These Hallowed Halls
Summary: Nathaniel survived. He and Kitty were married two years later. They decided to adopt a child, to give one person a better life than they otherwise would have had. This person was Harry Potter. And guess who they summoned to protect him? Crossover with the Bartimaeus Trilogy
Disclaimer: Look carefully, because I'm not going to say this again: DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR BARTIMAEUS TRILOGY!!
Chapter One
Nathaniel would always remember that day in Whitehall. He nearly died then, and he supposed that it was really Bartimaeus that saved him:
Flashback
Just go! Willed Nathaniel inside his mind
No. As usual, Bartimaeus had decided to be difficult
Come ON Bartimaeus!
No.
I'll do it, I swear I will!
I've got no doubt about it. But I'm in your body: you speak those words of Dismissal, and I promise that I'll pull you through to the Other Place with me!
Nathaniel gasped. You wouldn't!
But in his heart he knew he would. The djinni was still bitter about Ptolemy, in some ways he was reluctant to part with another master. Or was it because Kitty had put her trust in him, and however empty his words had been, he had promised her. Promised...
Bartimaeus seemed to have come up with a plan. He spoke, quickly and feverishly:
Nathaniel, when you release the Staff, try to direct the energies up to the left first- No, don't argue! I'll help you, okay? Just do it.
So that was what Nathaniel did. And as the first girders began to fall, he gathered their last reserves (Nathaniel held out, to this day, that Bartimaeus had gone inside his subconscious), and jumped them out the jagged gap in the glass the Staff's first blast had torn.
They landed on Kitty as she was running away. She collapsed under them with a surprised 'Oof!'
Nathaniel had enough time to mutter, Oh well done Bartimaeus! And utter the words of Dismissal before sleep claimed him at last.
He heard Bartimaeus squawk,
What! I tried, didn't I? as he was pulled away...
End Flashback
Their wedding was perfect, but Kitty wasn't telling him something. That was why he was sitting here in their living room, fiddling anxiously with the cuff of his suit.
"Nathaniel," Kitty started, "I've just been thinking. Do you remember when you became a magician? You were taken from your parents correct? I think, I think..." she trailed off.
"You want to adopt a child don't you?" Nathaniel finished bluntly.
"Yes! I mean no... I mean... well if it's okay with you?" she finished lamely, blushing furiously.
Nathaniel sighed. "Kitty, the Government are still looking for me! I attract trouble like moths to a lamp; I can't put a child through that!"
Kitty sat back slightly, satisfied he was unsure enough to try to reason with her. "Well, then we'll hire someone to protect him or her." She grinned slyly. "Or should I say summon?"
Nathaniel paled.
Kitty continued regardless, "And of course there's only one djinni I trust enough..."
The couple spoke at the same time, "Bartimaeus."
Kitty had decided she would do the summoning, and though they trusted Bartimaeus, they couldn't take any chances. So Nathaniel stood behind her in the pentacle, nervously fiddling with his cuff. A puff of smoke and an indistinguishable form appeared in the opposite pentacle, before it apparently caught sight of them, and changed to Ptolemy's form. "Kitty! Nat!" grinned the Egyptian boy. "Haven't seen you in ages!" Then he saw the gold band on Kitty's ring finger. "Aw, you're married! Who to?" He gasped. "You married him?" The djinni exclaimed before jerking a thumb at Nathaniel. Kitty nodded. "You're insane!" He pouted. "Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?"
Kitty raised an eyebrow, "Would you have come?"
Bartimaeus cocked his head to one side, "No, but it's nice to feel wanted."
Nathaniel cut in. "Anyway now she's making me-"
Kitty crossed her arms, "You agreed-"
"She's making me adopt a child!"
"Seriously? That's a wonderful idea! But anyway, what's my charge?"
"I want you to watch over him or her."
The djinni started laughing .At Nathaniel's look of pity, Bartimaeus turned to him. "She's serious, isn't she?"
Nathaniel nodded sadly.
The Dursleys had put up with 'the boy' for as long s they possibly could: about 4 years. Finally, they decided his contaminating influence was bad for their own son, Dudley, an obese boy with a liking for bullying. Harry Potter, had been driven to the nearest orphanage, and dumped. He was exceedingly lucky that this also happened to be the closest orphanage to the Joneses (and their resident demon) as well.
He was playing in the kid's room when they arrived. For a moment, he glanced up from his puzzle, then looked down again, nothing new, just another loving family looking for a cute orphan. He froze as another presence entered the room. He looked up, and then averted his eyes, after giving a strangled shout. There was a thing! He had always been able to see the things that drifted around the streets of London, following people. This thing was different, it noticed. "Would you look at that? That kid's got Sight!" Harry cowered. The thing noticed, it came over, and touched his temples with soft fingers. "Now listen to me kid, just close your eyes. That's it, now concentrate on what you see, and think about seeing on the fifth plane, okay? Alright, nearly got it... There! See? You can open your eyes now, by the way." Harry did so. A smiling Egyptian boy stood over him, he looked about 13. Then the woman who had come in with the thing noticed the two boys side by side. "Bartimaeus! Have you been harassing children?" she said in the dangerous voice women master quickly. The thing flinched, but tried to cover it by rolling his eyes. "No, Kitty, I was actually being nice."
The man, who Harry had not yet noticed snorted. "For once!"
His favourite thing ('Bartimaeus!' Harry mentally corrected) pouted and crossed his arms. "I resent that!" he huffed.
The man opened his mouth to reply, but his wife cut him off by telling him he was a grown man and shouldn't act like a child, no offence to Harry. Harry giggled. The woman spoke quietly to the nun at the desk for a while, then held out her hand to Harry, saying softly, "Come on sweetie, we're going home."
The males groaned and slapped their respective foreheads
For the next six years of his life, Harry lived comfortably and happily. He adored Bartimaeus' dry sense of humour, and the djinni found his innocent curiosity refreshing. His mum and dad were amazing, hey taught him a lot of things, and when his father told him he was adopted, when he was nine, he cried himself to sleep for three months. Bartimaeus, against his better judgement, had consoled the boy. They were closer than ever after that.
When he was six, he asked a question:
"Bartimaeus?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Do you have another name?"
"What?"
"Like," the boy struggled to explain, "Mum and Dad mostly call me Cassian, but sometimes they call me Cass."
"Well Cass, I've got lots of different names. But Bartimaeus is my true name."
"Don't you... I mean...Well, isn't it kinda, you know rude?"
Bartimaeus raised his eyebrows.
"To call you by your true name. It would be like calling me Cassian Nathaniel Jones all the time, right?"
Bartimaeus shrugged, "It's a bit disrespectful, yeah?"
"So what other names have you got?"
"Rekhyt, Necho, Sakir al-Jinni..."
"Thanks, Rekhyt."
Bartimaeus called him Khyotep from then on: little believer.
Before I even start on what happened when he was eleven, I'll explain that Bartimaeus rested in the Other Place for a month every six months. One time, Harry went with him. The deciding point in this decision was that Bartimaeus claimed Cass was at least half essence.
Cass sat among the whirling chaos.
"Rekhyt,"
"Yes?"
"How can you-"
Stand it, stay here, not bore to death, thought the djinni, a little sadly. He was so sure the boy was different. He shrugged. Oh well.
"How can you leave it?"
Bartimaeus gaped.
Of course, the other place left its mark on him. His hair was pure white, and one eye was blue, the other purple, and each pupil ringed by a starburst of silver by the time he was eleven.
He was eleven when the real trouble started.
A/N So yeah here's my new obsession... PLEASE REVIEW!