Harry Potter and The Road to Freedom
Story by TheAstoundingMrArkwright
A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to the story. I'm TheAstoundingMrArkwright, formerly known as SumOfAllZeroes.
Soooo...yeah, it's been a minute and some change. Plenty of things are different; the largest of these being that I've actually moved away from my family home in Texas to serve in the military. I've been training for about half a year now and as such, am very tired. So, one day, as I was relaxing after my shift in my dormitory and I decided I'd at least give writing another try. So, here is the first story I've written in a year.
Cheers,
-A1C Arkwright-
Chapter 1: A Grim Reminder (Incorrigible Youth Edition)
It is innately ingrained in the human psyche to fear that which our own wretched minds cannot stretch to comprehend; since the dawn of man 'til the postmodern age, it has been so, as we cling to the fading light, hiding from the crawling dark.
Hadrian Ulysses Peverell however...well, all he could comprehend was that he was different.
Known affectionately as Harry to his friends and The Boy Who Lived to various unscrupulous news outlets, he was a fairly average 14 year old wizard made famous-or infamous, depending on your view of it- by the reckless and autonomous actions of his parents.
On the evening of August 18th, 1977 Lily Evans-Potter, Harry's biological mother, gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby boy. He was named Harry James Potter and promptly christened in the weeks to follow. Harry's parents were overjoyed to be blessed with the gift of a child, and went out of their respective ways to make sure that Harry was both happy and healthy at all times.
It was but a few scarce months later that the Potter Family's idyllic life would be shattered.
On the afternoon of December 3rd, 1977, the Potter family had returned to their home in Godric's Hollow from vacationing at the family manor. After unpacking their belongings, the family had a fairly quiet evening in before turning in early.
What they awoke to could only be considered a hellish nightmare.
The house at Godric's Hollow was set alight by a pack of virulent Pureblood supremacists, led by Walden MacNair. Lily and James, having sent up an emergency alert, responded with a frantic wave of spellfire, taking down many of the fervent mob.
Unfortunately, MacNair made it through, freezing James and Lily in place, before murdering Harry. Sirius Black and Andromeda Tonks arrived, rapidly unfreezing the two, only to be stunned by the two they freed. Lily and James, abandoning their better judgement, used powerful blood magic to form a contract with a high-ranking demon. In exchange for Harry's life, they would have a second son whom they would focus all their attention on, only realizing what they truly lost when it was truly gone.
However, what Harry was born as, was not what was returned to them; due to their desperation, Lily and James had failed to mention that they had wanted their son to be human upon return.
3 years later, Lily gave birth again, this time to a son named Eric. Eric was graced with praise and admiration for his parents' numerous ventures in the wizarding world. Quite naturally, the vast quantity of praise went to the young boy's head, leading to the belief that he could not be wrong. His parents seemed to agree with that idea, praising Eric and blaming (often unfairly so) Harry.
Ultimately, Harry didn't really care; or at least he didn't show it. All the boy wanted was just one day, one goddamn day where people wouldn't point at his red-violet eyes, alabaster fangs or snowy white skin, whisper their oh-so-inconspicuous questions to one another, or mumble obscenities behind his back.
As he entered Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron, tossing a 5 galleon tip to Tom on his way in, he came across a familiar blond haired face.
"Potter." Draco Malfoy sneered, his father and mother wearing impassive masks of indifference.
"Malfoy." The young vampire sneered right back. The two went to pass each other, before joining hands in their traditional signature handshake.
"How've you been, brother?" The young Malfoy heir chuckled, the entire family visibly lightening up. Harry had spent every possible summer at the Malfoy manor after his first year at Hogwarts. From week 1, he, alongside Draco and their mutual friend Daphne Greengrass, had been thick as thieves, mainly due to their ability to look past Harry's blasphemous rebirth.
"More of the same, as it were."
"Greetings, Harry. I should hope Lily and James have been treating you right?" Narcissa extended her hand in greeting. Harry brushed his lips against the back of the elder woman's knuckles.
"Sadly, no, Aunt Cissy. As usual, Eric gets favoritism and I get frustrated." At this, her husband growled.
"My apologies, nephew. By now, I thought that they would know better than to rely on the words of a deviant like Trelawney, or, Dagon preserve us, Dumbledore." Lucius deadpanned while shaking his 'nephew's' hand.
"Well, uncle, I believe it was Einstein who said that the limits of stupidity were frankly incalculable. All I want is just a single day where I don't have to feel like a second-class citizen."
"Or worse", Draco chimed in. "The Potter family's dirty little secret."
"Nobody puts Baby in a corner, Draco." Their female friend quipped, her father following shortly behind.
"Worst. One-liner. Ever." Harry deadpanned.
"How've you been, Cullen?" At this, Harry, Draco and Lucius winced.
"Please don't joke about that; that's like comparing the American Founding Fathers to post-modern social justice warriors." At this, Daphne slugged him in the arm.
"Least it's better than being guilty of everything wrong that could possibly happen in a single household through some inexplicably odd and immeasurable connection." At this, Draco and Daphne just gave solitary nods of sympathy, as Eric Potter, the "Boy Who Lived", flanked on both sides by his Auror parents, waved and blew kisses to his leagues of fans.
"Ugh, you can almost see the sheer arrogance just radiating off of him." Daphne said, looking a bit green around the gills.
" "Which one?"" Harry and Lucius laughed.
"Aw, shit. Harry?"
"Yep. They spotted us. Can anyone cast a quick disillu…?" However, Harry's family now looked slightly confused, glancing around the area where they last saw the Malfoys. After a moment's search, Lily grew bored and tugged her husband and son back to their day of shopping.
"They were looking right at us! How did they miss us?" Lucius asked confusedly.
" That would be my doing." Harry quipped, his smile growing wide. "Corpse demon, remember?"
" Harry… That was more effective than when James used the Cloak to prank Severus!" Narcissa laughed, hugging her nephew. Harry just blushed; whether this was due to Narcissa's praise, or the fact that she had a tendency of pressing him into her... rather voluptuous assets...even during platonic hugs.
Draco and Daphne just smirked.
After gathering the usual necessities, Harry thanked the Malfoys for their company and said his goodbyes. After hugging Draco and Daphne and promising to Floo over the day before the start of term so they could travel in tandem, he boarded the Knight Bus back to Potter Manor.
You there. Yes, you, you ruddy deviant. The one spending time reading this instead of, I dunno, making a sandwich. Yeah, glad you're here.
Now, can you think of the last time you got into an argument with someone you really freaking care about? Doesn't have to be anyone in particular, could be your friend, parent, sibling, you get the drill.
Remember how petty it was?
Now imagine that your entire life was full of those moments, only within the context of a genuinely bad situation; you yourself have done nothing wrong, and yet, the people who mean the most to you (or should, at the very least) blame you for something that you had nothing to do with.
That's how Harry's morning was going.
"YOUNG MAN, YOU GET BACK IN HERE OR I WILL SEAL THIS HOUSE DOW-" At this point, Harry stood, cold, neutral gaze of red freezing the heated glare thrown his way.
"Do it." At his tone, Lily stood stock-still.
"You goddamn ingrate! First, you talk down to your brother and now you disrespect your mother?! Who do you think you are?!" Harry's collective discontent released at that moment, raw, smoldering rage manifesting in the form of a sick red haze.
"...Do whatever pleases you, but I will not suffer you fools gladly any longer. This house has never been a home for me." Lily, obviously being the one of lesser intellect, jeered at Harry as he turned to leave.
"Good, and don't bother coming back for anything you own, because James'll burn it!"
At this, Harry let out a dry chuckle.
"What do I need to come back for?! Everything I own is in Draco's room, ready to be brought to the train to Hogwarts!"
At this, James flinched.
With but a snap of the fingers, the eldest Peverall was gone.
(In the interest of time...)
Harry gave a heavy sigh as he and his friends sat in their compartment. They all looked up, their gazes connected in similar lines of thought.
"Ready?" Malfoy inquired.
"Let's do this!" They all cheered, as the iron horse roared to life, chugging along to its scheduled destination.
A/N: And that's the first chapter done. I'll try to get a chapter done every week, hopefully early on Saturday.
So, if you enjoyed this story, feel free to like and favorite. If you have a comment, or you'd like to leave a message, feel free to do so.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you again soon!
Cheers,
-A1C Arkwright-