Storm of Swords I

by Johnny Stewenski

Harry is trained from birth by Lord Voldemort. In a magical accident he travels to another universe where his parents are alive and he has a brother and a sister. Book One: The Dark Sword.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Broken Chains

The night sky over the island was dark and rainy. The island itself was quite small, no more than a little town or village, and covered with lush forestry and all sorts of unique vegetation the world had never seen before. Magical beasts roamed in these forests. Overlooking the ocean, on the very back corner of the island was a two-story mansion, painted white, looking quite elegant. There was a cobble-stoned path leading up to the mansion.

The path went all around the forest and the island, because Lord Voldemort liked to get a good look at how his magical herbs was doing and how the beasts he was cultivating were doing. But Lord Voldemort was not out in the forest, not in this rain, where thunder rumbled overhead, and lightning flashed across the sky in blue streaks.

But somebody was.

Peter Pettigrew, dressed in a tattered shambly old robe, brown, with a yellow stain on the shoulder, walked on the cobblestone path up to the white mansion, his head tucked under a hood, one arm in front of his face trying in vain to shield himself from the almost painful raindrops. This island was not like other islands, this island was different and even though it looked beautiful in the daytime as well as in stormy weather… it was different some how.

Not natural.

The lush weeds grew in streaks across the cobblestone path. Peter heedlessly stepped over the weeds, ignoring how they silently growled at him, how they moved around him, and how they were barely restrained by Lord Voldemort's will.

Lord Voldemort knew Peter was coming down the path from the designated apparition point that all of his inner circle death eaters used. But what irked him was that Peter Pettigrew had come uninvited. This had better be good.

One moment he was in his armchair, reading the tales of Bard Willargus's dealings with centaurs, a boring but informative book nonetheless. He had plans on allying himself with the Centaurs, more forces for his grand army. When Peter Pettigrew knocked hard on the old wooden doors downstairs however, Voldemort flung the book down and raced downstairs like a bolt of lightning, dark shadowy lightning. If one were watching, they would have barely seen him move. They would have only seen a dark flash of light as Voldemort flung the door open.

"My lord," simmered Peter Pettigrew. "My lord, I have news."

Voldemort's blank face did not change. "Come in, Peter." He said at last after a full minute of uncomfortable scrutinizing. "Join me for a cup of coffee." Even though he had lost his humanity making five horcruxes so far, he had not lost his manners. Beside Lord Voldemort, a black diamond spotted snake slithered in the corner and then followed the pair into the living room.

Voldemort walked into the living room, not looking behind him to see if Peter would follow but he knew Peter would. He could hear the faint footsteps on the fluffy black carpets. They sat face to face, Peter on the couch, and Voldemort comfortably sprawled on a leather armchair, an untouched bubble cup of red wine in one hand and a steaming mug of black coffee in front of the little black table in front of Wormtail.

Peter drank from the mug greedily. Voldemort watched without saying anything, but he knew even without Peter having to speak. He could read it off Peter's peripheral thinking as easily as he could read a book. Faster too.

Peter had done it, he had done his job – the job Voldemort had assigned to him. But still Voldemort could not glean the address from Peter's frail, weak mind. He had to bow down and humble himself before the ancient magic of the fidelous charm. He had to ask.

"Peter Pettigrew," he said slowly as if tasting the words in his mouth. "You have done well so far."

Peter opened his mouth to speak, but Voldemort raised one pale hand. His fingers were unnaturally long, the tips blackish and sickly from overuse of dark magic. Peter silenced at once with a slight yelp.

"Now, I only need one thing from you. Just one thing, then I will let you go home in peace and make no mistake, you will be rewarded in good time. Lord Voldemort always returns good value for good value."

"The address?" Peter asked glumly. Voldemort nodded, a slight smirk touching the corners of his grayish, thin lips.

"Yes Peter, the address."

"Number Three Godric's Hollow." Peter said solemnly. Voldemort knew it was a big occasion for Peter, who would now receive his initiation into the inner circle.

"You have done well Peter." Voldemort said as he rose from his chair, floating almost like a feather. With a slight flick of his left hand, the entire room's furniture vanished. The walls, which had once been a clean white, were now covered in shadow and darkness. The fireplace that had once been empty glowed now with a sickly red and black fire.

"Bow, now, bow in front of your lord." Voldemort hissed.

Peter gulped, he was nervous and scared, that much was obvious. But they all were, Voldemort mused. They were all so scared to take his mark – and they should be. He was a tough master, tough but fair. Peter had done him a great service, and Voldemort knew he would indeed reward him with a gift fitting for a slimy gutless traitor.

Death.

"Hold out your left hand, Peter," Voldemort said as Peter knelt, folding his dirty brown robes under his knees. His round face and ragged hair looked unwashed and greasy. His eyes had a sly greedy look to it. Ambition, Voldemort realized delightedly. The little rat had ambition… He peered into Peter's mind.

A flurry of images assaulted Voldemort. He sorted it with skill and definite purpose – He saw how Peter lied with ease, like he was professionally trained. He saw how Peter betrayed his friends, how he made them trust him, how he planted the seeds of doubt around Remus, how he wanted to rise up the ranks… to become number one. What a secret delightful ambition – To want to kill Voldemort himself and take his place.

If Lord Voldemort was human – and he was not, not anymore, now he was something much greater – he would have felt like laughing. Now he felt nothing but wry almost ironic amusement. He remembered with some embarrassment of his days of youth, when he too served a dark lord – Grindelwauld, how he too wanted to take Grindelwauld's place if the dark lord would simply accept him in his ranks….

For one fleeting moment Voldemort thought about showing Peter mercy. This thought alarmed and frightened him. Was he that weak? Grindelwauld was weak like that, he would try to outmaneuver his followers when a simple killing curse would have solved most problems.

Voldemort was not weak.

"My lord…" Peter said flateringly. "Please… mark me my lord."

Voldemort did. He drew his wand and pointed it straight at Peter's pale face.

"Avada Kedavra."

In a flash of green light, Peter was eliminated.

Voldemort had given a traitor what he deserved.

Death.

And more was to follow for the betrayed.

At the tip of Voldemort's wand there was a small ball of green light. "Nagini…" Lord Voldemort said, "You will be my sixth horcrux." Then he flung the ball of light at the snake. The ball of light took with it a shred of Voldemort's remaining soul. The diamond spotted snake twitched like it was under the crucatius. It was in a way. The curse was intense for both parties, but Voldemort barely felt it. Then the snake grew bigger like a balloon until it swelled to a considerable anaconda-ish size.

A horcrux was made that night.

------

Godric's Hollow, the birthplace of Godric Gryfindor himself, was one of many magical villages. Its houses on the residential streets looked exactly like muggle houses, and most houses looked alike. Lord Voldemort apparrated to the front of the Godric's Hollow residential street. The night here was calm and still, not like it was at his island. But here, there was a certain coldness that seeped into Lord Voldemort's bones. He liked the feeling, he liked the darkness that shrouded around him like a protective cloak and that mysterious cold feeling that always accompanied him when he was about to murder.

It was a guilty pleasure.

He reached Number Three Godric's Hollow with no hitch. There were no wards on the streets. A pity, he would have liked a challenge. But then again, getting to James and Lily Potter was a challenge in itself, and not an easy one either. It was damn hard, Lord Voldemort could attest to that.

A pity though, he thought with a sneer. If he had been the one in charge of protective wards he would have warded the whole town with dark detectors, dark wards, and a host more wards of the alchemic variety. Lily should have done that quite easily, being one of the most brilliant muggle born witches Hogwarts had ever seen.

Not as brilliant as me though, Lord Voldemort thought with arrogance. It was true - he had scored top marks in all his classes at Hogwarts but that was just the tip of the iceberg for him. It was what was underneath – the things he did at night that mattered. It was truly sad how nobody would know how Tom Riddle, a half blood, had faced down the Slytherins and cowered them all. They had tried to gang up on him, he had taught them the cost, and he was barely eleven years old. He had been nothing then, but he had easily put the most aggressive seventh year in his or hers place. That was a true victory for him, a victory that he could savour for years to come, a memory that once he thought back on it, he would feel the warm vestiges of triumphant victory.

He was feeling that right now, he knew this very night would be a memorable one, a one to remember. A true victory that once he looked back on, he would feel the coldness that he was so familiar to disappear, to be replaced by a furious well of victory.

He gazed at the house and with a smile like a kid looking forward to a cup of ice cream he walked to the lawn. Only this smile looked grotesque. He approached the door and with a flick of his wand it flung open. The house was dark inside, dark and extremely clean and tidy, which was to be expected from dear sweet Lily Potter. The foolish girl who dared resist him would die tonight, and that thought strangely excited him.

An upstairs light switch flicked on. The yellow light filtered through the hallway and down the stairs. Voldemort stayed at the foot of the living room, examining the area. There were a few toddler toys nearby, a bookshelf and lots and lots of notes on the mahogany table in the kitchen.

"This is the house that accommodates my greatest foes?" Voldemort asked himself, a bit surprised. This was… normal, mediocre. He had expected something much more, traps, wards, but he felt nothing except for an indicator ward, and that was a simple ward that basically said who was in the house.

"Lily, lily! Wake up! He's here," James was whispering harshly to his wife. Voldemort's ears were as sharp, if not sharper, than a werewolf. He could hear everything.

"What James? Now? No, its not-!"

"Peter must have been captured!"

"What, that's-"

"Shush Lily. Go to Harry's room, and escape, I will hold him off." James said.

"No James, you can't."

"I have to Lily. I love you." There was a kissing sound that amused and disgusted Lord Voldemort at the same time. Then James was rushing down the stairs, his wand however, was on the couch in front of Voldemort.

He could have stopped James from wandlessly summoning his wand, but he wanted to test himself. He wanted to see how James Potter would fair against him in a fair duel without Dumbledore to interfere.

James turned the couch into a growling dog with a flick of his wrist, looking at Lord Voldemort with terrified eyes. Terrified and determined at the same time. Lord Voldemort admired courage, especially courage like this.

The dog rushed at Lord Voldemort. It was a Labrador Collie with black fur and sharp teeth bared in a snarl. Voldemort didn't even bother using his wand for this. He raised his left fist and crushed air. The dog's eyes widened, then its head popped in a rush of blood and guts.

"This is the best you have, James Potter?" Lord Voldemort asked, sneering. He had to finish this fast, he knew that, but it certainly was a pity to kill this brave man right here. He wanted to face him in a fair duel.

"No," James said as he flicked his wand left and right. A toddler truck changed to a large dragon that flew right at Voldemort. The kitchen table changed to a lion, which charged right at him.

Voldemort rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth and blew a puff of air at the dragon. The dragon shot to the opposite wall at the end of the living room. With blinding speed, Voldemort drew his wand and said, "Avada Kedavra." A jet of light rushed at James.

While James dodged, Voldemort disseminated the lion with a flick of his wand. Then they started dueling, transfiguration abandoned as a lost cause. Too bad, transfiguration was his specialty. He had been training himself to combat transfiguration style battle magic, because that was Dumbledore's specialty.

He was getting tired of this back and forth cursing. Lily Potter was clutching her baby, and opening the window now. There were apparition wards that stretched to the lawn. Every house had that to prevent people from simply popping in their houses uninvited.

"Avada Kedavra," Voldemort said and as predicted James ducked. But Voldemort had a trick up his sleeve. With the same speed he had used in rushing to the door when Peter had knocked back at the island, he sped toward James and gave him an enhanced uppercut to the chin. James flew to the wall and landed on it with a big thud. He slid down, leaving a red trail of blood on the wall.

Now Lily was climbing down the ladder she had conjured on the bedroom window, very carefully and slowly while holding the baby in her arms. Voldemort spun around and ran out of the house and toward the corner wall where Lily was climbing down. He was at the foot of the ladder in the time it took Lily to take one step down.

"Hello girl, charming night isn't it?"

Lily's head shot around as she uttered a frightened yell.

"Your husband's dead, you know." Voldemort said conversationally. "I killed him. It was satisfying."

Her eyes were wide. "Get away from me," She hissed. "Get away from Harry."

"I can't do it." Voldemort said, shaking his head like he was sad. "Give me the baby, Lily and I will spare you."

He held out his arms. He was sincere in his promise. He would spare Lily because like bravery he valued brains too.

Lily spat in Voldemort's face. The ball of spit slid down his right cheek ever so slowly. A cleft formed between Voldemort's eyebrows as he frowned harshly. "This is how its going to be, then?"

"Go to hell you bastard."

"Avada Kedavra." Voldemort said. The baby was crying as his mother fell to the ground. His fall was broken by Lily's dead body.

Voldemort leant over the baby. "So you are the one that has caused me so many problems… hmm? Harry Potter…" He stayed silent a few times, thoughts whirling around him. James and Lily were both blessed with immense talent and it would be such a shame to see the Potter line end too… the only remaining heirs of Godric Gryfindor, gone in a flash of green light. James Potter was dead and Harry would follow him.

Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry's heart, "Avada-" Then he stopped. The craziest idea occurred to him. Why not take Harry Potter and train him to be like… like…

He idea brought shivers of pleasure up his spine. Why not? What a wonderful ironic thing to happen too… Harry Potter, the last heir of Gryfindor, from a family who had always been traditionally light…

What if Harry Potter was trained to be a death eater?

But not just any death eater…

… A perfect death eater.

Voldemort picked Harry up with one long fingered hand, walked to the edge of the lawn, and pointed his wand at the sky as he wandlessly cast the dark mark. The ghostly skull floated in the sky while a long snake slithered out of its jaw socket. Right over James and Lily Potter's house. The Order of the Phoenix would think their son had died, and why not? The house was on fire after all.

Voldemort lit the house on fire.

Now it was. Why not? Why not try to turn the heir of Gryfindor into the perfect dark warrior? His own personal knight, it worked fine, it was a great idea, an idea that intrigued Voldemort immensely. With James's courage and Lily's brains in one boy…

Voldemort remembered how James and Lily had refused his offer to join him. But they had accepted it seemed… they had accepted by generously giving their son over to him.

Voldemort's heir… a Gryfindor.

Voldemort laughed and apparrated out just as Sirius roared down to the house on his motorbike.

Harry Potter was a small scrawny five year old with jet black hair that reached almost to his shoulders, and the most vivid green eyes ever. He had a bright smile on his face as he kicked the ball in the lawn in front of the white two-story house on Voldemort's Island. Behind him Bellatrix Black sat on the porch, a cup of lemonade in one hand and a paperback novel in the other, a romance novel in fact. She was wearing black shades over her eyes, because the day was hot and sunny. Her black hair was curled up stylishly in a bun, and her blue, almost violet eyes watched Harry's every move from over the book.

Harry was oblivious. He was laughing and having immense fun kicking the ball around, here to there. The ball itself was a muggle soccer ball that one would buy from the store. Bellatrix had bought it along with other supplies for Harry when she went to her weekly shopping spree at the market on the mainland, a good thirty-five miles away from this island.

"Harry," She called, watching him fall over as he tripped on the ball. "Come here."

"Yes mamma!" Harry said brightly as he ran to the porch of the white house. Bellatrix had been taking care of Harry since he was one years old and had grown a bit fond of him. It was hard not to. As usual she was the only one on the island, other than the magical beasts like half-basilisk-half-unicorn creatures Voldemort breeded. But they stayed well away from Harry, restrained by their master's will even when Lord Voldemort was far away from here.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Bellatrix mused as she wiped the mud from his cheeks. "You need to stay sharp, especially today."

"Why today?" Harry asked.

"Because… Harry… today, our master will come."

"Master?"

"The greatest man who ever lived. He's off fighting the evil muggles now, you know that, but he will be making time to come for us, Harry, and when he does…" She stopped. "You need to look sharp Harry or I might get in trouble."

"Twubble?" He couldn't quite pronounce the word but he knew what it meant. "You?"

"Yes, me," Bellatrix said glumly. Voldemort was a harsh taskmaster. She put on a firm face. "Get cleaned, Harry, and go read some story books until he comes, will you?"

"Okay," Harry said. He seemed sad. He was looking at the floor, his lips in a cute pout and his eyes blinking slowly as if he was trying to hold back tears.

Bellatrix sighed, rolling her eyes. If Harry wasn't a wizard he would make a fine actor. "I'll make you a chocolate cake, how about that?"

Harry brightened up immediately, and with a grin said, "Ya sure mamma." He exclaimed and ran inside. Bellatrix kneaded her brow, feeling a headache coming on. She liked the boy, she would admit that she did, maybe even loved him, but damn if he was going to keep acting like a… a… child… Voldemort would not be pleased.

-----

Voldemort stood on the threshold of the chamber, not willing to enter. The chamber itself was dark, as was everything in the pyramids. He held his wand out in front of him, pale light drifting out like smoke. He waved his wand slowly over the walls as he entered the chamber and saw the blood dried writings on the walls. There were numerous runes and diagrams that showed ancient arcane magicks. Voldemort stepped closer to the wall on the right and with a chill pang of fear he heard the sound of string being snapped. He had walked into a trap, again.

He ducked as thirteen metal knives flung themselves toward his head. Then a large boulder dropped from the ceiling. Voldemort raised his wand and blasted it wordlessly. There were traps everywhere here. He needed more light!

"Lumos Maximia." He said and squinted as a sudden ball of light exploded from his wand, lighting the chamber like the sun. What he saw made him gasp. The chamber was as huge as the great hall of Hogwarts. It was completely empty except in the middle there was a golden pedestal. On top of the pedestal there was a small tablet, edged markings on preserved wood. The tablet of emphoryeus! The mysteries of the universe would be revealed to him!

What he had been searching for for five long years was found. Finally, he had it now in his grasp. With his heart thudding mightily he walked a step, and stopped as he inspected the area around him closer.

He was trapped in a myrid of spider webs. Not spider webs per sey but strings, and one the strings were broken, the traps would be unleashed. What to do, what to do? He recalled a spell from his early days of researching, one that he had deemed useless but with all spells he encountered he had memorized it just the same. It was a spell that would turn you into a ghost like wraith for a few minutes. It would be enough to get to the tablet.

"Wuyzt," Voldemort said as he waved his wand over himself. His body faded to next to nothing but he didn't feel any changes. He put his hand to his chest and smiled as it went through. The spell worked, but he had not done it in quite a while.

He stepped forward to the tablet, and was about to grab it when he decided to copy the writings on the walls first. With ease he conjured parchment and quill and with only the faintest mental commands he held it up in the air on its own and made the quill write since he couldn't do it himself because of the spell and because the quill could write faster like this.

It took him a few hours to copy down everything to the parchment but he waited patiently. It was all right because he had found what he was looking for and that triumphant feeling that he only rarely got returned. He felt like he was on top of the world again, even though he knew this was really a hollow victory.

Finding the tablet of truth was good and all, but it was translating the codes that would take the most work. That was the real challenge, one that Voldemort fully intended to step up to.

When the copying was finished he grabbed the tablet and ran out of the pyramid of the dead like the wind, like there were monsters and demons on his tail. And there were, a great ethereal figure was following him, a long twisting dragon that roared and bellowed with rage. But once Voldemort got out of the city of the dead, tablet clutched in one pale hand, everything was all right again.

Now it was time to pay a visit to his pet project, Harry Potter.

-------

Harry Potter was dressed smartly in black robes, his hair combed neatly and his eyes glowing green under thin-framed spectacles. He looked almost perfect… Bellatrix thought.

Almost, except for that smile that seemed so out of place. That great big smile that Bellatrix hardly ever saw on anyone else. Maybe being a death eater had robbed her of that pleasure, because she had never seen a smile so big and so pure. It lifted her heart too and made her smile as well. It also made her worried because she wondered how Voldemort would react to that big smile.

She walked over to him, rubbed his hair, and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, Harry." She said, and she meant it too. She was loyal to her lord and master, Voldemort but she would die for this five-year-old half blood boy. She never had a child in her life, because Lestrange was impotent. She had killed him years ago for trying to force himself on her and surprisingly Voldemort had not said a word, even though he had stared disapprovingly at Bellatrix.

But it had gone according to plan for him, because he needed someone to look after the boy until he was five years old and ready to be trained into the perfect warrior. Already there were shelves and shelves, bottles upon bottles of restorative potions, energizing potions, healing potions and all kinds of medicines stored in the upstairs attic. Snape who seemed clueless made them all. He worked for Dumbledore as well now and was supposedly a spy for Voldemort.

Bellatrix did not trust him and was very glad when Voldemort did not grant him entrance to his personal island. Now only three people, Bellatrix, Voldemort and that dear sweet five year old used the island… His name was -

Harry Potter.

------

"He's here?" Voldemort asked as he apparrated to the designated apparition point – a cliff overlooking the tumbling and roaring ocean. Bellatrix awaited him. She curtsied, and said, "Yes my lord. Harry's here."

"Excellent," Voldemort hissed. He was clutching a stone tablet, brownish stained that made it look like wood but wasn't. The brown color was from the ancient protective charms on it, the ones that Voldemort would have to break in time.

"Take me to him," said Voldemort.

Bellatrix nodded. "He's in the mansion, I told him to wait there."

"Mi' Lord!" Came a small squeaky cry as a little child ran up the path, arms stretched out in a hug.

Voldemort looked at Bellatrix, a look that clearly said you failed.

Harry was closer now. He was running too. He came and grabbed Voldemort around the stomach in a tight hug.

"No stop, what are you-" They tumbled backward and then they fell off the cliff together right down into the ocean, where there were sharp rocks on the bottom. If they landed they would get impaled at once.

"Momentis Argumentum." Voldemort incanted as he waved his wand, and a silver bubble appeared. They landed in the bubble and the bubble took them back to the cliff. Bellatrix looked very amused but quickly cast the smile off her face when Voldemort came up glaring daggers at her.

They were back at the cliff. The boy had let go now, still smiling happily. Voldemort drew out his wand, and incanted, "Crucio."

Harry fell to the ground as he twitched like he was being electrocuted.

"Harry no!" Bellatrix said and drew her wand.

Harry watched with horror as Voldemort turned on Bellatrix and said, "Avada Kedavra."

A green flash of light burst out of Voldemort's wand and impaled Bellatrix in the stomach. She went flying off the cliff edge, dead before her feet lifted off the ground.

Voldemort advanced on the crouching boy, who seemed to be in shock. "Now boy, this is how it works. There will be no hugging, no wishy washy feeling and none of that cute fluffy crap." Voldemort hissed angrily.

"You are here for one reason, and one reason only. Your purpose in life is to be the perfect warrior, the perfect little death eater and that's just what you are going to be, do you understand?"

Tears ran down from Harry's eyes as he realized that the woman who had said she loved him just ten minutes ago was dead. Mutedly he nodded and was so scared he couldn't cry out.

"Good," Voldemort said. "Here is what we are going to do. We are going to have a training regime for you, twelve hours a day of practicing dueling everyday with my death eaters."

Harry had no idea what that meant.

Voldemort smiled nastily. "Boy, you will learn in time. Oh by the way, obliviate!" A brown beam of light shot out of his wand and impaled itself on Harry's brow. Harry clutched his forehead in pain, and then he fell to the ground again, this time unconscious.

"Can't have you holding grudges." Voldemort said. He looked down at the cliff where Bellatrix's bloody body was floating in the ocean like a boat. "Such a waste, what a useful little girl." Voldemort muttered. "Still, Harry is mine, I can't have him being distracted now can I?" He flicked his wand and Bellatrix's body disintegrated.

Voldemort went toward Harry, clutched his hair in the hand that wasn't holding the tablet and dragged him to the manor.

The smile had left Harry's face forever.

----

When Harry woke up it was night time. He heard a cold voice that gave him shivers of fright. "I see you are awake," Voldemort said as he entered Harry's field of vision. He held parchments that he was reading and his long hands had blots of ink splattered on them.

"Who-who are you?" Harry managed at last. His mouth felt like sand paper.

"My name, Harry Potter, is Lord Voldemort." Voldemort said. "I am your master, remember that, Harry."

Harry could do nothing but nod.

"Good boy, now come we need to get you a wand from Ollivanders."

"Where's Bella? Where's mamma Bella?" Harry asked, he was about to cry.

Voldemort reached toward him with blinding speed and backhanded him on the right cheek. "She's gone boy, and she's never going to come back. She had to take a trip. Now come on, enough of this whiny nonsense. You will never speak of her again."

"Yes," Harry said, tears swelling in his eyes.

"Yes my Lord," Voldemort added. "Say it."

"Yes my lord." Harry said, not without anger.

"You are learning." Voldemort said coldly. "Come grab hold of this portkey." He held out a coin. Harry touched it and they went away in a flash.

They were in Diagon Alley. It was cold out, the night air being very chilly but there were still people about. Voldemort was in the middle of the street, he was smiling. The street lamps brought light upon his face. As he walked he grabbed a thrown newspaper from the bench and curiously read the article. It was some time before he had gone back to the wizarding world and he had not made an attack since the Potters. He had been searching for the tablet of truth, the tablet that he had now.

The article read,

---

YOU-KNOW-WHO'S DEAD!

By Rita Skeeter

We all know the legend, the myth surrounding the Potters. They say the Potters were the last victims of You-Know-Who and that's true. They say You-Know-Who's dead and that might be true as well. Its been five years since You-Know-Who attacked and terrorized the wizarding world, and for five years tentative peace has reigned over the lands. But how long can it last? How long will the good luck charm continue to work? They say the Potters vanquished You-Know-Who but is that really true? Albus Dumbledore does not think so, but then again everyone knows what a crackpot he is. There has been no sign of the dark lord, so why can't he be dead? The man whose brother is a sheep fondler, whose father a dark wizard himself, and who also consorted with Grindelwauld should know best right?

"There is no proof that Lord XXXXXX (Blanked out by Daily Prophet Censor) is dead and defeated. He is merely in hiding and the time will soon come when he will strike at the heart of the wizarding world… Hogwarts." Albus Dumbledore says. Lately he has been trying to get more funding for the Hogwarts Secure Defence Network, where groups of aurors patrol the grounds day and night and wards are made more secure, and dangerous beasts are imported to the forbidden forest and the lake of Hogwarts in an effort to make it harder upon intruders. This has been deemed to be craziness by most, and why not? What threat is there for Hogwarts when You-Know-Who's dead?

Minister Cornelius Fudge, the man who has made brilliant progress in our safety from dark creatures like werewolves, vampires, and many other dangerous creatures, says this, "Albus is being foolish, an old man's delusions. The ministry and the wizarding world is perfectly safe and if there is any threat looming on the horizon, you can rest assured that the ministry will deal with it at once."

So why is Albus asking for more money for Hogwarts Safety then? What is he doing? The man who was friends with Grindelwauld in their boyhood, and who subsequently defeated Grindelwauld, has said to have been allying himself with giants of all creatures. Is he planning a coup? Is he going to take over the Wizarding World?

Dolores Umbridge, Undersecretary to the minister of magic, thinks so. "Albus Dumbledore is an ambitious and a dangerous man, who wants to bring the Wizarding World to its knees for muggle borns."

We all know of Dumbledore's obsessions with muggle borns but why? Why the obsession with them? Why does he fight day and night for the wizarding world to give them our money, our food, our protection and most of all our magic? Some, like Lucius Malfoy, Baron, think that Albus is indeed planning a coup.

Only time can tell if this is true but if Albus is declared head of the wizarding nation in a few years time… well don't be too surprised.

---

Interesting, Voldemort thought. It seems the world has forgotten I was here.

Ollivanders was a magic wand shop, narrow and shabby, with a sign that reads Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC in peeling gold letters over the door. The only display is a single wand lying on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window and inside there are countless narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling.

Mr. Ollivander, the pale-eyed, white-haired shopkeeper, makes and sells magic wands to witches and wizards as they enter school or break their old wands. He remembers each and every wand he has ever sold. To determine the best wand for a witch or wizard, Mr Ollivander measures various body and then checks the reactions of various wands to the buyer, a process he refers to as "the wand choosing the wizard. Voldemort remembered buying his first wand with perfect clarity, as he remembered all memories.

And indeed nobody recognized them as they entered Olivanders. They just thought it was a pale looking wizard (Voldemort looked human, despite the horcruxes) and his son entering for a wand.

Olivander knew. His blue eyes glanced at Voldemort sharply as he entered. "You-!" He gasped and tried to rush out the back door. Voldemort held him in place with his wand. "Stop right there, Olivander." He said. "You won't be harmed if you help me with what I require."

Olivander was mumbling, "I have nothing. I don't know anything. Please… Leave me alone." His face was white and he looked deathly scared.

"I can't do that," Lord Voldemort said, looking a bit annoyed. "You know I can't. Now what I need from you is a wand. I want you to fit my son here a wand. Can you do that?"

"Your son?"

Harry was surprised too. This man was his father? But Bellatrix said that his parents had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. And this was Lord Voldemort so it couldn't be his father.

Then… Voldemort was lying.

"Yes my son," snapped Voldemort. "Hurry up."

Olivander moved in closer and then firmly declared, "This boy is not your son, he is Harry Potter."

"You fool, he is as good as my son now." Voldemort snapped. He was angry now, really angry. "Crucio." Olivander hit the floor and shook madly, screaming in pain.

"Fit Harry his wand. Now." Voldemort said coldly.

"Okay Okay!" Olivander gasped. "Okay I got it, please stop."

"Good, now do it."

Olivander made Harry try out numerous wands but none of them seemed to work. He would take it way almost at once, saying, "no its not the one," or "this won't work" then finally he stopped and got a thinking look to him…

"I wonder…" He said.

Voldemort said nothing, he was inspecting the wands himself and testing them out. Whatever worked for him he would stuff in a little black garbage bag he had conjured. Olivander tried not to take too much notice about him.

"Wonder what?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes it just might work." Olivander went to the corner where there was a safe and took out a key. He opened the safe and took out a wooden box. He removed the lid on the box and there lay a wand that made Harry's heart jump on sight.

It was holly and phoenix feather.

Ollivander took the wand and gave it a wave, phoenix song flew into the room. Lord Voldemort came running toward them, shouting, "What's this!"

"Your brother wand," Olivander said, looking awed. He gave it to Harry. "Go on, give it a twirl boy."

Harry flicked the wand and a burst of sparks shot out. They were red and black and filled the room. Harry smiled a little, his heart feeling overjoyed. "This…" he breathed, "This is amazing."

"Brother wands…" Voldemort seemed to think about it. "I like this, this works. You will be my right hand man, Harry, my best follower. Remember that."

Harry nodded still too amazed to form a reply. He was waving the wand left and right, watching in awe as more sparks burst out.

Voldemort nodded. "How much for that wand?" He asked coldly.

Olivander glanced at him, very nervous and very scared. "Nothing, please keep it and just go."

"No I insist," Voldemort said. "This is commerce in which items of real worth are exchanged for currency plain." Then he added, again, "How much do I owe you?"

"Ten galleons," Olivander muttered sourly, glaring at the black bag in Voldemort's hands. It was filled to the brim with wands, the value of that was in the thousands but he would not dare to ask Voldemort that much.

"Very well," Voldemort said and reached inside his robes. Ten gold coins appeared in his hands. He put them on the table.

"Come Harry, we must leave." He said and grabbed Harry's shoulder. They apparrated out.

Olivander scribbled a note to Dumbledore, telling him what had happened as Voldemort knew he would. He was back, and he had Harry Potter, and he wanted the whole world to know it.

Three Years Later…

It was three years since Harry had first gotten his wand. Since then he had been training day and night. His training consisted of one and only one thing: Duelling. The more he dueled with Severus Snape, Anthony Dollohov, Lucius Malfoy, and many other death eaters, the more he learnt. He took restorative potions every hour or so, thus enabling him to continue ten hour grueling sessions with practically no breaks. The death eaters trained him in shifts. Voldemort always made sure Harry was never alone, unless he was sleeping. Whenever he was awake, he would be training unless he was eating or going to the washroom. As such his education lacked in other matters but he was at the top in all things dueling.

He was eight years old. He could hold off Snape for about three minutes before he got stunned or his wand got taken away.

Four Years Later…

He still hadn't been outside the mansion and the island. This time in an effort to give Harry an all around education, Voldemort kidnapped Professor Sprout on her summer vacation and had her train Harry in everything she knew… herbology, transfiguration, and potions.

"He's such a good lad," She always bragged to the maids and the house elfs, and the death eaters and anyone who would listen to her. She was granted comfortable living conditions as long as she kept up Harry's training. She trained Harry Potter for two years. By then Harry was fourteen, and that was the day he had performed his first murder.

Two Years Later…

Voldemort had ordered the death eaters to bring them three muggles – all women. At night, after their nightly chess game (Voldemort did this to bond with Harry) he led Harry into the living room and cleared away all the furniture with a quick spell.

The room looked empty. In the middle there was a short and stout brunette, her black eyes filled with terror at Voldemort and Harry's entrance. Behind her were two other women, also tied up with thick magical rope. They were blonde twins and had the same terrified look the brunette had.

The three muggle women, teenagers almost, barely eighteen were forced under Harry's imperius curse to strip down, lay on their knees and get whipped with magical fire whips, a grotesque and horribly painful form of erotic torture. Harry did not really want to do it but Voldemort forced him to. That was the night Harry lot his virginity too. After he was done with the three women, Voldemort showed him how to cast the crucio curse.

"You have to feel the need to cause pain, Harry," He said. "You have to believe you can cause pain, and you have to want it. Just point and incant, crucio. The need is the most important thing."

Harry did as he was told and within ten minutes his crucio was deemed to be adequate by Lord Voldemort. Then it was time for the killing curse.

"The incantation is avada kedavra," Voldemort said to him. "You have to feel hate, and you have to transfer that hate through your wand to your victim."

Harry concentrated on Voldemort's face as he casted the spell. It didn't work. In a way Harry liked Voldemort – he was extremely intelligent and always beat Harry in chess, told him many interesting facts from his journeys across the world looking for artifacts and acted as a father would. The curse did not float.

"Imagine hatred Harry. Imagine yourself casting the curse successfully." Voldemort said.

Harry did and cast it again, one by one the three women fell dead to the floor. That night when he was alone Harry vomited out his dinner in the bathroom. But after that he got desensitized to killing because he would be made to kill every Saturday night, exactly three muggles. Sometimes in those Saturday nights he even felt pleasure in killing and that scared him horribly. On all these Saturday nights, he got to fuck his victims. But that was as far as his sexual desires went. He did not want love relationships only release from the hormones.

He had no time for love.

Meanwhile Dumbledore was assembling the Order and was also on the hunt for artifacts, trying to get them before Voldemort could. This was a source of endless frustration because Dumbledore safeguarded the artifacts and if they were dark like necromancy medallions, he would destroy them.

So far the ministry was oblivious to Dumbledore and Voldemort's struggles. But both groups knew the trump card: Harry Potter. Dumbledore had attempted several rescue missions on Snape's knowledge and so far none of them were successful. Now he was hoping for Harry to turn to the light himself and change his ways.

Voldemort on the other hand had Harry stopped being trained in dueling and kidnapped several martial arts masters from all over the world. His dueling skills was deemed to be sufficient and now he would have to continue with the rest of his knowledge – sword fighting.

Sword fighting was a lost art in the wizarding world but Voldemort himself was an excellent swordsman, and quite good at knife throwing too. He practiced with Harry once a week and could always beat him with ease because his magical power boosted his body's strength and speed.

Harry learnt and by seventeen Voldemort thought he knew enough about martial arts. He had the instructors thrown off the cliffs to amuse his inner circle. Harry himself didn't care. He was apathetic to killing now. His muscles were taut and he was strong and agile especially when it came to dueling. He could beat any of the inner circle death eaters but only one on one. Snape however, he could not beat because Snape would read his mind and could tell where Harry would attack from. Just like Voldemort.

So Harry asked Voldemort for training in the mind arts, legilimency and occlumency.

"I learnt those skills on my own," Voldemort told him coldly. "You can too." He handed Harry a little thin volume called, "Basick and Advanced Legilimency" and Harry taught himself that. He was not and would never be a master at legilimency but he could conjure up a flimsy shield and he could read peripheral thoughts from those untrained in the mind arts.

At the age of seventeen he was a good dueler, a good fighter, and a good warrior. Everything that Voldemort wanted him to be. Professor Sprout was thrown off a cliff a long time ago so Harry never had a truly rounded education like he would get at Hogwarts.

He had weaknesses.

He couldn't socialize well and preferred to be alone or with people he knew like the inner circle death eaters. He never saw anyone his own age. His natural leadership qualities were stunted.

He couldn't make a potion worth a damn and knew next to nothing about history, and while he could cast transfiguration spells, they were mostly spells for battle like animation and shielding. He knew nothing about the 'laws of transfiguration' or anything about ancient runes, arthimency, magical creatures… He saw the creatures on the island and frequently killed them if they got in his way but they never did. He was at a loss in charms, or herbology or even muggle studies.

But he was a damn good fighter, and that was all Voldemort wanted from him.

But he had the one thing he loved: flying. Anthony Dolohov had bought him an old Quimbus 322, a rackety and used broom that barely worked. Harry couldn't count the number of times he fell off the broom but he loved it just the same. He would fly rings around the island, usually near the twilight at sunset. He would fly through the trees, smiling widely as he did so. He never cheered or whooped. He was a quiet boy.

But when he was flying was the only time he ever smiled. His greatest, most secret wish was to be able to play Quiditch. A few games with anybody, he didn't really care. But none of the other death eaters could fly worth a damn and asking Voldemort for anything was like punching yourself in the gut. Only more painful.

Now at the age of seventeen he was tall and handsome but dark as well. There were bags under his eyes from exhaustion. He was too used to the restorative potions, they didn't affect him anymore but his training schedule still stuck. His vivid green eyes had taken on an unearthly glow like Voldemort's red eyes.

Then Voldemort decided to go public so to speak and began taking the fight to the ministry. He organized a blitz attack on fifteen different places:

Fourteen pureblood families who had refused to join him and…

The ministry of magic.

Voldemort was not yet powerful enough to dare to attack Hogwarts. But he had no qualms about destroying the sole archistructure of the government. He thought it would provide him with an edge.

The plan was simple, as Voldemort elaborated to his inner circle a few weeks before the plan would go into execution….

They were back in the living room, Snape, Dolohov, Malfoy and a big unknown death eater Harry had never seen before. Voldemort was standing before them, pacing the floor. "We have not shown ourselves for more than seventeen years," He said. "Seventeen years it has been! And I know some of you have gotten impatient. But I also know that you are doing your work well. You are all recruiting each on your own, and perfecting the skills of your recruits like I asked you all to so long ago. You have all performed satisfactorily and now the time has come to show the world what we have."

The death eaters started clapping. They were all under bone white masks and wearing black robes. Harry was sitting in the corner, arms folded, looking next to him at the door.

"I also have been hard at work, locating and tracking lost artifacts and increasing my power. As such your power increases because of the dark mark. Isn't that so?"

They nodded.

"Yes, it is so. You have all noticed significant increases in your magical strength, especially you Severus, but that's to be expected from a master of legilimency almost as good as myself."

Severus nodded wordlessly.

"Now it is time for us to attack and when we destroy the ministry of magic, I assure you, all of you will get high positions. You, Severus will be head of the Silver Masks, my own personal auror force. Anthony Dolohov, you will be in the same position you are now, head of the department of mysteries… only greater. And Lucius Malfoy… how does minister of magic sound?"

They were grinning under their masks, Harry could almost see it.

"Oh don't think I have forgotten you, Igor Kakkaroff. You have done the most recruiting, six hundred students all ready to die for me… It is impressive. Your school will rise to greatness as the premiere school of magic for the British, I assure you." Lord Voldemort said.

"And I… I will be ruling from the shadows, with my own little assassin, Mr. Harry Potter."

They turned to acknowledge him. Harry gave them a short wave with his right hand. He was more bored than anything else.

"Now on to the plan. All four of you are going to lead separate attacks to these families." He handed out little que cards to each of them. "Harry over there is going to take a hundred of our best forces, your most trusted recruits, and engage the aurors while I myself kill the minister of magic, the incompetent fool Fudge. Meanwhile about three hundred recruits will be split into packs of four and will scour the ministry, stunning every ministry worker they see. Any questions?"

There were none. Lord Voldemort had thought his out well. "No doubt Albus Dumbledore will try to save the ministry, but Harry will be able to hold him off until I come and deal with him myself. As for the Order…" He scowled his red eyes. 'We will just have to deal with them… and quite harshly too if I may add."

They worked on splitting their recruits for the rest of the night. Harry nodded at Lord Voldemort and went to bed, preparing for a hard few weeks of additional training.

They would attack the ministry on thirty first of July, on Harry's eighteenth birthday. That was barely two weeks from now.

Voldemort stood up from his chair and faced the four death eaters. "I am sure you all have much to prepare for our attack on the Ministry in a few weeks. You are all dismissed. Harry I want to speak to you."

They left the room quietly. Harry sighed lazily and got up to his feet. He walked forward and faced Voldemort. "My lord?" He said.

"You have not taken the dark mark yet," Voldemort said. "I have not given it to you because I have been waiting…"

"I'm sure," Harry drawled.

Voldemort took no notice. "Now bow down Harry, and receive your mark." The room started to grow a bit darker as Harry felt the first pangs of fear. He did not want the mark. He had read in the library what it would do to you… how it would mark your soul, and if Voldemort died, then anyone with the mark died as well and there was no counter curse to it. This was bad, but Harry couldn't show any outward reaction to this or else Voldemort would know and he would not be pleased.

Harry didn't want to face Voldemort's crucio again if he could help it. Damn, he would have to take the mark, there was no other choice.

Harry nodded slowly and got to his knees. He held out his left hand, showing a façade as if he did not care. Voldemort seemed to be disturbed by this, just a tiny bit, Harry saw a flicker in his expression. He raised his wand and put the tip of it to Harry's left hand.

"Prepare yourself, Harry Potter." Voldemort said.

Harry nodded, "I'm ready."

"Morsmorde," Voldemort said and there was a flash of green light. Pain erupted in his left hand. He clutched it and screamed, this was pain a thousand times worse than the crucio. He felt as if his entire soul was being ripped apart and it was in a way.

Then the pain vanished and Harry felt better. The dark mark, a green and black skull with a snake slithering out of its jaw socket glowed and pulsated brightly in the dark room.

"You are my bravest follower," Voldemort said. "You will have my mark on you forever as proof of your loyalty. Rise, Harry."

Harry got up to his feet. He said what was customary and what was expected of him. But he did not feel it. "Thank you my lord."

"You are welcome my child."

Harry bowed and fled the room without a word. Voldemort watched him go with a frown.

------

It was three days before the inevitable attack. Voldemort had ordered him to stop training and start resting his weak limbs and exhausted body. He spent much of it in sleep but knew that around him the gregarious forest was being cut, the wood was magical and would be used for ultra light armor. The magical beasts in the forests were put under the imperio spells and would be used for the attack as well on the magical families. Everywhere on the island death eaters roamed. There were several long tables on the front lawn of the white house where food appeared at random intervals. Nobody went hungry or thirsty.

Harry was oblivious to this as he slept on. He dreamt of his mother and father and that duel with Lord Voldemort and a flash of green light, and then a dead body under him. His mother's dead body. Voldemort towered over the baby, and started laughing. A man flew down on a motorbike looking scared and determined at the same time.

He awoke on the third day, in the morning. They would be attacking in the evening.

-------

Three hundred death eaters split into groups of four crowded the lawns of the white mansion. "Are you all ready?" Voldemort hissed, his voice carried across the crowd through the still night air. Harry stood to his side and Snape, Dolohov, Malfoy and Kakaroff stood behind Voldemort. They had different jobs to do, mainly to attack the fourteen pureblood magical families who dared resist Voldemort.

"Yea!" Hundreds of voices roared and cheered.

"Good," Voldemort said. "Activate your portkeys, tonight we bring fire into the wizarding world."

Three hundred pops broke the still night air. Voldemort turned to Harry. "Good luck. Go back to the living room; your team of one hundred awaits you there. You will be leading them to the auror headquarters."

"I know," Harry said. "You will be going after the minister alone right?"

"I pull my weight around here." Voldemort said and clutched at the medallion on his chest. He was gone in a flash of black robes.

Harry walked back to the mansion with a sigh. The four death eaters were conversing behind him about mudane matters that Harry did not much care to hear. He entered the living room which was magically enlarged and cast a sharp roving eye at the hundred or so death eaters who solemnly stood in neat little rows. They were among the best. Good, but Harry thought he was a tad bit better than them. That was why he was leading them after all.

"Okay," Harry shouted. "You have your portkeys?"

They nodded simeltenously.

"Good, lets move out!" Harry roared and everyone in the room activated their portkeys.

The battle had begun.

The ministry of magic building was located deep underground in a hidden installation hard to find. You won't see it on any map but rest assured its there. There are sixteen levels ranging from mutilation of dark artifacts to size and scope studies of magical phenomena. The auror levels are on the fourth floor. Harry and Co. had gotten portkeys from spies within the ministry who were proven to be reliable.

They got their jump off points right in the middle of the auror floor right when the aurors were having a little tea party to celebrate their newest recruit, Nymphadora Tonks. Harry didn't know it but some time in the future he would have a relationship with her. Only she would be different because she would be in an alternate universe where Harry would somehow end up in in the next few hours.

Now the aurors were really surprised when the death eaters popped in to bust their party and they couldn't deal with it fast enough. The death eaters who were scared out of their minds stunned half their number. For most of them this was their first mission. Only Harry had a lot of experience dueling. Luckily they had luck on their side, which was very lucky indeed.

"Okay death eaters, move out! Scour the area." Harry shouted. They began to spread out and duel the aurors one by one. There were about a hundred or so in the huge chamber left. Harry began to engage a Mr. Mad Eye Moody, peg leg and fake eye too.

He cast a spinning curse with his wand and watched with fascination as Mad Eye's leg broke in two. The wooden peg leg was gone now, useless. Mad Eye however was not out of the game yet. He cast a quick reparo and sent a stunner.

Harry waved it away with the back of his hand and sent in reply, "Inflamor," A piller of fire lounged itself at Moody's surprised figure.

Moody was no dull ball in the Quidditch Pitch however as he grabbed a second wand from his waistband and cast, "PROTEGO!" A blue shield erupted from the two wands and cast him in a pale feathery glow that made Harry nervous. So much power….

"You are doing good," Harry said to himself as he slashed his wand, "SECTUM SEMPURA!" He was barely getting warmed up. The shield of Mad Eye's held perfectly. Then he dissappitated the shield and went on the offensive, sending shards of glass at Harry's face.

Harry said, "MUSATY" and watched with a slight smile as a silver dome rose over him and around him. The shards of glass broke on the silver dome and then scattered away. Around them the noise was deafening but it was like Harry had tunnel vision, he could only focus on Mad Eye Moody.

Mad Eye had a slight smirk touching the corners of his rosy red lips. He waved his wand. Harry was expecting a strong powerful curse but all that came out were a bunch of flowers. However the flowers just kept coming out and out in wave after wave until the whole room was covered in flowers and Harry was drowning in them.

What a nice attack, Harry thought in admiration. I should have played seriously, because I am so much better at dueling than him.

But he liked dueling new people because dueling was really fun, especially when he dueled with people who didn't use the dark arts. Dark arts meant you were really serious and that always had a bit of a damper to the party ness in Harry's heart.

The death eaters were conjuring winds to clear away the flowers. But by the time they could see again and everything was alright again sans flowers, the aurors were gone. They had retreated, going deep into the vestiges of the ministry… the very heart… the bottom floor: The Department of Mysteries.

"Okay everyone, let's move out, to the Department of Mysteries." Harry shouted. "GO GO GO GO!"

"Yes sir." Everyone said and they ran like military soldiers with military precision. Harry was surprised that they actually followed his orders because he wasn't really expecting them to do so. This was a very refreshing change indeed. The inner circle who dueled with him treated him with contempt and not with the respect he thought he deserved.

They followed down a long tumbling staircase made of ice-marble. Harry stopped to admire his reflection; damn he looked good! Then they reached the big double doors of the Department of Mysteries door. Harry waved his wand in a triangle and said, "HUYTI" the door swung open with a resounding crash as Harry leapt in to the room with the death eaters on his tail.

"Kill them all!" Mad Eye said gruffly. Harry stopped at once as he caught sight of all the aurors. Basically they were standing on a conjured gigantic staircase. There were at least a thousand ministry workers here, and all of them had their wands out and had clear vision of the enemy.

"FIRE." Mad Eye said.

Simultaneously fifty thousand stunners (you can cast multiple spells if you have the skills) shot themselves at Harry.

"No!" Harry cried and raised his hands. He attempted a little wandless magic and to his surprise it worked. It was the charm that Voldemort had told him about when he went to get the tablet of the universe, the one that turned you into a sort of ghost.

But what he did was a bit different. He raised a wall that seemed like the spells would go through but when they reached the other side of the pale pinkish wall, the spells disappeared.

"What the hell is this magic?" Mad Eye asked alarmed.

Harry tried to answer him, but no words came out. Then darkness came in his vision and everything turned black.

He fainted due to magical exhaustion.

"Goddam it," Jimmy cried. He was a newbie recruit, a half blood straight out of Beuxbatons. "Somebody get him some restorative potions."

Two death eaters came and fed him a sickly green potion from what looked like test tubes. Harry groaned and then his eyes fluttered open.

"Oh shit," He cursed as he caught sight of the aurors.

"Okay men and women, fire again!" Moody cried, recovered from his shock.

They fired again, this time stunners and disarming charms and a host of different hexes and curses. Harry caught sight of all the spells and then decided instead of trying to protect everyone he would rather just save himself.

This time he turned himself into a ghost and to his surprise it worked. The spells went right through him and to the other death eaters. At once all his forces were dead. Now he had failed his mission and he could only hope Voldemort had succeeded in his. He decided to meet up with his master as soon as possible and floated out of the room, taking time to bar the big double gates. The aurors gave chase. The death eaters were trampled over and most of them died. Jimmy too.

Harry floated to the upper levels where he entered the main minister's level and floor. This was the same floor the wizengamot used as well and all the top level ministry officials like Dolores Umbridge and believe it or not, Rita Skeeter, Public Relations.

Voldemort was fiercely dueling Rita Skeeter who would turn into an animagus every time Voldemort fired a spell and then would instantly turn back and fire one of her own. It was very annoying like a fly you just couldn't swat which was exactly the case here.

"My Lord, I failed." Harry said mutedly.

"What? No!" He slashed his wand in an arc and surprisingly Rita fell because she was shocked at Harry's sudden appearance.

"We need to get out of here." Harry said.

"Hello Tom," A cold voice said from behind them. "And you too Harry Potter."

"Dumbledore," hissed Voldemort.

"Come on, let's go my lord!"

"No Harry, tonight we will see to it that this has mission has a few positive aspects. Tonight you die, Albus Dumbledore." Voldemort said.

"Tom Riddle… such a foolish boy," Dumbledore said. "You know evil cannot triumph over the ultimate power of love and good."

"You are the fool Dumbledore," Voldemort said and brandished his wand. With a flick he cast an orange ball at Dumbledore who neatly dodged. The ball exploded at his feet and when the dust cleared Dumbledore stood unharmed. Voldemort did not seem terribly surprised.

Then Harry watched the duel of his life time, Dumbledore versus Voldemort. Their skill seemed unbelievable, even surpassing his own. They exchanged spells wordlessly and conjured multiple things at a time. The air became thick with magical energy as so much spells were released into the air in such a short space and span of time.

Voldemort flicked his wand up, and a giant slab of stone rose from the floor to block Dumbledore's eatheral arrows.

Harry stood helpless, should he help? Yes, he decided he should. He cast a stupefy, just to test his foot in the waters. The stunning curse went straight to Dumbledore. At the same time Dumbledore cast a bat bogey hex and Voldemort casted an Avada Kedavra. The three curses, red, green, and blue, met in the middle and a dome was formed.

"What is this?" shrieked Voldemort.

"Oh no!" Dumbledore said, holding on to his wand. "This is the priori incantum effect. All of our wands are triplets. Brother wands!" The dome around them seemed to grow bigger and bigger, and then suddenly disappeared. All was still. But where the beams met in the middle, a huge ball of black magical energy was growing, ever so slowly.

Both Voldemort and Dumbledore went pale and let go of their wands. They ran out on either side of the hallway (there were two entrances) without a look behind and as fast as they possibly could.

Harry was not so wise or so lucky. The ball kept growing and growing, fuelled by Harry's exhausted energies. Luckily Voldemort's magical energy gave him fuel through the dark mark.

Then the ball shot itself straight at Harry and the world around him exploded as he was flung through the walls, and out the building.

In a string of coincidences there was an airplane flying by, British Airlines, heading to Australia. Harry struck the wing of the airplane, which stopped his flight through the night sky, and the ball of magical energy went INTO him and THROUGH him instead of just pushing him away as it was doing before.

Then everything went black once again, and this time when he would wake up he would be in an alternate dimension…

…In the body of his fourteen year old self in another universe, with his parents, his sister Rose, and his Brother Danny were watching a certain Quidditch Tournament.

-----

There was a lot of noise because the crowd around them was cheering loudly. They were in the back row seats next to the Malfoys who looked a bit disgusted at them. But the Quidditch game was awesome especially Victor Krum who was interfering with the chasers and trying to stop and distract them. James Potter, Lily Potter, Rose Potter and Danny Potter were having a fine time.

The stands had an arid, beach like stench to it. The night was cold and drafty, but regardless the Quidditch players zoomed above and beyond, through the hoops, trying to catch the balls, and Krum trying to catch the snitch.

Harry Potter was having a fine time too but suddenly his consciousness disappeared and was replaced by a darker and much more mature Harry Potter. Harry felt a lot of pain cursing through his body but he couldn't do anything. He bit his tongue and tried not to scream but he couldn't help it he screamed anyways.

James and Lily looked at him strangely, "What's happening Harry?" They asked.

Harry just fell intense pain, and then boom there was a lot of showers and sparks like how you get when you press your eyes really hard. And then… he opened his eyes and saw the Quidditch game.

Harry shook his head. What was going on? He wondered and looked around… There was his mum and dad and a girl who looked like his mum and a boy who looked like him except smaller.

"Harry are you alright?" James asked concerned. Harry nodded, doing the first ting he could think of. He had to find out what was going on first so he used his legilimency to pick up peripheral thoughts.

(Damn those chasers are going fast!)

(Wow look at the seekers!)

Harry jerked up and looked at the Quidditch match taking notice of it right now. There was a Quidditch match? Right now?

Then he looked and clenched his fists and rubbed his eyes trying to see clearly. His glasses had fallen to the floor. He had never really used glasses so he didn't know this. He used a magical spell for better vision, which he used right now: "Volu Tuytar." His vision cleared and he could see perfectly and…

Wow.

That was all he could think.

Wow.

Quidditch.

The one game he really wanted to play since forever and now he was actually watching a quidditch game! All thoughts fled him as he watched the match for the next few hours.

Then it stopped, Krum got the snitch and everything was over. There was a lot of cheering as the players swooped in victory laps. Harry just watched, amazed. He wanted to do that!

Then his parents shook him on the shoulder, "Come on, Harry, we need to get back to camp."

He looked up finally taking note of them. So what was going on exactly? One minute he was dueling Dumbledore and… their spells met in the middle, there was a big black ball and the ball had hit him… uh oh.

He had read about these kinds of things before in the magical theory book (the only book more than five hundred pages that he had ever read). What happened in magical phenomena was called, "Alternate Universes." Basically when strange magical incidents occur, nine times out of ten it opens a whole into another dimension…

Since strange magical phenomena is so hard to create and too dangerous to experiment the magical scientists and scholars don't know that much about it. He had thought it was interesting and remembered the paragraph in the book, vaguely.

Magical Occurences lead to Alternate Universes – We live in a universe that overlaps with multiple universes, thousands, maybe billions of universes. All that is needed to get to the other universe is a hole in the dimension which is usually made when freak magical phenomena occur. Examples of this are the 'Hyuuger spell' which makes a particular area turn into a black hole, and the 'jugareit' spell, made in Australia, which makes a cone of light that makes a doorway which leads to another universe.

Yup, only one thing to do, enjoy the life right?

Harry didn't really know. He would have to think about this.

As they walked along, Harry realized that his parents were actually here. His parents!

And he had a sister! And a brother!

He had always wanted those things as a child but it had faded into apathy, so now that he finally got what he wanted he didn't really feel the happiness. He felt nothing in fact except that he wanted to go back to the island. It was comfortable, and he had settled into a good routine he liked: Duel all day, fly at night, sleep. He wanted that routine, he didn't want change.

But then again, he thought curiously as they entered a small tent that was VERY big on the inside and small on the outside, this will be a good… learning experience. Lets say that, a learning experience.

Ya. Harry decided. I will just enjoy the experience and try to meet what other people expect of me so nobody finds out that I am a traveler from another dimension.

That sounded good, actually, because he had wanted to meet his parents and…

QUIDDITCH!

Maybe he could play that here? For that he would happily betray the dark lord.

His hand traveled to his left forearm as he thought about the dark mark. Uh oh, if he had that that would make it so much harder…

He did.

It didn't pain him at all, which was unusual because it usually tickled and irritated him. It would do that all his life but now…

He glanced down at it, it was almost faded away, but still looked noticeable.

He was wearing a gray tee shirt and blue jeans. His wand was tucked in his pocket. He had no glasses which as they sat down for dinner in the tent… his father took notice of immediately.

"Harry, did you lose your glasses again?" James asked, annoyed.

"Oh not this again," Lily complained. "Harry you have to stop losing things, really, its quite expensive you know to keep buying glasses again."

Harry blinked.

"And remember that rememberal? It costed us three hundred galleons, but now its gone! Poof." James said angrily. "You should have given Malfoy a good thumping for that, I mean you are a gryfindor not a bloody hufflepuff."

"James," Lily said, shooting him a warning look.

"Look, Harry, all I'm saying is you have to toughen up." James said.

"Yea Harry, you big coward." Danny said, jeering.

"Danny, shut up." Rose said. "Its not his fault. He has practically no friends in Gryfindor, and Longbottom is always such a jerk to him."

"He's bloody boy-who-lived," Danny said angrily. "He can do what he wants, or did you forget that he saved us all?"

"You're just saying that because you are his best friend." Rose said, scoffing. "Honestly, I wish I were in Gryfindor, I could show you two jerks a thing or two."

Danny chuckled. "No, you are in hufflepuff. Hufflepuff!" He laughed hard.

Rose glared at him.

Harry just looked confused and decided not to say anything. But he was picking up things using his basic legilimency. For example he knew that boy-who-lived was Neville Longbottom, and he had defeated Lord Voldemort as a baby due to a freak occurance. He lived with his parents. His grandmother died in the attack.

Harry felt like laughing at this idea, because Lord Voldemort was STRONG and CUNNING and most of all POWERFUL. There was no way a baby could defeat Lord Voldemort. This universe must have had a weak version of Voldemort, Harry decided. They must all be weak, Harry thought, so I have to hide my powers and use silence as a shield. I can't talk much or I might make mistakes and if they find out about me…

He didn't want to go to the Department of Mysteries – Freak Accidents ward. Hell no.

"Enough bickering," Lily said as she waved her wand. Golden plates came in front of them, and goblets too. There was chicken on it, and pasta, and beans. In the goblet there was pumpkin juice. Harry ate hungrily. Traveling between universes took a lot of energy these days.

In the middle of dinner, with Danny and Rose arguing amongst themselves as to which house was better at Hogwarts (now he knew all about this thanks to his legilimency) and Harry also discovered that Hogwarts had Quidditch!

He found out he was just starting fourth year, and so was his twin brother Danny. Rose was starting third year. From Rose's mind, he found out that he was victim to a lot of bullying… Malfoy, Longbottom, and almost everybody. He was at the bottom of the food chain so to speak.

There is no way, risk or no risk, that I am going to let myself be shit upon. Harry said to himself. He promised himself, that he would not allow any bullies to take advantage of him. Hell no.

That was his promise, he had murdered maybe thousands at least. He didn't have any reservations about a few more. He had the mentality of a serial killer. He didn't value life. How could he when he extinguished three or four lives a week every Saturday night?

The fact was he couldn't.

But he did want to try Quidditch. He decided to ask a question, take a risk. Anything for Quidditch.

"Hey can I join the school team in Quidditch?" Harry asked.

There was silence.

Then everyone burst out in laughter, James, Lily, Danny and even Rose.

"Harry… You fly worse than Remus," James said, chuckling. "You hate flying, why do you want to try for Quidditch?"

"Besides," Danny added arrogantly, "Me and Neville are joining the school team. I'm going to be a chaser, and Neville is going to be seeker. Those are the only two opening spots and Oliver Wood already promised us the spots."

James laughed. "A chaser just like your dad," he said.

"The game was awesome," Harry said, "Did you see Krum attack those chasers?"

"That was terrible!" James said. "Damn Bulgarians don't know how to play."

"James! Don't swear." Lily admonished.

Then everything went to the pits as the tent shook around. There was a lot of stampeding feet and many yells. James and Lily got a concerned look on their face. "Everyone out," James said.

They went out of the tent, and to their surprise they saw the dark mark hovering in the air.

Harry was the last to get out, and when he saw it, he felt a sense of comfort as he rubbed his left arm. Then he remembered, if anyone was to see his left arm he would be done for! As they were running away along with James and Lily, Harry conjured a wrist band. A black wrist band.

Then he noticed his wand. It wasn't the same as his old wand it was different. It was not his holly and phoenix feather wand.

This wand was black and Harry could feel it had a different core. So it wouldn't work very well in dueling. Damn!

And his body as well… He had worked so hard to train it, to keep it nice and supple and his reflexes sharp as well. It seemed he would have to train it again.

"Come on Harry!" James shouted. "Hurry up!"

Everywhere there were people running from the dark mark.

Harry sighed and trotted behind them. They didn't want to fight? They were the real cowards. Harry was itching for a good duel…

And then he decided to heck with caution. Right then and there he made his choice.

I am going to show the world what I can really do.

He had been hiding his skills even from Voldemort. He was a great dueler, not just good like everyone thought he was.

And what would happen if they find out about me? What if they found out that I am from another universe?

A cold smirk crossed Harry's face.

I will just have to kill them then.

I will kill anyone who gets in my way.

Harry started running, behind him he heard his parents calling his name, "Harry! Harry! Come back!" and if he stretched his ears he could hear James saying, "Hang on Lily I will get him back." And his mother saying, "Good luck."

But Harry ran on, heedless, to the source of the mark. There it was a pale ghostly figure stretched in the sky, and there were the death eaters as well. There was five of them, dressed in pure black robes. They also wore bone white masks and were torturing a muggle family. They would levitate them in the air and drop them. Just before they hit the floor they would levitate them back again.

Harry felt like laughing, torturing was a distraction, and should not be used in a duel if one was serious about winning. 'I will show these worms how to duel,' He said to himself. And why not? He was after all Voldemort's best death eater, a dueler who had spent his life in training. Sure his body wasn't fit, not now, it was a bit fat actually but soon it would be.

For now he would manage with a wand… a wand that was not his. His weaknesses evened out for the five inexperienced death eaters.

He crouched and sneaked toward them. They were laughing, having the time of their life probably. Harry would show them a lesson or two. Why? Because he felt like testing himself out, simple as that.

Behind him he could hear James voice, "Harry! Harry!"

He ignored this and sneaked further. He brandished his wand and let loose a bludgeoning spell. The yellow beam of light hit the first death eater right in the chest. He crumpled to the ground.

The death eaters turned around. "What's going on?" They were asking each other, wands out, looking alarmed.

Harry smirked, rose up, and went out in the open. Behind him James was looking at him in something close to awe.

"Come on and get me boys," Harry said as he used his left hand to make one of those hand gestures you used to call the people closer. With his right hand, he was holding the wand.

James was amazed. He worked as an auror actually and could tell at once that Harry was in the proper dueling stance. He pulled out his own wand and decided to back up his son, wondering how Harry knew this.

Harry needed no help. He waved his wand in an arc and unleashed a barrage of curses and hexes faster than the eye could see and most of them were dark. Two of the death eaters rose up a shield but the rest crumpled to the ground. Harry started laughing, a chilling laugh that sent chills up James's spine. He didn't know what to do. This boy was hiding his skill or something because this was not the Harry he knew.

"It is time for all of you to die," Harry said. His voice stretched so everyone could here him, even the aurors that started gathering up to where James was.

"Hey is that your son, Potter?" Mad Eye asked.

James nodded wordlessly.

"Holy shit, look at him duel," one of the aurors said. There were about fourteen aurors here, and all of them wanted to capture if not kill the lousy death eaters who ruined their evening. But their services were not required, Harry was holding out on his own.

For every spell the death eaters sent, Harry sent two back, laughing all the while. He was moving on his feet like an experienced dueler and launching spells James had never even seen before. For example when a spell came at Harry he flicked his wand up and a shield of roses towered up. The spell hit the roses and disappeared. Then Harry would launch his own spells but not standard beams of light, he would make the ground melt at their feet, or make a bolt of lightning try to strike them.

He kept missing.

James realized Harry was toying with them. His son? This couldn't be. It felt like a dream, it was too surreal. Harry was… well he was a coward and he hated violence.

This was amazing.

Another death eater crumpled to the ground.

There was only one left, the most experienced one, and Harry.

"Let us duel," Harry said, smirking. "First, we bow." He bowed. The death eater warily bowed back.

"Good, you know your manners," Harry said, in a voice similar to Voldemort's. He brandished his wand and set loose thousands of little blue bubbles. They shot at the death eater and whenever they went close to the death eater, they exploded, sending a kind of shockwave.

The death eater rose up in the air, he was using a levitation charm to escape the bubbles. From above he cast a spell, "Avada Kedavra."

Harry's expression became alarmed as he dodged the spell and sent one of his own, "Crucio!"

James's eyes widened. No way, his son was using that? This wasn't possible. He felt like vomiting.

The death eater in the air got hit and fell to the ground. There was a vicious smile on Harry's face as the death eater was shaking madly in pain and screaming on the ground.

"Enough, Potter." Mad Eye's voice filtered through, a tough growl that would scare the toughest death eaters. Harry didn't even flinch. He cast one eye at Mad Eye and smiled, a bitter smile.

"He is a death eater," Harry said, "He deserves to die, like all death eaters should." He was making this up on the spot because he didn't want to get in trouble for using dark magic.

"Avada Kedavra," Harry incanted while facing Moody. His wand was pointed at the death eater lying on the ground.

The bolt of green light shot at the death eater and killed him instantly.

"Madness," Moody cursed. "You are going to get in trouble for this, Azkaban! This is an unforgivable!"

Harry's expression didn't change.

"Are you going to take me in then?" He challenged. "I killed five death eaters on my own, do you think you have the balls to take me on?"

"I do," Mad Eye growled.

"No stop that's my son!" James yelled as he ran over to them.

"Your son," Moody said, "used an unforgivable."

"In this case it will have to be forgiven," Harry said, "Since the death eaters used it first."

The other aurors crowded around too, wands out.

"He is my son!" James yelled again, "You can't do this Moody, I won't let you." He went over to Harry, wand out.

At once Harry felt a wave of love for the man… for his true father… He had never been in a situation like this, but his previous assumption that everyone here was weak was wrong. The death eaters were tough as nails and on the outside it had looked like he was playing around but if he had made one mistake he would have been dead.

"Step aside James," Moody growled. "He is coming with me."

"No," James said firmly. "I will stand by my son, and I will give my life for him!" His determined eyes held no lie. Everyone could see that.

"What should we do?" Kingsley asked nervously.

"He. Used. An. Unforgivable." Moody said slowly.

Then a phoenix's cry filled the area. Everyone looked to the sky. There was a red and gold feathered phoenix flying through the sky and hanging on his tail was Albus Dumbledore, dressed in white robes.

Harry instantly tensed, then relaxed and cleared his mind. He would need every ounce of energy for this encounter. Albus and the aurors… He would have to run.

But it wasn't necessary.

"What's going on?" Albus asked. He was exuding an aura of danger and mystique that made even Harry nervous.

"Harry Potter used an unforgivable." Moody said.

"Is this true?" Dumbledore asked. "Fill me in on the details."

Moody told him everything.

"I see," Dumbledore said at last. "This is precarious. Please, let's all head to my office. Here are some portkeys." He handed everyone a pencil. When they took it they disappeared.

"You too Harry."

Harry took it.

The office was very large. There was an old wood desk and behind it a purple armchair. There was three chairs but Albus conjured more as they all popped in. The office itself had numerous magical objects like globes and telescopes and many many other whirling contraptions. Harry wondered why they were here. What did Albus have anything to do with… well anything?

"Minister," Moody began. "Harry Potter here used dark magic!"

"That's not true!" James shouted. "He was fighting the death eaters."

At once voices rode in and overcrowded everything. Dumbledore raised his grizzled hands. "As minister of magic I request Mad Eye Moody and Harry Potter to submit their memories of this incident."

Mad Eye growled. "Fine." He said and tapped his wand to his temple, removing a silver ghost like thread.

Memories.

Harry gulped and remembered his legilimency training. Okay, lets do this. He thought and tapped his wand to his temple and summoned the same memory like Mad eye was doing.

Dumbledore and the rest rose their eyebrows. "I didn't know you could do something like this Harry. It is advanced magic. I was going to do it for you."

Harry smiled wearily. "I can do it its okay." He wondered what would happen to him, and he was also wondering how he could get out of this office. He was cursing himself for ever coming here. Why had he come here? Was it Dumbledore excluding a certain amount of trust and happiness that just influenced Harry?

Damn it.

He should have known better, he should have put up firmer occlumency shields. He did so now. Dumbledore got a penseive from the cupboard.

"Please deposit your memories in here." He said.

The ghostly white threads turned into little balls at the tips of the wands. They put it in the bowl.

"I'll get it back won't I?"

"Of course you can, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said.

"Albus I am telling you, Harry did nothing wrong. But his dueling…" James turned to Harry. "Where did you learn to duel like that?"

"I learnt it in school," Harry said at once.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Let's speak of this later. First lets watch the memories.

They went in and watched the memories. Dumbledore's expression turned grim and almost ugly to look at. Certainly not the same old happy man image he had excluded before. Uh oh, Harry thought. I am not going to like this.

Then they all popped out of the memory.

"That was amazing Harry," Dumbledore said at last. "I think you can even give me a run for my money."

Harry nodded, knowing he had screwed up. He had just wanted to test his skills against the death eaters, a simple scouting mission, not… this. This was unbelievable. A terrible mistake on his part. THERE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE NO OBSERVERS DAMMIT!

Oh well, Harry thought. Concentrate, I will have to do this alone now. I have no Voldemort to help me since he has been defeated…

"I am curious," Dumbledore said. "How did you learn this?"

"Yea how did you, Harry?" James said. "Not that I am not proud of you or anything, just curious."

"It's okay," Harry said. He thought up a quick lie. "I train at night." He said at last. "Everyday for the last three years I have been at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore knew he was lying, the others didn't.

"Wow that's amazing, why didn't you tell me?"

"YOU USED AN UNFORGIVABLE!" Moody roared, surprising everyone. "Albus this is-"

"I am going to give him the Minister's pardon." Dumbledore said at last.

"This is, this is abuse, Dumbledore. I will complain, make no mistake. You can't abuse your powers like this!" Moody said.

"Alastor, old friend you have to listen. He killed the death eaters, true they were not as skilled as Harry but he killed them nonetheless. I think that…"

Moody sighed. "I need to go," He said at last and left through the floo.

Albus sighed as well as the other twelve aurors followed him. Now there was nobody left in the office except James Harry and Dumbledore.

"Okay, Harry, tell me the truth. How did you really learn this?"

"I can't do that," Harry said solemnly. "I'm sorry."

"Harry! Tell Albus right now!" James yelled.

Harry looked at him with dead cold eyes, deadly eyes.

"No." Harry said.

James turned red.

"Its okay James," Dumbledore said, blue eyes twinkling. "I daresay when the dark lord returns, Mr. Harry Potter will be a great asset to our cause."

Harry looked up sharply. "I thought he was dead?"

"No not dead," Dumbledore said and took off his glasses. He looked older than ever and very stressed out. "I assure you, Voldemort is not dead. He will come back make no mistake about it."

"I see," Harry said slowly, already planning contingencies and several plans. Should he make contact with Voldemort?

He decided to play Quidditch first.

"Since I am already here…" Harry said. "Can I play a bit of Quidditch?"

"Only if you tell me where you learnt your skills."

For Quidditch? It seemed like a good deal actually. Harry couldn't wait to play.

"I-" he sighed. "Okay fine I will tell you but I want a wizarding oath that none of you will repeat it to anyone else in anyway."

They looked serious and solemn.

"I am very serious about this. If anyone knows my life will be in danger." He said.

"Okay harry," James said. "Okay I swear on my magic I won't repeat or tell anyone what you tell us right now in this office." A faint blue glow surrounded him and then disappeared. They all felt it. The oath was geniuine.

Harry looked at Dumbledore expectantly, he sighed. "I swear not to tell or repeat what you tell us." Dumbledore said. A faint green glow surrounded him, and the oath took effect. It was also genuine.

"Okay," Harry said and took off his wristband on his left hand. The dark mark glowed green, pulsating.

Dumbledore gasped, as did James. "What is this?" He asked shocked.

"Father, I made a mistake." Harry lied, he didn't actually. He would go back someday to Voldemort. This was no mistake, but in this universe… when in Rome do what the Romans do right?

Right.

"What…" Dumbledore said. "What happened? How did you get this mark? Is Voldemort back already?"

Harry shook his head and pointed at his temple. "He contacted me through legilimency when I was in first year and he has been training me ever since then."

"I will need to report this," Dumbledore said faintly. "This is-"

"Harry, how could you?" James looked horrified. All his illusions about Harry being a harmless little kid vanished.

"No please, don't. You can't anyway because of the oath. But listen to me for a second," Harry said. "I can… betray him. I can turn my back on him, that's why I told you this after all. I don't want to serve him. I can block him out. I learnt occlumency. Test me, Albus."

Albus Dumbledore lifted his wand. His eyes showed no mercy. "Legilimency," He said and flew into Harry's mind…

And struck a solid rock hard shield.

He could get around it of course but that would mean breaking the shield down. Luckily Voldemort couldn't because he would have to be in close quarters to break this kind of shield down.

This shield had weaknesses though. It was nothing compared to Dumbledore's shield, or Snape's, or Voldemort's. Hell even Moody's was better. Actually the paranoid auror's shields were the best out of all of them.

"I see…" Dumbledore said, and sighed. "I will have to think about this," he said at last. "I will have to think… and discuss it with Severus."

"The slimy bat?" James said, snarling. Then he turned on Harry.

"You are a death eater!" He cried angrily. "How could you do this, how could you betray your family? You are like Peter Petigrew!"

Harry looked at him blankly. Honestly he couldn't care less.

"Do you want me to stay away from your family? Is that it, father? If that's what you want…" He turned to Dumbledore. "Can I stay here then for the night? School is starting when?"

"Tomorrow."

"That's right, school's starting tomorrow. I might as well stay here."

Dumbledore nodded. "You may go."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. "What?" He asked bluntly.

James's face was puce red. He stormed out of the office angrily through the floo and probably went back home. Harry hoped he wouldn't tell anyone in the office, especially Rose. He had taken a slight liking to his little sister.

"Quidditch. Where are the brooms?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I thought you hated Quidditch."

"You know that too?"

"The whole school does."

Harry smiled, "You're going to have a surprise then, I love flying." He said and went down stairs.

Dumbledore's smile disappeared when Harry left the room. He started making his own plans.

It would be a furious chess match now between Harry and Dumbledore… They both knew the Voldemort of this world would return.

But what about the Voldemort in the other universe where Harry came from…

… and a new player was coming into the game, his name was Voldemort.

-------

Meanwhile back in the original universe Voldemort was furiously translating the tablet which held the secrets of the universe. He had got it when Harry was five years old, and had been translating it ever so slowly.

He knew what happened of course – a freak magical phenomena. Now he was searching for his own way to follow Harry into the other universe… and bring him back, or… take over.

And why not? He could, he had the power.

And he could take over more universes… If he found the secret to immortality, why all the universes would be his!

-------

Harry went to the shed on the Quidditch field, and it was locked. He used his wand to cast an alarohoma and made a mental note to nick Neville's wand at the first chance he got because Neville had the holly and phoenix feather wand.

There were a few rows of brooms all of them better than anything Harry had ever ridden. He smiled a huge smile and picked up a cleansweep 303. He took off, flew laps around the pitch, smiling in true joy.

Dumbledore watched him from the office with a grim look, what was going on? He knew Harry was lying by omission but what? And did this mean that Voldemort was back?

Will Harry be willing to spy on Voldemort? He was truly an amazing boy, Dumbledore kicked himself for missing it. He should have noticed sooner. And Neville will need allies like Harry. Powerful allies.

But Neville hated Harry for some reason.

Who knows. Dumbledore didn't particularly care about that because he had bigger things to worry about than schoolboy rivalries.

Like horcruxes for example. He needed to find them all soon or else… or else there was no hope of defeating Voldemort.

With a sigh he sat down on his chair and stroked Fawkes's head while deep in thought. Fawkes crooned, a song that filled Dumbledore with joy and hope.

Things will work out in the end, he decided, and closed his eyes, he decided to take a nap.

Meanwhile Harry flew around the pitch, whooping in joy. Then he got bored of the pitch and flew above Hogwarts, marveling at the castle. It looked awesome. He was really going to school here? His eyes filled with tears of joy. This would be magical… playing quidditch, making a few friends, having fun, exploring the castle… and…

There was a forest!

He loved flying through the forest back at the island. He flew over to it and under through the trees. The forest here was dark and a bit scary. A centaur flew at him, but Harry drew his wand faster than the eye could see and blasted him away.

Then he was surrounded by a row of angry centaurs (four legged horse like creatures with big heads). He stopped, his wand out. He was a bit exhausted now, he didn't feel like fighting, especially not centaurs who were tough as nails.

"Get away," Harry warned as he rotated on his broom, trying to keep his eye on all the centaurs at once. They carried bows and arrows and they were all loaded. Harry did the only thing he could do, he flew up. At once thousands of arrows zipped by him. One hit him on the shoulder. He gasped and the broom spun out of control and zoomed away.

Harry fell to the ground with a thud. His ankle felt broken. Then the centaurs moved in closer.

"Potter, you should not be here. The stars say so," An oldish looking centaur said. "Why are you here?"

"It was a magical accident," Harry gasped as feet flew on his back and trampled him into the ground. His leg broke and more arrows hit his shoulder.

"Enough!" The oldish looking centaur roared. The beating stopped at once.

"There is no such thing as a magical accident. This is… destiny!" His black eyes roared fiery red. "DESTINY!" He shouted again.

The other centaurs shouted too, "DESTINY DESTINY DESTINY!" It became a chant now, they were all in a circle with Harry in the middle.

Harry got up to his feet, it took a lot out of him, and his ankle was broken. He couldn't walk properly. His left eye was swollen as well. Those centaur kicks hurt.

He waved his wand over his ankle and winced as the broken ankle fixed itself. He waved his wand on his shoulder, and felt a popping sound as the dislocated shoulder slipped back in place. Then he got into dueling stance.

"I will leave this forest," Harry said coldly. "Anyone who tries to stop me WILL DIE!"

His aura flared up, pure black, it said murder.

The centaurs looked at each other uncomfortably. "Go then," the old one said. "But remember… this is destiny. And you will be required to face it," He warned.

Harry scowled. "Yeah right, let me through."

The centaurs parted and disappeared in the forest. Harry limped back to Hogwarts and wondered how to get to the Gryfindor house.

He hadn't been to Hogwarts after all. He didn't know his way around the castle.

Harry didn't know what to do. He was wondering the corridors of Hogwarts, and behind him was the entrance hall from which he had come through. Where was he supposed to sleep? Where was he supposed to rest? Where was his room? Maybe he should just get into a closet and go to sleep?

No that would look too suspicious. Harry couldn't ask Dumbledore certainly, that was madness. Dumbledore was already suspicious enough as it was, Harry knew that Dumbledore thought he was lying about some things. There might have been holes in his lies too. They say a murderer who commits unplanned murder makes 25 mistakes at least that the police will use to catch him. Is that the same for liers? Did he make 25 mistakes that Dumbledore will use to catch him?

He sighed and sat down on the corner where two corridors met at a fork. Above him was a painting of a knight and around him was the empty halls of Hogwarts. There was a staircase that constantly moved to the side, but Harry didn't want to go on it. He didn't know where he was and this was after all a pretty damn big place. He wondered what he should do.

Sighing again he dipped his head down between his arms and closed his heavy eyes. He felt like sleeping for three days straight, that was how tired he was. He wanted to go home, he wanted that mission at the ministry to go off without a hitch… Dumbledore. Dumbledore was there at the ministry, true not this Dumbledore, but Dumbledore just the same.

Harry felt a wave of hatred for this man. Dubmledore was the reason he was stranded in another world, away from his comfortable island.

But then again, a voice spoke from the corners of his mind. That traitorous voice you can't squelch no matter what. "But then again… he saved you from Voldemort."

Harry shuddered, "Don't think those thoughts!" He snarled at himself.

But he knew it was true. Dumbledore had invariably and without conscious realization saved him from Voldemort by blasting him into another universe. Now he could make a new life for himself. He could go to school, he could become a Quidditch star. Maybe if he worked at it hard enough…

He sighed again, his head dipping below his arms on folded knees. He just wanted to go home.

Then suddenly he heard a bright crooning sound of a bird, or a… phoenix. He looked up at the noise in wonder, a brilliant red and gold phoenix with bright green eyes, the same as Harry's, flew toward him. It stopped in front of him and stared at Harry in something akin to curiousity.

Harry reached his left hand to stroke it. Fawkes gave a shriek and scratched his left hand, right through the conjured wristband and at the death eater mark. The wrist band popped out of existence. Harry stared at the dark mark, it was pulsating but not green and black…

It was pulsating green and black but there was a streak of red and gold going across the dark mark that seemed to… break it almost.

Harry's eyes widened in wonder… He looked at the phoenix, right into its green bird eyes and became lost in a world of magic and love.

He felt his heart soaring and his tiredness leave him at once. "Wow," He gasped. "You are amazing." He didn't hold a grudge for Fawkes scratching his left arm. He thought the bird might have been doing him a favor.

He reached again, this time with his right arm, to stroke Fawkes's feathers and bright plumage. Fawkes leaned in closer and gave a purr, almost catlike, of satisfaction. Harry smiled. "I don't suppose you can take me to the dormitories?" He asked.

Fawkes stopped purring and climbed up on Harry's shoulder. Then he looked deep into Harry's eyes. Green met green… and suddenly… it was as if a mental link had been formed. Harry felt his heart soar again, and then suddenly a voice filled Hogwarts.

No not Hogwarts, Harry realized, just my mind.

The voice spoke. It was a deep growl; a warm voice almost like Mad Eye Moody's except… more loving.

"HARRY POTTER, YOU ARE NOT FROM HERE." The VOICE Said. "YOU ARE FROM A UNIVERSE OF YOUR OWN AND YOU HAVE COME HERE. IT IS DESTINY."

Harry jerked back… Fawkes was saying the same thing as the centaurs! "IT IS TRUE THOUGH. NOW YOU ARE AT THE BRINK OF A CROSSWAY, YOUR PATH LAYS FORWARD. WHAT WILL YOU CHOSE? GOOD OR EVIL?"

Harry was startled. The bird was talking to him! And asking him his choice. What should he say? Should he lie and tell him what he wants to hear or…?

"YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE THAT CHOICE RIGHT NOW, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE THE CHOICE SOON AND WHEN THAT TIME COMES I HOPE FOR YOUR SAKES YOU WILL BE PREPARED." Fawkes said.

"I-" Harry was speechless. "I…"

"KNOW THAT BOTH CHOICES HAVE HONOR AND NOBILITY, AND BOTH CHOICES REQUIRE YOU TO USE EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH AND CUNNING. IT IS YOUR CHOICE, NOT MINE, NOT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE'S, NOT VOLDEMORT'S EITHER, BUT KNOW THAT WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE…"

Fawkes turned black. His feathers literally changed into black, and his eyes a deep red. "KNOW THAT I WILL BE BEHIND YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, FOR I HAVE FOUND YOU… WORTHY."

Harry gulped. This was too surreal. This was not happening. It must have been some kind of crazy dream or something because this was like from a bad fairy tale.

"COME NOW, LETS DISCUSS THIS LATER. FIRST FOLLOW ME TO YOUR DORMITORY WHERE ON THE JOURNEY I WILL EXPLAIN TO YOU EVERYTHING ABOUT HOGWARTS AND THIS UNIVERSE, SO YOU DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES."

"Thank you." Harry stammered thinking of the only thing he could say.

"A WORD OF WARNING, MR. POTTER. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TELL ANYONE OF YOUR TRUE ORIGINS. THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE DASTARDLY AND YOU ARE NOT YET STRONG ENOUGH TO FACE IT."

"I kind of know that, but thank you." Harry said a bit annoyed. What did this overgrown turkey think he was?

He heard a soft chuckling noise in his head… "YOU ARE LIKE ALBUS DUMBLEDORE… AND TOM RIDDLE. BRAVE, LOYAL TO A FAULT, CUNNING, AND CURIOUS. IN TIME YOU WILL BE GREAT."

Then Fawkes explained everything about Hogwarts and this universe and how Albus was the minister of magic and headmaster of Hogwarts at the same time. Soon Harry was well versed in everything he needed to know… he hoped.

They were at the threshold of the fat lady's portrait. "I MUST LEAVE YOU HERE. THE PASSWORD IS AMIGDALA." Then Fawkes changed again… into his red and gold form and burst out in a puff of flame.

Harry went inside and marveled at the Gryfindor common room. It was amazing, much better than the white mansion. The walls were painted reddish, there was a very big fireplace in the center of the room (on the walls, not the center center) and several armchairs. There was a stack of quidditch magazines on a little table. Harry grabbed one, lit the fireplace on fire with a flick of his wand, settled into the armchair and started reading.

He fell asleep within a few minutes.

The Next Day

Harry woke up on the armchair with blurry eyes and looked out the window. It was a cloudy morning sky, and for a moment he felt a sense of vertigo. Where am I? He thought. Then the memories from last night came rushing back and he remembered Fawkes and his whole bloody day.

He sighed, got up, and went to the washroom. He washed his face, toweled himself, and went out. Fawkes had told him where the kitchens was. He went downstairs and saw nobody, and he reached the pear shaped bowl of fruit which he tickled. A door opened. He entered and what he saw made him gasp.

Elves.

House elves to be exact. They were working in tandem and singing a song he didn't recognize:

"Oompa Loompa Oompa di dooo, I have a message for you… what do you get when you eat a lot? You get fat, you get ugly to look at! Oompa Loompa Oompa Di doo-"

They stopped at once when they caught sight of Harry, and some of them were flushing red. They were not tall, they reached his waist and had big floppy ears and bulbous blue eyes and long stout noses. They were pillow sacks that were torn and tattered and stained with food.

"Mr. Potter sir," An elf said as he leapt up to him, "What would you like from us today?"

This elf was different from other elves. He wore big floppy socks on his big floppy ears, all different colours, and a t-shirt (SPIDERMAN!) baby sized, and toddler pants.

"Err…" Harry was too shocked to respond. He never saw house elves before. This was amazing!

"Err…"

The elf repeated what he said, a bit annoyed this time. Then a she-elf came, "Dobby! Don't disturb the peoplz."

"I'm sorry sirz. What wouldz you likez?"

"Err…"

"Sirz? Arez you okay?"

he snapped out of it. "Yeah I am. Can I have breakfast?"

The she-elf snapped her fingers and a large buffet table appeared. Then she clapped her hands dramatically and thousands of plates filled with all assortments of food appeared in front of Harry.

Harry was wide eyed. He felt like laughing, this whole trip to another universe must have been some kind of dream…

"Thank you." Harry said and dug in. He had a light breakfast, just a ham sandwhich and a glass of milk, and a doughnut.

Then he left the kitchen amid protests of "finish your food."

Sure he finished his food normally, but this was too much. He went outside to the Quidditch pitch and glanced longingly at the shed filled with brooms.

No, I can't. He thought sadly as he started jogging laps around the pitch. I have to get back in shape.

He lapped a few thousand times around the Quidditch pitch and when he finished he was exhausted to the bone. He needed a restorative potion for sure…. Or else he couldn't continue his training like normal now could he?

He had a very intense training session which in his other body would be a snap. Then he went back to the dorms and took a nice shower, and then he went down to the kitchens for lunch again.

After lunch he wandered around Hogwarts and found the library, which he skipped in disgust. He hated to read books. Then he tracked back and with a sigh he entered.

He went straight to the restricted section (Who would need little baby books? Not Harry Potter!) and glanced at the shelves, and then he found what he needed.

"MOST POTENTE POTIONS." The book said. Harry grabbed it and put it under his waist belt, under his robes. Then he sneaked out of the library, after feeling an uncomfortable tingle on his neck like he was being followed. He glanced back… Nobody.

He didn't know Dumbledore was following him.

----

Back in the common rooms he was scanning the book, and he found what he wanted. A little ritual he had used with great success before. Snape had showed him this actually and even though he felt… well he hated Snape to be exact, and Snape hated him back but they worked together in neutrality and business like calm, not saying anything to each other.

The ritual was simple, and it read:

------

The Pyshikal Ritual of Power

This ritual gives the user more physical powers and greater speeds in fighting and running, and more health. A harmless ritual this is, good for beginners.

Ingredients:

One Basilisk drop of venom,

One tooth of dragon,

One eye of toad,

Poltyjuice potion (see page 433)

Mix ingredients together. The poltyjuice potion is most important, don't put any hair in it though. Instead of hair or nail of person, crush tooth of dragon, eye of toad and drop of venom together and put in poltyjuice potion.

Drink.

Enjoy.

Effects last for one full year.

------

Harry flipped through it some more and found a few more interesting rituals that he would like to try this year.

He smiled a good natured smile.

This was a second chance, he realized.

And he would use it well.

-----

Dumbledore watched Harry flipping through the book with sad eyes. It seems Harry hasn't regretted his evil ways. A tear dropped from his eyes and slid to the floor in front of the fireplace of the common room. He hated seeing youngsters go to the dark side.

Then he fled the room, and back at his office, the tears and sadness disappeared, and what was left was a cold heart, a merciless heart that would give Voldemort a run for his money.

He started making plans.

---

DEAR READERS. IF YOU HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR, YOU HAVE MY CONGRATULATIONS. THIS IS A HUMONGOUS TRILOGY THAT REQUIRES THE UTMOST DEDICATION ON THE AUTHOR'S PART (FOR HE IS AFTER ALL THE ONE WRITING IT) AND THE READERS AS WELL, WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS (IF THEY ENJOY THIS STORY) TO REVIEW AND PROVIDE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK. I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR RESPONSES. THE WAY I AM GOING TO WRITE THIS IS BY POSTING SEGMENTS OF THE CHAPTER AS SOON AS I WRITE A PARTICULAR SCENE, ON MY YAHOO GROUP WHICH IS ON MY PROFILE. SO IF YOU ARE IMPATIENT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER (AS I HOPE YOU ARE), THEN YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF SIGNING UP TO MY YAHOO GROUP AND READING THOSE CHAPTERS. ONCE I HAVE COLLECTED A SIGNIFICIENT AMOUNT OF WORK I WILL COMPILE AND EDIT IT INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER AND POST IT UP HERE, SO AS TO GIVE THE READERS QUALITY MATERIAL AND A GOOD AMOUNT OF LENGTH AS WELL.

THANKS FOR READING THIS. IF YOU HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR, I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND GIVING ME A REVIEW. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT IS ONE LINE OR TWENTY (I HOPE IT IS), JUST TO LET ME KNOW THAT SOMEBODY HAS READ THIS AND HAS ENJOYED THIS.