The Three Faces of Potter Chapter 2 AU Rating M
AN: The Three Faces of Eve gave me the title. I will try to tone down how trigger happy this Harry is. Is it clear that Range is the narrator for a triad consciousness? Trying to keep pronouns accurate while doing a first person is not easy. Warning some violence and major character death. I do not do lemons, but some are mentioned which occur off screen. Woman's clothing is something I do not wear; therefore, I am not Jo. With that in mind I do not own Potter nor the Potterverse. Nor do I make any money for my efforts.
Range is my nickname. It is short for Ranger Rick. They gave it to me as during my time in the service I was an army ranger for a tour – that and Rick is my name. At seventeen I had graduated from high school. Immediately I enlisted in the 10th Mountain for a tour, then a tour as an army ranger then finally three tours as a navy seal. Between some of the tours I took courses in tech school. During the third tour I bought it on an Afghan battlefield. I was given a choice to pass on or help an abused kid. The red head who gave me the choice reminds me of Hair for some reason. I asked about the wife and kids. The answer was that was not one of the choices. That I am here tells you the choice I made. The wife and kids are a faint memory. Guts and glory, I remember fine. Who said life is fair?
Next up is Arkie, Short for Archeologist Julian. Scary smart. He speaks twelve different languages. Thirteen if you count math. He is not much in a fight, but his academic drive and book smarts are his strengths. He was at a dig that was invaded by looters. When he bought it, he was given the same choice as me. Now we both share the body with…
Hair named Harry James Potter. His folks were killed driving drunk. At least that is what the Dursleys told him. Once we found their journals, we knew the real cause.
The rest of the holiday was making sure Arkie was as prepared as possible for wizarding school. Lily's portrait assured him that he would likely be one of the most prepared. He is like Hermione that way. Those two drove Hair and I spare with their frantic preparation.
We approached Claire and the Grangers about the multi-personalities. Hair and Arkie were piling on about what a dirtball I am. That part was one I didn't enjoy. It did achieve the major objective which was that we no longer had to hide things from our family. Dan asked about whether all parts of the personality were necessary. I told him that exorcising a part may be possible, but that part may decide to fight. Eye contact was maintained during the entire explanation. He didn't look eager to follow-up.
The bit with Snape I managed to keep from them. The occlumency exercises were really working. Now to get Hair and Arkie to do them. As a result, they knew I did something major but not what. My team mates in the seals would not appreciate a cold-blooded murder either. I did what I felt was necessary.
It seems that Emma and Dan had discussed another child. Artificial insemination was what they were currently exploring. Emma saw Tricia's green eyes and messy black hair and from there she knew her paternity. Emma asked if she could talk to me alone to talk me out of my ways. Once alone she first asked if I could keep things from the other two. Then she asked if I would give her a sample – no mention of changing my dirtballness was made. It took several discussions, but I finally did. More than one was necessary, but it finally took. She was clear that artificially was all she was interested in. She would never cheat on Dan. Besides I looked her daughters age. That alone would put her off any romantic feelings.
We made it down into the trust vault on July thirty first. As I had feared Dumbledore had been looting it all those years. Every year it was topped off to ten thousand galleons. Every year it had been emptied. His access was stopped. Thank Merlin he did not have access to the main vault. We were warned that he would likely try regaining access. Hair and Arkie asked for me to take the lead. I gladly would but played up the whiny you picked on me angle during the family discussion. They promised not to allow me to be exorcised.
We picked up an Owl Arkie and Hair named Hedwig, and Hermione picked up a kitten named Crookshanks.
The next important decision was the Hogwarts house to go into. James and Lily told us about the sorting hat. Hair and Hermione wanted to go into Gryffindor. Arkie took Hermione's remark about Dumbledore being in Gryffindor as a reason not to go there. Besides they were both much better suited to Ravenclaw and Arkie had read in James journal that Ravenclaw had a library in their common room. Hermione immediately switched. Hair was for Gryffindor and I was neutral (hoping not to go into Gryffindor). Hair caved and Ravenclaw it was.
Finally, it was September first. It was all I could do to keep Arkie and Hermione back until half nine. Hair was around the twist with their antics. Luckily, I had made a deal with the parentals to get four volumes of each of James and Lily's journals. I immediately escorted us to a cabin and handed them out. That kept them in their seats for a good portion of the journey. We were interrupted with a redhead telling us no other seats were available, a round faced boy missing a toad, the snack lady and a bigoted blond ponce. Each time he said pure-blood I corrected him and said inbred. The blond warned me about associating with the wrong sorts. I nearly spit in his face. It is good to keep one's anger in check. Something about that bigotry sets me off. He went for his wand and found himself disarmed.
"Give me my wand back", he cried. He was warned not to return. He didn't get his wand back either.
A short while later another red-head entered. He was Ron's brother Percy. Started lecturing me about controlling myself. I told him he was wrong. The one to exert self-control was the one to pull the wand.
He went on about Malfoy's father being on the board of governors. I could only roll my eyes. The wand was thrown out into the hall. Percy told me to go get it. Luckily another prefect was there to deescalate the situation. She went to get the wand and dragged Percy off.
"Range, I suppose", from Hermione. She was glaring at me.
The four of us shared the boat across the lake. McGonagall explained the houses. Then we went to be sorted.
Granger went into Ravenclaw. Longbottom to Gryffindor. Malfoy to Slytherin. Then it was our turn.
Three of you in there I see. That is most interesting. I have never seen that before.
"Ravenclaw", we told it.
"Hair you would do well in Slytherin. You too Range", it told us.
"Anywhere but Slytherin", from Hair.
"Cowardfoy would be dead before the weekend.", was my response.
"Range", from Hair and Arkie.
"Well if you are sure. It had better be".
"Ravenclaw".
We did the school thing for almost two months. For potions Professor Monty was a very competent teacher. She went over why the ingredients were used, the importance of the stirring direction, which steps were the most dangerous, proper lab safety (hair tied back, no loose clothing) and many others.
I could almost guess how Snape would have been. Defense was terrible. Quirrell was terrible.
A couple weeks in Cowardfoy tried to sucker us into a duel. I laughed him off. He went away muttering about his father.
Arkie was given the task of reinventing a certain map. We all were assigned to become animagi. School work was not challenging us enough. No wonder a grown man competing with eleven and twelve-year-olds.
At Halloween the first real hiccup occurred. Ron Weasley insulted Hermione in Charms. After Charms we chased her to the girl's toilet. She would not come out. We waited outside for her. Hours later a terrible stench was there. A shambling noise and we saw the troll. A nine-shot clip of armor piercing shell was emptied into its center mass. Then another. Luckily it fell then. Hermione came out and saw us and the troll at the same time. We ran up to the Ravenclaw common room.
Unfortunately, it soon came out that I had a muggle gum. Most pure bloods had no idea what a gum was – nor how to pronounce it.
Dumbledore did. We were summoned to his office. Hair and Arkie were clear to me on the way. Keep quiet. Arkie did the talking. He had no clue which way to even point a gun. He proved that with each sentence. Luckily Dumbledore didn't either. We were given a week detention with Filch. Also, a warning that we risked expulsion if we were found with another gum.
Really! What the F is Filch doing in a school with children. Shouldn't discipline be part of the learning process. Sadistically telling a kid that he was going to be chained and flogged is a part of the learning process? What does that teach? Rant mode off.
Some corrupt individual told Cowardfoy what toilets I was going to be cleaning and when. He was taunting us the whole time. He is very proficient in magic. He wandlessly flew out of the toilet and down a flight of stairs. Too bad he suffered numerous broken bones and a broken wand when he didn't control his flight. . I still think he performed a very impressive piece of wandless magic. At least that is what I told anyone who asked.
Dumbledore seemed to think I was responsible. Arkie again was our spokesman. Since he and Hair were frozen out at the time nothing could be proven through legilimency.
The detention with Filch was cancelled and we were sent patrolling the forbidden forest with Hagrid at night instead. Despite being Dumbledore's man Hagrid is a decent sort. Just not the brightest. We were looking for who was killing unicorns to drink their blood. Hagrid had the brilliant decision to split up our forces in the face of the enemy. I was wandering around the forest with his boarhound Fang. When off the path was a creature over a unicorn.
Fang, being the coward he is went running off when the creature charged. The intense pain from our scar incapacitated us. Luckily a centaur chased off the creature. He told us there was great danger in the forest for us and we shouldn't be in there. Then he allowed us on his back and carried us out of the forest. After this our detention was quietly dropped.
Soon after these events Hagrid's hut burned down. He was in a spot of trouble for trying to raise a baby dragon. Norbert and Hagrid were quietly sent to a dragon reserve in Romania. At least that was the rumor going around school. I don't know what students were more incredulous about, raising a dragon or naming it Norbert.
Hair and Arkie begged me to get another pistol. The events in the forest really spooked them. Arkie was not pleased with our incapacitation. He seemed to think that I should have prevented it somehow. Hair totally understood that it was on all of us. I was starting to wonder what was going on with the scar. Our reaction was a sign of something sinister going on with it.
The next weekend we escaped the Hogwarts grounds. A portkey to the colonies and we purchased a dozen pistols and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The rest of the weekend was spent at a target range firing and later cleaning the pistols. Hair and Arkie didn't even object when I picked up the waitress from the restaurant.
What a wonderful weekend it was. Burn powder, do hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups, run a ten-mile hike around a midwestern American lake and date a beautiful lady. Then back to Hogwarts and study the three days away.
On our second Friday Arkie was very creative in how he cursed at me. Hair was telling him to tone it down. No pain no gain and it seemed that after the forest, Filch and Malfoy that Hair was having concerns about Hogwarts too.
We had two more American weekends before Yule. Helen, my now girlfriend, even invited me to her folk's house over Yule. Arkie went around the twist. Hair promised to think about it. That was the best I could hope for.
There was also the matter about the scar. I really wanted it looked at. Hair agreed. Arkie didn't see the problem. I promised that we would only get it looked at. We would not have any treatment until we had more facts. That brought Arkie to at least start asking questions. We believed that the goblins could be trusted. They had proven that they wanted us alive – even if it was only for their financial benefit. Not to mention that their assistance provided them with a profit.
We set up an appointment through Eye Gouger over the Yule holiday. We would also spend time at the Potter residence in Colorado. We would do some skiing. The Grangers loved it. Claire and us never tried it. It was time for a new experience.
We could even get the broom out. Over weekends we sometimes took the school brooms around the quidditch pitch. Hermione watched from the stands. A few times I did shadow her flying. She appreciated it, but really wanted her feet on the ground. My favorite was when Hair got warmed up. We told Arkie to zone out then Hair would really put on a show. Roger Davies the Ravenclaw quidditch captain told him to try out next term. I think Hair would be good, but he would only do it because of his love of flying.
Hair finally got back to me on the last day of term. We would go to Helen's folks at Yule. That was news I was happy to hear.
The goblins also got back to us. We would see them early in the holiday.
We arrived back at King's Cross near dinner time. It was nice seeing Aunt Claire. Tricia did not recognize us. Dan and Emma were hugging Hermione tearfully. Emma was the first to break off. She came over four to five months along. We were thanked with a crushing hug. When the others wondered what we were being thanked for I acted dumb.
When we arrived home Mimsy put dinner on the table. Hermione started asking her about being enslaved. We were not very comfortable either but between Arkie and me we kept Hair grounded. We hoped Hermione did not go on one of her crusades.
The next morning, we met with the goblins at nine. They determined it was a horcrux in the scar. Then they went over how they would exorcise it, what the risks were and the expected recovery time of two weeks. One of the risks was death. We decided to talk it over with the family and if we proceeded that it would be over the summer holiday. They wanted to know by the end of April.
We used the floo to Colorado. Since the elves had the entire month of December the place sparkled – even the stalls inside the barn. They went overboard once again. We skied every day. Even on Christmas morning we were on the slopes.
On the twenty sixth I took a portkey to Chicago and rented a car. Three twists on the time-turner and it was the twenty third. Then it was off to Helen's place. Both her kids were visiting from college. Hair was uncomfortable about in effect his date's children being so much older than him. He was reassured as much as possible which unfortunately was not much. We met her parents over Christmas – Yule is a pagan word they insisted – although not as bad as magic…
Before returning to Britain we had another family meeting about the scar. It went as well as expected.
At the end of the holiday it was back on the Express. The snack lady visited but the blond stayed away.
Once back at Hogwarts I found a surprise in my bed. An invisibility cloak.
A few nights later Dumbledore caught us returning from the library. Hermione was dismissed, and we were asked to walk with him for a while. We made small talk for awhile then stopped in front of a classroom.
"Why don't you stay here a few minutes and think about our conversation", were his parting words.
Since he really hadn't said anything doing the walk, we looked in the room. A mirror was the only furnishing. On it was the lettering "erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi". Almost immediately Arkie said, "I show not your face but your heart's desire. That is what the mirror reads but backwards".
Hair and I caught up with him then.
"I see myself surrounded by reference books at a huge dig", Arkie told us while looking into the mirror.
"Hermi, err I mean I have a wife and lots of children", was Hair's response.
I pretended to have zoned out and would not be woken.
We spent time in front of the mirror, but finally roused ourselves and returned to the Ravenclaw common room. Hermione was waiting for us. She wanted to know all about what happened when Dumbledore took us. We told her about the mirror and its weird effect on us. The next night when we returned with Hermione the mirror was gone.
School continued. We compared notes about our headaches in Quirrell's class. It was worse when he faced away from us.
A few times while walking to various classes I took Hermione's hand in mine. Hair went nuts. "What if she thinks I want to be her boyfriend"? he raged.
"You know you do", I responded.
"Will you let me make my own moves please"? Hair complained.
We were going to the colonies about one weekend a month. Hair agreed with me that being in shape was important. Arkie wasn't shy about telling us that we were both around the twist.
Other days we did the exercises we could weather permitting. If only there was somewhere in the castle to work out. Running through the halls would only get us a detention. Others thought it was strange enough that we liked running around outdoors.
In February Helen dropped the bomb. She was pregnant and was going to have our baby. An American magical solicitor was retained. How could we prepare Helen for accidental magic? Paulus, the solicitor, was not happy about us keeping many parts of our story secret. Luckily our generous payment arrangements kept his curiosity in check. That the payments were coming from the goblins also curbed his curiosity.
We worked with Paulus to bring Helen up to speed. A magical Harry McSally would not be easy to find in magical Britain. Luckily Helen not being magical would make it easier to get around having difficulty finding information about us. At least around why it was so hard to find any information about us.
Arkie was not happy about the remaining money being consumed even faster. He never mentioned that if not for my deviousness we wouldn't have it in the first place.
We were not ready for a commitment like Helen made known she wanted. We were willing to support the baby, but not settling down with her. Helen being the sharp cookie she is knew we were not telling everything. We told her that there was much about the magical world of Britain we could not tell her yet. Not to mention telling the secret about our triad personality. She would also not likely take how we looked without the glamour well.
We started going to the colonies twice a month. Helen was still very unhappy. Most nights were spent on her couch. Considering that she let us sleep indoors we didn't complain too loud. At least Arkie was complaining less. As we were in better shape the pain was lessened.
About the only thing of note that happened the rest of term was that we let the goblins know that we would have the horcrux from our scar removed. We wanted it done as early into the holidays as possible.
Then at last the exams were done. We were with Hermione when we realized an attempt was to be made on the Philosopher's Stone. McGonagall assured us that the stone was safe. We were ordered back to our common room. That night we knew it would be stolen.
Through the door I knew that soft point bullets would be needed. It would mean expulsion but at least Voldemort would not return. When we made it through the door a harp was magically playing. Fluffy was sleeping soundly. The trapdoor was opened, and we dropped through it. Luckily the landing was soft.
Hermione and Arkie realized at the same time that we were in devil's snare. An incendio spell and the devil's snare was taken care of. The next room was full of flying keys. Hair noticed one with damaged wings. He spotted a broom near another door and got on.
"Wait", Hermione ordered. "Have you checked if the door will open"? When it didn't Hair chased down the key. Once it was placed in the lock and turned, we were in the next room.
Since Hair had kept the broomstick, he pulled Hermione on behind him and flew over the chess pieces. The next door we found a troll. An unconscious troll. We walked by as silently as possible to the next door. Once inside fire started at both doors. There was a riddle to be solved. Hermione and Arkie solved it. We would go forward while Hermione would go back to get whatever teachers were available.
Before taking the potion Hair gently took Hermione's hand. Then he pulled her into a hug and gently kissed her lips.
"Are you Hair", she asked. Hair nodded.
"In case I do not return I wanted to kiss you, so you know I like you", he told her.
Then he slammed the potion down and walked through the fire. In the next room was Quirrell. Quirrellmort. They fought and Quirrellmort was reduced to dust while we spent a few days recovering from the shock.
When we woke Hermione was sleeping in the chair next to him. Hair took her hand and laid in bed looking at her. Soon she woke up. She looked at their joined hands and smiled.
"You wanted me to know you like me", then continued. "What about Helen"?
"That is going to be something that will cause problems with us", Harry allowed. "Arkie calls Range a horny bugger. I am constantly correcting his language. What I hope is that you can see me and not Range".
"That is going to take lots of thought", was her response.
Madam Pomfrey released us from the infirmary in time for the leaving feast. On the way some upper year Slytherins were complaining about the house cup. "When Professor Snape was our head of house, he stopped us from being dumped on. We won the house cup seven of the last ten years. Now we will be lucky to win it one year in four".
The next day on the train we were left to try to figure out the Philosopher's Stone debacle. It seems that when Dumbledore found out the stone was in danger, he took a broom back to school – from the Ministry of Magic in London to Scotland. A friendly broom for goodness sake. Hermione, Arkie and I agreed it did not pass the smell test. What did it all mean? We had a summer to figure it out.