He didn't know if changing schools would be possible once he had started somewhere. It shouldn't be difficult, but he didn't know anything about the magical world and he didn't know who would become his guardian. He knew ultimately the decision would be made by whoever was named his guardian. Well, he wouldn't just accept any guardian. He needed somebody he felt he could trust over time. Somebody who supported his goals and shared his ideals. Shortly, somebody he could respect. He had another thought; did his parents make any plans of who should have taken care of him in case they didn't survive the war? After all, they were fighting one of the strongest and evilest wizards ever. So the thought wasn't that far-fetched. And his mother had to have known how Petunia regarded magic.
Was there a will? Perhaps he would find out more during his appointment at Gringotts.
.....
It was the morning of the last day Harry had to stay at St. Mungo's. He had got the vaccinations for the magical diseases all children needed yesterday evening and would get another dose in six weeks by the nurse at his school. After that he would be protected. He had read up on the best paying jobs in the wizarding world and came up with four interesting sounding jobs. There were healers, with them having huge responsibilities and having to study intensively to get really good, they earned a lot in a year. Second were aurors and hit-wizards, the equivalent of high class policemen. Hit-wizards were the advanced form of aurors. Like elites that took care of special missions. They were the ones hunting down dark wizards and were kind of the army of the wizarding world. Third were cursebreakers. They were tasked with lifting curses from objects or places. Some of the best got paid really well. The last ones were masters of any kind, but especially Runes and Charms.
Some of the most expensive magical devices were based on rune engraving and charms that powered the runes. Wards that protected houses worked with rune stones as their anchors. Really competent rune masters were rare as it was a difficult subject to study and required a lot of travel in the beginning to study the runes of different cultures. Workers in several departments at the Ministry of Magic also didn't earn badly, but it was nothing outstanding. The other possibility was having your own business, but that required a good product that was not easy to get from anybody else. From what Harry had seen in Diagon Alley, there mostly were only one or two choices for shops. Obviously the demand wasn't that big, or the Ministry granted monopolies, which didn't sound good in his opinion.
He had also read up on sports. Like in the muggle world there was one sport that practically everybody loved, Quidditch. A game similar to basketball with three hoops on each side of the field, with a few additions. There were three kinds of balls. The quaffle, the normal playing ball to throw goals with, the bludgers, the balls intent on disturbing the plays of the players and the snitch, the tiny golden ball that if caught ended the match and gave the team that caught it a huge bonus. He would have to see if he had talent there. He had good aim from football training, but that was with his feet. He needed to find out if he could also play chaser, the position that was the most active in the game. He didn't see himself being keeper or beater, the only alternative to chaser he could perhaps see was seeker, but it seemed a bit boring to him to only look for a tiny ball all game and not to be in the action the other time.
In Hogwarts a History he had read that there had been cases where first-years were taken into the house teams. Well, even if not, if he was good at the game, he needed to find out about his abilities in flying first, he could try out for his house team, in case he chose Hogwarts, from his second year on. The idea to go professional had its charm. Like all athletes Quidditch players earned much money if they were good. Playing for a certain period and then taking up another job was possible. From what he had read graduates from Hogwarts applied for their jobs regarding the grades they got in their OWLs and NEWTs. Apprenticeships were only given to those that were really good in a subject. There was the second option of going for a mastery on self-study though. In the end, both apprentices and self-taught students had to test for mastery at the Ministry of Magic. Though those that learned under a master were much higher respected, well, depending on which master they learned their craft under. Some masters also preferred to take part-time apprentices, which was interesting for Harry.
So he could combine either self-study or part-time apprenticeship and a professional Quidditch career if he chose so. And being famous, for his actual abilities that was, offered great possibilities. He was extremely ambitious. He wanted to be the best. After having to fake his grades to appease the Dursleys he had decided he would always reach for the top. No more accepting anything but doing his best. If somebody managed to be better than him he had to accept it, but only if he knew he couldn't have done any more than he did. That was the mentality that had made him successful at his primary school and that was how you had success in life. Of course you couldn't be seen as a nerd; that was why also playing football had been so important for him. Everybody loved the members of the sports teams and nobody would think him a boring nerd if he was good in sports. It would just make him more popular if he could be good both in sports and his classes as long as he didn't show off too much.
He knew from the description of the houses he would probably be a Slytherin. There was just one problem. After Voldemort there was a huge prejudice against members of that house. He didn't need to be thought to be a dark Lord in training. Fame was fickle, he had seen that when celebrities in the muggle world had been torn apart in the press for one misstep or the other. If he didn't want to be seen as the next dark Lord, they could after all think he only defeated Voldemort through dark magic, stupid, but obviously wizards were stuck in the late Middle Ages in their culture, which was the time where people believed that because somebody had a certain trait they were witches and wizards. Accusations, once spoken, were hard to refute and until the guilt or innocence was proven, many just believed the person was guilty.
Harry knew as soon as people found out he spoke parseltongue, the language of the snakes, he would be seen as dark. He knew since a few weeks ago that he had that ability. During the visit at the zoo where the Dursleys couldn't avoid taking him to due to Mrs Figg having broken her leg, he had found out he could understand the snakes in the reptile house. He had briefly talked with a boa until Piers came too close and Harry didn't want to raise suspicion. Salazar Slytherin had been a parselmouth, which was the reason the symbol for Slytherin house was a snake. Perhaps his family was descended from the founder; it didn't really matter to him. He would for now have to hide that talent.
His best option would probably be Ravenclaw. He knew he had the intelligence. If he only knew how the first-years were sorted into their houses. Then he could decide on how to avoid being put into Slytherin. If he wanted to be seen for his abilities and not for the event that cost him his parents and a happy childhood, he needed to not be given any negative label early in his life. But that would only come to pass if he didn't find a better option in another country for now. He had the sinking feeling that with how much fuss the magical world made about him, he wouldn't be able to easily choose a non-magical school and hire tutors. There might be people who would try and interfere. Well, perhaps he could milk that for all it was worth. If they really wanted him at Hogwarts so badly, he might be able to get some advantages from it.
.....
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