Disclaimer. As usual I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, things, or animals, that are mentioned in the Harry Potter books, I do how ever own the plot in this little venture into the Potter verse.

Just a very short A/Note: I wrote this with people who know all about JKR's Potterverse in mind. It is my rather short and definitely AU version of the first Harry Potter book. Hope you enjoy it.

The Rebellious Wizard 1

Eleven year old Harry James Potter had lived a short unpleasant life so far. Most of his few years he had spent being starved beaten and locked up, when he had cried out for help to the adults he met it usually resulted in extra beatings or far less food than he needed. At the age of five when he discovered he had a real name like other people, his life and outlook changed. Starting primary school he had quickly discovered if he did not stand up for himself his life was likely to quickly become even worse than it had been before. That small discovery quickly led to him distrusting adults and not relying on them to help him, thus becoming a fiercely independent and strong minded boy.

He also discovered that the more he knew the easier it was to evade the school bullies, which led him to becoming an avid reader. His reading soon taught him that knowledge about the evil world he lived in was extremely useful, he also knew being an orphan living with a family of bullies his life was far from normal and the only way to beat the evil that seemed intent on continually hurting him was to refuse to submit to it.

By the time he was ten years old he had already decided to be the exact opposite to the Dursleys, he would never submit to their bullying ways or to accepting that he could not change things for the better. Due to his hate filled relatives Harry had become a fighter, thick skinned and with a rather tough exterior. He was a teenage rebel before he reached his teens, not willing to submit to anyone.

At the age of eleven he was invited to attend a private school and was shown a whole new way of life. He discovered a hidden society that all his reading had not revealed to him. Given a train ticket that would enable him to join the new society on the first of September he arrived at Kings Cross station.

After a few polite enquiries from a few oddly dressed people who had a trunk like the one he had bought, along with either an owl or a cat, he stood on the platform his train departed from and studied the fire red steam engine that would take him on to his new life, he watched the fireman direct coal into the fire with a wand, as the train sat puffing out steam as if waiting for him to put his old life behind him and step aboard for his future.

It was a young eleven year old boys dream to ride on the foot plate of a steam engine, and he wondered for a minute or so if he dare ask the driver to show him how it all worked, the thing that held him back was his reticence to talk to any adult he didn't need to, thanks to his mistreatment by his guardians aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon Dursley along with others, making him wary and distrusting of adults. Shrugging his shoulders a little he gave up on the small boys dream and boarded the train with the help of two red haired boys who were identical twins, both of whom from what they said seemed to love to laugh at the expense of those around them, he said nothing but thought they were just bullies who liked to play nasty tricks on people.

Sitting alone in a compartment toward the rear of the train, his first time away from the place he knew as his personal hell, 'well until he was old enough to get away from there' he had always told himself, for the first time since he was five he felt rather small and just a little frightened about the new life he was getting into, or whether he would fit in in a world of magic. For a short time he was scared that someone was playing a huge joke on him and he would find that there was as uncle Vernon said 'no such thing as magic'. His fear did not last too long how ever when he was joined by yet another red haired boy whose arrival pulled him out of his rather depressing thoughts on his life to date.

"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley, mind if I sit in here with you, seems everywhere else is taken?" the red head asked.

Harry looked up at a boy around his own age and nodded, somehow it made him feel a little safer, a little less lonely knowing he wasn't the only one starting at his new school 'Hogwarts' this year. Holding out his hand to the red head Harry introduced him self, "Hi I'm Harry, Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

Some time later, unknown to the two boys, they were fast approaching the halfway point in their journey to Hogwarts and they were slowly getting to know each other. Harry was slightly more cautious in forming a friendship, having previously only ever been bullied or ignored by kids his own age. He had never had any friends before, the boy Ron Weasley seemed to be a little selfish and greedy; having just eaten far more than half of the sweets Harry had bought for the journey.

True Harry had offered to share the sweets, but he had not expected this Ron to simply dive in and eat everything he could get his hands on. So Harry always being very careful about who he trusted began to wonder about Ron Weasley but chose to give him a chance, maybe he was just nervous about leaving home. Ron eating all the sweets including snatching up the last chocolate frog Harry was reaching for reminded Harry of his cousin Dudley, and he definitely did not want to trust another boy who might be like Dudley. So if this Ron turned out to be like his fat cousin he decided he would not be risking losing too much if he did not commit too much to this friendship for a while, not until he was sure about the boy.

It was about that time that a girl, who Harry had thought rather nice and kind, she was even pretty with wild hair like his own, even though she seemed almost as nervous about their future as he was he took an instant liking to her, she entered the compartment asking about a lost toad. She only stayed for a few minutes during which she kindly repaired his broken glasses for him. Just after she left them to return to her own compartment Ron made some rather unfriendly and nasty comments about her being a know it all, which made Harry wonder exactly what kind of person he was getting friendly with. Ron seemed to have the same sort of attitude as Dudley and the Malfoy boy Harry had met a few days earlier, as well as Dudley's greediness, and Harry knew he could do without that sort of friend. Things were not looking to good for this fledgling friendship.

Three weeks after starting his first year at the magical school of Hogwarts Harry discovered that a name that the boy known as Draco Malfoy kept using when he spoke to one of his female class mates was an insult, and what it meant really annoyed Harry because it reminded him of his uncle always calling him a freak, the girl picked on was the one who had fixed his glasses. He now knew her name was Hermione Jane Granger and she was extremely clever, and definitely not deserving of all those insults. He watched her in their classes and wished he was as smart as she was as she seemed to have a way of learning their lessons really quickly always being first to perform what ever spell or charm they were trying, there was also the fact that to Harry she was still rather pretty to look at.

The day he found out the word 'mudblood' as used by Malfoy was about the worst name you could call some one in the magical world, he made a rather huge decision for some one with his back ground in being bullied, he decided he would not put up with anyone using that word or being a bully in his hearing ever again no matter who they might be or who they picked on. Taking a deep breath he made a vow to always do something about it if he was able to.

Just a few hours later as the first years made their way back to the castle from the care of magical creatures class, Hermione was walking alone just in front of Harry and Ron when Malfoy began to pick on her. As soon as Malfoy uttered the word mudblood Harry shouted at him to apologise. Malfoy scoffed and with a sneer he called Hermione a filthy mudblood whore. Three seconds later Harry's right fist struck Malfoy on the side of his jaw, a split second after that his left fist caught Malfoy under the chin sending him crashing to the ground.

For the next few weeks Harry's reaction to Malfoys constant insults continued to be rather rapid and painful for the blond haired pureblood bigot, but Malfoy seemed too stupid to be able to keep his mouth shut and never seemed to learn his lesson. Annoyingly because of the teachers Harry was unable to do anything about Malfoys insults while in class or in the great hall during meals, and was getting frustrated about the complete lack of action from the school staff in controlling the bullies and bigots.

One week before Halloween during their Wednesday dinner, Malfoy once again insulted Hermione in front of the unresponsive staff. Harry had had about all he was going to take from the stupid pureblood and regardless of what the professors might say or do, he struck out at Malfoy and continued to hit the idiot bigot until he was unconscious and lying in a pool of his own blood.

The reaction of the staff was almost immediate, Draco Malfoy was taken away to the hospital wing and Harry was bodily dragged up to the staff table by professor Snape, where his head of house 'professor McGonagall' proceeded to yell at Harry about his awful conduct. She ended her scolding by telling Harry he would be spending the next month in detention every night.

"I refuse to do any detention for my treatment of Malfoy," Harry answered loudly and defiantly, "if detentions are to be given then you should be giving them to that disgusting piece of humanity Malfoy. You should also give your selves some punishment for your total disregard of the mental welfare of your pupils. I'm only eleven years old but I find my self totally disgusted with all the staff at this school, especially Mr Snape who not only encourages such disgusting behaviour but does it him self. I look forward to the end of term when I can ask my relatives to withdraw me from this… 'so called school' and get me into a normal school where they at least try to stop bullying and racial hatred."

Harry turned his back to the head table and walked out of the great hall ignoring the calls of the headmaster to return, he was accompanied by the cheers of the majority of the students who were showing their support for Harry and what he had said. Even some of the Slytherin students, the house that Malfoy belonged too cheered. The sound followed him as he walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room having decided this world was worse than the one he had left behind.

Despite almost all the student body apart from a few Slytherins backing Harry in his stance against the staffs seeming condoning of bigotry, Minerva McGonagall repeatedly tried to force Harry to do his detentions until the evening when the whole of his Gryffindor house mates turned up to support him. Each one of them willing to receive their own detentions in defiance of the deputy head and that made her rethink things.

Albus Dumbledore headmaster of what, until the arrival of Mr Harry Potter at the school, had been his own little power base was not happy. His word had been law, the respect shown him almost overwhelming, but all that was slipping away and he was losing control over his pupils and was not at all happy with Potter. He had expected the boy to be meek and low in self esteem, easy to influence and control. He had to call an early staff meeting to discuss what was to be done about Mr Potter and his rebellion against the staff.

It was Filius Flitwick, teacher of charms who was the first of the faculty to show support for Harry Potter and his stand against bigotry. "Albus I'm afraid you need to accept that Mr Potter is in the right, we," Filius said pointing at his fellow teachers "all of us have ignored the insults and degrading behaviour shown to the muggle born students that arrive here full of hope for a new start just to be disappointed. We have a member of staff who has no teaching ability what so ever, forever denigrating students like Miss Granger and Mr Potter. In fact I believe were I headmaster, Severus Snape being such a hate filled bigot would have been fired before he had finished his first week here. The British wizarding world has not had a potion master since the year Severus started to teach. Slowly but surely he is doing more damage to our world than Voldemort ever did during the last war. So until such time as I see fit I shall be handing out severe punishments to anyone I catch making any bigoted remarks or actions, that includes you Snape, and I will keep awarding points to who ever stands up to this divisive horrid behaviour."

Albus could not believe what was happening as several other staff members agreed with his charms professor. "We can not have pupils being rebellious and trying to change how this school is run," he said rather heatedly as he stared at his staff.

The fact that his deputy, professor McGonagall had finally realised that young Harry potter was doing a far better job than any of the staff when it came to protecting the Muggle born students, and had withdrawn her detentions and other punishments she had been giving the boy and she was now actively supporting him, made the headmaster even more angry at Mr Potter, who was supposed to become his puppet.

On their first Halloween at Hogwarts, Harry was leaving the charms class at lunch time with Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger was just a few steps behind them but Harry as usual kept his eye on her just in case Malfoy started to insult her again. He was so shocked he was totally speechless when the one who insulted Hermione was not Malfoy, but Ronald Weasley, his so called friend.

Harry wasn't sure why Ron seemed to think that he was any different than Malfoy when it came to bigotry, he was saying some really hateful things to the girl Harry liked and had been protecting all term, it was as though the red head thought he was Harry's best friend so he could get away with what ever he wanted.

Seeing the hurt in her eyes had Harry furious with the red head. "Ron there was no call for that," Harry said watching tears fall down her cheeks.

"Why not? she's a ruddy nightmare, no wonder she has no friends," Ron answered loud enough for Hermione to hear.

Hermione took off at a run while crying and didn't see what happened next. Even before Ron had breathed in again after his insult, Harry's fist hit him square on his jaw, Harry's second fist landed on Ron's left eye, which began to swell instantly. Harry had never in his life felt so angry with anyone, and he was making damn sure that Ron Weasley would never insult Hermione again, not in his hearing anyway. By the time Harry was stopped by professor Flitwick Ron's lip was split in several places, his nose was broken and both eyes were swollen shut, that and he was lying on the ground screaming like a baby.

The professor had to bind Harry with a spell to get him to stop thumping Weasley. He was ready to give Harry a months detentions when he was informed by Parvati Patel what Weasley had said and how badly he had hurt and upset Hermione, who just happened to be Flitwick's favourite first year student. Parvati went on to tell the professor exactly what Ron had said.

"Mr Potter, we staff do not wish to catch you doing this sort of thing in the future. Now run along and don't let me see you hit anyone else," Flitwick said sternly while winking at Harry.

"Sorry professor, I promise I will try to behave so you 'will not' catch me doing this sort of thing again," Harry said seriously, before he walked away from the crowd that had gathered.

Harry was getting worried about Hermione as the day progressed and she had not turned up for any lessons all afternoon. As soon as they got out of their last lesson of the day he went off in search of her. Rounding a corner into one of the less used corridors he found himself standing right behind Professor Quirrell, their rather pathetic timid stammering Defence teacher. A sudden and severe pain in his head reminded him of the sorting on their first day at school. He remembered thinking at the time that it had been professor Snape that had done something to him to make the pain in his head, of course he had quickly discovered by the end of the first week that it was not Snape at all. It was some thing about the large turban that Quirrell wore that seemed to cause him the pain; he found that out during his first lesson in the defence class and was convinced he was allergic to what ever the professor used to make the turban smell awful.

Harry seeing what was standing in front of Quirrell dodged back around the corner he had just walked around, he quickly said a prayer to anyone who listened in to prayers and thanked them that the professor was to busy talking in some strange language to notice the small first year that had appeared behind him.

Harry horrified by the thing he saw wondered what on earth the thing with Quirrell was, it was even bigger than Hagrid the groundskeeper and if he was to believe his eyes then it had pale grey/green skin, though he wasn't sure about that due to the filth the thing seemed to be covered in. A few moments later professor Quirrell ran past the corridor where Harry was leaning against the wall trying to think if he had seen a picture of the beast in any of his books. He didn't take much notice as the professor ran off down an adjacent corridor; he could hear the thump of the monsters foot steps as it moved away from him.