FOREWORD

Soon after I finished my first story in The Cetra Heritage Saga, I began writing this one, being the idiot that I am. Of course, it will have been some time before you read it. Unlike Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage, this story won't be posted in episodes. Rather, it will have chapters posted once a day (or more frequently if I feel like it). Frankly, after nearly melting my brain finishing the previous story, it's just as well.

For those of you looking for an actual adventure in the world of Harry Potter or of Final Fantasy VII, this, unfortunately, is not for you. It's a nice period of calm (or near-calm) sandwiched between two storms. It's about a young boy getting probably the first decent birthday of his life, meeting new friends, and mentors. We'll see a very different beginning to the relationship between Snape and Harry, one that will bear, hopefully, less bitter fruit than in canon. We will see Dumbledore being held to account for his well-meant but poor decisions regarding Harry. But above all, we will see Harry get a happy birthday. And I am laying further groundwork for Book 2 of The Cetra Heritage Saga, Harry Gainsborough and the Philosopher's Stone.

I'm continually amazed at how well my story has been received. I am leaving the following stats blank until the time comes for me to finally publish this foreword, but I am astonished to have gotten nearly 27K views, 127 favourites, 152 follows, and 73 reviews, all in just over a month. Seriously, this stuff's gonna go to my head. Thanks, guys.

For this story, I won't be including a soundtrack with each chapter, instead posting a suggested soundtrack at the end of the story. I've got some interesting themes in mind, including a theme that, long before I even started writing fanfic, I thought was a pretty damn good one for Snape.

Anyway, before I get onto the disclaimers, I'll answer the reviews from The Cetra Heritage that I haven't, as of yet, answered…

Blackholelord: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. You will have to wait some time before Harry enters Hogwarts. However, this interquel fic will introduce more Potterverse characters into the Final Fantasy VII world.

lokarryn: Thank you. I think people will be pleasantly surprised with the direction I take Luna in.

Fayth of Karvose: I could be evil and say 'Wait and see', but I will put you (and everyone else) out of their misery: while in many ways Luna is like Sephiroth (in that she is a human/Jenova hybrid), in others, she is very different. In fact, she is closer to a more moral (and more loopy) version of the Jenova character as I have written. I've also decided to have her meet Jenova, Aerith, and Harry very early on during the events of Harry Gainsborough and the Philosopher's Stone. Harry, Jenova, and Aerith will be staying at the Burrow for the week leading up to the departure of the Hogwarts Express, and Luna comes around for a visit. Hilarity will ensue. I will reveal the details of how Luna came to be, and why, in the story.

Guest, aka The Crimson Mage: Wait and see.

shunshu: Sorry, I don't speak Spanish. However, after translating your review with Google Translate, I have to say, thanks.

Kira Akuma: Well, Sephiroth is a tenacious SOB, as is Hojo. Let's just say that, should I even get that far, Sephiroth will appear even later than his appearance in Advent Children. In a major twist that I have in mind.

And last, but certainly not least, the very enthusiastic Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros: I never thought about what Sirius' Limit Breaks are called, as I never wrote any in. I won't rule out the possibility of using one of those names though, as they're quite good names. Grimm Goodbye is an excellent one, and I will credit you in the annotations if I use it, or any of the others.

My version of Scarlet doesn't have implants (she does go to a cosmetic surgeon, for nipping, tucking, and botox), but Jenova does have her measure. And you are right: her ego and sense of power is over-inflated and hollow. And thanks for your opinion on Hojo's demise. I thought having Jenova literally rip him apart was a satisfying, if overly rapid end to the man.

I'm not sure how you got Naruto and Sasuke out of Diamond and Ultima Weapons. I'm not a Naruto fan, though I have read the first few volumes of the manga, and have a few fanfics favourited. Oh, and I like LittleKuriboh's Naruto spoof series, for the most part (the latest episode, sadly, fell into very unfunny territory). My inspirations for their characters were partly the Angels as portrayed in Gregg Landsmann's Evangelion fanfic, Nobody Dies, and, I realised while writing this reply, the Elder Silurian and the Young Silurian from Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Holy shit, I wished I thought of that. I like how you got that thing Kuja said about Brahne, and applied it to Scarlet. They may look nothing alike, but their desire for power above everything does make them alike within. The End of the Ugly Desire, indeed.

Harry gets contact lenses by this point in time. The Reunion between Luna and Jenova, as noted above, does take place sooner, though it's more of a reunion than a Reunion. I just put the capitalisation in Luna's last words to be, and I quote Mr Popo from Dragonball Z Abridged, '****ing ominous', as well as to demonstrate what link she has to the Final Fantasy VII universe. And as for Ginny and Yuffie, well, let's just say that they meet in this fic, and I took your comments on board. It doesn't happen like you thought it might, but you might get a kick out of it, and I acknowledged you in the annotations.

Now for your numbered responses in one of your reviews:

1. Although I had no plans for Golden Saucer or Costa del Sol, having some of Harry's friends come to the Planet during the holidays was always a possibility. A few of the Potterverse characters (besides Harry and Sirius) will make the Planet their permanent home. Lupin, for example.

2. If he can get enough money from his Black family vault, Sirius may just do that, and bring Kreacher with him. I wonder how Kreacher will do in sunny Costa del Sol? Thanks for the idea.

3. Well, let's just say that she is coming to Hogwarts, as is Aerith, for at least the first year.

4. I don't think Rufus will get involved. But the goblins will be interested in what those from the Planet have to offer.

5. Who goes along with Harry? If it's Aerith or Jenova, they will be coming over. Aerith will learn some of the magic of Earth from Sirius. Jenova knows some spells already from Voldemort's memory.

6. I had this comment in mind when I wrote a sequence in the fifth chapter, where Harry gets his presents. Note Reeve's present.

Anyway, now for the disclaimers. Firstly, there will be little to no bashing of the Harry Potter characters.

Secondly, there will be annotations up the wazoo. You have been warned.

Finally, the following is a fan-based work. Final Fantasy VII and Harry Potter are the properties of their respective owners. Please support the official release. Otherwise, I'll set the Jenova's Witnesses on you.

Previously on The Cetra Heritage Saga…

2000 years ago, on a world known as Gaia, otherwise known as the Planet, an alien entity fell from the skies, bringing calamity in its wake. A group of humans with magical ability, known as the Ancients or the Cetra, dubbed this monstrous being Jenova. Some Cetra managed to seal Jenova, while others plead to the Goddess of their world, Minerva, to grant them passage to another world. Minerva granted this boon, with a number of Cetra exiling themselves to a world known as Earth. There, they intermingled and bred with the magical population, boosting their numbers and power. But the Cetra Heritage of the wizards and witches soon passed into myth and legend. And the goddess of Gaia, Minerva, watched, and lamented, as her people began to die out on her world, while on Earth, her people forgot her.

However, two millennia after Jenova arrived on Gaia, an evil wizard known as Voldemort was vanquished, seemingly by the infant child of his latest victims. Harry Potter was sent to live with his closest, non-magical relatives by Professor Dumbledore, in a well-meant, but ultimately poor decision. Intending to shield him from his fame and from reprisals from Voldemort's followers, Dumbledore had unwittingly condemned Harry to a life where he was neglected at best, and at worst, abused.

It came to a head one cold night, when Harry's uncle beat him in a drunken rage. Harry, in pain and in despair, cried out for deliverance. Minerva granted it, bringing him back to the place where his ancestors once dwelled, and not coincidentally, into the path of one who would help him.

Aerith Gainsborough was the last of the Ancients on the Planet. She had joined a ragtag group of rebels against the all-powerful Shinra Electric Company, dubbed AVALANCHE, but left for the ancestral city of her people, partly because she was worried about one of her fellow party members, Cloud Strife. Cloud had been a good friend and more, but she was increasingly disturbed by his resemblance to a long-dead friend, Zack Fair, as well as his susceptibility to being controlled by Sephiroth. Sephiroth was one of Shinra's top warriors, from their elite SOLDIER group, but when he learned about the truth of his origins, as an engineered super-soldier, enhanced with Jenova cells, he went insane, and would eventually formulate a mad plan to become a deity.

Aerith, however, had a plan. She would pray for Holy, the Ultimate White Magic, and it would help destroy Sephiroth, and what he planned to summon, Meteor, the Ultimate Black Magic. Coming across Harry, and told of his situation by Minerva, Aerith resolved to take him under her wing. With his help, she summoned Holy, though it was soon blocked by Sephiroth's will. Sephiroth himself tried to murder Aerith, only to be thwarted at the last second by Harry's desperate intervention. During a subsequent fight with a Jenova monster conjured by Sephiroth, Harry was infected by the creature, hosting the last remnants of Jenova's consciousness that refused to bow to Sephiroth's will. Jenova destroyed a fragment of Voldemort's soul hiding within Harry's scar.

Harry and Aerith re-joined AVALANCHE, and made their way to the Crater where Sephiroth lurked. Cloud, however, began to become suspicious of Harry, his paranoia stoked partly by Sephiroth's influence, and partly by the revelation that he had thought himself a SOLDIER, but instead had conflated his memories with Zack's. During another confrontation with Sephiroth and another Jenova creature under his control, events came to a head: after defeating the Jenova creature, the Jenova consciousness that had been hiding within Harry emerged, and formed herself a new body from the vanquished creature's remains. Cloud, influenced by Sephiroth, attacked her, and nearly killed Aerith and Harry in the process. When he realised what he had done, he fled to try and revenge himself on Sephiroth.

However, Sephiroth was ready. As everyone gathered for a showdown, Sephiroth summoned Meteor, and in the confusion, Cloud and his childhood friend Tifa were left behind. AVALANCHE and its new members, including Jenova, ended up prisoners of Shinra, who were struggling to deal with the events. Thanks to Jenova, Yuffie, and Cait Sith, AVALANCHE escaped, though they were forced to bring along Rufus Shinra, President of Shinra, who was deposed by a traitorous underling, Scarlet.

What followed was a series of strange and exciting adventures. Cloud and Tifa were found in Mideel, along with another wizard from Earth: none other than Harry's own godfather and accused mass-murderer, Sirius Black. But their reunion was short-lived, for Ultima Weapon, an extremely powerful beast created by the Planet to destroy Jenova and strengthen the Lifestream, attacked. Harry, Aerith, Cloud, Tifa, Rufus, and Jenova fell into the Lifestream. There, they learned more about each other's memories, including a startling revelation: Jenova was like Minerva once, the governing consciousness of a planet, who had journeyed across the stars to colonise another world when her old one died in disaster.

The six unfortunates emerged from the Lifestream perhaps a little wiser, and they resolved, along with AVALANCHE and its allies, to save the world from Sephiroth. However, events led to Aerith, Harry, along with pilot Cid Highwind and technician Shera being captured by Shinra once more. A series of battles ensued as differing factions of Shinra clashed, and two Weapons attacked the city of Midgar. Evil scientist Hojo was the first casualty, despite becoming another Jenova creature, while both Diamond Weapon and Ultima Weapon fell to Harry and Jenova respectively. Scarlet, in a spiteful last-ditch effort, held Harry hostage, but his magic helped him escape her, and Barrett Wallace, whose hometown was wiped out by Scarlet, took her life in revenge.

AVALANCHE and their allies in Shinra descended into the Crater where Sephiroth lurked, determined to free Holy. However, Sephiroth was more powerful than they could imagine. But with encouragement from the dead, brought by Minerva from the Lifestream to cheer them on, the group managed to defeat Sephiroth, despite an arduous series of battles and Sephiroth's inhuman tenacity.

With Sephiroth finally vanquished, Holy is unleashed, and manages to destroy Meteor before it comes too close to become a problem. It leaves the once-great city of Midgar dangerously unstable, as a warning to humanity against exploiting the Lifestream.

Months later, the Planet is recovering. Rufus Shinra and Jenova have teamed up, taking Shinra Inc in a surprisingly more altruistic direction, determined to obtain power by more benign means. AVALANCHE is helping the world recover. And Harry has been adopted by Aerith's mother, Elmyra Gainsborough, and is now looking forward to his first real birthday, and soon, his first year at Hogwarts, for which he will return to Earth for…