PART ONE:
ATHENA SOPHIA - WISE WISDOM
Chapter 1: Only Man Shows The Propensity
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The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty. If you wish to find that which becomes the dividing line between mankind and other biological classifications, it rests not in brain size, dominance, or even emotional capability. It lies within the innate capacity for human beings to reflect on their actions, and show regret. It is most certainly the ability to empathize that gives them their position. All mammals understand love and affection, but only man shows the propensity to place himself into the shoes of another life form. Losing this capability among individuals of the species reduces them from their much heralded position, and readies the climate for the likely fall of man: a fall from grace.
-"Sophia"
The Cruxshadows
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Harry Potter was tired. He was tired of the Dursleys, forever beating him down verbally, emotionally, and physically. He was tired of being ignored, whether by his relatives or his teachers and so called friends, or even the entire Wizarding world. He was tired of being thrust into situations with little knowledge and help.
He could go on for quite a while, but in short, he was tired of his life as it was.
Staring into the the starry night, the pollution light enough that he could make out a few constellations, green world weary eyes, much too old for the malnourished sixteen year old's body, traced invisible patterns in the bruise colored night sky as he thought. He thought about how perhaps Dumbledore was wrong. The old man wasn't above lying to him; there were already numerous times where he had. What if every piece of his, Harry James Potter's, life was a twisted fabricated lie?
Even if that wasn't so, what on earth was he fighting for? Surely not against just families that wanted to keep bloodlines pure and full of magic. What wizard wouldn't want his children to have the ability to be his magical equal, perhaps even be surpassed by his offspring?
What was the other side fighting for? Why did no one expand on this? Was there really a "Dark" and "Light" side? Or was it all truly grey matter until you joined one side or the other?
What was Dumbledore even thinking, thrusting these views down his throat - down all the students' throats - and shoving them into the world and the war?
Harry closed his eyes, rubbing them. He was tired of not knowing.
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On the eve of his seventeenth birthday, Harry sat out in the backyard, keeping to the shadows. His luggage, carted as silently as possible out of his room, sat at his feet. Hedwig was long gone, told to roam for a few days until he found somewhere to stay. Then she would come back.
His watch ticked away...and then it was midnight.
Quickly shrinking his belongings and stuffing them into his pockets, Harry jumped onto his broom and flew into the night.
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One Severus Snape stared into the flames dancing in his fireplace, a glass of brandy lightly gripped in his long fingers. His thoughts were dark and brooding, his dance with the devil and death in his double agent life weighing him down.
He was in severe danger, as Albus had begun to probe into the Slytherin's mind, taking an interest in the things he kept hidden away. Such as where his loyalties truly lied: at the hand of the Dark Lord Voldemort.
He snorted to himself, bringing the glass to his thin, pale lips. This war was too complicated for simply good and evil, Dark and Light. He had been disillusioned about the "Light" side long ago, starting with the fact that Albus Dumbledore had failed to keep his promise to keep Lily Potter safe. It was Dumbledore's fault that Lily had died. And Severus felt a chill down his back as he remembered the time he had found a journal lying in the corridor. It was Albus' journal, dating back a long time, and revealed that he'd had a hand thrust deep into everyone's lives.
The prophecy Severus had overheard was fake. The Dark Lord went on a rampage for nothing, and he had played straight into Dumbledore's bloodstained hands. Albus had been the one to suggest the Pettigrew be the Secret Keeper.
And Severus, ever the puppet, turned to him for help, and was given hope, only to have it smashed. And when it was, he had agreed to spy for the old man in repentance.
Still, he couldn't hold back his hate for the Potter child. Why should he have survived? Why must he have Lily's eyes? It was all a joke, an eternal hell for Severus' mistakes.
And yet, the journal had flipped his mind over. He had stowed it in his robes, taken it to his rooms, and read it through time and time again. More than once his stomach had turned and his eyes burned.
He'd been slave to a manipulative, murderous man, set on founding the world in his image.
It was then that he'd defected once again to the Dark Lord. He even gave the journal over to the snake like man.
Taking another swig of brandy, he jumped slightly as a body came hurtling out of his fire, falling to their hands and knees as they attempted to catch themself, a broom in one hand and a wand in the other.
Severus scowled, which deepened into a silent snarl as Harry Potter lifted his face and grinned at him.
"Hullo, Professor Snape."
Silence met the green eyed boy's greeting. Harry stood and dusted himself off.
"Sorry to be a bother, but I had to come to you."
Severus snorted and downed the last of his drink, fighting the grimace trying to show itself on his face. "What the bloody hell do you want, Potter."
Harry sat down on the hearth rug, black eyes locked with green before he looked down. Severus inwardly sighed in relief. "I'm not so sure about what I'm fighting for, Professor. I know nothing of Voldemort's side of the story. I doubt that we're really actually fighting against the want for purer bloodlines. If that's all, then I'd say that the Wizarding world is stupid, and I will have to extract myself all together from it." He took a deep breath, then looked up, a fire deep inside those emerald gems. "I came to ask you to take me to Voldemort. I need to know, and I need to know now."
