Harry never used any magic in front of Petunia since Dumbledore was a master Legilimens and could pluck the thoughts right out of her head if he ever met her.

He wanted his true power to remain hidden because Dumbledore might connect his stunning growth with the scar in his head and might consider him possessed by Voldemort.

Maybe he was just being too paranoid about it but there's nothing wrong with having an ace up your sleeve. And considering how difficult his life was going to be in the upcoming future, he believed that he should have as much advantage as possible.

So he made sure that he never showed his talent to Petunia when he returned home.

At first she asked where he went. After getting a vague answer every time she asked him that question, she stopped asking him.

Then she started asking why he even cared to return. It was a fair question. He didn't like her and Dudley and they didn't like him so there was really nothing holding him back from leaving.

Except for the blood wards which would warn Dumbledore about his activities if he left his house for too long.

Such a headache.

Regardless, he continued to practice his magical powers, giving himself small projects to complete on a timely basis so that he would not become stagnant.

After all, magic was in and of itself a truly wonderful thing. But however wonderful a thing might be, humans have the tendency of taking things for granted.

So he made sure that such a thing didn't happen to him by giving himself new and exciting projects to complete from time to time.

Like robbing a bank, securing a home, make the whole house work on magic, among many, many other things.

So he kept practicing like that and time passed and before he realized it, he was about to become 11 years old.

—————

The letter from Hogwarts did not came as a surprise to him as he had already been expecting it for some time.

Nor did it surprised him when Hagrid came knocking on the Dursley's house a week later.

But from the looks of it, Hagrid was surprised to see a snake dangling around his neck. And he was downright shocked if not horrified when Harry started talking with the snake in parseltongue as well.

He was sure that he had probably destroyed all chances of making friends with Hagrid considering his Anti-Slytherin disposition. But he considered it important that people knew this one fact about him as soon as possible since he planned to bring Selena along with him to the school.

The little girl had become a close friend and confidant of his over the past three years and had grown to the length of four feet by now.

He knew that he was unlikely to make any new friends at Hogwarts because of his highly antisocial tendencies so it was imperative that he brought her along with him.

Moreover, he did not wanted to be seen as a puppet of the the leader of the light. He did not wanted to be seen as a strictly light wizard, period. And being a parseltongue would go a long way in achieving that goal of his.

It was a humorous to see the half giant be so wary of him considering how close he and the original Harry were. But regardless of his own personal feelings of him, the half giant did took him to Leaky Cauldron where people gave him a wide berth simply for the fact that he had a snake hanging around his neck.

No one asked Hagrid who he was and Hagrid might not be a bright person but he was not stupid enough to go about telling other people about his identity.

Not when he turned out to be so much different than anyone could have thought.

Releasing a little bit of his shroud made him utterly disinteresting to other people so they didn't even bothered to glance his way and even when someone did glance at him by some mistake, the band aid he wore on his head did a good job of hiding his identity as they made their way through Diagon Alley.

His first stop, predictably, Gringotts.

He had been to the bank many times before in order to exchange the money that he stole from other people into Galleons but this was the first time that went into his trust vault.

And wasn't that a disappointment,

He could only take out 1000 galleons from his vault in a year. It was not much compared to his total wealth which was more than 100,000 galleons by now but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly put the 1000 galleons in his bottomless purse before they left for the next vault where Hagrid took out the Philosopher's Stone.

Then they went to various other shops where they bought his books, accessories, cauldrons, clothes, etc.

He did meet Draco Malfoy in 'Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occassions' shop and could tell that the little tyke was interested in Selena but he was not the mood to indulge the pompous brat and gave him a glare before ignoring his presence.

The blonde brat was not really happy about that kind of treatment but one or two hisses from Selena intimidated him enough to keep him away for the time being.

The last visit was of course to Olivander's wand shop where he promptly told the old man to bring out the brother wand of the wand that he'd given to Voldemort.

He was a bit apprehensive about the holly wand and not entirely sure if it'll work for him or not considering how he was not really Harry Potter but in the end, the wand gave off sparks as soon as it landed on his had and he felt the connection form between himself and the wand, as if two pieces of puzzle being connected and realized that he may not be the original Harry Potter but the wand will still work for him.

That was a rather big discovery for him considering how people always said that wand chooses the wizard and all that. Now he knew that the wand probably chose the wizard based on his magical signature.

Or that was his hypothesis at least. If he ever got interested in Wand Lore then this little bit of information might prove to be important.

As he came out of the shop and they got ready to go home, Hagrid hesitantly took something out for him.

His birthday gift.

Hedwig.

He knew that Hedwig would become a good friend and a source of great comfort for original Harry but for him, that place has already been occupied by Selena.

He simply could not leave her for someone else. Not even for dear Hedwig who gave her life for Harry.

Such a pity.

He rejected his offer and for once, Hagrid almost looked relieved. Harry wondered if the half giant thought that he was going to feed the little owl to Selena.

Jesus, just because he was a Parseltongue didn't make him a monster.

But he wouldn't put it past Hagrid to have such thoughts. Snakes and Parselmouths have really bad reputation after all.

"You should know that snakes are not allowed in the castle Harry." Hagrid said as we reached near our house and he stopped to give him a stare.

"Tell the headmaster to make an exception for me. Like he makes for so many other students. Selena is a my best friend. And if she's not allowed in Hogwarts then I've no reason to join Hogwarts either. Tell that to your Headmaster and your prestigious school still doesn't allow entry to my friend, then I'll just find another school." He said.

"Look Harry. Don't be so stubborn." Hagrid said. "Your parents wouldn't want you to…"

"Don't… bring my parents into it." He said calmly but with a hint of coldness in his voice. "Don't ever think that you can use my parents names to manipulate me into doing your bidding. Because one, they might have given birth to me but I don't owe them anything. And two, if they were alive then I think that they would have loved me and supported my decision no matter what."

"The offer is clear Hagrid. Either you allow me to bring Selena to school with me or I'll find some other school that'll allow me to do so." With that, Harry went inside the house leaving a confused and baffled Hagrid behind.

—————

Two days later a letter came via an owl from Headmaster Dumbledore telling him that Selena was now allowed to go to the school along with him.

She became ecstatic when she heard this news and was quite excited to go to Hogwarts. Perhaps even more excited than Harry himself.

The spoiled little snake.