TRANSFERRED OVER FROM CHAOS IN THE COSMOS – OLD WORK.

Been a long time since I worked on anything related to Legacy, last couple of chapters got reviews and comments that left me thinking about how the story is developing and I've been thinking on that. Should start working on chapter 14 proper over the long weekend, with a bit of luck. Anyway I thought I'd get back into the swing of things by trying my hand at the first chapter of the alterative plot I'd considered doing… Fair warning to people, this may contain what could be mistaken as the beginning of a Harry/Hermione ship [I don't ship anyone and I'm not planning to start].

Like always, I really need feedback on these so I can find out what people like/dislike and so I can work out what areas I need to improve on. So please, review. Another chapter, another attempt to entertain you all. I honestly do not have anything else to add, so on with the show!

'Harry Potter' belongs to J K Rowling.

'Legacy of Kain' belongs to Crystal Dynamics.

XXXXX

XX Platform Nine and Three Quarters (September First) XX

As Harry emerged from the side-chamber that housed the King's Cross floo entrance he brushed some ash from his cloak and tried to keep his lunch down. Magical transport never agreed with him and Harry didn't feel to fond of the floo or portkeys either. Taking his trunk, and Glaucus' cage, from Kreacher Harry bid his only true friend farewell and began to shove his way through the slowly growing crowd surrounding the enchanted muggle train.

"Watch it." Harry snapped as he bumped into a bushy hair girl in muggle clothing. Not bothering to wait, and ignoring the muttered words about his rudeness, Harry boarded the train and set out in search for a carriage. After struggling for a moment to stow his case harry slumped down next to the window and closed his eyes, only to snap them open when Glaucus let out a sharp shriek. "Ugh, what? You want to fly to Scotland? Alright, off you go."

No sooner had his owl set northward then Harry had the window closed and the blind drawn down to dim the light and ease his slowly growing headache. Tilting his head to the side Harry listened to the mass of students and parents as they said their goodbyes and parted, some clambering onto the train and others retreating back to wave teary farewells. As he slowly drifted off to sleep the compartment's door slide open and the girl, now dressed in the unadorned robes of an unsorted First Year, entered.

"Sorry can I sit here?" She asked as she dragged her trunk in and sat down.

"You already have." Harry pointed out, not opening his eyes or bothering to show any other sign that he acknowledged her presence. Shifting slightly in his seat, trying to get comfy and sleep, Harry tried to ignore the girl but her constant fidgeting about caused the seat to squeak and her robes to rustle. Growling to himself harry opened his eyes and fixed her with his best glare. "Can't you sit still for five minutes?"

"I've only been here for a minute." The girl defended, her voice was high pitched and had a 'little know-it-all' twang to it. "And what's wrong with your eyes?"

"Nothing's wrong with my eyes." Harry huffed although he quickly looked to the compartment door's small window to check his reflection. Seeing that they were still their normal tarnished gold, and that he only had two, Harry stared accusingly at the girl. "What's wrong with my eyes?"

"They're yellow and that's not normal." The girl said matter of factly and in a tone that made Harry thing he should feel dumb for not know that yellow isn't normal.

"Maybe not for the muggles, but you'll find that my eyes are far from rare in Our World." Harry challenged with hints of superiority in his tone and his emphasis on 'Our World', he may not agree with his estranged family on all subjects but there was a definite 'them and us' to his world view.

"Your world?" The girl repeated with a wonderfully amusing look of confusion on her face. "What do you mean your world?"

"Witches and wizards, of course." Harry said bluntly as he rooted through his trunk for a book. "Far more interesting than the muggles… Your parents are muggle, right?"

"Yes, they're dentists." The girl answered, not quiet catching his tone of voice and apparently thinking that the word dentists would mean something to him. "Your parents are magic then?"

"My mother was the head of one of the oldest, and wealthiest, Pureblood families in all of England." Harry said after a moment of silence. "Now I am… I guess."

"Your mother was… Oh, oh I'm sorry." The girl said as she worked out what he'd meant. What followed was the kind of awkward silence that comes about because someone mentioned something they didn't know they should have. The silence continued as the train pulled out of the station and began its long trek north.

Harry enjoyed the silence, a chance to lose himself in his school books and keep his mind off his family. Shortly after he'd stopped talking the girl had retrieved a book of her own, Hogwarts: A History, and started reading up on the school and world she was now part of. The two sat there, not speaking a word to one another, for some time before the compartment door opened and a small blond boy poked his head in.

"S-sorry but did either of you see a toad?" The boy asked as he looked between Harry and the girl.

"No." Harry said in a tone that implied he wanted to add 'now go away' to the end of his sentence.

"Oh, sorry." The boy said as his face fell. "Oh no, I've lost him… Gran's going to get annoyed now."

"Why would your granny care about a toad?" Harry couldn't help but ask, looking up from his book and staring at the boy in confusion.

"He was a gift from my great-uncle Algie." The boy said before crouching down and looking under the seats. "And now I can't find him."

"Don't worry, we'll help you find him." The girl said as she stood up and smiled, although the smile turned into a scowl directed at Harry after he snorted loudly and turned the page of his Potions textbook. "Well I'll help you look."

"Good riddance." Harry yawned once the compartment was empty. Getting up to swap his Potions book for his Charms text Harry looked at the door and thought for a minute before letting out a sigh and following the two out of the compartment. Stopping the first student he passed, a tall Hufflepuff, Harry asked if the boy knew the Summoning Charm.

"Yeah, why?" The boy asked as he and Harry moved to allow a group of Ravenclaws to pass.

"There's a first year wondering around looking for his lost toad, I'll give you five galleons if you'll find him and summon the damn thing." Harry answered before fishing the coins out of his robes. "Deal?"

"Alright." The boy shrugged before taking the coins and setting off in search of the toadless First Year.

Making his way back to his compartment, and deciding to read something other than his Charms book, Harry rooted out a copy of Dark Defence. While 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection' was a good source of the basics, Harry preferred the case studies and example that Lyesmith had included in his work as it made understanding the topic easier. That the text was considered standard reading for Aurors also helped make it appealing. Opening the book and starting on the chapter dedicated to curses, Harry let time slip away.

"You know, that was a nice thing you did for Neville." A voice said, taking Harry out of his book and alerting him to the girl's return.

"For who?" Harry asked while he wondered when the witch with the snacks would come around.

"For Neville, the boy who'd lost his toad." The girl said as she settled down into her seat. "His name's Neville Longbottom, we introduced ourselves while looking for Trevor."

"…Longbottom?" Harry muttered before going to the compartment doors and checking if the boy, Neville, was still around. "I'll remember that and avoid the boy from now on."

"Why would you avoid him?" The girl asked, she seemed to ask a lot of questions, as Harry returned to his seat.

"The Longbottoms and the Blacks aren't on the best of terms at the moment… Not sure if they hate us more or less than the Lestrange family." Harry explained as he sat down and turned to look out the window. "Bad things from the war, wounds still fresh and all that."

"Your family fought against the Death Eaters?" The girl asked, excitement in her voice. "I've read about all about the Dark Lord and his defeat by the young Darren Potter, I met him earlier on the train actually."

"No my family was neutral, but leaned in favour of the Death Eaters and their dark lord." Harry told her, smirking slightly at the shocked expression on her face when he did. "One cousin was neutral but would have supported the Ministry, she married a muggleborn, while my other two cousins sided with Voldemort… One is serving life in Azkaban for crimes in his name, crimes against the Longbottom family."

"How could your family do that to innocent people?" The girl gasped in shock.

"Ask them, they did it." Harry said dismissively. "Harry Black did nothing in the War and has nothing to answer for."

"Well I … that's true you did nothing, but why would your family do those kinds of things?" The girl asked.

"Why do the muggles do the same?" Harry countered. "Muggles kill, torture and discriminate against their own all the time. The Wizarding World is just smaller, so it seems worse."

"Oh." The girl said softly before falling silent for a while. "So… Your name's Harry?"

"Huh… I am Harold J. Black, adoptive son to Walburga Black and Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." Harry introduced himself. "We are one of the oldest, wealthiest, and through blood and ancestry, magical families in all of Britain."

"Really? How old is your family? Have any of your family done great deeds? You must know all kinds of impressive magic." The girl fired off in quick succession, asking questions and making statements at a pace Harry found difficult to follow. It was almost two whole minutes before she stopped talking long enough for Harry to ask her own name, just to be polite. "Oh, I'm Hermione Granger."

"Hi." Harry said simply, unsure if she'd start into another barrage of questions. Quickly debating with himself Harry decided to try a proper conversation with her, as interacting with a muggleborn would help with future meetings between himself and Ted. "Have you read up anything about our world?"

"Oh yes, I've read Hogwarts: A History and practiced a few simple spells to get ready." Hermione said happily. "I'd imagine you know much more magic, growing up in a Wizarding household."

"Mother ensured I was taught the basics of most magical branches, preparing me for Hogwarts where I would be above the other students." Harry admitted, bragged really, before trying to think of something else to talk about. "Eh… So how much that that book teach you about the school?"

"Oh lots, did you know that the ceiling of the Great Hall is bewitched to match the sky outside? Or that it is impossible for anyone to Apparate or Disapparate on school grounds?" Hermione told him. "It explained that the entire school is enchanted to look like an old ruin to muggles and has strong wards to make sure no one comes close… Muggle technology won't work too close to the school either as the magic in the air interferes with the technology."

"I didn't about muggle things not working." Harry said as she took a breath of air before continuing.

"I know that Albus Dumbledore is the Headmaster and he was an important figure in the war against the Death Eaters" Hermione went on, seemingly delighted to be talking to someone around her age that didn't mind that she knew things. "Students are divided into four houses, each named after the four founders of Hogwarts. I've read up on all of them and think I'll be in Ravenclaw, which would be nice, but I'd love to be in Gryffindor."

"Why would you want to be a Gryffindor?" Harry snorted, he'd heard about Gryffindor and didn't think too highly of them.

"Well Albus Dumbledore was a Gryffindor and so were so many other famous wizards and witches, I'd love to follow them." Hermione admitted, looking a little sheepish. "Where do you want to go, which House do you want to be in?"

"So you'd base where you'll spend the next seven years on where other people studied and not on which house you would do best in?" Harry laughed. "That's a stupid reason to want to be a Gryffindor… So I guess you'd fit right in, wouldn't you?"

"Hey that's not fair!" Hermione snapped. "And what's wrong with being in Gryffindor?"

"Oafs that lot, they tend to be pushy, conceited, and overly self-confident and oh so convinced that they knew best." Harry spat. "I'd settle for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff but never Gryffindor."

"And what House would you like?" Hermione challenged.

"Slytherin, the home of the cunning and determined." Harry said proudly. "The Blacks have almost unanimously been sorted into Slytherin, and I he the qualities the House looks for."

"But you're still hoping for it because your family went there?" Hermione pointed out, throwing his own argument back at him. "You want to be a Slytherin because your family went there and not because it's the House you'd do best in?"

"I-I… Huh." Harry stuttered before going quiet and ending the conversation.

XX Hogwarts Great Hall XX

The First Years filed in after McGonagall and came to a halt in front of a simple stool with an old worn hat on top of it. Hundreds of candles floated above them and the transparent roof showed off the moon and stars. Professor McGonagall walked forward and produced a sheet of parchment.

"When I call your name, come forward and put on the hat." She informed them before starting alphabetically.

While he waited for his name to be called Harry turned his attention to the Staff Table, scanning if for those he knew off. At one end was the huge man Hagrid. Moving further along was a sallow-skinned man with messy hair, Severus Snape the Potions Master. A few seats past him was Albus Dumbledore himself, Harry moved quickly past him while avoiding catching his eye. The next, and final, person Harry knew of had dark red hair that fell to her shoulders. It seemed Dumbledore had given Lily Potter a position at Hogwarts.

"Black, Harry!" Professor McGonagall called, summoning Harry forward so he could be sorted. Handing the old hat to him as he approached, Harry sat and donned the ancient and tattered cloth.

"Hmmm, curious…. Oh so curious." A soft voice whispered in Harry's ear, almost inaudible. "You've got courage. And a good mind, so much knowledge lying in wait to be unlocked. I can feel it all, it hungers for a wielder. But even deeper there lays cleverness, resourcefulness, determination and a seed of greatness… No, not a seed but a plant. Withered and dormant but waiting for the nourishment to grow strong once more. But, but I sense another seed… A seed of doubt, of uncertainty."

"I don't know, do I want Slytherin for myself or because my family goes there?" Harry muttered, low enough for just the hat to hear. "What do you think, oh magical talking hat?"

"Snide remarks won't earn you points with me boy." The Hat warned. "I'll dig a little deeper but I can already tell you where you should go… Yes, yes determination and drive. Cunning and cleverness… And knowledge, my lord so much knowledge. Power and secrets just lying here, locked away in the mind of a childe just waiting to awaken. You want power, boy? Real power, don't you? Then I'll give you it, send you to where they know that knowledge is real power. The place to best relearn your lessons once more… IS RAVENCLAW!"

XXXXX

Main change between this version and normal is that in Slytherin Harry is surrounded by the belief in Tradition and stability [new and different bad] and that showing exploitable weaknesses is bad while here knowledge and the pursuit of would be what his House teaches him… And that can lead to some very bad things happening.

Square Enix has registered a domain linked to the Legacy of Kain series, warfornosgoth, hinting that we may see a sequel or reboot sometime in the future so Happy Days!

I'm dyslexic, so please point out any mistakes in spelling or grammar [I spell things the way they do in England and Ireland, so some things may look off to Americans]. Please leave your opinion via review or send them via PM, I'd like to know what you think. Well, I think that's everything I've gotta say so, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

This is Highvalour saying bye and thanks for reading.