Harry Potter
And the Hall of Gryffindor
Chapter 1: Sorrows and Darkness
It was late in the evening as we start our story. In Surrey, England, a tabby cat is sitting on a low garden wall as if waiting for something a most unusual behavior for a cat that's for sure. As if on cue a sharp crack was heard and the most peculiar old man you have ever seen seemed to come straight out of thin air. He fiddled in a pocket for something and held out what appeared to be a silver cigarette lighter and started clicking it, but instead of lighting, it seemed to suck the light out of the street lamps!
The old man had a beard down to his knees with long silver hair to match. He was wearing high heeled buckled boots and a long violently purple cloak. He had half moon spectacles and a twinkle in his eye that was so bright it seemed that it could blind a normal person. Looking around quickly he noticed the tabby sitting on the wall and slowly made his way over to it.
He sighed as he sat down, talking to the tabby. "Ohh… These old bones aren't quite made for apparation anymore, wouldn't you agree, Professor?" he turned to look at the tabby with a wry smile, however there was no longer a cat sitting there, but a very stern looking woman with her hair pulled up in a tight bun on the back of her head.
"Albus, you know you can apparate perfectly fine, it's all in your head." The old man, Albus, just chuckled slightly and looked at a very odd watch. It seemed to have moving stars on it with two hands. "Hagrid's late." Any normal person wouldn't have made sense of this watch, but these two weren't ordinary people. No, they were Wizards. That's right. Wizards, magic, hocus-pocus and all that jazz. The woman's jaw dropped "Hagrid? You trusted the boy to HAGRID?" she exclaimed quite loudly. "Now, now Minerva" said the old man. "Hagrid is perfectly fine, a tad eccentric but harmless!"
The woman made a "humph" of disapproval, but left it at that. Instead turning to the old man to ask a question, "So… Why are we here of all places? Why this muggle suburb?"
Now, Muggle is a very odd term for me and you, but it means just that. Me and you, normal folk who can't use magic and don't know about it for the safety of the Wizarding race. Their whole society is a secret, you see. Living right amongst our own, but they've invented spells and enchantments that keep our blind eyes turned away from them.
Albus sighed, "This is the only place where Harry has living relatives. He needs to come here to be safe from the followers of Voldemort." Minerva flinched severely at the sound of the name. "Really! Albus! Must you say his name?" she said tartly and she fixed her hat. "Fear of the name, only increases fear of the thing itself," Albus recited with a bored voice.
Just as she was about to respond, a loud roar of an engine interrupted her. The two of them looking around they couldn't see anything. When the noise of the engine peaked they both looked up just in time to see the largest motor bike ridden by the largest man you've ever seen. Twelve feet tall, and half as wide at the shoulders, the man was huge to say the least. He had a twisted and rolling beard and hair that covered almost his entire face and shiny, intelligent black eyes. His name was Hagrid, Groundskeeper and keeper of the keys at Hogwarts, the Scottish school for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Swinging a leg back over the bike and looking around he spotted the two people. "Professor Dumbledore! Professor McGonagall! It's great to see yer!" The old man, Dumbledore, is the Headmaster of Hogwarts as well as a laundry list of other titles but we won't go into that now. The other Professor, taught Transfiguration at the school. Transfiguration being the art of transforming one thing into another, through magic.
"Hagrid, splendid. Where is young Harry? Ahh… He must be here," looking into the sling across the large man's chest he could just make out a little lump. "If you would, Hagrid?" said Dumbledore. Hagrid handed over the little bundle, an infant with messy raven hair and when he opened them, startling bright green eyes. Professor McGonagall looked at little Harry and her face broke out in a very rare smile. "He has his mother's eyes" she said softly. And then something clicked into place. "Wait! Albus! He can't stay here! I've watched them all day! These muggles are the worst you've ever SEEN! They won't give Harry a decent home! Any wizarding family would gladly take him in!"
Albus adopted a stern demeanor in a second. Where he was once grandfatherly he was now twisted, almost maniacal I guess you could say. "He WILL stay here Minerva, you WILL leave him alone. He cannot stay in a world that will idolize him, revere him. It will cause much to many problems for him." And Minerva blanched. That's his reason for leaving the child here? In a place that'll have its every occupant hating his guts for what he was? "That's too harsh Albus. They'll hate him! If what Lily said was true, they hate everything about us!"
All of a sudden there was a sudden flow of magic about the old man that made him terribly frightening. "THIS IS FINAL!" he said with a raised voice, trying not to wake the sleeping babe. "HE WILL STAY HERE AND THAT'S IT! GO MINERVA! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU UNTIL CLASSES START!" The twinkle gone from his eyes and something cold… Dead, left in its wake. Recoiling as if she'd been slapped she disappeared with a sharp crack, probably louder than usual, in her fright. But she didn't go far, unbeknownst to the Headmaster she only went a few houses down and changed back into a cat and went high into a nearby tree to watch.
Hagrid's voice carried quite well. "Professor, sir, you didn't have to do that…" Dumbledore shot him an angry glance as well. "I do what I must for the Greater Good Hagrid. Now you had best go too." And watching the large man start and ride the bike away, walked up to the front step and left the child there, with a letter clutched fast in his little hands. "You must grow up like this so we do not have another Dark Lord rising from the ashes of the old…" Minerva, if she was human, would have audibly gasped at that statement. Harry Potter, a Dark Lord? The child of Lily and James Potter, evil? She couldn't believe it and resolved to keep an eye on the child when she could. Minerva didn't know what horrors she'd witness, even over the next few days. Let alone the next ten or so years.
Elsewhere in England, a group of black cloaked figures fell through the door of an old and magnificent manor. The apparent leader ripped off his skull faced mask, tears seemingly spilling from his eyes. "Narcissa! WOMAN!" he bellowed out into the hall. A beautiful woman shortly appeared, waist length white-blonde hair, odd silvery grey eyes and a pretty face. "What is it Lucius? You'll wake Draco with your shouting!"
The man, Lucius, looked about ready to kill. "You DARE, woman? In MY house? Learn your place, bitch!" he shouted, slapping her across the face. The silence was deafening. The man was breathing hard, "The Dark Lord has fallen, and we must do what we can to save ourselves. Get rid of the darker artifacts, hide them." A woman silently seethed behind Lucius, Bellatrix Lestrange, the most unbalanced of the Dark Lord's followers, whom were called Death Eaters. "Lucius," she said in a sickly sweet voice "You dare strike my sister? A member of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black?" Her eyes, betraying her madness, bored straight into Lucius' eyes. "Crucio!" the woman screamed, and Lucius was on the floor writhing in agony from the curse.
"You will NOT strike my sister, you will NOT harm your son and you WILL still serve the Dark Lord even in his death!" she screamed to the high heavens, lifting the curse. To say Lucius Malfoy was livid was an understatement. Before anybody else knew a full blown duel was going on in the front entrance. Those stupid enough to not move died under the curses flying between Bellatrix and Lucius. "This is MY house bitch! You will not order me around! Avada Kedavra!" he screeched. A ghostly green light flew from the tip of his wand and passed through a death eater that was behind where Bellatrix just was, killing him in an instant.
"Oooo… Wittle Wucius wants to play…" Bellatrix cooed at the man. "So be it!" and swiped her wand sending an evil looking black curse sailing towards Lucius where it hit his foot, crippling it permanently. "ENOUGH!" Narcissa finally intervened "You will not do this in this house! CLEAR OUT THE DEAD AND DON'T COME BACK IN UNTIL YOU'VE CALMED DOWN!"
Both Bellatrix and Lucius froze at the little woman's wrath. Clearing away the dead and coming back in a few hours later they found Narcissa with a small baby in her arms, silver-blonde hair and grey eyes open. Draco Malfoy, who was just over a year old and now slowly falling back asleep in his mother's arms. "Now… What happened?" demanded Narcissa. Bellatrix's eyes immediately teared up "Cissy… The Potter brat that the Dark Lord went to kill… We don't know what happened, but the boy lives. And the Dark Lord… He… He is gone." Full out sobbing by the end of her explanation, Bellatrix collapsed in sobs, alternating between crying and laughing manically about how she'd kill the brat.
Narcissa's heart leapt. If the Dark Lord was gone then her son wouldn't have to be subject to the same fate as her loathsome husband, but she didn't let it show on her face. She hung her head and walked away, her son finally asleep again. In his nursery Narcissa cooed to the small boy, "You won't have to serve. You will be safe my beautiful boy… We'll make sure you aren't brainwashed by your father with his pureblood mania. You will never be a normal child, but you will be your own person…"
The boy smiled as he slept, not knowing that hundreds of miles away, another child was about to be awoken by the shrill screams of his Aunt and not knowing that one day… One day Draco would meet this child, the object of wrath through his Youth. One, Harry James Potter.
Harry was eight. A man in a shop had just bowed to him, and the man was dressed in the most horrid suit he'd ever seen! And that was saying something, considering what his Uncle, Vernon Dursley, generally wore. His Aunt caught it and rushed him and his cousin swiftly out of the shop. They weren't shopping for Harry at all, but rather they brought him along to carry all of the bags that his Aunt, Petunia Dursley, accumulated while shopping for her pig of a son, Dudley.
Dressed in his rags that his Aunt called clothes, he carried all of the bags from store to store. Toy bags, clothes bags, grocery bags, they all stacked up quickly, making it very hard for Harry to keep up. He began to get frustrated and he panicked. When he got frustrated odd things happened, and this time was no exception. All of a sudden all of the bags got feather light and he jumped and checked the bags and to his surprise… Everything was still there.
He hurried after his aunt who noticed the change in weight, thinking he ditched some bags she checked them all then grabbed some and paled. They weren't any heavier than a pound a bag. She snatched them away and stopped the shopping. After getting home and a quick conversation with her husband while Harry stood out in the hall his Uncle came out and Harry blanched… His Uncle had The Belt. Imbued with studs over the years, the belt was one of the rare punishments that his Uncle dealt out, but only when the odd things happened. When he was 7, last year, he had somehow ended up on the school roof after his cousin's gang had chased him for a good twenty minutes around the yard. He had no idea how it had happened but it earned him easily the worst beating of his life. At the end of it he collapsed in his Cupboard and looked at himself. He was black and blue from shoulder to knees open sores from the studs lining his body. He knew a few ribs were broken from the beating, but he couldn't do anything about it.
Shaking his head out of the flashback he started to plead with his Uncle. "Please… Uncle Vernon, what'd I do to deserve The Belt? I didn't do anything bad! I did everything Aunt Petunia asked of me! Please!" he cried as the first strikes started to rain down on his back and chest. Petunia was crying in the kitchen as she listened to Vernon beat the boy. "It's all for the best… If we can beat it out of him… Yes… Yes, he'll be normal." She justified to herself. Her arguments were never any better, and the beatings would always last until the boy passed out from the pain. She did nothing to stop her sister's son from being beaten within an inch of his life.
When the beating was done Vernon stepped back into the kitchen the belt covered in bits of blood. "Hmph," he grunted, "Only forty-five minutes this time. Maybe it's working then." He mused to himself as he proceeded at add another 4 studs to the belt. Harry had managed to fake passing out so as to end the beating and crawl into his cupboard - it was his because that's where he'd slept since he could remember - and sleep. Dudley, always the bully, saw Harry moving from his spot on the stairs and the cruel little boy gave a shout that made Harry's blood run cold. "Dad! He's still moving! Dad! DAD!" The kitchen door banged open and his Uncle stood there, purple faced and his mustache quivering "Oho! So you thought you could get out of it boy?" he roared and he brought the belt down, again, and again, and again.
Professor McGonagall heard it, but couldn't enter the place because of Dumbledore and his 'protections.' "DAMN THAT OLD FOOL!" she thought, "I told him this would happen! I told him!" while she cried and said over and over again that she was sorry. Professor Dumbledore was in a lower chamber in the dungeons watching this transpire over a special orb he had. A smile came to his face "Good… All according to plan…" and he turned and walked away from the gruesome sight of an innocent boy, being beaten.
Harry woke up some time in the early hours of the morning, shuddering at the memory of that horrific beating by his uncle. Harry was now 10 years old, close to being 11. Actually, it was a few weeks away, meaning… Harry groaned, it would be Dudley's Birthday today and that generally meant he was left with Mrs. Figg, a kind, but eccentric old lady with lots and lots of cats. He smiled and then shuddered as another memory came to him.
Harry was left out on the porch in winter, another of his uncle's "punishments" for the weird things that seemed to happen around him. Mrs. Figg was walking by when she saw young Harry in nothing but shorts and a thin shirt shivering next to the door. She walked up to the poor boy, who looked just about near death, and picked up the child, walking down the street to her home to warm the boy up and get him out of the freezing temperatures. She had put him near the fire in her warmest blankets and asked her cats to help warm him up and soon enough he had a good half dozen cats laying on and near him. Smiling at the small boy she stoked the fire a little bit higher, she didn't like the heat but the poor child needed it.
When Vernon walked outside to pick the boy off the ground he saw that he wasn't there. Searching around he found Mrs. Figg's footprints and followed them to her house when he began pounding on the door, it sounded like a cannon blast in the chill of the night. "WHERE IS MY NEPHEW YOU OLD BITCH? GIVE HIM BACK TO US OR I'LL HAVE YOU ON KIDNAPPING!" He roared through the door. "And I'll call child services on you for beating this child! I've seen the scars! We all have! He should be seen by a doctor and he looks half starved to death!" she called back through the door. "WHO GIVES A DAMN YOU OLD WHORE? GIVE HIM BACK OR I'LL KICK IN YOUR DOOR!" and just as she was going to tell him 'No' true to his word her door practically exploded inward from the force of the blow.
Shoving Mrs. Figg roughly aside he grabbed the boy by the scruff of the neck and shook him awake "What do you think you're doing here boy? HUH?" Harry was practically delirious from his experience with hypothermia and blinked blearily up at his uncle. "Here where?" he slurred and received a back hand to the face that sent him sprawling across the room. "Now see here!" Mrs. Figg tried to stop Vernon, but was sent sprawling as well. "If you ever take my nephew again you old whore, I swear to god I'll call the police on you and have you in jail until you rot!" he spat. Picking up his nephew he took him back to Number Four, where he was thrown roughly into his cupboard and locked in for a very long time.
Harry was shaken out of his musings as Dudley came thundering down the stairs, stomping on the stair right over Harry's face and making a load of dust fall into his eyes. "Get up Potter!" he shouted as his Aunt came around to the door and shrieked at him to watch the breakfast. He groaned as he got up rubbing the dust from his eyes. He went out to start watching the breakfast while he listened to Dudley complain about his presents. "But Dad! There are less than last year! I want more presents!" he stormed. "Alright… Alright, Dudders, we'll get you another two presents when we go out. How about that?" A greedy smile coming across Dudley's face, he agreed by sitting down and banging the table with his silverware.
"Boy!" his aunt shrieked, "Bring the breakfast, now!" and Harry began to dish out the breakfast for four people, but he was stopped by his Uncle. "What do you think you're doing boy? That's Dudley's breakfast! Yours is over there!" he said with a grin as he pointed towards a piece of bread, a tiny piece of cheese and a large glass of water. 'Go figure…' thought Harry as he ate the "breakfast" as slow as he could. He'd never had a proper meal that he could remember. He was almost always hungry and dangerously skinny, where in contrast his cousin was exceptionally fat. He wondered why he was always told by his Aunt to cook for four when his Uncle just made him eat bread and cheese.
"Dudley. We're going to the Zoo today, and He has to come, so we need to go to a wide open place where we can just leave him off to the side and hope he doesn't do anything." And upon hearing this Dudley just balked. "Potter? Come with us on my Birthday?" and he rounded on Harry "This is your doing isn't it?! ANSWER ME!" as he drew back a fist to break Harry's already very well-broken glasses. And just as he was about to swing Harry shut his eyes to hear a slapping sound. Opening his eyes a little he saw a red mark on Dudley's arm and his Aunt with a look of rage on her face. "It is NOT his doing! Just because something doesn't go your way once in a year doesn't mean automatically blame him!" and for some reason she shot a completely venomous look to his Uncle who just shrugged. "Now Dudders, your friend will be here in a moment. Go get ready. Boy!" she then shrieked, leaving no doubt who she was talking to now. "Be on your best behavior and don't do anything! Go!"
Harry quickly went back to his cupboard and put on his most horrid hand-me-down clothes from Dudley, every time he went out in public he did this hoping that someday somebody would take him away from this place. It never happened but his Aunt and Uncle never seemed to mind how he looked. Soon a small rat-faced boy came into the house and within fifteen minutes they left for the Zoo. Once inside the two boys, Dudley and Piers, immediately kicked Harry away and left him to wander on his own.
Harry soon found himself in the reptile house, the dark and cool atmosphere a refreshing contrast to the hot outside air. He was watching a program about snakes and kept hearing high-pitched voices that sounded like they were hissing things. To be let out, to be fed, or to be taken care of. It was quite disturbing to the small boy. Soon he noticed his Aunt and Uncle come into the stage area with Dudley and Piers in tow, he moved to where they'd never go. The Front, but this soon proved to be a mistake as a giant Boa was unveiled by the Snake Keeper. The Boa locked eyes with Harry and slithered out of the hands of the Keeper straight to Harry slithering up and onto the boy.
"Now, now, why is a master here looking so weak and frail?" Harry started and looked at the snake. "Master?" he whispered not hearing the shocked gasps from around him. There was a boy, talking to a snake, and nobody could understand it but the boy seemed locked in his own world with a giant Boa across his shoulders and looking into his eyes. "Yes young one… A master, you can speak to us, we can all feel it. You must remember who you are, focus and be who you're meant to be." Harry just gaped at the snake as it touched his scar. A surge of power and a primal scream echoed from somewhere and he had memories flowing through his mind. Of a school, classes, learning things about Magic, a power he never dreamed of. Learning these through the memories he felt another power trying to oppress and control him. He fought as hard as he could, protecting his mind over and over again against the power that was trying to take him. After what seemed like an age the power weakened and dissipated, leaving nothing but knowledge in its wake. He didn't know who or where it came from and all he could remember from it was that it was practical, no personal memories. And power, yes… Lots and lots of power.
The first thing he noticed when he came to was the large snake protecting him from the handful of keepers that were trying to catch it. As Harry stood the snake looked at him and spoke, "Do you know young master?" Harry just nodded once, the power filling his entire being and fixing everything that his thrice damned Uncle had done to him since he was a child. The magic in him coursing through his body, the pain of fixing damage from broken bones. "I remember master snake."
"Good. Your familiar resides here, a magic being that let itself be captured and waiting for this day. Follow me." And that Harry did, the keepers parted with looks of horror on their faces, a boy talking to a snake, this was definitely not normal. As they walked out the door the first keeper exclaimed "SEE! I'm not crazy I told you that kid could!" and quick apologies from the other keepers. Harry followed the snake to a cellar door which was locked. Pulling upon his new knowledge he waved his hand, thinking the spell that would open the door. 'Alohamora!' and with a click the door swung open.
Way in the back was the single most beautiful snake Harry had ever seen. It was orange with black stripes and bright intelligent eyes. "I have waited long for you, Harry Potter." Was all that the snake said before it slithered through the bars, melting them with its passage. The snake looked up to him and began to utter an ancient incantation, bonding itself with Harry. When it was done Harry regarded the snake with awe, "What is your name?" he asked. The snake shook its head, "I've yet to be named. You must do it, and my powers will not affect anything I don't want them to, so you can pick me up and take me with you any time you please, Master." Harry shuddered at being called that and sighed, he needed a name. "Hmm…" thought Harry, "Llandru will be your name. Come, we must be going, I was out for quite some time." He picked up the snake and it draped across his shoulders disappearing. Harry started, he could still feel Llandru but he couldn't see him. "Where did you go?" he asked wide eyed. "Do not fear young master." He heard in his ear "I am just invisible so that we do not raise suspicion." Harry nodded and headed out of the reptile house towards the parking lot which was nearly empty. The Dursley's had left him there.
Drawing upon his knowledge he disappeared with a slight crack, and when he opened his eyes he was outside the house on Privet Drive. Looking around to make sure he wasn't spotted he hurried quickly to the house and knocked on the door. It was answered by a furious Vernon. "We told you no funny business boy! What was that with the snake! Huh? Answer me!" Harry just looked on impassively upon his Uncle and said calmly "I have no idea Vernon, this was the first time that ever happened." Vernon reached quickly around the door and pulled out The Belt, no doubt about the beat the boy half to death yet again. It had changed over the years to have some slightly spiked studs so as to make the boy bleed more. It was covered in old bloodstains and rust along with whatever Vernon used to keep the leather supple.
"You don't want to use that on my anymore, Uncle" Harry said in a dark voice. "Oh yeah? Why not?" and Harry laughed and spread his arms wide. "Because I know what I am now! And I can use it!" to make a point he flicked a few fingers and made the belt dissolve in his Uncle's hands. Vernon looked at the boy in horror and slammed the door shut. "Shit! PETUNIA!" his uncle called right before the door blew in on him, the violently orange snake now visible its fangs bared and dripping. "This is Llandru, and he'll be staying with me from now on. You will not do anything to him." And as Harry spoke Vernon shuddered at the sound that issued from the snake. "Like he could do anything to me. The fat lump." But all Vernon heard was a hissing noise.
When Petunia walked through the kitchen door and saw Harry she immediately fainted. Harry, unbeknownst to him, was in the middle of a small vortex of power. Power that had been so long repressed, so long drained by the thing that assaulted him. He could feel it, it was intoxicating, but a little voice in his head kept it from overwhelming him. 'Relax' it told him, 'you're going to kill yourself if you don't calm down.' And taking a deep breath he let the power settle back down, but he could still feel it, just there underneath the surface.
When Vernon saw his wife on the floor after he was finished cowering in fear of Harry he lost it completely. "Impetuous brat!" he roared pulling his hand back to strike his nephew. A quick glance of his bright green eyes sent Vernon flying down the hallway. "I warned you? Didn't I Vernon? Don't try to hit me ever again or you will be a meal for Llandru." The large elemental serpent hissed in indignation "I won't ever eat the likes of him! I'll get a stomach ache!" Harry laughed as he walked away, but stopped short when he saw the figure in the door.
Harry didn't know how he knew but this was Albus Dumbledore, and the look that the old man had in his eyes was definitely terrifying. "What has been going on here?" the old wizard asked Harry, "And what is that dark beast doing across your shoulders?" Llandru hissed mightily and screeched in snake-language making Harry cover his ears "I am NOT dark you crazy old bastard!"
Dumbledore shot a glare at the snake and whipped out his wand and started chanting in Latin, presumably to banish the great serpent. "No!" Harry roared and sent Dumbledore flying. "You will not touch Llandru, and you will leave this house as I do Mr. Dumbledore, I'm not staying here long."
If Dumbledore looked shocked when he saw Llandru, it was nothing to how he looked now. How did the boy know his name? What did he mean he wasn't staying? WHY is he so powerful? Staying with these muggles should have repressed the boy's power significantly! "Now Harry, you can't leave. You're protected here as long as you can call this house home." Harry laughed a very familiar, very cold laugh that stopped Dumbledore's heart. "Then I've never been protected, Sir, because this has never been my home."
When Harry said this he felt a magic infrastructure fall around the house, evidently the old man had set wards up to 'protect' him from his world so long as he stayed there. So long as he let the Dursley's torture him and beat him. Harry was angry, an understatement, he was PISSED. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?! HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN HOW I'M TREATED HERE?" Dumbledore mumbled a soft reply and Harry lost it, that power surged forth again and started tearing the house apart.
"Well Mr. Dumbledore, I'll see you at school. But until then, farewell and do not search for me, you'll find more than you can handle." And Harry disappeared. All of Dumbledore's plans had just fallen around his ears, everything he worked to set up for the past ten years undone in an instant. The Greater Good was all that he had worked for and it was snatched from under his feet. "Well Professor, I knew that would happen one day" said a very stern voice from behind him. Minerva McGonagall had witnessed the whole thing, apparently from the time Harry had been left there.
Things were definitely not going the way he had planned.
(A/N) As for the Entity that tries to take over Harry, yes it is the Horcrux and my idea is that personal knowledge and practical knowledge are imparted differently. Personal knowledge would be kept by the source soul while the fragment would be unable to retain the personal knowledge (but being linked as Horcrux's are) as it gained power it would regain the personal knowledge up to the point where it was split off from the source soul. Being as vague as they are I don't see this as a huge stretch from Rowling's Cannon and what not because as the Diary gained power, it gained the knowledge of Voldemort up through his school years but when Ginny got it, it was sentient and cunning and only regained its true memories and personalities as time went on.
My beta is my brother; Potterfan3002 so props to him for putting up with me arguing about grammar and spelling while he was reading this (and will be reading further chapters to come)
Thanks all! I hope to update again shortly!