Soul Mage

Chapter 1

Disclaimer:- I don't own any of the characters herein. The plot and many of the magical mechanisms are my own thoughts on magic and how it works, or should work.

/ Begin \

Glancing down once more Harry watched as the small sphere shimmered with an inner light and wondered once again just what it was. He'd had it for as long as he could remember and yet still didn't have a clue. Any attempt to show the Dursley's his little sphere always ended in punishment of some form as they assumed he was trying to make fools out of them. Apparently they couldn't see it, even though it was about four inches across and glowed quite brightly in the darkened space under the stairs. Another thing that confused him was the fact that when he let it go, it would stay wherever he left it be it on a surface or floating in the air, unless he walked away. If he did that then the sphere would follow him like a faithful moon orbiting its planet and it didn't matter if he walked into another room and closed the door before it entered with him, it simply phased through the solid material with no apparent strain. Wood, brick, stone or metal it didn't matter at all to the smooth transit of the green sphere.

It went everywhere he did and no one he met ever mentioned the fact that he had something like it with him. He'd tried to show it to other people thinking the Dursley's just refused to see the 'freakish' object, it was something he wouldn't put past them. Not since they'd taken to beating 'it' out of him, whatever 'it' happened to be. Well that like a lot of things could wait for its answer, he was sure if he waited long enough then they'd slip up and tell him and then he could avoid doing it. That would lessen the punishments he received, he was sure. It never occurred to him to just outright ask them what 'it' was since they'd almost succeeded in ridding him of that pesky curiosity, Harry had possibly had the shortest 'Why?' period in the history of mankind since all the question garnered him would be a clip around the lug-hole.

"….ter! Mr Potter! I've told you before, you will pay attention while in this class! I don't care about whatever deviant plans you're making for when you get out of school but you won't ever amount to much if you don't do well in school. Oh well I'm sure it's just wasted on you anyway, probably grow up to be just as big of a thug as your father," the teacher standing up at the front of the class finished triumphantly, she'd noticed when the boys eyes had focused and she'd managed to add just the right amount of insult to her diatribe. It was common knowledge that the boy would fly off the handle when his dead parents were mentioned in such a way and then she could punish him as he deserved.

Harry for his part was fuming, visibly shaking as he tried to reign in the emotions tearing through his body. Knowing that any outward show of anger would net him more punishment, the problem was he was so angry at the moment. He didn't even know his parents, didn't remember them at all and yet people continually derided them to him. It didn't help his temper at all to know that they'd never met the Potters either, they were simply reacting to stories told by the Dursleys. Harry didn't know it but in that moment he became the number one reason why Mrs Fronais quit teaching. It wasn't that she hated children, she could handle anything the little buggers threw at her but when their eyes started glowing that's when it was time to leave.

Feeling the stress of wanting desperately to punish the woman who'd insulted his father and the knowledge that he'd be punished if he did proved too much for the eight year old boy and he had to release some of the tension. Which was why he thumped both fists down on the table top. The girl to his right squeaked if surprise at the loud bang but she missed the bright flash that was emitted when Harry's skin collided with the laminate desk top. All Harry was focused on was the need to punish the teacher for what she'd said, a second later and just like the rest of the class he was blinking in shock. Mrs Fronais was suddenly sporting the most outrageous dye job any of the children had ever seen. They'd seen blue rinses, pink rinses and just about every other colour you could imagine, even in Little Whinging such things weren't all that rare. They had never seen such a bright metallic blue though, even her eyebrows were blue and her skin had a slight blue tinge where the fine hairs that covered her were also now tinted the same shiny blue.

It didn't take long for the shock to wear off and the children started to snicker at the woman, shortly thereafter in the way of such things the room was filled with uproarious laughter as the children didn't even attempt to reign it in. The flustered teacher didn't have a clue what was wrong with her usually well behaved class. The sound drew attention from the surrounding classes and a minute later another teacher had stuck his head in the class.

"Everything alright Mrs Fron….." Mr Whittaker trailed off as he caught sight of his colleague.

"What? What's everyone laughing at? Not you too Jonathon?" Mr Whittaker wasn't laughing though, he was too busy doing an impression of a landed fish. Each time he thought of something to say his brain would cancel it out just as he opened his mouth and then it would close before the net thought triggered him to want to say something else. Five times he rethought what he wanted to say, Harry counted them, before the man finally managed.

"Emily…Your hair?" The class who had quietened down at the appearance of another teacher were suddenly waiting for their teachers reaction with baited breath.

"What about my hair?" she asked as she raised a self-conscious hand to her hair as if to reassure herself that it was still there.

"It's a, it's a…"

"What?" she asked sharply as he prevaricated once more.

"It's a….blue!" Jonathon Whittaker finally managed to get out.

"Blue? What are you talking about? My hairs auburn, always has been," using the hand that she'd raised before she pulled a strand forward until she could show both him and herself that he was……., "Aaaaaaah! My hair!"

Needless to say the last period of his day was cut short as the teachers tried to figure out what had happened and how. They weren't going to have much chance of that as the incident had registered on the Ministry of Magics sensors and a crack unit of obliviators were dispensed to the scene to contain the evidence of magic. After several hours of constant attempts to turn the womans hair back to normal they finally gave up and used one last obliviation to convince Emily Fronais that she'd actively chosen to have her hair died using a new procedure that had failed in a spectacular manner and permanently dyed her hair that colour. Several reinforcing memories were dispensed amongst her co-workers of her showing off her new hairstyle that morning.

None of that mattered to Harry though, he was currently at home sitting in his cupboard wondering just how the hell his Aunt Petunia had heard about the incident and drawn the conclusion he was responsible. Not that he thought he was, he'd wished briefly that he was; because that would have meant that he could do something like magic. Not that magic actually existed, his relatives had made very sure he understood that when he was younger. As the hours passed and he contemplated the thought that once again he was going to go to bed hungry and thirsty he began to try and think of things to distract himself, and once more figured that the only thing he had that could distract him in the dark was the sphere.

Reaching out he pulled it towards him and began to scan its surface. Not that there was anything new about it, it hadn't changed in all the time he'd had it so why did he think that it would this time? Reaching out with his left hand he changed its position so that he could see what had been hidden by his right hand and froze. There in the surface, where before it had been unblemished was a crack. It was the only way he could describe it, not a physical crack in the shiny surface but a brightly glowing line that looked just like an eggshell that had been hit with a spoon. The new glow was unlike the old one in that it became really bright for a moment and then dulled a little before getting bright again. If it had made sounds he would have known in an instant that it resembled a heart beat but as it was it took him minutes to realize why it felt so familiar.

Seeing the striations on the sphere he couldn't help but run his finger over them and watch in surprise when the surface under his fingertips flaked away revealing a golden inner surface. He spent a good half an hour rubbing the globe like a genies bottle and watching the falling flakes of green as they fell away towards the floor, never actually striking the cot he was kneeling upon. They just faded away as if they never existed. Looking down at the newly uncovered sphere Harry wondered if he'd have to wait another three years for the sphere to shed another layer.

Blinking rapidly in the now bright light he almost missed the shadow that moved under the surface and then with a squeak of shock he lunged into the smallest corner of his cupboard as the sphere started to expand outward at an ever increasing rate. After four seconds he could tell that the final form of whatever it was would be humanoid. The size was moot at this point as it was still growing. After seven seconds it was larger than he was and didn't look like it was going to slow down anytime soon. After a minute it was adult size and the 'body' began to take on details, such as he could tell it would be a woman and that she had long hair. Other than that he was at a loss since she was a uniform grey colour.

It took another minute before she was finished forming and Harry felt something beat in his chest harder than ever before. Something in him recognised this 'person' even if he had no recollection of ever having seen her before. Her eyes were open wide in apparent terror though at what he couldn't begin to guess and it looked like she'd been in the middle of either screaming or saying something. Again with the lack of mobility it was hard to tell, he didn't notice when the eyes flickered for an instant before motion resumed in the rest of the body.

"….Lease not Harry! Take me instead. You don't have to kill him," she pleaded as her eyes regained focus. It looked like she'd been expecting to see something other than what she was seeing, then she looked at Harry for the first time and blinked in shock.

"Who are you?" they both asked at the same time.

"I asked first," again they repeated at the same time. Harry stopped talking as he watched dawning recognition on her face as she understood what was happening to her.

"Oh!...Oh!" she took a good look at the young lad and saw what she'd always believed would be the case. He was the spitting image of James when he was young, then the thought that he was a lot older than her son should be struck her and her joy at his survival of that night warred with her sorrow that he'd grown up without her.

"H-Harry?" she reached out tentatively and tried not to let his flinch get her down as her cold fingers caused goose-bumps to rise on his arms and the nape of his neck.

"Y-yeah?" Harry blinked at the emotion she imbued into such a simple word. Two syllables that said so much more than just his name. There were a wealth of questions buried in that word and he didn't even know how to start. One thing he wasn't expecting was to be caught in a crushing hug. Gone was that cold sensation that had made him shiver mere moment ago but maybe that was more to do with the fact she wasn't touching his bare skin.

"My son!" Lily shouted triumphantly, somehow, against all odds her son had survived that night and so had she. Well in some kind of way she was here and she could touch her son so that was a bonus.

BANG BANG BANG

"Boy! What's all that ruckus? Didn't I tell you to keep quiet tonight after what you did today?"

The ghost of Lily Potter looked from her son to the door before turning to Harry and asking, "Who is that? It doesn't sound like Sirius."

"Sirius?" Harry mouthed back, unwilling to draw his uncles further ire after his freakish behaviour at school today.

Lily decided to forgo answering that question for the moment in lieu of finding out who was making that awful noise outside. Having spent seven years at Hogwarts she'd seen many ghosts so she had a fair idea of what they could and couldn't do. Sticking her head through a door to find out who was banging on it shouldn't be too hard. Unfortunately for her she succeeded the first try and found herself face to almost crotch with her obese brother-in-law. This would be a life altering experience for just about anyone, luckily Lily was already dead so having a heart attack was out of the question, vomiting was also out of the question for the same reason. Needless to say it would have been a disturbing sight when she's last seen him but the intervening years hadn't been any kinder to him and it showed, massively.

Harry was a lot shocked when the person in his 'room' stuck her head through the door and then recoiled back into the room as if she'd been struck. She was also making gagging sounds as if she were going to be sick. He wasn't sure what could do that to a person who could stick their head through a door without hurting themselves or damaging the door but he was pretty sure he didn't want find out anytime soon.

"What's going on in there boy? You'd better not be up to any of that freaky business!" Vernon banged on the door a few more times to make sure that the inhabitant of the cramped space under the stairs understood there'd be dire consequences if the freakishness didn't stop forthwith. Harry just ignored it as he had a hundred times before, it was much safer that way for him. Crouching over the figure of the strange woman he hesitantly patted her on the shoulder trying to comfort her. Something she'd said earlier was nagging at his memory but for the life of him he couldn't place it.

"That was Vernon Dursley wasn't it?"

"Yes, that's my uncle," Harry replied meekly.

"And I suppose Petunia is around somewhere?"

"I think so. She could be out gossiping with the neighbours." It wouldn't be unusual for that to be the case, after all she had joined the neighbourhood watch so that she couldn't be faulted for being a nosy old biddy.

"Then what are you doing here?" yelled out her question.

"Um, I live here," Harry answered quietly. He didn't know what the problem was but for some reason the lady seemed really upset by him being here. In fact she looked as outraged as aunt Petunia when the neighbours did something that she didn't consider normal.

"But, where's your magical guardian?"

"My what?"

"Magical guardian. You know what one of those is?"

"No."

"I have to admit I'm really confused, it's like someone decided not to execute our will at all," she said pensively.

"Um, can I ask who you are? You seem really familiar but I don't know from where."

"You don't know me?" the woman asked looking pole-axed. "Harry, I'm your mother."

"M-m-mum?" he asked as realization hit. That's what she'd said earlier, that he was her son. "But you d-died?"

"I….I'm not sure how this happened Harry. Though I think it might have something to do with our family's gift."

"Gift?"

"That's right. Well not my gift but definitely your fathers. Not only are we wizards and witches but your fathers family were what were called soul mages."

"Hold on….You're saying I'm a wizard?"

"Well of course you are. Are you telling me no ones told you what you are?"

"Aunt Petunia calls me a freak, does that count?"

"No Harry, it doesn't…like I said, I don't know what's going on, but I know who to ask. We need to get outside," she continued as she began patting herself down looking for her wand. "Well that's going to be a problem."

"What?"

"I don't seem to have a wand…That changes things a little." Mentally she berated herself for her lack of thought, she'd been at Hogwarts all those years so she knew that it was a rare ghost that could affect the physical plane let alone the magical. In fact Peeves was the only poltergeist she'd ever seen.

"So we need to get out of the house?"

"That's the first step yes."

"Easy," Harry shrugged as he pulled out a sturdy piece of wire from under his mattress and placed it against the hinge. Pushing the wire as hard as he could the pin slowly slid out of the lower hinge, followed shortly by the upper hinge. The locked door swung slowly open as it now hinged on the small padlock on the door. As he stepped out into the deserted hallway he turned around and placed the door back into its frame. If anyone were to take a casual look at it they'd thing it was still a sturdily locked door that there was no way Harry could escape.

"That was really smart Harry."

Harry just grinned in acknowledgement, "Thanks," he whispered as he slowly sidled down the hallway towards the front door, he didn't know why but it seemed his mother could talk at a normal volume and not have to worry about attracting attention, or at least Vernon hadn't reacted when she'd been yelling earlier. The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon when he opened the door and walked outside. He knew that his relatives wouldn't know he'd even left because they would be in the kitchen at this time of day having dinner.

Closing the front door carefully Harry began trotting down the sidewalk away from his home and Privet drive. Not really sure where they were going but anxious to get there nonetheless. Past Wysteria Crescent and onto Barberry, a quick left onto Oleander and he was on the villages main road into the centre of town or if he went the other way there was a short three miles to the village of Upper Whinging. Lily Potter had no intention of heading into either town, she didn't need anyone to see what she was planning, she'd prefer to have this happen on a hidden laneway a little way out of town.

"Right, we've got to find a deserted patch of road, or a lane somewhere," she said quietly, even though it wasn't possible for her to be overheard by any muggles in the area.

Looking around Harry got his bearings, "Uhm, there's a farm track over that way, bout half a mile away I think."

"It doesn't have to be that hidden Harry, no one should notice anything out of the ordinary. But there are some people who are sensitive to our kind even if they can't access the magic as we can. We really shouldn't risk exposing the magical world."

"So I can't tell anyone I'm a wizard?" Not that he really had any friends he could tell, and definitely no one he'd trust with his secrets. Except…his eyes widened when the realization fully hit that this was his mother, and that for the first time he had someone he could trust implicitly with anything that happened in his life.

"No, there are laws about it. I'll tell you more about them when you're older. For now it's best not to do magic anywhere that I don't approve of."

While they were talking Harry continued to walk down the road, he'd turned onto a gravelled track without remembering arriving but as long as they were now out of sight of the road he didn't suppose it mattered.

"Will this do mom?" he savoured the word as he spoke, it would take a while to get used to but it was something that made him happier than he could ever remember being. The ghostly form quickly looked around and gave a firm nod.

"This will do Harry. Now, this should be interesting for you," she wasn't going to explain how hard this particular activity was for elder witches and wizards, she'd just let him attempt it and if it worked then all was well. If it didn't they'd have to think of another way to get to the place she needed to go. "I want you to close your eyes and relax as much as you can. Just relax and breathe deeply, in, slowly, and out, slower Harry. That's good. Now think about your breath as you breathe in, think about where the air is going. In, slowly, and out again. That's very good Harry. Now try to follow the air with your thoughts, follow it and relax. Relax, and breathe in."

Harry who was following his mothers instructions instinctively could feel his body relaxing further and further as he breathed in and out. He felt like he was almost asleep after a few minutes, yet he was wide awake and wondering what he was supposed to be feeling. He was trying to think of the air and follow it like his mother asked but he could feel something pulling him as he got closer to where the air was going. The closer he got the more inexorable the pull became until his vision cleared, but that wasn't the right word because he knew that his eyes were still closed. He felt that he was in a massive void and before him in the distance was what appeared to be a sun, and yet he knew instinctively that were he to touch it, it would not harm him. In fact he could feel the warmth as an acceptance, like he knew that this was 'him' and the compulsion to touch it was becoming overwhelming.

Without thought, without recognition Harry found himself orbiting the sphere with the feeling that he could just reach out that last little bit and connect with something that was so precious that he'd never choose to let it go. He could hear nothing but the massive beat of his heart as it echoed through him. Though he knew that somewhere his mother was still speaking to him, it wasn't as important as this. Moving the last scant distance he felt a flash of an unnameable emotion as he connected with his magic for the first time, consciously. He'd done it before in the heat of the moment, in fear or anger but this was a matter of choice and now that he knew it was here, and what it was, he would choose to give up breathing before he would forego this feeling. The emotion rushed through his awareness in a wild conflagration of energy, such that he felt that there was nothing that he couldn't do if he just thought about it. The feeling became too intense and he came back to himself standing on a dark country road in the middle of July. Even though the glorious sight of his magical core was gone, he could still feel it pulsing with energy and knew that he would never lose that feeling again.

Lily Potter nee Evans watched her son come out of his meditative trance with a small amount of trepidation. Adults many decades older than Harry tried the small ritual to connect with their magic and either failed or in rare instances they became enamoured of the feeling and never wanted to return to reality. The only reason Lily had allowed him to attempt this was the fact that he didn't have a lot of life experience and she thought that the intense emotions connecting with his magic for the first time might jolt him enough to come back to himself. It looked like she might be right in her theory, or maybe her son was made of stronger stuff than the average wizard. A fact she didn't discount since he'd spent most of his life living with her sister and she remembered some of the arguments and slanging matches they'd had towards the end.

Harry, hadn't missed the expression on the ghosts face or her tenseness, it had been a matter of self-preservation to take note of the moods and actions of the adults around him.

"Mom?" he queried.

"I'm sorry Harry. Your father and I disagreed with many of the customs and attitudes of the magical world. One of the largest of those was the way they taught the children to use their magic," she paused as she could see he wanted to ask a question but she needed to explain this to him first. She'd answer whatever questions he had later.

"Children in magical schools around the world are taught the same way as they are at Hogwarts. Mainly because people believe that Hogwarts is the finest school of magic in the world. My problem with that is the methods of teaching children magical control. They expect children to learn control by casting spells rather than by actually learning what you just did. Imagine drawing a picture. Do you like to draw?" There were so many things she didn't know about her son that it would take years to discover all the things she'd missed. She smiled as Harry nodded that he did, she didn't know that it was dependant on whether his cousin was near enough to steal his art supplies at school. "I want you to imagine drawing a picture, but you have to do it with your eyes closed, and I'm going to move your pencils and paper around so you can't find them."

Harry frowned as he thought about that a little, "That'd be really hard."

"That's right, it would. You can't see what you're doing, or what your doing it with so you don't know if the tree you just drew is brown and green or red and blue. Children are expected to control their magic when they haven't been taught to touch it. They have no 'feel' for it, and so they struggle through the early lessons. There's so much more to magic than just waving your wand around and saying the words correctly, though many wizards believe that that is the extent of learning about magic." If she had her way her son wouldn't be treated the way that 'normal' magical children were treated in school. He would reach his full potential, both James and herself had decided on their course of action where Harry was concerned and they had written out a schedule of what they'd teach him and when. They were already several years behind that schedule but she had a feeling her child was more than up to the job of catching up to where she thought he ought to be, and she'd have three years to prove it.

In the meantime they needed to get started on several other things and for that they needed to reach Diagon alley in a reasonable amount of time.

"Alright Harry, I want you to remember how it felt when you touched your magic, feel it and focus on it. Forget everything else….Feel it flowing through your body, feel it surging down your arms and into your hand. Can you feel it? Good, now let it flow down to your fingers and let it pool like water. Now I want you to raise your hand and push the magic from your fingertips while thinking about needing transport."

Harry could feel the magic flowing through him, a little like treacle, slow and sluggish. That changed when he began to focus on the feeling of his magic and it flowed more like the water that his mother had been talking about. He could feel his heartbeat quicken as the magic flowed faster and faster moving like a whirlpool through his body and then streaming into his arm. The tingling feeling in his fingers increased as he allowed more and more of his magic to flow into them and when he felt that he couldn't contain anymore in his hand he raised it and 'pushed' it out of his hands. There was a dull flash of light that caused him to close his eyes for a moment and then he heard a loud cracking sound and a slight hiss as his eyes opened on the strangest thing he'd ever seen. Uncle Vernon would be having apoplexy around about now if he'd seen the lurid purple triple-decker bus. The hissing sound was the pneumatic doors opening, or at least he assumed they were like the ones on the local council buses.

Inside the bus Harry could see the driver who was a little pudgy around the middle, alongside the conductor who was rail thin and fairly tall.

"Come along Harry, get on, we'd best get to Diagon as quickly as possible," the ghostly apparition ushered him onto the bus while his neck craned this way and that as he tried to catalogue as many of the strange differences between this and what he would consider a normal bus. He'd have to admit that the addition of beds and three piece lounges with living chairs were a much nicer arrangement, though the fireplace complete with roaring log fire was a bit of overkill in his opinion.

"Good evenin' and welcome to the Knight bus, emergency transport for lost and weary wizard folk," the tall thin man said as Harry came up to him. "I'm Stan Shunpike and I'll be your conductor, where can we take you this evening?"

The driver was staring past the small boy who'd just stepped onto the bus at the ghost with a puzzled expression on his face that cleared up after a moment, "Well as I live and breath…you're Lily Potter."

Stan who'd caught on that there was more than one 'person' entering the bus looked completely surprised, "Cor blimey Derrick, you're right. Watchu doin' ere Missus Potter?

THWAP!!

"Ow, whatchu go an do that fer Derrick?"

"Your muvver'd be real proud of you Stan…Asking someone who's mortally challenged why they're ere. I fought you 'ad better manners than that."

Stan, who was rubbing the back of his head stared at his partner while the admonishment sank in, "S'not what I meant, din't mean it like that at all. I was meanin' why ain't you in Godric's 'Ollow. Ghosts doesn't go wanderin around the countryside, they's bound to the place they died…"

"Oh, oh, that makes it so much better don't it, maybe you should let me do all the talking Stan. Before Missus Potter becomes immortally offended and decides to haunt you for the rest of your life," the rotund little man driving the bus turned back to his potential passenger and asked, "So, where are you off to this evenin' Missus Potter?"

Lily was smiling brightly as she regarded the odd pair of wizards. She knew Derrick from school and noted that he hadn't changed all that much. Stan on the other hand didn't look like he'd been out of Hogwarts for very long at all. She was so fascinated by their banter that she nearly missed derricks question.

"Erm, Harry and I are going to Diagon Alley," she ignored the fact that for the first time the pair looked closely at the gawking little boy. Derrick didn't know what to say and Stan looked like he'd just taken a two by four to the back of the head. He acted like it too as he muttered a very faint 'Cor blimey' just before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he keeled over backwards with a loud thud.

Derrick who was made of sterner stuff than his new apprentice turned back to the ghostly witch and asked, "Diagon alley then? That'll be…. Two sickles and five knuts."

Lily gave him a 'look' before blatantly patting herself down, "I'm sorry I don't seem to have my purse with me."

"Oh, right, of course Missus Potter. How silly of me. You can pay the next time you catch us….or you could travel free seeing as how you and your son are such great heroes to the wizarding world an' sacrificed so much…" Derrick trailed off as he withered under the most potent death glare he'd ever had the misfortune to be gifted with.

"Please, take a seat, we'll 'ave you there in just a jiffy," he added hurriedly as he threw the door lever which emitted a low groaning his, "Next stop, Diagon Alley!" he called out as the unusual pair, parent and child, disappeared up the stairs to one of the upper decks.

A plaintive voice called out a moment later, "I say…Excuse me?"

"Can I 'elp you guv'ner?"

"I don't mean to be a bother but I was next," the man who was wearing something a muggle might have worn late in the Victorian period, if they were colour blind and completely fashion challenged. Purple certainly did not go with lime green, but you just couldn't tell an adult wizard that.

"An' now yer not. You might wanna sit down sir."

"I say, how rude! Do you know who I am?"

"Don't bleedin' care do I? You could be the Queens bleedin muvver an' it wouldn't matter. If youse don't want to be the man who's walkin' to 'is destination I'd suggest you take a seat." To punctuate his point he slammed his foot on the accelerator and watched in satisfaction as the man stumbled back into the seat he'd vacated mere moments before. The landscape around the bus seemed to blur for a moment before there was a sharp crack and the bus vanished only to reappear elsewhere several minutes later

End Chapter 1

/ To be continued…? \