Debt
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Authors note: My first Harry Potter fanfic. Just a little bunny that broke down the door, bludgeoned me and refused me any sleep unless it was written out.
And do I really have to say that I don't own any of the things you recognise in this story? All the characters and so on belongs to people much wealthier than me, and I make no money from their use.
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Harry Potter was not a happy teenager.
Not very unusual, perhaps, seeing as teenagers are expected to be troubled and angsty. At least in stories, or they wouldn't be much fun reading about.
Anyway, Harry was troubled (and angsty), because his godfather, Sirius Black, had recently gotten himself killed in a fight with his own cousin, the insane Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius had been stupid enough to stop and gloat at his opponent, and thereby gotten hit by a simple stunner. Unfortunately, he then proceeded to fall through The Veil, an artefact that acted as a one-way portal between the world of the living and the dead.
In the weeks since, Harry had alternated between sulking and raging at the unfairness of it all. One moment he took all the blame for himself, the next he placed it on Bellatrix for casting the spell, or on Snape for sending Sirius to the Department of Mysteries, or on Umbridge for driving Dumbledore away from Hogwarts.
Of course, he couldn't spend all his time angsting. After the battle, Dumbledore had finally revealed why Voldemort had targeted Harry and killed his parents. The prophesy. Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, was the one person who could defeat you-know-who (Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka "I am Lord Voldemort").
Not being stupid (merely pretending to be for years, since upstaging his cousin Dudley inevitably led to punishment from his aunt and uncle), Harry had realised that he needed to prepare for the inevitable fight. After all, as a regular teenager, there was no chance that he could defeat the most powerful Dark Lord in recent times. So, he had begun training.
Since his "friends" seemed to ignore him completely (he hadn't received a single letter since school ended) and his "family" was doing the same after being threatened by Moody, Harry was free to spend the days practising.
Now, at first he had only been jogging, lifting weights and learning muggle martial-arts from a convenient neighbour who happened to feel sorry for the abused teen, and who also was a retired ninja. Then Harry had received a letter from Gringotts bank. The letter had informed him that Sirius had left all his money (several million galleons worth), properties (a large number, including number 12 Grimmauld Place) and his entire vintage collection of Playwizard to Harry. Oh, and Harry had also been chosen as Sirius's heir as Lord Black, head of the Most Ancient and Noble House Black. As such, Harry was now emancipated, and legally an adult.
Being a teenager, Harry had thoroughly enjoyed the magazines several times before he realised that as an adult, he could now use magic freely.
The day after, a very tired teenager (with blisters in his palm) had travelled to Diagon alley and purchased a large number of books containing many powerful spells.
And since then Harry had practised magic as well as jogging, lifting weights and learning the ways of the ninja. The results were obvious. He was rapidly growing taller (somehow the practice was overcoming years of malnutrition and starvation), stronger and quicker. His spellwork was improving rapidly, and he now regularly won against his martial-arts teacher (even without using magic).
Then summer ended. School began, and Harry returned to Hogwarts.
Harry proceeded to kick Draco Malfoy's ass, and kill Snape for being a greasy git.
And then the numerous lifedebts Harry owed the professor came back to bite his ass, break his magical core, and slowly kill him as he lay suffering in the hospital wing, with Madam Pomfrey, headmaster Dumbledore and the numerous healers brought in from St. Mungo's unable to do anything to help as the ancient magic slowly tore the life away from the last hope of the wizarding world.
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Author's note: very tired now. Anyway, just had to write the end. Basically, cliché: Harry grows powerful, rich and then kills Severus Snape. Who saved Harry's life on numerous occasions.