First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to update. Life has been taking time away from writing but that was not the only thing. This story is dear to me and I want to make it as good as I can with the constraints that my job has on my time. The characters of Harry Potter are well defined, and I am having trouble bending those characters to suit this story. My other fanfic Jaune Nicol Arc is easier to write due to the two universes not having such rigid character development. Also, JNC is like my test run to see what works for me so I can put it in this fic. Thankyou for reading.
Justus3138
I have always been something of an adrenaline junkie. Quidditch was a test of nerve and skill that I loved. Fighting armies over the span of centuries was an even bigger rush, the fervor of battle was like a drug for me in the first century. After that it lost its kick, I still love a good fight, but the hunger for battle has been tempered by experience and a new appreciation for the quiet moments in between.
While I enjoyed the world cup, it wasn't in the way most fans did. Seeing my friends and surrogate family smile and enjoy the game was the highlight for me, though watching the men drool over the veela was a close second, century old mind for the win.
Afterwards, the twins had to be the most entertaining, especially when they started singing love songs about Ron and Victor. Then a familiar sound was heard, something that never fails to drain the warmth from my body, civilian screams of terror.
Mr. Weasley tried to keep everyone together, but the crowd was in a panic. It was easy to slip away from them and make it look like it was the frightened people who separated us. Once I found a tent to hide in I let ghost take care of my wardrobe. The familiar light of my iron lord armor being transmated on was a comfort before the battle ahead.
After exiting the tent finding the death eaters was simple, follow the ominous chanting mixed with screams. When I spotted them dangling the civilian grounds keeper`s family in the air my light ran cold, cold but furious like the storm I knew I would be unleashing. Arc light dance around me like a swarm of angry bees, the buzz created by it sounding much more dangerous. The Arc Staff soon after materialized in my right hand. This weapon had saved me and killed my foes more times than I could count.
With my weapon ready I charged. The Arc light coursing through my limbs enhancing everything, speed strength, reaction time, they didn't know I was among them until I struck. The first one I hit with a slash disintegrated into motes of arc light. Now I have everyone else`s attention. Spells of every kind where thrown at me, none hit me. Arc light is electrical energy in a wieldable form, when your body is giving it off you become apart of the electromagnetic field around you.
I could feel every spell in the air, even the ones that could not be seen. Dodging them was simply a matter of moving my body in the correct path, side step, back flip, combat roll. With centuries of practice, I made it look easy, I danced around the deadly magic, reflected some with my staff, all while making my way through the death eaters like a scythe though a field. Some wisely fled while their comrades died by my staff using portkeys. I could not follow.
Once the last of them had fled or died I took a minute to look at my surroundings. Guardian kill zones are always cleaner then normal, kills with light don't leave behind blood or bodies. Just scorch marks to indicate where the killing blow happened.
Aurors gathered around me with wands pointed, this was going to be a pain. The only thing keeping them from opening fire was the arc light still shrouding me and my earlier display. Finally, a wizard stepped forward to address me, his portly and pompous demeanor already telling me this wasn't going to go well.
"You! Will surrender to the ministry of magic for prosecution of the deaths of fellow wizards." He demanded.
I had to take a moment to comprehend his stupidity. "They threatened and tortured others, yet you would condemn me for putting a stop to it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Their crimes are not what we are putting on trial." He added. "And I doubt they would have ever been brought to trial had they lived." I retorted.
This was going nowhere, with the last arc light left from my staff I created an explosion similar to a titan's fist of havoc, but it was just to blind them it didn't have enough power to do any damage. With the aurors distracted I activated my cloaking, making escape child's play. Come to think of it wasn't that what I did with my invisibility cloak when I first got it? Break rules, be places I shouldn't be?
It took me a few hours to find my friends. They were looking for me in the burnt remains of the campgrounds. I hid behind the remains of a tent to cover the glow of trans matting out of my armor and into my civvies.
I let them spot me, they where so worried about me. Nobody worries about Guardians, they can come back from death. It was a surreal experience. Until a glowing green snake with a skull appeared in the night sky like a sinister aurora. Hermione, the ever knowledgeable, explained that it was Voldemort's calling card.
While it concerned me, the picture that the puzzle pieces where making, it didn't incite fear in me. The Taken King was a god in every sense of the word except for upper case. After facing off against something like that with other guardians, a human with delusions of godhood is little more then an uppity child, granted that child could kill but once I find him, because there is no way that he would leave me alone, he will find out how small and worthless he truly is.
The paper wasted no time in collecting information about the world cup incident. Typical, when tragedy strikes the news doesn't dress it up much because they already have the reader's attention. They released a morning edition the day after it happened, and fairly accurate, if with a small amount of embellishment.
To paraphrase, they did a little fear mongering with the dark mark, the death eaters were also written about but more for a build up to what the writer really wanted to talk about. A mystery, a man dressed in armor that looked old except for the obvious skin-tight synthetic suit underneath the plates. Honestly how did they get a picture of me? last I remembered wizard cameras still used flash powder.
The paper talked about how this mysterious warrior cut through the death eaters like a knife through butter with his staff of lightning. They theorized that he could be an elementalist.
When I was looking through the ruins of Hogwarts in the time of guardians, I found a few pages that talked about elementalists. They were wizards that were incredibly gifted with different forces of nature, able to wield them without a wand. One thing they where very clear on was that elementalists could only use one element with such proficiency.
Their magic would reject the other elements so harshly that they would actually have difficulty with simple spells like summoning water or making fire. It was an interesting read.
The rest of the summer flew by but not without continued mentions of "The thunder warrior" that made me want to strangle the writer.
Shopping went off without a hitch. I found a more secluded place to practice and bought a few books on privacy wards to make sure I wasn't discovered. Its so much easier to learn new spells when you don't have to look through weathered ruins for legible books.
Today was the day that we finally go back to Hogwarts. It will be nice to see the castle as it should be, filled with life, not the crumbling ruin it is in the future. The memory of what it looked like filled me with the resolve to prepare Earth for the collapse, but not now, right now I am living the life I was supposed to, the collapse is almost a thousand years away, I have time.
Hermione POV
Something was different about Harry. The person she had been spending the summer with was almost completely different from the friend who was dealing with a lot last year.
The old Harry was in his own words just Harry. He acted the way you would expect a thirteen-year-old to act. This Harry was different.
His posture is relaxed yet it seems like he's ready to act at a moments notice. Before he was always tense in crowds from being mobbed by fans. Also, puberty seemed to hit him like a truck over the summer. Ron was always tall but now Harry is taller and not as gangly.
Maybe he took up martial arts over the summer? That would explain training with the sword that one morning. But that opened up more lines of questions then it did answers. I'm no expert but it looked like Harry was and no one gets that good in two months. Also, the sword looked weird, like something out of a sci fi movie.
Even Ron has started to notice that something is off with his best friend. We agreed to try and get answers out of him on the train ride to school. I hope that this doesn't bring up more drama like what happened last year.
Ron POV
Harry has changed. He doesn't act like my best friend anymore. He's more distant, he's hiding something. He even beat me a chess! And he's a lousy chess player. Hermione's noticed too and made a list, a long list. We agreed to try and ask him what's wrong or changed over the summer.
Harry POV
They thought they were being subtle, but every time they noticed me looking at them they would tense up. I knew this day would come, the disparity from who I was and who I am was too much for me to cover up.
We had just gotten on the train and found a compartment that was empty. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.
"you have something you want to say." I stated to the two across from me. they looked like children who had gotten caught stealing sweets. Hermione was the one who spoke up.
"Something is different about you, you're not the same person from last year. We just want to know what happened to our friend." She stated with Gryffindor courage.
"I'm not going to deny that something happened but I'm also not going to reveal the details, before you jump down my throat the reason for that is that a train car is not the best place for private conversations and there is so much to tell that you wouldn't believe unless I showed you so until I can get my hands on a pensieve I will say that something found me when we used the time turner." I explained hoping it would stave off the big questions.
Hermione was pensive, going over what I had said. Finally, she looked up and spoke. "Alright, I'll trust you on this but if we find someplace that we can talk privately you will answer some of our questions even if you haven't found a pensieve."
The look of determination in her eyes told me that was the best that I was going to get. Ron though finally made his presence known.
"I have to agree with Hermione pensieves are really rare and I don't think we could wait that long." He said.
"Alright that will work I guess." I conceded.
"What could be so unbelievable that you don't think we will believe you Harry? Or so dangerous." Hermione asked. Guess I have to throw her a bone.
"For you it was a few months but for me it was much longer, that's why I look so much older and that's just the beginning of it." I dropped on her like a tone of bricks.
She started to sputter, and I could see the mental breakdown happening. I had to drive home my point.
"That is just the first thing that happened and honestly the tamest, and I can't show prof of the rest inside this tiny compartment. Please just wait until we get to Hogwarts Hermione please." I begged.
How do you tell your friends that you became a time traveling immortal with superpowers who slayed gods that make human mythos look like a bad joke? The easiest way would be to show them my memories but like Ron said pensieves are hard to find. I should almost hire the goblins to find me one.
Hermione stopped asking questions and seemed to be trying to figure it out on her own, Ron at first looked angry but once he saw the tired expression on my face he let it go too.
The rest of the trip was passed in uncomfortable silence. The sorting was the same.
The new professor Moody rubbed me the wrong way, like he's hiding something that was going to bite me in the ass. Guess I'm as paranoid as he is.
What came after his entrance filled me with dread.
"This year Hogwarts will not only be your home but host to two other schools participating in a legendary event, the Triwizard Tournament." Albus Dumbledore spoke with the flare of an announcer.
I have lived long enough to know when the hand of fate is getting ready to slap me in the ass like a cougar you don't want to sleep with. This was her winding up.
Sadly, she is a persistent bitch, so I've learned that all I can do is clench beforehand.
Once the announcements were concluded and Albus was getting ready to send everyone to bed I stood up noisily in order to get everyone's attention.
"Do you have something to say mister Potter?" Barty Crouch asked in mild confusion.
"Yes, just a small announcement, due to the drama that I seem to find myself in every year I feel that this is necessary." With that I raised my wand so that all could see the glow at the tip.
"I, Harry James Potter, also known as Loki, founder of the Iron Lords, do so swear upon my magic, not to attempt to enter into the Triwizard Tournament or to compel someone else to enter my name for me, so mote it be."
The change of the color of the glow from white to red signified that the oath was real for all to see. A magical oath could be done wandlessly, but I figured this was enough of a shock for everyone. Titles must be added to the oath if enough people recognize the title, the last of humanity in an alternate timeline count.
Not wanting to be mobbed, I left for bed in the Gryffindor dorms. The shitstorm I left behind could be dealt with tomorrow. Still better then dealing with people calling me a cheat and a liar behind my back when my name comes out of the Goblet of Fire.
How do I know that's going to happen? Simple, the death eaters are getting restless. The world cup incident was a warning. His influence is still out there and I know he is still alive and gunning for me.
The Triwizard Tournament is just a convenient cover to attempt something against me. What I don't know yet, but I will find out and make my displeasure known to Tom.