A dark shadow blanketed the moon, chilling the air with its malice. The shadow split off into hundreds, descending upon a huge castle. The shadows vanished, instead showing a black dog chasing a wolf toward a lake. The noise of an axe smashing on a tree stump cracked through the night.
Number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England
Harry Potter shot up out of bed, gasping from the vision. If he had been a normal boy, he would have written the dream off as a nightmare. However, Harry had recognized the castle as the school he had been attending for two years, Hogwarts. The boy got up and loped over to the door, needing to wake up from the dream.
-'Nother vision?- A voice called in his mind.
-Yeah, shadow creatures descending upon Hogwarts, wolf and dog, axe.- Harry mentally replied. Unlike most people, the voice in his head was not a sign of insanity, actually belonging to a Japanese boy, Takuya Kanbara. Harry and Takuya had started off their first year with their own groups of friends, barely acknowledging the other. One day, that had changed when Harry followed Takuya to the Astronomy Tower and watched the boy turn into a large dragon. Harry hopped on the dragon, BurningGreymon, and rode over to a battle against strange creatures and students, versus an orange monkey. The combatants were in trouble and BurningGreymon flew in to help. Unfortunately, the attack had no damage and an attack that came out of nowhere fused Takuya and Harry together. Eventually, the boys had split apart, but they still had the ability to talk to each other with their minds.
Harry turned the doorknob, counting on his lupine feet to keep his aunt, uncle, and cousin from waking up. He strode into the bathroom and splashed hot water on his face, feeling it replenish his body. He looked at his reflection, forgetting that there was nothing there. It really didn't matter though, he knew that he had pointed dog ears, lupine eyes, doglike feet and clawed hands. He stood at eight feet, hitting yet another growth spurt a few days ago. Once, Harry had normal human features, green eyes covered by round glasses. His short black hair had been unruly then, and he had only been close to five feet. Of course, two years ago, Harry had only had secondary school to look forward to, the first time he would go to school without his cousin, Dudley.
Shortly before his eleventh birthday, all that had changed. Letters began appearing everywhere, all addressed to him. This had prompted his Uncle Vernon to go into hiding, hoping to stop the mail. Eventually, it had stopped, though not in the way Vernon had wanted. On his eleventh birthday, Harry had met a giant man who gave him a letter inviting him to the school his dead parents had attended. Harry had jumped at the chance, starting his first year.
Though it was only early July, Harry had already packed for a short trip. Though only Harry's friend Ron knew, Harry was part of a group of children and adults known as Digidestined. A Gryffindor who would be starting his fourth year, Taichi "Tai" Kamiya led a group of eight, including him as the first generation Digidestined. The second group was led by Davis Motimoyo, a boy who, like him, was entering the third year. Another boy, Takato Matsuki, also third year, led the third group who styled themselves Digimon Tamers. Harry's friend Takuya led the fourth group known as Legendary Warriors while the last group, DATS was led by fifth year Marcus Damon. Harry was one of two children that didn't belong to a set team, the other being American Willis Brenan. Today was special as the large group was planning to head into London and a parallel world known as the Digital World. Most of the kids had been arriving to at the Digital World, as they came from alternate realities. Only Suzie Wong, a 10 year old, Ai Isuree, an 8 year old, and her younger brother, 6 year old Mako as well as Spencer Damon, Marcus' father, Commander Richard Sampson, figurative head of DATS and Homer Yurikama, the Commander in Chief of DATS were here in Harry's world. Suzie and Sampson had been living in Hogsmeade Village, near Hogwarts for two years while Spencer lived next to Ron in Ottery St. Catchpole. Ai, Mako, and Homer were already living in London, as Homer owned a house there. Spencer, Suzie, and Sampson had been flying or riding the train to get to Homer's house. Harry on the other hand, had a different method of travel.
When Harry and Takuya had been fused together, they shared both the same mind and body. The dominant mind and body would switch when physical pain was inflicted. While trying to explain things to Harry's friends and the Digidestined, Takuya had been hit with a blast of light, switching him to Harry. As he was not fused with a warrior, it had been believed that Harry couldn't fight on Takuya's behalf. However, Harry accepted the possibility of his death, pleasing one of Takuya's spirits, Agunimon. Before the Digimon fused with Harry, he realized that doing so would kill Takuya. However, the being was moved by Harry's willingness to die and so gave him a small portion of his fire. The fire had slowly burned through Harry's flesh and bone, changing it to fire. This allowed Harry to do many things, one of which, the ability to fly using his flaming body. Harry would turn into an invisible flame and fly to Homer's house, saving on money and Vernon's wrath.
Harry had already left a note and saw no reason to wait so he grabbed his pack, flipped his goggles, a gift from Takuya down and leapt into the night. When he smelled the pack burning, Harry jumped back down and used his last option, his hands and feet. After climbing what was known as Trial Mountain in the Digital World, Harry and several others had gained new powers. The power Harry was going to use was the ability to run like a wolf. Even when he was a fire being, Harry still had the normal build as a human. However, the body he gained from Trial Mountain had altered him, giving him double jointed limbs. This allowed him to lope easily on either two feet or four, moving in a blur like the wind.
The boy started running, as usual starting on two feet. As he continued, he fell forward, his hands naturally supporting his weight. Harry ran like this across England until he came to a large house in London. He dropped his speed and stood on his legs, gracefully walking into the house. Inside, brown haired Ai and Mako stood next to the white haired Homer. Nearby sat Sampson, a tall man who was now a foot shorter than Harry. When they had first met, Harry had been shorter than Sampson, coming to the man's neck. However, Harry had gained a few feet since then, the changes he was going through making him more lupine. Behind Sampson, little Suzie Wong stood next to Spencer Damon, a brown haired kindly man. However, they were not the only people as Draco Malfoy was hovering over Sampson, now a little over eight feet tall.
"Alright, we already have the gate open so we just need to go." Homer spoke up, drawing a weird gadget like a game handheld or a walkie talkie. Sampson and Spencer also held similar gadgets, as they were from the same team. Ai, Mako, and Suzie were from different teams and as such, Suzie and Ai drew out little handhelds that looked like Tamigachis. Although Mako was also a Digidestined, he shared his responsibilities with Ai and had no digivice. Harry summoned his own Digivice, a model only he and Takuya had known as a D-link. As one, the group held their devices up to the computer screen and, with Draco holding Harry and Mako holding Ai, the group were pulled into a new world. (A.N. I know I probably should give you everyone's outfits but they haven't changed much so I will only give Suzie, Takuya, Harry, Marcus, Izzy, Ken, Draco, and Koichi some time. This is because their outfits changed but everyone else still has the same outfit as in Harry Potter and the Heart of Flame.)
The Digital Meadow
Harry landed easily on his feet in the now familiar Digital Meadow in the distance, the familiar Forest of the Beast loomed, calling to Harry. While most of the group looked similar to their previous trips to the Digital World, Marcus, Takuya, Izzy, Ken, Draco, Suzie, and Koichi looked different. When Harry flipped his goggles down, he noticed Izzy was slightly taller, long red hair coursing down his armored back. Ken too had longer hair, the black hair blending in with his armor. Suzie had a chinese shirt on like last time, but now it was holey and tattered. Her fox-like ears poked out of her brown hair and she had a tail and wolf snout. Draco was a huge hawk, his winged cloak gone, wings instead folded on his back. Koichi was a lion, black and gold mane falling all around him. Marcus was more of a bear, thick fur covering his body. Harry paid close attention to Takuya as both boys had similar traits given to them at the end of the trial. Takuya looked like a wolf wearing goggles on his forehead, his raised front paws fitted with razor sharp claws.
Harry finished his examination and then loped over to the group. He quickly exchanged pleasantries, smiling when Kari Kamiya, a third year Hufflepuff handed her brother, fourth year Tai a gold and silver plated medal. After the events of last year, Kari, Tai, Takuya, Harry, and Ron had been given these medals and Harry knew that each had their full names and the words, "For Special Services to the School" on them. Last year, Harry, Ron, and their friend Hermione as well as Takuya had discovered that a huge snake with eyes that could kill was paralyzing the students. However, the realization had come too late for Hermione, the girl becoming petrified as well. The remaining three went to tell a teacher about this but along with Tai and Kari, the group had learned that Ron's sister, at the time a first year, had been dragged to the chamber the beast came from and left for dead. The five turned to their professor, the famous Gilderoy Lockhart for help but had found out that the man had actually been pretending to do the things he wrote in his books. With Lockhart in tow, the group had rescued Ginny, Takuya and Harry killing the snake, and they had left, Lockhart losing his memory in the process.
While the purpose of this mission to the Digital World was primarily to plan and explore, Harry, Draco, Takuya, fifth year Joe Kido, and Kari had a quick stop to make. Collectively, the group was known as the beast, the rider, and the Valkyrie and occasionally, they were drawn to the lake inside the Forest of the Beast. There, a metal called Steel Digizoid slowly changed the group and gave them characteristics of their alternate forms. While Takuya's body was known as the beast, when the Valkyrie "rode" as they called it, his mind united with Harry's. The merged boy took on the name Hakuya and commanded the small army. Joe was the first Valkyrie, the first to encounter the beast and he took on the name Raven. The second, Kari, was named Eagle while Draco the last was Hawk. Together, the group answered the call, Harry and Takuya loping on their wolf pads while the other three soared through the sky on their wings.
At last, the group plunged into the liquid metal, quickly breathing the agent as they had learned to do. Harry felt a sharp pain in his side and felt a pair of swords grow and attach to his waist. The "bones" in his body were stretched out, fitting his new frame better. His fire hair gained a few more inches, now down to his waist. Armor clamped around the boy, causing his breath to hitch for a moment. Once it secured him, the armor pricked into his skin, each section joining with his wolf hair. The connecting tubes that hooked him to the other four also strengthened, quickly booting the brains back up. Takuya felt the beast rise up, becoming even easier to control before. He knew that in times of great need it would still surface but his body would be in less pain from the transformation. The Valkyrie's bones grew smaller and lighter, still well armored against problems. Unlike the last time, their sight grew blurred, making each wish they could blink. Some parts of their sight seemed like normal raptor vision but the other parts were different, more colored. With this, the group was released from the lake, and all lay gasping at the change.
Harry sent his brain down the pathways into the others and noticed their vision. "It looks like you are seeing both in raptor vision and in aural vision." He commented.
The Valkyrie were completely disoriented, blinking rapidly to get rid of it. Harry stopped them by pushing Draco to the ground, mentally telling him to look straight up and not move a muscle. Though he used to be able to refuse commands, this time his body forcefully lay still, eyes up. Harry kept him there, just staring while his vision seemed to overlap. The boy noticed that his body and mind were completely relaxed, no thoughts running through his brain. At this moment, Harry's presence receded and Draco could think and move again. As soon as he did so, his vision blurred out again, causing him to freeze and calm himself. At last, Draco had no problems holding the new vision, realizing that he had to let it happen naturally. When he just accepted the new vision, it became easier to see, everything meshing together.
Harry repeated the process with Kari and Joe, each being stilled while the vision could come together. At last, the group was ready, each person instinctively giving way to their other selves. Takuya transformed into the Lion-Dragon beast, Draco, Joe, and Kari gave in to the Valkyrie minds, and Harry and Takuya slipped into Hakuya. Instead of the Valkyrie minds pushing their human and fire counterparts completely away, the normal minds were in the back of the Valkyrie, able to work with the hunter.
When the Valkyrie returned, the rest of the group noticed the changes. Though they had grown used to it, the new armor and weapons had given everyone a start. The huge group set off, wandering through the land.
A.N. Now that the trivial explanations are all done, I can get to the good stuff. As you may have noticed, the Valkyrie were a major part of the beginning. I intend to let them out to play for more than one or two chapters and as any Harry Potter reader knows, year three is the best year for it. Some of you probably know that I made a reference to Sirius in book one, bringing him into the story from the beginning. For now, we had better wander through the Digital World, taking in the scenery as we enter the story.