Hades' Gate

By: SCS

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Summary: A change in fate. Harry's brother really is the Boy-who-lived while Harry stands in the background. Harry has to show everyone that, even if he doesn't have a prophecy claiming his power, he's got enough to stand on his own. A plethora of problems stand in his way. A school is training Dark Witches and Wizards. And war still looms in the horizon.

Beta: Vairetwilight

Chapter 1: Setting the Stage

A wail tore through the previously silent house hold and Ashe sat up in her bed with a start. "What?" She rubbed her eyes, thinking she was still dreaming. When the wail turned into screams of pain, Ashe jumped out of bed and raced towards the sound. What was going on?

She burst into Harry's room. "Harry, Harry!" She panicked. Oh God! Oh God! "HARRY!" The boy in question rose with a gasp and shoved the girl onto the stone floor with another scream. Brilliant emerald eyes sparkled with hidden night terrors. Hair that wouldn't lie flat was like black raven's wing. His eyes were wild like a cornered animal and he just kept screaming and wailing, still caught in his nightmare. "Harry," the girl slapped him, hard.

The screaming was cut off abruptly. "Is it over?" He whispered meekly. Ashe just nodded. Harry James Potter gave a low moan before collapsing into her waiting arms. "Sorry," he whispered as Ashe cooed softly to him. They were roughly the same age and size. The two looked like Yin and Yang as they sat there entwined around each other. White hair curtained the both of them and blue eyes glowed with concern for her charge.

"Harry," she brushed his sweaty hair away and cradled his face between her two hands forcing Harry to lock eyes with her. "You're OK now. Let's go get you something to eat," she helped him up. The two slipped through the door and made their way down to the kitchen. House elves rushed over with trays of food and cups of hot chocolate. They sat in silence. Ashe didn't push, but made sure Harry ate.

Harry sucked the caramel off his fingers and looked at the girl sitting across from him. She seemed half-asleep, nursing her cup of hot chocolate. "I'm sorry," he looked away when her blue eyes snapped open to look at him.

"For what Harry?" She absently picked up a cookie to nibble the edge as Harry eyed her quietly.

He then shrugged and picked idly at a cookie. Hot shame raced through him. Why was he never normal? Not by wizard standards, or even by squib standards – he just wasn't normal! "Making you wake me," the two eight year olds just stared at each other solemnly. Both had souls too old for their age. Ashe's gaze slowly slid away and focused back on her cup of coco.

"It was nothing," comfortable silence permeated the air.

"What are you two doing out of bed so late?"

The two turned innocently to look at the man that had taken them in. Vane Callibus looked solemnly at Ashe and Harry. "Father," they chorused in unison. He walked up to a cabinet forbidden to them. Pulling out a bottle of red liquid, he poured himself a glass and tossed it back like a shot.

"Nightmare?" Vane directed to Harry.

Harry shifted, eyes flickering over to Ashe sitting quietly with a faraway look in her blue eyes. "Yes…" he began hesitantly. "I'm older, with long hair and a robe made of black. People are talking to me, but they keep calling me . . . well not Harry. It's in a language I've never heard before," he bit his lip wondering how to continue. "It's mostly flashes. I saw a banner with a white viper and black basilisk tangled together in a protection knot. There were other banners, but I couldn't see them clearly," he seemed to be getting into the vision, like he was dreaming it again. "Then everything changed. It's raining?" Harry's expression puzzled. "Raining red . . . blood I think. But cheers fill the air, screaming . . . my name. And . . . Merlin . . . the pain . . . the pain . . ." He trailed off.

"It's just a bad dream kiddo," Vane reached over and ruffled Harry's incredibly messy hair. "Go back to bed," Harry smiled with eyes full of trust. He scrambled down and left for his room. Vane turned, expecting Ashe to have followed him, but there she sat, still nibbling on her cookie. Somber blue eyes bored into him. He raised his eyebrow at her. "Ashe Rae Callista?"

"You know it's not just a dream," she set the half eaten cookie down and followed Harry back to their separate rooms. A house elf quickly whisked away the dirty dishes and cups as soon as the two children had left.

Vane sighed and took another sip of the red liquid. He gave a mock toast to no one. "To you, you old fool Dumbledore."

..::...::...::..

"This is indeed troublesome," Dumbledore paced the floor. "Voldemort now has the stone," he cast a look at the boy lying in the hospital bed. True Chris had managed to kill Voldemort's vessel, but the Dark Lord had whisked away the Philosopher's Stone. This was truly troublesome. He had hoped Chris would step up to the first challenge, especially with all the extra training the boy had been receiving. Needless to say, Chris had not met any type of expectations.

The Boy-who-Lived arrived as an arrogant child, much like James Potter had been before he grew up and Lily accepted him. Chris was a spoiled child, dotted on by his parents and coddled endlessly, which was understandable. The couple had given up one of their children; it was instinct to protect the other more fiercely.

Dumbledore knew that Sirius and James weren't the best as children. Severus was more than ample proof of that. That was another thing he regretted, he had hoped that Lily and Remus would balance the two out and keep Chris in line. The boy had power and talent. There was no doubting that. Just look at his parents and the people he was surrounded by. However, his talents were wasted through pranks and showing off. The old headmaster sighed. Well, Chris Potter was still a child. He had time to grow. Hopefully this brush with Voldemort would help the child realize how serious things were.

He moved towards the window. Dumbledore had many regrets in his life. Several surrounded the Potter family. More were directed towards Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He often wondered about what would have happened if he hadn't gone to pick up Tom Riddle. Would things still be like this? But there was no use in contemplating that. The past was the past. With a world weary sigh and one last look at the youngest Potter, the greatest wizard of the century left the Hospital Wings.

He still had some time to say goodbye to his good friend Nicholas Flamel.

..::...::...::..

The deep bass vibrated through the club. Students of all ages and sizes danced and partied the night away. They deserved this. They had survived another year at Chimera. Harry sat at the bar nursing a glass of some unknown liquid. It had been what? Ten, no eleven years since his parents had given him to Vane. The sixteen year old boy counted down till his birthday as he knocked back another glass.

"Ease up on the liquor Tiger," Ashe suddenly appeared by his side. He turned to observe the young girl. The last eleven years had shaped both of them. Ashe had defiantly gained some height. The previous short to the extreme girl, now stood at five six without heels. While she had gained her height, she still had a long way to go to grow into her body. There was something coltish about her body and the way she moved. Harry didn't have a doubt that she would grow up to be stunning. He reached for another glass. "Tiger," Ashe groaned in exasperation. She pulled the glass from his hands and knocked it back herself. "Come on, dance with me!"

Harry allowed himself to be pulled into the group of people. It was suffocating in the heat and sweat yet arousing with all these other bodies pressed against bodies forcing each other to move sensually. The DJ just changed up the track. 'Heart's on Fire' by Ke$ha thumped through the room. Ashe laughed with abandon and twined herself about Harry. "Relax," she mouthed to him. Well she could have screamed it to him, but all noises were drowned out by the level of sound. Harry could feel the vibrations from the soles of his feet and he began to dance with Ashe.

Everyone was pressed against someone else in the most indecent ways they could be with clothes on. Well, some of the older students were in the process of losing their clothes, but that was Ok.

The moment of Carpe Diem was destroyed as the doors to the club were thrown open and rogue vampires poured in and started killing and feeding left and right. Chaos reigned in the club. Ashe and Harry caught each other's eyes. Shit. They separated and started to herd all the Chimera students together. The rest of the civilians scattered in every direction to avoid being slaughtered.

Suddenly, two figures shadow walked into the club and drove the rogue vampires back. Sensing a chance, the Chimera students rallied around the two figures and started slaughtering as many Rogues as possible. Multitudes of spells of every color flashed through the air. Harry whirled and twirled to avoid the vampires. Years of training had honed his body. His sword glittered under the strobe lights. It was the last thing many Rogues saw before they died. Several minutes in and the rest of the Rogues fled.

"All of you are in so much trouble," one of the two figures lowered his hood. All the Chimera students winced. Yup, they had snuck out after finals to party. It was a deserved break and no one cared that all these students were breaking school rules by leaving Chimera grounds to party the night away. No one cared as long as there was no trouble – tonight definitely counted as trouble. Rion Silver, Companion of the Heir Raziel Callibus, was busy scolding some of the older students. He looked quite like a younger Sirius Black, with the same silky black hair and baby blue eyes. Rion was extraordinarily tall and strong looking; they chalked it up to his Elvin-vampire heritage. Raziel Callibus was the heir to the Midnight Courts, one of the two vampire courts. Vane Callibus had been his uncle. Raziel was opposite of Rion in almost every imaginable way. He was slender and petite – almost feminine. His long blond hair didn't help either. He was often mistaken for a female. He had violet eyes that watched all of the Chimera students silently.

Raziel didn't speak much, but when he spoke everyone listened. He had the makings of a great leader and could be charismatic when he wanted to be. He had an air around him that pulled people to him and commanded them to listen and obey. Everyone was sure that Raziel would bring the Midnight Courts to a new level of power once his father, Acheron, descended the throne and Raziel ascended it. Raziel touched Harry's shoulder softly. "Are you alright Cousin?"

Harry managed a weary smile as he cleaned the blood off his sword. He placed his own hand on top of Raziel's. "I'm fine Cousin. Ashe?" Raziel looked around before pointing her out. Ashe was busy cleaning up the mess and sending all the students back to Chimera with the help of Rion.

The Potters hadn't known, and Harry was leery about whether or not Dumbledore knew, but Vane Callibus was the second in line for the Midnight Court throne – before he was murdered that is. Vane had taken Ashe and Harry in and his definition of safe was to take the two fully into the vampire world. Wizards didn't like dealing with vampires and that was fine. Vampires didn't like wizards either. Anyway, Ashe and Harry had been introduced to Raziel and Rion when they were all children. They grew up together in the Courts. They learned together. Basically they lived as a family. Vane and Acheron had encouraged all four of them to form relationships for various reasons such as comradeship, friendship, security, and support. Although Raziel and Rion were two years older than Harry and Ashe, the four had gotten along famously. When all four had come of age, the four of them had sworn a blood oath and became 'blood siblings'. Harry's squib status didn't bother any of them. And Harry had finally felt accepted for who he was.

That night was a night full of revelations and surprises, but that's a story for another time.

Everyone was in trouble and they knew it. It was better to clean up their mess quickly and head back to Chimera. There was no point in making all their punishments worse than it already was going to be. Headmaster Karl was a fair but harsh headmaster.

..::...::...::..

A long lecture from Headmaster Karl involving the dangers they placed themselves and others in, how their punishment was going to be hell on earth, how all the students were banned from leaving Chimera's grounds and how disappointed he was that they had such slow reaction times to the attack when they knew war was upon them ensued. Finally, he concluded that he was proud of them for fighting back and that no one had died in the altercation. All the students were sent to bed. Their punishment would begin tomorrow.

Ashe and Harry trudged along with Rion and Raziel to their apartment. Chimera was similar to Hogwarts in that the school was split into four houses: Zeus, Hestia, Asclepuis and Hades. They were roughly equivalent to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin respectively. Similar, but not the same. Beyond that, the housing arrangements were different. The houses divided up students to cater to their needs. For example, students in Zeus were more geared towards defensive and offensive training while those from Hestia were mainly healers. The younger years all roomed together to provide comfort for those for whom it was the first time away from home. The older students had apartments they could share with others or room alone. Ashe, Harry, Rion and Raziel had decided to share their apartments. They were actually two apartments next to each other with a door that linked the two rooms.

They parted ways with a 'goodnight'.

..::...::...::..

Harry sat at this desk sorting through all of his newspaper clippings. There were such titles as Mysterious Break In or Chris Potter Attacked at Hogwarts or Chamber of Secrets: Myth or Reality and on and on they went. Harry had kept detailed reports on the movement of his family, they remained in contact through mail but his parents had never once requested to see him. Bitterness welled up within Harry. Some family he had.

"Tiger," he stiffened. He hadn't heard Ashe enter his room. "Go to bed. You can fume at your worthless family another day," Harry sighed, shut off his light and crawled into bed. "Goodnight Harry."

A soft smile touched his lips and his cold face softened. "Sweet dreams Ashe."

..::...::...::..

"How is his training coming along?" Dumbledore wearily asked Moody.

The gruff man sneered. "Like you said, he's got talent and power, but he's a brat. He's coming along, but if he was to face Voldemort we'd be doomed."

Dumbledore rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatic statement, but he took it to heart. Moody was usually right anyway. He spared one last glance at the Potter family over his half-moon glasses and sighed.

They had little time left. It was a wonder Voldemort hadn't caused more trouble already. Dumbledore could only assume the Philosopher Stone wasn't as easy to master and grant eternal life as people thought. The basilisk incident was caused by Tom Riddle, not Voldemort, and Ginny Weasley's body did forever lie in the Chamber of Secrets. Still, no one knew where the Chamber was. Peter Pettigrew had escaped in Chris' third year but he didn't cause any trouble. Although everyone at Hogwarts was on the lookout for the threat, Peter never showed. The Dementors caused more problems than anything else. Peter had probably returned to Voldemort and that was that. Forth year had brought the Triwizard Tournament, Victor Krum was the victor. There wasn't any funny business . . . besides the fact that Chris Potter had blotched up some foreign relationships with his ill timed comments.

That boy was trouble.

Author's Corner:

Wow this was faster than I thought, especially when I sat down to rewrite chapter one. I thought it would be easy since I already had a version, I was just going to edit and add stuff . . . I was wrong. I realized I had altered my original story line. So I threw out the first chapter and rewrote it. So in a way . . . you're all getting a brand new story . . . sorta . . . not really. Oh whatever, I think it's an upgrade, the origianl story line was running into a ditch anyway.

Thank you everyone who reviewed! Lots of love and this is my Christmas Present to all of you!

Yes, these chapters are WAY shorter than the ones from Songs of The Reaper and there is a reason for that. This story was designed for more chapters and a less deep story line I guess. We'll see where this takes me. Anyway, people like shorter chapters but faster updates right? Or do you guys like longer chapters with huge waits inbetween?

Anyway, Happy Holidays everyone!

The next chapter will be out when I hit the 200 review mark. You can do it! Well . . . if you guys don't, I'll be sad but still update anyway. I just really want feedback that I'm going in the right directions!

Without wax,

SCS