Harry Potter: A Real Tale

Leon was late.

The Head matron's naïve belief that there would be no traffic and her insistence to leave with a caretaker, made him reach the train station late.

Feeding a dozen toddlers breakfast and cleaning up after them generally takes every matron and a couple of older children. So, he had to wait until the caretakers were free from the breakfast chores, making him late.

Leon eyed the youngest caretaker of the orphanage who was accompanying him. She couldn't be over 20, the woman's head swiveled around taking in the bustling city, wonder apparent in her eyes, as the taxi driver helped with his luggage.

"I will have to run, Ms Eliza. You can take it slow, after all, it is not every day you visit the heart of London."

He quickly pushed his trolley away without giving the woman time to respond.

"Wait a minute, Leo. Leo!" The young woman quickly paid the taxi driver and turned around, only for him to disappear.

"This kid!" She muttered, eyeing the crowd of people entering the station and spotting a couple of children, the same age as Leon, pushing trolleys.

After the abrupt goodbye at the train station's entrance, Leon hurriedly weaved around people, wondering if the feather-light feature of his trunk was a lie.

After double-checking the instructions on his ticket that specified which pillar he had to run into, Leon ran through the pillar between the 9th and 10th platforms, headfirst with no hesitation, sporting an excited grin.

After feeling like he had broken through a waterfall, he stood in front of the majestic train- The Hogwarts Express.

Smoke billowed from its engine as parents stood on the platform watching their children mingle with others in their compartments.

Leon quickly chose a compartment near to him and got on, pushing the trolley aside.

'Huh! Now the trunk weighs as much as a feather. It was heavy when I bought it down from my room until I boarded the train. Can it only activate near magical places? Are the wizards cautious?... Maybe the store owner is the cautious one. I don't think cautiousness and wizards go into a single sentence, at least not the canon wizards.'

Most of the cabins were already filled with children that looked around his age.

As shouts and laughs filled the air, Leon slowly walked along the train's compartment which looked like it only hosted the first-year Hogwarts students.

'Coincidence or Magic?' Leon wondered before shrugging and continuing his search for a cabin.

He dragged his trunk along and chose a cabin with two girls who were speaking softly with each other.

"Hey! Can I join you guys?" He asked opening the cabin after knocking.

A black-haired girl with some baby fat on her cheeks nodded as the other occupant of the cabin evaluated Leon with her green eyes.

"I am Leon Astraeus." He introduced himself.

"Why here? There are many other cabins on this train," The strawberry-blond-haired girl inquired.

"Daphne.." The black-haired girl reprimanded, but she sneakily looked towards Leon, waiting for his answer, her hand searching for something in her purse beside her.

The question took him back, making him think.

He went for this cabin because of their robes, he wanted to ask someone about his house and what being an heir entails, though he subconsciously eliminated every noisy cabin and cabin with boys.

In the orphanage, Leon generally shadowed some quiet, soft-spoken girls when he had to mingle with other children due to his condition, and it seems the habit carried over.

"Well, I wanted to ask about my house and your robes made me think you could help me," Leon said gesturing toward the wizarding robes the girls were wearing.

Unnoticed by him the black-haired girl peeked into a bag beside her and gave an imperceptible nod to her friend.

Seeing that they were satisfied with his answer he stuffed his trunk below the seat and turned towards the black-haired girl.

"I am Susan Bones; you can call me Susan." The girl with baby fat, Susan, introduced herself with a smile.

"I am Daphne Greengrass, Mr Astraeus." The blonde girl followed her friend's lead.

Leon was pleased with his fellow passengers, as someone who worked in the media industry he knew the value of connections.

'Though I can't quite call being in the same compartment for a train ride as connections. After all, we could end up in different houses.'

Shaking his head, Leon got to the point.

"What do you guys know about House Astraeus? I recently got to know that I am an Astraeus and magic is real."

The two girls looked at each other.

"House Astraeus was the keeper of the Azkaban before the Dementors joined the Dark Lord as his followers," Daphne spoke, playing with her necklace as she looked at him questioningly.

He nodded, indicating he was following her.

"And it is rumored that a member of the House Astraeus invented the Patronus spell. My Aunt also said that the arch, the veil of death, in the ministry was also found by a member of House Astraeus." Susan joined in. "It's a mysterious door no one knows where it opens." She added, helpfully.

'Ok! Cool house, it would have been cooler if we were known to be rich and loaned Hogwarts to the founders,' he thought cracking a grin before banishing the silly thoughts.

Getting to the crux of the matter, he asked. "As the last living member of my house, how am I supposed to access the house vaults."

Susan got silent before shaking her head apologetically making Daphne take up the question.

"After verifying your identity, you will be given your heir ring. Your assigned professor must have taken you to Gringotts, right?" Daphne inquired, looking dubious.

"I went to Gringotts and received my vault records, though I didn't receive any heir ring, it was said that the Gringotts is executing the last head's will."

"Hmm! Maybe you have to prove yourself or be older-"

The cabin door opened revealing a twin-tailed girl, she looked taken back on seeing Leon before she sat down and introduced herself.

"Hannah Abbot, you can call me Hannah," she said watching Daphne from the corner of her eye.

"Leon Astraeus, Call me Leo. Do you guys know each other before?" he asked, knowing the answer, but he was curious about how the fanfiction favorite Daphne's friendship with Susan Bones came about.

The cabin's door opened again revealing two redheads, who can be passed as brother and sister at first glance, and another boy who nervously searched their cabin.

"Neville lost his toad; did you see it?" the female redhead asked.

Daphne and Susan shook their heads.

"Don't guys have a spell to find it?" Leon asked, wanting to check if these guys knew any non-canon spells. After all, unlike him, they would have gotten their wands right after they turned 14 or maybe even earlier, and this being his new reality, he was eager to see various spells.

'And where is Hermoine?' he wondered, upon not seeing the buck-toothed, bushy-haired girl helping Neville.

"There are spells for that, but they are too complex to be used by first-year Hogwarts students." The red-headed girl shook her head.

"Let's ask a seventh year then." Leon eagerly stood up.

He was interested to know which spell was going to be used.

Accio, the summoning charm, was only used to summon objects. And even if a variant of the Accio spell is used to summon a living thing it doesn't take out of risk of the toad being squished to death if it is in a closed bathroom or a cabin.

'Maybe a detection spell.'

"Hrgh! Now we have to search the whole train for Tonks," the other redhead muttered.

The boy was tall with a freckled face and robes that didn't fit him properly.

'Is that Ron Weasley?'

The redheaded girl sat beside Susan, taking Leon's place.

"Don't worry, I know a spell that will let Tonks find us herself."

"Really?" Daphne narrowed her eyes.

"Yes! Observe."

The red-headed girl waved her hand, whispering an incantation, and quietly mouthed some words.

"Done," she said beaming, a mischievous twinkle glinting in her eyes.

"What did you do?"

"The spell amplifies your voice to a very high level but only the recipient of your spell can hear you if they are near."

" It is a basic version of the spell Aurors use to communicate on the field. And unlike the Auror version of the spell - which transfers the sound to the target- this spell doesn't offer much security as it is just shouting. Thus, could be easily overheard by anyone with little skill." The redheaded girl explained animatedly, unconsciously puffing her chest.

"Did your father teach you this?" Daphne asked.

The girl shook her head.

"Uncle Sirius! As you know, Susan, he doesn't like Kreacher, his house elf. He made this spell, dismantling the author's spell, so that he could call for us when we were in his house instead of asking Kreacher to call us or us him."

"He doesn't like seeing the house-elf," the redheaded girl giggled.

'So, I met Roselyn Potter, the girl who lived.' Leon thought searching for the infamous lightning scar.

Stealthily, of course.

He didn't find the said scar on her forehead.

Another redheaded girl suddenly opened the cabin's door.

'Why are there so many redheads, should I prepare for an invasion?' Leon thought sarcastically, as the cabin grew congested.

The new girl's hair deepened in color as she spotted Rose Potter before settling on pink hair, smacking the sarcasm out of Leon as he eyed the Metamorphmagus, very interested.

"Little brat, you knocked the soul out of me with your shout. Are you becoming like Uncle Siri? Should I let my mother know that you are picking up his habits?" she threatened.

Leon quietly sat beside the window and observed the witches and wizards.

"Tonks, I didn't do that to prank you. We just need your help to find Neville's Toad," she explained with an unrepentant smile, pointing at Neville who was still standing.

"Hmm! Make space," She-who-must-not-named ordered and closed the cabin's door.

The Cabin magically expanded, giving plenty of space for Tonks to sit down.

The magical phenomenon crashed Leon-exe. The word 'Awesome' got stuck, looping over and over in his mind.

The way the space expanded just blew his mind away, he quickly checked the cabin and it didn't encroach into the hallway of the train, the space in the cabin got expanded to let the witch sit.

"Give me a small object, you brat," Tonks huffed, not noticing Leon's amazement.

The Potter searched for something before shrugging and taking Neville's Hankey, ignoring his objections.

"Don't worry, Neville. You will get it back in proper shape." Tonks promised and waved her wand, whispering something.

The hankey suddenly levitated into the air.

"Follow this, it will take you to the toad. And next time you use that spell to call me don't expect to be jinx-free after I get to you." Tonks warned the Potter before exiting the cabin.

The trio walked away from the cabin following the cloth, leaving Leon and the other three girls.

"You are not going to follow them, Mr Astraeus," Daphne questioned.

"Nope, I stood up before because I was interested in seeing a spell and I did see it. By the way, Do you guys also know some spells?" He asked.

The girls just nodded refusing to elaborate.

'Fine. No more cool spells today,' Leon grumbled.

"Is that senior's name Tonks?" Leon asked Daphne, to check if even she knew the metamorphmagus.

"Her name is Nymphodora Tonks but don't call her Nymphodora if you don't want to be hexed," Daphne replied.

Hannah and Susan emphatically nodded to that.

'Man! It seems they all know each other.' He concluded and started enquiring about an heir's responsibility- how to find lost houses and other such things.

He didn't forget that his family was supposed to have a house somewhere as the document mentioned unspecified not 0 for residences.

They talked about the houses they wanted to end up in and some magical world gossip as Leon asked his doubts, sparingly, as they came into his mind.

Daphne suddenly informed them that it was time to change into uniforms.

After taking turns to change into their uniform, the time to leave the train finally came.

Leon left the cabin, eager to see Hogwarts.

Daphne took off her necklace and threw it in the purse Susan was holding when Leon entered the cabin.

The girls left the cabin after seeing the purse disappear, unlike the rest of their and Leon's language.

Leon exited the train and was met with roars of a giant.

"First years! Gather here! First Years!"

Hagrid stood beside the train, towering over it. He was built like two polar bears were stacked on each other.

A giant lamp illuminated his bushy beard and beady eyes as the first years crowded near him.

After the train left, Hagrid motioned the students to follow him and started to walk away.

Even though he looked like he was trying to walk slowly, to not outpace the wizards who just hit puberty, many students had to jog to keep up with him.

The students quickly arrived near a lake with boats moored.

With a prompt from Hagrid, students climbed into the boats.

Leon too quickly jumped into the boat and began observing the boat for magical runes or formations.

He didn't find any, the boat looked normal.

Hannah, Daphne, and Susan boarded his boat.

"What are you searching for?" Hannah asked, tilting her head.

"Nothing," Leon just shook his head and sat down.

The boats magically started to move after Hagrid made sure everyone was present.

After turning around a bend and ducking from an arch that can only hit a giant, the students feasted upon the magical sight of Hogwarts Castle.

Hogwarts stood out in the darkness like an eternal beacon of wonder and magic.

Stars twinkled in the sky and on the Lake's surface as the castle stole the moon's brilliance creating a breathtaking scene.

The realization that he was going to call that magical castle home and learn to bend reality to his whims using magic hit Leon like a world-ending earthquake.

Happiness surged through him like never before in either of his two lives.

"Don't shout, I will be back," Leon spoke as he hastily stood up and jumped into the lake with an excited grin.

As he sunk deeper, the happiness and adrenaline coursing through him made him feel like breathing wasn't even necessary.

Even being unable to see more than three feet in front of him- due to darkness- didn't affect his mood.

As he waited for the Giant squid to make itself known, Leon decided to commemorate the happiest moment of his life.

The gloominess of his past life and the pain of his present life somehow multiplied the happiness he felt now.

Taking his wand from its sheath, he pointed it forward and shouted EXPECTO PATRONUM in his mind.

A wave of dizziness hit him, making him close his eyes.