Chapter 1

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry Potter blinked as a flash of green echoed through his memory. The young seventeen year old Ravenclaw could tell he had just been lost in the flashback of his final moments of his sixth year. The moment he felt that he had truly taken a life outside of self defense for the first time. Of course there was Quirrel in his fourth year who seemed less than a man by the time he ended his existence, and the shade of Tom Riddle in his seventh year that was only a shadow of the Monster himself, but the taking of Peter Pettigrew's life had affected him differently. Harry may have struck the man down in self defense or as some called it an act of passion, but he knew that he might have been able to spare the man's life in hindsight. The now headboy of Hogwarts was leaps and bounds magically ahead of the rat animagus, but for all the pain and suffering he had caused Harry the young man felt forced to take his life in retaliation.

The train horn sounded off at platform 9 and 3/4s indicating that there were fifteen minutes left till the train departed. Harry surveyed the platform full of families looking out for something that could escalate into violence at a moment's notice. Of course nothing out of the ordinary stood out, so he took a deep breath trying to relax his thoughts and enforce his occlumency shields to hold his focus.

Harry's younger brother, Justin Potter, stormed past him at the site of his recent girlfriend Susan Bones. The young red head girl had captured his little brother's heart about midway through their previous year, and the two had practically become inseparable. Susan had been on vacation with her best friend for the last two weeks so they had not seen each other since the fiasco at the Quidditch World Cup. The two embraced as if it had been years since they had seen each other, or as if Justin had been off at war for years and returned only for her. The older of the Potter brothers rolled his eyes at the scene, and shook his head with a slight smile forming at the edge of his mouth, "Hello to you as well Susan."

The girl blushed as she separated from the dark haired boy she was embracing, "Hello Harry, I didn't see you there."

"Of course you didn't. My brother seems to have distracted you quite well." Harry said cheekily with a straight face.

"Forgive me Harry, that was rude. How was the rest of your Summer?" She asked, but winced as she realized just how awful the last few weeks for Harry Potter had been.

The boy waved it off without notice though, "Eventful as I am sure you have heard. If I was going to spend so much time with a Bones' woman I have to admit I would rather have done it with you. Your aunt is quite the slave driver."

"Well you don't rise to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement without some of those qualities." Susan said defensively, but her cheeks pinkened a bit at the back handed compliment.

Justin shot his brother a slightly annoyed look, but said nothing. The young shaggy dark haired boy had been through a lot this past Summer, and had done lots of training with his older brother, and knew it was best not to antagonize him in any way. His dark brown eyes that resembled their father's surveyed the train station as Harry had just done moments before. It was clear to Harry that while the boy was just beginning to get good at his situational awareness, he still had a long way to go, "Justin, why don't you and Susan go find seats on the train before all the good ones are taken."

The boy-who-lived nodded as he noticed he was getting long looks from the crowd, and took his girlfriend by the hand, and the two claimed they would catch up with Harry on the train. Harry took a sigh of relief as the two boarded the train with a ten minute warning horn sounding off. Ten minutes to get all the students on the train safely, he could do this, and with his celebrity brother making it onto the train without attracting too much attention meant things were looking fairly promising.

Justin's celebrity status had toned down a lot after Harry had saved his life quite publically last year. Of course as the only known survivor of the killing curse his fame would always be legendary, but Harry was less impressed by the status as he knew the truth of the story. It was his grandmother's sacrifice that had caused the killing curse to rebound. It was ancient magic passed down from a time that was before even their family. The Peverell magic was something that few in his family had delved into, but thankfully his grandmother had been one of them.

Harry only had brief memories of the woman who had sacrificed her life for his little brother. He had loved hearing stories of Euphemia Potter as he grew up. The healer who had the gentlest touch and intention in everything she did. She was a woman of peace who was prepared to follow her husband in death, and make the ultimate sacrifice for either of her grandchildren without more than a passing thought.

The Potter Matriarch had refused to bow down to Voldemort on that Halloween evening, and didn't even raise her wand to enact the ancient sacrificial magic. It was a tragedy, and Harry at only four years old had lost the woman who had cared so much for him. James Potter was the head of the Potter family of course, and did not want the knowledge of the Potter's ancient family secrets to be leaked out, so they created the fabrication of the boy-who-lived. Of course it was true that Voldemort had left a mark on Justin when he had cast the killing curse on the young boy marking him forever, and from then on the world believed that Justin was destined for greatness, and hailed him as the savior of the Wizarding World.

It was in short order however that his family discovered Voldemort was not gone forever, and they discovered something that clearly spooked the family. Harry never did find out just what it was, but they believed when Voldemort returned he would hunt the boy who stopped him in his path to victory, and kill him. It was this that led the family to training their youngest son with every available resource they could. They had hoped for decades to prepare the youngest Potter for a possible conflict, and they sacrificed much along the way to ensure Justin Potter's safety. Including Harry's childhood.

It was such a frivolous event that caused such a cascading failure of events that led to the destruction of the Potter heirs life. On Halloween of 1981 Lily and James Potter decided to go out on an anniversary dinner after months of being in hiding. Of course Grandma Potter was happy to come and watch her grandchildren for the evening, and was none the wiser of the traitor that was in their midst. It seemed to be fate that Peter Pettigrew would sell out his family, and lead the Dark Lord to attack Gordic's Hollow on that night in 1981. The rest was history, or it should have been. The family became lost in their pursuit to make Justin the greatest wizard he could possibly be, and Harry had been left behind with his Godfather a lot over the years.

Harry was very close to Sirius Black, but neither could claim the man was a parent. He took care of Harry, and provided everything that Harry needed one way or another, but actually raised Harry and taught him right from wrong? That isn't quite how the story went. Harry had found someone else for that role. His thoughts drifted to the man who taught him the magic he knew today, and sighed looking forward to getting back to his proper training.

"It all looks calm here Auror Potter."

The familiar voice came from behind Harry as a hand was placed on his shoulder gently. James Potter, 34 years old, and the youngest Head Auror ever, had been playing a little joke on his son for most of the Summer when he figured out his boss was trying to recruit him. Harry responded cheekily, "Prongs I will have you stuck to the wall ten feet high singing the canons fight song like a canary if you ever call me auror Potter again."

Harry didn't need to see his father to know the man had shivered. His distaste for the Canons was legendary, "That was uncalled for."

"So was referring to me as an auror...Your department couldn't afford me." Harry said lightly, causing his father to laugh.

"Cheeky little bugger aren't you. Padfoot and Moony are in place by the way. Do you really think something is going to happen in the next few minutes?" The man asked, looking around carefully.

James Potter had ascended to be Head Auror which was just one step below the Department Head Amelia Bones. He was in charge of his own team which consisted of some of the best aurors in the Ministry of Magic. They were probably as close to special forces as it came, and Harry had requested his father to take some of the more familiar faces on his team and place them on the platform in case of a resurging Death Eater attack, "We weren't expecting it at the World Cup, and I am not expecting it here, but unlike then we will be ready for it this time."

Before his father could counter this a female voice came over the two of them, "Just leave him be James. He is head boy this year, and it should be comforting that he is taking the safety of all the students seriously."

Lily Potter, 34, was as beautiful as they came anywhere. The youthful face that could have placed the woman in her twenties, and the stunning dark red hair gave her a look that almost screamed veela, "I know honey I just wonder if our son is planning on taking out more Death Eaters. It's not fair you got to fight with him first."

Harry blinked slowly and the scene resurfaced in his mind,

For the first time Harry felt his family was well united, and he couldn't remember such a moment in living memory. The years of neglect flashed through Harry's mind, and he quashed down the bad emotions that came with those thoughts, and the fleeting guilt of killing a man earlier that Summer. Harry's dad had comforted him for hours on end over the Summer holidays as he woke up shaken from the nightmares of killing Pettigrew. There were never any tears from Harry, and his father told him there shouldn't be. He had brought about the end of the man who had cost the Potter family so much, and it was nothing short of justice that became of the man. Of course his father was upset that his oldest son had to be the one to bring peace to the family, but made Harry swear not to cry a single tear over the man that had tried to take it all from the Potters.

Forcing his occlumency shields to the forefront of his mind and thinking of his patronus allowed for calmer thoughts to prevail through the young man's well organized mind. He looked back over the scene of his father and friends having the time of their lives as if they were still kids and shared a smile with his mother who looked up at him in exasperation. It has been a good evening, and Harry would treasure the good memories.

The good feelings were short lived however when the clear sounds of screams were heard outside the camp grounds. He immediately drew his wand and stood on his feet, "Dad did you hear that?"

The Marauders were all up in an instant pushing down their inner child and bringing back auror mode drawing their wands as one moving forward instantly to investigate the noise, and only a few seconds passed when James Potter came back with a look that screamed battle ready, "Lily get the kids out of here, Death Eaters are raiding the camps. It is chaos out there. We will try to break this up."

Lily nodded quickly and started casting charms around the Potter tent, and grabbed Justin by the arm shouting, "Harry come on we are leaving."

At this Harry quickly chased after the redhead that dragged his brother out of the tent darting in the opposite direction of where the death eaters were currently coming from. Harry was backpedaling following his mother, but throwing a few spells into the group of crowded death eaters trying to scatter them, but at a yelping sound from his mother had him spinning back around to see a small group of a dozen Death Eaters closing in on them as his mother began to deflect spells with practiced ease. Harry quickly stepped to her side shouting back at his brother, "Justin run to those trees as fast as you can and don't stop. I will find you when it's over."

Justin didn't even wait to hear what his mother was going to say before nodding, unlike Lily Potter, Harry had been in a life or death situation with his brother before, and Justin trusted him implicitly. Harry growled under his breath, "Mum, I have waited a long time to see this famous Evans power that professor Flitwick goes on about. Care to show me the ropes?"

Lily Evans Potter looked at her son in surprise, who almost looked thrilled to do battle at her side. The boy next to her had changed very much over the past three years since his brother had joined him at Hogwarts. At first no words came to her as she deflected more and more spells, but then she could agree as she felt a tint of desperation, "No mercy Harry, don't be afraid."

Harry surprised the woman with a confident smile, "I don't fear these men."

With that he dodged under a curse aimed at his head spinning around towards a stray Death Eater that was trying to hit Justin as he ran, allowing Harry to hit the man with a dark purple curse ending the man's attack on his brother and any other that might have followed. He then finished his spin stepping towards his opponents and threw a mighty blasting curse that caught the advancing men by surprise, and blasted two of them right out of the battle, and Harry didn't stop there, "SECTUMSEMPRA. Defudio, Confringo, Depulso, Conjunctivitis, Reducto!"

Harry let his famous 5 chain spell fly from his wand as he watched the first death eater drop at the severing charm he threw at the man's head. Then continued to completely knock out and possibly kill another with the most powerful concussion blast he could manage. Suddenly it was four against two and spells were being traded with blinding speed.

Harry had never seen his mother seriously fight before, but he was beginning to see just how she got her reputation. She was a flash of red hair and speed as she tore through two of her opponents, and when suddenly a green light came zooming towards her, she felt a body forcing her to the ground. The young mother hardly even had time to realize what had happened when her son's voice shouted from above her, "That was close, and we are not out of the woods, yet."

With that he popped back up, and blasted one with a curse so powerful it ruptured the shield with a powerful bang, and threw the man backwards into a tree ending his fight for the night. Following that up his mother teamed up with him to take down the final death eater who fell quickly to their combined power.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?"

A concerned female voice shook Harry out of the memory, and he looked to see his mom and dad looking at him with worry, "I'm fine."

James put a hand on his son's shoulder, "You know in the auror department FINE stands for Freaked-out Insecure Neurotic and Emotional."

"James." Lily said warningly.

He held up his hands, "What the kid has done some serious shit over the last few months if he needs someone to talk to or therapy I just want him to know we are here for him. Things have changed from the way they were and we aren't ever going back to that."

The three all shared a silent pause, and Harry heard the five minute warning bell, "Don't worry about me Prongs. I am tough, and this won't shake me. Thanks for stationing your guys here. Made me feel better that I might have some halfway decent wands to back up mom and I for the next fight."

James grinned, "Next time I will show you more than a halfway decent wand. Now get out of here the train is about to take off. I am sure Ms. Clearwater will want your report as soon as possible. We have things covered here."

Harry looked at the two and thought about the last time he departed the train that headed to Hogwarts and how different things were between him and his parents. The bad blood had been washed away over the last few months, and while not forgotten the relationships were certainly healing. He thought about arriving at Platform 9 and 3/4s for the first time with Sirius in tow. He could clearly remember just how lost he had felt. The only thing stronger than the feeling of loss however was determination. A determination that guided his path. He swore that he was going to make his parent's regret not showing him more attention.

Things had changed since then. Now they were a family, and he wanted to show them and the world that he was more than just a powerful wizard from a powerful family. His mother embraced him and his dad came in on the hug too.

The boy tensed, still not quite used to the affection, but smiled when the trio separated. The final train horn rang out, and Lily wiped away a tear, "This will be the only Hogwarts Express trip I remember for you, and it's your last one. Do us proud this year Harry, and keep your brother out of trouble."

Harry shrugged as he walked towards the train shouting back over his shoulder, "Don't I always?"

He heard his father's laugh and imagined his mother shaking her head. He boarded the train with a deep breath, and a consoling thought that this year could not be nearly as horrible as the year before.

(A/N) Welcome to my 2022 project. The Survivors and Rise of House Neptune have almost found their way to a close, and I probably won't fill their slots on my update schedule for a while as I focus on this story, and The Cost of Freedom. Good news: most of this story is already written. So it won't take away from my other work. The updates will be coming on Tuesdays, and if you follow me on discord you can get a chapter EVERY week starting 1/11/22. I will continue this trend until this story is 10 chapters ahead of what is on FanFiction, or if I finish the story then I will just continue bringing you a chapter every week until it reaches its completion.

Now this story will be HarryXFleur. I have been inspired by DarknessEnthroned for years with Cadmean Victory, and while in no way will this be the same story there may definitely be some parallels. This Harry is of course older, and he will have a little brother with him along for the ride. Harry's mentor will be a major point to this story as well, but I don't think his reveal will be till around chapter 7 or 8, though it could be pretty obvious.

Obviously this an AU story so don't expect things to follow canon perfectly. I will try to note the divergences, but most of you will catch on pretty quickly and obviously. I am really proud of this story. It is my first real story where Harry is just absolutely monstrous with magic, but not unmatched so I really look forward to sharing this.

Follow me on discord for the advanced content, and I will look forward to chatting with everyone there! Cheers!

/xyX9X3qG