Hello, everyone! I am the one, the only, PhillyCh3zSt3ak. But please call me Phil. Really. I've been in the online community long enough to know that people have issues when trying to pronounce my username, especially when they don't realize that the 3's are replacements for e's *rolls eyes*. But anyway I wish to welcome you to the latest idea in my Halo idea binge. So as you can see this is a Halo/Harry Potter crossover as it is blatantly obvious. One thing I've noticed in the short time I've been a member of this site specifically is that there are a few fics of this specific crossover variety, however, none have taken the specific route that I am going to hopefully write successfully. Or at least that I am in the know about at least. Please also note that this story has been sitting on my hard drive for close to a year now and I'm finally releasing it.
Some specific notes that need to be addressed are that I am an American trying to write with a British "accent" so there will be times when I may use "color" instead of "colour" or "center" instead of "centre." In the case of the last one it will be a case by case basis as I may say "the center of the galaxy" while in the same general area saying "Centres for Disease Control" or something along those lines as I associate the latter with a specific location while the former as a generalized location. Also, my computer's word processor has autocorrect so there's that too. Listed below are a series of specific character triggers.
Smart/Logical/Semi-Jaded!Harry – As there will be a series of events that will happen in this pilot, Harry will not be stupid and desperate for friends that he is in the actual books and movies. I mean who would WILLINGLY be friends with Ron after he almost gets Hermione killed because he decides to be a jackass to a girl who has JUST ENTERED THE MAGICAL WORLD? Let's not get started with Ron's attitude during the Triwizard tourney, he's his alleged best friend and he writes him off as a seeker of glory though he knows that Harry hates being in the spotlight. Personality-wise he won't be in anyone's face about being smart like Hermione is with her know-it-all type attitude, he lets his work speak for itself, acta non verba and all that. He will be influenced by his mentor as well as his adoptive parents and his actions will reflect that. As for his jadedness, he's not one to be fooled by the rose colored glasses that the rest of magical Britain has on. He's also not one to trust anyone immediately based on his early life prior to 2552.
Manipulative/Greater Good/Meddling!Dumbledore – As we read in the final book, Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore says, more or less, that hell is paved with good intentions. I believe that this is what spawned the whole fanfiction trope of a manipulative or evil Dumbledore who has been manipulating Harry from the very start either from a "I need a weapon willing to die for the Greater Good" or "I am the guy that defeated Grindelwald so, therefore, I am the guy who should control wizarding kind." There's also the evil version of that may or may not include Dumbledore ruling alongside Grindelwald as they were lovers back in the day, but I digress. In this specific fic he will be the guy that says "I am the smartest man in the world, I killed the last major Dark Lord, listen to what I say and do what I say because I have a great plan after all that might mean many of you die but it's for the Greater Good and I know best." In other words, he does have the best interests of the Wizarding World at heart, but he is going about it the wrong way. Though whether or not I'll go farther than that have yet to be seen. Harry and his allies will NOT see eye to eye with him. Whether or not he'll become evil has yet to be seen.
Gray!Riddle – Now as we all know by canon Tom Riddle was a half-blood born to a squib mother and a mundane (please remember that term as it will constantly come up) father. He's an orphan and once he gets into the wizarding world he sees things that are just wrong by modern (relative to his age) standards. Now note that I said "Riddle" and not "Voldemort" as this will be important. He, in his youth, wanted to change the wizarding world for the better, however, the ones in power don't want it to change as they like it the way that it is. He also goes the Dumbledore route, but instead of going the manipulative politics route that could take decades, he goes for the more direct route: a revolution under the guise of Pureblood Supremacy, if he were to kill off the bigots then the ones that could really change the world could then stand up. Or at least that's how it started. It went downhill once he made his first Horcrux, I mean you really aren't the same, or sane, when you split your soul in two. I'm not going to go into psychobabble but let's shorten it to this: he started to believe what he had started initially as a setup to eliminate the ones that made his life hell in school. This will be reflected in the diary Horcrux.
Idiot!Purebloods – Let's be honest, the purebloods are idiots when it comes to the outer world. I mean the only one that's even got a lick of even some sense is Arthur Weasley, I mean he has to have things explained to him, but at least he's trying. I mean they don't even bother to even try to blend in, I mean they're so secretive that they literally mind-rape people who do in fact see them. I mean if the international community caught wind of that they'd strike back, or at least put pressure on the British monarchy (as I've always loved that plot point in fanfiction) to get them under control. The documented magical society (the British one at least) is so backward that in the late 90's they're still stuck in the sixteenth century tops. I mean in this setting they're in the twenty-sixth century, a good thousand years' difference. Do note that there are few documented pureblood families that are shown, so I'm claiming creative freedom. There may be a few families that use 26th-century tech or even have property on other colonies pre-Covenant assaults, but we'll see. But more to the point, the Purebloods like Malfoy and the others that like their cloistered society are ignorant of humanity colonizing other worlds like Reach, Harvest, New Harmony, etc. as well as the Covenant onslaught, so when February of 2552 comes around they're in for quite the shock. In fact, those who didn't directly come into contact with any of the Covenant species during the Battle for Earth are still deluded that it was a "muggle urban legend" or a "mudblood lie" depending on their alliances. If that wasn't enough to really tick off their mundane-born or half-blood counterparts, they don't have even basic schooling pre-Hogwarts so they have little critical thinking skills other than what their parents have taught them or through private tutors. In comparison, a freshly graduated student of any high school in the world would be as smart as Catherine Halsey to them. You could call it another reason that they're so threatened by the half-blood and mundane-born children even though they haven't said or done anything yet.
Evil!Arrogant!Voldemort – For a man raised in the mundane world that has lived through the Insurrectionist movement how can he not believe that if the head of the UNSCDF (which for the record during Halo 2 was Lord Terrence Hood) wouldn't put a MAC round into his compound to end his slaughter of mundanes and magicals alike then he'd be wrong, dead wrong. Sure you might be able to confound electronic devices and guided missiles, that isn't going to do much to several hundred tons of ferric mass hurdling at you at close to 30k meters per second (before adding in variables like wind resistance and atmospheric friction) leaving the barrel of a Paris-class frigate in high to low orbit. He's also arrogant that the British Ministry of Magic will be able, with the use of Malfoy and the others' money as bribes as well as magic, to keep any word from getting to the UEG about their activities.
Molly, Ron, Ginny (initially), Hermione (initially), Dumbledore, Voldemort, Ministry of Magic, most Purebloods, Death Eater, OoTP!Bashing – The characters and groups that I have listed will be bashed to an extent. Note that Ginny and Hermione will be initially bashed, e.g. when their characters and personalities of said characters are introduced. For example, Hermione is a know it all, Harry is going to call her out on that when it comes up. Then Ginny with her obsession with Harry that her mother has instilled in her since she could comprehend the stories told to her by her mother. And so on and so forth. Saying anything more on that would be spoiling the story or at least the fun I'll have bashing groups and specific characters, also the list is subject to change. Please note that "bashing" in my book is an outsider calling BS on something that is completely stupid.
Pairings – Undecided at this point in time. There are so many possibilities, I could go with Harry/Ginny or Harry/Hermione, or I could even do some other obscure pairing. I dunno, I'll leave it up in the air for now. Maybe I'll do a poll on who he should end up with in the end.
Master of Death – No idea how I'm going to work that in, or if it'll be in at all. At least the legend of the Three Brothers will still exist, so there's that.
Technomancy – Based on the fact that this is a good thousand years in the future from where the normal plot of Harry Potter would take place it wouldn't be a surprise that certain groups of magicals have managed to make a symbiotic relationship with magic and technology. This term will come up assuming that this pilot chapter goes well.
Rating – Please note that the rating is T for safety reasons as I still have no idea what else is going to go into this story but that is merely a precaution for now. Should I decide to split this off into multiple stories, one for each of Harry's magic schooling years, I'll adjust the rating appropriately if anything changes rating-wise like sexual content, blood, and gore, etc.
Disclaimers: I own nothing. Halo belongs to Microsoft, 343 Industries, and Bungie (they still officially own Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach apparently according to what I was able to dig up). Harry Potter is owned by Warner Brothers and the mistress of magic herself, JK Rowling. I only own original plotlines and original characters, anything recognizable belongs to the appropriate parties. This fic is not for profit so if anyone is making a profit off of it, shame on them.
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"Talking"
'Thoughts'
*Messages displayed on HUDs or on monitors/screens/holographic displays*
[Specific event start/stop]
{Optional music prompt for a scene}
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{Opening Suite, Halo: CE Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell}
A long time ago, before humanity was even the proverbial sparkle in the eye of its progenitor there was a species that achieved the top tier of civilization, Level 0. This species? They would be later renamed the Precursors. They remained on top of the galactic food chain for millions of years while they defended younger, weaker species at the same time as raising them up. At a point, their hierarchy noticed the decline in their society that would eventually lead to their extinction, so they did what any being would do when planning their eventual demise: they needed an heir to their 'fortune'. Their choices were narrowed down to two species, the Humans from Erde-Tyrene and the species that would later rename themselves as the Forerunners from Ghibalb. After centuries of deliberations, the Precursors decided that Humanity should lead the species of the galaxy and protect it through the Mantle of Responsibility. The Precursors gifted their new heirs a gift to perform actions that defied their logic and known physics. This ability was called extrasensory perception, or ESP.
The Forerunners, angry that the beings they looked up to as gods passed over them for their just as technologically advanced but more fragile galactic neighbors, struck back and went to war for millennia with the Precursors, to which the Forerunners won. Later they would enter war with Humanity as well over a misunderstanding, to which the Forerunners would win due to Humanity having to fight a war on two fronts, one with the Forerunners and the other with the Flood, an enemy that would later decimate the Forerunners ensuring their extinction as well. When the human Lord of Admirals surrendered, the gene that allowed humans to perform ESP was suppressed, never to be seen again in mass for over fifty thousand years.
After the Forerunner Halo array was fired and civilizations were restored through samples collected by the Librarian, communities on the newly renamed planet Earth consisted of tribes that all had at least a shaman or witch who would predict the future or give sage advice that could influence their survival. These people were the first of the reemergence of those with ESP, that those with lesser minds would simplify as magic. Eventually clans became villages and villages became cities, meanwhile, the number of magic users increased. Then came organized religion. Two primary religions contributed to the reason why magic users hid themselves, Islam and Roman Catholicism. Both of the aforementioned religions punished advanced humans just for being able to do things that few others could, things they considered Satanic or ungodly. They hid away until the man named Merlin met Arthur Pendragon and forged a friendship that would stand the sands of time as the sorcerer was made Arthur's advisor when he became king. Together they built the now mythical city of Avalon where magicians and normal people lived in harmony.
However, this project was doomed to fail due to Arthur's son taking the throne after Arthur's death. Once again the magical populace went into hiding, secluding themselves in isolationism, not meddling in the affairs of those they deemed "muggles." It would be centuries before they secretly made moves in the shadows during the Second World War in the 1940's, primarily when a wizard preached Pureblood Supremacy and allied himself with Hitler. While the Pureblood Supremacy movement was stopped thanks to a brave few, thanks to events like the Salem Witch Trials and other faux trials in the name of "God," the society became more cloistered until the point where their highest "technology" would be considered inferior by modern standards.
Then the Covenant came, sweeping through human colonies burning the planets they were on to glass. Many wizards and witches on many worlds their ancestors had spread to over humanity's expansion to the stars saw the call to arms and joined up with the UNSC to fight against annihilation. However, there were some that dismissed the claims of homicidal extraterrestrials and hid in ignorance like they had done for centuries. It wouldn't be until the Covenant were at humanity's doorstep that they would realize the truth. Or at least those who were willing to open their eyes would see the truth.
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October 2547. Surrey, England.
It was once said by George Santayana "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," or as most people paraphrase it "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." This could be well said about the famous wizard Albus Dumbledore. He defeated the infamous dark wizard Grindelwald in 2490 when he decided to instigate a Hitler-style cleansing that instigated the origins of Pureblood Supremacy. Yes, the political origins existed hundreds of years prior, but Grindelwald was the first to openly support and enforce it in the political sphere. When the Wizengamot didn't accept his laws, due to the others in the Wizengamot reasoning that without new blood in the family lines their families would die out magically in a few generations time, he retaliated with war. For years in plain sight, those on the side of the Dark would pit themselves against the Light. It wasn't until a three-way Mexican standoff happened between Albus, Grindelwald, and Aberforth which resulted in Ariana, the only girl in the Dumbledore family, dying at the hands of someone's curse. The three never worked out who killed her.
More years would pass before Albus would confront Grindelwald and defeat him in a duel for the ages that would go down in the history books as legendary as the duel that was once held between Merlin and Morgan Le Fay. Albus would emerge victorious that day and according to all media outlets in the wizarding world, Grindelwald was dead. However, he was still being held in a secretive prison only known to the two for unknown reasons.
It would be years later when another dark lord rose and took up the mantle again of Pureblood Supremacy, a man who would go by the name Voldemort. The boy was idealistic and wanted change in a world he thought was slighting him and many others that shared his situation when it came to birth. He went from political activist to cold blooded murderer. Another shadow war began, which while it ended with a much lower death toll, was just as devastating to many families like the Weasleys, Bones, Greengrass, and a few others. However, the endgame had an even more traumatic toll on two families in particular: the Potter and Longbottom families.
Voldemort, through the use of his spies, got wind of a prophecy that would end him. Ironically it was a self-fulfilling prophecy that he set in motion by hearing it. Six months later the boys Hadrian "Harry" James Potter and Neville Longbottom would be born one day apart. A month before the end of the war Lily Potter nee Evans would learn of her father's demise in the muggle world. Under a Notice-Me-Not charm, she attended his funeral, which was a closed casket funeral as there was no body to bury, which was odd in Dumbledore's mind, but he dismissed it. On All Hallows Eve Voldemort attacked the home that Dumbledore himself placed the Fidelius charm upon. All adults were killed within, James and Lily were both killed with a Killing Curse while several Death Eaters were killed by muggle weaponry found by James' body as well as other myriads of curses and hexes cast by him. He died a warrior's death. The only living occupant of the destroyed house was little Harry Potter, who had a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead just above at the hairline.
"Albus, I must protest," said an elderly cat-turned-woman. "These are the worst sort of muggles. Even Lily told me they hate anything having to do with magic."
"Minerva, you must see that this is the only way to keep little Harry safe," Dumbledore replied, wandlessly casting a mild Confundus charm on her. "The blood wards that I've erected will keep those who would wish to harm him away. Petunia is the only one alive of his family that shares his blood that we could tie the wards to."
"Fine," she spat in forced agreement. "But know that I disapprove."
Albus knew that Lily's sister hated magic, it all had to do with their childhood and Severus Snape. Both Lily and Petunia came from a 'good' Catholic family. He was shocked how many people were turning to religion these days. The last time that any of the previous professors remembered this high amount of people in any place of faith was the times around great catastrophes or war. But last he checked there was no fighting that wasn't quelled by local police forces. He heard rumors of aliens, but as he had never seen any he dismissed it as a 'muggle urban legend'. Lily had excluded her sister as the Statute would only allow immediate family to know the most basic things about the magical world.
Albus left Harry wrapped in a blanket in a basket with a few warming charms with a note. What he didn't know was though his deluminator extinguished all the lights on the street, he was still being watched. But the individual in question was not an individual, but the supercity of London's artificial intelligence unit.
*WARNING: All street lights on Privet Drive have been deactivated.*
*Initiating remote restart…*
*…*
*Remote restart failed. Contacting Public Works. Inputting repair request.*
*Abnormality: Four heat signatures detected late at night. Size ratios depict three adults and one infant. Running faces through Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.*
*…*
*No matches detected. Running a search through international and interplanetary databases. The eldest of the three is leaving the child in a basket on the doorstep with a letter on… parchment? The three have disappeared into thin air, no heat signatures detected. Accessing #4's door records. Doorbell was not activated. Alerting local authorities and homeowners.*
*…*
*Done.*
While the Dursleys were in fact contacted to the presence of their nephew, the police never arrived. The AI noted that the boy would be seen over the next five years picking weeds even in the rain or appearing with bruises from beatings. It contacted the police as per the protocols laid out by its programmers; however, no matter how many times it contacted the authorities they always came and went, like something was controlling them. This would go on for years where it seemed as though the child went through systematic abuse and neglect until February of 2552.
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February 2552.
A month ago Harry's life had been routine. He'd get up in the morning and make his fat, lazy relatives breakfast. Which was saying something since most foods were genetically modified to prevent diseases like obesity and diabetes, however, Dudley and Vernon Dursley had somehow managed to circumvent the system and still became well overweight. Food health scientists had come to them with offers to study them to see how they had managed such a borderline impossible feat. After breakfast, he'd make the lunches that Vernon and Dudley would take to work and school. If he was lucky he'd get a glass of milk for his troubles, otherwise he'd get nothing. He'd get the lunch provided by his school, but he'd only be able to eat a piece of fruit as that's the only thing that Dudley wouldn't take or eat. He would do mediocre in class as to not anger his uncle, though he always knew all the answers to all the questions that the teacher asked.
After a long day of evading Dudley and his cronies while doing mediocre homework assignments to keep the teacher from asking questions, he'd make dinner then immediately be thrown back in his cupboard to sleep. They never let him out of the house to do anything other than doing chores. The one time they had to was for a school field trip to London's Orbital Defense Platform. He loved seeing all the stars, he thought they were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, well besides the images of a red haired woman that'd appear in his dreams every so often. He had heard the rumors of what the fortress world of Reach looked like when you got out of the cities, as well as the images of Harvest before it was destroyed. But by far the most beautiful thing in his book was the stars.
But that was a month ago, not now. Now he was cowering in his cupboard not making a sound while his aunt, uncle, and cousin were slaughtered by the Brutes of the Covenant. They had stormed in and as the three tried to escape they were caught by the peculiar weapons used by the Brutes, the Spikers. They would impale their victim's bodies while leaving their flesh mostly intact, unlike the plasma weaponry that the rest of the Covenant tended to use that vaporized whatever it hit and left charred wounds. Dudley and Petunia were killed mercifully as Spiker rounds went straight into their brains, killing them instantly. Vernon, on the other hand, was not so lucky as he had been gut shot before the animals ate him while he was still alive; the other two Dursleys spared that horror by being very dead.
While most of the pack of Brutes were devouring the last of Harry's family, one started sniffing the door of his cupboard. He knew that this was the end of the line, he would be just as dead as his despised relatives. He prayed to every deity that he could think of from reading in the public library to spare him. His prayer was answered but in a very interesting way.
"KILL THE BRUTES FOR THEIR TREACHERY!" came the mangled English of another outside, followed by plasma weapon fire and energy swords igniting. The smell of charred flesh could be smelled, even in the cupboard.
"Is that all of them?" the same voice as before asked.
"Indeed, Leader. The Brutes in this structure are dead," another replied. Harry reasoned that this was the leader's subordinate.
{Sacred Icon Suite, Halo 2: Original Soundtrack Volume 2, Martin O'Donnell}
"Motion trackers are picking up one more life sign, much smaller than any Brute," another said affirmatively. Harry started to panic, all reasoning left him. He was about to die again. The door opened to reveal an Elite pointing a plasma rifle at him. Harry's life flashed before his eyes, what little of a life there was. When no plasma bolt entered his chest, or the acrid smell of charred flesh filled his lungs, he opened his eyes to see that the Elite had holstered his rifle on his thigh. "It is just a human child, Leader. It appears he hid under here while the others in the house were slaughtered."
Another appeared in the doorway, his energy sword lighting up the small space under the stairs. "No, Minor. This is where the child slept. Based on the fact it was locked from the outside tells me that it was not consensual," the leader said with a growl.
"What shall we do with him?"
"Call a Phantom and contact the London resistance group, tell them we have a survivor for them to tend to."
Harry was lead outside, but not at gunpoint, but with a clawed hand leading the way. One of the Covenant's dropships arrived, just as the leader said and hovered over them. A door opened on the bottom of the craft where a beam of purple light was activated. The first Elite stepped into it, then the one behind Harry gestured to it. He walked into it and he was pulled straight into the dropship. He felt weightless while gently pulled into the ship. When the one behind Harry had also entered the ship the door closed and the Phantom started to move.
The one beside him made Harry think he was a mind reader, "You have questions, child?"
"Why did you help me, you could have just killed me?" Harry asked.
"Not many humans know, but the belief that we had in the Great Journey was a lie. The Hierarchs lied to us for generations. The Brutes murdered our brothers on the Sacred Ring, all under the Prophets' orders. They are going to exterminate us like they wish to exterminate your species."
A realization came to Harry, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"An apt way of saying it, yes. The Swords of Sanghelios are loyal to the Arbiter, who is befriending humanity. Now it is I who has a question for you, how did the Brutes not find your home for close to a month? Your home was the only one without massive damage."
Harry was puzzled. Was this the reason why none of the Dursleys left the house for the last month? Why he didn't go to school, why he went close to a month without any food? "I don't know," Harry finally replied.
The rest of the flight was carried in silence as the Phantom flew into the supercity of London. They landed close to an underground terminal location. Inside were humans in UNSC battle dress manning heavy machine guns. The crews looked relieved as the identities of the Arbiter's men was established. They took a long ride in a cargo Warthog after Harry said 'thank you' to the Elites that saved him. They arrived in an abandoned line that hadn't been used in close to six hundred years as it was directly under the old Parliament building.
The next few days blurred past for Harry as they doted on him medically. He caught glimpses of the looks that the medics had on their faces as they looked at his charts. He could tell that they were not happy with his past injuries. It would be another two weeks before word came that the Human-Covenant war was over. The Master Chief along with Miranda Keyes, the Arbiter, and Sgt. Avery Johnson had killed the Prophet of Truth on a Forerunner installation called the Ark. Only the Arbiter made it back on the forward half of the frigate Forward Unto Dawn. There were still skirmishes as the rest of the non-Sangheili forces were routed from cities around the globe.
Months would pass before Harry would leave the refugee camp he had received medical attention in and arrived at a newly built orphanage. He made a few friends while in the camp, including a girl named Hermione and her mother. Apparently, her father was out in the city helping to fight the Covenant forces. Before he left he never found out if her father was still alive.
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September 1, 2554. London.
It had been two years since the Battle of Earth as some were calling it. In fact, it was two months before Armistice Day, the official day that Lord Terrance Hood along with the Arbiter signed the ceasefire agreement between the Swords of Sanghelios and the UNSC. Harry had spent the first few months mourning the deaths of his only relatives, mainly because they were the last of his blood alive. Every day after that he poured into his studies getting top marks in every non-physical assignment given. When not studying for assignments or tests he read all the classics available on the net as well as some of the battle doctrine of the Marines as well as naval maneuvers like the Keyes maneuver and the Cole Protocol. In a gesture of goodwill, there was even a copy of Sangheili battle doctrine that was translated into English available on the net that he found interesting. Though this was well above the reading and comprehension level of an eight-year-old, he found it interesting.
As for the orphanage, adoptions were slowly being done as people were still trying to rebuild their lives. Harry wondered if he would be adopted at all, but part of him didn't care anymore. He had lived close to six years without parents, to begin with, as long as he had interesting books to read he would be happy.
He was currently reading about the Battle of Hastings when there was a knock on his doorframe. "Harry, would you please come to my office? There's a couple that wants to speak with you," the middle-aged man in charge of the orphanage said. "I'll give you a few minutes to freshen up," he said before leaving Harry alone.
Harry got excited, someone wanted to adopt him, or at least meet with him. He quickly put away his things away and made his way towards the overseer's office. The question became 'who was the one that wanted to adopt him?' He wasn't special by anyone's standards. Or at least he didn't stand out like some of the other children did. Some of the children in his wing were more athletic than he was, playing in city league football, cricket, and other sports. He was content to read his books. Maybe that's what the couple was looking for, a quiet child? He slowly made his way up towards the office, which was on the lower level as that's where the administration levels were, as well as rooms made available for visits with psychologists, especially for children like Harry who saw their family members killed and eaten by Brutes. Or killed by the Elites before the Great Schism as it was being called.
Harry stopped at the door and took a deep breath before knocking. "Come in," came the overseer's voice from the other side. Harry opened the door to see the overseer in his chair away from his desk. Sitting on the couch they use for one-on-one interviews was the couple. The man was average height with brown hair and blue eyes. His facial features depicted him to be of Caucasian decent, if his white, yet slightly tanned, skin wasn't enough to depict that. The one thing that really set him apart was he was in full UNSC dress uniform, cap included. The woman beside him was a bit on the shorter side, she had short black hair and almond colored eyes. She looked to be of Asian descent, but with how humanity had expanded the last five hundred years it was hard to tell. "Harry I would like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, they are interested in adopting you."
Mr. Dorian stood up and shook his hand in a firm grip. It was callous from years of training. "Hello Harry, my name is John but hopefully if everything works out you can call me dad," John said with a smile.
Mrs. Dorian took his hand next, hers was soft and more feminine yet had some rough patches. "And I am Madeline, but hopefully you can call me mom," she too said with a smile.
"I see that you are looking at my uniform, you're curious aren't you?" Harry nodded. "Well as you can tell I am in the Marines, specifically the ODSTs," he said as he pointed to a medal on his uniform. "My wife here is an elementary school teacher. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"
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[Flashback]
August 7, 2554.
"Are you sure you want to do this Maddie?" John asked as his wife's naked form laid on top of his chest, his hands running through her short hair.
She crawled up John and took his face in her hands, "Of course." She then kissed him passionately. She broke the kiss only to tap him on the nose childishly. "You know what the doctors said, that gas from a Covenant Carbine magazine being ejected makes it extremely difficult to have kids of our own."
"So what age group were you looking at?" he asked as his hands trailed lightly down her back.
"Maybe kindergarten and older? I mean what if you're randomly deployed and something happens. Even if I did get pregnant the district will only give me so much time before they want me back teaching again, I want him or her to be semi-autonomous but still be able to learn from us."
"That's reasonable, I mean there's rumors that there are some cells of Brutes still operating in human territory. And knowing that Mrs. Naval Intelligence might pull my squad into one of her famous shenanigans at any time and how Romeo almost died, yeah really reasonable." They laid in silence for a while. "I'll tell you what, orphanages put files on the net for prospective adoptees. We'll look through files and see if there's any that you'd like to meet."
[Flashback end]
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November 5, 2554. Evening.
"And just sign here, here, and here." There were sounds of a stylus on a tablet. "It seems as though all the paperwork is in order. Ironic that we call this paperwork when there's no paper involved anymore. Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, congratulations you are now the parents of Hadrian James Potter or Hadrian James Dorian, you can change his last name if you wish. I do believe that appropriate for his new parents to tell him the good news," the overseer said before launching one of the addicting game apps topping the charts on the net.
Meanwhile, Harry was in his room reading a book on anatomy physiology. He didn't know how he always knew, but he could feel the presence of someone at his door. He lowered the book to see the Dorians, the couple he had met with last month. "Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, how can I help you?" Harry asked.
"Well Mr. Potter, we came to happily inform you that Maddie and I have finalized your adoption papers. Welcome to the Dorian family. By the way, ever heard of the world Tribute?" John asked.
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Twelve hours later, London Station ODP. High orbit.
{The Maw, Halo: Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell}
Harry Potter, now Dorian, stood on the Orbital Defense Platform stationed above London. He had traveled up the space elevator along with John and Madeline and were now waiting for their transport to Tribute to the dock. John and Madeline only had a duffle bag with them as their things were already moved to their home on the outskirts of New Casbah, Harry, on the other hand, had a full suitcase beside him as Madeline had insisted that they buy him a new wardrobe. Most of the city was destroyed and Tribute was one of the few colony worlds that the Covenant didn't glass. There was a four-year plan ratified the previous year to recolonize the world.
Hours passed as many ships, both military and civilian, docked and left the station. Finally, their time came. Harry and his new parents entered the ship and the suite they'd be in for the next few months. Normally people would go into cryosleep, but Madeline thought that this would be a perfect time for the new family to connect. John, learning that Harry had never been off-world before, brought him up to the forward observation deck.
"John, why are we here?" Harry asked.
"There's one thing that you should see at least once before you die at any age, just watch," John replied.
The transport disconnected from the port, backed up, and turned around from the station. "All hands and passengers, stand by for Slipspace jump," came a voice over the intercom. A few minutes later, pointed in between the Earth and the moon a vortex of purple ringed blackness appeared. Slowly the ship moved inside of it until there was a white nebula in front of them and complete blackness on all sides.
"Wow," Harry said with his eyes wide in complete awe.
"I thought you might think that," John replied with an amused chuckle.
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Meanwhile at Hogwarts…
Headmaster Dumbledore was having quite a wonderful day, or at least the start of a good day. He was counting the years to the day that Harry Potter would come through the castle doors and study at his esteemed school. That and the day that he would start grooming him to be the Boy-Who-Lived, the one to finally kill Voldemort as the prophecy foretold. He would have to shape the boy to suit his needs. The old manipulator was planning everything down to a T. The boy would need a strong moral compass from a friend's mother, Molly Weasley would do perfectly and young Ronald would be the perfect friend and spy as they would be in the same year. He would need another friend, one to keep him on track for the most part. Dumbledore couldn't think of anyone at the moment, but he had five years to smooth that plan out.
He sipped at his morning tea when he noticed that the device that monitored Harry's position relative to London and health monitors were acting up. The first time had been when Harry had gone on a field trip with his class to one of those muggle skyscrapers in the city. Today was the second time. Then the strangest thing happened, the marker said that he was one hundred kilometers above London and continued to climb. Then, according to his health monitor, his heart rate increased in excitement before the distance monitor's numbers began to climb rapidly, as in hundreds of thousands of kilometers per second and climbing. The monitor finally reached its breaking point, exploding. Only one thought came to mind:
"What happened to Harry Potter?" Albus said aloud.
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Author's Notes:
And there we have it, chapter 1. That was quite interesting now, wasn't it? Dumbledore has no idea what happened to Harry. I mean he's just as ignorant as the other Purebloods out there. They still think that magic is the bee's knees when people have been traveling to other planets, even the moon, for at least two to three hundred years now. Now as for why Dumbledore has been completely unaware of Harry's condition for close to two years that would be because the blood wards failed from the get-go, so he had no way to really keep track of where Harry was other than London in general as Surrey would have been part of the London supercity. As for not being notified of the Dursleys deaths, that would be because Arabella Figg is also dead. In this universe, she didn't have any wards around her home so when the Covenant invaded other cities after Mombasa they found her and killed her before she could even alert Dumbledore. Which is something that Dumbledore will find out soon. John Dorian is the fictional name of a certain ODST whose initials are JD. Now if you do your research the only known ODST that we've been aware of the initials JD are the Rookie from Halo 3: ODST. So guess what? Prepare for some cameo appearances of the others in the Rookie's squad. There are some that may ask this so I'll get this out of the way ahead of time; accidental magic, this was something that didn't come up until it was an afterthought. However, I'm going to reason it as so: The reason Harry's magic didn't react to the Elites was because I like the belief that Magic is semi-sentient and because it felt no ill will from them, unlike the Brutes, hence why they were unable to find him, Magic hid his scent and signature from them and their scanners while allowing the Elites to find him. One final note before I take off is why James had "muggle" weaponry on him. He's lived with Lily long enough to know that the Covenant are a threat and the off chance that they found Earth he would need any and all kinds of protection for him and his family, after all, he has no idea if magic-based attacks will even harm Covenant forces, especially ones with shielding like the Elites and Brutes.
As for the chapter, what did you think? Interesting enough to continue? Got any constructive criticisms? Shoot them at me. That's what that review section is for. No flames as they will be deleted. Also before I sign off I want to ask you all who wish for me to continue this to go on over to my profile where I have a massive poll on what plotbunnies I should release first based on future/current reader interest.
Until next time everybody!
EDIT: After watching the cutscene from Halo 3 where Lord Hood does his speech on the Barren Hillside Memorial the date on the, what I assume to be, a Pelican alerion foil says March 3, 2552. I changed the date to a month before that final battle on the Ark for when Harry is rescued by the Elite patrol.