Harry Potter and the Return of the Black Prince
Chapter 1 –Discovery
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Harry Potter was not an average student to say the least. His performance reports over the years ranged from troll to outstanding. Some teachers would quote him as brilliant. Others would say that he lacks the academic drive that possesses his friend so violently. And still one other would say that he's no better than a squib. Yet, Professor Snape's opinion didn't account for much away from the cold simmering cauldrons of the dank dungeon. It especially didn't matter in the hot and dusty History of Magic classroom on the fourth floor, where a certain Harry Potter was currently snoring.
"Psst! Harry wake up!" Hermione whispered urgently. After years of the same situation, one would have thought that Hermione Jane Granger would have given up on Harry Potter and Ron Weasley as lost causes, or at least as far as History of Magic was concerned. However, such was not the case. Hermione had goaded the two into continuing the class at NEWT level, desperately hoping that it would be more interesting. But, it looked like another dull year. Ten minutes into the year and even the Ravenclaws were beginning to drift off.
"What 'Mione? I was… was…" Harry yawned loudly as he began to wake up, "sleeping."
"How many times do I have to tell you? A solid background in History of Magic is worth its-"
"Weight in gold. Yeah, so I've heard. About five times since breakfast." Harry said irritably, looking very much like he would like to go back to napping.
"But Harry! I'm positive this will be on our NEWTS!" Hermione whispered as Harry rolled his eyes.
"What is he even talking about?" Harry asked, sincerely thinking that today's topic must be another boring goblin rebellion was the entire class was nodding off, or at the very least, very close to it.
"The founding of Hogwarts." Hermione replied smartly.
"'Mione, why would that be on our NEWTS? That was on our OWLS! We covered that in the first week of first year." Harry was incredulous.
"This is more in-depth, Harry. Honestly, you'd know that if you were listening."
"How can you get more in-depth than the four founders? It's not like there was a fifth founder or anything." Harry said sarcastically, raising his voice a bit too loud.
"Quite right, Mr. Prentice." Binns said, his form drifting towards Harry and Hermione. "There is no evidence that Andreyn Emrys was the fifth founder. He is merely quoted as being in the right place at the right time. However, many consider him the catalyst that sparked the founders unity." Binns droned and Harry felt the beginning of a wan even thought his mind was swimming with questions. As soon as Binns drifted away, Harry turned on Hermione.
"Fifth founder? What was he talking about?" Harry hisses and Hermione rolled her eyes before replying.
"Honestly. Don't you ever read?" She asked as she pulled out her own personal copy of Hogwarts, A History.
"Not that." Harry replied, grinning and Hermione huffed.
"Ignorance is not becoming Harry."
"Well then, enlighten me." Harry said, knowing full well that Hermione would have done so even if he had not asked.
"Well it's more of legend really. Supposedly there was a man called the Black Prince of Hogwarts. In some circles, he's called the fifth founder. It's said that he's the guardian of Hogwarts and that his heirs are destined to protect the school. It's rather ironic that History calls him the Black Prince." Hermione said, her voice taking on the scholarly quality that it always had when she was informing Harry or Ron on something particularly important.
"What, why's that?" Harry asked, genuinely interested in history for once in his life.
"Because as the guardian of Hogwarts, he's always been regarded as a Beacon of Light."
"Oh… So what does Andreyn Emerys have to do with all of that?" Harry said, not really connecting the two.
"He was a prominent Lord at the time of the founding and closely connected with all four founders. He spent almost all his time at Hogwarts, according to history books written during the time. The founders all regarded him as a close friend. Since the identity of the Black Prince was never named, Andreyn Emerys is a likely candidate. But nothing has even been proven. However, most evidence points to Andreyn Emerys. Add to the fact that he just disappeared around the same time as the Black Prince and it makes it very likely that he was the fifth founder. But no one will ever know for sure. The whole story is a bit of myth and legend mixed with fact."
"Myth and fact?" Harry raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Yes. It's a fact that Andreyn Emerys existed, Gringotts records have proved that much. But the whole Black Prince thing is iffy at best. He's mentioned in a couple of journals from the time, but as no one knows his true identity, it's hard to prove that he exists."
"What about the family of that Emerys guy? Wouldn't they still have some journals about him or something?" Harry asked.
"Well it's certainly a possibility that journals exist, but the Emerys line died out about eight hundred years ago."
"Died out? Whole families just don't die out Hermione." Harry said skeptically.
"They do in the Wizarding World. But no one's quite sure what happened to the Emerys line, some think that it combined with another Wizarding House, but we can't be certain. Gringotts sealed all the records pertaining to the Emerys line."
"But if Emerys was the Black Prince and his line was the Protectors of Hogwarts, then his family just couldn't have died. They would have to still be around to protect Hogwarts if something happened, right?" Harry asked, trying to look at the situation logically.
"But Harry, no one is sure that Emerys was the Black Prince. It's all based off of speculation. No one has much information about the Black Prince." Hermione stated.
"So no one knows anything else about this guy?"
"Well there are some legends associated with him, but no one short of Luna Lovegood would put any solid belief in them."
"Why not? And Luna's not crazy."
"Yeah, and I'm the tooth fairy." Hermione mumbled before answering. "Well it's like the Wizarding version of the Holy Grail. There are so many different versions and claims that it would be impossible to sort truth from myth."
"It sounds rather interesting." Harry said thoughtfully.
"See Harry! I told you that you would like this class!" Hermione said, excited at the prospect of actually having someone stay awake with her through a whole History of Magic lesson.
"'Mione, he said the story was interesting. Not the class." Ron said yawning as he awoke from his nap only to return back to his dreams a few minutes later. Hermione scowled at Ron's sleeping form while Harry smiled at the pair. In the back of his mind, Harry made a mental note to research the Black Prince.
"It's weird." Harry said. "I just feel like I need to know."
Ron, Hermione and Harry were currently scouring the library for any book that even came close to mentioning the Black Prince or Andreyn Emerys. So far, their attempts had been fruitless.
"Blimey mate!" said Ron. "You're turning into," Ron paused to point at Hermione. "You-Know-Who."
"Honestly Ron! Just because Harry has shown an interest in something other than Quidditch, it doesn't mean that he's turning into a maniac dark lord." Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron and then turned back to the bookshelf. Harry and Ron exchanged a silent laugh together.
"Why don't we go ask Madam Pince?" Harry asked, thinking that for once, they weren't researching something secret or illegal.
"No." Hermione said, slamming the book she had been paging through shut with a loud snap.
"Why not? She'd know where to find him." Harry argued, but Hermione shot him a glare.
"Absolutely not. I'd die before I'd ask that… that woman… for help." Hermione said, scowling at the thought before stalking further down the shelves.
"What put Hermione off about Madam Pince?" Harry whispered to Ron. Madam Pince had generally been an idol of Hermione's from day one. Hermione had spent hours lecturing about the ingenuity of Madam Pince's filing system. Harry was shocked that Hermione could ever think badly of the librarian.
"Madam Pince accused Hermione of messing up the charms with the filing system." Ron said quietly, not wanting to offend Hermione who was still shooting death glares in their direction.
"Ahh…" Harry nodded. Madam Pince was very peculiar about her alphabetizing system. The funny thing was that Hermione practically had the exact spot of almost every book in the entire library memorized and was therefore, the least likely person to mess it up. Of course, Madam Pince didn't know this. In truth, Harry thought, Madam Pince probably just wanted a reason to kick Hermione out the library. The two had a sort of never-ending power struggle going on, ever since Hermione's third year. Apparently, Hermione had questioned the credibility of one of Madam Pince's books, something that was incredibly offensive to the librarian. Ever since then, the two had tried to prove each other wrong by finding other evidence that supported their theory. Currently, Hermione was winning, or last he checked, Hermione was winning. Harry had stopped keeping track of the debate when he found out about the first task way back in fourth year, and he hadn't had a desire to renew his interest.
"Harry!" Hermione squeaked excitedly, motioning for Ron and him to come look at a book she had found.
"Look at this book Harry! I bet he's in it!" Hermione held up a book entitled The Founders and Their Finicky Friends by Yura Hore. Rom smirked and caught Harry's eye. The two grinned and then burst out in laughter, earning a glare from both Madam Pince and Hermione. Evidently the two had more in common then they thought.
"Would you get a load of her name?" Harry asked between bouts of laughter.
"Yeah. Yura Hore!" Ron said, still laughing.
"I'm a what?!" Hermione asked, her eyes flashing with what could only be anger.
"No… no… the author's name. Did you even notice it?" Harry asked.
"No." Hermione said and looked down and almost immediately started blushing.
"What kind of lunatic would name their child that?" She asked and Ron shrugged, and started looking around, confusion starting to show on his face.
"Harry?" Ron asked to Harry who was flipping through the book.
"Yeah?" Harry said without looking up.
"Why are we in the library?"
"Duh Ron. We're looking up Andreyn Emerys." Hermione said, eyeing Ron with disgust.
"No… I mean… Wasn't the sorting hat made my Godric Gryffindor?"
"So what? That doesn't help us." Hermione sniffed disdainfully.
"Ron! That's brilliant!" Harry said excitedly, slamming the book shut.
"I know." Ron said, holding his nose up in the air in a perfect imitation of Percy.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"'Mione! The sorting hat must've been made in the Founder's Era. He would probably know all about Andreyn Emerys and the Black Prince." Harry said as Hermione's eyes lit up.
"I can't believe we didn't think of this before!" She said.
"Hey does this mean I was smarter than Hermione for once?" Ron asked.
"Oh shut it." Hermione said scowling at him, as Harry grinned at the pair.
"I'll see you later." Harry said heading for the door. "I've got to talk to Dumbledore."
Harry skidded to a halt outside the familiar gargoyle, realizing that he once again didn't know the password.
"Uh… Acid pops? No… What about Drooble's Best Blowing Gum? Cockroach Clusters? Pumpkin Pasties? Cauldron Cakes? Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Wait, no he doesn't like those." Harry was starting to get annoyed. "Canary Creams? Chocolate Frogs? Um… Ton-Tongue-Toffee?"
"Nosebleed Nougat." Said a voice from behind Harry. Harry whirled around to come face to face with a pair of twinkling blue eyes.
"Professor Dumbledore!"
"What can I do for you, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore said stepping through the gargoyle and walking up the stairs, Harry not far behind.
"Well, actually…" Harry trailed off as he started staring at a bird next to Fwakes.
"Noticed him have you?" The professor smiled at the bird. It was a startling white with silver plumage on the tips of his wings. Harry hadn't thought that a bird could be more brilliant than Fwakes, but this bird through that theory out the window.
"What's his name?" Harry asked.
"Ahh… I do not know. The last time I saw this bird was nearly a hundred years ago when he gave me a rare and precious gift."
"What was that professor?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes off the bird.
"A phoenix egg, my boy. Now what is it that you wished to speak to me about?" The old wizard asked, but was overshadowed by the movement of the silver bird into Harry's lap.
"Oh my." Professor Dumbledore said. Harry gaped at the majestic bird. All of a sudden, the white bird burst into pure white flames and a loud phoenix song filled the room. Harry blinked ant the phoenix was gone. Sitting in its place was a pure silver egg.
"What?" Harry said motioning to the egg, clearly at a loss for words. Dumbledore's eyes merely twinkled.
"Harry, my boy, I believe we shall have to amend the one pet rule."
"This isn't a…" Harry asked, his eyes widening.
"A phoenix egg?" Dumbledore smiled. "Yes it is. Now what did you wish to speak to me about?"
"Actually I was hoping to talk with the sorting hat."
"Oh." Dumbledore said, his eyes temporarily dimming. "What about? That is if you'll satisfy an old man's curious mind."
"Just a question I had." Harry said, trying to act nonchalantly.
"Well, I suppose that wouldn't hurt. What do you say Maverick?" Dumbledore asked at the bookcase. Harry was surprised to hear it reply.
"Actually, I've been meaning to have a chat with Mr. Potter for some time." Harry recognized the voice as the sorting hat and spied it sitting on a shelf. Fwakes flew over to get the hat and dropped it swiftly on Harry's head.
Ahh… Mr. Potter… So we meet again. Now I understand you have a question for me. Ahh… you wish to learn about the Black Prince.
Well yes… I just feel like I've heard about it before, or like I should know more about it or something, but I don't.
That thirst for knowledge is finally showing itself I see. Had that come alive earlier in you life, well then, you would have done Rowena proud. Now, Mr. Potter, about your question, I'm afraid it's not in me to answer. However…
The hat trailed off as a bright blinding light surrounded Harry. Albus Dumbledore held up a hand to block the light. When he lowered it, an empty chair sat before him. Harry had disappeared, the sorting hat and phoenix egg gone alongside him.
"Curious." Dumbledore said, briefly glancing at the chair before pulling out a lemon drop and humming merrily. A slight sparkle filled his eyes as he sat down to read his paper.
Harry looked around the room in wonder. It was the same size and shape as the Headmaster's Office, but it lacked everything else familiar.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry ventured into the quiet stillness.
He's obviously not here, Mr. Potter.
"Where else would he be?" Harry asked aloud, thinking that perhaps the sorting hat had been a bad idea.
Mr. Potter, I suggest that you stop asking pointless questions and start asking better ones. 'Where are we?' would be a good place to start. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Ok. Fine. Where are we?"
At Hogwarts Castle, or Rosegath Tower as it's more commonly called in this time.
"This time? Exactly what 'time' are we talking about here?" Harry felt the hat grinning evilly.
The time of the Founders.
"WHAT?! You've got to be joking. Time travel isn't possible."
Oh, I assure you, it's possible. How else would you explain your current situation?
"Imagination?" Harry ventured weakly.
Now, I didn't bring you here to sit around. You have a mission to fulfill.
"Mission? What mission?"
You destiny, Mr. Potter. It lays out there, in the real world, waiting to be discovered.
"What exactly is my destiny?" Harry asked, thinking at this point in time it was probably to go crazy.
I can't tell you! What is the fun in that? Destinies are meant to be found, not told.
"Don't I already have a destiny to destroy Voldemort?" Harry said, thinking back to the startling prophecy from the year before.
In your time… Yes, Harry Potter's destiny is to destroy Lord Voldemort. But here, Harry Potter doesn't not exist. Here, Andreyn Emerys takes his place and Andreyn Emerys's destiny is waiting to be discovered.
"Wait. You can't be saying what I think you're saying."
Well I guess that depends on what you think I'm saying.
"Bloody hat." Harry said irritably.
"Who goes there?" A new voice sounded from the stairway.
"Who's that?" Harry asked worriedly.
That, I believe, Mr. Potter, or Lord Emerys, is your destiny calling.
"My destiny? Already? But we just got here!" Harry was on the verge of panic.
Fate waits for no one.
"Does this destiny of mine have a name?" Harry asked, thinking that the hat owed him that much.
Ahh… yes. At that moment, a boy about Harry's age burst through the door. He had wild black curly hair and twinkling hazel eyes. He stood almost level with Harry, but his body was toned with muscle. His face was golden from days spent out of doors. But the oddest thing about him was that Harry thought he had surely seen the man before.
Meet Godric Gryffindor. The hat finished, still smirking evilly.