Midnight Asunder
A/N: I am back from years long hiatus! Wohoo! Yes, sorry not that exciting but it is definitely exciting for me. It has been a long, hard road with many roadblocks in it and although I am about 10 years older since my first fic- Just Friendship? I believe that my writing and voice has improved tremendously!
Notes: Midnight Asunder will be a long, multi-chaptered story. I will update once a week either on Saturday or Sunday, when my schedule permits.
Warnings: Violence, angst, gore, Dumbledore bashing, dark magic, rituals, ambivalent/grey Harry, het, and slash. Romance with many characters until the eventual final pairing. Although this fic is listed as slash and Snarry, the story does not start out that way. I am going to try to make this fic as real to life as possible, especially dealing with issues like identity and sexuality. Basically it will take Harry many years to realize his sexuality and identity, and many years for the development of his relationship with Snape (no chan or underage Harry). Each arc of this fic will be separated into parts. Each part can be separated by days, months and even years.
Synopsis: When the dark lord Voldemort killed Lily and James Potter on that fateful Halloween night, one baby boy became the boy-who-lived and instantly became famous. The tragic death of the Potters will have long-standing detrimental effects that the wizarding world will not see coming. When one famous wizard turns 16, the wizarding world will enter into chaos but who said that chaos was necessarily bad. This story is about how long-perceived viewpoints can change, how love can become hatred, how courage can fail turning the most courageous into sniveling cowards, and how friendship can stand the test of time. After many years of lies, whispers and manipulation of his world, Harry Potter must figure out who to trust and how the most unlikely of alliances can save his life and the world.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros pictures own Harry Potter and its various names and titles. I gain no monetary value and only gain in continuing appreciation of Rowling's great imagination.
Prologue
Sixteen Years Earlier
The moon casts long shadows along the empty road with only mice and other pests for company-the small house at the end of the road looked desolate. There stood heaping piles of rubbish littered throughout the street, where none but the most desperate of individuals would rifle for scraps of food already half-eaten by the vermin of the world.
Scattered throughout the street there lay broken pieces of corrugating metal and rotten wood, where the metal gleamed dully in the flickering lamp posts at every intersection of empty warehouses and factories. Where once stood bustling factories that sent smoke and grit onto the sky, with people and Lorries coming and going, industry at its best. There now stood empty skeletons of their former glory; all was left were squatters of homeless people around the rusted fences rummaging for scraps of copper and other useful materials. At times young teenagers coming from the nearby city would also decide to throw loud, raucous parties that sometimes the police would come in and break up.
Tonight was not one of those nights and at the turn of midnight, not a soul was about- not even the most daring youth was espied in the desolate neighborhood. So it came to surprise to some bold mice that one single lone figure wrapped in what seemed like a dark cloak, appeared in the middle of the empty street. The woman appeared with a loud crack that shook the piles of debris and some rats around the end of the lone street
She set off at a hurried pace that seemed to underlie a feeling of desperation and mystery. At every corner of each intersection, the woman paused and looked behind her shoulder to make sure that she wasn't being followed. When the woman finally saw the dilapidated house at the end of road surrounded by a chain link fence that read KEEP OUT! DANGER! , she took a sigh of relief. If anyone would have been watching it would have seemed odd to them that this house was indeed her nearest destination. She took out a long stick and tapped the chain link fence three times which made an arched doorway appear out of thin air. The woman disappeared through it and as she walked through the arched doorway it vanished as quickly as it came, the chain link fence stood as normal as before. In reality to muggles this would have been indeed strange, bizarre even if any muggles would have been about but to those familiar to these phenomena knew what it really was- magic.
To the woman's eyes the abandoned house vanished and what appeared was a warm, cozy house with a gold glow that could only come from a fire peeking through the front windows. She walked hesitantly through the cobbled path being careful not to crush the Begonias lining the path. She stepped up the steps and knocked on the green door. The bundle in her arms moved a bit and made a small protesting noise, she instantly whispered soft words to the bundle and the bundle quieted down again. Some shuffling footsteps were heard beyond the door and the door opened letting soft candlelight glow onto the doorstep and the cloaked woman. And old woman looked at the cloaked figure and let her pass through, no words were needed.
The cloaked woman began to speak but the old woman interrupted her,
"You decided to come, good. All might be saved in time." The cloaked woman gasped and said,
"I have to save him, he has to be saved. I couldn't stand it if…." She said as she grabbed the old woman's hands desperately.
"With my help, he will be. Come and sit. Milk and sugar with your tea?"
"I…" The cloaked woman sat in the nearby love seat.
"I insist dear, chamomile will calm the nerves." The old woman told the woman. With one arm holding the bundle, she hesitantly took the offered tea cup and saucer. The woman nervously took a look around the house and saw many pillowcases scattered throughout the sofa and chairs. The warm hearth danced merrily and instantly warmed her icy cold hands.
"Don't worry dear, the fireplace is protected against unwanted visitors" The old woman spoke quietly. The house was comfortable looking and looked lived in but was devoid of clutter. Reds, browns and oranges surrounded the living room and instantly reminded the woman of her childhood and better times. A small kitchen could be seen to her right, where delicious smells wafted through, especially the smell of freshly baked bread which seem to beckon to her and reminded her how long it has been since she has eaten. A small tea table held the most curious of objects which included a tea set, some crushed herbs, potion ingredients, a knife, a mortar and pestle, an ink pot , brush and a moving picture of a young man smiling with his arm around a lovely girl's shoulders. To the left of the woman's high back chair was a basket that held spools of yarn and some knitting needles. Low sconces on the walls held candles that burned low, the wax dripping slowly almost non-existent. Some nearby bookshelves held what appeared to be big tomes with titles like How to get rid of gnomes, pixies and more. Permanently! , and Ancient Potions Most Feared. The woman was shaken out of her reverie when the old woman cleared her throat,
"I am glad you have come. I almost thought you would have decided not to." The woman glanced at the worried look of the elder woman's face and said quietly,
"I had to be certain. . . I certainly wish I didn't have to come", while taking a soft sip of her tea.
"It is the right time to do this ritual; the alignment of the stars is perfect and the age of the babe is just perfect for such an ancient spell" she said in a quiet, hushed voice that bespoke of a former strength. The elder woman had long grey hair that was braided neatly down her back. She had wrinkles around her eyes and mouth that hinted at an easy ability to laugh. Her large but wise brown eyes looked at the bundle in the woman's arms tenderly but hesitant. She was wearing a grey robe with vines and flowers decorating the sleeves and neckline. Her kind face was comforting and the woman relaxed her shoulders a bit.
"It is alright to be afraid my dear. Anyone in your position would be. It is important to note though that despite your fear you are here. I take it that husband of yours has no idea that you are here?" The woman blushed and looked at the bundle in her arms sleeping softly,
"I gave him a sleeping draught hidden in his supper."
"You always were a clever witch; I am just as convinced that you would have done well in Ravenclaw house as you did in Gryffindor. May I see him?" the old woman gestured at the bundle and the woman putting down her tea cup hesitated for a second before handing the bundle to the woman.
"It is alright. He will be perfectly safe," the old woman assured her. The old woman immediately put her hand on the babes forehead, closed her eyes and began to whisper,
"Yes he will be strong. I can see him now," she spoke reverently. The old woman transfigured an empty tea cup into a bassinet and placed the babe in securing him with blankets.
"Yes, yes it is time." She said. The room suddenly began to darken and the fire in the hearth lowered almost completely. The old woman's face was cast in shadow and a low but feverish voice started chanting. The various ingredients, herbs and materials started to glow and rise in the air to meet her voice. Taking the various herbs and potion ingredients she started to crush them with her mortar and pestle which turned to a green paste and spread it on the babe's forehead. Unwrapping his blankets, she started to draw runes on his body with her brush on his face. Each time she completed writing a rune, the babe started to glow in a gold color. He started to cry and his mother clutched her hands together to stop herself from wrenching her child from the bassinet. The old woman's chanting increased feverously and as the babe cried harder, the glow suddenly increased which caused his mother to close her eyes automatically; the light too bright to handle. The chanting stopped as sudden as it came and the room returned to being merry and cozy. The babe stopped crying and fell into a long slumber; the old woman picking him up wrapped him up again in his blankets and handed the babe to his mother.
"Was the ritual successful? Will he be safe?" she asked the old woman who was now exhausted and slumped over in her high rise chair.
"Yes, it is done. He will be safe or I am not a master of blood contractual spells", the old woman said weakly from her chair. The woman gazed lovingly at her child and said,
"I see no difference in him."
"At his sixteenth birthday the spells' ritual will have awoken in him and he will be better than before. He will be able to defeat his enemies. For he is coming for you, the master of death and shadow" the old woman said in a still exhausted voice.
"Dumbledore said that the fidelis should be enough to protect us" the woman spoke quietly.
"What does that old fool know about ancient blood spells? He has hopes that his manipulations and schemes will be enough to protect that boy there in your arms. With his so-called light magic? I think not. He is a blind optimist and that will eventually catch up to him someday", the old woman spoke as she glanced at the clock behind her.
"I should be going, thank you for everything. I don't know what I would do without your help." The woman stood up covering one her head with her cloak once more.
"I knew the times must be dire when I received your message. When my old apprentice comes to me in secret for protection, I would do anything to help." The old woman stood up and hugged the woman carefully around the sleeping babe.
"Mistress . . . , I don't know what to say. I regret now for how things ended between us."
"Oh, hush", the old woman chortled, "A little bit of adventure is good for these old bones of mine now and again. Be sure to send me some of those delicious tarts of yours whenever you can," she winked and walked to see her out the door. The woman smiled and opened the door onto the dark night ahead; bringing a cold breeze into the warm house.
"I fear that his will be my last time that I will see you my dear. For the next time will surely be in the afterlife." The woman hesitated on the doorway and looked back saying and choking with grief and desperation,
"I. . ."
"Lily Evans-Potter. Nothing you can do will save you and James against the coming darkness. He will come to you in six months time and you will die. I have seen it in the stars." The old woman said with melancholy. Lily Potter looked down at her sleeping son and fearfully said, "I know."
"Gods bless you Lily Potter" the old woman said as she closed the door. Lily Potter stepped down the steps, onto the path and into the dark night once more. A silent pop shook the air and as sudden as Lily Potter appeared she vanished once more.