Harry Potter and the Hero of Albion
Chapter 1
On a cloudless night, during which many celebrations were occurring, a man and woman stood together on an unlit street corner. Now these were not ordinary citizens, as in they were not considered normal by those that lived in the neighborhood they were currently visiting. Both wore strange garments, the likes of which you could only speculate to being worn by the characters that were described in fairy tales. Both were wearing long robes, the woman a solid dark green and the man in an unusual combination of colors that would scream "Too bright!" to anybody looking at him.
The man's name is Albus Dumbledore, and the woman with him is Minerva McGonagall. Both are known for being Professors at the prestigious school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor McGonagall is the Transfiguration professor as well as the Deputy Headmistress, and Professor Dumbledore is the Headmaster and former Transfiguration professor. They were making conversation in regards to the celebrations both had heard about and the cause of such things.
The cause being the boy, just barely 15 months old, who vanquished the Dark Lord that had been terrorizing the country for the past few years. The now nicknamed Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter had become the new house hold name for his defeat over Lord Voldemort. The reason being, he is the one and only survivor of the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. This curse left its mark in the shape of a lightning bolt on the child's forehead. This one distinct feature will be the one thing that both helps and hinders the boy in his future.
Their conversation ceased at the loud roar of an engine drifted through the air, coming closer to their current position. Both recognized the large form of Rubeus Hagrid, the Gamekeeper for Hogwarts, on a flying motorbike. In his arms, he was carrying a small bundle wrapped in a thick blanket. Inside this blanket slept young Harry. The cut on his forehead still the raw red color since it wasn't fully healed. Hagrid handed the bundle to Dumbledore who quickly looked into the blanket to the young child sleeping within. He knew the hardships the child would soon face as he grew older, and wished him all the best for the tasks that awaited him.
Dumbledore left a letter detailing the events that transpired on Halloween so the boy's family, the Dursleys, would know and inform the boy when they thought the time was right. At this point, the visitors said their goodbyes and prepared to leave. McGonagall transformed into her animagus form, that of a house cat, Hagrid left on the flying motorbike, and Professor Dumbledore walked calmly down the street to where he first appeared. He then proceeded to let out the lights that he had put out when he had first arrived, then took one last glance at number 4 Privet Drive and said, "Good luck Harry." He then seemed to twist before disappearing with a silent "pop."
The night seemed to settle down once more into the normalcy it was used to in this quiet neighborhood. You could hear a dog barking a few streets away, a car door being closed by its owner as he arrived home after a long night of work, and the sound of a cricket in the nearby bushes was playing the sweet melody it is so famous for. Everything was as it should be.
The quiet of the night was once again broken by the appearance of a figure in red. The clothes were of similar nature to that of the former guests of the street, except the robes weren't down to the ground, but just below the figure's knees. You could tell that the individual has some practice at stealth and even prowled like a predator. This figure was on a mission. She, for the person was a she, was heading straight for the doorstep of Number Four; she was heading for young Harry Potter. She had witnessed the exchange of the three strange individuals as they left the young child alone in the dead of night. She never realized how anyone could do such a thing, either in her homeland or on this world. You would never leave a child alone outside in the cold, regardless if the young one had a blanket around them or not.
The figure, known as Scarlet Robe, came to this strange neighborhood, in a strange new world, to retrieve the boy she was headed towards. She had received a vision that would have dire consequences if she did not act upon it. It showed her the future of her world, the world of Albion, in both disrepair and prosperous times. The world, as she knew it, was changing. For the better or worse, would all depend on the choice she would have to make when the right time occurred.
She didn't know how she would tell when the time was right, but she had a feeling she would know. While in the woods behind her home looking for firewood, she got a feeling that she needed to go just that much deeper into the woods. She didn't quite know the reason why. But it felt the same as what she felt this morning when she put on her old robe from her Hero days. The days she has been trying to put behind her to be a wife and mother. She and her husband had one daughter, Theresa, and were disappointed that she couldn't have another child, due to some complications in Theresa's birth.
The feeling was getting stronger and stronger the deeper she travelled into the now much denser forest. She could feel the magic in the area she was now travelling through and wondered why she hadn't felt it before on her many trips into the forest. She noticed that she was heading towards a cave that had a feeling of power, the likes of which she had never felt before.
The closer she got, she then started to notice a bright glow that was coming from deep inside. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't feel threatened or frightened of the cave; she would almost describe it as feeling a sense of purpose.
She was approaching the entrance to the cave, when she noticed some items in it that she had never seen before. Some of it were some clothes that appeared, at first sight, would fit her, but she had never seen these types of clothes before. They appeared to be of fine make and looked very durable. She also noticed a few books a few feet away from the clothes. Briefly looking at the titles, she deduced that they were books of history, but nothing she had heard of before. "History of Magic" and "The Overview and History of the Wizarding World" were the titles of two of the three books and the last stating its title as "The Modern World." She skipped over those for the time being. She was becoming somewhat excited as the prospect of a new adventure. She hadn't felt this way since before she met her husband. The last thing she noticed was the source of the glow emitting from the cave. It was a tiny sphere that she felt she needed to put in her hand.
The moment her fingers wrapped around the tiny ball, she felt her mind flood with information. Information she at first didn't understand. It was as if she was seeing a new, futuristic world. One where people were wearing similar clothing to the clothes she first saw in the cave, people in some type of contraption that was able to travel at high rates of speed, and then she saw people that practiced Will through a focus, a wand. As the information continued to be processed in her mind, it started to make more and more sense to Scarlet. She realized the people were known as witches and wizards, and the world they lived in was similar to her own world. Whereas the other people she witnessed, were separate from the Wizarding world and were much more advanced technologically. She marveled for a moment at how advanced this other reality was, as she found it was a separate reality from her own.
As the information flow slowed, then stopped, she stumbled for just the briefest of moments before her training kicked in and she regained her balance. She sat on the ground to assimilate what she had just learned. It didn't take her long though, years of gathering information and remembering it for quests made it easy. One thing she was reviewing was of a prophecy of sorts that she had witnessed being given to an old man that had a long white beard and half moon glasses. The prophecy was saying there would be someone born that could help that world against an evil dark lord by vanquishing him.
The next scene showed a young couple with a baby boy in the mother's arms. She had felt the child had potential, not only of that world but of her own as well. She saw how the evil tyrant came to the home of the couple and proceeded to kill the parents by shooting out a green light before trying to kill the boy using the same method. She was saddened that the child would never grow up, but was shocked when the child wasn't killed, but had sent the spell back onto the castor. Scarlet then realized this boy was the one in the prophecy she had just overheard.
Finished with reviewing the information, Scarlet once again felt the impulse to go just a bit further into the cave. Before doing so, she quickly changed into the clothing provided for her, keeping her outer robe with her. She also gathered the items that were with the clothing and put them in the sack she had with her to carry the firewood back home. Nearing the end of the cave, another glow permeated the area and a port of sorts was opened to her. Not slowing one bit, she proceeded through the portal as she had done so many times previous when going on quests.
After appearing on the other side of the portal, she noticed two things. One it was night time and two she was on some type of street with a sign on it stating Privet Drive. The sound of hushed voices reached her sensitive ears; she quickly concealed herself in some shrubbery that was nearby and attempted to locate the source of the voices. She spotted two individuals, one who was part of her vision of the prophecy and another that was an older woman. Creeping upon them, she was able to hear most of the conversation and learned their names. Both were teachers of some sort since they referred to each other as professors. She also learned about the Potters and their son, Harry.
'Those must be the parents I witnessed being murdered,' Scarlet thought to herself, feeling sorry once again for the young child to never know his parents.
It was at this moment that Scarlet also heard the roar of a machine, and she watched wide eyed as it flew down and landed on the street. The proceedings occurred with the giant of a man handing over a bundle of blankets to Dumbledore; he then placed the bundle on the front step of the house they were in front of. The aged professor also put a letter inside the blankets, which she wondered to the contents of. All three the proceeded to leave the area and Scarlet paid particular attention to Dumbledore as he used a device that released balls of light which flew back into the posts along the street. He then turned in a circle and disappeared.
Scarlet didn't let this surprise her though; with all that she'd seen in her life, it would make sense that these wizards had a similar way to transport themselves as the Heroes of Albion that used their Guild Seal to traverse the countryside. Looking around the area, she deemed it safe to go take a closer look at the young boy. However, before she could move, and she couldn't explain why she did what she did next, she reached into her sack at her side and pulled out the "History of Magic" book. She opened the cover and noticed there was a note written there.
"Protect the boy and give him these two books. They will help him with his destiny."
She pondered over the note for just the briefest of moments. 'How would these books and other items come to me? Who would know I would be coming to this world and then have me give them to the boy? What is going on?'
It was at this moment that Scarlet felt compelled to take the young child, Harry, back with her to Albion. If she understood the prophecy then he was going to have tough times ahead of him, and she was going to try and even the playing field a little bit. She had also noticed that in the book, after the note, there was a page describing a ritual that she could do. This ritual would give Harry her blood. It would make him a child of the Potters and herself; she would be a second blood related mother to the boy.
'This might be that power he knows not?' she thought to herself while she made her way to the doorstep of number four. Picking up the blankets that held the child, she peered into the opening to where his face was and took in the sight of her soon to be adopted son. He had unruly black hair, that lightning shaped cut that still appeared fresh, and at that moment when he opened his eyes to stare up at her, she found herself staring into a set of bright emerald green eyes.
"You will be a powerful hero one day little one," she whispered to the child as she started to rock him a little to get him back to sleep.
When she had peered into his eyes, she knew at that moment he would be doing great things. After a few moments in which she was humming a lullaby to soothe the child in her arms, she headed back the way she came. The glow was back and she proceeded right on through to the cave where her journey bagan. As soon as she entered, she again noticed some new items had appeared in her absence. She noticed some strange items, set out neatly in a row, followed by some liquids, and finally a small pot, 'Cauldron,' she thought. 'This must be what's needed for the ritual.'
Making sure that Harry had fallen back asleep, she began to prepare the ingredients as the book instructed to complete the ritual. It would require her to brew the potion, add ten drops of her blood at the very end, and let it simmer until it was reduced to just a spoonful to feed to Harry. Once it was taken, he would gain just a few of her characteristics, she was hoping it would be the Hero properties of her blood and the knowledge contained within. The process took a little over an hour, but when she was finally done, with a new bandage on her non-primary hand, her left, she gently woke the boy up, and fed him the potion. At first, he appeared to dislike it by the facial expression that momentarily came to his face. That soon passed, but was replaced by his loud wailing and crying. He started to thrash around in her arms, and she thought he was going to wiggle his way free of her strong grip. A few tense moments passed and then he became still. He had fallen back asleep.
"Sleep, sleep little one. Your new home and family await," she whispered as she tidied up her supplies and proceeded out of the cave and on home. Young Harry's journey was just beginning in the land of Albion.
AN: Yes, I'm back! And glad of it. This idea has been bugging me for some time. If you didn't know, this is a crossover between Harry Potter and Fable. I have loved playing the games and I, of course, like Harry Potter. Rest assured, my other stories have not been forgotten. Just...set aside for these past months. I lost my muse for a while there, but it has now come back! I hope to have my other two stories updated within the next week, maybe even by this weekend. As always, I appreciate feedback to all my stories, so please review. Til next time!