at 9 the next day.

As the two eleven-year-olds entered the Great Hall, they saw that most of the staff was already there. When Flitwick caught their eyes, he gave them a smile and a wink, which they returned.

Lunch was a quiet affair. After their meal, Harry and Hermione, left for their common room, feeling a little tired after the trip to Gringotts.

They stood in front of the door as the knocker asked, "What will you find at the end of time?"

Before Hermione could even open her mouth, Harry jumped up.

"E, the letter e." He quipped before starting to giggle like a 5-year-old.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and went inside the common room. As Harry followed her the door slammed shut behind him, making him jump in the air from shock.

If doors could be smug, he was sure the knocker would be just that.

They found a quiet corner and sat on a couch falling into a companionable silence as they thought about the day's events. They both were now considered the nobles in the eyes of the purebloods and had enough political power between the both of them to become a force to be reckoned with.

The next morning, they felt as if time passed too slow as they once again waited for Enyo at the house table. They had long since finished their breakfasts. Luckily Enyo soon arrived and put them out of their misery.

The trio headed towards the moving stairs and went to the seventh floor, while Enyo removed tracking charms from them both. By the time they were on the fourth floor all the charms were removed so Dumbledore couldn't find them in the Room of Requirement.

Soon they were standing in front of the Troll Tapestry. Enyo walked across it thrice and the kids couldn't help but gape as they saw the what the room had changed into.

There were mechanic figures in the shape of scarecrows all of which held wands. There was a whole shelf filled with books that Hermione immediately ran to browse.

Harry roamed around the room to observe the dummies. Once both of them had seen all they wanted, they joined Enyo on the couch that sat in the corner.

"So, listen you two. You are going to learn mostly practical forms of magic here, I expect you to read the theory thoroughly before we meet. This way we save time" Enyo said seriously.

Both kids nodded in agreement at that. "First of all, we will work on duelling since starting it this early will form a good habit and help your magic the most. Side by side we'll slowly work for Potions. That would be a lot easier if we would go through it the way I have learnt it than the way it is taught at Hogwarts. I expect that we might finish your Potions OWL syllabus by the time of your second year's end or third year's start." Enyo continued.

Harry and Hermione were both shocked, to say the least. They both mirrored each other's thoughts, why would Hogwarts teach in a mediocre way if such a method existed. It was supposed to be a premier institute.

"Also I'll provide you with some books on the protocol to be followed by the head of houses and on politics. It would do you much good." Enyo informed them before standing up and saying with a small smirk, "Let's play shall we."

They went to a lone machine which had an ample space around it. Not being able to control his curiosity, Harry asked excitedly "Are we going to fight this?"

Enyo laughed and said, "No Harry, not yet. You both need to learn the best way to win a duel first. And that is dodging, this way you tire your enemy and this training dummy will also help you improve your stamina. So who goes first?"

Harry and Hermione did a quick rock, paper, scissors to decide this. Harry won and thus went first. He stood 10 feet away from the dummy and nodded at Enyo who tapped the head of the dummy with her wand to activate it. She then quickly jumped back and gestured Hermione to do the same.

Harry readied himself as he saw a bright orange spell shoot towards him. He jerked his body to his right and the spell missed him by a few inches, another spell came whizzing towards him and he dropped low to the ground to avoid it.

'This isn't bad,' he thought. 'This is just like avoiding Dudley's punches.'

He had been dodging the spells for half a minute before two spells were shot together, surprising him. He was almost hit as one of the spells grazed his head.

'Alright, Piers has also joined in to help Dudley. I have to be more careful.'

After another full minute, Harry dived to dodge a spell and came right into the path of another. It hit his leg and Harry felt a sharp pain and yelped.

"Ouch, the spells actually hurt?" He asked Enyo.

Enyo scoffed and said while grinning., "Of course they hurt. That's your motivation kid. Now let Hermione try it."

As Hermione took her position and started dodging. It was clear that she was tiring fast. She lasted 30 seconds before she too was hit.

"Well done you two. You both did way better than I expected. We may just move our schedule ahead." Enyo said and applauded for them.

They continued this for another half an hour before Hermione was so tired that she almost had to be dragged to the couch to rest.

Enyo told them that it was enough for their first day and promised them that she would have their reading material ready the next time

Both the children waved Enyo goodbye before they left for their common room. They had assignments to complete that even Hermione had forgotten about due to the excitement of the first lesson. They sat at a table near their house library and started working on them.

At lunch, the kids were joined by Susan and Hannah, they were having a great chat when they were disturbed.

Ron Weasley had tried all week to befriend Harry. He had even told Harry that he could share the chocolate frog that he had hidden from his brothers earlier. But no matter what he said he was always brushed off. even though he thought that lunch wasn't a great time to do anything besides eating, he walked towards Harry and sat down next to him. The fact that he pushed Hermione away so he could sit down didn't go unnoticed by Harry.

"So Harry since you had to settle with nerds and losers as friends, maybe we could…" Ron couldn't complete what he was going to say as his face got acquainted with Harry's fist.

"Weasley last warning! The next time it will be my wand that does the talking." Harry said angrily.

Having seen the commotion, McGonagall reached the scene swiftly and asked in her feared strict tone. "Mr Potter, what is the meaning of this?"

"Ask Weasley, ma'am. He had done nothing but irritate me since we've been here at Hogwarts. I can tolerate that. But he pushed Hermione away and nobody hurts my friends" Harry said defiantly.

McGonagall was in a dilemma. Here was a child who had hit another but his intentions were pure and fitting for someone of her house.

"Mr Potter whatever Mr Weasley had done could have been reported. I commend you for your thoughts but you must consider the rules before taking action. So I must take 5 points from Ravenclaw." McGonagall said neutrally, expecting Harry to give an outburst. But Harry just nodded in acceptance and said a quick apology. She continued, "And as for Mr Weasley, I believe you have learnt your lesson so I will let the matter go this time. I would not like a repeat of such an incidence, am I clear?" Ron just groaned in pain which McGonagall took as his acceptance.

As McGonagall went back to the staff table all she could think was, 'That boy may look like James, but he is all Lily on the inside.'

AN: I sincerely apologize for the unexpected hiatus. This will not happen again, cross my heart and hope to die.

I thank Pridia for beta-ing this chapter. She was very helpful pointing out my numerous mistakes. R and R.

Update: Fixed McGonagall's dialogue of letting Ron get away scot-free. Thanks Deathmvp.