Chapter 1: First Steps *EDITED*
I own nothing.
"You want me to do what? And go where?" Dresden asked incredulously.
"I am sending you and the Winter Lady to capture or destroy an Outsider as is your duty as the Winter Knight and the Master of Demon's Reach," responded Mab, the Winter Queen, her voice cool with disinterest.
"Yes, but you didn't exactly say where you are sending us. I would like to know what we need to expect, as well as how you suggest we are going to get there," he replied hotly. "And how do you know that it was an Outsider and not some random ice sprite anyway?" He still wasn't used to the new job title he had acquired some months ago, or the fact that Molly was now, in a way, one of his bosses.
"Follow me," Mab said calmly. As she stood and calmly made her way out through of the side doors to the main hall, Harry Dresden and Molly Carpenter share a nervous glance. The two follow the Queen of Darkness out into the halls of Arctis Tor.
As she led the two of them out of the fortress city and into the wilderness of the Nevernever, Molly leaned over and whispered, "Any idea where she's taking us boss?"
Harry shook his head, he was just as, if not more confused, than she was, but smiled despite himself for a brief moment from the term of endearment she started using when she became his apprentice a couple years ago. But the moment passed as he remembered the gravity of the situation.
If an Outsider had truly gotten loose it was imperative that whatever got passed the defenses was tracked down and killed. Just as it was paramount that they figure out how it got out in the first place.
Figuring out what happened and preventing a repeat wasn't in his job description for this case though, that was the Rasid the Gatekeeper's job.
Figuring out where it escaped to, what it was planning on doing, and stopping it were his responsibility for now.
No, matter how much he didn't like it. Harry Dresden would much rather stay at home and keep those important to him safe, like his daughter Maggie, which he still hadn't gotten used to the thought of or Karin Murphy... But that had been shot down in no uncertain terms by the Queen of Darkness herself.
He had tried to argue the point with Mab when she first brought up the mission to him a few hours ago and told him he would be leaving Chicago. She simply shrugged and said it was his choice, just that he should remember that all choices have consequences. As she turned to leave she dropped a few photos on the table in front of him.
One was a family picture of the Carpenters in front of their home.
One was a picture of Karrin sitting in on a sofa.
One was a picture of his daughter in her crib.
Harry had no doubt in his mind that these people would suffer if he didn't agree.
Molly had readily agreed to go before he was even approached, and when he tried to broach the topic, she simply said she would tell him eventually.
At least he would be able to keep an eye on her while they were, well, wherever Mab was sending them, and Harry wondered, not for the first time, if she wasn't trying to kill him.
Once it had been impressed upon him that he had no choice in the matter at hand, he resigned to get the best of the situation.
Harry had suited up in all of his best gear, a new leather trench coat with strong enough protective enchantments to protect him from a loup garo, his newly carved Oak staff and blasting rod, his upgraded shield charm bracelet and force rings, and new combat boots. With his black shirt, dark jeans, .44 Magnum revolver, and wide brimmed hat, Harry looked like he belonged on the set of a western. Dresden even managed to slip Bob's skull into a travel bag without awaking the spirit of intellect.
He decided to leave the swords behind with Murphy, so if they were needed in his city, someone would be able to help in his place, even if neither of them had liked the idea in the first place.
Molly took her equipment ideas from Elaine Mallory rather than Dresden. Harry suspected that she made the switch during the time he was officially dead. Molly already had rings and a bracelet similar to Harry's but now she also a second bracelet and a chain necklace that she used in place of his blasting rod and staff respectively.
After the Winter Lady Mantle attached itself to Molly, Harry took a set of leather pants and leather coat from her and enchanted in the same way his own leather duster was to help protect her. They also remade her jewelry in silver and platinum. Now that she was a member of the fae, she could not touch iron any more.
Harry was trying very hard to remember what she looked like when she was a little bit more innocent, when he met her oh so long ago. Mostly to stop him from thinking how good her legs looked in those pants and about that conversation he had with Murphy about there being something between them.
Despite his apprentice's distractions, here he was following the Queen to Uriel knows where and could do nothing about it.
Eventually the hallway they were in ended in a large set of heavy double steel doors. Which was wrong on its own, nothing with iron in it was allowed into the Nevernever. It was poison to any and all sidhe.
Whatever was behind this door was either very important or very dangerous.
If Dresden's track record was anything to go by, it would be both.
The two guards for the doors put on thick woolen gauntlets, the word 'gloves' simply wasn't strong enough for this situation, and hauled the doors open.
Inside was a large circular room held up by two dozen stone columns. In between each set of pillars were stone arches covered in runes, with a silvery black veil shrouding whatever was behind. The entire room felt older than Arctis Tor.
Faint whispering could be heard from behind the veils.
"Hell's Bells," Dresden whispered in awe. The magic flowing through the room was palpable and almost overbearing. He glanced over at Molly to see if she might know anything about this, but her jaw was hanging open in astonishment much as his probably was.
Well, he mused sarcastically at least I know I'm going somewhere interesting.
Queen Mab walked to the arch directly opposite from the doors they entered. For Dresden it felt like walking against a stream.
There was so much magical energy flowing out of that arch that he was only slightly apprehensive. Perhaps a little curious what could possibly have so much power that it could afford to let it radiate off them like this.
"Do not touch the passage unless I tell you to do so," Mab commanded coldly as Molly reached out to touch the curtain as it fluttered as if in a breeze, causing her to flinch back and clasp her hands behind her back.
The queen fixed the both of them with a stare that could freeze water as she described their mission to them.
"The Nevernever is a plane exists in between realms and connects them together. Each of these arches is a gate to another realm. You come from one of those realms and our adversary lies in the realm beyond this gate. For the most part your realm and the one you are going to are the same. There are a few differences. The air spirit you have in that skull will be able to tell you when you get there –"
"How does Bob know about the other realms?" Dresden cut in out of surprise.
"Do not interrupt me," Mab growled out while her eyes flashed darkly. Harry clamped his mouth shut and mimed locking it and throwing away the key.
"There is another portal in the realm that will bring you back when you have completed the mission."
"Who does the outsider inhabit? And how do we find them?" Molly squeaked out before succumbing to Mab's glare.
Mab then turned and placed her hand the arch, which lit up like a Christmas tree in response. The Veil flashed bright white light and began to part. Mab nodded in the direction of the opening and walked through.
The two hesitated, more than a little worried about following the Queen of Darkness through a portal that positively poured through it. But they then followed with haste when they heard the Queen speak.
"Desist. And remove yourselves from this place."
Harry,
How is your summer going? Has Dumbledore really not told you anything?
Why isn't he telling you what is going on? You were in the graveyard, and you are the one Voldemort is trying to kill. You have more right to know what's going on than anyone else.
There hasn't been anything good in the prophet though. It's only gotten worse since last year. They seem determined to bury their heads in the ground and slander you and Dumbledore.
And do you really have to stay at your relatives? I know you don't like it there, is there nowhere else for you to go? Can you… Never mind.
Have you tried asking Sirius if he knows what is going on? Maybe he can convince the Headmaster to tell you something.
Anyway, I looked up that rune set you showed me and I can't find any reference to it anywhere. Some of the symbols look similar to ones you can find in ancient Sumerian and Egyptian, but not close enough to make sense of it.
Where did you find it? Do you think you could show in September on the Express?
And please try to stay out of trouble. I know how it always seems to find you but…
Love
Hermione
Harry looked up from reading the letter for the fifth time and rubbed his scar. It didn't hurt right now but he was definitely starting to get a headache.
Why did Hermione have to be so frustrating sometimes? She had been signing her letters to him like that since they first met, and he still didn't know how to react to it.
It was also a disappointment that she hadn't found out any of the runes. Harry had been trying to find out more about them since he could read. He tried even more so when he found out about magic and especially when he stared taking runes in third year.
But even though he found ancient runes fascinating he still didn't have any clue where the runes came from or what they meant.
Harry lay back on his lumpy mattress and fingered the offensive chain that after 15 years he still couldn't identify, and that no one else could touch or see. Merlin, he couldn't even take it off himself, and it was on his own bloody neck!
He sighed as he picked up and played with the pentacle pendant on his necklace. Harry huffed as he watched the dim light from the streetlamp outside playing off of the star shaped emerald overlaying the star of the pentacle.
Surveying the clutter and waste that littered his cell for the summer hurt in almost a physical sense. He was being cut off, deliberately if he was being honest with himself, by the headmaster.
Harry got up off the bed and headed toward the door, determined to at least get a little fresh air while he had to sort through the heavy thoughts and heavier feelings weighing on him before he had to write a response to Hermione.
Absent mindedly, Harry rubbed Hedwig on his way out, who cooed appreciatively and supportively back to him, drawing a smile from him for the first time since she had brought a response back from Hermione.
Listening carefully for the individual sounds of his relations breathing, the low snorts and grunts of his cousin, the heavy grating of his uncle, and the high whistle of his aunt, Harry crept from his room, making sure to keep the stairs and door from creaking as he made his out to the deserted streets of Little Whinging.
It was unusually cold for a late July evening, even if it was past midnight. That didn't both Harry though, lost as he was in his musings. The cloudy sky which promised a violent summer storm went decidedly unnoticed by the silently contemplative teen.
His green eyes, normally bright with mischief and promising excitement, had gone cloudy with distress and confusion. Unruly hair, as dark as the night around him, was made more so as the wind swirled around him.
As he slowly made his way towards the park only a few streets down, Harry Potter thought about his lot in life.
His relatives, while not nice were, at least, not cruel. He had lived with them ever since his parents had been killed. But his aunt and uncle never talked about them. Especially not to Harry. Not that his relatives talked to him much at all.
Harry had been ignored for as long as he could remember. He was fed three meals a day, and clothed properly, nothing new though, all his clothes came from an out of the way thrift-store. He never had a birthday and never had a Christmas in the ten years he had been living with the Dursley's.
He wasn't ever given toys either, but his imagination more than made up for it. And his library card. Harry's favorite thing to do in the world was never reading but it was a nice way to unwind and escape from his less than welcoming circumstances.
It certainly served him well once he had been introduced to the magical world by Professor McGonagall. That was also been one of the only times he had been offered any information by his aunt Petunia. When he had asked about the 'Owl' and how to send a reply to those mysterious people who offered him a way out of his unassuming life, she had told him about how her sister Lily, his mother, had been a witch and had gone to that Hogwarts place.
When Professor McGonagall had arrived and taken him to Diagon Alley, Harry was finally told about his legacy, and was not happy. He was famous because his parents were dead and he, just Harry, had somehow survived and been labeled the Boy-Who-Lived.
The only two redeeming things that happened that day were learning about this new world, which had apparently known about him for far too long, and meeting his first real friend: Hermione.
Of course Harry had 'friends' at school but they were really people who tolerated his presence. McGonagall had explained that when powerful magical youth were raised among muggles the magic that radiated off of them drove all but the closest magical relations spare. No one knew why but everyone assumed that it had to do with the way their magical cores were growing and fluctuating. That was also why magical education didn't start until the age of eleven; their magical cores weren't stable enough to accept a proper wand.
Needless to say, both he and Hermione had been happy to receive an explanation for their unhappy childhoods. And both of them had turned to books in absence of people they could really be close to. Right then and there they swore they would be friends no matter what happened. It was why Harry had gotten his snowy owl (or was he his snowy owl's?), Hedwig, so they could write each other letters and get really close to each other.
For the rest of the summer the two of them wrote to each other daily. And when both Harry and Neville saved her from the Troll on their first Halloween they sealed their friendship. After that they had become inseparable. Harry, Hermione, and Neville suffered, survived, and studied together as much as they could. Together they tackled classes, exams, and seemingly everything the magical world could throw at them, from basilisks, dragons, rogue teachers, merpeople, Death Eaters, and more.
On days that he was being completely honest with himself; which were coming more and more often, he really liked Hermione. The two of them had gone to the Yule Ball together while he was a champion for that horrendous Tri-wizard Tournament. But the most he had done that night was kiss her on the cheek, much like she did a couple months later when he pulled her out of the lake. Thank god for Neville and Gilliweed.
And of course she's been signing her letters with love since they first met in Diagon Alley. So how was he supposed to take that; he liked her! And Harry had no real hints as to whether she liked him.
But that wasn't his only problem. After he managed to grab the Cup at the center of the maze the Boy-Who-Lived, unwittingly became part of a necromantic ritual which saw the return of the dark lord Voldemort.
At this point Harry had already reached the park. Sighing as he sat down on the swings, he continues his musings on the summer.
He had been left there at the beginning of the summer break and was told precisely nothing about what was going on or what was going to happen. The only people who believed what happened were the professors, Sirius, Hermione, and Neville. And the professors only believed him because the headmaster did.
He was telling the truth, but he was the only one who had seen it. Hermione, Neville, and Sirius all trusted him, almost explicitly. But as Hermione had pointed out, even if he was the vaunted Boy-Who-Lived, Harry was still a fourteen year old boy. Nobody had any reason to believe his claims.
And loathe as he was to admit it, she was right, as she almost always was. Thank god Sirius gave her that book about House Elves. Otherwise, she might have gone off on a tirade to save all of the elves. They even found out that Dobby had bonded to him after Harry had tricked Lucius into releasing him. Dobby was now helping keep Sirius alive, out of the hands of the dementors, and delivering mail. When he tried to send mail out with Hedwig, he hadn't gotten any return mail. He didn't like the idea that someone was intercepting his mail.
Once he found that Dobby could deliver mail between the four of them, he had been getting news from the wizarding world, and nobody was acting. The ministry wasn't acting, hell, not even Dumbledore was acting. What was worse was that as far as he could tell, was that Dumbledore left him out to dry.
Dumbledore let him take the fall and now the entirety of the magical community abandoned him, consigned him to the loony bin.
He was almost out of allies. His fight with riddle showed just how woefully unprepared he actually was to fight. And yet he had no one to teach him how to fight. Dumbledore certainly wasn't teaching him anything.
Sirius had been an auror before he had been thrown in Azkaban. But Harry had no idea where he was. Not that he could do any training over the summer in the first place. The ministry would have him expelled before he could teach himself anything.
'Perhaps they'll send me some useful material for my birthday next week,' Harry mused. 'There has to be something that I could learn that won't set off the ministry detectors.'
A loud rasping noise from directly behind him and a piercing shriek in his ear pulled Harry back to the world around him. Just to realize that the playground was covered in a fine layer of frost.
Trying to get to his feet, draw his wand, and turn around, landed Harry on his back with his foot wrapped in chain of the swing set.
While disentangling himself from the swing, he saw them. Two dementors were hovering above him, and his vision was going black around the edges.
One of the dementors was descending on him quickly. It's rasping breath growing louder, sucking at the air.
As Harry was struggling to raise his wand, his strength sapped by the proximity to the dementors, he felt a cold wind blow at him from behind, and he could see snow fly past him.
Harry's world went dark and he heard a voice that froze his very blood.
"Desist."
A/N
I know this chapter was definitely not the greatest but this is the first time I've written for fun in a very long time but I am trying once again because I could not let go of this story idea.
I have no idea how often I'll be able to update because I am going to college, and I'm not I am not a particularly fast writer in the first place.
This story will not be abandoned, I have most of it planned out but I would still appreciate comments and ideas to help the process along.
Flames will be ignored.
Please comment and review.