First story in a good long while, and my first multi-chapter story, so I hope you enjoy it. Not too original a concept, but I think it should be fun.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Hellsing and all characters/locations/etc. are the property of their respective licence holders, not me.
Harry Potter stood on the platform with a gloomy expression on his young face. What kind of a place kept illusions on the gates to its trains? The platform was very lively, lively enough to make him uncomfortable. He wasn't used to crowds, and he was quickly finding that they did nothing for him. The train was set to be leaving in a little over twenty minutes, taking him to who-knows-where, so he was feeling no small amount of anxiety. The giant train was different from any he had ever seen before, it gleamed in the sunlight and the clouds of smoke that billowed from its engine gave the whole platform a slightly hazy look, like an old movie. He sniffed the air, noticing that though he could see the smoke, it didn't appear to be bothering anyone. Harry looked around at the bustling crowd seeing dozens, if not hundreds of young people laughing, crying, exchanging pleasantries. He felt a pang as he watched some of the other children with their parents. He had grown up in an orphanage, and though he had always felt loved, and had had at least a few friends. He had never had parents in the traditional sense. He had never really wanted them either. He had been happy enough where he was, and knew that what he was doing was to be important. However, seeing the other children now was causing him some discomfort, and no little amount of anger. What did these people, these abominations do to deserve such happiness when the faithful were left to suffer as he had?
'I suppose it doesn't really matter, after all, I don't envy any of them their position. If it were up to me I would have nothing to do with any of this,' he thought frowning.
That being said, the whole situation seemed extraordinarily unfair. Why him after all? What made him so special that he had to be the one to do this? He had been told, albeit briefly, about some of his "family" history. How he came from a line of powerful witches and wizards, the thought of which made him sick to his stomach, and how he had somehow defeated the greatest dark wizard of the age as an infant. Aside from that though, this was all new to him, and he put very little stock into any value the wizarding community put on him as a member of their world.
"Lord, how my adversaries have increased. Many are those who rise up against me. Many there are who say of my soul, 'There is no help for him in God.' But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. Amen," Harry recited, sighing.
This was going to be a long year. He looked around again. 'Such careless people,' he thought. 'As if they believe themselves to be invincible in their hidden world. How I would love to show them that there is nowhere a heretic can hide from the eyes of our Lord.'
Harry sighed again, picking up his bags and heading for the train. Whether he liked it or not his mission was not to show these people God's wrath. He wasn't even really on a mission. He was just being shipped off to a school for wizards and witches where he was supposed to learn their ways. He had of course, objected, but it was hardly his place to refuse, and the Father had been adamant, if furious in his own right. Harry smiled as he remembered the expression on the Father's face as they had travelled to the station. He had been angry, oh yes. Harry hadn't seen that look on the Father's face since he was much younger, and it had sent chills up and down his spine. The last few days had been a nightmare of new and unpleasant experiences, not the least of which had been his introduction to the wizarding world. He looked back at the barrier, wishing that someone had been able to come with him, at least this far. He knew the Father would have had a hard time keeping his composure in a place with so much that blatantly went against his beliefs, and although Harry wouldn't have been too bothered to watch the man go berserk in a crowd of heretics, it really wouldn't do to cause such a scene. Especially given that the Vatican clearly hoped to gain something from this, and not by way of violence.
As Harry climbed the stairs into the train he felt a bump from behind, and turned to see who had accosted him. He was confronted by two startling similar looking red-heads attempting to carry more than was probably necessary onto the train, one of whom was looking sheepish.
"Sorry about that mate, didn't see you there," the one closest to him said, smiling. "No harm done I hope?"
"I'm fine," Harry grunted in reply. "Just try a little harder to pay attention to where you're going if you please," he said turning back to the train.
The two boys blinked, before one dropped the side of the case he was carrying, causing it to fall on the other's foot.
"Oy! George what are you playing at! Almost broke my bloody foot! What was that for anyway?" he said, hopping up and down on his good foot.
The other boy 'George,' Harry thought, turning back to witness the commotion, was staring at Harry. "Hey aren't you…?" his eyes flicked up to Harry's forehead, "You are! Fred! Look! It's Harry Potter!"
Fred looked up at Harry, his foot apparently forgotten. His eyes widened when he noticed Harry's scar. "So it is! Blimey, I never expected to meet Harry Potter! A pleasure to meet you Harry, I'm Fred Weasley and this is my brother George," Fred said, gesturing towards George. "It is truly a pleasure to make your acquaintance my good man!" he said, grabbing Harry's arm and giving it several strong shakes.
"It's a pleasure to meet the two of you as well," Harry replied, grimacing. "Now if you'll excuse me I need to get on the train and find a compartment, I really don't want to have to sit in a crowded one." He pulled his arm out of the older boy's grasp and walked up the remaining stairs into the car. As he walked down the corridor he could hear the two boys talking through the window.
"Seemed a bit uptight wouldn't you say?"
"Nah, he's probably just stressed out with starting school and all. It must be tough being a celebrity after all."
Harry's complexion darkened further at the word "celebrity." "This is going to be such a mess," he muttered to himself as he looked for a compartment. He didn't expect people would be able to recognize him just from descriptions of a scar that he received when he was an infant. Unless of course they had somehow managed to publish a more recent photograph of him, a thought that was more than a little disturbing. He found an empty compartment not far from where he entered the train, and took a seat near the window where, much to his chagrin, he was still able to hear the two twins talking to someone.
"Hey Mum! Guess who we saw on the train?"
"Oh? Who?" Harry heard a woman say distractedly. "Ron your nose. No, stop rubbing it you'll smear it around. Here let me."
"Mum! Get off! This is embarrassing, I'll be fine just let it alone already!" he heard a new voice say. It sounded similar to the twins he had met earlier, but younger.
"Harry Potter!" both the twins shouted together.
"Really? Who was he with?"
"No one that we saw, it looked like he came here by himself. Seemed a little miffed about something when we talked to him."
"I'm sure that couldn't have had anything to do with you ramming into him and ogling his head now could it dearest brother of mine?"
"Ogling? George you really shouldn't draw too much attention to the poor boy, he's going to be getting more than enough of that as it is. Poor thing, sent off on his first day of school all alone. Surely someone must have come to see him off." Harry couldn't help but grind his teeth together listening to her. To think he would be the subject of pity from one of these… these… witches. It was all he could do to keep himself from shouting out the window at the woman. "Now boys I want you to be nice to him. He's doubtless had a rough time of it, and I don't want you lot making things any harder for him you understand me?" the woman said, which was met with a chorus of "Yes Mum," from the assorted children around her. "Now get on the train, it's going to be leaving any moment and if you miss it you're going to have to make your own way to Hogwarts."
Sure enough, the train's whistle blew shortly after, and the train began to move. 'Well maybe if I'm lucky people will leave me alone once the fame wears off. Surely in a school full of magic there will be more interesting things than me to stare at," Harry thought, staring out the window as the train moved by the platform, picking up speed. He could see parents waving to their children, and others moving back towards the exit. There was a red-headed girl chasing the train and waving. She was shouting something but Harry couldn't make it out over the sounds of the train. Finally, the train cleared the station, and almost immediately the area around the tracks was clear of any sign of the London they had just left. 'Where exactly is this train leaving from?' he thought. He had had some brief exposure to magic on the day he went to Diagon Alley to pick up his supplies, but it seemed like the possibilities were nearly limitless. 'Speaking of,' he thought, pulling his wand out and staring at it. He could remember the ramblings of the crazy old man that had sold it to him.
"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches. Unusual combination Mr. Potter, oh yes very unusual if you don't mind my saying so," The man had said.
Harry had asked him what was so unusual about it, but the man had merely chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "That, Mr. Potter, is something that I'm sure you will be discovering for yourself. Maybe even soon. Who knows, but one thing I think I can say for sure is that we are going to see great things from you Mr. Potter. Great. Things."
The man had been disturbing in a way that Harry hadn't really encountered before, as if he had known things he shouldn't. Harry smiled as he fingered his pocket-watch, a gift from one of his friends at the orphanage. 'And I certainly have a lot to hide in this place don't I?' he thought, running his fingers over the roman numerals etched into the silver, the sign of the cross emblazoned on the front.
He turned his attention back to his wand and scowled. 'So this is the instrument through which I'll be expected to enact atrocities upon our Lord's creation.' He thought, his stomach churning. The mere thought of it made him sick. He tried to remember the words the Father had spoken before he had left Harry at the station.
"That is not a sin which is performed in the service of our Lord. But take care Harry, that you don't fall to temptation and forsake His name in favor of this new world. Always remember that you have a home, and that you are in His service so long as you shall live."
Remembering the Father brought some calm to him, and he was so focused that he didn't hear the door to his compartment slide open.
"You know if your wand isn't working, glaring at it isn't going to make it work any better," the newcomer said, jerking Harry out of his reverie. Harry snapped his head up to look at the newcomer.
"Er, sorry, can I sit here? Every other compartment I checked is full, and I don't want to sit with a crowd of people I don't know, or worse, my brothers," he said shuddering.
"Sure," Harry said, waving his hand dismissively. "Just so long as you don't make too much noise."
"Yeah sure, no problem," the boy said, stashing his things away and taking a seat. He reached his hand out to Harry. "Name's Ron, Ron Weasely."
Harry stared at his hand for a moment before sighing and taking it. "Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you Ron," He said, trying to give a good smile. He felt more than saw Ron's eyes dart to his forehead and he gave another sigh, causing Ron to blush in embarrassment.
"Sorry, you must get that a lot. I didn't mean to stare it's just…blimey! You're the Harry Potter! The one who defeated You-Know-Who!" Ron said, nearly beside himself.
Harry blinked and sat back. "Actually I wanted to ask somebody about that. Who exactly is it that I'm supposed to have defeated? I was just an infant after all, and I haven't really been a part of the wizarding world since it happened. All of this is new to me, including this whole You-Know-Who business." Harry said. 'This is going to be a long year if I don't at least try to play nice with somebody,' he thought. 'Might as well try to be civil, even if it is with one of them.'
Ron had a confused look on his face. "You really don't know? Blimey, You-Know-Who was the most evil wizard of all time! He killed hundreds of people before you stopped him! Some people don't even think he was human anymore. Nobody even knows how you did it, but you're a hero for stopping him! How could you not know? I thought for sure you would have been brought up in a wealthy wizarding home, so you should have at least known about who you were."
Harry shrugged. "I was raised in an orphanage, and I didn't know anything about the magical world until a few days ago," he said, watching as Ron's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "How does everyone here know what I look like anyway? Surely not everyone remembers me simply by reading about my scar." He pulled back his bangs to clarify his point.
"Well I don't know about everyone else, but I saw your picture in the Daily Prophet the day before last. I didn't recognize you right away because I didn't really look too closely at the picture," he said, shrugging. "I don't really read much news anyways, I was just glancing at it."
"Hm," Harry said, chewing on his lip. This was no good. He absolutely could not have any civilian organization, magical or otherwise, taking pictures of him or following him around. If this kept happening his cover would be blown in no time, and then no one would trust him. He didn't want to be doing this, but it was his duty to obey, and obey he would. What made matters worse was that he was much too unfamiliar with this magic to stop these people from spying on him. He didn't even know what methods they were using, much less how to prevent it.
It took him a moment to notice that Ron was frowning at him. "You all right there mate? You look a bit green."
"I'm fine, was just thinking a bit is all," Harry said. "You have a rat on your lap by the way."
"Yeah, this is Scabbers, the Weasley family rat. He's as much of a hand-me-down as most of the other stuff I own. My brothers, the ones you met, Fred and George, taught me a spell to turn him yellow, but I don't know whether or not to try it. I can't really trust those two. Pranksters."
Harry thought of some of the pranks that had been played on him at the orphanage and shuddered.
Ron nodded knowingly. "Exactly. So this spell might work, but it might also turn me into the rat and Scabbers into me."
He was interrupted by a knock on the door before it slid open to reveal a bushy-haired girl in her school robes and a large boy who was looking a bit frantic.
"Excuse me," the girl said, "But Neville here has lost his toad, have either of you seen one around?"
Both boys shook their heads and the girl sighed. "Oh well, thanks anyway. Oh, have either of you started preparing for classes yet? I'm just starting this year and I really have no idea what to expect. No one else in my family is magical you see, so this whole experience is going to be very new for me. I read all about Hogwarts and it really does sound like the best school of witchcraft and wizardry around. I'm Hermione Granger by the way."
Ron and Harry both blinked, the girl had been talking at a fever clip.
"Um, I'm Ron Weasley," Ron said after a moment.
"Harry Potter."
She turned to Harry. "Are you really? That's so interesting! I read all about you in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts," She said, oblivious to Harry's darkening features. "Well we should be getting there soon, so I need to help Neville find his toad. You two should change you know," she said before taking her leave.
Ron stared after her for a moment before shaking his head. "That girl is crazy."
Hermione and Neville hadn't been gone more than a few minutes when the door to the compartment opened again, revealing three boys, a small blonde-haired one flanked by two large, mean looking boys that looked as though they were more gorilla than man.
"The whole train is abuzz with the rumor that Harry Potter is in this compartment," said the boy in the middle. He looked at Harry. "I take it that's you then?"
Harry looked back at the boy. "That's right, and who might you be?"
"The name's Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family, one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most prodigious pure-blood wizarding families," the boy said, giving an exaggerated bow.
Ron hissed. "I've heard of your family! Nothing but a bunch of dark wizards up to no good! I heard that when You-Know-Who fell they used their money to buy their way out of trouble! You don't want to go getting yourself involved with their sort Harry, trust me!"
Malfoy sniffed. "Well well, judging by your hair you must be a Weasley. Didn't they make enough of you people already? Must be hard on your parents, trying to feed so many vermin on so little income," he said, turning back to Harry. "You'll learn soon enough that some families are better than others. I can help you with that if you like."
Harry was glowering at the boy, and the intensity of his glare almost made Malfoy flinch. "I know your kind," Harry said. "You think you're blood, your family, makes you pure, but you don't understand the first thing about purity! Purity is not something that you are born with. No, in fact we are all born impure. Purity must be earned, toiled for through a life of service, through sweat and blood. You think because you have money, or because your family is old you are pure. My family is older than yours by a hundred generations, and we have never stopped struggling for the right to call ourselves pure."
Malfoy was red in the face, and shaking with rage. "What do you think you know about me and my family Potter?" he bellowed, whipping out his wand. "Clearly you have spent too long away from the magical world! I think you need to learn proper respect!"
Before Malfoy could utter the first syllable or the two oafs that guarded him could so much as blink, Harry buried his knee into Malfoy's stomach. He let out a pained wheeze before crumpling to the ground. The two larger boys didn't seem to know quite how to react. They stood there a moment before grabbing Malfoy and dragging him away, still coughing and wheezing.
Ron stared wide-eyed at the spot Malfoy had been. "Bloody hell Harry! That was great!"
Harry was still breathing heavily when the sound of running footsteps approached, and Hermione stuck her head in the door.
"What's going on in here?" She asked, "Have you been fighting already? Do you really want to get kicked out of school before we even get there?"
"Malfoy started it!" Ron said, "He was going on about how great his family is and how important it is to be pure-blooded. He insulted my family and then pulled his wand on Harry! Harry was just defending himself is all!"
Hermione frowned as she looked at Harry, who was muttering under his breath with an angry look on his face. "Well I don't really understand all this pure-blood nonsense, and he really shouldn't have threatened you Harry, but you really shouldn't be attacking your fellow students."
Harry waved her off. "That boy needed to learn a lesson and I was more than happy to teach it to him. If he decides to come back later, I will be more than happy to teach it again," he said, sitting back down, "Now if you'll excuse us we need to change, we're almost there after all."
Hermione stared at him for a moment before sighing and turning away. "Just try not to get into anymore fights," she said, closing the door to the compartment.
They arrived not long after Ron and Harry had changed into their robes, which Harry was finding himself none too keen on. He knew some of the people he worked with wore robes, but his division was much more about function than form. 'And besides that,' he thought, trying to adjust his sleeves, 'They make me look ridiculous.'
As they exited the train Harry could first hear and then see a giant of a man bellowing. "Firs' years over here! Everyone in a boat! Watch yer step gettin' in, and no more than six to a boat!"
Harry followed Ron towards the boats, and did a double take as he passed the carriages the other students were getting into. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled when he saw the creatures pulling them. They looked if anything like vampire horses, something guaranteed to set him on edge. He grit his teeth as he walked past them, noticing that no other students seemed to be acknowledging the creatures existence.
He tapped Ron on the shoulder. "What's pulling those carriages?" He asked, gesturing towards the creatures.
Ron looked at the carriages and then back at Harry, a confused look on his face. "Nothing mate, they pull themselves."
Harry sighed, looking back towards the boats. 'Of course they do,' he thought bitterly, wondering what other surprises this place would have in store for him.
Here's the first chapter. I only have a sort of general idea of where the story is going to be going from here, but most of it will probably come together on its own given what I want to do with it. I'll be messing with some of the timeline for both Harry Potter and Hellsing, if for no other reason than it will make things more fun for me to write. Also, if anyone who reads this wants to proofread for me that would be helpful. Any reviews are appreciated.