------------
If you enjoy please support me on my patreon Future 80+ chapters at patreon.com/Phoenizbeelze
-----
Harry soon found himself on the Hogwarts express, he had chosen an empty compartment, he was wearing a hoodie, jeans and trainers. His raven had chosen to fly and meet him there, he had no problems with that though he cursed whoever made going on the Hogwarts express a rule. Suddenly the compartment door opened and a red headed boy leaned in.
The boy was about to say something but the words were lost when he saw a boy in muggle clothing wearing a mask, staring back at him.
"Yes?" Harry drawled
"Uh...why are you wearing a mask?" The boy asked with a confused expression
"Because it's comfortable" Harry said as if it was obvious "now can I help you?"
"Yeah, I was wondering if I could..." Ron cut himself, he changed his mind, he didn't want to sit in a compartment with this guy "uh...never mind" He turned and left
"Hmm" Harry said before pulling out a book, he started reading
"Harry!" A voice exclaimed
"Delphi" Harry nodded without looking up
"What? No hello?" The girl said as she sat down, the girl in question was slightly smaller than Harry and had blue eyes and shoulder length blonde-white hair with blue tips
"I have an entire five years worth of school for me to say hello to you, forgive me if I lack the effort to do it now"
"So...you're looking forward to Hogwarts?" Delphi said in a way that made it clear it wasn't really a question "I still can't believe you willingly came here"
"Well apparently all students have to board the train" Harry shrugged
"I meant Hogwarts" She sighed
"They were going to try and force me to go" Harry sighed "might as well save myself some effort, besides I might actually learn something useful there"
"Excuse me" A voice called, Harry looked up to see a brown haired girl standing nervously in the doorway "I was...wondering if I could sit here, please?"
"Sure" Delphi shrugged, not noticing Harry giving her a glare for inviting people in without asking him "my name's Delphi, what's yours?"
"It's Fay" The girl said as she sat down next to Delphi "Fay Dunbar, and he is?" Fay gestured to Harry who returned to reading his book
"That's Harry" Delphi introduced him "don't worry about him, he's not much for social interactions. He's a nice guy, really, he just doesn't really like most people"
"Huh...uh, what about me?" Fay asked nervously
"You haven't done anything to piss me off yet" Harry spoke in front of the girl for the first time "so you're fine at the moment"
"O...kay" Fay replied "if...you don't mind me asking, what's up with the mask?"
"It's comfortable" Harry said in a way that made it seem like he had said it a million times
"You know you'll have to take it off when you get to school" Delphi said "I know you don't like it but you won't be able to wear it all the time, we'll be living there for the better part of the next five years"
"Fine" Harry bit back a growl "I'll take it off when we get there"
"So..." Fay said after a few minutes of silence "any idea which house you guys want to be? I think I'll probably be in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff"
"I'll just go wherever Harry goes" Delphi answered
"Ravenclaw most likely" Harry replied
"Why?" Fay asked, Harry looked away from his book and looked at her
"I own a raven" He answered
"That's it? Not because you like books?"
"Anyone can like books" Harry pointed out "I doubt that they are forbidden in any of the other houses" Fay's response was cut off by the compartment door opening, revealing a bushy haired witch about their age
"Has anyone seen a toad?" The girl asked with an irritated tone "A boy named Neville has lost one"
"No" Fay answered
"Well..." The girl was about to say something when she noticed Harry "why are you wearing a mask?"
"Because I feel like it" Harry said in a tone that barely remained polite, he was going to stop wearing the mask for no other reason than to stop people asking.
"You can't wear masks" The girl said "it's against the rules"
"I am far too tired to deal with this" Harry put the book down and pushed his fingers against his temples as if he was trying to push the headache away
"Hey, don't ignore me, you..."
"You" Delphi interrupted "barged into our compartment and you're still here, now would you please leave? You're bothering my friend"
"Hmm, fine" The girl huffed and left
A few hours later, Harry found himself being led down the middle of the hall along with the other first years. Thanks to wearing his mask, most people looked at him, a few of the other kept a small distance away from him as they thought he was probably crazy. Delphi had no problems standing by him, Fay stood nearby as well. From what she observed, Harry was alright, apart from being a little anti-social. The only problem so far was a blond boy who had insulted Harry for wearing the mask but Harry just ignored him and eventually the boy got bored when he realised he wasn't getting a rise out of him.
Soon the sorting began, Harry mentally tuned out everything until Fay's sorting when he saw the girl get placed in Gryffindor. A little while later, it was Harry's turn.
"Harry Potter" McGonagall called out, Harry bit back a groan and started walking forwards. Many people were surprised to realise that the masked boy was actually the boy-who-lived. Every eye turned to look at him as he sat down on the stool. Many of the teachers looked at him with curiosity mixed with concern.
Severus Snape, resident potions teacher and sworn enemy of all things Potter, sneered at the boy. He couldn't believe the arrogant little brat was so desperate for attention that he needed to wear a mask just to stand out in front of all the other students. He, no doubt, got that from his miserable and arrogant father. The only positive side to this was he was able to not look at the brats face...hmm, perhaps he could convince Dumbledore to do the same with some of the other students.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, was watching with twinkling eyes that masked the concerns he was feeling. He desperately hoped that Harry did not go to Slytherin, while he did not agree with the wizarding world's opinion of the house of snakes, the problem was that many others did. It would make everything much more difficult, not only for himself and for the boy. He hoped the boy would go into Gryffindor, if not that then at least a neutral house like Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.
"Mr Potter" McGonagall said once Harry had sat down "please remove your mask"
A mental war raged on in Harry's head, one side debating if he should remove it while the other arguing for him to tell everyone his honest opinion of them and then keep it on for the rest of his school life. Eventually logic won out, he realised that people would see his face eventually, it wasn't like the orphanage where he could hide it from everyone. There was too many people in this bloody school.
Harry wore a mask, not because he thought it was cool, nor because he thought it was ugly. He wore the mask to hide what he had felt was a weakness, at that moment he realised something, he hadn't felt weak in a long time. He covered his face, to hide that, but now...now he didn't need it. He was no longer weak! He knew damn well what he was capable of and he knew that he didn't need to hide anymore
"Mr Potter, please remove your mask" McGonagall repeated
Harry's right hand twitched, before it slowly rose up. His fingers touched the mask, he saw Delphi give him a small nod of encouragement. He mentally sighed, but decided to just get it over with. He removed the mask and placed it on his lap, just as gasps filled the great hall.
Dumbledore couldn't see what was going on as he and the teachers next to him could only see the back of his head, the rest of the hall was a different story. From the reactions of the other students he assumed it was something big. Meanwhile Snape shook his head in disgust, they are all probably surprised their saviour has a small spot on his nose or some other crap.
The hall fell silent as they saw the face of Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. His entire left eye was scarred, it was clearly burnt and stood out against his pale skin. There was also what looked to be claw marks, three marks/lines from the right side of his jaw going diagonally upwards to where his eye had been burnt and ended just above the eye. The marks near the eye weren't as noticeable thanks to the burnt skin that covered everything from his cheekbone to his forehead along with his left ear to the side of his nose. The only proof that this was Harry Potter was the green eyes and the lightning bolt scar on the right side of his forehead.
------------
If you enjoy please support me on my patreon Future 80+ chapters at patreon.com/Phoenizbeelze
-----