Challenge #1

Summary: Harry is slowly driven to the darkside by the greatest Dark Lord in history. His name? Raistlin Majere.

Rules:
-Raistlin must be dead. This is important.

-Raistlin's spirit must be somehow bound to Harry. In any way you prefer.

-No one else can see Raistlin. Kinda like an invisible friend.

-Harry is a Slytherin.

-Raistlin hates being bound to Harry, but grudgingly accepts it after a while.

-Raistlin decides that if he's going to be bound to Harry, Harry has to know how to defend himself. So he teaches him most things that he knew in life.

I don't believe I've ever seen a good story with RM in it. I propose this challenge to see if it's possible and believable. What do you guys think? I think this is a good start for an AU dark!Harry. A bit of research may be necessary, though.

For those who don't know who Raistlin Majere is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raistlin_Majere

 

This could actually work. Raistlin is my favorite fictional Anti-Hero/Bad guy on the side of good. I don't know about the "Harry must be a slytherin" part, but the rest is intriguing. I'll have to pull a the "Dragons of" quartet off the shelf for some good canon Raistlin flavor.

Raistlin could be introduced to Harry as Fistandantilus was introduced to Raistlin if you're willing to play with Canon a bit (and if you're doing a crossover, you're messing with canon anyway). During a high stress moment (like the DOM battle when he was possessed), Raistlin offers Harry knowledge and power in exchange for a foothold in this realm (having been cast out of Krynn). Harry accepts and together they easily toss Volde from his body.

I can just imagine some of the dialogue... When Harry opens his trunk for fresh robes "Ah, good. You already wear the Black Robes, this will be easier than I thought." or "You wear the White Robes of Good, yet you display the Black. Very cunning, no one dares to cross a Black Robed wizard. By concealing your true alignment you protect yourself from those who would use you..."

The corruption might not even be that hard. After all, Raistlin was first a D&D character before becoming a charcter in a series of novels. Necromancy, crossing dimensions, and other non canon magics are therefore possible and could be very useful. I am willing to bet Raistlin isn't about to open the veil and retrieve Sirius since there are people down there who don't like him, but zombies are always fun for the whole family.

Just for heaven's sake, keep kender out of this.

 

Raistlin is my favorite (overall) charcter in fiction(as my avatar and signature might suggest). Just one question, is this Raistlin after chronicles or after legends? If after legends than it will be overpowered, but there is an intresnting side-plot of getting him out of abyss. if after chronicles than maybe the orb sent him to Harry for some spectacular reason?

I also think that making Ron a parralel to Caramon, and have Harry kill him will rock.

 

Not neccesserilly*(Sp?).
Raistlin is described as a ruthlessly ambitious, cunning and sarcastic from the beginning of the Chronicles, far before he donned the dark robes.He is the definition of slytherin. A nice spin on this challenge, would be a Salazar Slytherin Centric story, in which he apprentices after Raistlin.

 

You misunderstand, Syao. Being in such close proximity to RM would make him just a LITTLE bit more cunning, if anything. Not to mention the only other house he would fit in with that mindset is Ravenclaw. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, he may become his year's "Loony Lovegood".

 

I took Raistlin's power from Legends, his appearance and mannerisms from Chronicles, and introduced him like Fisty in Soulforge. I'm not going to stat out either of them for you (concrete numbers ruin storytelling), nor will you ever see me write "X casts magic missile". I'm comparing the effects of the spells we see in HP canon to the defined spells in DL to compare power between the two, and when we see spells here I'll descibe what they do rather than just name them. I think it enhances the flavor a touch. If you can recognise what Raist or Harry does anyway, congrats you're a geek but who cares.

Anyway, on with the show...

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Dumbledore bellowed: “Stay where you are, Harry!”

For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. Harry could not see why: the hall was quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing Bellatrix still trapped under the witch statue and the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor.

Then Harry’s scar burst open and he knew he was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance.

He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his body ended and the creature’s began: they were fused together, bound by pain, and there was no escape.

And when the creature spoke, it used Harry’s mouth, so that in his agony he felt his jaw move, "Kill me now, Dumbledore…"

Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry felt the creature use him again…

"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy…"

Let the pain stop, thought Harry… let him kill us… end it, Dumbledore… death is nothing compared to this…
(Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 36)

00000

As the world around him faded to black, Harry somehow felt time slow down. The world faded back into focus, sort of… It was as if Harry in that moment time had stopped was transported into a magical workshop atop a tower somewhere. The room was octagonal in shape, with bookshelves lining the walls with the exception of two windows which provided inadequate light but showed nothing beyond them. The room had three work tables and a few chairs near a comfortable looking hearth. The first table was lined with bottles and jars of potions and tinctures. There were a few creatures Harry could not identify floating in a few of the jars. The other two tables were cluttered with arcane scribbles and open books. Harry idly wondered where he was and how he got there as he looked around.

“Shirak!” a frail sounding voice sad from behind him. Suddenly the room was much brighter.

Harry spun around and dropped into a fighting crouch to find a strange looking man behind him. The figure wore all black robes with a hood drawn over his head, and was hunched over a staff with a glowing crystal atop it. Bone white hair spilled out from under the hood before the man tried to straighten himself. If the man were standing tall he would have probably been fairly tall, but his emaciated body and weak muscles prevented that.

“Excuse me sir, but where are we and how did I get here?” Harry asked as politely as he could given his nerves

“This is my Tower, but more importantly we are in your mind. You are here because I wish to speak with you.” The man began moving towards a seat near the fire. “Unless I am mistaken, you have just given up on life. So I am here to make you an offer.”

“What kind of offer?” Harry asked warily.

“Power,” The man said simply as he sat down. “You have a great deal of untapped power and potential and yet you have just surrendered your life without much of a fight. I am offering to tap that potential for you and rescue you from your current peril.”

Harry thought about what he had said as he took a seat across from him at the hearth. There were many questions of course but one seemed rather important. “Who are you?” Harry asked with undisguised curiosity.

“My name is of no real consequence to the offer I am making.” Was his reply as the other man leaned back in his chair and brought his fingertips together in front of his still concealed face. When he let go of the staff, the slender piece of wood stayed balanced on its end and lit. Harry noticed that the skin of the stranger’s hands and lower face were golden in color, like metal poured over flesh.

“What is the catch? I don’t even know who you are, why would you just graciously decide to come to my rescue?”

“Ah, so you have a mind to back the strength in magic. Nothing is ever free of course but I do not think you will find my terms too onerous. I will take advantage of my skills and knowledge to escape the current encounter alive, and in return I will occasionally get to use your body in the mortal world. You have sufficient magical strength for my purposes so in the moment you were about to slip from the land of the living to that of the dead, I diverted you here to make my offer.”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to give you control of my body in exchange for a rescuing me?” Harry practically yelled. He was remembering Quirrel and Voldemort.

“Essentially yes, but it is not as bad as it sounds. I will not abuse your body, nor commit any crimes. After all, if something were to happen to you it would effectively kill me as well. If you are imprisoned, I am imprisoned. My goals are not so nefarious.” The Stranger explained.

“Just what are those goals? What are you hoping to use me to accomplish? And why now?” Harry asked, not wanting to get suckered into anything.

“My goals are very simple. I want to come back to the mortal realm. When I was alive I was alternately a hero, a villain, a conqueror, a savior, and for a short time even a god. I have grown tired of the afterlife and wish to return to a human body. I chose you and now because you have enough raw power to accomplish my goals and with your state of near death I am actually able to stop time to speak with you.”

“But what do you want? When you have human form once again will you relax and take up a normal life, work for the betterment of others, or go on a psychopathic killing spree? I’ll have you know there are already plenty of the last options available.”

The stranger chuckled slightly before falling into a rasping cough. “Your views of good and evil are so childish, but I will try to answer anyway. I am a Black Robed Arch Magus, so it would be a lie to say I would never harm another. I no longer have dreams of world conquest or godhood, but I work for myself first last and always. I will not often do something unless I will profit from it. I am evil, but I am an evil you can live with. There are laws I follow just as there are laws you follow I assume.”

“So you’re evil but still follow the rules?” Harry asked, confused.

“I gave my life and my very soul to Magic in all its forms. I understand the need for a balance between good and evil if the world is to continue.”

“Can I extract a promise from you not to kill me once you’ve accomplished your goals?”

“If you assist me I will not kill you unless it is unavoidable. You have my word as an Arch Magus. Now will you help me? I cannot stop time all day for you to make this decision.”

Harry turned inward to consider everything. There was a self proclaimed evil wizard who wanted to possess his body until he found a way to resurrect himself. He was offering power and his life in trade. Was it acceptable to make a bargain with the lesser of two evils? Harry strapped all the mental backbone he could together for his response. “I accept. I, Harry James Potter, will allow my body to be possessed in exchange for my life and a promise not to kill me at a later date.”

The other wizard stood. “Excellent, now let us return time to its normal passage and seal our deal.”

The room began to fade away and spin at the same time as Harry called out, “Wait, you never told me your name!” but it was too late.

00000

The Ministry of Magic faded into existence in front of Harry’s eyes. He felt the other wizard join him trapped beneath Voldemort’s control. With a cold savagery that chilled Harry to the bone, he felt the other presence gather it’s strength and toss Voldemort aside as if he were a rag doll.

Harry’s arms began moving in a complex pattern and a chant ran through his mind. Magic burned through his blood as his wand dropped to the floor. The exact instant Harry disappeared from sight a duplicate popped into existence not far away and began making rude gestures at both Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Voldemort immediately sent a killing curse at Harry’s duplicate while Dumbledore levitated another piece of the statue into its way. Risking a few spoken words, the wizard in control whispered another incantation while moving his hands in the right manner. The shadow that coalesced in front of Harry was like a monster from his worst nightmare. Fortunately the shadow monster moved directly towards Voldemort and was content to leave Harry be. Voldemort saw the savage beast, now not just a shadow but a true killer, as it approached him. He cast a killing curse which the monster appreared to bat aside as if it was nothing. In reality, it continued harmlessly on its way. Harry could see the fear in Voldemort’s eyes as he moved to get behind the Dark Lord.

When Voldemort backed away from the fearsome monster, he wound up getting closer to Harry. With the Dark Lord distracted in fear, Harry’s body picked up an arm from the destroyed statue. Just as the monster was to reach Voldemort, and Voldemort would have backed into Harry, Harry swung the heavy metal arm like a cricket bat into the base of the Dark Lord’s skull. As Harry felt the strong blow connect, two things happened simultaneously. An emergency portkey keyed to Voldemort’s conciousness went off, whisking him away, and the spell the other wizard cast ended leaving Harry plainly visible and holding a bloody piece of statuary.

Dumbledore did a double take when his pupil reappeared across the room from his last location. A twinkle lit his eyes as he saw Harry unharmed. “Marvelous! Simply marvelous my dear boy. Care to let an old man in on your secret?”

Harry felt the other presence slide to the back of his mind, whispering a message as it did. “Remember our bargain…”

“My secrets sir? I’m afraid a magician never reveals his tricks. You of all people should know that.” Harry squeaked out eventually, not wanting to reveal the source of his sudden power

The Atrium was full of people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall; and streams of witches and wizards were emerging from them. As Dumbledore pulled him back to his feet, Harry saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin, leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.

"He was there!" shouted a scarlet‐robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped only moments before. "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear it was You‐Know‐Who!"

"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge.
(Order of the Phoenix Chapter 36)

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It was a very troubled Dumbledore that sat down with Severus Snape the next evening. They had pulled out his pensieve and reviewed the events of the Ministry Battle several times, but they still did not know exactly what Harry had done or how he had done it. Illusions could be done, and invisibility was a neat trick, but Harry had done them without a wand and without anyone noticing it was all a trick. They couldn’t see whatever had terrified the Dark Lord, but the fear and revulsion on his face was clear. There was one additional thing that worried Albus.

”Severus, I thought you said that Harry was a complete failure at occlumancy?”

“He is. The boy is completely worthless.” The potions master assured him.

“What would make you think otherwise?”

“Here, after the battle.” Dumbledore paused the projection. “I asked him how he did it. He responds that a good magician never reveals his tricks. I tried to get the truth from him Severus, his mind was solid as a rock and radiating truthfulness.”

“Interesting,” Snape tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps the boy is still possessed. If the Dark Lord has control of his body he might have staged the rest to lull us into a false sense of security and attack us from within.”

The color drained from Dumbledore’s face. “The prophecy… Severus we must find out quickly if this is true. We cannot let him leave our sight until we know for certain. We will grab him after the leaving feast in two days and discover the truth.”

“I’ll bring the Veritaserum.”

00000

Ever since the possession, the other wizard who was sharing Harry’s body took over when Harry was asleep or had withdrawn in grief. Most of this time had been spent in the library pouring over tomes and scratching calculations on a piece of parchment. Occasionally Harry would wake up and watch with interest as he ever so carefully wrote and diagramed something into one of the leather bound diaries Harry agreed to let him use. The notes and diaries made no sense whatsoever to Harry, the language was one he didn’t know and the diagrams seemed focused on geometry and distances rather than wand movements.

The first diary filled up extremely quickly with all of the spells the wizard already knew and had memorized, but after that it seemed he had to research for several hours and perform several calculations in order to record another spell. From the pace he worked at and the seemingly endless march of spells, Harry had to assume that whoever his guest was, he was a genius. It was more like the wizard was remembering new spells than learning them. Once he discovered how the spell worked, it went into the notebooks of indecipherable text almost immediately.

The morning of the leaving feast, Harry felt his consciousness being shaken awake while his body was still in the library.

“I have need of the items on this list and a laboratory in which to perform my work. See that I have them within the week.” His guest commanded as if he were used to being obeyed.

Harry looked down at the parchment he was holding. Surprisingly though it was written in that same bizarre script, he could read it this time. Some of the items on this list were bound to be extremely expensive. There were diamonds and gemstones of exacting specifications and quality, equipment and tools he barely knew of, and a list of potions ingredients and other herb based products a mile long. “I don’t recall that being part of the deal. I promised you some time in my body, not access to my family’s wealth or to become your servant. You’ll have to find some way to do without.”

“I need all of those things to build a new body. You will get them for me. I rescued you from certain death and this is how you repay me?” The wizard was getting a little worked up. “It is only because of my respect for our deal that I am not just raping your mind taking what I desire. Do not force me child, I will always get my due.”

“Our deal was that you saved me and got to ride around in my skin for a while. If you want me to fetch and carry for you we’re going to need a new deal.” Harry told him.

“Just what is it you desire? When I have a body again I can afford to be generous, so state your desire. Should I change your body to make you handsome? A witch who you must have? Someone you want me to kill? I can rewrite existence, but only if I can regain my body.” Harry felt delicate tendrils of suggestion settle over his mind, encouraging him to choose each option as it was named.

“Teach me.” Harry answered simply. “If I am to be at your beck and call, I need to get something in return. I already have a basic education, and you admit I have power, so I would like you to teach me the finesse to go with it. I just learned I have a destiny set in stone for my life, and I mean to fulfill it. No one here can teach me how a dark wizard thinks or how the dark arts work. I need that if I am to survive”

“Ah, so it is knowledge you thirst for. It has been many years since I have had an apprentice, but I will give you just one chance. Bring me these things and I will set you a task. When you have proven your skill with that task I will arrange for a formal Test. If you survive the Test I will take you as my apprentice until you are ready or prove incompetent.”

“What do you mean, ‘If you survive the test.’? Just what kind of test is this?”

“The Test is what distinguishes a wizard doing parlor tricks from a Mage devoting his life to magic. If you want to wave your silly wand and shoot beams of light at your opponents then I have nothing to teach you, but if you wish to discover what magic truly is then you must pass the Test. No two Mage’s Tests are the same, but they always test your knowledge of spells, ability to think on your own, how you handle a situation without magic, and your dedication to your art. Success means an entry into the mysteries of magic at it’s finest. Failure means death.”

“And what is the task I must do first?” Harry asked, hoping to avoid talking about fatal tests for a moment.

“I will give you five spells for you to learn. From what I have seen these last days, and from the power I know you possess, you should be able to cast them. You will fail as a Mage if simple things like a language you don’t know or arcane script prevent you from learning. You must also be able to see magic if you are to understand it. These spells will allow you to read or speak any language even that of magic, and to see magic as it lies on objects, locations, or people.”

“I will not fail.” Harry vowed. “So do we have a deal? I will help you regain your body and get your supplies in exchange for my apprenticeship?”

“We have a deal.” The other replied with a mental handshake. “Do not make me regret this child.”

“I won’t sir. By the way, now that I am to be your apprentice you really should tell me your name.” Harry observed.

“I am Raistlin Majere, but you will address me as Master until I tell you otherwise.” He answered before fading into the background and leaving Harry to consider how he was going to get everything on the list.

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Good? Utter crap? Should I bother continuing? I'm still tweaking Raist here. I just can't get that genuine "self serving evil genius" vibe right.

 

God damn man, that was good. Keep going with it, or I will throw you into a cavern of sentient kitchen ware.

 

Continue!! that was the best thing I reaed in the last few weeks.

 

Very nice...very very nce. I have to confess I don't know a thing about this chap Rastalin ( read Rasputin at first and went "Whoa, that sounds fucking sweet!" )

Keep going with it, I'd like to see more of this. I just don't want to see this turn out like Shadow Play, and by that I mean DON'T GIVE RATALIN A BODY, PLEASE It ruins the fun when HP isn't as good as his 'partner'.

 

Very, very good. That is exactly what I had in mind when I proposed this challenge. Perhaps you'd consider turning this into a fullblown fic, Caitiff? I'd definitely read it.

 

Interesting Cait. Well written. And I foudn the Knights of the Old Repulic quote slipping in amusing.

 

Sorry, I never played KotOR. What was the quote?

 

Malak uses that line on Revan in Knights of the Old Republic. The EXACT quote is:

"Savior, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all things, Revan, and yet you are nothing. In the end you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone."

Awesome game. Sports such other amusing lines as:


Jolee Bindo: "*sarcasm* Why don't you just shoot them now! It'll be quicker!"
HK47: "Yes! Very efficient. It is what I would do."
Jolee: "Of course that's what YOU would do."

---

[Being asked if Revan wants to really join the sith academy, Yuthura asks who his companions are]
Revan: Er... It's nothing , just my slaves.
[Jolee playing along]
Jolee Bindo: My hearing's not so good. I'm just pleased my nice master doesn't beat me so much anymore, yes sir.

----

HK-47: Can I break his neck now master? It's been a long time fantasy of mine...
Revan: Maybe later...
HK-47: Did you hear that meatbag? "I'LL BE BACK!"
Yuka Laka: Err, well... ah...

----

Jolee Bindo: I did it all for the Wookies.
Revan: The Wookies?
Jolee Bindo: The Wookies!


HK47 and Jolee Bindo are THE most epic Star Wars characters EVER created.

 

Part the Second...

Ah, how refreshing it is to begin an independant/dark story without the same first two chapters of "sirius' will, money, emancipation, remove tracking charms, visit secret 'family' vault that we never heard of before now, yell at Dumbles the master manipulator, and move into a perfectly preserved castle that no one knows about." I'm trying to avoid as many cliches of the genre as possible but let me know if you spot anything I missed.

For clarification, Harry hasn't decided to turn dark just yet. He is serving Raistlin so that he can learn how a dark wizard thinks and how the dark arts work. Will he turn dark over time? I honestly havent decided but if he does it will be a gradual slide. After all, even Raistlin started out a white robed wizard during his apprenticeship. After fourteen YEARS of work he formally decided to become a red robe (or "grey" wizard in HP), and it was another six or so years of constant war before he donned the black robes permanently.

Anyway, on with the second part.

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Harry was walking down the hall after the leaving feast with Ron and Hermione, who were just released from the hospital wing, when he was hit from behind with a stunning spell. There was a brief moment of darkness and he toppled forward before he felt magic rushing through him to reawaken him and a translucent suit of armor made of magic enveloped him in its blue glow. Harry caught himself as he was about to hit the ground and rolled forward past his friends. He leaped to his feet and spun around wand in hand. He could not see anyone else in the corridor, but he knew someone had attacked him. His friends drew their wands as well and turned to help.


“Accio Cloak!” Hermione called, and a moment later an invisibility cloak flew to her hands revealing Professor Snape standing in the hallway.


“Help me, you don’t understand…” Snape began, but had to stop as the spells started flying.


Ron immediately cast a stunning spell of his own while Harry shot a reductor curse at the ground in front of him. Snape dodged the stunner easily but had to hastily erect a shield to protect himself from the rock fragments. Hermione cast a disarming charm of her own at the same time Ron cast his second stunner. Harry shot a fast moving percussion hex to break the shield. Again Snape easily dodged but instead of another shield he sent a trip jinx at the three teens.


Harry easily jumped over the low flying line of magic while the other two shielded against it. “Two can play that game, Accio Boots!”


Given that there was nothing to dodge; Snape went down flat on his back as his feet were yanked from under him. Twenty years experience as a Death Eater however meant that though he was down he was by no means out. A vicious cutting curse flashed from his wand and Harry had to dodge. The tailing edge of it still managed to slice a wicked gash in his cheek. Hermione cast a binding spell to wrap the potions professor in ropes, but it only managed to grab his legs as Snape rolled away. Another cutting curse freed him and went rocketing towards Ron who fell flat on his face trying to dodge.


Harry had just about enough of this nonsense. A person ought to be safe from attack in his own school. “Accio Testicles!” He called, pointing towards his opponent.


Snape let out an incredibly loud and girly scream as sensitive parts of his anatomy tried to answer Harry’s call. Hermione took pity upon him and stunned him while Ron winced and placed a body bind on the man.


“Harry, what did he do to deserve that?” Ron asked. “I know he cursed you when your back was turned, insulted you for the last five years, and just made you bleed, but that was just plain mean!”


“I really don’t see what was so wrong with it. It made the Professor stop fighting.” Hermione observed. “What’s more important is why was he attacking Harry in the first place? And why did he expect us to help?”


“You wouldn’t understand Hermione, it’s a guy thing. I don’t know what he was trying to pull, but I’m going to find out. Lets take him to Dumbledore and get some answers.” Harry began rifling through Snape’s pockets looking for a second wand or any portkeys. Tucked into his belt, Harry found a small bottle of a colorless, perfectly clear liquid with a dropper. Looking over his shoulder he saw that Ron and Hermione were arguing about whether or not it was ok to attack a professor if he shot first, so he quickly pocketed the potion he suspected to be Veritaserum. Snape had threatened to use it on him before, and it appeared to be the same bottle.


Harry tossed Ron Snape’s wand and the second wand he had found in the professor’s boot before levitating the professor and pushing him before them through the halls. Ron and Hermione trailed behind him as they walked through the deserted halls around the Headmaster’s office. Coming to the guardian statue Ron and Hermione began listing sweets trying to get the password but Harry held up his hand to stop them. He pointed his wand at the gargoyle and gathered his magical strength, fueled by righteous anger and stress. “Move.”


Both his friends and the gargoyle leapt out of the way given his tone. Harry maneuvered Snape’s floating body up the stairs and banged his fist quite hard against the door at the top.


“Come in Severus.” Dumbledore called. “Did you get Potter?”


“No he didn’t,” Harry answered, pushing the door open. “Is there anything you’d like to explain Professor?”


Hermione looked shocked and deeply betrayed when they pushed Snape into the room. Professor Snape they could understand, it was no secret he hated Harry and they all knew he was a Death Eater, but Dumbledore was supposed to be good.


Dumbledore didn’t even flinch as they took seats in front of the desk and Harry put Snape on a nearby couch. “Harry, so good to see you got my message. I just sent Severus to look for you.”


“Just what were your instructions, precisely?” Harry asked without sounding too angry. “I think something got misinterpreted along the line because Snape attacked me when my back was turned, and from under an invisibility cloak.”


Hermione tossed the cloak onto the desk as proof. “And he even tried to convince us to help him attack Harry.”


Ron didn’t have anything to add, but his facial expression clearly showed where his loyalties lay. Dumbledore calmly picked up the cloak and stored it away in a draw before turning back to his students. “I merely asked Severus to escort you to my office for a talk. I didn’t know he would attempt such measures to bring you here, but now that you are here I have something to discuss with you privately so if your friends do not mind…”


“No.” Harry told him. “I’d really prefer that they stayed. I’m going to tell them everything anyway, and right now I don’t exactly trust the man who ordered me attacked. So why don’t you just go ahead and speak your piece?”


Dumbledore became much sterner before continuing, “Alright then Mr. Potter, if that is who you really are, I wanted you here because of what happened at the ministry. You exhibited several skills that have never been taught here at Hogwarts, and the ease with which you apparently repelled the Dark Lord gives me pause.”


Harry mentally reached out to shake his master’s presence awake. ‘The Headmaster is suspicious of us’ he thought while out loud he answered, “Just what are you trying to imply?”


‘Evade him,’ Raistlin commanded. ‘Consider this a test. A dark wizard does not involve himself unless there is something to be gained. You stand to lose if he is suspicious, so you must assuage his fears and pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary.’


"Stop pretending Tom, leave this boy alone! There is nothing to be gained by this masquerade.” Ron and Hermione recoiled in horror at the possibility that Harry was being possessed.


“I am not possessed Headmaster, and I am surprised you think I might be. Tell me professor, if Voldemort was in my body during the fight, then who was in his? We both saw him try to kill me, and even cast the killing curse repeatedly.” Harry tried to point out the logical impossibility.


“Maybe so, but there is still the matter of your impressive display of magic. Do you have some convenient and quick answer for that?” Dumbledore pressed.


“Headmaster, you were the one who told me the prophecy in the first place. ‘But he shall have a power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives.’ You were the one who told me I have a strange and unknown power, and now you question me about how it’s done? What part of strange and unknown did you not understand when you explained this to me?” Harry asked with some heat. He then turned to his friends. “That’s right by the way, it’s him or me in the end. Don’t you hate divination?”


“Well… I…” Dumbledore was at a loss for words. He wasn’t coming out on top of this encounter and that worried him. “I am very concerned about you Harry.”


“That’s no excuse to be rude. If you were worried about me being possessed or turning dark you should have just asked. Besides, do you honestly think Hermione would let me begin practicing dark magic and still associate with me? And that’s assuming she doesn’t run straight to a professor to report it at the first sign of trouble. I am in no danger Professor.” Harry rose to his feet while Hermione blushingly nodded.


Harry walked over to Snape’s bound and unconscious form. Harry quickly woke him up, but left the bindings in place. Motioning to Ron, Harry retrieved his wands and held them in front of Snape’s eyes. “Never attack an opponent when his back is turned. The next time you so much as look at me funny I will make you wish I would hurry up and kill you.” Harry snapped both wands in one movement and let the pieces fall onto Snape’s chest.


The three friends swept themselves out of the Headmaster’s office even angrier than they had entered.

00000

The train ride back to London was not too remarkable. Draco Malfoy tried to harass Harry and his friends, but Harry couldn’t even draw his wand before Malfoy and his goons fell in a hail of curses. At the station Moody, Tonks, and Mr. Weasley threatened his uncle before they were allowed to leave. Harry let the Order watch him get into the car and drive away from the station before he spoke to his uncle.


“Uncle Vernon, If you drop me off at the nearest tube station, you’ll never see me again.” Harry told him.


“You ungrateful little brat, why did you make me come all the way up here if you were not coming back? I had better things to do today, and there is a tube station right there in Kings Cross.”


“I didn’t know I wouldn’t be returning until yesterday morning and had no way to inform you without using that unnatural mail of ours. If it’s any consolation, those Freaks back at the train station will be very upset with me.”


“Good riddance to you then. Finally you can go bother someone else with your freakishness, but I’ll warn you. Once you step foot out of this car, you will never be welcome in my home again. You leave now and no amount of begging, even from the bloody Queen herself, will make me take you back. You are no relative of ours and there is no place for you in our home.” His uncle gave Harry a stern glare through the rearview mirror.


After a few blocks, the car rolled to a stop and Harry heard the boot pop open. Harry got out of the car without a word of goodbye and grabbed his trunk from the boot. As soon as Harry slammed the lid, Vernon sped off back into traffic. Harry was immensely grateful that he had the forethought to cast a feather-light charm on his trunk before stepping off the train and back into the world where his magic was forbidden. He hoisted the trunk and Hedwig’s cage and turned to find out where he was exactly. Spotting the sign, Harry almost doubled over laughing. He was at Mornington Crescent, and if the wireless was to be believed he could literally get anywhere in the world from this point. He idly wondered if there wasn’t some Wizarding travel center hidden somewhere in the station. If there wasn’t, there should be.


Foregoing the mythical travel rules heard on the radio, Harry paid the fare and waited for the train to show up. The Northern Line, he was pleased to discover, ran not only through Mornington Crescent, but also Kings Cross and had a station on Charing Cross Road not far from the Leaky Cauldron which was his eventual destination. The train came along right on schedule and he soon found himself a bare block and a half from the Cauldron. He dropped his trunk and Hedwig at the Cauldron and hurried off to take care of business in the alley before everyone closed for the day.


The first stop was Gringotts Bank. Harry filled three sacks with galleons and set them near the door so he could examine a few of the heirlooms stashed in the back of the vault. In the summer before his third year he had been surprised to find that money was not the only thing in his vault. There was a small box of the family jewelry that he ignored, a few portraits who were too old or obscure to be featured in the home, a small set of magical arms and armor, and the cabinet that contained the most important business papers like stock certificates and the deed to the family home. Harry searched for the papers to his parents house, but all the deed said was “Potter Family Home, Godrics Hollow, Scotland.” There was no address listed, and no further hint of where it was.


“Excuse me Griphook,” Harry stuck his head back out of the vault and addressed the goblin who brought him down. “I’m having a bit of trouble here. I don’t suppose you could tell me where in the world Godrics Hollow is? The deed to the property doesn’t say.”


“My name is Grapnold, not Griphook!” The goblin yelled at him. “We are a bank not a travel service. Buy a map if you need to know where something is. Now hurry up, time is money and I won’t waste anymore on you.”


Harry obediently grabbed his bags of money from beside the door and took the cart back to the surface. He flipped a galleon over his shoulder as an apology for the mistake before walking out of the bank.


It turned out that the trip to the apothecary was not nearly as bad as Harry was expecting. For all the list of herbs, ingredients, and supplies was long most of the items were fairly cheap and in good supply. He picked up everything he could and made it out only spending about twenty galleons, and headed for the jewelers. The sales clerk was very understanding when he explained he needed unset gems for a magical experiment along with the rest of his order. Harry picked out four small diamonds, three rubies, four strings of black pearls, a man’s ring with a small emerald, three pendants in various styles, and a large block of uncut jade. The tally came to just over fifteen hundred galleons, a price Harry balked at and the clerk shuddered in joy for her commission.


Harry looked at his watch and saw that he only had a few more minutes before the shops closed so he hurried off to Flourish and Blot’s for a searchable atlas of the British Isles and Ireland and a book on apparition theory and practice. His master had agreed to provide transportation for a few days, but he stressed that Harry would have to get by on his own very quickly.


Sitting down outside Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, Harry sipped a butterbeer and opened the atlas. Searches for Godrics Hollow as a city, town, or village all turned up no results when set to search both magical and muggle maps. Likewise no results came up when he searched for it as a subdivision of a larger town. It was only after he searched for landmarks that he had any success. Located in the mountains to the northwest of the Forbidden Forest, there was a bowl shaped valley with a small lake under a waterfall. Only a few miles away, there was a small muggle village just across the mountain. The location was close enough to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts that they were only a short broom flight or apparition jump away, but the Forest and mountains hid it rather well from everyone. Harry pushed himself to the background and let his master take over as they studied the map and surrounding area.

00000

Without a sound Harry and his master landed in Godrics Hollow and inspected their new home. The Hollow itself was barely under a kilometer in diameter and almost perfectly round. The area was lightly wooded with native trees and seemed to have a preponderance of songbirds. Behind a low ridge, Harry could see the Forbidden Forest, and presumable he would see Hogwarts from the top of that ridge. In the north east quarter a small spring tumbled over a twenty meter cliff into the small pond. What was once a comfortable looking house sat on the edge of the pond, fifteen years of neglect and natural weather had wreaked havoc on his family’s home. From his view point he could see that the roof had been blasted out from an enormous whole on the second floor.


Approaching the house Harry damned the Dursleys for never coming here. His family’s history and heirlooms left exposed to the elements for fifteen years because they hated his parents and refused to salvage their belongings. The front door was splinters and a few inches of board that clung to the hinges. Lichen and mold had creeped into the front parlor and throughout the first floor. It was obvious that at some point animals had been in the house and in each of the open rooms. Most of the rooms were a total write off, and the second floor contained rot and water damage in addition to the mold and mildew that pervaded the home. The family library on the first floor was still closed when Harry tried to force the door. The door’s handle was frozen, or perhaps locked, so Harry put his shoulder into it and the door split just after the latch mechanism and swung free. The library was comparatively intact. There were obvious leaks in the ceiling and the carpet still destroyed, but the charms on the bookcases to repel paper eating insects had apparently held. Many of the books were water damaged, but it was possible that some of them could be saved.


The best room for Harry’s immediate needs was the basement. Through some strange, and probably magical, part of the home’s design, the cellar was dry and whole. The spider webs were horrendous but Harry knew how to deal with them. Spider webs and cobwebs were not only gossamer and sticky, but also highly flammable. Harry pulled a Zippo lighter and his cologne from his trunk. With a spritz and a WHOOSH, a wave of flames spread across the cellar as the webs caught and burned in an instant.


Holding up a rough torch of a piece of the front door wrapped in one of Dudley’s old shirts with a little cologne for an easy light, Harry explored the basement. There were a few trunks that had survived, and Harry looked forward to exploring those later. For now he had somewhere dry and after he collected some dead wood, it was warm too. In time, magic could be used to fix most things. He would never recover the priceless history of the home, but with a little elbow grease and diligence he could have a home of his own. He vowed to visit the muggle village across the mountain in the morning for food and supplies, but for tonight it was enough to be on his own for the first time in his life.

00000

When Raistlin woke up that evening for his turn to use the body, he looked around and quickly decided that this state of affairs was unacceptable. While he had been a mercenary for several years and lived off the land in that time, an abandoned and run down home was no place for a magical laboratory. He was pleased that Harry had made an effort to purchase everything on his list and taken steps to get his own transportation and living space, and so decided to begin the magic lessons early. They would deal with the living situation later.


After casting a spell on Harry to allow him to read his journals, Raistlin began his instruction on how to read magical notations and what the spells meant. “The first spell you will be learning is one to prevent others from using divining powers against you. Divination is far from an art used solely for discovering the future. It can also be used to tell you the present, and what people are doing. You have told me that the government seeks to keep track of wizards by monitoring the use of magic across the kingdom. This is an example of divination being used to tell someone what is happening and where. Once you have mastered this, you will be required to take a more active role in your lessons. The second spell you will learn is the one I have just cast on you to allow you to read my spell books. Magic is a language of its own and once you learn it you will be crafting your own spell book for your studies. A wizard must write his own spell books, and he is the only one who will be able to read them without the use of this spell. Now, examine the diagram beneath this spell and listen to me closely as I explain how this details your somatic movements…”

 

http://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=3668 for my links and my copy for the library.

 

I liked the Goblins, that was nicely done.

The scene with Dumbledore and Snape came off badly, seemed like a really stupid way to deal with things. And it really shouldn't be that easy to make Dumbledore look astonished.

And where the hell did Harry get a Zippo from? o_o You could easily have used magic, so the Zippo and cologne part seems stupid and unnecessary.

Good stuff though, try to keep the characters acting normally. Hermione isn't someone who would stand up to Dumbledore, no matter what.

 

The goblin part was brilliant, as the whole chapter was.

 

I'm glad to see a Goblin finally say, "I'm not Griphook, you (insert goblin swear word here) wizard!" Or something to that effect.

 

It shouldn't be that hard either. The man is human, not an all knowing god among mortals. He can be surprised, mislead, and outmanuevered. Astonishment is the natural reaction when someone moves in an unexpected manner. I didn't want open hostilities between them yet, but cautious mistrust is ok.

Actually he couldn't just use magic. He doesn't want to reveal himself yet and doesn't have any skill in magic they can't track yet. I figured every teenage boy has a lighter and cologne, why not use them... If you want chalk the lighter up as a recent acquisition, but it's a fairly innocuous item.

Hermione I'll give you. Standing up to Snape or expressing outrage at his actions is not the same as butting heads with Dumbledore. If you noticed I even had her agreeing with Harry that she would likely side with the Headmaster over him if something was wrong (as she has constantly done before). Maybe the illusion of a blameless and all knowing Dumbledore is harmed a bit, but he is still an authority figure and "the most powerful wizard in the world."