《Fanfiction Collection + EPub Links》 Chapter -1 - List Webnovel Recommendations Fan-fics/Originals on this website I recommend: 1. Elder Scrolls: Naruto [A: Myumara] (dropped) 2. Reincarnation in Onepiece World [A: LetMeHurtU] (dropped) 3. Vampire in the Harry Potter World [A: dragonfang1917] (on-going) 4. God of Ice In Naruto World [A: HallOw13] (dropped) 5. Harry Potter. Triwizard Warfare [A: Eristarisis] (complete) 6. True Space Mage [A: 2someawesome] (dropped) 7. Douluo Dalu - The Story of Sheng Feilong [A: Yozuka] (on-going) 8. An Immortal''s Tales Of Demons And Gods - TDG Fanfic [A: AbyssalVoidLord] (complete) 9. NARUTO SAGA [A: bloodycake] (completed) 10. True King of the Pirates [A: christa] (dropped) 11. Bleached Multiverse [A: Coraulten] (hiatus) 12. High School DxD [A: TerrelHayden] (dropped) 13. Lightning Dragon God Douluo: - A Douluo Dalu Fanfic [A: Evil_Dragon] (dropped) 14. Broly The Sayan of Legend [A: Draugzel] (on-going) 15. Douluo Dalu: Wulin''s Legend [A: The_Wulin] (on-going) 16. Gura Gura no mi: Cultivator [A: KyLeey] (hiatus) 17. Naruto is Reincarnated [A: Indie131998] (on-going) 19. I''m just an ''Ordinary'' Human (Marvel fanfic) [A: PG87Mertens] (dropped) 20. Marvels Greatest Father [A: Flat_Moon] (on-going) 21. Supreme Martial System [A: OmnipotentDad] (hiatus) 22. Fairy Tail''s Strongest [A: AdilNation] (dropped) 23. Taking on the Magical World [A: Abdirahman01] (on-going) 24. In Modern World with Bleach System [A: Bronze_Player] (dropped) 25. A Knight''s Will. [A: Coraulten] (hiatus) 26. Reborn as Neji Hyuga with a system [A: Tensei_Rigan] (dropped) 27. saiyan god in dxd [A: ruijard1] (dropped) 29. Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin [A: Sonet] (on-going) 30. How Much For Your Soul? [A: Chado_Sama] (on-going) 31. Reborn as Naruto''s Twin Brother [A: Shaikh_Tohaa] (on-going) 32. System: Harry The Harem lord [A: god_of_pleasure] (completed) 33. Reborn As Harry Osborn - Marvel(on-going) 34. Dragon Ga Kill(on-going) 35. The Forgotten Princess(on-going) 36. Reborn as the Flash''s Twin Brother(on-going) 37. Harry Potter And The Rise Of Golden Falcon(on-going) 39. True Vampire in Teen Wolf (on-going) 40. Rebirth in Against the Gods with The Ultimate System (on-going) 41. Fun in Highschool DxD world (on-going) 42. One Piece: True Justice (on-going) 43. This Third Reincarnation Should Not Be Wasted (on-going) 44. Harem of Thrones (on-going) 45. Spider-Man: Duty and Loss (on-going) 46. Start by Becoming a Mangaka (on-going) 47. One Piece: Death Scythe (on-going) 49. Spiderman Ultimate Peter Parker (on-going) 50. Reincarnated in the My Hero Academia world as Todoroki (on-going) 51. Harry Potter and the Prince of Shadows (on-going) 52. New Dawn- A Harry Potter Transmigration Fanfic (on-going) Chapter -2 - List Fan-fiction Recommendations Harry Potter 1. Harry McGonagall 2. Delenda Est 3. Amalgum - Lockhart''s Folly 4. Wedding of the Century 5. The Moment It Began 6. The Death of Harry Potter 7. Luna''s Hubby 8. Harry Potter and the Four Heirs 9. Second Chance, A New Choice 10. Second Chances 11. Ninja Wizard 12. Earl of the North 13. Like Grains of Sand in the Hourglass 14. One Hundred and Forty Nearly Twelve 15. The Accidental Bond 16. Asylum 18. Rewriting Destiny 19. Beyond The Veil 20. This Time We Do It Right 21. A Brand New Start 22. H J Potter 23. World Changer 24. Lord Emperor - Dark Hunter 25. Radio 26. Harry Potter and the Betrothal Contract 28. The Snake Within 29. Wand, Knife and Silence 30. The Legacy Preservation Act +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DCU/MCU 1. A Twelve Step Program to Omnipotence 2. The Spider 3. DC Gothic - Red-X 4. Less Than Zero 6. United, We Rise 7. Guidelines to Loving an Incognito Superhero 8. Pyroclasm 9. Dial 10. Beauty and the Bat 11. The Road to Happiness, The Long One +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Percy Jackson 1. The Venator 3. The Seventh Child 4. The Queen''s Champion +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Game of Thrones 1. Winter Comes 2. United in Fury 3. Hadrian Lannister Lion of the Rock 4. The Other Queen 5. Stallions Of The West 7. Trials and Tribulations of the Oathkeeper 8. Wearing Robert''s Crown 9. The Dragon Queen & Her Bladewolf +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DCTV 1. Karry Universe: The College Years 2. The Evolution of Snowbarry 3. Stranded 4. Karry Prime Super Doubles 6. Another Earth to call my own 7. Super Family 8. Rebirth of the God of Speed +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Naruto 1. Naruto Hatake 2. Legacy 3. As a Ninja 4. Yami The Gamer Kage 5. SHINOBI The RPG +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Highschool DxD 1. Highschool DxD Awakening 2. The Dragonic-Wolf Prince 3. Highschool DxD The Second Dragon 4. New Devil for Rias Gremory +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Star Wars 1. My Daughter 2. Never Gone 3. The Lost Son +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One Piece 1. Another Nakama 2. The Tale of an OP Delinquent +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Halo 1. Kyle 091 2. Into the Fire +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SAO 1. Cheater 2. Sword Art Online: The Dark Swordsman +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Crossover 1. The Jedi Time Lord 2. Jump Chain Gothic 1 - Mass Effect 1 3. The Mythical Being of Forks Chapter -3 - MEGA LINKS for WuXia, XianXia and Korean Light Novels This is my personal collection where i spent years compiling, and i thought i would like share it with everyone. Enjoy!!!! NOTE: PLEASE NOTE I HAVEN''T UPDATED MANY OF THE ONGOING NOVELS CAUSE I HAD NO TIME TO DO SO THIS YEAR, but many should be up to date. NOTE 2: Also if you people are wondering, there are no Light Novel links cause i check my stash and it totaled around 15GB..... so ill just give you guys the website that i got every Light Novel from LINKS: Fan fictions (~3000): bit.ly/308C3ue Wuxia/Xianxia (~500): bit.ly/2z5bTg6 Korean Novels (~100): bit.ly/2TEvA7X Light Novels: trollo.blog/list/ Completed (Translated) Novels (~100): bit.ly/2MmQM1n Chapter -4 - Mega Link to Fan-fic EPUBS Here are all of the EPUB files of the fan-fictions that i have found, mainly on FanFiction.net. The ones that are under the folder named ''1GoodOnes'' are those that i have read that i have found good (in my personal opinion). All completed FanFictions (mostly, except for some extremely well written ones). All EPUBS are sorted into different categories and within then even more sub-categories. Wont be expecting to update it for at least a month or two, due to me getting many epubs everyday and need to sort them out. Mega Link to EPUB files of ~3,000 fan-fictions (all completed ones) SI+OC Fanfics (~600): bit.ly/2kViAOc bit.ly/308C3ue Enjoy! Chapter 1 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 1 - Harry McGonagall Plot: Professor McGonagall has watched the Dursleys all day and can see what sort of people they are. When Dumbledore leaves Harry on their doorstep and disappears, she takes him away. Pairing: H-Hr Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. Harry McGonagall ¨C Chapter 1 ¨C Defying Dumbledore "Good luck, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore as Minerva McGonagall watched the baby lying outside the door of Number Four Privet Drive. The aged headmaster turned on his heel, and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. McGonagall knew that she was expected to leave as well. She knew she was supposed to trust Albus'' judgment, but she had watched these muggles all day, and they were the worst sort of people you could ever meet. She bent down to touch the baby''s hand one last time, and he started crying. She quickly picked him up and he stopped crying immediately. She gazed into the infant''s eyes that looked so much like his mother''s and sobbed. "How can that man just dump James'' and Lily''s child on a doorstep like a milk bottle when he''s never even seen these people?" she muttered to herself. As images of what she''d observed coupled in her mind with what Lily had told her about her sister''s hatred of magic and refusal to acknowledge she, James, and Harry as family, Minerva came to a decision to do something she''d never done before. Defy Albus Dumbledore. She looked at Harry''s little face again and said sternly, "I will not allow that man to ruin your life!" and disapparated away as people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: ''To Harry Potter ¨C the boy who lived.'' -HM-HM-HM- As Minerva walked toward the house pushing a buggy she had conjured, she knew she had to act quickly if she didn''t want the Headmaster to know she''d taken the child. She''d spent the night in a muggle hotel considering her options. If she didn''t show up at Hogwarts, Albus would know she''d kidnapped Harry, and she''d be living as a fugitive. If she brought the baby to Hogwarts, Albus would find out soon enough and send Harry to the Dursleys, probably firing her in the process. She needed to find Harry an appropriate home, at least for a few years. She may eventually disguise and take him in to live with her at Hogwarts, claiming that he was her nephew or something if necessary, but not for a few years. She couldn''t give him to a wizarding family, because they would all know who he was. She did agree that the boy didn''t need to grow up famous. There was only one person she could think of. She hadn''t seen him since last Christmas, nearly a year ago, but she''d always gotten along very well with him, and thought that he and his wife were wonderful people. She was very glad that the Headmaster had called off classes in honor of recent events. She knocked on the door of Number Eight Churchill Drive wearing a plain muggle dress. The door opened, and a dark-haired woman with brown eyes, who was in her mid twenties, opened the door and smiled. She was wearing maternity clothes. She was five months pregnant and showing it very much. "Aunt Minnie?" she exclaimed, "and a baby. Come in." Smiling at her nephew''s wife, she said, "Hello Cindy. I must say you look absolutely radiant. Is Mark here? There''s something I want to talk to you two about." Cindy grinned at Minerva. "Yeah. I''ll go get him. Cute baby. Whose is he?" Minerva sighed. "That''s part of what I need to talk to you two about." Cindy gave her Aunt-in-law a strange glance, but walked out of the room. A few minutes later, a blonde man with blue eyes walked into the room and hugged the kidnapper. "Aunt Minnie, it''s good to see you again! Are you keeping those Gryffindors out of trouble?" He continued, not really expecting an answer. "Cindy said you wanted to speak to us." "Yes Mark. It''s a long story. You may wish to sit down." Minerva looked at her brother''s squib son (who''d told his muggle wife all about the magical world so that they could visit his family) and said, "I''ve kidnapped this child, and I want you to raise him." "What?" exclaimed both Mark and Cindy. "You see," said Minerva, "This is Harry Potter." She then told the quick story of how Voldemort had killed the Potters and been vanquished, and how Harry would be famous, and how Dumbledore had wanted the boy raised by, "the worst example of humanity I''ve ever seen. He hadn''t even bothered to meet them. Just dropped him on their doorstep with a note! He may be a genius, but he hasn''t got an ounce of common sense if he thinks Harry would be happily accepted into that home! Anyway, as soon as he''d left, I took Harry, and I was, er, hoping you would, well, give him a home here. I realize it might not be the perfect time with another baby on the way, but I do hope you''ll consider it." She looked at them nervously with pleading eyes. The young couple looked at Harry, Minerva, and then each other. Mark finally spoke. "Er, well, I was going to tell you at Christmas, but in January, we''re moving to America for my job, so you wouldn''t really be able to see him much." Minerva smiled brightly. "That would be even better! They''d never think to look for him there!" "Well, I think Cindy and I will have to talk this over. Why don''t you watch television while we go to another room?" "Tele-what?" asked the professor. -HM-HM-HM- After they''d set her up watching a soap opera, Mark and Cindy McGonagall walked into their bedroom and closed the door. He put his hands in his pockets and paced around for a few seconds before saying, "Well, what do you think?" "What do you think?" she countered. He took a deep breath. "Well, the things on the positive side are that we were planning on having more than one child anyway, and Harry does need a family. If no one has the slightest idea where he is, then he should be safe from the Death Eaters if they want revenge." "Not to mention how cute he is, but we''d have to do something about that scar. It''s too recognizable." He sighed, "Which brings us to the bad points. We''d not only have to hide his scar. We''d have to disguise him in other ways. Maybe change his hair color." She looked sad. "You mean we''d have to keep dying his hair all the time?" "No. I''m sure Aunt Minnie could permanently change it." She took a deep breath. "But don''t change the green eyes. I like them." "So do I," he said, smiling. "So, are we doing this?" asked Cindy. "If we do it, we will be kidnappers," said Mark. Cindy grinned. "We could just claim we found him on our doorstep the way Dumb-Old-Dork left him at the Dursleys." He began to smile as he considered it. "We could have Aunt Minnie change his fingerprints and stuff so that they won''t be able to identify him. Then we say we''ve grown attached to him and want to keep him. That way, we really will be his guardians." "What should his name be?" He smiled at his wife. "Well, I think we could stick with the name Harry, since he probably already responds to it anyway. It is a common name that shouldn''t arouse suspicion. But I do think we should change the middle name, and of course give him our last name." Cindy smiled at him. "We''ll call him ''Harry Mark McGonagall.''" Mark then kissed his wife deeply and then excitedly said, "We''re gonna have two babies!" They went back to find Minerva immersed deeply in a program on the telly. When they walked in the room, Mark said, "Aunt Minnie," and she about jumped from being startled. "We''ve decided to adopt him. We''re going to name him Harry Mark McGonagall." The professor smiled the biggest smile of her life. "That''s wonderful! Thank you!" -HM-HM-HM- After McGonagall had transfigured Harry''s fingerprints, toe prints (just to be sure), and hair (to dirty blonde), and was able to temporarily hide the scar with a glamour charm (for a few days with a promise to redo the charm whenever they needed her to until they adopted him) she accompanied them to the child welfare department, but didn''t go into the office with them. She waited impatiently for over an hour until they finally walked back with Harry in Cindy''s arms. Without waiting for his aunt to speak, Mark announced, "They were happy to let us keep the child while they run the fingerprints, and told us that if they couldn''t locate a relative¡­" "¡­which they shouldn''t thanks to you," interjected a grinning Cindy. "¡­that there probably shouldn''t be any problem with us adopting him before we leave for America." -HM-HM-HM- Over the next few months, Minerva was getting owls from her dead brother''s son almost every day. She''d made it a point to only have them come when she knew she''d be alone instead of at breakfast. As promised, whenever they were going to bring Harry to any kind of official meeting, Minerva visited their house the night before and hid the scar. Mark and Cindy planned on talking to some kind of muggle doctor about hiding Harry''s scar permanently when they got to America. Albus, in the meantime, hadn''t mentioned Harry, so neither did Minerva. She''d gotten a book on Occlumency the day after she kidnapped Harry and was working on it in every spare minute she could find so that Dumbledore wouldn''t find out Harry''s whereabouts from her. On the same mid-December day that the horrible news of the attack on Frank and Alice Longbottom was in the Daily Prophet, Minnie got the good news that Harry had been officially adopted. He now was officially ''Harry Mark McGonagall,'' and the courts decided to claim his date of birth as August 12th 1980. Minerva was impressed that the muggle doctors had guessed it within less than two weeks of his actual birth. -HM-HM-HM- She spent Christmas break at their house, and brought a ton of toys and outfits for Harry, along with some baby clothes and toys for the expected addition to the family. She also gave them a magical two-way mirror that they could use to communicate with her. She magically hid Harry''s scar for the last time as Mark and his family were about to go to the airport to fly to America. As they parted, the stern teacher started crying. She knew she''d miss them all. -HM-HM-HM- Within a few months of moving to Lansing, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where Mark worked, Harry''s scar was now completely invisible, thanks to the work of a muggle doctor his adopted parents had taken him to. It was the day after McGonagall received this news that she was summoned to the headmaster''s office. She opened the door to find a very worried-looking Dumbledore, pacing the floors. "Hello Minerva, would you care for a lemon drop?" he said absently. Fawkes was nowhere to be seen. After McGonagall shook her head and sat down, the Headmaster sat back in his chair. "I''m afraid I have terrible news, Minerva." "Ter¡­Terrible news? What''s happened, Albus?" "I managed to place a squib on Privet Drive to keep watch over Harry Potter a few days ago, and she has reported that he''s not there. I personally went there myself, and I discovered that they never found Harry on their doorstep." For a moment, she thought she''d been caught, but wasn''t about to make it easy for him. "They didn''t find him?" she repeated, sounding and looking as distressed as she could. Dumbledore nodded sadly, and then he looked back up at her. "Minerva, you spent the day there. Did you spot anyone unusual in the area? Someone who may have been watching us and took young Harry as soon as we left him there." Making sure her Occlumency shields were up as strong as possible in case he probed her mind, she answered, "No Albus. I didn''t notice anyone." She would''ve added, "except those horrible muggles you left Harry with," but didn''t want to remind him that she didn''t approve of the Dursleys. He buried his face in his hands. "I fear that Death Eaters kidnapped him. Either to take revenge upon, in which case he''s dead, or to raise him to follow their ways, perhaps even to be the next dark lord." Her eyes widened in shock. "Surely you don''t believe¡­" "What else could have happened, Minerva? It''s my fault, as Remus was gracious enough to point out to me when I informed the Order. I should have knocked on the Dursleys'' door and personally handed Harry to them. That would have activated the blood wards. We hope that Harry''s alive since no one has bragged about killing him, which the Death Eaters probably would do, but we just don''t know. Even if he''s alive, they could literally be anywhere on this planet, maybe even in a house under a Fidelius charm, by now." He half grinned at this. "They could be as close as Hogsmeade if they used that charm, and we''d never even know it." He sighed, looking older than ever before. "Well, you''ve listened to me ramble on long enough. You may go. If you think of anything at all, no matter how insignificant, let me know." -HM-HM-HM- As Minerva left Albus'' office, she felt terrible about lying to him and making him so worried, but she reminded herself that he deserved this for trying to leave Harry on a doorstep. She also reminded herself that it had been nearly five months since Harry had been left at the Dursleys, and he''s finally checking on him. She knew that no residual magic would still be there by now to show she''d apparated with the baby if anyone bothered to check, so she was in the clear. -HM-HM-HM- Time passed by quickly, and before they knew it, on March 8th 1982, Harry''s sister, Brianna Minerva McGonagall was born. She had brown hair and blue eyes. Aunt Minnie naturally had to spend the Easter holiday with them to meet the new addition to the family. She, of course, brought a ton of baby clothes with her, as well as a few presents for Harry. -HM-HM-HM- "Daddy, it''s mommy and Brinnie!" said little Harry excitedly as Cindy McGonagall walked into the room carrying his eight-month-old sister. Mark was sitting on the couch in the living room. Harry still had blonde hair and no scar showing. They''d been living in America for a year, and life was good. Today, Aunt Minnie was going to floo to O''Hare airport to spend Christmas with them. The trans-continental floo network only went to international airports so muggles wouldn''t get suspicious of foreigners just showing up somewhere. People who used that were even given airline tickets. They simply went into an area of the airport similar to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and waited for their turn. Every ten minutes, the huge fireplace that fit twenty people would take everyone inside to a different airport. "Good morning, Harry," Cindy said, hugging her little boy. "Mornin'' mommy! Mornin'' Brinnie!" "Today your Aunt Minnie''s coming to spend a few weeks with us." "Yay!" the little boy said, "She brings presents!" Mark laughed while Cindy tried to look stern. "We don''t like Aunt Minnie because she gives presents. We like her because she''s a nice person." "And gives presents!" said Harry excitedly. This time even Cindy gave in to the laughter. "We''ve got to go to O''Hare airport and get her," Cindy finally said. -HM-HM-HM- After a drive through terrible Chicago traffic, they finally arrived at the airport and looked around until they spotted the older woman wearing a long brown dress with a matching hat. She was pushing a trolley with several bags on it. "Aunt Minnie!" shouted Harry excitedly as he ran up to her, throwing his arms around the dignified woman''s legs. She bent down and returned the hug. "Hello Harry. It''s good to see you." "Didja bring presents?" he asked, grinning up at her with his puppy-dog eyes. "Harry!" said Cindy as she and Mark walked up. "Well, as a matter of fact I did, for both you and your sister," said Minerva, "but you won''t get them until I''ve gotten a full report on your behavior from your parents." "I''ve been good, haven''t I, mommy!" Cindy smiled for about thirty seconds as her little boy awaited her ?ssessment. "I suppose so." Minerva hugged both Cindy and Mark, who embarrassed his aunt by kissing her on the cheek. "Mark, stop it." -HM-HM-HM- True to her word, Aunt Minnie gave both Harry and Brianna one present each when they got home. Brianna''s was a soft stuffed Hippogriff and Harry''s was a working miniature train that was a replica of the Hogwarts Express. She told Harry''s parents that she''d transfigured the train from rocks. They decided not to tell Harry about magic until he had his first accidental bout of it. He knew that Aunt Minnie taught at a school called Hogwarts that he''d go to someday, but had no idea of it being magical. She was saving the rest of the gifts for Christmas day. Mark and Cindy found it funny the way the kids had their Great Aunt wrapped around their fingers. They had her doing things that people from Hogwarts would have never believed, such as playing hide-and-go-seek and tag. They even got her to play the ''tickle monster.'' They greatly enjoyed Christmas where they were showered with gifts, and most importantly, love. -HM-HM-HM- Harry started kindergarten at five years old, and it wasn''t long before he had his first experience with accidental magic. He''d made friends the first day with a kid named Matthew Burke, but they quickly made an enemy out of a bigger kid named Brian Popovich. He''d made fun of Harry because he needed glasses, so he and Matt decided to prank him. Brian was sitting down on a chair when Matt ''accidentally'' spilled his drink, orange soda, on the floor in front of Brian. Harry was on the floor tying Brian''s shoes together. While Harry was tying them, Brian noticed and grabbed Harry''s hand and started squeezing it as hard as he could. Harry was scared that his hand would get broken, and all of the sudden Brian''s hand started to hurt so he let go. Forgetting that his shoes were tied together, he got up and fell, landing face-down in the puddle of soda. Unfortunately for Harry, the teacher had seen part of it, so Harry was in trouble. After school, while Harry was being grounded as his sister enjoyed the story, there was a knock at the door. Mark answered it. A short, thin middle-aged man with black hair that was starting to turn gray was standing at the door wearing a gray suit. "Hello. Mr. McGonagall, I presume?" "Yes." The stranger extended his hand and Mark shook it. "I''m Stephen Kirk. May I come in for a few minutes? It has to do with your son and what happened at school today." He sighed, hoping the other kid''s parents weren''t suing or something stupid like that. "Come in." Once they were settled down in the living room, and Cindy had gotten them some tea, Stephen said, "To put it simply, your son performed accidental magic today, which means he is a wizard." He paused, as though expecting an argument. Cindy smiled. "Well that explains it. We were wondering if he were a wizard or not." Mr. Kirk seemed surprised. "You¡­you know about magic." Mark smiled. "Oh yes. You see, I''m a squib from England. In fact, my aunt is the Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts. I guess Harry will be going there when he''s old enough." "Really?" said the man happily. "If your aunt teaches there, I suppose there wouldn''t be much point in trying to persuade you to send Harry anyplace else when he''s eleven." He chuckled. "I''m afraid not. If I sent Harry to any other school, she''d never speak to me again." "If you''re from England, then I ?ssume you''ve heard of the restriction for underage magic they have over there." "Yes," he said, nodding. "We in America think that''s ridiculous. All we worry about is secrecy. As long as he doesn''t perform the magic around muggles, we don''t care. While we do have boarding schools like Hogwarts that start at age eleven, we also have schools where wizarding children are taught basic magic, as well as the foundations of many of the courses taught at Hogwarts. They meet from five to six p.m. on Monday through Friday, and on Saturday seven-thirty a.m. to twelve-thirty p.m. Each weekday is a different subject, and Saturday is all five subjects." "The first year classes are Latin, which is helpful in learning spells; basic wand handling, which includes safety and all the different wand movements; simple charms, simple transfiguration, and simple herbology. Some of them continue while others, such as wand handling, are replaced by classes such as potions, and eventually defense, although we wait until the children are ten to start that. If you started him now, he''d be well ahead in his classes, and might even be able to skip a grade at Hogwarts. Instead of going by ages, we start kids when they perform their first accidental magic. We find that teaching to control magic then helps prevent more accidents. Our first term starts two weeks after muggle terms, because starting school tends to cause accidental magic. Therefore by waiting those two weeks, we almost double our enrollment." "Well," said Mark, looking at his wife, "What do you think?" "It sounds good, but maybe we should ask Harry what he thinks." "We should probably ask Aunt Minnie''s opinion too. Mr. Kirk, could we get back to you?" "Of course," he said with a smile. "I know that''s a big decision. Here are some forms to look at," he said, pulling out his wand and conjuring a brochure, along with legal-looking papers. "Just let us know by the end of the week. I''ve also left instructions to the nearest wizarding neighborhood where you can buy wands and books, and anything else magical you''d like whether you choose to put Harry in Wentworth Witchcraft Elementary School or not." -HM-HM-HM- That night, they talked to Minerva over the two-way mirror, who seemed very pleased about it. She was unaware of the differences in American wizarding laws. She''d always ?ssumed underage restrictions were the same everywhere. She was all for it, so they just needed to talk to Harry. "Well, Harry," said Mark nervously, "Do you remember how that boy Brian''s hand was hurting for apparently no reason?" "Uh-huh," said Harry, looking down like he expected to be in more trouble. "You did it," said Cindy. "No I didn''t mommy! I don''t know how!" "We know you didn''t do it on purpose," said Mark. "You did magic." "I did?" he asked, amazed. "How? Can you do magic?" "I can''t, but your Aunt Minnie can." Harry looked excited. "She can?" "Yes. Hogwarts is a magic school that you''ll go to when you''re eleven." His eyes were wide. "Really? Can I see it now?" Mark chuckled. "Not for a while, but you''re learning to read. When you''re ready, you can read a book about it that Aunt Minnie gave us. It''s called ''Hogwarts, A History.'' Cindy rolled her eyes, knowing it would be years before Harry could read that tome. "Can you read it to me tonight?" he asked pleadingly. "Maybe," Mark said, "But for now, I have a question. Do you want to start learning magic now?" "Yeah," said the smiling boy. "If you do, it means more school," said Cindy. "But it''s magic school!" said Harry. "Then you''ll start in a week," said Mark. "Saturday, we''ll get you a wand and other school supplies." "Yay!" he said raising his fists in air, victoriously. "Oh, one important thing. You can''t tell anyone about being magical or learning magic. That''s very important. If you do, you''ll be in a lot of trouble." "Ok, it''s secret," said Harry. "Yes," said Cindy, "It''s a secret." "Is Brianna magic too?" asked Harry. "We don''t know yet," said Mark. "You got to wait until she accidental magics someone like I did!" he said grinning. Cindy giggled. "Yes dear, we''ve got to wait to see if she does accidental magic." -HM-HM-HM- Harry and Brianna (who they told since it wouldn''t stay a secret in the house very long anyway ¨C but she knew it was a secret she couldn''t tell anyone) were fascinated by Little Salem, the local wizarding neighborhood about the size of Diagon Alley. This one was entered through an arcade. There was a game called ''Witch''s War.'' in a corner that was marked, ''Out of Order.'' If you sat in it and leaned into the wall it was against, you''d fall through it, but land on your feet in an area unlike anything Harry had ever seen before. He was the first to bravely try, followed by Mark, Brianna, and Cindy. They all looked around, intrigued by the names on the shops, such as ''Calumet Cauldrons,'' as well as all the different types of creatures walking around. Mark chuckled when he noticed a restaurant called ''Magical McDonalds.'' They soon saw a goblin walking out of there toward the local branch of Gringotts, which was going to be their first stop until Cindy noticed a Gringotts ATM machine by the entrance. You''d use your debit card from a muggle bank, and it would give you wizarding money (after charging a dollar fee). They took out enough for Harry''s books and wand, along with plenty for anything else they might want to buy. After they got the books and supplies, they walked into a ''Wand Locker'' Outlet, which was apparently part of a popular American chain of wand shops. They were surprised to find a young woman behind the counter. Harry blushed when he saw the attractive blonde woman who was in her early twenties. Brianna noticed and giggled until he elbowed her. The woman was very worried as wand after wand rejected Harry, who was getting more and more embarrassed, until finally she handed him a wand made of Beechwood and phoenix feather, nine inches. A few red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework when he held it. She said uncertainly, "This doesn''t seem to be a perfect match, but it looks like it will work. You may want to try another shop, but the nearest one is in Michigan." Mark smiled. "I think we''ll take this one," he said while wondering if the perfect wand for Harry might be in England. "Well," the woman said, "We normally charge nine Galleons, but I''ll let you have it for eight since it''s not a perfect match to this young man''s exquisite taste." She winked at Harry, who blushed and hid his face. "Thank you very much," said Cindy, smiling. As soon as they left, Brianna started giggling madly and shouted, "Harry''s got a crush on the lady in there!" repeatedly until Mark caught Harry''s fist that was about to punch his sister. Harry''s face was completely red. "Brianna, stop teasing your brother!" said Cindy, "and Harry, don''t try to hit your sister!" "Fine!" the siblings said together with their arms crossed over their ?h?sts and matching angry expressions on their faces. Mark then smirked at his son. "Is that true that you liked the lady in there?" which caused Brianna to laugh so hard she fell as Harry hid his purple face in his hands while Cindy glared at her husband. -HM-HM-HM- Harry did pretty well in his new classes. He hated the Latin (which was currently concentrating on the alphabet) and herbology, but enjoyed charms, wand handling, and transfiguration. Brianna was easily impressed when Harry did his homework in front of her, magically sharpening his pencil. Mark (and Aunt Minnie when he told her) was surprised to find that Harry''s school used regular paper and pencils and didn''t require wizard robes. The pamphlet they''d read pointed out the fact that these peculiarities often alerted muggles that something was unusual. Besides, paper and pencils are easier to handle than parchment, quill, and ink, especially for younger children. When the kids are older they start using pens as well. Harry tended to be at the top of his class at Wentworth Wizarding School while average at his regular classes. When his parents confronted him about it he said, "Magic''s more interesting and I''ll be going to Hogwarts anyway." "Until then you''ll be going to muggle school and you''ll get your grades back up unless you want us to pull you out of magic school," said Mark, bluffing. He knew he''d never pull Harry out of magic school. After all, that''s the world he belonged in. He did however know that Harry would need reading, writing, and arithmetic even in the wizarding world. "No! You can''t take me outta magic school! I''ll run away if you do!" Mark grinned at the panic he saw in Harry''s eyes. Cindy said, "Then pick up your other grades to prove we don''t need to." "Fine!" he said. "Don''t take that attitude with me, young man!" she said. "Sorry, mommy," said Harry, looking at her with his best pathetic puppy dog face. She sighed and patted his blonde head while smiling. "Why don''t you run along and work on your reading?" He walked to his room without another word. -HM-HM-HM- Harry''s muggle grades did improve after that, although he did require occasional encouragement in the form of threats and/or bribery. During the spring of Harry''s second year, a few weeks after Brianna''s fifth birthday, she did something she shouldn''t have done. She wanted to try doing magic, so she borrowed Harry''s wand without telling him when he''d left his room for a few minutes in the middle of doing homework. When he returned, he saw that his wand wasn''t where he''d left it, so he immediately got mad and went straight to his sister''s bedroom. When he quietly opened the door without knocking, he found her pointing his wand at a pencil, trying to sharpen it. She was so absorbed in her task that she hadn''t noticed him yet. "GIVE IT BACK!" he shouted, scaring her and causing a red light to shoot out of the wand that she''d instinctively pointed at the source of the noise. The blast hit Harry square in the ?h?st, causing him to go unconscious and fall to the floor, just as Cindy and Mark approached the room to see what the noise was. As Harry collapsed, tears started falling from Brianna''s horrified face. She dropped the wand and ran toward her brother. "Harry! I''M SORRY!" she shouted as she took him in her arms in time to see her parents, who did not look happy at all. She started trembling, afraid she''d hurt Harry badly or even killed him. "I¡­sorry¡­.I took his wand¡­.H-Harry surprised me." At this point she couldn''t even speak anymore. She just sobbed for a few minutes on Harry''s unconscious form, leaning her head on his ?h?st. Her parents watched, not sure what to say. Mark bent down and checked Harry''s pulse, smiling slightly when he felt one. "Harry¡­Harry''s gonna be ok, right, daddy?" Brianna finally said through her tears. "I think so," Mark replied, "I''m gonna call the department of accidental magic though, just to be sure." "I''ll do it," said Cindy. As she walked toward their bedroom to retrieve the ''other'' phonebook, Brianna sobbed, "I''m sorry daddy. Am I going to jail? I didn''t mean it! He, he scared me¡­" He gave his daughter a hug. "I know, honey, and I love you, but I can''t simply overlook the fact that you took your brother''s wand. You will be punished after we find out how Harry is doing." "Yes, daddy," she said with her head bowed low in penitence. "I love you, too, and Harry. If anything''s wrong I don''t know¡­" "We''ll find that out now," said a friendly-looking man with dark hair and a graying beard. He was standing with Cindy. "I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Oliver Brown. I''m from the accidental magic department. We can apparate directly to the other side of a phone call. I take it that this pretty little girl here is the one who performed the magic on the boy." "Yes," said Mark, moving with Brianna to give the wizard room to examine Harry. "I doubt she''s hurt her brother seriously," he said as he bent down. He pulled out his wand and performed a spell on Harry. He then chuckled as he saw the results written in shining letters in front of him. "How old is your daughter?" "Brianna''s five years old," said Cindy. "Amazing. She''s performed a perfect stunning spell on your son. I''d hate to duel her when she gets older. She''s going to be a very powerful witch." He then turned his wand toward Harry. "Enervate." Harry opened his eyes and saw a stranger smiling at him. He flinched and then noticed his parents there too, and he remembered what had happened, all the way to the point of the spell hitting him. "BRIANNA! I''m gonna kill you!" he shouted as he got up. "Now, Harry¡­" said Cindy. Brianna in the meantime had gotten to a far corner of her room. "I''m sorry! I didn''t mean it!" "Well," said Mr. Brown with a grin, "Since Harry''s already going to magic school, you should have no trouble enrolling Brianna there as well. It appears you have a family crisis to deal with. I''ll see myself off, and you''ll get a bill in a few days. Bye." He then disappeared with a soft pop. Harry started to run toward his sister, but found the strong arms of his father were holding him back. "She stole my wand and hexed me!" "We know," said Mark, "and she''ll be punished. But hexing you was an accident." "No it wasn''t! I hate her!" he shouted and ran off to his room. "Harry!" shouted Brianna, "It was an accident! I didn''t want to hurt¡­" Harry''s door slammed shut and Brianna sat down in the corner where she''d been standing, and cried with her face in her knees. "I''m sure he didn''t mean it, sweetheart," said Cindy, walking up to her daughter. "Yes, he did! I was bad and now he hates me!" she said between her tears. "I''m gonna go talk to him," said Cindy, "while I think about your punishment." "I''ll do Harry''s chores for a year," Brianna declared, causing Mark to chuckle. "Well," said Cindy, "I''m not sure about a year, but¡­" "Two years!" cried Brianna, "Maybe he''ll forgive me then." "I meant that one year might be too long, Brianna. Your father and I will discuss it and let you know our decision." Cindy then picked up Harry''s wand from the floor and left the room. -HM-HM-HM- Harry sat on his bed fuming. He knew his sister could use her sad puppy-dog eyes, which she did even better than him, to get out of any punishment. She''d gone into his room, taken his wand, and hexed him. He admitted to himself that it had to have been an accident since she didn''t know any spells, but she shouldn''t have had the wand to begin with. He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock at his door. He ignored it, knowing it would either be Brianna or one of his parents telling him to forgive Brianna. His door opened. "Hi, Harry," said his mom. "I brought you your wand back." She closed the door as she entered. "Put it on my desk, where I left it," he said coldly. "Do you know exactly what Brianna did to you?" she said, sitting on the chair by Harry''s desk. "She hexed me," Harry said, "On purpose no matter what she says!" "I meant what spell she used." His expression softened. "No, but it''s like I fainted." "Exactly. It''s called the stunning spell. Have they taught it to you yet at school?" He put his head down. "No." Cindy wore a fake worried expression. She looked around as though to make sure no one was listening in. "I think she''s been running off and learning dark magic so she can hex us all." Harry''s expression changed from angry to surprised. "What?" "You were right to tell her you hate her. I think I''ll tell her that, too." "Huh?" "Your father thinks we should get her a wand and enroll her at your school, but I know better." "Y-you do?" Harry was getting worried about his mom''s sanity. "Of course. Look at what she did with your wand. We''re just lucky she was still practicing. I''m sure she really wanted to kill you, and then everybody else." "Um¡­mom?" "I think we should kick her out of the house now before she''s too powerful. What do you think? Do you want to hex her a few times first?" Harry was now clearly scared, and his mom was having a very hard time keeping a straight face. "I, I don''t think she''s doing that. I, it was an accident. She wasn''t trying to hurt me." "But she took your wand. It must have been her plan all along." "She was, was just curious. She wanted to know if she had magic. You can''t kick her out for that." "Why are you trying to defend her? You said you hate her." As his mom''s expression changed from fear to amusement to neutral, his face fell. "I did say that, didn''t I?" "Yes you did, and she''s right now in her room crying. I''ve never seen anyone as scared or sorry as she was when you fell down. She thinks she should do your chores for two years, and then maybe you''ll forgive her. What do you think?" He smirked. "Well, two years without chores¡­" "Harry!" "All right, all right. I''ll talk to her. But she did take my wand!" "I know, Harry, and your dad and I will punish her for that, but I think that she needs to know you still love her¡­" "Mom!" "I know you boys don''t like this kind of mushy stuff, but you know that you love your sister, and she needs to know that too! If you can say that you hate her, you can say that you love her!" She took a deep breath. "She really looks up to you, and it really hurts her when you say things like that. You''ve got to learn not to say things you don''t mean when you''re angry. You can ruin a friendship that way." "I already said I''ll talk to her, mom." She then hugged her son. "I knew you would." -HM-HM-HM- Brianna was sitting in her room alone, still crying in a corner. The door was open because she didn''t bother to get up and close it. This should''ve been a happy day. She found out she was a witch. Unfortunately her very first accidental magic had hurt her brother, and now he hated her. She looked up when she heard her door close. Harry was standing there looking nervous. "Hi, Brianna." "I''m sooo sorry, Harry! I''ll never do magic again!" "What kind of rubbish is that? Of course you''ll do magic. You''ll be going to my school. You''ll probably do better that me, judging by that spell you accidentally sent at me," he said with a smirk. She smiled a bit when he admitted it was an accident. He walked up to her and squatted down. "I''m still not happy that you took my wand¡­" "I''m sorry!" "Let me finish. I know you wouldn''t really try to hurt me." He took a deep breath. "I said some mean things to you. I didn''t mean them either." "You didn''t?" she asked, finally daring to hope he didn''t hate her. "No. I don''t hate you sis. I¡­um¡­love you." He then hugged her and she returned the embrace, crying on his shoulder. "I was so scared," she said, "I''m so glad you''re ok." -HM-HM-HM- Brianna ended up doing Harry''s chores for a week. Their parents felt bad about punishing the girl after she''d been through so much, but they felt that a lack of punishment would encourage more rule-breaking. Aunt Minnie was thrilled to find out that Brianna was magical. They went to Little Salem that weekend and got Brianna her own wand (mahogany and dragon heartstring, 8 ? inches) at the same shop from the same woman Harry "DID NOT" have a crush on. This wand was a perfect match for Brianna. She borrowed her brother''s first magic books and got her mom to help her read them. Cindy had begun teaching both of her kids to read when they turned three, but Brianna wasn''t quite ready to read books like that on her own. The summer came and went, with Brianna practicing her reading and spellwork in anticipation of attending Wentworth Witchcraft Elementary School. She began kindergarten that year as well. She turned out to be somewhat of a bookworm, and was at the top of her classes in both muggle and magical school. She did gain a few friends and went to some sleepovers. Harry wasn''t happy when his sister invited her friends to sleepover at their house, and managed to arrange to spend the night at one of his friend''s houses whenever the girls were staying at his house. The McGonagalls got a Nintendo Entertainment System that included Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt the summer that Harry turned ten (Brianna was eight). Both siblings greatly enjoyed that, and were known to spend hours in the living room fighting Bowser and his allies to save Princess Toadstool. Harry enjoyed Duck Hunt a lot more than his sister, and would wait until one of his friends, either magical or muggle, would come over so he could compete with them. That was the same year that he learned both defensive spells (he finally learned how to stun Brianna and told her so, causing her to pale) and modern magical history, which included a recent war in Europe fought over ridiculous prejudices. This particular war had been started by a dark wizard named Voldemort (Americans didn''t fear the name because he hadn''t terrorized them) and was ended by a boy named Harry Potter. No one knows what happened to the boy, who disappeared the day after Voldemort did. Some said he was killed by the same Death Eaters who tortured aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity. Others think he''s alive and being trained as a dark wizard to take Voldemort''s place. Still others simply think that someone hid him away in a good home where nobody knew who he was so that he''d be safe. The point was that no one knew what had become of him, except that his name was still down in the registry of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which indicated that he wasn''t dead. Harry came home after the lesson on the demise of Voldemort excited to talk about it with his parents. He didn''t know why, but the whole story of Voldemort seemed very interesting to him. "Hi, mom!" he said after the ''Eagle Bus'' took him and Brianna home from school. Once Harry had turned ten, his parents let him and Brianna take the magical bus to and from wizarding school on Saturdays. It went incredibly fast like a roller coaster, but had seatbelts so that you weren''t thrown around when it made sharp turns or stopped. Their house was on the floo network, but both Harry and Brianna greatly enjoyed riding the bus, so their parents allowed it, figuring that it meant they didn''t have to visit Six Flags Great America nearly as often, although they did end up going at least twice every summer ¨C once with Mark''s company before the park was open to the public (before the new rides were open), and once in August. "Hi, Harry, Brianna!" said Cindy, "How was school?" "It was great! I learned a spell that will freeze a person until they get revived in Defense class, and about Voldemort and Harry Potter in History class!" Cindy froze for a moment when Harry mentioned his true identity. She then decided to change the topic. "What about potions, transfiguration, and herbology?" "They were fine too, but this kid Harry Potter, who would be my age, he somehow killed the most powerful dark wizard alive nine years ago, and ended a war! But then he disappeared." "Did he?" asked a frightened Cindy who wasn''t sure what to do. "Yeah. Some say he''s being taught to be a dark wizard. I hope they''re wrong." "I''m sure they are," said Cindy. "I wonder if Aunt Minnie knew the Potters," said Brianna, who''d heard the whole story while they were riding home. "Harry said her boss, Professor Dumbledore, did." "I, er, am sure she did. They, er, probably were her students at one time." "Oh yeah," said Brianna. At that moment Mark walked in the house behind them. He''d had to work that Saturday. "Maybe I can ask Aunt Minnie about Harry Potter to help with my report," said Harry. Mark coughed behind them at the mention of that name. "H-Harry P-Potter?" "Yeah. Did Aunt Minnie tell you anything about him? He went missing just a few months before we left England." Mark and Cindy looked at each other. Cindy nodded and then so did Mark. "Kids, sit down and we''ll tell you everything we know about Harry Potter." Harry smiled broadly. "So she did tell you something about him! I knew it!" Cindy said, "Yes. The day after his parents died, she brought him to our house and asked us to raise him as our son." Harry frowned. "And you said no? Why? I guess you were already planning on moving and had me. Did I play with him while he was visiting?" Mark continued, "I, I think you''re missing the point." He took a deep breath and looked at his son. "You are Harry Potter. This is a complete secret and you can''t tell anyone. Aunt Minnie transfigured your hair blonde and we had a doctor remove your scar. Your fingerprints were changed as well, but we kept your eyes the same color." Brianna was staring at her brother, who was looking astounded. "I, I''m not your son?" He looked at Brianna. "I, I''m not your brother?" "You are as much a part of this family as any of us!" said Cindy sternly, "And we love you every bit as much as Brianna!" Harry seemed to relax a bit, but he was still in shock. "I, I, Ok, they wanted to keep where I am a secret so no one could get revenge. I, I guess I understand. I suppose as a kid I could''ve blabbed it. So Dumbledore lied when he said I disappeared to throw the Death Eaters off the track." Mark answered. "No. He dropped you off at your only living relatives'' house like a milk bottle. Aunt Minnie had watched them all day and saw that they were the worst kind of people you could imagine, and she remembered terrible things Lily Potter had said about them. That Dumb-Old-Dork didn''t bother trying to meet them. He simply went to the house and left you on the doorstep with a note. Five months later he checked on you to find you were missing." Cindy continued, "She took you as soon as he left. She would''ve raised you herself, but she knew that Dumbledore would''ve found out and put you with those people. So she had to find someone to take care of you." "You," said Harry. "Yes," said Mark. "She brought you to us and we happily welcomed you to our family. We claimed you''d been dropped on our doorstep and we had no idea who you were, and adopted you. Dumbledore has no idea. When you go to Hogwarts, you need to try to keep that secret. First because I don''t think you want everybody staring at you like an exhibit from the zoo. Secondly, because it could get your Aunt Minnie, maybe even us, in trouble. Thirdly, Dumbledore will probably want to send you to those people." "I understand," said Harry. "I won''t tell anyone." Mark smiled. "I know, but there are magical ways to find out anyway." "One of my teachers mentioned Leg-legillmonky." Mark chuckled. "Legilimency. What do you know about it?" "That it requires eye contact, so I shouldn''t look him in the eyes." Cindy continued, "Or another Professor named Snape. He''s also a Legilimens. But there is a defense against it called Occlumency. Aunt Minnie learned it right after she, well, kidnapped you so that she wouldn''t be found out. She gave us a book on it. It seems even muggles can learn to protect their minds. She sent us the book once we came into contact with the wizarding world." "When I started magic school," stated Harry. "Exactly. We''d like you two to read it and start learning. It''s more important for Harry to learn it first since he''s going to Hogwarts soon, but you both should learn it. Your magic school has a strict policy against reading the minds of students, but if you ever feel that one of your teachers is looking straight into your soul, break eye contact immediately." "All right," both kids replied. "By the way, we''re going to be spending the summer in England with Aunt Minnie," said Mark. "Yes¡­No!" said Brianna. "We won''t be able to practice magic there." Minerva had explained that the ministry didn''t detect underage magic in wizarding homes, but had also sworn them to secrecy about that fact, giving them a story to tell the kids. Mark said, "Don''t tell anyone, but because you''re from America, you''re allowed to do magic in Aunt Minnie''s house as long as no one but family is there." Cindy continued, "She does want you to meet other kids, though. The muggleborn students are going to have an orientation at her house a few days after we arrive. She wants both of you there as well since we''re muggles, although technically your dad is a squib." "Why me?" asked Brianna, "I won''t be going to Hogwarts until Harry''s third year." "She thinks you''d be rather bored otherwise, and that you may enjoy meeting some children, even if they are Harry''s age," answered Cindy. Harry then got an angry look on his face. "Voldemort murdered my real parents!" "Yes," said Mark, "but I doubt it''ll help for you to be angry at someone you somehow already got rid of." "I guess not." Harry then smiled. "So, does my true identity mean I can get my presents on July 31st instead of August 12th this year?" "I''m afraid that would blow your cover," said Brianna with a smirk. "Besides, Aunt Minnie intended on inviting any of the muggleborn students you liked to a birthday party on August 12th, but if you don''t want one, that''s fine," said Mark. "No, that''s fine. I can keep my birthday as it is." -HM-HM-HM- The months passed quickly, and at the end of the school year, Harry bid goodbye to his friends, telling the muggle friends he''d be attending a private school in Scotland, while telling his wizarding friends he was going to Hogwarts. -HM-HM-HM- Minerva was getting nervous as she waited for her family to arrive. She''d entered both Harry and Brianna McGonagall''s names on the list at Hogwarts when they''d performed their first accidental magic, and had casually ''let it slip'' that her nephew had magical kids who would be attending so that it wouldn''t come as a surprise that the headmaster would investigate. She was also glad that Harry already knew who he was, and he was keeping it secret. She was proud of how quickly they''d devoured the Occlumency book and how much effort they''d put into learning it, but she knew she''d have to actually test their shields to find out how well they were doing. It was imperative that Harry be a master Occlumens as soon as possible, preferably before his first class with Snape. That was another thing Albus did that she didn''t understand. Ever since he''d hired that insufferable git (not that she''d actually call him that) his absolutely blatant favoritism of the Slytherins made a complete mockery of the point system. Breathing seemed to be Snape''s main reason for taking points from Gryffindors and adding points to Slytherins. According to the school records, the man had never taken a point from a Slytherin or given a point to a Gryffindor in the ten or so years he''d been working there. She pointed out all these facts, along with accounts from dozens of witnesses from every house but Slytherin, and Albus completely ignored it, saying that he trusted Snape. She''d even shown him pensieve memories from students that proved Snape didn''t even teach. He simply put instructions on the board and started taking points from Gryffindors. For that reason, no house but Slytherin had won the House Cup since he''d become the head of Slytherin house. She honestly wondered what was wrong with the headmaster. Ever since she''d realized how foolish Albus had been regarding Harry, she''d started questioning many of the decisions he''d made. For example, he''d hired a complete fraud who enjoyed predicting student deaths as Divination teacher at about the same time he''d hired Snape. Now he''d just asked her to help him set up protections to guard the Philosopher''s Stone at Hogwarts. Why would a school be used to guard anything but children? What if some dark wizard came to the school looking for the stone? He might kill every student he sees along the way before he gets to the obstacles protecting the stone. What if a student, accidentally or purposely, came across Hagrid''s three-headed dog? She had slowly begun to believe that Albus Dumbledore wasn''t actually that good of a headmaster. He seemed to have his own agenda that superseded his responsibility to the students ¨C to provide a high quality education in a safe environment conducive to learning. She knew he wasn''t a dark wizard, and that he probably had the best intentions, with what he felt was the greater good at heart, but hiring bad teachers and making Hogwarts more dangerous shouldn''t have been an option. He quite obviously didn''t have the students'' best interests at heart. She sighed, figuring that there was nothing she could do about it anyway and continued waiting for her family at the airport. -HM-HM-HM- "Aunt Minnie!" shouted Harry and Brianna happily as they ran toward Professor McGonagall with outstretched arms. "Harry! Brianna!" she said as they each in turn embraced her. "Mark and Cindy, it''s good to see you as well!" "I''m just glad my job let me have this long of a vacation!" "So am I!" said Minnie. "We''ll all have to take the Knight Bus to my house and discuss a few issues that I''m concerned about." -HM-HM-HM- After a ride wherein everyone was tossed around the bus, Cindy McGonagall walked up to Stan Shunpike and shouted, "WHY THE HELL DON''T YOU HAVE SEATBELTS!? THE BUS LIKE THIS IN AMERICA DOES! They realize that passengers probably don''t want to be tossed all over the bus during the ride! My kids probably have brand new bumps and bruises thanks to you!" Stan stared at her. "I''m sorry we have offended you ma''am. What''s a seatbelt?" After she very patiently cured the ignorance of the Knight Bus conductor, he said, "Wow! That''s a great idea. Did you hear that, Ernie?" -HM-HM-HM- Once they were settled in McGonagall Manor (thanks to the help of a house elf named Blinky ¨C much to the annoyance of the Americanized and anti-slavery McGonagalls), which was located in Scotland, Minerva sat in the living room with her guests. "Well since I''m the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts who writes the Hogwarts letters, I already have Harry McGonagall''s ready. Professor Dumbledore has asked me to send one to Harry Potter on his birthday as well. I shall have to dissemble yet again and claim that it was returned unopened. I just hope he doesn''t ask me to keep trying." "That would be funny," said Harry, "To send a whole flock of owls after me." Brianna laughed. "That reminds me. Do you have an owl?" asked Minerva. "No. My American friends all had telephones, even the wizarding ones." "I''d like to get you one so that you can keep in contact with the friends you make here. Just remember not to try sending it across the ocean to your family over the school year. To talk to them, I''ll get you your own mirror." His face lit up from that news. "Thanks, Aunt Minnie!" Brianna frowned for a few seconds but said nothing. Minnie said, "I''ll also be getting a mirror for you, Brianna. I''d imagine that you may wish to speak to your brother without your parents listening in. Would you like an owl now or when you start at Hogwarts?" The nine year old girl smiled brightly. "Now, please." "Having a pet is a responsibility, both of you," said Cindy, "You''ll have to take care of them." "Yes, mom," they both said together. Minerva looked at Harry. "Now, as I understand it, when you got your wand, you were told that it wasn''t a perfect match." "Yes, but it''s worked so far," he said defensively. "I''m sure that it''s a fine wand, but you''ll get the best results with the wand that suits you best. I have a suspicion I''ve never voiced that the wand meant for a witch or wizard always somehow makes its way to the wand shop closest to where that person was born. In Brianna''s case, it was Little Salem, but in your case, it would be Ollivander''s shop in Diagon Alley. I would like to visit there tomorrow when we pick up Harry''s school supplies." "We''re going there tomorrow?" asked Mark. "Yes," Minerva said simply, "and while we''re there, I''d like to resolve another issue. I know that James and Lily Potter left an inheritance for their son at Gringotts, though I''m not entirely sure what it consists of. The goblins there are very discrete. They don''t normally disclose any information about the activity of accounts or who visits Gringotts. You can even ask them to be even more discreet than usual. Er, just remember to be polite." "Are you asking us to take Harry to Gringotts claiming his real identity?" asked Mark. "Yes," said Minerva, earning surprised looks all around. "Not publicly. Simply ask for a private meeting when you arrive and tell the goblin you speak to that this is confidential, and that Harry is indeed Harry Potter." "And they''ll believe us?" asked Cindy skeptically. "Of course not, but they''ll take a small sample of his blood." "They''re gonna stick me with a needle? No way!" "Actually they''ll prick your finger with a knife, but heal it once they get the blood. They''ll then be able to create a new key to your vault, and at the same time the existing key will disappear, right out of Albus'' safe." She smiled briefly. "He will eventually notice that the key disappeared and will probably ask the goblins if they made a new key for your vault. You should specifically say you don''t want Professor Dumbledore to know about it. Fortunately, his form of Legilimency doesn''t work on goblins, only humans." She then looked at her niece and nephew. "Have you been practicing your Occlumency?" "Yes, Aunt Minnie," said Harry, putting up his shields as his sister did the same. He soon felt a pressure move against his shields. At first it was gentle, and then it got gradually stronger as he kept her out. Finally she dropped the attack for a moment and Harry relaxed, only to be attacked at this momentary weakness. He soon found himself reliving some of the most wonderful moments of his life ¨C birthday parties, Christmas mornings, the first time he saw his sister, and when he learned he was magical. "You did very well, Harry, except that you relaxed too soon. Truthfully, unless you give them reason to suspect you, that''s the strongest attack you''ll get. But if they do become suspicious, they''ll attack much harder than that, especially Snape. We''ll need to work on this every day this summer, and into the school year, as necessary." "Yes, Aunt Minnie." "Now I''ll test Brianna''s defenses." Brianna turned out to be a bit easier to read than Harry, and also agreed to work on it that summer, and then to continue working on it after they left so that hopefully the next time they saw each other, Aunt Minnie wouldn''t be able to read her mind. -HM-HM-HM- The first stop they made was at Gringotts. Minerva did not accompany them inside the bank out of fear of being recognized. Mark walked up to the teller. "Excuse me. My family and I would like to talk with someone who can handle accounts in private." "Yes, sir," said the goblin. "Wait in that room." He pointed at an open door on the other side of the room. They walked into the room that had a rectangular table with six uncomfortable wooden chairs around it. They all sat down and waited. After fifteen minutes, a goblin walked in. "Hello. My name is Griphook. May I ask your identities?" "My name is Mark McGonagall." "Are you of any relation to Minerva McGonagall?" "Yes. She''s my aunt. This is my wife Cindy and my daughter Brianna. The boy''s identity is to be a complete secret from everybody, including Albus Dumbledore. Will you agree to that?" "Yes, of course. We here at Gringotts are most discreet. Who is the boy?" "This is my adopted son, Harry Potter. He would like to find out what inheritance he has coming." The goblins eyes flicked up to where the scar should be. "We had his scar hidden through a muggle operation, for obvious reasons. His hair and fingerprints have also been altered. The name he goes by is Harry Mark McGonagall." "We will have to take some of his blood to prove your claim. May I ?ssume that you do not possess his vault key?" "That''s correct," Harry said as he held out his hand, closing his eyes tightly. His sister looked away. After a slight irritation on his finger, Harry opened his eyes to see that the wound was healed and his blood was dropping into the top of a miniature replica of Gringotts that hadn''t been on the table a moment ago. A few seconds after the drop of blood entered the bank''s chimney, the doors opened and a key stuck out of them. Griphook pulled the key out, and a small piece of paper like a receipt came out the doors behind the key. The goblin took it out as well and read, "Harry James Potter has inherited the Potter vault." -HM-HM-HM- After a quick ride to the vault, the stacks of gold impressed the whole family. Harry took some, but not much because his mom wouldn''t let him "¡­waste your entire inheritance in one day!" They met up with Minerva at Flourish and Blotts, where they found her immersed in a magical romance novel. She put it away immediately and complained about the poor quality of writing. Cindy put it in their basket when Minnie wasn''t watching, intent on giving it to her for Christmas. Harry got his school books, as well as the updated version of ''Hogwarts, a History.'' He then noticed a book called, ''Quidditch Through the Ages'' and asked, "Can I get a broom?" "Harry," said Minerva, "I''m afraid first years can''t have brooms." "Sorry," said Mark, "But you can have the book." -HM-HM-HM- They got a few other books, one of which because it talked about ''the Boy-Who-Lived-and-Vanished'' that presented all the main theories about him, including that he''d been vaporized from the curse Voldemort sent, only a day late. They visited Ollivander''s and showed him Harry''s wand. "Oh yes. Not one of mine. Beechwood and phoenix feather, nine inches. A good match, but not a perfect one." "He was born in England, but we moved to America when he was a child. We got the wand there. The saleslady knew it wasn''t a perfect match and gave us a discount," said Cindy. "Oh yes, that American rubbish about letting kids run amok with wands before they can read," he muttered to himself. "We''ll try a few wands with phoenix feather cores." After trying a few that all seemed close matches like the wand Harry already had, finally the wandmaker took a wand out saying, "I wonder." As soon as the wand found itself in Harry''s hand, he felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light onto the walls. Ollivander cried, "Oh bravo!" He frowned for a second, and looked as though he were going to say something but changed his mind. "That''ll be seven Galleons, Mr. McGonagall." After Mark paid, Minerva said, "Let''s go to the owl emporium so I can keep my promise, and then we''ll get some ice cream. -HM-HM-HM- After Harry picked out a female snowy owl he named Hedwig and Brianna picked out a mostly brown male eagle owl with striking orange eyes she named Barnabus, they went for ice cream and finally back to Aunt Minnie''s house. The house actually belonged to both Minerva and Mark equally as the McGonagall ancestral home, and upon Minerva''s death it would fall to Mark and his heirs (although whenever they spoke of that, he said that she may yet fall in love and have kids, which irritated her and made her blush at the same time). It had several rooms spread out over four floors. Minerva had it decorated very conservatively in Gryffindor colors. At precisely four p.m. the day after their trip to Diagon Alley, a large group of people all holding onto a length of rope landed in a heap on the floor (which had just been treated with a cushioning charm) of a large hall in McGonagall Manor. It had red carpet with very light pastel gold colored walls. The group consisted of Hagrid, the new muggleborn students, and their families. Harry''s family was already waiting for them with Aunt Minnie. Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the room. In her most professional voice and a friendly demeanor, she said, "Welcome, everybody. I am Professor McGonagall, - Transfiguration teacher, Head of Gryffindor House, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. Thank you for coming to the orientation." The hand of a small brown-bushy-haired girl came up immediately. "Yes, Miss..." "Granger, Hermione Granger. I was wondering. You see the rest of us met Hagrid at the Leaky Cauldron. I was wondering who that family is." She spoke quickly out of nervousness. Minerva smiled. "It might be a good idea for us all to introduce ourselves. That particular family consists of my nephew, Mark McGonagall, his wife Cindy, and their children, Harry and Brianna. Harry will be starting at Hogwarts this year and Brianna will be starting in a few years. They are spending the summer here before all but Harry return to America, where they''ve been living for several years. "In America, they don''t have the underage restriction on magic that we do here, so Harry and Brianna have both been attending a magic school, as well as a muggle school, since they were five years old. They thought this would be an excellent opportunity to meet some of the students that will be Harry''s classmates. Miss Granger, why don''t you introduce your family?" After everyone (including Dean Thomas and Justin Finch-Fletchley''s families) had introduced themselves, Hermione''s hand went up again, causing Harry to smile. "Yes, Miss Granger?" said Minerva. "Actually, I''d like to ask Harry and Brianna what it''s like in the American wizarding school, and what did they teach." Harry and Brianna both put their heads down, attempting to hide their blushing faces. Minnie looked at her nephew and niece. "Harry, why don''t you answer first?" "Um, well, at the school we go to, I mean I used to go to, we wear regular clothes and use pencils, pens, and paper instead of quills, ink, and parchment like at Hogwarts. That''ll probably take getting used to. We had a spell for sharpening pencils though. I learned Latin and wand handling, along with the basics of almost every class at Hogwarts. I''ll find out how much it helped me this September." Brianna added, "It was nice to be able to learn magic, although I had to wait six months for a new term to begin after I learned I was a witch. They let you in that school once you''ve done your first accidental magic, and then you learn how to control it, so accidents became much less frequent." Hermione said, "I wish I''d had that opportunity. Of course, I''m ever so pleased to be able to attend Hogwarts. I''ve read all of the class books and a few more besides, but I wish I''d had the opportunity to try out the spells." "You all will have that opportunity at Hogwarts. The restriction of underage magic applies to all the students who have been raised in Europe, and no one else who was raised in America will be attending Hogwarts. Most students, even the ones born to magical families, will be starting at the same point as you. Are there any more questions?" She waited a few moments, but no hands were raised. "Now I will show you the way meals are served at Hogwarts." She pointed at a table with her hands, and instantly a Hogwarts'' style feast appeared. Harry sat down first and began to fill his plate when Hermione sat down next to him. "Hello, Harry," she said. Her face began to get pink. "I, er, was wondering if you could be, er, my study partner." For a reason he couldn''t fathom, his face began to turn pink too. "What exactly do you mean?" She looked down at the table. "Er, to do class work and homework together, to study together." "Oh, you mean like friends." "Well, yes. Almost like friends." Harry wondered why she''d say, ''Almost like friends'' as though she never had friends before. He suspected it was her obviously studious nature that classified her as a bookworm that prevented her from gaining friends. "Sorry, can''t do it," he said with a grin. "I''m¡­sorry to have bothered you," she said as she began to get up. She sounded like she was about to cry. "If you want, we can be friends, and study together as well. But I''m not good at being ''almost like friends.''" She sat back down with a huge grin that showed her buckteeth, but more importantly it showed real happiness. "Friends? Do you mean it?" He now knew he was right and she didn''t have many, if any, friends. "Of course I mean it. Look, Aunt Minnie just got me an owl. I''ll send you a letter every week until school starts. We''ll sit together on the train." She looked down. "I, er, don''t have an owl." "Then I''ll have my owl wait for your reply. I''ll introduce you to her after dinner." In her excitement, she hugged Harry for a moment and then pulled her hands back and blushed furiously. "Er, thanks," she said. "You''re welcome, Hermione." The hug didn''t go unnoticed by the others at the table. The Grangers were thrilled to see that their little girl seemed to have made a friend. They suspected she had a crush on him as well. Brianna knew she had something to harass her brother with for the rest of the summer and probably well into the school year. The boys figured that Harry was just as much of a bookworm/teacher''s pet as Hermione seemed to be ¨C probably worse since he was related to a teacher. They knew that they didn''t want to be friends with either of them. After they were done eating, Harry and Hermione snuck out of the huge room and went to his bedroom. Hermione was impressed as she looked around the mansion. "I wish I had time to show you the library," said Harry. Her eyes widened. "There''s a library here?" He chuckled. When they got to his room, Blinky was in there dusting. Hermione let out a small shriek. "It''s all right, Hermione. Blinky is a house elf. Blinky, I told you that you don''t have to clean my room for me." "Blinky is sorry, Master Harry. But Blinky is knowing you isn''t supposed to be here now." "It''s all right. I''d like you to meet my new friend, Hermione Granger." Hermione smiled at being introduced as his friend. Blinky bowed low. "It is an honor meeting your Grangy, sir." Hermione asked, "Are you their butler or something?" "I is Blinky the house elf, bound to serve the McGonagall family forever," he said proudly as he wore a fancy linen that displayed an ornate ''M'' on it. "Serve? You mean like a slave? You don''t get paid." Her face fell. "Of course Blinky isn''t being paid," he answered patiently, knowing that she was a muggle-born and didn''t understand many wizarding customs. Hermione turned to Harry. "You own a slave?" "No, I don''t own a slave. Aunt Minnie does. My family lives in America. Elves aren''t slaves there. My dad tried to talk her into freeing Blinky, but she wouldn''t hear of it." Blinky now looked terrified. "You¡­your family isn''t wanting Blinky if you is inheriting McGonagall mansion?" "Not as a slave," said Harry. "I''m sure dad wouldn''t kick you out on the street, though. But you don''t have to worry; I''m sure Aunt Minnie will be around for many years." "Y-yes sir. Blinky must go now," he said as though in a trance, "back to the kitchen to get the plates." "The kitchen?" asked Hermione. "You cooked the food we ate, didn''t you?" "Yes. Didn''t you like it?" "It was wonderful." She then turned to Harry. "You knew it was made by slave labor but ate the food anyway?" "If I refused to eat, all that would accomplish is me starving to death. I''m staying here all summer." "Oh, I see your point. But there must be something we can do." "I hope so. Aunt Minnie is nice to Blinky, but there are some masters who punish their elves." "P-punish," she said with a horrified expression. "I should say torture. They order their elves to do things like bang their heads on walls and iron their hands." Hermione''s eyes were starting to tear. "Iron their hands?" "It''s disgusting! Even Aunt Minnie is against that. Thank goodness that doesn''t happen to the elves at Hogwarts." "Wait. Hogwarts has house elves." "Probably more than any other place in Europe. You heard my aunt. ''Now I''ll show you¡­" "¡­the way meals are served at Hogwarts." She sighed. "Now I''m not sure if I¡­" "Please don''t change your mind. At least they''re not tortured there. Maybe we can do something about the house elf enslavement. If you don''t go, there won''t be anyone there who agrees with me." She smiled at her first friend. "Maybe we can make a difference. What if we form a club and give away information to students. Maybe we can call it," she paused, "The Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare." "No, people would call us spew. We need it to be something good." He paused and smiled. "What about ''Community for Advancing the Rights of Elves?'' C.A.R.E." "That''s perfect!" declared Hermione. "Maybe I can spend some of my inheritance on this," he said without thinking. "What inheritance?" she asked. He shook his head. "Oh, never mind. I, um, don''t want to talk about it." "Oh. I''m sorry. It''s none of my business if you''ve inherited from someone." "That''s fine. I do have some money I should be able to use to start it." "Maybe we can get badges and sell them to try to make more money for our literature so that you don''t have to keep funding it. I''ll also talk to my parents and see if they''ll donate any money. We''ll definitely need to stay in contact to prepare. You were going to introduce me to your owl." "Yeah." He walked up to the snowy owl that was perched in his room. "Hedwig, this is my friend Hermione." "Hello, Hedwig. You are adorable!" Hedwig hooted in agreement. "We''ll be asking you to carry letters between us this summer. Is that all right, girl?" She hooted again. Harry patted her on the head and then said, "We''d better be headed back." "I never would''ve expected my brother to sneak a girl to his room less than an hour after meeting her," said Brianna with a smirk from the doorway. Hermione''s face turned red with embarrassment while Harry''s turned pink with anger. "What are you following me for, you little snoop? I ought to hex you!" "For your information, Aunt Minnie sent me to find Hermione before the portkey left without her." "Oh yes," said Hermione recovering. "I''ve got to go. It was great to meet you! Owl me." She ran off, leaving the siblings alone. "So, my brother''s got a girlfriend." He blushed. "I do not! She''s just my friend!" "And she''s a girl." "But not girlfriend." "Do you think she''s cute?" His face was totally red now. "Ah ha! You do think your girlfriend''s cute!" She turned around and left, closing the door behind her, thus insuring that she had the last word." -HM-HM-HM- The weeks passed swiftly, with Harry and Hermione owling back and forth at least twice a week. During the first week, Hermione surprised him by sending a wallet-sized photo of herself that had been taken during the last school year. He decided that he would be expected to send her a picture as well. Unfortunately for him, Brianna walked in the room when Harry asked his parents for a picture to send Hermione. If his dad hadn''t grabbed the wand out of Harry''s pocket, he would''ve hexed her. That was when Harry decided to start carrying both of his wands. He soon got his parents to take him back to Diagon Alley (with Brianna as well), and after talking about C.A.R.E. with his parents, they agreed to let him take out money to order fifty badges and some literature. They met the Grangers at Fortesque''s ice cream right after the trip to the bank, and they went to a shop that made magical badges. The Grangers insisted that they paid for half of the C.A.R.E. badges once Harry and Hermione agreed on a simple design that only used the sticking charm. They also bought books that they believed would help them create the literature, and after Mark noticed a man with long blond hair, fancy robes, and a fancy cane kicking a house elf, he ran into a nearby shop and bought a camera. He found them again and got a few great zoomed in shots of the elf being hit with the cane and kicked as they made their way toward Knockturn Alley. One photo focused on the elf''s appearance in a filthy tea towel with bruises all over his body. One photo did include the wizard''s face. "Must be a respected member of high society," hissed Mark loathfully. "Anyway, I think one of these photos should be good for the cover of your literature. Just make sure not to show that jerk''s face or he''ll probably sue or something for defamation of his lack-of-character." -HM-HM-HM- Harry finally got to show the McGonagall library to Hermione on his birthday, when she spent most of the day at the Manor. She was simply amazed at the size of the library, and how many out-of-print books were inside. She found tomes on almost every topic, including a diary written by hand that actually described the way that some wizards started harassing a group of elves because they were small and looked funny. The elves fought back after several had been tortured to death. Only one of the wizards survived (the one who wrote the diary), and he told a different story to his fellow wizards, wherein the elves attacked them unprovoked. At the end of a long and bloody war, European elves were forced into signing a magical contract with almost every old pureblood wizarding family that their descendents would serve the wizards'' descendants forever. Fortunately some elves refused to sign it, and soon became fugitives, outcasts of society who eventually fled to the new world when it was discovered. Aunt Minnie paled when they showed her that, asking her to magically copy that for them. After that, they''d had the party, where Harry hadn''t invited anyone else but the Grangers and his own family. His dad got him two wand holsters that could attach to a belt or tie onto either an arm or leg. They''d been charmed to repel summoning spells, and were invisible to everyone but the wearer once they were properly attached. The wands could not accidentally fall out or be removed with physical force by anyone but the wearer. If it was on your wrist, the wearer could set a magic word he or she could say to have it shot into his hand (like a spring pushed the wand out of the holster). Harry was thrilled that he had such a great way to keep both of his wands with him, one on each wrist. He practiced catching his wands with either hand when shot out of the holster. Fortunately each holster let the owner set the magic words. Harry chose ''Old Wand'' for his left and ''New Wand'' for his right. However, when they started flying out of his holsters during normal conversations about his wands, he changed it to ''Old Sparks'' and ''New Sparks.'' Aunt Minnie gave him a ten pound (weightless got the attention of muggles) seven compartment trunk so that he could be better organized at school. She also gave him a weightless double-capacity book bag that she claimed came free with the trunk. Hermione really wanted one of them. The Grangers gave Harry a fancy magical stationery set complete with special quills, ink, and parchment. -HM-HM-HM- Before he knew it, Harry was at Kings Cross Station and pushing a trolley through Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. He''d managed to completely keep Minerva out of his mind for the first time the day before. His family soon joined him as he gazed in awe at the train. He still had the model of it that his aunt had given him, but there was something special about seeing the real thing. "Hello, Harry," greeted Hermione from behind him. He turned and saw the Grangers, along with several other families, including a very large group of redheads. "Hi, Hermione," he replied with a smile, "We should say goodbye to our families and get a compartment." She nodded and Harry walked to his family, hugging them each, even Brianna, in turn. "I''ll talk to you tonight in our mirrors," he whispered to his sister before kissing her on the cheek. He then looked at all three of them. "I love you." "We love you, too," said Cindy as she kissed his cheek one last time. "I''m so proud of you!" Together Harry McGonagall and Hermione Granger boarded the Hogwarts Express. -HM-HM-HM- Chapter end Chapter 2 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 2 - Delenda Est Plot: Harry is a prisoner, and Bellatrix has fallen from grace. The accidental activation of Bella''s treasured heirloom results in another chance for Harry. It also gives him the opportunity to make the acquaintance of the young and enigmatic Bellatrix Black as they change the course of history. Pairing: H-Bella DELENDA EST Prologue Lord Silvere & Claihm Solais The cell Harry sat in was small, damp, and owing to the late hour of the evening, dark. It represented the epitome of the classic dungeon, and if the situation hadn''t been so dire, Harry would have been amused that Voldemort would go for such a clich¨¦. Then again, he mused, it wasn''t exactly the Dark Lord''s style to supply his involuntary guests with any degree of comfort. His mind wandered back to how he had ended up in the miserable dungeon cell. The plan for the raid on Malfoy Manor had been flawless¡ªat least in theory. All of their reports suggested that with Death Eater activity focused on ?ssassinating government figures and hunting down the Order, defenses would be minimal, especially since Malfoy Manor wasn''t considered a vital target. Still, they had hoped to find something, anything, really, that would help them defeat Voldemort, or at least slow him down. Ultimately, they had walked right into a trap. A very elaborate, highly planned trap that reeked of one thing: treachery. Someone had betrayed the Order and relayed the details of their plans. More than a few Death Eaters had been waiting for them, and the Dark Lord himself had even made a brief appearance. Most of the strike team was dead. Harry ?ssumed that even the traitor had been killed in the ensuing firefight. He couldn''t care less. Had the traitor, whoever it was, really known what Voldemort was like, they should have seen it coming. On the other hand, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Voldemort''s nemesis, and the last best hope of the wizarding world, was too good a prize to leave for dead. No, they had taken him. It was with no small amount of pride that Harry realized it had taken a full dozen of them to take him down. Since he had graduated from Hogwarts, he had become an impressive duelist in his own right, but with the odds stacked against him as they were, he had been bested. Hence the reason that he now found himself stuck in a small cell, somewhere in one of Voldemort''s hideouts. The place certainly didn''t seem like it belonged to a Death Eater manor, though what they typically kept hidden in their basements, he didn''t know for sure. A low m??n brought his attention back to the present . . . and his current cell mate. He had no idea why Bellatrix Lestrange was in the cell with him, nor did he really care. When he had first found out he had company, his hopes had soared, until he realized just who his cell mate was with the aid of the dim light of the early morning. As she lay on the floor unconscious, he had considered killing her, but that had been precluded when other Death Eaters had f?r??b?? dragged her out of the cell. He didn''t know what she had done, or why Voldemort was torturing her, and honestly, he couldn''t care less, after the sort of things she''d done¡ªbut her screams could be heard even down into his cell, sometimes deep into the night. It was disturbing to say the least, and caused him to wonder what she had done to warrant such treatment by her own allies. The cell door creaked open. Why was it that most doors in the wizarding world creaked? Harry wondered absently, finding it odd that he would think of that sort of thing while in this predicament. The Death Eaters dumped Bellatrix''s body back into the cell unceremoniously. When she didn''t move for a few minutes, morbid curiosity got the better of Harry. With baited breath, Harry inched his way over to where he guessed she was lying, hesitant to actually touch her. When he got close enough, he could hear her breathing. He let out a sigh, whether it was of relief of anticipation, he didn''t know. He didn''t know why he was so anxious to know that she was alive; he had tried his level best to kill her the few times they had met. Maybe it was just the fact that misery loved company. As evil as she was, she was right now even more miserable than he was. At any rate, he felt absurdly glad she was still alive, though he couldn''t fathom why. He didn''t know if he was going stir crazy, or if the isolation was getting to him, but somehow he felt the need to talk, about anything. The weather. Her thoughts on Fudge as a minister. The color of Voldemort''s underpants. Breaking the ice would be the hard part though. He said the first thing that came to mind. "So, what''s a girl like you doing in a place like this?" As soon as the words had left Harry''s mouth, he felt like slapping himself. That had to be the most inappropriately used line of the decade, scratch that, of the century. It wasn''t even meant as a come-on, simply as a query as to why she, one of Voldemort''s most loyal, most brutal followers, was in a cell with the Boy-Who-Lived, and, from the sounds of it, being tortured. She couldn''t like being treated like this, could she? He had heard about people liking their relationships a little rough, but he couldn''t imagine even she was that twisted. He didn''t really expect her to reply, either because of who he was, or because she couldn''t, so her low chuckle caught him by surprise. "What''s it to you, Potter?" Harry leaned back against the wall. From the way her breathing sounded, raspy, heavy, and forced, she was having trouble getting air into her lungs. Talking must be rather painful, he surmised. "Just wondering how one of Voldemort''s best landed herself in here with me. Did you win the grand prize at the Death Eater lottery for a weekend with the charming Harry P.?" She laughed. It was a sound that was rather frightening coming from her parched throat. "I screwed up, Potter. That''s why I''m here. I''d think you of all people knew what the dark lord is like." "Yeah, I know that dark idiot." Harry smirked, though she couldn''t see it in the darkness. "Which is why I''m surprised you''re still alive." Bellatrix coughed again. "How so?" "Well, I reckoned Voldemort was pretty quick to dispose of failures . . . permanently. Apparently, the old chap is getting soft in his old age." The broken woman laughed again, tapering off into a wracking cough. "He''s anything but soft, Potter. Failures are never cheap with the Dark Lord. Betrayal . . . you will actually live to regret it." It was Harry''s turn to arch a curious eyebrow. Not that it mattered in the darkness; the gesture was lost on the dark witch. "You, betray Voldemort? That I find hard to believe." "Believe it, Potter. Now, why would you even care? The last time I saw you, you were hurling killing curses at me, over in Diagon Alley." Harry remembered the battle. It had been a few months back, before major population centers had fallen under Voldemort''s control. Diagon Alley had come under attack, and the Order had responded. Harry had been there. That battle had been where they lost Fred and Neville. Neville''s loss had been especially hard on them all, since the boy had taken a curse meant for Harry. At the time, the Boy-Who-Lived had been too wrapped up in his duel with Bellatrix, ignoring the din of combat all around him. "Just curious what landed you of all people in here," he said. "Ah." The single syllable was laden with sarcasm, something that she, in her condition, shouldn''t even have been capable of producing. "Come to watch the wicked witch die, eh?" "Don''t flatter yourself," Harry snorted in disdain. "I''m not exactly here by choice." "I could tell," she shot back in the same tone. "I mean, the chains were kind of a giveaway." "What''s with the sane act today, Lestrange? Insanity and baby Bella not doing too well on the wrong end of the torture room? Or maybe," Harry gasped dramatically, "maybe Voldemort tortured you back into sanity!" "What are you driveling about, Potter?" Harry shrugged. "Hey, if you can torture someone into insanity, it figures you''d be able to torture them out again, right? Sort of like knocking you on the head will give you amnesia, and another knock on the noggin gives you back your memory." Bellatrix chortled. Was that a chortle? It certainly sounded like one. Or maybe she was just choking on her own blood. Harry liked to think it was the latter, rather than believe the crazed witch was capable of humor. "Are you certain I''m the insane one, Potter?" she commented. "Quite," Harry replied dryly. "Especially since I don''t enjoy torture, unlike someone else in this room that shall remain nameless." If he could see her, he was certain her look would have frozen him solid. "Do I look like I enjoy this, Potter?" He shrugged again, more for his own benefit than hers. "I can''t tell. You usually look insane to me, so you''ll forgive me if I can''t tell the difference." "Potter . . ." Bellatrix growled. "That''s my name, don''t wear it out." "I''ll kill you!" "Get in line. I think Voldemort wants first crack at it, so you''ll have to get past him to do it. And speaking of going up against dark lords, your record with that isn''t doing too hot now, is it?" Bellatrix was quiet for a minute, and Harry wondered if she had died, when a gargling sound rose from her body. In the dim light, he could b?r?ly tell that she was shaking, even as the sound grew louder, until he realized, to his shock, that she was laughing. "If you were as quick with your wand as you are with your tongue, Potter," she managed, "the Dark ord would be dead a dozen times over!" "Strange, and here I thought they kept me around for my charming personality and winning looks." "Your father you are not." "Odd, I''m usually told the opposite." There was no response from Bellatrix. Harry was starved for conversation, so he pressed on. "So, you betrayed Mr. Dark and Ugly. What exactly did you do?" "Nothing that concerns you," Bellatrix growled. "Okay," Harry shrugged. "Suit yourself." There was a brief pause before he spoke up again. "But, y''know, I thought in order to be able to betray someone you''d need to be able to think first, so I''d reckon that rules you out, right?" "Potter?" "Yes?" "Shut up." Harry made several further attempts at conversation, but Bellatrix did not respond. Owing to the lack of light in the cell, he was unable to tell whether she was asleep, unconscious, or simply ignoring him. He decided that he may as well wait until morning. At least he would have a little more light to see and gauge her by. It was a long night for Harry. There was no mattress or furniture of any kind, the floor was hard, and he was in chains. Consequently, he was unable to sleep for more than a half hour or so at a time without getting cramped and waking up. To the best of Harry''s knowledge, Bellatrix didn''t even shift or turn over. He began to wonder if she had died, or maybe if she was just used to sleeping in such conditions. The thought sent a shudder down his back. Sunrise eventually came and revealed to Harry that Bellatrix was awake, though unresponsive. "Good morning," Harry said brightly. "Y''don''t suppose they''ll serve us breakfast in bed?" Bellatrix''s eyes shifted to look at Harry; however, her only response was a sigh. Harry smirked. "Because, you know, considering how much I''m paying for this place, breakfast is the least I''d expect. Not to mention a decent cup of coffee. Maybe a morning paper, too." When she still didn''t reply, he shrugged and leaned back, the chains on his wrists clinking together. "You know, I''m trying to be nice here. I could try and kill you . . . " "Why don''t you, then? You hate my guts. I hate yours. If I could move myself off this bloody spot on the ground, I''d be at your throat, Potter." "No point." Harry shrugged again. "We''re stuck in this. Killing you isn''t going to get me out of here. As much as you''d like to believe, you''re not important enough to me that I''d place killing you over escaping." "And here I thought killing me was your life''s work," she muttered sarcastically. "You clearly missed your calling," Harry replied evenly. "You should''ve been a comedian." "That''s your job, Potter." "Maybe." Harry glanced from her to the barred door. "What''s percolating in that tiny head of yours, Potter?" "Since when do you use big words?" "I use them all the time, just not when you''re around. Wouldn''t want to overload that pea-sized brain of yours." "This pea-sized brain of mine has done something no one else has, you know," Harry smirked. "What''s that? Being stupider than anyone else on the planet?" "Pissing Voldemort off royally." "You know, regular people call that idiocy." "I call it fighting for freedom." Bellatrix snorted disdainfully. "A fight you''re losing, Potter. Face it, you suck at this." "No," Harry replied, his eyes hardening. "The wizarding world is losing this war. They''re the ones cowering behind a few, tossing their loyalties behind whoever seems to be winning for the moment." "And you still fight for these morons?" "I fight for myself. Voldemort is after me, so I fight back." "The war''s over, you know." "What''re you talking about?" Bellatrix sighed and took a few moments to answer. For a while, it seemed as if she wouldn''t answer him at all when she finally spoke. "The Order of the Phoenix is gone. The Ministry is shattered, the Aurors disbanded. You lost. Once the Dark Lord finds the last couple of survivors, he''ll come back to finish you. He''s hunting them right now and it''s only a matter of time before he finds them. When he returns, we''re both dead." Harry froze in disbelief. Part of him screamed that she was lying, that the Order couldn''t have been destroyed in such a short time. It was impossible, there were so many of them left when he had been captured, they were too secure, too spread out, for Voldemort''s forces to break them up. Unless . . . a sickening realization hit Harry like a physical blow. Unless the traitor had provided Voldemort with more than just information about the raid on Malfoy Manor. He briefly entertained the thought that she might be lying, but discarded that quickly. In here, in their situation, she had no reason to lie to him. He sunk down into himself, slumping into his corner of the cell in defeat. He opened his mouth to refute her claims, but found himself unable to utter a sound. The war was over. The Order was gone. He was going to die. Those three phrases repeated themselves over and over in his mind. He was lost in his thoughts for the rest of the morning. Eventually, his days fell into a sort of sick routine. Every afternoon or evening ¨Che found it hard to tell exactly how late it was ¨C a group of Death Eaters would come down, drag her up for torture, and return her late at night. From what little he could glean from their taunts directed at him, he could tell Bellatrix had been correct. The war was over. Voldemort was off somewhere, hunting down the remnants of the Order. After the cycle had repeated itself for a few days, Harry discovered something interesting. Whenever Bellatrix returned from being tortured, if she was still conscious, she would be relatively sane, giving as good as she got in their verbal duels. He even came to enjoy their conversations a little, as much as two people who were practically dead could bond. However, when morning came, she always was more subdued, and rarely spoke. It marked a sharp contrast that made him wonder. He had heard a few things about her, about what she had been like in her younger years. Sharp tongue and quick wand, Flitwick had told him once¡ªthat was what she''d been like in her youth. It made him wonder how she''d become a Death Eater when her sister hadn''t. Was she just that twisted? Had she always enjoyed torturing other people? It was a morbid curiosity, but it beat sitting around and waiting to die. After a few days, it was the only thing to occupy him, after he had resigned himself that he would not be breaking out without help. He attempted to ask her about it several times, both at night and in the mornings. She never answered those questions. Their familiar routine ended one day. How long it had been, he found it hard to tell, but ?ssuming that the food and water ¨C a bowl of stale liquid he ?ssumed was water, anyway, and a piece of mouldy, crusty bread that hardly qualified as food ¨C came once a day, it must have been at least a week since his capture. The Death Eaters came and took Bellatrix early in the morning. They didn''t return her until very early the next morning. The moment they dumped her body back into the cell, Harry could tell something was wrong. She didn''t move. Harry moved over and gingerly rolled her onto her back. Her violet eyes were vacant, and her breaths were coming short and pained. She coughed a few times, and when she did, her hand came away slick with her blood. Unsure of what to do, he gently propped her up against the wall until she was sitting up. It took a few minutes until her ragged breathing calmed somewhat. "Potter . . . that you?" "I''m here." "Turn around." "What?" "Turn around." Harry didn''t quite know what to make of that request, but did as she had asked of him. There was the sound of tearing fabric. When she stopped rustling, he turned back to face her. She was in the process of bu??oning up what was left of her blouse, but what caught his eye was the object in her left hand that hadn''t been there before. It was an exquisitely carved hairpin four inches long, cut from a shimmering black crystal. The tip looked razor sharp and glinted in the dim light in the cell; it widened at the top to accommodate a teardrop-shaped piece of black onyx, from which dangled a small chandelier of crystals that were equally as black as the rest of the ornament. He blinked in surprise; this wasn''t something he''d expected her to carry around with her. Bellatrix finished with her blouse, leaving the top bu??ons undone as her fingers failed to respond the way she wanted, and let her hands drop into her ??p. She stared down at the piece of jewelry in her hands, her expression vacant. Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, she slowly turned her head and extended her hand, offering the pin to Harry. "I''m not exactly one for baubles, Bella," he commented dryly. "For once in your life, Potter, stop being a smartass and shut up." The words lacked her usual venom and force. "All right, but I don''t exactly see why you''re giving me a piece of jewelry. Or giving me anything at all, for that matter." "It''s a Black family heirloom," she replied slowly. "When I was young, I found it in the family vault. It''s supposed to be cursed. Or powerful. No one was quite sure, and its real purpose was lost in legend." "Seems like its real purpose is to hold up hair to me," Harry replied. "I told you to shut up and listen, Potter." Bellatrix slid down the wall as another set of coughs wracked her body, splattering blood across the front of her tunic. "When I was . . . young, and foolish, I thought I could use it against the Dark Lord, once." "Why in Merlin''s name didn''t you pull out the damn thing sooner!" "I never figured out what it did, you idiot!" Bella hissed. It was as close to a shout as she could manage, in her condition. "Now shut up and listen. This is the last time I''m warning you, Potter. The Dark Lord is on his way back. The Order has been eradicated. Tonight, he will return, and we will both die. That''s why they took me for an entire day ¨C it was their last chance to play with me. Take it." He gingerly closed his hand around the wide end of the hairpin, noticing how cold the crystal felt in his palm. "And now? Something supposed to happen?" "Now you take it and kill me." "What! Are you crazy? No wait, I take that back, I know you''re crazy, but I didn''t think you were this crazy!" She fixed him with an even stare. "We''ll both be tortured until we go insane, like the Longbottoms. Then we''ll be healed, only to be tortured again. I don''t know about you, but I''d rather die now." "You don''t sound like Bellatrix Lestrange." "Bellatrix Lestrange is dead. She died a long time ago. Call it justice, call it mercy, call it vengeance, I don''t care. Just put me out of my misery. If you want, you''re free to follow, or you can take your chances with the Dark Lord." Harry held up the hair pin as if it was a dagger and stared at it. He would have given anything for this chance a few days ago, but now it seemed . . . wrong. Logically, he knew that they were both dead the moment Voldemort returned, and what she was asking him was a reasonable out. For both of them. But a part of him couldn''t reconcile suicide with the will to live, the strength to fight, that had carried him through his earlier years of the war. Bellatrix saw the hesitation in his eyes, but she was decided. As far as she was concerned, it was time to die. She lunged toward Harry, grabbed his arm with the hand holding the hair pin and wrenched it toward herself. The hair pin sunk into her ?h?st and pierced her heart. It was the only possible place that it could have gone that would produce the quantity of blood that poured from the wound. After a second the shock of her actions wore off, and Harry gasped and jumped back, watching as she sunk to the floor, dying with the hair pin in her ?h?st. "I guess . . . I kind of just went with the flow," she whispered softly. "What?" "Your question . . . why I served Voldemort." Bellatrix smiled, really smiled for the first time since he''d known her, her face, though carved with pain, showed a serenity he hadn''t expected, and her eyes shone with peace and relief. She sighed and stopped breathing. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were covered with her blood. Harry began to feel dizzy and sunk to the floor on his knees, settling down next to her. It seemed as if he could hear the footsteps of his captors coming toward the cell, but the sounds seemed so far away and indistinct. The room began spinning and Harry closed his eyes. A chill passed through his body, and in that instant, the illness passed. Harry was afraid that standing would cause the dizziness to return; so, he blindly stood and backed toward the wall, planning to use it to support himself. Oddly, the wall seemed a little more distant than he had estimated. After a moment to catch his breath, Harry opened his eyes. To his shock, a teenage version of Bellatrix was standing in front of him. She was easy enough to recognize with her jet-black hair, piercing violet eyes, and arrogant demeanor. She couldn''t have been more than eighteen years old. Her robes were pristine, her face was clean and undamaged, and she had a wand¡ªpointed at Harry''s heart. "Who are you, and how did you get here?" she demanded with a voice laced with anger and fear. Chapter end Chapter 3 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 3 - Amalgum – Lockharts Folly Plot: Death wants free of its Master and proposes sending Harry back in time to avoid the unnecessary deaths in fighting Voldemort. Harry readily accepts, thinking he''ll start anew as a Firstie. Instead, Harry''s soul, magic, and memories end up at the beginning of Second Year ¡ª in GILDEROY LOCKHART! Pairing: H-Fleur Amalgum ¨C Lockhart''s Folly Death wants free of its Master and proposes sending Harry back in time to avoid the unnecessary deaths in fighting Voldemort. Harry readily accepts, thinking he''ll start anew as a Firstie. Instead, Harry''s soul, magic, and memories end up at the beginning of Second Year ¡ª in GILDEROY LOCKHART! This produces a new person altogether: a person with the memories, loyalty, and strengths of Harry Potter, and the ostentatious, flamboyant, publicity-hound tendencies of the fraud known as Lockhart. An "Amalgum." This story comes from the abandoned "Amalgum" by (10,700 words) who has graciously released the story to anyone who likes the idea and wants to finish it. I''ve noticed very little fanfiction using Lockhart as the hero and I thought his premise had much merit. I have considerably expanded and reorganized my version. Like all fanfiction, I post this work at Fanfiction Net with the kind forbearance of the owners of the Harry Potter fiction franchise, J.K. Rowling, and her publishers. I claim nothing of note, as removing all references to her Harry Potter universe would render my story nonsensical. Not to mention unreadable. A high quality version of the cover photo is available from Magical Three HQ Gallery. (Yes, I know that the correct term is amalgam, not amalgum, when referring to a mixture or blend to two dis-similar materials. However, Amalgum was the original spelling used by and so I continued to use it.) (¡Ñ_¡Ñ) Author''s Note: J.K.R. set the exchange rate for galleons to pounds at 1:5. In 1992/3 the average British citizen earned ¡ê10,000 pounds a year, a person considered in the elite top 1% earned ¡ê46,000. Because the Wizards have nearly the same economy that means the average Wizard earned 2,000 galleons a year. With an estimated population of 100,000 the gross economy of Wizarding Britain is 168 million galleons. This places an upper limit on wealth for the richest Wizards. There are no billionaires, and bloody few millionaires. (For comparison, the first multimillionaire in the U.S. was John Jacob Astor, at $20 million net worth when he died 1848. The US economy at the time was $1.5 billion. Reducing both by one zero makes a fair approximation for Wizarding Britain, thus 2 million galleons is a reasonable "richest person" limit ¨C I would have used a British example, but all the Google hits were for game show winners). Also, net worth includes not only money in a bank, but properties, residences, items, and businesses owned. Typically, most individuals have a ratio of 60-70% of their net worth in "fixed ?ssets," that is, property, equipment, inventory, and buildings. Thus, our galleon millionaire, for every million galleons, would have only 300-400 thousand in actual free galleons, sickles and knuts. This is the money left in the bank each month after adding all monthly income and paying all monthly bills ¡ª a positive number after calculating the income-minus-outgo means the wealth is growing, a negative number means you''re spending your principle. There is also the convention that in most of the U.K., what the Americans call lunch and dinner, respectively, are called dinner and tea (supper). . (¡ò_¡ò) Chapter 1. Dining Hall Disaster Professor McGonagall led the new Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry students, the Firsties, from the East Hall into the Great Hall where waited the rest of the student body. It was time to sort the new students into one of the school''s four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. One-by-one the new students'' names were called. One-by-one each student sat on the sorting stool and put on the Sorting Hat. One-by-one the Sorting Hat placed each student in the dormitory that would be their home for the next seven years, accompanied by the applause and cheers of their new family. They were midway through the sorting when the Headmaster startled, jerking his head up in surprise and shooting a look at Potions Master Severus Snape. Professor Lockhart, the newest addition to the staff, had been waiting for just such a sign. His alert charm on the Whomping Willow would have sufficed, but seeing the Castle''s protective enchantments alert the Headmaster as soon as the boys crossed them gave him a few moments more warning. It was show time! He jumped up onto the teachers table just as his alert charm arrived. He pulled something out of his pocket. It rapidly expanded and the shocked students saw it was a new Nimbus 2001. To their amazement, he climbed on it and shot out over the heads of awestruck students and out the open Great Hall doors seconds later. Shocked silence filled the hall. A lone voice from the Gryffindor table broke the silence. "Well, usually, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor . . . ," said one redheaded student, either Fred or George, but definitely a Weasley. ". . . takes an entire year . . . ," said the other one. ". . . to rush out of the castle." "This one didn''t even . . . ," ". . . make it to the Feast!" The Wizards laughed aloud at the comment as the Witches shrieked in horror. It took two minutes for the commotion to die down, and that was only when the Headmaster made a loud bang with his wand. After conferring briefly with the Headmaster, the Potions Professor, Severus Snape, headed for the Professor''s Entrance at the side of the Headmaster''s Table. The stern Depute Headmistress and Transfiguration Professor, Minerva McGonagall, said, "I think there is a proper explanation for this . . . ." But before she could continue, the missing D.A.D.A. professor walked back into the dining hall with his hands on the shoulders of two students covered in tree debris. He cleaned their robes with a simple spell and almost everyone could identify them as the legendary Boy-Who-Lived and the loud-mouthed sixth Weasley, Ronald. He casually asked them, his voice clear and loud in the silent hall, "Now that we are nice and safe, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley," removing all doubt as to the identity of the two students trying to sink into the floor in shame, "would you like to eat something?" He smiled, showing his sparkling pearly white teeth to great effect on the females in the room. "I am not hungry, sir," the Boy-Who-Lived replied. Showing a great amount of restraint for his bottomless stomach even as it growled in protest, Ron nodded in agreement with his best friend. "That''s excellent. Now that the pleasantries are finished, ahem," the professor cleared his voice, and then his face turned red as he shouted, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN''S BEARD ARE TWO STUDENTS DOING ON THE TOP OF THE WHOMPING WILLOW IN A MUGGLE CAR?" The professors had been waiting uneasily for the aforementioned two students since the other students'' arrival half-an-hour previously. It was only when the two had not appeared with their best friend in the Great Hall with the other students that they understood something was amiss. Now they gaped at the professor and his two charges in horror. Hermione Granger had been nearly sobbing after finding her two best friends still missing from the Great Hall when the Sorting started. Based on her expression now, though, she clearly didn''t know whether to be relieved or horrified at their entrance. She seemed to be leaning towards horrified anger. Professor Snape grimaced and held up the evening version of The Daily Prophet, which clearly showed a flying car over Kings Cross Station. Ron gulped at that and took a step back. Lockhart quickly caught him by his shoulder, yanked him back into place, and shouted again, "WHEN I ASK A QUESTION, IT MEANS I NEED AN ANSWER. SPEAK UP!" When both students found the floor of the Great Hall very interesting, Lockhart asked the nearby Prefect, Percy Weasley, "To which House do these two idiots belong?" "Gryffindor, sir," was the prompt, albeit reluctant, response. "Then a hundred points from Gryffindor for skipping the Sorting Feast ¡ª and disrespecting the new students, the staff, and your fellow students ¡ª and venturing into the forest at this hour, EACH. And a week''s detention, EACH." The whole hall gawked at them in wonder. The Gryffindor House students were eyeing them murderously for losing two hundred points before the year even began, planting the House firmly in the negative. Many of the Slytherin House students were cackling in glee, or grinning broadly at the very least. "We never ventured out, sir" the black-haired boy replied, tremulously, "We were just coming back to school." He swallowed. "We missed the Hogwarts Express." "In that case, Mr. Potter, kindly fill us with your fantastic tale of coming back to school," the D.A.D.A. Professor snapped. "Does it include riding hippogriffs, out-flying dragons, besting Trolls, rescuing a fair maiden, and battling an evil Wizard at great risk to your own life?" The Half-blood and Pure-blood students laughed at the blatant references to the Boy-Who-Lived''s children books. The last three, though, got a sharp look from Harry and a bushy-haired Witch at the Gryffindor table, Hermione Granger. Ron was too busy staring miserably at the floor to notice what was said in particular. Blushing furiously, Harry started, "I don''t mean any disrespect sir, but . . . ." The Potions Professor at the front of the Hall cut him off, "You two dunderheads have breached the Statute of Secrecy by magically flying a car in front of muggles." "Ah, very well. In that case, Mr. Potter, please come with me to the Headmaster''s Table and explain your little act of mischief before the entire hall," said Gilderoy. "I''m sure the students will learn a very important lesson from that as we get this sorted." Lockhart pushed the two students towards the front of the hall. Both boys were horrified at that, but, within a moment, Harry Potter screwed up his courage and walked slowly towards the Headmaster''s Table while a horror-stricken Ron stood rooted in place. Harry stopped in front of his Head of House and began. "I am extremely sorry ma''am but if you are willing to listen, I wish to explain," Professor McGonagall. The Slytherins hooted in delighted amusement at his humiliation. When the stern Professor nodded silently, lips pressed tightly together, he continued, "We were already running late at Kings Cross Station and we could not cross the magical barrier there. We panicked and took Mr. Weasley''s car hoping to catch the Hogwarts Express and get here on time. But the car went lopsided when we reached here and landed on the Whomping Willow." "You say you could not cross the barrier, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, "Could you elaborate?" He did. "You could have waited outside the barrier for some parent or staff to come back and sought their help," Lockhart said when the black-haired Wizard finished. He had followed the boy, dragging the other behind with a firm and painful grip on his arm. "You could have waited for Mr. Weasley to return, I''m sure he hadn''t planned on staying at the train station all day. Or you could have owled your predicament to your Head of the House with your familiar, Hedwig, whom I see you had with you in the car. "But no, that would have been smart. That would have been using you head for something other than a Bludger target. Instead, you stole Mr. Weasley''s car. Instead, you flew straight ahead to Hogwarts, which by your elaborate and detailed tale you didn''t know the way to. You could have killed yourselves or put someone in grave jeopardy. You understand that, boy?" This struck a nerve in Harry. The emotions the new D.A.D.A. professor brought up by sounding exactly like his Uncle Vernon, right down to that detestable tone, were devastating And, by his expression, Gilderoy let the boy know he knew just how devastating his tone had been. "Not to mention breaking the Statute of Secrecy and wasting hours of Ministry time as the Obliviators try to correct your dunderheaded error, boy." Professor Snape appeared startled, and then pleased, at the use of his favourite epitaph. "I understand that now, sir," Harry said, visibly controlling his anger. "I am very sorry for any disturbance I, we, may have created. I also apologize for causing you, or anyone else, any trouble over this. I''m sorry, sir. Very sorry. I shan''t do it again." "I say what you did was very foolish of you, boy," Lockhart continued in the same grating "Uncle Vernon" tone. The blonde-haired professor struggled to keep his face stern. It was clear from Harry''s expression that no matter how angry he got and no matter how much he wished to punch straight through Lockhart''s face, he was going to hold his temper and behave as he behaved with his uncle. He had unfortunately learned that lesson early in his childhood. "Then, yes sir, I am very foolish. I''m sorry, sir, I will try to do better. I am willing to take any punishment for my foolish act," he replied. The professor smiled at hearing this. He beamed at the boy and looked up across the many students in the Great Hall. He said, "All learning begins when one accepts one is foolish. Especially as a child. It requires a good amount of thought and understanding of oneself to accept that. And for this understanding, you receive ten points. Given that you have no proper background in magical ways and yet you are quick to realize you''re wrong and promptly apologized appropriately, I award ten more points. Approaching staff and teachers without any prevaricating or complaint when required in a situation such as this is also a good trait. For that, you receive ten more points. It takes a good amount of courage to admit one''s wrongdoing in front of a gathering of your peers despite the fear of them mocking you for doing what is right, ten more points. For excellent presence of mind while on the Whomping Willow, I award you ten more. In addition, I reduce the original one-hundred point penalty to fifty," Lockhart finished, leaving everybody awestruck. The smarter students had worked out that that meant Harry Potter had cost his House no points at all! Smiles were breaking out across the Gryffindor table. Neither the students nor the teachers knew what was happening. Dumbledore usually took or awarded points for such misdeeds or accomplishments when in the Great Hall. This new professor not only had taken two hundred points, but also readily awarded fifty. Before the mass of students and professors could recover, Ron indignantly cried out, "Hey, I drove the car. Shouldn''t I be awarded some points?" With a smirk, Lockhart turned to the boy. "I don''t ?ssume you have a valid Muggle Driver''s License, do you?" At the boy''s blank look, he continued, "And yet you had the audacity to take one of your father''s projects, misuse it badly, and put another student''s life in hazard while breaking numerous laws which you, as a Pureblood, should be well aware of! "And I had to drag you to the Headmaster''s Table where you still haven''t apologized for your irresponsible and poorly planned conduct. The original one-hundred points stand, your detention starts Monday next." And, conveniently, the night after Harry finished his last detention. Keeping the boys separated and preventing Ron from holding Harry back intellectually, romantically, and socially, was one of Lockhart''s goals. "And for both of you, your parents will be notified." Ron stared at him, face white in shock and appalled that his ploy for points had backfired. Before he could say anything, though, Gilderoy turned him sideways and gave him a slight nudge towards the Gryffindor table. He caught the eye of the nearby sixth year, Percy, who had followed them up to the Headmaster''s Table, "Here, take this fool and try to keep him out of trouble for the rest of the evening." Lockhart turned back to Harry and nodded his head towards Hermione, "Go sit with your friend," he said softly, giving the boy his best ''I understand and forgive you, I know you didn''t do it on purpose,'' smile. "I think she was worried about you," he added in an undertone only Harry could hear. The hall watched in silence as Ron''s older brother escorted the sullen boy to a spot at the Gryffindor Table while a relieved Harry quickly headed over to his anxious female friend. "Now that our new Defence Against Dark Arts professor, Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart, has completed the task of awarding and removing points . . . ," Dumbledore announced, eyes twinkling. At the confirmation of their suspicions about the Wizard''s presence at the school ¡ª the Weasley twins had been guessing ¡ª the female students in Hogwarts'' Great Hall sighed loudly. The male students, not nearly as happy, ?r??n?d ¡ª indeed, many showed faces of disgust. Professor Lockhart was wearing elegant robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard''s hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy blonde hair; and he was smiling broadly to show off all his flawless teeth. He looked good and he knew it! He waved cheerfully to his adoring fans as he returned to his seat at the Headmaster''s Table. Deep sighs from the females in the room, and their admiring looks, seemed to make his smile shine even brighter. The handsome Wizard took a moment to soak in the attention, not noticing, or not deigning to notice, the dark looks the males in his audience were shooting his way. His easy manner with the Witches filled them with jealousy and suspicion ¡ª no one could be as good as that Wizard seemed to be. And watching as their girlfriends fawned over the Wizard merely flamed the fires their resentment and envy. Dumbledore continued, ". . . I think we should finish the Sorting" Both the Headmaster and Professor Snape spent the time studying Gilderoy while he laughed and flirted with Professors Sprout, McGonagall, and Sinistra. Professor Trelawney looked jealous that her seat was too far from the man to engage him in conversation. Dumbledore was dumbfounded. This Wizard was not the fraud he had requested teach the students this year. The Headmaster had intended to expose the Wizard this year as the charlatan he was to the world. On the other hand, maybe this was just a fluke. If it weren''t impossible, he would have said that Lockhart knew the two young Wizards were going to crash into that tree and had been prepared all along to rescue them. And how had he known when they had crashed? He couldn''t have felt the protective enchantments react to their presence; the Castle''s protective enchantments only reported intrusions to the Headmaster. It was a mystery, and the Headmaster disliked mysteries. (¡Ñ_¡Ñ) Gilderoy, smiling his trademark smile ¡ª and yes, it really was trademarked . . . and insured ¡ª sat leaning against his desk as the Second Years walked in. Harry was sulking at his desk, trying to hide behind a tower of Lockhart the Fraud''s books. It was much harder being here in the past than he had thought. Lockhart used that smile and smarmy exterior to hide the pain he felt seeing his friends alive again. He wanted to grab them and hug them, to tell them that they weren''t going to die this time. To rejoice that they were alive, unscarred, and just so young. Watching Neville walk into the classroom so hesitantly, knowing that he had died saving the lives of a Muggle-born''s family while taking half-a-dozen Death Eaters with him, was heartbreaking. He felt tears gathering at the edges of his eyes seeing them all, even the Slytherins. He wasn''t sure how he would have handled this as a twelve-year-old again. He coped by retreating and letting Gilderoy control things. Gilderoy didn''t know these students. Gilderoy had a happy childhood. Gilderoy did not have repeating nightmares watching his friends die horrific deaths in battles with vicious Dark Wizards. When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom''s copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front. "Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly''s Most-Charming-Smile Award ¡ª but I don''t talk about that. I didn''t get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!" He waited for them to laugh; a few smiled weakly. The Witches mostly sighed. "I want everyone''s undivided attention in this class as I present you with the preeminent opportunity to learn Defence Against Dark Arts, a field in which I am uniquely qualified." If they only knew just how unique his qualifications truly were! He beamed at the class cheerfully, "Based on what other classes mentioned about your previous Professors I worry you might be extremely misinformed. Worry not my dear young fellows, because I have accepted the task of teaching you something that you are seriously lacking and believe me, I am usually successful in my ventures. To that end, we''re starting the class with a simple test to see just what you know." The class ?r??n?d. "Nothing that complicated, twenty questions, just a simple ?ssessment of what you know. It will not count against you, I ?ssure you! Don''t even put your names down. I want your honest answers, no cheating! Cheating hurts you, not me. Answer as quickly as you can, skip any you are not positive of and return to them after doing the rest. You have five minutes." He waved his wand and parchments appeared on their desks. Still groaning, most of the class started at once. After ten minutes, he said, "Times up," and waved his wand. The parchments flew to his desk, some with long ink lines on them as their owners had failed to lift their quills fast enough. "Pull out your copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2." "Start reading chapter one. If you don''t have your copy with you, share with someone else. No talking." He spent a few minutes flipping through the tests. He sighed deeply, had it really been that bad? No wonder they fell in battle like wheat before a thresher. "Times up!" he called. "Who finished the chapter?" Naturally, Hermione raised her hand, as did Harry and Ron. Gilderoy knew the girl had read the entire book, twice, before she even arrived at Hogwarts, and had browbeat the two boys into reading the book as well. But they had lied to her, and had b?r?ly read halfway through. But they were still far ahead of most of the class. "Who finished and understood the first page?" Everyone raised their hands. "Second Page?" Several hands fell. He sighed. "Third page?" Most hands fell. "Anyone besides Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley finish the fourth page?" Nobody raised a hand. His smile faltered. "Right." He sighed. "Homework! Owl home and have your parents send you your copy of last year''s The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. Read the complete book before our next class next Wednesday!" The entire class gasped, and then ?r??n?d. Hermione looked ecstatic. "There are only a few copies in the Library, so SHARE! It''s called TEAMWORK! Get used to it! If you don''t, you will fail. And what you learned last year is the basis for everything you learn from this day forward!" He gave them a moment for that to sink in, and then he smiled brightly. "Magic is all about intent! If you hold up your wand and say lumos," he demonstrated, holding up his wand, the tip of his wand b?r?ly glowing, "your wand lights up." He pointed at his upheld wand with his other hand. Then he frowned at the b?r?ly glowing tip. "Not very bright is it? Well, perhaps if I thought about needing a bright light I might get a better result." He held up his wand and said, loudly and firmly, "LUMOS!" A blinding bright light filled the classroom; the students yelped and held their hands in front their faces. "Perhaps that was a bit too much, eh? Nox!" The light disappeared. "Whether Dark or Light, it is your intent that drives your magic! I could point to any one of you," he pointed at Hermione with his wand, "And say Avada Kadavra," a pale green light burst from his wand and hit Hermione in the ?h?st. The class screamed in horror. He shielded himself from several spells cast his way ¡ª two were from Harry. Hermione stared at Gilderoy, down at herself, then back at her professor. "Stand, please, Miss Granger!" he said dodging another set of spells. Hermione, almost in shock, rose to her feet. The clamour in the classroom slowly died down as they realized Hermione wasn''t dead. Into the silence, Harry/Gilderoy said. "I could cast that spell all day at Miss Granger and she would walk away unharmed. Why? Because I DO NOT WANT TO HURT HER!" He would sooner cut his own throat than deliberately harm her. He directed his next comment to her, "Miss Granger, what did that feel like?" She stared at him for a moment, and then hesitantly said, "It tingled a bit, kind of like pins and needles, you know like when your arm falls asleep because you leaned on it for too long at an awkward angle." He put his hands on his h?ps and beamed at the class. "INTENT! The most powerful healing spell will fizzle if you don''t want it to work! The most deadly Dark spell will fail if you don''t mean it!" "The difference between Light and Dark spells is all about intent, as well." He started pacing, his robes swirling dramatically. "Dark spells are usually designed to hurt people. They can be used to help people ¡ª such as reducto being used in demolition work or diffindo being used in forestry to cut down trees ¡ª but their primary purpose is to harm people." He looked out at the students. "You will hear people claim that the Unforgivables were originally designed to help people. The AK, for example, as a painless way to ease a patient in agony from a cureless disease or fatal wound ¡ª but if your intent is to help a patient, why does the AK require a Healer to hate the patient? And it takes a great deal of power to execute it, as well. "Light spells are designed to help people. They can also harm them. Such as Wingardium Leviosa ¡ª Harmless, right? What if I use it to lift you a thousand feet in the air, and then drop you? That will kill you as surely as a reducto. Aguamenti is harmless, right? If I shove my wand in your mouth and cast it, you''ll drown in seconds as your lungs fill with water. You''re just as dead as if I hit you with an Avada Kadavra." The students were looking properly horrified. "I am a great Wizard for the Light, as you can see merely by reading my books. I''ve travelled the world and seen things you cannot imagine and fought monsters you can''t dream of, some human, all to protect the innocent." He stopped pacing and looked at the students. "And yet . . . and yet . . . I know a hundred or more Dark spells." "Why do I know those spells? Why, so I can recognize them and counter or dodge them, as I need! You can''t fight evil Wizards and monsters unless you know their spells, their strengths, and their weaknesses." "Now ¡ª be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room." He swept the room with a glance, meeting everyone''s eyes. "First, everyone stand." He waved his hands up. As soon as they stood, he swept his wand and all the desks slid to the back of the room, along with everyone''s books and bags. "And I''ll stick them together so they are safe." That was another wave. "Now, form wizard-witch teams. For example, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger." It took a moment for the teams to settle. Ron ended up with Lavender Brown. "Next, we practice the shield charm, which I used in all my books to great effect. A very versatile spell, that one. You simple rotate your wand like so," he demonstrated, "and say protego. Say it with me, pro-TEY-go." They repeated this ten times. "Now practice the wand movement ¡ª exaggerate it, like so," and he again demonstrated it. Then he made them repeat it until they all could do it. "Now do the movement really small, like so," and he did, b?r?ly moving the tip of his wand. And made them practice it twenty times, while he chanted, "Smaller, smaller!" "Perfect! Wonderful!" He smiled broadly and struck a pose, hands on h?ps. "On three, cast! One, two, three!" The results varied from Hermione and Harry''s quite solid performance, to almost nothing from Ron except a bit of sparkle. "Again!" Ten times later, he said, "Good, everyone got it?" Most of the class appeared quite happy with their results. Ron scowled at the sparks popping from his wand. "Next, we go to the Freeze Charm, which I used to quite good effect in Breaking with a Banshee, don''t you know." They practiced that spell and wand movement twenty times as well. "Excellent," he gave them another sample of Witch Weekly''s Most-Charming-Smile. "Now, know that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm!" He lifted a cage hidden behind his desk. Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Neville was cowering in his front row seat. "I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice, waving one hand theatrically. "It might . . . provoke them," he half whispered, giving them a stern look. As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover. "Yes," he said dramatically. "Freshly caught Cornish pixies." How he managed to say that with a straight face was a mystery ¡ª he sounded like a barker at the fish market! Seamus Finnigan couldn''t control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn''t pretend was a scream of terror. The Slytherins looked amused. "Yes?" He smiled at Seamus. "Well, they''re not ¡ª they''re not very ¡ª dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked. "Don''t be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger at Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!" The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a cage full of budgies arguing. The moment the cover came off, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making faces at the class. He resumed his heroic pose. "Now, Witches, you use protego to protect yourself and your partner. Wizards, you use the Freeze Charm to defend yourself and your partner." With that short warning, Lockhart opened the cage. It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Three bounced off the window, on which he had cast an impervious charm that morning. "Come on now ¡ª round them up, round them up, they''re only pixies," Lockhart shouted, hands on his h?ps, his grin beaming broadly at the class. Half the class was trying to shelter under the desks at the back of the class. Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling where the pixies had left him. The pixies were split between harassing the students and attacking their belongings, which were fortunately charmed closed and stuck to the desks. The other half, though, those girls with slightly faster reactions, had popped up their shields between themselves and the attacking pixies. Two had even remembered to protect their partner. Harry, hiding behind Hermione, was shooting the Freeze Charm with decent accuracy at any pixie that tried to sneak around her shield. Lavender had backed into a corner, which prevented the little monsters from flanking her, but also prevented Ron for casting the Freeze Charm because he was with her, not that he could cast it, anyway. Blaise Zabini had taken cover under a desk in the corner and was sniping at pixies as quickly as possible. Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis were shielding each other. Lockhart stood at the front of the class, laughing. The pixies knew well not to attack him, he had earlier that day put the fear of Harry/Gilderoy into them! Finally, he waved his wand, freezing the remaining pixies. A second wave put the pixies back into their cage, which he re-covered. Another wave saw Longbottom rescued from the chandelier and the desks moved back to their proper positions. Still chuckling, and shaking his head, Lockhart said, "Right, then, who can tell me what you did wrong?" After a moment of silence in which they all just looked at each other, Hermione slowly raised her hand. "Yes, Miss Granger?" "We were too slow?" "And?" ". . . ." The Wizard turned to the blackboard and a chalk flew up and started writing as he said, "One point to Miss Granger." "First," he pointed to the line the chalk had just finished, "There was no teamwork!" The witches, except Hermione, ducked their heads down. A few of the wizards joined them. "Second," he pointed to the next line, "Almost everyone forgot their spells!" The rest of the class looked shamefaced. "Five points to Mr. Potter and Miss Granger for actually acting as a team and properly working together to defend themselves. Three points each to Miss Brown, Miss Greengrass, Miss Davis, Mr. Quartey, and Mr. Zabini for remembering their spells, even if they were late. "And these were pixies! Pixies that you lot laughed at and called harmless! And they completely routed you all! What will you do if you meet an Acromantula? Or even a Kurupira? I tell you now; hiding under desks will not save you from a werewolf, banshee, hag, vampire, or troll. Not even hiding in a toilet stall or under a sink will help, will it Miss Granger?" Hermione blushed a bright red and Harry looked outraged. Several students gave a surprised look at the Witch, wondering what the story was behind his remark. "I don''t expect you to go toe-to-toe against Dark Wizards with decades of experience, but I do expect you to be able to properly defend yourself, and your family, while you escape!" He glared fiercely at the class. "Only a fool fights a Wizard with decades of experience. Only a fool fights head-on against a Witch with more power than himself." He paused, now looking tired. "And I have been the fool too many times, and if not for an unreasonable amount of luck I would not be here today. And I have lost more friends than I care to count because I was a fool." He glared at them. "That''s why I am here, to teach you not to be foolish!" The class was staring at him wide-eyed. "The next two classes, maybe more, will be remedial classes covering last year. You should already know this material backwards and forwards. I expect you all to master all of last year''s material in two weeks. Remember your homework! And TEAMWORK! Class dismissed. "Mr. Potter, a word before you leave." Harry slowly picked up his bag and stuffed his books back in it. Hermione and Ron were hanging back at the door as the rest of the chastised class left the room. Lockhart sat in his chair and watched Harry reluctantly approach. "And the word, Mr. Potter, is detention!" the Professor said cheerily. Harry''s eyes shot wide open and his mouth dropped. Both Ron and Hermione looked surprised, as well. Gilderoy knew they were thinking that Harry was being given a new detention and that Harry was about to protest. Ignoring the students'' reactions, Lockhart cheerfully continued, "Your seven detentions from yesterday will be with me, starting tonight at seven." Harry''s mouth clicked closed. Gilderoy beamed happily at his pranking Harry. Harry would figure it out later. Maybe. "Dismissed." "Yes, sir," the boy said, turned smartly, and stiffly stalked out the door. Lockhart waved his hand and the door closed. It wasn''t going to be easy, but he intended to have the entire Second Year class working on Third Year material by June. And similar plans for the other years. The seventh years were in for a big surprise as he planned to run them through all six previous years before Christmas. When they hit their NEWTS, they would be prepared. He had already chosen four Sixth Years to act as teacher'' aides on the written homework for the Third through Fifth years. He planned to approach the Weasley twins about doing the same for the First and Second Years. He was not going to watch poorly trained students die fighting Death Eaters. Chapter end Chapter 4 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 4 - Wedding of the Century Plot: Harry and Hermione just want a simple wedding. Too bad no one they know is going to agree to that. COMPLETE! Pairing: H-Hr As I glance across the table and see my stepmother, Emily Granger, and Mrs. Weasley chattering away excitedly, I want to pound my head against said table. Why exactly did these things have to be so bloody complicated? Maybe I should clarify. I, Hermione Granger, have been engaged to Harry Potter now for a mere 2 days and already my parents and the Weasleys had taken over. I thought this was supposed to be mine and Harry''s wedding. Well, apparently not. I have just been informed that I have to go to three different bridal stores immediately, if not sooner. "Wouldn''t one be good enough?" I ask. Apparently that was a stupid question considering the laughs that have erupted across the table. "Hermione! Of course not! We need to find you the perfect dress!" my stepmother announces. "Ok, but I know exactly what I want, so shopping around might not be too necessary. I mean, I don''t want anything too extravagant or gaudy," I tell them. "I''m not a princess or anything." "Oh, but dear! You are marrying a prince!" Molly says. "Yes, while that''s true, he is my prince, I don''t think we need to throw an actual royal wedding. It''s just Harry and I." "Well, there are going to be certain expectations of this wedding, dear," my stepmum says. "Even being a Muggle, I can tell the importance that Harry has in the wizarding world. Plus, he''s pretty wealthy, right?. People are going to insist on a big wedding." "But it''s not their wedding!" I wh?n?. "This is my wedding! I don''t care what everyone else insists!" "Yes, dear, we know," Molly says, while patronizingly patting my arm. "Now, Emily, what kind of flowers are you thinking?" And as if I wasn''t even in the room, my stepmother replied, "Well, I was thinking roses, but with Harry''s mum''s name being Lily, wouldn''t that be nice too?" "Well, Harry and I discussed that and ¨C" "Oh, that would be lovely!" Molly replies (interrupting me without a thought to what I was trying to say). "What a touching tribute!" "Well, I thought maybe I could just carry some dandelions that I''ll pick myself. Or perhaps something really off the wall. Maybe I''ll carry a chicken down the aisle," I say, in the hopes of actually catching some attention. "Well, that would be lovely, Hermione," my stepmum says absently. "Now, Molly, for the cake ¡­" I stood up at this point. "Hello! Remember me? The bride-to-be?" "Yes, honey, of course we remember you," my stepmum says. "Well, that''s good. I was beginning to think that you two were planning me out of this event. And besides, Harry and I have only been engaged for two days! This kind of stuff can really wait ¡­ can''t ¡­ it?" Ok, if I could even begin to describe the looks of disbelief on these women''s faces, I would. But I honestly can''t. It appears that they''re both in shock and may need medical attention. "What? What did I say?" "Hermione! This can''t wait! We''ll need all the time we can get!" my stepmum tells me. "We haven''t even set a date yet! What if we''re waiting 10 years? That''s enough time." "Honey, do you really think you and Harry would wait 10 years?" Molly asks. "No, but that''s not the point. I just want to get married. I don''t need a room filled with material for a wedding gown, I don''t want a wedding cake that sings, I don''t need enough flowers to send my cousin into a pollen-induced allergy breakdown and I don''t need to release 100 magically trained doves after the ceremony." "Doves! I never even thought of that!" my stepmum yells. "Molly, is there a way to make the doves magically fly in a heart shape?" What have I gotten myself into? "Listen, you two have fun. I''m going to see Harry. You fill me in about my wedding later, ok?" "Ok, dear," my stepmum says as I leave. Now that I am out of the kitchen, I lean against the doorframe. I can''t believe that this is happening already. Two days and the piranhas are already biting. I can''t blame them though. I mean, I am my stepmother''s only "daughter." And Harry is like a son to Molly and who knows when Ginny will actually get married, so they naturally are clinging to the idea of a wedding. I just wish they would let me interject. I know they will eventually. They just need to get this out of their system, right? Before I can think of the answer, I Apparate to the flat I share with Harry and Ron. Soon it''ll just be the two of us though, since Ron and Luna are moving in together soon. He''s just sitting down to read the paper when I surprise him. "Hermione! What are you doing here?" he asks. "Seeking refuge," I reply. "From?" "Molly and Em. I just want this to be our wedding and already it''s not." "Just talk to them. I''m sure they will understand," he says in that rational tone that always put me back with reality. He stands up, walks over to me and holds both of my hands in his. "I will. When I can get a word in edgewise. They weren''t even listening to me. I can only hope that once the newness wears off, it''ll be better." "They''re just excited." "Don''t they think I am, too?" I ask, slightly exasperated at it all. "Of course they do. But come on, do you think Ginny will settle down any time soon? Not with the way she''s been dating lately. And it''s not like Emily has any other children to fawn over. They just want to throw their little girl a beautiful wedding," Harry says while pulling me into a hug. "I hope it will be." "It has to be," Harry says before pressing a kiss to my forehead. "You''ll be there." I blush slightly. As much as Harry loves to compliment me, I''ll never get used to being called beautiful. "Well, now that you''re home, want to get a movie?" Harry asks. "I''d actually rather just hide under the bed until it''s time to get married," I say, not willing to quit whining just yet. "Honey, don''t worry so much. This will get better, I promise." "I''m good at worrying. It''s what I do." "Don''t I know it," he mutters, knowing full well that I can hear him. "Harry!" "Mione, you know I love you. Worries and all." "And some days I don''t know why," I admit to him. "Do we have to go over this again?" "No. I know the answer already. You explain it to me every single chance you get. I just don''t understand it." "The one thing Hermione Granger doesn''t understand and I have to spend the rest of my life explaining it to her," he mumbles. I stick my tongue out at him and wander into the kitchen. I need something to drink. Unfortunately, we don''t have anything strong enough for my needs, so a soothing glass of milk will have to do. "Mione! Put down the hard stuff! It''s not worth it!" Harry teases from the doorway. "No, I plan to get completely pissed on this stuff! Go away and let me drown my sorrows in peace! I have troubles and I need to forget about all of them," I say as I collapse onto the nearest chair. He laughs as he sits next to me. "Ok, how bad was it, really?" "Worse than I expected. I have to go to three bridal shops as soon as possible. I didn''t even bother to ask if these were Muggle or magical stores. I don''t even want to know how bad it''ll be in a magical bridal salon. Molly is picking out the lilies I''ll carry down the aisle and Em is trying to pick out the doves to release, hoping that they''ll fly in formation. Harry, we don''t even have a date picked yet!" "Lilies, huh? That would be nice, don''t you think? I mean, a nice tribute to my Mum," Harry says with that grin that always gets me. "Would the entire place be full of them, or just your bouquet?" "Oh, don''t tell me that you''re jumping on the bandwagon, too!" I say as I bury my face in my hands. "No, of course not. I''m just trying to get you to smile. Remember how you used to do that before we told Molly and Em that we were getting married? Before Hurricane Matrimony began blowing." "I remember. I remember." "Ok then, let''s go back to those times. We''re not engaged anymore. In fact, we''re not even an official couple. We''re just Harry and Hermione, like back in Hogwarts. We''re off to have another death-defying adventure. What do you think? Trolls? Nah, been there. Dementors? No, done that. I know! Power-hungry, evil, self-titled Lords? Damn, done that too." I smile. He does know how to bring me out of a funk. "I don''t want to go back that far anyway. I never want to think of the times that we weren''t together," I tell him. "Ok, so it''s after 6th year," he says. "And after 7th, thank you very much," I add. "Let''s get past the power-hungry psychopath, as well." "Fair enough. So, let''s say it''s around the present time, we''re still engaged and we''ve got nothing to do all day." "Except run from our surrogate mothers?" I ask hopefully. "That works." "I love them both, really, I do. But you should have seen them! It was like they were Ron and this wedding was a 7 course meal! It was almost scary!" "Well, like we said, the novelty will wear off and they''ll become a little less¡­" "Possessed by a wedding demon?" I offer. "I was going to say ''wound-up,'' but that will do too. Ok, so, it''s a beautiful Saturday. There''s no class to teach, no books to put away, so what will we do with our time?" "Let''s take a walk. It always used to clear my head back at school." "Do you want to go to Hogwarts? We can walk around the lake," Harry suggests. "Do you want to go there? I mean, it''s our day off." "Mione, it doesn''t matter where I go, as long as you are with me." There he goes again, making me forget that I''m in a mood. "Then the lake sounds wonderful." "Good, because I just happen to know of a very nice secret passage we could use via one haunted shack." "Oh Harry, you sure do know how to sweep a girl off of her feet!" I said as I swooned a bit. "I know it! All this charm, how can you stand it?" I smack him playfully on the arm and we leave to have our walk. Somehow, I know with him by my side, I''ll be able to face the wedding crazed mothers. Chapter end Chapter 5 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 5 - The Moment It Began Plot:Deathly Hallows spoilers ensue. This story is being written as a response to JKR''s comment in an interview where she said if Snape could choose to live his life over, he would choose Lily over the Death Eaters. AU Sequel posted: The Moment It Ended. Pairing: SS-LE The Moment It Began The moment when everything comes back To the moment it began, And round and round in circles we go, Dizzy and high-flying; it''s pure ecstasy. Blurred vision didn''t hinder the decision To jump off the cliff of reality - Diving, dwelling into blue waters of bliss Remember the talks and the holding of hands, How the swelling feeling, well, it''s swell. Expands to... oh, hell - Does it really matter, anyway? And then, so insanely, believe it or not, The moment again: Everything comes back to the moment it began. Chapter One Green eyes. That was the last thing he saw before everything went black. The blackness was thick, almost like a solid mass pressing on all sides of his body. (Did he still even have a body?) At first, he panicked because he couldn''t breathe, but then he supposed breathing wasn''t really necessary now that he was dead. He couldn''t be sure how long he remained in this state of being in this place and time - if there was any such thing as either of those after life. But then, the surrounding pressure lessened gradually and kept decreasing, until the point of nothingness, of weightlessness. The blackness turned dark grey to grey to light grey to white, so blindingly white. His initial impression that he was in hell was now questionable. Heavy blackness could constitute hell, but light, both in terms of mass and brightness? In front of him materialized a pair of eyes. He had been hoping for green ones, but piercing blue was better than malevolent red. The vividness and sharpness of them was unreal, but those eyes no longer belonged to the living Albus Dumbledore, so their quality could be extraordinary if the laws of super-nature allowed, if there were any such laws. "Severus," the old man uttered blankly. Severus Snape found he could nod, but to find his voice was proving difficult. He exhaled, realizing he could breathe again, oddly enough. That one exhalation felt like he was releasing years of pent up anger, frustration, bitterness, sadness, and anything negative he had experienced in life. He breathed in and found himself filled with a strange, almost foreign sensation - hope? Finally finding his voice, Severus replied, "Dumbledore." "Yes, my boy," Dumbledore said simply. Even though he felt better than he had in years, Severus''s prickly personality was still there, so he found himself growing quickly annoyed with the old codger''s purposefully vague manner. "What," he asked pointed, "do you want, Dumbledore? Are you here to issue me to the ''other side,'' as it were?" Dumbledore, in spite of himself, chuckled. "How are you feeling, my dear boy?" came the inquiry from the bearded lips. With a withering sigh, Severus ?r??n?d, "Actually quite well... better than that, in fact, but you still haven''t answered my question. If I''m dead, I ?ssume this is the afterlife, and you''re here as a sort of required guide." There was that inane chuckling again. Severus scowled deeply, crossing his arms over his ?h?st, surprised for the first time that he still had a body. "Well, you see, Severus, that is what I''d like to discuss with you. Few are given the chance to return, to do things over again, but every so often, the Powers That Be grant that special privilege to a person." His dark brow furrowed, Severus asked, "What are you talking about, Dumbledore?" Dumbledore''s jovial expression left, replaced by a sober one. "You have been dealt a difficult hand to play in life, Severus. Your life was never yours to live, and I am sorry for the part I took in enslaving you to yet another master to serve. You made mistakes, yes, but you did more than enough to right any wrongs you''ve committed, and yet, your life was still unfairly cut short in a cruel, horrible way. Just when you could have finally been free, you died mere hours before Harry finally defeated Lord Voldemort. What I''m trying to say, my boy, is this: If you were given the chance to live your life over, would you?" Puzzled, thinking this a joke, a game, for it had to be impossible, Severus said softly, unable to look into Dumbledore''s eyes, "Yes, I would... There are so many things I''d change." He paused, remembering his awful childhood, but then meeting Lily, and how she was the light in the darkness of his world. For a few short years, they had been best friends, but he remembered the day when he had ended that sacred connection forever by uttering one word: Mudblood. "It all fell apart that day I called Lily..." he murmured, unable to finish the sentence. "Yes," Dumbledore said sadly, nodding slowly. "What you''ve called your worst memory, if I''m not mistaken." Severus glared at Dumbledore sharply. "No, you''re not mistaken, Dumbledore. So what of it? Are you trying to tell me you have the power to send me back, that I can do things over again? That''s impossible." "I don''t possess that power," Dumbledore said serenely, "but there are powers far greater than any man can understand. Yes, Severus, you can return if you like. You will, however, retain all your memories from your past life. Even though you think knowing what you''ve done wrong may benefit you in this new life, you may find those old memories haunting. Are you sure you wish to return?" Severus considered for a time, whether long or short, he couldn''t tell. Finally, he said, "Yes." "Very well," Dumbledore replied, smiling. "Good luck, Severus." Severus made to blink, and when he opened his eyes, he was dressed as a student once again, outside on the Hogwarts grounds on a sunny afternoon in early summer. He looked over his shoulder and saw James Potter and his gang approaching. He knew the exact date. This was the day of his worst memory, when everything had spiraled down, down, down afterward. Chapter end Chapter 6 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 1 - A Twelve Step Program to Omnipotence - MCU Plot: A Marvel fan from our world is reborn in the MCU. Sure he could follow the SI clich¨¦s; become a hero, save the world and get the girl, but Michael McCole instead decides to follow a different path. After all, in a world where magic is real, reality is what you decide for it to be. There will be challenges along the way, but nobody said becoming a God was easy. Pairing: OCxJessica Jones First Steps I waited patiently until Pepper Potts and her escort of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents entered the Stark facility, biding my time in the shadow cast by the buildings on the other side of the compound. I could try and sneak in after them, but it would be far easier to just wait for Stane to provide a distraction and then simply walk in, no sneaking required. BOOOMM! And that is my queue. Thanks Stane, I owe you one. Well, not really since a: you''re an evil, terrorist funding, bastard and b: you''ll be dead by the time I get what I came here for. As the building is lit up by bright flashes and the stacatto blasts of gunfire, I simply walk inside and make my way deeper into the complex where Stane is walking around in the twisted love child of the Iron Man armor and a tank, squashing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents left and right. The ridiculously high turnover rate of agents (not to mention them being a shell for the most evil human organization in history) had kept me from entering the spy agency in order to get my grubby hands on all of their fancy toys in my quest for godhood. Because when you find yourself in a fictional universe with gods and monsters and aliens, you could either try and become buddies with the heroes (in the case of females this required you to be both ridiculously pretty as well as emotionally connected to at least one of them or in the case of men, you were ridiculously badass with about every superheroine salivating over your body) or you could realize that magic was real and decide to supplex reality in being your little bitch. And the first step in my Twelve Step Program (more like Twenty Steps but who was keeping count anyway) involved salvaging whatever I could from Stane''s reverse engineering of Tony Stark''s masterpiece. Of course his true masterpiece, the Arc Reactor, was out of my reach until I was powerful enough to rip it out of his ?h?st with my b?r? hands, but in the meantime I could at least try and take his armor for myself. Or just wait until Whiplash manages to make an Arc Reactor on his own. Better make that Twenty-one Steps then. During my musings Stane had been ever so kind to keep the spotlight on him, allowing me to enter the hangar where he first activated the Iron Monger unchallenged, with the exception of the odd dead agent I had to watch out not to trip over. That''d just be embarrassing. Once in the hangar I immediately began tearing every single blueprint off the walls and tables leaving nothing behind, stuffing it all in my oversized duffelbag. I could sort this all out in the safety of my apartment without a spy agency and one of the smartest and dangerous men in the world breathing down my neck. Despite the fact that I knew nobody was in a position to stop me from stealing the plans to the most advanced armor in the world, on the account of nobody knowing I was here or even existed for that matter, too focused as they were on the metallic slugfest between Stane and Tony judging by the familiar wh?n? of repulsor blasts, I still felt sweat pouring down my neck, soaking my shirt, making it cling to my ?h?st in the most uncomfortable way. I felt like I was in the most dangerous fight of my life despite the fact that all I was doing was walking around stuffing paper in a duffelbag. After what felt like hours of running around with my heart trying its best to hammer its way to freedom straight through my ribcage I had finally managed to rip the last blueprint (a giant poster with what at a glance seemed to be the overall outline of the Iron Man/Monger armor on it) off the wall, trying my best to ignore the smoking hole in the metal right next to me. I knew that I had to hurry up now as I could hear the fight getting closer again, which meant an increase of threat against my continued good health, either by massive explosions or overeager spies who might be Nazi''s in disguise. As I made my way to the exit of the building I had the biggest scare of my life when from the roof of the building came a crash that shook the entire structure. Worse than that however was the sound of someone shouting orders ahead from me, with what seemed like a dozen footsteps running towards me in an orderly yet hurried fashion. Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. reinforcements have (unfortunately) arrived on the scene. As panic tried (and somewhat succeeded) to rear it''s head I threw myself and my duffelbag into one of the sidehalls in the mazelike interior surrounding the hangar like area where Stane first activated his monstrosity. Throwing myself to the ground, I was briefly thankful for my decision to wear a generic suit which, combined with the poor (or rather, non-existant) lightning allowed me to pass as one of the nameless grunts already littering the hallway. Within the first ten steps of my Twenty-one Step Plan, no human would be able to harm me anymore. A few steps later and I could at the very least survive a fight with Thor, who managed tank a blast from a neutron star and live to tell about it. By the end of my plan I would be effectively omnipotent. Now though? Now all I was capable of was lying down, covered in sweat while trying to get some measure of control over my harsh breathing, playing dead in the hope a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. goons wouldn''t find me. Perhaps not the grandest start to galactic domination but I had to begin somewhere. I desperately held my breath as I heard a squad of agents barrel down the hallway I had been walking in only moments before, praying to whatever deity that was on my side (given how many there are in this world, sheer probability dictated that at least one should be. Right?) that the agents were distracted enough by the lightshow on the roof to not check their dead. My silent terror sky-rocketed when I heard a commanding voice call out in a soft whisper, as the multitude of footsteps slowed down to a halt. "Fan out, keep your heads on a swivel." ''No, don''t fan out! Don''t fan out! Keep going straight ahead, there''s a bad guy with power armor there, that means instant death for you guys, shouldn''t you be running face first into that!?'' I screamed internally, trying to keep as still as possible. I could only lie there, paralyzed by fear as I heard soft footsteps creeping ever closer to where my sweat soaked body was lying face down on the harsh ground. Any second now, he would see that I was still alive. Any second now I would be captured by an organization which was run by the most evil bastards on earth. Any second now my life would be over before it even had a chance to really take off. Any second now- "We got incoming! Everybody move, move, move!" My quiet sigh of relief went unheard in the middle of the pandemonium that resulted after yet another explosion rattled the building. Feeling more than seeing that the superpowered brawl between Stane and Tony was coming to an end, I waited till I heard the last of the footsteps run deeper into the complex before I made a mad dash towards my overstuffed duffelbag. I hurriedly made my way to the exit, not wanting to see Stane (and by extension this building and therefore me) go up in flames. Running away was surprisingly galling but the sheer terror that consumed me when I was nearly discovered quickly beat my sense of pride into submission, leaving it a snivelling wreck before taking the wheel of my motor functions, telling me nothing was more important than getting the fu?k outta here. I was supremely grateful for its sense of initiative when not moments after I had left through the back entrance (the front was surrounded by a small army of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents) the entire building seemed to explode, a wave of heat and pressure slamming me to the ground. Chancing a quick look over my shoulder, I saw that it was only the main hall, where the giant Reactor stood, that had been obliterated. Not to mention the bits of Obadiah Stane that were most likely raining down everywhere. Scrambling to my feet, ignoring my scuffed hands and ripped pants, I hurried my ?ss out of there to where my car was parked a few blocks away. A modest Honda civic it probably wouldn''t draw any attention as I made my way to the middle class neighborhood I lived in. It was nearly 3 AM when I had finally managed to come home, shrug off my dirtied clothes and dropped onto my bed, completely exhausted. Stealing blueprints to advanced weaponry from underneath the nose of the greatest spy agency in the world as well as the inventor of said weaponry was surprisingly tiring. Stark is a genius. Let me rephrase that: Stark is a fu?k?n? genius. I mean, I knew he was, everybody both here and in my old world knew he was. But to actually look at his work, botched by Stane as it was, actually drove home just how much smarter the Merchant of Death was than me. If it wasn''t for Stane having to dumb most of it down for himself and the scientists on his payroll I probably wouldn''t even know what I was looking at. As it stood, while I had a decent understanding of how the armor worked (operating under its own weight without crushing the wearer, or how inertia dampeners allowed Tony to be punched through a wall with only a bruise to show for it, that kinda thing) the Arc Reactor was completely beyond me. I sorta got the theory behind it, but I had absolutely no clue how to go and actually build the damn thing, especially small enough for it to be carried. Sorry Ivan, but it seems I''m gonna have to take your stuff. Filing the armor away for now (and I do mean file. With all the supernerds in this universe there''s no way in hell I''m digitizing any of this. For now the plans go behind a false plank underneath my sink) I start trawling through the internet trying to get my hands on as many news outlets as possible and visiting every forum there is. With my meta knowledge separating hoax from truth is a walk in the park and I''m hoping that somewhere among the rumors and speculations I can find clues for my master plan of Galactic Domination. You know, I really feel like an evil laugh would be appropriate there but the walls of my apartment are thin and I can do without any noise complaints. Ah well, I''ll just do them later once I have a proper lair. Suddenly a news article grabbed my attention with all the subtlety of Thor trying to put IKEA furniture together using Mjolnir. ''Soda factory in Rio shut down due to massive structural damage , witnesses claim to have heard gunfire and have even claimed to have seen a monster. Neither the authorities nor the executives of the company were available for comment." I knew better. "Hello Bruce." I said softly with a grin that would make many a sailor break out in cold sweat and mutter something about needing a bigger boat. Unfortunately I couldn''t act on this yet as it was part of Step 3. For now I would need to focus on Step 2. After well over two hours of caffeine supported digging through the most untrustworthy and speculative parts of the internet I finally found what I was looking for. An apparently leaked memo that hinted at Stark Industries planning some sort of big event. Ideas were thrown around about what this could be, one more ridiculous than the last (one presented the idea that Tony would unveil a s?x oriented line of Iron Man¡­ paraphernalia) but I knew what it really would be. Time to put on my nice suit, I was going to the Stark Expo. As a compromise, this time I laughed inside my head. So what if that makes me crazy? Everybody else already is. ''Bwahahahahahahahaha.'' It''s amazing the places you can get into with just a safety vest and an expression that says that you know what you''re doing. I quickly realized that my salvage idea that I used in Step 1 might not work here due to it being far more in the open and with thousands of people present. Infiltrating Hammer Industries was also out of the question since I simply wasn''t good enough for it and I seem to remember that Black Widow already was doing that. Hijacking control over the drones was a no-go since not only was Ivan a way better programmer than me, he did everything in Russian which I could speak well enough to either order a vodka or get my teeth kicked in. So, instead of scavenging stuff after the fact, I decided to come in way in advance. I helped setting up the stages, laying down the wiring, everything you could think of, I tried to do. While I was hired for construction, which meant that thankfully I got payed for all my time there (even Galactic Overlords need to eat) I used my vest, id-badge and sheer confidence to get to areas where I technically wasn''t allowed to go. Such as the unloading area where Hammer''s drones would arrive before they''d be placed on the platform where they would be revealed on stage. Underneath my bulky work clothes I was wearing a b?r? bones version of the Iron Man armor, made from the material I had managed to pilfer during my time setting up the Expo. You wouldn''t believe the amount of raw material that went in to making all of the stands, visitor areas, walkways, hell, even parkings required tonnes of stuff to make. And with my almighty safety vest, I had access to all of it. Of course I had to be careful about what and how much I took, so I was limited to small amounts of steel and power tools (not to mention the size of the boot of my Honda) which was why I applied months in advance. During my time working here I had stolen enough material and tools to make at least the skeleton of the power armor. It was basically just a frame on my torso and limbs hidden from view by my uniform. It offered me no protection but it did give me superstrengh. As I walked into the loading area with my toolbox in hand I was stopped by an armed guard stepping in my way. As I tried to keep my breath even I was immensely relieved to see that while the guy was alert he wasn''t suspicious of me or wary, his hands resting loosely on top of his gun. "This is a restricted area sir, I''m going to need to see some id." "Oh, yeah sure. Here you go." I replied, trying to keep any tremors out of my voice as I reached into the back pocket of my overalls with my bulky gloves, fishing out the card and presenting it to the security guard. The card said two things: the first was that I did indeed work for the Stark Expo. The second thing it said was that I wasn''t actually allowed in this part of the Expo. Thankfully, given where I had just pulled the card from made the guard somewhat disinclined to look all that closely at my badge. Not taking any chances I tried to reassure the man with the submachine gun in his hands. "I''m just here to fix the wiring. Lights are acting up." Right on cue the lamps in the ceiling sputtered in pitiful protest before dimming slightly. As they should, given the fact that I had sabotaged the wiring not 5 minutes ago. Giving a glance towards the ceiling before glancing at my card again, the guard looked at me again before giving a shallow nod. "On your way then." Dipping my head in thanks I made sure to walk away in an unhurried tempo without making it obvious I was trying to do so. I needn''t have bothered as the guard deemed me completely uninteresting, turning away from me and watching the open end of the loading bay where the trucks with the Hammer drones would enter. Making my way towards an adjacent room on the other side of the hangar (this one without a guard thankfully) I sat down at one of the many terminals that were scattered all over the backstage area, due to the amount of robotics, pyrotechnics and whatever other -technics you could imagine being used in the Expo which required massive amounts of data. I had no clue what the terminal I was sitting at was supposed to do, my briefcase with tools and important looking manuals (one was for the blender I had at home as it had stopped working for some reason) opened beside me but I knew one thing for sure: it wasn''t for fixing the lights. After about ten minutes of me looking busy (while actually trying to figure out why my stupid blender apparently couldn''t conquer the might of the ordinary banana) I saw the guard who looked extremely bored after his eight hour shift of just standing around, perk up slightly. As the sound of heavy engines met me I understood why: the drones have arrived. I kept "working" at my terminal (honestly it was a banana, a toothless grandma could chew it, so what the hell blender?) as the heavy crates containing the drones were offloaded and unpacked. I waited until the hustle and bustle of the entire process was winding down before I heard a hesitant knock on the door frame. The guard from before gave an uncomfortable look at my toolbox with its foreboding manuals promising ultimate boredom and at me, kneeling in front of the terminal with my arms up to my elbows in its guts (I had given up on the mystery of the only blender known to man who was apparently allergic to bananas and out of pettiness had decided I might as well try and figure out what this terminal was actually supposed to do). "You alright there?" Giving a non committal shrug I turned back to the inner workings of the machine in front of me (mostly to try and hide the heart attack he had given me) as I replied, making sure to line my voice with annoyance. "Sure, sure. Some idiot tried cutting corners in laying down the wiring so instead of a sequential relay I''m now dealing with a parallel circuit so''s now I gotta go and run diagnostic''s on every goddamn breaker, which is gonna take more time than actually laying the wiring right in the first place!" The guard gave a confused blink at my torrent of inane techno-babble (as intended) before evidently deciding it was not his problem. "Right, guess that sucks huh? Look, the shipment has been unloaded but the crew that are supposed to take the lot to the stage area haven''t arrived yet but my shift technically ended about 35 minutes ago and I ain''t getting paid overtime. You mind keeping an eye on things till they or the next guard shift turns up?" While the overworked guard was clearly surprised (and angered) by the tardiness of the next shift, I on the other hand felt only satisfaction. Then again, I had the advantage over the guard in knowing why the next shift was so late: because I arranged it to be so. I might not be willing to try and hack a criminal unstable genius like Ivan Vanko, but Jennifer from Administration? Bring. It. On. One sleepless night spent hacking the work schedule for this week using keycodes and passwords swiped from meeting rooms where I had technically no access to (thank you invincible safety vest!) and I had given myself a half hour window between this guard''s shift and the arrival of the drones and the start of the next shift. More than enough with the superstrengh granted by my armor and with my tools in my toolbox. "Yeah, sure not a problem. Something happens, I''ll just give a yell or something." I said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible, giving a nonchalant wave with one of my grease stained gloves as I turned back towards the mass of wires and circuity in front of me. The guard was clearly uncomfortable with leaving some electrician watching over a shipment of advanced military grade weaponry, but he turned out to be even more uncomfortable with working for more than nine hours straight by now (courtesy of yours truly again). "Right. Good luck with the¡­ thing." He muttered, before being waved off as I just turned my back on him. I waited until the door on the far side of the hangar clicked closed, before I bolted towards where the drones were packed in neat rows. I had at maximum a half hour before the next shift was supposed to show up, but I still remembered the near miss at the showdown between Stane and Stark. At any moment someone could show up and massively screw up my plans. Sure, my power armor would allow me to at least get out of here alive, but I''d be on so many radars it wasn''t even funny anymore. But I hadn''t put on the armor for a fight, as counter-intuitive as it felt to every teenager in the universe, but for something more¡­ utalitarian. The drones were massive solid metal forms, protected from tampering by strong plates and internal software. An obstacle easily overcome by me ripping away the plating at the neck of one of the Navy-model drones. I knew Ivan had trackers in the drones, but I also seemed to remember that taking out their heads cut off his remote control. Now obviously I couldn''t simply rip off the head entirely, that was rather likely to be noticed. But tear out the online connector? Now that I can do. Slipping a signal jammer inside the body of the drone for good measure, I slap the plating back roughly into place using some of the more sophisticated tools in my arsenal (fine, I''ll confess, I used duct tape) before making my way around the other models, each time only disabling a single drone in each batch as too many would draw too much attention. Surprisingly, despite me expecting to be found out at any moment I actually managed to finish with ten minutes to spare. I quickly gathered all of my stuff, triple checking to see if I left any clues behind that could lead back to me, but thankfully not finding any. I wasn''t worried about the cameras that covered the hangar since I knew they didn''t actually have any power. I should know, I installed them myself. Seeing nothing more I could do to cover my tracks I swiftly made my way towards the main stage area, my pass and mighty safety vest easily granting me access to the backstage area where in a couple of hours Justin Hammer would make a fool of himself, courtesy of Whiplash. And now, all I had to do was wait. I calmly sipped my soda (no beer for now as I wanted to be completely sober for what came next) as Hammer''s world went up in flames. Quite literally, as one Air Force drone bombed the stage next to the one he had been standing on. Despite the general mayham and pandemonium I was perfectly calm. Unlike everybody else here, I knew that Tony Stark had managed to get his head out of his ?ss, massively improve his Arc Reactor and was now on his way to punch Ivan into next week. And sure enough a gold and red blur arrived and started shooting the drones out of the sky with well-placed repulsor blasts. Taking that as my cue, I walked towards the back of the stage which was deserted as all the employees had deemed the explosions too close for comfort and decided to take off towards safer pastures. I took control of the lifts that had raised the drones on platforms onto the stage behind Hammer during his speech and ordered them down again. When Ivan started his attack, almost all of the drones took off and started raining down death and destruction upon the audience of the Expo. A few of the drones however had remained unresponsive on the platform. They were my drones now. Using my superstrengh I knocked down a portion of the temporary wall behind the main stage, which opened up to a large parking lot filled with company cars and trucks. My car, with a trailer attached to it as was nearly every vehicle there, was right in front of the hole I had just punched through the wall (there is something inherently satisfying about having a punching match with an architectural element and coming out on top. This might just be my new favorite hobby). Wasting no time since the dogfight over the Expo seemed to increase in intensity, I hurried back to the platforms with my unresponsive drones on them, throwing one over my shoulders. Each one weighed around half a tonne, but with my armor on I could take it (though it gave a distressed wh?n? when I lifted the Army model with its oversized turret). Throwing it onto the trailer I quickly covered the heap of robots with with some tarp, got in my car and drove away from the Expo, where in all likelihood Stark and Rodey were fighting off Whiplash. I was greatly tempted to stick around to try and get my hands on Ivan''s Arc Reactor but once again S.H.I.E.L.D. was on the scene and I didn''t want to push my luck just yet. It was the same reason why I didn''t go to Hammer''s base to go for Ivan''s blueprints since the Black Widow was currently there. At the moment I vastly outclassed her in the strength department, but I was sorely lacking in defensive options, while she was both faster and more skilled than me, which meant there was a chance she could disable me. No, I''ll have to be content and take my drones to my storage unit, rip them apart and put them together for my own armor. No matter, there were other steps down the line which would allow me to have another chance at obtaining the Arc Reactor for myself, I just had to be patient a little longer. Step 3 was close to commencing and with the treasure trove of robotics in my trailer I''ll be ready. I''m coming for you Bruce. Or rather, I''m coming for your blood. Chapter End Chapter 7 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 2 - The Spider MCU Plot:Waking up in a hero''s body is one thing, being a hero is another. SI, where Peter Parker''s body is taken over and the new owner realizes the world needs a hero, it needs a Spider-man. Fully using Peter''s genius, the new Spider-man finds a balance between being a hero and a teenager. Will include MCEU and more. Pairing: Peter Parker x Felicia Chapter 1 - Being A Hero is Not a Choice The pain felt in my hand was immense, like a hot iron pressed up against my skin. Whatever it was borrowed through my skin and into the veins in my hand. I grunted in pain holding it, trying to hold it it, but a roar of pain came out loud. "Argh!" And then suddenly, I realised I was somewhere else. The floor was pristine marble reflecting my face, my skin was pale, my hair brown and I was wearing the biggest pair of circular glasses I have ever seen in my life. "Mr. Parker, ae you okay?!" someone called out. I looked down, the face looking back mirrored my looks. ''Was that me?'' I asked myself unbelievingly. My hand stung, and looked down and saw it sewing to twice it''s size with two bright red bite marks near my knuckles. "Mr. Parker? Mr. Parker?!" someone shook me. I blinked as I looked up and found a crowd of students looking at me. They were all looking at me like a caged exotic animal, and right before me was a woman that looked to be around fifty with black hair greying at the sides. A name popped into my head, ''Mrs. Sonada'', that was her name, she was a biology teacher, my biology teacher. I blinked, ''that''s not right. I''ve never meet her before in my life!'' "Mr. Parker!" Mrs. Sonada called out once more, "are you okay?" I blinked, "I-I yeah, I am," I responded on reflex, suddenly a sharp pain ran through my hand and I flinched, my hand was hurting, badly. "That looks bad, we should get that checked out," she whispered, turning to the rest of the class and announced, "akright class we''re cutting the class short! Everyone get your buddy and walk out to the parking lot!" "Alright! Guess puny Parker was good for something after all!" a tall blond teenager yelled out to his friends. I looked around, I was in a lad of some kind, people in lab coats were walking around, moniers showed the DNA of a human being manipulated, numbers ran through them, I didn''t know how, but I understood every single one of them. "Come Peter, I''ll get you checked up," Mrs. Sonada whispered as she guided me out. Outside a large yellow school bus was waiting for us, we got on and she put me in the front with her. I could feel a fever coming on, sweat pouring down my brow. And slowly, darkness. I remembered seeing flashes in my head. Getting off the bus and into a hospital gurdy. A doctor looking me over before informing that I was suffering from an allergic reaction. He informed me to have a week''s bed rest and somehow I managed to grunt in understanding. I remember someone picking me up, his face was aged, his hair white and cut short. But the moment I saw him I knew he loved me and cared for me. He drove to outside the city to a suburban area where he took me into a humble looking house that filled me with warmth. I was put on a bed that was made, the moment my head hit the pillow my eyes shut for good and I began to sleep. Memories upon memories came into my head. I could recall so many events in my head that weren''t a part of my life. Names, people, mathematical formulas so advanced I knew I shouldn''t be able to even think up of them, but somehow I did. Peter Benjamin Parker. And with a gasp I woke up. I jumped in shock and found myself ascending towards the ceiling. Acting on instinct my body swerved, arms and feet smacking against the ceiling. There was a jerking motion, instead of falling back down I was stuck there, looking at the world upside down. I was panting, I could feel my body cool down. I looked at my arms and feet stuck on the ceiling of my room. I pulled one hand back, pieces of the roof came peeling off, still stuck to my fingertips. I was horrified, I wanted to let go, and suddenly I was falling down. My body twisted again and I stuck the landing on the mattress. I looked down at my hands, I could feel something there. I focused on the swirls on my fingertips, and there between the lines were small razor sharp protrusions that were curved inwards. "Holy shit," I gasped and looked around. I found a book with the name, ''Peter B. Parker'', plastered on the front. I looked at the mirror and sure enough a frail skinny teenage boy with brown hair and plae skin looked back at me. "I''m Spider-man," I gasped in realisation. ''What the fu?k?!'' A few days later: I spent a day trying to remember just what the hell had happened. I was alive and well in another body, another life. And now I was here, in the body of Peter Parker, somehow with all his memories and his genius mind. It was almost like I was Doc Ock and I took over Peter''s mind in an effort to become the ''Superior Spider-man'' or something. Though last I checked I wasn''t a fu?k?n? super villain! I checked my memories, or rather Peter''s. The spider bite had just happened, that was the pain I felt when I...arrived? into his body. I tried to figure out what kind of world I was living in. You know, classical Spider-man, Ultimate Spider-man, maybe one of the movie verse Spider-men? But so far I had nothing. I did however find out that in this world Tony Stark had outed himself publicly as Iron man, so there was a big chance I was currently living in some version of the Marvel movie universe. Peter also didn''t have many friends, even Harry Osborn was more of a study partner than an actual friend. No Gwen Stacy, no Mary Jane, no one. He was franky a very lonely kid. I learnt that in this world Peter was smart, extremely smart. Scary smart. Like if he was pushed far enough he could become the next Doctor Doom, given enough time of course. He hide most of his intelligence because he was afraid of being an outcast, more than he already was that is. The feeling of have so much more processing power was startling to say the least. My brain was functioning at a pace I''m not used to, but at the same time I had no problem keeping up. It was after all my brain. I did wonder how the hell this happened. How did I end up in this body? If the Marvel universe was real, and my world was one where they just existed as comic book character, did that mean all those celestial beings were real? Did one of them do this to me? Put me in Peter''s body just to see what would happen? A test? I sighed as I opened the window to my room and stepped outside, sitting on the window sill as I watched the sun rise on my second day in ''bed rest''. I took a deep breath and looked around at the beauty around me, I was right now at an impasse. Should Spider-man live? That was the question. Being Spider-man was something Peter did out of guilt for getting his uncle killed. But with me, I don''t really think that''s going to happen. I wasn''t going to let the old man die, it would be too much of a chip on my shoulder. So that option was out of the question. I also didn''t particularly like the fact that being a hero basically ruined Peter''s life in so many aspects. Romantically, socially, heck even his superhero lifestyle was stressed with JJ always harassing him with the Bugle and the people calling him a menace. Plus to be fair, I wasn''t a fu?k?n? hero. Why the hell should I risk my life for others? I was a genius, maybe I should just invent gizmos to help people, I could be the next Reed Richards and save more lives as Peter Parker the inventor than I ever could as Spider-man! With my mind made up I go out of Peter''s room...I suppose it''s my room now, since I was Peter Parker. Just who the hell did this to me? I went downstairs and found Aunt May cooking breakfast and Uncle Ben already awake and getting ready for work. I blinked, "good morning?" Aunt May looked up and smiled, "ah! Peter! So good to see you awake and moving about? How do you feel dear?" "Better," I shrugged as I sat down at the dining table. May placed a stack of pancakes before me, I eagerly grabbed one when I found it looking a bit dry, "ah...I don''t mean to complain, but this pancake is dead." "That''s because it''s a rye pancake," May exclaimed with a grin, "I found recipe on the internet! It''s supposed to help with any unhealthy foreign substance in your body. So eat up!" I grumbled, "didn''t anyone ever tell you not everything you read on the internet is true?" Ben chuckled, "he has you there May." "Oh hush you two, eat up Peter, I want you at full strength today!" I shrugged as I dug into my pancake, "so what''s so special about today?" "Well you see, Anna Watson''s niece is coming over today, the poor dear had to move due to family trouble. She''s going to be staying with Anna, and we were wondering if you would talk to her, helped her settle in." My mouth froze as it opened to swallow the disgusting pancakes. I turned to May with wide open eyes, "you''re kidding." "Peter she''s a perfectly fine girl, just a little shy. But if you''re not feeling up for it then-" "-No!" I yelled quickly surprising them both, I quickly added, "I mean, I would love too! I feel great! Better than great in fact! When is she coming?" "A-around noon I think," May replied unused to my enthusiasm, "are you sure Peter? I don''t want you to stress yourself." "No stress Aunt May, it would be my p???sur?," I bit into the pancake and immediately stopped chewing, "this tastes like cardboard." Ben laughed heartily as May glared at me, though I really didn''t mind. Uncle Ben left for work soon after breakfast, so I decided to take a shower and get ready. I put on Peter''s best clothes, which was a t-shirt under an open bu??oned plaid shirt and jeans. It wasn''t fancy, but it was sadly the least nerdy thing Peter had. I was so going to have to change his entire wardrobe. I also discovered I didn''t need glasses, no surprise there. At least now I wouldn''t look like a total nerd. I was ready by ten, and honestly I was excited as hell. This was Mary Jane Watson for God''s sake! The girl of Peter''s dreams! The woman who he''ll one day marry! Sure there was that whole bullshit redcon thing, but fu?k that! I honestly didn''t know why I was so excited. Maybe it was because I was going to meet a pretty girl, maybe it was because I wanted to see Mary Jane in real life. I honestly didn''t know what I should expect, I wasn''t going to be Spider-man, would she still like me?...Did I even want her to like me? What am I saying, of course I did. But the fact remains, it was ten, I still had two hours to kill. So with nothing else to do I sat down before the couch and turned on the TV, surfing channelled until I reached the NEWS. The anchor spoke, "billionaire Tony Stark, also known as the superhero Iron Man, was see in Flushing Meadows in Queens today working on what many ?ssumes to be a new expo. Not much in know about this expo, on scene reporters and bystanders have however snapped several photos and posted it online, these include pictures of Mr. Stark in his signature Iron Man suit, helping construct various attractions. Though we don''t know what this expo will bring, many ?ssume it will announcing the launch of his suits for public commercialisation." My eyes went wide, the Stark expo, the beginning of Iron Man 2, guess I was in the Marvel cinematic universe. I kept listening to the anchor as she went on and on about Stark''s tech and how the government was growing worried about them. I knew there was nothing to worry about, Tony was an okay enough guy, but I did understand why they were scared. They didn''t realise aliens were real and they would need a hero like him helping them out. This also meant something for me, I was in the Marvel cinematic universe, and I wasn''t a kid. If Sony didn''t hoard the rights to Spider-man then Spidey would have been introduced to the MCU much sooner, I guessI now live in a world like that. I whiled away two hours like that, learning more about this world I now found myself in, and soon the clock struck 12. May arrived just in time, dressed in her Sunday best and nodded at me, "I''m glad you decided to dress up Peter, I just know you''ll make such a nice impression." I blushed at the comment and followed her out. We crossed the road and knocked on the door of the house directly across from us. A few moments later, Anna Watson, a kind older lady with grey hair and a warm smile welcomed us. "Ah Peter! So nice to see you! I heard about your little accident are you sure you''re alright to be up and about?" I smirked, "I''ll be fine. I was just a spider bite." "Oh that''s my Peter," May smiled, "when I told him about Mary Jane he was so excited! Practically jumped at the chance!" A blush grew across my face as I glared at May, "aunt May! Stop!" In response the old lady just giggled, crazy old woman. "Well come on in then," Anna invited us in, showing us her home. It was homely, pretty pictures hanging up, a TV and fully furnished with antique looking furniture. Just then a girl with wet hair came rushing down the stairs, two at a time, wearing green shorts and a purple tank top, holding a hair dryer. "Aunt Anna, the damn thing''s broken again-" She stopped as she realised she wasn''t alone. I looked at her, and her eyes landed on me, widening in alarm. They were so green, her wet red hair clung to her scalp making her look that much more desirable. I couldn''t help it, it was the perfect timing, I whistled and smiled, "damn, looks like I just hit the jackpot." Her face turned red as she blushed. May and Anna looked surprised, guess they never thought Peter had it in him. I chuckled at the silence, "so, you''re Mary Jane?" The girl nodded, "y-yeah. Hi. I nodded and looked down at the hair dryer, "not working?" "Ahm, yeah, it just kind of stopped," she nodded slowly. I held out my hand and she passed it over, I took a look at it and using Peter''s remarkable knowledge of mechanics realised the problem, "the motor''s fried, I can probably fix it for you Ms. Watson, shouldn''t be too hard." "That would be lovely, thank you Peter," Anna nodded before turning to MJ, "Mary Jane, maybe it''s time for you to put on something more decent." "Ah, right," the redhead nodded quickly before turning around and walking upstairs. She looked back at me one last time, and I met her gaze. She was looking for something, I knew it, I just smiled back. When she finally closed her room door I turned to Anna and May, "I''ll go to the hardware store and get the parts to fix it Ms. Watson, I''ll be back soon." "Why don''t you wait for Mary Jane to get ready Peter? Maybe you two could go together," May oh so subtly suggested. I shrugged, "sure. No problem." "Oh look at you, acting so innocent," Anna giggled, "didn''t I tell you they would hit it off May?" I tuned the two old women out as they proceed to gossip about me and MJ. It took a while but soon the redhead returned, this time she wore a pair of jeans, a hoodie and sneakers. I looked her over and smiled, "I liked the other outfit better." "Peter!" May gasped scandalously, "that is no way to treat a lady! I taught you better than that!" I looked into his memories, she was right, she did. I turned to MJ and bowed, "I am so sorry my lady, my actions have been so uncouth! I beg thee for a thousand pardons for my rash behaviour!" Mary Jane chuckled, "you''re Shakespear needs a little work there Tiger." "Shakespeare? I was doing my best fancy pants impression." "That''s Shakespeare." "Ah, so the voice has a name." She laughed, yay, she likes me! Anna gave us some cash and quickly sent us out, she told us to buy lunch outside after getting the dryer fixed and just like that MJ and I were talking side by side. "So what do I call you?" I asked her as soon as we stepped out. "Hmm?" "Mary Jane, seems like a mouthful," I shrugged, "do you have a nickname?" Which I knew she did, but I needed to make small talk. Mary Jane shrugged, "most people call me MJ." "Hmm, cool, but not creative. How about Red?" "Red? Really? And you complied MJ wasn''t creative enough." I shrugged, "I''m sure we''ll figure something out. I''m Peter by the way, Peter Parker." "Oh I know, my aunt won''t stop going on and on about you. I figured she must have some sort of crush on you" she teased. "Hm...tempting, she is a MILF, totally my type," I teased back. MJ''s eyes went wide, "what?" "Kidding," I chuckled, "I actually like redheads." Mary Jane blushed. "So, where are you from MJ?" We talked all the way to the hardware store a few streets away. She told me how she was joining my school on Monday, I gave her a few tips but generally avoided topics like friends, since Peter didn''t really have any. We had to talk a little further away to reach a restaurant to get lunch, though I didn''t mind, and neither did MJ. We sat and ate, I threw about a few jokes, she laughed, she teased me, I blushed, it was a great first date. Well...maybe not a date¡­. We came back to her home and found our aunts still chattering in the sofa. I sat down in the dining room table with the broken hair dryer and began to open it up with a screwdriver Anna had lying around. As I fixed the machine MJ watched, whistling as my hands glided over it, "you''re pretty good at this huh?" I smiled, "very good. I''m sort of a nerd, in case you don''t know." "Believe me, I know," I looked confused, she clarified, "no one can talk about Star Wars that much and not be a nerd." I blushed, she was right, I did talk about that movie quite a bit. "So is this what you want to be when you grow up?" MJ asked as I replaced the motor. "A handy man? No, my ambitions are a little higher," I smiled. "Like what?" "Like...well¡­.I honestly don''t know. I know I''m smart, and I can probably do a lot of good...but I don''t know what." MJ smiled, "maybe you should build yourself a suit of armour and fly around saving the world." "Neah, the suits are more Tony Stark''s thing," I chuckled, "besides, being a hero is dangerous, and the job has a horrible pay off." "Well heroes don''t be a hero to get thanks you know, they do it because they''re heroes." I sighed as I leaned back, "is it a bad thing that I''m not that selfless." MJ looked concerned, "what? No, I just meant-" "-I know what you meant, I get it. It''s just...why do they have to be heroes? Can''t they just be normal?" MJ looked at me, hoping I wasn''t angry at her, and seeing as I wasn''t actually and just curious, she thought "well...maybe because if they don''t...who will?" "The po-" I stopped, I knew how ridiculous that sounded, the police? Yeah right, they could b?r?ly handle street crimes let alone fu?k?n? aliens from outer space and metas! Heroes needed to be born...but maybe not Spider-man. I sighed, "yeah...you''re right." I did manage to fix the damn blow dryer, much to Anna''s gratitude. MJ and I spoke a lot, mostly about school and her life before moving here. We also talked about superheroes, though she quickly learnt it was a touchy subject for me, though she didn''t know why. We exchanged numbers to keep in touch and I left her with a promise to see her again the next day. And judging by her smile she seemed to like that. That night though I found myself in the basement in the small lab Peter had set up for himself. It was filled with chemicals and other gadgets he had toyed around with. I sat down and opened the junk drawer, pulling out two broken watches with metallic straps. I looked them over and sighed, I got to work. The formula for what I wanted to make was difficult to make. It took all my brainpower to even think off creating the chemical chain needed to produce webs. The chemical would react when exposed to air and solidify into a sticky elastic and nearly unbreakable structure. The problem was creating them as I would be working from scratch. It wasn''t finished in one night, though I did make progress. The next day I spent with MJ, I helped her catch up on some homework and taught her some basic chemistry. We did get distracted a lot, talking about books and t.v. shows, but that gave me a reason to come again tomorrow to complete our lessons. The nights I spent in my basement lab, working on the web formula. It was a pain in the ?ss to be honest, I nearly caused a small explosion when I accidentally mixed the wrong chemicals. Luckily I managed to catch it before there was a chain reaction, or else Peter go bye bye. I was on doctor''s orders to stay home all week, so I took total advantage of that. Everyday I switched between MJ and the web formula, making progress with both. MJ and I even began to chat during the night, though she always complained that I kept her up. On Friday night though, I cracked the code. I could synthesise the formula and when I tested it out, I found it to be perfect. The webs created lasted for twenty minutes or so and they weren''t very strong, which was too be expected since this was my first try. They could carry 300 pounds of weight, but any more and they would snap. And now my next problem, creating a pressurised cell. For this I had to buy a small soda machine with my allowance and modify it a little. Now instead of pushing gas into liquid, it would push the web formula into a small lithium battery sized disk that was good for 50 yards of web. I used the two broken watches as the body of the webshooters. I emptied the dial out and took out the small screw in the side. I used the screw hole as the shooter for the webline, and for the trigger I used a metal pressure pad that could be pulled out like a measuring tape. And on Saturday night they were done. Two brand new web shooters made out of Uncle Ben''s old watches. I looked down at my creations with pride and a little confusion. After all this time I honestly didn''t know what I made these things. I hadn''t decided to be Spider-man, I knew I wasn''t hero material. But...but what MJ said really struck a chord with me. So maybe I made this as a way of keeping the door half open, to keep that option half open. I grumbled, snatching the shooters and stuffing them into my back pockets. Whatever the reason, they were here now, whether I liked it or not. The next day MJ came over to hang out, and she didn''t tell me, deciding instead to just stop by. I was snoring into my pillow when she threw the door wide open and zippered, "morning sunshine!" "Wha?!" I yelled in surprise jumping out of my bed ready to fight. I had a bad dream about the green goblin coming to kill me, singing ''Itsy Bitsy Spider'' as he did. It was not a nice dream. I blinked my sleepiness away as I realised MJ was staring at me. "Oh, it''s you MJ, sorry about that, nasty dream," I grumbled rubbing my hair, she however didn''t say anything. She was staring at me, "MJ? You okay?" "Ah hum," she nodded dumbly as she leered at my body. I looked down and noticed that I wasn''t wearing a shirt, it was too hot for a shirt. I blushed, "ah...maybe you should wait outside." "No, I''m good right here," she shook her head, her eyes not leaving my abs, she whistled, "damn, looks like I just hit the jackpot!" "Dude! Seriously!" "What? You saw me in my PJ''s!" "Hey I didn''t stare!" "Oh please! You were totally checking me out!" "No I...well, okay but¡­.ah! Out MJ!" I turned her around and pushed her to the door. "I don''t know why you''re so upset," she chuckled I closed the door behind her, "you should be happy a girl''s checking you out!" "Out!" I grumbled slamming the door shut. I quickly got ready and put on a fresh shirt and jeans before going downstairs to see Aunt May and Uncle Ben hosting MJ. "So are you excited for your first day?" Ben asked MJ. "Yes Mr. Parker, Peter''s been helping me prepare, so I think I won''t have any problems with the subjects," MJ smiled. "Well that''s lovely dear, I''m glad Peter and you are getting along so well," Aunt May smiled, she noticed me coming down, "ah, speak of the devil!" I glared at MJ, "peeping Tom." "Suck it up Tiger," she smirked. "Morning uncle Ben, aunt May," I greeted them as I sat down eating the breakfast Aunt May prepared. I turned to MJ as I munched on some bacon, "what''s up peepers?" "Are you still on that?" MJ asked rolling her eyes. "Peepers," I repeated with a glare. "Whatever. Anyway I just came over because I have exciting news!" she pulled out two tickets and practically shoved them into my face, "Hamlet, Apollo theater, tonight. You in?" I took the tickets and whistled, "damn, these are some great seats. How did you get them?" "My mom got them for me," MJ smiled, "she wants me to get used to the town and have some fun. So¡­. you in?" "Most definitely!" I called out before I felt to glares hit me. I gulped and turned to my aunt and uncle, "you know...if that''s okay with you two." Ben stopped the glare nearly instantly, "of course it is kiddo! Have fun!" May ?r??n?d, "I don''t know Ben, it''s awfully late. They''ll have to come back by train and you know the stories we hear about those late night trips." "Oh it''s all right, our Peter here will just beat anyone who even tries won''t he?" Ben asked with a grin. I smirked, "damn straight." May protested some more, but after MJ, Ben and I kept pleading with her she eventually agreed. But not without making sure MJ carried some pepper spray for her own protection. After breakfast I took MJ back into my room where I booted up Peter''s old Nintendo 64 and loaded Smash bros. I taught MJ how to play and needless to say she was a master at it. Something about hitting me with a giant hammer just seemed to appele to her. We had lunch at home and then got ready to leave. Before I left though Uncle Ben stopped me and slipped me a hundred, he winked, "make it a good night champ." I smiled, "thanks Uncle Ben." We took a cab to the train station and caught the first one into Manhattan. MJ kept going on and on about how the play troops were one of the best in the city and how I was going to be amazed. And I belied her, in my old life I was an admirer of the theater, though now my interests were...elsewhere. We reached the city with time to spare, so I insisted we explore the place. Peter had done so before, not in detail, so I did have some idea on where to go and what to see. We went to the Central Park and enjoyed a nice long walk. MJ liked the greenery, and I liked her smile, honestly I think I might be falling for this girl. It''s it''s been what? A week? Damn you Peter Parker, I just know this is all somehow your fault! We reached the theater just in time for the play to start. MJ was excited and I shared her enthusiasm, a good Shakespearean play was something to be excited about. The play lasted for three hours, but it felt like it much shorter. The actors were amazing, each leagues above anything I have seen before. They were energetic, ecstatic and hypnotic in the way they delivered their lines. But while MJ enjoyed the play, I was focused on something else. The story itself was one of revenge. Hamlet finds out his father had been killed by his uncle, and he now wishes for revenge. The premise was similar to Peter''s own life, his uncle dies and he looks for the killer. But there is a major difference in their stories. Hamlet kept postponing his vengeance, and in the end that costed him. He had a duty to his people, his subjects, to remove a man who would kill his own brother for the crown. He had failed his duty and his family resulting in the death of all he cared for. Peter on the other had taken upon that duty, that responsibility and he grew the better for it. Was what I was doing right? Was Spider-man really what I needed to be? This question plagued me, but I pushed it aside and focused on the drama, though the question never truly left. And then it was over. "That was so freaking cool!" MJ yelled out pumping her fists. A few of the other patrons looked at her and chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Yes it was Peepers," I nodded, "it was something else." "Did you see how they acted? God, it was like they were actually going to kill each other on stage! And Hamlet, oh, that guy, I felt like yelling, ''do something you ?ss! That''s your mother!''." I smiled, "oh no, you''ve caught the bug." MJ blinked, "bug? What bug?" "The theater bug," I replied, "symptoms include a love of the theater, love for drama and an insurmountable d?s?r? to be under the spotlight." "Hey, that''s mean," MJ pouted, "I just like it okay." "I know, I know, but I stand by what I said. Besides, I think you would be a great actress," we walked down the streets, the city still active even though it was the middle of the night. "R-really?" MJ asked. "Of course, why, you don''t think so?" "No, I do, but...no one ever thought I could do it..." "Well I''m glad I''m the first," I smiled as he reached out and grabbed her hand in mine. She didn''t hesitate, as she squeezed my hand back, "I''m serious though, you would be an amazing actress." MJ smiled, "thanks Peter, that¡­.that means a-" KABOOM! Time seemed to slow down, I felt something inside me vibrate as my body started to move on instinct. I pulled MJ closer and wrapped one arm around her ?h?st, jumping to the side. A large slab of concrete flew past where we were just moment ago. I landed to the side with MJ holding on tightly. We saw the slab of concrete embed itself into a building side, breaking apart into spices of iron and concrete. "What was that?!" MJ cried out. "I-I don''t-" "GRRRR!" It was an Earth shattering scream. My grip around her tightened as we turned to roar and saw Harlem burning. There were people running away in fear, fires burning, cars broken down into pieces, roads destroyed. It all happened so fast, I couldn''t believe what I saw next. A monster, 20 feet tall with big bulging muscles and skin shredding along the side and bones protruding outwards. It stood n?k?d except for a pair of torn shorts. I took one look at it, and I already knew it''s name. "Abomination," I whispered in horror as I realised too late that MJ and I were right in the middle of the final fight between Hulk and the Abomination. This was the final fight scene, and Harlem was going to be destroyed. I looked down the road, people were screaming and running and out of a crater formed in the middle of the street and green hand came out. "No," I whispered, the hand pulled itself out of the ground revealing a green figure growing in size slowly, "no," he grabbed the tattered remains of his shirt and ripped it off, "no." "Hulk!" Abomination cheered in joy, "come face me!" The two titans of power charged each other, and that was when I knew we had to run. "We have to move!" I yelled as I held onto MJ and took off down the road. Hulk and Abomination charged each other each step they took was like a thunder clap, until they meet in the center and threw them eat each other, causing a sonic boom from the impact that shattered glass. I was swept off my feet from the impact, I went flying into the air, but landed on my feet with MJ held safely in my arms. I looked up, Abomination had the upper hand, he threw Hulk through a firetruck. I sighed in relief, they were taking their fight elsewhere. I looked down at MJ, she looked at the fight in horror, "are you okay?" "Y-yeah," she nodded, "w-what is that thing?!" I searched Peter''s memories, and yes, he did follow Bruce Banner''s research and knew about becoming the Hulk, I could share this information without anyone finding out. "That''s the Hulk," I pointed at the green monster currently breaking a cop car in two to use as brass knuckles, "I...I think''s one of the good guys." "We need to get of here!" MJ called out. "R-right," I nodded, the Hulk could handle himself, she was right, we needed to be safe. I put her down and we ran away, following the crowd of people before us. But as we did I saw a man stuck under a light post, people ignored him and ran, his legs were bleeding as he yelled for help but no one came. I stopped, I couldn''t help it, I didn''t like seeing people suffering. I ran to the lamp post and grabbed it, "hey man, don''t worry, I''ll pull you crawl out, okay?" "Peter?" MJ asked in surprise as she saw me with the man. The man panted, trying to not think of the pain he nodded at me. I pulled with all my strength and felt the post slowly rising up, thank you spider strength! He shimmed out under the pole, but it was too slow, I couldn''t hold the pole up for long, I wasn''t use to this kind of stress. I was just about to drop the pole again on him when MJ ran to the man''s back and pulled him out completely as I dropped the pole down with a pant. "Thank you," the man gasped. "It''s okay," MJ nodded to him as she pulled him to the side away from all the fighting. I turned around, there were more people screaming, more people getting hurt from the random debri flying about from the battle between Hulk and Abomination. The monster were fighting like no tomorrow. Abomination kicked Hulk through several building before jumping up to follow him. I saw a military helicopter lower down from the sky and rain down bullets into the Abomination as he jumped onto the building''s rooftop and run away in search of the Hulk. More people were going to get hurt, a lot more people. They were going to get hurt and it was all because of those two things. "Peter? We need to go Peter," MJ called out. But I could b?r?ly hear her. What would the real Peter Parker do? Would he fight? Or would he run away? No, no he wouldn''t run away, not when so many people are getting hurt, no¡­.he would stay and he would help them and if the need came, he would fight the Hulk himself to make sure people didn''t get hurt. He was a freaking hero and¡­.and so was I. I turned to MJ, "get him to safety MJ, find a safe place and stay there. People still need help and I''m going to help them" "What?! Peter are you crazy?!" MJ cried out, "there are monsters fighting out there!" "And there are people getting hurt MJ! I promise I''ll be fine, I''ll call you soon as I can," and without another word I took off. "Peter!" she cried out but ignored her. She looked afraid, for me and herself, she must have thought I was a glory seeking fool, I know I would have. But the truth is this¡­.I want to be a hero too, my life...it''s not that great, but if I can use to to help others than¡­.oh my god, I just realised, I''m going to be Spider-man. I ran down the street and spotted a second hand cloth store with a busted street window. I ran in and looked around, I needed a costume. I grabbed a red hoodie my size, a pair of blue yoga pants from the women''s section, a ski mask and a pair of gloves. I ran into the trial room and quickly changed. I reached into my back pockets and sure enough my web shooters were there. I slipped them on over my gloves and tested them by firing a web line. It was strong and quick, good. I grabbed a school bag and put all my clothes in there, zipping it up. I slapped down a twenty on the counter and ran to the door, but I stopped, there were cameras out there, if someone got curious about me they could use them to find me and my secret identity. I needed to be careful, parinoid even. So I looked around and spotted an open window up near the ceiling leading out into the alley outside. I climbed on the walls, thanking god that my wall crawling abilities worked even while still wearing gloves and sneakers. I crawled outside into the alley and took the bag with my clothes inside. I pressed it up against the wall and covered it in webs, holding it up there until I could come back and get it. An explosion drew my attention. I looked up to see the military helicopter come crashing down a few blocks away. It was now or never. I stretched out one hand and fired a webline into the corner of a building. My stomach was filled with bu??erflies, nervousness and dread filling my soul. I slowly pushed off the wall and held on tight to the web line, swinging like a pendulum across the alley into the open street. My stomach lurched as I flew over the destroyed street and landed on the roof of the building on the other side. I stuck the landed and blinked in wonder, looking at my hands and then at the way there I swung. ''Yeah¡­.this is freaking awesome!'' I grinned and ran forward. I jumped off the edge of the roof and shoot out a webline. I swung from street to street towards the sounds of destruction, and landed on a rooftop, looking down at the monsters fighting. The helicopter was still in one piece, thankfully, the battle field was a broken down block of land, barren except for a few barrel fires. And standing on top of the helicopter was Abomination, grinning at the Hulk who looked like he was annoyed more than angry. The Abomination charged, throwing Hulk into a broken wall. He punched him repeatedly, I looked at the chopper as so soldiers pouring out, a female civilian among them, ''Betty Ross,'' I realised. There was fuel pouring out of the engines, sparks flying everywhere. It was only a matter of time before it went kaboom, even the hulk seemed to realise this as he tried to stop it, but Abomination didn''t let him, keeping him pinned up against the wall. ''Look''s like it''s my turn now,'' I gulped as I jumped off the roof and landed with a roll. "Hey all! Fancy seeing you here," I called out, ''why did I do that?! That''s so stupid?'' The soldiers looked at me like I was crazy. "Get out of here, it''s going to blow!" Betty warned me, I smiled, nice lady. "Not if I have anything to say about it," I turned to the leaking fuel tank and fired out web line after web line. I threw the strands around the tank and covered it completely with my web stopping the fuel from leaking out. The tank was now insulated, the fuel that was already leaked out was dripping into the ground, being absorbed, crisis averted. I turned around to the Hulk, "hey big guy!" the monster turned to me, "I got this! Kick his ?ss!" Hulk grinned, turned to Abomination and gave him a headbutt, the resulting crack was so loud I could hear it from here as Abomination held his nose in pain. They began to fight once more, this time Hulk wasn''t distracted from saving lives. I turned to the soldiers still stuck inside the copter, I jumped in and slowly one by one pulled each of them out, handing the unconscious and injured ones to those who could still walk. There were even a few civilians that came rushing to help, dragging soldiers away from the wreckage. Betty ran up to me as I pulled out the last injured man, "you have to help him!" I looked at them and saw the Hulk being hit over and over again with a wrecking ball that the Abomination used as a whip. He knocked Hulk the side and then turned to us, narrowing his eye at the retreating soldiers. "General," he growled, raising his chains to throw at us, and I moved. I used my improved agility to rush at him. "No! Don''t!" I heard general Thunderbolt yell out. My head started to buzz, warning me of danger, I jumped just as Abomination threw it''s large chains at me. I landed in a roll and continued to charge straight at him. I didn''t know how strong Peter was, but it should be enough. I ducked under his swings, slipped into his defence, drew one arm back and with all the force I could muster, threw a punch right into his gut. Abomination''s eyes went wide as his body was lifted into the air for a few seconds. I felt my web shooter cracking from the force. It exploded into a heap of webs covering my arm and his torso. ''Shit!'' I realised as I found myself stuck to him. Abomination landed on his feet and ed down to see me still attached to him. I gulped as he sneered at me. My spider sense were roaring in pain as it warned me to get away. But I couldn''t. He tried to grab me and I jumped over his gigantic arm. The webs stretched, good, I had some leverage. I then ducked under his other arm, wrapping them both up with my web. I circled them and again before grabbing my hoodie sleeve and tearing it off, releasing me from the webline. I jumped away as Abomination tried struggle free. His arms were wrapped up tight together and attached to his ?h?st. He pulled and I could see the lines started break, but it was taking all his time and effort, I needed to put him down. I knew I couldn''t punch him unconscious, that was the Hulk''s job. No, I needed to be smart about this, he must have a weak point, after all he was only...human. He needed to breath¡­.right? I ran at him and leaped onto his ?h?st and aimed my remaining web shooter at his nostrils. They were huge, and if I wanted to make sure he didn''t pull them off I had to stick them somewhere he couldn''t reach. I quickly shoot two web lines into his nostrils, blocking his nasal passage. Abomination''s eye''s went wide in horror as he realise what I was trying to do. He tried to free his arms even arder now, I could hear the web restraint snapping. I quickly fired one last web line into his mouth, covering it as well. I leaped away just as Abomination broke free. I landed far away and watched as he struggled to rip my webs away covering his air passages. But his fingers were too large, they couldn''t fit. He even tried to ripe into the ones in his mouth but I had lodged them so deep inside he could b?r?ly even touch them, let alone have enough leverage to rip them out. I panted and watched as he scarth his neck, trying to breath. He swayed and suddenly fainted, crashing into the ground with a large thud. I was panting, I didn''t even realise I was doing it. I looked around, by now police had gathered around with their guns pointed at the monster. Hulk stood aside and looked at me and the now unconscious Abomination. He growled before letting out an Earth shattering roar that scared everyone there. Betty however wasn''t scared. She walked right up to him. Thunderbolt had his men stand down, even the police looked like they were going to be trigger happy. "Bruce," she whispered as she cried. Hulk looked down at her, he tried to wipe away her tears but found that he couldn''t. "Betty," he grumbled. Suddenly a spotlight was shined on him, a camera helicopter circled around him. Hulk growled, he took off into the night, the helicopter following him. I lost sight of him in a few short moments leaving everyone there with nothing to do, except look at me. "What''s your name son?" Thunderbolt asked as he approached me. "Me? I''m," I hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I''m Spider-man." "Spider-man? What kind of name is that?" "The kind I chose," I answered. "Are you planning on playing dress up?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Yup." "..." he didn''t expect me to admit to that now did he? He looked to his men, who were all asking for orders. He nodded towards Abomination, "secure him," he then turned to me, "well whatever you''re name is, thank you. I owe you a debt, if you hadn''t come when you had those monsters would have destroyed the city." I shrugged, "I don''t know, the green guy looked like he had it all handled." "Trust me son, he didn''t," Ross snorted, "it''s humans like you and me who keep people safe, you did your country a great service today son. Thank you. If there''s anything I can do for you, just ask." I blinked, this was unexpected. "Ah, thanks...I guess," I looked around, people were snapping photos of me, I needed to disappear, now! "Anyway, bye!" I turned and ran towards a light post. I jumped and landed on the top before launching a web line and swinging away back to my stash of regular clothes and MJ. "Sir should we follow him?" a soldier asked Ross. "No, let him be, he isn''t our enemy," Thunderbolt ordered as he turned to his daughter and sighed. Tonight was going to be a long one. I landed in the alley way with my bag attached to the wall. I opened it and quickly changed into my regular clothes, which was quite a challenge when you''re standing perpendicular to gravity. Once I was back in my normal clothes I stuffed my¡­''uniform'' into the bag and threw it into burning car. I couldn''t bring it with me, MJ would ask where I found a bag, and I certainly couldn''t leave it behind in case SHIELD or even Ross started to get curious. With all evidence destroyed I took out my phone and found three missed calls from home and one form MJ. I called MJ first, "hey, it''s me, where are you?" "Peter? Oh thank God! You''re aunt has been worried sick! I''m at the Starbucks down the street near the Ambulance." I looked around and spotted her, "I see you," I quickly ran to her and grabbed her into a hug, "I''m glad you''re safe." "Me?! What about you?! When I told your aunt what you were doing she nearly got a heart attack!" MJ yelled as she broke the hug. "Shit," I cursed, I really didn''t want to get yelled at, "I''m sorry. Are you okay? Did anything happen?" "No, no, I''m fine. What about you?" "Helped out a few soldiers stuck in a helicopter, the fight is over, some guy in a red hoodie and mask came in and stopped that raging monster." MJ blinked, "some guy?" I nodded, "yeah. I couldn''t catch him name though, he spoke to the general there and then just left. I think he was a superhero." "I see..." she narrowed he eyes at me, I gulped, "fine. We''re going home, now. And you''re going to call your aunt and tell her you''re alright. I swear, the last thing I need is her death on my concious." "Right," I agreed as we tried to hail a cab, but since the city was in complete disarray we couldn''t get one. We were forced to use the bus instead, and on the way I had to sit and listen to aunt May ye at me through the phone. By the time we got onto the train May got tried at yelling at me. She hung up with the promise of more yelling the moment I get home. I sighed as I disengaged the call and leaned back my seat. "That bad?" MJ asked. "Yeah." "Well you deserved it," she huffed. "I was just trying to help," I shrugged. "You nearly gave me a heart attack Peter!" "That seems to be going around theses days," I smirked. MJ ?r??n?d, "I''m serious. I literally just meet you and news flash if you got yourself killed that would be a shitty way for me to start school." I smirked, "awe, I love you too," growing bold I pressed a little peck on her cheeks causing MJ to blush. "Gr, you''re lucky you''re so cute," she huffed, "still, what were you thinking going off on your own like that? What is you had gotten hurt?" "I couldn''t just stay there and do nothing," I argued, "I''m not that kind of guy." "I thought you didn''t want to be a hero. Isn''t it stupid or something?" I was silent for the longest time, "maybe," I replied, "but to be honest¡­.I don''t think I was ever going just stand by and let people get hurt. Not when I can prevent it, or at least stop it from hurting any more." "And why is that you''re job?" I smirked, "with great power comes great responsibility." "How zen, where did you hear that one?" "Uncle Ben," I told her, "it''s his favorite line. I...I think I''m just starting to understand what he meant." "Hm, he''s a wise man." "Yup." "But you do know he''s still going to whoop your ?ss the moment you get home right?" I sighed, "yup." "Good," she chuckled, leaning her head on my shoulder. My body was sore, especially my arms. The amount of muscle strength I needed to swing from building to building was intense, I would need to start working out. Maybe somewhere privately? Some place no one can see me. After all if they saw someone like me benching half a ton or something they would freak out. "For what it''s worth though Peter, you''re my hero," she pressed her lips on my cheek and gave it a smack, "good job Tiger." I blushed as silence reigned between us. The train''s constant shaking filled our ear. MJ looked exhausted, and so was I. I just fought the Abomination, and won! I knew I would be big news this time tomorrow, maybe it''s time I take this whole thing seriously. I have super powers now, how long have I always wanted super powers? And now I have them! I could help people...no, I had to help people. Guess in the end nothing I never really had any choice in this life, I have to become Spider-man, I had to become hero. Looks like life just got a whole lot more complicated. Chapter End Chapter 8 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 3 - DC Gothic - Red-X DCU Plot: A new DC story and a new Gothic. This one is a thief and a scoundrel whose out for number one, but deep down he''s not a bad guy. Pairing: OCxRaven If you don''t know who Red-X is in then why are you reading a Teen Titans story? Also this story will cross over with some Justice League and I even have a plan to add more crossovers as there is so many things worth stealing in fictional settings. Last of all, read and enjoy. Gothic commands it to be so. DC Gothic ¨C Red-X Part 1 Recruitment and Training Time flies when you''re having fun, and it crawls to a stop when you''re bored, and right now I was really, really bored. I felt every second, of every minute, of every hour that past with such aching glacial slowness. Being locked in a cell was no fun at all. As to how I''d gotten here, meaning this cell. Well to make a long story short I was now a thief, a criminal and I felt no remorse for any of the things I''d done. It had all started with my need to survive, need to eat. Upon arriving in this dimension I found I had no money and Jump City didn''t have many homeless so there were no soup kitchens. As for the nice people at the Homeless Shelter they had tried to pass me onto to child services as for some reason I was now a teenager again. However since I didn''t exist in this world I''d wanted to avoid the authorities. Facing starvation and badly needing shelter I''d learned to steal. In fact I''d learned rather well. My first crime was breaking and entering in order to into what looked to be an abandoned house. Which it was, only it hadn''t been abandoned for very long as some of the furniture had been left behind, and there was a lack of dust in the place. Who owned was still a mystery to me. I''d quickly built myself a nest, and I''d secured the house as best I could, because I didn''t want anyone else breaking into the place. Then I''d gone looking for something to eat. Stealing food was surprisingly easy I had a rather innocent look about me, and I was rather good at not being seen so I was able to shoplift with relative ease. The following days involved taking what I could when I could. I stole food, clothes and even books. My hideout had no electricity, but I was in California for some reason, and that meant plenty of natural light. I spent a lot of time reading. No much fiction as the stores that sold bestsellers had better security, however shops that sold books on things like science, history and psychology were far easier to buy with my special five fingered discount. A few weeks more passed that way, and I got into a new business venture. Pawn shops weren''t exactly common here, but a few existed if you wandered around the bad side of town enough to find them. I always made sure to spread my goods evenly between the stores and until quite recently I''d been making a decent living. Then I''d moved onto bigger game. By far the best thing to steal, if you wanted to sell them without much fuss, was electronics. Mobile phones were still new here but there was a market and they were easy to steal. But as my skills grew so did my targets. After getting a few pointers from people who never used their real names, I started breaking into small stores. I learned to scale the fences and to how to outrun any pursuer. I learned how to hide from cops, and where to go if you needed to lay low for a while. I even learned how to bribe the right people. With all that I was confident that pick-pocketing would be just as easy. Even more so when a few of the street people I gotten to know showed me a few tricks. However I was soon proven very wrong. I was caught red handed by an undercover cop, who couldn''t be bribed and had a grip like a vice. Amusingly he hadn''t even been after me. He''d been bait for a sting operation. He''d wanted to capture the very people who''d taught me the basics of crime. I''d been set up. That was when I''d learned an important lesson: trust no one and it''s better to work alone. Not that arresting me had done the police much good. They had nothing to threaten me with because they weren''t going to hit me, and I was a homeless kid so I had next to nothing to lose. I couldn''t even give up other crooks because I had no idea who they really were. Still they took my prints, but I wasn''t on file anywhere. I did not exist because I was from a different universe. The cops didn''t know what to do with me and they couldn''t actually charge me with anything because had no idea who they had arrested. I couldn''t be labelled as a John Doe because I had a name it was just that it didn''t mean anything here. Also it didn''t hurt that I was under age. They called in Social Services and threatened to put me in a home, but they all knew that no home would keep me. I refused to even speak to the social worker. They even tried a good cop/bad cop routine with me, but I knew it was an all act because there was so many TV shows in my world about the police. I knew their tricks and just ignored them. On the down side I couldn''t get a lawyer, because they''d need my records for that and I had none. Not that it really mattered. By law they could only hold me for twenty-four hours without charging me and their time was nearly up. Soon I would be gone from this place. It wasn''t that bad really I had my own cell because no decent cop, and they were decent here, would stick a teenage boy in with older and more dangerous crooks. With hours left to go I decided to get some sleep, when I woke I could worry about what to do next. (Line Break) Police Station - Jump City When I woke up I found a severe looking woman with white-gray hair standing inside my cell staring at me like I was a slightly offensive stain. I hadn''t heard her come in and had no idea how long she had been watching me. It was creepy, but since I had nothing better to do a staring contest seemed like a good idea. Our gazes stayed locked as she ?ssessed me. The woman didn''t so much as shift on her feet, which given her high heels was an impressive feat, so as I studied her so I didn''t move either and I met her gaze evenly. She had nice expensive clothes and a tidy appearance so at first I thought she might be from Child Services, someone very high up in that organization, but there was something dangerous about this lady. I couldn''t put my finger on it but I knew she could be a threat to me, and no child would willingly go anywhere with this woman. She had a vibe that would make little kids cry and someone like that would never climb the ranks of an organization that dealt with kids. "The police tell me that you refuse to identify yourself" the woman suddenly said. I was startled slightly when she talked, and I could see the triumph in her eyes at the loss of my composure. In an attempt to regain some of my pride I sat up slouched back against the wall so as to make it seem that I had a complete lack of concern. Already I knew that this was the type of woman accustomed to being both respected and obeyed. So treating her as if she didn''t really matter to me would get under her skin. "Do they now" I replied. The woman was not impressed by my attitude. "You are no one" the powerful woman then said "No one cares about you, you have no home, no family and no friends. If you are lucky you might get off the streets, but most likely you will die a useless bum from a drug overdose or from alcohol positioning". I doubted that as drugs didn''t appeal me and I couldn''t even get a drink. But she had a point I was homeless, more or less, and I had no allies. It just happened that I didn''t want those things. "Don''t worry about me" I causally remarked "I''ll be out in a few hours. The law says they can only hold me for a day without charging me something, and they can''t charge me because I don''t exist". "Ah, yes. The law" was the woman''s reply. Her voice and posture didn''t change, but her eyes sharpened and I saw hate in those orbs. "Tell me young man, do you put your faith in the law to keep you safe, to prevent harm from coming to you?" Well maybe as the cops here were decent I could tell, but no I didn''t think they had much d?s?r? to protect me. Really they just wanted me to stop being a problem for them. "No" was my simple answer. Her stony expression didn''t change that much, but I could tell that was pleased by my response "Young man" she said next "I would like to make you an offer. One you can''t afford to refuse". By that I ?ssumed she meant she''d have my killed so I agreed to her offer Once I had agreed she formally introduced herself as Adeline Kane, Headmistress of the HIVE Academy, and then went about securing my freedom from police custody. I guessed that the cops must have thought that she was a part of some program for troubled youths or something along those lines, as they were quite happy to let her take me away. As the paper work was sorted out the Headmistress explained that HIVE stood for the Higher Institute of Villainous Education. In other words it was a school for junior super villains Which meant the real reason why the cops thought they would never see me again wasn''t because I was going to get straightened out as they might hope, actually it was because I would hopefully become a higher class of criminal, one that didn''t get caught picking pockets. On the drive to my new home, after grabbing my stuff from the old one, I also discovered that Headmistress Adeline Kane shopped around the various precincts for the those who had seen the darker side of life and could deal with it. Kids that took daddy''s car for a joyride or who got into fights with their mates were of no interest to her, Kane wanted young people who were willing to do what it took to survive, and that I was quickly learning how to do just that. I wasn''t the only kid in the car either, by the end of the day we were packed in sardines, and that removed any impression I had about me being special. What came next only enforced that view. (Line Break) H.I.V.E Academy ¨C Jump City While the Headmistress may have recruited me personally, that didn''t mean she cared about me. She just dumped me into the basic training programs and headed off to her office without looking back. Since I was the new kid at school I was at bottom of the pecking order. The kids with powers, were the jocks, and the rest of us were the uncool nerds. Well there were those who acted as support for those with super powers, I mentally labelled them as ''Cheerleaders'' and smartly kept my distance. Despite my experience and skill that had let me survive this cruel world, I had no powers and therefore wasn''t expected to become anything better than a foot soldier a mere minion. I was being taught to obey orders from someone with powers and maybe even get myself killed doing so. I decided at once that I would be no ones minion, but I also didn''t want to rock the boat so I didn''t express those opinions out loud. Having no one expect anything spectacular from me was actually rather freeing. I had no one to disappoint and felt no shame when I failed. I guessed that I was too pathetic to even mock for my failures. I wasn''t even low enough to be stepped on. Partly this was because I''d already been through High School and college so I knew how to keep my head down and get on with things. Still it should of shattered my spirit but instead it only fuelled my determination to prove myself. I would show the entire HIVE that even starting at the bottom wouldn''t stop me from becoming a successful super villain. My goal was to become a master thief because I already knew the basics but I would wring every bit of combat, espionage and weaponry training I could from my teachers without looking like I was doing that. From now on my only priority was myself and nothing would ever change that. Unlike other schools the ?du?ts here encouraged it, secret identities and false names were part of being a super villain so it made sense. That however did not stop me from being named. The academy had no official uniform so I dressed in black and wore the few adornments I''d stolen over a period of weeks. That quickly led to me being called ''The Goth'' and that was enough of a name. I trained tirelessly, night and day to be the best in every course I was forced to take. I had a real talent for stealth, at least compared to my class mates who were used to either relying on their powers or on brute force, which was not option for me as I had no tricks like that and I was wiry little thing as a teenager. All I had was a brain, a healthy body and the determination to improve myself unlike those the muscle-bound thugs. Granted I was no magic user or tech genius either. I would never be strong as Mammoth, or as good at electronic engineering and hacking as Gizmo, nor would I be a magic user like Jinx, but I knew that the real secret to success was to have well rounded plethora of skills. As for Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx they were super powered freaks by all accounts. That said there was a lively debate between some of the students going on behind Gizmo''s back. Some people thought that he wasn''t actually a meta-human at all, some also thought he might not even be a kid and that he was actually a member of alien race that were foul mouthed midget with great knowledge of technology and the power to defy physics. Personally I thought he was a rude, freaky person who would be better off developing buggy software for Mircosoft than being a super villain, but no one cared what I had to say and I liked it that way. What was clear to everyone, even from day one, was that the trio were the pride and joy of the Academy, Mammoth was by far the strongest, Gizmo was the most intelligent and Jinx was the powerful student. As such they enjoyed a celebrity status among the HIVE students and were watched so closely that the whole school always knew what they were up to. Their battle with the Teen Titans was talked about for weeks in the canteen The trio made a good showing of themselves initially, actually managing to force Titans into fleeing back home to regroup and then ousting the heroes from their own tower. That was when things had gone wrong. Rather than blow the tower up, or at least ransack the place before retreating back to the H.I.V.E, the fools had moved in and lowered their guard. It was as if the idea that the Titans might try to take their home back had never entered the minds of the super powered meta-human criminals. They''d gotten their ?sses kicked and had come scurrying home with their tails tucked between their legs. That they had gotten their ?sses whooped did not surprise me the least. The trio had been too ???ky and careless, but the real reason they''d lost was the hero, Robin. Like me the Boy Wonder didn''t have any super powers but he was still a team leader. The other Titans didn''t look down on him or belittle him; they followed his orders without argument. Once he mobilized his team. Robin fought confidently and incorporated several recognizable schools of martial arts into his highly mobile, acrobatic combat style. Which wasn''t that unlike the style I was working on. A fight between Robin and I would be intense even if there was no way I could win. I was sure that I had a height, weight and strength against the hero, but I not that flexible so I couldn''t out maneuver him either or his toys. I knew nothing about the other Titans, aside from a little about Cyborg and there was something oddly familiar about that Raven chick. Despite my lack of knowledge my attention was on Robin, the Boy Wonder, he was the prot¨¦g¨¦ of Gotham''s own vigilante, Batman. Also judging by the fact that Nightwing was already active then this was not Grayson. Which meant he was either Jason Todd or Tim Drake, possibly he was even Damien Wayne. I simply had no way of knowing, however I did know that he was the reason Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo had lost. Still even when they fu?k?d up everyone still feared and admired them. Which for me was great because the more everyone focused on them the less they focused on the likes of me. As weeks became months I never felt wanted, but I could call myself happy, or at the very least content. I didn''t have any friends and the entire school either ignored me or underestimated me, but I was fine with that and I even encouraged this as it had become clear to me that I wasn''t cut out for all the political manoeuvring and sometimes literal backstabbing that was going on around here. After all no one would bother to remove a threat that they didn''t even know to exist. It wasn''t until I''d been at the academy for almost a year that I thought the professors caught on to what I had planned. Anyone with a brain should have seen what I was up to. I was slowly improving but I was improving in every way. I had some talent in stealth and stealing, which was the name of a class here, but in every other other I''d been poor, now I was average, in every class. People didn''t improve in such steady ways, not in so many areas and a few teachers noticed that. But rather than point it out they started to encourage me. Not in ways that would get me called ''Teacher''s Pet'' but instead in ways that made it look as if I was being punished. I got ?ssigned essays, which always led to me researching truly fantasising subjects. Until coming here I''d never imagined that there could be book about Hostage Taking that offered advice on how take hostages and not on how to free him. I was even asked to write up a plan to rob a bank. I had loads of fun with that as I imagined myself leading the group and decided to be the Red Hood and throw money around as a distraction. It amused my professors no end even if it was a bit silly. Over time I showed just how creative I could be when it came to making plans. It may have even had something to do with how I got my first job. The students of this fine school were being turned into what Kane called "Well organized, highly trained, and combat equipped" H.I.V.E. agents for hire" which was a fancy way of saying ''yeah we can supply you with expendable mooks''. It was how the school actually made money, but not all the jobs were about gathering funds. Sometimes the Headmistress wanted a job handling. Not that many students came back, but those that did moved up the ranks. So when I got called to her office I knew that my time had come and that was going to be thrown into the deep end to see if I could sink or swim. As I later found out. I was a good swimmer. Chapter End Chapter 9 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 4 - Less Than Zero DCU Plot: It''s one thing to enter the world of heroes and villains, it''s another thing entirely to find your way back out again. That''s a bitter truth to swallow when you want no part of the life to begin with. A hasty decision from a young man with his back against the wall sends him down a path of which there is no return. OC main character. Pairing: OCxMulti Chapter 1: A Hasty Last Resort "Max." One could stare for hours and find nothing particularly extraordinary about Max. A fair-toned boy, atop his head sat a dirty-blond mop of hair, and behind tired lids sat unremarkable brown eyes. Covering a moderate, slim teenage build was a black concert t-shirt and blue jeans. "Max. Pay attention." He needed all of the sleep he could get when he could get it. The second school let out he had to run to his job, and that would keep him out until after midnight. The more hours he could work the better, as that meant a little bit longer he could keep his parents'' old place. Without it he wouldn''t have anywhere to go. "Max!" Having his name hissed directly in his ear jolted the young man almost off of his stool and onto the floor had he not caught himself on the edge of the lab desk. He found himself facing an exasperated glare from his lab partner. Understandable, as he had been trying to catch a power nap in the middle of an ?ssignment, All Max could do was give her an apologetic look. No excuses. Never excuses, "Sorry Barb," He said with a hint of an indistinguishable accent. And he was. Most guys would have been chomping at the bit and wide awake in lab when they found out they would be the lab partner of Barbara Gordon. On the other hand she must have felt like working with him was like dragging along an anchor. It was a shame, she was quite incredible. Long red hair, stunning green eyes, and a body to go with it all. Unfortunately, Max knew where he stood in regards to that sort of thing going anything past her knowing his name; somewhere in the neighborhood of ''fat chance'' and ''snowball''s chance in hell''. They definitely weren''t friends. Even saying they were acquaintances was a stretch. Yes, she was gorgeous, but girls like that weren''t into guys like him. She had the best grades, was by far the most athletic girl at the school, was the daughter of Gotham''s police commissioner, and she was already doing work after classes with Wayne Industries. He was just the kid of some failed commercial scientists who were no longer amongst the living. Barbara sighed and shook her head, gesturing to the experiment before them that she had already completed, "It''s fine. It''s actually faster without all of the bumbling working together stuff," She tapped the packet on the lab table that was fully filled out, gesturing for Max to fill in where his name was meant to go, "¡­You know, if you tried a little harder who knows what you could do? I''ve seen your grades. You don''t even study." Max laughed and gratefully put his name on the page, "I try plenty hard. Trust me," He didn''t have the time to study. He was hardly able to find the time to do enough homework to keep a decent grade-point average. Barbara pursed her lips but didn''t say anything. Because of ''extracurricular'' affairs she was very attentive to what went on around her. She knew full well that Max had lost his parents, the last one over half a year ago, even if he never told anyone or even let it go beyond the people at the school who absolutely had to know that it happened. He simply missed a few days and came back without missing a beat. But that beat began to slip, because he had to provide for himself. He had no family stateside. He stopped playing sports, and even stopped coming to school every day. He never asked for help or even let anyone know that he was on his own, out of pride or for whatever reason. And no one cared. This was the wrong town for that. The bell rang and Max stood up before she did, grabbing the packet and putting a hand on her shoulder as he went past to turn it in, "Thanks, and if there''s something I can do later on I owe you one." "Just happy to help," Barbara said lamely as she watched him go. In the end, it wasn''t any of her business. XxX Well after two in the morning, Max entered his apartment and locked the door behind him, dropping his backpack at the door and flopping face down on the sofa, not even taking his shoes off first and completely ignoring the notice that had been slipped under his door in his absence. His home was a simple one-bedroom apartment. It wasn''t exactly in a nice part of town, but it could have been worse. He dozed off for three hours before waking up and pushing himself up weakly. Two more hours before he had to wake up for school. With a sigh, Max looked around his dark apartment, still containing this and that from before his father died six months prior. Just thinking about it angered him, but it was a dull anger. The kind that you knew you couldn''t do anything about. His mother and father were both commercial scientists who had made their living when he''d been younger designing and working with teams on technology that S.T.A.R. Labs and other technological powerhouses turned for huge dollars. Then one day that all came to an end, and things grew tough. But they never stopped working. They worked more than they paid attention to him. And then they both died, one after the other, not too long after one another. But their work had taken them away from him way before death had. He grieved, but not for long. Because there wasn''t any room for it. The world didn''t care about your excuses. They left him alone, with no contingency. No contact with anyone that could take him in, or help him. No money to help him get by. No system worked out. It was enough to make him laugh if it wasn''t so pathetic. What was he going to do, become a ward of the state? To hell with that. Adoption? Not a chance. He was sixteen, so it was too late for that to work out for him, even if he did want that sort of thing which he most ?ssuredly did not. And now the rest of his days would have to be spent eking out what he could with odd jobs? Before he was even old enough to have a fighting chance at a start? No. If he was going to go down, it was going to be because he made his own stupid mistakes to put himself in the hole. Age be damned, he was going to find a way out. Enough of the nine-to-five crap. Even if he ever got to college, then what? He wouldn''t even be able to pay his way through. Not like this. Jumping up with a grit to his teeth, Max stomped with a purpose and began digging through everything he could get his hands on that he knew belonged to his parents. Scribbled notes, unfinished designs that were nothing more than gibberish to him, and ?ssorted parts that at one point in time might have been used to actually make something, but Max couldn''t make heads nor tails of any of it. Inside of the one room that he and his father shared, he tore through the closet, drawers, anything he could look behind, underneath, or within to find something worthwhile. Eventually he came across a case that smelled relatively new and looked important. He definitely hadn''t seen it before, but then again after they''d moved in and before his dad started getting sick he didn''t remember noticing much of anything. All of it revolved around his dad''s work, and his work made him angry to think of. So upset was he, that he b?r?ly noticed the fingerprint scanner on the front that he''d brushed his thumb over, causing the case to open with a hiss much to his surprise. Upon opening the case he found a folded-up suit and other little instruments to go along with it. A onesie? The thought was more than a little irritating as he pulled it out and looked at it. He''d been nervous about finding something or getting kicked out of his home, and he wound up finding a suit. It was a dark green one-piece bodysuit with porous fibers and padded bands around the joints of the limbs. On the exterior they were as hard as metal, but on the inside they were easily moveable, allowing the wearer to bend. It covered every part of his body up to the second knuckle of his fingers. "Ugh¡­ kinda tight," Max grunted, feeling the suit meld to every nook and cranny on his body it could find, even between his fingers and toes, and there was an uncomfortable tingle to it. Sharp, as if his entire body was taking one constant jolt of weak electricity. It was quick to adjust to him though, a snug and comfortable fit, like a second set of skin. He almost felt n?k?d. Okay. So a suit. Sweet. Unless it actually did something he was still out of luck. But as he thought about it, it made him feel¡­ kind of super actually. Smiling at the thought, he bounced on his toes and honestly believed that he''d never felt so light. It was as if his body weight hardly existed. Feeling as if he could go out and win a slam dunk competition he took a hop and promptly drilled his head off of the ceiling. Falling into a heap on the floor he held his mouth after biting his tongue, "Ahhhh." Pain aside, the important thing was that he hadn''t even tried. He''d b?r?ly pushed his toes off of the ground. ¡­What was this suit? He felt great and everything he did felt enhanced. How? It was like something out of a comic strip. Like the first scene of some sort of hero''s story. But the thing about everything was that Max wasn''t some sort of hero, and he didn''t want a story. He just wanted to live without worries. And he was young enough to think that things could really be that simple the way he wanted to go about it. XxX Over the next few days, he couldn''t stop thinking about the future. He''d worked with controlling his reactions in the suit and realized that everything he''d ever picked up from playing sports in the past, every bit of athleticism he''d ever garnered, was bolstered heavily. He reacted quicker. It was great. Every time he woke up he looked at the suit and went to school and to work, just thinking about the day he''d take a chance and take what he wanted. It would come soon. When the weekend fell, he started looking around the city for something to try and take first. Something that would get him a bit of change. Enough at least to pay his rent for a good while and keep him fed. Enough to leave that job of his behind. Even though he knew it was dumb and it was out of his league, his attention wound up being drawn to an open exhibit of jewelry that would only be in town for two days before continuing on a tour of the world. Walking around and viewing everything inside that could probably be fenced for a fortune put a silly look on his face the entire time he stayed there. Images of sitting in a posh, luxurious penthouse suite, or even a spacious townhouse uptown flew through his head. As he stood in front of a glass display of a large diamond behind several armed guards and ropes, he felt the presence of someone slightly shorter standing right next to him, apparently observing the diamond as well, until he felt the uncomfortable sensation of being watched and realized that she''d been looking right at him with striking blue eyes. A full-grown woman who couldn''t have been much older than twenty-five if she was even that old, she smirked at him and tucked strands of her long dark hair behind her ear. Her attire was like night and day compared to his when it came to representation of class. She wore a black jacket over a blood red dress and an expensive piece around her neck, as well as black shoes so fine, Max felt he could have pawned everything in his pockets and on his back and still wouldn''t have been able to afford a single one of them. The woman leaned in close, making it clear she was speaking only to him and didn''t want anyone else to hear, "Kid you are making it way too obvious what you''re here for." "W-What?" The woman grinned at Max with an expression that he could only compare to that of a cat. One that had knowingly eaten the family''s canary. It made him want to stay away actually, her beauty aside. But he couldn''t. Because he could tell that she knew something he didn''t. Everything. "Don''t have eyes too big for your stomach," She said, blue eyes shining in amusement as she brushed his face with her fingers, "You should head on home. Watching a few movies doesn''t get you ready for something like that." Max''s slackened jaw quickly snapped shut and he followed the woman out, trying not to make it look like he was pestering her. Every step he lagged behind her seemed to amuse her even further. She hadn''t told him to get lost, so he wanted to find out just what he was missing. "I wasn''t thinking of stealing that you know," Max said, more of his accent breaking through as he found himself at a loss, "That''s totally not my thing." The woman spared him another glance without stopping her stride and let out another laugh, "Jewels are everyone''s thing kid. But for the few that actually want to take them, even less of them know how to," The two fell into a silence as the smartly dressed woman navigated the streets of Gotham, the kid following her no matter what street she crossed, ''He''s not going to try and mug me, so what is it?'' She took him through an alley where no one would see or hear anything and all he did was follow. He didn''t try a thing. She didn''t even think he had a knife on him. Eventually she tired of walking with a shadow and hailed a cab, and that was where she found he would not or could not follow. As she got inside and got herself situated she noticed the frown on Max''s face as he watched her. It took a bit of curiosity and determination to follow someone he didn''t know as far as he did from the open house, but he had limits. ¡­That was somewhat respectable. "Do you need a ride home kid?" She eventually said, scooting over to make room for him? Max looked around, not believing at first that she was talking to him, "Uh, yes?" "Well I''m not taking you yet. I''m going to shop for a few things, so carry my bags for me and I''ll take you home later." XxX (Later that Afternoon) Through a quick introductory exchange, Max learned her name; Selina Kyle. And while he didn''t catch her occupation, he did pick up on the thinly veiled fact that she knew what she was talking about when it came to taking what she wanted. For hours she humored him, listened to him, and rebutted when he was severely off about something he''d been saying. It was the most productive day he could remember having in years. Eventually, arms full of bags containing Selina''s high-end purchases, she brought him to her place and didn''t simply tell him to get lost after they got to the doorman of her building. He''d been dead-on when he tried to figure what kind of woman she was. She had a taste for the finer things, and she had them in spades. She didn''t seem to be much of a fan of his though. "No-no-no. Here''s the thing! I don''t need to!" Max said, excited at the thought of doing something so¡­ so wrong, and getting away with it, "I''m not gonna fight, I''m just gonna steal. I just need to be good enough at enough stuff to handle what I need to." "Uh-huh," Selina said, completely unimpressed by him as she sat and listened, "Well that''s the general idea kid. You''re not supposed to want to get into trouble. Not unless you''re one of those flamboyant crooks that like to go after heroes'' neck," The complete look of distaste on his face put a grin on hers, "Well it looks like you''re not totally in over your head if you know your chances of getting away if you go toe-to-toe with them." "I''ll do small-time stuff." "Won''t work. If you keep pulling things off and getting away with it, eventually you''ll run into dear old Batman," Selina said, lazily filing her nails as she tried to persuade the boy that his choice was not the wisest course of action. She stopped and thought about it for a moment. With the fact that the bulk of Gotham City''s more egregious crimes were being committed by true supervillains that intended to cause true and legitimate harm to the general population, the chances that a mere thief would be left alone by Batman existed, especially one that was small potatoes. Even so¡­ "¡­Well with the Justice League calling on him, maybe not Batman himself, but you''ll wind up tangling with one of the kids he keeps with him," Selina amended, sparing Max a partial glance for a moment, "I''m pretty sure they''ll still put you into the ground if you run into them." Damn, Max had forgotten all about them. Robin and Batgirl. There was more to this than he''d thought. Sitting on the couch in Selina''s penthouse he thought to himself, but nothing seemed to come, "I''ll-. I''ll-, ugh. I don''t know." "Leave Gotham City and go somewhere else," Selina advised, deciding to throw him a bone. He just looked so pathetic, "This isn''t exactly a good place to get your feet wet. Sharks are more than willing to take them off for you." "No money to go anywhere else," Max reasoned with a mumble, "That''s why I''m doing this. I''ll be out on my ?ss with nothing and nowhere to go in less than two months at best. Then what?" "Play a sport," Selina said, trying to coax the young man out of doing something he didn''t know the first thing about, "Get a scholarship or something. Go pro." "I tried playing everything I could before my parents died," Max said, "That''d take too long even if I had been any good at any of it. I can''t do that and stay off of the streets y''know?" "You really think you don''t have any other options do you?" "If you have one that''s realistic, I''m all ears," Max said earnestly, "Hit me." "Street racer." "Where am I getting the car from, how am I paying for upgrades, how am I buying into the races, and what if I lose?" "Prizefighter. Kids go pro all the time." "No money to train," And if he were that good at martial arts, he would have already tried that path. "Underground prizefighter." "Not enough money to be worth it." "True, true," Selina thought stroking her chin as she had started making a game out of it. Anything but a thief, and anyone but her as the one he''d go to for advice. She wasn''t some sort of mentor looking for a sidekick, and he''d wind up becoming nothing but competition otherwise, "Have you considered doing something¡­ I don''t know, legal?" "Sure," Max replied, "But everything legal I can do or might be able to do to fix this takes time," As in months, or years, "I don''t have any. I''ve got like 60 days." And he''d already said in so many words just what would happen at the end of that time span. Either he''d be getting kicked out of somewhere or something else along those lines would happen. Aside from that, the kid had a point. There wasn''t anything legal he could do that would solve his problem fast enough. She could relate. Things hadn''t always been so smooth for her either. Putting her file aside, Selina stood up and gestured for Max to do the same, "Hands up," Immediately, Max did as he was told and slid his body into a ready position for a fight. Not bad posture for a kid, especially something on the spot, "You''re trained?" "Rec kickboxing classes when you''re a little kid don''t really count do they?" Max asked before finding himself knocked off of his feet and onto his back from behind, "Hey!" "As a base, yes. Practically, no," Selina said, moving away to a more open place in the penthouse living room, "Watch out for that coffee table by the way. It''s worth more than you are. Now come and hit me." Max got up to one knee, but felt a pit in his stomach at having to hit a woman. It wasn''t really his thing, "Uh¡­" The look on her face seemed as if this would be more amusing than any sort of threat against her, "Hit me one time or grab a hold of me somehow, and I will teach you everything I possibly can in four weeks." "¡­" His reluctance to break a social taboo gave him pause for a moment. Selina gave him no time to think it over before pushing the issue, knowing exactly which point to press to spur him into action. "It''s up to you. You can either suck it up and hit a girl, or you can go and see if whatever''s left of the Falcone Family needs any couriers. I''m sure that''s an entry-level spot that''ll help you break into gooning-," She was almost impressed with the certainty behind the punch he flew at her with. It missed miserably, but there was no hesitance whatsoever, "That was good try," She damn near purred in interest. Max kept his hands up and slowly shuffled his feet in her direction, having taken his shoes off immediately upon entering her house to keep from besmirching her floors, "You''re gonna start hitting me back aren''t you?" "Not necessarily." XxX (Forty Minutes Later) She didn''t start hitting him back, but that didn''t mean she''d let him take lunges at her and refrain from punishing him in some manner. Her b?r? nails were wickedly sharp, and she had no problems with using him like a kitty-cat''s scratching post. Aside from that, tripping him face-first into walls and counters, flipping him upside-down and inside-out, forcing him to bump his head on end tables, everything was fair game to deter him. Selina figured he''d endure as much abuse as one boy could, and then he would quit, but he took more and more. Max was exhausted and covered in bloody scratches all over his face and arms, including a particularly ugly one going down his face over and under his eye, but in his hand he held Selina''s wrist, "Does that count?" He asked between heavy breaths. "I didn''t think you''d let me gouge your eye out just to grab me," Selina admitted, a small measure of surprise in her voice. Then again, she also thought he''d quit ten minutes into it. "You stopped." "I didn''t want to gouge your eye out! You''re just a kid!" She snapped back at him before realizing that he''d fulfilled her condition, "Well, I guess that''s what I get for wanting to let you dangle and have a little fun. I didn''t think you had much in you." She could have knocked him unconscious whenever she wanted, but for some reason she didn''t. If she could do that so easily, one of Batman''s kids would massacre him. Even if she let him alone, he''d still give the criminal thing a try, and he''d wind up in jail before he ever got close to anything he wanted. Max weakly let her go and Selina looked down at her arm to see a red mark on her wrist from his grip. She was getting so soft. "Four weeks," The woman eventually said, holding up four fingers, "Give me four weeks, listen to everything I say, and keep your trap shut. If you ever get caught, you learned all of this from no one. Don''t come back here again," She got a serious nod from Max and waved him off, "Now go home and clean yourself up. I don''t know about you, but I could use a nice long bath." XxX (The Next Day) "Max, what happened to your face?" Max had been getting that question all day long, but he winced especially hard when he''d heard it from Barbara of all people. She seemed to be the only one that cared enough to be particularly startled at his appearance. Seeing as how she had to sit directly next to him for one hour every day, it was probably the reason behind any sort of concerned interest she had. If she was going to be front and center to look at his scratched up mug every day, it was better to get the question out of the way sooner rather than later. He had a feeling times would come when he would have to throw out quite a few excuses to keep people off of his back in the first place, so it was better to get into the habit before it became a big issue. "Work is probably gonna be a little rougher for me at night," Max told her, touching one of the raised scratches on his face, still feeling the soreness on his entire body. Selina had made mincemeat out of him, "I''ll probably be looking something like this for a while." "What do you even do?" "Whatever I need to I guess." XxX (Later That Night) Max didn''t call in to work. The day before he''d left a message that he wasn''t coming back. It was all or nothing here and he was going to make sure he gave it his best. If it failed, no one would ever be able to say that he didn''t dedicate himself to anything completely. Either this worked out, or nothing would. If he couldn''t even dedicate himself to what he himself had even considered the easy route, what good was he to the world at all? He was nothing as it was. To give up and quit at what he had already considered his last resort, that would make him even worse than a loser. It would make him less than a zero. Sleep was the most important first and foremost. He didn''t know when he''d be coming back, or if he would at all, so it was best to make sure that he was actually rested and prepared to give his best effort once it all began. It came easier than he had anticipated. Max figured he would have been a bundle of jittery nerves, unable to close his eyes and relax, but there was a stark sobriety to resigning oneself to a task. Figuring that something had to be done was oftentimes a method of coping with just how big or how real a situation was. Once he started, he wouldn''t be able to stop. Not until he''d gotten enough money to guarantee he could try and have a real life. A relatively peaceful sleep was disturbed by the sound of his front door opening and closing. Strange, because he knew he''d locked it. Sitting up bleary-eyed he was presented with the sight of the woman meant to instruct him, or at least it was who he figured to be. It was a shapely woman for certain, but her identity was obscured by her choice of attire. Selina wore knee-high boots and a black, skin-tight, zip-up suit with a goggled cowl on her head, pointed like a pair of cat-ears. The gloves that covered her hands seemed to have built in claws on them. Judging from what she could do with her b?r? nails, Max wasn''t eager to see what she could do with those. He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it, "First thing''s first. No names. If you have to, find something else to call yourself. Catwoman for example," Easy enough to remember and it made sense, "Purrrfect, right?" "Original. Did you give yourself that one?" Max dryly quipped before leaning back as far as he could, Selina''s claws having extended, gently touching the underside of his chin, "Err¡­ I get it though." "I''d love to see you come up with something better Maxie," Catwoman said before guiding him to his feet and pointing for his back rooms, "Go get ready. We''re wasting time. I''ve got four weeks to make something serviceable out of you." Not necessarily wanting to get scratched so early in the night, Max hastily went into the bedroom and went for the case containing the special suit. He still hadn''t learned how it worked, but he knew what it did and how to use it by now. It was simple enough. Put it on, get enhanced. If Selina thought he''d been a pushover before, wait until she got a load of him in the suit. And that sort of thinking made him pause in his actions. ''No,'' Max thought to himself right before he started to change into the suit, ''She''s expecting what she got yesterday. Any training she''s got ready for me is taking what she already knows into account,'' It was the only reason aside from deterring him altogether that Catwoman would have had for fighting with him. If he came out of the gates blowing her expectations away, it would screw up anything Catwoman had planned for him. Besides, he had a feeling that the suit would enhance whatever he was capable of once he put it on. Wouldn''t it be better to let his body suffer through whatever she had set now without the suit only to reap the benefits twice as much afterwards? It would make everything so much easier, but would easier be better? That was the idea that had started all of this, but the easy way here definitely wasn''t the better way. He''d take whatever she had on his feet and stay standing. If he could do that, only then would he wear the suit. "Are you getting cold feet Maxie?" Replacing the case where he found it, Max quickly threw on some expendable clothes that he could move around in and a stocking cap to at least try and hide the trait of his hair, just in case. He hustled back to cat burglar lazing on his couch, looking at a stray note left by his parents, bored with waiting, "Ready." Having gotten her attention, he watched her smirk and get back up, giving him a once-over, much like she had in her penthouse the day they''d met, "No you''re not. But you will be." First and foremost she''d guided him to the roof and on the way challenged him to keep up with her making as little sound as he could. Sneaking through the halls of an apartment building was simple, and if he couldn''t do that he didn''t have a chance of ever being a decent thief that didn''t take the smash and grab approach. She wasn''t going to put any effort into teaching a brute whose first option would be to tear the door off of a safe or kick in a locked door. Upon reaching the roof, Catwoman looked around at the late night sky with a smile on her lips, "Okay, first and foremost, learn how to move. You''re in decent shape, but you need to be better. So here''s what you''re going to do. You follow me and keep up. That''s all you have to do." Max''s eyes went wide when he realized that she was going to make him run and jump rooftops with her. Without another word she started, and Max lagged behind, trying to keep up and watch what she did. "To keep from outright getting you killed, I won''t distances I need my whip to cover," Catwoman said, right before vaulting over an alleyway with a nimble flip, landing on the other side as smooth as silk, "This is all me." Gritting his teeth, Max reached the edge and threw his body forward with everything he had. To his relief he landed on the other side, only to be met with a shake of the head from Catwoman, "What''s wrong? I made it," He didn''t want to see how his body would handle a ten-story fall after all. "By three feet," Catwoman pointed out, "You put everything you had into one jump. That''s wasted effort. You do that while you''re being chased, whoever''s after you will clobber you while you''re recovering from the landing," She turned his head back to the gap, "Gauge distance and elevation when you clear a gap to save time and energy when you do it. Trust me. Your body instinctually knows what it''s capable of." Max nodded and they continued on. Most of the first night was spent simply learning how to move along rooftops and traverse obstacles. Simple enough in theory, but he looked and felt a mess every single night after they had gone over it. XxX (Two Weeks Later) "Killer Croc." "Run. Get high up and run." "Good. The Penguin," Catwoman continued, watching Max slowly make his way through her laser alarm course, "¡­With a handful of henchmen." "Negotiate, or fight," Max answered, sweat covering his face as he put the flexibility of his body to the test. He wasn''t anywhere close to Catwoman, but he was athletic enough to do what he needed to within the realm of reasonability. He wasn''t some contortionist, and he had learned tricks otherwise to beat lasers if and when they came up. "Calendar Man." "Beat the shit out of him." Week two dipped into practical burglary, and lessons on what to do if everything failed and he wound up having to face off with some of Gotham City''s most notable visitors and residents. Catwoman had set up a share of obstacle courses in a warehouse where no one would bother the two of them while she educated him. All of the answers fell into four categories. Either you could outright run, fight as much as you needed to in order to get away, suggest a team-up, or surrender. Catwoman didn''t surrender, but she suggested to Max that he was better off keeping the option open. He was brand new and it wouldn''t do to get him maimed or killed by telling him to never be taken without a fight. "Joker." "Fucking run and hope he didn''t see my face." A smile tugged at Selina''s lips upon hearing that. The idea of getting involved with the meta-human criminals and superheroes that looked to be multiplying seemed to be the absolute last thing that Max wanted in the world, "Let''s switch it up. Superman." Max paused in the middle of his movement over a red laser and turned his head far enough to give her an incredulous look, "That''s a trick question! No Metropolis! You said never go to Metropolis! It''s not worth it." "-Because you won''t be able to get away from Superman no matter what you try, and whatever you steal will most likely be LexCorp''s to begin with, which has a whole new set of problems. You''re listening," Catwoman said, stroking a black cat that had come along with her to keep her company while she taught, "Now let''s go over capes that you''ll realistically end up facing, shall we?" XxX (One Week Later) Catwoman observed Max''s movements as he hit a human-shaped dummy with everything she''d been able to unload on him combat-wise in regards to technique. Pursing her lips she looked over his handiwork as he struck. Everything he took aim at was meant to debilitate and slow down an enemy. She wasn''t expecting him to outright beat anyone down. There was only so much she could do with a handful of weeks to get him up to speed. In close, Max shot his lead hand forward, feigning a jab but smacking his forearm off of the windpipe of the dummy, hooking his hand on the shoulder or collarbone of the dummy and pulling it in for a knee to the groin and an elbow to the head and neck. "Nice," Catwoman said, "Don''t be gentle about it. If you think a blow will give you an opening to get away, go for it. If you think you can put someone down you''d better do it. Heroes won''t kill you, but they won''t mess around with you either. They''ll hurt you." Standing behind him, a mischievous grin found its way to her face. Continuing his practice onslaught, Max felt a hand on his shoulder and a quick pull along with a foot tripping up his back leg. Being sent backwards onto his head, he placed his hands on the ground and backflipped into a crouch for a leg sweep that Catwoman flipped away from herself, a grin still on her face. "Let''s see if you''re still such a cream puff Maxie," Catwoman said, beckoning him forth with a crook of her finger, "Hopefully it doesn''t take you forty-five minutes to so much as touch me this time." The dirty-blond would-be criminal tensed his muscles in his crouch, preparing to leap right at her and begin, "It''ll be more than a damn touch!" XxX (The Next Day) "Mr. Gabriel, where did you get that black eye from?" Max turned to his teacher after entering the classroom. For once the man actually noticed when he''d entered the room and picked up on the wicked bruise around his left eye. Certainly, everyone had seen it, but no one picked up on it. They just ?ssumed he''d gotten mugged or something. It was Gotham City after all. Thus, Max hadn''t fashioned a very convincing excuse, "Accident at work?" God, he needed better explanations. Every time he gave one, they sounded so slapdash and vague¡­ mostly because they were. He really had to start thinking of decent ones to keep saved up, ''Because I''m not sure saying I got hurt groping the lady teaching me how to be a thief would be a good excuse.'' On the plus side, it only took him five minutes to get a hand on her that time, and it was a better spot than her wrist. Good enough to get punched over after the fact. XxX After all of the work, put in by both Max and Catwoman, the time finally came. Four weeks had passed, and Max wasn''t going to ask Catwoman to bother with him any longer. She had her own things to do and he''d put her affairs on hold for long enough. Also, he couldn''t waste any more time. The clock was ticking and he needed to come up with something to keep his apartment. "Well, you still have zero natural talent," Catwoman said, looking over Max''s handiwork on her fake course, "But compared to how bad you were when I first met you, you''re leaps and bounds better. I still don''t think you should start in Gotham City, but if you''ve got nowhere else to go you''ve got nowhere else to go." "I''ve been thinking about that," Max said, smiling despite the almost backhanded compliment he''d received. He knew by now that Catwoman was never going to admit that she liked him a bit, and that was fine. He owed her and she could talk to him any way she wanted to, "I''ve come up with a plan." "You already know what you want to hit?" "Well¡­ no. But after I do, and I start taking stuff, I know how I''m gonna handle things." Ambitious wasn''t he, to think he''d already set up how he was going to operate? So he had a set of rules for himself already. Well it was better to get one sooner rather than later. It kept you from getting into too much hot water when you were young and dumb, which in Catwoman''s opinion, Max was. Rule number one, don''t kill cops or capes. That was just day one stuff. Using extreme force like that wouldn''t solve any problems, it would just make sure that the next one that came after him had a vested interest in making sure he bit the dust. Rule number two. Never fight when you can run, and never surrender when you can fight. Screw your pride. Money is on the line. Rule number three. No haul is worth your life or your freedom. Max was stealing to make his life better. Getting thrown into prison trying to get the big score was not part of the plan. Rule number four. Never stay active enough in a given area to establish a pattern. Justice League members or not, heroes tended to be territorial when the issue wasn''t on a world-threatening level. The less heroes that looked his way at any given time, the better. Hopefully by the time he got the money he needed, few heroes would b?r?ly know that he''d been active at all. That was the idea at least. Rule number five, which was really just an extension and an addendum to rule number four. NO METROPOLIS! EVER! He wasn''t even going to make the ?ssumption that Superman had better things to worry about than dealing with some paltry burglaries when there was Justice League work and big time bad guys out there that could actually hurt him and the city, because the man was damn near omniscient. Superman would probably wind up busting him in passing without even giving it a second thought. He had to be cautious. It wasn''t like he would be doing this every day either. Just once in a while. Plenty of time to let any heat against his masked side die down. After all, it was Gotham City. If you waited long enough there would be another bad thing to overshadow the last bad thing that had happened. Catwoman heard him out and figured that his code was pretty threadbare and didn''t cover even half of what he would really need to be successful, but as long as he stuck to it religiously it would save him some headaches down the line. That was if he actually managed to last long enough to make any noise out there. Either way, whether he did or didn''t wasn''t her problem. She''d done her part, "Well Maxie, it looks like you graduate. Hooray," Sparing him a wave, she prepared to head home and plan her own burglary, "See you around kid," She''d spent enough time babysitting. He was going to be on his own again. No safety net or security blanket in Selina, as prickly and as fickle as she could be from time to time. It was time to stand on his own or simply fall down. "Hey Selina," Max said before she could leave him alone on the rooftop. She turned and shot him a baleful look for using her real name, but he didn''t care. He just had to know, "Why''d you help me out?" Selina pulled up her goggles and looked right at Max, getting the exact same feeling that she''d gotten the day they''d met, just before she was about to take a cab and ditch him, "I''m not even sure I know. Maybe I''m just a sucker for a kid willing to try and take on the big, bad city all by his lonesome." Maybe it could have been because she understood someone feeling the d?s?r? to take what they wanted to give themselves a better life. A smile came to Max''s face. At least someone cared, if only just a little bit. After his ''trainer'' left, he pulled off his hat and raked his hand through his hair before blowing a kiss in her direction. He was going to be a criminal but a deal was a deal. His word had to mean something, otherwise he had nothing at all. He wouldn''t ever bother her again. His problems didn''t affect her, and after everything else it would have been grossly unfair to try and offload onto her more than he already had. It was only a month of instruction, but Selina had done more than he could have asked. The training wheels were off now, and it was time to see if he could actually make a go of it. XxX When Batman was away, the criminal underbelly of Gotham City didn''t sleep. Fortunately there were two more caped crusaders willing and able to step in when the big man was off on world saving business. Ironically however, since most of Gotham''s criminal powerhouses had a pathological grudge against Batman, a lot of them kept a significantly lower profile when he wasn''t around to try and take a piece out of. Most of their schemes revolved around somehow getting rid of Batman, so when he wasn''t around, the things they stole or the people they went after didn''t really have a lot of purpose. Robin enjoyed it though. It gave him free reign to try his hand and keeping the city safe without having to worry as much about as many of the freaks and baddies coming out to play. On nights without threats aimed at the very heart of Gotham City itself, keeping an eye out for thieves and other street crimes was the main priority. And speaking of which, there had been a bit of a security snafu at Gotham Arena. Radio reports said that it was just an alarm error, but there was no such thing when it came to that town. With that in mind, Robin made his way out to check out the scene. "No way," Robin said after realizing what had been taken, and right from the home locker room to boot, "Aw, I haven''t seen that before," And he meant it. Game jerseys had been taken from the Gotham Knights basketball team. Actual game jerseys used on the court earlier that night in a televised game. He could actually get a good piece of action from selling those. If he could confirm that they were authentic game jerseys, which wasn''t hard to do, he could pull down tens of thousands of dollars. It was definitely the m.o. of the newest pest criminal in the Gotham area. Wasting no time, Robin activated his communicator and spoke to the person on the other end, "Batgirl, I''m at Gotham Arena looking at a break-in. This is totally that new guy," He said, b?r?ly hiding his anticipation, "You want to see him?" "The new guy? He''s small-time isn''t he? He never steals anything worth any real money," From the sound of Batgirl''s voice, Robin was well aware that she didn''t know what he was excited about. "Yeah, but we''ve never even seen him before. Most small-time guys we come across, we still know who they are," The new guy, all anyone knew was that he wore a hood. That wasn''t much of a description, "Don''t you want some new business to bring up to Batman when he gets back? No real noise ever goes off when he''s gone doing the Justice League thing anyway." Silence reigned between them for a moment, and Robin knew that he had her attention, "¡­I''ll be there in a minute." "I''ll try and get on his tail now," Robin said, rushing outside and grappling up to the roof to try and get a bird''s eye view of the area. If he were a bad guy, how would he get away without setting off the good guys? Rooftops were meant for traveling fast, not under the radar. Alleyways it was then. Figuring that the perp would want to get himself lost heading downtown where things got clustered before trying to make his return to wherever he was based out of, Robin started combing the backstreets and eventually spotted a quick figure darting across a road out of range of the glowing streetlights, ''There''s my man.'' Making sure his grappling hook was anchored, Robin swung down into the alley, set to get the drop on his adversary with a kick to the back of the head. He didn''t expect his quarry to roll at the last second and avoid the attack altogether. Robin landed on the ground in a short slide and watched a hooded figure literally crawl up a wall, with slight hints of blue electricity stemming from his fingers and feet. Well that was fine. He''d normally prefer a quick resolution, but that really would have been disappointing after having the guy duck him for almost two months. A second shot of the grapple gun sent Robin up and onto the rooftop, landing in front of his target and bringing him to a stop amid building ventilation pipes and systems, "Wait, that''s not a hood. That''s like a scarf or something." "Or something," The figure said. Wrapped around his head was a loose looking, thick dark wrap that went around his neck over his shoulders, upper ?h?st, and upper back. It covered his head as if it actually were a loose hood, keeping his eyes and most of his upper face shadowed in the dark. He wore fingerless gloves on his hands and black boots on his feet that went up to his shins. At his waist he wore a pair of brown straps forming an ''x'' around his h?ps with a few utility holsters attached on both his left and right sides. The porous green suit that most of his outfit consisted of seemed to provide protection that rivaled the suits that Batman and his wards wore, at least as far as blunt damage went. There didn''t seem to be any kind of plating or armor to it otherwise. Robin squared off with him, but noticed that he looked closer to a teenager than to an ?du?t. He didn''t look any older than he did to be honest, "You''re the new bad guy in town? I''d say you look a little young, but that''d make me a hypocrite wouldn''t it?" "Dude, I don''t want to hear that out of you," Max said, gesturing at Robin, offended at what he was implying when it came to surprise at his age, "I know there are definitely people out there younger than me that''d make me piss my pants." Robin opened his mouth to respond his new enemy but shut his mouth, because he was more correct than he probably even knew. So if he was that self-aware, why was he out there doing what he was doing? "Who are you supposed to be anyway?" Whatever Batman''s chief apprentice had been expecting, what he wound up getting wasn''t it. Max actually took a moment to think about it, "I¡­ never really came up with anything," He said more to himself than to Robin, "¡­I didn''t plan on introducing myself to anybody. But I guess seven weeks is a good enough streak without running into one of you." Without another second of pleasantries, Max turned and ran but Robin quickly hurled a Bird-a-rang at his retreating back. Max turned his head just long enough to see it coming and dove through the thin opening between two pipes to avoid it, "Yeah! That was awesome! How about that?" He gloated, impressed by his own move. Clicking his tongue, Robin went straight over with a single flip, landing just after Max safety rolled through his straight dive. Max''s eyes went wide and tried to lean his head out of the way of a punch thrown at him. Grabbing the offending limb by the forearm at his shoulder, Max turned in the direction of the punch and tried to back elbow Robin only to find it blocked. Robin kicked at the back of Max''s knee, bringing him down to one foot on the ground. Max leaned forward and took all of Robin''s body weight with him, throwing him forward in an improvised leverage toss. Both of them quickly scrambled back to their feet and faced off again, "Give up or start crying. The choice is yours." Robin''s punch hadn''t missed at all. Max''s lip was split and bleeding. Fortunately the suit had heightened his reaction so well he''d been able to turn his head with the punch and somewhat turn the tide to a neutral tilt. ''He hit me in the suit. He hit me good too,'' Max thought to himself, thinking that maybe stopping to fight wasn''t such a great idea. A touch of fear began to creep up his throat. Without the suit he''d have been a goner already, ''No wonder Selina thought he''d tear me apart even with the training.'' As he thought about what rotten luck it must have taken to finally get one of Batman''s partners on his case, he saw a smirk form on Robin''s face, and for the life of him, Max couldn''t comprehend why. Robin hadn''t beaten him up that badly yet, had he? A small nagging feeling at the back of his neck for some reason told Max that it was in his vested best interest to move as hard and as fast as he could by any means necessary. He jumped as high as he could in the air and tried to gracefully backflip and land back on his feet but failed, almost taking a spill onto his face had he not caught himself with his arms. He managed to salvage the landing onto all-fours and narrowly jump over a bola that had been thrown at him from a blind spot. With a quick turn of his head, he cursed his luck. When it rained it poured. Batgirl. The yellow bat symbol on the ?h?st of the dark, skin-tight protective outfit was a dead giveaway as to who she aligned herself with if it hadn''t been obvious at first. Her gloves, utility belt, and boots were yellow and long red hair trailed down her back from underneath her cowl. The dark princess of the night spared Max a glance and looked up at Robin, "Is this the guy?" She asked her fellow sidekick, getting a nod out of him, "You didn''t beat him yet?" "He''s got funky moves," Robin defended, "If it makes up for it, he hasn''t really hit me once." "Give me a few more tries buddy. I''m just getting warmed up," Max stood back up and tried to position himself in a triangle formation with the two instead of an ill-advised pincer setup that would have spelled disaster for him, "What? You called for backup?" "He called me before he even found you," Batgirl corrected him, hands on her h?ps as she tried to size him up. He was obviously their age, "I didn''t think I''d get here before he beat you though, whoever you are." Well that was fair. After tangling with the likes of say, Solomon Grundy, putting the boots to a rookie thief probably should have seemed like child''s play on the surface. But again, the name thing came up, and if he didn''t name himself they''d come up with one for him, and those tended to be quite awful. Max was pretty sure the Penguin didn''t name himself, and at this rate someone was going to saddle him with a terrible moniker. With the poor way he was fighting tonight though, he might as well have been called a zero. "You know what," Max finally said acerbically, "Just call me ''Null''. As in, everything I''ve tried tonight to stay the hell away from you two has been totally worthless." ¡­If he was going to have a name that reflected how much he su?k?d, he was at least going to be the one to give it to himself. Batgirl actually laughed at the newly named Null''s honesty ?ssessment of his own situation. Well stealth had somehow failed, and he didn''t seem very enthused to be there at all, so perhaps reasoning him down was an option, "You could just give up you know. It''d probably be a lot better off for you." When faced with a rather gentle offer to call it quits, coupled with a gentle smile from a girl he could almost guarantee was pretty behind her mask, Null considered if it was too late to go back. Yes, it was. The cops might not have known who Null was, but Robin and Batgirl did. If they caught him and pinned even just the theft he''d committed tonight on him, the game was over and his life was ruined. Even if he would only wind up going for a few years, that would be enough to ruin any future he had. To give up so easily when faced with his first real bit of criminal adversity, he would have been going back on a promise he''d made to himself to give it everything he had to make this work. The last resort, as it was. "I''m sorrier about it than you think I am," Null eventually said, putting his hands back up, prepared to fight or flee again, "No excuses though." He was either getting away or he was going to prison. This was officially the dumbest idea he''d ever come up with in his sixteen years of life on Earth. A stutter-step forward put Batgirl and Robin on the defensive, allowing Null to turn tail and take a standing jump, clearing an entire street to land on another rooftop and try to run. The sound of a gun going off gave way to the end of a grappling line stabbing into a water tower in front of Null as he ran. Turning around to see just how close his pursuers were, it gave him the time to cover up and block a pair of Batgirl''s feet from being driven into his body. Null was knocked to the roof by the kick, but he managed to push Batgirl off of him and roll back to his feet in a single move. Upon standing he had to knock away a punch from Robin before retaliating with a side kick that hit nothing but air. ''Gotta get him down,'' Null thought to himself, pursuing Robin in the hopes of landing a strike good enough to take him down. Stopping in his pursuit upon feeling a presence darting at him from out of his sight, he spun around with a wheel kick that Batgirl ducked by the points of the bat ears on her mask. "Can he sense us move?" Batgirl asked, standing with Robin after avoiding Null''s blind kick. She knew she''d been dead silent in her approach. Only Batman himself would have been savvy enough to know that she had been approaching, and the newly christened concealed crook didn''t catch her as being that perceptive. Robin shook his head, not knowing how to answer. Null had done the same thing to him when he''d first found him, and he''d been moving even faster than Batgirl had been at the time, "I don''t see how, but otherwise I couldn''t tell you what it could be. He knows something we don''t." But he seemed unsure in the way he moved when he fought. Null had a few slick moves, but Robin was a top-level martial artist. Just from dealing with him, he could tell that Null wasn''t quite sure if he was using his techniques correctly. Even if he could sense danger, he didn''t have the talent to actually do anything about much of it. Locking eyes with Batgirl, Robin moved in tandem with her right at Null. Whatever chance he had before to make a decent account of himself was quickly dashed. For every punch or kick he managed to block, three or four landed on him regardless. Even rolling with the blows the way he''d been taught did nothing when he wound up turning his head or body right into the path of a hit from another ?ssailant. Null had lost count of how many times he''d been hit and wound up reaching out for anything to grab just to keep from falling backwards. What he wound up grabbing was Batgirl''s cape over her shoulder immediately after taking a punch from her. Thinking he''d been playing possum to a degree she turned and threw Null as hard as she could, sending him sprawling across the remainder of the roof until he dropped off of the edge. Batgirl''s jaw dropped and was quickly followed by the sound of a crash over the side of the building, "Oh no." Robin winced at the sound and hoped that they hadn''t killed a thief by accident while trying to bring him down. That was way too far for things to have been taken, "¡­Damn. I guess you got him," Unacceptably far, especially just for a teenager that had been stealing, and not even anything dangerous or important, "We''ve gotta go check." Nodding in agreement, Batgirl dropped down to survey the scene. Only to find nothing. No trace of anything. No body, dead or otherwise. Nothing. It didn''t make any sense. "Okay, he might be badder than we thought he was," Robin said, staring at the complete lack of anything resembling Null in the alley, "He''s gone?" Batgirl knew she''d heard metal smash and saw a massive dent in the hood of a nearby abandoned car. "Wow. He must have landed on his feet and made a run for it," She tried to deduce. From how he''d dodged her bolas, how he''d jumped an entire street just from a standing position while turning around, and other things he''d done he had great athleticism, and from how he''d dodged and reacted to a good number of their moves he had smashing reflexes, "He was pretty fast so he probably got a good jump on us." Activating the lenses in her cowl, they changed to analyzing goggles, but that bore no fruit for her. Not even any footprints to tell them which way he might have gone. No blood, nothing. Where did that sort of showing come from? He b?r?ly seemed like he knew what he was doing at first and then he lost them in a heartbeat. If Batman found out they lost a bad guy, he was going to kick their ?sses when he got back. Hoping to pick up Null''s trail as he couldn''t have gotten too far, both Robin and Batgirl left the scene to try and see if they could find him in the midst of his fleeing. He''d been heading downtown at first, so maybe they could blanket the possible paths he could take and cut him off. And they left the still and quiet, cold alleyway, with only the sound of distant vehicles and city noise echoing into the passage. In the dark, with the soft sound of scratching on the concrete, what looked at first glance to be just a form-fitting parchment of the pavement began to move slowly. It had taken everything Null had to remain perfectly still and silent. Tears pricked at his eyes the entire time, but he had no other choice. Playing dead and relying on a facet of his parents'' suit had been his only choice. Adaptable camouflage. His suit could change to any color and visual texture he wanted to. Even the temperature of the suit would adapt automatically if he pressed himself against enough of something for long enough. Why his parents had kept this for as long as they had without selling it to someone, Null would never know. The military probably would have paid them enough to keep them set for life if they''d managed to get it to them. But it wasn''t his primary concern at the moment. His main concern was the awful landing he''d just taken courtesy of the Batman Family of superheroes. His entire right side screamed at him to both turn over onto his left side and stay perfectly still at the same time, "Urrgggh¡­" Null slowly crawled on the ground after figuring that Robin and Batgirl were gone, but he soon wished he hadn''t. Lying motionless on the cold ground had been so comfortable compared to even so much as moving a muscle. He couldn''t have hit the hood of that car any harder if Batgirl had actually been trying to throw him off of that roof. "Yeah, I jumped off of the car and ran for it alright," Null grunted out sarcastically, mocking Batgirl''s overestimation of his capabilities, "Give me a break. What do I look like here?" As bad as it made him feel, he had to stand, had to get up. He couldn''t stay on the ground. Gotham City was the absolute last place on the planet anyone wanted to find themselves injured in an alley. He had to at least try and get home and get himself some help. Getting up was slow going, but when he did he found a silver lining; nothing was broken, even if everything hurt. He''d kept his small haul, and at least for the time being, he was free of caped crusaders. But it stuck in his head just how close he''d come to losing it all on his very first brush with Gotham''s finest. If it had been Batman, no suit camouflage would have saved his ?ss. He wouldn''t have even been able to push the issue far enough to luck into the circumstance to use it. ¡­Because that was what it had been. Dumb luck. Pure dumb luck had gotten him out of trouble on that night Null thanked God he was only in this for the short term. If he had to deal with this sort of thing for the rest of his life, it would have been enough to bring him to his knees. This is just an experiment. I''ve thought about doing this for a while, and I finally decided to give it a go. Every hero or villain has a reason to become and remain a hero or a villain, or at least they try to come up with a concrete one in their own mind. DC Superheroes are pretty straight-up like that. I wanted to try and introduce a character that doesn''t want any part of the encompassing good versus evil, superpowered, aliens attacking things that you get with comics. Null is a thief, or at least that''s all he wants to be, but he doesn''t want to be some sort of soulless person that won''t do something when he knows he can. Granted, there isn''t much he can actually do to even protect himself or ensure his own interests at the moment, but that will change. He doesn''t have any compulsion to rob or fight for some higher aim. His sense of right and wrong isn''t supposed to be above his own sense of self-preservation, and as of now he''s very ''me first''. There''s no reason for him not to be. He isn''t twisted enough to be a proper villain, and his sense of justice isn''t strong enough for him to martyr himself as a hero. He''s as close to a normal person as I think I can muster. His primary delusion and main fatal flaw is that he thinks that when he''s had enough, he can get himself out. No matter how deep he gets, just as long as he never gets busted or unmasked. He has to think so. It''s the only reason he accepted the idea of becoming a thief in the first place. Well¡­ that and he b?r?ly knows anything about his own suit other than what it does for him¡­ and his b?r?-bones combat training that he is now painfully aware isn''t enough. It''s supposed to be the closest example I think I can give of what a somewhat normal person without great resources or circumstances of origin would do if they were repeatedly forced into the outrageous world of heroes and villains. Eventually if all goes to plan, it will expand into the greater DC Universe. Like I said, just an experiment really. So long for now. Kenchi out. Chapter End Chapter 10 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 5 - The Tale of Gecko DCU Plot: A ninja has just left his village for reasons unknown as he made his way to Jump city where events unfold putting all his skills to the test as he will make friends, enemys, and even find love. Pairing: OCxRaven In the late evening hooded figure was seen walking through Jump City, he seemed a little out of place in the city as the few people out at this hour were stareing at him wondering why he was wearing a brown tattered cloak, and...was that a sword pokeing out of the corner of his cloak? A grumbleing noise came from the cloaked figure''s stomach signaling that he was hungry. "Excuse me?" The hooded figure asked in a polite tone to a passing woman "Uh yes?" The brown haired woman said in an unsure tone "Do you know where the nearest restaurant is?" The hooded figure asked "Oh its just a couple blocks down, its shaped like a pizza so you can''t miss it." The brown haired woman answered, he was so polite! "Thank you, miss." The hooded figure bowed to the brown haired woman suprising her, he then walked in the direction that the woman pointed out "You might want to get away from the vicinity for now..." The hooded said and this startled the woman in to acting as she ran away "Now, lets see whats going on over there..." The hooded figure muttered as he ran towards the pizzarea at a fast pace (Center of Jump) While at the center of the city a green haze rose from a raised crater infront of a popular pizza joint in which was in one of the city''s plazas, the haze cleared it reavealed a girl who had strange orange skin and long auburn hair. But the strangest were her eyes as they were glowing neon green, that was the first thing that pierced through the haze as it cleared. On her face she wore a sort of M-shaped face guard that sort of traced her jaw, around her neck she had a broach set in a silver pauldron like guard just above her ?h?st. She wore silver shoulder pads, and her arms, stomach, and th??hs were covered in purplish segmented body armor. She also had on a black form fiting tank top that stopped just above where her stomach would be,a black skirt with a silver belt, and black th??h length boots with silver trim and soles. She also seemed to have a bulky white and black-trimmed device locked onto her forearms leaving her elbows free, the two matching cylinders held in place by a bolt between the two sides, and at the front were connected by a U-shaped hinge of dark grey metal with a red-armored bolt. "Slopforn ivortmat!" she growled as she slid down the stone slabs. "Slopforn! Ond gudshik zerrole!" she growled in some alien language, holding her forearms at them while the people gathered backed away seeming to think that the restraint was a sort of weapon. (I''m winging it with the language here...) One of the people gathered, in his fear, snapped a picture with his camera, the flash causing the girl to back up and shield her eyes. Now angered, a battle cry escaped her as she swung out her resrained arms in a rampage that freaked the people around her out and they started to run away as she made a new crater in the ground. This was the scene that the hooded figure came to as he took in the girl smashing verious objects with her restraints, trying to break them off. "Such strength..." The hooded figure muttered as he saw the ease in which the girl smashed the things that should take a person three times her size to break. The hooded figure was standing atop a nearby building, it was unseen how he got there. "Why is she so enraged?" The figure asked himself as the people ontop of the pizza shaped building watched the chaos The figure watched as the green-eyed girl seemed to struggle with her restraints, only to slump forward in defeat. She then perked up a moment later and jumped up next to the support beam that held the pizza joint''s balcony aloft and smashed her cuffs against the side of it, plaster sent flying and people knocked out of their seats. "X''hal! Yark! Mesnef!" she cursed as she swung her restraints into the support column with each curse, warping it with each swing until the pizza slice-shaped balcony broke off entirely, a few civilians left hanging off the edges for standing too close. "Kuso!" The figure cursed in a different language as he lept off the building and in an impressive show of agility, ran down the side of it and jumped off onto the balcony. He then grabbed the nearest pedestrian and pulled him back onto the balcony. He then repeated the action with the others, who then leapt back into the main building in a panic scrambaling to get away. The figure then looked back over the balcony and saw that the girl was about to take a fourth swing at the abused pillar, only for the sound of metal meeting metal to reach his ears a dual-tone grey bird-like projectile struck the girl in her right temple. Following the direction in which the projectile was thrown and spotted who most likely had thrown it standing atop a car. "Who are you?" the spiky-haired teen demanded, his hair most likely swept back by hair gel. He wore tight green pants held up by a yellow segmented belt with numerous compartments and a circular black-trimmed buckle, black boots with metal tips, a red vest with green sleeves and a yellow R over a black circle, a black cape with yellow lining around his neck and shoulders, and had green gloves that stopped just short of his elbows. He wore a black and white domino mask, and was most identifiable by his hero persona, Robin, sidekick of Gotham City''s ''Dark Knight'', Batman. "Hmmm that is a strange attire..." The figure muttered not recognising Robin The girl did not answer Robin and deamed him a threat as she jumped forward and smashed the ground creating a fissure that the figure could feel from the ruined balcony which he quickly got off of. The figure then landed on the ground in a crouch watching the fight escalate, debateing weather to intervene or not... The alien girl took several swings at Robin, who deftly dodged each swing. Throwing an exploding disk at her after leaping over his shoulder, the three failed to notice the presence of a grey-skinned figure in a dark blue hooded cloak, stopping short of her ankles, she was watching the fight with her amythest colored eyes. The alien girl suprised Robin by effortlessly tossing a car into the air with her right foot before kicking it with a spin, the spiky-haired sidekick ducking to the ground as the automobile spun end over end, flying several thousand feet before it found home in the side of a building, which made an explosion but the car was still intact confusing the figure. "Hm. Stronger than she looks," Robin spoke seeing how far the thing flew, turning around only for the alien girl to deck him across the face with a wild double haymaker, sending him rolling across the ground before coming to a stop, just narrowly dodging another double axe handle into the ground which most likely would''ve powdered every bone in his body. Quickly whipping out a grey pipe from his belt, he then extended it into a full bo staff, which he brought into the side of the girl''s head and sent her flying into the air, her body making a dent on the car in her path. The teen whipped out his bo staff again, only for it to crumble into pieces as though it were made of glass. "That is suprising..." The figure muttered as he saw this Wrenching herself free from the vehicle, the orange skinned girl simply cracked her neck to the right with an audible cracking sound all with a smirk on her face. "Zota," she said having hardly felt the hit at all and rushing at the with another overhead swing, only for the figure''s eyes to widen under his hood as a green mountain goat suddenly came out of nowhere and blindsided her. What really caught him off guard was that the goat then transformed into a little green-skinned teen. "So many wonders in the world." The figure said in suprise "Ex-Doom Patrol member Beast Boy, Sir! How can I help-" he asked with a salute before growing wide eyed. "Wowzers. You''re Robin aren''t you sir?" he asked. His attire consisted of a purple jumpsuit with black sides encompassing his shoulders and arms, his jumpsuit''s pants styled into purple shorts with the rest of his legs black, with a grey belt with a circular buckle, gloves, around his waist and on his hands. His shoes were segmented purple sneakers with black trim and grey soles. On his mask he wore a grey mask with a purple top, leaving only his green face exposed beneath his eyes, which had dark rings around them like a raccoon''s, and overly-large pointed ears like an elf''s. His looks suprised the figure as he had never seen features like this before. "Well you can start by not calling me sir," Robin rebuttled, the figure was hidden in the shadow''s out of sight, hmmm he must be the serious type... "Well let me just say that it''s a real honor to be-" he said with stars in his eyes as he held his salute. "Uh, Beast Boy, was it?" he said getting the teen''s attention. "Yes sir?" he asked, Robin pointing him in the general direction of the girl he''d blindsighted. Beast boy''s eyes widened as the the alien girl suddenly lifted an entire city bus above her head, sending it flying at the two with a mighty heave. As the two dodged, a large figure jumped into the way of the bus and surprisingly caught it, his feet digging trenches across the ground before he set the vehicle down. "Yo! Who''s here messin'' up my neighborhood!" the African-American teen shouted loudly. He was extremely tall and extremely muscular under a pair of black sweat pants, a grey sweat shirt that showed off his massive build, black boots, and dark grey gloves on his hands. His hood was up and the shadow cast by his cowl hid the majority of his upper face, his left eye glowing red surprisingly. "She started it," Beast boy said pointing to the alien girl as she walked towards them. "Hraaa-AH!" she shouted as she brought her restraints down onto the street, causing a massive quake to send every car bouncing off the ground and debris to be knocked around by the sudden impact. Standing to full height, the alien girl''s restraints fell away, or to be more specific, the outer layer, revealing a second set of restrains in light grey with black trim, a bolt down the sides, but this time revealing her hands, which had violet armor on the backs. Raising her hands and clenching her fists, the girl''s hands began to glow the same color as her eyes as she aimed them at the three teens, a long, dual-volley of energy bolts being launched off the ends of her fists towards the three, but the figure then decided that he had seen enough and zipped infront of the three suprising them as he drew a long katana that had a silver blade, a square dark steel guard, and the handle was green with white accents. The hooded teen then seemed to deflect all of her energy bolts with the katana''s blade into the ground causing a dust cloud to form, the teens stared with suprise as they saw the skill that the hooded teen had with the Katana. The girl then stopped her ?ssault and the four then ran out of the dust cloud and running at her before splitting off off to hit her front and side flanks. Swinging her arms around, she took aim at each of the four before they circled around, hiding behind a bus as the majority of her shots peppered the city for blocks, mini-explosions going off and causing untold collateral damage. The attack completed, the girl''s hands began to give off steam as she slumped forward slightly, the effort having taken a lot out of her. "Where did you come from?" Robin asked the hooded figure as he was gaining his breath back "It is not important at the moment, if she is not stopped I fear that she will continue on her rampage." The hooded figure answered in a slight polite tone "Yeah, the dude has a point there." The large guy in the sweat suit agreed as he leaned on the bus "I won''t let her!" Robin answered as he brought his right fist into his left hand. "I won''t lose this fight!" he said as he ran around the side of the bus, only for a massive raven-shaped silhouette of dark energy to suddenly rise out of the ground in front of them, screeching into the air and halting their advance before a new figure materialized from behind them, seemingly out of the shadows themselves. "Maybe, fighting isn''t the answer," a quiet, purple-eyed grey-skinned girl said as she walked towards them. Over her body she wore a dark dark blue cloak that went down to her ankles, a black and gold broach on the left, the cowl of her hood hiding the upper portion of her face, the only other visible part of her being her blue-clad feet. "...So many wonders..." The hooded figure whispered as he saw the silhouette as it dissolved. Robin then silently looked at the kneeling girl as her hands still steamed from her attack. "Stand down." Robin ordered and Beast boy saluted, the sweat suit wearing teen did not seem to like this and voiced his displeasure. "What, you think your the boss or somthin?" The sweat suit wearing teen asked, angerly raising a fist "Just give me a chance." Robin said and the sweat suit wearing teen seemed to accept that "Be careful, she seems to have culture shock, added to that she seems not to understand english." The hooded teen added Robin nodded at the hooded teen''s advice and walked towards the kneeling girl who was panting. The girl then stood up and raised her arms, fists starting to glow green as she took his advance as a threat causing Robin to back up and raise his hands in a calming gesture. "Easy, my name is Robin, and I just wanna help..." Robin said, while it is true that she may not understand english maybe the tone of his voice will help, as he said this he slowly lowered his left hand to a compartment on his belt. "Gota, gota buagna!" The alien girl said stepping forward threateningly if Robin took out a weapon, but that did not happen. "It''s ok, look." Robin said showing the lock pick to the girl with a smile She stared at his endearing smile and faltered, her eyes ceasing to glow, revealing them to be a light green through her sclera, her irises a shade of emerald green. Robin then slowly put his hands on her cuffs, her hands ceaseing their glow as he worked on the cuffs lock. The girl stareing at him as he did so before looking down as her cuffs hit the floor causing Robin to move his foot so as not to get it crushed by them. "There, now maybe we can be-!" Robin said only for his words to be muffled as the alien girl suddenly pulled him into a kiss by the back of his neck, her eyes closed as Robin''s widened behind his mask before she suddenly pushed him away, the surprised former side-kick landing on his ?ss. "If you do not wish to be destroyed, then you will leave me alone!" the alien girl suddenly growled out in english before flying away, "So... I''m Beast Boy. Who''re you?" Beast Boy asked everyone as they simply gawked, wanton destruction all abound. (A few minutes later) A few minutes after the initial shock of the alien girl''s departure, wanton destruction all around, the group broke out of their stupor, the hooded teen speaking first in a confused tone. "I may be new to this country, but that was not normal no?" The hooded figure asked slowly, which gained the attention of the rest of the group "No, it isn''t..." The grey-skinned girl answered wondering which country he was from. "Well, whoever she was, the girl knows how to make an impression," the African teen stated as the hooded teen nodded agreeing with him... "I think we made a pretty good impression," Beast Boy said with a grin. "Crazy space girl''s gone, the city''s saved. Mission accomplished. Right sir?" he asked Robin. "Seriously. Stop calling me that," he asked flatly "Roger," Beast Boy said giving a rigid salute. "Looks like we''re done here. I appreciate the help," Robin said walking down the street. "You''re going to track down the alien?" the grey-skinned girl asked. "I have to find out whether or not she''s a threat," the spiky-haired teen said as he left "...More like find out if she''ll give him another kiss..." The large teen said silently as the Hooded teen stood there, confused at what to do... Beast boy then ran off after Robin. "Hey sir, uh, I mean, Robin. Do you maybe-" "Sorry, I just went solo. I''m not really looking to join a team," the Boy Wonder said flatly before walking off. "Need a sidekick?" the green-skinned boy asked scratching the back of his head before turning around. "You guys wanna get a pizza?" he then asked the other three animatedly. "I shouldn''t..." the cloaked girl said walking away, this left him to go after The hooded teen and the large african teen "What about you?" Beast boy asked the hooded teen "Um...what does pizza taste like?" The hooded figure asked confused as Beast boy''s eyes widened and he suddenly grabbed his wrist suprising him as he pulled him after the sweat suited teen "You have not lived my friend!" Beast boy said animated as they followed the Large teen "You''ll have loads of fun with us! We can play video game-" He was interupted when they both bumped into the teen''s back as he stopped "There! Take a good long look!" he shouted pulling away his hood, revealing the left side of his face down to his jaw to be covered in grey metal, the top of the left side of his head, the side of his right, and the left side of his neck inset with dark and light blue mechanical parts. "I had an accident, and now I''m a monster alright. A cyborg." "Cyborg? Cool! You''re like Robot Man 2.0!" Beast Boy said happily looking the teen over from multiple angles as the hooded teen stared amazed by the teen. "There are so many wonders in this country!" The hooded teen said excitedly, suprising Cyborg "You guys are weird little dudes you know that?" he asked flatly. "Hehe. You called us dudes," the green teen returned with a smile. "Okay, so... see you later. Right, dude?" he said as the cyborg pulled his hood up and started walking away. A few seconds later however, a massive silhouette moved through the sky, causing Beast Boy to call out "DUUUDE!" loudly as the red and orange-trimmed ship of alien origin flew over the city towards the island in the center of the bay. The hooded teen was stunned into silence as his brain cranked to a halt as he saw this... Shortly after the alien ship had shown up, a large orange-armored torch the size of the Statue of Liberty''s was jettisoned onto the island in the center of Jump City Bay. "Looks like space girl has friends." Cyborg said as he saw this "Or enemys..." Robin said as he walked up next to the hooded teen as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs... After touching down, a massive hologram, so large you could see it from every point in the city was a giant, ugly, reptilian fish-like alien covered in dark green scales and off-gold armor. "...That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen..." The hooded teen said as the others agreed with him "People of earth." It started "We come to your planet in search of an escaped prisoner, a very dangerous prisoner." "Do not interfere, and we will leave your city with only minimal damage." It continued "But, if you attempt to ?ssist her...your destruction will be absolute." then the hologram ended "Thats a big ship..." Cyborg said as the torch seemed to open to reveal more of the ugly aliens "And those are some scarey looking aliens..." Beast boy said as they took off on bat shaped wings "Ugly too..." The hooded teen added "They told us not to interfere..." The grey-skinned girl said "Your still going after her?" The hooded teen stated rather then asked as Robin nodded "Can we come too?" Beast boy asked excitedly "...I suppose I could team up, just this once."Robin answered smiling which caused the rest to smile back and follow, but the grey-skinned girl hung back unsure... "You in?" Robin asked as he noticed that she hung back "...I''m not the hero type." The grey-skinned girl said turning away "Trust me, if you knew what I really am, you wouldn''t want me around..." That statement caused the hooded teen to frown under his hood as he recognised what she was feeling, loneliness... He then toutched the girl''s shoulder suprising her. "We know enough." The hooded teen said smiling which made her give a small smile back A few minutes later as the aliens destroyed most of the things that they came across looking for the girl, the five of them his in a nearby alley watching the aliens as they left to look elsewhere. "Ok we need some way to track-" Robin said be fore he was cut off, suprisingly it was the quiet grey-skinned girl "She''s near." They all looked at her as she said that, "I can sense things." She muttered shyly "...Cool." The hooded teen said, this caused her to blush under her hood but it was not seen. "...You don''t get out much do you?" Cyborg asked as the Hooded teen''s stance grew embaressed "Ah I have not seen much outside my village, I am, how you say...a country bumkin..." The hooded teen said in an embaressed tone "How much of one?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow "...I did not know that airplane''s existed untill a few weeks ago..." The hooded teen said which suprised the group "Hang on,I''ll see if I can pick up her scent!" Said Beast Boy as he turned into a dog and started to sniff around which suprised the Hooded teen "How many times will I be suprised today...?" The Hooded teen asked in a defeated tone, the grey-skinned girl patted the taller teen''s back sympitheticly "I think you get used to it after a while..." The grey-skinned girl said to him which made him feel a bit better... "I have a sonic analyzer in my arm if she''s around, I''ll hear it." Cyborg said as he pulled back his sleave and looked at it. "I''ve got her trail!" Beast boy said as he quickly turned back into a dog again. "...And I''ve got her heartbeat!" Cyborg said and they all followed a trail leading to a video store that had a melted hole in the wall...the alien girl was most likely there. And they walked in to see her eating the food in a frenzy with the wrappers still on, then Beast Boy decided to let her know that we were here, "Um those taste better without the wrappers." the alien girl rounding on them with balls of glowing energy in her hands, causing them all to go on guard. "It''s alright. We''re friends remember," Robin said trying to placate her, he had spent the most time talking with her, even if it was only a few seconds before being dropped on his ?ss. "Friends? Why? For what purpose did you free me?" she asked as she stalked towards the group with glowing hands, the five teens backing away slowly. "Just trying to be nice!" Robin said awkwardly "Nice? We do not have this word on my planet closest is Rutha, weak!" She said her glowing eyes narrowing Cyborg said, "Well around here nice means nice and if you want us to keep being nice than you better tell us why the Lizard King took you prisoner!" Not prisoner. I am... prize," she said as her hands and eyes ceased glowing as she adopted a saddened pose. "The Gordanians deliver me to the Citadel. To live out my days as their servant." "And the Citadel are..." the cloaked girl asked, trailing off as she waited for an explanation. "Not, nice," the girl returned evenly. "Then you''re not going with them. Not if I have anything to say about it," Robin stated giving her a thumbs up. "I as well, I cannot stand by while someone is used like a trophy..." The hooded teen said evenly with controled anger Um, don''t you mean we?" Beast Boy asked before the side of the building exploded inward, the place being swarmed with reptilian fish-like aliens moments later. At the shout of "Seize her!''", the aliens flew forward, intent on reclaiming their prisoner. Rushing into battle, the gathered six teens took on their own number of the fish-like aliens. The group''s cyborg struck his alien with a double axe handle, Beast Boy transformed into a rhino and sent several flying into the air off the end of his charge, the alien girl decked a dozen or so with a super-powered punch like Superman''s, Robin knocked a few away with a kick and another bo staff, while the cloaked girl sent several others flying with her dark powers. Looking over her shadows, the pale-skinned girl saw the hooded teen surounded on all sides and went to go help but was too late as the aliens stabbed him with their spears making them smirk, but they quickly lost their smirks as all they hit was an empty cloak confusing them. Then a black and green blur dropped out of the air and set an ?ssault of punches and round house kicks the blur then stopped alowing the girl to see his features as he held a beaten alien in his left hand. He had spiky black hair that went to his chin and some was tied into a pony tail that went to his back, around his neck he had a neon green scarf that covered his mouth. He also had bright green eyes that were slited like a lizard''s would be, a scar over his right eye that started above his eyebrow and ended at the middle of his cheek. He had on a black tank top that had two neon green talon marks at his shoulders and his midriff, he also had black bandages around his forearms and left his fingers uncovered. Around his waist he had a black sash belt that had neon green pouches and was tied with a jewel, he had on plain black cargo pants and black steel toed boots, but he also had neon green sort-of wrap that looked like it had something under them. "Heads up!" The black haired teen shouted as he threw the alien over her head into another alien that was about to sneak up on her. She nodded at him thankful at the ?ssist before she turned back to what she was doing. The alien girl flying backwards out of the video rental store and blasting several aliens with her glowing energy attacks before she was sent to the ground. As one of them got ready to shoot her with his spear, Robin quickly swung his alien around into its back and sent it flying, the alien girl smirking as the fight moved outside. The African teen, after grappling with his and being forced to the ground, rolled out of the way before flipping and landing, only to be pelted with energy attacks. When the smoke cleared, his full form was revealed, showing that only his biceps and the majority of his face were still organic. He had semi-transparent components on his th??hs, forearms, and shoulders, while the rest of his body was white and grey with black armor underneath and grey trim separating his body''s components. Clearly angered by the loss of his outfit, he leapt at one of the aliens and broke its spear before throwing it into several others. As the ones not hit continued to fire at him, Beast Boy suddenly transformed into a green-skinned pterodactyl and took to the air. As they were about to get hit the black haired teen suprised them by using an impressive show of agility as he used ninja like moves and drew the katana strapped to his back and quickly slashed at all the aliens spears causing them to implode sending the aliens flying. "Are you a Ninja!" Beast Boy shouted as he saw the Black haired teens agility. "Yes, why?" The Black haired one asked confused as he jump kicked another alien with ease "Awesome!" Beast boy shouted excitedly To finish the battle, the cloaked girl ripped a lamp pose out of the ground with her powers, which gave it a black aura before she used it to send a few of the aliens flying away and to the ground. Looking up in defeat, the aliens quickly flew off into the night sky, leaving the six teens to get back together after the battle had been done. "I believe your expression is... thanks," Starfire said, sounding rough at the beginning, but endearing at the end. Aw man, my suit," the cyborg of the group ?r??n?d as he tugged at the tattered remains of his clothing. "So? You look way cooler without it," Beast Boy said with a grin and a thumbs up. "Yeah. Like I''m taking fashion advice from the kid in the goofy mask," Cyborg said back at him. "Goofy? My mask is cool. Isn''t it? Raven?" he asked turning to the cloaked girl, her and the cyborg simply shaking their heads. "Is it...Ummmm?" Beast boy asked the Ninja but did not know his name. "You can call me Gecko, and sorry but it is...goofy." The black haired teen now called Gecko answered But...But what about my secret identity?" he asked tugging at his mask. "What secret identity? You''re green," Raven quipped flatly "And you have fangs." Gecko added politely The green-skinned teen searched for a response only to come up with none, removing his mask revealing a head of short green spiky hair a moment later, his ears normally-proportioned despite what his mask portrayed. "This isn''t over now that we interfered-." Started Robin Trogaar will strike harder," the alien girl interrupted. "It is only a matter of-" she said only to be interrupted by another hologram appearing in the sky above Jump City. "FOOLS!" The Alien they thought was Trogaar shouted "The Earth Scum were warned, you''re insolence will be punished, you''re city shall be... destroyed!" and the hologram ended The massive alien ship flying over the middle of the city as a massive orange-armored particle beam cannon extended, glowing brightly as it began to charge and caused people to scatter in every direction like scared rodents. "That...is a large gun..." Gecko said slowly with a slightly slack jaw under his scarf, while Raven only nodded in agreement since it wouldn''t be worth it to comment further. Gecko''s statement made it clear enough... So... After trashing the pizza place and a perfectly good video store, now we''ve managed to make a humongous space gecko mad enough to vaporize our entire town?" Beast Boy asked in shock. Gecko then coughed a little at that causing Beast boy to look at him apoligeticly. "Go team..." Cyborg said sarcasticly "All the fault is yours. I commanded you to leave me alone, but you insisted upon being nice!" the alien girl growled at the spiky-haired teen. "My fault? You blast me! Kiss me! Yet you fail to mention that they have a giant partical weapon!" Robin demanded as red lightning arced between him and the alien "escapee" as they glared at eachother. Things soon quickly degenerated into childish arguing between Beast Boy and Cyborg, leaving Gecko and Raven watching the pointless bickering. Gecko was confused at what to do, he has never been in this kind of situation before but it turns out he did not need to act... Raven shouted, "QUIET!" They all looked at her, suprised at the outburst from the normaly quiet girl. "Hi." She said shyly at their stareing. "Look, it doesn''t matter how we got into this mess," Robin said grooming his hair. "We''re in it, and we will get out of it. Together," he said rallying the others behind him, each nodding in agreement "Then lets go we have a city to save afterall." Gecko said in his polite tone (The spaceship) A few minutes later inside the spaceship in a hall away from the massive particle weapon, an orb of darkness suddenly rose out of the floor before parting, revealing the six teens as they stepped towards the horizontally-mounted energy condenser, orienting themselves to the ship''s design so that they wouldn''t walk the wrong way. "O-o-o-o-ogh..." Beast Boy shivered. "That dark energy stuff gives me the-" he said before suddenly stopping. "I mean, it''s cool! Heheh," he said giving two thumbs up, though clearly forced under the grey-skinned girl''s soul-piercing gaze. "I thought that it was intresting..." Gecko said confused, it was indeed very cool so why would Beast boy think it wasn''t? Raven felt that thought and blushed under her cowl, greatful that no one could see... "The most clich¨¦ villans usually are on the bridge." Gecko added as he had read many books. "Good idea, come on, there isn''t much time," he said leading the group down the hall, the alien girl and Beast Boy following him with Cyborg taking up their rear. Gecko noticed Raven had stopped and went over to her. "Why are you by yourself?" Gecko asked politely "You heard the kid. I don''t exactly fit in," she said flatly "I don''t think so," Gecko said sincerely, he then pulled down his scarf so that she could see his smile"I''m a ninja, he''s 80% percent metal," he said pointing to the cyborg. "He''s green," he said pointing to Beast Boy. "She''s from space," he said pointing to the red-head. "And he dresses like, what was it again...a traffic light, thats it!," he said slowly, figureing out the word as he grinned as he got it, pointing to Robin. "So you fit in just fine with us misfits." Gecko grinned putting a hand on her shoulder as he got a small giggle out of her at that last statement At the front, Robin scouted ahead, the alien girl stepping up to him and garnering his attention. "I bring you, a...pology," she stated solemnly. "Don''t worry about it. I''m sorry I yelled too," Robin returned. "And again, you are... nice," she returned. "On my planet, only my K''Norfka has shown me such... kindness." "Well, things are different here," Robin said with a smile, the two of them sharing a rather intimate moment before- Then Beast Boy said, "Uh guys I think that they know that we''re here!" as the Aliens surounded them from the front and the back, the all got in their ready positions (The Bridge) "Lord Trogaar. The weapon has reached full power," an Alien said in the bridge to his captain, who turned his chair around to face the soon-to-be-demolished city. "Then begin the firing sequence," Trogaar ordered, his troops tapping incessantly at the controls, a timer in an obscure alien language slowly counting down counter-clockwise. "The Earth scum shall learn, it takes more than six juvenile heroes, to defy the mighty Lord Trogaar," he said placing his clawed hands on his h?ps as he got up from his chair. Down the ship''s bow, the weapon began charging orange, though the door was blown out behind him a moment later, the six teens walking out of the dust cloud after fighting their way through the swarm of alien warriors. "We''re not six heroes. We''re one team," Robin said as Beast Boy, Gecko, and the cyborg stood at his sides, the alien girl and Raven floating in the air before they all charged at the aliens, who charged upon Trogaar''s command. Splitting up, Robin and Gecko, together, flew into a kung fu kick and decked an alien, while Cyborg used the shockwave off his double axe handle to send another two flying. Beast Boy had transformed into a kangaroo and delivered a double kangaroo kick, and the alien girl knocked out another one with a dynamic glowing-fist uppercut. Gecko put his hands in a cross position and yelled "Kai!" and two clones of him stood at his sides as they together closed lined another alien and sweep kicked another as one of his clones landed his feet on its face knocking the alien out. Beast Boy, fighting another two, was caught off guard and send flying into a wall, Raven coming to his defense as an alien ran at him, blocking the attacks with a shield born of dark energy. Robin and the cyborg then began grappling with their own aliens, Gecko then despelled his clones and slamed his knee into another aliens gut causing it to slump over. A few seconds into the grapple, the Boy Wonder was sent flying, the alien girl calling his name before one of the aliens rushed her. Fists glowing neon green, she began shucking energy ball as him, only for the alien to rush her and pin her to the ground with its massive hand, then lift her up before doing so again. Before he could do so again, the girl struck him in the face with a glowing fist before the cyborg rushed him and decked him as well, the two striking him another two times with great strength. However, the alien forced them back with a few powerful blows, Cyborg landing on the ground hard, and a few of the plates on his right forearm shifting out of place. "Can you reconfigure that into some sort of weapon?" Robin asked. I can try," he said before ducking, Gecko being sent over his head and into the nearby wall by one of the alien''s uppercut, said aliens soon surrounding them, only to stop as a soft-spoken voice got their attention from behind. "Get away from my friends," Reven then said as she helped Beast Boy up. "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" she called out as her eyes glowed white within the cowl of her hood, the resulting explosion blowing out the ???kpit''s roof and canceling the particle weapon''s charge, the sudden loss of control causing the ship to crash into the bay. Getting up a few seconds later, Trogaar walked towards Raven and Beast Boy, his claws extending as he raised his arm to strike them down. In a flash Gecko was infront of Raven and Beast boy with his hand on his sword about to draw it,only for a blue and white-ringed beam to come off Cyborg''s arm and strike the alien in the back, causing the alien leader to fall flat on his face, Gecko sighed as he took his hand off his sword. "Alright, I''m only going to say this once," he said raising his arm, which was now configured into some kind of cannon. "Booya." (An hour later) After the battle had ended, with the aliens taking their working shuttles off the planet after their warship was grounded, the six teens found themselves on the coast of the island in the middle of Jump Bay facing the east, the sun rising in the distance. The alien torch had been left behind, clearly only meant for one-time deployment until it was retrieved and re-fitted for future use. "That''s quite a view," Raven said, her hood down revealing purple shoulder-length hair, angular eyebrows, and a red gemstone on her forehead. Her cloak was now hung at her shoulders, revealing a black leotard, black armlets, blue wristbands, and a pair of broaches on the backs of her gloves, while her belt was made of likewise broaches. "Somebody outta build a house out here," Cyborg stated with crossed arms. "Yeah. If you like sunshine, and the beach," Beast Boy said tapping Raven with his elbow. "Hmhm. You know, you''re kinda funny," she said with a ghost of a smile. "I do not get it..." Gecko said scratching his head "You think I''m funny? Oh-hoho. Dude, I know some jokes!" the greenette said with diamonds in his eyes, the purplette quickly regretting egging him on like she did. Beast boy then turned to Gecko... "And I''ll teach you everything about the world dude, I can even tell you all my jokes!" Beast boy said excitedly "Your not teaching him anything." Raven stated as she pulled the confused Gecko away from the green skinned boy who pouted, already forseeing the problems that would create... "Please, I look... nice?" the alien girl asked after stepping forward, revealing an outfit change. Most of her armor had been cast off except for that around her neck and forearms, revealing a fair deal more skin. Her tank top and boots which were silver-trimmed were now purple, and on her right bicep she wore a silver arm band. The M-shaped crest on her forehead was also gone, revealing a pair of small eyebrows that matched her hair, overall really bringing out her eyes and giving her an exotic look. "I... still don''t know your name," Robin stated after taking in the girl''s appearance. "In your language, it would be Star Fire," she said walking towards them. "Welcome to Earth, Starfire," Robin said with a smile. "I thank you all for your bravery and help, and I wish to ask permission. To remain here, where the people are most... strange, but also most... kind," Starfire said warmly. "You don''t need our permission," Raven said kindly. "But if you want our friendship, you''ve got it," Robin said. "And we can learn about the culture together." Gecko offered and Starefire smiled at that, glad that she was not alone in her quest to learn more about earth. "Besides, we kinda made a good team," Beast Boy stated with a smile. "I thought we might want to keep in touch, so Cyborg and I designed these," he said holding out four circular yellow walkie-talkies, black trim along the bottom, side bu??on, and a black antennae with a red bu??on on the side. "Made them outta my own circuits," the now-dubbed Cyborg said with crossed arms. "When there''s trouble, you know who to call." Robin stated crossing his arm''s with a smile And that was the start of a new begining... Chapter End Chapter 11 - Star Wars Fan-fiction 1 - My Daughter Plot: What if Darth Vader had realized who Princess Leia was when they met face to face? What would he have done differently had he known? Obviously an AU story. Pairing: Ani-Padme Chapter 1 "Lord Vader, we have the corvette aboard." The ebony clad giant simply nodded his understanding as he rose to his feet. "A squadron of stormtroopers," he said in his deep baritone. "Have them meet me in the docking bay immediately." "Yes my lord." Lord Darth Vader made his way from his Spartan quarters to the turbo-lift, preparing himself for the inevitable confrontation with the rebel scum aboard the ship. Several transmissions had been received by the Corellian Corvette, transmissions sent by members of the Rebel Alliance. Whoever it is, they will lead me to the Rebel Base. This is it¡­the break I have been waiting for. Perhaps this will appease my master¡­ Vader gave an involuntary shudder as he thought of his last audience with the galactic Emperor Palpatine. The emperor held Vader personally responsible for the spread of the Rebel Alliance, and did not make any pretense about it, punishing his apprentice both physically and psychologically for his failure to locate the Rebels'' base. And now he has that ghoul Tarkin breathing down my neck, Vader thought angrily, humiliated that the devious officer had been promoted to the position of Grand Moff and given command of the Death Star. That command should have been mine, Vader reflected irritably. Instead I have been relegated to chasing the rebel scum all over the galaxy. This ignominy only made Vader hate the Rebel Alliance more. I almost pity the commander of this vessel, he thought darkly as he strode down the corridor towards the hangar bay. A squadron of storm troopers were waiting for Vader outside the small ship. They parted to allow him to approach the vessel. "Open it," he said simply when he reached the magnetically sealed hatch of the vessel. Vader stood back and allowed the clones to do their work, preparing himself to face what lie within. No doubt they will try to stop us, he mused as he watched the clones at their work. Within a few moments they had brought down the door, and were flooding into the ship in a sea of white armor. Vader let the clones do their work, easily repelling the rebels'' pathetic attempt to stop the Imperial invasion. He stepped around the dead bodies of the men who had died to defend whoever was on board this vessel, ignoring them utterly in his quest to find the commander. "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer," the commander of the clone squadron informed Vader. Vader turned his menacing, black helmed head to Captain Antilles, the commander of the hapless vessel. He reached out one enormous black gloved hand and grabbed Antilles roughly by the neck, lifting him easily off the floor. "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?" Vader growled. "What have you done with those plans?" Antilles, loyal to the end, maintained his ignorance. "We intercepted no transmissions!" he gasped. "This is a consular ship. We''re on a diplomatic mission!" he wheezed. Vader was not convinced. "If this is a consular ship," Vader pronounced with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Where is the Ambassador?" Antilles still refused to speak, but eventually screamed in pain as Vader squeezed his enormous fist tighter. Soon the sound of snapping bones was heard, and Antilles went limp in Vader''s sinister embrace. The Dark Lord tossed the dead body against a bulkhead in disgust and then turned to the commander of the squadron. "Commander, tear this ship apart until you''ve found those plans, and bring me the Ambassador. I want her alive!" he roared before he strode out of the room. Now what, Vader thought irritably. If they are not on board, then where are the damnable plans? Plans: that was what this was all about. But not just any plans: plans of the Empire''s greatest weapon, the Death Star, an enormous armored space station with enough fire power to destroy an entire planet. Vader himself was less than impressed with the massive, lethal orb. It had taken the Imperial engineers nearly twenty years to complete it. Probably because that idiot Tarkin was in charge of the operation, he reflected. Vader resented that he was the one who had to chase down the stolen plans, when all along it was Tarkin who was, more than likely, responsible for them falling into enemy hands in the first place. But Vader had learned not to speak his mind; more than once he had paid a heavy price for his candor, and had learned to keep his opinion to himself. Instead, he did his duty, did as his emperor and master bade him to do, no matter how demeaning it seemed. "Lord Vader, we have captured a member of the Royal family of Alderaan," one of the minor officers informed him. "Princess Leia Organa. She is being brought to the detention cell right now." "I''d like a word with the princess," Vader said, standing up. He had long suspected that the Organa household was sympathetic to the Rebel cause. If the young princess were involved with the theft of the plans, it would prove once and for all that Alderaan was not to be trusted. Princess Leia Organa, the 19 year old adopted daughter of Bail Organa and his late wife, was led down a corridor by a squad of armored stormtroopers. Her hands were bound, and every so often she was brutally shoved when she was unable to keep up with the briskly Although never having met face to face, Princess Leia was well acquainted with the Dark Lord; his actions throughout the galaxy were well known, his reputation well deserved. As for Vader, he had thought of the young princess as a thorn in his side or close to a year now, ever since she had taken the post of senator representing her home world. Her outspokenness and open distain for the Empire smacked of treason to Vader, and he had looked forward to the day when he could prove the young woman''s treachery once and for all. Perhaps today would be that day. Vader stared at the young woman; all the words that he had planned to intimidate her with evaporating before they reached his mouth. As he stared at her, a strange feeling came over him, a feeling of familiarity, a feeling that, somehow, he knew her. But that can''t be¡­she is a traitor, a member of the royal household of Alderaan¡­an enemy of the Empire. For her part, Princess Leia was surprised by the Dark Lord''s silence, and decided to speak up before she lost her nerve. "Darth Vader," she spat, as though his name left a bad taste in her mouth. "Only you could be so bold! The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this! When they hear that you''ve attacked a diplomatic¡­." Vader cut her off. "Don''t act so surprised your Highness," he retorted sarcastically. "You weren''t on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you." Leia shook her head, her dark eyes full of indignation. "I don''t know what you''re talking about!" she retorted in exasperation. "I''m a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan!" Don''t play with me, child¡­.Vader thought angrily. "You are part of the Rebel Alliance...and a traitor! Take her away!" Leia was marched away down the hallway, Vader watching her intently, not being able to shake the strange feeling their encounter had created within him. "Lord Vader¡­.Lord Vader!" Vader turned to see one of his underlings standing there. "What is it?" he snapped. "Holding her is dangerous," the officer stated. "If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the senate." "I have traced the Rebel spies to her," Vader replied. "Now she is my only link to find their secret base." "She''ll die before she tells you anything," the officer returned. "Leave that to me," Vader replied coolly as his mind worked feverishly to find a reason to keep the young princess in his custody. "Send a distress signal and then inform the senate that all aboard were killed." Another officer approached Vader with his report. "Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship, and no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no life forms were aboard." Vader nodded his understanding. He turned to his second in command. "She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod," he reasoned. "Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander. There''ll be no one to stop us this time." "Yes, sir!" Chapter End Chapter 12 - Star Wars Fan-fiction 2 - Never Gone Plot: AU. Complete! Chp 32 up! The Jedi refuse to train Anakin. He returns to Tatooine in hopes of freeing his mother. But he and Padme keep in touch. Ten years later, Anakin sets out to reunite with the woman he loves. AnakinPadme. AU fic, Anakin is not a Jedi Pairing: Ani-Padme, Han-Leia Disclaimer: I don''t own anything. It all belongs to George. I also don''t own the song "Never Gone" by BSB. AN: Here''s a brand new story. Enjoy and please let me know what you think! This is an AU fic that starts out at Obi-Wan''s knighting at the end of episode I. Master Yoda forbids Obi-Wan to train Anakin and despite his promise to his master and he agrees. Therefore Anakin does not become a Jedi and he is free to love Padme. This will be kind of a fun, romantic, and s?xy story. But it will have the action, adventure and conflict as well. This story also has nothing to do with the A Matter of Trust/A Matter of Hope storyline. So enjoy! Never Gone Chapter 1: Never Gone The things we did, the things we said Keep coming back to me and make me smile again You showed me how to face the truth Everything that''s good in me I owe to you Though the distance that''s between us Now may seem to be too far It will never separate us Never gone, never far In my heart is where you are Always close, everyday Every step along the way Even though for now we''ve got to say goodbye I know you will be forever in my life Never gone "Trial enough your battle with the Sith was. Confer on you, the rank of Jedi Knight the council does," Yoda said, as he severed Obi-Wan''s padawan braid. "Thank you master. What of the boy? I promised master Qui-Gon that I would train him," Obi-Wan said. "Hmm...train the boy, you will not," Yoda said. "But master, I promised," Obi-Wan protested. "Just became a knight yourself. Ready for a padawan you think you are already?" Yoda asked. Obi-Wan lowered his head. He knew Master Yoda was right, he was not ready. Especially not for a boy as exceptionally gifted in the Force as Anakin. Perhaps, this would be for the best. "I''m sorry master," Obi-Wan silently apologized. "You''re right master. He did destroy the control ship and save Naboo, so I will allow him to accompany me back to Naboo for the celebration. Then, I will either let him stay or see that he returns to his mother on Tatooine. The queen is very fond of him, I''m sure she will see to his safety," Obi-Wan said. Yoda nodded satisfactorily. "But you promised that I would become a Jedi," Anakin said sadly. "I know Anakin and I''m sorry, but it''s just not meant to be. You''ll be returning to Naboo for the celebration. Then Queen Amidala says you can stay on Naboo or return to your mother. Perhaps someday, you''ll be able to free her," Obi-Wan suggested. Anakin bowed his head sadly. Obi-Wan ruffled his hair and left him with his thoughts. "Ani, can I come in?" Padme''s voice said through his door. "Sure," Anakin replied. "I''m sorry Ani, I know you must be disappointed. But I want you to know that you can stay on Naboo if you want," Padme said. She had come dressed in the simple attire of a handmaiden, rather than as the queen. "Why do you care about me? The Jedi don''t," Anakin replied sadly. "Ani, I will always care about you. You''re very special to me," Padme replied, as she brushed the blonde locks from his eyes. "I want to stay on Naboo...but I can''t leave my mom a slave. I have to go back and free her. When I do, I could come back, couldn''t I?" he asked. She smiled. "Of course. Here, I want you to have this," Padme said, as she handed him a small datapad. "What''s this?" Anakin asked. "It''s a data messenger. We can write to each other all the time with it," Padme said. Anakin''s eyes widened. "Really!" he asked. "Sure," she replied. Anakin returned to Naboo with Padme for the celebration for victory during the battle of Naboo. Shortly after that, Anakin shared a tearful goodbye with Padme before he would leave aboard a small Nubian cruiser that Padme had given to him. "I''ll miss you everyday," Anakin said. "I''ll miss you too Ani, but I know we''ll meet again. You''re never gone Ani, because in my heart is where you are," Padme replied. Anakin smiled, as the Force showed him a glimpse of his future. A future in which included Padme. He smiled. "I know. Goodbye Padme," Anakin said. "Goodbye Ani," she replied, as he boarded the ship and left Naboo. Padme was suddenly very sad, as was Anakin. But something told them both that they would meet again someday... 10 years later... Anakin Skywalker looked proudly at the Nubian cruiser that he had just finished fixing. The desert was hard on machines such as it and Anakin had his work cut out for him after not having used the ship in so long. After returning to Tatooine ten years ago, Anakin worked fixing things here and there for anyone who would pay him so he could raise the money to free his mother. He raced pods for Watto, winning more than a few races over the years. Five years ago, his mother had fallen in love with a farmer that came into Watto''s''s shop one day. When Anakin heard that the farmer wanted to free his mother and marry her, he had put his money with the man''s and they freed her. That was the day he and his mother left Mos Espa for the Lars moisture farm. He got along well with his step father and his step brother, who was about three years older than him. Anakin spent his time learning the ways of the moisture farm from Cliegg and Owen, but Shmi knew that it was not the kind of work that interested Anakin. He spent a lot of his time repairing the machinery around the farm, which was saving the Lars family a lot of money. But not a day went by the Anakin did not think of Padme. He received data letters from her as often as she could send them. Padme was now the Senator of Naboo and very busy. But she never forgot to write to Anakin when she could and he wrote back in earnest. Shmi knew that Anakin longed to go to her, but would never do so unless she told him it was okay. Shmi Skywalker Lars sighed. It was time let her little Ani go...for good this time. She walked into the garage, only to see her son polishing his silver ship. "Hey mom," Anakin greeted. "Hello Ani," she replied, as she kissed his grease covered cheek. "She looks pretty good, huh?" Anakin asked. "That she does. Anakin, I want to talk to you about something," Shmi said. "Sure," Anakin said, as he sat down next to her. "Ani, I want you to know that I don''t expect you to stay here forever. I know that you love me and I''m grateful that you would stay here just to make me happy. But you need to make yourself happy and I know that the only way you''ll be truly happy is if you''re with her," Shmi said. "Am I that obvious?" Anakin asked. Shmi laughed. "You''re my son, I know these things. And I know that you''re in love with her," Shmi said. "I haven''t seen her in ten years mom," Anakin replied. "Yes, but you talk to her all the time. I think it''s high time you went to see her and that you finally told her how you feel," Shmi replied. "But what if she doesn''t feel the same mom? Why would a beautiful Senator and former queen want a desert rat and former slave," Anakin said pessimistically. "Anakin Skywalker, you are no desert rat. You''re very handsome and perhaps you should ask yourself another question. What if she does feel the same?" Shmi reasoned with him. He gave her a crooked smile and nodded. "Besides, I want to have some grandchildren someday while I''m young enough to enjoy them. And goodness knows, if I wait on Owen to get around to proposing to Beru, I will be too old," Shmi joked. Anakin blushed. "Mom, I haven''t even told her how I feel yet and you have us having kids already," Anakin complained. Shmi patted his cheek playfully. "Come on, you have packing to do," Shmi said, as she dragged her son into the house. Senator Padme Amidala packed her things in her travel case, furiously. By the chancellor''s orders, she was being sent home because of the ?ssassination attempts on her life. And the worst part was, she was being put under Jedi protection. It wouldn''t have been so bad if it was just master Kenobi, for he was decent to talk to and had a sense of humor. But the Jedi Knight they had ?ssignedherput evenMace Windu to shame. Jedi Knight Sev Urkin stood in her doorway, arms crossed stoically. He was a middle aged man with black hair and a muddled complexion. And he seemed to wear a permanent frown. She sighed and picked up her data messenger and smiled, thinking of Anakin. In his last document to her, he was fixing up his ship, hoping to come see her. She wanted nothing more, for she could really use a friend right now. "Senator, we must be leaving the capital soon," the stoic Jedi told her. She suppressed a glare at him, wondering how anyone could sound so monotone. "I''m almost ready master Jedi," she replied, as she closed her case and motioned for Artoo to follow her. Not long after that, they departed on a public transport for Naboo. Her Jedi companion remained stoic and silent for the most part. So much so, that she found Artoo to be better company and she wasn''t carrying his translator. "Safe journey Ani," Shmi said, as she kissed his cheek. He hugged his mother, followed by Cliegg, Owen and Beru. "We''ll come visit soon," Anakin said. "You better, the rest of us want to meet this girl that we''ve heard so much about," Cliegg told him. Anakin smiled and nodded, before getting on his ship. Mom was sending Threepio with him, though he had no idea why. Threepio was currently complaining about how he had never flown and Anakin was sure it was going to be the same thing the whole flight. "Strap in Threepio, we''re taking off," Anakin told him. "Oh my. I simply don''t see why we have to go anywhere master Ani. Space travel simply sounds dreadful and dangerous," Threepio complained. "I''m going to find the woman of my dreams. That''s why we''re leaving," Anakin replied. Threepio wasn''t exactly sure what he met, so he was silent for a moment. Silent at least until Anakin powered up the thrusters and blasted out of the atmosphere. Anakin rolled his eyes at his droid''s incessant chatter. At least it wouldn''t be a quiet flight... Never gone, never far In my heart is where you are Always close, everyday Every step along the way Even though for now we''ve got to say goodbye I know you will be forever in my life Never gone Chapter End Chapter 13 - Star Wars Fan-fiction 3 - The Lost Son Plot: By the age of Seventeen Anakin Skywalker is already Darth Vader, The Galaxy''s most feared Man. Things change when He meets and falls in love with Padme Amidala and walks away from his past. But can he truly escape his past? Full Summary inside. Very AU. Pairing: Ani-Padme Warning: VERY fluff novel, if you don''t like supa fluff novels skip this one (sometimes scenes may make you internally cringe) The Clone Wars started and took place Ten years earlier. Order Sixty Six also of course took place ten years earlier. Because of this the Jedi Never discovered young Anakin Skywalker on Tattooine. Instead he was discovered by Palpatine after winning his freedom in a Podrace and taken from his mother at the age of nine and taken as Palpatine''s Sith Apprentice. Now Currently Anakin is Seventeen and is known as Darth Vader. He has been under the public eye for a year now. Little is known about him or his past. All that is known is that he has killed Various Jedi and is a brilliant military Commander as well as a very cunning warrior. Things are about to change for this Dark Warrior once he meets Queen Padme Amidala of Naboo. Star Destroyer Exactor: Seventeen year old Darth Vader stood onboard of his flagship watching as the Planet of Naboo came into view. A pretty looking planet from space, he mused. A lot of them are though. All of his life he had dreamed of seeing planets as a freed man. Never had he imagined seeing those planets as the Galaxy''s most feared man at age seventeen. "Captain Keller prepare my ship." "Yes my Lord I hope you may have time to enjoy the Planet." Vader glanced at his officer for a moment, "What do you mean?" "I mean it is a beautiful place sir. Especially the women." Vader ignored Keller''s comment and spoke, "Is my Squad of Clones ready?" "Yes sir!" Vader nodded as Keller spoke, "We are receiving a Transmission from the Royal Palace sir." "Send it to my office." "Yes Sir!" Vader headed into his office and activated the Holocom and watched as it blared to life. He live image of Queen Amidala slowly came to life. Vader found himself frustrated by how the woman was encased in the robes and makeup which concealed her, "Lord Vader welcome to Naboo what can I do for you?" "I am here to place you under arrest for treason Your highness and to hunt down the traitors. I am stripping you of the throne from this moment forth your no longer Queen." The Queen bowed her head, "I will offer no resistance against your men. I only ask that you take me and do as you wish and that you do not harm my people or the members of my Royal House." Vader smiled and ended the transmission before storming out of his office. Vader headed into the hanger bay with a smile when he noticed his squadron of Stormtroopers accompanied by Commander Veers. "The troops are ready sir." "Good tell them that there will be no resistance on the planet below and to set their blasters on stun." Veers nodded as Vader boarded the ship. Vader smiled, he had sensed complete honesty in the Queen and to him it was obvious that she was telling the truth. It was fine with him, He had just dealt with several Rebellious planets and his brutality was only causing more people to join the Alliance and the fact that the Alliance was growing was angering the Emperor more and more. Today though the Alliance would lose one of its leaders. It was now known that Queen Amidala was one of the founders and he intended to make her suffer as an example. Naboo: Theed Royal Palace: After bidding farewell to her faithful Handmaidens and Bodyguards young Former Queen Padme Amidala removed her royal headdress and gowns along with her makeup. She dressed in a simple red dress with a matching pair of shoes and undid her hair allowing it to fall down before taking all of the dignity that she had and headed into the throne room and knelt at the bottom of the Throne. She looked around the beautiful Palace for what she knew would be her last time. She thought of herself as a Queen. She had done the right thing. She had opposed the Evil Emperor. She had protected her people and even now by surrendering she was doing what was best for her people rather than face the wrath of Darth Vader. He was infamous in just a year''s time for his brutality and she feared for her people''s safety. She sighed as she heard the sound of running feet throughout the Palace that had been once her''s, Darth Vader had arrived and now her reign was at an end along with her life most likely. Kneeling before him was the Queen, No Former Queen. Devoid of any make up whatsoever and dressed in a simple red dress that appeared to go down just past her knees and it revealed her shoulders. She looked up at him with the most beautiful brown eyes that he had ever seen. His d?s?r? to squeeze the life out of her had now suddenly vanished from his mind as she spoke to him in a voice that was as beautiful as she was in his eyes. "Lord Vader I surrender to you as Former Queen. I only beg for my people''s safety. Please do not punish them." "I want to know who your handmaidens were. I want to know who your head of security was and the names of all of those that were on your Royal Council." Padme shook her head, "Please they only served me and it is my turn to serve them. Punish me not them." Vader looked down at Padme feeling what he realized was d?s?r? and attraction. He wanted her. He wanted her to be his and he would have her. He smiled down at her as she looked up at him fearfully though she was doing her best to hide her fear. The Emperor had only said that she could no longer trouble him and otherwise he cared not what her fate would be and having her alive or making her disappear instead of making her a martyr was better than what he had done to the last leader that he had captured. "Will you go through anything to protect your People Padme Amidala." Padme nodded, "Anything my Lord." Vader nodded, "Then it is going to cost a great deal." "I will do whatever it is for them." Vader smiled, "You are going to be required to marry me." Padme looked up at the Dark Lord in horror, "Marry you?" Vader nodded, "Or I can begin the hunt for everyone..." "No No I agree. I will marry you." Vader looked down at her with a smile and ran a hand down her cheek causing her to shiver in horror. He then turned to a set of Clones, "Bind her hands and take her to my quarters." "Yes Lord Vader as you wish." Vader then motioned to another six clone troopers, "Follow me." Vader entered The Former Queen''s chambers and glanced at her closet noticing various gowns. He collected them effortlessly and threw them on her bed before taking out a suitcase that he found in the closet. "Pack those." The Clones obeyed as Vader looked at the corner of the room noticing a lone blue Astromech droid, "What is your number droid?" "Veeebeeep." Vader checked and nodded, "Ok R2-D2 you will go with me so that you may remain with your mistress." Vader then turned to the clones, "Search the droid for weapons and then send him to my shuttle along with her belongings." Vader then headed for Padme''s dresser noticing several family pictures. He noticed another woman that looked like Padme with two little girls and a man that he guessed to be her husband she was no doubt Padme''s sister. He saw another picture with a couple that he guessed to be Padme''s parents with greying hair standing with their daughter. He had never had a family. Only his mother and how he missed her but he couldn''t go back to her. She wouldn''t want him again not after all that he had done. He even knew that he was a monster at this point. What he did didn''t matter he was nothing but a murderer. He turned to the clones in silence as his thoughts of shame left his mind and spoke, "Collect any family pictures you see. I am guessing that she will want those." "Yes sir." Vader then turned and wordlessly left the room. Vader headed into the Throne Room noticing Captain Keller and Commander Veers. He smiled, "Is everything taken care of?" "Everything sir." "Good, Keller I have a job for you. Find me a Holy man and then contact Veers once it is done. The two of you are going to have the honor of attending my wedding but tell no one." "As you wish my Lord," replied Veers with a smile. Padme was herded out of the Palace by her squad of clones and led through the streets in front of all of her people whom had gathered in anger and were protesting. Several clones raised their guns as Padme spoke, "Let me talk to them I can calm them down." The Clones merely shook their heads as they fired blue laser blasts into the crowd. Padme was thankful that the blasters were on stun. She made no effort to resist as the Clones led her towards an Imperial Shuttle that was waiting for her. She sighed as she was taken onboard the Shuttle. The ship then lifted off. Strange, thought Padme here she was a new bride starting her new life as a prisoner to her future husband. She couldn''t say that she knew to many brides that had begun a relationship with their husband like this but she was in a forced marriage after all. She sighed, she had never imagined her marriage to be like this in all of her life. Star Destroyer Exactor: Vader arrived onboard the Exactor a few hours later with a package containing a simple wedding dress that he had picked out for Padme. Upon seeing the dress he had noticed how perfect she would look in it when he had gone to a local shop. He smiled as he entered his chambers. He looked at the woman that was now his. Padme was sitting on his bed with her hands bound. He moved forward and wordlessly removed her binders. Padme then looked at him as he set a package on the bed, "That is your wedding dress. We will have the Holy Man onboard in one hour and we will have the ceremony done." Padme looked at him in anger, "Are you happy now?" "What do you mean?" asked Vader. "I mean you have a beautiful girl to please you in your bed at night and to flaunt around like a trophy, To serve you and wait on you. Not to mention bear your children for you. You must be very pleased with what your power has done for you." Vader nodded as he unhooded and turned to face Padme causing her to gasp at how youthful his face. "I am indeed fairly happy. The moment that I laid eyes on you I knew that you were mine." Padme said nothing as she felt herself over taken by his steel blue eyes and shaggy long blond hair. Even his broad shoulders were attracting her. She realized to her shock that he had to be at least three years younger than her. "Y-Your much younger than I expected Lord Vader I was expecting someone with your reputation to be older." "I may be seventeen but age means nothing in my case or position though all of the men that serve under me are older than me." "Seventeen?" asked Padme in shock and horror. Vader nodded as Padme spoke, "What does your mother think?" Vader hung his head at the mention of his mother. "I wouldn''t know I haven''t seen her in many years." Padme frowned, "Speaking of mother may I please contact mine and tell her goodbye please?" Vader looked at Padme''s pleading brown eyes with a smile as he took in the image of her beautiful figure and tiny body he then spoke, "You may go ahead and pound in the Comlink frequency on my com station." Padme nodded in tears and left the Dark Lord. Padme headed to the com station and watched as the nervous image of her mother appeared. "Padme? what are you doing with Vader''s Comlink?" Padme frowned, "Mom you know that I was arrested today right?" Jobal nodded as Padme spoke, "He was going to hunt down all of the Royal Household just to determine who all was in my rebellion but I managed to stop him but there was a catch." "What is the catch Padme?" asked Jobal uneasily. "I have to marry him in one hour. I am so sorry. I can''t promise that I will be home again Mom. He just forced me to marry him." Jobal looked at her daughter in horror, "Has that monster touched you?" "Not yet but it is going to happen tonight I know it based on how he is looking at me and I won''t resist. My life is the price to save everyone from him. There is little that I can do." Jobal looked at her daughter in tears, "I love you Padme." "I love you too Mom tell Daddy and Sola that I love them. Give Ryoo a kiss for me and give Pooja two kisses. Goodbye." Jobal in tears nodded as Padme severed the transmission. She then turned to face her future husband in tears, "I will dress for the wedding." Vader nodded as Padme left him. An hour later inside of the conference room stood Darth Vader with his forced bride. The witnesses consisted of Commander Veers, Captain Keller and R2-D2 which surprised Padme. Vader glanced at her noticing that her eyes were on the droid, "I thought you might want to keep him since he was in your room." Padme nodded, "Thank you." Vader smiled and led her to the section that was obviously reserved for her and Vader as the Holy man spoke before Padme and Vader exchanged their vows. Vader then scooped up Padme and wordlessly carried her to his bedroom with his eyes roaming over her small form ?ustfully. He kissed her without breaking the bond as he led her into their chambers and to his bed. Naboo: Jobal Naberrie frowned as she saw her husband head out the door, "Where are you going Ruwee?" "I am going to visit Organa and see what he can do about our girl. That bastard is probably going to **** her and I won''t live knowing that my daughter''s life is a living hell because she was forced to marry Darth Vader." Jobal nodded, "You''re getting Tickets to Alderaan today?" Ruwee nodded as he left his wife in silence. Star Destroyer Exactor: One Day later: Vader awoke spooned up against his bride with a smile as she opened her eyes with him. How he had enjoyed her. He had never been with a woman before but now he was determined that the only woman that he would ever be with or want was Padme. He kissed her and smiled, "You were amazing last night." Padme looked at him uneasily as he kissed her, "It was my first time." "Mine too," replied Vader with his arms still possessively wrapped around her petite form. Vader ran a hand down her cheek noticing her shivering, "Tell me about your family back on Naboo." Padme looked at him in shock realizing that he wanted to talk to her instead of use her like he had all night without even trying to get to know her. "My dad is a professor at the Theed university my Mother is just a simple housewife and my sister followed her footsteps. When I was ten and much to my mother''s disappointment I went into politics and enrolled in the Legislative youth program." "She didn''t approve?" Padme shook her head, "My dad and my sister on the other hand were right behind me. My dad was very firm in believing that I should become what I dreamed of becoming. Now here I am. So much for my ambitions." Vader nodded as Padme spoke, "How about your family?" Vader breathed in deeply in shame, "I was born a slave." "A slave?" Vader nodded, "My Mother was kidnapped by pirates when she was nine. We were sold when I was three to Gardulla the Hutt whom lost us betting in the Podraces. Then my Mother and I were owned by a Toydarian named Watto who had a junk shop that I worked in." Padme listened in horror as Vader continued, "One day I won my freedom in a Podrace. It was the happiest moment of my life. I was only nine at the time. Then just after my transmitter had been deactivated two men came and kidnapped me right as I left my owner''s shop. They took me to a ship and Palpatine was waiting and he kept me locked up for days on end. He beat me and abused me until I finally broke and pledged myself to him. Little did he know that the only reason that I surrendered is so that I may one day kill him and become Emperor." Padme looked at Vader in horror, She had had no idea that he had had the life that he had. Nor that he had been a slave. She had given herself to him last night because she had been forced to marry him but now something was coming to mind, What if she changed him into a good man? What if she was able to heal this boy and bring some light into him? Vader looked at her in shame she probably was in horror that she had just given her v?r??n?t? to a former slave. A woman like her that was twenty two had just slept with a boy that was lower than her. "You probably think less of me now." Padme shook her head, "All I can say is you have been through a lot. Why didn''t you run from Palpatine?" "I was only nine at the time and in the seven years that I was trained I had no idea what Planet I was on. Then one day he tells me that I am supreme Commander of his fleet and he just unleashes me on the Galaxy." Padme looked at him in horror, "Have you ever thought of just leaving?" "Where would I go?" "Back to your mother." Vader shook his head, "She wouldn''t want me. Not after learning that her only Child was Darth Vader I am sure that she would write me off." Padme frowned and kissed the Dark Lord much to his surprise. She looked into his eyes as he moved forward sealing her lips again. Before Padme could counter Vader'' statement he spoke, "Are you an Angel?" "A what?" asked Padme. "An angel, I used to hear the deep space pilots on Tattooine they are the most beautiful creatures in the universe. They live on the moons o Iego I think." Padme smiled, "As far as I know I am human." Vader smiled, "Or you are just my angel." Vader then wordlessly moved forward and kissed his wife. A long time later the newly wed couple headed into their kitchen and Padme glanced at him, "Would you like me to cook for you?" Vader smiled, "Do you know how?" "Yes my mother taught me." Vader smiled and kissed her cheek. She was surprised that he was starting to show affection since all he had shown was d?s?r? yet hopeful that it was a sign that she could change him. Padme smiled much to her surprise as she felt his hands on her sides. He moved up behind her and kissed her before leaving her alone as she cooked for him. After cooking she served out a plate for herself and Vader and came into the dinning room and set a plate down for herself and Vader. Vader smiled as he tasted her food, "This is really good Padme." Padme smiled and sat down to eat with him. This was her fate and she would make the best of it by trying to redeem his darkened soul. After the couple finished eating she stood up to take the plates she felt Vader embrace her with a kiss on her forehead "I will be back for lunch and then tonight don''t get to tired." Padme nodded as she left him realizing what he had in mind already. Vader then headed out of her Chambers and towards the bridge where Captain Keller stood, "What are our orders Captain?" "The Emperor demands that you contact him immediately." Vader nodded and wordlessly headed for the Holocom and knelt down and watched as an image of the Emperor appeared, "What is thy bidding my Master?" The hideously scared Emperor smiled, "Lord Vader did you finish up on Naboo?" Vader smiled, "Yes Master and Queen Amidala pleaded for the mercy of her Royal household so I used it to my advantage and I bargained with her." "How so?" asked the Emperor with a look of curiosity on his face. "I ordered her to marry me." "And did she agree?" "Yes without Jedi to protect her she had no choice. I did a simple ceremony with just Commander Veers and Captain Keller along with her droid." The Emperor smiled, "Very well Lord Vader I trust you will use your little wife well. Or should I say abuse?" Vader smiled as The Emperor cackled in laughter, "Was last night your first time?" "Yes Master." "Good very good my friend was she good?" "Yes Master." "The next time I see her father which is going to be in a week or so since the Refugee movement that he works with has asked him to come to Coruscant I will have to tell him how much you enjoyed his rebellious daughter," said Palpatine with a laugh, "Now head for Kashyyyk there are Jedi on the planet and I doubt you will be able to kill all of them but kill as many as you can and it will help your power to grow." "Yes Master," replied Vader as the transmission ended. Vader then turned and left the Com station and turned to Captain Keller, "Set course for Kashyyyk immediately." "Yes sir!" "What will our ETA be?" "One day Sir!" "Very well Captain make it so." Vader then turned and headed for the training room for a session of sparring before heading back to his chambers for lunch. Padme smiled, "I didn''t know what would please you but I made you a Bantha steak and cooked it medium is it ok?" Vader nodded, "Yes it is fine." He sat down noticing that Padme had no steak and only a salad. "Your not having a steak?" Padme shook her head, "I just wanted a simple salad I am really a light eater." Vader nodded as he ate. "You cooked it well." Padme smiled, "Thank you." Vader nodded and after finishing his lunch stood up and kissed Padme, as he noticed that her salad was finished, "I will be back tonight." Padme nodded as the Dark Lord left her. That evening Padme watched as Vader entered their chambers. She had dinner served and together they ate. He then turned on the Holonet and at the same time noticed Padme come and sit down beside him. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her before breathing in the scent of her hair, "Did you shower recently?" Padme nodded, "An hour ago." "You smell wonderful," said Vader as he shut of the Holonet before running his hand through her hair and down her cheek. Padme looked at him, realizing what he had in mind. She moved forward and kissed him and then allowed him to wordlessly carry her off to their bed. Alderaan: One Day Later: Ruwee Naberrie arrived on Alderaan after taking the regional transport and upon telling telling the Royal Security who his daughter was he was swiftly led to Bail Organa''s office. Bail watched as Ruwee entered, "Mr Naberrie I am pleased to see you." Ruwee nodded and politely bowed, "Senator I am guessing that you are aware of what has happened on Naboo." Bail nodded, "I am indeed I am so sorry about Padme she was like a daughter and younger sister to me and Breha if you or your family ever need anything contact me." Ruwee nodded, "That is what I wanted to tell you. Shortly after her arrest Padme contacted my wife and she is no to be executed." "What do you mean?" asked Bail. "That bastard Vader has forced her to marry him in exchange for the mercy of her Royal house." Bail put a hand up to his mouth in horror as a million horrific images came into his mind, "Poor Padme I have failed her." Bail looked at Ruwee, "I can imagine Mr Naberrie that as a father the thought of what that sick bastard is doing to her right now is horrifying and probably is causing you nightmares and let me make a promise to you right now. As a friend of your daughter and as a Man I am going to do everything in my power even if it takes me years to succeed in rescuing her from that vile creature." "Thank You Senator," said Ruwee with a bow. Bail nodded, "You are welcome to stay and you may join us for dinner as well if you would like I can even provide you transport for your return home." Ruwee shook his head, "I am due on Coruscant for a conference that the Refugee movement is hosting." "Ah I have been invited to attend that. We can go together." Ruwee smiled, "Thank you it will be enough for me to stomach the presence of Palpatine whom I once thought of as my friend who will also attend." Bail nodded sympathetically as Ruwee stood up, "I am glad that there are still some good people left in this Galaxy I didn''t know that there were." Bail smiled sadly as Ruwee left him. Kashyyyk: Vader landed on Kashyyyk with a squadron of Stormtroopers that were at his disposal. He looked at the area surrounding him and he couldn''t help but admire the beautiful jungles that he was entering. He still resumed his thoughts of battle and moved forward with his Clones in tow who were being down by various Wookiee Warriors who were hiding in the trees. Vader ignored the clones and the Wookiees and focused on the Force presences that he was feeling. He fought his way through several Wookiee Warriors before finding himself face to face with a Twi''lek Jedi and A Zabrak Jedi along with a human Jedi Knight. He climbed up the stairs of a massive tree house and force Jumped into the air and attacked the three Jedi as they moved to surround him inside of the Tree that they had sought shelter in. Effortlessly he Force Jumped behind the Zabrak before bringing his lightsaber into a swift slice that claimed his head. He moved onto the Remaining Jedi sending one in a violent Force push down from the tree house he was fighting in and onto the ground below before impaling the Twi''lek Jedi. He walked down to the ground surface and approached the Human knight whom looked up at him, "You are only a tool and the Sith will toss you aside one day. I pity you." "Enough of your lies Jedi!" screamed Vader as he raised his hand and within moments the Jedi''s throat constricted and snapped. At the same time Vader turned to see two more Jedi Knights standing in his path, One he recognized as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Jinn''s former Apprentice and famed Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi. The two that had slain Darth Maul on Naboo early on in the war. He watched as they encircled him. Together they both attacked in unison and Vader found himself shocked at the skill that the two Jedi possessed. No wonder Maul lost to them. He crossed blades with Kenobi and Jinn but before he could make an attack Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan moved in and within moments Qui-Gon had his lightsaber knocked from his hands and was pointing the blade at his throat. Vader looked up at the Jedi Master in horror. "What are you waiting for Master? Kill him!" "No Obi-Wan." "What do you mean no? He killed the others down there." "Trust the living Force My young apprentice. The Force is telling me to spare him." Vader looked at Qui-Gon in shock as he spoke, "You are wasting your life away son by fighting for the Sith. You can be so much more and so much better. Your life could have so much joy if you just let go of the darkness that owns your soul. I can sense a small bit of light coming into you right now young one," stated Qui-Gon as he left. Vader looked at the Jedi Master in shock. Little did he know that that light that Qui-Gon had sensed was all from his night of Marriage to Padme Amidala and a small bit of love that he was starting to feel towards her though he didn''t know it. Vader stood up in rage and humiliation. He could not tell his Master that he had lost this fight or that he had engaged Kenobi and Jinn. His Master would be furious. Star Destroyer Exactor: Padme watched as Vader walked into her chambers, "My job is done on the planet. I saw your old friends, Kenobi and Jinn." Padme held her hand up to her mouth in horror, "Please tell me that you didn''t kill them." Vader shook his head not wanting to tell her how he was disarmed by the two seasoned Jedi Masters, "I am not ready for them yet My Master would have been displeased." "Thank the Force." Vader merely smiled and kissed Padme. Padme was so happy with him that she began to run her fingers through her hair. She almost felt like she was doing the wrong thing to be attracted to a boy whom was seventeen. On most planets she would be arrested for s?x with a minor and illegal marriage. But this boy was Darth Vader and he was very far above the laws and she really had no choice in the matter. She found herself becoming more and more attracted to him and now hoped that she could change him so that their life together could be a happy one. Vader frowned, "Padme I am sorry that I forced you to marry me. I was just so lonely." Padme nodded, "I know Vader and I see you as a lonely young boy that needs more love and tenderness instead of all of the abuse that you have endured. I see a broken boy inside of you." Vader smiled and kissed her in silence feeling more passion growing between them. Vader then spoke, "I will make it up to you Padme. One day you will be the most powerful woman in the Galaxy. I promise you that you will be Empress." Padme smiled in response though she didn''t have the heart to tell Vader that power didn''t matter to her. It never had which may be a surprise to some. If her and Vader were to be happy together he would have to one day understand that. Coruscant: Ruwee Naberrie and Bail Organa went through the Charity conference together enjoying the time and the conversations that they shared despite the grief that Ruwee was feeling from the loss of Padme. At the same time they noticed the Emperor and his large entourage of loyal Red guards walking by. The Emperor paused and approached him, "Ruwee it is so good to see you old friend." "Thank you Your Majesty," said Ruwee though he was restraining himself for saying something less acceptable. "I was talking to Lord Vader and he was telling me how much he enjoyed your daughter. he had a few scratches from her struggling but he has her bowing to him now and he is abusing her well like the traitor deserves." The Emperor then left the horrified father with a cackling laugh as Bail placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don''t worry I have friends and we will get her back. I promise." Ruwee nodded in silence feeling tears in his eyes at the thought of what his daughter was going through. Chapter End Chapter 14 - SAO Fan-fiction 1 - Cheater Plot: A hacker''s life in the virtual world. Pairing: OCxAsada NOTE: This novel does not really focus on the Ancraid Arc, or the Phantom Bullet Arc... It''s basically a prologue for the author''s next novel: Virtual War I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters. Late Start Michael lay on his bed, his NerveGear buzzing as it started. He was in the hospital, under orders from the Japanese government to attempt to aid in ending Sword Art Online. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to enjoy a virtual reality video game, he just doubted he''d be much use after a year and a half of the game playing. In addition, he''d be starting as level one. He doubted there were any players below twenty six by now. He sighed, closing his eyes before suddenly he was standing in a field. As expected, his avatar looked exactly like himself with short brown hair than hung just past the tops of his ears, bright blue eyes, and an average five seven build. His avatar had a default one handed sword and shield, as per his choice, and would soon specialize in speed, endurance, and lock-picking. "Whoa!" Someone behind him gasped and he spun, hand twitching but he resisted the urge to grab his sword, on account of being level one. "You''re...you''re new! You just joined didn''t you?" "Uh, yeah," Michael nodded. "I''m Michael. I...um...came looking for a friend." "Oh I see," the man nodded. "Name''s Klein. This is my guild, Fuurinkazan." Klein wore red samurai armor without the helmet, with his guild wearing similar attire, and held a katana. "You''re not going to be finding anyone with that gear and level," Klein continued. "Here. This should give you a head start but you''ll need to work hard to level up." Michael nodded as his inventory appeared, showing he had gotten a suit of complete armor along with a sword and shield. Once he had them all equipped, he was wearing a weaker version of Klein''s armor with a plain-looking long-sword, and a rectangular tower shield that was about half his height and completely black "Thanks," Kurai smiled. "I appreciate it. So, I guess I''ll be going now. Um, which way to the next floor?" "Next floor?" Klein blinked. "Even with better equipment you can''t just start jumping floors. You''ll get yourself killed!" "I''m on a tight schedule," Michael stated. "I need to get a lot stronger as fast as I can. The higher the floor, the faster I level up. Besides, higher levels drop better equipment." "That''s true," Klein nodded. "Alright. It''s about a mile that way." He pointed and Michael nodded turning and sprinting away, glad that the only way to expend energy in the game was to use abilities. As he ran, a group of three wolves appeared and moved to attack him. The first leapt and he ducked, slashing its stomach as he passed under it. Then, he stood and slashed the second along the side. The third sprinted forward but he drove his sword down through its head. He pulled the sword back out of the ground, the bodies having all exploded into data fragments, and continued on his way. After a few minutes, he reached the path and a few moments later was on the second floor. He continued through that floor in much the same way but being a bit more careful with the enemies. It soon became apparent that the armor and sword and shield he had raised him to the equivalent of a level fifteen player. He had to smile at that. After a couple of hours, he stopped on Floor 4, already having fought his way to level four and had gained a better sword. He didn''t find any better armor and doubted he would for a while. "This isn''t fast enough," Michael sighed as he sat below a tree, staring at the sky. "You''ve been here for like, three hours," Klein stated stepping out from behind the tree. "I''m shocked you made it here alive." "Thanks to your gear," Michael smirked. "Been to a city yet?" Klein questioned. "Not yet no," Michael said shaking his head. "Come on," Klein said gesturing for him to follow. "It''s this way." Michael followed and after a few minutes, and two fights, they reached the nearest city and began to explore. Klein began to talk about a restaurant he knew in the city but Michael had stopped at a smith''s shop. "You sure you want to buy that?" the smith asked. "It''s going to take all your money." "I know," Michael smiled. "I''ll take it." The smith shrugged and approved the sale and Michael switched to his new sword, a Queen''s Knightsword. "Wow," Klein blinked. "Lucky find. I didn''t even know you could buy that. I figured it was a quest only item." Michael shrugged then followed Klein to a restaurant and Klein treated him to dinner. "You going to continue?" Klein asked. "Yeah," Michael nodded. "Alright," Klein sighed. "I know a guy who might sell you some stuff he has but doesn''t need anymore. Hopefully it''ll help. He may also be able to hook you up with a better smith." Michael nodded and waved goodbye before turning to leave. "Tell him to meet me on level six," Michael requested. "Sure," Klein nodded. "See you around Michael. Good luck." Chapter 15 - SAO Fan-fiction 2 - Sword Art Online: The Dark Swordsman Plot: The world''s first VRMMORPG has been released, Sword Art Online. 10,000 people were able to get a copy of the game. But there is a terrible price for playing it. Once you log onto the game, you can''t leave. The only way to escape is to clear the game by defeating the final boss on Floor 100. Join Kirito and Marth as they make new friends and clear the game. Pairing: OCxYuuki NOTE: This novel only covers up to the end of season one of SAO and follows the story VERY closely, if you don''t like novels that just plop a OC character with the original MC this isn''t the cup to tea for you... :) Chapter 1- The World of Swords November 6th, 2022 A teenager with short brown hair and gray eyes that looked about fourteen was sitting at his desk watching the live broadcast on the first VRMMO, Sword Art Online. The reporter was talking about how the beta testers all gave positive reviews on the game and that the 10,000 hard copies of it sold out in seconds. "Hey, Frank!" a female voice called out. "I''m going to soccer practice. I''ll see you this evening." "Okay Meg!" Frank answered back. "Be careful out there!" Frank turned his computer off and plugged in his NerveGear. He inserted the Sword Art Online cartridge into the helmet and put it on. He then laid onto his bed and closed his eyes. "Link Start!" Frank said while smiling. And with that, he entered the online virtual world. Frank logged in using his beta tester data as "Marth". He then found himself at the plaza in the Town of Beginnings on Floor 1 of Sword Art Online. His outfit was a light blue long-sleeved shirt with grey metal elbow pads, long black pants, black fingerless gloves, brown boots, and a brown sword sheath strapped to his back. Marth made a fist with his hand. "I''m back. Finally," the brown-haired swordsman said as all the other players started to log on. "Hey, Marth!" a male voice called out, prompting the swordsman to turn and face a guy with black hair and had the exact same outfit as Marth except he had brown leather armor on his ?h?st. The player had his hand extended out. "Hi Kirito," Marth greeted his childhood friend as he shook his hand. "It''s been a while. How''ve you been?" "I''ve been good," Kirito replied as they let go. "You excited about playing SAO again?" Marth nodded. "You bet!" he said cheerfully. "I''ve been waiting for this day ever since the beta test ended." Kirito smiled in excitement. "How about we go do some hunting outside of town?" Marth nodded, and the duo took off, catching the attention of a red-haired swordsman with a red bandana, causing the latter to follow them. "Hey, you two!" the man called out. "Wait up!" The duo stopped and turned to see the red head running towards them. "Is there something you need?" Marth asked the new arrival. The man nodded as he stopped running to catch his breath. "You two look like you know where you''re going," the man said. "You guys were in the beta test, weren''t you?" Kirito nodded. "Yeah, why?" the black-haired swordsman asked curiously. "Cool," the man said while putting his hand on Kirito''s shoulder. "Can you two give me a few tips on the lower floors and about the gameplay?" Marth''s eyes widened in surprise. "I don''t know," he replied hesitantly. The man then put his hands together. "Please, guys. I''m begging you," he pleaded before pointing at himself. "Look my name''s Klein." Kirito then put his hand on his waist and said, "Alright. I''m Kirito." "And my name''s Marth," the brown-haired swordsman said. Later "Gah!" Klein exclaimed as he was knocked on his back by a Frenzy Boar. He trembled in pain due to him being hit in the groin. "Right in the nuts!" Kirito sighed in disappointment. "Come on. Stop messing around," he told the beginner. "You can''t feel any pain here." Klein''s eyes widened in shock. "Oh yeah, you''re right," Klein said as he got up and faced the boar again. "How the heck am I suppose beat the dang thing if it keeps moving?" Kirito picked up a pebble and moved his hand back. "If you do your initial motion right and activate a Sword Skill at the right moment," Kirito explained as the pepple started to glow red, indicating that he was activating a Sword Skill, "the system will pretty much guarantee that you''ll always be able to hit your target." He threw the rock at the boar causing it to charge at him after the rock hit. "Initial¡­ motion?" Klein asked, completely confused. Kirito drew his sword and stopped the boar in its tracks with the flat of the blade. He then looked at his best friend. "Think you can help him understand it better?" The brown-haired swordsman chuckled. "Here''s an easier way look at it," Marth explained. "Right before you attack, wait for a bit. When you feel the skill start to activate, drive it home." "Drive it home?" Klein asked. The red-head then smirked and got into a stance with the blade of his curved single-edged sword resting on his shoulder. The sword then glowed red as he activated the ?Reaver? Sword Skill. Kirito smirked at the sight before he kicked the boar in Klein''s direction, prompting the latter to charge at the monster. He slashed at the boar''s side, which reduced its HP to zero, causing the monster to shatter into blue polygons. "Yeah!" Klein cheered as he held his arms up in victory. "Good job," Kirito said as he sheathed his sword, "but those boars are about as weak as slimes in other games." Klein faced the swordsman with a shocked expression. "Holy crap, you''ve got to be kidding me!" Klein said in disbelief. "I thought that thing was a midlevel boss!" Marth laughed at the beginner''s ignorance. "Yeah, as if," he said as more boars spawned in the distance. Klein then activated another Sword Skill, which had him thrust his sword. "Addictive, isn''t it? Kirito asked the rookie. "Yeah," Klein replied as he thrusted his sword again. "So these Sword Skills¡­ There''s a ton of them like blacksmithing and stuff, right?" "Yeah," Kirito explained. "I heard the game has an unlimited variety of skills. All except for magic though." "An RPG without magic, huh," Klein said. "That''s a pretty bold decision man!" He activated ?Reaver? skill once more and cheered in excitement when the Sword Skill finished. "What do you think?" Marth asked the red-head. "It''s kind of fun to move your body around as you fight, right?" Klein faced brown-haired ex-beta tester. "Aw heck yeah," he said in excitement. "So, you ready to keep going?" Kirito asked the red-head. "You bet, man," Klein replied. "Let''s keep going." The trio continued to hunt until the sun started to set. They were at a hill where Klein sat down to rest after all the monsters they killed. "Man, when I look around, I can''t believe that we''re inside a game guys," Klein said in disbelief. "Man, whoever created this is a genius. It makes me glad I was born when I was." "It''s not that big a deal," Kirito said. "Cut me some slack," Klein replied. "It''s my first Full Dive." "You''ve never used a NerveGear before today?" Marth asked curiously. Klein nodded. "Yup. As soon as I got the money altogether, I went and bought all the hardware needed to play SAO," Klein explained. "I stood in line and scored one of the 10,000 hardcopies. Guess you could say that I was pretty lucky." He looked up at the two ex-beta testers. "But you guys were ten times as lucky for being able to beta test it. Only a 1,000 people got the chance to do that." Kirito scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess we were lucky," he said. "Hey, do you guys mind if I ask how far you both got in the beta?" Klein questioned. "Eh, two months and I couldn''t get past Floor 10," Kirito answered. "Same," Marth added. "But now I think I can get there within a month, easy," Kirito continued. Marth chuckled at his friend''s comment. "You would say something like that," the brown-haired swordsman said, causing Kirito to scratch his head in embarrassment again. "Sounds to me like you''re really into this, Kirito," Klein said. The black-haired swordsman drew his weapon. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," Kirito replied as he stared at his sword. "During the beta, SAO was the only thing on my mind, day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. And even though it''s a virtual world, I feel more alive here than I ever did in the real one." He smiled lightly. "Anyway," Kirito said as he sheathed his sword and faced Klein, "You want to go do some more hunting?" Klein eagerly faced the black-haired swordsman. "Yeah! Well I would, except," Klein said as his stomach growled. "I''m really hungry. I have to log out." "Too bad the food here only satisfies your hunger virtually," Kirito said to the red head. Klein smiled. "Yeah, that''s why I ordered a pizza for 5:30," he replied. "Wow!" Marth praised. "Talk about prepared." "You bet," Klein said. "Besides the game can wait until I can get my pizza on." Kirito then looked away from the rookie and whispered, "I guess." Klein then stood back up. "Hey, I was just about to meet up with some people I know from another game," the rookie said as Kirito turned to face him, "I don''t know what you two are up to after this, so if you guys want, you can friend them and hang with us." Both Marth and Kirito looked down. "No, it''s alright if you don''t want to, no pressure," Klein said quickly. "I could always introduce you guys to them another time." Marth faced the red-head. "Yeah sorry," he said apologetically. "But thanks anyway." "No worries," Klein said while putting his left hand on Kirito''s shoulder. "I should be doing all the thanking. One of these days I promise I''ll pay you both back for your help. Virtually, that is." He gave them a thumbs up when he said the last part. "Yeah, right," Kirito replied. "Seriously, thanks for everything you two," Klein said as removed his hand from Kirito''s shoulder. "Guess I''ll see you both around then." "If there''s anything else you want to know, message us," Kirito said as he extended his hand towards the rookie. "Sweet," Klein replied as he shook the beta tester''s hand. "I''ll do that." The trio then added each other to their friends list. He then walked away waving and opened his menu. Marth and Kirito turned to leave when suddenly. "Okay, I''ve got a stupid question for you two. Where''s the log-out bu??on?" Klein asked out loud. "It should be at the bottom of the main menu," Kirito said. Klein paused before answering, "Nope, it''s not there." Both Marth and Kirito then opened their menus and saw that Klein was right. There was no log-out bu??on. The red-head then turned to face the duo. "See, not there," Klein said. "You''re right," Kirito replied. "This is strange." "You can say that again," Marth agreed. "Oh well. It''s the first day out of the beta," Klein said jokingly. "There''s bound to be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now." "You will too," Marth said as he pointed at the in-game clock on his menu. "Look, its 5:25." Klein then formed a shocked look on his face. "Oh, my God!" Klein exclaimed as he held his head. "My teriyaki mayo pizza and ginger ale!" "Why don''t you just contact the Game Masters," Kirito told the rookie. Klein quickly calmed down and said, "I''ve tried that, but neither of them are answering. Is there another way to log out?" Kirito thought for a few moments before saying, "No. Whenever a player wants to log out from SAO, the only way they can do that is by going through the main menu." "That can''t be," Klein said in disbelief. "Return! Log out! Escape!" The group waited for a few moments, but nothing happened. "Told you so," Kirito said. "And there was no emergency log out in the manual either." "No way, you''re kidding. I know," Klein said before putting his hands on his head like he was taking something off it, "I''ll just rip the NerveGear off my head." "Don''t bother," Marth replied, causing Klein to stop. "Once the Full-Dive is active, you can''t move your body in the real world anymore. The NerveGear intercepts all commands from inside the game using an interface built into the rig." Klein then faced the brown-haired swordsman. "Seriously?" Klein asked. "So now we have to sit around and wait until someone fixes the bug?" "That, or until someone in the real world comes and takes the NerveGear off us. That''s it," Kirito answered. "But I live alone," Klein said. "What about you two?" "I''ve got a mom and a sister," Kirito replied. "And I''m pretty sure they''ll notice by dinnertime and¡­" Klein then quickly grabbed Kirito''s shoulders. "You-you''ve got a sister," Klein asked excitedly. "How old is she? What''s she like?" "Sh-she''s into sports and hates games," Kirito said quickly. "She is totally not your type, man. She wouldn''t date a gamer even if he was the last guy on the¡­" "Who cares," Klein interrupted, "I want to¡­" Kirito kneed him in the groin, causing Klein to fall in pain. "Ow," Klein said before realizing. "Oh, yeah. We can''t feel any pain here." He turned to the brown-haired swordsman. "What about you, Marth?" "I''ve got parents and a sister," Marth said, Klein then perked up when he mentioned his sister. "Don''t bother trying to ask about her, Klein. She''s already dating someone else. Not to mention that she''s probably too young for you." "Get serious. Do either of you think this whole thing is weird?" Kirito asked suddenly. "Yeah, totally," Klein replied. "But it''s just a bug." Kirito shook his head. "This isn''t just a bug," Kirito explained. "If we can''t log out, it''s going to cause some serious problems for the game." "You''re right Kirito," Marth replied as he looked into the distance. "This''ll definitely damage SAO''s future." "I wonder if the developers even know what''s happening," Kirito wondered aloud. "Because they could just shut down the server and log everyone out. But why haven''t they made an announcement?" Marth then helped Klein get back up. The group was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a bell ringing. The trio then found themselves back at the plaza in the Town of Beginnings. They saw that all the other players were being teleported there too. Everyone looked confused about what''s happening. "Someone forced a teleport," Kirito realized. The bell stopped ringing. "Look!" someone exclaimed. "Up there!" Everyone looked up at the sky. There was a blood-red warning sign saying "System Alert" flashing there. "Now what?" Marth asked himself. The sign then expanded and blood started to drip down and then rose to form two giant blobs. "What the heck are those?" Klein asked in a disgusted tone. The blobs then changed into two huge men wearing red ponchos. What was very prominent was that neither of them had face due to them being concealed underneath a hood. "Attention, players," the first man said with his arms raised. "I welcome you, to our world." "What''s he mean by that?" Kirito asked aloud. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba," the man announced, "and the man beside me is my partner, Brandon Lowell. As of this moment, we are the sole people in control of this world." This shocked everyone, especially Marth and Kirito. The men in the hoods were none other than the co-creators of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, as well as the CEOs of Argus Industries. Brandon extended his hand towards the players. "I''m sure that most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menus, the log-out bu??on," Brandon explained as he opened the menu to show it. "Let me ?ssure you; this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." Marth and Kirito gritted their teeth when Brandon said the last statement. "He''s kidding, right?" Klein asked in a doubtful tone. "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO. And no one from the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head," Kayaba said. "If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." Many of the players protested in disbelief. Two people even tried to leave the plaza but were blocked by a force field. Klein faced Marth and Kirito. "Are you guys listening to this crap?" Klein asked the two ex-beta testers. "They''ve got to be nuts, right?" Marth shook his head. "They''re not. The transmitter signals inside the NerveGear work just like microwaves. If the safety''s disabled, it could fry your brain." "Couldn''t someone cut the power or¡­" Klein started to ask. "That won''t work," Kirito said. "The NerveGear has an internal battery." Klein gritted his teeth in anger and shook his head. "This is totally crazy!" Klein exclaimed. "Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted to remove the NerveGears," Kayaba explained. "An unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than it did before. They''ve been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." "213?!" Kirito said in shock. "No way," Klein said before shaking his head. "I don''t believe it." "As you can see," Brandon continued as videos started to appear around him and his partner. "International media outlets have round-about coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it is safe to ?ssume that the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. We have also allowed the government to move all of your real bodies into hospitals to prevent an accidental death from famine. I hope that this gives you all some comfort as you try to clear the game." Both Marth and Kirito were shocked when they saw their own families on the videos before the videos disappeared. "It''s important that you all remember the following," Kayaba explained. "There is no longer any way to revive anyone from within the game. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever. And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain." Marth''s eyes widen in shock as he imagined himself being killed by a monster and clenched his fist in anger. Everyone was quiet for a few moments. "There is only one way to escape now. You must clear the game," Kayaba continued as he opened a 3D map of Aincrad. "Right now, you''re gathered on Floor 1, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you get through the labyrinth and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game." Everyone protested in disbelief. "We can''t clear all 100 floors. It''s freaking impossible," Klein said in shock before exclaiming, "Even the beta testers never made it that high!" Brandon then lowered his hand. "Lastly," he told the players. "Kayaba and I have placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look." Both Marth and Kirito opened their storage and saw that it was a mirror. They subsequently selected them, causing the items to materialize. Klein yelped in shock as blue light enveloped him. "Klein!" Marth and Kirito exclaimed before they and everyone else were enveloped in the same light. When the light finally died down, everyone looked different. "Marth. Kirito. You guys alright?" Klein asked the duo. "Yeah, we''re fine," Marth said before facing Klein and saw that the red head looked different. "Wait. Who are you?" Both Klein and Kirito''s hair were shorter than their avatars'' hair were, causing some confusion. It took a few seconds for the trio to realize that all their avatars now looked like their real-life appearance. There was confusion everywhere. "But, how¡­" Klein said in disbelief. "The scan," Kirito explained. "There''s a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like. But how does it know my height and body type?" "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do this calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over," Klein said before making an example of it, "like this, remember." "You''re right," Marth agreed. "That''s how it got our physical data." Klein held his forehead with one hand. "But what''s the point?" he asked. "Why would anyone do this to us?" Kirito pointed at Kayaba and Brandon. "I think they''re about to tell us," Kirito predicted. Both Marth and Klein turned to face the Game Master. "Right now, you''re probably wondering why," Brandon said. "''Why would Akihiko Kayaba and Brandon Lowell, the developers of both Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do this?'' Ultimately our goal was a simple one. The reason why we created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of our design." "Kayaba," Kirito said angrily, gritting his teeth. "Brandon," Marth muttered in the same tone. "As you can see," Kayaba continued. "We have achieved our goal." Both Marth and Kirito clenched their hands in anger. "This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online," Brandon concluded. "Players, I wish you the best of luck." Kayaba and Brandon then disappeared and there was silence for a while. Marth examined his right palm and imagined it bleeding for a few seconds. "It''s not a game," Marth thought as he clenched his fist. "It''s real. Akihiko Kayaba and Brandon Lowell created a virtual world. They designed the NerveGear rig. I''ve read about them a lot, so I know that everything they just said is the truth. If I die in the game, I''ll die in real life." A few more seconds passed before most of players shouted in disbelief. Some people begged to be let out of the game, but to no avail. Marth and Kirito then noticed that the force field was gone. "C''mon Klein," Kirito said as grabbed Klein''s hand and dragged him away with Marth close behind. They eventually stopped in an alleyway. "Alright, listen," Kirito explained to the rookie. "Marth and I are heading out right now for the next village. I want you to come." "Huh?" Klein asked confused. Marth opened a map that showed most of Floor 1. "If what Kayaba and Brandon said is true, and we think it is," he explained. "The only way we can survive is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In an MMORPG, the money and XP you earn, once the game starts up there''s only so much to go around." Kirito nodded in agreement and pointed towards the field around the Town of Beginnings on the map. "Marth''s right," Kirito took over. "It won''t be long before the fields around the Town of Beginnings will be hunted clean. If we head for the next village now, we''ll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don''t worry Marth and I both know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even at Level 1, the two of us can get there easy." Marth then closed his menu. Klein lowered his head. "Thanks, but you know those friends I mentioned earlier," he said. "We stood in line for a whole night to buy this game." Klein''s eyes widened in shock as he realized. "They must be back at the plaza, somewhere. And I can''t leave them behind." Both Marth and Kirito examined their own levels which were both 1. "If it was just the three of us," Kirito thought in doubt. "But two more. Or even one more¡­" "Sorry," Klein said suddenly, interrupting the black-haired swordsman''s thoughts. "I can''t just ask two guys I just met to help a bunch of strangers now, can I. So don''t worry about me. Get your arses to the next village." He gave the ex-beta testers a thumbs up. "I''ll be fine," the red head continued, giving the duo a thumbs-up. "Last game I played, I ran a guild, so I''m more than prepared. And with all the stuff you two taught me, I''ll be fine. No sweat." Marth and Kirito turned to leave, but they didn''t stop looking at the rookie. "Okay," Marth said reluctantly. "If that''s what you want, Kirito and I will get going. But if you''re in a jam, message us. Alright?" Klein nodded. "Sure thing," he replied. "We''ll see you later, Klein," Kirito said, "Take care of yourself." The ex-beta testers turned their backs to the red head and prepared to leave. "Kirito. Marth," Klein called out, causing the two to stop. "You guys look better as this." The duo then turned to face the rookie. "Way cooler than your avatars." Kirito smiled and said, "And that scruffy face of yours fits you ten times better too." The ex-beta testers then took off running. After going a few feet, they stopped and saw that Klein was gone. "There''s nothing we can do now," Marth said, causing Kirito to face him. "Klein''s the type of guy who won''t abandon his friends no matter what. We just have to hope that we''ll see him again." Kirito nodded, but he still had a tinge of sadness in his eyes, like his friend had in his. The duo proceeded to run out of the village and into the plains. They both thought about their families and wondered if they''ll ever see them again. Two wolves then spawned in front of the two players. The players quickly drew their swords and charged at the monsters. "We''ve got this," Marth thought. "We can do this. This world can''t beat either of us." All four of them jumped into the air. Both Marth and Kirito activated ?Rage Spike? which killed the two monsters. "We will survive," Kirito thought before he and Marth screamed out in rage. Chapter End Chapter 16 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 6 - The Death of Harry Potter Plot: Takes place after Sirius dies. Harry receives no help for his depression and he retaliates in nasty letter to the wizard world. With depression and suicide spiraling out of control, Harry sends letters off to his supposed friends. Pairing: Harry x Multi NOTE: Its a short one-shot fan-fiction, this novel is just Weasley and Dumbledore bashing as well as just exposing some plot holes in JKR books. Don''t read if you don''t like novels that have a lot of explaining rather than pure plot. I do not own Harry Potter JKR does, I think she has enough money, how about spreading it around? : The Death of Harry Potter Harry sat in the compartment with his friends. His heart was breaking from the loss of his godfather as he stared out the window. Across from him, his friends continued chatting as though nothing had happened. They joked, talked and kidded around. Getting up, Harry walked to the door and opened it. "Where are you going Harry?" Hermione asked. "The loo. I''ll be right back," Harry replied as he stepped out and closed the door. Walking down the hall, he stepped into the loo and closed the door. Pulling his wand out, he put a silence spell on the small compartment and sat down. He hugged his knees and rocked back and forth as the tears flowed down his face. After a few minutes he felt the train slow down. Looking out the small window, he saw they were approaching King''s Cross. Harry stood up, flushed the toilet, and washed his hands and face. He then walked back to the compartment. He grabbed his trunk and the cage holding Hedwig. Harry was the first off the train and walking to the barrier. Behind him, Ron and Hermione dragged their trunks, trying to catch him as he came to a stop near the wall. When the ticket inspector signaled to him, Ron, and Hermione that it was safe to walk through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten, Harry found a surprise awaiting him on the other side. A group of people were standing there to greet him, none of whom he had expected. Tonks stood just behind him, her bright bubble-gum-pink hair gleaming in the sunlight that filtered through the dirty glass of the station''s ceiling. She was wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend THE WEIRD SISTERS. Next to Tonks was Lupin. His face was pale, and his hair was graying. A long and threadbare overcoat covered his shabby jumper and trousers. At the front of the group stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, dressed in their Muggle best. Fred and George, were both wearing brand-new jackets in some kind of lurid green, scaly material. "Ron, Ginny!" called Mrs. Weasley, hurrying forward and hugging her children tightly. "Oh, and Harry dear - how are you?" "Fine," lied Harry, as she tried to pull him into an embrace. Harry dodged her arm and started walking away. "Harry, come back here!" Mrs. Weasley ordered, but Harry ignored her and walked towards his uncle. "Hello, Harry," said Lupin, as Harry walked by him. "Hi, what are you doing here?" replied Harry sadly and continued to walk away. "Harry?" Lupin said. He turned and started following his best friends son, "We thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home." "That''s not a good idea. All of you go home," Harry replied as he turned around and looked at the order members. "Oh, I think it is," growled Moody, who had limped a little closer. "That''ll be them, will it, Potter?" He pointed with his finger behind Harry. His magical eye was evidently looking right through Harry. Harry looked over his shoulder to see where Mad-Eye was pointing. There, sure enough, were the three Dursleys. They looked positively appalled to see Harry''s reception committee. "Ah, Harry!" said Mr. Weasley, turning from Hermione''s parents, whom he had been greeting enthusiastically, and who were taking turns hugging Hermione. "Well, shall we do it, then?" "Yeah, I reckon so, Arthur," said Moody. "NO! I said don''t do this," Harry ordered and turned away and started walking towards his relatives. He knew they wouldn''t listen, and he was right when he heard them following. Mr. Weasley walked passed him and took the lead across the station toward the place where the Dursleys stood, apparently rooted to the floor. Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join the group. "Good afternoon," said Mr. Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon, coming to a halt right in front of him. "You might remember me, my name''s Arthur Weasley." As Mr. Weasley had singlehandedly demolished most of the Dursleys'' living room two years previously, Harry would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him. Sure enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr. Weasley, but chose not to say anything, partly, perhaps, because the Dursleys were outnumbered two to one. Aunt Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed. She kept glancing around, as though terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company. Dudley, meanwhile, nodded to his cousin. Since what happened last summer, he had done a lot of growing, and he now knew what he had done was wrong. Harry shoved through the group and continued towards the exit, "Dudley, where''s the car?" "At the curb, Harry, come on I''ll help you," Dudley said as he waddled after his cousin. Harry never knew what was said, because he kept walking. Behind him, Hermione started running after Harry to try and stop him so she could talk with him. "Harry wait up!" Hermione shouted. Harry stepped out of the station and followed his cousin to the car. Setting the trunk down, he looked at Hermione and said, "Go home Hermione. Enjoy your family." "Harry¡­" "We''ll see you soon, mate," said Ron anxiously as he came to a stop next to Hermione. "Really soon, Harry," said Hermione earnestly. "We promise." "Whatever, just go home," Harry replied as Dudley opened the trunk. With his help he shoved his trunk into the boot and closed it. Dudley climbed into the car, and Harry handed him Hedwig''s cage. He started to walk around the car when Hermione slammed into his body and hugged him as she cried in his ?h?st. With a gentle push, he said, "Stop, Hermione. You and Ron go home, stay away from me. For I''m death to anyone who gets close to me." With tears flowing down her face, she shook her head as she replied, "Stop it, Harry. You are not death. Now we will see you in a few weeks. Stay safe." Vernon started the car. With a stomp on the gas, they pulled out of the station and headed home. Harry watched the traffic as they drove home and an hour later they pulled up into the driveway and climbed out of the car. "Boy! Upstairs, room now. Write those freaks every three days. You don''t have any chores, just stay out of our sight!" Vernon bellowed. "Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied as he pulled his trunk out and, with Dudley carrying Hedwig he went upstairs. Opening the door to his room, he saw it was just as he left it last year. Dropping the trunk at the foot of the bed, he took Hedwig''s cage from Dudley and set it on the desk. Opening the window, he let her out to hunt as he turned and walked to the door and shut it. Harry lay down on the bed and then rolled over onto his side. Tears ran down his face as he drifted off to sleep. Outside, Tonks took up station to watch over her friend. ooOOooOooOOoo For the next week, that''s all Harry did was sleep and cry. On Friday, after he returned, he awoke after several hours of sleep. Pecking at the window had woken him. He opened the window, and let the owls in. There were four owls. One from Hermione, one from Ron, another from Hagrid, and the final one was from Remus. Closing the window he went to his trunk and opened it, he pulled out some parchment, quill and ink. He started writing as the tears ran down his face. The knock on the door startled him, and he said, "Yes?" "Harry, are you hungry?" Petunia asked. "No, thank you. I want to sleep," Harry replied as he wrote. "Ok, I will put a sandwich in the fridge." "Thanks," Harry replied as he listened to Petunia walk away. He wrote five letters, one to Headmaster Dumbledore, one each to Hermione Ron, Remus and Hagrid. Tying the letters to their legs, and Dumbledore''s to Hedwig''s he then opened the window and let them out again. As Hedwig flew out of sight, Harry grabbed his chair and pinned it under the knob. Going back to his trunk he opened a small box and pulled a vial out as well as a thick envelope. Lying on the bed, he set the envelope on his ?h?st and swallowed the potion meant to destroy his magical core. He laid his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes, as the poison went to work. ooOOooOooOOoo Petunia had knocked on the door to see if Harry wanted to eat, he didn''t and she walked downstairs. Ten minutes later while she was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper, she heard a loud crack of lightning outside and then the soles of shoes pounding on the concrete as someone ran up the walk and slammed into the door. Before she could scream anything the door went flying into the kitchen and heard someone running up the stairs. A loud crash was heard and she followed to see the door to her nephew''s room hanging from one hinge. Then a loud "No!" was heard. Going to the door she looked in and saw the scruffy looking man from the train station holding Harry. Tears were running down his face as he hugged the boy. Petunia felt the tears run down her face as she realized that her nephew was dead. "Why?" she asked as she stepped in and saw the envelope on the edge of the bed. Picking it up, she opened it and started reading. My friends, If you''re reading this, I have gone to join my family and Sirius. I''m hurting and need my friends with me, but what do I have? I have a prison. I cannot go anywhere, see anyone I know, or even talk with them. The pain is so unbearable that all I can do is lie here and cry. I''ve read that severe loss must be dealt with¡­ but how, when no help is offered. In the muggle world, I would have seen a psychiatrist or someone that deals with depression. But in the wizard world, I''m called an attention seeker, a liar, and delusional. Well, you all reap what you sow! When I was fifteen months old, I was hailed the savior for something my mother did. Yes, I say that, because it was she that did it, not I. What happened? My parents are dead, Dumbledore sealed my family''s will, and I was forced to live in the muggle world. When I turned eleven, hundreds of letters came for me. The first was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs. Yes you heard me, the cupboard where I spent NINE years living. Where were you when my family was physically and emotionally abusing me? You were nowhere around. In my first year, I had to fight Voldemort (oh stop flinching, it''s a name and a made up one, at that) and a troll that got loose in the school. The troll I fought to save my friend Hermione. Where was Headmaster Dumbledore when I had to save the Philosopher Stone from Voldemort, after he possessed Professor Quirrell? He was flying to London. Why was he flying? He could floo or apparate there? Can you say ''set up''? I can. I asked why Voldemort was after me, but Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn''t tell me. Nor did he offer me any special training. What did he do? He shuffled me back to my abusive family. In my second year, a student possessed by a book once owned by Voldemort released, a Basilisk. How did this student get the book? Why Lucius Malfoy slipped it into the cauldron. You see it looked like a blank diary, but it wasn''t. What was it? I have no idea, but from what Tom Marvelous Riddle told me, it contained a part of his soul. Who is Tom? Well, he is Lord Voldemort. See, I said it was a made up name. At the same time I was accused of being the heir of Slytherin in the newspapers. I killed the basilisk, and saved the girl. What happened? I was sent back to my abusive family. Oh yeah, I was also accused of using magic at home, when it was Malfoy''s elf Dobby, and received a warning. My third year was just as eventful. I accidentally blew up my uncle''s sister. I ran to the Leaky Cauldron where Minister Fudged-Bucket told me not to worry about it¡­ that it was taken care of. Come to find out he wanted me to back him, but I didn''t know him or trust him. At this same time, Sirius Black escaped prison and headed for Hogwarts. That year I was attacked four times by Dementors, and nearly kissed twice. Who in their right mind sends soul su?k?n? demons to a school? Why Minister Fudge. Even with the Dementors and Sirius Black we had a good year. For the first time we had a decent DADA instructor in Remus Lupin, who all you idiots ran off because he has a furry problem once a month. Do you women run your men off during your time of the month? I''ll bet you don''t. Remus is a kind and gentle man who was infected as a child with an incurable disease. Does that make him a monster 29 days out of the month? No, it doesn''t. It''s just that one day. With the right potion (which, by the way, should be free to all werewolves), they are safe with their minds intact. Even if they lock themselves up, they keep their wits with them when they have the potion in their body. Near the end of the year, we found out the real truth on how my parents were betrayed. My parent''s Secret-Keeper wasn''t Sirius Black. He was too obvious a choice. They chose Peter Pettigrew, as the Secret-Keeper. He was an illegal animus. He turned into a rat, and hid with the Weasleys for nine years. No, don''t blame them, they didn''t know. We caught him, Sirius, Remus, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. We were going to take him to Headmaster Dumbledore to be turned in when Snape, the DEATH EATER came in and tried to say we were confounded when we were not. Who does Dumbledore trust so absolutely that he''s allowed to torment children at Hogwarts with his vial insults, innuendos, and favoritism of his DEATH EATER BUDDY''S CHILDREN? Don''t believe me? Check the detention book and the logs of detention, which are posted in the common rooms of each house. Snape was going to call the Dementors to kiss Sirius and Remus, when I disarmed him and accidently knocked him out. While heading for the Headmaster''s office, Remus changed and Sirius did as well. Sirius too was an animagus like Peter. They, my father all became one to keep their friend Remus company at school on those nights. Well I had to fight the dementors again and was almost kissed again, but was saved. Sirius was captured by Snape, the DEATH EATER, and Fudge wanted to give him an Order of Merlin. Before Fudge could have him kissed, Sirius escaped. I warned Minister Fudge that Sirius was innocent, but he wouldn''t believe it. We tried to tell him he never had a trial, nor was he questioned but ''we were lying,'' so said FUDGE! Sirius was on the run again, and forced to hide to stay alive. And again, I am sent to my abusive relatives. In my fourth year, at the World Cup, ten men in death eater robes attacked, and made thousands of witches and wizards run for their lives. You people made me sick that you allowed just TEN people to cause that much destruction. Come on! Every single one of you carries a deadly weapon. If a hundred of you fired stunners at them, they would have gone down. But noooooo! You ran for your pathetic lives, while a child (yes, me) is blamed for putting the death mark up. I was almost arrested for it, and then a sweet house elf was blamed. Then, when we get to school, I was forced to participate in the tri-wizard tournament, when it had an age line. Something could have been done? Hell, three small tournaments right then and there¡­ say a broom ride, a game of tag, or who could conjure the most tea sets in one hour¡­ could have been held. Then a new drawing of the same names could have been done for a new contest. But noooooo! I am forced to fight dragons, merfolk, and rescue a ''friend'' who had back stabbed me, and accused me of lying, while the girl I loved or thought I loved was forced to be the hostage for another champion. At this same time I am abused at the school by the other houses, and accused of lying and cheating, and the staff does nothing to stop it. Then there was the third contest. It was a maze filled with traps, and Professor Moody on the outside using control spells to make Krum attack everyone. Yes, you heard me, but it wasn''t Professor Moody, it was Bartemius Crunch JR, using a polyjuice potion to impersonate Moody. I ask you this: how can Dumbledore, who has known Moody for years, not know an imposter? Now comes the end of the third trial. The cup was a portkey. It took me to a cemetery where the Riddle family came from. When I landed, Cedric (the real Hogwarts champion) was killed by Peter Pettigrew, and I''m captured. I am tied to a headstone. Pettigrew used these three items to bring back Voldemort: Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son! Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master. And finally: blood of the enemy, f?r??b?? taken, you will resurrect your foe. These three things created a body for Voldemort. When I was able to escape and bring Cedric''s body back to Hogwarts, I told everyone that Voldemort was back and Fudge''s response was ''He can''t be back, Dumbledore, he just can''t be!'' Fudge had the prisoner who started the resurrection of Voldemort kissed. The man was helpless, and he had him kissed before he could be questioned. I want to know why? All of you should want to know what Fudge was hiding. I also told Fudge all the names of the Death Eaters who responded to Voldemort''s summons. Fudge went off saying, ''oh no, they were cleared.'' BULLSHIT! They were never questioned under truth serum. They bribed their way free, and had ten years of corrupting the ministry. Again, I was sent home to my abusive home, and attacked in the papers all that year. Now this last year, dementors attacked my cousin and me. I was brought forth to the Wizengamot for a full trial for underage magic, which should have been just a hearing. Fudge and his hench-people, (Deloris Umbridge and Percy Weasley) wanted me expelled, and my wand snapped. Dumbledore was able to get me off with evidence from a squib: Mrs. Figg. Then I was sent to school where Umbridge was our WORST DADA instructor. She made our freedom of expression and love a crime. She called me a liar, used a bloodquill on us for punishment. It was used so much on me, I have the scars of ''I shall not tell lies'' etched permanently on my hand. She made all clubs illegal. She made newspapers illegal. She read our mail, and prevented us from contacting our loved ones. She had Aurors attack Professor McGonagall sending her to St. Mungo. She tried to arrest Hagrid. She turned the point system into a joke. She made Slytherins into an inquisition squad, which was allowed to attack other students. She also dismissed the head boy and girl, because they disagreed with her and wouldn''t follow her orders. Made learning DADA a joke, and endangered all the students with the emergence of the terrorist organization run by Voldemort. I found out that Umbridge was the one responsible for sending Dementors after my cousin and me in Surry. She tried to cast an unforgivable on me, but I dodged it. She used truth serum on the students, and all you people just sat there and said, ''oh, we must follow the ministry.'' They made Dumbledore a fugitive for trying to tell the truth about Voldemort. Then Voldemort lures me and five others to the DOM, because he sends visions of holding my godfather hostage. We wound up fighting in the Hall of Prophecies, where my friends and I fight off the inner circle of Voldemort''s for an hour before he arrives to battle Dumbledore and the Order of the Chicken. Yes, you heard me, the chicken! Because Dumbledore refuses to allow spells that could KILL the bad guys. Excuse me? There is no redeeming value in terrorists. Ask the muggle governments of the world if you don''t believe me. Once a terrorist, always a terrorist. And the only good one is a dead one, because they cannot kill you once they are dead. When we fought them, we stunned every member of the inner circle several times. All they did, was revive each other and continue the attack. When two of ours were badly hurt they were down. You need to use curses and jinxes'' that incapacitate them or kill them. Would you stun someone who is trying to kill your family? Your children? Hell no, you put them down like the mad dogs they are, for they won''t hesitate to kill you. Now that FUDGE has admitted that Voldemort has returned, has he increased the Aurors? Has he asked the ICW for help? I haven''t seen anything. Has he asked the Goblins to freeze all former and current death eater accounts? In the muggle world, if the government determines you''re a terrorist, or a terrorist organization, they seize your property! They freeze your accounts and seize the money. Why hasn''t the Wizengamot done that? Do they want this bastard to destroy the wizard world? Also, how come the muggleborn and halfbloods are treated like crap and the purebloods reign like kings and queens? Magic is magic, and I hate to tell you this, but I have seen more powerful halfbloods and muggleborns then I have purebloods. Yes, some purebloods are powerful, but look at Draco Malfoy, and his two bodyguards. They were easily defeated by muggleborns in a duel at school. Want to know why? Too much inbreeding, while the muggleborn and halfbloods are not. Don''t believe me? How come I was able to cast the Patronus Charm in my third year? Yes, you read right. I have been able to cast NEWT level spells, since third year, and I''m a halfblood and your supposed savior who has been treated like crap from all of you. Now that the year has ended, where am I? Why shipped back to the hellhole of my relatives, where supposedly blood wards protect me. Hey, DUMBLDORE, get a clue. Voldemort used my blood as a means to come back. They won''t stop him. How can you expect me, a boy of fifteen, to fight a wizard who slaughters my family and friends, when I have had no counseling for their loss, or special training to fight the madman? No, I haven''t. I believe Dumbledore wants me to go to my death. Then he will capture Voldemort and take the credit, why else no training. Think on this, too. Why was my heritage kept from me? My family''s wills were sealed by Dumbledore! My mail was blocked! If you ask Dumbledore, he will answer it was all for the greater good! Who gave him the right to play GOD with my life? Also, if I was so loved as a child, how come I never received any mail from any of you? Why was my family so abusive to me? Were they under a spell so I would look up and follow Dumbledore blindly when I reentered the wizard world? How was I so recognized by all of you on my first day, if I hadn''t been seen in nine years? How was my picture used on the children''s books¡­ for I know I didn''t give them? Also why do you all say I, a fifteen month old child, defeated Voldemort? It was my mother who did it, and she receives no recognition for it. Hell. I don''t even know where they are buried. No one has ever told me, which is kind of strange. I don''t know, but you should find out. Well, as of right now you reap what you sow, so goodbye. You won''t have Harry Potter to save all your bloody arses, again. Get off your arse and do it yourself! You out number them a thousand to one at least¡­ maybe more. Goodbye, Harry James Potter Petunia stood there crying as two more people pushed past her. She recognized one of them as Dumbledore, turning she went into her bedroom and sat down on her bed as more and more witches and wizards appeared. One of the witches walked into the room, shut the door and sat down beside Petunia. "Hello, are you Mr. Potter''s guardian?" she asked. "I was, and I was a horrible one, and I don''t know why. I loved my sister, how could I have done what I did to him? He thought I was under a spell. Maybe it''s possible, I just don''t know, even Harry asks that in the letter he wrote," Petunia replied as she blew her nose. "My name is Rita, Rita Skeeter and I''m a news reporter. Do you want me to print that letter for all of our world?" Rita asked. "Yes, because he asks so many questions about that bastard in there, and of your government. Come back later and we''ll talk with you, but I suggest you take the letter and get out of here," Petunia ordered. Petunia handed the letter to the woman and watched as she vanished just as the door opened to reveal Albus Dumbledore. Behind him, several people stood watching. "Petunia, tell me what happened?" Dumbledore ordered. "Get out! Because of you, my only link to my sister is dead! I can''t even go to her grave to put flowers on it, because you never told us where she was buried. NOW GET THE BLOODY HELL OUT!" Petunia screamed in anger and hurled a lamp at the man. The lamp shattered on the wall, and Dumbledore turned around and left. His people took her nephew''s body with them. ooOOooOooOOoo The next morning, Petunia was sitting at the dining room table drinking a cup of hot tea. A knock on the back door startled her. Turning, she saw the witch she had spoken to, yesterday. Waving her in, she watched as the woman came in and sat across from her. "I brought you something," Rita said as she pulled the Daily Prophet out, and slid it across to the woman. Petunia opened it up, looked at the headline, and started crying. Boy who lived, dead at 15 By Rita Skeeter It''s my sad duty to inform all of you that the boy who lived, Harry James Potter, has died. How did he die? It wasn''t in combat with You-know-who''s minions. Harry died because we, the wizard world, failed him¡­ Chapter End Chapter 17 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 7 - Lunas Hubby Plot: 7 year old Luna wants a husband, and she wants one now. With the unintended help of her befuddled father, she kidnaps Harry Potter. Idea and 1st chapter by Roscharch''s Blot Pairing: Harry x Luna NOTE: Covers years 1-5 of original books, mostly about Harry having a new family and everything lining up close to perfectly to a happy ending. Some plot twists that i didn''t even see coming and overall a well written satisfying tale of Harry Potter finding a home. Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JKR owns Harry Potter. I am not rich like JKR. I am not worth suing. Please believe me. Note: This chapter was written by Rorschach''s Blot. Read his other stories, they are funny, silly, entertaining, and well written. He gave me permission to continue after this chapter, and the Muse grabbed me around the neck, and forced me to write. And Thanks to Hermione Green who beta''ed this. Chapter 1 The New Husband By Rorschach''s Blot "Tell me about Harry Potter," Luna demanded. "He''s a very brave and intelligent young boy," Luna''s mother replied. "And he''s the one that saved us all from the dark lord." "Do you think he''d make a good husband mummy?" Luna asked innocently. In the short time that she had been alive, Luna had focused on her parent''s relationship and had come to the conclusion that she wanted one of her own. "Of course he would dear," Luna''s mother ?ssured her daughter. "And maybe he''ll become your husband when you get older. I have to go to work now, bye hun." "Bye mummy," Luna replied automatically. The young girl watched her mother leave and contemplated the words that she''d just been told. "When I''m older? Bugger that, I''m going to go get Harry right now so we can live happily ever after." Her course set, Luna immediately set to work in accomplishing her goals. A quick visit to her parent''s room located a broom and an old invisibility cloak (Her father said it was needed to hunt Mimbari) and she was almost ready to go get her soon to be husband. There was only one problem, she didn''t know where Harry Potter was. "Bugger," Luna cursed. It annoyed her mother and would get her father into trouble so she did it every chance she got. A few more minutes of thought gave her the solution for her dilemma and Luna went off in search of her father. "Hello rutabaga," Luna''s called her his pet name for . . . her. "What can I do for you?" "I need to find something father," Luna replied quietly. "Can I borrow your multi purpose detector?" "Ok carrot." The man shrugged, it wasn''t like she could get into any trouble with it. "Thank you father," Luna said quietly. Inside she was jumping for joy, she''d soon have her husband. Luna went back to her room and donned the invisibility cloak and mounted her broom . . .and nothing happened. Growling in exasperation, the little girl went off in search of her father again. "Hello again cabbage," Luna''s father said when he noticed his daughter. "Do you want me to make you some lunch?" "No father." Luna shook her head, how was she going to do this without him being suspicious? "I just wanted to know how a broom worked." "Why?" "It''s not so that I can use it to fly out to find Harry Porter," Luna replied immediately. "Well . . . as long as you''re not going to go out and find Harry Porter," Luna''s father agreed. "Hold your hand above it and say ''up'' in a firm voice." "Thank you father." Luna gave the man a peck on the cheek and returned to her room. Luna was ecstatic, the broom worked and she was on her way to formalize her marriage. It took nearly two hours of flying before Luna managed to find Harry Potter and when she did, she was shocked at his condition. "Hello," Luna greeted the young boy. "Is your name Harry Potter?" "Yes," the boy replied nervously. "Do you want to go home with me and be my husband?" "Away from here?" Harry perked up. "Yup," Luna agreed. IIIIIIIIII "Luna," her father looked down at the two children. "Who''s this boy." "He''s my new husband daddy," Luna smiled up at her father. "Does your mother know about this?" Luna''s father scratched his chin, he was sure that his daughter''s marriage was something he''d remember. . . on the other hand, he had probably been drinking to celebrate so . . . . "No daddy," Luna shook her head. "She hasn''t gotten home yet." "I''ll tell her then," Luna''s father offered. It was the responsible thing to do after all. "Ok," Luna gave another cute smile and then went back to playing with her new friend. "Wait a minute." Luna''s father froze in his tracks, "what are you trying to pull here Luna?" "Um . . ." "You haven''t eaten lunch," Luna''s father finished. "If you think that I''m going to allow you to skip meals then you have another thing coming." "Ok father," Luna agreed. "Can you make my husband some food too?" "Of course my little crabapple." IIIIIIIIII "Dear?" Luna''s mother had returned home to find her daughter playing with a strange boy and had approached her husband to get an explanation. "Who is that strange boy playing with our daughter?" "Hmmm?" Luna''s father blinked, "oh that''s her new husband. I think I drank too much at the wedding and forgot the wedding, I promised Luna that I''d tell you about it." "I see." It was times like this that she wondered why she married him. "When are his parents coming over to get him?" "Parents?" Luna''s father scratched his chin, "I think Luna said that he was going to live with us. I don''t recall anything about any parents." "Ok." Luna''s mother ground her teeth, "who dropped him off?" "Dropped him off?" Luna''s father thought hard for a minute, "no one. He just appeared." "So what you''re telling me is that some strange boy wandered into the house?" "I''m not saying that at all," Luna''s father disagreed. "Luna brought him." "Luna . . . Honey, could you come in here for a minute." Luna''s mother called out, she was going to get to the bottom of things. Luckily her daughter had inherited some common sense . . . from her side of the family. "What is it mummy?" Luna asked innocently. "Where did that boy come from?" "I brought him here mummy," Luna replied quickly. Now we were getting somewhere, "where did you find him?" "In a garden doing yard work," Luna said. "What''s his name?" Luna''s mother grinned. "We haven''t decided yet mummy," Luna said to her mother''s displeasure. "What do you mean honey?" But the woman wasn''t going to let it show. "You said that after you get married then you have to decide what last name to keep, remember mummy." Luna reminded her mother. "He''s my husband now mummy so we have to decide our new name." "Ok . . . ok . . . what was his old name darling?" "Harry Potter mummy," Luna answered. "You said that he''d make a good husband." "Why don''t you step out of the room while have a talk with your father about how you were able to go out and track down Harry Potter and then bring him back here when your father was supposed to be watching you . . . ok hun?" "Ok mummy," Luna agreed. Chapter End Chapter 18 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 8 - Harry Potter and the Four Heirs Plot: Merlin, not happy with how the future unravelled for the life of Harry Potter, intervenes early to set the course of history back on track. Implied Pairing Only. Smart!Harry Bash!AD Idiot!RW Pairing: H-Hr NOTE: Super AU, kinda OP Harry. A LOT of writing the wrongs of people. Dumberdore Bashing Chapter One - The Mage''s Act # # # "Lad, I need you to wake up now." He was having a wonderful dream. He had lots of toys, lots to eat, and lots of cuddles like Duddles got from Auntie ''Toona. Unca Vernon didn''t hit him in the head, either. He liked his dream. "Yes, lad; it''s a nice dream. But, I need you to wake up now." The man''s voice was making his dream go away. He tried to make the man''s voice go away by con''trating really, really hard. He wanted his dream to come back. "I''m not going to go away, lad. I''m not in your dream. You need to open your eyes." Opening his eyes meant waking up in his cupboard. Waking up meant feeling hungry and sore from the last time Unca Vernon hit him. Waking up meant getting sore hands from pulling weeds from Auntie ''Toona''s garden. Unca Vernon made his head hurt; and the weeds made his hands sting. "I promise you, lad; that will never happen again. Open your eyes and you will see." The man sounded nice enough. It sounded like Unca Vernon''s voice when he was talking to Duddles; not like it sounded when Unca Vernon was talking to him. Maybe he could have a quick peek and, if he didn''t like it, he could close his eyes and go back to his dream. "That sounds like a good idea, lad. Let''s try that then." He still didn''t know if he should open his eyes; but, he knew he felt different. He felt as if he was lying on his back on a really soft pillow. But his bed wasn''t a soft pillow. His bed was an old, dog-smelly thing Auntie Marge threw at him. It was lumpy. Not what he felt he was lying on now. Maybe he should open his eyes to see what it was. "That''s a very good idea. Do that." He''d do it then. Opening his eyes the small boy expected to see the bottom of the stairs above him. What he saw, much further away, was a roof made of rocks stuck together. He started to look around. He was on a big bed. And it had red curtains around it! And the curtains were held up by big wooden poles! Wow! He looked around some more. Beyond the opened curtains on each side of the bed he could see walls. The walls were made of stone just like the roof. And there were some little fires on the top of big sticks stuck to the walls. At least they looked like big sticks, he thought, frowning. Fire was bad unless it was in the fireplace. He knew he was not allowed to play with fire. Duddles played with it and burnt the rug; and he got hit lots for it - even though it was Duddles who did it. He was only ''little'' but knew it wasn''t fair that Unca Vernon hit him instead of Duddles. "I put the fires there, lad. And they''re called ''torches'', by the way." There was that voice again. It was coming from down where his feet were pointing. The boy, a child b?r?ly beyond toddler stage, sat up to look where the voice was coming from. It was coming from past the foot of his bed. There was a man standing there. He could see him through the open curtains at the foot of the big bed he was on. At least he thought it was a man. He had a funny dressing gown on. "I see you''re awake now, lad," said the man. "Who are you, Sir?" asked the boy. He had to call all man-adults ''Sir'' and lady-adults ''Ma''am'', unless they were Unca Vernon, Auntie ''Toona or Auntie Marge. If he didn''t, Unca Vernon would hit him lots. "You can call me ''Sir'', if you like," the man said while walking around the bed to stand alongside where the boy was sitting. The boy was glad the man came closer. It made him easier to see. "I''m Freak!" said the small boy, beaming proudly. The old man''s eyebrows shot up on hearing that. "And what makes you say that?" The boy scrunched his face up wondering if the man was upset with him. "That''s what Auntie ''Toona calls me," he moped. But suddenly brightly said, "But Unca Vernon calls me ''Boy''." The old man gazed down at him for a while. The boy hoped he hadn''t said anything to upset him. He didn''t want Unca Vernon to hit him again because he upset the old man. Whatever the old man was thinking he suddenly didn''t look like he was upset anymore. "Lad. You are not a freak; and I will not call you ''Boy''," the old man said kindly. "Neither of those two words are your name." "Oh," the boy sadly said. If ''Freak'' and ''Boy'' weren''t his name he wondered what it was. He wondered if it was ''Lad''. "How about you come with me, lad," the old man said, reaching to help the boy off the bed. "And I''ll tell you all about your name and who you are." The boy started to get off the bed but then hesitated. "Are you ''a strange man''?" he asked. Hesitating, the old man asked, "What makes you ask that?" "Unca Vernon said that, if a strange man should come up to me and tell or ask me to go with them, then I should." The boy saw that what he said seemed to make the old man get angry again. It frightened him. But the old man was only angry for a very short time before the angry face went away again. Meekly, the boy said, "I''m sorry if I said something that made you angry, Sir." "That''s quite alright, lad," the old man replied, finishing helping the young boy off the bed. "I just didn''t like that your Uncle Vernon said that to you." Leading the small boy over to a ?h?st of drawers against one of the walls he said, "Now - to answer your question - I guess I am ''a strange man''. I''ve been called much worse." Kneeling, the old man opened a drawer and began to remove clothing fit for a boy of his young charge''s stature. "First, though, I''m going to get you out of those rags you''re wearing and into something much nicer," he said. "Then we''re going to go and have some breakfast." "Me, too?" the young boy asked while the old man was helping him change. "Yes. You, too." ''The boy had been even more mistreated than I believed,'' the old man thought. He should have taken him earlier. The boy brightly asked, "After, are you taking me back to Auntie ''Toona''s and Unca Vernon''s? Auntie ''Toona''s going to want me to help with breakfast." Pausing in finishing dressing his young charge, the old man said, "No, lad. You''ll be living here now. And you won''t have to help with anything like that." "Okay," the young boy said. If he was going to live ''here'' now - and he didn''t have to help with breakfast, lunch or dinner - he wondered what other chores he''d be doing. "Will I still be pulling weeds?" he asked. "No, lad," the old man kindly replied. "You''ll be spending a lot of your time learning and playing. And, the more you learn, the more you''ll get to play." The young boy''s eyes lit up hearing that. "Wow!" he said. "With toys and everything?" "Yes," the old man replied with a smile. "With toys and everything." The young tyke was really excited. He was going to like living here. It sounded much nicer than living with his Aunt and Uncle. The boy asked eagerly, "Can we start after breakfast?" Standing back up the old man took the young boy''s hand. Leading him towards the door he said, "Well, we can start learning some things now. And even while we''re eating breakfast." "Wow!" said the boy excitedly. "For a start," said the old man as he led the young boy out the door, "My name is Myrrdin Emrys and I''m going to help you do something very important when you get older. "And your name is Harry James Potter. Today is your birthday. As of today you are now four years old. Happy Birthday." # # # When nothing happened after a minute he guessed it must have only been an anomaly. Such occurrences were rare but, with the fate of the wizarding world on the line, he wasn''t prepared to take chances. He''d approach the house under a disillusionment charm tomorrow to ensure the boy was exactly where he was supposed to be. It hadn''t even dawned on him that today was the boy''s birthday. # # # Within a few days of collecting Harry from the Dursleys, Myrrdin began to explain what Harry was going to do when he grew older. In terms the small child could understand, he explained about the magical school known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And how the small castle - keep, really - they were currently living within, was somewhat similar. He told stories about the four founders and made little dolls of each of them, keeping the boy spellbound for hours. He explained what an heir was and he explained how Harry was going to bring the four heirs of the founders together. And, together, they began to watch history on what the old man called a ''time viewer''. He also told the lad what sort of boy he was going to grow into. At least, what sort of boy Harry would have grown into had he not removed him from the timeline. Myrrdin knew he would be years mentoring this child, but he also knew the future of the world hinged on his young charge. The old man had prepared for his role very carefully. And he would prepare young Harry James Potter just as carefully. # # # "I''m not happy hearing this, Myrrdin!" Harry stated angrily. In the few years Harry had been with the old man, this was the angriest the old druidic mage had ever seen him. And it was the first time the young boy had ever spoken to him using his name. "He volunteered, lad," the old man calmly answered. "And with his magics he can protect himself far better than you could have done for yourself if I left you in the same situation." "That''s not the point, Sir," snapped Harry. "He''s a living sentient being! No one deserves that treatment! Not even the lowliest of non-sentient creatures!" Myrrdin, or Merlin as he was otherwise known, knew this was going to be a touchy matter with his young student. But, when Harry began to understand he had somehow been replaced within the Dursley household to occlude knowledge from Dumbledore as to his absence, the old man thought it best to begin the discussion while they were having a spot of tea between study subjects. He did not expect Harry to be quite so... incensed... as to jump out of his armchair in the near rage he was obviously feeling. He realised what would have happened had he waited until Harry was older and his magical core was more powerful. "Harry, I''m very proud of you that you feel that way," said Myrrdin. "But, I gave Dobby the opportunity to see what you did for him, or would have done for him, in May 1993. Plus for a few years after that. "He knows you would have freed him, he knows you treated him as a friend, and he knows you love him, or will love him, even if you''ve not yet met. Please, trust me when I tell you the abuse he would have suffered within the Malfoy household is much worse than this." "I understand why you did it, Sir," fumed Harry, pacing back and forth. "I understand that you used a very strong Polyjuice Potion to change him into me and that you''ll continue to provide him the Potion until we switch back. I understand that you trained him in what were my mannerisms and speech of the time, and what they would become through to my staying overnight at the Leaky Cauldron the night before the Hogwarts train. I understand he''ll be able to use the Polyjuice Potion antidote once we swap back. And I understand all this is necessary to prevent Albus Flippin'' Dumbledore from discovering I''m missing." Leaning forward, Myrrdin said, "You haven''t thought it all the way through yet, lad. What it means for Dobby to be able to carry out his role." Harry stopped and glared at his teacher. But the old man could see the boy before him was thinking furiously about the situation. He knew Harry was calm enough to understand he was trying to teach him something. Or, at least, trying to get Harry to figure it out for himself. After a few moments Harry gave a quick shake of his head and said, "No, I don''t see it. Explain, please." Instead of answering straight back, Myrrdin asked instead, "How are house elves bonded, Harry? And what are the requirements ?ssociated with that?" Harry thought about it for a moment before answering, "House elves are bonded to an individual master or mistress, to a house, or..." As Harry paused looking off into the distance, the old man saw the boy had begun to understand. "Elves are bonded, and required through that bond, to come when summoned without hesitation," said Harry calming down while thinking hard. "That means, if Dobby was... is... still bonded to the Malfoys, he would have to immediately pop back to Malfoy Manor when summoned." "Yes. So..." the old man encouraged. "So, the idea of Dobby impersonating me would collapse the first time he was summoned as the Malfoys would see him in his Polyjuiced form..." said Harry, calmer now. "And, also collapse the first time it happened in front of anyone back with the Dursleys." "So, the only possible explanation would be..." prompted the old man. "That Dobby''s no longer bonded to the Malfoys!" replied Harry with wonder. "Correct, lad!" beamed Myrrdin. "I removed the bond when I brought him here." "So, he''s bonded to you now?" asked Harry. "No, Dobby is now already a free elf," replied Myrrdin. "I freed him nine years before you would have done so, after the incident with the Chamber of Secrets." Harry thought about that for a few moments before saying, "So, when you said Dobby volunteered to take my place, he did it when he was a free elf. It was solely his decision. He really did volunteer!" "Correct," said the old man smiling. "But, wouldn''t the Malfoys have noticed he was missing the first time he was summoned?" asked Harry. "Wouldn''t that have indicated something was up?" "No, lad," the old man replied. "The current wizarding world believes a bond can only be broken by the master or mistress giving the elf at least one item of clothing, by the transference of bond from one master to another freely given, by blood or magical inheritance, or by the death of the elf concerned. "The Malfoys know the first three did not occur, so only the fourth - Dobby''s death - was possible. As far as they know, Dobby was either killed or succumbed to some unknown elvish malady somewhere of which they''re unaware. Such a thing happens from time to time. I encouraged that by placing the suggestion of such an event in their minds while they slept the night of the first time they tried to summon him." Harry resumed his seat in the armchair and slumped forward before stating very quietly, "I owe that... we owe that... little elf more than we can ever repay." "And I''m sure you and I are going to make every attempt at just that impossible feat after you return." Then, leaning back, Myrrdin asked, "Now, shall we get back to our tea? Though, I think we need a new pot." # # # Sitting on the window sill of their combination study room / laboratory / library, Harry said, "Sir, I understand the concepts well enough. Through your magics and mastery of the knowledge of space and time you''ve created a piece of reality... space... outside of normal reality as the rest of us understand it. And, through your mastery of time, within that space you''re able to manipulate time." Harry had now been a student under Myrrdin''s tutelage for what felt like a decade. But he did not really know because there did not seem to be any seasons other than Spring around their keep. "Yes, you''ve got it so far. Keep going..." Myrrdin said, sitting at his desk. "You''re actually alive in the year 515 AD when you set all this..." said Harry, waving his hand about distractedly, "...up. And I''m alive in 1984 AD. At least, that was the year in which you pulled me out to join you here." "Correct," the old man responded. "What else?" "By creating this... pocket reality..." continued Harry pausing for a moment. Interrupting, the old man said, "Pocket reality. I like that. It''s a good name for it." "...Pocket reality," continued Harry, "you''ve created an environment where we can both exist and you can teach me without causing a time paradox in... normal... reality." "Correct. And what appears to be bothering you about this?" "How does the paradox not occur when we drop out of the pocket reality back into normal reality?" "Ah!" said the old man, light dawning. "I can return back to my own time in normal reality pretty much any time after I left. I''m far enough isolated in my little abode I rarely interact with anyone, or anything, going on. However, I''m planning on returning to my own time no more than a few seconds after I left, thereby not causing a paradox to a time before; nor upsetting the time continuum. People will not notice any aging effects upon my behaviour or body due to my advanced age; and I already know the role I''m to play. "As for you, I can send you back to any time after I removed you from the Dursleys. However, I need to put you back into normal reality before the First of July 1991, when you''re soon due to receive your letter from Hogwarts." Harry sat for a little while gathering his thoughts before saying, "So, I''ve only a couple of years left before I have to go back. Can we get everything done in time?" The old man grinned. "Think it through, lad. I can go back to my own time frame b?r?ly a few seconds after I left. And should, as I''ve already explained." Harry nodded focussing on his teacher''s words, "So that means time passing in here is irrelevant to time passing in normal reality." "Correct." "But what about the effects of aging in here, not just on my wisdom and knowledge, but on my physical and magical self?" Instead of answering, Myrrdin asked, "You''ve not noticed you don''t seem to be growing in line with children the same age as you in the time viewer?" Harry shrugged, "I thought I was just small for my age. Probably due to the malnutrition I suffered at the hands of the Dursleys." "No," replied Myrrdin. "I anticipated, in advance, it would take many years to impart upon you the knowledge you would need to defeat Riddle and counter Dumbledore''s manipulations; and make a good start on restoring balance to the magical realm in Britain. As such I''ve slowed your aging process." "I would have thought I''d learn faster if I was older physically, emotionally, spiritually and magically," said Harry. "Yes, you would. Well done for recognising that," the old man congratulated him. "However, would you really want to go through puberty, in here with me?" Harry visibly shuddered before answering with a grin, "No, no; definitely not." He had not enjoyed the discussion about human s?xu??ity he received from his mentor. As with all things, his mentor spoke with enthusiasm on the subject, and even used diagrams. He had trouble sleeping for a couple of nights after that particular lesson. Grinning, the old man paused to ensure Harry had no further questions before continuing, "Now, shall we look once more upon the matter of the Protean Charm and its relationship with quantum entanglement?" Harry ?r??n?d and dropped his head to his ?h?st. Myrrdin laughed and said, "Come now, lad. Since you''ve mastered Occlumency, and your mind is not the untidy clutter it once was, your memory is close enough to perfect to allow total recall at will. We only have to go over this once and ensure you understand, rather than just know it, before we can jump onto the next subject matter." Knowing how to encourage his young student''s eagerness for the subject at hand the old man said, "And after that, perhaps we shall make use of the time viewer for a while. Though, I still don''t know why you insist on calling it by the acronym ''teevee''." Harry sat bolt upright on hearing that with a big grin on his face. "And, after that, can we work some more on magic?" the boy eagerly asked. Chuckling, Myrrdin replied, "Of course we can. That''s a wonderful idea!" # # # Walking into the study Myrrdin saw a much m?tur?d Harry sitting in his favourite armchair speed reading a weighty tome. Other books were piled around him, either freshly read or about to be. Harry now looked to be the eleven year old he would be once he was reinserted into normal space. The only sign of his fifteen years studying and maturing to what would have been nineteen years of age in the pocket reality was his eyes. Someone attuned to his emotional output may be able to sense there was depth to the boy not found in normal eleven year olds, but that was all they would discover. "What are you reading, Harry?" asked Myrrdin. "English and Scottish law as it applied circa 1000AD," said Harry not looking up and b?r?ly pausing during his rapid flicking through pages. Marking his page he looked up at the old man and said, "I want to make sure I''m not going to be conned or advised contrary to the law when I... sorry, we... smack the Wizengamot down. "At least we now know the fracture of wizard law from mundane law mainly occurred during the Second World War and parallel Grindelwald War, and later. So, the work of synchronising them again won''t be as difficult as we first thought. Most of the most appalling ones are only since Riddle''s first run-around in the 1970s." Myrrdin nodded. More and more over the past few years he had left planning on the course of action of the four heirs to Harry. He had given the lad a good grounding in strategy, diplomacy and politics and watched as the boy took the lessons to heart and made his plans. And Harry knew he first needed to get the heirs together before they arrived at Hogwarts. "Have you given further thought to how you''re going to contact the other heirs, lad?" "I had thought the original plan was sound," the boy responded. "But I think we''re going to have to go with ''Operation Nuclear Bang'' and immediately bring the heirs and their guardians together. And once we get to Hogwarts we go with ''Operation Baby Steps''. "Of course, if ''Nuclear Bang'' fails then I''m going to have to go with ''Operation Knock Knock'' and, if and where necessary, use the Obliviate Charm to prevent Dumbledore discovering what''s what. I''m really not going to like doing that. "If ''Baby Steps'' fails we''ll go with ''Operation Mailed Fist''. But, of course, that means having to use the memory crystals on the heirs before they go to Hogwarts, which I''d rather not do. I don''t want to do that because I think it robs them of their childhood. However, to have ''Mailed Fist'' in place in advance, I''m going to need to use the crystals well before we board the train." It amused Myrrdin how his young charge used modern military terms in his planning. But, he had to hand it to the boy; it made discussing strategy and various options so much easier. Of course, no plan survives first contact. So you need contingency plans for what happens after that event. Or, you''d need a first plan so over-the-top the chance of failure was greatly minimised. This was young Harry''s preferred plan. "As I''ve said before, but I''ll reiterate, lad," said the old man. "The memory crystals are quite safe to use if they''re activated when the recipient - or recipients, in this case - are ready for sleep." Harry sighed, "I know, Sir. But I feel as if it would steal their innocence doing that to them." "You''re a good lad, Harry," said the old man, coming up to put one hand on Harry''s shoulder. "That care you have for the welfare of others will stand you in good stead as you work towards all four of your objectives. But, they would all lose their innocence soon enough if you fail." "I know, Sir," sighed the boy again. Backing away to sit in his own chair facing Harry, Myrrdin asked, "Have you given much more thought about how you and the other heirs are going to tackle those objectives?" "Yes, Sir," Harry responded. "As you know, Sir, that''ll be launched with ''Operation Queen''s Ire'' as long as you''ve managed to ensure each artefact is in its right place..." Nodding, the old druidic mage said, "That''s now been done, and I''ll manage them across time to ensure they''re where you need them to be, when the time comes." "Good," said Harry, also nodding. Leaning forward he said, "Then, when the time comes, I plan to..." # # # Chapter End Chapter 19 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 9 - Second Chance, A New Choice Plot: Severus was dying in the shrieking shack, and he did indeed die. However, forces out of his control rendered him the ability to re-choose. going back and choose differently. Pairing: SS-LE Authors note: For those whom has followed this story for a while, last year I announced the reconstruction and completion of the story, and this is it. The reconstruction began a month ago and I am at full work. This is how it is going to work, I am working with an American editor to finally give this story the shine its readers deserve. The fiction from now on will be updated ones a week, every Thursday! With a fully edited chapter! The story will be reposted here and on "Archive of our own." where I write under the pen name Moonybird. Keep in mind that both my editor and I have full time jobs, therefore we can only work so much. But we both promises to stick to it! There are 65 completed chapters and the full number is probably going to be something like 70-75. These chapters are also going to split into three so called books, which means when one "Book." is done, we''ll probably take a break working on something else and then go back to this. So yes, the time frame for this fic to finally be completed is about two years... This is a HUGE project. I beg of you for patience and hope you will enjoy the new and improved version of the story. Love, Moonbird. "Harry, look at me," Severus Snape rasped. Cold smothered him, but¡­ it didn''t hurt. "You have¡­ what you need." He pointed to the little vial in the boy''s hand and met Harry''s eyes. So green. Just like Lily''s. But what was that in them? Not disgust, or hatred¡­ Forgiveness? You¡­ forgive me¡­? Those eyes, so full of mercy, gave him the strength to let death take him. I''m free now. He sank into warmth and welcome. No fear lived in this place, no sadness or pain, only peace. Now unbound by clumsy mortality, he floated, like a shred of parchment blown on gentle breezes. How could anyone fear this? "Severus?" His awareness sharpened. "Mother!" A young woman greeted him. No wrinkles or worry lines creased her face now, and her eyes were bright as morning stars, but held a curious sadness. Raven hair fell to her shoulders, and a smile shone for him. "My son." She wrapped him in a hug. "My little Severus, I''m so sorry." "It''s all right," he said. So, this is what Eileen Snape truly is. "Let me look at you." She held his face in gentle hands. "I never saw you grown." Without need or d?s?r? for pretense, Severus smiled. Every trace of hatred, malice, or distrust vanished, but¡­ "So many regrets." His mother''s eyes welled. "They''re drowning you." "You did your best." His mother joined his grief. "All you could do." Severus held her tight and wept. "Regret pulls you from me, my dear son." Worry clouded her face as a tug loosened her grip. No. I can''t leave! Severus gripped his mother''s arms with every ounce of strength, but his heart weighed like a cinder block around his ankle as it dragged him toward an ocean depth of grief. "Listen!" She held his face again. "I won''t lose you! You will not wander the earth for eternity like a mournful ghost." Severus nodded as the weight pulled harder. "Choose now¡ªchoose a second chance! Go back. Focus! Don''t consider what you left. Go farther, to a time where you had opportunity to choose differently!" Her eyes swirled with concern. "If you don''t, you''re doomed to roam until your soul finds peace¡ªa feat few accomplish." His grip slipped, but he closed his eyes and concentrated. Forgiveness. "Hold that memory, Severus! Hold it until it defines you!" That red hair¡ªthose emerald eyes. She defended him, but he pushed her away. All those times back then. I must make it right! "Hold it fast!" A vision formed: Hogwarts, his schoolmates, himself studying alone. The weight grew, fueled by regret''s tears. The phantoms in his mind solidified. "Thank God," his mother said. "You are not alone, my son. Someone else wished a chance at happiness for you too. Their help grants you this opportunity." With a mighty pull, she tugged him into one last hard embrace. "Do well, my son," she whispered and laid a light kiss on his forehead. "I will," he choked as his heart jerked him away. Peace and warmth fled. Empty hand outstretched, he plummeted into cold darkness. And pain. It flooded back¡ªsadness, hurt, anger, guilt. An ache crept over him, and dryness invaded his throat. A hard jar sent him upright, eyes open. Sharp light stung, and he shielded his eyes. Sounds intensified and prompted a headache. He shrank from the commotion as he stopped his ears until the ringing subsided. "All right, Snivellus!" "Expelliarmus!" The wand flew from his grasp, and he uttered a silent curse. When did I get so sloppy? Shock is no excuse. Laughter drew his attention, and messy black hair and brown eyes paralyzed him. James Potter! Can it be? If he''s alive¡­ then so is Lily! Potter returned his stare. Uncertainty flickered in the other young man''s eyes, but he quickly hid it. "What''s the matter, Snivellus?" he mocked. "You look like you''ve seen a ghost." A second chance! Severus wet parched lips. The old Death Eater instincts rose, and he dove for his wand as it lay in the grass, two inches from Potter''s feet. "Oh, no you don''t. Impedimenta!" Potter yelled. The spell struck Severus, and he cursed again. Why didn''t I just Accio it? He wouldn''t expect it. I just lost my chace at a clean exit. I''ve too much wit and experience to be beaten by a bunch of teenagers! "His nose touched the parchment," Sirius Black mocked from the sidelines. "There''ll be too many grease marks to read it." Severus ignored him. At least laying down gave him a moment to compose himself. Besides, he''d been called far worse¡ªbeen through things Black couldn''t yet imagine. "Aww. He''s lost for words." Potter smirked. "Sirius, I think you''ve hurt his feelings." "I just hope he''s not going to wipe his nose with us," said Black. Accio, wand! Severus thrust out a hand with cold calculation. "Scourgify!" declared Potter. The spell hit before Severus snatched his wand or cast a counter for Impedimenta. An appalling taste coated his mouth. The bitter punch combined with panic, Severus mustered the strength to break the binding spell. He sat up coughing and spitting. Defeated by a child''s curse? This is embarrassing. He spat most of the soapy taste into the dirt and glared at Potter as he dried his mouth with his wizard''s robe sleeve, but the acrid tang of lye still ate at his tongue. "T-that''ll teach you to wash your mouth," Potter hid a tremor at Severus''s wandless magic. Instead of swearing, Severus poured his hurt and confusion into one sullen glare. Potter stepped back. "Well, aren''t you going to tell me what a spoiled brat I am?" His nervous tone belied the taunt. "Leave him alone!" All shock and discomfort vanished. Lily. His world faded until he saw only her, and his heart leapt. She berated Potter, but Severus paid that no mind. She''s¡­ alive. Vibrant with anger, her green eyes flashed, and her voice''s strong melody soothed him. Severus staggered to his feet and approached Potter and Lily. I must beg her forgiveness. Potter noticed him and pointed his wand with a shaky hand. "Stop right there." Fear edged into his voice. Severus halted inches from Potter''s wand. He expected to feel hatred for him, but¡­ he didn''t. Not even the twinge of annoyance rose at Potter''s shenanigans. Lily stopped his breath. "I''m warning you." Potter still shook. "Stay where you are." She''s real¡­ He hid his relief and took a slow step toward Lily. "Levicorpus!" The world tipped upside down. Feet in the air, Severus'' gaze never left Lily. She covered a gasp and demanded, "Let him down!" "When''s the last time you washed your pants, Snivellus?" Black teased, but the tremor in his voice sent the taunt flat. "What''s up your sleeve?" James gulped and narrowed his eyes. "Sirius, something''s wrong here." Black shuffled forward but only one step. "Snivellus, what do you have up your sleeve?" Another hard swallow followed James'' demand. "For Merlin''s sake, speak, Snively!" he barked. I''ve a great many things up my sleeve, Potter. And I need no wand to break your juvenile curse. As Severus focused on Lily, his facade broke. "Aw, you made Snively cry," Black said with a bit more courage. "James Charlus Potter! Put him down!" Lily''s words burned with anger, but Severus glimpsed a grain of uncertainty behind the rage. "Lily," Severus managed, voice broken. The onlookers silenced and stared. His first word of the encounter was b?r?ly a whisper as he hung upside down, silent tears dripping onto the grass. "It''s all right," he ?ssured her. "They''re the ones who look like children." Lily''s astonishment and terror hurt. I wish I knew how to tell her not to be afraid. She''s so beautiful¡ªand oh, so alive. "S-Sev¡­" she stammered. "That happy to see us, huh?" Potter tried to step in, but the question lent only awkwardness. "If I could move, I''d kiss you, Potter," Severus said with a smirk. What''s worse, I really could. It''s all too wonderful to be real. He thunked to the ground, Potter''s concentration broken, and the hex with it. The Death Eater instinct rose again, demanded he compose, ?ssess, in order to defend. He sat up. Fifth year. He stood. The crowd took a step back. Right after my Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. exam. Everyone watched with a mix of fear and fascination. Unlike the rest, Lily''s fright glued her in place. It stung to see her still so afraid of him. Those emerald eyes urged him to make sure she was real. With a shaking hand, he touched her shoulder. When she didn''t vanish, he drew her close. Finally, the right face frames those eyes. Lily''s shock and uncertainty radiated through her. Severus wrapped her in a tight embrace as years of pain and sadness escaped. "Thank God!" he cried. "Thank God, you''re safe!" The whole crowd heard him, but he didn''t care. "Sev¡­?" Lily tensed in his arms but patted his back at an awkward tempo. "Whatever it is, it''s fine. I''m fine!" "I see that, but I just can''t quite believe it yet." Severus trembled and held her a little closer. No one said a word. Not even Black. Severus half-expected another nose-wiping crack as he wept over Lily, but it never came. I''m far too old for this¡ªbeen through too much. "Everything will be different now," he choked, as much to himself as to Lily. "I promise, I can change." "Shh¡­ It''s all right," she whispered as kindness melted her uncertainty. "Let''s go somewhere else." He nodded and gathered the strength to let her go. That one gesture took every shred of will. But when he saw her face, a genuine smile, the first in ages, fought free. Though small, it held galaxies of starlight and brightened as Lily returned it before she took his arm and led him toward the castle. "Wait!" Lily let go. The moment without her seemed eternal, and vulnerability settled over him. "Here." She placed his slim, black wand in his hand, the same one he''d held in the Shrieking Shack. Was it only minutes ago? The wand pulsed. This¡­ is real, isn''t it? "Thank you," he whispered. Lily took his arm again. Stunned, he followed. Only when he sat on an unfamiliar couch did he realize he was in Lily''s dorm. Red banners, a lit fireplace, and four beds occupied the room. While it wasn''t against the rules to bring schoolmates from other houses into a student''s common room or dorm, boys couldn''t go to girls'' dorms unaccompanied by a girl. Despite the lack of mandated segregation, house pride often trumped camaraderie and promoted schism. Common room passwords became a treasured secret instead of a sign of unity. In all his years as a teacher, this was a situation for which he''d never prepared. What are the rules for a girl bringing a boy from a different house to her dorm in the middle of the day? Though it was easier to focus on the mundane now, he forced away the trivial question. "It was the only place we''d be alone," said Lily. "How about I make you some tea?" Severus nodded. As Lily brewed the tea, his thoughts swirled. It happened too fast. None of this makes sense. Last time, this ended much differently. After he''d taken his fifth year Defence exam, he and Lily grew farther apart because of his choices. He''d craved power, longed for revenge against Potter''s Marauders. At the time, he hadn''t seen the problem with Voldemort''s ways, and when he joined him, Severus found the opportunity for power and recognition. He hadn''t realized how high a price he''d pay for his choice. Back then¡ªwhat was once now¡ªLily begged him continually to reconsider. She warned that if he continued, he''d lose her friendship. They hadn''t even studied for the O.W.L.s together. She''d made one last attempt to defend him, but he''d blown that too¡­ and lost her. He didn''t know if she was willing to give him another chance. Perhaps, if he''d changed in his first life, she''d have stayed his friend. She always saw the best in people¡ªin him. When she''d laid down her ultimatum¡ªher or them¡ªhe''d closed himself off, sworn to show everyone his potential for power. In youthful stupidity, he expected power and respect would bring Lily back. It didn''t. If she learned the truth about everything¡ªhow it ended last time¡ªshe''d be disgusted, and rightly so. The mark! Icy fear crept over him. He closed his eyes. Please, be gone. If she sees it¡­ she has every reason to leave me¡ªto hate me forever. He held his breath and waited until Lily was on the other side of the room, back turned. His hand shook as he tugged up his sleeve. Gone. His thin white arm was b?r?. Not even the red stain that plagued him after Voldemort''s disappearance remained. Waves of relief crowded over him and blurred his vision with tears. This is it! My chance for freedom. Haven''t had that since¡­ eighteen¡ªfresh out of school. He breathed a shuddered sob but smiled through it and covered his eyes. If this is a dream, I never want to wake up. "Sev? You all right?" Lily pulled up a chair and sat in front of him. She offered him a steaming mug of tea. His cold hands welcomed the cup''s warmth. As he sipped, delightful heat filled his throat and ?h?st. "I''m fine." Though his voice was hoarse, and his eyes refused to stop pouring tears, he smiled. "Right now¡­ I''m better than I''ve ever been." "Did something happen?" Lily looked apprehensive, even puzzled. "I''ve been through Hell," Severus said, eyes on his mug. The remaining tea jostled as his hands shook. "I''ve seen things so horrible I wouldn''t want anyone else to see them." "When? How? You haven''t gone anywhere. I¡ªwe¡­ haven''t spoken much, but I''ve seen you on campus every day." "Time is an elusive thing," Severus muttered. "To live in a world with magic means some things can never really be explained." Lily frowned. His heart rent. "I was wrong, Lily," he whispered. "God, help me, I was so wrong! And I''m sorry. I''ll do anything to make it up to you, I promise." "You mean¡­ I know you''re tired of hearing it but consider what you''re doing! Supporting Voldemort¡ªeven the idea¡ªis wrong. He''s pure evil!" Severus winced at Voldemort''s name and nearly dropped his mug. "Don''t look at me like that!" Lily crossed her arms. "You know how I feel about him and his lot." He gaped, then shook his head clear as he ran a hand through his dark hair. "I don''t¨C" He swallowed hard to clear his tight throat. "I don''t want anything to do with him. Ever." Lily straightened, eyes wide, unbelieving. "I never told you¡­ and I need to tell you now. You''re the kindest, most compassionate, beautiful person in the world." He set his mug aside and struggled to say everything he wanted to. "And you were right! You were always right. I was wrong." "Why now¡­?" "Because in a moment, I''ll wake up and find this is a dream." Sadness welled in Severus again. "You''ll disappear, and I''ll never see you again." "Sev, for Heaven''s sake!" She leaned closer and slipped from the chair to her knees. "What''s wrong? Please, tell me." Fright shadowed her face. "It''s¡­ complicated." Very. His mind ricocheted like a loose spring in a rubber box. "Are Avery and Mulciber out setting up something you planned? Did it backfire? Get out of control? Just tell me!" "What? Oh¡­" He and she were on far different pages. "Nothing is going on with them." "I saw you whispering with those two this morning. And you promised Black payback today. I heard you say so outside the exam room." She crossed her arms. "What did they do?" "Nothing." Severus''s face blanked. "Okay then, what did Malfoy, Mulciber and Avery do?" Severus laughed. "Those fools! They don''t deserve to sniff the dirt I walk on. I don''t want anything to do with them." "Y¡ªyou what? You said they were your real friends!" "I was wrong. People like them don''t understand what friendship is. I should count myself lucky I do." He gently took her hands and emphasized each word, "I. Really. Should. You were right about everything. They''re evil." Oh, Lily¡­ you were always my conscience¡ªmy guardian angel. "Uh¡­ thanks¡­ I guess." She cleared her throat. "All right, tell me this¡ªwhat do you think of muggles? Be honest. I can tell if you''re lying." "What about them? People are people. You''re a muggleborn, and my friend. Doesn''t that speak for itself?" said Severus. "I don''t care whether someone''s a muggle, muggleborn, or pureblooded. You realize I''m a half-blood, right?" "You''ve¡­ never said that out loud¡­" Lily wondered at him. "Oh." Was I really so narrow-minded before? "Honestly, I don''t care. You know who else is a half-blood?" said Severus. Lily shook her head, eyes fixed on his face. "The Dark Lord," he said as anger rose in his ?h?st. "How do you¡­?" Severus shook his head. "I know a lot¡ªsuch as, his real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle." He cursed under his breath. "I wish he''d drop dead. Do everyone a favor." Lily looked shocked. But whether it was because of the topic, or because he''d said he wished someone dead, he wasn''t sure. Perhaps it was his sudden change in belief. He winced as he remembered showing admiration for Voldemort more than once before the age of fourteen. Horcruxes! His mouth went dry. Was Voldemort making them even now? How many are already out there? The diary! Voldemort made it as a student. "I know¡­" Severus rasped. "What?" said Lily. "Too much." He shook his head. "Is¡­ he coming after you? Have you been meddling with him? Of all things, Sev!" "No, no." Severus stood and wandered the room in quick, disorganized circles. "The Dark Lord isn''t aware I know anything." He rubbed his chin and traced his steps around the room again. "I was never there¡ªnot anymore," he muttered. "But I know now, and if I don''t do something, it''s just as bad as joining him." He stopped in front of Lily and leaned close. "Don''t you see? If I do this right, I can turn everything around!" "You''re scaring me." Lily''s wide eyes shone with fear. "You sound¡­ mad." She looked away, defeat in her voice. Does she really think I''ve lost my mind¡­? Severus slumped in exhaustion. "I''m sorry. I just¡­ What should I do?" He retreated, embarrassed. "I can''t give this information to just anyone. So¡­ who do I tell?" The reflection in the dorm room mirror startled him. Merlin, I''m different! So¡­ young. No more appalling, sickly, dry parchment skin, or wrinkles. Darkness'' terrifying edge had vanished, giving way to the scrawny, gangly frame of a sixteen-year-old. He never considered himself attractive, but at least without all those years of dark magic, he wasn''t quite as much a mess. His skin was still pale, and he had yet to grow to his full height. Once-sallow cheeks looked normal again, but the sheen of oil that plagued every teen shone on his face. Severus touched his nose. It was large, but not as distinguishable. And his eyes¡­ Instead of sunken tunnels, they resembled two brilliant black orbs. I liked my eyes once. He glimpsed Lily in the mirror as she approached. She''s only sixteen too. She stood beside him. "You act like you''ve never seen a mirror before." She laid a hand on his shoulder. "You can tell me if you want. It would make me feel better, at least. I promise, I''ll listen." "Thank you," he whispered. Will I ever stop being hoarse? "I might¡­ but not right now. I need a moment. My head is bursting." Nausea squeezed his gut. "I''ll¡ªI''ll let you¡ªgo¡­ then¡­" Lily sighed. "No!" he said too loudly. Lily jumped. His cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I mean¡­ I could relax better if I didn''t¡­ have to be alone." He looked away. "If¡­ I have you near me." His heart pounded and he couldn''t quite breathe¡ªlike he just dove into ice water. "Please?" A light smile flitted over her lips accompanied by¡­ relief? Does she not trust me to be alone? Severus'' legs wobbled. He sat on the closest bed and slumped, head in his hands. A broken string threaded through each of the day''s events as his head pounded. After the incident at the lake earlier in the afternoon¡ªwhich still rang clear as mirrored glass even though it happened years ago by his reckoning¡ªpeace was exactly what he needed, that and an escape from prying eyes. He winced at the memory. What would my students think? He stopped. No students! I am a student¡ªone more time. I''m not going down that road again. No Death Eaters. No having people hesitate to give me a job. He smirked. Impressing those potion fools will be easy. I can brew things that won''t be invented for ten years¡ªand with my eyes closed. Lily pulled her chair over to him again. Her doubt hurt, but she was here, with him. He relaxed a little. You don''t trust me yet, do you, angel? But you still ease my burden when I can''t bear it anymore¡­ Curfew approached. Lily escorted Severus downstairs. He dreaded the moment he had to let her go. Will it all vanish once she''s out of my sight? His heart raced. "What the¨C? Snape?" A flabbergasted Potter drew several students'' attention. Severus nodded. "Potter." "You can''t be here." Potter lifted an accusing finger. "Obviously I can." Severus smirked. What must he think? Me, leaving Lily''s bedroom with her? He nearly chuckled at the immature delight of Potter''s discomfort. "But¡ªbut you''re not allowed," Potter stuttered. Black, Potter''s constant shadow since childhood, nodded. "There''s no rule against it." Severus frowned. "As long as I''m back in my own common room before curfew, I can be here. So, if you''ll excuse me, I really must be going." He approached the portrait hole. The Marauders made no snide remarks. Potter and Black stood together, Wormtail just behind, a question on his face. Lupin burrowed into a book as he always did when Severus appeared. But even the bookish werewolf glanced at him with furrowed brows. Severus hadn''t known much about Lupin before the other man''s appointment as Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he learned more at the Order''s meetings. Werewolves¡­ Severus suppressed a shudder. At least Lupin stood by me before in his own way¡­ even if I shoved a lot of hate his direction. He remembered taking Dumbledore''s life and shut his eyes against the tide of his past life''s regrets. Lupin knew where his loyalties were. Wolfsbane isn''t easy to brew¡ªnot to mention how long the process takes. I could have poisoned him any time. No one could''ve proven it wasn''t an accident. And, oh, I considered it, Lupin, so many times. Remus tucked into his book again when Severus looked his way. But I didn''t. And you honored that. I''d have him in my debt again. He swung into the open portrait hole and smirked. A little fear would be healthy for the rest of Potter''s band. Lupin''s werewolf form from the incident at the willow sprang to mind and Severus'' hands grew clammy. Feels like an eternity ago. He glanced back. Not for them. He stifled another shudder. They''re roaming the grounds during the full moon¡ªwithout Lupin under control. Severus remembered Lupin''s transformation¡ªwhen he was a Professor. And though Severus was of no real use then, paralyzed by his fear of werewolves, he''d shielded Harry, Ron and Hermione. Wolfsbane is the only option this time. He pieced together more of his plan as he exited the Gryffindor common room. Confusion couldn''t begin to describe Lily''s feelings. She stared at the exit long after Sev left. He seemed genuine¡ªfirst at the lake, then here. She sensed when he lied, even when others couldn''t. Something''s different this time¡ªoff. Not just one thing¡ªeverything. I want to believe him. An ache settled in her ?h?st. This is so¡­ sudden. Not to mention weird. He looked shocked¡ªshaken through. His silence back at the field still chilled her, and she unconsciously rubbed her arms. Well, whatever it was¡­ I suppose it''s good. He¡ªShe choked. He almost passed the turning point. I felt it. He really wanted to hurt people. I couldn''t make him learn the lesson he needed, but now- Now I don''t have to! I owe someone a miracle¡­ I just wish I knew who. James'' behavior earlier shocked her. This time, she saw Sev''s dark expression, and understood it when James used Levicorpus. But when Sev didn''t throw a fit and curse the Marauders¡­ That''s what he always does¡ªlash out when attacked. His temper is horrid. That''s his flaw. He''s so¡­ unhinged sometimes. But when he doesn''t say anything¡­ The chill returned. "They''re the ones who look like children," he''d said. Sev''s words terrified¡ªeven unnerved her. Was he going to do something to them? With everything he''s been doing lately¡­ She shook her head. They''re prats, the lot of them. Even so, I don''t want them dead. But¡­ Sev never cries. Not since he was nine¡ªeven when his mother died. What terrified him so much¡­? Lily tapped her foot. Is Sev in trouble? Or did he turn a new leaf? Her ?h?st squeezed again as she recalled the day''s events. For his sake¡ªand mine¡­ I want to believe it''s the latter. But this is his last chance. He can''t have my friendship and serve Voldemort. Oh, Merlin, help me! I hope this was a good sign, but it''s so bizarre! "So? What''s wrong with him?" Lily turned to James and the others. "That''s none of your business," she snapped. "So, something is wrong!" said Sirius. "Padfoot, sometimes your skills of deduction are just astounding." Remus rolled his eyes and tucked his book under his arm. "Pretty sure we''ve established something happened to Snape." "Then what is it?" said Sirius. "Lily''s right. It''s not our business." Remus shook his head. "You''re such a bore," James pouted. He perked up, "You don''t think it has anything to do with¡­" He gave Remus and the others a knowing glance. "I don''t think so," Remus said. "But, it could," James persisted. "Maybe," Remus said. He bit his lip and fidgeted. "But I still don''t think so." "What?" Lily said, her curiosity at its boiling point. "Do you know something?" The four boys startled. "Does it have to do with¡­ you-know-who?" She crossed her arms, face stern. "Merlin, no!" James'' jaw slacked. "Has Snape had something to do with him?" "Uh, no," Lily quickly said. No reason to give Sev more trouble. "He said he thinks¡­ he¡­ is evil." Lily fiddled with her ear. "Perhaps Snivellus does have a decent bone in his body," James muttered amidst the other boys'' puzzled looks. "Maybe," Sirius echoed. "Would you stop calling him that? He hates it," Lily said. "It was childish when you were eleven. You''re sixteen. Grow up!" "Come on, Lily." Sirius snorted. "That couldn''t be the reason he went to blubbering." "Of course not." Lily perched hands on h?ps. "But that doesn''t mean he likes it." James looked thoughtful. "Didn''t seem like he noticed this time though." Just before she shot a reply, she stopped, finger to lips. He''s right. Sev didn''t mention it¡ªeven said he didn''t care what the Marauders said or did to him. Doesn''t he want to see them go down for what they''ve done? Make them mind their own business? I agree to a point, but it''s not like him to ignore them. "Let''s drop it," Remus said. "Snape isn''t one to cry without reason. Actually¡­ I don''t think I''ve ever seen him cry¡ªespecially not like that. Let it be this time. It''s not our business." "But¡­" James began. Remus'' face pleaded. Lily rolled her eyes. Will Remus never stand up to them? He should insist, not ask. "Okay." James sighed. "You''re right." His answer relieved Lily. With the Marauders, James'' decisions were final. Sirius wasn''t happy, but he was too loyal to James to go against him. Four or five stray students headed for their common rooms as Severus walked the Hogwarts corridors. He knew every inch of these halls now. Two more students passed without slowing. Strange to be invisible again, except the odd looks from the ones at the field earlier. He neared the dungeons. "Mr. Snape." Severus stopped and faced Minerva McGonagall. To hear her call him that added one more thing to today''s list of strangeness. For years she called him Severus. Except last year¡­ when she thought me a traitor. Then it was plain Snape, but never Mr. Snape. A smile tugged at his lips. Minerva hadn''t changed. Fewer wrinkles creased her face, but that was the only difference. He respected her. To meet her eyes, devoid of hate, disgust or the wound of his supposed betrayal¡­ It gratified and relived him. "Mi¡ªGonagall¨C Uh, Professor," he salvaged. Either she didn''t notice the slip or chose not to address it as she approached. "Mr. Snape, it was brought to my attention that someone from my house did you serious harm. Do you wish to confirm that?" she said in her best business tone. This is new. "Nothing worth mentioning, Professor," he ?ssured. The tears must''ve made me look more the victim this time. "I was led to believe you were seriously compromised, and¡­ well¡­ emotional," Minerva said, voice low. To think she put so much effort into a student''s well-being. I preferred giving detention, myself. "Perhaps I was¡­ emotional, as you put it," said Severus. No use in denying it. She''s too stubborn to let it go. "But it had nothing to do with Potter, Black and Pettigrew. I had¡­ personal reasons." "Are you sure?" "Yes, Professor." Severus nodded. "Very well. Off to the dorm with you. It''s getting late." The pair turned opposite directions. "Professor!" Severus stopped. "Mr. Snape?" Minerva faced him. "Thank you." Minerva''s expression brightened. Thank you¡ªfor the rivalry in a previous life. I enjoyed it. Thank you¡ªfor standing by me in two wars that haven''t happened yet. Thank you¡ªfor being you, the solitary reliable thing in my previous life. "You''re welcome." Her eyes softened. "We teachers are here for the students, after all." When it came to students, it didn''t matter who she liked more, she''d do what she could for them. Severus bit back another smirk. Can''t say I excelled in that department, Minerva. But, then again, teaching was more of a necessity for me than a passion. Severus gave her a nod. "Thank you," he said again and continued toward his dorm. He reached the entrance to Slytherin''s common room. Password¡ªwhat''s the password? He stared at the entrance for a five-count. Guess I''ll wait until someone else goes in. And they''d better not think they''ve the right to insult me if they realize my predicament. Almost before he finished the thought, quick, light footsteps approached. Ah! Narcissa Malfoy¡ªno, Black. He stepped aside, relieved it was her. She wouldn''t hesitate to use the password in front of him, and she wouldn''t ask too many questions. "Severus," she greeted. "Narcissa," he replied. Not yet tied to Lucius Malfoy and weighty responsibilities, she looked young and vibrant again. "How¡­ are you?" she said. "Fine," Severus replied as he eyed the entrance instead of meeting her gaze. "Going in?" "In a moment," he said. "Oh, okay." She gave him a confused tilt of her head but didn''t pry. "It''s getting late. Probably shouldn''t wait too long," she said. "Cobra." The code triggered the door for Narcissa. Severus counted two minutes. "Cobra." He entered. Stares bored into him from every corner of the common room. Whispers echoed, and Severus'' guard rose. His wand waited in his sleeve, ready for use. He took the stairs to his dorm, and though everyone gawked, no one confronted him. He plopped onto his bed, face-up. Outside the window, a half-moon glowed. Two more weeks. Just enough time to make Wolfsbane. Can''t let a werewolf roam the grounds uncontrolled. The day''s events crashed through his head. Died in the Shrieking Shack killed by Voldemort¡ªsent back to the world of the living by a load of regret¡ªavoided becoming a ghost because of¡­ Mother. That old life¡­ it''s gone¡ªat least for me. I haven''t done anything¡ªnot this time. He checked his unmarked wrist again and allowed a faint smile. Not a Death Eater, not a spy¡ªcertainly not a double-agent. No one hates me. Well, Potter''s lot still doesn''t like me much, but it''s nothing compared to¡­ He remembered all the people who abhorred him before. Lily''s alive! And no one''s died because of me¡­ A half-chuckle escaped Severus. How did a situation like this ever exist for me? His eyes drooped. This is a dream. Maybe Heaven is real, and I''m in it. I never have to make those mistakes, never have to see the terrible consequences. I could go with that. Absolutely. Everything''s looking up for once. Sleep came, and he drifted off with a smile on his lips. Chapter End Chapter 20 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 10 - Second Chances Plot: James Potter''s secret, Sirius Black''s letter and a meeting with a Slytherin lady will change Harry''s life forever. How will his friends and foes react when friendship and love blossom between the golden boy and the ice queen? parings HP/DG, HG/NL. Happens after the PoA. Sequel is up (HP and the Congregation of the Asp) Warning: Ron/Molly/Dumbledore bashing Pairing: HP-DG NOTE: Its a VERY long fan-fiction, <> is only the first book of the trilogy. The entire series (completed) is around 1,000,000 words total and encompasses the GoF to DH, though it strays away from canon a LOT after OotP. Read with caution, you cannot put down this novel once you start!!!!! Yep, its that good.... You have been warned. Second Chances Little Whinging ¨C July 1994 On most days Harry''s mood would have been far darker on his way from the Dursleys''s house to the small and old shack inhabited by Arabella Figg, an old lady who shared her home with tons of cats of all shapes and sizes. The black-haired boy really disliked being there. The lady was more than a bit weird; she seemed to like her cats more than any human, and she was always surrounded by a cloud of smell, an unpleasant mix of mothballs and slightly rotten food. Add to this the permeating ''odor'' of cat litter in every room, and you can imagine Harry''s urge to stay away from her home. But not today. The last weeks had been more than a bit unusual. He had met his godfather and, for an hour, he had hoped to get away from this horrible place and Aunt Petunia''s horrific family. For an hour, Harry had dared to hope for a new life, a life with someone who liked him, who saw ''Harry'' and not some freak, responsible for his mother''s death. His hope had died with Lupin changing into a werewolf, distracting them long enough to allow Peter Pettigrew to get away. How he would love to get his hands on that traitor and kill him slowly and most painfully. But the ''rat'' vanished and nobody believed them, nobody believed that Peter was still alive and had been the traitor a decade ago rather than Sirius Black. And so Sirius had to go to hiding again, and Harry was back here in Little Whinging. Two days ago he had gotten a letter from him. With wide eyes Harry had stared at the letter and ignored the hue and cry of Uncle Vernon about stupid owls. The content of the letter had been weird, but nonetheless it was the reason that Harry was on his way to Mrs. Figg now with bu??erflies the size of full-grown doves in his stomach. Dear Harry, I hope you are well. I am so sorry that I had to go away again, that I can''t give you the home you deserve. I really wanted to be with you. But I have news for you, and I hope they''ll be good. I have spoken with someone and the person would like to see you. In two days at tea-time you are expected at the home of Mrs. Figg. Yes, I mean the cat-lady you already know. Someone will be there, waiting. Please be kind and give that person a chance. And don''t tell anybody about this in the meantime. Sirius . A broad smile appeared on Harry''s face as he noticed his welcome party on the small stone-wall beside the garden gate. Sitting there, eyes half-closed and obviously enjoying the sunbeams sat a medium-sized tomcat with a black-white fur. Two years ago Harry had found the tomcat by the road, grievously injured by a car. Attending a very distraught Arabella Figg he had heard the veterinarian speaking about the foreseeable death of the small rascal and that they should spare him the pain. But Mrs. Figg didn''t want to hear anything about that and started to nurture him back with her own house-brewed medicine. The smell had been awful but Harry ¨C who had helped her in that time ¨C watched him leave the brink of death and a few weeks later he was as good as new. Since then Balou ¨C as the tomcat had been called because of his very soft and thick fur, and his cuddly behavior ¨C had been there waiting for him every time the Dursleys ''lent'' him to Mrs. Figg to watch her cats. "Hello, Balou," Harry fondled him behind the ears, smiling but still a bit troubled about the question of whom would be waiting for him in the house and why that person was waiting in Mrs. Figg''s house of all things. "I''m sorry; I haven''t got any sausage for you this time. Dudley ¡­" Harry''s smile broadened as Balou''s showed a face as close to disgust as possible for a cat. Without looking back ¨C knowing that Balou would follow him inside ¨C he went to the door, the wood of which had not been painted for more than a decade, and knocked hesitantly. As the door opened he saw a very unusual sight in the form of a Mrs. Figg with red and puffy eyes. Without a word the small lady threw him in her arms and hugged him heartily. "I''m so sorry, Harry," she sobbed. "I ¡­ I didn''t know." Pushing him a bit away she started to wipe her eyes with an old, bleached out handkerchief and blew her nose heartily. Harry had no idea what she was speaking about. Sorry? Sorry about what? . As he slowly opened the door the tomcat rushed inside. He hopped onto a chair and then on the table, and graciously walked over towards the farther end, only to lie down on a heap of papers in front of a lady sitting there. Lady ¨C that was the only word coming up in his mind as he saw her: in her mid-thirties, with long black hair and intensive grey eyes, very beautiful with a long neck and delicate hands. She was sitting there very upright in a pale blue gown, sparse jewelry accentuating her beauty. Harry was sure he didn''t know her but somehow she seemed familiar. His frown changed into a smile as he watched the lady look at Balou. With a soft and surprisingly warm voice she addressed the little rascal: "You should know that I''m a dog person, little one. Do you think it is wise to crumple my papers in this way?" The tomcat only glared at her curiously. With a sigh she started to fondle him with a bit of an insecure motion. "His name is Balou," Harry''s low voice broke the silence. She looked up and, after a moment, he added: "And I''m Harry Potter." She held out her hand and as, he grasped it, ¨C the skin being as cool and soft as expected but with a few unexpected calluses on the inside ¨C she bowed her head slightly. "I''m Roxanne Greengrass; it is a p???sur? to finally meet you. I''m the mother of Astoria and Daphne Greengrass." Silently she stared at his eyes for a minute as if trying to see something special there. "And I''m your godmother." . His mind was in a haze as he reached the Dursleys home three hours later. Ignoring the questions of his Aunt and the nagging of his Uncle, he went to his room and closed the door behind him. Could this be real? The papers in his jacket''s pocket seemed to prove it but he was still struggling to believe it. Lady Greengrass seemed to be nice enough. But she was a pureblood witch from a very old family and a Slytherin to boot, as were her daughters and her husband. Could she be trusted? He never encountered a friendly or trustworthy or in any way positive Slytherin before. All his encounters with members of that house had been more or less unpleasant. But then there was this second letter of Sirius: "¡­ Trust her. She is a kind and honest one. Without her your father wouldn''t have been able to marry your mother ¡­" She told him the same. "Had the history been a bit different, I could have been your mother now." Apparently there had been a marriage contract between her parents and his grandparents, arranging a marriage between Roxanne Greengrass n¨¦e Pinegrew and James Potter. Both teenagers had been only eleven when the arrangement had been made and they hardly knew each other. Their mothers had both been in Ravenclaw and very dear friends back then, and the contact hold firm until the wrongful death of Harry''s grandparents thirteen years ago. Both families ¨C the Potters and the Pinegrews ¨C had been old and quite rich but without much political influence as both heads of the household had avoided the snares of political bickering and bribery. With the Potters always leaning to ''the light'' there hadn''t been very many promising matches for James Potter and the Pinegrews had always been at least neutral in the conflict despite the growing pressure around them. But then, on a fateful day, James Potter met Lily Evans and within a few months it became clear ¨C at least to him ¨C that this would be the girl he wanted to marry. For more than six years she rejected him before she gave in to his constant wooing at last. With his parents unhappy about the development Roxanne, to James'' relief, not only stepped back from the contract but actually helped him to convince his parents to allow a love marriage with a Muggleborn. The arrangement had been dissolved and replaced by another one containing points about friendship and help between the houses, and most importantly stating that they would be godparents to each other''s children. This way James Potter became godfather of Daphne Greengrass and Roxanne Greengrass godmother of Harry Potter. About her husband she didn''t say much and Harry had the impression that there wasn''t much love between the couple. And he had a hunch that there was more about those contracts than she had said today. "In the beginning we often saw each other: James, Lily, you, me and Daphne. But the conflict increased and my parents feared for our lives. Your grandparents had been killed and my husband Cyrus ¡­ he has never been a Deatheater but he is an old friend of the Malfoys''. It simply was too dangerous for both families and so ¡­" For a moment she struggled, her eyes gleaming with tears. "When I heard about your parents'' death and Sirius'' betrayal ¡­ even Dumbledore seemed to believe that he had betrayed your father. Only a week ago did I hear the real story about Pettigrew. I never liked him, but the same time I never expected that." "Why have you never tried to contact me before?" Harry asked, more curious than angry and still shocked by the news. Roxanne sighed: "I wanted to accept you into my family, to bring you up as some kind of brother to Daphne ¨C James and I had spoken about that in case of Sirius'' unavailability. But Headmaster Dumbledore ¨C he said that this would be too dangerous, partly because of my husband. He said that you would be secure with your Aunt, that you would have a loving home there." She flinched shortly as Harry grimaced. "I didn''t know where you lived until you entered Hogwarts and then ¡­" She hesitated for a moment. "Daphne told me about you. That you''d been sorted into Gryffindor like your father, that you have found friends there and ¡­ that you''ve had some issues with Slytherins." Roxanne smiled weakly: "It seemed like you didn''t need me and perhaps you wouldn''t want to get to know me." Harry sat silent in Mrs. Figg''s living room, pondering about what Roxanne Greengrass had said. In a way she had been right. There wasn''t much love between the houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin. Without the letters of Sirius it would be even more difficult to gain his trust. And it wasn''t her fault that he tried to make a show of ''all-is-right-at-home'' in Hogwarts. Even Hermione and Ron didn''t know all what happened in the Dursley home. He had only told Sirius the whole ugly story in a moment of sappy farewell. "Why did we meet here? And why now?" Patiently she explained: "Mrs. Figg is a squib. Headmaster Dumbledore told Sirius about her and her mission to watch you. Obviously she failed to see what''s happening in your Aunt''s house. Sirius told me about you and the Dursleys. You''re quite unhappy there, aren''t you?" Harry sat very still, only blinking, his mind racing. Dumbledore told her about a loving home? Mrs. Figg had the mission to watch him and didn''t realize what happened? Her sorrow seemed to be real enough and he believed the old lady. But should he tell this Lady Greengrass ¨C his godmother, he realized again with a confused mind ¨C how life had been at the Dursleys? He hesitated, his fear to be pitied, to be seen as weak and tainted struggled with his hope that this ¡­ hope that this would be what? An escape? "Harry?" Her eyes held not pity, no disgust, only friendliness and a hint of regret. Fear tried to suppress any word but deep within he knew: Should he deny this opportunity, should he stay silent now, he would regret it forever. And so he told her ¡­ Chapter End Chapter 21 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 6 - United, We Rise Plot: A Warrior. A Hero. A Legend. Elros Anitos crashes onto Earth after fighting in a devastating galactic war. Entering Kara Zor-El''s life with a bang, bonds will be forged, enemies will be fought and pasts unveiled. Will light shine or will darkness devour? Kara x Elros. Rated T for action, violence, some gore. Pairing: Kara-OC NOTE: It seems like this novel is abandoned, though i recommend it because the idea behind this novel is exceptionally good. So do not read if you don''t like incomplete projects with no notions or sign of continuation in the near future. Prologue - The Journey Across the Stars Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl or any of the other franchises/T. V shows I will be using in this story in any way shape or form! This story is made purely for entertainment purposes! Author Notes, MAKE SURE TO READ BEFORE READING STORY! Hello everyone. I''m back with the rewrite for "Stronger United", now called "United, We Rise". I have written all of the notes and know how the story will be written so you can be sure for constant updates and the completion of this story. Now onto some of the changes that will be in this story when compared to the old "Stronger United". For one, the chapters will not be long as the older story. The chapters will typically be around 10k words because this will allow me to write 1 episode from cannon or an original episode and it will increase the frequency of the updates of the chapters. Regarding the plot, the prologue will be different when compared the original. The entire prologue will be in this one chapter but this chapter will be much, much longer and it will be detailed. Also, some of the concepts I had introduced in the older version will be changed so make sure to read the prologue carefully. This will be the only chapter that is very large in terms of word count. This is because I do not want the prologue to spread out over multiple chapters. For the rest of the plot, I have many things planned out which I believe will make all of your readers interested and engaged until the completion of this story. Now about Elros, I felt as if I did not show any character development for him considering what I made him go through even taking into consideration he is an alien and is more genetically evolved and has a stronger mind. As such, I will be making Elros'' fate much, much worse in this story before he reaches Earth which you will find out about when you read the prologue. I will be showing a steady progression of Elros'' character changing and him recovering from what he went through. Regarding Elros and Kara''s relationship, I did say in the previous version that I would try to show a nice development and I failed to meet that promise so I will try to do that in this story. I know in the cannon they show Kara falling into relationships pretty quickly if you look at her interaction with Adam but I don''t plan on doing that. I think it would be nice to show a nice development in their relationship as it keeps growing stronger before they get together as I feel this would make the love between them much stronger. And I will be keeping the relationship as Elros x Kara only. Again, with the idea of no betrayal or moments of weakness as I like loyalty. Also note that I WILL BE INCLUDING LEMON SCENES IN THIS STORY BUT IT WILL BE LATER INTO THE STORY! I WILL GIVE WARNINGS OF WHEN THESE LEMON SCENES WILL COME! Also, the s?xu?? relation between Kara and Elros will be a bit different then normal but it won''t affect the story. I just want it the way I wrote it just for the sake of it. The lemon scenes along with the fact that there will be heavy violence, combat, action and gore in the story is the reason this story will be rated T for now but I will change it to M Rating once I do add lemons but until then its rated T. Also, Kara''s personality will just be slightly changed, just so it fits with the story but not overly so, so please don''t worry about that. Despite this I still wish you all readers give this rewrite a chance as I strongly feel about this story and think it will become quite the read. I promise I''ll make sure to minimize the grammar errors as I know there was a SHIT tone of grammar errors in the previous version. Also, there a few changes that you may find, one being that the Varaxxi will now be called Xenomorphs and the main reason for this is because the Varaxxi forms were based off of the Xenomorphs and I just found out that the alien from the movie Alien are called Xenomorphs so yeah. Another change is regarding some information on the Void Legacy so make sure to read the prologue. Also, big shouted out to Ryu otsutsuki for not only being my beta reader but also for helping me out with many ideas for this story. He is playing a big part in the makings of this story and I could not have done it without him! Methods of Interaction: "Normal speech" "SHOUTING" "Speaking with telepathy or soul bond" ''Thoughts'' *Sounds* "Demonic Voice" ("Other language being translated to English") ~Play this music video~ Hope you enjoy! READ THIS CHAPTER CAREFULLY! THERE WILL BE MANY THINGS MENTIONED HERED THAT WILL HAVE MAJOR ROLES TO PLAY IN THE PLOT THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THIS STORY! The universe. Infinite in its length, holds an unfathomable number of galaxies which each hold billions upon billions of stars, giant balls of gas of extreme heat and varying colors of light. Some of these stars have planets orbiting them and some of these planets house life. Sentient organisms that were created by the god of life since the dawn of creation. In one of these infinitely numbering galaxies, there lays a planet known as Valeron orbiting a giant white star that shined white rays of light, in what humans call the Cygnus star constellation. This planet is one of sheer beauty that is unparalleled and could truly be called the pinnacle of creation not just because of the nature on the planet and its rich green and blue coloring due to having plants, oxygen and water, but also because of the race that inhabits the planet. Valeronians. The Valeronians are a very advanced species of humanoids that looked exactly like humans except for a few key differences. One was that their canine teeth were a bit sharper and longer than humans. Two, their tongues were a bit longer and three, they were very far ahead in their evolution as they were genetically advanced, allowing them unique psychic abilities and a natural ability to heal themselves and others. In addition to being genetically advanced, the Valeronians were also very advanced in terms of their technology. They had cities that could fly and even space travel, ships that could take on armies by themselves, the most advanced medical technology, and power sources that could provide infinite amounts of energy. This alone made them very feared throughout the galaxy among any alien species that knew of their existence, however this fear had been quickly dispersed when they had learned what type of a race the Valeronians are. In what could only be described as the most noble race in the galaxy, the culture of the Valeronians was something that made them very respected. The Valeronian culture was very unique if you take into consideration how far advanced they were, in terms of both technology and evolutionary. The Valeronians did have a belief in god which they called "Heiron" who they believed that created the universe. However, they did not have any temples in Heiron''s name nor did they have any prayers. They believed that as long as they held the belief in Heiron''s existence in their hearts, it was enough and it would be better to follow Heiron''s teachings rather than pray. As such, they used their advanced technology to help all other races in any way possible. Some races welcomed this help while others didn''t and the Valeronians had accepted that. One particular race that they had forged very close relations was the Kryptonians which were another race of humanoids just like them, except for a few small differences such as their technology and difference in genetic evolution. The Valeronians had encountered the Kryptonians around, 75-thousand Earth years'' ago when the King and Queen who had ruled at that time, by chance picked up the distress signal from Krypton as they were passing near their planet. The Valeronians had found an armada of huge ships that were flat and ovular in shape, dark blue in color and entirely organic in nature. The Xenomorphs are a endoparasitoid species and are around usually around 7-8 feet in height, except queens that can grow up to 100 feet in height. Their physiology consists of large curved, oblong head, long muscular tails, a very powerful exoskeleton around their bodies and very sharp and powerful teeth and claws. They are a very powerful, and possess very high speed and intelligence and most usually are under the command of a queen. But the Xenomorphs were very hostile and their only goals were to survive at any costs and become the most powerful race in the galaxy, which was why they were trying to grow stronger, little by little to one day defeat the Valeronians. As such, they had ?ssembled their entire race and had been traveling across the galaxy to different worlds for food and collect any valuable resources they could and their current target had been Krypton. The ships had arrived at Krypton and within a few minutes had determined the situation. The Valeronians had known about the Xenomorphs and had been hunting them down since they were a threat to the galaxy and its inhabitants. As such, they wasted no time in vaporizing the huge motherships with only one escaping. The soldiers and the King and Queen then beamed down to the surface of the planet using their teleportation technology and began wiping out all of the Xenomorphs on the planet. Once they had all been eliminated and the Kryptonians had been saved, the Valeronian King and Queen had met the rulers of the Kryptonians since their society was a monarchy as well, and a strong alliance had been formed. The Kryptonians had been very thankful to the Valeronians for saving their race and were looking for different ways to repay them but the Valeronians had told them that they never needed to repay them. This had made the Kryptonians respect them even more and over-time their alliance had formed into a powerful friendship/relationship. The two races had exchanged culture, religion and languages with each other and learned a lot from each other¡­well mainly Kryptonians learning from Valeronians. Even interbreeding had happened in between the races ensuring that their close relationship would last for ages to come. Along with the Kryptonians, the Valeronians had helped the highly advanced races with many of their problems which had gained their respect and loyalty. The Valeronians had saved the Asgard race from certain extinction because, in their pursuit to defeat death by cloning themselves and transferring their consciousness from clone to clone as the clones died, they had suffered from irreversible genetic degradation. This was due to their mistake of using the DNA of their clones to make more clones rather than preserving their original bodies and using their DNA. This had happened around 30 thousand years after the Valeronians had saved the Kryptonians, the Asgard had only around 1 thousand years left to live before their race as a whole would perish. The Valeronians had learned about this and had gone to them to offer their help and using their advanced healing powers and technology, they had restored a few of the male and female Asgard''s frail, thin and short gray bodies back to before they had started cloning themselves which made their appearance look much like humans, Kryptonians and Valeronians except they had blue skin and no hair. Not only this but the Valeronians had saved the Asgard from the enemy they had been fighting for years, the Replicators. A small spider shaped mechanical robot of unknown origin that had only one purpose to do for eternity: Replicate. They replicated by consuming technology and resources and making more of themselves, with these replicated versions taking on the properties of whatever technology they had consumed. The Asgard would have been wiped out very quickly but thankfully the Valeronians had offered their help with this situation as well and they had soon discovered that whoever had created the Replicators, had designed them in such a way that an overarching mind would be able to control them. As such, they tied the Replicator to an artificial consciousness with enough memory space that it bordered on the infinite, allowing the Valeronians to take complete control of the little robots. This of course increased their overall power to unimaginable levels with the Replicators under their control, but they mainly used them to construct cities and help out the Asgard in repairing their broken home world before putting the Replicators to sleep. In addition to the Asgard, the Valeronians had helped the Protoss, another humanoid like race but they had blue colored skin, were typically 7-9 feet in height, had their knees bending backwards and a triangular face with a thin sharp shin and no mouth as they communicated using their psionic abilities, with fighting the Zerg. The Zerg was a unique race had many different forms and rather very peculiar DNA, enabling to quickly adapt to any environment and develop any beneficial traits of organisms that they consume. The Protoss and the Zerg had been at war for quite a while and it was only because the Zerg had wanted to try and attack their world and other worlds to consume their DNA. This was the reason Protoss fought back but were losing due to the Zerg''s immense numbers until the Valeronians interfered, defeating the Zerg invasion force and helping the Protoss rebuild their society and forge a strong friendship with them. It helped that the Protoss believed in respect and honorable combat which was why the Valeronians had got along with them quite well. The Green Martians, a green colored large humanoid race of shape shifters, that had sharp and short oblong heads, red eyes and muscular bodies, had received aid in their development with the Valeronians providing small amounts of technology but no weapons or anything that could be used as a weapon. In return the Green Martians had offered them a chance to study their ability of shapeshifting which had advanced the Valeronians technology of cloaking and inserting the armor of their soldiers with shape shifting capabilities. Another race that the Valeronians had close relations to were the Furyans. The Furyans are a humanoid species and they have a very similar physiology to the Valeronians and Kryptonians as they looked almost human except for their black eyes that had yellow irises. The Furyans were a unique race as they had grown and evolved on a very harsh planet causing them to evolve to have extremely high physical capabilities and incredible durability as well as a high regenerative factor. They also had a primal state they called ''Furyan Rage'' in which they became extremely powerful and dangerous but lost all rational thinking and follow the only goal they set before they went in this state. The community of Furyans followed a pack system where there was an Alpha male and Alpha female that were the strongest of the entire race since the Furyans valued strength more than anything so whoever is the most powerful was their leader. This was why they respected the Valeronians so much as many of the soldiers in their army were very strong and could stand up to some of the stronger Furyans although the strongest soldiers in the Valeronian army seemed to surpass their Alpha leaders as well. The relations between the Valeronians and Furyans had formed by accident when the Valeronians came upon their harsh world and discovered their race and saved them from a natural disaster of a huge asteroid about to crash into their planet which would have wiped out all life living on it. After, that Valeronian culture which included lots of fighting integrated somewhat with Furyan culture and the two races had formed strong bonds but not as strong the bond Valeronians shared with Kryptonians. The Valeronians while kind hearted in wanting to help other good races that were merely seeking to advance, they did not tolerate races destroying other races for advancing their own and as such, they held no mercy in either wiping them out if necessary or reducing their numbers to the b?r? minimum. It may seem hypocritical that they hated races destroying others when they themselves were doing it but they only did it to protect other good races and they never harmed a soul for their own benefit. The Valeronians had d?s?r?d peace and to create such a thing, they had decided to form the Empyrean Alliance. This alliance was made so that all of the technologically advanced races would have strong bonds between each other and would come to any of the other races aid, if the need ever arose. Furthermore, any of the lesser advanced races can join the alliance to get its protection and join in on the trade of resources that happened between them. With this idea, the Valeronians had proposed, to the Kryptonians, Asgardians, Protoss, Green Martians, Nox, Galadorians and the Daxamites to join the alliance. All except the Daxamites agreed mainly because the Daxamites were a very laid back and party all day type of race and they held a grudge against their sister race, the Kryptonians so they refused to be apart of anything they were apart of. The Empyrean Alliance has now stood strong for 35 thousand years and peace has reigned throughout the entire time. Races had advanced far in technology, previously primitive races have made tremendous advancements in their development and a general acceptance of the various races among most of them. Many other animals have evolved into sentient beings and had developed quite a bit such as the chimpanzees having now evolved into humans on Earth. However, throughout these 35 thousand years, an evil had been growing in the shadows. The Xenomorphs who had been brought to near extinction, spend the millenniums rebuilding their race and even created the Wraith which were a hybrid of primitive humans from earth and an insect called the Iratus Bug from the Xenomorph''s home world, to serve them. The Wraith su?k?d the life out of humans or other humanoid organisms through an organ on their right arm and also used that to transfer the energy they gained to the Xenomorphs. With this, the Xenomorphs'' population had recovered from nearly being wiped out and their grudge had remained as strong as ever. As such they had recruited many of the hostile races that also had a bone to pick with the Valeronians or wanted their rule to be over and created what was known as the Chthonic Alliance. This alliance consisted of the Xenomorphs ¨C the leaders of the alliance, Wraith, Boglodites, Dominators, White Martians, Knish, and the Zerg. It was only in the past few years that the Empyrean Alliance had received information about this alliance and they had been on guard ever since, preparing for a war which they knew was coming. The current King and Queen of the Valeronians had also prepared their home world for the war and had left some automated defence ships on all of the planets under the protection of the alliance. Planet Valeron Currently, the King and Queen, Ramas and Elena respectively were sitting in a large room with their 3 kids, Silara, Elros and Ronan in their home in the capital city of their home world called the City of Optimus. The King is a rather big muscular man, standing at a height of 6''4". He had black hair, brown eyes, a thin beard with sideburns and a few scars on his face. He wore a white cloak with a thin crimson stripe along the edge and the symbol of the Valeronians which was crimson in color and consisted of 4 circles, connected to a square in the center and a dot in the middle of the square. The Queen is a 5'' 10" beautiful brown-haired woman with hazelnut colored eyes, a beautiful face and curvaceous figure. Silara is 16 and the oldest among her 2 siblings. She takes after her mother with her brown hair and hazel colored eyes and an even more curvaceous figure then her mother and was quite tall at a height of 5'' 7". She has a very serene, gentle and kind personality and loves spending time cooking with her mother and younger brother Elros and occasionally hide the youngest of her siblings, Ronan when he gets in trouble for trying to pull off some pranks. She is the next in line to rule the Valeronian people and hence has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders but knew with her family by her side, she could do it. However, she and her parents thought that Elros was more suited to lead then anyone. Ronan is the youngest of the 3 siblings for the royal Anitos family as he is 14 years old. He has brown hair, bound into long dreads, held together by a band, brown eyes that usually held a mischievous look. Ronan loves to play pranks on other people and occasionally convinces his older brother to join him while using his puppy-eyed look into convincing his sister Silara to occasionally hide him when necessary. He also loves to train and spar with his older brother and father as like most Valeronians, he loves to fight. Elros is the younger brother of Silara and older brother of Ronan, with an age of 15. Elros was an enigma even among his own family but they loved him more because of it. Ever since he had learned to fight, Elros had been able to learn and fight better then some of the most veteran soldiers of the Valeronian army. And when he did enter combat, Elros'' nature always had changed. He went from a kind-hearted boy to a fierce warrior that knew only how to win. When he wasn''t fighting however, Elros loved to spend time with his family like cooking with his mother and older sister Silara, or fighting with his little brother Ronan and his father. Another, very interesting thing that everyone noticed was that Elros was a natural born leader. He had an aura filled with charisma and authority that made Ramas, Elena and Silara think that he would be fit to lead the Valeronian people, perhaps more than anyone. This belief was only confirmed when Elros was the first person in their family since the birth of the Anitos house to have lifted the "Gladius" or as it would translate to in English, "Eternal Edge". The Eternal Edge is a sword that was discovered by the founder of the Anitos house, Asuma Anitos. Ever since the sword was discovered by Asuma, he had brought it back to his home and had left it on a small stand. He had also written down a message for the sword but the message was lost in the ages. The strangest thing about the sword was that it could not be lifted or transported by any means. No matter what technology was used or who tried to lift the sword, it would not budge. Not until Elros somehow managed to lift the sword and swing it around like a toy when he was only 7 years old. Ever since then, only Elros was able to lift the sword and if someone else tried to or if technology was used on it, it would not move. But even that was not why Elros was considered very special although it was quite a big part of it. What baffled everyone was how unique Elros'' DNA is. Elros, rather than having one DNA strand, had two. The first DNA strand was what made him Valeronian but the other one was a mystery. It was a completely different from the DNA of any species in the galaxy. The DNA expressed nothing and played no role in the daily function of the body. Yet it was present in every single cell in Elros'' body. Not even the smartest scientist or most advanced technology in the Valeronian arsenal was able to figure the purpose of this DNA nor were they able to extract it. This had only gotten even more confusing when a 6-year old Kryptonian girl who was the daughter of Zor-El and Alura, named Kara Zor-El, all members of the house of El that was the previous royal family before the Kryptonian council was formed, was discovered by accident as she seemed to be in a similar condition as Elros. She too had two strands of DNA, one the made her Kryptonian and the other that was a mystery. When the two unknown DNA samples were compared, the results only raised more questions, and gave no answers. The two strands among the Kryptonian and Valeronian were completely different. Despite the confusion among the parents, family and many scientists, Elros and Kara could care less and this discovery of their unique DNA had led to the two meeting and a very strong bond of friendship had been formed. The two had talked and went to all sorts of places when they visited each other''s worlds. At one point, they went to the "Segara Bae'' al", or translated to English, "The Well of Stars." It was a very beautiful place that contained numerous stars of varying sizes and colors, all resting in a large dust cloud, remnants of a supernova that happened ages ago. When Kara had visited Valeron, she was captured by the beauty of the planet like every being of every race had when they visited Valeron. There were flying cities, cities that rested on sparkling bodies of water, cities that laid on large grassy plains surrounded by large mountains, and cities that rested in fields of "Xomil" which was a type of clear crystal that was used in the majority of Valeronian technology. The cities always seemed to bathe in white light that radiated from Valeron''s shining white sun. But what further caught her and many other beings'' attention were the huge 4-legged lizard like creatures that usually had massive wings ¨C Dragons. Kara had been astounded to learn that Valeron had dragons just like Krypton but the ones on Valeron seemed much more beautiful, diverse and just bigger. Not only that she learned that the dragons on Valeron had a long rich history which she knew she would love to learn when she grew up a bit. Other then that, Kara spent a lot of time playing around with Elros and he did much the same. The two-previous royal family of Krypton, and the still running family of Valeron had noticed the closeness of the two and couldn''t help but smile at their innocence. Kara who was 6-years old and Elros who at the time of this was 8-years old, had grown very close, best friends and their friendship would continue throughout the years. But what they didn''t know was that something beautiful had also formed between them. They were too young to understand it but they did notice it. When they were around each other, they always felt so happy. They felt something else which they couldn''t figure out but at their age, they couldn''t bring themselves to care. They loved playing and spending time with each other when they could and that''s all that mattered to them. Throughout the years, the two had chatted using long range communication technology between their worlds whenever they were on their home world, and when they visited each other given the closeness of the El and Anitos house''s ever since Krypton was saved from destruction, the two would spend every waking moment playing with each other. Sometimes their families would join in on the fun. At one point, during each other''s birthdays, Elros had gifted Kara with a necklace made of a very special metal found on Valeron and the metal was a shiny white silverish colored that sparkled quite a bit. The chain of the necklace was curb styled and the necklace held a circular locket that had held the pictures of Kara with her entire family on one side and the other side with Elros and his entire family while the locket itself also played a song Elros had written. Kara in return had gifted Elros with a bracelet, made of a rare metal found on Krypton that was known as the hardest and toughest substances they had. The bracelet was white gold in color and the chain was Figaro styled. Kara had also carved the names of all of the people of the house of El, along with all of the members of the Anitos house onto the bracelet, with Kara and Elros'' name being right beside each other. The day this special event had happened is when something very beautiful had formed between them. Something they and everyone else around them had noticed. Both Kara and Elros had felt strong feelings inside them and it grew as they older. That day had become a treasured memory for the two and they had valued the gifts they had gotten more then anything and never took it off. Their families found this adorable but even they saw that the two were very special and the bond that had formed between was something very powerful and special. Since that moment, Elros always had Kara on his mind and Kara had Elros on her mind. Just thinking of their friend and now someone they had a strong bond and feeling towards always brought smiles on their faces. Shaking his thoughts away from Kara, although she stayed at the back of his mind, Elros looked at his mother and father, wondering why they had called a family meeting. The only thing he could think about was the war that was about to come or the crisis Krypton was facing as a result of harnessing energy from their planet''s core. ("Why did you call for a family meeting father?") asked Elros with curiosity and lots of anxiousness in his eyes. Ramas sighed before a very serious expression came on his face. ("I wanted to discuss the upcoming war with all of you. This will be the first fight we have in quite a long time and I fear with how long we have known peace, we may not survive. I fear for us and our people.") ("But father, aren''t we very advanced in our technology? Won''t that allow us to easily beat all of the Chthonic Alliance.") asked Ronan. ("Even so Ronan, we can''t allow us to become too confident. Underestimating our enemy is something we must never do.") came the melodic voice of Elena. ("How can we help?") asked Silara in a calm voice. ("For now, there is not much we can do until the Chthonic Alliance strike because we do not know of their location. They have remained evasive even from our probes scattered throughout the galaxy so until they start the war we are not able to do anything. Until then I wanted to inform you that if anything happens to us in this war, Silara will take up the throne and lead our people and I want you Elros and Ronan to help her.") explained Ramas which made the 3 kids frown as they realized how serious he was. ("We understand father, mother.") came the unison reply of the three. ("KING RAMAS! QUEEN ELENA") shouted a man who had just burst into the room through the advanced automatic doors. ("THE CHTHONIC ALLIANCE HAS LAUNCHED AN ATTACK ON ALL OF THE HOMEWORLDS OF THE MAJOR RACES OF THE EMPYREAN ALLIANCE!") Everyone instantly recognized the man who was very muscular and big, had no hair on his head and had black eyes, and a flat large nose. He stood at a height of 6'' 6" and wore the standard military uniform of the Valeronian army which consisted of white skin-tight clothing, with special red colored thin yet very tough stretchable armor on top and a white cloak with a thin red stripe going around the perimeter signifying the man''s rank. This was Khor Doxa, the current general of the Valeronian army, and the second member of King Ramas'' special squadron of warriors (Dwayne Johnson). After, processing the information they were just told, Ramas immediately reacted, ("Tell all of the ships to launch and the army to prepare. We need to defend their home worlds right away.") The man nodded and was about to leave with King Ramas, Queen Elena, Silara and Ronan following. ("WAIT!") shouted Elros, getting everyone to stop and look at him. ("You''re making a mistake.") said Elros in a serious tone with authority in his tone that his family knew only happened when they saw Elros as the natural born leader he was. ("What do you mean?") asked Ramas in a serious tone that demanded answers as he was like Elros when it came to innocent lives being at, very serious and deadly. ("Ever since you have told me about the Chthonic Alliance, I have studied them and the individual races very carefully as well as all of our past battles with them. While they are currently aiming to attack the home worlds of all the powerful races in our alliance, their true target is someplace else.") explained Elros with a fierce tone and radiated an aura that made even his parents want to submit to him. ("So, what do you believe is their true target is?") asked Khor. ("From what I studied and some visions I had, I believe their target is us¡­or more specifically something on this world.") said Elros in a grim tone. Elros'' family knew about the visions he gets which sometimes have ended coming true making them believe he has some precognitive abilities. ("Are you certain?") asked Ramas receiving a nod from Elros. ("Okay, then leave behind a portion of our army here to defend our home world in case they do attack.") ("That would be a mistake father.") Ramas and everyone else looked at him with confusion on their faces. ("By leaving a portion of our army here, many of the other worlds will suffer heavy losses and it could be that I may be wrong. The best course of action would rather be to let our entire army defend the home worlds of the Empyrean Alliance. But we will also tell our people to initiate our planet wide evacuation protocol and have all of them as well as all of the dragons gather at their nearest warp station around the planet and warp to our hideout bases on various worlds. This way we can evacuate all our people, and partners and set our planetary defenses to automatically fire at any and all targets while also launching our disruption technologically that will make the enemy sensor''s think our planet is still completely populated.") Everyone''s eyes widened in realization and at the genius plan Elros thought of within a few moments. ("Very well Elros. Khor, activate our planet wide evacuation protocol.") said the Valeronian king to which Khor nodded. ("Elros, you come with us as Krypton is also being attacked and I know you would want to go fight for it.") said Ramas as he looked at Elros knowing how Krypton held a special place in his heart since it was Kara''s home world. Elros nodded his head as he did not want any harm to come to Kara''s world. ("Yes. I think it would be best if I went with you and mother for the battle while Silara and Ronan stay behind and make sure the evacuation is complete. That and I believe the Chthonic Alliance maybe after something else other than just our lives. Even though they most likely hold a grudge against us, they are not foolish enough to attack because of it and are most likely after something that will ensure their victory in this war.") explained Elros as a part that he had seen in his vision where he saw Wraiths, Dominators and Xenomorphs on Valeron running around looking for something. ("But I want to come help in the battle too!") complained Ronan as he loved to fight. ("Ronan¡­it''s better if you stay here. We need you to protect our people and protect our sister as well. Can you do that?") asked Elros as he put a comforting hand on Ronan''s shoulder and gave him a pleading look that showed how much trust he was putting in his little brother. ("I can take care of myself you know.") pouted Silara but was ignored by the two brothers causing their parents to chuckle a bit even in this grave situation. ("I understand brother. Please take care.") replied Ronan after he saw that Elros was trusting him and he would not let him down. ("I will!") promised Ronan receiving a grateful look from Elros. ("Khor, you and our squadron will stay behind and aid Silara and Ronan with the evacuation of our people and the defense of our planet.") The Valeronian army general nodded. ("Elros, because of our army being spread so thin with trying to help with the defend many worlds. I will only be able to spare one mothership and an army of our automated fighters. But with your custom ship and battle prowess, along with the Kryptonians advanced ships and planetary defense system, I''m sure you''ll be able to hold off the invasion.") Elros nodded before running off to his ship as his mind was on Kara. (''May Heiron''s light guide our way.'') thought everyone as they headed off to do their part in the battle ahead. The galactic war for the galaxy had begun. In hyperspace, on the way to Krypton¡­. Elros was sitting in a ship specially made for him called Ra Furi ¨C God''s Wrath. The ship was an equilateral triangle in shape which allowed for maximum maneuverability with the strongest sublight thrusters Valeronian technology had to offer. Also, since the ship was meant to be piloted by only one person, it did not hold any extra space that would be required to house multiple crew members. Hence, the ship was filled to the brim with all sorts of technology such as beam weapons, plasma pulse cannons, a triple shield defense system, automated small fighters, etc. The ship is pitch black in color with crimson red outlines throughout the ship, making it very fierce and deadly looking. Elros was currently sitting in the only sit in the very small and tight bridge room where he was looking at various holographic screens displaying the status of Krypton thanks to the long-range sensors on his ship. The projector was showing at least 3 Hive Mother ships of the Xenomorphs and their servants, the Wraiths along with 18 of their cruisers surrounding their ships, and 2 Exter-Mother ships of the Dominators. The Hive ships were ovular in shape and were completely organic which allowed certain abilities such as hull regeneration which provided considerable protection, and they had very unique weapons that fire Baryon particles which were highly unstable and hence immensely powerful but they weapon needed to be in close range of their target to hit and thankfully this was their only weapon. The Dominator Exter-Mother ships were shaped with a circular area in the middle, 3 protrusions coming out of the two sides of the circular area and attaching to 2 large crescent shaped portions of the ship. Unlike, the Xenomorphs and the Wraith, the Dominators'' ships were built from their advanced technology. Their shield technology in particular was extremely powerful, quite possibly rivaling Valeronian shield technology. This was mainly because the Dominator''s weapon system needed high shielding as they were a charging based weapon that built up large amounts of power before firing. Elros studied the information shown to him and saw that the Hive ships had taken up key points around Krypton, right above heavily populated areas and firing on the cities below while the Dominator ships were circling the planet and slowly building up power in their weapons and firing at the Kryptonian motherships that were trying to leave the planet and engage the Hive-ships. Despite the technologically advanced Kryptonians, they had been taken by surprise, despite knowing the attack was coming but just not when. This was resulting in some losses and if the ships weren''t stopped soon then those small losses will start becoming very large and Krypton could very well perish. ''Kara¡­'' Elros thought before his eyes narrowed. His mind now in a permanent state of war, had come up with a plan. ("FURI, hail Blood Reaper.") said Elros to which the artificial intelligence system installed in his ship did immediately as commanded. Within a few seconds, the holographic screen in front of him showed a woman with black hair, red eyes and a scar on her cheek. This was Suna, the commander of the Keel Xer mothership ¨C Blood Reaper mothership, along with the army of small fighters and soul mate of Khor. ("What!?") Said an annoyed fierce feminine voice as she did not like the fact that a small boy was commanding a veteran soldier like her despite not being in that many battles due to years of peace. ("I know you don''t like me commanding you but I don''t care. Listen, and listen very well.") Stated Elros having read her facial expression very easily. His voice had radiated such authority and fierceness that it made Suna lose her annoyance and internally whimper as she felt as if she was an ant talking to a god. ("I''m sure you have already viewed the ships attacking Krypton. Based on the situation, I have come up with a plan. You and the Blood Reaper will go after the Dominator ships as they are the biggest threat and have enough power to even take us all out if not taken care of. Now from what we know of the Dominator ships, their weapons charge a large amount of power before they fire but when they do fire, there is a small 0.005 second time frame in which their shield fluctuates to let this burst of energy pass. In this time frame, if you can time it correctly, you can get an attack past their shields and if you aim it for their hyperdrive engines, you may be able to destroy their ship entirely. While you go after the Dominator ships, I''ll take some of the fighter ships with me and take care of the Hive ships.") ("Very well. How will you manage to defeat the Hive ships?") asked Suna as she had finally managed to regain her composure. ("The same way you will defeat the Dominator ships. But I will be aiming for their dart bay as it will most likely cause secondary explosions, making it easier to vaporize the rest of the ship with my beam weapons.") Suna nodded before shutting off the transmission while wondering how Elros'' eyes can show much ferocity and his mind could work so well in under the pressure of war. Meanwhile, Elros sighed as he began powering all of the systems in his ship and setting FURI in final combat mode to where the AI would automatically go through all sorts of scenarios to provide the best solution to any of Elros'' plans. ''I''m coming Kara.'' thought Elros. In the space around Krypton¡­. Chaos. That was the only word to describe what was happening on Krypton. The three major cities of Krypton were being bombarded from space by Hive ships while the Dominator ships quickly took out any ships trying to launch from the surface. Kryptonians were in panic and lives were being lost in great numbers. A few smaller ships managed to get into the air and tried to fight the Hive ships but they had just sent out their darts and their cruisers to destroy the incoming ships. Planetary defenses had been targeted and destroyed the minute the ships had entered Kryptonian space. Hope was being lost quickly among all Kryptonians but thankfully, help had arrived. Elros along with the armada behind him, exited hyperspace before activating their sub-light engines at maximum power and racing after their respective targets. Elros saw Suna and her ship heading after the nearest Dominator ship that was powering up its weapons to take out another Kryptonian mothership attempting to get off the ground. Seeing them after their targets, Elros went after his first target which was the ship hovering over the capital of Krypton, the city of "Kandor". It was also the same city Kara lived in, hence he urgently flew his ship and a squadron of 30 small car-sized fighter ships that were controlled by FURI rested inside his ship until they would be commanded to come out and fight. As he approached the Hive ship hovering just above Krypton''s atmosphere, he knew they had long since detected all of the ships that had just exited hyperspace, as they had a huge army of sharp looking ships called darts and 6 medium sized ships called cruisers that held armies of darts surrounding the ship. The holographic screen showed warning signs of the Xenomorph Hive ship and Cruisers powering its weapons and the darts were coming towards him. Elros knew this would be only one of many tough battles that will be coming and he may not even survive this one but many lives hung in the balance including Kara. (''I will protect everyone. I will protect my family. I will protect you Kara.'') Thought Elros with fierce determination before speeding towards the oncoming darts. Despite his ship being a bit smaller than the Cruisers, it was technologically advanced and possessed large amounts of advantages over his enemies'' ships. One of them being his ship had lots of various weapons to deal with all sorts of foes along with the best engines to allow for top speed and maneuverability. ("FURI, activate Decimator!") Commanded Elros to which all sorts of small cannons appeared over his triangular shaped ship. The cannons then proceeded to rapidly fire bullets of white energy that were half-the size of cars. The bullets traveled at light speed and with such ferocity that none of the oncoming darts could evade the very fast attacks. Hundreds of Darts were destroyed in the first few seconds and the numbers just kept increasing as explosions filled the space around Elros'' ship. Of course, he had to evade the large amounts of attacks being sent his way via the Hive ship, Cruisers and Darts. Furthermore, it seemed the pilots of the Darts seemed to realize the error in trying to overwhelm the small but powerful ship and hence broke off from heading straight towards the ship. Elros'' ship kept firing at the Darts that tried to fly away but he got hit from a powerful attack from the Hive ship and it rattled his ship. ("Shield status!") [Level ¨C 1 shield at 75% strength] Elros was surprised that the first of his 3 shields had lost that much power from just one attack. That''s when he realized that focusing on the Darts was a mistake and that the biggest threat was the Hive ship. The Xenomorphs and Wraiths all had responded to a Queen that held mental superiority over all of them. Without the Queens, the underlings were mostly all drones and very unorganized. (''I need to take out the Hive ship. Then taking out the other Cruisers and Darts will be much easier. However, I won''t be able to get anywhere near the ship if I focus on trying to maintain my weapons and out maneuver them with the power being divided in my ship. Maybe I can turn their weapons against them¡­Perfect!'') Elros grinned, having thought of the perfect plan to take out the Hive ship without having to use up too much power in his ship given the fact that there were still 2 other Hive ships. ("FURI! Shut down all weapons and divert all power to the Sub-light engine and maneuvering thrusters!") Commanded Elros to which the AI did as told. Now Elros focused with complete concentration and unknowingly tapped into the gift his second DNA provided him with. He then launched his ship full speed towards the Hive ship. This caused the Darts that were trying to evade Elros'' ship to stop running and go right after him. The Cruisers put themselves in between Elros'' ship and the Hive ship. The Cruisers and Darts then all began to fire at Elros'' ship but that''s exactly what he wanted. Elros then began to maneuver his ship with such skill that it evaded every single attack being sent his way. This caused the attacks from the Cruisers to hit the Darts chasing Elros down while the attacks from the Darts hit the Cruisers. As Elros flew past some of the Cruisers and kept on heading towards the Hive ship, the Cruisers and Darts kept firing and Elros kept evading. This ended up to only hurt them and by the time Elros had gotten past the Cruisers and was heading for the Hive, 4 out of the 6 Cruisers had been destroyed, the remaining 2 had been heavily damaged while only around a 500 Darts remained. The Hive continued firing large blasts of Baryon particles which Elros easily dodged. This ended up destroying the remaining 2 cruisers but the Darts had managed to evade attacks. As Elros got closer to the ship and within range for his ship''s powerful beam weapons, he maneuvered his ship to head towards the area of the Hive ship where the Darts can be launched. (FURI! Activate Beam weapons!) commanded Elros to which FURI began diverting power from the engines and activated the ship''s Beam weapons. Elros'' ship now lost some of its maneuverability but was still just as fast. Two large cannons then appeared on his ship and he began aiming them towards the Hive ship''s dart bay. He then fired the weapons and two large beams of pure white energy got launched from the cannons and hit an area of the dark blue colored Hive ship where the Darts rested. The beam easily penetrated the hull of the ship that allowed entrance into the Dart bay as the hull in this area was the weakest. A huge explosion then ensued as the beams tore through the ship. After, the initial explosion, many more smaller ones started happening around the ship as the damage caused by the beams had caused many secondary explosions and this was tearing the ship apart. Elros fired twin beams of white energy from his Beam cannons again while flying away from the Darts chasing him. These two beams tore through the Hive ship which caused a large explosion and the Hive ship was vaporized, causing a small shock wave to ripple outwards but not causing any damage to his ship. As soon as the Hive was destroyed, the Darts started to become disorganized and fired randomly so Elros launched the 30 fighters he had and ordered FURI to control them and destroy all of the Darts. It had only taken a few minutes before all the Darts had been destroyed and all that remained afterwards was the silence of death that always came after a battle and the remains of the destroyed ships that floated in the space around him. The silence however did not last long as his sensors started beeping alerting him that the two remaining Hive ships that were originally attacking the other two major cities on Krypton, "Bondar" and "Uval" were now heading towards him. It seemed that the Hive ship had managed to get off a warning signal to the other two Hive ships just before it was destroyed. Seeing the two ships heading for him, he knew that it would be far more difficult to out maneuver 12 cruisers and the thousands of Darts along with the weapon fire of two Hive ships. (''The only way I can win this quickly and efficiently is to turn those two Hives against each other which should be fairly easy to do considering Xenomorph and Wraith Queens usually do not get well with each other and their instincts rule them more than their intelligence.'') Creating a plan in his head, Elros recalled back the small fighters into his ship before cloaking his ship, causing it to be invisible to the n?k?d eye and to the sensors of the two Hive ships. The Hive ships had stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing the ship that had destroyed a fellow Hive ship had disappeared from their sensors. Meanwhile, Elros flew right in between the two Hive ships while preparing his shields and thrusters. (''May Heiron guide my way.'') thought Elros before decloaking his ship and fired a few blasts of white plasma from his ship''s plasma cannons straight towards the Dart bays of the two hive ships. This had caused quite a bit of damage to the two ships and multiple secondary explosions. The ships immediately began firing at Elros'' ship but they did not think about him dodging the attacks which made each other get hit with their Baryon particle blasts. The resulting chaos and destruction that followed was just what Elros wanted as the cruisers and Darts turned on each other and began firing everywhere while forgetting their common enemy was right there. Using the distraction, he had easily created, Elros flew through the battle while using his Decimator weapons to hit every target in sight. Eventually he reached behind the two Hive ships which he decided to destroy since the Dart bays were not possible to fire at the moment given the chaos. Elros then powered up his beam weapons and fired at the Hive ships'' hyperdrive and sub-light engines which he knew were more unstable and less advanced than their own design and hence counted on hitting them to cause more secondary explosions and destroy the ship. The result was as expected as the moment he had launched twin beams of white energy from the cannons on his ship towards the engines of the two Hive ships, FURI immediately warned him of the incoming explosion so Elros had powered his sub-light engines to the maximum and flew out of the way. A huge explosion went off behind him, vaporizing all of the Cruisers and Darts before silence ensued. Elros turned his ship and saw the destruction and it was not a pleasant sight, especially with the few Xenomorphs and Wraith bodies flying around, some half torn while others were missing huge chunks of their bodies. His thoughts were taken out of the gruesome sight as he was hailed by the Keel Xer. ("Prince Elros!") Suna shouted. ("What is it?") asked Elros in worry as he heard the fear and anxiousness in Suna''s voice. ("We managed to take out the first Dominator Exter-Mothership but it had taken us a while and we had to chase it down. But we had not realized that the ship had lured as into a trap as the other Dominator Exter-Mothership had gotten behind us. We managed to time our weapons right so we managed to destroy the first ship but the ship behind us had managed to strike us hard with their most powerful weapon. We are crippled and I the Dominator ship is getting ready for another attack. We won''t survive if it hits!") Suna explained rapidly and frantically. ("I''m on my way! See if you can stall by out maneuvering them or launching your fighters.") commanded Elros as he used his sensors to fly his ship towards the other side of Krypton where the Keel Xer is. After, a few minutes had passed, Elros arrived at Keel Xer''s location and was not happy at upon seeing the grim situation. Suna''s ship was running from the Dominator ship but was heavily damage and hence was not able to put much distance between them. Also, according to his ship''s sensors, it would be 5-minutes before the Dominator ship fired its weapons and destroyed Keel Xer. He had to think of something and he had to do it fast or else Suna and everyone on the ship would die and he will not let anyone die. He will protect them. ("FURI, how good is our Draining shield?") asked Elros, referring to a new type of shield Valeronian scientists had been developing that may be capable of draining energy based attacks and using that energy to power their own ship. [Not complete. The Draining shield is still in its beginning stages of development and will not be able to handle the full blast from a Dominator Exter-Mothership.] replied FURI in a robotic voice. ("I had no intention of draining its full blast. How much power can you divert from the blast to the Beam Cannons before the Draining shield cannot hold?") [Diverting the power will overwhelm our ships power system in a few seconds but I will be able to get approximately 30% of the blast from the Exter-Mothership before our shields cannot hold.] ("Plot a course to intercept the Dominator Mothership and activate the Draining shield. When attack hits the shield, drain the attacks power and divert it to the ship''s Beam cannons and fire them the moment you detect the shield failing. Override all safety protocols and get this done.") said Elros while his last command overrode any and all of FURI''s safety protocols. FURI then flew the ship behind the retreating Keel Xer and in front of the Dominator Exter-Mothership. A thin translucent energy barrier then surrounded his medium sized ship that paled in comparison to the massive Dominator ship but Elros was not in the least bit intimidated. ("Prince Elros! What the hell are you doing!?") shouted Suna as her face appeared on a holographic screen. ("Saving you apparently. Land on Krypton and help the Kryptonians with the Dominators, Xenomorphs and Wraiths on the ground. I''ll take care of this ship.") Elros saw Suna was about to protest so he hardened the look in his eyes. ("Go!") Elros said in demonic voice that made Suna immediately comply and she quickly shouted orders to land on Krypton. Elros smiled that Suna and the Valeronians on the ship were now safe so he could focus on destroying the Dominator Exter-Mothership before joining the fight on the ground on Krypton. Said mothership had stopped dead in its tracks and was now preparing to use its fully powered attack on Elros ship as their scans had told them this ship was very advanced and could pose a threat. [30 seconds until the Dominator ship fires.] Elros gripped the chair he was sitting on, in his ship as the holographic screen counted down to the attack. Eventually a large blast of crimson red energy was fired from a large cannon located on top of the circular center of the ship. The blast headed towards him with immense speed, ferocity and power. As soon as the attack made contact with his shield, Elros'' entire ship shook violently. The attack was tearing through the shield and the shockwaves was hurting the ship immensely. Soon enough, Elros saw that the Draining shield had absorbed 30% of the attack from the blast and FURI had transferred all of the power to the Beam cannons. The Beam cannons had then fired as Elros had ordered and just like he had predicted, the twin beams of white energy with a few hints of red, 3 times their regular size had intercepted the Dominator''s attack just before it hit his ship. The two attacks were at a stalemate but Elros'' beams were gaining ground slowly. However, the ships warning systems went off when the sensors had detected numerous smaller attacks coming from the small guns located all over the Dominator''s ship. Elros quickly reacted and immediately launched the automated fighter ships which he controlled seeing as FURI was busy powering the Beam cannons. He maneuvered the small fighter ships manually and fired the small Plasma cannons on them to deflect all of the oncoming attacks. It was a few minutes later, of intense fighting and non-stop deflecting of bullets using the fighter ships which he only had a few left, did the beam weapons finally overpower the Dominator''s original attack. The Beam weapons tore through the attack and sped towards the Dominator''s ship and tore through their shields and ship like bu??er mainly due to the fact that the properties of the energy from the Dominator''s attack had been integrated into the beams and the Dominator ship''s shields had already been quite drained from their battle with the Keel Xer. Soon after the beams tore through the ship, a large explosion ensued and the entire Dominator Exter-Mothership was vaporized. Seeing as how is task was accomplished he called back then fighter ships back into his ship. ("Damage report!") [Shields are completely down. Beam weapons and Plasma Cannons are now offline. Hyperspace engine is offline.] Elros sighed seeing as he now only had sub-light engines and his Decimator weapons. But given that all of the ships have been taken care of and all that remains are the enemies on the planet, it should be more than enough. So Elros then maneuvered his ship to head towards Krypton. After making the entry into Krypton''s atmosphere, Elros made his way towards the capital city of Kandor seeing as how his ship''s sensors detected Suna and her ship along with a huge squadron of smaller ships were in the other two cities. Elros saw smoke coming out of many different places in the city and saw many damaged structures, a few darts flying around and Kryptonian soldiers attempting to shoot the ships down with any weapons they had available. His ship soon hovered a little above the ground as Elros viewed his sensors. Seeing many Xenomorphs, Wraith and Dominators on the ground, the former two species having gone berserk given the fact that there was no Queen controlling them, Elros decided to let FURI control the ship. ("Destroy all Xenomorph, Wraith and Dominator ships. Launch the remaining 8 fighter ships and control them to do the same. I will be heading down to take care of all of the remaining enemies.") commanded Elros before he ejected himself from his ship and landed on the ground before FURI took control of the ship and began firing at all of the Darts and small Dominator ships flying over Kandor. Elros looked around as he viewed what could be the definition of war with only destruction, and bloodshed around him. Elros was currently in a white armored suit with red veins of energy around the edge of the suit (Think of Vali''s Balance Breaker from Highschool DxD except without he wings). He also held the Gladius strapped to the back of his suit. Elros activated his armor suit''s anti-gravity field generator which allowed him to take to the skies and fly around the city and through his mask in his suit, a map of the city was displayed where it showed around a total of one-thousand Xenomorphs, Wraiths and Dominators were in the city. Two small cannons appeared on his back and Elros took out two hand guns that fired short and small bursts of Qartz particles which is a type of a fundamental particle that the Valeronians had discovered and were able to make small weapons that use it but not big weapons seeing as it was impossible to gather large amounts of Qartz to fire. Elros then continued to fly around the city at immense speeds and fired his guns non-stop, not missing a single shot as he killed the 3-alien species that were harming the Kryptonians by the hundreds. Soon enough he had killed 950 of the remaining aliens and only 50 remained. The Kryptonians had long since noticed him flying around and after seeing him kill the hostile alien forces and the Valeronian symbol on his suit, they started cheering for him and thanking him. Elros had ignored the cheering as his eyes narrowed at the 50 remaining aliens that were seemingly grouped up at an area. After, he realized they were all at the main residence for the house of El, his heart raced. (''Kara!'') Elros raced at full speed towards the house of El and after a short while he arrived at a large tall gray colored building with dull black glass windows. Elros had immediately saw that the entire house of El was on the roof of the building and was surrounded from all directions by the remaining 50 aliens, 20 which of were Xenomorphs, 20 were Wraith and 10 were Dominators. Elros'' eyes then landed on Kara who despite being scared, held a brave face as she held a typical Kryptonian firearm in her hand that fired short bursts of plasma energy. He felt proud of her that she had such strength to stand up and fight but also a strong sense to protect her sparked within him and although this sense had been there ever since he had met, her it was now stronger than ever. So, seeing that the hostile and berserk aliens were about to attack and most likely kill the entire house of El which consisted of 33 members, Elros began firing at the Dominators and quickly killed the 10 that had remained since they would have been the greater threat since they weren''t berserk and they could coordinate against him. This had also garnered the entire attention of all the members of the house of El along with the remaining 40 hostile aliens. The hostile aliens could feel the power and aura radiating off of the being and immediately determined him to be the biggest threat. So, when Elros landed on the ground with the Gladius in his right hand and a Qartz gun in the other, all of the Xenomorphs and Wraiths ran after him but Elros did not even flinch. Meanwhile, Kara had felt the same connection she felt with Elros with the person under this suit and this made her think, (''Elros¡­is that you?''). A strong emotion sparked within her, a connection, a bond only she and Elros could understand. She was broken out of her thoughts when he saw the man in the very intimidating Valeronian white suit of armor shaped like a dragon, prepared to attack the incoming small army of hostile aliens. Elros soon began running towards the Xenomorphs and Wraiths and had his sword by his side, prepared to attack or defend while his left hand was outstretched in front of him as he fired numerous blasts of Qartz energy, easily killing 15 of the Wraith soldiers before they even reached him. There were two Xenomorphs currently in front of him that were aiming for his neck with their claws but Elros ducked under their swipe and swung the Eternal Edge around him, easily cutting the Xenomorphs in half despite their exoskeleton being extremely strong. That sword swipe had also managed to take out 2 nearby Wraith so that was a plus. Elros then saw a Xenomorph had launched itself into the air and was descending on top of him while 2 other Xenomorphs were aiming to impale him with their long tails. In response, Elros fired his Qartz gun at the Xenomorph in the air, easily blasting its head to smithereens, before twisting his body around so the two tails ready to impale him from both sides, passed by him, one in front of his ?h?st and the other behind his back. He used his left hand that held the Qartz firearm and blasted one of the two Xenomorph''s head to pieces once again while using his sword to cut the tail of the other. He then swung his sword to cut the Xenomorph whom he had just cut the tail of, in half. Elros saw the three remaining Wraith charging at him as they were in a berserk like state much like the Xenomorphs but the Xenomorphs were being much more cautious in their approach. Hence just as the three Wraiths were just a few feet away from him, Elros swung his sword in an arc in front of him, decapitating the Wraiths as their heads and bodies fell to the floor separated from each other. Elros then saw that the 15 remaining Xenomorphs had surrounded him and were growling menacingly as they were on their hands and legs, preparing to pounce on him. After, a few moments of tense silence, during which everyone could feel their very blood pumping through their veins and arteries, a few of the Xenomorphs behind Elros pounced on him. Elros'' sharp instincts allowed him to immediately react as he jumped a few feet forward to avoid them but landed close to another small group of 3 Xenomorphs. Hence, he quickly and fluidly swung his sword around, cutting through the Xenomorphs he had landed next too while aiming his Qartz gun at the creatures who had pounced on him and fired a rapid succession of 5 bullets that went through their head and killed them. Elros then saw the remaining 7 Xenomorphs had grouped up as they might have realized that they were stronger in numbers using the small amount of intelligence they had left in their feral state. Seeing this, Elros decided to go on the offensive and ran towards the 7 at insane speeds thanks to the enhancements given to him by his armor. The Xenomorphs all simultaneously tried to spear him with their tails but he front-flipped over them, dodging their attacks. The Xenomorphs instantly reacted and turned around with the sharp clawed hands to try and tear the Valeronian apart but Elros had sensed this and spun around while ducking to evade their attacks while having his arm that was holding his sword outstretched. This caused all 7 of the Xenomorphs'' legs to be sliced off however it did not stop there as Elros continued to spin one more time but this time Elros had stood up and his sword ended up cleaving through his enemies'' heads, causing them to drop and roll on the floor. *THUD* Came the sound as the 7 headless and legless bodies dropped to the ground. Elros remained on his guard as he knew never think all enemies were defeated as there could be anyone hiding in the shadows. He accessed the life signs detector in his mask and it showed a display of the map of Kandor city and he saw there were no more hostile aliens present and so he sighed in relief but didn''t let his guard down. ("Um¡­thank you Valeronian. You saved our lives.") The voice broke him out of his thoughts as he looked upon the face of a man he instantly recognized. Zor-El or as he better knew him as, Kara''s father. ("No need to thank me Zor-El.") ("You know who I am?") asked Kara''s father in surprise. Before Elros could respond, Kara came beside her father and looked at him with calculating eyes all the while ignoring the fact that Elros'' armor was drenched in black blood. ("Is that you Elros?") Everyone else looked to him with wide-eyes. Elros'' eyes widened under his armor has he was quite surprised Kara was able to recognize him so quickly but they had always been very close and they always felt a strong connection when the other was close. ("Guess I shouldn''t be surprised you recognized me so quickly eh Kara?") The front part of Elros armor opened up, allowing him to step out, revealing him to them and Kara. He wore the typical Valeronian army outfit consisting of white skin-tight clothing with a red striped running on the side and hard armor pieces covering key portions of his body such as his ?h?st, legs, crotch, etc. Kara gasped upon seeing him and immediately ran to him and enveloped him in a tight hug. Elros blushed a bit at the contact especially when he felt her already quite developed body pressing against him through the beautiful red dress she was wearing, but he instantly reciprocated the hug. They eventually broke off the hug before they gazed into each other''s eyes as the red sunlight from Krypton''s red sun made Kara and Elros look divine to the house of El members but all Kara and Elros could noticed was the beauty of each other''s eyes. Elros warm yet fierce brown eyes and Kara''s beautiful, warm and loving blue eyes. Elros cupped her cheek, ("I''m so glad your alright.") ("I have you to thank for that?") Kara said as a heavenly smile came on her beautiful face. ("I would have gotten earlier but destroying the 3 hives ships and 1 of the Dominator ships took some time to do.") said Elros in a sincere tone. Kara and many of the house of El members gasped. ("You destroyed 3 Hive ships and 1 Dominator ship by yourself?") Elros looked confused at their surprised expression and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. ("Yes¡­why is that so surprising?") Many of the house of El members had their jaws dropped while Kara just giggled. It was so like him to act so innocent and modest when he did something so outstanding that it was unbelievable. It only made Elros so much more amazing and loving in her eyes. Yes, she recognized the feelings she felt for the man in front of her and although she knew they were not at the love stage yet given how serious love is among Kryptonians and Valeronians, she knew it won''t take long to reach the point where her body, her heart, her soul, her very being would belong to Elros. And she could see in Elros'' eyes that he felt the same about her. She wanted to tell him about these feelings now especially since she knew she could have died today if he hadn''t shown up but she could not find the words to express what she was feeling. So, she followed the Valeronian saying that "Actions speak louder than words ever could". She gazed into Elros'' eyes as her eyes showed were filled with very strong emotions for him and she saw the same thing in Elros'' eyes and so closed the gap between them and captured Elros lips in a loving simple kiss. Elros although surprised at first, immediately reciprocated the kiss as the strong emotions in his heart and the strong emotions he saw in Kara''s eyes showed him just how much he cared for her and how much she cared for him in return. They were a way away from saying they love each other but they knew what they were meant for each other. The emotions they felt being sent to them just from the simple lip contact alone was more than enough to tell them that they belonged to each other. And boy was the kiss out of this world. Kara felt Elros lips and the peppermint taste with a hint of peach and it felt divine. Elros felt Kara''s soft lips and their strawberry and a hint of rose, taste and it felt so amazing that no words could ever be enough to describe it. It was a simple meeting of lips yet the amount of emotions shared between them, made it the most amazing experience. It was about a minute before they broke off and gazed into each other''s eyes. ("Wow.") was the only thing the two could say to describe what they were feeling. ("I guess you feel as strongly for me as I for you?") asked Kara. ("Of course. I always feel this strong connection with you and it just kept growing and it still keeps growing. I know I have read about love but feeling what I feel for you and what I know you feel for me, I think what we have between us transcends love itself.") said Elros in a sincere tone and Kara gasped and nodded in response. ("Maybe when this war is over we can truly be together.") asked Kara and Elros nodded. ("As soon as this war is over, I will come for you. I want nothing more than to spend eternity with you.") ("Eternity with you¡­I want that more than anything.") replied Kara. Little did the two know how true those words would become but how many difficult challenges they would have to go through to get there. The house of El members had watched the scene with awed eyes as even they could feel the amount of strong emotions the two had for each other and the red light of Krypton''s sun only made the scene seem more divine and majestic. However, all good things have to come to an end as the communication system in Elros'' armor activated and Suna called him. ("Prince Elros, are you there?") Elros sighed and very reluctantly let go of Kara''s hands as he went to his suit to talk to Suna while Kara watched him with loving eyes. ("Yes, I''m here. I have eliminated the hostile aliens in Kandor city. Have you done the same in the other two?") ("Yes, all of the hostile aliens on this planet have been taken care of but that is not why I called. I have just received a long-range communication from King Ramas and Queen Elena. It seems your prediction was correct. Valeron had been attacked by an overwhelming force from the Chthonic Alliance. We have been recalled and asked to meet at the designated rendezvous point.") (''So, I was right after all.'') thought Elros while Kara and the other house of El members gasped upon hearing that Valeron of all planets was attacked. ("Elros?") softly said an unsure Kara not knowing how to respond to what they just heard. ("I have to go now Kara.") simply stated Elros to which Kara nodded knowing he was going to fight in the war. Elros then whistled and less then minute later, Ra Furi in all its glory came and hovered over the house of El, causing the members of said house to look at it in awe. Kara looked at him one last time and gave him a small peck on his lips before whispering in his ear ("Good luck and come back to me. I''ll wait for you¡­I''ll always wait for you.") ("I''ll come back to you Kara. I''ll always find you.") simply stated Elros before he stepped into his suit of armor and beamed aboard his ship and flew towards Keel Xer to board his ship on it given his hyperdrive was offline. Scorpius star constellation: Planet Radiance Radiance. A previously uninhabitable planet due to the harsh environment, in what humans call the Scorpius star constellation, was now the rendezvous point for the Valeronian people in case the world-wide evacuation protocol was activated. The planet had been terraformed using Valeronian technology to make habitable and very rich in all sorts of resources. The planet now also contained a Warp Gate which is a technology created by the Valeronians and spread throughout the Milky Way galaxy to allow transportation between worlds much easier. The Warp Gates are large round rings made of a very special mineral found on Valeron and on the asteroids in their solar systems. The Warp Gates created artificial wormholes to whichever other gate they dialed based on a 7-symbol gate address. 6 symbols which specified the location of the other gate in space while last symbol was the origin point. Currently, a few hundred large ships were parked either on the planet or above its atmosphere as they held not only the Valeronian people but all of the dragons of their world which thankfully were shrunken in size thanks to some technology. At the moment the King and Queen of the Valeronian people, many of the smaller generals of the Valeronian army, leader of civilian populations and the King of the Dragons of Valeron Gandora awaited the arrival of Prince Elros and the commander of Keel Xer, Suna. It didn''t take long for them to arrive since the Replicators aboard Keel Xer had fixed the broken ship quite fast from the resources they had gathered from Krypton. The ship exited hyperspace right above the planet before they landed on the ground where they had detected a large number of ships gathered. They had then beamed aboard the mothership of their entire army that the King and Queen usually commanded and had immediately appeared in the meeting room which consisted of a huge round white glowing table with chairs all around it. The table was round as it provided no one person more importance than the other. ("Now that Elros is here, care to tell me Khor where Silara and Ronan are?") asked Ramas with an edge in his voice as Khor had a guilty look on his face and had refused to say anything until Elros arrived. Elros upon hearing his narrowed his eyes and looked at Khor who sighed and looked at them with guilty eyes which made Elros, Ramas and Elena''s heart clench knowing they are not going to like the words that come out of Khor''s mouth. ("Princess Silara and Prince Ronan¡­they are dead.") Those words felt like the weight of an entire world had fallen onto Elros, Ramas and Elena. Their heart''s clenched as unimaginable pain went through them. Tears started to form in their eyes as the grief that was brought by those few words felt unbearable. ("How¡­?") Elros managed to say through a raspy voice. Khor lowered his head at the sheer pain coming through Elros voice because losing family members for Valeronians was like being stabbed through the heart with a sword, something that became hard and for some impossible to live through. ("Silara and Ronan¡­they were in charge of evacuating everyone from Optimus while I and King Ramas'' squad spread out through all of our cities and evacuated our people. The Chthonic Alliance had come in full force and with such overwhelming numbers just as you had predicted Prince Elros. We all had managed to evacuate our people in time but since Optimus was more heavily populated, it took longer. Many of the Chthonic Alliance had landed on our world leaving Silara, Ronan and the few soldiers we had left there to fight for enough time for our warping stations to transport our people. Silara and Ronan had contacted us and we had left to aid them right away but by the time we got to near city, we saw from our ship''s sensors they were alive and fighting near the city''s main power area but before we could get close enough, the entire city was bombarded by the ships from our atmosphere and eventually completely vaporized. I am truly sorry I was not able to protect your family. I offer my life to you for repentance.") ("As do we.") said the remaining members of the squad under King Ramas. The squad consisted of two Green Martians that were mates, named Zhen Z''on and Frumin Vi-villez, a Kryptonian named Xan who was Kara''s uncle, Xan''s soul mate who is a Valeronian named Hilri Konzo, and the Alpha male and Alpha female of the Furyans named Shred ''on and Hin''er respectively. ("Is there any chance they are still alive?") asked Elena through sobs as she couldn''t believe her 2 out of her 3 beloved children were dead. ("I do not believe so Queen Elena.") said Khor in a grim tone. Meanwhile Elros was in an inner turmoil. (''If I hadn''t asked them to stay on Valeron, the would have been alive. I told them to stay and help with the evacuation and they died because of it. I killed them¡­I killed my brother and sister.'') Elros looked down as the world around him disappeared and he fell further into despair, feeling responsible for his sister and brother''s death. King Ramas and Queen Elena noticed the change in air around Elros and saw in his eyes, he was blaming himself for this and while they wanted nothing more than to go and comfort him and tell him it was not his fault, they were at war at the moment and they were leaders of an entire alliance. They had to steel their hearts and honor their daughter and son''s memory and fight and when the war is over, then they will grieve. ("Give me the status report on our losses.") asked Ramas which brought Elros out of his self-loathing as he knew the type of pain his parents must be going through. (My King¡­) said and unsure Khor. ("NOW!") Ramas commanded in a serious tone, not wanting to discuss the loss of his oldest and youngest children at the moment. ("We successfully managed to defend all of the home worlds and lost a total of 3 motherships which would have been 4 had it not been for Elros and him saving the Keel Xer from certain destruction and almost single handily defending Krypton from its invaders.") said Khor in a neutral tone as he read the report on a holographic screen displayed in the center of the table. Many of the Valeronians read the report with wide eyes upon seeing that Elros apparently took out 3 Xenomorph Hive ships and 1 Dominator Mothership by himself. However, Elros could care less at the moment as he was hating himself for telling Silara and Ronan to stay behind. ("What should be our next course of action?") asked the commander of a group of soldiers that specified in defending and taking hits. Just as King Ramas was about to reply, Suna opened her mouth, ("If I may King Ramas, Queen Elena¡­") said King and Queen nodded, ("I would like to propose prince Elros to be nominated to the rank of Imperium.") This got startled gasps from everyone, mostly Khor who knew that if Suna was proposing such a thing then Elros must have gained her respect and that was a difficult thing to do. Imperium was a hypothetical title that had never been given as it was said that it would only be given to a worthy leader during a time of war and this leader would gain control of the entire Valeronian army to command to win the war. King Ramas and Queen Elena gave a bittersweet smile as though they would be proud for their son to gain such a title, the fact that they had just lost their oldest and youngest children and this was a time of war and bloodshed, it was not something they wanted Elros to be burdened with. ("You have read my mind commander Suna. While I am not partial towards my son just because he is blood, he has shown extreme skill in the art of war and has displayed a strong sense of leadership¡­perhaps stronger than the founder of Anitos house, Asuma Anitos himself.") said Ramas, gaining shocked gasps to hear such praise from the King. ("Elros has saved our people from certain destruction and had seen through the false attack the Chthonic Alliance had launched from the very beginning. Not only that but from the report given by commander Suna, he had saved Krypton almost single handily with his quick thinking. Elros has always been a gifted boy and I''m sure everyone had always seen it and while I did not want his gift to flourish during a time of war, it seems it just maybe our galaxy''s salvation. As such, I will hold a meeting with all of the leaders of the Empyrean Alliance and if they agree then I will have Elros become Imperium not of the Valeronian army but of the entire army of the alliance. That is if you agree Elros.") Elros heard every word that was said and while he did feel happy everyone had such faith in his abilities, he did not have faith in himself. He didn''t know if he was ready to hold such a burden on his shoulders where the fate of the entire Galaxy and its inhabitants would be up to him. Especially, with Elros decision regarding Silara and Ronan had resulted in their deaths was the major blow to his heart and mind. But as he looked into the eyes of everyone in the room, his gift of being able to read anyone kicked in and he saw that many of them were looking at him with hope in their hearts. Hope that he would be able to save them in this time of need. Hope that they would be able to protect their families under his guidance. With those looks, Elros realized that despite his own self-doubts he couldn''t be selfish and back down but he also needed them to know that just because they wanted to put him in charge didn''t mean that victory was ?ssured. So Elros stood up and took a deep breath, steeling his nerves as all eyes fell upon him. ("I appreciate the confidence you all seem to show in my abilities and deem me worthy to give me the position of Imperium. However, you must know that this is war. And in war there will be losses. I will not be able to protect everyone. I can try my best but I, like everyone else am mortal and hence I will make mistakes. Some may grow to hate me with the decisions I may make but I give you my word and swear on my sister, my brother and my ancestor''s graves that I will try my best to lead our race and if the other races agree, every race in the Empyrean Alliance to victory. Knowing my best is all I can ?ssure you, do you all still want me to lead in this war?") All of the Valeronians were in awe of the speech he had given and the honesty in his words especially with his oath on his family and ancestor''s graves as for Valeronians, that is one of the strongest oaths anyone can take. They all felt the aura he radiated and they saw how that boy¡­no that man was a natural born leader and would soon become the hope of the Empyrean Alliance. After, a few moments of silence, Elena spoke up, ("All in favour of Elros becoming the first Imperium!") Everyone, put their right hand on their heart and their left hand up in the air showing that they agree with all their heart with this decision. ("You have the Furyans'' support.") ("And I''m sure the Green Martians will support you as well.") ("I King Ramas Anitos¡­") ("I King Elena Anitos¡­") ("Name you Elros Anitos as Imperium of the Valeronian army. May Heiron guide your way in this dire time.") said the Ramas and Elena in unison as Elros bowed his head in respect. ("Now as we were saying, Imperium what would be the best course of action to take?") asked a shrunken Gandora. The Dragon had golden scaled covering his whole body, silver slit eyes, massive 10 wings on his back and was standing on his 4 legs. Everyone got serious looks on their faces as they turned to Elros who took a deep breath as he brought his mind out of his sibling''s death so that he could honor their memory and fight in their name. ("First, I want to ?ssess the situation. The Chthonic Alliance had invaded our world knowing our planetary defenses and from the report, it seems that nearly 1400 of their motherships of the 1500 that invaded Valeron had been destroyed. This means that whatever they were after, on your world must have been worth the immense loss. Based on the ground movement recorded, I can see that the majority of the hostile aliens were headed towards the center of all our cities. And that''s where our Zero-Point-Modules (Zero Point Module) lie which is our main power source. Even one of these in enemy hands can make them deadly as their ships will be much more powerful with such a strong power source. And since we have no idea exactly how many they were able to get their hands on, or how they intend to use them, our enemy has the advantage of surprise on their hands while we currently have no such element. So currently we are at a severe disadvantage with not knowing our enemies plan. The only advantage we do have is our superior technology and soldiers. For now, the best course of action will be to divide all our forces throughout the various home worlds of the major races of the Empyrean Alliance and leave 1-2 mother ships on each of the minor worlds since they do play a big role in the amount of resources we have. That and humans that inhabit many of the smaller worlds are a big target for the Chthonic Alliance as they will provide great food sources for the Xenomorphs and Wraith, while being great test subjects or spies for the other races. And we have sworn to protect these worlds so it is also our duty. Now once our army and people have spread out to these worlds, we will hold a meeting with all the leaders of the major races in the alliance but it will not be a face to face meeting as that is far too risky to have. In this meeting, if the Empyrean Alliance agrees for me to be Imperium of the entire army of the alliance, then I will ?ssign a role to each race based on their technological advancement and physical evolution.") Everyone nodded before they proceeded to talk about other matters of the war such as resources, rebuilding their lost ships and where would the safest place be to relocate civilians or if the civilians should now be trained and join the military to increase their might. 4 Earth weeks later¡­. ¡­. Chapter too long to be fully copied Chapter 22 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 7 - Guidelines to Loving an Incognito Superhero Plot: There are two very good reasons why I shouldn''t have feelings for Clark Kent (Besides him being ridiculously out of my reach.) 1. He is totally in love with Lois Lane. 2. I think he might be Superman. Pairing: Clark Kent/OC I do not own Superman. There. I don''t quite remember when I first started crushing on Clark Kent. It was certainly soon after the first time I saw him, but exactly when the feelings first became present, I''m not entirely sure. I was new at the Daily Planet, had only been there for a month. The total underdog of the newspaper. I wasn''t a reporter; I was the office girl, who did everyone''s bidding. Printing out articles and making coffee was my main task. Not that I didn''t want to be a report though, I was actually very busy becoming one. I worked every day at the paper, to learn the daily lives of a reporter, and most nights, if I wasn''t feeling too tired or lazy or if I had anything I needed to do, I went to an evening school-thing where I was slowly working my way through an education as a reporter. Then one day he just was there, carrying around luggage, which bumped into everyone, and apologizing left and right, because of said luggage. "Who''s that?" I''d asked Jimmy, the photographer and, so far, my only friend at the Daily Planet. He''d looked at me like I had just sprouted another head and said; "Why, that''s CK!" Crinkling my nose, I had asked, "What''s a CK?" Of course he had jumped into a long (and very worshipping) story about how ''CK'' was one of the best reporters ever, and his personal friend, but had been away for five years, on some sort of personal business. I remember thinking something along the lines of ''I''d tap that'', after Jimmy had introduced me to Clark Kent and I had gotten a good look at him. He really was an amazingly good looking man, with his incredible height, good building, blue eyes and dark hair. And I guess the crush just progressed from then on, until I was too deep in to ever turn back again. That was our first encounter, how brief it may have been. I don''t even remember if we had said ''hi'' to each other. Jimmy did most of the talking, as he always seemed to do. I do, however, remember quite clearly when the thought of him being Superman first showed up. And it wasn''t even my idea to start with, embarrassingly enough. Lois Lane, the queen of the Newspaper, had asked me to stay late and help her, Richard White and Clark with some research for their articles. I had accepted, not that I could actually say no to her. She was, as formerly mentioned, the queen of this place. That didn''t mean she always got everything her way, though. Nobody got their way, not with our boss. The man was a sadist. I was used to staying behind and helping reports who were behind, mainly calling their sources or searching for facts on the subject, on the internet. Lois was working on an article about the newly returned Superman, and Clark had been given the article Lois really wanted, which was about a mysterious power cut in the city. She was very unhappy with this, because she really wanted to avoid anything Superman-esque and I felt sort of bad for her. She was right in what she had said earlier that day; Mr. White was practically forcing Superman into her life again. Everyone knew that Superman and Lois had been an ''item'' back in the day, so to force him into her life, while she was engaged, to his nephew of all people, was just cruel. Still, it shouldn''t really have been that much of a problem. Everybody had to believe that she was truly over Superman, if they had to go by that article she wrote about him. What was its name again? Something long, something not true.. Something stupid and clich¨¦. Ah! Why the world doesn''t need Superman. Wonderful name, really, very imaginative. Sounded like those stupid, ''How to'' or ''guidelines to'' books middle-aged women liked to read because their marriage was failing or their life su?k?d. I must''ve been the only person who didn''t like the article, because she won a Pulitzer for it. Anyway, I was working late, helping Lois arrange several older articles about Superman, wishing that I was home in bed instead. I had had to skip an evening lecture, just to stay and help. Lois and Richard were standing together, brooding over pictures of Superman. I was two desks away, typing away at a computer and Clark was standing ten-fifteen feet away, fumbling about with some papers. Clark hadn''t asked for my help, to my disappointment. In fact, he didn''t even seem to properly register my presence. There wasn''t anyone else here, except for Lois and Richard''s son, Jason. Jimmy was in the other room, tinkering with his camera. I could hear Lois and Richard discuss Superman physique and couldn''t help but scoff slightly: the woman always talked about how she was ''over'' Superman, but she sat right there, every single detail about him memorized and she was actually able answer all of Richards questions right off the bat. I know I said I felt sorry for her, but at that specific time, she wasn''t my favorite person. She was the reason I wasn''t home in bed yet. While they might''ve been able to stay late and then go to work later than usual the next day, I certainly couldn''t. As the office-girl, I didn''t have many privileges and as the star reporters of the paper, they did. Then Richard suddenly turned the conversation toward Clark''s physique and how he and Superman looked very much alike. And because I was sitting where I was, I could easily hear what they said, but I could also see Clark''s face better than them. Lois seemed like she was actually considering the possibility of them being the same person too. And this was where my suspicion formed. Perhaps I just wanted Clark to be Superman, because that really would prove that he was the perfect guy. .. Hot! When they started comparing Clark and Superman, his eyes widened, like those of a kid who''d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. His otherwise constant leafing through papers stilled and then he stared straight ahead instead of on the paper. For a second, he froze completely and then he turned around, pushed up his glasses, which, by the way, I always found extremely adorable, and smiled and waved at Lois and Richard in the least Superman-ly way possible. Even I could probably look more like Superman than he did at that moment, and I''m a head shorter than him, not to mention a girl. After that, they laughed off the idea of him being Superman, but I saw the way he puffed out his cheeks and released a breath in what I could only describe as relief. I realized that the idea mightn''t have been as laughable as Lois and Richard thought it was. And I started seeing the parallels between Clark Kent and Superman. Besides, later that night, I saw him drop his glasses, when he bent down to help Lois pick up some things she had dropped from her purse. Once again, I was sitting in precisely the right place and got a good look at his face, without the glasses. I''d almost forgotten Richards comment but after seeing him without his glasses, I couldn''t help but mentally go through that scene again and how relieved he had looked. He really did look like Superman, with the hair, eyes and physique. And he wouldn''t have been able to hear their conversation, unless he had super-hearing. And he clearly had heard their conversation. He returned the exact same day as Superman did and they had both been gone for five years! Superman was, if the rumors were true, in love with Lois, and Clark clearly had feelings for her too. And if he weren''t Superman, that would mean that Richard, Superman, and Clark were in love with her. Which I found unlikely. She wasn''t really that great a person, so having three individual men love her just seemed improbable. But the probability increased if it was only two men. So Clark and Superman had to be the same guy. Period. I knew that all of those examples weren''t much proof individually, but when combined, they really served as strong evidence. I started watching him more closely and came upon other clues. No, I am not a stalker. Once, I''d seen him accidentally snap a pen in two, with one hand, just because he was frustrated with an article. And I''m not talking about any cheap wooden pencils or those plastic pens, I''m talking expensive, metal pens! One of those that you can drop a television on and they still work like a charm. He was twirling it between his fingers, when some part of his half-finished article didn''t add up, so he frowned in irritation, his grip on the pen tightening. And then it just.. snapped in half. He didn''t even look like he put any effort into it at all, but after he broke it, he didn''t look surprised either. He just glanced around to see if anyone had seen. This was when I quickly looked away, only to see him throw the pen in the trashcan a second after. Another time, he dropped a paper under his table. After he''d picked it up, he knocked his head against the bottom of the table and it almost flipped over. A lot of people got a good fright out of that one, it made a huge racket. He stopped it though, with really fast reflexes, but afterwards, there was a decent sized dent in the table, which hadn''t been there before. Once again, not a cheap wooden table, but an expensive steel table. When half a year had gone by, I was almost a hundred percent sure that he really was Superman. No, I hadn''t caught him in the act, but everything fit so well it was ridiculous. I know that he was clumsy and insecure and awkward, but those could easily be brushed off as part of a fake personality he adopted to remove any suspicion of his other identity, just like the way he had waved at Lois and Richard and they immediately discarded the idea. He really was very smart. I had a picture of Clark Kent and a picture of Superman lying around, somewhere in my apartment. I had made sure to acquire a picture where they both looked in the same direction, with the same angle and everything. So, whenever I started doubting my Clark-Superman theory, I whipped out the pictures and placed them against each other, before holding them up against the sun. The only differences between the two pictures were the glasses and the hair-do. Their faces were identical. And it really had to be him. I was quite please with those pictures. They''d been hard to find. Rather, two pictures that matched had been hard to find. But they helped me in convincing myself of my theory, so the two hours of searching the web was worth it. He was Superman. He had to be. That thought both excited and annoyed me. Knowing who Superman really was would be wicked cool, but it would mean that I had feelings for Superman''s secret identity. Which meant I had feelings for Superman. And being infatuated with Superman was such a clich¨¦. I had considered telling Jimmy a couple of times, but always decided against it. Clark had obvious reasons for keep his secret identity, well, continuously secret. That was the whole point. It wasn''t really my secret to tell, anyway. If he wanted Jimmy to know, he would tell him himself. Also, there was no reason to add fuel to Jimmy''s ''I love Clark Kent'' fire. Then I''d thought about just straight out telling Clark that I knew about his other life. But that was a pretty shitty idea too. If it wasn''t him after all, I''d just have to die from embarrassment. And if it really was him, what then? I couldn''t exactly just walk up to him, practically a stranger and say "Hey, nice weather we''re having, eh? Also, I totally know about you leading a double life where you dress up in tights and a red cape to fight crime-doers in the evening. No biggie. Oh, and don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone." Yeah, not a great plan. Still, I felt like he deserved to know that I knew. So I waited. I kept his secret to myself and waited for the opportune moment. That opportune moment never came, but he did end up finding out that I knew. But I''ll get to that later. Chapter End Chapter 23 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 8 - Pyroclasm DCU-Young Justice FF Plot: Fire. It cleans and purifies the soul, and Mom didn''t raise a dirty boy. Self Insert. Pairing: Indeterminate (Hinting towards OCxArtemis) NOTE: Its a in-progress novel, so you have to keep in mind that there is some uncertainty regarding the continuation of the novel, last updated March 1st so be careful.... (though keep in mind that this author seems to be seemingly active and has a p*atreo*n so there is some degree of guarantee) The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Young Justice is property of DC Comics, Warner Brothers and Greg Weissman ¨C please support the official release. "We''re here," Batman announced as he pulled his famous Batmobile to a stop. The destination was a small, suburban home just outside of Bl¨¹dhaven, 9023 Ricter St. It was a two-story house with a two-car garage that had a green van sitting on the driveway. The house was painted a light tan with hedges on the side of the walk up to the front door needing a slight trim. "Oh. It''s¡­quaint," Green Arrow, the passenger, said, finishing the Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hands. "So get in, make ourselves personable, make the offer to the parents then to the kid. Anything else I should know?" "Just a reminder that this visit is not about the incident," Batman replied neutrally. "It was ruled justified in court and we need to make it clear that we respect that." "Right, we aren''t here because he blew a member of Arkham''s revolving door club to smithereens," Green Arrow dryly quipped. "We''re here to offer him a spot in the junior club." "I believe he could be of use to the team," Batman replied. "He has the powers and the inclination to use them. With proper training, we could avoid repeats of the incident in the future." "No arguments there," Green Arrow nodded. "Anything else?" "No," Batman shook his head and the two men excited the car. On the other side of the street, a little boy ran inside his house. "Mom! Mom! Look, it''s the Batmobile! And it''s got Ba-" That was all they heard before his rapidly quieting voice was suddenly cut off by the home''s doorbell as Green Arrow pressed the bu??on. After a few moments, the door opened, revealing a middle-aged mother with dark brown hair and crow''s feet around her eyes; eyes that suddenly widened when she saw who had arrived at her door. "Oh. Oh! Hello¡­" "Mrs. Winter?" Green Arrow opened with an extended hand and a friendly smile. "Yes, hi," She replied, taking the hand and gingerly shaking it. "I''m Green Arrow, this is Batman," Green Arrow said with a gesture to him and the other Superhero, introducing themselves as a matter of politeness. "We were wondering if we could talk to you and your husband?" "Who is it, honey?" Behind Mrs. Winter came who was presumably Mr. Winter. He was a balding, middle aged man with prematurely greying hair. Mr. Winter''s eyes narrowed sharply. "Oh. Are you two the real deal?" "Yes we are," Green Arrow replied confidently. Mr. Winter sniffed. "Prove it." Batman let lose a batarang past both of their heads and it promptly came back to his waiting hand without so much as touching a thing in the house. "Does that satisfy you?" "Yeah I guess so," Mr. Winter nodded. "Come on in. You''re here to talk about Michael, right?" "That''s right," Green Arrow replied. "If you don''t mind." They were ushered into the front room with a couch against the wall, a coffee table in front of it and two chairs to the sides. On the wall was a large family photo of the two parents and a young boy with carefully groomed set of dark brown hair and sharp looking hazel eyes. Batman noted that the smile was a very high quality fake, seeming to reach his eyes but didn''t the way a genuine smile did. "I don''t see what there is to talk about," Mr. Winter replied, taking a seat beside his wife and gesturing for the other two to do the same. "It was ruled justified." "We had an offer that we wanted to make you," Green Arrow replied. "About your son." "By the way, can I get you two anything?" Mrs. Winter asked with a glance at the two. "Water, Milk, Juice?" "I just had some coffee," Green Arrow replied. "But thank you." "I would like some water," Batman responded in light of that, sounding just as carefully neutral as always. "Please." "Oh, sure," Mrs. Winter said, nodding and standing up. The conversation fell silent as she disappeared into the kitchen. The sound a cupboard opening, a glass being withdrawn and then filled with water. Then she stopped and called out. "Would you like ice?" Batman shook his head. "He says no," Green Arrow called back. Then he pointed to Batman with his thumb. "He doesn''t really get loud." "I can hear that," Mr. Winter replied with weary eyes. She returned with the glass and handed it to Batman, who thanked her as she sat down. "So, an offer," Mr. Winter continued. "What kind of offer?" Mrs. Winter asked. "The sidekicks, Kid Flash, Robin and Aqualad have gotten together in kind of a¡­study club," Green Arrow began. "We thought that your son might like to spend time with kids like him." "Oh," Mrs. Winter said. "You mean, like a superhero study club." "It''s a group formed for the purpose of letting our junior members train, socialize and learn together," Batman explained formally. "We believe that with some proper training, your son could avoid incidents, such as the one that has brought us here today, in the future." "Would he be obligated to join the Justice League?" Mrs. Winter asked with a frown. "No, no," Green Arrow shook his head. "He can leave at any time if he wants. This is just to give him a handle on his powers if he needs it and give him more options so if that incident down the street happens again you''re not tied up in messy court hearings." "Would he be doing anything dangerous?" Mr. Winter asked with a frown of his own. "The group sometimes undertakes missions," Batman answered. "Light recon, low risk, covert missions specifically chosen to prevent the groups activities from becoming known to any Supervillains. The risks are carefully evaluated before the group is sent on them and he would be on a team with several highly experienced members. Your son would be more than safe." "I see," Mrs. Winter replied, pursing her lips and resting her hands in her ??p. "Are you making us this offer because you see our son as a potential danger? Be honest with us." "No," Green Arrow replied. "What he did was justified by the courts and he is in complete control of his powers." "Wouldn''t the fact that he''s been in the news recently be a problem with the groups anonymity?" Mr. Winter asked, his eyes still narrowing. "The fact that he''s a metahuman is plastered all over the internet." "Not if he adopts a costumed identity and is never really seen changing," Green Arrow replied with a shrug. "Fire metas are fairly common as far as metas go, so it''s not like he''s the only possible candidate and the group''s activities are covert anyhow. Does that answer your question?" "It does," Mrs. Winter nodded. Mr. Winter didn''t say anything. "Honey, I think this might be a good thing for him," Mrs. Winter said, starting to smile for the first time since the two arrived. Mr. Winter again, didn''t answer immediately. A few moments later, right as Green Arrow was about to say something and break the ice, he said, "Could you gentlemen please excuse us for just a moment?" "Sure, that''s fine," Green Arrow explained with a nod. "Take all the time you need," Batman offered. Eventually, the two came back. "Alright. We accept. He should be in his room doing who knows what, just on one condition." "What''s that condition?" Green Arrow asked, leaning forward and clasping his hands together. "He''s allowed to tell us if he has to do anything dangerous," Mr. Winter explained. "Certain parts may have to be kept confidential," Batman replied. "But I don''t see anything wrong with him giving you a generalized account. Would that be sufficient?" "Yeah, that''d be fine," Mr. Winter nodded. "We don''t need to know everything just¡­a general picture would be nice." "Okay good," Green Arrow nodded happily. "So where is your son now?" "I think he''s upstairs," Mrs. Winter replied. "Do you want me to go get him?" "No, no," Green arrow shook his head. "It can wait for a minute. Why don''t you tell us about him first?" "Well," Mrs. Winter took in a breath. "He''s very m?tur? for his age." "Always did things when we asked him too," Mr. Winter replied. "Always. Sometimes he did things without us asking first. Great work ethic. Never made any friends though." "Lot''s of trouble making friends," Mrs. Winter agreed, nodding his head. "Not because the other kids didn''t try, but because, well¡­he looked at them as inferior. Like they were dumb. I mean, he never said anything to them but he just¡­" "Just thought they were in the way," Mr. Winter finished. "I can''t count how many times he asked to skip a grade." "He that good at school?" Green Arrow asked. "Heavens, yes!" Mrs. Winter said with astonishment. "He threw himself at anything, trying to learn everything. The first year they started teaching computer science he checked out every book he could find in the school library on programming. Said he was trying to make an AI." "Did he ever succeed?" Batman asked curiously. "I don''t think so," Mr. Winter answered with a shrug. "He likes to brag about his accomplishments and we never heard anything about it afterwards." Batman leaned back slightly with a small frown on his face. "Do you know when he became a metahuman?" Green Arrow asked. "No," Mr. Winter shook his head. "I didn''t even know about it until after he blew up that maniac." That matched the case file that Batman had read. "Did he ever tell you how it happened." "No," Mr. Winter said again. "When I asked him, he just said ''magic'' and I left it at that. If he doesn''t want to tell me, that''s fine." "Are you sure it''s not actually magic?" Green Arrow asked with a raised eyebrow. "Look, I know that Zatara guy on the League claim''s he''s got magic," Mr. Winter replied, leaning forward. "But honestly, I think he''s just a reality warping meta with a neurological condition that prevents him from doing anything without speaking backwards." "What neuro condition would that be?" Batman asked, keeping the amused smirk off his face, but just b?r?ly. "I dunno," Mr. Winter shrugged. "Some kind of Tourette''s syndrome, I guess." Green Arrow b?r?ly stopped himself from laughing at the thought of Zatara having Tourette''s. Instead, he simply asked. "Do you think he''d be okay with being with the sidekicks or no?" "I don''t know," Mrs. Winter replied, shrugging her shoulders. "He''s kind of a mystery to me." "Alright, I think we''re ready to talk to him," Green Arrow said. "You want me to go get him or did you want to try to talk to him in his room?" Mrs. Winter asked, standing up. "We can try talking to him in his room," Green Arrow answered, also standing up, followed by Batman. The stairs up were just around the corner, going up into a hallway. Mrs. Winter stopped at the second door on the left and knocked. "Michael? Son, are you there?" "Yes, what can I do for you?" The door opened a crack. "You''ve got some people that''d like to talk to you," Mrs. Winter feigning cheerfulness to hide the caution. "Figures. I saw the car out front," Was the reply. The door opened wider as Michael stepped out. Batman recognized the boy in the picture downstairs, only grown into a young teenager whose face looked like it hadn''t curled into a genuine smile in years. "Can we move this to the front room, please?" "Alright," Mr. Winter shrugged. The procession moved back down to the front room, with Batman and Green Arrow taking their seats on the couch and the parents sitting in the chairs. Michael grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and set it off to the side, opposite of his parents. "So, are we here discuss how I blew Mr. Zsasz to cinders, or something else?" "No, but that is why we''re here," Batman responded. "The Junior League members have put together a small team and the League itself has decided that, in light of recent events, you might be of benefit to the group." "You''ve already proven you''ve got the power and incentive the protect others," Green Arrow continued. "We think you''ve got a lot of potential as a Leaguer and even if you don''t stay on, some training would help you avoid the uh¡­legal mess that you and your family just got done dealing with." "So, the brat''s got a team, huh?" Michael replied with a raised eyebrow, trying to fight the sarcastic sneer making its way across his face. "Michael!" Mrs. Winter said, aghast. "Well, I wouldn''t necessarily call them brats," Green Arrow argued with an amused tone in his voice at the same time. "But essentially, yeah." "How old''s the team?" Michael asked immediately, leaning forward and holding his hands together between his knees. "Was it created before or after they went into Cadmus on the Fourth of July?" "You frequent the Justice League forums?" Batman asked carefully. "I do," Michael answered without blinking. "There was a giant thread, speculating that there was a team in the making. It''s still arguing about it but judging from the upvotes and top comments, it was just a temporary thing the sidekicks went out and did while the ?du?ts were taking care of business elsewhere and everything would be back to normal before long. But since you''re here, talking to me about a team, that either means that the majority of people are wrong or the upvotes were being manipulated." "I don''t think the site''s all that vulnerable to botting," Green Arrow said, stroking his goatee with his gloved hand. "The team almost wasn''t, so it''s not unreasonable to ?ssume it didn''t happen." "I seriously doubt the League would allow the creation of a secret team without suppressing information about its formation," Michael explained with a raised eyebrow. "Regardless, you came to me with an offer to get on a super team, and I accept, ?ssuming my brat comment didn''t burn the offer." "Just like that?" Mr. Winter asked, sounding bewildered. "Just like that," Michael nodded. "First extra-curricular activity that I''m actually interested in." "Well, that''s good," Mrs. Winter said, wearing a relieved smile. "I''m glad you''ve found something you''d like to do." "It''s a pleasant surprise," Michael replied, not returning the smile. "So, before I get escorted to whatever secret base you''ve got them secreted too, I imagine there''s something you need to know? A form I have to fill out?" "We''ll take care of that ourselves," Batman replied. "There are just a few questions we need you to answer." "Ask away," Michael invited. "Are you a metahuman or a magic user?" Green Arrow asked. "And how did you get your powers?" "Magic User," Michael replied, ignoring his father rolling his eyes. "Looked on the internet for rituals, alchemy, stuff. The grand majority of it''s garbage but I found a few good ones. As for how I got my fire powers, I created a fire elemental without a spirit to animate it and bound it to my soul. My body has changed to accommodate playing host but nothing major. That''s the long and short of it." "Alright, I get you," Green Arrow nodded, satisfied. "You make anything else?" "I was working on a project in my room," Michael explained with a shrug. "Nothing I feel like sharing, however." "Do you plan on binding any more soulless elementals to you?" Batman asked. "Not at this time," Michael explained. "I''m still making sure there''s no negative effects." "So, have you put any thought into being a Leaguer?" Green Arrow asked. "A code name, costume, that sort of thing?" "Don''t have a name or costume in mind, no," Michael shook his head. "I can come up with something." "We can take care of your first costume if you need," Green Arrow offered. "But we do need a name." "Alright, uh¡­" Michael started, looking up in thought. "How about Firestorm?" "That''s pretty good," Green Arrow nodded in appreciation. "But it''s taken." "Captain Falcon?" Michael offered with a small smirk. "Uh¡­word of advice, I wouldn''t take an animal name unless your power or image has got something to do with animals," Green Arrow offered, leaning into his chair like an old man giving sage advice to an eager youngster. "Otherwise, it just makes it look like you didn''t put any effort into putting your identity together." "Eh, the suggestion was tongue in cheek anyway," Michael replied with a shrug. "Inside joke?" Green Arrow asked with a small smile. "Something like that, yeah," Michael muttered to himself before ?ssuming a thinking pose. "Of course, that blows my more serious ''Firebat'' suggestion out of the water. Unfortunate." "That name wasn''t available anyway," Batman explained passively. "Why no-oh, right. Don''t want people making ?ssumptions," Michael shrugged. "Makes sense. On that line of thinking puts the kibosh on Supernova too. A shame, he''s my favorite Leaguer. No offense." "None taken," Green Arrow waved it off with his fingers. "He''s a good guy." "El Diablo?" Michael asked, starting to grin again. "Pasty, white-faced nerd by day, Spicy Latino Lover by night? I can even do an accent." "No," Mr. Winter shook his head. "No, no, no. This is serious, son." "The Human Torch," Michael suggested, his grin instantly fading without a trace. Green Arrow waffled his hand. "Eh, I think you could do better." "Inferno?" Michael offered with a raised eyebrow. "Eh, never mind. I''m not Italian. Er¡­wait, am I Italian?" "German," Mr. Winter answered. "Our family is German." "Oh. Well, I don''t feel like using Feuer or H?lle either," Michael continued to muse. "Conflagerator just sounds wierd. Pyro? Eh, too short. Well, it sounds like it''s short for something. Pyroclasm. Pyroclasm? That''s not taken, is it?" Green Arrow looked at Batman and both shook their heads. "Pyroclasm is fine. Good name." "Alright," Michael clapped his hands together. "Pyroclasm. When do I put on the mask?" "We''ll come by again in a few days," Batman replied. "We''ll bring with you your costume as well as pick you up for orientation into the Team. You''ll receive instructions on how to transit to the team''s training facility which you will be expected to report to daily." "Alright, makes sense," Michael nodded. Green Arrow nodded. "It''s been good meeting you all. Michael, I look forward to having you on the team. Now, we''ve got a meeting with the League we need to get too so we will see you all later." "It''s been nice having you," Mrs. Winter said, standing up. "Drive safe," Mr. Winter said, following suit and shaking his guest''s hands. "Michael, if you''ll get the door?" "You got it," Michael said, moving to the front door and opening it. "Thank you," Batman replied. The two heroes left and saw that a group of neighborhood children had gathered around the bat mobile to gape in awe. Batman unlocked the doors, causing the car to beep and the kids to instantly scatter. Batman got into the driver seat, Green Arrow the passenger. "So, did you want to take care of the costume or shall I?" Green Arrow asked. "Are you volunteering?" Batman asked neutrally. Green Arrow took a second to think over the question while Batman started the engine. "Yeah, I think I am. Fireproof, armored plating, utility belt. What do you think, Balaclava, Domino mask?" "Either can work," Batman replied. "I find it interesting that the smiles in the family pictures were all high-quality fakes." "He doesn''t seem to be a happy kid," Green Arrow replied. "Definitely book-smart, though. He knew that Inferno was Italian for Hell. Not many people I meet do." "It''s not something that''s entered popular culture," Batman nodded. "Yeah, it''s become just another word for a giant blaze," Green Arrow shrugged. "Anyway, did you catch how his parents are afraid of him?" "I did," Batman nodded. "Very smart, deliberately giving himself dangerous powers, I imagine his parents simply don''t know how to deal with him. They did the right thing in keeping him at the appropriate grade level. We''ll need to inform Dinah that he''s accepted our offer." "Which is a good thing," Green Arrow sighed. "Honestly I was afraid of what would happen if he refused. Not to say that he''d be gunning for super villainy or anything, but we might''ve had to beat off ''recruiters'' with a stick." Batman didn''t say anything, still thinking. "You think he succeeded at creating that AI his dad was talking about?" Green Arrow asked with a raised eyebrow. "That was my question as well," Batman answered. "I don''t know. If he did, it might explain how he was able to comb through the nonsense that permeates the internet to find the real thing. If he didn''t, he may have just gotten lucky but¡­I don''t think it was luck." "Would it turn into a problem if he did?" Green Arrow asked. "It might," Batman responded. "I wonder if the team''s going to be happy with two new members," Green Arrow thought aloud. "They''ll adapt." "At least Artemis isn''t going to be the only new kid on the block," Green Arrow replied with a smile. "That might help everyone if they''re still sore that Speedy''s not on the team." "He''s going by Red Arrow now," Batman informed his passenger without taking his eyes off the road. "Oh. Original," Green Arrow grinned. "¡­I already knew that Bats." Batman simply grunted in response. Green Arrow fell quiet too. It didn''t last. "You know, I should call Dinah." Chapter End Chapter 24 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 9 - Dial MCU-Ben 10 Crossover Plot: A man from our world is dropped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with nothing but a watch on his wrist to make a life with. Luckily, it''s one hell of a cool watch. Now if only he''d gotten the manual... Also posting on RoyalRoad Pairing: Undetermined NOTE: Its a in-progress novel, so have all the warnings of such novels July 15, 2018, Portland, Earth Prime Source I was writing, late at night. Not something uncommon for me. I was working on a new story after a long day, my legs still burning from my leg workout in the afternoon. It had been a good day though. My nephew had come back from a visit to our family in California and as soon as he saw my face, started asking where his DS in that combination of adorable and annoying only a child can. He''d followed up by incessantly showing me every step he took in Luigi''s Mansion Dark Moon. It was super annoying having him ask me to watch him play while I was trying to get work done, and I absolutely loved him for it. Once again, it was something only a kid you actually love can get away with. He was asleep now. My legs burning and feeling satisfied with my day, I tapped away at the keyboard, idly sending fictional characters on fictional adventures. I''d probably sleep soon. Maybe. Probably. When I felt like it. For now, in the peaceful cool of an Oregon summer night, I was okay. A face leaned over my shoulder. "My, you really do need someone to teach you proper grammar, don''t you?" I stared at him for a moment. I mean, if the guy had broken in, smashed my apartment door down, I may have been able to respond in some way. I might have been angry, or scared. As it was, all I could do was stare at this random guy who''d just shown up out of nowhere in my room. "Well," he said, still reading my computer monitor. "I suppose it doesn''t matter too much. You can practice later." As though his words were some sort of trigger, I snapped up from my chair, reflexively grabbing the nearest thing to a weapon I had close by. "What the fu?k!?" He smiled at that. Stepping back and raising his hands up with a casual slowness that made me feel foolish, he chuckled. "Young man, while I admire your choice of weaponry, I do believe that the Hero of Hyrule is the only one who could possibly use that weapon. Still, I admire the effort," he said in a accent right out of those classy movies from the fifties. I looked down at the weapon I''d chosen. I''d gotten it at comic con a few months back. It was a replica Master Sword. The edge was blunted, the point sort of sharp, the hilt made of cheap plastic with a cylindrical hilt that would prevent me from knowing where the edge of the blade was without looking. Barring it''s near uselessness as a weapon, it was still in it''s plastic sheath. That said, a big metal stick in a plastic sheath is still an effective club. I tightened my grip, and stared at the guy. "Dude... get out of my room." He laughed. "Ah, ''dude''. I''m afraid I''ve come here for a reason. And I don''t believe you will attack me. Not without a true reason for attacking me. Sad to say, but the sort of violence that would allow you to attack a man who is simply standing in your room is not a part of you my dear boy." "I...uh," Once again, I felt foolish, and angry because of that feeling. The fact was, he was right. People just aren''t built to attack randomly. Not if you''ve been raised all your life to avoid that instinct. After all, how many times had I seen street fight videos where two guys yelled at each other for four minutes before unleashing punches? It was 2018, and nobody was really ready to just unleash hell on some random person they''d met. Nobody except those trained for it, people from rough homes/neighborhoods, and insane people. Barring exceptions. And I wasn''t one of those exceptions. "I do admire the effort however. On a basic level of course," he sat down in my chair. Despite the fact my chair had been just behind me a moment ago. "Wait," I turned to see my chair was gone. I looked back at him, eyes wide. "How did you... I don''t-" ''Goddamnit,'' I thought to myself. ''What is going on!?'' "Now, I wish I could explain everything," he swung his left leg over his right, leaning back in my beat up old chair. His smile was sad now, almost pitying. "But, sadly, the nature of my visit means I''ll need to send you off as is. So, I am only here to be your, what is the word... oh yes, a ROB," he took out a pocket watch of all things and fiddled with it. Behind me a noise filled the air as blue light filled my dark room. The noise was like a plastic cup being torn apart over and over again. "I wish you best of luck. I suppose you won''t forgive me, but it is what is needed." I turned, and stared in shock at the sight behind me. Instead of my desk and computer resting peacefully, there was a giant glowing blue circle hanging in the air. "Oh shit." "Indeed," A hand pressed into my back with incredible strength. I stumbled. "My name is Paradox, by the way. Safe travels." "Oh shiiiii-" I fell into the glowing blue circle, and all the air in my lungs was su?k?d out. ''I should have hit him with my fu?k?n? sword.'' I fell in a void of blue lights. My body stretched into infinity. But it was also small as an atom. I had infinite understanding, and knew nothing. A whole bunch of other clich¨¦ ways to describe traveling through a portal. I''d been going through that place for a while. I wish I could say it was boring. But it wasn''t. Instead, pain filled my entire body. Knives sliced apart my skin, ripped it from muscle, left my skeleton open to chilling air. My eyes were filled with needles, bit by bit. My limbs flew off of me, wriggling in the void. Then, in an instant, I was healed again. I knew I''d felt pain. But the memory was only brief, as though I''d read, rather than experienced it. Until happened again. I had no sense of time, so I had no idea how long I spent in that place. But when it ended, I was still screaming. I flew into a brick wall in a flash of light. I fell to the ground. "Ahhhhh!" I screamed, horrified. "Ahhhh! Oh my god, ohmygodohmygod." I screamed and screamed, hugging myself. "No... no. Please. I can''t... I can''t." I lay there, in that place, feeling asphalt on my cheeks, tears on my cheeks as rage, horror, and pain left me just... I never even noticed the watch resting on my left wrist. One with a symbol of two triangles connected at their points. All in green. The sun had been up when I arrived in the alleyway. It had gone down by the time I had calmed down. I slowly got into a sitting position, my right cheek and arm still raw from lying on the concrete. I looked around, eyes drying, my muscles clenching in my arms. I was in an alleyway. It was disgusting, littered with garbage that ranged from simple plastic wrappers to rotten food, with a dumpster a bit away from me. It smelled pretty terrible. But compared to where I''d been, I was okay with it. Still shivering, I rose to my b?r? feet and started walking. I didn''t know where I was, what the hell was happening, though I had some theories. Crazy, insane theories. I needed to... I needed to find a phone. I could call my brother. Shit, what was his number? Who memorizes phone numbers any more? I mean, maybe I could message him on facebook. I got to a gate at the end of the alley and found it unlocked, opening it with a squeal of noise. I tripped slightly on my way out of the alleyway, but managed to keep walking, still shivering in the cold. Without a hair tie, my hair was in a poof of curls, so I kept brushing it out of the way as I walked. I looked around the city I was in. The street I was walking on was named W 48th Street, which meant I had no idea where I was. Most likely a big city though. There were all the signs. Trash in the streets, constant noise in the distance, a random blanket on the floor. Apartment building were rising to the sky. Cars were parked all along the street. I passed by an abandoned lot, covered in gravel and dirt. There was more though. Lots of portions of the city had apparently been hit by some sort of attack the likes of which I couldn''t understand. Buildings had great holes dug into them. Detours were set up everywhere, leaving me to avoid certain streets, but I could see men in orange vests cleaning up broken and twisted steel and concrete. "What the hell happened here?" I stopped at one point and stared at on bit of the work being done. A guy was driving a crane, taking away some massive piece of metal the color of polished bronze. I rubbed at my arms. "Damnit," I walked away, trying to focus. Thankfully, thanks to my workouts, I''m a pretty big guy now. I was actually pretty proud of it, since I''d worked so hard on it. So no one seemed willing to bother me. Which was good, because all the signs of a rough neighborhood were right there with the damaged buildings. Graffiti, guys gathered in protective groups while glaring at passersby. Still, the streets were practically empty. I saw a park and turned to walk into it. It was forested little area, with bushes and a fence blocking it from the rest of the city. The leaves were brown, and the grass dead, but it was a park nonetheless. I strolled through, my feet burning a bit from the cold and the walking on asphalt. I got to the middle of the park, the trees around me blocking the lights of the city. A chilly wind blew some leaves past. It was actually peaceful. I stopped in my tracks and closed my eyes. "Oooooh, this can''t end well." I turned to see four guys walk up to me. They were wearing jean jackets with matches sewn into them in a symbol I recognized. The guy in front of me was bald, his eyes brown and wide. His pale white skin seemed to glow in what little light there was. The other guys were white as well. This was important. As they came closer, the patches caught my eye once more. Swastika''s covered the men vests with the sort of pride the symbol did not deserve. I don''t give a damn about people talking about Holocaust conspiracies and how not all of them are bad, or how all opinions should be listened to. If you''re the sort of jerk who wears a swastika and starts blaming people''s race, religion, gender, or s?xu?? preference for your problems, if you use those as a reason to hate people, you don''t deserve sympathy, you don''t deserve an opinion. Ignorance can be cured. But not when it''s intentional ignorance. The men walked up to me, the guy in the lead grinning. "Well well, look at you? Forget your shoes boy?" I frowned, slowly backing away. "I did. I''m on my way to get them. Can you let me go?" A knife came out. "Nah," he chuckled. His friends joined him in chuckling. They surrounded me. "I think I''d rather show what happens to immigrant fu?ks who come to New York." He leaped forward, knife aimed at my stomach. I wasn''t a martial artist. I''d only been trained in some boxing and high school wrestling. Luckily, I was scared as hell. I''d been shoved into a realm of pain, woke up in a random city, and found myself getting attacked by some of the worst kind of people in the world. Like I''d said, no one in the modern world is ready to fight someone immediately without the right mentality. I was finally in the right mentality. When the guy stabbed at my stomach, I reached out as fast as I could and grabbed his wrist. The knife bounced off my watch, slicing deep into the back of my forearm. I pulled the guy in towards me, shouting. "Fu-" My other hand rose up. I pulled him forward. My right hand pulled him close. My left snapped forward. I clenched my left hand into a tight fist moments before impact, twisted my h?ps with the blow, and slammed him with all the force I had. I aimed for his solar plexus, not wanting to break my knuckles on his skull. As the air was driven from the neo-nazi, I spun him around. The guy was a skinny jerk, so even though he was taller than me, he was easy to spin around and pull close. I clenched his wrist tight, pulling him back with me as my other hand wrapped around his neck. My right hand moved from his wrist to his hand, clenching it tight around the knife he was holding. I forced him to point his knife at his own throat. I almost fell over, stumbling a bit, but I clutched the neo-nazi close and choked him. His friends came closer as I backed off. One guy took out a handgun. "Let go of him!" He shouted. I ducked, trying to get the guy in between me and his friends. "Better do it," the guy I was holding laughed, then tried to shake me off. I squeezed harder, trying to keep a hold of him, and I pressed his knife hand into his neck. He stilled at the feeling of it piercing his neck. "You fu?k?n? ?sshole!" "I just want to go home," I said back to him. My voice cracked. "Seriously, I just..." I trailed off when I saw my watch. The watch I''d never seen before in my life. Scratch that. I knew the watch. But I''d never seen it in a form that wasn''t either in cartoon or toy form. "...Ha!" I let out. The three guys staring at me shared a look. The guy I was holding tried to struggle again. I felt myself go just a little insane. It was kinda nice. Kinda freeing. "Tell you what boys," I reached for the watch, struggling with my ''prisoner'' as I did. "How about this? If this doesn''t work... I''ll let you kill me." Looking back, I was probably lying. I''d damn well fight back either way. At this point, I was crazy enough to do it. I grabbed the watch and twisted the face of it. The triangles opened up, and the guy I was holding stared with the same shock I felt when the watch lit up. A image floated from it, a green figure with a head like fire. "What the..." One of the guys said softly as we all stared at my watch. "I know right?" I said a bit crazily. With that, I slammed my hand onto the watch. A flash of green light came from the device, before it enveloped me. I let go of the guy in my arms, shoving him away even as I became a different person. My bones widened, growing outwards, before they dissolved entirely. Flesh and blood shifted, until only the green of vines remained. My organs began to produce methane in massive amount. My mind changed, connecting to the world around me in a way I didn''t understand. In all, the change must have take less than a second, only a blink of time. When it ended, I stood up tall, stretching my body out and looking at my hands. My body was now green vines and black sections of bark. My feet looked like roots surrounding rocks, allowing me to stand stable on the ground. My hands clenched into green fists. I knew, if I looked at myself, I would have a head shaped like flame, with slit green eyes. I sighed. My voice sounded different now. Kinda nasally actually. "Well... Tradition and all that, right," I reared back, crying out one word as proudly as I could. "Swampfire!" "Holy shit!" the guy I''d shoved away yelled in amazement. "Kill it!" The guy with the gun started shooting. Bullets slammed into me, punching through my body to fly behind me. I staggered back, blinking as I felt the odd sensation of bullets going through me. A moment later, he had emptied his handgun. I looked down at myself. There were a bunch of holes in me. About fifteen or so, tiny. I felt some wind passing through them. As I watched, the holes began to seal themselves. With a bit of concentration, I accelerated the process. Soon, all the holes were gone, leaving smooth plant-life. "Whoa," I said in that nasally voice. "That is cool." I felt so powerful. As though I was a hundred times stronger and more powerful than before. I took a deep breath, my massive ?h?st moving with the action. Then I raised a hand, mimicking the move I''d seen more than once on Cartoon Network. A plume of flame erupted from my palm. The guys crinkled their noses, apparently bother by the smell. "What the hell!?" The neo-nazis backed away, scared. So I threw a fireball at the ground in front of them, laughing. The fireball exploded, erupting with a brilliance I found gratifying. "Run!" They spun around. But we were in a park. In a place full of greenery. Swampfire''s home turf. I reached out with my mind, and felt the trees around me. The feeling of the life around me was intoxicating. I struggled to focus, to ignore the way the world suddenly seemed so much larger, as though I was part of a conversation I''d never known was happening around me every day. The grass grew up into massive stalks as tall as a man. Trees suddenly erupted with branches. A giant green oval sprouted from my ?h?st, which I ripped out and threw in front of the group. The oval object exploded in front of them, turning into a plant that stabbed into the ground with it''s roots and began to grow. In seconds, the work of months or years, even millenia, passed by. When the guys ran, the plant I''d thrown launched out vines. The forest continued to grow and grow at high speed. "God hel-" The leader, the guy who''d tried to stab me, was silenced when a vine wrapped around his mouth. In seconds, more vines surrounded his arms, legs, and ?h?st, holding him tightly as he released muffled screams. The other three turned around, trying to escape the other way. I grabbed one, a guy with a beard bigger than mine, by the shoulder. "Not today!" I lashed out with a green fist as large as watermelon, my knuckles digging into his side before my inhuman strength lifted him up as I felt something like sticks break under my vine fist. "Ugk!" He grunted as his ribs shattered. He was sent flying back, slamming into a tree. The tree, under my orders, wrapped him in it''s branches, leaving him trapped in a wooden cocoon. The last two guys tried to escape as well. They ran through the growing grass of the lawn next to the walkway. Which meant they were a field under my control. Feeling a bit vindictive, I stood for a moment, watching them run. When they''d gotten about twenty feet away, the grass rustling as they ran towards the nearest exit from the park to the streets, I dramatically raised a hand. For some reason, feeling like I was being a bit ironic, I snapped my fingers. The grass moved, and the two men fell. "Augh!" "Crap!" I felt the grass speaking to me, letting me know they were wrapping around them. Some weeds joined in, growing with immense speed. I looked over at the leader. He stared at me from the bonds of the plant I''d thrown. "New York City... Good to know." I looked over the men for a moment, then looked down at myself. "Hmm. You know fellas, I am going to need some clothes." Later, with a bundle of clothing, an empty pistol, knife, and their cell phones and wallets, all stuffed into a bag made of vines, I turned and walked out of the park. Still transformed into Swampfire, flowers began to bloom in the middle of fall, police sirens came closer, and fire burned. Then, with a loud set of beeps and a big flash of red light, I became human again, and walked into the city. Sleeping in a hotel is always a bit disgusting to me. I''m always thinking of how many people use hotels for things I''d prefer not to imagine without supermodels involved. That said, I found a solid place to sleep for the night, and thankfully the neo-nazis had some cash in their wallets, enough to get a room. I managed to get some sleep, even clean the clothes I''d stolen in the small washer and dryer that came with the room. Granted, the clothes wasn''t perfectly my size, but I''d gotten some jeans and shirts. Though I ended up having to rip a few swastika''s off at one point. I distracted myself like that for a bit. Rifling through the guys wallets, folding clothes, showering. All the while, I ignored the object on my wrist. It seemed to weigh me down with every move, a reminder of everything that had happened. Soon, I had to confront it. I sat on the floor and stared at it, resting against the bed of the hotel room. The Omnitrix. THE Omnitrix. From the tv show Ben 10. I felt a smile rise on my face. So freaking cool. I loved that show, and the idea of the Omnitrix, a device that could turn a person into one of a plethora of badass aliens, was exciting as hell. And it was my favorite design too, the one from Alien Force. I reeeeaaaly wanted to play with it, to see just who I could into. Humongosaur? Diamondhead? Oh god, please don''t let the Worst be one of my options. Hell, while I''d been freaking out before, turning into Swampfire was freaking awesome. Feeling so powerful, that connection to the plants around me, and the feel of summoning methane and igniting with a thought. Damn it was cool. I lowered my arm and sighed. But then there was the elephant in the room. Why give me a uber powered watch with limitless potential, then drop me into New York City? I decided to discard the fact this was all impossible. That the Omnitrix, Professor Paradox, teleportation, and aliens were all fictional, or at least not possible according to the 2018 I knew. Professor Paradox. He was the key. He had answers, he knew why I was here, why I was given the watch. But most important... I reached for one of the phones. It was locked. So were the other three. No answers. But they were older models. I couldn''t tell if that meant anything. I decided to wait for the next day to find information. But in the end, sleep wasn''t going to come easy. The next day, I was in the Columbus Branch Library. I''d been directed there by a kindly older woman. The library was two stories, gray stone, and in between a place called Rey''s Deli Grocery on it''s right, and an apartment building of some sort on the left. Once inside finding a computer was easy. Looking up recent news took seconds. I scrolled through the stories, some things jumping out at me immediately as weird. But one took my breath away. It was seeing a picture of Robert Downey Jr, that guy from the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He was wearing a dapper suit, a suave smile on his face as he waved from a private jet. The headline made my headspin. ''Tony Stark Makes Plans To Rebuild Stark Tower As The Avengers Headquarters.'' Well, there was only one response I could give to that. "Since when the fu?k did Robert Downey Jr. play Iron Man?" October 19, 2013. The day I entered the Marvel Universe. Chapter End Chapter 25 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 10 - Beauty and the Bat Plot: What happens when Harley Quinn turns out to love Batman? Pairing: BWxHQ NOTE: The time between each chapter update is a long time (compared to other fics), so you have been warned Chapter 1: Stopping By Harley Quinn was scribbling on her cell walls again. For the millionth time she wrote Harley and Mista J on the wall, it was a wonder she was able to find a space on the wall. She wrote the love saying with her red lipstick, the only thing she was able to sneak into Arkham. Harley had her blonde hair pinned up in two ponytails. The only thing she wore was her Arkham cell suit. She felt kinda n?k?d with her Harlequin outfit and makeup, but at the same time she was glad she didn''t have to wear all that gunk, it took too long to put on. It felt good to just walk around as herself every now and then. Suddenly Harley heard the door to Arkham burst open, causing her to jump. The love saying she was just finishing up veered across the wall, making a red streak through some of Harley''s other love writings. She growled angrily to herself and walked over to the cell bars. She watched as Batman came down the hall, dragging an unconscious Mad Hatter behind him. Mad Hatter had just escaped two days ago and kidnap a young girl with blonde girl, claiming that she was his "Alice". Harley never really liked Hatter. He creeped her out and he was always obsessed with little girls, blonde little girls. She didn''t feel a bit sorry for him that he got caught by the big bad bat. Jarvis Tetch had always gave Harley the willies. She remembers one time he had come to her thinking she was Alice, due to her blonde hair. He had started invading her personal space and a quick kick to his little man parts gave Harley her much needed distance for the obvious child molester. She would have loved to have beaten him with her b?r? fists but she didn''t want his nasty blood on her. Harley wasn''t the only one who despised Jarvis. He had no one here to call a friend, even the other inmates were disgusted by him and some had tried to kill him on multiple occasions. She even remembered when Mistah J found out he had gotten grabby with a elementary school girl. Her pudding had broken his left arm and, although she had no idea how he had managed to sneak it into the asylum, had taken a knife and carved the words, "Child Molester", into his ?h?st. Despite the act being a bit gruesome, none of the staff were saddened to see this done to him. Joker had b?r?ly even gotten punished for the act. Guess it says a lot when if the Joker is disgusted with your actions you truly are a horrible person. As Batman was passing her cell he stopped. The Dark Knight turned and gazed at her, right into her blue eyes. It also made her blush when he did this. He never so much as looked at the other inmates, but every time he came to Arkham Asylum Batman would always stop by and just stare at her. It made Harley feel special. "So Bman, you brought Tetch home did ya." Harley said, in her usual cheery tone. "Yes. Jarvis will think twice before he escapes." Batman replied, in his gloomy and slightly bored tone. "He''ll probably try to escape tomorrow ya know." Harley countered. "I know." Batman answered, and moved off with the Mad Hatter without another word. Harley watched Batman until he was out of site. As soon as his big flowing cape turned a corner she raced over to her bed. She pulled the mattress down and lovingly traced her finger around the small saying in-scrawled on the wood. This love writing was for her eyes only. No one else knew about it, not even her best friend, Ivy. She said the message to herself over and over again, it tasted sweet on her lips and made her tingly all over. "Harley loves Batman." Harley said to herself. Chapter End Chapter 26 - DCU/MCU Fan-fiction 11 - The Road to Happiness, The Long One Plot: Callum Orson, along with his best friend/confidant Mason, go through their lives as best buds, but after Cal saves Kara Danvers, the adopted daughter of one Mr. and Mrs. Kent of Kent Corporations, Cal needs to figure out whether or not to tell Kara his secret, a secret very few even know. Pairing: OCxKara Chapter 1 Cal walked out of Moon Valley Public High School''s gates feeling relieved, relieved that Monday was finally over and school was out. Alongside him, his best buddy Mason, a harmless pyro-maniac who was the most trustworthy person the world had ever seen. Cal''s thick, dark brown hair surrendered to the brief, but strong, winds. Cal''s hazel eyes glinted with the small spark of hope. No one, not even Cal himself, knew why, but Cal always seemed to have that special glint in his eye. His light blue long sleeve shirt slightly flapped in the wind, but he didn''t mind. Cal appreciated the coolness of the day. His jeans were a bit too small, but no one looked close enough to notice. Mason''s short, light brown curly hair also surrendered to the wind. Mason''s deep blue eyes were a wonder with his hard set features, causing even the most stubborn girl to swoon. His brown t-shirt stuck lightly to his skin, and his jeans slightly too wide for him causing him to need his brown belt. Mason was always making jokes or causing some sort of small disturbance in the classroom, but making up for it with the effortlessly done homework and tests, all of which earned him an A. Cal was the quiet type, examining and processing before doing anything. Cal also effortlessly did his homework and tests, also earning himself A''s. But Cal was still different. Cal''s knowledge and abilities were far above the norm, even for the most talented in the world. He was always able to convince others of anything and everything he wanted, whether for fun or for a revenge scheme. He was able to do anything better than anyone, you name it, but the thing is¡­ Cal never showed it, never proclaimed it, never even mentioned his ability to do better. Cal wasn''t an attention seeker, in fact, Cal hated attention; Cal even disliked attention from his ever perfect test taking ability. This is where Mason came it. Mason always took the attention for his best friend. Mason didn''t like the attention much either, but liked it enough to be able to make his friend comfort. Mason and Cal were like puzzle pieces. One''s comfort covered the other''s uncomfort. Cal walked out of Moon Valley Public High School''s gates, with Mason at his side. Glancing around, Cal weighed the possibility of racing across the street in order to make it. Mason started, but Cal put his arm out to stop him. Cal shook his head slightly knowing the length of time that it would be before they could cross. "We could have made it!" protested Mason. Cal shook his head, "Nah, not with the last 4 seconds. You wouldn''t make it; I''ve seen you run." Mason laughed, "Regardless, don''t you think that the cars would have waited anyway?" Cal smirked, "Maybe, but why waste their time when we aren''t in any hurry?" "Have I ever mentioned that you are too philosophical and overthink?" Mason asked. "Probably," Cal shrugged. Mason laughed. Cal laughed as well. "Wait!" Mason exclaimed, "I forgot my phone in the office!" "Well go get it then, hurry!" Cal replied. Mason rushed off and sprinted through the crowd. Cal stood there waiting for his best friend to return. The light signaled for crossing and Cal smiled. ''Mason''s gonna love this. He missed the light.'' Cal thought humorously. "Hurry up Kara! We''re going to miss the light!" Barbara exclaimed to her best friend Kara. "I''m going, I''m going!" Kara replied, rushing past Cal while nearly running into him. Cal looked at the timer on the other end of the street. ''It''s red! She shouldn''t have gone!'' Cal thought as he saw the red light. Cal rushed across the street and into the oncoming traffic. Seeing the semi heading for a direct hit on Kara, Cal rushed forward. He jumped forward and shoved Kara out of the way. The truck slammed on its brakes, but didn''t quite make it. Cal slammed into the truck''s hood, bouncing up into the windshield. The truck''s brakes finally stopped the large vehicle. The rough stop caused Cal to flying into the back of a compact car in front of the semi. Kara laid there stunned and looked back in horror. Barbara rushed over and helped Kara up to her feet. Kara rushed over to where Cal was laying. Mason rushed through the gates and through the street over to where Cal was laying. "Oh my goodness! Are you ok?" Kara asked concerned. Cal struggled to his feet. "I''m okay, I''m fine," Cal mumbled. He brushed his pants and shirt. "I''ll call an ambulance, if somebody hasn''t already," Barbara muttered worriedly. "¡­you sure you''re okay buddy"? Mason asked. "Yeah, just 2 broken ribs, several fractured ribs, slight concussion, and some minor cuts and bruises," Cal replied, "I''ll live." Mason looked over Cal, but shrugged and respected his friend''s analysis. Kara frowned. "''A'' how do you know that? And ''B'', I''m making sure you get checked out before you can go." Kara insisted. "No, really. I''m fine," Cal said. "Yeah no, it''s probably best that we make sure you''re ok," Barbara chimed in. Mason nodded. Cal sighed and agreed. "You''re Cal right?" Kara asked. "Yeah, you''re Kara right?" Cal asked. "Yeah, and this is Barbara. Thanks for saving my life," Kara said. "Don''t mention it," Cal said. "Oh yeah, I''m Mason," Mason chimed in. Everyone looked at him. -Break- "Well, you have 2 broken ribs, several fractured ribs, a slight concussion, and some minor cuts and bruises, and you''ll need to change the bandaging every 6-8 hours. The bandaging is special; it acts as a cast but is far more flexible which is convenient. Soon everyone will have this bandaging, thanks to Wayne Enterprises and the Kent Corporation," said the doctor. "Well, good to know I''ll live," said Cal. "Now then, I''ll let your friends in to check on you," said the doctor as he left the room. A few moments later, Kara rushed in and threw her arms around Cal with Barbara and Mason following close behind. "Hurts¡­" Cal said quietly. "Sorry, kinda got carried away that you''re ok and all. Thank you for saving my life, I guess I owe you now," Kara said as she backed off Cal. "It''s no problem, everyone is okay and that''s all that matters," Cal said. "So how did you EXACTLY know your injuries?" Barbara asked suspiciously. Mason looked over at Cal and smiled. "Lucky guess?" Cal shrugged. Barbara squinted, but then shrugged. Mason smiled and shook his head slightly. "Say Cal, since you saved my life and all, would you mind maybe coming over for dinner? Say tomorrow night?" asked Kara. "Um, sure¡­ When should I be there and where am I going?" answered Cal. "I''ll make sure you get picked up, just be ready at 4 at school," Kara said. "I''ll be ready. See you tomorrow in class!" Cal said. Barbara and Kara waved as they left the hospital room. "So¡­ save a girl''s life and she''s into you? Gotta try that one," Mason said. "Ha ha, very funny. You''re the one who gets all the girls without even trying. It was past due that I got a chance towards at a girl for once," Cal said. "But with the most popular girl in school? Good luck my fried, you''re going to need it." "A wise man once said, ''You make your own luck.''" "Neal Caffery, White Collar. But she''s the most popular girl in school!" "Yes, Neal Caffery. But this is where we are different Mason, I don''t see people''s titles and judge, I see the person holding it," Cal lamented, getting up from the hospital bed. He grabbed his clothes and headed towards the bathroom. "Okay Socrates, but what about your secret? She''s going to end up finding out or figuring out who you are," Mason warned. "Relax, there is one person in this world that knows who I am and that''s you," Cal pointed out. He mostly shut the bathroom door as he began to change. "This is your first girlfriend ever, and you may not trust people, but a girlfriend is a different story. A girlfriend expects to be told everything no matter the excuse," Mason said, his back to the slightly ajar bathroom door. "I''m pretty sure that''s not how it''s supposed to be¡­" Cal said. "Fine, I made that up, but my point still stands, your first girlfriend and who knows what you''ll tell her," "Ok, fine, I''ll make sure to keep my mouth shut. Let''s go home though. Excuse: We had an after school meeting with the principal about behavior and grades. Nothing bad, just a light warning. Sound good?" Cal stated as he walked out of the bathroom. "She''ll buy it without too many difficult questions, besides, you know we could literally run away and not get in trouble," said Mason. "I know, but she cares, so maybe just let her know we''re ok," said Cal. Cal grabbed the bandages in a hospital bad and headed outside. "Ever wonder why we are still in an orphanage at the age of 16 AND model students?" asked Mason. "All the time." A/N: How is it so far? Suggestions, reviews, comments appreciated below. Have a nice day! Chapter End Chapter 27 - One Piece Fan-fiction 1 - Another Nakama Plot: There''s another pirate on board the Going Merry with his own dreams and ambitions. Follow the Straw Hat Pirate Crew as they begin their journey to the Grand Line on the adventure of a lifetime to make their dreams come true. INCLUDES ORIGINAL CHARACTERS! Pairing: OCxNami NOTE: Although this series (4 part series) is shown as status ''complete'', in the forth novel it is incomplete with the rest of the story summarized by the author as he had lost motivation to complete it. It is mostly complete and is a EXTREMELY long fan-fiction. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!! Chapter I: Romance Dawn The King of the Pirates, Gold Roger had it all. Wealth, fame, and power, had all been his. He had obtained everything the world had to offer and his dying words drove countless souls to the seas. "You want my treasure? You can have it. I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it." These words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they''d ever dared to imagine. This is the time known as the Great Pirate Era! -x- Our story starts in a small harbor village called Fuchsia Village twenty-two years later. About one year ago a pirate ship landed here. A wind blows from the East and the village is at peace. "Oi! What are you doing Luffy?" a pirate asked a small black haired boy who was standing on top of the bowsprit. "I''ve had it with you guys! Now you''ll have to take me seriously!" the boy exclaimed, his name was Monkey D. Luffy. His name was fitting, because this boy looked a lot like a monkey. Luffy was wearing a white t-shirt with the word ''Anchor'' on the front and a pair of blue shorts, he currently had a small knife in his hand and was prepared to do something drastic. "This is how tough I am!" "Dahahaha, go for it!" a pirate wearing a straw hat encouraged him, he didn''t know what Luffy was planning but figured it''d be amusing, "let''s see what you''re gonna do!" "Is that boy going to do something funny again?" questioned another pirate. "Luffy, I''m not sure this is such a good idea," came the voice of another small boy. His name was Ricky, he had red hair and closely resembled a fox. He and Luffy, despite not being blood related, were brothers in the truest sense of the word, and right now Ricky''s big hazel eyes were filled with worry for his younger brother. "Don''t do something this stupid!" But Luffy didn''t listen, and to the shock of all the pirates, he took the knife and cut himself under his eye. SLIK! "YEEEOOOOWWW!" Luffy screamed. "I told you this was a bad idea," Ricky muttered while Luffy screamed in pain. "WHAT''D YOU DO THAT FOR?" the pirate with the straw hat shouted. "YOU DUMB-ASS!" -x- Later in a small pub the pirates and the two boys had gathered and were celebrating. "Cheers! To Luffy''s¡­ um¡­ courage¡­ and our great voyage!" Inside the pub all of the pirates were drinking, eating and having a great time. Luffy was sitting on a stool next to the pirate with the straw hat. "It didn''t hurt a bit!" Luffy bragged to anyone who would listen. "Liar!" the pirate with the straw hat snapped, "don''t do anything so stupid again!" "I''m not afraid of pain!" said Luffy, "Take me with you on your next voyage! I wanna be a pirate too!" "Dahahaha! You can''t handle being a pirate!" the pirate wearing the straw hat laughed. He was wearing a long black coat over a white bu??on down shirt, grey pants, and a red sash. The pirate had three parallel scars going down his left eye, it looked like some pirate had attempted to scratch his eye out at one point. He also had a head of deep red hair which he got his nickname ''Red Haired'' Shanks. He was the Captain of this pirate crew called the Red Haired Pirates. "Luffy, the reason we call you ''Anchor'' is because you can''t swim! Not being able to swim is a pirate''s greatest weakness!" "But if I don''t fall overboard then I''ll be fine," Luffy pointed out, "then it doesn''t matter if I''m an anchor. I''m a strong fighter! Ricky and I have been training and my punch is as strong as a pistol!" "A pistol?" Shanks repeated, "Is that so?" He didn''t really seem too interested. "What kind of a tone is that!" Luffy demanded. "Calm down, Luffy," a pirate called out, "let''s just have a good time!" "Yeah, pirates always have a good time," added Lucky Roux, a fat pirate wearing goggles and green and white striped clothing. He almost always appeared to be eating large hunk of meat. "the sea is vast and there''s lots of islands to explore." "And best of all, pirates have freedom!" another pirate chimed in. "Wow!" Luffy exclaimed as he listened to the pirates. "You guys stop giving him dumb ideas!" Shanks scolded his crew. "But its true!" a pirate protested. "Captain, let''s take the lad with us just this once," Lucky Roux suggested. "Aye!" another pirate agreed. "Yeah!" Luffy cheered as he jumped off of his stool. "Alright," Shanks relented, "but one of you will have to stay behind." That got ''em. "Haha, sorry lad, you''ve been beached," the pirates laughed before turning away, "let''s drink!" "I thought you guys were on my side!" Luffy wh?n?d. "You''re just too young," Shanks told him, "maybe in about ten years I''ll give you a chance." "Darn it Shanks!" Luffy snapped, "I''m telling you I''m not a little kid!" "Don''t get upset," said Shanks in an attempt to calm Luffy. "Here, have some juice!" Luffy took the glass and quickly downed it, causing Shanks to burst out laughing. "Dahahahaha! See!" Shanks laughed, "a real pirate would never drink juice!" "That was a dirty trick!" Luffy yelled. "Hmph, I''m getting tired of this!" Luffy complained to himself as he got up walked away from the counter. "I even stabbed myself and he still won''t take me with him! I wonder what Ricky''s up to?" Luffy wandered through the tables of pirates and found his partner in crime sitting at a table playing cards with a blond-haired man wearing a blue shirt and a bandana that read ''Yasopp''. It was fitting because that was the pirate''s name. "Hey Luffy," Ricky greeted him. "I''m just about to win Yasopp''s treasure." Ricky pointed to the large sack of gold coins that was lying on the table. "Yeah right," HIC "you''ll never beat my hand!" the more-than-slightly drunk Yasopp boasted. "I won''t lose to a kid!" HIC! "I''ve won thousands of¡ª" HIC! "Thousands of card¡ª" HIC! "¡­games before!" "I''m sure you have," Ricky agreed condescendingly, the drunk pirate didn''t notice. "Say¡­ weren''t you just saying something about a kid of your own?" "Oh yeah," said Yasopp. HIC! "I have a boy of my own, he''s about Luffy''s¡ª" HIC! "¡ªage, his name''s Usopp¡­" HIC! While Yasopp went off and told his story Ricky caught Luffy''s eye and motioned to the cards Yasopp was holding. Luffy went peered at the pirate''s cards while he was distracted with the telling of his story, then whispered to Ricky what he saw. "¡­ It was heartbreaking¡ª" HIC! "¡ªleaving my boy, BUT WHEN THE PIRATE FLAG BECKONS¡­ " HIC! "¡­ YOU MUST HEED ITS CALL!" "You''ve got that right," Ricky agreed as he glanced at his cards. "Yasopp, do you want to go all in? If you wager all of your treasure, I''ll bet an entire barrel of my Aunt''s best grog." "You mean¡­" HIC! "¡­the stuff from the North Blue?'' questioned Yasopp. "Yup," Ricky replied. "For all my treasure?" Yasopp clarified. "What''s the matter Yasopp? Are you scared you''ll lose to a kid like me?" Ricky teased him, there was no mistaking the sly grin on his face. "I thought you said you had a great hand? Where''s that confidence now?" "Alright fine, I''m all in," Yasopp conceded, taking Ricky''s bait, he put his cards down. "Read ''em and weep." "I WIN!" Ricky exclaimed as he put his cards down. "WHAT?" Yasopp shrieked as he stared at Ricky''s cards. "You brat! How could I lose to a nine year old?" "Thank you, Yasopp," said Ricky as he flashed the pirate a foxy smile, then took the sack of treasure from the table and hopped off of his stool. He and Luffy headed off into the crowd of pirates. "There''s bound to be over ten thousand berries in here," Ricky commented as he shook the sack of gold. Then he turned and glanced at his brother, "So what''s going on Luffy?" "I''ve had it with Shanks," Luffy replied. "He always treats me like a dumb kid. I even stabbed myself today and he still won''t take me with him!" "Well, stabbing yourself probably wasn''t one of your best ideas," Ricky pointed out. "Luffy," came the voice of a pirate with long black hair tied back in a ponytail, as he lit up a cigarette. This pirate''s name was Benn Beckman and he was Shanks'' First Mate. "Shanks is just trying to do what''s best for everyone." "How do you figure?" asked Luffy as both he and Ricky turned to the First Mate. "The safety of the entire crew rests on his shoulders," Beckman explained, "being a pirate isn''t all fun and games you know. A pirate''s life is hard and very dangerous. Do you understand? He doesn''t purposely tease your ambitions of being a pirate." "I don''t believe it!" Luffy snapped, "Shanks just likes to make me look like an idiot!" "Oi Anchor!" called out Shanks from across the pub. "DAHAHAHA!" "See," Luffy complained. "Captain, you seem to be happy as always," Makino observed, the woman who owned the pub as she reentered the room carrying a barrel of grog with her. Coincidentally, she was also Ricky''s Aunt and the only living relative that he knew of. While she and Ricky didn''t exactly look alike with her dark green, almost black, hair in comparison to Ricky''s red, her sister, Ricky''s mother, was known to look and act like a female version of Ricky. "Dahahahaha! Boy, I just love making fun of this kid!" Shanks laughed. "Hmm, maybe the lad''s got a point," Beckman whispered to Ricky as Luffy glared at Shanks and stormed back over to the bar. "What are you doing with all that gold?" "I won it fair and square," Ricky insisted. "Its not my fault Yasopp can''t hold his liquor." "What''s a nine year old going to do with that much money?" asked Beckman. "I''m saving up to buy a sword," Ricky explained. "Then I can go after some real treasure." "A sword, eh?" Beckman replied as he took a drag from his cigarette. "Those things can be quite dangerous, and fighting other swordsman can be really harmful to your health." "So can smoking, but you still do it," Ricky countered. "Ah, touch¨¦," Beckman admended with a smile as Ricky walked off after Luffy. "Luffy, would you like to eat something?" asked Makino, Luffy was once again sitting on his stool at the counter. "Okay! I''ll pay you with my Treasure Tab!" Luffy ?ssured her. "Treasure Tab?" questioned Shanks, "look Luffy, don''t try to swindle the lady!" "I''m not!" Luffy protested, "I''m going to become a pirate, and I''ll pay her with the treasure I find." "Hah-ha, I''ll be waiting," Makino agreed. "For the record," said Ricky as he came over and ducked around to the other side of the counter. "The treasure I find will be worth ten times what yours is. Everything on Shanks'' ship will be considered pocket change." Ricky opened a safe that was situated behind the bar and put the sack of gold he had won from Yasopp inside and locked it. "Why don''t you just find the One Piece then?" Shanks joked. "That could work," Ricky commented with a thoughtful expression. "Dahahahaha!" Shanks laughed at his fellow red-head. "You''re almost as bad as he is! You could never find the One Piece!" Unlike Luffy, Ricky understood that Shanks was just teasing and that he wasn''t purposely mocking the boy''s dreams. He didn''t let it get to him. Makino shook her head at her nephew then glanced out at the pirates, "Ricky, would you mind taking this grog out to the pirates?" Makino lifted a barrel up onto the counter. "They''re probably running low." "Yes, Aunt Makino," said Ricky as he hopped the counter and took the large barrel of grog from Makino and went off into the crowd of pirates. -x- A little while later the pirates were still in the pub. Almost all of the grog was gone and both Ricky and Luffy were sitting on stools next to Shanks. Well, Luffy was sitting next to Shanks, Ricky was sitting on a stool staring at a small treasure ?h?st that was on the counter in front of him. "Shanks¡­" said Luffy as he took a bite of some steak. "Yeah kid?" "How much longer are you gonna stay at this village?" asked Luffy. "Let''s see¡­" Shanks thought out loud. "We''ve been using this town as out base for about a year. After a few more voyages and I plan on leaving and heading north." "A few more huh?" questioned Luffy as he stuffed the rest of his steak in his mouth. "I''ll learn how to swim by then." "That''s good kid, do whatever you want," said Shanks, who wasn''t really paying attention. KREEK! The swinging doubled doors of the pub were opened and a large group of people entered. "Make way for the scourge of the mountains!" called the man leading the group. Most of the people in the group were wearing white bandanas, except for one person who appeared to be the leader, he was wearing a big brown coat, had black hair with a bun in it and a black beard, he also had a sword. "So you call yourselves pirates?" questioned the leader. "This is the first time I''ve seen pirates, and you look like a sorry lot to me." Everyone in the pub turned to watch the man walk up to the counter, everyone except two boys. "Hey Ricky, whatcha got there?" Luffy inquired. "I don''t know," said Ricky. "But I think it''s valuable." Luffy peered into the ?h?st in front of Ricky. "You dummy, it''s a weird fruit," Luffy pointed out. "I bet it tastes great, why else would Shanks have it?" Luffy fished into the ?h?st and pulled out the fruit. WHAP! Ricky slapped Luffy''s wrist and took the fruit away from him. "What was that for?" Luffy yelped as he waved his hand in front of him. Ricky stared Luffy directly in the eye and said, "No Luffy. Don''t eat it, it''s giving me the creeps!" "Ricky, I''m hungry," Luffy complained, "this''ll be dessert. You can have some if you want." "I don''t want it," said Ricky as he skillfully slid the ?h?st out of Luffy''s reach. "We don''t know what it is." "But I''m huuuunnnngrrrryyyyy¡­" Luffy wh?n?d. "You just ate a bunch of meat," Ricky reminded him. "But if that''s not enough, I''ll get you something else. But at least ask Shanks before you try to eat that thing¡­ it could be poison." Meanwhile the mountain bandits were still addressing the pirates, "We''re bandits," the leader announced. His name was Higuma ''the Bear''. "We''re not here to cause trouble, we just want ten barrels of grog." "Sorry," Makino apologized. "But we are out of liquor." "Oh?" questioned Higuma, "Then what are these pirates drinking? Water?" "Its grog," Makino admitted, "But that''s the last of what I had stocked up." Ricky let go of the fruit and stood up, ready to defend his Aunt if necessary. But as a result, he completely forgot about the fruit, and without Ricky stopping him, Luffy was able to eat it uninterrupted. CHOMP!MUNCH!GULP! "My apologies gentlemen," said Shanks, who was sitting at the bar on a stool next to Higuma, "Looks like me and my friends drank the whole place dry." Shanks reached down and offered the bandit leader the unopened bottle of grog in front of him. "Why don''t you have this? It''s still unopened." SMASH! In response Higuma took the bottle and smashed it over Shanks'' head, soaking the captain with grog. Everyone in the pub stood and stared, wondering what was going to happen. Luffy stopped eating the fruit and waited to see what Shanks would do. But he just sat there with grog dripping off of his straw hat. "What do you take me for, a fool?" Higuma demanded. "One bottle is not enough!" "See this?" asked Higuma as he pulled out a wanted picture with his face on it. "I''ve got an eight million berri bounty on my head! I''m one of the prime fugitives here. I''ve killed fifty-six people before, mostly ???ky bastards like you!" "Just great," Shanks complained, not really caring about the bandit. "Now the floor is all wet." Higuma turned and glared at Shanks as alcohol dripped down off of his straw hat, "Watch yourself if you''re fond of breathing. After all, Mountain Bandits and Sea Pirates don''t mingle well." Shanks didn''t really seem to care, and instead moved down onto the floor and picked up some of the broken pieces of glass. "Sorry about the mess Makino, give me a rag and I''ll clean it." "D-don''t worry Shanks," Ricky stammered, as he slowly walked over to the spill, and the bandit standing near it, "I c-can get it." SWOOOSH! Ricky quickly dropped down to the floor as Higuma pulled out his sword and swung it over his head. CRASH! SMASH! The bandit knocked plates off of a nearby table and into Shanks, creating an even bigger mess. "So you like cleaning?" Higuma taunted Shanks. "That''ll keep you busy for a while." Everyone was still as Higuma turned away and left the bar with his gang of bandits, "Farewell, cowards!" Higuma taunted as he walked out. "Are you alright, Captain?" Makino asked Shanks as she ran out from behind the counter. "Did you get hurt?" "No I''m fine," said Shanks. "Phew." This prompted all of the pirates (and Ricky) to start laughing. "Hohoho! Captain, he got you good!" Lucky Roux laughed. "Hah-ha, did you see the look on his face?" Ricky chuckled to the fat pirate. "That bandit nearly threw a tantrum, and Shanks just sat there!" "Ahahahahaha! What a loser!" Yasopp laughed. "Dahahahaha!" Shanks laughed along with his crew and the nine-year-old as he dumped the grog off of his straw hat. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?" Luffy demanded, causing everyone in the tavern to turn and stare at him. "What''s so funny? You should''ve fought back Shanks. I doesn''t matter who strong they look or how many they are, if you just laugh it up you''re not a man¡­ or pirate!" "Luffy it''s just¡­" Ricky started to say, but he was quickly silenced by the glare Luffy sent him. "Look I know how you feel," said Shanks as he put his hat back on. "But they guy just spilled booze on me, its nothing to get worked up about. Maybe when you get older you understand." Luffy still didn''t understand and turned to leave, but Shanks grabbed his arm to stop him. "Oi, where''re you going?" "To find a real role model!" Luffy snapped as he kept walking. But Shanks didn''t let go of Luffy''s arm. Everyone was shocked as Luffy''s arm stretched as he kept walking. "His arm¡­ it''s stretching!" Shanks exclaimed. "Does this mean¡­" "He couldn''t have!" said a shocked pirate. "What''s wrong with me?" a scared Luffy asked. "IT''S GONE" Lucky Roux yelled, he took a break from eating and peered into the empty ?h?st the fruit had been in. "The Gum Gum Fruit we took from that enemy ship isn''t here! Luffy, you didn''t eat that fruit did you?" Lucky Roux held up a picture of the fruit Luffy had just eaten. "Yes¡­" Luffy admitted, "I had it for dessert. It didn''t taste all the great though." "That''s the Gum Gum Fruit!" Shanks exclaimed as he grabbed Luffy and held him up in front of him, "It''s one of the Fruits of the Devil. It''s one of the secret treasures of the sea! Whoever eats it will turn into a rubber man, and will never be able to swim!" "What? You''re kidding me right?" Luffy pleaded as his rubber jaw, literally, hit the floor. Shanks grabbed Luffy and turned him upside down, then started shaking him, "Spit it out!" Shanks ordered he shook the boy by his ankles, "Luffy spit it out now!" THUD! Luffy''s rubber neck stretched and his head ended up hitting the floor. He couldn''t spit the fruit out, now he''d never be able to swim and would be made out of rubber for the rest of his life. "I''m sorry, Shanks," Ricky apologized, "I tried to stop him, but he wouldn''t listen." -x- A few days later the pirates had left. It was the middle of the day and Ricky and Luffy were heading into town to get some fish. "Hey Mr. Fish Monger! Gimme some fish!" Luffy called out when they came to the Fish Monger''s shop. "Hey Rubber Boy!" the Fish Monger taunted him, "Why are you in such a good mood lately? Didn''t those pirates set sail without you? And you won''t be able to swim for the rest of your life!" "Don''t make fun of him," Ricky growled, immediately coming to the defense of his younger brother, "He''ll just be a pirate who never falls overboard!" "I''m glad I ate the Gum Gum Fruit! Look at what I can do," with that Luffy reached up and grabbed his cheeks, then pulled them in opposite directions, stretching his face in a weird shape. WUUURRRK! "What''s so great about that?" asked an old man, called Woop Slap. He was the Mayor of Fuchsia Village, he had short gray hair and a red and white striped hat. "You think being gawked at like some kind of a freak is cool? This village doesn''t need any more idiots!" "Good morning, Mr. Mayor," Ricky greeted the mayor with a forced smile. The Mayor glared at the two boys and continued his rant, "I''m telling you boys for the last time, don''t become pirates! It''ll give this town a bad reputation! Now that Captain''s not such a bad fellow, but you boys stay away from those pirates!" Ricky glared at the Mayor while Luffy stuck out his tongue. They didn''t care what he thought. They were both gonna be pirates, even if one of them would never be able to swim. Ricky was still able to learn and neither of them was going to abandon their dream. "What ever you say old man," Ricky agreed with a shake of his head, he and Luffy quickly turned and left. "Well?" asked Luffy as he glanced at his brother while they walked down the street together. Ricky grinned and once the mayor was out of sight and earshot he pulled a wallet out of his pocket. "Lunch is on me. Well¡­ actually, it''s on the Mayor, he just doesn''t know it." "Yeah!" Luffy cheered. "Forget the fish, I want meat!" -x- Days later, Shanks still hadn''t come back. Ricky and Luffy were once again at Makino''s tavern. Well, Luffy was visiting¡­ Ricky and Makino lived there. Luffy was sitting on a stool having a drink while Ricky was helping Makino wash some dishes. "They''ve been away for a while now," said Luffy in a sad tone. "Do you miss them, Luffy?" asked Makino. "No!" Luffy replied. "After the way those Mountain Bandits humiliated them? Not at all! I really overestimated Shanks. I though he was a tough pirate." "But Luffy I keep telling you, it was just some grog," Ricky tried to explain. "the guy was a loser. There are some fights that just aren''t worth fighting." "Luffy, sometimes it takes courage not to fight," Makino suggested. "You guys just don''t understand," Luffy insisted. "A real man has to stand up for himself, no matter what." "Luffy, what would''ve happened if they did fight them?" Ricky asked. "Shanks would''ve kicked his ?ss!" Luffy answered immediately. "You''re probably right," Ricky agreed, "but if Shanks started fighting with the leader, then the other bandits would''ve gotten involved. And if the other bandits got involved, the other pirates would''ve gotten involved. Then we would''ve had a huge brawl going on inside our tavern. Stuff would''ve been broken, booze would''ve been spilled, just because Shanks had to lower himself to fighting on the level of some loser." "And it would''ve taught him a lesson!" Luffy pointed out. "Luffy, some people never learn," Ricky explained, "the guy thinks he''s really tough, is Shanks beat him up, he wouldn''t learn anything, he would''ve just gotten angry. Then what would we do if Shanks wasn''t around and he came back? You and I can''t fight an entire group of bandits, even if you are made of rubber." "What makes you think he''ll come back?" questioned Luffy. KREK! Ricky was saved from answered when the door opened, a familiar voice called out, "Make way for the terror of the highlands!" Makino, Luffy, and Ricky turned to see Higuma and his gang of mountain bandits walk into the tavern. "No pirates today, huh? Smells better¡­" Higuma remarked, "We''re back again!" "What are you waiting for?" Higuma demanded as he and his bandits sat at the tables. "We''re customers, bring us drinks!" Ricky shook his head then grabbed a barrel of grog and headed over to the bandits. "You do plan on paying, right?" Ricky asked as he cautiously approached the large group of bandits. "The pirates always paid fifteen thousand berries for every barrel of grog and they always did it upfront. Usually they''d just pay three hundred thousand berries since they drink almost everything we have." "What''s you''re point, brat?" Higuma growled. "Well, pirates are considered to be the low-lives of the sea," Ricky pointed out. "But they always paid and they did it up front. You mountain bandits aren''t worse than pirates are you?" "I''M BETTER THAN ANY PIRATE!" Higuma yelled, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. "Here''s five hundred thousand berries¡­ up front. That''ll teach you boys the difference between sea pirates and mountain bandits." "Well I certainly learned something," Ricky thought to himself as he took the money and went to get another barrel, there was a sly grin on his face as he counted the money. "Ricky¡­" Makino scolded quietly, "You know I only charge the pirates five thousand berries a barrel." "I know that," Ricky agreed, "But he doesn''t." -x- A little while later, Makino came rushing into the Mayor''s house, "Mayor, hurry! Something bad has happened!" "What''s wrong Makino?" asked the Mayor. "Luffy was kidnapped by mountain bandits!" Makino exclaimed. -x- In the middle of town Higuma was hitting and beating up Luffy. "What an interesting body," Higuma commented, "it seems like kicking and punching won''t do it any harm." "Hey we gotta go help Luffy!" one villager shouted to another. "But they''re bandits we could get killed!" the other villager protested, "besides, Luffy''s the one who started the fight." "DAMN IT! YOU''D BETTER APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW, YOU BASTARD!" Luffy shouted as he swung at Higuma, who was casually holding Luffy''s rubber cheek. "He''s a rubber man," Higuma observed as he stretched Luffy''s rubber face. "Who would''ve thought such a thing existed in this world?" Higuma suddenly threw Luffy, causing him to bounce away like a rubber ball. "DAMN IT!" Luffy cursed, "YOU''LL BE SORRY FOR THIS!" ''"Hahaha! I''ve discovered a new form of life," Higuma laughed ignoring Luffy''s threats, "if I sell him to a circus, I can sure get a lot of money." Luffy got back up and charged at Higuma with a stick, "What a stubborn little brat," Higuma muttered as he took his foot and drove it down onto Luffy''s head, pinning the rubber boy to the ground, SQUISH! "We were just having a good time drinking and talking," Higuma told him. "Did we say something to offend you?" "YES YOU DID!" Luffy shouted from under the bandit''s foot, "APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW! MOVE YOUR FOOT YOU STINKING MOUNTAIN APE!" "Let the boy go!" the Mayor yelled as he ran up with Makino, but then noticed how many bandits there were and added, "Please?" The Mayor paused then continued, "I don''t know what Luffy did, and I don''t want to fight you, but I''m willing to pay," Woop Slap dropped to the ground and bowed to the bandit, "So please, let the boy go." "Mayor!" Luffy called out from under the bandit''s foot. "As one would expect, it''s the elders that know how to deal with a situation," Higuma commented. "But it''s too late, no one can save this brat now! He''s done the unpardonable¡­ he attacked me¡­ and he called me names. I can''t take that from this little rubber-spined freak!" "You started this, you bastard!" Luffy insisted, "You big smelly ape!" "That does it!" Higuma snarled, "I''m not gonna sell you! I''m gonna kill you!" "Luffy!" the Mayor cried out. "Please, let him go! "I was wondering what had Ricky so worried," came the voice of Shanks as he appeared with Ricky at his side, "And this is why¡­ hey you guys are the bandits from the other day!" While Makino had run to get the Mayor, Ricky had run to the other end of the port somehow he just knew Shanks was coming back, it was as if he could feel it. "Captain," said Makino, who was noticeably relieved. "Luffy what''s wrong?" Shanks teased the boy. "Isn''t your punch as powerful as a pistol?" "Shut up!" Luffy snapped. "Pirate?" questioned Higuma, "Taking a break from your cleaning duties are you? I suggest you leave right now, if you get any closer, I might have to open fire, you coward." "Didn''t you hear him?" a bandit taunted as he held a pistol to Shanks'' head, "Don''t come any closer¡­ or I''ll blow your head off! Ha ha!" "You putting your life on the line by pointing that gun at me," said Shanks in a calm voice. "Huh? What are you talking about?" questioned the bandit. "I''m saying it''s not safe to point guns," said Shanks in the same calm voice, KA-BOOM! Lucky Roux, who was once again eating a big slab of meat, suddenly came from behind and shot the bandit in the head. "Now you''ve done it bastard!" one of the bandits complained as the one who had been aiming the pistol at Shanks fell to the ground dead. "That was dirty!" "Dirty?" came the voice of Benn Beckman as he and the rest of the red haired pirates walked up behind their Captain. "Don''t make us laugh. You''re not dealing with Saints here." "We''re pirates," Shanks pointed out, "and we don''t play by the rules!" "Shut up! This is none of your business!" a bandit yelled. "Listen well bandits," Shanks instructed. "You can throw food at me or dump drinks on me, you can even spit on me. I''ll just laugh that stuff off, but¡­ GOOD REASON OR NOT¡­ NO ONE HURTS A FRIEND OF MINE!" "Haha, nice speech," Higuma chuckled, he wasn''t intimidated, "You pirates spend your time floating around in your little ships, and you think you can stand up to us? KILL THEM!" "DIE!" a swarm of bandits shouted as they charged at Shanks. "Captain, I''ll take care of this," Benn Beckman volunteered as he walked passed Shanks, holding his rifle with him. Benn took his cigarette out of his mouth, then pressed it into the forehead of one of the bandits. Benn was only using one arm but was still holding back the bandit, who had only managed to put out Benn''s cigarette with his struggles. Benn suddenly pushed the bandit backwards and knocked him down to the ground, while tossing his extinguished cigarette to the side. The rest of the bandits charge forward at Beckman but suddenly Ricky climbed up onto the First Mate''s shoulders and jumped off. KRASH! Ricky took two bandits by surprise and knocked them down to the ground. Beckman smiled for a second, while the bandits paused and were surprised that a nine year old boy had taken out two of them. WHAM! Beckman swung his rifle like a club and knocked down all of the other bandits with one swing. "You were saying something about mountain bandits and pirates?" questioned Benn as he lit up another cigarette and stared down at the fallen bandits. "If you want to fight us, you''d better bring a warship!" "Wow, that was cool" Luffy exclaimed, he was still pinned under Higuma''s foot. "Ricky!" Makino scolded, "You''re going to be in a lot of trouble when this is over!" "It was worth it," Ricky replied. His brother was in danger, he didn''t care if he got in trouble for defending him. It wouldn''t be first time. "But, wait a minute¡­" Higuma protested, NOW he was in intimidated. One man and some kid had just taken out his entire gang of bandits. "¡­the brat started it." "It doesn''t matter," Shanks stated, his voice became casual again, "there''s a reward on your head isn''t there?" FWOOOSH! Higuma was really scared and thought quickly then smashed a smoke bomb down to the ground, "IT''S A SMOKE BOMB!" Shanks shouted as the smoke hid Higuma and Luffy from view. But didn''t hide their voices¡­ "C''mere kid!" "HEY! LET GO!" When the smoke cleared, both Higuma and Luffy were gone. "LUFFY!" Shanks and Ricky shouted at the same time. "Oh crap!" Shanks cursed, "We got careless, he took Luffy! What should we do?" "Captain, don''t panic!" Lucky Roux tried to consol him, "Let''s split up and find them!" Benn simple shook his head and smiled, "That Captain¡­" "Um¡­ Shanks ¡­" Ricky chimed in. "He''s a Mountain Bandit, trying to run away and hide, right?" "Right," Shanks answered, "What''s your point, kid?" "Well, where''s the last place you''d look for a Mountain Bandit?" questioned Ricky. Shanks stared at him, then smiled when he caught on. -x- "Hahaha! What a brilliant escape," Higuma laughed as he and Luffy floated in a little boat out in the harbor. "No one would''ve expected a Mountain Bandit to escape by sea." "Well I only used you as a hostage," said Higuma as he turned to Luffy. "But you''re useless now! I''ve killed fifty-six people who were foolish enough to make me mad. What''s one more?" "GO TO HELL!" Luffy shouted as he went to punch the bandit, but was merely kicked out of the boat and into the water. "Ha, good riddance," Higuma chuckled. "Damn it!" Luffy complained as he desperately tried to stay above the water. "YOU BASTARD! You said they were cowards! But you didn''t even have the guts to fight them!" Higuma stood in the boat and laughed at the events that had happened earlier that day¡­ -My very first flashback- "Remember the expression on those pirates'' faces the other day?" Higuma asked his bandit buddies as they sat around a bunch of tables in the tavern, "he didn''t even say anything after getting hit by a bottle. What a gutless pansy! Cowards like that make me sick. I wanted to kill him! Pirates are all talk!" "Boy! More grog!" a pair of nameless bandits called out to Ricky. He was about to comply, but then he noticed the expression on Luffy''s face and quickly grabbed onto the back of his shirt to keep him from doing anything hasty. "TAKE THAT BACK!" Luffy yelled as he rushed at Higuma, dragging Ricky along behind him despite the other boy''s attempts to hold him back, "DON''T UNDERESTIMATE SHANKS! HE''S NOT A COWARD! STOP TALKING BAD ABOUT HIM!" -End of my very first flashback- Luffy continued to struggle to stay a float, but was sinking fast. The Gum Gum Fruit had cursed him so he''d never be able to swim. But suddenly, something started rising out of the water. Higuma turned in shock as he came face to fa¡ªuh¡­ teeth with the Sea Monster that lived in the harbor. "Wh-where did it come from?" But that was Higuma''s last thought, CHOMP! The giant sea monster lunged forward and swallowed the entire boat, the mountain bandit with it. But the eel-like monster wasn''t full yet and set its sights on Luffy. "S-SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Luffy screamed. The Neptunian lunged forward looking to eat Luffy, CHOMP! But before the sea monster could eat him, Luffy was yanked out of the way. Luffy turned to look at his savior and suddenly exclaimed, "SHANKS!" "Get lost!" said Shanks, his straw hat was nowhere in sight and he looked like someone you didn''t want to cross. The gigantic eel that was over fifty-times Shanks'' size paused and stared into the pirate''s eyes. Then to Luffy''s astonishment, it dove into the water and swam away. "Wow," came the equally astonished voice of Ricky, who was bobbing in the water and had come out to help Luffy, despite the fact that he was being held captive by a bandit, and that it was a known fact that a monster lived in the harbor. This was why most of the villagers weren''t too eager to learn how to swim. Ricky had learned in a small pond he and Luffy had found a bit away from the village. "Thanks Luffy," said Shanks, "Makino and Ricky told me everything. You stood up for me." But while he was talking Luffy started sniffing and sobbed. "Holy crap!" Ricky gasped as he saw what Luffy was crying about. "Hey stop crying," Shanks reassured Luffy. "You''re a tough guy remember?" "But¡­ Shanks¡­" Luffy cried, "YOUR ARM! YOUR AAAARRRRMMMM!" It was true, in his haste to save Luffy, Shanks'' arm had been bitten off and was reduced to a small stub and was still bleeding a quite a bit. "It''s a small price to pay," Shanks ?ssured him. "It''s just an arm, I''m just glad you''re okay." Rain started falling as Luffy continued crying. Ricky bobbed in the water nearby amazed at what he had just seen. Shanks had sacrificed his arm to save Luffy and had scared off the monster with just a look. Luffy now understood why Shanks couldn''t take him with him. The dangers of the sea were too great, and both he and Ricky were not yet strong enough. But most of all Luffy realized what a great man Shanks was, and vowed to be just like him in the future. -x- "So you''re really leaving this time?" asked Luffy. It was a few days later and Shanks and his pirate crew were setting off, but this time they weren''t coming back. "Yeah," Shanks answereed, "we''ve stayed here long enough, it''s about time we move on. Are you upset?" "Yes," Ricky admitted, who was as usually at Luffy''s side. "But, we wont force you to take us along anymore," said Luffy, "We''re gonna become pirates too!" "Heh, I wouldn''t take you even if you begged me," Shanks teased the boys, "You two don''t have what it takes to become a pirate!" "That''s what you think!" Ricky challenged. "But we''ll show you! We''re gonna lead the way for the next generation of pirates! Just wait, old man!" "Oi! I''m not old, you brat!" Shanks complained. "Well one day, I''ll find myself a crew that is as strong as yours!" Luffy snapped, "And then I''ll find the biggest hoard of treasure in the world¡­" "And not just any treasure!" Ricky added, "WE''RE GONNA FIND ONE PIECE!" "I''LL BECOME KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy announced. The Rubber Boy''s loud claim caused all of the pirates to turn and smile. "Oh?" questioned Shanks, "You''re gonna be better than us, huh? Well then, do me a favor¡­" Shanks took off his hat and put it on Luffy''s head. "Keep this hat safe for me. This hat means a lot to me. Promise you''ll give it back to me someday¡­ when you''ve become a great pirate." "I have something as well," said Benn Beckman, carrying a box with him. He walked over to Ricky and knelt down front of him. "You fought bravely, and I wanted you to have this." Beckman opened the box to reveal an unusual sword in a red and black sheath. The blade was that of a thick, curved cutlass, (A/N: A traditional pirate sword) but the handle didn''t have the hand guard of a typical cutlass, it had a round guard and was black, it was eight inches long and wrapped in red cloth. From the ruby embedded in the handle to the tip of the curved blade the sword was two feet eight inches, more than half the size of Ricky. But when Beckman pulled it halfway out of the sheath Ricky saw what was really special about the unique looking sword, the curved blade was blood red. "I believe it''s called Akaikyuuketsuki (Red Vampire). It''s a unique blade that I confiscated from a shameful swordsman on one of our more recent adventures. You told me that you were saving up for a sword, so I thought you''d like to have this one." "Really?" asked Ricky in disbelief. "The swordsman that wielded this sword was a coward and a cheat," said Beckman. "After seeing you fight those bandits I know that you''re at least not one of those. I hope you''ll be able to put this sword to better use than he did. If nothing else, you can use it until you have enough money for another sword." "Wow," Ricky gasped in amazement. "Thanks, old man, I''ll make you proud." "Good," Beckman replied as he handed the box to Ricky. "One day I want to hear stories about a crafty pirate wielding a red sword. Just don''t let your Aunt find it, and promise me you won''t start using it until you''ve learned how." Ricky nodded, "It''s a promise." The Captain and the First Mate smiled at the two boys, then turned and walked towards the ship. Benn whispered quietly to Shanks, "Those kids are going to make something of themselves." "Yeah," Shanks agreed, "I have no doubt about it. Luffy reminds me of myself when I was a kid." "PULL UP THE ANCHOR! SET SAIL!" With that, Shanks and his pirate crew were gone, but would never be forgotten. Luffy''s journey begins from that exact spot ten years later. -x- Ten years later at age 17, Luffy set sail on board a small boat. He was wearing a red vest, a pair of blue shorts and sandals, and on his head was Shanks'' straw hat. The legend of Straw Hat Luffy was about to begin. Ricky had already left on his own journey and Luffy was looking forward to meeting up with him again. "He''s finally setting out," said Makino as she, the Mayor, and some of the other villagers watched Luffy sail off. "I''m going to miss that rascal." "He''ll ruin this town''s reputation!" the Mayor complained, "I never thought he''d really do it." Out in a small boat in the middle of the harbor a seventeen year old Luffy was happier than ever. "Wow, the weather sure is nice today!" Luffy observed as he stared up at the clear skies. But as he continued sailing something rose from the water. It was the sea monster that Luffy had had his run in with ten years ago. The only difference was a scar the monster had on the side of its face, probably Ricky''s handiwork. "I''ve been waiting for you sea monster!" Luffy called to it, with a surprising smile, "This is you''re unlucky day. I''ll show you what I''ve learned in the passed ten years!" The Eel-like creature opened his mouth ready to eat Luffy and his boat. But Luffy wasn''t afraid he had grown up a lot in these passed ten years and had practiced fighting a lot, so instead of being afraid, Luffy brought back his arm, "GUM¡­ GUM¡­ PISTOL!" Luffy shouted, POW! Luffy''s rubber arm shot out as fast as a pistol and punched the monster in the side of the face, knocking it out cold. SPLASH! The big eel flailed around, then fell back into the water. "How''d that taste? Stupid fish!" "Hmm, first things first, I''ll have to find a crew," Luffy decided, :I think about ten men should do. And I''ll need a pirate flag. LOOK OUT WORLD, HERE I COME! I''M GONNA BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy''s tiny boat floats on, his crew yet to be found. Luffy''s great voyage of destiny has begun! Chapter End Book 2: fanfiction.net/s/6343862/1/Another-Nakama-II Book 3:fanfiction.net/s/7800311/1/Another-Nakama-III Book 4: fanfiction.net/s/11019081/1/Another-Nakama-IV Total Words: 1334686 (all four books) Chapter 28 - One Piece Fan-fiction 2 - The Tale of an OP Delinquent Plot: Meet Screaver Bartel, an average delinquent who just so happens to have a thing for anime. And wouldn''t you know it, he gets su?k?d into the world of his favorite anime One Piece! Join Screaver on this journey of violence, friendship, love, and stupidity. Pairing: OCxNami A "Normal" Life The Story of a Average Delinquent "SCREAVER, GET YOUR ASS UP! I AIN"T WAKIN YOU UP EVERY FREAKIN MORNIN ANYMORE!" "THEN DON"T WAKE ME UP GOD DAMN IT!" This is what I like to call my wondrous morning ritual that I share with my father every time I forget to set my alarm (which isn''t occasionally). Usually I remember to set my phone, but I was up till 12:00 reading this really cool manga, so I didn''t get a good night''s sleep. After getting dressed into my jeans & one of my five shirts for the week, I inhaled several pieces of bu??ered toast, picked up my ''untouched'' backpack since Friday, got into a ten second argument with my old fart of a father about values and blah blah blah, and ran for the bus. Caught it in the nick of time too. I sat down next to my best friend Kody. He was one of my only white friends and one of the only people who knew about my otakuness. I told him about it a while back and he''s been pretty cool about it, but that''s probably because he is, in fact, a stoner. He swears that he quit, but he''s still pretty mellow. "Sup man¡­" he said in his slow way. "Nothin much, got into a fight with my dad this morning, again." I said. "Ah that''s dads man. I didn''t even know my dad after he tried to choke me when I was 6 months old." Oh Kody; always trying to one up me in shock value. "DUDE! I DON''T WANT TO KNOW THAT!" I yelled, and punched him in the arm. My name is Screaver Damien Bartel, born and raised in the good ol'' state of Texas. Most people don''t know my middle name, because I never tell anyone. Just call me Screaver Bartel for now. And don''t ask me where my parents got the name Screaver¡­I don''t have a clue. We finally made it to, what I like to call, the absolute worst school in the county, Jillian High School. School those days just seemed to blur by. I didn''t really talk to many people; mostly people seemed to avoid me. Didn''t care much, I wouldn''t ask. I guess it''s because people see me in and out of the I.S.S. program (In School Suspension for all y''all who don''t understand.) So after another day of being in Jillian High, I returned to my bedroom and spent several hours watching, what else, anime. I rewatched some of the earlier episodes of One Piece and tried to remember when I first saw it. I was introduced to the 4kids version first unfortunately, but from what they seemed to ruined with bad voice acting and extreme editing still seemed interesting. So I found all the subbed episodes and got absorbed into the world of the otaku. Desert Punk, Gurren Lagan, mostly shonen stuff of that variety. I''m a big Soul Eater fan, and even went as far as creating my own kind of Demon Weapon. It''s a weapon that can turn into a bazooka! I have the size and color, and all the abilities all thought out. Hell I even tried to draw it! But I''m not that great of an artist. Sorry, getting off topic. "Screaver, we need to talk." I could tell by the tone in his voice, I was gonna get a talking-down to. "What is it dad?" "Son¡­this is getting ridiculous. You need to get off that computer." "Yeah yeah," I said casually, "Whatever you say." -CLICK- The screen went black. "Hey!" My dad had forcefully shut the computer off. "Screaver, I''m done!" My dad shouted, looking me dead in the eye. "Your grades are shit son, and you won''t stop fighting at school. This shit is all you ever do when you get home." I looked away from him, a common tactic of the child being scolded. "LOOK AT ME." He said forcefully. I begrudgingly looked up at him. "I''m not going to let you end up like some low life bum on the side of the street. I''m taking that computer away until you learn to get your act together!" "Stop! Dad, Jillian High is a shit school, the other kids start it first, and after spending all my time in school this is the best way of relieving my stress! And I''m not going to end up like some damn hobo!" "Well you''re on your way! I''m taking that computer!" "You can''t do that!" I detested. "The HELL I cant!" He shouted back, bending over to pick up the dusty computer. "You may get this thing back when you start to show some FUCKING responsibility!" I struggled with him for a bit, but my dad was waaaay stronger than me. He pushed me aside, ripped the computer out of the wall, and left me with his final words, "this is for your own good!" I sat in my room for an hour trying to grasp what just happened. My conscious was trying to speak to me as it normally does when I don''t want it to. It had a nasty habit of doing that, almost as if it was a nagging school-room bitch-teacher who didn''t know when to stick her nose out of my business. Well, what now Screaver? Your dad has taken away your computer. They won''t allow you to get on the internet at school, and Kody doesn''t have a computer. Shut up. I told it. But I had to admit, my conscious was making some sense. Maybe anime was taking too much of my time. I had other obligations at school & at work. I blew what few friends I had off so I could just zone out and play on the computer. Whenever I wasn''t at school, at work, or fighting some stupid guy because I accidentally looked at him wrong, I was watching goofing around and watching anime. I use to practice boxing outside of school; it was a good way for me to let off steam when I was all "I''m mad at the world right now" (though the place I use to go to closed down a few years ago...) But maybe a break from this whole weeabo-closet-otaku-lifestyle would be good for me¡­ I stood up and nodded. And at that moment, standing alone in my room, I declared to myself, "From now on, I''m going to cut anime from my life!" -WHOOSH- And suddenly, I wasn''t in my room anymore. In fact, I didn''t know where the hell I was. I knew that I was floating somewhere since my feet weren''t touching the ground. All I could see was neon blue lights surrounding me. I herd an echoing voice inside of my head repeating some strange language over and over again. It sounded like a guy. Is quisnam does non puto does non ago. It wasn''t Spanish I could tell, nor was it Japanese. Latin maybe? A friend of mine was learning Latin and sometimes told me some phrases in Latin before, it was roughly similar. For 10 or so minutes it repeated that line, and I finally got fed up. "HEY! IF THIS IS A KIDNAPPING, I''M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS YA PUNK ASS..." Ego vadum tribuo vos unus res vestri pectus pectoris verum votum. "Speak English dammit!" As you can probably tell from how my day had been going, I wasn''t a happy-fucking camper. And, once again, I wasn''t in that blue room anymore. I was falling out of the sky, over a blue ocean, with no feeling but the sting of the air. Now I know you all think I wasn''t scared in the least right? I''m Screaver Bartel, the biggest badass anyone has ever seen right? Well, the only thing I was thinking was AAAAAAAAAAAH! So where was I? Oh yeah. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! WHAT THE FUUUUUUCK?" Did I get pushed out of a plane? Was this some overblown revenge plan from one of my many enemies from school? Was I dreaming? Nope. I didn''t know it at that moment, but it wasn''t any of those things. And I didn''t have time to think of what the flying fu?k was happening! I finally crashed into the water below with a painful... -SPLASH- I don''t know how I could have been still alive after hitting the water from that high, but I slipped into unconsciousness as I began to sink further down into the salty depths below. Chapter End Chapter 29 - Halo Fan-fiction 1 - Kyle 091 Plot: Kyle Stevens, just your average 17 year old kid living the average life of any Halo fan. Well what happens when he somehow ends up in the halo universe? How will he react in a world where the game is real? How will he survive the massive Human-Covenant war? And can he change the course of Halo history for the better with the stuff he knows, or will his intervention wreak havok? Pairing: KellyxOC NOTE: Be sure to check out the other Halo stories on the author''s page. Has some short stories and some one shots. A kinda Self-Insert into Halo universe Chapter 1: Kyle Stevens August 27, 2008 Location: earth- united states: Alexandria, VA "Ok, get ready" said 17 year old Kyle Stevens into his radio. He got a couple of call bu??on clicks back, which indicated his teammates had gotten his message and were waiting. Suddenly, he noticed movement through the brush and was able to make out a person; he was armed with a shotgun. Kyle gripped his MP5 tighter and prepared to lift the weapon up, but suddenly he realized that firing his machine gun would give away his position. He swung the MP5 behind his back and drew his sidearm which was much quieter. Kyle took aim and when he had a clear shot he pulled back on the trigger. "Fuck!" Said his target as the small plastic BB slammed into the skin on his arm, at 260 fps. There was a good sized welt on his arm from the impact. "Not fair, Kyle" he whispered as he removed a red bandanna from his pocket and tied it around his head, this let all the other players know he''d been killed. "That''s the name of the game" Kyle retorted as he went past him, the only reason he hadn''t been seen was the camo jacket and pants he wore. It was the new digital style that the armed forces were using now. He also wore a tactical vest loaded with goodies he''d found online, from tripwire to a BB claymore. "Kyle, we''re in position" said his teammate Daniel over the radio. "Ok, stand by, I''m almost there" he replied into his headset. Kyle moved through the dense shrubbery of the forest behind his backyard until he came to a clearing. In the middle of the backyard was their main goal, the enemy flag. Unfortunately, five people stood guard with high powered gas guns. Kyle looked over the situation and decided that their current plan would be sufficient. "Ok... go" said Kyle as he began to open fire on them, his teammates came out and began a charge hosing the enemy with fire. Unfortunately, they saw them coming and were able to cut them down before they got close. Suddenly, they all felt a sharp pain as they all got hit by BBs. Kyle came in from behind and grabbed the flag. "Man, how''d you do that, we never saw you coming?" one of them asked. "It wasn''t me" said Kyle as he pointed to a person coming out of a tree wearing a sniper suit. Joe, Kyle''s longtime friend was their best sniper. "Damn, man, you always win" "Don''t I know it" Kyle replied. "I''ll see you all later" Kyle said as his friends left for their bikes. Kyle climbed up the back deck of his home and went in through the screen door. He was immediately greeted by his family''s black lab, king. "Hey, boy" Kyle said as he gave him a pat on the head. "Kyle, you''re back" said his little brother Joshua. "Where''s mom?" Kyle asked "Just out to wall mart" josh replied. "I''ll be in my room" Kyle said as he walked down the hall and up the stairs. He passed the various photos of his family. His father was a captain in the Marine Corps and had taught him how to handle himself in a fight. His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps just like his older brother who was currently a corporal, both were deployed overseas. Kyle entered his bedroom and stripped of his vest and camo coat and put it along with his airsoft guns in his closet. He took off his sweaty white t-shirt he was wearing underneath and swapped it for a black shirt with the words frack me on the front; it was a curse word from his favorite show Battlestar Galactica. Kyle went over to his TV and turned on the Xbox 360 sitting on top and he inserted Halo 3, grabbed his controller and plopped back on his bed. Just as he reached for his headset, his cell phone began to ring. "Yo, man, you got to get down here" said his best friend Mike when he answered "Where is ''here''?" Kyle asked "I''m at Jesse''s, man, its one wild party", Kyle could hear some loud music in the background. "I don''t really feel like it, I just got back from an airsoft match". "Oh come on, everyone''s here¡­ including Caitlin". "We broke up two months ago, Mike". "But you can try and patch things up; you take responsibility for ending it, that''ll get her back". "We ended it mutually, Mike. Remember?". "Ok, man, she has her cousin with her and she is HOT, you got to get down here and put in a good word for me". "You''re hopeless" "Damn straight¡­ so will you come or not?". Kyle thought it over for a few minutes before he said "ok fine but I''m not helping you pick up a girl". "That''s ok, man; I''ll see you in a few" "Alright, later" said Kyle as he closed the lid and slid the phone into his pants pocket; He also grabbed his ipod, wallet, sunglasses and house keys. Kyle went back downstairs, said bye to his brother and went out the back door. He waked through the woods for about 10 minutes until he came upon a 10 foot tall fence, which he scaled with out any difficulty. Kyle ended up in an alleyway a few streets over from Jesse''s place; this was a shortcut he favored. Kyle walked down the alley and passed four men standing outside a yard drinking beer. He walked past them and gave them a nod, a tall man in a white tee wearing glasses simply responded. "Yep" Kyle continued on his way but he suddenly he herd a thud from behind the dumpster up ahead. "Who''s there?" he called out, thinking it might be Mike and Jesse playing a prank. It all happened in a flash. Suddenly, a figure jumped out from behind the dumpster holding something glowing in his hand. Kyle didn''t get a good look at him because he raised his arm and a beam shot out from whatever he was caring, and it encompassed Kyle in a pink light. -- "Son of a bitch!" Kyle swore as he regained consciousness and found himself face down on a metal floor. He got up and looked around at his surroundings; he was in a corridor of some kind, but it looked a lot like a navy destroyer like the ones his father and brother used to serve on. He walked down until he came to a corner, but when he rounded it he saw a guard making rounds. Kyle quickly ducked back, hoping he didn''t see him. But he herd the sound of foot steps heading for him. Kyle quickly formulated a plan and waited for him to round the corner before he dropped to his knees, and whacked him in the stomach. The guard got the wind knocked out of him and Kyle used his disorientation to kick his legs out from under him. The guard fell to the deck and banged his head on the floor, knocking him out. Kyle rummaged through his pockets and found a card with a metallic strip; he also noticed the bu?? of a pistol sticking out from a holster on his leg so he undid the strap and removed the weapon. "What the hell?!" he said as he held the weapon in his hands, it was an M6D, just like the ones from Halo! Kyle was about to ask the guard when he remembered he was unconscious, and it probably wasn''t a good idea to try and wake him. Kyle removed the guard''s holster, attached it to his own leg then slid the M6D into it. He then stood up and walked down the hall where the guard came from, trying to find a way out of wherever he was. Chapter End Chapter 30 - Halo Fan-fiction 2 - Into the Fire Plot: Jack is a normal Halo fan, until he''s su?k?d into the Halo universe. He can''t go back-he doesn''t know how he got there. He''s forced to become a Spartan; although, to be honest, he doesn''t resist much. He thinks he''s living the dream-for about two seconds. Pairing: OCxSheila NOTE: I found the beginning to be a very good read, however later onwards the story kinda drags out a bit and loses some of the oomph that the story had in the beginning stages. Other than that a relatively satisfying read, "Three more ??ps, kid," George Newton grunted for some reason. H always needed to declare things-in a minute he''d let his nephew know that there were two more ??ps. Jack didn''t care. He was used to it. Since his parents randomly left, when he was about four, Jack had been raised by his uncle. He was used to his little eccentricities. Like the running, sit-ups, push-ups, and other five AM pre-breakfast things. George Newton was a combat veteran-six years in the Navy Seals had given him a lot of things to forget. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was a weird thing, but he''d been considered sane enough to raise a four year old kid. The running was normal. As were a lot of other things that might be considered non-normal, like a homemade rifle range, martial arts dojo, and obstacle course. In the great state of Montana, however, not only was weirdness accepted, it was expected. Jack and his uncle lived about ten miles from a little backwater town where Jack went to school. And got the groceries, and other worldly things that George really didn''t like doing. "Two more ??ps, kid," The middle-aged vet grunted. Jack didn''t like being called a kid-he was fourteen, for god''s sake. But one thing he''d learned out there was that George was not a guy to change his ways. It was easier to adapt, and Jack was fairly comfortable, if bored. Thanks to satellite high-speed internet, Jack had gotten acquainted with an Xbox and Halo 3. What was initially a here''s-this-don''t-bug-me-anymore present turned into a hobby that put Jack completely in the gamer clique at school. His room was packed with Halo memorabilia-all the games, books, and posters. Jack wanted to get some Matchmaking in before the school bus arrived, but George wouldn''t allow it. Sometimes Jack felt like his life was a stretched-out boot camp. "Last ??p, kid," George said. After this would be another two hours of exercise before a five minute breakfast, a five minute shower, and then the school bus. Pre-Calculus. It was tough, but George didn''t accept low grades, and the freakin'' school forced Jack into progressively harder math each year. It su?k?d, but Jack''s Xbox privileges and truck privileges depended on As and Bs. Jack tried to do a mental juggling act-paying attention to the content so he wouldn''t fail the test, while at the same time picturing the number of ways he could kick his smarmy, pompous teacher''s ?ss. He didn''t get much math in that period. Second period was much better for two reasons: first, the slightly-too-nice art teacher let them get away with pretty much anything, and second, because Jack''s best friend Carter was in it. It was a fairly lethal combination. Jack finished up a watercolor of the Master Chief kicking an Elite in the nuts. It was a creative ?ssignment, and Jack was feeling pretty impressed with himself until Carter, the skinny nerd who got straight As in every class, pulled out a water color of himself with bulging muscles in a dramatic pose. Jack busted out laughing. "I give it a nine for quality, but a negative two for realism," Jack said. Carter leaned in close to whisper maniacally. "At least I didn''t draw myself makin'' out with Katie," Jack punched him in the throat-not enough to hurt him, but enough to shut him up. "Dude, never mention that again," Jack whispered furiously. Carter coughed, but still managed to laugh. The period went by far too quickly, considering what happened later that day. Third period. Shop class. Jack liked it, and would''ve loved it had it not been for his fear of slicing off a finger in one of the shop''s three power saws. Unrational fear notwithstanding, he still managed to make a kickass birdhouse. The bell rang, and kids poured out of every class to get to lunch. Jack grabbed a sandwich and sat at the gamer table, occupied by the nerds and nerdettes who proudly worked out their thumbs every day. Jack was the leanest and fittest of them all. "Dude, you get Reach yet?" Jack asked an awkwardly tall kid, who shook his head. "Man, you have to. It''s the best one," Jack enthused. Fourth period wasn''t anything special, for the most part. Health class. It was a strange mix of PE, CPR, anatomy, and chemistry. It was taught by a four hundred pound, fifty-something old gal-something that Jack thought was friggin hilarious. Health''s one redeeming feature was Katie. Soft brown hair, expressive blue eyes¡­ and ill-covered c-cup. Ok, Jack wished it was a little deeper than that. He''d seen how nice she was-always helping people out, always smiling. But Jack couldn''t work up the nerve to talk to her, let alone ask her out. He usually spent most of fifth period wondering if she liked him. But she wasn''t in class today, so his primary mode of killing time was gone. "Mrs. Shutz, can I use the bathroom?" He asked. "Of course, Jack," He got up and left, but he walked past the bathroom. He walked to his locker. He looked through the mess at the bottom for about ten minutes before he found Halo: the Fall of Reach. He''d read it about five times, but it would kill enough time for fifth to end. He slipped it in one of the big th??h pockets in his pants. He was walking by the bathroom on the way back when he heard a high-pitched scream from from the classroom opposite. He looked in the small window in the door¡­ And saw three things. In the corner of the room, a patch of the wall was gone. It was replaced by white light. A body lay in a pool of blood near the door. Three feet away, holding a teacher by the throat with one hand, energy sword in the other, was a massive crimson-armored Covenant Elite. Jack gasped as the sword stuck in Mr. Sander''s gut. The Elite''s snakelike head snapped around and growled at Jack. Then it snapped something, and Jack saw a blue Elite that he hadn''t seen head towards the door with a plasma rifle. Jack didn''t have time to process anything. He couldn''t think about the fact that there was a very real eight-foot tall alien heading for him. But he remembered what the books and games taught him. The Elite was a fast and agile runner. He couldn''t get away. The Elite was protected by an energy shield-he would have to break through that to kill it. And that Elites usually carried a backup plasma pistol. Jack juked left, ducked low, and scrambled as quietly as he could back right. The Elite saw him go left-and the position of the door''s small window meant that the alien hadn''t seen Jack go back right. The doors of the school opened out-and to the right. It would give him a little cover. The door opened and the massive Elite walked out, facing the left, with his back to Jack. Jack saw the plasma pistol on his left hip-and even better, a tiny metal bar that produced an energy knife on the right hip. Jack knew what this was¡­ when an Elite ?ssassinated a Spartan on Halo: Reach, it used a small knife like that. In two long strides, Jack gathered every scrap of momentum he could. With all the mass of a two hundred-ten pound athlete, he slammed his shoulder into the small of the Elite''s back, using his hands to grab the pistol and knife. He set his full hands on the Elite''s shoulders and kept pushing, working his legs. The Elite was massive, incredibly strong, but Jack had put it in an awkward position. It had already been leaning forward and moving when Jack had tipped it over-it was all it could do to not fall over. In the three staggering steps of the Elite''s hooves, Jack had activated the knife and charged the pistol. He jabbed the pistol into the Elite''s kidney and discharged it. Green plasma instantly evaporated the stunned Elite''s shielding¡­ with a quick, hard jab of the knife in the neck, it was over. The body fell over with a loud thump. Jack froze for a split second. The red Elite in the classroom must have heard that, even if it hadn''t seen Jack rush the blue Elite. That meant it was coming. With an energy sword. Jack jumped away from the corpse and charged up the pistol. Instead of using the knife again, he snatched up the dead alien''s plasma rifle. He backpedaled-the more distance he got from that sword, the more likely it was that he could survive- The red Elite left the room, entered the hallway. It snarled when it saw the body of it''s subordinate, and the human standing over it. It raised its sword- Then a green burst of superheated plasma hit it in the head, temporarily blinding it-burning it''s skin and mandibles. It roared in pain, before Jack pumped plasma at it in a continual stream. The Elite was tough-it took three furious, slow steps through the fire before collapsing. Jack didn''t move any closer. Instead, he took better aim and blew off its head. Then he stepped carefully around it. Into the classroom. "It-it''s ok," Jack said. "I killed them," They didn''t respond. Jack looked to the forward corner of the room-which was replaced by a patch of blinding white light. "Oh, shit!" He felt himself being pulled into it! He resisted, tried to grab a desk-but it was no use. The portal pulled him through. Chapter End Chapter 31 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 1 - The Venator Plot: Arthur is the secretly adopted son of Artemis. He was trained by the Hunters and the Legion to become the best monster hunter ever. He plays a secret role in both wars, even saving the Savior of Olympus a few times. When he is revealed as the son of Artemis, how will everyone react? Also, will a new prophecy end with the final destruction of Olympus? All PJO characters are Rick''s. Pairing: OCxReyna NOTE: The last time this novel has been updated was in Feb 22, so take note that this novel may never have another chapter... Artemis stopped the Hunt suddenly. She heard something crying out in the distance, and was afraid it was a trap for her Hunters. The Hunters crouched down ready to attack whatever it was their leader had sensed. Zoe, Artemis''s lieutenant, crept forward. "What is it my lady?" she asked. Artemis focused her gaze on the direction the crying was coming from, "I''m not sure. I hear some crying in the distance. It could I trap." "Do you want me to scout it my lady?" "No Zoe," Artemis said, "I will take a look. There is no reason to risk the Hunt." Artemis did not want to lose any of her girls. Their numbers had just started to stabilize recently. Only a few of her hunters had been traveling with her for centuries, the rest had joined in the last few years. Artemis hated when any of her Hunters died, so she was doing all she could to train them and protect them. She moved towards the clearing where the noise was coming from. She could see nothing but a small pile of blankets near the far side of the clearing. Artemis quickly ran the perimeter, to check for any signs of monsters. There were some tracks, but they seemed to be old and moving away from the clearing where she was. Artemis crept up to the blankets, but was unprepared for the sight that greeted her. Laying in the blankets was the body of a woman. She was covered in blood and seemed to be protecting something. Artemis moved closer to check the vitals of the woman. She was close to death, and happened to turn her head as Artemis was checking her. "Please," the dying woman gasped, "take care of my child." Artemis noticed the bundle in the woman''s arms was where the crying noise was coming from. she looked down to see a child, no more than one year old, trying to grasp onto its mother. Artemis felt her heart break for the woman. She was out here alone with a child, and the father was nowhere to be seen. That was further proof that males were evil creatures for Artemis. She had witnessed so much cruelty from males over the millennia, and this was no different. "I will do what I can for the child," Artemis told the dying woman. "Thank you, Lady Diana," the woman said. Artemis''s eyebrow arched at hearing this. Was this woman a demigod? Not only that, but she was a Roman demigod. "How do you know that name?" Artemis questioned the woman. She hoped she could get an answer before the woman died. "I''m what you call clear sighted. The child''s father was a Roman demigod, a legacy of Mithras," the woman said. Artemis could not believe what she was hearing. Mithras had faded centuries ago, had she truly sired enough children to carry on a legacy? Artemis looked on the woman with pity. Her last breath was coming, Artemis hoped she would make it to Elysium for her troubles. "I will take care of your child. Go in peace young one," Artemis told the woman. A smile formed on the woman''s face as she closed her eyes and breathed her if in response, the child cried harder as its mother passed on. Artemis reached down and grabbed the bundled child in her arms. The child stopped crying to look at the person lifting it. Artemis locked eyes with the baby and and felt her heart swell with emotion. Being the goddess of childbirth, she knew the joy mothers felt when they held their babies. However, she was a v?r??n goddess and had never held a child of her own. When the little one in her arms locked eyes with her, blue staring at silver, she thought this must be what it feels like. The child was a healthy, one year old boy. Artemis was a little upset by his gender. She had hoped to gain a Hunter she could train from birth. As she pondered what she would do with the child, things took a turn for the worst. Artemis turned when she heard the snort and roar. There across the clearing was none other than the Calydonian Boar. Normally this would be no problem for Artemis to handle, she was goddess of the hunt after all. This time though she had a child to protect, which would make killing the boar that much harder. Artemis whistled to signal the hunt as the boar charged. Artemis''s mind was racing as she hoped the arrival of the Hunt would deter the boar. If not it should make it easier to kill the boar itself. "My Lady!" Zoe yelled as she entered the clearing with the Hunt. The girls took aim at the boar and tried to get it away from Artemis. Their plan worked, only for the boar to turn and charge straight at them. The Hunt was not as quick as Artemis and froze when the boar charged them. Artemis knew she had only one choice and gently lay the child she held on the ground and summoned her bow. As she fired a silver arrow made of pure ener launched at the boar. Artemis hoped she had shot it in time, fearing for her Hunters lives. She heard one of the girls scream before her arrow connected. The next sight she saw was a cloud of gold dust covering her Hunters, and her lieutenant''s mouth hanging open as her scream died out. "Zoe, close your mouth before you inhale anymore monster, or before you show the Hunt how girly you can truly be," Artemis teased. Zoe blushed and started to brush herself off, "My Lady why did you not shoot the beast to begin with. Surely you could have finished it off without the Hunt here." Artemis sighed, "My arms were full at the moment, so I was unable to draw my bow." Zoe nodded, "Did you find the source of the noise?" Artemis''s eyes widened. She forgot she had set the child down in the snow. She rushed over to the bundle of blankets and scooped the child up. It was not making any noise and was starting to turn blue. The child was more mortal than legacy she realized. A demigod or legacy would be able to handle the colder temperatures. What was she going to do, she promised that woman that her child would be safe. "My Lady, why are you holding that child?" Zoe inquired. The rest of the Hunt was moving in closer as well to see what Artemis was doing. "His mother was dying and asked me to save him," Artemis said, "He is dying from the cold though." The girls had panicked looks on their faces. They hated males, but little children were okay in their eyes. None of them wanted to see the child die. "Is there anything we can do," one of the Hunters asked. "Lady Artemis surely you can save him," another called out. Artemis wracked her brain. She was not good at healing, that was her brother''s domain, and she refused to call on him. Something had to be done though. Her mind finally fell on an option that had not been used by any gods for a millennia. "Girls, I can save the child, but you may not like the method," Artemis began to say calmly. "My Lady, what could you have in mind?" Zoe asked. Artemis closed her eyes and drew out one of her hunting knives, "I will make this child my own." "But Lady Artemis..." "He''s a boy..." "...would he be our brother?" The last question was from a much newer Hunter. One who did not hate boys as much as the others. Artemis smiled as she began the ceremony. Chanting in Ancient Greek, she laid the child on her ??p. She placed the edge of her hunting knife against the palm of her hand and applied pressure. The Hunt gasped when they saw the golden ichor flow out of their mistresses palm. Artemis squeezed more ichor out and held her hand over the baby''s mouth, letting her blood drop into it. As the blood entered the child, Artemis began to chant more furiously, causing the ichor to mix in with the child''s blood. "She''s fusing her blood with the child''s to adopt him," Zoe said breathlessly. The other girls stared in disbelief as the mistress, who taught them to hate men, saved one from dying. A silver glow surrounded them as Artemis finished her incantation. When the glow faded, the Hunt saw the child had a better complexion and was breathing again. The child reached its arms out for Artemis to pull it closer. As she did, the child opened his eyes, and Artemis grinned. In his blue eyes, were now bright flecks of silver. "My Lady, the other gods will be furious to hear about this. You now have a child! They will think you broke your oath," exclaimed Zoe. "That is why for now, he will be the Hunt''s secret, right girls?" The Hunt nodded in agreement as they moved closer to get a good look at their new brother. They all agreed that he was cute for a baby male. They cooed and made faces at the baby as he woke up a little more. He seemed to enjoy the attention as he giggled and clapped his hands. Zoe got close enough that he grabbed some of her hair and pulled, causing Zoe to shout. "Little demon," Zoe started to yell out, only to be silenced by Artemis. "He does not know better Zoe," Artemis said, "We will teach him though. He will be the most honorable man on the Earth. We will teach him to hunt and how to be a true man." "What is his name Lady Artemis?" Phoebe asked. Artemis had not been given a name for the child. The mother had died before she could ask. She thought back to names she had heard over the millennia, trying to find one that would fit. She wanted to name him after a honorable man, but there were so few that she had known. After several minutes she thought of the perfect name. "His name is Arthur," she told the Hunt. "Why Arthur?" Artemis smiled, "Well there was a good man many years ago named Arthur. He is nothing more than legend now. Plus, it seems like the male version of my name." Arthur seemed to like this, because he started to laugh and clap again. This caused the girls to laugh as well. Artemis looked at her son and felt like the happiest being on Earth. Things would be rough, and she would have to find a way to tell Zeus at some point, but for now everyone was happy. Chapter End Chapter 32 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 2 - Percy Jackson Champion of the Primordials Plot: Five year old Percy Jackson was abandoned by his sister who joined the hunt. Eight hundred years later, two twelve year old boys, both children of Poseidon stumble into camp, one is in shock and awe about the Greek world but the other seems to have known about it and has skills that can rival the gods themselves. But one thing confuses everyone, why does he hate the hunt so much? Pairing: PercyxArtemis 13th Century, Europe Jennifer POV "So Jennifer, do you accept my offer?" Artemis, goddess of the Hunt, Moon, Maidens, and Childbirth questioned. A few of her Hunters, a group of eternal maidens that follow her, stared at me expectantly. I have to admit, the offer was tempting. I was being offered immortality from a goddess, but...I looked at the tent flap, where I know Percy is outside. He means the world to me, I couldn''t afford to leave him alone, especially if what Lady Artemis said is true. He''ll be in danger. Artemis must''ve noticed and spoke. "I understand you care for your brother, but he will become like the rest of them out there." I shook my head. "You don''t know that," I said. "You''re ?ssuming." One of her Hunters opened her mouth to speak, a red haired girl, but Artemis raised her hand, silencing her. "But I do, Jennifer. My brother is the god of prophecies. He can foretell the future. He said the boy is special." "And you ?ssume that he''s going to be bad?" I demanded. "The boy is powerful. My father, Zeus, scents a aura surrounding the boy. A aura he hasn''t felt in centuries." "And what is that?" She looked me dead in the eye with her piercing silver eyes. "Poseidon. God of the Seas and Earthquakes." "And what does that have to do with Percy?" I demanded. "He''s a son of Poseidon, so what?" "Thou do not understand how powerful he is," one of her Hunters said. She had coppery skin, her nose was tilted slightly. Her eyes were a shiny, almost black color. A silver tiara resided on her head. "Children of Poseidon are rare, but also very powerful." "If trained properly, a child of Poseidon is most likely the most powerful demigods ever born," Artemis said. "Stronger than Hades or Zeus''s children." "He''s five!" I protested. "He doesn''t know who he is. I''m all he has," I said. "His mother was killed in a raid, he''s taken into slavery. He''s only five and you said it''s only going to get worse." I shook my head. "I''m sorry, but I''m going to have to decline your offer. I will not leave Percy at the mercy of monsters, or gods," I looked at Artemis. "You can keep your immortality. Unless Percy comes along, I want no part of it." I stood up and headed to the tent flap till she spoke again. "I did not want to tell you this, but the boy will die anyway." I froze. "What?" I looked at Artemis. "If you lay a finger on him-" "Zeus has ordered for me to find the son of Poseidon, and bring him to Olympus." "For what?" She looked at me with what looked like pity. "Execution. Zeus will kill him before he grows up and becomes a threat." I realized what she meant. "Are you scared of him?" Her eyes narrowed. "Watch your words girl," she warned. "I have been lenient with you because you have potential. I do not want it to go to waste, especially when it comes from a maiden." "You''re scared he''ll grow up and become powerful, too powerful even for a god to control him." "No demigod is stronger than a god." "Then what about Hercules?" I questioned. "You said he held up the sky. Something only an immortal can do." "He is a child of Zeus." "And Percy is a son of Poseidon. He''s more than capable to do it. And you said Poseidon can gain many allies if he wishes to overthrow Zeus. Zeus is scared Percy can do the same, but your brother, Apollo, said he''s special. Meaning Percy will be able to do something no one can do," I met Artemis'' gaze evenly. "Such as defeat an Olympian?" Thunder rumbled dangerously in the background. "You are smart," Artemis said. "Smarter than I thought. But yes," she nodded. "That is the reason Zeus wants him killed. Together, he and Poseidon would be a powerful enemy." "And you would take the risk of inflicting Poseidon''s wrath on yourself by killing his son?" She sighed. "I am thousands of years old, you are still a child. I have seen boys like your brother, I thought, that maybe, they would be good. But," she shook her head. "They end up like the rest. Your brother will be the same." "Not that it would matter," the red haired girl said. "He will be killed anyway." Artemis nodded. "Do you feel any guilt?" I questioned. "Why can''t you leave him alone? He''s young. He won''t remember any of this. Let him live a normal life." "His life will never be normal anyway," Artemis said. "Once he understands who he is, his aura will grow stronger, drawing monsters near him and those surrounding him. Would you prefer it if Ares, the god of War. A son of Zeus and my immortal brother, is sent to hunt him down?" She questioned. "Or Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, Poseidon''s arch rival, is sent to hunt him down? Neither will be merciful when it comes to the boy. I am far more lenient than my half-siblings. Let it be quick and painless. It will be over before you know it." "Easy for you to say," I said glaring at Artemis. "He isn''t your little brother." She nodded. "Take your time. This is a lot to process, when you make your choice, tell me." I nodded, so many thoughts were swimming around in my head at the moment. I can join Artemis and receive immortality, never age, never get sick. But I''ll be leaving Percy. I thought. But Percy will be killed anyway, for being a son of Poseidon. Why should I have to join him? I quickly shoved that thought out of my head. So I got two choices. I was torn. I really wanted to join, but I couldn''t afford to leave Percy. Even if he will be killed, I want to stick up for him, even if the result is death. "I," I couldn''t seem to get the words out. "I choose," I looked at the tent flap, where Percy was outside, probably looking for me. Guilt and hurt wormed its way into my heart, along with shame. "I made my choice," I turned back to Artemis and her Hunters. "Yes?" She probably already knew my choice. "I-I accept y-your o-off-offer." I looked down, my world already seeming a little less brighter. "I know this is tough," Artemis said. "But you made the right choice, trust me. We will guide you through the hardships. We''re your family." I flinched, remembering I told Percy the exact same thing. "Recite the oath," Artemis said. "I pledge myself to the goddess, Artemis." "I-I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis." "I turn my back on the company of men." I recited it, but in my head, I heard this. I turn my back on Percy. "I accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt." "I accept eternal maidenhood and join-" My voice gave out on me. Tears blotted my vision. I closed my eyes, trying to prevent the tears from spilling. Please Percy, please forgive me. "And join the Hunt." A silver glow surround me. I felt healthier and stronger, but guilt wore me down. Artemis said something but I didn''t register it. I felt hands on my shoulder. I had the sudden urge to look up. I did and saw a female and male in the shadows, looking at me in disgust. "You will regret this." I heard a voice hiss in my head. I couldn''t help but shudder at the voice. It was female, but it sounded ancient, older than Artemis, and much more deadlier than Artemis. I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I opened my eyes, they were gone. "Come on," Artemis said putting her hand on my shoulder. "Let''s go meet your family." "Here comes Apollo." Artemis said looking up at the sky. "Look away so you don''t get blinded." Percy stood beside me, looking tired but still smiling nonetheless. The guilt from last night coming back twice as strong. I grabbed his hand and squeezed, knowing this is the last time I''ll be able to do this. The sun started to rise. "Look away." We all looked away, except for Percy, who was looking around confused. "Look away Percy," I said quietly. He turned towards me and smiled. "I''m glad you''re talking to me," he said smiling. "I was worried you were mad at me." Not mad at you Percy. Mad at myself. I tilted his face to the side. "Please close your eyes." He was confused, but nodded nonetheless and closed his eyes. I felt the heat get hotter and hotter, the light blinding me, even through closed eyes. When I felt like I went blind, the light died down. The heat subsided, but it was still warm. I opened my eyes and had to blink a few times to regain my vision. When I regained my vision, I gasped. Before me was a chariot, but what had me in awe was the chariot was on fire as a man walked out, seemingly fine, as if the fire didn''t bother him. "Artemis!" He said happily. "It''s been too long. You never stop by, how have you been?" Artemis sighed. "Everyone, this is Apollo, god of the Sun. The son of Leto and Zeus, and sadly, my twin." "Don''t forget Artemis, I''m the oldest." His eyes widened as a silver arrow embedded itself in a tree, missing his head by inches. "Apollo for the last time I''m older than you," she growled before pinching the bridge of her nose and speaking in a more calmer tone. "I need you to take these four demigods to camp," she said pointing at four more demigods and Percy, who hid behind my leg. I gently pushed him forward. Apollo nodded. "Sure thing lil sis, hop on everyone." Artemis spoke, "Apollo, do be careful. Last time you brought demigods to Camp Half-Blood, they fell out of your chariot and you didn''t even realize." He waved it off, looking at the demigods till he saw Percy. His smile widened. "What''s your name kid?" Percy hid back behind my leg and clutched, refusing to let go. "Apollo, you''re scaring the boy," Artemis said but if Apollo heard her, he didn''t acknowledge it. "Percy," he mumbled shyly while Apollo nodded. "Well Percy, my name is Apollo," he extended his hand out to him. "God of the Sun, Medicine, Prophecies, Archery, and Poetry." Percy''s brow furrowed, showing he didn''t understand a word Apollo said. Slowly, he shook Apollo''s hand. Apollo smiled, as if it pleased him Percy shook his hand. "Alright everyone hop on." Apollo smiled as the four demigods slowly got on the chariot, looking around for something to grab, but Percy seemed excited. "Come on sis," Percy said. "Let''s go check out this camp." He pulled on my hand, but I stayed glue to my spot. He looked at me confused. "Hey," he started to pull harder. "What are you doing?" I shook my head, trying to stop the tears from falling. "Sis,"hHe started to pull with more urgency. "Come on." I looked at Artemis for help. She noticed and gestured for Apollo, but he stayed in his spot. One of the campers stepped out of the chariot to grab Percy, but Apollo shook his head. "Let her do it," he said. "It wasn''t you who left him." Percy looked at me pleadingly. My heart hurt. "Percy," I choked out. "I''m can''t come." I led him away from everyone else. "W-Why?" I looked at him, his sea green eyes looking slightly dull, as if he already knew what I was going to tell him. I told him everything. When I finished, he stared at me in shock and betrayal. "You-You," his eyes were glistening. "You left me. You don''t even know them!" He screamed. "You left me, for them!" He pointed in the direction of the Hunters and Artemis." "Percy," I reached out to grab his arm, but he scrambled away from me. "Get away from me!" I heard footsteps nearing us. "Percy, just listen-" Every time I tried to grab him, he scratched, clawed, and bit to get away from me. My heart was shattering more and more. The Hunters emerged with their bows along with Artemis, the campers had their weapons out. Apollo emerged, walking casually, like it was a normal day for him. One of the Hunters sent a arrow straight towards Percy. My eyes widened. I moved towards him, but before I could reach him, something weird happened. As the arrow sailed towards Percy, the shadows around us moved towards Percy and started to surround him like a shield. The shadows swallowed the arrow. It was silent, everyone staring at the wall of shadows in shock and surprise. A few seconds later, the red haired girl who shot the arrow cried out in pain. The silver arrow lodged deep in her th??h. Before anyone could react, Artemis spoke. "Apollo," her voice was calm, but filled with shock. "What are you doing?" I turned and saw Apollo had a golden bow out, a arrow in it, but he had it pointed at Artemis''s head. "Doing something I should''ve done a long time ago." "What are you going to do? Kill me? Father will have your head." She spoke with confidence, but I sensed her uneasiness. Apollo laughed. "Of course not," he said. Ignoring the twenty to thirty arrows pointed at him. "Then why are you doing this?" "Because what you''re doing is wrong. You know it, so do the rest of the Olympians. Only I, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Poseidon went against this. You never could say no to father. You have a weak will like the rest of the Olympians. Can''t even say no to something cruel." Artemis'' eyes widened. "You heard the prophecy," Artemis said. "Oh, I know Artemis, I said it. A child of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades will save Olympus or raze it. I said Perseus is special," he looked towards the dome of shadows. "Time for you to find out why." Percy. I completely forgot about him. I spun around and just managed to catch him run into the forests. "Percy! Wait!" I shouted, chasing after him. Before I reached him, the shadows wrapped around me and threw back into the ground. I landed on my shoulder, popping it out of place. I gasped in pain as the shadows started to swirl a few feet away from me, forming two figures. Apollo''s bow disappeared, immediately, Artemis and her Hunters had their bows pointed at him. Just as Artemis went to speak, she noticed the shadows forming two figures. She looked at Apollo. "You will regret this," she hissed. He smirked. "Sure I will Artemis," he nodded his head in agreement. "I certainly will regret this." She turned back to the shadows and raised her bow, the Hunters doing the same thing. The demigods raised their weapons, only Apollo stood there defenseless. I stood up slowly, clutching my shoulder. I looked at the swirling shadows, they were disorientated, so I couldn''t see if they were male or female. "Who would''ve known the Olympians would stoop so low, killing a boy." A male voice said. "They''re Olympians," a female said. "They are lower than Tartarus. If possible, lower." The shadows formed two figures. Judging from the two figures build, one was female and the other was male. I still couldn''t see what they looked like, they were still blurry. "Who are you?" Artemis demanded, pointing her bow at them. Suddenly, her bow was yanked out of her hands and landed in the female''s hands. "Watch yourself daughter of Zeus," the female hissed, the shadows surrounding us so much no light shown in. "I am not someone you want as an enemy." "You dare to threaten a Olympian?" Shadows wrapped around Artemis'' neck and yanked her toward the female till they were face to face. "You dare to threaten a primordial?" Artemis'' eyes widened. The figures started to become more clearer. "N-Nyx," Artemis choked out, trying to pry the shadows off her neck, but they only tightened, making her pale skin start to turn blue. The Hunters released arrows, but golden arrows split them in half. They spun around and looked at Apollo in shock. "Thou dare to betray thy own kin?" The girl with the tiara said, looking at Apollo shocked. "I''m betraying no one. I''m doing the right thing, something that could save Olympus or destroy it. And it all begins with Perseus." The female released Artemis, who collapsed to the ground in front of the two figures. I managed to make out black eyes, black eyes that swirled with unknown power, making Artemis seem like a child compared to her. "There," the female said, her black eyes drilling holes into Artemis. "You''ve learned your place. You know where you belong now." Apollo turned to the two blurry figures. "Lord Erebus," he bowed to the male, then turned to the female. "Lady Nyx." They looked at him as Artemis stood up, her breathing returning to normal, her skin returning back to its normal color. "Apollo," the female, Nyx, said. "Out of all the Olympians, you are among the few I least expected to help." "You''re helping them?" Artemis said, looking between Apollo and the two deities. "You''re helping primordials? Beings who we thought faded." She was slammed back into a tree. The Hunters raised their bows, but they were all yanked out of their hands and all thrown back by shadows. "Do we look, faded," the male, Erebus, spat. Artemis stood up, a cut on her cheek, where golden blood flowed. Her silver eyes pulsing with power and b?r?ly restrained anger. "Attack us daughter of Zeus," Nyx spat. "I''ll be happy to make a Olympian fade." "How do you know what he wants and what he doesn''t want?" I demanded. They turned towards me, as if finally realized I was here. Nyx disappeared and reappeared in a few feet in front of me. Before I could react, she pointed her hand at me. Shadows shot out from everywhere and wrapped around my neck, lifting me up into the air. "Because we have been watching him," she said. "He wants a family, something he was stripped off." The shadows tightened around my neck. I tried to pry them off, but it was a futile effort. "He will grow up to become a great hero. His skills will surpass every immortal out there, but his skills with the sword will be unmatched by everyone, save for our father. He will become the most powerful demigod to have ever walked the planet. He will have fame and power that some gods would be willing to die for. He will be Olympus'' most greatest hero, surpassing that worthless hero, Hercules by a long shot. One day he will make a choice, he will either save the Olympians or be the cause of their destruction." Everyone''s eyes widened at her statement. She flicked her wrist, and the shadows threw me back into another Hunter, sending us both to the ground. "We have more important things to do than deal with a prideful Olympian." Nyx looked to the sky. "You coming with me to Olympus," Artemis turned to Apollo. "Father will know of this." Apollo raised an eyebrow. "Will he now?" As she went to speak, a golden flash appeared beside Nyx and Erebus. "You call sister?" I heard as the golden flash died down, revealing a man with hair that looked red with gold streaks in it. "You call?" Nyx pointed at us. He turned to us, revealing pure golden eyes. "You know what to do." He nodded and started to mutter. Whatever it was, it wasn''t human, but something far older than the gods. Nyx and Erebus turned towards us. "Now if you''ll excuse us, we have to go and greet a new member of the family." I realized she was talking about Percy. I went to take a step forward. But suddenly, I felt like passing out. I looked around and saw the campers and Hunters were on the ground, eyes closed. Artemis included. "They aren''t dead mortal." I turned back and saw Nyx, Erebus, Apollo, and the golden-eyed male staring at me. "Know this, Jennifer Jackson," Nyx hissed. "The next time you see Perseus, it will not be pleasant." I collapsed to the ground, darkness consuming me. Percy POV I ran off into the forests, moving past the trees and branches till I tripped. I laid there and started to cry. "What did I do wrong?" I stood up, wiping the tears away. "Where did I mess up at?" "You didn''t go wrong anywhere, young hero." I looked up and saw a woman in front of me. I started to back up. She put her hands up and spoke. "I mean you no harm, young hero." She smiled at me, and I felt like she meant no harm. I was still wary, though. "Who are you?" I said, trying to sound intimidating, but was failing terribly. She noticed and her smile widened. "There''s no need to fear me Perseus, nor is there a reason for you to seem threatening. I would never harm my nephew." I stared at her confused as she sat down on a log. "Sit down, young hero." She gestured for me to sit by her. "Why do you keep calling me that?" I said slowly walking towards her. "I''m no hero." I said sitting beside her. "My sister left me," I muttered, tears threatening to spill. I felt arms wrap around me. "She made her choice, Perseus. I call you a hero because that''s what you are. You will become a great hero," she said. "A powerful hero, if not the greatest to have ever live." "Heroes have happy endings," I said. "I''m going to die alone." "Perseus," she tilted my head up so I could see her eyes. Her eyes were like a fire, but not a raging one. A calm one. Warm with no intention of harming. "Are you a god?" I questioned. "Yes Perseus, I am a god." "Which one?" She smiled. "Hestia, goddess of the Hearth." I frowned. "I never heard of you." "You have Perseus, but in a different name. Gods are real. We move wherever the fire burns the brightest, and that is here," she gestured around. "First we were in Greece, then moved to Rome, and now we are here." "What''s ''Greece'' and ''Rome''?" "I will let your family explain whenever they get here." Family? I have no family, but didn''t say anything. She continued explaining everything to me about gods till a thought came to me. "The campers called me a demigod?" I questioned. "What does that mean?" "A demigod is a half mortal, half god. You are the son of Poseidon, god of the Seas and Earthquakes, who is also my little brother, making me your aunt." She smiled. "Why hasn''t he ever helped me?" I demanded. If my dad is a god, where was he when my home was burned to the ground and my mother was killed while I was taken into slavery? She spoke, as if reading my thoughts. "Do not blame your father Perseus. He has helped you more than he should''ve. When you were on that boat, didn''t you notice how the water healed your wounds and how you didn''t get seasick like everyone else did? Your father has been protecting you for the longest time." I realized she was right, my father has been helping me whenever he could. But he still should''ve helped in some way, he did love my mother right? "Why don''t the gods see their children?" I said. "The Ancient Laws." "What are those?" "The Ancient Laws are what keep the gods from seeing their children, these laws bound every immortal there is; Olympian, Titan, Giant, or a Primordial. Every full immortal must follow these laws." A thought came to me. "How can those two gods be down here then? Aren''t they supposed to be bound to the Ancient Laws?" "Those are the twins of Zeus and Leto, Apollo is the god with the blue eyes. Artemis is the goddess with silver eyes. "The one with all the girls?" She nodded. "Those are her followers, the Hunters of Artemis, which you met a few minutes ago." She said apologetically. I nodded. "How come she''s down here. "Artemis is the only Olympian who is sort of free from the Ancient Laws because of her domains. Maidens, the Moon, and the Hunt. Her domains are more connected to mortals than anyone else''s." I nodded again. "A powerful being and his children came to me and offered you a home with them." "Really?" I questioned hopefully. "Can someone really help me?" She nodded. "I wish to help you before you leave, as do one of your cousins and my brother." I opened my mouth to speak, but a flash appeared beside us, making me close my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I saw a man in front of us. He had light blue eyes and a smile so bright it was like looking at the sun. "Apollo, tune it down," a voice said. "You''re going to blind me and the boy." The light died down, thankfully. I looked to where I heard the voice, but didn''t see anything. "Look closer, son of Poseidon." "Hades," Hestia said. "Stop messing with him. Come on." A figure appeared out of the shadows beside Hestia and the other male. Hestia spoke. "Perseus, meet your cousin, Apollo" she pointed at the blue eyed male. "And your uncle, Hades." She pointed at the other male. He was hard to see, due to the shadows seemingly embracing him, but I did see the dark piercing eyes clearly. I shivered. "So, this is the spawn of Poseidon." Hestia glared at him. "Usually I would kill you but," he sighed. "My sister said you play a important factor in the near future and that I might take a liking to you," he looked at me with his black eyes. I felt like he was looking into my soul. Trying to dig into my deepest fears and secrets. "So, I''ve come to see if it''s true." I nodded shakily. "Perseus," I looked at Hestia. "I am a maiden, which means I never had children. I would like to adopt you," I stared at her stunned. "If that would be fine with you," she said nervously. I continued to stare at her stunned till I hugged her tightly. "I''d love that, mom." I felt her hug me back. A sudden warmth overcame me. "As my son, you have the ability to summon fire, but beware Perseus, the fire is linked with your emotions. If you get too mad, it will turn to Greek Fire, which is nearly impossible to extinguish." Apollo spoke. "I know we won''t be able to talk much, sadly." "Apollo," Hestia said. "Right, anyway, I''m going to make you my champion. Doing this you will have every power of mine, which includes the ability to see into the future." He smiled. "Apollo," Hades said. "Is that safe for the sea spawn? Making him a champion at such a young age, that much power would burn him alive." My eyes widened. "He survived Aunt Hestia''s blessing, a full blessing. He''ll be fine." Apollo put his hand on my shoulder. I felt fine, till I started to sweat, and felt like I was being burned from the inside out. I screamed, feeling white hot pain move up and down my body. I thought it would never end till it started to slowly die away. When the pain left my body, I looked up and saw Hestia looking at me in shock and relief. Hades stared at me shocked and impressed. Apollo was smiling. "Told you he had it under control," he said turning toward me. "Children of Poseidon are naturally terrible at archery, but with the people you''re going to be living with you should be fine." Hades spoke. "What about Orion?" Apollo growled. "Don''t. Ever. Mention him again." He snarled. I backed up, looking at Apollo shocked and slightly scared. He must''ve noticed my expression because he stopped and looked at me apologetically. "I''m sorry if I scared you," he said. "I just don''t like Orion. It was unnecessary." His expression brightened. "But, you do have the powers of healing, archery, poetry and haiku, and the ability to see into the future." I looked at him shocked. Hestia pushed Hades forward. "Erm, I guess I''ll make you my champion too." He muttered as shadows surrounded me. A cold chill moved up and down my body, making me shiver. When the shadows disappeared, I felt better and powerful. Very powerful. "As my champion, you have the ability to shadow travel, enter the Underworld with ease, and summon the dead. As you get older and train, you will be more powerful." I opened my mouth, but he held his hand up. "No need need to thank me." I closed my mouth and nodded. Hestia spoke. "Lord Aether should be here any minute." I opened my mouth but a bright flash appeared. I closed my eyes but the light still blinded me, even through shut eyes. After what felt like a eternity, the light died down. I opened my eyes and gasped. A angel stood in front of us. He wore white armor, that would''ve blinded me if I didn''t turn away. Massive pure white wings emerged from his back. He had a friendly smile on his face, despite his terrifying appearance. "Lord Aether." Hestia said bowing along with Hades, and Apollo. "No need to bow to me, especially you three." His voice was smooth, it made me feel safe. He turned toward me. "Is this him?" They nodded. "This is Perseus Jackson, the son of Hestia, Champion of Hades and Apollo." He nodded. "How old is he?" "Five years old, Lord Aether." Apollo said. "Five years old and still survived three full blessings," he mused. "Looks like father and Nyx were right about this demigod." I spoke. "Are you a angel?" He laughed and spoke. "I am Aether, Primordial of Light." I stared at him stunned and confused. "I believe Hestia has told you everything?" "Sort of." He nodded. "I''ll fill in any details," he turned toward Apollo, Hades, and Hestia. "You three should head back. I sense Zeus is starting to get suspicious of the massive power here." They nodded while Hades disappeared. "He always was a man of few words," Aether said. Apollo spoke. "Good luck cuz, feel free to come to earth and visit me. When you''re older, I''ll even let you drive the sun chariot." He said smiling. "Sun chariot?" I said confused as he disappeared in a flash. "What did he mean? He makes it sound like I''m not going to be on earth." I said turning towards Aether. "That''s because you won''t be on earth, you''ll be in the Void with me and my family." My eyes widened. Hestia hugged me. "Good luck son," she whispered. "Go become the hero you were born to be." I hugged her back feircely. "I will mother," I said. "I won''t let you down. I promise." She smiled. "I know you won''t son." She released me. "I know you won''t." Fire started to swirl around her. "Remember Percy," I looked at her. "The Hearth has the ability to help, more than bring destruction." Before I could speak, the fire swallowed her. When it died down, she was gone, leaving me and Aether. "Are you ready Perseus?" He questioned. "I know so much happened to you in such a small time span-" "I''m ready," I said looking at him. "You sure?" I nodded "Alright then," he put his hand on my shoulder. "Let''s go home Percy." Together, we disappeared in a flash. Eight hundred years later Third POV The Void. It is nothing, yet it is everything. Many think it is where immortals go when they fade. This is true, but what no one knows, is the Void is also the home of the primordials, and the Creator of the Universe. It is a beautiful place. Simple, yet beautiful. Unlike Olympus, which is filled with statutes of the gods'' greatest achievements, and statues of Hercules every where. But Olympus will never match the beauty of the Void, despite what they think. The primordials'' home make Olympus look like it was created with garbage. In the palace of the Creator''s home, his youngest and only half-blood son, lay in bed, writhing and muttering. Judging from the sweating pouring down the his face, he was having a bad dream. He was in his mid-twenties, maybe twenty-seven. He had defined features, high cheekbones, etc. His skin was a perfect tan. A mop of raven black hair was on his head. His eyes were closed. He looked like a god, of course, being the son of the Creator, that''s very likely. "No," he muttered, turning to the side. "No," his voice was slowly rising in volume. He clenched the bed sheets so tight his knuckles were turning white. "No!" He bolted upright in his bed, breathing hard, revealing his eyes. And they were a sight to behold. Whenever you look into his eyes, you tend to get lost in the magnificent swirl of colors. His eyes were the deepest shade of black possible, stars and galaxies twinkling deep in his eyes, an occasional fiery comet shooting across his eyes. Ringed around his pupil, different colors, such as gold, blue, purple, and other colors would glow before changing into another beautiful color. "Percy?" Shadows were pulling themselves to the side of of his bed. "Are you okay?" The figure in bed, Percy, looked as the shadows started to form into a figure. "Yes," Percy said once the shadows dispersed, revealing a female, looking at Percy in concern. The female''s eyes were very much like his. The deepest shade of black, but the only difference was Percy''s eyes reminded everyone of the universe, the female''s eyes reminded everyone when you look up at the night sky. She, like Percy, had defined features. She wore a black dress that looked exactly like the night sky. "I''m fine Nyx," Percy said pressing his hand against his ?h?st, as if trying to stop blood from flowing from a invisible wound. "You can go back to lip locking with Eros." He grinned at the prank he and the Primordial of Light pulled on the Primordial of Night and Love. Nyx, the eldest child of Chaos. Primordial of Night. No doubt the strongest out of the children of Chaos, but one rivals her power, and when angered, rivals Chaos. Nyx''s black orbs drilled holes into Percy''s head. "That wasn''t funny." "You''re right Nyx," Percy said nodding. "It was hilarious." Shadows flipped his bed over, trapping him under it. "Erebus nearly killed Eros," she said. "When he should''ve been trying to kill you and Aether." "Keep in mind," Percy said, shadows turning the bed back over. "I''m father''s favorite. Plus, you all love me." He looked at Nyx. "It was a friendly prank. Besides," he leaned towards her and smirked. "You seemed pretty pleased. Me and Aether didn''t want to disrupt it." "When you mix all of Eros''s strongest potions," she said. "It''s nearly impossible for anyone to resist it. Even father." Percy nodded. When you mix Eros'' strongest potions, it''s sort of impossible to resist. He stood up and stretched, making the bed sheet fall to the ground, revealing scars. Nyx looked over all the scars that used to litter his back. But over time, the scars faded, save for a few from his last encounter with war. Percy noticed and quickly threw a shirt on. "I wanted to help." Nyx scowled. "And look where it got you." Percy glanced at her, knowing why she''s like this. "You''re still mad?" Nyx nodded. "There''s was no need for him to send you into something that horrible." "Children of the Big Three were there," Percy said. "I had a job." "It''s always the same thing," she said. "At first it was just a job, but now," she shook her head. "It''s your life. Why do you defend them?" She questioned as he headed to the bathroom. "You nearly died, how many times?" She questioned, but he continued to ignore her. Nyx knew what she was about to say would get her into some serious trouble, but she had to know the truth. Eight centuries of him not telling them anything was starting to aggravate her. "First Jennifer," he froze right in front of the bathroom. "Then Crystal, and now Daniel." "That''s too far Nyx." His voice was cold. "Then tell me why you''re always fighting their wars?" She demanded. Last time Percy and Nyx got into a fight, it was truly terrifying. It took all of Chaos''s power to separate them, then took every primordial''s energy to keep them separated. But that was a little over two hundred years ago. "Because," he started. "No one deserves to suffer because of Olympians." He spat out ''Olympians'' with distaste, and hate. "I learned that after I was abandoned. As long as I live, I will help as much as I can." Nyx sighed. He still wasn''t telling her the full truth, but it was a start. "Alright," she stood up and headed to the door. "Before I leave, just to let you know, your mother is downstairs, as is your cousin." "Hades?" "You and I both know I''ll kill him the minute he steps into the Void." Percy nodded as shadows started to surround the primordial goddess of Night. "Nyx?" The shadows halted in their tracks. "Yes Percy?" "Thank you," he said. "For being there for me." She smiled. "That''s what family is for." With that, both went their separate ways. Many think immortality is great. Being powerful, undying. Many would kill for immortality. Do anything for it, but being immortal isn''t always the best. Sometimes, it is more of a curse than it is a blessing. You may be thinking it''s crazy, but it''s true. Anything can happen. You make a mistake, you end a life and have to live with it for the rest of your immortal life, guilt, shame, or disgust wearing you down. True immortals, like the Olympian gods, are so wrapped up in themselves. They strike down anyone who doesn''t bow down. Even mortals. Phoebe Artemis, the daughter of Zeus. Goddess of the Moon, Hunt, Maidens, and Childbirth, is one of these immortals who see them above all others. Being Zeus''s favorite daughter, no one would dare touch her. Save for one person. This person hates Artemis more than anything in the whole universe. But they hate the Hunters of Artemis more than Artemis, and would give anything to kill every single one of them painfully, then Artemis. You may think this person is insane for threatening the maiden goddess and her Hunters. But do not ?ssume things. This person is more skilled than Artemis, and more smarter than Athena. He has seen more bloodshed than the God of War, killed more than all the gods combined. And of course, more powerful than anyone could ever imagine. But despite all he has been through, nothing has healed that one betrayal. The betrayal that shattered his heart into thousands of little pieces. Too far apart to ever be healed. That same betrayal that turned him into a powerful being, with power that surpasses the first beings in existence. The betrayal that turned him into the person he is now. The betrayal that made him a killer. For as long as he lives, that pain in his heart will never heal. Because a emotional wound takes longer to heal than a physical wound. And being immortal, it may be thousands of years before the heart of Perseus Jackson is healed. Percy POV Once I brushed my teeth and tried to comb my hair, but gave up after the seventh comb broke. I walked out of my bathroom and stopped in front of my mirror. I looked at myself. Gone was the boy all those years ago. I looked at my wall and saw spoils of war from nearly every powerful monster in Greek Mythology, save for Python, Kamp¨¦, the Giants, and of course, the Titans. I looked further down the wall and my heart sank slightly. Pictures of me and friends before death claimed them. All because of the Olympians. I thought with distaste. Who I should''ve killed when I had the chance. I walked to my desk and picked up my necklace. It was a simple necklace. A ocean blue gem resided in it with the words ''The Oceans'' Love''. I traced the words, remembering all the great times we had before she was taken from me. "By Artemis," I hissed, gripping the necklace tight in my hands, Greek Fire drippng through my fingers onto the floor. "Perseus!" I heard. "Your mother is here." Mom. That''s right, my mom is here along with my cousin. I opened a portal and walked through it, appearing in the throne room. "What were you doing up there?" My father, Chaos questioned. "What do you mean?" I said confused, "I was getting ready." He pointed at the ceiling, where Greek Fire was dripping through and landing on the throne room floor. For some weird reason, my Greek Fire isn''t normal like how Greek Fire should be. It''s a black color and melts through anything, even the armor that Chaos creates, which is indestructible. I think Nyx and Erebus called it Shadow Fire. Which is like a upgraded version of Greek Fire, but a hundred times more powerful. "What made you mad this time?" I looked at Eros. "The past. Why do you ask such stupid questions?" "I don''t ask stupid questions!" I ignored him and looked at the two in the middle of the throne room and smiled. "Mom," she smiled. "Hello son," I enveloped her tiny frame. Relishing the warmth she provides. "I see you''re still in your twenty-seven year old form." She said pulling away from me. I nodded. "It''s a rather comfortable form." She nodded. My mom knew me better than anyone else, she knew my real reason but didn''t push me, which I was grateful for. "Hey man," I heard someone wh?n?. "Where''s my hug?" I rolled my eyes and released Hestia and turned to my cousin, who was standing there smiling, his arms open. "Hello Apollo," I said embracing Apollo, who hugged me so tight he would''ve broken a regular mortals back. Thankfully, my training with Chaos and the primordials strengthened my bones. "How you feeling?" He questioned once he finally released me. I shrugged. "Could be worse." He nodded till he saw my necklace. "I should''ve done something." I put my hand on his shoulder. "I would''ve if someone didn''t stop me," I said glaring at Nyx. "Like I said," she glared back at me. "You don''t need to stoop lower than them. If they want to kill maidens, let them. They won''t get many Hunters." "Haven''t I stooped down to their level?" "Enough, you two," father said giving me and Nyx a look. "Apollo, we must head back," Hestia said. "Zeus is looking for us." Apollo nodded and gave me one last hug. "Next time you come back to earth, you should meet Hermes." "I have a bad history with children of Zeus," I said. "The exception being you." He shook his head. "He ain''t like any the other children of Zeus you met, he''s like me. We''re always pranking the Olympians. Mainly Zeus and Artemis." "I''ll think about it," I said. He nodded and vanished in a golden flash. "I have a gift for you," I raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be, mother?" "Hold out your hand." I did as she told. "Happy eight hundred and fifth birthday." I expected a bow that shoots flaming arrows, a sword that helps me direct fire so I can conserve my energy, or even a flaming spear, but what I didn''t expect was a pen. "A pen?" I questioned, looking at my gift. It looked like a regular ballpoint pen that you can buy for like twenty five cents at a store on earth. "What have I always told you Perseus?" "Looks can be deceiving, I know," I rolled my eyes at the phrase Chaos basically engraved in my mind. "Then look closer." I cursed under my breath and looked at the pen, twirling it around. Maybe it would work if I pressed the cap. When I pressed the cap, I did not expect a three foot sword to take its place. "It''s name is Anaklusmos." "Riptide." I translated, swinging the sword around. "Poseidon had it," she said. "It was going to be a gift to you when you turned twelve. But when you vanished, or died, he''s kept it ever since." "How does it feel, son?" Chaos questioned. "It feels good," I said swinging it around. In my eight hundred years of life, I did like using swords, but I never could create or find a sword that felt good to me. "You can test it out against Ouranos when your mother leaves." I nodded and capped Riptide. "Thank you mother," I said hugging her. "Your welcome." She hugged me tightly before releasing me and backing away. "Do tell him Chaos." "Tell me what dad?" I looked at my dad confused as did everyone else. "Soon son," he said as Hestia vanished in a column of flames. "For now, you train. I am interested to see how well you do with a sword that fits you perfectly." Linebreak "Come on Percy, you can do better than that." Ouranos taunted. "Surely you don''t want to be beaten by a old man like me." "Certainly not," I said jumping over him and slashing at his back. He blocked it, but not fast enough. My attack left a gash on him. He growled and threw a lightning bolt at me. "I thought this was no powers?" I said using the winds to change its course, which was Chronos. Chronos''s eyes widened. He jumped out of the way as the bolt hit the wall. "Sorry Chronos!" I shouted kicking Ouranos back and reaching for my shield on the ground till I suddenly felt like I was moving through Jell-O. Damn you Chronos. "I was going to release you, but now that you said that. You have to break free." I knew Chaos was telling Chronos to do this. He wants me to win with no abilities. I started to fight Chronos for control, but I''m a champion of time, he is time. It''s a lot more harder than it sounds. "Honey, this isn''t your battle," I heard Ananke say. "This is his and Ouranos''s battle, leave him alone." Suddenly, I could move. I rolled and picked up my shield just in time. I put my shield up as Ouranos'' sword made contact with my shield, throwing me back onto the ground. "Your welcome Percy." I kicked Ouranos feet out from under him, sending him to the floor. I rolled to my feet just as Ouranos started to get up. "Thank you Ananke!" She smiled as Ouranos used the winds to propell himself toward me. An idea came to me. As he came toward me, I capped Riptide and used my shield. I waited till he neared me. I really hope this works. When he appeared in front of me, I accidentally tripped and fell onto my back. "Eight hundreds and five years old and you''re still making mistakes." I smirked at Ouranos. Using my strength and brain, I turned Ouranos''s domain against him. I put my feet under my shield and pushed up, hitting Ouranos in the stomach. I flipped over, Ouranos, who was still using the winds, sailed straight through the wall of the arena. "Millennia years old and you''re still making mistakes." I grinned and looked around the arena. Aether, Erebus, Chronos, Hydros, Pontus, and Eros were laughing. Ananke and Ourea rolled their eyes. Nyx, Hemera, and Thalassa were smiling, Tartarus was smirking, Gaea was shaking her head at her husband. I looked higher and saw Chaos smiling at me, nodding his head. Time to end this. I thought looking back at the hole in the wall. I looked down for Riptide but couldn''t find it. "Where''s Riptide?" I muttered, looking around till I had the urge to check my pocket. I reached into my pocket and felt a pen. My eyes widened. Best. Birthday gift. Ever. I pulled out Riptide and covered the distance between me and Ouranos. Ouranos stumbled out of the wall, shaking his head as I brought Riptide down. He moved to the side just as I brought Riptide down. He used the winds to throw me back, but it did him little help. Riptide felt great in my hands, it was perfectly balanced, not to heavy, not to light. I felt invincible. I kicked Ouranos back onto the ground and pinned him, pressing Riptide against his throat. "Do you yield Ouranos?" He looked at Riptide, then back at me. He nodded. "I yield Percy." I smiled and got off him, extending my hand out to him. "Great fight Percy," he said smiling. "Now that you have a sword that suits you. Your skills with the sword are now truly unmatched." Ouranos said as everyone flashed toward us. "Awesome fight Perce," Aether said grinning. "I never thought something like that would happen." "There''s a first for everything, Aether," father said smiling at me. "There are many ways to defeat an immortal without using your abilities, Perseus. Turning a primordial''s domain against them though," he shook his head. "That''s a new one. Very good Perseus." It''s hard to impress Chaos, but when you do, it''s a great feeling to experience. "Thank you father," I said. "But, I wouldn''t be where I am today without yours or anyone else''s help." They smiled. "Everyone head to the throne room," he said opening a portal. "I will explain what Hestia was talking about earlier." Everyone nodded and disappeared in different colored flashes. "I hope it''s not another war," I said shadow traveling to the throne room. When I got there and got settled in. Chaos spoke. "Before we do anything, how are the rest of your classes going?" I looked at Nyx, Hemera, and Eros. "He''s excelled in tracking and hunting knifes," Nyx said. "I think they''re his favorite save the sword." Dad nodded as Hemera spoke. "He''s also excelled in shield and spear fighting, although he holds a certain amount of distaste for it." She glared slightly at me. I rolled my eyes. "Sorry Hemera, I don''t hate it. It just isn''t at the top of the list." "Eros, how is his training?" All we got was silence. "Eros?" I looked at him and ?r??n?d. "Dumbass," I muttered before using the shadows and yanking the mirror out of his hands and sending it somewhere in the Void. "Why''d you do that?" He demanded, glaring at me. "Because you idiot, father asked you a question twice and you didn''t answer." "I was busy!" "You and Nyx can lip lock later." Aether burst out in laughter. "You think that''s funny, don''t you?" Eros said glaring at Aether. "Yeah, because of all those pranks you pulled on us. We got you back, good." "Percy had a crush on Hemera!" That was unexpected. Everyone looked at me shocked. "I was young," I said. "Then what about that kiss you and Hemera shared?" Now it was Nyx''s turn to laugh. "Wait, what?!" Aether demanded, looking at me. "You and Hemera did what?!" "That dumbass," I pointed at Eros. "Thought it was funny to mix a love and ?ust potion and slip it into my drink. It made me fall in love with the first person I saw." "And that was Hemera." Eros grinned evilly at me. "The affect was far better than I thought." Aether turned to Hemera, who had her head in her hands. "And where were you at in all of this?" "How about we put this behind us for now," Thalassa suggested. "We''ll talk about this after we get the important matters done." "This is a important matter!" "Don''t take it personal Aether," Erebus said. "This is Eros, it''s part of his domain to cause drama. I knew something was up when I heard Nyx and Eros were lip locking." Aether ignored what Erebus said and spoke. "How long ago was this?" I didn''t say anything, nor did Hemera. "Oh," Eros tapped his chin. "Around seven hundred and seventy two years ago." Aether looked like he was about to explode. Everyone sat in their thrones, biting their lips from trying not to laugh. Father was looking at me, an eyebrow raised. "Something tells me this is going to get much more interesting." I glared at him. "He was young," Hemera said. "I knew he was scared of everyone here. So, I changed my age to around his to help him come out of his shell. I knew he liked me-" "So, you knew," "Aether," he looked at me. "Now what do you have to say?" I recoiled in surprise. Aether was taking this way too personal. "First of all, shut up and listen." Now it was his turn to recoil in surprise. "Hemera is your wife, listen to what she has to say." "Fine," he looked at Hemera. "Continue." "It was working, he was slowly coming out of his shell, then one day he brought me flowers." Aether bit his tongue. "I was surprised, but also...happy." Aether spun around to look at me. Hemera continued. "He must''ve went out into the universe. It was deadly doing that, all for flowers. A few weeks afterward, I started to look forward to his company. Then one day, he...well-" "Kissed you?" I cringed and looked down at my shoes, finding them very interesting. "Did you kiss him back?" Hemera looked at him surprised. "What?" "Did you kiss him back?" I spoke. "Would it make you feel better if we swore on Chaos''s name that me and Hemera have no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever?" He nodded. "It certainly would." Everyone looked at me, then at Hemera, then back at me. "Well," Aether demanded impatiently. "Are you going to swear?" I looked at Hemera, but she was looking at me, as if waiting for me to speak first. Nyx suddenly gasped, her eyes widening before she laughed. "Now what''s funny?!" My eyes widened, as did Hemera''s. "Like I said Aether," Eros said smirking. "The affect was far better than I thought." Aether realized what he meant. "Are you-" He started to glow a bright light that grew brighter and brighter. A barrier quickly surrounded me, right before a loud booming sound was heard. For who knows how long, all I heard was furious arguing between Aether and Hemera, and Erebus and Eros laughing. After a few more minutes, it all died down. The barrier slowly dissolved. "Son," I slowly looked up and met my father''s eyes. "Aether has been...removed from this meeting. Due to problems." I nodded. "Eros," the grin on his face vanished. "No more potions." Eros opened his mouth to speak but father stopped him. "I''m not arguing with you. We spent the last thirty minutes arguing on a foolish topic. Aether revealed his true form, which would''ve been fine, if Perseus were not in here. If I hadn''t put the barrier around Perseus, he could''ve been killed. Report to me his training, then leave. I will deal with you and Aether later." Eros opened his mouth, (probably to argue.) but then closed his mouth and nodded. "He''s doing excellent power wise. His archery is better Apollo and Artemis combined but nowhere near me. Personally, I think it has something to do with his heritage, since all children of Poseidon are naturally terrible at archery. But the blessing from Apollo does help him drastically." Father nodded. Eros turned towards me with a guilty expression. "Sorry Percy," he turned toward Hemera. "I''m sorry to you too." With that, he disappeared in a pink flash. "So," he said. "Power wise, he''s excelled. Skill wise is the same, but his archery is a little off?" Everyone nodded. "Although, there are a few problems here and there with my training." Tartarus said, "Maybe it''s because you actually try to kill him every time he trains with you?" Ourea questioned, "I''m preparing him," Tartarus said. "Preparing him for what?" "For when he''s in a life or death situation." Tartarus rolled his eyes, as if the answer was obvious. "What else am I preparing him for Pontus?" "By trying to kill him?" "He''s still alive Erebus," Tartarus said. "I don''t see why everyone''s so worried." "Because we end the training before he gets killed," Ouranos said. I decided to step in. "Yes Tartarus''s training is a bit brutal but in the end, it''s his training that saves me." Tartarus nodded. "See? Even if Percy agrees with it, he''s fine." I decided to focus on the reason father called this meeting. "Father," I said. "Why did you call us here?" Everyone looked at Chaos. "You know of the Great Prophecy we told you Perseus?" I nodded. "Yes, what about it?" Earth appeared on a Iris-message. "Earth," he said. "Home of the Olympian gods." Everyone got a disgusted look. The birthplace of my suffering. I thought as he spoke. "I believe the prophecy is coming into play. The prophecy is about a half-blood of the Big Three. You were the only living half-blood for forty eight years until five years ago." The Iris-message shifted and showed a mortal woman in the arms of Poseidon, both watching a five year old child play. "Poseidon sired a child?" I said. Hemera spoke, she''s been so quiet I forgot she was here. "Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades made a oath in the twentieth century to never have any children to avoid the Great Prophecy." I laughed. "If they made an oath, why were there seven children of the Big Three in the twentieth century?" I demanded. "It was made after they were sired." I laughed. "Seriously?" I looked at father. "Five children of Hades, one child of Poseidon, and two children of Zeus. Four fought in Germany, plus me. All fighting against Hades'' insane son who wanted to conquer the world. Then you had the three younger children of Hades. Do you know how tired I was that century?" He grimaced. "I''m sorry-" "If you were sorry, you wouldn''t have sent him down there." "Nyx," she looked at me. "It''s fine, seriously." She scowled, but nodded. "There is a daughter of Zeus, Thalia Grace. She is fourteen." My eyes widened. "And you''re just now telling me this?" "She has a son of Hermes with her, she''s been on the run longer than any child of the Big Three." "It doesn''t matter," I said. "If the Great Prophecy resolves around her, especially if it''s a child of Zeus. Then it really will be the end of Olympus." "Not that we''re complaining," Pontus said. We nodded. He sighed. "I understand you don''t like the Olympians, some more than others." He looked at me when he said this. "But you know we can''t rule earth," everyone nodded. "That much power would tear the earth apart." "Basically, you''ll kill me," Gaea said. Father nodded. "So we let the Olympians rule." "And look how such great rulers they''ve been," Erebus said clapping his hands. "As you can see," he gestured to the Iris-message. "Poseidon broke the oath not long after." We nodded. "The boy is your brother Perseus," I nodded. "Your brother is more likely to be the one to either save or destroy Olympus than the daughter of Zeus." I nodded. "But I don''t want it to be him." I knew what he meant. "Father," I said slowly, dreading the answer. "You aren''t," he nodded. "I want you to be the one to save the Olympians." It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. "No." He sighed. "Perseus-" "I may have fought their mortal wars, but this," I shook my head. "I don''t like the Olympians," I said. "What makes you think I''ll like their kids?" "I''m not asking you too Perseus." "Then what are you asking?" "I''m asking you to do the right thing." I turned away from him. "Poseidon''s son, Tyler, he isn''t just your brother." I turned my head so I could see him. "What are you talking about?" "You and Tyler share the same father and the same mother." I froze. "The Fates are up to something, I know that much, but what," he shook his head. "Sally Jackson remembers you, her first son. Are you really going to abandoned your mother, and your brother?" "Being a demigod isn''t easy," I said. "Especially for children of the Big Three. Who knows," I shrugged. "This Great Prophecy could be for him, why not let him do it?" He looked at me in what looked like disappointment. "You really going to be that selfish?" I hesitated. He''s right, I was being selfish. I''ve been training my whole life for this Great Prophecy. "Fine," I said. "I''ll do it." He smiled at me while the primordials looked at me shocked. "I know you''re all tired of me fighting for the Olympians," I said. "But this is what I''ve been training to do for the last eight hundred years, I can''t let someone else suffer just because I don''t want to take responsibility." Father spoke. "Plus, he has more than enough skills to handle himself, he''ll be fine." Everyone nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Okay," Nyx said. "What about his aura? It''s stronger than all of the Olympians combined and rivals mine. As soon as he steps foot on earth, the Olympians will be hunting him." "I created this for that exact reason." A necklace appeared in his hands. He tossed it to me. I observed it. It was much like my shirts, with the rotating galaxies and stars moving around it. "This will conceal your aura to that of a demigod," Father said. "Your aura will be stronger than others because of you being a son of Poseidon. I put it on and looked back at him. "As long as you have the necklace on, your true aura will be concealed." I nodded and looked back at the screen. Poseidon disappeared in a sea green flash while my mom set Tyler in his stroller and headed home. "If I am to complete the Great Prophecy, how will I do that it if I''m immortal?" "You are partial immortal. I will take away it away so that you will age." I cursed, but nodded. It was worth a shot, but father made up his mind. There''s no convincing him now. "What happens if the prophecy starts when Tyler turns sixteen and not me?" Everyone looked at him. "Tyler was born October ninth, your birthday is August eighteenth. The war should start around August if I estimated correctly so you should be the prophecy child." I raised an eyebrow. "Should?" He shot me a annoyed look. "When will I leave?" "Seven years." "Is there a specific reason I''m leaving in seven years?" "Monsters are already sensing your brother, I want you there when he''s twelve so that he can get to camp safely. Since that is the most likely age Hades and Zeus will sense him." I sighed, but nodded."You should get some rest before your next training session with Gaea." Gladly. I thought shadow traveling back to my room. Seven years later Percy POV I stood in the throne room, in front of the portal that''s going to lead me to earth. "Good luck son," Chaos said hugging me. "I know you''ll do great things." "I should get going father," I said releasing him. "I appreciate everything you''ve done for me." I got ready to step into the portal but was stopped by Chaos. I looked at him questionably. "Yes father?" "Before you leave, I''ll have to take away your immortality and revert you back to the age of twelve." He put his hand on my shoulder and muttered a few words under his breath. A black aura surrounded me and him. When the aura disappeared, I felt weaker and smaller. "There," I looked up and saw my siblings smirking. "Is something funny?" I demanded. "You," Erebus said. "You look funny." Before I could speak, father spoke first. "Some of your brothers and sisters wish to give you some gifts." Nyx, Hemera, and Ouranos all flashed in front of me. "We all know you only have one true weapon so we decided to give you some extras just in case." Pontus said smiling. Hemera spoke first, "All the weapons can change forms like Riptide. I''ll go first." Two flashes appeared in her hands. When they died down, I saw a spear that was pitch black with white streaks mixed in with it while a shield was in her other hand that was the same way. "Don''t get distracted you two," Erebus said grinning. I glared at him. "All of the weapons that we give you are blessed by father, meaning that they are indestructible." She handed me the shield and spear. "The spear will summon light to your will and can blind your opponents, the shield will send out little bursts of light blinding your enemies whenever something makes contact with it. It works great on minor monsters but anything else that''s a higher power," she shook her head. "It does a small effect." I smiled at her. "I could use some mid-range, thank you." I said gratefully, but she waved it off. "The shield can turn into a watch and the spear can change into a pen like Riptide. Just cap it like you would Riptide, your shield is the same way." I did as she told. I capped the spear and shield and saw that she was right. The pen was pitch black with white streaks mixed in with it while the watch was the same way. I hugged her tightly. "Do be safe," she whispered before releasing me. I nodded as Ouranos spoke. "I''ll go next." He handed me a bow. The bow, like my eyes, were the darkest shade of black with lightning streaks going down the sides of it. I gripped it as a quiver materialized on my back. "The bow can shoot normal arrows and different arrows that were blessed by Hemera, Erebus, Chronos, and Pontus. This gives you the ability to use arrows that will slow down time, blind your enemies, use the shadows to trap someone, or use the water." I stared at him stunned. He continued. "The quiver will have unlimited arrows so you won''t have to worry about running out. We would prefer it if the arrows that were blessed are used for when you are too tired to summon your powers. It will change into a ring, just think about it." "Why are there different arrows like that?" I pointed at the quiver, which had mini quivers inside a regular sized quiver. "Those are the arrows I was telling you about," he said. "They are categorized. You also have fire arrows from Hestia." "Do I have regular arrows?" He rolled his eyes but nodded. "Yes Percy, you do have regular arrows. It will take time to remember which arrow is in what quiver and so forth, but you''ll get the hang of it in little time." I nodded and thought of it as a ring. It started to shimmer. When it stopped, a electric blue ring resided on my index finger. "All you have to do is twist the ring and you''ll be ready," he said. "The quiver will already be on your back." I thanked him and gave him a hug. "And then there was one," I said looking at Nyx. She rolled her eyes as shadows formed a pair of hunting knifes appeared in her hands. "I know that this isn''t the best," she said. "But I know you enjoy using hunting knifes." I took them from her. They felt balanced, like all my other weapons. "It''s perfect sister," I said looking at her. "I couldn''t have asked for it any better." She smiled. I observed them. Like my bow from Ouranos, it was the darkest shade of black with stars and galaxies rotating. "Plain and simple," I said. "I like it." She handed me sheathes then gave me a hug. "Stay safe, I can''t afford to lose my little brother." "I cannot ?ssure you sister, trouble always seems to find me but I will try my hardest to stay out of trouble." I said pulling away from her. "I appreciate everything you''ve have done for me," I said. "All of you." They waved it off. "It should be a week or two before Zeus or Hades finds out about you and your brother. Hades knows about you but not Zeus so expect some crazy things from those two." I nodded. "Where will the portal take me father?" "It will take you to your mother''s apartment." I thanked everyone for the gifts and got ready to step through the portal but stopped by the least likely person. "Wait!" "Eros," I said surprised and confused as a pink flash appeared beside me, revealing Eros. "I didn''t give you my gift." "I''m fine Eros," I said. "I don''t need any more gifts." He rolled his eyes. "I know you''re only saying that because you think my gift is going to be a hairbrush. Trust me, it isn''t." A pink flash appeared in his hands. When it died down, I saw the least likely weapon. "A longbow," I said shocked. He nodded. "I know how much you enjoy using the longbow so I created you one. It has forty eight arrows. They won''t come back to you, but they will cut through an immortal''s armor like bu??er." He held out the longbow for me to take it. I grabbed it and observed it. The longbow was like the hunting knifes that Nyx gave to me with the planets and stars rotating around it and the darkest shade of black. Surprisingly, it was plain and simple, just how I like it. "I didn''t know if you wanted designs on it-." I cut him off with a hug. "It''s perfect," I said smiling. He hugged me back fiercely. "Aether says he sorry," he said releasing me. "He would be here, but father said he couldn''t. I shouldn''t even be here, but I always was the daring one in the family." I smiled at him and turned to the portal. Please let this be a quick four years. I thought before stepping through the portal as my world went black. Chapter End Chapter 33 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 3 - The Seventh Child Plot: A/U. The seventh child of Kronos and Rhea, hidden from all of his siblings for three millennia. Now that he''s discovered, Zeus threatened to kill the god, endangering Artemis in the process. Perseus claimed Artemis to be in his protection, making Zeus unable to lay a finger on her. Zeus declared the god is killed. Now Artemis is with him, what adventure lies before them? Pertemis. Pairing: Pertemis. As Zeus cast the remains of his father, Kronos, to Tartarus, the gods cheered triumphantly. They had won the war with the Titans after several years of fighting. Their mother, Rhea, was running away from her children. Although it''s true that she was the one who ordered Zeus to slay his own father, Rhea had to flee. She didn''t want to involve herself in this any longer, as all her children would just cast her out. Well, almost all of them. In her arms, sleeping peacefully was a male child, just born after Zeus had m?tur?d enough to battle with his father. In her arms was the seventh child of Kronos and Rhea, the youngest of the future Olympian. Rhea had vowed to herself that she would raise this child on her own, for the child had the powers of his father. He is a godling, which makes him equal to his fellow siblings. "Do not worry, my child. I will keep you safe." Rhea muttered to her child. Line Break Rhea fled to a cave in Mount Ida, the same cave where she''d hid Zeus from her husband. There, she lulled the baby to sleep, and the baby fell asleep to the sweet and soothing serenade of his mother. The mother had never done this to any of her children, even Zeus because Zeus was taken care by other people other than her. She''d vowed to take care of this child by herself, and she will do it. "Sleep well, Perseus." Rhea said as she kissed the forehead of her son lightly. She''d decided to call her son that because it seems like a good name for a young god. With both of his parents being Titans and immortals, he himself was an immortal with the powers of a god, which is yet to be determined but with certainty, he inherits some powers of his father. Rhea smiled at the sight of the only son she really loved sleeping. Rhea knew this couldn''t go on for long because eventually, she''s going to fade and her son will have to face the world all by himself. The least that Rhea could do was train him, take care of him and love him as a mother should. Perseus had grown over the millennia, maturing and grown into a fine immortal. Rhea and Perseus had grown really close to each other, despite his father being the one who devoured his brothers and sisters. Rhea and Perseus had together watched the gods ruled the Earth with Perseus''s brother, Zeus, being their king. His fellow siblings did not know about his existence because their mother had told Perseus to keep it a secret until the right moment for him to reveal himself. Perseus honours his mother''s wish and had never intend to break it. Perseus''s power over time is little compared to Kronos, but he still has it. Rhea had offered him the title ''God of Time'', but Perseus refused. He explained that he didn''t want to be remembered just because he''s the only child that had his father''s powers. He wanted to be a god of something else, a different domain other than time. Besides, Perseus had vowed to her mother that he wouldn''t use his father''s powers, because he didn''t want them to know he even had them. Perseus resented his father ever since Rhea told him the story on how he ate his siblings. It''s not like Perseus cared about his siblings, well, maybe except for a few of them, but Perseus doesn''t like the fact that his father would eat his own children just because he was afraid they might dethrone him. Well, it happened anyway. Perseus woke up with daylight streaming out of his room. They followed with the times, having a house and using Rhea''s powers to make them as comfortable as possible, living with a family. For Perseus, he didn''t care if he even lived on the streets. As long as he had his mother, he couldn''t be any happier. "Perseus, my child, are you awake?" Rhea called. "I am now, mother." Perseus smiled. He woke up and went straight to his mother. Even after over a thousand years of living with each other, Perseus had never grown tired of his mother''s company nor her voice. "Good morning, mother." "Good morning, Perseus." Rhea said with a smile. Perseus smiled back and embraced his mother, giving a kiss on her forehead. "You haven''t aged a single bit." "Is that supposed to be compliment?" "It''s a fact, mother." Perseus said. His mother chuckled. "That is sweet of you, my child." Rhea said. "Perseus, after your training with Achilles, I want to talk to you about something." Perseus smiled at his mother. "We can talk about it now." Rhea pursed her lips. "Later, after your training." Perseus was worried because his mother looked worried. His mother would never worry about anything unless it concerns him. "As you wish, mother." Perseus said, kissing his mother on the forehead once again. Rhea sighed. Today would be the day that she''d tell him the truth. Gaia had warned that this would happen. There''s a reason why Rhea insisted on hiding Perseus''s identity from everyone, including her other children. Gaia had warned her that should Perseus be kept alive, she''ll have to fade. Why? Because where there is death, there will always be death. Meaning, Rhea had exchanged her soul for the sake of Perseus. Perseus wasn''t supposed to live, heck, he wasn''t even supposed to exist, but he did. Now, for some reason Rhea would not like to question, Rhea had to give up her existence so Perseus could live. Rhea doubts that her son would like this. Rhea had tried so hard to be far away from her son as possible so this parting would be easier, but she couldn''t. Rhea loved her child too much. She loved him more than his other brothers and sisters because he was the only one who looked at her as a mother. Her other children just looked at Rhea as the wife of the Titan who just ate them. Unconsciously, a tear slid out from her eye and streamed down her cheek. She found herself smiling at the memories that she had spent with Perseus. Every single pain, hardship, bitterness, enjoyment and happiness that they had experienced together as mother and son. Now, she has to do what''s best for him. Line Break "Mother, I''m home." Perseus called. Rhea was silently crying in her room. "Mother?" Perseus called. Perseus looked everywhere for his mother and eventually, he found her, weeping in her room. "Mother, what''s wrong? Why are you crying?" He knelt next to his mother and wiped the tears. Rhea looked at her son in the eyes. For some odd reason, unlike his father, he had sea green eyes instead of golden. Then again, all of his siblings had different eye colours. Rhea would never forget the beauty of his eyes. Without warning, Rhea embraced her son tightly. "Perseus . . ." Rhea whispered in her son''s ear. "Yes, I''m here mother. There''s no need to cry." Perseus rubbed her mother''s back soothingly, reassuring that he was there for her. That just made it harder to let him go. "Perseus, there''s something I need to tell you." Rhea said, trying to regain her composure. "What is it?" "I-I . . ." Rhea tried to speak, but no words came out of her mouth. "It''s okay, mother. I''m here for you." Perseus said with a smile. "I''m going to die, my child." Rhea whispered softly. That moment, the world seemed to slow down. "Mother, if this is your idea of a joke, it is not funny." Perseus said seriously. Rhea shook her head. "It''s not a joke, Perseus. I wish it is a joke, but . . ." "What are you saying?" Perseus asked. "You''re a Titan. You''re immortal. You can''t die. You can''t leave me!" Rhea shook her head. "My child . . . It''s not my wish to leave you." Rhea started crying again, but she kept on. "But I''m doing this for you." "What do you mean?" "The Fates have ordained it. You should have not be allowed to live. You weren''t supposed to exist, and yet here you are. They were going to take your life, so I had to intervene . . ." Perseus''s eyes widened as realization dawned to him. "You took my place? Why? WHY?!" Perseus had tears coming out of his eyes. "Why would you leave me?!" Despite the shouting and anger Perseus showed on his face, his mother smiled. "Because I do not wish to see you, the only child I''ve ever loved as a mother, taken by the Fates. I''m so happy to have spent my time with you, making all those happy memories that I certainly would not forget." Rhea cried as the smile on her face became more sad and sweeter. "I remember when you were just a little boy." "Mother, please . . ." Perseus pleaded. He grasped his mother''s hand tightly and cupped it into his cheek. "I don''t want to lose you." "You won''t, Perseus, for I will forever be in your heart." Rhea smiled. "I want you to live your life and bring joy to the world as you brought joy to me." "But I want you next to me." "I have lived in this world long enough, my child and luckily, I''ve lived long enough to have raised you into a wonderful young god." Rhea smiled. "Let it remain in your heart that I will and forever love you, Perseus. I know you would do well by your own." "No, please . . ." Rhea kissed Perseus''s forehead one last time then leaned to his ear. "Be a good little boy and promise me that you will treat others with respect. Promise me, you would not cry." Perseus nodded. "I promise, mother." Tears were streaming from his eyes as he listened to his mother''s final words. He glanced over to his mother and saw that she was already fading. "Now, give one little smile for me." Rhea said sadly. Perseus''s lips were trembling from the sadness he was holding back. As his lips curved into a small, sad smile, his mother smiled also. Rhea ruffled his hair and it turned messy. "I love you, Perseus." Perseus watched as his mother fades into the sky. "I love you too, mother. I will and forever love you." The last thing Perseus saw was the smiling face of his mother before it faded into the sky. Perseus''s hands trembled. His mother was gone . . . He couldn''t take it anymore. He cried himself to sleep. A bit sad, eh? Don''t worry, there''s more to this chapter. Line Break (Present Time) (A/N: Before TLO) Perseus stood at the very, very top of the Empire State Building, the antenna. He overlooked the New York City landscape and smiled at himself on how much things have changed in just a few millennia. Perseus followed the flames of the West, where it resided here, in the mortal city called New York. Perseus was still a vacant god, which meant he could choose any domain that he would see fit. The Fates have yet declared what god was he supposed to be, and he didn''t even care. All that he knew was, he was a powerless immortal with amazing combat abilities. Three millennia of living had made him the most experienced fighter everywhere; wielding anything from gigantic swords to chopsticks (can you believe how deadly they are?). Perseus was arguably the most experienced and skilful close combat fighter that exists. Still, that didn''t improve his skills in ranged weapons, except for guns maybe, but other things such as archery or javelin throwing? He''d have a better chance hitting the target if he used a sword while blindfolded. Perseus had both of his guns to his side, a Celestial Bronze sword that was as long as his body strapped on his back over his long red leather jacket that reached his shins. He found the sword when he was searching his old house three millennia ago, when his mother left him. It was the only thing that he had that belonged to his mother, so he wasn''t planning to leave it behind. As for the guns, Perseus got them when he tried using two mortal guns against a monster. It didn''t work. Then, for some odd reason, the guns shifted in both shape and power. The shape turned into one of those customs made handgun that you usually see in games. The guns draw powers from its wielder''s life force and use it as ammo and since Perseus is immortal, his ammo never runs out. To tell the truth, Perseus weren''t very proud of what his siblings had done, especially Zeus. His ego had fed on him and turned him into an arrogant and power crazy king. He would do anything so that he would not lose his throne as the King of Gods. He sent Hades to rule the Underworld and made most of his children part of the council. Hestia had to step down in order to avoid controversy when Zeus made Dionysus that God of Wine. The only children of Zeus that had really done a great job were Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes and . . . well, that''s it. Apollo wasn''t included because sometimes, he''s a brat. Perseus admired the way Artemis performed her duties as the Goddess of the Moon and Virginity. She had formed a group of girls called Hunters of Artemis. These girls swore to be a maiden forever and follow Lady Artemis anywhere, in return they''re granted immortality and won''t die unless they fall in combat. Perseus sometimes spots Artemis in the wilderness with her hunters, camping for the night and having a good time. It sometimes brought memories on how Perseus and Rhea always spend their time together before she passed. Perseus could hear the Olympian council arguing above him, as usual. It''s amazing how Perseus could hear them even though they were six hundred floors above the ground. Perseus sighed as he jumped off the very top of the Empire State Building. He jumped off the building as if this was just something he''d do on a Monday morning. Perseus had no fear that he will fall to the ground and splatter all over the place because for some reason, he had influence of gravity. It was probably the power of his father, Kronos, being the Titan of Time. Maybe space was also included in his domain, but Perseus didn''t nor did he want to know. All he knew was it saved him a lot of trouble from going to the elevator and taking the whole trip down. As Perseus glided through the air with his coat waving around his back, he tried to set his landing on a dark alley where hopefully, no one would see him and they would only think that he was a bird when he gently landed. The gravity lessened and lightened his fall, avoiding any injuries that would happen should the gravity was as strong as it was. As he landed, he heard a scream. "Come here, babe. I know you want it." Perseus heard a man said. In front of him, at the exit of the alley, a woman was dragged into the alley by a men twice her size. Perseus blended into the shadows, away from their sight. The man had some kind of cloth over the woman''s mouth as the woman struggled to free herself from his grip, but to no avail. The woman kicked the air and clawed at the man''s arm, but the man had an iron grip. The man was grinning as he was about to do his evil intention. "Let''s see what we have under these clothes, shall we?" The man ripped apart her clothes in just one go, revealing her und?r??rm?nts. The woman shrieked as she struggled harder. Perseus sighed. Mortals still haven''t change after the years. Still trying to satisfy their ?ust. Perseus decided to save the poor woman and intervened. Perseus stepped out of the shadows. "Let her go." Perseus said. The rapist turned around while the woman widened her eyes. Perseus understood what she was trying to say and nodded. "Who do you think you are?" The man growled, still holding the cloth on the woman''s mouth to ensure she doesn''t scream. Perseus didn''t feel slightly threatened by the man. "I''m the guy who''s going to kill you if you don''t let her go right now." Perseus threatened. The man boomed a laugh, an expected expression from a ???ky mortal. "Well babe, I guess we''re going to have our fun time later on." The man whispered at the woman''s ear, making her struggle even harder. "Well? Where''s you ???ky attitude-" The man never finished his sentence, because Perseus moved quickly and aimed a punch at his gut, making him instantly release his grip on the woman. Then, Perseus kicked the man in the jaw before pulling his head and slamming his knee on his face. The man had a broken nose, which was bleeding now, as he staggered backwards. Out of rage, he charged at Perseus, only to have his ribs broken by a swing of Percy''s fist. The man fell unconscious instantly. "Oh, are you alright?" The woman said. Perseus gave her a smile. She was a beautiful young woman, probably in her early twenties. "Thank you for saving me." Perseus gave her a small smile. "No problem. I was just passing by when I heard a damsel in distress." "Is there anything, I could do for you?" The woman said. Perseus shook his head. "Its okay, you don''t have to do anything." The woman stepped closer to him. "There must be something I could do for a handsome gentleman like you." The woman said sultrily as she put her hand on Perseus''s ?h?st and started turning into a s?ut. Perseus rolled his eyes. "You''re no different than the man who almost r?p?d you. You too, are just looking for p???sur? for your ?ust." Perseus said before he walked away from the woman. The mortals nowadays were just as they were a few thousand years ago. Perseus blended in with the mortals, trying hard not to make himself look like an immortal who had Titans as his parents. Perseus eventually ended up at the edge of a forest he didn''t recognize. Percy cursed himself. He had time skips like that occasionally. He would be walking one second and the next thing he knew, he was swimming in someone''s bath tub (long story). Percy experiences time skips, where the time literally skips for him, bringing him to the future, which is unpredictable. Perseus was about to walk away from the forest when a voice stopped him. "Stop!" Perseus stopped in his tracks and turned around. He saw several arrows notched at him. Manning those bows and arrows were several girls in silver hooded parkas, with the youngest being nine and oldest being seventeen. "Lady Artemis, is this the man you were talking about?" One of the hunters said. She had black hair and volcanic black eyes. Perseus recognized her as a daughter of Atlas, because Perseus was there when she was sired. It was Zoe Nightshade, one of the Hesperides who joined the hunters of Artemis. "It''s him." Perseus heard Artemis''s voice said. Artemis stepped out of the shadows, beautiful as ever. Her hair seemed ?ustrous with auburn colour under the moonlight, also making her skin glow slightly. "Do not move or it will be your last." "I''m sorry, Lady Artemis," Perseus said politely. It felt weird calling his niece ''lady'' and being respectful to her. "But I do not wish to quarrel nor make any trouble for you or your hunters." He is polite towards me. Perhaps I''ll turn him into something for reasonable. A baboon would do? Artemis thought amusingly in her head. "Well, you will have trouble on you should you move." Perseus doubted that would happen. If the hunters fired an arrow, Perseus could just deflect it with the bullets of his guns. That was how good his accuracy is with a gun. He could hit the tip of an arrow with his bullets. Plus, he could fire as fast as Artemis could shoot. Or maybe it was just his father''s power, improving his shooting pace. "Who are you? I sense godly power coming from you. Are you an immortal or a demigod?" Artemis asked. "Who am I is none of your concern. As for your second question, I am an immortal." "That means you are a god." Perseus shook his head. "Even though I am immortal, I am not a god." "That''s a lie." Artemis notched an arrow. "I sense your godly power that rivals even my own." "I am not lying, Artemis." "It''s Lady Artemis to you, boy!" Zoe growled. "If you disrespect our mistress again I will fire an arrow between your eyes." Perseus never looked down on a threat, no matter how non-threatening it was. But still, it pisses Perseus that this girl was threatening him even though he was a god. "It wouldn''t make sense if I call her ''lady'' if I am older than she is now, would it. Zoe Nightshade?" Perseus growled back. Zoe seemed surprised that Perseus knew her full name. Without thinking, Zoe fired her arrow. Perseus reacted quickly, took his gun out and fired with pin point accuracy, striking the arrow right at the point. The arrow got deflected and fell to the ground. Zoe looked stunned, and so did Artemis. No one was able to have that kind of accuracy without having the time to aim the gun. Perseus cursed himself for getting mad at Zoe like that. "My apologies, Lady Artemis. I didn''t mean to offend any of your hunters like that." Artemis looked and studied Perseus carefully. "Come with me to Olympus, tonight." She turned towards the hunters. "Set up camp. I will return as soon as possible after a meeting with my father." The hunters looked reluctant, but they nodded. Zoe glared at Perseus one last time before she went off with the hunters, leaving Artemis and Perseus alone. "Why do you want me to come to Olympus?" Perseus asked. "Because you are an unidentified immortal, a vacant god to be exact." "I know that. But what does that have to do with anything?" "It means you are a threat, because you can have any domain that is possible to get, as long as that domain doesn''t belong to any other god." Artemis said. "Besides, there''s this feeling that . . ." "What?" Artemis waved Perseus off and without even asking him, Artemis put one hand on his shoulder and flashed both of them to the throne room of Olympus. Perseus was familiar with flashing, so he didn''t get sick like most usually do after their first try using this method of travel. The throne room was empty, by the way. Artemis marched towards the throne of her father, Perseus''s brother, and knelt down. She muttered something quietly and Perseus couldn''t make out what she said. Soon, twelve flashes entered the room. Sitting on their respective thrones were the Olympian council. All of Perseus''s siblings were here, except for Hades. Perseus mentally smirked. They hadn''t change a bit since England. "What business you have that you have summoned the council here, my daughter?" Zeus asked. "I''m here to bring you, this man, a vacant god." Artemis said. Some gasped, some muttered with each other. "What is your name?" Zeus asked. Perseus had a hard time trying to strain himself from running away. His had reminded him to be careful around his siblings, and he had kept that word in his head forever since she''d faded. Perseus didn''t answer his brother''s question. "What is your name?" Zeus repeated, slightly louder than his previous voice. "Lord Zeus is asking you a question." Poseidon said, clearly bored. It''s unfortunate that Poseidon had to be here, just because Zeus had ordered him to. Perseus also felt sorry for his other siblings, Hera and Demeter. "You''d better answer him, before you get blasted by lightning." Artemis warned. Perseus just shrugged as he remained silent. Zeus''s royal nostrils flared. "You dare to ignore my question?" Zeus bellowed. His master bolt appeared in his hand, giving out an intense electrical atmosphere. "Your rudeness is unforgivable." Again, Perseus shrugged. Artemis pulled his arm. "Are you stupid?!" Artemis whispered. "Do you have a death wish?" Perseus stayed silent. "Father, I''m sure we can talk this out." "Step aside, my daughter." Zeus warned. "But father-" Without any thinking for another second, Zeus fired the master bolt directly at Perseus, endangering Artemis in the process who was next to Perseus close enough to make her injured from the master bolt. Perseus acted fast and carried Artemis out of the way of the bolt. It hit the marble floor and a loud thunder could be heard echoing in the throne room and it sounds like its being played from a massive sound magnifier. When the smoke and bright light cleared up, where Perseus had been standing was nothing but black smears and stains on the floor as explosions had just happened. The throne room wasn''t damaged from the master bolt. Zeus had a grin on his face for one moment, but later, it disappeared as he saw Perseus carrying Zeus''s daughter, Artemis, bridal style. The other Olympians looked rather shocked not at the fact that Perseus had managed to avoid Zeus''s master bolt, but they were shocked that Artemis would let a male touch her. Perseus, knowing his limits with the maiden goddess, carefully set Artemis down and stepped away from her, keeping their distance. "How could you do that to your own child?" Perseus said with clear anger in his voice. "She''s your daughter, isn''t she? You would rather endanger your daughter just because someone won''t answer your question? Your pride has really fed you, hasn''t it?" Zeus glared at Perseus. "Know your place, immortal. You are a vacant god. Your powers are no match for mine." Zeus bellowed. Artemis was still astonished that this stranger would defend her. Artemis had b?r?ly known him, and even thought about turning him into a baboon, and yet he saved her and defended her. "Heh, know my place . . ." Perseus muttered with a slight smirk. "Know your place, Zeus. How many attempts have you done just to ensure that it is you who remains in charge?" "Do not question what I have done! I have and forever always be the King of Olympus!" Zeus roared. Thunder rumbled and lightning struck all around them. Perseus expected some of the Olympians would disagree and starts to give him an invisible slap, but they just looked at Zeus with disapproval without saying anything. "Well, good luck to all of you Olympian council under his reign." Perseus sighed. "I''m leaving." Perseus turned around, kicked the bronze doors open and walked away. "He will get a taste of my bolt!" Zeus said as he held his bolt up in the sky. Thudner rumbled and lightning flashed before the master bolt fired its lightning to the sky, looking for its prey. The lightning travelled outside and would''ve struck Perseus if it hadn''t been for Artemis. Artemis tackled Perseus out of the way before the lightning could strike him. Perseus was surprised. He was ready to counter Zeus''s bolt, but Artemis had saved him. Both of them tumbled to the ground with a grunt. Artemis untangled herself from Perseus. "That makes us even." Artemis whispered. "I hate to be indebted to a man." "I''m impressed, Artemis." Perseus said. "We''re all even, then." "Artemis!" Zeus bellowed from the throne room. "How dare you interfere his punishment?!" "He is right, father. It is not right for you to kill him just because he won''t answer your question. It''s not his fault that he does not wish to be recognized." Artemis said back. "Looks like this man''s rudeness has rubbed on you." Zeus muttered loud enough for them to hear. "So you shall die with him." Zeus said. This was getting more and more obnoxious. Zeus''s ego is biting off more than it could chew. "So? Kill her. Punish her." Perseus said, stepping in front of Artemis. "Prove us right that you would do anything so you could remain in your seat as the King of Gods. Prove us right that your ego has got the better of you." "Silence!" Zeus roared said and fired his master bolt through the door. Perseus used his power over gravity and lightened the gravity on the lightning bolt, making it weightless. The bolt diverted itself towards the sky, missing them completely. Zeus looked shocked that his master had been easily diverted. "How did you-" Artemis didn''t finish her sentence because Perseus was glaring at Zeus. "The goddess is under my protection," Perseus declared. "Should you threaten her in any ways or even touch her, I swear by the Styx that I will destroy you. Your reign as the King of Gods is over." Zeus growled at Perseus for embarrassing him in front of the council, in front of the other gods. "You will not harm Artemis and she will stay with me, where she won''t be harmed and be forced to accept all of your decisions." Perseus continued. "I claim it by the Styx that Artemis will forever be in my protection." Massive thunder boomed overhead. Everyone looked at Zeus and his eyes were widened with shock. His daughter had just been taken away from him. If someone claims anyone under their protection, no one is allowed to make any contact with that person, except if the on protecting that person gave you permission to. "Why would you do that?!" Artemis grabbed Perseus''s arm. "You know what you''ve done by protecting me? You''re endangering yourself." "It won''t be the first." Perseus shrugged. Then, he turned back to Zeus. "Artemis is under my protection. You would do well to be a good god and don''t harm her." Perseus then turned her heels and walked away, dragging Artemis along with him. Artemis didn''t know what to do, so she followed along. That started off well. Chapter End Chapter 34 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 4 - The Queens Champion Plot: Percy is betrayed by the person he trusted most. Not what you expect, you''ll see. Lost, he vanished without a trace. He returns a different man with a close relationship with the least likely goddess. No HOO...yet. What will happen when new threats rise. Will he fight? No percabeth whatsoever in this fic. Complete! Pairing: PercyxArtemis NOTE: a fluff novel.... Twelve Olympian gods and goddesses stormed into the throne room on Olympus expecting to battle the Titan Lord Kronos as he attempted to destroy their seats of powers. But when they burst into through the doors, they saw a sight no one expected. Luke Castellan, who had become the host for the Titan Lord, lay motionless on the floor, apparently dead. Percy Jackson stood above Annabeth Chase with his sword aimed at her throat. Unnoticed by the Olympians were the tears falling from his face. When Annabeth noticed the Olympians, she quickly cried out for help. "Mom, please help me. Percy is trying to kill me. He''s a traitor." Annabeth yelled sounding helpless. Before anyone could react, Athena sent a blast of energy at the son of Poseidon, knocking him off his feet. Annabeth quickly pulled out her dagger and aimed for a spot below Percy''s left armpit. Before she could stab him, a silver arrow flew through the air, impaling the daughter of Athena through the arm that held the dagger causing the dagger to go flying across the floor. "You lying bitch." Spat a hobbling teenage girl in a silver parka. Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, stood glaring at the blonde haired demigod. Athena turned to attack the girl but was met with both a master bolt and trident leveled at her face. "Enough!" Zeus bellowed. "Thalia, explain what is going on." Zeus ordered in an agitated tone. "First, you must restrain Annabeth. She is a traitor and will kill Percy first chance she gets." Thalia said gesturing to the semi-conscious Percy Jackson on the throne room floor. "You lie. We clearly saw Jackson trying to kill my daughter." Athena hissed. "Silence!" Zeus yelled. "Ares, detain the girl. Apollo, tend to Jackson." Zeus barked before gesturing for Thalia to continue. Ares snapped his fingers and Annabeth was bound in celestial bronze shackles, while Apollo checked on Percy who was starting to regain his senses. "Annabeth, Percy and I were on our way to the throne room following Kronos. Outside the door, a statue of Hera fell and landed on my leg. Percy tried to help me, but Annabeth dragged him into the throne room saying there was no time. As I struggled to free myself, I could hear Percy battling the Titan Lord. I managed to get free and dragged myself to the throne room doors just in time to see Annabeth sneak up behind Percy and stab him in the lower back. When the blade bounced off, Annabeth seemed shocked. I heard her say that that was where his Achilles'' spot was to Kronos or Luke. Percy whirled around and stabbed Luke in his side, a strike that somehow found Luke''s Achilles'' spot. Annabeth then began attacking Percy, screaming about him killing the love of her life. Percy quickly disarmed her and had his sword at her throat. When Annabeth asked what he was waiting for, Percy told her that her fate wasn''t his to decide. Percy said it would be up to the gods to decide what to do with her." Thalia explained out of breath as Apollo made his way to her to heal her leg. "How do we know you''re telling the truth?" Athena snapped at Thalia. Thalia glared at the goddess before speaking, "I swear on the River Styx that every word I just told the gods was true." Thalia said still glaring at the Goddess of Wisdom. Thunder rumbled loudly and the gods turned to look at Annabeth with looks of rage while she cowered in her shackles. Percy managed to get to his feet and stumbled his way toward Thalia, who was now able to stand after Apollo had worked on her leg. As soon as he reached her, he hugged her tightly, whispering thank you, as tears still fell from his eyes. Thalia, who was also crying, hugged her cousin back just as tightly. Both Percy and Thalia sat near the hearth as the Olympians repaired the damage to their thrones and the throne room. Annabeth was proven a traitor and sentenced to Tartarus after her memories were searched and the gods saw she had been a traitor since the beginning with Luke. Once the throne room was repaired, the gods brought all the surviving demigods from the war, along with all the Cyclops and nature spirits who fought, inside the throne room for the reward ceremony. As Zeus droned on and on about the bravery of the gods, Percy comforted his cousin as she continued to cry about the betrayal of their best friend. The same girl, who up until an hour prior, Percy had been hopelessly in love with. He, along with just about everyone else, thought she felt the same way. Apparently it had all been and act and now Percy was at a total loss for answers. His face slowly morphed into one with a look of hopelessness. His eyes lost their mirth and light, becoming lifeless and lost. Percy was snapped back to attention when the gods began to talk about the demigods. Hestia, who was sitting with both Percy and Thalia, gestured for the pair to go forward to hear what Zeus had to say. Zeus called for Percy''s Cyclops half-bother Tyson to come forward. Zeus appointed Tyson a general in the armies of Olympus; the leader of the Cyclops Army in times of war required by the gods. When Zeus offered Tyson a weapon of his choice, Tyson chose a stick. Most chuckled at the request but Percy just stared blankly ahead. After Tyson, Grover was appointed a new Lord of the Wild and given a place on the Council of Cloven Elders, to which he fainted after being told. Next was Thalia. She was promised help in filling the Hunter''s ranks and was complimented by both her father Zeus and mistress Artemis. "Percy Jackson!" Poseidon bellowed, as his voice quickly hushed all talking. Percy walked forward, bowing to Zeus first, before kneeling in front of his father''s feet. Everyone stared at Percy who kept his head down, face emotionless. "Rise, my son." Poseidon said. Percy rose to his feet, his facial features never wavering. "A great hero must be rewarded," Poseidon said. "Is there anyone here who would deny that my son is deserving?" The question was met with silence. "The council agrees," Zeus said. "Percy Jackson, you will have one gift from the gods." Percy looked up slowly, "Anything?" Zeus nodded grimly, "I know what you will ask, the greatest gift of all. Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on any mortal hero in many centuries, but, Perseus Jackson¡ªif you wish it¡ªyou shall be made a god. You shall serve as your father''s lieutenant for all time." Percy didn''t hesitate. "No thank you Lord Zeus." He said emotionlessly. "No." Zeus growled. "You are turning down our generous offer?" "I understand it is unexpected my Lord. But I would like a gift. Do you promise to grant my wish?" Percy asked calmly. Zeus eyed him warily, "If it is within our power." "It is, and it''s less difficult than making me a god. But I need your word on the River Styx." Percy added. "What?" Dionysus cried. "You don''t trust us?" Percy turned and looked at Hades, "Someone once told me to always get a solemn oath." Hades smirked, "Guilty." "Fine," Zeus growled. "In the name of the council, we swear by the River Styx to grant your reasonable request, as long as it is within the power of the gods." Thunder boomed outside. "Honestly Lord Zeus, I need some more time in the mortal world. Everything I thought I knew turned out to be a lie. While I''d like to be immortal, I''d rather avoid being bound by ancient laws. The first part of my wish is to be granted partial immortality like the Hunters of Artemis. I would also like cabins to be built at Camp Half Blood for all gods, both major and minor. I think my cousin Nico has proven himself to be more than worthy to have his own cabin." Percy started before he was interrupted. "Are you calling me a minor god, Jackson?" Hades yelled. Surprisingly, Percy smirked, "No Uncle. I just wanted to make sure Nico got his own cabin. I''m not quite done yet." Hades'' eyes widened before narrowing at Percy, waiting for him to continue. "I want the minor gods who joined the Titans to be pardoned just this once. I want the peaceful Titans like Calypso and Leto to be freed from their prisons. And lastly, I would like both my Uncle Hades and Aunt Hestia to have their thrones returned to them. That is my wish." Percy finished before returning to his position kneeling in front of his father. Zeus snorted, "Is that all?" "Percy," his father said, "you ask a lot." "I hold you to your oath, all of you." Percy said calmly. The council was silent. Percy looked up to see a number of different looks. Some looked angry but others confused. Percy caught the silvery eyes of Artemis boring into him. He couldn''t tell what she was thinking but Percy looked away, deciding being a jackelope was not worth finding out. "You wish for immortality, but freedom from the ancient laws. You could become a dangerous enemy over time should your loyalties ever change." Zeus said with narrowed eyes. Percy stood from his spot at his father''s feet and calmly walked in front of Zeus'' throne where he knelt. "I, Perseus Achilles Jackson, swear by the River Styx to stay forever loyal to Olympus and to fight to defend it should the need arise from another threat." Percy stated seriously. Thunder boomed again, sealing the oath. The Olympians looked at Percy with shock now, except Athena. She was still fuming about her daughter being a traitor. She still hated Percy but she was mostly embarrassed her daughter had been a traitor right under her nose for years. Zeus'' anger seemed to diminish rather quickly after Percy''s oath. He was angry about being told what to do but now had an extremely powerful demigod at his disposal and decided that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. "Very well Perseus. We the council shall grant your wish." Zeus thundered as two new thrones rose at the end of the rows of thrones. Hades'' looked at Percy oddly before giving a grudging nod of appreciation. Hestia walked up to Percy and hugged him tightly. She leaned down to his ear, "Thank you Perseus. If you ever need help, come to hearth and I will be there for you." She whispered before planting a kiss on his cheek and walking to her new throne. Percy''s face broke into the smallest of smiles for a second before the pain of betrayal wiped it from his face again. Percy returned to his position kneeling in front of Zeus, waiting to be dismissed. "Artemis, please come here, daughter." Zeus announced. Artemis narrowed her eyes a bit but got up from her throne and strode over to where Percy was standing. "It would be easiest if you could just give Perseus the same immortality as your hunters." Zeus asked. Artemis nodded and touched Percy''s shoulder, causing him to glow silver for a second before it vanished. "Thank you, Lady Artemis." Percy said politely. Artemis stared at Percy for a moment before giving him a nod and returning to her throne. "I believe this ceremony is now complete. New cabins will be built at Camp Half Blood and the peaceful Titans shall be released as soon as possible. Now, we shall celebrate our victory with a party on Olympus." Zeus thundered. Apollo, Dionysus and Hermes all smiled and vanished. When the first person opened the throne room doors, they were greeted with a massive courtyard filled with food and wine. Music was playing and a dance floor was set up. People began exiting the throne room and heading to the party. Percy hung back waiting for people to clear out so he could slip out without being noticed. He already had plans on how he wanted to spend the foreseeable future. When everyone was gone, Percy made to sneak off through a side room to escape the party. But when he turned, he saw Hera glaring at him from her throne. Percy tensed a bit but then surprisingly made his way over to her throne and bowed. "Lady Hera, I was wondering if I could please have a moment of your time." Percy asked quietly. Hera narrowed her eyes at Percy but gave him a slight nod. "I just wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you last year after the quest in the Labyrinth. I didn''t actually agree with what she said to you but I was na?ve and stupid. I was trying to direct your anger toward me instead of her. I am sorry for what I said." Percy explained. He bowed and turned to leave but was stopped when Hera spoke. "Wait, Perseus." Hera called. Percy turned back and looked up at Hera, half expecting to get incinerated. "I believe you are trying to avoid the celebration, correct?" Hera asked. Percy nodded warily. "Well, I will help you. Thank you for your apology. While I was angry, I understand your reasons." Hera said with a small smile before she snapped her fingers and Percy vanished. Percy reappeared inside an empty Camp Half- Blood. Percy felt relieved knowing he wouldn''t have to deal with anyone seeing him leave. He quickly went into the Poseidon cabin and gathered clothes, money, drachmas, weapons and supplies. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a short letter addressed to Chiron. Percy left his cabin and walked into the dining pavilion where he convinced a few nymphs to give him some food for travel. Percy walked over to the brazier and dropped a couple pieces of his food into the fire. "For Lady Hera. Thank you for getting me off Olympus." Percy muttered before jogging off to the big house where he left the note for Chiron. Percy looked over the camp one last time before he made his way up Half Blood Hill. After petting Peleus, Percy turned his back on his home for the past four years, unsure when or if he would see it again. Line Break The next morning when Chiron returned to Camp Half Blood with the demigods, he was greeted with a letter that sent a pang of pain through his heart. Dear Chiron, I am letting you know I won''t be staying at camp for a while. After everything that happened yesterday, I have decided to spend some time traveling. I need some time to sort through my emotions. Please don''t think I am angry with you or anyone. You are like a father to me, and the campers like my brothers and sisters. I just need some time to myself. Please don''t search for me. I will return when I have figured things out. Thank you for everything Chiron, and please tell the campers I am sorry. Thank you, Percy Jackson. Chapter End Chapter 35 - Highschool DxD Fan-fiction 1 - Highschool DxD Awakening Plot: A hunter who has battled against many devils will soon to become one of them, a hunter named Rayne must become a devil in order to seek revenge on the one who killed his family, siding with Rias and his group he is force to side with his enemy in order to get stronger. He must unleash his power but needs Rias and the others help to do so. Pairing: OCxRias Red like blood covering a battlefield all the time, fire fights and skirmishes always involve with blood covering the whole ground around those who have fallen. Once blood spills then Death shall come forth to reap those who have fallen in action, this fight has become the change of a new beginning. Midnight where the moon shines upon this park however it shines in red as a fight had ended between two people but only one made it out of there. Dead corpses of Stray Devils on the ground with a few bullet holes through these four monsters on the ground letting their blood cover the dirt and grass, even the fountain that is nearby was red instead of clean water, only one human got caught in the crossfire while the other was the one who fought against these Stray Devils but didn''t seem to work out well for him. A young man named Rayne who looks like he''s eighteen years old, he has red spiky hair and green eyes, wearing a gray shirt with writing on it named Adversity, a kite shield on the middle of the shirt that is suppose to have an A on it and had griffon heads at the top of that shield facing the other ways of one another, he had a hole through his ?h?st removing the middle of the kite shield. He wears a black jacket with white lines over the ?h?st and the arms of it and black pants with a white chain attach on the right side of him. Rayne lies there in the middle facing the sky with his eyes opened and pretty much dead around the dead Devils. He just remains where he was feeling he is close to death. Before he could even get there someone else was nearby as he can hear footsteps of someone who wears red heel shoes, slowly walking over to Rayne until she stops nearby looking at him, arms crossed looking down at him. Rias stands there looking down at him wearing her Kuoh academy uniform. "So Rayne... will you accept that wish i gave you?" "..." He just remains there slowly looking at her. "I will take that as a yes." She said then her devil wings spread behind her and she started to glow underneath her as this strange red symbol appears underneath her, making her body glow in front of Rayne and then so ends his life forever. Twenty four hours earlier... A motorcyclist come riding through not wearing proper clothing only wearing the helmet covering his face, Rayne who just got the new version of his motorcycle and got it blue with a white stripe on both sides. He rides past the academy where he will soon join it but not right now, he goes out to somewhere else however he wasn''t the only one on this bike. Another person sits behind him who is a girl and had her arms wrapped around it, her name is Yuuma and only wears her normal clothes with a pink coat and a white shirt showing her cleavage, black skirt and covered her black hair with a helmet. The problem now is since she has a skirt on and since Rayne is going fast her skirt goes up showing her pink und?rw??r making her blush knowing her und?rw??r is showing making her hold him tighter but soon Rayne is force to stop so he can take a break from this by stopping to a nearby restaurant. He took off his helmet showing his flat red hair, he places his helmet on the front of the bike and looks at Yuuma "You okay Yuuma... didn''t think you would be afraid of riding." She took her helmet off shaking her head fixing her hair before looking at Rayne noticing Yuuma is blushing. "Hey my und?rw??r was showing..." She whispers and looks around before continuing "I don''t want everyone to look at me while I''m riding with you." He slightly laughs and started to move his hand through his hair to mess it up again "Yeah well... your fault for wearing a skirt." "..." She gives him the helmet and walks in the restaurant "You''re paying for the food." He lets a deep sighs and takes both the helmets inside. "Way to go Rayne..." Before he could go through the door he looks out seeing someone standing nearby. He looks over seeing a man leaning against the fence wearing a white plain shirt and a brown trench coat covering his eyes with his glasses and had black pants on. "I guess it''s almost time..." He said to himself seeing him nod then walks off. He looks at the door and goes through to have a normal date with her before he is force to take his leave with her. The two only had a time together eating deserts having a milkshake, once they finish their milkshakes they went back outside and Rayne started to ride back home taking her to her place before he goes to his place, it was night and before they go in there she grabs his hand and takes off her helmet. "So you''re heading out again?" "Another job... but i will come back when this is done, i always come back for you." She smiles and moves her hand to the side of his face "Looking forward to it." She gives him a kiss and he kisses her back placing his hand over her waist. After that he took his leave and heads back to his apartment, took a while but finally got there in time, going inside the place and heading through three stairways to reach to his room. Inside didn''t really have much of a place for him it only had a few boxes around and an old ?h?st with unknown items, bedroom and kitchen along with a bathroom, two windows and the walls are very dark he only had two lights in here that are usable. Rayne went inside the room and closes the door, placing the two helmets next to the door and walks over to the middle taking his jacket off and placing it over a box and walks over to the ?h?st. Inside this ?h?st lies weapons like two guns with markings all over it, a gun that is a 1911 silver colt and a couple of knifes and a long sword that doesn''t have a guard on it. Rayne looks over to the window and hears his door knocking; he quickly closes the ?h?st and walks over to open the door knowing who it is. His partner named Gabriel who looks like he''s forty years old or more older than that, he stands there wearing the clothes he met at that place he was, he turns back and walks back letting him walk in looking at the place he''s living. "Nice place... but you may need a better apartment." "How can i?" Rayne said walking to the ?h?st and sits on it "We travel around alot and i can''t afford my place yet... the only thing that is alright in my life is my girlfriend Yuuma." "Yeah i was about to say something about that..." He takes a few steps forward "You need to cut her loose." "Why?" He leans back "Because we kill things that can''t really be explained? We hunt Devils Gabriel... Devils!" "Yeah i know... i trained for fifteen years Rayne to become a hunter you are now. Look at you now man." He aims his arms at him aiming at his ?h?st "Yuuma maybe the girl you like and have been spending times with her but if you don''t let her go she will find out and she will think you''re insane." He stands up and walks closer to him ''Hey i have been with her for two weeks now Gabriel! I am not going to lose someone else to this bullshit!" he walks past him and about to head out of the room. "Rayne!" He turns his head back "One thing... you got to go to that academy... i know you don''t like it but since were staying here for a few months you should at least learn something instead of killing things." He turns his body around and walks out of the room first. "Your uniform is in one of these boxes." He said before he leaves. He lets a deep sighs and closes the door not leaving the room then looks back at the room looking at the boxes and opens up seeing the uniform. "I... can''t believe i have to wear this..." He sighs yet again The next day in the morning Rayne got on his bike and made it to the academy with his uniform while his normal clothes and weapons are left at home. He looks out at the school seeing freshmen walking to the place he lets a deep sighs and takes off his helmet, fixing his hair to make it spiky then got off his bike and heads inside for school. He wonders around before the classes are in session he keeps walking through the corridors until he got off guard and got bumped by someone. Rayne looks back at the one who bumped him seeing three guys with him. "Watch it!" Then he keeps walking but he started to hear some people running past him heading somewhere urgent but when he looks back seeing more guys running over to an opened door seeing someone coming out of the room. Akeno Himejima walks out of the door looking at the guys around the door, she smiles looking at them. "Hello again guys.." She slightly laughs and walks off. Rayne sighs "Unbelievable..." He was about to walk but he bumped into another person "Oh great! ¨C" he stops and looks at another beautiful woman who is friends with Akeno, Rias Gremory is the one he bumped into. "Uhm... hey..." "Hello." She nods to him then walks past him rejoining with Akeno. Rayne looks back watching her walking off and started to hear some people gossiping behind him, girls together near Rayne by the windows and the stairs. "That''s Rias Gremory... she''s so beautiful like she always has..." "Yeah and even Akeno... wish i was like her..." Rayne looks at the two walking off "Now i know who the popular people are." He looks back then keeps walking. Just a normal day at the academy Rayne was stuck in a class nearly everyone there is new but he was in the same class as Rias since she couldn''t go in the same class with her friends so she stayed here, heading to the back row where Rayne is who is sitting in the right corner, she sits next to him and turns her eyes to him for the moment having these strange eyes to Rayne for the moment not saying anything then started to listen to the teacher. Later on after the academy ended Rayne returns to his bike and sits on it putting on his bike and was about to put on his helmet but got delayed when he looks to the side seeing some woman standing there. "Here..." She lends a paper to him "Gift for someone." "What?" "Just please take this." She smiles at him He slowly takes it and looks at it showing this strange symbol on it and some sort of ''make a wish'', he looks back to her and she walks off he remains silent and shrugs so he places it in his pocket and puts on his helmet and gets out of there. Someone else was there but was far away standing by the windows in the academy looking out seeing Rayne putting on his helmet and starting his bike. Rias turns her head to someone else in the room. "There already here... tell the others." Rayne rides out to go to another church nearby where he and his partner Gabriel will be meeting together, he doesn''t return to the apartment to get his weapons because he will use the ones Gabriel has. Took fifteen minutes to get to this church and he parts at the front of it, taking off his helmet and fixing his hair before turning it off and heading inside where it''s just him and Gabriel. Gabriel stands at the front looking at the large cross above him near the altar. He turns back, looking at Rayne. "Glad your here on time." He walks over to him "I am here right... now what''s going on?" "More of these monsters... Devils are located at a park near here. I''m going to clear them out." "You''re going to clear them out... without me?" He sighs and turns his head to the side "Rayne..." He looks back to him "Hey i haven''t killed any of these Devils for almost a few weeks now... pretty much ever since i dated Yuuma and..." He turns his head to the side seeing a girl coming out of the room; she covered her long hair and had a shy look. "This is Asia." Gabriel said and walks over to her "You need to look after her. An angel will come to get her and i don''t want any Devils getting their hands on her." "Why not?" "Because she has healing abilities that''s what." He places his hand on her shoulder ''Just... protect her until i come back, then maybe we can go on a hunt together for more devils." He sighs yet again "You better give me your word Gabriel... i don''t like being pushed to the side." Gabriel walks over to him "And i thought you wanted to have a life with someone... guess you still want revenge huh." He remains silent after that looking away for the moment. "Once this mission is done we can continue as planned. I will be back in a few hours." He walks past him about to head out the door. Rayne looks back "Return back you hear me?" He said to him before he walks out that door "Don''t die on me." He keeps walking and moves his hand to the side giving him the thumbs up, after that Rayne looks back looking at Asia and stays here with her until this angel arrives since this isn''t the first time Rayne and Gabriel made deals with angels about people like her although this is the first time Rayne will get to see an angel for the first time. While Gabriel heads out to deal with Stray Devils in the park at night Rayne sits down on one of the benches in the church looking at Asia who is on her knees looking up and praying for protection in this holy church, Rayne would just sit there and leans back on his seat looking up at the cross and a few statues around the area not thinking about joining in. Asia gets up off the floor and stops praying, she looks back to Rayne "Do you want to join?" "I''ll pass thanks..." She walks over to him and sits next to him. "Is this your first time seeing an angel? It''s my first time too." "Glad you like it... although i don''t think this angel will look any good from what the bible talks about them." "Hmmnn..." She looks down at his hands seeing him wearing a black and silver ring with a skull on it with red eyes "I... like your ring..." He looks at her for the moment not saying anything then looks down at it moving his finger over it. "Is that a problem in here?" "Oh no..." She moves back waving her hands forward "Just a conversation..." "Well if you must know... my older brother gave me this ring." "That''s nice... is he a hunter like you?" "..." He remains silent once she said that he looks forward and stays silent for the time being until finally. "My brother is dead." "Oh... i am sorry... i guess your parents a ¨C" "There dead as well... everyone in my family is gone except for me..." "I am... sorry so sorry..." "It''s fine... the only family i have now is Gabriel, i do have a girlfriend and she is pretty much giving me life in this world. Right now i just keep going and keep doing what i do best, killing these Devils." "But... why would you kill any Devils?" "Because they ¨C" A window behind them that was above the front door shatters to pieces making Rayne and Asia jump off their seats and looks back, Rayne quickly looks over seeing someone coming out of the window and smacking hard on the floor. "... Gabriel!" Gabriel lies there with cuts and stab wounds on his ?h?st, arms and face but he had these deep cuts on the side of his face like they were clawed there. Rayne runs over while Asia remains where she is and Rayne tries to check his pulse but it was too late, Gabriel is dead. Rayne quickly looks back over to Asia "Heal him quickly!" "But... i... can''t..." Rayne gets up and walks over to her in an angry look "What do you mean you can''t?!" "I can''t bring people back to life... i am sorry..." "Damn it!" He turns back and walks back to Gabriel, he goes on his knees looking down at him. "Gabriel you son of a bitch... you shouldn''t have went out there without a partner... damn you..." "Rayne... the angels are coming they can help us." Asia said He looks back to her but doesn''t say anything then looks back to Gabriel and moves his hand through his coat to see if he has a gun and he does, he holds a silver handgun that is a 1911 colt with strange runes over it. He loads it and gets ready to move out by placing the gun at the back of his waist placing it through his pants. He looks back to her "Stay here... the angels will come soon." "What are you doing?'' "I''m heading out there, going to finish the job. Lock the door when i leave Asia..." He starts walking out of there "This is the last time we meet Asia, nice talking to you." He starts running out of there heading towards his bike and gets ready to ride out of here heading to the location where Gabriel was killed, although he did started to wonder how come his body crashed here since the park was miles away, no way a Devil would just do that unless they want him there but he will go anyway. Rayne gets there when the sun is almost down and waits for a while before he goes in, he checks his handgun then gets off his bike and leaves it there and heads through the park walking along the path until he reaches the site where Gabriel fought. Rayne keeps going holding his gun and has this serious look he hasn''t had before, he keeps going holding that gun with two hands to it in front of him aiming it at the ground until he found the fountain where he will find blood on the ground but no bodies or anyone around it was a ghost town but in a park. Rayne moves his gun to the side of himself as he looks around but before he tries to take a step back he started to hear something, some strange roar would occur behind the fountain and when Rayne walks around the fountain he finds something, a Stray Devil devouring an innocent civilian who got at the wrong place at the wrong time. This monster looks small and gray looking, long arms that can reach its knees, the creature stops eating that woman and turns its head back showing this large mouth with sharp bloodied teeth and no eyes whatsoever only ears that could hear and use for sight. "You''re not the one I''m looking for." He aims his gun at the creature hearing it screech out loud and quickly fires landing two bullet shots to the head and one more to the ?h?st sending it falling back on the ground. Those bullet shots had this red strange thing on the bullets and every time when that gun is fired anyone can see a red line where the bullet goes to and those bullet holes started to have this red veins around the wounds. Blood spills out of the creature but it isn''t over yet as he can hear more of these screeches nearby probably four more are coming, he walks back and stays away from the fountain and notices the sun is down and will be hard for him to shoot through the trees to get his targets to a fatal kill. "Come on you sons of bitches..." He mumbles to himself "I''m waiting for someone else..." He can hear a screech to the left of him he quickly looks over and fires two shots in the darkness making a one hit on the creature as it runs around, Rayne runs forward then looks back hearing the creature he looks back and fires taking the creature with a headshot and sending it falling in the fountain letting the blood flow through the water turning it all into black. He looks back and another one is nearby behind him he quickly fires three shots at it taking that creature out when it tries to charge at him but failed, letting it fall to the ground in front of him. Two more come from the shadows on his right he quickly looks out and starts shooting six times hitting the trees and missing them when they run around, he keeps shooting at one of them and manage to get a shot to the leg letting it fall to the ground but still alive. Rayne moves backwards and looks to the side seeing the fourth creature just in time but when it swung its arm it manage to cut his right arm when he backed off, he quickly moves his gun to his left hand and starts shooting at the creature almost five times as it charges again swinging both arms at him, once that Stray Devil is dead he quickly looks back at the wounded one and suddenly he got himself tackled to the ground by it, letting it fall on top of him he starts shooting four times to the ?h?st until it dies causing the creature to fall on top of him letting the blood spill over his ?h?st. Rayne slowly pushed the Stray Devil off of him and pushes it to the ground, slowly getting up off the ground turning his back to the fountain as someone stood there. Rayne looks down at his bloodied shirt and holds his gun with one hand but when he looks forward he can tell someone stands behind him, Rayne quickly turns back aiming his gun at someone seeing a person with black wings who is Raynare. "Hello Rayne..." She smiles at him and crosses her arms underneath her br??sts. "An angel..." He lowers his gun "I am sorry Rayne... but i have to do this..." "Do what... bring the Stray Devils here?" She shakes her head and still smiles at him then she moves her arms down and quickly summons an angel spear in front of them, showing this purple energy spear she quickly throws it towards him before he had a chance to react. That spear impales through his ?h?st sending him taking a few steps back, eyes widen and gasp, slowly looking down at the spear then falls on his knees looking back to Raynare. "Nice knowing you Rayne... you and Gabriel have been doing a good job... but you two needed to be taken care of." She walks over to him. Rayne just remains silent due to coughing out blood and when the spear vanishes, more blood gusts out of his body, he looks down coughing blood and Raynare would kick him to the ?h?st pushing him back and sending him to the ground. "Farewell Rayne..." She takes flight and flies out of there heading to the clouds so no one can see her, leaving Rayne where he is. He just lies there on the ground with a hole through his ?h?st looking up at the skies with his eyes open. "This is it..." He said in his mind as he couldn''t do anything else. "After everything... i.. Have done... it ends here..." He started to see flashbacks of the ones who were close to him. "Gabriel... Yuuma... my family... i have failed you all. All i wanted to do is... to avenge you all from him..." Rayne could hear someone walking towards him from behind hearing the echo of those heels of a woman walking towards this bloody mess, it was Rias coming towards him walking nearby and standing next to him looking down at him having the same look when she met him for the first time. "Is that a wish?" She asked looking at him but he was pretty much out of it "Then i will take that as a yes." She started to glow in this red energy as some red symbol appears underneath her, the same one that is on that paper he got from before. "Stay alive Rayne... your journey has just begun." Chapter End Chapter 36 - High school DxD 2 - The Dragonic-Wolf Prince Plot: Okami Sora starts his new life at school, only to find out that it will change the course of history. He reincarnates into a devil but into two peerages which is unheard of. Holder of a lost Longinus and an Unknown Sacred gear. Pairing: OCxHarem. Name: Okami Sora (Wolf Prince) Age: 17 (High School Second Year) Height: 6ft 1in Appearance: Slim Muscular build. Weight: 170 lbs Hair: Medium length messy silver hair. Eyes: Brown (Left eye turns blue when activating Evolutio). Abilities: Improved Flight(Due to Evolutio, Sora can fly higher, faster and can dodge better than the three races), Magic expert, cooking, singing, Overlimit and Artes(Tales series). Overlimit: Like in the Tales series, it will be the only way to perform a Mystic arte but it can only be used once per day and has a time limit of an hour other functions are the same. Balance breaker will improve functionality of Overlimit. Overlimit will cause a Gold over glow to appear on Sora Fighting Style - Human/Devil: Short range: Martial Arts and Sword(Artes and Mystic artes will also be performed) Mid-long range: Sword artes and magic, depending on the Opponent. - Wolf: Short range: Elemental Bites and scratches(Comparable to Pokemon moves) Mid-long range: Magic. Sword: Brutal Fang - Blade shaped like a katana and looks to be eaten by a wolf''s head(The hilt). The grip and the pommel are shaped into each other to look like a wolf''s tail. The scabbard will be fully grey with a black line running down it, the locket will clip into the mouth of the wolf to hold it in place and the chape won''t be there so the point of the sword pokes out. Brutal fang can also be enchanted with the same magic that can be used in wolf form. Sacred Gear: Evolutio, Triumphant Wall(Zirnitra, Black Titan Dragon). Evolutio: Ability to transform into any animal Sora has sufficient knowledge about, as well as the ability to change the colours of his clothes, Sacred gears, armour and hair accordingly. Also able to use his sacred gears while transformed but not till later. Allows the user to speak to animals in human form and also pulls in animals towards him. Wolf form: Sora''s favourite animal and transformation This heightens his senses and speed. His magic and elemental attacks are slightly changed due to the difference in fighting style. Taller than a normal wolf, if in trouble it allows the user to create multiple clones to attack and defend. Gains a power-up in all physical attributes at night or in a dark place. Balance breaker will also be able to be performed in wolf form but the functionality will not be complete and will only be able to form on his legs and create a dragon helm. Wolf form as a plus for Sora can also be a minus, it can be unpredictable at times and cause Sora to be in that form for days at a time but it''s a rare occurrence. Due to this, his personality becomes more dog like and makes him want to go for walks. Triumphant Wall: Zirnitra is a black dragon and also a Slavonic god of Sorcery. This does nothing to strengthen Sora''s magic but it does increase the diversity of magic he can use such as illusion magic, Alchemy and also Conjuration magic as well as allow him to perform an ultimate magic attack. As Sora gets stronger, he can use trick room and eventually gains more functions to trick his opponents. Trick room will affect fighting style and what is seen through the enemies eyes. Zirnitra''s standard form is in the shape of two Pitch black Gauntlets with a purple jewel in the palm of each gauntlet. Forms a indestructible physical wall in front of Sora when he guard, in balance breaker, Sora can see through the wall and hit his opponent whilst behind it. Family: Adoptive Father - Gofannon, descendant of the Welsh Blacksmith. Both mother and father are unknown. Friends: Local wildlife until turned into a devil. Personality: Lone wolf, Constantly in thought(Normally talking to Zirnitra), Protective, Brave, smart, loyal. Dislikes: Anyone who harms his master(s), anyone who performs an ill act or says something bad about his master(s), Wearing Glasses. History: At the age of 4, Sora was found outside a coal mine in the Welsh mountains by Gofannon. Gofannon and Sora lived in Wales till the age of 13, where his life consisted of helping his ''father'' with his blacksmithing. They then moved to Japan to start anew, this was when his Sacred gears awakened. Every year, Sora and Gofannon challenge each other to see who can create the better sword, which due to his dismay, Sora loses everytime. At the age of 15, Sora ?ssisted in taking down multiple armed robbers with his b?r? hands, and he was rewarded by being allowed to carry his sword with him when he is out in public. Since then, Sora has been going around the neighboring towns, like a watchdog taking down robbers and gangs. On his 17th birthday, he transferred into Kuoh academy. This being his first time in school and where his new life begins. "Ughh .. Zirnitra, Do we really have to train today? I mean i got my first school day today." I complained. { You will get lazy if you miss a day, brat} Exclaimed Zirnitra whilst blowing smoke at Sora. Training carried on for what felt like hours despite all my whining. A faint voice comes from the shadows "Oi Sora, get your ?ss out of bed" {Hmph ... I guess it''s time we stopped} said Zirnitra. "You don''t think" i replied angrily. I woke up to the sun blaring through the windows, First time in 3 years waking up before 11 feels like hell. {Do you really have any memory at all of your parents?} asked the dragon quizzically. Whilst changing into my new uniform, i replied slightly irritated "How many times are you gonna ask that? All i know is that i was left outside the mine with a collar saying my name is Sora and plus you can see my memories anyway, why don''t you go and rummage around and see if you can find anything for me" As i expected, there was no response from the dragon. I quickly jump down the stairs and rush into the kitchen to eat my breakfast. "You got everything ready kiddo?" asked Gofannon. "Yeah pops, Just need to take my sword and guitar and i''ll be ready to go" i answered. "Alright kid, remember to stay after school to check out the clubs" Laughed the old man. I retaliated by growling then picked up my sword and guitar then left. Slowly strolling the long path to school, i overhear people recognizing me from the news some of them even stopping to stare. {Hahahaha ... Kid, you''re bloody famous} chuckled the dragon. ''It''s not like i want to be, the only good thing i got out of saving those people was being able to take my sword wherever i go'' i mentally replied whilst giving Brutal fang a look over. I finally arrived at my new school, Kuoh academy, it''s a lot bigger than i thought it would be, it all felt overwhelming plus there is too many people and a huge majority are staring. I don''t know if its the sword or because i''m new. Either way i stood out whether i wanted to and not and with my personality its not what i want. Walking through the hordes of people was like hell, bombarded by people who recognized me and barged into by 3 kids who i later found out to be ''The perverted trio''. They make me shudder just thinking about them. Walking round the school asking for directions as i go, i arrive at my destination the student council room. I knock and find the door open as i knock. I walk through the open doors to see a girl and boy talking, quickly stopping as they notice my entry. "Hello, my name is Okami Sora and i''ve just transferred today and was told to come here about my class arrangements" The girl pipes up" Ahh .. So you are the new kid, I''m the student council president, Shitori Souna, and this boy is the secretary, Saji Genishirou" as she finishes the boy waves. "Hello Kaichou, Saji." i said as i bowed. The president replied "Nice to meet you too, wolf prince. Saji here will take you to your class, 2-C, he will be your classmate" Saji walks to the door and ushers me out, just before i leave i reply " Thanks Kaichou". As Saji walks me to our class he asks "You are pretty rude, don''t you think?" Confused i answer "Huh, How so?" Saji turns around and quietly shouts "She is the president, You have to be more polite to her." " Oh sorry ... Umm after classes could you please bring me back to apologize" i replied apologetically. I breath in and out trying to calm my nerves as i hear the teacher shout out to me telling me to come in, as i walk in everyones eyes are on me, it''s extremely uncomfortable. I hear the girls talking about me calling me handsome and that i have pretty eyes, i shrug it off because to be brutally honest i couldnt care if they find me attractive. As i stop next to the teacher in front of the board, The teacher talks "Class, this here is our new student. Okami Sora, he''s never been to school before so if he ever looks like he is in trouble please help him out and for those who dont recognize him, he is the kid who saved 10 citizens from multiple armed robbers a few years back." I waved as soon as my name was said but frowned as soon as he said about my fight with the robbers. "Okay, so your seat will be at the back next to Kiba, ok?" I nodded as i made my way to the back of the class and sat down quietly without reacting to anyone looking my way. School then droned on for the next 5-6 hours, i''m not too sure slept through most of it. Teacher told me off once for it as well but he didnt say anything to me again after i scowled at him. My breaks were spent just playing my guitar on the roof, not feeling comfortable enough to sing. As class ends, Saji comes over to me to remind me about apologizing and i get up to follow him. The corridors are surprisingly barren as i walk back to the student council room. We quickly walk in as the student council''s attention all drops on me and i nervously speak up "Umm .. Kaichou, Saji pointed out to me that i had been disrespectful in how i spoke to you, so i''m here to say sorry for how i spoke to you and i also forgot to say nice to meet you and ask you to take care of me whilst i''m at this school" Kaichou nods and i turn around to walk out and i gingerly close the doors after me and make my way home. "I guess i''ll walk through the park back home tonight, i''ll have to be cautious though the birds have been a bit restless lately." The remaining student looked at me weirdly when i mentioned the birds. As i stroll through the park, i feel an unusual aura and i turn around to see some kind of monster, the top half was that of a woman and the bottom looked similar to a horse with bear feet. "Hello there sweety, you are looking pretty ripe. I hope you don''t mind me eating you." The monster, says. As i unsheathe Brutal fang, I notice two different circles appear to my right. As some people appear in the circles, i cut an ''X'' into the air. The people across from me looked confused at my random swings. As i punched the imaginery ''X'' i shouted "Frigid Blast" and a frozen ''X'' appears from where i punched the air and cut the monster in half and froze the four pieces. I turned around to remember some of the faces. "Hey there, Kaichou" i shout across to them as they stand in awe. I tilt my head to the head and ask "What''s up? Was that thing meant to be strong?" The first to answer is a new person, who has alluring red hair " Supposedly, she was meant to be borderline S class." This red haired girl and Kaichou looked at each other then rushed over to me and held my hands and asked simultaneously "Will you join my Peerage?" I drop my sword in confusion and quietly asked " ... Huh?" Zirnitra appears in the form of two gauntlets and speaks up for everyone to hear {This is Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, They are both Devils. The ones i spoke to you about.} I put my hand on my chin whilst the two stare into my eyes not believing what happened and looked even more dumbstruck when i said "How about i join both your peerages? That''s possible, right Zirnitra?" Zirnitra answers {Yeah but they have to be different pieces because one will be rejected.} Before the girls could argue, i said "The only way to have me in your peerage is for me to be in both otherwise i''m not going to join at all." The girls look at each other again and nod before Sona asks me "Well then, how do we reincarnate him then seen as we have to recite a phrase?" {The only way is to recite the phrase at the same time but leaving a gap for each other so say your names then finish the phrase} "Let''s do it then." I said with a smirk. The two girls do as Zirnitra said and the pieces in their hands both glow and react with me and disappear into me. The process goes off without a hitch until i open my mouth and a voice comes out of nowhere and shouts Evolutio and i finally say "Well, shit." as i transform into a wolf. Everyone stares at me wondering what happened, as the wolf i speak up "Well, i guess thats weird. Didn''t expect that to happen." As i turn back into my human form i ask "Is it ok if we talk about all this tomorrow? i''m kinda tired." Rias answers me with a nod and Sona says " Kiba and Saji will bring you by the student council room if thats ok with you?" I nod then Sona turns to Rias and she nods too. As i leave i hear the girls talk to each other "Well, he''s an interesting kid." {Interesting doesn''t even cut it, eh kid?} ''Did you even know that would work?'' {Yeah, it happened to my first host but that was a real long time ago so i was kinda worried if i had it right, i''m glad i did} the dragon internally replies whilst smirking. When i get home i told my father what happened and to my surprise he wasn''t that bothered by it. My first day at school, even though it was rough and long finished well. My second day starts off the exact same way, Zirnitra keeping me training for too long and people staring at me. I guess this is gonna happen everyday now. Today has a lot more to it, we have joint class P.E. and for one i was happy about it. Something i wasn''t ahead in. It was enjoyable but hard. Getting accustomed to my new found power was tricky but b?r?-able. During P.E., we played football and whenever me or Kiba had the ball the girls would cheer us on calling me by my nickname ''Wolf prince'' and kiba ''prince''. I can see how the girls think this, he is way above the rest of the boys in this school but it was kinda annoying and off-putting. The rest of the day blew past, the time to meet the peerages had come, Zirnitra was audibly happy. He was reading his diary about his past times in peerages, it seemed like he had a lot of fun, i hope it''s the same for me. Saji and kiba both walk up to me and gesture to follow them. As we leave our the class i can hear the girls audible gossip as they query why Saji is together with the school''s two princes which i chuckle to. As we enter the student council room, the light glares at me through my glasses. The light has been a pain all day, since becoming a devil the light in the morning has become even more unbearable. The first to introduce themselves was Rias Gremory''s peerage. "I''m Kiba Yuuto, as you know 2nd year like you and also Rias'' other knight." Summons his sword to prove his point. " Toujou Koneko, 1st year ... Rook." The small silver haired girl said whilst blushing much to everyone''s confusion. "... I''m Himejima Akeno and i''m a third year and Vice-president of the Occult Research club. Also, i''m Rias'' queen." She says after staring at Koneko for a few more seconds. " And lastly i''m the king and president of the Occult Research club that you are now a part of, As you know my name is Rias Gremory. My house, Gremory, holds the rank of Duke." I respond with a bow and collectively say to them "Nice to meet you all." ''Zirnitra, is it me or are there different vibes being given off here.'' {Not too sure, i think that''s just due to who they are.} I turn to Sona''s peerage and she starts talking " I''m Sona Sitri, and i''m also king of my peerage and my house holds the rank of prince. You know Saji here, He is a Pawn. The rest will introduce themselves." "I''m Tsubaki Shinra, and i''m the queen and also the vice-president." she says whilst giving me a beautiful smile, which i can''t help but smile back to. "Hey there, I''m Nimura and i''m also a Pawn." "I''m the other Rook, Yura. Nice to meet''cha." "And i''m Meguri, a knight." "We are the Bishops, i''m Kusaka and the girl on my right is Momo" Momo waves when her name i spoken. "It''s a p???sur? to meet you" i bowed then stepped back and to my surprise, Zirnitra formed the gauntlets and spoke {Hey, it''s a p???sur? to meet you all, Please take care of me and my host} I shook my head in disbelief "You know Zirnitra, i expected you to be a little less polite." {Shut it, Mutt. I''m just being nice to the ladies} I growled in response. "Seen as we can you that Sacred Gear, what''s the name of it?" asked Rias. "According to Zirnitra, these gauntlets are actually called Triumphant Wall and it''s one of the lost longinus and as well as that i also have another sacred gear called Evolutio which as you all saw yesterday allows me to transform into animals and i gain their abilities." i replied "Hmm ... Your Evolutio isn''t a very well known Sacred gear, this is the first time we''ve heard of it but we''ll look into it." says Sona. "Can i get to showing my abilities now? I would like to fight Kiba as a fellow knight, Yura as a fellow Rook and also Koneko because i get the feeling she is part animal in some way, due to the fact i''m feeling a little on edge im going to guess some type of cat?" In reply all i got was a nod from koneko and a simultaneous nod off my kings. The nods brightened me up and i replied to them by asking "So, can we go somewhere with trees nearby for the fights?" I followed my new friends outside to the forest area at the back of the school and the two queens put up some sort of barrier allowing us to fight. The queens turned round and smiled to us as Akeno gave a creepy sort of smile, it put me a little on edge but it''s time to show my worth. Chapter End Chapter 37 - High School DxD Fan-fiction 3 - Highschool DxD The Second Dragon Plot: Mitsu was an orphan until he was eleven years old, living in America. He''s then adopted by a Japanese family called the Hyoudous. How will events change because of this one boy? How will he and Issei take on everybody that comes at them. Pairings are Issei x Harem and OC x Harem. Violence, blood, and swearing. Enjoy Pairing: OCxMulti NOTE: This fic is not complete despite the fact that the fic is shown to have the status of complete. It covers most of season 1 and 2 of the anime and stops around the beginning of season 3. The fic is mainly focused around the OC and Issei, BOTH are the main characters, so focus on both of them. At this stage it looks like there would not be an update for a while. An eleven year old boy with white hair and grey eyes sat on a plane by himself without a parent or guardian around. He wore a white t-shirt with tan khakis and black sneakers on his feet along with bandages wrapped around his left arm. He had his hair flat against the top of his head. He had lived in an orphanage in America for 10 years of his life. His parents abandoning him at the age of one. He had no idea who they were or what they looked like. During his time at the orphanage, the design of a dragon had appeared on his left arm. One of the caretakers noticed this and while being slightly worried about the dragon design that looked like a tattoo on his arm, wrapped up his arm and told him to never take off the bandages and to always keep it a secret. The caretaker had faked an accident where his arm was accidentally burned. She had created a lie that said the burn wasn''t serious but there was some scarring. The body was told to use that as an excuse for the bandages on his arm. Recently, he had been adopted by a family in Japan that had one younger boy around his age who always wanted a younger brother. So after saying goodbye to the people at the orphanage, he was taken to an airport by one of the caretakers who hugged him goodbye and told him to be a good boy. When he was adopted he was told that he needed to learn Japanese and learn about their culture. The orphanage had gotten some books on basic japanese. He had spent his remaining time at the orphanage learning about the culture and the language. He was pretty smart for someone his age. His IQ was around 150, which means he as very intelligent for someone so young. He had been excited to meet his new family but was nervous when he had to get on the plane by himself. He had never been alone like this before but the flight attendants on the plane had been told of his status as an orphan and they had all decided to make sure he felt comfortable on the plane. The flight attendants always made sure he was doing ok and would always provide food and drinks for him along with books that have been left on the plane by previous passengers. The books of course were for kids his age but he enjoyed reading them nonetheless. His flight from America had been about 16 hours with one stop between there and Tokyo where his adoptive family would pick him up. He was both excited and nervous about meeting them. "Attention, please buckle up your seatbelts. We will be landing in Tokyo Airport in 15 minutes. We would like to thank you all for flying with us." The announcer says over the intercom. The boy tightened his seatbelt and prepared for the plane to land. After the plane had landed, the boy had gotten off the plane with his small backpack and started searching for the people holding up the sign with his name on it. He looked around and saw a man and a woman with a boy his age with brown hair standing their holding up a sign that said ''Mitsu''. That was his name. Mitsu. He started walking over to the family standing there feeling really nervous. "H-Hello...A-Are you the Hyoudou''s?" He asks stuttering a little bit. The woman smiles and bends over so that she''s eye level with him. "Yes we are. You must be Mitsu. It''s very nice to me you. I''m glad that you''re in our family now." She smiles which makes Mitsu''s nervousness go away slightly. The man puts his hand on Mitsu''s shoulder, "There''s no need to be so nervous or scared. You''re with family now. Nothing will ever change that." He looks over to the boy with brown hair and beckons him to come over. "This here is Issei our son. He''s been anxious to meet you. He''s always wanted a brother that he could have fun with. Say hello Issei." "Hello Mitsu. My name is Issei! Let''s be the greatest brothers ever!" Issei grins and holds out his hand to Mistu who hesitates a few seconds before grabbing Issei''s hand and shaking it. "Right!" They both smile at each other and the parents look at each other, knowing that the 2 boys will get along. "Uh hey Mitsu?" Issei says looking at Mitsu''s left arm. "What happened to your arm? Why is it all bandaged up?" Mistu freezes. "Now Issei don''t just go asking questions like that!" His mother scolds. She turns to Mitsu. "I''m sorry for my son''s rudeness Mitsu." Mitsu smiles and shakes his head, "I-It''s fine. I had to answer that question a lot back at the orphanage. There was an accident which burned my arm and left a bad scar. I don''t like showing off my scar to anyone so I keep it covered." Mitsu says, the lie being convincing and believable since he''s said it so many times. Issei''s mother nods and looks to her husband, "Shall we get going? We have quite a drive to get from here to Kuoh. That''s the town where we live. You''ll love it there." Mistu nods and they all head to the baggage claim where they start searching for Mitsu''s possessions. After 10 minutes of searching, they find a black suitcase with a long black box attached to it. Mr. Hyoudou grabs the luggage bag and the case. "Mitsu, what''s in the long black case?" He asks curiously. Said eleven year olds fidgets,"It''s uhm¡­ It''s a sword. The caretakers said that the sword was with me when they found me on the front doorsteps. They said that my parents must have left it for me as an heirloom. I hope you don''t mind me having it." Mitsu looks down at the ground while the parents shoot a gland at each other with smiles on their faces. Mrs. Hyoudou puts her hand on his head, "Of course we don''t mind. It is yours after all." Mitsu brightens up. "Now come along. We want to get you set up at home as soon as possible and have a nice home cooked meal." They leave the baggage claim area and walk towards the airports parking lot where a silver car was parked waiting for them. Mr. Hyoudou puts Mitsu''s suitcase and sword case into the trunk of the car while Issei and Mitsu climb into the back seat and Mrs. Hyoudou climbs into the passenger side. Mr. Hyoudou climbs into the driver''s side turning on the car and driving out of the airport parking lot and on their way to Kuoh Town. Mitsu and Issei spent their time in the car talking and getting to know each other better. Issei had learned a lot about his new brother such as how he wanted to be able to help everybody he could. Issei had told Mitsu that he wanted to do achieve that goal with him so that he didn''t have to rely only on himself. Mitsu had learned a lot about his new family and what their town was like. That was how their family became more connected and loving than ever before. This is how Mitsu and Issei''s story begins as a loving family. Chapter End Chapter 38 - High school DxD Fan-fiction 4 - New Devil for Rias Gremory Plot: A Devil goes by the name of Sebastian has his life turned around as he was killed and revived by Rias to make him a slave to her, thanks to what Rias did Sebastian will have to get stronger for her to fight against so many powerful foes who wants Sebastian dead, now he will change his life around all thanks to the one he will soon fall in love with. Pairing: OCxRais NOTE: Is not set in the time line of the anime, it is set in the medieval period, the peerage is mainly the same with some exceptions, such as Issei. Enjoy! The world is set in the medieval age but higher than that as the human race possess great power thanks to the devils, angels, fallen angels, vampires, dragons and any other supernatural species they serve and protect against the other races. The humans grant their powers by serving these species but all this turns to violent as these races declared war against each other for dominance over others, fighting all over the world for many years but finally the leaders of these races decided to make a peace treaty to stop the bloodshed before it''s too late. It worked and caused all the races to stay away from one another and the humans were told not to possess any of their powers again but there are those who survived the war and still possess the powerful abilities that they use for themselves and others especially this half devil that goes by the name of Sebastian, a strong muscular man with long black hair and carries a large red great sword with spikes on the top part of the blade. Sebastian was a part of a fighting clan that has many humans there that possess the other races abilities; they were ordered by the leader to destroy these beings with their powers as they will never declare war against the human race. Sebastian was a strong member but then he was kicked out for being weak to them, he wanted to show them how strong he is but he couldn''t persuade them to let him back in so he fights alone against these humans and by doing so he keeps increasing his powers every time he slaughters a person who possess devil powers, trying to become a full fledge devil and show the clan how strong he can really be. He continues wondering around the lands ignoring the devils that controls mansions and a large city, he has been dealing with some stray devils around their borders but he doesn''t want to enter their cities or other places to deal with them, he only cares for that fighting clan dead and he will get rid of them but then he would have to deal with those stronger than him including a devil that goes by the name of Razziel the third strongest member they have in the clan and Sebastian has been fighting him a few times but couldn''t defeat him, this time this is going to be his last battle. Sebastian heads to an academy close to the devils borders; it''s being controlled by the angels and devils just to make the two sides be at peace so they can work together on taking out this clan that they do not know yet, they do know that Sebastian was a part of this and wanted him there so they can get answers from him but it''s harder than they thought it would. "Sebastian... are you going to help us or not?" said a devil council member, sitting with four other members, three of them are angels, the devils are wearing darker red armour while the angels light blue and silver armour, all not showing their true appearances. Sebastian leans against the wall "This is the last time I''m telling you... i am going to hunt them myself and kill every last one of them." He looked angry as he looks towards them, he was wearing black and darker red clothes, and his clothes were a bit cut due to fighting a while ago. "Then you are going to die alone out there Sebastian... we know your story and you will not defeat all of them alone... you need to cooperate with us." "I am out of here... screw all of you." He walks out the door, one of them stood out and yelled out his name but he ignored him and kept on walking, shutting the door behind him. He walks down the stairs and stops halfway looking at two of the devils he met a while ago. He talks to them for a while before heading out. "I can''t believe your actually turn against the council members... pretty badass right there." Said one of the males Sebastian leans against the wall crossing his arms "This is personal, this is why i don''t want anyone with me... i want to deal with my problems myself." "Can''t take on the whole world Sebastian everyone knows that." "I know but still..." he yawns a bit then notices three women standing on the top of the stairs looking down at them "It''s her..." The other guys look up seeing them "No way..." The woman on the right was wearing black tight attire along with a cross pendant on her ?h?st, she covered herself a bit with white cloths, covering her short blue hair with her hood and holds a sword on her right hand. The one on the left was wearing a black short dress with long black hair of a pony tail, the one in the middle had long red hair wearing a red dress; a short skirt and revealed her ?h?st a bit but still covers her br??st, long red boots. Sebastian knew they were nobles from one of the mansions, he looks away as the three starts to walk downstairs, just when they move past the guys the woman in red looks over to Sebastian and slightly smiles before walking away from them, heading outside of the academy and soon they teleport together to the mansion, using a red symbol underneath them to vanish back home. Sebastian shakes his head "I got to get out of here." He starts walking off not saying a goodbye to the others; he heads outside and then spreads his devil wings. Flying off elsewhere away from the borders. The three women moves inside the two story mansion, the woman in red walks upstairs while the other two walks off elsewhere, she heads to an office room and then locks the door as she enters inside, she walks to the table in the middle of the room that has two couches on both sides, she touches the table and a small symbol like before appears, it moves up and creates a sort of hologram of Sebastian flying off elsewhere. She would sit in front of her office table looking at Sebastian, she smiles again watching him. Sebastian lands somewhere in the forest, he looks around before his wings returns to his back then starts walking off, he would draw his large sword and holds it with one hand as he sense he''s being watched. "I know you''re out there... come out!" He shouts out looking around the place "Easy there slayer you will wake up the neighbours." Someone stands behind him; he was wearing black plated armour, black hair and red eyes, holds a sword on his belt and was taller than Sebastian. "Was waiting for you to show up." Sebastian said as he looks back at him "Razziel." He rise his sword towards him "I''m going to kill you." He draws his sword and aims at him "Dream on... you''re too weak to defeat me." The two would suddenly vanish then they stand in the middle, clashing their swords together, both were holding each other but then Sebastian grabs his neck and pushes him back but then Razziel ducks down and makes him flip over him, falling on the ground behind him then he jumps up and swings his sword at Sebastian but he blocks it and swings up before getting up but he crouches down looking up at Sebastian. "You''re weak Sebastian... no wonder you were a slave to them." He moves back and three swords appear floating at the top of his head. Sebastian got even angrier and charges towards him striking the sword he holds then notices one of the blades above him moves up and dives down to stab his face but he grabs it with one hand to the blade, ignoring the cut but then Razziel raise his hand in front of him, sending a blue beam out of his hand and knocking him flying back, smashing through two trees and landing on the ground with a few cuts. "That all you got?" he starts walking towards him then grabs one of the blades above him to dual wield. Sebastian gets back up ignoring the burnt marks he''s got from the blast, he then rips off his shirt and holds his sword with two hands "It''s my turn" His sword lights in bright red flames that wraps around his blade, he then fires it towards him sending the flames off of his blade and towards Razziel. Razziel swings his sword to block the flames as it swarms around him but it doesn''t hurt his body thanks to his armour but he swings down to make the flames vanish, giving Sebastian to stand in front of him to swing down at him, cutting through one of his swords and giving him a cut to his ?h?st. He kicks Razziel back and was going to finish this off with one swing of his sword; it wraps in flames again to hit him with his sword without firing off the flames, making it stronger. "It''s over bitch!" he yells at him to swing but he suddenly ducks underneath and stabs his other sword on his foot then summons five blades above him, sending them down to stab the back of his body five times, some even went through his body. Razziel gets up as he looks at Sebastian just standing there lowing his sword but still stood there. "You got alot of guts i give you that, you are still able to survive six stabs of my sword but in the end you are not strong enough to take me down." Razziel grabs his neck and lifts him up off the ground, his blades vanishes out of his body and he starts to walk towards the edge looking down at the ocean, he moves his body off the land and let him float there while holding his neck. "Goodbye Sebastian." He moves his other hand back and then punches through his ?h?st Sebastian would yell out in pain as he got punched through, he lets go of him and lets him fall into the ocean, he watches Razziel looks down as he falls then it turn to black as he crashed through the water, he would start to sink into the darkness seeing only his blood rising up from the water, slowly closing his eyes as this is the end for him. "It''s over... i failed... i wanted to be strong... but i guess this is the end for me." He said in his mind "They were right about me... i am weak... i do not want to be a slave to the devils anymore... i wanted to fight against them but now i am useless... im nothing but a waste of time..." "You are chosen." A female voice suddenly appeared in his mind, a soft voice made him open his eyes and he sees a red and black energy coming from a symbol he saw before when the women vanished, it would wrap him up in this energy before he hits the ground. He would close his eyes again as he ran out of oxygen. Suddenly he would slowly wake up, he was in a room that looks dark as the windows were covered up, he lies on a king size bed, also was dark with darker red and black. He slowly sits up placing his hand at the back of his head looking around the place, knowing he''s in a bedroom but doesn''t know where he is and even forgot the fact that he just died a while ago. "Where am i?" he said as his eyes were half open "What am i doing here?" he moves the blanket down noticing he''s n?k?d "Where the hell is my clothes?" he looks around then notices someone was in bed with him but was underneath the quilt cover. He pulls the cover away and noticed the woman from before, the red haired woman lying there asleep and is completely n?k?d with him. "What the hell!?" he moves back and falls off the bed, she slowly opens her eyes and sits up, she would yawn before looking at Sebastian. "You''re... your bloody n?k?d!" He yelled at her then looks away. She looks down at Sebastian and smiles "Morning." "Morning? That''s all you have to say to me?!" She would fix her hair and sits to the side of the bed looking at him "Nice to see you in person... I am Rias Gremory... and you Sebastian are my new slave." Chapter End Chapter 39 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 11 - Ninja Wizard Plot: AU What if someone else found Harry first on that fateful night? This is a story of one possibility. Harry grows up in a village in Japan and becomes ninja. Based on all seven books. HarryHermione ship. Enjoy! Pairing: H-Hr NOTE: Its a relatively long novel (half a million words), basically the concept of what if Harry was bought up be a clan of ninjas?????? Harry uses his training to have different effects and outcomes compared to the canon outcomes....finished and an absolute masterpiece if i do say so myself.... Enjoy! Ninja Wizard 01 The black haired boy stood calmly as he stared down the man in front of him. The man looked at the boy and nodded. A second later he attacked, his right fist leading the attack. By the time he got to where the boy had been, he discovered the boy had moved lightening fast. The boy had forward flipped over the charging man and as the man turned, the boy initiated an attack of his own bringing his right foot up in a forward snap kick that could have dislocated if not, broken the man''s jaw had he not jumped backwards. The boy pressed the attack, using a lethal combination of fists and feet to attack. The man was hard pressed to defend himself, trying to use his hands and feet to block all of the boy''s attacks. The men who were watching nodded in approval. The boy had learned well the ways of Ninjitsu ever since he had been brought here to the tiny village off the coast of Japan when he was just a year old. The village headmaster and a tiny select knew of his true identity. All the boy knew was that his name was Harry. "Well done, Harry. You have passed the Trials successfully. You have mastered everything very well," the village headmaster said. Harry smiled. "All of you were great teachers." The men smiled and bowed. Harry turned and took his place with the students, six of them, two young boys and the rest of them young men. Master Koshou stepped forward and looked at all of them. "Tonight shall be the induction ceremony. All of you have done extremely well and shall be marked, and shall receive your uniforms. Now go and prepare yourselves for tonight," the swarthy man commanded. All seven bowed as one and then walked off to their rooms. Master Koshou sighed as he stroked his chin. Harry was about to turn eleven and soon he would have to know the truth behind the mysterious occurrences that only happened around Harry. He knew before long they would be coming for him. He had seen visions during his meditations of Harry fighting a cloaked dark sinister figure. He knew this thing was evil, pure evil, and could only be stopped by Harry himself. It was one of the reasons why he chose to train Harry himself and why he trained Harry harder than he''d ever trained anyone. Tomorrow, when Harry had finished his morning exercise, he''d sit the boy down and tell him the tale of the events of ten years prior, the tale he had hidden deep inside of him self. He turned and walked into his house and sat down in front of a small desk and pulled a drawer out. He picked up a small wood frame that contained a picture inside it. He looked at the smiling couple holding a baby. It was a picture of his old friend James Potter, his wife Lily, and the b?r?ly year old baby Harry Potter. "I''ve done what you asked, old friend. I have taken him in and taught him all I know. The time has come for him to discover his destiny. I pray he accepts it," he sighed, as he replaced the picture in the desk. He sat there in the growing darkness as the memory of the night pressed in on him. Halloween Night. The air was charged with a powerful magic that Koshou could feel deep into his bones as he hurried towards Godric''s Hollow where the Potter House was. He had felt a disturbance in the ward he had set about the house. He had not known that Peter Pettigrew had become the Potter''s Secret Keeper at the last moment instead of Sirius Black. He decided to put up a ward around the house using ninja magic, a much different form of magic than what the Wizarding World knew of. Now it had gone off and he was running through the darkened streets towards the house. Something deep inside him told him he would be too late. As it turned out, he was too late. He had cried over James''s body first and then searched the house for Lily and baby Harry. He heard Harry crying upstairs and rushed up to see Lily lying on the floor holding Harry protectively. After checking Lily and discovering she was dead, he removed Harry from her arms and laid him out on the change table. His eyes widened when he saw the scar on his forehead, just above his right eye. [There be powerful magic at work here] he said aloud. He changed Harry quickly and wrapped him up against the cold and then left the house with him. He had promised the Potters that he would care for Harry should anything happen to them. It had and now he was fulfilling his Word of Honor to them. Harry would be in safety and he would learn about his heritage when the time came. He glanced back once more as he left, seeing torches in the distance. He wanted to be gone before the people arrived here. His own master had his misgivings at first, and Koshou told his master that he would be responsible for the boy. During the ten years Harry had lived with them he taught the boy everything he needed to know about Ninjitsu and other forms of the martial arts, thinking they would give him an edge over the evil that would rise again in an attempt to kill Harry Potter. The boy had exceeded everyone''s expectations. ************************************************************************ A soft knock at the door brought him back to reality. He turned to see one of the ninja bowing. [Master, it is time. They are ready and waiting,] the man said. Koshou nodded. [Harry will be marked last. The time has come for him to learn of his beginnings and why the strange things happen around him. Soon people will come for him. He must be prepared for that.] The ninja bowed and retreated. Koshou turned and bowed once more towards the East. He rose and reached into the ?h?st before him and withdrew four swords. One was Dai-katana, the long battle sword. The second was the normal sized Katana, the third Wakizaki, a short sword. The fourth was the Ninja''s sword, the ninja-to. He turned and walked out into the courtyard and into the night. All seven initiates sat in a straight line before the raised dais where Koshou sat. He nodded at the seven before him. "All of you have done well. It is with pride that I award you your swords and your uniforms. Each man shall come before me and receive them. Then you shall go into a room to be marked with the Clan''s symbol. Then you shall join your brothers in the ranks," he said. "Thank you for this Honor you bestow on me, Master. I pray I will be worthy of it," Harry bowed as he accepted them. "Well said, Harry. I will accompany you as you receive your mark. Then we shall talk," Koshou said. Harry bowed. "Yes Master." He followed Koshou to the room where three men were waiting. Harry sat on his heels and looked at them. [I receive this Mark of my own free will,] he said and bowed. The four men nodded as Harry slowly sank into Getsumi no Michi (called Moonlit Path, a Ninja discipline), as one man took hold of Harry''s left shoulder and began to tattoo a multicolored dragon there. The finished tattoo would be of a Dragon holding a Katana in one claw and holding the Neko Ninja Clan insignia in the other. Any ninja or Asian person would recognize it instantly. When it was done, Harry bowed to the four men. He was now ninja, and would be for life. [Go dress and join your brothers for the ending, and then come find me at my house. There are... things we must discuss,] Koshou said. Harry bowed once more. [Yes Master.] Harry left the room and left Koshou alone. The silence in the room was deafening. He wondered if Harry would be angry with him for concealing the truth. If Harry was the man his visions told him he would be, he would take it well. [Come,] the voice he knew so well commanded. Harry slid the door aside, bowed, entered the room on his knees, closed the door, and bowed once more. Koshou smiled. [I am happy that you have become Ninja. You have done very well in all of your lessons,] Koshou praised Harry. [Thank you Master,] Harry replied. Koshou got serious. [Now I must tell you of your beginnings, and where you came from. I have held this secret inside of my soul these ten years. It is time you know.] Koshou then related everything to Harry, including showing him the picture of his parents. He held nothing back. He watched Harry carefully the entire time he told him. Harry''s face gave away his emotions as he showed grief as the loss of his parents, anger at their murder, and astonishment at being told he was a wizard. [Master, I thank you for telling me these things. Now I know why I was able to do those strange things,] Harry said. [I have sent a letter to a man that I know. He will help us decide what to do next,] Koshou said. [In the meantime, carry on as usual and speak of this to nobody.] Harry bowed. [Yes Master.] Albus Dumbledore set the letter down and steepled his fingers in front of him. The Wizarding World''s Great Mystery had now been solved. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, had been found alive and well in Japan. Albus wondered how and why Harry was there. He came to a decision and wrote a note to Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic and sent it off with an owl. He knew before long the Wizarding World would be in an uproar. Now he had to decide who to send in his place. He looked up at the tall man sitting in front of him. "Bill Weasley, I thank you for showing me this. It is now vital we locate Harry and bring him here. I would appreciate it if you would go in my place and escort young Harry here before the school year begins. The only clues you will have are his bright emerald green eyes and the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Once you have located him, you must bring him straight here. Then we can teach him of his heritage," the old man said as he sipped his tea. "Yes sir. Am I allowed to answer any questions?" Bill Weasley asked. "Yes, of course. Do so. Good luck," Dumbledore said as Bill left the headmaster''s office. Bill paused before a mirror and sighed. He stood about six foot, long black hair tied into a ponytail, a shark''s tooth earring in his left ear, and dressed in black. He sighed once more and then headed for the Great Fireplace. He was glad Hogwarts was closed for the summer, it would make bringing Harry Potter back that much easier. He entertained the idea of taking him home to the Weasley Burrow. It might make his transition into the Wizarding World that much easier. He turned to see Dumbledore behind him. "An excellent idea. Make it so," Dumbledore nodded. It never ceased to amaze people just how Dumbledore knew what people were thinking. The headmaster of Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry had developed a reputation for being eccentric, but everyone knew that if they ever asked this man for help, he wouldn''t hesitate to give it. He ran Hogwarts on the idea that anyone showing any kind of magical skill would be welcome there. "Yes sir. Thank you sir," Bill nodded just as he stepped into the fireplace and called out the name of the village in Japan and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. A lady glided up to Albus. "Albus, what has happened?" she asked. "Lady McGonagall. I have just sent off Bill Weasley to bring Harry Potter home," he told the tall lady. Minerva McGonagall gasped. "He''s alive?" "Yes he is," Dumbledore said. That simple pronouncement set the pictures on the walls to talking. Within moments the foyer in front of the main doors quickly filled up with staff and teachers who had not yet left for summer break. Everyone was talking at once until another man raised his wand and set off an explosion of sparks. The hall fell silent at once. "Perhaps this discussion would be best moved to the dining hall," the black haired man said to all of them. "Good idea, Severus. I shall try to answer all questions there," Dumbledore told the man in black. Severus Snape, Hogwarts potions master turned quickly, making his black cloak billow. People followed the man and Dumbledore to the dining hall where he sat in his usual place. He sipped a cup of mead and then spoke up. "Bill Weasley has been here to see me. He had received a letter from a friend of his telling him that Harry Potter is alive and well in Japan. Why he is there is not known. Mr. Weasley has gone there to escort Harry Potter home to Hogwarts. Once we see him we then will know if he is well. Mr. Potter will have a great deal many questions about his Wizarding heritage left to him by his parents. We will answer them the best we can. We must also train him in his magical skills. It has been said that he is the Wizarding World''s best hope to defend it and stop Voldemort," he said as people shivered in fear of the evil name. "We know he somehow survived the killing curse and it somehow managed to stop Voldemort. For how long is anybody''s guess. There is the possibility that he may yet live. If that is so then we must be ready for anything," Dumbledore said. People began talking as he sat back and sipped his mead. He knew for sure that by the end of the day word about Harry Potter would be everywhere. The question now was would Harry accept his Wizard''s heritage? Only Harry Potter would answer that. "Bill Weasley?" the man asked. Bill turned to face him. "That''s me," he said, bowing to the Japanese man. The man bowed in return. "Thank you for coming. I do apologize for the run around, but it is necessary. There are those who would find us and cause us harm. I regret this last thing but I ask you bear with me." A couple men dressed all in black approached Bill and tied his hands behind his back as one blindfolded him while another searched him and handed over to Koshou the letter and Bill''s wand. "I understand sir," Bill said. He felt him self being led forward. After an hour of walking he was put into a van and driven for another two hours. When it finally stopped he was helped out and then the blindfold was removed. Bill blinked at the sight of the tiny village. "This is nice. Simple, but nice. I like places like this," Bill said. Koshou smiled. "Thank you. It suits our needs perfectly. It is now approaching early evening. I will escort you to you accommodations. A servant will see to your needs. Tomorrow morning you shall meet Harry. All shall be explained then." Bill bowed to the man. "I am honored to be your guest. Thank you for inviting me." A ninja guided Bill to a small house and inside once his hands were freed. A woman inside bowed to Bill as he sat and removed his boots. "Bath, dinner, and bed?" the lady asked. "Yes please. Thank you," Bill smiled. What followed was an experience that Bill would never forget. The lady guided him to a large room and asked him to undress. Bill felt a little uncomfortable at first and then decided to go for it. He sat on the bench n?k?d and the lady bathed him clean. He soaked in the hot tub for fifteen minute and then the lady bid him to climb out. Once he was dried off, he was led to a table and made to lie face down. That was the first time he''d experienced a massage. It left him feeling recharged. Dinner was a simple affair. They brought him salad, fish, rice, and pickled vegetables. The bed was very comfortable and he slept well. The next morning he was dressed in a plain brown kimono and led out to the exercise yard. He saw a single ninja there practicing. He watched in amazement as the person went through the katas at top speed. Bill couldn''t see just what he was doing, the person''s hands and feet a blur. Then the person was attacked by other people in black. For the next fifteen minutes Bill watched the person fight off the ninja that attacked. He was truly impressed by the skill of this ninja. Then all of them stopped and bowed to Koshou. He said something in Japanese and all of them bowed once more. One stayed behind and then followed Bill and Koshou into the house. Koshou sat on a cushion while the ninja served tea to both men. "Thank you for your hospitality," Bill bowed. Koshou returned the bow. "You are most welcome. Now I shall tell you everything." Bill sat and listened in amazement as Koshou related the events of ten years prior. Then Koshou told him of Harry learning Ninjitsu and other Martial Arts. "Those skills with his Magical skills would make him damn near invincible," Bill commented. "Yes. That is why he was brought here. He has exceeded all expectations in his learning. He even has an edge, having learned potion making at the hands of our potions master. Now he needs to discover his Wizard''s heritage. He knows this and has accepted it. I know he will succeed in the Wizarding World. How do I know of the Wizarding World? Simple. I know a few wizards here in Japan. They informed me that Harry is great with Magic. They informed me that this Dumbledore is best suited to teach him. So now he needs to go to this Dumbledore and learn. You know this man?" Koshou asked Bill. Bill smiled. "Yes. He was once my teacher. He is a great man and is well noted for his kindness and willingness to help all who asks." "That is indeed a mark of a great man," Koshou nodded. He turned to the ninja next to him and nodded. The ninja unwrapped his face and bowed to an astonished Bill Weasley. "This is Harry Potter," Koshou said. Harry Potter smiled. "So nice to meet you." Bill Weasley bowed back. "Good to meet you, Harry." He wondered if the Wizarding World would ever be the same again. Harry and Bill sat on the porch for most of the morning and they talked. Harry told Bill about his life here. Bill listened with rapt attention. The more he listened the more he was convinced that Harry would take to life in the Wizarding world very easy. Then Bill told Harry all about the Wizarding World. Harry seemed to be fascinated by it. "The only way I''ll really learn about it all is to go there," Harry said finally. "We can leave in the morning." "Good. Now I''d like to teach you something. I want to teach you how to Apparate and Disapparate. That''s something that would augment your ninja skills," Bill quickly decided. Harry grinned. "Okay." Bill explained the mechanics of it and then demonstrated by doping short hops around the village. The ninjas watching quickly agreed that If Harry learned that he could use it very well. Harry tried it, doing a short hop across the street. It worked much to his joy. He worked at it for the rest of the day, and by nightfall had mastered it very well. Koshou was pleased. "Well done, Harry. Use it only when you need to," Koshou said. Bill agreed with that. "Do it discretely, and when you have to." Harry agreed. At dinner that night it was announced Harry was leaving. A number of the ninjas shook Harry''s hand and wished him well. A much older man stepped forward. He had been the one to teach Harry meditation and was quite pleased when Harry told him about finding Moonlit Path. "A word of advice, Harry. Never let your anger dictate your actions. Anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the darkness. Once you set foot on the dark path, you will become black ninja. There is no coming back from black ninja. Remember this," he said as he rested his hand on Harry''s shoulder. Bill had to admit the old man''s words made sense. He wondered what would have happened if Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort, had discovered that before changing into the evil that was Voldemort. "I will remember that. Thank you Master Sho," Harry bowed. The old man smiled. "Good." The next morning Bill and Harry set out for the Wizard house Bill had flooed into from England. Harry looked like a normal kid dressed in jeans and a shirt. Bill knew that appearances can be deceiving. They talked as they traveled, Bill telling Harry about his job as a curse breaker for Gringott''s Bank. Harry seemed to be impressed. "I had good teachers at Hogwarts, Harry. I know you will like it there. You''ll learn so much," Bill said. "Are we going there first?" Harry wanted to know. "Yes. Albus Dumbledore wants to meet you. He taught your parents many things," Bill said. "He''s a great man." "Cool," Harry said. They approached the house on the edge of a small town a little after noon. Harry went quiet and Bill wondered if he was having second thoughts. "Are you okay Harry?" he asked. Harry looked up. "Yes. Just checking for hostiles. You never know." Bill slapped him self for not doing the same. What came natural to Harry he often had to work at. He couldn''t afford to slip up. Especially now. Bill knocked on the door and a lady answered it. "Come in. Fire''s ready," she said. Harry wondered why at first and then realized it was the floo transport that Bill had told him about. He followed Bill in and stood in the living room. The house seemed nice enough. Harry couldn''t see anything to indicate it was connected to the Wizarding World and he said so. Bill smiled. "The less clues the better. Don''t want the wrong kind of people stumbling through the floo network," he said. Harry nodded. Bill then explained once more what the floo network was and how to use it. Then Harry stepped up and took a handful of the powder. He poured a bit of it into the fire and clearly spoke the destination. "Hogwarts, England!" he declared and then disappeared. Harry watched in amazement as countless fireplaces sped past him. They lit up the darkness around him until he saw one closing in on him. He watched the light get closer and brighter until he could see the sign. "Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry," he read out loud. Suddenly it was on him and he was through. He slid through the opening easily and once he was clear of it he did a forward roll and drew his Katana and ?ssumed a defensive position just as he had practiced many times. A voice greeted him. "Welcome to Hogwarts Harry Potter," it said. Harry turned to his left and saw an old man standing there with a lady behind him to his right. Another man stood at the old man''s left shoulder. Something about him made him nervous. The man was dressed all in black with a cloak wrapped around him. His face was thin and his hair was black and appeared to be greasy. "Harry, would you step out of the way?" the old man asked him. Harry did and a moment later Bill Weasley came shooting out. He stepped out shaking soot off him and he smiled. "Harry, it is my great p???sur? to introduce to you one of the greatest Wizards of our time. This is Albus Dumbledore, Master of Hogwarts. The lady behind him is Minerva McGonagall, ?ssistant to Professor Dumbledore. The man to the left is Severus Snape, Hogwart''s Potions master. There are many more masters here and you will meet them all in time," Bill smiled. Snape walked towards Harry and then circled him, studying him. "So this is the great Harry Potter," he sneered. Harry immediately took a disliking to the man. "Severus, that will do," Dumbledore''s voice carried a hint of power. Harry immediately decided that Dumbledore was not a man to be crossed. Dumbledore turned to Harry. "I imagine that you have many questions about things. Hold onto them for a bit. I imagine that you and Mr. Weasley must be famished after a long journey. Shall we step into the dining hall for lunch?" That seemed like a good idea to Harry. He sheathed his Katana and followed the old man into the dining hall. He was amazed at the number of floating candles in the hall. He sat down at one of the tables and closed his eyes for a moment, sinking down into Getsumi no Michi. He could feel the magical power flowing through the hall. "Do you feel it?" Dumbledore asked. "Do you feel the magic flowing in through this place?" "Older than life, younger than me," Harry whispered. He opened his eyes to see Dumbledore looking at him with a serious look on his face. "Yes, Harry. You are right about that. I am pleased to know that you are very perceptible to it. You have much to learn yet. In time you will understand," he said. "For now, let''s eat. Look at your plate and say what it is you want." Harry did, trusting the old man and in seconds, food filled his plate. As Harry ate, he looked around the table and observed the people there. They all seemed to look like ordinary people, but Harry could feel magic radiating out from them. Harry wondered what would happen if he were to tap into the power that he felt flowing through here. He decided to try an experiment first chance he got. Once lunch was over, every one push their chairs back from the table and turned to face Harry and Dumbledore. The old man sipped at his wine, collecting his thoughts. "So many questions to ask," he said at last. "I do not know where to begin." "My Master Koshou once told me a journey begins with a question," Harry said. Dumbledore nodded. "And he is right. I am curious as to how you came to be in Japan." Harry sighed as he collected his thoughts. Then he began to tell his story. People listened to him as he related his life up to now. Dumbledore nodded and he listened. Harry decided not to mention the Apparating lesson he got from Bill. That would be his secret for now. When he finished his tale he sat down. "A ninja. Really," Snape snorted. "You expect us to believe that?" Bill turned to face Snape. "I do, you ugly greasy git." Snape immediately jumped up and started to charge Bill when he discovered a sharp something resting on the bridge of his nose. Nobody had seen Harry move, and yet there he was, standing there with his Katana at Snape''s nose. "Leave my friend alone," Harry''s voice echoed from everywhere. Snape turned pale as he slowly sat down. "Perhaps a demonstration would be in order," Harry suggested. "That would not be necessary, Harry. All of us believe you. Some people will need convincing in time. For now I would ask that all of you keep that bit of information to yourselves. Harry is right. His... unusual skills combined with the Magic inside of him would make in a most formidable opponent in a fight. I will set aside a special room for you to practice your skills in. Like magic, if not worked on and practiced on a daily basis, those skills would crumble to dust. That would be a tragedy," Dumbledore said. Everyone quickly agreed. Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Would you allow me to give you a tour of Hogwarts?" he asked. Harry grinned. "I would. I would like to learn a little something about my true home." There was a chorus of agreements from everybody except from Snape. Dumbledore smiled and motioned for Harry to follow. During the next three hours Harry got the grand tour and both of them bonded. Dumbledore found Harry to be very inquisitive and he no longer had any doubts about Harry accepting his Wizard''s Heritage. Harry for his part was glad he had decided to come here. "I am glad you are here Harry," Dumbledore said solemnly. "I trust your time here will be well spent." Harry looked up at the old man. "I hope so." The tour continued and Dumbledore eventually led Harry into the dungeons where Snape had his classroom. Unknown to both of them, Snape had been tracking their progress and set up a surprise for Harry. He had charmed a metal suit of armor to attack the moment he walked into the room. Dumbledore was first in the door, and then Harry walked in. As soon as he had walked in, the suit of armor acted, charging Harry while swinging a double bladed axe. Neither man saw Harry react. One second he was next to Dumbledore and the next he was standing on the other side of the armor, holding Katana in his hands, standing stock still. Dumbledore reacted first. "Did you see Harry move, Severus?" he asked in shock. "No, headmaster. I didn''t. Yet there he is," Snape said, equally shocked. "Severus, was this your doing?" Dumbledore asked as the suit of armor slowly went to pieces on the floor. Snape counted eight pieces. "Yes sir. I apologize. My actions were uncalled for." "I trust you now know the answer," Dumbledore said. "No doubts," Snape said as Harry slowly moved. They watched him sheathe the sword and close his eyes. A moment passed and then Harry opened his eyes. "Are you all right, sir?" he asked. "Yes Harry. I am fine," he said as he took a cup of tea from Snape. He sat down as Harry looked around the room and then back to Snape. "This is your classroom?" he asked. "Yes, Potter, it is," Snape said. "Suits your personality," Harry said. Snape grumbled as a slight smile played across Dumbledore''s face. "Tell me about potions," Snape snapped. Harry grinned. "Long version or the short one?" Dumbledore had to laugh on that one. Apparently Harry possessed a quick wit. Snape fired off a bunch of questions about potions and Harry answered them all. Dumbledore set down his cup. "Who taught you potions, Harry?" he asked. "Master Sho," Harry replied. Snape flew to a nearby bookcase and grabbed a book and flipped through it. "This man?" he asked, showing Harry the picture. "Yes sir. That one," he replied. Snape looked at the entry and then showed it to Dumbledore. "This man was the absolute genius at potions. He has no magic in him, but he was regarded as an expert at potions. If he taught you Potter, then you are a step well above the subject. I still expect you to work hard in my class." "Yes sir," Harry nodded. Snape nodded, apparently satisfied with Harry''s answer. "Now then, I apologize for setting the armor on you. I needed to know if you were telling the truth during lunch. A lesson for you to consider. Never tell a person you can do something that you know you can''t. You might be called out on it," Snape said. Dumbledore nodded. "Very true, Severus. Definitely a lesson to consider." The door opened at that moment and Bill walked in along with McGonagall. "What happened in here?" McGonagall asked when she saw the armor scattered on the floor. "Snape tested my abilities," Harry replied. "I convinced him." Snape drew his want and waved it over the armor. "Repairo!" Harry watched in amazement as the armor went back together and moved back to its spot. Snape turned to Harry. "There''s your first spell. Repairo. It fixes thing back to its original condition," Snape informed Harry. Harry nodded. "I''ll remember that one." "Good. It may come in handy for you," Snape said. Dumbledore glanced at the large clock in the corner. "It''s getting a bit late in the day. Perhaps now is the time for Mr. Weasley to escort Harry to the Burrow and meet his future classmates." Bill beamed. "Good idea, sir." "Potter, a word of advice. Be very careful around the Weasley Twins. They have a reputation for being pranksters," Snape said. Harry looked at Bill. "Something I neglected to tell you." Harry turned to Dumbledore. "Thank you for showing me around, sir. I enjoyed talking to you and learning about this place." Dumbledore smiled. "It was my p???sur?, Harry. Off with you now." Harry smiled and followed Bill upstairs to the Great Fireplace. He followed Bill''s instructions and slid out of the fireplace into what seemed like a wild looking house. He wondered if he had taken a wrong turn when Bill appeared behind him. "Oh good, you made it," Bill said. "Welcome to the Weasley house, better known as the Burrow." Harry looked around at everything. He was amazed at what he saw. He couldn''t come up with the right word to describe it all. "It''s all so cool," he said. Bill laughed, and then raising his voice he yelled out, "Ma, I''m home. Brought him with me for the summer." At that, a red headed lady came out of the kitchen and grabbed Bill, squeezing him hard. She stepped back and looked him over, grumbling over his appearance. Then she looked at Harry standing next to Bill. "Mum, Harry Potter. Harry, my Mum, Molly Weasley, the real power in the Weasley Clan," Bill said, making the introductions. "And don''t you forget that," she growled at Bill "Who, me?" Bill asked, producing a bouquet of roses from behind his back. Her face softened at the sight of the flowers. "Oh you sweetie." She turned to Harry and hugged him. "Our home is yours, dear. Bill, show him up to Ron''s room. He''ll sleep in there for the rest of the summer." She took the flowers from Bill and went back into the kitchen. Bill grinned and led Harry up the stairs and into an orange colored room. Harry blinked at the sight of the posters on the wall. There were people moving in them, flying on brooms. Bill laughed at Harry''s expression. "Wizarding posters. They''re playing Quidditch." Harry sighed. "Now I know I''m not in Kansas anymore." Bill looked at the floor. "Funny, I didn''t see a little black dog come in with you." Harry sighed once more as Bill laughed. He dropped his pack on the bed and followed Bill back down to the kitchen. Molly turned when Harry and Bill walked in. "Would you like a spot of tea, Harry?" she asked. "Yes, thank you," he said. A moment later a big cup of tea was on the table. Harry picked it up by the handle and sipped it. It tasted quite good going down. "Everyone will be back soon. Went shopping at Diagon Alley," Molly explained. Before Harry could ask what Diagon Alley was, the clock on the wall made a funny sound. Harry looked at it and blinked. That had to be the strangest clock he''d ever seen. It had at least several hands on it, each with a name on it. Harry couldn''t see the names because they were covered up by the top one. One by one, the hands moved from Diagon Alley to traveling. Harry read each name as the hands moved. "George, Arthur, Ron, Fred, Percy, and Ginny," he read out loud. "They are my brothers and sisters. Charlie will be home in a few days. He''s in Romania, working with dragons," Bill said. Harry reacted to that, his hand moving up to his left shoulder and rubbing it. Bill noticed the motion, but kept his questions to himself as the fireplace pinged. A moment later a red headed girl skipped into the kitchen. "Mum! I''m home!" she announced. Spotting Harry seated at the table, she stopped and looked at him. "Hullo, who are you?" Harry smiled. "I''m Harry Potter." She let out a squeal and ran back into the living room. A moment later she reappeared with the others behind her. "See?" she practically shouted. "Bloody hell, it is Harry Potter!" exclaimed a shorter boy. Molly turned and cracked her wooden spoon against the counter. "Attention!" They all snapped to and Harry realized Bill was right. She was the power in the Weasley Clan. She turned to Harry. "Harry, my family. Arthur, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. Charlie is the missing one and Bill you all ready met. This is Harry Potter, everybody. He''ll be staying with us for the rest of the summer," she said. "Now all of you go outside and find something to do." Harry realized that was an excellent idea. "I''ll dash up and change into shorts. I could use a little exercise." He pulled off his jeans and reached into his pack for a pair of shorts. He checked his mawashi and then pulled his shorts on. "Better," he sighed. He adjusted his Ninja-to and then headed down to the kitchen. As soon as he walked in he had the feeling he missed something. He simply shrugged it off. Ron grinned. "Come on, mate. Let''s check out the back," Ron said. Harry followed Ron out and smiled. This he was definitely used to. It was obvious they were out in the countryside from all of the trees he could see. He took in a good lungful of fresh air and let it out. "It''s nice here," Harry commented. Ron grinned. "Thanks mate. We''ve been here for ages. Dad used to live here when he was a kid." Harry smiled. "That''s cool, Ron. Makes those family ties stronger." They ambled towards the trees and into them. Harry took the chance to look them over. Ginny seemed to be a bit shy and she was cute. Ron looked like an average guy. The twins took some figuring out. Harry had the feeling they were up to something. "So who''s in Hogwarts?" Harry asked. Fred smiled. "George and I are. Percy''s a prefect there. You''ll love it, Harry. Great place to be." "I know. Albus Dumbledore gave me the grand tour earlier today," Harry said. "I know I''m going to love being there." Both twins grinned and Harry knew they were plotting something. "What are you guys plotting? Professor Snape warned me about you two," Harry said, stopping and looking at them. "Us?" George threw his arm around Fred''s shoulders. "We''re very nice guys." Percy snorted at that. "Oh, let''s see. Coffee that made Charlie chirp last time he was here, rubber wands, fake chickens, candy that makes you do strange things, and God know what else you two have cooked up over the years. Those two, Harry, are certified rule breakers at Hogwarts. Word is that they have an entire filing cabinet full of their various misdeeds in Fitch''s office." "Not to mention a record of the most detentions awarded to any student in a year. Gonna try and break last year''s?" Ron asked the twins. They reacted by grinning wide. Percy just sighed as Ginny laughed along with Harry. They walked underneath some trees and then suddenly a snake dropped out from one of the low branches right onto Ginny. Harry reacted even before anyone had a chance to. He drew his ninja-to and sliced the head off and had it back in the scabbard lightening fast. Then he knocked the snake''s body off Ginny before it could hurt her. All of the Weasleys stood there in shock. Ron found his voice first. "Bloody hell," he said. "How did you do that?" "I''ll explain later at dinner. For now, let''s steer clear of the trees," Harry suggested as he took Ginny''s hand into his and gently guided her from the tree. They took a different route down to the river that was a quarter mile from the house. Harry grinned when he saw it. It reminded him of the days when he went skinny-dipping in the one that ran through the village. Now he could practice his underwater breathing techniques. "This looks like a good place to swim," he said. "It is. All of us learned to swim down here," Ron said. "How about we come back here tomorrow?" "Count me in," Fred said. "Same here," George said. It was agreed to and they all headed back to the house. As they got closer to the house, Harry could see the long dirt driveway. "How far is it from the front door of your house to the road?" Harry asked. "Three miles one way, six miles round trip," Percy replied. "Why?" Harry nodded. "I run six miles every morning." Percy whistled. "Wow. You must be in great shape then." "I try to be," Harry said. "It''s important to be in good shape." A voice was heard in the distance. Ron grinned. "Dinner''s on. Let''s go!" he said and set off at a trot for the house. "You''ll love Mum''s cooking, it''s the best!" Harry sighed as he pushed him self away from the table. Ron had been right. Molly was an excellent cook. "Mrs. Weasley, Ron said that you were a great cook. He was right," Harry said. Molly kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you dear. Please call me Molly." Harry grinned. "I will." He watched as the dishes floated to the sink and start washing them selves. He shook his head in amazement. "Amazing stuff, eh Harry?" Arthur asked with a smile on his face. "Yes sir," Harry replied. The Weasleys laughed and then started to move into the living room with cups of tea or soda cans in their hands. Once in the living room Percy turned to Harry. "If you don''t mind, I''d like to know how you moved so fast when you killed the snake that dropped onto Ginny from the tree," he asked. Molly turned pale when she heard that. "When did that happen?" "Earlier, when we took a walk to the river. One second it was sitting on Ginny''s shoulders, the next it was on the ground," Ron explained. Bill sighed and nodded to Harry. "What I am about to tell you must be kept secret. None of you can tell anyone, especially you two guys," Harry pointed to the twins. Fred nodded. "We may be pranksters, but we will keep your secrets, Harry. Wizard''s Honor. We take that very seriously." "I take matters of Honor seriously my self. Have any of you ever heard of ninjas?" Harry asked. Nobody said anything for a moment, and then Percy spoke up. "Aren''t they a group of secret silent ?ssassins from Japan?" "That''s partially right," Harry replied, choosing his words carefully. "There are Ninja Clans who do kill people for the right price. I don''t think there is any Honor in that. There are other ninja clans who are trained in that, but choose to use their skills to protect people and their country." "So what does that have to do with you?" George asked. Harry took a breath and let it out. "I was taken to a village in Japan and was trained to be a ninja ever since I was one year old by a ninja clan." The clock on the mantle ticked loudly for a few minutes until Ron broke the silence. "So that''s how you were able to move that fast," he said. A thought slowly occurred to Percy. "A Ninja Wizard. Once you''ve been fully trained in your magic skills, you''d be truly invincible and very powerful, not to mention deadly." Harry nodded. "But I swore before Dumbledore and the teachers at Hogwarts I''d use my skills to help and protect people." Arthur nodded slowly. "I cannot speak for my family, but I can and will help you learn what you need to know about your Wizard''s Heritage. I believe a trip to Diagon Alley is needed to get a wand and some books for you. We go after breakfast tomorrow." One by one, each Weasley announced their support for Harry. Arthur immediately wrote a letter and sent it off to Dumbledore with Errol, the Family owl. "I''ve asked for a list of the first year books you will need. We can get them for Ron as well. Might make a full day of it. Bill, any way to find out if the Potters left money for Harry?" Arthur asked. Bill rose and went upstairs. A moment later he returned. "I just sent an owl to the head goblin at Gringott''s Bank. We should know the answer before long." Ron got a funny look on his face and then yawned. "I''m beat. Heading upstairs to bed." "I''m tired, too. Right behind you Ron," Harry said and followed Ron to his room. "Oh good, a second bed''s been set up for you. Unpack yet?" Ron asked. Ron helped Harry unpack and then both boys settled into bed. Harry closed his eyes and went right to sleep. It had been a long day. As was his habit, Harry woke a bit before first light. Ron was still sound asleep, so he quietly tied mawashi on himself and slipped out the window with Ninja-to on his back and a bag in his hands with some of his weapons. He set the bag down on the table in the back yard and then jogged around to the front of the house. He slipped into Getsumi no Michi while he stretched out and scanned the area around him. No hostile though patters anywhere near here. Harry stood up and then began to run. Not a light jog type run, but a full out fast as you can kind of run. By the time he reached the road, his heart was pumping hard and he was breathing hard. He turned around and headed back. Ron was the next to get up. He wandered into the kitchen and started a pot of tea and a pot of coffee. He sat by the kitchen window, staring out into the yard. He noticed the bag on the table and wondered what it was. He turned when the rest of the Weasleys walked into the kitchen. "Where''s Harry?" Ginny asked. Ron realized he hadn''t seen Harry in bed. "He''s probably gone running," Percy said while sipping his tea. "He did ask how far it was to the road and said he ran six miles a day." Ron turned back to the window just in time to see Harry sit on the ground and start his meditation. He blinked when he saw the dragon tattoo. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed. The Weasleys looked out to see what Ron had exclaimed about and then stared in shock at Harry. In addition to the dragon tattoo, Harry was quite muscular, having lifted weights since he was eight under the careful supervision of a master. They watched as Harry began his katas, going through each exercise. Then it became obvious to Ron what was in the bag. It was the rest of Harry''s weapons. Harry spent the next hour working with each weapon and the Weasleys had an idea of what it could do by the time Harry was done with it. They also had an idea of what Harry could do with his skills. Percy''s thought rang through their minds once more. Arthur turned to Percy. "Your thought about Harry''s skills once he masters magic was a very correct observation," he said. They heard a noise and turned to see Harry in the kitchen. "Now you have an idea of what I am capable of. As for the tattoo, it is the insignia of Clan Neko Ninja, the Clan I belong to. I am Neko Ninja for life. I am also a Wizard for life. I am also your friend for life. Do not hesitate to ask me for help. I will not hesitate to answer a call for help from any Weasley, no matter who they are. My word of Honor in this matter," Harry stated. Molly stepped forward. "Then you shall become my son for life." Harry nodded. "I accept." A noise at the window caused everyone to turn. An old owl sat at the window and blinked once, and then rolled over onto its back and conked out. Arthur walked over and calmly retrieved the letter it held in it''s talons. He opened the letter and read it. "Albus thinks my suggestion of starting Harry''s education is a wise one. He sent a list of first year books as well," Arthur said. They turned once more when another owl flew into the kitchen and stopped in front of Bill. He read the letter and nodded. "Harry, you and I have an appointment to see the head goblin at Gringott''s at ten," he announced. "It''s eight thirty now, so let''s get moving here." That spurred everyone into action. What questions Harry had would have to wait. Harry stood in front of the fireplace as everyone ?ssembled. Bill turned to Harry. "You remember how to work the floo?" he asked. Harry nodded. "Say the name of where you want to go while pouring the powder on the fire," he said. "Good. This time it''s the Leaky Cauldron," Bill said. Harry nodded as Arthur stepped up and tossed his powder and disappeared. Harry followed and once more he saw the fireplaces rushing past. He slid out of the fireplace and looked up into Arthur''s face. "You made it," he said "Fun ride," Harry remarked, which drew a laugh from the patrons at the bar. As he stood up, people recognized him. The excited chatter started almost immediately until someone held up a paper to him. On the front page of what was called the Daily Prophet, was a picture of him as a little baby with the scar on his forehead. Harry wondered how they got that picture. He decided he needed to ask Dumbledore about it next time he saw him. Harry nodded to the people at the bar. "Nice to meet you all," Harry said as the rest of the Weasleys came through. Arthur led Harry to the brick wall in the back. "Hang onto your hat, Harry. Here goes nothing." He turned and tapped certain bricks in a sequence, which Harry committed to memory. To his astonishment, the bricks came to life and quickly moved out of the way, revealing to him a street full of people. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, Harry Potter. This, my friend, is the Wizarding World''s shopping mall. Anything related to the Wizarding World can be found here," Arthur said as he led the way inside. "Wow," Harry said as he followed Ron inside. He turned to watch the brick wall move back into place. He touched the wall and it felt solid to him. Bill tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. "Amazing, huh?" Bill asked. "That it is," Harry admitted. "So where do we go first?" Bill checked his watch. "Gringott''s Bank first." Bill led the way to the bank. It was a tall imposing building sitting on the corner of the main street. Harry leaned back to see the top of the four story building and saw the stone gargoyles perched on each corner. "Security sentries. They have moved only twice in Wizarding History that I know of," Bill commented. Harry nodded and then approached the front doors. Standing at the front doors was a goblin, and he looked mean enough. Harry smiled at the goblin as it opened the door for him and let him in. "Thank you," he said. The goblin merely nodded, already looking at the next person. Harry turned to see a second set of doors. The silver doors had something etched on them. "Enter stranger, but take heed, of what awaits the sin of greed, for those who take, but do not earn, must pay dearly in their turn, so if you seek beneath our floors, a treasure that was never yours, thief, you have been warned beware, of finding more than treasure there," Harry read out loud. * Bill leaned over Harry. "That''s why nobody ever dares try to rob this bank. The stories that are told of the terrible retribution the goblins deal out are not exaggerated." "There is no Honor is stealing a person''s hard earned money," Harry declared as they walked further into the bank. Bill guided him up to a tall desk. The goblin sitting there looked over his spectacles at Bill and then Harry. "Bill Weasley," he said in a raspy voice. "What brings you here?" "This is Harry Potter," Bill said, moving Harry in front of him. "He''s come to claim the Potter Family Vault." "So he does now, does he?" the goblin said. "Very well. We must see the Master about this." He slid off his tall stool and guided them to a hall and down it to a large ornate door. The goblin rapped on it twice and then entered. A moment later he stepped out and motioned for both to follow him in. The goblin behind the desk rose and looked Harry over. Harry felt a shiver run up and down his spine for a moment and then the goblin nodded. "I am satisfied that you are who you claim to be. Weasley, take him to the vault. Here is the key," he said, handing it to Bill. "Make sure the key bonds with the boy before he uses it." "Yes sir," Bill said, and then escorted Harry out. Another goblin nodded and motioned for them to follow him. They stepped into a roller coaster kind of cart and then went on a wild ride before stopping at another ornate door. Bill handed Harry the key. "Say to the key, I am Harold James Potter, son of James and Lily. Then it will scan you and then it will be bonded to you forever. You can call it up anytime you need it," Bill said. Harry did it and he felt the key come alive in his hand. Then it flew straight for the lock and into it. The moment it did, the door suddenly became bright and clear once more, the dullness and grime disappearing. The Potter name was distinctly displayed across the ornate door. Harry touched the key and it turned. The door opened and Harry gasped at what he saw. The vault was full to overflowing. "Your parents were the absolute best Aurors ever. What you see here is the reward money they collected from grateful Wizarding countries and the money they earned as England''s Aurors. They chose to live a simple life, in a simple house. The other half is money handed down to generations of Potter and Evans. You are the last of the Houses. Spend it wisely," Bill cautioned. Harry filled up the moneybag he had at his waist and then closed the bulging bag. He closed the door and the key simply vanished after leaving the keyhole. "The next time you come here it will reappear in your pocket when you step through the doors. I don''t know how or why it works that way, but it does. Come, we need to leave and find the others," Bill said. Back out in the sunshine, Harry looked back at Gringott''s. It was an experience he''d never forget, one he knew he would tell over and over again, right up to his dying day. He turned and followed Bill down the street. He kept looking everywhere. There was so much to see, hear, and experience. Harry knew he''d need at least a week here to properly see it all. As they made their way around Diagon Alley buying the things Harry would need for his first year at Hogwarts ("Might as well get everything now, Harry. Save you a trip later," Bill stated), Harry became more and more intrigued at the Wizarding World. Even the Owl Emporium fascinated him. He fell in love with a very beautiful snowy owl that he saw in a cage outside the shop. The owl turned and stared deep into Harry''s eyes and he felt in that moment that she was meant to be his familiar. Bill noticed and smiled. Now he knew what would be perfect for Harry''s first birthday in the Wizarding World. He even wondered if Harry even had a birthday. Fred caught his eye and he nodded towards the bird and Harry. Fred nodded back, the message having been sent. Fred stepped up to Harry. "Have you seen the Quidditch shop yet?" he asked casually. "Quidditch?" Harry asked in surprise. "What''s that?" Fred smiled as he led Harry in that direction. Once they were out of sight, Bill immediately got the cage from the stand and went inside with it. He bought the owl, the cage, and everything the bird would need and then spelled it to the house. Before he did, he leaned forward and whispered to the bird. "Don''t worry. You''ll see him again. He will be your master." Bill swore the owl smiled as it vanished. "Okay, I think I got this down," Harry said to Fred as Bill walked up to them. Fred sighed, and then brightened up. "We could play a game when we get back home. Maybe you''ll understand it better then." "He''s a first year, Fred. Not allowed a broom just yet," Bill reminded Fred. "That''s right," Fred swore. "I totally forgot. But isn''t it allowed at home?" "I''ll ask Dad," Bill said as he led the way to Madam Malkin''s Robes. "He would know the answer better that I do." "Or Percy would. He''s a walking, living, breathing rule book. He''d be perfect for a job as a stuffed shirt at the Ministry," Fred huffed. Bill turned to Fred and George. "Come on, he''s not that bad." "Sez you," George griped. Bill folded his arms across his ?h?st and stared at them. "He is our brother, regardless of who he is and what he believes." Mrs. Weasley''s arrival ended the argument. "Have you been inside yet, Harry?" He turned to face her. "No I haven''t. What is this store?" "Robes. They make robes here. You''ll need a few for Hogwarts Harry," Bill stated. Harry had a picture in his mind of people running around Hogwarts in bathrobes. "They are not bathrobes. Did you see what it was that Dumbledore was wearing?" Bill asked. Then it clicked. "Oh. That kind of robe," Harry said. "How functional are they?" Bill realized Harry was asking that question from his viewpoint. "Depends on what it is you''ll be doing." Harry just smiled and Bill suddenly knew what Harry was referring to. When they left an hour later, Harry had ordered at least a dozen robes, all in basic black. They would be sent to the Weasley House with the Hogwarts logo sewn onto them. Harry already had planned some very special modifications to them. That had been the last stop of the day. The Weasley family and Harry headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to head home through the floo network. As they passed through the bar, people nodded to them and a few shook Harry''s hand. Once back at the house Harry went out into the backyard and sat on a tree stump and let his thoughts wander over what he had see that day. It all was so impressive and overwhelming. He felt something pass over him and he looked up. Standing in front of him was the faint outline of his parents. They smiled and nodded to him and suddenly Harry knew things would work out okay. He turned to see the Weasley kids coming out of the house with their brooms. Bill held another one for Harry. "Time to learn how to ride," he said. Harry paid attention and quickly got the hang of it. Bill grinned as the others looked on in surprise. "A natural. He''s a natural, I told you all," Bill said. Percy nodded. "I have to agree with you." Bill mounted his and rose up to where Harry was. Harry had a huge grin on his face. "I love this!" he yelled. Bill had to laugh. "You''re not the only one." They landed together and the Weasleys congratulated him on his first flight. Then they taught him Quidditch while playing it. Harry picked up on it right away and it became obvious that the Seeker''s position was perfect for him. Harry laughed in joy as he came down to the ground with the Snitch in his hand. "Harry, you''re a natural!" Fred exclaimed. Bill nodded as he took the snitch from Harry. "That he is. That he is." Molly called them into dinner and after dinner Harry took a long walk down to the river to think about what he had seen and heard that day. He was more convinced now than ever that he truly belonged here. Coming here had done something for him and now he knew he would never be the same. Life would now take on a whole new meaning as it led him in this direction into this bright new world. He hoped he was up to the task that his destiny had set in front of him. With good friends and his parents behind him, he knew he would make it. End Chapter One. Chapter 40 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 12 - Earl of the North Plot: Harry is framed for the mass murder of Muggles after he deals Voldemort a stunning blow. He is sent to Azkaban where he and his cell mate, Bellatrix Black, begin to discover Harry''s heritage and his potential power as they plot to escape. Pairing: H-Bella NOTE: Its a novel that has the clich¨¦ Harry gets locked up in Azkaban gets locked up next to Bella, forgives her and escapes. Finds out that he is an powerful, rich heir and takes revenge on those who betrayed him. Mild Dumberdore, Ron bashing. OP Harry. The only thing that i think is a bit too unrealistic is how quickly Harry forgives Bella, other than that a good read for those looking for a powerful Harry fan fic Earl of the North A Work of Fan-Fiction by: Lord Silvere Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it''s JKR''s, if you don''t, it''s mine. This is a non-profit story. Prologue North''s heir shall be taken to his dominion Where his heritage will manifest itself. The long forgotten power will wake And Ice''s armies will flock to him. Traitors will quail before the betrayed Voldemort''s fate will be decided by he who holds the Black Rod. Chapter #1 Lucius Malfoy picked Harry Potter''s wand up from the wet street as its owner took deep breaths to prevent himself from collapsing from magical exhaustion. He then muttered a long winded incantation and waved it at the Muggle households that surrounded them. They all burst into uncontrollable flames. Malfoy smirked as Harry collapsed and then dropped the wand in front of the teenage boy. He then drew his own wand and cast a Charm that erased any presence of his own magical signature. Hopefully his Master''s signature would be mistaken for Potter''s. His malicious work done, Malfoy went to the fallen form of Voldemort and prepared a Portkey. The Dark Lord would survive, but it had been close. He then said the word to activate the Portkey as he grasped his Master''s cloak. "Impossible." Harry James Potter was left lying in the street as Privet Drive burned and countless Muggles perished in flames and smoke that had been caused by his wand. "I didn''t do it." Harry said, his voice showing how close he was to tears. "There''s no reason for me to kill innocent Muggles." He was bound to a hard chair in an office deep beneath the Ministry of Magic. "That''s why it''s illegal." the Ministry agent said snidely. She had wasted no time in letting Harry know that she and everyone else despised him. "I''m innocent!" Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly. "We tested your wand, you were the one who cast that spell, Harry." He held up his hand to prevent Harry from interrupting. "There are witnesses that say you had a big fight with the late Dursleys on that same day." "I''ve always fought with them!" Harry yelled. "I''ve never hurt them! I swear that it was Voldemort and Malfoy! They appeared out of nowhere and I nearly killed Voldemort. Malfoy must have done it!" "Tests indicate that you were the only magical person to even be in the vicinity of Privet Drive since you came home for the Holidays." the woman said. "I and the rest of the Order suspected that you may have allied with the Dark. Even Snape. You knew about attacks long before he did." Dumbledore said morosely. "How else would you have gotten all that information without having your dreams?" Harry was now getting angry. Why wouldn''t they listen? "I told you! After I got home for the summer after fifth year, I kept getting short letters telling me where attacks would be. I simply passed on the information to you." "Who where they from?" "I don''t know!" "Why didn''t you warn us about the attack on Hogsmeade? Hundreds died." Dumbledore questioned. "The person stopped writing letters to me." Harry explained desperately. The woman who had not even identified herself shook her head grimly as she made some notations in what Harry ?ssumed to be his permanent record. "I think you were trying to give everyone a false sense of security. Your warning prevented minor attacks and filled Azkaban with rookie Death Eaters, but they were hardly significant." "As if Voldemort did anything significant since June." Harry muttered. The woman flipped the folder shut. "All of the evidence is against you. You had a fight with the Dursley''s. These mysterious letters. Your wand initiated the spell. You are the only wizard or witch to have stepped foot on that street." Instead of trying to defend himself, Harry looked at the situation logically. The evidence was more than damning. He couldn''t prove any of it wrong unless . . . "Veritaserum! I''ll take a dose and tell you that I''m innocent." "Too expensive and pointless. This is an open shut case, Potter. I hope you enjoy rotting in Azkaban." The woman sneered at him. "Traitor." "But . . . a trial!" "No time." She appealed to Dumbledore. "You can see that this is solid. He obviously did it. There''s not much point of making more trouble over this." "Yes, Whitney. I have to agree." He gave Harry an extremely disappointed look. "Normally I wouldn''t dare put him in Azkaban, not matter what he did, what with Voldemort about. Things have changed though . . . there''s a new prophecy." "That settles it then. Life in Azkaban. No parole." This silenced Harry and he watched Dumbledore snap his wand. What would happen to the rest of his possessions? ''Stupid thing to be wondering about.'' Harry concluded. The boat ride across the channel to Azkaban was extremely depressing for Harry. He couldn''t stop thinking about what Dumbledore said. ''Did they really think I had gone to the Dark? All that time?'' Harry thought. They must have. Ron and Hermione had been acting strange the whole year. Harry thought that he had been mistaken, but they had appeared relieved when he announced he would be spending the holidays alone. As the fortress loomed closer through the dark fog, Harry came to the conclusion that he couldn''t really blame the people who had turned against him based on the facts. But the Ministry could have given him a proper trial with Veritaserum and those who had known him for so long should have believed in him. He gathered his resolve for the hardship he would soon face. Getting mad about it wouldn''t solve anything though. Harry looked at Azkaban as the boat came to rest next to the stone pillared dock. Harry noted absently that it had been artfully carved from solid rock. The figures that were on the pillar were faded with age, but Harry thought that some of them looked vaguely like birds. One of the Aurors roughly grabbed him and led him towards the dock. The other Auror, who had a much nicer disposition, had noticed Harry looking at the pillars. "Some say that those were carved long before there was a prison here." He said informatively. ''Like it matters to me.'' Harry thought with apathy. When he stepped onto the island, Harry felt a jolt of power shake him slightly. He quickly looked at his escort to see if they had noticed it. They did not appear to have noticed anything strange. ''Must be the wards.'' Harry decided. They led him into the prison where the Dementors were. It was amazing that any of them remained now that Voldemort was out and about. Not many though, their effects weren''t bothering Harry very much at all. His thoughts on this subject were interrupted when they stopped walking and the friendly auror unlocked a cell door. The hostile one shoved Harry into the cell and sneered. "Merry Christmas Potter!" Because his hands were shackled, Harry was unable to break his fall and he scraped an arm on the ground as the door slammed shut. "And a Happy New Year." he muttered sarcastically. He stood up to survey his surroundings. The cell was quite small and was windowless. The only opening other than the closed door was a small hole in the corner which Harry ?ssumed served as a toilet. The thing that startled him was that he was not alone. Another inmate was huddled in a dark corner that the light from the barred cell door opening didn''t touch. Harry decided to be social, even though the other inmate was quite likely insane. He stepped towards his cell mate and took a good look that left him reeling in shock. "Bellatrix Lestrange!" Bellatrix raised her head and her moist and slightly-dead violet eyes met his. "Black actually. My husband divorced me." She sighed and returned to gazing at nothing in particular on the floor. "Why?" "Because I betrayed V-V-Voldemort." she whispered. "I wasn''t killed because they thought it would be amusing for me to rot in this hell-hole. Didn''t stop them from torturing me though." To say that Harry was stunned would be an understatement. Why would she betray Voldemort and how had she ended up here without it being all over the newspapers? The second answer was actually quite easy really. Fudge would not want to admit that she had escaped in the first place. Any reports that she had escaped could now be dismissed as false. Harry elected to sit down next to her. He was itching to know how she had betrayed the Dark Lord, but decided that a little sympathy might get him further in the long run. "Crucio?" A weak snort answered Harry. "That''s nothing." Bellatrix turned towards him and pulled the neck of her ratty dress down a bit further to reveal a mass a red-welted lines all over the skin of her upper ?h?st. After Harry had gaped a moment she let go and sat back against the wall. Now that he looked closer, he realized that the numerous stains on her dress must be blood. "I''m sorry." Harry said sincerely. She may have been a Death Eater who had tortured and killed many, but he couldn''t help but feel sympathetic towards her. Besides, if she had betrayed Voldemort, she couldn''t be all that bad. "How was it that you betrayed him?" She looked at Harry with a bit of a smile. "I sent you all those letters." "Why did you do that?" Bellatrix sighed deeply. "I was trying to make up for my crimes. Fifteen years in Azkaban changed my outlook on life. I rue the day that I decided to become a Death Eater. When V-Voldemort broke me out I had no choice to but to follow." She stopped and looked away from Harry. "I''m sorry about Sirius." she said quietly. "I tried to stun him. I didn''t know that he would fall through that thing." Harry nodded. There was no use in getting angry about it anymore. Sirius was dead and that was that. Besides, it was mostly his fault after all. Taking Harry''s silence as encouragement, Bellatrix turned her head towards Harry continued. "After Sirius died, I realized that I couldn''t pretend anymore. I already suffered from too much guilt. There was no way I could stand by and do nothing. So I started writing you those letters. He caught on after a while though. After being tortured for days, I was turned over discreetly to the Ministry and here I am." Putting his weak Legillimency skills to the test, Harry looked into Bellatrix''s eyes intensely. He was able to feel her emotions for a single moment. He found crushing guilt for her crimes, sorrow, depression, and best of all- no regrets for turning on Voldemort. "I believe you." he said quietly. This single statement seemed to overjoy her. Perhaps there was hope for her if the Boy-Who-Lived could at least understand her. There was a long pause before she asked the inevitable question. "What are you doing here?" Chapter End Chapter 41 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 13 - Like Grains of Sand in the Hourglass Plot: During the Battle in the Department of Mysteries Nymphadora Tonks finds herself thrown back to the beginning of Fifth Year. With two Tonks walking around and her faith in Dumbledore eroded what''s a Metamorphmagus to do? Protect Harry Potter at all costs, that''s what! Tonks ends up crafting a new identity for herself and infiltrates Hogwarts to fix the future. Pairing: H-Tonks NOTE: Told in the eyes of Tonks, only encompasses the fifth year, no squeals. Essentially a one shot, albeit a long one. Enjoy! Chapter 1: Meet Theodora Nymean Kirk The battle was already raging by the time Tonks and the others made it into the Department of Mysteries. She didn''t have much information going into that maelstrom. The only thing she knew for certain was that her friend/third-or-fourth cousin Harry thought her first cousin Sirius was being held and tortured by Death Eaters. Of course the rescue group had been told why Harry had run to the Ministry, but not where he had run to. How they were supposed to rescue him without being told where they were supposed to go apparently didn''t concern Snape overly much when he had informed them of Harry''s concerns a few minutes prior. She ?ssumed that Harry had been lured into the Hall of Prophecies. That she could even guess that much was thanks in large part to a conversation she''d overheard between Snape and Dumbledore near Christmas. How the Order had been expected to guard something when they didn''t even know what they were guarding¡­ Rule Number 1: Always make certain that personnel involved in an active investigation and/or protection detail have all relevant details. Lack of detail leads to injury and death. Damn Dumbledore! That man and his love of secrets, it was going to get at least one teenager killed someday! He''d refused to let even the members of the Order of the Phoenix in on what was actually going on ¨C let alone the young man at the center of the entire fiasco. All Harry had asked was to be let into the loop; it wasn''t that big of a thing. If the Aurors were placed on protection detail they always made sure that their subject knew who and what they were being protected from. Rule Number 2: A victim is always more likely to comply with Auror recommendations if they are aware of the scale of danger inherent in their situation. She''d seen Harry a few times in the past few months and the kid looked straight up awful. Between the stress of Umbridge, the O.W.L.s and whatever Voldemort was doing, Tonks was amazed he''d managed to keep it together for so long. Now with him apparently having a vision of Sirius being tortured¡­she couldn''t blame Harry for running off half-cocked. Minerva was still down thanks to Tonks'' less than stellar compatriots, Snape was just as useful as always ¨C ranging from utterly useless to deliberately obstructive ¨C Dumbledore was still hiding out at Grimmauld¡­Harry had had no one to turn to for help exactly when he had needed it most. She should have been there for him. She wasn''t that much older than him and she was an Auror. She was supposed to be there to help anyone who needed it. They hadn''t had many interactions, but from the few they''d had he''d seemed perfectly sweet, if admittedly somewhat depressed. What made it all worse was that she still dimly remembered holding a baby Harry in her arms when she seven years old. He had burbled happily whenever she morphed her hair color. Harry was actually the reason she loved pink so much¡­he had always seemed to like it the most. Now she was running to rescue the teenage version of her no-longer-tiny friend with Sirius, Remus, Mad-Eye and Kingsley¡­but she knew in her heart that it was already too late. She knew she was going to race through one of these rooms and find a dead body with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. It had already been hours since he''d run from Hogwarts; Merlin only knew how long he''d been here fighting by himself. He''d obviously been making the bastards work for it though judging by the destruction Tonks was running through. Three rooms and three scenes of devastation greeted her. The Hall of Prophecies had more broken spheres than intact ones. The Space room had three planet replicas shattered on the floor. The Arithmancy room had glowing numbers embedded into the middle of walls. The Thought room had Ron Weasley tangled up in brain tentacles gibbering nonsensically. Wait. What? "Shack!" Tonks yelled skidding to a stop and leveling her wand at the brain wrapped around the red-head. "I got the cognivore you get the Weasley!" She didn''t even pause to make sure he followed her lead. Technically Kingsley was the Senior Auror, but they''d been partners long enough that she knew he''d do what she said. She shot off a cutting spell and smiled in satisfaction as the thought tentacles fell away from the boy and the brain dropped limply to the floor. Shack summoned Ron while Tonks banished the brain back into its aquarium. Moody dropped to his good knee and grabbed Ron''s shoulder. "Weasley, where''s Potter? How many others are here?" Ron gasped for air as the thought tentacles were unwound from his throat. "Harry ran through there," he said gesturing towards a door to the next room. "Neville and Hermione were with him. Luna and Ginny were in the planet room when we got separated." Tonks felt her stomach drop through the floor. It wasn''t just Harry and Ron here. There were six teenagers fighting off Merlin knew how many Death Eaters! And there hadn''t been anyone in the Space room they''d just passed. Tonks desperately prayed that Luna and Ginny were still alive and not captured. If they had been captured¡­if they had been captured it might actually be better if they were dead as awful as that thought was. "Ron, stay with us. It''s safer and we need to find the others," Sirius said quickly as he rushed towards the door. Tonks stopped her traitorous mind from conjuring up more disturbing images and she ran after her cousin. They burst through the door ahead and she found herself loping through the destroyed Time room. Broken pieces of Time Turners and the¡­sands of whatever made them work were scattered everywhere. The corpse of a former Death Eater slumped against the wall as a wonderful warning of why playing with Time was a bad idea. His baby head on an ?du?t body was sure as hellfire proof of that principle. She b?r?ly had time to reaffirm her plea for divine help when they ran through another door and into sheer madness. In front of them were nearly a dozen Death Eaters fighting against Harry, Neville and a blonde girl she ?ssumed was Luna Lovegood. Luna danced through spell after spell without issue. Neville had blood running down his face and a broken wand yet was still knocking back Death Eaters almost every time he cast a spell. Harry was a blur of motion swatting spells out of the air and tossing back his own attacks. Tonks'' attention was wrenched back to her own world as the floor fell away from her. Stairs. The room has stairs. Of course it does. She tripped down three steps before regaining some measure of balance. It was a good thing that she did trip actually since she felt two different spells fly just above her back and slightly burn her skin with their passage. As she tried to straighten up and leap down the remaining steps her gaze fell on a body crumpled between Neville and Harry. The blood trail behind made it obvious the body had been carried into the room from an earlier battle. A female body with bushy brown hair and a large wet, red streak down the majority of her torso. Tonks nearly fell down the remainder of the stairs. Hermione''s dead. We''re too late. Dumbledore kept too many secrets. Snape stalled too long. I was too slow. This is all our fault. She''s dead and it''s all our fault. The next few minutes of battle were a blur. She took out Dolohov before starting to duel with Bellatrix, her insane aunt. That duel didn''t go particularly well for Tonks. She managed to b?r?ly evade the eviscerating curse sent her way though she hadn''t quite managed to fully dodge the bludgeoning hex following behind it. She took it on the side of her head and wound up blinking up at Bellatrix from the bench. Tonks was still trying to figure out how she had gone from vertical to horizontal and focus on the center of three Evil Aunts when Sirius jumped in front of her and took over fighting the woman. It took far too long for the chamber around her to recenter enough that she could lever herself up. That was all too clear as she had only made it to her knees when an anguished cry from Harry rent through the room. "Sirius!" Tonks turned her head and was just in time to see her cousin laughing at Bellatrix while a red spell shot into his ?h?st. He looked stunned for a brief moment before tumbling unceremoniously back through the Veil. Tonks felt her heart stop briefly. No. I only just got him back a year ago. What am I supposed to tell Mum? Harry''s scream of rage brought her back to the present. The teen threw off Remus and tossed several spells at Bellatrix. Tonks'' aunt responded with an amused taunt and took off running. She was out of the chamber a moment later cackling like the damned. Harry followed right behind. Tonks swore and finally succeeded in getting her feet under her. She started running again b?r?ly managing to keep the two in her sight as they passed through the next door. Tonks couldn''t spare a thought to where the others in the rescue party were. They were likely finishing up with the other downed Death Eaters and saving¡­whoever was left alive. Tonks knocked aside the next door and nearly crashed into Harry''s back. He had caught up with Bellatrix. Tonks had a firsthand view of just how much Harry''s experiences this past year had affected him when he cast something she had never in a million years expected to pass his lips. "Crucio!" Harry screamed, his wand pointed at Bellatrix. Tonks was too shocked to do anything other than freeze. Her aunt convulsed for only a moment before cackling again. "Aww, poor baby Potter," Bellatrix said grinning. "You need to really mean it for that spell to work right. I''d love to give you a lesson, but my Master approaches so I really don''t have the time. See you in Hell, Potter!" she yelled raising her wand, a black band of light jumping from the end and streaking towards Harry. Tonks had no idea what Bellatrix had cast, but she knew it was bad. "Harry! Move!" She reacted on instinct. Jumping forward, Tonks shoved Harry hard to the side. Her movement was enough to knock him out of the way of the spell, but she caught her foot on one of the stones tripping at the last moment. That final blunder was enough to bring her directly into the path of Bellatrix''s curse. She had just enough time to see the horror on Harry''s face and the triumph in her aunt''s as the spell connected. Tonks flew backward and slammed into a giant grandfather clock in the corner her eyes dimly focusing on a corpse with a baby''s head on the wall across from her. Time room. Damn. Live Harry, live. Sorry I couldn''t do more. Sand cascaded down around her and a loud roaring filled her ears. The room seemed to jump around her, broken items flying back into place on their shelves fully repaired and holes in the walls refilling themselves. The roaring increased and the movement in the room accelerated. Tonks almost felt like she was apparating with the way her body was being squeezed tighter and tighter. She couldn''t breathe. She couldn''t see. She could b?r?ly even think the pain had gotten so intense. As suddenly as it started, everything stopped. The room ceased its mad dance, the sands that filled her vision vanished and the pressure on her body let up. The roar in her ears vanished with a final loud primal sound that resonated through every bone in her body. Apparently it resonated outside her body as well as whatever she had fallen into exploded outward. Tonks was left blinking in confusion at a Time room that was mostly undamaged beyond the destroyed grandfather clock and loose grains of glittering sand covering half the room. She breathed deep and was surprised to find that beyond feeling a bit sore, nothing struck her as horribly wrong with her body. Bella''s curse should have killed her. It should have¡­ Wait. Bella and Harry are gone. Everything''s repaired. Time room. SHITE! Tonks clutched her wand and hurriedly cast a disillusionment charm on herself. She jumped up and moved to the opposite corner of the room just as the door to the chamber burst open, three hooded figures rushing in. "¡­massive temporal event. Nothing was scheduled today was it? Lurker isn''t enough of an idiot to try and send something back during unsupervised working hours is he?" The second hooded figure pulled up short and stared at the destroyed clock in front of them. The other two quickly froze staring as well. "Hell. We''re going to get blamed for this¡­Start scans people. If there''s been an incursion we need to lock it down and study it ASAP. We can''t afford to let it escape. It''ll probably be something small and¡­" Tonks didn''t wait around to hear anything else. She may not have been an Unspeakable, but she''d worked with a few on several ops beforehand. She knew enough to get some of their basic operating protocols down. It didn''t matter to them if she''d only been knocked a few hours out of sync or a few decades. They''d cut her up either way to see if they could reproduce whatever had just happened. Making sure her movements were silenced in addition to camouflaged, Tonks slipped out of the open door behind the Unspeakables. She carefully threaded her way back out to the exit and moved to the lifts waiting to slip inside with someone heading up. Thankfully she only had to wait a minute before one of the legal admins took a ride to the Atrium. Rising panic threatened to overwhelm her as the lift merrily ticked away the levels. Tonks pushed it down with ruthless efficiency honed through her Auror training. She didn''t know what had happened but she was going to find out and she was going to fix it. She''d find a Daily Prophet copy in the lobby and see what day it was. Then she''d drop her cover spells and thread back into her life like nothing had happened. With any luck she''d have only been tossed a day or so back. That was easy enough to deal with. A slight tip off about the coming battle and everything awful could be avoided. No mess, no fuss. And if I''m forward in time and it''s too late to do anything? What the hell am I supposed to do then? Well if that was the case at least she wouldn''t have to worry about running into a double of herself. The lift finally opened onto the Atrium and Tonks moved forward slipping around the few personnel milling about in the central area. She shuffled closer to the stands with the paper near the fireplaces and nicked one while no one was looking. Leaning down to read off the date, Tonks felt her blood freeze. "Bugger me¡­" Tonks had slipped out of the Ministry and was currently busy breathing into a paper bag she had conjured on the street corner a few blocks away. Rule Number 10: Always stay calm. Even with Killing Curses flying, staying calm will probably save your life. "Okay, Tonks, you can do this. You can do this. Just stop and think. Think." Tonks scowled at herself and pushed to her feet starting to pace in front of the alley nearby. "They''re still riled up and running around confused so there''s still time to sneak back into the DoM. You could...try to repair the clock? Try to put the sand back into it and then...and then...bloody hell even if that would work what then? What would be the point?! Why would you even want to try and go back? Sirius was dead, Hermione was dead, Ron was hurt, Neville was hurt, Ginny was missing, Harry was probably about to be killed by Bellatrix¡­no, I''m not going to try to go back." "Okay, so...what do I do now?" Tonks stopped pacing and turned to stare at her reflection in a shop window. She had switched to brown hair before walking into Muggle London and she ???ked her head frowning as she subtly morphed her features into a slightly younger visage. An insane idea started to take root in her mind. "September 1st¡­Hogwarts Express leaves in an hour¡­Things started going all sorts of wrong at some point this year¡­I could¡­" she paused and shuddered. "No. No, I should tell Dumbledore what happened and he''ll know what to¡­" Tonks trailed off again and scowled before slamming her fist into the wall. "Tell Dumbledore? Tell that arse just so he can tell me he has everything under control and to not worry about it? So he can tell me to go to some other country and pretend I don''t exist while the exact same sob story plays out? Tell Dumbledore. Like hell!" She strode into the alley with her mouth set and her eyes narrowed. "Harry''s the key. If I can keep him from losing it this year than I can fix all this. They don''t have to die. They don''t have to run to the Ministry. Besides, no one ¨C especially not a damn teenager ¨C should have to shoulder the weight of the whole damn world. Helping Harry to have a better year is the right thing to do." She hit the middle of the Alley and started to twist for her Apparation before freezing in place. "Shite. I need a disguise. Can''t go as myself," she murmured. "There''s already a Tonks in this time period even if I make myself younger I''d be recognized¡­Okay, so what do I call myself?" She sighed and leaned against the wall with arms crossed. "Has to be something somewhat close to my name. I need to respond naturally when people talk to me. But¡­Tonks¡­bloody hell, there''s no way I can be a metamorph with a name that even theoretically shortens to Tonks. Dora. Gotta go with Dora. Doreen? No. Dorothy? No. Theodora?" She perked up smiling. "Actually, that works. It sorta honors Dad and I can still shorten it without looking obviously like myself. Okay, do I keep Nymphadora anywhere?" Tonks scowled. She hated that name so much, but if she was going to change things then Nymphadora Tonks was going to continue to live her life blissfully unaware that she had a time lost doppleganger around. Tonks would never be able to walk back into her old life again. She''d never be able to complain about her name or hug her mother or father or ¨C "Stop. Stop thinking, Tonks. Stop thinking. You can break down later when you''re not on a deadline." And now I''m talking to myself. Perfect. She sighed and shook her head. "Okay, keep Nym at least for something to honor Mum. No way can I use Nimue; way too obvious. Too bad, that would have been a fun moniker. What about¡­Nym, Nym, Nym¡­Nymean? Sorta like the Nemean Lion, but spelled differently? Keeps the weird naming thing Mum had going while still giving it my own flare. Okay, that works. Theodora Nymean. Weird last name. Need something else as a last name so I don''t stand out too much. Uh¡­" Tonks trailed off as a smile split her face. "To boldly go where no witch has gone before. Theodora Nymean Kirk." Nodding happily, Dora pulled out a mirror from her pocket and quickly enlarged it then pushed it against the alley wall with a sticking charm. "Now, the looks. Think, ''teenager''. Hmm, let''s go black hair for now. Can change that later. Height, five foot¡­six? Sure, that works; not too tall, not too short. Breasts¡­um, 32C. That was my natural back then anyway I think¡­maybe¡­whatever, it works. Muscles, keep them the same. I could''ve worked out in the past. I''ll be making Harry work out anyway. Face¡­little bit more cheek¡­little bit less chin¡­there, perfect. Eyes, blue. Okay, I think¡­yeah that looks convincing enough." Dora took one final critical look at the mirror before nodding in satisfaction. She looked like a fifteen year old again and not like a fifteen year old Nymphadora Tonks. "Now, I just need to pick up my school supplies and run to¡­shite!" Dora scowled again. She didn''t have a book list and there wasn''t exactly time to nick one. Plus she wasn''t going to be on the registrar for this year. Maybe¡­maybe that would be a good thing. "Mad-Eye''s Rule 25: If you can''t get it right, fake it til you make it. A simple trunk with standard potions and astronomy gear plus a new wand. I can bluff my way past McG with that and she''ll get me into the classes and ordering the right books before the meal is over!" Dora smiled into the mirror and apparated away. Gulping audibly, Dora lugged her trunk onto the train. She''d gotten lucky and just b?r?ly made it on before the Express left the station. It had been too close ¨C in more ways than one. She''d spotted her younger self milling around the platform with Molly and ''Snuffles'' keeping a lookout for any shifty individuals. If Dora had needed any more confirmation on just how utterly screwed she was that was it right there. Tonks hadn''t ceased to exist as soon as Dora popped in like a small part of her had hoped. Nope, there were now two of...No, there weren''t two Nymphadora Tonks. There was one Nymphadora Tonks and one Theodora Nymean Kirk. I can do this, Dora thought shuddering slightly. Merlin, this was going to be hard. Shaking her head to clear the frightened thoughts, Dora shuffled down the train passage looking for Harry. She had to ingratiate herself quickly. He was a suspicious kid. He had every right to be, but it was going to work against her if she wasn''t careful. From what she remembered him saying during Christmas he''d made friends with Luna on the train so she had a chance of getting into his group at the same time as the young blonde as long as she didn''t push too hard. Finally coming up to a compartment near the back, Dora looked in and saw Harry sitting with Ginny, Neville and Luna. Taking a final steadying breath, Dora set her features into the frustrated/eager expression she''d previously settled on and pushed the door open. "Wo-Hi, do you mind if I sit here?" Dora asked, silently cursing herself for almost using her normal ''wotcher'' greeting. Rookie mistake. "I got here pretty late and there''s like no spots left. I mean there are a few, but I tried to sit with this blond guy in green robes who looked about my age ¨C but used way too much hair gel ¨C and he started looking at me like a piece of meat. It got creepy so I figured I''d find somewhere else." Dora noticed Harry''s lips curl into a frown and just b?r?ly avoided pumping her arms into the air. Mentioning Malfoy was definitely the right way to go, she congratulated herself. "Sure," Harry said moving over enough for Dora to sidle in. "That sounds like Draco Malfoy. He''s a git, don''t mind him. I''m Harry; feel free to stay with us. I don''t remember seeing you around." "You wouldn''t," Dora said nodding as she hefted her trunk into the overhead compartment and plopped down next to Harry. Reaching over she held out her hand. "I''m Theodora Nymean Kirk. Transferred in from the Wiltshire Coven. I think I pissed off the Matron too many times so she decided to send me to an actual school." Harry frowned, but took her hand. "They''re allowed to do that?" "What the sending me away part or the homeschooling part?" Dora asked innocently. "Er, both?" Harry asked. Dora shrugged, but Neville beat her to answering the question. "They can, Harry. Covens are covered under different laws than most of us. The Ministry basically treats them like sovereign countries allowing them to do whatever they want for the most part as long as they stick with the major rules like the Statute of Secrecy and stuff." "What he said," Dora agreed. "Hi, I''m Dora." She leaned across the way and shook Neville''s hand. He smiled and hesitantly replied, "I''m Neville Longbottom. Nice to meet you." "And I''m Ginny Weasley. I hope you like Hogwarts," Ginny said smiling over and shaking her hand as well. "Hello," the small blonde in the corner said lowering her magazine. "I''m Luna Lovegood. And you really shouldn''t be here. I think. Are there two of you? Most people only have one. I would love to interview you for my daddy''s magazine." Dora could only blink at the younger girl in terror. Thankfully she managed to avoid opening her mouth and gaping though it took a supreme application of her metamorph abilities to keep her voice from shaking as she replied. "I agree I probably shouldn''t be here. Rumor has it that a Dark Tosser is on the rise again. Personally I''d prefer to be shipping across the Pond if you know what I mean. Sadly, I think that would be more running away than anything else so, here I am." Maybe if she just ignored the most troublesome part¡­ Luna frowned for a moment before her face lit up with a smile. She nodded vigorously. "Oh I get it! Well hopefully you''ll be able to help us with that issue." Dora suppressed a shudder. She''d definitely have to find time to sit down with Luna soon. That girl knew something and if she said anything¡­ "So, Dora, right?" Harry''s voice asked cutting through her awareness. Quickly turning to Harry she nodded. "So, Dora, you believe Voldemort is back?" "Wow, you don''t shy away from the heavy stuff do you, Harry?" Dora asked groaning. At least this should be a safe topic. She remembered that almost everyone thought he was insane or lying thanks to the stupid Prophet. "Yeah, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it''s generally a duck. That Harry Potter bloke has been through crazy shite before that everyone said was impossible so why are people doubting him now? It''s right stupid if you ask me. Burying their heads in the sand and hoping that the lion passes on their juicy behinds sticking up in the air, that''s what the Ministry and the public are doing." Harry''s mouth dropped open slightly and his eyes widened. Dora worried she may have laid it on a bit too thick, but thankfully she was saved by the compartment door opening again. She looked up and had to clench the seat cushion to keep from jumping up and hugging Hermione as she stepped into the small compartment with Ron. Instead, Dora hurriedly shifted closer to Harry enough for Hermione to sit down on the bench though Ron took the opening and pushed into the open spot. Seriously, Dora thought glaring at him. What kind of arse leaves the girl to stand? Hermione for her part narrowed her eyes at Ron before awkwardly closing the door and leaning against it. Harry made a move to get up, but Neville beat him to it and waved Hermione to take his spot. "Here, Hermione. This is Dora Kirk, she''s transferring from an independent Coven. How was the Prefects'' meeting?" Dora waved companionably as Hermione eyed her critically. After a few seconds the brunette smiled and nodded a greeting. "It went about as well as could be expected." "Yeah, what with that ponce, Malfoy as a Prefect. Pansy made it too. Don''t know what Dumbledore was thinking there," Ron said opening his bag and taking out a chocolate frog. "Hi, nice to meet you, Dora. I''m Ran Weslay," Ron''s last sentence was slightly garbled as he stuffed the treat into his mouth and held out his hand. Dora could only groan. She had really hoped that he''d been better at school than he''d been at Grimmauld but apparently he had the same bad manners everywhere. Maybe she''d make him a pet project too this year. "Um, nice to meet you, but you''re going to have to wash that hand before I shake it." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I keep telling him not to do that and he keeps ignoring me. Perhaps you''ll have better luck. I''m Hermione Granger by the way. You''re from a Coven you say? I''d love to hear about that when you have the chance. I''ve heard about how the Covens work, but there isn''t much material on them." "Maybe later. I didn''t pay much attention honestly," Dora said shrugging. A quick skim through a book while on the Knight Bus certainly didn''t make her capable of dealing with a Hermione Granger fact finding mission. They were interrupted again as the door to the compartment opened and Draco Malfoy and his cronies leered down at them all. "Potter, I see you survived the summer despite how you were dogging around during it." Dora scowled as she felt Harry tense up beside her. The significance of that statement wasn''t lost on her at all though Draco tipping his hand so early was the sign of an extreme amateur. How the boy expected to survive under Voldemort was a mystery. "And the Weasel beat you out for Prefect! You must be so ashamed!" "Malfoy ¨C " Harry started to snarl before Dora cut him off standing to face the trio of Slytherins in the hallway. She laughed in Draco''s face and lightly poked his ?h?st. "You really think you can rile people up like that? That''s pretty sad Gel Boy. I''m amazed you can think enough to talk actually. That much product in your hair should probably be giving you brain damage. Or maybe it''s a wig? That would make more sense I suppose." Malfoy''s face turned red and his hand clenched his wand. "Watch yourself girl. I''m a Prefect and I can ¨C " "Do absolutely nothing to me," Dora crooned. This might actually end up being a fun experience! "Beyond not having a House yet, I''m also sitting with two other Prefects who clearly saw you start the taunting match. I don''t know if they skipped basic math in your education, but generally two is higher than one. Now run along like a good like metrosexual." She discretely flicked her wand shutting the compartment door. It nearly caught Draco''s hand as he jumped out of the way of the flying piece of wood and glass. As it snicked shut, Dora cast a low level locking charm then silenced the door until the Slytherins gave up beating on the door and walked away. She turned to see all eyes in the compartment staring at her. "What? Did you actually want to talk to them?" Harry slowly started to clap and then began laughing at her. "That was impressive." They ??psed into speaking of their summers while Dora leaned back into her seat and plastered a smile onto her face. Inside her stomach knotted over and over. First impressions on Harry and company were done. Now she had to deal with a far more frightening prospect: Minerva McGonagall. Dora breathed deep and made sure she had set her story straight. Now if only she could remember Wiltshire Gwenog''s first name... The rest of the train ride went relatively well. By the time they had disembarked at Hogsmeade Dora was fairly certain she''d managed to gain Harry''s friendship and Hermione''s approval. Neville seemed to like her well enough and Ginny was at least accepting of her even if the red-head seemed to be a bit annoyed. Ron had been too busy staring at her to bother talking much and Luna¡­well Luna was¡­Luna was staying quiet about her uncanny knowledge of impossible events at least so Dora was counting it as a win. She walked up to the carriages with the others only to see Harry stop suddenly and stare at the carriages. Why was he frozen? Why was he looking at the thestrals like they were ¨C Shite. Thestrals. Cedric. Bloody hell. "When did we get horses for the carriages?" Harry murmured breathing hard. "Harry? There are no horses. They''re pulled by magic just like they always have been," Hermione said softly stepping back to carefully take Harry''s arm. Dora grimaced and shook her head. "You saw someone die recently didn''t you, Harry?" All the teens nearby stopped and stared at her. Dora just walked over to the skeletal horse and patted its back eliciting a pleased grunt from the beast. "There are thestrals hitched to these carriages. Only someone who''s seen and understood death can see them. Poor things get a bad rap for that. They''re actually really nice beyond looking half starved by nature." "I can see them too," Luna commented with a sad smile. She came up beside Dora to pet the creature as well. Dora just looked down at the blonde in shock. She hadn''t known that the girl had had trauma like that in her past. "They''ve been here since I arrived. They are quite beautiful. I can''t say I''m sorry that you can''t witness them yourself, Hermione." Harry carefully walked forward and reached out to touch the thestral. "Witnessed death¡­you saw someone die, Luna, Dora?" "My mother," Luna replied. She turned her smile on Harry and shrugged. "It was a long time ago. Thank you for your concern." And with that, she walked to the carriage and hopped up beside Neville and Ron. Dora sighed and nodding to Harry turned to walk with him back to Hermione and the waiting carriage. "I''d prefer not to talk about it right now. Maybe some other time." Her mind flashed through several figures ending with Dolohov''s head falling away from his body from her severing curse. Shaking her head to push away the memories Dora hopped up into the carriage and remained quiet during the ride up to the gates. When they reached the doors to the castle, she came face to face with Minerva McGonagall in all her stern, scary glory. Suddenly Dora''s cover story didn''t seem quite so foolproof. "And just who might you be, my dear?" Dora gulped and shrugged with a forced nonchalance. "Theodora Nymean Kirk, ma''am. The transfer from the Wiltshire Coven? Please tell me they sent the paperwork because I know I was supposed to bring a copy, but I tripped and kinda¡­dropped it¡­and it blew away¡­along with my book list¡­I got the potion supplies and I brought my telescope though! Can I look on with someone else until I can reorder my books?" Dora started praying to Merlin and Morgana and God and every other god and goddess she''d ever heard of that this worked. If she could get past McG with a decent sob story and appeal to her love of children¡­ Minerva sighed and shook her head with a deep frown splitting her face. "I don''t recall receiving any of that paperwork, Miss Kirk. Who should I contact in the Wiltshire Coven to obtain a new copy?" Dora grimaced and affected a bit of a wilt. "Um¡­well, I would say Mrs. Gwenog, but I got word shortly after I left that she was killed in some sort of terrorist attack the other day." Which was entirely true and why she had chosen Wiltshire to begin with. "I don''t think anyone else kept my records and most of the others b?r?ly even knew I existed. Marley would be able to help you, but she moved across the Pond a few months ago. Ben was heading to Australia last I heard and um¡­I don''t know of anyone else¡­" Rule Number 13: When lying always include enough truth with fact that should they investigate you appear legitimate. Dora muttered a silent thanks to Mad-Eye and his devotion to paranoia and making certain she memorized all his rules to survival. If this worked she would never again make fun of the crotchety old bastard. Plus that random information he''d made her memorize about which Covens Voldemort had been targeting might just pay off after all. Minerva cast a critical gaze over Dora for another few seconds before wincing and nodding slightly. "I understand, Miss Kirk. It seems we are all losing friends these days. I''ll ensure you receive a book list before the evening is out as well as an owl order catalog. The paperwork is mostly to establish a record of your prior performance and is not strictly necessary if you have not yet taken your O.W.L.s. What year were you to be placed into?" "Fifth, ma''am," Dora said breathing a silent sigh of relief. "Very well, come with me and we''ll get you sorted with the First Years." Dora nodded and followed in step with Minerva. Well she tried to at least. She made it about ten paces into the castle before tripping and falling into a suit of armor. Her face burning in embarrassment Dora quickly picked herself up and ran after Minerva ignoring the looks from her soon-to-be-classmates as she went. I remember hitting that same stupid brick and that same stupid armor the first time I walked through those doors Second Year. How bloody ironic is that? Her mind wandered as the Sorting took place and she found her gaze drifting around the hall. Draco sent several murderous looks her way which nicely balanced out the affectionate smile of encouragement Harry directed towards her. Dora felt her cheeks burn as she noticed that. Harry really shouldn''t be looking at her like that. Wasn''t he supposed to be crushing on Cho Chang this year? He sure as hell wouldn''t be looking at her like that if he knew her real age. She was probably overreacting anyway. Dora wasn''t exactly the poster-girl for a normal relationship and most of the guys she remembered liking her had just looked at her with b?r?ly disguised ?ust anyway. Harry was probably just watching out for a friend and wasn''t remotely interested in Dora Kirk. But you''re only a few years older than him. You were starting to look at Remus like that before this shite and there was twice the age gap in that potential mess. And if Harry isn''t interested in you yet...well it might be a bit fun to flirt with him every once in awhile...after all, it''s not like classes are going to be hard so you''re going to have to have something to keep yourself busy with, a small voice whispered in Dora''s mind. She had to flex her abilities in order to keep her blush under control after that. Harry was cute sure, but she couldn''t afford to think like that. She had far bigger things to worry about. Such as what the hell she was going to do with this Hat she was walking up to. This Hat that could see into your mind past any Occlumency barriers. This Hat that she had completely forgotten about until this moment. "Ah, well now, this is interesting," the Sorting Hat whispered into her ear. Dora started sweating. She clutched the stool so tight her knuckles would''ve turned white if she hadn''t flexed her metamorph power again. "Er, hi. Before you blab, please take a look at the rest. Please." "Oh don''t worry, Miss Tonks, I''m not going to say anything to anyone. I can''t. It''s part of the enchantments that created me. I also see it would be rather foolish of me to do so even if I could," the Hat started to chuckle. Dora let out a sigh of relief and let her fingers loosen somewhat. "This sort of thing doesn''t happen all that often, but every once in awhile you get the occasional dimension hopper or time leaper. Nine times out of ten they''re relatively harmless or succeed in their goal of making things better. That tenth time tends to be undone by another party shortly after." Before Dora could even try to wrap her head around that, the Hat continued on. "Anyway, the important thing right now is where to place you. Normally I''d say Hufflepuff again, but such a clear split with your prior loyalty to Dumbledore makes that a rather difficult choice to justify. Forgive me, but you never were much of a Ravenclaw spirit. Slytherin would suite you quite well though. This plan of yours is delightfully cunning and would fit right in with that House." "No," Tonks said, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the inside of the Hat. "How the hell am I supposed to protect Harry from Slytherin? Even if he doesn''t stop talking to me right away I''ll probably end up murdering Draco and getting kicked out before the week was up." The Hat chuckled again. "Oh we both know you''d never get caught if you did. If would solve a lot of my problems to be honest. You''d be amazed at how many students I had to sort away from Slytherin because they''d had the misfortune of finding out he was in it prior to sitting me on their head. Ah, but if you''re dead set against it¡­" "Yes. Sorry, but I am not willing to take that risk. I can''t let things go the way they did before. I need to fix them and to do that¡­" "Yes, yes," the Hat gave a heavy, theatrical sigh. "Very well, better be¡­GRYFFINDOR!" Chapter End Chapter 42 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 14 - One Hundred and Forty Nearly Twelve Plot: My answer to Merlins challenge when he was writing Time Again, so this is my Harry back in time story, it is H/Hr all the way as during an accident 142 year old Harry goes back in time to become Eleven once again. Pairing: H-Hr NOTE: Classic time travel fic One Hundred and Forty going on Twelve Fates intervention Silent tears ran down the wrinkled face of the old man, it was one hundred years today since she had died. One hundred sad lonely years, filled with sorrow and emptiness, his heart still yearned for her, his soul, his pained and tortured soul wept for her. She had been fortytwo years old when her husband had killed her in a blind drunken rage; as a Weasley she had suffered twenty years of his abuse, twenty years without telling anyone about it. Abuse only discovered by her death at the hands of the brutal man. Harry and she had both been thirty eight years old when they had both received the anonymous owls, the notes the owls brought had simply told them to ask in the record office for book Number one, on page five hundred and thirty, they would find something of great interest. They had through some strange twist of fate, turned up at the same time to look at the book, both carrying identical messages. They were best friends, had been for nearly all their lives, so they naturally looked at the book together. They both knew, once they had read the entry, why they had lived such miserable lives, separately they had both been very unhappy, they read the entry together and together they had left the room. It was the last time he ever saw her alive, her fire and determination were gone, her spirit broken, she had simply said "it''s too late," and left him standing watching her leave. The day she died he had known before he was told, he had felt it. His heart had broken just a little more and after so many long years he was still truly unhappy without her in his life, he missed her so much. In his long life he could count the happy days he had had on his fingers and toes. Entry Number 2904¡­ Date 01. 01. 105,AD. Hermione J Granger, D.O.B 19 September 1979, Harry J Potter, D.O.B 31 July 1980. Expected Date of Union. 01 September 1991 Last Date on time limit 24 December 2019¡­ Date of Union¡­ 00 Unfulfilled¡­ Harry looked again at the first page in the huge book. And read the page they had not read that first time. Book of the Fated. Warning to all written within. Here in are the names of those chosen by fate to be together as soul-mates for all time. Let it be known throughout the world, that misery and torment for all eternity will befall any who wilfully prevent these unions. For those whose unions are never made complete, only a life of unhappiness remains. For those who find their soul-mate a simple kiss will complete their union. If in this book you find your name then take heed, find your mate or suffer an eternal search. There will be no rest until two become one. For those within the pages of this book are placed here by the power of the universe¡­ Look now learn and be warned you can not escape fate¡­ Note: Unions of soul-mates are recognised by the fates and the wizarding world as magical unions, unbreakable and eternal. Thus the Wizarding world accepts these unions as a legal and binding marriage for all time. ----- Harry left the records office and made his way along the various corridors that would lead him to the Wizengamont chamber, the place where the ruling body of the wizarding world met to make new laws, and to hold session. He was half way along the main corridor when he was stopped; a young wizard had joined him. Ashford Lupin was a brilliant young member of the untouchables, "I have the experiment scheduled for around fifteen minutes time, if you are interested professor you could come with me and witness the creation of the first personal time portal, it will be so much better than the old time turners." Harry saw no reason he could not spare this eager young man a few minutes of his time; he was passing that way anyway. They were just a few dozen yards away from the lab when they saw it, a binding flash and an enormous wave of magic rippling speedily toward them, Harry knew they couldn''t stop it but he tried a shield charm anyway. Harry never heard the explosion that would have been the biggest in the ministry''s history, the accident in the department of mysteries came from Ashford Lupin''s lab. The magical wave hit Harry half a second after he raised a shield, but he was lifted from his feet and hurled backward. When he woke up Harry found himself surrounded by a dense cold damp mass of swirling grey cloud, he could just see his hand if he held it at less than arms length. From all sides he could hear voices, thousands of them in all languages, both male and female yet none loud enough to hear the words. Slowly Harry began to edge forward, his hands groping for a wall, a door, anything to help him figure exactly where he was, but there was nothing to be found, he turned slowly to face the other way, maybe if he went away from the point of origin of the magical wave he would find some thing, someone. The voices, indiscernible conversations, still ?ssailed him from all sides, some he seemed to be getting closer too, then he would lose them amongst all the others, he tried shouting to draw their attention, but to no avail. Then he heard a voice he thought he knew, the deep booming voice of Hagrid so he turned in that direction, he thought he heard Hagrid again, calling for the first years, but the voice faded once again. Harry realised the voices were being lost to him when he stopped to listen, so he determined not to stop or stand still again, he needed to know where he was, he needed something or someone to help him find his way out of this cold damp all engulfing fog. Again he heard a voice, a female he thought he knew, he knew the words she said, they had been forever etched in his memory, following the voice he heard it again ''Platform 9 ? this way'' the voice was undeniable, impossible though it seemed, he knew the voice was real. Still following the direction of the voice Harry finally caught sight of something; it was a fleeting glance at a boy''s head of unruly black hair. Feeling his way forward Harry found the cloud thinning he could see the crowds of people milling around the platform within the fog, then he could see that head of black hair as it headed for a compartment of a train, and the boy was passing just in front of him, reaching forward he tried to get the boys attention, he was close enough to touch the young boy. The moment his hand touched the shoulder of the young boy in front of him Harry felt himself being pulled, dragged forward as though torn apart, his mind and soul seemed to be ripping apart then the darkness came. Harry woke, or at least he became aware that he was sitting in a compartment of the Hogwarts express. Looking out of the window and seeing Ginny Weasley standing holding her mothers hand he was stunned. He sat there for quite some time trying to work out what was happening where he was; he suddenly knew where he was but he was totally surprised to find out when he was. Somehow he was back where it all started, he had gone back in time to September the first nineteen ninety one, the day things began to go wrong for him and Hermione. The first thing Harry decided to do was to leave the compartment that Ron Weasley would enter; he needed to prevent Ron and Hermione''s first meeting. Forfeiting his happier days at the Burrow was a small price to pay for the life of Hermione Jane Granger. Hurrying from his seat Harry made his way down the train, looking in each compartment as he passed. He had travelled nearly all the way to the front of the train when he saw them, a girl and a boy, both around his age sitting on opposite sides of the compartment. Harry opened the door and asked for permission to join them. She was exactly as he had remembered her, her hair that was so bushy, stuck out in all directions, her two front teeth were slightly too big, and she had the warmest smile, he couldn''t remember noticing the smile last time, but as he ran the memory through his mind he realised she had never smiled that day they first met. Closing the door behind him he introduced himself. "Hi, I''m Harry." She spoke up for both of them "Hi, I''m Hermione Granger, and he''s Neville Longbottom." "Wow what a beautiful name, Hermione, isn''t that a name from Shakespeare?" Harry asked knowing the answer. "Would it be ok if I joined you two in here for the whole trip?" Hermione''s smile was huge when she nodded, she seemed to have become shy, so Harry decided he needed to make her feel comfortable again. "Hi Neville, heard about your parents, bet you are so proud of them," he said looking at the nervous boy holding a toad. "I know a charm to stop toads from escaping, if you are interested," he told Neville with a chuckle. "Do you? That would be so good, Trevor is always escaping, I don''t even know how he does it," Neville said grinning. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand, but then he hesitated "Hermione if I tell you what the charm is would you do it, I''ll bet you are so much better at this than me." The huge smile on Hermione''s face made his heart glow as she answered "Well if you think it''ll be ok." Harry got Neville to place the toad in the middle of the floor then he whispered into Hermione''s ear, her scent was exactly as it had always been, no perfumes just pure clean smelling Hermione and a tiny hint of vanilla, he thought of flowers and honey ice cream and books. Hermione waved her wand down then upward from left to right just as he had told her, as soon as she had said the words, Trevor found himself inside a glass aquarium, a few stones and a drop of water lay on the bottom for him to enjoy. "Well it''ll keep him from escaping." Harry burst into laughter. "Wow, Harry." Neville exclaimed Hermione stood to examine the glass tank that now held Trevor; she seemed to be satisfied as she sat back down. Harry took the seat across from her, wondering what to say next he absentmindedly rubbed his fringe from his eyes. Hermione looked at him for a moment "You''re Harry Potter. I''ve read about you!" "Harry Potter, The Harry Potter, I never believed Gran when she said we were the same age." Neville gasped. "It''s no big deal Neville, not really, I''m just like you," Harry said trying to calm Neville down. "Bet you know loads of magic," Neville commented as he moved Trevor''s new glass tank to the seat next to him. "No just some stuff I read in a book, if we were friends I could tell you, but my uncle says nobody wants to be friends with a freak." Harry said knowing Hermione would say something. "That''s awful, why ever would he say that, honestly. I''ll be your friend Harry if you want me to be," Hermione told him smiling "Yeah me too," Neville said losing some of his nervousness. "Why did your uncle call you a freak?" Hermione wanted to know. "Well if you don''t mind me staying here with you, I''ll tell you as soon as I fetch my trunk." Harry rushed off back down the train before they had answered him, he was soon back and had his trunk stowed away. "Now what was it you wanted to know, oh yes it all started when I was left on the doorstep of my aunt and Uncle." he began¡­ Harry told his new best friends about his life at number four Privet Drive. Even after so many years the memories were still fresh and painful. He knew his story was hard to believe, especially for the two people he had just told who had never been without the support of a loving family. He was trying to think of a way to prove he was not exaggerating like boys tend to do when he remembered something he had hidden so very well before. Standing up and walking to the door he slipped the lock in place then pulled down the blinds. Then he turned his back on them and slowly pulled his shirt off. "I got these because Hagrid turned up to give me my letter." Harry''s back was covered in bruises and welts, they were yellowing now but they were still highly visible. Hermione su?k?d in a long slow breath, while Neville went white in the face. "Oh Harry, how could they, they must be really evil people," Hermione said as she gently placed her hand on his back and felt the welts. Harry felt a wonderful fire on his skin where she touched him, "I don''t want you telling anybody, I have a way to sort this out myself," Harry said as she felt how thin he was. Slowly the talk between the three of them moved on to brighter things, Hogwarts was their favourite topic for the few minutes before the trolley lady appeared selling all kinds of sweets. Harry bought some for all of them, getting some extra chocolate for Hermione, "This will cheer you up when you feel a bit low," he told her. As the scenery changed and the mountains rose up on either side of them, Neville went off to the toilet; while he was gone Harry made a decision. He wanted to eliminate any chance of Ron getting together with Hermione and he knew only the one way to do it. It would mean moving things along so much quicker than he would normally ever have the nerve to do. "Hermione, I know we only met a short while ago, but would you be my girlfriend?" he asked her. "Why would you want me as your girlfriend? Harry, you hardly know me," she asked in return. Typical Hermione he thought needs a reason for everything "Well you are so pretty and clever and we are going to be best friends anyway, but mainly because I really, really like you." He replied. She had never had any friends before, her reason was so different than Harry''s but she and Harry had both been lonely children, now she saw a chance of not being lonely again "I''ve never had a boyfriend before, I like you too Harry, so yes, ok, I''ll be your girlfriend," she said her smile reaching right down to her soul. Neville returned just after the conversation ended, and sat back in his seat, Harry got up and sat next to Hermione then he gently took hold of her hand. Neville''s eyes widened as he watched them holding hands fingers interlaced. "I just asked Hermione to be my girlfriend," Harry explained. "But suppose you get put in different houses, what will you do then?" Neville asked. "We won''t be put in different houses, we''ll all be in Gryffindor, when it comes to the sorting they put a hat on your head and the hat picks the house for you. Well you can tell it the house where you want to go, if it argues you tell it you wont accept its decision," Harry chuckled at their looks. "How on earth do you know that?" Hermione asked. "Well I''m not supposed to, but Hagrid talks in his sleep, I asked him about it in between his great snores and he told me the whole thing." Harry told them. "So we will all be in Gryffindor, the Gryffindor three," Neville laughed "My Gran will be shocked." "Neville, can I call you Nev, anyway you tell your Gran, you''re the best friend of Harry Potter, and then she''ll be shocked." Hermione chuckled. The rest of the train ride was spent getting ready, changing into school robes and preparing their trunks. On the platform Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand toward the huge man Harry said was Hagrid, the first person ever to treat him kindly. They joined the rest of the first years as they followed Hagrid to the boats that would take them on to Hogwarts. The oohs and aahs that echoed around the lake at the first sight of Hogwarts reminded Harry of his first sight of the place he had called home. The feeling in his stomach was the same as it had always been before. He was home again. Chapter End Chapter 43 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 15 - The Accidental Bond Plot: Harry finds that his "saving people thing" is a power of its own, capable of bonding single witches to him if their life is in mortal danger, with unusual results. Pairing: H-Multi NOTE: Classic Harry saves girl and forms soul bounds with those he saves. The Accidental Bond Chapter 1 - Trolls Can Be Hazardous An eleven year-old Harry Potter walked into Charms class on Halloween morning and quickly became excited when Professor Flitwick announced they would start practicing the Levitation charm for the first time. While Harry normally sat beside Ron Weasley, his mostly best friend, today the professor had partnered him with Seamus Finnigan. Ron had been partnered with Hermione Granger. While the professor handed out feathers for them to practice with, Harry considered his new friends again. Seamus, Dean, and Neville, three of his dorm mates, were pretty good blokes. None of them was a bully like his cousin Dudley, although he was having trouble figuring Neville out, as Neville was so shy he would hardly talk to anyone. Ron had sort of become Harry''s best mate, almost by default. Harry appreciated the red-haired boy as he had been friendly with him from the moment they had met on the train, but there was something a bit off with him. Ron seemed to alternate between being friendly and being a prat. Worse still, Harry never knew which mood Ron would be in at any given time. When he was friendly, Ron was everything Harry hoped he would have in a friend, which was wonderful considering how he had grown up. But when Ron was in "prat mode", it was like he was a "good" version of Draco Malfoy. At the moment, Harry was trying to be friendly to him and wait and see what happened, hoping Ron turned into a true best mate. Then there was Hermione, who had somehow arrived in his life. She was incredibly smart, even as a first-year. Her dedication to learning was almost scary, which made Harry wonder why she was that way, as well as why she was in Gryffindor. She was nice enough when she wanted to be, but at the moment they were iffy on being friends. She was a bit put out with him for receiving a broom from Professor McGonagall and for being on the Quidditch team, both of which she had let him know that she perceived as breaking the rules. Harry had quickly noticed that she held both teachers and rules in high regard. He understood that, but was unsure why she took that view to such an extreme. Still, they mostly got along and would probably become better friends one day. Professor Flitwick handed Harry and Seamus a feather to share and prompted them to start working. It did not take long for there to be "results". Harry had no clue how Seamus had done it, but his dorm mate had burnt their feather to a crisp, requiring their diminutive professor to supply a new one. Harry glanced one table over and saw Ron and Hermione bickering about how to do the spell. He started to shake his head in mirth when Hermione pointed her wand at their feather and cast "Wingardium Leviosa!" perfectly, causing the feather to rise as required. Leave it to her to show Ron how to cast it on the first try. "Oh, well done, Miss Granger," Flitwick enthusiastically congratulated her. "Everyone look at Miss Granger''s wonderful work. Take five points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger." Ron started muttering something, obviously in a dark temper. Hermione gave him a few questioning looks, but it looked to Harry as if she had not fully heard Ron and was only reacting to his very displeased expressions. As soon as class was over, Ron quickly left his desk and joined Harry as they walked out into the corridor. With a loud and snide voice, he said, "It''s no wonder no one can stand her, she''s a nightmare, honestly." Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face -- and was startled to see that she was in tears. "I think she heard you." "So?" said Ron, not looking a bit uncomfortable. "She must''ve noticed she''s got no friends." "But you don''t have to rub it in," Harry replied. Ron looked over and shrugged. He was in "prat mode" at the moment. Hermione wasn''t seen for the next class or for the rest of the afternoon. That evening, on their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender Brown that Hermione was crying in the girls'' toilets and wanted to be left alone. Harry suspected that even Ron would have felt awkward at hearing that, but at the moment, he was engaged in talking to Dean and had not heard. They all entered the Great Hall and saw all the Halloween decorations, which caused even Harry to put Hermione out of his mind. He thought the carved pumpkins were especially well done. Harry and the rest of his year mates took their seats at the table, enjoying the festive occasion. Tasty looking food magically appeared on golden plates and everyone started dishing out their food. Harry was just helping himself to a jacket potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore''s chair, slumped against the table and gasped, "Troll -- in the dungeons -- thought you ought to know." There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore''s wand to bring silence. "Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" Percy was in his element. "Follow me! Stick together, first-years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first-years coming through! Excuse me, I''m a Prefect!" Harry stared blankly at the Prefect for a brief moment. He was so unlike Ron or the twins, Fred and George. "How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs. "Don''t ask me, they''re supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke." They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly remembered his other friend -- Hermione. As the crowds jostled him and he was separated from Ron, he realized that she would not know about the troll. He started to yell for Ron to come help him warn her, but then he remembered why she was in hiding and did not really expect Ron to come help, given how the two were not getting along. Ducking past a big seventh year Hufflepuff, Harry started running down another corridor away from the rest of the Gryffindors. Racing down the corridor and stairs, he made it to the girls'' bathroom just in time to see the back side of the troll go in. It was grey and huge. Running in anyway, he was almost knocked over by the stench of the creature. A girl''s scream brought his attention back to the matter at hand. The troll raised its large club and swung, knocking a stall door off its hinges and violently throwing it across the room to break a sink. Knowing that Hermione was in danger, even if they were not best of friends at the moment, Harry pulled his wand out and ran, jumping on the back of the troll, throwing his arms around the troll''s neck. Praying he could distract the troll and allow Hermione to escape, he jammed his wand in the troll''s face, unaware that the instrument had lodged in the creature''s nose. While not what Harry had planned, he had accomplished his goal, the troll had completely forgotten the girl in its pain. As the troll roared, Harry thought his hardest about pushing "magic" out of his wand, wishing that the troll was no longer there. He did not see a pencil-sized beam of white light burst out of the top of the troll''s head and hit the ceiling, but Harry did notice that the troll had suddenly ceased roaring and was starting to fall forward. Yanking his slime covered wand back, Harry rode the troll as it fell, landing on the troll''s back on all fours. There was now silence -- except for a brief whimper. Harry looked up and saw Hermione crouching on the floor of the stall with the missing door. "Y-you all right?" he asked with a shaky voice. He could not believe what he had just done, but felt it was important to look after Hermione for the moment. "Y-y-you, you saved m-my life. I w-w-was going to d-die and you s-saved my life!" She was starting to sound more hysterical as she talked. He hurried over to her. "I''m glad you''re safe." As he said that, Harry started to feel a strange something in his mind, but he did not recognize it. However, that strange feeling reminded him that they were in a strange situation and needed to do something. "Hermione, I don''t know what''s going on with everything, but I think we need to leave. Come with me?" he pleaded and grasped her hands, which felt incredibly wonderful. With wide eyes, Hermione nodded and slowly rose as Harry stood and pulled her up. Seeing his wand in his hand and that it was "messy", he quickly wiped it on the troll''s coarse loin-cloth and then hurried her out of the bathroom. Trying to avoid everyone, Harry pulled her in the opposite direction they should have gone, which was towards the Great Hall and the main stairs. "Harry, this is the wrong way; the Great Hall is the other way¡­" "I know a back way where we can hopefully not get caught. Everyone was sent back to our common room," he informed her as they quickly walked; in fact, he was almost dragging her. He took a secret passage that the Weasley twins had inadvertently shown him as he followed them one day. They were back to the Gryffindor Tower in a short time. Hermione had been quiet the whole way, and Harry was appreciative, as it gave him time to think. Harry was not sure what was going on, just that something unusual was happening. He had never held a girl''s hand before, but this felt really great, as if he never wanted to let go. Also, while he would have considered Hermione a friend that morning, now, she seemed more important to him -- important enough that he would protect her from anything. It was a strange feeling, but he kind of liked that too. They had b?r?ly made it back to their common room, without being caught in the corridors, when Ron walked up to them. "What are you doing holding her hand?" he asked as if he could not believe Harry was doing that. "I think I''m helping her get to safety," Harry almost snarled, unsure where this feeling was coming from. Ron stepped back. "Why?" he asked, looking bewildered. "Because," Harry continued aggressively, "you and your ''I''m better than everyone else'' attitude caused her to hide from you. That meant she didn''t know about the troll. So I had to go and find her and bring her back here. It''s all your fault, you know." He felt a pull on his arm, so he looked at Hermione. He could tell she was about to say something and he was afraid she might give something away, so he squeezed her hand and shook his head just slightly when she looked at him. She nodded back and meekly looked down. "I can''t believe you¡­" Ron said, starting to get angry. "Believe it, Ron. Now go eat, since that''s what you seem to do best, and leave us alone until you have something important to say to her," Harry told him, pointing sharply toward the place Ron had probably been sitting before, next to Dean. Ron muttered something, but Harry did not catch it and decided not to care, just like he did not care that Percy was staring at them too. Harry had thought Ron was his friend, but this was hard to understand. As Ron turned his back, Harry pulled Hermione the other way to the other side of the room. He led her over to a corner and sat them down on the floor behind some chairs, out of sight from most of the room. They had b?r?ly sat down when Hermione threw herself on Harry, almost knocking him over, giving him a hug that practically squeezed the life out of him as she started quietly sobbing. Not knowing what else to do, he put his arms around her, although not nearly as tightly. While this felt nice in its own way, it was not as good as holding her hand. As he tried to decide what to do, she shifted and her b?r? arm touched his b?r? neck and everything felt good again. So Harry just held on and marvelled in his first real hug as she cried, not caring in the slightest that his shoulder was slowly becoming very damp. --- Minerva McGonagall stopped in the hallway and sniffed, almost revolted by what she smelled. Still, she had a job to do. It was not hard to figure out what direction the smell came from, so she hurried in that direction. Her four paws allowed her to run quickly. A moment later, she was sure that her quarry was behind this bathroom door, so she transformed back into her human form. As she left her cat Animagus form, the stench lessened. She also noticed that there were no sounds coming from behind the door, which she thought unusual as trolls were rarely silent. Wand out, she slowly opened the door to the girls'' bathroom in the dungeons and was horrified at what she found. She quickly sent a magical message off to the Headmaster and slowly went in. She had just verified that the troll was indeed dead when the Headmaster came in, along with Professor Flitwick. "I see you found it, Minerva," the deep calm tones of the Headmaster said as he walked over. "Is it unconscious or dead?" "It''s quite dead, Albus. I don''t understand it. There''s no one here and there''s no blood," she said, shaking her head. "And look at the room. It was on a rampage, but again, there''s no victim." "Look on the top of his head, Minerva," the squeaky voice of Flitwick said, standing at the troll''s feet. "Why?" Dumbledore asked. Flitwick pointed to the ceiling. "While I don''t ever come in here, I find it most unusual to see a hole in the ceiling, and it looks freshly made." McGonagall walked around and made a disgusted sound. "I''m afraid you''re correct. There''s a quarter-inch hole in the top of his head. Even more surprising is that there is no blood. It''s as if it''s been cauterized." "Like a drilling spell," Flitwick said as he nodded. He pulled out his wand and levitated the troll before flipping it over on its back. "And no hole on the front. The spell must have gone through its mouth or nose. The odds against that shot scoring in one of its few easily vulnerable areas are quite high." "And yet it has happened," Dumbledore murmured. "What was it doing here?" McGonagall asked. "I thought you already had one in place as a guard?" "I do," the Headmaster replied. "I suspect this one came from the same clan and was looking for its friend, but I suppose we''ll never know." He did several revealing spells around the room. "Nothing, there''s not a single clue as to who might have done this," he said, sounding slightly upset. "Do either of you have any ideas?" He cleared his throat. "Yes, well, what''s done is done. Please check your charges to make sure everyone is accounted for and keep your ears open for any rumours in case someone saw something or is injured. I''ll inform Pomona and Severus and have them do the same. Please report back to me if anyone is missing or if you develop any leads on this mystery. I shall work on how it might have entered the castle." With a flick of his wand, the troll was transfigured into a rat and deposited into the trashcan in the corner. A few more waves of the wand repaired the bathroom, restoring it to its former state. All three professors left wondering exactly what had happened and who had done it. --- Harry had no idea how long they had been sitting and holding each other. He knew that Professor McGonagall had come in for a few minutes and talked to Percy, but they had been left alone. Eventually, Hermione sniffled and lessened her hold on him, although she did not let go completely. "Harry," she whispered, "I''m sorry I''m crying all over you, but I just couldn''t stop." Whispering seemed like the right thing to do. It kept the conversation more private and, well, intimate. Not knowing what else to do, Harry lightly patted her on the back before whispering, "It''s all right. I''ve never been hugged before and it felt really good." He shocked himself saying that. Why had he let that slip out? Hermione pulled back and looked at him closely with red-streaked eyes. "Never before?" After he nodded, she said, "You''ve not talked about your life outside of here." He looked down, not sure what to say, but somehow feeling like he could trust her with anything. "There''s not much to say about it; certainly nothing good." "Would you tell me, please?" she softly begged. "I want to know." Harry started to tell her ''no'' until she went on. "I want to know about you, Harry. If it will help, I''ll even promise to tell you anything about me that you want to know," she told him sincerely. There was something about her request, her phrasing, that made him understand she did want to know about him, the real him. As he started to answer, his stomach rumbled. Hermione let a short giggle out. "Maybe we should get something to eat first. The food will eventually go away and I haven''t had anything to eat since breakfast." "I can get it for you if you want to stay here," Harry offered. It seemed like the thing to do. Hermione smiled and leaned forward, brushing her cheek against his as she gave him a light hug. "Thank you, Harry, but I''m feeling well enough now to get it." She let go and stood up. Immediately, she was uncomfortable. Looking at Harry, it was obvious that he felt it too. Realizing that the only things that had changed were that they were standing and not holding hands, she reached out and grabbed his hand. Immediately, the comforting feeling came back. Harry had figured out what was going on as he told her, "We need to touch and yet¡­we need to not be seen while we do this or we''ll raise suspicions. Can you make it?" he asked. She gave his hand a squeeze. "I can for a few minutes, but please don''t dilly-dally." He nodded and led the way over, with her closely following. At the tables with food, they saw that most of it was gone, but there was enough left they could still have their fill as they were the last to eat. "Hey Harry! Where''ve ya been?" Seamus called out from a nearby table. Dean and Ron were sitting with him. Harry quickly glanced around and saw that almost half of the house had gone up to their dorm rooms. Hermione was also trying to hurry with her food and she was making an effort to face away from everyone or else look down so her hair covered her face. "Sitting on the other side of the room," he said, trying to sound as if nothing unusual was going on while he dished out food onto his plate. "You''ve been talking to Hermione?" Seamus looked like he was just asking to be asking, and Dean looked similarly curious, but Ron still looked upset at him. Harry chose to ignore the one he thought was his friend. "Yeah." He was not sure what else to say, or really that he wanted to say anything else at the moment. "What for? I thought you were still mad at her about the way she carried on with you getting the broom and being on the Quidditch team?" Seamus was still acting as if he was just trying to find out information, but Harry felt his anger start to return and he really did not want to go there for now. So he hurriedly poured himself some water and grabbed it so he could leave. "I was never that upset with her and we''ve worked past that and we''re friends again." With that as a parting comment, he quickly turned and left for their corner. Hermione had already finished serving herself and was waiting for him. They sat back down, again mostly hidden from everyone, and started to eat after they held hands again. Eating with one hand slowed them down, but the comforting feeling was well worth it. "Harry?" Hermione restarted the conversation, again whispering. "I''m sorry about the argument over the broom. It''s just -- I''ve always lived by the rules and think they''re made for everyone. And, well¡­" she trailed off. It was not hard to guess what she was about to say. "You''ve been made fun of because people didn''t always follow the rules and you did, right?" he asked, knowing it had to be true. It had happened to him often enough, with Dudley leading the charge. She slowly nodded. "When the rules aren''t followed, then it''s not fair for everyone." He understood, really he did, but she was not totally right either. "I think you''re right, most of the time, but there can be exceptions, Hermione. I hate my uncle and I think he''s lied to me more often than he told the truth, but he did say one thing that I believe to be very true." "What?" she asked, looking into his eyes and wondering what he knew. "Life is not always fair. I think people should be treated the same, whether they''re smart or not smart, or whether they have a stupid scar on their forehead," the last said a little more angrily, "and a lot of other things, but life doesn''t seem to work that way. We''re both made fun of at times, for different reasons, but all we can do is try to go on as best we can. When life isn''t fair, you do the best you can." He had thought about this a lot when locked in his cupboard under the stairs, usually after his uncle had done something ''unfair'' to him. Harry knew he could only do his best with what he had. Hermione took another bite of food and considered what he had said. She knew it was true and even had thought similar thoughts. "I know you''re right, but I still don''t like it. It makes life messy and unpredictable." Harry chuckled, happy for a little levity. "I''m sure it was all done just to annoy you," he said with a grin. "Prat," she softly said with a smile. Harry just squeezed her hand, still smiling. He ate the last few bites on his plate before he set it aside. He moved so he could lean against the wall, and she put her plate on his and moved with him, leaning against him -- still holding hands. "Harry? If I tell you something, will you not make fun of me?" she asked hesitantly and a little fearful. She trusted him, and yet, they had not had much time to show that trust. "Of course," he quickly ?ssured her. "I may tease you from time to time in fun, but I''ll do my best to never be unkind. What is it?" "I''m ¡­ I''m scared. I can tell something has happened to us and I can''t figure out what it is. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I don''t see anyone else doing what we''re doing and I''ve never read about it either. There are a lot of books in the library to check, but if this was common, I''m sure I would have read about it already in one of my introductory books." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was something he always did before he had to deal with Dudley. He thought it always made it easier for him figure out how to get away from his cousin. "I have no idea. I''ve only known about the wizarding world for about three months." "Me too. It''s so unfair," she grumbled. Harry quietly snickered and she smiled for a moment, knowing that he was thinking about his uncle''s comment. He also thought about their situation for a moment. "I''m sorry," he quietly told her. She looked at him as in confusion for a moment. "For what?" "For getting you into this. I''m sure it''s my fault; it always is," he said dejectedly, unable to look at her. "No," she said firmly but quietly. "No?" "No, I don''t forgive you because there''s nothing to forgive. It''s not your fault. If it''s anyone''s fault, it''s mine," Hermione insisted. "But¡­" "Harry, did you let the troll in the castle?" "Err, no." "Did you make it attack me?" "Of course not!" he said fiercely but still quietly. "Did you upset me? Did you force me to hide in the girls'' bathroom?" "No, but I didn''t stop Ron or go after you." "Right, it was Ron''s fault I was upset, not yours. And it was my fault for hiding in the bathroom. You did come after me when you really needed to. It''s not your fault in any way. None." She glared at him to make sure he did not try to claim the blame. "I suppose you''re right, but bad stuff always happened around me at home," he explained. "It was always my fault there." "That was probably accidental magic, and wasn''t really your fault either. You were merely untrained. That shouldn''t happen any more after this first year," she told him authoritatively. "Oh, that''s good." He was not sure if that would make things better with the Dursleys, but hopefully it would reduce the number of times they got angry with him. Hermione nodded, looking satisfied that he accepted her explanation. "All right, describe to me what you think is happening and what you feel. I''ll do the same in a minute and maybe that will help us. I''d go get something to write with and on, but I don''t want to get up and leave you. This feels too nice." He squeezed her hand, hoping to give her a little comfort. "OK. Err ¡­ the most obvious is that I feel like I have to touch you, or have you touch me, skin to skin." He blushed as he realized what that must sound like and tried to hurry on. "I don''t feel the need to do anything else, just hold your hand or something." Hermione blushed a little too. "Same here, holding hands is good. What else?" "I, uh, I felt really angry at Ron when he tried to insult you. Looking back at it, his first comment about holding your hand wasn''t that bad, but I knew it was his fault for hurting you earlier and I couldn''t help taking it out on him a bit." He slowly shook his head. "I probably owe him an apology now." "Maybe, but if you think about it, he owes both of us an apology. Me for what he said, and you for his comments about me." She waved that off. "But the important thing for now is understanding that you feel protective of me. Right?" Harry quickly nodded. "Yeah, a lot actually." She considered that for a moment. "I feel the same way about you. We probably need to hide this for a while until we learn how to deal with that." "What?" His fear of rejection, reinforced so many times by the Dursleys came crashing down on him. Hermione saw his expression instantly change so he looked as if he had lost his best friend. She quickly grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, feeling him sit very stiffly. "No, Harry, I''m not leaving you, not ever. You''ll always be my friend." She felt him relax and his arms slowly go around her. "I meant that we need to be careful because some people would try harder to make you angry by insulting me if they knew about how we feel, that it''s ¡­ it''s reflexive, I suppose." She could feel him nodding slightly on her shoulder. "Like Malfoy," he breathed, as if afraid to say the Slytherin''s name. "You''ll have to be very careful around him, Harry. I know he calls me names, but honestly, they don''t bother me very much." "But it bothers you at least some, doesn''t it?" he challenged her. She shrugged. "Only a little, but it''s because I know he''s trying to insult me, so I don''t let it bother me." Harry gave her a squeeze and then let go and leaned back against the wall again, although he did not let go of her hand. "You''re right, as usual," he told her with a grin, which she matched. "And don''t you forget it," she teased, causing him to chuckle. "Harry?" "Hmm?" "Tell me about the Dursleys and how you grew up." She felt him immediately stiffen again. "Please! I really want to know about you, about why you act like you do. You''re such a mystery at times." Harry was silent for moment, not sure how to answer, and then deciding that a joke might help. "But why? I heard on the telly that women like mysterious men." She lightly slugged him. "Harry¡­" she softly growled. He could not help but smile. "You know that you''re a lot more fun when you''re playful like this, don''t you?" Hermione fixed him with a glare. "Harry, I''m waiting¡­" Harry took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "That''s something we need to talk about too," as she opened her mouth to say something, he hurriedly added, "Later. About me, well¡­ After my parents were killed, I''m told I was taken to the Dursleys. I really don''t know why, other than my aunt is my mother''s only relative. I was eighteen months old." She nodded, as that was the accepted story. "What people don''t know, including Dumbledore, who I''m told was the one who placed me there, is that my aunt and uncle hate magic." "Hate?" she asked, thinking he did not really mean it. "Yes ¡­ unless you have a stronger word?" "Abhor?" she quietly offered. "Sure," Harry willingly accepted. "They abhor it and everything connected to it. I don''t know why, but I do know they took their hate out on me. I was treated like a slave, doing everything around the house that I could physically do, while my cousin did nothing. If anything went wrong, I was blamed for it, even if I wasn''t the one who caused it or knew what had happened. Just like in Snape''s class, but worse." "But Professor Snape isn''t fair to you¡­" Hermione protested. Harry was glad she would admit that. Her view of teachers was something else they needed to talk about eventually. "It''s an ugly place to be. They threw me into the cupboard underneath the stairs and that was my room until I received my Hogwarts letter." "What?" Hermione said in a normal voice, her disgust obvious. She sheepishly looked around and no one seemed to be looking at them so she turned back to him and started whispering again. "Are you serious? Your room was a cupboard under the stairs?" "I swear," he said as he nodded. "That''s where they made me stay at nights and anytime they thought I was in the wrong, which was quite often. I had to do most of the cooking, but I rarely had as much to eat as I wanted. Even after two months, a normal meal here is a feast to me." Hermione threw herself at him to give him another hug. "And I''m really the first person to ever hug you?" She felt herself tearing up as she thought about what it was like for him, how much worse than she had had it. "I''m sure my mother did, but I have no memories of her. So yes, you are the first that I know of." "I think I understand now." She sniffled quietly. "They neglected you terribly. And yet, you''re the nicest person I''ve met here and I''m so very lucky to have you as my friend -- my best friend." Harry squeezed her tightly for a second. "You''re my best friend too." Hermione looked out from around the chairs in front of them and saw that the common room was mostly empty now. "Harry? What are we going to do now? I still want to hold your hand and it''s time for bed." "What if we sat down here together?" he suggested after a moment. "I think I''d like to go take a shower and change into some other clothes before we do, but I think we could hide here for most of the night." He paused for a moment before adding, "We might have to leave early too, maybe go to some unused classroom for an hour or so before breakfast." She thought the idea through. "I guess that would work and not get us into too much trouble. We could go to breakfast side-by-side and then hold hands under the table. Since tomorrow is Saturday, we could spend our time out on the grounds or even hiding in the library." Harry slowly started to smirk at her. "What?" she asked. "I find it funny that you''re thinking of doing something that won''t get us into too much trouble. The fact that any amount of trouble is acceptable is funny." He almost wanted to snicker at her, but managed not to, as he was afraid it might hurt her feelings. She rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly, Harry, I''m not that bad. Even I know that some rules make no sense and are worthless." Harry let his mirth show in his eyes and in his smile. "I''ll remember that and quote you some day." He leaned out and looked around the chairs. "Percy is gone, so now would be a good time. I''ll meet you back down here in about fifteen minutes. How''s that?" "I might need a couple more minutes, but I''ll be as fast as I can," she told him. Looking out to make sure no one was looking their way, Hermione rose and felt the loss of Harry''s comfort as she released his hand. It was all she could do to leave and not grab him again. Without looking at him, lest she turn back, she hurriedly made her way to her dorm room. Harry also felt Hermione''s loss as she let go of his hand. He felt a shiver run through him. He almost grabbed her hand before she left, but he managed to restrain himself. After she left, he got up and quickly walked across the room. On the other side, he saw Fred and George Weasley, along with Lee Jordan. That gave him an idea; so he walked over to them. "Hey, I''ve got a question for you two." "Harry, our lad¡­" "Our friend¡­" "Our glorious Seeker," Lee added, as if he was a part of the Weasley family and a triplet along with the twins. "Or three," Harry added with a smile. "I''ve heard you talk about the kitchens. If I wanted to eat there, how would I find them and get in?" "Ah, a man after our own heart, Fred." "True, a real adventurer, George." They spend the next few minutes explaining where the kitchens were and how to open the door to them. Harry thanked them and hurried up to his dorm. His dorm mates were already asleep as the lights were out and the snores were at full strength. Harry hoped he did not snore like that when he was asleep. Grabbing his shower things and a change of clothes, he went into the bathroom for a quick shower. Ten minutes later, he was grabbing his pillow and heading downstairs. There appeared to be only two people left in the common room, and the couple was on a couch and oblivious to everything as their faces were pressed together. Harry did his best to ignore them, as he silently made his way over to his and Hermione''s spot, but he could not help but wonder if he and Hermione might snog like that one day. At the moment, the question seemed uninteresting and it faded from his mind. He had just made himself comfortable when Hermione quietly joined him. He noticed that she also had her pillow, along with a blanket. "Good idea with the blanket," he whispered as quietly as he could. She gave him a satisfied smile. "Thanks. We probably shouldn''t even whisper while they''re still here." She indicated the seventh-year couple on the other side of the room with her hand. Harry nodded and made himself as comfortable as possible, leaning against the wall and his pillow. Hermione offered her pillow for both of them to sit on and then she leaned against Harry, as well as pulled the blanket over both of them. When they held hands again, they both gave little sighs of contentment. Despite sitting on the floor, Hermione felt really comfortable snuggled up to Harry. As she fell asleep, she wondered what she had gotten herself into by entering the world of magic. She could not remember any fairy tale even remotely like the situation she found herself in at the moment. Harry absently put an arm around Hermione''s shoulders, not even aware of what he was doing. As she snuggled in, Harry relaxed and enjoyed the moment, allowing the rightness of it to wash through him. He had no idea anything like this was possible, but if magic gave him a best friend, he decided to be thankful for magic. Something woke Harry up. He was not sure what it was, so he sat still and listened. It was a survival instinct he had learned from living with the Dursleys. He heard footsteps at the same time he realized the sun was starting to shine through the windows a little. He thought that meant it was still pretty early, especially on a Saturday. Looking through the crack between the chairs they were hiding behind, Harry saw Percy walk across the room and out the Portrait hole. It was time to get up. He also realized that his bum was numb, reinforcing the need to get up and move around. "Hermione," he whispered as he shook her shoulder slightly. She slowly stirred, brushing her hair out of her face as she looked up at him. Realizing where she was, she blushed and looked back down at her arm that was around his body. "Sorry," she mumbled as she pulled it away, still holding his hand with her other hand. "Don''t be," he firmly whispered, blushing a little too. "It makes me feel ¡­ well, like someone cares for me." Much like last night, he was a little worried that he had let his feelings be so free and spoke them honestly, even easily. Her brown eyes snapped back up and held his for a moment before her head was buried back between his neck and shoulder. "I''m sorry, Harry. No one should have had to go through that, much less you." "Why? I''m no one special¡­" She shook her head and her hair tickled his face. "But you turned out so nice despite all you went through. That makes you very special, just like you''re special because you''re my friend," she confided quietly in the silent room. He did not fully understand that, but that was a reason. "You still owe me your story, but I think we should go somewhere else to talk, so people don''t find us here." "I agree. I need to use the bathroom and brush my teeth too. You should go put your pillow back. Make sure you mess up your bed as if you had slept in it, so people will think you just came to bed late and got up early," she told him. He chuckled. "You''re sneakier than you look." She blushed and looked down. "I did sometimes sneak out of my room when I was younger." Her hand moved and she lost contact with him. The discomfort of not touching him was just as strong as it was last night, which worried her. "Hurry back down here, Harry." "I will," he whispered fervently, feeling the loss too. They both struggled getting up, stiff from sleeping while sitting on the floor. Fortunately, they met no one on the way to their rooms. Harry crawled into bed and kicked around a little before crawling back out. He thought it looked pretty normal. Grabbing his toothbrush, he quickly took care of his bad breath. While he was brushing his teeth, he thought about Hermione and had a feeling he had never had before. It was like he knew exactly where she was, as well as knowing that she was "well", although he was not sure what that feeling meant. He could not feel her emotions or thoughts, but he could feel things about her: her location and wellness, for lack of a better way to explain it. They would have to experiment with it to know what it really meant, he decided. He went back down to the common room and found it empty, so he waited in the chair nearest the girls'' stairs. She came back down a few minutes later with her book bag in hand. It was so typical of Hermione that he had to smile at her. Hermione gave him a slight scowl as she walked over, as she had a feeling she knew what he was smiling about, but she let it go and grabbed his hand. "Let''s go," she quietly told him. They walked out the portrait hole and found a nearby classroom that was unused and had a few desks in it. "This should do," she said, sitting and pulling out quill, ink, and parchment. "Making a list?" he inquired, trying to read upside down what she was writing. "Yes. I want to list what''s happening as well as any ideas we may have." She was writing what they had discussed last night. "You can add two more things," he told her. She stopped and looked at him intently, not even noticing that her quill was about to drip and make a blot. "What?" "Did you think about me while you were in your dorms?" He blushed when he realized what that sounded like. "I mean, think hard about me?" Hermione looked at him for a moment. She also appeared to be struggling with her expression. "Not hard, no. Why?" "I don''t know how I know it, but I knew exactly where you were." When she looked like she was about to object, he quickly added, "I don''t mean that you were in your dorm, but that¡­" he paused. "How do I explain this? It was like I could point to you, like I knew exactly where you were. If I knew how to make myself go somewhere, whatever you call it¡­" "Apparate?" she helpfully supplied. "Yeah, Apparate. If I could Apparate, I''m sure I could have appeared right beside you." She worried her lower lip for a moment. "I''ve never heard of someone able to do that either." She added it to the list. "What was the other thing?" "This one is harder, but I found I could tell how you were, that you were ¡­ err, OK. I don''t know how to explain it. Maybe you should try it," he suggested. "How? Specifically how did you do it?" "I just closed my eyes and thought very hard about you. I know, close your eyes and I''ll stand on the other side of the room. Think about me and point to me without opening your eyes." "All right," she agreed, but sounding like she was not sure this was the best idea. Harry waited and when she closed her eyes, he started walking backward as quietly as he could -- one step backwards, one step to the right. He did not think he was making any sound. After a moment, she lifted her hand and pointed right at him. "Open your eyes," he commanded. Hermione did and gasped. "You''re right. I did know where you were and that, well, I knew you were all right, or maybe normal." She harrumphed for a second. "You''re right. That is hard to describe." He nodded and walked back over, grabbing her left hand again without even thinking about it. "I suppose we''ll just have to wait to find out more about that. Surely there is more to it than that?" "I don''t know. Have you noticed anything else?" he asked. "No." She looked at the list and then her watch. "We''ve got to go. Breakfast is starting in a few minutes." Harry smiled. "No, let''s wait a few extra minutes until everyone else has gone." "I suppose that would be helpful, as maybe we could hold hands while we walk," she theorized. "True, but if we let them all go and let breakfast start, then we can go to the kitchens and eat there," he said with a proud grin. She gave him a questioning look. "You know the way to the kitchens? Why haven''t I heard about them before?" He shrugged. "Don''t know. I heard about them from Fred and George." Her expression changed to one of suspicion. "Are you sure you can trust them on this?" "I think so. We probably should be careful though," he told her, trying to sound agreeable. "Very well, let''s go then." She let go of his hand and quickly packed up her things. Grasping his hand, they went off to find the kitchens. They came upon a few Hufflepuffs on the way down who were late for breakfast, but they heard the other students before they saw them and quickly dropped hands until they were alone again. Harry found the picture Fred had described and tickling the pear did indeed produce a door handle. Harry carefully opened the door and they slowly went inside -- their eyes wide with wonder. As Harry closed the door, the noise caught the attention of the little creatures that worked there. An older looking creature came over to them. "What can we get you, Miss, Sir?" "Err ¡­" All sane questions went right out of Harry''s head, much like his first experience with goblins. These creatures were less than waist high (and considering how short he was, that was short) with overly large eyes on their overly large heads with overly large ears. The greenish-yellowish tint also made them a little bizarre to look at, considering they were basically human shaped. However, Hermione rose to the occasion. "Excuse me, but who are you and what are you? I''ve never met anyone like you before." "I be Beaker, Miss, and I be a house-elf. We serve the castle and all who live in her." "I''ve never heard of house-elves," she said to Harry. Looking at him, she saw him shrug. Turning back to the elf, she asked, "So you''re like butlers, maids, and cooks? You''re hired staff?" "Oh no, Miss, we would never take wages!" His large ears flapped noisily as he vigorously shook his head in denial. "To take wages when we are serving would be ¡­ well, it would be most degrading," he said emphatically. "But that''s wrong!" Hermione protested. "That makes you slaves!" Beaker sighed and looked down, slowly shaking his head. "Another one who does not understand." That brought Hermione up short, and even Harry gave him a quizzical look. "You do not come from magical family?" Hermione shook her head. "No, neither of us do." "That is why you do not know. You are too young to have learned here. Go to your room of books and read. Learn that what you ask would kill us," Beaker said honestly. Hermione gasped. In the ensuing silence, Beaker asked again, "What can we get you, Miss, Sir?" Harry cleared his throat and tried to talk again. "Uh, I was told that we could get some food here if we did not want to be seen in the Great Hall." The elf brightened. "Of course, Sir. Come over to the table we keep here." The elf led them over to a small round table with four chairs. The two students sat beside each other, still holding hands. A few snaps of the fingers by Beaker and bowls of food and place settings, just like in the Great Hall, appeared in front of them. "Thank you -- Beaker," Hermione told him. Harry added his thanks as well and they began to eat. After a few minutes, Harry decided this was as good a time as any to ask his questions. "Hermione? Will you tell me about yourself?" Hermione used a napkin to dab at her mouth before she smiled at him. "Sure, Harry. Let''s see¡­ My parents are both dentists, although my father does more oral surgery then dentistry nowadays. I''m an only child. My mother had trouble getting pregnant with me, but she wanted a child so badly that they went to special doctors to help make it possible. I''ve always done very well in school, and my parents have supported me in all I do, mostly by buying books to read." Harry smirked and she blushed at that admission. "I don''t like sports too much. I understand them and do like to watch rugby with my father from time to time, but I don''t really care to play any of them." "Is that why you don''t like flying?" Harry asked, interested in what she would say. She swallowed a little harder than normal. Finally she said, "No, I, uh, I''m acrophobic." At Harry''s confused look, she said, "I don''t like heights." "Oh, uh ¡­ yeah, I could see how that could be a problem." She looked at him and it was all she could do not to say ''duh''. "Anyway, I was very surprised to find out I was a witch, although, it was not a complete surprise. I used to change the colour of my clothes by accident when I was younger." Harry chuckled. "I turned a teacher''s hair blue once. What did you do?" Hermione was sure she looked embarrassed, but ploughed on anyway. "I don''t like the colour pink. So from about the age of five, whenever my mother bought me pink clothes, they would mysteriously turn a light green or yellow overnight." Harry laughed. "I like it. My aunt has always hated my hair, so one day she cut it very short. The next morning, it was as long as it always was." He turned sad and looked down at the table. "What, Harry? What happened?" Hermione was concerned. "I, uh," He did not really want to explain. She squeezed his hand in encouragement. "It''s all right, Harry. I know it''s not your fault that you had horrible relatives." He nodded hard once before he eventually said, "I didn''t get to eat for two days after that." He felt her squeeze his hand and it was so hard, she was actually hurting him a little, but he bore it as he saw the concern on her face. She let up on his hand after a long moment. "Harry, I promise you. If there is any way possible, you won''t go back there." She looked so sincere and he could tell that she honestly meant it. "Thank you," he quietly told her, afraid to say more lest his voice betray him. Hermione gave a smile that was only a little forced, and since they had finished breakfast, she suggested, "Why don''t we go to the library now? We can research what happened to us." "OK, but can we talk about one other thing first," he asked tentatively, using all of his Gryffindor courage to broach the subject. "Certainly, Harry. We can talk about anything. What did you need to say?" She looked very interested in what might be on his mind. "Since we''re going to be best friends, can I ask one favour of you?" He really hoped she did not get angry at him for this. She gave him a smile. "Of course, Harry. Just ask. I may not do it, but you can always ask." Emboldened slightly, he launched into it. "You''re really smart, Hermione, and I think that I''ll learn a lot just being around you, but it''s hard to be around you sometimes and if you could change one little thing, it would be helpful." She was starting to glare at him so he hurried on. "I mean, it''s helpful when you remind us to do our homework, but if you could just not remind us so often." "Harry," she huffed, "you''re at a school. The reason to come to a school is to learn. You won''t learn if you don''t do your homework." "I know, and I do my homework, but there''s more to school than just homework." He was not sure how he was standing up to her on this. She took her schoolwork so seriously, he thought. "I guess what I''m trying to say is that reminders are helpful and I appreciate it, but I really only need one." Hermione was starting to look upset. "You''re saying that I''m nagging, aren''t you?" That was blunt and, to be honest, closer to the mark than Harry was willing to admit because he did not want to hurt her feelings. "Ron might say that, but you know how he is. I really do appreciate the reminders, because I do forget sometimes, but once you tell me, I make time for it and don''t need to be told again half an hour later." She looked at him carefully, still holding his hand. "You do have a slight point. I probably really don''t need to tell you more than once a night, but you never seem to take your studies very seriously." Harry sighed. "Some of that is because I don''t know how." "Some?" she asked. "OK, a lot of it." He looked down, very embarrassed, not sure how he had managed to talk about this. "I do get distracted at times, but it''s mostly that I don''t know how." "Why not?" Hermione asked, very concerned. "Didn''t you learn in primary school?" He shook his head, still looking down. "They didn''t teach us how to do a lot of things, like writing essays. I think they might have starting doing that this year, but of course I didn''t go there. And well, it was unhealthy for me to do too well in school." Hermione thought about that. She had gone to a private primary school and it was possible that she was taught extra things. But one thing he had said bothered her. "What do you mean, that it was ''unhealthy'' for you to do well in school?" "If I, uh, if I did too well and got better marks than my cousin, I got punished, and he wasn''t very smart. So it was better if I just didn''t try too hard or learn very much," he said quietly, hating to admit that. Hermione reached out and grabbed his other hand. "Harry, I can help teach you what you missed. I know you''ll pick it up because I can tell that you''re smart too." "Not as much as you¡­" She sighed. "Whether you are or are not isn''t the point. What matters is that you are smart enough to learn what you need to know and to learn how to make better grades." She paused and came to a few conclusions. "I''ll make a deal with you, Harry." "What?" He looked up at her for the first time since he had broached schoolwork with her. "I''ll teach you what you need to know to do better in school and I promise not be a slave driver. I''ll teach you a little at a time." He thought that was a pretty good offer, though the return part was missing. "OK," he offered to the first half. "And I''ll also stop nagging you and Ron, but in return," she smiled at him to make this easier to take, "I want you to promise to do your best in school. Just try very hard and I''ll be happy, Harry. I think you''ll be happy with your grades, too." Harry thought about that a little longer. "OK, that seems fair. It will be hard to change, but I''ll do it for you." Hermione smiled brightly. "Just like I''ll do my part because it''s for you." Harry returned her broad smile. This was how friends should work, he thought happily. "Now, since we have that worked out, let''s go to the library and figure out what''s going on with us." She picked up her book bag and they started to leave. "Thanks, Beaker!" Harry called and waved. Hermione echoed him. The elf looked happy and waved back, as did all the other elves there. Once outside the kitchens, Harry said, "They''re a little weird, but fun." Hermione shook her head. "It''s all a matter of perspective, Harry. I''m sure they think we''re weird." He nodded as she did make sense. They had to drop hands as they neared the library. Searching, it did not take long to find a table that was fairly isolated in the back. Hermione dropped her bag there and then led him to some shelves he had never visited before. She looked over the titles and started pulling a few out and handing them to him. Harry quickly understood that his job was to carry the books and did so. By the time she was done and leading him back to their table, he was holding eleven books. They sat down and Hermione''s hand sought his out under the table. The contact reassured them both. She handed him a book and quietly said, "Search through this looking for anything about bonds, or I think that would be the subject we need. If you find something about them but don''t understand it, show it to me." He nodded and got to work. He found a few things, but they did not seem to match what had happened to them. Harry showed her a few passages, but she shook her head after glancing over them. Occasionally, she would stop and make a few notes, but she did not claim success. By lunchtime, they had searched through all the books she had pulled out. Hermione had a page of notes. She had him carry all the books back over to the shelves and put them all back. That done, she grabbed her bag and they returned to the kitchens for lunch. Beaker was there and served them lunch again, where they again held hands the whole time. "I''m not sure what to say about what happened to us, Harry," Hermione said tiredly. "I don''t understand why we couldn''t find anything. It''s not like magical bonds should be restricted knowledge," she huffed. Harry considered what she had found. After reading over her notes, he had to agree that nothing she had found had described what had happened to them. "I guess we''ll just have to keep searching. Maybe that bookstore in Diagon Alley might have something," he suggested. Hermione brightened. "You''re brilliant, Harry! See, you are smart." Harry blushed but was secretly pleased. "We can go there at Christmas." She was already planning it all out in her head. "Err, ''we''?" he asked, very surprised. "Sure. You can come home with me¡­" "And meet your parents?" He almost squeaked. "Of course, they are at home, Harry." She sounded a little exasperated at his missing the obvious. Harry knew they were nice people, from her descriptions, but to meet them? Now? When he could not go for more than a few minutes without touching their daughter? "It will be fine, Harry. I promise that they''ll love you," she reassured him. "If you say so." He was still not convinced, but they were her parents, so she should know. After lunch, they returned to their table in the back of the library. Hermione started teaching him how to research and then how to write essays. By the end of the afternoon, Harry was starting to understand how to write an essay. He knew he would need help for a while still, but he knew his next essay would be much improved over his old ones. By dinner time, they decided they really should show up in the Great Hall, so they went straight there from the library. While they wanted to, they were unable to hold hands due to the number of people around. Each of them looked at the other and it was obvious the other was still uncomfortable. "Hermione?" he whispered as they walked down the hall. "Yes?" she answered in kind. "I''m still having to restrain myself from grabbing your hand, but I think that maybe the feeling is starting to wear off. What do you think?" He watched her and hoped she felt the same, as it would mean they could act more normally. Hermione looked very thoughtful. "Maybe I''m getting used to the feeling and so it''s getting less, but it''s hard to tell." He nodded. "Maybe we''ll be normal by morning." She looked worried and as if she was struggling with something. "What?" "Harry, how do you feel about this? Will you not want me around as much by morning?" He grabbed the sleeve of her robes and stopped her. "You''ll always be my friend, Hermione, tomorrow morning and a long time from now." "Thank you, Harry." She grabbed him in a quick hug, since no one was around. "You''ll always be my friend." "Is everything all right, Miss Granger, Mr Potter?" said a stern feminine voice a moment later, causing the two students to jump as well as turn very red. "Y - Yes, Professor," Hermione said hurriedly and nervously. "I was telling Harry thank you for being a friend." McGonagall looked at her two students and it was all she could do not to smirk given how embarrassed they looked. At eleven, it was all very innocent. If they had been fifth years or older, she would have asked some rather more pointed questions. "Friendship should always be valued and I''m happy you have made friends here, each of you." Hermione smiled, glad the professor had not heard the rest of their conversation. "Professor, may I ask you a question?" "Certainly, Miss Granger. I am your head Head of House." She wondered what the girl would ask this time. "Professor, I''ve found out that some of us were taught how to write essays before we came here and some were not. Why doesn''t Hogwarts offer a class to help those who don''t know how to write, especially since most of our homework involves writing?" McGonagall was surprised at the question and thought carefully about it. It was true that many students did a reasonable job with their homework, but the consensus among the staff was that those who did not do so well just needed extra time to adjust. Most students did acceptable work by the end of their second year. She had never put forth the idea that the problem might be one of training, nor had anyone else. If pressed, she would admit that the number of students handing in sub-standard work during the first year or two had been on the rise for a few years. She had attributed to that a temporary situation, but perhaps there was a bigger problem than she had realized. "I''m afraid I''ve never considered that question, Miss Granger," McGonagall finally answered. "Why do you feel it''s a problem?" The girl looked at Potter for a moment, and she saw him give the girl a slight nod. McGonagall found that interesting. "I''ve just spent the afternoon teaching Harry how to write an essay," Hermione explained. "It wasn''t taught at his primary school before he came here. That''s probably true for other Muggle-born students, and I don''t know about those who were raised in Wizarding homes." "Most Wizarding families teach their children at home, and since they know essays are required at Hogwarts, they teach their children accordingly," McGonagall answered. "Of course," she thought out loud, "the proportion of Muggle-born students has been going up in recent years¡­" That could explain the trend she had seen. She nodded at the girl. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Granger. Now, I believe dinner is about to start and we are near our destination." "You''re welcome, Professor." Hermione was happy the woman had listened. Hermione would help Harry regardless, but the other students like him deserved help too. They were soon in the Great Hall and sitting beside one another. Hermione was not sure how they were going to do this, as they still wanted to touch, but it would be too obvious to hold hands under the table here as neither of them was left handed. Suddenly, she had an inspiration and leaned over and whispered into Harry''s ear. "I''m going to cross my legs, which should put my foot near your knee. Casually reach down like you''re putting your hand in your ??p and push the cuff of my trousers up so you can touch my ankle." Harry blushed and looked at her, not believing what he had just heard. "Honestly, Harry," she quietly huffed, tickling his ear with her breath. "It''s just my ankle and you have to do it since I''m on your left." With a sheepish look, he reached down and moved the bottom of her robes and her trousers underneath up a little and put two fingers on her b?r? ankle. He did have to admit that it provided some relief. She smiled at him and he decided the embarrassment was worthwhile. It also made him wonder what witches wore under their robes. He wore a shirt and trousers. They had just started eating when the rest of their year came in. "Where have you been all day, Harry?" Ron asked, as if last night had not happened. "I didn''t see you at breakfast or lunch either?" "Yeah, mate, where''d you go?" Dean asked. He, Seamus, and Ron sat on the other side of the table from Harry and Hermione. "Uh¡­" Harry looked at Hermione and she just looked at him, as if wanting to see what he said. Gathering his Gryffindor courage, he said, "I''ve spent the day with Hermione. She''s been teaching me how to do homework." That must have been a good answer as the girl beamed. "How to do homework? Are you daft? Why would you want to waste time like that?" Ron asked, dismayed. Harry felt his anger rising at what Ron said. He knew it was his new protective streak, but knowing did not stop him from reacting. "Well, Ron," Harry answered a little forcefully and with sarcasm, which made the red-haired boy look at him in surprise. "That would because we''re at a school and schools are meant to be a place where you learn things. Maybe you were lucky and had a family to teach you things like how to write an essay, but I did not." "Harry, I¡­" But Harry did not let him finish. "And furthermore, Ron, you should not be criticizing others considering what you did yesterday." "Me? What did I do?" Ron looked truly bewildered. "Yes, after what you did yesterday. You shouldn''t even be speaking to Hermione until you apologize to her," Harry said, his voice still a little above normal, but not too loud. "What are you talking about?" Ron looked at his other two friends and they seemed clueless as well. "Maybe you should think about that, and if you still can''t figure it out, talk to your parents, since they obviously didn''t teach you at least one thing," Harry practically hissed, trying to keep his voice down but still show how upset he was. Part of him knew he was going overboard, but because of what Ron did, Hermione almost got killed and he would not let that happen again. Whatever Ron might have said was prevented by Professor McGonagall standing and tapping her knife on her goblet. "May I have your attention please?" Harry found it interesting that even the Headmaster looked like he did not know what was about to happen. "It has been brought to my attention that not everyone was taught the same skills before they came to Hogwarts. Therefore, I would like to take a survey for planning purposes. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, so please do not feel embarrassed with your answer. I would like a show of hands from all the students if you did not learn how to write essays before you started school here. Hands up please, and hold them up, if you had to learn about writing essays at Hogwarts." McGonagall looked around and was amazed that over a third of the students had raised their hands, including Harry''s she noticed. More than half of the students with raised hands were Muggle-born, but there was a sizeable number of half-bloods and even a few purebloods with their hands raised. "Very good. I will ?ssume the rest of you were taught before you came. Now, same question for just the first and second years. If you did not learn how to write essays before you came, please raise your hand." She counted. "And if you did learn how before you came here, please raise your hand." She counted again, and noted that Miss Granger had her hand up now. She was slightly distressed to find that almost half of the newer students lacked this skill. "Thank you for your help, please resume your dinner." As she sat, Dumbledore leaned over and quietly asked, "What prompted that?" "As I said, it was a matter brought to my attention. I have wondered why the first-years have been doing more poorly over the last five years or so, and I believe I now have an idea why. Albus, we need to have some remedial classes for writing. It is not fair to the students to ask them to write essays for homework if they don''t know how to write an essay." The man thought about it for a moment as he watched a small disturbance narrowly be avoided. "I noticed that most of the students who lacked the skill were Muggle-born," he casually commented. "Albus! Surely you, of all people, would not discriminate!" He smiled and slowly shook his head. "Of course not, Minerva. I was merely making an observation that a change in Muggle society is affecting us here." Before she could say anything else, he added, "I will leave this in your hands, but I would suggest that a few Saturday sessions that do not coincide with Quidditch matches might be a good time for these remedial lessons." McGonagall breathed a little easier. "Thank you, Albus. If this works out well, I''ll schedule the same lessons for the first-years next September." Dumbledore''s eyes lit in their own smile. "A capital ideal, Minerva." As the survey finished, Hermione happened to catch Ron''s expression. He had a big smile on his face and he was looking at Harry. "Well, Harry, I guess that --" "Ron!" Hermione hissed and glared at him, causing the boy to instantly shut up and look at her. "If what you were about to say is in any way disparaging towards Harry, you better not finish saying it unless you want to lose your manhood." She continued the glare and watched Ron gulp. "Uh, what does ''disparaging'' mean?" Ron asked weakly. "She means you better not be saying anything bad about Harry," Seamus helpfully answered. Ron licked his lips and gulped. "I, uh, err, I don''t think it would be, but I''ll just keep it to myself anyway," he said nervously. Hermione had watched his changing expressions, as well as noticing that he was taking short and shallow breaths. In her opinion, that meant he was lying. She wanted to teach him a lesson but kept that feeling controlled. "That''s probably a wise decision, Ron," she said very evenly. Ron seemed to get the message as he looked down and would not look at her again. She glanced at Harry''s plate and noticed that he was almost done. "Hurry up and finish, Harry. I''m ready to go." She gave a distasteful look across the table and saw Harry nod out of the corner of her eye. A few minutes later, Harry removed his hand from her ankle and stood without saying a word. Hermione followed suit and they returned to Gryffindor Tower at a fast walk. In the corridor, Hermione let her anger show. "That idiot has no control over his tongue. I wonder if he''s ever engaged his brain before talking." Harry glanced around and saw no one else at the moment, so he grabbed her hand and pulled her into a side passageway behind a tapestry. "Hermione," he whispered. "It''s OK. I can''t imagine he would''ve said anything I haven''t heard before. It''s not big deal." That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as she became angrier. "That''s beside the point. If Ron was really your friend, he wouldn''t say bad things about you, just like he shouldn''t about me, if he was really my friend. Don''t you see, Harry? He lied to us! I could tell he was about to say something bad to you, and then he had the gall to tell me it wasn''t bad and then wouldn''t look me in the eye." She was practically steaming. "Gall?" Harry asked in confusion. "Purposefully irritating or vexing," she snapped. The second she said it, she wished she had not. Without waiting for any response from him, she quickly hugged him. "I''m sorry, Harry, I didn''t mean to snap at you. I''m just so angry at Ron." She sniffled once. "This is why I went and hid in the bathroom all day. I didn''t want to be seen like this and now I''m making you deal with it. I should warn you that I have a ¡­ a fierce temper when it gets out of control, so I try to let it out as little as possible." Harry felt badly for her and hugged her back, being sure to touch her neck. The comfort of each other returned. "It''s going to be OK, Hermione. I don''t know how, but we''ll find a way to make it OK." His touch felt so good to her and it was just what she needed. She thought of herself as strong, but it was times like this that showed her how she was weak. Maybe this bond they had was a good thing. They could cover each other''s weak spots. "Thank you, Harry." "Any time, Hermione. And so you know, my temper isn''t easily controlled either. I can hold it in most of the time, but I have accidental magic when it comes out," he admitted. "We can help each other then," she told him. "I don''t want to, but we should be getting back so we don''t break curfew," she said half-heartedly. "It will be nice when we''re in third year and curfew is an hour later." He nodded and slowly released her. It was not until they were about to leave the passageway that Harry noticed something. "Hermione? I, uh, I''d still like to hold your hand, but I don''t feel as bad now if I''m not." She looked at him thoughtful, obviously searching her feelings. "You''re right. I think I''d still like to sleep in the common room again where we did last night. I think I''d sleep a lot better that way." Harry grinned. "I''d like that, too. Come on." They hurried back. There were enough people around that they felt like they could not hold hands, so they each went up to their rooms and got a book. Sitting closely on a couch, they "accidentally" let their b?r? arms touch as they read. Percy shooed them up to their dorm rooms later, but they came back down a half hour afterwards, each with their own pillow and Hermione with a blanket too. Like the night before, they got comfortable in the corner behind a pair of chairs and slept holding hands. Early the next morning, Harry woke feeling refreshed. It was not until he stretched that he realized he was not touching Hermione in any way. Puzzled that he did not feel uncomfortable, he reached down and gently touched her hand as she slept. He could tell the moment he touched her, as he felt a little more comfortable, but it was very slight. Generally, they could function normally. He was not sure how he felt about that, as he had liked having her close by. After thinking about it for awhile, he finally realized that this was probably for the best, as they could now act normally. Harry also tried closing his eyes and thinking about her very hard, and he could still "feel" her. She felt "normal" to him and he knew she was right beside him, so that had not gone away. He also felt a wave of p???sur? and belonging when thinking about her, much like yesterday. So apparently, the only thing they had lost was the need to touch. He looked at her and watched her sleep for a few minutes. The sense of belonging came back and he felt "warm" inside. He wondered if this was what it was like to have a family. If it was, Harry decided he liked it and wanted to keep it. Hermione stirred and rolled over from her side to her back, her hair going everywhere. Harry thought it was sort of cute. She blinked at him and smiled, so he smiled back. "''Morning," he quietly said. "How do you feel?" She blinked again, thinking carefully. "I feel good. How about you?" He grinned at her. "I feel good too. I think this is our new normal." At her quizzical look, he held up both of his hands. Her eyes widened as she realized what he meant. Hermione realized they were not touching. She closed her eyes again and her face scrunched up slightly. Harry realized she was doing the same as he had, so he just sat there. A moment later, he saw her relax. "I liked that feeling, but this will make it easier to function," she stated. "It will," he agreed. She looked out from behind the chairs. "It''s still early. We should go to bed and sleep for an hour or two longer. That will look more normal. We can talk about this some more after breakfast." He nodded. "Have you done all of your homework for the next few days?" she asked. "Um¡­" He tilted his head as he thought. "All except for History." "Right. We can go to the library after breakfast and you can finish that while I research house-elves. I want to know more about what Beaker said. After you finish, I''ll show you some of the things I do to revise. If you weren''t taught how to do essays, then I doubt you were shown how to be prepared for class so you can do your best." She had stated that, but then looked at him questioningly. "I wasn''t shown much," he confessed, looking down a little. "It''s not your fault you weren''t shown, Harry," she tried to comfort him. "I''ll help you learn how to do your best, whatever that is." He scrutinized her. "Yes, Harry, I don''t expect you to be like me. We''re all different. However, I do expect you to do your best." "And have some fun, too?" he asked, wondering what she would say. Hermione gave him a smile and leaned over and gave him a short hug. "Yes, Harry. Some fun is appropriate. You can stay on the Quidditch team; I wouldn''t ask you to quit. I''m only trying to point out that I think you can do better in class with a little more work. Playing chess with Ron," she muttered, "if you still want to," before she went on normally, "or Exploding Snap, or whatever else you like should not distract you from your school work." "I understand." He really did understand too, and he wanted to make her proud of him, like he had never been able to do for his aunt. Harry stood and helped her up. They each went to their dorm rooms to do what they planned. By lunchtime they found that the special feeling that came when they touched was completely gone. However, Harry also found that he was still very protective of her. One glance at her by Malfoy had his blood pressure up. Fortunately, nothing came of that. Chapter End Chapter 44 - GoT Fan-fiction 1 - Winter Comes Plot: Waking up tied to a Weirwood Tree with a Child of the Forest about to stab a dagger into your heart is never a good thing. What follows gives that experience a run for its money though. Pairing: OCxLyanna Stark(original one) NOTE: Night King self insert..... Rated M for a reason! I woke up with a start. I was not in my bed. My eyes snapped wide open and I immediately felt the cloth gag between my teeth as I pulled and strained against bindings at my wrists. Cold wind whipped across my n?k?d ?h?st and harsh bark scratches at my b?r?d back. I looked around and found myself to be tied to a white, pale tree with red leaves. My body was changed. But then, it probably wasn''t MY body. Looking down at myself after eyeing the tree for a second, I found a muscled, broad shouldered form. Certainly not half bad to look at, and I was still close to my same skin color, if a few shades paler. That was nice enough I supposed, but as far as ways to wake up go, this was definitely in the bottom ten. Glancing around a little further out, my eyes fell upon tall stones arrayed all around the tree I was bound to. They were certainly not natural judging by their shape and the fact that each had carvings in it. Definitely man-made. Or¡­ not. I looked at the strange gathering of small forest creatures in wide eyed wonder as they gathered about in a circle and chittered to each other. They definitely weren''t human but I still felt like I should have known what they actually were. It wasn''t coming to me though. The tree, the alien beings, both were familiar in some way. I didn''t have much time to think about it in the end. After a moment, one of the leafy small nymph creatures stood from their circle and turned to me with a wide grin on her face and a sharp piece of rock in her small child-like hand. I only had a moment to register that it was probably a female, before my mind then registered the weapon she was brandishing in my direction. Eyes going even wider, I struggled against my bonds. "MMMPH! MMMMMPH!" My heart beat faster and faster as she approached, but no matter what I did, I could not break free and she did not stop moving. One of her hands came to rest on my ?h?st, holding me steady with fragile strength. The other brought the crude rock dagger forward and began to dig. I screamed in agony as pain I''d never felt before coursed through my body. The forest nymph dug her weapon into my ?h?st and pierced what I ?ssumed was my heart. It was slow and brutal and agonizing. My life as a couch potato and an internet trawler had NOT prepared me for this kind of pain. But even with her dagger in my heart, I did not die. I felt cold though. I remembered reading a million descriptions of death. It was always cold before the end right? Perhaps then, I was dying anyways. But¡­ why? What was the point of self-inserting me into this man in this place and time if all he was going to do was die? For a frantic, horrified moment, I imagined an existence where that was all I did for the rest of eternity. Had I somehow pissed off a ROB and ultimately this was to be my fate from now on? To be self-inserted into characters about to die, over and over again, forced to experience each and every last death up close and personally. That was definitely a hellish punishment. I knew not what I could have done to deserve such a thing. But even as I fretted about that being my new lot, I finally realized I wasn''t actually dying. The big eyed forest nymph was staring at me with a wide grin across her face and I realized I was staring back. Looking down, I gasped in shock at the blue that was spreading out from the place where she''d stuck me with her crude, carved blade. Said blade or rock or whatever it truly was, had disappeared into my ?h?st. Both of her palms were now pressed against my body as it turned blue. It was a distinctive blue too, sort of like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. Still I couldn''t really place this setting though, no matter how much I felt like I should know where I was. The deed done, the forest nymph stepped back and nodded to her fellows, who had risen from their little circle as well to watch my transformation. More daggers came out and my bindings were cut. I fell forward onto my forearms, watching as they turned blue along with my hands. My nails grew sharp and my teeth did as well. My hair fell down in clumps beside me and I could feel protrusions pushing out of the top of my skull painfully. Reaching up, I grabbed the gag in my mouth and tore it away. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" I got to my feet and leapt for the nearest of the forest nymph creatures, a snarl on my lips and my hands outstretched. I was going to hurt them and I didn''t know if I would stop short of killing or not. In the end, I didn''t get a chance to find out. I never managed to lay a finger upon any of them as they lifted their hands as one and stopped me dead. I fell back to my hands and knees under immense pressure, forced low to the ground. Slowly, the one who had originally stabbed me approached and knelt by my side. She reached out and grabbed me by one of the small horns that now ringed my head, causing a gasp of irritation to fall from my mouth. I stared into her yellow eyes and she looked back into mine that satisfied grin still on her face. "You are strong. You will do nicely. You are the first of our Walkers, to drive back that which you came from. Your service will atone for the Weirwood trees that you have cut down. While we fight in the daylight, you will strike from the shadows once the sun has fallen. Where we live in the forests, you will never know warmth or happiness or joy ever again." The wood nymph took in a deep breath before continuing in a serious tone filled with meaning. "First of our Walkers, I dub thee Night King. You will use the great power that we have gifted you to serve us in darkness, so that we may live free and peacefully within the light of the sun." I knew where I was now. I''d have to have lived under a rock in my original world not to. My eyes, a deep ethereal blue though I could not see them, stared back in horror at the Child of the Forest that held me up. Her grin grew ever so slightly and then she and the other Children raised their hands again. Darkness overtook me as my eyes slid shut. My attempt to attack the Children of the Forest would be the last free action I took, for when I awoke I was completely and totally their creature. Dressed in rough approximations of ''armor'' and given a spear, I was commanded to lead five more Walkers in an attack on the First Men. It was a fine showing of the new power I had at my fingertips. The Child''s promise to me came true up in the frozen north. I slumbered in the darkness so that they could live in the light of sun, in peace with the men I''d once shared humanity with. In the Lands of Eternal Winter, I slept alongside an army that the Children of the Forest wished dearly to forget they''d ever made. With snowstorms all around me and cold suffusing my already frozen flesh, the bindings that the greenseers had placed on my mind and the minds of every other White Walker¡­ slowly began to erode. -x-X-x- Two thousand years later, beneath a mountain of ice in a small cave, my eyes snapped open. I awoke and for the first time in four thousand years, I moved of my own free will, slowly but surely making my way to my feet. Standing, I looked down at my body, at my hands. I stared in mute silence at what I had become, accepting it as one must in these situations. Around me, other White Walkers broke free of the coffins of ice they''d ended up within. There was no easy path out of the cave we found ourselves inside of. Better to call it a natural made tomb, as in the end it was with our b?r? blue hands that we clawed our way up towards the surface. There was purpose and determination in each and every one of us. None would remain trapped, none would remain forgotten. When I broke through to the world above, there was no sunlight to smack down upon my face. Only biting winds and slashing snow was there to greet me as I crawled up out of the ground and stood tall. All across the plain of ice beside the white mountain that I had pulled myself from, more of my Walkers appeared. An army of blue skinned immortal monsters ripped themselves free of their prisons and moved to meet me. I ended up standing slightly removed from an army, even the few that had clawed their way out at my side moving to stand with the rest below my feet, staring up at me expectantly. I looked out at a sea of glowing blue eyes and I thought. I knew where I was now, funnily enough. More than that, my mind was somehow intact. Whether by magic or because of whatever had sent me here, the only memories completely and utterly untouched by four thousand years of a life that could b?r?ly be called lived were the ones from before I''d arrived in this world. As such, I was still me. But I was also more than that and though I did not recall it all, I remembered my transformation and I remembered snippets of the things that the Children of the Forest had had me and my kind do to the First Men. I was not outraged on behalf of the First Men. I was not even truly outraged on behalf of the army of White Walkers standing before me. I was outraged on behalf of myself. I''d always been a narcissistic little prick. The Children of the Forest had wronged quite a lot of people, but I felt confident in saying they''d wronged me most of all. Was I not due justice? Was there not no other way to get revenge but by taking it with my cold, blue hands? I looked out upon a sea of souls bound to my own. The greenseer''s magic had faded but mine had not. In order to conserve their power and keep their bindings on me strong, it had only been me, the Night King that had been under their control. In turn, the rest of the White Walkers were under MY control and here in the eternally frozen lands, my control and power had never been stronger. Reaching out, I could FEEL the freezing weather around me. I could strengthen the snowstorm smacking against our unmoving bodies, or I could force it to abate. I chose the latter. I''d done it so that I could be heard. Bringing my hands up, I clap them together a single time. The sound rings out across the now silent ice plain and every White Walker looks to me. With their attention, I finally speak. There are a number of things on my mind right now, but only one stands out to me. I can''t help but wonder if it''s the same thing the original Night King would be thinking, if I was not here standing in his shoes. "We go south. The Children of the Forest die to the last." My voice was calm and controlled and not at all raised, but it still traveled to every ear, reached every White Walker on the plain below me. Convenient that. There were smiles on the faces of my army as all raised their hands, closed tightly into fists above their heads. They pumped once, twice, and then three times. I lifted my arms wide and breathed in the cold air as the snowstorm returned. It did not harm us though, beings of cold and ice. Instead, it strengthened us and with my control over it, it moved with us as I began walking down the mountain, through the White Walkers and towards the south. They followed and we began our march. I was the Night King and the Long Night had finally arrived. It was time to begin. ¡­ ¡­ The first large creature we came across was getting zombified immediately so that I could ride on its back. This walking bullshit was going to get really old, really fu?k?n? fast. Chapter End Chapter 45 - GoT Fan-fiction 2 - United in Fury Plot: Stannis Baratheon arrived on Dragonstone before Rhaella Targaryen''s death, and her dying wish was for him to look after baby Daenerys. As a hostage of King Robert, her chance meeting with Durran, King Robert''s black haired son will change the destiny of Westeros entirely. Pairing: OCxDany NOTE: OC not SI one, mainly focusing on Westeros (threats being the Night King and House Blackfyre) 284 AC Dragonstone looked quiet. Too quiet, thought Stannis Baratheon. He had been charged by his brother to take the last Targaryen stronghold in Westeros, and was bearing down on the island with the newly rebuilt Royal Fleet. His ship Fury was leading the small armada, but while Stannis was expecting a fight, he sailed closer to the island to see the waters had been filled with wrecked ships. Ordering the Captain to sail into the harbour, he noticed white flags being raised where Targaryen ones once flew. Mentally smiling, he had Fury pull into the harbour and disembarked from the ship to speak to the harbour master. "You are surrendering?" Stannis asked. "Yes My Lord." The man said. "The storm wiped out the fleet, and we see no reason to stay loyal to a boy of 8." "Very well. Has the castle yielded too?" Stannis asked. "Yes My Lord." "I shall go up there and accept their surrender." Stannis said, and with a host of guards holding aloft Robert''s brand new sigil, he made his way up to the castle. The tall gates had been opened by the surrendering loyalists, and Stannis looked up at the castle, noticing the stone Targaryen sigil on one of the walls, before making his way up the long, winding stairway that led the way to the castle of Dragonstone. Expecting the castellan of the castle, or Queen Rhaella herself, to come and surrender personally, he was surprised when he was shepherded up to what looked like the living quarters, and shown in a doorway that housed Rhaella''s rooms. Stannis quickly lost the look of surprise, and walked to the bed. "Queen Rhaella, I have taken the castle." He said officially. "You have." She said, tired. "A good thing I will not be able to see what you do to her." Stannis was confused, until he truly saw the state she was in. She was dying, blood stained the sheets of her bed and Rhaella was weak. Not knowing what to say, he kept quiet. Rhaella chuckled at his expressions. "I don''t fear death, I fear for the safety of my children." "Viserys shall not be harmed, you have my word." Stannis said. "The word of a Baratheon." Rhaella scoffed weakly. "Your brother gave his word to keep the peace once, look what happened." Stannis looked directly into her eyes. "I am not my brother." Rhaella nodded. "A good thing too, that monster murdered my grandchildren. The realm shall suffer." "The realm has suffered already." Stannis said impatiently. "Where is Viserys?" "Gone." Rhaella grinned. "I know not where; I wouldn''t let them tell me but he''s safe." Stannis ?r??n?d internally, Robert was not going to like that. Luckily for Stannis he heard crying from the next room. Sending two men to investigate he was relieved to see a wetnurse carrying a High Valyrian baby into the room. "Boy or girl?" Stannis asked. "Girl" Was the reply. "If you hurt her." Rhaella growled, before coughing softly. "I do not harm children. She is safe with me." Rhaella looked him square in the eye. "I know I am not¡­ not long for this world. We were kin once, my aunt was your grandmother. Promise me you won''t let your brother harm Daenerys. To do so is kinslaying." Stannis was torn, he couldn''t tell Robert what to do, could he? Then again he remembered Ned Stark coming to lift the siege on Storm''s End, and telling him all about the fury he had felt towards Robert. If Stannis took the girl as a hostage, together both he and Ned would be able to talk sense into Robert. "I promise you, the girl shall be taken as a hostage, nothing more." He said truthfully. Rhaella wasn''t overjoyed at the news, but she did seem like a weight had been taken off of her shoulders. "May I hold her?" She whispered painfully. "One last time?" Stannis considered for a moment, before nodding once and watching as the baby was placed in Rhaella''s arms. He watched on as she said her final goodbyes, before placing the baby back into the wetnurses arms. "Take her now, I don''t want her in the room when I go." Stannis agreed. "Take her to the Fury, set her up in my cabin and make sure the wetnurse has everything she needs." He ordered, and the men dragged the wetnurse out of the room. "Thank you." Rhaella wheezed, before her eyes closed, and they did not open again. Stannis arrived at King''s Landing and immediately went to the Small Council chamber. He was met by Robert, Ned Stark and Jon Arryn. Carefully he placed the baby in the middle of the table, and all three of the others had to stop Robert from smashing the baby''s skull. "Robert no!" Ned shouted. "You let Lannister get away with murdering children, now is the chance to redeem yourself." "It''s dragonspawn Ned I told you that!" Robert raged. "I want it dead!" "Think, Robert." Jon pleaded. "See reason, Viserys has fled, he will want revenge for his family." "Then I will crush him." Robert snarled. "You won''t need to if you ensure he doesn''t come at all." Jon said. "We have a hostage now, he won''t risk harming her." "Let me take her North, she can foster with me at Winterfell with Jon and my trueborn son." Ned suggested. "No, if she lives she stays here, in the Red Keep." Robert growled. "I''m having those damn skulls moved to the dungeons so she can rot down there with them. Stannis see to it that she gets a cell down there. I will have no part; I will never look upon this dragonspawn again. She can stay there till she dies." With that he stormed off, no doubt to fu?k some whore to relieve his anger. Ned was relieved too, ignoring the dragonspawn comment as he had b?r?ly repaired his relationship with Robert after seeing the bodies of the Targaryen babes. "He may be saved yet, but the girl will still need looking after." "I will see to it personally." Stannis said. "I promised her mother I would look after her." He didn''t notice the pained look on Ned''s face at the word promise. "Very well." Jon finalised. "Come Ned, we must talk before you set off for Winterfell, and I wish to see this boy you named after me." He placed his arm around Ned''s shoulders and walked out the room, leaving Stannis and the baby Targaryen. He noticed her eyes were open and staring up at him. Sighing, he picked her up and went to go and find her wet nurse before starting on Robert''s orders. 286 AC Cersei screamed loudly, visibly worrying Jaime beside her. The pain was unbearable, and all she wanted was for it to stop. "I can see the head Your Grace, one final push now." The Maester said, and Cersei screamed as loudly as she could to try and distract herself. Finally, she heard crying, and tears sprung from her eyes. "Jaime, listen." She said ecstatically. Jaime rubbed her hand soothingly, before she brought it away to hold her beautiful golden haired boy. She ran her fingers over his cheeks, falling instantly in love with her boy. "Look Jaime." "He''s wonderful." He smiled down at her. "I need to ask you to put him down, Your Grace." The Maester said, still peering in between her legs. "What? Why?" She asked. "It seems that you have a second baby on the way." She didn''t know what to think. Somehow, that drunken lecher had managed to get her pregnant that night on Estermont. She was sure she had been so careful, only letting Jaime spill himself inside her, but he must have fu?k?d some whore and had the remnants of that on his filthy ???k. She felt sick, Jaime told her not to worry, that at least the King would be happy with a black-haired son too, but Cersei just felt ill. The twins were sleeping in the same cot next to Cersei''s bed, the same place they had been for days. She had only br??stfed Joffrey, leaving the other one to the wet nurses and claiming she wasn''t sure what to do for two. Cersei hadn''t even named the baby; she couldn''t bring herself to do so. Suddenly the door flew open, and in came Robert with a huge deer pelt. "My Queen, I''ve brought you a gift." He grunted. "How is the child?" "How are the children." She corrected. "Over there." Robert looked confused, so walked over to the cot and was delighted to see the babies. He immediately went to hold the black haired one. "Look at you, Baratheon through and through. A fine heir." He surmised, and Cersei scoffed internally. She watched as the baby gripped onto his finger, and Robert laughed. "A fine grip too! Here, take him." He said as he gave Cersei the baby. She didn''t really know what to do with herself, but the baby settled in her arms and started to fall asleep, comforted in the arms of his mother. Cersei''s heart melted then, and looked upon the baby with love for the first time. "I haven''t named him yet; though his twin is named Joffrey." Cersei explained. "Joffrey was born first and I gave him a name that suited him." Robert looked unhappy at the thought, but picked up Joffrey. "So you''re my heir then, hello Prince Joffrey." The baby started to cry, and Cersei almost couldn''t stop herself laughing as the buffoon placed Joffrey back down, looking nervously at him. He turned to Cersei, and let the black-haired baby grip his finger again as he was falling back to sleep. "I''ll let you name him, he looks like you in any case." She said. Robert thought for a while, thinking of past Baratheon names that would suit his son. Lyonel, Steffon after his father, and Ormund were quickly dismissed, until he remembered his ancient history. "Durran, my ancestors with that name are some of the most revered in Stormlander history." He said. "Prince Durran Baratheon." 290 AC Robert watched on with pride, as his son Durran gripped onto his first ever wooden sword. After the King had come back from the Greyjoy Rebellion, Durran had bombarded him with questions about the fighting, and was showing such enthusiasm Robert thought he would allow Durran to start training. Ser Barristan was the one to show the boy how to hold the sword, and Robert watched on as the Knight let Durran swing at him a few times, giving him small pointers on what to do. He noticed a presence next to him, and saw the blonde hair of his wife in the corner of his eye. Inwardly groaning, he didn''t even turn to face her when he asked. "What do you want." "He''s too young." She spat. "Why are you making him start this at four years old." "He''ll be the best in the Kingdom''s." Robert waved off. "Unless you were lying to me, he won''t inherit the crown, so I want him to be able to make a life for himself." "Four is too young." Cersei argued again. "I won''t hear any more of it. Go and fetch Joffrey, he should be here too, a King should know how to wield a sword." Robert said. "I won''t forget this." Cersei snarled. "If they get harmed I''ll¡­" "You''ll do what? Bitch some more or cry to your damn Father?" Robert turned to her, seething. "Go and fetch the boy." Cersei glared up at him once more, before storming off back into the keep. Robert shook his head, that woman just made his blood boil. If only he could have saved Lyanna. Angrily, he shook his head and drank from the wine glass that always seemed to be in his hand nowadays. Looking back at Ser Barristan, he chuckled as Durran swung too much and fell on his little arse. The boy looked up nervously, but Robert only smiled at the lad, encouraging him to continue. Soon Joffrey joined them, although it was clear he didn''t want to be there. Ser Barristan began the same lesson again, teaching the Crown Prince how to hold the sword and swing properly when suddenly, much to Robert''s amusement Durran swung and hit Joffrey on the back. The blonde boy fell to the floor with a wail and Robert stopped laughing, cursing inwardly at the backlash he was going to get from Cersei. Ser Barristan did well in separating the two, and the lesson began again. Joffrey grew angry though, and when Durran had his back turned, the blonde swung at his head, connecting. Durran flew to the floor with a thump, beginning to cry as he held his head but Joffrey kept on raining blows upon the boy. Robert raced down to the area where they had been learning, happy that Barristan had separated the two. "What was the meaning of that?" Robert roared at Joffrey. "He¡­ he did it to¡­ to me." Joffrey sniffed, beginning to cry. "He hit you once as a joke! I saw it all! You attacked him again and again!" Robert roared. Joffrey began to cry, and Robert huffed in impatience. "Right, go run to your Mother. I don''t want to see you again today." And with that Joffrey sped away. Robert went and picked up his sniffling son, and inspected his head. "You''ll need to see the Maester lad, come on, I''ll take you." For the first time, Robert felt like a good Father as he stayed by Durran''s side as his head got treated, and he vowed to try harder from then on. 293 AC Robert couldn''t keep his promise. While the Baratheon King did seem to show more affection for Durran, he still loved his wine and whores more. Not that it bothered Durran too much, the 7-year-old was still a happy child, fairing well in his lessons, albeit not enjoying them, about the Seven Kingdoms, and especially enjoying his training with Aron Santagar, the master of arms in the Red Keep. Durran also loved to explore. The Red Keep had so many secrets, and while he was escaping from his lessons about the history of the Seven Kingdoms, he decided he should do just that. Looking for the dungeons he was relieved to see the dragon skulls that he had overheard about a few weeks earlier. He took his time studying each one, not knowing which was which until he got further in. The skulls got larger, and the one at the very end, just before a door of bars was Balerion the Black Dread. A massive skull, Durran noticed that he didn''t even come up to the top of it''s tooth. A snore made Durran duck for cover, knowing he shouldn''t be down here. Sweeping his long, black hair to one side he peered around the skull to see a guard in Baratheon clothing asleep at a table, with a cup of ale set down. Concerned he''d wake the guard up, Durran slowly crept away, to head back to his rooms when he heard a soft singing. Confused, he looked back, and noticed that the guard was guarding a door to the side of Balerion''s skull. He moved towards it, carefully ensuring that he was quiet so the guard didn''t wake up. Trying to open the door, he was annoyed to find it locked, but luckily the keys were also on the table. Being as quiet as he could he lifted the keys and unlocked the door. Inside he was surprised to see a large room, decorated in floral patterns. Sitting towards a small mirror was a girl not much older than Durran with long, silver hair. A Targaryen. He watched her from the doorway as she continued to sing the Gentle Mother song, her voice sounding perfect to his ears. After closing the door quietly, he waited until she had finished singing and brushing her hair before he spoke. "You sing really well." The girl spun her head around in shock. And after registering Durran was there she spoke. "Who¡­ who are you?" "My name is Durran. Who are you?" He asked. "Daenerys." She said. "You have a really nice voice Daenerys." Durran smiled. "Thank you." She replied nervously. The pair fell into silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to say to each other, until the door opened again. Durran swung around to find himself staring into the eyes of his Father''s spymaster Varys, and he knew he was going to get in trouble. "Prince Durran, I did not expect to find you here." Varys said in his silky tone. "I see you have met Daenerys Targaryen." "Father doesn''t like Targaryen''s." He said nervously, noticing the look of sadness on Daenerys'' face. "He would be very mad if he found out you had been here." Varys said. "Wait a moment while I see to Daenerys, and I''ll take you to your mother." "Do you have to?" Durran ?r??n?d. "I won''t tell anybody I''ve been down here. "I do My Prince, it''s a great offence to lie to the Queen." Varys replied. Durran gulped, his mother would only shout at him a lot, as she always did. Varys meanwhile went and gave Daenerys some things, food and clothing that would last her a few days. He whispered in her ear, and then gently pushed Durran out of the room. Varys locked the door again, and placed the keys where they had been. "Why is she in there?" Durran asked. "She is a hostage, your father didn''t want to see her live but was persuaded to keep her alive when she was a baby, so this is the best situation for all." He said somewhat bitterly. "Oh." Durran said, thinking. "She sings well." "Yes she does." Varys chuckled. "Now, let''s go and find the Queen." They entered Cersei''s chambers, and Durran had the decency to look shamed. Cersei had been speaking to his Uncle Jaime, who upon seeing the arrivals, promptly left the room. "I''m so sorry to disturb you Your Grace, but I found the Prince lurking near the dungeons." Varys said. "Near the dungeons? I didn''t realise that the Grand Maester had moved his lessons room to the dungeons." Cersei said, looking questioningly at Durran. "He didn''t." Durran said quietly. "I''m sorry?" Cersei asked him, silently telling him to speak up. "He didn''t Mother." He said louder. "Then why were you there?" "I wanted to go exploring." He admitted. "I wasn''t going to stay long, but then I heard singing." Cersei looked shocked at that. Looking nervously at Varys she dismissed him, and called Durran over to her table. "Sweetling listen, I don''t want you to go there anymore. The girl in that room is dangerous." "She didn''t look dangerous, she looked nice." Durran responded, frowning. Cersei sighed, realising he had seen the Targaryen girl. "She is our enemy. You remember that your Father, the King, fought with the Targaryen''s don''t you?" She asked. Durran nodded enthusiastically. "Father smashed Rhaegar Targaryen in the ?h?st with his hammer!" He exclaimed. "Yes, they fought but one Targaryen got away, so we keep the girl to remind him to stay away." Cersei explained. "I don''t want you going near her again, do you hear me?" "Ok Mother." Durran said, chewing his lip. Cersei sighed, knowing that was a sign he was lying. "I mean it, if I catch you down there again I''ll have to tell your Father, and he won''t nearly be as calm as I am being now." Cersei warned. Durran gulped nervously. "Very well, now go straight to the Maester, I''ll have Uncle Jaime follow you to make sure you go." Durran nodded, squirming away as Cersei tried to kiss his cheek as he ran to the door. Cersei watched him go, before nodding to Jaime to come into the room. "Watch him, please?" She asked. "Why should I? I''m not a babysitter for the spawn of that man." He laughed, only stopping when Cersei slapped him. "He may be the seed of that vile monster but he is still my son." She warned her brother. "Now go and make sure he goes to his lessons, and make sure he stays there. That''s an order." She added when he didn''t look like leaving. Jaime huffed and skulked out of his sister''s chambers, leaving Cersei to think about her second son. Nobody had been as surprised as her when the Maester had told her that non-identical twins was possible in theory, and after watching her children, it was clear to her that while they were twins, Joffrey and Durran had different fathers. Sighing, she stood up to go and check on Myrcella and Tommen to clear her mind. Chapter End Chapter 46 - GoT Fan-fiction 3 - Hadrian Lannister Lion of the Rock Plot: Reborn as the eldest son of Tywin Lannister, Hadrian must shoulder the responsibilities of being heir to Casterly Rock and play the game of thrones. As war takes hold will he rise to win the game or will he be crushed by the factions all around him. Rated M to be safe. Pairing: OC(Harry)xOC(Luna) NOTE: Basically if Harry Potter got transported to the world of GoT. Chapter 1 ¨C The Beginning 264 AC¡­The Westerlands Tywin Lannister rode his horse furiously as Casterly Rock came into sight in the distance. He had already been on his way back to his family''s ancestral seat to take a much needed break from his duties as Hand of the King when he had received the raven from his brother Kevan to tell him that his wife Joanna was in labour and that he should get back to the Rock immediately. His focus was absolute not caring for a single thing between him and his goal certainly about the poor straining horse beneath him. Soon he arrived at the castle gates already open allowing him to ride straight in where he more or less leapt from his horse and saw his younger brother Kevan emerge from the main doors. In no mood for pleasantries even with his family given the anticipation burning inside him, he asked only one question as he began storming his way into the castle. "Am I in time?" Kevan who struggled to keep pace with his brother answered. "Just, Lady Joanna is very close. Our lord father has yet to return." Kevan added bringing a scowl to the face of the heir to House Lannister. While Tywin was already the undisputed power behind the recent resurgence in the house''s fortunes after dealing with the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion, something that had impressed the Mad King Aerys enough to make him his Hand, he was not yet lord of the Rock. For that he had to wait for his father to die which given his vices and advancing age would probably happen sooner rather than later, so for the moment he was content to wait. He was still able to hear the laughter that had been once directed towards his house due to his father''s weakness and it still nearly brought a tick to his face. But right now his main focus was on his wife Joanna, some said that the day he married her was one of the few times he had ever smiled. There was some truth to that, it was one of the few days in his youth when he had had something to smile about since despite his outwardly cold demeanour he truly loved his wife, one of the most beautiful and caring people he had ever met. And right now she was about to give birth to their first child. He could already hear the cries of pain that stabbed at his heart and he broke into a run thankfully he was not wearing his armour and arrived at the door to their shared chambers just as a different cry could be heard belonging to a babe. The doors burst open and he saw the sight in front of him and froze. His beautiful Joanna was sweaty from her first labour and dressed in a simple nightshirt but never had she looked as beautiful to him in even the finest gowns as her skin glowed and instantly his gaze was drawn to the small bundle in her arms. He started walking forward towards the bed as the midwife quietly left the room so she did not interrupt the scene unfolding before her. Joanna looked up and said to Tywin as he arrived at the side of the bed. "Our son." She said proudly showing Tywin the new-born boy''s face. Tywin was hypnotised by the boy''s face as he saw the glittering emerald green eyes that almost seemed to glow. There was a trace of blond hair on his head inherited from him and his wife. His breath caught in his throat as he looked on his son although the word seemed so alien to him but incredibly welcome all the same. The boy''s eyes seemed to follow him with an innate intelligence like he was studying him closely but Tywin dismissed that as his own imagination playing tricks on him. Joanna passed the bundle into his arms and he held the boy as carefully as if he were the most delicate crystal in world. "Now he just needs a name." Tywin said as he peered into the boy''s face, his own heir of his own blood. Joanna paused for a moment before making a suggestion. "What about Hadrian? Or maybe Harry. I know we discussed calling him Jaime if we had a boy but somehow Hadrian just feels more¡­right?" She was not sure she could explain her feelings to her husband but he just smiled and proclaimed. "Hadrian Lannister, heir to the Westerlands and the future Warden of the West." As they two new parents talked they were unaware that the boy still in Tywin''s arms was no ordinary new born child. He had the memories and experiences of a two hundred year long life in a world as different to this one as chalk and cheese. He was Harry Potter reborn. When he turned two years old he became a big brother as his mother gave birth to twins; a girl named Cersei and a boy named Jaime. Tywin brought Hadrian to see his younger siblings and while Jaime welcomed him with a toothless smile and grasped at his finger, Cersei seemed to howl at the sight of her elder brother which only made Jaime cry as he picked up on his sister''s discomfort. Tywin quickly made him leave the room and Hadrian was left in the hallway with his uncle Kevan who put a reassuring hand on the boy''s shoulder and reassured him that it was just Cersei being fussy. But Hadrian who had never had the experience in his previous life of having brothers and sisters was still off put by the reaction of his new-born sister and hoped in time things would improve. In the two hundred years of his previous life Harry Potter had tried to bridge the gap between magic and science hoping to merge the two so he could bring the wizarding world into the present rather than remaining hundreds of years behind the muggles. There was so much that each side could contribute to the world that it had become his greatest focus even as he had raised a family and worked as an unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries uniting magic and science had been his most sought after goal. But while he had found some principles that did cross over it had proved more work than he had managed to accomplish in even his longer than normal life span especially against the opposition to the idea that wizards could learn from muggles. But the benefits of this meant that Harry had studied both magic and science very closely learning much about both. So his knowledge was centuries ahead of what was presently known here in this world and regardless as to whether or not he had achieved what he had set out to do Harry had a very powerful mind, once he had stopped dumbing down on reflex after having to do it for years in fear of violence from the Dursleys and later not showing up Ron or Hermione in class to keep their friendship he had quickly become one of the best minds of his generation even better than Hermione in some ways because while Hermione was good at storing, retaining and then repeating information that was all she could really do with it since she was almost religiously devoted to what was written and often could not grasp there might be more to it than that, but Harry could do all that and then imagine and see beyond what facts were written in a book to see how it might be developed further rather than just accept things at face value. At five he was already speaking many languages including High Valyrian as well as the common tongue with a fluency that impressed his teachers immensely. Not to mention his skill with numbers and every subject he was taught, showed a natural brilliance that was a great source of pride to his father Tywin who had ensured only the best teachers for his son while he himself was away from the Rock due to his duties as hand of the king but when he was able to return home for brief periods taught him politics and strategy and how to rule as was his future. But it was not just academics were Harry excelled, his excellent reflexes showed in physical training too as knights sworn to his father taught him to ride a horse, fight with swords/spears/bows and so on. The boy learnt quickly showing good speed for his age and able to copy their actions after watching the knights do it a few times. In private however even from his family Harry practiced and channelled his magic learning to direct and control its flow in deep meditation since he had no wand or other focus here so he had to learn to channel it with sheer willpower alone, something Harry had in abundance. But it was a lonely childhood as his siblings were still too young to join him in his training and there were few other children at the Rock for him to socialise with. And as his father had taught him, social skills often played a key role in effectively ruling a kingdom. But he had few people outside his family and their servants to develop them with. Even fewer to actually make friends with. But then one day Harry while sparring with his sword fighting instructor he had noticed young Raphael Daniels, the son of a steward and the same age as Harry himself watching them from the shadows with a sort of longing in his eyes. Harry was curiously looked at the other boy and it was then that Raphael realised he had been spotted and was about to make a quick escape when Hadrian stopped him. "Come Raphael Daniels, practice with me." The other boy could not believe he was being given a chance to practice sword fighting with the heir to Casterly Rock. He was sure his father and Lord Tywin would not approve but it was his greatest dream to be a knight and here was the prodigal heir to Casterly Rock and the Westerlands offering to let him spar even if it was with a training sword. So he took the offered wooden sword and stood in the opening stance he had seen other swordsmen use. Hadrian then proceeded to beat him with humiliating efficiency but instead of lording it over him Hadrian showed him what he had been doing wrong and how to hold his practice sword properly. From that day he and Raphael were often found together practicing their fighting skills in the yards of Casterly Rock. Tywin had not been keen on it at first but Harry had pleaded with his father to let the boy train and Tywin never one to miss an opportunity saw the boy definitely had the potential to be a great knight and a strong warrior to serve as the sword at his son''s side. So he decided to allow it and more so gave Raphael''s father the town of Riverspring as his holding after the death of its lord who had fathered no children. It was not much but by raising House Daniels into the nobility as a minor house under the Lannisters he secured their loyal service for not only his lifetime but hopefully his son''s too. But more importantly for Harry at least he had a friend that he could count on. Raphael was loyal to a fault and an exceptionally good swordsman that was there to watch his back and more importantly the two young men could speak freely with each other. Also as the years passed Hadrian began coming up with a number of intriguing ideas, one of which was develop business holdings for the Lannister family to supplement their mining income. Harry had said to his father that mines eventually run dry and this way if they could establish strong ?ssets before that became too much of problem they would secure themselves for future generations, worthy of the expense required to set it up initially and after a while if they did it right then it would not only pay for itself but begin adding additional wealth into their coffers. Tywin had thought long and hard and agreed with his son as they both started laying down plans. It would take a lot of work and men of learning would have to be found to help them run it but the idea had merits worth the work it would take to turn the dream into reality especially with his powers as Hand of the King. The scope of Hadrian''s imagination especially at not yet eight name days old yet never failed to surprise Tywin who had never thought of such possibilities himself. With Hadrian Tywin felt certain his legacy would reach greater heights than in their entire house''s history. His only irritation was that his two younger children did not take after him as Cersei was a prideful little madam who thought she was smarter than anyone else around her and Jaime only seemed interested in becoming a knight. Unfortunately Harry''s relationship with at least one of his younger siblings was not as successful as Tywin had hoped it might be. Jaime despite being only two years younger seemed to nearly worship his older brother and Hadrian had started with Raphael to teach the young lad to handle a sword where Jaime showed a prodigious talent unfortunately he was uninterested in politics and any other areas outside fighting but that was not such a big concern as Hadrian was set to inherit the Rock rather than Jaime. But Cersei only seemed to resent her older sibling''s presence whenever he was near. The jealousy of his position as their father''s heir and more personally his favourite was evident in her eyes as although Tywin would never admit to it he did tend to favour Hadrian. She was also angry at her inability to match his intelligence, trying her hardest only to fail at matching his fast and detailed learning. Joanna had tried her best to mediate between the two but Cersei just did not want to have anything to do with her older sibling and much preferred her twin brother''s company who quickly found himself stuck in the middle. This cut short the time the two brothers could spend bonding but for the sake of a happy household they all let it be and enjoyed what time they could find. But then all three of Tywin''s children were dealt a harsh blow as their mother died in childbirth bringing their younger brother Tyrion into the world. That was the day that any sign of their father''s smile became a distant memory as he silently walked out of the chamber leaving their new-born brother who had been born a dwarf in the arms of the midwife with a last look of revulsion directed at his youngest child. Cersei developed a deep hatred for Tyrion instantly due to the death of their mother but Harry and Jaime while filled with grief at their mother''s passing saw no reason to blame the baby becoming the only Lannisters apart from their loving aunt Genna that were willing to be nice to Tyrion. Harry as time went on tried his best to be there for his younger siblings as their father grew more and more distant stepping up almost into the role of a parent to Jaime and Tyrion. Tywin would speak to them but as a lord rather than as a father, Hadrian would help Jaime refine his skills as a potential knight often while developing his own impressive skill with the sword, lance and bow & arrow. He would spend hours in the library with Tyrion teaching and debating politics, strategy, history and other academic subjects to his youngest brother whose mind was incredible sharp, equal to his own and his father''s in many ways. And he also tried his best to ease the hurt that was often dumped on Tyrion by other members of their family especially their father and sister. When he was twelve name days old Tywin decided to take Hadrian to King''s Landing and introduce him to court. Hadrian''s eyes watched in interest as he rode at his father''s side into the capital and he did his best to study it all as closely as he could. As they entered the Red Keep Hadrian was amazed at the attention to detail that must have gone into constructing a stronghold this impressive. He was quickly taken before the King and although Harry would refuse to admit it to anyone the disturbingly gaze and appearance of the so called Mad King Aerys who looked so haggard sitting on the ugly iron throne scared him slightly and Hadrian considered for a moment that he might not be human but some quite of wraith that was haunting the castle. The King had stared at him with a gaze that was worrying his father and Tywin was considering sending him back to Casterly Rock until Aerys had turned his attention back to Tywin who sent the boy to their rooms in the Tower of the Hand. As he walked through the corridors of the castle Hadrian was thinking over what his father had told him. He said that no-one was to be trusted here, that loyalty and honour were liabilities that were certain to get you killed and that he should see everyone as a potential enemy. Hadrian was so focused on this that he nearly collided with a woman that emerged quickly from around a corner. "Pardon me my lady." Hadrian said bowing in respect as he had been taught. When he looked up he saw a woman of Dornish descent smiling at him, clearly high born from her elaborate and expensive looking silk gown and intricate golden jewellery. She looked to be in her very early twenties nearly ten years older than him but she was without a doubt one of the most beautiful women Hadrian had ever seen especially as her eyes sparkled back with amusement at his dumbstruck expression until he realised he was doing a very good impression of a fish and quickly set his face back into its smooth mask developed from his father''s teachings. "No worry young lord, now what is your name?" She asked him with amusement dancing through her tone clearly seeing through his mask at how nervous he was really feeling. "Hadrian Lannister my lady. Might I be so bold as to ask for yours?" He said determined not to appear foolish in front of his lady whoever she was. He would not be labelled a fool on his first visit to the capital and shame his father and himself. His own pride would not allow it, nor his good sense. "You might." The woman teased and smiled and Hadrian frowned before he realised she was going to make him ask properly just to annoy him so he decided to play along rather than make himself seem childish. "If I may, I would know your name my lady." He said and she kept on smirking which only made her seem more beautiful. "I young lord Hadrian Lannister am Princess Elia Martell of Dorne. It is a p???sur? to meet the son of the Hand on his first visit to court." She said having seen his introduction to the court only moments ago and decided to meet the young lord by herself to see what kind of boy he was. "Perhaps I should show you around? If your father permits of course?" And that was exactly what she did. Under the careful watch of his father''s guards Elia had shown him the Red Keep and told him just who was who. Now she was not teasing him he found himself liking the woman and hoped that he might be able to call her a friend although that would only be between them. As time passed he would get over his initial crush and even through her become friendly with Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and for a while things were brilliant for the young lord. Tywin had been very pleased when he saw his son befriending the crown prince seeing it as a way to keep the position of Hand of the King in the family that if Hadrian proved himself capable then maybe Rhaegar would make Hadrian his hand of the king. But everything was about to change as the Mad King''s actions grew more and more horrific and fanned the flames of Robert Baratheon''s rebellion. Chapter End Chapter 47 - GoT Fan-fiction 4 - The Other Queen Plot: What if Arya had gone to Kings Landing and killed Cersei? How would that have impacted the Dragonstone storyline of season 7? Story starts just around the end of the cave scene in episode 4. Season 7 spoilers, eventual Jonerys. Pairing: JonxDany Chapter 1 ¨C Daenerys "I will fight for you. I will fight for the North¡­" Jon Snow looked her in the eyes again, which made her stomach flutter, though she did not even acknowledge it to herself. She could see a glimmer of gratitude and something that was perhaps disbelief, in the Northerner''s eyes. The Warden of the North who was calling himself King. The thought made Daenerys angry. She was the rightful queen of the Seven Kingdoms ¨C and the North was one of those kingdoms. And yet¡­ No. No, no, no. Of course she wasn''t finished. "¡­when you bend the knee." The gratitude and hope were gone, and were instantly replaced with a deep sadness. Part of Daenerys felt bad. There was such a woeful look in the Northern lord''s dark eyes, and she was fully aware that she was the cause of it. Yet she steeled herself. Jon Snow shouldn''t have been so stubborn in the first place. She should have insisted that he swore fealty back in the throne room when they first met. She should have taken him outside to be roasted by Drogon for refusing to follow an order. Dany simply couldn''t see why Tyrion liked him. Yet she couldn''t feel angry towards him, not really. He had been honest with her from the start, a trait that not many people possessed. He had to be a great warrior to do the things Ser Davos had said he did, and he genuinely seemed to have the North''s best interests at heart. At the very least, you''re better than Cersei. His words flashed through her mind. Maybe she could change his way of thinking: he did seem so keen on defeating whatever he''d seen beyond the Wall. Which happened to be real, if the Children of the Forests'' cave paintings were anything to go by. "My people¡­ won''t accept a southern ruler," he said, slowly, his accent lingering on every word. He looked contrite. "Not after everything they''ve suffered." Daenerys took two steps closer to him and he backed away half a pace and looked at her, trying to determine how she would respond. "They will if their king does," she replied simply, trying not to wince at how soft her voice had become. She had not intended to go softly on the so-called King in the North. Yet here they were. They now stood so closely together that Dany could speak in little more than a whisper now. "They chose you to lead them. They chose you to protect them." She paused, her voice hardening as she realised Jon had looked down. Is that the kind of influence I will let him have on me? Pull yourself together. "Isn''t their survival more important than your pride?" It was a few seconds, but when Jon Snow finally looked back to her, it was a mix of horror and fear that crossed his face, as though she had said something truly disturbing. Dany couldn''t help but feel startled. He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, and looked away again. He twitched uncomfortably and stepped back again. Perhaps I just made a really good point. "What is it?" "N-nothing¡­" Their eyes met again. His expression reminded her of when Ser Davos had tried to sing his praises, back in the throne room. A knife in the heart for his people¡­ Daenerys turned her gaze back to the carving in the wall, of the alleged White Walkers. The icy blueness of the eyes did make her feel a tad unsettled. It took a minute for the King in the North to regain his composure. "Sorry," he said gruffly, taking the fire torch. "It''s just¡­ I said those exact words to another, once. They didn''t listen. They''re dead, now." "I''m sorry," Daenerys replied. She fiddled restlessly with her hands, wracking her brains to think of something diplomatic and meaningful to say in response, all while pondering why this man had the power to make her feel the way she did. Luckily, an interruption came in the form of quick footsteps. Jon took another step backwards and Missandei hurried into view. "Your Grace," she breathed, looking from Daenerys to Jon. "Lord Snow." "Are you alright?" Dany asked her. "What has happened?" "Lord Tyrion and Lord Varys have come down to the beach, Your Grace," the young advisor explained. "I think they need to speak with you." Daenerys nodded, motioning to Missandei to walk beside her as they began to make their way out of the cave. Another set of footsteps was enough to know that Jon Snow was following them. She felt cold, despite the fire from the torch. The drawing of the White Walkers, and those blue, blue eyes¡­ made her shiver, though she would never admit to it. She knew she''d never forget it. And she wouldn''t forget how solemn and sad Jon looked while they spoke. They walked together in steady, companionable silence until they had left the inner cavern and re-joined Ser Davos, who had been watching some of Jon''s men hammering away at the glittering obsidian. The metallic scent of cold steel and the dust hung heavy in the air and Daenerys resisted the urge to cough violently. Instead, she glanced over at Jon who had moved slightly to her right. He had been brooding, entirely consumed in his own sombre thoughts. Now, he gave his older Hand a rueful smile and a slight shake of the head. Dany''s stomach jolted. He had been counting on it she realised. That''s why he came here. Not to bend the knee. He wanted to be allies and fight together, without having to surrender his crown. She thought for a moment about what he had said. Why wouldn''t the Northerners accept her? It''s dreary in the North, Tyrion had told her ¨C but what did he know, really? If only Ser Jorah was here Daenerys thought gloomily. He was a northerner. He may even have known some of the people Jon spoke of. She frowned. But then again, what would Jorah think of Jon? With that, she looked up at the so-called king. "Your Grace?" he said hesitantly, his dark eyes questioning. An amused half-smirk played about his lips. "Shall we go?" It was then that Dany realised that all three of them were staring at her. I must have been brooding as intensely as Jon does she thought, pulling herself together. "Yes," she replied, a little more sharply than she had intended. "The dragonglass is yours to mine. For now, let''s leave." She walked straight towards the cave exit. Jon came to walk beside her, still holding the burning torch. Missandei and Davos followed behind them, exchanging mundane pleasantries. Dany was glad to see them getting along well. If Jon had bent the knee, this would be turning out even better she thought bitterly, deliberately resisting the strong and strange urge to stare at the northern king beside her. The small group walked out of the cave, all blinking desperately as the darkness of the mine gave way to the bright light of day. Daenerys opened her eyes to see Tyrion and Varys waiting for them as Missandei had said. Both men looked grave and apprehensive as Jon put the torch into the moist sand to douse the flame. "What is it?" she asked, failing to keep the hint of dread out of her voice. "¡­We took Casterly Rock," Tyrion told her after a couple of seconds. "That''s very good to hear," she replied warmly, encouraging them to continue. Then she noticed the look exchanged between them. "¡­Isn''t it?" she faltered. Varys nodded to Tyrion to continue. "The Unsullied would have found taking the Rock an easier task than we had first imagined, it seems. Most of Lannister forces were too busy storming Highgarden. And as for our fleet¡­ and Lady Olenna¡­" Seconds later, Daenerys began to storm away across the beach; Tyrion, Varys and Missandei hot on her heels with Jon and Davos not far behind. "If you want to discuss this amongst yourselves ¨C" began Ser Davos. "You will stay." Daenerys commanded. She was so angry that she didn''t remember that the man didn''t actually take orders from her. She continued. "All my allies are gone. They''ve been taken from me while I''ve been sitting here on this island!" Dany and Tyrion then proceeded to argue about armies and strategy. "Your strategy has lost us Dorne, the Iron Islands and the Reach!" she shouted in frustration, before insulting her Hand further, insinuating that he wanted to help Cersei rather than overthrow her. Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal all screeched in unison overhead. Part of her wanted to take her children straight to the Red Keep, to end this war and get it over with. She said as much. Daenerys then turned around slightly to see Jon and Davos still stood slightly apart from the rest of the group. She noticed how uncomfortable Jon looked and slowly began to realise how loud and tyrannical she must have looked. Positioning herself just enough to look the northern king straight in the eyes, Daenerys then asked Jon, "What do you think I should do?" Jon Snow shifted uncomfortably under her calm, yet enraged gaze. Dany suppressed a sigh; the words had been out of her mouth before she could even think about it, and the look on his face told her she wouldn''t get the answer she was hoping for. "I would never presume to ¨C" She cut him off. "I''m at war. I''m losing." She took several slow paces towards him, ignoring the curious looks from Varys and Missandei. "What do you think I should do?" Jon began to talk about the people who followed her, and then about her idea to use the dragons in Kings Landing, and her idea to make the world a better place. "But if you use them, to melt castles and burn cities, you''re not different. You''re just more of the same." Daenerys continued to stare at him. She had to admit his words had merit. But she had not expected him to say all that. You''re going to listen to him, a man who you may one day have to fight, and not Tyrion, your loyal and trustworthy Hand? a voice in her head rang. Dany ignored it, all while trying to figure out what to say next. Luckily for her, again, someone else spoke instead. "Your Grace, my lords, excuse me," Missandei piped up. "But, what is that over there?" "That there is a ship, Your Grace, and it''s on its way here," Ser Davos responded before anyone else could. Dany''s brow furrowed. She didn''t know a lot about the Onion Knight at all, but she had heard he was a skilled sailor. "Well, it''s not ours," Jon said after a few moments of silence, trying to break the tension. "Perhaps one of the Greyjoys survived after all!" Daenerys said, failing to not sound too excited. Yara or Theon? Yara or Theon? Yara or Theon? "No such joy, Your Grace," Davos replied after a few more seconds. "Red and gold, with a lion on the sail. A Lannister ship, of all things." Dany wheeled around to face Tyrion in alarm, and she saw he had visibly paled under his beard. "A Lannister ship¡­" Tyrion said quietly. He looked up to meet her lilac gaze. "My sister." Chapter End Chapter 48 - GoT Fan-fiction 5 - Stallions Of The West Plot: For nearly three centuries, the Alleryons of Starfyre Hall have ruled The north-west coast of the Westerlands. During this time, they have sworn loyal fealty to House Targaryen and House Lannister. Now the dragons are gone from Westeros, save one. Will the western Stallion remain loyal to the Baratheons who hate them? Or will a new family rise to prominence in the game of thrones? Pairing: OCxDaenerys 1 ¨C Starfyre Hall John Alleryon, head of his house and lord of Starfyre hall sat in his solar with his wife, Ceryse, and her father, his liege lord, Tywin Lannister, lord of nearby Casterly Rock, and Warden of the west, along with other titles. Lannister was speaking now. They were discussing the current state of the realm, and what it would mean for their houses and their family. "The crown is millions of dragons in debt to both the Westerlands and to the Iron Bank. To confound issues, the King''s hand, Jon Arryn, is dead. Robert and his court ride north. Baratheon will ask your brother''s old friend Stark to take the office." The two Alleryons glanced at one another. Robert appointing Ned as his new hand would only widen the divide between the Royal couple. It was no secret that Cersei Lannister, Ceryse''s younger sister, despised the Starks, and all they represented. Ceryse knew that her sister''s loathing would be better placed with her royal husband. Cersei had once revealed to her what had occurred upon her wedding knight. Upon the hour of their bedding, Robert, drunk already had whispered sweetly in her ear The one name the younger Lannister sister never wanted to hear again. Lyanna. Lyanna Stark was the sister of Eddard Stark, current warden of the north, and Baratheon''s best friend. And, she had been betrothed to Robert. That had all changed after her mysterious death in Dorne, allegedly after being r?p?d by her supposed kidnapper, her lord husband''s relative, prince Rhaegar Targaryen. For Ceryse, that didn''t add up. The tales of the intelligent, good-natured, noble prince of Dragonstone, her former Betrothed, did not match up with the story of the kidnapper and rapist Stark and his supporters believed and spread. And, although she would never say this to him out loud, she would rather be kidnapped then marry her sister''s husband. Ceryse suspected that Lyanna stark had been of the same mind. Tywin Lannister waited for the lord and lady before him to make their reply. It was his daughter who voiced the couple''s thoughts. "If Stark accepts the office, it will only serve to widen the gaping divides at court, father". The warden of the west nodded at his eldest child. His own thoughts had been running in the same direction as hers. Turning around to address his the other occupant in the room, he spoke to his Grandson. "What do you make of these matters, Daeron?" Tywin Lannister had a great deal of respect for the young man before him, respect that man three times his ten-and-six name days could not boast of. The lad was a gifted warrior, but was also a keen scholar, loved reading, and was fiercely intelligent. Glancing at his parents for a moment, Daeron Alleryon ran three fingers through the shoulder length silver hair he shared with his foster-sister and all the members of his father''s house, bar one, before turning to regard his grandfather. The boy sighed slightly. A habit he had picked up on recently. "The appointment of Lord Stark will create problems, no doubt. Yours may be the strongest house, but Stark has no love of our family. Soon enough, Lannisters and other Westermen will be looked over for royal offices. The king''s own derision for anything remotely Lannister OR Targaryen is also no secret. If not for the fact that my aunt is queen, our houses would have fallen from Royal favour the day Robert Baratheon took the Iron Throne". The young man stopped speaking, leaning back with his hand on his sword. He poured himself a drink of water from a nearby jug. John smiled proudly at his son and heir''s well-thought out response. Tywin nodded at the young man. He was, of course, correct. Robert hated the Lannisters. But Daeron''s response proved one thing. It proved he was thinking ahead. Robert Baratheon made no secret of the fact that he despised both sides of Daerom''s family tree. Daeron''s foresight was vital as, as he well knew, he would one day rule as both lord of Starfyre hall and Casterly Rock. Tywin had no intention of leaving the Rock to his despised youngest son, and no other male heir existed besides his brothers. Daeron was the best choice of heir. The boy knew all this, and knew that Robert would one day find himself owing a great deal of wealth to a man he despised more than any other Lannister, simply for who he was descended from on his father''s side. "And, how would you counsel us on this matter, son?" John inquired of his son. The boy glanced at Tywin before turning to look his father in the eye. "A subtle show of strength. Since the Greyjoy rebellion, Western forces have been mostly forgotten by the crown. Now Robert and his court march north. We should send a Lannister Procession to meet them before they get there. It is time we should remind his grace that the Starks are not the only powerful house in Westeros besides his own. Those in the room nodded their approval at his words, his parents recognising that the young knight had become a man. Tywin turned to his heir. The old man agreed to send a procession, telling the knight that he would lead it in his lord grandfather''s stead, as the official heir to the lands of the west. Tywin strode from the solar, heading for the stables. He would return to his own seat to prepare the western forces to march. John Alleryon glanced at his wife and their heir. "Daeron, escort your mother to the dining hall so she might break her fast with your younger siblings, then fetch your older sisters, as well as your foster-sister. The three of them will travel with you to Winterfell".The young knight nodded, before taking his mother''s arm, and leading escorting her ceremoniously from his father''s solar. Ceryse Ceryse smiled at her eldest as he walked with her through the halls. He, of all four of her children was the most to look like his famous ancestor, Aegon the first. His Blonde hair ran to his neck, as Aegon''s was said to have done. Intelligent, lilac eyes gazed intently before them as they walked. Her son rarely spoke, but it did not matter. The silence was comfortable for both of them. Like his Targaryen forbears, Daeron had high cheek bones, and a proud, regal baring. He looked like a king or dragon lord of old, and he had the manner of one as well. Of all her four children, her oldest had taken after his father''s family the most. His younger brother,Lucarion had the looks, but the temperament of her family, and her green eyes. His twin sisters, the youngest, were both Lannisters through and through. Golden hair, Green eyes and with her sister''s respect for wealth and power. Fortunately, they were kind, unlike Cersei. Daeron, her oldest, would always be her favourite. But, he was an enigma to her. Of course, she knew most of his quirks. Knew he despised injustice. Knew he loved her and his sisters, and respected his father and hers, yet despised most of the rest of his Alleryon relatives, although (in most cases), he hid it well. She knew her son was a gifted warrior. A fine archer and gifted swordsman, like the oldest of her brothers. Understood he loved books, but not where that love came from, if not Tyrion, who he rarely saw. And yet, despite his many fine qualities, her son had never had any women in his life. She knew he liked women; she had seen him glance twice at many beautiful maidens. And yet, he had made no efforts towards romance. Deep down, Ceryse knew her fears were unfounded. He had plenty of time for that. His father had ruled their lands long and wisely, and would continue to do so for years to come. There was no need for Daeron to wed at this time. All the same, with all his strange habits and other factors about him, she understood why many in the Westerlands said he was just as much an enigma as Aegon the Conqueror, his famous namesake. Her son was proud, and a skilled swordsman and archer. He was however, hopeless with a spear. This amused the Starfyre Sea Wardens and Starfyre Hall Guardians to no end. The Wardens and the Guardians were her husband''s elite forces. The Wardens had been created two and a half centuries ago, to guard the coasts against iron born raiders. The wardens fought in tight ranks, trained with both spear and bow. They wore gray, white and blue armour and helms, with white shields engraved with the symbols of the houses they served. These included House Alleryon and their Bannermen. The guardians were of a more recent vintage. They had been founded when her lord husband, impressed by their performance on a visit to Essos, purchased and freed two thousand unsullied and shipped them back to fight for him in Westeros. More had since joined their ranks; Criminals. Rapists, murderers, thieves. All had been gelded and trained ruthlessly. Though not as skilled as their unsullied counterparts, these so-called ''Westerosi unsullied'' had proven themselves able in the Greyjoy rebellion. John said they would prove to be especially effective against cavalry units. They were trained to fight with spears and shields, to create a thicket of spears and shields for an enemy force to fall upon. Her husband and father believed these forces would give the west a distinct advantage in any conflict. She preyed that Daeron and her other children never found themselves in such a conflict. She had lived through two. Both had been terrifying. Ceryse sighed as she recalled the horrific events of the Greyjoy rebellion. She and the children had been moved to Casterly Rock to escape the potential attack on Starfyre Hall, as one of the closest settlements in the Westerlands to the Iron Islands. One night, with John and father away fighting in the Islands, she had been roused from her slumber by the tolling of the warning bells. Listening for a moment she had sat up. She slipped from her chambers, hurrying through the vast halls of the rock towards the defenses. Reaching the wall, she gazed out towards the sea. Ten Ironborn long ships had come ashore. Archers fired down upon the invaders from either side of her. Unfortunately for the defenders, her husband and father had taken all the real soldiers to the islands with them, along with the king and Ned Stark. All that remained were old men and boys. Yet, despite this disadvantage, they appeared to have The Ironborn in retreat. She heard a shout, and glanced down over the walls. What she saw both explained the fleeing state of the islanders, and filled her heart with dread. There, leading a sortie against the enemies, was her seven year old son. Daeron shouted to his ''soldiers'', urging them on. "That''s it men, for the Rock!, we''ve got them on the run. What did I tell you? No courage on land!" He stood just behind his men, sheathing his sword and drawing his bow. He knocked an arrow to the string, and fired. Ceryse watched with pride as her son''s shot found its mark, piercing the leg of the commander of the Greyjoy forces, and dropping him to the ground. Two of his men, wrenched him to his feet, and he turned to glare at her boy. Only then did she recognise him. Victarion Greyjoy, commander of the Iron Fleet, and ''king'' Balon''s own brother. That shot ensured that Victarion never walked without a limp again, earned her eldest the enmity of the captain of the Iron Fleet, and his entire family, and earned him the name ''Archer Of The Rock''. Tywin Lannister had been most proud to learn that his eldest grandson had shown his mettle at such a young age, and with such untrained rabble to support him. He had saved his grandfather''s seat. Daeron stopped walking, and turned to her, kissing her hand. They had reached the dining hall. She pulled him into a hug. Stunned, he slowly, uncomfortably returned the hug. She sighed. What was her boy''s problem with intimacy? They pulled apart. He smiled, kissed her cheek, and left the hall. No doubt to find his older siblings and foster-sister, so that they could leave for the North. And Winterfell. Ceryse Alleryon turned to meet her youngest children to break her fast with them, and put her mind off her eldest leaving her for some time. Daenerys Daenerys, or Danny as her foster family called her, gazed out her window across the courtyard of Starfyre hall. She smiled at the thought of her home. For Starfyre hall had been just that for as long as she could remember home. With her foster-parents, John and Ceryse, John''s daughters, Melissa and Bethany, and the children of John and Ceryse; Daeron, her protective elder brother, stern and proud, who many whispered was more Targaryen then she. Lucarion, who shared their silver-gold hair and high cheekbones, but with green Lannister eyes, and the cunning of the Lions of the Rock to boot. Then there were the twins; sweat and innocent, their youthful expressions seemed so irreconcilable from those of their Lannister family, like Tywin Lannister and his brood, who always seemed to be making some new plan. Starfyre hall had been built with the township of Starfyre situated all around it. The ''town'' had grown to become the fourth largest city in Westeros, just behind nearby Lannisport and larger then Gulltown. High walls surrounded the city. Ships passed in and out of the harbour, and by land, carts brought gold from Castamere, Tarbeck hall (renamed Jackson''s Hall) and the Spyre, all seats of the bannermen of her foster-parents. Gold and trade had made John Alleryon and his family the second wealthiest in Westeros, second only to the Lannisters. Her entire life, Danny had known to fear Tywin Lannister. She knew the only reason she was alive was because king Robert trusted lord Tywin to keep an eye on her. If he deemed her to be a threat, there was nothing her family could do. Not that they would not die to defend her, however. Somehow, that thought made things worse. Still, Daenerys thought as she gazed over towards the Dragon tower, the crowning joy of Starfyre Hall, near the pier, there were perks to being raised as an Alleryon as well as a Targaryen. For one, she could marry for love. Few ladies had that luxury. Only she and the Alleryon daughters. A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts. Turning from the windows, she strode towards her bedroom door. It opened to reveal Daeron standing on the other side. She smiled at him, and he returned the gesture, if half-heartedly. "Morning Daer. What is it?" His answer was as formal as they had been recently. "We are riding for the Northern Riverlands to meet the kings procession. I am to represent my grandfather and the Westerlands, and my father wishes for you, Mels, and Bethany to accompany me". Daenerys smiled and nodded to her foster-brother, before gesturing for him to step out into the hall to wait for her to dress. He did as he was bid. Daenerys threw on a silver dress, and tied her hair back for a day of riding. Lastly went her riding boots. Once she was ready, the Targaryen heiress stepped from her chambers into the hall to greet her foster-siblings. She smiled at Melissa. Despite the fact that they had different parents, the two girls were essentially twins. Melissa and her younger sister Bethany were the daughters of lord John and his first Wife, Daelia Velaryon. Daelia had died, and John, needing a Male heir had remarried. When Daeron was born Mels, as they called her, was ecstatic. She viewed him as her ''baby brother'', now ''big-little brother, on account of the fact he was taller then her. Bethany, who had hated Ceryse, had been far less so, seeing him and her other half-siblings as bastards, and declaring that she would never love them, or name them her kin. She treated Danny herself just as poorly. Whilst the relationship between John''s oldest daughter and his oldest son was strong, there were some in the Westerlands, Daenerys had been told, who feared that civil war would erupt upon Daeron''s succession between him and Bethany, so strong was their hatred for one another. As far as both were concerned, they were not related, and, although he still allowed her to share his roof until marriage, lord John had all but disinherited his second child. Danny herself, who saw the estranged siblings together, knew that the chances of civil war were indeed real. Daeron had discussed with her his intent to break with family tradition, and force his sister to marry a man of his choosing, or, better yet, force her into the life of the silent sisters. The foursome strode from the halls, down to the castle courtyard. Daeron turned to Michael, his squire, ordering him to saddle their horses. Three hours later, she found herself surrounded protectively by Westermen as her foster-brother rode at the head of the vast procession, his shirt of black scales covered by his black surcoat. Upon the surcoat she knew, was engraved the sigil of his house, a silver stallion upon a black field. The Westerlands rolled past them as they rode, Melissa and Bethany on either side of her, as far away from one another as the ring of men around them would allow. They were on their way to meet the Lord of the seven kingdoms. The man who wanted her dead. Robert Baratheon, the usurper. Daeron ''at the pace we are making, we should be able to head the royal court off just south of the twins.'' Daeron watched as the countryside rolled past them as they made their way through the Westerlands and through to the Riverlands. Before long, they would meet the king and his entourage on the road, as his aunt''s wheelhouse slowed their pace. Daeron''s sisters themselves and Daenerys all insisted on riding. That worked just fine for him though, as it allowed them to travel faster across the countryside. Like his parents, Daeron disliked such delays as those caused by wheelhouses. He preferred to get to where he was going as quick as possible. His Silver-blonde hair billowed in the breeze behind him. Above circled Maekor, his Pendric Eagle. It had become the custom of his family to tame the Eagles of the nearby hills as companions, scouts and message carriers. Maekor had been named for the founder of his house. Maekor Alleryon was the son of Rhaenyra, the daughter of Aegon the conqueror and his beloved sister Rhaenys. Upon his grandfather''s death, Maekor had been granted what would become the seat of Starfyre Hall by his brother Aenys, the first of his name, in order to keep a watch on the Westerlands and to take advantage of their rich gold mines for the crown. During the time of the Targaryen kings, from Aenys down to Aerys the second of his name, Alleryon gold had been shared between the two houses. Until the rebellion. Daeron''s father had made the choice to stand for what he thought to be right. He had called his banners, and rode for Casterly Rock, to discuss the matter with his liege lord, Tywin Lannister. The pair had decided to call their banners in support of Robert Baratheon and his fellow rebels. Lannister had elected to wait until after the Trident, but John Alleryon had rode out at the head of a host of ten thousand to represent the Westerlands on the field of battle. He had fought bravely, against Rhaegar, for a time, and against his own brother, who had supported the loyalist cause. The Trident had ended with John Alleryon a disgraced kinslayer, and an irreparable divide between John and his brother Geoffrey. After the war, for his services, lord Alleryon convinced Robert Baratheon to spare the last Targaryen; Viserys had been ?ssassinated by Robert''s supporters, trying to flee. Now, House Alleryon and Daenerys were in the same boat; the last remnants of a dying house. His father had stood for the realm against Targaryen tyranny, and Daeron''s cousin Joffrey would one day sit the Iron Throne. Sometimes Daeron found himself wondering what things would have been like if his father had pushed his own claim. In many ways, his father''s claim was stronger than Robert''s. But the realm had not been ready to replace one Targaryen family with a Targaryen cadet branch. And so Robert was crowned. Daeron''s thoughts turned to his foster sister. Daenerys seemed hurt by the formality with which he treated her in their recent dealings. It hurt him too. Growing up, the pair of ''young dragons'' as his father''s and grandfather''s men had called them, had been inseparable. They did anything and everything together. And wherever one was, the other was never far away. But, last year, Daeron had noticed a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach and in his ?h?st whenever Danny was near. After awhile, he decided he needed to put a name to these new feelings. He was too embarrassed to discuss them with either of his parents, and so went to the next best thing. His favourite uncle. Tyrion Lannister was the smartest person Daeron knew. If there was anyone who would have an answer to his problem, it was the ''imp'' of House Lannister. Telling his parents he was going to go riding down the coast, he made for Casterly Rock and Lannisport. There, he found his beloved uncle in his chambers reading. The dwarf had glanced up at his nephew''s arrival. Smiling, he greeted him with a hug and questioning raise of the eyebrow. Returning the hug and taking the offered seat, Daeron told his uncle of his problem. Tyrion had laughed then, confusing Daeron. The young man had become angry, and began shouting, before his uncle calmed him down and explained why he was laughing. Daeron was in love. This realisation lead to some good-natured teasing from his uncle. Between japes, Tyrion inquired as to who it was who had captured his ''stoic nephew''s'' heart. Daeron replied, confessing his feelings were for Daenerys. At that, Tyrion sobered suddenly. He lowered his gaze, before gently placing a hand on the boy''s shoulder. Daeron looked at his short uncle, confused. What was the problem? Tyrion sighed, before looking his nephew straight in the eye before telling the young knight how sorry he was for him. Sorry? What was there to be sorry for? Tyrion lowered his gaze. He refused to speak. Daeron glared down at his uncle, and snapped at him to answer. "Nothing can ever come of your feelings. The king would never allow it. Nor would my father". The imp explained to his nephew, whilst trying to make it as painless for them both as possible. Tyrion liked his eldest nephew. He had a great deal of respect for the lad, and hated to see him hurt. Once again, he lamented the cruelty of the world. How could it be fair that not everyone could marry for love? The dwarf had winced at the sudden memories of the time he had attempted to do just that. Daeron closed his eyes at the pain of the memories of the conversation. He knew why it was Robert would never accept it. He would not see the union of the two branches of the Targaryen dynasty. He feared the political power that would unleash. And of course, there was another problem standing in his way. Daeron himself. Ever since discovering he had feelings for Danny, he had avoided the girl. After all, not only was it impossible for any sort of relationship to end happily, but he was simply not good enough for her. Or that was how he saw it. Danny was a sweat and innocent girl, with a kind, loving heart. Daeron himself had demons. He was a killer, a liar, and a terrible person in general. Daenerys deserved someone better than that. Someone who wasn''t plagued by the things they had done in their life. Someone more worthy of her than him. Jacob of house Jackson, eldest son of one of his father''s most trusted, bannerman, and a close friend of Daeron''s, turned to regard him. Jacob''s round face was framed with short blonde hair, and hazel eyes gazed concernedly out at him. "Are you feeling alright, Daer?" Daeron smiled at his friend, and nodded. "Just missing Tobias, Willem, and the others, is all," he lied, as he turned his head back towards the front. Jacob nodded accepting the answer. "So, do you think his grace will be glad to see us?" "Oh definitely". Both boys chuckled at the shared sarcasm. Jacob was always good for a laugh, because he was rarely serious. A year younger then Daeron, he had yet to see combat, other than on the tourney field. He would make a knight one day though... of some description. Daeron snorted and shook his head. He had more pressing matters to worry about then his friends'' futures. He turned to Jacob. "Give the order for the men to pick up the pace, would you?" The squire nodded, raising his horn to blow into it. With that, Daeron and his soldiers pushed their horses further. Daeron rose his arm. Like a bolt of lightning, Maekor swooped downwards, landing on his master''s shoulder. The bird squawked, proudly dropping the corpse of the rat it had caught on his sleeve. Beside him, Jacob once more erupted into laughter. He smirked at his friend, chuckling all the while. "That there''s an interesting new fashion statement, my Lord!" Around them, other men started to join in on the laughing. Daeron glared at his friend. "I''ll deal with you when we get to Winterfell". He promised, eyes piercing Jacob''s like daggers. The squire gulped. Daeron smiled as his scout gave a call. The royal column had been spotted just north-east of their position, making slow progress towards Moat Cailin. Daeron spurred his one thousand horsemen forwards. They would soon reach the king''s host, and then, they would continue onto Winterfell, the seat of house Stark. He nodded to Jacob, who once more rose his horn before releasing a single, winding call, which reverberated across the countryside. The royal column ground to a halt as the knights, the king and his kingsguard twisted in their saddles to face the newcomers. Even from where they were, Daeron could hear Robert bellowing orders in his booming voice to those around him. A single Kingsguard knight rode out from the rest of the king''s men towards them as a greeting. Daeron rose his hand. His forces came to a halt as they waited for the kingsguard knight to reach them. Robert They had been riding at the same grueling pace since setting out from the capitol. Robert snorted, thanks to that damned wheelhouse, they would never make it to Winterfell. If Robert had had his way, they wouldn''t have brought the ridiculous contraption along with them. But Cersei had insisted. He ?r??n?d as he recalled their latest argument on the topic. "Seven hells, woman! If that thing breaks again, you can all get out and walk! I''ll have it burnt!" "And what of your children? Will you make them walk?" Cersei had hissed back at him, standing there screaming at him. Behind her, their oldest ''son'', Joffrey, cowered from Robert. Robert sneered at them both. "It would do your son some good to ride like a man, rather than hide behind his mother''s skirts, like a little bitch". Joffrey bristled, but dared not speak back at his father. Robert turned to Sandor Clegane besides him as they rode. "Honestly, Clegane, I don''t know what to do with that boy!" The hound of house Clegane maintained his usual disinterested manner. "Far be it for me to advise your grace on children. After all, I have never found myself a father". Robert found himself rolling his eyes at that. The same answer as usual. How was it that no bloody fool could tell him how to deal with his violent, half-wit puss? of a son? " Alleryon." Robert muttered, angrily. He turned to his left, shouting orders. "Kingslayer! Go greet your nephew!" Jaime Lannister, for it was he that Robert had addressed, pushed his force into a gallop. He rode towards the other party, discussing something with the leaders. Eventually, he turned around, and rode back towards the king and his fellow knights. Lannister came to a halt before Robert, next to him sat, on a white stallion, a tall figure of about fifteen or sixteen with silver-blonde hair that fell down to the nape of his neck. Rhaegar''s purple eyes stared intently back at him. The image was completed by the shirt of black scales under the surcoat with the rearing silver stallion of his house. The young man slung out of the saddle of his horse without warning. Despite himself, Robert pulled his own horse back slightly. The young man bowed low before him, head facing the ground. "Hail, Robert Baratheon, first of his name, king of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the first men,lord of the seven kingdoms, and protector of the realm. In the name of my father, John, of the house Alleryon, and my grandfather, Tywin of house Lannister, I, Daeron, heir to Starfyre Hall and Casterly Rock, place myself and these men at your disposal". Robert glared down at the kneeling figure at his feet. He had heard rumours from Varys that many in the Westerlands, the Reach and Dorne referred to him as ''Aegon the dragon come again''. And yet, as he stared down at the boy, gesturing for the him to stand, all he could see was hair that fell even longer, down to about shoulder length, and armour inset with a three-headed ruby dragon. ''Rhaegar'' whispered a voice, unbidden, in Robert''s head, before his vision changed to the armour crushed and the rubies gone. He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. "Any more dragonspawn with you boy?" The boy bristled at the insult, before merely nodding and gesturing to the centre of his men. Three girls around the same age as him rode forwards. Two wore riding clothes with the same stallion stitched into the hem. The third wore a dress with a small three-headed dragon engraved on one side , near the neck. Robert''s glare shifted to her. "The former princess". She ignored him. Unable to stomach the sight of them any more, Robert ordered them to the back of the procession, along with the Kingslayer and the imp. It would be a long ride to Winterfell. That night, as they camped about half a day''s ride from the Stark fortress of Winterfell, Robert glared at the Alleryon and Targaryen banners flying outside the tent of the newcomers. Cersei was inside the tent, along with that twin brother of hers, talking to her nieces and nephew. Tommon and Myrcella were in their own pavilion. He didn''t particularly care where Joffrey was at the moment. If the boy had gone off somewhere, no doubt that dog of his was not far away from him. His heir would be fine. Robert had more pressing matters to deal with. Like the dragonspawn not far from his own sleeping quarters. He stormed over to the pavilion, shoving the flaps aside, he glared at the occupants. The Kingslayer and his nephew bowed low. The Targaryen former princess and the two Alleryon girls curtsied hastily. The only recognition he received from his wife was a nod of the head and "Robert, my love?" Robert turned towards the boy on the tent floor. Snapping at him to rise, he stared into the purple eyes of the young man. The boy held Robert''s gaze, not flinching once. The king found himself begrudgingly respecting his courage. If he intended to show no fear, than Robert would just have to make him feel some. Starting with this conversation. "Why are you here, boy?" The silver-blonde stared at Robert for a moment, before answering. The moment''s delay in conversation gave the king the chance to evaluate his subject. He hated to admit, but Robert found himself thinking of the fact that most maidens would consider the boy to be handsome. Perhaps even more so than Robert''s own heir. Although, unlike Joffrey, Daeron Alleryon''s appeal was less feminine, and far more masculine in nature. Whereas Joffrey looked like a young girl in the clothing of a male, Daeron''s muscles could be made out through his Black tunic, which had replaced his armour at some point during the evening. Robert''s thoughts were interrupted by a voice. The dragonspawn was speaking again. "My grandfather sent me here as the Westerlands'' representative on your ride north, and potentially in the royal court. Tywin intends to make me the heir to Casterly Rock and the Westerlands" . Robert almost ?r??n?d when he heard that. Despite whatever he wanted, he couldn''t really stop the boy and his companions from accompanying them. Tywin Lannister, as the lord of a great house, had the right to be represented at court by a member of his house or his heir. If this boy was his heir, than Robert would have to resign himself to the fate of being surrounded by Valyrian ?n??stuous half-wits. As if he didn''t already have enough to deal with with all of these Smug, blonde haired Lannister fools in the capitol. He had killed Rhaegar to ensure that he Wouldn''t have to put up with Targaryens. That monster was gone, but every time he looked into this boy''s eyes, he saw his old enemy standing there, grinning out at him from the seventh hell. Robert turned and strode from the tent, storming through the camp site. If he had to deal with them being in the same vicinity, at least he did not have to be in the same room as them. After Cersei dismissed herself, hugging her nieces and allowing her nephew to kiss her hand, the Alleryon sisters burst into laughter at the sight of Robert. Daeron, ever serious, glared at them. Inside, he too was amused, but also concerned. Concerned for his family, and for the realm. ''that''s the ''king'' my father fought Aerys for?'' he thought, worried what would become of the country if it remained under Robert Baratheon''s misrule. Beside him, Daenerys was shaking, not out of cold, or fear, but anger. He slipped an arm around her. Glancing up, she smiled. Then she frowned slightly, before grinning up at him. "Your Uncle''s a fool". He blinked. What was she talking about? She had always gotten on well with his uncles. Or, at least with the ones she had met. Then, he realised what she meant. The king was his aunt''s husband. Daeron shuddered at the thought of being related to Robert Baratheon. Even if it was only through marriage. Chapter End Chapter 49 - GoT Fan-fiction 6 - Frozen Fire Plot: Eddard Stark offered her a deal. Safe return to the Seven Kingdoms but in exchange she would need to marry his son, to keep her under watch instead of killing her like Robert wanted. She accepted because she believed she could work on her plans from within. She could turn the Young Wolf in her ally. But she wasn''t expecting Robb Stark not to be like the men she knew. Pairing: RobbxDany NOTE: Fluff piece... >_< Chapter 1 : Secrets When she accepted the deal ¨C the marriage ¨C she had more ideas in her mind that the ones she had been able to turn into plans. She had long ago forgotten those childish dreams about love and innocence so she deemed fitting to be married to a man she didn''t love once again ¨C and this time she wouldn''t fall in love. This time, she would use the man like Viserys had taught her. Eddard Stark might had thought he was doing a favor to her and keeping his honor like the stupid man he was ¨C one who respected honor and family like no other in the Seven Kingdoms and across the Narrow Sea. He had thought that by keeping her under his eyes after the Usurper''s death, she wouldn''t try to regain her rightful place in the throne. She was b?r?ly more than a child for them after all. He had sent a man to offer her a safe return, to be placed under his protection and by that he meant to be turned into his eldest son''s wife. He wanted for her to be sent far into the North in Winterfell''s Great Keep ¨C to keep her a prisoner. But she trusted in her capabilities and also that no man proud of calling himself so was able to resist a woman if she knew how to make him see what she wanted him to see. Even a Stark could be turned into her ally if she picked her weapons wisely. Her only demand had to bring Ser Jorah Mormont back with her but he was the one refusing to such thing. So she only would have Irri, Jhiqui and Doreah with her. Her babies ¨C her dragons ¨C were not part of the deal but she took them with her anyway. She was not afraid of Robb Stark ¨C she had been married to Khal Drogo and, no matter how poorly they talked about northmen, she doubted it could be much worse than the nomad''s life. -o- There''s no room for a pompous wedding ¨C for a Queen''s wedding ¨C she was told. But soon she realized that her wedding would be in secret. Not even Eddard Stark himself would be there to see his son espouse. Only Lady Catelyn would serve as witness from his family. And she didn''t seem content about it. Luckily for her, or not, she knew what to expect when she stood before a priest the night after her arrival in King''s Landing, inside a small inn. She had seen a glimpse of his wild reddish brown hair and striking blue eyes. His skin was almost as pale as hers, and he looked trapped under the black of his outfit. He was b?r?ly older than her but shyer and solemn. It occurred to her for the first time that he wanted this marriage less than she did. That he was following orders. But everyone had to play under the rules of nobility. It would''ve been much easier for them to be commoners and married out of love, to do what they wanted. His beard helped him to make him look like a man but she could tell he was facing the same moment she had during her first wedding. She didn''t pity him. After all, she had been a peon in other people''s game and it was only fair that he did as well. The only thing she could be grateful about was that he was handsome and he seemed rather docile, perfect for her plans. He said his vows in a monotone voice but boldly looked into her eyes through the ceremony. She replied with her own in a soft, alluring voice with hopes he would believe in her being a very helpless woman despite the stories and rumors about the Targaryens. He draped the cloak over her shoulders and she became his lawful wife in that poorly lit room with less luxury than she would''ve hoped for but with his promise of protection. "You should go to your room," Catelyn Stark said in a hushed voice, probably thinking that the whole thing was not what her son deserved, not what any mother wanted for their children much less when they had ignored every custom. She alone led them to a room. There was no feast, no commotion and no bedding because that night Robb Stark looked at her with the eyes of a man who felt betrayed, who felt duty was punishment. "You can choose the side of the bed," he muttered as his eyes fell onto the dancing flames of the fire. Daenerys stared at him, confused because despite everything she expected a s?x starved man. She expected to be abused by a man who had ?ssumed he owned her now. Seeing that he wasn''t about to mistreat her, she realized that there must have a reason of his own not to bed her. "My marriage was brief," she said, carefully moving closer to him. "I know you must have expected a young maiden with her virtue intact and I do apologize if because of my arrival here you have lost a lover." She had to bite back her tongue not to yell at him that she hadn''t had a saying in her first marriage, that he hadn''t the right to sulk like a child. His cold eyes, blue like the sea dothrakis were so afraid of, bore into hers. "I lost no lover and, believe me, your virtue is something I couldn''t worry less about." He walked around her and put more distance between them, never losing eye contact with her. "And I know you bore a child." Her ?h?st constricted painfully. One thing was to accept the loss of Drogo but losing a child she had carried inside her was another completely. Mayhap she had underestimated the Young Wolf and he was smarter than to abuse her physically ¨C he would hurt her by opening healing wounds. "Sleep," he ordered, motioning to the bed. "We need to leave early before news of your stay here reaches the ears of the Spider." "If he''s as good as they say, he must know." "But he hasn''t found a reason to make it work to his favor." He bowed his head. "Just sleep." And with that, he left the room, leaving her alone once more. Daenerys didn''t know why it hurt so much to be ignored like that when the last thing she wanted was to feel like another man had enslaved her to satisfy his every wish. Probably it had something to do with not knowing what to expect now that Robb Stark showed that he wasn''t like most men, that he wasn''t about to work as she had thought. But after a long trip through the Narrow Sea and a wedding, she would gladly fall asleep and continue with her plans next day. Her new horse was nothing like the Silver. This beast was black as the darkest night and with a faint star. It was strong and solid like a rock but docile and silent. "You are used to riding, right?" Robb spoke quietly, preparing his own horse. "We''ll need to ride for a long time to be as far from here as we can by the end of the day." She wanted to snap at him for how daring he was, for how he thought she was a girl who needed to be told what to think and do. She knew they were in danger and they needed to flee but what she hadn''t known until then was that Ser Rodrik and Lady Catelyn weren''t leaving with them. "Large parties call more attention," the old, short and stout man grumbled. Robb kept silently reading the horses and shot a look at her when she gazed her long dress. She was used to riding but not in the outfits ladies donned in the Seven Kingdoms and somehow she doubted her Dothraki clothes would be approved by people here. Irri, Jhiqui and Doreah would ride as well but they weren''t very confident about making the trip with just one man to look for them, much less when said man didn''t look as built nor had long hair that proved his skills in battle. They were also afraid of Grey Wind, Robb''s pet direwolf who followed him everywhere. Daenerys chuckled to herself at hearing their protests. "Need help?" Robb asked before mounting his horse. She heaved a deep sigh and as learned, she mounted her horse with as much grace as she could, considering her dress, her height and the eyes on her. "No, I don''t," she retorted haughtily. For the first time since she had seen him, she saw the shadow of a smirk on the Young Wolf''s lips before he also sat astride his horse. Approaching to her on horse, he pulled the hood of her cloak to cover her head and hide her face. "Hair as white as yours is not common. Better keep it covered unless you want us beheaded before we make it out of here." She huffed and tugged on the furs draped over his horse. "Furs like these aren''t common south of the Neck. We aren''t hiding them." "I''m not a Targaryen," he replied. "I could pretend to be anyone." His smirk disappeared under the shadow of his own hood as he pulled it up. He soon was leading the way out of the city with her right behind him. It would be a long trip and even more if she had to hear her handmaidens complain about her restricting dresses. She just hoped they would take care of the dragons each one of them carried in a basket attached to their horses. And that Robb wouldn''t found out about them any time soon despite the many times Grey Wind sniffed the baskets. -o- He was a graceful horse rider, with a much different technique than Dothraki people but much more similar to Ser Jorah. She missed her best advisor but he said he trusted her ¨C that she needed to not be as hot-blooded as her brother had been and she''d be fine. It amused her to see hints of his reddish hair gleaming under the sun. Robb seemed like a boy who had unwillingly turned into a man. He had probably been a playful young lad who would''ve been happy just forgoing his duties as a noble man. And she had sometimes thought about it but it was in their blood. By nightfall, they had found a small inn, a place where only Robb spoke to the man in charge and the women who served the patrons. Daenerys could tell the man had uttered a crude joke about them because he was eyeing her and her handmaidens with hungry eyes like most men in the place that fortunately weren''t many. She didn''t know what Robb had said in return but he had handed a few coins to the man. "Follow me," Robb spoke as soon as he returned to them. He had paid for two rooms, one for them and another for her handmaidens. Once inside the room she finally shed her hooded cloak but Robb just adjusted his clothes and checked on his sword. "Aren''t you going to bed?" she asked, looking for her clothes and untangling her hair to braid it before bed. He took a chair and placed it near the door, where he sat. "I can''t." Grey Wind curled down at Robb''s feet and made clear that both of them would stand guard at the door. She wasn''t about to fight him because they were in danger, both thanks to her and, if rumors were true, about his father and his sense of justice and right. She didn''t understand why anyone would mess with power, or why if Eddard Stark didn''t trust the Usurper''s judgment, he hadn''t done something about it sooner, from the inside. But betrayal wasn''t how the Starks played. -o- Morning greeted her with the sight of a direwolf wide awake lying near the door and a sleeping Robb still uncomfortable sat on a chair. She got out of bed to watch him sleep. Long and thick eyelashes fanning over his high cheeks, unruly hair, body tense even in sleep and his hand gripping his sword for dear life. "Robb," she whispered softly, not to startle him. She leaned over his shoulder, closer to his ear and called his name again. He felt warm and she smelt the faint odor of sweat clinging to his skin. It wasn''t entirely unpleasant ¨C it didn''t bother her as much as it could''ve done and in fact it was nice. Before she could think about it, she placed her soft hand over the one who held the sword and dragged the tip of her nose over the beard covering his cheek. He woke up and tried to pull his sword out for a second, until he recognized her. Robb stayed still as she nuzzled his cheek. Her smell and softness were probably something he wasn''t used to. He had probably bedded maidens up in the north but no ladies and much less ones that were much more experienced ¨C much less ones that had been taught about amatory arts with Dothrakis. She sat astride his ??p and let go of his hands but he didn''t move. So she took the initiative and kissed him softly. This was about testing his limits and the power she could have on him. By no means had she wanted to be attracted to him. At first he didn''t respond but soon his lips were massaging hers and she sighed against her will when his hands fell upon her h?ps, ??r?ssing softly but firmly over the sheer barrier of her gown. There was something different about his kisses and touch ¨C he was gentler and with more patience, something neither Drogo nor her had had. His fingers dug into the flesh of her waist and he deepened the kiss. Her own arms wound around his neck and she buried her fingers into the mass of reddish curls of his hair. His hands crept down and tried to look for the hem of her gown but before he could glide his roughened palms up the sides of her th??hs, he pulled back. His hands abandoned the place on her knees and he turned his face away. "Stop," he muttered somewhat angered. "We need to leave soon." He eased her on her feet as he stood up, gently but he was rejecting her and it infuriated her. "I''ll send your handmaids in," he said before making its way out of the room with his wolf in tow. Dany clenched her jaw and wondered for the first time if maybe Eddard Stark had known exactly what he was doing when he had offered her to marry Robb and she had been fooled by the man because his son was certainly not what she had expected. She didn''t know who was going to drive the other mad. Chapter End Chapter 50 - Naruto Fan-fiction 1 - Naruto Hatake Plot: AU. What if Naruto had been raised by Kakashi his entire life and how would raising Naruto change Kakashi''s life as well? Pairing: NarutoHinata, KakashiAnko later on NOTE: sequel in works Chapter 1: Light in the Darkness It was October 10th and it would forever be known as the darkest day in the history of the ninja village of the Hidden Leaf. It was the day the dreaded nine tailed fox demon attacked their land and their village. It was a huge monster, it''s red chakra could be seen and felt by people over a mile away. The ninjas that survived the battle would still be able to tell how they could feel the killer intent of the giant fox demon, how it felt like a giant weight crushing them. But they had to protect their village and so they fought on, many died in that battle, attacks against the demon were brushed aside as though they were nothing, scores of ninjas died when it counter attacked. It was a pure nightmare that battle that night, many thought that it was the end of things. That they would all die and then it would go on and attack their village killing everyone they held dear. But it was their leader the Fourth Hokage a man named Minato Namikaze that ended it all. There was only one thing he could do. At that moment he stood on the mountain looking over the battle, he held a small bundle in his arms. The man was tall with yellow spike hair and blue eyes as he looked on with a great sadness in his heart. The bundle in his arms moved and he looked down and smiled at the little boy that had just been born. "I''m sorry Naruto I have no choice. I have to save the village and there is only one technique I know of that will do it." He smiled at the young boy and his heart broke knowing this was the only time he would ever hold his son like this. "You deserve more than this my son, you deserve to live with your family." He closed his eyes, the mother of his child Kushina Uzumaki, the greatest love of his life had died in childbirth. She had suffered an injuring in the attack and went into labour. But it was difficult and she had lost too much blood, all the medical nins were at the front line and so he had been there for his love before she had died with their son in her arms. He placed a tarp over her body, she was still back there in his personal quarters. He couldn''t leave her side even at a time like this but she was gone now and a large part of his heart went with her. They hadn''t even been officially married since the damn council didn''t approve of him marrying someone outside of their village. But he still loved her and she loved him, they had stayed together and had to keep his relationship a secret. Only a trusted few like his old sensei Jiraiya, his last student Kakashi, and the previous Hokage. But now he had to make yet another sacrifice. He had left a note for those closest to him in his chambers. And he had one on his persons just in case, but tonight was the night he knew he was going to die. There was an odd peace to it, in a way he would see his beloved again, but he didn''t want to leave this life. He loved his village and the people and he wanted to see his son grow up. He felt the stings in his eyes at his tears started to fall, how he wanted to see little Naruto grow up. But he was Hokage, he had to protect the village and his duty out weighted what he wanted in life. He just hoped that Naruto would one day forgive him and understand why he had to leave him. He had left one of his tags he used for his Flaying Thunder God technique, something he used that teleported him around the same technique that earned him the name the ''Yellow Flash''. In an instant he was transported across the area, he could hear the battle going on as he appeared among his people. "Hokage!" A few cried out. "Keep the line! I want you to try and keep it still!" He ordered out. Ninjas went out to surround the beast which wasn''t an easy task. He felt the presence of a old friend behind him, "So finally here, how is she?" He turned to see the Toad Sage Jiraiya there, he had arrived just in time to help things out. Next to him he could see Sarutobi with him. Even though retired as Hokage the old man was still here in his black and grey battle armour fighting as well. There was no surprise in that but they saw the look on the young man''s face and both older men felt that something horrible happened. "She''s gone." It was the only thing he could say to them. Both men felt sorrow for him, they knew just how much he loved her and how much pain he had to be in. Then he surprised them both by smiling a little and turned to show them the bundle. "This is my son, Naruto." Sarutobi gave a small smile at the sight of the young boy he already could see that the boy looked like his father. But Jiraiya frowned, he knew his student well and he knew that something was wrong. "Tell me why did you bring your infant child here. What do you have planned?" The Hokage smiled although there was no humor in it. "I knew you''d figured out I had something planned old perv. There is a way to save the day but I need my son''s help." He reached into his clothing and pulled out a sealed letter. "Please come and find us when it''s over and you''ll find another in my chamber. There is one of my son when he''s old enough that I want him to read. Also tell Kakashi I''m sorry, he''s lost so much and I hate for him to lose another precious person in his life." Jiraiya took the note with hard eyes, he knew what the boy had planned or at least an idea. He didn''t want him to go, hell he was an inch from beating the hell out of him and forcing him not to go. But before he could object he was gone thanks to that damn technique of his. The older man looked at the letter and felt his sensei next to him. He looked at the older man''s face and he could see that he knew as well. "I hate this..." Was the only thing the Toad Sage could say. "So do I." Sarutobi said to his old student. He wished Tsunade was here as well, but she had left the village and he wasn''t sure where she was these days. It was only luck that Jiraiya had been wondering close enough to get here. Now he was seeing that young man go out there and for the last time. It the night had been raining it would have set the dark mood perfectly. Kakashi Hatake was a very young man and yet had already reached the level of Jonin. He had a large white hair that always seemed to stand up defying gravity. He was sitting with his back to a tree breathing hard. Not long ago the demon had been defeated, it was said that the Fourth had arrived and somehow defeated it. He smiled at the thought of his sensei being able to defeat such a monster. He looked around with his one eye over the carnage. Bodies were everywhere, people cried out in pain some as they were dying. Medical nins were doing their best but there were just so many people injured and dying. Kakashi himself felt a few blows, nothing lethal but he needed some rest. He wished he could block out the sounds though, he felt a split lip under his mask too, he sighed at that it was one of the problems of always wearing a mask. He didn''t have to of course but it was just his style, hell no one knew what he looked like since he had worn one as far back as people could remember. He looked again with his eye that wasn''t covered by his headband over the field. There would be many people that would lose their precious people today. It reminded him of his own losses, his father who committed suicide to atone for his dishonour, his mother, and worse his friends. First Obito who died on his first mission in the war, he had lost his eye on that mission and Obito had asked Rin their medic to implant one of his into Kakashi. Then not long after Rin was lost to him as well, it just seemed that everyone he loved or cared for was taken from him in life. The only one he had left really was his sensei the new Hokage and his ''wife'', well technically not but he knew that she was wife in everything but name. He was glad that his teacher and mentor had found a woman like her and were having a child soon. It seemed in even all this death there was at least something to look forward to. He had been so engrossed he actually missed the ANBU that landed next to him until he actually hit the ground. "Kakashi Hatake, you are to report to the Hokage tower." "Oh man I was just resting too," He grunted with the effort to get him. "Do you need ?ssistance?" The masked ninja asked. "No I''m fine, just needed to catch my second wind is all." He waved it off as he made his way to the tower. It was a long way for him, but he eventually made it to the large building under the mountain with the faces of the Hokages on them. He climbed the steps not surprised that there were no guards, everyone had been pulled off their usual duties for the demon. He found the office of the Hokage and opened them up but he was a bit confused to see not the Hokage but the previous Hokage there along with his sensei''s teacher. Both of them had on looks on their faces that suddenly make Kakashi''s stomach twist in on itself. "Sarutobi-sama, Jiraiya-sama I was expected Hokage-sama to be here." He said as he walked over to them. It was then he noticed that there was a sleeping form in Sarutobi''s arms. "I''m afraid that the Hokage...I''m sorry Kakashi he''s dead." Sarutobi hung his head. Kakashi felt like he was crushed under those boulders all over again on the mission that had killed Obito. The last precious person he had in his life was gone, he felt hollow inside and very alone in the world. He hadn''t felt like this since his father''s death. He nearly fell to his knees but he tried to keep on a brave face in front of his elders. But it was hard, so very hard. He just wanted to just sink to his knees and cry out his pain to the heavens. ''Why? Why him? Why must everyone I get close to die?'' He thought to himself and didn''t notice how the old toad sage walked up to him and place a hand on his shoulder. "I know boy, I know how you feel. I loved the kid like a son, he deserved better than this. But it was his choice and the only way to stop the demon." Jiraiya told him. "How?" Kakashi asked not looking at the older man. "As far as we can tell he used a forbidden art that sealed the demon into a host body. It will impression the demon for all time but the cost to balance such a technique out requires the person performing it to sacrifice their own life." Sarutobi explained and walked over to the young man. "This is Naruto the Hokage''s son, he used him to seal away the demon." He showed the snow haired young man the child. Kakashi looked and he could see the resemblance, the yellow hair and blue eyes were very alike. Although it was strange seeing what looked like whisker marks on his face. The young boy looked up at him with curious blue eyes. Kakashi actually grinned a bit, his teacher would have been a great father and he knew that the man had been looking forward to this. "But what of..." He trailed off asking about the mother but the looks he got told him all the he needed. "I''m sorry she died giving birth, when the demon attacked she had been injured and with the birth...it was just too much for her body." Jiraiya told him. "There is a letter for you here, he made one out to you to read." Sarutobi pointed with a free hand to the desk. Kakashi walked slowly towards it, it was strange not seeing his sensei there behind the desk. Images came to his mind of seeing him there working, how he seemed to smile a lot at him, giving him his missions or just talking to him. He saw the picture there of him and his original team, and then of his sensei''s team when he was a kid. He knew there was a picture of his lover in his desk drawer as well. It just seemed like a very bad dream, one that he wanted to wake up from. That he was still alive and he would see him tomorrow. But as he picked up the letter he knew deep down that he was just being stupid, he was gone. He opened the letter and read what was on there. ''Hello Kakashi, I know by now you''re reading this and you know what happened. I''m sorry to leave you, I know you''ve lost so much in your life and I wish I didn''t have to. But as Hokage I had to put the lives of my people above my own life and happiness.'' ''There is so much I could tell you, you were always the brightest student I had and I know you''ll do me and the village proud. In fact I''m already very proud of you.'' ''You were like a son to me just like how Obito and Rin were like my own children. When we lost them I felt like I had failed as a teacher. I was always afraid that I would lose you next but it seems that you''ll out live me after all. Sorry stupid to make a joke here but I had to do something to lighten the mood right?'' ''Kakashi I want you to know that I''ll always watch over you but I want you to do me a favour. Please I trust you to keep an eye on my son Naruto. He''ll have a large burden placed on him as the jailer for the demon and I wanted him to be seen as a hero for his duty. Please watch over him from time to time, I think I can rest peacefully knowing that you will keep an eye out for him.'' ''I have to go I can see that fox is already near the walls. Please live well my student.'' Kakashi read it over a few times trying to memorize each word into his mind. By the end he felt the tears fall from his uncovered eye. He hung his head as he closed his eye trying to not break down at the moment. Meanwhile Sarutobi and Jiraiya were talking about what to do with Naruto. "I''m not sure about this." Jiraiya said to his old mentor. "I mean you honestly want to tell the entire village that this boy holds the demon in his gut?" He asked him. "It was his wish, and he is the son of the Hokage." He said to his student. "Look I know you have faith in people and all but look at what just happened out there. I honestly don''t think people will react well to this, hell they might see the child as only a monster to be killed." The Toad Sage. "I do have faith in the people of this village." "Like you did with Orochimaru?" Jiraiya said coldly. Sarutobi''s head came back as it he had been visibly struck. Then he cast his look down and Jiraiya knew he hit the right place to prove his point. Hell Orochimaru had been his team mate as a kid, he had been the genius, Tsunade the woman who was known as revolutionizing the medical ninja core, and himself. Well not the most well known he pulled his own weight as a master of seals. He had never really liked Orochimaru and when he went bad it was no surprise to him, although he still felt betrayed. That bastard had experimented on his own people the people he swore to protect, and when Sarutobi went after him, he had let him go in a moment of weakness. Sarutobi himself knew of that failure he had honestly not seen the signs although they had been there. He had seen how angry he had been when he hadn''t named Orochimaru as Hokage after him. But he never thought that his own student would go to such evil lengths. Looking down at the child he wondered if he was making another misjudgement. "He should be put in a safe place, his father had lots of enemies and they would love nothing more than to kill his son. Maybe put him into an orphanage, with all the death out there it could be easy to say that his parents were killed in the battle. Lord knows how man orphans were made today anyway." Jiraiya muttered to himself. "No." Both men turned to see Kakashi looking at them, they had forgotten that the boy had been there the entire time. "I''ll take him in." Jiraiya was the first to object. "What?! Kid you''re still a kid yourself you can''t possibl-" "I will," Kakashi said in an even tone. "He is my sensei''s son, he asked me to look out for him. He gave me so much in life this is the least I can do to honor him. Kakashi meant his words, the little boy was the last living link to his sensei, someone who had been the only father figure in his life after his father''s death. Looking after his son was the least he could do to honor the man, and besides the thought of the Hokage''s son living in some orphanage was not something he could b?r?. The boy deserved more than that he was sure of it. "Kid this won''t be easy, plus with taking care of him how will you deal when you have to go on missions?" Jiraiya asked him crossing his arms. "I''ll do what I can, and I could leave him in the care of certain services if I need to take missions for cash, but I''ve saved up a lot besides what I have in my family holdings as well." The young man said. "You really going to let this kid go through with this?" Jiraiya asked the old Hokage. He looked down at the child who had fallen asleep, and then to the young man. He knew all too well of Kakashi''s life story and he was surprised the young man would take up such a responsibility. But maybe it would be better than just an orphanage for the young boy, there would already be too many children without parents tonight. "Perhaps I could use you on the ANBU teams, I''ll need more to fill in spots for at least a few years. It will keep you close and although they don''t have the pay for A or S class missions they will afford you a bit of an easier time. Until that is Naruto is a bit older and you can go back to going out on missions." Sarutobi also knew that Kakashi was well on his way to ANBU anyway, but this would help in both matters. With so many of their own dead their village would need more security in case other villages wanted to take advantage of it. Jiraiya gave a small grunt, no one was sure if he was for or against it but it seemed like Kakashi wouldn''t move on the subject. "I you truly do want to do this then you can try but remember this might be a lot more difficult than any ninja missions." He warned the young man, he still remembered how he had raised his own children, not to mention his estranged son. Kakashi nodded his head as he walked towards the young boy. He knew this would be tough but he had to do this, if only in the memory of the Hokage plus one day Naruto should know of the kind of man his father was. And he could always teach little Naruto the things he had been taught as well, passing on the knowledge from Naruto''s father through him. Sarutobi slowly handed the small boy to Kakashi as he held him for the first time. Naruto moved a bit, opened his eyes for a moment and then went back to sleep. Kakashi looked at the young boy and even though his heart was heavy and filled with the hole left in it, looking at the young boy filled him with something. In a way a part of his teacher would live on in Naruto. "Well now that''s out of the way what do we tell the council? This will get out eventually you know?" The Toad Sage asked his teacher. "I''m not sure, maybe we can tell only the elders and keep it secret by law. Only people of Jornin or higher rank could know but maybe keep it all secret and the young boy''s legacy and his task as jailer only to be known to us in this room and to him when the time is right." Sarutobi would have to think on this. He just hoped that when the time came he could think of the best way to deal with Naruto''s secrets but in the mean time he would let Kakashi try his hand at parenting and he wished the boy luck. He would need all of the luck he could get. Chapter End Chapter 51 - Naruto Fan-fiction 2 - Legacy Plot: Madara''s lineage did not end at the valley of the end. His legacy lived on through Minato and into Naruto. Sharingan Naruto. Pairing: NaruHina NOTE: Strong/Godlike! Naruto Chapter 1 : Legacy In a remote location one could only see destruction. As the sun was slowly rising it showed two men, one standing and one seemingly dead. All around the battlefield were weapons, craters and apparently a large waterfall no doubt created by the intensity of the fight. This place would later be known as the Valley of the End. The man that was b?r?ly standing had neck length long black hair, black eyes and was wearing what appeared to be a worn red armor with plates going around the arms and ?h?st for protection. The man was no other than Hashirama Senju Leader of the Senju clan and shodaime hokage of konohagakure no Sato (Hidden Village among the Leaves). "Why did it come to this, Madara?" asked Hashirama to himself overlooking the corpse of his long term ''friend''. The now identified man lying on the ground had long spiky black hair that almost reached his hip covering the left part of his face including his left pitch black eye. He also wore the same armor style. Lying on the ground with a sword impaled in his ?h?st was Uchiha Madara, former leader of the Uchiha Clan and co founder of the leaf village. "I''m sorry, but you chose the wrong path¡­ Goodbye old friend, may you find peace in the afterlife" said Hashirama as he turned to walk away from the long battle he just fought. His head lowered in shame as he couldn''t save his friend from his choices. ## Couple Days Later ¨C Unknown Location ## "Ohh my head¡­ Where am I?" asked Madara slowly opening his eyes he immediately shot up and winced from the pain in his ?h?st. Looking around he found out he was in a small wooden house. From the looks of it, it was a modest looking house, small, probably only one person lived there. "Easy there champ, you got wounded pretty badly" ¨C said an unknown female as she approached him. Looking at her he noticed she had long smooth blond hair that reached her waist, blue eyes and an oval face, she was wearing a brown shirt that easily showed her C-cup br??sts and dark blue pants. All in all standing in front of him was a beautiful young women smiling at him. "Who are you? Where am I?" - asked Madara being a bit weary to the female even though he was still weak from the fight. "Well, my name is Namikaze Hanako and has to where you are, we are in Rice Field Country near the ocean" ¨C said Hanako featuring a small smile that didn''t go unnoticed by Madara. "What happened? How did I get here?" ¨C asked an impatient Madara trying to find out what happened since his memory was a bit fuzzy. "So many questions, just lie down and relax you got injured in your last fight and b?r?ly made it. You are lucky that I found you and brought here and healed you. There were times I didn''t think you would pull trough, after all not many people survive getting a sword through their ?h?st. Now how about you tell me who you are?" ¨C asked Hanako taking in account that the man was probably a shinobi. "I am the great Uchiha Madara, former leader of the Uchiha Clan, co-founder of the leaf village" ¨C said Madara with a pride in being a member of the Uchiha clan. "A bit full of ourselves aren''t we" ¨C said Hanako giggling at Madara and getting a glare from him. "Are you a shinobi?" ¨C asked Hanako with caution not knowing yet if he could be trusted. "Indeed I am. I am one of the most powerful shinobi in the world known only to be matched in power by Hashirama Senju, the current shodaime hokage of the leaf" ¨C said Madara spitting the last word with venom. He still hated the leaf and his clan from not following his leadership and abandoning him to follow a Senju of all people. "You still got your ?ss handed to you¡­" ¨C said Hanako chuckling and going full blown laughter as Madara was glaring at her and murmuring something about disrespectful and troublesome blondes. (A/N: Maybe Madara was related to the Nara''s) "Well, I am going out for some food. Get some rest it will take a couple months to get you back to full health" ¨C said Hanako as Madara was laying back in the bed remembering his loss to Hashirama but chuckling darkly as he remembered that he got what he was going for. ## 5 years later ¨C Rice Field Country ## Many would have thought that Uchiha Madara was a cold person incapable of love or caring about another person other than himself, however this couldn''t be far from the truth. In the last 5 years a lot has changed and although Madara wouldn''t admit it he has grown very close to Hanako, actually treating her like his wife and even abandoning his plans for revenge against his fellow clan members. "Maybe this is the peace I always chased" ¨C thought Madara as he watched the love of his life with her head on his ?h?st. In past years he adopted the life of fisherman along with Hanako and left behind all the fights and wars he once fought. Hanako also got to know about Madara and his clan and village that he created along his long life rival and friend Hashirama, she got to know about the life of a shinobi and Madara''s kekkei genkai, the sharingan. "Who would had thought that the great Uchiha Madara would simply live a simple civilian life away from battles, ironic as I always wished to die in the heat of battle at the hands of a powerful enemy" - said Madara has he chuckled as he almost died at the hands of Hashirama. "If leaving the shinobi life is what it takes to be and make Hanako happy, I will gladly forget about my past and focus in the future" ¨C thought Madara as he drifted off to sleep embracing the warmth of her lover. ## Another 5 years later ¨C Rice Field Country ## Another 5 years have passed and now we could see a happy Madara leaning against a tree embracing Hanako in his ?h?st. Both glancing at the sea they could see a 4 year old kid trying to stand in the water. He had spiky blond hair and bluest eyes anyone had ever seen. His name was Namikaze Minato, son of Uchiha Madara and Namikaze Hanako. Seeing their son trying and failing to stand in the water both parents sighed feeling happy about having a wonderful child and a wonderful partner that loved the other. Although Madara had abandoned his shinobi ways he decided to train young Minato to defend himself should the need ever arise. Madara also explained him that he decided to give him her mother''s name because the Uchiha were known and feared all over the world. He also explained him and showed him his sharingan saying that one day he would also wield it and that he should be proud of his heritage. -A few weeks later- Madara was currently heading home after going into to town to buy groceries. In the way home he felt a burst of chakra in the direction of his house. Even though Madara had abandoned being a shinobi he still kept most of his skills sharp never knowing when you might need them. Quickly rushing through the woods his house came into a view and he saw a bleeding Hanako and young Minato trying to hold off a couple of rogue Ame shinobi. Without hesitation he quickly disappeared in a burst of speed and stopped just in time to block a sword that would have killed his only son. Activating the sharingan he just glared at the 4 shinobi in front of them, by the looks of them they were merely chunnin level. The Ame shinobi seeing the sharingan glowing in all its power the leader of group asked "W-Who are you?" stuttering after seeing the sharingan. The shinobi knew too well the power of that kekkei genkai and its clan members. "I am Madara, Uchiha Madara" ¨C said Madara as wind blew the hair on his back giving him an aura of power that intimidated even the most powerful enemies. After hearing the name the Ame shinobi paled and took a couple of steps back at seeing that man in front of them, the legendary Uchiha Madara former leader of the Uchiha clan. Without hesitation Madara activated his Susanoo and quickly killed the 4 Ame shinobi without remorse. Looking back he saw that Minato was passed out from chakra exhaustion, approaching his lover he looked at her eyes and his hearth filled with remorse for not being there, not being able to protect the one person that mattered the most in his world, the love of his life. "T-take (cough) care of our s-son" ¨C said a weak Hanako, giving one last kiss to her lover, she closed her eyes never to open them again. Madara just stood there frozen, looking at his now dead wife. In his mind he was getting flashes of the last 10 years of his life. In the last years all he got was happiness only to get that stolen from him. Taking one last look at his Hanako he made a decision that would influence all entire world. "I was too na?ve to think this would last, too na?ve to believe the world had changed, too na?ve leave my plans behind. I will lead the world to true peace and happiness. I will honor your memory Hanako, I will create a world made of love and happiness and I will make sure that you will stand by my side." ¨C thought Madara as he picked his son and jumped into the woods leaving behind his former home. -A month later- Madara and Minato were standing a few miles outside the main gates of Konoha. As Madara looked one final time to Minato. "Minato, my son" ¨C said Madara getting Minato''s attention. In the last month Madara trained Minato to the ground bent on getting his son as strong as possible so he could keep himself safe. During this month of training Minato had activated his sharingan, quite a feat for someone so young. "Remember keep the Uchiha name and bloodline a secret from the village but never forget your legacy. Even though I dislike the Senju, this village will keep you safe and strong. Never abandon your beliefs and fight for what you hold dear, only when fighting to protect someone precious to you will you show your true strength. I am sorry to leave alone but his is something I must do alone. Speak to the sandaime hokage and tell him you are and orphan and wish to join Konoha he will keep you safe. There may come a time when we will fight each other. Until then good luck" ¨C said Madara as he started to walk away leaving his son to a new path. "Well, I guess this is it" ¨C said Minato as he walked through the main gates of Konoha and said to himself "I will make you proud tou-san and I will honor your memory kaa-san" ## 20 years later ¨C Undisclosed Location - Outside of Konoha ## Thought out the entire room and scream echoed. This scream seemed to belong to a young baby. The baby weighted three kilograms and had spiky blond hair and pair of dark blue eyes. Pretty much a carbon copy of his father Minato Namikaze. "Congratulations Kushina-san, it''s a beautiful boy" ¨C said the nurse as she handed the new born baby to her mother. The women in the bed could only be described as a red-head beauty. With long smooth crimson red hair going all the way to her waist, blue eyes and a ample D-cup br??sts adorned a her well developed body. She embraced her son for the first time. "Hello Sochi¡­" ¨C said Kushina. Minato turned to his son and said "Welcome to our family, Naruto¡­" Chapter End Chapter 52 - Naruto Fan-fiction 3 - As a Ninja Plot: Getting transported- reincarnated if you will- into the Naruto-verse, as an Uchiha no less, was... unexpected. But with a good teacher, a new mind-set, and some intelligence, succeeding isn''t impossible, is it? But then again, what even is success? Pairing: Chapter One: Gary Stue, or not I was never quite sure how exactly it happened, but before I knew it my life as a normalish fifteen year old was gone and the sweet oblivion of being blind for months set in. As I tried to move my body I realized that it was not truly my own, starting with the fact that I could feel my rather underdeveloped fingers, months later I was greeted with air... The rest was a blur as I began wailing and passed out shortly. The following morning I realized with great fascination that yesterday had been my birthday. And so I smiled a cute babyish smile and then I was struck with a terrifying thought, I did not know the language of these people, and they did not know mine. Of course I never considered that my tiny little brain was well suited for learning new languages. However when a day later that thought came I was pleasantly surprised that it was a language I had the minutest knowledge of, Japanese. Of course this left the question of where and more importantly when I was; I had noticed that the clothing was far from modern. In my previous life, as I would now call it, I had never thought myself physically powerful, beyond a few pride filled moments where I bested wimps my age. Still, I certainly didn''t know anything combat related, something I had every intention of rectifying. After all, fighting was cool, wasn''t it? So in light of my new found enthusiasm, I rolled over in my little crib and began a frightfully pitiful attempt at a push-up. I looked at my fat filled pudgy arms in unhidden contempt as I began to think of a way out of this dilemma. I realized with growing frustration that I had no way but to wait. 1 Year Later Let it never be said that I cannot learn a new language, for I have proven the naysayers wrong! Idiocy aside, I felt somewhat proud of my new-found ability to communicate. I had learned, by now, that Haha was Haha and Chichi was Chichi, I had not yet discovered what their given names were. My own name, I had known for months now, was Nanashi, or as Haha put it, Nana-chan. Though it sounded rather girlish if I had to say, Nana-chan, not Nanashi. Recently I had also discovered I had an older brother with whom I shared a large age gap. His name was ... nii-san. Rather embarrassingly I did not have knowledge of his given name either. Well, names and family aside, I had made excellent headway in my private push-up contest, as my rather impressive four can attest to. Of course, I was shooting for at least 300 in ten years or so, admittedly, I was rather incapable of pressuring myself to such an extent, so I hoped that my family would goad me on, well, I did now. Doubtlessly if they did, it would irk my less than saintly temper. My vocabulary was still woefully limited but I could speak now, somewhat. 1 year later, 3 days after my second Birthday I have now been officially weaned, that is, I now eat only real food, such as rice and chicken. Progress with my exercises has been woefully slow, but I have made sure to stretch to my fullest extent and beyond every day that I may grow up limber. I''ve also taken up sit-ups and jumping. My world is still quite small as I have not yet ventured out into the wide expanse of green that is the outdoors without being held in someone''s arms. Visitors have been very few, aside from my brother, mother, and father, only a few older looking men who came to do naught more than look at me. My growth has been slow, but I expect that within two years my size will have at least doubled. I have not yet discovered a mirror so all I know about myself is the size of my appendages and the color of my hair, which is dark, as opposed to my blonde hair in my previous life. Father is a stern man if I were to describe him; his hair is a dark brown, slightly lighter than my own. His height is no taller than 5'' 9" but he could be a couple inches shorter, my new size makes measurement difficult. Mother is nice, a kind voice of unwavering support to my whole family. Nii-san takes after father, but he is more proud, I get the impression that my Chichi was like him but then something happened that humbled him somewhat. In any case my brother''s temper is shorter than fathers, although neither often gets angry in my presence. The reason for my main disappointment was the lack of reading material I had discovered, not, I suppose that I could read it even if I did, which brings up an excellent point. Ask and you shall receive. And so I found my mother. "Haha, can you teach me to read?" I asked boldly. She smiled, "Of course Nana-chan, let''s go find a book I can teach you with." I never was an expert on baby development, but if wanting to read at two is not normal, she was not the one to tell me. Perhaps they expected such things from their children? Or was nii-san a genius perhaps? Well, I am unconcerned. Being taught to read a new language that I did not yet even speak wholly well was a daunting, if not exciting, task. Over the months that I learned to read I constantly dreaded writing these letters... I mean really, five strokes of a brush? However did the people here find the patience for it? Nevertheless literacy is important, if you can''t read you can get cheated pretty easily. 3 years and 1 month old "Nanashi, it is time to begin your training." My father said. "In what?" Was my impudent reply. "The shinobi way, an Uchiha who cannot fight is not an Uchiha at all." He replied without hesitation. I forced myself to calm down, over three years I may have forgotten certain things, but, if someone mentions something I recognize I''ll know it. So I was an Uchiha? That explained nii-sans and Chichi''s dark eyes. "Indeed." Was my short reply, I could not say anything more wordy. For what if the massacre was tonight, or even in the next few years? My will to live was stronger than ever, Itachi would not kill me. I followed father to one of the Uchiha clan''s training grounds. A wide open area with six, eight foot tall, wooden poles a couple hundred feet away. "Attack me." He said simply. I thought hard for a bit, and then I lay down in the short grass. "Nanashi." He said warningly. "Attack me." He ordered with a hint of anger, obviously he valued obedience. When I refused to answer he began calmly walking toward me. I swallowed my palpable fear and waited till he was directly above me. Then as fast as my young muscles could I launched up from the ground, throwing a flimsy punch at the groin as I did so. Father easily caught my hand almost a foot before it should have impacted. Well... not unexpected. I looked up wordlessly at my father''s face, he smiled. "Good. Continue." He said, not releasing my arm. In less than a second I had my plan, as fast as I could I grabbed his hand with my much smaller one and swung my legs at his knee. Still perfectly balanced despite my full weight on his outstretched arm, he released my arm and shook me of, causing me to land awkwardly on my bottom. I somersaulted backwards and then took my best rendition of a boxer stance. Then I opened my left fist and made the come here motion. Faster than I could react he grabbed my arms, twisted them behind my back and sent me sprawling face first into the dirt. "Ow." Was what I matter of factly said. "You are weak." He said. "I''m three, and you''re what?" I asked, "A ninja." I answered for him. "Indeed, you could not win from the very start." "It was a test, winning isn''t the goal." I respectfully retorted. "The point was to show you your own weakness, tell me Nanashi, do you like losing?" He inquired seriously. "No." I answered calmly. "Good, I''ll show you the scrolls you can access." I silently nodded, mentally noting that I really needed to read up on chakra. I followed father into a small library that was, classically, hiding behind the tapestry. "Until you can use Katon: Great Fireball, this will be the limit of your studies." He informed me, and then exited. There was a large window on the far wall that provided light. There were several books and numerous scrolls in this room. I am surprised that father let me into the library so early, perhaps he knows of my like for reading? Well, for now I needed something useful. I looked first at the books, How to Train Fire Chakra, was useless for now. Pre-academy Chakra sounded basic enough, but let''s keep looking. Nin, Tai or Gen, How to know what to Focus on seemed somewhat over my head and also slightly like a ''if you''re like this Genjutsu is all you''ll ever excel in'' type. History of the Uchiha Clan sounded somewhat interesting for later perusal, the rest were history or more advanced material. So Pre-academy Chakra it was. No one has ever truly discovered what chakra is, however for many years it has been understood, yet unproven, that chakra is made up of a person''s physical energy, affected by their physical size and muscle mass. The other side of chakra is the spiritual side, affected by a person''s strength of will and mental prowess. Accessing chakra for the first time can be exhausting or completely harmless. Don''t worry about it as unless it causes pain you probably don''t have a problem. The first step is concentration, to find something that you have only had described to you can be difficult. You''ll want to find somewhere that doesn''t have too many loud sounds for this. Well, it was helpful I guess. I ?ssumed my amateurish meditation pose and sought my energy. If Naruto fan fictions were to be believed I should try to feel deep down and then pull. But I had a different understanding, chakra was everywhere... it was energy within one''s self, that could be directed and controlled with a mere thought. And so I gathered up my energy and then sent it down my arm and into my hand where it would be expelled. I wriggled my now slightly glowing fingers in absolute amazement, call it magic, call it chakra, but it was real! The glow faded as I had stopped directing chakra to my hand, I now realized that my hand was slightly tingling, less severe than if it had fallen asleep, but still, interesting. I was marginally more tired now as well, but still I felt up for more. Once again I gathered up my chakra, then sent it down my other hand, telling my energy to keep running to my left hand I tested something. To my intense disappointment my hand was no stronger than before. I looked at the book, remembered my spot and left the little library. I stretched my arms out and then reached down and put my palms to the ground before kicking as high as I could. I was surprised to learn how much time had passed, as well as by the wonderful smell from the kitchen. Sukiyaki was truly a wonderful dish. "Haha." I greeted my mother. "Nii-san, Chichi." "Otouto." My elder brother replied shortly. "Nanashi, I trust you found something useful to read?" "Hai." I answered, and then showed my new-found glowing hand off for inspection. "Hn." Was his reply, well good to know you''re an Uchiha for real huh? My nii-san simply watched with interest as I stopped channeling my chakra. After eating, my young body was read to rest and so I retreated to my crib, only to find it gone and in its place a futon. So, training begins and you get a bed, mat, whatever? I''m not complaining. Bright and early my father woke me, watching as I went through my short wake-up stretches. When I finished he said "Come" and so I followed him out to the training grounds. "As you know Nanashi, I am a busy man. As much as I regret not being able to personally teach you, I simply to do not have the time. As such, most of what you learn will be from reading and..." He gestured to a brown-haired Uchiha who had a three-tomoe sharingan spinning. The man was slightly taller than my father and had a respectably toned appearance. "This is Uchiha Hiroshi; you will call him Hiroshi-sensei and do as he says." Fathers tone left no room for question. I inclined my head very slightly, "Hiroshi-sensei, please take care of me." "A p???sur? to meet you, Nanashi-kun." Chichi turned and succinctly left us alone. I''ve never been much of a people person, keeping to my family in this life and the last. Hiroshi waited until father had gone beyond Ninja hearing distance before turning to me in earnest. "First we''ll see just how capable you are." He then instructed me to do push-ups, followed by sit-ups. "Good." His tone gave nothing away. "I understand that you have already accessed your chakra, as such we''ll begin with the Leaf Sticking Exercise. The goal is to stick a leaf to any location on your body." He walked a few hundred feet and procured a number of leaves before returning with the Shunshin. "Too little and the leaves will fall off, too much and you''ll either destroy them or blow them away." The leaves had already been deposited on the ground in front of me. I picked one up, put it on my hand, and then channeled chakra to said hand. To my frustration when I turned my hand over the leaf fell right off. Picking it back up I tried to tell my chakra to grab the leaf, with limited success. However it held, if only for a moment, I suppose there is a reason this is a control exercise. "When you complete that exercise, come and let me know, I live two houses to the left of your own." Well, the hands off training method works fine for me too. I spent hours before I could consistently hold a single leaf to my hand. I then moved my stiff body until I broke into a run going in circles in the short grass of the training ground. Now the thing to do was, of course, to stick multiple leaves at once. Disappointingly I turned hungry long before I could complete this little challenge. I walked home rather sluggishly, my tiny body worn out from chakra depletion. I eagerly ate the meal mother made for me, and though it was only afternoon I retired to bed. Early in the morning I woke up, well rested from plentiful hours of sleep. One curious thing about Naruto-verse was the fact that fridges existed. I, however, did not complain since it gave us the ability to keep food relatively fresh for far longer than would otherwise be possible. Snacking on what I could find, I began my morning exercise. After travelling twice to the training ground I was confident I could do it alone. And so I did. Picking up the leaves where I had left off I again tried, this time focusing on the concept of adhesion I succeeded, in due time, in sticking two leaves to one hand, but not one leaf to each hand. In a week I had sufficiently trained in the exercise to stick a leaf to my b?r? foot. I considered this enough to say I had completed the exercise, since the bottom of the foot is considered the hardest place to channel chakra. I went to the house two houses to the left of my own. I knocked twice, "Hiroshi-sensei, I''m done." I informed. The light-brown haired Uchiha answered the door shortly, "Let''s see it." It was fortunate I had expected this and brought leaves. I removed my sandal and stuck a leaf to my foot, then held it up for inspection. Hiroshi nodded, "I see you are done." I looked at him expectantly. "Put your sandal on; meet me at the same training ground we first met at." So saying he Shunshined into the distance. "I need that jutsu." I said as I tied my sandal back on, running all the way to the training ground. "Now we''ll go through the Kata''s for the interceptor style." He took the first stance which I copied to the best of my ability. He walked over, correcting discrepancies in my stance. Doing the same we went over all the Kata''s slowly once we had done each three times over Hiroshi looked at his watch. "Lunch time, kid. Run along." "You aren''t eating with us?" "Kid, I haven''t eaten with anyone but myself for years." "Then you should come, I''m sure mother won''t mind." He smiled, "Whatever kid, let''s get going." I smiled back as we walked together to my place; he was limiting his own speed in deference to me. I looked ruefully down at my tiny legs, willing them to grow with zero success. "If you ever want to practice your Kata''s but can''t remember what they all are..." "Yes?" "You should be able to find the scroll for it in your little library." So either he knows about it some other way or father trusts him enough to tell him, not that anything s?ns?t?v? is in there. "Arigato." Was my brief reply. Three months later "Come." My sensei told me. And so I did, with all the ferocity and cunning in my almost three and a half year old body. The interceptor style is really much weaker without the Sharingan, not that I could beat a full grown man with it in any case. I had been sparring with Hiroshi-sensei for two months now and I am proud to be his student. Father has checked on my progress twice, making no negative comment so I can only ?ssume approval. My tolerance to pain has increased, not surprising, given that I go home with bruises every day. Today is the day I''ll start reading How to Train Fire Chakra having already completed the somewhat thin Pre-academy Chakra. I like to think that I''ve made good progress in my clan''s taijutsu style but I know I have a very long way to go. Being humble is something I try to do every day. I''ve found the ignorance of my current time frustrating, to say the least. Itachi hasn''t been mentioned nor are we all dead yet, so I''ll hope for the best. Uninterestingly enough my dislike for tomatoes has carried over from my increasingly insignificant first life. I suppressed a yell as I lunged at Hiroshi-sensei with my right hand, he deflected it with the back of his own and I quickly disengaged, knowing that a straight from his left hand was coming next. As soon as he had committed to his counter I reengaged with a sweeping left kick that left me completely open. As was soon evidenced by the fact that he stuck his right leg under my kicking left and knocked me completely off balance. I quickly did a backwards vault, kicking out with my legs to keep my opponent at bay. Hiroshi-sensei dived in after, plowing through my guard and smashing his shoulder against my ?h?st. I feel onto my rear rubbing, the spot that would no doubt turn dark with an angry bruise. He offered his hand, I accepted and we began to go home for dinner. "You still hold back a ridiculous amount." I informed him. "If I didn''t, you''d be dead." "True" Was the only answer I could muster. After eating with us Hiroshi-sensei left to his own place. I brought my dirty plate to the kitchen along with my brother. As I handed him mine and he set both of ours in the sink I asked a question. It was hard to believe I didn''t know this already. "Nii-san, what''s your given name?" He raised his brow, "Fugaku, otouto, Fugaku." Chapter End Chapter 53 - Naruto Fan-fiction 4 - Yami The Gamer Kage Plot: A man wakes up to find himself inside the world of Naruto experiencing it via a video game. Forced to fight to survive, he sets upon a path of self-discovery, whether to save this world or destroy it. Pairing: NOTE: The ending... all im going to say Ping! You have entered the game! You have experienced selective amnesia. All memories of friends and family have been removed. Memories of life altered, necessary memories kept back. Motor skills has also been retained. Please create your character profile! I couldn''t understand what I was seeing. A game? What game? I didn''t...who am I? Please select name: I looked at the text box before me and squinted my head, I felt it buzz around, it''s like something was wrong, but I didn''t know what. I looked at the other boxes before, ''my memories are...gone?'' I blinked, that was...is that even possible? I tried to remember my name, my age, anything. But I always came up blank. I...I don''t know who I am. The boxes, they were the only thing I knew now. A name? How can I give a name when I don''t know what it is? I looked around, I was surrounded by darkness, nothing but darkness. Even the ground I walked on was black, black marble. "My name is¡­.Darkness," I replied slowly, hoping by following through with the boxes questions I could eventually find some help. Name: Yami (Darkness in world''s native language) Please select gaming world: Naruto Everything else was blacked out, there wasn''t any other options. I blinked, I recalled that name, it''s an anime about ninjas, one I liked very much. With no other choice I selected it and suddenly a new box came up, with a whole bunch of new info; Default settings are being implemented for game run. Age: 8 Gender: Male Clan: Orphan (None) Select village: Fire Lightning Wind Water Earth I blinked, I didn''t understand what was happening, but I decided to play along. I chose the one village I knew properly, Fire. You have selected Fire, here is your status page. The game will begin when you finish reading: Yami, (No Title) Level- 1 (0/200) HP- 50/50 SP- 25/25 CP- 25/25 CONTROL- 20% Allegiance- Konoha Civilian STR- 2 DEX- 2 INT- 5 CHA- 4 CC- 3 LUC- 1 Points- 0 Money- 0R An Orphan living in Konoha, born the day after the Kyuubi attacked, Yami has been known to be a quiet child, people b?r?ly even realise he exists. He has no real past, but his future is blank, his potential is in his hands alone. Select difficulty mode: Normal Hard I selected story mode and the moment I did the world moved away. I felt my eyes being closed and my head hitting something soft. I blinked immediately and got up, I felt gravity working on my body as I picked myself up from a bed. I looked down, it was old and dusty. The room I was in was poor, dirty walls, no other furniture other than the bed, in one corner a small wall shelf with clothes stacked on it along with other household items. I blinked as memories came into my mind, this was my room, I lived in it, I remember living in it. But...at the same time, I have never stepped foot in this room in my life...I think. Just then the door handle turned and an old looking woman walked in. She had a brown kimono on and gave me a soft smile, "hello Yami, have you slept well?" I blinked, I looked over her head, to my shock words floated above her; Ksume Horono, Matron of Konoha Orphanage Lv- 14 I gawked at the image before me. Ksume quickly began to look worried, "Yami? Are you alright? You''re not sick again are you?" I blinked, "I-i, no, I''m fine, it''s just..." I didn''t know what to say. This wasn''t normal yes? The words floating above her head? I knew that for a fact, even if I didn''t remember who I really am, this I know. "Well, you better get up and ready," she smiled, "come, you best get ready quickly, breakfast will be served soon," without another word she walked out leaving me alone. I knew what she wanted me to do, I had to go and take a bath. I began moving to do just that, grabbed a towel off the top wall shelf, which was very high up thanks to my short stature. I walked outside and immediately realised was surrounded by children, and what''s more, I myself was a child. This didn''t make any fu?k?n? sense! Oh my God how am I so calm about all this?! Someone please tell me what the fu?k is going on! Slowly I began to find myself calming down, honestly it was almost instantaneous. I looked around, ''okay, facts first. I''m in some sort of game like world, maybe virtual reality? Yes, that''s the only thing that makes any sense. So I''m in here and this world is based on the anime Naruto, what else? Oh right, apparently I can interact with this world, meaning this game needs to be played.'' I looked around, there were kids running in the hallway with towels thrown over their shoulders. One of them, a kid named Nanou according to the name over his head, smiled at me, "come on Yami! We need to get ready! Today''s the day we begin ninja training!" Ping! Quest Alert! Join the academy on time! As an orphan you don''t really have much of a life, so when an opportunity comes to become something amazing, you damn well better take it! Reach the academy before 9 AM! Rewards; Ninja training +20 EXP Failure: Train again next year Possible eviction from orphanage Do you accept? Y/N? I blinked, ''okay, it''s a game, stands to reason I get quests like this from time to time.'' So I pressed the ''yes'' option causing the screen to vanish immediately. I blinked, okay, that was new. "Come on!" Nanou cried out running towards what I remember to be the showers. I walked out and looked around finding a wall ???k in the side. The time read 7:30, I had time. I quickly followed the boy and found myself in a crowded showering area. I blushed when I realised I would have to be n?k?d in front of everyone else when showering. But seeing no choice I quickly stripped out of my clothes, throwing them into a laundry hamper in one corner of the room, and walked for a quick shower. I passed my a mirror and stopped looking at myself. Yami was right, I looked super goth right then. My hair and eyes were black, like an Uchiha''s. My hair was short and spiky coming down to my shoulders similar to Madara''s hair, but not as long or thick. While I didn''t look anorexic, I was skinny, something I really didn''t like, ribs aren''t meant to be seen. Was this my real face? Or was this just the face of the body I''m using? I honestly couldn''t tell, but the fact is I recognize this, I know this face to be mine so honestly I had no reason not thinking it was my face. Pulling myself from the mirror I took a quick shower. After I was done I went back to my small room and put on the only other fresh pair of clothes I had. It was pair of old sand coloured cargo shorts a red shirt and a pair of blue sandals. Honestly I was surprised such small clothes even fitted me. I walked out and followed everyone else into a large mess. There the kids around my age were gathered at a table talking in excited tones. A few of the loud ones exclaimed how excited they all were for today. I took some food for myself and sat down with them, better to be a part of a group then stick out. As I ate the small bowl of rice and skinny fish I listened to them talk. "So is it like difficult?" "It is! I heard only like half the kids even pass!" "I heard only three students get to come out as a team!" "No you idiot! That''s three students per team! At least twenty people graduate every year!" I listened as I silently ate my food, using chopsticks was difficult at first, but I managed but adapting an unusual eating habit of being very rough with the food. But as I continued to listen intently there was another one of those gaming boxes; Ping! Repeated action has caused a new skill to be formed! Easdropping, Lv- 1 (0%) Your ability to listen in someone else''s conversation without them being aware of it. This is a very important skill for a ninja to possess for information gathering. Range: 10 feet (100% accuracy) -10% accuracy for every additional feet I blinked, ''well this is new,'' I told myself reading the box. If I understand this correctly this means I have a very interesting power indeed. Just like a game. But wait, it said skill, does that mean I have other skills? Growing curious I whispered in a quiet voice, "skill list." Suddenly a box appeared before me, making my eyes widen in surprise. "Did you say something Yami?" a girl sitting besides me, Karua, asked. I blinked, "n-no, nothing," I said looking down at my meal, hoping she would ignore me. "What a weirdo," somebody whispered, which I promptly ignored. I freaking hate kids. Instead I focused on the box before me. It was a menu list showing me all the skills I had. Apparently I already had two; Gamer''s Mind Lv-MAX Allows user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows peaceful state of mind, immune to psychological status and effects. Gamer''s Body Lv-MAX Grants the user a body that allows the user to live the real world according to the status he possess. Okay, that''s actually understable. I understand Gamer''s body, meaning my body will work according to the HP and SP bar I have. Meaning the lower my HP the lower my actual health will be. And the same for my stamina. And Gamer''s mind is probably why I''m not freaking the fu?k out right now. Amazing, truly amazing. So I can''t get freaked out huh? Could be useful. I blinked, I need to check something, "Menu?" And just like that a new box opened up showing off my menu card. Okay let''s see here; Yami, (No Title) Level- 1 (0/200) This had my name and level. Hm, that bracket must be how much experience I have left to level up. And title, I suppose that makes sense, I''m supposed to be an orphan, a nobody, hence no title. HP- 50/50 SP- 25/25 CP- 25/25 CONTROL- 20% Allegiance- Konoha Civilian Okay this isn''t too bad. I''m supposed to be eight years old. An eight year old can''t be freaking immortal. HP means health points, SP means stamina points. Could CP mean chakra points? Most likely yes. And CONTROL, obviously that meant chakra control, but how did it apply into the game mechanics? I know chakra control in important for anyone, it determines how much chakra isn''t being wasted...hm, maybe CP is how chakara I have totally and CONTROL is how much I can use without everything being wasted. Hm, makes sense; Ping! Your INT has gone up by 1 for thinking logically! I blinked as I looked to my status, and sure enough; STR- 2 VIT- 2 DEX- 2 INT- 6 CHA- 4 CC- 3 LUC- 1 My INT has gone up by one. Usually in games like this logical thinking would result in WIS going up, I''m guessing since this game doesn''t have WIS, INT fills in that roll instead. The rest of my stats were...okay, for a child. My physical side never was very strong. But my brain and chakra were decent, ?ssuming CHA meant chakra and not charisma. Which I think it did. Points- 0 Money- 0R And finally I had no points to allot and no money. No wonder my LUCK was only 1. Great. I looked around, the kids were nearly done, a few staring at me giving me weird looks. Why..oh, right, food. I quickly scarfed down my breakfast and put the tray away for washing. I followed the crowd out of the orphanage as we walked down the streets of Konoha. Ksume was at the head of our little group, guide us through the streets while people smiled and waved at us. I looked at them all, there were so many ethnicities here, blonde caucasians, a lot of them with japanese features. A few korea and even, I think, a few chinese people. But there were also white people her and people with weird hair colours like blue and green. Natural or not I have no clue. As we walked through I noticed most of the people in the streets had a level from 5 to 20. I very rarely saw anyone passing that level, and when I did it was sometimes a kid no older than 13! I would have been shocked, but most of those kids had a title over their heads that read, ''Genin of Konoha'', which meant they were ninja. Which actually made sense. So that mean that civilians were just below level 20 while ninjas were generally above. Hm, makes sense I suppose. The kids were all excited, but kept their gossiping to whispers around Ksume, which did make sense. I was left out of all the socialising, guess I was supposed to be an outcast of sorts huh? Soon however we approached the gates of an academy and I was a little taken back about how accurate all of this was too the manga. I never saw the anime, only read the manga, saw some things might be out of my reach, but so far it seemed I wouldn''t be totally lost. Ping! Quest completed! Join the academy on time! As an orphan you don''t really have much of a life, so when an opportunity comes to become something amazing, you damn well better take it! Reach the academy before 9 AM! Rewards; Ninja training +20 EXP I blinked, I opened up my menu and sure enough I had gained 20 experience points, only a hundred and eighty to go. "Alright children, wait here," Ksume called out causing us to all stop in the academy''s front yard. The kids immediately began to look around, peeking into classroom windows, finding a few of the older years sitting inside lectures. I myself was curious enough to find an open window near the side from which I could hear the lecture coming from within, "-And who can tell me what Madara''s most famous jutsu?" asked the lecturer. The man had grey hair, chewed on a toothpick and had his leaf headband tied as a bandana around his head. I looked at his name and title; Mizuki, Chunin of Konoha Lv- 41 REP- 0 (Isn''t aware of your existence) My eyes went wide, this guy was Mizuki?! Holy shit! His level is through the roof! And he''s one of the first people Naruto fights?! Fuck me man just how strong are people?! "Anyone?" Mizuki asked again with a deep sigh, "come on kids, you have to know this. This''ll be in your history finals!" I looked around, no one was answering the man. I blinked, hmm, might as well. I cleared my throat and spoke up, "Madara''s favorite jutsu was the Great Fireball jutsu. He even made it a right of passage for the Uchiha clan, if a member can''t perform it along with awakening their sharingan then they weren''t considered Uchiha." Mizuki''s eyes immediately landed on me as slowly the rest of the lecture hall realised I was the one who spoke up. The chunin looked amused as he smiled at me, "not bad kid. You one of the orphans starting out today?" I nodded, "yes. Hello, nice to meet you." The class exploded into laughter as Mizuki himself chuckled a bit. "Alright kid, I got to say you''re pretty smart," the man smiled, and from what I could tell it was a real smile, "tell me, do you think you can answer a few more questions?" Ping! Quest Alert! Answer the questions smarty pants! Rewards: +1 stat point per correct answer ? Failure: Nothing Do you accept? Y/N? No risk for failure? Also a mystery reward Hell yeah! I immediately pressed yes and turned to Mizuki and smiled, "bring it." "Oh, confident one aren''t you?" Mizuki spat out his toothpick, "alright kid tell me, which clan does the first Hokage belong to?" "Senju clan," I answer immediately. Ping! + 1 stat point! Mizuki blinked, "r-right. Next question, who was considered a SS rank threat that-" "-Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage also known as the Yellow Flash," I interrupted him before he had a chance to finish. Ping! + 1 stat point! Mizuki raised an eyebrow, "alright...when was the first and second Ninja war fought?" This made me pause. I didn''t have an exact date, the manga and anime never established a proper timeline...but why? Maybe they don''t use time lines here? Maybe it was based on historical events, all types of civilizations based any time line around that so¡­ "It happened around 70 years ago," I flinched, "I''m sorry I can''t be more specific." Mizuki snorted, "no problem, that''s much more than I''ll get out of these morons," he said glaring at the kid who now looked embarrassed to be shown up by an orphan like me. I hope this doesn''t make them¡­.oh shit. I just saw the REP score, or the reputation score, floating over their heads slowly turn from 0, which I ?ssume is neutral, to -5. I''m guessing they all hate me now. Ping! + 1 stat point! "Anyway kid, one last question," this time he smiled evilly, "what''s worse? A ninja who craves power or a weak ninja?" Ah, philosophy, nice. I''m guessing based on my answer he''ll try and recruit me into his cause of being a traitor. Wonderful. I smiled, "that depends on the ninja." "What do you mean?" the chunin asked. "Well, if a ninja wants power to protect his friends, these is no reason he shouldn''t be alone to be the best he can be. But if a ninja is weak and is scared, then chances are his cowardness will get other people killed. It doesn''t matter who has power and who doesn''t, all that matters is how they use it." Ping! + 1 stat point! And just like that Mizuki''s REP score went from 0 to 5. Even a few of the kids started to hate me a little less. Though still had a negative score when it came to their REP. "Not bad kid," Mizuki smirked, "you''re like a little genius aren''t you? Hm, just like the third hokage¡­.a little professor." Ping! Quest completed! Answer the questions smarty pants! Rewards: +1 stat point per correct answer A new title! Title gained! Little Professor- +5% bonus marks to every written and oral test. + 2 INT boost I blinked, "t-thanks." "Yami!" I heard Ksume call out. I turned to see her glaring at me, "get back here this instance!" I gulped, "sorry!" I went running away, putting the class out f my mind. I ran to her and gulped, a ninja had arrived and was taking the rest of the orphans inside the academy. Ksume said nothing as she pointed at the group, glaring at me as I ran to them. I sighed as I slipped into the ground and listened to the ninja who was leading the group, "this is the academy, you all will study here for four years and at the end, depending on how well you do, you can become ninjas for the village!" The man had tanned skin with a hair tied up in a short ponytail. He had a scar across his nose and a cheerful smile on his face; Iruka Umino, Teacher Lv- 45 REP- 5 Woah, I don''t even know the guy and he already likes me? Cool. "Ah, sensei," a small girl in the group raised a shaky hand. Iruka nodded to her allowing her to continue, "w-what happens if we don''t become ninjas?" The man smiled, "don''t worry, if you don''t become ninjas there plenty of other things you can do! Konoha takes care of it''s own! That''s our way!" The kids all smile, infatuated with the hope the man oozed out. I could understand why, a bunch of hopeless kids like this being told they will be taken care off? It''s like giving a thirsty man a water can. We followed Iruka into a class which was already filled with a few other students. I immediately recognized a few of them, Shino, Kiba, Hinata and a grumpy looking Sasuke. The clan kids were already here. "This is your classroom for the year," Iruke turned back to us and smile, "go on, take a seat," he motioned around. Immediately everyone seeped into the rows of seats, a few of the braver kids talking to the clan kids and the other civilian kids. I found one seat in the back near the window free so I took it. I was only a few seats above Sasuke and few seats away from Shikamaru, who was asleep, lazy Nara. "Alright kids get settled in, we''ll begin momentarily," Iruka said with a smile as he walked out leaving us alone. I took this chance to look at the other kids. They all were...so young. Nothing like the monster I knew they would grow up to be. Especially Sasuke over there, he kept glaring at his own reflection, looking kind of...kiddish. Each of the clan kids were at least level 10, Sasuke being 14. Guess he really was a prodigy. But that didn''t change facts, they were all incredibly strong. Which begged the question...just what the hell am I doing here?! This path lead to a life of killing and murdering. Yes, throwing fireballs and all will be an adventure but...god damnit I wish I knew what was going on?! Why am I here?! Who am I?! Was this just a game?! It felt too real to be a game! Was this the fu?k?n? Matrix?! I would think so! So what¡­.what am I?! All I know is this, I need answers, and something told me if I followed the main story line I might get the answers. For example, the sage of six-paths might have the answer I need, he is a being that exists beyond time and space after all. So until then I need to stay alive, and in this world that means getting stronger. Damn it, I''m shit scared but also so excited! I opened up my menu and looked at it. I had four points to spend, but what should I spend it on? STR- 2 VIT- 2 DEX- 2 INT- 6 CHA- 4 CC- 3 LUC- 1 I knew two things, one, my intelligence was my best angle, so I need to be smart about this, go with what I''m good at. And two, chakra was everything, but so was control, I need a balance. I''m guessing since I got an extra point in INT by thinking clearly I can improve the stats by doing other things, like weight lifting for strength, running for vitality and gymnastics for dexterity. Maybe if I read books that can also help with my intelligence. So maybe...maybe I should hold off on spending my points. I don''t know what my limits are just et, not need to rush into things. Ping! For thinking things through you have gained +1 INT! I smiled, this might actually be fun. I tapped my title box and found my title box still empty. Curious I tapped it opening a list of available titles. Eagerly I attached my ''Little Professor'' title on, smiling, this would give me an edge over everyone else. Just then Iruka walked in with a cardboard box filled with red bound notebooks and placed them before us. He took one book out along with a pencil and eraser, "this is your notebook, those of you who don''t have any writing instrument and the such please come down here and collect them." Ah I was wondering how they expected us to learn without any books. I grabbed a copy for myself, it was a black book with nothing written inside, I guess this was going to be like college then, taking down lecture notes and then learning them for a later dates. Iruka took out an older looking book and placed it on the podium, turning to face the class, "alright, let''s begin." "Wait!" came a cry as suddenly the doors were thrown open as a boy dressed in orange pants and a white shirt came crashing in. He rolled into the podium knocking it aside before jumping to his feet, "I made it in time!" Bonk! Iruka''s fist came crashing down on his head, "no you didn''t!" I couldn''t help a chuckle escaping my mouth as I looked at him. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a goofy smile. I didn''t need to look at his name or title to know who he was; Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki Lv- 5 REP- 0 During lunch: For the first day Iruka gave us a little speech on what ninja were. It highlights the difficult parts of a ninja''s life, something an innocent kid might not know. He then gave a lecture about the village itself and why it was so important. Obviously Naruto was asleep the whole time. We were served lunch in a cafeteria down the hall. All the kids from my year sat together in four benches chatting with each other. I found most of the attention was on the three benches, with the fourth taken up my Sasuke who sat in one corner choosing to be alone and Naruto sitting on the other side, who had no choice but to sit alone. I walked towards the table with my lunch tray in hand and looked curiously, I had a chance...meh, what the hell. I put the tray down next to Naruto''s startling the boy. I smiled as I sat down, "hey." Naruto blinked, "h-hey," he blinked. I began to eat my lunch with him looking at me curiously. I raised an eyebrow, "what?" "N-nothing," Naruto shook his head, "it''s just...it''s nothing," he said with a big smile, "I''m Naruto! Nice to meet you!" "Yami," I extended his hand shaking it, "nice to meet you Naruto. How''s it going?" "Ha ha, can''t complain," he smirked scratching his head. Just then his stomach gave a loud growl. I ?r??n?d and turned to his meal seeing his tray half of what I had. I sighed, "they didn''t give you enough food huh?" Naruto blinked, "what? No it''s just," he chuckled, "I pranked the lunch ladies a few days ago, so I guess they''re still mad!" I smiled, "right, well then," I took my bowl of rice and poured half into his bowl, "eat up sparky." "Hey, you didn''t have to do that!" Naruto said looking saddened at being pitied. I shrugged, "consider it an investment, I heard about your pranks, just don''t do it to me deal?" Naruto''s shame immediately turned to joy, "deal!" He grabbed his chopsticks and munched down into his meal, "this is awesome!" I smiled, "I know right," it was true, the rice here was much better than the stuff I got in the orphanage for breakfast. I looked up at Naruto''s REP score, it went from 0 to 10. Guess he likes me now. "Hey Yami, you understand anything from Iruka''s speech?" Naruto asked, "cause I didn''t." I nodded, "he just explained why being a ninja is a difficult job and how the village was an important structure in the ninja world. Nothing too groundbreaking. I don''t think we get to the important stuff until later." Naruto sighed, "yeah. Hey, you want to hang out after this?! We can go to the park and play!" I blinked, "ah, sure, I guess. Do you know any good places?" "Yeah! There''s a park right across the academy!" Naruto replied with a foxy smile. I nodded, "sounds great," I looked over at Sasuke who did his best to pretend like he wasn''t listening in on our conversation, I called him over, "yo! You want to join us?" Sasuke paused as he looked at me in surprise, amazed I would even ask him. "Pft, that bastard? Forget it Yami, that guy doesn''t do anything fun," Naruto glared at Sasuke daring him to say otherwise. The last Uchiha looked at me and Naruto and returned to him meal without saying a word. Naruto snorted, "see?" I shrugged, "worth a try. Alright then, it''s settled, anyway, eat your food Naruto, it''s going to get cold." Naruto blinked "oh, right!" He immediately began to dig in. I turned to Sasuke, who once again was caught red handed looking at me and Naruto. I raised an eyebrow and smiled at him, and he promptly ignored me, got up and left. Wonderful. After lunch we returned back to class. This time Naruto sat down next to me in my seat a few rows back. He and I chatted for awhile, I told him that I was an orphan and live in the orphanage. He confided in me the same and that he had his own apartment. I sighed, "damn, I wish I had my own place, it would be so much better than where I''m living right now." Naruto chuckled nervously, "yeah, it''s not all cracked up to be what it is. My place is honestly kind of a dump. It''s in a bad place too." I shrugged, "but it''s yours," I hummed, I wonder, can I get Naruto to share his apartment with me? I could do it right? It would be so much better than the shit hole I live in right now. And just as I had that thought a new box popped up; Ping! Quest Alert! Convince Naruto to let you move in with you! Objective: Gain 40 REP score with Naruto to unlock this option! Rewards: A place of your own! +100 EXP Failure: Stuck in orphanage until you graduate Do you accept? Y/N? I blinked, I didn''t realise my personal options can be made into quests that affected the real world! This is awesome! I immediately pressed yes, so all I have to do is get him to like me until he said yes, sounds easy enough. As soon as I pressed yes the door opened and Mizuki walked in, "alright kids settle down," he stood behind the podium and looked at us with an unamused eye, "listen up kids I''m Mizuki, I''m going to be your history teacher, I know it''s a boring subject but-" his eyes landed on me and he smiled, "well well well Professor, didn''t expect to see you so soon. Why are you sitting all the way in the back there?" I blinked, "ah, I like it here. Let''s me think." Mizuki shrugged, his eyes landed on Naruto sitting next to me and I saw a quick hardening of his glare, guess he doesn''t like the blonde even now. Immediately the man smiled, "well as long as you keep answering questions I don''t care. Now, shall we begin? First up is the history of our great village, the village hidden in the leaves." And it was one hell of a class. I don''t think by the end there wasn''t a single kid who didn''t fall asleep. I did my hardest to stay awake, but even I nodded off a couple of times. But in the end it was all worth it; By listening to a lecture you have gained +1 INT! I smiled, ''sweet! But wait...I listened to Iruka''s speech as well, why didn''t I get a stat point then as well? Unless...unless the higher my stat points the more difficult it would be for me to learn more. I guess I should hold off on spending my stat points, don''t know when I''ll need them.'' After Mizuki left Iruka came back and had us all walk out of the class in pairs. Obviously Naruto was my partner. We reached the Academy''s backyard which was not the ordinary backyard one can find in a normal school. There was a complex obstacle course in one corner, a small area cleared off with a white circle serving as a sparing area and the far wall had wooden targets painted on it, obviously for target practise. "Alright kids, this is where we will train you physically," Iruka said pointing at a bunch of 12 year olds who were currently running a very complicated obstacle course where they had to jump through hoops while dull kunais and shurikens were thrown at them. I''m honestly surprised someone so young could move like that, it seemed abnormal, but then again they were training to be ninja after all. "Woah! Are we going to do all that cool stuff too Iruka-Sensei?!" Naruto asked for the class. "No, not yet," the man smiled, "for today, you kids are going to undergo physical training," he grinned, "ten ??ps around the field! Get moving!" The kids looked surprised and a little startled. Clan kids like Sasuke just obeyed while a few lazy ones like Choji and Shikamaru walked instead of running. Iruka did manage to get us all running in the end, with me bringing up the rear thanks to me...less than stellar physical stats. Naruto, seeing me struggling, held back as well, walking besides me as I struggled to finish one ??p. "Come on Yami! You can do it!" I grumbled, "I-I try," I ?r??n?d, "don''t hold back-run faster." Naruto blinked, "ah, you sure?" I nodded, "don''t hold back to make me feel better moron," I panted, "run." Naruto grinned, "alright!" And he took off like a bullet pulling up third right behind Sasuke and some other civilian kid that looked like he was used to heavy labour. I was the last to finish, panting and sweating like nobody''s business. I was mildly aware of Naruto picking a fight with Sasuke about who really won, but I honestly was too exhausted to give a damn. Ping! Due to constant exercise you have gained +2 VIT! I ?r??n?d, at least I gained something. I hate physical exercise. Fuck me. It took me ten minutes to recover. Iruka took us all back inside and let us rest for a while before giving us another lecture on why physical exercise was important before letting us go home. "Alright Yami! Let''s go play!" Naruto cheered. I ?r??n?d forgetting the promise I made the blonde. I sighed, "right, let''s go," I grumbled as he practically dragged me out of the academy. The other kids looked at us funny but let it go, the orphan kids openly glared at Naruto and I, but said nothing as I left. We reached the park, to be honest it was huge for someone of my stature. Naruto guided me to the swing set as he quickly began to play smiling all the while. "This had been the best day ever! Dattebayo!" Naruto grinned, ah his infamous verbal tick. I sighed, "I hate physical training, I feel like I''ve been rung out and hung out to dry!" Naruto laughed, "yeah! You looked like a zombie Yami!" I grumbled, "thanks orange monkey. I don''t understand how you can be so fu?k?n? hyper all the time! It''s not fair!" Naruto blinked, "what''s fu?k?n??" My eyes went wide. "Shit! I mean fu?k! I mean," I closed my mouth with both hands, "Naruto, please don''t tell anyone I told you that!" Naruto blinked, "but what does it mean?" I grumbled, "it''s a bad word Naruto. Please don''t tell anyone, kids like us aren''t supposed to know it." "Then how come you know it?!" Naruto asked with sparkling eyes. I sighed rubbing my temples, "because I''m smart like that. Listen, please don''t tell anyone, okay? Promise me." Naruto quickly nodded, "I promise!" he held out his pinky. I looked at the finger, what was he trying to do? Naruto blinked, "you don''t know the pinkie promise?" I shook my head, "no, what is it?" Naruto grinned, "well it''s a promise you make between to friends! You hold each other pinkies together and make a promise you can never break." I chuckled, "alright fine," I bent my pinkie around his. Naruto smiled, "I promise not to break my promise!" I smiled, "thanks Naruto. Now, what''s say you and I play on the slides?" Naruto''s eyes went wide, "yes please dattebayo!" He jumped off the swing set and pulled me along towards the slide. We played for hours until the sun began to go down. I honestly forgot how it felt being a child, so carefree and full of joy. It was...a nice life. Naruto and I found ourselves looking down on the park from atop the slide. Children were leaving with their parents, all of them looked happy and smiling. I noticed Naruto''s eyes saden a little watching them leave. He suddenly spoke up, "hey Yami...do you ever feel lonely sometimes? You know, without parents?" I shrugged, "honestly Naruto? I don''t really thought of it. I don''t remember my parents," literally, "and right now...I''m more focused on staying alive." Naruto blinked, "eh? What do you mean by that?" I sighed, "the world''s a very scary place Naruto. There are people out there who can kill me in seconds. So right now my goal is staying alive." Naruto snorted, "that''s a horrible dream Yami!" My left eye twitched, "yeah? And you got a better one?" I asked the question on impulse, but I already knew the answer that was coming. "Yeah! I''m going to become Hokage!" Naruto cried out at the top of his lungs, the convection in his eyes spoke volumes to me, I can honestly see why so many people saw him as a charismatic leader when he grows up. I looked at him, "you know, a Hokage needs to listen in class." Naruto hung his head, "I know," he looked up at me, "so what? Do you have a dream like that?" I smiled, "well¡­no, I don''t. I honestly don''t know what this world has to offer me. What do I want¡­.well, I suppose I want to know just who I am." Naruto blinked, "eh? What are you talking about ? You''re Yami. Duh." I rolled my eyes, "not that you dummy! I mean I don''t know what kind of person I am!" "You''re Yami! How hard is that for you to understand?!" "You''re the one who doesn''t understand moron! There has to be more than just Yami! I need to know what kind of person I can be in such a world!" Naruto blinked, "huh? What do you mean?" "I don''t know if I''m a good man, and brave man, a honest man or even a greedy man," I shrugged, "I don''t know who I even am." Naruto narrowed his eyes, "how many times do I have to tell you, you''re Yami!" I grumbled, "Naruto that''s not..." I paused and wondered, could I really be that? Yami...all this time I thought I was trapped here, but what if this isn''t a trap, but a gift? What if¡­.what if I was given a chance to live a better life? A happier life? Then¡­.can I honestly say I shouldn''t learn to enjoy it? Who knows what kind of life I lived before this, whatever happened back then...that''s gone now. I need to focus on what I can see and do, and that means this new world before me deserves my full attention. I looked at Naruto, "what do you think I should be?" Naruto blinked, "eh...well I don''t know. You''re pretty smart, maybe you can be like Iruka sensei." I snorted, "yeah right, no way I''m going to become a teacher, I would go mad before I spend my life teaching people." "Hm...well...maybe you should be my ?ssistant!" Naruto smiled with a broad grin, "yeah! When I become Hokage, you can be my ?ssistant and help me run the village!" I blinked. In the future that''s Shikamaru''s position, technically I would be taking his place. I snorted, "oh please Naruto, I''m sure you can find more qualified people than me to help you." "No way! You''re the best person I know Yami!" Naruto jumped to his feet, "you''re the only one who didn''t laugh at my dream!" I blinked, "yeah but...I don''t think I would be that¡­." I looked at his big blue eyes sparkling with hope. I couldn''t help it, I smiled, "fine. The day you become Hokage I''ll be your right hand man, okay?" Ping! Quest Alert! Become the Shadow''s shadow! Rewards: ? ? ? ? Failure: Death Do you accept? Y/N? I blinked, holy shit, that''s a lot of question marks¡­.ah what the hell. I clicked yes. Naruto smiled, "deal! This is awesome Dattebayo!" his REP score went from 10 to 20 in one leap. Guess he really took the promise to heart. I chuckled, "right right, anyway Naruto, it''s time to go home, it''s getting late." Naruto looked around and suddenly realised the park was being emptied, "heh, yeah! Let''s go!" He dragged me down the slide one last time before pulling me out of the park. I allowed him to drag me along, looking around the emptying park all the while. But just then as we passed a large fire monument I spotted what looked like a glowing leaf symbol near the bottom of the monument. I was taken back. The way the symbol glowed wasn''t normal, it was almost supernatural. And if my life was like a videogame, this only meant one thing. Side quest. But I couldn''t investigate it with Naruto around. So I would need to come here later. Naruto and I went our separate ways outside the park promising to see each other tomorrow after school. I managed to use this body''s memories and find my way back to the orphanage without a problem, though I did have to ask Naruto for directions at first. As I entered the orphanage I noticed it was dinner time and all the kids were eating. I joined them again and sat down quietly listening to them talk to each other again. "I like Iruka-sensei, he''s nice!" "When is Mizuki going to teach us something cool?!" "Why did Sasuke look so sad?" "Didn''t you hear about him? His entire family was killed by his brother!" Ping! Your skill have leveled up! Easdropping, Lv- 2 (3%) Your ability to listen in someone else''s conversation without them being aware of it. This is a very important skill for a ninja to possess for information gathering. Range: 11 feet (100% accuracy) -10% accuracy for every additional feet I blinked, ''so my skills increase with useage? Wait¡­.did they even have a limit? I''m not seeing one so that must be true,'' I felt an evil smile come on, this was amazing! I continued to spend the rest of dinner listening in on everyone''s conversations, trying my best to remember what the say, but most of it was gossip and not worth my time. But this did cause my skill to level up again, which was very exciting to see; Easdropping, Lv- 3 (43%) Your ability to listen in someone else''s conversation without them being aware of it. This is a very important skill for a ninja to possess for information gathering. Range: 12 feet (100% accuracy) -10% accuracy for every additional feet Unfortunately I couldn''t do any more as soon people began to finish up and head for their own rooms. I did the same and was kind of pissed off that night time for us was at 9 o''clock. Did kids really sleep so soon here? I found myself back in my room alone, my old clothes were freshly washed and kept in one corner along with a towel for tomorrow''s bath. But other than that there was nothing to do! I didn''t have any books to read, a phone to call people or a ??ptop to search the net! I was so bored! But just then there was a knock on my door as Ksume walked in with a smile. "Hello Yami, how was your day?" I smiled back, "find, I had a lot of fun. I think I''m going to like being a ninja." "Oh? That''s good to here, I''m sure you''ll make us all very proud," Ksume smiled before slowly it slid off her face. She sighed walked towards me sitting down on my bed and patting a spot besides her. I sat down next to her and looked curious as too what she was going to say. She smiled, "you know, I heard from the other children you made a friend today." Oh great, it was about Naruto. Wonderful. I put on my best poker face and nodded, "yes, he''s a nice boy, very fun. We went to park and played." Ksume smiled, "well I''m glad to hear that Yami but you see...that boy isn''t a very good boy." I blinked, "because he pranks people?" "Yes," she smiled and nodded, "he''s very cruel when it comes to pranking people Yami, you shouldn''t ?ssociate with people like him." I raised an eyebrow in challenge, "oh? But it''s alright to ?ssociate with hired killers and liars on a daily basis?" Ksume was taken back by my harshness, "Yami! That is not the same!" "Why not?" I asked her, "I''m training to be a killer and a thief matorn, is a few pranks really the bigger danger here?" Ksume narrowed her eyes, "Yami I am warning you, stay away from that boy. Do you understand?" I huffed, "unless he proves that he''s a threat to me he''s my friend. I don''t understand-" "Yami you will do what I say or I''ll have you out on the streets!" Ksum got on her feet glaring down at me, "do you understand?!" I narrowed my eyes at her. So this is how she wants to play it huh? I don''t like being threatened, I honestly didn''t really mind never speaking to Naruto again, the kid was my friend sure, but I knew he would understand if he thought I would become homeless if we continued to talk. But nobody, nobody blackmailed me. I don''t like being told what to do. Without reason that is. I looked at her, "if you don''t let me be¡­.I''ll¡­." I began to think. Ksume huffed, "what? What will you do?" I smiled as I got an idea. I looked at her, "I''ll tell the Hokage you told me about the kyuubi inside Naruto." The world seemed to come to a stop for Ksume. Her skin peeling as if she had seen a ghost. "W-what?" she asked in a ghost of a whisper. "I know why people don''t'' like Naruto," I shrugged, "I also know it''s a stupid reason, but whatever, people are dumb that way. Anyway, if you kick me out, I''ll tell the Hokage you told me about Naruto''s furry little problem and told me not to play with him. I know there''s a law forbidding anyone to speak about Naruto''s tenant, if he believes you violated that law..." I left the threat hanging. Tsume''s eyes went wide, "y-you would have me executed?! After all I have done for you?!" I rolled my eyes, "you''re a government worker, it''s your job." She began to steam, her face going red, "you horrible monster! You demon! You and that brat deserve each other!" she turned without another word and left, slamming the door shut behind her. I saw her REP score go from 19 all the way down to -21, meaning she probably hates me...a lot. I sighed as I sat down on my bed, now thinking that what I did probably wasn''t a good idea. She can do anything she wants to me and I can''t say a thing. She could poison my meal, though I doubt she would go that far. Probably she was just going to kick me out, find some loophole somewhere and throw me on the streets. No, she can''t do that, she knows I''ll go to the Hokage then, well I won''t really do that, but she doesn''t know that. Whatever she decides to do it will be desperate, I know that for sure. Either way, I really need to find a way to move in with Naruto, and soon. I need to improve my REP score with him to at least 40. I was halfway there now, but if REP scores was anything like leveling up it will only get more difficult from here on out. I sighed as I sat on my bed and leaned back on my room wall. I looked out the window and could see a worked close the gates shut. The compound walls were 20 feet high, there was no way I was getting over them. The gate was also being patrolled by a gaurd, no way I can sneak past him. I can''t get out and see the symbol in the park, no, that would have to wait. I was stuck here...in this room¡­.with nothing to do¡­.damn it all to hell! I looked around, I had nothing to do except...I spotted the red notebook Irula handed to me. I Grabbed the book and opened it up revealing my carefully written down notes in the native language of japanese. I didn''t know if this was my first language or not, it felt foreign to me, but obviously I knew how to write and understand it. And of course I have no idea what ethnicity I was, maybe I was bi-lingual? I don''t know, I think I know english as well but...hm, let''s see. I began to copy the notes I wrote into English, visibly making an effort into remembering the language. And finally I had a page of english. I could tell the difference between the languages, I knew Japanese instantly, but I also knew English. How much was the game and how much was me? Honestly? I don''t know. I sighed and put away the notes. I looked them over a few times but it got boring revoking the same thing over and over again. I looked out the window as saw the silent village before me bathed under a crescent moon light. Tap tap! I looked and saw a tree branch tapping on my window. I was a floor above ground so a few branches were close, but this...hm, leaves...what can do with leaves? Oh I know! Chakra control! I immediately grabbed a single leaf from the branch and held it in my hand. I focused on it trying to remember what I had to make the leaf stick. Channel chakra into the palm of my hand focusing on the leaf. If I gave enough it should stick to my hand...no, wait, not hand, forehead. I placed the leaf on my forehead and focused, I didn''t know what chakra felt like, but I knew I had it. I closed my eyes and sat in the lotus position. From what I remember chakra came from one''s gut, so I focused on my gut. I let my eyes closed with my head leaning back to hold the leaf up. I couldn''t feel anything. I couldn''t...wait! I feel it! A rumble in my stomach! A lurching feeling slowly coming up from my stomach, rising like a wave of pure unbelievable power "BURP!" no forget what I said, it was just a burp. I sighed leaving my head letting the leaf fall down. I sighed looking at it. Chakara, it was a mixture of spiritual energy and physical energy. My physical side su?k?d, so maybe that was it? Maybe I need to improve that? I sighed, held the leaf in my hand and looked up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and focused, letting my body relax. I let my body rest, I wasn''t feeling tired, but I just needed some peace and quiet. All this talk of ninja''s and chakra, it''s gotten tiering. I took and deep breath and sighed. I turned my attention to my stomach. With every breath I took in my stomach expanded. As I let it out it pumped air out and shark back down. Slowly every breath made my stomach rise and fall. And slowly, I felt something move. It was in my gut, slowly rising up every time I breathed out. Like a water pump being pushed down squirting a little bit of water out every time. I remained calm, I didn''t let the excitement take over me, I continued the exercise. The chakra at first began to spin around near my gut, I''m guessing my chakra pathways were circular near my gut. Slowly though I felt it began to swim all over my body. It was like there were several tiny river canals in my body and the chakra was the water finally being poured in. I opened my eyes and let go of the chakra allowing it to return back into my gut where it came from. Amazing, this was all simply amazing. I looked at the leaf in my hand and immediately placed it on my forehead. I closed my eyes and felt around for my chakra once more. This time it was much easier to use it, allowing me to direct the flow into my forehead. I suddenly found the chakra running my neck and around my face. My cheeks blushed, the feeling foreign. It passed over my eyes without incident before meeting on my forehead. I scrunched my eyes, focusing on keeping the leap steady by using all the chakra I could muster to hold it there. And suddenly; Ping! The chakra flow became natural to me, it was like I didn''t have to tell it what to do anymore. I opened my eyes and looked at the box before me; You have created a new skill! Leaf concentration exercise, Lv- 1 (0%) By keeping a leaf stuck on your forehead thanks to chakara you now only help with your chakra control exercise but also improve your concentration. Uses: 20 CP per minute Leaves to hold up- 1 +1 INT while active +1 CC permanent bonus per level Ping! You have gained +1 CC thanks to skill: Leaf concentration exercise! I looked at the box and grinned. ''Oh hell yes! This means I gain one permanent control point every fu?k?n? time I level up this thing! And what''s more, when it''s active I get a bonus of +1 INT! This is so freaking cool!'' But the best part? It didn''t look like it had any limit! So now it''s time for me to train. I closed my eyes and focused on keeping the leaf on my forehead for as long as possible. Hopefully I can abuse the hell out of this system. I couldn''t help the smile forming on my face. This might not be that bad. Chapter End Chapter 54 - Naruto Fan-fiction 5 - SHINOBI The RPG Plot: A min-maxing Self-Insert ruins himself at character creation. Pairing: Not determined NOTE: There is a part 2 in the works (WIP) Whelp, dying su?k?d. There I was, driving down the freeway on my way to work when an idiot in a pickup decided to turn in front of me. So I plowed into the truck and I didn''t even take the other guy with me because I ran into the passenger side. I think it''s because my cars the same color as the road. Made it difficult to see me. After that, it''s a little fuzzy. I mean, as a fairly religious guy, I''m pretty sure I went to an afterlife. I''m also pretty sure there was some kind of argument. Or maybe I''m giving myself too much credit. Whatever. Doesn''t matter. What does matter is that I''m currently floating in a liquid-y, dark place. Not breathing and I don''t need too for some reason. Occasionally, I heard the echoing of voices way in the distance. I''m not sure where it''s coming from. I think it belongs to the cord that''s attached my stomach. If I wasn''t currently in a state of maddened bliss, I might have figured out what it was. I think it''s symbolic. As I was pondering my bizarre circumstances, a green window with text seemed to appear in my mind. Which is a good thing because I''m not sure my eyes could comprehend actually seeing something yet. Hello, and welcome, Green-box read. To Shinobi: A Naruto RPG. Oh, cool. I get to play video games for my afterlife! I consider this a blessing. Because I love RPG''s and I''m sure I would''ve gotten bored eventually of this pleasantly warm-liquid- abyss thing. Eventually. It was really comfortable though. The window changed. Hmm¡­not even bothering with a tutorial, eh? Well, I am really good at RPG''s and stuff. I imagined myself selecting male since my limbs were currently non-functioning. Are you sure? It asked. Yes. I am absolutely sure. Keep old appearance? Don''t see why not! With my choice made, the window disappeared. Huh. Well, that''s dissapointi-THE LIGHT! IT BURNS! AND IT''S COLD. I''m being held by these warm things! What''s happening? I¡­oh. I was just born. Huh. Well, in that case, my screaming was perfectly justified! In fact, I made a note to do as much as humanly possible because this is ABSOLUTELY BAT$# $!$ INSANE! THE ACTUAL- Oh, my mental cursing raged on and on, as I was wiped down with a warm rag and then subsequently handed to a bed-ridden person who was presumably my new mother. Since I was very attached to my old mother, this thought was distressing and made me scream even more. To the point that my lungs were burning. Hey, gotta build those lungs nice and strong, right? As I my senses started to develop, I became aware of an increasing oddity within me. It was like an electrical current, a thrum of power that hovered just beneath my skin. I wasn''t really sure what was freakier, that this frankly awesome feeling existed within my body or that it seemed to be everywhere else in the world as well. Oh, wait. The Naruto RPG. What I''m feeling is chakra. I''m an idiot. Well, that''s one less mystery out of the way. Anyway. Most of my days, when I wasn''t hungry (and I was always hungry), were spent in meditation. Clearing my head, breathing and attempting to look asleep so I wasn''t unnecessarily bothered were quite relaxing and pretty much the only thing I could do to adequately satisfy my ?du?t mind. One happy side-effect of meditation was that it gave me a very keen sense of the chakra in me. And around me. In most fiction, when characters meditate, they ''unlock their potential''. They bring to bear some hidden superpower they always had but had locked away for some reason or another. While that was extremely attractive to me, as a guy who is more or less in an extremely dangerous world and is completely dependent on other people for his safety, I know that''s not how it actually works. That''s not how it worked in my old world, it''s not how it works here unless you''re already extremely powerful. But the main reason I did it was that, when meditating, you force your brain into a dream-like state, allowing it to process information, store it and handle it. Which was invaluable for a lot of things; like overcoming emotional trauma. Which is something I''ve just been served a major helping of. I am meditating. I am one with the universe. All things happen for a reason. My choices are my own. I am extremely hungry. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! The months went on. I ended up not needing to meditate as much as I used too and my senses were developing. For some freaking reason, the people around me were speaking English, which fits game-logic but doesn''t make any actual sense. Luckily, my tongue and mouth coordination, plus the actual lack of teeth, made it very difficult to actually communicate with them. Because getting snapped up by ROOT? At this age? Would be very bad. I mean, it might be amazing for EXP if this freaking game has any but I''d like to have some fun playing this game. If that can even exist at this point. So, my time was spent flailing around, trying to build muscle faster than normal babies did without also causing irreparable damage and stunting my growth. And meditating because it was easier to not rage about how bored I was when I wasn''t thinking about anything other than breathing. I was a very chill child. Something I ended up figuring out as I grew older was that I wasn''t in a home with loving parents. I was actually in an orphanage, with a lot of other kids. The person that was responsible for feeding me was actually a wet nurse, rather than my biological mother. In a way, that made me feel better but it also made me feel awkward in lots of different ways. In fact¡­I don''t like thinking about it. I was fed and that was that. Nope. Nothing other than that to say. Eventually, I was able to sit up on my own. Even more impressively, I was able to start crawling! Yay! Look at me, getting all mobile and stuff! I''m just the most adorable little thing. Life in the orphanage wasn''t really that bad, either. Granted, I didn''t really socialize much but there wasn''t much I could do about the mental gap. They were adorable, though. The matron of the orphanage was an old woman, but other than her skin, she showed no signs of her age. She carried herself like someone who was still very much in the prime of her life, which meant she was a ninja. Which meant that attempting to escape her when she came to collect you for whatever reason was hopeless. Don''t get me wrong, she was nice enough, but I had a thing about being carried. I could carry others just fine (no I can''t) but I don''t like being carried. So, she picked me up from my crib, token efforts to wiggle out ceased upon exiting the crib. Even I know accidents happen. She carries me, making fond, affectionate noises at me. Ugh, she''s going to make me sick one of these days. Well, I got sick a lot, since I have trouble burping for whatever FREAKING REAS-ahem. She deposits me in the play area, and the various toddlers with me are all playing with various toys. Fake, baby proofed Kunai, I think were my favorite. Made me laugh whenever I saw it. I examined the area and off by itself, I saw a thick, baby book. ¡­no way. I hastened over there and found that, indeed, it was the S.P.E.C.I.A.L book, ripped right from Fallout 3. The only difference was that the illustrations had a Shinobi headband. With the Vault-tech symbol on it. Well, that confirms that I wasn''t going crazy and this is, in fact, a game. I think. First thing I did was open the book. Strength, Perception, Endurance, the dump stat, Intelligence, Agility, Luck, it was all here! Okay, Charisma might be good if it provides bonuses to my teammates if it''s anything like New Vegas but screw my teammates! I''m sure somewhere, the Hokage, wherever he is, just got the urge to spank a kid and that kid was me. Oh well. Screw him too. Anyway. The book was formatted like a children''s book. On the left page was a description of the attribute, with a number 5, bordered by arrows with the + and ¨C symbols within. On the right, was a picture of the attribute in question. A vault-boy lifting a massive weight like a circus strongman for strength, or a vault-boy being awesome by studying in the library for intelligence, or my personal favorite: A vault-boys path being crossed by a black cat and about to get beaned by an anvil. Irony was much beloved in Fallout. At the end, there was a summary, with arrows going up and down each number. Just like that, I was torn between the two paths to godhood. It was between putting my five remaining points into Intelligence and learn new skills like they were going out of style or putting my points into Luck and let the universe itself shower me with gifts and love as it murders my enemies in comedic fashion. Eh, I always went high INT because I hate being dumb, so all my points went there. Now, I just have to decide what to do about my dump stat. Charisma. On one hand, in my games I took all the points away and distributed them evenly. I''ve never simply put them right into Luck, but I was now seriously considering just that. See, on one hand, it will almost ?ssuredly guarantee me perfect wins on everything. Gambling will become an absolute joke. So. Much. Money. To be made. On the other hand¡­ Charisma makes it so people like me. I want to be liked. A lot. There were some really cool people that I wanted to befriend. Maybe turn Sasuke from his destructive path and get him some freaking therapy. Give Naruto a friend¡­maybe lots of friends. A high charisma character with 100 speech skill could end the stigma against him. Quickly. I don''t know how much the special stats affect general gameplay. Maybe they just affected skills like in Fallout 3. Maybe they affected everything. But if that''s the case, and Luck is anything like in New Vegas? That becomes the most important stat in the game. Bar none. Intelligence is for personal preference, if I''m honest. Dang, I wish I knew these things. So, hesitantly, I subtracted all the points from Charisma, bringing it down to a measly 1 and raising my Luck to 9. I briefly consider taking a point from intelligence and putting it into luck, but I leave it. Again, personal preference. I pressed my little finger on the black bu??on labeled ''done'' and suddenly WOAH NELLY I FELT WEIRD as a warm, hot feeling washed itself all over me and in my brain and I could feel myself getting¡­smarter. Woah. Okay. Well, I hope I can handle my newfound social awkwardness. ¡­plans to raise my charisma later if I cannot are on the table. For the first time in I don''t know how long, I heard the sharp sound of a cash register ring in my ears. Green numbers appeared in my eyes, +100, with a small meter beneath it, demonstrating progress from level 1 to level 2. The other kids laughed because my startled reaction was apparently funny. A second later, the ?du?ts joined in. Oh boy. ¡­I wonder how long I''ll have to wait until I can actually tag my skills? Chapter End Chapter 55 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 16 - Asylum Plot: AU 7th book. As Voldemort continues to grow closer to winning the war, Hermione is captured. Tortured, violated, and abused, she is on the brink of insanity. Unfortunately for him, Draco''s job is to feed the prisoners, including Hermione. Pairing: Draco/Hermione NOTE: Although r*pe is not described in this novel it is implied, you have been warned Asylum Prologue Darkness. Devastation. Destruction. Death. Had there ever been light? Did such a thing as happiness exist? Muggles and muggle-borns were dirt. Nothing. Scum. They deserved to live the life of slavery they were living. They deserved to live in the filth and mud, to sweat and cry and bleed working for the Dark Lord against their will. They deserved to be used as whores every night whenever one of Voldemort''s followers felt like it. They deserved to feel pain. They deserved to work around the dead bodies of their fellow slaves as each one fell. They deserved to die. Slaves was what they all were, born into it, working pointlessly in a pit and guarded by Dementors that constantly su?k?d away every hopeful and joyful thought they had until they were driven mad. Hermione was on the brink of death when she was taken out of the muggle killing camps. Apparently Voldemort had learned of her capture and not been too thrilled with the fact no one had told him of her imprisonment. He demanded she be brought to Azkaban, which was now under his control, for interrogation and torture. Pain was all Hermione knew. It clouded her vision until there were no more rational thoughts, until she couldn''t remember a Harry Potter, a Ron Weasley, a Hogwarts¡­until she couldn''t even remember her own name. ::: Draco was having mixed feelings. His primary duty in being a Death Eater was feeding the prisoners. This in and of itself was an slur on the Malfoy name. It was a fool''s job. It was his retribution for failing to kill Dumbledore, and he hated the dishonor of it, the other Death Eaters jeering at him as he walked around Azkaban taking trays to prisoners. And yet, he was relieved the job was his. He hated death. The look of it, the sound of it, the smell of it. It was something he simply could not handle. He had proved it when he was unable to say two words to end the life of Albus Dumbledore. He had been a coward, and his entire family was being punished and ridiculed for it. But he hated death more than anything. Death was not something he enjoyed, like the other Death Eaters, especially his aunt. Bellatrix seemed to take p???sur? in it, and he couldn''t understand how she tortured or took life so easily without it haunting her. The prisoners that were Draco''s job to feed always disregarded him, or shrank against the wall in fear of him. They were all terrified of him, and it wasn''t as comforting as he knew it was supposed to be. He had used to love watching first years squirm at the sight of him, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, but this was not the kind of fear he enjoyed. This was pure terror. Fear of death. Fear that most people had now, now that Dumbledore was dead and Harry Potter was no longer a source of hope, of faith, only a once famous name that had been reduced to nothing by his lack of apparent action, now that the Dark Lord was so close to victory. With a sigh, he opened the last door, one that had been recently added to his rounds. It was Hermione Granger. Chapter End Chapter 56 - DCTV Fan-fiction 1 - Karry Universe: The College Years Plot: Kara Danvers and Barry Allen go to college together, meet and fall in love. Pairing: BarryxKara NOTE: VERY long fan-fiction, pretty well written. The total span of the series is at ~750,000 words, separated in 9 books. Chapter 1: First Meeting Chapter Text Kara was sure she wasn''t making a mistake. No matter how many times Eliza and Alex told her she was. That she should go to a local college and compute, but Kara wanted to go away. She didn''t want to hide all the time. She wanted to be normal. She had enough control over her powers to be able to dorm. She also wanted to be able to spend more time with Clark than she had been able to over the last few years. Which is why she decided to go to Metropolis University. Clark had helped her move into the dorm that morning and then had brought her out for lunch. She was happy her cousin was supporting her decision and even seemed to be happy for her as he dropped her off at the college after lunch was done. "Wish I could spend more time with you today but I was only able to get the morning off," Clark said. "This Saturday we''ll go out for dinner and I''ll bring Lois." "Does Lois know?" Kara asked a question that''s been on her mind for a while. ''Yes," Clark said as he seemed to be looking through his pocket. "Ah here it is." Clark had taken out a key as he said this. "For you. It''s a key to my apartment incase you ever need to get away from here. You''re welcome anytime." Clark placed the key in Kara''s. "Thank you," Kara said as she took the key. "Also if you want you can join me saving the day," Clark whispered this part to her. "I can train you." "I think your fine without me," Kara whispered back not thinking Earth needed her to be a superhero when it had Superman. Clark didn''t say anything as he hugged Kara and then left. Kara watched him leave and headed back to her dorm room wondering if her roommate had shown up yet. That was when she first saw him. -Flash/Supergirl- Barry had wanted to stay local. Didn''t want to be far from his wrongly imprisoned father, but plans had changed. Joe and his father had both told him he should go away. His father even mentioned going to Metropolis University knowing that was where Barry had said he wanted to go as a kid. So he had applied and been accepted. The final nail in coffin was Iris deciding to go to Metropolis University as well. Barry had given up a while ago of getting together with Iris. He knew she only thought of him as a brother and if he was honest with himself deep down he knew she was just a sister to him, but Barry had decided he wanted to be with his best friend. "Seems your roommate is already here," Joe said to Iris as they walked into the room with boxes. "Considering we moved Barry into his dorm first I am not surprised," Iris joked back. "It was closer to the car," Joe said. The three had made a bit of a road trip out of coming here Iris laughed as she put her stuff down on the other bed her roommate having taken the one closer to the window. "Well at least we got here before dark and didn''t get lost," Iris said. Barry was about to say something back but stopped because that was when he saw her. She was beautiful blonde standing in the doorway and she took the words away from him. "Um¡­hi¡­I''m um¡­ I''m Barry," Barry said finally being able to get the words out as Joe and Iris turned around to see the girl standing there as well. ''Barry Allen." "Hi," she said seeming nervous herself. ''I''m Kara Z¡­." Kara stopped herself before she said her krpytonian name. Even after six years on this planet it seemed weird not to use her own last name "Kara Danvers." "You must be Iris''s roommate," Barry said pointing at Iris but not taking his eyes off of Kara. "Hi Iris West," Iris said holding out her hand to Kara who shook it. "Hope you don''t mind I took the bed by the window," Kara said even though her eyes were still on Barry and not Iris. "Not at all," Iris said looking between them. "Dad don''t we have some more boxes to get." ''Yeah," Joe said getting the hint and smiling to himself as the two walked out. "Wow Barry was just hit by a lightning bolt." "I think the feeling is mutual," Iris said smiling as well. The next few hours were spent unpacking and with Kara and Barry being completely nervous with each other. Joe was taking Barry and Iris out to dinner since he was heading back to Central City in the morning. Once Kara was no longer near them Joe put an arm around Barry. "Want my advice. Ask her out before it''s too late," Joe said making Barry blush. -Supergirl/Flash- Once they were gone Kara took out her cellphone and called her sister. "Are you okay?" Was the first thing Alex said when she picked up. "Fine," Kara said. "Was just wondering if you could¡­" Kara paused for a second "give me some boy advice." That was not what Alex was expecting to hear but listened as Kara told her about Barry and asked if Barry liked her. "From the sounds of it definitely," Alex said. "Seems like little Kara has her first crush as well. You should go out with him." Kara didn''t say anything back to that and the sisters spent the rest of the time talking about other things. When Iris got back to the dorm after dinner she found Kara sitting there eating food clearly bought on campus. ''You didn''t go out with your family?" Iris asked as she sat on her bed. "My cousin had to work. We got lunch together," Kara said. "And my foster mom and sister didn''t come with me here. They are back at home." "Foster mom?" Iris asked but then nearly hit herself for asking. "My parents died a few years back," Kara said looking down. "My only blood family is my cousin but he couldn''t take me in. He set me up with friends of his though." "I''m sorry," Iris said not knowing what else to say. There was silent for a while and then Kara asked, "What''s the deal with you and Barry? Are you two dating?" ''No," Iris said fast. "He''s been my best friend for a long time. My dad took him in when we were young because of things." Iris didn''t want to actually explain about Barry''s dad. "So he''s like a brother to me." Kara nodded and Iris saw the smile on her face at this. The next morning Barry came up to the two at breakfast. ''Hey," Barry said sitting next to Iris. ''Kara¡­. There''s this¡­um¡­ thing going on tonight. I think its like barbecue for all the dormers. Any interest in going¡­. With me?" "Like a date?" Kara asked. "Um¡­ yeah¡­ if you want," Barry said. "I''d love to," Kara said and Barry smiled. Chapter 57 - DCTV Fan-fiction 2 - The Evolution of Snowbarry Plot: This is Snowbarry fluff. The story line between these two characters happen way faster than the tv series. Based on the episodes of the Flash but focused on the evolution of the relationship between Barry and Caitlin. First chapter begins when Barry wakes up at STAR Labs. Pairing: BarryxCait NOTE: Book 2 of this series is finished, the Book 3 for this is currently WIP Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash nor the characters It''s been nine months since the particle accelerator had exploded and Barry Allen now lays unconscious on a stretcher while Dr. Snow only meters away focuses on his heart monitor. Caitlin''s POV *Beep¡­Beep..Beep¡­ Beep* She shifts her glance to the man that lay before her. She watches as his ?h?st moves up and down as he breathes. Six months ago, Caitlin would never have thought she would be sitting here beside a man she b?r?ly knew, reasoning with herself that it could be possible... could she? No. Wait. She couldn''t like this man¡­for goodness sake he was in a coma! Caitlin pushing herself off the bedside chair, shakes the thought of such nonsense away¡­ or at least tries too. And at that very moment, it was if the gods heard her plea and the sudden melody of Poker Face streamed through the labs speakers, tearing herself away from her inner thoughts. Caitlin turns knowing that the only person that would have played such music was none other than her colleague and friend Cisco. "Cisco?" Caitlin askes as she points her hand towards the roof. "Oh hey Caitlin¡­ sup? He mused as he made his way to Barry''s side. "Ugh¡­ what''s up with the music?" "Oh right¡­he likes this song" Cisco cooed slightly examining the sleeping patient. "How could you possible know that" Caitlin asks rolling her eyes. "Checked his facebook page of course¡­ I mean he can hear everything right?" It took a second for Caitlin to answer but mainly for her to process the question. "I guess the auditory functions are the last sensory faculties to deteriorate." Caitlin mumbled back trying to distract herself from the sudden realization of her new found vulnerability. Of course, how could she be so stupid! The senses of hearing have been medically researched as the last functions to deteriorate, oh hell why hadn''t she thought of that before? I mean she was a doctor. *Stupid, stupid, stupid* she thought. You just spilled you guts to a completely comatose however very attractive stranger. Mentally kicking herself in the shins she opted for optimism and thought better of it. It couldn''t be real¡­ even if medical research had proven it. Nope he hasn''t heard a single thing. Feeling slightly better with those last thoughts she straightened herself up, because if she let herself believe that he did hear her¡­ she''d have to admit that she had just opened herself up for more pain and loss. And she wasn''t prepared to lose anyone again. Not this time. Not if she could help it. Barry''s POV Ugh¡­ where am I? A sudden blast music streams into Barry''s unconsciousness. Barry tries to process the sudden flood of sounds, smells and voices that flood his senses all at once. Unable to stop the blaring pain in his head, Barry focuses on the voices he thinks he hears in the distance. Iris¡­ Joe? But they''re too far for him to know. Wishing he could just wake up, he manages to crack his eyes slightly open and before a sudden flood of light blinds him and his eyes instinctively close again he sees a blurry image of a woman. She is a beautiful woman with delicate features and wavy brown hair that falls around her head to frame her small face. Wanting to know who she is Barry tries to speak but no words come out. His body lays frozen. Starting to panic Barry wills himself to wake up¡­ to move and then a sudden pulse of electricity shoots through his entire body. As if struck by lightning, Barry shoots upright gasping for air, his lungs suddenly feeling so dry. Looking around, the room is spinning however nothing looks familiar. He notices at first what seems like blurry versions of monitors, medical equipment and a lot of probes and wires attached to his body. Suddenly in all the confusion he momentarily feels a sense of calmness when a cool pair of hands brushes against his ?h?st. It''s the woman. But what is she doing. Barry unsure who she is had a strange feeling. He didn''t know why but he felt safe in her hands. Suddenly he noticed they weren''t alone and that he didn''t know where the hell he was. Everything was happening so fast he couldn''t comprehend what was going on. He just needed to get out of there. The woman kept shouting things at him and examining him but he couldn''t concentrate on anything she was saying. "Where am I?" "Dude, chill." "Who are you ? Where am -? "I''m Cisco and this here is Cait¡ªDr. Snow. You''re at S.T.A.R Labs" Cisco said as he tried to calm Barry down. "S.T.A.R Labs? Wh¡ªWhat am I doing here?" "You were struck by lightning dude!" Cisco mused. "I need you to pee in this cup?" interrupted Caitlin. "Not right this second¡­" snatching the cup from Caitlin, Cisco continued "As I was saying¡­ you were struck by lightning and have been in a coma for like 9 months¡­ we''ve been monitoring you''re vitals and health ever since" "Wai- Wait no what?" Backing away, Barry felt even more confused. He needed to get out of here. Turning to get away he stumbled to face a large monitor screen. "What the hell? Lighting gave me abs?" Barry stared at the monitor in front of him. Suddenly Caitlin Snow was inches in front of him, her hands on his ?h?st. For a brief moment he held his breath. Her touch was light and cool. For some reason he couldn''t explain he felt his muscles relax under her touch. There was something about her. But he couldn''t place it. He didn''t know her. He would have never forgotten someone as beautiful as she was. "Interesting¡­ You''re muscles seem to be in a state of constant regeneration." Wait. This woman¡­ he voice, I''ve heard it before. But how? Barry was stumped. How he could have heard her voice before? Suddenly Barry got distracted by all the information that he now just somehow heard. I was struck by lightning? In a coma for nine months? In S.T.A.R Labs? Wait. Did she say pee in a cup? Feeling as he couldn''t breathe, a sudden voice behind him startled him. "Welcome back Mr. Allen!" "Dr. Wells?" "I see Dr Snow and Mr Ramon have caught you up with the past events that led you hear?" "Umm¡ª" "I see¡­ take a walk with me Mr. Allen" Hesitant Barry followed behind Dr Wells. Turning the corner Dr Wells held out a S.T.A.R Labs jumper "Mr Allen" "Um.. thanks but why am I here? "Well¡­ you may recall nine months ago the particle accelerator was unveiled. During that time, my greatest achievement was realized. However, we were successful for 45 minutes before the storm created a chain reaction that led to an explosion and - -" "And the lightning that hit me." Barry finished staring down at the particle accelerator below them. "Yes. Fortunately I heard of your condition and Joe and Iris gave me permission to monitor you here at S.T.A.R Labs" "Iris and Joe?" "Yes they visited a lot, however the past few months less so." Barry couldn''t hide the disappointment in his eyes. He had loved Iris since before he even knew. "Oh but don''t worry Mr. Allen I can positively ?ssure you that you were well taken care for by Dr. Snow. She has stayed many late nights against my advice and has not left your side since." The sudden realization that Caitlin had been by his side since he was struck by lightning stirred something strange within him. Sure he was feeling grateful for what she has done, for what they all have done for him but something about Caitlin stuck with him and he couldn''t shake it. He had a feeling he knew her but how could that be possible? Chapter 58 - DCTV Fan-fiction 3 - Stranded Plot: AU. A mishap from the veil lands Harry on the island of Lian Yu. Because, naturally, it''s the kind of luck Harry has. Harry Potter/Arrow/Flash/Supergirl/Smallville fusion story, Pairing: Harry/Multiple Girls. NOTE: Rated M for a reason (lots of lemon).....you have been warned Stranger from the Other Side: A violent storm kicked up high over the South China Sea. Huge gusts of winds, angry sounding thunder claps, dangerous blasts of lightning, and just pure darkness engulfed the area. The waves whipped across the water, making any journey extremely treacherous. Those who sailed for a living weathered numerous storms in the past. They knew the storm which raged tonight was no ordinary storm. It was far more violent, far more unforgiving, and far more dangerous. The storm built for the better part of the last couple of days and reached a fever pitch this particular evening. A cyclone appeared over an uncharted island off of the South China Sea. No one had been around for miles on this island. The mist rose above the island thus blocking the view of the island for anyone who just happened to have the misfortune of being on said island. The cyclone cloud launched a figure like a bottle unleashing a cork. The figure from the sky flew down to the ground and impacted the dirt, just coming short of hitting a very dangerous area of the island. The mist blocked what dropped from the sky from view, at least for the first couple of minutes after it dropped. The stranger pulled himself to a standing position. Legs almost came out from underneath him like they were made of jelly. He reached onto the side of the tree and stopped, ?ssessed his surroundings. A normally unruly hair of dark hair got knocked around. Green eyes widened into the distance and managed to just b?r?ly make out the surroundings through the other side of the mists. He dressed in tattered clothes, ripped apart from landing on the ground. A faint, but still visible tattoo of a circle encased in a triangle with a pair of jagged lines being drawn down the circle stood prominently on his ?h?st. The figure stood up, tall, if not a bit shaky. He was a well-built young man, despite the state of disorientation. His name came to him after he managed to regain his composure. Harry Potter stood firmly on the ground on the mysterious island. The throbbing in his skull finally started to cease. Harry always had a strange affinity for all things death, for some reason. He had been the only person in living memory to survive the Killing Curse. He had a combination of Basilisk Venom and Phoenix tears coursing through his blood stream. He survived the Killing Curse again and claimed the Deathly Hallows. Seventeen confirmed ?ssassination attempts on his person later, Harry survived, still in possession with the three most sought out magical objects in the history of the world. The fact he was the only one who had the potential to use them for long without falling victim to their curse didn''t stop greedy witches and wizards from trying to grab them. He sought the veil, studied it, and now Harry found himself in a brand new place, almost entirely by accident. ''Am I dead?'' The first question any rational person would ask when in a weird situation like he was now. Yet, it was a question Harry Potter asked himself far more times than he cared to count. Was he dead? He didn''t think so. Death flirted with Harry so many times, he thought they were about ready to go steady, as weird as it might sound. ''Okay, I''m not dead. If I''m not dead, then where am I? When am I?'' Two questions anyone who had been through the trials Harry had would ask. He had to ask it. All went back to what he learned about the veil. ''No one has been quite able to pierce the mysteries of the Veil of Death. Most who pass through it, end up being brought to their final reward or final torment. A few may end up elsewhere, but no confirmed evidence exists of anyone ever returning back from a trip to the veil.'' Well, Harry couldn''t be clear of the final point, he was no expert on mental health, his own especially. Living for ten years in a cupboard underneath the stairs may have left Harry with just a few issues. After the latest little trip through the veil, Harry wasn''t certain about his ability to return. Then again, he couldn''t be certain of his ability to return anyway, without knowing where here was. He most certainly could not disapparate off of the island without having a good idea where it was and the path he needed to do to get back home, if at all possible. A quick look around told Harry he had been surrounded on all sides by water. He was on an island, somewhere. Geography was not a subject which was taught at Hogwarts. Harry stood in the middle of the island. He felt about a week''s worth of growth on the side of his face. It had been a lot longer between stepping through the veil and landing here than he thought. "I think the storm just about subsided¡­.good we can begin. We can''t be behind schedule." Voices on the island meant Harry Potter was not alone. He noticed there were some other people on the island, but they didn''t notice him, at least not yet. ''Better not test my luck.'' Harry needed to find shelter, but where. There was a small wooded area off to the side where he landed and also the source of the voice he heard. He listened to them speaking in low whispers. ''Land mine,'' Harry thought. One subtle sweep of the island told Harry it was littered by landmines and traps. Whoever stepped onto this island stepped into a walking deathtrap, and they didn''t want the people on the island to leave alive. Harry had to watch his step. "Make sure our insurance policy is secure." Harry hazarded a guess they weren''t the friendly type, the other people on this island. Just a hunch, the type of people he should be avoiding at all costs. Like it had so many times before, curiosity had gotten the better of Harry Potter. There were so many times where he didn''t have to stick his nose into other people''s business, along with the many times where he kind of had to because it would be the only way he would learn things. ''Of course, I''m going to follow these two.'' Harry could either find a way out of the death trap of the island or follow two men who obviously found a way onto the island on their own accord. They might, unwittingly, clue him on a way to get off of the island. ''It wouldn''t be me if I didn''t follow them.'' Harry stood, behind the cover of crush to the two men who stopped. A group of about six or seven more men, who had been armed, moved around. ''Really well trained, and organized. And that makes them dangerous as well. Going to have to play it carefully, Potter.'' Careful normally had not been Harry''s middle name. He had to maneuver around the traps. His danger sense heightened after an entire life time of peaking over his shoulder. "Fyres is being a real pain, isn''t he? Wonder what has his knickers in a twist." "Who cares? As long as he pays us well, I don''t really care what he''s up to." Okay, so now Harry was dealing with the mercenary types who were only out for the money. He could respect them for their principles, money was of course the solution to all of life''s problems. And the cause of all of life''s problems as well to be fair. "Make sure no one is lurking around." "Who would be lurking around on this island? No one is going to take a vacation on it. It''s out in the middle of nowhere." "Hey, I''m just telling you what the boss says. You want to take things up with the boss, fine, take it up with him. But, don''t be surprised if you have to deal with the boss''s new friend." "The weirdo in the mask?" "Yeah, him. Guy looks like he can take you out in one swift move. But, he''s sticking to Fyres like glue to a toilet seat." "What? Does that¡­.." "Never mind, the point is, he never leaves his side. Which means he''s being paid the big bucks. More than us¡­.just keep a look out and make sure no one is coming around." "I don''t suppose someone is just going to drop from the sky and land on this island. This place is purgatory, the only way off is the way we got on here." Hello, they had a way off of the island. Harry intended to listen into the conversation closely. A rather frazzled looking gentlemen rushed and nearly tripped one of the land mines. His buddy held up a hand to stop him. "Whoa, slow down here, mate, you trip one of those things, and you blow your foot up." "Yeah, I can''t even take a piss in the woods without running into some kind of trap." "Just watch your step, or you''ll lose more than your head." The man looked around and Harry thought he was looking a bit too close for comfortable. Harry closed his eyes. He could will himself invisible thanks to bonding to the cloak, occasionally. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn''t, and despite constant study, Harry still couldn''t peace together the how or the whys about how the cloak worked. "There''s guy who dropped on the island. He practically fell out of the sky." Harry froze instantly. He took careful inventory of the paths around him. One way lead him through a very dangerous area and the other way lead him into a camp which could have had more of these mercenaries. "Damn it, it will be our heads if someone came onto the island." "Who could be dumb enough to come here willingly?" "Did you see any ships wrecked in the area? Are you sure you haven''t been drinking? Imagining things?" Harry took a half of a step forward, and ended up almost stepping on a snake. It gave a hiss. "Quiet." The snake looked at Harry strangely and backed off. Well, Harry still had that particular gift at least. The men were coming right here. Harry looked towards the land mine which was right between him and the men. It was time for drastic action. Harry raised his hand and detonated the land mind to blow up the ground. A searing pain shot through Harry''s arm when he tried to channel magic through it. The bolt of light caught the land mind and blew up the ground. Harry''s quick reflexes through himself out of the way of flying shrapnel and rock. He did have several cracked bones in his arm in an attempt to launch the magic. Pain beyond anything Harry ever experienced in his life shot through his body. How did he break his arm by performing magic? Harry didn''t bother, he had two legs, which picked up the pace and sprinted. The bullets soured through the air. Harry closed his eyes. On the bright side, the shield protected him from bullets. On the negative side, the shield also burned Harry''s skin and caused agony to spread through his nerve endings. On the other bright side, it took his mind away from the broken bones. ''There''s something on this island, to make performing magic a far more difficult chore than it really was. Think, Potter, it has to be a rune or some kind of altar, or something blocking you. It could be anywhere, this is a big island.'' The shield flickered away just half of a second before a dart stuck Harry in the side of his neck. The poison should have dropped him instantly. Instead, Harry staggered around. It reminded him of the time he, Luna, and Ginny got plastered off of that German Firewhisky during Ginny''s eighteenth birthday party. Harry staggered a couple of inches and saw a gentleman dressed in in black armor. He had a mask which was half orange and half black, with a sword strapped onto his back. The gentleman split into three before Harry''s eyes. ''When in doubt, hit the one in the middle.'' His reflexes dulled from the poison dart injected into the side of the neck. The ?ssassin grabbed him around the arm and twisted his arm around his back. He caught Harry with a couple of well-placed strikes to the side of his neck and one to the lower back for good measure. Harry finally discharged him, and then collapsed to the ground, the beating getting the better of him. X-X-X Sara Lance clung to the side of the wreckage of the Queen''s Gambit, just b?r?ly keeping her head above the water when she did. ''Guess its karma trying to sleep with your sister''s ex-boyfriend.'' The girl had been dressed in her night clothes, which dripped wet with salt water. The bag she had, and her cell phone, currently disappeared underneath the water and likely sank to the bottom. She held onto the side of the wreckage with one hand and paddled herself over. Blood dripping from her cheek was not a good thing, especially in a situation like this. Sara''s breathing increased when she moved. "Oliver?" Sara asked. "Mr. Queen?" No answers from anyone. Sara saw the mist rising up which made it hard. Her hands started to shake. It only took a few seconds for her to cling on. She knew one gust of wind would cause her to fly. Sara saw a life raft, and she saw the battered body of Robert Queen He looked to have dislocated his shoulder when going down with the yacht. "Mr. Queen?" "Ms. Lance," Robert breathed. He moved over and extended a hand to help her onto the life boat. The boat rocked and wouldn''t be able to hold the two of them. Robert looked about ready to pass out. He looked cut out pretty badly. "Oliver, where is Oliver?" Sara shivered. Her attire wasn''t conductive for the cold air created by the storm. "I don''t know, I saw him¡­.slip underneath, and we got separated. By the currents¡­..I really wish I could help you more." Robert closed his eyes. He tried to reconcile what happened to his son. He could see the storm would take out the life boat if both he and Sara were inside of it. "He''s made it, over there, to that island." Sara squinted to look at the island through the mist. If Oliver made it there, it didn''t look very inviting. She couldn''t put her finger on why, but it gave a presence of foreboding. "Oliver, made it? Are you sure?" "He had to¡­.and you need to make it there, before the storm hits up again." Robert reached into his satchel and pulled out a notebook before handing it to Sara. "Give it to Oliver when you get there¡­..and tell him, I''m sorry. It went too far." Sara had so many questions, but Robert Queen crawled out of the life boat, and made his way to the piece of wreckage which Sara balanced out. The blonde woman watched in horror when Robert pulled out a handgun and placed it against the side of his temple. "Mr. Queen, WAIT!" A gunshot blew right through Robert Queen''s temple and he fell down onto the wreckage. His blood spilled all over from it went down. Sara gripped the make shift paddle and worked her way towards the island. Her heart hammered tightly against her ?h?st. It was supposed to be a nice p???sur? trip over a long weekend, and it turned into an absolute nightmare. Sara closed her eyes and the life boat rocked. She had been stuck up on rocks. Sara slid from the boat, and crawled across the rocks before jumping onto the island. Sara just b?r?ly made it onto the island. She tried to get out, but collapsed. A twisted ankle impeded any further movement. Sara closed her eyes, and looked up. She smelled a fire, someone was here. "IF SOMEONE IS HERE, HELP ME!" From the distance, Sara saw figures approach. Relief hit her suddenly, and then fear spread the second these armed mercenaries approached Sara from all sides. "Well, look what washed up." Two of the mercenaries dragged Sara to her feet. She struggled to break free, and almost did. Unfortunately, she couldn''t get very far thanks to her busted ankle so they reclaimed her. ''Feisty little thing, isn''t she? I like it." "Don''t screw around. Fyres told us to bring anyone who comes on the island straight to him." "Ah, seems like such a waste to have a pretty little number like this get tortured for information. Why don''t we hold onto her for a while and then hand her over to Fyres? Who''s going to know?" The leader of the mercenaries stood up. "We''ll know. And if you need to get your rocks off, we got a magazine back at the bunk you can use." "It''s not the same." "Quiet! You want Fyres to send¡­.him over here after us." Sara had no idea where they were taking her now. The notebook clutched in her hand, which one of them noticed it. "Hey, look at the nice little book she has!" "Give me that back!" Sara yelled, with a shin bruising kick. Right before she had brought down to her knees. One of them pushed her face into the dirty. "What''s this girl? Is this your little black book? Or something else?" One of them flipped through the names in the book and frowned. "We better show this to Fyres as well. Some of these names look familiar." This time, the mercenaries tied Sara''s hands behind her back as they marched her off. "Let''s take her. Fyres should be ready to interrogate the other one by now." Sara wondered what they meant about the other one. Rose Wilson utterly hated her father. Teenagers said they hated their parents and often just said it out of anger and angst. Rose, however, really hated her father, and wanted to kill him. Slade worked as the world class mercenary, Deathstroke the Terminator, one of the most dangerous ?ssassins for hire in the world. Rose didn''t really see much of her father, although the few times he showed up, it turned her life upside down for the worse. This latest time, Slade drugged Rose and took her against her will, saying it was time for her to see her full potential or die trying. So he dropped her off in the middle of Purgatory to Rose to sink or swim. If she survived the harsh conditions of the island, Rose would be judged worthy. And Slade said he would finally accept Rose as his daughter. ''I wish that bastard was dead.'' She secured some food and supplies, enough to hold her off for the past couple of days. Her father, oddly enough, was present, he had some kind of job on this island, with the man running the operation. Fyres, Rose thought she heard his name was. Rose never could get close enough to kill Slade despite her attempts to do so. The girl''s eyes narrowed. Her platinum blonde hair hung wildly past her shoulders. She dressed in a ragged black tank top and a pair of jean shorts. Despite only being sixteen years old, Rose had a fit and toned body which many might mistake for someone more m?tur?. Rose stepped over to the rocks and surveyed the surroundings. Slade made his way through the tent. Rose wanted to get close enough to him to take him out. ''Bastard deserves to die.'' Rose''s half-siblings didn''t have any better of a relationship with their father than Rose did, but Rose thought she had to prove more for some reason. Was her mother still off on a mission? Her work brought her away from home for long times. Rose learned to fend for herself, learned skills which would allow her to survive at a young age. Her mother provided for Rose when she was around, but they didn''t have the strongest relationship. Adaline''s failed marriage with Slade weighed on the woman, and Rose being around was a constant reminder of the failed relationship. ''Damn it, if only he gets left alone for two minutes, I can get him.'' Slade knew, he had to know Rose was there. Rose decided to slip away, waiting for the next moment where she could get close enough to Slade. The teenage warrior stopped and frowned. These mercenaries were preparing for something. Rose remaindered herself of her goal. Survive and kill Slade, it was the only thing which mattered to her. Harry''s head throbbed when he tried to wake up. The pounding in the back of his head just increased. He could see the same mercenary standing in the background, menacing and staring at him. The mask covered his face. The blade sheathed over his back could be seen. "Well, you''re an interesting one, aren''t you?" A middle-aged man came into Harry''s blurred focus. He looked at Harry with a smile. "You were brought here and my men swore you had severe burns over most of your body," the man said. "And now they''re healed." A long beat followed and Harry said nothing. The man leaned down to look into Harry''s face. "How do you suppose that happened?" Harry smiled. "Magic?" The flippant answer was not appreciated by the man, despite it being technically true. "What''s your name, son?" Harry looked towards him. Never tell them your name, first thing he learned in Auror training. It gave them an advantage over you in battle. People feared the unknown, therefore being unknown gave you an advantage. "Not talkative, I see," he replied. "Very well, perhaps I should tell you where you ended up, even if I''m not quite sure how you got here." The magic answer might not hold water a second time, Harry made a mental note to think so any way. "You are on the island of Lian Yu, which is called Purgatory. It''s a place where many of the worst prisoners in the world are sentence. Many b?r?ly survive a month here." Harry knew he was on a place called Lian Yu, but he didn''t know exactly where it was. Still could pose a problem. ''With my current magical problems, teleporting out of here might not be advisable. Hell with the energies on this island, I might not be able to. It might be just like Hogwarts was.'' "And yet, you''re here," Harry said. "My circumstances are different," the man told him. "Yes, they are¡­and you''re Fyres, aren''t you?" A frown showed Harry he was right. He also had a distinct advantage of Fyres. Harry knew his name. Fyres didn''t. Harry hoped to keep it like this for as long as he can. "How do you know¡­.." Harry flashed a bland smile. "Your men love to talk when they think no one is listening." The leader of the operation frowned and shook his head. "Yes, although I do wonder how much you know. Well, we''ll find it out¡­.after a few days without food, water, or sunlight, you might be more willing to speak, tell me why you''re here, what you know, and who you are." Harry didn''t say anything. It wouldn''t be the first time he had to go several days without food, water, or sunlight. ''Thanks, Vernon,'' Harry thought. ''Never knew my shitty childhood could come in handy when surviving on desolate island out in the middle of nowhere.'' The man Fyres left, which left Harry around with the sunny mercenary in the orange and black mask. Not exactly someone Harry suspected would lead to a very fun conversation. Chapter End Chapter 59 - DCTV Fan-fiction 4 - Karry Prime Super Doubles Plot: After the events of the original Supergirl/Flash crossover, Barry is distracted by something he won''t tell his friends about. It''s only when a new and dangerous meta turns up that Barry has to face his biggest foe yet. There is hope still, because the world needs more than one proper superhero. The world needs Power Girl! A personal take on an Earth-1 version of Kara Danvers - with a twist! Pairing: The Flash x Power Girl NOTE: By the same author as Karry Universe, has some crossovers with it.... 5 currently in this series Chapter 1: A Distraction from Zoom Summary: After the events of ''Worlds Finest'', Barry is confused on why no one missed him - that is, until a new adventure rears it''s head. Chapter Text The Flash streaked through the streets of Central City, momentarily vanishing into a blue portal of indescribable flux, emerging only moments later some five feet away and finishing his jaunt back to STAR Labs where he skidded to a stop in front of Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, and Iris West. Ripping the mask from his head, Barry Allen turned to look at the trio. "I''m back!" He exclaimed, oblivious to the fact he had time-jumped as well as having travelled inter-dimensionally as he added, "what¡­ how long was I gone?" "Let''s put it this way," Cisco responded joyously. "You just annihilated your own record!" "Yeah," Caitlin interjected, "you went four times faster than you have ever been!" "But¡­ Sparky, Shrieky and Super¡­ wait, four times?" Barry was confused for a moment, as his friend didn''t even seem to notice he had gone. He figured he must have been gone for at least two days so had expected people to be worried about him by now and relieved he had returned. Pieces were starting to fall into place in Barry''s head though as he noticed the looks from the other three. They had b?r?ly moved from where he had left them, meaning he had only been gone for a few moments. They hadn''t even noticed he''d been gone so long. He should have told them about the other Earths but in that second decided against it ¨C proof though it was that possible still to breach universes, even if it was uncontrolled. It still proved something though as he added: "That''s as ¨C" "Fast as Zoom," Harrison Wells strolled into the lab, ever the cheery fellow as he added thoughtfully, "well, faster actually¡­" As they all took that information in, Barry removed the device from his ?h?st plate as he moved over to Wells. "Hey, do you think we can get this thing smaller? It kind of sucks¡­" "If it sucks, then yeah," Wells responded, his best at joking along as he took the device anyway and moved off back to the side-lines. Pleased with himself, his thoughts now turning to the possibility of getting back at Zoom, at Jay, Barry turned to the other three feeling almost lightheaded as he announced their new plan of action. "All right, so now all we have to do is figure out how to get back to Zoom." "Yes! Just a minor issue," Cisco now pointed out. "We closed all the breaches and have no idea how to reopen them." Barry stammered, maybe he should tell them about his little trip after all? Then again, Wells could have an idea before Barry resorted to his ace in that hole. "Wells?" he asked hopeful. "Yeah, I have an idea, Allen: Let''s keep all the breaches closed forever," he responded coldly. Not what Barry was hoping for. "Forget about the breaches, forget about Zoom." In retrospect and in a few months'' time Barry would have undoubtedly agreed with the professor. In fact, if he had really been thinking about it he would have reasoned Zoom was dying anyway so given time everything would work out by itself. However his thoughts were concentrated now and going after Zoom was his primary mission. He couldn''t be appeased now. "Wait, I''m sorry," Barry snapped. "I thought you were on board with this?" "No," Wells replied instantly, moving back toward Barry. "No. I said I would help you get faster. I did not say I would help you give the man who kidnapped my daughter, and tortured her, a chance to do it again!" "Hey, we are not going to let that happen," Iris finally spoke up, causing Barry to look up from a sudden stupor of guilt and Wells to roll his eyes at such positivity. "Oh, you''re not going to let that happen?" He asked sarcastically. "Gosh I wish I''d known that the first time. You don''t understand: Zoom is different than us. Zoom is not tied to anything. Zoom does not care for anyone! I do; my daughter is out here on this Earth somewhere; I have to find her. We all have people that we care about ¨C Zoom will use that against us. Believe me!" His anger, his annoyance and frustration ebbed from every fibre of his being as he turned his back on them, trying to remain calm. "Maybe we should just leave it be¡­?" Caitlin suggested quickly, glancing worriedly to Barry now. "No," Barry breathed. He understood where Wells was coming from, he had risked everything to save Jesse after all, but Wells simply didn''t understand. "No, look we''re not turning our backs on another Earth! We''re not going to let Zoom get away with everything he''s done." He said this to both Wells and Caitlin. Zoom had proved most challenging to Caitlin after all. Besides they didn''t even know Zoom was a danger to other Earths too now ¨C he had found a way to the second Earth that Barry had just visited and had been terrorising it before the Flash had even arrived. Then again that could have been another Zoom entirely to the one Barry knew. His head hurt and his stomach churned at the thought of that possibility. "Right now, there is no way to another Earth, Allen." Wells moved back to Barry, trying to keep his cool now. "Let''s keep it that way." Before Barry could correct him, since he actually knew there was a way to another Earth, Wells continued, nodding to the muted television screen: "Besides, I think the Flash is needed on this Earth right now." As Harrison turned from the group, Barry glanced up to the screen himself, the information flashing at the bottom of some sort of unusual meta-human attack. "Guess the world won''t pause for you to take on Zoom," Cisco commented awkwardly as there was a familiar rush of air and Barry was gone. Cisco, Caitlin and Iris all looked to one another, glad they didn''t have to face the decision of bringing Zoom back just yet, but none wanting to voice the opinion, even in front of Wells. "Did he seem odd when he came back to anyone else?" Iris, however, did voice to the group who looked at each other and then unanimously nodded. "And who''s Sparky and Shrieky?" Iris figured it must be some meta-human Cisco had named so had turned her head to him as she asked. "I don''t know. Lame names. Not some of mine," Cisco said holding his up his hands in mock irritation. -SuperFlash- Barry arrived moments later at the scene of the crime. Joe was already there, as were several of his CCPD teammates, some keeping the media outlets to the side, as Barry took one moment to access if the Flash really was needed before stripping the red outfit from himself, his jeans and shirt underneath, as he strolled up to Joe. Barry Allen CSI. "What happened here, Joe?" Barry asked as his eyes fell upon the dozen or so bodies, all wearing black and all instantly recognisable as not suffering trauma ¨C or at least there wasn''t a sign of blood splatter to be seen. "Hey," Joe nodded at Barry. "Yeah, got an anonymous call and here we are. Eleven people, all dead; looks like you''ve got your work cut out for you¡­" Barry sighed as he stooped to the nearest corpse. "Oh, this is weird," he immediately stated, Joe joining him as Barry looked up to him. "This one looks like Linda Park." "Your old girlfriend?" Joe asked, bending down to examine the body. "Didn''t she leave town?" "Yeah," Barry muttered, worriedly as he glanced to the next body a foot away, the breath suddenly knocked out of him as he practically crawled to it in panic. "Patty?!" "That''s not right. I literally just spoke to her," Joe commented quickly as Barry snapped his head from the body of Patty Spivot to his foster father. "What?" Joe asked. "She likes to keep me updated on her college life. I was her mentor here after all. She''s still in Midway, no chance she could have come here and been killed within ten minutes." "Unless Zoom¡­?" Barry asked tentatively as he nonetheless cautiously felt the body. "She''s cold. Stone cold. Must have been dead for at least twelve hours already. But this place is so exposed. You sure they were only just called in?" Barry asked, standing up and trying to keep the worry from his voice. It had to be Zoom; Wells had literally just said he went after loved ones, could he have made it back to Earth-1 without help? He had made it to Earth¡­ Barry guessed it was 4, Earth-4? Barry shook his head. He had to think of better names for these Earths than just numbers. "Only five minutes ago. Media got here before of course," Joe muttered, his eyes looking over the other bodies before he said more worriedly; "Bar?" Barry glanced in the direction Joe was looking, even from these few feet it was easy to notice Iris West laying pale and unmoving, and it suddenly felt like the world was crumbling below his feet. But Iris had been in STAR Labs when Barry had seen the news, so it couldn''t be her. Already Joe was by the body and Barry had to rush to his side to console him, to make him believe this wasn''t real. "She''s at STAR Labs, Joe, I just left her there, it''s impossible¡­ this whole thing is impossible. It''s got to be something¡­ meta." "But what could do something like this? Who¡­?" Joe asked, forcing himself up as the rest of the team was bagging up the bodies they had yet to look over. "I''m going to find out Joe, trust me," Barry stated resolutely, the images of the lifeless Linda, Patty and Iris burned into his mind already as he looked around. They had been called in to this weird scene of death, purposefully exposed, which only meant they were being ?ssessed on what they were finding, so someone had to be watching them¡­ somewhere. "Get them to the morgue Joe, I''ll be there shortly." Barry stated quietly as he retreated back to where he came. A moment later, the Flash ran past the scene of death and straight for a side-street. He collided with someone before they had a chance to react and when both people realised what had happened, the Flash was already questioning them: "What do you know?" he growled. The woman he had pinned to the wall looked unfazed, in fact, she looked slightly blurred, which was frustrating to Barry''s eyes but he kept her pinned, as she said nothing. "TELL ME!" "Why should I let you in on my secret?" She, it was definitely a woman, responded, forcing Barry off her as she shook herself over. She wore plain clothes, had her brown hair in a ponytail and yet was constantly unfocussed. Barry remained standing on the spot, his fist clenched. "How did you get those people¡­ what is that?" Barry asked, indicating the scene of death behind him. She, however, was interested in something else; holding in between her finger and thumb, Barry could just make out a long golden strand of hair as she ???ked her head at it. "From your suit," she muttered casually, mesmerised. "I can do so much with this¡­" "From my¡­?" Barry asked as he tried to catch up. "What can you do?" "Just wait and see, Flash," she stated, a smirk ¨C or at least a smirk-liked expression ¨C on her blurred features as she suddenly leapt at Barry, knocking him aside and headed out into the street. He could have gone after her, he would have caught up with, and caught her, but she hadn''t actually done anything wrong, or admitted it yet, but she was definitely a suspect and definitely a meta-human. "Barry," Cisco''s voice came into Barry''s earpiece. "I think you better get back here. You won''t believe this!" Chapter End Chapter 60 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 17 - Yule Ball Drama Plot: Who knew Harry asking Hermione to the Yule Ball in Fourth Year would cause so much drama? Especially amongst those whom they thought were their truest friends! Pairing: H-Hr NOTE: Dumb, Molly, Ron, Ginny bashing. Very long fan-fic, not complete as of yet. Only covers up to the Yule Ball. (Thursday, December 10th, 1994) Harry Potter grinned down at the guinea pig that had, until a few minutes ago, been a guinea fowl. That had been today''s lesson in Transfiguration. Turn a guinea fowl into a guinea pig. And he had done it. Flawlessly. Well, perhaps not flawlessly, but it was certainly better than other attempts from students in the class. He glanced to his right, where Ron Weasley''s guinea pig looked horrendous. It still had the beak of the fowl, and it looked particularly ugly. To his left, Hermione Granger''s guinea pig was the only other attempt in the class that looked just as good as his. He wasn''t surprised at that, however. Hermione was a perfectionist, and she tried to be the best at everything she did. She looked especially proud at her own attempt. Then he caught her glance turning to his attempt. "Harry, that''s fantastic!" Hermione appraised, "You did very well! Harry?" "Hmm? What?" Harry asked, "Oh, sorry, Hermione. What did you say?" "You were staring at me," Hermione said, looking confused. "Sorry," Harry said, "The way you were staring at your guinea pig. It was¡­" "It was what?" Hermione asked. Harry shrugged. He didn''t have a response. He couldn''t put it into words. Well, he could, but it wasn''t anything he could tell her. She had looked at the guinea pig the way he wished she would look at him. He suddenly pictured that expression of hers in a whole different way. It was a vision in front of his eyes. Not an entirely unwelcome vision either. She wasn''t looking at a guinea pig, she was looking at a baby in her arms. One she had just given birth to. Her baby. Their baby. Harry blinked, and the vision went away. Where had that come from? "Mr. Potter!" a voice said, breaking Harry from his thoughts. For one wild moment, Harry wondered why Hermione had referred to him as that. Then he realized Hermione hadn''t called his name. It was Professor McGonagall. She was standing in front of him. "Yes, Professor?" he asked, after clearing his throat. "That is the second time I called your name, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "Sorry, Professor," Harry said, "I¡­ was distracted." "Given how your guinea pig changed back into a guinea fowl," McGonagall said, "It must have been quite the distraction for you to lose focus enough for that to happen." Harry hoped he wasn''t blushing. His cheeks felt a little hot. Yes, it was certainly quite the distraction, his strange vision. "Perhaps you could attempt the transfiguration again, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall said, "So I know how to grade you." "Yes, Professor," Harry said. He pointed his wand at the fowl, then cast the spell again. To his immense relief, the guinea pig appeared to be much the same as it had been. The only difference was that it made a noise of frustration due to the fact that it was once again a guinea pig instead of guinea fowl. Harry didn''t blame it, though. The poor creature probably didn''t very much like being transfigured into something completely different than what it was. "Very good, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said; she made a mark on the sheet she was holding. "I do hope you''re no longer distracted. In a few minutes, I''ll have an announcement to make to the class. One you''ll be most interested in, I ?ssure you." "Yes, Professor ¨C I mean, no Professor," Harry said, "No more distractions." "Very good, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said The Transfiguration Professor moved in front of Ron. "Why does your guinea pig have a beak, Mr. Weasley." "Dunno," Ron muttered. "Maybe it is meant to?" If eye-rolling made a sound, the action from Hermione might have masked the sound of disbelief coming from the Transfiguration Professor. "I very much doubt it, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said, "Homework, Mr. Weasley Eighteen inches on how to turn a guinea fowl into a guinea pig, what the guinea pig is supposed to look like, and what it takes to successfully complete the transfiguration. Due the start of next class next Tuesday." "But," Ron muttered, "You didn''t give homework to Harry or Hermione." "I didn''t need to, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said, "Their transfigurations were the best in class today. Neither Mr. Potter nor Miss Granger need homework to improve their guinea fowl to guinea pig transfigurations. If it makes you feel any better, most of your fellow students in the class will be getting the same homework as you." Ron grumbled as McGonagall moved on. "Figures," Ron muttered, "Instead of accepting that maybe my guinea pig was supposed to look like this, she ignores that and gives me homework!" "Don''t be ridiculous, Ronald," Hermione said, "If it was supposed to look like that, Professor McGonagall would have said so!" "Oh, so you''re suddenly a guinea pig expert now?" Ron demanded. Harry suddenly felt the urge to scream at Ron. Hermione had done a great job with her transfiguration, and Ron was dismissing it out of anger or jealousy or¡­ something. Harry wanted to tell his friend off for his insult to Hermione. She had done a wonderful job today, and she didn''t need Ron to downplay her accomplishment, just because he didn''t do his work well enough. If he was honest with himself, it wasn''t the first time over the past couple of weeks this had occurred either. Ever since Ron''s half-hearted apology after the First Task ¨C Harry still found himself wondering why he had accepted Ron''s apology so easily ¨C Ron had ignored a lot of what Hermione had to say. In fact, he still seemed as angry as he had been before the First Task ¨C but his target was now Hermione instead of Harry. Harry still wasn''t sure what that was all about. If Ron and Hermione had argued about whatever was bothering him, Harry hadn''t heard about it. Hermione hadn''t said anything about it. However, Ron''s behavior today reminded him of a similar scene long ago in Charms, during the Levitation lesson. That lesson had ended up with Ron insulting Hermione, and her ending up in a bathroom all day, only to encounter a troll that Harry ¨C and Ron ¨C had to save her from. Sure, it had kickstarted the friendship with Hermione, but it was one of Ron''s worst moments since Harry had met him. Three years later and he was still badmouthing her talents in class because of jealousy or whatever! His reverie was interrupted when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder. He looked at her, and she nodded toward McGonagall''s desk. Harry turned and found McGonagall moving to stand in front of her desk. "May I have your attention, please?" McGonagall asked, with the same raised voice she used during lectures. The students who had been talking to their neighbors, all turned their attention to the Transfiguration Professor. "The Yule Ball is approaching," McGonagall said, "a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above -- although you may invite a younger student if you wish --" Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle. Parvati Patil nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Harry, who ignored them, as did Professor McGonagall. Really, the immaturity of the girls, to interrupt the Professor when she was talking! Why were they laughing anyway? "Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o''clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then --" McGonagall stared deliberately around the class. "The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to ¨C er -- let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice. Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. Harry could see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense. "But that does NOT mean," McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Hogwarts student embarrasses the school in any way." The bell rang at that precise moment. "Keep your guinea pigs ¨C or the half-attempts some of you have produced ¨C on your desks," McGonagall said, as students began to scatter toward the door, "I''ll take care of them. Potter! A word, if you will." Harry had yet to make a move toward the door. He simply remained in his seat. Ron was halfway to the door, and had stopped to look back at Harry. Hermione was still standing at her desk, beside him. "Go on," Harry said to his two friends, "I''ll catch up with you two." Ron shrugged, turned around and left. Hermione looked like she wanted to say something. But she decided against it at the last moment, grabbed her bag and followed Ron out of the room. The rest of the class had already made their way out. "Yes, Professor?" Harry asked. "Potter," McGonagall said, "As champions of the Triwizard Tournament, they and their partners are expected to open up the Yule Ball." "Partners?" Harry asked. "Dance partners, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "Dance partners?!" Harry echoed, "I¡­ I don''t dance, Professor." "Oh, yes, you do," McGonagall said, "And you will." "I''m¡­ Professor, I''m not good at dancing," Harry insisted. McGonagall sighed. She stared at him for a moment, then huffed. "I will teach you." "You want me to dance with you?" Harry asked. "How else am I supposed to teach you?" McGonagall replied, with another huff, "But, I suppose if you do not wish to dance with me, Potter, then I expect you find a date to the Ball as soon as possible. Otherwise for the next two Saturdays ¨C from seven to nine in the evening ¨C you''ll have no choice but to dance with me. No complaints, Potter. I will not have you besmirching Gryffindor because you make a fool of yourself. You represent Gryffindor as much as you do Hogwarts for the Tournament, Potter. Find yourself a date, and tell her she''s invited to practice dancing with you over the next two Saturdays. Because it will either be her, or me, who you''ll be dancing with during the lessons." Harry moped. That was a depressing thought. Finding a date would be hard enough! He couldn''t dance, and he was going to have to basically admit to his date he couldn''t dance ¨C by telling them he and his date were expected at dancing lessons with Professor McGonagall! Who would want to be his date to a Ball if he couldn''t dance?! There were bigger problems than dancing lessons, however. Right now, he hadn''t a clue who he wanted to ask to the Ball. Maybe Cho Chang? No, she was dating Cedric Diggory, his fellow Tournament Champion. Who was he going to ask? "Do you understand me, Potter?" McGonagall asked. "Yes, Professor," Harry said, trying not to show how scared he was. "Excellent," McGonagall said, "You''re excused. Oh, and Potter? Twenty points to you, Miss Granger and Gryffindor. Excellent work today on your transfigurations. I was not lying to your friend, Mr. Weasley. You and Miss Granger were the only two today who successfully transfigured their fowls into pigs with perfect attempts." "Th-thank you, Professor!" Harry said. "You may go," McGonagall said. Harry stood, picked up his bag, and walked out of the classroom. He was so lost in thought about who he should ask to the Ball, he almost didn''t see Hermione leaning against the wall outside the classroom. Ron was suspiciously absent. "Hermione?" Harry asked, "Why are you here? Where''s Ron?" "I was waiting for you," Hermione said. "Oh," Harry said; for some reason, that made him very happy, "Ron didn''t want to wait?" "No," Hermione huffed, "I asked him to wait for you. He said you would find us when you were finished. I told him you wouldn''t be very long. He dismissed that. Then he told me to go with him, because he wanted help on his Transfiguration homework." "He didn''t say that exactly, did he?" Harry asked, giving her a knowing look. Hermione scoffed. "No. You know how he is. He didn''t ask me to help him. It was¡­ almost an order." "Like he expected you to do it for him," Harry said, "What''s new? He does that a lot. I¡­ I''m sorry to say I do too." "No, you don''t Harry," Hermione said, "When you ask me to help you, you merely want me to look over your completed work to check if anything was off. If anything is off, you correct any mistakes, or add things that are necessary. Ron''s work isn''t even completed when he wants me to look over it. It is always half-done, if that. Then he asks me what else he should put down, and when I give him suggestions, he basically writes everything I say, and nothing else. That isn''t me checking it over for him." "He''s trying to disguise it as you making suggestions," Harry said, "When in fact, you''re basically doing it for him. Which he knows you must disapprove of, so he tries to get around that little tidbit." "Yes," Hermione said, "It has always been that way. I don''t even want to know what he had to do during most of November when he wasn''t talking to us. Did he try to fob off his work to someone like Neville, or Seamus?" Harry shrugged. He hadn''t really paid attention to what Ron had done during that time. "I wanted to yell at him earlier, you know," Harry admitted. "What?" Hermione asked. "When he asked you if you were suddenly an expert on guinea pigs," Harry said. "Not only did I wanted to yell at him, I wanted to hit him. You did great today in class, and he basically acted as if you did worse than he did! He might be nicer to me ever since that half-hearted apology after the First Task, but towards you --" "You realized it was a half-hearted apology too?" Hermione asked. "Not until a few days later," Harry said, "To be honest, I was tired after the First Task. All I wanted to do was wind down, maybe get something to eat and relax. I was on the back end of an adrenaline rush. So when he chose that moment to apologize to me, which, mind you, was a very poor apology¡­" "You didn''t want to deal with any drama," Hermione said, "So you accepted his apology. Huh. I¡­ I wonder if he did that on purpose." "What?" Harry asked. "Perhaps he knew you were tired after the First Task," Hermione said. "Maybe he figured you''d still be angry at him, but too tired to do so straight after the task. So he chose that time to make his half-hearted apology when you would be too exhausted to fight him over it." "He didn''t really make an apology, did he?" Harry asked. "He¡­ he just said ''I think somebody''s trying to do you in!'' He admitted he was a git, but that was the most he did. He didn''t say sorry for all the insults, and calling me a cheat or whatever." "But you still accepted his apology," Hermione said. "I''m¡­ not sure I did, Hermione," Harry said, "I still feel angry at him. And not just because of what he did. He''s still a right foul git, you know. Only¡­ it isn''t focused on me anymore. Just you. It is like nothing has changed. You two fought and argued long before the Goblet of Fire spat out my name. And most of the time, you have to admit he was the one to start those fights. And ever since the First Task¡­ its happened again. The separation he had from us those few weeks didn''t change a thing between the two of you. Don''t get me wrong, I blame you for none of that. "Like I said, I wanted to yell at him in there for disrespecting you after you tried to help him. Because it is what he''s always done. I mean, damn it, it is just like that Levitation lesson on Halloween in first year!" "It isn''t that bad, Harry," Hermione mumbled. "It is!" Harry insisted, "Just because you''re not running off to bathrooms anymore, doesn''t mean it isn''t as bad. He might not be telling you that you don''t have any friends, but be honest with me. His attitude today, over four years later ¨C doesn''t it remind you of that Halloween in Charms?" "I¡­ yes, Harry," Hermione said. "It does remind me. His attitude actually constantly reminds me of that, to be honest. I just never said anything to you, because he''s your friend. In fact, he was your first real friend, and I know what meant to you." "He''s been a pretty piss-poor friend lately," Harry said, "He hasn''t learned at all from that Halloween. He''s b?r?ly grown up at all since that day, especially when it comes to how he treats you. And I''ve just started to wake up to that fact over the past couple of weeks. And I don''t like it, Hermione. I don''t like how he treats you. And I''m sorry for never speaking up about it before now." Hermione''s eyes were suspiciously wet. "You really mean that, Harry?" "Yes, I do," Harry said. "You''ve always been there for me. Even last year, with the whole Firebolt thing. You tried to help me, and I¡­ I was just as big of a git as Ron. But after the Goblet of Fire spat my name out, you were the only one there for me. You helped me. I wouldn''t have gotten through the First Task if it wasn''t for you. I don''t feel as if I''ve thanked you enough for that, or for always being there for me. I do feel like a right foul git for that. So, thank you, Hermione." Hermione shocked Harry by dropping her knapsack and pouncing on him in a hug. "Th-thank you, Harry," Hermione said, "That is the¡­ best thing you''ve ever said to me. Maybe the best thing anyone has ever said to me." "Uh¡­ you''re welcome?" Harry said. Harry was shocked he could articulate words. Hermione''s body was pressed against his in a way Harry had never experienced before. Sure she had hugged him, several times since they became friends. But this one was different. For the sole reason, that Harry could ¨C to his embarrassment ¨C feel Hermione''s br??sts against his body. Until now, he had never thought of Hermione with br??sts. He knew she was a girl, and a fifteen year old girl at that, so of course she had those¡­ parts. But he''d never really paid attention to something like that when it came to her. He noticed it on girls like Cho Chang, and Susan Bones ¨C the latter girl was so curvy, it would be hard not to notice! But Hermione? No, not until now. And he didn''t know why. Was it because he had seen her so often over the past three and a half years, that he was oblivious to her ever-changing body? Was it the school robes that were hiding her beauty? Because Harry couldn''t deny it anymore. His best friend Hermione Granger was a beautiful girl. She no longer had the buck-teeth ¨C wait, when did that happen?! Where did they go? Her hair was uncontrollable but that was part of what made Hermione her! She could keep it untamed and uncontrollable, and he would still think she was pretty. Hermione was quite oblivious to Harry''s musings. She was also ¨C thankfully ¨C oblivious to the tightness in Harry''s pants. And if she knew her br??sts had been pressed against him, she didn''t show she was aware of it. Hermione finally released him, and cleared her throat. Her face was so red from blushing, Harry was afraid she might faint from the blood rushing to her face. It was only then that Harry realized they had been standing outside the Transfiguration classroom all this time. Thank Merlin they had a free period before lunch, or they''d be extremely late to their next class! He was about to ask Hermione if she wanted to head back to Gryffindor Tower before lunch, when Hermione found her voice again. "So," Hermione said, clearing her throat again, "what did Professor McGonagall have to say?" "What?" Harry asked; it took a moment for Harry to realize what she asked. "Oh! Er¡­ she said¡­ she told me Champions would be expected to open the Yule Ball first. Champions and their¡­ um¡­ dates?" "Well, that is expected, of course," Hermione said, "I read about it. The Yule Ball is a tradition with every Triwizard Tournament. The three Champions ¨C or in this case four ¨C and their dates are all announced to the rest of the guests at the Ball in a grand showing, to start off the Ball." "She did not tell me that," Harry muttered. "No¡­ she told me we were expected to be the first ones¡­ to dance." "Well, yes, Harry, that should be obvious," Hermione said, "It is a Ball. There is dancing at Balls." "I¡­ I kind of told her ¨C um," Harry found himself mumbling now. "You told her what?" Hermione prodded him to continue. "I told her¡­ I can''t dance," Harry muttered, fully expecting her to take the mickey out of him. "Oh," Hermione said, "Well¡­ that doesn''t surprise me." "Really?" Harry asked, surprised; that was a completely unexpected response. "From what you''ve told me about your relatives," Hermione said, "They don''t seem like the type of people who would teach you how to dance. Or even consider taking you to any social events where you might have danced with anybody." Harry smiled. He knew she shouldn''t have been surprised. Hermione had known him better than anybody, of course. Even though he hadn''t discussed too much about his home life with her, she was still logical enough to deduce clues about that very topic. "Definitely not," Harry said, "Anyway, I told her I can''t dance. And she told me¡­ she basically told me she was going to teach me." "Oh, really?!" Hermione said, beaming; why was she beaming? "You mean, lessons?" Oh. She was beaming, because he was talking about a lesson. Something he could learn. Of course she''d like that. "Um¡­ yeah," Harry said, "Over the next couple of Saturday evenings ¨C seven to nine in the evening, in fact." "Can you invite anybody?" Hermione asked. Harry cleared his throat. "I''m ¨C um ¨C supposed to invite my date. Probably so I can practice with her, so we can prepare for the Ball. A good idea, I suppose." "So you''re only expected to bring your date," Hermione said; she looked rather disappointed. Harry suddenly wanted to invite her to go with him along with his date. Maybe she''d help him so he wouldn''t make a fool of himself. She certainly helped him during the First Task. But why would she want to help him and another girl dance? Then he realized¡­ why did he need another girl? Why did he need to waste time searching classroom, corridor, Common Room and Great Hall for a date to the Ball, when the perfect candidate for that position was standing in front of him? Hermione seemed to want to go to the lessons, after all. Why shouldn''t he grant her that opportunity in the best way? "Hermione?" Harry asked; he wondered if all the other Gryffindors suddenly suffered from a complete lack of courage in that moment, because he felt as if he was sapping up all the courage in the castle to ask the question that was on his mind. "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me¡­ as my date?" He was suddenly nervous. "I mean¡­ you don''t have to. You''d have to suffer through dancing lessons over the next couple of weeks, and maybe end up in the Hospital Wing with broken toes. And if you don''t want to go as a ''date'', precisely, maybe¡­ we could go as friends?" He was buggering this up, and he knew it. But he couldn''t help it, because he was now doubting himself when it came to Hermione. Why would she want to go with him as friends, when she could have an opportunity to go with somebody else ¨C perhaps someone she fancied ¨C as a date? Hermione didn''t say ''yes''. But she didn''t say ''no'' either. In fact she didn''t say anything. She simply stared at him for a long moment. He was about to take back his offer, when Hermione picked up her bag, grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall, and into an unused classroom that was located several feet from the Transfiguration Classroom. She dropped her bag, set his on the floor, then pushed him up against the wall. Before he could say anything, like ask her what she was doing, her hands were cupping his cheeks and her lips were on his. Harry stood frozen for a long moment that seemed to last forever, before his brain kicked itself back into motion and he found himself kissing Hermione back. He could not believe it. Hermione Granger, his best friend, his beautiful friend, was kissing him. And he was kissing her! Why was she kissing him of all people? He couldn''t understand that. Why him? The doubting, nervous, pessimistic side of his mind then shut down, and allowed the rest to focus on simply kissing Hermione. Because it was glorious, and it was perfect, and it was his first kiss, and he wasn''t going to let anything ruin it. After what seemed like an eternity, but was somewhere between thirty seconds and a minute, Hermione backed away. The two friends found breathing difficult, and they panted, trying to bring oxygen back into their lungs. "In case that wasn''t plain enough for you, Harry," Hermione said, "My answer is yes. I would love to be your date to the Ball." "You¡­ you¡­ I¡­" Harry stammered; that pessimistic part of his mind had rebooted itself, "You kissed me." "I did," Hermione said, chuckling. "You kissed me back, by the way." Then she, out of nowhere, abruptly started crying. "Hermione?!" Harry asked, concerned, "What''s wrong?" "Don''t mind me," Hermione sniffled, brushing her hands on her face, and wiping the tears away, "I''m just¡­ really happy you asked me actually. Really relieved too. Same goes for that kiss. That could have turned out completely ugly." Harry didn''t know what to say. "Why are you relieved?" Well it was a better question than ''Why did you kiss me?'' "When I first realized there was going to be a Ball of some kind this year," Hermione said, "Which was around the time I received my booklist this summer, because it said we were required to bring formal wear. I started fantasizing about the whole thing. I started wondering who I wanted to dance with at the Ball. I figured¡­ okay, I wasn''t certain you were going to ask me to the Ball. In fact, I believed you wouldn''t even consider asking me. "At the very most, I was hoping you might dance with me for a dance or two, even if you were going to the Ball with somebody else. I actually didn''t think you would ask me. I figured I''d be going with somebody else ¨C don''t ask me who, because I don''t know. In my fantasy, my date had no face. You and Ron were the only faces, because I figured I''d dance with both of you since you were my friends ¨C I mean, when you weren''t dancing with your date anyway." Hermione sighed. "Let''s just say you asking me to the Ball is something I didn''t expect." "Why?" Harry asked. "Because I knew you fancied Cho Chang," Hermione said, "So I figured you would ask her. If not Cho Chang, then maybe someone like Katie Bell, because she''s on the Quidditch team with you. When I thought of her, I thought ¨C okay, Fred and George will pick two of three girls, and the last one might go with Harry!" "They''d probably fob her off to their friend, Lee, Hermione," Harry said, with a snort. "That¡­ is a good point," Hermione said. "Anyway, my point is¡­ there are several other girls you could have asked instead of me. "And, well, because of who you are, whoever you asked would probably have said yes." "Okay, first off, how many of those girls know Harry Potter?" Harry asked, "And how many girls know me as the Boy-Who-Lived?" Hermione sighed. "The scales are tipped extremely on the side of the Boy-Who-Lived." "Exactly," Harry said, "the only girl who was on my mind to ask was Cho Chang, that was until I realized she''s dating Cedric Diggory. To be honest, if I asked her¡­ I''m not sure I would have had a very good time at the Ball. I b?r?ly know her. I liked her because she is pretty." "A lot of boys like girls because they''re pretty, Harry," Hermione said, "I know I''m not¡­" "Stop!" Harry said, immediately, before she could say anything else. "Don''t say that, Hermione. I think you''re beautiful. Gorgeous even." "Harry," Hermione mumbled. "I''m sure you''ll be the star of the Yule Ball," Harry said. "But that isn''t the only reason I asked you. Hermione, you''re one of those girls who sees me as ''just Harry''. Frankly you may be one of the very few who does. Most who grew up listening to those false legends of the Boy-Who-Lived certainly don''t just see the real me. I''m not sure they want to know the real me. However, there''s a big difference between those girls and you. "Nobody else in this castle has been there for me the way you have. Ron''s betrayal last month demoted him to just friend. You''re my best friend, Hermione. You''ve never betrayed me. If anything, I betrayed you during the whole Firebolt thing. You were perfectly right to be suspicious about the broom, even if it turned out to be just fine. It was an anonymous gift, not to mention such a grand gift. And at the time, we thought there was a mass murderer after me. You weren''t in the wrong, Hermione. I was. Ron was worse, because he was all pent up over a possession that was mine, and he seemed to think it was his broom. "I''m getting way off topic here. Hermione, you''re the reason I survived the First Task. I wouldn''t be here if it wasn''t for you. Frankly, I''m astounded it took me this long to realize exactly what you mean to me." Hermione sniffled, and a teary-eyed smile formed across her face. She cleared her throat. "Harry, I''ve been keeping a secret from you for¡­ well, quite a while. To be honest, if you hadn''t asked me to the Ball, I would probably never be able to say this. I¡­ I think I started fancying you after you saved me from the troll. I definitely fancied you the night you protected the Stone from Quirrel. I¡­ I started to fall in love with you, the night we saved Sirius. That¡­ that ride on Buckbeak together. I never felt anything like it. It was so scary up there. You know how I am about heights. But¡­ when I wrapped my arms around you, I forgot all about my fears. It was because of you, Harry. You made me feel safe and secure." "Hermione, I can''t believe I''m about to say this," Harry said, "I don''t want you to just be my date to the Yule Ball, Hermione. Will you¡­ maybe¡­ be my girlfriend?" Hermione beamed. "I want nothing more than to be your girlfriend, Harry. My answer is yes." Harry had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face. Hermione was his girlfriend! He was Hermione Granger''s boyfriend! Hermione giggled at his expression, then kissed him again. Before he could lose himself in her lips again, she backed away. "However," she said. "Uh-oh," Harry muttered, "That''s almost as bad as ''but''." Hermione smiled. "I wonder if we should keep it a secret for now." "You''re not having second thoughts, are you?" Harry asked, concerned; he tried to save face. "Am I that bad of a kisser?" Hermione giggled again. "You''re a perfectly good kisser, Harry. I''m not having second thoughts. However¡­ if we announce it, we''re not going to get any privacy." That was a fair point. The problem was¡­ did he want to keep it private? After all, if nobody knew Hermione had a date to the ball, he was sure someone would try to ask her to the Ball! "I''ll make you a deal," Harry said, "We can keep the fact that we''re¡­ boyfriend and girlfriend¡­ a couple¡­ to ourselves, for as long as possible. I would value the privacy that would give us as well. However¡­ I will not¡­ in fact, I refuse to keep the fact that you''re my date to the Yule Ball a secret. In fact, I''m going to ask you again at lunch. There''ll be enough witnesses that the gossip will get around the castle by dinnertime. Otherwise, boys are going to try to ask you to the Yule Ball." Hermione smiled. "I¡­ yes, that is a good point. In fact, I should have thought of that. Also, don''t put yourself down, Harry James. If girls didn''t think you had a date, there would probably be girls coming up to you ¨C most of whom have probably never said a word to you before -- hoping you''d take them." "That will probably happen anyway," Harry said, with a snort, "I said it earlier, didn''t I? I''m the Boy-Who-Lived, and one of the Champions. They''re going to ask me even though I already have a date. Because they think they would be a better date than you are. They would be completely wrong, however. Hermione, no matter how many girls insist they should be my date instead of you, you are the perfect girl for me. The only girl for me. I will tell that to any girl who dares ask me." It was Hermione''s time to smile goofily, which complimented the fact that she no longer had buck teeth. "Okay, how about this?" she asked, "Until the Yule Ball, we keep the kissing and¡­ snogging¡­ private. Also, no holding hands in public. No public displays of affection until the Yule Ball. If you want, we can have our big public kiss at the Yule Ball. To everyone else, we''re simply each other''s date to the Yule Ball. Don''t get me wrong. I''m thrilled to be your girlfriend. I just want a little privacy between you and I, so we can enjoy ourselves as a couple for a little while, before I''m thrown into the spotlight as the girlfriend of the Boy-Who-Lived!" Harry smiled at her jest. He knew she didn''t see herself as the girlfriend of the Boy-Who-Lived. She was ''just Harry''s'' girlfriend. She was simply saying what everyone else was going to be thinking of. "I can see Rita Skeeter jumping in joy at the headlining article right now," Harry deadpanned, deciding a jest would let her understand he knew she was jesting too, "I completely agree with that, Hermione. I would love to try to keep our relationship private, between just the two of us, for as long as possible. Even if that means we have a big ''first kiss'' at the Ball." "Thank you, Harry," Hermione said. "So, no public kissing and snogging," Harry said, "What is public and what is private?" "The Gryffindor Common Room is too public," Hermione said. "Um¡­ unused classrooms like this? And¡­ oh, Merlin¡­ I suppose I''ll lower my standards to broom closet snogs for the sake of privacy." Harry snickered. "You definitely don''t strike me as someone who would drag me into a broom closet." Hermione blushed. "I''m sure I could get used to it, for privacy''s sake. Um¡­ well, I suppose if we can find a private patch on the Hogwarts grounds if the weather doesn''t get too bad, that might also be an option. That will be limited, of course. Before too long, the grounds will likely be covered in feet of snow, as per usual during Scottish winters." "The covered bridge?" Harry suggested. "Please, Harry," Hermione said, with a snort, "It''s the third most popular snogging spot in the castle." "How would you know that?" Harry asked. Hermione blushed. "I''ve caught my fair share of couples there. Frankly, I consider myself lucky they were doing nothing more than snogging, what with teenage hormones running rampant and all. Relax, Harry. I promise you, aside from a six-year old boy who kissed me on the playground when I was little, you''re my very first kiss." "Six-year old boy?" Harry asked; suddenly wondering why he was so jealous of a little boy ¨C who might now be Hermione''s age. "I think it was a dare from his older brother," Hermione said, still blushing. "He ran off to an older boy, looking so embarrassed after it happened. "Who was this little boy?" Harry asked, "Is he your age? Did he live in your neighborhood? Does he still live there?" "Oh, Harry," Hermione said, "You''re adorable when you''re jealous. I promise you, Harry. It didn''t count. He lived nowhere near me. It was on a playground in a park outside my parents'' clinic, which is several miles from my home, by the way. I''ve never seen him again. I wouldn''t even recognize him if I did. Why are we talking about this, Harry?" "Because you remember it enough to compare it to your first kiss!" Harry exclaimed. "Can you even call our first kiss your first kiss?!" Hermione pecked him on the lips, and looked into his green eyes. "Harry, listen to me, you silly, jealous idiot. I consider you my first kiss. Didn''t I say that? It was the perfect first kiss. Maybe, if you stop being a jealous idiot, you just might be the only one to ever kiss me." "Aside from a six year old boy," Harry grumbled; he winced when she backhanded him across his ?h?st. "Ow! I''m joking. I very much hope I''m the only person to kiss you. I certainly want you to be the only one to kiss me. Fan-girls who don''t know the word ''no'', notwithstanding. Ow!" She had backhanded him again. "I''ll hex any girl who dares try to kiss you, Harry Potter!" Hermione growled. "Only I get that honor!" Harry merely smiled. "Yes, ma''am. What are the first and second most popular snogging spots? The Astronomy Tower, I ?ssume?" "Yes," Hermione said, "And the library." "The¡­ library?" Harry asked, "Madame Pince''s domain is the second most popular snogging spot in the castle?" "I know, right?" Hermione said, grinning. "But there are a lot of hidden corners and crannies in the library. They''re not meant for snogging though. They''re meant for private places to read without interruption." "Sounds tailor-made for some good snogging spots, actually," Harry said, grinning. "Is that on your list of private locations?" Hermione playfully glared at him. "Maybe if I feel naughty, and you''re a good boy." "Naughty? Really?" Harry asked, grinning when she blushed. "Does me asking you to the Ball and to be my girlfriend count as me being a good boy?" "No," Hermione said, "But we can go and find that private patch on the Grounds I mentioned earlier." "Really?" Harry asked, grinning. "It is a free period right now," Hermione said, "And we still have an hour until lunch. I have nothing better to do. I certainly don''t want to find Ron right now. Especially if he is still going to try to ask me to do his Transfiguration homework." "I''m going to talk to him about his behavior towards you, Hermione," Harry said. "You don''t need to do that," Hermione said. "Yes, I do," Harry said. "He''s soon going to discover you''re my date to the Ball. I''m quite sure we''re about to experience a new fit of jealousy and anger from him, probably before the end of the day. A confrontation will come. You''re my girlfriend. I know you can take care of yourself, but I have a right to defend you now, more than ever. The inevitable confrontation would be the best time to do it." Hermione sighed. "Okay, Harry. But be careful. Make sure it is a public confrontation, in the Common Room at the very least. Definitely not your dormitory! And please do your best not to end up in the Hospital Wing, or in detention. Today has become such a wonderful day. I don''t want you to ruin it." "It is a great day for me too, Hermione," Harry said, "I''ll do my best not to ruin it. However, if anyone''s going to ruin it for us¡­" "It will be Ronald," Hermione scowled. "Yes, I can see your point. He does tend to have a remarkable talent with that particular skill, doesn''t he?" "He''s better at it than he is at chess," Harry joked, "Which is saying something. He rivals Malfoy when it comes to that talent actually." Hermione chuckled. "Alright, boyfriend. Let''s go and find that private patch." "Lead the way, girlfriend," Harry said. "You do realize we''ve been in the same area of the Transfiguration classroom since we left class several minutes ago?" "We did kind of get lost in conversation, Harry," Hermione said, "At least there was an unused classroom here, so we didn''t end up kissing in the middle of a corridor!" "There is that silver lining," Harry muttered. Hermione giggled, as she picked up her bag. Wondering where this giggly side of his girlfriend had been hiding over the last few years, Harry picked up his bag as well, and they left the room. Only to find Professor McGonagall walking down the corridor, in their direction, from her classroom. Harry winced when she raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "And just what were you two doing in an unused classroom?" McGonagall demanded. "Harry asked me to the Yule Ball, Professor McGonagall," Hermione said, smiling, "He wanted to make sure we had privacy to do so, so he dragged me into the classroom." "Oh, I dragged you, did I?" Harry asked. Hermione elbowed Harry, then looked mighty embarrassed at doing such a thing in front of her favorite Professor. Wait¡­ was that a hint of a smile on the Head of Gryffindor House? "And what was your answer, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked. "I said ''yes'', Professor," Hermione said, with a bright smile. "Well, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, "If you were so good at doing everything I''ve requested of you over the years, like you did with getting yourself a date so quickly, you might be the top student in your year in my class, instead of Miss Granger here." "Um¡­ yes, Professor," Harry said, hoping the blush on his cheeks wasn''t so prominent. "Well done, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, "I''m very happy for the both of you. Have you told her about the dancing lessons?" "He has," Hermione said, "And we will both be happy to attend, ma''am." "Then I''ll expect you both in my classroom Saturday at seven in the evening," McGonagall said. "Do not be late, even if you have to attend an early dinner so you can be here on time." "We will be on time, Professor," Hermione promised; Harry simply nodded. "Good," McGonagall said. "Professor?" Hermione asked, "Er¡­ could you keep this quiet until lunch at the earliest? Harry''s going to publicly ask me then in front of witnesses at lunch, so we won''t be swamped with requests to the Ball over the next two weeks." "I wasn''t aware you thought me a gossip, Miss Granger," McGonagall said, raising an eyebrow. Hermione looked horrified. "You aren''t, ma''am. I should not have implied. My apologies." "Apology accepted, Miss Granger," McGonagall said, "I''ll make sure I am in attendance at lunch. I wouldn''t want to miss an event like this. Good luck, Mr. Potter. By the way, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. Next time, perhaps you might think about having such a long and meaningful discussion somewhere better than outside my classroom?" Harry and Hermione blushed and stammered. "Yes, ma''am," Hermione said, "We did, admittedly, lose track of time." "Understandable, Miss Granger," McGonagall said, "I was not eavesdropping on you, I ?ssure you. I was simply aware you were there, because I have certain wards outside my classroom, in order to prevent mischief from certain¡­ trouble-makers who may want to¡­ prank such a location." Harry grinned. He knew she was talking about Fred and George Weasley. With a knowing smirk, McGonagall walked by them. "Twenty points for your classwork today, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger." "You already gave us points, Professor," Harry said. "Did I?" McGonagall asked. "See you at lunch." McGonagall walked off down the corridor, and Harry stared at her, trying to figure out what those points were for. "Did she just give us points for becoming a couple, Hermione?" Harry asked. "Impossible, Harry," Hermione said, "She doesn''t know we''re a couple." Harry nodded. That was a good point. "She probably gave you twenty points for finding a dance partner for your lessons so quickly however," Hermione said, with a smirk. Translation: McGonagall very much approved of Harry''s choice of date. Harry could only stare after Hermione as she started off down the corridor. Then he hurried after her. He suddenly discovered there was a certain¡­ appeal¡­ to letting her lead him wherever they traveled. He was so distracted by such an appeal, he nearly missed the first step on the Grand Staircase. Chapter End Chapter 61 - Harry Pottor Fan-fiction 18 - Rewriting Destiny Plot: They thought after Voldemort''s fall that the world would get better. But they were wrong. The Death Eaters are still ruling, using politics instead of hexes. With the dwindling Wizarding population and no one left to fight, they must go back in time to before Voldemort rose to power to fix what broke in the past. Nominated for Best James and Best Peter in the 2018 Marauder Medals! Pairing: Draco M x Hermione G NOTE: Some Slash (bw Sirus and Remus). Draco reborn as Draco Black (Narcissa younger brother), Hermione reborn as Hermione Pottor (James younger sister) Chapter 1 She supposed in hindsight it all began on the day Voldemort fell. On the day that Harry defeated him at Hogwarts for the entire world to see. All of a sudden, it was all over; the war that had been raging in the public light for the better part of the last two years, but behind the scenes from a time before she was even born. Voldemort was dead, and that should have been the end of it. It should have been over when he fell. That''s what they all thought would happen. That the only thing left would be to clean up the mess that was left behind. To round up all the rogue Death Eaters, and toss them in Azkaban to rot for the rest of their lives. To repair the damage done to the wizarding world. To rebuild the school, the Ministry of Magic, and all the other places that had been badly damaged through all the fighting and battles. To re-elect a new Minister of Magic, one who was not a puppet as those behind him had been. Fudge to those with the deepest pockets. Scrimgeour to the public who tried to keep the Death Eater population by any means necessary, even recruiting a b?r?ly legal teenager to be the official mascot of the Ministry. Or Thicknesse, who was nothing more than a puppet for Voldemort, whose strings were pulled in any direction he so chose. But now should have been a time for change, with a Minister who restored peace, and let their world heal together. A minister who opposed the way that things had been before, and who wanted the wizarding world to try and recover from the horrors they had endured under Voldemort''s reign and terror. Except that was the opposite of what happened, except, she supposed, for the structural repairs the world underwent. Those were unavoidable, regardless of how the outcome of the war went. No Death Eaters were thrown into Azkaban. Instead, they weaselled their ways out. They feigned innocence, claiming to have done the things they did out of fear that if they did not, it would have been far worse for them. They claimed their families and bloodlines were threatened. They claimed that they were horrified, and had no idea why Voldemort went as far as he did. And they had all the proof they needed of Voldemort''s crimes. For where once stood nearly two hundred wizarding families, now stood less than a quarter of that number. The wizarding population had declined rapidly, and it was the most troubling thing of all. In hindsight, she knew that was the basis of the war that was to come. The new Minister of Magic was not the one she had hoped. She had hoped Kingsley would take over, denouncing the actions of Voldemort, and trying to reunite them all. She had hoped that once he took office, he would begin to push legislation to save them, to make it so that such a thing never happened again. Instead, to her utter disbelief, it was Lucius Malfoy who took office. Lucius Malfoy, who had all but forced his son to become a Death Eater, by him and Voldemort holding Narcissa as a hostage. Lucius Malfoy who dropped a horcrux in the cauldron of a girl who was eleven. Lucius, who fought them at fifteen and sixteen at the Ministry of Magic openly. Who had housed Voldemort in his home for nearly two years. Who had watched her be tortured in his own home, only encouraging it further. Lucius Malfoy, who was a Death Eater to his very core. He was the one who became the Minister of Magic, claiming that he knew how dark the old ways had been and that he would bring them into a new era of peace. It had disgusted her to no end. She had been vocally opposed to the appointment. But she was b?r?ly nineteen years old. She had no family influence, and hadn''t even completed her NEWTs. She was Hermione Granger, a no body with no education, and her words were not taken seriously. She had hoped that Harry''s would, for he was the one who saved them all for Voldemort. He was the one who defeated him in the end. The wizarding world had to listen to the Chosen One, didn''t they? But they didn''t. They told him Lucius had reformed. That he never wanted any part in the war. That none of the Death Eaters did. But it was either join, or face death. Hermione still thought that personally, given the choice, she would have chosen death. And so, they rose from the ashes. They didn''t have to hide behind Voldemort''s shadow any longer. The Death Eaters reclaimed their former places in the world, and somehow, it felt as if nothing had changed. That Voldemort hadn''t been around for the last three years, killing everyone and anyone who opposed them. As if she hadn''t spent the last year of her life on the run, not sure if she would ever see the end of the war. Now they held those positions, and pretended it was a time of peace. They pretended that the legislation they were pushing was for the benefit of the wizarding world. It was meant to strengthen the statute of secrecy, they claimed. For given the devastation they had just faced, they needed to preserve their numbers. And the members of Wizengamot used the excuses of muggle war tactics. Which, she could hardly argue against. Given nuclear bombs, the muggle world could easily wipe out the wizarding world with a single drop of a bomb. She knew it was unlikely to happen. The statute had been preserved for years. What difference did it make if some muggleborn''s parents knew about their child and their abilities? It was a scare tactic, but the problem was that it worked. All it took was some devastating post world war two pictures in the Daily Prophet, and all of a sudden there was a widespread acceptance of the law. It didn''t matter that she opposed it. It didn''t matter that Harry tried to argue against it. It didn''t matter. The next stage, she supposed, happened in small steps. She had b?r?ly begun to notice the pattern before it had happened to her. At twenty years old, she was working in the Department of Mysteries. At twenty-one she was well on her way to working herself up the ranks, already as a Junior Unspeakable. It would have been a few more years before she was given the rank of Unspeakable at all. But that was before the Ministry started dismissing muggleborns in any positions that were high up. They didn''t give any official reasoning, just giving the standard "failure to meet guidelines" or other garbage they came up to justify why they were doing so. It was absolute shite. It was their way, the Death Eater''s way, of officially making sure muggleborns were kept in their place; well below purebloods, and even half-bloods. She didn''t blame the faction of muggleborns that rebelled afterwards. How could she, when all she wanted to do was join them on the streets. All she wanted to do was protest loudly, hoping someone would finally hear them. She wasn''t allowed to give her parents their memory back, not unless she was also oblivated and joined them in the muggle world. She wasn''t allowed to work. She wasn''t allowed to speak out, and let her voice be heard, because no one was listening. Or perhaps they just didn''t care. That''s what happens, she supposed, when the majority of Wizengamot seats were held by former Death Eaters, who despite what they claimed, still very much believed in blood purity, and making sure those they believed were below them stayed in their place. It was why a few of them started riots on the streets. And when the Aurors were dispatched, it led to a bloody battle. And while the number of muggleborns that were killed, despite how high it was, it was insignificant. Not when the number of pure and halfblood deaths were in the double digits. Not when the wizarding world was already facing so many losses to their numbers. The only jobs available were jobs she never would have dreamed of holding as a child. The jobs were the lowest of the low; cleaning wizards, wizards who were essentially no more than house-elves, working for families, for less than a galleon a day, well beyond any sort of minimum wage that was needed to survive. They got jobs which magic easily could be used to complete, but they were not allowed to use to earn their keep. And those were the ones that were pleasant. Of course, if any muggleborns wanted to make more, they could always serve as a personal whore for any of those of worthy statuses. And it broke her heart how many of them turned to that option, just hoping to make enough to survive. It was meant to drive them out. To drive out anyone without any wizarding family or name to fall back on. For people like her who did not have a vault in Gringotts full of a fortune left to her by generations of family before her. To show her that she did not belong in this new world, of what was essentially slavery. Ron had offered to marry her, trying to be helpful, for it would mean that she could use the Weasley name to try and sustain herself, but she refused. She loved her friend too much to make him give up a life of genuine happiness with someone he would actually love. It didn''t turn into a war until a few months later, when the newest law was passed. One which prevented muggleborns from entering the wizarding world all together. They had claimed muggleborns to be too dangerous to their fragile society, citing the recent examples of muggleborns just trying to make sure they had the b?r? minimum resources to survive. Muggleborns were all but slaves to their pureblood counterparts, working for their amusement. She wanted to leave it all behind, to go to the muggle world and give up. But her friends wouldn''t let her. The Order wouldn''t let her. Because it wasn''t just muggleborns who had a lot to lose in this war. It was the entire wizarding world. There was already such a low population, and with all the inbreeding that would occur without new additions of blood into old lines, or even just marrying those of lesser statuses, the wizarding world would die out. Maybe not now, or in a decade, but easily within a few generations. So, they fought. They fought back every day, for the last year. But if anything, they were losing more and more ground every day. Those muggleborns that remained were now being paid mot with money, but with housing and food, despite the living conditions being deplorable, and were facing malnutrition. And anyone, even of being suspected of being a threat to the peace, was immediately locked up. Or so they claimed. Hermione was pretty sure they were just being Avada-ed and their bodies vanished. Voldemort may have devastated the wizarding world, but it was the actions of his Death Eaters using politics and dirty tricks which they never would recover from. Even now, she feared it was too late. They had already suffered so many losses, fighting each day, and honestly, Hermione was surprised they had lasted anywhere near as long as they did. They had lost so many people they cared about in such a short time. Those who had survived Voldemort''s reign, had all but fallen during this new supremacy state of government. She had lost Andromeda, Teddy, as he was the son of a halfbreed, Kingsley, who she was pretty sure was killed in a political ?ssassination before this all began, McGonagall who had been very vocal about her displeasure of this all, and so many others she had considered to be family. But what had hurt the most, was Ron. It still broke her heart, just thinking about it, seeing his body sprawled out on the ground, broken and mangled. All because he had disagreed with the Ministry. All because he was fighting for people like her. In the end, it wasn''t about her anyways. It was about pureblood supremacists believing they were at the top, and at the end of the day the rest of them were below them. She wanted to believe that they had a chance to fight against this. That they would be able to recover. But she knew it was too late. The point of no return was that battle of May 1998. On that day, they could have gone two different ways. They could have saved the world, and tried to heal and recover. Or they could have gone down the path they did now. "You don''t have to do this, Hermione," she heard a voice call to her, and she was broken out of the rumination she was in. She looked up at Harry, watching him limp through the room, as she felt her throat tighten. She stood in front of the cauldron, which was bubbling a vivid green colour, as it waited on its final ingredients. "You and I both know that we need to, Harry," she said softly, "The war is all but over. There''s no one left to fight against this. It''s just us now. And when we''re gone, there''s no one to oppose this new world we''re living in. There''s no one who will fight the injustice. They''re all dead, or have given up. We can''t give up not. Not when we fought for so long against this. Not when we all know that none of us, wizarding population alike, will survive if we go down this current path." "I know," Harry let out a deep sigh, as he ran his hand through his hair. "I know. I just wish it didn''t have to come to this." "It should be you, you know," she said softly, looking up at him. "It''s your family. It''s not fair for me to go back, and live among them. Not when you never had to chance to grow up with your parents." He smiled at her, in a heartbreaking kind of way, "I don''t know if I could. How do I live among my father and his friends, knowing the things that I do? How do I see Peter Pettigrew every day, and not kill him on the spot for the things he did to my parents, and to Sirius and Remus? I can''t do it, Hermione. We both know my emotions would get in the way, and ruin the entire mission. But you''ve always been the logical one. The one who could see pat things like that and do what needed to be done when it came down to it. You need to be the one who goes back and changes the past." "I know," she said, looking down, filled with pain and with dread. It wasn''t an easy decision to come to, that they only solution would be to go back in time and change the outcome of the war. To stop the things that had happened from happening. It wasn''t enough to go back to May 1998, for the seed of hate was already deeply imbued, and the damage of the war was too much to recover from. No, they needed to go back even further, to the time of the height of Voldemort''s power, during the first world war, and stop it then itself. "All that''s missing is the drops of blood, to tie us to the families we will be returning to," Hermione murmured. "You could have cast it too, you know. Your grandmother was a Black." "I know," he said. "But it won''t be my blood we''re using. Are you sure that he''s the right choice for this? After everything that''s happened?" She looked up, to see Harry gesturing to Draco Malfoy, who was entering the room, holding the knife they needed to cut their hands. "Still having doubts, Potter?" Malfoy drawled, looking more annoyed than anything else. "For Salazar''s sake, Potter. We both know why I''m going back. We both know I''ve been on your side fighting against my Father and his regime for the better part of this war." "What if you''re a spy?" Harry snapped. "What if you''re the one who has been reporting to your father this entire time. What if this is your attempt to sabotage the last chance we have of saving us all?" "You wouldn''t even have this bloody ritual if it weren''t for me!" Malfoy spat. "I''m the one who got it for you from the Black family library! It''s my family magic that will allow it to work! We both know I am not a spy for my father! Not after Bellatrix killed my mother for telling Voldmort you were not dead in that forest. Not after my father stood back and watched it, only saying he was glad to be rid of a traitor after it was over. I want nothing to do with my father, Potter." "We know," Hermione said quickly, giving Harry a dirty look. It would do no good to alienate Malfoy now. He was right, he was the one who brought the ritual to them. He was the one who had suggested it. He was the one who fought by her side in their battles of rebellion against his father''s system. She may not like him, but she trusted he was on their side. "We should cast this soon," Malfoy said glancing around the room. "It''s only a matter of time before they track us to this location. And if they do before we''re gone, it''s over. This is our only chance of casting it." "Did you decide which side of your family you''re returning to?" Hermione asked him softly. It was different for her, she didn''t have a non-extinct pureblood family line to return to. It was why she and Harry had performed a blood ritual earlier, one which allowed her to be formally adopted into the Potter family. It wasn''t an uncommon ritual, often used by pureblood families to adopt children into their family, to be able to maintain their bloodlines and purity. So for all intents and purposes, Hermione was a Potter. Which she would need to be, for the ritual to work, and for her to be sent back to the Potter family as their daughter. "The Blacks," Draco said quietly. "My father is beyond saving. I don''t think anything will sway him from the path he chose. But as a Black I can save more people. I can stop my mother from marrying him. I can stop the tragic fate of the Black family from dying out as they did." Hermione nodded, agreeing with his choice. It would be easier too, given that Draco''s future (or past, she supposed) cousin, Sirius, would be the best friend of her soon to be brother. They would need to communicate, and the simpler the lie, the better. She thought about it, how insane it was, when Malfoy had found but dismissed thoughts of the ritual. But how she and Harry had fought for it, knowing it was their only chance. "So what," Malfoy had said, incredulously. The offer for the ritual was a long shot, never meant to actually come to pass. And it was clear that Malfoy could not believe that she and Harry actually going along with the plan. "We just go back to 1972 and wait around for a decade for Voldemort to try and kill your boyfriend''s parents?" Hermione rolled her eyes, not bothering to rise to the taunt. She knew he was more scared than anything else. "No, we be smart. The war ended in 1981, but it reached its peak in the 1970s. It was when Voldemort rallied his followers, half of whom are causing the damage out there right now. So, we be smart, we gain friendships and alliances, making sure he doesn''t get half the support he did have the first time. We make sure he doesn''t get half the political advantage he had. Obviously, the only thing that will bring him down is making sure his horcruxes are destroyed. And while not all of those are created, the ones that already have been made will not be in circulation until the late 1970s when everyone has made their stance already. So, we use the beginning to make sure his numbers never reach what they were. We make sure certain friendships are never severed, and make sure others are exposed for the lies they are. And we make sure when Voldemort goes down, this time for good, so do his Death Eaters." "It''s time," Harry said, looking out the window, and Hermione sensed the wards around the place slowly being breached. "You know," Hermione said with a watery laugh, looking at her friend. "If this works, the next time I see you, I''ll be your aunt." And it was true. If she succeeded, and Voldmort fell before James and Lily died, she would see Harry the next time when he was born in 1980. There was no coming back from this; she would be there to stay, alongside Malfoy. And it should have hurt her more, knowing she would be losing her best friend. But they would all be dead if she stayed, and it drove her forward. "I''m sure you''ll be my favourite Aunt," Harry smiled, hugging her tightly. "I believe in you, Hermione. If anyone can succeed at this brilliant and completely insane plan, it would be you." She nodded, unable to say anything else. When she pulled away, she saw Malfoy handing her the blade which had been in his family for many generations. The very knife that had carved those horrid words into her skin. If she succeeded and they went back, she knew the words would be removed from her body. She took the knife gingerly, and sliced her palm, pouring a few drops of blood into the boiling cauldron. Malfoy took the knife from her and started to cut his pale while palm. "Hurry," Harry urged, "The wards are nearly down. They''ll be inside the building any minute now." She heard the walls beginning to rattle, and she knew that the Aurors would be inside the building soon, and if she was still there when they came in, it would mean their instant death. He took his hand and poured his blood into the cauldron. She pressed her cut palm to Malfoy''s, and closed her eyes. "Tergum in Tempus," she chanted, as Malfoy chanted simultaneously. She felt the magic begin to circle around her, encompassing her. She repeated the words, as she saw golden strands begin to circle them both. She heard a loud bang, as the door was blasted open, Aurors filling into the room, wands pointed at them. She was grateful for the brief moment of surprise on their faces, unsure of what to make of the scene in front of them. But once they came to, it was too late. Hermione and Draco had gone back to 1972, and hopefully this time, things would go far differently. The fate of the Wizarding world depended on it. Chapter End Chapter 62 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 19 - Beyond The Veil Plot: X-Men Evolution and Harry Potter Crossover. After stepping through the veil in the Department of Mysteries, Harry finds himself in an alternate universe. He has to find a way to adapt to a war of a different kind. Pairings: Harry/Kitty/Rogue/Rachel/Laura/Illyana/Amara/Wanda/Jean [more in vol.2] NOTE: Has lots of lemon scenes (not too relevant to the plot), the story/plot is well though out and has some character development (not just a typical harem story) Chapter 01: Arrival. Loud footsteps thundered in the distance. A group of heavily uniformed army personnel chased a dark haired youth through a maze of abandoned buildings in a bad part of a town. The young man continued to gain further speed, but he was finding it rather difficult to give the men and women chasing him the slip. There were two things that were very plain to anyone who was watching. The first thing was this young man was not from around here. His dress when he arrived indicated this, and raised the alarm for suspicion from eyewitnesses. He managed to swipe some clothes that would allow him to be more inconspicuous, but first he had to shake these people off. That was easier said than done. The second thing that was obvious was that he was way over his head, and pretty much running on fumes. All he had was his wits, and any survival instincts he could manage with. There were a few tricks up his sleeve, but he was reluctant to use them, at least until the time was right. The chase continued, and the young man dodged behind a fence area. He allowed himself a few seconds to catch his breath. He wiped his dark hair away from his face. His hair was normally messy, and quite unruly, but it was more so since he had arrived here. It was a hair style that people would notice right away. His breath continued to become more and more labored. He rushed forward, trying to shake off his potential pursuers, and the whirling of helicopters from above indicated that more people had joined in on the chase. He ran as fast as he can. Eventually, he would run out of room, and his back would be against the wall. The dark haired young man wondered where he was going anywhere. And he had never been in more trouble in his life. The military of wherever he was continued to chase him. There was a bit of a misunderstanding a while back, but they shot first. Harry just defended himself. He continued to pick up the pace. Breathing came harder. Yet, he tried to push on. Despite being a wizard, Harry''s stamina had certain limits. Through the ability of magic, he was able to push himself past those limits. Utilizing magic could be a tricky process; especially the kind of magic Harry was intending to do. A few warning shots fired in the air. Harry remained alert, and ready to defend himself should the shots get too close for comfort. "Freeze right there, and come quietly!" Harry deflected the bullets back before they could hit him. They disappeared into the air, much to the shock and surprise to those people who fired to him. ''I really wish I didn''t have to do that,'' Harry thought to himself. His heart sped up a little bit, as the situation continued to grow more serious. ''Now, they''re going to have even more reason to come after me.'' Harry felt he was perfectly justified in defending himself. For the past year at Hogwarts, he had been pushed around by that foul woman. He had his skull cracked up by Snape with torturous teaching sessions, and now he was being chased halfway across the desert by this military. He was not about to take it anymore. There was only so many times he could be knocked around, before he determined enough was enough. A purple shield appeared around him, and it blew everyone back. Desperate times called for desperate actions. He never tried this before. In fact, he was warned that there could be dire consequences if an untrained wizard tried this type of magic. He felt like he was being squeezed through a very thin tube. The urge to vomit visited him immediately, but he shook it off. The important part was that he was here, and he was safe. Harry made a mental note that he still preferred flying. At least through he was in one piece, and Harry wiggled his fingers and his toes to verify this. He slumped against the wall, and inhaled and exhaled heavily. The arrival, and then the chase had winded him. At least he had given these people the slip. At least for now, but something told him that it was easier said than done. It was never that easy. Now he had to figure out where he was. Harry allowed himself a look around, to try and puzzle out where he was. He needed to find this important detail out, for it would be the key factor of piecing together a way to get home. Harry picked up the pace, and continued to press forward on his journey into mystery. One instinct of survival he picked up was never to stay in the same place for too long, especially when he was being chased. He learned that the hard way during his childhood with Dudley and his gang. Stick around one area for too long, and it is too easy to get cornered. The street signs indicated that Harry was in New York, in the United States of America. A country he knew very little about, other than of course there was an entire ocean between it and the United Kingdom. Also, he knew that despite technically being the same language, there were some slight differences between American English and British English. Harry remained on his toes. He kicked a newspaper on the street in the air .The newspaper was called the Daily Bugle, and had the headline, "Spider-Man: Threat or Menace" on it. Harry scarcely paid attention to this. He had to keep moving, no matter what. His heart slowed down at least. He was not sure if magic users could drop dead from a heart attack, a stroke, or suffer any other Muggle ailment. "You seem lost, lad." Harry turned around. He saw a very outlandish out man wearing a blue suit. He had grey hair and thick glasses. He had a bright, grandfatherly expression to him, and Harry relaxed. "You aren''t a secret government agent, are you?" Harry asked, finally finding his voice. The man chuckled. "I tell you, if I was, I wouldn''t be doing a very good job of keeping a secret if I told you." Harry nodded, but he remained on his guard. He learned many valuable lessons, but appearances can be deceiving and always be on your guard seemed to be one that stuck out in his mind more often than not. "You''re not from around here, are you?" the old man asked. "No, I''m not, I just flew in a while ago, and I was wondering when the latest subway train was," Harry said, remembering that in the United States the term for Underground was subway. "You just got here in time," the old man said. "Subway leaves in fifteen minutes. I''d hurry if I were you." "Thanks," Harry said. "Not a problem, kid," the old man said. "Hope you enjoy your stay. Stay strong, true believer. Excelsior!" Harry stopped, pausing for a minute, and shook his head. This was a rather strange man, but he had no time to dwell on that. While he was sure he had given the military the slip, it was prudent for him to keep moving. He recalled how he arrived here. It seemed like ages ago. Harry remembered those moments in the Department of Mysteries, and took a deep breath, moving towards the subway. He used a few small spells to bewitch the guards into allowing him passage on the train. The past year, he learned a great deal about magic, while preparing lessons for the D.A. Looking at his grades, one might consider Harry Potter to be an underachiever, especially given his status. Which in a way was true, but Harry managed to find the motivation to learn what he could when it mattered. Most of the time, he did struggle to find the motivation. Harry made his way onto the train. There were tired looking businessmen who were commuting from their jobs. The sun was going down, so it must have been very late. Now that he had a moment to sit down, Harry had time to reflect on the past day''s events. He honestly had no idea how much time passed between the moment he stepped through the veil, and the moment he woke up in the desert somewhere in the Southwest United States. He shook the cobwebs, and remembered the split decision he made to get here. Now, he regretted it, mostly because the perilous situation he had been put in. ''Live and learn, Potter,'' Harry thought to himself. Harry could see it from his vantage point. His godfather, Sirius Black, engaged Bellatrix Lestrange in battle. If he was not too concerned with staying alive himself, he would have had a moment to appreciate a good spectacle of dueling between two skilled magic users. Even through Bellatrix was twisted, he had to give the devil her due. Sirius let up on his attack for just one moment. His taunting voice echoed throughout their chambers in the Department of Mysteries. "Ha, you''re going to have to do better than that¡­" During times like this, everything went by in super slow motion. Seconds could seem like hours. Time stood still, and Harry waited for him to come back. He continued to wait. Sirius did not get back up, and resume the fight. In fact, his form mysteriously was su?k?d through the curtain. Harry waited, but Sirius did not return and pop back up, to rejoin the fight. "Sirius!" Harry yelled, unable to believe that the closest thing he had ever had to a parent had been blasted back like he was nothing. This had to be a nightmare, but this was far worse. This was reality. The cruel and taunting laughter echoed throughout Harry''s ears, and Harry scrambled forward, nearly tripping over his feet in the haste. He had a hero complex as big as Hogwarts. He knew that if he somehow passed through this veil, he could save Sirius. Or at least he thought he knew. He heard Remus''s yells for him to stop. In another life, Remus would have been able to hold Harry back, to prevent him from going through the veil. In this life, Harry slipped by, and continued his sprint towards the veil. He felt himself drawn closer. Any second thoughts left him the moment where the rattling sounds behind the veil, the whispers drew him forward. His heart sped up, and he knew what he had to do. He took the plunge. Harry Potter dove through the veil. Harry could not hear anything, touch anything, smell anything, or see anything. His senses had been shut off once he hit this void, and Harry Potter had no sense of himself. The next thing he knew, a blinding flash of white life engulfed him. The whispers of a thousand torment souls attacked his psyche, and then something from inside him was being ripped apart. The only sensation he could feel was his scar, and it was much like if a hot poker had been jabbed into it, and then twisted in. Harry was pretty sure he screamed in absolute agony. Yet, he could not hear his own screams. This caused his mind to be unable to piece anything coherent together. He groped the air, and wondered if this was the price to pay through stepping through this mysterious veil. He wondered if he had been condemned to live a life without any senses. Time once again crawled to a near stop. The throbbing pain in Harry''s head ceased, and he heard an inhumane shriek in his head. He had no idea if he grabbed his head or not, but he made an honest attempt of doing so. The shriek became more pained, like there was something suffering in his head. The yells ceased after several spine chilling moments. Another wave of blinding light engulfed him, and this time Harry blacked out completely from what occurred. His mind shut down. He wondered if this was what the end was supposed to be like. There was nothing, but black. Harry had no sense that he ever existed for the next several moments. The next thing Harry knew he was face first in the sand in the middle of the desert. He was dressed in wizard robes, which was never a good sign if he was seen by anyone from the Muggle World. Shaking his head, he tried to regain his bearings. He flexed his fingers. At least they did not seem to be broken, which was an encouraging sign. He rolled over, trying to shield his eyes from the sun beating down on him. Harry pulled himself to his feet. He winced, rubbing his side. At least his ribs were not cracked. He had cracked ribs before, and it was not a picnic. He pivoted on his feet, and Harry rubbed his forehead. He heard the sound of helicopters in the distance, and they landed in the desert. Several uniformed figures stepped forward. He had not been awake for five minutes, and already he was at the business end of several guns. ''Of course,'' Harry thought to himself in despair. "Hands in the air where we can see them!" Harry held his hands in the air, right where they could see him. He also found out that he had no wand with him. That was a potentially problematic situation, and he took a deep breath. Harry tilted his wrists upwards, and a blast of bright light blinded the military troops. He shook his head. It had been a long time since he had performed that kind of accidental magic. Harry was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He had only one instinct, and that was to run. "After him!" Harry reminded himself that they started it. They were the ones who pointed the guns at him, and they were the ones who threatened to shoot at him. The grenades were uncalled for as well. Harry picked up the pace, and sped forward. Instincts beaten into his head throughout his childhood gave him a good sense of when to dodge projectiles that had been thrown at him. He continued to run as fast as he can. He had to give these guys the slip. They were making it very hard, and continued to run on sheer instincts. He needed a plan, but avoiding getting shot was high on the list of details he needed to put in said plan. Harry shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. Something happened to him when he stepped through the veil in the Department of Mysteries. ''What is that thing anyway?'' Harry thought to himself. ''I thought for a moment that I was going to die. Slowly, and painfully, but somehow I blacked out, and ended up some place else. And why in America of all places? Well, I guess I''m going to have to get some answers when I get back home.'' Harry took a deep breath. Running through the veil had been a stupid impulse, and desperation was the biggest reason. He had rushed through the veil, without any thought of what was going to happen afterwards. He laughed. Despite the fact that the Sorting Hat thought he would do well in Slytherin, actions like that made him worthy of the Gryffindor house. He shook his head, and peaked around the corner. So far no one had figured out that he had gotten on this train due to less than ethical means. As long as he kept his head low, and did not attract too much attention, he could hopefully get out of here. ''I have to find my way back,'' Harry thought to himself. ''The thing is I don''t know how long I was gone. Any amount of time could have passed since the time I left through the veil, and the time I got here.'' His mind flashed through the near-fatal injuries many of his friends had received in the Department of Mysteries. His stomach turned when he thought of the curses the Death Eaters used against them all. And he sensed that they were holding back just a little bit, out of fear that they might get Harry. Thus if they struck Harry they would incur the wrath of Lord Voldemort. Harry took a deep breath. All he hoped for was everyone got out of there in the end, and got the medical attention they needed. They never should have come with him. If they died, the blood would have been on his hands. It was not a game. Things seemed to be so much simpler before, but a troll in the girl''s bathroom almost seemed like a lifetime ago. Harry shook his head. He could not worry about that right now. For once, he had to put himself and his needs first and foremost. Then he could worry about others, once he was safe and out of the woods. A thought struck Harry suddenly. If he passed through the veil, and ended up here, would Sirius have potentially ended up here as well? He had no idea. He strained to remember any hint of how he got from Point A to Point B. He struggled to remember, but he came up with nothing. The train stopped, and Harry decided that it was best for him to get off. There was no need to arouse suspicion. He stepped around into the shadows. He craned his ear, hearing the radio in the distance. "¡­A young man, around fourteen to sixteen years old has been sighted moving across the United States. Witnesses state that he appeared out of nowhere. The boy is hostile, and may be armed and extremely dangerous. Do not approach him under any means. If you see this young man, call your local law enforcement immediately. The young man is between the age of 14 and 16 years old, and has unruly black hair and green eyes. He has been reported to shoot an energy blast from his hand, potentially some kind of concealed weapon." Harry winced. That was not good at all. He sped up his movements, careful not allow anyone to get too close of a look at him. He was in this country for only a short amount of time, and already was spiraling up the most wanted list in record time. Harry stepped forward, and kept to the shadows. He heard the hushed whispers. He pulled the hood of the jacket he stole over his head. Thankfully he was able to disappear into the crowd of people, before anyone noticed any resemblance to the fugitive young man. He snorted at the claims that he was dangerous. Last time he checked, they pulled their guns on him first. Harry slipped forward, and saw a street vendor selling food. When no one was looking, Harry waved his hand, and the vendor''s eyes glazed over. Harry managed to help himself to a hotdog, some chips, and a soda. It might have not been the most nutritious meal, but Harry was on the run. There was little time to nitpick about nonessential details such as nutrition. Harry pulled a face. The food didn''t taste the best, but he managed to force it down. He took a few steps forward into the shadows. He heard the whispers in the distance. The uniformed personnel crowded around. "Split up, the suspect was spotted here!" Harry decided to give them something to chase. Even though that someone would not be him, as he sent a loud bang into the air. It was a diversion charm that he learned during the past year, when looking up spells to teach the D.A. It worked like a charm, no pun intended. They moved in to circle the sense of the disturbance. Harry gathered that he would not be able to keep up the charade for very long. He had to keep moving, and find a place where he could lose them. Only then, could he take the very necessary step to find a way back home. Harry shook his head. He might want to find out the date. If only he could have gotten his hands on a newspaper long enough, he would have been able to piece together that essential little fact. He slid across the floor, quick as a cat, and continued to speed up his movements. He slipped into a park. There were children playing in the distance, and a dog barking. The sounds of laughter filled the air, and Harry knew that it must have been getting very late. Nothing happened, at least not now. Harry took a few steps forward, and managed to climb up a tree. He struggled, but somehow he managed to get up on the tree. He perched himself on the branches. This was not the most comfortable perch point in the world, but it would have to do. He watched from above. He could see people searching for him in the distance. As long as he made no sudden movements to alert anyone that he was here, he was perfectly safe and secure. Harry made a mental note to learn Muggle repelling spells the next chance he got. They would have been very useful at this point. He wondered if the United States magical government would piece together what happened before too long, or even recognize him. Harry had no idea what witches and wizards from America were like, but he hoped that something could be sorted out. As stubborn as he might have been, Harry did realize something very clearly. No matter how much he would like to think it would be different, he could not run forever. Once night fell, he would keep moving. The cover of darkness would hopefully keep him from being caught. In the meantime, he was marooned in America with no money, no allies, and no means to contact home. He was pretty sure he had been in a worse fix, although he had no idea what it might have been. It would have been a lot easier if he would have had his Invisibility Cloak, but it was back at Hogwarts in his trunk and thus not able to help him. A bald man dressed in a suit sat underneath helmet. The man sat in a wheelchair, having lost the use of his legs some years ago. He currently was focused intently on a strange energy signature that had just popped up a number of hours ago. The man''s name was Professor Charles Xavier. He was the headmaster of Xavier''s Institute for the Gifted. He was a man with a dream that many thought was impossible. There were an ever growing number of people with special gifts, and they increased with each passing year. For lack of a better term, they would be mutants. Some might consider them to be freaks of nature, but that was a concept that Xavier would hope to correct over time. As much as he loathed to admit it, there were some humans had had the knack of fearing those that were different from them. Someday, he would hope to be able to bridge the gap between mutants and humans. Right now, he settled with trying to help younger mutants understand their gifts, and train them to use those gifts safely. Xavier knew that when their gifts had manifested, many were absolutely afraid. They had no clear idea how to cope with everything that was happening to them, and how their bodies were reacting strangely. Xavier chuckled, thinking that could be an apt metaphor for many changes. He had been afraid himself when his powers manifested. Hearing the thoughts of other people had been an alarming experienced. At least until the moment where he learned to block it out, and control it. It was much like closing a dam, and it took a long time before it was as simple as breathing. His experiences were something that drove his ambitions, and his dreams to create this school for the gifted. Right now, he focused on the strange energy signature he discovered a short time ago. Cerebro managed to pick it up, but it was not like any other reading he had ever seen in his life. It was completely odd and it fluctuated in an erratic manner. ''Strange,'' Xavier thought, and he tried to lock in on the energy signature. ''I can''t quite pinpoint what this young man''s mutant power is, but I can sense that he''s alarmed greatly about something.'' A new arrival pulled Xavier out of his thoughts. "Hello, Logan." A short man with dark hair, wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans stepped in. His name was Logan, even if his past was a mystery, especially to him. He was known primarily as Wolverine. "You''ve been locked up in here for over two hours," Logan said. "What''s up?" "A strange visitor," Xavier said. "This wouldn''t have anything to do with the reports of the mysterious kid that''s been popping up all over the news all day," Logan said in his usual gruff voice. "We can''t rule out a correlation," Xavier said, and he shook his head, to try and get a fix. "His gifts are unlike anything that I have ever seen before." "You''re not the only one who noticed, Chuck," Logan said. "The government''s out for this kid''s blood, and¡­they''re chasing him like he''s some kind of animal." "It''s possible that he''s scared about the discovery of his powers," Xavier said, and he turned around to face Logan. "We must locate him immediately, and try and calm him down." "Easier said than done," Logan answered gruffly. Xavier just offered a ghost of a smile. "It always is." The doors leading to the room with Cerebro slid open. In the room walked a dark skinned woman with white hair, dressed in black. Her name was Ororo Munroe, but her codename was Storm. This was because of her uncanny ability to control the weather. She took a tentative step forward. "Hello, Ororo, I''m glad you could join us," Xavier said with a smile. "A new mutant has arrived the scene, but his power is unlike anything I have ever seen. I have been unable to pin down a name, or any details regarding him." "What are his powers?" Ororo asked. Xavier shook his head. This was going to be more difficult to explain than he would have thought. "That is the problem," Xavier replied. He took a deep breath and continued to speak. "His powers appear to be energy manipulation of some sort, but exactly how or the limits I''m uncertain of. I wish for you and Logan to track him down, and bring him back to the mansion. Be careful though, he may be confused about his powers, so he may lash out if he considers you a threat. Try and take the more diplomatic approach if you can when inviting him to come here." Xavier''s eyes turned to Logan. A small smile appeared on Ororo''s face, when Logan gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I know, Chuck, I understand, this isn''t my first go around," Logan remarked, and he leaned back against a wall, casually. "So we get the kid, and then what." "Just bring him back here, and we give him the choice whether or not to stay or not," Xavier said. "It does appear that he''s on the run, so if he has any friends and family, he may fear their reaction due to his powers. And try not to attract the attention of the various government agents hovering around." "Sounds like a kid who attracts a lot of attention," Ororo commented. "Yes, unfortunately," Xavier agreed. "You know what to do by now, I will be in contact if anything else comes through on Cerebro." Ororo and Logan both nodded. They made their way towards the Blackbird. "Saw a few images of the kid on the news that they were able to pick up," Logan grunted. "He doesn''t look too dangerous, but things aren''t always what they appear to be." Ororo nodded. She knew what she had to do to remain on her guard. She joined her teammate on the Blackbird, and it took flight. They were determined to locate this young mutant, before he became some sort of government lab rat, or hurt someone. Harry figured that he should be sleeping, but his mind was racing a mile a minute. Sleep was hard to come by when he could b?r?ly think. He tried to clear his mind, but found it rather hard to do. He took a deep breath, and climbed down from the tree he was perched on. He was beginning to develop a slight cramp in his leg. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward. There was no one in the park. He reminded himself that he had to get his hands on a newspaper, or at least find out what the date was. Harry noticed something right away. Now that he had time to rest, he noticed for the first time he had no glasses. They must have been lost when he was knocked through the veil. For some reason, his vision was perfect. Not to mention, he saw better than he ever did when he had glasses. He wiped his hand to his forehead, wiping the sweat from it. He stiffened immediately. He spotted several more government troops rushing in. Harry threw himself in the bushes, hoping that would hide him from them. He crouched down as low as he could. He could not even chance breathing too loudly. He listened in carefully on what they were saying. "This kid''s a slippery one, isn''t he?" "What do you think he is?" "I don''t know, maybe he''s some kind of extra-terrestrial." "That would explain the weird energy blasts from his hand." "Where do you think he went?" "I don''t know, maybe he phoned home or something?" Harry continued to listen in. They stood around his hiding spot. He would have to stun them to get out of here. The problem was, he suspected that there were dozens more nearby. He chanced a slight look around. Two of the government agents talked in hushed tones. "We don''t know what he is, or how to stop him?" "He''s running scared though." "Yeah, he is, but that could be just survival instincts. Or him luring us into a false sense of security, but I don''t know. Fury wants him alive, for questioning. The crater he left in the desert had energy spikes that were off the charts." Harry had no idea who this Fury person was, but if he sent these guys after him, then he was sure that he would not like this guy. The dark haired wizard allowed himself a moment to breath. He knew that he could not stay here forever, but at the same time, he could not let them capture him. There was a time for thinking, and a time for action. Harry made a split decision, and decided that now was the time for action. He blasted the bushes around him, and caused splintered pieces of wood to fly in every direction. This allowed him a momentary distraction to rush off. Harry quickened the pace, and continued to run. He heard loud voices from behind him. Harry was sure some of those agents suffered injuries, some potentially fatal. Since he was tired, hungry, and lost, Harry found his sympathy at the lowest level possible. Harry very nearly escaped them. He was a few inches away, but a wall of troops blocked his path. There were eight of them, and he prepared to fight them. Before Harry could do anything, the guns had been pulled from their hands. He blinked, and a chain link fence was wrapped around the troops. They were pinned into place, and Harry''s eyes grew as wide as saucers. He was doing some really weird accidental magic all day, but he was sure that he was not capable of something like that. Harry turned around, and saw a figure dressed in purple and red. He had a helmet covering his face. Pieces of metal swirled around him, and the helicopter above was being ripped apart and thrown around. "You have caused quite a stir, young one," the mysterious man said. "Do not be alarmed, child." Harry frowned. If there was one thing that he detested, it was being called a child. "You have special gifts, which means you are above the limitations of humanity," the man continued. "And your gifts in particular have caught the eye of many. You will help the next evolution of this world rise above humanity. Your gifts will aid the cause when they are fully mastered." Harry eyed this man suspiciously. He decided to ask the obvious question. "Just who are you?" Harry asked. "You may refer to me as Magneto," the man said. "And we have much to discuss as it pertains to your future." Chapter End Chapter 63 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 20 - This Time We Do It Right Plot: AU redo 4th year fic Harry Potter, his wife and daughter go back in time to make a better future stong/independent!Harry Pairing: HP/DG NOTE: Some Dumbledore, Weasley bashing Harry Potter ¨C this time we do it right Prologue unplottable location, 2004 Sitting on a couch side by side were two black-haired ?du?ts. Both of them looked nervous for what they had planned, but the look of determination was clearly seen in the blue eyes of the woman. The man however still seemed uncertain. The reason for their nervousness was in front of them. Carved on the ground in front of the couch was a array of runes that would be necessary to start a dangerous ritual. "Are you sure we are doing the right thing?" The nervous man asked. The woman was quiet for a moment, losing her look of determination for a second, but that moment past fast and her look of determination returned. ''''Harry, We basically have already lost the war, after the International Confederation of Wizards put Great Britain under quarantine, things went downhill fast. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his people already killed off 40% of the muggle population and the rest of them are put in work camps where they slowly are worked to dead.'''' She took a long breath and continued her argument ''''The wizard population isn''t doing much better. If You-Know-Who''s people capture you, it will most likely end in with your death or if you are lucky, a Loyalty Oath sworn on your life and magic. There are just not enough people left on our side to fight'''' ''''I know that'''' The man now known as Harry replied, ''''But what right do we have to change the past? Who says we don''t make it worse? We aren''t even sure when or where the ritual will bring us.'''' ''''How can we make any worse than how it is now ?'''' the woman asked rhetorically, ''''According to the book we obtained, if the ritual is done correctly, the casters will replace their past bodies with their current ones and everything that is in contact with us when we change, will go back with us. So we can take Lucy with us. As for when and where, according to the book we need to be specific during the ritual as for what we want to change and magic will transport us to the time when we have the best change to do this as long it is in the time we lived before the ritual is done. '''' ''''So we will arrive somewhere between 1980 and 2004. I highly doubt we will be able to do much good in the later years so we will probably arrive in the eighties or the early nineties. What do you think?'''' ''''We have no way to counter that wraith so we will probably not arrive between Halloween 1981 and June 1995. And we will probably do more harm than good if we arrive before you defeated him the first time around, they weren''t exactly trustful in those days, who knows what they will do with us if we tell them we are time travellers.'''' Harry couldn''t fault her logic there. Betrayal and deception were common things during the war, it become impossible to completely trust anyone. ''''We have to decide now, our supplies are limited and it will only be a matter of time before they find us even with the current wards.'''' When he still didn''t look completely convinced she continued the argument. If we go back now, we can save so many people, prevent so many people death. We can make sure that my sister isn''t placed under the Imperius curse and killed as traitor, we can save your friend Grangers parents from being tortured to death, so that she won''t go on some insane revenge driven seaside mission, we can save your godfathers, your godson and all those who gave their live for the war.'''' With every name mentioned Harry''s uncertainty seemed to disappear and he too got a determined glint in his green eyes. Seeing her argument were working she continued. '''' With our knowledge and skill we can end the war before it ever begins, before Dumbledore ruined the war with his Second Chance Philosophy. But most importantly we can give Lucy a chance at a peaceful future. On the other hand if we decide to stay, nothing will change, things will only get worse. Every day, there is a huge chance that we die. Do you want Lucy to grow up as a orphan in this word? That last argument did it for Harry. ''''you are right, as always'''' he admitted ''''Living in this world as a orphan will be even worse than my time at the Dursleys.'''' He knew without a doubt what would happen if the death eaters ever found out that he had a daughter, some things are worse than dead. He got up and said, "Get the trunks and check if everything important is packed. I will get Lucy and give her some sleeping draught so that she won''t interfere in the ritual by accident.'''' The woman nodded in agreement and left the room via the door that leads to the main bedroom. Harry meanwhile entered the room next to it. When he entered the dark room he walked over to the bed and sat down on the side of it. He took a short moment to look at the young girl who was sleeping in her bed, blissfully unaware what was about to happen. He gently shook the young girl, ''''Lucy it is time to get up.'''' He whispered. After a couple of moments, the young girl looked up while rubbing her eyes. ''''Daddy?''''She asked questioningly. ''''Is it already time for breakfast?'''' Harry chuckled at her question and replied with a smile. ''''No, sweetie it isn''t time for breakfast yet. Mommy and daddy are going to try something and we need you to drink this before we do it, okay?'''' Lucy in her still sleepy state only needed a moment to look at the vile her father held out for her, before deciding to listen and took it and drunk it one gulp. She shuddered, ''''That wasn''t yummy, daddy.'''' She muttered before letting out a long yawn. Harry took the vial back before she dropped it and lifted her up from her bed. ''''Don''t worry about it sweetie, go back to sleep and when you wake up again then we will eat something better.'''' He wasn''t sure if she had even heard him since her breath had evened out again. He walked back in the living room, just on time to see the woman shrink several trunks and put them in her pockets. ''''You got everything?'''' Harry asked. The woman nodded, ''''Clothes, finished potions, books, brooms, your map and invisibility cloak, toys for Lucy and the picture books.'''' She summed up. ''''How is Lucy?'''' ''''She found the potion ''not yummy'''''' Harry replied with a slight smile. The woman couldn''t help but smile at her daughters description of the taste of the potion. ''''It couldn''t be helped.'''' She said. ''''If she was awake during the ritual and panicked than her she might interfere due her rather strong accidental magic.'''' Harry nodded and stood in the middle of the rune array, still holding his daughter in his arms. The woman joined him hugged Harry carefully, so not to hurt the child in-between them. ''''Harry, if this fails, and we won''t make it, then I want you to know I love you and Lucy more than anything else in this world and I never regret my action in our sixth year.'''' She followed this statement by a gentle kiss on Harry''s lip. Harry returned the kiss and when they broke apart, Harry replied. ''''I know Daph, and I love you too so much, I don''t even know what would have happened if you hadn''t approach me that year.'''' They broke apart from their hug, but their hand remained connected. After a moment they nodded to each other that they were ready and began chanting. '''' Patefacio sursum porta of vicis. Accerso nos ut locus qua is totus coepi. locus qua nos can subsisto atrum senior notus ut Voldermort. Qua nos can servo quantus quantus populus ex suus reign ut positus. Patefacio sursum porta of vicis.'''' The chant was repeated several times and every time the Runes started glowing more and more until eventually they were glowing gold. They stopped chanting and Harry said. ''''It seems it is about time, are you ready to go?'''' ''''I think I am, it will be difficult to see all those that died in the war alive again, but it is for a better future. We know what needs to be done and we will do it and if Fudge or Dumbledore tries to interfere THEN I WILL PERSONALLY ...'''' Great hall, Hogwarts,30th October 1994 The people in the Great Hall were having a quiet breakfast. When there suddenly was a blinding flash that blinded everyone. When the people started to regain their sight they quickly noticed one things; at the Gryffindor table Harry Potter, who was sitting in-between his two best friends suddenly disappeared Of course with all things Harry Potter ¨Crelated, this got everyone''s attention. Albus Dumbledore was having a good morning . Today was a important day, it was the day that the students of Durmstrangand Beauxbatons would arrive for the start of the Tri-wizard Tournament. A tournament where he could test how strong his little weapon had become. ''If he proves to be too strong. I''ll need to find a way to stunt his growth'' The old man thought, ''He needs to die at the hand of Tom for the Horcrux in the boys head to be destroyed. After all. It is for the greater good.'' While he was thinking that, the jump happened and Dumbledore along with the rest of the Great Hall was blinded temporally . When he regained his sight, he looked at the Gryffindor thinking that this was some kind of prank from the Weasley -twins. When his gaze swept over the table, he noticed one thing that made him stop looking for the Twins, and that was the gaping hole between Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley, previously occupied by Harry Potter, where half the Gryffindor table was staring at. Suddenly he heard a scream from the Slytherin table. Everyone turned to watch Tracey Davis as she was staring at the empty seat next to her. Staff and students didn''t have much time to guess what was wrong with the young girl because there was another blinding flash and suddenly the great hall had three more occupants. Standing in between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were a men and a woman holding hands, while the man was holding a small child. Dumbledore who was already on edge because the disappearing of Harry Potter, had jumped up when he noticed the new additions to the great hall, pulled out his wand and aimed it at the intruders and cried out.'''' Halt! Who are you and what are you doing here?'''' ''''I am hurt old man, you don''t even recognise two of your students.'''' Harry replied in a loud voice. Chapter 64 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 21 - A Brand New Start Plot: Rita spouting lies, branded as a Dark wizard and goblins in a rage; Harry''s had enough. So, he seeks to jump back in time to save himself from a life of misery and fickle loyalty, maybe a little revenge and mysteries along the way.Time Travel! A Harry raises himself fic. Non-epilogue compliant, non-slash. Pairing: HarryxOFC NOTE: Harry as an immortal, going to an alternate reality and helping a version of himself. Basically a fix it up + time travel. (There is a sequel but is unfinished and looks to be abandoned, though you can take this to be a standalone) Chapter 1 The Tide Turned Again HARRY POTTER: SAVIOUR OR DEVIL IN DISGUISE By Rita Skeeter I met a young Harry Potter several years ago, full of ambition and talent much like the Dark Lord. Though reports say You-Know-Who was destroyed by the Expelliarmus charm, many doubt that. How could a simple charm taught to first year students bring down someone so evil? Maybe, to kill someone as powerful as the Dark Lord, you have to become a Dark Lord¡ª Harry crushed the newspaper in frustration and tossed it aside. He really hated that woman. Now everyone was going to think he had fallen from the Light. Well, he bloody well wasn''t going to put up with this shite again. It was only a month after the final battle, and he had been hiding out in his godfather''s old house from the fans, now this. He had planned on going back to Hogwarts and finish out his schooling, but thanks to this article, that option was gone. It would be a repeat of his first, second, fourth and fifth years, and there was no way he was going to go through that again. It also put to rest his plans on being an Auror. He couldn''t even blackmail the bitch anymore; during Voldemort''s control of the Ministry she had registered her Animagus form and set herself up as a spy for them. How she reclaimed her place as top reporter, the dark-haired wizard didn''t know. She had probably bribed them or blackmailed them or whatever. He grabbed his hair and banged his head on the table in front of him. What was he going to do now? The only people who had stood by him before had their own problems to deal with. The curly-haired witch still had to get her parents from Australia. Ron was still mourning Fred''s death and trying to woo her. George was a shadow of his old self, not that he blamed him. Luna was trying to get her schooling done, as was Ginny (and he still didn''t know what he was going to do about the youngest redhead). Neville was hiding from the public too, after the Prophet ran the story of all his heroics during Hogwarts last year. The youngest Potter hoped that the sandy-haired teen didn''t fall to Rita''s vicious quill. Andromeda was doing what she could to take care of Teddy. He wasn''t even allowed to visit his godson. His grandmother blamed Him for dragging the now dead parents back into battle, causing her to lose the rest of her family, bar Teddy, so she wasn''t taking any chances. She made it very clear that he was not welcome at her house. Harry sat up and grabbed a piece of parchment and writing instruments. He needed to figure out what to do now. The first thing on his list was to clear his debt to the goblins, so he could get his money. For that he needed the Sword of Gryffindor. Just as he thought about it, Fawkes flamed in with the very scorched and war-torn Sorting Hat. "You look like shite," the dark-haired boy blurted out as he took in the hat''s appearance. The Sorting Hat had always looked battered and old, but now the rim was burnt and the tip of the cone was being held there by a few threads. "Why hasn''t Professor McGonagall fixed you?" "Oh, and I''m sure you look better, Mr. Potter," the sarcastic hat replied. "Minerva said that I am now an icon of the war. I tried to change her mind, but she is stubborn," the poor hat grumbled. He had argued for days with the headmistress, to no avail. She said as long as he can perform his duty then he was to stay as he was to remind students of his part in winning the battle. "That sucks," commiserated Harry. He would have to see if he could talk to the cat Animagus into changing her mind. The school didn''t need any more reminders of what they lost. "How did Fawkes know I needed you here?" He looked at the firebird that had all but disappeared after Dumbledore''s death. The phoenix gave a mournful trill and tucked his head under his wing. "The sword always comes to true Gryffindors in need. Fawkes has always been tuned in to the students of Hogwarts, you and Longbottom especially. While you are not in a near death situation, you are still in need of the sword." And if a hat could shrug, this one would, as it was the frayed rim lifted off the table in parody. "I always knew some hero type person would try and return it one day. It''s back where it was the first time you found it." "Alright, I guess," the teenager said. He lifted the hat and felt inside, the sword came into his hand and he pulled it out. "It will be quite the joke on the goblins," the hat chuckled as the dark-haired wizard put it back on the table. "What do you mean?" The youngest Potter asked as he placed the sword next to the hat. "That sword is enchanted; they can reclaim it all they want. However, like I stated before, it''ll always come to a true Gryffindor." The hat busted into full blown laughter at the thought. He soon joined him, remembering Griphook taking off with it after betraying them, and it showing up in Neville''s hand when he needed it. "Serves those greedy turncoats right," Harry snorted when he calmed down. There was no love lost between him and the goblins, and if he didn''t need his money, he would be shot of them. "Well, I''m off," the hat said suddenly. And the phoenix took a hold of it again and flamed out. After sending a glare to the crumpled up newspaper, the young man decided that he needed to be disguised. Taking out his wand, he changed his hair to light brown and his eyes dark brown, his famous scar had faded after his aborted death. Picking up the Sword of Gryffindor, careful not to touch the venom imbued blade, he sheathed it in a conjured scabbard and strapped it to his back. He swiped one of Sirius'' hooded robes and made his way out of Grimmuald Place. He then Disapparated to an alley next to the Leaky Cauldron, he lifted the hood to cover his face and made his way to Diagon Alley. The dark-haired wizard could already hear the gossip among the witches in the marketplace. Once again the tide had turned and not in his favor. Scowling under the hood, he quickly walked down the mostly deserted street, not even looking over the damages that were still being repaired. He made his way to the bank and up the stairs, not seeing the guards signal inside. He hadn''t even stepped one foot inside the lobby when he was surrounded by ten spear points. "What do you want here, thief?" one of the larger goblins snarled. "Do you think a mere glamor spell could fool us? Why would you come here under disguise if you aren''t trying to steal from the Goblin Nation once again?" "I came to keep my promise to Griphook," he said in a neutral tone. Great, this isn''t going to help my reputation. He flitted his eyes around the lobby to see who was watching, which was everyone. However, most didn''t recognize him, so maybe it would be okay. "And what of the damages and losses to Gringotts?" the goblin asked, bringing the teen''s focus back to him. "I want to make amends if possible," came the short reply. "Take him to Sharpclaw," the same goblin ordered. "Don''t lower your weapons and keep an eye on the thief." Whispers started among the customers and Harry was thankful the surly goblin never mentioned his name. So completely circled by vicious warrior goblins, the youngest Potter was hustled to an office in one of the many tunnels. He was pushed through an open door and shoved into a chair. The spears never dropped. "Well, well, well, if it isn''t Mr. Potter," the oldest goblin Harry has ever seen drawled. His thin and gnarly hands clasped on the desk, his beady eyes narrowed in contempt. "Right," the teen said abruptly as he nodded decisively. Wanting to get this over with he started to reach over his shoulder when one of the sharp spearheads dug into his neck. "I have the Gryffindor Sword," he explained, his jaw tightened as he felt the line of blood move down his neck. Sharpclaw nodded to the guard and it backed off. The dark-haired wizard once again reached over his shoulder and pulled the sword to the front. He held it out in both hands, flat and harmless, inwardly smirking as he remembered what the hat had told him. The goblin manager reached over with his spindly hands and snatched it from the human. "This still does not make amends for all the damages and one dragon," Sharpclaw said in a condescending voice as his greedy eyes took in the most valued weapon. He placed it next to his chair and turned his attention back to the crook. "Not to mention Gringotts'' ruined reputation." "And what, pray tell, would cover those costs?" Harry''s voice dripped in anger. He wasn''t even going to warn them about the venom. It would serve them right for treating him this way. After all, he was here doing what he promised, even after Griphook almost got them killed. "Fine," Harry snapped, "but I want a blood test done so I can claim every vault I own." He threw the demands back on the desk. He knew that he still hadn''t claimed Sirius'' vault and with that he should be able to cover these cost, plus, leave him some money. The smile disappeared from the old goblin''s face and he snarled. "Longtooth, get the bowl," he told one of the guards. A younger goblin lowered his weapon and went to get the tools needed for the test. They all sat quietly and waited for his return, though not without hateful looks being passed. Longtooth returned with a black bowl and a rune covered dagger. Sharpclaw reached over the desk, roughly grabbed Harry''s hand and sliced the palm without care. The youngest Potter hissed as he watched the blood flow into the bowl. He quickly tore his shirt and wrapped the wound when his hand was thrust away. The old goblin dipped a yellow quill into the bowl and then placed it on a parchment. The quill vibrated and then started to write. A list of five vaults showed, with more than enough money to cover what the goblins were demanding and then some. Sharpclaw growled and sneered, "We will take what is due us, and then we want you to clear out every single bit of your money and valuables. You can tell your two friends, Mr. Ronald Weasley and Ms. Hermione Granger, they are no longer welcome in Gringotts and they have one week to clear their accounts. We are done with you." He pointedly turned his back on the dark-haired teen. "Fine," he said, not the least bit surprised, but still angry at these nasty beings. "I''ll be back the day after tomorrow to clear my vaults. If you haven''t settled the debt by then it''s not my fault." He got up abruptly, snatched up both lists and stormed out of the room, holding his wounded hand tightly against his ?h?st. The angry teen made his way back to Grimmauld Place unmolested. Harry had Kreacher bring some healing potions for his hand and hoped he was in time to keep it from scarring. He took the potion, applied the Dittany and was relieved when the wound healed unblemished. He used the Floo to call the Burrow; Mrs. Weasley was the one to answer. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley," The dark-haired wizard said politely. "Are Ron and Hermione around?" "Oh, Harry dear, why haven''t you been coming to dinner? We haven''t seen you in over a week," the Weasley mother asked sadly. She had lost a lot of weight, and her eyes were swollen and red, like she never stopped crying. Her usual motherly demeanor was accented with grief, making her more of a mother hen then she had been. "I''ve been rather busy, Mrs. Weasley. As a matter of fact, I have much to do now. Sorry for being rude, but I really need to talk to Ron and Hermione." He didn''t want to have to explain himself to the kindly woman, not when he was in such a foul mood. "I''ll just go and get them, dear. You come to dinner sometime soon. Do you understand, young man?" Molly demanded gently yet firm. She missed the boy she thought of as her seventh son. "I''ll try, Mrs. Weasley," He hedged. The few times he had been to the Burrow were awkward and unpleasant. Harry wasn''t sure if it was just their grieving or if they subconsciously blamed him for the losses. After the way Andromeda treated him, he wouldn''t be surprised if it was the latter. Merlin knew, he blamed himself. She left the room and a few minutes later his friends appeared. "Hello, Harry, how are you doing?" the curly-haired witch asked. She looked frazzled, her hair was wild and her eyes were bloodshot. He knew she was studying hard to find a way to get her parents'' memories back. He wasn''t sure if she would find a way before Hogwarts started, or if she was going to have to put it off. He knew that that was eating at her. "Alright, Harry?" was Ron''s greeting. He actually looked rather well. He gained back all the weight he lost when they were on the run. "I''m fine, thanks," came Harry''s standard reply. "I wanted to warn you that Gringotts is threatening to close your accounts. You need to go and clear anything you own out of there, soon." "Well, that''s fine," Ron shrugged. "I don''t have a vault." "No, but, they might fine your parents," the green-eyed teen warned. He didn''t know if it was true or not, but he wasn''t going to take that chance. "Alright, I''ll warn them, it''s not like there''s a lot there," the redhead mumbled. Money was always a sore spot for Ron. "I only just opened the account, right before we started hunting the you-know-what''s," Hermione said thoughtfully. "There is very little there, so it will be easy to get it out. It is a shame that human/goblin relations are so bitter. Maybe there is something I¡­ " "Hermione," The youngest Potter interrupted her spiel, knowing any attempt for better relations would be futile. Especially if they came from any of the Golden Trio, the goblins made their views very clear. "Do you think you can show me the spell you used on your bag? I don''t see myself lugging a bunch of trunks full of gold down Diagon Alley." "Honestly, Harry, don''t you read? I showed you the book it was in when we were camping, just so you would know," she answered back, a bit harsh. "I know, Hermione, but you have that book in your bag," he defended himself. "Plus, I had a bit more to worry about at that time." "Oh, right, sorry," she stuttered. "I''ll go get it." And with that she left the room, leaving Ron and Harry with little to talk about. The two teen boys had a simple conversation on Quidditch until their female friend returned. A few minutes later she returned and handed the book through the Floo. "Oh, before I forget, don''t let those greedy bastards¡ª"Language, Harry," snapped Hermione¡ª try and make you pay for the damages. I''ve already paid them. I wouldn''t put it passed those¡­ goblins to try and get more," he spat in disgust. "Harry, I can''t believe you did that," the curly-haired witch chastised. "I would have been more than happy to pay my part. As a matter of fact, as soon as I can I''m paying you back." You could see the calculations running through her brain as her eyes moved back and forth, like they were reading something in front of them only she could see. "You don''t have to do that, Hermione, I''ve got plenty of money left," the youngest teen shrugged. Ron scoffed in the background and was ignored. "What with Rita''s latest article it''s a good thing too. I mean, I can''t go back to Hogwarts and the Ministry is out of the picture as well. I might as well live in the Muggle world, for all the rumors that have already started," he said bitterly. "Oh, Harry, why is it always you?" his best friend asked. With the way she always stuck by him, that is exactly what Hermione was, his best friend. "Don''t know, don''t care." To him it was par for the course, and he was tired of it. "I can tell you right now; I''m not going to put myself through all that again." "What are you going to do about your NEWT''s?" she asked giving him a sharp glare. Education was very important to her, and she didn''t want to see Him lose the edge he''d get if he completed his seventh year. Ron just stood to the side not offering his views, he''d let her try and talk Him back to Hogwarts. "I''ll figure out something. Look, I have to go," The youngest Potter said cutting off that argument before it started and pulled his head from the fire and closed the Floo. The dark-haired wizard spent some of his time that night trying to recreate Hermione''s bag. After dozens of failed attempts, in a fit of frustration, he yelled the spell at the bag he was using. He mispronounced a word and it backfired on him and hit a spot directly above his left shoulder. He tried to see what it could have possible hit, but there was nothing there. However, he felt the air move in displacement when he turned his head in that direction. As an experiment he took a piece of crumpled up paper and tossed it over his shoulder. It disappeared. He tried again and the same thing happened. This could work, he thought. He held his right hand in front of the area and said, "Crumpled piece of parchment." Both pieces of paper came flying out to his hand. He spent the rest of the night experimenting and found it just like her bag. Bigger items just shrank into the invisible space and expanded when they were called out. He found out he had to be careful not to say certain words out loud, like ''empty'', or everything would dump on to his foot, which was painful. He was delighted that he now had a way to store his gold and whatever else was in those vaults. It was a tired young man that sat at the table and ate dinner. He finally looked at the blood test and noted there were three vaults with names he''d never heard of that now belonged to him. He did wonder how they came to be his, but he''d be damned if he asked the goblins. All five vaults added up to over a few million galleons, so Harry wouldn''t have to worry about working anytime soon, which was good. He did notice that the demands of Gringotts would have wiped out his Potter account, which he was sure was the point. But the other four vaults more than made up for that. The next day, Harry took everything he held valuable and placed them in, what he dubbed, his pocketspace. Making sure the Deathly Hallows were in there. No one was more surprised than he was when the three items appeared on his bed the day after the final battle. He tried to rid himself of them, but they kept coming back. He had no idea what that meant, but at least now he had a way to hide them. On the day he said he''d be at Gringotts, The dark-haired wizard walked down Diagon Alley to complete his task. This time he looked around and saw all of the buildings that were in disrepair. There were still Muggle-borns lining the street begging for money. He felt sorry for them and was glad that toad of a woman was now in Azkaban for all her crimes. If he had his way he''d just kill the sadistic bigoted bitch, she was a bigger blemish on the wizarding world than Voldemort. Her death count was higher than any Death Eaters. Those camps were responsible for hundreds of deaths. Now that they were disbanded, what was going to happen to those that lost everything? Families torn apart, children orphaned and wands snapped. Was the Ministry going to help? Could they? He didn''t know the answer to those questions. With Diagon Alley in such a state, no one seemed to be able to help anyone. It''ll take a lot of money and time to get the marketplace back to the bustling wonder it use to be. He remembered well the awe his ten year old self had when he first entered the Alley all those years ago. It saddened him to see it in the shambles it was. Ollivander''s shop was ruined, the windows gone, the display that adorned the shop since its opening was broken and all of the wands snapped. The poor wand maker was going to be hard-pressed to get enough wands for the new first years and all the Muggle-borns. That was if he wasn''t too mentally scarred from his time in Voldemort''s hands. Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour seemed to be up and running, even though the tables that used to litter the front were fewer. Harry recalled that Mr. Florean had a daughter, maybe she was running it. He felt sad that the man had died; he was always kind to the youngest Potter. Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes was open and appeared to be doing well. The dark-haired wizard made a mental note to visit George when he was done with the bank. He''d need to tell him about all that anyway, if Ron hadn''t already passed that message on. Well, he would just make sure. About every third shop was open, the rest were boarded up or abandoned. Patrons were hustling quickly through their shopping, like Death Eaters were going to come and snatch them any minute. He had enough with the depressing sights and hurried his way to the bank. This time as he made his way up the marble stairs two guards flanked him. Their weapons were poised to strike should He do anything funny. The trio was met in the lobby by that traitor Griphook. Spiteful looks passed between human and goblin, but neither spoke. The cart goblin took them to the tunnels in an uncomfortable silence. When they arrived at the first vault, Harry waited for the goblin to open it, not taking the chance that they''d trap him and leave him there. He remembered well the warning this goblin told him the first time he visited Gringotts. Griphook sneered at the young man and a flash of disappointment flew across his face, confirming the youngest Potter''s paranoia. The vault had the name Frostwell posted over the doorway, He never heard of that family, so they probably didn''t have children in Hogwarts. He still didn''t understand how this vault came into his possession. When the door opened the teen only stepped far enough in that he could get out if the door started to close. He lifted his wand and levitated all the money then directed it to just over his left shoulder. After all the coins were su?k?d into the pocketspace, he then turned to the jewels, the trunks, the books and the armor. There were also gizmos the dark-haired wizard couldn''t identify, but he placed them in the pocketspace as well. Soon enough the vault was empty. He took great p???sur? in making sure the goblins didn''t get any of the goblin made items in the vault. It took about an hour for Him to clear out the other three non-family vaults; the Black vault took a half an hour alone. He didn''t even take time to look at what he was putting in the expanded space, he''d go through it all at Grimmauld Place, maybe even invite his friends over to help. The dark-haired young man then turned to Griphook and broke the silence. "Take me to the Potter vault," he demanded. "There is no money left in the Potter vault," snarled the greedy goblin, a healthy dose of p???sur? coated his words. "But there are artifacts and books, now take me to the Potter vault." He stood firm; he wasn''t going to let these bastards take anything more from him. "Fine," the cart goblin spat. Soon Harry was in front of his family vault and once again waited until Griphook opened the door. The vault was mostly empty, there were some books and trunks, but there was little else. So He levitated what was left into his pocketspace and turned away with moist eyes. He took a deep breath and firmed his face; he wasn''t going to show any remorse in front of these beings who took great p???sur? in his pain. The silence descended again, not that Harry cared, he was done with this place. He was escorted to the doors and was told in no uncertain terms that he would never be welcome back, and neither would anyone with the name Potter. He gave them the two finger salute and swept down the Alley with his head high. Unfortunately, now the whole place knew that Harry Potter had been banned from Gringotts. Rita was going to have a field day with that bit of news. The dark-haired teen made his way to WWW, with people pointing at him and calling him the next Dark Lord. Thanks to the goblins, his glamor was shot so he dispelled it. He went into the back room and waited for George, knowing the single twin would come back there eventually. About forty-five minutes later he was proven correct. "Hey George," The dark-haired wizard said softly, taking in the lonely man''s appearance. George was in bad shape, he had lost a lot of weight he couldn''t afford. There were dark circles under his misty brown eyes. His clothes were in good repair though. He figured George was still trying to live out his and Fred''s dream. George turned, startled, and then plastered a fake smile on his lips. "Harry!" he cried, you could tell he was happy to see his younger friend; it was just hard for him to express it. "What are you doing here? Not that I''m not glad to see you, but with the rumors going around I didn''t think you''d come to the Alley." "How could I not come and visit my favorite Weasley?" He asked cheerfully, trying to make the grieving young man less sad. "Right," George scoffed. "I thought that was Ron or Ginny." "They don''t make me laugh like you do," explained the green-eyed teen. "Enough of me stroking your ego, I only came to warn you to get your money out of Gringotts. They''re up in arms over anyone named Potter, Granger or Weasley. So it might be better if you cleared out your vault and put a Muggle safe in your office, or something. Oh and you better warn Bill. He might want to look for a new job." "That''s all we need," the redhead sighed. "Thanks for the warning though. What are you doing with yourself these days? We hardly ever see you at the Burrow anymore." "Sorry, I just feel uncomfortable there now. Your mum is still grieving, as are you, and it''s hard not to blame myself for your loss." The youngest Potter shrugged his shoulders as if to say, what else could I think. "Don''t be stupid," snapped George. "We knew what we were getting into from the start. Don''t you remember us fighting Mum to be in the Order? None of this is your fault." "I know, but it''s still hard to look at you and your mum. It doesn''t help that Andromeda is blaming me for Remus'' and Tonks'' death," He said sadly. "Anyway, that''s all I came to say. I''d better get out of your store before you''re labeled Dark for being seen with me." "You come and visit me soon, Harry. Do you hear me? I don''t give a rat''s ?ss what people think," George said as he pulled the younger boy into a tight hug. He returned the show of affection and then pulled away. "Yeah, but, I care," he stated, and then he whipped out the Invisibility Cloak and pulled it on. He once again made his way down the Alley and listened to the gossip. It was worse than he thought. These people were going to condemn him and there were only a few that protested. Thank Merlin they didn''t know where he lived. Harry got angry. He came to the decision that he was tired of the whole wizarding world. He did his job and got nothing for it. It only took one article in the Prophet, ¡ªfrom a reporter that was a spy for the Dark Lord¡ª and one incident at the bank, ¡ª run by greedy goblins that wizards didn''t even trust¡ª and everyone turned on him. All the good he had done before was now pushed to the side. All the pain and suffering he endured throughout the years for them meant nothing now. Every single person he called family died for these people and the public wouldn''t even remember them. He was going to find a way to get back at them if it was the last thing he did. Chapter End Chapter 65 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 22 - H J Potter Plot: Who would expect that sharing a simple kiss with his best friend was all it needed to begin a journey far beyond his greatest imagination? Soul-bond fic Pairing: H-Hr NOTE: Mainly a romance fan-fic, action is secondary (but plot is still very good) Introduction At the beginning of time, the Creator created a Magical world so that it would become a safe haven for those who had the gift to use magic. He had the gift of prophesy and knew that there would be times when Darkness engulfed the Magical World and only a selected group of outstanding and powerful individuals would be able to bring the world out of chaos each time. Harmony and stability would be built with their blood, sweat, and tears. It was a noble yet terrible task for any individual to take upon his shoulders. His heart ached as he watched the trials these chosen ones had to face alone as they gave their all. Out of compassion, he gave these souls a precious and powerful gift. The soul could never be perfect, so he created other souls that would complete them. In addition, he had given these souls more power and the power would remain dormant until the souls unite as one. He then tied a red thread of Fate between them so that their fates would always be intertwined. These fated souls would only start their search for the other when both of them were emotionally and physically m?tur? enough to complete the bonding process. The Creator had hoped that by creating the bond between the two souls, they could comfort and support each other as they overcome harsh trials together. The two people would be known as true soul mates. A cruel fate of utter regret, deep mental anguish, despair, loneliness awaited them if the souls never got the opportunity to unite as one. Therefore, He created a set of special laws to protect them. Prior engagements and marriages would be nullified once the bonding completes. They would also be legally recognised as being married at the instant they become one. The crime of forcing the true soul mates apart was the equivalent of committing first-degree murder. In essence, offenders were punishable by the highest sentence that the court could pass. The Creator prized love. He had also created other weaker bonds like Familiar bonds and Marriage bonds that would tie two individuals together of their own will if they decide to pursue a deeper relationship. He finally created a secret tome that would be passed down from government to government. The book automatically records the names of wizards and witches when they are born into the world so that they have access to the Magical World. It also has another function. When the name of one of the souls who have a soul bond appears in the book, the name of his soul mate would magically appear next to his name. When Harry James Potter''s name was finally added into the book on the day he was born, another name had materialized next to his. Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey The beautiful brown-haired girl had been in his dreams since the start of his holidays. In the beginning, he felt guilty for dreaming of her in that manner. She was his friend after all. After a while, he welcomed them. Dreams made his harsh life with his magic-phobic relatives bearable and tolerable. He didn''t have to look forward to the start of the next school semester to escape from his personal hell. He could do it every night. Each night, he looked forward to escape from all the abuse, insults, and insecurity to his dreams where he could hold her close to him. Her warmth drove away all his fears and burdens away and replaced them with unspeakable joy and peace. He craved the security of her arms and her acceptance. There was a sense of connection when they were together and she filled a deep and aching void in him. She was in his dreams again, lying peacefully next to him as he admired her profile. Her beauty took his breath away and rendered him speechless. The faint sounds of the gentle stream filled the brightly lighted meadow. Red and yellow poppies blossomed in the sun-Nature at her most splendid. Yet, the beauty of Nature was incomparable to the girl who lay next to him, with her brown tresses fanned around her. The intensity of his d?s?r? to touch her surprised him initially-he wasn''t capable of feeling so much. The girl of his dreams had never deny his ministrations. Her faint vanilla scent, tainted with a tinge of floral, permeated the meadows. She had shut her eyes in contentment. He was happy that she was enjoying his tender ministrations. Growing slightly bolder, Harry gingerly drew his fingers along her pink lips. For a moment, he was lost in the feel of her velvet lips. He longed to kiss her and to taste if she was as sweet as her scent. He simply did not have the power to tear his eyes from that particular feature. "Harry, don''t tease me this way." Hermione whispered softly as she revealed those alluring eyes. He smiled indulgently as he gently played with her rather bushy brown hair by curling the ends up with his fingers. He liked her hair the way it was. Personally, he rather liked to think her hair was more "untamable", just like her, rather than just bushy. He had always admired her independent streak under her compliant and goody-two-shoes farce. It got her into more trouble than he could count. "How am I teasing you, Hermione?" He chuckled lightly. The contentment of being with her warmed every corner of his heart. His heart was going to burst from that overwhelming feeling of bliss. Hermione grinned as she relaxed next to him. Harry loved that smile; even though most had said that it was marred by two slightly buck teeth. It was just Hermione Jean Granger and she could never be anything lesser than beautiful in his eyes. "By doing that." She answered as her lips curved upwards. Laughter bubbled within him and erupted from his mouth uncontrollably. He revelled in the fact that she made him very happy. With a courage he knew he wouldn''t have in reality, he leaned over and grazed her lips with his. The moment their lips had touched, his world exploded like fireworks, filling him with sensations he could not identify. It was electrifying. It was earth shattering. The simple kiss shook his world and reshaped his perception of it. Their lips had parted after a while. Hermione grinned happily as she snuggled closer to his ?h?st. Contented, Harry wrapped his arms protectively around her He marvelled at the fact that she fit perfectly in his arms. The world no longer mattered, only she did. He wished he could remain like this with her forever. You can''t. The dreaded voice of logic decided to dose him with cold hard truth by reminding him that this was not reality. He woke up. Blurred darkness greeted him. Tears were running rapidly down his cheeks when Harry Potter jerked up from his sleep. He was alone once more. The taste of freedom made his situation intolerable. The dreadful sense of hollowness filled him, making it unbearable. How much longer did he need to stay in this hell-hole? How much more did he need to take before he could be free? He climbed out of his bed, hastily swiping his hands his face to clean off his tears. Did he really want her that way? Tiredly, he pressed his palms on his face. Harry could not deny that he''d always felt a pull towards her. He was powerless to stop himself from trying to spend all his time with her. This was the main reason for his good results in school. Academically, he was second in his year, right behind Hermione, simply due to the hours they had studied together in the library. How brilliant was his good friend! Their professors at school had remarked at her intellectual brilliance. She was loyal to a fault and dreadfully accepting. He could be himself with her. He didn''t even feel this comfortable with Ron, his good friend. Some of his dorm mates tend to tease him about his lack of interest in girls but they didn''t understand that he did prefer the fairer gender. The only difference was that he could not see anyone else but her. She fascinated him. She is your best friend! Harry ?r??n?d,rubbing his face with his two hands. He chided himself mentally. I really should not continue to delude myself. Harry Potter had no family in this world. His parents died when Lord Voldemort came for him a decade ago. He was left in the care of his only living relatives, the Dursleys, who hated him with a passion. They made it their personal goal to make his life a living hell. Thankfully, he had two great friends whom he''d known for about three years, Ron Weasley and Hermione Jean Granger. He was grateful for their companionship and their acceptance. They were his first friends since his cousin had the perchance of chasing off his friends at school when they were younger. None of them really knew of his living conditions and he didn''t want them to learn of it too. His mind returned to the dream he had could not bear to ask more from Hermione since trouble was more of his middle name than James was. For goodness sake, she was petrified last year because of him! Besides, how could a person who had never experienced love, care for another ? He didn''t know how to court girls or treat them right. Hermione was so amazing that she deserved a better person. He couldn''t be the partner to complete her. Harry drew a hand through his usually messy hair. Images of Hermione flooded his mind-her smiles, her laughter, her frown, a look of contentment on her face. Frustrated, he threw himself on his back. Determined, he willed himself back to sleep. Miles away, in a large and comfortable room, a brown-haired girl was slumbering. A look of contentment was on her face. She was unaware of the dreams that her good friend was having of her. She was dreaming of a messy raven-haired guy with dreamy green eyes. On this particular night, they had lain next to each other. He had watched her intently as he ??r?ssed her jaw. The intensity of his adoration surprised her-it was as if he was looking at his goddess. Her best friend was too young to be capable of such intense emotions. To make this dream memorable, they had shared a chaste kiss for the first time. Her heart fluttered at the recollection of that kiss. Her linguistic capabilities failed her as she searched for words to describe the sensations of that innocent kiss. It was exhilarating! Her world had rocked beneath her. Then, she had an epiphany-her world had never spun around another axis since she first laid her eyes on the scrawny green-eyed boy. Her world just spun around him. With that unsettling revelation, she shot up from her bed with her eyes wide open. The taste of his lips seemed to linger on her lips and she tentatively touched them. Did she just dream of kissing Harry Potter? The Harry Potter, her best friend? She never felt so conflicted. On one hand, she was upset that she had dreamt of kissing her good friend in her dream. Yet, she enjoyed the feeling of being with him. She felt so complete. Well, at least from being with him in her dreams. She never understood why she felt that way for him but her instincts were correct. He became the first boy to move her with his courage when he saved her from the troll in their first year. Realistic Hermione would never live in her fantasy world. Muggle-born Hermione Granger and Famous Boy-who-lived Harry Potter? No way, she sighed. She knew herself well; she just simply wasn''t physically attractive enough to catch the eye of the most famous wizard in Great Britain. It was only six in the morning and Hermione was already wide-awake. She was reading the very same page she had looked at for the past half hour. The images of Harry smiling were vivd and it distracted her. Her mind could not focus on anything but him. Snapping the book closed loudly, she stood up with great frustration and paced around the room. The feeling of attraction to him was getting stronger day by day. The feelings was bordering on excessive since it was preventing her from functioning normally. She couldn''t even concetrate on her work. The restless pacing of the daughter caught the attention of her s?ns?t?v? mother. She was peeking in, checking on her only daughter. "Sweetheart, is something wrong?" Jean Granger asked. She had been paying closer attention to her daughter since she had come back from the holidays. Hermione''s strange behaviour did not go unnoticed. She had no appetite and was very agitated as if there was something bothering her. "I''m alright." She answered flatly. "I guess it''s the heat that is troubling me." Hermione replied as she shrugged nonchalantly. She fanned herself for emphasis. Her mother arched an eyebrow, knowing that she was telling the whole truth. "I''ve watched you grow up for the past 13 years; do you really think I wouldn''t know if you are hiding something?" Jean sat next to her on her bed. "I love you, Hermione. I''m concern for you." Time had really flown; her only child, Hermione, had grown into a fine young lady who had the mark of a future ravishing beauty. "Let me guess, you miss your friends?" She asked as she raised her eyebrows questioningly. Hermione was surprised that her mother knew her so well despite being away from them for so long. "There''s absolutely no way I can hide anything from you, mummy." Hermione smiled tenderly as she watched the lips of her mother curl upwards. It was true but she only missed one of her friends. Suddenly, an idea just popped up in her head. "Mummy, is it alright that I invite Harry to stay with us for the rest of our holiday? Ron is currently in Egypt with his family so he can''t invite us over. Harry is all alone with his dreadful relatives. I don''t fancy the idea of leaving him at the mercy of those people for the rest of the holidays." A flash of anger flashed in her eyes when she thought of Harry''s relatives-she knew that they did not like him. Jean had heard a little of his relatives'' treatment of Harry. That coupled with the pleading look in her daughter''s chocolate eyes made her unable to reject her request. Honestly, she was curious about him, after hearing so much about him. As an ?du?t, she had to weight the options. Mentally, she drew up a list. There were several pros; first, she could get to know more about the company Hermione keeps when she is back at school. Second, Hermione would be happier to have someone of her age to play with. However, it was not proper for a girl to have a boy staying at her place and she wanted to spend more family time with her daughter. After much consideration, she decided she could always supervise both of them and they could definitely include Harry into their plans. "I''ll bring the issue up with your father and see how he feels about it. If he agrees, you can ask Harry if he wants to come over to our house for the rest of the holiday." Jean answered with a smile. Hermione beamed as she dashed upstairs to look for her father and ask for his permission. After a while, she could hear Hermione''s squeals of delight as she bounced to the nearest phone to call Harry at his Uncle''s place. "Let him know that we''ll pick him up from his house tomorrow afternoon at one, sweetheart." She added with a smile. Jean was happy to see her daughter being so enthusiastic ¨C it was comparable to the time when she had discovered that she was a witch. It was seven in the morning at the Dursley''s residence. Everyone but Harry was eating breakfast, enjoying the quiet morning when the telephone in the living room rang, disrupting the scared tranquility. Vernon''s face had turned mildly red with irritation at the disturbance. "Who in the bloody right mind will call us so early? Go pick up that call!" Vernon bellowed from the kitchen as he sat at the table, reading the morning newspaper. Harry grudgingly listened and dragged himself to pick the call. The voice of the caller was a balm to his mood. "Hi, I am looking for Harry Potter." It was a sweet feminine voice that Harry had no trouble recognising and his heart began to flutter. "Hermione, is that you?" Harry asked happily. He finally could talk to his good friend! He did not bother to hide his excitement and she giggled in response. "Yes, I''m calling to ask if you''d like to come over to my place for the rest of my holidays. My parents have offered to pick you up too." He could not believe his ears. Her parents had actually given her the permission to have a male friend over at their place for holidays! "I''ll ask my uncle, give me a minute." Harry answered as he placed the receiver on the table. He breathed deeply, schooling his face into an impassive mask. It was difficult to maintain his mask or attempt to walk calmly into the kitchen but he managed to do so convincingly. "Uncle Vernon, my friend has just invited me to stay at their place for the rest of the holidays. Is it alright that I join them?" He asked as he secretly crossed his fingers, hoping that his uncle would allow. His uncle did not even glance at him, concentrating on his papers. There was silence in the house as his uncle contermplated. Finally, he grunted his approval. He nearly gave a celebratory yell but he controlled himself in time. He dashed back to the foyer to give Hermione his answer. She squealed in delight at his answer. "We''ll pick you up tomorrow at one. I can''t wait to see you, Harry." He confirmed his address with her. He was leaving his relative''s place tomorrow! Harry tried to hide his smile when he informed his uncle of the arrangements. His uncle had merely grunted again, satisfied that he did not need to do anything to get rid of the freak in the house. "Finish the chores for next two days and I will sign that blasted form of yours. Just remember not to return until next year." He muttered under his breath as he flipped to the next page. Harry suppressed the joy that was threatening to burst inside of him desperately. The last thing the Dursleys would ever like to do was to make him happy. He struggled to keep an emotionless face as he walked to his sanctuary on the excuse of packing his things. When he was finally out of earshot, he punched the air in victory. Cheerfully, he went into his room to talk to his beautiful snowy-white owl, Hedwig. She was perching in her cage, looking curiously at him with those large amber eyes of hers. Her plumage was of pure white like untainted snow. He could feel her curiosity through a rather remote part of him and he answered her. "I''m going to spend the rest of the holiday with Hermione. She invited me to stay at her place and her parents are picking me up tomorrow. Uncle Vernon has also promised to sign the Hogsmeade form." Harry grinned brightly as he scratched a spot under her beak as she hooted in delight. "You miss Hermione too, don''t you? Miss all the attention she gives you?" He laughed as he tickled his breath-taking owl. Hedwig merely hooted in excitement as she leapt on his shoulder. Hedwig was always careful with her talons when she approached him, choosing areas with more protection before perching on him. He reached to his shoulder to scratch her and she wiggled in enjoyment. How was he going to bring Hedwig along? He stared at her cage, wondering what he should do. Suddenly, he thought of an idea. "Hedwig, why don''t you take a letter to Hermione and wait for me to join you? I''ll write a note for her to inform her to keep you until I come." He grinned as he quickly scrawled a note for Hedwig to take it to Hermione. Hedwig hooted happily and took off immediately after he attached the note to her leg. He chuckled fondly knowing that his pet liked Hermione. He rolled up his baggy-long sleeves past his elbow, ready to do some menial labour. It was time for some packing! A smile was on his face as he began to put his things into his trunk. For once, he hummed a cheery tune as he worked. It was approaching one in the afternoon. Harry had already moved his trunk and his empty cage outside as he waited excitedly for the arrival of the Grangers. Uncle Vernon had even signed the form as he had promised, thus making it one of the best days he''d had in non-magical Britain. Harry didn''t care if he was grinning like an idiot where everyone could see him. He was just too happy to care. Soon, a modest black sedan halted at the gate. Before his mind could register it, he felt a brown bushy-haired missile tackling him as she dashed straight into him. He wrapped his arms around her as the impact knocked them on the well-maintained grass. Together, they were laughing, happy at their reconciliation. When they had finally stopped laughing, Harry managed to take a good look at her. It was the very face he dreamt of every night. He remembered every single detail of it and the planes of her face. Seeing Hermione in person after dreaming of her for so many nights choked him up with so much emotions. Harry could only stare at her wordlessly. Her cheeks were slightly flushed as those familiar eyes watched him intently. The d?s?r? to ??r?ss her cheeks was strong but he resisted and decided to watch her instead. She was tucking the loose tendrils of brown hair behind her ear as she grinned at him. Hermione watched the range of emotions being played out on his face. It was quite fascinating how much Harry could feel in just a short time. The admiration in his eyes was simply too much for her to bear so she decided to distract him. "You look as if it''s very comfortable lying on the grass." He made no response. Shaking her head, she stood up and lent a hand for him to take. "But we don''t have all day." She smiled warmly. Harry had to resist the urge of tucking those brown tendrils that had begun to fly messily behind her ear. With great effort, he snapped himself out of his trance and took her hand so that he could get up. His face cracked with a broad smile. He could feel his facial muscles aching from all the smiling. Contended, he followed her to meet her parents. "Mummy and Daddy, this is Harry. Harry, meet my parents." Hermione grinned brightly as she introduced her rather nervous good friend to them. She placed a comforting hand on his arm and he relaxed visibly with her support. Jean smiled when she saw the effect Hermione had on her good friend. She observed the young lad in front of her and came to a conclusion that he was a nice young man. "Hi Harry, please call me Jean." She smiled warmly as she hugged him. When she had let go of him, Harry greeted back as he adjusted his glasses, edgy at physical contact. It was now Dan Granger''s turn. He stared at Harry with a critical eye. He had noticed that he looked rather small for his age and guessed that he had went through a period where he was not fed properly. In all, he judged him as a nice boy so he extended his hand to him. "I''m Dan Granger. It is nice to meet you Harry." Harry immediately took his hand. "Nice meeting you too, Mr. Granger." He smiled nervously as they shook their hands. Harry was relieved when he saw a soft smile on the elder''s man face. "Daddy is just trying to make you sweat, Harry." Hermione laughed heartily as she watched the exchange. Her father liked to intimidate younger guys and make them pale in fear for the fun of it. "I''ll go get my stuff." Harry said as he went to retrieve his trunk and his cage as Dan helped to make some space to put them at the back of the car. When everything was stowed and everyone was buckled up for the journey, they finally began the trip to Granger''s house in Knightdale. Harry could hardly believe his luck - he was leaving his relative''s house at the start of his holiday and he was simply overjoyed. However, Harry soon found himself in a quandary. He was supposed to sit beside a girl that he had dreamt of all summer in a confined space for a period of time. He racked his hand through his hair. This was potentially one of the greatest challenges Harry had ever faced. It was worse than facing the Basilisk alone in the Chambers of Secret. Harry could feel a strange and strong feeling of attraction to Hermione. He simply had a desperate need to kiss her as if his life had depended on it. Harry tried to concentrate on the conversation they were having as he fervently hoped that the need would pass. Hermione, on the other hand, also had the same difficulty. She could b?r?ly pay much attention to the conversation. She could not help staring at his alluring green eyes or his kissable lips. It was barmy! She decided to distract herself by chattering endlessly about all the mundane stuff under the sun. If it wasn''t for her raging hormones, she would''ve noticed that Harry was behaving weirder than usual, actively participating in topics that would usually bore him within seconds. Neither could understand what had changed that caused them to start dreaming of each other or having a need to be so physically close to each other. "Did you manage to do any of your homework?" Harry asked. He was searching for a topic they had not touched and he realised that they had yet to talk about homework. It was a safe topic to bring up since Hermione probably finished her work by the third day she was back at home. Hermione was probably doing supplementary readings as usual. Harry was not prepared for the bomb Hermione was going to drop on him. "No." Hermione answered softly as she turned away to look out the window at the scenery zooming past them. What? Did he hear her correctly? Harry had to strain his ears to hear her answer and when he finally realised what she had said, his jaw dropped. "Why? Uh...I mean that''s just unlike you. Are you alright?" Harry asked in deep concern. Something must be wrong! Her face was slightly red when she had turned to look at him. "I was just distracted." Distracted? Hermione was blushing too! Harry knew what that meant. Hermione had an infatuation for someone! His heart sank instantly at the thought. It felt as if someone had just drenched him with a bucket of cold water, numbing his heart. He simply couldn''t breathe because of the pain that was radiating from his ?h?st. He never thought that anything could hurt as bad as this, to know that she finally liked someone. Turning away so that she would not be able to see the dejection plainly on his face, he muttered, "Oh." She was of that age to fall in love anyway. I wonder who that lucky guy is. Maybe I rather not know. The chocolate eyes widened at the sight of Harry''s discomfort and she immediately jumped to conclusions. Oh no! Did he know what the distraction was? He couldn''t! She didn''t want him to know her feelings for him this way. Hermione glanced at her good friend and found that he really looked very upset. Did he not have the same feelings for me? That particular thought made her feel as if a boulder had weighed her heart down. It was too painful to think that he just didn''t like her the same way she did. She blanked out her mind and focused on the scenery outside of the window, hoping to turn off those depressing thoughts before she become upset. Desperately wanting to be the good friend that offered support and interest, he failed because he simply could not bring up the topic without sounding bitter. With a sigh, he focused on the scenery outside of the window dejectedly and the two teenagers did not utter a single word for the rest of their journey. What seem like a good holiday was fast turning into a horrible one. Chapter End Chapter 66 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 23 - World Changer Plot: Harry is a man broken and weighed down by regrets. He is past the point of caring, until one day he takes the opportunity to change his fate¡ªblast the consequences. Pairing: H-Hr NOTE: A in-progress fan-fic. Nearly to the end of the fan-fic, but does not seem like there is going to be any more chapters..... so don''t read if you dislike unfinished works (albeit a near completed one) He was a regular Mad-Eye-Moody. With the loss of his leg, he was forced to rely heavily on his wooden crutch. He may still have both his eyes, but his eyesight was poor and scars marred his face. The resemblance to his former mentor was uncanny. Much like the Irish wizard, he was responsible for many of the occupied cells in Azkaban. He sat behind an elegant rosewood desk, feeling rather silly and a bit useless. There had been no Death Eater activity in quite some time...not since that fateful day. Auror work was rather tame lately, with his latest case consisting of a pest scam where victims accused pest control companies of purposefully infecting their homes with Chizpurfles so magicfolk would be in desperate need of their services. A rather colossal waste of his time, in the grand scheme of things. But whenever there was something more serious that came up, it was usually Ron or Dean that took the call, making excuses that it would be better for him to stay at the Ministry in case things escalated. He loathed being told he was better staying at the Ministry. It wasn''t as if he was incapable of ?ssisting. No one had ever left Mad-Eye behind in the office! There was hardly anything to do anymore, save going home to Ginny. Luckily for him, Ginny had quite the blossoming Quidditch career and could often be found away, but when she was home, she was exceedingly needy. He could do without her whining...her scorn...her revulsion towards him. He knew he was no longer the wizard he used to be, how could he forget when it was forever clear in Ginny''s eyes? He didn''t need the reminder¡ªhe gave himself quite enough grief! She was in need of things, things she no longer felt he could offer her. Because of that, bitterness had begun to permeate their relationship, settling in the pit of his stomach and doused by indifference. He was beginning to care less and less. Ever since that day - so long ago - that was when everything had changed, his entire outlook. He''d made a mistake - a terrible mistake! - and there was no way to rectify it. It had only been three years, but it felt like an eternity. He was twenty-one back then, young and vibrant and still full of life. Now, Harry lived in a permanent state of regret. His leg, or rather, the ghost of his leg, throbbed and tingled up his knee and then further up his th??h. Taking a card from Malfoy, he took a deep sip of Firewhiskey, relishing in the fiery burn it left whilst sliding down his throat, regardless of being at work. He''d become all too used to the feeling as of late. It was the only thing to numb the constant pain. He missed the feeling of wholeness. These days he felt incomplete and lacking. Harry ran a hand through unruly black hair. Caramel-colored eyes flashed through his mind. Her eyes. They were open and honest and so heart-wrenchingly beautiful. Hermione... so sweet and so innocent and so gone. ~oOo*oOo~ Sunday found him having dinner at Cauldrons again. Some of their friends were there, or rather, her friends. On the rare occasion Harry liked to go out, he would much rather Floo to Wiltshire and catch the Malfoy patriarch for a quiet drink. Somehow, over the past two years, he''d become something close to friends with his former nemesis. They shared the same dry, witty humor and it wasn''t so exhausting to endure the Slytherin''s company. Harry''s lip curled at the sight of Lavender. Maybe it had been three years, but how could Ron stand being with her when he''d lost Hermione? How did Lavender even begin to compare? The witch was sweet enough, but she was shallow and vapid and she giggled far too much for Harry''s liking. It wore on his nerves in the most nails-on-the-chalkboard sort of way. That Ron could move on so effortlessly made Harry want to hurl. Perhaps they deserved one another. "Did you hear, Harry?" Ginny''s voice effectively cut through his private musings. "Marcus'' whole team has been outfitted with the newest broom that hasn''t even hit stores yet." "Oh?" Harry couldn''t bring himself to be equally as excited. Marcus nodded smugly. "The Silver Streak. It won''t be out to the public until next year." "Faster than the Firebolt?" Ron inquired, his arm thrown carelessly around Brown''s shoulders. "That I''d have to see." "180 miles an hour," Ginny informed her brother enthusiastically. Then she turned to the rest of the table. "It has an extendable seat for extra cushioning." "You have to try it out, it''s one wild ride." Flint flashed them another smile. "Would that I could," Harry muttered bitterly. He had tried to mount a broom multiple times since the altercation that had lost him his leg. There was something off with the balance. His left leg was now far too heavy and he had to tense his muscles just so in order to even it out. He hadn''t got the hang of it. It was too irritating to be confronted by all he''d lost. The others exchanged uncomfortable glances, Flint having just realized his error. Ginny''s smile faltered and she cleared her throat loudly. "Yes, well, you''ll get the hang of it again, eventually." Harry nodded. In fairness, she was right. He would simply have to learn how to fly despite his permanent injury. It was just taking longer than he might have liked. But he would probably never be able to ride a broom that went that fast. Ginny smiled brightly and shifted her attention to Ron. "So what is it you said you wanted to tell us about?" Ron smiled sheepishly, glancing around the table before ducking his head. "Just got a bit of news to tell you, that''s all." Lavender grinned from ear to ear and Harry became instantly weary. "I''m expecting." She beamed. "Ron and I are going to be parents!" For a split second, Harry could swear he saw Ginny''s face twist in an expression that could only be described as envy, but it was gone in an instant. She plastered on a sickly sweet smile dripping with happiness for the couple. Harry tried not to scowl. He regretted not getting to know Ginny, truly getting to know her. At the time when they were teenagers, he had seen what he wanted to see, but now the scales had fallen from his eyes and he''d seen the real Ginny, the Ginny that had wanted to be Mrs. Ginevra Potter ever since second year. There had been signs, of course, but Harry had ignored them. It was always supposed to be Ron and Hermione and he and Ginny and now it was too late. Ron had never appreciated Hermione, had never deserved her, and he had moved on so effectively he was already having a kid with Hermione''s replacement. Harry couldn''t bring himself to feel joy but mumbled the polite things he was supposed to say anyway. Table talk resumed and Harry found himself tuning out automatically. It was just more of the same¡ªGinny and Flint laughing at some shared joke¡ªwere they fu?k?n? each other? Harry wouldn''t be exactly surprised if that was the case. Their own s?x life had been lacking. Ginny had accused him of being too rough during s?x and he couldn''t find it in him to fu?k her any longer. The constant complaining had effectively nipped that d?s?r? in the bud. The horcrux had warned him. It had told him things from its place around his neck. Harry had thought it evil before, manipulative and wrong, but maybe he had been wrong. The horcrux had whispered vile things, seeing deep into his heart and registering his true feelings about Hermione before even he had admitted them to himself. It made him jealous of Ron and annoyed with Ginny''s antics. It had told him he would lose her, and at first he thought the horcrux had meant Ginny, but now he realized he knew the whole time that it had not. His jaw throbbed painfully when he chewed, a lingering effect of it being broken too many times. His whole body was always so wracked with pain, and he resented the fact that he''d have to endure this for the rest of his life, all because of some prophecy that had sprung up when he was a infant. It was a dangerous shift in his line of thinking. It was selfish for him to wish he hadn''t been burdened with saving the wizarding world. Things were as they were supposed to be, people had moved on, the Ministry was in better hands, and he should be pleased despite the personal losses he''d sustained. It hadn''t been a failure. "Yes, let''s do, Harry!" Ginny pulled him from his thoughts. "Do what?" he asked irritably. "Go to the cinema, of course." Her eyes narrowed. "With our friends." "Oh, I think I''ll pass. I actually made plans tonight." "What plans?" She b?r?ly kept the smile she wore attached to her face. "Plans with Malfoy, again ?" Her expression suggested an affirmative answer would be an act of aggression in itself. "Yes, actually. I was going to stop by his manor this evening." "Harry?" Her b?r?ly there smile was strained, the tips of her ears turning red. "Can we speak privately?" She hastily got up without looking to see if Harry would follow. His annoyance reaching new heights, he begrudgingly got up from his chair and followed after her, noticing the glances of pity he received from the occupants at the table. When he hobbled up to her in the mostly vacant hall by the lavatories, he whirled on her. "What is it, Ginny?" "I just wanted to know what''s gotten into you now. Can''t you see you''re making our friends uncomfortable?" He scowled. "I''m not trying to." "Well you are. It''s you and this black cloud that''s following you." Harry averted his eyes, too stubborn to admit that Ginny was probably right. He was hardly useful to anyone, and not very good company. "I just don''t get it, Harry." She crossed her arms over her ?h?st. "You always want to stay home or get hammered with Malfoy. And when you are alone with me, you''re usually out of it from all the pain potions you take." She paused to gain her breath, her eyes becoming more and more heated. "I do everything around the house. I cook and I clean, and you just want to stare off into space all day." Irritation flared hotly in his ?h?st and he gestured to his stump. "I suggested we get permanant help after the accident." "That''s not the point!" Her ?h?st was rising and falling in shallow pants. "We used to have fun and we never do anymore. I thought that surely by now we would have children, but it seems like you recoil anytime you brush against me. You blame everything on your accident, but Merlin - that was so long ago! I want someone around me that loves me, and it hardly seems like you do, it hardly seems like you want to even be here anymore." Perhaps she was right. But the solution was allowing him space, couldn''t she see that? "If you''d only let me make my own decision-" "Why? So you and the ferret can pine after my brother''s dead wife some more?" He recoiled as if he''d been slapped. He may as well have. However trapped it made him feel, he could almost see the point of everything Ginny had to say, but when she''d said that. "What did you say?" His expression turned dark and dangerous. "You heard me," she said with a snarl. "Do you really think I never knew? Ron and I both knew, and discussed the matter frequently. But you chose someone else, and now you are still thinking about her, even when she is long gone. Everyone else has moved on, and it''s time you did." "I can''t just move on when my best friend has died," he stressed, his ire peaked. "Hermione was important to me, to us, and you guys act like she never existed." "She was just a girl, Harry, a regular girl we grew up with but like many others, died in the war." "You''re not half the witch that she was," he spat cruelly, failing to keep control of his rapidly splintering temper. Ginny grinned as if she were the cat that got the cream. "I knew you had feelings for her. How pathetic. I wish you would have saved us all trouble and just told her how you felt from the start. Look at you," she motioned to his person, "you''re hardly a man anymore. The war has ruined you and now you are trying to bring me down with you." Harry didn''t know what to say. He was broken and decrepit and his heart was in ruins. Ginny was right and she knew it. "Go ahead and go to Malfoy''s," she said, turning away from him. "I''ll make excuses for you." It was too much. He had no control over anything - not over any aspect of his life. He couldn''t deal with her incessant screaming, she was driving him stark-raving mad! How could he spend the rest of his life with her? He didn''t fancy being talked to in such a way, to have to walk on eggshells in his own house, but it seemed as though he couldn''t even act anymore unless he had her permission. He was stuck. He headed for the sidewalk, Apparating on the spot for the sanctuary of Grimmauld Place. Ginny got her way and he was in no mood to consult with even Malfoy that evening, her permission had effectively destroyed his d?s?r? to do so. ~oOo*oOo~ He slept in one of the spare rooms on the Third Floor, falling into a deep whiskey-induced sleep. Like so many nights before, he dreamed of that night in Lestrange Manor. When he woke up, panting for breath, it was still dark out. How had everything gone to shit? Would that he could use a Time-Turner and go back and change things. The intel they had received, shortly after the war, on Rabastan Lestrange''s whereabouts had led them - impossibly - to Lestrange Manor. Harry couldn''t believe their good fortune, it was supposed to have been an easy mission. "Tell me why I can''t simply Avada the man on sight, ''Mione?" She sighed and glanced at him with a half-smirk. "Because, as I''ve told you, he has an artifact we are quite keen on retrieving, and Aurors are not supposed to use such curses anyhow." "Must be pretty important if an Unspeakable is worried about it," Ron told her. "It is, Ronald. If Lestrange activates the chalice, it can have dastardly effects on the world as we know it." Harry could still remember the way Ron had dismissed Hermione''s concerns, ?ssuring her that he and Harry would take care of everything and why didn''t she go look for wedding dresses with Ginny? Hurt had flashed through her eyes very briefly, and Harry had considered saying something, but he hadn''t. Ron often hurt Hermione by saying such thoughtless things. Harry could kick himself now that he hadn''t called the wizard out each and every time he had done so. Hermione was not a witch to be shrugged off. They had been too pompous, too sure in their own capabilities. Their egos had grown rather large since being heralded heroes of the wizarding world only a few years prior. Lestrange was the last of the Death Eaters, and once they captured him, they could put the miserable war behind them. But Lestrange had not made the task easy on them. They were immediately ?ssaulted with traps upon entering his manor. He''d seemed to be expecting intruders, and he was prepared to meet them. Harry was too busy fending off the unexpected attacks to see the onslaught of dark curses coming, to know that this would be the turning point and the day he regretted more than any other. The dark hex severed off his leg, immediately. It stumped him so effectively, his eyes looking on unbelievably to the severed appendage and he only half-heartedly threw up a shield to stave off the rest of the wizard''s attack. He cast a tourniquet charm on his knee and absently recalled seeing Hermione run across the room, straight towards Lestrange and deftly evading the traps at the entrance. Her eyes had been set on the ritual the Death Eater had been about to perform. Lights were lit in sconces lining the platform that housed a goblet of sorts. Lestrange was too busy sending curses sizzling angrily through the air to immediately notice Hermione''s slight form as it darted behind him in a blur, her goal set on capturing the cup. When she did get her hands on it, she wrapped it carefully in her jacket, not touching the polished metal with her b?r? fingers. It was only something Harry recalled vaguely, but then back up had arrived. Ron had signaled reinforcements and Lestrange was becoming overwhelmed. Harry had crawled across the room, unused to the feeling of being without a leg, and the meaning of the loss not even dawning on him yet. Hermione needed his help and he felt compelled to go to her. She needed him and what she was doing was important. He ducked around curses and hexes that were flying through the air from both sides, his goal only on reaching Hermione. "Harry!" Her eyes shrilled with terror at the sight of him, momentarily forgetting her precious package wrapped in her arms as she ran towards them. "Oh, gods, what has he done?" She reached for her wand, flicking a series of spells over him and Harry felt his pain lessen. "No," he told her decisively, casting a strong shield around them. "I need to get you out of here. You have the cup and we need to get to safety. Ron can handle him with the rest of the Aurors." It was hard to speak, hard to breathe, hard to gain a footing in reality. With single-minded focus, he reached for Hermione, who looked at him sadly, her eyes holding wisdom that was well beyond both of their years combined. "We need to destroy it. If nothing else, we at least need to do that." "Vanish it." "Harry, this is a World Changer , it can''t be simply vanished." She swallowed convulsively, honey eyes filled with concern and love. "Harry, I-" Her words were cut off by a particularly strong series of well-aimed slicing charms that severed through his shield like bu??er. Hermione gasped and held up her wrists in confusion, watching in shock as blood curled around her forearms and dripped to her elbows. She was riddled with slices, deep cuts, and when Harry made to raise his wand, he found that he was too. He could no longer see out of one eye. "Ron," he gurgled, blood clogging his throat. "Get Hermione to St. Mungo''s NOW." She shook her head, grabbing Harry''s hand and attempting desperately to speak. "You must promise me something." Harry could hardly focus on her words, through the pain and the blurred vision and the ringing in his ears. Where had his wand gone? How was Lestrange still upright and dueling four wizards at the same time? He became distantly aware of stone statues - gargoyles - moving along the manor and attacking the four Aurors. They needed more men! "Promise me, Harry!" "What!" Anything , he screamed in his mind. She handed him the wrapped cup, now drenched in her blood. "You must find a way to destroy this, and never use it! I don''t care how tempting it is to try, you must never do it!" His fingers scraped against familiar holly wood. Her words streaked across his brain in a jumbled mess¡ªnothing made sense! "Vulnera Sanentur," he said desperately, swallowing against the pain that was ?ssaulting his body. The healing spell worked slowly to seam together the wounds she had sustained, but there had been so much blood lost! Her eyes fluttered shut before opening and refocusing. So many feelings swam in her eyes as she captured his gaze with hers, weak and sluggish. So many things left unsaid. "In another life...maybe...but no, Harry...never." Incoherent ramblings he had initially dismissed, so focused on healing her as he was. "Please, don''t die on me, ''Mione." But she was wavering and he didn''t know the right spells, and his strength was faltering. She was slipping. "Hermione!" This time when her eyes closed, they did not reopen. In a blind rage of fury, he let his magic sizzle through him and focused it angrily on Lestrange. "Avada Kedavra!" The electrifying green light lit up the dim manor, momentarily surprising the Aurors that stood fighting as it shot past them and straight to his target. His first ever Avada, and it teared at his very soul. Brokenhearted and beyond weak, he had collapsed to the floor, unaware of how changed the world would be when he awoke. "In another life," he said aloud, getting up and sitting in the chair that stood by a ?h?st. "What did you mean, Hermione?" He''d replayed the words many times. She had made him promise to destroy the cup, that had seemed to be her life''s mission, and he had tried, but damn if it wasn''t impossible to do! He regretted not telling her how he felt, how he''d felt for years, for in the moment that she had faded in his arms, he had realized it beyond a shadow of a doubt¡ªit was only she that caused his heart to stutter in his ?h?st...that caused his lips to twist in a genuine smile...a true laugh to wrench from his throat...love to bloom in his heart. She was the one witch he wanted, and now he couldn''t have her, and wasn''t that just painfully ironic? She was all the good in him, and without her there was nothing much left. His expression turned dark and contemplative. Moving towards the ?h?st, he cast the unlocking spell and reached in for the jacket that still housed the cup he never destroyed. He pressed the jacket up to his face, even though it was dry and crusted over with blood, trying to recapture the memory of her scent. "Harry," Ron said with wide eyes. "You''re in a bad way." "Obviously, Ron." "And Her-," he swallowed rapidly. "''Mione''s cup?" "It''s destroyed," he lied. Though why he had done so alluded him. He had every intention of destroying it as he promised but when he''d failed, what had stopped him from turning it in...concern that he would be held accountable for lying about it in the first place? Still, it had been his duty and he had wanted to take care of it. But now¡­ ...But now he felt... differently. "Hermione," he spoke aloud, the dark inflection of his tone sounding unfamiliar on his tongue. "You said it changes worlds...what if I want my world to change?" He thought back to how Lestrange had set up a ritual before he intended to use the cup. Really, Harry did not know how to use it even if he wanted to. Hermione''s research on the subject had vanished from her office upon her death. All he knew was that she was wary of pressing her flesh up against the metal. The promise he made her streaked across his brain, but the temptation to try and to somehow discover the power of the seemingly harmless cup and learn to harness it was far too great. He was a broken failure, he may as well be an oath-breaker too. The need for her eclipsed the pain of breaking his promise, and only made the hole in his heart all the more prevalent. "You made me promise, lovely, but you left me." He ripped the jacket from the cup and stared at the elusive goblet as it sat in his ??p, puzzling over its power. "I''m sorry," he said as he flexed his fingers over the cup - the World Changer - for the first time. "If you''re a World Changer," he smirked, the taste of the whiskey he had over-consumed still fresh on his tongue. " Change my world. " It was instantaneous. His words coupled with his fingers on the cup seemed to galvanize its power into action, and he was suddenly swept up in a bright, shockingly yellow light. The light was so bright, it shone through his tightly closed eyes, ripping and tearing at his body as a cacophony of sound erupted around him. He was stunned as he gripped the cup before it flew from his hands and then he was grasping at air. He hadn''t expected anything to happen¡ªnot really¡ªand here something definitely was. He had a moment of panic as he wondered if he should have tried to research more, find out what exactly he was supposed to do to influence the change instead of letting it take him blindly. He was helpless and that was bad! His body shifted through something foreign - like a dimension he couldn''t fathom - and then he was catapulting through light and sound. His body felt disconnected from his mind, somehow he was aware of his soul flying, morphing, changing before exploding into something hard and solid and whole. The ground was spinning impossibly fast and he felt nauseous but he forced his eyes open anyway, his vision clearing sharply as his gaze clashed with honey-colored eyes. "Harry?" ~oOo*oOo~ Chapter End Chapter 67 - Crossover Fan-fiction 1 - The Jedi Time Lord Crossover: Star Wars(TCW) + Doctor Who Plot: Time Lords are forbidden to become Jedi, mainly because any who do become extremely powerful in the force. When the Time Lords realise that the galaxy''s timeline is in danger however, they send a young boy to train as a Jedi and carry out a mission: keep the timeline the same at all costs. Hope you all enjoy. Pairing: OCxAksoka NOTE: Well written, however the ending (in my own personal opinion) was not as satisfying as i would have liked it to be. But nevertheless a good read for fans of both these fandoms! In a bunker down in the lower levels of Arcadia, the most important people currently on the planet were walking through the ancient corridors towards the conference room hidden deep underground. The time lords themselves had been at war for centuries now. Two of the mightiest races in the entire universe were slowly yet destructively killing each other. The great time war engulfed many systems in war and millions of time lords and daleks alike were slaughtered, ever since the daleks declared war on the gallifreyans years ago, for trying to prevent their creation, via the time lord known as the doctor. He failed, and now, he has been said to fight alongside fellow time lords in battle. These time lords, sitting down at the table in the underground conference room, we''re here to discuss something just as important as the war itself. Something that called the president of Gallifrey himself to attend. Rassilon sat in his seat of honor at the head of the table and turned his gaze to the others. "Can anyone explain why we have been brought here to discuss something, and diverting our attention from the war raging above and beyond across several solar systems?" he questioned. "My lord, an issue has been brought up, which is extremely important" a Time lord councillor informed. "It must be important. This is the very first time we have been brought down here to discuss something other than the war that is slowly killing us" Rassilon retorted. "Sir, the ancient gallifreyan scanners and time readers, have discovered something, something very worrying" another Time lord explained. "What?" asked Rassilon. "My lord president, it is possible that the entire space time continuum is in danger of collapsing" one on his left explained, her eyes looking down at the table. Rassilon''s face became slightly confused. "How? Because of the war?" he asked, worry clearly in his voice. "No my lord" another interjected. "It''s to do with a galaxy, far far away from our own." "Explain" demanded the president. "In this galaxy we refer to, a series of events will happen, that may or may not stay on it''s original timeline." Another counsellor then started to talk. "In a hundred years from now, that galaxy will too be engulfed in a war. Not as destructive as this one, but many things will happen that is possible to stray off it''s original timeline, threatening the space time continuum itself." "And how is this possible?" questioned Rassilon. "Certain points in time are fixed my lord. If a fixed point in time does not happen, paradoxes could be created." "So what are you suggesting?" "We, we intervene ourselves, lord president." "Intervene? Have you all forgotten? Intervening, is the very reason millions of Time lords have died in this war! It is the time lord code to never intervene, and the one time we did, has lead to our possible complete destruction!" Rassilon stood up from his chair banging his fist on the table . "I think that this war is more important to focus on right now." "But lord president, even if we even do somehow survive this time war, there maybe nothing of time itself left, if any fixed points in time are changed in this galaxy!" protested a council member. "Why just this certain galaxy?" Rassilon looked at him. "Because this galaxy is most endangered of having it''s fixed points altered" he explained. Rassilon thought for a while before finally speaking. "Then what do you suggest we do?" "We have a proposal my lord" a man and woman at the other end of the table stood up. "This certain galaxy we are talking about, happens to be the galaxy where the legendary force resides" the man informed. Rassilon''s facial expression became more worried. "The force?" he repeated. "Yes my lord. This is the galaxy that contains force users. This galaxy is very advanced and have developed hyperspace travel. Very soon however, it''s timeline will be endangered. So what we suggest, is that we send one or ours to become a force user and keep the timeline in order" the woman explained. "A Time lord, as a force user? No! That''s forbidden! May I remind you all that thousands and thousands of years ago, force users from our planet were trained as Jedi, and you all know what happened" exclaimed the president. "Actually, not all of us are familiar with that my lord" a time lord spoke up. Rassilon sighed. "Only very few Time lords, who did make it to that force user galaxy thousands of years ago, were trained as Jedi. But something happened. They grew more powerful with the force, extremely powerful. Any time lord that becomes a Jedi gains incredible power in the force. More powerful than any other force user. Those time lords were feared by the Jedi council at that time for immense power, and were expelled. Thank goodness they didn''t turn towards the dark side of the force." "With all respect president, how else can we give one of ours the power to keep the timelines the same?" the man at the end of table asked. Rassilon thought for a while. "I don''t like this, but, if it''s the only way to protect timelines, then we can make this one exception" Rassilon agreed. "Who are we going to send? We would have to brief that person on their mission first" one councillor asked. "Unfortunately, the Jedi only accept very young children to be trained, so it''ll have to be someone very young" the woman at the end of the table informed. "Then how are we supposed to give that person the mission, if they are too young?" another asked. "Simple, we make them regenerate, and we choose their body for them" the man at the end of the table explained and all the others nodded. "The question is now, who?" XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX 1 month later In a large hall which was an apparent waiting room, inside the Time lord council building, a young Time lord boy was sat on a chair swinging his legs back and forth, staring into space. He was young for his species, only 85 years old. If he was human however, he would look as if he were 10. In a large room full of council members, the Time lords were going over a briefing. "So, you have found someone I understand?" asked Rassilon. "Yes lord president. We have hand selected a young boy from an orphanage. He has no family and at his orphanage he is very obedient and well behaved. But most of all he has shown to be incredibly intelligent for his age, and very resourceful. We went around several orphanages and handpicked him ourselves" the same woman who was at the end of the table explained. "You can send him in now" the same man ordered. The boy was fiddling with some sort of gadget before someone called him in. "They want you in there now" a person called the young boy. He stood up and proceeded to follow them in. He was lead through long corridors and into a room that up above, the time lord council had their own individual seat looking down. The boy looked up, slightly nervous, upon seeing the most powerful people on Gallifrey. "What''s his name?" asked a council member. "He chose his own name, like many his age. He chose Michael Res. Hello there young one" the man welcomed. "I am Kaben, this here is Henga" he gestured towards the woman next to him who smiled. "Hello, council members" Michael greeted. "You must wonder why you''ve been called here young Michael" Kaben began. "You have been specially selected by us for a special task." "A task? Is it something to do with the war?" Michael naively asked. "No my young friend, it is nothing to do with this time war. There is something else, that we need your help with. You see, there is a galaxy far far away from our own. It is a very advanced one, although they are only just discovering life outside their galaxy. However, the timelines of this galaxy, are great danger" Henga explained. "From what?" asked Michael. "From anything, a lot of things could happen which could divert the timeline." "But i thought we never interfered with time?" "Certain, points in time are fixed, and if they don''t happen, time could collapse in on itself." "See for yourself boy" Rassilon ushered down a beam of yellow light, which floated towards Michael. Suddenly it entered his head, which took Michael by surprise, and his head filled with all sorts of visions and knowledge of the future of this galaxy. He saw Jedi, clones in white armour. There was a war, with battle droids fighting for the other side. There were several deaths, certain people, people who had an important part in this galaxy. There was an empire, a genocide, a rebellion, the destruction of that empire. There was so much he was shown. The visions finished, and he looked up at the council members, obviously shocked from what he had seen. "That is it''s original timeline" informed Kaben. "It''s so, destructive" the boy looked down at the ground, somewhat traumatised from what he had just seen. "We need you, to become a Jedi in this galaxy, and keep the timeline in order" one council member explained. "Me?" "Yes. You will be sent to this galaxy and you will carry out your mission there. Of course only if you agree" Henga offered. Michael didn''t know what to do. He''d been taken from an orphanage and his friends just now, to meet with the most powerful people on Gallifrey, who are talking about something other than the time war, and shown this entire history of a galaxy which he was told to make sure it happens. The young Gallifreyan didn''t understand. He didn''t understand what was entirely going on right now. "We''ll give you time to think about it. But in the meantime," one Time lord waved his hand a small yellow light floated down down and entered Michael. "Can you take this boy back to his orphanage?" asked another to the person that brought the young boy in. They nodded and gestured for Michael to follow them. After he left, the time lords looked at each other. "What did you do just now?" "I put a very small portion of midichlorians in him, he should appear as a force s?ns?t?v? to the Jedi. Not only that, but I chose his next regeneration for him, so when the time comes, he''ll regress into an infant, so that the Jedi will accept him." "There''s also the problem of whether he''ll stay on that mission" Rassilon reminded. "Don''t worry about that" Henga explained. "Kaben and I have put part of our consciousness into this device" she held out a small projector. "We will be physically be able to appear before him if he takes it with him." Chapter End Chapter 68 - Crossover Fan-fiction 2 - Jump Chain Gothic 1 - Mass Effect 1 Crossover: Mass Effect 1 (later on: Star Trek, Mass Effect 2, Harry Potter, Merlin, Skyrim and StarGate) Plot: Gothic Jump Chain stories Pairing: N/A NOTE: A VERY long series, and encompasses a LOT of different fandoms (so read if you have a good understanding of them). Otherwise a well rounded FF and is currently up to 7 Volumes, with the author being very active. Jump Chain Gothic - Mass Effect - Part 1 Cosmic Warehouse. Outside Reality. "My name is Terrella" someone said "And welcome to Jump Chain!". This was all very odd. I wasn''t at home. I wasn''t anywhere I knew. You''d think that this would upset me, but I found myself feeling oddly calm for some reason. Perhaps because there was nothing threatening around. I was in a big empty space, and there was only one other living thing nearby. "Jump chain?" I asked curiously. While I was staying calm that didn''t mean I wasn''t confused. Which was understandable as I''d woken up in what seemed to be a massive, windowless and empty warehouse. After getting up off the floor and looking around I''d run into into what seemed to be a schoolgirl, only she didn''t seem that young so I ?ssumed the uniform was a kink thing. I wasn''t going to judge, not unless she''d abducted me. "Ah, right, I haven''t explained that part yet" the young woman said "You''ll have to forgive me, this is my first time. My Dad was going to offer you a chance to explore the multiverse as one of his little amusements, but I asked him to let me to do this one. He''s done loads, and I was getting bored so I took a job as a Jump Chan". I had to ask. "Your Dad?" The young woman sighed. "Life isn''t easy when your Dad''s a Cosmic Horror with near unlimited power" she said "But you don''t need to worry about that, what you need to worry about is Jump Chain. Basically, it works like this. You pick a universe from the list I put together, which you get explore and have fun in". That didn''t sound too complex, and it also sounded somewhat familiar. Her Dad had to be one of the ROBs I''d heard about. I''d always kind of hoped that one I''d run into one. "What''s the point of this Jump Chain?" I asked "I admit I don''t know much about them". Terrella gestured wildly and enthusiastically. "Entertainment for me, that and each jump gives you magical items or powers that you buy with points, plus there''s looting, romance options, thrills, dangers, and so on. The rewards depend of the Jumper, you might die or decide to go home, or stay in a universe, or you might be able to get enough power to become a god in about ten jumps!" she said "The reward for doing all ten jumps is actually the Spark of an Oldwalker, but that''s pretty much being a god". Again I had to ask. "And if I refuse?" I wondered "What if I choose to go home right now?". Terrella smiled at me. "I''ll eat you, mind, body and soul" she told me. Well that made my choice an easy one. For now I would indulge the daughter of a Cosmic Horror, then later when I was alone, then I''d have a massive panic attack. "I''m in" I said. Terrella smiled again, only this time it was less shark like. "Excellent!" the young woman called out "The first step is to fill out the body mod file so that I know what type of new body to give you". Terrella gestured at one of the walls which lit up like a computer screen showing some data, that I went over to study. "There are other ways to change your appearance, but that will depend on where you go on Jumps" I was told "The body mod is mostly for modifying yourself to better survive". I checked out what on the screen. I had 600 points to spend here. "Well I don''t need a tail and animal ears" I said not liking the look of the bestial option "Which means that athlete looks like the best option, and an average build, costing me 100 points". Terrella nodded in approval. "Pretty much, super strength is better acquired through powers" she advised "that way you don''t end up looking like you overdid it on the steroids". That made it even more tempting to select the athlete option. "Okay, I''ve got five hundreds points left" I muttered to myself. I looked over the options. Terrella giggled and I got worried. Then I realised that she might be amused by me trying to guess things. Which made me think it was a good idea to get some advice. "Any suggestions?" I asked. She spent a moment thinking about it. "I''d go with metavore option if you have enough points, as long as you eat enough, you''ll stay fit, healthy and in shape without working for it" she advised "If nothing else it will save you money on a gym membership". That sounded great because no one ever used their gym memberships. "Metavore it is then" I said. Then I looked over my list of choices made so far. I''d understood most of them so I hadn''t needed any help. Strength was good and so was endurance, but it was better to be able to flee danger and to be able to dodge attacks. Hence why I''d gone with extra speed and dexterity. Appeal might seem shallow, but it was only 50cp. -Point Allocation (600 CP) -Build: Average (600 CP) -Strength x1 (450 CP) -Endurance x1 (400 CP) -Speed x2 (400 CP) -Dexterity x2 (400 CP) -Appeal x1 (350 CP) -Shape x1 (300 CP) -Sense x1 (250 CP) -Endowed x1 (200 CP) -Metavore (100 CP) -Flexibility x1 (0 CP) "Endowed?" Terrella asked. Judging by what I was able to tell without taking my trousers off I hadn''t gotten much bigger in the p?n?s department. Just an extra inch or maybe two, plus it hadn''t cost much. "Well I''m certainly not going to complain about that" she said. For the sake of my possibly already fractured sanity I ignored that and hit accept. Not even considering the Genderbender option. "What''s next?" I wondered. So far this hadn''t been too bad. "You need to decided the warehouse mods and the companion housing mods for when you pick up a harem" I was told "You have to have a harem, s?x aside companions can be useful. If nothing else you''ll have someone to talk when I''m not around". More stuff came up on the screen. "Ah, I see, if I buy heat for my warehouse my companion warehouse gets it for free. That''s nice" I said "This is like buying upgrades for a base". I looked through the various options for both of the files before asking about them. "In other words, everyone will have their own bathrooms and bedrooms and some places to hang out" Terrella explained "And the good news is that there is a door from your warehouse to the companion house so you can visit, you know go through their stuff, hog their nice bathroom, make a booty call". That sounded nice. "What''s a Force Wall do?" I asked. I could guess, but it was best to make sure. "You might end picking up dangerous artifacts during your travels, my thinking was that you''d rather not have someone who can travel the multi-verse coming here and stealing all your cool stuff". Yeah I should get that then. "Okay let''s get on with it" I said as I made my choices. -Point Allocation (150 CP) -Electricity (140 CP) -Plumbing (130 CP) -Heat/A.C. (120 CP) -ForceWall (100 CP) -Shelving (100 CP) -Terminal (90 CP) -Robots (70 CP) -Housing (50 CP) -Medbay (30 CP) -Portal (0 CP) "Wait why does my companion, who I don''t even have yet, get a thousand points spent on his or her place?" I wondered "While I only get 150?". I wasn''t given an answer so I got with things. Companion Housing Complex Supplement: -Point Allocation (1000 CP) -Electric (1000 CP) -Plumbing (1000 CP) -Heat/A.C. (1000 CP) -Deluxe Bedroom (900 CP) -Deluxe Bathroom (800 CP) -Dining Hall (750 CP) -Deluxe Kitchen (600 CP) -Entertainment Center (500 CP) -Library (300 CP) -Garden (150 CP) -Cleaning Closet (125 CP) -Maintenance (125 CP) -Medical Bay (125 CP) -Rooms with a View (100 CP) -Phone (50 CP) -Theme (0 CP) "Most Jump Chains start with pokemon for ten years, then they deal with the warehouse and the body mods" Terrella informed me once I was done spoiling someone who didn''t yet exist for me "But that sounds super boring, so we''re not doing it that way". I was surprised. "Ten years!" I yelled "I''ll be an old man before I could finish more than a few Jumps!". Terrella didn''t seem concerned. "After the Jump is finished you''ll return the same physical age you are now" I was informed "Or you can be younger if you end a Jump younger than you are now. It depends on what upgrades and such that you buy with points". I had a look at my options. There were a lot of them. "Before you pick one there are a few things I should mention" Terrella told me "One is that key you have in your pocket, it will always be in your pocket, unless your using it so don''t worry you can''t lose it. Any door with a lock can be used to access this warehouse, and you can bring friends here too, but the door won''t close unless you''re between Jumps, so don''t use a door out there that''s in public". That sounded really cool. As long as the door was secure it would like having my own batcave. "You can store anything you want here, but do not leave people in here when you leave, not unless you put them in a stasis pod" I was warned. I repeated that information to myself a few times to myself so I wouldn''t forget, and then I went back to looking at my options. "Okay so I get that I can store things in my warehouse and I ?ssume that if I learn a kind of magic or pick up tech skills I can use it anywhere, but I don''t keep the biological changes right?" I asked. Having an alien form would prevent me from moving freely on worlds that didn''t accept aliens. "Oh, no, you keep everything" I was told "If you become a different race in a jump, that race becomes an "alt form," after the jump ends, and you can turn into it at will. If there are powers that come from that form, such as telepathy and shape-shifting from being a DC Verse Martian, you''ll need to change into it to use those abilities. If you''re a super soldier from the Marvel Cinematic Jump, you''ll keep those abilities in every form". That sounded so cool. And it made me a lot more eager to start. Sure I might die, but the risk was worth it. Plus I was smart I''d make a good choice. If not then at least I''d die something more way more thrilling than what was going on in my normal life. "Okay bored now" Terrella complained "Let me pick a jump for you. Just the first one". I had a bad feeling about this. Even more so when a huge pinwheel thing appeared from no where and started spinning. "Oh Mass Effect!" Terrella yelled when the wheel stopped. Oh not good, but there were worse places I could go. Like Warhammer 40K, Event Horizon, or Twilight. - Budget (1000cp) - Race: Human (1000cp) "Hold on let me roll" Terrella said. I had to dive out of the way as two massive foam dice rolled across the warehouse. At this point I was thinking that maybe I should take the offered Jump if only to get away from this thing that looked like a young woman. It might actually be better for my physical health as well as my sanity. "Really a two and a one" Terrella remarked - Age 2d8 + 20 = 23 (1000cp) - Eden Prime (900cp) - Marine (800cp) - Sentinel Tech/Biotic - Finesse (500cp) - Supportive Mindset (350cp) - Not A Stupid Grunt (50cp) - Loadout (50cp) - Extra Credits (0cp) - Shepard''s Flock (100cp) - Assistant VI (0cp) "Okay you are all set up" Terrella informed me "And since you let me pick your first jump I''ll do you a favour. Just once in the next ten years you can call for my help. Say my name three times and I will appear to aid you in a time of crisis". Since she seemed to be a Q like creature that favour could be very handy, but before I could ask about it I found myself somewhere else. (Line Break) SSV Hastings. On Route To Eden Prime. "Up and at em, Lt" a female voice said. I snapped awake at once and looking around I discovered that I was in some sort of shared sleeping space. Above me was a woman with brown hair, who was looking down at me. "Come one Lt were almost there" she said "You don''t want to sleep through your paid leave do you?". I shook my head. "Five more minutes Mum" I begged. This made the woman laugh. "Sorry Lt, but we''ll be planet side soon and you need to grab your gear". I got up out of bed and noticed that my arm was flashing. Or to be more precise a device attached to my arm was flashing. I pressed the bu??on and what I knew to be a VI appeared. "Good morning Lieutenant Gothic" the female form greeted "How may I help you?". I had to ask. "Lieutenant Gothic?" I asked. My head was all fuzzy. I felt like I should know, but I didn''t. "You are Gothic, Lieutenant Junior Grade, born on Earth, you have been ?ssigned to the 2nd Frontier Division, 212th marine brigade" the VI told me. For some reason the VI looked like Cortana from the Halo franchise, only she didn''t sound like her. This wasn''t an AI like Cortana, it was much more limited, but still I knew it would be useful. I now understood that she was my own personal VI which I had created during my training. That was why I was a Lieutenant. I had new memories of years of training. I''d just finished that training as a Sentinel, having gone through officer trainer rather than enlisting, and I was here to support the 212, not to command it directly. Which made sense I soon realised as while I was a biotic my main area of expertise was more on the tech side of things. "Ask it about Eden Prime" the woman requested. The VI only responded to me so I had to repeat the request. "This idyllic agrarian world was one of the first human colonies established beyond the Charon mass relay. Eden Prime''s biosphere is unusually well-suited for importation of Earth-native life. This world''s fertility has drawn heavy immigration and development by the Systems Alliance and various corporations" the VI told me "Today Eden Prime is a model of sustainable, organised development. The population is housed space-efficient arcologies that tower over thousands of kilometres of green fields and orchards". I''d be living on this world for the next couple of years, the Geth wouldn''t attack until then, so I was glad that it seemed like a decent place to live. "Sounds nice" the woman commented. I scanned the marine carefully as I wondered who she was. I sort of already knew, but couldn''t be totally sure. "Ashley Madeline Williams" the VI said out loud "Gunnery Chief in the 2nd Frontier Division. She was born on April 14th, 2158. On the colony world Sirona in the 61 Ursae Majoris system". Ashley Williams turned and gave me a mildly annoyed look. "You could have just asked for the details Lt" she chided, before realising she might not want to talk to an officer than way "No disrespect meant sir". I shrugged. "None taken" I told her "Madeline". My head was becoming clearer now that I was remembering that this was a Jump Chain and that my memories of universe, aside from the video games I''d played, were incomplete and real. Oh I knew everything I needed to know in order to do my new job, but nothing else. I had no family in this universe that I could recall, no childhood, I only remembered my years of training and the trip to Eden Prime on this ship. Most of that didn''t seem real. This was like I''d read about this life in a book rather than lived it. At least I now understood what was happening. Myself and other marines were being transferred to Eden Prime in order to join the 212 as part of an expanded garrison. My job would be to provide tech support, not just for the marines as it turned out, as I recalled more I knew I''d be helping out the colony. Which sounded good to me I had to wait 2 years for Shepard to turn up so I needed something to do. Assuming of course that whole Shepard''s Flock thing only applied when Shepard was actually around. I had weeks of shore leave coming up, while this meant that some of the marines would be leaving the planet, once they had settled in, to go visit family, I didn''t have anywhere to go. So I''d rented an apartment within the colony, which thankfully hadn''t eaten into my starting credits. I ?ssumed that there would be officer''s quarters for me at the base, but I could live in two places. As the new memories cleared up I realised I''d been given very good training and even some gene modding. In the years before first contact, human genetic research was quite advanced, even allowing for the "uplifting" of animal species that lingered uneasily on the borders of sapience. However, after making first contact with the turians and joining the Citadel, there were concerns that such modifications might lead to Earth''s unique biodiversity being lost, so the Alliance Parliament passed the Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act in 2161, leading to strict controls on genetic modification. As current law stood, modification of natural abilities is all good and legal, but acquisition of new ones is not. For example, using gene therapy to increase muscle mass is all fine and dandy, but adding the ability to digest cellulose was not. Over time, human genetic research had developed to such an extent that basic genetic flaws could be corrected, either in utero or shortly after birth. Most human governments offered free ?ssessment and correction therapies to its citizens, which had nearly eliminated genetic diseases from the human gene pool. All Alliance soldiers receive gene therapy, which is provided by MarsGene, upon enrolling, though most genetic therapies take years to come into their full effect. I''d been greatly improved by the body mod options when I''d started the Jump Chain so that must be why I''d not been modified much during my training. At least not in terms of genes I had a bunch of implants for my biotics, most of which were internal. All asari are naturally biotic from birth, though not all choose to develop their abilities. Biotics of other species are individuals who were exposed to dust-form element zero, sometimes called eezo, in utero and because of this develop eezo nodules throughout their nervous systems. These nodules can generate mass effect fields when energised by electrical impulses from the brain. Eezo exposure is by no means guaranteed to result in biotic ability. On the contrary, most foetuses that are exposed are not affected at all. Others will develop brain tumours or other horrific physical complications. In humans, only about one in ten eezo-exposed infants will develop biotic talents strong and stable enough to merit training, and these abilities are not always permanent. In extremely rare cases, humans who were exposed in utero but did not manifest biotic talents as children can develop them during young ?du?thood through additional exposure. Once a person has been identified as having biotic ability, they may be outfitted with a surgically implanted amplifier, usually installed around the time of puberty, in order to make their talents strong enough to be useful. Then they must then develop conscious control over their nervous system, which is a long, slow, difficult ordeal (except for the asari, who possess a degree of control naturally). Once trained, a biotic such as myself can generate and control dark energy to move objects, generate protective barriers, or restrain enemies. Biotic abilities are activated using a technique called "physical mnemonics", in which the biotic uses a physical gesture to cause neurons to fire in a certain sequence, sending an electrical charge through their eezo nodules and creating the d?s?r?d effect. A biotic may enhance certain aspects of his or her biotic abilities by installing implant upgrades called bio-amps. Biotic abilities fall into three general categories: Telekinesis, the use of mass-lowering fields to lift or hurl objects; Kinetic Fields, mass-raising fields to immobilise objects (in combat, usually enemy projectiles or enemies themselves); and Spatial Distortion, the creation of shifting mass-effect fields which rip apart any objects caught within them. While Biotics possess extraordinary abilities, but they must live with minor inconveniences. The most obvious issue is getting adequate nutrition. Creating biotic mass effects takes such a toll on metabolism that active biotics develop ravenous appetites. The standard Alliance combat ration for a soldier was 3000 calories per day; biotics are given 4500, as well as a canteen of potent energy drink for quick refreshment after hard combat. Another issue is electric charge. Electricity accumulated in starship drive cores must be discharged, and so too must the electricity in a biotic user''s body. Biotics are prone to small static discharges when they touch metal. Unfortunately, human biotics also face suspicion and persecution, beginning with the popular misconception that they can read and control minds. Biotics symbolise the dehumanisation of mankind to people philosophically or religiously opposed to gene modification and cybernetics. Militarises are the only organisations that always welcome biotics, offering them huge recruitment incentives, and the best training. Like what I''d gotten. While being a biotic was interesting I really wanted to learn more about gene therapy because ?ssuming I survived the coming Reaper invasion (Which was something I had years to worry about, and perhaps I''d come up with some way to help) I''d be able to use that knowledge in other universes were as knowledge of biotics was only useful in this galaxy since it required element zero which only existed in this reality. For example I knew that the Citadel''s own genetic restrictions allowed for the creation of life for scientific or medical reasons, but forbid the creation of new sapient species. A few products had slipped past the regulations, most notably Sirta Foundation''s medi-gel. That was something else I wanted to look into. Medi-gel could save a lot of lives in other universes. Of course I had to survive ten years in this galaxy first. As I picked up my bag and followed Ashley, who seemed to have decide to escort me, I wished that it was possible to access my warehouse and lock myself in. But the rules, which I now understood, prevented it. Cosmic Warehouse Rules As long as you are inside the Cosmic Warehouse, the doorway cannot be closed. Living people can''t be stored in the Cosmic Warehouse unless they kept in a stasis pods. Other people can enter the Cosmic Warehouse with you, but they leave when you do. When the door to the Cosmic Warehouse closes, time stops inside it. Only one door to the Cosmic Warehouse can be open at a time (unless you have the Portal and Link options). The gateway to the Cosmic Warehouse is only as big as the door that created it. The Reaper invasion was about five years away so I could stock up the warehouse with five years of supplies or just stick myself in the stasis booth I''d had installed. The issue there was that the door to the warehouse wouldn''t close fully while I was inside the warehouse. I ?ssumed that the ROB or ROBs behind this had set things so anyone doing a jump chain couldn''t simply hide for ten years. Perhaps I could take the stasis booth out of the warehouse and install it somewhere so remote that the Reapers wouldn''t find it? Of course that ran to risk of me sleeping through the end of the Jump, and I simply had no idea what would happen if I did that. "Lt get a move on!" Ashley Williams called out "They won''t hold the shuttle for you". I grabbed my bag and hurried on after the Mass Effect character. I could worry about Reapers later. (Line Break) Apartment/Cosmic Warehouse. Eden Prime/Unknown. 2 months later. While I was inside the Cosmic Warehouse, it did feel as if I was also within my apartment on Eden Prime because just behind me was the door and I could see my apartment by simply looking behind me. I even went back and jumped over the threshold a few times while thinking about easily I was moving from one reality to another. However since I''d done this many times before it got boring very quickly. Sometimes I would open and then close the door to the cosmic warehouse, and go on to open it up elsewhere in my apartment just because it was so cool. The novelty had worn off somewhat I had to admit, but only the giant warehouse bit. Getting to live on another planet was still way cool. And it was a nice world too. Unlike Earth there was no overcrowding here, or any real pollution, and if there was crime I''d never seen it. Still while I''d enjoyed settling on a new world I did have work to do and my leave was almost over. Soon I''d be too busy to dedicate my time to preparing for the future. I could not avert the tragedy at Eden Prime. Saren would attack with Sovereign the instant the discovery of the Prothean Beacon was made. If I did something prevent the archaeological find, things would continue peacefully with no one aware of trouble until Reapers were pouring out of the Citadel. If I deliberately arranged for the beacon to be discovered early, the attack would come at a time that would force the Alliance to follow up on it without the capacities of the SSV Normandy. The road to success in Mass Effect 1 was very narrow and doom awaited potentially on either side if I bu??erflied stuff too much, hence my planned light touch during the events of the first game. Still I had been preparing, as best I could. I''d already started to fill my warehouse with things from the Mass Effect universe. I had data pads full of useful information, such as how all the ME technology worked. A lot of this knowledge was next to useless since Element Zero only existed in this reality, but not all the tech here required Element Zero, and even some of the stuff that did might become usable else where if another way of creating Mass Effect fields could be found. Also I''d gotten some house hold tech stored away. You don''t see it in the game, but they have really good household appliances here. Like coffee makers that produced drinkable coffee very quickly. And toasters with very, very simple VIs installed so that the toaster won''t let the toast burn. A virtual intelligence was basically an advanced form of user interface software. VIs use a variety of methods to simulate natural conversation, including an audio interface and an avatar personality to interact with. Although a VI can provide a convincing emulation of sentience, they are not self-aware, nor can they learn or take independent action. Which meant they weren''t good company, and thus talking to my toaster was very dull. The door bell suddenly rang, and I closed the door to the warehouse and went to answer the bell. Before my front door could be fully opened by me Ashley Williams made her way into my apartment. "This is a surprise" I said. I''d made it clear that I wanted to get closer to Ash, if only because it increased my chances of joining Shepard on her mission, she was a woman I''d seen her file, but I''d not been sure if Ash saw this as an attempt to be her friend or as an attempt to get inside her pants. "Not a word of this to anyone," said Ashley while squeezing my ???k hard enough to more than get my attention "If anyone finds out we broke regs we''ll both be in trouble, but hey a girl has needs". I hadn''t really expected this despite having known Ashley Williams for for a couple of months. I really didn''t expect her to whip my ???k out and start playing with it. Guess she hadn''t taken my attempts to get to know her as an effort to get inside her pants, and it had worked. Thank you Jump Chain for the body mods, I was so much more handsome and appealing these days. As for Ashley the graphics of the games didn''t do her justice in the slightest. She still had the dark hair cut short like she did in Mass Effect 1 and 2, and her armour was the basic Alliance model. But she was more beautiful in real life, at least in my opinion, and she had a fierce look in her eyes. While the Alliance uniform wasn''t exactly flattering for the female form. I would have admitted if asked that Ashley was able to pull it off. However it did look better on my floor. "Okay-okay. I promise" I said as she took her top off. I licked each of her n?pp??s lightly as she continued stroking me. The taste of her skin was pleasant, but while she seemed to enjoy me going to town on her b??bs she did stop me before long. What remained of her outfit fell around her ankles as she kicked off her shoes. Now she was standing before me in only a black thong. I looked over her body, which I figured made her a little self-conscious but at the same time I could tell that she liked the attention. Finally she slowly slid the thong off too then tossed it onto my face. At this point I couldn''t stand not touching her so I grabbed her around the waist, pulling her onto my ??p. We''d made our way into my small apartments living room by now. And at some point I''d gotten onto the couch. "Easy there big guy" Ashley said, no doubt amused at my eagerness. She gave me a nervous yet somehow also happy look, before guiding my ???k inside her. She set a slow pace, gently rolling her h?ps as we enjoyed the feeling of each other. The occasional soft m??n escaped her lips while I had manged to stay calm. But not when she started thrusting her h?ps down on me faster and harder. My hands travelled up and down her back, occasionally stopping to grab her ?ss. She held onto my shoulders while keeping the fast pace. She''d have fallen off me had she let go of that I was sure. We were both breathing hard now, m??ning and grunting and turning damp with sweat. Time and thought all went away, there was just the movement of her body as we fu?k?d. "Ash..." I muttered. That was all the warning she got as I came inside her. It seemed to be over way to soon, but given how loudly she called out my name as I ?r??smed I figured that it must have been long enough. Chapter End Chapter 69 - Crossover Fan-fiction 3 - The Mythical Being of Forks Crossover: Twilight + Harry Potter Plot: Hermione gets a letter from her cousin Bella. She''s getting married! Hermione packs up her and her adopted son, Teddy, and visits as soon as she can. But the wedding is the least of her problems because there''s something not right about the groom and his family. Vampires, who woulda thunk it? Pairing: HermionexDraco, BellaxEdward NOTE: Basically following the plot of Breaking Dawn with some minor tweaks, don''t read if you dislike FFs with little changes in the plot with just the addition of other characters. Mione, I know it''s been a while since we last talked, and so much has happened! I know you won''t believe me, but I met someone. And Hermione, he''s absolutely perfect! In every way, like seriously I''m so lucky to have him ¨C though of course he insists he''s the lucky one. His name is Edward, he''s beautiful, honestly inside and out ¨C oh God, he''s so good looking Mione. I really wanted you to meet him before it got to this stage but things have been hectic, and well, you stopped replying to my letters ¨C I don''t even know if you''ll get this one, but I want you to meet him before the wedding. Yes, that''s right, I said wedding! We''re getting married, and, God, you should see the ring he got me (and the super expensive car! Even though I told him there was absolutely no need) and his sister, Alice, is taking care of the wedding and I know it''s going to be beyond beautiful. But it wouldn''t feel right if you weren''t here too, the wedding is in six weeks, and I HOPE YOU CAN COME!! Enclosed is a formal invitation (courtesy of Alice) and an even more formal invite for you to be my maid of honor (again, thank Alice). Please come, it would mean the world to both Edward and me. Your favourite cousin, Bells. P.S. feel free to bring a plus one, I''m sure you have someone special to bring. P.P.S Alice wants you to call so they can plan your flight, they''re insisting on paying for every aspect of the wedding and apparently this counts too. I''ve enclosed both of our numbers below, please give one of us a call if you get this. I hope you get this. I stared blankly at the paper in my hands, reading and re-reading the words. It was true, Bella and I had hardly spoken in years, I didn''t want to put her in danger with the war, so I had cut all contact with that side of my family not long after fourth year. And the guilt had been too strong to contact them in the years after. But it seemed like I''ve missed a lot, Bella''s getting married. Little Bella, my little cousin, despite being less than two years younger than me, who was adamant she would never get married young. And after the shambles of a marriage that was her parents'', I can understand. This Edward bloke must be amazing. I sat there for a few more minutes, running through the next couple of weeks in my mind, I could swing a vacation in work ¨C Minister Shacklebolt had been pressuring me to take a break for months as it was, and my department could survive. There were no birthdays or anything coming up either, so there was no reason I couldn''t spend a couple of weeks there. I grabbed my phone off the desk and typed in the top number off the letter and waited. "Hello?" A familiar voice answered, voice equal amounts hesitant and distracted. She sounded the same, but older, and I don''t know why that shocked me. "Bells?" I asked, my heart leaping, I hadn''t realised how much I''d missed her until right now. I took a breath to steady my reaction, calm my heart and stop my freak out. "''Mione?!" She screeched, and I heard the sounds of her dropping the phone and struggling to catch it, I heard other voices as well, too faint for me to work out what they were saying, but when Bella spoke again, she was calmer. "I can''t believe it''s you! I''ve missed you so much!" "I''ve missed you too," I admitted, blinking back tears and ordering myself not to cry. "Please tell me you called to say you''ll come, and not to let me know that you can''t" "My boss has been pressuring me to take some time off work, apparently it''s not healthy to work as much as I do. So, with that said, I could probably fly out by the end of the week" There was silence on the other end of the call, and I hurried to explain, thinking she was upset that it would take so long. "I would need to fill out the forms for work, and pack, find somewhere to say. Say goodbye to everyone here." "oh my god." She breathed heavily; her excitement clear in her tone. "Oh my god, that''s great news!" "That way I''ll get to meet," I paused, my eyes running over the letter again, "Edward, before he joins the family." "Oh, Hermione, you''ll love him. I promise!" "I''m sure I will, after all, he makes you happy." I smiled, still a little hesitant. "I have to ask though, you aren''t-" "If you''re going to ask me if I''m pregnant I''m taking your invitation back!" She cut me off to threaten and I burst out laughing. "Sorry, sorry." I apologised, "But the only other people I know that got married this young were pregnant." "Well, I''m not. I just want to spend every moment I can being Mrs Cullen." She spoke petulantly, and I could almost see the pout on her face. "Bella Cullen," I tried the words on my tongue, "it does have a nice ring to it, personally I''d keep Swan though, gives you an air of mystery." "Don''t start" she warned in a teasing tone. "Alright, alright." I heard a voice calling me from upstairs, "Oh hey, I''ve gotta run, but I''ll see you soon okay?" "Okay, I love you." "I love you too." I hung up and made my way quickly upstairs, "Hey, there. My handsome Little Wolf." I greeted, kneeling softly at the side of Teddy''s little dinosaur shaped bed. "Did you have a nice nap?" I asked, stroking his hair softly as he blinked up at me. "Yes, Mumma" He replied, rubbing his eyes as he struggled to wake up fully. "Dinner-time?" "Uh-huh, I made dinosaurs and mashed potato" "And peas?" they were his absolute favourite food at the moment, he eats them with every meal. "Of course," I spoke as I sat him in his highchair, and checked the temperature of his food before placing it in front of him. But wizards and witches aren''t known for living long after their spouses die, their magical cores fuse together on marriage, and when one dies it''s like literally losing half of yourself. Andromeda lasted longer than we anticipated, long enough for me to finish my NEWT''s and begin working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but before long she began to fail. Harry and I stepped in then, as godparents, and he spent his time in between our houses (and Molly''s on the occasion we were both working) but eventually, that became a strain. Harry and Ginny were deeply in love and planning their wedding (quickly so the bump didn''t show) and Teddy deserved to be someone''s main focus. So, about seven months ago I legally adopted him and took over his care full time. He still spent every other weekend at Harry''s, and we spent every Sunday at the Burrow with the rest of the Weasleys, but he was mine now. I noticed Teddy had finished his food and quickly swapped it out for two small yoghurts before he could complain, putting the plate in the sink and waving my wand so it washed itself. "What do you say to going on a little holiday?" I asked Teddy, and he looked at me blankly for a second "we could go on a plane, like on TV, and go see my cousin who lives far away for a couple of weeks?" "plane?" He demanded, his excitement bursting forward, seeming to vibrate in his seat. He nodded so vigorously I was worried for his neck, but I smiled. "Okay, then Mumma has got a lot of planning to do," I spoke to him, but I was just planning out loud. "We''re going to have to say goodbye to everyone." *****#***** That night was hectic, Molly had insisted on throwing a going away party, and everyone had been invited, it was loud and fun and Merlin, exactly what I needed. Teddy had a ball, playing with Victoire and Fred and George and I enjoyed a nice glass of wine with my family. And when we finally got home, Draco was waiting for us, I slipped past him putting Teddy to bed ¨C since he was sleeping in my arms. "I got a letter today," I announced when we were sat on the couch together, he had my feet in his ??p and was running a soothing hand up and down my shin as we flicked through the tv trying to find something to put on in the background. "Oh yeah?" He asked distractedly as a David Attenborough documentary started. "Yeah, my cousin Bella invited us to her wedding." I told him hesitantly, keeping my attention on the tv" I was hoping to leave at the end of the week." "I won''t be able to get time off work until at least next week, but I can follow you out." He spoke after thinking for a couple of minutes, putting all his attention on me. "Really?" "Of course, family is important, you know that." A fragile smile was on his face and I hated it, wanting to distract him I began talking about Bella, from stories of our childhood to her new love with Edward. Chapter End Chapter 70 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 24 - Lord Emperor - Dark Hunter Plot: NonCanon! Starts in 2030. EWE. Harry removes all remnants of the Death Eaters to avenge his friends who were killed off systematically and viciously. Time travel: Harry goes back to fix things during the time he was in school and to prevent many horrible events from happening. Grey!Harry. Pairing: H-Daphne NOTE: Pretty well written, but if you are looking for a romance ff this is not one. Mainly focuses on older Harry trying to help younger Harry get out from being under Dumberdore''s thumb. Spring 2030 The doors to the large room swung open. A tall man in light grey robes with red and gold trim strode into the chamber. "Lord Protector," he called out, "they are here. The final fugitives have been apprehended hiding in Muggle Switzerland. They have been brought here and they are awaiting your judgement in the side chamber." The Lord Protector made no verbal acknowledgement of the announcement. He stood up from his chair, which was more of a throne in the middle of the large chamber lined with obsidian walls. The few magical lights around the hall caused an eerie glow as it reflected off of the shiny black walls. The Lord Protector moved slowly at first, stretching his long and powerful legs and arms as he strode up to the man who had interrupted his meditation. He looked at the tall man in front of him, with the dark hair, slightly rounded face which was marked with a scar across his right cheek. He gave the man the slightest of smiles. "So, we are done then, as soon as this is finished," said the Lord Protector, without any emotion in his voice. "Very well, then I suppose that I will need to appear at the Ministry next week, as I had ordained." He walked towards the doors to the side chamber and called back to the other man. "I shouldn''t be too long, Neville." The Lord Protector opened the doors before him with a wave of his hand and then he stepped into the room. He eyed the occupants who were all seated in a row of chairs. The group included two young boys, two young men and a young woman, in addition to another gentleman who appeared to be the patriarch of the group. The six individuals stared at the man who entered. He was wearing dark robes and dragon hide boots. His long jet black hair was streaked with silver grey strands, as was the goatee he wore. The tall dark haired man just sneered at his captives. "You do understand why you are all here today, do you not?" asked the lord who stood there, clearly a malevolent presence in front of them. The boys remained silent as they just stared at the man in front of them. The two young men, in who appeared to be near thirty, glared at their captor. The Lord Protector only glanced at the five younger people briefly, and then his eyes settled on the older man, with thin hair that was starting to turn grey. He was a little overweight, which surprised the lord as he took in the man''s features. "So, Theo," he spoke with venom, "years on the run seem to have not been too unkind to you. I would have thought that you would have had to keep in better shape than this." "What would you know about this¡­" spat Theo, but he was cut off by a wandless silencing spell by the lord. "Now, now," chided the Lord Protector, almost mockingly, "let''s have none of your previous vitriol. I had to listen to too much of that all those years in school from you and your junior Death Eater friends. Draco was the most irritating and vocal of your little group, but I heard all of your comments." The lord paused for a moment as he walked over to stand in front of Theo. "You know, Theo, I am quite surprised. I am surprised that it was you and your family who were the last ones to be found and caught. I was sure that some other family would have eluded me much longer than you would. Avery and his family, I was sure they would have been harder to track down. Maybe it was simply because you just did a fairly good job of trying to remain quiet for the past ten years." "So, you have us now," sneered the captive Theo, "are you going to hand us over to the Wizengamot? Send us to Azkaban?" The Lord Protector laughed. "My, Mr. Nott, you have been on the run for a long time. I guess the news of our society and all of its changes has not reached you and your family while you have been away. Why is that? Could you not find a single issue of the Daily Prophet for over twenty years? Or have you been so far immersed in muggle culture that you never came across a single magical publication? It''s a shame really, that you have to learn now, and from me." The Lord Protector paused and spun in a circle on his heel, waving his arms about. "This beautiful castle, this dark fortress, this is Azkaban!" He waited as his words sunk in. Then he glared at Theodore Nott. "This is my home, it has been for years. We have not needed to have a prison since I became Lord Protector and the Ministry of Magic gave me all power for being judge and jury for all crimes against the magical world. That is when I earned the title of ''Lord Protector''. However, you need not worry about the Wizengamot. It was disbanded years ago, in favour of a more egalitarian type of rule. You would probably hate to hear about it, so I will tell you anyway. The Ministry now has two governing bodies, a House of Lords and a House of Commons. We took the idea from Muggle England. Now that is a concept that must make your blood boil. It seemed to have a similar effect on many pure-blood families. Well, to be fair, the ones that survived the change are able to continue with their aristocratic life, as all the heads of house of the old families still have their positions they hold by family title, but that is only half of the legislative body for the ministry. The House of Commons, is the other and perhaps more powerful branch, where muggle-born and half bloods and other such magicals are elected to serve." Theo was in shock, he had heard rumours that there had been sweeping changes brought about by the Lord Protector. He had heard only bits and pieces of the news, but it had been years since he had any contact with his former friends from school. He was aware that those families were being wiped out. As he thought about this, he wondered, silently, how could the man in front of him could have become what he is. From the tales that his former allies had told him, this Lord Protector was as vicious as Voldemort had ever been. However, before he could say anything, the Lord Protector spoke again. "So, here I am, at the end of my tenure as Lord Protector," smiled the man in front of Theo Nott. "You will have the privilege of watching your family, your grandchildren and then your sons and daughter-in-law in turn, die in front of you. Then you will suffer the same fate." He stood in front of the former Death Eater. He reached out and pushed the sleeve of Nott''s left arm back, revealing the Dark Mark, the faded tattoo that had not been called on for over 30 years. "That mark, is the death sentence for you and your family. There is no need for a trial, because I have determined that it should be so." The two youngest individuals were in tears as they realised that there was no way for them to survive this situation. In quick succession he cast bone breaking hexes at the ?h?sts of the two boys. Their screams were short lived as their ?h?sts caved in and their heart and lungs stopped. The two young men in their thirties, Theo Nott''s sons, started hurling expletives at their captor, while the woman sobbed uncontrollably. With a slight wave, the Lord Protector silenced them all. He looked at the two men and then back at their father. "What? Are you surprised at what I have done? Have you never heard the stories from your father about the evil deeds that he and your grandfather had performed? Did he not brag and boast about how they would **** and torture non magicals? About how he and his friends terrorised the students at Hogwarts? Did he not regale you with the details of their exploits? Of how he and his friends r?p?d and murdered my fiancee in front of me?" There was silence in front of the Lord Protector and the three young ?du?ts sat still. "I thought that your father would have told those stories over and over again. Oh well. Perhaps he will share them with you when he joins you in hell!" With that he cast the bone breaker hex at the two men, and then he cast another at the young woman. They all died as quickly as their children had. Turning to look at Theodore Nott, the Lord Protector spat in his face. "Do not sit there and judge me for my actions, Theo. It was you, and your family, and your family''s beliefs that allowed Tom Riddle to become Lord Voldemort. It was you, and your family, and those pure-blood supremacists who created me. And it has become your down fall. But now, it is finished." With those final words he cast a bone breaker curse at Theo Nott''s head. Then the Lord Protector turned and walked out of the side chamber and entered his main hall. Neville Longbottom was waiting for him. "Milord," he said quickly, "the side chamber will be cleaned immediately." "Thank you Neville," he answered. Then he stopped in front of his long time friend, as he noted that there was still a look of concern on Neville''s face. "What is it Neville? You seem worried." He paused as he waited for a response, but he received none from the head of the Longbottom family. "I ?ssure you, my work is done as Lord Protector. They have all been rounded up finally." Neville blinked slightly, holding back a tear at this statement. "I know milord," he replied tentatively. Then he continued, "However, there is a young woman who is here to see you, on what she claims is urgent business for you." The Lord Protector raised an eyebrow. "Oh, how intriguing. Who might this young person be? Not another messenger from the Ministry? I told them I would be there next Tuesday and I would address both chambers at that time." "She stated that she is from the Department of Mysteries, milord," said Neville, who was a little nervous as he remembered the last time he had personally been to that department at the Ministry of Magic, at the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts. A brightness filled the eyes of the Lord Protector, "A mystery from the Department of Mysteries, this sounds like it could be fun." "Very well, milord," answered Neville, "I will have her sent in shortly." "Thank you Neville," replied the Lord Protector. He then went and sat upon his throne, and leaned into the tall back of the magnificent chair. He meditated briefly, calming his core after the unpleasantness of dispatching the Nott family mere minutes before. Internally, he felt free. Free from decades of hurt and anger and frustration. He now had accomplished the remainder of the goals he placed before himself when he was young. The wizarding world had been transformed with a new government over twenty years ago and he had now eliminated any last survivor of the vestiges of Voldemort''s Death Eaters. The number of Pure-Blood families that had been eradicated was quite large. Gringotts was working with the Ministry of Magic to see if there were any families that may have died out other than squibs, as some of the offspring of such outcast squibs may now be considered muggle-born. His concentration was interrupted as he heard the clicking of delicate boot heels on the polished stone floor. He looked up and saw the figure in the dark hooded robes of an Unspeakable approaching him. As the figure neared the foot of his dais, he rose to greet her. The woman in front of him bowed her head as she spoke. "Milord, thank you for granting me an audience." "The p???sur? is mine," answered the Lord Protector, "but I am at a disadvantage, as I know not who you are or what your business is here with me." She kept her head bowed, as she replied, "My apologies, milord, but I come with a message from the director of the Department of Mysteries. My name is Jasmine Greengrass." She continued to have her head bowed. "Curious," stated the Lord Protector, "I would ?ssume that you are a relation to either Astoria or Daphne. I knew of them both at school, a long time ago." Jasmine pushed back her hood, revealing her long blonde hair, but she kept her head bowed and her eyes lidded. "Yes, my mother is Daphne Greengrass, and the current head of the Department of Mysteries." "Look at me, child," spoke the Lord Protector with a gentleness that was almost surprising. "What message does your mother have for me?" Jasmine hesitated as she prepared to answer the question, and still kept her gaze looking at the ground. "But before you tell me of your message, perhaps you could explain to me how it is that you managed to enter my home, to slip past the wards. Perhaps your department has figured out a way to breach my wards, which have been tuned only for myself, and the very few I have given permission to enter." He noted that she continued to gaze at the floor in front of her. Gently he reached out towards her, and took her chin in his hands and tilted her head up to look at him. Her eyelids were heavy, and then she finally looked up at him, looking into his eyes. The Lord Protector was shocked as he noted that the eyes staring back at him matched his own emerald green eyes. The shock of this caused him to take a step back, but he never averted his gaze from hers. He quickly regained his composure as he straightened himself up. "I am sorry, Jasmine, but such a striking colour of green eyes is rather unusual." Jasmine lowered he gaze momentarily and then looked back at the tall man in front of her. "I believe that they are a trait I inherited from my father." There was an awkward moment of silence as the two individuals stared at each other. The silence was broken when Jasmine spoke again, "Lord Potter, I have come here at the request of my mother, as she would like to meet with you as she has important issues to discuss with you. She could not enter your home here based on the wards you have created." "So, Lady Greengrass, head of the Department of Mysteries, would not send an owl," answered the man who was still in shock. "I have many questions then for both you and your mother. I knew who your mother was at school, but I have never really had any interaction with her. Of any kind," he added. "So, the mystery of Jasmine Greengrass looms larger. How did you pass through my wards? And how is that we share such a distinctive feature as our eye colour? And how has the wizarding world not made mention of some young woman who has eyes that match those of the Lord Protector?" Jasmine was shifting on her feet, feeling uncomfortable. In her mind she was berating herself for this discomfort, as she had prepared herself for the past several days for this confrontation with the man that she knew was her father. She looked up again at the tall man in front of her. "My mother, the Lady Greengrass, and head of the Department of Mysteries would like to meet with you so as to discuss a unique proposition as well as afford you the opportunity to ask of her any and all questions which you may have, considering the awkwardness of the situation which you currently find yourself in." Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Vanquisher of Voldemort, The Lord Protector of Magical Britain, was speechless. He was staring at a young and beautiful woman who was apparently the daughter of his classmate from Hogwarts, Daphne Greengrass, a woman whom he had only limited contact with because of her role as the head of the Department of Mysteries, but he never had any form of relationship with her, be it romantic or personal. And on top of that, this young woman was apparently also his daughter. The Lord Protector was at a loss for words. "Should I tell her that you accept the meeting?" asked Jasmine. "Why yes," stuttered Harry, "of course I accept." He thought quickly and then he asked the young woman, "When will this meeting happen? Where does she want to meet?" Jasmine pulled out an envelope from within her robes and handed it to Lord Potter. As he grasped the envelope, she turned and started to walk away towards the entrance doors. Harry called after her, "Jasmine, will you be joining us?" However, the young woman continued to walk away. He called out again, "Will you return to speak with me again?" She did not turn around, but called out her reply as she continued to make her way to the exit and to the edge of the wards, "Please, just read the letter, and meet with my mother. That is all that I can say at this time." "Did you see her Neville? Did you see her eyes? She has my eyes, Neville," Harry was having a hard time dealing with the shock of the events of the previous encounter. "Yes, Harry, I did," he acknowledged as he conjured a chair to sit across from Harry. "My friend, all I can say is it seems that this could not have been more shocking than if Prongs and Padfoot themselves returned to prank you. But I knew Lady Greengrass years ago. She is not the sort who would prank anyone, particularly the Lord Protector, the saviour of the wizarding world." Harry looked at the envelope again as he held it gingerly in his hands. "Are you going to read it?" asked Neville. "Daphne Greengrass?" questioned Harry. "But why? I don''t even know her. I never really did. She was just one of the Slytherins in the background. Granted, she never attacked me the way Malfoy and Parkinson and the others did. Yes, of course I knew who she was, any male with the slightest amount of testosterone in their system noticed Daphne Greengrass. And any male with the slightest amount of sense avoided angering the Ice Princess of Slytherin. Then after school she went to work for the Department of Mysteries, which seems to fit for someone who was already keeping everyone at arm''s length or farther away. What the bloody hell is this all about?" "That my friend," answered Neville, "is something that you will only find out by reading that letter, and meeting with the Lady Greengrass." Chapter End Chapter 71 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 25 - Radio Plot: Several years after the battle at Hogwarts, a tired Draco Malfoy has just about reached his breaking point. Just as Draco is about to take his life into his own hands, a certain someone comes into it. Can Hermione make him feel once again? Pairing: HG/DM NOTE: Mentions and depictions of attempted suicide, so you have been warned. There is a sequel up that is also completed called Basket Case. Prologue The Call "Testing, testing, one two three." In the darkness came a voice that was so loud over the whooshing wind, that it would have been unmistakable if there had been anyone around to hear it. It was a voice that had been, at one point in its life, proud and arrogant and unbreakable, however, the crackling raspy undertone signified that something had gone horribly array. When he tested the Muggle device in the palm of his perspiring hand, his voice broke carelessly and he ran his free hand through his mess of hair, trying again. "If you are listening to this, then you''re too late. By the time you can act, I''ll already be dead." Overall, considering the surroundings, the man did not seem to fully blend in. While the sky was dark and churning and angry, the tall man was lean and still and obliging; he let the wind move his bow tie, which rest completely undone around his neck. He looked oddly pure in his white bu??on-up shirt, which was rolled up to way past his elbows, and his mop of white blond hair; however, he was everything but. Despite his innocent presence, something desperate and knowing flickered in his eyes and, shakily, he wiped away sweating visage. On the forearm of his free wrist, a certain skeletal mark stood out unquestionably on his pale skin. He said, "I am currently standing on the edge of the towering bridge nearest the village of Hogsmeade. If you are listening, I''d like you to know everything." The device in which to spoke into was small and black; a small and light two way radio. He cleared his throat and only just loosened his grip on the bridge''s pillars. As he spoke, his foot trailed forward. "As I''m sure you know, it has been five years since the battle and no, I am not all right. But you already know that." He released his finger from the little bu??on and inhaled, looking over the edge of the staggering bridge. Below the water shimmered in the dark and reflected the twisted gray sky ahead of him. It wanted him now, pleaded for him to jump, but he couldn''t do it, not just yet. There was still something he''d needed to address. Once again he lifted his quivering finger and pressed down on the bu??on for the second time. With a nervous little laugh, he said almost stiffly, "And since you already know this, I will be merciful and considerably spare you the details." The scenery around him almost fit the situation perfectly. There was something oddly dark about it and the sky looked as if it were undoubtedly threatening a storm. Dark gray clouds twisted and turned curiously in the sky and lifted the man''s hair ever so slightly. In order to give himself something to do, the man busied himself with the task of sweeping his hair back behind his ears. It wasn''t as if his hair was long, though it did sit only about two inches below his earlobes. He was, as it so seemed, a man of stone, but if that had been true, why did he feel himself crumbling? His laughing stopped abruptly and he carried on with a moment of seriousness, "I want you to know that I am sorry, and that it doesn''t mean much but I am sorry. It''s true that I was absolutely dealt the cards I grew up with. But that doesn''t mean I had to play." The man stopped and wondered how long the clouds would only just threaten rain, rather than fully deliver it. He asked himself silently whether or not he thought the person on the other end, if there even was anyone, could hear the swirling sound of the wind. Once again he said, in case anyone was listening, "testing, testing, one, two." "Testing, testing." His voice was quivering as he know repeated, "one, two, three." He sighed next and tried to push his hair back into its proper place, for the wind had once again moved it. He was, as he voice had previous hinted, once a very proper man, highly anticipated by some but undoubtedly overestimated by his father. In particular, all the attention had made the man rather proud and cheeky, and the realization that he was not all this had, in fact, proved rather difficult. He''d spent the remainder of his life trying to figure out what, exactly, he had been. However, it was this that he hadn''t quite figured out. Sulky and slumped now, he stood to straighten his posture and continue his last lecture through the little radio. He said through his own heavy breath, "what I want you to know- what I want the world to know- is that I remember every little thing about the battle at the school. I told the media that all I can remember is how tight his shoes were, because I everything else makes me numb. But you know as well as I that that was a lie." He spits with a hint of disgust, "when I got home, the first thing I could think of doing was to burn those shoes." He continued rambling, this time unable to stop himself. "I don''t know why I tell you the things that I do. I''ve tried to convince myself that it is a merely convenience. Maybe that is true, but I doubt it." He laughed, shaking his head, "I thought for a while it was because you were a good listener. All you ever do is listen." "As for this dammed mark, it''s unfortunately permanent. However," he once again peeked over the edge, "once I jump, I doubt it will concern me anymore." And then he grew comfortable. He crossed his legs at the ankle and slightly leaned backwards. "I don''t know if I believe in Heaven or Hell, but I sure hope I don''t go to Hell, though I reckon I don''t truly have a choice in the matter." He said with a casual shrug, "believe it or not, I''ve always been pretty spiritual, but I do believe I am rambling." He paused and chewed curiously on his bottom lip. After a long while he said into the device, "I know you''re there." "I can hear you-- have always heard you, breathing there on the other end." He was desperate now, almost pleading. Through it all, he felt a slight sinking feeling in his heavy ?h?st. He suppressed what seemed to be a little sob and said through clenched teeth. "I know how you''ve been listening to me carry on about my life since the very beginning, but, once again, you already know that." To be quite honest, his listener had known quite a lot. And how could they not know? He had been spilling his heart out over the radio for a rather long time over the past couple of months. He''d be admittedly surprised as to what the listener didn''t know, actually. Whoever they were, wherever they were, they had heard it all. Wizard or muggle (because the last was, of course, quite a possibility), they had known every last bit of it. The man''s face dramatically paled and he smoothed back his blond hair in order to completely compose himself. He stopped for another moment and then leaned forward emitting a curious whisper. He said anxiously, "who are you?" There came no answer and the man who was commonly known as Draco Malfoy let his shoulders sink. What did he expect? The intruder had not once opted to speaking. Surely he hadn''t been under the impression that tonight they would decide to step forward. However, the listener''s coldness rather upset him. Were they truly not about to grant him one last glimpse of mercy before he plummeted to his own death? Had they really intended to decline ?ssistance in his own personal attempt at closure? He said desperately, "answer me!" And then he heard it, the breathing on the other end. At first the odd intrusion scared him and his heart jumped several feet. Then, however, he relaxed himself and let the bu??erflies in his stomach settle. He listened momentarily to the unhinged breaths at the other end and then lost it. With all his might, he thrust the radio over the edge of the little bridge and watched it zoom to through the air. When it hit the surface of the water below, it made a little splash before sinking and then, finally, it vanished beyond sight. Chest heaving, ready to scream, Draco Malfoy stepped once again forward. "You know," he called down to the radio as if the person on the other end could still hear him, "I''m going to do it." But he couldn''t help himself from sweating even more violently. And then it came, something he didn''t expect. Out from the brush stood a tall and lean figure, almost just masked in the absolute darkness. It said nothing, muttered nothing, and then, he noticed something rather familiar. There at it''s thin side, was the outline of a shadowy, small, and black radio. Chapter End Chapter 72 - Game of Thrones Fan-fiction 7 - Trials and Tribulations of the Oathkeeper Plot: Daveth Baratheon is the eldest son of King Robert Baratheon and Queen Cersei Lannister. Known far and wide throughout the Seven Kingdoms for his famous reputation as "the Oathkeeper", how will the Young Stag''s presence affect the Game of Thrones? Pairing: OCxSansa NOTE: Unfinished, but is constantly updated YEAR 298 AC King''s Landing, capital of the Seven Kingdoms... Bells ring out in the capital city of King''s Landing. Lord Jon Arryn of the Eyrie, Warden of the East and Hand of the King, had unexpectedly passed away. As his body lay in the throne room, the Silent Sisters prepare his body for burial. Elsewhere, in the balcony where the noble ladies of the court stand, Queen Cersei of House Lannister is seen contemplating as she leans against the edge of the railing, taking a moment to observe Lord Arryn''s corpse. The sound of someone''s approaching footsteps break her concentration. The person in question is revealed to be her twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister. One of the most skilled swordsmen in all of Westeros, Jaime was appointed as the youngest member of the Kingsguard at age 15 to the last of the Targaryen kings, Aerys the Second of His Name. Unfortunately, he gained an infamous reputation throughout the Seven Kingdoms as "Kingslayer" (much to his irritation) for stabbing King Aerys in the back and killing him at the foot of the Iron Throne itself, thereby breaking his sworn vows to protect him. As Jaime leans against the edge, he looks to counsel his twin sister. "As your brother, I feel it''s my duty to warn you: You worry too much. It''s starting to show." "And you never worry about anything," Cersei responds. "When we were 7, you jumped off the cliffs at Casterly Rock. A 100-foot drop into the water. And you were never afraid." "There was nothing to be afraid of until you told father," Jaime said humorously before deepening his tone of voice to imitate their father. "''We''re Lannisters. And Lannisters don''t act like fools.''" Cersei smiles before taking another look at Jon Arryn. "What if Jon Arryn told someone?" she asks. "But who would he tell?" "My husband," Cersei answers despondently. Jaime merely shrugged his shoulders. "If he told the king, both our heads would be skewered on the city gates by now. Whatever Jon Arryn knew or didn''t know, it died with him. And Robert will choose a new Hand of the King, someone to do his job while he''s off fu?k?n? boars and hunting whores. Or is it the other way around? And life will go on." "You should be Hand of the King." "That''s an honor I can do without. Their days are too long, their lives are too short." Elsewhere¡­ In his chambers stood the Crown Prince and heir to the Iron Throne, Daveth Baratheon. He had been busy packing whatever necessities are required for the journey to Winterfell in the North, expecting the climate to be rather cold. Standing in front of a mirror to properly tuck his royal attire, He didn''t let the expression on his face to show, but deep down Daveth still had a hard time coping with Jon Arryn''s death; the Lord of the Eyrie was like a second grandfather to him. Wise and prudent, Jon essentially tutored Daveth on how to rule and often presided over Small Council meetings together with Lord Arryn since his own father, King Robert of the House Baratheon, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, had no particular interest in ruling his kingdom and was more than happy to pass on the responsibilities to Lord Arryn and his eldest son despite the youth''s age. Since then, popular rumors began to circulate that it was Daveth who really ruled the Seven Kingdoms in practice if not in name. A true prot¨¦g¨¦ of his maternal grandfather Lord Tywin Lannister, Daveth appeared to possess an extreme level of intellect and cunning, allowing him to outmaneuver his political rivals such as Petyr Baelish and even his own mother Cersei Lannister with relative ease. At an incredibly fast pace, Daveth had demonstrated such great promise as a highly capable administrator and skilled warrior in his own right with a reputation for achieving efficient yet effective results in a short amount of time without reneging his word. As such, he is known throughout Westeros as the "Oathkeeper." Daveth cared little about nicknames or what other people thought of him. Unfortunately his fame and reputation caused a tense rift to develop between him and his father King Robert and the two became estranged. The royal court would soon divided into two rival factions between those who supported the Prince and had the good of the realm in mind and opportunistic sycophants who supported the King who felt increasingly threatened by his son''s rapidly growing power and influence. His thoughts were broken by a knock on the door. "Come in," Daveth answers. The door opens and in steps in Bernadette, a handmaiden to Daveth''s mother Queen Cersei. She politely bows her head. "Forgive my intrusion, my Prince. But the Queen has requested your presence at the gates." Daveth nods in acknowledgment. "Very well. Tell her I am on my way." Bernadette bows once more and leaves to inform Cersei. Daveth grabs his belongings and inhales sharply through his nostrils. ''And so it begins,'' he thought. ''The search for a new Hand.'' At the city gates... Upon exiting the city gates, soldiers holding the Baratheon and Lannister sigils accompanied the carriage carrying most of the royal family, with the exception of King Robert and Prince Daveth ¨C who instead chose to ride up front mounted on their horses. The royal party had long departed for the long march to the North on the Kingsroad. "This would''ve been going a lot faster if we didn''t have any certain baggage slowing us down!" Robert gruffly complained. "Come now, father, I''m sure you wouldn''t even consider leaving our family behind, would you? We have a long road ahead of us, so certainly it wouldn''t hurt to at least maintain a steady pace so the others can keep up." "Bah! Seven Hells, sometimes you''re just like your mother! The sooner we get there, the sooner I''ll have food and wine in my belly!" Daveth shook his head in annoyance. Although a loyal, dutiful and respectful son, Daveth was greatly irritated by his father''s penchant for drinking and sleeping with any pretty woman whenever he could. It was no secret that Daveth hated Robert for emotionally (sometimes physically) abusing Cersei and his unapologetic marital infidelities. He knew how poorly his father treated his mother and how unhappy their marriage was. Daveth learned the difference between right and wrong as he was often exposed to heated arguments and occasional beatings no matter how hard Cersei tried to hide it from him; since then, Daveth swore to be a different kind of king and vowed not to be like a man Robert was. Joffrey, his younger brother and second in line to the Iron Throne after him, was an arrogant, sadistic fop with a massive sense of entitlement. Everyone in King''s Landing knew how they hated each other for many years ¨C in his eyes, Daveth was everything that Joffrey was not and vastly superior: Daveth was respected by the other lords and well-loved by his subjects, fiercely intelligent, a brilliant administrator and a powerful warrior ¨C having been trained by their uncle Jaime Lannister and Ser Barristan Selmy, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Joffrey had none of Daveth''s traits and was only skilled with a crossbow; Joffrey was clearly jealous of and envied his older brother''s successes. On the other hand, his younger siblings, Myrcella and Tommen, idolized Daveth. He cared deeply about them (and vice-versa) and helped his mother raise them ever since they were born. He took care of them and played with them whenever he could. Whenever he had to tend to royal functions outside of King''s Landing or negotiate trade deals for extended periods of time, the two younger blonde-haired children were always the first ones to greet Daveth ¨C always happy to see their big brother. He could say that he''s on well enough terms with his paternal uncles, Lords Stannis and Renly Baratheon ¨C even though they saw each other on a daily basis. Renly at times gave Daveth a headache, with Stannis noticing the prince takes his duties more seriously than any of his brothers. From his mother''s side of House Lannister, Daveth respects his uncles Jaime and Tyrion. Jaime helped teach Daveth how to use a sword and was left aghast with his nephew''s performance in a tournament held in King''s Landing last year. When Daveth received his knighthood on his sixteenth nameday, his father King Robert was insistent on staging a tournament (the first and perhaps only time the Stag King was proud of his son). The joust had ended and all that remained was the melee. The match between Daveth and Ser Jaime lasted almost an hour and, albeit both competitors were left utterly exhausted after matching each other blow-for-blow, the Young Stag stunned all in attendance by defeating the Golden Lion despite the youth''s lack of experience. Daveth could''ve sworn he''d wounded Jaime''s pride that day, though he couldn''t really tell. Tyrion was more approachable and, despite his dwarfism, Daveth could tell there was potential in his uncle where he could further hone his talents ¨C provided he''d stop his ??wdness. Even so, Daveth did appreciate the history books Tyrion gave him such as "The History of the Greater and the Lesser Houses" and "Lives of Four Kings" ¨C as they kept his wits sharp. His grandfather, Lord Tywin Lannister, was someone even Daveth had to take seriously and always headed the Old Lion''s counsel. The Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West commanded a very powerful presence and easily intimidated those around him. In their encounter, Tywin spoke with his grandson (albeit it felt like an interrogation with the way the Old Lion was looking at him) and Daveth was sure to answer whatever questions his grandfather hurled at him. When their visit to Casterly Rock was over, to his surprise, King Robert and Queen Cersei received a message from Lord Tywin''s brother Ser Kevan Lannister that Tywin was impressed with the boy''s vast knowledge and sought to educate him. Daveth''s thoughts were interrupted when his father spoke again. "Boy! Did you not hear a word I''ve said?" Robert demanded. "Yes, father," Daveth answered. "Good. Because I tire of all this riding. Go on and scout ahead and inform me of how what you find. I''d like to know much further Winterfell is." Daveth nodded and galloped on his horse to the nearest hill. Once at the top, he took a moment to scout the area. After a long ten minutes, Daveth spotted faint but light snow on the horizon. They''ve been on the Kingsroad for more than a month now, and it seems their primary destination was within sight. Once calculating the distance and the time it would take to arrive, Daveth hurried on back to King Robert. "Well?" he asked. "Given the current pace and the depths of the terrain, we should be able to arrive at Winterfell within a fortnight." "Good. At least you''re good for something." Daveth gritted his teeth at his father''s words, but held his tongue. "I suppose it shouldn''t come as a surprise. The North is, after all, the largest region in all of the Seven Kingdoms in Westeros. Ride 200 miles to the west, you''re still in the North. 10 miles to east, you''re still in the North. 50 miles to the south, you''re still in the North. It''s enough to fit in the other six kingdoms." Robert nodded. "Aye, though must has changed the last time I saw it. But hopefully not too much. Ned''ll probably be as fast given how long it''s been since we met." Daveth raised his eyebrows. ''Lord Eddard Stark? So¡­ you intend to name him as Lord Arryn''s replacement?'' Robert took notice. "What, boy? You disapprove?" Daveth shook his head and came up with a clever retort. "Not at all. It''s just¡­ it''s been more than nine years since we last set foot in Winterfell, father. Kind of leaves one feeling sentimental, you know?" "That it does," Robert nodded in agreement. "I''m only doing this because Ned''s the last friend in this world I trust. The only one left." "Do you think he''ll accept?" Daveth asks. "He will. Besides, I''m the king. And I get whatever I want. Now come on, let''s get moving." As the two of them began to resume their march, Daveth had been contemplating of what kind of reunion he''d expect in Winterfell. From what he remembers, Daveth seemed to recall his father and Ned Stark as having been childhood friends ¨C like his was with Ned''s eldest son and heir, Robb. And Daveth only knew what Robert''s words meant when he said that; surely there was bound to be trouble on the horizon and there were few allies left in the capital he could turn to for help. Still, as heir to the throne Daveth will continue to play his part¡­ for the greater good. Chapter End Chapter 73 - Game of Thrones Fanfiction 8 - Wearing Roberts Crown Plot: The Robert Baratheon who takes the crown in AC 283 is not the man who they expected, nor will he be the king they looked for. Through the eyes of others as the Seven Kingdoms seeks an new balance of power under a new dynasty. (SI). NOTE: Not completed, and is most unlikely to be so.. but still a decent read Book 1 - Family, Duty, Honor Ned I Robert seemed to sway slightly as he saw the bodies lying at the foot of the Iron Throne. The sizes made it clear which of them was Aerys Targaryen, which his good-daughter and which two were his grandchildren. Over the last year, Ned Stark had seen a burning anger growing inside his foster-brother - a hatred of Rhaegar Targaryen and all his kin. He feared that Robert would act unwisely now, taint his reign from the beginning. To his relief, their new king - as yet uncrowned - merely moved from one to another. In each case he dropped to one knee and tugged aside the Lannister crimson cloaks so he could inspect their faces. For each he then nodded solemnly - in confirmation or in recognition, Ned could not say - and then moved on. After examining Aegon last, Robert rose to his feet and ascended the steps to stand beside Ned, Jon Arryn and Tywin Lannister at the foot of the Iron Throne. "How did they die?" he asked coolly. "Elia Martell and her children died in the sack," Jon said dispassionately. "Aerys..." "My son slew him." Robert''s blue eyes narrowed as he looked at the Lord of Casterly Rock. "You mean Ser Jaime, I take it?" The Lannister''s own eyes reduced to dangerous slits. "Of course." "I would almost have believed your younger boy so enterprising before I thought the elder to forswear his oaths. Still, the deed is done." He shook his head. "Well. He more than deserves to account for himself publically. Where is he?" "Secure." Robert scowled. "Well secure his person here. I want to hear this. And perhaps we all should." "Will you take your seat?" Jon asked, changing the subject with a gesture to the massive and dangerous looking Iron Throne. "I am more than half tempted," the new King observed, "To have this melted down for scrap. It''s an ugly thing... and I doubt the view is all that attractive." He looked around at the mounds of dragonbones that also cluttered the great hall. "Yes, I believe I will have that done. In the meantime, someone find me a chair. There must be at least one that survived the sack." The chair arrived before the youngest knight of the Kingsguard. "I found the Lannister here on the throne itself," warned Ned when Tywin was out of earshot. "Sword still wet with the king''s blood." Robert nodded quietly and removed his cloak, folding it over one arm. He turned to the room eyes sweeping across knights and lords from every land that had pledged him their swords against the Mad King. "This is not yet the end," he declared loudly enough to be heard even at the far end of the hall. "The southernmost kingdoms still fly the dragon''s banners. Yet it is the beginning of the end." He walked behind the simple wooden chair. "It is said that a king is wed to his realm, before even to his queen. And who is a realm but the people - the knights and lords and other goodly folk? And so I ask you now. Will you have me now as your King, and this as my throne?" "Hail Robert Baratheon!" called Jon Arryn, astutely, and scores of voices joined him. Ned''s was amongst them. He could see bannermen of the Lannisters and Tullys calling out as loudly as those of the North, the Vale or the Stormlands. A good omen perhaps. For a long moment Robert let them call out their support and then he unfolded his cloak and draped the comparatively unimposing chair in the colours of House Baretheon. "So be it. I, Robert Baratheon, son of Steffon Baratheon and Cassana Estermont, am proclaimed by your words as King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm." Robert sat and once again Westeros had a king. There was an ironic clapping from the door, cut off as Tywin Lannister elbowed his son sharply. "My apologies, your grace." Jaime Lannister walked forward to face the new king. "I was... overcome by the moment." "I''m sure." Robert pointed down at Aerys. "I see your latest deed, Ser Jaime. Doubtless word of it has spread already. But what I do not hear is why." "Does it matter, your grace?" "I will be making a great number of decisions in the future. It is the nature of kingship, I am told. Or perhaps merely of life. But I would know what could push one of the lands'' most acclaimed knights to break his oaths. It cannot, I feel, be a mere trifle." Jaime looked at him and Ned had to admit that Robert had a point: from up on the throne it would be hard for Robert to see clearly the faces of those before the throne, particularly in the dim light. "When my father''s army entered the city I knew that there was no hope of defending the Red Keep. I therefore requested permission to make terms. King Aerys instead ordered that I bring him my father''s head." Ned thought of his own father, burned to death inside the walls of the Red Keep. That had brought him to rebellion but he had not sworn such oaths... "Aye?" Robert leant forwards. "You could have simply opened the gates to your kinsmen, Ser Jaime. Instead you acted personally. That strikes me as something more upon you than an impossible - and heinous - command." The young knight threw back his head and laughed. He laughed and laughed, as every eye in the hall focused upon him. Then at last he stilled his laugh. "The King had appointed Rossart, the Grand Master of the Alchemists, as his Hand. On his command, Rossart was to see that all of King''s Landing was consumed in wildfire. Is that sufficient reason, your grace?" All of King''s Landing in flames... Ned blanched and saw he was not alone in doing so. He''d see the sack in progress but now he feared he''d see it again, with the entire horror ablaze with green wildfire. Tywin, whose vanguard would doubtless have been consumed in such an inferno, was looking at his son in astonishment. Only Robert seemed unmoved. "I am inclined to think so." He rose. "This is my first decree as your King. The Order of the Kingsguard is hereby disbanded and dissolved. Its members, having been bound by mighty oaths to the whims of the mad King, I hereby offer amnesty for all deeds and crimes they may have been forced to commit until this day. I further absolve Ser Jaime Lannister of all wrongdoing in the death of the mad King and..." He stepped forwards and extended his hand. "I offer him my personal thanks." Ser Jaime stared at the hand and then unclasped the white cloak of his former office, letting it pool upon the floor behind him as he went to meet the King and the two men clasped hands. From the first hours of the Rebellion Jon had worried about what sort of king Robert would be. He loved the boy like one of the sons he''d never had, but he had to admit that Ned - the other ''son'' - was a hundred times as responsible. These first two days though had shown him another side of the man Robert had grown into, charming Crownland lords and many of the Lannister host into allegiance that sometimes went beyond the grudging. (Not Lord Tywin, of course, but that would never have happened). Of course, he had always been gregarious but his appetites had previously been limited to wines and the hunt - including the hunt for wenches to bed. Now somehow the young King had shown an appetite for the mundane work of kingship. A map of King''s Landing was being filled out before them as reports came in to detail the damage during the sack. The worst was around the Lion Gate where the Lannister forces had been allowed in, but there was a trail of destruction through to the centre of the city and then up the main avenue to the Red Keep. Most alarming were the red crosses marking where the alchemists had revealed caches of wildfire had been buried. Their number was considerable. "Since we have to dig up so much of the city we may as well do something about the drains," Robert was grumbling. "I have to live in this damn place and I''d rather I wasn''t left holding my nose the whole time." "You get used to it after a while, your grace." "That isn''t a reassurance." Robert tapped his finger on the Dragonpit, the ruined dome atop Rhaenys'' Hill. "And we''ll do something with that too. It''s one of the largest buildings in the city, leaving it closed is ridiculous." "It''s not as if you have dragons to house there, Robert." The young man looked over at Jon and smiled. "Perhaps I''ll make it the new royal residence. The Red Keep isn''t precisely ideal and there''s something to be said for making a new start." "In any event, affairs of state beckon." Robert sighed and shook his head. "Very well then." He acknowledged the bows of the other men around the table as he walked away. "So what''s the matter now?" "We need to decide on the membership of the Small Council," Jon reminded him as they descended the tower stairs. "If nothing else, we need a Master of Coin if you''re planning to empty the treasury rebuilding King''s Landing." "That would be going a little far," admitted Robert thoughtfully. "Well, let''s start with the easiest position to fill: Pycelle is still Grand Maester and we''re stuck with him until he dies." "Do you trust him?" "Not even slightly. It was on his advice Aerys had the gates opened to the Lannisters - see how well that worked out for the Mad King." "It worked out to your benefit though." "I doubt it was his design." Robert rubbed his face. "Do you have any one in mind who could replace Varys?" "Unfortunately, no. And he advised against admitting the Lannisters. By that logic, do you trust him?" "His competence at least. I see no choice but to retain him for now or be half-blinded when it comes to the Kingdoms. And the rest of the world, come to that." Jon nodded glumly. "That''s my own thinking. Now without the Kingsguard, there''s no need for a Lord Commander to sit." "I''ve a thought or two on how to replace that institution. Not, however, holding a seat on the Small Council. We can defer any replacment." "Then you can ?ssume that the High Septon will petition to represent the Faithful upon the Small Council." Robert muttered something under his breath. Possibly "Give me strength," although Jon couldn''t have sworn to that. "No, absolutely not. I considered a Master of Arms to ?ssist in organising the raising of armies..." He raised his hand to still Jon''s words: "But I realise that encroaches upon the roles of the Wardens so I decided against it. Fear not, Jon." "That leaves the Masters of Coin, Laws and Ships to decide." Robert opened the door to the royal solar, which still hadn''t been entirely stripped of Targaryen heraldry, and ushered Jon in with utter disregard for his own royal dignity. "I have a certain thought, Jon, which I''d like to discuss with you. A s?ns?t?v? matter." "Oh?" The king poured wine into two goblets, although Jon noticed to his astonishment that he also added water from a second flagon to his own goblet. "There''s far too much wine here," he said defensively. "If I drank everything that came to hand I''d never stop drinking and I doubt flagons would impress the Seven Kingdoms as much as dragons did." "Are you sure you aren''t feverish, Robert?" Dark eyebrows twitched above the king''s blue eyes. "Perhaps I''m still lying wounded somewhere in the eastern Reach and all this is a dream." "It really isn''t. So what are you considering?" Robert looked at the goblet in his hand. "We planned on you being my Hand. There''s no one I admire more. But now I''m wondering if appointing you now is the right thing to do." "What do you mean?" "The war isn''t over," the King explained. "We might be nearing the end of the fighting, but there''s still the need to bring the Reach and Dorne back into the fold - hopefully without more fighting but we can''t count on that - and to convince the rest of Westeros that we''re restoring stability." "I agree so far." "Well, that means I need someone to go to Dorne to try to persuade them that it isn''t our fault that Prince Lewyn was killed at the Trident or Princess Elia here. Which... isn''t going to to be easy. They may not welcome you." "It''s an acceptable risk." "Yes, but I mean to leverage you as much advantage as possible. Lewyn died on the battlefield but the Martells will certainly know Elia was murdered by Lannister bannermen. I''m considering asking Tywin Lannister to ?ssist me by acting as Hand of the King until you return." Jon thought a moment. "Ah, you think the Martells won''t dare preventing me from returning if it means that you might make Tywin your Hand permanently." "That''s right." "That''s unsually deep thought for you, Robert." "I have a lot of experience with seductions. It''s always easier if there''s an ugly suitor in the wings." Jon rubbed his face. "I suppose that makes sense. And Tywin is certainly able. You might decide you want to keep him as your Hand." Robert threw back his head and roared with laughter. "In that case, my friend, you can go back to the Eyrie and father a dozen little Arryns on your lovely young bride. And then, ten years from now, you can inflict them upon me in a long-awaited revenge." Tywin I Robert Baratheon was not as expected. At some point in the not too distant future, Tywin intended to speak firmly with some of his informants about that. For now, however, he needed to deal with a King who - under the jovial bonhomie - clearly had a brain that was good for something more than keeping his ears from touching each other. "Thank you for seeing me, your grace." "I''m sorry it couldn''t be earlier." Robert gestured to one of two well-stuffed armchairs either side of the fire. "This ruling business... never a spare moment. Does it get any easier?" "One learns to manage one''s time." "That''s good to know. Wine?" Tywin accepted the goblet the king filled for him. No servants, he noticed. Interesting. Was it a statement or a precaution? Sitting down opposite Tywin, Robert stretched out his legs. "There are a few things I wanted to ask you, but you asked to meet with me so by all means go first." "Firstly, I would like to thank you for giving me back my son." Robert nodded and then their eyes met. The king nodded again, understanding it was as clear a statment as Tywin would give of being indebted to him. "Secondly, is there any news of Lady Lyanna Stark?" "It seems she''s held to the south. Her brother will be leading a party to rescue her." It was Tywin''s turn to nod. "I realise that this is not advice you may wish to hear, but after being a prisoner for so long and... possibly mistreated... you should keep in mind that she may not be prepared to be Queen." Robert Baratheon went very very still. "Lord Tywin, had Aerys taken Lady Joanna from you as his son took Lyanna from me..." "Yours is the fury," conceded Tywin, making a mental not not draw that fury upon himself. It was far colder than he had thought. "I am glad for you, your grace. It is not often that men such as we may know such women." "Then we have an understanding." He emptied his goblet. "Is there a third matter?" "Not for my part. You had concerns of your own though." "I do." Robert set down his goblet and leant forwards. "I''m sending an army south to relieve Storm''s End and hopefully persuade Mace Tyrell to come to terms. Ned has family to rescue and Jon will be dealing with Dorne. Normally as Warden I''d offer you command of the army, however, I have another position that you would even more qualified for." "Oh?" "It''s clear that some members of the Small Council will have to be carried over from Aerys'' council. We need the stability. At the same time, while I fully intend to appoint Jon Arryn as my Hand eventually, there are a number of other roles he''s needed in." Was he suggesting...? "I realise I''d be asking a lot, but would you be willing to be my Hand for the next few months, maybe a year?" Robert sighed. "I''ll tell you upfront that I may wind up ''dismissing'' you to pacify the Dornish. It''s no secret that two of your knights slew Princess Elia and you know how hot-headed the Dornish can be." "It needed to be done." "The children, yes. And I doubt she''d have stood by for it. But dammit, man!" The king thumped the arm of his chair. "But don''t brag about it! Dark deeds are done in the dark where no one can see them. I may need to have Ser Amory and Ser Gregor sent to the Wall as well." "They are my loyal bannermen, your grace," warned Tywin quietly. "Are you offering to pay additional taxes to wage war against Dorne? You know how that went for the Targaryens. I won''t ask that if I can reasonably avoid it... but better two knights than an army." "That is inarguable." Tywin frowned in thought. "I will serve as your Hand, your grace, under the circumstances that you describe. However, I would have my son Jaime lead the army south. He will be Warden one day." "Of course. Lord Tully''s brother Brynden will be in command of the Riverlands contingent, I''ll be naming him as second in command. And once Storm''s End is relieved, well Stannis is the King''s brother so..." "Ser Brynden is very able knight, your grace. And you are correct that Lord Stannis -" Robert raised one finger in admonishment. "Prince Stannis." "Of course. Prince Stannis will have the right to take command once your ancestral home is no longer besieged. How many men will you be sending?" "Seven thousand or so from each Kingdom''s levies. Thirty-five thousand in all. That will leave me enough men to secure King''s Landing and still send some of the western lords back to the Riverlands and the North." The map of the Seven Kingdoms spread out before Tywin. "Have you news of Lord Quellon?" "None, and that concerns me. The Greyjoy''s health is failing and his son''s a hothead. If Balon Greyjoy rules the Iron Isles we could have longships ravaging the western coasts. If it turns out nothing happens, well that''s a good ten thousand troops I don''t have to feed any more." "I''m pleased you intend to rule the realm and not merely to conquer it." Robert chuckled and reached for the wine again. "I do have that reputation, don''t I?" He filled his goblet and then Tywins. The two men raised their goblets in toast to each other. Stannis I From the gatehouse, Stannis watched Mace Tyrell walk forwards under a flag of truce. He''d called for the truce and no doubt the fat Reachman thought that it was a prelude to surrender. "So, Lord Stannis, have you finally run out of things to eat?" the Lord Paramount of the Reach asked amiably once he saw Stannis face behind the barred window in the gate. "I can have a few carts brought forward if you''re willing to finally see sense about this?" Stannis scowled deeply. "That''s Prince Stannis to you, Tyrell," he said sharply. "I don''t believe your House is Targaryen, but my question remains." "I''ve had a letter from my brother. He indicates I should share it with you in the hopes you''ll see reason." Stannis b?r?d his teeth. "Personally I hope that you don''t." "And what does the Pretender have to say for himself?" Stannis took the much folded parchment out and started from the top: "To my royal brother Prince Stannis Baratheon, heir to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, greetings. I have this day been acclaimed in the great hall of Maegor''s Keep as King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men. Aerys the Mad''s dead body lay before the throne as I took my seat, soon to be buried alongside his dead son Rhaegar." "I ?ssure you that my earliest priority in concluding this war is to relieve the siege of our home. An army marches south to Storm''s End. I counsel you to share these facts with Lord Tyrell and you may ?ssure him in my name that should he bow the knee to our House then no more shall be said of his allegiance to the Targaryens. However, should he decline this offer then he may not expect such generosity." "I look forwards to being reunited with you and our brother Renly as soon as may be. By my own hand, King Robert Baratheon." Stannis looked up from the parchment out the window at Tyrell. "Well, Lord Tyrell. Do you accept my brother''s offer... or not? It would, from my part, be very welcome if you declined so we may exact a due price for your enmity." Tyrell''s face had grown redder as Stannis read. "Your word, and your brother''s, are hardly an ?ssurance that things go as ill for the House of Targaryen as you describe. And if they do, then Rhaegar has a son and a brother still. Take delight then, Lord Stannis, and tighten your belt. I will have Storm''s End and then my armies will march north and we will see how well your brother sings." "That tends to depend how much wine he''s drunk," Stannis said bluntly. "Then there''s no more to say. Go back to your lines and await the storm." Chapter End Chapter 74 - Game of Thrones Fan-fiction 9 - The Dragon Queen & Her Bladewolf Plot: Getting dropped Into a TV show? Wonderful! Sarcastic. George Edwards is dropped into the dangerous world of Game of Thrones. He will have to play that dangerous, cunning, and evil game if he wants to protect his Dragon Queen and the woman he loves,and protects, Daenerys Targaryen. Pairing: OCxDany NOTE:Goes up to Season 7. Can be considered complete. Character is also from the other works of the author. It was over. He had won! He had WON! After nearly 30 years of war, it has now come to an end. The Promethean Army had been destroyed, their leader destroyed, never to return at all. The Resistance had fought hard in their last stand and final battle, but they made sure if they were going to die then they were bringing their enemies down to hell with them. He had fought his former best friend and brother with all his power and immortality that lies within his soul. He would rip his own heart and soul out if it kept the Promethean Leader from winning the war and conquering the world then the Universe once he had created an Empire on Earth. The Resistance Leader fell to his knees as fighter jets from his army flew overhead with a cheering army on the ground. The fortress attack had been very carefully planned, Bloodwolf had made sure to have no weakness in the fortress defences, but they somehow managed to find one. So with that, they exploited that weakness and used it to get into the fortress. It had been a bloody battle as soon as the Prometheans were aware the enemy was inside. He and Bloodwolf had fought, in the Fortress''s main tower that had become not really a tower anymore during the battle. Thanks t his superb healing factor, many bloody wounds were healed but not the same for the clothes. Eventually he had driven his sword through Bloodwolf''s heart, ripped it out and shoved a bomb powerful enough to blow up the whole tower into the wound before it healed and he watched as Bloodwolf blew up with no trace of him remaining, no brain, no heart, nothing but rotting burning bits of flesh. Bloodwolf was dead. Forever, never to return, no matter what. He had been sent down to hell, where he belongs. George, leader of the Resistance, had won and kept the Earth from being conquered by a mad Warlord. "It is over..." Eyes snapped open to reveal brown, like chocolate almost, looking around before the hardened expression softened and the person the eyes belonged to sat up from the tree log he had his head sleeping against. He sighed and looked around the woodland area he had chose to make camp at. How long has it been? 3 years? 3 years since he fell through that portal and Into another world. 3 years... since he fell into the land of Westeros. Bloody hell he couldn''t catch a break can he? First with the war with Bloodwolf, now this? He definitely should retire, but not in this world. He may not have watched Game of Thrones up to the current season, which was 7, but he did now the characters and that the Game of Thrones was a dangerous game unless you REALLY are good at politics. It was a game he''d rather not get involved, that''s why he became a Mercenary in this world. He was well known as The Bladewolf, the Mercenary who is like darkness itself, the God in mortal form, all those little nicknames the commoners make up through the rumors and stories they hear of you. They had only called him Bladewolf because he had spoke that name to a guy who he spared. So maybe that''s his it went around. This was George Edwards, former leader of the resistance, now Mercenary in the Seven Kingdoms. A Legend among the people of multiple towns and cities, Including the capital King''s Landing. George sighed and reached into his trench coat before pulling out a mask that could only cover Hus face and leave his eyes visible. It was bony looking, like he had made it from somebody''s bones. He traced the mask before turning it around and attaching it to his face, throwing his hood up and his shoulder length black hair adding intimidation to the look. He stood up and grabbed a sword resting against a tree, it had a skull in the middle of the hilt, some think it''s his house sigil, he didn''t even have one. House Edwards? Sounds weird a little, but he cared not. He looked at the sword before sighing and sheathing it through the hole In the back of his trench coat. Soon a horse, black as night with red eyes, appeared from the shadows like they manifested themselves into the form of a horse. George smiled as his loyal friend and steed, Shadowmere, a demon horse from the spirit realm, one that can''t die but would be banished to the spirit realm until George calls upon him again. And right now, George was itching to get paid for a job. The only one with the most and biggest payment was killing Daenerys Targaryen. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the contract that shows the reward for the Targaryen woman''s death, a bonus added if er head is brought along with her brother''s. This was a contract Robert Baratheon had one of his men give to the Mercenary before he left King''s Landing once, the last time he was in it. That was a month now, and George didn''t feel like killing her. No, instead he was going to protect her from everything, including her brother. "I just need to get to Essos." George sighed as he grabs his other weapons, which consists of two daggers made of Valyrian steel, a bow and arrows. Originally he had two guns but they run out of bullets, which suck. Many called them his boomstick. Sliding the quiver of arrows on, then his bow, George got on Shadowmere and rides off for a ship harbour, he had coins enough to get a ride to Essos. A Month Later Daenerys Targaryen stood on her balcony in the quiet night. She was a very beautiful young woman, had her family''s silver hair, but not the fierceness that was the dragon blood flowing through the veins like most Targaryens. Her brother, Viserys, mostly had all that. He was the rightful king to the Iron Throne, something that their father, the Mad King, sat on during his reign, but now it belonged to Robert Baratheon. Tomorrow she would be meeting the Dothraki Lord she was getting sold off to by her brother in exchange for a Dothraki army to conquer the Seven Kingdoms and take back the Iron Throne to the Targaryens. Viserys was her brother and here he was selling her like a piece of meat getting sold to a commoner. She knew her brother was cruel but she didn''t think he would go this far. Daenerys had heard stories of the Dothraki and she was afraid of what they''d do to her. The Young Targaryen hoped to one day meet a man she''d love, marry, and bear children for, but her brother pulled all the strings in her life, he decided how her life goes, and if she ever talked back or refuse then she''d ''wake the dragon'' as her brother puts it. She was broken from her thoughts when she heard a noise coming from inside her room. Startled, she turned around and saw nothing there,causing her to frown as she walked inside. "Who''s there?" Nobody answered her question as she walked forward with her fear increasing in each step. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind and a voice whispered into her ear as a knife was placed to her throat. "Scream for me." Daenerys probably let out the loudest scream of her life. Soon Viserys and guards barged into the room and saw Daenerys being held with a knife against her throat while the ?ssassin was backing up slowly towards the balcony. "Release her!" Viserys demanded, pointing his sword at the ?ssassin. "Release her or I will kill you and you''re whole house." "Oh fu?k off, dragonspawn. You don''t have the army not the power to do such things. You''re family''s house is over now, your done as you''re father was done when the kingslayer put his sword through his back." The ?ssassin said and the two Targaryens could tell he was grinning. Viserys and the guard then noticed a hooded shadow quietly land on the balcony from the rooftop and pressed his fist against the ?ssassin''s neck, the sound of a blade meeting flesh was heard before the ?ssassin released Daenerys and gurgled up blood. Daenerys stumbled to the floor as the ?ssassin''s body fell to the ground while the other one watched before lifting his head and looking at the blades pointing at him. "I wouldn''t do that if I were you." He said casually, nothing in his tone that could be threatening or hostile. The guard ignored his words and advanced, causing the new Assassin, George, to sigh and three metal blade came out of the space between his knuckles before he struck with one swipe and one of the guard''s stomach opened with his guts falling out. He tried putting them back in before falling down. Everyone was shocked and only Viserys could form words. "Who are you?" "George ignored the self proclaimed king and looked down at Daenerys, who was very beautiful in his eyes, before offering her his hand. Daenerys stared at the cold mask over George''s face before her gaze went to the ?ssassin and the guard, then she looked at George again before taking his hand and allowing him to gently pull her up to her feet. "Are you hurt my Lady?" George asked with concern. Daenerys blushed but nodded her head. She was so close to him that she could look into his eyes, her eyes looking into his brown ones. She could tell he was studying her. George looked over Daenerys Targaryen, who really looked like Emilia Clarke, and saw she wasn''t the fierce woman many love in the show yet. Of course she was still in the stages if becoming that woman, but right now she was a scared giro who didn''t want to be wed to someone she didn''t even know or love. She was just a girl that wanted to go home. And he was going to do that while protecting her. "I asked you a question, I will not ask again!" Daenerys saw her saviour''s eyes close in annoyance before opening them as he looked from Daenerys to Viserys and walked towards him before surprising everyone when he went to a knee and said. "My name is George Edwards, the Assassin known as the Bladewolf, I am here to serve the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms." God, how it left a bitter taste to say that to the wrong ruler, he''d rather say ''Queen'' to the other Targaryen in the room. He bowed to no one, but for Daenerys he''d make an exception. Viserys and Daenerys widened their eyes and exchanged a look as they had heard of the ?ssassin and Mercenary known as Bladewolf, that he attacks from the shadows and is quick as the wind, silent as the night. "Really?" Viserys asked when he looked at George with shock. The Mercenary suppressed a groan and rolled his eyes under his hood, thankfully it kept it hidden with his mask so the expression wasn''t spotted. "Yes, your Grace. And I think tonight proved I could slay your enemies that would try to harm you and your sister." Viserys agreed that he had a good point there, besides why not have a very dangerous Mercenary who could help him win battles and lead his men? Viserys would sure as hell pay him when he go the Iron Throne back. Besides, having a protector for him and his sister would give them extra security. "Well, rise Ser Edwards, henceforth you are now the protector of my sister and I." Viserys said and George rose, keeping his annoyance way behind his eyes. The Next day The next morning saw George standing on the steps with his same outfit on, waiting for Khal Drogo. He was alone as everyone else was making preparations for the Dothraki. He could tell this lot didn''t know Dothraki customs, even if he didn''t know them himself but his friends from his world and Westeros had told him all about Dothraki when their brought up. One of those friends happen to be Tyrion Lannister. "Ser Edwards." George looked to see Daenerys and he smiled behind his mask. "Please, just call me George when we''re alone, I''m not really a Knight." Daenerys nodded before saying. "I wanted to thank you for saving my life, last night. If you hadn''t come, I..." Daenerys trailed off as she knew she would be dead. George placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him. "You are very welcome, Dany, I can call you that right?" Dany slowly nodded, wondering why he was being so casual with her. "I wasn''t going to let a inexperienced ?ssassin harm that pretty head of yours." Daenerys blushed and was about to say something but the arrival of her brother stopped her. "George! Why are you not by my side?" George sighed before his eyes gained that cold look and tone whenever it cones to talking to Viserys. "Apologies, your Grace, I''m rather new to the protection job as my services are mostly killing people." Viserys scoffed. "Someone could have killed me by now." George shook his Head. "Oh I''d have known if someone was around, and as soon as I would have noticed I would have killed them before they make any move on you''re sister or you." Viserys reluctantly nodded as everyone prepared for Drogo''s arrival. He surprised everyone when he just gave one look at Daenerys before leaving. "Where is he going?" Viserys as he moved down the steps to join his sister and Illyrio, George following close. "The ceremony is over." Illyrio informed the self proclaimed king. "Did he not like her?" Viserys asked with a frown, this could have not given him the army. "Trust me, your Grace, if he didn''t like her we would know." "How?" "Because I''d be cutting his head off and his fellow riders." George answered this time, his cold tone staying with him. The next few weeks saw George watching over Viserys and Daenerys closely, getting closer to Daenerys until they were like friends who had known each other since childhood, she allowed him to call her Dany in exchange for seeing his face, which he agreed and kept his mask off when around her. They had conversations in the middle of the night in a secret cave under the palace, hidden by a waterfall, and George admitted to himself that he was starting to fall in love with Daenerys Targaryen. With Viserys, he saw a cruel man who would kill innocent children if it took him to the Iron Throne. His father''s madness and ?ust for the throne flowed through him more than dragon blood does. George would rather serve Daenerys as her protector and right hand, if that''s what she wanted, rather than Viserys. George was in the cave he and Daenerys meet in at night, waiting for his best friend to show up. She soon arrived, making sure to not get soaked by the waterfall, somehow. He smirked as she smiled at him. "Hey, Dany. How would you like to be taught to wield a sword?" George suddenly asked. Dany''s eyes widened as she looked at her friend, and secret love, in shock. "Excuse me?" George chuckled. "You heard me, I''m going to teach you how to use a sword. This is in case somebody tries to kill or **** you." George brought out a spare sword he sailed from the palace guards and gave it to her. Dany held it a little shakily before George went behind her and held her into a fighting stance and taught her how to hold it properly. Dany blushed as she could feel the muscles in his arms and how hard his ?h?st is. Once he got her stance right, he began helping her through the basics and she was so focused on his words that she didn''t notice him let go of her arms and step away from her. When she heard George laugh, she saw he was a few steps away from her and she was holding the sword properly. Startled, she dropped it as George chuckled. "Not bad, very impressive for you''re first time holding a sword. We''ll work on it, don''t worry." He ?ssured her with a smile. That smile was Dany''s tipping point as she couldn''t take it anymore. Before George could react .Daenerys had ran and jumped onto him ,crashing her lips against his? The gasp from him allowed her to let her tongue into his mouth and tangle with George''s. The Mercenary was very surprised to see Daenerys kissing him and her tongue battling his. He didn''t pull away as her lips were so soft and soon he was kissing back and backed her up Into a wall, groaning as he groped her through her nightgown. Daenerys had her long legs wrapped around his waist as his hands went to as ?ss and lifted her nightgown enough to touch the b?r? flesh and squeeze her rear. It was when Daenerys was hastily trying to undo the belt on his pants that he came to his senses and broke the kiss, reluctantly might I add. "Dany... we can''t do this, you''re supposed to be marrying Drogo tomorrow." "You think he''ll care if I''m a v?r??n? He''ll still have me as his wife. I don''t want my first time with a man I don''t know and love, I want you. You''re sweet, passionate, protecting and loyal. I may have known you for a short while, but please I love you and want you to let me have this." Dany said with a few tears going down her cheeks. George wiped them away before saying. "I love you too." He then decided to screw the timeline a little and kissed her, causing her to m??n as he began getting her nightgown off, both falling to the ground where they proceeded to have passionate s?x under the moonlight. A few hours later saw a sweating and n?k?d Daenerys and George cuddling against each other, their clothes covering their bodies. The Targaryen with her head on her lover''s ?h?st and tracing circles on it while his hand softly ??r?ssed her ?ss cheeks. "Dany, do you want to know why I came here?" George asked, causing her to look at him curiously. "Now hear me out before probably killing me. Originally, I had been given a contract by Robert Baratheon to kill you, BUT, I decided not to. I decided you needed a protector until you were able to stand against your enemies. Dany, when I made that pledge to you''re brother, I wasn''t meaning it, I would have rather pledged myself to you and only you. I''ll always be by you''re aide, as a loyal bodyguard and lover." Dany smiled at the end before leaning up and saying. "I know, now shut up and kiss me." George smirked before doing as she asked and passionately kissed her. Soon they got dressed and quietly made it to their rooms, George made sure the area was clear before kissing Daenerys goodnight when they were outside her room, he then went to his own to go for a sleep. He had a long journey ahead of him if he was staying here beside his girlfriend. Chapter End Chapter 75 - DCTV Fan-fiction 5 - Bound By Love Plot: A burglary happens at STAR Labs the day of the particle accelerator is supposed to open. A CSI and a Bioengineer come together to find out who is to blame, which leads to a most unexpected start to their adventure Pairing: Barry x Caitlin NOTE: A snowbarry centered fic, is currently ongoing (but haven''t been update in a few weeks), includes (soul) bond, everything (well most things) goes their way + Killer Frost is dealt with better than the show did. It was a bright and sunny morning when Caitlin Snow came into work. After her usual morning routine and drive through the city, she approached STAR Labs. To her surprise, the parking lot in front of the large structure was full of police cars and there were many cops on the scene. Parking her car in the reserved parking space as she had done ever since she came here from Coast City, the doctor got out and headed toward the large doors, which were the main entrance to the large building. Approaching the scene, Caitlin saw two people with badges talking and a strange figure, which was on its knees on the ground examining something. She tried to make it out from afar, it seemed to be a man, but she could not be sure, so she went over to where the three people were discussing. She wanted to see more, but the scene was cordoned off with yellow tape and the police officers would not let her enter. "Good morning, Dr. Snow" a voice came from within the multitude of cops, being partly hidden by the two people that had badges on their belts. She concluded in her mind that they were detectives that came to investigate. "Good morning, Dr. Wells" she responded "What happened here? Why are the police at the lab so early in the morning?" "We have had a break in last night. Someone managed to make off with the nanite power cell we were developing, the prototype of which was to be unveiled this week, after the particle accelerator opening. We have yet to determine if there was something else stolen, but I have Mr. Ramon on that as we speak, he is going through the inventory bit by bit, to determine if there is something else missing from that floor" he responded. "Mr. Ramon and I have been here since early this morning when I discovered the break in. For some reason our alarm system was disabled" "Dr. Wells, why haven''t you called me? I could have come and helped" she said with a bit of Ire in her voice. "There was no need. We started immediately to account for anything that might have disappeared. The police was on the scene a few minutes later cutting off any outside interference so that the crime scene would be preserved for collection of evidence" He said quite calmly "Even now, the only way you`re getting in there is by wearing protective gear so that you don''t contaminate the crime scene, which seems obvious, if we actually want to find anything useful" "But still¡­" she wanted to say something, but wells cut her off. "Enough about that, I made a judgement call so we can get this moving along as fast as we can. I do not want their investigation to hinder the opening of the particle accelerator. This is still a think tank and the things we develop here are highly sophisticated and in some cases very dangerous. Let''s be thankful they didn''t come with a military detachment, two SWAT teams, the bomb squad, the firefighters and state troopers. If that would have happened and the CCPD would have treated this as an attack and not just a simple robbery, then we would have had no chance of starting the accelerator today" He voiced. Somehow, Caitlin detected something in his voice, as if he was happy that this hadn''t turned into a large shit show. He had planned this opening for a long time and having this happen right now would have been a real problem. In her mind she noted that Wells was acting strange, even more so than usual. The two detectives approached slowly "Gentlemen, this is Dr. Caitlin Snow. She is one of my employees here at STAR labs. Her main field of expertise is bio engineering, she has also done molecular biology, genetics and hematology" "Detective Joe West" the taller black man spoke "and this is my partner Eddie Thawne" motioning toward the other man. "Glad to meet the both of you" she replied gracefully "Do you know exactly what happened here?" "We have an idea, last night one, maybe two suspects broke in the front doors and headed toward one of the labs "Joe stated bluntly "Are you sure? Those doors are reinforced Titanium allow. They are at this point made from the strongest material found on this earth" she looked at the doors being split wide open as if they had been crushed "The sheer force it would require to break them is ¡­ impossible" she continues looking in disbelief at the pile of mangled steel and girders that were once the bunker doors at the main entrance. "That is not something that we have an answer to at this time" Joe responded truthfully looking at his partner. "Well, we do have something at least" The figure that was on the ground on its knees, and from what she had managed to see was searching the area for evidence, stood up and turned back toward the group, exiting the cordoned off area "I found these tire tracks. 12-inch base with an asymmetrical tread. The only car that has that exact tire is a Shelby GT 500. The super wide tire is made specifically to transfer the power to the ground while offering the maximum amount of traction. I have yet to determine if the man that broke through those" he pointed at the doors "is the one that had the car, or if he just did his job and his partner was waiting for him, but that will be ?ssessed in time" He continued. Caitlin found herself trapped in the man''s green gaze. It was like somehow she had been paralyzed. She could not take his eyes of him, the goofy smile and the weird frizzy hair, which looked unkempt, but in reality was nothing of the sort. She kept her eyes peeled on the way he studied the crime scene and took pictures and sketches. The attention to every minute detail he scribbled and sketched was astonishing even for her. Being a scientist, attention to detail was nothing she was a stranger to, but nothing to this degree. On the other side of this strange exchange, Barry found himself attentively examining the delicate features of the woman in front of him. Something he hadn''t done since the time he used to dream about Iris. "I''m sorry; I guess we haven''t been introduced. I''m Barry, Allen" he said extending a hand out to her and to Dr. Wells. They both shook it sternly. Caitlin made a confused face. The name triggered a memory of her helping a boy off the ground when she was younger. Someone she saw once after that when she was out shopping with her mother before moving back from Central City to Coast City after her father died. She thought about asking but decided she would look a bit weird doing that to a person that she had just met so she let it go. "Harrison Wells" the man presented himself "I`m a big fan of your work, Dr. Wells" Barry added with a large smile "Caitlin Snow" the beautiful woman responded, a cold but courteous tone in her voice. Barry seemed to remember someone with that name from a very long time ago, but the image was wildly different, the girl he met back then had short hair, braces and large glasses. He decided to let it go for now. The woman in front of him looked nothing like the girl he remembered helping him off the sidewalk after some bullies had beaten him. "He''s the CSI responsible for collecting evidence in this case" Joe added "So what do you have, Barry?" "Beside what I have already got from the ground, the thieves used some sort of directed concussive thermite like device on the door" he pointed at the scoring on the doors. "See here?" He asked "the metal looks like it has been baked, it''s so brittle that you can break it off with your hand" he took off a piece of the blown off door crumpling it like a piece of paper. "Mr. Allen, you do realize that the melting point of the alloy we use here is around¡­" Caitlin interjected but the man she was addressing cut her off. "3500 degrees, yes I know. That is the standard melting point of the titanium iridium compressed alloy used in these doors, but it does not seem that all of it was melted¡­ the part that''s brittle looks like the cohesiveness of the atomic bonds of the material was altered giving it the brittle aspect. That is a suspicion however because I do not know something that would produce such an effect" he finished her sentence "How do you know what kind of alloy is this? We''ve never made the formula public" Caitlin looked genuinely surprised "Oh. That''s easy, I knew it was some sort of titanium composite, but when I saw the piece I picked up was way heavier than it should be and then I realized it had to be something else in the alloy. The second densest element I know is Iridium, which is also used to further increase durability and strength of other materials when put in an alloy. The striations in the material clearly indicate it was compressed and layered to obtain the maximum amount of resistance. Put all that together and you can get the melting point out quite easily" Barry cheerfully explained his findings. Caitlin was positively stunned. A simple CSI managed to find the components and the fabrication process of their strongest alloy in the span of a couple of minutes, by simply relying on his observation skills and knowledge of chemistry "Something tells me there''s more to this guy than meets the eye. He''s extremely smart to be able to come up with such a detailed analysis in such a short time, starting from a very small amount of data" She told herself, a faint smile dawning on her face. "I do hope you will keep that to yourself, Mr. Allen" Dr. Wells interjected "The patent is still in the works and we do not want someone else to steal our technology or our fabrication methods" "Not a problem, I was just stating what I found for the team, your secret composite and its fabrication cycle are safe with me" Barry responded. "So you`re saying this explosive was custom made?" Joe looked at him strangely "Yes Joe. The components required would be very hard to find, some of them can only be found in two places in the city. However, as I have stated before, I do not know what would cause the disruption of the atomic bonds. In addition, I would postulate that the person that made the explosive already knew the composition of the doors. Without that information, the device that was used could have simply fizzled and the heat that it put off could simply not have damaged the door at all" He handed Joe a notebook page with the elements he thought might be in the bomb''s make up. Caitlin took a glance at the page and she was surprised again. Barry had successfully written down all the combinations she could think of when creating something with that punching power, which were not few. She saw the places jotted down near the elements. STAR Labs, Mercury Labs, plus a few other companies that had headquarters in other cities and at the bottom of the page there was a note that had been circled "Inside job?" Caitlin found herself repeating those same words aloud. "You mean ¡­ this could be an inside job?" she stated rather distraught by the green gaze of the CSI in front of her. "Well it would make sense" Joe responded with his eyes on the paper "According to our CSI here, most of the chemicals can either be found here or at Mercury, if we limit ourselves to materials that are local. However, we will expand our investigation to the other sites that Barry has jotted down, at least find out if they have some components missing" "This could be a problem," Harrison Wells interjected in the conversation "We need to keep this under wraps and double the security here at the labs. We need to make sure that the particle accelerator goes online without trouble" He thought to himself for a while then continued "Dr. Snow, as of now, you are our liaison with the CCPD. Give the detectives and Mr. Allen all the support you can. Until further notice, consider this a matter of extreme urgency" "But Dr. Wells, I was to be here at the opening of the accelerator tonight" She responded with a bit of disappointment in her voice "Caitlin, if we don''t manage to find the thieves and since they breached our security once already, the accelerator might be attacked or worse. We need to make sure whoever did this is behind bars or at least identify them so they cannot be anywhere near STAR when we get the particle accelerator online. Having a security breach with an experiment so delicate in the works is not something that I find acceptable" Wells cut her off with a grave voice. "I understand. I will try to provide as much help as I can. I hope that we can find out more when Mr. Allen sweeps the inside of the labs" Caitlin retorted realizing the danger the grand opening was in. While thinking about the probability of things going wrong, she could not manage to keep her eyes off the young CSI that seemed to be way smarter than he was letting on "What the hell are you doing, Caitlin?" She asked herself. She was a bit annoyed at the fact that because of this event she might miss the event that she had been preparing to be a part of ever since she came to STAR and of which she was a big part in helping build. The entire situation was a bit of a letdown for our dear doctor, at the realization that she might have to miss everything. However, her own feelings didn''t matter, if that same event wouldn''t happen or was met with something catastrophic because of an outside intrusion. Putting her feelings aside she decided to help o the best of her abilities, even if she wasn''t to be there, at least Ronnie would be, so he could see his dream come to fruition along with the other slew of people that worked on the grand opening. While she was talking to Dr. Wells, Barry Allen scoured the crime scene for other clues, but for some reason his gaze kept going back to the beautiful ?h?stnut brown haired woman like she was magnetic. Her long locks framed her delicate features beautifully. The black pencil skirt showed off her slender legs and the dark blue coat she was wearing contrasted with her skin tone in a way he could have never thought possible. However, he looked and searched for evidence, his eyes kept going back to her. He almost missed a black chip of paint that was straying in one of the tire treads. He admonished himself "Barry Allen, don''t screw this up because you aren''t looking for evidence, but instead you`re looking at her". Her demeanor and way of talking was cold and professional, but that would be the case for a scientist, or for a person who has had a lot of disappointment in her life. He knew this well. For the time he had been fawning over Iris, some of his friends did indeed tell him that he began to get colder. Maybe that was the case for her as well; however, he rather guessed that this would probably be the only time when he would be working with her, unless STAR was hit again. Strangely enough, thinking about it, he had a shadow of a wish in his mind that the labs get pilfered a few more times, just so he could get to know the beautiful doctor better. He smiled, but it was forced. His ethics of work prevented him from actually wanting that, what he had thought right about now would be something that would have never even been an issue in his mind earlier on. The idea that more crimes should happen just so he could see her was nothing more of a joke, yet he thought about it with absolute seriousness. It was a strange occurrence to him. He had worked most of his ?du?t life to put people in prison and keeping stuff like this from happening and yet, here he was, wishing, quite seriously, that the Labs would get robbed again, just so he could see the beautiful woman and get a chance to work with her again. He admonished himself for even thinking something like that, although that idea stayed firm in his mind, somewhere in the deepest recesses like an itch that needed to be scratched and he could not do it. He didn''t want this to be the first and last time he had contact with the woman in front of him. His outside search yielded nothing more and when he stood up he caught her looking at him intently and flashed her a gleeful smile. "I''ll be taking Mr. Allen the whole way to the lab that was broken into. Maybe there is more evidence somewhere" Caitlin told the group as she was preparing to go inside, trying to avoid as best she could the debris from the door. The two made sure to have protective gear so that they do not contaminate the scene. Barry usually would do that himself, but the building was so large that he welcomed the help. "And we will start to track down the chemicals Barry gave us to see if we can come up with a lead" Joe added to that statement before him and Eddie started to walk back to the car. "So Mr. Allen, did you find anything else out here?" Caitlin addressed the CSI what was black lighting the floor in search for minute traces of blood. "Call me Barry, Mr. Allen ¡­ yeah ... that''s my dad" he smirked "All right, then you can call me Caitlin" she replied before he had a chance to continue "I haven''t really found anything else that might lead to our thieves. Can you walk me back to the lab that was broken into? I need to check along the way for material evidence. I hope that our thieves were not as careful as they seemed" the CSI asked her politely. "My sentiments exactly. Come on" Caitlin motioned for Barry to follow her. The man did so without even thinking twice, it was as if her demeanor was almost commanding enough to tell him to do what she asked. The large halls that lead to different sections of the laboratory seemed to have been designed with containment in mind, Barry thought at first glance. All of them had blast doors at either end, some of them even having decontamination areas, which were required before entering the next section. He noticed the bands on the floor could light up if needed. "Must be for new people, this building is huge, wouldn''t be a surprise if people can actually get lost in here" he thought to himself. The large windows that were on the side were letting the light go through, but Barry noticed that the color spectrum was a bit shifted. He attributed that to the fact that the glass could be either tinted or have filters in order to make the environment friendlier. He couldn''t find at this point another reason for that to happen. "How many days do you keep security footage before deleting it, Caitlin?" Barry asked while they were walking. He had an idea that might help him not spend the next two weeks combing every nook and cranny of the almost 150-meter corridor that lead to the lab that was broken into with every kind of light that he could think of. While they were walking, his mind was taking in the grandeur of the labs. The building looked huge form outside, but from the inside, the view was largely different, there were corridors and labs on either side, coupled with security doors to some areas and security checkpoints in others. "We don''t delete security footage here, Barry. All the video from the opening of STAR Labs was digitized and left in the master computer, which means we can access even stuff that is a few years old whenever we want" Caitlin replied with a small smile on her face. That action in itself was weird to her. She never smiled to anyone, fact that Cisco, her best friend at the time had noticed and was constantly annoying her about. "How the hell does your master computer has that much storage to keep all the video from the last 3 years alone with all the high tech cameras around?" Barry looked stupefied at her reply "We just do, maybe Cisco can tell you about that when and if you get the clearance for it" the doctor replied "Who''s Cisco?" Barry asked shortly thereafter "That would be me, Francisco Ramon, mechanical engineering genius, sometimes master hacker and all around nice guy" Barry saw a figure coming toward them "Call me Cisco, if I hear Francisco out of you, I''m going to disintegrate you" Cisco Ramon was shorter than Barry was, with long wavy hair to his shoulders and a large smile that seemed to brighten up the space they were in when he entered it. The impression Barry had was of immediate comfort with him in the room, also he noticed Caitlin relaxed even though they were investigating a robbery. He concluded by his observations that the two must have been good friends. "Hi, I''m Barry Allen. Just call me Barry. Can you pull up the security footage of the lab for last night?" "Yeah, sure man, what time frame and which footage?" the joyful man asked immediately. "From 2 AM to 4 AM. Everything that you can give me from the corridor that leaves this lab all the way to the entrance" The CSI voiced. In a normal case, those times would, in almost all cases, yield nothing; the city was almost inert between 12 and 3 AM, so anything would be simply not there. He hoped this would not be the case here, since Caitlin told him that they do not delete security footage. Nonetheless, Barry was prepared in case nothing showed up, seeing it in many other instances. Cisco started to pull up the requested footage on his tablet while Barry started his analysis of the lab. Everything was surprisingly tidy. Nothing else had been touched except the containment unit where the power cell had been kept. The containment unit itself had no burn marks, no scorching, no sign of damage and it looked like it was actually opened with the appropriate code. This smelled more and more of an inside job as the evidence suggested. "Hey Barry, could you come over here for a minute?" Caitlin chimed into the conversation "Yeah, what''s up?" he walked toward her casually "I''m pretty sure these chemicals have no place in this lab" she pointed to three flasks of different colors that were on the second table in the room very near to the empty storage device. As he looked to the glass containers, he saw something falling from the neck of the flask into the liquid inside as Caitlin picked it up. It was a trap. He recognized the small piece of material in the clear ball that was about to make contact with the water. It was sodium, quite a big piece for a small flask. "Trap. Watch out!" He yelled as he took the flask out of Caitlin''s hand and threw it outside the lab into the corridor where it would be nowhere near any sort of chemicals that could produce a larger explosion. Without thinking, he grabbed Caitlin and shielded her with his body putting his hands around her. After a few seconds a large thud could be hear and the door to the lab was full with small glass shards. "What the hell just happened?!" Cisco yelled covering himself with his tablet "It was a trap, left by whoever robbed this place" he stated coldly "Water with sodium. It produces a small explosion not really harmful, but those glass shards ¡­" "Could have done enough damage. Thanks, Barry" Caitlin continued his sentence, feeling a bit uncomfortable with him covering her, but not saying anything because she realized that he only wanted to protect her. She got out of his embrace and went to examine the other flasks that were on the table "This trap was well designed" She took the second flask and saw that it was pressurized with a clear white powder in it with yellow bevels. "This is phosphorous. If that flask would have exploded and had broken the seal on this one while providing the heat of an explosion ¡­" "It would have magnified it enough to create an event that would probably have killed whoever is in this room. And you are welcome, Caitlin" Barry continued. "Very good, Barry. I see you know your chemistry" She smiled at him, which hid a little bit of admiration. "There must be some sort of evidence in this room. That trap was designed to burn this room, thus cleaning it of any sort of traces left behind. Also providing enough genetic material from the people that were close enough to the blast to make finding other samples of DNA completely pointless" Barry voiced his thoughts without thinking. He took out his black light and started scanning every little flask every little corner of the room. Caitlin watched him do his work, the meticulousness and the borderline amazing attention to detail was something she was starting to like in the young CSI. For some people going over evidence was ¡­ boring, and they would finish excessively fast not really finding anything, but that was definitely not his way of doing things. "Eureka" Barry smiled, making Caitlin chuckle. He was holding a flask in his hand that has a bright blue spot on the side, probably not visible under normal light. He started to swab it and put it in an evidence envelope as he put it in his back Cisco called out to them "Hey, I got that footage you wanted" showing him the tablet. They went outside and started watching the security videos. One man appeared on the footage that obviously knew his way around the lab. After the door was destroyed they went straight to the lab containing the power cell and opened it with the code for the day. "Caitlin, Cisco, who has that code on a normal day at STAR?" Barry asked "The code is changed daily at 8 AM right before the employees come back to work" Cisco started to explain "In order for them to get the new code they have to go the back of the lab and provide retinal and handprint ID. At that time the new code will be sent to their respective workstations and they are the only persons that can work with it for the day" Looking at the footage inside the lab they found out with stupor that nobody had worked in that lab the day before, therefore it was impossible to know the code since nobody else had actually used it. "So¡­" Barry shrugged and rubbed his head "Nobody was here yesterday. Who else receives or has access to these codes?" "Only four people. Me, Caitlin, Dr. Wells and our security chief, Martin Thatch" replied Cisco with a coldness about him. As they continued to watch, they could see the man broke a flask by accident while putting his hand to lean on one of the tables. That led to a wound on his hand, since the shards of glass were red. Calmly enough, he scooped them in his hand and put them in his pocket, with a coldness to him. That instantly led Barry to believe that the man was more than likely a professional thief or just he didn''t care. As he walked out from the room, he made a mistake while carrying the cell, which looked rather heavy, as it not was a reduced size model, but only a prototype. He had leaned against the wall for a split second with his hurt hand, trying to regain his balance while carrying the large object. "Cisco, can you pinpoint that exact section of the wall from the footage?" Barry asked pointing at the spot on the wall that was on the video "Yeah" he responded. As they walked back toward the entrance, Cisco was looking up to see the placement of the cameras as he stopped looking at a piece of wall "This is the section you want" Barry sprayed some chemical on the wall and started to scan with his black light revealing a half hazy handprint and 3 blue spots. "Wonderful, now I have blood samples and hopefully even sweat samples to analyze. As bad as this looks we might have caught a break guys" Barry threw the two a thousand watt smile. "Hey Barry, come take a look at this" Cisco waved him over. They could see on the tape that it had some sort of static on it for exactly 2 seconds when the man went in and when the man went out. "Does that happen often on your cameras?" the CSI asked "No, that''s the problem, it never happens. These cameras are state of the art and EM shielded. Maybe a nuclear explosion might manage to create an EMP strong enough for them to have this level of static" Cisco scratched his head. "What about military hardware? You do know there are EMP warheads that can produce the level of interference that a nuclear bomb can without actually having an atomic blast" Barry replied "Yes, I do know that, but we also have sensors that would have detected something of that size. Even if it was enough to completely shut down our system, the logs would be there and for last night, there was no such type of event" the engineer showed him the logs for the last day, which held nothing of the sort. "Yeah, besides, why would the military EMP the labs, that makes no sense whatsoever. At least not from my point of view" Barry stated thinking about a reason as to why that would happen, but coming up with nothing. "You know Barry, we can help you analyze those samples" Caitlin offered, somehow hoping in the back of her mind that she would see the CSI more around the lab "STAR labs has quite a comprehensive genetics department" "To which he has no access to, Caitlin" Cisco broke her line of thought "I would gladly take your offer. Sadly, if I don''t do the samples myself, then they will probably not be admitted in court, unless STAR has a contract with the NCPD I don''t know about" Barry added "Oh" Caitlin realized "Then I guess you should run them back at your lab" Somehow she sounded disappointed, Cisco noticed that immediately "Yes. Thank you for the help, I would ask you send me that footage, I''m guessing that''s classified as well" the CSI replied "You would guess right, most of the stuff here is not classified as it would be from the government, but it does fall into the fact that they are company secrets so ¡­ you understand. But if we can help you with anything that is not ¡­ we will gladly do so" Cisco acknowledged and gave Barry a smile "Actually, when I said I would ask, it didn''t mean like I would ask. You need to send me the footage anyway, even if I have to talk to Dr. Wells to give me clearance. Getting all the evidence could be key in seeing what actually happened" Barry smiled "Just trying to be polite" "Oh, that makes sense. Is there anything that might be considered as evidence which would might need?" Cisco jumped to help as best he could, fact that actually made Barry smile. "I need the records of the department in which this lab is. Inventory, who worked here, potential suspects that need interviewed. That should be all. Of course, since it is evidence in an active investigation there is no problem about security" Barry explained to the short engineer. "I''ll clear it with Dr. Wells and have those to you at the precinct as soon as I can pull them from the servers" the engineer replied immediately "All right, thank you for the help, can one of you call me a cab? I need to go back to the CCPD to process this evidence" "I can drive you" Caitlin offered, which was totally out of character for her, she enjoyed driving by herself and enjoying her time alone "I had no idea how time has flown, it''s almost noon. I need to go get lunch anyway" "I wouldn''t want to impose on you, Caitlin. I can always walk to the precinct, but since this is rather urgent a cab would be good" Barry started to excuse himself thinking he could get out of spending the 10 minutes that would have taken them to reach their destination with the beautiful woman alone in her car. He was an awkward kid when it came to discussions and other sort of socialization. He would be comfortable only with people who were his friends. "Its fine, Barry. Come on" as she started walking toward the parking lot. He followed her slowly, entrenched in thought, while scribbling stuff in his notebook, which grabbed Caitlin''s attention as she glanced back at him while she walked. Cisco just sat there looking at the two. Something told him he and Barry Allen would become great friends in the eventuality that he had to work with him again. They took the car and drove through the city in less than 30 minutes being in the parking lot next to CC Jitters. The two got out of her car. Caitlin was curious about what Barry had written in his notebook. Curious enough to do something she wouldn''t otherwise consider doing. Her demeanor was always cold and calculated and she wasn''t someone who would give into a temptation the likes of which Barry Allen was, except for now. "Barry, want to get some coffee? I have some things I want to ask you regarding this break in. If you aren''t too busy or in a hurry that is" She managed to speak, while locking the car. He was taken aback by the invitation and everything he thought at that moment told him to decline except ¡­ he didn''t, replying almost instantly "Sure, but I just managed to gather evidence. I don''t know if there''s that much to discuss. In addition, there is something I have to mention. You are part of the people that work there, that makes you either a witness or a suspect. Talking to you would be considered a gross breach of protocol. However, if you just invited me to coffee, I''m sure you won''t try to ask questions about the case? Right?" Barry gave her a smile and winked. She didn''t know it could be so much of an issue for him. "No, that is the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to take a nice guy that seemed to need a coffee out for one. Nothing about the case you`re working on" she played his game, because she wanted to know more and she knew that he had at least an idea of what was going on, but if anyone asked, this would have just been a simple coffee between friends. He was brilliant, from what she had initially seen, to not to be completely in the dark. At least she thought he was, an opinion based on just a few pieces of evidence could have always been misleading. CC Jitters was housed in a medium sized enclosure, with a large counter at one end, where people would come to order their coffee. On each side of the teller''s spot there were large glass cases with different sorts of sweets, from donuts to muffins and even slices of cake, the other side holding different types of sandwiches and pastry. The place in itself was large enough to house at least two dozen people with tables all around. Above the cashier and the counter that held the sweets there was a large sign that held the special for the day along with all the other types of products you would get there. The two sat down at a table in the back and ordered coffees. Barry picked that place for the simple reason that it could not be seen from the outside, that particular corner being shielded by a wall that had no windows. Caitlin ordered some food as well since she was on her lunch break while Barry pulled out his notebook. They started to talk in whispers, Caitlin making sure that if possible, they looked like two people enjoying coffee, not someone who would be talking about crimes. "So? What do you think about our break in?" the doctor asked him "It''s strange. This should totally be an inside job, if I consider the evidence that I found till now, but something tells me it''s not" Barry whispered "Why would you say that, it''s obvious that the security chief did it" Caitlin responded without flinching. "Only him, huh?" He smirked at her "Hey, I didn''t do it. I was working at the lab in a totally different wing yesterday, and I was all night at home ¡­ alone" She was kind of bitter about that because she should have spent the afternoon with her brother watching Netflix, but Ronnie decided to ditch her so he could help Dr. Wells with the particle accelerator trials. "That ... Doesn''t really provide you with an alibi, Dr. Snow" Barry stated. "Yeah, being alone doesn''t really provide me with an alibi, you`re right. Forget I mentioned anything" she agreed. "But to be fair, I doubt you or Cisco are the culprits" he completed as he gave her a wide smile "Why, Mr. Allen, how dare you judge a book by its cover? I could be some master criminal who just poses as a mild mannered doctor" she laughed "Not judging, I saw the look on your face when you came in this morning. You were worried. When Dr. Wells explained how urgent was for you to help me, you instantly agreed, despite the resistance of potentially having to miss the particle accelerator opening. I noticed a large hint of annoyance at that, considering this whole thing could lead you to miss the particle accelerator opening, yet you jumped on board wanting to make sure that it does happen, even at the cost of not being present. That in itself made it obvious to me that you put passion in your work and you would not let anyone jeopardize it" he continued "You are a professional by your demeanor, which furthermore lessens my suspicions. Someone with that degree of professional courtesy and who shows such passion for their work, could not turn to rob the place they are employed at. Nonetheless, I will follow the trail the evidence leads me down, whichever that might be and to whoever it might lead to, including you, the sweet, mild mannered, Dr. Snow" he chuckled Caitlin was left looking at him with her mouth open. In less than a few hours, the smartass CSI had managed to pin her right to everything he said. It was obvious he was a very good judge of character. Even though she did nothing to confirm or deny his claims, she did pick up on the fact that he had called her sweet, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. It was very uncharacteristic of her to react like this to anyone, she noted to herself that it had been quite a lot of time since someone managed to make her blush by giving her a compliment. "Cisco loves his job way too much to be the leak. He''s just like you. Less professional side, more playful, but still passionate about his work. So that leaves your security chief ¡­ or Dr. Wells" Barry finished "Dr. Wells?" Caitlin said surprised adjusting a strand of hair without realizing it "That''s not possible. He would not put STAR in peril. The particle accelerator is his life, why would he do such a thing when it would severely hamper his life''s work?" She asked surprised that Barry would even consider him. "Sometimes people do stupid things, for love ¡­ or for personal gain. You would be surprised how many people have a price in this world" Barry trailed off thinking about it "Why Barry Allen, I didn''t know you were a romantic also such a cynic" she laughed, a beautiful smile on her face, one which brought Barry out of his thoughts. "Oh I didn''t mean it like that, just that people do stupid things. So if you`re so sure about Dr. Wells, let''s go with your gut. What can you tell me about Martin Thatch?" He took a sip of his coffee and opened back his notebook "Not that much I''m afraid. We haven''t been that properly introduced. I know Dr. Wells trusts him and he''s very good at what he does, but he has only need here for the last two months. Our last security chief had an accident and died so we needed a replacement" she replied without thinking too much telling Barry that she had nothing to hide "Wait, two months ago you said? Did he die in a car accident while skidding off a cliff?" Barry asked. "Yes that''s the one" she said while eating the food the waiter had brought while they were talking. "I''m going to let you in on a little secret" Barry whispered coming closer to her something she felt completely comfortable about, strangely enough, considering that the time he tried to shield her she did not. She shrugged it off and listened "I was on that case, that crash was no accident. The police are keeping it concealed because we have a lead. The break lines were cut and he couldn''t stop. Not so much an accident as a planned sabotage which would inevitably lead to the man''s death" "Wait, are you serious?" She looked at him "yes, of course you`re serious, why would you not be " "Yes, just please keep that to yourself I would not rather be fired for giving away info on an ongoing case to someone that has no relation to the CCPD" Barry commented realizing he said a bit too much "Don''t worry, Mr. Allen. Your info is safe with me" She gave him an ?ssuring smile "That means those two cases might be related, is that what you`re telling me?" "I don''t have the whole picture, Caitlin, but I would appear like someone took out your former security chief to get Thatch into STAR labs. As to who that might be ¡­ I have no idea. Of course, like in any supposition the two cases being connected, it could simply be coincidence as well. I''m pretty much in the dark right now, which is why I need to go analyze this evidence" Barry replied nonchalantly. Caitlin seemed affected by what he had just said. It was dawning on her that this might have been indeed an inside job. Her thoughts started to show on her face as Barry noticed this. "Hey, Caitlin. Don''t worry. Me, Joe and Eddie will find out what happened. We''ll get that power cell back and make sure nothing happens to the grand opening of the accelerator" He ?ssured her with a smile "I hope you`re right" said Caitlin finishing her food and her drink "He seems pretty sure that he can help, and I think he can or won''t stop trying until he does" she thought to herself. Barry finished his coffee as well as they were chatting and as they were getting up to leave he asked for the tab. Without any of them realizing he paid for everything and they left Jitters continuing to talk about the case, until they reached her car. "All right, this is it. Thanks for the ride, Caitlin, I''m going to be legging it from here to the station. I need the downtime to think" Barry spoke. "Are you sure?" she asked "It`s no trouble at all for me to take you to the station then double back to go to STAR" "Yes, that''s perfectly fine. I need to get in and start the genetics work on these samples. With a bit of luck, we''ll know who got your power cell by the end of the day "and he threw her one of those winning smiles, like nothing had been going wrong "All right. In case you need a second opinion, here is my number. You know where to find me" the scientist replied getting into her car while Barry took out his kit from the back. "Thank you, if I have any questions I''ll call, I''m just a CSI, not a specialist in genetics and molecular biology like someone I know" The CSI gave her a smirk "No, just a really cute intelligent smartass" she mumbled "What was that?" Barry asked "I couldn''t make out the last sentence there" "Nothing. Good day, Barry. I need to get back to STAR for the particle accelerator opening tonight. Have a good day" she replied smiling at him "Same to you Caitlin. Good luck on that, I wanted to come and see it, but it seems that I will be quite busy" he retorted Barry left the parking lot and started to move faster toward the station. Something was stirring in his brain that he just couldn''t put his finger on. Something was not adding up, but what stood out of the few things was the way the theft was conducted, almost no evidence inside and the messy door explosion. "Why make such a mess when it''s clear they had inside help from someone. Why make it such a public and noticeable event by blowing down the door, rather than just sneak in grab it and leave?" he asked himself while he walked. Something was off. Another thing that he actually was surprised about was how Caitlin acted toward him, he was so tired to deal with Doctors, some of them that he had met during his work would be some of the worst high and mighty ?ssholes that he had ever had the displeasure of meeting. It was they were like above him and acted like it simply because of their education. With her, it was different and that made him like her even more. He reached the station and got up to the lab starting to disconnect from the world through work, putting everything in test tubes. Prepared solutions for the DNA test and while the genetic sequencer was running, he decided to review the evidence from the theft. After a while, the DNA sequencer blurted out results, which took him for a ride. Also his normal analysis of the cells in the blood under a microscope brought out something really interesting they had empty parts to them, almost like there were supposed to be something in them at that point but there wasn''t. "What the hell is this?" he jumped when he saw something, which completely left him stunned. There were irregularities in the genetic sequence, kind of like it had been modified from a normal human to something unrecognizable. The modifications looked random and not engineered, but the sequence was still something that started immediately to puzzle him. He decided to run a carbon dating on the cells just to be able to know more precisely when they were split, being thankful the new carbon dating worked on stuff less than 500 years, but what he saw was ¡­ impossible. Barry picked up the phone and dialed the number that Caitlin gave him. A sweet voice answered. "Yes? Who is this?" "Hey, Caitlin, it''s Barry. Can you ¡­ come down to the precinct, I have something that will blow your mind" he looked at the display of the carbon dating which read "¨C 8". "Barry, can we leave this for another time, the particle accelerator is about to be activated. I really need to be here for this after all the work me and my brother have put into this" she responded "Trust me. This is something you definitely want to see. The evidence is ¡­ useless considering what I found" the answer came to strengthen what he had said. "Wait, what did you say? The evidence is useless? Did you mess up, Barry Allen?" she replied coyly. "Caitlin, if I messed up then this must be the most sequential mistake ever. I ran the tests 3 times and they yielded the same results" He said with urgency in his voice. "All right. This better be good or else I''m going to be really mad for missing the particle accelerator opening" She spoke "It''s safe to say this has never happened ¡­ anywhere in the world in the world of forensics ¡­ until now" The voice coming out of his mouth had a much graver tone than he thought. "All right, I''m going to talk to Dr. Wells, then I''ll be on my way" she replied then ended the call. After talking to Dr. Wells and explaining the urgency of her being at the station because Barry might have found something very important, he reluctantly decided to let her go and called Ronnie in, which had the day off, to ?ssist as she got in her car and drove to the precinct. "What could he have found that was so important?" She asked herself remembering his voice and how panicked it sounded. He did say the evidence found was useless, "could he have botched the samples? " No, that couldn''t be it, he seemed to be very good at what he does. Caitlin had no idea what he could have found. In the meantime, she reached the precinct with lingering thoughts and being anxious to see what Barry might have found that was so important to drag her from the opening of the Particle Accelerator. Seeing Joe inside, she went straight to him "Hello, Detective West" "Hello, Dr. Snow, what brings you here?" the detective greeted her "Can you tell me how to get to Barry''s lab? He called me and said there is something bioengineering related he would like my opinion on" she lied, but if the news was so bad as Barry told her, it would have been best to not raise many questions from the detectives. "Sure, go up those stairs; make a right then another right, then a left. You should be in a hallway with the lab door on the left" he explained "Thank you" She went up the stairs and followed the instructions to reach a large sliding metal door that was open. It was a large lab, full of shelves of chemicals on either side, large windows and a large sky light. Everything was pretty much in order as Caitlin found Barry at his workbench preparing samples of DNA. "Hey, Barry" She spoke softly "Hey, Caitlin. I have something here you won''t believe. Tell me, what you know about carbon dating?" the man asked her a simple question "It''s supposed to be able to determine the age of something? And considering it measures the life of carbon isotopes since their inception the number of that said analysis cannot be negative" she replied being quite sure of her words. "Are you sure it cannot be negative?" Barry asked her seriously "Yes I''m sure, it measured the time carbon atoms since they have been created to the time they are in the cell or item that you are dating" she replied with conviction "Then tell me, why does this read -8?" Barry asked with a panicked face. She froze at the number that was on the display of the machine. She couldn''t believe what she was reading, in the event of a total blunder the lowest number that it could yield was 0, meaning the sample was unstable, bad or contaminated. A negative number was indeed something that should have not shown up under any circumstances. "Barry, how ¡­ what ¡­" Caitlin could b?r?ly talk looking at the result "How many times did you run the test on those cells?" "Three" he answered "I can prepare more material but with the evidence we have it can only be for 3 more slides. You are welcome to try it yourself, if you think I screwed up" "I think I will. No offense to your CSI skills, but this is ¡­ impossible" the doctor replied putting her bag on a table and getting out of the coat she was wearing. She put on some gloves and went to work. "None taken, this is something I haven''t seen before in my life. That is the reason I called you, if you find the same thing that means I''m not crazy" he sat down in a chair waiting for the completion of her analysis. "Well, there is folie ¨¤ deux, you know" She gave him a faint smile and started doing her own analysis. After a few more rounds of tests and confirming the validity of Barry''s dating she sat down looking completely baffled at the tests that ¡­ somehow had a negative number for a result. "This is impossible, do you know what this means ¡­ means that these cells are ¡­" and before she had a chance to finish her sentence, he completed it "¡­ from the future" They were both looking at one another with disbelief in their eyes, when she checked his clock. It was 40 minutes past the time the particle accelerator activation and nothing had happened, no singularity, no earthquakes, nothing that those people in the scientific community thought that might happen. However, her thoughts were interrupted by a flash of light appeared as she turned her head and saw a massive column of energy go straight up into the sky from inside the particle accelerator at STAR. Barry''s lab had a direct view of the building. She felt a push and went straight into Barry who was trying to close the skylight. He saw the bright light of the particle accelerator exploding and all of a sudden all the chemicals in the lab started flowing up Like there was no gravity or maybe a magnetic field strong enough that it was bending gravity locally. He rushed to close the sky light as the pouring rain menaced to come through into the lab. She noted that the rain started coming down almost instantly, something that led her to think that the explosion was affecting weather as well. He was looking up trying to drag the chain that closed the metal shutters on the skylight and then the corner of his eye caught a flash of red lightning pushing Caitlin into him. The young CSI felt the burning pain of electrocution go through him, like fire was going through his veins, but not in just a second, the moment he was struck seemed like an hour with all the heat and the energy that was going through him. He noted to himself through all the pain that it seemed like the world was standing still, or maybe he was dying. He didn''t know, he just wanted it to be over and done with. The lightning had struck both of them as they touched, Caitlin being pushed into Barry, by the unknown lightning trail. She tried to stabilize herself as she lost her footing, her hand grabbed the first thing that it could hang on to. His hand, the hand that was on the chain of the skylight shutters. They both flew in different directions, onto different shelves. The lab was a mess, chemicals were everywhere, some of them floated into the air for a small period of time before crashing down onto the floor, as a small flash of orange lightning could be seen coursing through Barry''s skin. On the other side of the lab, Caitlin Snow was inert on the floor of the indoor freezer that the lab had for handling dangerous chemicals that needed cold instead of normal storage conditions. On her skin there was a streak of lightning that was coursing through her, much like Barry, instead her lightning was blue and as it travelled up her face the chemicals around it instantly froze or created small clouds of fog that were going off her body. Chapter 76 - DCTV Fan-fiction 6 - Another Earth to call my own Plot: When Kara first meets Barry, she fall for him head over heels, but there is a problem, the man she wants is on track to be married. Can she get over him? Or maybe some other surprise lingers around the corner Pairing: Barry x Kara NOTE: Same author as ''Bound By Love''. Should read that novel up to at least chapter 46 to continue to this novel. But for those who don''t want to it is basically an older version of Barry who had lost everything and everyone in his timeline that he goes back in time and finds a new home in Earth-38. Flying with Kara through the sky, Barry realized that this Earth would be his home from now on, leaving behind the one that he created in the hopes that he will once again meet the woman he loves, but he had literally nothing. His face kind of drooped a bit, his look being picked up by her "What''s wrong? You seem a bit sad. A bit of a contrasting look from when we met" she asked him "I just realized that I don''t have anything in this universe. No job, no money, no place to stay, no clothes and, the worst of all, no food. I should have at least asked those two for something that I can trade for some currency, but I was way too out of it and happy to come here to actually think" He answered surprising her completely. "It''s fine. I can have Winn hack you some CSI credentials to work at the NCPD, you can stay at my place, with your super healing even if the couch is not that good, at least it''s not the underside of National City Bridge, as for clothes and food ¡­ I can help you with that. I have more than enough money" Kara explained to the speedster. "Well then, color me corrected. I guess I do have everything I need then" Barry smiled back at Kara with one of his goofy grins. She could see the Barry before her was different, he was still the same old speedster, even if a bit older, but the eyes, those were not the same. "Did you seriously forget I''m here? So all you need is money, a place to stay and food" she pouted and gave him a puppy dog eyes look. "Oh, but I didn''t. I did say I don''t have anything. You are not a thing. Of course that''s what I need, Kara. That''s what all of us need, at least from a physical stand point. From a mental one ¡­ well that''s something entirely different" Barry smiled making her realize that he was referring to material things, not persons. They flew back to her apartment and Barry sat on the sofa. "Stay here. I''m going to get you some clothes and something to chow on" she smiled as she prepared to speed away Barry stopped her. "Hey, how about you just give me some money and point me in the right direction to get clothes and I''ll run to your favorite donut shop and grab us some donuts as well. You have been flying back here with me and even with how strong I know you are, I''m pretty sure you`re famished" He smiled back knowing that it would only take him a minute at the most to be back "All right. I know you`re fast. You can go then. The clothes shop and food is that away" she handed him her wallet and pointed him into the direction of the city''s commercial district. In less than a minute he was back. She had changed from her Supergirl outfit to a normal pair of blue faded jeans and a white turtleneck, dawning her usual glasses. He got for himself a Supergirl T shirt and a pair of shorts for the house and black denim jeans, a white shirt and a blazer for outside. "Aw man, no Flash T-Shirts on this earth? That kind of sucks. Although to be fair I don''t mind wearing the coat of arms which belongs to house of El" He quipped putting 8 boxes of donuts on the counter in her apartment and took a seat on the couch "You said you were another Barry. So ¡­ how do you know about the house of El? I don''t remember mentioning anything of the sort to the other one. While he did know who my mother was, my house remained obscured to him in his flashes" she asked. "You told me. In my own timeline. It happened there too. I jumped by accident to this earth, but I was alone. Caitlin did not receive any sort of powers. I helped you put away Silver Banshee and Livewire and while my tachyon device recharged ¡­ we spend a few days together, in which we exchanged some stories, I told you how I became the flash, the particle accelerator explosion and the likes and you told me the complete story about how you came to earth, who your mother was, who your father was and so on" He explained "This is a bit confusing even for a naturally intelligent Kryptonian. I need to get used to this multiple timeline, what happened and what didn''t, thing. I suspect as you continue to tell me what has happened this confusion will appear quite often if I don''t clear it up now" Kara answered sitting next to him on the couch and putting 2 boxes of donuts in front of them. "Before ¡­ what happened, my timeline was a bit different from the one that is now. Caitlin didn''t have powers, as I have stated earlier. I was the only one that the lightning struck and that had been in a coma for 9 months. Following that time, I became The Flash" he continued "Oh, so you were alone. The accidental breach happened here too, but it was him and Caitlin this time. They both had speed powers and she had ice powers as well. Those were really cool" she smiled stuffing a donut in her mouth. "That was ¡­ because of me" He sighed "I came back in time after everything that happened, almost six months before, manipulated some events to get Caitlin in the lab the night the lightning struck and then pushed her into it along with Barry. That way, I knew she could get powers and maybe this version of Caitlin would have had a better life than mine" he said sighing yet again. "Things must have been really bad to force you to come back and make a judgement call, weren''t they? I mean you didn''t know what would happen, they might have both died, right?" she asked him seeing the shadow in his eyes "I think calling the things that happened to me really bad is ¡­ well a gross understatement. As I know time travel is not an exact science. She could have never chosen to go to Barry before the lightning. He could have chosen to go to her which means they both would have never gotten powers and maybe their life would have been completely normal or maybe instead the Reverse Flash would have killed them both, because he could have not returned home without the Flash''s help. Possibilities are endless. When I came back, I hoped that I would disappear. Just like any other remnant of a timeline that had been erased from existence. After a while of being alone, the hope turned to d?s?r?, I wanted to disappear. Cait was dead and the only other person I loved sent me back to try to fix everything that had happened, knowing full well that she will never see me again if I succeed" he said that with a tear in his eye. His eyes were again cloudy and dark, something akin to a storm was brewing in them, like something was about to come out at any time. "All I can say right now is that I am very thankful to Rao that you didn''t disappear, you`re here. With me" she smiled. "Back then I did wish I had disappeared. Not anymore. I''m actually thankful for being here right now, to whoever is up there watching and to those two that thought it would be a good idea to send me to your world" he gave her a grin and she could see hope in his eyes. Hope that had appeared taking place of the storm that was there before and it happened after she smiled at him "It''s going to be really interesting when Alex comes home. She has met the other me and knows he has a girlfriend, well now he has a wife, but you get the point. Seeing me here might become¡­ really awkward" "Oh. Damn. I forgot about that. I''m pretty sure that she would not be happy about the whole thing, since probably the first thought that would be in her head is that you somehow ran away from your wife to be with me. That is going to be ¡­ bad. How fast can you run?" she cracked one of her beautiful smiles "Mach 102, give or take, if I don''t push myself. Fastest I''ve run was that time when I managed to circle the globe in 5 minutes and change. That would make it about Mach 500 or somewhere around that. I think I''ll be safe. There hasn''t been any human on any earth that has managed to even see me clearly when I push myself to go to that speed" Kara''s face dropped instantly at the answer he gave her. "Excuse me, how much? The Barry I knew could run pretty fast, but nowhere nearly as fast as you" she said with her eyes still wide "Of course he didn''t. He''s still young. I had pain, hatred, love and conviction to help me run faster. With the speed I have and by using it in various creative ways, I have learned a lot of new tricks over the years. Like this for example" he vibrated his hand and with a few swift motions all the donuts were cut in quarters "You know it''s not befitting of a beautiful young lady to stuff her face with donuts, right?" he grinned "Shut up!" she feigned indignation, but her voice showed him it was anything but. Her face also showed him that she enjoyed being called a beautiful lady "That was amazing. How did you do it?" "I had a lot of time to study. Here''s a fun fact that only a few people know besides myself. My mind moves faster than my legs or my body. Back when my back was broken, for two months all I did was read. When you can read Harry Potter in 10 seconds flat and be able to remember every page with photographic accuracy, you can imagine the sheer volume of information I needed to read to keep myself busy. Thank god most books are digital today, I don''t think STAR Labs would have enough storage space to keep the library that I read during the time I was paralyzed from the waist down" he replied taking another piece of donut and eating it. Kara was genuinely impressed. "So, what did you study?" she asked "First, hacking since I couldn''t move but I was surrounded by computers. It took me a while, but I made my enemy''s life quite hard. I can probably overtake Winn now in hacking skills, simply because I can think and react faster. At normal speeds I still think he is better, but without being able to compare I cannot be sure that statement is correct" the Flash responded. "I don''t believe you. Winn is the best hacker this side of the planet. I would have to see it to believe it" Kara was simply baffled. "Want to take a trip with me to the Supergirl Cave so I can show you?" he then realized what he said "That somehow sounded completely wrong and nowhere near what I wanted to say" Kara looked at his face and started to laugh. "Why Flash, some other woman might think that you were trying to get into her pants with that line" She looked at him and smirked b?r?ly holding back a laugh "As long as you never call it that again, sure, I''ll go with you. Who actually named it that and didn''t have the foresight to realize how it sounds?" she asked between laughs. "Actually, I''m pretty sure you will be surprised about the actual person since we''re talking about Winn. He named it that. Don''t completely blame him for it though, apparently none of us said anything about how weird it sounded, including that future version of you" Barry said with a grin. "I''ll make sure he doesn''t get the chance to do so. If I hear that name I''m going to veto it to Rao and back, because you are right, it does sound pretty wrong from where I''m standing. Shall we go then?" Kara stood up ready to change. "I can carry you if you want. At the rate of speed I run we''ll be there in less than a second. Unless the location has changed. Still 23rd floor?" she nodded, but stopped him "You know what happened last time you ran me anywhere. My clothes went up in smoke. I would not really want to buy another few sets of clothes because someone runs fast enough to burn mine off" she remembered that and thanked her lucky stars that she had her Supergirl costume on underneath. "That won''t happen anymore, or to be more accurate it hasn''t happened to me in a very long time. I have learned to control the Speed Force in my system. I can make the bubble around me larger to protect anyone I am carrying or holding so they don''t have ¡­ mishaps anymore, besides don''t you have the suit underneath anymore? It''s not like you would turn out n?k?d if the clothes burn" He cleared up the misunderstanding. "No. I don''t. Barry and Caitlin made me a new suit that goes into the pendant I have around my neck. So if my clothes burn then I would probably more than likely turn up n?k?d. Which is why I asked. Ok, let''s go then" Barry took her in his arms and flashed to the CatCo building, where her out of the DEO control center was. Kara even with her superior vision could not keep up with how fast Barry was moving. She blinked to clear her eyes and they were already there. "Wow, you really are fast, my enhanced vision could not even keep up with the rate of speed that you were putting out. The world seemed like a blur around me, for all of one second as I managed to process that we were actually moving" Kara commented as Barry sat down at one of the computers. She looked over at his hands, they were moving very fast but he had to slow down because the computer was reacting way slower than he was moving. The keyboard buffers and the processing power was something that put a complete dent in his speed and put a bit of an annoyed look on his face. "Ok, this place really needs an upgrade. I''ll do that later, sorry but at least at STAR I had computers that could keep up with me, these ones can''t. I actually need to slow down so they process what I''m doing" he smiled sheepishly "So, now you`re a tech wiz too?" Kara asked dumbfounded "In order to learn hacking I needed computers that were at least fast enough to keep up with my commands when I used them. So ¡­ I had to become a techie by default, or else I would be stuck waiting for the terminals to catch up with me which would more than likely render my speed practically useless. I can tell you this, it was not easy, I knew how to use computers and maybe code a bit before everything happened, but never actually cared enough to supe up my workstations for any reason" Barry told the blonde while continuing to write on the keyboard in front of him at a lower rate of speed "There we go" "What? Are you done already?" she asked. "Yep, I hacked into Coast City PD and inserted my name on a few cases as main CSI, then created myself credentials. All I need to do is put in the order for my transfer to the NCPD, which can be done almost instantly" he pointed to the screen. "Whoa" Kara was impressed. She had seen Winn hack multiple times into all sorts of databases, human or alien and even he didn''t move this fast "Awesome. If I could afford to pay you, I''d have you help me with the superhero business. The DEO doesn''t really care much about the common person here, only about aliens. Which is why I needed this control center in the first place. While I like keeping the aliens off the streets, it''s annoying that the DEO doesn''t care about the average citizen" Kara blurted out. "Pay me? I''m living in your apartment, sleeping on your couch, you pay for my clothes and food. Are you kidding me, Kara? I will more than likely have a computer at work and I will write my own software to keep an eye on stuff in the city. It''s not hard to send you a ping every time I find something. Of course I''ll do that for you, tech wise and out there as well" Barry explained "Besides" the speedster moved closer to her, whispering in her ear "I did say I was going to help, did I not? Or maybe you thought that I was just going to watch you do things while I get the tech job? No chance, Girl of Steel, not a snowball''s chance in hell" his breath on her ear was triggering some very interesting reactions from her which she didn''t want to reveal so she stepped back "Yes, you did say you would help and no I wouldn''t even dream of getting you stuck as my tech person, it would be wonderful to not go out there alone. Thank you, Barry. Can we go back now ? Or ... I don''t know, maybe not at home, but somewhere else ?" Kara smiled "I spend way too much time here during the week to want to be here on my days off" "Up for some basking in the sun then, food isn''t the only thing you need to recharge" he grinned at her knowing that she needed some solar energy as well "That would be nice" the blonde quipped "So where are we going?" "I don''t know yet. I''m not sure the National City in my own timeline was the same so give me a few minutes, I need to get the lay of the land first. I''ll be right back" She saw a flash of lightning leave the building and then come back a few minutes later "I got the perfect place. Hang on" He took her in his arms and ran straight down the side of the building to the outskirts of National City, on a hill that was overlooking it. There was already a checkered blanket on the ground under a solitary tree, which was where he stopped "This should do wonderfully" Kara looked around not recognizing the place, but it was indeed beautiful. "How much of National City did you see in these 3 minutes?" she smiled "None of it, I wanted to take out of the city so I went about 20 miles in every direction around it to find a nice spot. I can always learn the layout of the town while I help you and my reading speed and memory will help me with that just fine" the speedster replied "So tell me, who broke your back?" The blonde woman stood up looking at him "Straight to the questioning, huh? Nothing really changes, does it" Barry looked at her and sighed heavily. She could see that the dark shadow that he had returned. "Just curious. I didn''t think there was someone fast enough to actually catch you to break your back, unless it was another speedster. It wasn''t another speedster, right?" She reasoned letting him understand that she knew the extent of his powers. "No, it wasn''t. The person that broke my back was Caitlin Snow" he sighed like he had a 100 ton weight on his ?h?st. Kara did not expect that at all, the moment he said her name, her face fell "Or better said ¡­ her alter ego, Killer Frost. You see, her powers always had a mind of their own. But if left unchecked they would take her over. Caitlin has always had the problem of keeping her feelings in, being strong for the sake of being strong and sometimes keeping things to herself just so that others don''t suffer. Those feelings kept fueling her alter ego until it came to the surface ... permanently. In my timeline, Killer Frost put a sharp ice core through my spine in one of our battles, enough to leave me immobile. I always wondered why she didn''t kill me, I was at her mercy, but she just left me there not being able to move and bleeding, kind of like she wanted me to die slowly and suffer at the same time" Barry told her with a sad face. Kara knew she was pushing too much. He had just got here and she was so happy about that, but her inquisitive nature almost pushed her to ask questions that were visibly uncomfortable for the speedster. She decided to let it go, they would need to spend more time together for him to be able to open up about his haunting past. "That''s fine, we can talk about that some other time. What else did you study, old man?" she smiled and hit his arm, she was so happy that she forgot to control her strength but when she hit him, nothing happened. When she raised her arm she saw that his was vibrating so fast it was almost hard for her to see. "Oh, Rao. I''m sorry. Did I hurt you?" "No, I''m fine. I didn''t know if you would hit me with all your strength or just in play, but you are super strong, so I vibrated my hand to increase my muscle and bone density. Yet another one of the many tricks I have in store for you, Kara Zor ¨C El" he grinned and pinched her nose "Never call me old man again, super toddler" he laughed. "Well, Barry Allen, you`re a regular Interdimensional Man of Mystery aren''t you?" she chuckled "Wait, are you calling me James Bond behind my back?" he replied with a face that feigned seriousness, but he couldn''t control himself and a grin appeared. "No, I''m calling you that to your face, only ¡­ older" she teased him only to be hit in the face with a snowball. She b?r?ly noticed him leaving and coming back, the only telltale sign that was the case was the gust of wind that hit her before the snowball "Where did you get snow from this time of year?" "The north pole? It''s not really far away you know, at least not for me" he replied nonchalantly with a grin on his face. "You are full of surprises, Barry Allen. I can''t wait to see what else you have in store for me" Her phone rang and she answered as the two looked over the city. Winn was at the other end of the line. "Kara, there has been an explosion in a high rise downtown. Turn to channel 31" he said with a sense of urgency "I am not at home, Winn, just tell me where I need to go" Supergirl responded "Corner of 34th and Western. Hurry" and he closed the line "After you" Barry grinned at Kara already dressed in his Flash suit "How gentlemanly of you, Flash" she grinned back Kara took off with Barry right under her, following her toward where the explosion had occurred. The building was b?r?ly standing, it was a 40 story tall skyscraper full of people and the explosion damaged the first 3 floors. Fire was breaking out everywhere and the support structure of the building, while damaged was still holding, for now. "I''m going to start getting people out of there" he spoke only for her to hear "While you do that, I''m going to try to put out the flames and keep the building from collapsing in on itself" she replied and he started to move and people kept appearing a few hundred meters away every few seconds. Kara immediately thought to cool off the fire with her breath, however, something she didn''t count on was the fact that steel was not really built to withstand the immense temperature differential that she had inflicted on it. The beams started to buckle and small fissures appeared in the support structure. She noticed her mistake, but Flash was still getting people out so she flew to where the support struts were cracking and started to push up, holding up the building as best as she could. It was heavy even for her and holding it without moving so that it wouldn''t crumble it was more of a challenge. She saw the support columns crack and more and more weight came crashing down on her but she managed to keep it up another 3 minutes until all the people were out. The Flash was right next to her. "Everyone is out. What can I do to help?" he asked "I''m going to try to fix the beams with my heat vision. Give me a moment" She tried to melt the beams while holding up the building, but her strength was waning. There was something around that was weakening her. A piece of her outfit turned into a display on her arm and started to flash red. The same piece of fabric on his suit did the exact same thing, prompting Kara to throw him a weird look "Flash, I''m almost out of power, there has to be Kryptonite somewhere around here" He left and in a few seconds he saw a piece of green rock fly away, but it was too late "Thank you for finding it so fast, but I can''t hold the building for long in this weakened state and I don''t have the power to use my heat vision to melt the support struts" she told him "I see, that''s what the bar over here means. So¡­ power is all you need?" he asked "I can help with that" she saw him starting to move fast in front of the building as he vibrated. In a few seconds he stopped and his hands were vibrating so fast that they were crackling lightning. Before she could realize what was going on he threw the two lightning bolts at her. She didn''t dodge, she trusted Barry with her life. She was right to do so, when the two bolts hit her, she felt supercharged. The display on her arm immediately turned to green and disappeared. She stood straight, raising the building above her that had started to buckle. Blue beams came out of her eyes hitting the support struts, sealing the cracks and stabilizing the building. She then flew down to him while the crowd cheered. "How did you do that?" she asked with a concerned look on her face "I was sure that those lightning bolts would help I just didn''t know how" "I can explain, just ¡­ not in the middle of all these people, some things are better left private. Shall we take our leave and return to our tree?" the speedster smiled at the blonde in front of him "Yea, you`re right. We should go back" She took off for the sky while Barry ran like a bat out of hell toward the checkered blanket they left behind which had her clothes on it and her phone. They changed and sat down. "So? How did you do that?" she asked. "I have had a lot of time to practice honing my lightning into different forms of energy. If you can find the best frequency, the power you can receive from a lightning bolt can be ¡­ anything from a nuclear radiation blast to" he let her finish "Solar energy. You converted the lightning''s electrical energy into power that was compatible with my cells. But ... how? You would have to know my exact genetic structure and cell frequency to be able to pull something like that" she looked in awe at the speedster that sat beside her. "Things I already know and have known for quite a while" he smiled "This is not the first time I have tried this trick on a certain super powered Kryptonian with blonde hair" as he said that, her face dropped. "But how, you already said you knew me in your timeline, but this is pretty advanced knowledge for you to have" Supergirl told him trying to recover from her surprised state. "Because you told them to me. Since nothing has changed on this earth, it still vibrates at the same frequency, you are the same you only a few years younger ¡­ which means that was going to work since I have tried it multiple times before" the speedster chuckled. "We were close, weren''t we" she asked bluntly "You could say that, yes. You came and helped us quite a few times in my timeline" He replied, but keeping the fact that she was the one he loved after Caitlin and that she sent him back. "You aren''t telling me everything, are you?" Kara looked at him "You could always tell that" Barry sighed "No. I''m not telling you everything. Let it be a story for another time, this is not something I want to end this beautiful day with" his voice was normal but his eyes were almost begging her to let it go. "Another time then. Thank you for being there to help" she gave him one of her beautiful smiles. "Anytime, Girl of Steel. Anytime" he replied with a large smile. The day was coming to a close, the sunset in the background only completed Kara''s beauty, Barry looked at her and remembered from his own time how much she loved spending days outside with her when they weren''t fighting super villains. In a few moments they were back in the apartment. The story that was on TV was about them, which was not that surprising. How the Blur had helped Supergirl by hitting her with lightning. "Oh boy. This is going to be on page 1 of all the papers tomorrow" Kara said smacking her forehead. "You are ashamed to be seen with me? Aww, I thought I stopped looking so nerdy all the time" Barry smirked "Oh wait, they can''t really see me because I move so fast" "No. Why would I ¡­" she realized that he''s messing with her and threw a pillow directly at him "Definitely not, but I bet my glasses that when I go to work Monday, Ms. Grant will want an interview with the Blur. We never got around to that, but it wasn''t a problem since the other Barry didn''t come here that often. But now you`re here to stay so ¡­" she trailed off. "You`re afraid that she will want to meet the Blur. Didn''t she peg Barry Allen as being the Flash in this timeline back when he was here?" he asked. "Well, we did have a bit of mishap where Barry was everyone''s cousin and Cat was a bit suspicious, she did mention about the Blurs a couple of times and she knew it was about two people, but I don''t know if that was enough" Kara replied. "Why?" "In my timeline she definitely knew something was going on, as soon as I appeared that Kara started getting hints and weird questions about her new boyfriend and partner, I would rather this doesn''t happen here. It might be easier to throw her off the track immediately than anything else. Also, that time I was alone, if the two got here together, that might be our saving grace" the speedster thought out loud "I didn''t get much of a vibe off her, but by the way she talked about the two speedsters that appeared, I think she might have thought about it, but as much as I know the woman, I don''t know what''s going on in her head. What do you think about it?" Kara''s voice trailed off "Then let''s nip this in the bud. I can be in two places at once. That should get her off my back in case she suspects anything. To be honest, if I do indeed come over to your workplace, Supergirl getting a partner and you getting a "visitor" shall we say, could be indeed suspicious. Let''s be frank here, Cat is anything but stupid" Barry chuckled, remembering the way Zoom used to make time remnants which was a skill he had learn to use in order to battle him. "That is indeed correct. She is a very smart woman. All right, tell me about that whole be in two places at once then. How can you do that? Or is it something that you speedsters can normally do?" she asked with a surprised look on her face. "It''s one of the many tricks I have yet to show you, Girl of Steel" Barry gave her one of his goofy smiles which gave her bu??erflies in her stomach "What''s been happening here though. We talked all day about me and my future which doesn''t exist anymore, but nothing about you" "Didn''t you say you come from the future? You should already know what has happened here" Kara smiled at the speedster "Things might not have happened exactly like I know them. Besides, I wanted to know more about your own adventures" He replied "After Barry and Caitlin came here the first time by accident and helped me put away Livewire and Banshee, Cisco managed to make me a breach generator so I could cross between worlds. After that, they showed up out of nowhere after my uncle Non tried to kill every human on the planet. Because of them my suicide mission turned into a win. I went and helped them with a problem they had. Arrow had a villain by the name of Damien Darhk, so while planning for their problem, which was another speedster by the name of Zoom, we managed to help Ollie with his issue as well. Aunt Astra decided she would be better off here on earth. She deserted and is now working for the DEO, in another city which houses the so called Alien Naturalization Center" She summarized the events as best she could, without leaving out more important details. "Hmm. I didn''t know that my meddling in time might have repercussions here. In my timeline, Alex had to kill Astra because she was even worse than Non. Zoom huh? That guy appears everywhere, I thought that he wouldn''t have a chance to turn up in the modified timeline, but I guess you just can''t get rid of scum" the speedster face palmed. "Ok, that''s ... different. I don''t think I could have imagined Astra being worse than Non. Yes, Zoom. That was his name. But how would time ripples affect another universe?" she asked. She knew the theories, but since there was no practical application that she could use for an example she was pretty stunned at what Barry was telling her. "No idea, might be something related to increased entropy? Or some causality paradox that I created in the future that would have changed the past, or anything else from a multitude of choices, which reminds me ¡­ how are things between you and James these days?" Barry asked quite bluntly. It was clear what would be going on between them if she was still with him "Why do you ask?" she tried to back out of responding to the that question, something that Barry picked up on quite fast "Because I remember from my timeline that I actually encouraged you to take the leap with him. Fact that I regretted from the bottom of my heart later on" the speedster told her bluntly "We tried to be together, it didn''t work. He still had feelings for Lucy, which only made me angrier. In the end it probably wouldn''t have worked out anyway. I see my Supergirl business and my private life separate. Almost like two different lives. He knew them both and thought that sometimes because he did we were actually way closer than we actually were. That spiraled into something that neither of us wanted" Kara went to the fridge only to realize she was out of food. "Darn" she admonished herself not only for not having her favorite food, but her stash of regular food was gone as well. She had forgotten that Barry was eating as well and didn''t restock. "You`re hungry, aren''t you?" Barry smiled as she nodded. "Give me a couple of minutes" He told her as he sped out the window and disappearing into the distance, while at the edge of the city, Kara heard a sonic boom from the distance almost like thunder. "This is so weird. I know he''s Barry, but he''s not. I guess back when Caitlin told me to get my own, she wasn''t kidding. Now I have one and I''m totally at a loss about what to do. Keep it together, Kara. Now he knows you`re single and that you don''t have anyone. Just don''t screw up and everything should be just fine" Kara thought to herself. Her train of thought was broken when a flash of lightning skidded to a stop in the middle of her living room. She knew that smell anywhere. "Barry, you remembered!" she smiled brightly at him "Yeah, you''d never let me forget pot stickers. Not in ANY timeline" He laughed and put the boxes on the table seeing Kara attacking them. "Here''s something interesting, these don''t really taste like anything I''ve had from National City before. They are amazing! Where did you get them, I need the name of that locale, mister" Kara was talking between taking bites. "The only place I ever went to get Kara pot stickers, after I could run as fast as I can. Since I always want to train, but I never wanted to lose another moment with her, I trained while running to get her food. I went to Wuxi" He smiled watching her eat with a face that exhibited pure bliss. "Where''s that? Doesn''t seem like a place I''ve heard about in National City" Kara continued to stuff dumplings in her mouth. She had seen Barry eat and she knew that if she binge ate with him around he wouldn''t give her any sort of problems. "It''s not in National City, Kara. It''s not even in this country, or on this continent actually. Wuxi is a city ¡­ in China" he answered her question. Her face dropped looking at his grin. "Wait, you went to China and back in the span of 5 minutes? Just to get me pot stickers?" she looked at him with a flirty smile "Yes. I did. That''s why I asked for a few minutes, not the usual 10 seconds it takes me to get down the building and buy 30 pizzas" He smiled. "Well color me impressed then. Oh, I kind of ate everything" Kara looked at the empty containers in front of her. "It''s fine. I had 10 pizzas on the way here. Running on water is not as easy as you`d think" he replied smirking "Besides, in any universe or timeline, nothing can stand between Kara Danvers and her pot stickers. I learned that a long time ago, the hard way, even though it was still funny" he started to rub his arm. She x rayed it and saw a particularly large break that had healed pretty well. "I''m guessing I gave you that break?" she smiled. She felt comfortable about the life that she didn''t know. The one that Barry Allen had lived in the future, even though asking about herself in a timeline that was gone was pointless, she still enjoyed the foresight of things that might have been, which she hoped somewhere in the back of her mind that might still come to pass in this time. "Yes. Well not you, but you get it. The first time I did that after I managed to improve my speed, when I came back I brought 20 boxes and I tried to have one. You hit me, it was an innocent gesture, but with all your power and¡­ that happened" he rubbed his arm again. "Wow, ok. I''m glad I asked. I guess you already know everyone around here, don''t you ?" Kara asked. "I guess. You don''t need to introduce them to me. If I find someone that I don''t know, I''ll just ask you in private. Most of the people should be the same I think" he replied "Why did you ask me about James?" she asked. "The Kara Danvers I knew used to be engaged to James Olsen for a time. But it turned out sour, which is why I said I regretted the fact that I was the one to take that risk" Barry answered absentmindedly "Turned sour? You mean we split up?" Kara was surprised "Yeah. That James thought Lucy would be a good girl on the side. He didn''t get enough of Supergirl or Kara, because he couldn''t come with you while you were saving the city and you were doing that quite a lot. So ¡­ yeah that didn''t really end up well, for either of you" the answer came "I didn''t kill anyone, right?" Kara asked with a shocked face. She knew herself pretty well and she couldn''t take that sort of treatment from anyone "Oh, no. no. How could sweet Kara Danvers kill her friends? You just slapped James hard enough for him to spend the next 4 months eating through a straw. As you put it, "I wasn''t too bothered to control my strength when I slapped him", or something like that" Barry chuckled. "I had no idea that James could be such an ?ss" she replied "This is the thing about timelines and alternate futures and alternate universes, Kara. Everything that can happen, already happened. In some universe James can be your husband and you can have two kids with him. In another you left him for someone else, while in some other one, you two don''t even meet. Every universe is different. Trust me, better not think too much about it. Your head will hurt, badly. I know I keep drawing parallels to my own timeline, but keep in mind, it is gone" the speedster answered and started to yawn. Kara looked at the clock and was surprised. It was nearly midnight, the time they spent with one another passed by way too fast. "Let''s get some rest, Barry. Tomorrow is Sunday and we can spend some more time together before we have to go to work on Monday" Kara smiled getting up and going toward her bedroom. "Good night, Kara. Thank you for the humbling couch" he got some blankets and put them on and drifted to sleep. Kara on the other hand was trying to not think about all the different universes and failing badly, only the person she was thinking about wasn''t James, it was him. She fell asleep a while later, when she realized that "what ifs" were not something you should be considering at 2 AM in the morning. She woke up to the smell of coffee and food. She panicked for a moment till she realized that she was not alone in the house. She had invited Barry Allen to live there with her, ever since he showed up. She slowly got up from the bed and went toward the kitchen only to stop in the doorway at the sight of a shirtless speedster cooking breakfast. He was singing something she couldn''t make up at the time, but his voice sounded wonderful. She spent a few minutes taking in the view before she decided to actually enter. "Good morning, scarlet speedster or should I say, shirtless speedster?" She greeted prompting Barry to turn around and see his jaw fall. She had no idea why he would be so surprised at how she looked. Her hair was not tied and was pretty messy, she had sleepy eyes and then she realized what she was wearing. Shorts and a half cut tank top. It was showing more skin than she would have ever been comfortable showing to ¡­ anyone. She surprised herself by realizing that she didn''t care what she was wearing with him. She did blush profusely, but didn''t speed off to change. She just sat at the counter in front of him and started sipping her coffee. Barry managed to get out of his daze smelling something burning. "Good morning to you. I thought since my host was so gracious to not let me sleep under the National City Bridge, I might as well cook breakfast. Eggs, Pancakes and Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. You`re a bacon girl, right?" he asked turning to her seeing her with 2 strips in her mouth already. "Yeah. You`re definitely a bacon girl" he smiled. "I was really hungry, this hit the spot. You seem to be used to cooking in the morning aren''t you?" she inquired sheepishly "Yes, I am ¡­ it''s been more of a ritual in my mornings. You know, when I wasn''t being beat to death by an evil speedster or when I could actually reach the stove and not be stuck in a chair, paralyzed from the waist down" He sighed. "Barry you do realize there is enough food here for both of us and we eat a lot" Kara conveyed with her words that he didn''t need to cook more. "Yea, I know it''s enough" he stopped realizing something then continued "but leftovers are always good for people that need to eat as much as us" he continued, but Kara saw that he stopped himself from saying something. "I might throw you back under the bridge if you don''t speak your mind" she said bluntly "I can see you trying to keep something in, I don''t know what, but I would hope that we don''t have to do this dance every time we talk. You know you can trust me with anything right ?" "I know but ¡­ if I tell you everything you might be weirded out and I really don''t want you to get that feeling, or somehow think I might be a creep or even worse" Barry tried to excuse himself "Barry, I can''t be your friend if you don''t trust me. Tell me everything and if I get weirded out then so be it. Remember, I did ask for it. It''s not like I''m going to stop being friends with you for something that petty, come on" Kara said with a crooked look ?ssuring the speedster that he could speak him mind with her always. "I trust you with my life" the instant answer was something she did not expect and the look on his face was dead serious "I just don''t want you to be weirded out about things that happened in a parallel universe, in a parallel timeline, in a future that no longer exists" "I know what you''re saying, but that is a future you lived in. As much as I know about the other Barry, even if you are him, you have lived more. I do want to know more about you and your experiences in the future that made you who you are today. It makes perfect sense that I want to know everything so I can better know the person that is in front of me" Kara frowned at the resistance that the man in front of her was putting up when asked about what he lived through. She also didn''t have glasses on and was making puppy dog eyes at the speedster who finally gave in cracking a smile. "God damn those puppy dog eyes. You have always used those as a weapon against me and I have always failed to defend myself against them" He started to laugh. "All right. I''ll tell you. Just a word of warning. When I said you brought me out from the darkness, I was not kidding. My future was not all romance and roses. I have done bad things in my time. Things you might not approve of or might down right scare you" he was being very serious and Kara took him at his word. "It doesn''t matter. I want to know more about the man that ¡­" She stopped herself from committing a Freudian slip and continued "I''m currently sharing my apartment with. You seem to know a whole lot about me. Things that people here don''t know. I want to be able to say the same thing about you. That seems fair ¡­ right?" she explained "Yes. It does. All right then. Fire away" Barry sat on the chair looking at her, Kara''s gaze kind of being stuck on his abs "So about that. You know things that I have never told anyone about me. Not ever Alex or the DEO. Those things I would only tell ¡­" she got cut off "Your boyfriend" Barry finished her sentence and her jaw fell. "You did ask what you were to me in my timeline. I think that just answered your question quite nicely" It was something the girl of steel was not expecting. She had thought multiple times about a relationship with the speedster. Even dreamed about it a few times, not that she would admit it to anyone, but he was in a relationship with someone else. So she tried to chase those dreams away. Start over with someone new. Except that someone new never came and she always was left in the back of her mind with the question of "What if". Chapter End Chapter 77 - DCTV Fan-fiction 7 - Super Family Plot: Is it easier or harder to raise children like a normal family with superpowers? Kara Danvers and Barry Allen are soon going to discover if their theory is correct or incorrect. Rated T for minor violence Pairing: Barry x Kara NOTE: Ongoing and haven''t been updated in a while so..... Second Week. (Third week of the month). The first two nights of the twins being home were bliss. They slept most of the time and responded well to feeding time and bed time. Kara found it difficult to feed both babies at the same time the first morning home. She worried she would drop one while feeding them at the same time so while Kara would hold a twin in her arms and feed from her ?h?st, Barry (and Eliza some times) would bottle feed the other girl with the pumped milk. They alternated the girls for ?h?st and bottle feedings. Diaper changes were gross as hell though. How could two little newborns make so much urine and crap in such a short amount of time? Ten diaper changes. Ten. For one baby. So double it. In two weeks, the babies had gone through almost three hundred diaper changes. Enough for a single newborn to last for maybe a month alone. At least the parents raced who changed diapers the quickest was pretty fun for them. Barry had called the girls "Mini Kara''s" after a while. They stayed up most of the night, just like when Kara stayed up to star gaze as a little girl. But at least she had a reason. These two almost had no reason. Some nights they were just up and few times they wanted to be cuddled or held by someone. Between Kara, Barry and Eliza, it worked out well for one out of the three to sleep, but soon it would just be Kara and Barry having to fend for themselves. Super hero wise? Barry had promised to stay on Kara''s Earth during the first two months (he only had a two month parental leave for his day job), only going back to his Earth when Flash was really, really, really needed (meta human stuff). He only left once for two days in a row fighting off an electrical, fire throwing woman that lived under the streets in the sewers. Supergirl wasn''t as lucky. She heard one call for help in anyway and, unless feeding, would place the baby back into her carrier and hurry off. She fought or saved as quick as possibly to get back to her babies. This happened, in the two weeks so far, ten times. Kara was up late holding each twin in an arm and rocking in the rocking chair. Eliza was sleeping on the couch and Barry was out on a diaper run. No pun intended of course. The newborns were switching back and forth between looking at the odd person who held them and the environmental surroundings. The blonde mother was amused by her little girls enthusiasm and curiosity. "How do you two like the world so far?" She asked the two week old children. "You''ve definitely found a way for Daddy and I to see the world in a new way. That''s a sure." She was silent for a moment with a deep thought. "Allie, Nichole, I know your still newborns but any chance, in some way, that you can show Daddy and I how special you are? Not that you aren''t! You''re both wonderful little girls and special, but any type of...super special things?" "You think they might be able to understand you?" Kara looked up and found her boyfriend of three years walking into the room and dropping off the bags of diapers. Kara laughed. "I hope so!" "Shouldn''t we just ?ssume they''re going to have your powers?" "Caitlin said there was a chance that, from your DNA, they can have their own type of powers." Kara explained. "So I''m sort of hoping we can learn those ones soon before they turn a year old and start showing Kryptonian powers." "So half Kryptonian and half meta human babies? Kryptonian powers plus their own certain type of power?" Barry said the equation aloud. "Well, there''s got to be at least one daycare or preschool that will take them." "Day care?" Kara''s eyes grew wide. "Why day care?" "Uh...Yes, so they can learn and make friends when we''re working." Barry said, albeit perplexed by Kara''s confusion. "I think we''ll know their powers and how to control them by then." "Yeah. I guess." Kara sighed. That was a worry she''s been carrying the past couple of days. Allie had suddenly made a tiny gurgle sound and moved her arms around, her facing turning a tiny bit of red. "Do you want to feed Allie? I tried to get them to eat earlier but only Nichole ate." "Sure." He said as he walked over to them. "Come here, little girl." He softly said as he gently picked up the dark hair girl. After Barry had walked out of the room Kara glanced down at Nichole in her arms. "How are you doing little one?" She chuckled for a moment, before realizing the exact words she had said, and paused for a moment before frowning. Barry walked back and forth between the living room and the kitchen as he began to feed Allie. He stared down at the cherubic face that just stared unemotionally back at Barry. "You like that, Allelopathy?" He chuckled. The little girl automatically looked back at him when he said that. "You like that? Allelopathy? I promise it''s not a made up name. It''s just a big word in regard to plants either helping or not helping the environment. Your gonna help people one day and your name is Allie, so... You know, allelopathy." He kept explaining. "Your smart. You''ll get it. But just me, no one else, can call you that. Okay?" Still no response. He sighed. "Okay." After the feeding and a burping Barry walked back to Kara''s room and spotted his blonde girlfriend passed out on the bed, one arm and one leg dangling over the bed, laying above the covers. "Good night, sweet girl." He said, kissed her tiny cheek and placed Allie in the bassinet to the right. "Don''t wake your sister." He whispered. He turned to the left and said, "Good night, Kiki." He kissed the sleeping blonds cheek. Barry climbed onto the bed after kicking off his sneakers and took off his plaid shirt, now just in a white t-shirt and boxers, and cuddled close to Kara. Not wanting to wake the sleeping mother, he mindfully said goodnight and closed his eyes. "Barry?" Kara spoke up but not moving. "Yeah?" "Kiki? Really?" "It''s a cute nickname." He said. "Just me only. No one else calls her that." "Barry?" "Yes?" "Freaking allelopathy?" Barry laughed loudly at her small outburst confusion. "It''s cute!" "Fine." Kara said. No more than five minutes later, someone began crying. "Your turn." Each exhausted parent told the other. Chapter 78 - DCTV Fan-fiction 8 - Rebirth of the God of Speed Plot: The Speed Force is cruel, but it is also kind. Barry Allen was her favored child, even a Time Remnant deserved the proper chance to be a hero. Savitar wakes up as Barry Allen, the original, at the beginning of his journey with all his past experience. He will be a Hero, not as The Flash, but Savitar, The God of Speed. Pairing: Barry/Savitar x Caitlin/Killer Frost x Kara/Supergirl NOTE: Contains elements of (only limited to Barry using the powers from) DxD, The Gamer and a System. Is ongoing to yeah! Disclaimer: I Own Nothing In the middle of a storm of yellow and red lightning, stood a woman with reddish brown hair and bright green eyes. In front of her, lying horizontally, floating in the air is a man with short brown hair and closed eyes, the right side of his face is horribly disfigured. The woman reaches her hand out and brushes some of his brown hair out of his face . "You know Barry, even in this form, I cannot fault you. You became Savitar, because you were never given the proper chance" . The woman runs her hand along the disfigured part of his face, and slowly it heals, becoming normal once more . "Savitar, the God of Speed, a bit presumptuous, but fine, it is a bit amusing" She says, a small smile on her face . The woman turns her head, watching as a small area of the storm around them clears, as she observes the dissipating of a bright purple flame. In the middle of the dissapearing flame is an orb, that shoots forward and into the womans hands . "Hmm, so, so much potential, I wonder how strong you were to appear, even at the very edge of my domain. Who did you belong to?" . . "This potential, yes I think it could be very useful" . The woman takes the orb and places it onto Barry''s ?h?st, watching as it sinks in and already she can see and sense changes . "Oh, truly it will be interesting to watch this. Certainly quite a bit of change in a few seconds" . The woman reaches her hand out and the lightning around them seems to coalesce into a yellow and red portal, as the unconscious form of Savitar floats into it . "Make me proud Barry Allen, I''ll be watching, God of Speed" . The form of Savitar floats through the portal and once through it closes. The woman puts a hand to her face and laughs softly . "To invent your own life''s meaning is not easy, but it''s still allowed, and I think you''ll be happier for the trouble. Lets see how your story continues Barry Allen" . . Savitar woke with a gasp, and looked around him quickly. He realizes he''s lying in a medical bed, and that he''s has no clue where he is, his last memory of getting shot by that bitch Iris West, how the old him was going to marry her, he''ll never know ironically . "Where am I?" Barry says "Oh God" "He''s up" . He looks around, seeing Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, and he pauses to stare at her for a moment. He always preferred how things were so much easier with his snowflake, they had each other''s backs, they understood each other, he felt if he had a real partner, if only for a moment. He sighs and shakes his head, those times where behind him . "Wait a minute" . He widens his eyes then speeds away from them, hiding behind a corner . "Dr. Wells get down here to the cortex now" "Whoa relax, calm down" Caitlin says holding up her hands . "What year is it?" he asks quickly, looking himself over, along with them, and somewhat realizing what happened "2014. I''m Cisco Ramon, that''s Caitlin, sorry, that''s Dr. Snow" . Barry looks over his hands, vibrating them, before speeding out of the room, around the city, looking everywhere and at everything, before he looks himself over in a mirror . He looks healthy, his face back to normal, and he feels around his clothes, feeling a piece of paper in his pocket . Your the only one here now Savitar. Be the hero you never got to be. I''ll be watching, and expect one more gift - The Speedforce . He runs to the top of tallest building and screams as loud as he can, not in anger, nor sadness, but joy. Tears streak down his face, and he laughs a happy laugh, for the first time in forever . "Thank you, thank you so much. I''ll never forget this, ever" he screams to the sky, and in his mind, he can see the image of his mother in the speed force, smiling at him . He runs back to S.T.A.R. labs as fast as he can, the biggest grin on his face, as Cisco and Caitlin look at him like he''s grown two heads and Dr. Wells smiling mysteriously . "Welcome back Mr. Allen, did you have a nice run?" he says with a knowing smile and a hand on his chin "Dr. Wells, its so good to see you" Barry says shaking his hand vigorously . He then rushes over and shakes the hands of Cisco and Caitlin . "And you too Cisco, and you Caitlin. Its so good to meet you" he says, the huge grin never leaving his face "Your certainly happy for a guy who just woke up from a 9 month coma" Cisco says as Barry nods "Of course I''m happy, couldn''t be better" he says speeding around the room once "Okay Speedy, calm down the freaky magic powers" Cisco says as Barry sits down, still hyper and so very happy "Let Mr. Allen have his moment Cisco, I''d be happy too if I discovered I could do that" Dr. Wells said "Okay but what is it?" Caitlin asks "Mr. Allen here has gained his speed from the Particle Accelerator explosion, becoming one of the first, if not the first, Metahuman" "Metahuman Dr. Wells?" Caitlin asks "Trademark Name" he says, chuckling "If that''s trademarked then I get to name myself" Barry says, bouncing up and down in his seat "Woah, woah, slow your roll, I''m the one that does the naming around here" "Agreed Mr. Allen" Dr. Wells says, chuckling at Cisco''s betrayed look . After everyone calms down, Caitlin flashes a light into his eyes and takes his blood pressure . "Pulse 120, both eyes reactive to light. Now I need to run a few more tests" Caitlin says "Anything for you beautiful" Barry says as Caitlin gains a faint blush on her cheeks and turns away, small smiles on her face before her features return to normal . After a few more tests on Barry, who sits by quietly, still grinning but much more subdued . "Mr. Allen, you seem normal, well, your new version of normal at least" She says looking over some charts "You can call me Barry, if I can call you Caitlin" he says holding his hand out . Caitlin nods her hand and takes his hand, smiling . "Okay, hate to break up the whole meet cute you two got going on, but I think Barry''s family will want to know he''s awake" Cisco says dialing a number on the phone "And I would like to speak to Mr. Allen for a moment" Wells says as Caitlin and Cisco leave . Barry and Wells take a small tour around the damaged S.T.A.R. labs as he tells Barry about the explosion . "...Now, I''m not the most popular person in town these days, but Detective West and his daughter gave me permission to bring you here so we could treat you" "And how are they?" Barry says, putting on a false smile "Missing you, moving on all the same" . Barry looks at Dr. Wells for a moment . "You know Mr. Allen, it was the strangest thing. Right before you woke up, there was an influx of Dark Matter into your system. How are you feeling?" Wells asks cautiously "Great, better than I ever did before" Barry says . Abandoned runway . As Caitlin checks over the devices on his track suit, Barry stares at her . "What?" "I notice you don''t smile much" "My once promising career in bio-engineering is over. My boss is in a wheelchair for life and the explosion that put you in a coma killed my Fianc¨¦, so this blank expression feels like the way to go" "Mr. Allen, while I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint" Dr. Wells says . Barry nods and readies himself in the runners stance, eager himself to determine the current range of abilities. He takes off running, not sure himself how fast he is until he hears the sonic boom, there his speed seems to peak after a while longer . "That''s not possible" Caitlin mutters, even though she sees it for herself . He turns around, rushing back and stops in front of the three scientists, a large gust of wind hitting them as he stops . "That was a sonic boom, over 700 miles per hour" Barry says excitedly, already better than his past self "Around 920 actually" Cisco says, excitement on his face . After several tests back at the lab, Barry tells them more about himself, including the murder of his Mother before going home to Iris and Joe. Savitar''s memories of future them, along with his newfound hatred for Iris making it quite hard to hold a normal conversation . The Next Day . "I saw one of the Metahumans, he robbed a bank and controlled the weather. His name is Clyde Mardon" Barry says as he hacks into the Central City Database "The past nine months have a drastic increase in crime and unexplained deaths, your Meta-humans have been busy" . As the others look guilty, Barry elaborates further . "I don''t blame you, I never will. Everyone lost someone that night, but I need your help to stop him" Barry says looking at Caitlin . As they nod, Barry thinks over his current situation. His speed weakened but still strong for this point in time. He nods to himself, he definitely will need their help . . Barry looks over the OG Flash costume, feeling wierd wearing red and yellow instead of his silver and blue armor, he''ll have to find the philosopher''s stone to get it back. As he thinks about it, he feels something, as he looks at his body, it shakes and vibrates on its own, before dispersing, as Barry shivers . "What was that?" Barry says . As Barry runs around Mardon''s Tornado his lightning slowly turns from red to white, as his suit slowly begins to change, turning metalic silver and blue instead of red and yellow. Barry looks shocked as he looks over his silver and blue flash costume . "You know, didn''t think there were any more like me" Mardon says pointing a gun at the Silver Speedster "I''m not like you, I''m better, faster, stronger..." . Barry runs forward and presses Mardon holds him up against the wall, speed punching him several times in the ?h?st . "...But I''m not a monster, not anymore" . Barry winds his hand back and punches Mardon in the face, knocking him out cold . . "Barry" . He turns around to see Joe, looking at him shell shocked. Barry walks towards Joe, only to be stopped by getting a gun pointed at him . "Joe?" "Stay back" "What is this Joe?" "Your like Mardon, one of them" "Joe, I''m the same Barry you raised. The one who lived with you for nearly 13 years" "No, that boy died 9 months ago, your a freak, a monster" . At the word Monster Barry growls, his voice low and dangerous, white lightning streaking around him . "If that''s how you want it..." . Barry''s entire body vibrates, his eyes glowing dark blue . "...Then so be it" he says, his voice deepening to Savitar''s voice . Barry walks off and hears a shot, looking over and seeing that Joe had shot Clyde Mardon dead . "Stay away from me, and stay away from Iris, or It''ll be you next" . Barry speeds away, lightning trailing behind him as he ends up back in S.T.A.R. labs . "What happened to your suit Mr. Allen?" "Not sure Dr. Wells. I was running, and it changed colors into this. I don''t know, I like it" he says, his mind elsewhere "Barry, are you okay, the audio glitched when you unraveled the tornado, it uh...started back when Detective West showed up" . Barry sits down, resting his head in his hands, even though Joe shunned him in the future, he still has the memories of being raised by him, and it hurts just as much as it did the first time . "Listen, can I stay with one of you? I''m not exactly welcome at home anymore" "Sure man you can..." "He can stay with me" Caitlin interrupts, Cisco looking at her astounded "Are you sure Caitlin, I won''t mind if you say no?" Barry asks, not wanting to burden his friend "Its alright Barry" Caitlin says, putting a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture . Barry places his hand on hers . "Thank you" Barry says, sincerity in his voice . Internally Barry is happy, getting the chance to spend more time with Caitlin and develop a connection . . "Its not very big but it''s home. I''ll take the couch, you can take the bed" Caitlin says opening the door "No, I can''t do that to you Cait, its your house, I''ll take the couch" Barry says . He watches as Caitlin smiles when he calls her Cait. She gets some blankets and a pillow for him before yawning and deciding to turn in . "Goodnight Barry, don''t stay up too late" Cait says walking into her bedroom . He waits until he is sure she''s asleep, sneaks out of the room and speeds to the West House, and after a quick perimeter run to make sure no one is home. He takes everything of his that is important, packs it up and speeds back to Cait''s house. He lays all his stuff in a corner and gets on his computer . "Really gonna have to thank Felicity for those hacking classes she gave me" he whispers, not wanting to be heard . He gets on the Dark web, just like how Felicity taught him, no trace and no trail. He hacks into nearby cameras and bugs, disabling the ones in Cait''s house, before going on to other business. He hacks into the accounts of some of the wealthier members of the criminal underground, and takes a small percentage, masking it within other money that was flowing into the account. The money is funneled through so many proxies and different false identities that no one will ever trace it to him. With his newfound wealth slowly trickling into his own account, so as not to be suspicious, he closes his computer and looks at a clock, seeing it read ''2:00 AM'', he realizes that most of the night is gone and that he has to be up in three hours . He sighs and opens up the computer once more, sending an email resigning from the C.C.P.D., sets up credit and debit cards for himself, and sends out feelers looking for the philosopher''s stone . He closes his computer and finds every bug in the house, putting them into a bag and speeding them into a trash compactor, to be destroyed with the rest of the garbage . Around an hour later at 5 in the morning he hears the shower go on, figuring Cait is awake. He speeds to the store, taking what he wants while leaving money on the register. He gets to work making a big breakfast, as much a thank you to Cait as it is to feed the Black Hole that is a Speedster''s stomach . Cait emerges from her room wearing a white blouse and a dark skirt as she finishes brushing her hair, she notices Barry cooking breakfast . "Barry, you didn''t have to do that" Cait says, her smile showing the opposite of her words "I thought I should thank you, for letting me stay here, so take your pick I made alot, suddenly felt starving" . Cait notes his words for later as she stares at the feast her new roommate had cooked . As Cait fills her plate and Barry is on his fifth, she takes a bite, widens her eyes and sighs happily . Two weeks pass, Barry taking out Danton Black, failing to save Beete Sans Souci again to his dismay, and fighting with Leonard Snart . The two continue the routine of Barry cooking every day, each time cooking different food, all delicious to Caitlin . "Barry can you live here forever?" she says one day, before she can stop herself "Why Cait, I didn''t know you could be so forward, we haven''t even had a date yet" Barry says smirking . As Cait blushes and turns away, suddenly aware of what she just said, Barry looks at her, happy that only a couple weeks could get them here . "Wa-was that an invitation?" Cait asks as Barry''s face lights up "Really?" "Yeah, I''d like to" "Excuse me for a moment" . Caitlin watches as he speeds out of the room and in the distance she hears something, so she opens the window . "-ES, YES. FINALLY. THANK YOU" . Barry speeds back in a moment later to see Caitlin laughing . "That bad?" "Lets just say you seem quite eager Barry Allen" . Caitlin goes and walks closer to Barry, until he is pressed against the wall and her face is inches from his . "And you can say, I''m quite eager as well" . She walks away, a little extra sway to her h?ps as Barry watches her, slack jawed . "That little tease" he says, wide grin on his face . . Barry picks Cait up at their house after he sets everything up. she opens the door wearing a short black dress, a small purse in her hand . "W-wow, you look...Amazing" Barry says, Cait smiling at him, bu??erflies in his stomach, and heat on his face . After taking Caitlin to get coffee at Jitter''s, he takes her outside the city, onto a beautiful clearing and a picnic . "Barry, It''s wonderful" "And these are for you" he says suddenly holding a bouquet of pink roses . She takes them and sniffs the flowers, happy look on her face as she and Barry have lunch . "So Felicity taught you how to hack, what accounts to look for, and how to untraceably steal from the most dangerous illegal elements in the world" "Yep" "And your loaded now, and no one will ever suspect this large amount of money you''ve come into" "Nah, they''ll never find me" he says with a wave of his hand "You get more interesting by the day Barry Allen" "For the better I hope" "Of course" Cait says, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek . After they finish their meal, the two watch the sunset together and he flashes them to a bar . "I''d like to open a tab for me and this lovely girl here" Barry says to the bartender who nods . The two drink, Barry not enjoying that he can''t get drunk, and before long . "Mr. Barry Allen...come on down, or up...here...with me. Come show''em what you got, come on" Barry tries to tell her no, but Caitlin riles up the crowd, causing a chant to start ""Barry, Barry, Barry"" . He smiles and rushes up to the stage . "Look at him, he''s so fast...Oh Shhhh" "I''m not much of a singer, and your not much of a drinker" "Oh come on...We are gonna bring this place down...Ready?" . "Summer Lovin, had me a blast. Summer Lovin, happened so fast..." "...I met a girl, crazy for me..." "...I met a boy, cute as can be..." "Summer Days, drifting away to oh oh the summer nights" . "Your fast and you can sing, what can''t you do?" Cait says taking a sip from a random drink "Stop you from drinking apparently" "I''m not even sure that was mine" Cait says, her face mildly disgusted . As Cait goes to the bathroom a woman comes and sits down next to Barry . "Hey man can I tap out? Keep it" Barry says, handing him a couple hundred, the man takes it and nods at Barry "Real nice guy eh Linda" "I''ll say, real money bags here" Linda says "Not really, I just enjoy places like this, where you can make memories" "Like that singing?" "Was it bad?" "Nope, it was some of the best in this place" "Thanks Linda" "Your welcome Barry. That woman, was she your girlfriend?" "Hope so, I''ll be the luckiest guy in the world if she says yes" he says, happy smile on his face . Linda nods and wishes him luck before leaving, as Caitlin walks back, not looking too good . "Barry, I don''t feel so good" "Okay" . Barry stands up, wraps his arms around her and speeds her into the street, holding her hair and rubbing her back as she throws up . "Ready to go home Cait?" "...Yeah" . He speeds her through the city and back to her apartment building . "Are we still running?" "No, we''re home now" . Cait walks into her room and tries to take off her heels . "That woman you were talking to, who was she?" "Just someone trying to flirt with me" "And?" "I told her I wasn''t interested, that I already had a Girlfriend, if she''d have me?" . Caitlin wraps her arms around Barry and presses herself close . "Awww, Barry, that''s so sweet, I''d kiss you, but I don''t think I smell too good" . She walks towards her bed and tries to take her dress off, only managing half before she gives up. She turns to see Barry, with his back turned to her . "Barry, little help?" "Oh, sure" . He speeds her out of the dress and into her Pj''s . "There you go, saving me from that evil dress" "Lets get you into bed" "Oh, Barry''s gonna get me into bed" Cait laughs to herself as Barry tucks her in "Drink lots of water" he says, laying a glass next to her "Barry...thank you for tonight, can you stay with me until I fall asleep" "Sure" . He sits by her bed, holding her hand until she closes her eyes and snores lightly. He presses a kiss to her forehead and leaves, closing the door to her bedroom and sits on the couch. Barry smiles, a goofy grin, showing just how happy he is. He goes and stands near the window, looking out at the clear sky, and the full moon . "With me gone, Julian should be coming to town with the philosophers stone early. I steal that, and I get my suit back. Hmm, gonna have to be careful" he thinks to himself . As Barry is thinking to himself, he sees on the opposite building a a figure in yellow, looking back at him, before taking off in a streak of red lightning. Barry shooting off after him. As Barry chases after him, criscrossing the city in streaks of white and red lightning. the two end up in an alley, the man in yellow''s face vibrating to hide his identity . "Your the one who killed my mother, Why?" He yells, still not believing Eobard Thawn''s reasons "You know who I am Flash, we''ve been at this a long time you and I. And if you want to know why, then you''ll have to catch me." . The Man in Yellow takes off again, Barry chasing after him and the two ending up in a coliseum, at opposite sides, facing each other . "So, how can I be this ''Flash'' whose fought you for this long when I just got my powers" "Come on Barry, your smart, figure it out" . The two run at each other, The man in yellow side swiping Barry''s punches at hitting with several of his own. He takes off into the stadium, Barry following, the two fighting at high speed until The Man in Yellow throws him out of the stands and back onto the field . "Our race is not yet done. See ya soon Flash" he says, taking off in a red streak of lightning . Barry punches the ground and lets out a scream of frustration . "Not again, I won''t lose to the Reverse Flash again" he says determined as he jumps as a blue screen appears in front of him . So you want power? I could give it to you. All the power you could want, if you just say yes Y/N . He looks at the screen, rubbing his eyes to make sure he is not crazy, before slowly reaching out and pressing yes . Congratulations Barry Allen. Welcome to The Game, Savita Chapter 79 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 26 - Harry Potter and the Betrothal Contract Plot: It''s been done, but here''s my shot at the old Marriage Contract type story. Harry and Daphne Greengrass find out their parents put together a marriage contract when they were born, now they must deal with it. Pairing: HarryxDaphne "I''m what?!?" Daphne Greengrass nearly shouted. She was sitting in the study of her family''s home staring in pure shock at her mother and father, who had just revealed a great family secret. Daphne had the shiny silken blonde hair of her mother, as well as the same smooth, cream colored skin. But her eyes were the same intense brown as her father''s. At nearly sixteen years old, she was developing into a very beautiful woman. She was of average height and had a slender feminine build. Her ?h?st was ample, and her legs were stunning. She had often heard boys comment on her backside as being one of their favorite attributes. Daphne Greengrass was most definitely one of the most attractive girls in all of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was home for the summer holidays after finishing her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a year that had been dubbed by many as the Year of the Toad. Though she had kept her head down, and never suffered any punishment at the hands of Dolores Umbridge, Daphne had heard many horrible stories about Umbridge''s terrorist-like tactics. Daphne was a part of a very small group of Slytherins that chose not to agree with the pure blood agenda, or support the dark Lord Voldemort. They had to remain quiet with their beliefs or they might be chastised, or beaten up, or worse. Slytherin house had it''s reputation for many reasons, and Daphne did not want to be one of the victims. So she had worked hard to establish a reputation for being cold and distant. She was known throughout the school as "The Ice Queen". She had been home for two weeks when her mother and father called her to the family library and gave her the news that would alter everything in her life. "You are betrothed." Mr. Greengrass repeated his statement. "Since you were born, in fact. Your grandfather had ¡­ "How is this possible? To who? Why?" Daphne asked frantically, cutting off her father. "Not long after you were born, your mother and I entered into a marriage contract with a very influential family at your grandfather''s urging. He had promised that you would be very well taken care of, and the union would benefit our family greatly." Mr. Greengrass explained. He looked at his daughter, recognizing the panic and growing anger in her eyes. She was obviously uncomfortable, but he and his wife had made the decision to tell their eldest daughter of her fate. "Daphne," Mrs. Greengrass said softly, hoping to comfort the fifteen year old. "We''re telling you this now because you''re about to turn sixteen. If you haven''t noticed boys by now¡­The point is that we thought that you could spend some time over the next two years and get to know your future husband. Perhaps you could even learn to¡­" "What?! Fall in love? Have a happy, fairy tale life?" Daphne shivered. "How could you do this?" "We did it for you. We were trying to make sure you''d be well taken care of." Mr. Greengrass tried. "You did it for yourselves. Just like everything else. You found a way to fill your pockets, and gain some more power in our world. So tell me, what family did you auction me off to? The Notts? The Flints? Oh Merlin, please don''t let it be the Malfoys." "The Malfoys? I''d sooner boil my own head in shite before I allowed you to even date that pretentious ponce. Do you really think I would ally this family with Lucius Malfoy and fall to my knees in front of that¡­that¡­ terrorist?" Mr. Greengrass spluttered. "I may have signed a marriage contract for you, but give me a little credit. I said you''d be taken care of, not paraded around like a show pony." "We all need to calm down." Mrs. Greengrass said firmly, laying a hand on her husband''s shoulder and looking kindly at her daughter who had folded her arms across her ?h?st in defiance. "Daphne, you have not been promised to Malfoy, or Nott." "Then who?" Daphne demanded. "Harry Potter." Her father said after a long pause. The silence that fell was deafening. Daphne could only look at her mother, who looked saddened, and her father, still scowling over Daphne''s outburst. Daphne tried several times to say something, but her mouth only opened, a strange strangled noise would come out, and she would close her mouth again. After several minutes of silence, Daphne rose up out of her chair slowly, unsure if her legs would support her, and she left her parents in the study. "Well, at least she didn''t try and curse you." Mrs. Greengrass said gently as she patted her husband''s shoulder. "How could she think we''d even think of aligning with the Malfoys? She knows very well how I feel about that man." "Give her time to process it all, my love. She''s just been told she''s engaged to the Boy-Who-Lived. That''s a lot for a sixteen year old girl to process at once." "Do you think we did the right thing by telling her?" "You know as well as I what would happen if we waited. This way she has a chance to form some kind of relationship with the boy. If he''s anything like we''ve heard, she may even¡­" "Let''s just hope they can find some kind of common ground. You know as well as I that when we signed that contract we doomed her." "Time will tell my love. Time will tell." Mrs. Greengrass smiled her secret smile, staring at the door her eldest daughter had left through. Daphne closed the door to her bedroom softly and sat in front of her vanity, staring hard into the large mirror. Her life had just been thrown so far off track that her head was still spinning with all of it. There was too much to think about to focus on any one thing. She was betrothed to the savior of the wizarding world. "Harry Potter." She whispered to herself. Of all the boys in the school, in the world even, why him? The Gryffindor Golden Boy, the Tri-Wizard champion, the freaking Boy-Who-Lived. The bane of nearly every Slytherin''s existence. The one person who Slytherins loathed above all others. Daphne Greengrass was contractually obligated to marry the boy, and she had never even spoken a single word to him, not even to insult him. Did he even know? Was it possible Harry Potter had no idea they were to be married one day? "Knock Knock!" Daphne turned to see her only friend in the entire world, Tracey Davis, poke her head in the door way. In all the travesty, Daphne had forgotten that Tracey was arriving today so they could spend two weeks together. They did it every summer, two weeks at the Greengrass manor, and then two weeks at the Davis beach home. Tracey was a bit taller than Daphne, with shoulder length straight auburn hair, which she often tied in a loose ponytail. Her eyes were sparkling blue, and her face was rarely seen without her mischievous smile. Unlike Daphne, Tracey was more forward and she spoke her mind, often without thinking about what she said. "You''re folks said you were up here and I should just come up." Tracey said in her cheeriest voice. "Your mom seemed a little distracted, though." "Oh, I''m so glad to see you." Daphne said as she ran over to hug her friend. "How''s your holiday been?" "Not so bad, actually. My brother was home for a bit, and he brought me presents, so of course I was happy to see him." Tracey laughed. Daphne helped her friend with her bags and the two friends and Slytherin housemates settled on Daphne''s bed to catch up. Tracey talked about things going on at her home and what her brother had been up to. He worked for a private treasure company as a Cursebreaker. He''d been offered a substantial amount of gold to come to work for Gringotts, which he''d accepted. "So he''ll be home for another month and then he''s going to Egypt. He says it''ll be better than traipsing about Romania. So, what about you? Has Astoria been her typical pain in the arse this summer?" Tracey asked. "Actually, she''s been holed up in her room writing letters. I think she''s got a girlfriend." Daphne remarked casually. "So you''re still sure she plays for the other team?" Tracey grinned. "I''m positive. And I don''t care. So long as she''s happy, and leaves me the hell alone. I have enough problems as it is." Daphne grimaced. "Why, what''s going on?" Tracey asked worriedly. "Nott still sending you love letters?" "That I could handle. I simply trip near the fireplace and it falls in, burning before I can read it. Oh no!" Daphne feigned hurt and despair. "No, this problem is a little bigger." She took a breath before continuing. "I''m betrothed." Daphne said quickly, as if ripping off a band-aid. Her nearly life-long best friend just stared blankly for a long moment before a smile began on her face. "And people say you have no sense of humor. You almost had me. How long have you been cooking that one up?'' Tracey giggled. "I wish it were a joke. My parents just told me that they signed a marriage contract when I was a baby." "Seriously?" Tracey''s smile melted away. "This isn''t some really bad prank?" "You have no idea how much I wish it was. And it gets worse¡­" "What? Did they promise you to Malfoy?" Tracey asked, still shocked by the revelation. "No. That would be life ending. You''d be talking to my corpse hanging from the rafters if that were the case. No, my future husband is none other than Harry Potter." Daphne said. Tracey nearly fell off the bed they were sitting on in awe. Tracey regained her balance with a little help from her friend and tried repeatedly to say anything. Daphne thought Tracey looked like a fish out of water, her mouth opening and closing with no sound, and her eyes blue eyes bugged out in dismay. "The Gryffindor Golden Boy?" Tracey finally asked when her power of speech returned. "How lucky can you get?" "Lucky? I''m betrothed to a boy I''ve never even spoken to. A boy who is hated above all others in our house, and the number one target on You-Know-Who''s hit list. Have you not been paying attention these past five years? He gets in more trouble than any other person on earth!" "Ok, yeah, all good points, but let''s not forget he''s one of, if not the most attractive boy in school. He''s fairly smart, humble. You never hear him brag about himself, nor does he use the pity card." "The pity card?" Daphne asked, looking at her friend oddly. "Oh, poor me, my parents are dead, and You-Know-Who is out to get me." "That''s not how the Prophet wrote him." "And we all know why. They were trying to hide the truth about¡­" "I know. I know." "You could do worse. Is this really so bad? He''s supposed to be loaded." "Why should that make any difference?" Daphne asked indignantly. "I don''t know. I just thought it might be a factor." "If he''s so rich, why does he dress like a pauper. Is he trying to make some kind of new fashion trend? Homeless beggar?" "How am I supposed to know? Besides, you never cared how rich a boy was. Why now?" "I don''t care. You brought it up. I just don''t want to be betrothed to him. I don''t want to be betrothed to anyone. I''m not even sixteen yet!" "When is the marriage supposed to happen?" Tracey asked. "I don''t know. I walked out before my parents could finish. I was too overwhelmed by it all. I thought marriage contracts were a thing of the past. I can''t believe my parents would take part in such a horrible custom." "What did they say about it?" "Get this, they were just looking out for me." Daphne huffed. "It''s possible they were." Tracey observed. "Possibly, but I know my father. If he signed a marriage contract, he''s getting something out of it." "So what are you going to do?" Tracey asked her best friend, who looked sad and scared. "I don''t know. I suppose I''ll have to talk to Potter. Chances are really good that he doesn''t know anything about this mess. With his parents dead, I don''t know if anyone else would know about it to tell him." "Oh, that poor boy." Tracey giggled. "Promise I get to be there when you drop the bombshell. I want to see the look on his face when he finds out that the ''Ice Queen'' is to be his wife." "He might die before You-Know-Who gets his claws into him." Daphne shrugged. "Oh, wow." Tracey sobered. "I forgot about that. He''s pretty much marked for death. Did your parents consider that? Can they break the contract because of that?" "I don''t know. Seems like it should be possible. It seems like it would be smart to have some sort of clause to break it, in case something goes wrong. One party goes to Azkaban, or something. Let''s go ask." Daphne said hopeful. The two girls found Daphne''s father in the study, pouring over paperwork, most likely regarding the family''s wealth, some new law that the Wizengamont wanted to pass, or any number of offers of alliance to other ancient families. Her father was often approached to join with another family to support or oppose something or other. Jonathan Greengrass was a very good politician, though he held no office. He had followed in his own father''s footsteps and kept the Greengrass family neutral working in the private sector, investing in many wizarding businesses. It had ensured the family''s survival through one war, and now he hoped to repeat his previous success. "Father." Daphne said tentatively. "I have some questions." Daphne fell into her "Ice Queen" persona as easily as slipping on a coat. In this persona she was firm, and business like. She had noticed her father had the same sort of act when he had to deal with business ?ssociates or politicians. She always figure it was from him that she learned to protect herself behind her mask of frigid stand offishness. "I thought you might. Come, sit down. Hello, Tracey." Mr. Greengrass said easily. "Hello, Mr. Greengrass." Tracey smiled politely as she sat next to her friend across from Mr. Greengrass, who sat behind a large oak desk. "Ask your questions." Mr. Greengrass directed his eldest child. "When is this marriage supposed to happen?" Daphne began without any preamble. "The contract stipulates that the marriage must happen within one year of your graduation from Hogwarts or no later than your nineteenth birthday. There are no clauses regarding children. This was mostly for political alignment. The reason we told you now was so you would have a chance to get to know the boy. In most arranged marriages, the participants do not even meet until their nuptials take place. Consider yourself lucky." "We know quite a bit about him already." Tracey said. "Oh, are you friends with the boy?" Mr. Greengrass asked, a suspicious eye cast upon the auburn haired girl. His tone was sarcastically firm. Tracey actually shrank under the man''s unwavering gaze. "Not really." she nearly squeaked. "Then you only know what you''ve heard about him. Rumors and bad articles in the Prophet are not good ways to measure a man. You can only know him by talking to him, and spending time with him. Especially a teenaged boy. They never truly show you who they are until you''ve spent significant time together. We men have fragile egos and so we often hide our true selves away." "Is there any way out of this?" Daphne asked changing the subject. "Potter is number one on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named''s list. If I become chummy with Potter, You-Know-Who might come after me. Not to mention that I have no interest in being forced into marriage." Mr. Greengrass steepled his fingers and rested his chin upon them. He looked hard at his first born, sighing quite deeply. "When the contract was signed, there was no threat upon the boy''s life. That came after. The only stipulation that would have ended it was if he had died, or you had died. It was iron clad, Daphne. It is magically binding. You and Harry Potter must be married by your nineteenth birthday. We have no choice now. If his parents were still alive, we may have spoken to them. We may have been able to come to some agreement that would allow you both to walk away from it. But since they are no longer with us, we simply must move forward." "Can''t you just tear it up?" Daphne asked, her "Ice Queen" mask falling away with her rising desperation. "No, not without the agreement of his parents. They were the ones who signed it with us. If we tried to nullify it on our own, there would be serious consequences. That includes death." Mr. Greengrass said with finality. Daphne sighed and looked to her best friend who looked just as frightened and anxious as Daphne felt. "Thank you, father." Daphne said as she rose from her seat. "You''ve given me much to think on." "Daphne, do not think of this as some sort of imprisonment. We did this to help you. We did this for your future. We did this at a time where people were dying and losing everything. I know that you believe it was for our own gain, but it wasn''t. We gained virtually nothing from this." "I would very much like to see this contract for myself." Daphne said firmly, hands on her h?ps. She thought she saw her father give a small shiver, which made her smile inside. Just like her mother, Daphne could make her father bend to her will with but a look. Her mother was far better at it, but Daphne knew one day she''d be able to apply the same principal to her own husband one day. That thought made her shiver a little herself. "Then it would be wise to speak to Potter on this matter. The contract is in the Potter family vault. Only he can access it." Her father gave a knowing smile. "That seems odd." Tracey uttered. "Why wouldn''t you have a copy?" "We did." Mr. Greengrass bowed his head towards the paper work he was looking at when the girls arrived. "It burned up in my father''s house the night he was killed. Daphne and Tracey excused themselves politely. The two teenage girls went back up to Daphne''s room where the blonde girl threw herself on her bed and screamed all of her frustration into her pillows. Tracey sat down and gently rubbed her friend''s back. "He pretty much guaranteed you have to talk to him now, didn''t he?" She asked. Her blonde friend nodded her head, which was still buried in her pillows. "So what are you going to do?" Daphne sat up and looked to her best friend. She had tears forming in her large brown eyes and she sniffled lightly. "I really don''t know. I know nothing about him." "That''s not true." Tracey said vehemently. "You know that he won the Tri-Wizard tournament. We know that he''s the best flyer on a broom in the entire school. He''s wealthy, though we don''t truly know how wealthy. He''s lousy in potions, and Snape hates him, while Dumbledore and the rest of the school seems to worship him." "I don''t know that the rest of the school worships him. There''s a definite split as to worship and loathe." Tracey smiled. "We know he''s got his own fan club, led by Ginny Weasley, though he is most likely unaware of it. In fact, he seems oblivious to a lot of things. You''d think he''d know more about our world than he seems to." "We have nothing in common." "Except that you''re going to be married." Tracey added. "Not helping." Daphne glared. "Wasn''t trying." Tracey winked. "You''re supposed to be my friend. Help me!" Daphne pleaded. Tracey laughed and shook her head. "I will help you. I''ll be right there when you tell him, and I''ll be right there when you say I do." Tracey laughed hard, and received a pillow to the side of her head. Tracey continued to laugh as Daphne stood up and went to her window. Tracey could see her friend was not enjoying this, and decided to cool it. She stood up and went to her friend. "Daphne, look. You''re in a bad situation, but it could be a good thing. Maybe, just maybe, Potter is who you''re meant to be with. Who''s to say that without the stupid marriage contract you two wouldn''t have ended up together anyway. Just because you''ve never spoken to him in school, and may never have, doesn''t mean that a few years down the road you wouldn''t bump into him in Diagon Alley and sparks wouldn''t fly. You have to admit, he''s quite good looking. The fact that he''s Malfoy''s enemy is a plus as well." Daphne seemed to think it over for a few minutes before nodding slowly. "Maybe." She said softly, still staring out her window. "So what do you want to do?" Tracey asked. "Well, it seems that I''m trapped in this. So I suppose I have very little choice. I''m going to have to speak to Harry Potter on the train to school." Harry Potter sat under a tree in the Weasley''s yard. It had been a rather interesting holiday so far. Though it had started off grimly with the death of his Godfather, Sirius Black, Harry had learned quite a bit about his predicament. He''d learned that he was being hunted by the Dark Lord, Voldemort, because of some prophecy made by his batty Divination teacher sixteen years ago. He''d learned that Dumbledore, a man he''d looked up to had made a great many mistakes in regard to Harry''s well being. Harry sat under the shade of the tree, thinking about the last conversation he''d had with the Hogwarts headmaster, the night he''d arrived at the Burrow. It had all began when Dumbledore arrived at Privet Drive late that evening. He had invited himself into the Dursley home, and gathered them all in the sitting room where he told them that Harry would be returning for a very short time the following summer, and that Harry nor the Dursleys would see each other again unless they chose to. Harry had felt a rush of deep relief at this news. The Dursleys had never been kind to him in all the time he''d lived with them. He''d been a slave for them, doing yard work, cooking meals and b?r?ly getting any food himself. Then, after he''d started going to Hogwarts, they become fearful of him, though never truly stopping their mistreatment of him. Then to Harry''s great surprise, it was revealed that Sirius black, his late godfather, had willed him nearly everything left in the Black family estate. Dumbledore said that Harry could find out all about it later, and that it mattered little now. The only thing that mattered was if Harry could truly inherit it all. "You see, You are not related by blood, and as such, the magic that bonds the estate, may not be allowed to fall to you. It may go to the next male heir in the Black family, that would of course, be Draco Malfoy. However there is one simple test that will answer this for us." The headmaster had said. "What do I do?" Harry had asked. "You must call Kreacher to you. If he comes, then we will know for certain if you are now the rightful owner of the Black Family Estate and all it''s holdings." Harry nodded once and then called out clearly, "Kreacher, Come to me." There was a long pause in which nothing happened, and the suddenly a loud pop, and the ancient, withered Elf lay upon the floor, slamming his fists and kicking his feet." "Kreacher does not want to belong to the Potter brat. Kreacher does not wish to serve him. Kreacher wants to serve the noble Malfoy." "Kreacher! Shut up!" Harry spat scornfully. Instantly Kreacher silenced, though he continued to kick and writhe upon the floor like a toddler throwing a tantrum. "Well, that settles it. Congratulations, Harry. We have solved one major problem this evening. Well then, If you are all packed, we shall leave these people in peace." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the Dursleys who were watching the actions of the strange creature on their floor. "Headmaster? What do we do with Kreacher?" "Well, he is your elf. What would you have him do?" Harry thought carefully over this dilemma. He truly did not want the wretched elf in his presence as it was a constant reminder of his loss. Then an idea struck him. "Sir, would it be acceptable for Kreacher to work at Hogwarts?" "I daresay it would. We can always use more help, and the other elves would keep a close eye on him." "Kreacher, you are to report to the Hogwarts kitchens, and you will work there until I call for you. You will speak to no one, nor will you send any messages." Harry said sternly to the distraught ancient elf. Kreacher glared at Harry for a long moment, his eyes cold with hatred, before popping away. Harry felt contempt for the elf, but he couldn''t think of what he might do with him. Sending him to Hogwarts had been a temporary solution at best. Harry rushed upstairs and gathered up all his belongings. He had already sent Hedwig off to the Weasley''s. When he made it downstairs, Dumbledore flicked his wand and Harry''s trunk and Hedwig''s cage vanished. "They shall await you at the Weasley home. Now, we must be off." Harry waved a goodbye to his still frightened relatives cowering on the sofa, and followed Dumbledore into the night. The walked in silence for a few minutes before Harry spoke at last. "Sir. I feel I should apologize for breaking your things at the end of term. It was wrong." "Ah, Harry. They are but things, and can be replaced. Your anger was not misdirected, and it is I who must apologize. I am human, and I do tend to forget the details when trying to help the world. I had forgotten of you as a person, and that you needed information. Especially as you are at the center of this war. Keeping it all from you was a mistake. But please understand I only wished for you to have a chance at a normal childhood. It is clear now that your childhood had been anything but ordinary. Perhaps if I had been honest with you from the very beginning, things might have turned out very differently. But, as I said the last time we spoke, I cared to much for you to place that burden upon your shoulders." "Are we okay, sir?" Harry mused. "I think we are. I promise that this year, you will be better prepared for what lies ahead. I would very much like to take you into private tutelage, if you are willing." "Yes. That would be good. May I ask what I will be learning from you?" "History mostly. Ah, do not make such a sour face, Harry. We can learn a great deal from history. And this I dare say, is very important. But now is not the time for such a discussion. This is as good a place as any. If you would take my arm¡­" Harry reached up and took the headmaster''s arm. He noticed that the hand was blackened and shriveled. Harry was about to inquire as to the cause when he felt as if he were being f?r??b?? squeezed through a tube. That evening he had met Horace Slughorn, who would be returning to teach at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had used Harry to lure the professor out of retirement to take up his old post. Slughorn was quite a character. When they had arrived at his home, it looked as though there had been an attack, but it turned out, Slughorn was merely trying to hid. He was a large man, not in height but girth. He was completely bald but had a very bushy mustache. After a brief conversation, Dumbledore excused himself to the restroom, leaving Harry with the stout professor. Slughorn knew who Harry was, of course, and the two talked a little about Harry''s mother and her talent in his class. Harry liked the man, but also felt a little wary of him. He got a feeling he was being eyed by a hungry walrus. When Dumbledore returned, Slughorn agreed to return to teaching at Hogwarts, though he made a few demands, which Dumbledore happily agreed to. As they were leaving, Harry had asked what Slughorn would be showing the students that year, Slughorn replied that he had some very interesting potions in mind. "You''re a potions master?" Harry asked of the stout, portly man. Slughorn''s eyes lit up with delight. "Yes, and if you''re like your mother, I expect that you will be quite a genius with the subject." Before he could ask anymore, Dumbledore escorted the youth back into the night, and apparate him to the Burrow, where, despite the late hour, Molly Weasley was still up and awaiting them. "Now Harry, before we go inside, I must speak with you for just a moment. First I must thank you for your help with Professor Slughorn. I was unable to convince him by myself, and having him at Hogwarts is most important. You will learn why later on. Second, I believe that it is in your best interests to share with your friends all that you know. This includes the prophecy. You friends give you strength Harry, it is a great disservice to them if you hide secrets from them. And finally, though the future might seem bleak, try you best to live and experience life and all its wonder." "I plan to, sir. Sirius would never forgive me if I wallowed in my own guilt. I know it wasn''t completely my fault, but I do hold some of the blame. But even so, Sirius, and my parents would be very disappointed in me if I clung to tightly to it, and let life pass me by." "Indeed. A very good outlook, Harry. I am very proud. Now, let''s not deprive Molly her chance to feed and dote upon you any further." Harry had meant what he''d said, and over the next few weeks, he had finished his summer homework and really enjoyed being with his friends. He and Ron and Ginny had played Quidditch and he''d had several long and fun conversations with Hermione. Each day the four teens had tried their best to enjoy being young and free. During his stay with the Weasleys, two very curious things happened. The first was that he''d learned that Ron''s oldest brother Bill was engaged to be married to none other than Fleur Delacour. Harry had been surprised, but he was happy for Fleur, though he''d only met Bill once just before the Quidditch World Cup. Fleur had not really ingratiated herself with the Weasleys, least of all Mrs. Weasley, who didn''t seem to liked the pretty blonde French woman a bit. Harry and Fleur had spent a little time together during the summer holiday getting to know each other, as they never spent much time together during the Tri-Wizard Tournament two years ago. Harry came to respect the French woman who was struggling to find acceptance from the Weasley women who were making her feel unworthy of Bill. Harry had no advice to give the poor girl other than to stick it out and fight for what she wanted. Presently, Harry sat against his favorite tree, not far from the pond where the he, Hermione, Ginny and Ron had spent several hours swimming during the holiday, contemplating the other curious thing that was happening to him. Ginny Weasley had changed a lot since he''d last seen her, or so he thought. He found himself staring at her for no reason, or blushing when she looked at him. It was a strange sensation to feel when he looked at the sister of his best friend, and Harry had no explanation for it. For years, it had been Ginny who had usually been unable to speak, or else doing something clumsy and embarrassing in front of him. But during the last year, she had m?tur?d, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. She spoke to Harry many times with out blushing, or tripping over anything. She had even dated Michael Corner. She was currently together with Harry''s housemate, Dean Thomas, and she seemed really happy and Harry was happy for her. Yet, he felt a weird bitterness whenever he thought of Dean and Ginny together. Harry couldn''t understand why he felt bu??erflies in his stomach when she looked at him now, or why he worried about how he looked before going down to breakfast. It was all so strange to him. He b?r?ly knew her, really. They''d never had any deep conversations before. Still, he found himself thinking of her often. Perhaps it was true, sometimes the very best things in life are always right in front of your eyes. Harry realized that it might be a good idea to really get to know Ginny in the coming year. She was one person who had never wavered in her support of him, and she could be trusted to keep a secret, and Harry had a huge secret, one he had yet to share with his friends, despite Dumbledore''s encouragement. Harry wanted to, but he''d not found the right time. And with the school year fast approaching, time was running short for telling them in some place where they might not be overheard. So when he looked up from the struggling gnomes he''d been absentmindedly watching to see Ron, Hermione and Ginny approaching, Harry decided that it was now or never. "There you are." Hermione said as they stopped in front of him. "I told you we should have looked here first." Ginny smiled triumphantly. "You were right, big deal." Ron scolded. "No need to get all uppity. "You guys need to sit down. I''ve got something I need to tell you." Harry said quietly. The three sat down, and Harry began his tale. He was unsurprised by the various reactions. All of them were horrified when he finally revealed the contents of the prophecy, and Harry was encouraged when all three of them pledged to do whatever they were able to help him. Harry knew then that the coming school year would be very enlightening. Harry felt more prepared than he ever had. He was about to be proven wrong. Chapter 80 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 27 - Harry Potter and the Slytherin Ice Queen Plot: After Harry''s name is released from the Goblet of Fire, only Hermione seems to believe he didn''t enter himself, that is until a chance meeting one day by the great lake. What will become of a Gryffindor and Slytherin trying to be friends with each other? Pairing: HarryxDaphne Chapter 1: Daphne Greengrass Harry sighed and looked over the black lake of Hogwarts towards the Durmstrang ship. It hadn''t even been a full twenty-four hours since his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, and it seemed as if no one, save Hermione, believed that he hadn''t entered himself in the tournament. In a small way, he was somewhat used being the school pariah. During his second year, everyone had been accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin just because he could talk to snakes. The students at Hogwarts weren''t exactly the most accepting bunch of people in the world. Still, the worst of it was just some mocking jabs or a few glares that got sent his way, which was nothing he hadn''t been through before. Compared to his childhood with the Dursleys, even his worst school day was a vacation. What had hurt far more was when Ron had turned on him. A small part of him had mentally accepted that his friends always could turn on him, and prepared as much as he could for the possibility. Still, after everything he and Ron had been through, it hurt to know that he refused to believe Harry. He was still running the redhead''s words through his mind over and over again. It''s ok you know? You can tell me the truth. If you don''t want everyone else to know, fine. But, I don''t know why you''re bothering to lie. "I never wanted to be in this stupid tournament," he growled aloud, as if Ron could possibly hear him. "Now everyone at Hogwarts thinks I''m barking again." He closed his eyes and leaned back against a tree. He often came here when he needed to think and couldn''t fly his firebolt. What he really wanted to do was talk to Sirius, but his godfather was still in hiding as far as Harry knew. Honestly he wanted to talk to someone... anyone, and try to vent a little, but the only person currently talking to him was Hermione, and he didn''t like setting her up to be a target for the rest of the school. "You know," said a soft voice from his right. "They say that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness." Harry spun around and quickly pulled out his wand, his first spell already on his lips. When he saw who had spoken, he was immediately halted as if he''d been hit with a stunning spell. Staring at him, with her head slightly ???ked to one side, was Daphne Greengrass. She was a Slytherin in his year and while they''d never really talked much, he remembered that Hermione had mentioned that Greengrass usually did about as well in class as she did. "A bit jumpy, aren''t we?" she asked, smoothly nodding towards his wand. He took a split-second to get a better look at her and noticed that while she was clearly focused on him, she didn''t appear to be hostile. She didn''t have a wand out, and if she had meant to curse him, she certainly could''ve done so a moment ago. He sheepishly put his wand away and looked at his trainers. "Sorry about that," he said softly. "You caught me off-guard." "I?" she said, a slight mocking air to her tone. "I caught the great wizard Harry Potter by surprise? Now that is high praise." Harry felt his anger build at her words, but forced himself to remain calm. As he recalled, Daphne wasn''t part of Malfoy''s clique. So why was she talking to him? He knew more about her through reputation than any actual interaction. She was often called the Ice Queen, though he wasn''t sure exactly why, although it had something to do with the fact that she didn''t date anyone. Can''t exactly judge her at all for that one, he thought, thinking of his own considerable gap in any sort of romantic relationship. She was fairly pretty, with pale blonde hair and a slender frame. She stood only an inch or so taller than he was, which surprised him slightly because he''d always been fairly short for his age. He noticed her eyes were sky blue, and though her face was impassive, her gaze was focused intently on him. "It''s Daphne, right?" he said, trying to be cordial. "I''m surprised you remembered my name, Potter. Rumor around the Slytherin common room is that you consider yourself far above any snake." Harry stared at her, slightly confused. It didn''t feel like she was making fun of him, exactly, but she did have a slightly humorous tone to her words. "Well, you can''t always believe what you hear these days," he said, trying to match her way of speaking as much as he could. It was a very odd exchange for him. He was used to speaking bluntly and was often very clear with his intent. Daphne was¡­ different. It wasn''t that she was mocking him or what he was saying, but she had a small smirk that indicated that something was funny. "No, I suppose not, especially where you''re concerned," she said, sitting at the base of the tree with her legs to one side. "You do seem to turn the world a bit wherever you step, Potter." "I don''t do it on purpose!" he said, feeling a little hot under the collar. "And I didn''t enter myself in the tournament!" "Oh," she said, closing her eyes nonchalantly. "I already knew that." She said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You¡­ what? You don''t think I did it?" he asked, curiously. "Of course," she said, motioning for him to sit back down. "It wouldn''t make sense for you to do so. After all, your family isn''t the richest in Britain or anything, but one thousand galleons wouldn''t make a huge difference in your funds, I imagine. The other reward is fame and prestige and, if you''ll forgive my saying so, you never have been very comfortable in the limelight. Besides, what would the tri-wizard tournament give you in recognition that you wouldn''t get as the boy-who-lived?" Harry found himself slightly floored at her words. She was, of course, completely right. Granted, he really didn''t know anything much about the state of his vault at Gringotts, but the prize money held no interest for him, neither did the fame. Slowly, he sat down, and felt a huge wave of relief crash over him. At least one other person in the school believed he hadn''t entered himself. "Thank you," he said softly, leaning against the tree. "For what?" she asked simply. "Believing me." "I believe in logic, Harry Potter. The facts are: you managed to get yourself wrapped up in something big year after year, but you never seem to enjoy it. If you were the sort of prat Malfoy insists you are, then yes, perhaps it would make sense for you to intentionally do such things. However, you seem to me to be far too honest and too awkward with large groups of people to behave that way. Our second year with Lockhart was more than enough to prove that." Harry flushed slightly. "I suppose I''ve never really been very subtle." Harry wasn''t exactly sure whether or not he liked Daphne. She seemed to like to talk, and she believed he wasn''t an attention-seeking prat though, and as things were, that was more than enough reason to talk with her. "I would disagree," she said again. "You''re rather cryptic to me. Oh sure, others speak for you often enough, as with Lockhart, or the papers this morning. However, you say very little about yourself openly. I think I''d rather like to get to know who you are, Mr. Potter, not just as the boy-who-lived or the Hogwarts champion." "I¡­ you want to be friends with me?" he asked, totally confused. "Slytherins and Gryffindors are not friends," she said simply. "Oh," said Harry, looking at his shoes again. "Sorry¡­ I just¡­" "So," she said, as if she hadn''t paused at all. "I think I will like shaking up the established order of things with you, if you would like to be friends, that is." Harry looked up at her and saw that while her face was still stony, her eyes were shining with something he recognized: hope. He saw it because he knew what if felt like to want to be friends with someone that bad. He doubted that Daphne was quite as lonely as he had been when he first came to Hogwarts, but he remembered the years he''d spent completely alone at his aunt and uncle''s house. Daphne held out her hand to him, as if conducting a business deal. Harry considered it for a long second. Normally, he likely would''ve been more cautious. He would''ve double and triple checked to see how this Slytherin girl would betray him to Malfoy, but she hadn''t done anything but talk with him so far, and his options for friendship weren''t exactly very vast at the moment. Besides, she had expressed the d?s?r? to get to know him outside of all the fame. He took her hand and smiled brightly. "Pleased to be friends with you, on one condition." She raised an eyebrow, and looked at him curiously. "What condition would that be, Mr. Potter?" "My friends call me Harry." She smiled back, the first time he''d seen her do so as far as he could recall. Her blue eyes shown as she shook his hand. Her hand was very soft, and her grip was gentle, almost like silk in his hand. "Well then, thank you for being my friend, Harry." "Thank you for being my friend, Daphne." She released his hand and checked her watch. "We have defense with our new teacher before long. I expect I''ll see you there." "Oh, right then." Without another word, she turned and began to head up towards the castle. He began to follow her, and as he passed the great hall, Hermione came running out to him. "There you are! I was worried when I didn''t see you. Where have you been?" "I was¡­ talking to a new friend," he said, smiling softly. "Actually you know her, Daphne Greengrass." "Greengrass?" repeated Hermione, a look of surprise on her face. "Harry, are you sure? It''s just¡­ she''s really closed off, you know? I don''t think she''d close to anyone outside of Tracey Davis and her little sister, Astoria." "H-how do you know all that?" he asked. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly Harry, have you paid any attention to anyone in our year that isn''t a Gryffindor?" "I¡­ actually I suppose not," he admitted. "Still, can always change that now, can''t I?" "I suppose," she said as they walked up the grand staircase towards the defense against the dark arts classroom. "I hope Ron isn''t too upset. He''s never liked Slytherins much." "Speaking of him, does he still think I put my own name in the damn goblet?" Harry asked, unable to keep the sour tone from his voice. "Well," said Hermione slowly. "No¡­ at least I don''t think he does, really." "What does that mean, not really?" "Harry¡­ Ron''s jealous!" "Jealous of what? He wants to die in a tournament with students three years his senior, does he?" "No," she said, patiently, making Harry want to kick himself. "You have to admit, Harry, you always do end up being the center of things¡ªNot on purpose! I know. Still, Ron''s always wanted to be famous and rich, and I think this just sort of¡­ set him off, you know?" Harry growled again. "That is¡­ really, really stupid!" he said. "I get he''s jealous but how can he let that come between us? I mean, he''s supposed to be my best mate and everything!" "Well," she said sadly. "I won''t say he''s not being a bit of a prat about it, but you know he doesn''t really believe you would enter yourself Harry, he knows you too well. He''ll come around, I think. It just¡­ takes him a while." Harry shrugged. "We''ll see," he said. "All the same, I''m actually glad you made friends with someone outside our house, Harry. Besides, if anyone could use a friend like you, it''s her. She''s so closed off that I think you''ll be good for her, and maybe she can finally help you think before you jump into everything." "I don''t¡­" he started, and caught himself. "Well, I suppose I do. Oh well, who knows what will happen with Daphne and I? All I know is if she really wants to be friends with me, I''m willing to try something new." Hermione beamed at him as they reached the classroom. Chapter 81 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 28 - The Snake Within Plot: During the Christmas holidays of his fifth year Harry realizes that he should do something to keep things from spinning completely out of his control. He proceeds to make new allies and embraces his more Slytherin side to make use of his considerable resources. Pairing: HarryxDaphne Chapter 1 -o0oOo0o- Harry woke up in his room at Grimmauld Place with a raging headache. It was the Christmas Day, but Harry didn''t feel like celebrating. This whole year had been one disappointment after another, but somehow it had still managed to end up in an all time low for Harry. First Voldemort had managed to gain a new body in a resurrection ritual last June, after which Dumbledore had simply dumped Harry back at his relatives without any information about what was going on. And he had even made sure that Harry''s friends hadn''t as much as tried to tell Harry anything at all. For the sake of his safety, he was later told. Then there had been the minor inconvenience of dementors trying to feast on Harry''s and Dudley''s souls - not that Dudley had much of a one. And later the ministry officials wouldn''t believe anything what Harry was saying, but were rather trying to convict him for "unreasonable use of under-age magic", all the while the Wizading Britain''s only major media outlet, The Daily Prophet, was declaring him "deranged and dangerous". And then, when finally the worst summer ever was over and Harry was able to return back to Hogwarts - the place he felt most like home in - the ministry had again decided to intervene, this time in shape of new defence teacher who was torturing Harry in name of "detention". Also most of the other students apparently believed what the Prophet had told them all summer. But the real reason why Harry felt like he did wasn''t anything above; the latest blow was Ron acting like Harry was a Dark Lord, or perhaps even The Dark Lord. You see, Harry had had a vision, or a dream, about being a snake and attacking Ron''s father, Arthur Weasley in a hallway somewhere. As it happens, Arthur was then found in said hallway unconscious, bleeding from a snakebite. After that dream - or vision - Harry and the Weasley children had been evacuated from Hogwarts to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix in the Black family ancient home at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London, where they were to spend the Christmas holidays. Normally Harry would have been happy to get away of Umbridge, Snape and the Slytherins to see his godfather Sirius, but the fact that Ron had distanced himself from Harry to the point that he had demanded and got a room of his own at the admittedly huge house, and the fact that every other Weasley seemed to act carefully around Harry too (even the twins were cutting down their usual twin-speak and pranks) made him feel uncomfortable to say the least. Sirius acting like nothing was wrong and trying to spread Christmas spirit to his guests served only to emphasize the insincerity of it all. So, although there were a good sized pile of presents at the foot of Harry''s bed, Harry couldn''t find himself getting enthusiastic about it at all. "Harry wake up!" came the voice of Sirius from the hallway "It''s Christmas! You need to open your presents!" "I''m awake, I''m awake" replied Harry weakly. Hopefully presents will get some sense in Ron''s thick head, and the Christmas may yet be enjoyable, mused Harry. Although having your father in hospital after a near death experience would dampen anyone''s Christmas spirit. Harry got up, showered, washed his teeth, put some clothes on and started to open his presents. There were the customary book from Hermione (the book, 101 Offensive Spells and Curses and Their Counters, would probably make a good handbook for DA meetings, and Hermione had already marked most interesting chapters for Harry), ?ssortment of candies from Ron (including Bertie Bott''s Every Flavor Beans that Harry couldn''t stand and usually ended up giving Ron), a new handmade jumper from Mrs. Weasley and another book about defence from the DA group collectively. Sirius and Remus had compiled a book called "The Best of Marauders: 17 Greatest Pranks and How to Replicate Them", completed with photographs extracted from pensieve memories. "Eat up, dear, we have long day ahead," she said while loading Harry''s plate with breakfast and pouring pumpkin juice in his glass. "We''ll go to see Arthur at the hospital soon after we have eaten. Take some toast, I''ll get the bacon ready in a jiffy." The conversations around the table started again, although the fact that Arthur was missing from the table couldn''t go unnoticed by anyone. Sirius had dressed in red robes and hat and was doing his best to lighten the mood, but Harry just couldn''t share his enthusiasm. And how he had waited for his first real Christmas with Sirius around! The breakfast was quickly over, and the Weasleys plus Harry started preparing for their trip to the hospital. - O - St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was the primary medical institution of Wizarding Britain. It treated all kinds of wounds, countered every type of curses and healed various diseases. On the Christmas Day the reception hall was full of families coming to visit their relatives in the long term observation ward, and bringing in children who had been a little bit too enthusiastic when playing with their new toys. There was a reason why brooms had warnings against giving them to children under eleven, but then Quidditch was a hugely popular sport and all those magazines were full of stories how this and that international Quidditch superstar had caught his first snitch at the age of five. Now that Harry thought about it, there were probably stories about how he had done it when four. The receptionist was a middle aged witch with her hair up on a neat bun, and she showed them to the right direction. Arthur had been moved from the "Magical creatures and Animals" ward to monitoring at the sixth floor after the biggest threat from the poisoning was over, and a quick trip with elevator later and after a while of searching for the right door Harry and the Weasleys were next to Arthur''s bed. Arthur was smiling, although one could clearly see that he was still somewhat pale after his ordeal. "Nice to see you all, and happy Christmas," came Arthur''s greeting when they were all in. "Good to see you too, Harry, I heard it was your quick reaction that saved my hide last week." It didn''t take long before Harry excused himself from the room. He was feeling more than a bit outsider, as the others were still uncertain how to relate to Harry''s vision. And Arthur was their family, after all. Harry wandered around the corridors looking for a bathroom, when someone shouted for him. "Hey there young man! My name is Gilderoy Lockhart! You want to have my picture autographed?" "Oh, you have found a new fan, Gilderoy!" a new voice came behind Lockhart. "He is such a dear, you know, always ready to cater for the needs of admirers," the nurse explained to Harry. "Right." "Lets get back to your room, Gilderoy, you can sign one of those new postcards you had made last month." Harry was left alone at the corridor, wondering about what had happened back in his second year. Sure Lockhart had been an idiot and a total fraud, but still losing one''s sanity was a bit extreme as far as punishments go. But he didn''t have much time to wonder before he was woken from his thoughts by a familiar voice calling his name. "Harry! What are you doing here?" Neville asked. He had just come out of the elevator with his grandmother, an imposing looking old lady named Augusta Longbottom. "Neville? I was visiting Arthur with the other Weasleys. They are still with him, and I wanted to give them a bit privacy. But what are you doing here?" Neville looked down. "I came to see my parents," he said quietly. "Oh. What''s happened to them?" "Nothing," Neville replied. "They''ve been here as long as I can remember." The last sentence was b?r?ly audible, and Neville''s grandmother supplied explanation as she noticed that Neville wasn''t up to it. "They were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters shortly after the downfall of Voldemort. Dumbledore told them it was safe to come out of hiding as Voldemort was no more, but the Lestranges and Crouch junior were still free. Neville was saved only because he was staying with me that night." Harry didn''t know what to say. It was perhaps even harder to grow up knowing your parents were alive but insane and visiting them regularly than it was to be a genuine orphan. "Well," Harry said, when he finally found his voice. "I''m sorry to hear that. But don''t let me keep you from your visit." "Nonsense!" countered Augusta with a voice that allowed no objections. "You will come with us. Frank and Alice were very good friends of your parents. They visited each other regularly while they were hiding under the fidelius charm, and if I remember correctly Alice was Lily''s matron of honour when she married James." As Harry didn''t have anything else to do, and the Weasleys seemed to take their time with Arthur, he simply shrugged and followed the Longbottoms to a private room with two beds. Once there Harry looked from sidelines as Neville gave his Christmas greetings and tried to communicate with his unresponsive parents, while Augusta was holding a supporting hand on her grandsons shoulder. Eventually they left the room, Neville holding a piece of wrapping paper his mother had given him. Once they were back at the elevators, Augusta turned around and addressed Harry. "It was good to see you, Harry. Neville has so few friends and they don''t really come visit often, and the manor feels so empty with only us two and the elves around. You must come to celebrate New Year with us, you can bring the other boy, Ron Weasley was it, with you as well". Harry looked at Neville, who looked somewhat startled at his Grandmothers invitation and also happy at the possibility of having friends around during holidays. "I''ll see if I can get there," replied Harry. "Ron''s mother can be extremely protective about her children, and sometimes it seems that she sees me as one as well. But if I can I''ll be there, thanks for the invitation." - O - Back at the Grimmauld Place Harry sought out Sirius. Something he had heard from the Longbottoms troubled his mind. He hadn''t known that his parents had been good friends with the Longbottoms, and he wanted to know more. There was so much he didn''t know. But the main thing was the similarities between the fates of his and Neville''s parents. They were both of similar age, they had both had a baby boy at nearly the same time (with Neville being only one day older) and apparently they had both been hiding under fidelius charm as per Dumbledores recommendation. "Hey Sirius, could we talk for a bit," Harry asked as Sirius was decorating the second floor sitting room with Christmas lights and mistletoes. "Sure, pup," Sirius replied while climbing down from the stool he was using to hang Christmas lights to the walls. "Who''s the bird you need help with?" "What? No, no this isn''t about any girl, Sirius. I wanted to ask something about my parents." "Oh... Well, anyway, ask away" answered Sirius with a slight disappointment, but still eager to help his godson with whatever bothered his mind. "You see, I saw Neville and his grandmother at St. Mungo''s, he was visiting his parents who are there at the permanent spell damage ward after being tortured insane at the end of the last war." "Yes, Frank and Alice. I heard about them from Remus. My lovely cousin Bellatrix'' last job before going to Azkaban," Sirius growled the last bit. "Yeah, well Augusta told that they too were hiding under the fidelius charm at the same time as my parents, and their stories sounded so similar that I wondered if it was how usual for couples to go hiding near the end of the war." "Well, I always figured it was about them getting you and Neville that caused them to go hiding, but now that you put it that way it sure does seem to be a bit off as far as things go. I mean, there were other people with newborn children too. The Abbots, the Bones, the Lovegoods, Weasleys... Well, the Bones were killed, but that was only after your and Neville''s parents had gone hiding, so it couldn''t have been their reason for hiding." "That''s what I thought too. There''s also the fact that apparently it was Dumbledore who was behind them going into hiding, or at least Dumbledore was the one who convinced the Longbottoms that it was safe to come out after Voldemort was gone." "Now that is perfectly understandable. They were all active members of the Order during the war, and Dumbledore was the leader and the obvious choice to go for advice." "Oh. maybe I was just grasping for something more. Maybe it''s nothing. Maybe I just hoped that there would have been some kind of reasonable explanation to why my parents died the way they did, but I guess that''s the way war is. Nothing makes any sense." "Yes, well... Let''s talk about something happier, it''s Christmas after all, and you should be celebrating like all the other kids, not brooding about wars. Now, tell me about the girls at the school. What are they like?" Harry ?r??n?d. He really didn''t want to talk about this, but it was still good to see Sirius getting back to shape and being more optimistic about things in general. - O - Three days later the Order of the Phoenix was called together in their first meeting since the attack that saw Arthur hospitalized. The Weasley patriarch had been released the same day, but he was still weak from the poisoning. Voldemort''s snake had been, not surprisingly, a magically enhanced one, and the venom had been a particularly nasty piece of work to heal. Mrs. Weasley was hovering all over her husband making sure that he didn''t overexert himself, and Mr. Weasley was weathering the attention with long practised patience. There really wasn''t anything to deter Molly Weasley when she had set her mind onto something, and trying would only be an exercise in futility, something Arthur didn''t feel like doing just for fun. The children had been ushered upstairs away from the kitchen that was used as a meeting room, but that only meant that they had to sacrifice some of their comfort laying in awkward positions at the second floor landing to get close enough to the kitchen door to get the extendable ears, a product the Weasley twins Fred and George had been able to create using some of the funding Harry had provided them the previous summer, into position for eavesdropping. Sirius had detected their activities earlier, but he didn''t seem to mind too much. Instead he was somewhat proud that the twins were continuing the noble pursuit of the Marauders, and the fact that they had went through the trouble of inventing new tools for their trade in itself meant that in the eyes of the old Marauder that they had earned any information they might be able to get. Not that the Order really ever talked about anything really important or s?ns?t?v? during the meetings. So, as Dumbledore was calling the meeting in order, Harry, Fred and George were listening in on the extendable ear, that was stretched to the limit to cover the distance between the kitchen door and the second floor landing of the stairs. Ron had elected to stay in his room, being still vary of Harry. Harry had gotten used to Ron''s attitude at this point, but it was still hard for him to see the first friend he had ever had to be like that. "You really should figure out a way to extend the range of these ears of yours," Harry said, having managed to get the twins surrender the hold of the earpiece. "Maybe even do some research on wireless ones." "Wireless?" one of the twins, who Harry guessed was Fred, asked. "What do you mean by wireless?" George added, mirroring the interested expression on his brothers face. "Well, without this stupid string," Harry answered. "That way we wouldn''t need to lay on the floor, and there would be nothing coming out of the door for Tonks to trip on." Fred and George shared a meaningful look that told Harry the next version of their eavesdropping device would probably be, as Harry had said it, wireless. "Good thinking there, Harry my friend," Fred said. "Yes, absolutely splendid idea. It''s a shame we don''t have more than this year at school with you, or we could have made a prankster out of you yet!" "Shh! Quiet, I think they are finally getting to the point," Harry whispered, concentrating on the voices from the kitchen. They had finally got over the initial greetings and were starting to talk business. - O - The kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place had been chosen as the meeting place for the simple reason that it had been the only room big enough that had been cleaned of all kinds of nasty creatures and dirt when the first meeting had been held in the house. It also had a nice atmosphere, unlike the formal dining room or the large ball room, which were the other large enough rooms that had been considered. Possibly because the kitchen had not been used regularly by the Blacks but mostly by servants and house elves, and thus lacked the usual d¨¦cor of annoying portraits of pureblood supremacist and stuffed heads of different kinds of more or less sinister creatures stuck on the walls with permanent sticking charms. "I call this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to order," Dumbledore called, raising his hands to silence the idle chatter that the members were engaged at: Christmas greetings, gossip about close and distant family relatives the members shared and had met during holidays, arguments about comparative strengths and weaknesses of different Quidditch teams. "The first point on today''s agenda is the recent incident at the ministry. It seems that the news of the enemy being after the item in the Department were, in fact, correct, and that he is starting to actually act in favour of getting it in his hands. As you no doubt have heard, Arthur was attacked by Voldemort''s snake while in guard duty at the Department." There were nods all around the table, accompanying shudders from hearing the feared name. This had been the first injury the Order had suffered during this war, and the members were starting to wake up to the actual dangers of what they were doing. "Now, it is of utmost importance that the enemy doesn''t gain possession of the item, so I propose we continue guarding. I also wish to stress that even though the position is deep underground in the Ministry, one must not let their vigilance drop," Dumbledore continued. "Is there any way we could transfer the item to a better location?" Mad Eye asked. "The corridor isn''t exactly the most defensible position, and the Unspeakables are getting more and more suspicious that there''s something going on on their Department." "I am afraid that we can''t move the item even if we wanted. The magic protecting it is of most effective type," Dumbledore answered. "But surely not effective enough to stop you?" Professor McGonagall asked. "If even you couldn''t take it out of the Department, then surely there shouldn''t be any need to guard it at all, should there?" There were accepting nods all around. It was widely known that Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard in the world. In fact he was the only one Voldemort had ever feared. "I fear that Voldemort wouldn''t have nearly as much trouble acquiring this item as I would," Dumbledore admitted, starting to get a bit agitated about the inquires. He really didn''t want to let the knowledge of the prophecy to get on the wild. There would be tremendous pressure on Harry, and Dumbledore really didn''t want to pile any more weight on the boy''s shoulders. "What exactly is this mysterious object, anyway?" Sirius asked. He had noticed some of the agitation on Dumbledore, and as he himself was confined in the Grimmauld Place he wanted at least to know what was going on. "I''m sure the Headmaster would have shared that information already, if he was going to," Snape answered. The greasy haired potions master had clearly been waiting for an opportunity to provoke Sirius. "And I fail to see any reason why you," he stressed, "of all people, would need to know anything. All you do is play housewife while the others risk their lives on the field." Sirius shot his most threatening look at Snape, who simply responded with his well practised sneer. "There''s no need to fight between friends," Dumbledore interrupted, before either of the two had time to do anything more than glare at each other. Sirius snorted on Dumbledore''s choice of words. "But I believe that Severus is right. The information is exceedingly s?ns?t?v?, and the way I see it, the fewer people know about it the better." The members were nodding uncertainly and looking around the table at that comment. Sure, there were information that was better not shared too freely, but somehow it would be easier to prepare for guard duty if you knew what it was you were guarding. But Dumbledore was in charge, and no one was going to question his authority on the Order missions. "So it is concluded that we stay on guard on the department, and increase our vigilance," the headmaster continued. "Now, on to the next point. Has anyone anything new to report? Kingsley, Nymphadora, could you tell us first about what the Auror force has heard and seen." Tonks bristled as the headmaster mentioned her hated first name. She had repeatedly asked him to not to do so, but Dumbledore seemed to ignore her completely. As Tonks was fuming, her partner Kingsley Shacklebolt told the order what little news there were from the DMLE: director Bones was prepared to err on the side of caution but as the minister was still in denial she didn''t have funding or permission to actually do anything. After Kingsley every other member also relayed their information, and at the end it was Snape''s turn to tell them the latest from Voldemort himself. "The Dark Lord is still gathering his forces. There have been very careful inquiries made to different pureblood families that are considered neutral at the moment, but it seems that he wants to first acquire what we are guarding at the Ministry. All of his other plans seem to hang on that single piece, and he doesn''t want to make himself known before his plans are ready to be executed." "That''s good," Dumbledore said. "Now, the final point of concern is Harry''s apparent connection with Voldemort. Severus, I want you to teach him to protect his mind against any further visions." "What!" the potions master yelled. "You want me to teach the brat occlumency? He has no aptitude for anything like that, he is simply too arrogant and likes himself too much, just like his father." "Now, Severus, it''s of utmost importance that he learns to protect himself, even though his vision proved useful in saving Arthur. I''m afraid that Voldemort might try to use the connection for his own purposes," Dumbledore explained. "And you are the best suited to teach him." Now it was Sirius'' turn to be angry. "You can''t mean that! Harry and Snivellous hate each other, there''s no way Harry could learn anything from him! Why don''t you teach him yourself?" "I''m sure the headmaster has more important things to do than waste his time trying to instruct some brat," Snape said, sneering. "And I don''t see you being able to do much either, you mangy mutt." "Calm down you two," Dumbledore said, raising his hands again. "Harry learning occlumency is very important, but I can''t teach him myself. I have my reasons that are not open to discussion here. Professor Snape is the only choice, he is one of the best occlumens in the world, and I trust he and Harry can put aside their differences for this important goal." Dumbledore looked around as Sirius and Snape were still glaring at each other. "That was all. I call this meeting to close. Have a good new year, and keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might prove useful," he said, raising up from his chair. The members of the Order started to leave, discussing what they had heard in the meeting. - O - That night Harry was laying in his bed, thinking over what he had learned that day. Something kept nagging in his head that it all had something to do with him, and Harry was angry that Dumbledore was trying to keep him in the dark. He says he just wants to keep me safe, but how safe can I be when Voldemort seems fixated in killing me? And why is he so damn persistent about it? Sure, it must be embarrassing for a Dark Lord to not to be able to kill a defenceless baby, but still, that was my mothers doing, not mine. And now Dumbledore is keeping secrets from the Order too. He wants to keep them in danger without even knowing what it is they are guarding, Harry thought. And it''s not like there was any danger that some of them might tell Voldemort what it is, as he already knows! Or he wouldn''t try to get his scaly hands on it in the first place. And what could it be? They say that it''s something Voldemort didn''t have last time, but from what I''ve heard, he didn''t really have much trouble dealing with the ministry idiots and the Order in the last war. He was pretty much steamrolling everyone at the time he came after me. Harry opened his eyes. He. Came. After. Me. What was it that I heard from the dementors? My mother screaming Voldemort to not to kill me, but to kill her instead, and Voldemort asking her to step aside... as if he really was after me, not my parents. Bloody hell, don''t say this too really has something to do with me! Why me? All I''ve ever wanted is to be normal, is that really all too much to ask? And now Voldemort is focusing all his attention in getting some kind of super secret weapon just to make sure he can get rid of me. Yey, and all I''m told is that I should stay safe and not do anything. While the ministry is doing everything they can to discredit me and get my wand snapped... And Dumbledore! He knows exactly what is going on, but he doesn''t tell anyone. Instead he insist on keeping his secrets and just telling people what they need to or must not do. As if he thought everyone else were just children that needed to be kept safe! Harry turned over, trying to sleep. It was remarkably hard to try to calm down when you had just realized that the most powerful Dark Lord in a few centuries was hell bent in trying to personally end your life, going as far as putting all his other plans on hold to get the final piece he needed to do so. Thoughts were racing around in Harry''s head. About his parents that had died because of him. About himself. About why in the hell a Dark Lord would find it necessary to personally kill a one year old baby. On the other hand, it''s not like sanity ever was a strong point for Dark Lords, Harry thought grimly. He thought about how his existence put everyone around him in danger. He thought about Hermione. About Sirius. About Ron. Well, Ron at least seems to have realized that I''m dangerous to be around, seeing as he hasn''t even asked me to play chess with him during the whole holiday. Maybe it''s all for better, he thought. Finally Harry thought about Cho, feeling somewhat guilty that she crossed his mind only after all those other people. But now that he thought about it, he wasn''t really sure what it was that he felt about Cho. He had had a crush on her since third year, but after she had cornered him in the Room of Requirements and kissed him under the mistletoe, crying, he wasn''t really sure if he should continue with her. Hermione had been right, she hadn''t got over Cedric yet, and was seeking some kind of support from Harry. And Harry really didn''t feel like he was up to supporting anyone at the moment. More like he needed the support himself. And now that Ron was distancing himself from Harry, Harry had one less person supporting him. Not that Ron had done much supporting anyway, now that Harry really thought about it. He had helped Harry to keep up the illusion of normalcy, but it hadn''t changed anything about the undercurrents of bizarre circumstances that followed Harry everywhere he went. Just like now, when those circumstances had once again swept Harry away with them, Ron was gone, not trying to support Harry. No doubt he will eventually come back with the chessboard, when things have calmed enough around me, Harry mused, not little cynically. Now that he really thought about it, he really only had Hermione to rely on. Sirius was a fugitive, and that severely limited what he was able to do. The professors didn''t want to take him seriously. Like McGonagall who had repeatedly dismissed his worries when he had tried to reach for her support. Or Dumbledore, who would come all grandfatherly and eyes twinkling when he was laying in the hospital wing after yet another near death experience, offer some cryptic words of encouragement and say that Harry wasn''t ready yet to carry the weight of knowing what the hell was going on. And then award some ridiculous amount of house points in the end of year feast, as if those would make Harry feel any better about staying yet another summer with the Dursleys. I really need to make some more friends, was Harry''s final thought before darkness finally got better of him, and he fell asleep. - O - The last few days before New Year went fast for Harry. He had spent most of the time browsing through the extensive library in the Grimmauld Place looking for any references about the department of mysteries. Harry was determined that whatever it was that was in there was something that would eventually be used against him, so he really wanted to know beforehand. He had survived in the graveyard last summer only by luck and coincidence, and he really wanted to be better prepared when the next time would inevitably come. Unfortunately the Blacks didn''t really have any books on the inner workings of the ministry in their library, and Harry doubted any public recruiting brochures would contain the information he wanted either. Not that he had access to said brochures either. Ron had continued to keep his distance from Harry, but Harry had seen him getting impatient as he had no one to play chess or exploding snap with. And Harry spending much of his time in the library didn''t really encourage Ron to come seek his company. Harry had also talked with Sirius about everything that had happened during the term. Sirius had agreed that it was important for Harry to learn to protect his mind, and had also grudgingly agreed that Snape probably was the most qualified teacher for the job if Dumbledore himself wasn''t willing or able. He had also given Harry a book on occlumency from the library, so that Harry could learn at least the basics before subjecting himself to Snape''s most likely limited mercies. Harry had also told Sirius about his plans to visit the Longbottoms on New Years eve, and Sirius had seen no problems with that. So, as the evening of the New Years eve came closer, Harry was up in his room getting ready for the visit. He had asked Sirius about what to expect from such a visit, and when Sirius had learned that Harry didn''t have any clothing apart from his muggle hand me downs - which weren''t really suitable for visiting anywhere - and school robes, Sirius had immediately started searching the house for proper clothing. And after a rather lengthy argument with Kreacher Harry was proud second owner of Sirius'' younger brother Regulus'' robes from the seventies. They weren''t really of the latest fashion, but the quality was fitting for the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and they were definitely nicer than anything else Harry had. Buying new clothing was added to Harry''s growing list of things to do. - O - "It''s good to see you here, Mr. Potter," Augusta Longbottom greeted Harry as he was dusting his robes after stumbling out of the fireplace. "There are all too few visitors at the manor these days, and it gets awfully quiet with only Tippy doing her chores around the house." Harry looked around. The Longbottom ancestral home was very different from the Black one in London. There were large windows showing surrounding countryside, and the last rays of setting sun were flowing freely into the large, beautiful foyer illuminating various paintings and an ancient looking suit of armour standing in one corner with warm light. Even with the impressive size and imposing d¨¦cor the place had distinct feeling of home in it, something what the clinically clean home the Dursleys owned never had. Harry couldn''t help but feel jealousy towards Neville for what he had here, even if he too was an orphan like Harry. "Thank you for your invitation, Lady Longbottom," Harry said, bowing slightly. Sirius had reminded that the old woman was strict with tradition, and as this was Harry''s first time visiting an old wizarding home, he couldn''t help but feel a little bit scared about it all. Petunia had drilled Harry about manners when she had hosted her tea parties where Harry had been forced to serve, but those were completely different type of people. "Please, there''s no need to be so formal. Potters and Longbottoms have been friends for generations, there''s no need to end that tradition now. You can call me Augusta." "Thank you, Augusta, I''ll try. And you can call me Harry," Harry answered, noticing once again a bit of information about his family he hadn''t known before. A slight tinge of guilt about how he had more or less ignored Neville during his years at school washed over Harry, as he followed Augusta further inside the large house. "It''s been a long time since these halls last saw parties the sort they were built to witness," Augusta told Harry as she led Harry towards dining room, nostalgia heavy in her voice. "The last time was the wedding of dear Frank and Alice, and even that was shadowed by the war. But the sixties, now that was something completely else! Jonathan, my husband, your grandfather Charlie and old Abe Malfoy ruled the wizarding Britain between the three of them and everyone who was anyone attended the parties we threw each on our turn", she continued. "What!" Harry blurted, "My grandfather was friends with a Malfoy?" "Well, more allies than friends, really," Augusta replied. "We had common goals, politically. Abraxas was no where near as extremist as Lucius is, in fact he was rather liberal. The war against Grindewald and the Germans really opened many eyes about the threat muggle wars posed to us, and we were working for better integration between our worlds. Kind of like hiding in plain sight. It was Charlus who established the regular contact between the muggle Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic. The Potters have always had good contacts in the muggle world." There was a silence as Harry thought about this new information about his family. He wondered why no one had bothered to tell him about any of it before. All he knew was that his father was a prankster and looked like him, and that his mother had green eyes. He knew nothing of his family''s history. "Of course, that is the same sentiment Voldemort seems to have, that muggles are a threat," Augusta broke the silence quietly. "His solution is just completely different..." They arrived to the dining room, where the house elf had already made the table. Aroma of delicious food was hanging in the air. "It all ended when Abe died in early seventies. Lucius inherited everything, and our alliance fell apart. His death was deemed to be of natural causes, but now after seeing what it meant politically and what came of Lucius one wonders if Voldemort was really behind it. Abe''s death and the fall of our alliance was really one of the main reasons the last war went as badly as it did. The government was polarized, and no compromises could be made. Dumbledore was leading his ''light side'' coalition, but his idealism and wish to control and regulate everything was simply too much for the more traditionalist families. "But let''s not talk about war and history. New Year should be celebration of future. Neville! Come now, Mr. Potter is here!" - O - The dinner was excellent. It was more delicate and lighter than the homely fares Mrs. Weasley cooked at the Grimmauld Place, but equally as tasty. They had some wine with the food ("Nonsense!" Augusta said when Harry had tried to decline. "A young gentleman like you should learn to appreciate a good wine!"), and although Harry thought the drink bitter the experience was none the less pleasant. The discussion had covered many topics from school to politics, and Harry was ashamed to admit that he really knew next to nothing about the wizarding world, apart from the little he had seen in Diagon Alley and small fractions about goblin rebellions he had been able to commit to memory during history lessons. He also realized that he really hadn''t been much of a friend towards Neville during the years, and swore to himself to try and correct that situation when school started again. Eventually the discussion reached the ongoing school year, and what was happening in Hogwarts. "I heard from Neville that you have formed some kind of secret study group to learn defence in absence of a competent teacher, am I correct?" asked Augusta. "Umm..." replied Harry glancing towards Neville, not knowing what Augusta''s position was about the ministry regulations, and not really wanting to take too much credit of the DA. Augusta read Harry''s reaction immediately. "Don''t worry about the ministry decrees, I wholeheartedly support your efforts," she said. "To be honest, I was proud when Neville told me about it. You see, Neville has been terribly shy, and putting more effort on studies can never hurt anyone." "Ah. Yes, of course. We do have this study group, but it''s really not so much. And it was Hermione''s idea in the first place." "Don''t try to play yourself down, Harry!" Neville interrupted. "I''ve learned so much from you. You''re really better than any previous defence teacher, well, perhaps excluding Professor Lupin. And Hermione''s great, but she could never teach us like you do. All she could come up with would be reading and then more reading." Harry looked down. He really wasn''t good at taking praise. The years with Dursleys had left Harry with an inferiority complex, and then receiving massive praise from the wizarding world about things he hadn''t done didn''t really help either. Quidditch was the only thing Harry thought he was genuinely good at, although all those suggestions about Harry taking up professional career after school were in his mind totally out of question. He wasn''t that good. "None the less", said Augusta, "I''m happy that you''re doing it. Neville has found so much more confidence during this year that I can''t but think that your club has something to do with it. And as a Longbottom has always stood by a Potter, it''s good to see Neville keeping up with the tradition too." "Huh?", asked Harry, showing once again his exceptional skill as conversationalist. "I heard you mentioning something about it earlier, but I''ve never heard anything about it." "It''s not really that well known outside our families," Augusta explained. "But the tradition goes back to the late 18th century, when Hadrian Potter was trapped inside the Gringotts bank with Francis Longbottom during the infamous Nine Hour Rebellion. No one really knows what happened inside, but they were the first ones to come out after the bank opened it''s doors again. Hadrian was awarded Order of Merlin soon after, and we Longbottoms have ever since been allied with Potters." "Oh. How come no one has ever bothered to tell me about these things? I know next to nothing about my family, only that they were pure-blood. And it''s not like that really mattered to me." Augusta looked at Harry with a look mixed with astonishment and embarrassment. "Well, that''s wrong, too," she said. "The Potters were never a what you would call a pure-blood family. Sure, your father James and his father Charlus were pure, but they were more of an exception than a rule with the Potters." Augusta took a little pause, considering what to say before continuing. "The Potters are a bit of a curious case in the wizarding society. They are an ancient family with roots all the way back to the Roman era, and some say they even have some claim to the Gryffindor name. But they have always been very liberal about marrying muggle-born, half-blood and even muggle women into the family. "And about learning the history of one''s family, most old families have portraits that teach the children about their family history. I know that Charlus had many in the Potter Estate, but I don''t know what has happened to them. James never moved in after Charlus died in 1979, as Lily preferred living in Godric''s Hollow where she could simply walk out of the front door and mix in with people, both wizards and muggles. And when I once visited the Potter Cottage there after the Ministry had declared it a historic monument, there wasn''t anything left there." Harry was shocked. Not only the only thing he knew about his family history was false, but there were possibly at least two homes that he owned. One had been abandoned almost seventeen years ago, and the other had been declared a historic monument by the ministry. And someone had taken all the furniture and other stuff from his parents'' home. His list of things to do was growing rapidly, and he didn''t believe he could make it during the holidays. And Dumbledore would probably insist him not to do it, for his safety. Harry wasn''t ready for any more shocks, so he guided the discussion towards safer topics. He learned that Augusta didn''t really follow the Quidditch league, but had supported Falmouth Falcons alongside her husband in the sixties, and that Neville was rather fanatic about Puddlemere United, even though he didn''t really want to get involved in arguments held in the Gryffindor dorms. He learned that Neville had found his green thumb at home, and that the Longbottoms had large greenhouses right next to the manor, with charms keeping the temperature and lighting conditions ideal for plants from different regions of the world. He also learned that the sweet sherry served with dessert wasn''t his cup of tea any more than the wine had been, but that it too was apparently an essential part of being a real English gentleman. Finally the year had ended and the new one begun, and it was time for Harry to get back to Grimmauld Place. Neville and Augusta accompanied Harry to the fireplace, where they said goodbyes. "It was nice to have you here, you should come back again sometime," Augusta said, shaking Harry''s hand. "It was my p???sur?, Augusta. It''s nice to see more places, my experiences are so limited, that every change to break from the routine is welcome. "And see you in the train, Neville!" "You too, Harry." -o0oOo0o- Chapter 82 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 29 - Wand, Knife and Silence Plot: Samantha Zabini, black widow and professional ?ssassin, sees Harry on the doorstep of his abusive relatives and decides to do something about it. She takes him to her home where she raises him in the art of death and sabatoge. Much later, a sixteen year old Harry''s name comes out of the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore will regret that move. Assassin Harry, war fic Pairing: HarryxDaphne Chapter 1: Harry Zabini The dust was still settling from the Dark Lord''s death as Samantha Zabini made her way through Little Whining towards the airport that would take her home. As a pureblood, she didn''t like travelling by muggle lines, but for Samantha it was less that she thought muggles beneath her as she found it ?umbersome and frustrating because she always got lost in their gigantic transportation network. Besides, International Portkey would take you home in half the time. Her idiot husband hadn''t even been bothered to provide her with a portkey home in case of emergencies; she had lost her faith in her parent''s abilities to find her a match who wasn''t either a cruel, inbred bigot or some sort of corrupt noble. She was already schooling herself to put on the wailing and crocodile tears when she returned home; she could summon no real grief over Byzantine''s death. Anyone who kowtowed to that sick excuse of a dark lord deserved what they got in the end, she thought scornfully. Technically, the battle against the Dark Lord hadn''t been an immediate concern of hers ¨C she was Italian and lived in her homeland, having only come to Britain to see its allegedly superior schooling. Despite Hogwarts'' reputation it ended up a severe disappointment to her, for the teachers didn''t bother to make any corrections of their students prejudices and the curriculum was lacking, especially in History of Magic. That class would have you believe the only thing of note that happened in all the years of magic was that there were over a dozen Goblin rebellions. Samantha''s main reason for staying was a boy who''d captured her attention quite without her permission during her tenure at Hogwarts. But after the end of the battle, and what followed it...well. She was going home now. A young muggle male whistled at her as she walked past. Samantha tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and smirked to herself. She had gotten used to her fair share of male attention over the years, some less welcome than others. Her skin was golden brown and her body slenderly built, lithe. Her eyes were a deep-sea blue-green, inherited from her mother. It was one of her great advantages, especially whenever she had complete her missions. Samantha turned onto Privet Drive, looked at her map again and growled in frustration. She was lost, and it was getting quite late. Damn her father for not teaching her more about muggles! Pretending they didn''t exist wouldn''t make them disappear, and they had to interact at some point. "I won''t have him in here!" A voice shouted. Samantha turned her head to the right and saw the door to number 4 slam shut. There was a small bundle lying on the front steps, abandoned. Curious despite herself, Samantha approached the house silently. Her breath caught in her throat, the bundle on the steps was a baby. He had soft wispy black hair, and his eyes were closed in sleep. His skin was soft and pale. And there was a small, lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. Without thinking, Samantha plucked him off the cold stone steps and cradled him carefully, like she did her own son, Blaise. He was a pretty little thing, most likely inherited from his parents ¨C both Lily and James Potter had been notably attractive, after all. She bit into her lip, orphaned so young, with no one to turn to; for he had no cousins or siblings. He would never know his parents...what a lonely life that would be. Her mind went back to Blaise''s cradle, where he was waiting for her return, being tended to by a nurse and the house elves. Harry was just a month younger than him... Samantha looked up at the house with no small amount of bewilderment. Why was he here, in a muggle neighborhood? Surely there was a wizarding family who would be willing to take him in, why raise him away from his heritage? What had possessed someone to leave a baby on the front steps of a house? In the middle of November! The boy snuggled down in her arms. He was still asleep, but undoubtedly responding to the warmth of her embrace. He looked so sweet. Samantha raised her eyes, hearing shouting continue inside the house. She stepped off the stairs and waited at the edge of the window, listening carefully. "No! Absolutely not...I''m not having that freak''s child inside this house! Her and her wastrel of a husband are the bane of honest, hardworking people like us! They think they can go blow themselves up and dump their brat on us like that?" The man from before was still shouting, his rage nearly rattling the windows. "But Vernon, he''s out protection." A woman protested. "He said that the freak that killed my sister will come back...the boy destroyed him. He might look for us because I''m related to her." Protection? They weren''t talking about a bloody ward, this was a child in question! Who the bloody hell called their nephew a freak? "What would it ruddy matter Pet? We''ve got nothing to do with that freakish nonsense!" Vernon snarled. "He should stay with all the other freaks and terrorize them, rather than bringing his presence down on us!" "He''s protection, though," The woman ¨C Pet ¨C said. "Also, he said that he''d pay us for taking care of him. Think of it that way..." Vernon growled. "I won''t have him tainting Dudley." "He won''t! Dudders will always have priority over the boy," Petunia said, as though Harry was a piece of baggage that needed to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible. "We''ll give him everything that Dudley doesn''t want. We just have to put up with him until it all blows over..." Unconsciously, Samantha tightened her grip on Harry. She had heard everything she needed to, and it was making her sick. Despite her occupation, she would never harm a child, and she could tell that these two would. It didn''t matter that Harry was their own flesh and blood. Samantha had plenty of run-ins with unsavory individuals, and Harry''s aunt and uncle were currently falling into one of the worst categories in her mind. Who were these people, that they would treat a child with cruelty? She didn''t have to tail this Vernon for several days to know that this man would emotionally mistreat Harry if not worse! Who would ever leave the boy who lived in a house like this? Samantha cast a quick diagnostic spell over the house itself. It picked up wards that seemed to be tied to the woman inside the house. Blood wards, an ancient magic that had lain untested for years and had a tendency to unleash horrible punishment for even the slightest breach of it''s decree. It was strong, too, and freshly cast. The signature was unmistakable. Dumbledore, she thought darkly. Yes, this would be his style. A cruel upbringing meant nothing in the face of being the savior of the wizarding world, did it? She scowled darkly. That would be so typical of the old nutter; she doubted that the Order would have suffered half the casualties that they had if he hadn''t insisted on taking prisoners instead of killing. She looked down at Harry. He was still asleep despite the noise, and again she was reminded of her own son. Could she honestly go home to him and tell him that he''d left a boy with people who hated him? Innocent soul. Helpless. "You''re coming with me," Samantha whispered, striding up the street with Harry in her arms. %&%&%&%&%&%&&%&%&%& "Samantha, my daughter, I''m glad to see your finally home ¨C WHAT IN MERLIN''S NAME?" Her father gave her a rather unorthodox greeting as Samantha finally returned to her mansion in Italy. As she had predicted, she had gotten lost twice in the airport and had to come up with the most ridiculous excuses ever created when her wand messed up several machines at customs. Once again she cursed Byzantine for not having made an emergency portkey and for her severely lacking muggle education. Samantha walked into the house past her stunned father, Rupert Zabini. He had the same dark hair and skin that she did, though he was noticeably stockier. He was dressed in a suit and tie, making her think that they''d had important visitors over before her arrival. He was a man of old talents, ones that were highly paid for although frowned upon by the public. Usually stoic and level-headed in every situation, apparently the sight of her with a baby was enough to reduce his brain to mush. Her eyes were on Harry. The boy slept like a log; even her father''s shout hadn''t awakened him. Samantha was impressed but also concerned, if you slept deeply it was easy for people to sneak up on you when you were vulnerable. Undoubtedly hearing her husband''s cry, Sonia Zabini rushed down the elegant stairwell. She had come to Italy as a foreign half-blood, ensnaring her father''s heart while he had been sent to ?ssassinate her when she became a member of government. She gave Samantha her sea-storm eyes, her hair was a light brown and her high cheekbones gave her a look of beauty and class. She halted not far from Samantha and stared at her twenty-three year old daughter, and then at the child in her arms. She took a deep breath and said, "Samantha, darling, please tell me this child isn''t from a wedlock. Black-" "No, mother," Samantha interrupted before her mother could gain steam. Her intimacy with Sirius Black had been something Sonia fretted over for the better part of their interaction, for his family history was not a very kind one. She supposed that in the end, she''d had a point. "He is not mine. This is Harry Potter." At this, her father wrenched himself away from where he''d been frozen at the doorway and joined his family. "Mother, how is Blaise?" Samantha asked, her son on the forefront of her mind. "Sleeping. He has missed you terribly." Sonia said. Samantha was crestfallen, "I''m sorry, but there were things I must do and Byzantine didn''t think to have an emergency return key." "But ¨C Samantha, you must explain this to us. You''ve kidnapped the Potter heir? The trouble we''ll get into-" Her mother started, winding up for a rant. "He''s an orphan now, mother!" Samantha said, scandalized at the implication that she had stolen Harry from his loving parents. She would have thought her mother knew better than to make such an ?ssumption. "Surely you heard about Lily and James''s deaths." Sonia recoiled slightly, appalled ¨C both by the deaths and how insensitive she''d unintentionally been. "I ¨C no, I hadn''t. The information came to us third-hand, we merely heard that a babe inexplicably vanquished a Dark Lord that seasoned wizards had failed to destroy." "Still! What possessed you to make off with him?" Rupert insisted, having recovered his wits. "Albus Dumbledore-" "Left him on the doorstep of an uncaring, overgrown beached whale and his self-interested giraffe of a wife," Samantha spat. Harry whimpered, as if sensing the tension in the room. Samantha turned her attention to him, rocking him gently and murmuring soothingly. Harry''s face relaxed. Both her parents stared at her. "Explain," Sonia said, pointing to the couch. "Now." Samantha sighed and sat down, careful not to jostle Harry too much. Her mother loved her very much, but she could be overbearing at times, although Samantha was now a woman. Perhaps it was simply in a mother''s instinct to occasionally treat her children as though they were still that. Her parents immediately took to the seats across from her. "I mean to say," Samantha said with a scowl, "is that the venerated Albus Dumbledore put up a Blood Ward and then dumped Harry on a doorstep, in the middle of November, at the door of two of the most unpleasant muggles I have ever had the misfortune of listening to. He hadn''t even been bothered to knock on the door and ask them to bring him inside!" Sonia''s jaw dropped, and after a second her eyes lit up with a flame of righteous anger. Despite her faults, there was one infallible way to set her mother off ¨C the mistreatment of a child. "What? That''s an outrage! Are you sure?" "Yes," Samantha said, "I put my father''s skills to work, I didn''t have to listen to the entire conversation to know exactly what they were like. It''s as if there''s nothing else too them ¨C they''re the shallowest, worst kind of folk. They would have been emotionally abusive at best, had Harry been left there. In the entire conversation I heard, I never heard them use his name ¨C it was ''freak'' or ''boy'', as though he were some sort of mangy dog being forced on them." Sonia''s lip curled back. Rupert''s eyes narrowed and he became serious. "Blood ward, you say? What type?" "It was bound to the...woman," Samantha decided that was the most she could stay while still being an upstanding young lady, "and she mentioned her sister, so I ?ssume the connection was between her and Lily Potter." Rupert sat back in his chair, fingers intertwined. "I had heard that Lily Evans was muggleborn, though only through reports of her testing in the regional school fields. She had one of the highest OWL scores in all of Europe when the final results were tallied and exchanged." "Yes, she had always been extremely intelligent and adept at mastering new spells," Samantha said. "Were you acquainted with her?" "Not closely," Samantha admitted. "Though not for initial lack of trying. We had exchanged pleasant, friendly conversation in class, but there was something slightly guarded about her. I believe we did not approach each other because I was in Slytherin, and thus tainted by ?ssociation to the budding Death Eaters who were training there." Rupert made a disapproving noise. "Prejudice weakens the mind and makes one foolish," he said. "Measure a man by his wit and his magic, not by his standing," Samantha repeated automatically, the saying having been drummed into her during her training. Her free fingers tapped the silver sheath that was ever-present under her coat. As an ?ssassin, neither blood status nor wealth nor power held any meaning. It was just a person and his or her defenses, and how to get past them. You just judge all your opponents as though they were equal threats. There was no room for anything less. "I did not share this prejudice." "Good. You had said as much in many of your letters." Rupert said approvingly. He frowned, "Blood wards are old magic, people weren''t even sure if they worked. How desperate was he, if that was the protection he chose for Harry?" "The charm that he had used before had failed the Potters," Samantha replied. "Perhaps he felt that there was no other option." Sonia looked slightly disbelieving, but instead she chose to say, "But why those muggles? Even if they hadn''t been cruel, he would be raised away from the world of magic. He''s the last of one of the oldest families alive. Why?" Samantha shook her head. "I do not know. Dumbledore was less than forward about many ¨C if any ¨C of the reasons behind the grand schemes he had us complete. He was completely silent about where he had placed Harry; I stumbled upon the house quite by accident." "You''ve run diagnostics on him?" Rupert asked. Samantha indicated yes with the slight nod of her head. "Is there any indication of how he defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort?" Samantha didn''t flinch at the name. She thought it was ridiculous, the way the British feared it. It gave him more power over them, for them to fear him so. "He will be magically powerful when he gets older, father." She said. "More so than most students." "That doesn''t surprise me, a Potter with his ancestry." Samantha cast her eyes down upon Harry. "There''s something else." It wasn''t a question. No matter how adept she got or how well she concealed her emotions, he could still guess her thoughts. He was her father, she supposed. "Yes. There''s something inside the scar in his head that troubles me. It is dark magic, but I cannot identify it...that means it is some of the oldest that there is." Rupert and Sophia''s eyes darkened significantly at this. "He was after the boy? Meant to use him for something, no doubt..." Sophia said darkly, looking at the small, jagged scar. "It could be the reason he approached the Potters alone...no one was sure why before..." Rupert muttered, eyes closed in thought. "I will go to the Succubus in Lunar Avenue and see if she knows anything when I have a moment." At this Sonia stood up, indicating that the meeting was over. "I will have the house elves prepare another cradle. There''s another room in this old house, but perhaps it will be better for him to share with Blaise for now." Samantha nodded and walked up the stairwell. Her feet had memorized the path to her son''s room; she had tread down it more times than she could count. She opened the ornate door and smiled at the inside. It was a bright red room, with some golden designs painted on the walls. Juliet, one of her maids, was sitting next to her beloved son''s crib, a storybook on her ??p. The second cradle had been deftly set up in the time it had taken her to ascend the stairs. The house elves took their work seriously. "How is he, Juliet?" Samantha whispered, walking over to her son''s side, settling Harry in the second cradle and pulling a blanket over him. "Very well, milady," Juliet said softly in Italian. Though Samantha had asked her several times to address her informally, the young maid never seemed to come up with the nerve. "He was happy to know you were coming home today." Samantha leaned over the side and stroked her son''s cheek. He cooed and turned onto his side, eyes closed in sleep. "That is good to hear. You take good care of him when I am gone." "Anything for you and your family, milady," Juliet said with a smile. She looked over at Harry''s crib. "If ¨C If I may be so bold, miss, who is he?" "This is Harry, Juliet," Samantha responded. "I brought him here because he was not safe at the home he was in. If I have my way, and I hope to, he and Blaise will be brothers." "I see," Juliet said. "Then shall I tend to him as well?" "Yes. Take good care of him." Samantha instructed. Juliet nodded and rose from her chair, walking over to the crib. Samantha gently brushed stray hair out of Blaise''s eyes. "I am home, little one," She whispered. "And I am here to stay. I promise." Time Skip Samantha jumped at the noise of her father slamming their door with all his might. She immediately abandoned her newspaper and rushed out to the hall. Rupert Zabini looked the picture of fury, a crumpled paper in one hand. Sonia appeared at the top of the stairs and hurried down to join her daughter. "Father!" Samantha exclaimed. He had gone out to see the Succubus this morning; if that was the source of his broken composure than whatever it was must be gravely serious. "That monster," Rupert bit out, "Attempted to turn a one year old into a Horcrux." Twenty years of an ?ssassin''s life and Samantha still threw her hands over her mouth in horror. The teacup Sonia had been holding crashed to the ground from her numb fingers. While they hadn''t recognized one outright they had both heard of Horcruxes from the darkest rings of wizards, and it had filled them with revulsion. To make one out of an object was bad enough, but a child? "He succeeded?" Sonia whispered. Samantha swallowed. This was crucial; for if he had there was no way to destroy the Horcrux without killing Harry, and with a sharp stab in her ?h?st she wasn''t sure if she could handle that. "Not quite." Rupert responded, walking inside and collapsing into his armchair. "Thank Merlin for it, but no. The curse meant to complete the ritual backfired, and left part of his soul clinging to Harry''s forehead. Carlie stated that it would be possible for her to remove it, but it would come with a fee and would take delicate work." "I will pay for it!" Samantha cried, "Let him be rid of it!" "Of course my child, but this brings up a point that I fear may be reality. If Voldemort was attempting to turn Harry into a Horcrux, there is a strong possibility that he has already created at least one." A stony silence. Samantha''s face hardened into a familiar mask as she considered this. "He will return," She muttered, "And he will come for Harry." Longer silence. The family of ?ssassins looked at each other and then up the stairwell. "He must be ready," Sonia muttered. "Himself and Blaise, for they will be brothers and together in all things." She looked at her daughter. "Raise them as you were raised." Samantha nodded and unsheathed her dagger. "I will start when they are old enough," She murmured, "But they must be happy and well-loved." "Of course." Rupert said with the slightest smile, even though it didn''t reach his eyes. "I would expect nothing less from you." Time Skip ¨C Hogwarts, 1997 Dumbledore let out an exhausted sigh and looked around. The room was packed with students in the late afternoon, watching a giant goblet eagerly. The Tri-Wizard tournament was being held at Hogwarts school this year, and he had gone through a lot of trouble to see this part up. Harry Potter had vanished from Privet Drive. It was an inescapable fact. He had waited, and worried, for the boy''s Hogwarts letter to reach him and for him to return. As long as he was alive, the owls would be able to find him. He needed that boy, he needed the boy-who-lived because no one else had defeated Voldemort. He was certain the dark wizard would return; there had been signs everywhere. Much to his shock, it was turned back denied, saying that he was enrolled elsewhere! Each year went by and still he did not appear within the school walls. This was impossible, completely unprecedented! If he had just made sure the stupid muggle bint had taken Harry inside the house, he thought sourly, he wouldn''t be in this mess. Finally, in an act of desperation he had arranged for Harry Potter''s name to be put in the Goblet of Fire. This, he thought, would make the boy show up. There was gasps of shock everywhere when the fourth name had been called. They had sat in that room for three hours, waiting for someone to arrive. Dumbledore was getting frustrated when suddenly there was a revving noise in the hallway. With a loud bang, the doors were nearly knocked off their hinges. Two motorcycles sped into the room and braked hard, just as several students scrambled to get out of the way. The two riders stepped off their vehicles. Several girls squeed and gave exaggerated faints. They were completely dressed in leather and dagonhide gloves and boots. The helmets came off; they were both boys sixteen years old. One was a tanned boy with dark hair and blue eyes. The other had long black hair and the sharpest emerald green eyes in the room. Even under the leather it was obvious he was quite fit, and very handsome. The boy looked up, tossed his head a bit and said, "Would you look at that, Blaise. We''ve been summoned!" The dark boy snorted. "Stating the obvious is not a good first impression, brother." "Well, we all start somewhere, don''t we?" The emerald eyed boy swept his gaze over the crowd. Several girls giggled or bushed madly. He smirked and then looked at a thunderstruck Dumbledore, Maxine and Karkeroff. "I''m Harry Potter. I understand my name somehow came out of the Goblet of Fire?" End Chapte Chapter 83 - Harry Potter Fan-fiction 30 - The Legacy Preservation Act Plot: Last Heirs of noble bloodlines are forced to marry in order to prevent wizards from becoming extinct thanks to a new law passed by the Ministry in order to distract the public from listening to Dumbledore''s warnings of Voldemort''s return. Rated M, so once again if you are easily offended, just don''t read it. Pairing: HarryxDaphne We Call It The Legacy Preservation Act The main court room of the Wizengamot was stadium like in nature with each higher circle going back to allow for seating. The main floor was empty, but could have chairs brought in, though most preferred it to be empty so they could move about as they spoke and addressed the ?ssembled. There was very little light in the courtroom, and what there was, was focused upon the floor and whomever was speaking, effectively keeping the governing body in shadow. The focal point of the round courtroom, was a podium, set on the first level above the floor where the Chief Warlock would usually sit. Below him, two court scribes sat to record the minutes of each meeting. The rest of the room was filled with small box seats for members of the court to sit. There were seven staircases set around the courtroom to allow for any who wished to get to the floor where they could speak to the Wizengamot. Higher up were the seats for the press and anyone who wished to observe the session. Today, those seats seemed especially full. And this made Albus Dumbledore slightly confused as he made his way to the podium where he would preside over the session as Chief Warlock. He intended to make the wizarding world aware of the looming threat that Lord Voldemort had returned after fourteen years of silence. Dumbledore had asked all the members of the Order of the Phoenix who could attend to do so, and to bring anyone who they thought would listen. The more people he could convince, the more he could press the Minister of Magic to act against the threat that was even now, building an army against them all. When he took his customary seat, Dumbledore called the court to order. He was a tall, thin, elderly wizard with long silver hair and a long silver beard. He wore half-moon spectacles on a long thin crooked nose, and bright twinkling blue eyes. Today he wore fairly conservative robes of steel gray, which was a change from the normally garish robes he was known for. When everyone took their seats, and silence finally reigned, Dumbledore fixed them with a very serious look of worry. He had to make them see that the signs had been there for two years, and while taken one at a time these clues were trifles. Strange coincidences. But when put all together, they were pointing to danger on the horizon. There would be protests against him, Dumbledore knew. No one wanted the dark times to return, and those in the courtroom loyal to Lord Voldemort would wish to keep their master''s return secret for as long as possible. But if Dumbledore could just make those who didn''t know what awaited them, perhaps then he could force the Minister to see reason and prepare. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Wizengamot, I wish to begin today''s session by informing you all of a very dire matter. Something that we must address now, before it is too late. My gravest fear has come to pass, and¡­" Suddenly, the doors directly across from the Chief Warlock were slammed opened quite loudly, and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge himself entered, followed by three of his staff, all of whom were carrying stacks of parchment. This was very unusual as the Minister almost never attended sessions of the Wizengamot. His attendance was only ever really required for the introduction or amendment of laws. Dumbledore wondered idly just what Fudge was doing here, as there wasn''t anything on the docket that he needed to be present for. Fudge walked to the center of the room, and began speaking quite loudly addressing the room at large, and avoiding looking in the Chief Warlock''s direction. "Fellow witches and wizards, please forgive the intrusion. I wish to address this grand body today on a matter of great importance, if I may be permitted, I am of course aware of the procedures to present new charters, but I fear that I would have been rebuked." Fudge turned to Dumbledore, almost challengingly. Dumbledore merely smiled patiently as he now turned to address the court. "If there are no objections in hearing what our Minister has to say?'' He said and when no one responded, Dumbledore motioned for Fudge to begin. "This morning, my Undersecretary sent each of you a package with some very important and disturbing material. If you have already viewed this information, then I expect that you are as heartsick and outraged as I am. My fellow witches and wizards, it is my sad, sad duty to inform you that we are becoming an endangered species." Fudge said theatrically. Murmurs began and Fudge allowed it to carry on for a few seconds, allowing his words to gain traction. "Yes, I know." He said as he began to pace like a caged lion. "Our population numbers are dwindling my friends. In the last fifty years alone, we have seen no less than fifty noble bloodlines wiped out forever. All of them, victims of war. War with muggles, and especially war with ourselves." There were more mumblings as Fudge nodded as he looked to each of the boxed seats. "But there is more. If the research I sent to you proves as true as I believe it to be, there is also a significant decline in the power of the average magical person. The birth rate of squibs is increasing with every generation. If this trend continues, I daresay that within the next fifty years, at least ten more families will disappear forever. My friends, we cannot simply stand by and allow wizarding kind within Great Britain to become extinct." Fudge proclaimed. There was a general murmur of agreement, and light applause. "So I have taken it upon myself to contract several of our most notable healers, historians, magical genealogists and alchemists, paying for their services from my own vaults to come up with a solution, of which I included information in the packages you all received this morning." At this, Fudge turned to a short, heavy-set woman with tightly curled hair, thick glasses, a pouchy face and wearing a bright pink cardigan over her robes. This woman handed the Minister a thick bundle of parchment sheets tied together with leather cord, which the Minister then held up almost like a trophy. "We call it the Legacy Preservation act." He said proudly. The room rumbled with low murmuring, and Dumbledore eyed the Minister suspiciously. He''d heard of this so-called act before. In fact, he was quite certain this act had come up many times over the past one hundred years. Usually it was a pureblood from and ancient and noble house who was looking to spread his seed. But this was different. Fudge was married, and had two sons who were also married. In fact, Dumbledore was certain that one of fudge''s grandkids would be starting Hogwarts in a year or two. "Minister," A man over Dumbledore''s left shoulder asked, rising from his seat. "We''ve heard of this proposal before and every time it has been voted down. What makes your version any more appealing?" There were murmurs of agreement, and Fudge merely smiled, like a snake oil salesman. "My good people, I am aware, of course, that versions of this bill have been proposed. However, unlike other variations, this bill has only one single goal in mind. Propagation of our kind. There is no gain for the Ministry or a single family. Friends, if we do not act, we could see another ten bloodlines gone in two generations. Two!" Fudge said holding up two fingers. "The Legacy Preservation Act will require last scions who fit into certain criteria to marry a suitable witch in order to procreate and expand the bloodlines and help rebuild a population that is in serious threat of disappearing forever." This came from the squat, pink clad witch. Half of the rumbling died away at this revelation. "And just how do you intend to do this?" Dumbledore asked suspiciously. "And exactly what criteria will you use to determine who must follow this¡­ act?" "Those families whose lines are most in danger of disappearing, who have only one son, will be required to take part. We shall strive to cleanse the more polluted bloodlines which have been tainted by generations of inbreeding by requiring that no less than ten generations have passed since particular lines have joined. We will then require those pairs to have a set number of children within a time period of our choosing." Fudge explained, still avoiding looking at the Chief Warlock. "If the guidelines set out in the information you all received are followed, we could see a dramatic rise in not only our population, but a serious decrease in the amount of squibs born, and a definitive rise in magical power from the next generation." This actually got another smattering of applause, and Fudge waved it away as if he didn''t deserve such accolades. Dumbledore thought he was playing the court like an expert puppet master, and was becoming disgusted. The mere idea of forcing people into marriage for the simple act of repopulation was repulsive. It was then that Dumbledore began to realize there was something else at work here. "Minister Fudge." A lady rose from her seat, looking disapprovingly at the Minister. "You are only securing male bloodlines. What of prominent families who only have a female heir remaining?" "Madam Marchbanks, you are forgetting that our laws already protect families with only a single female heir." Fudge pointed out. "The second born child in any union can be given the mantle of the wife''s family name and be treated as first sons of said family to carry on the name and line. Your own brother carries on the line of your mother if I am not much mistaken." The lady gave a nod and resumed her seat as Fudge smiled up at her. "Minister." Dumbledore said looking rather irritated. "We cannot simply force people to marry and produce children. It is simply barbaric, and we are¡­" "So you would see us extinct?" This came from a tall, though aged man from the left. He was glaring at Dumbledore hard. Benedict Forsythe and Albus Dumbledore had b?r?ly ever agreed on anything, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts thought that Forsythe would always oppose him just to spite him. "My esteemed colleague, you misunderstand me. To force people into marriage is to take away their basic right to choose who they wish to spend their lives with. To force them to procreate takes away their own right to choose how they live their lives." Dumbledore stated. "You ?ssume the Minister is heartless?" A woman shouted. "You think he would not take into account people''s feelings?" "The Chief Warlock is right." A man shouted indignantly. "We can''t simply force people into marriage just so we can bolster the population. We have evolved." More shouts began as people voiced their thoughts until Dumbledore held up his hands calling for quiet. "Minister, I fear you are overstepping the bounds of your office. It is commendable that you wish prosperity for our society, but you can''t force people to join in this matter." Dumbledore said evenly. "Chief Warlock, if I may?" It was Pius Thicknese. Pius was a very well respected man among the other members of the court. A tall thin man with a mane of long salt and pepper hair and round dark eyes. He was well spoken, and quite intelligent, which helped him when he chose to persuade the court. Thicknese was a man many would pay good gold to have on their side before a vote, as he could charm many to his way of thinking. In Dumbledore''s mind, this man was dangerous. "The chamber recognizes Pius Thicknese." Dumbledore said, fighting to keep the venom out of his voice. "Thank you." Thicknese bowed low. "Ladies and Gentleman, I am a pureblood, and the last of the Thicknese line. I have no heir, and when I die, my family line will die with me. Some of you might ask yourself why didn''t I marry someone if this worried me? Perhaps I was too busy working for the betterment of our society. Perhaps when I should have been looking for a wife, I was here, in this very room, listening to pointless debates on whether we should allow flying carpets, or standardizing cauldron bottoms, or allowing Muggleborns more rights. Or perhaps, I am just far too picky for my own good." This got a few chuckles from his fellows. Thicknese continued. "I know there are some here who are old enough to at least remember when arranged marriages were quite common. Some families still arrange marriages to unite houses even today, though it is admittedly rare. But isn''t that essentially what we are speaking of here today? A simple arranged marriage? A dated custom, to be sure, but one that is even now still used among those in our world. But instead of it benefiting one or perhaps even two families, this new bill benefits all of us. And when we are no longer threatened with our own extinction, perhaps then we can repeal this bill. But I agree with our Minister. We must act now. We must stop ourselves from fading away into the good night." There was thunderous applause around the room and Dumbledore felt a weight settle upon his shoulders. A quick glance around showed him just how much support this "bill" had. He also noted that more than a handful of those on their feet now had at one time allegedly had ties to the Death Eaters. A curious coincidence, or a glaring clue as to the true purpose of this charade? "It has been fourteen years since the end of the last war, and we are still feeling the effects of those dark years. How many of us lost family, or friends to that monster that terrorized our world for so many years?" Thicknese continued. "I have read the material, and find it sound, and fair to all who will be bound to follow it. I will be the first to submit myself because I wish very much to see our world grow again." "Members of the Wizengamot, I think it wise for us all to review the information provided by the Minister''s office, and debate the merits, and drawbacks of this bill before we put it to a vote." Dumbledore said loudly, gaining the court''s attention. "For now, I wish to speak to you about a grave danger now looming over our world. A darkness that has risen once again. You all know of what happened at the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament, and it is my wish to inform you of a horrible truth. Our enemy, Lord Voldemort has returned!" "I now see I chose wisely in coming today." Fudge stated loudly. Dumbledore turned to stare at the Minister and sighed heavily. "My good people, I apologize for my outburst, but I simply can''t in good conscience allow you to be submitted by these falsehoods. Albus Dumbledore is trying to sow the seeds of discontent among you and shatter the peace and prosperity we have enjoyed for fourteen years, all because he fears his own mortality, likely because our esteemed Chief Warlock has no heir of his own!" "The state of my family is not the ¡­" Dumbledore started. "What proof do you have that what you claim is true, Dumbledore?" Madam Augusta Longbottom asked curiously. "Let us consider all that has happened in this past year. Things that by themselves may seem trivial on their own¡­" Dumbledore started, but a large man with long dirty blonde hair rose from his seat. Gwain Thatcher was yet another man whom Dumbledore had often bu??ed heads with. "You wish to have us see logic where it may not exist?" he said loudly. "Surely you have something more substantial than occurrences that when pieced together could mean any number of things depending on the point of view of he who is trying to see danger where none exists." "Harry Potter witnessed the Dark Lord''s return." Dumbledore stated. This was followed by a long rumble of whispering and murmuring among the Wizengamot and those observing in the upper levels. Dumbledore had not meant to announce it that way, but the damage was done, and he also knew, thanks to Rita Skeeter''s reporting, it had been the wrong thing to say. "The word of a child?" Galen Avery asked. Avery had never been accused of ?ssociating with Death Eaters, but his son, Thomas had been convicted and was currently in Azkaban for crimes against the people. "A child who is clearly unstable." someone shouted. "I ?ssure you that Harry Potter''s mind is just as sharp as my own." Dumbledore stated categorically. Fudge scoffed, and many others snickered. "Perhaps that is not as glowing a commendation as you think it is, Dumbledore." Fudge replied. "Your record as Chief Warlock speaks volumes as to your mental character. Not to mention some of the crackpot decisions you''ve made as Hogwarts headmaster. Werewolves as teachers? Really?" Whispered statements of agreement were heard throughout the court. "Cornelius, why do you not wish to face facts?'' Dumbledore asked, almost pleadingly. "If you simply would listen to reason, we could do what needed to be done and prevent the events of fourteen years ago." "What facts Albus?" Fudge countered. "You have only the word of a fourteen year old boy who was clearly exhausted and perhaps traumatized within the maze. A child who has let his own legend go to his head. The boy has a history of instability, not to mention a willful disregard for authority." Fudge said coldly before turning once again to address the court at large. "But what I find most baffling is your quick dismissal of the matter brought before you today!" "It did appear that you changed the topic rather forcefully, Chief Warlock." Pius Thicknese added. "Why can''t we speak more on the matter of the growth of our people?" Someone asked. More and more voices chimed in, and Dumbledore realized he''d been out maneuvered. He''d underestimated Fudge and the Minister''s friend''s purses. The Chief Warlock raised his hands for quiet, and when it was finally granted, and to his utter distaste, Dumbledore allowed the Legacy Preservation Act to be debated. Nearly three hours later, and Dumbledore was dismissing the Wizengamot with the promise that a vote would be taken first thing in the morning over the ratification of the Legacy Preservation Act into law. He''d been astounded at how the act was debated when almost no information had been given on exactly how this potential new law was supposed to work. Not once had Dumbledore heard mentioned just who would have to take part, or how those men would be matched to what kept being referred to as a "proper" witch. Back and forth went the arguments, and Dumbledore had been surprised at the amount of people in support of this new bill, until he realized that the supporters were largely Pureblood families, and many of them in Lucius Malfoy''s pocket. And that was the clue that made the Hogwarts Headmaster figure out exactly what was happening. Lord Voldemort was making his first move. This law was nothing more than a very elaborate ruse to get to young Harry Potter, whom Voldemort feared was set to bring about his complete and total destruction. A sentiment that Dumbledore hoped was true. How this was going to happen, Dumbledore was not entirely sure, but he knew it would involve Harry being forced to marry a woman whose family had connections to the Dark Lord. Fudge was being manipulated, and the whole world was going to suffer for it. Dumbledore realized he needed to rally people against this proposed bill in order to protect Harry, but do so without appearing to be protecting one individual. His relationship with Harry was already under incredible scrutiny. "That was very well done, Minister." Cornelius Fudge smiled as he entered his office followed by his Undersecretary, one Delores Jane Umbridge. She was a very short, heavyset woman with a pouchy face and short tightly curled hair that was turning gray. She had large bulgy eyes made even more prominent by her glasses. "Yes, that went rather well, but we still have much to do. Dumbledore''s outburst and his refusal to even hear out the bill gave us exactly what we needed in order to call for a vote of no confidence." "And we need to reach out to all the members of the court in order to see the bill ratified." Umbridge added. "No, no. Lucius is seeing to that." Fudge replied as he went to his liquor cabinet and poured himself a modest brandy. He gave it a long look, before adding more with a little whistle. "When we get the Legacy Preservation Act ratified, how long before we can begin the selections?" "Two weeks at the minimum." Delores replied. "Most of the tests are ready to proceed. All the last sons will need to submit themselves to a physical by our healers, as well as a test of their magic along with a study of each family history to make sure we do not get any contamination. Then we''ll need to get families to offer their daughters. Of course, any lady of age may submit herself without family consent, but they won''t get as much in compensation. We''ve worked up the breakdowns for reimbursement if you''d like to review them?" "What is the most we are offering?" Fudge asked as he sat behind his desk in a very comfortable leather chair. "One hundred thousand galleons." Umbridge stated. Fudge spit his mouthful of brandy and Umbridge leapt back to avoid the spray. "One hundred thousand?" Fudge shouted. "Oh yes sir. But the chances of any witch collecting that amount is very slim. We''ve made the criteria very difficult to achieve. Her line must be absolutely pure for one thing. Her genes must be impeccable so as to produce a strong magical child, and she must be extremely strong, magically speaking. Nothing short of Morgana herself could be worth a full one hundred thousand, sir." Fudge relaxed as Umbridge explained, and accepted the sheet of parchment she handed him, looking it over very carefully. His smile returned a moment later when he realized that this would not bankrupt the Ministry after all. "Of course, Pureblood witches will fetch a bit more gold for their family, but we did feel that Half-bloods¡­ of standing of course would be acceptable." Umbridge smiled. "Good. Very good." Fudge nodded, handing back the sheet of parchment. "I was ?ssured by Lucius and a few others they would indeed offer their daughters, and I''m certain that once we get Harry Potter out from under Dumbledore''s thumb, we will have a very useful weapon in our arsenal." Fudge said rather self-congratulatory. "He will prove quite helpful once we undo all the conditioning Dumbledore has most likely inflicted upon that poor boy." Umbridge smiled. Fudge nodded in reply as he took another long draw from his brandy. "Sir, there are a few concerns I have regarding those below the age of majority who will be required to participate. They may have trouble adjusting, and I feel it might be a good idea for them all to be counseled and guided through this rather difficult change. To have someone to listen to them and help them adapt to this change. I know we are already preparing for the possibility of someone from the Ministry at Hogwarts in order to observe practices there, but might we ought to have someone making sure that these young people keep up their responsibility to the Ministry and the wizarding world?" Umbridge asked innocently. Fudge thought about what she had said for a moment before eyeing her inquisitively. "You actually think some of them might try and neglect their duty?" He asked. "I think that if we don''t have someone in place, Dumbledore might try and make them believe they do not have to uphold the new law, not to mention offering birth control potions and teaching contraceptive charms." Umbridge countered. Fudge nodded in agreement and pointed at his Undersecretary. "You are absolutely right, Delores. It is just the sort of thing Albus would do if only to undermine me and the Ministry. Let''s begin looking for candidates. Perhaps we could even combine a counselor with someone who can keep tabs on Dumbledore, eh?" "Very good sir. I shall begin making up a list at once. If there is nothing further?" Delores smiled, and Fudge shook his head. "Good day, then." Umbridge bustled off, leaving Fudge to contemplate his next move against Dumbledore. After all, she had a lot of work of her own to do. Sirius Black stood in the far corner of the room that had been chosen for this meeting. It was the largest room in the whole house, and he was certain it wasn''t big enough. Everyone had come to the meeting tonight, and they were all murmuring amongst themselves about what it was all about. The Order of the Phoenix had only just been reformed. Barely three weeks after the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament, and the resurrection of the dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort. A resurrection that was being wholly ignored by the wizarding government, putting every single man, woman and child in mortal danger. Sirius had never been so disgusted, and he had been thrown into prison without a trial for crimes he had never committed. "He''s late." It was Remus Lupin, Sirius'' friend since boyhood, and in Sirius'' mind, the only other remaining Marauder. Sirius turned to his friend who looked care worn, and so much older than his true age. A terrible side effect of his curse. "I didn''t expect any less." Sirius replied dourly. "Do you think he managed to convince Fudge after all?" Remus asked optimistically. Sirius gave him a disbelieving look and Remus nodded. "I didn''t think so either." the werewolf smirked. I think it''s more likely he''s found an ally within the Ministry. Maybe Bones, or that guy Scrimgeour Arthur spoke of last meeting." Sirius remarked. Remus hummed an agreement. They remained silent for a bit, watching the gathered converse. Sirius noted a few new faces among the Order. People he hadn''t seen at the first gathering. This helped lift his dark mood a smidge. It meant that not everyone was as blind as Fudge. Before Sirius or Remus could say any more, Albus Dumbledore swept into the room, followed closely by Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape. Sirius and Snape locked eyes and glared at one another, but said nothing. Thank you all for coming, I''m afraid I have some difficult news." Dumbledore said as he headed for the front of the room and turned to face the gathered who fell silent at once. Sirius noted how distressed the old man appeared, and was about to remark on it to his friend when Dumbledore continued to speak. "This very afternoon, Minister Fudge entered the Wizengamot, just before I was able to speak about the return of Lord Voldemort. He then introduced a bill that I am afraid will be ratified into law tomorrow when the Wizengamot convenes. I tried very hard to rally support against this new bill, but I am afraid that Lucius Malfoy''s gold knows no end. I also believe that the Minister is seeking to see me thrown out of the Wizengamot." "What do you mean, Albus?'' Someone asked. "Can he do that?" someone else asked. More and more people began to voice concern, but Dumbledore held up his hand, calling for quiet again. "Please. While I appreciate your concern, it is not important. I knew that Fudge would do his utmost to make sure no one would believe my warnings. And, so long as they do not take me off the chocolate frog cards, I am not upset by this maneuvering. What is important is this new law that Fudge is trying to force through the court. I believe it is a ploy to get control of young Harry Potter." Sirius tensed, and made to shout as others were currently doing, but Remus grabbed his arm and held him back. Dumbledore was waving for quiet from the rest of the room. "Please, allow me to explain. Some of you may remember a bill that has floated in and out of the Wizengamot for the last fifty years or so. It has had many different names, but the intention of it has remained unchanged. It has been defeated each and every time it has come up, but I am afraid that this time there is nothing to stop it. The Minister is foregoing normal procedure with the help of certain prominent members of the courts." "He can''t do that!" Someone shouted. "What is he trying to do?" Another asked angrily. "What bill are you talking about?" A witch asked. Everyone began to quiet waiting to hear what Dumbledore had to say next." "They are calling it the Legacy Preservation act." Dumbledore said. Whispers began to circulate in the room and Dumbledore waved for silence once again. "In short, this potential new law would force male heirs who meet certain criteria into marriage to ensure the continuation of their bloodlines. Over the course of the last hundred years, we have seen more than a fair amount of family lines become extinct. This law would prevent any further lines ending prematurely." Dumbledore explained, sounding very sour as he spoke. "What do you mean by certain criteria?" Molly Weasley asked, looking rather anxious. She had six boys of her own, and hated the idea of any of her children being forced to marry a girl they did not know, much less had no feelings for. "As I understand it," Dumbledore sighed. "It would be males from families with only one child. Last scions, if you will. Like Harry." This made the room erupt with protests, and Dumbledore had a bit of a struggle to calm the room down. "It is highly likely that the older pureblood families will give this their full support, regardless of their loyalty to our enemy, and many of those I spoke to this evening are leaning towards support, with very few opposed. As I said, Lucius Malfoy''s pockets are very deep indeed." Dumbledore continued. "The purebloods are dying out, and without this act, more of them will disappear in the coming conflict. They all know this." "How is it going to work?" Arthur Weasley stood up. "Who decides which boy will marry which girl, and who does it affect? Surely they won''t marry a child to someone much older, will they?" There were nods and looks of frightful concern on every face. "At this time, I do not know how the selection process will work, nor who is eligible, though I am sure it will involve having those forced to participate to be under a magical contract. I also know that it will affect every last male of the bloodline, unless of course there are extenuating circumstances." Dumbledore smirked as he eyed Sirius. "So, I''m off the hook." Sirius scowled. "But you think this is a way for Voldemort to get his talons on Harry?" "I do." Dumbledore nodded. "You see, the proposed bill will affect all males who are the last of their line and are aged fifteen to fifty. Males who are still able to procreate.." "But what about the girls?" Molly Weasley asked. "You said it only affects the males, what about the girls they are supposed to marry?" "I''m afraid I do not know anymore, though I suspect that gold will be exchanging hands. The families loyal to our enemy will of course offer their daughters in the hope they will be matched to Harry and be able to serve him up to Voldemort. But that is not enough females to ensure the marriages the Ministry is looking for. I believe gold will be offered as incentive for those not loyal to Voldemort." Dumbledore sighed. "How can we prevent this?" Elphias Doge asked. Dumbledore could only sigh again. "I fear we have effectively had our hands tied. The Minister''s so called information was rather light on the details of the parameters of this matching process. And without that information, it is unclear how we may at the very least, alter the odds in our favor." Dumbledore stated. "You''re talking about Harry''s life here Albus!" Sirius snapped. "Even if by some miracle he doesn''t end up with some troll hell bent on serving him up like some kind of lamb to slaughter, he''s still being forced to marry someone he may not care about, or even like." There was a chorus of agreement, and Dumbledore nodded apologetically. "I understand your ire, and I agree with you all. Harry and all of us should be given the choice in whom we give our hearts, and wed who we deem worthy. Normally I would not even bother telling you all this, as the bill would be voted down. However, I fear that this will not happen here. Lord Voldemort''s influence is already permeating into our government." The leader of the Order looked to each and every member of the rebellion pointedly. "Without knowing how the selections will be made, or who exactly is being considered, I am afraid there is little we can do. I would like it if all of you who work within the Ministry kept your ears open for any word about this. All the information we can get will help in finding a way to protect Harry. That is all for tonight. We shall met in one week." At this, people began to rise and mingle, or leave as was necessary. Sirius sighed and turned to Remus whose face showed exactly what Sirius himself felt. "Sirius, A word, if you please." Dumbledore said from across the room. Sirius gave Remus a look, and the werewolf nodded that he would stay until Sirius returned. Sirius followed Dumbledore into a small study on the second floor, and shut the door as Sirius passed through. "Sirius, if this bill passes, I am going to bring Harry here immediately. If by some miracle he is matched to a young lady not ?ssociated with the Death Eaters, he will have a great deal to learn. I didn''t bring this up, but while I believe that Voldemort is behind this, I also believe Fudge was convinced of the idea with the promise that he may gain control of Harry. As such, Harry will need to understand wizarding customs, and etiquette as well as political maneuvering. I know you scoff at the idea of it all, but you also are the best teacher, as you come from and Ancient and Noble House. Also, there is no one else who would have an idea of the Potter Family''s traditions." Dumbledore stated. "You think he''ll need that stuff?" Sirius inquired. "I have no doubt, and it may end up being the only way we can turn things around. While I am certain the Minister has had people closing every loophole to keep Harry under the thumb of the Ministry, there is a very slim chance Harry could be recognized as an ?du?t. As such, he will gain control of his fortune, and the Potter seat. And, with the help of a few others who will be affected by this law, will prove useful to us in the future. Harry has a loyal following, even if he is unaware of it at the moment." Dumbledore said conspiratorially. "I see." Sirius began to smirk. "We could essentially control to the court the way Malfoy has for years now." "In a sense yes." Dumbledore nodded. "Alright then. How soon should I expect my godson?" Sirius asked feeling a bit uplifted if merely from the thought he''d finally get to spend real time with his godson. "I cannot say for sure until I know the outcome of tomorrow''s vote. But I believe it will be quite soon." "I''ll get a room ready for him." Sirius said, and Dumbledore offered a hand, which Sirius shook, both men feeling worried for the same teenage boy who was likely asleep at that very moment, somewhere in Surrey. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Wizengamot," Pius Thicknese addressed the court room. "Yesterday we saw yet another example of Our Chief Warlock''s growing apathy, and his disrespect for our ways." Dumbledore frowned at the man but remained silent. He had known this would be coming. Several of his true friends had warned him that there had been murmurings. But there were always murmurings. Dumbledore had never been the most popular head of the court, especially with his pro muggle leanings. But he had always been respected. But fear ruled now, not wisdom. "I ask this noble body, how can we be expected to maintain order, our way of life, and work to better our society when we are hampered at every turn by our own Chief Warlock. That is why I am calling for a vote of No Confidence in Albus Dumbledore." "I second!" Galen Yaxley rose from his seat and shouted. "Very well." Dumbledore said rising from his own seat. "As per our law, a vote must be taken. Should the vote be against me, I will leave the court room. Those who are against my dismissal?" Dumbledore quickly scanned the room to seek out the lit wand tips. He felt a tightening in his ?h?st as he counted only twenty four. His head dipped a bit as he sighed. "All those in support of my stepping down?" He said, a hitch in his voice. It was overwhelmingly in favor of Dumbledore''s dismissal. Dumbledore hung his head, and with one final bang of his gavel, stepped back from the podium and walked down a short flight of steps to the main floor. "Friends, and respected members of this noble body, I have worked side by side with you for many years, and I must honestly tell you I have never feared more for our continued existence. I beg you all to stop burying your heads in the sand. Dark times are upon the horizon. If we do not act, we are signing our own executions." "We''ll take it into consideration." Benedict Forsythe stated dismissively. "Very well. Good luck to you all." Dumbledore said, and began to leave the court room. He was slowed in his progress by a smattering of applause from those who respected him and had been strong supporters over the years. Try as he might, Dumbledore was unable to prevent a few tears leaking from his twinkling blue eyes. Despite his removal, Dumbledore still wished to witness the outcome of the major piece of business. He had to sit through a quick vote on who would be the next Chief Warlock. Several names were entered, Tiberius Ogden, Benedict Forsythe, Oliver Gibbon, Tyrion Yaxley, and Theodore Nott Sr. When it was over, Oliver Gibbon stepped up to the podium, and Dumbledore''s heart sank. Gibbon had bought his way out of Azkaban after Voldemort''s fall. Dumbledore also knew that Gibbon was very close to the Malfoy family, and would no doubt do whatever Lucius wished. Almost as soon as Gibbon picked up the gavel, he called for any final arguments for and against the Legacy Preservation act. Several people argued against it, but Gibbon only allowed them a few minutes in which to make their case, while those who argued for its ratification prattled on and on and on. Dumbledore was sickened by this charade. Dumbledore decided that he was not going to get anything done watching this travesty of justice, and felt it would be better to try and discover how the selection process was going to work. He hoped he would be able to find a way to prevent Harry from winding up with someone from a dangerous family. However, no one seemed to know how the selection process was to be conducted. Dumbledore wondered if Fudge and his staff even had a process, or if it had all been a show. Some kind of song and dance to distract everyone from Dumbledore''s warnings. That is until he paid a visit the department of Mysteries. "Albus, as I live and breathe!" A tall man with a heavy build rose from his desk to greet the old headmaster, and his friend. "Algeron, it has been too long." Dumbledore smiled as he sat down across from the Unspeakable. Algeron Croaker had a short gray beard and sharp deep set blue eyes. His nose was bulbous, and he had very big ears that stuck out quit prominently. He had the look of a man who had once had an athletic build that had gone to seed. He wore the customary black robes of the Unspeakables though the hood was pulled down to reveal his balding head. "It has, it has. Now, I expect you''re here to find out how the Legacy Preservation act is going to be conducted?" Algeron asked slyly. Dumbledore chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "I am too transparent." He said. "True. If it were a social visit, you would have sent me an invitation to tea." Algeron laughed. "An unannounced visit means you''re seeking answers. Being as the Legacy Preservation Act is up for a vote¡­ Hey, why aren''t you in the courtroom?" "I was," Albus cleared his throat. "Asked to leave." "Oh dear." Algeron said grimly. "I fear that will not bode well for us in the future." "Nor I." Albus sighed. "Well, you have my sympathies." Algeron gave a warm smile. Dumbledore shook his head. "It is not sympathies I need today, my friend. It is answers." Dumbledore said pointedly. "Right." Algeron nodded. "Well, it will be mostly based on magical compatibility. The ministry wants magically strong children. So each person will have their core examined, and documented. They will also be taking blood samples to seek out any possible genetic anomalies, that might prevent good healthy births. Should anything be found, the patient will be treated. Of course you know about the family history, to prevent any mixing of lines who have already married." "Ten generations was the buffer, correct?" Dumbledore asked. "Yes." Algeron nodded. "Now, each male''s results will be placed on a special piece of parchment and placed in a magical filter, not unlike the Goblet of Fire. Then, all suitable females will be entered as well. When a match is made, the male and female name will come out together. Four Unspeakables will be around the device at all times to prevent tampering with the selection." "I see." Dumbledore said with a thoughtful nod. "Is there any way to tamper with the criteria?" "Of course.'' Algeron laughed. "But the device will not match a pair if it detects any tampering, especially with the blood which is what it is heavily keyed to." "What?" Albus looked up interested. "It''s going to bind them to their union?" "You didn''t know?" Algeron looked unsurprised. "Another dirty little secret. Yes, it is keyed to their blood, and it will bind them into a magical obligation." "Damn." Dumbledore sighed. "That complicates matters." "Albus, I know that I don''t need to tell you, but everything we''ve discussed¡­" "Algeron, you have my word, I will not say anything to anyone, though I would like to." Dumbledore sighed, offering his hand. Algeron shook it firmly. As Dumbledore promised to invite his friend to tea soon, he was already trying to figure out what he could do now to help Harry potter avoid being hand delivered to Lord Voldemort. Perhaps his best defense for now was to get Severus to urge that the prophecy need to be retrieved before meeting Harry again. That would at least buy a little time. Lucius Malfoy walked purposefully towards the main chamber of the house feeling confident he would be rewarded this night. His plan was working perfectly. Lucius had taken a great chance in urging the Dark Lord to trust in him and that his plan would end with Harry Potter being delivered to him in less than a year''s time. Lucius had laid out the plan in intricate detail, and the Dark Lord had liked it. In his eyes it served two purposes, the least of which was the repopulation of Purebloods. In truth, Lucius felt this was likely the only way his waste of a son would find a proper witch in which to ?mpr??n?t? and continue the Malfoy line. After learning of Draco''s relationship with the Parkinson girl, Lucius realized that Draco clearly had no idea how to find a proper witch the befit his station. Now Lucius was confidant the Malfoy name would carry on and grow in strength. Lucius would of course guide his son''s spawn and teach him better than Draco. After all, the child would not likely suffer from any ill effects of breeding inbreeding as Draco had. Lucius school his face to appear humble before the Dark Lord as he arrived at the chamber and entered. "Lucius." The Dark Lord said icily. He was pacing slowing before a roaring fire, his skeletal hands behind his back and his head bowed in contemplation. "My Lord." Lucius said, kneeling before his master. "Our plan is now in effect. The bill was passed this morning, and I have just received word from the Minister that it will take two weeks before they will begin testing. Letters will be sent to those who need to submit themselves will begin being sent as early as tomorrow morning." "Good." Voldemort nodded. "Every one of my followers with a girl child must offer the girls to the Ministry. The boy will be matched to the daughter of one of my Death Eaters, and after their union, he will be brought to me. During the courtship, I wish the boy to be subjugated and beaten down so when he comes before me, there is no fight left in him." "Of course My Lord." Lucius agreed. "How soon before we know what lucky witch will be marrying our young mister Potter?" Voldemort asked. "I do not know for sure, but I suspect it will likely be August. There will be a lot of matches to be made, though I have already spoken to a few of our contacts and they promised they would do all they could to process Potter first." Lucius said with a confident smirk. Voldemort gave a nod and Lucius took a breath. "You should also know, My Lord. Albus Dumbledore was sacked as Chief Warlock. The Ministry continues to ignore his warnings, as well as the boy''s. Your resurrection is still a secret. You may continue to work unimpeded by the Ministry." Lucius stated. "Good. Good." Voldemort said. "Leave me Lucius. Report back when you discover whom Potter will be bound to. I will wish to speak to that witch at once." "Very good My Lord." Lucius bowed again, and quickly left the chamber, not wishing to anger the Dark Lord in any way. Voldemort continued pacing, thinking hard on all he had learned today. Sure, it appeared as if all was going well with Lucius'' plan, and that it was likely he would have the bane of his existence before him very soon, but this also presented a problem. The boy had managed to avoid meeting his fate three times now. In fact, with the exception of their last meeting, the Dark Lord had come out the worse for it. The boy was lucky for sure, but there was more to it as well. The one with the power to destroy the Dark Lord Approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies¡­ Severus Snape had delivered that message to him fifteen years ago, and it had nearly proven to be the Dark Lord''s undoing. He knew there was more to it, and had originally ignored it. Now however, he was filled with doubt. What if this Prophecy provided the answer to how Harry potter was able to not only escape death, but nearly destroy his mortal enemy? Snape had suggested that very afternoon that Dumbledore was contemplating moving it from the Department of Mysteries to keep certain information safe. What if the answer actually resided in that prophecy? What if without that knowledge, he would never be able to destroy the boy? Could he take that risk? No. So long as the boy drew breath, He, the greatest wizard to have ever lived would be doubted. He would be questioned. And most importantly, His own legacy of power would be in doubt. No, he had to get that Prophecy. He had to hear its contents himself. Then, and only then would he truly be able to destroy Harry Potter once and for all, and then take what was rightfully his. Chapter 84 - MEGA Links (NEW ONES!!!!) This is my personal collection where i spent years compiling, and i thought i would like share it with everyone. Enjoy!!!! NOTE: PLEASE NOTE I HAVEN''T UPDATED MANY OF THE ONGOING NOVELS CAUSE I HAD NO TIME TO DO SO THIS YEAR, but many should be up to date. NOTE 2: Also if you people are wondering, there are no Light Novel links cause i check my stash and it totaled around 15GB..... so ill just give you guys the website that i got every Light Novel from LINKS: Fan fictions (~3000): bit.ly/308C3ue Wuxia/Xianxia (~500): bit.ly/2z5bTg6 Korean Novels (~100): bit.ly/2TEvA7X Light Novels: trollo.blog/list/ Completed (Translated) Novels (~100): bit.ly/2MmQM1n Chapter 85 - SI + OC fanfiction Since a lot of people have been asking me for a specific folder for SI and/or OC for various fandoms, I have been compiling a small stash for it. Will be around 300ish fanfiction sun this category. Will post the mega link for SI+OC fan fictions on the weekends (most likely Saturday, AEST time) Hope you people enjoy! (Took me a long time sorting through hundreds of fanfics on FanFiction.Net!) -PinkBunny Chapter 86 - SI+OC Fanfiction Mega Link There is about 600ish Self Insert and Original Character Fanfictions. Take note that most of them are OC, just because not many people write and complete an SI fanfiction ... I''ll make sure to update the folder every once in a while when I stumble upon more SI + OC novels in the future. Also, some people are asking for Fan-fic recommendations for other fandoms such as JoJo and MHA, however I haven''t seen/read these before. So I will just stick to the fandoms I have read/watched. Anyways, enjoy! :P SI+OC Fanfics (~600): bit.ly/2kViAOc P.s. I know that tend to censor some words and web links, message/comment if any of my links cannot be seen or is censored out. -Pink Bunny Chapter 87 - MEGA update (finally) Planning to have a massive overhaul of the MEGA drive: Percy Jackson (ff update) Harry Potter (ff update) DC Universe (ff update) Akame Ga Kill (new) One Piece (ff update) There will be other fandoms that will be updated, which will officially bring the number of fanfics over 5000!!!! Because of this overhaul MEGA link will be down for about 1.5 hours (curse Australian internet) on Saturday ~21:00AEST Will also update the LN and Wuxia folder, but will be next week Remember to keep calm and read a fanfiction! :) - PinkBunny Chapter 88 - Mega Update Update Done! (Same link) -PinkBunny Chapter 89 - Wuxia MEGA updated Updated + 100 updates bit.ly/2z5bTg6 Enjoy! -PinkBunny Chapter 90 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 31 - Harry Potter Rise of The Spiral Plot: Edmund Vulpis discovers the legacy of his ancestors after his mother dies at the hands of his father. With the memories of his progenitor, Naruto Uzumaki, watch as he takes on the wizarding world with the power of chakra and shifts the gears in the grand scheme of things. Rated for language and m?tur? scenes in later part of the story. Pairing: OC x Iris(Fem!Harry) Potter NOTE: Harry Potter and Naruto: Why not? Overall it is a pretty good novel, however the ending is a bit rushed, and the MC is OP (ROTS) Chapter 1: Naruto Uzumaki, a man who was once a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato stood atop a mountain as he looked at the vast lush of green forest. He has lived for more than 500 years and has been through many wars, risking his life multiple times to save the ninja world. Being able to heal from any kind of injuries and sickness, he had grown tired of living while all his friends and family had long since perished. Now, he had a smile on his face as his time with Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, was finally coming to an end. He was about to free his friend from his prison and in the process, pass on to the kingdom come. He was happy, he was content. "Kurama, I guess its time," he said quietly. "Do you really have to do it?" The beast replied with a sorrowful tone. "This world might still need you. You are Naruto Uzumaki, a legend. Even though chakra is dying, there are people who look up to you. You are their hope. Are you sure you want to give it all up?" "Those people will die and I''ll be the only one left. My descendants have already left the Elemental Nations. I have nothing left here. I want you to be free and live with your siblings. I have lived for far too long. I never wanted to be immortal. Though I''ll never be able to repay you for saving my life for god knows how many times, but no, I never wanted this. I wanted to grow old like ji-chan and die of old age. I have made up my mind and I am ending this once and for all." Kurama kept his silence. Though he wanted to be free and be with the rest of his siblings, he didn''t want Naruto to die. He was Kurama''s first friend and was the man Kurama respected. "When you reform, I want you to go where the rest of the eight are. Together you can''t be captured. Goodbye old friend, I really cherish every memory you were part of." Kurama grunted as his eyes welled up. Naruto made a few hand seals, grabbed the seal on his stomach and twisted it to release Kurama. As Kurama was being expelled out of the seal, Naruto''s life flashed accross his eyes. He smiled wistfully as he saw all his people smiling back at him. He was going to see them again. Darkess took over Naruto as Kurama was finally expelled and he fell down the cliff never to wake up again. Edmund Vulpis woke up with a start, gasping for air. He had been having dreams about that man for years, ever since he touched an ancient looking scroll in his mother''s possession. Clair Vulpis, Edmund''s mother belonged to the House of Whirlpool that was nearly whiped out in the war against Grindelwald. She was a loving woman and she loved Edmund more than anything else. She was married to Altair Vulpis, a blood purist who used to be a Death Eater and avoided Azkaban by underhanded methods, through an old marriage contract. When Edmund was born on 24th April 1980, Clair was ecstatic as he looked nothing like his father. He was born with sun-kissed blond hair and electric blue eyes like hers'' and naturally tanned skin just like Clair''s father. But the most striking feature were the whisker like marks on his cheeks just like she had seen in her house''s progenitor''s portrait. Her ancestors had moved to Medieval England back in 1200s from a far away land where her progenitor was born. They had interbred with the wizards and thus the House of Whirlpool was born. Altair was quite hostile towards Clair when he saw not a single thing in his son that resembled him. Since that day, Altair made sure to make their lives miserable. Extended exposure to Cruciaticus curse from the Dark Lord had twisted his mind. When the Dark Lord was vanquished, he had no output left for his madness. So he took it out on the mother-son pair. Although Clair was a talented wizard, she was unable to defend herself and Edmund from Altair. After seven years of torture, she succumbed her physical and psychological wounds. Edmund had sworn for revenge that day. He would kill his father and his Dark Lord if he ever returned as his father hoped he would. After a tear filled good-bye to his mother, he was rummaging through his mother''s belongings as he was told by her in her dying breath. That was when he found the ancient scroll. When he touched the scroll, he felt a similar kind of warmth rush into him which happened only when his mother hugged him and all his wounds would heal. He knew it wasn''t magic as his mother told him, but he was quite familiar with this kind of warmth. He knew he had the same kind of warmth in him but no one else seemed to have it. He could sense it in his mother, but no one else. Quite similarly, the warmth healed his wounds and beyond. He opened the scroll and looked at the scribblings carefully. They were in the foreign language which Clair had taught him. As he read the scroll, he learnt briefly about his mother''s house and its history. Following the instructions, he pricked his thumb and placed it on a circle with strange symbols on it. He woke up two days later in St. Mungo''s. After being discharged from hospital, he attended his mother''s funeral. Nobody noticed the hate filled looks he was sending towards his father who was casually talking to Lucious Malfoy, another death eater who avoided Azkaban by throwing galleons away. That was the night when he first had the dream about Naruto. Since then, he had been having dreams about Naruto''s life. He learnt that the strange warmth was called chakra, a form of energy that people in Naruto''s era used to do all kinds of stuff and was essential for their survival. He learnt how Naruto became the jinchuriki of the kyuubi, how he spent his early life, his life as a genin and the various shinobi wars he was part of. Naruto was hailed as a hero for his people. For hundreds of years he had lived and faught for peace in his land. But nature itself seemed to be against him. A virus was born that fed on chakra. Slowly, everyone died due to lack of chakra and children were being born completely devoid of it. The last of the ninjas died as Naruto''s descendants left the Elemental Nations after a lot of persuasion. Four years of having dreams about Naruto''s life, Edmund learned how he finally ended his life, thus freeing his friend from his prison. In those four years, Edmund grew into a rather healthy eleven year old despite all the torture from his father. Since the day he awakened his chakra, Edmund was rather tolerant to pain. His senses became stronger, he had faster reflexes, hightened awareness and a sturdy body with denser muscles. Although he was still a kid, one could see that he had a rather defined body and was taller for his age. Having seen the life Naruto lived, he knew how important it was to be able to control chakra. So, he began practicing chakra control. At eleven, he was able to run on water for hours before he was down to twenty percent of his chakra capacity. To increase his researves, Edmund would drain himself to exhaustion before going to sleep and use chakra whenever he got a chance. Since he didn''t have any scrolls for how to perform different ninja techniques as his mother had very scarce amount of chkara, he had to postpone his plans for them till he could access the Whirlpool family vault in Gringott''s. The scroll had told him that there were some scrolls based on various ninja arts stored in the vaults. He recalled how Naruto learned Rasengan and was able to perform it after a few weeks of training. He knew that the technique would be rather lethal if used on normal humans as they didn''t have chakra enhanced bodies. He was able to do some other simple ninjutsu techniques such as Kawairumi, bushin and henge. He had learnt them with little effort and was qiute profficient in them. He had seen ninjas perform them without hand seals in the dreams and trained in doing so himself. He was rather envious when he learnt that his chakra reserves were nowhere near as huge as Naruto''s, but he knew he could compensate it with hightened chakra control and gradual increase of chakra capacity. As Edmund got out of his bed after witnessing the death of Naruto Uzumaki, he quickly washed his face in a basin and asked a house elf to bring him a calming draught. Seeing people die in his dreams was never a pleasant experience. Although he was rather hardened after seeing so many deaths, it was still unsettling how Naruto''s life ended. Sometimes he wondered how those memories managed to be sealed in the scroll. He was broken out of his musings when an owl arrived with his Hogwarts letter. He softly patted the owl and gave it some owl treat. He quickly sent his reply and went downstairs to inform his evil father about the letter. Altair was waiting on the dinning table for breakfast. He noticed Edmund approaching him and understood that the letter had arrived. "The letter came. I''ve sent the reply already." He only recieved a nod with a grunt. They had their breakfast quietly. Just as Edmund was about to leave, Altair spoke up, "Go to Diagon Alley yourself and buy what you have to." He threw a pouch towards Edmund rather arrogantly which he easily caught, and continued, "I don''t have time to babysit you so get what you want yourselves. The pouch has around 2000 galleons and that''s all you''ll need." "Pompous shit," Edmund cursed in his mind as he nodded and left the dinning room with a menacing glint in his eyes. "Just you wait, I will rip you apart with my b?r? hands and dissolve the Vulpis house that you''re so proud of." After about an hour, Edmund changed into his public robes and used the floo network to go to diagon alley. Chapter 91 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 32 - Partners Plot:Having the right partner can make life much smoother. The right persons can complement each other''s strengths and support each other''s weakness. Love really does make the world go ''round, especially with a Dark Lord after your blood. Pairing: HP/DG Chapter 1 My name is Countess Daphne Potter. Let me tell you about my best friend, the man that I love, my lover, the Father of my children, the Lord of our House, the Boy-Who-Lived and the Defeater of the Dark Lord. Let me tell you about my Harry¡­ .oOo. 30 June 1996 The bruised, bloody and broken body of Harry Potter stumbled down the sidewalk of Privet Drive. Just before the intersection of Privet Drive and Magnolia Walk his body gave out and he collapsed on the lawn of Norman and Anthony Bates. The gay couple had been the talk of the area for the last year after they moved in, but Harry had liked them well enough. They''d absorbed most of the malicious gossip which in Harry''s mind was a good thing; heat on you is heat off me. He lay on the grass panting and bleeding from his nose, left ear and numerous cuts and scrapes. There was a stabbing pain in his ?h?st when he breathed in and he occasionally coughed up blood. Both of his eyes were swollen to slits, his nose badly broken and flattened across his face. His lips were split and if you looked closely, you could see the stumps of his broken off front teeth. There was an odd cut across the bridge of Harry''s nose where his shattering glasses had cut him as they ended their career. After all the repairing, both magical and mundane, they''d finally given up the ghost in the face of Vernon''s rage. He was wrong. In an enraged fit, Vernon decided to show Harry who was really in charge. Harry had been washing the pots and pans after dinner, Petunia always insisted they be done by hand so as not to ruin the non-stick finish. His thoughts were in their newly accustomed pattern: self-loathing for the perceived responsibility for Sirius'' death. Without warning, Vernon''s meaty paw grabbed the hair on the back of the young Wizard''s head and slammed his face into the porcelain ridge of the kitchen sink, shattering Harry''s front two teeth. So it began. It ended with Harry''s stumbling out of the house an hour later; wand broken, magical possessions burned in his trunk in the back garden and Harry evicted from the house with nothing but the clothes on his back. As Harry lay on the Bates'' lawn, he had only one thought flit through his pain-addled mind: "Help Me" With a pop, Harry left Privet Drive for the last time in his life. .oOo. Daphne Greengrass hated her life. It had started as a mild disagreement; Cyrus Greengrass wanted Daphne to publicly align herself with Draco Malfoy at school. To Daphne, this was an obvious ploy to have her act as her father''s spokesman. The Greengrass family would be known to support the Dark Lord, yet not have to publicly risk themselves. Cyrus would never put himself in a position where he would have to meet with some of the people of whom he was secretly terrified. Bellatrix and Rodulphus Lestrange casually came to mind. Not only would he be able to avoid the uncomfortable acquaintance, but he never really had to commit to do anything. This way, if the unthinkable happened and the Dark Lord was defeated, he had no mark. He''d done nothing illegal. A very cunning idea that Daphne wanted absolutely nothing to do with. Secretly, she wondered if her father wasn''t being a bit na?ve. Surely the Dark Lord would come to claim what was being inferred, wouldn''t he? Daphne had tried to subtly turn him away by making noises of understanding while eating her dinner, yet never really agreeing with him or acceding to his ''request''. She was not the only Slytherin in the house, though, and he recognized her game. He directly asked (or was it ordered?) her to act in accordance with his d?s?r?s and she attempted to defer a response, asking for time to consider. Cyrus had narrowed his eyes and without looking away from his daughter, ordered the rest of the family to leave the table. Daphne''s mother, Evelyn, had led Daphne''s younger siblings Astoria and Philip out of the room and then attempted to reenter. However, Cyrus had already closed and locked the doors against her. Recognizing that subterfuge had failed, Daphne decided that she''d really earn her punishment and the last thing she remembered before succumbing to the pain of the Torqueo Curse, was calling her father a coward for co-opting his sixteen year old daughter into declaring his political alliances. Her mother had been pounding on the door the entire time her husband had been berating her daughter, but when Daphne had started to shriek, Evelyn drew her wand and for the first time in her life cast the Blasting curse. The old oak doors of the dining room hadn''t survived the novelty experience. A white faced Cyrus Greengrass stared at his wife, glanced at the trembling girl on the floor and stalked out of the room. After a quick Ennervate and a pain relief potion provided by the family house elf, Daphne had hugged her mother and gone for a walk on the grounds to collect her thoughts. She didn''t hate her father any more now than she did before dinner. This wasn''t the first, nor did she ?ssume was it the last time he would use the Torqueo Curse on her. She really didn''t want any part of his plan and was trying to find a way out. Her reasons were actually quite simple. First of all, Malfoy was an incompetent, arrogant prick with poor hygiene. Fortunately, that bitchy cow Parkinson was saddled with him so that wasn''t an issue. Any kind of ?ssociation with the inbred moron was doomed to an ignominious end. Second, she didn''t support the Dark Lord. Daphne was a pureblood through and through. She thoroughly enjoyed the perks and advantages that being a pureblood Witch brought, but the whole ''mudbloods are animals'' issue that the Dark Lord espoused sickened her as the ravings of a bigoted lunatic. Her best friend was Tracey Davis and Tracey''s mother was a muggleborn. Belinda Davis was a wonderful woman who learned the rules, written and unwritten, of Wizarding society and when she married Stephen, the pureblood scion of the Davis house, she was able to move in said society and know her role. Her marriage had offset her blood status, but what had most impressed Wizarding high society was that Belinda Davis played by the rules. If Belinda Davis was to be labeled an animal by the philosophy of the Dark Lord and his followers, then Daphne Greengrass wanted nothing to do with them. They had no class, no honor. They were merely thugs looking for an excuse to ****, pillage and kill. No, she wanted no part of that world. Daphne wandered down the trails of their summer home in the Lake District. She loved it here for the silence and peace that she seemed to absorb from the surroundings. Sitting on a boulder next to a swiftly running stream, she pondered the owner of the property on the other side of the small body of water. Harry Potter. She knew his family owned the property on the other side of the steam and ?ssumed that the Potters had a summer home there as well. She never understood his actions at school. His bravery was unquestioned and if half the rumours about his adventures were true, he truly was a Gryffindor Lion. But his clothes were a mess, what he was thinking by wearing those¡­rags. Even his robes were merely adequate. "He''s Head of one of the Fifteen, for all that''s holy" she muttered. He always was trying to blend in and not be noticed. I understand not wanting to be known as the boy-who-lived. After all, he''s the boy-who-lived because his parents did not. But he''s Lord Potter for crying out loud! His eyes. Now that was something else altogether. The look that settled on her face made it obvious that her thoughts were less than proper and more lascivious than she may have even realized herself. She was a pretty young woman but not in a conventional manner. Her blue eyes were so bright as to be disturbing to some. Daphne''s long jet black hair was wavy and her slightly prominent nose complemented her strong jaw. She was curvy in all the right places but no one would ever call her busty. Her figure was that of slim athletic grace. Slightly taller than the average girl, she projected feminine strength to all and to the two boys she''d dated, they''d melted under the radiance of her smile. Her musings were interrupted by the loud CRACK of apparition on the other side of the stream, partway up the hill. This was followed by a loud crashing as something came (falling?) down the hill. A loud yelp was followed by an ear piercing scream as a body bounced off a log directly opposite Daphne on the Potter side of the stream. Without thinking about any wards that could be active, Daphne gathered herself and leapt across the stream. .oOo. An hour and a half later, Harry Potter lay on a stripped bed while two women continued to patch him up like an old shirt. Once Daphne had recognized the bleeding and broken body as the boy-who-lived, she had apparated back to the house and found her mother. Whispering what she had found, the elder female Greengrasses had gathered healing supplies and together, they apparated back to Harry. Evelyn had been studying to be a healer when she and Cyrus had married and she had forsaken that career for that of a stay at home mother and matron of Clan Greengrass when Cyrus'' father eventually passed on. As a pureblood daughter of the house of Davies, she had been trained all her life about her duty and her healer training had been the only real rebellion she had mustered against said duty. Upon seeing the m??ning and semi-conscious Potter heir, her first move had been to stun him. After laying him out flat, she had Daphne get to work on the non life threatening injuries: both legs were broken, an arm and he had glass in his eyes. Once she had Daphne busy with Summoning the splinters of glass out of the boy''s eyes, Evelyn began working on the internal injuries. Twice Harry had convulsed and twice the women could only wait until he was done. Evelyn had called for Matty, their house elf for more potions and also if she knew where the Potter house was located. Matty returned with the potions, as well as, direction to the house. Now that Harry was seemingly out of danger, Evelyn levitated the wounded young man up the path as Daphne followed Matty. They found a typical Victorian style summer house with expansive porches and probably ten bedrooms to accommodate the many expected visitors. As they mounted the front porch, Harry began to shake and convulse. Evelyn backed up, thinking there might have been a ward on the house itself, but Harry continued to convulse. She now ran in the house and up the stairs. Shouting for Daphne and Matty to strip a bed, she followed them into the master suite and laid Harry on the b?r? mattress. "It''s like he''s going through withdrawal from an addictive potion" the onetime apprentice healer murmured out loud. "Not Potter" her daughter answered as she opened an armoire. Finding what she was looking for, she returned to her mother and handed her a folded leather belt. "He might do a whole host of stupid things, but drugs are not on that list." After a moment she added, "I think." Evelyn nodded and put the belt between the remains of the young man''s teeth so he didn''t further injure his mouth in his convulsions. Harry''s convulsions eased and Evelyn stood, wiping her brow with a blood stained hand. After a few moments she said, "I need to get George, he''s a real healer. I''ll overlook something or screw something up and kill this young man. Will you be alright if I leave you here with him for a bit?" "I''ll be fine." She nodded and then followed up with "Mother, may I use magic in your absence?" "Yes, daughter, use whatever spells you deem needful in my absence" Evelyn said, finishing the old permission that not many knew existed. Permission granted by a parent (magical of course) constituted a temporary waiver to the underage restriction of the use of magic. An hour later, Evelyn returned with George Stebbins, an old childhood friend of hers and they found Daphne had cleaned up the injured young man quite thoroughly. All the blood had been wiped clean and she had even used some cleaning charms on his hair. George nodded at the young woman and moved to the bedside and began to work. After ten minutes, he stood and said, "Good work Evelyn, Daphne, you saved his life. I had to tweak a few of the healing spells you put into place, but on the whole, he''s going to be alright. I''ll fetch a bottle of Skele-gro for the fractures and I need to check on one thing. "The convulsions spurred me to check for an addiction of some kind and found none. I checked for other diseases like epilepsy and the like and found none. There was a diagnostic result that reminded me of something I read in a medical journal, oh¡­ten years ago or so. I''ll pop to my office, find the journal, grab the Skele-gro and be back in a half hour or so." He packed up his kit, setting aside a few shrunken boxes of pain relief potions and addressed his old friend, "Are you sure you don''t want him at St. Mungo''s?" Evelyn nodded. She and Daphne had discussed this as they treated him by the stream bed. They figured that Death Eaters had done this and he''d be an easy target at the hospital. George nodded and was off. Evelyn turned to her daughter and said, "If you''d like, I''ll stay with Harry and you can get some rest." Daphne shook her head, "No, you go home. Father will expect me to avoid him for the next few days, but you need to be home." Looking at the floor she almost whispered, "To protect Astoria and Philip." "Just have Matty bring me some clean clothes and food for meals." Evelyn sniffled a bit at the violence that her husband had performed on her eldest daughter. She leaned forward, bussed Daphne''s forehead and murmured, "I love you blue eyes" before apparating away. .oOo. George had returned with the Skele-gro and no news. "I couldn''t find the article I remember. He seems to be doing well, but I really want to know now about those convulsions. That''s obviously not normal. I''ll keep digging and let your mother know." He had given her the directions on how to administer potions to an unconscious patient and a few other things then left with a pat on the young woman''s shoulder and a word of advice, "Get some rest yourself, Daphne. You''re holding on by a thread. I''ll be by tomorrow morning." A half hour later, she stared at the sleeping Harry with trepidation. She''d tried sleeping in the wingback chair in the corner of the room to no avail. She didn''t want to go to another bedroom where she might not hear him if he needed help. That left one place. With a sigh of combined resignation and embarrassment, Daphne climbed onto the king sized bed opposite Harry. "Please gods, let me wake up before him." .oOo. 01 July 1996 Of course, she didn''t. "Daphne?" The weak whisper b?r?ly broke through her dream state and for a long moment she had absolutely no idea where she was, who was talking to her and who she was. So it was a fairly groggy Daphne Greengrass that rolled away from a now awake Harry Potter and mumbled, "Five more minutes." Harry smiled, things couldn''t be that bad. "Daphne, wake up, I need to use the loo and don''t know where it is." "Dammit Harry, I''m sleepin''" Now he gave a weak chuckle that ended with a rasping cough that woke his bed-mate up entirely. "Harry!" she was awake now. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she said, "Explanations later; how do you feel?" "Like my Uncle damn near beat me to death last night." She stared open mouthed at him. "Your Uncle¡­?" she half whispered. "Yeah. Where''s the loo?" Daphne''s expression went from stunned to annoyed. "You broke both your legs and a whole host of other things, you aren''t going anywhere." She then performed the charm her ''Uncle'' George had showed her and the pressure in Harry''s bladder disappeared. He sighed in relief and said, "How did I get here and where is here?" Daphne explained the events of the previous evening starting with his surprise appearance across the stream from him. This in turn prompted questions about the house they were in. "All I know is that this is a Potter home" and she gestured to the wall above the mantle. There on the wall was a gilded bas-relief of the Potter family crest; a rampant lion holding a sword, point down in its right paw. Above the lion was POTTER and below was written FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD. With a smile, Harry fell asleep. Daphne lay there for a bit, watching him sleep. The swelling on his face was mostly gone due to the potions from the previous evening. He was still black and blue, but was fading to yellow and green. The Skele-gro had done its work and Harry''s teeth had regrown. She ?ssumed his legs and arm had healed the same. She hadn''t thought to ask, but since he didn''t mention it, his eyes were probably Ok too. "Matty" A few moments later the young house elf popped in and then out to fetch some breakfast and clean clothes for Daphne. Walking into the massive bathroom to shower and change, Daphne appreciated the obvious wealth on display. Her parents didn''t share a room and hadn''t as far back as she could remember. This bathroom was far nicer than her father''s though. Even back at the manor house, his loo wasn''t this nice. She ate her breakfast and then gently sat next to him on the bed and said, "Harry, wake up. It''s time for breakfast." She saw him smile and he said, "Five more minutes." She laughed and said, "Ok you big faker, you can do this all yourself." She eventually helped him into an upright position and got him his breakfast. He moved gingerly and was becoming more and more withdrawn as the meal went on. She watched him attentively as his forkfuls of eggs got smaller and he left his bacon alone. Ignoring the kippers altogether, eventually he only sipped at his tea and nibbled his toast. At last, she realized what was going on; he was embarrassed that she knew his uncle had beaten him so badly. Daphne walked around the bed and sat down on ''her side''. After getting settled, she noticed that he was watching her and ignoring the rest of his food. Good. "Last night my Father placed me under the Torqueo Curse." She paused when she heard him gasp and then looked him in the eye. "He does it fairly regularly for various reasons; to make me do what he wants, to punish me or just for fun sometimes. The only reason I''ve not run mad is my Mother. She does everything she can to protect me and my brother and sister." She took a deep breath and took the plunge, "It isn''t your fault your Uncle is a beast Harry, just as it isn''t my fault my Father is a beast." For a moment they just stared at each other, then a solitary tear leaked out of Harry''s left eye and wandered down his cheek. She reached out and took his hand, squeezing in comfort, solidarity and compassion. Her mother had always been there for her. Every time she was abused, her mother came. After the first time, she had explained to the eight year old Daphne about Marriage Contracts and why she couldn''t leave her husband until he was convicted of breaking the law. Unfortunately, child abuse was not illegal in the Wizarding world. Evelyn Greengrass did everything she could to counteract the destruction and the out and out evil that her husband perpetrated on her children. Daphne was turning out to be a fine woman, so Evelyn''s work was successful so far. "Thank you" "Anytime, Harry." .oOo. After breakfast they chatted for a bit. Daphne and Tracey Davis had always been what he called, ''the Oddball Slytherins'' and he told her so. "I don''t know if I''m insulted or amused." A softly chuckling Harry said, "Let me explain before you finish me off" to which she smiled. Harry''s stomach flip-flopped at her smile and then said, "You and Tracey never toady up to Malfoy, you aren''t part of the Sneering Snivellus crowd. You seem to keep your heads down, get your work done and not to piss anyone off. Therefore, from my perspective, you two are oddballs." At this, she laughed outright. "Even Ron can''t find anything wrong with you" to which her smile turned into a scowl. "Though I doubt he''d want to have lunch with the two of you anytime soon." He got a Marauder smile and said, "His loss, my gain." "Why Mr. Potter, are you flirting with me?" asked a heavily blushing Daphne. "Pain potions" "Too bad" she said huskily and the boy-who-lived had the tables turned on him in a flash and his blush bulb was burning bright to his nurse''s delight. Healer Stebbins stopped by and checked on Harry''s progress, pleased at his rapid healing from the trauma. "I''ve not found that other issue" he told the teens after explaining everything to Harry. "But I''ll keep looking. Take your potions, and take it easy. You can get up and move around a bit tomorrow." Addressing Daphne, he said, "You keep him from overexerting himself." She snorted and darted her eyes at a smiling Harry. He napped until lunch and Matty brought Daphne''s books so she could work ahead in her courses. When Harry woke at noon, he saw the raven haired girl with her hair in a ponytail, a quill twirling in her hand while she mumbled aloud an incantation she was reading from a book. "What are you working on?" Surprised, she looked up quickly. "Transfiguration for next year." "Pretty impressive. I thought Hermione was the only person who worked ahead like that." Daphne scoffed, "No, Granger is the only person who makes it very clear that she works ahead like that. The bulk of Ravenclaw does, Tracey and I do and I know for a fact that Sue Bones is finished pre-reading the entire sixth year curriculum for Charms, Transfiguration, Defense and Arithmancy. We just don''t show off like Granger does." Harry frowned, "That''s a bit rough, isn''t it?" "Harry, name one other student who is such an incredible suck up to the teachers. Do you know she isn''t even number one in the school? Padma Patil is, followed by Tracey. Granger is fourth." "Really? Who''s third?" "Me" Daphne muttered. She looked at her budding new friend and said, "Look, I know Granger is one of your best friends, and I know you''ve been through a lot together. It''s just that the ''know-it-all'' attitude really bothers me sometimes. I know Malfoy calls her that, but she really is, and it''s not an endearing trait." Harry lay there and tried to be objective and look at his bushy haired friend in a new way. After a few minutes he looked at Daphne and saw that she was noticeably worried about his reaction. He patted ''her side'' of the bed and she joined him with a small sigh of relief. "I think you''re right. Hermione is a great person who has flaws; this is one of her flaws. Doesn''t mean she''s a bad person, just that she''s not perfect." With a surprised look Daphne said, "I''m impressed. Are you sure you''re not a girl? Guys don''t have that kind of maturity." They laughed and Matty popped in with lunch. After lunch, he borrowed her copy of the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6 and began to read ahead as well. Daphne went outside and found a stick that he could use as a dummy to practice wand movements until he got a new wand. Evelyn came by early in the afternoon to see how Harry fared and was buried under the profuse thanks of the Potter heir. "Not to worry, Harry. I''m glad I helped you and didn''t hurt you. My training was quite a while ago and I''ve not kept up. How are you two getting on? Homework I see." Both teens nodded, holding up their respective books. "Harry, I''m going to send Matty over later today to take your measurements to have her whip up some clothes for you until we can go shopping for replacements." Harry nodded and then looked at his ??p. "I''ll need a new wand as well." Both the Greengrasses looked horrified. Daphne crawled up next to him on the bed to her mother''s raised eyebrows and held Harry''s hand. "Your uncle?" Harry nodded. "Everything. He burnt everything. I had an album of pictures of my parents, my dad''s invisibility cloak and some letters from my godfather." His voice trailed off and the solitary tear returned, "They''re all gone." Daphne gently hugged Harry to her br??st while he cried. Harry then did something he''d never done before and hugged her back. It felt good to cry and let the dam burst. He wailed like a child; for his parents, for his godfather, for himself. A bit later, neither knew how long, his sobs dried up and they lay there on the bed for a bit, taking comfort in each others arms. Evelyn had slipped out long before. Daphne had never experienced someone let their guard down that completely. It was almost as draining for her as it was for him. Eventually he stirred, squeezed her gently and murmured, "Thanks, again." "Anytime, Harry." .oOo. The rest of the afternoon and early evening was quiet. The two teens had established an extraordinary level of trust and intimacy between them that at times drew them to holding hands as they studied on the bed, and other times made Daphne flee the room to the loo to escape the intensity of it all. They talked about their lives. Harry didn''t need to say much about the Dursleys and didn''t want to either. Daphne understood. He told her about the Philosophers Stone, the Basilisk and the Chamber (leaving Ginny''s name out, of course) and about Sirius. He almost broke down again when he mentioned his godfather''s name. She cuddled up to his side, steadying him and he told the story. The Secret Keeper change, Wormtail, the Muggles in the alley and so on. Daphne had heard the official line on Sirius Black, and it didn''t surprise her much that the official story and the true story had been so divergent and she told her new friend that. Harry gave a short mirthless laugh and then stared at the ceiling while stroking her hair. The Department of Mysteries came next. Haltingly, painfully, he ground out the story in the most exquisite detail he could master. He had to. He felt like he owed it to Sirius. Every drop of blood shed, every injury sustained, every word said, spoken or screamed. "¡­and he fell back through the veil. His expression was¡­stunned? Surprised? Something like that. I don''t know if what Lestrange cast at him was even lethal, but he''s gone now. Gone, and it''s my fault." Daphne gave him a gentle hug and then propped herself up on her elbows, close enough to his face so that he could see her properly. If her mother walked in she would have sworn the teens had been snogging. "I believe that I''m the only person you''ve told the entire story to? No one else, save Longbottom was conscious for the whole thing right?" He nodded. "I''ll say this once and only once, then. It''s. Not. Your. Fault." She poked him in the ?h?st with her forefinger with each word, emphasizing her scowl that much more. "But¡­" and he was cut off with a gesture from her. "Did you cast the curse at your godfather?" "No" "Did you make him come after you?" "No" Now she just glared at him until he nodded in resignation, but he couldn''t take his eyes from hers. After a moment, his green sparkled with the brilliance of her blue. Her scowl softened until she just murmured, "Oh, my" and kissed him. Her hands were in his hair and his were moving across her back, pulling her on top of him. The kiss deepened and tongues dueled while both teens ?r??n?d with passion and d?s?r?. Finally, he gave a yelp of pain as one of his newly healed ribs gave a sharp cry of protest. They broke their kiss and she blushed brightly, while he smiled. "That was brilliant" She snuggled into his good side and murmured, "I can''t believe this happened so fast." Harry smiled, "I''m glad it did" "Me too" .oOo. They awoke when Matty popped in with their dinners. After a quick debate and a promise from Harry not to do anything ''stupid'', he was allowed to head for the loo while Matty set up dinner. When he got back he said, "Whoa, sheets! I must have been a good boy." Daphne rolled her eyes, "Hardly. Mum was worried that you could hurt yourself with the convulsions, so she wanted the bed b?r?. You haven''t had one in 24 hours, so you get sheets back. Now lie down." Harry hid a smile; he was enjoying this much more than the hospital wing. Matty popped away to serve dinner at the house and after eating most of his food (an excellent roast), Harry fidgeted for a moment before saying, "Daphne?" She looked up at him from her plate and said, "Hmm?" "Will you be my girlfriend?" The Slytherin Oddball, swallowed the potato in her mouth, set her plate on the nightstand, put Harry''s plate on his nightstand, then smiled radiantly and said, "Yes" before kissing him. Moments later, the young man in question would not have been able to remember his own name, much less talk coherently. .oOo. They cuddled through the evening, talking quietly and sharing kisses every so often. Sirius. Her father and his plans. School. Even Quidditch was discussed as Harry found out that Daphne was a rabid Puddlemere United fan. Harry''s injuries were mostly healed thanks to the prompt action of Evelyn and to a lesser extent, Daphne. He was sore and a little weak, but overall Ok. Matty popped in with an evening bag for Daphne and a shaving kit for Harry. While Daphne was in the shower his thought wandered over various topics. He saw that Evelyn had ?ssembled the standard male shaving kit for him. The soap was even the kind he liked. He felt good here in his home. He was never going back to the Dursley''s, that was for sure, Dumbledore be damned. Daphne was a godsend. He''d noticed her at school, how could he not? But the silver and green piping on her robes had intimidated him. Maybe it is for the best that Uncle Vernon is such an animal. He realized that he''d gone with his instincts on asking her to be his girl, but so far his instincts weren''t wrong. Going to the Department of Mysteries hadn''t been about his instincts, but about his fear. He could now see how Voldemort had played him like a fiddle. Dance to the tune, Harry. Dance to the tune. The prophecy. Daphne deserved to know. If they were going to be together, she would be a target and unlike Dumbledore, he was going to tell her up front so she could make an informed decision. Maybe tell her a basic summary of it? She came out of the bathroom wearing silk pajamas that made Harry''s mouth dry among other things. They were nothing special; a soft purple color with trousers and bu??on up top but it was the way she wore it that made him stand up and pay attention. "You''re beautiful" She smiled and blushed. "Thank you kind sir. Are you up to showering?" He tested his legs and found no pain so he slowly shuffled into the bathroom for a shower. "If you need any help in the shower, call" she said from behind him. With a smile, he turned to her and said, "Geez, Daph, we just started dating this afternoon" which prompted a pillow to become airborne in the general vicinity of his head. That night was the most restful sleep Harry had in his memory. He woke up to a faceful of jet black hair scented with lavender and he could only smile. AN 1. I own nothing. 2. Torqueo: (Latin) to twist, curl, rack, torture, torment, distort. I imagine this curse to be a poor man''s Cruciatus. Instead of thousands of white hot knives, imagine severe cramping of every muscle in your body at the same time. You know, that cramp in the arch of your foot that wakes you up in the middle of the night making you scream? Yeah that one. All over your body. Ouch. Not nice. 3. Looking at my own life, it seems like it''s all about relationships. My relationship with my wife, my kids, my boss, my co-workers, and so on. Within the context of these relationships, my life happens. This is the prism that I''m looking through for this fic. Also, it''s third person but focuses on Daphne instead of Harry. When she isn''t with Harry, the only way we know about his activities or thoughts, is because he told her after the fact. There will be many times that HP is off doing stuff without Daphne and the reader won''t know. I will, ''cause I''m the evil author. (Cue spooky music) bwahahahahaha 4. This is a shorter chapter, I wanted to set everything up but not get the ball really moving. Also, this story is a whirlwind romance type of story. My first two stories were Harry/Hermione and therefore Harry and his beloved had a much slower build up. Not so here. I have been utterly and completely stuck on To Stand Against the Darkness and All Because of a Hippogriff. I know where the story(s) is supposed to go (vaguely), but between some wicked medical problems that are only now being resolved and losing all excitement and interest for continuing, I''ve done what someone once advised me to do. Write about something else. On Fanficauthors dot net, Jeconais utterly and completely polluted me. First I read his Harry/Gabrielle stories (Hope, Once More and Happily Ever After) which got me writing one of my own. I''ve got ~60k words on it done. Then I read his Harry/Daphne stories (Perfect Situations and Matroyshka Vignettes). All five stories are fantastic. This is my stab at HP/DG. Also, remember, I''m going with the ''whirlwind romance'' here. Intentionally, so I don''t want to see "That''s not realistic" in reviews. It''s what I''m intentionally doing to change Potterverse in this direction. Thanks to any and all who have been patient on my other stories. I''ll get back to them (my wife says to me weekly "So what''s going on in Stand?"), I promise. Hopefully Partners will help be get my groove on with the others. - muggledad Chapter 92 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 33 - Harry Potter and Ice Cream Delights Plot: Harry Potter knew that a person''s life could be changed in a single day, but until a summer day with Luna Lovegood he never knew that his life could be made forever better. Fred and George add their own wicked magic. Harry fights back. For romantics. Pairing: HP,LL CHAPTER 1: A BULL NAMED FERDINAND As Albus Dumbledore pulled his head out of the fireplace he felt every day of his one hundred and fifty years. Dealing with the odd dark lord every now and again was bad enough, but dealing with an outraged parent was infinitely worse. And the floo call that he had just received was one of the worst that he could remember. The old man sighed deeply and sat down heavily behind his desk, reaching for the first of the several lemon drops that he would consume that evening. For some strange reason sugar had a calming effect on the old man, and he certainly needed it at that moment. Most people regarded Xenophilius Lovegood as an odd and eccentric man, fascinated by strange animals and absurd conspiracies; but few would regard him as exactly threatening. Possibly it was his fondness for wearing bright yellow Japanese Kimonos, or his love of muggle zither music, but people viewed him as a harmless and eccentric father-figure. However Albus Dumbledore could attest to the fact that Xenophilius Lovegood could be extremely intimidating when he needed to be, as evidenced by his just concluded floo call. Dumbledore knew that Xenophilius loved his young daughter very much, and that the child''s words were gospel to the doting father; what the Headmaster hadn''t known was that Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood had apparently become very close friends. Xenophilius had just informed him that Harry Potter and his daughter had been exchanging regular owl communications since the beginning of summer, and that the young wizard had apparently disclosed much more to Miss Lovegood than he had to his other friends. Many of the things that Harry had apparently told the young girl, and that she had passed on to her Father, were less than flattering to the old Headmaster. Upon reflection, Albus Dumbledore wondered if he had handled the situation as badly as Xenophilius had declared. Perhaps he should have been more honest with the boy from an earlier age, perhaps he could have trusted him with more information; but regardless he still believed that he had done what was best to protect the young wizard. But apparently his best wasn''t good enough, as Xenophilius had informed him in no uncertain terms. The outraged parent had demanded that Harry spend the rest of the summer at his home near Ottery St. Catchpole in Devonshire. Lovegood further declared that unless Harry was immediately removed from the abusive environment of Privet Drive, he would blast the story wide open in his newspaper, The Quibbler. Albus Dumbledore had no fear of Lord Voldemort, but there was something in Mr. Lovegood''s tone that made the most powerful wizard in the world rather apprehensive. Maybe it was his fear that Lovegood might be right, and that he had terribly failed the boy who had been placed in his trust. For whatever reason, Albus Dumbledore had meekly agreed to the move and had provided Xenophilius with the coordinates for Harry''s bedroom at Privet Drive. Albus Dumbledore had humbly offered to help by strengthening the wards around the Lovegood home, but even that sincere offer was curtly refused. Xenophilius Lovegood declared that the wards on his house were quite sufficient to protect Harry Potter or anyone else beneath his roof, and that Dumbledore''s help would not be needed. His daughter would pick up the boy immediately, and that was where the conversation was abruptly ended. As Dumbledore considered how dreadful his evening had gone, he reached for two more lemon drops; glancing at the few remaining in the bowl on his desk. He made a mental note to reorder more in the morning; realizing that with everything that was going on he certainly didn''t want to run short of that vital commodity. And then his thoughts turned to the upcoming term, and his level of apprehension grew even greater. The thought of Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood together absolutely terrified the old man. While most regarded Luna Lovegood as a dreamy and eccentric oddball, Albus Dumbledore knew better. He realized that beneath the dreamy exterior the girl possessed a very acute mind and a unique wisdom; that combined with the unflagging loyalty that she had inherited from her Mother. With Harry and Miss Lovegood together the boy would be impossible to control; and control at this critical moment was what Dumbledore needed most. It would no longer be a case of the master directing the pupil, but rather of a powerful witch and wizard uniting to make their own decisions. Dumbledore shuddered at the thought of what the two of them might get themselves into, and with a deep sigh he resolved to double his order for lemon drops; feeling certain that he was going to need them. - o - Harry Potter was more than shocked when a fifteen-year-old girl portkeyed to his bedroom in the middle of the night; but given Luna Lovegood''s habit of doing the unexpected it really shouldn''t have surprised him that much. Since the beginning of summer Harry had written to Luna on an almost daily basis, knowing that she would always be supportive and never judgmental; something that he couldn''t always say about his other friends. In fact, he had kept his owl Hedwig so busy that the faithful bird was on the verge of a revolt; and Luna''s owl was in very much the same mood. Luna knew better than anyone the deep depression into which Harry Potter had fallen after the death of his Godfather, as well as the constant abuse to which he was being subjected at home. She had convinced her Father that action needed to be taken immediately, and had suggested that Harry spend the rest of the summer at their home near Ottery St. Catchpole. Their conversation was immediately followed up by an extremely irate floo call from Xenophilius Lovegood to Albus Dumbledore; and immediately afterwards Luna popped into Harry''s bedroom. The fact that it was well past midnight, and that Harry was dressed only in his pajama bottoms, didn''t seem to concern the young girl in the least. Harry, on the other hand, was seriously questioning his sanity and wondering if the whole thing might not be some kind of strange adolescent dream. After accepting the fact that his unexpected visitor was real, and not simply the product of overactive teenage hormones, Harry progressed on to his next fear. If his Aunt and Uncle ever discovered a girl in his bedroom they would most certainly murder him, probably in ways that involved a considerable amount of pain and moralistic lecturing. While his cousin Dudley would most certainly find it entertaining, Harry doubted very much that he would. But in spite of the realistic possibility that his Uncle might grind his bones into a fine powder to sprinkle over his Aunt''s roses, Harry was extremely happy to see his friend. In the past few weeks the young boy had come to value his eccentric friend more and more; she seemed to be the one person capable of helping him deal with the stresses of his life. Luna seemed to understand him better than anyone else, and he found her company very comforting. After talking for some time the boy finally relaxed and fell asleep on her shoulder, and she carefully tucked him into bed. Luna herself curled up in a blanket on the floor to wait for morning and the anticipated confrontation with his relatives; something that she was saving up for. She could accept the abuse that other people might heap upon her with a dreamy detachment, but she would not allow anyone to hurt one of her friends. She could count the number of true friends that she had on a single hand, well two fingers actually; and Harry certainly counted as one of them. She didn''t like Harry in a romantic way, she was rather sure of that, but he was someone that she trusted and cared about a great deal; and she wasn''t about to let his horrible family hurt him. Ginny had hinted that Luna''s feelings might be otherwise; but Luna rationalized that Ginny was just at that certain age when she saw everything from a romantic point of view. ''No, definitely not romantic,'' Luna thought to herself as sleep started to overtake her, and she turned her thoughts back to the nasty hexes that she would use on Harry''s family if it became necessary. After a surprisingly easy departure, in which no hexes were found necessary, Harry and Luna portkeyed from Privet Drive into a large, grassy meadow surrounded by an ancient forest of Oak trees. Although Harry knew that the Weasleys lived somewhere nearby, the landscape surrounding the Lovegood home was quite different from the pastures and apple orchards which bordered on the Weasley property. The house was located in the center of a meadow of native grasses and wild flowers, and appeared to be every bit as eccentric as its owners. The structure seemed to be of great age and had the appearance of being added onto at several times during its history, with each addition using different materials. The oldest part of the structure was built of heavy stone blocks carefully cut and tightly fitted together, much in the style of a medieval Norman castle. The second story, which appeared to be a more recent addition, was constructed of hand-made brick and heavy oak beams; having a rather Tudor appearance. The heavy thatched roof that crowned the structure was typical of that employed during the Elizabethan period of English history. More than anything else the old house had the appearance of a very large mushroom that was tilted slightly to one side, and Harry was quite certain that magic had no small role in keeping the old building standing. If this wildly eclectic mixture of materials and styles wasn''t enough to win the house the designation of an architectural oddity; it possessed one other unique feature guaranteed to take that title. The building contained windows literally everywhere, of every conceivable shape and size, running from low to the ground all the way up into the thatched roof. It seemed to Harry that the builders must have wanted as much contact with the outside world as possible, and to that end they employed as much glass as was possible. But in spite of its eccentricities Harry immediately liked the warm and friendly old house; it possessed none of the stale conformity of the Privet Drive homes that he was used to. He very much doubted that there was another house like it in the entire world, and it was clear that the people who lived in it didn''t care what others might think. It was a very refreshing change from the home of his relatives, where everything was designed to impress others. In the days following his arrival, Harry became even more comfortable with the old house and the warm and friendly feeling that it conveyed. At dawn the sun flooded into the east-facing windows bringing with it the positive energy of a fresh, new day. And at sunset the house was bathed with a golden light that made the ancient oak paneling a glowing honey-color, and brought the day to a warm and peaceful conclusion. However, as much as he enjoyed the house Luna saw to it that the young teen spent the majority of each day out of doors with her, lying in the soft velvet grass of the meadow or walking the tree-shaded paths through the dark woods. As his level of trust in his friend grew, Harry found himself sharing confidences that he never thought he would disclose to another living soul; there was something about the Lovegood forest that encouraged such confidences. He was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Luna about things that until that moment he had considered very private and personal, and she responded with sympathy, understanding and support. - o - On Harry''s third day staying at The Meadows, for that is what Luna called her home, the young girl suggested that the two of them might take a walk into Ottery St. Catchpole. Ron and Ginny had often spoken of the small rural village, and Harry thought it might be fun to finally see it. It was a warm day with a light wind, and he thought it would be perfect for a leisurely walk. The two started out just after breakfast, Luna wearing an old-fashioned muslin summer dress and Harry wearing his school slacks and the only decent dress shirt that he had. They followed the narrow trail that led through the meadow and into the line of green trees that marked the edge of the forest. The wind was warm and felt gentle on their faces, and the wild grasses swirled and billowed around them like the currents of a peaceful sea. The two friends walked together in a comfortable silence, neither feeling that the need to make conversation. Others might find the quiet uncomfortable, but it only seemed to make Harry and Luna more at peace with each other. Passing into the forest the trail was illuminated by dappled golden sunlight filtering down through the leafy canopy overhead, contrasting markedly from the brightness of the meadow they had just left. The forest here was different from the one at Hogwarts, and was filled with a luxuriant growth of ferns, mosses and wild flowers. The forest floor at Hogwarts had always struck Harry as sterile, barren and rather sinister. But the perfusion of life in Luna''s forest was almost unbelievable, with a new wonder awaiting discovery at every turn of the trail. As they walked along the young teen reflected upon how pleasant the last few days had been, and he realized that the girl walking by his side was the major reason for that. While some people might find Luna''s unconventional personality disturbing, Harry found that she created for him feelings of peace and serenity. She accepted him just as he was, not the hero of the wizarding world or the ''chosen one,'' but simply as her friend. And for that acceptance he was very grateful. As the trail ran deeper into the woods it began to slope downhill into a shallow river valley, and turned in the direction of the sea. Much of Devonshire is made up of low rolling hills used as pastureland and orchards; but the forest in this one corner of the county was wild and dense, as the entire country must have been before man arrived and cut down the trees to make room for his sheep and cattle. After an hour of walking the two teens emerged from the forest and, after climbing over the remains of a tumbled down stone wall, stepped onto a narrow gravel lane. The countryside here looked more familiar to Harry, with green pastures and apple orchards, and in the distance he got his first glimpse of the small village of Ottery St. Catchpole. As they walked Harry chanced an occasional glance over at his friend, and wondered how he should phrase the question that he very much wanted to ask. After all of the help and support that Luna had given him over the past months, Harry now considered her to be one of his very closest friends, along with Ron and Hermione. While in the past he had been content to accept Luna and her strange beliefs without really understanding them; he now really wanted to know what made her the unique person that she was. "Um¡­can I ask you something, Luna?" he asked very tentatively. "Of course you can, Harry." She replied with a dreamy smile. "Uh¡­you''re able to accept a lot of things that others can''t. How¡­um, how can you..." Harry''s question trailed off into silence, as the last thing that he wanted to do was somehow challenge her beliefs. Luna stopped walking and turned to look at him carefully, even though he was still looking uncomfortably at his feet. She could see that he was sincere in his d?s?r? to understand, so she decided to help him along. "You want to know how I can believe in so many things that others don''t; is that it?" "Um¡­ya," he responded self-consciously, glancing up into her bright silver-grey eyes. "Some of it I simply take on faith, until I can prove to myself one way or the other. But mostly I believe in things because I''ve found them to be true," she said simply. Seeing the confusion on his face she attempted to explain. "People see only what they expect to see, and believe what others tell them is true. Think about how you grew up, Harry. Muggles don''t see magic, so they don''t believe that it exists; but we know that it does. Before you came to Hogwarts did you believe that people could ride brooms?" "No¡­no, I didn''t," Harry responded with a dawning comprehension. "Most people believe only what they can see, or like Hermione what they read in books; but I try to discover the things that aren''t in the books," she explained patiently. As the two started to slowly walk again Luna saw a familiar overgrown field up ahead that gave her the perfect opportunity to make her point. The stone wall surrounding it had suffered from many years of neglect, and the stones were falling down in many places. "Let me show you something, Harry," she said as she took his hand and led him through one of the gaps and into the waist high weeds. She led him up a narrow dirt path towards a pile of rocks near the back of the field, smiling at him mysteriously. "What do you see, Harry?" Luna asked, waving her arm in a sweeping motion to encompass the entire area. Harry''s first instinct was to answer that he merely saw the evidence of a poor farmer, but he realized that she must have a purpose in asking the question, and studied the landscape in more detail. "I see what appears to be an abandoned field," he answered carefully. "And up there," Luna asked, pointing to the mound of stones at the back of the field. "It appears to be a pile of rocks," Harry declared, feeling more than a little bit silly about the whole thing. "That''s right, Harry. That''s what it ''appears'' to be. That''s what most people would see. But come have a closer look." And she led him up the narrow trail to the pile of stones. "Now look again Harry, more closely." And as he looked at the rocks she sat down on a small grey boulder next to the pile. This time Harry studied the pile of stones more carefully; trying to discover what it was that Luna wanted him to see. They were the same kind of grey river rocks that could be found in most of the southern counties of England, and had for centuries been a standard building material for farm cottages and rock walls. The stones on top of the pile were a loose jumble of different shapes and sizes, but those on the bottom seemed more organized, almost as if it were planned. And then it hit him like a rogue Blodger: it was planned and had clearly once been the foundations of some type of structure. "What was this place?" the boy asked in surprise. Luna smiled at him proudly; she knew that he would figure it out. "A thousand years ago this was one of the strongest Saxon keeps in this part of the country. The Normans destroyed it during their invasion so that it couldn''t be used against them. It''s laid here in neglect for all of these centuries with passersby thinking it nothing more than a pile of rocks. Things are not always what they appear to be," she said knowingly. Before Harry could say a word Luna reached into her pocket and pulled out a small canvas carry bag, of the kind that was common for young women to carry in that part of the country. At first Harry''s attention was drawn to the remains of the ancient structure which he had just discovered, but as Luna continued to unfold her bag into a larger and larger size his attention was drawn back to her. As the bag reached a size that could only be described as enormous, Harry was reminded of the magical ?h?st that the fake Moody had used in his fourth year; and he knew that Luna''s bag must be charmed as well. Finally she reached the proper compartment and withdrew a small magnifying glass, which she then handed to Harry. "Now look at this," she said pointing to the ground at their feet. Harry looked down and saw a trail of ants running from the field, between their feet, into a small gap between the lowest course of grey stones. His first instinct was to discount them as unimportant, but then he hesitated. Using the magnifying glass he looked closer at the moving stream of life, and what he saw utterly shocked him. Under the power of the glass what he thought to be ants now showed themselves up as a stream of tiny blue, fairy-like creatures. And they weren''t crawling on the ground at all, but were actually flying slightly above it on tiny translucent wings. "What are they?" Harry asked in awe. "They''re called Pixie Sprites, and most books say that they don''t exist." Luna declared with mirth evident in her voice. Harry was still looking through the glass, and the tiny sprites seemed fully as interested in him as he was in them. A bulge had appeared in their line of flight, as several of the tiny creatures stopped moving and began to hover directly below the magnifying glass; seemingly determined to study the large green eye that was staring down at them. Finally satisfied that the enormous creature had no malicious intent, the sprites resumed their organized movement. Harry looked up at Luna in absolute astonishment, and knew that she was right. Hermione and the rest of the school would quickly dismiss these creatures as just another one of Luna''s fantasies, but here they were. And if these tiny sprites existed, then why not Crumple Horned Snorkacks and all of the other creatures that Luna believed in? "The world is full of wonderful things, Harry; but most people never see them. You have to look closely to see the truth, and sometimes you just have to believe without seeing," Luna said carefully. It was at that moment that Harry realized that if Hermione was the smartest witch at Hogwarts, then Luna must certainly be the wisest. "How long have they been here?" He asked in a whisper. We can''t know, but this colony has probably existed for hundreds of years. My Great Grandmother found them when she was a little girl, and she persuaded her Father to buy the land in order to protect them. Her Father gave the land to her and she passed it down to her daughter, who passed it down to hers, and now its mine. And if I ever have any children I''ll pass it on to them." Luna said, a very slight note of sadness creeping into her voice that Harry noticed. "What do you mean ''if;'' aren''t you planning on having a family of your own someday?" Harry asked with concern. "I know that everyone thinks I''m crazy, and I realize that I''m not very pretty," she said with a note of sad resignation. Harry felt the anger welling up in him; he had come to realize that Luna was someone very special, and for her to have doubts about herself was just wrong. "I don''t think you''re crazy, and I never did; and I think you''re very pretty," Harry declared in a boldness born of anger, and then he blushed slightly at his own words. They walked back towards the lane in silence, both trying to think of something to say to end the awkwardness they were both feeling. "You know these sprites are really quite unique," Luna began awkwardly. "Oh, how so?" Harry asked, grateful that Luna had found a way to change the subject. Well, all living things need certain minerals in order to live; Pixie Sprites are the only creatures known to science that can take their energy from gold, and they must live in close proximity to it." "You mean there is gold buried here?" Harry asked in surprise. "Oh yes, the sprites wouldn''t be here if there wasn''t. At the time of the Norman invasion many Saxon families buried their treasure to prevent its seizure, and some was never recovered afterwards. The sprites build their colonies around lost treasure hordes, but if the treasure is found and removed the sprites will die; that''s why there are so few of them left," she said sadly. As they walked back to the gravel lane Harry realized that Luna trusted him with the lives of the tiny creatures, and he resolved never to tell anyone about the sprites or their treasure. "I hope no one ever discovers them," Harry said with concern as he looked back at the innocuous pile of stones. He had heard how muggle treasure hunters often destroyed unguarded sites in their search for gold. "Aren''t you worried that someone might just walk in and start treasure hunting." "No, the wards won''t let them," Luna responded casually. "There are wards on that field?" Harry asked in surprise. "Oh yes, actually my Grandfather put them on. Anyone uninvited who tries to enter the field feels an irresistible need to go straight home and have apple pie and ice cream." "Apple pie and ice cream?" Harry asked in amusement. "Yes, my Grandfather loved it, so he thought it might be a nice thing to put in the ward." Harry thought for a moment and felt quite certain that he would have liked Luna''s Grandfather. "So, do you like pie and ice cream?" He asked coyly. "You''ll find that out tonight; that''s what we''re having for dessert." Luna responded with a grin. They continued on in silence, but now it was once again the warm and comfortable silence that they had felt earlier, and after a few minutes Harry felt Luna slip her small, warm hand into his. He liked the feeling, and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze to tell her so. Then he smiled and thought to himself: ''This summer is going to be so much fun.'' After a few minutes Luna began to limp slightly, and she seated herself on the ancient wall that bordered the lane. The side of the wall facing the lane was only about a meter high, while the side facing into a wide sunken pasture dropped off a bit more "I need to stop for a minute, I have a pebble in my shoe," she said casually as she removed her shoe. Harry sat on the wall beside her as she tapped the heel of her shoe on the grey stone, worn smooth by years of wind and rain. Glancing into the field he saw a very shaggy bull peacefully grazing on the rich grass a hundred or so paces away. It was all rather idyllic, and Harry loved his blissful escape to the country. He looked over at his friend as she retied her shoe and realized that Luna was really quite pretty, in her own rustic way. Her long sandy blond hair gently ??r?ssed her back and shoulders as it reached nearly to her waist and her large silver-grey eyes, which looked particularly bright in the early morning sunlight. In some ways Luna reminded him of a gentle ghost from some past age that simply couldn''t fit in with the modern world. She was simple, sincere and natural in a way that was different from other girls; and Harry found himself thinking about how very appealing she was. Pulling himself out of his reverie he shook his head as if that would suppress the strange feelings that he was experiencing. This was Luna, she was his friend and he liked her a lot, but not in that way. As he glanced back into the field he was surprised to see the bull was much closer, moving towards them with a determined look in his eyes. "Uh, Luna¡­I think we better¡­." But before Harry could complete his thought the bull had broken into a charge, directly at them. "Luna!" Harry screamed, as he stumbled back off the wall and into the ditch beside the road, arriving at just the same moment that a rickety old lorry was making its way slowly up the hill. The driver laid on his horn and Harry, caught off guard between the two possible threats, fell down on his bum in the grassy ditch. With his eyes tightly closed, Harry sat in the ditch trying to regain his composure and figure out what had just happened. As his wits returned to him, the boy was conscious of wild, uncontrolled laughter coming from the other side of the stone wall. He opened his eyes cautiously and noticed that the lorry, the bull and Luna were nowhere in sight; but he still heard the hysterical laughter. Getting unsteadily to his feet Harry stumbled over to the wall, praying that the bull had not hurt Luna. The sight that greeted him on the other side left the boy totally speechless. Luna was lying on her back in the tall grass laughing uncontrollably, the bull lying placidly in the grass next to her. She looked up at Harry, her eyes full of mirth, and she began to laugh even harder. In spite of his heart stopping experience Harry felt a smile creeping onto his face, and he began to laugh as well. Once Luna''s laughter had subsided, Harry''s smile turned into a smirk. "A friend of yours?" He asked, eyeing the bull with suspicion. She laughed softly, in a tone that sounded quite musical to Harry. "An old friend, actually," Luna said, gently patting the bull''s shaggy back. "Harry this is Ferdinand, and Ferdinand this is my friend Harry." The bull raised his head and gave Harry a friendly snort, and then returned to eating his breakfast of grass. It suddenly occurred to Harry that Luna had probably set him up in the surprise meeting with the intimidating, yet friendly bull. "Do you have other animal friends that I should be worried about?" He asked with a smirk. "I have many animal friends, but none that you need to worry about," she answered with a smile; but there was the slightest trace of sadness behind her words. He realized that what she wasn''t saying was that although she might have many animal friends, Luna had very few human friends. Harry just couldn''t understand why so many people took p???sur? in tormenting the quiet, good natured girl; but he had already resolved that the coming year was going to be different for his friend. He was determined to do whatever was necessary to ensure that the year would be a good one for Luna, and if a few Ravenclaws had to suffer in the process it was something that they had brought upon themselves. Putting a forced smile on his face, Harry clambered over the low rock wall and down into the pasture, sitting down cautiously next to the large animal. "Well then I guess that I should get to know him," he said bravely, as he laid a cautious hand on the animal''s broad, shaggy back. A bright grin immediately illuminated Luna''s face, as she moved to the animal''s other side and began scratching his forehead. "Bulls are really rather misunderstood creatures you know," Luna said sincerely. "They are not really aggressive unless people try to make them that way. Ferdinand and I have been friends since I was seven." Harry certainly couldn''t argue with her statement, as the large animal dozed off into a peaceful sleep in the tall grass between them. He knew all too well what it was like to be misunderstood, and looking over at his friend Harry knew that she too knew the loneliness of that condition. Trying to lighten the slightly sad mood he was feeling, he plastered a smile on his face. "Well I think that we should start a club for people¡­" and then glancing down at the large animal he added "and animals that are misunderstood. The three of us can be the founding members." Luna giggled slightly. "You can count me in," she said with a musical laugh. The two remained in the pasture for another half hour, enjoying the warm sun and the friendly company. And when it was finally time to leave, Harry gave Ferdinand a friendly pat on the head and followed Luna as she climbed back over the rock wall. As they continued their walk into town Harry felt a new respect for his friend. He had learned two very important things about Luna. She was far wiser than people gave her credit for and she had a truly devilish sense of humor. As he glanced over he realized that there was so much more to this young girl than met the eye, and he rather eagerly looked forward to what the next revelation might be. He wouldn''t have to wait long in finding out. Chapter two to follow soon. Chapter 93 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 34 - Harry Potter The Forgotten Brother Plot: For years, the world has hailed Arnold Potter as the Boy-Who-Lived. For years Arnold was said to be the one who will throw down Voldemort. But now Arnold is dead, and the world turns its attentions to Harry. Pairing: Mostly H/Hr/L. NOTE: throws canon out of the window (duh), some really unbelievable things, OP MC. + Potter alive (not what you think) Harry: The Forgotten Brother. Chapter 1: Dumbledore''s Puzzle Arnold Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen one, aged thirty-two, Hogwarts graduate; Gryffindor, class of ''98, the one the wizarding world placed its hopes in to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort, was dead. Port-keys had brought his severed limbs to several locations throughout Britain; his head to his parents, Lily and James, an arm to the Weasley ancestral home; the Burrow, another arm to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix; Number 12, Grimmauld Place. The torso, with a gaping hole in it, was delivered to the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during dinner. One leg arrived in the main atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The other leg arrived at the flat of Arnold''s long-time best friend Ronald. The hole in the torso was where his heart had been ripped out. It, along with his t?st????s, arrived in Arnold''s own flat, to torment his fianc¨¦e, Ginny. Panic was widespread throughout the wizarding community. This war had been going on for around seventeen years, with neither the light side nor the darkness giving an inch. Voldemort was powerful, but with Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, Amelia Bones, Rufus Scrimgeour, Cornelius Fudge and Arnold presenting a united front, the self-styled greatest dark lord of all time had been unable to make any serious bid for control. That did not stop the attacks, however. In fact they were quite regular. But the leaders of light were always there to provide backup. Now, though, one of them, supposedly the only one who could kill Voldemort, was dead himself, and by Voldemort''s hand, no less. And the fickle wizarding public wanted someone to blame. And the remaining leaders had promptly turned on each other, each insisting that it was all the others'' fault, but not their own. Now the light side was dividing. The Order of the Phoenix had split into two groups; the larger group were the ones who had, for a long time now, become slowly more disillusioned with the way Dumbledore ran the organisation. This group contained Lily and James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks, Hestia Jones, Kingsley Shacklebolt and most (but not all) of the remaining Weasley clan, amongst others. And it was this group that now sided with Alastor Moody. Cornelius Fudge and Amelia Bones seemed to have split the rest of the Wizengamot members between them; with Fudge taking those of big name, yet mostly incompetent, such as Dolores Umbridge. Amelia, on the other hand had the likes of Augusta Longbottom, Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden in her camp. Amelia also had the loyalty of the majority of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, of which she was in charge. Certainly the run-of-the-mill Magical Law Enforcement officers were behind her one hundred percent. The Hit Wizards too, for the most part, were loyal to her, or at least the sub-section of the department was; you never could tell with those blokes where their loyalties truly lay, though with the highest bidder, would not be a bad guess. The Aurors, however, seemed to have chosen to ignore Amelia and instead sided with Head Auror Scrimgeour, who had little backing elsewhere. And that was how the problems began. Those loyal to the Dark Lord began to worm their way into the now separate ranks of the light side, particularly the Wizengamot, and the sub-departments of the DMLE. And it was this that led to Albus Dumbledore sitting down in his office, going over every scrap of information about Arnold Potter that he could find. Granted, he knew most of what there was to know, being the grand manipulator that he was. But there had to be something that would help him to achieve his ''Greater Good''. Rumours were that Ginny Weasley, Arnold''s now pre-marital widow, had been pregnant at the time of Arnold''s death. Was there a child now on the cards? A child who could take Arnold''s place? Dumbledore spent a good hour pondering that line of thought, before realising that even if there were a child, he did not have access to it. Molly Weasley, Ginny''s mother, may have been on Dumbledore''s side, but her husband, Arthur, was firmly in Moody''s camp, as were James and Lily, Arnold''s parents. There would be little Dumbledore could do on that front. Of course, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, it would only take him to pull a few strings here and there, and he could get the child into its maternal grandmother''s custody, where he could access it. However, such an action would cause untold amounts of public outcry against him; something he could afford little of. It would also upset the older families. Many of them may not like Arthur Weasley, or James Potter, but both had more right over the upbringing of the child than Molly Weasley would; it was just the way of things in the wizarding world. And it was pretty obvious that the others, particularly Fudge and Scrimgeour, would use that to turn more people against him. No, trying to take the child, if there was one, would not be a smart move. Nor would attempting to get Arnold''s younger sisters, Charlotte and Isabella on his side work. He had no idea what to do. Then, after three weeks of searching though old notes and books, and wracking his brains, Albus Dumbledore remembered something; something that many had long ago forgotten. The brother. Of course; Arnold Potter had had a brother. The boy had even attended Hogwarts; a Hufflepuff, if Dumbledore remembered correctly. What was the name, again? It began with the letter ''H''. Was it Herbert? Or Henry? Maybe Harold? Hugo, perhaps? Horace? No, surely not. Harley, then? Or maybe it was Harrison? Hector? Heath? Howard? Perhaps Hudson or Harvey? Yes that was it; Harvey Potter. Getting up from his desk, Dumbledore made his way over to the one of the filing cupboards and opened it. A quick swish of his wand brought up the files of those who graduated in 1998 and he began leafing through. ¡­Katherine MacDougal, Morag MacDougal, Ernie Macmillan, Draco Malfoy, Jennifer Malone, Rebecca Malone, Kellah Mitchell, Libby Moon, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, Sally-Anne Perks, Arnold Potter, Sienna Rivers, Seren Roper, Bradley Runcorn, Zacharias Smith, Ryan Spinks¡­ Hang on. Dumbledore double-checked. Nope, definitely not. There was no file between Arnold Potter and Sienna Rivers, as there should have been. Dumbledore could think of only one reason why the file of Arnold''s brother was not amongst those of his year mates. As these folders were all updated until the time the student graduated, the absence of a name meant that the student in question had not completed their education with the rest of the year group. Dumbledore could not recall the lad getting expelled, in fact, he could not recall ever hearing of any incidences of the lad getting in trouble. Had he died? No, surely not. Dumbledore would have known. The whole world would have known; he was Arnold Potter''s brother. Perhaps he had been held back a year? Yes that had to be it. Another wave of his wand, and Dumbledore called up the files of those who had graduated in 1999. ¡­Elizabeth Manning, Patricia Marks, Eric Midgen, Russell Newton, Debora O''Flaherty, Joanne Pittman, Malcolm Preece, David Preston... damn! The lad could not have possibly been held back two years, surely? Perhaps he got moved up a year? But then how often did that happen with a Hufflepuff? Ravenclaws, occasionally; Gryffindors and Slytherins, rarely. But a Hufflepuff? Well, there was an easier way to sort this. Another wave of his wand, and Dumbledore had the files arranged as those sorted in 1991. ¡­Draco Malfoy, Jennifer Malone, Rebecca Malone, Kellah Mitchell, Liberty Moon, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, Sally-Anne Perks, Arnold Potter... Bingo. Odd, though, the boy''s name was written as H. Potter? How strange. What was more, rather than the usual, elegant calligraphy style used on the other files, the name was just scribbled in, as though done by someone in a rush. Was the boy an unexpected arrival? Dumbledore himself certainly could not remember a second Potter son ever being mentioned before he turned up at Hogwarts. How strange. Finally taking the file out of the mass of others, Dumbledore noticed something else strange; the file was very thin. Arnold Potter''s file in front of it was very bulky, filled with appraisals, merits, and a few detention forms, as well as countless extras. H. Potter''s file, meanwhile, contained merely the basics. The first page was the same as all the others; a small fact sheet about the student the file represented. The usual, except in the way it was filled out; Surname: Potter (?) First name(s): H. Mother: Lily Potter (nee Evans) (?) Date of Birth: - Place of Birth: - Nationality: White English (?) Blood Status: Half Blood (?) House: Ravenclaw Allergies: - Well that was not too informative, and what was there seemed speculative. At least it corrected Dumbledore: the lad had been in Ravenclaw, not Hufflepuff. He turned over to the medical history sheet. It was blank. No recorded trips to the Hospital Wing whilst at Hogwarts, and apparently no visits to St Mungo''s Hospital either before his time Hogwarts, or during it. How peculiar. There seemed to be nothing else in the file other than the again standard end-of-term reports. According to the sheets for then end of the autumn, winter and spring terms of first year, the boy was mediocre at best. Why then was he in Ravenclaw? His end-of-year scores, however, told a much different tale. In fact, those scores pointed to someone who ought to be moved up a year ahead of his brother. But he had not been so. Second year was much the same; the teachers reported him as mediocre, whilst the end-of-term exams showed him to be something of a genius. And third year, well, whilst the teachers'' reports said the same (almost word for word), the third year exam results pointed, not only to a student who desperately needed to advance, but also to a potential prodigy in charms, transfiguration, potions and defence against the dark arts. His ancient runes, herbology and arithmancy results were none-too-shabby, either. A note slipped in by Madam Hooch said that the lad had tried out for the Quidditch team in this year. He had failed to get a spot. Then there was fourth year. Dumbledore remembered that year well; Arnold Potter had been illegally entered into the tri-wizard tournament, events had quickly spiralled beyond anyone''s control, and eventually resulted in the return of the Dark Lord Voldemort. And looking through this file now, the school year in question held something else that had remained unnoticed and insignificant until now. The teacher''s end of term reports all read pretty much the same as they had over the previous years. This time, however, their comments were backed up by the end of term exams. Oh, he had passed them all, but only b?r?ly. Gone were the signs of a brilliant mind. Gone were the signs of a gifted student. Gone were the signs of a child prodigy in four subjects. Was there an incident, perhaps, that damaged this brilliant mind? No, the medical information sheet was blank. What then? It was almost like the lad had given up. But why? Perhaps a more important question was why there was nothing more in the boy''s school record after the end-of-year results for fourth year. It seemed like the boy had left, but there was no form, or anything else to state that he had withdrawn from the school. There were no transfer notes to say that he had switched schools, as six other students had done following the Tri-Wizard Tournament. There was no expulsion form, so he had not been expelled. And there was no death certificate, which would have been put in the file if he had died. What happened to him, then? And why did Dumbledore struggle to remember him? He had no problems remembering each and every face that had passed through Hogwarts'' doors in all the time he had worked at the school, so why did he struggle so to remember this one student? Especially when this one student was a fairly important person; he was the brother of the prophesised Chosen One, after all. The Potter family had been featured thousands of times in wizarding publications over the past three decades, why could Dumbledore not remember one of them? Perhaps a trip to the library was in order. Madame Pince kept copies of the Daily Prophet, The Evening Prophet, Witch Weekly, The Quibbler, Challenges in Charming, Seeker Weekly, The Practical Potioneer, Transfiguration Today and countless other wizarding periodicals for research purposes, and her collection ran right back to when each periodical was first published. If Dumbledore could find any information on the mysterious second-son of the Potters, it would be there. So there you go. What do you think? I''m not sure as to the pairing of this story yet. I know Hermione will play an important role alongside Harry, but whether they become a couple or not is still up in the air. I know that I am posting this with the two characters listed being Harry and Hermione, but, as so many of us, including myself, often forget, those little ''character selection'' bu??ons we use to search for stories relate to who the story mainly focuses on, not the pairing, sorry. Chapter 94 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 35 - Saving Darkness From Evil Plot: Bellatrix Narcissa Andromeda Drake is the daughter of Andromeda Black and American Nomad Death Eater Ryan Drake. Follow Bellatrix as she struggles through her inner darkness to separate it from the evil in her life while protecting her family. What will happen if she fails? who will be there to save her? Pairing: OCxDG Preface 3rd Person P.O.V She shouldn''t have ever done it. Andromeda knew she shouldn''t have left Ted for the American traveler but it''s not like she expected to. And now she''s in really deep and can''t get out. She knew she was better off with Ted but once she met Ryan Drake she was entranced as if she was under a spell, but she had checked herself many times and she couldn''t be controlled under the imperious curse except when cast by her older sister. Andromeda walks through the dark cobblestone roads of Diagon Alley to Knockturn Alley where Ryan asked her to meet him. She doesn''t know why. She walks into the dingy pub with the hood of her cloak covering her face and goes directly to where Ryan sits talking to two women "I can''t do this anymore Ryan." "Do what anymore?" "I want to go back to Ted. He treated me better than you do and I miss my daughter." "Well what about our daughter? You going to leave her!?" he demands. "Or were you planning on taking her with you to be raised by that Mudblood?" "With the company you keep I don''t want them around that." "You mean your sisters?" he smirks as he gestures to the two smirking women behind him. That''s when she recognized them. How stupid can she be! "You should have known better, Andromeda. Bellatrix, would you please go get my daughter." "Why? Draco has decided to drag her around the entire place. They''re right there." "You''wre Da''s a man kissewr!" Young Bellatrix Drake scowls at her slightly younger cousin. "You''wre Da''s no'' a weal Def eatewr!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not is not!" "You''we mama wanted a giwrl!" "You''we mama loves Mudbloods!" the little one year old girl gasps as if offended then tears gather in her eyes and she begins to cry. "Da! Dwaco is a Meany head!" she sobs while running over to Ryan. "Awe, poor baby Trixie!" Bella coos "Are you all right, baby?" "I no baby." Trixie shakes her head with a frown, her eyes still watery, before the girl turns to her father. "I a puwrbwud wight?" "Yes, my dark Princess, you are a Pureblood. Now why don''t you show Bella your Halloween costume." "Oh, Halloween costumes! What are you gonna be?" Bella asks excitedly like a child. "You!" Trixie giggles as she pulls a miniature version of Bella''s death eater mask out of her father''s pocket and puts it on. She looks just like Bella which terrifies Andy. Her daughter was being taught this was all good? "Hello, my little warrior." Andy says and Trixie spins around. "MA!" Trixie exclaims loudly and reaches out for Andy to grab her. "Does Da know you having anodewr baby?" she asks excitedly. "I what?" "A baby! I be a big sistewr!" "I only found out last night how did you know?" "I sees hewr magi! Wooks wike mine. She''s da''s wight? I know she is!" "Yes. Why don''t you pack up your things and I''ll take you to meet your big sister?" the toddler gains a look of pure horror and starts trying to wiggle out of Andy''s arms. "No, no, no! no muddies! No muddies! Dem steal my candy!" Andy glares daggers and the now hysterically laughing form of Bella. "You lied to my daughter!?" Andy growls as she sets the struggling girl who immediately seeks comfort from her father. "It was worth it. Oh come on, I did the same to you when we were kids." "And for the longest time I was too scared to go anywhere near the front door even though I knew muggles can''t see the house! That was just plain cruel Bella." "It''s not my fault you are so gullible." Bella snickers then turns to Narcissa who''s trying to hide her smiling. "What are you smiling at, baby sister? I seem to recall you refusing to leave your room for weeks when I did it to you. Besides, Andromeda, can you honestly tell me all muggles are harmless?" "No, but they aren''t all dangerous either." "Uh huh!" Trixie exclaims from her father''s arms. "Muggies and Muddies eat kiddies wike me fowr not being good aftewr dey eat my candy!" "Sweetheart, that''s not true. I promise you it''s not. Don''t let Bella tell you any different. If you feel scared you can come home to mummy¡ª" "Or come to Father or aunt Cissy." Ryan cuts in while looking at Andy with a smirk. "Otay!" the girl exclaims before sliding to the ground "Dwaco! We pway Def eatawr! I be Bewa!" "You no Bewa! Bewa is Lowrd''s second! No fawr!" "I am Bewa! It my name!" "No fawr." "So what, Lucius. Cucio!" Draco falls to the ground pretending to be in tremendous pain and little Trixie giggles loudly. Andromeda promptly falls off her stool in shock only to be caught by the real Lucius. "I would be careful, Andromeda. A pregnant woman gets enough pain as it is without being clumsy enough to fall of her seat." Andromeda stands up and jerks out of the Death Eaters hand while exclaiming "Get off of me. I''m done with this. I''m taking my daughter and we are leaving. Bellatrix Narcissa Andromeda Drake you knock that off this instant. That is an evil spell and if I ever see you playing like that again you will be in big trouble." Trixie looks up in shock before running around and hiding behind Bella''s leg. "Pwetect me, Bewa! She''s going muggle!" the girls sobs in fear which breaks Andromeda''s heart. The middle of the three sisters tries to get her hood up before the tears fall but she wasn''t fast enough. "I don''t have to protect you, midget, she''s already done." Bella scoops the girl into her arms and holds her close in a comforting way while smirking at Andromeda "Look she''s sad now." Trixie looks over at Andy before hiding her face again. "She deserves it for scaring you. That was just plain cruel of her, wasn''t it." Of course Bella would turn Andy''s own words back on her. "That''s enough. Andromeda, you don''t have a choice. You''re coming home with me." Ryan states while grabbing Andromeda around her waist. Andromeda began struggling to get out of his had but in her haste to get away she didn''t hear her older sister, Bella, cast the imperious curse. Andromeda felt all the fight leave her body and a calming feeling wash over her. She knew exactly what happened and she also knew she was completely helpless as she begins doing everything her current husband says. On Halloween night that year news came that the Dark lord had fallen to a boy by the name of Harry James Potter. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange along with Barty Crouch Jr. were all arrested for the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom only days later and the spells on Andromeda began slowly starting to weaken. Ryan and Andromeda''s second child was born under the name Andromeda Bellatrix Narcissa Drake on August 11th, 1981. Trixie, who had been depressed after Bella was arrested, became happy upon meeting her little sibling. She promised to be the best sister she could be. As the two grow they become really close. A closeness Trixie never had with Draco. On May 11th of 1982 right after the birth of Ryan and Andromeda''s third child, Narcissa Andromeda Bellatrix Drake, the order of the Phoenix comes storming into the Manor. Narcissa, or Cissy as she is called by her family, takes the youngest child and apperates to Malfoy Manor but that''s all she can do as the anti- apperation wards are placed a second later. In the nursery Albus Dumbledore finds the older two Drake daughters asleep on the floor surrounded by the toys they had been playing with. The older girl clutches a magical Dragon plushy in her arms while the younger one had a muggle wolf plushy in her own. The girls were also holding hands as they slept and had Albus not been on a time limit he would have found this pleasant as any ?du?t would. He grabs an ornate black blanket from the bed and wraps the older girl in it before grabbing a smaller, green blanket from the crib to wrap the younger one in. Albus carries the brown haired girl who looks exactly like her mother while the older girl is levitated behind him. Once down in the room where Andromeda was laying Albus scans the woman for spells and cancels the imperious curse. "Andromeda, do you remember anything?" "Everything. What are you doing with my daughters?" "My dear I think it would be best for you to not have the memory of your soon to be ex-husband with you so I will place them in good homes what are their names so I may tell the new parents." "But I want my children! Ted will help me raise them like they''re his own. Dora will love her younger siblings, we''ll be a good family." "With how long you were under that curse there is no way of telling the side effects." Andromeda wanted to argue more but seeing as she had just given birth she knew she was far too tired to argue. "The older one is Bellatrix Narcissa Andromeda Drake and the one in your arms is Andromeda Bellatrix Narcissa Drake. Albus promise me I will see them again." "I promise. And you don''t have to worry about Lord Drake any farther. He has been arrested for muggle baiting and for brainwashing his own children. These children will not remember what he taught them." And with that Albus takes ahold of the arm of the older girl, who is still clutching her dragon toy that exhales smoke from its nose, And he apperates away, not knowing that he just made one of the worst decisions of his life. Not realizing he hadn''t bothered to obliviate Bellatrix Drake. Chapter 95 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 36 - Harry Potter and the Silver Vixen Plot: After the fall of Lord Voldemort, Harry s brother Max is hailed the Boy Who Lived. and Harry himself slowly starts to drift from England to his new life across the English Channel. Pairing: Harry, Fleur NOTE: If you want to have a Harry Potter fanfiction that focuses on the war and his parent then this is not a fanfiction for you. This fanfiction mainly focuses on Harry and Fleur, and Harry trying to make a life for himself outside of the UK. But i highly recommend reading this novel. Prologue. July 31st, 1977. A woman in St'' Mungo''s cried out in pain. As she struggled to stay awake the man next to her was trying as best he could to keep the woman''s spirits up and did his best to encourage her. She panted from exhaustion, her body was weakening. "Come on Lilly, "The man told his wife "Just a little bit more he''s almost here " "Easy for you to say James " Lilly "You''re not the one who has to deliver the little bugger" Though she was starting to drift off into the realm of sleep that was not enough to prevent her d?s?r? from seeing her baby holding him in her arms. As soon as the healers finished getting the baby cleaned off, they obliged to her wishes. They handed the baby into her outstretched arms once he was ready to be held. The man next to her leaned over to help as she struggled to reach out for her baby. Her face exploded with happiness, smiling so brightly. She forgot her fatigue as she watched the sleeping form of her baby. "Congratulations, Ms. Potter, on a healthy baby boy." the healer said with a smile. "What are you going to name him?" Lily exchanged a look with her husband before shifting her attention back to the healer with a smile. "Harry. Harry James Potter." The healer smiled, nodding her head. After cleaning and putting away the equipment, she left the couple alone to spend time with their . For a while, silence was the only thing in the room. All of a sudden, Lily whispered quietly to the man, "He''s beautiful James.." "Hmm What..." James Potter wasn''t really paying attention to what she was saying, too distracted holding one of his son''s tiny hands. Lily chortled at his behavior, shaking her head tiredly."We spent all of this time waiting for this little guy" she said softly As James then tried to reach down to give little Harry a kiss he turned and bopped James on the nose James blinked surprised and then let out a chuckle "My My this one is going to be quite a feisty one" Lily smiled "I think he is going to get along with Sirius quite well she said"smiling warily. Little by little, a large grin swiped across James''s mouth. He had never felt so happy in his life. As he was now a new father, He couldn''t help but dance happily. As they started small chat as Lilly started to drift into sleep The sound of someone yawning captured the attention of both ?du?ts. James swiftly rushed to Lily''s side. They watched expectantly as their son gradually fluttered his eyes open and caught his first sight of his parents. What they saw that instant made them breathless as a pair of bright beautiful emerald eyes gazed back at them. "Lily, he has your eyes!" James joyfully proclaimed. "Look, he has your eyes!" "Yes, but his are much more beautiful than mine..." Lily kissed the baby''s forehead, hugging him lovingly. "My son is going to be a real ladies'' man when he grows up. Sirius will be so proud!" "James! I''m not going to let you or his godfather influencing him into something like that!" Although her body was drained of energy, they knew she was still capable of unleashing her wrath on her husband. The man cowered under her glare. "Come on, Lil. It''s just a thought... Nothing wrong with that..." he chuckled nervously. The sound of laughter caused both ?du?ts to look down in surprise. They were astounded to find the baby was giggling at them, holding his tiny hands in the air. Their shock melted at the sound of their baby''s laughter and both parents smiled at their son. James offered his finger to his son, who grabbed his finger in both tiny hands smiling "You know Lily? I think that Harry is really going to do great things in the future..." James wiggled his finger in the baby''s hands, eliciting another giggle from Harry "Yes, he will," Lily agreed. "I Think he will James..." About an hour later Sirius and Remus arrived in the hospital room to look at their godson When Harry saw Sirius start to approach him he looked at Sirius and cooed at his godfather "Look" Sirius smiled "The little guy likes me don''t you Harry" reaching out to touch the baby he was surprised when he swatted away Sirius hand with a small grin on his face, "Well, would you look at that"Remus chuckled "He doesn''t seem to like you that much Sirius". "I don''t know why"Sirius grinned "I''m so loveable". "In your dreams Padfoot," Lilly told the dark-haired Marauder "I hope that Prongslet isn''t reckless like his father ". "Hey" James ?r??n?d "I resemble that remark" Harry giggled at the ?du?ts arguing around him. Lily smiled at her baby squirming around on the bed and was about to reach for him when they were interrupted by the door opening. "Ahh, Albus you made it"James recognized the old headmaster. "Lily, James"The headmaster looked at them with the customary twinkle in his eyes "I am glad to see that you all are ok and that the child arrived without a problem.". "Yes headmaster everything went as it was supposed to, "James told holding up the baby"This is Harry James Potter" Dumbledore smiled as he viewed the child nestled in James'' arms Remus and Sirius smiled as they viewed James showing his son to the Headmaster. Remus than decide to add his two sickles "He seems to have inherited Lily''s eyes and James attitude Headmaster" Dumbledore nodded looking sheepish "How many times do I have to tell you my boys I am no longer your headmaster you can just call me Albus". "Sorry, still a force of habit Albus" Sirius admitted. "Don''t worry about it my boy you are not the first and will not be the last to do that"Dumbledore said looking down at Harry "My congratulations on your new child Mr. and Mrs. Potter may he bring you much joy in life". James and Lily thanked the headmaster and as he was leaving Lilly started to feel the effects of the childbirth. "Alright everyone out, "Lilly said, "You can visit Harry later I''m tired". "Alright," Remus said "Congratulations" As Remus and Sirius left the hospital room James looked down and kissed his wife before leaving to get some sleep of his own. "He''s beautiful Lilly" James smiled like Christmas had come early. "Yes, and you can look at him later but i need to sleep"In a voice that showed that Lily was getting frustrated by the lack of sleep. James chuckled as he left the hospital room and Lilly drifted off into the realm of sleep. Chapter 1 31 October 1981. The wind howled fiercely across the blackened sky as Rain poured down relentlessly over a lone his follower "Is this the Potter''s House Wormtail "He turned to the quivering man "Yes My Lord "Pettigrew told the older man "Potter Cottage is at 1234 Godric''s Hollow" As he saw the house start to appear he turned back to Pettigrew "Very Well then leave you have served your purpose," the man said turning back to the spy "I will finish the rest of this myself". "Thank you my lord"Pettigrew said with relief "You are too kind". As Pettigrew turned to leave he turned back to the cottage He had not trusted any of his followers to escort him on this important mission. He had to do this alone. Lord Voldemort, the self-proclaimed Dark Lord of Wizardry, marched with authority toward his target. The Potter''s secret keeper had now revealed to him the location of where they lay hidden. Normally, he would ignore such a child, reflecting it to not be a threat to his power, though he had been convinced to make an exception in this case With a wave of his wand, the door exploded. A high-pitch screech shattered his thoughts. Without looking, he soundlessly cast a dark curse in the girl''s direction, decapitating her. Looking over the body, his lips curled downward. The body looked like an ordinary muggle but didn''t belong to that mudblood or her husband. The Potter''s weren''t here. Boiling in rage, he screamed, permitting a huge flow of magic to destroy every bit of his surroundings. With a swish of his wand, the wards around the house began to collapse. Just as he was about to leave, the cries of a baby emanated from the upper level of the house. Voldemort moved to the staircase, scurrying up it until he reached the last door,.He blasted the door open, causing a small boy to jolt in surprise. Red eyes stared with interest at the crib, though what fascinated him most was the older boy, no more than four years old, who was gazing at him with fierce emerald eyes. "Do you not fear me, boy?" Voldemort hissed in a dark voice. "No I have been expecting you!" the boy hissed back Voldemort looked surprised "You can speak the language of the snakes"He sounded impressed The boy shrugged "I have spoken to the garden snakes before if that is wondering "But I don''t know what that would be". Voldemort''s eyes flashed in amusement. "Ah, the fun of youth if things were different I would welcome you as one of my own but sadly that is not the case. I do not kill children nor do I torture them, but your brother is an exception. So I ask you to stand aside, boy! It is not you who I am after!" "I am afraid that cannot happen," the boy told the Dark Lord... "Very well, if you wish to defend your brother, then I suppose you shall die by his side. Nonetheless, I need to deal with him first, so be gone for now!" With a wave of his wand, the boy flew behind the crib, hitting the wall with a hard thump. The man glanced into the crib, spotting a bawling child no more than a year old. "At long last, I have found you. I do not know why the fates say this, but this has to be done, one way or another. Farewell, Max Potter. Rest ?ssured I will make this painless." He looked to the side and saw young Harry looking at him with those infernal eyes. He decided it wouldn''t hurt for Max Potter to see his brother die in front of him before he finished the job. Turning and leveling his wand, he summoned his magic. "Avada Kedavra!" Harry Potter watched the scene unfold before him. He had already seen all of this in his dreams and smirked as he knew the mistake that was being made. As he saw the green beam start to streak toward him as he hoped this all worked out as he his jaws, gritting his teeth together something tingled inside Harry. A golden light began to envelop his body, sparkling fiercely. It halted the killing curse just before it reached him. The man''s eyes were wide in shock, never before had he stumbled upon such magic. He believed the baby had created such a thing. Sweat poured over Harry in his effort to stop the killing curse. The baby cried more at all the ruckus, and as fate entwined their futures, the baby poured all of his magic into the golden shield. With this sudden turnabout, the shield miraculously converted into the color of white before deflecting the rest of the curse back to the Dark Lord. An ear-piercing scream erupted from the cottage, followed by the cries of Max Potter. Bit by bit, the snake-faced man was ripped to pieces, replaced by a pile of black ashes James and Lily Potter had been called by Dumbledore to an emergency meeting of the Order of the a major recent battle in Diagon Alley that had left several of their number cut down. But right in the middle of it, they were interrupted by their house elf Mipsy barging in, panic written all over her face as she kept babbling in a scared voice. It took several minutes to settle her down, enough for them to understand she was yelling about something bad happening at the house involving the kids Both parents swallowed uneasily, praying that their worst fear of Voldermort finding their house had not come true Nonetheless, when Dumbledore confirmed that someone unwanted had entered their hidden place, they knew it to be true. After Apparating to their residence, everyone stared in horror at the fire blazing through the house. Dumbledore commanded everyone to cast Aguamenti in order to put out the seemingly uncontrollable flames. Ignoring everyone else, both parents sprinted into the house. Dumbledore and a few others followed, casting Aguamenti all the way. A feeling of dread surfaced as they caught sight of the girl the Potter''s had ?ssigned to watch over their children, lying in front of them without a head. Lily, sobbing by now, dashed upstairs to find her boys. Without wasting any time, the others followed her. That was when they came across a very strange sight. Before them lay their two kids with Max still crying in his crib and Harry laying against the wall looking stunned but still in one piece. Relief ignited in all of them. The parents rushed to Max to inspect his injuries while the others flew to the unconscious boy. They then moved over frantically to satisfy their concerns regarding whether or not her younger son was ok or not. A few minutes after they had arrived the Hogwarts Matron Madam Pomfrey came over to verify their conditions. She noted that the eldest son had suffered damage only to his left arm, which she deemed the primal reason for his current state halfway across the room from his brother. She never realized that the true reason for his current state had been his exhaustion from using too much magic. As Madam Pomfrey declared Max Potter had lost the majority of his magic but was still conscious. Dumbledore walked over to the younger baby, held by Lily, and moved a strand of red hair away from his face. There, on his forehead, was a lightning bolt scar caused by some falling debris with blood still trickling over its features. Chapter 96 - Crossover Fan-fiction 4 - Over in a Flash Plot: What if Barry Allen''s adventure with the tachyeon Prototype left him stranded in another world. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe''s Sokovia just at the climax of Age of Ultron. But what effect will Barry have on this world and a certain Scarlet Witch and will Barry be able to return home? Crossover: Arrowverse, Avengers Pairing: Barry x Wanda Over in a Flash Chapter 1: VS Zoom Well this is my first fanfiction so don''t expect much. Credit to BlueShadow4 for the name, Hope you all enjoy! It had been a weird week for Barry Allen. A weird week indeed and that was an understatement considering the amount of weirdness Barry had been through. He had gone face to face with a telepathic gorilla, travelled back in time but yet somehow dimension jumping had managed to top it all. It all began last Friday where Barry had travelled back in time to the day of Hartley''s attacks. He had hoped to gain the knowledge from the Reverse Flash himself Eobard Thawne on how to increase his speed. Although there had been a few complications Barry had been successful in doing so and returned to 2016 with the formula for a tachyon prototype. This in theory would double his speed allowing Barry to run at a speed faster than Zoom, meaning he could finally stop Jay. Jay? Hunter Zoloman? Zoom? Barry didn''t know how to refer to him other than a betrayal¡­ Another betrayal. Barry was always getting betrayed, first Dr Wells turned out to be the Reverse Flash, then the Earth-2 Wells (Harry as they''d been dubbing him recently) betray him to Zoom, finally there was Jay Garrick. The Flash of Earth-2; oh how wrong they had been. Jay was no hero but rather the very villain that had caused Barry so much discontent and misery these past few months but now with the help of the tachyon prototype Barry would finally be able to stop him and liberate Earth-2 or so he had thought. It had taken Cisco and Harry a few days to construct the tachyon prototype but they had finished in the space of a few days, Barry decided against questioning them as to how they made it expecting a witty remark from the ever joyful Cisco and a "We don''t have time for this, Allen." From Harry. "Alright Barry I''ve attached the prototype to your suit, Feel free to take it for a spin now." Said Cisco in between slurps from his slushy. (Barry never did understand where or when he got those but he always seemed to have one.) Almost as soon as Cisco had said that Barry was gone appearing again clothed head to toe in his shiny red aerodynamic Flash suit. "Alright guys I''m off!" Exclaimed Barry equally as excited by the prospect of new speed as Cisco was. Within a second Barry was gone out of the sight of Cisco, Wells and Caitlyn. He imagined they''d all quickly slide and run over to the communications centre as Barry had disappeared and he was correct, hearing Cisco''s voice in his left ear through the suit''s built in communication systems. "Barry how are you feeling? Your speed is ridiculous!" said the ecstatic voice of Cisco. "I''m alright Cisco, I don''t even think this is my top speed yet." Said Barry whilst picking up in speed, he had never felt so fast in all his life for the first time in the past two years he truly felt as though he was finally the fastest man alive. Barry continued building in speed, having passed what would normally be his limit with ease, suddenly as if out of nowhere a large blue portal opened up in front of him. Barry tried to slow down to a stop but he was going too fast for him to be able to do so. "Ahh- Cra¡­" The portal engulfed Barry before he could finish speaking closing swiftly behind him. "..p" Barry looked around having seamlessly ended up in what appeared to be Eastern Europe surrounded by an army of robots. Whatever that portal did, Barry was certain he was no longer in Central City "Toto, I''ve a feeling we''re not in Kansas anymore." Said Barry before running off to try and find someone other than these robots. Chapter 97 - Crossover Fan-fiction 5 - Worlds Collide, Heroes Clash Plot: Barry and Oliver are su?k?d through a portal opened by the Dominators, and are pulled into a strange world. While searching for his friend, Barry meets the Avengers, and joins them. He is happy to be on the team, but quickly realize all is not perfect, with tensions slowly building, leading to outright Civil War Crossover: Arrowverse, Avengers Pairing: Barry x Wanda NOTE: Theis is a series, there are a total of 7 books in this series. The list of pairings Chapter 1- A New World Oliver watched with satisfaction as the Dominators beamed back up to their ship. After such a long battle, they had finally beaten the Dominators. "We did it," he said as the rest of the team gathered behind him. "No, Oliver," said Kara. Barry then flashed up beside them and said, "We all did it." Suddenly, there was a familiar screeching. Everyone turned to see a lone Dominator slowly walking towards them, despite its agony. It started right at them, holding on despite being in pain. Oliver quickly drew an arrow and aimed it at the Dominator. "Don''t move!" He bellowed at the alien. The alien hissed loudly several times before he finally spoke. "You may have beaten us. Forced us to retreat. But, that does not change anything. You and your kind are still a threat. And we may not have achieved victory. But we can still have a small win." With that, the Dominator pulled a small sphere and tossed it towards them. A beam then shot down from the sky and took him up to his ship, right before the sphere exploded, sending out a small shockwave, and opening a vortex in front of them. "Everyone move!" Barry yells. Kara grabs Amaya and Nate, and flies them off the roof. Ray quickly flies off as well, taking Diggle with him. Barry tries to escape. But, right as he turns around, he feels his feet leave the ground. Desperately, he tries to run. But it''s no use. With despair, he feels himself enter the vortex. Instantly, his vision turns white, and a roaring sound fills his ears, as he tumbles through space and time. For what seems like hours, Barry is stuck in the vortex. Suddenly, it opens up in front of him, and he finds himself thrust out onto a cobblestone street. For a moment, Barry is disoriented as he tries to regain his feet. When he does, he looks around to see he''s in a city that looks like it could be European. Suddenly, several flying robots appear out of nowhere. Barry looks at them in amazement, admiring them and whatever scientist created them. Suddenly, they raise their arms and start blasting energy blasts at him. Realizing they are enemies, Barry starts running in circles. Once he''s built up enough energy, he stops and hurls lightning at the three robots, blowing them all to pieces. Barry watches their remains fall to the ground. "Okay, that''s a first," he whispers to himself. He stands there for a moment, then says to himself, "There''s gotta be more." With that, he speeds off. As he runs, he suddenly finds a cliff ahead. He''s just able to stop himself in time. Carefully, he looks over the edge, and sees the ground, miles below. "Sure. Flying city. Why not?" Barry says to himself. He looks over the edge for a little bit longer, then turns to his left and starts running. "A flying aircraft carrier? Now I''ve almost seen everything," Barry whispers to himself. Barry stands there for another second, then decides to help get people onto the flying life boats, as he has decided to call them. But, as he is about to start running, he suddenly hears the sound of a gatling gun. Looking up, he sees a jet streaking in on a strafing run. His blood chills. Ahead of him, some people successfully dive out of the way. But far ahead, Barry sees a lone man, an archer, picking up a young boy. The stream of tracers slowly moves forward towards him. In an instant, Barry takes off towards the man, determined to save him. As he nears the archer, he suddenly sees a flash of blue of to the side. Turning his head, Barry is surprised to see a speedster clad in blue racing towards the archer too, though for some reason, this guy isn''t trailing lightning like most speedsters. But, looking at the new speedster, and the stream of tracers, Barry knows in an instant that the other speedster is going to die. Determined to save both him and the archer, Barry spurs himself faster. Barry reaches the archer at the same time as the other speedster. Even for him, things move too fast to keep track of. All he registers is the flash of pain in his leg and stomach. Barry comes to a stop. Breathing heavily, he looks down and sees that he''s taken two hits. One in his lower stomach, and one in his left leg. He turns his head, and sees the other speedster. He didn''t escape unscathed either, and has several bullet holes in him too. The other speedster looks at the archer, and in a European accent, says, "You didn''t see that coming?" He then turns to Barry, who is starting to feel weak. They both stare at each other before exchanging grins, right before they both collapse. As Barry''s vision starts to go dark, he sees a man, clad in a uniform in American colors, with a round shield on his back, run up to him. Well, there we go. Barry had officially entered the MCU. I know this kind of storyline, with Barry arriving during the battle with Ultron, has been done at least twice, but I liked doing it now, so Barry could meet Quiksilver. I may spend several chapters covering the time between Age of Ultron and Civil War. I am looking forward to this story. Many of you will be probably wondering what happened to Oliver. Yes, he did get sent to this universe. But, we won''t be finding out what happened to him for a little while. Or will we... Oliver grips his bow tightly as he tumbles through space and time. Suddenly, the vortex opens up in front of him, and he tumbls out, right into a pile of trash. Stumbling to his feet, Oliver scans his surroundings. Tall buildings surround him, as well as trash. Everything looks kind of alien. Suddenly, Oliver becomes aware of people off to his right. He quickly draws an arrow and fits to his bow, spinning to his right, aiming the arrow. He instantly knows he is in fact on another planet, because the creatures in front of him are most definitely aliens. "Back off, or you won''t like it," Oliver says. The aliens look at each other, before one says, "It''s looks tasty. Let''s catch it and eat it." The aliens start walking towards him, but Oliver is not about to let himself be food. He releases the arrow, which goes right into one alien''s ?h?st. Faster than the aliens can react, Oliver charges them and engages them. The aliens, despite having laser guns, are unable to keep up with him, and within seconds, he has taken down all of them. This time, it''s not aliens. A man in some gold robe is standing before him, with some lady in what looks like gold armor stands behind him. "Well, you sure are a fighter," says the man. "Yeah, and if you try something stupid like they did, you''ll find out what it''s like to be one of my targets," Oliver growls. "Now, no need for that. I''m not gonna attack you. I could have you destroyed right now, but I have an offer for you. Come work for me, and be one of my guard. It''s a good job, with plenty of benefits and a good pay. If you don''t, I can quickly have you killed, or made one of my gladiators and sent against my great champion," the man says, though with a very strange manner of speaking, like it''s kind of a joke to him. Oliver lowers his bow. "Maybe. Who are you, and where am I?" he demands. The man smiles. "The name''s Grandmaster. And this is Sakaar." Chapter 2- I''m the Flash The first thing Barry felt was pain. Pain in his leg. Pain in his stomach. And pain in his head. The last one confused him, because he hadn''t gotten hit in the head. But, traumatic injuries can cause headaches too, right? Slowly, Barry managed to open his eyes. At first, the light was blinding, so he quickly shut them again. He waited a few seconds before opening them again, this time even more slowly. "You''re finally awake. Good. We were getting worried," the man says. Barry groans. "How long have I been out?" he asks. "2 days," the man responds, "But you''re almost completely healed, which surprised us all." "Yeah, well my super healing comes in real handy," Barry says. The man slowly nods. Finally, he says, "Well, I think it''s about time we get introduced. My name is Steve Rogers. I''m the leader of the Avengers. Some people call me Captain America." Barry nods. Man, I''m glad Cisco usually does the name, because I doubt I could''ve come up with something that good, he thinks to himself. "Well, nice to meet you. I''m Barry Allen, the fastest man alive. But, to most people, I''m the Flash." Steve smiles. "Well, thank you for your help in Sokovia, Flash. Without you, Pietro would''ve died for sure." "Who''s Pietro?" Barry asks Steve. "The other speedster who you saved while he was trying to save Clint and the kid. He''s alive, but in a coma thanks to the wounds he sustained. We''re optimistic about his recovery," Steve tells Barry. Barry sighs with relief. Then, Barry thinks of something, and starts upright. He looks at Steve earnestly and asks, "Have you seen an archer dressed in a green outfit with a green hood?" Steve looks at Barry with a bit of surprise at his sudden burst of energy. Then, he shakes his head and says, "No, I''m afraid not. Why do you ask?" Barry sighs as he lowers his head. After a moment, he looks back up at Steve and says, "Where I come from, I had a friend. He was an archer dressed all in green, and he got brought here with me..." "Wait, where you come from? What''s that supposed to mean?" Steve asks. Barry pauses. He forgot he hadn''t told Steve about where he came from yet. "Sorry. Forgot I hadn''t told you. So, I''m from another Earth," Barry says. Steve raises an eyebrow. "From another Earth? You mean, there''s more than one Earth?" Barry nods. "So, imagine there''s multiple versions of Earth. For example, one where JFK was never ?ssassinated. One where the Nazis won. One where all of us are evil. Even one where humanity has gone extinct. Now, these different Earths all occupy the same spot in space, but they vibrate at different frequencies, so they can''t see each other. Now, if you can manipulate dimensional energy, or travel fast enough, like I can, you can open a breach between different Earths." "I see," Steve says thoughtfully. He pauses for a moment, then asks, "So, how did you get to our Earth? And what about this archer friend of yours?" "Well, on my Earth, we were fighting this race of aliens that wanted to wipe out all metahumans, or people with super powers. We beat them, but apparently as a way of getting revenge for their defeat, one alien threw some kind of grenade at me and the other heroes fighting with me. The grenade opened a vortex when it detonated, and the vortex su?k?d me in, as well as one of my best friends. He''s an archer dressed in green. He calls himself the Green Arrow." Steve slowly nods. "I see. Well, unfortunately, we haven''t seen your friend, or heard of a Green Arrow. We have plenty of resources at our disposal. If he''s here on this Earth, we''ll find him. But, from what you''ve told me about there being multiple Earths, he could''ve been sent to another Earth. Or, he could''ve been sent somewhere else in the universe." Barry lowers his head. He was afraid of that. It was bad enough he''d been sent to another Earth. But to think his friend had been brought through the vortex and yet been separated from him, that hurt him even more. "I''m sure everything will work out," Steve said encouragingly. Barry nodded, but in his mind, he knew it wasn''t so simple. He couldn''t just go for a run and get home. Until he could figure out how to speed up, or until the team found him and sent Cisco after him, he was stuck on this Earth. Chapter 98 - Crossover Fan-fiction 6 - Emerald Flight Book One Union Plot: Two rebellious teenagers meet in Vegas with one night that changes their lives forever. Somewhat AU. Crossover: Harry Potter, DCU Pairing: Harry Potter x Kara (Various Versions) Chapter One: Kara Harry Potter vowed to never drink again. That vow was the first thought that passed through his head when he struggled to wake up.. His head felt as if centaurs had stampeded on it. He mused that he took a few years off of his liver for one night of fun. He blamed Sirius. This night of debauchery that Harry could not even remember was his godfather''s idea. The previous year, Sirius had been killed in the Department of Mysteries. Harry witnessed it with his own eyes. Sirius died, no questions about it. Or so it seemed. Sirius pulled the most masterful prank of all time. He faked his own death. Harry, along with everyone else, had to believe it was real. So Sirius did not enlighten anyone on the fact he was alive until his death was confirmed by the Ministry. At this moment, only Harry, Remus, and Tonks knew of the rumors of Sirius Black''s death being greatly exaggerated. Sirius was hexed for his little scheme at first, but everyone was relieved that the rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated. Harry on the other hand was liberated from the Dursleys to celebrate his sixteenth birthday in style, in sin city, Las Vegas, Nevada. It took some creativity to maneuver this little vacation. Plus, when she told them she was going to be their best friend forever and come over every day for a visit, that was the icing on the cake. With pink hair and her style of dress, Aunt Petunia nearly tripped over her own feet to find a pen. Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix was the bigger problem. Yet, they were currently on the hunt for Harry elsewhere. Misdirection was a wonderful thing. Drinking tended to open the mind to some new ways of living life, and a fresh new perspective. These thoughts went through his head as his eyes slowly opened. The lights inflamed his eyes and his head pounded with a throbbing headache. If he had not been a wizard, he would likely be dead. Then again, he could say that about many other instances in his life. Perhaps he overindulged just a tiny bit, but he felt he deserved some slack. The entire fate of the world rested on his shoulders after all. Harry willed himself to look around the room. The walls were colored in red and gold, The carpet had been turned into a Technicolor mess, the windows broken, and there appeared to be a sizeable chunk of the ceiling was missing. Scorch marks by the look of things with the slight smell of burning. For some reason, Elvis came to mind. That was all, and it did hurt to think in his present condition. As some more of Harry''s brain cells resurrected themselves from alcohol induced death, it began to register that there was someone else sharing his bed. Harry happily verified that it was a girl next to him and a rather attractive one at that. She currently was asleep, snuggled against him. As far as Harry could see, she was n?k?d. This fact was something Harry approved of. His hormones still worked rather well, even if his brain was slow to react. Still he was in a bed, with a girl, in a room that was not his. Not to mention the room appeared to be redecorated in the most insane and scatterbrained way possible. Harry decided that it would be best to get some answers straight away, because nothing made sense. "Hi," whispered Harry in the girl''s ear as she stirred slightly. He was at a loss to what to say next. So he opted for the first thought that came to mind "Um, listen, it might be a good idea for us to get up, because¡­well¡­" "Comfortable," murmured the girl in her sleep induced state. "Don''t wanna." Her attitude indicated that she was around his age or just slightly older. At least that''s what Harry guessed. Harry remained silent as he pondered his predicament. "I need your help, I can''t quite figure out what happened last night, and¡­I think you might know." The girl yawned as she opened her eyes. Long blond hair flipped out of her face. She considered Harry, as she looked at him with blue eyes, and studied him intently. "I figured as much. I''m not much of a morning person, so give me a sec¡­" Harry checked a clock off to the side of the bed. "It''s afternoon." "Well, not much of an afternoon person either, I guess" said the girl with a grin, as she looked at Harry and a mischievous grin appeared on her face. "Although, you could cut me some slack. You did put me through the paces last night." The girl sighed, a smile on her face. "They always said your first time would be magical, but, I never imagined. And the second time and the third time and the fourth and the fifth¡­and well so on." Harry''s eyes widened. "Did we¡­" In spite herself, the girl giggled. She shifted slightly, so she could kiss him. "Poor you, you don''t remember it do you? That''s okay, babe, we''re going just going to have to do it again when you''re of sound mind. Cool trick with the walls, by the way." "So the walls, the windows, the floor, the ceiling; that was me when we were¡­" The girl just eyed the ceiling, torn between amusement and embarrassment. She took a deep breath and spoke. "Um, yeah, that was me actually with the ceiling. You see, I normally have better control, but¡­well all that matters is it was the ceiling and not you, Harry." She managed to shake the cobwebs from her head. "I''ll explain everything, I swear. I know about your powers Harry. You told me a lot. More than you meant to, I think." She knew his name, and Harry was having trouble with his memory still. Sirius had warned him that girls seldom took kindly to calling them the wrong name. The old Marauder seemed to be speaking from past experience. "Right," managed Harry. "You''re still going to have to help me, um Kara." She smiled radiantly at Harry. "If that was a guess, that was a pretty damn good one," said the girl, Kara, as she clutched Harry. Feeling her curvy body really was a feeling that Harry could get used to. "Yeah, my name''s Kara, you remember a bit more than I thought you would, and I guess that''s the most important thing. " "Well one of the most important things anyway," said Kara, as she held out her hand and Harry spotted a curious addition on her finger. "That''s one of the Potter family rings," whispered Harry. The Potter family rings were in his family as far back as anyone could remember. Sirius had found them and gave them to Harry. He had no idea what they did, if they did anything. All Sirius conveyed to him was that they were special and they were only to be used for that one special girl that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. His scatter brained recollection of Elvis made too much sense. "Oh shit, we got married, didn''t we?" asked Harry as he felt his headache return with full force. His stomach turned and he wondered how stupid could he be. Kara seemed like a nice girl, who did not deserve to be dragged in his utterly messed up and doomed life. "We did," said Kara. "It does seem a bit random and sudden and¡­" Kara suddenly trailed off. "So, we''re married," muttered Harry as he took a deep breath. "I need a minute, to deal with this." Kara watched him leave. She spoke in a soft voice. "Take as long as you need. "Where''s my mirror¡­ah found it." Harry turned and retreated straight into the bathroom. Sirius rested on his bed, a bit disappointed. Remus and Harry had gone off to enjoy the bright and lively Las Vegas and had left him in the dreary rainy town of London. Remus said that Sirius could not come because he was technically dead. Besides, it was punishment for his little near death faking stunt. A voice jolted Sirius out of his hazy state "Padfoot, get your lazy arse out of bed immediately. I need to talk to you!" Sirius perked up at his godson''s voice and took the mirror off of the dresser. "Hey, Harry, are you enjoying yourself for once or did Dumbledore and his bird watchers find you yet?" "No, Vegas is great, but I ran into a little problem." Sirius considered this statement. "Is this a little problem or a big little problem?" "Sirius, last night, I had a few drinks, and I met this girl." Sirius immediately gave his full attention to the situation. "Do tell, my young godson, do tell." "Well I woke up in bed with this girl, the room looked like¡­well a mess, and we''re married," said Harry without taking a breath. "I knew Potters fell pretty hard, pretty fast, but that might be a new record," said Sirius as he gave his usual bark like laugh. "So is she hot?" "Very but that''s not the point, you flea bitten mongrel! This Vegas trip was your idea and now, I''m stuck with a lifelong commitment and with this entire Prophecy and Voldemort, and everything else, it''s not time," said Harry as he began to think of the ramifications. "Okay, Harry, deep breaths, breathe in and out," said Sirius. "And stop wallowing in your own angst for just one second and focus." Harry frowned. "Focused, do you have an out?" "I don''t know; do you want one?" asked Sirius. "Putting the Voldemort factor aside, do you really want an out to this marriage? If you''re married it could solve so many problems with the flock of blood thirsty witches that will be after your money when you become of age. And what is the new Mrs. Potter''s name, by the way?" "Her name''s Kara, and well¡­I don''t know, but I think so, but I can''t be for sure," babbled Harry. "Damn it, I can''t focus with this headache." "Ah, how precious my godson has his first hangover." "Will you be serious for just one minute?" asked Harry and Sirius opened his mouth. "Don''t say it. " Sirius put his hand on his chin, in thought. "An out, an out, well you see, that''s a tricky one. You see magic tends to really make divorce a tricky proposition. Annulment is possible, I suppose, given that you weren''t likely in sound mind given your hangover." Harry felt a bit of relief. For a second he thought he had dragged another person into his life that did not deserve it. Sirius continued. "Providing of course, you didn''t use the Potter family rings." Silence. "You used the rings didn''t you?" Harry slowly nodded. "Well, you''re stuck now kid," said Sirius with a grin as he wiped away a tear. "They grow up so fast. Does the heart proud, really it does." "You gave me those rings, it was almost like you knew something like this was going to happen," said Harry in an accusatory tone. "I don''t have the slightest clue what you''re talking about," said Sirius as he looked rather innocent and nonchalant. "Plus, after last year, after your temper, after you spent most of the year in Capslock Rage mode¡­" "Capslock Rage Mode?" asked Harry. He wondered who could have come up with such a stupid name. "That''s what Tonks called it," said Sirius with a shrug. "And hey, if you are married, that means you consummated the union later that night. So thank me later for getting you laid, which you desperately needed by the way." Harry just remained silent, unable to form a response. At least a response he could make without using every one of the seven words. Sirius grew suddenly serious. "If your tongue was as loose as your mother''s was when she was drunk, you likely spilled a lot of big things to Kara and she didn''t run. That seems to me like there''s some potential for something there. Marriage might be a bit much but¡­what''s done is done." Silence once again. Sirius had something to add and looked somber. "And, Harry, as your godfather, I should tell you to focus on what you truly want and not what other people think you should do. This is your life after all." "I''ll give this a chance," said Harry, resigned. "Maybe we can make it work." "That''s the spirit," cheered Sirius. "I just wish I was there, but I''m sure Moony will be able to fill me in on the finer details later." It struck Harry he had forgotten something. "Uh, Sirius, I don''t know where Remus is. I lost track of him after last night." "HOW COULD YOU LOSE MOONY?" Harry winced. "Very easily but, we''ll get this sorted out." "Yes, let me know when you find him, please," said Sirius as he took a deep breath. Kara admired the ring that Harry had given her when they were married. She did not know much about Earth jewelry, but it did look beautiful. As she got dressed, the consequences of the previous night weighed on her. She was married, at the age of seventeen to Harry, who had just turned sixteen. She would be in so much trouble once certain people found out. Yet somehow, it was worth it. Four months ago, something really bad happened. Her cousin, known to most as Superman, known to his friends and family as Clark Kent, born Kal-El, had been kidnapped on the orders of Darkseid, the feared ruler of the planet Apokolips, a slave like hell hole. Darkseid was worshipped as a god by his enslaved followers. He was brainwashed by the minion of Darkseid, a demented, mannish, hag by the name of Granny Goodness. Darkseid used Clark as his pawn to destroy the Earth, so he could pick up the pieces and conquer it. While he was not in violation of the treaty between New Genesis and Apokolips, given that he would be acting in a matter of benevolence. Under her moniker as Supergirl, Kara tried to stop him, but she was overwhelmed. Clark had many more years where he trained his powers under the yellow sun and thus was much stronger than she was. Lois Lane showed up to snap Clark out of it. Seconds before the two super powered beings got zapped with a Kryptonite gun, fashioned by Lex Luthor and the fanatical alien hating General Hardcastle. They were kept under red sun radiation which zapped their powers. Luthor planned to inject Kal-El with liquid Kryptonite to slowly kill him. Kara was strapped to a table and she awaited her fate. She suffered a broken arm, along with other minor injuries. She had been an inch from death. Lex Luthor ended up getting punched in the face by Superman before he could do the deed. It was a shame his broken jaw healed. Clark won the fight with Darkseid, but Darkseid had won much more. He still ruled his home planet Apokolips, worshipped as a god by the enslaved and impoverished masses. The general population mistrusted Superman, despite the fact he was brain washed by Darkseid and Granny Goodness. While there were some minor signs of thawing, it would be a long time before everyone forgave and forgot. Clark on the other hand, had strongly suggested that she stay out of trouble and at the farmhouse in Smallville with the Kents for her own safety. Kara fiercely protested, but Clark had been firm and would not wane. The Kents backed him up. Supergirl was grounded for the infinite future, with no tights and no flights. In a way, she kind of understood it was to keep her safe from people who would want to do her harm after the brainwashing fiasco, but at the same time, she was a teenager. Understanding went so far. She needed freedom and not to be able to be cooped up in a farm house in the middle of Kansas. Kara loved the Kents, but it could get boring after a while being indoors. She needed to get out of there and do something daring. Vegas appealed to her sense of teenage rebelliousness. Granted, there was a bit of problem getting through the doors due to her not being of the legal age to enter most of the establishments. Of course, she had a guardian angel on her side, with emerald green eyes and messy black hair. He allowed her to circumvent that little flaw. She had a few drinks, she was stressed from over boredom. She would not recommend it to anyone especially without her powers but still she got to know this guy and really became fascinated. He told her some things about himself and what he had been forced to do. At first, she thought that he was telling some BS story, but over the night Harry convinced her of his sincerity. They had some fun, and got to be teenagers. One thing led to another and eventually they were married. She was more sober than he was but they went through with it. She was Kara Potter. Kara Potter, she liked it. It fit. Her husband had been in the bathroom for ten minutes. She resisted the urge to use her super hearing to check up on him. "Better go see what''s taking him so long," she muttered but the door opened and Harry just walked out. He was already dressed. Kara surveyed him, a bit more nervous than she would normally show. "Yeah, I know, you must hate me." "Kara, I don''t hate you, trust me," said Harry as he grabbed his wife''s hand and she hugged him. She took care not to exert too much strength, as not to break his ribs. "But you might hate me, when I tell you this." Kara led Harry over to the bed and they sat down. "The marriage is pretty binding, as in unbreakable, as in there is no chance for divorce, annulment, or anything," explained Harry and she indicated that she understood. "I trapped you in something that there''s no escape. Till death do us part is taken very literally in my world. You know about my world? You did say I told you something." "Bits and pieces, some big ones," said Kara, as she nodded in confirmation. "Backwards as it is, to get married and then get to know more about each other, we should really share everything. I have my secrets, and¡­well there are some doozies, I''ll tell you that. Over dinner later, maybe?" She laughed as she looked over some items on the floor. "Marriage certificate is over there, and the money you won last night, you were on a roll," said Kara, as she went through the bags on the floor and she closed her eyes, hazed recollection. "Even more impressive when you were winning on machines that were very rigged. You got the room comped because they didn''t want you to bankrupt them." "Nice," said Harry as he looked at the winnings. He was rather well off, not the richest wizard in the world by any means but he could live a comfortable lifestyle for decades off of his vault if he didn''t make stupid purchases. "There''s something you need to help me with." "What?" asked Kara. "Last night, I was out with, a friend of mine, named Remus. Middle aged fellow, grey hair, the only person who looks more angsty than I do," explained Harry. "Oh, I remember him¡­well I don''t know where he went, but he was at the wedding," muttered the girl as she was deep in thought. "He was there when we got to the chapel, but then¡­everything is a blur. " "Great, just wonderful," said Harry, but Kara gripped his hand tighter and kissed him in reassurance. "Don''t worry, we''ll find him," said Kara with a warm smile. "Um, we might be able to find him quicker if we weren''t on foot." "What are you saying?" asked Harry and Kara approached the window, before she stepped onto the window sill and stepped off. Harry''s eyes widened and his heart went a mile a minute. "KARA!" "Is she mental?" "What?" asked Kara as she peaked around the side of the window. A mischievous grin was once again was plastered onto her face. The girl floated in mid-air. "She can fly?" Harry stood there, dumb struck. "C''mon, Harry, take my hand," said Kara, as she reached out and Harry considered this. "Don''t worry. I won''t drop you." "Are you sure?" asked Harry as he took a step forward. "Trust me," said Kara as Harry grabbed her hand. "Hold on tight." The two teenagers floated through the air. Kara kept Harry suspended in the air by her hand. It was wonderful. Harry was so overjoyed. In his enjoyment and glee, only one coherent thought was in his head. "My wife is awesome." X-X A white skinned woman with blue hair dressed in black appeared directly outside of the city. Sparks shot through her finger. "So this is this is sin city," muttered the woman as she looked up, with sparks flying from her hand. "The place that is perfect. Las Vegas will never forget tonight." The woman, known as Livewire, stood and was ready to rock this town. No tight wearing boy scouts to wreck her fun tonight. Chapter 99 - Crossover Fan-fiction 7 - Naruto:Shinobi Chapter 1 ?Regrets" Naruto''s life was full of regrets. Regretting of his weakness. Regretting lives he took. Regretting leaving his best friends. Regretting of never telling the person he love of how much he cares for her. He had those regrets for quite a while. He nor anybody right now could forgive him. You wonder why? Because he was going to sacrifice himself, to save his friends, Love of his life and thousands of people. On his way to save people around, his life was flashing right before his eyes, so he decided to relive his life once again, before ending it. So Naruto decided to go with the mother memories that she passed onto him. Only those important to in her life and to the whole World History. His mother name was Kushina Uchiha, member of infamous Uchiha Clan. His father name was Minato Senju, member of the famous Senju Clan. Both Clan was in War for many decades, before the Clan heads, also great granfathers of Naruto, Madara Uchiha, and Hashirama Senju ended the War. They also created a Shinobi system and Hidden Ninja Villages. Oh yes, they were ninjas. But not normal ninjas so well know us. Unlike our ninjas, they had, how to put it? Superpowers. Yes, this word would be correct. They had abilities to control all elements, walk on water or anything they wanted and many other things. After some time, Madara wanted to achieve peace by placing everyone on Infinite Tsukuyomi, the Endless Dream. To do that, he needed all Tail Beasts, which were created by the founder of Ninja Creed, Sage of Six Paths. He gave ninjas the chakra, a source of their ''superpowers''. Hashirama stopped him, before gathering the beasts. He had no other choice to kill him. But that didn''t stop Madara. He used a secret jutsu to resurrect himself and choose to obtain eyes of the Sage. The Rinnegan. To do that he needed his chakra to be mix with Hashirama''s. Which he did and in old age, before his death he obtained them. He created a being called Black Zetsu, which he ordered to gather a team of most powerful ninjas. With that, he gave his eyes to Zetsu, who had to choose a hoster for the eyes, that who would resurrect him later. Many decades passed and heirs of both Clan were born. His parents. For the first few years, they were rival, before ending up in the same team. During that time they both get stronger together and little did they know that fate had special plans for them. During their missions, Kushina accidentally unleashed some of Nine-Tails chakra, the strongest of Tail beast. After the death of Madara, Hashirama gave each Village Tail Beast to look after them. But people believed that they are weapons, which only they could use. In the end, On the mission, only Minato was able to stop her with his Fuuinjutsu. After this whole thing, it became their personal secret that only they knew, which also help her unlock the last stage of her Sharingan, The Mangekyou Sharingan. Minato wasn''t left behind as he was training with his mother, Tsunade Senju. Akatsuki was able to gather most of the beats, aside from Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails. Then Great Shinobi War started and all Villages had to join forces to stop Akatsuki. The hoster of Rinnegan, Nagato Uzumaki brought Madara to life and then he was killed. Madara got his eyes back and absorb all Tail Beast he gathered. With that, he becomes the new Sage of Six Paths. Then he gave a fatal blow to Kushina and Minato. They pulled out and save by the Real Sage of Six Paths. For some reason, he was still alive, but it wasn''t time to explain that. Hagaromo, the Sage told the original story of how His Mother wanted to rule the world, by using chakra. He and his brother Hamura stopped her and seal her up in the moon. His brother went to look after their Mother and he started a new life. Hagaromo had two Sons Indra and Ashura, the founders of Uchiha and Senju. The Sage said that their great-grandfathers were the reincarnations of his sons, while Kushina and Minato were current ones. Only they could co stop Madara right now. So Sage gave them his power and warn them that they should end this quickly because Madara was getting stronger by a minute. Kushina was gifted with Rinnegan in her right eye, while Minato was given his great-grandfather Mokuton, the wood release. After returning to the real world, they started once again their battle with Madara. They were getting the upper hand before suddenly Black Zetsu appeared and betrayed Madara. He pierced his ?h?st with his b?r? hand. That makes Madara''s hairs start to grow and cover his entire body. With small shock wave, his hair becomes white and it was revealed to be Kaguya under that hair, with Zetsu in her kimono sleeve. His parents were quite scared, but with their new founded powers, Kushina and Minato knew they can defeat her. The fight took many hours, but they came up with an idea. They knew about her love for her children, they decided to use it. Minato went forward and used Transformation Jutsu and Shadow Clone Jutsu to make it look like Hagaromo and Hamura were here. That distracted her for a second which gave Minato a chance to punch her hard in the face. Kushina used that chance to use her new power to teleport Kaguya between her and Minato. With Flying Thunder God kunai, they quickly teleported to Kaguya and placed a seal on her, which made her return to the Moon once again. After the battle and freeing everyone from Tsukuyomi, both Kushina and Minato decided that it would be wiser to erase everyone memory of Chakra and everything that happened, creating new memories for them. Kushina used her Six Paths Chakra to power up her Kotoamatsukami, which was granted by her Mangekyou Sharingan. She erased everyone''s memory of everything happened until now and about her and Minato. Both Lovers decided to become Guardians of the World. But there was one problem. Since they wanted to protect their world and not allow their children to be put in such a dangerous, they needed to become immortal. They spend many years to crack the code, but they couldn''t find anything. Once they turn 29, Kushina got pregnant. On the day they learn that a shooting star landed on the earth. A little worried they''ve decided to check it out. They founded a crater, where star landed and saw a bright orange gem in the big rock. It was emitting some unknown type of energy. Minato for some reason knew that this might help them. So they took a Gem and find out its power after many days. The gem could control time and space at the same time. It was very dangerous to mess with something this powerful, but they were able to draw some power from it and infused it with their formula to become immortal. They''ve done it. They''ve cracked the code they become immortals. [35 Year of Our Era] During his first five years of life, Naruto was living like a normal boy, aside from being immortal. Little Naruto was playing with other kids before he and his parents were changing homes. It''s been 150 years and Naruto was still five years old, but he really wasn''t seeing this. For him time was passing normally. Once he turns six, his parents decided to start his training. They were doing it quite slowly since there wasn''t any rush. For him, he was training for three years, but in reality, it was 500 years. [560 Year of Our Era] Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Ost-Sand Ripples in the Wind Naruto was getting back from his play time with his current friends. He and his parents were living in the woods far away from Rome. But he could travel via Ninja style, by jumping from tree branch to tree branch. After some time a Blond haired boy with three whiskers saw a huge smoke coming from where his house was. Feeling the worst he used Shunshin no Jutsu and teleported in front of the house...or where his house once stood. There was nothing more and pieces of the house around. He starts to look for his parents and he saw them next to each other in the pool of blood. He jumped toward them with tears in his eyes. "Mommy! Daddy!"He cried."What happened?! Who did this to you?!" "Naru-chan..."Whispered his Mother."It''s good...that you save." "Yes..."He replied while looking at their wounds."Does it hurt?" "Not anymore Sweetheart..."Replied Kushina."There is...a special rock with Seal on it..." "Use...your blood to open it..."Added Minato for Kushina."Naruto...We don''t have much...time, so this will be goodbye..." "NO! Please don''t leave me! I can''t live without you!"Naruto screamed through his tears."I''m too weak! Please don''t leave..."At that Kushina start to cry too. "That''s not true..."Said his Father."You''re stronger than you think...You need to carry our will and protect this world from any harm...Please live for us Naruto...If you can, find happiness in this world. Okay?"He asked and after a second he nodded. Until now they saw that Naruto eyes changed from usual blue color to blood-red two tomoe in each eye. Kushina smiled, as she touched his Son''s cheek. "Your Daddy''s right...Naru-chan you''re stronger than you think."Slowly she starts to close her eyes. But she use the last strength to change her eyes into Mangekyou(A/N: She has Itachi Mangekyou Sharingan pattern.). She lost her Rinnegan eye because she used its power to keep Minato and her alive to say goodbye to their only son.."If you''ll ever gain these eyes Naru-chan...Then you''ll have swift your''s with mine...Minato-kun if you will."Minato nodded and quickly use his remaining strength to take Kushina eyes and place them in a vial, which he handed to Naruto. Young Uchiha/Senju was scared, by the sight, but the smile of his Mother was calming him."Don''t worry there are scrolls how to do it. You''ll be fine...You''re my beloved Son after all!"She said with a grin, which Naruto replied with a small smile. "We love you so much...We''re proud of you and always will be."Said Minato with matching grin of his wife."Now...Go Naruto...There''ll nothing from this place soon. Leave now..."He said now, as he was taking his last breaths. "But..."Naruto tried to argue, but the stern look of his Father shut his mouth. After some time he arrived at the place where he was training with his parents. He got a quick flashback, before looking for a rock with seal. It took him only a minute. Like his Father told him, he draws a little blood to the seal. For a second it glowed before rock faded and stairs to the underground appeared. He walked down on the stairs as his every step was making an echo. A good minute later he found himself in the large stone room. On the walls were hanging various weapons and scrolls. What gets Naruto attention was a big War Fan with three tomoes on opposite sides. He then moved to get a better look and saw corridor with few doors. Naruto decided to open one of the doors that had his name on it. Once they were open, Naruto saw a single bed with desk, wardrobe a ?h?st and a chair. It was simple room. Blond haired Uchiha saw a letter on the desk, he took it and read it. Again he was crying. In the letter was everything about Shinobi History. About their lives and everything, he needed to do to get stronger and control the power inside of him. There also was a big red scroll just next to the desk. It was a special scroll. If he would sign it, the Toads would help him anytime, but he needed to train the summoning jutsu. Or by luck, if he signs some random Toad should appear. They also explain to him why they moved every two or three years. They were immortal, they didn''t age, aside from him now. Someday he would stop aging. "Mom...Dad...I''ll promise that I''m going to keep this world save. No matter what, nothing is going to stop me..."He said with determination before he felt some dark chakra coming from his stomach. He gulped once he heard a sinister voice inside of his head. "Are you sure about this...?" Chapter 100 - Crossover Fan-fiction 8 - Out Of Time Plot: A man travels through time to change the events of the timeline. Romance, action, and hidden jokes. Pairing: Reverse Flash x Wanda In the not so distant future, the Avengers are looked up to as legends. Defenders of what will become now as the heroic age. Heroes in all different shapes and sizes stood up against evil. They fought to protect people and defend them from any threat. They even had an place to train the heroes of the future. Avengers Academy. For generations, the Avengers team would protect the world from danger. The Avengers have gone in multiple directions since their early days. Splintering them off into different factions, like the West Coast Avengers, or the New Avengers, they''re goals always remainded. Protect and serve. After original Avengers team''s deaths, they converted the first Academy into a museum. Where people could come and see how it all started. Who these Avengers were. It soon after became a place of study as well. To learn about their powers, and history in hopes of recreating the magic of the original team. One child walked around the Avenger''s Academy in awe as he went through the names. "Captain America The First Avenger: Steven Rogers was a man of values and character. Often the leader of the Avengers team. He fought in World War 2, serving his country that he loved so dearly. After a mission, he was encased in ice for 50 years, He was then brought back to life in a new world, but some things never change. Still with his iconic shield, Captain America was a hero to all, and a legend to everyone else." "The Invincible Iron Man: Anthony Edward Stark was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. A futurist trapped in today. His intellect has helped the Avengers on many battles they would face. Sometimes his ego got in the way of goals, but he never turned his back on protecting the world. Going into battle with his armor of his own design, he once saved the Earth from a nuclear attack from an invading alien force. Iron Man showed us all that underneath any armor, we all have hearts underneath." "The Mighty Thor: The son of the ruler of Asgard Odin, Thor was a true warrior with a big heart for humanity. He protected us from his brother Loki on many occasions. His adventures with Jane Foster allowed us to see into space and give us a better understanding of what''s out there. A truly invaluable resource to the Avengers. With his hammer Mjolnir with him in battle, Thor courage will never be forgotten." "The Incredible Hulk: Dr. Bruce Banner was struck with gamma rays that turned him into what we call The Hulk. When under great deals of stress, this mild mannered man would turn into a beast that struck fear into allies and enemies alike. Though The Hulk would destroy much in his wake, Bruce''s heart will always come through. His gentle nature would sooth the savage beast and help the Avengers save many lives." "Black Widow: Natalia "Natasha" Romanoff was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. She helped bring the Avengers team together. A well known ?ssassin trained in the Red Room, she was the best in the world at her job. Her indomitable will and her drive to do whatever it takes to complete her job helped her survive many missions with the Avengers. Natasha inspired many to join the Avengers Academy and remained the best trainer the team had. She proved you don''t need to be ''Super'' to be superhuman." "The Thunderbolt Hawkeye: Clint Barton was another agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. A best marksman in the world. Armed with his bow and arrow, he held his own with the Avengers team. Clint was often the emotional support of the team. A family man, he understood what he meant to be away from the people you love and the bonds you forge with others. He kept the team together in their darkest hours. A single flash of lightning was all he needed to put an arrow between your eyes." "Quicksilver The Fastest Man Alive: Pietro Maximoff, the slightly elder of twins. Pietro Maximoff joined the Avengers after a troubled past and incident with Stark Enterprises, he overcome his past and joined the Avengers. He always had a strong sense of right and wrong. He tragically sacrificed his life in the battle of Sokovia. He will always be remembered for his heroism." "Scarlet Witch¡­." The was a smudge by her name and the kid rubbed it off. "Scarlet Witch The Dark Avenger: Wanda Maximoff the younger of the twins. She doomed us all and betrayed her race. Sokovia is a small country within eastern Europe, it''s quite peaceful there. The people within the small towns know everyone. From the small shop owners, to the gardners, and even the teachers. Within this place a family came home to their apartment. Not very large but livable. A mother, father, with two children. Twins, a boy and girl. As the mother and father put the groceries away, a small earthquake hit the town. "Mother, what was that?" The daughter asked her mother. Then, another quake struck. Then another, and another. The son looked outside. These weren''t earthquakes. They were bombings. One bomb landed mere blocks from their home. Their home started to shake as the explosion shattered the windows. "Pietro, take your sister and run for safety." The father said as he saw the cracks start to show in the ceiling. "But father¡­...mother¡­." Pietro said hesitantly. "We''ll join you shortly, but you two have to go now." Their mother said. "Take Wanda and go now." Pietro nodded and grabbed his twin sister. Fighting back the tears in their eyes, the twins left their parents behind. The ceiling came down on their home and their parents were crushed. Wanda screamed and tried to go back but Pietro continued to lead them out of the building. Without nowhere to go as the bombs fell on the town. They just kept going forward. Pietro covering Wanda''s ears as they moved and the ground collapsed beneath them. With a bombshell next to them. They became buried under rubble. Days past as they were trapped down there. Pietro held her close as they felt ground each ground movement they feared the bomb would be set off. Though the bomb wouldn''t be set off as they were rescued, they word on the bomb would be burned into their brains forever. Stark Industries. Tony Stark created these bombs. Without a home to return to, the two went out of the town and into the nearby forest to rest. As they caught their breath, a man walked up to them. Bald, and wear the outfit of a scientist. "Excuse me, I believe I can help you two." The man said. He merely motioned for them to follow him. Hesitantly, they two twins did. The man led them deeper into the forest showing them a part that has been destroyed due to the bombings. The twins looked around the forest in horror. "I know the man responsible for these attacks." The man said looking at the remainder of a bomb. "And if you two let me help, I can aid you if you want to take the person behind these attacks down." "I am Baron Strucker." The man said. "Welcome to Hydra. Now then, please follow me." The man went into the forest, the brother grabs the sister''s hand and gives her a comforting look before they follow the man deeper into the forest. The twins were taking to a military base deep within the forest of their home. The twins looked around trying to take in their new surroundings. Seeing men and women in military uniforms moving crates or loading weapons. As Strucker shuffles them through the base, the sister notices a line of men moving in formation as the one in the back of the line trip and fall causing a domino effect. Strucker places them and cells next to each other. As they look around, they see other people around their age all in cells like theirs. "Now before we get you two started, what are your names?" Strucker asked him as a scientist comes next to him with a clipboard. "Pietro Maximoff." The brother said. "Wanda Maximoff." The sister said. "Understood, someone will be with you two shortly." Strucker said before leaving. The slam of the door and the sound of the dripping water unnerved them. Looking around at their new home. The Maximoff twins sat in their cells in silence looking at the other people in cells. Some of them sit in the fetal position, another shaking, and a little girl sitting calmly in the middle of her cell with a collar around her neck. When she turns to them, she lunges at them pounding on her cell. Wanda backs to the end of her cell as the door opens and a older man in a lab coat comes in with a younger man at his side. "Well Pietro and Wanda, I am Dr. List." The older man said. "I am the lead scientist here. It is my job to help you two get stronger. This man to my side is my ?ssistant. Tell them your name." "Well um¡­" The young man said before being cut off. It wasn''t so much training for the twins as much as it was experimentation. Through the series of tests the two had taken, it revealed that they both shared a gene that allowed them to access superhuman abilities. So their new home would try force their powers out of them. One of their favorites is to strap the twins down to chairs and give doses of electric shock. For them, only when the body has been pushed to the breaking point, their powers would surface. Unfortunately for the twins, they weren''t wrong. "STOP PLEASE." Wanda screamed as the volts surged throughout her body. "We have another hour to go." The scientist said slowing down the electricity as Dr. List looked upon them disappointed. "I¡­...can''t¡­...take¡­..anymore." Wanda said gasping for air. "Just let her rest for the day." Pietro said. "You both are required to take over 100 volts today." The scientist reminded them. "When you two joined Hydra, you both agree to our treatments. Now are you two backing out? Do you not want vengeance for your family?" That is a bu??on that the scientists of Hydra loved to push. Because they knew they would get the answer they wanted. But Pietro looked over at his sister. Wanda is drenched in sweat. Her head down, broken from the electric shock. "Give her a break." Pietro said. "I''ll take the volts for both of us. Just give her a break." "Brother¡­...are you sure?" Wanda asked. "Deal." The scientist said clapping his hands. Two men came into the room and unstrapped Wanda from the chair. One lifted Wanda over his shoulder and carried her away as the other wiped down the chair. Pietro clenched the chair and nodded to the scientist. "I''m ready." Pietro said. "I hope so." The scientist said turning the machine back on. The electricity running through his body, he thought he was on fire. Constantly shaking. He couldn''t even help it anymore. Like his molecules were burning. Then, boom. The machine exploded When the dust settled, Pietro was gone. The scientist looked around, to find himself not even in the room anymore, but in the hall. Pietro standing over him. "That was¡­..fast." The scientist said. For Pietro, his powers manifested in superhuman speed. Afterwards, Pietro sent back to his cells. Hydra make notes of their growing progress. Pietro''s body shaking violently. Seeing how Pietro activated his mutant gene, Wanda grew fearful of what they would subject her to in order to unleash hers. As her mind raced, the door to their room was opened and Dr. List''s ?ssistant entered the room. Still with his head down, he punched in the keycode and entered Pietro''s cell. "Have we not done enough for the day?" Wanda screamed at him. "Get away from him." "Please, I only wish to help." The scientist said as soothing as he could, pulling out a needle filled with an green liquid and he injects Pietro with it. "Your brother is going into cardiac arrest. It will be misdiagnosed as a heart attack and the doctor will give him something that will only make things worse. This will help him." "Let''s just say I had a hunch after what happened." The young man said trying not to show her a clear look at his face. "Please just trust me on this. In a couple minutes, he''ll be up and running as if nothing happened." He removed the needle and patched Pietro up. He left the cell and walked towards the door. "Wait, please." Wanda said placing her hands against her cell. The man stopped, but did not turn around to face her. "Thank you for helping him." Wanda said. "No problem." The young scientist said as he left the room. "Just don''t tell anyone what I did." True to his word, Pietro had healed in no time. However since Pietro has activated his mutant gene, the focus has now shifted to Wanda. Two big men came into her cell and took her away. She''s taken into a dark room. They shackle her arms above her head and her ankles to the floor. A very muscular woman enters the room. "We''re not supposed to undergo more training today." Wanda said a bit nervous. "Plans change." She said coldly as the men bring in a large tub of cold water. "You''re behind schedule. We''re becoming quite annoyed. So we''re going to step things up a bit. Either you activate your mutant gene, or you die." "We''ll see how hard you''ve been trying." She said with a sadistic smile. Within that room with no light, Wanda couldn''t tell if it was day or night. She b?r?ly ate, or slept. She would only know pain and suffering. The woman would dunk Wanda''s head in the water and drown her time after time. "Not really feeling up to the task?" The woman asked her as she gasped for air. Wanda didn''t respond. "Well then, this will be should be interesting at least." She said as one of the men whispers something in her ear. "I''ll be back shortly." She leaves the room with the men and Wanda looks around. The door opens again and it''s the scientist from before. He comes with an apple. "Please, eat." He said handing her the apple. "We don''t have much time." Wanda starts eating the apple. "I need you to listen to me." The young man said. "When you''re being subjected to these tortures. Don''t think of happy thoughts. Don''t try to avoid the pain or take your mind of the pain. Embrace it. Think of your parents. The hate, the rage, the anger. If you don''t, they''ll take your brother away from you. You have the power Wanda. The power to not let anyone take anything away from you ever again. So use it. Get mad, get angry and unlock what''s inside of you." He pats her head and takes the root of the apple before leaving the room. The woman would return and the torture resumed. As her head was dunked in the ice cold water. She remembered her parents, losing them. Clenching her fists, a burst of energy blasted the lady away as Wanda became engulfed in a red aura. "Looks like we have struck gold after all." The female said as the guards take Wanda away. As the time passed, Hydra has been experimenting on the twins. With Wanda and Pietro, they have what they need to complete their plans. During their time in HYDRA, the numbers of test subjects dwindled until only Wanda and Pietro remained. Since they have now harnessed their powers, the shift goes to seeing the extent of what their powers can do. Their training has still been exhaustive and grueling, their only shining light has been this mysterious scientist who continues to show them kindness. "You shouldn''t have tried to cut through the forest, Pietro." The young man said as he tends to his leg. "I thought I could get through it." Pietro said with a groan. "You should have stayed on the path that was given to you." The man said. "Luckily this isn''t so bad. With your metabolism, you should heal within a matter of minutes because it isn''t infected." "You were being an idiot." Wanda said. "Hey, fastest time yet." Pietro said actually with a smirk. "It would''ve been faster should had stayed on the path." The young scientist said getting up and leaving his cell. "Still, as a gift for a job well done I have a surprise for you both." The young scientist handed them both cupcakes with candles on them. "Happy birthday you two." He said with a smile. "Thank you." Wanda said blowing out her candle as Pietro hungrily ate his cupcake. "It''s good to smile every now and again." The man said still avoiding her eyes. "I know this place isn''t the best in the world. Still, it doesn''t have to be all bad." "Isn''t it customary on birthdays to be granted a wish?" Wanda asked him. "I believe so, yes." The man told her. "Well, you''ve been so kind to my brother and I all this time so I would like to see the face of the person who have been taking care of us." Wanda said pressing her hand against the cell. The man sighed and looked up at her. Showing his brown hair and his blue eyes. He smiled at her and pressed his hand against the cell where her hand is. "Happy birthday, Wanda." He said. "Keep watching over us." Wanda said, "Always." He said with a smile. "We''re about out of time for the moment. So both of you, continue to be strong and bear with the training for a while longer. Stay strong." Wanda kept her hand on the cell as the scientist left the room. Wanda and Pietro continue their training within the Hydra facility. Pietro would be running through ?ssigned tracks within Sokovia and have regular sparring matches with Batroc the Leaper. Wanda on the other hand, would be training with one of Hydra''s recruits named Bob. As they return to their cells to rest after a long day, Baron Strucker visited them in their cells with a bright smile on his face. "Hello, comrades." Strucker said. "I am very pleased with the progress you two have made since your arrival here. Now, we have everything we need to complete our plans." "We came here to get revenge on Mr. Stark." Pietro said. "We train, we practice, and we''re ready. Bring him to us or send us to him." "Relax, comrade." Strucker said. "I have a hunch you two won''t be waiting for much longer." Avengers POV In Stark Tower, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton gathered at the behest of Maria Hill who has gathered valuable intelligence about their current operation. So Earth''s mightiest heroes have gathered in the living room as Stark Tower over lunch to discuss the current situation. "I''m glad you all could make it, because we have a lot to go over." Maria Hill said sitting down with her notes. "I know so far our search for Loki''s sceptre has been like looking for a needle in a haystack and without S.H.I.E.L.D. resources it''s been even harder." "At least you opened with the bad news." Tony said biting into a sandwich. "We know Hydra must have the sceptre." Captain America stated. "And with the intel we have gained from our last raid of one of Hydra''s facilities, I believe I know which one it is." Maria Hill said. "You mean, J.A.R.V.I.S. knows where it is." Tony said getting up and grabbing a keycard. "I don''t mean to cut you off, but let''s give the glory to the brains of this operation. So let''s give him the stage." Tony summons J.A.R.V.I.S . "I was able to find a Hydra base hidden in Eastern Europe that wasn''t on the S.H.I.E.L.D database." J.A.R.V.I.S. said. "Eastern Europe is a big place, can''t he narrow it down a bit?" Hawkeye asked. "Actually I can." J.A.R.V.I.S said. "It''s located in the small country known as Sokovia." "And why wasn''t it in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database?" Natasha asked. "Because Ms. Romanoff, it wasn''t actually a Hydra base." Tony said. "It was a S.H.I.E.L.D base. Or at least, that is how S.H.I.E.L.D. listed it. After you and Cap there had your little bout with ''Three Days of the Condor'', I had J.A.R.V.I.S. also scan for S.H.I.E.L.D bases that felt a little out of place and that''s what we found." "And you''re certain the sceptre is there?" Thor asked. "About as certain as you needing costume change." Tony said. "But in all seriousness, J.A.R.V.I.S. has it at about a 98.7% chance. So it''s there." "98 percent isn''t 100." Cap said. "Well, I also had J.A.R.V.I.S. run energy readings on that base and found unusually high readings." Tony said. "Why would a place in the middle of pretty much nowhere have high readings of energy if nothing was there. Besides, team building exercise." "Prepare for departure." Maria Hill said. "You leave tomorrow morning. The quinjet is being prepped as we speak. So do what you have to, and be ready to leave." The team separated to get ready for the coming operation. As they grabbed their things, Tony Stark walked to the balcony and looked up the his grip on railing. "You alright, Tony?" Bruce asked. "Huh?" He turned around to face Bruce. "Oh, you know, just looking up to the sky." "See something you didn''t want to?" Dr. Banner asked. "That''s the problem buddy, I can''t." Tony said patting his shoulder. "I don''t know what''s out there and what''s even worse is, sometimes, I feel like even though we can''t see up there, they see down here." "Sometimes Tony, you just have to expect peace and quiet just as that, peace." Dr. Banner said. "I get it though. You want something here to protect the world in case we fail." "No, I want something here that would protect the world so we don''t have to."Tony said. "I''m talking about the Ultron project." "You need to let it go." Dr. Banner said. "It isn''t possible. Every machine has protocols, and built in limitations that would it keep it from evolving or growing." "Perhaps, but one day we won''t have that problem." Tony said. "Ultron is just a fantasy." Dr. Banner said. "But you can''t tell me you''re not intrigued by the idea of it." Tony said. "The world covered by a suit of armor. To stop anything from out there to come here and to prevent any big green outbursts from causing too much trouble to Harlem, or your local McDonald''s when you don''t get your happy meal." "I rather think of what is and not what might be." Dr. Banner said. "Well in the meantime, pack some extra pants." Tony said walking away. In the morning, the Earth''s mightiest heroes gather on the Quinjet with Tony Stark piloting the jet. The plane lifts off and they depart for Sokovia. Chapter 101 - Crossover Fan-fiction 9 - Torn Between Two Earths Plot: Goes AU after 3x07. Overwhelmed by everything that had happened because of Flashpoint, Barry goes for a run and accidentally goes to the MCU during the final stand against Ultron. Stranded, Barry finds a new family in the Avengers but what happens when his old family comes looking for him? Read to find out. Crossover: Arrowverse and Avengers Pairing: Barry x Wanda "My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. And I made a terrible mistake. I reset the timeline and the people I love have suffered for it. Especially my two best friends. But that is where our story begins." Star Labs Night "Cisco, you''re my best friend man. So...are we gonna be okay?" Barry asked almost hesitantly. Barry had never regretted anything in his life more than he regretted Flashpoint. If he had known then what his actions would cost Cisco and Caitlin, he would never have saved his mother. But he couldn''t take it back, only deal with the consequences. Which he was doing right now, Barry mused as Cisco turned around in his chair, an unreadable look on his normally cheerful face. "Do you want the truth?" Cisco asked stoically. "Yeah." Barry said but had a feeling he wasn''t going to like the answer. "I don''t know." Cisco admitted. It wasn''t the answer Barry had wanted but he knew that it was foolish to expect less. So Barry simply nodded before turning and walking out. Barry put on his suit and speed out, needing to go for a run. He ran to escape it all. The guilt over Flashpoint, his anger over being forced to quit CSI, his guilt over Caitlin and his despair over the loss of his friendship with Cisco. He ran and ran and ran, faster then he had ever run before. He didn''t think, he didn''t feel, he just lost himself to the feel of the speed. Then the blue portal opened up in front of him. Barry couldn''t stop and ran through it. He sped out and tried to stop, skidding to a halt as best he could. It was at that point that Barry saw the army of metal men and the group of people fighting them. "Where the hell am I?" Barry wondered to himself. Barry saw a green monster running through the streets, roaring as it fought the metal men, a man firing an arrow at them as well. But it was the girl dressed in red, cowering among the fleeing civilians that had Barry`s attention. Her hands seemed to be glowing with red energy and the look on her face. It was the same look Barry got when he thought of Flashpoint. Guilt, self loathing, and fear. "You alright?" Barry asked as he pulled himself to his knees. This is all our fault." She said, eyes wide with terror and guilt. "Yeah, I blame myself for things to," Barry said and she looked up at him for the first time, "I don''t know what''s going on here, I don''t know who you are, I don''t even know where I am. What I di know is that we are under attack by an army of robots. And i`m freaking out, but I am going back out there to fight because that is my job. You can stay here and hide, or you can come out there with me to make things right. Your choice." His piece said, Barry stood up and sped out, ready to face this army of robots. Chapter 102 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 5 - The Secret Love of A Maiden Goddess Plot: It is possible that Artemis the maiden goddess is in love? Could they live happy together? Erebus is back and he wants to kill Percy. Pairing: Percy x Artemis Artemis ''s POV Today we were hunting some hellhounds who had escaped from the hells. Maybe I should say A LOT OF HELLHOUNDS because today we killed at least 100 hellhounds. It was rare that we had that numbers of hellhounds to hunt but it happen sometimes. When we finished to kill all of the hellhounds we began to build the tents. " Today was a boring day my Lady " said Thalia next to me. " Yeah we just killed and we had no time to rest. " I said . " Can I do something for you? " she ask me. " Yes inform the others that we are going to stay at camp Half-Blood for some times. " I said with a face that say sorry because I know that all of the hunters except my lieutenant Thalia don''t like to go there. " Cool, but why? " she said. "Special meeting on Olympus. " I said " Can I know why this is a special meeting? " she ask me with an anxious face. "In times you will know, now im gonna call Chiron for informing him that you will be coming at camp for some times and my brother to transport you there. Other questions? " I said " No. Thanks my Lady. " She said and she went to tell the others. Percy''POV Camp Half-Blood This morning I was eating peacefully when I heard Chiron say something. Chiron- Campers! The hunters of Artemis are coming for sometimes so please be nice with them. Thanks for your attention. " Percy, I have something to say. " she said with a grin on her face. " What it is? " I ask suspiciously. " Could we talk alone in the woods? " She said. " Uh¡­ why do you want to talk in the woods. We can talk right here. " She was beginning to act really weird I thought. " Percy this is the only thing I ask. " She said. " OK¡­ if you want. " I said. Really weird... We began to walk in the woods. The silence between us was very odd. When she finnaly stop I ask her what she want. " Percy im quitting you. " She said with no emotions on her face. When I heard that I gasped. I was so angry but she might have a reason no? " Yes. Connor Stoll is my boyfriend and I don''t want to be with you anymore. " she said with a bored voice. " Your boyfriend? When do you began to be with him? " I said suspiciously. " A few weeks after the war. " she said. " You mean that you cheat on me since 11 months? " I said with a face that say I cannot believe that. " Yes. " she said. " Why. " I said. " Because I don''t want to be with you anymore. " she said with a louder voice. " At least you could have said to me that you don''t want to be with me anymore. Since 11 months I thought that we were in love, now I begin to understand why you were so distant to me since the war. " I said. " Wow. You are so stupid. " she said with a face that say that she cannot believe that I saw nothing. " Hooray Percy you finally understand! " she said to me like a little baby which just learn something. That was enough. I was so angry because she cheat on me since 11 months¡­11 months! She was making fun of me with Connor when I had my back turn and when she just said that she was going out with Connor she insult me with no reason. I turned and walked back to camp. When I get there everyone was looking at me with an anxious glance. I understand because I was extremely angry because of Annabeth. I get to my cabin and pratically break my door because I slammed it. I get to my bed and began to cry. Why she cheat on me? Why? A few seconds later I was sleeping. Artemis''POV " Here we are my beautiful girls. " he said while looking at the girls. When he said that all the hunters turn to face him and give him a death glare. " Brother, how many times do I need to tell you to NOT flirt with my hunters! " I say while I was becoming angry against him. " OK OK I will stop little sis! " he said while raising his hands in the air. " Stop calling me you little sister I am older than you! " I said loud. " That is not true! " he said like a little baby. " OK OK. " With that he went to olympus by teleporting himself. All of the hunters releahed a deep breath. It was really annoying to have her brother with her and the hunters when they need to go to camp. He often looked the back of the hunters but every time he look there I punch him in the face. He do stupid comments like " beautiful girl " or " hot babe ". Anyways, I went to see Chiron to say him that my hunters are here and that they will stay in my cabin. After that I thought that I should take a little walk in the woods since yesterday we had no time to rest. A few minutes after I started to walk I heard people talking so with my god powers I went invisible. When I went near the 2 people talking I attentively looked at them and I recognized them. Perseus the savior of olympus and annabeth which is Perseus'' girlfriend. So I started listening to them. " Percy im quitting you. " She said with no emotions on her face. When he heard that he gasped. " Why do you want to quit me. Another guy entered in your life? " he ask instantly after what she said. " Yes. Connor Stoll is my boyfriend and I don''t want to be with you anymore. " she said with a bored voice. " Your boyfriend? When do you began to be with him? " he said suspiciously. " A few weeks after the war. " she said. " You mean that you cheat on me since 11 months? " he said with a face that say he cannot believe that. " Why. " he said. " Because I don''t want to be with you anymore. " she said with a louder voice. " At least you could have said to me that you don''t want to be with me anymore. Since 11 months I thought that we were in love, now I begin to understand why you were so distant to me since the war. " he said. " Wow. You are so stupid. " she said with a face that say that she cannot believe that he saw nothing. " If I understand well, you were making fun of me with Connor these past months. " he said sadly. " Hooray Percy you finally understand! " she said at him like a little baby which just learn something. The boy stay in place about 10 seconds before he turn and began to walk back to camp. I looked into his eyes and I could clearly see that they were filled with anger and sadness. Poor guy I thought. I turned to look at the girl and I see that she had no remorse. If I could only turn into an animal because of what she did to that boy. I must admit that in another way I was happy but I don''t even know why. With that I get back to camp. I went to the archery field to shoot some arrows to relax from what I saw. Poor guy, I don''t even want to know how he must feel right now. I was thinking about him when suddenly a flash of light appear. I look closer to see who it was I saw that it was Athena. " Artemis the special meeting is beginning we are waiting you. " Athena told me. " Ok. " I simply reply. "You are finally there Artemis, we can begin now. So, who is in favor that we ask again Percy Jackson savior of Olympus and son of Poseidon to become a god. " he ask to everybody. All gods raise their hands but instead of raising her hand Artemis began to speak. "We should wait some times to ask him again. " I said with a sad face. " Why? " Zeus said with a suspiciously face. " He is heartbroken now because Annabeth, a daughter of Athena and his ex-girlfriend cheat on him since 11 months. " I said " How do you know that ? " Zeus said. " I took a walk in the woods of camp Half-Bloods and I found 2 people talking. Then I listen to them. " I said. " ATHENA YOU SHOULD PROTECT YOUR DAUGHTER BECAUSE IF SHE COME NEAR MY SON SHE WILL DIE! " Poseidon yelled to Athena. All of the gods were shocked because Poseidon could be violent sometimes but not that far. " I am extremely sorry Poseidon... I didn''t know that she was cheating on your son since 11 months and that was also the last thing I want from her to do. " Athena reply sadly. Poseidon was going to say something but Zeus begin to talk. " Alright, we will wait 7 days and in 7 days Poseidon will go get him to transport him here. " Zeus said while closing the discussion. *7 days later* Throne room, Olympus " Poseidon, it is time, get your son here. " Zeus said " Yes brother. " Poseidon said. Chapter 103 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 6 - Struck By Lightning Plot: Pure blue. The first thing Percy noticed about the girl that came out of the tree was how bright, brilliant, and blue her eyes were. They cut through him like electricity through water. In that moment, he knew that something had irrevocably changed in his destiny. Fate had a plan for Percy Jackson, and Thalia Grace just became a part of it. Pairing: Percy J., Thalia G. Percy enjoyed the feeling of the warm summer breeze on his face as he walked up a hill. Back in the Camp proper, most of the Campers were having fun with food and friends after the successful acquisition of the Golden Fleece and the recovery of Thalia''s Tree. He had too, but after a while, it had become too much for him. He looked down at the thought. They had gone through a lot, and there were very real dangers that they had faced. Close brushes with death that left Percy uncomfortable for both his friends and himself. Still, it was a successful quest. That was worth celebrating. He smiled again as he looked down at the bustling Camp. It was gratifying enough to him that it was still safe, and that the people he had become friends with were still protected. Percy came close to Thalia''s Tree, and he nodded contently when he saw its green leaves and felt its strong aura. The Golden Fleece had done its job ¨C the tree was being healed of the poison that had seeped so deeply in it, and the barriers that protected the Camp were as strong as they ever were. It was good to see. Then Percy noticed a pair of legs, just hidden from him by the tree. Concerned, the demigod strode forward, turning around the tree as he saw the pair of legs extend to the body of a girl. She looked to be sleeping at the base of the tree, but there were a few branches that had grown over her, and she was not someone that Percy recognized as a camper. By the time Percy ran over and knelt by her, she had just began stirring from her sleep. When her eyes flickered open, he felt his breath being su?k?d away as the brightest, most electrifying pair of blue eyes stared back. They seemed to pierce straight through him like lasers, even though they were flickering around in disorientation. After ripping away the branches that covered her, he cradled her head in his ??p as she coughed slightly and struggled, but failed, to get up. "Hey, hey," he gently said, keeping her as steady as possible, "relax. You''re safe." She ceased her struggling, though Percy couldn''t tell if it was from his words or her fatigue. Percy paused. How did this girl not know where she was? She was inside the barrier of the Camp, and she was sleeping at the base of Thalia''s Tree. "You''re at Camp Half-Blood. See?" Percy gestured to the faintly visible outline of the semi-spherical shield that protected the camp. "You''re safe." "Who are you?" she asked, continuing her line of questions. Percy paused slightly, quickly deciding on how much he should tell her at that moment. He had no idea who she was, and after what had happened with Luke, he was wary of trusting so openly again. Still, against his paranoid side, he spoke. "My name is Percy Jackson. I''m a son of Poseidon." Her blue eyes widened at the second sentence, and she stared deeply into Percy''s sea-green orbs. Having finally stopped shaking, she blinked a couple of times before whispering her own name. "I''m Thalia. Daughter of Zeus." After getting over the shock of meeting Thalia as a human and not a tree, Percy carried her over to the Big House. Chiron had a similar shock, and even though Mr. D acted as indifferently as he always did, Percy swore that he could see a bit of surprise in the wine god''s eyes. After getting her settled in to a cabin ¨C the empty Zeus cabin ¨C Thalia was quickly introduced to Camp life, and Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron did their best, as did all of the campers, to integrate her into Camp Half-Blood. Percy hadn''t ever meant for Thalia to be a rival for him, but her fiercely competitive nature made it almost inevitable. Given that and the fact that they were both children of the Big Three ¨C and ones fairly close in age, being only one year apart after factoring in the whole "stuck in a tree" business ¨C she quickly viewed the first person she had met in nearly seven years as her chief rival. Still, despite a hotly contested rivalry in the various needed skills and knowledge that demigods required, the two formed an even fiercer friendship. Perhaps it was because they were both children of the Big Three and their fates and destinies were irrevocably tied together, courtesy of the Great Prophecy. Maybe it simply because Thalia felt some sort of connection to the first person who comforted her after her prolonged near-death state. Either way, Percy felt himself trusting his newest friend more with each passing day, and there were certainly days where, as he confided his fears, worries, and hopes with her, she did much the same, pouring back an equal amount of herself into him as he did into her. Slowly walking through the forest, he exited into a small clearing surrounded by thick bushes and trees. There was a small pond of clear water in the middle, and Percy took a few seconds to admire the beauty of the small alcove he had just found. Then he heard a breath intake beside him. Turning his head, he saw Thalia, of all people, sitting on a nearby rock, staring at him with those blue eyes that were indelibly burned into Percy''s mind. Her short and spiky hair was slightly damp, as were her b?r? feet. A towel, her favorite combat boots, a pair of black socks, and her leather jacket lay on a nearby stone. Having evidently forgone her usual black jeans, she wore a pair of short shorts and a non-descript black t-shirt. Percy felt his breath hitch as he stared at her form. He could not deny that he found her attractive; how could he? As even Apollo himself put it, she was pretty, and the fact that he was in the middle of puberty didn''t help out on that front much either. Percy forced himself to stop staring, walking up to his friend as he examined the small clearing they found themselves in. All the while, Thalia''s eyes never left his form once, even as he came to a stop by the rock she was sitting on. "Fancy meeting you here," she spoke up first, her gaze still not leaving him. "Uh, yeah," Percy replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I just sorta stumbled on this place. Same for you?" Thalia shook her head, a few droplets of water flying away from her hair at the motion. "I found this place a couple of days ago. It''s ¡­ a nice place. Relaxing. The water isn''t too cold either." The two paused in a silence, neither knowing exactly what to say. Thalia looked back at her reflection in the water as Percy looked downwards. The trials of the week had been harsh, and both had ended up losing their close friend. "I''m sure she''s alright, you know," Thalia spoke up again. Percy turned his head to look at Thalia. "She''s a strong fighter, and smart too. She wouldn''t go out that easily. I bet Luke''s," she winced slightly as she said her friend''s ¨C former friend''s ¨C name, "having a blast with her. I can only imagine her tearing him apart." "Do you," Percy started, and Thalia leaned in slightly closer. "Do you ever fear the future? I mean," he added, seeing a slightly curious expression on his friend''s face, "you''re the one the Prophecy is about. That''s a lot of responsibility, and there''s a lot of things out there that want a piece of you because of that." Thalia''s lips pursed at the thought, before shrugging. "Life''s life. Just gotta roll with it, because sometimes there isn''t another way." She sighed. "How do you do it? You''re so in control all of the time." Thalia chuckled, a sound that Percy found rather pleasing to listen to. "Really? I''ve always thought that you were the stronger one ¨C you''ve known about this since you were twelve, and yet, you''re still here. You haven''t quit. Me? I-I don''t know if I could''ve handled it. If someone compared the two of us, they''d probably think you were the Prophecy''s Chosen One." Percy looked straight into Thalia''s eyes, marveling for the umpteenth time at the beauty that he beheld. "Thalia, you are the strongest person I know. You proved it when you defended Annabeth and Grover on the top of the Hill, and you continue to do so every time we meet a problem." Thalia looked shocked by Percy''s words. Slowly, her mouth turned upwards into a smile; it wasn''t one of those "wide and forced red carpet celebrity" smiles, but rather a beaming smile that reflected genuine heartfelt emotion. It only served to enhance Thalia''s natural countenance, and where she normally was pretty to Percy, now she was absolutely beautiful. Her radiant smile was something that he would not mind seeing again. "Well," she said after a few seconds, "I should get going." She slung her towel and jacket over a shoulder, put the socks into the boots, and lifted the boots with a finger and a thumb. She took a few steps towards the edge of the clearing before pausing and half-turning around. Percy stood by the rock that Thalia had just vacated, standing as still as his geological companion. His heart pounded in his ?h?st, and his cheeks were flushed red. Why had it felt so thrilling to talk with her? And why had it felt so ¡­ good? Chapter 104 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 7 - Return of the Dead King Plot: Perseus, the eldest son of Kronos and Rhea was once the King of Olympus. When his younger siblings overthrew him, they completely destroyed him. Unbeknownst to them the Olympians sealed their fate, as he was the only one who could stand against the rising Protogenoi and save the gods from utter Pairing: Percy J., Zo? N. NOTE: Percyis OP, so yeah.... Chapter 1 The Fallen King Resting atop the highest peak of Mount Olympus an immortal city glowed in the darkness of night. The city was the palace for all the Greek gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. The immortal city of Olympus. In the center of Olympus was the grandest of all the buildings inside. Inside was fourteen magnificent thrones jutted out of the ground. The thrones signified the most powerful of all the gods, the ones that call themselves Olympians and believe they are superior to those they think are minor deity''s of the Greek pantheon. Well most believed that so, all except two. The only two to believe the minor gods and goddesses worthy of respect and the same acceptance the Olympians have were the two eldest children of Kronos and Rhea. The two eldest, and the most powerful of all the gods believed all immortals of the pantheon of gods should have the same respect and all deserve an equal part in the Olympian council. For a while after the defeat of Kronos and the Titan''s, the world was run in a fair and democratic system that mirrored the city of Athens. Every god and goddess of the pantheon got a vote over every manner. But their siblings were angered and hated their two eldest siblings because they believed them to be better and should be treated fairly. They decided it would be time for change. An era of the gods where the Olympians would rule above all others, an era where the council''s word was law and everyone that was considered under the Olympians would have to follow their rule without question or fuss. Perseus walked briskly through Olympus'' streets. He made his way over to the Olympian throne room, where his sister had called him for an important matter. As he walked through the streets many of the female''s swooned over him and his appearance. The beautiful immortal females of Olympus tried and failed to too garner Perseus'' attention. Perseus stood at six feet tall and looked to be around the age of eighteen in his immortal form at the moment. His hair hung low almost to his eyes. His hair was a beautiful raven black that shone in lights of the Olympian halls. His eyes were beautiful and timeless. When you looked at the eyes of the king, you seemed to be lost in the magnificent swirl of colors. His eyes as the deity of night were a beautiful midnight purple. Ringed around his pupil a bright magnificent gold shone in the light. Instead of black pupils Perseus'' eyes contained dark brown pupils. Instead of pure white sclera, Perseus'' sclera was white with gold tinted in it. The rest of the immortal was just as beautiful and mesmerizing as his eyes. His smile was perfect, that showed off his brilliantly pearly white teeth. His skin was the perfect mixture of white and caramel. The immortal teen wore completely gold Greek chiton. Hanging at Perseus side was the most beautiful weapon ever created. The weapon in mortal form was a five-foot long one-handed sword. The sword was his symbol of power and unlike his brothers and sisters he made this weapon himself. The blade of the sword was midnight purple with golden outlines. On the purple blade dark clouds and bright stars glowed on the blade. The hilt of the sword was black, like the sky at midnight, with a gold handgrip and in the hilt the finest purple and gold jewels. Inscribed on the blade in bright golden letters, the words, The Sword of Time was written. The blade could summon thousands of earthen soldiers that would obey his command, as well as thousands of soldiers made of shadows and darkness. When the blade glowed gold, time stopped without Perseus using his power. In Perseus'' hair, was his most treasured weapon other than his symbol of power was a bronze hairpin that was interwoven with his raven black locks of hair. Anaklusmos, when willed the blade would elongate into a three foot long shining bronze sword. Zoe Nightshade gave the blade to him, she gave it to him after he took it back from Heracles who broke her heart and brought her to her new family in the hunters of Artemis. In return she gave him Anaklusmos for she believed he deserved it. Perseus walked in the throne room and walked to the throne at the middle of the ring of thrones. He grew to the size of an Olympian god at seventeen feet and he sat on the one that looked the most plain out of all the fourteen Olympians. His throne was just midnight purple with golden outlines. Next to him a throne made out of completely flames occupied his sister Hestia. Hestia smiled at him warmly. "Hello, little sister, how are you this fine night?" Perseus asked. Hestia paled, but her face quickly returned to normal before he could notice. "I''m alright brother, how are you? Been spending time with a certain hunter of Artemis." She said slyly. Perseus in reply turned as red as a tomato and looked playfully glared at his little sister. "At the time you called me here, I was not, instead I was talking to Leto and keeping her company. I feel really bad for her. I could not reverse her banishment without the consent of the council and she also had to be with our younger brother and give birth to the biggest man whore to have ever lived. Also to the biggest man hater on Olympus, both who do not visit her and let her live alone on the island of Delos." Perseus said of the banished Titan. Hestia smiled at him, but her flaming eyes betrayed her, showing fear and sadness. But Perseus did not notice. Perseus turned back to her. "Why have you called me here sis, the council of gods does not meet until exactly three hours." He said matter of factly. Hestia rolled her eyes as if she was used to her older brothers antics. "I brought you here because¡­" She was cut of as the doors of Olympus blasted open, revealing the five younger children of Kronos and Rhea. All of them were dressed in full battle armor and held their symbols of power aloft. Perseus turned to Hestia, who was as pale as Hades usually was. Perseus stood from his throne as he looked at his siblings curiously. "What are you doing in full armor and why are your weapons out?" He asked curiously. The five let out a booming laugh and before he could react flames wrapped around his arms neck and legs and started to slowly lift him into the air. Perseus eyes'' widened in shock as he looked at Hestia, whose flaming eyes were full of tears and golden tears streaked down her cheeks. Zeus raised his master bolt and leveled it at Perseus'' ?h?st. "Your time as King and as n Olympian a part of this council has come to an end, brother." Zeus spat. Perseus looked at his siblings disbelievingly. "Why?" Perseus croaked. Before any could react, more flashes of light appeared in the Olympian throne room as Perseus hoped that they could save him. All hope drained from his heart as the other Olympians calmly sat down on their separate thrones and smirked at Perseus'' face. The only one who wasn''t smiling at the sight of Perseus being held prisoner by his siblings was Artemis. Perseus face full of shock turned back to his siblings. "Why?" He croaked as the flames wrapping around his neck slowly became tighter and tighter. "Because brother, we have had enough of everything is equal for everyone, we have had enough of you always outshining the rest of the council. Today we are handing you and Ultimatum. Either you back down and relinquish your role as King of the gods to me or you will be destroyed and I will become King anyway. Your choice, if you accept, you will remain a part of this pantheon and become a minor god, or if you refuse you will be destroyed by us and forgotten by all." Zeus growled. Perseus''s eyes widened as he looked around at the throne room and at his siblings. He saw that most could care less if he would die or not. "No," he growled. "I won''t allow you to become a tyrant, you like our father both crave and ?ust for power, the gods and goddesses you believe as minor deity'' are just as powerful as us and deserve and equal part in this pantheon." "No, they do not, we are major gods and Olympians, anyone else is beneath us and should follow our will without question because of it. Last chance, Perseus, back down or die." Poseidon yelled at his elder brother. Instead of answering he turned to Hestia. "How can you agree to this, sister? Is that the reason you brought me to Olympus, to have me dethroned and cast me asunder because I believe everyone is equal." Hestia in response said nothing but tears continued to stream down her face as she watched her older brother to writhe in pain and yell at her. Something her never did. When she didn''t answer, a lone tear rolled off of Perseus'' cheek and fell to the ground. "Then I must do this, I am sorry sister. My answer is NO." he yelled, before he exploded into dark purple and gold energy that lifted the thirteen other Olympians off their feet. Perseus fell to the ground without a sound and drew his beautiful sword. He raised his sword and the blade started glowing gold. Time stopped completely before all of a sudden the time freeze shattered and the Olympians climbed to their feet and raised their weapons at Perseus, who at the moment was completely ignoring them, instead her was staring at the sky his eyes were in disbelief. ''You will not escape your fate son of Kronos.'' Four voices mused in his head. Perseus immediately knew who these voices were. ''Yes we are who you think, Perseus. We are four of the most powerful Protogenoi. You will not escape. Your family will destroy you and they will helpless to stop us when we awaken from our deep slumber. Because you will not be there to save them, Olympus will fall." The voices crackled in his head. Perseus raised his hands but his powers wouldn''t work. The Protogenoi talking to him were using the only powers they had in their slumber to make sure he would lose to his family. Zeus laughed loudly. The energy ripped the room apart as this was the first time the six children of Kronos used their powers together. When the explosion died down, the room was in utter chaos and destruction. All the Olympians were blasted off their feet from the force of the power. But the worst was Perseus. He was slumped against the front of his throne as golden blood was splattered against the floor. Shadows wrapped around Perseus pinning him to the throne. He tried to take control of the shadows as deity of night, but one of the Primordial'' was cutting off his power. He struggled as water and fire merged with the shadows and formed tighter bonds on the King of Olympus. Zeus smirked evilly as he raised his master bolt, along with the other Olympians as they raised their weapons. The only two showing sadness and pain for Perseus were Artemis and Hestia. From every god, they each blasted a different colored blast of energy. The balls of energy merged again and instead of hitting his ?h?st and exploding, the ball of energy sank into his ?h?st and collided into his heart. The shockwave of power ripped Perseus apart from the inside out. His body exploded. When the explosion stopped Perseus was gone. In his place a pool of golden blood and his sword lying in the middle. His throne had disintegrated into rubble and fell into Perseus'' blood. Zeus smirked as he raised his hand and the blade of his older brothers shot into his hand. But once he touched it the blade started to burn. The blade glowing with such power as his arm started to disintegrate. He dropped the sword and screamed in agony. He summoned Hebe, who for some reason could hold the weapon, and told her to put it in display with top security on the weapon. Hebe, who was confused at why Perseus sword was not with him, but she did as her father asked. Zeus raised his hand and his throne and Hera''s throne appeared at the center of the throne room. While Hades and Hestia'' thrones disappeared. They turned to Zeus questionably but their brother''s bolt slammed into his ?h?st. Hades ?r??n?d and went to stand but water willed him in place. Hades eyes held betrayal and anger. "We offer you the same offer as Perseus, brother. If you do not accept, you will be destroyed as he was. Now choose, leave and be banished from Olympus'' halls or die." Hades agreed in pain and disappeared in the shadows after swearing on the River Styx to never return without will of the council. After dealing with Hades, Zeus turned to Hestia and snapped his fingers. Dionysus appeared next to her as a purple throne appeared at the end of the male''s section. "Olympus will now have twelve council members now, instead of fourteen, they will decide the choices for the whole Greek Pantheon of gods. Perseus will be erased from history and no mortal will ever remember his name. None of you will ever utter his name again, anywhere or you will incur my wrath. As for Hades, he will be getting the treatment Perseus would have gotten if he had accepted our offer. No one will visit him, he will be an outcast to all of us and the council will not give him permission to ever set foot on Olympus again. As for Hestia, my son Dionysus will take her place on the council or there will be war. Hestia your choice, war or you step down." Hestia nodded numbly; still crying over the fact her loving brother was dead. "I relinquish my role as an Olympian goddess and give it to Dionysus." She said before vanishing into flames. The Olympians looked at Zeus in shock as his master bolt vanished from his hands. "Now, we rejoice as the new era of Olympus begins. Since we are major gods, we have complete rule and word over everyone in the world and the rest of the Greek pantheon. The new era with me as King of Olympus." Zeus shouted as the other Olympians fell into a bow for their new king. "This meeting is over. My coronation will begin tomorrow." Zeus said before vanishing in a huge clap of thunder and lightning. Deep in the corners of Tartarus two males and females slept side by side in their prisons. The four beings were up and talking while they were asleep. The four were smirking at the events that took place in the throne room. "Just as we have planned, Zeus'' ?ust for power has taken their only means of survival of the ?h?st board. We will rule and take over the Earth once more. Those Olympians will not have any power as we utterly destroy Olympus and cast the world into chaos." One of them said excitedly. The other three nodded their heads in agreement. "Yes, Olympus will fall, but we still must follow the plan. My son Kronos will be the first to challenge the gods as they are weakened greatly without my eldest grandchild. Then we will rise from our slumber and not even our father can stop us from ruling, not even he can take four Primordial gods at once. " Chapter 105 - Percy Jackson Fan-fiction 8 - Lord Perseus Child of Rome Plot: A horrid act has left the Mother of Rome without options. She seeks solitude to deal with her growing problem. She finds an ally in the most unexpected source. Now the fate of Gods rest on her son''s shoulders. But will they accept help from a child of both Greece and Rome? Begins in ancient times but finishes in present. AU Percy a God. How will history differ? Pairing: Percy J., Zo? N. Prologue: Birth of a Savior 3rd Person POV: Deep in the woods of the Roman empire, a large wolf sprinted further and further into the wilderness trying to find a cave or clearing where she could deal with the golden glow emitting from her stomach. Eventually the pain became too intense and she settled herself beside a tall tree. The wolf began to glow with a blinding light until in the place of the wolf stood a beautiful woman with noticeably large canine teeth whenever her mouth opened. With no experience of her own she did not know what she should be doing and prayed for a miracle to save her from the misery of her first childbirth. While she had raised many children of Rome such as Romulus and Remus she has never dealt with childbirth, especially not the birth of a godling. As she waited a wall of darkness appeared and out stepped a man around 6 ft 6 with pitch black eyes that seemed to radiate intense power. As the man approached her, her vision became blurry and she could feel herself losing consciousness. Before the darkness overtook her, the man knelt beside her and said, "Relax mother of Rome, I am her to help ease you of the burden inflicted on you". When the wolf goddess awoke she found herself in a pure white room with no memory of how she got there. She began to worry what had become of her child and the man who showed up claiming to be there to help her. As if hearing her unasked question, the man stepped into the room through a door that she swore had not been there a moment ago. In his arms, wrapped in a blanket was a small young baby boy with jet black hair, red eyes and familiar large canines protruding just b?r?ly out of his small infant mouth. The man walked near the bed, snapped his fingers and produced a chair where he sat down with the infant still cradled in his arms. "I know what has brought you here and this child into the world", the man said. "I know what that bastard war god did to you and for that I am sorry." The Goddess Lupa began to feel tears welling up in her eyes but quickly regained her composure like a true Roman and steeled her nerves enough to ask the question she thought she knew the answer to but had to be sure. "Who are you?" She asked with conviction in her voice but also apprehension as she knew if this is who she thought it was this man could wipe out an entire galaxy with a snap of his fingers. "Why I believe your know the answer to that Lupa, I am Chaos the creator, the first primordial. As for your next question, I am here to help you and your son but first I must ask you, what it is you want to do with your child?" Chaos asked in a kind tone but laced with curiosity about her thoughts on the child. "I do not blame the child for what happened to me, despite him being the son of that bastard war god; he is still my child, my only child, my own flesh and blood. I would raise the child but I do not think it is possible. If Jupiter or the other Olympians found out about him they would most likely try to kill him before he could be a threat. The child will not be able to find a place in this world. He will be an outcast, he will not be accepted in Rome as he is half Greek, and the Greeks will not accept a child of Rome into their world either." Lupa stated with worry in her eyes. "The bastard did not even have the decency to ?ssault me in his Roman form, he chose to **** me as Ares as if to add insult to the injury he inflicted on me." "No. I have avoided him and the other Gods and Goddesses the last few months to ensure they did not notice a change in my aura that could tip him off to the pregnancy." Lupa replied. Chaos was silent for several minutes as he seemed to be thinking over the best route to take concerning the child. "If you wish it, I will raise the child here, in the void, as if he were my own." He said as he looked at Lupa to see her reaction. "So I will never see my child again?" Lupa asked with worry in her voice. "That is up to you my dear Goddess. I can give you a way to contact me which will allow you to visit him here or I can use my powers to hide him from other gods and allow him to come to earth the visit you for short periods to time when he is older. I do not wish to take your child from you but as you know he is a God. A very powerful one at that as he is the first child of the mother of Rome and the first child of the Greek Olympian God of War. I will teach him about his powers and abilities as I raise him but he will also gain more powers and abilities from my blessing. I would also like to adopt him as my son and make him a true son of the creator. I will not hide his origins from him either. When he is old enough I will explain to him the facts surrounding his creation that led him to my care." Chaos replied. "I must tell you that eventually he will return to earth as I have foreseen a day far in the future when the survival of the Gods will depend on him. That day is still far into the future but when it comes he will be the only hope for the survival of Olympus." Chaos said looking deep into Lupa''s golden eyes for her reaction to his proposal. "I see no other option for my son''s survival. I will be forever in your debt Lord Chaos." The wolf goddess replied sadly as she looked at her son. "You owe me nothing, I am more than happy to help a true hearted goddess like yourself. I will make sure no one learns that you are no longer a maiden so as to be sure you are not cast out of your home." Chaos kindly responded. "Now what would you like to name your son?" Chaos asked. "Perseus." Lupa replied looking deep into her son''s eyes, which she could not help but notice were so much like her rapists; which brought anger and fury into her heart but despite the reminder of the child''s father, she looked at her son with a combination of love and sadness. Love for her only child and sadness for the fact she cannot raise him herself. "He will need luck on his side just like the Greek hero Perseus had, for his return to earth." Chaos handed the baby to Lupa who smiled a fanged smile at the baby boy in her arms. "I thought it would be better if the child had no physical reminder of the war god." Chaos stated as he looked at the happy face of the wolf goddess as she looked at her son. "Thank your Lord Chaos. Thank you for everything you have done for us." Lupa said. "It was my p???sur? as I now have a new son of my own as well." Chaos replied with a smile. Chapter 106 - Star Wars Fan-fiction 4 - Skywalker: A Fanon Story Plot: Self insert into Anakin Skywalker''s body. Raising himself to be someone worthy as the title of ''Chosen'' to be a Jedi seems too Rigid, a Sith too selfish. War over idelogies was too stupid a reason to die...war for power to vain. M for safety concerns. Pairing: Unknown NOTE: Ongoing fanfic, same author as The Spider. Please note that there is only 2 chapters uploaded. The Chosen One "Ani! Ani!" I hate that name. I looked up, she smiled down at me. I couldn''t help but sigh and smile back, "yes mother?" Shmi Skywalker ?r??n?d, "Ani...did I do something? Are you upset with me?" I blinked, "no! Of course not!" "Then why don''t you call me mom anymore?" Shmi asked, obviously hurt. I sighed, "I...I just thought since I''m older now I should probably stop talking like a child," I gulped, praying she believed me. She ?r??n?d, "well...you know you don''t have to grow up that quickly yes? You can still be kid Ani..." "Well..be careful today, you understand me my big strong man?" Shmi smiled as she ruffled my hair and checked the backpack I carried, "I''m sure Watto has a lot of work for you today, so remember to stay hydrated, do you understand? And remember-" A flash of memories came through my head, memories of Anakin''s life before I came into his body. "-Don''t talk to strangers, yes mother, I know," the memories told me so. They also told me what Shmi would do next. She leaned forward and placed a sloppy kiss on my cheek, I flinched a little, the physical contact feeling odd, "please don''t''...you''re embarrassing me." "Well tough," Shmi grinned like a cat as she ruffled my hair once more, "now go on. And be careful!" "Right...bye," I waved at her and walked away, pulling my backpack closer as I made my was to...what''s his name again? The flying bug thing? Blue...smells funny...oh right! Watto! That''s his name! My memory of the movies came sparingly but my memories of Anakin Skywalker''s life...well, that was far more prominent. I woke up in this...form, a few days ago. Apparently ''Ani'' had a high fever, caused by overworking. But as Anki went in...I came out. I honestly don''t remember much of my own life, whatever did...this, caused my own personal memories to be jumbled. It took me a day to understand this wasn''t my normal body, another to realise just whose body I was in. I was...well, I was shit scared. I made my way to the dusty town I was living in, it was apparently actually a city called Mos Espa, but anything this small and shitty can''t qualify for a city ranking. At least in my books. I made my way through the market of the main city and moved to the edge, where I approached a large junkyard that was both amazing and terrifying at the same time. Amazing because off all the spaceship parts just lying around, horrifying because of who those parts belonged to. "Hey! Ani! You are late!" the mocking voice of Watto my¡­.employer called out. I looked up at him with narrowed eyes, the bug flew out of small workshop at the front of the junkyard, his form matching his smell, both disgusting. "Sorry...I was still feeling a little down," I replied. Smack! I felt his slap sting my cheek, it had hit me hard enough to send me back. I looked back up and glared, "what? You going to do something?!" the bug asked, laughing as he did. Of course...I could do nothing. Thought I wanted too. I so wanted too. I wouldn''t usually react so..poorly, but right now I was in the body of a seven year old child...a child. And his slave master just struck him. If I was older, in another body and saw this situation happening again...I doubt the bug would be alive. "Get up!" Watto cried as he buzzed around, the stench alone enough to force me to my feet, "get inside and start working! I got some new power converters that you have to fix up! Do it before lunch, or no lunch!" I placed my bag on the table and got on top of a stool and looked down at the machinery before me. I gulped, they all looked so...complex. I don''t even think I ever saw a machine come in that form. I was hesitant to even touch these things, but before I could even think I was hit up the head, hard. "What are you waiting for?! Get to work!" Watto cried out as he flew overhead, "I lost three good days without you! I won''t have a waste of space here! Work or get out!" I glared at the bug. Did people honestly think he was a representation of jewish people? I know jewish people, they might like investing and being careful with money, but they were never ever cruel to me! Wait...I remembered something! I blinked as I realised the new memories flowing into my head were more pictures and recollections than actual memories. It was like seeing a picture of a painting or a movie. Bauge but...still there. I think I remember seeing a jewish person before but...I don''t remember who. "Ani! Work!" Watto cried out as he threw something at my head again. This time though, I knew it was coming, ducking to the side to avoid the coupling that he threw at my head. Honestly, so predictable. I sighed as I turned back and glared at the bug, who was already outside, drinking something vile looking out of his cantin. God how I hated him. He seemed to have noticed me staring as he turned and glared, "what are you looking at!?" I turned away, the anger still present. I sighed and slowly let it go, it was obviously not important. For now...I need to figure out how in hell I''m going to fix these...power converts was it? What the hell was that? One moment I was totally confused,the next I knew exactly what I was holding and what to do to fix it. Did I...not just get Anakin Skywalker''s memories but also his knowledge? Anakin Skywalker was an engineering genius, he was...he built a robot from scratch, could I do the same? "Ani!" This time, I felt the hand coming to slap me. I didn''t know how, but I knew it was coming for me...like a third person view of behind my head. And so I ducked, avoidin his fists. I tuned, Watton was stunned and slowly my eyes winded, "shit!" "You brat!" he slapped me this time, hard enough to knock me off the stool. He flew down and spat on my clothes, "filth! This''ll teach you to try and fool your master! Get back to work! And I swear if I see you slacking off again, I''ll blow your head off!" He flew away, grumbling under his breath. I pulled myself up, fear of the threat lingering. I was his property, he could do that. But...but...what was that? The first time he threw something at me, I heard him grunt before he threw it, I knew he would try something and I heard the heavy machine fly threw the air. But now? Now it was just pure instinct...or rather...oh my god. Anakin Skywalker...the Force! The fu?k?n? Force! I have the Force! "Right! Right!" I called back, returning to the work at hand, grabbing the tools needed to fix the stupid junk on my desk for Waldo. But as I did, I realised something. This world I was in...it was just a part of a galaxy...a galaxy far far away and a long time ago. Sith, jedi, lightsabers! Holy hells please tell me this isn''t a dream! Though from the pain in my cheek, it wasn''t. I watched Gatto from the corner of my eye and saw him walk around trying to gain customers and failing. Obviously, nobody liked him, and for good reason. According to Anakin''s memories he was rude to people, greedy and very very lazy. Anakin did all the work...no wonder he said they couldn''t work while I was out sick, he literally couldn''t. He was a drunk and a gambler, a bug and scum of the worst kind. And a slaver. I need to get out from his grasp. I need to be free. And...I suppose Shmi as well. I can''t just let that poor woman continue to be a slave. I can''t imagine why Anakin ever left his mother the first time around, what a brat! But then again, he was just that, a child. He was so impressionable, he wanted to be a jedi, one of the legendary jedi. He wanted to be a hero to protect his mother, not realising he had to give her up in the process. I didn''t want either of those things¡­.I guess...I just want to be free...yeah...free. I looked at Watto, until I could figure a way to be free, I would be stuck with him. So for now, I''ll be quite, focus on the damn stupid power converters. So I did just that, looking down at the machine before me and trying to focus. What even was this? And I began to work. Almost tirelessly I worked with my tiny little hands, trying to figure out how to go about this the right way. It was difficult, this body was only 7 years old, but I think...I think I was managing it. It took me four hours, I''m guessing, to finish them all up. By then I was hungry, beyond hungry. I had stayed rooted in one spot and worked, actually...going into a sort of trance as I did. I smiled, was this the Force? Was it really that simple to access it? Honestly it made me excited, the Force. Damn, what an amazing thing! I doubt I actually used the Force consciously right now, I mean, wasn''t the deal that you had to meditate or something? Either Way, I was done, meaning I could finally get something to eat. I walked up to Watto, who by now, since it was mid day, had taken to sleeping away in a corner, cuddled up into a ball. "Hey Waldo, I''m going for lunch," I told him in a soft tone. "W-what?" he blinked away his sleepiness and looked around, spotting me and immediately glaring, "what are you doing?! I told you, no food until you fix those stupid converters!'' "They are fixed," I pointed at the machines on my table, now looking cleaner and looking far more efficient, "now, can I eat?" The bug scoffed, "fixed? Already? Don''t lie to me Ani, I know it would take at least a day to fix these model, these droid converter are tricky things," he flew over and checked them out, "why I myself would have taken-what?!" His eyes widened as he examined the fixed devices, turning back to me and then the machines. He took them apart and checked the insides, looking shocked that they were actually fixed. "H-how?!" I shrugged, "I''m just that good. Anyway, can I eat now? I''m starving," and I was. I wonder, if I go around will I see a cantina? Oh! That would be so exciting to see! A real hive of scum and villainy! "Eh-I...no!" Watto suddenly cried out. I blinked, "what? Why not?" "Ah-a new order just came in! Very special! I need you to look into them and fix them quickly. Only you can do ti Ani, they require your special skills!" Watto took out a box of junk and placed it on my table, smiling a greedy little smile. I raised an eyebrow and looked into the box, it was filled with...junk...just junk. Some of these would never work...unless I made them work. There is potential here, don''t'' get me wrong. But they just seem too much of a hassle. "This is a special order?" I asked, my disbelief clearly shown. "Oh yes! Yes it is! And they asked especially for you! Now doesn''t that make you feel special Ani?!" I blinked, was he seriously trying to trick me with such a stupid lie. I opened my mouth to object, but before I could say a thing, Watto grabbed the power converts I fixed up and flew out of the junk shop. "If you don''t fix everything inside that box by the time I come back, you can''t have lunch!" he took out a remote and pressed a bu??on, causing the grill gates on the shop''s windows and door to come down, lokcing me inside. "Hey! You can''t do this!" I cried out slamming against the door with my foot, "let me out!" "Work hard Ani!" Watto cried out as he laughed, flying away on those beady little wings of his. I growled as I slammed the gate a few more times to no avail. I sighed and turned around, sitting down on the desk and looking at the box before me. I didn''t have a choice...it was do or die. So I pushed my hunger down, something Anakin''s body was used to do, and pushed ahead. I unloaded the box and looked inside. Junk, junk, junk...interesting junk¡­.junk and...oh, what''s this? I sighed how did he expect me to fix all these? I sighed and pushed the box away and sighed at the junk before me, leaning back and staring off into the distant, bored outta my mind. Anakin Skywalker...I was Darth Vader...or rather the man he as before he fell to the dark side. Would Sidious try and turn me? Would it work? A jedi...Obi-Wan...Padme Amidala...woah¡­.I might get to fu?k Natalie Portman! But as I let my mind wander to the amazing world I was now a part off, I grew curious. The Force...could I even use it? I looked down at the junk before me and grew curious. I had done this little trick so many times in my old life. Tried to pull the remote from across the room by holding out my hand and focusing. This time...would it actually work? I held out my hand towards a cylindrical piece of junk. I think it was some kind of lever, btu if one used a bit of childish imagination, they could imagine it as the handle of a lightsaber. I focused, narrowing my eyes and the d?s?r? for the object filled my thoughts. ''Come on...come on...come to me...'' And then, it shock. I was so shocked I jumped off my seat and approached it. I observed it carefully, I looked at every single inch of the thrown out object, it had moved just an inch. Growing boldend and filled with a look of awe I stepped back and stood feet apart, my entire focus on the object. I held out my hand. I focused, I did nothing else, my breathing being the only distraction. And then...it happened. It flew off the table and immediately my fingers closed around it as I rested in my hand. Immediately I took a step back and held it with both hand, the thought of a blue blade spouting off the end filled my mind as I smiled. ''I have the Force¡­.holy shit, I have the Force!'' my smiled would have seemed almost manicaish to anyone else. Thank God I was alone. I needed to see more of this, I needed to do it again. I immediately placed the cylinder on the table and stepped back, further this time. I held my hand otu, the object rolled off the table, neared the edge before suddenly zooming out into my hand. The next time it didn''t even move. I was confused why, I did all the same things But then I quickly realised why, I wasn''t focusing, I was distracted. I needed to focus. So I closed my eyes and tried again, this time, it flew. One time it landed on the ground and I had to pull it up with the force alone. Then another time it began to hop around, moving kettle over bell before it flew into my hand. I lost track of time, I was just so enchanted by the mere process of the rod moving into my hand. Slowly, I began to feel something, something small, in the back of my head, a small pull. A small...something. I think it was the Force...no, I know it''s the Force. A small sensation that obeyed me, but like a cat, stubborn, resilient. I had to push it to work for me, the longer or stronger my request was, the better it worked. And then, after probably the hundredth time I did so, I looked at the rod and wondered, could I do the opposite? A Force Push I think it was called...Hm...I looked at the rode, put my hand up and held the rod with the tips of my fingers. I focused on the object, and closed my eyes. The feeling of being pulled, I reserved it. It was difficult, but I think I could do it, it was like reading a word backwards, it started out slowly at first, but the more I repeated, the easier it came until- KRASH! My eyes flew open as I saw the rod had flown out of my hand and into the wall, sticking out like a broken support beam in the structure. I gulped, of God¡­ THAT WAS SO AMAZING! I held out my hand and begged the rod to come back, and slowly it began to wiggle. ''Move...'' I whispered, ''come on...move...move...MOVE~'' It shook and suddenly it came into my hand, pulling the wall apart. It slammed into my hand and I failed to catch it. It fell to the ground, I grunted in pain, stupid thing. I picked it up and rubbed my hand. Maybe next time I should be more gentle. An hour later: I held the rod in mid air, my hands wide apart as it slowly spun around an imaginary axis, slightly tilted to the right. I was sweating hard, it was...difficult, pushing and pulling it at the same time. I think I was doing something wrong, it shouldn''t be this hard...should it? Anakin''s is supposed to be the strongest Force user in the history of the Jedi and Sith¡­.was it because of me? Is it because I''m not really Anakin? Because I''m someone else? Groan! I chuckled, my stomach was rumbling, I looked out the window, it was already night time. The whole day went by and I was hungry but...I think Anakin''s body was used to hunger, it didn''t hurt that badly. But I was hungry, still hungry. I sighed, closing my eyes to push away the hunger and suddenly I heard the sound of metal hitting the floor. I ?r??n?d, the rod had fallen down. I sighed and picked it up and looked it over. This whole thing...it was a difficult process but...I think it''s just a steep learning curve I have to worry about, nothing else. I smiled, a jedi huh...I think that might be a pretty decent future. Bang! The door flew open as Watoo flew in carrying a box of what looked like another set of power converters. "Ani! We got another order, you have-" he stopped abruptly as his beady eyes landed on the hole I had accidentally made in the wall with the first time I pushed the rod away. "What did you do!?" Watto dropped the box and turned to me, fury in his eyes. "You stupid child! I leave you in here for a few hours and you do this to my shop!?" "I-I, it was an accident," I gulped. I was so focused with my new power that I didn''t realise what I had done. The amazement of being able to move something with my mind it distracted me from the thoughts of what I actually did. "You stupid boy!" he cried out as suddenly a flash of pain was felt across my face. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, my cheeks in pain. He had hit me, hard. "You think you''re special because you are good with machines?!" he grabbed the rod I was playing with and brought it down, hard. The dull sound of flesh being beaten rang out over and over again. I curled into a ball, holding my head, trying to protect any vital parts. "You forget that I''m your master boy! I own you and your whore mother!" again and again the hits came until after what felt like an eternity they stopped. He threw it away, I heard his disgusting voice pant as he flew over me. "You will learn to treat my property with the respect it deserves boy," he spat, the liquid staningin my head, I could feel it seep into my hair, it felt disgusting. He flew away, I peeked from behind my hands and saw him sit down on his seat and pant. "You''re disgusting," he growled as he took out a glass pipe of some kind. He took a deep breath of the vapour inside and puffed it out, "you know...I think I should teach your mother a lesson too. Just so that I know you will learn." And then, images and memories from the deepest parts of Anakin''s memories resurfaced. The child that had this body didn''t understand the noises he heard from his mother''s room at night. He didn''t understand the sly smile Watto would always send his mother wasn''t of contempt, but ?ust. Shmi Skywalker gave up so much for her son. Anakin must have suppressed these memories, or he just didn''t realise what they meant. But i did. Oh...I did. I was on my feet before I realised I was moving. Watto noticed me move and raised an eyebrow, "hm? What boy? You want more?" I hated him, I hate him, I hate him. She wasn''t my mother, I knew that, a part of my brain understood that perfectly. But fu?k that, and fu?k Watto. A woman was being rapped by this thing before me, it had to go. I wanted him dead, I raised a hand, I''ll crush his head, I''ll break it apart. I focused on the idea of pushing him back, of making him suffer. "What are you doing you stupid boy?" Watto grumbled, "did you become retarded?" And I pushed, but what came out wasn''t a force of will. Using the Force was like pushing a water out of a pipe, the harder you pushed, the stronger it came. But if you push it hard enough, if you pushed your emotions into it, it came out¡­.twisted. Instead of a wall of telekinetic energy, I pushed out a stream of electricity. I came out like a blaster bolt, so quick I didn''t realise what had happened until it had already struck Watto. "ARGH!" the bug started to scream in pain as he fell down his seat and land head first into the ground. Every second he screamed, memories of Anakin''s mothers being abused by this monster came into my head. He made her suffer, he made her bleed. And she took it all, and she smiled, just to make sure Anakin grew up with a loving mother and not a hateful shrew. She was a good person, and he was not. So I made up my mind, the scales of justice were broken, I would fix them. And I would begin with this monster before me. While at first I was afraid of the idea of using such a dark abblity, now, I didn''t care. Killing him would be too quick, letting him go would mean justice would not be served. But this, the pain...oh the pain was just. I focused on my focus on him, I gave him everything I had, the anger, the fury of being helpless, everything. And he screamed. The lightning that I threw out grew to a slowly pale colour, from dark blue to a almost teal colour. And as I kept the pain up, my brain started to struggle to give reasons to keep the anger alive. Hadn''t he suffered enough? Hadn''t...hadn''t I done enough? No...I haven''t¡­.he needs to understand pain, he needs to understand that the people he hurts have feelings too. My heart became lighter, the anger going away, but the d?s?r? for justice remained. And slowly, with my change of heart, the lighting too began to change. It grew from a teal shade to a bright yellow. The pain filled screams were muffled now, he didn''t feel as much hurt as before, but I could see it still hurt him. The lighting covered his body like a cloak. Sparks flew as the lightning hit the ground, it burnt his skin thought, hurting him badly. And then, it struck the pipe he was smoking. Anakin''s mind quickly understood what will happen, the lightning would have ignited the systems inside, causing it to explode. I was going to stop before that happened, but I slowly realised something, he hasn''t suffered enough. I kept at it, now focusing almost all energy at the pipe and then suddenly. BOOM! The sound was deafening, and immediately the flames came onto Watto''s body. "KRAA!" the screams were loud and pathetic. I watched as his body spasmed, the lightning hurting him and the flames burning him. I watched him burn, I looked around, the junkyard was huge, this workshop was in the middle of it. No one will hear him scream and even if they did¡­.who the fu?k would care about this scum? "HELP! HELP ME!" he began to scream. I watched him cry out in pain. I sighed, he suffered enough. I walked to the far wall where he kept a quick freeze spray, basically a quick acting and powerful fire extinguisher. I took my time, taking it off the wall and pointing it at him. I released the spay and immediately the scream were muffled. I threw the empty can away and watched his withering burnt form on the ground. His bac was burnt, his wings were nothing. His skin leaked an unholy mixture of blood and the aroma of burnt flesh. And then, the panic set in. What was I thinking? I was dead. If people heard a slave tried to burn his master alive¡­.oh God...the bomb. Anakin''s memories came in now, the memory which told me why slaves were so obedient. Each of them had a implant in their neck that their owners can use to blow their heads off their body. Like a galactic version of Suicide Squad. And I just tried to kill mine. I can''t kill him, no...I won''t kill him. He should suffer with that burnt and whole body. But...if he recovered, he would kill Shmi and I without regret. I need to find the remote, I closed my eyes and focused, the memory came quickly. The device was a remote, it was small, around the size of my fist. I ran to Watto''s body and searched through his pockets, pushing away the burnt clothes and trying to control my vomit from touching his burnt skin. In the satchel pocket on his ?h?st, I found it. I ripped it out, he ?r??n?d, trying to reach and grab it. Hm, I may have underestimated him, in so much pain, and yet he tried to get revenge. No wonder jedi mind tricks don''t work on him. Watto never hide it, he always waved it around like a magic wand to intimidate Ani to work and...I think forcing Shmi to service him. He knew Anakin, the seven year old child would never even think of stealing it. But not me. I sat down on my table and looked it over. It took me seconds to figure out how it worked. The personal slave codes of Shmi and myself were imputed inside, I opened the back and searched through the scraps of junk around the room, finding a powerful magnetic coil. I placed the coil on the now exposed motherboard of the remote and connected a small battery to supercharge a magnet. I stepped back and watched as suddenly, the remote began to spark, frying out. I smiled, the personal slave code could not be copied or replicated in any form. It was only ever found in the remote of the slaver, hence it was impossible for some other slaver to steal your slave away. That''s why smart slavers never displayed their remote to their slaves, but Watto was anything but smart. I threw the now useless remote aside and walked to Watto''s body, he looked up at me and I squatted down before him, my eyes meeting his. "The remote is gone," his eyes widened, "I see you know what that means...tell me Watto...if you were me, and your mother was defiled by a pathetic insect¡­.what would you do?" "Kam," he whizzed, his throat had been burnt, his voice box had been hurt, badly. His eyes were tearing up, "my-mercy." I smiled, it must have hurt him so much to say that. Both physically and to his person. I couldn''t help chuckle, "mercy? From the boy whose mother you r?p?d? Isn''t that a little too much? I won''t spare you...you will die. But..." my brain began to spin, coming up with an idea that made me smile like a mad man, "depending on what you give me...I can make it easy or," I pushed the Force out in the familiar feeling I came to ?ssociate with justice, sparks flew out between my fingers, yellow lightning arced through my fingers. "A-anything," he croaked. I smiled, "everything," I looked around, "I want all of this. When you die...I want to be free. Give me everything, or you will spend the rest of your life screaming in pain." He nodded, "yes," he looked around, his eyes landed on a metal safe in the corner of the room, I immediately knew what he was thinking. Anakin remembered Watto bragging about owning this junkyard, how he won it from a gambling match a long time ago. Ani was so curious and eager, Watto had shown him the deed to the entire place, he kept it locked away in the safe. I walked over and looked over the safe, it was locked with a digital pad up front. I turned, "code." "222," he croaked, gasping out, "321." I inputted the code and inside I found several expensive objects, thousands of credits, both lactic and basic and the deed for several things. I brought them all to Watto and placed them before him. He struggled to type on the deed, his fingers leaving bloody prints on the tad and he worked on changing the deed to the shop. He gave up ownership and pushed it to me. I reached down and inputted my fingerprints onto the deed''s main screen and in minutes my entire bio data was inputted. Every single thing Watto owned was now mine. "Please," he grunted. I looked down at him and smiled. I took the several deeds and put it back in the safe, "you kept your promise...and I suppose I should keep mine," I wanted to torture him some more, break my promise and make him hurt. But...my heart wasn''t in it. I wasn''t fu?k?n? evil...I was just me. I moved to the safe and grabbed a blaster that Watto kept for self defense. I aimed it at his head and without a word fired at him. The sound was deafening, and then silence. I was alone, his wheezing had stopped...the only thing that remained was Waldo''s burnt body which had a giant hole in its head. The blaster fell to my side, I looked down and for several seconds I just looked at the body bleeding out onto the floor of the workshop. I had killed someone...and I don''t know which is worse, wanting to make him suffer some more or killing him at all. Was I evil now? I used Sith Lightning, that means I was evil right? No matter what colour it was...was I evil? And I realised something...I didn''t honestly care. Shmi was being rapped by this creature, Anakin was being slapped around, he deserved death in the worst ways possible. So what if the jedi hated me for it? Did they ever solve slavery in this world? Did they ever care? Damn them, they can''t judge me, they had no right. And damn the sith, those selfish bastards would destroy the world for their own petty reasons. Fucking fools the both of them. When I woke up in this body...I wanted to be a jedi, I won''t'' lie. I wanted to be Anakin Skywalker and kill Sidious and be a hero. But I''m not a fu?k?n? jedi, I can''t just push away my own emotions, I can''t...and I''m not selfish enough to be a Sith. I''m...I am me. Let the chips fall they may, for now, I need to focus what I see before me right now. And right now I see a dead bug on the floor of my workshop. Tatonnie was filled with scum, they wouldn''t care what happened to a dead man, but I would need to play it safe. I focused on his body and lifted the thing into the air. It was lighter than I thought, I was able to easily pulled it towards the junkyard where I found an incinerator, the kind we used to melt down old metal to reuse it for new projects. And now, I would be using it on him. I tossed him inside and watched him burn. No screams, no yells. Just the burning smell of his flesh turned into ash. In the end, nothing remained and I was alone. I went back to the junkyard, I grabbed a bag and put the deeds for all of my properties into it. I strapped the blaster to my side and walked out into the dark streets of the rural city. I gripped my bag, my eyes darting to every which corner to make sure no one knew what I carried. I spotted a few rough looking green...fish...what are they? Wait...Rodians, Anakin''s memories helped me fill in the name. Damn those things look weird. I managed to make my way back to the slave quarters of the city, the place where only the slaves lived. Without knocking, I walked in. "Ani? You''re just in time honey! I made some fresh macare soup for you!" My stomach growled, I was hungry. But right now...now I couldn''t eat. I walked into the dining room, which was the same as the living room and the half of the kitchen. And there was Shmi setting up a small dinner for the two of us, a smile on her face the moment she saw her son. "Ani, did you work hard today? Did you...Ani...where did you get that blaster?" Shmi''s eyes widened as she spotted the comically large blaster on attached to my small hip. "I took it from Watto''s safe," I told her as I unstrapped it and placed it on a chair, "that''s also where I found these," I took off the bag and placed it on the table, opening it up to allow the deeds for everything Watto owned to come pouring out. Shmi''s eyes widened, "Ani! What have you done?! If Watto found out you did this he''ll kill you! You have to go back and put away! Quickly! Before he-" "-He won''t notice," I shot back, "he won''t care." Shmi''s face turned from shock and fear to confusion. "Anakin...what do you mean?" "He hurt you mom," the word no longer foreign to my tongue, after all I had killed for this woman, "he hurt you and said he would do so again...so I made sure he won''t hurt anyone ever again." Shmi gasped, "Anakin...what did you do?" "I killed him," I replied, cold, emotionless. I slowly poured my heart out, "but not before freeing us from his control, destroying his remote and then transferring every single thing he owned into my control. And then, I fired a blaster bolt between his eyes and burnt his body..." I looked down and away. She probably hates me...I would hate me. I turned her son into a killer at the age of 7, not even Sidious can claim that achievement. I could probably run...those credits Watto has, it should be enough to get me to Coruscant, to the jedi. I''ll warn them and then...and then...what do I do? But as I made my plans to run away and hide, crying for meaning in this confusing world, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. "Oh Ani...my sweet Ani," she whispered into my ear, "you didn''t have to do that...my brave boy." "Y-you don''t hate me?" I asked in total shock. "Anakin, I can never hate you," she replied as slowly I released all my fears and hate. I cried into her arms as she held me tight. I think I cried myself to sleep, Shmi tucking me into bed. But as I slept that night, I didn''t feel alone. I felt connected, like something was out there, calling out to me, comforting me. The Force was with me. Always. The next day Shmi came to Wato''s-I mean, my junkyard and examined everything. "I''m surprised he is actually gone," he picked up the broken slave remote, "and we''re¡­ free¡­ finally," tears in her eyes flew freely as she wiped them away. "Are you okay?" I asked her in concern. Shmi nodded, "I am now Ani," she threw the remote into the trash as we both sat down next to each other, "now, show me what you got from Watto." I nodded as I took the data pads out and laid them out before her. "The deed to the shop," she looked through them all, "his house in the Frekaree district," it was a well to do area just West of here, not a palace, but better then where we live right now, "the deed to our home, the deed to some sort of ship and a debt collection deed from...Nato Kryze?!" I blinked, I went through Ani''s memories but couldn''t recall the name, "who is he?" "A local crime boss..." Shmi''s hands were shaking, "that must be why Watto never got into any trouble for his trades. He must be holding this over him." "How much money?" I asked her. "A hundred thousand credits, and if he knew what happened to Watto...he would celebrate. And then I suspect, kill us to prevent paying the debt back. We have to make it seem like Watto is still alive, at least long enough to prevent Nato from killing us." I ?r??n?d, "I could say Watto''s gone off planet but...I doubt people will believe me." Shmi turned to me and nodded, "yes...oh what do we do?" I ?r??n?d as I looked at the deed, the name, the amount...hm, I got an idea. "Mom," she turned to me, "do you trust me?" Without wasting a second she nodded, "with my life." "Then I have an idea...but you might not like it." An hour later: "You''re right, I don''t like it," Shmi and I were dressed in robes as we managed to sneak into Nato''s cantina. It took twenty credits to bribe the gaurd to let us in, but now we were. The cantina were filled with so many shifty looking people, each at one point or another gave us a look of curiosity and observation. Shmi shifted uncomfortably form some of the looks, I could tell she found them unnerving. Her hands palmned the blaster strapped to her side, since she was a better shot, she got to use it. Not that I would need a weapon, I had the Force after all...I hope. We looked around and got a drink, two glasses of blue milk. We looked around and Shmi spoke first, "there," we looked over and there was the man we were searching for. He was human at least, wearing a brown overcoat honeycomb like armour plates underneath his coat. His hair was cut short into a mohawk and he had a scar running down his right eye. He was old, maybe older than Shmi, greying hair and many lines running along his face. He threw back his head and laughed, the people around him joined him, laughing happily. He had a green skinned reptile like woman in one arm, the woman ???k?n? her lips in excitement...I think. God this is so weird. "How do you know it''s him?" I asked her. She motioned to his armour, "Nato is a mandalorian, it can''t be anyone else. Stay here And, I''ll be right back." "But-" "-Stay," she then left without another word, carefully approaching the group of thugs and mercenaries. I grew panicky...should I just let her go? She''s an ?du?t, she should know the risks¡­.fuck it, that woman is my mother, it''ll be a cold day in hell before I let her just go in there alone. But I need a weapon. Maybe I can use the lighting as a last minute thing but I need a proper weapon. I looked around and found several people in here with weapons, it was a cantina after all. I scouted the area and then landed on a large green skinned...something...God, not even Anakin''s memories knew what that thing was. But whatever it was it was big and had a blaster on it''s side. It was facing away from me and I saw it''s holster had a simple bu??on to keep it''s blaster at bay. I had a chance, I needed to take it. I focused on the latch for the holster, closed my eyes and pulled with the Force. It came off immediately, bearly a sound made. I smiled, I was getting better at this. I waited for a moment, to make sure the green thing didn''t notice it''s holster was unlocked now. I looked over Shmi had made it to Nato''s table and was talking to the man, showing him the deed she had. Nato ?r??n?d, motioned for his thugs to grab it, pulling it out of Shmi''s hands. I growled, bastard. I turned and pulled the green thing''s blaster out of the holster with the Force. It flew into my hand and thanks to the practise I did yesterday, it didn''t hurt when I grabbed the speeding object. I got off my seat and moved, carefully hiding the blaster as I did. The group of thugs laughed out loud suddenly, Shmi flinching back, I suspect she tried to do something they found amusing. I approached them and hide behind a pillar, balster at the ready. I listened and heard Nato''s voice ringing out clearly. "So you''re telling me, you''re willing to give up a hundred thousand credits just so that I don''t try and pull something with you? Are you stupid?" Nato laughed. "I-I just don''t want any trouble," Shmi replied weakly. "What happened to Watto?" a fat looking slob of an alien with a trunk for a nose asked, "did you kill him?" "Y-yes," she replied. "Really?" Nato''s voice sounded suspicious, "you don''t look like you have the stones¡­." "I did...he threatened my son," she whispered. "I see...well...I wish I could help you Shmi dear, but you see, you''re a slave," he sighed as he stood up, I grew tense and from the way everyone''s attention fell on Nato, I suspect they all knew something was going on. "I''m no longer a slave," Shmi argued, "Watto''s remote is gone." "Maybe...but you see if I let one slave get away with killing her master, that might give the others the same idea," he motioned to his guards who immediately grabbed Shmi, "so I''m sorry my dear, but I can''t let you leave here alive." "No! Please!" two brutish men grabbed Shmi and held her down as Nato took out a blaster. In that moment, rage took over me. I turned to two chairs in the cantina, they were occupied, but I didn''t care. I reached out with the Force and pulled it, the emotional request didn''t seem to take any time to fulfill as suddenly the two chairs, along with the people on them, flew threw the air. The guards holding Shmi were knocked down and the woman fell on her back in surprise. "Who did that?!" Nato cried out as he drew his blaster. I aimed and fired the blaster I stole, aiming for his ?h?st, but only managing to clip his shoulder as three blasts went out, and one hit. "Get them!" the men next to Nato cried out as the creepy lizard lady attended to the hurt Mandalorian. I moved into the shadows and waited as the men all ran out, searching probably for some big thought gang. Not a 7 year old. The moment they left I ran out from my hiding place and ran to Shmi, who by now was back on her feet. "Ani!" she cried out. "Come on! We have to get out of here!" I told her as I grabbed her hand and pulled to leave, but suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by at least ten men, all pointing their blasters at us. "You shot me?" I heard Nato''s voice call out as he got back on his feet. He displayed his shoulder, the blaster bolt hadn''t even dented his arm, which was surprising to me. Did he have some kind of special armour? "Yes, I did," I replied as I looked around for a way to escape? Maybe I could fire my way out? Maybe I can use the Force to push them all back? I never tried...maybe I could. Maybe I can use lighting to fry them and run, use Watto''s ship and fly away. "What are you? Five?" Nato scoffed. "Seven," I replied, glaring at him. "Anakin, what are you doing?!" Shmi cried out, "you should have run!" "I won''t leave you behind with these monsters," I replied back, not taking my eyes off the Mandalorian. He smirked, "so this is your son huh? Nasty little bugger isn''t he? Tell me kid, what exactly was your plan here? Come in, shoot everyone and then leave?" I shrugged, "worked for Watto." Everyone gasped, suddenly whispering as even Nato looked curious. Shmi looked horrified, trying to shut my mouth, but she didn''t move, too afraid to do so. "You killed Watto?" Nato asked slowly. "Yes...I did," I replied. "How?" I needed more time, more...everything. I need to stall him. "I rigged his smoker," I lied, "when he used it, it exploded in his face. I watched him burn and then forced him to sign over everything he owned. And when he did that, I fired a blaster bolt between his eyes." That caused the people to really start whispering, the words ''balls'' and ''crazy'' were thrown around easily. Nato raised an eyebrow, "you''re not joking are you?" I shook my head and he whistled, "damn. That is ruthless kid...tell me, how would you like to work for me?" "I killed my last master, what makes you think I eager for another one?" He snorted, "true...alright then kid, I guess there''s only one place for you," he moved to draw his blaster, but suddenly. BANG! A blaster bolt struck the place over his head as Shmi ran and tackled him to the ground. She pointed the business end of the blaster at Nato''s head, snarling, "you won''t harm my son!" Everyone moved, nobody fired, I ran to Shmi''s side and we were back to back as I aimed my stolen blaster at the guards, who looked like they wanted to rip us apart, but stopped since Shmi had their boss at gunpoint. "You shot me?" Nato sounded surprised, "did you seriously just shoot me?" "Yes, and if you don''t drop your blaster I''ll shoot you again!" she yelled, none of her doubts or fears present. I blinked, honestly, I was impressed. Nato blinked, "okay...alright, fine, boys, put them down," he dropped his blaster and put his hands up, slowly his men obeyed. He then spoke to Shmi directly, "alright...what now?" "Now?" Shmi blnked, I don''t think she thought this far ahead. She looked around, all of us were looking at her, waiting for her next words. She licked her lips and continued, "now we do business. The debt you owe Watto, you owe us now. Btu I''ll willing to forgive it provided you give my son and I protection." The man raised an eyebrow and smiled, "a hundred thousand credits for protection¡­ hm...okay. Why not. But I have one request." "What''s that?" Shmi asked. "Answer me a question." "What?" "Are you single?" Shmi blinked, "what?" "Are you seeing someone? Some slaves are...unless Watto prevented you from having fun¡­" I raised an eyebrow, "are you hitting on my mother?" "Yes," Nato nodded, "so? Are you seeing someone Shmi?" The woman stammered, "n-no." The Mandalorian grinned, "perfect! Consider yourself protected! Everyone! The next rounds on me!" "YAH!" the entire cantina cheered as they all raised a glass high. The same people who once tried to blast us into dust now celebrated with us. I honestly could say, this Galaxy was fu?k?n? crazy. Two months later: "Thank you! Come again!" Shmi smiled as the last customer of the day left the shop. She closed the door and turned to me, "are you almost done cleaning up Ani?" I nodded, "yes mom. You can go ahead and close things up," I told her. "Great, oh and 3PO, can you make sure the catalog for the junkyard is up to date?" "I will certainly tend to that immediately madam," the black plated droid nodded as he began to wobble away to do just that. I built the robot a few weeks ago and already it was an irreplaceable part of our lives. He did so much meal labour, it freed up both mine and Shmi''s time. I honestly don''t know why Watto didn''t build them himself...oh wait, I do. He''s a shit machnic, no wonder he prefered child labour. After we gained Nato''s protection Shmi and I reopened the junkyard under out ownership and so far, we didn''t get any trouble due to our status as previous slaves. In fact people didn''t even blink an eye at that fact. A few days later Shmi and I got enough cash to remove the explosive devices in our necks through a simple but expensive surgery. Now chip free we could move about more confidently in society. I spent most of my time these last two months fixing up and selling machines to the people in the city. We were still getting our footing in the market, but now that that''s done I think I can personally focus on other things, like building another droid. I had already began, this one was fixed together like pieces from a broken jigsaw puzzle, the legs were short and stubby with wheels and the body was like a trash can, hollow inside. It had strong arms for lifting and a decent enough system, I''m hoping this robot would be useful in storing and carrying heavy objects. Perfect for working in a junkyard. I think I''ll call him¡­ Bobo. As I continued to work on the new droid through the door opened up, "sorry we''re closed, please-" I looked up and stopped, I sighed, "really Nato?" The man stood in my doorway with a bunch of desert flowers in his hand. He grinned, "what? She likes them. Where is she anyway?" I sighed and pointed out the back, "in the back," he nodded and walked away. Since that day in the cantina, he and She had started...dating. It was frankly disturbing, but she needed someone and...well...being the girlfriend of a mob boss would protect her from danger. I watched him walk to the store''s back and noticed the shiny new blaster he was carrying. I narrowed my eyes and held out my hand, causing it to slip out of his hand and fly into mine. I looked it over, it was new alrigh. Top of the line in fact. A TX-120, I think. It''s impossible quick and also hard to miss thanks to its anti-recoil grip. I think I have a thing for pickpocketing people using the Force...I should probably be more careful. I examined the weapon carefully, using tools to open up the shell to see what was inside. Like usual, I was so absorbed with examining the new tech I didn''t notice time fly by, or notice the fact that Nato was standing right before me. He cleared his throat, breaking my focus. I looked up, he looked amused, "you really do have to tell me how you keep doing that. I didn''t even see you take it this time." I smiled, "practise," I closed the lid on the blaster, "it''s cool. But be careful, it can''t keep much charge." "Yeah, I know, ten shots and then it needs a new pack," the man snorted as he picked up his weapon, "I tell Karros to try and upgrade it, but the bastard is always too stubborn to try." "Language!" Shmi cried out from the back, Nato and I rolled our eyes, God the woman is uptight sometimes. "Hm...you know, if you want I could try and fix it for you," I offered with a shrug. Nato blinked, "what do you mean?" "There''s space inside for an additional fuel choke, I could put one in and double if not triple the energy capacity," I replied. "Can you really do that?" he asked surprised. I shrugged, "I can try." He gave me back the gun and I began to work. A few minutes later I handed the blaster back to him and he looked it over. He took aim and moved the gun around, "it''s a little heavier but...I think I can manage." "Want to check it''s range?" I asked. He agreed and we walked out. We approached a large scrap pile of junk and he took aim and began randomly firing off the blaster over and over again. And sure enough, instead of ten bolts, thirty five came out. "Amazing!" Nato cried out, "kid, you are a genius! Do you think you could work on other weapons for me?" I ?r??n?d, "I don''t like weapons but¡­ if you can promise extra security for my mother and me and pay, sure, I don''t mind." Nato nodded, "done. How much for this?" "Actually...I was hoping for payment in some other form..." He raised an eyebrow, "kid, last time someone said that to me I ended up spending a week in a senator''s private beach resort babysitting his children. Which is embarrassing enough, never mind that he tried to bed me three separate times." I chuckled, "nothing like that¡­.I want you to teach me to fight Nato." The man grew silent, deathly so. If we weren''t in my junkyard and if he wasn''t in love with my mother, I would be worried being alone with this man. "Why?" he asked. "You are a Mandalorian, the greatest warrior in the universe. Why wouldn''t I-" "-No kid," he snapped, "I''m asking why you want me to teach you in the first place. Why now? Why do you want to fight?" "To protect myself and my mother," I replied, "and¡­.to become strong." And because since the jedi will in no way accept a child they can''t brainwash, since I wasn''t really an impressionable little child, I will need to fight in some other way. "Is that it?" "I live on a planet of degenerates and monsters. It''s leaders as crime lords, no offence-" "-None taken-" "-and I am a 7 year old with no form of protection. Other than you. So I would like it if I could protect myself." The Mandalorian was silent for a long time, thinking to himself. I think...I think I could feel his thoughts in his head. It was an odd sensation and one I only discovered recently when Shmi first grew angry with me over a week ago. I had tried to mess around with a thermal bomb, she was pissed. And I could feel her anger before she even said a thing. And right now I felt doudt from Nato. "Kid...do you know why I, a Mandalorian, is doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?" he asked. I nodded, I had heard this story before from Shmi herself, telling me a rumour she had heard. This was when they just started courting, so she still wasn''t totally comfortable being around him. "You were sent out of your clan," I looked at the insignia on his left shoulder pad, it was a Blue Spade with a circle in the center, "they say you did something...unforgivable." "I murdered my brother," Nato admitted, "because he tried to kill our father...so I killed him first. And for that, I was sent out of my home, my people...my planet. I am sorry Anakin...but no matter what, I am still Mandalorian, and I cannot train someone in our ways unless he is proven worth." "How?" I asked quickly, "how do I prove that I am worthy?" "Well...I suppose if you can someone give me a reason to train I could. Show me a reason why you would be worthy of the title of Mandalorian." I ?r??n?d, "like..." He shrugged, "that, is up to you. Now, come, I am sure your mother is worried about you." I nodded and walked back inside with him, though in my mind I wondered, what can I do to prove myself worthy? A week later, I got my answer. A new speeder that had recently broken down was brought in, a client had hired us to fix it for him. I ran my fingers down it''s side and felt the tear marks on its surface. "What could have done this?" I asked aloud. "I believe these marks matched the ones made by a Krayt dragon," 3PO replied, "a large carnivorous reptile, though they are rare since people killed them for the precious pearls found in their bodies. Judging from the size of these markings, I would wager the greater krayt dragon made them." "How big do they grow?" I asked. "I believe well over forty feet sir," 3PO replied, "why do you ask?" I looked back at the newly made Bobo droid I made along with the newer one I had plans to design. "No reason, 3PO, get the location of where the speeder was ambushed out off it''s system. I want to know where this...dragon was found." "May I ask why you require this information sir?" "To prove myself," I replied simply. A month later: Shmi wished me a good night and closed the door behind her. I waited for ten minutes before getting out of my bed and sneaking out through the backdoor. I traveled to the junkyard and snuck inside. I moved the back where I had stashed everything I would need already. I had spent a month preparing for this, and now I was. I had researched everything I could on the Krayt dragon. I had learnt their movements, what they were made up off and most importantly how to kill them. And now I think I was ready. I moved to the back of the junkway and removed a large tarp that covered a speeder and cargo lifter that was attached to the former. I started the speeder up and checked the engines, everything was good to go, the coordinates from where the Krayt dragon was seen last was inputted into it''s memory banks. I went into the workshop and approached my workstation where I had laid out all my tools for this mission. Attached to a leather belt was modified blaster that allowed for a single shot, but would be enough to blast a boulder in half. I also have a pair of night vision goggles that I built from scratch, a couple of grenades, some first aid supplies and one very very powerful flash grenade. But this wasn''t what would win me the dragon, no, that was the six feet tall droid standing still next to the table. I took out a remote and activated it, it whirled to life as it looked down and bowed, "what is thy bidding my master?" The droid was made from the very best parts I could find from my days here. It had strong powerful legs, a blaster and plasma coated blade attached to its arms and a torso that was armed with a small bomb. It was black and shiny with a single circular disk of light in it''er center. It was modeled to look like Iron Man''s suit, what can I say? I love that suit. And the best part? Well¡­ "Alright Vader," I smiled as I strapped the tool belt on me, "let''s move." That''s right, I named him Vader. I got on my speeder while the Vader droid got on the turbo lifter. I then took off, zooming out of the city and into the vast desserts, ready to prove myself to be a Mandalorian. I know it was kind of reckless, but I had a plan. I knew how to destroy it and more importantly, I needed to be trained. Because whether I did end up as a Sith or Jedi, I was the chosen one, and I needed to protect myself. I reached the location after a two hour journey. It was a large expanse of sand with nothing around, except a rocky mountain jutting out in the middle with the entrance for a cave etched into its side. I stopped the speeder and got down. I looked around, there were marking on the wall of the cave, claw marks. I narrowed my eyes, it was here. I unloaded Vader and we both approached the cave. "Vader, Killer mode," I todered. Immediately it''s right arm transformed into a large blaster and it''s left into a sword while a shoulder planted heavy duty blaster swung out and took aim forward, "ready and waiting master." It took the lead as I followed behind, drawing my blaster just to be sure. We traveled deep into the cave and after five minutes of walking I had Vader stop. We were deep enough that our own footsteps began to echo out. Perfect. I reached into my belt and took out a vacuum sealed bag and placed it on the ground. The cave''s ground was large with lots of space to move about, even several stalagmites lying around to provide for cover. "Vader," I took out several thermal bombs and handed it over, I pointed to the stalagmites on the ceiling, "plate them around the structurally weak areas. Be careful, they aren''t armed, but they are expensive." "Yes, my master," the droid nodded and did just that, using the metal studs on his boots to climb the wall and do as I ordered. I unsealed the package I had and poured the contents out, extremely automatic Baku meat. Extremely delicious and very expensive. And more importantly, very potent. I placed the flash grenade right before the meat pile, face front. By now Vader was finished, I ordered him to hide behind a stalagmite with me as we now waited. It was twenty minutes later when we felt a shockwave. A small tremor that grew bigger and bigger. And then, I heard a growl. I took out my night vision goggles and looked at it and for a moment, I wondered if I should have just given up and run for the hills. It was huge, maybe forty feet, maybe bigger. It wasn''t a dragon, no, it was more like a giant fu?kin croc with horns on its head similar to a dragon. It had a scales large as my entire torso running down it''s back and a pair of glowing yellow eyes. It came slowly towards the meat I left for it. Sniffing as it did. I looked at it''s massive limbs from behind my cover, they were huge and rippled with muscles. But also stubby and frankly, I doubt they were built for speed. The monster bent down and began cowing down on the meat before it, ???k?n? the food up in seconds, gulping it all down. I took out two remote controls, I turned to Vader, "when it''s incapacitated, attack," the droid just nodded. And then, I pressed them both and closed my eyes. There was a flash of bright light that came through my shut eyelids. That was the flash grenade. "KAY!" the dragon cried out. BOOM! The entire canyon ceiling shock at the explosion of my medium range grenades. Suddenly the ceiling began to collapse down hard. Luckily I was further away from the excitement so I wasn''t affected, but I could feel the entire ceiling around the dragon collapse down on top of him. "Attacking commence," Vader spoke as I felt him leave my side and activate his blaster. A few seconds later I opened my eyes and saw the dragon pinned down under a huge pile of boulders while Vader plunged his blade into its eye, blinding it. "KYAA!" it cried out, only it''s head was free, the rest of its body was pinned under the debris. Vader plunged it''s blade again and again into the dragon while firing into its mouth. The dragon tried to fight, swinging its head violently to one side to knock Vader away. It then tried to free itself, the rocks beginning to shift away to free it. I knew I had to do something. Vader was still getting back on its feet. I threw my hands forward and pushed out the familiar feeling of the Force out, beginning for the power to stop the dragon. Yellow lightning came flying out, striking it hard, the dragon crying out in pain. Vader began to attack it again, but the dragon''s open mouth spat out a wad of acid on the droid that melted it''s blaster arm off. It continued to scream in pain from my force Lightning, but I knew it was resisting it. So with no other choice I cut off the Force and drew my blaster. "Vader!" I called out, throwing my blaster at the droid. Immediately it understood, I was proud of the superb programing I had installed into its system. It transformed it''s sword arm back to normal and grabbed the blaster. I aimed at the dragon''s head and pulled the trigger. BOOM! Chapter 107 - DCTV Fan-fiction 9 - Who is my real mother? Plot: What if Iris wasn''t Nora''s mother? Pairing: Find out yourself! NOTE: A one-shot. You should be able to tell what the pairings are if you read my previous recommendations. Nora''s diary (speed language): I''m thinking about something that I shouldn''t but with my events from my past/future, I started to think about this: is my mom really my mom? My father was/is a speedster aka The Flash and she supported him but when I reveal to her my powers, she tried to stop me from using my powers. Shouldn''t she support me instead of trying to stop me? When I became XS, I started to think about if she was really my mom but then I decided to forget about it. Who else would my dad be with? End of diary. S.T.A.R Labs: Nora was in the Speed Lab thinking about her time in the future with her mom: all the arguments and the speed damper that she was holding. Nora knew that there was something wrong with the relationship but thought it was down to lack of a father so she just ignored it, Nora decided to suit up into her XS suit then went for a run and she took her diary with her. In the corridor, Caitlin caught a glimpse of a speeding Nora running towards the exit of the building. Meanwhile: Barry was in the Cortex looking at the Flash Ring then thought about having his daughter with him: he was happy to see Nora and that he was spending time with her. But what bothered him was all the things Nora said Iris did especially like sticking a speed damping device inside their own daughter: did Iris really have a good reason for putting it in Nora? "Barry, everything okay?" Barry turned around and saw Caitlin walk in with some paperwork. "You look like there''s something bothering you." Caitlin pointed out, Barry nodded then sat down in a chair near one of the desks in the corner. "It''s something that Nora said about Iris," Barry started, Caitlin put the paperwork down then pulled up a chair and sat opposite Barry. "Nora said Iris did whatever she could to stop Nora from being who she wanted after she got her speed." Barry told Caitlin who looked surprised. "Would Iris do that and if she did, what was the reason behind it?" Barry asked, Caitlin shrugged her shoulders then looked at her best friend. "We don''t know what could''ve made Iris put that dampener inside Nora but there has to be a reason." Barry nodded then two sat there waiting for the rest of the team to come in but then a gust of wind blew in, the pair turned to see Nora stood in the doorway. "Dad, could I use some of your lab gear?" Nora asked which confused Barry. "There''s just something from my year that I want to check and I was wondering if I could use my time here to check it." Barry stood up and nodded but not before hugging his daughter. "Go ahead," Barry smiled which made Nora happy. "But Nora, could we talk later? Just us?" Barry asked and Nora nodded then she ran off to get her Dad''s lab gear while Barry and Caitlin stayed in the Cortex and talked about Nora. Speed lab: After getting her Dad''s lab gear, Nora used her gauntlet to scan both her own and her mom''s DNA then imputed into the computer. She wanted to check if her brain were playing tricks on her or not so Nora pressed the scan bu??on: the computer began scanning both sets of DNA and during that time, Nora was getting tired of waiting. After a long period of waiting and running around the room, the DNA scan was finished so Nora decided to check the results but she got the shock of her life. "Not a match?" Nora mumbled then she decided to repeat the DNA testing and after repeating it several times, the results didn''t change. "Iris isn''t my mother?" Nora was shocked then she decided to run Caitlin''s DNA against her own. "Still not a match?" Nora fell into the chair behind her as she was shocked: neither Iris or Caitlin was her mom. "If Iris isn''t my mom and neither is Caitlin, then who is?" Nora asked, she thought she was alone as she looked back at her''s and Iris'' DNA results but then she heard footsteps coming towards. "Nora?" The voice belonging to Iris West-Allen and she looked worried. "Nora, are you alright?" Iris asked as she walked towards her, Nora shook her head then got up and looked at Iris. "I don''t know anymore!" Nora screamed then blasted off, Iris walked towards the computer screen and saw what bothered Nora: it was the DNA results. "What? Me and Nora aren''t related?" Iris asked herself as she looked at the doorway where Nora had just ran out of. "How is this possible?" Iris decided that Barry had the right to know about this as it seemed that Barry was 100% Nora''s biological father. Nora was running so fast that she had broke the dimensional barrier and was running through the Multiverse until she ended up on another version on Earth. Nora looked around until she saw a statue of a flying woman and knew who she was thanks to the Flash Museum. "That''s Supergirl which means¡­" Nora took a few steps into the busier part of the city and there was Worldwide Media. "I did it. I broke the barrier and traveled to another Earth. I wonder if I could meet Kara Danvers." Nora looked at her clothes and it was lucky that she was wearing dark blue torn jeans with black trainers, a white t-shirt and red checkered shirt whilst carrying a backpack. Nora decided to head over to and see if Kara was there but then saw a flying figure crash into a wall and after the dust cleared, Nora saw that it was Supergirl and she was fighting some kind of robot with a green light in the ?h?st. Supergirl flew back and fought the robot while Nora ran down an alleyway and quickly changed into her XS outfit. Concurrently: Supergirl was getting beaten by Metallo thanks to the Kryptonite power source in its ?h?st, she thought Metallo was going to hit her again but from out of nowhere, a streak of pink and yellow lightning flew past Supergirl and struck Metallo''s systems: causing him to short circuit and fall down to the ground. Supergirl looked behind her and there stood a female dressed in a black and white suit with pink and yellow electricity sparkling off her, the figure walked over and offered Supergirl a hand up who took it to get off the ground. "Thanks for that," Supergirl smiled as she dusted off herself off. "Who are you? Are you related to The Flash?" She asked, the female nodded then they walked down the same alleyway she came out of until no one could see them. The heroine removed her mask so that Supergirl could see her entire face. "I''m Nora, I''m Barry Allen''s daughter from the future," Nora introduced herself which surprised Kara. "Sorry to shock you, Miss Danvers." Nora apologized but Kara smiled and patted Nora on the shoulders. "It''s fine, Nora," The two heroines walked down the alleyway and there in front of them was Kara''s apartment block. "It''s not the first time I met someone from the future: I once met my ex boyfriend but he was from the future." Kara told Nora, they both got up to the open window of Kara''s apartment their way: Nora ran up the building while Kara flew up. Earth-1: Meanwhile Barry was sat in the medical bay as she had just got the news that Nora wasn''t Iris'' daughter but she was still his. Barry was trying to figure out what to do concerning him, Nora and Iris but that was put aside when Joe walked in and he was looking around. "Nora did a DNA test which she told me it was for a case, but she lied," Barry told Joe who was shocked. "However the DNA test was comparing her DNA alongside Iris." Barry told Joe then he showed Joe the test results. "Are these true?" Joe asked, Barry nodded. "So Nora and Iris aren''t even related? Then who is Nora''s mom?" Joe asked and Barry nodded. "Joe, I don''t know who else could be Nora''s mother," Barry admitted and Joe nodded as he patted his son on the shoulder. "And now, Nora''s disappeared and I don''t know where she is." Joe didn''t know what to say because he was speechless: Iris wasn''t Nora''s mother, Barry was emotionally confused and now Nora was missing. Earth-38, Kara''s apartment: Nora and Kara were talking about Nora being from the future and that he doesn''t have her dad. Kara felt sorry for Nora so she hugged, Nora smiled then hugged Kara which made Nora feel very happy then they sat back and drank their cup of tea. "This is so schway; I''m sat here with the legendary Supergirl and I know her identity!" Nora exclaimed which made Kara chuckle. "I''ve always wanted to meet you, Kara." Kara smiled then she got up and walked over to the fridge to get some donuts, meanwhile something inside Nora made her to scan Kara''s cup which made her prints then run her DNA against her''s. "I doubt that my biological mother is Supergirl," Nora thought to herself, Kara was about to walk back over but her phone rang which gave Nora more time with the DNA testing. It didn''t take too long for the results to come through. "What?" Nora was now emotionally and mentally confused at the results. Chapter 108 - No chap for a while I am once again entering the exam period for uni. So no chap for a while. Once uni holiday hits, will be able to have mass releases and updates on MEGA. Thanks all. ???? -Pink Bunny Chapter 108 - Crossover Fanfiction 10 - Inheriting A New Prophecy Plot: Harry Potter is looking to start a new life after taking out Voldemort. Reality travel. Our favorite wizard merges mind and soul with Percy Jackson, Harry''s counterpart in the new reality. Adventure, seduction, and significant cannon alteration ensues. Harry/Annabeth/many others. Godlike Harry. Crossover: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson Pairing: Harry/Multi NOTE: for the uncensored version join the author''s facbook group (takes about a week to be accepted in) Inheriting a New Prophecy Book 1 ¨C The Lightning Thief By Stargatesg1fan1 Disclaimer: I own none of the characters ?ssociated with the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series. I own no aspect of either franchise. Main Character''s Mates: Annabeth Chase is played by Alexandra Daddario Choria is played by Sienna Guillory Furusia is played by Liv Tyler IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief ¨C IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief ¨C IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief Twenty-five year old Harry Potter grunted in pain as he took another curse to his side. The dark haired mage was being dragged into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nine years had elapsed since the Potter warlock was last on the grounds of his old home. Ever since that fateful night in his past Harry had intentionally stayed away from the institution of learning. Harry had been on a Horcrux hunt with his old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and when the pair had returned to the school it was to find Hogwarts under attack. The green eyed teen stayed under his invisibility cloak as Draco Malfoy made his empty threats to the Headmaster''s life and even as the elderly teacher was killed by Severus Snape. The only thing that kept Harry from chasing after Snape was the blood curdling scream that came from inside the castle. Harry recognized the voice of that terrible wail as someone who the young mage never thought could scream like he was hearing. Harry arrived inside Hogwart''s entrance way to find Professor McGonagall crouched over the dead forms of all Harry Potter''s closest friends. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Ron, and even Neville had all fought valiantly but in the end lost to the much more experienced Death Eaters. It wasn''t long after that night until Harry realized that he would have to end the latest wizarding war himself or he would never know a moment''s respite from the agony that had composed his life. Hermione had always been there to guide the Potter male and carry him through¡­but no more. Harry began training himself in everything he could, magical and otherwise. The son of Lily and James Potter was quite shocked to find himself several million galleons richer than he had previously thought the next time the green eyed teen had visited the Goblin run bank, Gringotts. Apparently Dumbledore in his infinite wisdom and as Harry''s magical guardian had removed the bulk of the Potter heir''s fortune to the Dumbledore accounts but willed the hidden funds to be returned upon the elder professor''s death. Albus Dumbledore didn''t want Harry using the gold to escape the Dursleys. Armed with five million galleons (twenty-five million pounds sterling) the new Lord Potter bought himself everything he would need for serious training. Meanwhile the war waged on in the wizarding world. In his search for the Power He Knows Not, which the prophecy foretelling Harry''s birth and life spoke of, the Teen-Who-Lived even learned the muggle sciences. Such a task wasn''t exceedingly difficult with the use of some memory transference charms that wouldn''t work between two magical minds. The charms had no problem transferring between magical and muggle neurology due to the lack of magical interference inherent in the memories of a magical being. Something about the magic imprinted the memories to a specific magic user. No such thing existed in the muggle memories. In just four extremely hard years the Potter Lord managed to cram over a decade of training in all important and applicable magical and muggle scientific disciplines thanks to a time turner he had discovered secreted away in Dumbledore''s office. The powerful youth also found a Philosopher''s Stone with notes on how to use the immortality granting object and make more just like it. The old man had kept the Stone just in case he had to use its life giving properties to keep fighting Riddle. Albus had known since Harry''s first year that Riddle had somehow made himself immortal but wasn''t sure of the method until Harry''s second year at Hogwarts. Using the Stone to slow his aging (he didn''t take a concentrated enough dose to completely halt his aging) kept others from noticing Harry''s temporal transitioning training. Luckily the last Potter managed to remove such valuable artifacts out of Hogwarts before Riddle took the castle shortly after Dumbledore''s passing. The messy haired warlock had also managed to locate all of Riddle''s Horcrux soul containers in the previous six years along with the fabled Deathly Hallows. Even with the Hallows Harry wasn''t sure he could permanently kill Tom Riddle. Voldemort had also used the ancient magically saturated castle to increase his power after taking up residence within Hogwart''s walls. But Harry had come up with a plan. Luckily for Harry''s scheme Hogwarts wasn''t located near any populated areas. Hogsmeade was evacuated shortly after the castle fell from the light side''s control. As Harry James Potter was dragged in front of Riddle the young green eyed man let a smile slip onto his lips. "Why are you smiling Potter? Is it because you are about to meet your wretched parents?" Riddle questioned with a sneer. "No, it''s because I''m about to send you to hell," Harry responded confidently. Before the self proclaimed Lord of the Dark could form a response Harry sent out a magical pulse that called his familiar to the Potter Lord''s side. Fawkes had come to Harry shortly after the old man had died and the two magical beings bonded. As soon as the phoenix landed on Harry''s ?h?st the mage chanted in an ancient language a spell that he had learned from one of the oldest books in the Potter family vault. Given sufficient enough time and preparation wizards could survive a nuclear blast through wards but no wizard could survive one at point blank range without knowing what was happening. Riddle''s eyes had just enough time to go completely wide in surprise before the Dark Lord was atomized. Every Death Eater in the ancient castle met the same fate as their master. The castle itself didn''t survive but the wards did hold long enough to contain the nuclear explosion before the magical barriers gave out as their energy saturated anchor disintegrated. After the blast cleared, nothing was left of the once great structure that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Meanwhile Harry Potter felt his mind and soul being hurtled through time and space as the last spell he had cast was carried out. The mage''s very essence was combined with that of Fawkes the phoenix. The Potter Lord had modified the enchantment slightly to accomplish the merger but the changes ensured the caster''s continued survival. The spell was designed to let the caster be transported to another reality where they would then merge with the soul of their alternate persona in that new universe. It wasn''t too hard for the wizard to create an additional merger at the onset of the spell. Harry had learned from the spell''s crafter that the enchantment had been tested as the past wizard had used the magic to travel to Harry''s home reality from another, escaping a tragic past. That ancestor and past reality traveler just happened to be named Merlin. When Harry felt his consciousness swim into existence in the new reality the warlock felt his body and quickly realized that he was now much younger physically than his previous twenty-five years of age. As memories from his new life quickly integrated with Harry''s newly merged consciousness the powerful magic user was forced to dodge to the side as a creature straight out of legend dove at his thin form. A man in a wheelchair came into the doorway of the large room Harry found himself in just then and yelled, "What ho, Percy!" The sitting man threw a pen at Harry which the wizard caught and felt transform into a sword. The demonic winged creature spun towards the now sword wielding reality traveler in mid air and yelled, "Die honey!" Harry swung the sword through the creature with skill born from years of practice with the Sword of Gryffindor. The monster exploded into yellow dust. The old man was gone, having slipped off during the slaying, and the sword was a pen again. As he held the seemingly simple writing utensil Harry could still feel the magic in the object. The enchantment the wizard sensed felt like a transfiguration spell identical to the one the Sword of Gryffindor had upon it so the ancient blade would adapt to whatever form of bladed weapon the wielder required. Harry surmised the enchantment on the sword he now held was to turn it to and from a pen when the spell was triggered. Having a suspicion about the trigger, Harry pressed down on the top of the spring loaded device and watched satisfied as the object turned back into a sword. The clicking noise usually heard from the type of pen the sorcerer held was replaced by the sound of a sword being unsheathed. "So magic definitely exists in this reality," Harry mused aloud. Harry slipped into an Indian style sitting position on the floor and took a few minutes to absorb the memories from his counterpart in the new universe aided by his occlumency skills. Harry''s new name was Percy Jackson and he appeared to be twelve years old. Harry quickly concluded that Percy was definitely not a normal young man. No, Harry could feel the part of himself that had a lot of power, the magical kind of power. Inside of himself the warrior could sense the merged essence from Fawkes combined with the essence of the Hallows that had been on the wizard''s person during his reality transition. The new state of the Hallows was unexpected. The Hallows wouldn''t fully control the Death of the new universe but the mage still could sense a limited influence. Strangely the battle hardened warlock could also feel the craving to be near water via the new power natural to his counterpart even before Harry''s essence had arrived. The Potter Lord decided the new energy would need to be explored in detail later. For the time being Harry exited the museum he had fought the creature inside of to meet his classmates and rejoin their field trip. It had started raining and the water felt really good to the dark haired youth. Harry touched the water power within him with his newly transferred wizard born power and the act made the water feel like it was energizing the mage. A girl Harry recognized as Nancy Bobofit glared at him. "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your bu??," the unattractive girl said while she sneered at Harry. "Who," the wizard questioned, not recognizing the name from any of his new memories. "Our teacher¡­Duh," the girl answered. "Where did Miss Dodds go?" Harry queried his friend, Grover, to see if the other boy knew what was going on. "Who," Grover responded in apparent confusion but the warlock could hear the pause in Grover''s reply. Harry knew instantly from the boy''s reaction that his friend knew something which Grover didn''t want to clue Harry in on. The wizard entered Grover''s mind with his legilimency¡­or tried to. It was hard to get a read on Grover. The mage could feel the magic coming off of his friend now that Harry was actively probing the other boy. Activating a power he had picked up by mimicking the charms on Mad Eye Moody''s magical eye Harry looked intently at his friend Grover. Seeing through the boy''s clothes Harry was surprised to find furry legs and hooves instead of feet. It looked like Grover was a Satyr. That would explain why Harry found it difficult to use the mind arts on Grover. Harry was at least able to discern the satyr knew what happened with Miss Dodds but nothing else. If he wanted to the warlock could probably push harder with his legilimency probe but the act might fry the satyr''s brain. The trick with his eyes was one of the more interesting abilities Harry had found he possessed. The Man-Who-Conquered often found he could generally pick up a magical ability just by observing a user of one of those abilities. Harry had even picked up being a metamorphmagus from Tonks back in his old universe. Looking over at Mr. Brunner, Harry''s Latin teacher and the organizer of the field trip, the mage saw a centaur sitting in a wheelchair through the magic simmering in the warlock''s eyes. "Well that''s not something you see every day," Harry mused as he walked over towards the teacher that was far more than what was observed at first glance. "Ah that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future Mr. Jackson," Brunner told Harry as the Potter male handed the sword pen back to the centaur. Harry simply nodded before he walked off to explore more of the metaphysical nature of the newly merged Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief ¨C IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief ¨C IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief For the rest of that semester Harry noticed no trace of Miss Dodds could be found. The powerful youth didn''t really care much either way. Her slayer could tell Dodds was real but there was some type of memory charm like effect on everyone else. Grover and Mr. Brunner were the only two that did know something. Judging from the fact that the odd pair were a Satyr and a Centaur Harry figured it would be a good idea to bone up on his Greek Mythology. Percy knew some of the mythos already. His occlumency allowed Harry to go through his counterpart''s old memories of learning the mythos and remember the lore with near instant recall and clarity. Harry also practiced a bit each night with his new power. The wizard''s new level of power took some getting used to. Before the merger it had always felt like he could do just about anything he willed himself to do but with time. That required time was necessary because Harry could feel his limits. A person could do just about anything if they have enough time. Now that he was infused with the essence of a phoenix, the master controllers of Death, and the new essence from Percy, Harry could no longer feel those limits. The sensation felt like Harry could do anything he d?s?r?d very quickly. Naturally Harry didn''t press his powers too fast for fear of losing control. The mage mostly practiced his old spells with his new power level. From there Harry moved onto accessing the water power as he had come to call the energy native to Percy Jackson. Thanks to the practice Harry learned to touch the water abilities very quickly. This sensation felt like a pull in the pit of his stomach. Using his meditative techniques which allowed the warlock to touch his wizarding core Harry looked into himself and found he now possessed several different types of energy cores. There was the golden core that the mage recognized as his original wizarding core. There was a black power ball that Harry ?ssociated with the Hallows. This energy construct appeared to have absorbed the remnants from Harry''s Horcrux curse scar. There was also a burning red ball of energy which Harry could sense came from Fawkes. That core felt ancient and eternal. Lastly there was the blue wave like energy construct which seemed to surround all of the other cores like the ocean. To Harry it appeared the other cores were floating in this immense blue core. It was interesting to see a fire type core floating in a water type. Both seemed to be really powerful yet in harmony thanks to Harry''s wizarding core (which the mage had possessed the longest) coordinating things. The weather seemed to be acting strangely in Harry''s new reality. The wizard could sense that the weather patterns weren''t quite natural. The disturbances seemed to set the warlock''s blue water core rippling. One of Harry''s wizard born powers had always been a sense or strong instinct born from second sight. Unlike first sight where seers possessing such ability make prophecy Harry''s second sight allowed him to subconsciously interpret the future and make the best choice for what he wanted to accomplish. If Harry followed such instincts it appeared as if he was really lucky. It had always served the mage well in the past. This sense was also agreeing with the wizard''s water core in the feeling that the weather had supernatural origins but Harry didn''t let it bother him too much. The mage''s grades at Yancy Academy had never been the best before the merger but that quickly changed. The fact that he had absorbed the memories of several professionals in multiple fields made school easy for the dark haired youth. Having near-instant recall of any memory made it even less of a challenge. Despite this fact Harry could sense that he wouldn''t be coming back to Yancy next term. One of the first things Harry had done after arriving in his new reality was to create an alternate identity for which he set up a bank account. Melting down some of his galleons into gold ingots easily allowed the Potter Lord to stash away several million dollars in this alternate identity. His metamorph talent made it so no questions were asked about the powerful man''s age. This new reality had an even better conversion rate than Harry''s old one, so he had plenty of gold stashed in his bottomless trunk. The usefulness of his trunk made Harry really grateful for the spell that stored his trunk in a space between realities for him to call at will. The trunk was tied to the warlock''s wizarding core. The storage spell couldn''t be done with living creatures because the between space killed live beings if exposed for too long. A quick transition between realities was just safe enough. The night before his Latin exam Harry was taking a stroll through the school under an invisibility charm. The teen did this often to see what he could find out about people in the school and to kill the boredom. When you don''t really need to study you have to find some way to kill the time. The mage was walking by the faculty section when he heard a curious conversation. "I''m worried about Percy sir," said what was distinctly Grover''s voice emanated from Mr. Brunner''s office. A temporary hearing enhancement charm served to make the conversation clearer. "He''ll be alone this summer. I mean a Kindly One in the school," Grover exclaimed the last sentence in disbelief. "Now that we know for sure and they know too," Grover muttered before trailing off. "We would only make matters worse by rushing him. We need the boy to m?tur? more," Brunner answered. That sounded to Harry like a philosophy straight from Albus Dumbledore. The old man thought ignorance would save a person from horrors the world holds. Harry tended to disagree, which was probably why the mage was eavesdropping on the conversation between Brunner and Grover. "But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline," Grover began to argue before being interrupted by Brunner. "It will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can," Mr. Brunner instructed the satyr. "Sir he saw her¡­," Grover rebutted. "His imagination," the Centaur spoke dismissively. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that," was the Latin teacher''s argument. "Sir I can''t fail in my duties again. You know what that would mean," the Satyr pointed out in a pained tone of voice. "You didn''t fail Grover. I should have seen her for what she was. Now let''s just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall," Brunner placated the youth. Just then a teacher walking by at the end of the hall, made a noise, and the conversation stopped. An invisible Harry took this as his cue to leave. That conversation was definitely enlightening. The reality traveling warlock learned that the memory type spell on the rest of the school was called the Mist. He also learned that Miss Dodds was called a Kindly One. From the sounds of that moniker that was Kindly One as in one of many. So Kindly Ones were likely what the two mythological beings feared would make it hard for Harry to survive until next fall. The powerful teen also seemed to have confirmed that he was what Brunner and Grover suspected he was. Harry concluded that what they expected him to be had to do with his blue water power due to that being the only power native to Percy Jackson. To Harry this meant that there are likely others like him. It also sounded like Grover had failed to keep the last one of those like Harry the satyr helped alive. The messy haired wizard was not really that worried. Harry had survived a lot in his time. Also the merged Harry had discovered that he seemed to have the powers of regeneration that Fawkes possessed. Harry had cut himself the other day for a blood based test and the cut healed almost instantly on its own. Harry was not yet ready to test out a killing curse level injury but he wouldn''t be surprised if he possessed the ability to rejuvenate from that as well. This new healing ability likely meant that Harry was now immortal. If that was the case the dark haired mage could have been in for a very lonely and sad existence of watching the people he came to care for die over the millennia. Luckily the wizard had smartly procured the philosopher''s stone from his old reality before he left. So the reality traveling warlock could make his future lovers immortal as well. On the last day of term Harry was riding back to New York, where he lived with his mother, alongside Grover on a Greyhound bus. It was strange to have the memories of growing up an orphan but to also have the memories of growing up with a loving mother. Any memories of the youth''s father from his new universe were clouded even from his impressive occlumency. Harry could tell there was a magic involved in obscuring the memories but he had as yet been unable to counter it. The phoenix mage finally came out of his memories to notice Grover was looking around very nervously. "Looking for Kindly Ones," Harry casually questioned. The satyr winced before replying, "Where did you hear that?" It was then that the wizard told his friend about overhearing the satyr''s conversation with Mr. Brunner. "Look Percy you were imagining things with Miss Dodds," Grover began to lie. The mage cut the other boy off because he wasn''t having anymore falsehoods told about the situation. "So I''m imagining that you have furry legs and hooves? I''m really imagining that you are a Satyr," probed the magic wielder. "How do you know that?" The half man half goat whispered as his brows rose in surprise. "Like you have your secrets I have mine," was Harry''s response. "Take this in case you need me this summer," the Satyr finally instructed as he handed Harry a business card. Percy had always been dyslexic but with Harry''s soul integrated with Percy''s that problem seemed to be less severe if not nonexistent. The card read: Grover Underwood Keeper Half-Blood Hill Long Island, New York "Thanks," the mage told his hoof sporting friend. "So do you know who my father is? Judging from the fact that this says Half-Blood he is somebody from Greek Mythos," the warlock probed for information. "You''ll learn more soon enough," Grover told the young immortal. Just then the bus broke down and had to pull over in the middle of nowhere. The driver had the passengers get off the broken down transport. When the pair of friends got off the bus Harry noticed a fruit stand on the other side of the street. There were three old ladies knitting beside the stand. One of the old women took out a pair of gold handled scissors and pulled out a piece of electric blue yarn. Looking right at the reality traveler the woman snipped the glowing strand. "So those are supposed to be the three fates then," the mage inquired of Grover whose gaze was locked on the three old women. The satyr''s pale face was answer enough for Harry. "We need to get back on the bus," Grover whispered in horror. "Relax Grover," the Potter-Jackson male told his shaking friend as Harry smiled and waved cheekily at the fates. Harry just loved sticking it to fate. The Chosen One of the wizarding world chose when to follow prophecy and when not to let someone else dictate the course his life would follow. Harry Potter made his own destiny. Percy Jackson would do the same. The warlock had the sudden urge to conjure some water balloons and chuck them at the three old ladies. Harry thought Grover would have had a stroke if he did partake in his fantasy. "You should be terrified," Grover told the calm young man. "Naw, I''m not afraid of my fate," Harry replied with a shrug. If he was truly immortal and virtually invulnerable then Harry was not really concerned. Although the war survivor knew from experience there were worse things than death. When the bus driver finally did fix the bus the passengers all piled back on and the transport drove off. They were soon in New York. When Harry stepped off of the bus Grover tried to convince the immortal mage to let the Satyr safely see the wizard back to Harry''s apartment. The experienced warlock was having none of that and left Grover when the hoof hiding young male had to go to the bathroom from nervousness. Once he was out of the bus depot Harry walked to a nearby alley and concentrated on one of his new powers in his new universe. The mage could of course have apparated but when the part firebird warlock dissolved into flame like a phoenix he couldn''t help but think how much cooler his new mode of transportation was than mere apparition. Harry walked into his mom''s apartment to be greeted with the sight of Smelly Gabe playing poker with his buddies. That was the name Percy had given the man a long time ago. Harry''s stepfather smelled of moldy garlic wrapped in old gym shorts. "So you''re home," Gabe declared as he puffed on his cigar. "Where is my mom?" Harry questioned. "Working¡­You got any cash," was Gabe''s response. "Nope," the mage answered while remembering that the gambler expected his stepson to provide his gambling funds while home. The overweight disgusting manager of the Electronics Mega Mart in Queens reminded Harry of his Uncle Vernon. "You took a cab from the bus station," Gabe pointed out with a raised eyebrow, not believing for a second that Harry was telling the truth. "My money is my own you fat ?ss pig," the warlock growled at the worst type of mundane. Harry''s proclamation got the expected response as Gabe rose in anger and stalked towards his stepson. As the smelly older male approached the powerful young wizard Harry was once more reminded of Vernon Dursley and the fat man''s similar tirades and mannerisms. Harry Potter had taken a lot of shit growing up and swore never to take it again after he became a wizard. "What did you say boy," snarled Gabe as he raised his hand to hit the shorter male. Before the Store Manager with an entirely overinflated view of his self worth could swing Harry''s fist shot forwards and hammered into Gabe''s tiny balls. As the air was expelled from the lungs of Harry''s stepfather in shock and pain the maggot of a man dropped to the ground clutching his jewels in agony. The warrior mage''s knee came up and smashed into Gabe''s nose. Blood went everywhere. Having caused many such injuries during his years of fighting Death Eaters Harry could easily tell the nose was broken. "Don''t ever touch me again fat ?ss," Harry whispered into his downed stepfather''s ear, the tone of implied death in the mage''s voice sending a shiver of fear through the muggle. In his seething angry state Harry had just enough presence of mind to heal Gabe''s broken nose with a subtle healing charm as the young male left for his room. The broken man''s poker buddies were just staring in shock at Gabe. "Percy," Harry heard ring out in his mom''s voice a few minutes after he entered his room. A few moments later the attractive woman opened the door and smiled at her son before engulfing him in a warm hug. "Oh Percy I can''t believe it. You''ve grown so much since Christmas!" The young man''s mother cried. The loving woman smelled of all the delicious sweets she sold at the candy store in Grand Central Station. Sally Jackson had brought her son a sample of all his favorite sweets as a welcome home present. Harry soaked in the presence of the delightful woman that embodied the type of mother he had always wished he had grown up with. Warm, loving, and caring are some great adjectives to describe his new mother. Mother and son sat there on his bed and talked about all the youth didn''t put in the letters he wrote to her. She agreed that perhaps her son could go someplace closer to home next term. Their conversation was interrupted by a shout from Smelly Gabe. "Hey Sally how about some bean dip," the poker playing loser yelled. "Gabe," the wizard shouted in warning while lacing his voice with a bit of his power directed at his stepfather. Gabe didn''t say anything else but Harry could have sworn he had heard a whimper come from where the gamblers were playing poker. "What was that about?" Sally questioned with confusion plain on her face. "Oh nothing mom, Gabe and I have come to an agreement," the mage answered the attractive woman. "Alright¡­," Sally spoke in a hesitant understanding, unsure if she liked the sounds of such an agreement. "I''ve got a surprise for you. We are going to the beach," Sally Jackson informed her son with a wide smile. "Montauk," the warlock asked in delight. "Three nights in the same cabin," the woman answered with a confirming nod. "When," the reality traveler wanted to know. "As soon as I get changed," Sally declared even as she stood and left the room to do so. Gabe stayed clear of his stepson as the young wizard and his mother left in Gabe''s car. The rental cabin the pair always used was clear out on the tip of Long Island on the south shore. The structure looked like a little pastel box half sunken in the dunes. There were spiders and sand in the sheets but from his memories Harry recalled that his counterpart had always felt at home there. Harry knew now that it was likely due to his water core power. The mother and son had been going to that rental cabin since Percy Jackson could recall and his mother even longer. Harry knew why Sally liked the vacation spot so much. It was where she had met Harry''s father. All she had told her son about his father was that Harry''s father had to leave when he was young to sail across the Atlantic. The man had been lost at sea she told her son whenever the youngest Jackson had asked. The warlock knew he could look into his mother''s mind with legilimency and find out more about his father but it just didn''t feel right. Dumbledore had no problem invading anybody''s mind at will. Harry only tried with Mr. Brunner and Grover because the warrior mage needed information on an enemy they obviously knew about. Invading his mother''s mind didn''t sit right with the experienced warrior. When the pair arrived at the cabin they went through their usual cleaning routine. After that mother and son walked along the beach eating all kinds of blue candy. Years ago Sally and Gabe had a fight about the existence of blue food. Now the woman bought and made all kinds of blue food in rebellion. She also kept her maiden name of Jackson instead of Ugliano (Gabe''s last name) to prove her rebellious streak. At dark the duo made a camp fire upon which they roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Harry''s mother told him stories of when she was a kid before her parents had died in a plane crash. She was raised by her Uncle who didn''t like her very much. It sounded like Harry''s own upbringing at the hands of Vernon. Sally told her son about the books she wanted to write someday when she had enough money to quit the candy shop. Harry vowed to figure out a way to get her that money. The wealthy reality traveler had enough ?ssets easily so that neither he nor his mother would ever have to work a day in their lives, even immortal lives, if they so wished. The problem was getting the money to Sally without Gabe getting his greedy hands on any of it. If it came down to it Harry had the means to dispose of Gabe but there was no rush. The curious wizard eventually decided to ask his mother about his father to see if she would tell him the same things as before. "He was kind Percy. He was also tall, handsome, and powerful. He was gentle too. You have his black hair and green eyes," reminisced the hard working mother to her only child, a small happy smile on her lips. The reality hopping wizard thought it was somewhat funny that the features his mother described followed him through the veil between the two universes he had lived in during his life. "I wish he could see you Percy. He would be so proud," Sally continued, her smile somewhat dimmed, as she ate a blue jelly bean. "How old was I when he left?" The mage inquired. "He was only with me for one summer Percy, right here at this cabin," the world weary woman answered her son with a wistful smile on her kind face. "Did he know me as a baby?" Harry probed further. "No honey he had to leave before then. He knew I was pregnant with you but never saw you," Sally explained. Harry thought about his earliest memories of his father which featured a warm face and smile. His memories combined with his mother''s explanations led the insightful warlock to the conclusion that his father was powerful if even as a baby in the w?mb he could sense his sire like he had. From there the discussion turned to the young Jackson''s schooling arrangements for the next year. Mrs. Jackson explained that the reason her son was always sent away was to keep him safe. With his occlumency Harry recalled all of the weird incidents that had occurred as he was growing up, incidents that usually involved creatures from Greek mythology. There was the time a man the wizard now suspected of being a Cyclops had stalked a young Percy on the playground. There was also the time the youth had strangled a snake when he was but a toddler. Harry''s mother told him about a summer camp his father had wanted to send him to. But the warm woman couldn''t talk about the camp much without crying because she said she would likely never see her son again if he went there. That night the warrior mage had a dream involving a fighting golden eagle and a white horse. Harry knew the vision was metaphorical in nature tied to prophetic sight. When he awoke from the strange vision there was a storm raging outside of the small cabin. "Hurricane," Sally shouted with some alarm. Just then there was a pounding at the door. When the pair opened the ringing portal they found Grover standing there out of breath. "Percy what didn''t you tell me about school?" Sally questioned her son. Harry then revealed to his mother the events that had occurred with Miss Dodds and Grover piped up about the three fates. "In the car right now," Sally Jackson ordered in a tone that brooked no argument after she had heard the story and Grover''s proclamation that something was chasing the frightened Satyr. The drive from the cabin was harrowing to say the least. Harry''s mother and Grover finally admitted to some of the things the resourceful and intelligent wizard had already figured out on the way to the camp Sally was driving to. Grover was a Satyr and had been watching Harry in an effort to keep him safe from monsters. The trio made it to less than a mile from the camp when the car was struck by lighting and swerved into a ditch. Harry threw up protective charms around himself and the other two occupants of the car on impulse so nobody was hurt. "Percy," Sally began, "we have to¡­," her voice faltered for a moment. "Percy, get out of the car," the frightened woman instructed her son in a deadly serious tone. Harry tried opening his door but it was stuck, held in place by the crumpled metal in the frame. The phoenix mage channeled some of his enhanced strength granted by whatever combination of beings he was at that point. The vehicle''s passenger portal that was the door was torn from its hinges instantly. The strong youth ran around the car and tore his mother''s door off. Grover climbed out after her. "Percy do you see that pine tree? You need to run for it and don''t look back," the wizard''s mother told him. "You are coming with me," the warlock declared. "It doesn''t want us. Besides, I can''t enter," argued Sally. Harry decided that given the danger that moment was an acceptable time to enter his mother''s mind. Knowledge was power and ignorance was a good way to get killed. From her memories and thoughts the mage discovered Sally knew there were ward-like barriers around the camp preventing mortals from entering. Luckily for her Sally Jackson was no longer a mortal. When she had arrived home from work earlier the previous day, Harry had borrowed his mother''s favorite watch for a bit of enchanting. An hour of work had a pocket dimension imbedded in the watch with a philosopher''s stone and elixir extracting apparatus arranged within. A compulsion ensured she would not d?s?r? to ever take the watch off. Every day the device transferred the correct amount of elixir of life into the woman''s blood stream with a switching spell to halt her aging. The small amounts of switched blood were stored in stasis in case she ever needed a transfusion. Why waste perfectly good blood. "You can enter," Harry told his mother. "What? How do you mean¡­," Sally trailed off in confusion. "Just trust me mom," Harry answered firmly. That was apparently good enough for Sally Jackson because she began running behind her son as he and Grover took off for the earlier indicated pine tree. The warrior warlock knew they weren''t going to make it when he heard the beast charging close behind their group. "I''ve got this. You keep going," the phoenix wizard commanded his mother and friend as he turned to face the charging Minotaur. The experienced warlock didn''t even listen to their shouts of protest as he focused on the monster. As the large beast charged with horns down and ready to skewer the trio Harry moved quickly to the side at the last second and hopped on the creature''s back. With a burst of his enhanced strength the mage ripped one of the Minotaur''s horns out. As the creature let out a bellow of pain and rage, but before it could throw off the powerful young male mage, Harry stabbed the horn right into the Minotaur''s forehead. The mythical creature turned into dust just like Miss Dodds had done when Harry had killed her. Sally and Grover were staring in wide eyed shock at Harry from the tree line. The conquering sorcerer ran up to join the surprised pair. As his mother was wrapping Harry in a relieved hug the incredibly powerful and magically experienced mage felt a tugging on the woman in his arms which felt somewhat like apparition. In the blink of a normal human eye the phoenix wizard concentrated and erected an anti-apparition ward around the pair. Harry felt the tug grow in strength and had to increase his power to the ward accordingly. Harry became enraged that some unknown being was trying to take his mother and put out more power than he ever had before. Using his anger to fuel his magic the mage lashed out along the tendril of energy which came from whoever was trying to kidnap Sally until the tugging sensation stopped. Just before the energy attack ceased Harry had sensed a presence which felt like the energy contained within his water core but different. Another being with powers similar to those of where the water core energy came from was responsible for the attempted kidnapping. "Percy what just happened?" Sally asked in concern. "I don''t know mom," Harry answered tiredly. After the intense magical battle and the corresponding expenditure of energy the still growing mage had just enough strength to walk with his mother led by Grover to the main camp building. As they arrived the warlock recognized Mr. Brunner in his centaur form and a pretty blonde haired girl roughly Harry''s own age. "He''s the one. He must be," the girl declared adamantly. "Silence, Annabeth. He''s still conscious although b?r?ly. Bring him inside," the centaur ordered Grover and the just identified blonde Annabeth. Harry let himself fall into a state of unconsciousness as the pair caught him. Harry''s energy loss proved too much for his still growing body to handle. The wizard''s last thought as he slipped from the land of wakefulness was the fact that he knew he still had more energy to give. The youth was exhausted because his new body wasn''t used to channeling so much power. It was doubtful before the merger that his old body would have been able to handle as much power as the combined Harry Potter and Percy Jackson form commanded. As his body regenerated from the damage done the pathways which channeled his power grew like any overused muscle would as it healed. Harry could tell he was sleeping for a long time. He used that time to consciously synchronize his multiple power cores to his new rate of unleashed power transfer. This procedure basically meant that the next time the sorcerer tried to draw so much power so quickly he wouldn''t have the same reaction of passing out. Harry awoke periodically and pretended to be dazed and confused. Such a reaction was only natural to the situation the warlock had just gone through so he played the part. The first time Harry opened his eyes he was met with the vision of the pretty blonde girl whose name he recalled was Annabeth. "What''s going to happen on the summer solstice? Do you know what was stolen?" Annabeth tried interrogating Harry during one of these conscious moments. "You are very pretty. Did you know that?" The mage responded while he grinned at the girl like he was delirious. Annabeth blushed a deep shade of red and Harry closed his eyes. "Very pretty," the wizard mumbled as he went back to sleep. The next time the mage woke up it was to see a being with eyes all over his body standing in the room. "Poke your eye out with a toothpick I will," the warlock mumbled and turned over to go back to sleep. Finally when Harry awoke for the final time it was to see his mother and Grover sitting in the room with him. "Good morning honey or should I say afternoon," Sally greeted her son with a smile before giving him a warm hug. The mage talked with the pair for a while before they had him drink a glass of nectar. Thinking it was just his host''s version of a restorative potion Harry drank the fluid down. The drink tasted a lot like treacle tart. It was quite delicious and filled Harry with new energy. Grover and Sally held off on giving any explanations stating that a Mr. D and Chiron would tell Harry the rest. Finally after a few minutes of talking the pair decided to lead the mostly recovered mage to Mr. D and Chiron. The porch wrapped all the way around the house Harry was staying in. As the trio walked around the porch, the ever curious warlock caught sight of the beach about a mile in the distance. In between the house with the porch and the beach were many ancient Greek looking structures. There was an open air pavilion, an amphitheater, and an arena all made of white marble. There were kids everywhere playing volleyball, shooting at an archery range, canoeing, and riding winged horses. They were all wearing orange Camp Half Blood t-shirts like Harry had noticed on Grover. At the end of the wrap-around porch there sat two males playing cards at a small table. Mr. Brunner the centaur was who Harry suspected as being Chiron from legend. The phoenix mage also noticed the pretty Annabeth who had helped nurse the dark haired wizard back to health. The last man sitting on the porch playing cards with Chiron looked like a grown up Cherub. "That''s Mr. D, our camp director. The girl is Annabeth Chase, a camper who has been here about the longest. You already know Chiron," Grover informed his charge and friend. "Percy¡­good now we have four for pinochle," Chiron greeted his student. Mr. D, the magic s?ns?t?v? mage could tell already, wasn''t what he appeared to be. Harry could feel Mr. D''s power. The energy was immense, more power than Harry had ever felt in a human or wizard. Luckily by adjusting to his new power levels over the previous few days using techniques learned in his previous life allowed Harry to suppress his aura and any other indication of his true power with an obscure branch of occlumency called auramancy. Harry foresaw that if he ran into more powerful beings like Mr. D that he would need that skill. "Well I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half Blood. There now, don''t expect me to be glad to see you," Mr. D huffed out as the warrior warlock took a seat next to the mysterious being. Harry''s mother and Grover leaned against the railing beside Annabeth. "Thanks," was Harry''s simple and calm response. "Annabeth," Chiron called out. The girl stepped forward. "Percy this is Annabeth who nursed you back to health," Chiron introduced. "We''ve met¡­although at the time I thought I was just dreaming about an angel," Harry said while grinning at the pretty Annabeth. Annabeth blushed at the handsome young warlock''s compliment. "Why don''t you go check on Percy''s bunk, Annabeth," Chiron suggested. "Sure Chiron," Annabeth agreed with a nod before walking off. Annabeth was probably Harry''s physical age with an athletic build and a nice tan. Her eyes were storm cloud gray and held a deep intelligence. She reminded the reality traveler a bit of Hermione. "I must say Percy I''m glad to see you alive. It''s been a long time since I made a house call to a potential camper and I''d hate to have wasted the effort," Chiron told the newly arrived sorcerer. "Well you might find I''m stubborn and just don''t die easily," pronounced Harry with a grin. "A shame that," Mr. D said in a bored tone. "Yes well when Grover alerted me that you were something special we got into contact with your mother to let her know we were keeping an eye on you. I taught at Yancy to get a closer look at you," Chiron informed his former academy student. "Grover are you playing or not?" Mr. D asked impatiently. "Yes sir," Grover nervously agreed as the Satyr took a seat. "You do know how to play pinochle don''t you," Mr. D questioned Harry. "I''m afraid not sir," the warlock respectfully answered; surprisingly glad to find something that wasn''t in his vast knowledge base. Harry was respectful to the mysterious and powerful entity because that attitude tended to keep people focused off of those who wished to remain under the radar. "Well it is along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules," Mr. D declared and thereby confirming he was definitely not human. Harry didn''t react externally and just allowed himself a small smile internally. The obviously bored being had nothing on Snape on the irritating scale. Snape was a level nine irritant. The camp director b?r?ly rated a five. The conversation eventually turned to what exactly the camp was. Chiron explained about the Greek gods being real. "So you are Dionysus," Harry respectfully clarified of Mr. D. "You aren''t as dumb as you look," was the God of Wine''s response. Harry accepted the news that the Olympian deities were real in his new reality calmly and that he was sitting next to one. Mr. D waved his hand and conjured a goblet full of wine. "Mr. D your restrictions," Chiron warned. "Oh I forgot," the Greek god muttered. "Mr. D took a liking to a wood Nymph a while back and offended his father," Chiron explained for Harry''s benefit. "Yes and as punishment I''m stuck here with you brats," Mr. D growled while managing to sound like a pouting child. "I win," Mr. D announced a moment later, laying out his cards. "Not quite," Chiron declared while laying down a superior hand. Mr. D just rose from his seat and announced, "I''m tired. Cabin eleven Percy Jackson and mind your manners," the Director of Camp Half Blood told the newest arrival. The strange deity left with Grover to talk about Grover''s performance while watching over Harry. Chiron and Harry chatted for a bit more about the Gods. The pantheon of deities moved from location to location with western civilization which was now centered in America. The insightful wizard could already tell that Half Blood meant the child of a god and a mortal. So Harry at least knew what he was in his new universe, or at least how those around him perceived him. The reality traveler was far more than even a Half Blood with his phoenix and Hallow granted powers. Chiron began to show the mage around camp. Harry knew immediately that he wasn''t going to get to be normal even in his new magical world when one of the campers pointed at the mage and announced, "That''s him." Used to similar attention by that point in his life Harry just ignored the whispers like he had fawning wizards and witches. Well maybe the s?xu??ly active celebrity hadn''t ignored the witches so much in the later years but that was for obviously beneficial reasons. There were campers and Satyrs tending to fields of strawberries. Chiron explained to his charge that strawberries were grown and exported to several New York restaurants, which paid the bills. Apparently Dionysus made sure that the berries grew quickly. The touring pair''s discussion turned to Grover''s performance on bringing Harry to camp. The warlock learned from the Centaur that the young Satyr''s last performance five years ago did not go so well. Chiron didn''t want to talk about the event so he took Harry towards the forest. "The forest is stocked if you care to try your luck, but go armed," Chiron informed the warrior mage. "Stocked with what?" Harry queried. "You''ll find out during capture the flag Friday. Do you have your own sword and shield," the ancient Centaur asked. Not wanting to reveal the sword of Gryffindor yet Harry shook his head in the negative. "Well I''ll check the armory. A size five should do," Chiron muttered while eyeing Harry''s slim athletic build. The cabins numbered twelve and were arranged in a U-shape by the lake. Chiron walked Harry past many of the cabins on their way to cabin eleven where the new arrival would be staying. The warrior wizard got the evil eye and a sneer from a nasty looking girl in cabin five but other than that it was an uneventful walk. Chiron did tell his young charge that he had been teaching his craft for the last 3000 years. That had to be depressing. Harry thought it would seem like it was trivial if all the heroes you train were going to die and most were forgotten anyway. When they neared cabin eleven the dark haired mage saw Annabeth reading a book on Greek architecture. "Annabeth can you take Percy the rest of the way. I have an archery lesson to teach," Chiron requested. "Sure thing Chiron," the blonde answered as she marked her page. It didn''t take a genius from the Caduceus on the door to deduce that cabin eleven was Hermes'' cabin. "Cabin eleven, meet Percy Jackson," Annabeth announced. "Regular or undetermined?" One of the cabin''s occupants asked. "Undetermined," Annabeth answered for the new arrival. It was hard to tell who was saying what because the cabin was packed full of campers. There were campers sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor the cabin was so overflowing. The campers ?r??n?d but an older boy that Annabeth introduced as Luke settled them down. The observant Harry could tell Annabeth had a crush on Luke. After asking a few more questions Annabeth dragged the powerful wizard outside to supposedly see the volleyball court. "Jackson you have to do better than that," Annabeth told Harry after they were a few feet from the cabin. "Care to enlighten me as to what I''m supposed to do better at," Harry requested calmly. "I can''t believe I thought you were the one," the mage heard Annabeth mumble under her breath while rolling her eyes. "Look, all I know was that I just had to fight and kill the freaking Minotaur," the warlock began but was cut off. "Don''t talk like that. Many campers would kill for that chance," Annabeth declared. "A chance at risking their lives," Harry demanded with incredulity filling his tone. "What do you think we train for?" The daughter of Athena asked the new arrival. "How can that be the Minotaur if it was killed millennia ago in the Labyrinth," the son of a god wanted to know. "Monsters don''t die Percy. They don''t have souls like we do. You can kill them for a while, maybe even a whole mortal lifetime if you are lucky, but eventually they reform. They are primal forces," Annabeth explained. From there the pair''s conversation turned to traits common among half bloods like Dyslexia and ADHD. The knowledgeable Miss Chase explained that those traits were to keep a half blood alive on the battlefield. Half blood brains were wired for combat which didn''t lend itself to easy studying abilities. Luckily Harry could focus through such disorders with his occlumency if he found the need to. "Well it looks like we have a newbie," the girl who had sneered at Harry as he walked by cabin five earlier interrupted the conversation. "Clarisse why don''t you go polish your spear or something," Annabeth said with a sigh. "Sure Miss Princess so I can run you through with it Friday night," Clarisse responded. The two females bantered back and forth for a bit before Clarisse turned to Harry and questioned, "Who''s this runt?" "Percy Jackson meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares," Annabeth introduced. "I would say it''s nice to meet you but you don''t seem like a very nice person," Harry bluntly told Ares'' offspring. Annabeth suppressed a snicker at Harry''s statement. "We have an initiation ceremony Prissy," Clarisse began. "Clarisse¡­," Annabeth warned. "Stay out of it wise girl," Clarisse growled with a threat in her tone as she made to grab Harry in a choke hold. Before Clarisse could get her arm around the mage he grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back hard. The strongly held girl''s two friends moved to jump her captor but were stopped by a wall of water which rose out of the nearby lake and flattened them. Annabeth was staring at Harry in absolute open mouthed shock. There was no disguising the immense surprise on her pretty features. "It can''t be¡­," Annabeth stuttered. "Don''t fu?k with me girl," the warrior mage growled into Clarisse''s ear. Harry pushed the annoying girl away and walked off. Annabeth soon caught up to the water controller. "What are you thinking?" The much more composed wizard queried Annabeth curiously. "I''m thinking I want you on my team for capture the flag," the attractive blonde replied with an actual grin which Harry returned. Annabeth showed the sorcerer around some more, telling him several secrets of the camp which were gained from years of experience. Word had spread quickly about the wall of water. Harry heard campers whispering about The Big Three. "I''ve got training to do. Dinner is at seven-thirty tonight so just follow your cabin," Annabeth instructed. "I won''t," Harry ?ssured. As he looked into the lake at that moment, he noticed two beautiful teenage females floating at the bottom. The pair smiled and waved at the wizard like he was a long lost friend. The mage waved back. "Don''t encourage them. Naiads are terrible flirts," Annabeth warned the dark haired male. "Not to me they aren''t," Harry told his new friend as he stripped off his clothes down to his boxers. "I think I''ll go for a swim," the mage informed a blushing Annabeth who couldn''t take her eyes off of his toned and muscled body. The previous weeks of working out his new body had been good for Harry. With the conversation over the warlock jumped into the water and was filled with renewed energy. It felt to the half blood mage like he was home. Harry wasn''t blind to all the clues that had presented themselves throughout the day now that he knew he was a half blood. It wasn''t too hard to figure out that he was likely the Son of the Sea God Poseidon. As he swam around underwater Harry thought about everything Annabeth had told him. As a newly discovered half blood it was expected of him to stay at camp until he was trained sufficiently in the eyes of the camp leaders to protect himself from known threats. Even if Sally Jackson told Chiron and Mr. D who Harry''s father was they have to wait until the cited god claimed his son to move the half blood out of the Hermes cabin. Harry''s mother had been surprisingly tight lipped about his father''s identity. The sea god might never claim his son. Sally probably didn''t want her son to blame his father if the deity never claimed Harry. Harry didn''t really care much either way. Harry Potter knew he had two parents who loved him plus Sally Jackson from his new reality. It would be nice not to have to sleep on the floor of the Hermes cabin for the rest of the summer. The powerful phoenix mage didn''t really need that much rest anyways. Two hours was all that was required after a ritual the wizard had undergone in his old reality. The ritual enchantment used the warlock''s energy in the most efficient ways. Harry could sleep longer than two hours if he needed to. Harry and Annabeth had talked about something weird that was supposed to be coming on the summer solstice. The dark haired mage had overheard Chiron and Grover speaking about the solstice deadline at Yancy Academy but neither Harry nor Annabeth knew what exactly the deadline was. Annabeth knew that something was stolen and was causing the gods to fight. She wanted to go on a quest to help find the missing item because gods weren''t allowed to directly interfere in each other''s territories. They had to use half blood champions. Annabeth had offered to work together with Harry and he had naturally told her that he would like that. The swimming mage was brought out of his reverie by the two Naiads swimming up to him. "Hello," the pair of beautiful water nymphs spoke in voices similar to the mer-people back in the wizard''s old reality. "Hi, I''m Percy," Harry greeted the pair. "We know who you are my lord," one of the beautiful females told the floating mage with a smile. "Is there anything we can do to serve you my lord? Anything at all," the other offered as she swam up behind Harry and rubbed herself against his back. "Hmmm¡­I could think of some things if we had someplace private to go," Harry suggested with a grin. The two Naiads grinned as well and pulled the mage off to a secluded area which concealed the view from the surface by a rocky outcropping. The two females pushed Harry back on a bed of underwater plants and quickly took off the leaf like coverings that only served to cover their genitals and br??sts. Insert Smut Scene Here (See Hpfanficarchive or Ficsite for ?r?t?? version) IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief ¨C IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief ¨C IaNP ¨C The Lightning Thief Chapter 109 - Crossover Fanfiction 11 - A Magical Ending Plot: Watching season 8 of the show I did not care for way things were heading. This is my vision of one possible fix to the ending. Crossover: Harry Potter, GoT Pairing: HPxDT A Magical Ending By Stargatesg1fan1 Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within. Harry Potter I believe belongs to J.K. Rowling. A Song of Ice and Fire belongs to George R.R. Martin. A Game of Thrones probably belongs to HBO. In any case, it is not mine. I just play in their sand boxes. Author''s Note: This is a Harry Potter crossover with Game of Thrones. This is meant to be a short fix to the ending of Game of Thrones. Harry/Daenerys pairing. Warning: Major Spoilers for Season 8 of Game of Thrones! The Crypts of Winterfell Jon was staring at the tomb of his mother thinking about the recent revelation that he was really the son of Lyanna Stark. Then suddenly Jon was Jon but also something more. He was Harry Potter Master of Death. Everything that made Jon Snow what he had been was now contained within Harry Potter. But the seven-hundred-year-old consciousness that was Harry Potter was so much bigger. Jon affected Harry. But it was still predominately Harry. Harry closed his eyes and focused inwards to the dense repository of magical energy contained within him. He felt it, all of it. His magical reserves had made this transition to a new universe and a new body with him. He also felt the portion of his repository which contained the Deathly Hallows. After he had united the hallows in his youth they had vanished and disappeared into him. It had taken him many years to determine that. Now after over seven hundred years of life the immortal found himself in a twenty-four-year-old body. He quickly began ?ssimilating the memories of his Jon Snow identity. Harry was in the crypts of Winterfell looking at the tomb of his mother. Up until very recently Jon had believed himself to be the bastard of Ned Stark and some unknown woman. Now Harry knew himself to be the trueborn heir of the former crown prince and Lyanna Stark, Ned''s sister. Harry sensed her approach even before he heard her. She stopped maybe six feet away and stared at him. He turned to look at her. Daenerys Targaryen was a stunningly beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair. She was also twenty-four-years-old and was Jon''s lover. She was also his aunt. That didn''t matter to Harry. Harry felt Jon''s feelings for this woman. He loved her. Jon had also recently become conflicted about her being his aunt. But Harry had no such conflict. He smiled at her and she walked closer. Harry turned slightly and kissed her. Her lips felt good on his own. "Who''s that you were looking at?" Daeny asked while looking at Lyanna''s statue. "Lyanna Stark," Harry answered. "My brother Rhaegar. Everyone told me he was decent and kind," Daeny said. "They told me he liked to sing and play the harp. He gave money to poor children. And he r?p?d her." Harry turned to Daeny then. He looked her in the eyes and she gazed back. "Daeny, I''ve just learned some important information about Lyanna and Rhaegar. That''s why I''m down here staring at her. I want to tell you. But I need you to promise me that what I''m about to tell you won''t change the way you and I feel about each other," Harry said. "I love you." He pressed a kiss to her lips filled with the intensity of his passion for her. She returned it. "I love you as well," Daeny said. "I promise." "Rhaegar married Lyanna in secret. They loved one another. She was pregnant. That son was born in the tower of joy in Dorne. When Ned Stark went there to retrieve his sister he found her dying from childbirth. He swore on her deathbed to protect her sister''s son," Harry explained. "Robert Baratheon would have had that son killed. So Ned passed the child off as his own bastard. I just learned I am that son. I was named Aegon Targaryen." Harry could sense events were heating up in the world above. He wanted more time to talk to Daeny. So he waved his hand and cast a time dilation charm on the room. Time would move faster for those in the room than it would for those outside of the room. This would give them more time to talk. "That''s impossible," Daeny said. "No. Just highly unlikely. But it did occur," Harry said. "Who told you this?" Daeny asked. "Bran has been trained in Greenseer abilities in the far north. He saw what happened at the tower of joy. Samwell also found records of the marriage at the citadel. He didn''t realize at the time that Rhaegar and Lyanna had a son. But he saw the marriage records. Think about it Daeny. This explains why the dragons are as comfortable with me as they are," Harry pointed out. "That would make me your aunt," Daeny said. "I know. But we don''t have to let that bother us. We''ve already made love and fallen in love. The cat is out of the bag in this case," Harry said. "And that has never stopped Tagaryens before." "I understand. I''m just getting used to the idea. But that would also mean you have a claim to the Iron Throne," Daeny said. "Daeny, this actually makes things easier. You realize the lords of the north are having trouble with the fact that I bent the knee. And if you and I were ever to take our relationship to the next logical step the highborns would have trouble with the fact that I was just a bastard. But this makes things alright. Can you honestly tell me that our relationship could thrive if we weren''t on even footing?" Harry asked. Daeny thought about what Jon was saying. It made sense. "You are thinking of marriage," Daeny surmised. "Aren''t you?" Harry said. "I hadn''t thought that far ahead," Daeny admitted. Harry let the time dilation spell collapse. He felt this was a good time to stop the conversation for now. He wanted to let Daeny think things over. Just then the horns sounded announcing that the White Walkers had been spotted. "You promised your feelings wouldn''t change," Harry said. "They haven''t," Daeny ?ssured. "It is just a lot to take in." "Take it in. And after we survive this there is a lot more you can take in," Harry said. His suggestive tone reminded Daeny that Jon was the same man she had fallen in love with. He grabbed her hand and led her up out of the crypts. They started making their way to their pre-planned positions. But then Harry paused as his mind quickly raced over their battle plans and thought of something. "What is it?" Daeny asked as her lover pulled her up short. "I just thought of a last-minute revision to the battle plan that might really help. I know we agreed the Dothraki would ride out in front in a cavalry charge," Harry began. "Yes. Because they are best fighting in charges," Daeny confirmed. "What of it?" "Let''s hold them back in reserve to reinforce the unsullied and northern forces. Something tells me it isn''t a good idea to have the Dothraki ride into darkness towards a horde of the undead," Harry said. Daeny stared into her lover''s eyes to see where this was coming from. He seemed fairly adamant. She trusted him. She nodded. She spotted Tyrion nearby. She pulled Jon over to him and quickly relayed the change of plans. "Now let''s get to the dragons," Daeny said. Jon followed Daeny to the dragons. He threw some quick enchantments on her outfit to help keep her safe. On their way to the dragons, Harry sent protective enchantments at the clothing of everyone he personally knew. When they reached the dragons Daeny wasted no time in mounting Drogon. Harry didn''t hesitate to get on Rhaegal named after his father. Harry didn''t hesitate because he knew he could kill the creature if it ever got out of line. He had personally killed creatures even more fearsome than the dragon in his long life. When they got into the air Harry quickly conjured a small sphere of stone which runes etched into it in the shape his imagination focused on. Daeny was far enough away as Rhaegal followed Drogon that she couldn''t see the conjuring. Harry imbued the runes with magical energy and then charmed the whole thing into a portkey. The sphere disappeared. Harry had sent the runic construct back to the crypts of Winterfell. He had suddenly remembered Jon''s memories of witnessing the Night King resurrecting the dead after a battle in the north beyond the wall. The runic construct would dampen necromantic energies in a radius wide enough to cover the crypts. The Night King may not be able to resurrect those corpses resting in the crypts. But there was no use taking any chance. When Daeny dismounted Drogon, Harry followed suit. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. She clung to his side for warmth and comfort. Harry used his magic to increase his own temperature to keep her warm. "I can''t see anything. It''s so dark," Daeny said. "It is," Harry agreed. "The anticipation is the worst part. Well that''s not true. The battle is the worst part." "Our forces have to win. There is no other option," Daeny said. Just then the projectiles loaded into trebuchets were lit on fire. The burning balls were then launched towards the horde of white walkers cloaked in darkness. Harry did a spell with the hand that wasn''t holding Daeny. The ground at the rear of the horde was suddenly saturated with temporarily conjured napalm. Even thought he napalm was only temporarily conjured, the effects were just as real. When the flaming projectiles impacted the horde the entire rear section of the horde blazed into brilliant fire. An area approximately 30 feet wide by 500 feet long blazed into brilliance. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of wights went up in flame. The sudden brilliance of light revealed just how many wights were charging towards the defenders. There were perhaps seven or eight times as many wights charging towards the defenders as those who had been burned. "How?" Daeny asked with both amazement and horror. "I had the ground covered in what little we could make in time of a highly flammable mixture. It isn''t wildfire. But it is nearly as destructive. I call it Napalm," Harry explained. "You''re brilliant," Daeny said. "But there are so many left. I think we need a change of plan again. Let''s fly down and burn the wights as they attack." "What about waiting for the Night King to get close so we can kill him?" Harry asked. "With that many wights our men need us," Daeny implored. "Alright. But if we see him be prepared to dodge his ice spears," Harry said. The mass of wights could be seen hurtling towards the rows upon rows of unsullied. When the wights hit they overwhelmed the first few rows of unsullied with sheer numbers and momentum. The wights hurled themselves onto the unsullied with no fear for their own well-being. They were already dead and simply obeyed the will of their white walker masters. The enemy did not feel pain, did not tire, and did not feel fear. It was a terrifying thing for the living to face. Then Drogon flew low over the battlefield and unleashed a swath of flame that bathed a large section of the front lines of wights in fire. Rhaegal flew right behind and covered the next section of the unsullied. "This kind of reminds me of mowing the lawn," Harry thought amusedly. "If grass were ice zombies and the lawnmower was a fire breathing dragon." Harry''s thoughts amused him as he and Daeny urged their dragons to make more passes. Harry felt a sudden connection form with the dragon. It was a magical connection, almost like a familiar bond. He sensed Rhaegal''s emotions. The dragon was excited to bathe their enemies in fire. Harry encouraged it. As they flew higher for another pass Harry spotted a line of White Walkers sitting on undead horses at the tree line. Daeny apparently spotted them too. He knew if he didn''t make a pass then she would try it. He urged Rhaegal towards their target. Harry used magic to focus his vision. He spotted the Night King. He felt a sudden surge of magic. And then a snow storm rivaling the worst blizzard with white out conditions swelled out of the forest behind the Walkers. Daeny had gone to the battle lines and made another pass. This was where she was when the wall of white hit her. Visibility was shit. Harry''s eyes flashed with a greenish glow and he could now see. He used his connection with Rhaegal to guide the dragon. He quickly located Daeny in the gloom. Drogon was getting too close to the ground. Harry guided Rhaegal to fly alongside Daeny without running into Drogon. Harry reached out with his mind to connect with Drogon. At first he didn''t feel anything. But then he was able to get a weak sense of Drogon. The connection was nowhere near as strong as it was with Rhaegal. But Harry managed to convey to Drogon that he wanted them to fly higher. Harry glanced over to the battle to see how it was going. The defenders were retreating inside the castle. But the wights weren''t letting up. Harry guided Rhaegal down to make another pass. It was not easy to do with the blizzard going. But Daeny had Drogon follow the fiery path that Rhaegal had just made. Their single pass each was enough to get the wights off of the defenders as those on the ground retreated. Harry had Rhaegal make a short quick pass along the trench filled with lamp oil and spikes. The trench lit ablaze, giving the defenders enough time to retreat into the castle walls. But even as the defenders finished up getting within the walls, the Night King showed just how many wights he had. He commanded his wights to start piling onto the burning trench at several points. The Night King was sacrificing his minions at the expense of numbers in order to sow fear into his enemies. The flames were overwhelmed by all the corpses being thrown on. Until the other wights were able to run across the backs of the fallen wights. Harry was able to sense where the Night King was sending the commands to his army of wights from. Harry''s gaze followed the magical energy he had traced and his eyes widened. The Night King was hovering over the battlefield near the forest on an undead Viserion, Daeny''s fallen but apparently reanimated dragon. Harry urged Rhaegal after the Night King and the dragon responded. Daeny saw him going and urged Drogon after him. The Night King commanded his dragon higher and higher. The other two dragons followed suit. The Night King tried using the cloud cover to fall back in as Harry & Daeny emerged into the cloudless upper atmosphere. But Harry could see through the clouds. He connected with both Rhaegal and Drogon. Harry sent a sticking charm to Daeny so she wouldn''t fall off. When the undead Viserion surged out of the clouds bellowing a beam of bluish white flames Harry was ready. Rhaegal fell to the side. But not before Harry had made a leap towards Viserion. Due to his master of death status Harry was much stronger and faster than any mortal had the right to be. He drew his sword longclaw and drove it into the undead dragon''s right shoulder joint where its wing connected to its body. The Night King turned his gaze away from pursuing Daeny towards Harry. But it was too late. Harry took the dragon''s right wing off. Night King, undead Viserion, and Harry plummeted. Harry cast a summoning spell on Rhaegal who had gone into a dive. The summoning spell pulled Harry towards his dragon. Even as Harry regained his position on Rhaegal''s back the dragon continued to plummet after their enemy. When the undead Viserion hit the ground, it was with such force that a massive cloud went up. Harry waved his hand and sent a magical wind to disperse that cloud. The Night King somehow had managed to survive that fall. Daeny came down out of the blizzard and saw this. She ordered Drogon to try to burn the Night King. Harry somehow doubted that the fire would be enough if the Night King had survived the fall. But he went ahead and ordered Rhaegal to join in just in case the extreme temperatures of the magical fire would work. It didn''t. When both dragons stopped breathing fire the Night King was revealed smirking. Harry decided to wipe the smirk off of the Night King''s face. The Knight King brought his hands together and began to magically form one of those icy spears which had been used to kill Viserion in the first place. Harry didn''t give him a chance. He ordered Rhaegal to bring him close to the ground, drew his blade, and then leapt off. Harry''s magically reinforced body absorbed the force of the fall when he hit. And then Harry was upon the surprised Night King. The Night King b?r?ly managed to draw his icy blade from the scabbard on his back and block before long-clew cleaved him in two. But the king of the walkers was fast. Harry had fought some fast beings before. But all of them were put to shame by the Night King''s speed. The Night King was pretty darn good with a sword too. He was thousands of years old. The Night King''s crystalline blade glowed with cold energy and rang loudly as it clashed against Harry''s Valyrian steel sword. Harry''s sword let out fiery flashes when it clashed against the Night King''s blade. Daeny stood hovering watching the battle from a safe height. She would later tell her lover that he and the Night King seemed to move almost faster than the eye could follow. She was amazed at his speed and in awe. She wasn''t sure what happened. She didn''t actually see her lover''s blade pierce the Night King. But one moment they were fighting. And the next the Night King exploded into a thousand pieces. Then seconds later every single White Walker exploded and all the wights they controlled dropped back into corpses as the necromantic energy faded from the battlefield. Daeny landed. Harry was breathing hard as he sheathed long-claw. Daeny came running up to him and leapt into his arms. She kissed him fiercely. "I''m so glad you are alright," Daeny said as drew back from the kiss. "I''m glad you are alright too," Harry said. She glanced around and saw nobody was in sight before saying, "Watching you just now¡­I am very ready to take in what you mentioned earlier." Harry pulled her closer to himself and looked down into her eyes, his hands going to cup her rear. "I am ready to come in. Come on. We''ll see how quickly we can get to our room in the castle without anyone noticing," Harry suggested. It turns out they could get to their room very quickly. Harry may have cast a slight confounding spell on Daeny that he immediately removed after he had apparated them to the hallway outside their quarters. He was so turned on by the beautiful woman holding his hand that he simply didn''t care about the ethics of it at the moment. His blood was pumping along with his adrenaline after that fight. He wanted to bury himself in this beautiful creature. As they entered their room Harry stopped. With his blood up so high his magical senses were still amped up. He sensed a weak curse upon Daeny. It was weak but would have a profound effect. It took him a few moments to determine the effect. The curse would make Daeny infertile. But over time if not broken it would likely drive her to some form of madness. Harry reached out with his magic and broke the curse with almost contemptuous ease. He noticed a slight tension ease out of Daeny and she let out a shiver. She turned to face Harry as she reached their bed. "Help me get out of these furs," Daeny said. Harry gladly did so. She returned the favor. Smut Scene Redacted (See Author''s Note at End) "The answer is yes. Yes I want you to be my king," Daeny said. "Alright my queen," Harry said. "This night is far from over." Daeny''s eyes widened as she felt him harden within her. He then proceeded to prove he had more than just stamina for fighting. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Two Days Later, Winterfell Harry stood outside the castle next to Daeny. His left hand held her right hand for comfort. Before them was a large cluster of funeral pyres. On those pyres were the fallen from the battle against the Night King''s forces. There weren''t as many pyres as there could have been. There would have been more if Harry hadn''t killed the Night King as swiftly as he did and if he hadn''t held back the Dothraki. The Dothraki had reinforced the unsullied against the Night King''s horde. Together the two disparate forces strengthened the overall effort. Harry walked forward with Daeny as she approached the pyre which held Ser Jorah Mormont. Jorah had fought bravely. But in the end he had been overcome. Jorah had been with Daeny for a long time. Harry could sense how much Daeny would miss the older knight. When she reached him, she leaned down and kissed his forehead despite the smell coming off of the bodies. The cold helped preserve the corpses longer. Harry glanced around at his family and friends. He noticed Theon standing next to Sansa. Young Lyanna Mormont stood near Arya. Harry had hit young Lyanna with one of his protective enchantments. Jorah hadn''t been around when Harry had been handing out the protections. Neither had Eddison Tollett. Edd had been a good friend. Now he laid on the pyre next to Jorah Mormont. Harry walked out so everyone could see him in attendance of the funeral. He cast a subtle sonorous charm on himself so that everyone would hear him but wouldn''t suspect sorcery at work. "We are here to say goodbye but to also remember our brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers in arms. They were our friends. They set aside their differences to fight together against an enemy that wanted to wipe out humanity. They sacrificed themselves so that human-kind could continue on living. They are owed a debt that can never be repaid. We will repay them the only way we can. We will keep them alive in our memory. They were the shields that guarded the realms of men," Harry said. He was drawing from the vows the men of the night''s watch took. "They will be sorely missed from this world." Harry gestured and a man holding a torch brought it to him. Others including Daeny took up torches. The torchbearers took them forward and lit the pyres. Harry and Daeny walked back to where they stood before holding hands. They watched the pyres burning. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Later, Winterfell''s Great Hall The atmosphere in the room was subdued after the funeral ceremony. "Many of these men fought bravely," Daeny said as she looked about the room. "I was thinking of handing out a reward or two." "Who did you have in mind?" Harry asked. "Well I was thinking of settling this bad blood between our house and House Baratheon. I am given to understand that Gendry did not know his father. He is with your sister. I was thinking of making him Lord of Storm''s End," Daeny suggested in a quiet tone. Harry thought about that. "I think it a just reward. But if he ever takes to drinking and whoring like his father Arya will have his balls," Harry mused. "As is proper," Daeny said with a smirk. Speaking of the devil, Gendry had arisen and was heading towards the front of the hall making for the exit that way. "Now''s your chance," Harry said while nodding to Gendry. "Gendry," Daeny called which brought the attention of everyone in the hall to her. Gendry turned away from facing the exit to the room to face Daeny. "You are Robert Baratheon''s son. Is that correct?" "Yes your grace," Gendry replied nervously. "I did not know that until after he was dead." "I am aware. Robert the Usurper is dead. His brothers are dead. Storm''s End needs a new lord. You are it," Daeny said. "You fought valiantly in this battle." Gendry appeared stunned. "But I am a bastard," Gendry pointed out. "Not anymore. I legitimize you as Lord Gendry Baratheon of Storm''s End," Daeny declared. Gendry didn''t appear to know what to say. Harry rose with his wine goblet in his hand and said, "To Lord Gendry Baratheon of Storm''s End." Everyone else in the hall rose and raised their glasses. "That was a good way to break the tension," Harry said as he sat back down beside Daeny. "I thought so," Daeny said. "When should we announce the plans for us?" "Let''s not do it when people are trying to mourn all of these deaths. I would also like to tell Arya and Sansa first," Harry whispered. "Fair enough," Daeny agreed. "Drink," Tormund declared as he shoved an ale horn in Jon''s face. "No thank you," Harry said with a grin. "We have to celebrate our victory," Tormund tried. "One drink," Harry said while throwing Daeny an amused grin. Harry knocked back the ale horn. He may have vanished some of the contents surreptitiously so that he wasn''t quite so drunk. "To the dragon queen," Tormund called. Everyone cheered and raised their goblets. Daeny rose and called, "To Jon T¡­," She began but cut off. "Snow, the hero of the North and all the Seven Kingdoms." There was much cheering. Both Tyrion and Sansa seemed incredibly curious at Daeny''s slip-up. Tormund chugged an ale horn of his own but spilled much of it into his beard. "Nice save," Harry whispered to Daeny. "I may have had a little too much to drink," Daeny admitted. "I can''t believe you rode that dragon," Tormund declared to Jon. "That was why we agreed to follow you. You are small, but strong. You were strong enough to befriend an enemy. You were murdered for it. But you didn''t stay down." "Forgive me," Daeny whispered to Jon before standing. "Tormund brings up a good point," Daeny said loudly as she stood. "Jon is the kind of man who deserves to be king. That was why the lords of the north wisely chose to make him their king. But Jon doesn''t just deserve to be king in the north. He deserves to be King of the Seven Kingdoms. That is why Jon will be my husband. He will be my King and I his Queen." There was stunned silence in the room for several long moments. Then Lyanna Mormont jumped to her feet and let out a cheer that was soon followed by all those in the room. Sansa looked stunned. Arya wasn''t in the room. Daeny quickly whispered into Jon''s ear, "It is up to you if you want to tell them the truth about your heritage now or wait until after you''ve talked to Aryan and Sansa." "You had good timing about the announcement of our marriage. But I will wait about my heritage until after I''ve told Arya and Sansa," Harry said. Harry and Daeny stuck around at the celebrations that ensued for maybe an hour longer. Then they retired to their shared room to celebrate the announcement in a much more carnal way. It was a good night. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP The Next Morning Daeny opened her eyes to find Jon laying n?k?d beside her in bed. He was staring at her with a look of gentle love and d?s?r?. It took her breathe away for a moment. "What?" Daeny asked. "Just appreciating that I finally found you," Harry admitted. "You''re someone I want to hold onto." Daeny leaned forward and kissed him good morning. "Speaking of holding on. How should we be wed?" Daeny asked. "Well if I remember my history correctly royal marriages have been carried out by the high septon. But personally I don''t like that. I would prefer to get married before a heart tree and the old gods. But more than that, I don''t think we should have a coronation ceremony. We can do that in the future for our children. But I believe we should just call ourselves king and queen once we are married. I don''t want to give the power to coronate us to anyone else. We are king and queen by our own might," Harry said. "I agree," Daeny said after thinking it over. "I do think we will be having a war council today to plan how to deal with enemies in the south." "We should probably get up and get some breakfast then," Harry suggested. "Hmm¡­I want a little treat first," Daeny said with a grin as she gripped his manhood. Then she slipped between the furs. Daeny and Jon would be late to breakfast. But they were in charge. So it was their prerogative. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP War Council "From our tallies it looks like we lost one out of every four men from our fighting force," Harry announced to the room. Everyone began moving a quarter of their forces which included unsullied, Dothraki, and northerners from the map. "It could have been a lot worse," Tyrion said. "Agreed," Daeny said. "Unfortunately we do have some bad news," Verys said as he brought out some pieces for the map with the symbol of the Golden Company on the small wooden pieces. "The Golden Company is now in Kings Landing delivered by the Greyjoy fleet." "We still outnumber them by quite a bit," Tyrion pointed out. "That isn''t counting the dragons." "Would the people learning of our defeating of the forces of the Night King not help?" Missandei asked. "Unfortunately to those in the south the White Walkers have largely been considered myth," Jaimie spoke up to provide a southern perspective. "I did not believe it myself until you presented evidence that was pretty hard to ignore." "Yara Greyjoy has retaken the Iron Islands in your name your Grace," Verys said to Daeny. "And the new prince of Dorne pledges his support." "What about a siege?" Harry proposed. "Yes. The people of Kings Landing have rebelled in the past when they were hungry," Tyrion agreed. "They would do so before too many of them starved," Daeny mused. "Starving them out is better than having to slaughter our people. I have waited many years. I can wait them out a little longer." "It''s agreed then," Jon said. "But before we go south Daeny and I will be wed." "How your Graces?" Verys asked. "Before the heart tree here in the Godswood. It will be a simple ceremony," Daeny said. "The men are still exhausted from the fight with the Others. Might we use the wedding celebration as a chance to recuperate?" Sansa asked. "A week''s delay doubling as celebration shouldn''t hinder things overly much. Do you agree?" Jon asked Daeny. "A week it is," Daeny agreed. "So to summarize," Tyrion said. "King Jon and Servos will take the Kingsroad with the bulk of our forces. The rest will sail to Dragonstone followed by cutting off Kings Landing from the sea. Queen Daenerys will fly on her dragons with the fleet. Is that alright?" Harry and Daeny exchanged a look and nodded their agreement. As the meeting began to break up Harry stepped over to Arya, Bran, and Sansa. "I think we should have a chat about some news before it gets out," Harry said. "Let''s go to the Godswood." As they passed by Daeny she said, "I will prepare for the wedding." "Sounds good," Harry said as he leaned down and kissed her. Harry then pushed Bran''s wheelchair from the room with Arya and Sansa following. It didn''t take them long to reach the Godswood. When they were alone Arya was the first to speak her mind. "What is to stop Daenerys from some day deciding she doesn''t want you as a king?" Arya asked. "That won''t happen," Harry said. "Bran go ahead and tell them." "For our entire lives we were led to believe Jon was the bastard son of Ned Stark and some unknown woman. In fact Jon is the son of our Aunt Lyanna. And he is no bastard. Lyanna wed Rhaegar Targaryen. He did not kidnap her," Bran explained. Arya and Sansa were looking between Bran and Jon in stunned amazement. "But wouldn''t that make her your aunt?" Sansa asked. "Yes. But I''m not worried about that. I tie house Stark and house Targaryen together by blood," Harry said. "We will keep the peace. I know you don''t exactly like Daeny," He said while looking directly at Sansa. "But I''m asking you to set that aside. She was afflicted by a curse that would have driven her to madness. But I have broken that curse." "How?" Sansa asked. Jon decided for a bit of lying here. He walked over to Bran and stood behind the wheelchair. He set his hands on Bran''s shoulders. "When killed the Night King I was rewarded by absorbing many of his magical powers. They present themselves differently in a human. But that isn''t necessarily a bad thing," Harry said as the healing charms he had been working on Bran did their job. "Bran, stand up." Bran tried moving his legs and was suddenly able. He began trying to stand out of the chair. But his legs were very weak. Harry and then Arya stepped forward to help him stand. "It''s amazing," Sansa gasped as Bran was able to shakily stand. "He will need to rebuild the muscle in his legs. He has gone so long without standing," Harry said. "I''m asking you as my family to keep the magical powers to yourself. Right now Daeny and I are planning to tell of my heritage just before the wedding ceremony." "We will keep it to ourselves," Arya said. "We will," Sansa promised. "Alright. Let''s get to my wedding," Harry said. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Winterfell''s Godswood Harry pulled Daeny into a kiss to much muted excited from those witnessing the ceremony. The cloak she wore was a mixture of Stark and Targaryen coloring. It was primarily Targaryen though. The small amount of Stark was to honor his birth mother. Daeny pulled back from the kiss with an absolutely radiant smile. She turned to face the spectators, her hand wrapped around her new husband''s arm. They walked from the godswood with those present now aware of the story of Rhaegar Targaryen and his Stark bride. "Now the real party begins," Daeny said. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Winterfell''s Great Hall "Don''t eat too much," Daeny whispered. "I mean to consummate our marriage tonight." "I like the sound of that," Harry agreed. The feast had gone on for long enough. "I can feel that," Daeny said as she slipped her right hand beneath the table into her husband''s ??p. "I can feel that very much." "Woman, you better be prepared to do something with that soon," Harry whispered as he leaned over to her right ear. "I''m ready now. If it wouldn''t be improper I''d be on my knees beneath the table this very moment," Daeny purred. "That would shock the hell out of everyone here to see the Queen servicing her knew King. I''d happily return the favor," Harry said. Daeny suddenly rose bringing the merriment to a halt. "Continue celebrating. My king and I are going to our bed chambers," Daeny announced. Tormund let out a cheer. Harry laughed at Tormund''s antics. Nobody would be trying a bedding ceremony with the king and queen. Harry and Daeny left the room together. They were in for a great night. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP A Week Later, Winterfell''s Courtyard "I''m surprised you aren''t going to ride the dragon south," Tormund said as Jon went over and inspected the horse he would be riding south. "I may be alright riding them. But I am not that comfortable to ride it clear south," Harry said as he approached his old friend. Tormund nodded and said, "I''m taking the free folk home. We''ve had enough of the south down here." "I guess it is the south from your perspective. But to everyone else we are the north," Harry said. "I suppose. The women down here don''t care much for me," Tormund said conspiratorially. "Yes. They like a little bit of sophistication," Harry said teasingly. "The free folk are always welcome to stay here." "This isn''t home. My people need room to wander. It''ll be a lot safer now that you killed that Night King fu?ker. We''ll head back through castle black as soon as the winter snows pass," Tormund explained. "I will miss you my friend. I may fly up on Rhaegal someday to visit. I have a present for you," Harry said as he gestured towards an attendant waiting nearby. The attendant retrieved a package Harry had just magically transported to a nearby store room. The attendant was actually a sophisticated magical object which generated an illusion of an attendant. Harry accepted the package from his attendant and handed it to Tormund. "What is it?" Tormund asked as he eyed the box. "Open it," Harry urged. Tormund opened the box to find a shiny new axe made of real steel. "This is a gift fit for a king, from a king," Tormund declared and pulled Jon into a manly hug. "Hopefully it serves you well," Harry said. Tormund left. Jon saw Sam and Gilly waiting to say goodbye. Harry took one look at Gilly and grinned at his friend. "What?" Sam asked. "I think congratulations are in order. Gilly''s pregnant with yours," Harry said. "You can tell just by looking at her?" Sam asked. "It isn''t quite that apparent yet," Harry said. "But I''ve got a way of knowing." "Well what about you and your new wife?" Sam asked. "When are you going to get a move on." Harry leaned in closer and whispered, "I''ll let you on a little secret. Daeny''s already pregnant." "You two work quick," Gilly commented. "If it''s a boy we want to name him Jon." "I''d be honored," Harry said. Harry and Sam hugged. "You''re the best friend I ever had," Sam admitted. "Don''t fret. You''ve been a great friend as well. I think you and I will be seeing each other in the near future. Until then there is no more Night''s Watch. I have instructed Sansa that you are welcome to stay here for the time being," Harry told Sam and Gilly. "Thank you," Gilly said. "I have gifts for each of you," Harry said. Harry gestured to the attendant again. This time the boxes were smaller. Sam got a necklace with a pendant with a wolf sigil on it along with a dragon. Gilly got a hand held mirror. Both were enchanted to the gills so that Harry would be able to provide some protection at a distance. Tormund''s battle axe was also enchanted. Harry mounted his horse. "Come on ghost," Harry called to his direwolf. Ghost fell in along with Harry and Ser Davos as they left from Winterfell''s courtyard. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Harry was riding down the kings road at the head of his and Daeny''s army when it happened. Daeny had been given a necklace enchanted with Harry''s most protective magic. He sensed her distress. Immediately he reached out with his mind and connected with the enchantments in her necklace. The surge of distress from Daeny was because she was flying on Drogon''s back next to Rhaegal as a ballistae bolt like a giant arrow struck Rhaegal in the ?h?st. Harry tapped a rune on the saddle his horse carried. The rune activated an illusion. The moment he vanished via apparition an illusion sprang up to take his place. The illusion had limited intelligence and should fool the army for a short time. Ser Davos had luckily rode to the rear to check on things there. Harry vanished and reappeared on Rhaegal''s back invisible just as the dragon was struck by a second ballistae that clipped his wing followed by a third through the neck just below his head. Blood spouted out of Rhaegal''s throat. He was going to die from this wound without serious magical intervention. The dragon plummeted towards the ocean. Harry''s eyes would have flashed a glowing green if he wasn''t invisible. Harry raised his hands like a conductor conducting a symphony. But this was a symphony of magic. A very convincing illusion of Rhaegal crashing into the ocean and sinking beneath the waves was weaved. The real Rhaegal became invisible and passed out from the pain. Harry began channeling healing magic into the dragon which would sustain it until Harry could carry out more focused healing spells. Harry levitated the dragon while focusing on Daeny. He watched as Drogon dodged several more ballistae fired by the iron born fleet coming around from behind Dragon Stone where Daeny and their fleet had been heading. The ballistae looked like a giant crossbow that could swivel. Daeny it seemed in her grief meant to attack this fleet. She was forced to abort her attacking dive when a volley of ballistae bolts came hurtling at her. As it was Harry was there to make sure none actually hit his lover or her dragon. The iron born turned their powerful ballistae on the Targaryen fleet. Several ships in the lead were shot through by the powerful ballistae. Harry focused his magical efforts on making sure his men got off the boats. He wasn''t as concerned about the boats. When he felt Rhaegal''s life force getting harder and harder to maintain Harry realized he had to act. "I don''t have time for this," Harry thought. Harry sent a spell into the ocean which conjured up powerful ocean currents to propel the iron born ships away. He sent a few more spells into the ocean which conjured up several giant squids. They wouldn''t last long. But the squids should destroy a few ships and maybe give the Targaryen fleet time to escape. Harry floated himself and Rhaegal over to Dragon Stone to a side of the island furthest from either fleet. He set Rhaegal down and vanished the ballistae volt in Rhaegal''s neck. Blood immediately poured fresh out of the wound. Harry''s hands lit up like miniature stars as he pressed them to the open wound. The healing energy immediately went to work. Normally this type of healing would take a team of wizards. But Harry had many advantages as the master of death. His power overcame the natural resistance to magic that a dragon had. It took him about three minutes to heal Rhaegal''s neck wound. Then he vanished the ballistae bolt in Rhaegal''s ?h?st and repeated the healing process. Harry followed up by treating the wing injuries. Harry then put the dragon into an enchanted sleep and set up a quick invisibility ward by carving runes into a nearby rock before enchanting them. Harry then apparated back to his horse with the northern army and took over for the illusion. Harry immediately reached out with his mind to check on his wife. She was anguished over what had happened. He tried sending soothing feelings over the connection. But she was so very upset. She flew back to dragon stone after the enemy fleet was gone. Harry waited until he sensed the enemy fleet were completely gone before remotely cancelling the concealment ward and waking Rhaegal up. Rhaegal immediately took to the air. It didn''t take long for Drogon to figure out Rhaegal was alive. It wasn''t much longer until Daeny came out stunned to witness the dragon reunion. When Rhaegal touched down Daeny immediately went to him. "How?" Daeny asked as she ran her hands over where she had watched the Ballistae bolts go into her dragon. "It''s a miracle." "Or magic at work we don''t understand," Tyrion suggested from nearby. "At least Rhaegal''s eyes are not blue," Varys pointed out. Daeny looked at him sharply for that comment. Harry sensed his wife''s mood somewhat calming down. But she was still somewhat upset. From what he could gather through the protective enchantment Missandei was missing. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP The Next Day Outside King''s Landing "Maybe I should just reveal my magical nature," Harry thought as he appeared standing near the small group of unsullied with Daeny, Tyrion, Varys, and Grey Worm lined up before them. Daeny had decided to leave Rhaegal behind on Dragon Stone as an extra surprise for their enemies. If they thought the dragon was dead, then it was all the more to their advantage. But Harry was loath to reveal his magical nature to the world. He suspected if he did that then he would get petitioner after petitioner asking him to solve their problems with magic. He would reveal his magic to Daeny and maybe a few trusted other people. But other than that he doubted he would reveal his magic to anyone else. Daeny''s group was facing the walls of Kings Landing. Visible above one of the gates of the wall that surrounded the city was Queen Cersei Baratheon. Although at this point she was Queen Cersei Lannister. Cersei had never loved her dead husband. Standing next to her was Euron Greyjoy, her rumored lover. Standing behind and slightly to the side of Euron was the hulking form of Gregor Clegane, or what was left of him. The Mountain That Rides were an appropriate name for the creature because of his size. The Mountain had been poisoned during his infamous duel with Oberyn Martell. But Clegane''s life had been somewhat preserved by Cersei''s hand, an ex-maester named Qyburn. Harry could sense the darkness coming off of Clegane from here. The creature wasn''t fully alive and wasn''t dead. And standing near the edge of the wall was a terrified Missandei. Unseen to any present, Harry flew up into the air. He had long since learned to fly in his extensive life without the need of a broom. It took some mental focus to do so. Which is why he preferred using a broom. But he hadn''t had time to construct a broom since coming to this universe. So, he would fly himself. He flew over and settled onto the wall near Missandei. Harry performed an illusion on Missandei, knocked the woman unconscious, made the actual woman herself invisible, summoned her to his side, and let the illusion stand in her place. Harry took the opportunity to analyze the numerous ballistae on platforms above the wall. The platforms lined the wall surrounding the city. It was a solid defense. But there was a weakness. A dragon could drop down from nearly vertically above and take out a row of stations. There was a chance one of the other ballistae in the line would be brought to aim at the dragon ?ssaulting the neighboring ballistae before the dragon was able to destroy that row. But Harry thought the chance was pretty small of that working. The gates below opening drew Harry from his contemplation as Qyburn was let out to go speak to Daeny''s forces. Tyrion walked forward to meet Qyburn. Harry cast a listening charm so he could hear what was said. "My lord," Qyburn greeted. "Queen Daenerys demands Cersei''s unconditional surrender," Tyrion replied. "That also includes immediately releasing Missandei of Nath. If that is done then Cersei will be allowed to live." "Queen Cersei demands Daenerys'' unconditional surrender. If she refuses, then Missandei of Nath will die immediately," Qyburn replied. "If you kill Missandei of Nath then I''m afraid Cersei will not be allowed to live. Come Qyburn, we have many troops with which to capture this city. All we have to do is cut you off from any access to food and you will starve," Tyrion pointed out. "It is true that you have many more forces than we would like," Qyburn said. "But your dragon cannot be used. Indeed, we have already ended one of your dragons. We believe your troops can be overcome." Tyrion noted that Qyburn didn''t sound too confident of that. "You didn''t address starving you out," Tyrion noted. "Enough of this," Tyrion said before walking past Qyburn towards the wall of the city. Harry prepared to cast a spell to defend the dwarf. "He''s got balls for one so small," Harry thought. The commander of the gold cloaks ordered his men to aim their bows at Tyrion. Cersei raised her hand and considered giving the order to kill her little brother. She hesitated for some time. But finally she gave the signal to lower their bows. "I know you don''t care about your people," Tyrion said in an understanding tone as he looked up at his sister. "Why should you? They hate you. And you hate them. But you''re not a monster. I know this. I know this because I''ve seen it. You''ve always loved your children. More than yourself." Cersei looked to her left at this after swallowing. Harry could sense the emotions from the woman as she remembered her dead children. This whole conversation suddenly got uncomfortable for her. She may not like her brother. But her brother could figure Cersei out pretty well at times. Not all the time mind you. "More than Jaime. More than anything." She managed to look back at her brother. "I beg you. If not for yourself. Then for your child. Your reign is over. It doesn''t mean your life has to end. You can save your baby''s life." Harry was pretty impressed with Tyrion''s little speech. Harry used his telepathy to look into Cersei''s surface thoughts. He sensed the moment when her resolve hardened. Tyrion had gotten to her. But she didn''t want to show her brother that he had gotten to her. Cersei walked closer to Missandei and said, "If you have any last words, now is the time." "I love Grey Worm," Missandei declared. Harry was also capable of looking into the unconscious Missandei''s mind. He knew that would be her last words. Cersei glanced back at Clegane. The massive creature drew his sword. Clegane''s blade came around for a decapitating blow. But the unexpected happened for those watching. The blade went right through the illusion and Clegane''s head was the one that came off. Harry''s powerful cutting curse had gone through armor, bone, and flesh. Missandei''s illusion vanished. Harry levitated the invisible Missandei away from the wall and over to Daeny''s side. Harry woke Missandei up and made her visible when she touched down. Cersei, Euron, and the commander of the gold cloaks were staring at Clegane''s headless corpse in stunned horror. "What?" Cersei asked in terror. "Magic," Euron managed to get out. Euron had traveled the world and seen many things. Magic while a dying art wasn''t quite as dead as everyone believed. "What do we do?" Cersei asked. Euron had drawn his sword, raised it, and was looking around suspiciously. It was too late. At a gesture from Harry''s right hand, Euron''s blade was ripped from Euron''s grasp, turned, and plunged into Euron''s ?h?st. Euron stared at Cersei in wide-eyed shock. Cersei began to tremble in terror at what she was seeing. "I surrender," Cersei screamed in terror. "I surrender," She screamed repeatedly as she clutched at her belly and dropped to her knees. Harry suddenly had a wicked idea. He gestured at Euron''s body. All it took was a simple animation spell and a bit of illusion. It looked like Euron rose from the dead. In a voice that was loud enough to carry and not at all human, Euron cried, "Cersei Lannister. You have angered the old gods by your betrayal of them in their fight against the Others. You are not fit to rule. Jon and Daenerys Targaryen are the rightful rulers of Westeros. It is only by our mercy that you do not suffer a most terrible fate. Do you wish to avoid that fate?" "Yes," Cersei managed to get out as she cried. "Then you will serve Jon and Daenerys until the end of your days. You will do whatever they say and work towards their best interests. Should you ever betray them then you will regret it," Euron said. "So the old gods, the Gods of the North, have spoken." Suddenly Euron''s corpse dropped to the ground again. "Open the gates," Cersei ordered the commander of the gold cloaks. Harry decided a little more showmanship wouldn''t hurt things. Rhaegal was currently on dragon stone. Harry apparated to the dragon, apparated the both of them just out of sight of King''s Landing, and then directed Rhaegal to fly them. Rhaegal dropped to the ground next to Drogon. Harry slid off and made his way over to a bewildered Daeny. "How?" Daeny asked. "Rhaegal came to me and retrieved me," Harry said. "What''s going on?" "It''s a long story," Daeny said. "Cersei just surrendered. Apparently the old gods of the North intervened." "This should be an interesting story," Harry said. "I will take the unsullied in first and disable those weapons," Grey Worm said after making sure Missandei was alright. "So your dragons can come in." "Good idea," Daeny agreed. It took about half an hour until the weapons were sufficiently disabled that they wouldn''t threaten a dragon. After that both dragons approached the wall. Cersei came out to meet Daeny & Harry. "Your Graces," Cersei began as she knelt. "I pledge myself to both of you. Do with me as you will." Harry and his wife exchanged a look. "We shall decide what to do with you later, Cersei," Harry said. "For now you shall remain with us as we take command of the city." The two dragons took to the air after Harry and Daeny were mounted on horses. They slowly walked through the city, the unsullied marching beside them, with the dragons flying low overhead. The common folk fled the streets at the sight of the two massive dragons. Nobody bothered them as they made their way to the palace. At Cersei''s direction the palace was swiftly opened to them. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Two Nights Later Harry sat up in bed abruptly, covered in sweat. "What is it?" Daeny asked as she sat up next to her husband, concerned. Harry had just woken up from a terrible nightmare. He had lived through events over the past several days since he had arrived in this universe. But the events had happened as if he had never arrived. Jon had told Daeny the truth about his heritage. The curse on her had never been broken. Madness had consumed her. Rhaegal had remained dead. Missandei had truly died. Daenerys had destroyed Kings Landing in a fit of madness. Harry was certain that he had somehow just seen a vision of what this world would be like without him in it. "A very bad dream," Harry said as he calmed down. "It''s ok. I know it isn''t real right now." Harry sat back against the bed and Daeny joined him. She laid her head against his ?h?st. "I don''t sleep very well here yet either," Daeny admitted. "Our forces are getting settled in. Once they do the entrenched Lannister forces shouldn''t bother us," Harry said. "I know. It''s just Cersei has made such a change from what I''ve come to understand she used to be like," Daeny said. "It all just seems a little unbelievable." "You don''t think an experience like you described with the old gods interfering would change a person?" Harry asked. "I do believe it would change her. I''m just uncertain about the abruptness," Daeny said. "Give it time and you will get used to it," Harry said. "I hope so. It''s hard to believe we are now officially the rulers of the seven kingdoms," Daeny said. "Well we are. We can do anything we want my wife. What would you like to do?" Harry asked. Daeny thought about it for a moment. Then she decided on something very naughty they could do. HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP The Throne Room a Short While Later Smut Scene Redacted (See Author''s Note at End) HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP ¨C GoT ¨C HP Epilogue, Eight Years Later Harry watched amused from where he lay beneath the branches of what would have been known as a weeping willow tree in his old universe. Daeny lay curled against his side. He was amused because their children were playing hide and go seek with several other children. Their oldest son James had managed to turn himself along with his dragon Dragar invisible as he hid. While Dragar was currently only the size of a house cat that was still quite the impressive feat. The current person that was supposed to find the other children was Harry & Daeny''s youngest and their only daughter Isabelle. Her little dragon Talya was perched on her shoulder covering her eyes with her wings. Their middle child of three, their son Rhaegar, had just scaled a tree which shouldn''t have been scalable by a child of five name days without magic, especially with his dragon Heartoc clinging to him. The other children included the little girl and boy belonging to Missandei and Grey Worm. Harry had restored Grey Worms manhood to him. Despite that and perhaps because of it Grey Worm still allowed Missandei to occasionally grace their King and Queen''s bed. It was only occasionally. Also present were the three children of Sansa and Willas Tyrell. Willas had managed to survive the travesties the Lannisters carried out against House Tyrell. While House Tyrell had not managed to regain its former glory. Much had been done to help them. Harry & Daeny had made the Lannisters pay some reparations to Willas. Arya and her husband Gendry were present with their single son Walter. It hadn''t appeared as if Arya would settle down with Gendry. But she had consented after much patience on Gendry''s part. But she still liked her independence. Their son Walter was too young to play the game at only two name days. Bran and his wife Meera Stark, formerly Meera Reed, were present with their two sons. Sam and Gilly were present with their four children, three of which were Sam''s children. Most of the ?du?ts were either walking around the garden or somewhere on the estate. They were at the royal estate built in the north called Dragon''s Retreat. Harry had commissioned the estate to be built three years ago. Harry & Daeny took their children to the estate often. In fact it seemed like they were present at their estate more often than in the capitol. Tyrion did most of the day-to-day ruling. With their dragons they could be in Kings Landing very shortly. That was if Harry didn''t just apparate them there. Harry had revealed his magic to his wife shortly before their first son was born. She had been pleasantly surprised after she had gotten over how much he had kept from her for so long. "Your children are absolutely adorable," Sansa told Jon from where she lounged in a chair nearby cuddled up with Willas. "Yours aren''t hard on the eyes either Sansa," Daeny replied. Harry and Daeny often invited their friends and family to their home away from home. "How have things been in the Reach?" Harry asked Sansa and Willas. "As well as can be expected," Willas said. "Things have slowly been returning to what they were before the war with the Lannisters." Sansa squeezed her husband''s hand. She knew how much it pained him to think of his family. But that was what happened when one played the game of thrones with the Lannisters. "Have the Lannisters given you any further trouble?" Daeny asked. "No. Ser Jaime has learned the value of honor well," Willas said. "It took him long enough," Bran said from where he & Meera were cuddled up in a lounge chair similar to his sister & Willas. In fact most of the couples were either lounging in chairs meant for two or cuddled up on blankets laid out on the ground. Bran had managed to gain some of his humanity back after Harry had taught Bran a form of occlumency. Bran now had some greater measure of control over his Greenseer abilities than any Three-Eyed Raven of the past thanks to Harry. "That it did," Arya said from where she sat next to Gendry. After things had settled with Cersei surrendering, Tyrion had been made the rightful heir to Casterly Rock. Jaime had been made the castellan of Casterly Rock for Tyrion while Tyrion ruled in Kings Landing as the Hand of the King. Harry and Daeny had talked it over. After learning of the wildfire the Mad King Aerys had placed beneath Kings Landing, Daeny & Harry both agreed that Jaime had been justified slaying Aerys for attempting to murder everyone in the city. Despite the they still couldn''t justify keeping him in a position of a kings-guardsman. This was especially true when factoring in his crime of pushing Bran off the tower in Winterfell. Since Bran was now healed of the injury it had been decided to forgive him of that incident in light of his saving of Kings Landing and his later fighting with them against the White Walkers. Jaime remained tucked away at Casterly Rock. After a number of years of faithfully serving Daeny & Harry in Kings Landing Cersei too had been returned to Casterly Rock. If Cersei ever tried misbehaving again he could call her to him at a moment''s notice. She wore an ankle bracelet he had enchanted which could never be removed except by him. The bracelet was a portkey and monitoring charm. Harry found it amusing to consider her on house arrest. Harry had managed to locate Tyrion''s first wife Tysha. The story of how Tyrion had been told Tysha was actually a whore and what Tywin had done to her was an incredibly sad one. But Tysha had not been a whore. Harry had located her and brought her to Tyrion. The two had been able to come together and rekindle their love. Tyrion was immensely grateful for that. Between Arya & Sansa on the ground there was a whole pack of direwolf pups playing along with the older generation of wolves such as Ghost, Nymeria, and the other survivors. Harry had taken his wolf north of the wall so Ghost could find a mate. More mates that weren''t siblings had been found for the other wolves. "So you promised to tell us about your trip to Valyria," Arya said. Everyone else perked up at this conversation. Everyone present including their spouses were in on the secret of Harry''s magic. They were not able to speak of it with anyone not in the know thanks to a binding magical spell similar to an oath that Harry had cast. There were no repercussions for letting out the secret unlike an oath because it would not be possible to reveal the secret without Harry releasing them. Harry had made several trips to the Valyrian free hold over the years. The first had resulted in finding more preserved dragon eggs along with the knowledge on how to hatch them magically. Harry had done so. Which was why their children had dragons. "We finished looting the continent of everything of value," Daeny supplied. "Then I disabled the wards which caused the Doom," Harry said. Harry had discovered that the actual cause of the Doom was an experimental set of magical wards the Valyrians had been testing. The wards weren''t for defensive purposes, but for providing power to their cities. The wards were a failure. The least damaging side-effect of the failed wards was causing terrible volcanic activity throughout much of the continent. "The continent should return to being habitable within a few years," Daeny added. "But there are still some places that I wouldn''t want to go. The Valyrians weren''t shy about experimenting with nasty magic. I''ve hidden away that magical knowledge and will slowly sort through it as I get time," Harry said. "When you say you looted the entire continent," Sansa began. "Do you mean the entire continent?" "Yes. Everything of value," Harry confirmed. The Valyrians had been beyond wealthy. As a result, Harry & Daeny now had more gold and jewels than they knew what to do with. That wasn''t even mentioning the other artifacts such as scrolls, books, steel, and the like. Harry now knew how to make Valyrian steel. "Which brings us to presents," Daeny said excitedly. Harry handed Daeny a sack that appeared to come from seemingly nowhere. Daeny rose to her feet. She began walking around handing out shrunken ?h?sts. Harry couldn''t help but admire his wife''s form. She had come through childbirth well. Her figure was full and still very firm from her lifestyle of exercise. Harry looked forward to a very long life indeed with his wife. Harry hadn''t yet revealed to Daeny that they were both now biologically immortal. It wasn''t until after his wife had died in his first life had died that Harry had truly began to unlock most of the powers of the Master of Death. But he had experienced a long and good life with Hermione before she passed. Now that he knew how to prevent their passing, Harry had made sure to lock their physical m?tur? at about twenty-five years of age. While Harry couldn''t do so for anyone that wasn''t his chosen mate, he could extend life-times using his power as the Master of Death. Each of those present would easily live past five centuries. Some would see seven centuries. Sam was the first to unshrink his trunk. All those present had received gifts before with shrunken items. They knew how to tap the rune sequences on the items to expand or shrink them. Sam & Gilly stared in stunned amazement at what was in the expanded ?h?st. "What the hell," Sam declared when he beheld the seemingly endless mountain of gold inside. "How much is in here?" Sansa asked in awe as she opened her own ?h?st. "Each ?h?st contains two million golden dragons, our gift to you," Daeny said with delight. There was stunned amazement by all. A flood of thanks and exclamations of surprise followed. "Is this Valyrian steel?" Gendry asked after he opened the second compartment of the trunk and found several suits of armor, swords, and daggers. "Yes," Harry confirmed with a grin. "I learned how to make it. You all have armor and weapons made out of Valyrian steel. I also figured out how to charm it so that it will grow or shrink with you as your bodies change." "This is a gift beyond compare," Bran said. "Thank you." "You are our family and friends. You deserve nothing less," Daeny said. "Did the Valyrians use golden dragons as currency?" Arya asked after everyone had returned to their seats. "No. I magically changed the shape of the coins they used as currency to dragons," Harry explained. "Let me show you some of what we experienced in Valyria." Harry brought out a pensieve and projected some of their memories for all present to see. It took several hours. While the others viewed the memories Harry just relaxed his wife and basked in her presence. Daeny was like a balm for his soul after so many years spent without a true love. After Hermione''s death he had been with women. But none that he had allowed himself to love. After coming to this new universe he had decided to let himself truly love again. He was so glad he did. "You seem happy," Daeny projected her thoughts at her husband knowing he would pick them up. The two spent more time conversing mentally than verbally these days. "I am," Harry said. "Making our family happy makes me happy." "I think they were all pretty darn happy with the magical indoor plumbing and heating & cooling you installed for them," Daeny pointed out. That was true. Their friends & family had been pretty ecstatic about that. "It''s more than just that. Life has been very good to us," Harry said as he enjoyed the feeling of Daeny leaning against him with his arms wrapped around him. "Pretty much thanks to you," Daeny sent. "I love you." "And I you," Harry said. Life had held its low points. But they were few and far in between since the end of the war for the Seven Kingdoms. After his dream of what life would have been like without his presence, Harry had made sure to deal appropriately with Varys. Varys had kept his position as Master of Whisperers. But Varys was not truly trusted. Varys could be trusted to do what was best for the people of Westeros, even if that meant going against his Kings and Queen. Tyrion was aware of this. Harry was aware of this. There were so many charms monitoring Varys at all times that Varys couldn''t have a conversation without a transcript being generated of it. Harry used magical portrait versions of himself and Tyrion to monitor those conversations for anything they would find of importance. Bran actually held the position that most didn''t know about. Bran was a secondary Master of Whisperers using his Greenseer abilities to detect anything Varys couldn''t. The people of Kings Landing were flourishing under Daeny & Harry''s rule. Harry had managed to use a similar magical portrait system to carry out most of their ruling. The portraits were actually capable of projecting believable illusions much like the projecting pensieve. So when Daeny & Harry were sitting in court hearing petitioners most days it was actually these portraits. Daeny & Harry needed to do very little to rule the seven kingdoms. Most of the time they stayed at their estate or traveling with their family to see new sights. Daeny relaxed in the embrace of her husband''s arms. He was a traveler from another universe. He held immense political power as king and even greater power through his magic. But he chose to spend most of his time with her and their children. That more than anything showed Daeny his love for his family. And she loved him just as much in return. Her early days of life may have been challenging with all she had been through. But the journey was worth it when she got this as a result. "But the journey is just beginning," Daeny thought as she looked around at her friends & family. Harry was of a like mind as he spent his day in the gardens of his estate. There would be many, many more days like this in this world of ice and fire. The End Rev 0 Finished 5/19/2019 Author''s Note 2: As I watched season 8 of Game of Thrones, I grew horrified with the direction the writers had decided to take Daeny''s character. I thought it incredibly foolish for Jon to rebuff her affections. This plot device of making Daeny the mad queen was not something I could get behind. As of this point I have watched all but the last episode of the series (S8 E6). They may turn this plot line around. But Daeny destroying Kings'' Landing on Drogon''s back makes it kind of hard to see how they would do that. This is my version of a happy ending for Jon & Daeny (in this case Harry & Daeny). I hope you enjoyed this short fix to the ending. Edit 5/20/2019 (Posting Date): I''ve watched the ending to the show. It made me want to post this fix. Enough said. If you want to access the ?r?t?? versions of any of my stories follow the following instructions: 1) Go to Facebook and join the group Stargatesg1fan1''s Fanfiction Works and Favorites (make sure you answer the security question) 2) Go to the Announcements section of the group. You will find a link in one of the posts to a Google drive folder. Inside that folder are copies of all of my stories (the smutty versions). Note: If you create a new Facebook account it has to be with a legitimate name. I won''t add anyone to the group that looks suspicious (it has to be a real person''s name). For example, using the name "Lazy Lazy" is not a legitimate name. I have chosen to move the ?r?t?? versions of my story to a less accessible forum which can be more closely controlled. If you cannot accept that then you don''t need to be reading my stories. For those who can accept it, enjoy. Stargatesg1fan1 Chapter 110 - Crossover Fanfiction 12 - Harry Potter: Deathly Avenger Plot: This story looks at how the events of the Avengers movie would change if a powerful and skilled Harry Potter arrived from another universe around the beginning of the movie. Harry/Natasha pairing. Extremely powerful Harry. Crossover: Harry Potter, Avengers Pairing: HPxBlack Widow (Later onwards Sif) Harry Potter: Deathly Avenger By Stargatesg1fan1 Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized character or universe within. Author''s Note: I started writing this story three weeks ago after having read Harry Potter: The Avenger by Kb0. That story is very good, particularly in its portrayal of Natasha Romanov and made me crave more fanfic time with her. I went looking for more fanfics that were Harry/Natasha and found a distinct lack of any good quality fics with that pairing of a sufficient length to sate my appetite. So I wrote my own. Natasha Romanov/Black Widow is played by Scarlett Johansson HP ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C HP Chapter 1 Midgard, Earth, Over the Atlantic Ocean off the Coast of North America, 2012¡­ Harry came into being n?k?d. He had only a moment to contemplate his n?k?dness and the fact that he was in a new universe before gravity took hold along with the vacuum created by an invisible machine located right below him. He was su?k?d right into the turbine of some kind of high powered giant thruster fan. Harry got stuck in the fan on the way through. If he had still been mortal the fan might have won and cut him to pieces. As of a few minutes ago Harry had ceased to be mortal which is basically how he ended up in this new universe. Harry was 477 years old. Really, he reflected as he tore through the thruster ?ssembly, in order to understand his current predicament one had to go back much further than the last few hours of his existence. But he didn''t exactly have much time for reflection at the moment for he was knocked out of the thruster ?ssembly which promptly let out a small explosion as debris caused it to stop after it had thrown Harry out. Gravity once more took hold and Harry really wished for his broom right about then. He was preparing to try a wandless levitation spell on himself which would make him float really awkwardly when he suddenly realized he knew how his broom worked magically on a level he couldn''t have perceived before. And Harry realized he could mimic the magic of his broom so promptly did so and he immediately stopped falling. "Well this is pretty awesome," Harry told himself. Harry only had a moment to congratulate himself on his new discovery before the aircraft he had just damaged by accident started falling out of the sky. Aircraft was a misnomer. After Harry activated a spell which allowed him to peer through most forms of cloaking he could see that the flying vessel was actually an old style aircraft carrier with four giant thruster fans. Harry conjured a massive piece of carpet, charmed it physically unbreakable so it could take the weight of that corner of the aircraft carrier without tearing, and then charmed the carpet as a flying carpet. Immediately the aircraft carrier stopped falling. Harry then flew over to the thruster fan and used a repair charm to repair the physical damage. The control circuitry that had been damaged by the explosion would need to be replaced manually. Harry could repair the circuitry too but it would take a more detailed study of the control systems. In Harry''s time the energy manipulations of wizards had come a long way. As Harry had done his work he had noticed several fighter jets had appeared watching him from the top of the carrier, hovering. He noticed their weapons were pointed at him but he gave them no mind. He was trying to do the repair and ?ssimilate all the memories and knowledge he had absorbed from his old universe. Some of that knowledge was in Harry''s conscious mind but a lot of it had been thrown into his subconscious. Harry finished the limited repair and flew to what he could tell was the bridge of the craft. Harry vanished a section of the window big enough for him to fly through, went through, and then replaced the window. Guns were immediately pointed at Harry. "I come in peace," Harry said while holding up his hands. "Who are you?" A black man with one good eye and an eye patch covering his other eye demanded. Harry got the sense that this was the man in charge. Harry used surface legilimency to start getting names and found legilimency was even easier to use than normal except on the man known as Dr. Bruce Banner. Banner had some kind of primal consciousness mixed in with his own similar to werewolves. Eye patch was Colonel Nick Fury who was in charge of the agency known as SHIELD. Harry was onboard a SHELD helicarrier. "The name is Harry. I just arrived in this universe," Harry admitted. "You arrived in this universe from where?" Fury demanded, while trying to ignore the admiring looks of most of the women on the bridge. "Why are you here? And would someone get this man a pair of pants." "I hadn''t intended to come to this universe but something very powerful decided to kick me out of my home universe after I became powerful enough to threaten it a few minutes ago," Harry admitted. "And I can provide my own clothing thank you," he added while vanishing the grime from his form and conjuring himself a new outfit. "What are you?" Fury demanded. Harry had walked closer to the round briefing table sitting in one corner of the bridge as he spoke. The guns were still trained on him but he ignored the weapons. They no longer threatened him. Instead he walked up to the gorgeous redhead standing next to the table, Natasha Romanov AKA Black Widow, and while taking her hand he kissed the back of it. "Harry Potter, Wizard, at your service, beautiful," Harry said with his best roguish grin. "Mr. Potter, release my agent," Fury demanded. Harry dropped Natasha''s hand and turned to face Fury. "You know you are kind of rude," Harry told Fury. Steve sensed things were getting tense so stepped up and took Harry''s hand in a shaking gesture and said, "Steve Rodgers. It''s a p???sur? to meet you, Harry." Harry grinned at Steve and replied, "Likewise. I like you Steve. You have manners." Bruce then stepped forward and took Harry''s hand and introduced himself. "Bruce Banner, Mr. Potter," Bruce greeted. "Call me Harry," Harry invited. "I''m a scientist and find the idea that you are from another universe fascinating. I would love to compare the similarities and differences between our universes at some point," Bruce stated. "Dr. Banner, this is not the time," Fury chastised. "Mr. Potter, what did you do to my helicarrier?" "Well I didn''t really intend to do anything to it. When I materialized in this universe that thruster engine ran into me. I''ve repaired the physical damage to the thruster ?ssembly itself but I''m afraid the resulting explosion did in some of your control circuitry. So I made a magic carpet to hold that corner of your ship up while you repair your thruster," Harry explained. "Magic carpet," Fury said skeptically. "I am a wizard. Magic is sort of implied in the name," Harry pointed out. Steve openly grinned at that response. Harry thought he caught amusement in Natasha''s eyes. "You know¡­if you are going to be so rude I can happily go find somewhere else on this world to amuse myself. I do need to get acquainted with this world. Please tell me you all still have pizza on this Earth?" "Oh we definitely do," Steve confirmed. "I''m afraid I can''t allow you to leave, Mr. Potter," Fury stated. All traces of friendliness vanished from Harry''s countenance and he fixed Fury with an icy gaze. "Director Fury," Harry began as the temperature in the bridge noticeably dropped, his tone cold. "I could vaporize you and this entire helicarrier with very little effort and there is nothing you or anyone in this room could do about it. Believe me when I say I can leave any time I want to. I won''t vaporize your multibillion dollar toy because I like Steve and Bruce here and feel Natasha there is too beautiful to die in such a way despite the fact she hasn''t said a word to me." There was silence for several moments and then Fury asked in a whisper that carried across the bridge, "How did you know her name?" "Everyone projects their name quite clearly via their surface thoughts," Harry answered honestly. "Harry, you seem like just the guy to help us out with a problem we are having," Steve said. "Oh, do tell," Harry said as he took a seat at the table. "I hope you don''t mind but traversing universes really takes it out of a guy and I would like to sit down." Fury gestured for his men to finally lower their guns. Just from the few tricks Potter had performed Fury wasn''t sure the guns would have done any good anyway. The guy had survived falling through one of the helicarrier''s thruster turbines. "We have an angry Asgardian that may or may not be a god wreaking havoc on Earth. He goes by the name of Loki, the Norse God of Mischief and Trickery," Steve explained. "Oh we had one of those in our universe too. He was a really powerful wizard," Harry mused. Fury exchanged glances with his second in command Maria Hill. If the wizards in Potter''s home universe could pass themselves off as gods then that meant Potter was likely at least in the Asgardian weight class as far as power was concerned. "Loki stole an object of nearly limitless energy known as the Tesseract after killing a lot of people. We were just about to begin working on tracking the Tesseract when you showed up," Banner stated. "Agent Coulson, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory?" Fury requested. Fury had been about to ask Natasha to guide Banner to the laboratory which had been prepared for Banner before Potter''s arrival. But Romanov seemed to be a calming presence on Potter or at least she exerted some small influence over him. Coulson and Banner left. Fury switched mindsets. He still didn''t trust Potter''s sudden appearance but it appeared Captain America liked the wizard. Cap''s opinion carried a lot of weight with Nick. Besides, it wasn''t like Banner was any more trustworthy given the creature he could turn into. It seemed like Rodgers was laying the groundwork for recruiting Potter into the Avengers initiative. It was time Nick got to know Potter a little better so he sat down at the table and began talking with Potter. Harry had finally seemed to gain a measure of Fury''s trust or rather Fury wasn''t actively hostile anymore. From what little digging Harry had done in Fury''s mind the SHIELD Director didn''t trust anybody. Harry had also determined that he was going to have fun here. There were so many interesting things going on. "Agent Romanov, would you escort Mr. Potter to guest quarters so he can get settled in. It might be a while before we get a hit on Loki or the Tesseract. Mr. Potter, we will let you know when we do so that you can be involved," Fury explained. Harry nodded and followed the attractive redhead Natasha out of the bridge. As he followed her she was projecting thoughts in his direction, primarily the thought, "Are you reading my mind." "To answer your question, no I am not reading your surface thoughts. But you are projecting that thought so loudly I can pick up on it without actively trying. Do you have telepaths in your universe?" Harry asked. "Yes. But they generally don''t make a habit of letting us study them so they aren''t well understood," Natasha answered. "I can understand why," Harry said wryly. "So what powerful being kicked you out of your universe?" Natasha asked, hoping to gain some Intel on the newest possible recruit to the Avengers initiative. Before Harry could answer Natasha''s earpiece beeped. She held up a finger at Harry and pointed towards her earpiece. "This is Widow, go ahead." She listened for a moment before saying, "Acknowledged." To Harry she explained, "They have located Loki in Germany. We need to go get ready for a mission. Are you good to go so soon or do you need to recoup?" "Oh I''m good to go. I worked as an Auror and then a Hit Wizard for a couple of decades each. We had to be ready to go at a moment''s notice," Harry explained as he followed Natasha to where he was ?ssuming they were going to gear up. Natasha didn''t know what an Auror was but she could guess what a Hit Wizard was. "How old are you? You don''t look several decades older than the age people generally start working," Natasha mused. "Why thank you. That is always nice to hear. I am 477 years old," Harry answered, causing Natasha to stop and look at him in amazement. Natasha composed herself again and continued walking. "The more I hear about you the more you sound like an Asgardian," Natasha admitted. "Though only Loki has demonstrated some of the abilities you seem to possess and he had to use some kind of scepter to do it. I think the scepter was providing a lot of the power because it had a glowing crystal of some sort in it." "Hmm¡­I would like to study these Asgardians. Maybe they have a way to help me gain access to my home universe," Harry mused. Natasha and Harry reached the room with the gear in it and found Steve gearing up already so they didn''t really have much time to talk further. HP ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C HP Stuttgart, Germany¡­ Natasha piloted the transport ship close enough to the facility Loki was at, the Stuttgart Science Institute (SSI), to get Harry and Steve close enough to reach the facility swiftly but far enough away not to alert Loki to their arrival prematurely. Harry held on to Steve and flew out the back of the transport and silently towards the SSI. They arrived to see multiple Loki''s holding a glowing scepter standing around a crowd of people. Only one human, an older German male, was not bowing. Loki was just saying, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." Loki said this while aiming his scepter and preparing to kill the German man. Harry dropped Steve at just the right position that Captain America was able to drop down and bring his Vibranium shield in front of the scepter blast. The energy blast reflected right off the shield and straight back into Loki, knocking the Asgardian down. "The last time I was in Germany I saw another man standing above everybody else," Steve said as Loki got to his feet and Harry touched down off to the side. "I ended up disagreeing with that man." "The soldier," Loki said with a disdainful tone while looking at Steve. Then he shifted his focus to Harry and Harry immediately felt Loki''s magical senses probing out at Harry''s being. Harry deflected the probe which immediately drew back. "And who are you?" "The name is Harry," Harry answered. Natasha chose that moment to pilot the transport into position and while hovering lowered a nasty looking automatic weapon on a swivel mount out of the belly of the craft. "Loki, drop the scepter and surrender," Natasha''s magnified voice came out of the transport. Loki responded by firing an energy blast at the transport which Natasha managed to avoid. At the same time Steve threw his shield at Loki before surging forward and punching the Asgardian. Loki responded by two hits with the scepter which Steve managed to block before the third swift blow sent Captain America tumbling. Harry strode forward and caught the scepter as Loki attempted to hit the wizard. Loki tried jerking the scepter out of Harry''s grip but to the Asgardian''s dismay it didn''t work. Loki lashed out with a fist and tried striking the wizard. Harry''s normal technique when facing a foe so strong was to augment his own strength with telekinesis, a technique he had long ago mastered. Harry was finding he didn''t need to do that anymore. Whatever transformation he had undergone or was undergoing as a result of his transition to an immortal being had made him stronger, a great deal stronger. Harry deflected the strike with his free hand just enough to avoid it while kneeing the Asgardian in the groin. Loki let out a wheezing cry and in his weakened state he lost his grip on the scepter. Harry twisted the scepter free from Loki''s grasp and sent a massive stunning spell out of his hands towards Loki. Unexpectedly the gem of the scepter reacted to the stunning magic and amplified the effect. The stunner smashed into Loki and pressed the Asgardian against the ground as the energy filled his entire form. Loki didn''t even twitch. Harry checked Loki''s vitals to make sure the Asgardian was still breathing and found that Loki was out cold but still alive. Steve stood staring quite surprised at what he had just observed. "Nice job, Harry," Steve complimented as Natasha set the transport down. "Yeah¡­I didn''t mean to get him so hard but this scepter amplified my magic," Harry said as Natasha approached. "How long will he be out for?" Natasha asked. "I''m not sure. I know nothing of his physiology. With that amplified stunner I just sent at him¡­if he had been human he would have died. I really didn''t mean to hit him that hard. But I can construct some restraining cuffs that might hold him magically restrained even if he does wake up," Harry offered. "Please do," Natasha replied. "While I''m doing that could one of you locate every person Loki killed at this site?" Harry requested. "Why?" Steve asked, confused. "I would rather not say until after I have encountered the first one," Harry replied. "Sure, I will see what I can do," Steve answered before walking off towards the nearby SSI. "Do you need any help?" Natasha asked Harry. "You could make sure nobody bothers me. I need some considerable focus to summon a sizable quantity of dark and negative matter and then forge it into an alloy to restrain Loki," Harry answered. "Sure," Natasha agreed. Harry closed his eyes and held his hands out. Immediately darkness surrounded his outstretched hands. The light seemed to fade from the region between his outstretched palms and it grew darker and darker. Eventually something like a dark glow seemed to form in a tiny region of space midway between his palms. A blackness started to flow out of that region and glide to a region to the right of his right hand which was encased in a light blue glowing shield. It looked like Harry was collecting that exotic matter in a containment vessel. Natasha watched fascinated as Harry collected a healthy portion of that material about the size of her torso. Then he started collecting an energy that shifted colors and crackled like lightning in a silvery containment cage. After he had the same quantity of material as the dark material, Harry pushed the two cages together. Natasha watched as the material let off brilliant bursts of light and small explosions formed within the containment cage. Then the glow faded and a faintly shimmering material that looked like a metal was left in the cage. Harry dropped the cage and gestured towards the alloy, reshaping it telekinetically into a set of manacles. His fingers danced and glowing runes were etched deeply into the alloy in a configuration that Natasha had no hope of understanding. The runes faded to a b?r?ly noticeable glow slightly less bright than the metal. Harry flicked his hand towards the unconscious Asgardian and the manacles flew onto Loki''s wrists. All of this had taken more than fifteen minutes and Harry appeared to be a bit taxed. But then his form shimmered and he looked completely refreshed. "What just happened there?" Natasha asked. "A little trick I learned to regenerate myself quickly. Well it took the normal time from my perspective. I just manipulated time to speed it up in a small bubble around me," Harry answered. Before Natasha could comment Steve came running up. "Harry, I have located all the bodies," Steve said solemnly. "There are thirteen dead. The local police have the bodies all gathered together now." Harry and Natasha followed Steve with Loki floating behind them after a gesture from the wizard. The bodies were lined up with sheets covering them. Two of the deceased were a pair of police officers badly disfigured when Loki had blasted their car with the scepter. Harry knelt down next to the first police officer and laid his hand upon the corpse''s forehead. Harry closed his eyes and focused. This was not new to the Master of Death. He had revived the recently deceased in his old universe using the Hallows. But he wasn''t sure he would have the same ability here. Harry need not have worried because he found the revival process even easier here. The damage healed on the corpse within moments and then the man''s eyes flew open and he sat up in a gasp. Those watching were shocked. Harry moved onto the other cop and performed the same process. Eleven corpses later and Harry was done. All thirteen people were up and being helped by police and emergency medical personnel who had arrived since the end of the fight. Harry rejoined Steve and Natasha who both regarded him with different expressions. Steve was openly in awe of Harry. Natasha appeared quite thoughtful. "I have to ask¡­are you sure you aren''t secretly an angel?" Steve questioned when he found his voice. "I''m pretty sure I''m not. Then again maybe I am and just don''t know it," Harry said with a half smile and a shrug. "We should probably get out of here before I am mobbed by people wanting to thank me." Harry had noticed some of the recently revived starting to look his way. "In fact, I think I''ll meet you two back at the transport." Then Harry teleported away and took Loki with him. "Did you know he could do that?" Steve asked casually. "To be honest I''m starting to question if there is anything he can''t do," Natasha admitted. "I mean he did just raise the dead." "That he did. I don''t think he likes people thanking him," Steve mused as he and Natasha turned and started walking towards their transport. "Yeah. I got that feeling too," Natasha agreed. Natasha and Steve found Harry chatting with Tony Stark, AKA Iron-Man. Tony had the helmet of his suit of armor retracted and Harry appeared fascinated by the suit. "Damn this tech is pretty far ahead of this time period. I didn''t expect to see anything this powerful as a personal power supply for at least sixty or seventy years," Harry said as he brought his hand to hover about six inches in front of the arc reactor in Tony''s ?h?st. "What are you doing?" Tony asked before a glowing hologram of his arc reactor was projected in the air in the back of the transport. Then the holographic arc reactor disassembled and showed all of its parts. "I know you said you are a wizard but how are you doing that?" "Like I said, magic," Harry answered. "Hmm¡­this is pretty impressive," Natasha heard Harry say as she piloted the transport off the ground before handing the controls over to her copilot and checking to make sure Loki was secure. She idly listened to the conversation between Steve, Tony, and Harry as the transport headed back towards the helicarrier. But she had to stop paying attention when Director Fury asked for a report. A few minutes later Loki woke up. He looked around in confusion before his gaze focused on Harry. The Asgardian stared at the wizard intently as Harry examined the scepter. "Why are you helping these lower life-forms? They are beneath you," Loki stated. Harry let out a sigh before saying, "Loki, the only time a human is beneath me is during certain s?xu?? positions when we shag. And sometimes I''m beneath her." Steve''s face got really red and Tony grinned. "I like this one," Tony declared. "Seriously, Loki," Harry continued. "I have killed hundreds of my kind over the course of centuries who thought just like you. They sought to rule over those they considered lesser than them and in the end the only time they ever realized they were wrong was when I terminated their life. Hell, some of them didn''t even realize it then." Just then a sudden lightning storm developed around the transport. Harry sensed the magic in the air. "Where is this coming from?" Natasha asked. Loki gained an apprehensive expression. "Based off of Natasha''s briefing on you am I to ?ssume this is your brother?" Harry asked Loki. Loki simply glared as the aircraft shuddered. Harry sensed another Asgardian had just landed on the back of the transport. Tony returned his helmet in place on his armor and opened the back hatch. Thor landed on the ramp. Tony raised one of his arc gauntlets preparing to fire an energy blast at the blonde Asgardian but Thor simply sent his hammer Moljnir against Tony''s ?h?st before pressing Iron-Man to the deck of the transport. Thor picked up Loki before summoning back his hammer and spinning it rapidly in a circle before flying out of the back of the transport with Loki. "You probably could have stopped him," Steve suggested as he helped Tony back up. "I probably could have. But I''ve learned it is best not to get in the middle of two siblings fighting. And didn''t Natasha tell me that guy was a friendly?" Harry asked. "Things change. Whatever he does with Loki will lose us the Tesseract," Tony suggested with a growl before launching himself out of the back of the transport. "Shall we go make sure they don''t kill each other," Harry suggested while offering his hand to Steve. Steve took the hand and was pulled out of the transport by the wizard. They flew after the other three males. Steve had trouble seeing through the storm but Harry didn''t seem to even be slowed. He flew unerringly down at an angle. They arrived at ground level to see Thor and Iron-Man fighting quite spectacularly. Harry signaled Steve to hold off intervening for a moment. Harry wanted to see how the two opponents faired against each other. Short term Tony was getting in some serious hits but it appeared Thor had started to damage Iron-Man''s suit. Harry could tell that the Asgardian had much more stamina and durability than the inventor. He was willing to bet Thor would win. "We should stop this," Steve urged eventually. "Alright," Harry agreed. The wizard set them down in the clearing and gestured with his hands. Telekinetic force lashed out and wrapped the two opponents in its embrace. Thor and Iron-Man flew apart. "That''s enough," Harry said. Immediately Tony activated his boot thrusters and Thor sent his hammer at Harry. Harry had to admit that the amount of power he sensed in that hammer had him a bit uneasy so he abandoned his telekinetic hold on the two opponents. Instead, he side-stepped the hammer''s path before reaching out and trying something that would either look really cool or end up being very painful. Harry focused all his strength and his power on catching the hammer. The effort ended up making Harry look wickedly cool. He caught the hammer by its handle and grasped it tightly. The hammer tried to pull away but Harry concentrated on suppressing its flight charms. It was still a battle as Thor tried summoning the hammer back. "It should not be possible," Thor said. "Tony," Steve barked reprovingly as Tony raised his arc gauntlet to fire at Thor. "What are you doing here, Thor?" "I am here to thwart Loki''s schemes," Thor replied. "Thor, my name is Harry. That is Steve and that is Tony," Harry said while indicating the two men in question respectively. "I don''t believe we should be fighting. I think you will like me once you get to know me. I think we will like you too. Let''s just talk things over. I''m going to let your hammer go as a show of good faith," Harry said just as he released the hammer. Thor caught the hammer and tested the feel of it. The hammer did not appear changed. "We work with agent Phil Coulson who I think you have met before," Steve spoke up. "We can talk," Thor said after a few moments of pause. Natasha brought the transport craft down as Thor retrieved Loki from a cliff overlooking the scene of the recent skirmish. The two Asgardians landed in the back of the transport and took a seat to one side. "What are you?" Thor asked Harry as the transport took off again. "I''m a wizard. I''m not from this universe," Harry admitted. "And he is very powerful," Loki said while eying Harry with interest. "Did the scepter enhance your power?" "Yes," Harry admitted. "What is that gem? I can feel the power of it," the wizard said while indicating the gem in the scepter. "It is one of the Infinity Stones, a relic of unknown power that is left from before the creation of this universe. The Tesseract is another such Stone," Thor answered. "What are you doing here in our universe?" Thor questioned. "We have not had a visitor since long into our past before I was born." "Then you have had visitors," Harry said excitedly. "It was not my intention of coming to this universe. I was hoping maybe your people had a way to let me go back to my home universe." Thor and Loki exchanged a look. "If the Asgardians do then we do not know of it," Loki admitted. "But that does not mean it doesn''t exist." "At some point you may get a chance to ask the All-Father, Odin. He may know of a way," Thor admitted. "Where does this transport take us?" "To the helicarrier," Steve answered. "It''s like a big flying ship. It''s the current headquarters of SHIELD." Thor nodded his understanding. HP ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C HP Harry walked with Natasha while escorting Loki to a cylindrical cage with the outer side made out of a transparent polymer that would be quite tough to break through. Fury was in the chamber too. Harry wanted to spend as much time with Natasha as he could. The redhead was projecting enough thoughts for Harry to pick up so that he knew she really didn''t mind his company. She had inquired if it was possible to by some means stop projecting her thoughts for telepaths to pick up. Harry had given her an amulet which would accomplish that task. He neglected to mention that it wouldn''t work to block her projected thoughts from him. When she inquired if more of these amulets were available for other SHIELD agents Harry had informed Natasha that for now she was the only person he trusted with one. Harry stood beside Natasha as Fury addressed Loki. "In case it is unclear, if you try to escape or so much as scratch that glass," Fury said while opening a retracting iris doorway that vented out of the bottom of the helicarrier. The opening created something of a vacuum slowly su?k?n? some air through. "You will plummet 30,000 feet down in a steel trap. I know your brother can fly. Can you?" Fury closed the iris. While gesturing at Loki, Fury said, "Ant." Then indicating the iris control console, Fury said, "Boot." "That was in reference to an exchange Loki and Director Fury had when Loki first arrived on Midgard," Natasha whispered for Harry''s benefit. "I will admit it is an impressive cage but somehow I think you had another in mind when you designed it," Loki answered while alluding to the Hulk. "That wouldn''t hold me for even a moment," Harry mused quietly to Natasha. "I have realized that," Natasha agreed. "Let''s hope Loki isn''t as powerful as you. I was tempted to have you leave those manacles on him." "I think he would have overcome them eventually," Harry replied. Bruce, Steve, Tony, and Thor were listening and observing the scene from the bridge where the video of the cage room was being fed. "You must be incredibly desperate, Director Fury. You would call on such lost creatures to defend you," Loki mused. "You have forced me to become very desperate, Loki. You threaten war upon my people. You enjoy killing and want to wield a force I am told you can''t hope to control," Fury rebutted. "You are just upset that you came so close to using the Tesseract to achieve unlimited power. Are they really buying that you want to create a warm light for all mankind to share?" Loki asked with a sneer while his gaze flickered to Harry. "I wield real power." "Let me know if real power wants a magazine to read," Fury answered while leaving the cage room. Harry and Natasha left from a different exit and Harry teleported them to just outside the bridge. "That could become handy," Natasha mused. Harry simply threw her a small smile. "Well he''s just a ball of fun, isn''t he," Bruce said retorically. "Thor, any idea what Loki''s angle is? His game plan?" Steve queried. "Loki is backed by an army of creatures called the Chitauri," Thor answered. "They are not of Asgard nor any world you know of. With them behind him he means to take the Earth from your people. I suspect in return he will give them the Tesseract." "So he wants to build another portal," Bruce surmised. "He needs Erik Selvig to help him." "What has Erik Selvig to do with Loki?" Thor questioned. "Loki took Erik Selvig under some kind of mind control spell," Natasha explained. "He also took one of our agents, Clint Barton." "I don''t think we should be focusing on Loki right now. I think we should focus on the reason they need the Iridium they took from SSI," Bruce suggested. "The iridium is a stabilizing agent to keep the portal from collapsing in on itself like it did at SHIELD," Tony answered. Before Tony''s personality could go off on a tangent however amusing it would be Harry spoke up and pointed out, "Loki would still need a power source of high energy density." "Yes, to kick-start the cube," Tony agreed while referring to the Tesseract and slipping a small device on one of the consoles underneath to begin hacking the systems onboard the helicarrier. "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill questioned. "Last night," Tony answered. "I read the packet with Selvig''s notes and extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" "Not the only one," Harry answered. "I found them to be quite basic." "Yes, well as a time traveler from hundreds of the years into the future I would expect you would," Tony mused. "We really must talk extensively about that." "Can you be more specific about what kind of power source Loki needs?" Steve questioned, getting the discussion back on topic from Stark''s attempt at derailment. "Loki will need to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce answered. "He wouldn''t need to do that if he could stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect," Tony pointed out. "Allowing him to achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet. It''s possible. I could do it with my technology. Given that Loki has access to technology and science far in advance of Earth I wouldn''t be surprised if he could do it too," Harry mused. "Two men in the same room who speak English," Tony mused. "Dr. Banner, I must also say your work in antielectron collisions is superb. And I''m also a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster." "Thanks," Bruce said. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the Tesseract. Do you think you would be willing to work with him, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked. "Let''s play, Doctor," Tony suggested to Bruce. "Don''t you want to join them? You seem like you would be an ?sset in tracking the Tesseract," Natasha suggested. "Maybe. But I would prefer to watch you work," Harry flirted. Natasha smiled and appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Alright¡­then let''s see how good you are hand to hand without using your powers," Natasha suggested. "You''re on," Harry agreed. HP ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C HP Natasha and Harry faced each other. Natasha wouldn''t underestimate her opponent. When neither of them acted for several moments Natasha decided to be the one to initiate the fight. She leapt forward while attempting to deliver a side-kick to the side of his head. Harry knocked Natasha''s leg to the side and while she was still moving forward he did a back-kick to her bu?? which sent her into the wall she was heading towards. Natasha didn''t stop moving but instead flipped off the wall and came at Harry again. Natasha tried a back-fist reverse punch this time followed by a series of kicks from different directions. When Harry countered her moves with textbook precision she continued trying to press her attack but with no luck. The two combatants were a flurry of blows, kicks, and deflections. While Harry wasn''t using any above-human strength or speed he couldn''t help but utilize his above-human endurance. He never slowed down or tired. Additionally his mind worked at much faster than human speeds. He saw Natasha''s movements coming as if she was moving through molasses and thought up counters which he enacted successfully while Natasha was relying on muscle memory. Natasha began tiring and Harry went on the offensive. After the first time Natasha got pinned the tone for the rest of the sparring session was set. "Now this is just embarassing," Natasha admitted after she was pinned for the fourth time with Harry on top of her. Natasha was on her stomach with Harry''s right arm wrapped lightly around her throat. He could put her out with the sleeper hold but there was no need. "I''ve had a lot of time to learn," Harry ?ssured. "Plus I''m not even tired." "Hmm¡­I''ll just have to employ all my weapons," Natasha said suggestively as she wiggled her h?ps and pushed her bu?? up against Harry''s groin. The wizard ?r??n?d and tried moving his h?ps back and up to get his growing manhood away from her delictable derriere. Natasha followed the movement until she had enough space to twist her body starting with her h?ps so that she was now on her back. "That was sneaky," Harry said with a small smile while bracing himself on his arms. "I know¡­but I like this position so much better. Don''t you?" Natasha queried. Harry subconsciously had his magic make the observers in the observation area of the gym realize they had better things to do. "Yes, but this position makes me even more tempted to kiss you," Harry admitted as he lowered his head a few inches. "I have been so tempted ever since I saw you." "What is stopping you?" Natasha asked curiously. Natasha didn''t think the super-powerful wizard did anything other than what he most d?s?r?d to do. "Worry that you aren''t attracted to me," Harry admitted. "I don''t think that is a valid concern," Natasha whispered before closing the distance and kissing Harry. The rest of the sparring session was a lot more physical and involved a lot of close contact grappling. Harry''s wins were also rewarded with kisses. There were a lot of kisses exchanged. HP ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C HP "What did you need, Harry?" Tony asked as he entered Harry''s quarters. Tony drew up short at what he was seeing. Harry had asked Tony to come to the wizard''s quarters using of all things a text message. Tony hadn''t given Harry a phone number but Tony supposed the wizard from hundreds of years into an alternate universe''s future would have plenty of tech tricks to play. What Tony was observing was a region of space in the wizard''s quarters far bigger than should have been possible. The room was oppulent and tastefully decorated. Harry stood off to one corner of the room in front of a glowing blue table. "Tony, I called you here because I wanted to help you with the problem you have with that shrapnel trying to go into your heart," Harry explained. This declaration actually distracted Tony from the incredible region of obviously distorted spacetime. "You can help with that? Of course you can. There isn''t anything you can''t do," Tony muttered to himself as he walked closer to Harry. "Yes. Please lie down on this medical bed," Harry requested. Tony eyed the bed dubiously but climbed onto the bed and laid back. Harry touched something on the side of the bed and a hologram of Tony''s form appeared over Tony. Only the hologram wasn''t of Tony''s exterior but showed Tony''s insides and the shrapnel was clearly shown as red matter near Tony''s heart. Harry''s fingers danced and the shrapnel glowed brighter. His fingers shifted over a rapid sequence of glowing figures Tony couldn''t follow and then the shrapnel was gone. Harry next highlighted the arc reactor in Tony''s ?h?st and the hole in Tony''s ?h?st surrounding the reactor. A moment later the reactor was floating above Tony''s ?h?st and there was no longer a hole in his ?h?st. Tony gasped and reached down to feel his unblemished skin where the hole had been. He stared up at Harry in amazement. "Was that more of your magic?" Tony asked. "This device is a blend of magic and technology. There are non-magical devices which can do something similar but they are a lot bulkier," Harry explained. "Do you know how to build them?" Tony asked as he sat up and plucked the arc reactor out of the air. "I''m ?ssuming this bed can do more than what it just did for me." "This bed is capable of healing any illness, ailment, or injury known to the people of your time," Harry admitted. "Yes, I can build the technology versions. When I was kicked out of my home universe it was because I got a major upgrade in my abilities. One of those abilities is that I can interface with any object in a non-corporeal form and know intimately how it works down to the atomic scale. I interfaced with everything in my home which included my personal computer and the internet it was connected to. In my time the internet had evolved to a scale you can''t imagine even though you are a genius. I was connected briefly with every networked system on Earth and throughout the other star systems the Earth network was connected to via the subspace network. All that information is buried mostly in the subconscious part of my mind. I can dig it out if I look hard enough." "Amazing," Tony declared. "Would you be willing to license the healing bed technology to my company? I want to make this available to help everybody. I will pay you fantastic royalties." Harry was thoughtful for a few moments. "We can do that," Harry agreed. "But we''re going to have to install some protections in your manufacturing facilities, protections from my side of the supernatural street. I don''t want this technology reproduced out of our control. This technology can scan and manipulate bio-matter down to the atomic scale. Before restrictions were put in place this same tech was used to create enhanced biological organisms that would give Thor and the Hulk a run for their money in strength and speed." Tony shuddered at the idea before he looked down at his arc reactor. "This could cause problems with my suit," Tony said. "Not that I''m not grateful. Because I am. You have no idea how much." Harry summoned a blue metallic looking ring with an inside diameter matching the outside diameter of the arc reactor. The ring was quite thin and not too wide beyond the inside diameter. It had runes carved into the surface so tiny Tony really couldn''t make them out. Harry took the arc reactor from Harry and pushed it base first through the opening of the ring. Tony watched in fascination as the arc reactor disappeared into the ring. Harry then placed the ring against Tony''s ?h?st and the ring stayed there. "That ring is now keyed to you. You merely have to think that you want the ring and no matter where it is the ring will come to you. Only you and I can remove the arc reactor from the expanded pocket space within the ring. "You can also fit a couple more arc reactors as spares beneath that ring," Harry explained. "You are officially wicked cool," Tony declared with a wide grin. "Yeah¡­I know I''m pretty bad-ass," Harry ?ssured with a matching grin. "Thanks, Harry," Tony said sincerely. "No problem," Harry ?ssured as Tony hopped to his feet and put his shirt back on. "So I heard you and Natasha put on a show when you sparred in the main gym," Tony said. "I also heard you astounded everyone onboard when you kicked her ?ss in hand to hand." "I would never kick Natasha''s ?ss. It''s too nice to bruise. I merely showed her that although she is quite skilled in physical combat, she still has a few tricks to learn," Harry replied diplomatically. "Uh huh," Tony said. "You''ve really got it bad for her." "What can I say. I like gorgeous women," Harry replied. Tony''s humour diminished and he said, "Listen Harry. Bruce and I think something is up with SHIELD. We don''t buy into Fury wanting the Tesseract for a clean unlimited energy source. They want it for something else I''m sure. I''ve got my AI Jarvis hacking into their systems as we speak. In a few hours I will know everything SHIELD has in their systems." "A prudent course of action," Harry mused. "I''d be interested in knowing what you find." "I''ll keep you informed. You think sometime I could study one of these regions of distorted spacetime?" Tony asked. "Sure," Harry agreed. "I''m going to go see what trouble I can get up to on this boat. I''ll drop by your lab in a while." Tony nodded and left. HP ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C Deathly Avenger ¨C HP ¨C HP Rev 0 Published 8/3/2014 Chapter 111 - Crossover Fanfiction 13 - A Song of Ice, Fire and Lightning Plot: My reward for beating the Demon Emperor and sending him back to hell? Finding myself in an unknown land, hounded by heralds of ice and fire, as well as the idiotic peoples of the lands in this... Westeros. Is it possible to find a way home? I don''t know. Pairing: Eventual Harry/Daenerys. NOTE: hasnt been updated in a while.....so yeah Summary of Lightning Dragon''s Roar: During the summer after my Fourth Year at Hogwarts, Dudley approached me, apologizing for the way he treated me, and gave me his old computer, complete with an internet connection and many games. Needless to say, I spent the summer enjoying myself; anything to keep my mind off of Cedric''s death. In those days, I unlocked an ability which allowed me to ingest electricity. It made me stronger, faster, and enhanced my nervous system so much that time seemingly slowed down. I learned to enhance my bodily energies to inhuman levels, I used it to grow wings on my back and fly. I learned to harness the power of Lightning storms and use it for my own purposes. What did I call this power? My Lightning Dragonslayer Magic, after reading about it in a set of Japanese comics called Fairy Tail. I know, it sounds stupid, but that''s exactly how it went down. I was ambushed by Dementors, had to defend myself using magic, and was subsequently sent to a trial to atone for this so called "crime". It didn''t work out as they planned; with some tedious planning beforehand, I argued that it was for self defense, and that, since I was being tried as an ?du?t¡ª also using the TriWizard tournament as proof that I was considered an ?du?t¡ª that I should have my underage restrictions lifted. It was either that, or I would go to the press, knowing the people would eat up a story of the Boy Who Lived being oppressed by the government. If someone they held in high regard was to be treated this way, how would they fare in comparison? It worked marvelously. I spent my time at Hogwarts training, keeping my head down when the newest Professor, a woman by the name of Dolores Umbridge, made efforts to antagonize me in any way she could. I was level-headed throughout it all, my time in the summer having taught me that patience, perseverance and calm were the key to success. I''ll admit, however; those few months, as I was coming into my power, I became drunk with it, treating everyone around me with scorn and disdain. I even almost attacked Professor McGonagall out of sheer anger for her daring to give me detentions for training instead of attending class. I know now that I was wrong to handle the situation in that manner, but what''s done is done, and I can only hope she forgives me for my behavior. Around that time, Hagrid got me a snake; a black viper named Balthazar. I can''t say the snake took a liking to me, as every other word that came out of his mouth was an insult. Hermione formed some group, and roped me into teaching my peers how to fight. It was a pretty wretched experience, I have to admit; though I did learn that Neville had power beyond anything I imagined. He controlled the very earth, you see, shaping it to his will and manipulating it with ease. He''d hid this power his whole life. How he ever managed to control himself every time Malfoy had said something that irked him was beyond me. I couldn''t even control myself when speaking to McGonagall, back then. I wish I had his patience. Then came Christmas. Things took a turn when my friend''s father, Arthur Weasley, was bitten by Voldemort''s snake, Nagini. I had seen the event through the snake''s eyes, and something happened. I learned that Voldemort resided within my very soul; so I fought the soul fragment, pitting my own soul against it. Through some ridiculous circumstances, I cleansed my body of his presence and lost my link to the man, though I retained my ability to speak the language of snakes, strangely enough¡ª all the better, or I wouldn''t be able to speak to Balthazar any longer. On Christmas Day itself, while Dumbledore and I were visiting Arthur Weasley at St-Mungo''s, Voldemort initiated a three-pronged attack. The vile man mobilized his forces, and attacked Diagon Alley, Azkaban Prison and St-Mungo''s. After we dealt with the scum there, we went to aid the Order at Azkaban Prison, and found ourselves facing at least a hundred enemy wizards. However, we came in using stealth, and conjured many snakes to take the majority of them down. With the pouring rain, the snakes quickly overcame most of the men; Dumbledore and I engaged the rest, dispatching them as fast as we could before Voldemort turned his attention to us. When we finished, everything was quiet. A Demonness had appeared, with Voldemort as her thrall. Words were exchanged, and Dumbledore fell to her magic. She tried to do the same to me, but my skin burned her, just like with Quirrell. I tried to fight against her, but I was so tired and weary. When everything seemed at its worst, Dumbledore had saved my life, and Voldemort had lifted me to my feet. I still don''t believe it, but the three of us stood against her, and we fought. It was a hard win, forcing me to call down the power of the storms above to strike this Demonness down. After the battle, Voldemort owed me a life debt, and I made him swear never to kill me. Dumbledore had looked on incredulously, as Tom Riddle quickly agreed, sealing the debt between us, before promptly leaving. With Voldemort''s return proven, Umbridge had promptly been sacked. My patience paid off. In the time that followed, and with a heart that yearned for adventure, I decided I would not attend Hogwarts any longer. I was filthy rich, and so had no need for an education. I didn''t care. My only wish was to get stronger, end Voldemort, and live out the rest of my days seeking adventure anywhere I could find it. With Dumbledore having aided in my training at school, I knew I could take on most seasoned Aurors and Voldemort''s most powerful men without the use of my Lightning Dragonslayer Magic. With it? Well... The hundreds of people I had killed were proof enough, weren''t they? I would be a liar if I said I didn''t enjoy the battles, or killing the scum terrorizing the people. I comforted myself knowing I would never harm innocents, telling myself that I was doing the right thing to save everyone. Hollow words, of course. I enjoyed killing them; I felt the satisfaction as I pierced through their bodies with my Lightning. Not that it matters, anyway. I heard of an ancient tower called Temen Ni Gru. Lilith, the Demonness we had fought, was alive, and there. Later, I learned that the tower was a gateway to the Demon World, sealed by an ancient Demon knight who rebelled against his own kind¡ª the point is, the bitch was trying to open the gate to hell again. So I went there to stop her. Balthazar came along with me, an ability spawning within him: he became able to merge with my right arm, covering it with his black scales. The armored arm was strong enough to withstand the bladed weapons of the Demons swinging them. I fought through hordes of vicious Demons and even managed to subdue one of their higher ranking members. Erebus, the progenitor of Dementors. I beat him with a Lightning enhanced Patronus. Any other Demon of his ranking would have destroyed me, I imagine. Erebus transformed into a sword¡ª a pure black Falchion¡ª giving me limited control over Ice and something called Darkness, though I never did figure out what Darkness was. To be honest, it all sounded like emo gibberish to me, before Erebus had explained what the Darkness was. But that''s a story for another time. With the help of Erebus and Balthazar, I went up the Temen Ni Gru to put a stop to Lilith. At the top, I met a half-Demon named Dante, and later, after we went to the Demon World, his brother Vergil, who was attempting to flee from the Demon Emperor Mundus, after killing Lilith in a show of speed I did not think was possible, so fast that my enhanced senses could not follow him. Knowing that even this man who easily beat Lilith, who herself outclassed me, wanted to run from the Demon Emperor, I followed him and Dante into the portal. But, something happened. The Emperor stopped our travel, and we fought him, in between the worlds. It took all of our combined powers, but we managed to send the equivalent of a sucker punch at the powerful Demon, sending it back to its own realm. The battle may have been over, but the Emperor of Demons was not done quite yet. The world was awash in a myriad of colors as the attack slammed right into Mundus'' three eyes, overpowering the Demon''s defenses instantly, and sending the gigantic being flying back outside of the portal. Our trip through the portal resumed its course, and I let my Lightning wings dissipate. My two allies reverted back into their human forms, removing their hands from my arm. I felt so tired, just then. So dizzy and weak. All I wanted to do was fall asleep. "You might have beaten me this day..." Mundus'' voice boomed as we began moving through the gateway, flying past stars at great speeds, though not as fast as we were going originally. My body jerked to a stop, and I noticed the startled gazes of Dante and Vergil, who simply sped off into the distance, incapable of stopping themselves to save me from Mundus'' clutches. "But you shall die in this void. In between worlds." Mundus sounded satisfied with himself. "Your human body will wither away to dust. How does it feel to lose, even when you win?" I felt hot anger claw through my haze of dizziness, granting me a temporary clarity of thought. I grabbed hold of Erebus, and desperately slashed into the fabric of the void between portals, trying to open a rift. Nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing. Mundus'' mocking laughter rang in the endless void. I growled angrily, and slashed one final time, pouring all of my power, despair and fear into the strike. A rift opened below me, and I fell into it. I didn''t hear Mundus'' roar of impotent rage as I fell into darkness, away from the void in between gates, and away from Nevernever, to an unknown destination altogether. OoOoOoO Harry''s Powers: Wand Magic (Just slightly weaker than Snape or Moody) Lightning Dragonslayer Magic: 1) Lightning Dragon''s Roar: an adjustable frontal area of effect blast shot from the mouth. 2) Edge: Lightning drill forming around Harry''s hand. 3) Breakdown Fist: punches and kicks enhanced with Lightning to give them a little more oomph. 4) Lightning Blades: small to medium sized swords made of Lightning that Harry can shoot at will. Balthazar: 1) Armored Scales: his right arm covered with scales, strong enough to shrug off sword strikes with ease. 2) Venom: Harry''s palm has a hole which can spray venom at the target, its corrosive properties melting flesh very quickly. Progenitor of Dementors, the blade''s sheer presence exudes an aura of cold. 1) Dark Stream: the element of Darkness shoots out like water from a hose, consuming everything in its path. OoOoOoO WITH THAT SAID, LET THE STORY BEGIN! oooooooooo A Song of Ice, Fire, and Lightning A Harry Potter/ASoIaF Crossover By Zero Rewind 2016 oooooooooo Chapter 1: A Different Earth How long had it been, a century, or a few seconds? I didn''t know. The feeling of time was skewed to me, though I still understood the concepts of present, past and future. The past... Something sought to make me forget, to revert my mind to a childlike state. No, it was worse than that. It was as if whatever was here was trying to make me forget everything, so I could be its mindless slave, no doubt. I resisted, of course. I refused to be cowed by whoever it was that controlled this world. All I saw around me was the darkness, and guess what? My sword, Erebus, was the Emperor of Darkness. I sensed the being''s surprise as I usurped its control of the void around us. I began to feel cold, but smiled to myself¡ª though I could not see it due to the all consuming darkness¡ª and wrested the control over that element as well. It fought for control, and I knew, even with my usurping its domain, that it would eventually regain its bearings and attack once more. I would grow weaker and hungrier from the strain, while I had no idea what it was capable of. So I brought forth the power within my own body. Lightning answered my call, and the Darkness around me shrieked in pain and fright as the bluish white light hit it. With the light, my sight came back as well, and I looked at my normal left hand, my black scaled right hand, and the sword at my side for a few moments, before looking forward, to the source of whatever it was that had tried to control me. From the Darkness ahead, I only saw one thing. A pair of ice cold, blue eyes, staring me down as the Darkness snarled at me in defiance, before slinking away, far away from me. Those deadly eyes... They frightened me. Had I not steeled my soul enough at Temen Ni Gru? No, this was different than personal fear. Those eyes were something else, entirely. Those eyes hated the living, hated the vibrancy of the world. They hated the sound of newborn children. They hated the growth of trees, flowers, crops and weeds. They hated life, itself. They wanted to make it all end. They wanted to drown the world in death and stillness. And that frightened me a hundred times more than the Emperor of Demons ever did. "What was that..." I said, as the void behind me lit up in red. I turned to see a man, wearing a large, voluminous red robe. His face was hidden underneath a hood. It scrutinized me for a few moments¡ª or were they years? I couldn''t even tell¡ª before extending his hand to me. But I took a step back. Another trick of the Darkness? Or maybe an ally? It didn''t matter. I was sick of this farce. The stange person took a step forward, as if pleading. I took another step back, and flared my power in challenge to this newcomer. "Not one step further, or I''ll kill you where you stand." I said, my voice echoing in the void as I drew Erebus forth. An angry cry came from the priest in red at the sight of the Falchion and, it too scurried away, just like the Darkness had before it. Good riddance. ¡ìThese beings.¡ì Balthazar hissed from my hand, and I shook my head in disbelief over it, still not used to having my hand talk. ¡ìI don''t trust them.¡ì "Agreed." Erebus said. "The first creature was almost too much to bear. I believe it would have won the battle had you not unleashed your own powers." Bit by bit, I began to gain hold of my senses as my surroundings slowly shifted once more. The last thing I saw from the void were a group of children that simply waved as I faded from their realm. Who were they? Who was the red priest? And what the hell was that Darkness with icy blue eyes? I looked around. Where was I? I seemed to be in the middle of a forest, though, where that forest was, I had no idea. I heard the sounds of birds and rodents flying and scurrying around respectively, both in search of food. I frowned as I rubbed at my nose slightly. Everything just smelled so crisp and fresh; not even the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts smelled like this, and it was more removed from civilization than anything I was aware of¡ª with the exception of the village of Hogsmeade, of course. "I couldn''t have emerged near civilization?" I pinched the bridge of my nose in irritation, before taking stock of all I had. My shirt had been torn off in the fight against Mundus, but that was fine¡ª I magicked up a black shirt easily enough. In one of my pockets, I still had my burn paste, my Murtlap Essence, and my wand. In the other, there was a featherweight sack, filled with as many Galleons as I could fit inside it, in case for emergencies just like this. "Something feels strange." Erebus rattled slightly as I began to look for signs of a road, or a city. Hell, even a cabin would have sufficed. "The energy around us... I have lived for many generations, and have understood the underlying forces of the universe quite intimately. However, it is different here. Similar, but different as well. I do not understand." "So?" I questioned offhandedly I kept going through the forest, seeing a few deer in the distance. I carelessly walked in their direction, watching them as they noticed my presence and fled. Heh. I wasn''t even going to do anything to them. Sheesh. Erebus stayed silent, but I felt the Devil Arm wanted to speak its mind. "What exactly are you trying to say, Erebus?" I asked directly. "That we have no control over our powers?" "No. No." Erebus refuted. "Our own powers are internal and not subject to the magic of this world." I understood. "You''re saying that whatever we face will have magic different than anything you or I have ever witnessed. "Indeed." Erebus said. "Much like that being of cold and Darkness. It felt familiar to me, but at the same I had never encountered any of its like. I''m afraid that... But it''s just not possible. It can''t be." "What''s not possible?" I asked, and a few moments passed before Erebus answered. "You must give me time to gather my thoughts." Erebus said, and I felt its power connecting with the air, the earth around us, communing with it. "I will give you an answer when I, myself, reach one." I nodded. "Fair enough, Erebus." I said with a sigh, before addressing Balthazar. ¡ìYou stay attached to my arm, Balthazar; it''s a little cold here and I would rather not waste any power on heating charms of any kind.¡ì ¡ìThat''s all right. Your body heat and the shirt is quite enough for now, anyway.¡ì Balthazar said, and I got the feeling that he was lounging around... wherever he went when he merged with me. Shaking my head in amusement, I kept making my way through the woods, enjoying the beauty of the nature around me. It was like this place hadn''t been touched by man for many ages, allowing nature to carve out a beautiful forest. Such a sight was very rare to someone like me, who had grown in the suburbs for his whole life, and then had a few years at Hogwarts, never really appreciating the wilderness there. I blinked and turned my head to the side, trying to focus on my hearing as best I could. Over the sound of birds and the swaying of the leaves, I heard the sound of running water, and grinned. It took a few more moments, but I pinpointed its source, and moved towards it, and found a large river. This was good. Rivers meant villages or cities. Cities meant I could exchange my gold for cash, book a plane, and go home. Even with my ability to fly, I doubted I could fly over oceans and continents just to get home. No, this was the easier way. ¡ìYou should fly up.¡ì Balthazar suggested. ¡ìGet above these trees to figure out where you are, and where the nearest town is.¡ì I smiled, and nodded, not having thought of that. ¡ìGood plan, Balthazar. Thanks.¡ì I hissed out. ¡ìThank me by feeding me some mice, later.¡ì Balthazar hissed back. I agreed, starting to feel my fatigue catching up to me. After I had absorbed Mundus'' power, it had healed my wounds, but I had shot it all right back at him, depleting most of my reserves in the process. Heh. Sucker punching that fu?ker was the best thing I had ever done in my life, even more epic than the time I summoned Lightning from the storms above Azkaban. Still, I was tired. I needed to find a town, a meal and a place to stay. With those thoughts, the forest around me grew brighter as my bluish white Lightning exited from my back, forming into a set of wings. I smiled. Air Raid was the damn best skill I had ever learned, I thought as my wings flapped furiously, sending me up, up and up; higher and higher. I quickly rose past the treetops, and kept flying higher for at least a minute, refusing to look at anything until I gained enough altitude. And when I did, I gaped. As far as my eyes could see, there was unblemished earth, untouched by the ravages of corporations. It was an amazing sight, completely foreign to anyone who''s grown up in the twentieth/twenty-first century. "Where the hell am I?" I said more to myself than anything, before looking down. The river I had found looked pretty small from where I currently floated. I followed its line and saw that the river emerged from a large lake in... the north east? Yes, the north east, ?ssuming I knew my astronomy right, which I did. At the northern shore of the lake, stood a tall castle, in complete contrast to the untouched forest and wildlife around it. Unless I was in the... medieval age. "Did we go through time?" I asked immediately, staring at the castle for a few more seconds before flying towards it. The wind whipped in my hair and carressed my face as I reduced my altitude so that I flew slightly above the treetops. It wouldn''t do if anyone saw me and asked questions. "Worse." Erebus said as I landed in the forest, as close to the castle as I could get. "I do not think we are on Earth any longer." "Not on... Earth?" I repeated his words, remembering those leaked files I had read online. "We''re on an alien planet? I thought there was no life anywhere else! How could we have moved so far?" It was possible. Heavy hits were exchanged between Mundus, Dante, Vergil and I in between the Realms. The Emperor had summoned storms of Lightning, whole meteor showers, and a multitude of energy beams¡ª all simultaneously. The being was so powerful that I had no doubt that we would wake up anywhere. "No, even worse than that!" Erebus continued, brushing off my revelation with his anger¡ª and was that a hint of desperation in his tone? "I cannot detect my Realm of Darkness, or any of my children. The universe''s forces feel different. We are not home." "Not home." I repeated again, a sudden feeling of dread in me as I frowned in frustration. "What do you mean, not home? That''s not possible!" "Not home." Erebus said again. "A completely different world, another existence aside from our own. Another universe, parallel to that of our own. Similar enough that it didn''t tear us to shreds, but different enough that I can easily perceive." "No." I said again. "I don''t believe it. It''s not possible; there''s no way it can be." "Then, what were those beings that attempted to hoodwink us into their service?" Erebus pressed on as the great castle came within view. "The Darkness and the red priest? And those children." "I don''t understand." I stopped and shook my head. "It''s not possible." Empty words, I knew from the bottom of my heart. When it concerned me, anything that could go wrong usually did. Why shouldn''t this be the exact same? A lump began to form in my throat as I thought about my friends and family. Sirius and Tristan... Tristan had lost an eye to Lilith, and Sirius had taken him for medical aid. The last thing Daphne had done was slap me, before kissing me and running. I could still remember her soft lips on mine, and it made me all the sadder. "We are not home!" Erebus insisted again. "Enough of your foolishness! The truth is right in front of you, but you choose not to see it!" "I..." I started in anger, before shaking my head and closing my eyes, releasing a tendril of Lightning to the world, linking with it for the b?r?st of moments. In that moment, I felt them all; the Darkness and Cold, far to the North, the children all around me, the red priest, far to the east, a man with seven faces near me, but concentrated far more to the south, another man with many faces to the east. They all looked back. I ended the connection. "You see...?" Erebus asked quietly. "We are not home." Not home. He was right. Even with my limited experience with understanding the world around me through energy, everything still felt off, skewed somehow, though I could not put my finger on it. This was a completely different world to the one I was in. "I..." I said, stammering slightly. "What about everyone? What about Sirius, Daphne? What about Ron and Hermione and all of the Weasleys? God... What about Dumbledore and Voldemort?" "I don''t know." Erebus said honestly. "I have never heard tales of dimension travellers. I only know of the existence of other dimensions." "So¡ªwhat?" I almost yelled out at the dark blade. "We''re stranded here? Is that what you''re trying to say?" "Yes." Erebus said without preamble or tact. "And you''d best get a hold of yourself and figure out what to do from here." I was about to snarl back at the Devil Arm, but sighed; he was right, of course. ¡ìIt''s all right.¡ì Balthazar added. ¡ìI''m here.¡ì I nodded, swallowed down the lump in my throat and wiped my tears with the sleeve of my shirt, glad to have an understanding companion in this. I took a deep breath, and examined my attire, comparing it to that of the red priest and the children I had seen in between worlds. The children had worn tunics, while the priest had a voluminous red robe on. Tunics it was. I Vanished the shirt I was wearing, before conjuring a dark green tunic in its place. I made it out of cotton, since it was the only thing I was truly familiar with. Old tunics were made from wool or linen, but I had no idea how those felt. Cotton was much more comfortable, anyway. I put the tunic on and exited the forest to search for the castle''s gates. The castle itself had stone walls thirty feet high with square towers at each corner, with a sprawling city surrounding it¡ª an impressive sight as I circle the thing in search of the entrance. A few minutes later, I did. It was a large gate, with cobblestone road exiting out of it for what I ?ssumed would be a few miles before the cobblestone gave way to dirt¡ª no one ever really cared to thoroughly create proper roads, even in my day and age, let alone this medieval-like age. There were two guards posted at one of the entrances, and they stared at me as I approached the gate. When I got within ten feet of them, they drew their weapons and stepped forward threateningly. "Halt!" The one on the left said. "Who goes there?" And so began a new chapter in my life. ooooooooooo What do you think? :) Chapter 112 - Crossover Fanfiction 14 - Harry and the Gods Plot: Deciding enough is enough, Harry makes his way to Gringotts and finds out a few interesting things. Taking a portkey to his destiny, what antics will Harry get up to now? Crossover: Harry Potter x Percy Jackson Pairing: HPxZoe Harry Potter scowled out of the window of his small room. It had been three weeks since he had seen Cedric''s death and been dumped on his relatives with a pat on his back. Not one word had been spoken to him by the wizarding world since then, not one person had checked on Harry''s mental health. For Christ''s sake, he had just seen a friend murdered right before his eyes and no one was concerned? Harry knew that Dumbledore would most likely be involved in the politics of the wizarding world and the earliest he could see him was late this summer. It was a good thing that Harry hid his intelligence and some of his friendships from his so called best friends. He most likely would have stewed all summer and unleashed all of his pent up emotions in one go and then instantly forgiven one and all. That was probably his godfather''s plan come to think of it. He knew that if his godfather had really wanted to, he would have contacted Harry. The man had contacted him when he had just escaped Azkaban and every Auror was out looking for him. The heat had died down considerably by now, so it was obvious that his godfather was ignoring him as well. Harry had given his friends and honorary family three weeks to contact him and four years to teach him about the wizarding world and his place in it. It was time for Harry to meet the goblins. "Hello Dursleys," Harry greeted his family in the morning. "What do you want boy, we''ve left you alone, now you''re supposed to keep out of normal lives," Vernon spat. "Indeed," Harry mused, "Which is why I''ve come to talk to you about getting your help to get me completely out of your hair for the summer if not the rest of our lives." Vernon had almost interrupted his nephew when Harry had said he needed help, but now he was glad he didn''t. Getting rid of his nephew for the rest of the summer, maybe life, oh Vernon wasn''t going to pass this chance up. "Okay boy, what do you need?" "A ride to London tomorrow and to be dropped off where I can get my school supplies. After that I will either be out of your hair, or I will need to return for a few day while everything is put together." Vernon could b?r?ly contain his glee at the prospect, it wouldn''t even be that far out of his way in the morning. "Very well Harry," He said shocking all those that were at the kitchen as Vernon rarely ever called Harry by his name. "I leave at 7:30 every morning so I expect you to be packed and ready to go tomorrow." "Yes Uncle Vernon," Harry said and then backed out of the kitchen. Harry didn''t want to push his luck and decided to start packing. The drive the next morning was silent and both occupants in the car were perfectly fine with that. No words were exchanged as Harry removed his trunk and owl cage from the car. Making his way into the Leaky Cauldron, Harry shrunk both the trunk and cage and pocketed them as he made his way to Gringotts. Since it was still rather early in the morning there were no visitors in the lobby of the bank, which made it quite simple for him to approach a teller. "What do you want wizard?" "I wish to speak to the representative of the People that manages the Potters account. I have much gold to spend and all can be spent at Gringotts." This caught the attention of many of the goblins in the atrium. A wizard had just addressed their nation correctly and had promised a profit to Gringotts. This was quickly noticed by all as goblins loved a profit. "Very well Mr. Potter, I will summon your account manager for your business." "Thank you master goblin." It was only a few minutes later that Harry was escorted to the account manager''s office as a surlier looking goblin looked down on him. "It''s about time you''ve come to see me Mr. Potter, we were beginning to get annoyed at your ignoring of the letters we sent." "Ah, then you must be another group that was blocked by the illegal owl ward that was placed on me by the oh so intelligent ministry of magic. Sorry about that. I have never received any correspondence from Gringotts and only the fact that I branched out with a few secret friends did I know that I had more than my trust vault." "If this is true Mr. Potter then we must correct this wrongful act placed upon you. Drop a bit of you blood on here and we''ll see what all Gringotts needs to do for you today." Harry James Potter Age: 15 Son of: Lily Potter (nee Evans) and James Potter Heir of: Potter, Black, Peverell, Gryffindor families. Magical core blocked 65% blocked: 40% Lily Potter, 25% Albus Dumbledore Partial Metamorphous Talents 95% blocked Natural Occulmency Barriers 100% blocked Natural Parseltongue Soul Leech Present Illegal charms present: Tracking, Mail wards, blood wards Legacy of Greek Goddess: Hecate and Nemesis Harry stared at the parchment as he slowly digested the information in front of him. His anger was much at the blocks on his magic and the illegal wards, but what he was focused on was the confusion at the last two lines. "Oh Mr. Potter, I''m only sorry that you didn''t meet me sooner as my days just got a lot more interesting," The goblin cackled. "So, I''m sure you have many questions, ask your first." "What does it mean legacy of Greek gods?" "Ah, I figured that would be your first one. Since you were raised by mundanes I ?ssume one of your school lesson discussed the Greek Parthenon. Well, all those stories are real. They aren''t the entire truth as many stories were mixed up through translation errors, but the gods and monsters are very much alive in this world." "So you''re saying that Ze¡­" "Hold it Mr. Potter, names are powerful in the realm of Mythology and you would do well not to casually throw out names, especially those of the big three. That will just attract monsters nearby. But, yes Mr. Potter the Greek myths are alive and well today in America and I believe your next adventure awaits there." "Very well, I learned just five years ago that there was a secret society hidden from non-magical folks, what''s one more that I am thrust into?" Harry chuckled nervously. "Alright next question, what the hell is a soul leech?" At this the goblin grew angry, and it did not help him in the beauty department, "Soul leeches are the vilest acts of magic you human wizards can make. It is a part of a whole soul that was split and to split your soul usually means the murdering of an innocent. This magic is what you would call a horcrux and no known human magic can get rid of the soul without destroying the container." "And yet, you said human magic." "Good, you caught that, I would not be doing business with a dunderhead. Goblins have a ritual that can remove the soul piece from you and also any other soul pieces made by the same person and destroy them. The good news for you is that we goblins do this service for free and the ritual will also remove all of your blocks and catch your body up to where it should be." "Well, when can we start the ritual? I will pay for quick service." "Who taught you the way of the goblins? You must have been taught for many of your contemporaries do not treat us the way we are supposed to be." "Professor Flitwick at Hogwarts spoke of your customs and how to make the most of our time in Gringotts. He often spoke of what I was supposed to do while I sat in his office keeping up with my mundane school work. There was no better tutor for my maths. He''s the only professor, other than Dumbledore that knows what I am doing." "Ah," The goblin nodded, "Yes that would explain it. Of course, there would be no better than a goblin to explain numbers. Very well, come on they are preparing the ritual chamber now and will be ready when we arrive." The ritual chamber was just an empty chamber. Compared to the grandstanding of the atrium and offices of Gringotts, it was honestly a bit of a letdown for Harry. Removing his clothes as he was instructed, Harry laid down in the center of the room as five goblin priests began chanting in their tongue. Nothing happened for a few minutes, leaving Harry feeling very foolish as he was lying on the ground and then suddenly he was wracked with pain. Most of his pain was centered on his forehead as wisps of green smoke began pouring out of his scar. A widespread pain wracked his body as the blocks on his magic were forced open and still Harry did not cry out. The goblins watching the ceremony were impressed by the threshold of pain Harry possessed. The smoke began pouring out and smoke also managed to come into the room notifying the goblins that there was more than one horcrux. When the green gas stopped pouring out of Harry and had formed with all that had entered the room, a quick fire spell and the soul pieces of Voldemort were gone. It was rather anticlimactic. Harry had passed out after the soul pieces were destroyed and as he was unconscious his body grew to the correct proportions. "And all this before noon. I wonder what else he has planned!" His head accountant laughed. Pain and death was the sure way to get a goblin in a good mood. Groggily Harry woke up and found himself clothed and laying on a rather comfortable bed. Wondering where he was Harry tried to lift his head, but found that his body was too stiff to move. "That ritual must have taken a lot out of me," Harry muttered. "Wait, the ritual! I''m in Gringotts!" "Indeed you are Mr. Potter," The familiar voice of his Charms professor squeaked. Turning his head slightly Harry grinned as his favorite teacher sat on a rather comfy looking chair reading about the previous dueling tournament. "I''m glad to see you up Harry and I''m also glad you remembered my lesson on dealing with the People. Many goblins stopped and sung your praises my student." "You took the time to teach me Professor, it was the least I could do to remember your teaching and reflect well on you." "Would you believe that your mother said the exact same thing to me the summer before her seventh year? I will always be proud that I was able to teach one of the brightest witches ever and her son who comes close to her intelligence." A blissful smile made its way on to Harry''s face at the short story of his older sister. Everybody had stories by the hundreds of James and although he loved his father, his mother was just as big in his heart as his father. Why the wizarding world and family friends seemed to be determined in only remembering Lily Evans as Lily Potter, Harry would never understand. Even McGonagall only spoke of his father when she claimed that Lily was her favorite. "That is high praise Mr. Potter," His account manager said, he had completely escaped Harry''s notice and was thankful he did not jump and make a fool of himself. "The People remember those who treated us with respect fondly and the late Mrs. Potter had our respect at the beginning of her second year." This grabbed a small chuckle both from Filius and Harry at the picture of the warrior race of the Nation bowing in respect to a twelve year old girl. "Indeed, I must say Harry that this new look suits you. I had no idea how malnourished you really were." Harry had indeed grown thanks to the ritual performed. Instead of the underweight 5''6" kid that went in, Harry was now a healthy weight and stood at a respectable height of almost 6''. "I wish you had listened to me and come here after your second year." "You know why I didn''t Professor. Even though I am disenchanted with the wizarding world of Great Britain at least, I had hopes that one of my so called friends would come clean and help me. I''m sure Professor Dumbledore would have taught me if he could have gotten away from all of his many positions. But you live and you learn," Harry sighed, "Anyways, how long was I out?" "It has been a day and a half since you entered our bank Mr. Potter, we invited Filius into the back when he arrived just few hours ago. Now, it is time to continue on with our meeting as time is money." "Very well Master Goblin, what would you suggest be done next?" "Harry if I may make a suggestion," Flitwick stepped in, "It might be prudent for you to have the People to invite the minister to a conference. The Daily Prophet has started a smear campaign against you an Albus. It has just started, so you may want to head it off quickly." "Very well, Master Goblin can your Nation set up a meeting in one of you conference rooms, also can you invite Albus Dumbledore for as well, and he needs to arrive about half an hour earlier? Thank you, and now I would like to go over my accounts and I can also be planning my trip for the foreseeable future." For the next hour figures were thrown at Harry that would make many men salivate at the wealth. With Harry''s access to the modern world and the Goblin''s ability to play the stock market, they tried to triple the wealth on a sixth of one of his vaults. They were interrupted when one of the goblin tellers came and informed them that Dumbledore was here. "Professor Dumbledore, I am sorry to call you away from your work this summer, but there have been a few developments in regards to the war on Voldemort." "Oh? My boy, do tell." "Were you aware that I had a soul leech in my head?" "Indeed I was Harry, and I have spent much of my free time for the last thirteen years looking for a way to remove it without you dying." "Well, you can stop looking, for the Nation has gotten rid of my unwanted passenger and all of the dork lord''s soul pieces. He is mortal now and I believe the People''s shamans said that due to his core being so destabilized his followers and their families will be completely drained of their magic before he finally dies." Dumbledore stared in shock that stretched for minutes as he slowly comprehended this tale. Finally Albus spoke again, "Harry, do you know what this means? The darkness of the world can finally be stamped out! Because you, with the help of the people of course, activated the ritual you shall inherit the vaults and seats on our government and board of governors at the school! Harry change is coming!" Dumbledore pulled Harry into a grandfatherly hug and wept tears of joy. The two held each other in a family like embrace as both celebrated. Harry then spoke up, "The shamans said this process would take a year, two years tops before everything was said and done. Apparently I have a bit of destiny located in America with the Greek gods so, I am leaving for the summer and I don''t know when I will be back. I will make it my mission to return when I can do the most good with my powers. Now, Minister Fudge will walk through these doors in a few minutes and I plan on getting rid of this smear campaign." "Very well Harry, I know you have been hiding your intelligence so I will allow it. After this meeting I will go to retrieve a few books for you to study. When you return you need to be able to take your OWLS and NEWTS. Since you will be in the gods'' domain, Lady Hecate will protect you from the magical detectors." "Minister Fudge," Harry stated as Fudge strode into the conference room breaking preamble. "I called you here today so we can discuss this smear campaign you are supposedly working against me and Dumbledore." "Now see here you brat I am the Minister of Magic!" "And I am the boy-who-lived and Dumbledore has more political clout than you shall ever have. Let us remember who got rid of the last two dark lords. The goblins have proof that Voldemort could come back and we took care of all eventualities just yesterday, so I''m done. I want the smear campaign stopped so I can go on my summer vacation that could quite possibly extend for years without worry that when I come back I will be considered a nutter." "What do you mean summer vacation?" "I mean that I will be leaving the country. Every time I have brought it up with the members of the Nation they had grinned which has honestly unnerved me. If I like where they send me, there''s no promises that I will come back to Britain for quite a few years. I cannot speak for Professor Dumbledore, but I am warning you that many of your pureblood buddies and their families will start to lose their magic if they were ever willingly allied with Voldemort. I will be back to claim those seats and Dumbledore has already agreed to help me change the world. I''m giving you notice, perhaps now would be a good time to retire and write a book to celebrate your successful career in politics." "Cornelius, I agree with Mr. Potter quite heartily, but I know you will not listen to our advice. But, I shall warn you now that if you continue this smear campaign I will bring the ICW to investigate the ministry dealings. Leave us alone and we shall leave you alone." "Very well," Fudge stated as he began to imagine the bad publicity from an investigation. "The newspaper will not bother you anymore, and we shall part ways here. Good day!" Harry had to suppress a shiver as Fudge walked out which elicited a chuckle from Professor Flitwick as he walked into the room. "That is why no one but a politician can deal with a politician. Come and follow me." Flitwick led Harry down a series of paths and continued to talk as Dumbledore left to go get the books he had promised. "The People still won''t tell you where you are going, but they have warned that wherever you are going, the potency of your Greek side will attract many of the mythological monsters of Greek stories. Because of this you have been granted a rare honor in using one of the Nation''s time chambers. A day on the outside translates to just over six months inside. Your ancestors left you celestial bronze weapons in your vaults which is what is required for you to kill these monsters. These six months, will be under the tutor of me and another of the People as we train you in swordsmanship, archery, and dueling skills with your magic." By now the two of them had reached a large door with a carving of an hourglass etched into it. There was also a pack for Harry containing the weapons that Filius had spoken of and some clothes that had been ordered the previous day by the goblins, for a fee of course. "Are you ready Harry?" Taking a breath and shouldering the pack Harry nodded as the doors opened. "Indeed." Harry walked through the doors steeling himself for the most brutal six months of his life. Chapter 113 - Crossover Fanfiction 15 - Son of Transformation Plot: An impossible child, born of Human and Denizen, trained by Heaven''s Flame, pulled into the world of Greek Myths in time to save a man hating Goddess. How will Harry Potter, son of Transformation affect the future of the world? Answer to Whitetigerwolfs Monstrous Challenge. Includes a cross with Shakugan no Shana Crossover: HP x PJ Pairing: HPxZoe Chapter 1 "Lily, are you sure this will work?" asked James as he stood opposite his n?k?d wife in the ritual circle. "I''m sure James," said Lily, "The Ritual will work. Trust me." James sighed and nodded, before stepping forwards into the circle, causing it to light up. As he did, he failed to notice that his foot smudged out one of the lines of a rune. As the Ritual began and the couple engaged in their act, the magic of the circle reached out, searching for the essence of an Immortal as it was supposed to. However, the smudged rune had altered the magic slightly so, rather than seeking out a Godly being, it sought out the closest immortal being to the couple. The being it found was one that, by most accounts, wasn''t something that belonged in this world. The magic locked on and latched onto his aura, drawing on his power to power the ritual and grant the wishes of the Potters. As the energy entered the circle, the white light changed to a mix of muddy violet and a pale blue, not that either Potter noticed as they were completely lost in one another. A few weeks later, Lily came bursting into the dining room early in the morning, leaping onto her husband''s ??p, knocking him and his chair to the floor and kissing him hard. "James, it worked!" she said as she pulled back, "The ritual worked! I''m pregnant!" "No, please I beg you, not Harry, take me instead!" pleaded Lily as the pale snake like form of Voldemort approached her child''s crib. The self styled Dark Lord didn''t even pause, just flicked his wand and unleashing the green light that snuffed out lives with a touch, sending the woman crumpling to the ground, before turning his wand on the child in the crib. Little Harry stood in his crib, holding onto the bars and looking up at the Dark Lord through wide, innocent eyes. Those eyes were strange, stranger than any Voldemort had ever seen. They were comprised of two rings around the pupil, the inner ring being the same emerald green as his mother while the outer ring was an unusual shade of purple. The two rings were separated by a thin band of pale blue. The contrasting colours gave the young boy an extremely eerie look, especially as his eyes practically glowed. The twisted man raised his wand, the tip glowing green, pointing it directly between the child''s multi colored eyes. "And so ends the one who would defeat me," whispered Voldemort, "Avada Kedavra." The green light shot towards the child, striking it in the middle of his forehead, knocking him onto his back. Voldemort gave a thin smile and turned away from the crib. Before he could leave though, a sound made him freeze in place. A child''s cry. The Dark Lord turned around to see little Harry Potter laying on his back, thrashing his little arms and crying his eyes out as blood leaked from the scar that now marred his forehead. Voldemort turned back to the crib and once more raised his wand, intending to try again. Before he could cast the spell however, Harry let out a scream and unleashed a massive blast of green and purple energy that destroyed the nursery and Voldemort. Six Years Later Seven year old Harry Potter coward away from his uncle as the walrus of a man rained down punches on his small body, roaring, shouting and insulting the small boy. The huge man had just come home from work, drunk as a skunk and in a rage, having just been sacked from work. As soon as he came through the door, he had flung open the door of the cupboard under the stairs, where Harry slept, pulled the small boy out and began to wail on him, shouting about how it was all the boys fault he had been sacked. For Harry this wasnt that unusual unfortunately as the fat man always blamed anything that went wrong on him and often took out his frustrations on him, joined more often than not by his pig of a son. However, the abusive man always stopped his beatings once Harry started bleeding or something broke. This time though, the man was far past reason and kept on beating the boy, even after his bones broke and blood began to paint the walls of the room. Harry did his best to protect his head from the onslaught, but he knew that there was a strong possibility he wouldn''t survive this. He could already feel his consciousness begin to fade. At first the boy welcomed the approaching oblivion as it would be an escape from his hell of a life, but as his vision began to fade, the fear of death that all living things hold began to surface. "I don''t want to die," thought the boy, "Not like this." The boy looked up at his uncle through his darkening vision and saw the hatred in his eyes, regarding the boy as nothing more than an ant to be crushed. That realization sparked something deep within the boys very being, that part inherited from the being that provided his essence to conceive the boy. That part refused to accept a lowly human regarding him like that, like an insect. It was Vernon who was the insect and he would be crushed. Vernon turned away from the boy and grabbed the aluminium bat that was leaning against the wall, turning and bringing it down on the boys head. However, rather than a small boys fragile skull, the bat slammed into something much larger and harder and shattered into a thousand pieces. Vernon didn''t notice however, his entire attention now locked onto the monster that had replaced his nephew. The creature had the body of a massive lion with black fur, marked by white stripes. Its paws were that of a bird, tipped with gleaming golden talons, while its tail was that of a black lizard and a pair of huge, dark purple leathery wings leaped from its shoulder blades. In the center of the creatures forehead was a long, curved, serrated horn and its mouth was filled with pure white teeth. The only thing that remained of the small boy it used to be was its purple, green and blue eyes. The creature drew its lips back from its teeth and a deep, rumbling growl echoed from its massive ?h?st. Vernon whimpered in response and vacated his bowels and bladder. The Chimera raised a paw and unsheathed his claws with a quiet *shnik*. A few hours later, Petunia Dursley returned home. She opened the door and entered the house, moving into the kitchen to put her groceries away. As she was doing so, her nose caught the scent of excrement and urine. She scowled at the thought of such disgusting things in her house and immediately moved to find the source. She followed her nose to the door of the sitting room. She opened the door and froze at the sight that greeted her. The formerly pristine room was completely covered in blood and the furniture was all completely destroyed, seemingly cut to pieces or smashed with feathers everywhere. The window was shattered, allowing the feathers from the destroied couch cushions to dance in the wind. In the middle of the room was the corpse of her husband, covered in blood and seemingly half eaten. Petunias scream could be heard from the other end of the street. The perpetrator of both the damage and the killing of the Vernon was already miles away, having left through the window as soon as he had finished with the fat man, his wings carrying him faster than most planes could manage. Harry touched down in a field miles away from Surrey, his Chimera form dissolving into purple and green energy as he did so. As soon as the animalistic form vanished, the boy was hit by the full implication of what he had done and he fell to his knees and heaved, vomiting partially digested Vernon Dursley onto the ground. While he was in that other form, his human side had been suppressed by the animalistic instincts of the Chimera and that had driven him to consume a part of his Uncle''s body. The boy got to his feet and staggered to the edge of the field and clambered over the fence, falling down the other side to land in a puddle with a splash. The boy let out a groan of pain as his battered body let him know that, despite the fact that transforming had healed most of his injuries, a few of them were still present and the ache from the recently healed ones was still there. Harry lay where he had fallen, not caring about the wet that was seeping into his baggy cloths. As he lay there, he became aware that his vision was fading again, the beating, his transformation and the healing of his wounds all getting to him and draining the last of his strength. Just before he blacked out completely, he saw a pair of booted feet stop in front of him. Chapter 114 - Crossover Fanfiction 16 - Harry Potter, Son of the Shadows Plot: Twice-Blessed Half-Blood Response: Olympus, Earth, the Underworld; from a world of lies, one shall come forth with the power to rule them all. Enter Harry Potter, determined by Thanatos, Champion of Hecate, son of¡­wait: is that possible? Dark Godlike Pairing: Harry/Thalia; Chapter 1: Truth In Death Harry couldn''t move; In his entire life, he had never felt as frightened as he did at that moment, but then again, he''d never been staring down the claws and jaws of a fully-grown werewolf before either, his worst Professor having been knocked out and his best friends stepping out of the way with cowardice and fear in their eyes. As the werewolf stood on its hind quarters, Harry felt Hermione brush past him, her intentions showing courage and a hint of stupidity: maybe it was the friendship he felt towards her, but Harry couldn''t let her go. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her back before he whispered, "Let me, I''m his cub." With fear in her eyes, Hermione stepped aside, watching as Harry approached the lupine creature, his voice trembling, but not so much that he couldn''t speak. Facing the wolf, Harry asked, "Moony? Are you in there?" The wolf seemed to inspect him for a moment, his eyes fixed on Harry with curiosity and surprise as he saw the boy in front of him. "Do you¡­do you recognise me?" asked Harry, his voice trembling again as he saw the claws and fangs of the wolf. They would be the last thing he ever saw¡­before Remus/Moony pounced and, sinking his fangs into Harry''s shoulder, he let out a triumphant howl as the blood of the young wizard filled his jaws, the taste way too good for the wild-hearted predator to give up on now. All anyone could do was watch in horror as Remus gorged himself on Harry''s corpse, the full moon being the final thing Harry saw as Death came for him. Son of the Shadows ''Harry¡­'' A voice, so soft and sibilant that it could have been made of the purest silk, seemed to reach through the darkness. ''Harry¡­wake up, Harry¡­you have slept too long, little one.'' "S-Slept?" asked Harry, feeling the dryness of his throat while he also felt a strange, comfortable warmth beneath him. ''Yes child,'' the voice answered, its tone soft and comforting to Harry as it explained, ''This is not where the next great adventure welcomes you: now, open your eyes¡­look upon the world.'' Opening his eyes, Harry felt shock and disbelief settle into him as he found himself looking at the ceiling of the Great Hall, a strong floral smell clinging to his nostrils while, around him, there were several candles burning low and an eerie, everlasting silence that clung to the Great Hall like spider webs. As he tried to think about what was going on, Harry''s eyes widened when he realised that his eyesight was also visible to him and yet he couldn''t feel his glasses on his face. Risking the mother of all aches, the young, and very confused wizard reached up to his face: sure enough, his eyes were devoid of those horrible glasses that the Dursleys had bought for him and yet he could see clear as day. ''You will find more than just your sight restored, my child,'' the soft voice whispered, a man''s voice, Harry then noticed: yet, as he listened, a shiver ran down Harry''s spine at how soft and yet comforting the voice sounded. "What¡­what happened?" asked Harry softly, his voice calm, but edged with concern as he asked, "How did I get here when, last thing I remember, I was being¡­being¡­eaten by¡­by Moony?" He made a face at the thought, but the voice that answered just chuckled before he explained to Harry, ''I saved you, little one: your destiny is greater than you know and more than others may suspect. For now, lie back and rest and the truth shall come to you: when I say so, rise up and reveal your livelihood to those who doubt it. Then, my child, have fun¡­and get out as fast as you can.'' "But¡­" Harry began, but his words were cut off as he heard voices from the other side of the Great Hall doors; lying back down, a part of him almost amused at the thought of the prank that was about to be played, Harry whispered softly, "Who are you?" ''I am Thanatos, my child,'' the voice answered, his tone comforting Harry and helping to ease some of the tension as he added, ''And I am here to help you¡­until your true self is known to them.'' Harry would have asked what the voice, Thanatos, meant by that, but he didn''t get the chance as the door to the Great Hall opened and, from the other side, two familiar voices drifted down to Harry''s ears. "Ronald, this is wrong! Think about what Harry would say," the female voice, the warm, sisterly voice of Hermione Granger, hissed under her breath, the tone clear to Harry: agitation and fear. "He wouldn''t say anything," Ronald Weasley insisted, "He''d just lead us to another near-death experience: if it hadn''t been for Sirius, we''d be dead and that wolf would have devoured us next. No, this time, I''m getting what I deserve." ''If only he knew,'' chuckled Thanatos, something about the comment making Harry''s lip twitch, but he managed to avoid keeping it on his face as he closed his eyes, listening to the voices of his friends as they neared where he was lying. "But stealing from him?" asked Hermione, the mention of the word bringing a sense of anger to Harry that he b?r?ly managed to hold back as he listened. "What for, Ron? Don''t you know that Harry risked it for our sakes? And what about Ginny?" "What about her?" asked Ron, his tone as cold and selfish as a certain other student Harry knew and loathed, "She''s been acting all weird since the incident in the Chamber and you know it''s because of him, Hermione. He probably worked with You-Know-Who to trap her: if he hadn''t died, it would have only been a matter of time before he turned Ginny into his slave." "Harry would never do that," Hermione argued, "He''d talk it over with Ginny, you know that: what happened down there, if anything, was your fault, not his." "What do you mean my fault?" asked Ron. "Wormtail was your pet," Hermione insisted, "How a family as old as yours couldn''t even tell that they had an Animagus living under their roof, I''ll never know." "You mean you don''t know?" asked Ron, "It''s Harry: his family trusted the rat, they probably told him how to hide himself: ever since he spoke Parseltongue, I''ve always thought that he was a Dark Wizard." "Harry saved your life, Ronald," Hermione exclaimed, her voice almost a shriek as she hissed, "If it hadn''t been for him, you''d be Acromantula Bait." "And you''d be dead too," Ron argued, "The Basilisk, the troll, which I saved you from, I might add, and then the corridor: what did you two talk about down there anyway?" "I told him a secret," Hermione explained, knowing that she''d never confess to Ron now about what she''d told Harry: not if this was his answer to his best mate''s death. "One that I''ll never repeat to anyone, no matter what they do to me." "And now he''s dead, you don''t have to keep that promise," Ron told her, his words turning calm and surprisingly affectionate as he explained, "You can tell me, Hermione: I''ll always look out for you and, with Harry''s fortunes under our control, I''ll have the means to treat you like a¡­ack!" Harry didn''t need to open his eyes to know that Hermione had just kneed Ron in the groin: he''d seen enough of Uncle Vernon''s violent films to know the sound and reaction, though the high-pitched wh?n? from the red-head magpie-minded idiot told him enough. "You don''t touch me, Ronald Weasley," Hermione scowled, her voice as cold as ice as she hissed, "You''re vile if you think you''ll get away with this: I''ll tell Sirius what you''ve done. As Harry''s godfather¡­" There was a sudden gasp and, without realising it, Harry''s hands had curled into fists as he heard Ron tell Hermione, "You won''t be telling anyone anything, you filthy little Mudblood¡­" ''Whenever you''re ready, Harry¡­'' "Let go of her right now or you will pay for what you''ve just said," Harry snarled, the words causing a gasp from Hermione while Ron turned, his eyes wide with shock as, much in the style of a certain sportsman he''d seen on television last summer, Harry rose from the coffin like a zombie, his eyes cold and dark while his expression was one of rage. Ron, his hand currently wrapped around Hermione''s arm in a grip of fury and cold intentions, released her and fled to the door; however, without really knowing how or why he knew what to do, Harry gestured with one hand, causing the doors of the Great Hall to slam shut. At the same time, Hermione, who was as white as a sheet at the sight of her best friend alive and well, let herself feel gratitude and a sense of awe as she saw an eerie black aura surround Harry and, like smoke rising from the flames, the aura rose above Harry''s head where it took the shape of a skull and crossbones held within a pentagram, a blood-red circle surrounding the pentagram. Unaware of the symbol that now shone over his head, Harry crossed the Great Hall in a few strides and, kneeling down, he asked, "Are you all right, Mia?" "F-F-Fine," Hermione stammered, her eyes wide with shock as she looked into Harry''s green eyes: they were now cold and hard in their glare and, as she looked, Hermione also felt that the glare held power. Right now, though, she had a question that she just had to ask, "Harry¡­you''re alive¡­but¡­but how?" "I don''t know," Harry answered, taking her hand and helping his friend to her feet before he added, "But does it really matter? I mean, it''s not like you want me dead, is it, Hermione?" "Of course not!" Hermione exclaimed, her voice cut off as a groan sounded from behind her. Turning to the groan, Hermione saw Ron crumpled at the foot of the Great Hall doors, apparently having stupidly run into them in his fear frenzy: as he turned to see Harry standing there, the git scrabbled to his feet before he gasped out, "H-H-H-Harry, l-l-l-listen mate: whatever¡­whatever she''s t-t-t-telling you, it''s¡­it''s all lies! We''re f-f-friends, aren''t we? Y-y-y-you trust me?" "I did," Harry replied, lifting his free hand where, to Hermione''s shock, a burst of black energy struck Ron and, fixing itself around his body like a cocoon of shadows, the energy then lifted him into the air, Harry''s hand also lifting up as though guiding the power. As Ron was lifted up into the air, his screams echoed through the Great Hall, either out of the fear of Harry''s resurrection or his power, while his hands and legs scrabbled through the air like a dancing marionette. "Harry, please!" exclaimed Ron, "I-I-I-I never meant to do it: I''d n-n-never betray you!" "You''re lying," Harry hissed, releasing the power from his hand where, with another scream, Ron plummeted to the ground, but as he fell, he was steadied by a second burst of magic. As Harry watched the git almost glide to the ground, the door to the Great Hall opened and Dumbledore entered, flanked by Snape, McGonagall and, to Harry''s relief, Sirius and Remus, both of whom looked beyond horrified, but delighted to see Harry. "Pup/Cub!" chorused the Marauders, running forwards where Sirius grabbed Harry and, without waiting for a word from his godson, he swung him around in a large circle before setting him down. At the same time, Remus stopped in front of Harry and, meeting the boy''s dark-eyed glare, he then noticed the symbol: before anyone could stop him, Remus went to one knee where he told Harry, "I, Remus John Lupin, son of Apollo, pledge my everlasting fealty and life to Harry Potter, son of the Shadows." A bright flash of light followed Remus'' exclamation; as it fell, the wolf rose from his kneeled position and told Harry, "Before you say anything, cub, please understand that I had no control over Moony, but, if it''s the last thing I do, I''ll find a way to control it now." "Thank you, Remus," Harry told the man, a part of him wondering what exactly Remus had just promised; however, before he could make any sort of sense about it, he looked to Dumbledore, who was just as shocked as everyone else, before he told him, "Don''t try to justify this, Dumbledore: you let your Potions Master forget, you endangered my life and you let that mo-Ron dare to call himself my best friend. Well now, I''m done: I''ve risked my neck time and time again and now, I''m done." ''Harry,'' Thanatos told him, the words of the spirit echoing in his ears as Thanatos explained, ''Take the hands of those you trust, but warn the greasy one that there''s one who waits for him in the dark.'' Taking Sirius, Remus and Hermione''s hands, Harry glared at Snape before he told the man, "Watch your back, Snivellus: the shadows are coming for you¡­and they''re hungry!" Then, before anyone could make any sort of move to stop them, Harry and his companions vanished in a thick and powerful-looking burst of black flames, the fire taking Harry and his real friends away while Severus went as white as a sheet, Minerva looked at a downed Ron and Dumbledore looked troubled. "He said¡­Son of the Shadows," Dumbledore whispered, his voice edged by fear as he asked, "Oh great Merlin, no: anything but that!" "What have you done?" asked Minerva, earning a look from Dumbledore. "I wish¡­" "Not you, Albus," Minerva seethed, pointing at Ronald, who was now drawing his wand and aiming foolishly into the shadows, "What''s he done?" Dumbledore didn''t know what to say¡­ Son of the Shadows When the black flames released Harry and his companions, Remus was the first to react to their new location with a look of shocked disbelief and a feeling of home in his gaze. Following the wolf''s gaze, Harry''s eyes narrowed when he saw what looked like a large stone archway of some sort leading through to a woodland; over the top of the archway, there were several weird letters that, as Harry looked, he was surprised to see them shimmer and switch around to form three new words: Camp Half-Blood "Camp¡­Half¡­Blood?" asked Harry, earning a nod from Remus as he asked, "Where¡­what is this?" "A place where you will be safe," Remus answered, then turning to Sirius and Hermione as he explained, "As magic users, you might be able to get through the barrier, but it''s only a might, it''s not definite. Come on, Harry: I''ll introduce you." As Harry began to follow Remus through the gateway, if that''s what it was, he couldn''t help but switch his gaze to a tall and rather pretty-looking tree that grew over the camp''s entrance, a feeling of great magic coming from the tree while, at the same time, Harry could almost feel something eerie within the trunk. Eerie, but alive. "Remus," he whispered softly, "What''s that?" Looking to the tree, Remus answered calmly, "That''s the guardian of the Camp: Thalia Grace, the daughter of¡­of the Big Man." "The big man?" asked Hermione, both her and Sirius feeling a shiver as they successfully passed through the barrier. "Yes," Remus answered, pointing upwards as he added, "The one who heads the forces like my¡­my Father and has connections to the one whom is Harry''s Father." "James?" asked Sirius, earning a shake of the head from his friend. "Wait," Hermione suddenly gasped, "You¡­you said son of Apollo, as in¡­as in the God?" Remus nodded. "So then¡­the big man," Hermione added, "Zeus?" A soft rumble of thunder followed her words, earning a shushing gesture from Remus, "Watch how you use the names around here, Hermione: the big three don''t take kindly to lack of respect in their terms." "Indeed not, Remus Lupin," a sharp male voice cut him off, causing everyone to turn to the path that Remus had led them along: to the shock of Harry and Hermione, an elderly-looking centaur was standing in front of them, a head and beard of cloud-grey hair covering his face while his hazel eyes shone with wisdom and spirit. He was dressed in a short-sleeved vest and white shirt and, as he looked from Remus to Harry, the man''s eyes narrowed as he asked, "It''s been a long time, hasn''t it?" "Almost ten years, Chiron," answered Remus, giving the centaur a bow of respect before he added, "Allow me to introduce Harry James Potter, Son of the Shadows." Chiron''s eyes widened while Harry, turning to Remus, couldn''t help but ask, "Who''s the Shadows, Remus?" "I can answer that one for you, Harry," Chiron replied, his voice reminding Harry of an old teacher from his primary school: Mr Brunner, if he remembered right, though the man had only been there for a year, which was coincidentally the year before Harry went off to Hogwarts. As Harry returned his attention to the centaur, a part of him wondering if Chiron and Mr Brunner were the same person ¨C given everything he''d seen in the magical world, it wouldn''t surprise him that much ¨C the wizened teacher explained the point made by Remus, "A Son of the Shadows is a term for a very rare form of demigod: one whom has not one, but two godlike parents¡­though I wonder who they are." "I think I might know," Harry replied, earning a worrisome look from Remus before he added, "At least, I think I know one: Thanatos!" Harry had never seen Remus or Chiron look as frightened as they did at that moment¡­and he doubted he ever would again. All he knew was that, with that one name, his life was never going to be the same¡­ Chapter 115 - Crossover Fanfiction 17 - There and Beyond Plot: A version of Harry Potter from a universe with advanced technology ends up in Middle Earth during the events of the Hobbit movies. He joins up with Thorin''s Company and fights evil. He''s powerful and is attracted to females. Everything Changes. Crossover: HPxHobbit Pairing: Harry/Tauriel NOTE: SUPER OP MC, so ..... Chapter 1 Harry''s mind swam to consciousness. He heard voices around him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a tall figure leaning over him. "Dumbledore?" Harry muttered because the figure looked like his old Headmaster. Then Harry''s vision fully cleared and he beheld the tall figure above him. "Gandalf," the old man answered. Harry sat up and noticed for the first time he was n?k?d. He was lying in the woods next to a trail where a caravan sat on ponies. The caravan was comprised of what looked like dwarves and one small humanoid creature that almost looked fully human if not for its size. "Where is this?" Harry asked. "This is Middle-Earth, stranger," Gandalf answered. "I felt a strong surge of magic from the trail ahead of us a little bit ago. The sound was like a miniature thunderstorm. When we came in sight of this area we saw you lying here unconscious." "Huh¡­the name is Harry, Harry Potter," Harry said as he rose to stand upon slightly wobbly legs. Harry idly conjured himself a set of clothes in the same style as the members of the party before him but of a nicer fashion. "What type of creature is that bloke? I''m ?ssuming the others are dwarves." Gandalf''s eyebrows had shot up at the casual display of powerful conjuration. The being before him was obviously quite magical but of an unknown power class. Gandalf looked to where Harry had indicated and spotted Bilbo. While Gandalf was looking away Harry took the opportunity to summon his nanite-network out of his essence storage. The network immediately flooded his body and fed back information to Harry about his physiology and the universe around him. His people had not long ago devised a coordinate system in order to navigate the different realities throughout the multiverse. "We are far from our origin universe and even further from the target universe, Harry," said Lily, Harry''s nano-net AI directly into his mind. "And you do not appear to be the original Harry Potter. It would appear he got copied in a glitch during the universal transit. You have his capacity for magical reserves yet your reserves are only at seventeen percent of their full capacity." "Shit¡­I don''t suppose Hermione got copied here with me," Harry said hopefully. "I am afraid she did not," Lily replied. Lily was modeled after the personality of Harry''s mother. Harry loved how life continued to surprise him even after 3,522 years of conscious existence. Harry in his youth had experienced a bit of a mishap with a Philosopher''s Stone. The stone had bound itself to Harry''s magic and sort of evolved him into a new type of magical being. The evolutionary leap created a backup of his essence in an artificially created region of spacetime embedded within a natural higher dimension. In other words even if his physical body was destroyed his essence could form a new body. Harry''s physiology was always quite malleable. He could self-transfigure his manifested form better than any metamorphmagus. In addition to indestructibility Harry found that he could control his age at will. He was truly immortal. Harry soon discovered that he couldn''t die by any means he knew of. Harry had fallen in love with his best friend Hermione. Hermione had helped him research his new existence. They had feared that Hermione would grow old and die leaving Harry alone. After about a hundred years of m?k?n? ??v? to Hermione the couple noticed she was taking on some of his abilities. After first noticing her changes it became apparent Hermione shared her mate''s immortality. They conducted some experiments that revealed that as long as Hermione made love to Harry at least once a century she would retain her immortality. The couple watched their friends and loved ones grow old and die. Hermione realized she could pass away too if she chose to but she would be leaving Harry to an existence of loneliness. It took some experimenting but the lovers figured out a way to put themselves into stasis. The non-magical sciences of the time suggested that time travel would be possible for a future civilization. Harry and Hermione sealed themselves in a magical stasis chamber intimately intertwined so that Hermione kept her immortality. The control systems on their stasis chamber would hopefully wake them when enough temporal manipulation was sensed. The wizards and witches knew enough temporal magic to be able to sense such things. What the two lovers hadn''t counted on was magical kind dying out and the non-magicals mostly leaving Earth to explore. Harry and Hermione weren''t awoken until billions upon billions of years into the future. They were awoken after the universe was more than 10100 years old and nearing its end in heat death. The civilization that woke the last living witch and wizard had used science to gain abilities that rivaled and even surpassed magic in some areas. They were looking to escape the death of their universe to another reality. They were also curious about Harry and Hermione''s immortal nature. In exchange for being allowed to study Harry and Hermione the humans of that time shared all of their technology with the couple. They had figured out how to store matter in the very essence of a being¡­in their soul¡­to be recalled at will. "That is Bilbo Baggins," Gandalf answered, drawing Harry out of his thoughts. "He is a hobbit. I am a wizard. The rest are dwarves," the wizard explained before naming the rest of the dwarves one by one. "What are you?" "Where I come from I am known as a wizard," Harry answered. "But I think I am a far different wizard than your kind. Where are you all heading?" "Gandalf," Thorin called in a warning tone. "I must speak with my companion for a moment," Gandalf said before walking over to Thorin. It was obvious that Thorin was the leader of the dwarves. It was also obvious that he intended to speak to Gandalf in hushed tones so as to not be overheard. That didn''t help keep their conversation quiet in the least. "We should not trust this wizard. We do not know his motives," Thorin warned. "He is powerful, Thorin. I do not completely trust him either. But it is better to keep an eye on him. Besides, he could prove useful," Gandalf suggested. "He may also prove lethal. He may come but be it on your head. And he does not get a share of the treasure," Thorin stated before starting off with his pony again. Gandalf turned back to Harry and suggested, "Since you do not seem to be from around here might you travel with us for a while at least and talk further with me? I might be able to enlighten you about the native magical threats you shall face." "Sure," Harry agreed. Harry eyed the pack ponies and said, "I can provide my own transportation." Harry conjured a bicycle but charmed it to propel itself and maintain its balance. The bicycle had a very cushioned seat. Gandalf looked intrigued at the conveyance and Harry simply came alongside the older looking wizard. While Harry learned more from Gandalf by discussion his mind split its focus using his nano-net. Long ago humanity had learned how to do this and also long ago they had learned how to perfect projection of their consciousness over long distances of spacetime. It was much like the Astro-projection being experimented with in Harry''s youth but far superior. Wizard-kind had developed a spell by the time Harry was 1,050 to find the best mates for a being. Harry knew his original best match was with his Hermione and that he would have to find a new mate. So he figured he should get a move on. Harry cast the spell and let his consciousness flow across spacetime until his mind found itself in a city of beautiful beings. In particular Harry found himself flying into the room of a red haired female who looked to be in her twenties. One look at her aura told him she was at least half a millennia old. She happened to be writing in a journal. Harry''s AI translated the language and the text changed to Journal of Tauriel. The beautiful elf''s name was Tauriel. Harry recognized her for what she was and back in his body he engaged Gandalf in a discussion of this universe''s elves. Lily scanned the journal and learned quite a bit about Tauriel from this scan. Harry decided he had observed her silently enough. He moved himself to just outside her door and caused himself to become visible to only Tauriel. He did this with a targeted invisibility spell. Harry raised his hand and knocked. Force-fields allowed the mage to appear to be corporeal even though he wasn''t really always solid in this form. Moments later the door opened. Tauriel showed great surprise on her face when she laid eyes on him. Tauriel had been expecting another elf but the man before her was clearly not an elf. He looked human and was quite handsome. But he exuded a sense of tangible power. While Tauriel may not be able to use overt magic she was a creature of magic herself and could sense it fairly well. Though, she wasn''t as skilled as an Eldar or even an older member of her kind. "Greetings, can I help you?" Tauriel asked. "Hello. My name is Harry Potter," Harry introduced while holding out his hand. Tauriel recognized the gesture among humans and took his hand before saying, "Tauriel." "I just arrived on Middle-Earth and am looking for friends. I just met a wizard named Gandalf who seems rather interesting as well as some dwarves and a hobbit he is traveling with. I have ways of telling who I can be really good friends with, spells. My spells tell me you could be a very good friend to me and I to you," Harry explained. Tauriel gaped for a moment at the rather strange response. "Perhaps you should come in and sit," Tauriel invited as she stepped aside and gestured towards several sitting chairs grown out of living branches. Harry entered and took one of the seats while Tauriel sat across from him. "Thank you for welcoming me," Harry said warmly. Tauriel noticed her guest was very sincere and appeared to be quite friendly. But she also sensed a hint of danger in him. Tauriel had been told she was too curious by her elders. She had always wanted to explore but the rulers of the elves liked to keep elves in one place out of danger. This visitor represented a way to learn new things and hear tales of the outside world. "You said you just arrived on Middle-Earth. Where did you arrive from? And what type of being are you? You look human but you feel different," Tauriel said. "Are you familiar with the concept of a universe, Tauriel? That which encompasses all of the stars and galaxies that make up your reality," Harry said. "Yes. My people study the stars and our realm. There is speculation amongst mortal-kind that that my kind does not originally come from this realm. And the mortals would be right after a fashion. I do not completely understand the workings of it but our original lands known as the Undying Lands seem to be in a different realm but one which is easier to get to and from for our kind than other realms," Tauriel answered. "Do you come from another universe?" "I knew I would like you," Harry said with a grin. "Yes. I come from another universe. That universe was so old it was dying and near its end. So my people traveled to another universe, not this one. As for what I am¡­in my universe my kind is known as wizards and witches but they seem to be quite a bit different than the wizards and witches of your universe. Our magic is more overt and obvious." Tauriel set aside the implication that universes had a finite life-span for a time. It was something elven scholars had begun to question but until now had not been confirmed. "How did you end up in our universe when your people ended up in another?" Tauriel asked. "My kind has evolved to be able to exist without a physical body in a non-corporeal state. We can create bodies when we need them. Having a body is our preferred state but not a necessity for survival," Harry explained. "I woke up in this universe and discovered there was a malfunction in the process used to transition to a new universe. I am a copy of the original me. All of his memories, a portion of his magic, and his soul¡­his very essence was copied to me. He ended up with his people but I ended up here." Tauriel was silent for some time as she digested this information. "How long ago was this?" Tauriel asked. "Not even half a day ago," Harry answered. "My physical body is currently actively talking with Gandalf while traveling with his group." "You aren''t physically here?" Tauriel said as she reached out and touched him only to find him solid. "How is this possible?" "I can project my will including fields of force which I can mold to any shape through space," Harry answered, leaving out the full word of spacetime which would just confuse her. "Where I come from our technology¡­that which your inventors think up and build, has advanced to such a degree it is beyond many magics." As he spoke Harry projected holograms of examples of technology from his world. A look of thrilling excitement appeared on Tauriel''s beautiful features as she beheld these images. "Show me more of your world, please," Tauriel requested. "Alright," Harry agreed. The pair talked long into the night. Harry managed to ask questions about Tauriel''s life too throughout their discussions. When he could tell she was growing tired he took his leave but not before she asked him to come back after her duty shift the next day. That was the formation of their friendship and perhaps in the future more. Gandalf got a much less comprehensive story of Harry''s past than Tauriel. In return Harry learned about the quest the odd company was on. Thorin, the lead dwarf, was a dwarf prince on a quest to reclaim a jewel called the Arkenstone. Thorin''s people had been driven from their home many years ago in the mountain known as Erebor. Erebor was also sometimes called the Lonely Mountain. One of the few remaining dragons called Smaug had driven the dwarves out in order to steal their vast treasure. Harry honestly thought the quest sounded like a most interesting time. "Have you ever encountered a dragon before, Master Potter?" Gandalf asked after having summarized their quest. The group had been traveling most of the day. They must have found Harry pretty early in the morning. "Yes. In my old realm I killed several. Though from the way you describe your dragon ours might have been smaller and I''m not sure their armor was as hard to penetrate as your dragons," Harry answered. "And call me Harry." Gandalf and company knew Harry came from another realm and that his old realm had died of old age. They didn''t know too much else. They knew he was there by accident but had no wish to leave. His primary mission in life was to make friends and hopefully sometime soon a mate. Harry loved Hermione. Inside he would always love Hermione. But he was pragmatic enough to realize that there hadn''t been a day that had gone by since he was a young man in which he hadn''t made love to a woman. The form of stasis he and Hermione had worked out for all those eons had required their intimate connection. He had been inside Hermione the entire time. He was pretty sure he held the record throughout the multiverse for longest erection. So while he was in no super rush Harry would very much like to find another lover in the near future. He of course had technology which could simulate a woman or even create one but he would much rather have a real female to make love to. Gandalf had silently been contemplating his fellow wizard''s response and asked, "That is still impressive even if your dragons are smaller and less armored." "Having you along could be a great boon," Bilbo told Harry. Gandalf was thinking the same thing. "We shall see," Harry mused. "This is really gorgeous country." The company was traveling over a range of large hilly valleys. The hills were large but not quite mountains. Everything was covered in green. "Do you not have landscapes like this in your old realm?" Frodo asked. "In my realm man grew in such numbers that he destroyed the landscape to make place for him to live," Harry answered while projecting a hologram of just what he was talking about. Gandalf and company had been spectacularly amazed by the illusion of a hologram at first but they now managed to look at the landscape projected before them while keeping their amazement inwards. "That is terrible," Gandalf commented. "We should make camp for the night." It was growing dark. The company soon found a small clearing to make camp. The dwarves set about setting up a fire. Harry caused quite a stir when he summoned forth some more stored matter. Harry pulled forth a zipper which he set floating in the air vertically. He drew down the zipper and spacetime distorted. "Let''s live a bit more comfortably," Harry suggested. "Come inside." The company followed Harry through the portal in spacetime to find themselves inside of a spacious apartment. Harry walked over to a wall to a runic console and began typing out a sequence. "What is this place?" Thorin questioned. "This is how my type of wizard travels," Harry said. "We call it a traveling apartment. We used to use tents but we have come a long way since my youth. Right¡­there is a room for each of you along with a bathroom. The apartment will prepare our food from its stores. Dinner will be served once we all get cleaned up." The dwarves began finding rooms and going to get cleaned up. "You continue to amaze me, Harry," Gandalf said. While everyone was cleaning up, the automated systems in the apartment were making dinner. In truth they could make it nearly instantaneously. The matter synthesizers in the apartment made Star Trek era fictional replicators look like antiques. During dinner there was a screeching noise heard from outside far in the distance. "What was that sound?" Bilbo asked. "Orcs," Kili answered. "You mentioned Orcs as a possible threat," Harry said. "Could you elaborate on them? If you touch this device while thinking about what an orc looks like we can see a hologram of one." Harry had summoned a small pedestal device into existence in front of Gandalf. The wizard touched the device and an orc was projected above the table. "Orcs are thought to have been created by an evil being known as Morgoth during the time of Great Darkness. They are suspected to be bred from elves which were captured and corrupted through torture and mutilation. They are nasty creatures which enjoy the suffering of others," Gandalf explained before elaborating on the creatures. "You need to know how they fight in large numbers. Can this device recount running battles?" Thorin asked. "Yes," Harry confirmed. "Thorin¡­you don''t have to," Balin said. "I know that," Thorin said. "But he should know. After Smaug took Erebor my grandfather Thror tried to reclaim our ancient lands of Moria. But our enemy had arrived first." The holographic projection showed a massive battle between orcs and dwarves. "Moria had been taken by legions of orcs led by the most vile of their race known as Azog the Defiler." Azog was a huge orc white in color and covered with deep scratch marks which looked too purposeful to be anything but intentional. "He was a Gundabad orc. He had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin starting with my grandfather." Azog was shown holding up the severed head of the dwarf''s king before tossing the head down a small gradient at Thorin. "My father Thrain was driven mad with grief. He went missing. We do not know his fate. Our army was leaderless and defeat seemed imminent. It was left to me to take charge so I did. I fought Azog." The fight that followed was brutal but after losing his weapons to Azog, Thorin managed to use a small oak tree limb to shield against the orc''s blows. Azog was wielding a large weapon which looked like a mace but with blades instead of spikes. Harry watched as Thorin fell back from the repeated swings of Azog''s weapon. Azog was fighting in a berserker rage so confident of his greater strength that he left himself wide open for attack. Thorin took advantage and cut off Azog''s left forearm. Azog clutched the ruined stump and was dragged off into a stronghold by his minions. "We won the battle but the cost was too great," Thorin explained as they watched the dwarf army prevail. Then the scene changed to a battlefield littered with almost as many dwarf corpses as orc corpses. "We few had survived." "What happened to the pale orc Azog?" Bilbo asked. "He slunk back into the hole whence he came and died of his wounds long ago," Thorin answered. "That was a severe wound but if properly treated in time he wouldn''t have died," Harry pointed out. "I have ways of telling just from the memories you showed me how likely someone is to die." Thorin appeared disgruntled by this news but did not comment further. TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA It started pouring rain pretty heavily four days later as the group traveled. "Mr. Gandalf, can''t you do something about this deluge?" Nori asked. "It is raining, Master Dwarf. It will continue to rain until the rain is done," Gandalf answered. "If you wish to change the weather of the world you should find yourself another wizard." "Are there any other wizards like you?" Bilbo asked. Even as Gandalf answered Harry cast a charm which deflected the rain off of their group and cast drying charms on everyone. "There are five in my order. The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. There are two blue wizards whose names I have forgotten and Radagast the Brown," Gandalf explained while turning to look at Harry appreciatively. "If you could do that all along then why didn''t you?" Nori asked Harry. "You needed something to complain about, Master Dwarf," Harry said with a smirk. "Besides¡­now you appreciate me more." "He has a point, Nori," Gloin said causing the other dwarves to chuckle. Nori grumbled but subsided. "So this Radagast character¡­where does he live?" Harry asked. "He prefers the company of animals to other creatures. He keeps a watchful eye over the forest lands to the east," Gandalf explained. TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA Tauriel was rushing through the city to try to get back to her apartment. She was late. She had told Harry she would meet him over an hour before. Her tardiness couldn''t be helped but she hoped he would still be there. When she burst through the door she saw him sitting in one of her chairs. Harry immediately arose with a look of concern on his features. She couldn''t blame him. She looked a mess. "What happened?" Harry asked as he stepped over to her and examined her injuries. Tauriel''s left arm was in a sling. There were bandages covering her shoulder, her back, and her side. "My patrol was attacked by orcs. One of my patrol companions Debor was killed. Our attackers had two Gundabad orcs among their number and one of the Gundabad orcs had two Morgul-blades," Tauriel explained. "The king is not in a good mood. He hates when our kind die because of physical skirmishes with the mortal races. He thinks if we avoid skirmishes with mortals we can live forever. I guess in a way he is right. But I don''t think hiding away in our forests living quiet lives is truly living." "What is a Morgul-blade?" Harry asked as he began analyzing the scans of her injuries. "And how long ago precisely did the attack take place?" "I would say two and a quarter hours," Tauriel answered. "Do you know who Sauron is?" "Yes. Gandalf explained who he was briefly. Really nasty sounding bloke," Harry mused. "Morgul-blades were the swords the ring wraiths wielded. The ring wraiths were some of Sauron''s most deadly servants. For a mortal who doesn''t get elvish treatment getting stabbed by a Morgul-blade is a death sentence. The victim eventually becomes a ring wraith them self. But even with our cure a victim will get violently ill each year upon the anniversary of the attack," Tauriel explained. "The only way to be truly cured is to return to our home realm Eldamar." "Why do you still have wounds if your injuries have been healed?" Harry asked. "They will have to heal more slowly because of the nature of the curse on the wounds. The healing is counteracting the curse as much as possible," Tauriel explained. Tauriel was now sitting in a chair. Harry gently took Tauriel''s arm between his hands and his hands began glowing a brilliant blue. Tauriel gasped as any discomfort she had been feeling in that arm vanished. Moments later she was able to move her arm freely. "The arm is healed," Harry explained. "But I need direct skin contact to heal the flesh wounds. The shirt will have to come off or at least the part where you are injured." "You can cut the tunic away," Tauriel offered. Harry produced a pair of scissors and proceeded to do just that. As more of Tauriel''s bandaged flesh was revealed Harry grew angrier inside. "Tell me¡­are these orcs who attacked you still alive?" Harry asked. "No. We managed to slay them," Tauriel answered. "Why?" "Because I do not take kindly to creatures who injure my friends," Harry ?ssured. Tauriel shivered and she did not know if it was because of the magical touch of his fingers healing her injuries or the dangerous tone in his voice. It had been a long time since she had been touched in those places by a man. Harry repaired her shirt after he finished healing her. "Thank you, Harry," Tauriel said warmly after he returned to his seat across from her. "That is what friends are for," Harry ?ssured. "I am just glad I can help. Your friend Debor has been restored to life," he added casually. Tauriel gaped at Harry for a moment, her lips actually parting due to her shock. "How did you do that?" Tauriel questioned. "I sent another version of myself back in time, captured the essence of his being before it departed this realm after the physical death of his body, came back forward in time, repaired the injuries to his body, and placed his essence back in place. I left a note in elvish telling him to avoid Morgul-blades in the future and signed it simply Harry. I will leave it up to you on if you want to tell your people you actually know me or just that I appeared and healed you. I suggest just telling them you felt extremely calm and sleepy when I appeared, healed you, and then left as quickly as I had arrived. You can then provide a physical description. That way it avoids you having to answer any questions about our friendship. What happens between us should probably stay between us. But I won''t prevent you from telling them or force you to lie to your people," Harry said. "I will go with your suggestion. I am still trying to comprehend that you can return the dead to life," Tauriel whispered. "Or that you can permanently heal a Morgul-blade injury. You have the powers of a god." "Yeah¡­I might be a little bit overpowered for this universe," Harry agreed. "That is why I choose not to reveal a lot of my abilities to anyone but you. I am choosing to make you my closest friend in this universe." "Why¡­why me? Is it just because of that spell you mentioned?" Tauriel questioned. "The spell pointed me to you. After meeting you in person I determined you were someone I could trust. I also may have read the contents of the journal you were writing in at the time," Harry admitted. Tauriel''s face flushed in embarrassment. "Just that journal¡­or all of them?" Tauriel asked as she thought about some of the really embarrassing journal entries she had made in her 600 years of life. "Just that journal," Harry ?ssured. "It was enough to get a sense of your character." "I am not mad at you. I understand you were new in this realm and needed to be able to trust someone. But please don''t read any more of my journals," Tauriel requested. "I can do that," Harry agreed. "I can also give you some journals which nobody but you can read." Just then there was a knock on the door. Harry peered through the door. "There is a male elf outside. He was with you during that patrol you were just in," Harry said. "Serop¡­he''s probably here to tell me the news about Debor. This should be interesting," Tauriel said as she rose. "Will he be able to see you?" "No," Harry ?ssured. Tauriel nodded and went to the door. Harry listened as Serop expressed great surprise at Tauriel''s healed injuries. Tauriel gave Serop the cover story Harry had concocted and she was soon called away to go speak to the king and healers about Harry. When Tauriel returned Harry was still waiting for her. She leaned against the door with a relieved sigh. "You have the city in an uproar, Mr. Potter," Tauriel told him. "At first everyone thought a powerful necromancer had infiltrated the city. The healers are putting Debor through a battery of tests. I didn''t escape without getting tested a little myself," Tauriel explained as she sat in a chair next to him. "I take it they concluded I didn''t use any Necromancy?" Harry inquired. "Yes. Though all they are willing to admit at this point is that there is no form of necromancy they know of detectable," Tauriel explained. "King Thranduil seemed especially adamant about verifying the necromantic nature of what you did." She looked pensieve for several moments. "The reason for his behavior was probably because of his own injury or the fact that his wife is dead. His face was badly burned with dragon fire. Our healers were unable to repair the damage. He keeps it hidden with a glamour but the people know what lies beneath. He is probably wondering the answer to this question but from what you told me about how you rescued Debor I think I know the answer. Would you be able to resurrect King Thranduil''s wife? Is there a limit to how far you can go back in time?" "I could resurrect her," Harry confirmed. "My only limit is the point at which this universe was born known as Time Zero." Tauriel didn''t say it but silently she thought her new friend was more like a god than a flesh and blood being. She sensed he was uncomfortable with that comparison. Still, she was in awe of him. "So what you are telling me is that I have two bargaining chips with your king should I ever need them." "I suppose it could be thought of that way. Though granting him either of those two favors would see you named as Elf-Friend. That honor is not to be taken lightly. The least benefit of such a title is that you shall be granted comfortable refuge in the kingdom of the king who bestows you such a title. And any elf not of that realm will very likely honor the title and give you refuge as well. King Thranduil and his heirs will be honor bound to defend you when you are in their kingdom with all the resources at their disposal. Though given the power I have seen you display I''m not sure you ever need that title. Not many Elf-Friends are immortal either. A relationship where an elf mates with a mortal is looked down upon because the elf will either give up their immortality or suffer terrible heartache when their partner dies. Because of your immortal status if you were to become an Elf-Friend any relationship you engage in with an elf would be approved of. In fact one might say it would be encouraged," Tauriel explained. Tauriel''s blush was subtle but Harry detected it with his enhanced vision. "I will take that into consideration," Harry mused. "I have several gifts for you." Before Tauriel could respond Harry waved his hand and caused several items to appear floating in front of them. The first item Tauriel noticed was obviously a form fitting body-suit. It looked thin yet Tauriel could sense it was more than it appeared. As Harry gestured she watched it become like a liquid and flow into a silver bracelet which then floated down to her. "What is this garment?" Tauriel asked as she put the bracelet on her wrist. "It is body armor so that no Morgul-blade will ever bother you again. An energy barrier will extend over your hands and head when the suit deems a threat is incoming," Harry explained. "You summon the suit by thinking that you want it to appear and think the reverse when you want it to retract. It will never get dirty. In fact if you aren''t able to stop to bathe on a journey just summon the suit and return it to the bracelet and you will be clean yourself." The suit had a tactical battlefield AI built in. If Tauriel was ever faced by a threat beyond the suit''s ability to handle a portkey feature was built in to take her to safety. Harry watched as Tauriel tried out the suit. "This is a gift beyond measure," Tauriel said gratefully. "But I see there is more." "This is a bottomless bag. It can hold as much as you want to put in it. It will stay on your hip or wherever you place it and only you can remove it. You will never lose it. Simply think about wanting it and it will come to you. Put your hand inside and think about the item you want and that item will come to you. This is an enchanted mirror. Say my name while holding it with the intent to talk to me and I will be able to talk with you over a companion mirror I have. And lastly this sword is yours to wield," Harry explained while gesturing towards the blade. "I took the opportunity to pattern it after one of your elvish styles. I do not think there is anything on this planet which can break the blade. Likewise it can cut through anything on your world. Using this sword you can deflect magic spells. Like the bag you cannot lose it. Think about wanting the sword and it will appear in your hand." Tauriel stood, plucked the items out of the air, and set them on her table. Then she turned around and faced Harry. Tauriel may be young by her people''s standards but she was by no means stupid. It was not lost on her how attracted Harry was to her. If she was honest she was quite attracted to him as well. "You are a very good friend, Harry Potter," Tauriel said seriously as she stepped closer to him. She leaned down and stopped a short distance away from his face. "Take this as my gratitude and my pledge that should you ever need me I will be there as swiftly as I can." Then Tauriel''s lips were upon his in a heated kiss that lasted perhaps longer than a token of gratitude should. When the two broke apart, Tauriel returned to her seat and smirked at Harry''s dazed expression. "I should do things like this for you more often," Harry said after he had regained his wits. "Mmmhmm," Tauriel replied while practicing summoning her sword to her. Tauriel stood with the blade and stepped into a more open area of her apartment. She whipped the blade through the air. Harry summoned a small boulder for her. She quickly got the idea and slashed the sword through the top of the boulder. A ringing clang was heard and the top of the boulder fell off. The sword was not dulled in the least. Harry vanished the boulder. Harry spent the remainder of that visit showing Tauriel the usefulness of his gifts. TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA ¨C TaNBA Another long day of travel for Thorin''s group saw the dwarf prince announcing, "We shall camp here for the night. Fili, Kili, look after the ponies and make sure you stay with them." Nearby stood the ruins of a wooden farmhouse long abandoned. Not far away stood a cliff face which rose up a hundred feet or so to a small plateau. Trees surrounded the site. Gandalf had dismounted his steed to look in the ruins and declared, "A farmer and his family used to live here." "Oin, Gloin, get a fire going," Thorin ordered. "We don''t need to. We have Harry''s apartment," Oin pointed out. "Right¡­I forgot," Thorin said with a distracted tone. He was looking around the surroundings a little uneasily. "Harry, if you would erect your apartment." Harry began to set up his apartment. The group had been using his apartment for the past several weeks of travel since he had first showed it to them. Despite this regular use Thorin seemed to be the least used to the apartment''s comforts out of all of the company. Harry wasn''t sure why that was but didn''t let it bother him too much. "I advise you to move on," Gandalf called to Thorin. "We could go to the Hidden Valley." "I will not go there, Gandalf," Thorin declared. "Why not?" Gandalf demanded. "You know how I feel about elves," Thorin rebutted. Harry could tell from Thorin''s tone that the prince disliked elves greatly. Harry was of the opposite opinion or maybe just about Tauriel. "We have a map that is unreadable by us. Lord Elrond will be able to help with that," Gandalf suggested. "A dragon attacks Erebor. What help came from the elves?" Thorin asked. "Orcs plunder Moria and desecrate our sacred halls. The elves looked on and did nothing. You are asking me to seek out the very beings who betrayed my grandfather. They betrayed my father as well." "You are neither your grandfather nor your father," Gandalf pointed out. "I did not give you that map and key for you to hold onto the past." "I did not know that they were yours to keep," Thorin replied heatedly. Harry actually agreed with Thorin at that point. The incident reminded him eerily of Dumbledore returning James Potters'' cloak as a Christmas gift. Gandalf walked off at that point. "Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo called. "To seek the company of the only one around here who has any sense," Gandalf replied. "And who is that?" Bilbo asked. "Myself," Gandalf answered heatedly. "Well¡­that was a right bastard thing to say. He gets in a fight with you and takes it out on the rest of us," Harry said to Thorin. Gandalf walked into the forest. "I guess there are some lessons he still has to learn after over seven thousand years of life." "Seven thousand years," Bilbo said incredulously. "How could you possibly know how old he is?" Bombur asked. "I can sense how long the essence of a being has been in the realm of the living. It''s a small piece of magic but can be quite useful," Harry explained. "Now let''s see to dinner." It was dark by the time the dwarves, wizard, and hobbit were cleaned up and eating their meal. The horses were being kept further from the apartment where they could eat and do their business without disturbing the occupants of the apartment. "I''ll just take some dinner to Kili and Fili," Bilbo volunteered as Harry prepared two trays of food. "I tell you we eat like kings when we are staying with you, Master Potter," Gloin complimented. Not long after Frodo had left Kili and Fili came running into the tent. "We have a problem," Kili announced. "Three trolls took two of the ponies. Bilbo is keeping them busy," Fili explained. "Lead the way," Thorin commanded as he rose and drew his weapon. The other dwarves did the same. Harry followed them at a more sedate pace. Harry decided he wanted to see the dwarves in action. Harry watched as the company of dwarves jumped out of the woods and began attacking the three trolls. The trolls had been holding Bilbo by the legs until the attack happened. The troll holding the hobbit dropped Bilbo. The trolls appeared to be fairly slow and stupid as the dwarves hacked, slashed, and jabbed with their weapons. The trolls were different than the kind in Harry''s home universe. These trolls could talk. Their hides were quite tough it seemed. The fighting came to an abrupt halt when two of the trolls picked up Bilbo and held him by each of the hobbit''s limbs. "Bilbo," Kili shouted. "Lay down your arms or we''ll rip his off," Tom the troll declared. Thorin stabbed his sword into the ground. The other dwarves relinquished their weapons. Harry watched as the dwarves and hobbit were tied up. The trolls then erected a fire spit. "Don''t bother cooking them. Let''s just sit on them and squash them into jelly," the troll known as William suggested. "They should be saut¨¦ed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," Bert the troll said while turning the spit. Several dwarves were tied around the spit. "That does sound quite nice," William replied. The dwarves meanwhile were all protesting and complaining. "Don''t worry about the seasoning," Tom said. "Dawn isn''t far away and I don''t fancy being turned to stone." Apparently sunlight turned trolls to stone in this universe. "Wait," Bilbo called as he came to the same realization. "You are making a terrible mistake." "You can''t reason with them. They''re half-wits," Dori called from the spit as he was turned. "Have you smelled this lot? You are going to need something a lot stronger than sage before you plate them up," Bilbo suggested. "Traitor," Bombur called while the other dwarves also yelled in outrage at Bilbo''s words. "What do you know about cooking dwarf?" William demanded. "Shut up," Bert said. "Let the flurgaburburhobbit talk." "The secret to cooking dwarf is¡­is um¡­is to skin them first," Bilbo declared. The dwarves yelled more loudly in protest. "Tom, get me filleting knife," Bert said. Suddenly a sword sprouted out of Bert''s ?h?st from behind. The troll toppled to the ground dead from the thrust through the heart to reveal Harry standing there. The other two trolls charged the wizard in outrage but Harry moved faster than the trolls did and sidestepped their charge. Harry''s blade sliced through William''s left leg as the troll ran past and William went down. Tom turned and charged again. Harry sent a blast of concentrated fire at the troll''s ?h?st. The beam of fire cut right through Tom. As the troll dropped dead Harry stepped closer to William and finished the troll off. "I couldn''t take anymore of your stalling tactics, Bilbo," Harry said in the silence of the night as everyone stared at him in awe. "Why didn''t you do that from the start?" Nori demanded as Harry started freeing those tied up. "Well one¡­I wanted to see how you lot fight. And two¡­You are all being paid to be here. I am not. I only freed you now because Gandalf has done me a service by enlightening me about this land. Why should I risk my life if I''m not being paid to? I''m sure you are all alright blokes but I haven''t known you that long really," Harry explained. "Oin, draw up a contract. Does anybody here object to cutting Harry in on a share of the profits?" Thorin asked. Nobody objected and Oin nodded. Given Harry''s experience in slaying dragons and his obvious skill the company realized they would be foolish to not grasp the offered help. Their chances of survival went up drastically with him along. "It looks like I missed some excitement," Gandalf said as he stepped into the clearing at that moment. The dwarves took turns recounting their adventure with the troll to Gandalf. By the time the adventure had been recounted the contract was ready for Harry to sign. Essentially he would be paid a fifteenth share of the gold in Erebor which was quite a lot from what the dwarves were telling him. He didn''t really need the wealth considering he had been carrying the contents of his family vaults in essence storage when he had been transmitted to this universe. But more money never really hurt anything. Plus it gave him an excuse to help the dwarves without seeming like he was being taken advantage of. Chapter 116 - Game of Thrones Fanficiton 10 - A Motherfucking Dragon Plot: A Self-Insert fic, in which I find myself in the body of Drogon just as he''s about ready to break free of his shell. Poor Daenerys, stuck with a perverse little fu?ker like me. Fair Warning, the Mature Rating will be well-earned. Pairing: OCxDany NOTE: EXTREMELY stuffed full of lemons (you have been warned!!!) A/N: Because I have absolutely no self-control. Let''s see where this goes, shall we? -x-X-x- I awaken and immediately take note of three things. First, it is hot. In fact, it is sweltering, boiling. I''m burning up, or a thousand other terms that mean the same thing. Basically, heat. Except, the extreme heat does not matter. I know intellectually that this sort of temperature should be harmful to me, but instead, it is bolstering me, strengthening me. In fact, I''m fairly certain it''s what woke me up in the first place. The second thing I notice is the darkness, the confinement I find myself in. I am curled up tight in some sort of space that is truly miniscule in size. This will not stand, because the third thing I notice is tied into the fact that I am confined in this tight place. Basically, I''m suffocating. I need air, oxygen, something. My jaw opens, and a plaintive cry leaves it that does not sound at all human. My feet kick out and claws I did not expect to have rip at one of the walls of my confinement. The wall is not strong and I feel my claws dig into it. So I keep at it, ignoring the strange aspects of my existence for a few moments as the alien mind operating right alongside my more human thoughts demands that we get out, Out, OUT! I break free of my confines and pull myself free, throwing my head back and forth. My neck is longer than it should be, almost serpentine as I look about and see nothing but flames. They ??p at me and the egg I was confined in, but it does not harm me. Fire cannot harm me or my new body, I know this instinctively and do not shy away from it. Or perhaps the alien part of me, a new set of instincts that I did not have before awakening, knows it. Regardless, I open my jaw again and cry out once more. Then, my tongue snakes out and I taste my teeth. They are sharp and numerous and my mouth and lips do not feel at all human. But then, I am not human anymore, am I? Looking back, I see the remains of the egg I have just broken free from. Looking down, I see the lizard-like body I now inhabit. My upper arms have wings now. My back legs have the claws I used to tear my way out of the egg. I am a dragonling, a tiny creature who will one day grow big enough to devour entire horses. Hopefully anyways, I still don''t actually know what setting I''m a dragon IN. Turning this way and that yields only more flames. Crawling through the high-burning fire, I look for signs of anything that can tell me where I am. In the end, I find it at the same time her beautiful, vibrant violet eyes find me. And now I know where I am. I open my jaw and cry out to her, the action almost entirely instinctive and involuntarily. Startled from her wide-eyed surprise, the silver haired girl finally moves. She gets off her shapely, fine ?ss and crawls over to me, reaching out as if unsure if I''m real or not. I do not attempt to bite her, though there''s a slight d?s?r? to do so as her pale fingers come into reach. Instead, I lean in and bump my head against her hand. A tentative smile spreads across her face at my action and when she reaches out to me with both hands, I allow her to pick me up, before immediately claiming space on the front of her body. The Mother of Dragons (of which I am one, hooooly shit) sits back on her ?ss once more and I take advantage of the moment to nuzzle my small head between her soft, delicious t?ts. I may be a dragon¡­ but I still have a human mind. A slight gasp falls from Daenerys'' lips and I know I''m stimulating her, arousing her. If I could have grinned wickedly in that moment, I would have. Instead, I settle for snaking my tongue out and ???k?n? at her. I ??p at the black soot that is settling on her body, seemingly for the purposes of cleaning her¡­ but I focus an inordinate amount of attention on her br??sts of course. At the same time, my long tail, the longest appendage I have at this point, slides down into her ??p. I''m sure she thinks it can''t possibly be on purpose, but I still writhe my tail against her moistening ?unt all the same. The sinuous appendage slides up and down and a surprised m??n of d?s?r? slips free of Daenerys'' perfect, full lips. She''s going to be beautiful as she finishes growing. I honestly can''t wait. Though of course, there''s only a small window in which I''ll get to fu?k her. I have to start conditioning her to accept these kinds of advances now, because once I''m too big to pin her down and take her, I''ll have to depend on her to initiate contact herself. Still, I can imagine it, in my mind''s eye. I can see Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, stripping n?k?d and wrapping her lithe, beautiful body around my massive ???k, rubbing herself up against me and ???k?n? my length in the same way I lick her t?ts now. Yes, it will take some work¡­ but I will make the last Targaryen my s?utty little dragon bitch. She can have the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms. I''ll gift them to her, all on my own if I have to. But I will have her¡­ oh yes I will. Her hands suddenly curl around me and it''s clear that Daenerys has finally come out of the haze of p???sur? enough to realize this is wrong, even if she is enjoying it. For the first time, I growl, my small front claws clutching at her flesh and my tail lifting up, only to slap down with a sting across Daenerys'' slit and ???t. The silver haired girl gasps in surprise and pain and looks down at me with wide, violet eyes. I don''t pay her any mind though, instead I continue to nuzzle my head into her cleavage and t?ts. She doesn''t try to move me again. Honestly, she''s lucky I''m not giving br??stfeeding a shot. Fuck, she just had a kid right? Man, I''ll try some other time. For now, need to start slow. As time passes and Daenerys tries to hold back her intermittent ?r??sms, completely ineffectually, my brothers join us. She''ll name them Viserion and Rhaegal, according to my foreknowledge. I''ve already looked at myself enough to realize I''m Drogon. Which is nice and right and proper. If I was going to be reborn a dragon, I fu?k?n? better be the largest of the three. Whether I''d let Drogon''s animal mind, which I''d long since figured out was the alien brain that kept trying to wrest control of my actions from me, actually be as aggressive as he''d been in the canon, well, that was to be decided. Regardless, I hogged our ''mother''s'' front and Viserion and Rhaegal were not nearly as lecherous as I was, so they did not try to fight me for the right to molest Daenerys. Instead, Viserion hiked his way up onto her shoulder and Rhaegal stuck to her back, winding back and forth to look at me with big eyes from either side of her. Whenever he got too close, I hissed at him¡­ and whenever our ''mother'' tried to admonish me for the action, I gave her another smack across her ???t to remind her of just who was in charge here. Still, all good things come to an end. The fires abated and it became far, far too cold for my tastes. Luckily, Daenerys remained nice and warm and delicious, even as she stood up and I had to cling to her to keep my place on her front. All three of us dragonlings stuck to her like glue as she walked forward, but I looked back behind me all the same to see what she was looking at. Ah, there was the remnants of Dany''s ''khalasar''. Most of them would be dead soon. Could I stop that? Would I? Eh, probably not. Though her handmaidens were certainly hot. And then¡­ there was Jorah Mormont. I couldn''t help but glare at the potential rival to my ''mother''s'' affections. I mean, intellectually I knew that Jorah never got fu?k all anywhere with her, but he still ?usted after her just as I did. It seemed my foreknowledge and my ?ustful intentions were slipping into Drogon''s bestial mind, because the dragonling that I was sharing brain matter with was immediately hostile of Jorah and it was hard for me to rein that in. Still, in the end I managed it, even as the two met in the middle of the burnt field. Jorah looked shocked. Understandably so. The exiled knight falls to his knees and stares at Daenerys reverently as he speaks in an awed tone. "¡­ Blood of my blood." Everyone follows suit. Those who have stuck around kneel before the woman who has brought dragons into this world for the first time in a hundred years. If I could, I would roar at this point. It''s certainly what my bestial instincts tell me to do. I must declare myself ruler over this lot of kneeling humans. I must proclaim my magnificence! Except, I know exactly how weak and pitiful my cry is at this point in time. Rather than open my jaws and embarrass myself, I content my instincts by sliding my tail one last time through Daenerys'' puffy aroused puss? lips. To her credit, the beautiful young woman keeps her composure, though I feel her legs wobble for a second all the same. I stop at that point. No reason to ruin her credibility by bringing her to ?r??sm in front of the last people willing to follow her. Still, my dragon lips curl back to show rows of wicked teeth, as I direct a particularly triumphant look at Ser Jorah Mormont. He can''t possibly understand what it meant, but that was fine. What mattered was that I knew what it meant. Breaking eye contact with the exiled knight, I look out at the b?r?st remnants of Drogo''s khalasar¡­ and at the wasteland beyond them. My lips pull back down as I lose any humor or amusement I''d felt. Right¡­ next was the trek to Qarth¡­ through the red waste. Fuck me, this was NOT going to be fun¡­ Chapter 117 - Harry Potter Fanfiction 37 - Family - Its in the Blood Plot: Somebody decides to teach Harry about the importance of blood. Pairing: Harry P., Astoria G. NOTE: Oneshot Family; It''s in the Blood "Draco is right about you, Potter. You''re a disgrace to wizarding kind." Harry and Hermione turned to see a blonde girl in Slytherin robes looking at him with disgust. Behind them Malfoy and his minions sauntered off, laughing at the latest put down they had scored on the Gryffindor Golden Boy and his mudblood. "Screw you!" Harry said heatedly. "You don''t even know me. Malfoy doesn''t know me. I''ve never insulted anyone like Malfoy does. He goes around doing it all the time and you have the nerve to call me a disgrace?" "That''s the point." She took an aggressive step forward. She was a few inches shorter than them and looked to be in Ginny''s year. "You let him insult your family. You don''t stop him from calling your mother a mudblood, or your friend." Harry made to move forward but was stopped by Hermione. She could tell that Harry was on a hair-trigger. "We just don''t believe in stooping to his level." "Ha!" She shook her head in disgust. "I can believe you would think that way, Granger. You were raised muggle. But Potter should know better. He should know just how much of an insult Draco is making and why he is a fool for letting it slide." "How the devil am I supposed to know better?" "Because you were taught these things! Didn''t you pay attention when Dumbledore and Merlin were tutoring you?" Now she was pissed. More pissed. "How dare you laugh about this! You were granted the greatest honour, to sit and learn at the feet of Merlin and-" "Please! Stop!" Hermione was clutching her stomach. Her book bag was on the floor. "God! I can''t believe I was upset about being lectured by a girl who believes children''s books are real." Harry chuckled as he picked up Hermione''s bag and led her away. The girl stood there, confused. She needed to speak to someone. It was two days later. Harry squawked as he was yanked into an empty classroom as he followed Collin Creevey to the Weighing of the Wands Ceremony. Somehow the shutterbug never noticed his charge had vanished. "Again?" Harry ?r??n?d as he saw the same blonde Slytherin looking up at him. He was too frustrated to notice her completely different expression this time. "Look, I have to be somewhere. Can you attack me later?" "Wait! I- I just wanted to apologise." She was holding her hands and wringing her fingers. "I¡­ I didn''t realise the books were fantasy. My sister pointed out that you dress like a muggle¡­ a poor muggle. "Has no one really ever told you about family?" Harry frowned at her. She looked sincere, but also upset. "No. No one has told me anything about family. Hagrid gave me a photo album at the end of my first year and I met my godfather last year." That upset turned to near livid outrage. "What about Weasley? Longbottom? They are both Purebloods. Didn''t they tell you anything? Even the half-bloods-" She stopped her rant and turned thoughtful. "No, they wouldn''t say anything because you wouldn''t ask and you couldn''t ask because you wouldn''t even know you should ask." Harry actually snorted a laugh. She sounded like one of the Dr. Seus books from primary school. He quickly schooled his face as he was subjected to a glare. "Is there something important I should know then?" "Of course! Half-bloods and pure bloods are told by their parents and relatives." "I''m an orphan." "And your adopted parents should have told you." "I was never adopted." "Then your guardians-" "Are muggles." "MY POINT-" She screeched. "is that someone should have told you. "I would like to teach you." It was said quietly, almost too quietly. But Harry heard it. "What?" "I want to teach you about what family and blood means in the wizarding world." She straightened her shoulders, rallying for the task. "I made a mistake when I spoke to you before. I was foolish and ill-informed. I wish to make my apology by teaching you what you should have been taught." "Erm¡­ ok. Just one question: What''s your name?" In order to prevent a civil war in the castle, both Harry and his new tutor, one Astoria Greengrass, agreed to keep their meetings quiet. Neither was fond of using the term ''secret''. The only people who knew were Astoria''s sister, Daphne, and the Weasley twins. Astoria never kept things from her sister and Harry needed somewhere for them to meet. The twins knew the castle like the back of each other''s hands. So there they were, sitting opposite each other on transfigured stools in a cramped secret passageway. "I''ve been trying to think of the best place to start." Astoria said, her brow furrowed. "I could tell you about the importance of family, but you wouldn''t know the background. "So, we''ll start with blood." "I think I still have some left." Harry poked at his left forearm. "This is not a joking matter." Astoria hissed. "Sorry." He said sincerely. "Blood is everything. We get it from our parents and pass it onto our children. The reason for most of the questionable marriages in the wizarding world is because of the power of blood. The traits we inherit from our parents are passed onto our children. "This is generally more important for girls than boys as families prefer to control who has access to family traits." "I don''t understand." Harry frowned. "You are a Parselmouth. Your children will inherit that gift. But your children will be Potters. "Now, if I was a Parselmouth, my children would inherit¡­ but my children would not be Greengrasses. They would be whatever family I married into. "Can you imagine Malfoys marrying into a family like Granger if it meant they inherited their gifts?" "Alright, so you are talking about something similar to genetics. Inherited traits, like hair colour." Astoria frowned. "I do not know that term¡­ ge-net-ticks." Harry just waved it off. "It''s a muggle thing. But I understand the inheritance bit." She clearly wanted to know more, but put it aside in favour of her lesson. "Well, most families don''t have any special gifts. The Greengrasses don''t, in fact the only families I know of that had them were Slytherin with Parseltongue and Tonks with metamorphamagi. "Actually, the Tonks family is a firm example of Pure blood doctrine being flawed. The head of the Tonks family is a muggleborn. He married a Black and they had no history of the gift." "Black?" Harry perked up at the mention of his godfather''s family. "Ah." She nodded in understanding. "Sirius, the traitor." "No, actually. He was framed. Pettigrew was the traitor." She was beginning to get a little bit worried now about being alone with Harry¡­ he seemed to have lost his mind. Harry saw the look. "It was a whole thing last year when Black broke out Azkaban. He actually managed to reveal the traitor but the Dementors interfered and Fudge tried to cover the whole thing up." Astoria tried to return to the proper subject. "Erm¡­ Tonks! Right, the Tonks family became embroiled in a bit of a family feud as the Black family claimed that Andromeda Black had stolen family gifts by marrying the muggleborn and having a baby with those gifts. "It was all a big loss for the Black family as they couldn''t prove that there had ever been a Black who was also a metamorphamagi." "What is a metamorphamagi?" Harry asked. "Someone who has the ability to change what they look like by willing it." "Cool!" Astoria smiled, she often wished she could change things about herself. "Do you have any questions?" "Erm¡­ can these gifts be passed to others without having to be born with them or give birth to someone?" "There is a blood adoption ritual." She nodded slowly. "It is very rarely used. Usually it is done if someone like you, who is the last of their family, is adopted by another family that has very close ties to the child''s family. Usually if someone is a godparent they will perform the ritual. "So, I suppose you could say that Sirius Black would have performed it with you after your parents died." "Does it have to be willing?" Harry asked uncomfortably. He hated to think that someone had tied him to the Dursleys. "That is a subject we should cover next time. The whole mess regarding permissions, consent and authority." The next lesson didn''t occur until after the First Task. "You tried to outfly a dragon?" Came the oft heard accusation. "Look, in my defence, the blasted thing was chained down." Harry grumbled. "It only got me once. It was just a scratch." "If you could summon your broom from the castle, why didn''t you try summoning the bloody egg!?" She finished with a screech. "Erm¡­" "I guess brains wasn''t a gift from either of your parents." She sneered. "Whatever. Let''s just get on with it." "That was a test dummy! I just insulted your parents!" "Well you still haven''t told me how to respond!" "Hit me you idiot! Curse me! At the very least you could return the damned insult!" Harry was peeved. Astoria, however, was red-in-the-face livid. "Your father is a baboon." Harry''s calm declaration left him looking at Astoria with worry. Her face was still red, her breathing still heavy¡­ but her expression was¡­ confused. "That was pathetic." She sneered as she fixed her hair and clothes. "But at least it was a start." "Maybe if you gave me some examples, I''d be better at it." "Draco has been giving you examples since the first day I saw you interacting." She said as she primly sat on her stool. "Now, today we will talk about authority in a family. "We are all magically subservient to those who gave us our blood. Not slaves, but we cannot harm our blood parents. This is usually most noticeable when it comes to accidental magic. A toddler''s temper tantrum won''t be able to cause direct harm to their parents. "I wouldn''t be able to walk up to my father and curse him¡­ that is to say, I could, but my spell would have little to no effect." "But¡­ but what if the parents aren''t¡­ good? To their children?" He asked uncomfortably. "Then all people can do is report it to the aurors." She said sadly. "Remember that these conditions only apply to magic. A child can still punch and stab." They sat silently for a few moments. "Last time you said something about blood adoptions." Astoria just nodded. "It''s usually done by godparents if the birth parents die. Occasionally if the family is exceptionally close or wants the additional familial link for passing on gifts, it can be done." "So¡­ if the Tonks were to blood adopt someone, they could pass on the metamorph gift?" "In theory. I haven''t heard of it happening." "Do blood adoptions happen often or is this just something you researched?" Harry asked curiously. "I did some extra research to help you. General stuff is taught as we grow up. Like learning the alphabet." "Oh¡­ thanks." "Just make sure you put it to good use." She glared. "Yes Professor." "Don''t call me that." "Why are you helping me?" Harry asked. "You''re a pure blood, right? Are you just a good person or do you have another reason?" "I try to be a good person." She said tightly. "But, I might be a pure blood with an unbroken line that spans centuries¡­ but my uncle married a muggleborn. "I love her very much." She finished quietly. "She- She''s still¡­ alive?" "Oh yes." Astoria nodded. "She made it through the war because my uncle eloped with her to New Zealand. Daphne was born a few months before you, but my father didn''t want me born in the middle of the war so he took my mother and sister to join his brother in New Zealand. "I''m actually a New Zealander." She giggled. Harry smiled. It was nice to see the girl happy. "Are they still there? Your Uncle and Aunt?" "No, they moved back to Wales a few years ago. Aunty said she wanted to be here to console my mother when she was alone because I was at school." She laughed. "Would your aunt ever have a reason to blood adopt you or Daphne?" Harry asked. Astoria turned thoughtful. "I''m unsure. Maybe if we were younger and my uncle wasn''t around." "Is blood ever exchanged like that for marriages?" "Centuries ago." She nodded. "It was part of ancient druidic rituals. Now though, people just use contracts. Britain does, at least. My Uncle and Aunt don''t have one, they took vows. Muggle vows. "To be honest, that is a much better option. You see, the blood rituals meant that both parties were unable to harm each other magically. This meant the woman was often at risk from physical abuse as she couldn''t over power the man. Because of this they were abandoned. "Contracts were written by men though. The local authorities were always getting involved and they were always male and looked on women as inferior. The difference between the blood ritual and the contract was that the contracts specifically allowed husbands to ''discipline'' their wives." She said in disgust. "With magic?" "Exactly. That''s why some families stick to the old ways. The Greengrasses do, my Uncle and Aunt have been talking about doing it for a second wedding." Harry felt just a little bit apprehensive at the dreamy look on the girl. He tried to move the discussion along. "Alright, so I''m an orphan. I have no adopted family or guardian. I don''t know if my godfather did the ritual before my parents died. What does that mean for someone like me?" She gave him an apologetic shrug. "Other than having no family, not a lot. You are the senior member of your family. My Grandparents could overrule my parents regarding my upbringing because their blood superseded theirs. My parents could do the same to me for my children. You have no one to overrule you regarding your children." "Do the wizards have social services?" "I don''t know what that is." "People like pol- aurors. They make sure children, families and the like are well treated." "I honestly don''t know. I ?ssume that the aurors would handle those areas. Why?" "Just curious." Harry was now very uncomfortable. "So¡­ got a date for the Ball?" He asked, desperate to change the subject. She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "That was a pitiful excuse for an invite. I''ll go with you Potter. But you had better be more of a gentleman than you are now." Harry just sat there non-plussed. He was just curious who she was going with. He wasn''t offering. He eventually broke out of his stupor to explain¡­ but he was already alone. Hermione had been amused when he told her what happened. She told him he should just be grateful he didn''t have to ask someone. The twins had teased him mercilessly. "You know you have to tell Ron." Hermione warned him. "If he finds out on the day he will cause a scene. Astoria is a Slytherin." That little encounter went about as well as one would expect. Ron was shouting and screaming and threatening to have Harry checked for potions. But Harry had pulled out a trump card. "Ron, I don''t care what house she is in. Pettigrew was a Gryffindor and a traitor. You are a Gryffindor and you betrayed me." He ignored Ron''s indignant shock and that of the students in the common room. "You accused me of entering my name even though you know I don''t need the money or want the fame. "I''ve been attacked by the worst Slytherin since Salazaar himself! Until you can say the same¡­ keep your opinions to yourself!" And Harry made a dramatic exit out the portrait door and into Professor McGonagall. "Mister Potter!" She exclaimed as she pulled herself off the floor. "What is the meaning of this?" Harry was not in the mood. "It''s called an ''accident''." "Mind your manners, Mister Potter. You came charging out of there and nearly caused me an inj-" "Screw you!" Harry was now reaching blinding rage. "Snape is always banging doors and shoving students out of his way! And you have been the cause of far more of my injuries than I have of yours!" And he marched off. And so Harry found himself sitting in the cramped passageway he used for lessons with Astoria. It was after curfew and he didn''t have his cloak or map. He didn''t even have his school robes. He hunkered down and used his arm for a pillow. Life su?k?d. Harry was woken up by a rather vicious shaking. "Wake up! You''ll be late for class!" "Wha? Hermione? S''at you?" He asked blearily as he searched for his glasses. "I really hope Granger isn''t a frequent visitor to your bed." Came the cold response. Harry popped his glasses on and looked up into the dangerous face of Astoria Greengrass. "Only in the Hospital Wing." He ?ssured her. "Why are you here?" "Granger said you stormed out of your common room after a fight with Weasley." She transfigured her usual rock into a stool. "She asked me if I knew where you might be." "But you didn''t tell her, right?" "Of course not! I''m a Slytherin. I know how important simple secrets can be. "Why is McGonagall saying you attacked her?" "WHAT? She fell over when I came out of the common rooms and startled her!" "Granger says she claims you pushed her and were shouting at her." Astoria was unfazed by Harry''s outrage. Harry slumped back onto the floor. "Wow. Of all the people¡­ I never expected she would¡­" Astoria sat there, quietly waiting for Harry to say something. Everything was very tense. "I guess I need to pack my things then." "Don''t be so melodramatic, Harry." She scoffed. "I''m sure this can all be cleared up with a simple discussion." "Astoria, McGonagall has never believed me. She ?ssigns me dangerous detentions for ridiculous things. The only thing she wants from me is the Quidditch Trophy and House Cup." "Harry, if you are that worried, would you like me to call in my parents? You said you don''t have anything except for muggle guardians. Mine could act as representatives for you." "Like lawyers?" She shifted and blushed slightly. "Like parents." "I wouldn''t want to trouble them." "Good!" The girl beamed. She then pulled out a notebook from her bag. She wrote in it and then sat there patiently staring at it. "They will be here within the hour." For most of that hour they sat in the cramped passageway and ate the toast that Astoria had brought with her. Harry chuckled when her notebook started vibrating. She ignored him and checked the book before dragging him out of the passageway. She took him to the Hogwarts gates where an old man with a cane was standing. He was wearing black robes over a suit with a waistcoat and gold pocket watch. Had the man been a fair bit heavier and shorter, Harry might have thought he was looking at Winston Churchill. "Granddad!" Astoria squealed in delight. "Hello Sweatpea." The old man smiled fondly through the gates. "Your Dad said you needed some ?du?t help because your boyfriend got in trouble." Both Harry and Astoria went bright red. "Harry seems to have gotten into a misunderstanding with Professor McGonagall." Harry immediately noticed she hadn''t corrected her Granddad about him being her boyfriend. He decided to keep his mouth shut for now. "Stand back, Harry. You too Miss." Came Hagrid''s firm voice as he walked up. "What can we be doing for you today, sir?" The Groundskeeper asked politely but firmly. "My granddaughter requested that I come and support her and her boyfriend and try to sort out some sort of misunderstanding between Mister Potter and the Deputy Headmistress." The man smiled genially. Hagrid scratched his thick beard. "I''ll have ta go and check with the Headmaster. Can''t be letting people in willy-nilly, ya know." "No problem at all. I can wait here and talk to my granddaughter and Mister Potter." "Right then." Hagrid nodded and walked off. "Incidentally!" The man called out. "My name is Nathaniel Greengrass. It might be something your Headmaster wishes to know." Hagrid blushed and nodded and quickened his pace. Nathaniel drew his wand and conjured a chair for himself. Harry summoned two stones from nearby and handed one to Astoria. "That''s wonderful, Stori!" Nathaniel beamed as he watched the pair transfigure the stones to stools. "You must be top of your year in Transfiguration." "No Granddad, I just know a few things like that. It is useful for when Harry and I are discussing family." Nathaniel''s eyebrow shot up. "Family? Already? Does your father know? I trust you are not doing anything too m?tur? for your age." Harry wasn''t sure what the man was talking about¡­ but Astoria was bright red. "Granddad! No! I have been teaching Harry about what family and blood means. Malfoy kept insulting his family and Harry didn''t know what that meant for wizarding people." Nathaniel frowned and tapped the end of his cane into the ground a few times. "Hmm, that is not good. It is not something you can truly help young Mister Potter with." "I have been!" She said indignantly. Nathaniel smiled fondly. "I have no doubt. But there are somethings you do not know and will never understand. Even Daphne won''t truly understand, even if she does become the head of the family. "You have done very well, I have no doubt. But Harry will need a man to talk to. I will see what I can arrange as you seem to have set your sights on him." Nathaniel chuckled as Astoria once again nearly hit the infra-red spectrum. "Mister Greengrass, Headmaster Dumbledore has said he will meet with you." Hagrid announced as he walked up, keys in hand. Fortunately the trip to the Headmaster''s Office was short and quiet. Hagrid walked them to the castle doors and then left. It was only as they neared the office that Harry remembered that Hagrid was just as biased to Slytherins as Ron was. "I don''t know the password." Harry realised as they reached the gargoyle. "That is generally the idea." Nathaniel chuckled. He turned to gargoyle. "We are here to see Albus Dumbledore. Please inform him." The stone gargoyle just nodded. "Oh¡­ I''ve always just known the password or a teacher brought me." Harry frowned. "Been in the Headmaster''s office often, then?" Nathaniel asked archly. Harry ducked his head, shamed. He flinched when a heavy hand gently landed on his shoulder, but relaxed slightly when he saw Nathaniel give him a reassuring look. Soon the gargoyle stepped aside and Nathaniel stepped onto the stairs. "Mister Greengrass, to what do I owe this p???sur??" Dumbledore asked curiously as they entered the office. "It seems that an altercation occurred last night between Mister Potter and your Deputy Head." He explained as he pulled his wand and enlarged one of the seats opposite the desk. He then sat in the other and indicated for the kids to take the larger one. "My granddaughter was worried for her boyfriend and asked me to come and be his advocate as he apparently has no guardians capable of doing so." "Yes, it is regrettable that Mister Potter is one of the few in such a unique position." Dumbledore nodded. "I have, of course, been informed of the incident. I have also called for Professor McGonagall to join us. Hopefully we can settle this matter calmly and quickly." And that was when McGonagall entered. She took one look at Harry and her face was set in stone. "Headmaster?" "Excellent, please take a seat Professor. Now, I have heard what happened last night-" "From whom?" "I beg your pardon?" "From who have you heard what happened?" Nathaniel asked calmly. "From Professor McGonagall." Albus said as though it were obvious. "And what have you been told?" Albus simply turned to McGonagall. "Professor, would you care to recount the events of last night?" "I have given it once, already. But it does not surprise me that I must do so again." She said tightly. "Last night I was called to the Gryffindor common rooms due to reports of an altercation between Mister Potter and Mister Weasley. "On arriving at the portrait, it smashed open and I was thrown violently to the floor. I looked up to see Mister Potter with a horrible expression. I reprimanded him verbally and he proceeded to back chat me and had the audacity to claim I had been responsible for injuring him!" McGonagall was getting a bit of steam, but she was a professional and maintained her calm. "Harry, does that meet with your recollection?" Nathaniel asked. "I- I exited quickly." Harry said carefully. "I did-" "Actually Harry, how about we have a look at your memories?" Nathaniel interrupted. "I beg your pardon?" Albus asked in surprise. "We can use the school pensieve to view what happened. That is still an acceptable method of resolving these sorts of issues, is it not? You haven''t- You haven''t lost the pensieve have you?" He asked aghast. "Of course not! I just have never seen it used for such a purpose or even heard of such." "Headmaster Black?" Nathaniel turned to the portraits behind them. "Yes, Greengrass. You know full well that when the pensieve wasn''t being used in classes it was used for finding out which of you little brats was the troublemaker." Came the snide voice from the portrait of an old sneering man. Nathaniel turned back to Albus. "Well?" "I will need to remove my own memories from it." Albus said as he moved to remove the basin from its cupboard. "I abolished the practice as I felt it was an invasion of my student''s privacy." The portrait of Armando Dippet scowled. "And one student was expelled solely on the word of another!" One the female portraits argued heatedly. "It was a disgrace!" "Thank you." Nathaniel said loudly, silencing the portraits. "I agree that it could be a rather invasive procedure, but, that is why we offer the option. "Now, Harry, do you want to do this? We only the view the memory you allow us." Harry looked unsure, but Astoria squeezed his hand. He had no idea when she had taken it. "Ok." Nathaniel walked Harry through the process and soon the memory was in the basin. Harry and Astoria watched as the three ?du?ts vanished into the memory. Harry was now uncomfortable for a new reason. "Erm¡­ Astoria? Are we¡­ boyfriend and girlfriend now?" He looked down at their joined hands. Astoria went bright red and she clearly fought her embarrassment. She tried to cover it with bravado and a bit of snootiness. "Well we are going to the Yule Ball together. We do spend enough time together. I trust that you do enjoy our private times?" She asked archly¡­ still red faced. "Yes. I do. I just don''t know what this all means." Harry shrugged. "What do boyfriends and girlfriends do? Do they get married?" Years as the child of Slytherins and the youngest daughter allowed Astoria to maintain her composure¡­ if not her skin colour. "That is a possibility." She said slowly. "It is a choice to be made at a later date¡­ when we are both older." "Oh. Ok. So what do I need to do?" Astoria allowed herself to smile and relax a bit. "Keep spending time with me." She said in a softer tone. "We don''t have to always talk about our lessons. We can go to Hogsmede together and eat together at mealtimes." "Ok." Harry nodded thoughtfully. Further discussion was halted by the return of the ?du?ts. Dumbledore looked tired, McGonagall slightly smug and Nathaniel was frowning. "Harry, lad, what did you mean when you said Professor McGonagall was responsible for your injuries?" Nathaniel asked as he scooped out the memory and returned it to Harry''s head. Harry looked stony as he placed his own wand to his temple and withdrew his memory. He simply nodded to Nathaniel who re-entered the pensieve followed by Dumbledore and McGonagall. This time the newly established couple sat in silence. Although Astoria did lean into Harry, resting her head on his shoulder. When the ?du?ts emerged Dumbledore looked disappointed, McGonagall slightly confused and Nathaniel was livid. "I don''t know which of you two is more incompetent." He snarled at the educators. He glared sharply at Dumbledore. "You for ''hiding'' an exceptionally dangerous artefact amongst children or you," His glare snapped to McGonagall. "For not even bothering to ?ssure the children that you would check on the dangerous artefact that was hidden in a school of childrenand discovered by a bunch of CHILDREN!" Nathaniel was breathing heavily and pacing, leaning heavily on his cane. "The stone was perfectly safe and would have remained so had-" "Minerva." Dumbledore interrupted his Deputy with quiet sternness. "The security of the stone was based around secrecy. Three first years broke through that security, told you and yet you brushed them off." "But it was obvious it was in Hogwarts." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Harry''s comment. "How else would Voldemort know it was here and pre-emptively get a job as a Professor?" Dumbledore shook his head. "He possessed Professor Quirrel during the summer. I believe he intended to rob the bank then and use the school as his base." "Why did Hagrid know then? Anyone who knows Hagrid and was curious about the third floor could have mentioned it and he would have slipped up. It''s how we knew." "Whilst Hagrid is trustworthy, he does have his faults. He never would have willingly given up that information." "He told Voldemort about the Cerberus when he gambled and won a dragon''s egg." Harry pressed. "I believe the young headmaster has mistaken ''loyal'' for ''trustworthy''." Nathaniel grunted. He removed the memory from the basin and returned it to Harry. "I think I need to see the events that took place that got you injured, Harry." Once again, Harry was alone with Astoria. "You didn''t want to see?" "You can show me in our family pensieve over the holidays." She shrugged. "I don''t think my guardians will let me leave. They didn''t even want me to come to Hogwarts." Harry said sadly. Astoria looked up at him and grinned. "Don''t worry, I can be very persuasive." Nathaniel had been livid when he exited the pensieve. He had declared his intent to take Harry to the Aurors immediately to report these incidents. Dumbledore had objected, but it didn''t matter if he was the Headmaster, Chief Warlock or Supreme Mugwump¡­ Nathaniel was decades older and knew how to wield that kind of experience. Which was why Harry was now sitting in the office of the Head Auror, Rufus Scrimageour, waiting for him to exit the department''s pensieve. Nathaniel had insisted that Harry show them the memories of anything he thought should be reported to the authorities. That was four hours ago. It was now dark outside and Astoria was asleep on his shoulder. "Astoria?" Harry was roused from his silent vigil by a woman''s voice. At the door to the office was a young couple. Harry nudged his sleeping companion. "There is someone here to see you." Astoria groggily cleared her eyes (and surreptitiously wiped away her drool). "Mum? Dad?" She looked around and remembered where she was. "What are you doing here?" "We were worried when Granddad didn''t come home." The man said with a frown. "We contacted the school and they told us he had taken you to the Aurors. What is going on?" Astoria was still tired. "Ask Granddad. He''s still in the pensieve. How long has it been, Harry?" "Erm, nearly five hours?" She shot up, wide awake. "Five hours? How many memories did you give them? How did you just sit there without moving? You must be bored out of your mind." "I''m used to it." Harry shrugged. His arm was feeling pretty cold without its pretty warmer. "I just gave Mister Greengrass what he wanted. Memories of the bad things that happened at Hogwarts." "Excuse me, but, are you Harry Potter?" The woman asked curiously. "Yes Miss." "Is Harry the one you wanted us to be an advocate for?" "Yes Mum. It started as just Harry being accused of something, but Granddad¡­ he started pulling at threads." She grimaced. "Merlin''s beard." The man muttered exasperatedly. "Harry, are those your memories?" "Yes sir. I don''t know what they are currently watching though." "Would you mind if I entered so I can try and retrieve my wayward Grandfather?" He asked dryly. "No sir." The man vanished into the pensieve leaving Harry alone with Astoria and the woman. "I''m Astoria''s mother." The woman smiled. She had blonde hair like her daughters, she was wearing simple robes and a kind smile. She also looked very tired. "Missus Greengrass?" "That''s right." She smiled. "It''s nice to meet you Harry, we didn''t know you were friends with Daphne and Astoria." "I don''t really know Daphne, Miss." Harry admitted. "I only know Astoria because she''s been teaching me about family." "Merlin''s sake Harry! Please stop saying it like that!" Astoria went bright red. "I''ll explain later, Mum." There was a sudden screaming as the man came tumbling out of the pensieve. Scrimageour and Nathaniel quickly followed. "Calm down son!" Nathaniel said sternly. "Calm down?" The man said frantically. "There were like¡­ a thousand Dementors! How can I calm down?" "I thought there were a hundred?" Harry said curiously. "You! You said those were your memories!" The man said accusingly. Nathaniel grabbed his grandson by the collar and hoisted him to his feet. "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Samuel." He said warningly. "I suggest you take Astoria and her boyfriend back to Hogwarts, I will need to bring Harry back here tomorrow." It was gone midnight by the time Mr. Greengrass got the teenagers back to Hogwarts. He kept looking at Harry like he was a dangerous animal. He kept a tight hold on Astoria''s shoulder. Harry felt resigned to his fate as the world''s most hated. No words were spoken as Mr. Greengrass left them with Hagrid at the castle gates. Hagrid left them at the castle doors without a word. "I''ll walk you to your dorm." Harry said tiredly. Astoria wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned into his side and began walking. "Ignore them, Harry. It''s what you would have had to do if you were in Slytherin. Everyone looks at us like we are about to reveal ourselves as the latest dark lord or lady." They made it to the lower levels before they were accosted. "Potter! What are you doing out after curfew?" Snape demanded. "We have just been returned to the school from the Aurors office, Professor." Astoria yawned. "You can check with the Headmaster if you need to." "I find it highly doubtful that Potter would legally be released if he was arrested." Snape sneered. "He wasn''t arrested. He was taken in to give testimony, memories." She allowed herself a smirk. "Apparently, Harry Potter has been the subject of¡­ ''mishandling'' by professors. Today they were reviewing Professor McGonagall. I''m not sure who they have planned for tomorrow." The greasy haired git paled. "You lie!" He half accused, half pleaded. "Why would I do that? Why would you care, Sir?" She asked in an innocent manner. "I''m sure you''ve acted with nothing but exemplary professionalism." "Detention! Both of you! Every night for a week!" "Why?" Astoria asked curiously. She then sighed and shook her head. "It doesn''t matter. I''ve recently learned that the school has a pensieve that is used to resolve conflicts. I''m sure Granddad will be happy to accompany us both tomorrow." Snape quickly turned and fled. His usually billowing cloak tangling in his arms in his haste. She turned to look up at Harry with an impish grin only to see him scowling at her. "I have double potions tomorrow." She poked his side. "We''ll be out of school all day." Breakfast was a tense affair. Everyone wanted to know what happened yesterday but no one wanted to be on the end of the death glare from McGonagall. Snape was looking decidedly sweaty. Hagrid looked like someone had killed his puppy. Dumbledore looked conflicted. All murmuring was put to a stop when the doors to the hall opened and several people in uniform walked in. "Auror Scrimageour! What is the meaning of this?" Albus demanded. "Due to recently revealed evidence I have ordered a full investigation into the security of Hogwarts and the goings on of its school and staff." "Class is in session, Auror." "And crime never sleeps." The stern man returned. "Quite frankly, I''m appalled that you are willing to so calmly ignore any possible threats to the children''s safety. Especially with our visiting guests." "Please explain zeez ''threats''." Madame Maxine stood from her seat. "I''m not at liberty to discuss the details yet, Madam. But to the best of our knowledge there are no¡­ imminent threats. There might, however, be potential threats." "Should I remove my students?" "We would prefer that you not leave yet, but if you feel the need then you could sequester yourselves in your carriage until we are done. We hope to find nothing, but we are preparing to find everything." "''Ow long do you zink zis will take?" "Anywhere from a day to a month, Madam. This castle is large and highly populated. We hope to have a preliminary ?ssessment done by today or tomorrow, school should return to normal then but my people will still be around to investigate further." "This is completely unnecessary!" Albus argued. "Hogwarts is the safest place in the country!" He was beginning to get angry. "And yet you''ve had a basilisk living here, unchecked, for a thousand years. The Dark Lord has infiltrated twice since ''91 and one of your own professors lied and abetted the escape of a mass murderer all for the promise of an Order of Merlin! "If you want to complain, take it up with my superiors. The Head of the DMLE has signed off and is expecting me to return with a witness within the hour. "Proudfoot." He turned to a male auror. "You have your orders. I will try and make it back before evening. Mister Potter, with me." Harry''s second day at the Ministry was worse than the first. First he was introduced to Madam Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Then he had given them all the memories again. Only this time he had to enter the pensieve with them and relive the memories and answer questions. Nathaniel and Astoria stayed with him, Astoria was attached to his side and wouldn''t be removed under pain of death as she watched everything Harry had gone through. Harry found it was a strange situation as he watched. He hated the situations that often featured in his nightmares but he also hated himself as he saw himself make stupid mistakes. "Is there a problem, Mister Potter?" Madam Bones asked as they took a break for lunch. Harry looked terrible, he was clearly trying to remain calm but he was also upset and angry. "Just¡­ didn''t like what I saw." "You lived those memories, Harry." Nathaniel said calmly. "Was there something specific?" "I was stupid. I made so many mistakes." He said with self-loathing. "You were eleven." Scrimageour said blithely. "I''ve got seasoned aurors who would be dead if they went through what you did." "You are alive, Harry." Nathaniel said firmly. "You are alive and those bastards, Riddle and Lockhart, they came off far worse." "Mister Potter, if you believe you made mistakes, remember them." Madam Bones said simply. "Remember them so you do not repeat them. It is all any of us can do." "Is Harry going to be in trouble for any of this?" Astoria asked, her face was set and ready to argue. "I can''t see why." Scrimageour shrugged. "Both events in ''91 and ''92, he went to a teacher first. If he was an ?du?t he would have fulfilled his civic duty. He was a child and wouldn''t be expected to do anything except what he was told. "Considering the reactions of those teachers, I can''t fault him for not bothering to find a teacher when his friend was kidnapped in ''93." "Dumbledore will need to answer some tough questions about the illegal use of a Time Turner though." Madam Bones said grimly. "And not just to me. The Unspeakables will need to be informed." "Will Hermione get in trouble?" "She will have note placed in her file and she will be cautioned." Bones allowed no argument. "As much as Sirius might mean to you, risking the fabric of existence is not worth the life of any one man." "Will I get one too? Is this like the one I got because Dobby did magic at my relatives'' house?" Scrimageour pinched the bridge of his nose. "I''ll go and get another auror to deal with that." He said tiredly. He stood up and moved to the door, muttering as he went. "Thirteen bloody years of peace and the bastards still not done." Nathaniel decided that his presence was no longer necessary at the Ministry and that it was pointless for the children to have to spend the entire day waiting on the Head Auror and the Head of the DMLE to finish viewing Harry''s submitted memories. He told them to compile their questions and then come and see them at his home. Nathaniel lived in a small cottage in East Anglia, near the coast. The nearest town was Clacton-On-Sea, a seaside town. He lived quite modestly, at least on the outside. Inside the cottage was another matter. It was a veritable mansion. Nathaniel had introduced him to his house elf, Spiffy, just in case he got lost. "This is the two hundred and thirty-first Greengrass Mansion." He said proudly. "Every member of the Greengrass family is expected to create their own home. Some are reused by descendants later, especially if one is damaged or destroyed. "Astoria will eventually make one herself." He patted the girl on the shoulder. "Are they all so¡­ big?" Harry asked in awe. "They are as big as we want them. Or need them. The only problem comes with restricting the size. Once a room is built it isn''t possible to remove it without destroying the whole house. Various family members have experimented over the centuries." He turned to a tired looking Astoria. "Poppet, go and use the floo. Tell your parents you will be home for the night." "Can''t I just stay with you and Harry?" She pouted. "Off you go." He said sternly. "Aren''t we going back to Hogwarts, sir?" Harry asked as Astoria stomped off. "I have spoken with Madam Bones and she agrees that until the investigation has concluded it would be best if you weren''t at the school. You are, after all, the source of most of the issues." Harry looked horrified. "Relax, you are not responsible. As Auror Scrimageour told you, you were a child and it was the responsibility of the ?du?ts, not you." He ?ssured the young man. "Will we be back in time for the Yule Ball? I was supposed to take Astoria and I am not sure if it would count towards the Tournament." "It won''t matter." Nathaniel said firmly. "I can guarantee you that you are not bound by that so-called ''contract''. It is impossible for someone to be bound to a contract that they not only didn''t sign but was signed unwillingly and unknowingly." "But Dumbledore and Crouch-" "Will soon find themselves having to answer a lot of questions. Both of them know enough that a contract must be willingly signed. Questions will be asked of the other teachers as well. "My god! The pure blood students themselves should know better!" He said in exasperation. "What if they are too young? To sign a contract, I mean." Harry pressed. "Astoria said that ?du?ts can blood adopt babies, wouldn''t that be the same sort of thing as a contract?" "Ah, so this is what Astoria has been teaching you." Nathaniel nodded. "Well, the simple answer is no. The two are different. The act of blood adoption is the equivalent of an unbreakable vow on the part of the ?du?ts. They are vowing to treat you like family. "Contracts require the voluntary submission or agreement of the signee." "So I really don''t have to compete?" "Not only do you not have to compete, you don''t even have to attend Hogwarts anymore." Nathaniel scoffed. "I will be having strong words with Astoria''s parents about withdrawing her and her sister and sending them to somewhere more sane. I suggest you consider doing the same." "I don''t know of any other schools, sir." Nathaniel nodded sadly. "You and I can sit down and talk later, after Astoria has gone home. For now, why don''t you go and find my little girl. I have a few broomsticks, Astoria knows where they are. Tell her I said she could take you exploring for a bit." Nathaniel had not had a happier day in years. Harry and Astoria had returned home for dinner a complete mess. Their hair and clothes made them look like they''d been caught by a tornado. They were full of smiles and declining energy that comes from a day spent having fun. Throughout the meal he and Harry sat and listened to Astoria gab on about everything. Nathaniel occasionally chimed in with a story or asked Harry a question. He was always very careful what topics he picked. At eight o''clock Astoria headed through the floo and Nathaniel guided Harry to a cosy sitting room where Spiffy brought them both hot chocolate. "Spiffy, I''m sorry but we are going to put off our trip for a few more days. I need to be around to help Harry." He told the small creature sadly. The elf just nodded. "Spiffy understands. Spiffy will put the rods and bait away." "Just put them in stasis. I fully intend for us to make our trip, it will just be later." The elf vanished with a small pop. "So, Harry, you have quite the tangled little life." Nathaniel chuckled. "Oh don''t look so down, lad." He told the clearly sad boy. "You have had some nasty experiences, but you have the opportunity to use those experiences to make your future in anyway you want. "You are the first person in centuries to see a basilisk. No one on the planet has single-handedly defeated over a hundred Dementors. You outwitted a dragon. "And you emerged victorious over the second worst wizard in a century. Several times." "Will I have to do this all my life?" Harry asked forlornly. "God no. You could easily disappear and become anonymous to the wider world." "I could? How?" Harry clearly perked up. "Leave Britain." Nathaniel said simply. "Change your name, go to a different school. And those are just the non-magical means." "Are schools expensive?" "Generally they are free. Hogwarts is free. Occasionally a school will require a fee, especially boarding schools." "What about moving to a different country. Is that expensive? Can people live in one country and go to school in another?" "The cost is entirely dependent on the country in question. As for commuting, most schools are government run or sponsored. As such, they can usually arrange free portkey or floo connections." Harry was silent for a few moments. "I like Hogwarts. It was my first real home." "Harry, having seen some of your experiences with your relatives, I can ?ssure you; you do not know what a real home is like." Nathaniel said sadly. "What about my friends? Hermione, Neville?" He couldn''t bring himself to include Ron yet. "There should be no issue with their leaving. Unlike you though, they have to obey the wishes of their parents." "My parents wanted me to go to Hogwarts." Harry muttered to himself. "No." Nathaniel said sternly as he instantly got Harry''s full attention. "Your parents wanted you to live a long and happy life. That is why they died that night. It is a grave insult for Albus Dumbledore to unilaterally determine how you were raised and then spit in the face of your parents'' sacrifice by endangering you so gravely." Harry didn''t respond. He knew Nathaniel was on his side, but he was fairly intimidating. "Harry, if you want to leave Hogwarts then I will personally speak with the parents of your friends and try to convince them of the wisdom of over-seas schooling." The following morning Nathaniel was once again livid. He hadn''t been this angry this much in decades. "A blood binding? Absolutely abominable! Astoria, use the floo. Tell your father I am ordering him to collect Daphne immediately. I want you both out of that school." The girl clearly didn''t want to leave the meeting between her grandfather, the two senior law enforcement officials and her boyfriend, but her grandfather was not in a mood for arguing. She had never seen him like this. "This isn''t a contract?" Harry asked. Bones and Scrimageour had arrived early with the news that Harry was still required to compete in the tournament as his blood had been used in the confounding of the Goblet of Fire. "No Harry, blood bindings are used in things like slavery." Nathaniel said gravely. "But this does not make you a slave, Mister Potter." Madam Bones interjected quickly. "It does; to the Tournament." Scrimageour scoffed. "The good news, and it b?r?ly qualifies as such, is that we have the person responsible. Barty Crouch Junior was holding Alastor Moody hostage and using polyjuice potion to impersonate him. He is the one who confounded the Goblet. Apparently he was working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." "So I have to go to the ball and complete the second and third tasks?" "So it would seem." Nathaniel scowled. "However, I want the Goblet. I ?ssume the other contestants aren''t bound by blood and I want that Goblet in secure and safe hands so no one else can use it to hurt Harry." "I would have to discuss that with others." Bones shook her head. "Aside from being an ancient and priceless artefact, it is also-" "Who sold you that hogwash?" Nathaniel sneered. "In all my years, all my travels and all my experiences, I have never heard of this ''Goblet of Fire''. There is not a mention of it in my libraries." "Albus Dumbledore-" "The same Albus Dumbledore whose incompetence has so grievously endangered Harry''s life?" "The same Albus Dumbledore who is the Chief Warlock." Madam Bones retorted heatedly. "Yes, that one." He maintained his sneer and disdain. "The one who has endangered my children''s lives numerous times over the past few years. "Get me that Goblet or I will take this to the ICW. International statutes are very clear on blood bindings." He threatened. "You''re going to love this next bit then." Scrimageour scoffed in disgust. "Dumbledore had several blood bound objects in his office. All relating to Potter." Nathaniel was frozen. His eyes were hard. "Sir?" Harry asked worriedly. Nathaniel quickly turned to Harry. "Follow me, son. We need to talk and act quickly." "Mister Greengrass, we aren''t finished!" Madam Bones argued. "You can wait!" He called over his shoulder. "We shan''t be long." Harry followed Nathaniel through various winding corridors, the elderly man moved quickly and called for Spiffy to join them. "Spiffy, I''m going to need you to make sure that our guests don''t leave yet. We shan''t be long but we can''t be disturbed.'' "Yes Master Nate. Spiffy will make more tea and biscuits." The elf said with the same determination as a prince preparing to storm a castle to rescue his love. Harry was led into a b?r? stone room, there were no windows and only a simple bookcase and cupboard on the far wall. Nathaniel immediately went to the cupboard and pulled out a stone basin and stone knife. Harry immediately backed up against the door. Nathaniel never noticed as he was busy searching for a book in the bookcase. "You are in extreme danger, Harry." Nathaniel declared without turning away from the titles. "Blood bindings are forbidden. If protecting you wasn''t more important I would march to Hogwarts and challenge Dumbledore to a duel! "But, as I said, protecting you is more impor- ah ha!" He plucked a dusty old book from a shelf and turned, brandishing it triumphantly. He flipped through the book and handed it to Harry. "Read that." Harry cautiously took the book, his eyes flitting nervously to the knife. "Blood adoptions?" "You have been blood bound to an object." Nathaniel nodded gravely. "Normally this could be dealt with easily by your father rejecting the object''s claim. His authority in this matter would supersede the objects. It is why, in the old days, slavers would kill the families of the children they stole." "Because the slavers couldn''t be challenged?" "Exactly." "And you want to blood adopt me?" Nathaniel paused his pottering with the basin and knife. "As the last of your house, you would also be considered the head of your house. You can''t free yourself from a binding. If you had a sibling, it might be possible. "I wouldn''t offer this to just anyone, Harry. But I''ve seen your memories. I know what you''ve done and you deserve so much better than what we''ve given you. "I have no interest in controlling you, lad. But I too have seen and done many things. I can''t stand by and let this happen to you if I have the ability to stop it." Bones and Scrimageour were not happy as they sat in the sitting room. Greengrass and Potter had been gone for nearly half an hour. They were busy people. Their grumpiness turned to concern as healers burst through the floo and Spiffy popped in frantically, demanding them to follow him. The two law enforcement officials tagged along. "What the devil happened here?" Scrimageour demanded as he saw Harry on his knees with Nathaniel''s head in his ??p. There was blood on the boy''s hands and he appeared distraught. "He blood adopted me. And then he collapsed!" "Why would a blood adoption cause the senior participant to crash?" One of the healers muttered to himself. "Did he say anything else? Did he change the ritual in anyway?" The other healer demanded of Harry as his partner worked. "I- He said he demanded the Goblet of Fire release me." "You''re Harry Potter!" The first Healer said in shock. "Haarrry." He jumped as Nathaniel hoarsely whispered his name. "I won. You are free¡­ my son." Nathaniel took his hand weakly and held it as he lay in Harry''s ??p. And then he passed out again. Harry looked down at his hand to see a ring sitting on his finger. It had an unusual symbol etched into the green stone. A vertical straight line with four horizontal straight lines coming out of the side. The healer not working on Nathaniel grabbed Harry''s hand and examined the ring. "Do either of you recognise that symbol?" He asked the law officers. "The House of Selwyn." Bones said sternly. "Long thought lost." "What did Greengrass mean by ''he won'' and what did this ''Goblet of Fire'' have to do with it?" "He- He said that if he adopted me he could demand the goblet release me." Harry explained. "God damn him." Amelia Bones swore. "He tried to break a blood binding between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." "Blood binding?! Adams, do you have a diagnosis?" The other healer didn''t pause as he continued casting spells. "Exhaustion, dehydration¡­ he looks like he just finished duelling two dark lords to the death on his own." The first healer began pulling potions from inside his robes and pouring them down Nathaniel''s throat. "Potter, call his elf." "Spiffy?" "Master Harry! Is Master Nate going to be okay?" The little guy asked, wringing his hands. "Elf, we need to put him in his bed. He is not to leave it until he is cleared by a healer. Do you understand." "Spiffy will try." The elf said timidly. Clearly the healer didn''t believe the elf would do anything his master didn''t want... so he turned his glare on Harry. "You will make sure that the only things he lifts over the next few days are his eyelids. Am I clear?" Harry nodded, his eyes wide. Harry refused to leave Nathaniel''s side as the man slept. He refused to talk to Scrimageour or Bones until the older man awoke. Spiffy had firmly escorted the duo from the cottage. It was late in the evening when the elf popped into existence and informed him that Astoria had returned with her family. Nathaniel was still sleeping so he wasn''t able to tell Spiffy to let them in. Only he could override the healer''s orders. Well, him and a certain someone. But that someone didn''t know that yet. Harry was forced to exchange places with Spiffy as he didn''t want the old man left alone. He was met by an irate family of four. "Where is that old man?" Samuel demanded as his wife glared at her husband''s back. Daphne was, unfortunately, glaring at Harry. Astoria looked like she wanted to ask questions but didn''t want to make herself her father''s target. "Sleeping." Harry said tersely. His whole body was tense and ready for a fight. He wasn''t expecting one, it was simply a natural reaction to confrontation. "The healers said he had to stay in bed until they said so." "I want to know where he gets off demanding I remove my daughters from school!" "Because he loves them and cares for them." Mrs Greengrass said snidely. "Stay out of this Isobel." Samuel snapped. "Calm down, Samuel." Isobel Greengrass retorted. "Nate is clearly not well. Perhaps if we took a few minutes, Harry could shed some light on what happened and that might explain why he ordered Daphne and Astoria removed from Hogwarts." Samuel growled, but stepped back. "Harry, do you know what happened to Nathaniel?" Isobel asked calmly but firmly. "He blood adopted me and used that to free me from the Goblet of Fire. The healers said he exhausted himself and ordered Spiffy and me to make sure he doesn''t move or do anything until they say so." Harry explained. "Wait, wait, wait¡­" Samuel barged back into the conversation. "He blood adopted you?" "That''s what he said." "Nathaniel Greengrass?" "Yes. What?" Harry noticed Isobel trying not to laugh. "Well, Grandfather Harry, I don''t know if Nathaniel mentioned this but, he is actually Samuel''s ''Great Grandfather''. By adopting you, he made you the equivalent of Samuel''s grandfather." She said, clearly enjoying this. "She''s joking, Harry." Astoria scowled as she moved forward, stepping between her giggling mother and Harry. "You aren''t actually our Great Grandfather, you just hold the equivalent position in the family. It''s all part of that family magic I''ve been teaching you about." Harry just stood there, looking between the close-to-blowing-his-top Samuel, the clearly-enjoying-this-too-much Isobel, the I-have-better-things-to-be-doing Daphne and finally¡­ the you-better-not- think-you''re-getting-out-of-this-relationship Astoria. "I''m going to see if Mister Greengrass is awake yet." He said before quickly walking off. Nathaniel eventually woke up and Harry made good on his word and ensured the old man didn''t even speak. Nathaniel was torn between grumpiness and amusement. He also found that Harry was quite stubborn. Harry refused to let him see anyone until the healers said so. Poor Spiffy was torn between obeying Harry or Nathaniel. Harry won simply because he told Spiffy that the elf had to feed the old man as he wasn''t allowed to get up. That was when Harry learnt something extraordinary about house-elves. "It will be wonderful!" The little elf enthused happily. "Just like when Master Nate was a baby and Spiffy would feed him. Spiffy will prepare the mushy-mush and practice the Quidditch player!" There was a pop and the two were alone. "He fed you when you were a baby?" Nathaniel looked very uncomfortable. "Yes. When Mother was unable to do it herself she would have Spiffy take care of me." "How old is Spiffy?" Nathaniel smiled wistfully. "Spiffy is nearly as old as the Greengrass family. Frankly, he is so old that he can''t actually remember what his name originally was." "Are all house elves that old?" "No, in fact, Spiffy is possibly the oldest. In Great Britain at least. There may be ten or so who have been around as long. The only one I know of is at Hogwarts." "If Spiffy is so old, why does he seem so¡­" "Childlike?" Harry nodded. "It''s just the way they are. They seek love and affection. They long for family. "They aren''t born like we are. They don''t have parents. We used to call them ''Brownies'', they would come into homes at night and do chores like washing and cleaning. "Since then, they have become more common place and more willing to be seen. "Some, like Spiffy, have even become open members of the family." "I knew an elf, Dobby. He was the Malfoys. He seemed like a slave and I tricked Malfoy into freeing him. How does that work?" Nathaniel''s face grew dark. "Because house elves don''t know any better. They enter magical homes in good faith. They don''t understand the greed of humans who know of their kind and use wards and traps to capture them and enslave them." "Isn''t that illegal?" Harry scowled. "It should be, but to date, the Ministry refuses to acknowledge any magical beings as having rights. So when something enters a wizards home without permission, why shouldn''t he take action?" He said with heavy sarcasm. "Are they considered property?" "They aren''t considered anything, Harry." And that was the statement that made Harry James Potter a true and fully-invested member of S.P.E.W. But he was still going to change that bloody stupid name. That afternoon the healers returned and declared Nathaniel fit for visitors. Harry was given a quick tutorial on a diagnostic spell for magical levels and told that Nathaniel was to stay in bed until he reached a certain point. Harry nodded like he''d been issued orders to defend the Queen. This also gave Harry a break from staying by Nathaniel''s side so his family could visit, one at a time. First up was Samuel. So Harry went to see the rest of the Greengrasses. "So¡­ how are things back at school?" He asked into the awkward silence. "Like second and third year all over again." Daphne sneered. "Instead of professors escorting us around, we''ve got aurors watching us like ticking time bombs. What the hell did you tell them, Potter?" "Daphne! Language." Isobel snapped. "This is hardly Harry''s fault. If anyone in this house is at fault it is Nathaniel." "Granddad was trying to protect us." Astoria quickly rose to her beloved patriarch''s defence. "If you saw even half the things-" She shuddered, unwilling to travel down those memory paths again. "I don''t suppose you know if Ron, Hermione or Neville are ok?" Harry tried to move the conversation on. "Weasley is lucky he can still walk." Daphne smirked. "He tried to kidnap me and accused me of helping Astoria dose you with potions. The weasel is pathetic with a wand though and I easily dealt with him." Harry looked down sadly. He found it hard to have sympathy for Ron. "Granger¡­ well, she Longbottom and a few others have tried to complain to the Headmaster about Weasley after he apparently got violent with Granger as well. He didn''t like the fact she knew about you and Tori but didn''t do anything. "From what I hear, Weasley and Granger wound up in the hospital wing. He with a broken nose, her with a bruised hand." A slight smile pushed at Harry''s lips. Hermione was smart enough not to need a wand to defend herself. "I ?ssume Dumbledore is refusing to do anything?" Astoria snarled. "Nothing has been done as far as I can tell." Daphne shrugged. "Astoria, what has brought on this¡­ distaste for your Headmaster?" Isobel questioned her youngest. Astoria unconsciously took Harry''s hand and shuddered. "Harry let me see what he showed the aurors. You don''t send eleven-year-olds to¡­ do ?du?t work." Harry was glad she hadn''t mentioned the Dursleys. He didn''t want his dismal private life being discussed so openly. "I don''t remember any problems with him when I was a student. Daphne?" Isobel enquired of her eldest. Daphne just shrugged. "No problems personally, but I have had to listen to Draco Malfoy''s endless blather about how the old fool let Harry and his friends get away with anything." Harry just snorted. "Did he give examples?" Daphne frowned as she thought back. "Actually, not that I can remember. It was always rather generic. Railing at unspecified events." "Right, this from the git who constantly insults my parents in front of others, calls my best friends¡­ well, words I can''t say in polite company, and has actually tried to curse me in the back." "What?!" Isobel was gobsmacked. "Regrettably true, Mother." Daphne nodded sadly. "Quite a few people, including Professor Moody saw it happen." Isobel shook her head in disgust. "Where did Lucius and Narcissa go wrong with that boy?" "They are worse." Harry waved a dismissive hand. "Lucius is the one who made sure the Chamber of Secrets was opened in second year. He tried to cast what I now know is the Killing Curse at me when I confronted him." "What?! Impossible! How-" "Mum!" Astoria snapped heatedly. "The only witness was a house elf. That house elf was also the one who saved Harry." "That explains Malfoy''s latest rant." Daphne smirked. "Apparently he got hauled in for questioning by the aurors at the school. His dad has been arrested." Samuel eventually emerged and let his daughters visit with Nathaniel. This meant that Harry was left with a grumpy Samuel and fairly distraught Isobel. Her world was being turned on its head with all these revelations. Harry simply left. He went to his room and waited for Nathaniel to finish visiting with his family. Before that happened he had a visit with Madam Bones. Samuel and Isobel insisted on being present as ?du?ts as Harry and Spiffy refused to let Nathaniel have any other visitors. "Sirius Black." She said without pre-amble. "Based on your memories he is innocent. Just as bad is the fact that the actual guilty party is alive and free. "You''ll excuse me if I try to gloss over the issue of him spending three years in the presence of his target." She said with tired disgust. "Excuse me? Sirius Black is innocent?" Samuel was incredulous. "You can discuss it later with Mister Potter." Amelia said dismissively. Samuel was not happy at being brushed off so casually. "I don''t think we can! You honestly think we can sit here and say nothing when you''ve just told us that Sir-" "Mister Greengrass!" Madam Bones snapped. "I told you nothing. I was speaking with Mister Potter about official matters. You insisted on being present and thus, heard our conversation. "I would appreciate it if you would respect the fact that Mister Potter and myself allowed you to be present." Samuel was practically fuming. But Amelia Bones was not someone you messed with. "Now, Harry, Black needs his trial and his freedom. I can''t just wave my wand and give him those but I am working with Rufus to make it happen. It helps that Severus Snape has been questioned about the incident in July under veritiserum and is now facing charges of lying during the course of an investigation. "Remus Lupin, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley have also confirmed the truth of what happened and what we saw in your memories. "I have released a statement to the press and rescinded the Kiss on Sight order. "All we need now is Black himself to appear before the Wizengamot." "You want me to contact him?" Harry asked. "I have no means to do it myself and I gather from what you have and have not said, that you can. Besides, I doubt he will be willing to meet with an Auror alone, even if he has managed to read the latest in the prophet." "I can send him an owl. But you can''t follow the owl and you can''t be anywhere near where we meet." "I need to take-" "He spent years in Azkaban. He was put in there for crimes that he didn''t commit. He knows Fudge tried to have him kissed even after we told him the truth. "If we don''t do this my way, he will never turn up and I may lose my Godfather forever." "It is risky and foolhardy." Bones scowled. "Only if we knew he wasn''t innocent." Harry shrugged. "But we do know. The only danger will be from wizards if they spot us and think they can take Sirius down. "But I have no intention of meeting him around wizards." READ THE REST ON FF.net Chapter 118 - Harry Potter Fanficiton 38 - Finding a Place to Call Home Plot: Haven''t you wondered if there''s more to the world then a backwards, prejudiced society?" When Harry asks Astoria Greengrass this question in a fit of temper after he''s forced to compete in the tournament, he wasn''t expecting her answer - or that he''d go along with her decision to run away with him and see the world. Can two different people find happiness? Pairing: HarryxAstoria hapter 1: Wild Child "All the lies and pain you put me through, and now I know its not me its you." -Skillet, It''s not Me its You Harry wondered what prompted him to snap at Astoria Greengrass. His last few weeks ¨C ever since his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire ¨C had been stressful and extremely unhappy. Walking out of yet another summer with the Dursleys, he had at least been hoping to keep up with his studies and stay out of the spotlight for his fourth year at Hogwarts. For once, there had been no warnings of impending doom, or threats to his person before he reached the school, which fooled him into thinking that nothing would go wrong this year. He was looking forward to just sitting back and learning new things. Even Quidditch being cancelled didn''t dampen his mood, despite how much he enjoyed the sport. Because he was so certain that, for once, nothing bad was going to happen to him. He was away from the Dursleys and with his best friends. Even classes with Severus Snape didn''t threaten to ruin his year. Of course, then he had gone to the Quidditch World Cup. And Death Eaters had attacked. Harry was beginning, at this point, to wonder if he was jinxed. Voldemort was supposed to be gone, he had beaten him twice. Now his followers were attacking an actual settlement, and for some reason no response teams had met them. Either way, the dark mark was in the sky and Harry was almost blamed for it. Like he was blamed for all kinds of stupid things. He got to Hogwarts, and with the buzz of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the arrival of two other schools, Harry could almost forget about the disastrous end of the World Cup. For once, the other students and teachers would be watching someone else to incredible things. Coming up to Halloween, Harry had begun to get nervous. He had a lot of bad ?ssociations with this day, the day his parents were murdered and he was consigned to life with the Dursleys, a short, bitter life with no friends and no safety, even when he got to a school where he should have been safe. The people there ¨C they would have been friendly, and they usually were. Until something happened. Like when McGonagall docked him and Ron over 100 points trying to save Hagrid from getting into serious trouble. Or when he was accused of being the Heir of Slytherin. And now. Now, someone had put his name into a Tournament. A Tri-Wizard Tournament, the winner getting eternal glory. Good grief. And they had Ron believing it this time, too. Hermione hadn''t said she believed it, but she hadn''t said anything, which was as good as the same thing. Hufflepuff had been most vocal in their outrage, because clearly he was just there to upstage them now that they finally had a high-profile house member. God knows that no one would ever put Harry''s name in without his permission. That had never happened. It wasn''t like he had been in life-threatening situations before that no one could be bothered to protect him from. He had enough of eternal glory; he despised it at this point. He would rather be Harry nobody then Harry Potter, boy-who-lived-to-have-a-target-painted-on-his-back. Finally, after one particularly nasty taunt from Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot ¨C those bu??ons that said Potter Stinks ¨C Harry was fed up. He decided to isolate himself. He didn''t join the classes for meals; he ate in the kitchen with the help of Dobby. He stayed invisible in the hallway. He sat at the back of the class, never talking to anyone. The task with the dragon had almost killed him. Some people seemed to be resentful that it hadn''t. Ron and Hermione had tried to talk to him afterwards, but he had deftly dodged them. Just thinking about them hurt. He b?r?ly slept at all these days, just going outside and staring at the sky or hiding away in the library, reading books. Trying to numb the pain and loneliness. Wondering if there would ever be a place where he would be accepted, and not having to constantly look over his shoulder for the next wannabe dark lord supporter who wanted him dead in the name of blood purity. Harry gave a bitter chuckle one dark night. Hadn''t Vernon told him? Just before Vernon had sent him to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, he had told Harry that the wizards wouldn''t want him either. Harry hadn''t listened to him. Now, obviously, he should have. Harry hated it when Vernon was right about something. It would be worth having never heard of magic, he thought, if it meant an end to this pain. %&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%& Harry was reading in a corner when he heard footsteps approaching. His eyes flicked up just over the rim of the Potions textbook he had been reading to pass the time. If Snape hadn''t been such a cruel teacher, he probably would have enjoyed the subject. The green trim of her robe identified her as a Slytherin, and he couldn''t repress a groan. Great. She was probably one of Malfoy''s fangirls, or Pansy''s group of followers who lashed out with cruel words and curses for the chance to be her friend. And he''d had been so certain that the Slytherins wouldn''t come into this part of the library. "Oh, please don''t sigh like that." The Slytherin said, sounding a little hurt. Her voice was nicer and gentler then he''d been expecting. "I''m not a bully." Harry blinked, and looked up at the girl''s face. She was young, perhaps a year younger then Harry himself. And she was beautiful. Her skin was light, and her face had an aristocratic carve to it characteristic of a pureblood. She had high cheekbones and bright green eyes. Her hair was wild and blonde, very meticulously pulled together by two long braids going down her back. The school robes made it a bit difficult to tell, but she was well-built for a girl her age. There were a pair of sparkling ruby earrings dangling from her ears. "I can''t remember the last time I had a conversation with someone who wasn''t." Harry responded after a few minutes. His voice was scratchy, because he hadn''t been using it very often over the past few weeks. The girl looked sympathetically at him. Harry wondered if he was imagining things ¨C that this girl was just a figment of his mind, trying to stave off his loneliness. "I was wondering where you were disappearing to ¨C I mean, I used to see you all the time in the halls, but now, it''s like your a ghost." "It''s not worth being anything else," Harry said. He hadn''t meant for the words to be so bitter, but he could taste it on the words as soon as they left his mouth. In front of him, the girl''s green eyes became sad, through there was a warmth in them Harry never would have ?ssociated with a Slytherin. Or a pureblood, for that matter. Of all the pureblood girls he had seen ¨C Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor ¨C they all had a frigid, controlled coldness to their eyes. He found it profoundly unsettling. "I''m sorry to hear that." She said, and she actually sounded like she meant it. Not like Hermione these days, who''s sympathy had some contempt dripping off it. The girl looked around the pile of books. "Do you mind if I stay here for a little? I thought you might be getting lonely." Now Harry was really taken aback; no one had asked about his wellbeing or his feelings ever since he was picked as the ''Fourth Contender''. No one had worried about how he might have been suffering. And he didn''t even know this girl. "Uh..." What a question. Harry was momentarily confused, he had gotten used to being alone and he wasn''t sure if this was some sort of deception. But he couldn''t deny that his isolation was wearing on him quite hard. After a second, he made up his mind. "Thank you." The girl smiled and delicately picked her way through the books he had accumulated, careful not to knock anything over, and sat on the floor next to Harry. "Reading up on Potions?" She asked lightly, "I don''t blame you. Professor Snape is a slave driver; I''ve never heard of a teacher working us so hard." "Are you kidding? Your the class he likes," Harry said resentfully. "He''s extra hard on us, and Merlin alone knows why he hates me. I''m surprised I''ve managed to pass his classes at all." The girl shrugged. "My dad told me a few times that Professor Snape had been bullied really badly by the Gryffindors when he was in school here, because he always seemed so battered and messy." Harry''s eyebrows shot up. He''d never heard of Gryffindor bullies; whenever something went wrong at school here the Slytherins were always the ones who ''started'' it. The Gryffindors were always the noble gryffins getting retribution on ''dark'' wizards. Now he wondered if the gryffs were being allowed off the hook on a few things that the other houses wouldn''t have been allowed to get away with. "Who are you?" He asked her eventually, realizing he still didn''t know who he was talking to. "Astoria Greengrass," The girl responded, smiling at him. "Hello, Harry." "Greengrass." Harry muttered, placing the name. He stood up abruptly. "Is that why you''re talking to me?" "Huh?" Astoria asked, looking baffled. Harry scowled at her. "Your sister Daphne is always in with Pansy Parkinson when she''s bullying people, and Pansy''s hated me since first year." Astoria''s eyes widened in understanding, "No, no Harry, it''s not what you think. I promise, I''m just here by myself. You can preform a supersensory charm if you don''t believe me." "Supersensory?" Harry repeated, temporarily derailed. "You don''t know it? I was taught it during summer after first year. It allows you to hear everything around you even if you can''t see it. Aurors often use it to root out criminals." "I-I never learned it." Harry said, baffled. This only served to confirm his suspicions ¨C pure blood children got training that others didn''t. And once again, the stacked nature of the society he was in reared its head. Astoria stood up at this point, "I can show you." She offered. "It''s easy." Harry slowly raised his wand hand. This conversation wasn''t going the way he had expected it too; he would have expected Pansy to have tried to hex him at this point. But Astoria seemed to genuinely be alone, and she was offering to prove it. Astoria told him the incantation, and he got it on his first try. Supersensory felt different; his hearing felt so sharp he could hear a bird flapping its wings out in the yard. But no sign of Pansy or her groupies. Harry cancelled the charm. "Wow," He murmured. Astoria smiled. "See?" Harry looked back at the blonde girl. "Look, I''m sorry-" Astoria shook her head. "It''s okay. I know my big sister''s been hanging around with Pansy. Dad is always telling us to network with other children of our class, to build important ties to the future pure-bloods." Harry sat down again. He let out a frustrated growl. "High standing this, purity that! God, do they really think that''s all the world has to offer?" "But it''s my family''s tradition. The tradition of the country." Astoria said in confusion. Harry scowled up at her. "Haven''t you wondered if there''s more to the world then a wannabe dark lord and a prejudiced, backwards society?" He hadn''t meant to shout it, but his words rang through the hallway with the force of a gong. Astoria stared at him. Her eyes seemed glassy for a second ¨C like an inner certainty had just come crashing down. Harry took in what he had just said, and ?r??n?d. "I mean..." He muttered, "Is bloody squabbling over whether or not your blood is pure enough to be a ''real'' wizard all the magical world has to offer? Is violent powerplays between two equally manipulative old men a world-wide thing? Is being an Auror the only career you can really look forward too? Is a lifetime of avoiding the next dark lord all I have to look forward too...?" He stared at the wall, almost forgetting Astoria was there, his heart sinking. Was there anything else out there? To him, there was always only two choices in his life. Dumbledore and Voldemort. Blood purity or being a blood traitor. Being the boy-who-lived. Growing up to be an Auror, just like his dad. Did he have any plans that weren''t based in Britain''s past? He''d come to Hogwarts because it was the school his parents had grown up in...but what did he actually know about his parents? What ties did he have to the world they had lived in? Why did he have to live his father''s life out? Everyone kept telling him about how he was just like his father... Was there any Harry inside him? Or was he just the boy who lived and the son of James Potter? What about his mother? Did he know anything about her? All he knew ¨C all he truly knew was that she had died for him. Why, exactly, did he have to stay where she had gone to school? All Harry really wanted were friends and a loving place to call home. It was all he ever wanted when he finally had an escape from the Dursleys. This place wasn''t loving. So why was he staying. There was a soft rustle as Astoria sat down next to him. "You know?" She murmured. "That''s a good question." Harry glanced at her. "What do you mean?" Astoria sighed. "My big sister...my big sister is like a glass doll. Sit here, sit there, find yourself a good match, anyone as long as his blood is pure. Go to dances where people will yammer on about mother''s new mansion and father''s new position, and come home to an empty house full of gold and jewels colder then ice. She wrapped her arms around her legs. "Daphne wasn''t always like that. She wasn''t always like Pansy. But she''s growing colder like she''s turning into glass. She doesn''t smile as much anymore." "You mean..." Harry hesitated. He couldn''t remember Daphne as ever having a smile on her face. Had she not always been like that? And if so, why would she change? "Women are like trophies in pureblood society?" "We''re instruments to the family''s legacy, as Pansy''s dad says." Astoria sounded like she had recited the phrase many times. "It''s our honour and our duty." She sighed and leaned back against the bookshelf. "I keep telling myself that I won''t be like the other girls. I''ll get a career and find something I love doing. Go out and see places. My mum was like that too; she was a lot of fun. But dad''s starting to put pressure on me. Find someone, anyone upstanding. Like he''s thinking something bad is going to happen." "Something bad did happen at the Quidditch World Cup," Harry said darkly. "Voldemort-" Astoria flinched when she heard the name "-''s followers attacked, they came out in the open. They wouldn''t have that kind of confidence unless they thought they could get away with it." He scowled. "And I bet a lot of those purebloods he wants you to ''network'' with are in his pocket." Astoria lowered her head, staring at her knees. "My dad didn''t support him," She muttered. "There aren''t many options left." "Of course you have options!" Harry exclaimed. "I think-" Astoria raised her head slightly to look around, as though she feared what she was about to say. "-I mean, I''ve been hearing...that pureblood society is getting smaller. I haven''t met very many families as pure as mine. There are more balls, and some older girls hardly leave their houses anymore because they''re afraid of miscarrying." "Then leave," Harry said. "Get close to a half-blood if marrying a muggleborn is such a horrifying thought." Astoria giggled. "I think Pansy would have a stroke if you suggested that." She said. "She only has eyes for Draco. She can have him, frankly. My dad seems to think that Draco would be a safe bet for my future." She made a face when she said this. Harry gave her an exaggerated expression of horror, though it wasn''t entirely comical. He tried to imagine being married to Draco Malfoy and winced. "The horror! You poor, poor girl." Astoria started laughing again, and for some reason her laugh made Harry''s insides tingle. "I said something similar to that when he first suggested it. Daphne looked at me like I''d gone mad. She said, ''who''s your other choice? A Weasley?''" "She makes it sound like that''s a bad thing," Harry said dryly. "Though if she was referring to Ron, I can see where she''s coming from..." There was a pause and then they laughed again. Astoria looked wistfully at Harry. "It''s funny, I guess." She said. "There really isn''t much there for the purebloods, despite how much they talk up their lives. The rooms in our mansion just feel empty." Harry looked out the window. "I wonder if other places do it differently." He said. "I mean, other countries." Astoria paused for a second. Then her eyes lit up. "That''s it! We can run off together!" Harry was so startled by this declaration that he simply stared at Astoria for a moment. "W-what?" "Really, Harry!" Astoria rolled onto her knees and put a hand on his. "You don''t want to compete in this tournament. I want to see the world. Neither of us want to put up with these selfish jerks talking trash about you. We can run off and go to other countries and see how the rest of the world works!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Harry protested. "We only know each other through an hour long conversation! This is crazy!" "I know!" Astoria said brightly. "That''s why it feels so right! And no one will see it coming. There''s got to be some way we can pull this off. We should access your vault!" "Wait!" Harry exclaimed. Astoria looked like she was going to run off any second, and the sheer enormity of what she was suggesting was enough to send his mind spinning. "Won''t people be watching my vault at Gringotts? I mean, it can be traced, right? And I''m still a minor." "Oh," Astoria seemed to deflate for a second, and then suddenly she was energized again. "How about your mother?" "What?" "I might be remembering wrong, but I think Lily Evans didn''t feel comfortable leaving her only vault in Gringotts for some reason. So she set up her personal account with the Gnomes." "Gnomes?" Harry echoed blankly. "Yes! They operate out of...Switzerland, if I''m remembering correctly. It''ll be yours now because your her only child." Astoria said, the gears in her brain clearly turning. "How would you know about that?" Harry asked, blinking and wondering why he hadn''t heard about this account before. "She''s not the only muggleborn who felt that way; I heard about it from others." Astoria explained, her eyes were shining now. "B-But what will your father think? You, running off with me to Merlin knows where for a long period of time?" Harry protested, trying to find some way of addressing the insanity of her plan. "Me and Daphne are his only children. And he said he would never remarry. He''ll be mad for a little, but he''ll take me back." Astoria sounded confident when she said this, but her eyes twitched slightly. "I want to do something before I have to be a glass doll for the rest of my life." Harry thought about that. Those words stuck a chord in him. He had never really lived his life ¨C life with the Durlseys really didn''t count as life. And here...here he was always dodging resentful looks, bullying and attempted murder. Why shouldn''t he run off with some girl he b?r?ly knew? Sure, it might seen certifiably insane, but really, compared to other things he had done it wasn''t the worse. After all, it wasn''t any more insane then helping a wanted criminal escape from dementors ¨C it was probably a little safer, actually. Could it really be as bad as everything he''s had to put up with in his life? It would get him away from here ¨C away from the pain of the betrayal of his friends, away from the anger and away from the near deadly tasks. He could leave it all behind and see the sights with a pretty wild girl. Harry stood up and asked Astoria, "Where do you want to go?" Astoria''s eyes lit up. "Australia! I want to see the beaches! And the attractions!" Harry gestured vaguely with his hands, still not quite believing he was actually agreeing to this, and said, "Alright. How exactly do I contact these gnomes?" %&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%& Harry turned over a travel pamphlet for Australia. There were magical railroads that crossed the countryside, leading to a ferry that would take them there. He and Astoria had bought their seats together ¨C first class. He traced the path with his finger. Seemed simple enough; they weren''t likely to get lost. The problem was getting far enough outside the Hogwarts ward lines that they could use the portkey he had bought. Getting in contact with the Gnomes was a bit of a hassle, including confirming his identity, but he''d reached them eventually. They''d connected him to Lily Evans and he''d been able to make a withdrawal. His mother had done quite well for herself, apparently, but that was likely because some of James''s money had been moved there as well. There was plenty for an around the world journey. Harry had decided they would travel by pseudonyms. The Gnomes had them listed on all travels as Harry Evans and Astoria Dursley, cousins. If he could just hide that scar, no one would be wiser. He sat up in the middle of the night, his stomach alive with nerves, as he memorized the glamour spell on the page in front of him. Then he grabbed his trunk. It was hard, keeping the invisibility cloak over him and his trunk as he headed for the entrance. The trunk''s wheels seemed much louder then usual. Eventually he got to the front gate. For a second he thought Astoria wasn''t coming, but then she scurried down the hall, trunk skidding silently behind her. "Sorry," She whispered. "Nearly got caught by that wretched cat." She smiled at him. Her hair was out of those tight braids, falling around her face like a messy halo. Harry''s heart skipped a beat. "Shall we go?" Astoria whispered. "Yes." He said, pushing the door open. "Let''s." End Chapter What do you think? If Astoria''s decision to take off with Harry seems very sudden, good - that''s part of her character. She''s a wild thing, willing to make sudden decisions with long-lasting ripples. She wants to get away from her future and go somewhere with Harry - someone different, someone interesting, someone her father wouldn''t approve of. Harry decides to go along with it because a) he''s tired of the way he''s being treated and b) he feels drawn to Astoria''s spur of the moment decisions. Chapter 119 - Harry Potter Fanfiction 39 - Beneath Your Window Plot: Hermione finds her life in turmoil and decides that the best move is to run from it all. To her surprise, she''s not the only one running from life. Pairing: DxHr Chapter 1 / The End "I ... I don''t love you any more." The words echoed eerily throughout the room and a pair of chocolate eyes widened in horror as the words pounced their way into her ears. She threw her arms protectively over her ?h?st, her mouth hanging slightly open as she panted heavily. The fight had exhausted her. She had thrown and received so many insults and accusations that she was physically exhausted and now he had thrown her the last agonizing blow. He had won, and she knew it. She felt hot tears threaten to spill, and even if it was in no way logical, she didn''t want him to see her hurt. Giving him a glare of pure loathing, she turned on her heel and bounced up the stairs. "Hermione," he called after her, but she just burst into their bedroom with anger pulsating from every inch of her being. Her suitcase was resting under their bed and she dragged it out with such force that she nearly tumbled backwards as it came shooting out. She regained her step and threw it forcefully on the bed. He came to a halt in the doorway when she began throwing her clothes into the suitcase. Hermione Granger never threw anything, and least of all her clothes. They were always meticulously folded and carefully placed on top of each other, whether in a suitcase or a wardrobe. But right now they were strewn all over the space of the suitcase, which had been magically enhanced to room more. "Hermione, I had to say something..." he said in a hushed voice. She gave him no notice. Instead, she had begun rounding up her books from every corner of the room, and brushed past him to find her belongings from anywhere else in the house. "When you said you weren''t pregnant, I was relieved," he said as he followed closely on her heel. He saw her freeze up for a moment before she strode into living room of their apartment. "I knew deep down... that this isn''t right any more." She closed her eyes in pain for a second and her shaking hands fumbled through the bookshelf in the far corner of the living room. They had tried to get pregnant for four months, but with no luck. Their last attempt had resulted in a negative test only three days prior. She had been heartbroken, he had been relieved. Her heart was throbbing painfully in her ?h?st at the realisation, and for the first time in many months she thanked God for not bringing a child into the whole situation. The whole messy situation. He continued to follow her around the apartment and back up the stairs as she dumped it all in her suitcase. His excuses rang in her ears, making her want to scream out to make it stop. They were all excuses for why and how, but there were no apologies and no regrets on her behalf. She knew he regretted having to go through this fight, she could tell it made him uncomfortable. But he did not regret any hurt he had caused her. That''s when she realised she was not his top priority, and she might not have been for a long time. "Were there someone else?" she asked suddenly, her voice surprisingly firm. He was taken aback by her sudden question, and perhaps more so by the coldness in her voice. It was a tone he had not heard her use in a long time, not even towards people she didn''t get along with. She was always polite and pleasant when she spoke, always intent on making a good impression no matter who she spoke to. He remained standing with his mouth opening and closing, knowing that the answer would make things even worse. "Answer me," she hissed in a voice trembling with anger. "Yes." Her eyes snapped shut as she felt her insides grow completely cold. She had done nothing but love him ever since the day he had finally kissed her during their 7th year at Hogwarts. All through the war, all through the consequences of war, she had loved him. She had loved him dearly and passionately, and God help her she still did. But when she opened her eyes she realised the man before her wasn''t who she had fallen in love with. Her lips perched into a thin line as her thoughts battled intensely in her mind. He wasn''t who she had fallen for, but she knew she still loved him and she knew damn well that this had crushed her. "For how long?" she asked in the same chilly voice that sent chills down his spine. He watched her carefully, taking in the curls that seemed to have taken on a life of their own at the moment, taking in her closed up expression and finally he met a pair of stony, brown eyes that normally emitted so much enthusiasm and joy for life. He swallowed heavily, knowing he was the one who had put out the light in them. "You don''t want to know the details. Please, don''t do this to yourself," he begged, reaching out for her. The movement towards her, his attempt to sooth her, made her hiss like a wounded stray cat, and he snapped his hand back immediately. "You are going to tell me right now." She bit as she threw the lid on her suitcase shut. "6 months." "Fucking bastard," she spat, her eyes once again welling with tears. "You were shagging someone else before we decided to try to have a baby? You wanted to bring a child into this train wreck of a relationship?!" He looked down in shame, his hands fidgeting slightly by his side. "That was a big mistake, and I realise that" "Did you bring her here?" she suddenly asked, her eyes resting on their king size bed. He swallowed noticeably, and when his eyes met hers she didn''t need any verbal answer. "Oh my God," she spat in disgust. With that, her final walls crumbled and she let out a heart wrenched sob as she dragged her suitcase off the bed and began descending the stairs with slight difficulty. Her eyes were blurred, her body was trembling with hurt and anger and her suitcase was heavy from all her belongings. "Hermione, please," he said in a pained voice. "I never meant to hurt you, I..." "Oh that''s rich," she said and gave a distorted laugh, a laugh so bitter it pierced right through his skin. "You never meant to hurt me? You carried on a relationship for 6 months, you had her in our bed and then you agreed to have a child with me." Her voice was growing steadily louder, and he was flinching from several of her words. He had known this would be difficult, but he hadn''t quite predicted how hard it was to know he had caused her this pain. "I may not love you like a lover any more, but I still love you as a friend," he said quietly. "Please forgive me, Hermione. I need you as a friend." She looked at him in utter disbelief. "You have stabbed me so thoroughly in the back that any hope of saving this friendship is so far beyond reach," she said harshly, though not in an attempt to hurt. She was merely telling the truth. "Please, Hermione. I''ve known you for practically my entire life!" he begged. "Right now I can''t see you. Or hear you. Or even be remotely near you." He swallowed again as he watched her standing in the middle of their living room, clutching her suitcase with her slender fingers. He noticed her knuckles were white from her iron grip. She felt the tears blur her vision again, and when a sudden urge to hex him into next year came over her, she grabbed a fistful of Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. "Fuck you, Ron." And with those final words of goodbye, she left behind a relationship she had invested everything in; all of her hopes and dreams, her future, her love, her care, her work and her entire being. And he had taken it all, soaked it in before he threw it on the floor and stomped all over it. Her tears ran freely down her cheeks as she tumbled out of the fireplace with her suitcase in tow. "Hermione!" someone squeaked in surprise. She remained rooted to the spot by the fireplace, still clutching her suitcase as if her life depended on it. Ginny sprung up from her couch when she saw Hermione''s miserable appearance. Her eyes darted to the suitcase, and they widened when realization hit her hard. "What happened?" she asked in disbelief as she came darting towards her friend, who was now shivering madly. Hermione let out a great sob and wondered if her knees would keep her standing for long. She covered her eyes with her free hand, and sobbed repeatedly. Ginny''s small arms reached around her and held her firmly, and she whispered soothing words in her ear. When Hermione forced herself to straighten up and open her eyes, she saw Harry standing completely stunned in the doorway. "He had her in our bed," she said, shock and incredible hurt hitting her mercilessly yet again. The other two stared at her with their mouths open, looking like someone had just slapped them across the face. Tears welled up in Ginny''s eyes, and she turned to Harry with a horror-stricken expression decorating her features. "Ron''s been seeing someone else?" she asked in a hushed, weary voice. Hermione gave a jerky nod, and the ragged breath that followed emphasized how much it pained her to admit, and the redhead strengthened the hold around her shoulders. "6 months." A slight yelp escaped Ginny''s lips and she clapped the free hand over her mouth. Hermione knew Ginny had thought, or at least hoped, it had been a one night stand. A one night stand could be excused, or at least somewhat understood and explained, but a conscious choice to continue an ?du?terous relationship for 6 months was something entirely different. "But you were trying to..." Ginny''s voice trailed off into nothingness as she cast a desperate look at Harry. The muscles around his mouth was tense, and she could see him grind his teeth even if he was standing several feet away. Hermione knew it was an awkward position. He was both of their friends, and Ginny was Ron''s sister. She couldn''t expect them to take sides in this, yet she desperately wanted them to. She wanted them to hate him as much as she did right now, but it would not happen. They had other ties to him than she did. "Yes, we were," she confirmed. "And his affair started before we decided on it." "But thank God, I''m not pregnant," she hissed. "What the hell would he have done if I was?!" Before she could stop herself, she had banged her fist onto her suitcase, and the meeting with the handle sent ripples of pain through her. When she looked up, she saw Harry''s face contort in anger. "The son of a bitch," he growled, and before she could reply or even think straight he had turned with a slick motion and vanished with a pop. Ginny''s eyes rested anxiously on the spot her boyfriend had just disappeared from. "Oh my..." Hermione was not less surprised, to say the least. "Oh god, this is going to complicate everything." She stifled another sob as she looked at Ginny quite apologetically. "Don''t you even dare think it," her friend chastised. "You have done nothing wrong. Merlin, I can''t believe that rotten arsehole." "He''s your brother..." Hermione protested, but Ginny shook her head. "That doesn''t change what he did to you." Hermione sighed, and tried to shut everything out, but it was useless. Thoughts about the years wasted on him kept running through her head, and for the first time she wondered if devoting her life to Ron Weasley has been nothing but a huge mistake. "Come, sweetie," Ginny suddenly urged. "You can stay in our guest room as long as you need to." "Are you sure?" Ginny gave her a stern glance. "Of course. Don''t be silly." As she tossed the covers off her warm body, she felt unbelievably empty. Day one. Day one of her new life without Ron, without his adorable quirks and his warm hugs. Day one of having to live with betrayal, of having to fight to get through each bloody second of the day. She pulled her clothes on painfully slow, every movement made in slow-motion as if she hoped it would dull the pain. But dulling the pain was no option, it seemed to make her ?h?st tighten, making it harder to breath. She sighed as she met her own gaze in the mirror. Her eyes held none of its usual gleam, even she could see that. All they emitted was sorrow and hurt, and the expression in her eyes together with the unusually pale skin and dark rings below her eyelashes made her seem almost sickly. Not having the strength to keep looking at her dismal appearance any longer, she turned around and wretched the door open, hoping it wouldn''t be this hard to get up every day from now on. "Morning," Ginny said with a cautious smile. She was standing by the kitchen counter waiting for the coffee to finish, and even if the corners of her mouth were pulled upwards, Hermione could tell that she was troubled. "Morning," she replied quickly, knowing fully well how utterly miserable she looked herself. The two girls exchanged understanding glances, but neither said another word while the coffee finished and Ginny reached for a plate of sandwiches. She put the sandwiches and two mugs down on the table before pouring the steaming contents of the kettle into the respective mugs. Hermione watched her intently, focusing on each and every detail, afraid to let her mind wander. When Ginny finally sat down in her chair, the silence was broken by her deep sigh. Hermione gave her a small, reassuring smile, hoping to convey that she wasn''t as broken up as she looked. Though she wasn''t entirely sure if that was true. "Where''s Harry?" she asked, remembering his rash exit with apprehension. "He already left for the office." "I should go, too." Ginny shook her head, making her red hair bounce against her cheeks. Hermione swallowed heavily at the red reminder, but then realised what the girl was saying. "I have to go to work, Gin," she protested, taking a sip of the marvellous content that was caffeine. "Harry already fixed you a day off," she explained, pushing the sandwich plate towards her, "and I''ve called in sick to stay with you." Hermione''s head snapped up, giving her friend an incredulous glance. "You did no such thing, Ginevra." "Oh, come off it, Hermione," Ginny said, laughing quickly at the use of her true first name. "You just ended a 4 year long relationship in the most brutal way imaginable. I''m not letting you stay here all alone." "You can''t just call in sick, they need you at St. Mungo''s." "I can, and I did," Ginny said with a raise of her eyebrows. "What kind of friend would I be if I wasn''t here to pick up the pieces after what my darling brother did?" Hermione scowled at her, but softened quickly when she saw the true concern in the younger Weasley''s eyes. To be honest, Ginny was right: it would have been difficult to be alone. So very, truly alone. She held in a sigh, feeling repulsed by her own wallowing. It was incredibly pathetic, this self-indulgent wallowing, but even so, she couldn''t help herself. She couldn''t help but feel the rawness of being alone, to think about how quickly her life had gone from perfect to horrible. "Just let me be here for you," Ginny suddenly begged. "I feel so bad." "You have nothing to feel bad about, you silly git." Ginny gave a bitter laugh. "I feel like even blood relation is a sin at this point." "You aren''t Ron, and you certainly aren''t accountable for his choices," Hermione said fiercely, before drawing a hand through her hair looking quite resigned. "And... thank you." Ginny looked up to meet her gaze, and smiled genuinely. "You''re welcome." They each reached for a sandwich and ate in companionable silence for a while, only glancing at each other now and again as they both contemplated the situation they suddenly found them in. Hermione realised that no matter how angry she was at being betrayed so horribly, she was even more angry at him for putting them all in this situation. Their family and friends were all an intricate web of different relations. Harry had always been the best friend of them both, Ron''s sister had eventually become another one of her best friends, his mother felt like a second mother to her in so many ways. Not to mention the rest of the Weasleys, whom she had always loved dearly and saw as a part of her own family. Ron had jeopardized the friendship and relations between so many people, and she realized with a start that it was likely that she would be the losing part in most of these cases. "Did Harry say anything about what happened last night?" she asked after once again picturing his rash departure. "He wouldn''t tell me anything," Ginny sighed. "Merlin only knows what went down over there." Hermione paled at the words. "Maybe... maybe you should... go and see if he''s, you know... alright?" "Hermione Granger," Ginny chastised. "For one, my boyfriend would never seriously harm my brother. And secondly, if he did, it is well deserved." Hermione looked back at the small figure across the table, not missing the waves of anger that emitted from her from time to time. She could sense the fury that seemed to bottle up within her, and the disturbing thoughts about the relationships he had severely challenged returned. "Gin, he''s your brother. You shouldn''t hate him because of me." "He did this all by himself," Ginny replied simply. "Fucking things up is something he does quite well on his own; always been a special talent of his." Hermione sighed in resignation, but cringed when she realised she was secretly glad. It was what she hand wanted, wasn''t it? For her friends to be angry on her behalf. She shook her head slightly and her gaze fell towards the surface of the table. She wanted them to feel for her, to be on her side, but oddly enough she didn''t want him to suffer. Sighing a bit, she realised she was still blinded by her all-consuming love for him. A love he didn''t deserve, and probably never had deserved. "Come on," Ginny suddenly said. "Let''s not sit here and mope all day." "I don''t know if I feel up to going anywhere," she admitted with a small shrug. "That''s alright," Ginny ?ssured her. "We can order take out and rent a bunch of films." She smiled at the suggestion, wondering when Ginny had turned so very Muggle. But she bit her tongue, and thanked her for the suggestion instead. Hermione went up to get a quick shower while Ginny went to ?ssemble the films, none of which contained any sappy love stories or overly happy couples. A wise choice, as far as Hermione was concerned. Once they had finished the second film, Harry Apparated straight into the living room. Hermione watched him wearily, noticing that his face looked a bit drawn. "Rough day?" she asked with a slight grimace, and he replied with a displeased grimace in return. "It was busy," he admitted as he sunk onto the couch next to her. He leaned his head back and let out a deep breath. "And I was sent on an ?ssignment with Ron" Hermione''s heart gave a leap at the mention of his name, and she scolded herself for reacting in such a traitorous way. She shouldn''t feel her heart quicken at the mention of his name, she should be disgusted. And she was disgusted, but it was all such a huge, confusion ball of emotions. "Did it go okay?" Ginny asked from her seat in the armchair, her eyes darting quickly between Harry and Hermione. "Not really. It was as awkward as anything I''ve ever experienced." Hermione sighed. "You shouldn''t be fighting because of me." She felt like she was repeating herself over and over again, continuously trying to persuade them, but also herself in the process. "I don''t even feel like I know him any more," he replied, and reached his arm around her shoulders. "The Ron I know wouldn''t do this." "I hope it won''t feel like that forever," she admitted as she leaned onto his shoulder. "He has been our best friends for over 10 years, and even if it feels very far-fetched right now, I want to have him in my life." "I know," Harry replied softly. "But it''s going to take time, especially for you. And you should give yourself that time." "I will," she promised before sitting up straight again. "Look at me; here I am, stealing your boyfriend." Ginny chuckled. "Don''t be daft." "Let''s put on another film and get that pizza," Hermione said in a cheerful voice, forcing every depressing thought into the back of her mind. Harry and Ginny had no objections, so all three of them curled up in the couch, leaning onto each other in comfortable silence. Chapter 120 - Harry Potter Fanfiction 40 - Bus Stop Plot: Every morning, Draco and Hermione meet at the bus stop. A romance revolving around an umbrella. Pairing: DMHG By Marmalade Fever Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Author''s Note: This is based on a song called Bus Stop. I highly recommend you all listen to it if you ever get a chance. Part 1 It was raining, and Hermione was running through the light summer storm, her clunky heels scraping on the wet sidewalk. Out of breath, she came to a stop, shivering with cold. The man beside her did not turn to look at her but calmly asked her to share his umbrella. She thanked him briefly before he turned, his black umbrella sheltering her at once. The slight smile she had been about to greet him with disappeared as she got a good look at him. "Malfoy?" she asked, dazzled at the appearance of a man she hadn''t seen in nearly ten years. "Granger?" he asked indignantly. He looked down at his hand that was holding his umbrella, but he didn''t move it away. "Fancy seeing you here," he said shortly. "Yes, I would say the same thing," she replied. "Are you waiting for the bus?" "Oh no," he said sarcastically, "I just enjoy standing on sidewalks in the middle of nowhere while it''s raining. It''s refreshing, you know?" He was wearing an olive trench coat and a brimmed hat, looking strangely as if he had just stepped out of a fifty''s detective story. "And you, Granger, are you taking the bus?" "No more than you are," she replied snippily. She looked at him, puzzled. "What I don''t get is why. Why on earth would you of all people be taking the bus?" He smirked at her. "My P.O." he said simply. "P.O.?" Hermione asked, confused. He nodded then rolled up his pant leg slightly to reveal a metal band around his ankle. "Parole Officer," he explained. "Not allowed to do magic," he added, surreptitiously. "Oh," Hermione said, flushing scarlet. "I didn''t know." He examined her. "So what''s your story? Why are you taking the bus?" She sighed. "My great-aunt lives down the block. She doesn''t know about my¡­" she lowered her voice, "abilities. I know she''s watching me through her window, so I can''t just flit away." She paused. "She''s very ill," she explained. "I see," he replied. They stood in silence for a while, Hermione rolling up her sleeve to check her watch. "It''s a very nice umbrella," she said at last. He looked for a moment as if he was going to laugh at her. "It had better be. It cost fifty galleons from Burgleman''s." "For an umbrella?" she asked, her mouth dropping open. He nodded. "Only the best for yours truly," he said, smirking at her. "I never leave home without it." Hermione frowned. "You don''t have a wand stashed in it?" she asked. A couple standing nearby stared at them as if they were both quite insane. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. If I did, do you think I''d be telling you?" "From your tone, I suppose not." Hermione crossed her arms and stared resolutely down the soggy street. "Cold?" he asked. "Just a bit," she admitted. "Why, going to offer me your coat?" He laughed. "No. Although, I am sure that would make an excellent story to tell around the Weasley dinner table." He paused. "Tell me, Granger, did the two of you end up together?" Hermione didn''t turn to face him. "Not that it''s any of your business, but no." "No?" he asked. "Now that is surprising. You know this means Goyle owes me ten galleons?" She turned to give him a look of disbelief. "You''ve been betting on my relationship with Ron?" He shrugged. "It was an easy win." Her mouth opened wide. "Easy win? What is that supposed to mean?" He smirked. "For once, Granger, I''m going to pay you a compliment. Don''t let it go to your head. You''re too good for him. Simple as that." She was astounded. "You think so? He is a pureblood, you know," she reminded. "And too dumb to know that if you stick your finger in an electric socket, you''re going to get zapped," he said lazily. "How would you know¡­" "And anyway, Granger, you''re much better looking than he is, any day." "Oho, compliment number two," she said, amused. "What''s next? Going to tell me I''m too good for you, now, eh?" He didn''t answer. "That''s my bus," he said, pointing down the street. "Lucky number fifty-two." She raised an eyebrow. "Not lucky number seven?" He turned and shook his head. "Not all numbers are lucky for everyone," he said. "And why exactly is fifty-two lucky for you?" she asked, moving some of her damp hair aside. He looked at her for a moment. "Because that bus hasn''t exploded on me yet," he answered. Hermione frowned. "Well, I can tell you now that fifty-two isn''t lucky for me at all." "Oh," he said, "and why''s that?" The bus had just come to a rolling stop. "Because that''s my bus, too, meaning that I have to share it with you." She tried to look upset about it, but it was hard when Malfoy was chuckling. "I don''t think you really mind that much, Granger," he commented, as other passengers boarded and got off. They joined the queue and got on, each of them showing the driver their bus pass. "Oh, no," she mumbled, looking around. "What?" he asked. "The only empty seat," she said, pointing. "Now I have to sit next to you, too." He smirked, though she could only see half of his face. He took the window seat while she sat beside the aisle. "Isn''t this cozy?" he asked, enjoying himself. "Only if you''ve forgotten out mutual enmity," she said, not meeting his gaze. "Oh, don''t worry, Granger. I haven''t," he ?ssured her. The bus rumbled forward, and the two sat stiffly next to one another. Hermione reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of gum. "Want a piece?" she asked. He shook his head. "Nah, don''t care for it much," he said. She blinked. "You don''t care for gum?" He shook his head again. "Correction, I don''t care for muggle gum. Too much artificial sugar." She unwrapped a piece for herself. "It''s better than rotting your teeth out," she said. He shrugged. "I don''t sacrifice quality, even if it is for the sake of my teeth." He took his hat off and twirled it on his finger. "You know," she said slowly, "not all muggle gum has artificial sugar." She kept her voice low. "And Honey Dukes is still better," he pointed out. "Besides, what''s the big point about chewing on something if you don''t get to swallow?" "Flavor and texture," she answered. He laughed. "And let me guess¡­ a jaw workout?" "Why''s that funny?" she asked, unfolding her arms. "Because eating does the same thing," he said, "and you get nutrients. How about that?" "Well, with gum you won''t gain any weight," she pointed out, "so long as it''s¡­" "Artificial sugar, I know," he said. "Granted, the amount of sugar in sugared gum wouldn''t amount to very much." He stopped twirling his hat and put it back on his head. "So where''re you headed, anyway?" "Home," she said, shrugging. "Still live with the parents?" he asked casually. She stared at him. "Malfoy, I''m twenty-eight. I should say not." "You never know," he replied, staring out the window. "Live alone?" She frowned. "I''m not entirely sure I should tell you." "Just curious. I''m not going to break-in or anything," he said, turning back to her. "I might be a criminal, but I''m not a petty criminal." "Well, now there''s a load off my mind," she muttered. The bus slowed. "This is my stop," she said. "Have fun living either alone or not," he said, smirking at her. "Good-bye, Malfoy," she said, and walked away. Part 2 The following morning was cloudy, and Hermione wore a warm cardigan. Her aunt had made her play cards with her. She said that if they only had two more players, they could start their own bridge club. Her aunt thanked her kindly for visiting, gave her a wet, orangey kiss on the forehead, and sent her on her way. After stopping to rub the remains of lipstick off of her brow, Hermione continued down the sidewalk to the bus stop. She had been waiting there for all of two minutes when she spotted someone coming down the sidewalk from the opposite direction. "Hello, again," Hermione greeted unenthusiastically. "Hello to you too, Granger," Malfoy said. He was swinging his umbrella in his hand. To her surprise, he opened it, and stood next to her so that they were each under it. "You do know it''s not raining, don''t you?" she asked. He shrugged, a small twinkle in his eye. "I thought it was our own little tradition," he explained in the most jovial voice she''d ever heard from him. "You can''t have a tradition after only one day," she objected, though she felt a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. He tutted. "Why sure you can. Every tradition starts with a first time. It''s just a matter of keeping it up," he explained, sending her a wink. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Who are you, and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?" He laughed. "Granger, Granger, Granger¡­ Give me a break." Hermione rolled her eyes. "So what are you doing in this neck of London?" He considered the question. "Not very much. I''m mostly just standing, holding an umbrella, and talking to you." "That''s not what I meant," she said, punching him lightly on the arm. He sighed. "If you must know, I''m going to work." "Work?" she asked. He nodded. "This bus drops me off not too far from the Leaky Cauldron. From there I can walk." Hermione scrunched up her nose. "But then, why are you here in the first place?" she asked. He smirked. "I take it you''ve never been down that alley way next to the shoe store?" She shook her head. "The Manor is disillusioned to muggles between two knick-knack shops over there. It''s amazing how they don''t notice something that''s half a kilometer wide." Hermione su?k?d in a breath. "Your property is half a kilometer wide?" "And fifteen deep," he added. "Fif¡ªin the middle of muggle London?" she asked in astonishment. He nodded. "Granted, the Manor was built before that part of the city was industrialized," he added. "So tell me," she asked, after a pause, "why would you need to work if you''re as extremely rich as you like to suggest?" He smirked and lifted his pant leg to reveal his metal ring. "P.O. makes me," he explained. "I have to have a job or else it''s off to Azzy for me." "Oh," she replied unsteadily. "I know you''re dying to know," he said. "Know what?" "You want to know what I did," he replied. "You want to know why I have a Parole Officer." She shook her head. "Knowing you, I think I can guess." "Do you know me? You probably think it''s because of what happened sixth year, don''t you?" he asked casually, switching his umbrella to his other hand. "I would certainly think it had something to do with it," she responded. "I served a five year term for that," he told her. "But I got the P.O. for a different reason." "And what would that be?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Embezzlement," he said. "Embezzlement?" she asked, frowning. "That''s it," he said. "Nothing more, nothing less." "What sort of embezzlement?" she asked. He smirked. "Just a few minor changes to my dear old Dad''s will," he said. She raised an eyebrow. "What, did he only give you ninety-eight percent of his money instead of the whole shebang?" she asked. He rolled his eyes. "He only gave me the Manor," he said. "I just arranged to give myself a bit of spending money as well." "You''re broke, then?" she asked, disbelief evident in the way her eyebrows arched. He laughed. "No. I sold an antique vase for ten thousand galleons. I''m hardly ''broke.''" She blinked at him, noticing that the clouds had finally decided to let some rain loose upon them. "That would explain the expensive umbrella," she remarked, unconsciously scooting closer to him to avoid the rain. "So you really aren''t with the Weasel, eh?" he asked. She shook her head. "We broke it off years ago." "How about Potter?" She frowned. "Ew, no." Malfoy laughed. "Not your type?" She shook her head. "We''re much too good of friends for that. I really couldn''t imagine being anything more." He kicked his foot at a puddle. "I was just thinking of him the other day. I came to this weird realization that his name rhymes with fairy water. I could have done something with that¡­" "I think that''s the bus," Hermione commented, staring blearily down the street. "No," he said. "That''s the number fifty. It takes a left over there," he said, pointing. "You''re just a fountain of useful information, aren''t you?" she asked. "Sort of the way you''re a fountain of useless information?" he asked snidely. "Hey!" she objected. "What year did the Sumerian elves rise against their overlords by refusing to polish silver for a week?" "1253," she answered. "And that''s not useless. It''s very interesting information that I can use to my advantage in my campaign for House Elf rights." "I cannot believe you knew that," he said. "How can you possibly know that?" She shrugged. "Some of us were paying attention to Professor Binns," she explained. "And I''m sure the old goat would be happy¡ªif he''s indeed still capable of emotion, or even taking notice of anything¡ªto know that a student was actually paying attention to him. Believe you me, you had to be the only one. The only reason I passed my OWL''s was because I had read the textbook." "You can read?" she asked, mocking disbelief. He rolled his eyes at her. "Now that," he said, "is our bus." He pointed down the street to a jalopy omnibus coming to a halt before them. "Oh, lucky number fifty-two, is it?" she asked, peering at the bus as its door opened. A queue of muggles formed in front of them, and they hurried to get in line. "It hasn''t exploded yet," Malfoy said with a smirk. "That''s all anyone could ask for in a bus, I suppose," she commented, stepping up and showing the driver her pass. Malfoy followed her to a seat near the rear and sat down beside her. "You do realize there are empty seats elsewhere, don''t you?" He shrugged, tucking his umbrella under the seat. "And what¡ªsit with perfect strangers? Muggles, no less? I''ll take my chances with you." "You''re much too kind to me," she said with a sniff. He chuckled. "Think nothing of it," he said with a brandish of his hand. He sighed. "So, going to tell me if you live alone or not?" She wrinkled her nose at him. "Why are you so obsessed? And why should I tell you, anyway? For all I know, you might want to¡­" "Do something fiendish to you when you''re all alone in your little flat?" he asked. "I told you, I may be a criminal¡­" "But you''re not a petty criminal. I''ve got that," she finished. "At least tell me if you''re married," he compromised. She lifted her eyes to the heavens. "No," she answered. "Interesting," he said, scratching his chin. "Fianc¨¦?" She laughed. "No." "Boyfriend?" he tried. She raised her eyebrow at him. "What do you think?" He pretended to think a moment. "Girlfriend?" She punched him in the arm. "No. You''re awfully curious for someone who doesn''t even like me," she observed. "And you''re awfully keen to drive away the first man to take any sort of interest in you in what''s probably been a very long time," he pointed out. She snorted. "Interest? Is that what this is?" He fixed a dashing smile onto his face. "Just picture it Granger¡ªyou, me¡­ an umbrella makes three?" She stared at him for a moment. "Have you been drinking?" He stuck his tongue out. "Obviously you have no sense of humor whatsoever." "Oh," she said, slightly crestfallen. "Ha ha." "Anyway, I''m certainly glad we aren''t talking about gum, today. Your love life, if dull, is certainly more interesting than chewing gum," he remarked. "Thank you, I suppose," she said. "No problem," he replied gallantly. "And what about you?" she asked. "Any romances in your life?" He sighed. "I''m afraid I''ve spent much too much time in Azzy to make many connections at all, romantic or otherwise. Although, there was that very nice looking dementor¡­" He winked. She laughed. "There''s no fairness in making fun of my nonexistent love life if yours is the same way," she pointed out. "Fairness-shmairness, it''s still fun." He stretched his arms. "Why must these seats be so cramped? There''s hardly enough space for two." She nodded in agreement. "We''re almost to my stop," she pointed out. "In which case, Fr?ulein, I''ll bid you auf Wiedersehen," he said. "You know," she said, "I think you might have gone a little mad around all of those dementors." "Perfectly possible," he said, relaxing into his seat. "See you around, Granger." The bus pulled to a stop, and she marched down the aisle, pausing momentarily to look at him before leaving. She could have sworn he''d sent her a wink. A.N.: Now hold on, now. This isn''t going to be a very long fic. Only a few chapters. I don''t want it interfering with The Witness and the Wife. If you''re interested in the song this is based on, it''s called Bus Stop and is by The Hollies. Chapter 121 - Naruto Fanfiction 6 - Narutos War Plot: Naruto travels back in time to meet Rin. As they struggle and fight in the third great shinobi war will they find love or heartbreak? Pairing: Naru x Rin NOTE: The ending.... :( Where Am I? Commissioned by BillyZhao. Naruto lied passed out in the middle of the forest. Sunlight slipped through the trees. His eyes slowly peeked open. His eyes closed again. Hey, stop right there¡­ Naruto ?r??n?d. What do you think¡­I won''t let you, Naruto. Take this¡­ "What happened?" Naruto spoke weakly. He pulled himself up onto his bu??, looking down at his own legs. "What was I doing here¡­?" He placed his hand on the side of his head as he tried to remember what happened to him. He bent his legs up. He pushed himself back onto his feet and looked around as he placed his hand behind his head. He started to rub the back of his neck. "I think I remember now. Someone was in trouble and needed my help." Naruto turned around, looking deep into the forest. "I''m pretty sure I was going this way." He leaped up onto a tree branch. He quickly jumped through the trees with a renew determination in his eyes. "I need to hurry." Naruto picked up his pace, flying through the trees. It didn''t take him very long to make it to the closet village in the forest. Naruto stood at the highest point of the tree he stood in to see the destruction, happening in the village below. Explosions, sword crashes, and screams came out of the town. "What in the world is going on down there?" Naruto cracked his knuckles. "It doesn''t matter I have to stop this destruction from happening." He leaped out of the tree. He ran down the path to the village. The blond hair shinobi made it into the village in a little under a minute. He looked above him to see two shinobi clashed in mid-air. The two ninja leaped back onto opposite roofs with kunai in hand. One had on a leaf village headband while the other one appeared to be from the village hidden in the stones. "What is going on around here?" Naruto questioned. Another stone shinobi landed in front of Naruto, getting his attention. Naruto took a step back as the man took out a kunai. "Another scum leaf ninja." Naruto took up a defensive position. He narrowed his eyes and bit down on his teeth. "Hey, who are you calling scum?" The ninja dashed forward with his kunai arm crossed across his body, ready to strike. Naruto stuck out his hand, having charka swirl inside it to form a perfect sphere. The sight caught the attention of all three other shinobi in the area. The ninja that was attacking tried to stop himself. Naruto rushed forward. "Rasengan!" He slammed the dense ball into the man''s ?h?st. "That''ll teach you," Naruto said. The leaf shinobi stared at Naruto in awe. "That jutsu? Doesn''t it belong to-" The man was cut off as he saw the rock ninja leap toward him. "Damn it, I''ll just have to find out later." He leaped back to avoid his enemy''s strike. Naruto looked over at the fight. "I never saw that guy in the leaf before, but he looks the same age as me. I wonder if¡­" Naruto stepped toward them when he felt something grab his legs. He gazed down to see a pair of rock hands around his feet. "What the-" A rock shinboi''s face appeared out of the ground. A cruel grin appeared on his face. "Where do you think you are going, brat?" He picked Naruto up and threw him across the ground. Naruto bounced across the earth before he rolled pass two houses. Naruto fell flat on his back, letting out a grunt. Naruto turned on his side, glaring back at the jerk that threw him come out of the ground. He placed his hands on the ground. "This is as far as you go, you little punk. You and the rest of the land of fire will be destroyed." "You''re insane if you think I''m going to let that happen." Naruto picked himself back up. He made a hand sign. "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu." He created four solid copies of himself. "Get ready for the beating of your life, pal." The five Narutos charged forward with their arms thrown back. The two Narutos on the furthest end of the group speeded ahead of the others. "Take this!" They got in nice and close when the left one threw a punch right at the man''s face while the other slid below to sweep the man off his feet. Their opponent merely grinned. He caught the first Naruto''s fist and stomped on the other clone, turning him to smoke. He continued by head bu??ing the one he grabbed, dispelling him as well. "Is that the best Kohona''s got?" Naruto and his clones all stuck out one of their hands to the side "I''m just getting started." Charka spheres formed in each of their open hand. "Ha, like I didn''t see that coming, give me a break," the man said. "Triple Rasengan!" All three blond ninjas thrust his arms forward with him only being inches away from the man. The man leaped up in lightning fast speed b?r?ly dodging Naruto''s attack and slamming his foot down on Naruto''s back. He grabbed the other two''s arms and threw them down as well. Naruto hit the ground. His double rasengan blasted into the ground, blowing it up that covered Naruto in a puffy smoke. The man looked back with a smug smile on his face. "Hmm, that wasn''t even a challenge." "Oh, yeah!" The man faced forward to see Naruto coming out of the air with a rasegan in his hand. His eyes tremble. "They were all shadow clones." Naruto slammed the sphere of charka into the man''s stomach. The man spiral backward, splitting the smoke cloud and crashing to the ground. Naruto was breathing heavily when he landed on the ground. He looked down at his hand that had previously held his reasengan. "That''s strange. I don''t usually feel this tire after using so many attacks." "Maybe you shouldn''t have used so many high level jutsu one after another?" his opponent spoke. Naruto looked forward to see the smoke had cleared. The man he had been fighting stopped in front of the crater Naruto had created with his clones. Naruto''s eyes shook. "What? How are you still standing after that?" The man simply pointed back to a pile of rocks. "You use rock clone." "That''s right, brat," the man said. He balled his hand into a fist. "Which means you wasted all that charka for nothing." "I''m not finished yet." Naruto made the hand sign for the shadow clone jutsu. They both turned to face each other. The man slammed his fist into Naruto''s gut, knocking him into a house. Naruto broke through the wall, cutting his arm on the broken wood as he flew into the back wall of the house. He fell on his bu??. He grabbed his wounded arm. He shut his right eye while he bit down on his teeth, trying to hold in his pain. Blood ran down his cheek. The man walked toward the house as the dust blew over his feet. He held a kunai knife down at his side. Naruto reached down for his shuriken hustler. He managed to slip out two shuriken and a kunai knife. Just as the man was entering the house he tossed the weapons at the entrance. The man quickly knocked them aside. A smoke bomb hit the ground in front of the man, blowing up. The man crossed his arms in front of him. Naruto sprinted forward he created two shadow clones. The three Narutos leaped into the air. Naruto kicked the man in the face while his two clones pinned down his arms with their feet. The man slid out of the house. Naruto quickly created another rasengan with his clones and slammed it down on top of the man, blasting him into the ground. Naruto''s clones disappeared. He held his arm again as he walked off the man and the hole he made. He looked down at his arm. "I don''t get it why isn''t that stupid fox healing me?" Naruto then heard footsteps coming toward him. He looked toward his right to see a girl with the leaf village headband on running toward him. "Another leaf ninja I never see before. Just what is going on around here?" "Hey, are you injured?" the girl shouted in Naruto''s direction. Naruto looked at his arm again to see it was still bleeding badly. He then looked at the girl with two purple markings on her face. "Yeah, are you a medic ninja?" Chapter 122 - Naruto Fanfiction 7 - Unexpeted Love Plot: Love can pop up unexpectedly with someone you least imagine to fall for. Pairing: NaruTen NOTE: AU and OOC Unexpected Love Chapter 1 ¨C The Beginning By JuPMod (aka JPMod) Sleep. It was one of the many basic everyday requirements for humans in their lives. In order to replenished energy for the body and have the mind be well rested, the average human gets as much as eight hours of sleep per 24 hours cycle. Some could manage to go without a need for sleep in times of need, while others just could not do without it. Nevertheless, no one could deny that sleep was so vital of a prerequisite that most took it for granted. Yet for the owner of a pair of sky blue eyes, he woke after only a few hours of rest. He blinked up at the ceiling of his dark apartment with only the moonlight shining through the windows, thus everything he saw was bathed in the soft glow of the Earth''s moon. However, the warm body, which was resting on him, made him gaze down to the female head that was using his ?h?st as a pillow. A loving smile spread across his face upon seeing the tousled shoulder-blade length brown hair and the restful expression that showed happiness and satisfaction. She looked so beautiful with the moonlight glow reflecting somewhat off her hair that he couldn''t help but think she looked like an angel. For Uzumaki Naruto, 18-year-old Jounin shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, he couldn''t help but to lean his head down to plant a warm kiss on the top of the woman''s head. She stirred a bit but did not wake up, and with a small purr, she resumed her slumber. Her actions made Naruto broadened his smile and his heart beat in love for the woman he gently hugged with his arms ¨C 19-year-old Jounin kunoichi Tenten. As he watched the beautiful n?k?d female ninja sleep, her body warmth and smooth skin feeling wonderful on top of his own, Naruto remembered the day when it all began for the two of them. It has been exactly one year ago that a simple shopping trip has started the unforeseen process, which gradually transformed the nature of their relationship, from friendship to one of deep love. He thanked Kami for this wonderful change in his life, for it brought Tenten into his heart, and being honest to himself, the blond man could not had have imagined then that out of all the women he knew, this brunette would eventually be the one to bring so much joy into his life. ooooooooooooooo (Backward time-skip: 1 year previous) ooooooooooooooooo Walking down the street under nice sunny skies, Naruto grinned as he took in a breath of fresh air. At 17 years old, he knew his life was good, far better than it was when he first started out as a genin at 12 years old. He has been a chuunin for more than year now, missions for him and Team 7 has been great, especially since the defeat of the Akatsuki and the Sound Village, most people in Konoha has recognized him as a worthy shinobi, and to top it off, he had brought his best friend back to the village, as he promised. The grin on his face faltered upon thinking about his best friend/rival. It had not been easy to get Sasuke to listen and be reasonable regarding his revenge against Konoha. With Itachi and Madara dead, Sasuke was the last of the Uchiha Clan, and after an intense battle where Naruto won but refused to take the raven-haired boy''s life, Sasuke realized that Naruto was right. What good would he achieved by killing every man, woman, and child in Konoha? Would it help revive the clan? Would it help knowing he would be just as bad as Madara himself? In the end, Naruto''s uncanny ability to make people change has once more done its job, and the last Uchiha decided to stop the bloodshed and end the circle of revenge permanently. Of course, given the state of the village and the news that the Uchiha Clan had planned to overthrown the Hokage in a coup d''¨¦tat, most of the villagers were very reluctant to have the last Uchiha back among them. Yet to satisfy the villagers that no special treatment would be given, Tsunade offered that Sasuke be banned from any shinobi duties or services for five years or so, and be supervised by a jounin for two years under house arrest until he proven he posed no threat to Konoha. The arrangement was perfectly fine with Sasuke, given he decided he wanted to focus on reviving his clan than anything to do with power, and given his clan''s large ?ssets, the last Uchiha was freed to focus on his last goal in life. He had enough of the bad history and strife his clan had caused, so he made a promise, not only to himself but also to Naruto, to head the new Uchiha Clan in a good direction than the arrogant way of thinking it had before. Naruto chuckled at the memories. Of course, the promise didn''t stop Sasuke from still being somewhat a stick-in-a-mud, but the blonde knew it was just an act, for underneath the exterior was a young man he was proud to be called his best friend. Yet best friend or no, Naruto was somewhat surprised that Sakura has wormed his way into Sasuke''s heart. Seeing the pinkette has grown tremendously, from the silly fangirl she had been at 12, has made the former Avenger look at his former kunoichi teammate in a whole new light. So it came to no shock to the blond shinobi that Haruno Sakura has slowly fallen for the Uchiha, but this time it was for real and not a silly crush. A devilish grin appeared on Naruto''s face. "Now Sasuke has two quick-temper kunoichi for girlfriends and future wives. Man, I never thought the Teme would be so bold to have a harem." It was known to everyone that Sakura was not Sasuke''s first girlfriend/fianc¨¦e. Upon returning to Konoha, the Uchiha has brought an ex-Sound kunoichi, who went by the name of Karin, and the redhead girl was also a medic as Sakura was. Not only did Karin help advanced Konoha''s medical knowledge but also provided a rare bloodline ability not seen before. It was hard for anyone to say "No" to a person with such abilities. Of course, it soon came apparent that the redhead was quick-tempered much like Sakura and Tsunade, thus when Karin and Sakura bu?? heads, it was a good sign for everyone to clear the area. With a snicker regarding his best friend''s future marriage, Naruto entered a weapons store. It was the only weapons store, which didn''t turn him away with hostility when he had first started at the Konoha Ninja Academy. As a student, he had been required to get his own set of shuriken and kunai, and this store, which was the final one he had checked, had turned out to have a wonderful owner, who had treated him well and didn''t see him as ''demon'' as most of the villagers saw him back then. Since then, he had always come to this store to stock-up on his shinobi weapons. The ringing of the simple bell above the door alerted the person behind the counter, and upon seeing the whisker-faced blond, her lips formed into a large smile. "Hello, Naruto! I haven''t seen you in quite awhile." Naruto returned the smile with a smile of his own. "Yeah, it has been sometime since I''ve last seen you, Tenten." The bun-haired kunoichi nodded in agreement, her radiant expression making him feel welcomed. "So, what can I do for you?" Tenten began casually before her lips quirked upward on one side teasingly. "Come to make a large order of kunai and shuriken?" The teenage boy softly laughed, as he approached the counter. "Not as many as you use, Tenten. I definitely know I do not have the money to purchase such a large arsenal as you have stored in your scroll." The brown-haired young woman giggled at that. "True, I certainly have yet to meet another shinobi with the same number of weapons on their person as I have. To do that, one has to have more money than the Fire Daimyo in order to constantly replenish the weapons lost in battle." "Pays to be a daughter of a weapons smith and shop owner, eh?" Naruto quickly ribbed good-naturedly. "You bet," Tenten winked slyly, before both laughed together at the joke. It was a laughter anyone could tell was shared between good friends. After her mirth died off, the Weapons Mistress of Konoha eyed the blond chuunin for a moment before speaking. "So, what do you really want, Naruto?" With a small grin, the young man spoke the reason why he came to the shop. "Simply put, I''m looking for a chakra sword." Tenten blinked in stupefaction. "Say what?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "A chakra sword," Naruto repeated, clearly confused why she asked. "I know that," Tenten replied, raising a hand to forestall her friend. "Just, why a chakra sword, Naruto? Kenjutsu is not your forte." Ever since she had known Naruto, it was clear his shinobi expertise was in ninjutsu with some minor taijutsu. Only in the past two years he had started learning fuuinjutsu, the art of seals, especially after Jiraiya''s death, so this request for a sword was quite baffling. Seeing the confusion on her face, Naruto started explaining. "Well, I know I''m not skilled in kenjutsu, but I''ve been trying to find new wind jutsus, and it had me thinking that maybe I should use something much like Temari uses her battle fan." Understanding now dawned to Tenten. "You''re talking about using a medium to channel and focus your nature chakra in order to create wind techniques without the need of using hand signs." "Exactly!" a smiling Naruto pointed to Tenten, like she has won the grand prize. She has to admit that Naruto''s idea was sound. After all, if a ninja could conjure up jutsus without the use of hand signs, he or she wouldn''t have to worry about anyone copying the techniques, much like the Uchiha Clan or Hatake Kakashi had done. Yet Tenten also knew it takes time with long hours of training to even master using a medium, thus why most shinobi opted for the easy way by using hand signs. There was no doubt that Sabaku no Temari must had trained for years prior to her appearance in the Chuunin Exams five years ago, for such training certainly explained why the Suna kunoichi was able to use a large battle fan as a medium to create wind techniques. Thinking about the blonde Suna jounin had conjured up an image, which made Tenten giggled with a hand over her mouth while looking at her fellow Konoha shinobi. Naruto, with a confusing grin, asked, "What''s so funny?" "Wellllll," the bun-haired girl drawled out with a teasing smirk, "if you want to emulate Temari, you can buy a similar battle fan and dress-up in black with a sash around your waist." "Eh?" Seeing that surprised look on his face made Tenten laughed out loud. "No, no, no!" Naruto nervously chuckled, now he knew his friend was playing him. "I certainly will not carry around a large battle fan or dress-up like Temari! I like to be original, thank you very much." He mentally shook off the weird image of him dressed like Temari, although he did admit to himself that Temari''s fan looked cool. Just as Maito Gai''s female student was about to speak after her laughter died off, another feminine voice spoke out with a witty voice. "That''s no way to treat a customer, Tenten. Shame on you." Both young ninjas quickly turned their heads to the door leading to the back of the store and the stairs to the living quarters on the next floor above, and there stood a woman with brown hair in a ponytail and green eyes. She appeared to be in her mid-forties and her simple outfit was what most housewives in Konoha wore these days. Her radiant smile and the hair clearly would make any stranger knew immediately that she was Tenten''s mother. "Kyohaku-kaasan!" Naruto called out with a grin to the woman, who walked over to stand besides her daughter behind the counter. Chuckling, the young man rubbed the back of his head. "You know we were just joking around." "I know," Kyohaku replied, still grinning. "I was just driving home the point to my daughter." Naruto laughed loudly, while Tenten took the joke in stride with a narrow-eyed grin at her mother. Calming down a minute later, the teenage boy grinned at Tenten''s mother with affection, knowing she was one of his most precious people. She had never looked down at him, ever since he had first walked into her store those many years ago, and even after he had found out the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him; Kyohaku still had treated him like a person despite the lost of her husband during the Kyuubi attack. She ranked up there along side the Ichiraku''s and The Third as the very first ''family'' he ever had growing up in the village. "So," the female blacksmith began, getting right down to business, "did I hear you''re looking for a chakra sword to use as a medium for your elemental chakra to create wind jutsus?" "That''s right," Naruto confirmed with a single nod. "Do you have any?" Tenten frowned. "That''s the problem, Naruto. I don''t think we have any chakra swords. Chakra weapons are specially made and crafted compared to regular weapons, and it takes a lot of time to forge them. This is why they are quite expensive to anyone to buy." Her hand gestured to her mother. "Mom has some skills in making them, but it was my Dad who was the real master craftsman in chakra weapons." Naruto frowned in disappointment. He was hoping Kyohaku would have some chakra swords in stock. He certainly did not want to do business with any of the other weapons shops in Konoha. Even if they might view him now differently, thanks to him being a hero during the wars against the Akatsuki and Oto, he rather spent his money in Kyohaku, whom he trusted as a friend as well as a weapons maker. A raised finger prompted both young ?du?ts to focus on the older woman, who grinned knowingly. "I know I have something that might just suit you, Naruto-kun." With that said, she strolled into the back storage area, leaving behind a hopeful Naruto and a baffled Tenten, wondering what her mother knew that she did not. As they waited, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki grinned softly at his female friend. "So, how''s everything going?" "I''m fine," Tenten grinned back reassuringly, and seeing the sympathy in those expressive blue eyes, she immediately elaborated further. "I mean it, Naruto, I''m fine. I appreciated everyone''s support and kindness, but the break-up was two months ago. Neji and I have come to an understanding regarding the situation, and we''ve moved on since then. I certainly did, given I know it''s not productive to keep moping over something that I have no control over." A nod from Naruto told her he understood. "Well, given the reason why you broke-up and what is today, I thought you still would be somewhat down." Sighing with a warm grin, Tenten was reminded again how much Naruto cared deeply for all his friends and comrades that he considered like a large extended family to him. She happened to be one of them, and it warms her being to know the blond would always be there to provide emotional support to anyone within his family who needed it. Reaching out, she clasped his hand that was resting on the counter. "As I said, I''m fine," the brunette repeated. "As you know, it came as a shock to Neji and I, when his clan arranged for him to marry one of his distance cousins. Least it''s someone he knew and certainly not Hinata or Hanabi, whom he would not have been comfortable to marry. "As for today, it''s no big deal for me," Tenten shrugged slightly. "After the break-up, I''m not looking to suddenly find a boyfriend." One side of her lips curled up slightly. "After all, I''m still young. It''s not like I''m an old maid." Both young ?du?ts chuckled at that. Letting go of his hand, Tenten grinned teasingly at her fellow chuunin. "So what about you?" Knowing what she was referring, Naruto shook his head with a tiny sad grin. "No one and you already know why." Dropping the teasing expression, Tenten nodded with a slight sympathetic grin. "Yeah." Everyone knew how much he loved Sakura, so it was easy to tell Naruto''s heart was crushed when the pink-haired kunoichi became Sasuke''s second girlfriend/fianc¨¦e. It was just too bad, in Tenten''s opinion, that Hinata had started dating Kiba a few months before Sakura and Sasuke became an item. If Hinata had waited just a little longer, the Hyuuga heir would have gotten her chance with Naruto. So the two young shinobi stood there quietly, until the silence was broken upon the return of Kyohaku, who was holding a wrapped clothed bundle. "Here we are," she grinned as the older brunette placed the bundle onto the counter before untying the strings. The two young shinobi noticed the cloth appeared to be dusty, indicating it had been in storage for many years, and once the cloth parted, Tenten slightly gasped while Naruto raised his eyebrows at the contents. There laid two elegant kodachis in their equally stylish sheaths/scabbards. The hilts were wrapped with intertwined white and gold leather strips to provide easy grip, while the bu??s and guards were exposed silver steel. The sheaths were black and embroiled with gold & white Japanese designs, particularly two striking dragons, whose bodies wrapped around the sheaths with the tails starting at the tip and heads ending near the mouths. Overall, the two short swords appeared to be made for display purposes and not for combat use. Taking one in hand, Naruto unsheathed the sword and held it up as he and Tenten admired the gleaming steel. "It looks like they have not been used," the blond commented, while his female friend nodded in agreement to his observations. "No, they haven''t," a grinning Kyohaku confirmed. "These chakra kodachis were crafted by my husband under a special order by a famous Konoha ninja." Her grin and eyes became a bit depressed. "Sadly, they were finished the day before the Kyuubi attacked the village, thus their owner, who paid in advance for the swords, died fighting the fox along with my husband. These swords have been sitting in storage ever since then." "And who was the customer Dad made these swords for?" asked a curious Tenten, whose eyes didn''t stop admiring the steel blade of the kodachi in Naruto''s hand. A proud expression appeared on Tenten''s mother. "The Yondaime Hokage." "SAY WHAT?" both young ninjas shouted as they trained wide eyes on the older woman. "Th-The Fourth?" Tenten sputtered in awe before eying the sheathed kodachi on the counter. "Dad made these for The Fourth?" Kyohaku bobbed her head once at her daughter. "Yes, he did. The Yondaime owned several swords, but none of them were chakra blades. He''d thought of experimenting with a pair of chakra konachis to see what kind of jutsus he could come up using his elemental chakra. Your father was proud to do the job, for he was also responsible for making a special order of kunai for The Fourth. What those kunai are for, I will not say, but I can say they helped win the war against Iwa." His mind reeling, Naruto sheathed the kodachi he held and placed it back next to its twin. "I¡­ I can''t accept this," he stammered, his eyes never leaving the two short swords. "I can''t buy this." A reassuring grin came to Kyohaku''s face. "There is no need of payment, Naruto," she said, causing her daughter and the blond man to once again look at her in astonishment. "The Fourth already had paid for them, and I can not think of a better person more suited to wield these blades than you." "Are you serious, Kyohaku-kaasan?" Naruto questioned, not truly believing what he was hearing. Even Tenten couldn''t believe it, for who would even give away anything that belonged to The Fourth Hokage? After all, such items would be treasured artifacts. The warm grinning, 40-something woman nodded. "I''m sure, Naruto. Everyone knows now that The Fourth had sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi in you." Both young ?du?ts became somber on that. "He had wanted you to be viewed as a hero, but you know that didn''t come to pass. Think of this as his way to help you protect yourself as well as everyone you love and care deeply. Knowing The Fourth, I have a good hunch he would not mind you having the blades to continue protecting the village and uphold The Will of Fire." His cerulean eyes locked with emerald ones, the young Hokage-wannabe saw the hidden message Tenten''s mother was conveying in her words and in her eyes. I do not think your father would mind. The swords are your heritage. Take them. Warmth of love and family slowly bubbled into his heart. Naruto knew Kyohaku was one of a few who knew the Yondiame was his father. It bolstered his being that she would give him something of his father''s to help him protect his precious people and achieve his goal in following his father''s footsteps ¨C to be Hokage. With a determined grin slowly appearing onto his face, Naruto nodded gratefully at the wise older woman. "Thanks, Kyohaku-kaasan." She simply nodded with a pleased grin and began rewrapping the kodachis in the protective cloth. No other words were needed to say. Not fully understanding what went on between her mother and her friend, Tenten let it go and focused on the fact that Naruto was now in possession of The Fourth''s custom-made chakra blades. "You better take care of those, Naruto," she slightly teased. "It would be a shame if you neglected the kodachis that anyone in the village would highly prize." "I will," Naruto grinned back fiercely. "I swear it on my word. Dattebayo!" Both women smiled at that. There was no doubt now that Naruto would take care of the two short swords with all his being. After all, it was known by all that when he gave his word, he would always keep it. It was part of his nindo, his ninja way. "Well now," Kyohaku nearly sing-sung as she finished tying the swords up, "that''s that." As she pushed the bundled kodachis toward their new owner, the female blacksmith raised an eyebrow. "So tell me, Naruto. From what I overheard you telling Ten-chan, you have no kenjutsu training at all. How are you going to handle them?" Blinking in stupefaction at first, the whisker-faced young man then shrugged. "Just wield them around, I guess." Letting out a breath of disbelief, both women sweatdropped and closed their eyes. It seems Naruto really did not understand. It was Tenten who opened her eyes and started explaining. "My Mom has a point, Naruto," the bun-haired girl began. "I know you wanted to use the swords to create new wind jutsus, but what happens if an enemy manages to get in close to use a sword or a weapon while you have both hands occupied with the kodachis? If you know a form or two of kenjutsu on how to use the kodachi, you could able to defend yourself against such attacks, long enough for you to put some distance to use wind jutsus or free your hands to use any of your ninjutsu." Kyohaku nodded at her daughter''s explanations. "You do not wield the blades as they were mere weapons, Naruto-kun. They become an extension of your body, and any shinobi, who becomes one with his or her weapons, is not to be taken lightly." "Take Asuma-sensei," Tenten added, mentioning the late-jounin who died two years ago against the immortal Akatsuki Hidan, "he wielded a pair of chakra knuckle blades. He didn''t thrash them around wildly with his elemental chakra extending the blades. He knew how to use them, and he became quite an expert on wielding those blades." Naruto nodded in understanding. "I see. That makes sense." He frowned as a thought occurred to him. "But I do not know anyone to teach me kenjutsu." Tenten''s lips curled into a knowing smirk. "I can teach you." "You can?" the blond raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Duh, Naruto," the brunette rolled her eyes, still smirking. "With all the weapons I carry in my scroll, I do have a few swords, so I have to know some forms of kenjutsu in order to use them properly." A bashful Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "He, he. Good point," he chuckled. Ignoring the chuckle from her mother and the unintentional pun Naruto produced, the young weapons mistress sighed before continuing. "You do not need to become a master in order to properly wield the kodashis. I''m no master myself on any forms of kenjutsu. I do know a couple of forms to be use with the kodashi, and knowing the forms might help you create wind jutsus. I doubtful Temari had created her wind jutsus by just wielding her fan carelessly." Naruto brightly grinned. "Thanks, Tenten." "That''s what friends are for," Tenten mentioned with a friendly grin. "To be there to help and support one another. I don''t mind at all helping you, for you are my friend." The bright grin on his face became a friendly one. "Right. Friends stick together." Tenten nodded in return, pleased that she would be able to help Naruto with his training. "So," Naruto said while picking up the wrapped swords, "where and when do you want to start the training?" "We have to agree first that training with our perspective teams and missions for the village come first. I don''t think our teammates and Tsunade-sama would appreciate us skipping out on them just for me to teach you kenjutsu." Naruto nodded, showing his agreement and understanding, before Tenten carried on. "Good. Other than that, I might be required to help Mom mind the store, so there will be days the training will be early in the morning, late in the afternoon, or none at all." Kyohaku mock scoffed at her daughter. "Never mind me, Ten-chan. If both of you are freed to do the kenjutsu training, you tell me and I''ll be okay to mind the store for the day." Tenten smiled gratefully at her mother. "Thanks, Mom." She turned back to her would-be student. "I''m freed tomorrow. You?" "Yep," Naruto grinned. "Good," Tenten chirped. "Meet me at the Memorial Stone training field at 8 tomorrow morning. I''ll start on teaching you the stances for a kenjutsu form I know, and in the afternoon, you can start trying molding elemental chakra into the swords to begin getting use to using the kodachis as a medium. From what I know, it takes a lot of practice for anyone to use their elemental chakra to form jutsus through a medium." The blond man smiled his trademark foxy smile. "No sweat, Tenten! I''ll learn that kenjutsu form, and I''ll soon be pumping out wind attacks out of these two swords in no time flat! Dattebayo!" With that said, he waved good-bye at the two women as he headed toward the exit. "I''ll see you tomorrow, Tenten! Bye, Kyuhaku-kaasan!" Both women waved and said their good-byes in return, before the blond boy left the store. Sighing, Tenten shook her head in amusement. "I think Naruto will soon learn that learning kenjutsu is no easy task. Not to mention that it takes control to properly channel the right amount of chakra into a medium to form a particular jutsu on top of finding the right stance to launch the jutsu." Sighing again, Tenten chuckled. "He''ll have his work cut out for him." "Indeed," Kyohaku concurred prior to proudly grinning at her daughter. "Yet, if anyone has the patience to teach Naruto-kun kenjutsu, it''ll be you." Tenten grinned at that. "Thanks, Mom." She then left to journey into the back room and upstairs to fetch something to drink. Left behind to look after the store, Kyohaku smirked, knowing well that things were going to be quite interesting from tomorrow onward in the village. oooooooooooooooooooooooooo Chapter 123 - Naruto Fanfiction 8 - Angel Eyes For The Demon Guy Plot: In his darkest hour, someone brings Naruto to the light. After gaining a new sword, and finding love, he becomes well on his way to gaining acknowledgment. Pairing: NarutoxTenten, HakuxTayuya Chapter 1: Revelations It was a quiet day in the village hidden in the leaves. No wait, nevermind. When you take another look at it, you''ll see that it''s not so quiet at all; A vicious beast is tearing up the forest before the town, as it heads towards it. Ninjas have gathered from the cafety of Konoha to stop it, only to gasp in fear to what they saw. Before them stood a red orange fox glaring down at the small humans. It had glowing red eyes with a black slitted iris in the middle. Its sharp claws looked to be able to slash through even diamonds and behind it were nine lashing tails. Each of them swinged wildly, but almost insync with another for none of them collided with the other. "So this...is the Kyubi no Yoko." One of the ninjas said, as he gaped in fear while his nakama jumped into battle against the large demon. Some threw kunai, others shot shuriken, the rest unleashed their arsenal of ninjutsus at it; But alas all efforts of attacking failed. Minutes later, maybe even less, and the fox was still proceeding towards the village, as what some could feel as earthquakes could be felt as it approached. More ninjas came by to fight, this time as nothing but a stall. But it didn''t take long for Yoko to dispose of them as well. It all seemed hopeless, until another shock that quaked the earth could be felt in front of it. Before Kyubi stood a large red toad, wearing a blue kimono and a dagger by its side. On top of it stood a figure, a man wearing a fire flower pattern cape with a jonin vest underneath. He had golden yellow hair on top of his head, and the bluest cerulean eyes you could see. In his hands you couldn''t tell from afar, but to the man and the fox, and of course the toad, you could tell it was a tiny little infant, wrapped in a cloak. The large toad jumped forward to latch onto the fox, who swiped its claw down and scarred its left eye. But it didn''t stop, and grabbed the fox, doing its best to not let go. "Get off of me! This has nothing to do with you mortals!!" The fox bellowed, trying all its might to get free. Of course it knew it couldn''t die, so why would they try to stop him? "I''m sorry, but I can''t allow you to kill anymore people. You must be stopped. Shiki Fujin!" The man on top of the frog yelled, as a blinding light could be seen blocking the rest of what could be seen. 9 Years Later... After the battle the yellow spiky haired guy, known as the Yondaime Hokage, was able to defeat the fox at the cost of his own life. But the truth is this was a lie. This was what the kids today were told. The real thing that happened was this; During the climax of the fight Yondaime used an S-class Jutsu he made for this situation and summoned what everyone calls the God of Death/Shinigami. The process of this jutsu makes it so the user can use the power of the Shinigami to remove the soul of a being, whether it be human or demon, and seal it inside something. Obviously he couldn''t do it in him; With the fox being stronger than all other demons, it wouldn''t have died along with him. And sealing it inside an object would only be even more foolish. It would just break out. So giving as much thought as possible he sealed it inside a tiny little infant who was just a few minutes old, and performed other complex seals in order to keep it there and not kill him. Why he chose this kid and not some other child who was still a baby is unknown but only one person knew the truth and wouldn''t speak it. After the incident, and the body of the fox dispersed into dust and scattered into the winds, the last Hokage that governed the village took over his place, a guy past his ossan years but was still ready and able to take over. After he told the people of the truth they turned furious and attacked the baby, thinking the Yondaime weakened the fox into the form of a helpless infant. After trying to reassure them and failed, Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi had no choice but to create a law; Forcing anyone who spoke of what really happened to the fox behind his back would suffer the death penalty. It was in hopes to protect the boy, named Uzumaki Naruto, from having to live a life of becoming mentally disturbed, emo, vengeful, and evil, but alas that didn''t stop people from torturing him so that he would want to die. After turning nine he was kicked out of the nursery that ''took care'' of him and was forced to live alone. With no place to go, and nowhere to live, Sandaime tried multiple times to give him a home of his own, but no one would take him in though. So here we find Naruto, down on his luck, leaving the Konoha Academy for Growing Ninjas from another unsuccessful day of learning. For some reason he didn''t end up all evil and blood-thirsty. Instead he just remained distant, as if solitude was his only faithful friend. The boy kept moving towards the forest, thinking he can get a new home there, unknown to someone watching and following. Inside The Forest... "I''m real hungry...I don''t think I can take anymore searching." He complained, searching through the woods for a suitable tree to make into his own home. But due to fatigue maybe he fell down a hill and slid into a puddle of muddy water. "Man...maybe I should turn around and try sleeping in the school. It worked last time..." He said, pulling himself up from a vine attached to a tree and wiping the mud off. But that''s when he heard a russling nearby. Getting into a taijutsu stance he learned at the academy he checked his surroundings. It didn''t take long for him to be hounded by wolves. Naruto checked them out, four of them, a bit scrawny, grey on the top, drool leeking off their teeth and fangs, blood-shot eyes looking straight at him, and they looked hungry. "I''m gonna die." He cried, a stream of anime tears falling from his face. That''s when they pounced, attacking him left to right, biting hard on his arms and legs. He broke free though and had to run, sprinting as far as he could towards a well lit place, or better yet the village. But with his injuries no worse than the ones he get from back in the village almost daily, he didn''t run as far as he could have hoped from the wolves. Infact he was losing enough blood to crimple him to the ground. Of course he''s always healed in worse situations, but then again that''s when no one''s striking him anymore. These wolves would tear him up til there was nothing left. But then he felt something inside of him, as if some surge of energy erupted from him. This said energy was enough to keep him up a bit, and gave him a bloodthirsty characteristic. As the group of okami came at him he stood his ground, on all fours. As one came at him he grabbed its mouth and ripped off its bottom jaw, as blood squirted onto his body. The second one came straight for him, but he swung the one he had at it, taking out an eye. The third and fourth snuck up behind him, then pounced. Naruto turned to face them and grabbed them by the necks, crushing their necks. As he let go the bodies lied limp on the floor. He too passed out in bloody wounds and exhaustion. Hours Later... Naruto woke up, seeing that he was still alive again. Well, he was use to it anyway. But he looked to his side and saw a beautiful sight; a beautiful girl was rubbing ointment on his wounds. She had the graceful face of a lovely angel, brown hair done up in the shape of meatballs, chocolate eyes that look just delicious enough to eat, and the body of a goddess, wrapped in a pink shirt and dark green pants. Naruto shook himself out of his stupor to focus on the subject at hand. "Oi, ne-chan, what are you doing?" The girl looked up at him, and gave a weak smile. "Oh, I''m just giving you some ointment. It''s mandatory if you need to-" "No!" He interrupted, stopping her from talking anymore. "I meant why are you helping me? I can look at you right now and tell you''re from Konoha. I don''t want someone to get hurt because of me." "Don''t be a fool." She said, still rubbing his wounds. He rose up to stop her, but was haulted when she slapped him. Sure he''s felt worse than a slap before, but for some reason, this one hit, knocked the fight out of him. "I''ve been watching you for some time, and seen how everyone else has treated you. I don''t want that. I don''t know why they hate you, but I know that you don''t deserve it." While she talked, he was quietly listening and blinking in disbelief; She seem to have tears coming down her face freely. It was like, she understood his pain completely and only saw a frightened little child who just got screwed over by people who don''t even know him. But he had to make sure she wasn''t like the rest of them, and would betray him later. "If, you truly think that way, is there a way for you to help me?" "Yes, I was thinking you could...live with me." She spoke in a soft yet strong voice. The moment she said that, his eyes lit up bright, and he made a smile. It wasn''t one of those fake smiles he puts on as a front back in the school, it truly was the real freakin deal. "A-a-arigatou, ne-chan. I would love to stay with you." "Don''t call me ne-chan. I feel so much older. My name is Amane Tenten." She said, holding her hand out to him. "Thanks. You probably know me, but incase not; Uzumaki Naruto." He replied, shaking her hand back. End Chapter... Chapter 124 - Naruto Fanfiction 9 - What is Due Plot: When she first found him, cold, drowning, and catatonic, Karin never thought that she would one day fall in love with this blond idiot. Pairing: Naruto x Karin NOTE: Happens after the fight in The Valley of the End Rain was horrible, it meant a lack of sunshine, a lack of dryness, an overabundance of wet. In the Grass, the rain often brought thunderstorms, massive dark clouds like angry gods raining down death and destruction. But worse, worse was the floods, they came without warning and wreaked devastation. A flood took everything from her once before. She was b?r?ly a child when it happened, she remembered her mother being happy, her father being alive, and her home. They had a home, not the crappy shack that she and her mother used to live in but a real home with a real yard and a real family. But then a flood came, taking her home, her father, their happiness, and eventually her mother. Leaving Karin alone in this cold dark world to cut out a place for herself. She had felt and seen happiness when she participated in the chunin exams in Konoha when she was rescued by a boy Sasuke Uchiha. But since then her life had become hell. "They probably think I''m dead already," Karin shivered as a gust of wind blew up into her shelter, a small cave along the steep incline of a raging river that Karin had to pull herself out of. Her dismal fire b?r?ly more than a glowing pile of embers sputtered and faded with the wind and rain before it surged back to life. She''d have to get more wood soon. This was all their fault, she had told them that this mission was dangerous, she had told them that it was too risky, she warned them about the weather. But those idiots said that everything would be fine, that she could heal any wounds they got, and that if she died it was her fault for being weak. "Bastards," She ripped off her headband and threw it into the fire. They didn''t care if she lived or died, so why should she care about them? The only person in her life that cared about her was her. It had been that way ever since her mom died. The strap of her headband fed the fire while the metal plate sunk into the growing pile of ash. She pushed all of her hatred into watching that plate burn hoping that it would start to melt, or that it was some dark symbolic ritual set the whole village aflame. Thunder clapped and that anger died. She screamed, good loud and hard, pressing herself up against the cold wet wall of the cave. "Please, someone come, I can''t take it anymore." She just wanted to be safe and warm and dry and not starving. It didn''t matter with who or where. Anywhere was better than here. And anyone was better than being alone. "If only Sasuke was here. If I get attacked by a bear again, I wonder if he''d show up." the thought brought a smile to her face b?r?ly strong enough to stop the tears from falling from her face. She pushed her glasses up and wiped her eyes, only succeeding in getting more rainwater on her face. The fire began to fade. If she went out there, she might die. If she didn''t she''d freeze to death, she could already feel the early stages hyperthermia began to set in. The kind of wood didn''t matter, even waterlogged would be fine with her jutsu, she just needed the fuel. With a groan Karin stood with slow and shaky movements, ready to run back inside the second she saw another flash of lightning. The wind had died down, but the sky was still dark and heavy with rain. "Hopefully it doesn''t start hailing." Through the curtain of rain, she surveyed the area scanning for any kind of wood, a fallen tree, some driftwood, anything. She saw a large log stuck against a rock near the shore, probably brought from upriver. And there was something orange on it. "Wait, that''s a person!" She closed her eyes and focused on her mind''s eye, he was alive, if only b?r?ly. With slow careful steps down the rocky slopes, Karin advanced towards them. He was a blond boy, half-drowned and covered in blood, the only thing stopping him from being dragged down river was his orange jacket, a massive hole torn through it was snagged on one of the branches and was getting close to tearing loose. He seemed familiar, kind of. There was no headband symbolizing his allegiance, was he even a ninja? Gritting her teeth Karin placed a hand on the log and stepped onto the water, normally walking on water wouldn''t be a problem for her, but she was tired, hungry, afraid, and the water was wild. She needed to be careful a slip for her would likely mean both of their deaths. She inched her way towards him, both hands holding firm to the log. Why on earth was she risking her life for a stranger? Especially one that was probably going to die anyway. There was no way that his body wasn''t in late stages of hypothermia, plus there was the blood that was still leaking from his head. Biting her lip she extended her hand outward and grabbed him by the collar. Lightning struck. Thunder boomed. A tree set aflame, splintered in two, crashed down into the river. Karin screamed, throwing herself onto the log as her concentration failed her her feet slipping down into the water. Her glasses fell from her head tumbling off the log and into the raging water below. Another reason to call this day an absolute monstrosity that had no right to exist. The clarity she once viewed the world with was gone, and everything became vague, dark, and blurry. Slow deep even breaths. "I''m in a valley surrounded by tall trees. The lightning won''t hit me the lightning won''t hit." She tried to stop the shaking, but she couldn''t even move, her body was paralyzed and her feet were growing numb. She had to move! Somehow among the rain and wind, she heard the boy''s jacket tear and his body shake loose. She lunged, grabbing holding of the boy by his arm, his head lulling in the water. One hand sticking to the log with chakra even as her fingers were losing their feeling. Why was she risking her life for his again? With what little strength she had left in her, she pulled, dragging the boy behind her. Inch by painful inch she moved towards the shore. "Now," she pointed toward her cave and let out a sigh. "I have to carry your ?ss all the way up there." This better be the son of some nobleman she was saving. Somehow she managed to drag the blond boy up into her cave, where the glowing embers of her fire offered little in the warmth she was hoping for. Once again she tried to turn her anger and annoyance into something useful by staring at the embers. Nothing happened. "Maybe you have something that can help me?" The boy had some useful stuff, a few ration bars - she quickly ate one - a few scrolls that she couldn''t read, and several kunai. So she rescued a ninja, there went her noble''s son dream. Maybe he came from one of the nice villages that would be so grateful she saved his life that they''d offer her a spot among them? "I guess there''s no way of telling until you wake up, huh?" She poked him in the cheek and sighed. She didn''t even get any wood for her fire, just a useless boy, at least his body heat my do something, probably not. The sky cracked and thunder exploded as the log he had been stuck on was shattered into flaming splinters. Even if she wanted to go get some of the precious fire it was too risky, she could b?r?ly see, and it was only getting darker. Which meant it was going to get colder. "I can''t believe I''m about to do this," she growled, taking off the boy''s jacket with extra venom. His shirt was next, then his pants. Leaving him in just his und?rw??r. Even if she couldn''t really see, there was no way she was going to take those off for him. "If you wake up before I do and get any funny ideas I''m going to kick your ?ss." Assuming they lived through the night. Karin placed her chain shirt next to his and spread out their clothes as good as she could around the fire in the vague hope of the embers drying them. But with the wind blowing rain, she doubted it would do much. Clad in nothing but her und?rw??r she grabbed the boy and pulled him close, using his body as a shield for the rain and a source of warmth. He was oddly warm, despite being pulled out from a water. It was nice, even if it was the most embarrassing position she''d ever been in. She''d probably die if somebody were to find her like this. She needed a plan. If it was still raining tomorrow and Blondy was still knocked out, they''d probably die. If he was awake, she could send him out into the rain to gather firewood, unless he couldn''t see shit like her then they both die. No rain and she would wait for him to wake up, if he didn''t she''d probably leave him and take what she could of his and try to make her way to a village. If he did they''d head off together to the nearest village, get directions, and then she would insist that he take her to his village. He owed her for saving his life after all. "You better at least be cute, rich, or useful," Karin mumbled before she forced herself to sleep. She still couldn''t believe that she was cuddling in her und?rw??r with some boy she never met before. XXXX When she awoke it still smelled like rain, but the sun had finally peaked out from behind the clouds. Or so she thought, it looked bright and cheery out there, and there were birds happily chirping in the distances. But that wasn''t what concerned Karin the most, sure it not raining and a lack of thunder was a great thing, however, it was her companion that concerned her. At some point, her catatonic cuddle buddy had moved during the night and was now hugging her tightly. It was actually kind of nice. And warm. Pushing herself out of his arms Karin tried to examine him once more, she still couldn''t see shit without her glasses. They were probably lost in the river forever now, those things were expensive. He owed her a new pair of glasses. He owed her a lot actually, maybe he was one of those oath-bound idiots and he''d be her eternal manservant. She stared at him for a few silent moments trying to figure out if he was asleep or not. He probably was, she''d wake him up after she was dressed. He did not need any thoughts about her cuddling him in their und?rw??r in order to stay warm. The good news was that her clothes were kind of dry. So she had that going for her. She poked him in the cheek. "Hey, wake up." He ?r??n?d and slapped her hand away. Rude. "I said wake up!" she shouted right in his ear. "Ahh, I''m awake!" Blondy shot up like a rocket, stumbling forward and almost hitting his head on the low hanging roof. He turned to her, still in his und?rw??r. "Umm who are you?" Well, he certainly didn''t have any shame, standing in front of her in nothing but his und?rw??r. Shame she couldn''t tell if he was hot or not. For all, she knew he could be ugly. He didn''t sound hot. "I''m Karin, I''m the girl that saved your life by pulling you out of the river, now who are you?" "Me?" "There''s no one else around." "Oh...I don''t know." That didn''t sound good. Karin took a deep breath and tried to think about this calmly, maybe he just didn''t know if he should tell her his name? Maybe he was shy or something. "You don''t know as in you don''t know who you are?" "Yea, that one, do you know who I am?" He was an idiot. An idiot that didn''t know who he was. Karin wanted to scream. So she did. A good long healthy scream. Chapter 125 - Naruto Fanfiction 10 - Consequences Plot: Throwing caution to the wind always has consequences. Unfortunately, Naruto doesn''t learn this until he is hurled 25 years backwards in time. Time Travel. Rated M for later chapters. Spoilers up to Naruto chapter 535. Pairing: Naruto/Mikoto. Prologue With pure determination in his eyes, Naruto leapt from tree branch to tree branch. Though he was not using the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode or Sage Mode at that time, he knew exactly where he needed to head to in order to get off of the island where he had been training with Killer Bee. ''I can''t believe Granny Tsunade tried to keep me there.'' Naruto thought as he glanced down at the note that he held in his left hand. It had been slipped under the metal plate of his forehead protector by Iruka after it had fallen off. "I''ll end this war myself." Naruto promised himself in a whisper. "Will you, now?" As soon as the foreign words were spoken, Naruto stopped himself and entered his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. The instant that he did, he sensed a malevolent chakra that Kisame''s paled in comparison to. Spinning around, Naruto spoke the name of the man before him. "Madara Uchiha." He involuntarily snarled the moment after he spoke the man''s name. He saw the change in appearance. More specifically, he saw the Rinnegan in Madara''s formerly covered eye. "Oh, do you like it? I decided to take back what''s mine." Madara said with a chuckle. "That''s actually what I''m doing now. You contain my old pet, and I''d like it back." "Fuck you." Naruto said as he dashed forward with the incredible speed that he possessed in that form. Madara looked slightly amused at the attacking Naruto. That did not put the blond on guard as much as the spinning sharingan in Madara''s eye. In an instant, Naruto''s chakra cloak dissipated and Madara held out a hand. "Shinra Tensei" ''Shit!'' Naruto thought, feeling the sudden lack of power in addition to the gravitational powers of the Rinnegan. He flew back and slammed into a tree before he could process another thought. As he slid to the branch under the spot that he impacted upon, Naruto heard Madara speak again. "Really? What would possess you to use my pet''s power against me? Weren''t you aware that I could completely control it? Maybe you thought that I could only control it and not its power¡­ oh well." Madara said with a nonchalant shrug. "I must thank you for getting out of whatever chakra isolation chamber you were in. I was incapable of finding you until about ten minutes ago. And now, I know where the Eight-Tails is also. It must be nice to know that you undermined the efforts of the entire shinobi world to protect you. It turns out that I won''t even have to get involved in the war after all. All I have to do is go to the location where I first sensed you at, and I can get the Eight-Tails. Take comfort in the knowledge that you will live a little longer. I have to seal the Eight-Tails before the Nine-Tails, so you''ll have five days left to live. No more¡­ no less." Naruto''s eyes suddenly opened, revealing that they were yellow and shaped like the eyes of a toad. ''I saw that in Zetsu''s recording. That''s Sage Mode.'' Madara thought. Madara''s eyes narrowed a fraction as he saw the attack. He knew what it could do. Thus, he simple used Shinra Tensei to dissipate the Rasenshuriken. "So, you''re still going to try to fight." Madara said as Naruto dashed towards him with a hand held back. Madara knew that he could not use Shinra Tensei on Naruto again at that moment. Nagato may have had a five second delay between uses, but Madara had only had the Rinnegan for a few days. As a result, Madara''s delay was closer to fifteen seconds. Madara was by no means defenseless though. "I''ll let you cool off." Madara said as he began to use his Space-Time Migration Technique. The sensation of spinning in on himself had Naruto disoriented, but his determination to defeat the elder Uchiha was still present. "I don''t think so." Naruto said as he fought against the Uchiha''s power with every fiber of his being. Something unlocked within Naruto as he fought against the power that was trying to teleport him. The feeling of the power unlocking caused Naruto to close his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened his eyes, Madara gasped in shock. No longer were toad-like eyes in Naruto''s eye sockets. Instead, his pupils were crimson with black shuriken-like emblems in them. ''That''s Itachi''s Mangekyo¡­ but how?'' Madara thought in shock. "I won''t give up!" Naruto yelled as the new power flowed threw him. Naruto had never been a very intelligent person. If he had, he might have considered the possible consequences of using his own power, natural energy, and the new power within him to fight against Madara''s power. The conflicting powers, combined with the fact that one of them was a space-time ninjutsu, could only spell trouble. With the Rinnegan and Sharingan, Madara was able to tell that something bad was about to happen. Thus, he cut off his Space-Time Migration Technique and focused all of his efforts on becoming intangible. Madara b?r?ly managed to do so before a massive explosion radiated from the exact spot where Naruto stood. When the dust cleared, Madara found that he was standing in a crater that one of the large toad summons could have sat in comfortably. Madara''s eyes widened further as he regained tangibility and found that he could not sense Naruto anymore. He couldn''t sense any trace of the Nine-Tails chakra either. All that was left in the crater, other than Madara, was the metal plate of a Leaf forehead protector. For the first time in many decades, Madara found that he had no idea what to make of the situation and even less of an idea as to what his next move should have been. ''I should have had Zetsu record this.'' Madara thought as he teleported away. ''I was foolish to send him to watch the Eight-Tails.'' No one would ever learn what happened to Naruto¡­ not in that timeline, at least.