Chapter 9-

Their trio separated the moment they got off the train. The moment Ricky released Hedwig to fly to her tower, Terry grabbed him by the wrist and half dragged at a half run to the carriages.

Ricky laughed, "What's the hurry?"

"We have to get the carriages before your brother-cousin rigs them," Terry said without slowing.

Ricky huffed, "Quit joking around."

"I am not joking and I am not walking into the great hall smelling like swamp water again or covered in a pelt of grass. Half the school had to go to the Hospital wing after the great feast. Damned Potter."

Ricky realized then that Terry was completely serious and kept up with other man's fast pace.

They found a carriage with a Slytherin and another Ravenclaw.

The Ravenclaw was none other than Lockhart, and the Slytherin was Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Ricky was about to greet the respectable man warmly when he snarled in a harsh and deep voice, "Get out, Potter."

Ricky backed up, fully ready to do what he was told but Terry shoved him back into the carriage, forcing him to scramble to keep from landing on the other boys' legs.

Terry came in and slammed the door behind Ricky. He waved at the two boys as he relaxed into his seat, a bit winded he said,

"Shacklebolt, Lockhart, meet Rickard  Potter."

"Ah," Kingsley said, "My apologies Potterclaw, your brother is a tosser."

Ricky blinked, "Um, he's not my brother, if you want to be specific he is my nephew, but I consider him like my younger cousin." Jeez, apparently Wormtail wasn't the only rude person.

Lockhart laughed derisively, "You really believe you aren't Fleamont's illegitimate child, his half blood bastard, that's cute."

Ricky wanted to be civil, he really did, but seeing as future Lockhart once tried to wipe his memories, all of Harry's memories, he didn't particularly care about to be the polite one.

The Yew Wand had hit the blonde teen with a silencio and an overpowered tickling charm before the boy could so much as reach for his wand.

Apparently, he had always been bad at dueling.

Kingsley made no motion to help Lockhart neither did Ted. Rickyy didn't release him until they were about halfway to the castle.

Lockhart gasped loudly and scrambled as far away from Harry as possible. "I thought all Ravenclaws were supposed to be nice to each other," he panted.

"Well first off moss wipe, insulting my older brother to my face isn't going to make us friends it's common sense, aren't you a Ravenclaw? use your brain cells. Two let us get one thing clear, I am a pure blood. I hold no prejudice against muggles, Muggleborns, nor half bloods like you. Third I am not Fleamont Potter's bastard son, I am Henry Potter's we did the blood test and it proved that I am indeed Henry's. Fourth I was officially adopted into the family, which makes me officially a full blooded Potter. Fifth I will once again reiterate my mother was a pure blood while attened Durmstang."

Technically he was not lying, from some of the memories he got from Voldemort the current headmaster of Durmstang Zlatomir Arsenyev was a scumbag.

He may have not on the same level as Igor Karkaroff was, but he was a corrupted man. He routinely took bribes from Sellwands and put them down as Durmstang alums in order to embellished their portfolios.

After robbing a few gangs throughout Europe and exchanging the money at gringotts, he sent a simulacrum with a chest full of galleons to bribe him into putting his mother's name on the school register.

He effectively created a paper trail for his background, as well as finding a few alums from that time period and altering their memories a bit so that they remember her at school, luckily for him there weren't many who survived the Grindelwald war.

Terry laughed, "Oh, Ricky, you are going to make our house proud."

Kingsley gave Rickard Potter an appraising look, he had been fully prepared to detest the one who was James Potter's Brother, but Rickard had both a spine and a lack of malice that was quite refreshing. He had put the fourth year Ravenclaw in his place without hurting him and without humiliating him too badly. It was impressive and Kingsley had not expected to be impressed by Ravenclaw Potter.

The feast went as feasts went, the only unusual thing was how aggressive the Sorting Hat's song was.

Come one and come all

How I wish to unsort you all

Welcome to the hard times,

Welcome to the beginning of the dark times.

The Noble House of Gryffindor,

How you've come to follow Dumbledore,

You put your actions above your words

No one is blameless when darkness occurs

And then the House of the Ravenclaws,

Forgotten what you've learned in these great halls,

Your books will not always help you,

Look up from those pages, why don't you?

The powerhouse of Slytherin,

Leaders among you withering

Think for yourselves

What hope do you see in farewells?

Oh and now it's your turn my sweet Hufflepuffs

,

Don't believe you'll get by on bluffs

Loyal you may be

But you must be the harbor between those who disagree

So come one and come all

To this time so great yet so small

Who among you will survive?

If unchanged none of you shall thrive.

No one clapped. The professors looked downright horrified, the first years... Oh, Merlin, the first years were scared out of their wits, two of them looked they were about ready to wet themselves.

Ricky was one hundred percent certain this was his fault, or at least the result of the Sorting Hat snooping around in his head. As someone who knew what was going to happen, he was not as surprised or worried as the people in the great hall. Harry was, however, somewhat disappointed in the hats rhymes. Two months and that is the best he could do?

Ricky looked over to James and Sirius, who were whispering with Remus.

Beyond them, Ricky made eye contact with Severus Snape who was staring at him coldly.

And because the Slytherin couldn't take points away from him, Ricky winked at the boy and smiled at him cheekily.

Severus looked away from him with an expression of disgust. Narcissa looked up from where she had been whispering to Andromeda to see what had disturbed Severus.

Rickard Potter, yes, she thought warily, another Potter is quite disturbing.

The next day Ricky was surprised at their class size. The seventh year Ravenclaws numbered at twelve, Ricky included. Xenophilius Lovegood, Daina Fawley, Terry Greengrass, Isabelle Wood, Roxanne Vablatsky, Ruby Houghton, Pandora King, Vivienne Fox, Eira Thompson, Leonard Travers, Marshall Macmillan, and Rickard Potter.

They were mostly all pure blood, and Eira like Ruby were muggle borns, while Isabelle was a half blood. Ravenclaw as a whole was small house Ricky realized, in his time the houses had been more evenly distributed but the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables were at a glance noticeably more full than either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff tables.

On their first day of classes, it also became clear why Terry had been extra friendly towards a newcomer. Ricky gave Terry a class partner in his own house rather than him having to force interaction with other house students or play the third wheel.

Xenophilius and Pandora weren't just friends, they were obviously -almost grossly, a couple. Ricky realized that these were Luna Lovegood's parents. Pandora surprisingly had Black colored hair but had the same pale silvery eyes and dreamy look that luna had.

It made Ricky look around at lunch, and by luck he had to do a double take when looked at Eira Thompson and indeed it was a flash from the past.

She looked identical to Lee Jordan, the running gag was that when Lee had shirt dreadlocks he looked like a girl, which he did. Hence why he cut them in his fifth year.

Terry noticed his attention, "That's Eira Thompson, she's Head Girl and captain of the Quidditch team, she is a badass mate. Her father is a fighter pilot in the Air Force, what ever that means."

Ricky already knowing this, was simply reliving some old memories, he had met her his fourth year at kings cross. She was a no nonsense kind of woman, but allowed to Lee to be as devious as he wanted so long he maintained grades.

Eira noticed him staring, "Got something to say, Potter?"

"When are Quidditch tryouts?" with missing a beat Ricky asked.

"This Friday, bring a broom," she turned back to the book she had been reading at the table.

Terry chuckled, "Nothing scares you, does it, Potter?"

Ricky shrugged, "Plenty scares me. Do you play Quidditch?"

Terry laughed, "Merlin, no! I have no sense of coordination and my flying skills-" He shook his head. "Let's just say it's safer for everyone that my feet stay on the ground."

Ricky snorted before responding, "Well if you do not have the coordination, then all you have to is practice until you do."

"Merlin you sound like my older brother" Terry shook his head while muttering out loud.

"You have a brother?" asked Ricky in astonishment.

"Yep, a twin." pointing at the Slytherin table with his index finger, which caused Ricky's eyes to land on a seventh year blonde haired boy with a cold expression on his face, Terry's voice ince again sounded.

"Meet Cyrus Geengrass, the heir of the Greengrass family. Bethrowed of one Roxanne Vablatsky, and my older brother." Terry's voice lacked any warmth in it, even as he pointed at Roxanne whom was sitting a few seat down.

When she heard her name being mentioned she turned to look in our direction, but once her eyes landed on Terry however, she quickly looked down with a sad expression on her face before returning to her conversation.

Ricky chose to stay quiet on that matter and returned to his food. Not a word was spoken until they got to class.

Unexpectedly, Potions was a fun class. Shared with the Hufflepuffs there were less than fifteen students and Professor Slughorn was awesome.

Sure, Slughorn was a bit pretentious and said some things that were almost bigoted but unlike Snape, he obviously liked teaching. He seemed to take a great deal of joy in seeing students succeed and connect ideas. His class was also more theory based.

Slughorn didn't just write the instructions on the board, he explained why one ingredient affected the other

He was a lot better than during Voldemort's time, and a lot less eccentric than Harry's time.

On one hand, the class was almost too technical, on the other Ricky found the curiosity and excitement that both Harry and Voldemort had lost for the subject during their first years.

Terry was easy going and a bit of a class clown but he was also extremely hard working. He was a great partner, who -unlike Ron, really tried and unlike Hermione, didn't attempt to micromanage everything Harry did.

As a team, Terry and Ricky had the best potion in the class.

"You're really good at that," Terry said, as they were exiting.

"It's a bit like cooking, isn't it? But you are better at potions than I am."

Terry smiled, "I want to be a healer, I have to have top marks to get an apprenticeship. You cook? I am sure that you're family must look at you weirdly if you like to cook. Eira only knows how to bake cookies but most of the kids from muggleborn families barely know how to boil water."

"Baking is fun," Harry said, though he never got to eat the sweets he made. "I haven't had the chance to experiment much though. A healer? That's incredible, I don't think I have the constitution for that."

Terry smile grew, "Most people don't, but my mum always said that I am an unfailing optimist. Add that to me not minding getting my hands dirty, well, combining my best qualities and becoming a healer just seems like the right path. I want to help people get better and I have the abilities I need to do that."

Ricky was at a loss for words, for all the laughter, Terry Greengrass was incredibly mature and open minded. Specially for a pure blood.

"Oh," Terry exclaimed, "You and I should practice muggle cooking in the kitchens. I have been dying to try it out, and I am willing to bet that the house elves would love to teach us some recipes. They always get crazy excited when they get to help visitors."

Ricky nodded, "That sounds like fu-"

"Leave me alone, Potter!" Lily shouted from further down the hall.

Rick's heart leapt into his throat. The memories Harry had of that time started replaying 'Not Harry!' in his mind's ear.

He did not know when, but he ran towards it. Her voice was the only memory Harry had of his parents and he could not stand the thought of her being in distress.

"You heard her, Potter. Get lost," Snape snarled wand held at his side, as the lean teenager glared at the four Marauders.

James was trying to hold Lily's books for her and she was trying to get them back.

Ricky pushed between Sirius and Remus to get at James. Harry snatched the books from James' hand as if he were stealing a quaffle.

Ricky shoved his shoulder into James', forcing him back a few steps. Terry who had followed Harry's lead got in Sirius's way as he tried to box Harry off.

Ricky handed Lily her books and with a hand on her shoulder, quickly directed her towards the courtyard.

"Oi!" James and Sirius said together.

"See you around, cuz," Ricky called over his shoulder.

Terry looped his arm in with Snape's, dragging the dower Slytherin along so the four of them stepped into the sunlight together.

They lost the Marauders in a crowd of third years who had just been released from their Charms class.

Lily sighed in relief as the bright sunlight warmed her pale skin.

Ricky watched her, awed to see her this close, to see her alive and real. Snape glared at him and tore his arm away from Ted's with a snarled, "Let go of me."

"Thanks," Lily said to Ricky, ignoring her friend's outrage.

Ricky smiled, "Anytime." They stopped under the shade of one of the big trees. Rick took a polite few steps back from her before holding out his hand, "It is pleasure to meet you, Ms. Evans."

Lily stared at him with emerald green eyes, and Ricky felt a moment of vertigo. When everyone in Harry's old life had said that he 'had his mother's eyes' they hadn't been exaggerating, based on the memories it was like looking into a mirror.

It wasn't just the color, they had the same eye shape and arch of eyebrows as well.

Admittedly, now he looked completely different than her, but still...

She shook his hand with a steady grasp, "You can call me Lily and I'll call you Rickard. I don't think I could call you Potter without grimacing."

Ricky smiled, "Please call me Ricky, and yeah James can be a git."

"He is a git," Snape muttered.

Ricky shrugged, "No one's perfect. But if you ever need a distraction or a rescue you've only to ask." And with that, he turned to leave.

Lily felt that she was more open to deal with Ricky than with James.

A part of him burned to hug her, to tell her that everything will be alright, to ask her for forgiveness...He had to get away from her. His heart and stomach were in knots.

Terry waved goodbye to Snape and Lily before joining Harry on their walk to the lake where they had agreed to finish their homework.

Lily frowned at Ricky's retreating back, "He really is different than James, isn't he?"

Snape huffed, refusing to admit that any Potter could ever be deemed tolerable.

Later that night what Ricky had feared began to happen. In taking the decision to leave the piece of soul in his scar for last, and to initiate contact with the rest of Voldemort's soul was bound to gave drastic side effect.

The nightmares and pain was instantaneous, they came in waves and were relentless.

Green eyes.

Not Harry!

Green light.

Harry!? Wo are you? You are not Harry!?

Hermione's voice fading into the distance.

Ricky!

Euphemia's words were swallowed by the sound of rushing water.

Bodies, white, rotting bodies.

Stagnant water.

A crystal cave.

A boat.

Green water.

A gold cup.

A hissing locket.

"Nagini," Voldemort called in parseltongue.

Ricky wasn't looking through the snake like Harry did last time, this time he watched from Voldemort's perspective.

The body of a muggle woman writhing on the ground.

"A few more disappearances, Nagini, no one will connect it back to little Tom-"

Voldemort looked up into a large mirror seeing his proud figure reflected back at him. His thick brown hair, his aristocratic nose, the fine lines of his brows. His cupid bow lips curled and Harry watched in horror as Voldemort thought,

'This is a fine face to catch my prey, to become their god.'

There was one flaw to his appearance, the hue of his eyes.

Red eyes.