Playing the Game
Chapter One
Author: Evening Ivory
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, would I be writing fanfiction for it?
Rating: T (might go up later)
Summery: Harry Tobias Snape. Lord Syon. A life that was ended was given anew by Death. Now the Dark Lord Harry is the Boy-Who-Lived and he will have his revenge. Eventual HP/LV, Dark!AU!Harry.
UPDATE 6/5/15: CHAPTER ONE HAS BEEN CHANGED. While it's not super important to reread, it flows a lot better and the writing has been improved. Please read and review. Thank you. :)
WARNINGS! I am not British. I know nothing about British slang, so if I do butcher it, please let me know so I can fix it. This WILL eventually be (nongraphic) slash! I warned you!
~LV-HP~
There were two things Harrison Tobias Snape didn't know and couldn't have ever predicted about this day. Two things that, if he'd known, would have made this his least favorite day ever. The first thing he didn't now was that he was going to die. The second was what would happen afterward.
"Lord Syon! Your left!" Lucius Malfoy called out, firing curses at their enemies.
A feral grin wound on Harry's face. He spun around, dodging several nasty spells, and cast several Killing Curses. He laughed, loudly and was pleased to see many of his opponents shiver and freeze at the sound. He reveled at their fear and the bloodshed.
His godfather Lucius was close by him and even with his stony, pureblood face Harry could see that so very alive spark in his eyes. On his left flank he saw Bellatrix Lestrange, laughing despite being surrounded by Light wizards. In a moment, blood was flying from her enemies, obscuring her from view. He could see his father Snape and Draco tag teaming Alastor Moody. His other followers were scattered, few dead, few dying, and most killing Light wizards with an intensity that made Lord Syon proud.
He laughed again as a wizard tried slicing his torso open with a cutting hex. "Just give up already," he said soothingly to the man, "You will be spared if you just surrender now." That was a lie, of course. Lord Syon would not take prisoners in this battle today, not when his goals required every enemy in this room died. The man froze, hesitated, and he sighed. "Very well." He flicked his wand, expecting the man to be dead, but something redirected his curse to the wall.
Lord Syon turned, a blank look on his face. Wandlessly, he flung a curse at the man and briefly enjoyed the sounds of him choking on his own tongue, but he focused on his opponent. "Hello, Minister Longbottom," he said politely.
"Damn you, Harrison!" Neville snarled, his wand pointed threateningly. "You dare attack my Ministry while I am here? After what you've done to me? You shouldn't have come, because I WILL kill you!"
Harry raised a brow. "And here I thought you'd be happy to see me. Haven't you said you were waiting for our great, amazing battle?" He cocked his head, a mocking smirk on his face. "Though you don't seem up to par tonight. Are you sleeping well? Or are the nightmares of that red-headed bitch still keeping you up?"
"You bastard!" he roared, firing off a curse.
Harry grinned, deflecting his attack and they began dueling. For all he cared, the rest of the battle was unimportant, just as long as he finally killed Longbottom here and now.
Nothing else mattered.
"I'm impressed," Lord Syon said, "You've improved over the years. Dumbledore must have finally started training his Golden Boy."
Neville clenched his jaw, firing off another spell. The man was getting better at controlling himself, but he'd crack eventually.
"Does it hurt you?" he mocked calmly, "To know that he was right about me? That everything and everyone you ever loved is gone because of your trust in me? Poor little Longbottom. Even as Minister you can't protect your friends."
Longbottom snapped, screaming in rage. His spellwork became sloppier for half a second and Lord Syon cooly and coldly reflected his attacks. He shot a slicing hex at his Achilles's tendons and Neville went down on his knees. He severed the boy's wand hand and gleefully watched it thump to the ground. Harry picked the wand out of its grip and snapped it in front of Longbottom's eyes. The devastation was written clearly on his face and Harry threw the pieces to the side. Lord Syon kneeled and grabbed Longbottom's chin, sneering at the fear now in his eyes.
"But Dumbledore was wrong about one thing. You. Are. Not. My.Equal." Each word was followed by a cutting curse to Longbottom's throat. He watched in delight as the man died slowly, the light leaving his eyes, just like the Light opposition that was dying tonight. He was about to leave, satisfied, when Longbottom looked beyond Harry's shoulder and smirked.
"I win," he gurgled with his last breath.
Lord Syon turned just in time to see a bolt of green light headed for him. Albus Dumbledore was the caster.
~LV-HP~
"So this is death..." he said to himself quietly, looking around the sterile white train station. It was vacant. No people or trains. A humorous part of him wondered whether this was heaven or hell and how he'd got to be so lucky being there alone.
"Not quite." Harry spun around. "This is more like a waiting room. A choice." The voice was strange. It seemed neither male nor female, ageless. Harry spotted a figure in black, darkness coating him like mist.
"And you are?" he asked.
The figure nodded his head at Harry. "I am Death."
Curiously, Harry stepped closer to Death, watching his breath become visible. "Death." He cocked his head to the side, "I think I know you. From...somewhere..."
"You could say that," Death said in amusement. He placed His hand on the side of Harry's face and he gasped at the feeling. Ice cold. The cold brought to his mind the first time he'd killed a man. Harry stepped back, a bit uncomfortably.
Death laughed. "You know me as all who have taken life know me. That presence as life leaves your enemy...you feel it, if only slightly."
"You said this place was a choice. What kind of choice?" he asked.
Death took a step away, facing the train tracks. The dark mist around him caressed Harry longingly.
"Did you want to die?" Death asked.
"Of course not. I almost had the Wizarding World in the palm of my hand, I had nearly taken over the Ministry and I finally killed that fool Longbottom," Harry said, "I was so close..."
A moment of silence. "What if you could live again?"
"What...what do you mean?" He stared intently at Death.
Death looked at him and Harry was transfixed by eyes so black he feared he'd fall into them. "There are other universes, as you know. Other yous, other Wizarding Worlds. What would you do if you could live out one of those lives?"
"I..." Harry struggled to pull away from the gaze, "But why?"
"I do get bored, you know," he said wryly, "And messing with fate is one of the few entertainments I am allowed. Besides, I like you." He chuckled at Harry's surprise. "I can wait another life before seeingyou again. Do you agree?"
"Of course, my Lord Death," Harry bowed, "But I would still remain myself?"
Death nodded, "You shall retain all your memories and your magic. You will be returning younger, possibly as a child or unborn-" Harry twitched in disgust- "but that should teach you some patience."
Slowly, Harry nodded, "I understand. Anything else?"
"Yes," Death said lowly, "A warning. The world you know and the world you are going to are very different. Some faces and names will be the same, but the people behind them won't always be. Do not trust them. Do not tell them what we've discussed unless you must."
"I'll manage," he said quietly.
Death nodded, "Should you need my help, look for my Hallows. I'll be watching." Before Harry could respond, Death lifted a finger to his forehead and then Harry was falling, falling, falling down into darkness.
"By the way..." Death said, "You've been naked this whole time."
Harry laughed before fading away.
~LV-HP~
He was somewhere dark and warm.Oh no, he moaned mentally, Please tell me I'm not-
"Is he still sleeping?" a voice whispered.
Sleeping? Harry noticed suddenly the darkness was from his closed eyes and the warmth from a pair of delicate arms around him. Thank Merlin. He made a show of yawning weakly and opening his eyes. He looked up at the familiar face of his mother holding him. She smiled brightly at him and his heart clenched. How much was this Lily like his mother?
"Not anymore," she said in amusement, "I wonder how he ever sleeps when you and your friends are around, James."
'James'?Harry froze mentally at that name, moving his head to look around him. It couldn't really be James-bloody-Potter could it?
"I don't think almost-one-year-olds have a good sleeping schedule to begin with, Lils," the voice said again, "Lemme hold him."
He was passed over, feeling strange being so small and easily controlled. He looked up, eyes wide and wanted to curse. James Potter was holding him. James. Fucking. Potter. He should've been dead! He would be, if Harry had anything to say about it after what he'd done to her. Why was his mother, a Dark Pureblood witch, with this mudblood scum that had raped her? Unless...unless things were very, very different in this world. The thought nearly terrified him.
It didn't matter though, because Harry still hated the man. He squirmed and fussed in his hold, scowling. He wanted to see his father, adoptive or not. Where was Severus? He had to be close by, right?
"Woah, woah, Harry, what's the matter?" Potter said with a frown, "Are you hungry?"
"Can't handle a baby, Prongs?" another man said with a smirk. Sirius Black, Harry recognized him even though he hadn't really known him in his last life. Behind him was another man with scars lining his face. Harry was sure that he was a werewolf that he'd seen in Greyback's pack before, though he hadn't a clue who he was.
James rolled his eyes. "Like you could do any better, Padfoot. We leave him with you for a moment and he'll either be on a broom or stuffed with candy."
Black puffed his chest out and looked mockingly affronted, "What? I'll have you know I am excellent with kids. I babysat my little brother for years. I'll show you." Without another word he pulled Harry out of James hands and began twirling him around. Harry was getting a little sick and dizzy.
"Sirius!" his mother chastised, "Stop that this instant and give me back my son."
Black smiled sheepishly and stopped. Harry promptly threw up on his shoes. Serves you right, he thought as his mother took hold of him again. "And you wonder why there aren't offers from women to marry you."
Black cleaned his shoes with a Scourgify and looked horrified at the idea of marriage, "She said the word, Remus! The evil 'M' word! The bane of my existence!"
The werewolf, Remus, sighed, "Come on Sirius. We've got to get going before you do something unrepairable."
~LV-HP~
Harry spent the next few weeks gathering information about this different reality he was in and wasn't too happy with what he found. He especially hated the fact that James Potter was his father.
He'd also discovered that, to his annoyance, his parents were part of some group that was ran by Dumbledore. They called it the 'Order' or something and apparently there was a war going on at the moment. Harry was curious about that. Who was leading the other side? And as it was, nearly all of the people in the Order had been his enemies at some time or another. He did see Neville Longbottom once, the fat baby.
Frustratingly, he was only brought when his parents couldn't find a babysitter so he didn't learn as much as he would have liked. And he never saw his actual father. Harry assumed he was Dark, but this Lily hadn't mentioned his name once.
He hoped growing up wouldn't take long.
~LV-HP~
Something was wrong. Suddenly, only days from his birthday, something had happened and it had forced his parents into hiding on Dumbledore's word. Harry heard several words muttered between Dumbledore and his parents. Prophecy, Dark Lord, and Secret Keeper being the most frequent. There was enough information there to get a sense of wrongness but he couldn't see the future. He didn't know what was about to happen.
Harry found himself often frustrated, wishing he could grow up and return to his name of Lord Syon. Then he'd show this would-be Dark Lord what he'd get for trying to kill him.
Months passed and he wondered what exactly this 'Dark Lord' was waiting for. But as it got closer and closer to October, it suddenly clicked. Halloween. The day for Dark rituals. Why Halloween?
Perhaps it didn't matter when the wards came down and the door exploded.
"It's him! Lily, take Harry and run!"
Harry watched as James faced the door, his jaw set firmly as he pointed his wand at it. Harry wasn't sure what to feel about this man who was willing to give his life to save Harry. Perhaps he could be grateful to this James Potter, the Pureblood, despite how in his other life James Potter the Muggleborn had been less than worthless.
His mother ran up the stairs to where his nursery was. What was she doing? They were both going to die if they stayed here! She set him in his crib and pet his head. She kissed his forehead and smiled at him with watery eyes. "Mamma loves you very much, Harry," she said shakily, "So, so much."
Despite her differences with his other mother, Harry found he loved this woman just as much and he felt his heart clench. He felt the magic of the Killing Curse from below and knew that James was dead. Lily faced the door, wand in hand, standing in front of his crib. Harry didn't know if she was crazy or just stupid. Did she think that a Dark Lord would just let her go if he thought Harry was a threat? Not likely.
The door swung open and Harry was surprised at what he saw. A tall figure stepped through cloaked in darkness. He looked like a snake had been twisted to the shape of a man, skin scaled and pale white. Harry gasped quietly feeling the full force of Dark magic fill the room. It was strong, intoxicating, and Harry knew it was just a fraction of the man's true strength. It was intimidation.
Harry was impressed.
"No, not Harry! Please, not Harry!" his mother pleaded.
"Stand aside you silly girl! Stand aside now." How odd...the Dark Lord was giving his mother a chance to live. Why?
"Take me! Not Harry! Anyone but Harry!"
With a sneer, a green light shot from Voldemort's wand and his mother fell to the floor. Harry looked at her and sighed. He would miss her. He looked back up at Voldemort curiously. He hadn't met anyone like him in his other life. He'd never even heard the name Voldemort before, though it sounded French. Even though he was going to die, he was very intrigued by this man. Who was he? Voldemort was the first person that he'd met this time that he hadn't known before, by name or face.
Well, Harry would go back to Death now. Maybe he should complain about how he'd been ripped off in this new life. He met Voldemort's blood red eyes without fear, waiting for the spell. The Dark Lord seemed slightly unnerved, but he pointed the wand at him all the same.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The spell hit him, but instead of dying, he felt like his forehead was ripped open and something was forced in the gap. He screamed loudly but not as loud as Voldemort did a moment later. Suddenly his body was turned to ash engulfed in green light, leaving him a smoking pile on the carpet.
Again Harry was swallowed by darkness.
~LV-HP~
Alright. First chapter done. I'll probably be putting in some more stuff regarding Harry's other life, so if you were confused by some of the hints I dropped, don't worry. Please review!