A/N: Hello dear reader! I'd just like to take a second to explain some things. This is my first story, therefore there's bound to be many types of mess ups, flops, or things that you might know better than I do. I welcome any criticism, please feel free to call me out on things. If it's important enough, I'll come back and edit the story or address it in an Author's Note.
RWBY is canon until crossover, HP universe is AU from start but decently close to canon. Not gonna spoil when the crossover will happen, but there's a bit of world building that I'd like to get in before shipping our heroes across dimensions.
Hope you enjoy my first story, A Soul's Journey.
Oh, and I own nothing RWBY or Harry Potter, that beautiful right belongs to Rooster Teeth and J.K. Rowling, respectively.
Overall, October 31st, 1981 was a rather productive day for the Leader of the Light.
Voldemort was destroyed by Lily's love for Harry, as planned. Both parents, unfortunately, had to die to accomplish this, but what are two deaths compared to the countless lives saved with Tom no longer alive? They died as they served the Order of the Pheonix, all in the name of the greater good. Pettigrew, the apparent mole, or rat as it were, in the Order, was killed at the scene. If his body lying still in the doorway was any indication, James seeing his former friend with the Dark Lord filled him with enough hate to cast the Avada Kedavra instantly. Augustus Rookwood and Rodolphus LeStrange's bodies were also found dead in the house, seemingly by the Potter patriarch's wand. In the nursery, James and Lily's bodies both lay, along with the shattered remains of Harry's crib. Voldemort, seemingly completely destroyed, left no traces other than his wand.
Something did strike the old wizard as odd, though. Voldemort brought help with him. Whenever Aurors discovered a Death Eater raid, Tom was always either seen alone or not at all. Severus' spying revealed that this was a simple matter of Tom not trusting any of his followers enough to allow them to travel with him.
Due to the unforeseen occurring, Albus ordered Hagrid to bring Harry to Madam Pomfrey before even himself. It was very fortunate that he made that decision because what was found inside of Harry was truly terrifying on so many fronts.
His newly acquired lightning bolt-shaped scar was host to a piece of the Dark Lord's soul.
Of course, Albus was no fool and had taken notice of Riddle's obsession with souls and death early in his time at Hogwarts. Before he left after his NEWTs, he made sure to have Madame Pomfrey scan his soul, as a part of 'a farewell checkup', and kept that hidden in his desk. At the time, his weakened soul didn't make any sense to the Headmaster. But comparing the fragment within the boy to Tom's from seventh year, the truth finally dawned upon him. Tom had split his soul 5 times prior to his destruction at the hands of the Boy-Who-Lived, easily deducable when comparing it to his seventh-year soul.
'Five Horcruxes? No, no that can't be. Tom was much too obsessive to stop at 6 divisions when 7 was known as the greatest number in magic. But then what could possibly…'
And then he realized his mistake so many years ago.
'Tom Riddle, the most soul-obsessed man ever to walk the Earth, to have such a weak soul in his prime? How foolish of me to think that possible! He split his soul, created his first Horcrux, with the murder of Myrtle Warren.' The wise Supreme Mugwump knew, of course, that Hagrid had not been responsible for the bathroom dweller's death. Even back before knowing about the Horcruxes, this much was obvious. He knew it was Tom, but thought little of it, especially without any evidence against the young Dark Lord. It created such a loyal follower to the Leader of the Light, that he had previously deemed the event a net positive for the greater good. Without Hagrid, how else would he have retrieved Harry from the ruined building before even Sirius could show up?
Albus decided then and there to go looking for Tom's Horcruxes and destroy them all. With one little lightning bolt-shaped exception.
'Harry must remain a container for Riddle's soul. It is the perfect way to complete the prophecy; as long as Harry lives so does Voldemort, and once Harry sacrifices himself, he will bring the Dark Lord with him.'
Now he just needed a way to ensure the boy would be willing to sacrifice himself…
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T SEE HIM!? HE'S MY GODSON FOR MERLIN'S SAKES!" Sirius' screams of anger echoed throughout the Hospital Wing, all except the single bed with curtains closed.
"Mister Black, please understand, I am under direct orders from the Headmaster to-"
"I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ARSE IF GODRIC GRYFFINDOR HIMSELF TOLD YOU, I DEMAND TO SEE HIM!" Madame Pomfrey's attempt to dissuade the Marauder ended with nothing but screaming.
"Mister Lupin, would you please talk some sense into Mister Black?" Madame Pomfrey nearly begged of the werewolf, finally addressing him after the countless minutes of being yelled at by her former student.
"I don't believe he's the one who needs sense talked into, Poppy," Remus said with a deadpan.
"And whatever would that mean, Mister Lupin?"
"What do you think the people will do when they find out that the Headmaster and his pet Healer were keeping the savior of Wizarding Britain, the Boy-Who-Lived, locked up and away from his rightful guardian? Do you think they will just accept that Albus is doing this for the 'greater good'?" Remus smirked at Sirius. "Especially not when that rightful guardian makes so much of a ruckus about it?"
Finally breaking the scowl he had been holding since arriving at Hogwarts, he grinned back at Remus. As much of a grin as one could muster while still attempting to put some fear into their old nurse, that is. "Thank you, Moony, now I believe that should be enough to claim my godson, don't you? Unless you would prefer to be remembered as the Healer-Who-Locked-Up?"
Both others in the room just gave the dog Animagus an irritated look.
"Hey, I wasn't ever good with nicknames. If it were up to me, we'd be Fluffy, Bitey, Bambi and Tiny." He stressed the potential nickname for their traitorous friend with as much venom as he could muster. "You gotta admit, Healer-Who-Locked-Up is at least an improvement to those."
Madame Pomfrey simply pinched the bridge of her nose as a response, before opening up the curtains to Harry's bed.
"Thank you, Poppy, I knew you'd understand eventually," Sirius said with a smirk.
"Really? You knew she'd understand? Is that why you spent most of our time here yelling? If it weren't for me, I'm sure we would still be here, with you having a screaming fit," Remus replied.
The child in an adult's body replied, "Nuh-uh!"
Remus, giving in to his inner child, angrily shot back, "Yuh-huh!
An angry Medi-Witch finally broke and screamed,"BOYS! Take your ward and leave me before I make you needing beds here yourselves!"
"Yes, Madame Pomfrey," the two replied sullenly.
The remaining Marauders took the newly crowned Boy-Who-Lived, and left the Hospital Wing without another word, not wanting to see if her words were a threat or a promise.
After they were long gone, she scoffed and thought to herself, 'Medi-Witch-Who-Meddled would be a much better nickname than Healer-Who-Locked-Up.'
Here it is, Chapter One of my first fic! It feels good to get this out, I've had the idea stirring around in my head for quite a few days now, just trying to get things settled a bit before writing it down.
I'm a little over-excited about the story and will be probably posting Chapter Two by the end of today. I hope you all enjoyed this, and there'll start to be some real action soon enough.