The First Vision

"Mama!" the boy said happily as they walked under the light of the full moon into the depths of the swamp, "Am I going to see them tonight?"

The woman holding his hand, guiding him safely on the right path, looked down indulgently at the persistent five year old and replied, "Perhaps child, if the spirits will it."

It was enough for her little Henri to quiet him; in the gleam of the moon she could see the wind blowing his messy hair, revealing a perfectly smooth forehead.

The ugly scar that had marred him after the death of his birth parents had been difficult to remove, the malevolent spirit within it more so.

But not impossible, and after exorcising it and placing it within a pig, one slit throat was all it had taken to banish it to whatever hell it belonged in.

It was much easier to heal his eyes so he wouldn't need glasses like his father apparently had, or so she had been told by James Potter himself on multiple occasions.

They passed through a curtain of ivy and entered a clearing near the center of the swamp, the trees were twisted into an unnatural circle, the tops allowing a void to expose the sky.

In the light of the moon, the dew on the grass and broken branches and leaves gleamed like liquid silver, but the focal point was the circle of stones in the center and the altar.

It was decorated in flowers and uncut precious stones, carved into it were symbols sacred to every known magical culture in the world, there were icons with offering bowls, Roman Catholic Saints that represented Gods and Gods that represented Saints.

For them, they were all representations of the Loa, the spirits who link the material world with the Creator.

Henri had seen and been a part of these rituals for as long as he could remember, always feeling the incredible rush of magic flowing from his Mama as she invoked the spirits to gain their favors and to aid her in various magical workings.

While he joined her in it, and felt his own budding magical core spark in sync with hers, he had yet to see anything of the Beyond for himself.

His green eyes shined like a forbidden killing curse as his Mama began to chant, first in Latin, then in a mixture of tongues, the meaning of the words slowly but surely becoming more important than the words themselves.

Henri felt his eyes focus on Papa Legba, St. Peter, the intermediary between humans and the Loa, who in turn were intermediaries with the ever unknowable Creator.

"Please," he pleaded softly with his magic flaring around him, a candle's flame against the hurricane contained within his Mama's flesh, "Let me see."

It wasn't a formal prayer he was making, he had made plenty of those before, but rather something that was emerging from within by instinct.

The universe seemed to pivot upon the icon, a figure of St. Peter with a pipe, a straw hat, his rod tweaked into a cane with a small plastic dog at his feet.

A surge of power flooded his body, and within an instant he was looking down at himself, from high in the sky.

A shimmering tether was all that seemed to link him to his mortal body, his Mama in the throes of a possession, gaining insight, but into what she would rarely say.

At least in terms he would understand right away.

For a brief moment he pondered what he was seeing before he twisted upwards and saw the sky, the stars glowing more brightly than they ever had before, the faintest stars like the Pleiades were as visible as Polaris.

The moon seemed to be the sun itself, no longer smiling with benign indifference on the world, but with the joys of being alive.

He felt whispers, countless whispers, the stars seemed to spin in circles, glowing brighter and brighter by the second.

He had flashes of understanding that faded away as new flashes came to him, one whisper stood out in saying that most would be forgotten to him, a few recalled right away, others would come to him later when he needed them most.

Then the stars began to slowly stop spinning, and the whispers began to fade, a moment of quiet emerged.

If he had breath, he would have exhaled.

Then a figure appeared before him, floating in the skies just above him.

She was a beautiful woman in formal robes, her fire red hair flowing freely down her back and sides.

And her eyes…

They were the same shade as his.

"Mum…" Henri whispered in a voice that could shake mountains.

She smiled with tears in her eyes and nodded and opened her mouth to speak.

Then there was a powerful tug and he fell downward to the earth in a sudden rush and felt a powerful snap and knew no more.


"Mum…" he moaned weakly as his eyes fluttered open, trying to focus, in a moment they settled and he realized many things at once.

That his Mama was above him, mere inches from his face, with concern on hers, and he was on his back on the ground, his body feeling worn out as if he had been playing outside all day.

"Child," Marie Laveau crooned softly, "…What did you see?"

She didn't have to ask what had happened, the answer was obvious.

Henri answered, "Us from the sky, the stars spinning, and…"

He trailed off, his eyes beginning to swim with tears.

"Yes?" Marie coaxed, looking deep into his eyes and soul, needing to ensure that her child hadn't been harmed by his experience.

"…My birth mum."

There was a pregnant pause, before it was broken by the large smile that bloomed on Marie Laveau's face.

"You've had your first vision child," she said while shifting to sit, not caring if her dress got dirty, even as she helped him up to join her, "Others will follow and in time the spirits will even come to you without a ritual, if you or they have need of course."

Henri nodded, having learned his lessons by heart already, "Jean said this should have happened sooner."

Marie hissed, "Don't listen to him about that, I already said that your power needed to settle longer before coming to the surface."

Henri nodded again; she had told him the story of how he had come to live at the Laveau Plantation, though even a child like himself could note that she had left some things out.

"The Blood Adoption?" he half-asked and grinned weakly when Mama nodded.

Even while recalling that it was only part of the reason for his visions to have only emerged now rather like her own from the very first memory she had.

Internally she spat curses at the twisted being that had infected her Henri with his broken soul, and Albus Dumbledore for his meddling attempts at locating the boy.

Not to mention trying to seize the Potter Estate.

But she had triumphed with quick thinking and a somewhat rushed Blood Adoption Ritual, leaving the Light Lord without an ounce of control and no clue as to his location, or even the identity of his new guardian.

But she pushed aside her past victories and said with pride and joy.

"Now I can say that you can truly begin."

"Begin what?" Henri asked, his mind not knowing even while his heart knew the answer.

"Your true education in magic." Marie Laveau replied before pulling him into a powerful hug under the moonlight and the gaze of the Loa.

The wind blew gently around them, filled with the scents of life and death that inhabited the swamps of Louisiana.

In her arms, Henri Laveau absorbed his Mama's love like a sponge, even as he felt his body give into his exhaustion.

He never remembered her carrying his limp body back to the big house, singing lullabies in French, the unseen smiles of James and Lily Potter fixed upon their son.

But Marie did, for the rest of her days.


Author's Message: Thanks for the reviews guys, I appreciate the support. And while I'm not an expert on Voodoo, I feel confident in being able to blend it with the world that JKR created.