A Chance For Change
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Though I wish I did, I truly do, along with the millions of other authors on FanFiction! :D
Update: revised 7-30-12
Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Office
Summer Before Harry's Third Year
Dumbledore sat in his office thinking over what type of year this would be. He was also debating with himself whither or not to allow Hagrid to become The Care of Magical Creatures Professor. When there was a knock at the door he sat up straighter, had he had a meeting with someone and forget?
"Come in." the door opened to reveal a woman with long red hair with black streaks, her purple eyes seemed to smile at him. She was wearing muggle jeans and a black t-shirt, and he recognized her immediately.
"What brings the Shadow Inu of the North to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked, slightly suspicious of the demons motives. True, she had helped during the last war with Voldemort, but that was because both sides had done her injustice, but she chose the light. His eyes narrowed slightly as she laughed.
"One Harry Potter, is the reason I'm here." at this Dumbledore stood up.
"Why would he concern you?" She couldn't possibly be thinking of taking him away? He remember clearly this same woman, offering Voldemort when he was a teen, a chance to forget destiny and become powerful. Voldemort had considered it but ultimately declined for reasons the headmaster rather not remember. Now here was that same woman looking for another powerful student. He highly doubted it was a coincidence.
"You know why I'm interested in him, but, that is unrelated. I came here to offer to teach Care of Magical Creatures. I truly missed Lady Hogwarts, and thought it would be refreshing to teach young ones again." he started at the demoness thoughtfully. If he allowed her in, she would scout out Harry, but in that same hand she may not. If she did scout Harry, he would be out of danger if he accepted her offer, he knew this well, the woman protected those she took on with great power. The prophecy would also become null, do to Harry willingly choosing to leave. In the end the woman being her was more positive then negative. He sat back down motioning for her to take a seat which she did.
"I see, if you truly want to teach, I must ask. Is it for the year, or for a few years?" she seemed to think.
"Right now, I would say for only a year. I will be brutally honest, I want Harry with me. I won't sugar coat it." he nodded. That was true, she never would never will. She had a tendency to say things that needed to be said no matter how brutal.
"I figured as much, I cant say it wouldn't be a marvelous opportunity for him, but there is the prophecy to worry about." she nodded and shrugged her shoulders.
"Its his choice. I heard Sirius escaped prison. I'm sort of happy about that. I feel that he should have had a trial and I know for a fact it wasn't Sirius who betrayed the Potters." at this Dumbledore seemed to stiffen.
"Of course. As long as your in the school I would think, he would stay away." she raised an eyebrow.
"No, he wouldn't. I told him years ago I would help him with anything he needed, within reason." this seemed to make Dumbledore rethink her appointment.
"Look Albus, Remus was close to Sirius as well and he is teaching. IF Sirius IS after Harry I will attack, other words, I help him." this seemed to relax him in the slightest.
"Very well, be here September 1st." she nodded getting up and walking out. When the door closed he sighed. This would be a strange year.
Dursley Household,
Harry Potter's room
One Harry Potter sat lounging on his bed scowling at his ceiling. He hated the fact "Aunt Marige" would be staying with them for the week. The only bright side to it seemed to be after that week, he would be returning to Hogwarts. He realized long ago, Hogwarts was a being of great power, not just a castle. She would always welcome him back, and that made the summers bearable. He had never told Ron or Hermione about that, he had a feeling that they would truly think he lost it. A knock at the door made him sit up. He listened intently and he heard a woman's voice, much to kind to be Marige's, speak.
"Mrs. Duresly I presume?" it asked. He stiffened. Who could that be, he didn't recognize it. Could it be a witch?
"Yes and who might you be?" his aunt asked icily. He got off his bed and walked toward the staircase and he saw the woman who spoke. Her hair was hanging down her back, the red a shade darker then then Ron's, with black streaks going through it. Her purple eyes looked up as if sensing him.
"Young Mr. Potter I presume? I'm here to take you to Diegon Ally. Please grab your school things. I also have a letter from the Headmaster for you as well." Harry started at her and then ran back to his room to grab his things. He heard the woman say to his aunt.
"You know, karma has a bad habit of biting people in the ass. Unlike most witches and wizards, I'm not bound by there laws. I have taken an interest in Young Harry. If I sense you doing him any harm, it is I you will need to deal with." he heard his aunt give a slight squeak and head off the other way. As he walked down the steeps the woman looked at him.
"My name is Andromada Morningstar, I will actually be you Care of Magical Creatures Professor this year. For now, since we are not in school, you may call me Andy." he nodded still trying to process what the woman had meant earlier. She snapped her fingers at the padlock on Hedwig's cage making it disintegrate.
"You should let her spread her wings. Owls tended to hate being confined." he nodded and opened the door letting Hedwig out who flew off. He looked back at the woman and asked,
"How are we getting out of here?" this earned him a laugh and then he realized her never got his Hogesmead form signed and frowned.
"First of I can sign your form. Those horrid humans would never do it." he frowned at her use of humans instead of muggles, "secondly we are shadow walking there." she grabbed his shoulder and they vanished in a swirl of black smoke. When his eye sight re-focused he noticed they were on the side of Gringots.
"Wicked! What was that!" he asked her. She raised an amused eyebrow.
"Its called shadow walking. Its a form of transportation for Shadow Inus." this made him falter.
"Shadow Inus? Isn't that a type of dog demon?" he had read about them at one point. Shadow Inus were very rare, and extremely powerful. He really hoped this woman meant no harm he had started liking her already.
"Yes they are. I mean no harm Harry, but you see, I'm the last of my kind. I scout out people who could be worthy worriers. And you fit the criteria." he let a small smirk cross his features. It made him feel good to be complimented by her, he could sense great power from her, more power then Dumbledore possessed when angry.
"So, how old are you?" she snorted as they began to walk toward Gringiots.
"Over a millennium." he whistled.
"Impressive, you only look 25." she nodded.
"Demons age slower then humans. Almost as if we're caught in time." she walked up to the front desk and cleared her throat and the goblin looked up.
"How may I help you?"
"Morningstar, Potter, and Immortal vault." her voice held a icy tone when she said Immortal. Harry noticed but said nothing thinking it best. The goblin raised an eyebrow.
"The Morningstar and Immortal vaults haven't been touched in 79 of years. I need ID." she huffed but took out her wand and the keys to the two vaults. The goblin studied the wand and ran a glowing wand over it nodding.
"Would you mind doing a blood test Lady Morningstar. As you know your vault is linked to blood." she nodded and to Harry's surprise bit her wrist, with her fangs that he didn't know she had, and offered the wrist to the goblin who took a vile and let a few drops fall in it and turned a black-red color and he the goblin nodded.
"Very good. I assume Mr. Potter is with you. You should be honored," the goblin directed at Harry, "Most mortals would never get the chance to see these vaults." the goblin lead them back to the carts and Andromeda sat down with a sigh and Harry sat next to her. The cart started to move and Andromeda turned to him,
"The goblin spoke the truth. Many mortals would kill to see these vaults. The only other wizard I allowed down her was a young Slythrerin." at this Harry looked up.
"Who?" a small smile tugged at the woman's lips.
"Tom Riddle. He had immense power, it impressed me. I scouted him, as I'm doing you, but he refused to leave the mortal realm." Harry's eyes widened.
"Voldemort? He impressed you enough for you for you to show him your vaults?" Harry's mind was reeling. Was it possible this woman knew more about both him and Voldemort then she let on?
"Yes. You see Harry, Dumbledore was the cause of my child's death. In theory I should have sided with Voldemort. I chose to help Dumbledore though, but that was because I enjoyed your mother's presence and company." he started wide eyed at her, as the cart slowed to his vault she got up.
"You should grab some money." he got out handing the goblin his vault key. As the goblin opened the vault she stayed in the cart while Harry grabbed some money. Once they were both back in the cart it took off again. It took 10 minutes to get down to the Morningstar vault. When the door to the vault opened Harry felt his jaw drop. Among having a huge amount of money there were many items as well, books, jewelry, weapons and much more. She motioned for Harry to follow her and he did.
"Its impressive I assume by the look on your face." Harry shut his mouth and snorted.
"Impressive? Its amazing!" she laughed grabbing a few scrolls. She noticed, him looking at a emerald necklace, it had a snake wrapped around the emerald and the chain was silver.
"You like it?" she said starling him. He nodded and she picked up the necklace.
"It was a gift from Tom. Why don't you take it? It has to do with Parsaltoung, you may find it useful." she draped the necklace over his neck, and he nodded. The fact that Voldemort had given it to her made him seem more human, surprisingly Harry felt comforted by that piece of information. She grabbed one last scroll before ushering him out. It took another 10 minutes to get down to the Immortal vault. And when the door to this vault opened Harry almost fainted. No money. Just weapons, books, jewelry, scrolls and more. From all different ages and time periods. He got out fallowing Andromada.
"Hey whats this?" he asked at one point. She walked over from where she was searching for god only knew what and looked at what he was pointing at. It was a red ruby set in a claw ring but he felt magic pulsating from it. She picked it up and her eyes got distant for a moment.
"My mating ring." he looked at her shocked.
"Why is it in a vault? Wouldn't you wear it like a wedding band?" she met his eyes for a few moments before looking away.
"No. This ring holds the power of both me and my mate. Separate we are powerful, scarily so, but together...we could destroy the world if we so wished. This ring stays here so it won't end up in the wrong hands." Harry nodded and saw her put the ring back on the red cushion. She went back to looking through scrolls and Harry noticed there was a section for only wands. He wondered over and started looking through them.
"Wondering why there are so many wands?" she asked. He looked at her noticing her putting a few more scrolls in her bag. (He figured it was bottomless since she had put more then 40 scrolls in that one tiny bag) at his nod she said, "Over the centuries wands considered too powerful for humans were placed her, do you know how to spread your magic to feel things around you?" he nodded and did so and felt a soft vibration go through him.
"Should I fallow the feeling?" she nodded, and he walked a few shelves over and took out the box that was giving off the feeling and took it out opening it. Inside lay a black wand with a silver phoenix engraved in it. Andromada looked at it nodding in approval.
"Suits you. The core is basilisk venom, but two other substances balance it out, a black phoenix feather and unicorn hair. It means you prefer being neutral. It also, means forgetting destiny. Those three substances have never been in another wand." Harry looked at it and felt the power the wand held, it was immense.
"Take it, I would hate to see it sit here." she said. Harry nodded and put his old wand in the case the phoenix wand once resided. The box turned to stone and vanished moments after. Harry fallowed Andromada out of the vault and they headed back toward the lobby, the ride took 20 minutes, and once back at the surface he had to sign paperwork about the necklace and wand he had been given. After that they went to check into The Leaky Cauldron, then headed into Diegon Ally.
"I let you start getting your stuff. I myself want to look for a familiar." Andy said. They decided to to meet at the ice cream shop in an hour.
With Andromada
She wondered into the pet shop looking around. Highly doubting to find a suitable familiar here she was surprised when a tiger cub rubbed against her leg. Its fur was white and it had black strips going across its body. The owner walked over to pick up the cub who hissed and batted the hand away. When Andy attempted to pick the cub up it happily jumped into her arms snuggling close and purring.
"How much for this little one?" she asked scratching behind the tigers ear. The store owner looked shock for a few moments then cleared his throat.
"100 gallons." he said. She nodded handing over the money before walking out with the cub in her arms. Sniffing the air she realized it was a male cub and giggled. Her mate was gonna have her head for this but she could care less.
"I think I'll call you Shiro little one. After a good friend of mine, that sound good?" the cub purred happily and she laughed some more.
With Harry
He had gotten all his school supplies when he heard hissing. Looking around for the source he was surprised to see a large snake looking at him.
"Hello?" he hissed backed.
"Your not Master Tom! Leave me alone!" it hissed back, eyes widening he asked.
"You mean Voldemort correct?" the snake nodded, he reached out his hand, "I know someone who once knew him, would you like me to take you to her?" the snake hesitated for a few moments but then slithered up his arms to his shoulder.
"Thank you sir." Harry nodded and started heading toward the ice cream shop receiving glares and disgusted looks. Most likely due to the giant snake on his shoulders.
"Whats your name?" he asked the snake.
"Nigini sir." she said resting her head on his shoulder. He nodded before adding,
"No need to call me sir, just Harry." she nodded and soon they were at the ice cream shop. Harry caught sight of Andy and hurried over. She raised an eyebrow.
"Where did you get the giant snake from?" he was about to answer when he saw the tiger cub.
"Where the bloody hell did you get a tiger?" he asked right back. She laughed.
"Pet store, now where did you get the snake."
"Found her, said she was looking for Master Tom." Andy's eyes widened and to Harry's immense surprise hissed out to the snake,
"Nigini is that you?" the snake looked up and if snakes could look shocked this one sure did.
"Lady Andy! I had know idea!" the snake almost bowed but Andy just pet her head.
"Its fine. Would you mind staying with Harry?" the snake hesitated but only for a moment.
"Only until Master Tom returns." Andy nodded then said to Harry.
"You won't mind right?" he shook his head.
"Not really she seems nice." the snake nuzzled his cheek flicking her tongue. Making Harry laugh.
"Can you become smaller? If I remember correctly that was something you could do." Andromada said to the snake who nodded. A moment later Nigini was small enough to wrap herself around Harry's neck once.
"Very good! Now how about we head back to the Leaky Cauldron?" he nodded and they started on there way and Harry couldn't help but think this is the happiest he had been in a long time. And somewhere deep in Harry's soul two deep green eyes opened.
Well that's all for this chapter. Any guesses to whats up with Harry? You should all know ^^ any way to my viewers of Power and Friendship of Love, I'm sorry to say but that story is to be discontinued. I think its a pointless endeavor. I can't see it ending any time soon. I'm sorry :(
But I have advanced as a writer and think this story will be a good new start. Love you all!
-Andromada