A/N: The second in my Harry Potter/ Familiar of Zero crossovers (or first depending on which gets posted first), basically with any FOZ crossover we get the same three types of story, an Insert crossover person here as Saito and railroad the story, have Louise become the familiar (rarer) or reverse summon Louise, this one is a rejection of the binding based on certain reactions. The opening bit is exactly the same as my other one as I felt it was pointless to change that.
Also note a few very minor modifications have been done to canon Harry, he is aware of his heritage now (I think it was his 5th year or so) not that it will have any effect on the story outside of a few conversations near the start so panic not people :D.
V 1.1 (27.04.16) - Amended some formatting errors Fanfiction site did, please note I am rebooting this story this chapter will remain up however.
Disclaimer: FOZ and HP not owned by me.
Tristain Academy
"My Servant that existed somewhere in the vast Universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from the bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear."
And with those words uttered by an apparent failure of a mage, the fate of two people and two separate worlds would forever been changed, one who wished for recognition and one that wanted none of it, two people pushed by circumstances beyond their control.
But fate isn't kind and the spell neither, finding one that could fit the bill it reached out to him but his path had yet to be chosen and one that would affect hers though whether in a good way or bad would be up to chance.
Dursley's Home
Never had the Dursley's house felt like a home, in many cases a prison would be a more apt example, the bars on the window adding credence to the idea, but since his arrival last week from his fourth year it seemed more and more like solitary confinement.
Worse so was the nights, the nightmares, each one seeing the sickly green glow of the spell and Cedric's dead body fall to the ground, it didn't help that as he stood there watching the scene unable to move or even yell out to warn him the body while lifeless would tell him it was his fault, the blank eyes that pierced into him and then the laughing of Voldemort and Wormtail.
He would wake up in a sweat screaming and within moments the loud banging of his uncle on the wall telling him to shut up could be heard, and he would curl up and hate himself more.
The aftermath of the tournament itself had been a mixture of confusion, accusations and anger, sure the Tri-wizard tournament wasn't a safe event, people did die it was one of the reason they had added the rule this time around to prevent people below the 6th year joining, the last one was open to all and the very untrained young wizards or witches were quickly killed.
As Harry stared at the ceiling he felt anger, anger at everything and everyone, Dumbledore was one of his targets, the fact he had the gall to demand to know if he had put him name in the cup or someone else had, Dumbledore should have known after these years that he wanted a quiet life away from the press, the other schools he could accept as far as they knew he was 'Harry Potter Boy Who Lived and media whore', but not the headmaster.
Then there was his friends, Hermione and Ron, it wouldn't be a stretch to say he loved his friends, but they put too much stock in Dumbledore, he needed them now more than ever, he forgave Ron for the early betrayal because he was his first friend and needed that but he needed someone to talk to, someone to understand the pain he felt and as such he felt anger at them.
In fact the only wizarding contact he has currently had was a mysterious advanced copy of the Daily Prophet, the headlines stating THE BOY WHO LIVES in large letters with a picture of himself holding the body of Cedric, the words in the headline would change to THE BOY WHO LIES, the article written by Rita Skeeter the shrew woman that would be bottom of the list for accurate reporter of the year.
The sound of Hedwig hooting in the corner and the frantic flap of wings broke him out of his self-depreciation and anger, the sounds were cut off abruptly, almost like someone had cast a 'Silencio' spell on the world, sitting up he noticed a weird void in his room.
Jumping off his bed he grabbed his wand, the void was a vertically aligned oval, a very similar sickly green colour to the killing curse, the edges looking a mixture of fuzzy purples and red like when the TV was just turned on and warming up.
The void seemed to just hover there, sounds like a voice chanting but unknown gender seemed to come from it, Harry would consider himself a curious person, but with the very real threat of Voldemort hanging over his head the chances that this was one of his ploys was high.
He knew Voldemort was a flashy man that liked a spectacle but he was a smart one too, it wouldn't be too out of character for him to quietly kill him then parade his corpse down Diagon alley on a pole, or use some kind of puppeteer spell and have his rotting body dancing to a merry tune, no Harry wasn't taking a chance and tried for the window, shaking the solid bars hoping the damage done by the Weasley's car had weakened the wall, it hadn't.
Turning back to the void it remained still for a moment before it lanced out like a pool of green liquid metal, encompassing his arm Harry struggled to free himself, his wand and wand arm firmly encased in the substance, the voice on the other side became clearer, it was a girls voice but it didn't register well in his mind, a trap had appeared and while not triggered by himself it had triggered itself and ensnared him, yelling out in fear and anger Harry felt the hot tears run down his face, he felt he would die and no one would know it.
A sharp tug from the void felt like it would dislocate his arm but it swallowed him and he saw a sea of stars then blackness.
Tristain Academy
The explosion covered the entire summoning area in a dense smoke thinner wisps floating in the breeze and enveloping the group and causing coughing fits from the group until a stronger gust of wind blew away the entire cloud.
"Way to go Louise you blew up your summon." One of the students called out.
"As expected of the Zero."
Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, third daughter of Duke and Duchess Valliere stood shocked, her spell may have been unorthodox but it was a summon spell, depression assailed her it was the same as always, no matter the spell it became an explosion, healing, explosion, alchemy, explosion, summoning…explosion.
Her eyes clearing from the smoke, in the epicentre stood a young man, raven black messy hair, a pair of round glasses and piercing emerald eyes, his clothing however was baggy and looked like hand-me-downs, it was however what he was wielding that caught her full attention, a wand.
With everyone now looking at first the short pink haired girl and then the new arrival, the students of the Tristain magic academy were abuzz first at the idea of 'The Zero' summoning a commoner then disbelief when they saw the wand.
"A mage, a noble?" A student spoke pointing at Harry.
"Get off fool, look at his clothing, clearly he's some fraud commoner pretending to be a noble." Another scoffed.
"Yeah? But maybe he was on a mission using a disguise, didn't think of that huh." The first retorted.
Harry looked around wild eyes, his wand out and readying his spells, he knew a few that could be handy, a shield charm, a disarm spell, a stunning spell, a fire spell, an explosion spell and a few curses, whoever these people were he wasn't to be caught off guard like in the cemetery.
His gaze first fell on the girl in front of him, a short girl with vivid pink hair that fell to her back and pink eyes, a brief wonder if she was one of those metamorphmagus he had heard about, the confused look in her eyes that seemed to lock with his.
Quickly observing her attire he noticed a white blouse, black skirt and a cape with a gold pentagonal star as a fastening a wand in her hand, Harry moved his feet into a more stable stance, regardless of her innocent appearance the possibility of her being an agent for Voldemort was still there.
Casting his gaze around to his right was a middle aged man with a bald head and a tidy blue jacket zipped up with a satchel strap crossing his chest, a pair of glasses similar to his own and a large stave in his hands, the man was appraising him with interest.
Behind them was what however caused surprise and concern, a bevy of other teens and maybe older by some appearances and a large collection of creatures, dogs, cats a large mole like creature and the worst of all, a dragon.
Harry unconsciously stepped back at this eyeing a nearby archway that may have been an exit, doubtful he could out run the monster he still prepared for a possible fight or flight scenario.
"Excuse me young man." The older man spoke in a language Harry couldn't understand but figured might have been French.
"Uh hello?" Harry tried but keeping almost everyone in sight at the same time.
Professor Colbert had seen much in his life, some of it he wished he hadn't and more he wished he hadn't partook of but never had he seen a person summoned in the ritual, the clearly scared person wasn't speaking a known language or he was, it sounded vaguely like Albionesse but maybe some regional dialect from a small town, the wand in his hand also caught his attention he needed the headmaster to help with this.
"Malicorne, please get the headmaster quickly." Colbert turned to the nearest student.
The student took off at the fastest pace he could towards the central tower, the remaining students watching the human familiar with a critical eye, Harry watched the boy rush off after a command from the person who looked like a teacher, continuing to look around he noticed the area was like some castle, large white walls and several towers around the parameter, additional walls seemed to separate areas by his guess and linked to the largest central tower.
Looking up at it he noticed something that he should have noticed earlier, a large pair of moons one a bright blue the other pink, for the briefest of moments his mind froze as questions rushed his head all at once, the most pressing was, 'where the hell am I?'
More fear began to assault him, he had read enough books in his youth about children being summoned to other worlds and having adventures and in his younger days he too wished that if only to escape the Dursley's home, now with psychopathic magic users out to kill him, dodging Slytherin attacks of both social and physical kinds and the death of Cedric the idea he had been thrown into some other world by magic didn't appeal to him at all.
"Send me back." Harry growled at the girl, he didn't know better but guessed by her close proximity she was the summoner. "Send me back NOW!"
Louise stepped back her wand trembling at the cold gaze the person in front of her was burning into her, the emerald eyes seemed to glow with power and anger, she had briefly entertained the notion of berating him and calling him a commoner but the language barrier was an issue one the anger crossed with ease and his anger was clearly leaps above her own.
"Sir, let me try again." She pleaded to Professor Colbert, her reasoning that the person in front of her wasn't happy with the outcome adding to the urgency.
"I'm sorry Ms Valliere but the ritual is sacred." Colbert felt sorry for the young woman, her lack of magic skill not withstanding this was clearly an issue in and of itself.
Looking around, usually he would dismiss the group but with the unknown mage in their midst the need for more power in case he turned hostile was required, out of the corner of his eye he could see more panic in the eyes of the summoned person and panic in the eyes of a mage was never good.
He took a breath of relief when he noticed the headmaster Old Osmond hurriedly heading towards them with an out of breath Malicorne behind him.
Harry watched as a person exited a door in the large tower, a man in a robe with a long white beard similar to Dumbledore heading towards them, the lack of garish colour scheme and fact there were two moons telling him it wasn't his headmaster, the old man stopped near the teacher and was quickly informed of the currently known situation at least that was what he assumed.
"I see, a possible minor Albion noble, maybe a loyalist or a member of the rebels that had doubts, what was Ms Valliere's catalyst?" Osmond asked.
"Well, uh, her summoning spell was a little different, I can say that it is unlikely the spell worked right." Colbert rubbed the back of his head the spells incantation still imprinted in his mind, it was certainly interesting and filled with her desire to succeed.
"Young man, what is your name?" Osmond turned to Harry and tried his hand at Albionesse.
Harry watched the conversation nervously, if the old man was anyone important he doubted he would get away scot-free, a brief pause before the man turned to him and spoke in some pseudo broken form of English.
"I can't understand." Harry replied.
Osmond nodded seemingly accepting the notion, it was certainly an odd language but not Albionesse, maybe an old tribe that had left the white isle and made their home elsewhere, a translation spell would deal with this boundary.
"I will cast a speech spell, so we can talk and understand each other." Osmond enunciated each word in the floating isles language hoping the boy understood enough as he raise his wand gesturing to it.
Harry eyed the wand suspiciously, from the bastardised version of his language he could at least guess the man was suggesting some form of translation spell, such a thing didn't exist in his world but if so here it would help him put across that he wanted to go home.
"Tra Lan Re." Osmond cast hitting Harry with a soft light.
"Can you understand me now? My name is Osmond and who might you be?"
"Harry, Harry Potter, where am I?" Harry asked the old man.
"You are at the Tristain magic academy, it seems you have been summoned during our spring time familiar summoning ritual, I must say this is quite extraordinary." Osmond chuckled.
"Quite, but I would like to go home, much as I hate my home, my friends are there and I got a dark magic user to deal with, so please unsummon me." Harry spoke keeping his voice level.
"I'm sorry but I know of no way to do that." Osmond spoke seriously.
"Really now, you expect me to believe that?"
"I'm afraid so, this has never happened before, especially since the bindings are usually a creature that can't speak."
Harry narrowed his eyes at the old man, a binding didn't sound good, he was a slave in everything but name in his world, trapped in a loveless house and barred from contact with his friends by a man that said he had his best interests at heart, now to be bound to someone else as a familiar wasn't happening.
"A binding? Really? And what if I refuse?" Harry asked crossing his arms in defiance the next sentence would decide his options.
"I'm afraid it really isn't a choice, this ritual is thousands of year's olds." Osmond spoke solemnly.
"I'm sure some concessions can be made." Colbert spoke up.
Harry's blood ran both cold and hot at this, though the old man seemed apologetic, Harry didn't give 2 pennies about how old or sacred it was, his freedom was on the line and if a binding was anything like a house Elf one the choice was obvious and if as stated it was an ancient spell most of the means to free himself would have been ironed out over the years.
"Concessions? My will bound to another to do with as they please with me? I will not be a slave, no matter how you pretty it up my freedom is on the line." Harry spoke with venom. "In fact it these creatures here had intelligence and you asked them before you bound them I very much doubt they would accept either."
"You refuse? This would have repercussions to more than just yourself." Osmond spoke gravely.
"Well, I'm afraid I will have to refuse anyway, your ritual means nothing to me and I will not be bound to someone else's will because some crackpot text tell you to, I have had this once already not again." Harry replied coldly.
A loud gasp arose from the entire student body as this declaration, the very foundation of their culture had just be spat on by some minor foreign noble, the grumbling and curses being thrown at Harry were ignored by him.
"You, how can you say that young Harry?"
"Quite easily I strung together a few words and made a sentence, if you think I will willingly accept this choice and if you can't return me home and now I am suspect that anything you say that could return me could in fact bind me, I see no reason to stay here, good day." Harry turned and stormed off leaving a confused and shocked group standing there unsure what to do.
Osmond was torn here, while the boy had certainly stepped on the beliefs of their country, facts had to be looked at, a mage from somewhere not of Halkegenia had been summoned and was told he had to be bound, the person was a young man a teenager at the height of emotional instability, he couldn't blame the young man for lashing out, still the repercussions for this for Louise, her family and the school could be terrible.
Louise felt tears sting her eyes, she really was a failure, not only could she not cast anything but explosions but her summon had rejected her, with this she knew she would be kicked from the school and would have to return home in shame.
"Ms Valliere, I would suggest you attempt to bring him back, this is your last chance." Osmond spoke gently putting his hand on her shoulder.
Without another second Louise broke into a run that was undignified by nobles of her rank but as the boy had already reached the arch way and left her sight, rushing to the arch she could already see the boy had cleared more distance along the path and was standing at a cross road looking at the sign.
Using a burst of stamina she didn't really have she caught up with the boy, crouching down to catch her breath the only sounds being the birds in the trees warning others of their territory, the calm breathing of the boy named Harry and her ragged coarse breathing.
"You, haa, you, haa, wait, wait right there." She looked up casting her own glare that was countered by another of his. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Anywhere but here, I am not being bound like some purebloods house elf to be treated like a pet or as less than human, would YOU like it if you were summoned and bound?" Harry spoke through gritted teeth.
"Hmph, I am a noble such things are un, un." Louise stopped when her brain finally caught up with her mouth. The further question as to what a 'house elf' was, it sounded like some slave to think he could have an elf as a slave though his derision of the concept told her he didn't.
"A pureblood then, what about me? I am Lord Potter of the house of Potter a very old magic house and heir to house Black another old house of magic making me Lord Potter-Black." Harry lied.
To his surprise Harry had received a letter from Padfoot just after the tournament had ended, worried about his Godson after the dangers of the Tri-Wizard tournament he had revealed his heritage and Padfoot's desire to make Harry his heir, so far little had come of it and he had no powers to come with it as a minor, but knowing he would be able to live comfortably after graduation had eased away some anger knowing someone did care for him.
"Then how do you expect to survive out here, where are you from clearly not local." Louise huffed.
Harry dug into his pockets sighing in relief at the feeling of money in his pocket, 6 galleons about £30 but made of gold and he hoped it would be accepted much like it could in muggle areas though at a much better rate.
Pulling it out he showed her the handful of gold coins causing her eyes to widen.
"Wa, that's." Louise snatched a coin from his hand and looked at it. "This is pure gold."
Louise pulled out a small handful of her own money, the smaller currency dwarfed by the large Gringotts currency.
"I got 3 vaults full of these back home, looking at the state of this place I could buy this country and still have money to spare." Harry scoff before taking back his gold. "And I still won't be bound, sorry but I won't end up jumping through hoops for another again."
Harry turned and began walking towards what he hoped was the capital, a voice behind called out full of sadness.
"Wait, please." Harry turned to see the girl eyes full of tears. "Please I will be kicked out of the academy if I don't have a familiar and be sent home in shame."
"Sorry, but I don't know you and I have no obligation to help, you won't send me back and you want to subvert me to your will, if you were in my shoes you wouldn't want that either." Harry spoke without a trace of anger.
Turning and blocking out her pleas his shoeless feet walking through the dirt road the only sound he was listening to as he headed off to a new destiny away from servitude and being controlled at the whims of others.
Seeing his back illuminated by the sun Louise realised she wasn't going to win this argument and turned around in resignation, clearly she wasn't cut out to me a mage if she couldn't cast or even control a spell, as she dragged her lead filled feet back to the school large tears falling from her eyes.
Not looking back for fear of falling into his desire to help, the overriding desire to not remain under thumb won and he continued forward until he arrived at a fallen log that someone had set up as a type of bench on the wayside, sitting down he rubbed his feet, though calloused from working and poor shoes in his youth the feeling of dirt and gravel still wasn't comfortable.
An idea came to mind as he pulled the small stones that had embedded themselves in his skin and brushed the dirt away, looking around he picked up some grass and sticks he created two small bundles and with a quick spell and wave of his wand created a serviceable pair of wood soled shoes.
"Now what Potter?" He asked himself looking up at the twin moons hanging in the sky an idea came about. "Dobby, Dobby you there?"
No sound of an elf popping into existence was heard along with a high pitched excitable voice leading Harry to believe that he was certainly not anywhere near his home, definitely another planet. Putting on the shoes he continued onward toward what he hoped was a city or town where he could blend in for a while.
Tristain Academy
Returning but not triumphant her eyes ringed red from the tears most of the students had flown off back to their rooms, the only people left were both Professor Colbert and Osmond and to her surprise Kirche and Tabitha both with their familiars, a brief moment of anger at the belief the red headed Germania had stayed to rub her failure in.
"Ms Valliere I take it you have failed." Osmond spoke sadly earning a nod from Louise and a gasp from Kirche. "I am sorry, I truly am, but we can't have a mage without a familiar here, you will have a week to remove your things and send them home, I will send a letter explaining the situation to your family."
With those parting words Osmond turned and left the realisation that during this entire issue not once had he looked up the skirts of any of the girls using his own familiar. With the final nail hammered home Louise felt her legs give way and fell to the ground, a second later a hand was placed on her shoulder and looking up again silently crying she saw her hated nemesis of Kirche looking pale and worried.
Shrugging her hand off Louise glared through watery eyes at the girl.
"Get off you harlot, I don't need your pity or sympathy." Standing up he rushed off leaving a saddened Kirche behind.
"You went too far." Tabitha spoke still reading her book.
Kirche looked at her blue haired best friend. "Yeah I guess over the year I have." Kirche watched the retreating back of her rival before a frown entered her face. "Still this is the fault of the Harry boy."
Tabitha said nothing to this, the boy was as much a victim of circumstance or fate as Louise, she could understand being forced into a bad situation against your will.
Tristain Capital
It took most of the day but Harry finally arrived in what he assumed was the capital of the country, the large palace giving him clues but still without the ability to read the script he was a bit lost, the town itself looked like some mix of renaissance era with some medieval in the mix.
"Excuse me, do you know where I could exchange some currency? Like a bank." Harry asked a passer-by.
The man appraised him before pointing him towards a building with a scales on it, thanking the man he headed towards the building and entered.
The inside was well furnished, polished floors of possibly marble and several wooden desks with built in brass bars reaching into the ceiling as a form of anti-theft barrier, a few customers waiting in line saw Harry que with them.
After a short wait he was ushered to the clerk who eyed him and his baggy attire.
"Ok what can I do for you?" The man spoke with false politeness.
"I want to exchange some of my countries currency for yours." Harry pulled out 2 Galleons and placed them through the depression on the desk under the bars.
The clerk picked them up before placing each on a scales to check, an abacus was slide along quickly moving beads before he looked up at Harry with a far more genuine smile.
"Well sir, by my appraisal this looks to be near pure gold, I need to do one more test if you would care to wait and if passed we can offer 100 new gold per coin."
Harry looked the man over, he was used to being conned and was looking for the signs of this, seeing nothing he nodded in agreement, he had 4 left he could work out later if he was conned or not and by how much, but for now he needed local currency.
With this nod the clerk disappeared around back leaving Harry to stand there waiting, a few minutes passed before the man returned with the same smile.
"The quality has been confirmed sir, would you like a banking slip?"
Harry nodded since it seemed like a transaction receipt and watched as the man wrote out a short parchment note before stamping it and counting out small piles of the coin the girl Louise had shown him.
"Would sir like a bag for these, it is 1 new gold for a secure pouch."
Harry nodded something to hold his currency in was a must, again the clerk added this to the note with a profession quick count to prove his legitimacy he slid the bag and slip under the bars and bid him a good day.
Sitting down on a bench outside Harry noticed the sun was beginning to set, while maybe an hour before real darkness he could see a group of people opening the street lights up and waving a wand and small balls of light appeared, watching them for any signs of noticing him he sighed in relief when they left the area.
Taking stock of his situation the first things in his mind were he was lost, alone and maybe some fugitive, at the same time to get home he needed help from somewhere, but his current pressing concerns were he need a place to sleep, some food and drink and some clothing, the last of which could be dealt with the next day.
Finding an inn wasn't an issue, a small wooden building with a bit of music playing a fiddle he guessed, the woman at what was the reception had been kind and for 3 new silver had set him up with a good room and both a meal and promise of breakfast in the morning.
Sitting in a corner of the main room of the inn watching several of what looked like 'commoners' dancing and playing their instruments while others clapped and laughed he picked as his meal of black bread and hot meat with gravy and a mug of mead, enjoying a good meal after half a day without food.
With the food finished he sat watching the entertainment while sipping the sweet tasting alcohol, after finishing the mug he left for his room, the simple room consisting of a bed, a wardrobe and dresser and window, a mixture of magic light and the soft glow of blue and pink from the moons entered through the window.
Removing his clothing he folded them neatly and climbed into bed surprised by how comfortable it was though considering what he had been sleeping in a bale of hay would be comfortable too, wrapping the covers over him he allow the fatigue to overwhelm him, the sounds of music softly playing through the door helped him to drift off and for the first time in many weeks he had a good night's sleep.
A/N: So maybe a little OOC, but I feel the mixture of a recent death, the issues surrounding Voldemort and then being summoned and told he has to be bound wouldn't sit well with him, so I made him kick off.
A/N2: Ok currency 1 Galleon is £5 in canon, but gold was about £300 per ounce at the time, my guess, well we know the reason as Rowling said so herself, but hey, in this as seen above 1 Galleon is 100 new gold the known currency, I can't find anything else about money so we will go with this:
1 Galleon = 100 New Gold
1 New gold = 15 New Silver
1 New Silver = 10 Copper
A/N3: So no Gandalfr and by extension no Derfflinger either, I think this passes my non railroad the fic test.