Obligatory "I don't own Harry Potter and I love you J.K. Rowling"
This is going to be a Denarian Harry story. The inspiration to write my own came from Shezza with his/her amazing Denarian Trilogy, but mine will definitely be very different from his/hers. I won't reveal too much to you now, but I really hope you enjoy the ride!
Chapter 1 – When Life Gives you a Candy Bar
"Dudley, I already told you that I don't know who took your stupid candy bar!" Harry shouted as he walked just ahead of Dudley on the road back to the house from school. With a feeling of dread at the coming fight with his "family", he considered simply just not going back today. What was really the point? They hated him and almost everything he did unless it benefited them, and they would take Dudley's side regardless of evidence.
"Nobody else knew the candy bar was there, you're the only person that knows where I put my candy!" yelled Dudley in a whiny voice, who was irate that he wouldn't be able to eat his second candy bar that he saved for his after school snack.
They came upon the large bridge that was on the way home and Harry was walking just ahead of Dudley. "Dudley, I didn't take it and I don't know where it is, so just leave me alone!" He started to walk a bit faster, not wanting it to go any further than that.
There was almost never any traffic on this bridge at this time of the day, and the few cars that did pass by were unaware of the escalating argument between the two boys. His walking faster had only made Dudley angrier as he struggled to keep up with his much larger body. Just walking faster than normal he was already starting to breathe heavy.
"You think you'll get away with this but you have another thing coming, freak. Wait until I tell mum and dad about you stealing from me again!" He shouted, slightly out of breath.
Truthfully, Harry actually did steal the candy bar but he wasn't about to admit that. He didn't really feel any guilt about it because he really didn't get enough food while he was at home and he tended to just take it where he could. Dudley wasn't the only person he stole from, but he'd never actually been caught. He was quite sneaky when he needed to be, which was almost all the time.
"Dudley I've never stolen anything from you, you big fat idiot, just leave me alone!" Harry shouted, his temper getting the best of him.
Insulting Dudley was never a very good idea, his cousin had a lot of weight on him and although most of it was fat and he wasn't particularly fast, Harry was more than a little malnourished and didn't have a lot of muscle mass. While he was probably quite a bit faster than Dudley and could probably go longer distances, the size difference alone gave Dudley a huge advantage if he wasn't able to get away. Harry also wasn't particularly violent either; he'd never wanted to fight with anybody, really.
However Harry rarely got what he wanted and Dudley yelled in outrage at the insult, proclaiming that he wasn't fat and he'd show him just how much more muscular than him he was. Dudley was beyond words when it came to this point, and Harry was well used to it as it happened often enough. Dudley threw these temper tantrums quite frequently at the house when the neighbors couldn't see, and sometimes even when they could.
Harry heard him before he saw him, and by then it was just too late as he'd just barely started to turn around. Dudley slammed into the side of Harry causing his head to whiplash, knocking his glasses off, and shoved him down on to the sidewalk, shoulder first. It hurt a lot.
Harry usually did try to fight back in these situations, almost always to his detriment, but when he lost his glasses and his shoulder felt like it was pretty badly bruised already, it put him at a huge disadvantage. Also he knew that Vernon would be furious if his glasses broke and they'd need to spend more money on him to buy him a new pair of glasses. The two boys were both upset and beyond words at this point and Harry managed to scramble out from underneath his cousin. He looked around quickly and fortunately he spotted his glasses.
Quickly, Harry put the glasses on and started to run away, but Dudley had recovered enough and Harry didn't make it more than a couple steps. Harry heard him coming from behind and managed to twist out of the way of his fist, but not quite out of the way of his body. He felt his back hit the side of the bridge rails and winced in pain.
Shaking in anger and fright, Harry did his best to grapple his cousin and push him to the ground. Dudley, however, was much stronger than him. Overpowering Harry, Dudley shoved him back. Dudley was intending to shove him against the guard to the river and beat him up there, but just as he was doing so, Harry twisted to try and get out of his grip and Dudley accidentally pushed Harry's small frame right through one of the guards.
Suddenly Harry was falling.
Dudley just stared, dumbfounded and surprised at what just happened and watched. It seemed a lot longer than it actually was as Harry fell.
Yelling all the way down, Harry barely even made a splash as he fell the twenty or so feet into the rapid river. It was impossible to see much of anything and the cold shock jolted his senses. Luckily it was coming up on summer or the river would have been either frozen or freezing cold. Even so the water was still pretty damn cold. The shock of hitting the water caused him to take a gasping breath before he could stop himself and his throat and lungs took in a small amount of water as he plunged into the depths. Luckily he didn't hit any rocks or anything during his fall.
Harry flailed his limbs and broke to the surface after a bit of a struggle. He sputtered and coughed, fighting against the current, he tried to expel the water as best he could, his throat was aflame and his lungs were burning with the cold and unwelcome liquid. His clothing was weighing him down heavily along with his backpack; his arms flailing around him through the water were getting caught in the straps. Luckily for him his handed down for what seemed like multiple generations backpack was not in the best of shape, and as he struggled he felt one of the straps snap and the backpack mercifully was swept away, taking a lot of the weight with it.
Desperately, he tried to swim towards shore or find anything to stop his flow through the river. As he was paddling, his hand suddenly caught on a large rock but he couldn't quite get a firm enough hold and all he succeeded in doing was scraping his hand as he continued his path rapidly down the river.
He was pulled down like this for a few minutes and it seemed like much more time passed than actually did to Harry, who was just barely hanging above the surface of the rapidly flowing water. His legs were starting to burn from the struggle against the current, and he was seriously struggling to get enough oxygen. Every breath was painful and it was too far for his small body and the strong river was too much for him.
Unsure of how close he was to shore, and just as his strength was giving out, his floating was abruptly stopped as he slammed into a large boulder in the middle of the river. He cried out in pain as he thought he felt a rib or two break. The water was rushing over him and he scrambled and clawed against the rock, using the last of his strength desperately trying to get purchase on the tiny island and out of the water.
Delirious and gasping for air, Harry climbed with his feet and hands as hard as he could and finally made it out of the coursing river. Finally out, he lay down face first in the dirt and rocks on the island and tried to catch his breath, coughing out bits of water every now and again. Shivering from the cold, Harry had learned about hypothermia in school and knew he was in pretty serious trouble still. He knew he needed to get up and get some help or he could die, he couldn't just lay here and wait for help to come find him.
Doing his best to ignore the pain all over, especially in his side, Harry slowly got on his knees and tried to make out anything around him. Most of the world was just a blur, except for things very close up, but he could make out what he was sure was the tree line not too far at all from where he was on his small rock island and felt a small bit of hope.
He rested on his hands and knees on the tiny island for a couple minutes, doing his best to catch his breath and physically as well as mentally prepare for the rest of the swim; luckily it was only a bit further to the shore. As soon as he felt like he could, he tried to move and winced at the pain he felt in his side. He wasn't sure if he'd broken anything, but it was going to be a painful bruise at the best. Unsteadily, he began to stand up.
That's when he saw it. His shivering and heavy breathing suddenly stopped. Noise came to a halt around him and he lost focus on everything else except for a small silver coin. His eyes focused in as he stretched out still on all fours in the process of standing up, and picked it up in his fingers. Harry held the coin up to his eyes, luckily he could see things fine close up. On the one side, he saw what looked like a portrait of a strikingly powerful and severe looking woman, but still beautiful he thought.
Tentatively, he reached out a finger to brush the figure on the coin. He felt a strong shiver of pleasure go through him and saw a blue jolt of electricity arc across his hand. He twitched violently, but surprisingly the shock didn't hurt at all. In fact it actually felt kind of good… like a rapid tingly caress almost. Distantly he thought he might have heard a voice, so soft like a whisper.
Harry whipped his head up to look around for whoever was speaking to him, a woman he was sure, but he staggered while doing so and in his still very vulnerable state he slipped off the tiny island and yelled as he fell back into the river. Knowing the coin was special; he desperately held on to it and tried to swim towards the shore which he luckily knew the direction of now since he'd glimpsed the tree line. He was having a hard time keeping afloat in his panicked state and breathing was becoming more difficult as he tired out quickly.
'Be calm and swim'
Harry twitched as he heard the voice, unsure of where it was coming from because it was so soft as if it was barely there at all, but it seemed so… present. Perhaps he had been just imagining it? Maybe someone was on the shore that saw him fall into the river? They must be close if he could hear them over the noise of the rushing water. Hope filled Harry, as well as a sense of calm, and he began swimming more steadily and made his way to shore. Very soon afterwards, as he was paddling, he felt his knee hit rock and knew he had made it. Elated even though it hurt a bit, he did his best to stand in the more shallow part of the river. He was buffeted by the current as he unsteadily made his way to the river shore.
Finally on land, Harry fell to his knees and then to his stomach, his face in the rocky shore. He took a few gasping deep breaths, happy to be alive. Lifting his head up, he tried to look for the owner of the voice he was sure he had heard, but didn't see anybody around. Feeling exhausted he laid down on the rocks around the shore for about five minutes, just catching his breath. At this point he figured he was so exhausted that he must have just imagined the voice in his head.
When he had finally caught his breath he realized he was still pretty cold and that it was starting to get late, it was well past time for him to be home. Harry started to panic at the thought of going home, "oh no uncle Vernon is going to kill me, he'll think I have run away again," he said miserably, quietly speaking to himself with a tremble in his voice.
With that thought in mind, Harry got up to make his way back up the river. His hands were pretty scraped up as well as his knees, but he didn't think he'd actually broken any bones. His side was definitely bruised, however. While walking he reached into his pockets, pulling the coin he had found out. He looked down at the coin and checked it out a bit more closely as he walked. On the other side of the coin there was a triangle and inside the triangle was what looked like three of those simple infinity looking fishes that he and other kids would draw, one large vertical one and two small horizontal ones attached to the ends of the large one, all flowing together.
Harry set his fears set to the side for the moment, he knew he needed to just get home and he was hopeful that it wouldn't be too bad. He started the trek back up to the road he fell into the river from. It took him a much longer time to walk back than it did to float down the river which was only about 10 minutes or so he figured. He guessed that he had probably floated for about 2 or so miles down the river. It took him about 30 minutes to walk back, and he noticed that his shivering had actually lessened quite a bit thanks to the summer sun but he was exhausted.
He reached the bridge and crossed over for the second time or time and a half technically, making his way back home. It was only about a ten minute walk from the bridge back to the house he lived in. As he made his way back he started to get nervous about what Vernon would do because he was late and he had also lost his glasses.
Suddenly he was in front of his house and walking up to the front door. He paused briefly outside to collect himself and before he could even touch the doorknob to open the door it swung wide open and Vernon was suddenly there in front of him, with an absolutely furious look his face.
"Boy, you will get inside this instant or so help me I will gladly report you as a runaway and have you sent to a youth detention facility faster than you can possibly imagine!" said Vernon, trying his hardest not to yell outside, purpling with rage.
Harry instinctively flinched and took a step back which Vernon took for him about to run away which only made him angrier. Before he could do anything of the sort Vernon grabbed his small arm and literally lifted the small boy over the step and threw him inside the house. Harry cried out as he hit the doorframe on the way in and then the floor. In shock and pain, unsure what exactly Vernon was so furious about, Harry just laid there and gasped.
"You think you can get in a fight with my boy, try to run off from home, and then come crawling back here and hope we'll forgive you?" Vernon snarled, "well you've got another thing coming you ungrateful little bastard." At this point Harry was frozen in fear and unable to speak, he had never seen Vernon so angry. Defending himself would be pointless, he knew. He felt tears run down his face as Vernon yelled at him.
"You're going in your cupboard for three days! No food! If I hear one word from you in there I will come for you and I will show you what happens to those who cross my family," at this point Vernon got very close up to Harry's face on the floor and said much more quietly, "If you ever try to hurt Dudley again, I will kill you," he snarled, spittle flying from his mouth as he spoke and onto his face. Harry believed him too. He knew that nobody in this family truly cared about him and Vernon seemed to hate him more than any of them, or at least he acted on it more often and aggressively.
Harry made to stand but before he could Vernon grabbed him by the neck and forcefully threw him into the conveniently already open cupboard. Harry cried out as he went head first into the wall inside his cupboard and suddenly he was seeing stars as he impacted against the wall. Very dazed, he vaguely felt Vernon twist him so his legs were on his bed and then heard the door slam shut and the multiple locks on the cupboard latch.
Blissfully, he fell into unconsciousness and felt pain no more.
Harry woke up to silence and he didn't move. He remembered his uncle's threats to harm him if he made any noise and he wanted to find out if they were home or if it was just late at night first. He couldn't see any light coming in from the door so either it was very late night or it was just before morning. Slowly he tried to move his head, but as soon as he did he felt a flash of pain in his neck and grimaced as the top of his head also felt like it was on fire. Reaching a hand up slowly and gingerly, he went to touch and feel what was causing him pain.
He winced as he touched his head; even the slight pressure of his fingers was causing him pain. His hair felt matted and he knew that it was blood in his hair that had dried, causing it to stick together and to his head. He retracted his hands and lay there, unmoving except to breathe. Softly, he began to cry at his predicament, he felt the tears run quietly down his face and didn't even bother to brush them away as they fell into his pillow. He felt so powerless, he cried himself to sleep like this.
When he next woke the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't in pain. Secondly, he wasn't lying down anymore but rather his back was against a large tree. Feeling surprised, he looked around and up to the sky. His first thought was that Vernon had taken him and dumped him outside somewhere to just be rid of him, but as he looked around he wasn't quite sure where he actually was. The place seemed totally unnatural, but it didn't feel like any dream he'd had before. It was too vivid.
There didn't appear to be a sun or a moon but he could see what he thought looked like some stars. Oddly enough, he could still see everything as if there was perfect lighting. In fact, there were no shadows that he could see anywhere. Gazing around he couldn't help but be taken aback by the beauty of the place, wherever he was. He didn't have his glasses on, but even so the detail was surreal, and he realized that this is probably what it was like to have perfect vision.
As he was looking around, he suddenly noticed a woman in front of him that hadn't been there just moments before. She sat cross legged on the ground, a solemn expression on her face. Her eyes were electric blue, a deep color and they were silently but confidently observing Harry, looking him up and down. She was wearing what looked to be robes of some kind, though Harry thought to himself that they were suited more for Halloween than every day wear. The material they were made of looked expensive, though.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Harry asked, speaking first.
She made eye contact with Harry for a bit before she spoke, her voice was just as beautiful as she was, "My name is Aliyah and you are Harry Potter, as far as where we are…." she gestured around her as she spoke, "that answer is a bit more complicated, because this place technically doesn't exist in a geographical sense," she stood as she said this and Harry noticed that she was quite tall. He figured she was probably around 5'8" or so. She made her way over to Harry and offered him her hand.
"How do you know my name, and what do you mean by doesn't exist?" asked Harry, feeling wary of this stranger and not taking her hand quite yet. Harry trusted nobody.
"Come and I will show you," she replied, seemingly unconcerned that he was showing he was uncomfortable with her. Harry was unsure what she meant by show him how she knew his name, but figured he'd just go along with it. He took her hand tentatively and she effortlessly pulled him to his feet. As soon as he was standing the scenery rapidly changed and they were in his classroom at school. He jerked around in shock, and then he noticed that he was standing in front of himself, watching himself work on the test that they had taken just a few days ago to finish up the semester at school.
"This is from my memory… this is the weirdest dream I've ever had" Harry said, a slightly shocked tone to his voice.
Aliyah laughed, a beautiful noise, and looked to harry, "Yes, we are within your mind along with all your memories, but this is no dream, beloved child. I brought you here because there are things we must discuss."
"So I've finally gone crazy have I? I did have an imaginary friend when I was really young, but that was years ago, and it was never this real. I didn't think I'd ever have another one, I certainly didn't intentionally create you," said Harry, feeling a bit more relaxed knowing that he was within his own mind. Before he'd even finished speaking the scene had changed and they stood once again within the forest.
The woman just seemed amused at this train of thought and had a small smile on her face. "No, while I may not have a corporeal form in your world, I am not a figment of your imagination, and you most certainly did not create me. As I said, I am Aliyah. I am here to offer my help to you, child. You've been alone for so long, hurting for so long. While you slept I felt your dreams, the nightmares, the loneliness... and the despair" as she went on, she genuinely seemed to get sadder.
Harry felt insecure that someone knew he had those feelings, and he was unsure what to do at this point; he'd never had anybody bring up his feelings like this to him before. Nobody had ever offered to help him like this before either.
"How could you possibly help me? And how did you bring me here anyways? I mean I've had thoughts and dreams that might be similar, but I've never actually stood within my own mind or own memories before. Am I still actually sleeping?" He asked, still not fully believing he wasn't just crazy.
"Right now your body is in a sort of coma, you were seriously injured by your… guardian," She had a disgusted look on her face and Harry thought he could actually feel the anger she felt, but that feeling quickly faded. "You're fortunate that I was here, or else you would be in a much worse state," she looked upon him sympathetically, and started answering his other questions.
"Going within your own mind is a talent that any magical being with a mind and the desire to learn how is able to do. Even some special non-magicals learn how to do it, but it takes far more effort for them. It's much less commonly utilized now in this age, but it is dreadfully underrated and certainly useful for many things; most important would be protecting your own mind but that certainly doesn't diminish the other potential benefits," Aliyah explained, looking around with him at the scenery of the forest, observing the details in the foliage.
Harry gave her a confused look, "what do you mean by 'magical?" He asked.
She looked him in the eyes again and frowned, "I suppose you wouldn't know," she stopped frowning and sighed, looking down upon him. "This brings us to why we're currently here," she said, "You have a… illness of sorts, something that is feeding off your magic and your mind. It is a parasite, more or less, though far more insidious. Your mind and your magic have been fighting it, and I think you likely would have lost the battle within a few years," as she finished she looked up towards the sky and closed her eyes and then looked down again after a few seconds, but something about her demeanor had changed.
She looked at Harry seriously, and he almost took a step back when he saw her eyes that were practically crackling with power, "Though I may not look it, beloved, I am old, ancient even. I have knowledge of the art of magic lost to the ages, magic that others fear to even attempt at learning, magic that can shake the Earth and boil the very seas." Her expression softened, though the power was still visible in her eyes, "I see how your family treats you, and they do not care for you. They hurt you. I can help you stop them from hurting you, I can give you power and protect you. I will be all you'd ever need. Most importantly, I will remove this hideous parasite and save your life."
Harry had his mouth open in awe at her display, "I'm still not convinced that I'm magical, and it isn't that I'm ungrateful, but what is it you gain from this? Why help me?" He asked, looking for a reason to put his trust in her. He didn't necessarily fear death, but he didn't want to die just yet either, so her offer was fairly tempting.
She grimaced distastefully, "while that may be effectively true about being magical for now, I can assure you that you are. I can banish the parasite from within you, and I can give you access to power such as that you will never feel weak again. You'll be able to protect yourself and anybody that you love." Aliyah was passionate and her deep blue eyes were arcing with electricity still as she spoke to Harry. "I can give all this to you, if you just let me help you."
She continued, "I will never lie to you, the Old Law I'm bound to follow makes it impossible for me to lie. I won't deny to you that there are things I will ask in return, mostly just small things, and it would be years from now, possibly decades. I am old and with that I have developed a great deal of patience, but I also have made some enemies through the years. Powerful enemies some, others weak. Your potential for power seems to be high, but with me it's a certainty. In return for making you powerful, I would ask that you help me… take care of certain people from my past."
Harry looked at her, curious and hopeful but also wary, "what are you then, a guardian angel?" he asked quietly.
Aliyah sat down on the ground in her cross legged pose again at this point and Harry joined him sitting down with his back against the same oak tree. She gave him a sad smile and gestured to his palm. Harry looked down and noticed that he was holding the coin he had found earlier and realized that she was the woman on the coin. "Normally I don't go over this on the first day, but I'll make an exception in your case. This is my curse. I was once an angel, one of gods' creations and chosen," Harry's eyes widened at this point in disbelief. "I carried out his duties faithfully until one day he asked of me something I could not, would not do. He punished me for my disobedience by casting me out from the heavens along with 28 others." Her face looked angry and bitter as she spoke of Him.
"That coin is currently resting in your pocket with you in your cupboard in the real world, it is my vessel and so long as it is touching or at least very near your skin then I can see what you see, hear what you hear, and feel what you feel. Without you… there is nothing but darkness in the void," she paused and grimaced as she spoke of the void. "You are my only connection to the mortal world. I have been alone for so long… you and I are very similar in that way and I will NOT go back" she shivered as she finished, and her tone sounded haunted.
Harry felt a pang in his heart for her at this and wanted to help her, "what happened?" he quietly asked, not understanding why anybody would want to give up being an angel.
Aliyah had an unfathomable expression on her face and was silent for quite some time before she spoke, "back long ago, before time existed here in the mortal realm, we were the first of God's creations, we were his Children and we did what was asked of us because we were created to be obedient, we were an extension of his will. Much, much later, he created the humans. We angels were made of God, we were His children and extensions of his will. You were made from Him, but also his children, however you were not restricted like us; you had free will." She gave him a sad smile.
"At the very beginning and for quite some time we lived amongst you side by side in the mortal world. Though angels are immortal beings, we still can and do experience emotions as humans do. We love just as you do and yes we even hate just as much as you do. Some amongst us fell in love with the humans' ways of life and created offspring, human and angel hybrids. For a time they were allowed to grow and many of them even grew in to adulthood. God allowed this to happen for the time being, and they grew to be heroes in the human world, beings of great power and magic, capable of amazing feats."
"However, God soon changed his mind and felt that the barrier between the Old World and the New World was threatened by these beings. While we were created and bound to follow the Old Law, these hybrids did not need to adhere to those ways. They were, while not a direct threat to him personally, a threat to his absolute power, a threat he learned he could not stand for when one of them went rogue and murdered an entire town in revenge for the murder of his wife and children. We were ordered to hunt down and kill all of the hybrid children and the angels who caused this were all cast down."
She hesitated for a bit and Harry could tell she had more to say, but she just looked at him still with that same unreadable expression on her face, "so now you know what I am, you know more of what I potentially could offer you, what is your answer?" She asked him, after putting all the cards on the table for him to see.
Harry was blown away by the story, he didn't think he had really even believed in God before this and wasn't sure if he did still at this point, but she had sounded so genuine as she relived her tale. "If I accept, you'll get rid of the parasite for me?" He asked her, looking up at her vulnerably.
She smiled, knowing that she had convinced him at this point, "yes beloved, I will do that and much, much more for you." Her face turned to a serious expression again, but also looked soft and caring as she spoke again, "I must warn you, though, it will be painful for you while I banish the creature."
Harry set his jaw determinedly and looked up at her, "I understand, I wouldn't expect anything less in my life, and it seems like I don't have much of a choice anyways," he said with a tiny smile.
She gave a small smile back, and then again her face turned resolute and power crackled as her entire eye sockets suffused with lightning and power, "then let us begin."