Malleability

Prologue

As usual, Harry Potter was running for his very life. It was July 31st, 1984. Harry's fourth birthday. Dudley had picked up a new member of his gang today… and he was fast. His name was Piers Polkiss. Now, the game of Harry Hunting wasn't as easy for him to escape from. In fact, he thought Piers was gaining on him.

Harry's heart was pounding in his chest. He could hear every footfall of Dudley's gang. They were fifty feet behind him. Maybe less.

Harry turned into an alley, making sure to knock over a few empty trash cans, hoping it would slow down his pursuers.

Harry exited the alley and bolted across the road. Just in time for the light to turn green. Would the traffic slow the gang down?

Apparently it wasn't Harry's day for luck, as there were no cars on the road in either direction. In the alley, he heard a load crash. Someone must have tripped on the trashcans.

Angry yells and a grunt of pain. Someone had crashed into the body of the tripped person. Harry just kept running, knowing that if they saw him again, he'd be chased after. And the gang was usually much faster when they were angry.

Harry turned the corner and cut into another alley. Suddenly, Harry was flat on his back and the wind had been knocked out of him. He'd run into…nothing?

It was weird. Harry had definitely run into something, but nothing was there.

"Kid!" a hoarse voice whispered. A man appeared out of nowhere. He was wearing a cloak. "Kid! Get under here and they won't see you!"

Harry did what he was told, albeit reluctantly and allowed himself to be wrapped in this man's cloak and disappear from sight.

"I can't-" Harry started. He was cut off by a "SHH!" from the stranger.

Harry watched Dudley and his gang run past the mouth of the alley.

"I think we lost him!" one of the boys said.

"He can't have gone far!" Piers insisted. "Split up, we'll find him!"

Harry heard the sound of footsteps going off in all different directions.

Harry felt the cloak being pulled off of him.

"Thank you." Harry managed to say. "I… was that cloak…magic?"

"It was." The man responded. "But to be honest, I should be thanking you! You just saved me a lot of trouble. I was looking for you, Mr. Potter."

"Me?" Harry asked.

"You." The man answered. "I was sent here to take you away from here. Away from you abusive Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. Forever."

"Forever?" Harry asked. He couldn't help getting his hopes up. Leaving the Dursley's forever? It was almost too good to be true.

"Do you have any belongings you would like to retrieve?" the stranger asked.

"No." Harry answered firmly.

The man shook his head sadly for some reason.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked the man.

"Just a little place we call 'The Department of Mysteries.'" The stranger replied. "If you hold on to my arm, we can leave."

Harry reached up and took the stranger's arm. Harry briefly felt like he was being sucked through a garden hose. Then there was a pop, and he tumbled out onto the floor of the Ministry of Magic.

"This way, Mr. Potter." The stranger instructed him. The man strode off down the hallway. It was only then that Harry realized that he couldn't quite see the stranger's face. It was… cloudy, and always seemed to be changing.

"What's wrong with your head?" Harry asked.

For some strange reason, Harry felt that the man should have laughed. He didn't. "This, is an Unspeakable mask, Mr. Potter. It constantly changes your facial features so that you are unidentifiable to the common eye."

"Oh." Harry responded.

Like a puppy, Harry followed the strange man past hundreds of even stranger people wearing clothes he'd never seen before.

Soon, Harry was standing in front of a long deserted corridor with a dark door at the end. Harry followed the stranger to the end, and through the door.

A man was there to greet them when they entered. The newcomer, just like his strange rescuer spoke in a blank, expressionless voice. His face was blurry and constantly changing as well. "Did you find him?"

As if on cue, Harry stepped into the room.

'Looks like some kind of Labrotory.' Harry thought. 'I wonder if those are real brains?'

"Ah, good afternoon Mister Potter. We would like to conduct a few experiments on you, if you don't mind? You are a special case after all." Harry vaguely noticed that the Unspeakable that had brought him in was gone now.

"How am I special, sir?" Harry asked.

"Because of this!" The Unspeakable lifted up Harry's bangs with his index finger, touching his scar.

Harry shivered, and felt his scar burn ever-so-slightly.

"Ok." Harry replied. Apparently he wouldn't get a fully detailed explanation out of these people. He followed the Unspeakable through a few rooms and finally into a room with a hospital bed. The man had already put on a white lab coat.

Another Unspeakable joined them.

"Ahh good. Please sit down on that bed right there Mr. Potter." The new arrival said.

Harry sat. "Please drink this." The man offered Harry a small green vial full of a substance that smelled vaguely minty.

Harry had given up on questions, and drank the potion. He fell asleep almost instantly.

"Interesting…" the first Unspeakable said, waving his wand over Harry's sleeping form. "Very interesting."

"What is it?" the second inquired.

"He has power reserves already. Untapped ones." Said the First.

"Untapped power reserves? At age four? That's not possible." The second responded.

"Apparently Mr. Potter is a special case. He could prove to be a very interesting specimen."

"Indeed. And what of his magical potential?"

"Off the charts."

"But we've always been able to double-" The second started.

"Exactly. I think we will finally have a wizard capable of enduring our experiments. We could finally create the perfect human being."

"I thought that project was canned."

"Wizardkind's blood is running thin. We simply need to make a new one. A new wizard with an intense desire to…freshen the gene pool. He could save our species."

"Indeed." The second agreed.