Warnings: Eventual character death, crossover, het, religious themes. The Religious themes do NOT reflect the beliefs of the author.

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to Joanne Kathleen Rowling and associates, of whom I am not one. Final Fantasy X belongs to SquareEnix and associates, of whom I am not one.

Part I: The Pilgrim

Chapter 2: The Guardian

"I can't go any further than this," Tal apologized. His eyes were glued to his feet, hand resting on the pommel of his broadsword.

The docks of Luca were an impressive sight to behold, not least because of the ocean. It had been only three days prior that Harry first caught of glimpse of the sea from Mushroom Rock Road, and it entranced him. He had never seen an ocean on Earth, what with the Dursleys always leaving him with Mrs Figg when they went on day trips.

"I understand, Tal, I knew it from the start," Harry tried to smile at the man, for he was a man now and not just a teenager with a sword and an aeon. "Illa said I would find what I'm looking for in a guardian on Besaid, and I'll believe her. I'll go straight to Besaid, and when I come back North on my pilgrimage, I'll stop by the temple with an offering and some fine Kilikan wine."

Not that monks were allowed to drink wine of course, but Tal brightened a bit. Harry had caught him bartering for a bottle some months prior and kept it a secret from the new Head Monk, Elln, on his behalf.

"Don't buy anything you don't need, but never skimp on potions, not unless you finally take to white magic," Tal advised. Harry only smiled and nodded. "If there's a fiend you can't take down with black magic you should probably just run. You run fast enough I don't think anything short of a cactaur could catch you, not even a Dingo."

"Yes Tal," Harry nodded. The fact that there was a fiend called a "dingo" in Spira, which was in ways similar to the animal back on Earth, had amused him at first, though his first encounter with one of the off-strains had ruined the thought. They were very fast, and while Harry had quick reflexes for mage, and he was a fast runner after a childhood of fleeing from Dudley, he was fairly certain a Dingo could overtake him.

Then again, given enough speed spheres and practice sprinting I might be able to change that, he mused. It was a bit of a sore point with him that his training had focused so much on Black magic. Not that he didn't love his spells, but he felt it was somehow more him to defend and dodge than to outright blow things up. Even if he couldn't make the mental leap from black to white magic anyway. It was likely due to his years of avoiding Dudley.

"I'll see you soon, alright? I should have Valefor and Ifrit in a few days time, and I will be back in Djose in little more than a week," Harry tried to put on a brave face, though he felt he failed. "You'll barely even miss me."

Of course, that wasn't true. Tal was the closest thing Harry had to family in Spira, but as a temple summoner he couldn't be a guardian. It was already bad enough that he had escorted Harry to Luca. Temple summoners had duties, duties which Harry didn't fully understand, but they were important. That none of the guardian applicants to Djose had been complimentary to Harry was no mere fluke however, and Harry would find his answer on the tiny island of Besaid.

"Just go, the boat's going to leave any minute," Tal sighed. He reached out to give Harry's shoulder a squeeze. "This is the city, everything runs like clockwork. They won't hold off the boat just so we can talk."

It was true. The sailors were already preparing to untie the boat and load the gangplank. Harry gave Tal's forearm a quick reciprocating squeeze and darted to the waiting ship to Kilika, barely pausing to hand his fare to one of the sailors as he nearly flew up the gangplank. He came to rest on board the deck while a few sailors chuckled at his expense and continued about their business. Harry then darted to the portside stern while the boat started its drift.

From that position he waved to Tal. He waved until the highest points in Luna were mere pinpricks on the horizon.

I won't be alone for long, Harry reassured himself as he drew away from the rail. He was going straight to Besaid, he could go through Kilika when he had his guardian-to-be. And then he wouldn't be alone, he wouldn't have this knot in his chest.

Maybe he would tell his guardian what Ixion had said, about how the Sin of now, the Sin which had recently laid waste to Lake Macalania during the Winter Festival a few months ago killing near a thousand people, was stronger, or would be stronger, than the previous Sin, whatever that meant. What Ixion had said about dreams, too, even if Harry didn't understand what he meant.

Perhaps, even, that even after training for nearly three years as a summoner disciple, after being chosen by Ixion, after truly becoming a summoner, Harry was not a Yevonite. He wanted to believe. He wanted desperately to believe in Yevon, in the dangers of machina, in Sin's nature, but he couldn't believe in it no matter how hard he tried.

If only the Al Bhed used forbidden machina, why would Sin go after anyone else? In fact, he had heard that Al Bhed were rarely attacked by Sin when compared to any other villages. Even if no one knew where the Al Bhed lived, it was the Al Bhed themselves who would occasionally boast about it. Harry had even asked the man at the Al Bhed travel agency, and he had admitted it.

So, if Sin was truly there to punish the world for sinning, why were the supposed sinners practically untouched while the faithful weren't?

Harry tried to believe. He tried to push aside doubts. But he was not born to Spira, to Yevon.

Harry arrived in Kilika that evening, and Besaid at high noon the following day.

"Come on Chappu, please?" Yuna looked up at the young man who might as well have been her elder brother with large eyes, waiting. "I don't have much time out of the temple right now. Please?"

Chappu smiled at her, but shook her off his arm with little effort. "Sorry Yuna, I promised Luzzu I'd talk to him today, about… well, I'll tell you later, okay?"

It wasn't that Yuna wanted to come off as spoiled of course. She was fifteen years old, soon to be sixteen. She wasn't a child. But Wakka and Lulu were both off being guardians to Summoner Allara, on the pilgrimage to Zanarkand. They had been gone more than a month already, so she thought they must be to Bevelle by now, probably even Mt Gagazet.

If they were alive.

But Yuna shook off that thought. They had to be alive. Well, logically they might not be. Logically they could have fallen to fiends or even Sin sometime in the past month. But Wakka had promised to return in time for the Blitzball tournament in Luca, to see the Aurochs through to the finals, and Yuna had faith that he would return. And who knew how far they really were? Yuna hadn't left Besaid since she arrived nine years ago.

That said, Chappu was the only member of Yuna's family still on Besaid at the moment, save Kimahri, but Kimahri didn't talk much, and he certainly didn't like playing games, even with Yuna. And Yuna, as a disciple of Besaid Temple, had little time to do anything other than train. Unlike the other girls her age in the village, she lacked the time to gossip while weaving cloth, or even to go shell hunting.

And, as the only Summoner disciple in Besaid, even her lessons were lonely. Life as the daughter of a High Summoner wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"Alright, Chappu," Yuna sighed. Chappu was only a couple of years older than her, but he could get so serious sometimes. He was always smiling, but when he was intent on something… well, Yuna wasn't blind to why he was talking to Luzzu of the Crusaders.

And then he was gone and Yuna was left to sit on the steps in front of the temple. Perhaps she should go inside and get more lessons on white magic instead, but she wanted her moment to sulk in the early summer sun.

There was the click of wood-soled boots to her left, and Yuna glanced over to see the figure climbing the steps. There wasn't much to observe of course. He was younger than her, and not a member of the village. His hair was held up by a bandanna, much like Chappu and Wakka wore theirs, and glasses rested on his nose. His clothing was green primarily, with enough gold accents that Yuna slowly realized he was likely a Summoner. After all, only Summoners and very well off merchants wore terribly ornate clothing, and it was obvious which of the two was more likely to come to Besaid.

He kept moving and Yuna turned her head to keep watching. She hadn't realized anyone could be a Summoner that young. He was at least a year younger than her, and she had started training at the temple as a disciple at the age of twelve, only one year later than she should have been allowed if Kimahri wasn't such a worry wart. And yet here was this boy at least one year younger than her, perhaps more given he was still rather short, already a Summoner when she wasn't going to be allowed to go through the Cloister until after her seventeenth birthday.

How odd.

The boy continued walking to the temple, though he removed his pack from his shoulders and took from it a long dark green robe. He managed to remove his staff from his back, put on the robe and his pack, and take the staff in hand properly while still keeping his pace with ease. Yuna almost giggled at that; how much would he have to practice? A lot, she imagined.

At length she stood up to follow him. It wasn't often that summoners came to Besaid. Of course, any summoner intent on completing their pilgrimage would, but many would only take the aeon of their patron temple and become a temple summoner, or they would give up before finishing the trek south to Besaid. Still, watching them enter and exit the Cloister was always a spot of interest.

When Yuna entered the temple, the boy was speaking with the Head Monk.

"I know it's a little unorthodox, however-" the boy's voice betrayed his youth, but it was resolute.

"I'm sorry, Summoner Harry, but the Cloister can be a dangerous place to navigate alone," the Head Monk didn't sound even half apologetic, however. "And, should your communion prove too tiresome, not having any on hand to aid you is irresponsible in the highest degree. I cannot allow it."

The boy deflated somewhat. "I understand, sir, but I am a summoner on pilgrimage. That I do not have a guardian was no trouble in Djose, when I went through my first Cloister."

"Perhaps not in Ixion's temple, as his obvious Chosen, but Valefor is a very different matter," the Head Monk huffed. "Either you will gain the temporary aid of a member of our village, or you will have to wait until our local guardians have returned. And they are both on pilgrimage at this time."

The boy didn't speak for some moments. "Very well. I will wait, as long as I must." He gave the prayer to the Head Monk and made his way to the exit. The very same exit which Yuna was standing by, watching the exchange.

"Um, excuse me, you're a Summoner?" Yuna spoke up as he approached. The boy came to a stop before her, nodding. Standing side by side, Yuna noticed he was indeed short, shorter than her by a little. Certainly young. "How old are you?"

"I'm 13," the boy responded. "Summoner Harry." He rested his staff in the crook of his elbow as he performed the prayer, which Yuna returned.

"I'm Yuna, a disciple," though she pointedly did not add that she was High Summoner Braska's daughter, there was a flicker of recognition on Harry's gaze. "The local guardians are Wakka and Lulu. I grew up with them. They've been on pilgrimage for almost a month, but I know where we could go to find you a temporary guardian to get through the trial."

The idea of a temporary guardian was foreign, but not entirely unheard of. It was traditional for summoners to have guardians, but Yuna had heard of one or two throughout the ages who went without. None of them went on to become High Summoners, but one key example was Grand Maester Mika. He made it all the way to Zanarkand, alone, but did not attain the Final Aeon. Regardless, the man was revered and a wonderful leader for all of Yevon and Spira.

So perhaps the boy (and by Yevon he was just a boy, Yuna had barely started learning basic white magic by his age) was going to be just as great. Or he would fail. Though how someone could lack all the close family and friends waiting to become guardians was a mystery. Yuna had extracted promises from Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri and a "maybe" from Chappu for her future pilgrimage.

"Is it the Crusaders' lodge in town?" Harry asked.

"Yes, and I know Crusaders are separate from Yevon, but they really are all good Yevonites," Yuna smiled and reached out a hand. "I'm sure I can introduce you to someone who will be willing to go into the Cloister with you." Not that Yuna knew many of the Crusaders, but Chappu was there now, and so was Luzzu. Either of them would be fine in the Cloister. Yuna wished she knew what the Cloister truly entailed, but that was forbidden.

"You have my thanks," Harry performed the prayer again, and then waved an arm for her to lead. Instead, Yuna took the arm in question and walked side by side with him.

"I overheard you with the Head Monk, you're from Djose Temple? Why don't you have a guardian?" Yuna asked as they started down the walk between columns.

"I trained at Djose Temple, from my eleventh birthday," Harry confirmed. "But there aren't really any settlements that way anymore, not since Djose village was wiped out ten years ago. The survivors split between Luca and the temple, and it never got rebuilt. The people of Luca live too far away to make a connection with, and even though Guadosalem is closer to Djose temple, they consider Macalania their patron, so we don't get visitors from there either. The only people to become close to are other disciples and the Temple Summoners, who cannot become guardians.

"But… well, Besaid has a Temple Seer, correct?" Yuna nodded her answer, thinking of Kalim. He was a strange man, but his intuition was always right. "The Djose Seer said that I would find an appropriate guardian in Besaid, since none of the guardian applicants to the temple suited me. Well, her precise words were that 'your guardian awaits you on the Southern isle' and then I got her to clarify that she meant Besaid."

"'Awaits you'… that must mean it's someone who's already here, so it can't be one of the already registered guardians." Yuna hummed, tapping her lip with her finger. "Well, we'll just have to find out now, won't we? Come on, the lodge is over on the right!"

Harry put up no resistance as she pulled him into the lodge, which was the largest structure in the village outside of the temple itself. A few of the Crusaders were sitting at the table by the bar, chatting with some villagers who were taking a break from foraging, chatting amicably. Luzzu and Chappu were in the bunking area, from what Yuna could see, talking near the small Sphere Recorder at the back.

"We'll talk to Luzzu and Chappu first," Yuna decided. Harry only nodded as she led him as before, albeit more sedately. It was rare any women went into the lodge, aside from Lulu on occasion.

The instant Luzzu noticed Yuna and her new friend, he held up and hand to halt his conversation with Chappu. It only took them a moment to discern from Harry's ornate robe and staff that he was a summoner as they both performed prayer, which Harry managed to return even with Yuna's hand still on his arm.

"Greetings Summoner, and you too Yuna," Luzzu was eyeing them oddly. Which wasn't entirely unwarranted, and Chappu's gaze was a bit odder. "What brings you to the Crusader's Lodge?"

"He nee-" Yuna stopped herself. It wasn't her place to speak for the Summoner she barely knew, after all. "Sorry."

"It's alright, Yuna," Harry smiled at her in forgiveness and turned to the men. "My name is Harry Potter of Djose Temple. I recently became a Summoner, gaining Ixion's aid four days ago. I lack a guardian, however, and am required to have one to enter the Besaid Cloister. I have been advised that Djose is… unique in its allowance of Summoners and Summoners to be to enter alone. I was hoping to borrow one of your number for the Besaid Cloister and perhaps for Kilika as well?"

While Harry's voice was hopeful, Yuna now knew that he didn't really mean that. He was hoping to find someone who would be a real guardian for him.

"I'll do it," Chappu volunteered. "I'm not a Crusader yet, and I think Yuna can go on without me for a few days, ya?" Yuna smiled widely up at him, but her heart sank a bit. If Chappu was Harry's guardian, did that mean he couldn't be hers when she went about her trials? But, then, pilgrimages didn't take long, and whether they succeeded or turned back, Chappu was sure to be in Besaid again by the time Yuna began her pilgrimage, be it in Calm or otherwise.

"Praise be to Yevon," Harry said, though this time his hands did not perform the prayer. It sounded a little strange, the way he said it, but Yuna let it slide.

She followed Harry and Chappu to the temple and watched them enter the Cloister. And she waited.

"I should be out shortly," Harry assured his new guardian when they arrived outside of the Chamber of the Fayth. "There were no complications when I obtained Ixion's aid, but the Head Monk informed me that Valefor may be more taxing on me."

"Sure thing," Chappu gave a thumbs up and sat down to wait as the steel veil between chamber and antechamber rose.

As Harry entered, the crystal glowed orange and slowly the form of a girl, hardly any older than Harry himself, rose to stand at its center. He fell into the well practiced prayer.

"Lady Valefor, I come seeking your aid," he informed her, even though she would know already.

The girl's face was bland, and her style of dress nearly modern in terms of Besaid fashion. Even in the orange glow of her crystal, she felt both less alive and more human than Ixion's fayth had only a few days previous.

"The Summoner who is Not of Spira," she acknowledged, "Chosen of Ixion. The Non-Believer."

"Is that a problem?" Harry wondered aloud. He wanted to know. He had to know. Were the teachings really important to destroying Sin?

"Sin's warped fayth calls for release, it calls for death." It wasn't much of a reply to Harry's question. "Yevon will not kill Sin. The Final Aeon may kill this Sin, but Sin will return. The cycle of death continues."

"Ixion said that 'this' Sin is stronger than it was before," Harry hedged, uncertain. "Can you tell me what he meant?" He doubted it though. So far she was speaking in riddles.

He was right.

"Sin is stronger. A dream of the fayth has the power of the fayth. A fayth, dreamed by all the fayth, more powerful than any fayth. It will take a stronger dream to destroy." She was very decidedly unhelpful and, and unlike with Ixion, Harry could feel the slow drain on his energy it took to speak with her.

"Ixion said I can beat this Sin, so does that mean that after my Calm, Sin won't be as strong?" He had to know.

"There will be no Calm of High Summoner Harry," Valefor looked at him with her dead eyes, the most direct statement yet. "But you are welcome to try."

With her dark eyes boring into his, Harry felt wind ruffle his hair and feathers against his skin as a bond was forged. The girl vanished back within her crystal, and Harry's knees nearly gave way. That experience had certainly been… different.

"I'll prove you wrong, Valefor," Harry vowed. He stood another few seconds to steady his stance before turning and exiting the Chamber. He stumbled a bit on the stairs, but Chappu was suddenly there, holding him up.

"That was fast, from what Lulu told me," Chappu said, seemingly uncertain. "Did you get it, then?"

"Yes, Valefor's power is mine to command," Harry sighed. "Let's depart. I could use the air."

It was toward the end of the boat ride to Kilika the next morning that Chappu considered that maybe he might like to be more than a temporary guardian and was thrown head first into guardianship. He was swinging his sword on the top level of the ship where normally passengers might enjoy the sea breeze and shade. However no one was inclined to such that morning, and there were children on the deck playing with a Blitzball.

"That's an interesting sword," Harry's voice floated from the direction of the ladder, breaking Chappu from his focus on the warm-up.

"I know, but it's the style used by Sir Jecht, when he was the guardian of Yuna's father," Chappu grinned, displaying the sword proudly. It wasn't exactly the same; Sir's Jecht's sword was reported as having a red blade, as if always bathed in blood. Chappu's on the other hand was plain steel. It was technically classed as a long sword, but the broad base and tip that hooked like a fish hook showed it was plainly not the case. Likewise, the hilt was only hand-and-a-half rather than the two-handed normally used.

"It must be useful against quick enemies," Harry observed. "Catch a dingo in that hook and you can do some real damage."

"Mm, it's true, and I'm a speed-type fighter, so it works out in the end, ya?" Chappu swung the blade again, loving the sound as it whistled through the air. The only thing he regretted about his desire to join the Crusaders was that he wouldn't be allowed to use Sir Jecht's signature blade. Crusaders used standard long swords and short swords, and throwing a hooked blade in, when the Crusaders often fought close together, was a bad idea.

And, as Luzzu had intimated in their conversation only the day before, if Chappu joined then there was an operation coming up. An operation where they would be working with Al Bhed, using Al Bhed machina no less, and attempting to fight Sin.

If I have to die, it'll be doing something so Lulu can be safe, Chappu promised himself. After all, what was the point of being with his girl when Sin could kill them, or their future kids, at any time? He would rather Lulu had a happy life with another man through a long Calm than get killed while he sat around doing nothing. She was a Guardian, after all, and Chappu was just… a fisherman, no good at blitz like Wakka, and Lulu still loved him.

"Do you know any magic?" Harry asked.

"Ah, well, not really? My girl Lulu tried teaching me a fire spell once, but it's not the same as using the grid, and the temple only teaches disciples," Chappu shrugged. "I never really had the chance, y'know?"

"Well, um, as a gift when I was leaving Djose, the monks gave me a White Magic sphere." Harry opened a pouch on one of his belts, pulling out a fistful of condensed spheres before picking one out that was a pale green. "I don't know why, but I can't get the white ones to work for me. I don't know what sorts of fiends there are in the Kilika jungle, but I thought… maybe you could use it? To make things on the journey a little easier?"

It was a serious thing, to offer such a sphere to someone else. Or it was on Besaid, given that there weren't any fiends that dropped the really good spheres. The Temple hoarded them, giving them only to the most promising disciples to help start them on the path to being a white mage. Sure, starting without them was possible, but it took years of study.

They never would have considered giving one to a fisherman-cum-warrior.

And that was what made Chappu consider the idea of becoming a real Guardian to Harry, and not just for this short trip to Kilika. Harry was willing to give him such a gift, when they would be parting ways likely the coming morning.

Chappu swallowed something thick in his throat. The Code of the Guardian, the one his brother and girlfriend had both sworn, said that a Guardian would lay his life on the line for his summoner, no matter what. If Chappu took this, in Besaid there would be a debt owed. Not a debt worth his life, but certainly more than he was paying by simply helping the young summoner get to Kilika Temple and then back to the boat.

He had been on the edge of joining the Crusaders, because he wanted to make the world better for Lulu. Who was to say that joining a death charge against Sin was a better way to do that than becoming a guardian to kid with no one else in the world?

"If I take it… I'm going to follow you on this whole pilgrimage, ya?" Chappu wasn't really asking, but his gaze searched the boy's face for any sign of foul play.

There was only a smile. "That's your decision to make," Harry said. Like he would really give away the sphere for nothing more than the two days Chappu was taking out of his busy schedule of absolutely nothing.

Beating heart, knitting flesh; crack of mended bone, pain receding –

Chappu made up his mind.

Author's Note: Still working on this instead of Never Sleep.

Regarding the operation Chappu thinks about that Luzzu mentioned: this is canon. Operation Mi'ihen was not the first of its kind. As Wakka says, Chappu died while using Al Bhed Machina, as a Crusader, in the same general area as Operation Mi'ihen. They have tried it before. My headcanon of the difference is that Operation Mi'ihen a) had more support because it proved Sin could take damage from machina, b) had Maesters, warrior monks, and the chocobo knights present instead of just crusaders and Al Bhed, and c) the original Operation that Chappu was part of didn't have a shit ton of sin spawn. They relied on being a gathering of people, had boats in the harbor to draw it in, and waited for a week for Sin to pass by before attacking it from a distance and trying to take it down. It was stupid. And only slightly less stupid than the repeat hardly a year later.

Oh, and to reiterate from last time (since half the reviews had to do with it): HARRY IS NOT GETTING PAIRED. There will be side pairings in Part III, but Harry is not getting paired. At all. He will not date anyone. He's going to be too busy sacrificing himself or trying to get acclimated to things to notice girls/boys/whatever you think he'd be into. Chappu/Lulu and a little Tidus/Yuna as side pairings, that's it.

Harry gained Ixion on July 1st and left on pilgrimage on July 3rd. He reached Besaid on July 7th. The Luca tournament will take place on July 20th.