In the year of our Lord 1128 England was invaded along its eastern most coastlines by men from the North. Shortly to follow were the Wizards of the North, come to pillage and make their wealth from the weakened Wizarding Britons.
Among these invaders were longboats of Wizards, sails magically bewitched to carry them across the seas safely.
"Ready boy?" asked Sirius sternly as the large army of Northern Wizards strode across the lush green fields to meet their British enemies.
"Ready" said Harry quietly, adjusting his grip on his wand as he walked side by side with the man who had raised him.
"Your father would be a proud man Harry" said Sirius. "Proud to see how strong his son had become." With that Sirius gave Harry's back a fatherly thump as the green lush field flashed bright with colours as spells and curses of all kinds were thrown between the Wizarding Armies of the Northmen and the Britons.
Harry staggered around the now deathly silent battlefield, exhausted and trying to regain his breath. He wiped splatters of blood from his face with his hand as he looked around at the piles of corpses. As Harry looked only two men stood amongst the dead, himself and Sirius.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter as he sat himself down on a soft patch of ground to take a breath as Harry walked towards the only other moving person in sight. A British Wizard, desperately trying to crawl through the mud to his fallen wand. Harry as the blood oozing from his side from a poorly aimed slashing curse.
With a flick of his wrist Harry banished the man's wand into the distance as he loomed over him. Harrys face was mute with apathy after all he'd seen today. Another flick of his wrist and the man was hung upside down by his ankle.
"Who's keep is that?" Harry asked, his voice soft as he gestured at the castle in the distance. "Who is the King here?"
"There is no King here" the man answered panicked. "It's not a keep, it's a school. Its Hogwarts!" he shouted.
"He says it's a school" shouted Harry over his shoulder to Sirius. "There is no King."
"No King?" shouted Sirius, leaping to his feet and striding over to Harry and the wounded man. "A school? No school has walls that high or wards that strong!"
"No. No it's a school" said the man, pleading. "It's to keep them safe. Please, plea—" he continued before his words being cut off by an angry thrust of Sirius' wand and a spray of blood.
"All this death for a school" said Sirius shaking his head. "They'll be no wealth at a school." Harry remained silent as he revered his spell letting the now dead man drop limply to the ground along with all the other dead. "Might as well have stayed home fighting Giants and Dragons" spat Sirius walking off.
Harry remained silent as he followed his godfather, but his mind was in agreement, all this was for nothing. The pair walked in silence, leaving the empty field of the dead; there were no family or friends to grieve here.
"Empty" called out Harry as he peered around the darkened hut he and Sirius has come upon. Even twenty days since the great slaughter on that field, Harry felt his nerves prickle as he waited for an attack to come.
"None in the barn either" said Sirius following Harry into the hut. "We can stay a while, find our bearings."
"Maybe the we could continue west?" asked Harry. "They talked about more keeps and magical towns, we could find wealth there?"
"Maybe" muttered Sirius shuffling through the empty shelves and drawers of whomever used to live there. "But I cannot get that great Keep from my mind. So tall and yet just for children."
"It would take the entire Wizarding Army to breach those enchantments" said Harry.
"Maybe, but if we could get inside the enchantments, just you and I?" suggested Sirius.
Early next morning Harry walked out of the hut alone, into the dewy autumn air. Trying to clear his head of the needlessness of the battle, of all the death and screaming invading his dreams. He was not like his godfather; or like most Wizarding Northmen. He did not live for death and battle. But he was practical, after the death of his family they needed wealth to rebuild their family's claim to their ancestral lands.
If not for his father sending him to work and train with Sirius, he too would have been slaughtered with all his kin. Without wealth from the Britons, Harry would never return home, never raise an army and never kill the man who had taken his mother and father from him.
Harry shook the violent thoughts from his mind as he walked along the riverbank, taking in the rolling green hills and the peaceful sound of running water. As he strode further along the banks of the river he heard a bubbling laughter in the distance. A soft laughter he hadn't heard in many moons.
Harry slid his wand from his belt and walked slower, with more purpose and silence as he rounded a bend and saw the source of the laughter. Two young girls, fishing side-by-side and laughing at some joke Harry had not heard. Harry walked closer, passing between the bushes and trees as he laid eyes on a third person. A man, his back to him. A guard perhaps for the young girls.
Muggles, perhaps? Harry puzzled to himself as he crept closer. But that thought was washed away as soon as he saw the wand tucked into the man's belt.
Standing motionless Harry watched the two girls fishing and joking happily. The fair-haired girl reminded him of the girls back home, but the other; her hair looked like fire. Red, like wildflowers, shimmering in the dulled sunlight.
In his distraction watching the happiness of the two girls Harry's foot mis-stepped and a loud crackle of a branch echoed around. In an instant the man spun around, his wand in his hand, but Harry was far quicker.
A flash of bright red and the dark-haired guard crumpled to the floor as the fair-haired girl screamed.
"Run!" shouted the redhead as she fumbled slightly drawing her own wand. The fair-haired girl dropped her fishing rod into the river and sprinted quickly along the bank as Harry walked calmly to the river. "Stay. BACK!" shouted the redhead as she threw a stunning spell at Harry.
Harry felt himself grin as he weaved his head slightly and felt the hiss of the spell pass his ear. He heard the fair-haired girl in the distance. He drew up his wand and flicked a stunning spell playfully in return, narrowly missing her as she hopped sideways onto a wet stone. Her eyes narrowed as she took a step towards her attacker to fight back.
"Wait" said Harry quickly as he watched the redhead lose her footing and slip backwards off the wet rock. With a quick flick of his wrist Harry cast a cushioning charm on the large jagged rock the redhead was about to land headfirst onto.
Ginny blinked her eyes a few times as she looked up into the canopy of trees. She felt a throbbing in the side of her head as she sat up and saw the green eyes of the man who attacked her. In an instant the memories of the morning came rushing back and she grasped futilely at her side, where her wand ought to be.
"This?" asked Harry, holding up her wand.
"Give it back?" demanded Ginny defiantly as she reached for it.
"So you can try to curse me again? No" said Harry shaking his head as he tucked the wand into his belt next to his own.
"My friend?" asked Ginny. "The blonde one, is—"
"Long gone, ran off." Interrupted Harry as he waved his hand over a small pile of leaves and twigs, lighting it wandlessly.
"And the man was with us?" asked Ginny.
"Dead" muttered Harry watching the fire grow. "Who was he?" he asked with interest. To his dismay the girl remained silent as she looked sadly into the now blooming flames.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" asked Ginny. "The Northmen, come to steal and rape?"
Harrys eyebrows shot up as he looked at his captive. "Steal yes" agreed Harry, "rape... probably not." Harrys eyes dragged up the girl's body, she had nice legs he thought.
Ginny shivered in discomfort at the way the Wizard from the North looked at her. Her father warned her that it wasn't just muggles any more, Wizarding Northmen had invaded too and even safe and far from the Eastern shores they ought to be careful. Her heart tugged softly for the man who was meant to be her protector.
"You didn't have to kill him" said Ginny. "Father hired him to protect us in exchange for food."
"If he was to draw his wand that slowly he ought to have found another profession" said Harry without care. "He was slow. I was fast. He died, I did not. What is past is past."
"My brothers will kill you" said Ginny, her voice unshaking as she glared defiantly into her captor's green eyes.
"Many have tried" said Harry simply as he warmed his hands over the fire.
"Don't you care?" asked Ginny.
"If it is my fate, then it will only bring pain to fight it" said Harry remembering the words of his godfather.
"What do you want from me?" asked Ginny hesitantly.
"I don't know" said Harry, his voice distant as he looked into the flames.
"Why did you save me?" asked Ginny quietly. "That rock in the river, I saw you cast a spell to protect me" she continued as she saw a questioning look from her captor.
"I don't know. Fate brought me here. I know nothing more" said Harry unsure of his own words or what compelled him to pull the redhead girl from the river after she fell and was carried off by flowing water.
"Please let me go" asked the redhead softly.
"Not yet. Just a moments quiet first" said Harry as he looked once more into the fire trying to figure out why he was here and why he'd not just returned to Sirius already.
It felt like hours had passed as Ginny watched the strange northman gaze into the fire. Something seemed sad about him. His hair stood up in a mess and she noticed a lightening shaped scar on his forehead.
"How did you get that scar?" asked Ginny bringing Harry from his trance.
"Fathers enemy" said Harry. "Just a reminder of my place" he said with a soft chuckle.
"Where is your father?" asked Ginny thinking of her own. Wondering if her friend Luna had gotten all the way to her home and told her father and brothers of the northman.
"Dead" answered Harry simply.
"Oh" said Ginny uncomfortable as she let silence fill the air between them once more as the sun rose higher in the sky. Minutes more silence passed before Ginny couldn't help but ask another question, "Were you at the great battle in the North?"
"Yes" said Harry.
"So was my cousin. He's dead isn't he?" asked Ginny.
"Probably" answered Harry. "Why aren't you afraid?" asked Harry suddenly.
"I sup—" began Ginny before being cut off by the sound of tree branches snapping.
Harry jumped to his feet, his wand in hand as he saw half a dozen men approaching their makeshift campsite in the amongst the trees. The dozen men, all approaching wands drawn.
"Can you fight?" asked Harry quietly walking backwards and pulling the girl to her feet behind him.
"What? They're northmen!" hissed Ginny, "Your people" she reminded him.
"Potter!" shouted one of the men approaching. "Word has it you and Black survived up north."
"Yeah, we survived" said Harry, his eyes darting between the approaching men as he backed himself and the redhead away. His hand slipped her wand from his belt as he walked.
"Lord Riddle won't be pleased, he's put a lot of silver on your heads" said the approaching man.
"Well Lord Riddle is back in Norway, so I'd say we can forget about this" said Harry.
"No Potter. Lord Riddle is here. In Briton" said the man gleefully. "And he wants you're head" he shouted as he thrusting his wand launching a spell at Harry.
In a swift move, Harry grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled them both behind a tree dodging the silver spell. Without words Harry handed back her wand. "I hope you know how to fight" said Harry as he launched himself back out from behind the tree, his wand raised and ready for a fight.
"Who were they?" asked Ginny trying to catch her breath as she leaned back against the riverbank.
"They work for the man who killed my family" said Harry bitterly as he looked at the lifeless body of the last of their attackers floating down the river out of sight.
"I could've stunned you from behind" said Ginny softly as she rolled her wand between her fingers.
"I'm glad you didn't" said Harry looking at her, wondering if she was going to now.
"Nobody has ever asked me to fight before" said Ginny. "I've never had to."
"And now you have twice in one day" said Harry laughing. "You're lying, you fight too well to be untrained."
"No, I'm telling the truth" insisted Ginny, "I just... sometimes watch my brothers train and practice duelling and battle magic."
"And you've never fought?" asked Harry disbelieving.
"I'm a girl. Girls don't fight" said Ginny bitterly repeating the words she was told over and over her whole life.
"Our girls do" said Harry. "Where I'm from I mean" he said sitting himself down next to her.
"Must be nice" said Ginny without thinking. A comfortable silence passed between them as they looked up at passing clouds as the sound of the flowing river filled the air.
"I'm Ginny" she said breaking the silence. "Ginny Weasley."
"Harry" replied Harry simply.
"No last name?" teased the redhead.
"Not one that matters" answered Harry.
"Am I your prisoner Harry?" asked Ginny.
"No. Go home" said Harry.
Ginny gave a soft nod and slowly stood up and began walking along the river towards home. Her heart still raced from the fight with the other Northmen, and even the death of her guard did not tarnish greatly her image of the green-eyed Northman.
"Maybe it was my fate to meet you today, not yours" said Ginny turning to face Harry.
"I don't understand" said Harry, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
"Harry, I've spent my whole life wanting anything but the simple safe patch of home my family wants for me, tucked away in a corner to be married off when it's convenient" said Ginny, her voice filling with the desperation echoed on her face. "I love them all dearly, but that is not what I've want. In a few hours you've given me more of the life I want than a lifetime from my family."
"So, tell me what you want then?" said Harry.
"Teach me to fight like you, fast like you. The way you move through those men, the way they were afraid of you" said Ginny hurriedly as she stepped forwards crouching down to eye level with Harry.
"I may be dead before the moon turns" said Harry thinking of Lord Riddle, "with you alongside."
"I am not afraid" said Ginny, her eyes conveying the seriousness of her words. "The most joy in my life has been when I'm allowed out to fish with my friend. If I return, I will never be allowed out of past the safety of the hedges. Please Harry."
"Your family will think you dead" said Harry.
"I'll write them when I can" said Ginny, realising she had convince him. "Let them know I'm safe."
"Alright" said Harry conceding, trying to avoid looking into the softness of her eyes. "But if you want to learn, you listen and do as you're told."
"I promise" said Ginny grinning ear to ear.
"Let's go then" said Harry unconvinced.
AN: Mash up of cannon. Pre-apparation. Pre-flying broomsticks. Adaptation of characters. Heavily populated Wizarding universe.
Disclaimer: I'm not JKR or Warner Bros. I promise. No really.