Harry Potter's Meteor Crisis
Disclaimer & Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter, any mentioned Harry Potter characters, and I do not own the characters of Final Fantasy VII or the series themselves. I do own whatever minor OCs that pop up as fillers, and this strange half-altered novelization plotline.
CHAPTER THREE
The Wizarding World was now a much darker place. The poor distraught young woman just knew that this world, the magical world, had placed too much of their crap onto the shoulders of a guy who, ultimately, she wished that she could grant that one feeling he most desired: what it feels to be loved, what it means to be loved by family. Oh, she so wanted to have Harry in her life forever. Not as a significant other, but as someone who understood her. Like a sister can be for a brother, and vise versa. They had made him snap however, and made him take suicide to escape the pressure, the sorrow... Hermione was lost now that Harry was dead.
"It's all their fault," she muttered, "Dumbledore... that blasted old meddling goat-sucker... bollocks... all of them... the Ministry... Snape, Umbridge, Voldemort... all of them... I hate them all!"
She held herself, her heart screaming in emotional pain. She would do anything, if only to be with Harry again...
Anything?
She looked up. "... What was that...? It... It must be the wind..."
Dear child... you certainly are alone...
Now she got up, slowly grasping her wand. She felt her throat tighten a bit as she swallowed, muscles tense, and fingers tightly gripping the slender wood.
Now, now, dear... no need for hasty spells thrown. Your soul is in pain. Even from where I am, can feel it cry out. You seek closure, comfort from the person that you lost, do you?
"I'm hearing things. Oh Merlin, I've gone nuts."
Oh, dear child...
Suddenly a powerful explosion rips through the house, and Hermione's last clot of vision as her body was thrown out the wreckage of her room, was men in black cloaks and white masks, and the explosions sweeping through her neighborhood. However nobody else in her dimension saw a beautiful woman tenderly caress the soul of the now deceased Hermione Granger.
Dear child... I can very much feel that you are destined for good things... I am sure Harry will need you very much, even if he is now with the future heroes of Gaia. Your memory may be altered, and this life will pretty much be nonexistent... however... to allow two souls lost in a dark and bleak world a chance to relive again...
Minerva carried Hermione bridal style, taking her away. And as the Death Eaters all laughed at the pain they were causing for the muggles, Minerva however just could not leave without taking action with righteous judgement. For that, the small army of Death Eaters, totaling 150 marked men and women, would be under a vicious assault of the spell which Minerva casted as she donned her mask. A spell that she commanded as: Judgement Arrow. She floated away, watching as the spell she commanded took effect, and laid waste to the corrupted evil clad in black capes and bone-white masks.
I have done this to Harry Potter, and now you, as his sibling, must find him in Gaia...
And when Hermione would awaken again, she would be laying on an old but comfortable cot, the room made of a red rock-like material with an old man who wore rounded sunglasses, had long white facial hair in the from of mustache, beard, and... He seemed to float in mid-air!
"Dear child..." whispered Bugenhagen, "I am glad you have finally awakened. I feared you wouldn't have survived."
Her mind was dizzy.
"Where... where am I?" she asked.
"Oh ho... You are in the Village Hidden under the Stars. Or, known more in popular names: Cosmo Canyon," the old and wise man responded with a joyful chuckle, "on a journey by a few of our tribesmen to the oceans for catching fish, you were found floating towards the shore on a nearly broken and beaten wood raft. Plus your tent looked rather useful as firewood than shelter."
Before she could open her mouth, the old man calmly has her lay back down.
"Rest dear. The women in the kitchens will be notified and I'll have the doctor come back here to check you up."
"But... my brother... I'm looking for Harry..."
She closed her eyes, as tears escaped them.
"I want him back," she choked.
And Minerva, invisible, smiled sadly before she disappeared. Now... it was but a matter of time before their paths would cross.
May they meet soon...
=0=0=
Harry opened his eyes. Vivid memories flashed through the darkness that previously gripped him. People staring at him, talking about him, whispering things about him. The adults all against him, first signaling him out as a great hero to some insane nut who was poisoned by too much Mako in the leftover weapons dumped upon their shores and their lands, and then proclaiming him as someone who should die for not killing the man correctly when the man supposedly returned. However what made this nightmare different was a girl with almond or chocolate brown eyes, and curls of honey brown hair, who despite the hardships he's went through before his attempted suicide of drowning and hanging himself with a weighted object, had stuck by him, giving him the time if he needed somebody to talk to. She was always there for him, to listen to him...
Hermione...
Hermione, his dear sister... Oh, how he missed her. Wondering if she survived the quake that destroyed their no-longer existing island home...
"Oh! He moved!" the pretty brunette said. Harry, somehow, miraculously managed to land without any major injury (though he was sure his back was bruised; it was already very stiff). Apparently, the roof of the church they were now in had broken his fall and, being in poor condition, collapsed under the impact. He and Cloud landed on a small flower garden. Cloud was still unconscious.
"I really am sorry about dropping in on you like that, Miss," Harry apologized, once he took his surroundings, and felt bad that he damaged a beautiful flower garden.
"Don't worry about it," she replied, smiling kindly at him, "It's not as though you could have helped it. That explosion up on the plate sounded pretty big."
Harry shrugged. "It really wasn't as big as it should have been. We had planned on bringing down the entire Reactor, but Shinra had disarmed our bomb and blew up the walkway we were on as we attempted to escape. At least, I think so. Not really great drawing logical conclusions much... heh."
He paused for a moment. Harry was sure that Barret would not have summed up their mission to a complete stranger, but something about this girl seemed... off. She didn't come across as an evil or cruel person, but rather as a kind and nurturing soul. And, he felt attracted to her. Because of her personality, that warm smile she gave him...
"... Hermione..."
Now, his voice held sadness... a deep sadness.
"Oh... who is this Hermione person?"
"Someone who... who stood by my side no matter what happened to me... that is until I took the coward's way out and tried to kill myself without thinking of the consequences."
"Suicide...?"
"I survived trying to kill myself in the ocean. I was sixteen at this time. I washed ashore in the western continent. An old couple tended to me until they slapped sense into me that I should live my life anew... and... I did. But now I just feel guilty... because I left behind Hermione... my loving sister, Hermione."
He sighed. "It's been close to two years... and I still dream of her... I don't even know if she survived when the island where our home was had sunk into the ocean due to a powerful earth quake last year."
She moved closer to Harry... and then gave him a hug.
"Uh..."
"You looked like you needed a hug," she simply explained.
Harry hugged her back.
Cloud moaned again, stirring a bit more. The woman turned back to him, releasing Harry. "Hello, hello?" The spiky-haired blonde moved a bit more.
"Hello, hello!" the flower girl called again. Cloud finally opened his shining blue eyes and sat up. The girl stood up and stepped back to give him a bit of room.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Where are we?" Cloud questioned.
"This is a church in the Sector 5 slums," she answered, "You two suddenly fell on top of me. You really gave me quite a scare."
"I said I was sorry," Harry reminded her, "And you did tell me not to worry about it."
"We came crashing down...?" Cloud looked confused for a moment before looking up at what used to be a one-piece roof. Way up, they could just barely make out a broken metal walkway and the orange glow of flames.
"You weren't out for very long, Cloud. Maybe a few minutes or so."
"The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall," the girl observed, "You're lucky."
"I wouldn't call falling fifty meters to smash through the roof of an old church lucky," Harry quipped, smiling to remove the sarcasm. She had helped them after they fell through her roof, after all.
"Flower bed... is this yours?" Cloud asked, gesturing to the flowers as he climbed to his feet. He dusted off his clothes, "Sorry about that."
The young woman smiled gently at him. "It's all right. The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place. They say you can't grow grass and flowers in Midgar at all...But for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here." She glanced around at the walls of the old building, "I love it here."
The flower girl knelt down and began tending to a bruised-looking flower. "So, we meet again." When Cloud didn't answer, she looked up at him, somewhat sadly, "Don't you remember me?"
Cloud looked thoughtful before recognition crossed his face. "Yeah, I remember...you were selling flowers in the slums."
The girl clasped her hands, smiling a bright million watt smile. "Oh, I'm so happy! Thanks for buying the flowers!"
Harry tilted his head at Cloud. "You? Bought flowers? I didn't see you give anyone at the bar any flowers."
"That's because you were in the basement with Jessie when I gave them to Marlene for scaring her earlier kid," Cloud rebuked.
"Say...do you have any Materia?" the girl suddenly cut in.
Cloud turned to her and nodded. "Yes, some. Nowadays, you can find Materia anywhere."
Harry lifted his Carbon Bangle and showed his off as well.
The girl nodded in agreement. "But mine is special. It's good for absolutely nothing."
"... Good for nothing?" Cloud repeated, "You probably just don't know how to use it."
"No, I do...it just doesn't do anything," she answered, "I feel safe just by having it. It was my mother's..."
Harry smiled sadly. He could relate to Aerith's ordeal of safety. He still had something that belonged to his mother close to his heart, worn as a hidden necklace charm. His hand moved up slightly to feel the charm necklace hidden under his shirts.
The girl looked skyward. "Say, I feel like talking. Do you feel up to it?"
"I don't mind," Harry replied. Cloud shrugged.
"Wait here. I've got to check on my flowers. It'll just be a minute," she grinned at them before straightening the bent stems of several flowers.
"Oh!" She stood up again, "I nearly forgot. We don't know each other's names, do we?" She looked at Cloud and Harry, "My name is Aerith, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."
Harry went first. "I'm Harry. I... well, I guess for now I've been a bit of a traveler, and from a far-away island village."
"The name's Cloud," the spiky blonde next to him spoke up, "I do a little bit of everything..."
"Oh... a jack-of-all-trades," Aerith mused.
"Yeah, I do whatever's needed." The flower girl began to giggle, "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?" Cloud demanded, indignant.
"Sorry, I just-" Aerith began, but Harry cut her off.
"We've got company..." Indeed, standing in the front of the church, just inside the double-doors, stood a man with dark red hair and a pair of shades on his forehead. He was dressed in a smart, very dark-blue suit. He stood, watching them.
"Oh, sorry," Aerith added, "bad timing on my part..."
Cloud began moving forward toward the figure in the doorway. "Cloud! Don't let it get to you!" Aerith called to him.
The mercenary looked back and shrugged casually, as Harry motioned closer to Aerith, keeping his cool emerald eyes on the man in the dark suit.
"Say, Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard?" Aerith asked. Cloud gave her an incredulous look; Harry wasn't far off, either, "You DO, do everything, right?"
Cloud smoothed his hair. "Yeah, that's right."
"Then get me out of here. Take me home," Aerith requested.
"Ok, I'll do it. But it'll cost you," Cloud agreed.
"What about your prior agreements, Cloud?" Harry asked.
"I can get back to them once this job is done," the merc replied.
"Well then, let's see...How about if I go out with you once?" Aerith offered. Cloud thought it over for a minute, and then gave an affirmative nod. Harry blinked.
Well, not the weirdest agreements of payment I ever heard before, Harry thought, remembering the time some girl wanted to pay him for rescuing her from a bunch of monsters in the Corel Mountains by giving him her virginity. Sure, he had his hormones surface now and then, but the girl was thirteen! Now he wondered if that girl was alright today...
Cloud turned toward the person in the doorway. "I don't know who you are, but..."
"You don't know me...?" the red-haired man asked, mocking.
Cloud's shoulders stiffened, then relaxed. "Oh yeah... I know you. That uniform..."
It was at this point that three Shinra guards rushed into the church and gathered into formation behind the red-haired man. "Hey, sis, this one's a little weird," one of them sneered.
"Shut up! You Shinra spy!" Cloud growled.
"Reno! Want him taken out?" another guard asked, addressing the red-haired spy.
"I haven't decided yet," came the reply.
"Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" Aerith protested, dragging Harry and Cloud toward a door in the back of the church, "The exit is back there," she whispered to them.
The three left through the door. Harry turned and closed it, briefly searching for some kind of lock before turning a small knob above the handle counter-clockwise.
"Hey boss, should we chase after them?"
"Yes, but... watch out of the flowers," Reno said as he walked through them, causing the guards to snap that he had ruined the flowers, brought bad karma to them, and would have the wrath of god upon him; Reno didn't hear them.
=0=0=
"That should buy a few seconds," Harry reasoned. He turned and followed Cloud and Aerith. The sight before his eyes made him stop and wonder.
They were in a large, three-story room. However, what appeared to be a missile had fallen through the roof, crashing through it and all three floors before coming to a dead stop in the basement. This left the entirety of all three levels nearly demolished; only stable bits and pieces of the floors remained, tacked to the wall, and there were still holes in what remained.
"Come on! This way!" Cloud beckoned them. He hopped over a gap in the walkway to a set of stairs along the wall and climbed up them. Aerith followed, barely making it to the bottom of the stairs as well. Harry took a running leap; his foot came down half-on, half-off the platform, causing it to collapse under his weight. His momentum carried him forward, and he fell to safety on the bottom step, unhurt.
"There isn't any time to be fooling around, kid," Cloud admonished, snickering.
"Bite me, Cloud," was his retort.
"Maybe later," Cloud smirked.
Harry resisted the urge to face palm.
The three of them arrived at the second floor and approached a gap. Cloud jumped across, but Aerith didn't follow him.
"There they are, over there!"
"They're here," Harry observed.
"Cloud!" Aerith cried.
The purple-clad mercenary nodded. "I know... looks like they aren't going to let us go."
"What should we do?" the flower girl asked.
"Well, we can't let them catch us, can they?" Harry replied. "Then, there's only one thing left." Harry jumped the gap, passing by Aerith and landing next to Cloud.
"Aerith! This way!" Cloud beckoned to her. The flower girl shook her head, "All right, I'll hold them off."
"Right. Make sure they don't get through!" Aerith nodded.
"The Ancient is getting away! Attack! Attack! Attack!" In response, the three blue-clad guards drew their rifles and began peppering the area around Aerith with gunfire. She fell to the ground to avoid the bullets, but the floor collapsed, sending Aerith tumbling down the length of the Shinra missile. She hit the basement floor and stood up, unhurt.
"Aerith!" Cloud and Harry cried out.
"Think we killed 'em? They shouldn't have put up a fight, I say!" Reno chuckled.
"Cloud! Help!" Aerith called.
"Damn!" the merc swore.
"What's that...?" Harry asked, pointing up to the rafters. There, perched on the intersections of support beams, were four big barrels.
"I see... Harry, help me push those barrels down on the Shinra!" Cloud ordered. Harry moved up to the rafters, "Aerith, just hold on!" He joined the emerald-eyed teen near the first barrel.
"If we drop this one, we should knock out that guard in front of Aerith," Harry reasoned.
"Okay. On three, then...one...two...three!" Both men pushed the barrel, toppling it over. They watched from perches equally precarious to the barrels as their makeshift cannonball fell, spinning, and landed squarely on one Shinra guard's head. The barrel exploded into splinters, and the guy was now unconscious.
"Bull's eye!" Harry shouted.
"We're not done, yet!" Aerith was now at the bottom of a set of stairs, with the second guard at the top, "Push that one!"
Harry complied, knocking over the barrel in the far corner. It landed behind the soldier as he ran toward the flower girl, who dodged away. Before the guard could turn and give chase, the barrel rolled down the steps and bowled over him sending his weapon over the edge and to the floor far below. He was down and out.
Aerith ran up the steps and jumped across to the next set. She was at the top when the final guard pointed his rifle at her. "Stop right there!" he ordered. Unfortunately for him, he did not expect Harry to nearly cause injury to himself. What he did was jump off the rafters, and his feet landed firmly on the man's shoulders. The momentum of his fall, plus the fact that he had now given the guy two broken shoulders, fell off as Harry had jumped off, only to grab Aerith at the last second before performing a dash.
"Thanks," Aerith called as she and Harry climbed up to meet Cloud in the rafters.
"Aerith, this way," Cloud beckoned, jumping up through the hole in the roof to the outside. Harry allowed Aerith to go first, smirking down at the fuming Reno when he gave the man the double bird and then escaped after them.
"Damn, she got away. Worthless grunts..." Reno calmed down, and looked at the hole thoughtfully, "who is that young man... such vibrant emerald eyes."
=0=0=
"Ha, ha...They're looking for me again," Aerith laughed darkly.
"You mean it's not the first time they've been after you?" Harry asked incredulously.
"...No."
"They're the Turks," Cloud remarked.
"Hmmm..."
"The Turks... They're an organization in Shinra. They scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER," Cloud explained.
"This violently? I thought they were kidnapping someone," Aerith replied.
The spiky-haired blonde nodded. "They're also involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side... Spying, murder... you know."
"They look like it," Harry agreed, "Say, why were they after you anyway, Aerith? There must be some reason, right?"
"No, not really," Aerith replied, not meeting their eyes, "I think they believe I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER!"
"Huh..."
"Huh? What do you mean huh?" she turned towards Harry.
He shrugs in response. "Maybe you do, or maybe you don't. Who knows ne? You want to join?"
"I don't know..." the flower girl admitted, "But I don't want to get caught by THOSE people!"
"Then, let's go!" Cloud urged, standing up. Harry and Aerith climbed to their feet and hopped along the tops of crumbled buildings after the purple-clad mercenary. Harry was able to keep up with Cloud well, that and if he fell behind he performed a dash maneuver. They had stopped, because...
"Wait! Wait, I said!" Aerith, huffing and puffing, was several hops behind them. She carefully judged each gap before jumping them, and finally caught up a minute later.
"Slow... down... don't leave me..."
"Funny," Cloud mused, smirking, "I thought you were cut out to be in SOLDIER?"
"Oh, you're terrible!" Aerith pouted, causing Harry and Cloud to laugh. It was a few minutes before they calmed down, at which time, the flower girl said, "Hey... Cloud? Were you ever in SOLDIER?"
Cloud thought it over for a moment. "I used to be. How did you guess?"
"Your eyes. They have a strange glow."
"That's the sign of those who have been infused with Mako. A sign of SOLDIER." Cloud looked at the flower girl carefully, "But, how did you know about that?"
"... Oh, nothing!" Aerith replied, cheerfully, "Come on! Let's go, bodyguard!"
Harry chuckled a bit, before following Aerith, who this time went ahead of them, prompting Cloud to follow Harry.
"Say, Harry, when you did that... speed trick of yours... do you perchance have a Dash Materia on you?"
"Yeah, I do. I found it in the mountains when I was traveling from Junon to Midgar a year ago. Why do you ask?"
"Oh. No reason," she replied, Zack used to have one, she thought. "Just... that they are a bit rare to even find now despite the common find of other types of Materia."
The trio jumped across several rooftops before Cloud found a path down to the ground. A few minutes later, the three of them safely set foot upon a path comprised of loose dirt.
"Phew!" Aerith panted, "Finally made it off! Now..." She looked around, taking in her surroundings, before pulling Harry and Cloud forward, "My house is over here. Let's hurry before they get here!"
As they walked, following Aerith, Harry heard a noise, and then saw a shadow descend on them. It was a mugger however this man looked like he was tainted with some sort of virus that turned him into a half giant hunchback. Harry blocked the man with Gryffindor Sword, and swung, sending the man crashing into a pile of trash as well as cutting off his left arm. Bellowing in pain and rage, he got up and attempted to stick Harry with a dagger, but Cloud came right up and struck the man hard over the head. He got up and ran off.
"That was close," said Harry turning to Aerith, "you okay?"
"Thanks to you. Now let's hurry. We won't be bothered if we get to the neighborhood."
Soon, Harry found himself in a slum, not unlike the neighborhood around Tifa's bar. A huge television screen was mounted on a massive wall, and was set to some sort of twenty-four news program. To his right, Harry noticed a Materia shop. To his left, he saw a weapon shop. A quick stop to buy three Potions, Aerith led them through the slums to a singular house behind it. A huge flower garden glowed green in the light of a magical-looking waterfall.
"Whoa!" Harry gasped.
"It's nice, isn't it?" Aerith said sadly.
"What's wrong? This place is really nice," Harry observed.
"It's nothing. Just..." the flower girl trailed off, shaking her head, "Never mind. Come on in."
She opened the door and led them inside. "I'm home, Mom."
A middle-aged, brown-haired woman came into the living room where they stood, clad in a green dress and a white apron. For her apparent age, Harry noted that she looked beautiful in that dignified kind of way.
Aerith gestured toward Harry. "This is Harry, a friend I met today." She turned toward Cloud, "And this is Cloud, my bodyguard."
Aerith's mother, who was in the middle of introducing herself to Harry as Elmyra turned to her daughter in shock. "Bodyguard!? You mean you were followed again? Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine mom, see? Thanks to Cloud and Harry they got me here. No need to worry over me," she said, giving her mother a hug.
"Excuse me a bit," Harry said politely, as he headed out the door, "just wanted to check out that Materia shop."
Cloud nodded to him, as the door closed shut behind him. Harry turned around, facing the beautiful flower garden as he crossed the little wooden bridge. He carefully stepped through the long-stemmed flowers, admiring the scenery. He stumbled, however, when his foot came down on something hard and round. Harry stooped down and picked it up.
"A Materia orb," Harry breathed. It was a dark purple, signifying it as an Independent Materia. It was slotted
Huh, Harry thought.
He wasn't completely thrilled with the prospect of taking more attacks as he counted himself lucky not to have been seriously hurt so far in the years, but the extra defense and dexterity made up for that. Harry recalled the words Cloud had said about his Counter-attack Materia during the ride to Sector Five before the trouble started. As Materia is used more, they grow more. Such as for example, Ice being used long enough would allow the second increase of a stronger Ice spell. He decided to take a look at his accessories on him. He removed all Materia he owned. First off, he moved Fire and All into a linked slot on the Materia band on his leather gauntlet he wore on his right hand. Then, the third slot was connected with his Restore Materia. He kept Dash on his Iron Bangle on his right ankle. Then, Ice got moved into the last slot on the Leather Gauntlet, and finally Harry slips Cover onto the third slot on his Carbon Bangle. With this set-up now in mind, Harry left the garden to explore the slums. Entering the Materia store, he checked the man's wares, and left with a Lightning Materia, moving Ice to his Carbon Bangle and the second slot now obtained his Lightning Materia. When he returned shortly and entered the house, he found the couch piled with blankets and pillows. Shrugging, Harry laid Gryffindor's Sword on the floor underneath the couch and slid underneath the covers. He fell asleep shortly afterward; his last thought was on his sister. Elsewhere, a young woman fell asleep, thinking of her brother.
=0=0=
Harry eventually woke up seeing Cloud, when he opened his mouth Cloud pointed to the door. Harry grabbed the sword and followed him outside quietly, and away from the house.
"Alright, what's up?"
"While you were admiring the flowers and then exploring the slums, Elmyra asked us to leave without Aerith, as she didn't want her to get into any trouble."
"Ah, so, we're going to Sector 7 then, right?"
"Yup, let's get going."
As they walked through the slums, Cloud looked towards Harry. "Hey kid, your Limit Break... how strong was it when we fought against that machine near the Reactor?"
"Hm... well... I guess it was around the strength of 130% damage, I don't know, truly. It's useful though when I fought against monsters that towered over me outside the city limits."
He nodded. "You know about the tiers, right?"
"Somewhat, yes," Harry replied, "Though people have more than one, they have to learn them by using the ones they have. Most people only reach the second tier and few reach the third, out of the four that are said to exist. Everyone starts on the first tier and by using the Breaks and defeating enemies – almost always monsters – they eventually move up to the second and third tier. But not many people can use such types of Desperation abilities."
"It's true. However about the fourth tier thing..."
"What about that forth tier?" Harry asked.
"Don't know much about it. I'm not sure if the fourth level really exists; it's said to contain legendary moves that are completely devastating to those they are used on. They can't be learned the normal way via leveling up; you may need a magical item of sorts or a complete and thorough mastery of the Limit Breaks of the first three tiers... or something like that."
Cloud shrugged. "You saw my move I used against the Airbuster, right?"
"Yeah, I did."
That would be counted as a First Tier ability, basically."
They left the town area, but then stopped. Lo and behold, there stood Aerith before the door that guarded access to Sector 6. Her hands were on her hips and she looked distinctly cross. "You're up bright and early."
"How could I ask you to go along when I knew it would be dangerous?" Cloud asked her.
"Are you done?" Aerith snapped. Cloud nervously smoothed his hair, "You have to go through the slum in Sector 6 to get to Tifa's 7th Heaven. I'll take you there. Come on!" The flower girl turned, opened the door with surprising ease, and then ran through. Harry and Cloud quickly followed her.
The path before them was pretty much a demolished highway. The roads was cracked and uneven, and littered with holes. A rusting, broken crane served as a ramp to higher ground where, Harry could see, stood the entrance to Sector 6 at the other end of the road. Harry shivered a bit, remembering the trouble he's had here before when he ran across a group of criminals whom been affected by a virus that turned them into blood-thirsty robbers.
They didn't get very far before what looked like a house accosted them. "What the hell!?" Harry stood, gaping. Cloud pulled his broadsword from his back; Aerith gripped a small stick that, with the click of a small button, lengthened into a sturdy staff.
"That's no house, kid," Cloud warned, "It's a monster house. I forget the name of the demon that possesses it, though."
"Yeah I know that! Just that I remember this piece of shit! It lured me INSIDE before!"
"And you went in?" Cloud questioned, perplexed.
"Excuse me for trying to escape from blood-thirsty monster men!"
"Guys!" Aerith shouted to shut them up. The roof opened up, and a missile popped out.
"Shit!"
It launched the missile right at Harry. Cloud and Aerith moved out of the way, and Harry dove to the side as it flew, and impacted the wall behind him with a small explosion. Cloud rushed forward, hacking away at the paneling, and creating a hole. He ducked back to avoid a counter swipe. Then Aerith tapped into her Fire Materia she had on her, casting forth a bout of flames to impact the demon house. The entire thing shuddered and, with a big explosion that caught them by surprise, suddenly sprouted arms, legs, a head, and weaponry.
The weaponry flipped on and fired upon Harry, who dashed to and fro to dodge, coming right in and leaping into the air with a full swing. The gun arm was cut clean off, and Cloud and Aerith noticed the steam that rose from the cut, ignoring how loud the demon hidden within the dangerous living house shrieked. As he landed, the doors exploded open, and then Cloud and Aerith saw what looked like a hand of some sort snagged Harry, and withdrew, the doors sealing shut.
"Harry!" Cloud shouted.
More screams and shrieks echoed, as the house shuddered. Suddenly pink cherry blossom petals billows outward like a cyclone, before the force explodes. The demon inside the house perished, and the house, the weapons, disintegrate into debris. Cloud stabbed his sword into the hardened earth and rushed forward, throwing off the debris before Harry broke free.
"Shit..."
"Damn, kid..."
"Hey spiky," Harry said.
"That was weird, kid," he said, helping Harry from the rubble of what remained of the demon house, "another Limit Break?"
"Yeah," he responded, "but I hardly use it, only the Blade Lunge."
"Harry, are you okay?" Aerith asked, concerned for the teen.
"I'm fine, Aerith," he said to ease her worries.
"Let's keep moving."
Nonetheless, the three of them started walking again, only having to stop twice to fight off a swarm of silver insects that looked like vastly overgrown lice to Harry, which he burned down with some nice-placed Fire spells. They eventually made it to through the passage without harm and wandered to a ruined section of debris and a half ruined playground for little kids.
The flower girl walked up to a large children's slide that resembled some sort of mouse-cat combination. "I can't believe it's still here," Aerith breathed. She quickly ran around back and reappeared a second later on top of the slide, "Cloud! Get over here!"
"She really likes you, Cloud," Harry grinned.
"Shut it, kid." Nevertheless, Cloud joined Aerith atop the slide. When the spiky blonde could see Harry again, Harry made a whipped motion with his hands and sat down on the single remaining swing on a nearby swing set. Cloud gave him the finger behind Aerith's back.
He just remained there, listening to Aerith and Cloud talk, about Cloud being in SOLDIER, and Aerith saying that Cloud reminded her of a guy she liked for awhile. The sound of a massive gate opening sprang up behind them. They looked, and found the gates to Sector 7 pulled themselves apart to admit passage to a cart drawn by a big yellow bird, which he noticed was a Chocobo. As the cart turned to go into Sector 6, Harry saw a familiar-looking woman in a sparkling blue dress in the back of the carriage.
Cloud stood up and jumped down to the ground. Harry stood beside him. "Tifa!?" The gate closes with a loud clang.
"Tifa!?" Harry repeated.
"The girl in the cart was Tifa?" Aerith asked, "Where was she going? She looked kind of odd..." She hopped down beside them and gave chase.
"Wait! We'll go on!" Cloud called to her, "You go home!" But too late, Aerith had already disappeared down the path after the carriage.
As Harry and Cloud ran after her, Harry couldn't help cracking, "Women: Can't live with them, can't live without 'em. Right, Cloud?"
"Unfortunately," Cloud agreed, chuckling with a smirk.
=0=0=
Wall Market. That's what the sign hanging on the archway in front of Harry said.
Aerith turned around and stepped up to them. "This place is scary in a lot ways. Especially for a girl, so we've got to find Tifa fast."
"Frankly, I'd be more worried about ourselves," Harry muttered. He never had been here before but this place screamed Red Light District to him. Who knew what kind of perverts hung around this spot?
"Let's look around, ask a few key questions."
The three of them started walking around, asking about... well... girls (Aerith received some strange looks, outside the leers she was already receiving). One guy who overheard them told the trio to check the Honey Bee Inn, which was just off the entrance to Wall Market. They made their way there, and found the so-called Honey Bee Inn. Of course, not really hard to notice the bright neon lights that decorated the spot, and some perverts laying outside (one of which was an off-duty Shinra soldier that made Harry and Cloud a bit tense).
"Welcome!" a hotel clerk-person greeted them in a loud, booming voice standing outside the door, "Even unpopular dweebs like you may meet your destiny here! You look for a girlfriend, too?"
"You know a girl named Tifa?" Harry asked.
"Hey, you're pretty fast. Tifa's our newest girl," the man nodded. "But, she's having an interview right now. Here at the Honey Bee Inn, it's customary for all the new girls to be taken to Don Corneo's mansion. Don Corneo's a famous dilettante. Now he wants to settle down and is in the market for a bride."
Harry's expression turned sour.
"Listen, kid, the Honey Bee Inn is a private club. Only members with the proper Club ID can enter. Shoo, shoo," the manager waved them off.
Ass Harry thought with disdain.
They began to leave. "Okay, so Tifa's at Don Corneo's place right now?" Aerith confirmed.
"Looks that way," Harry nodded, "I think I heard someone mention that Don Corneo resided at the end of Wall Market."
"Alright, then that's where we're going."
Once they arrived at the manor of Don Corneo, it was easy to see who obviously lived there. The name Don Corneo was all over the place. They were about to step through the front doors, but a door man halted them. "This is the mansion of Don Corneo," he stated with a light Brooklyn accent.
"Really?" Harry asked, sarcasm influencing his tone, "I thought it was a hovel retreat for nuns." Cloud snorted in mirth.
"Look, kid, I'm required to say this, so shaddup!" the doorman snapped. He took a breath and tried again.
"This is the mansion of Don Corneo, the most powerful man in Wall Market. And-" He then realized he was talking to a pair of guys and growled, "Look, the Don's not into men. So don't let me catch you around here again..." He trailed off as he saw Aerith. "Hey! You've gotten another cute one with you!"
The flower girl pulled them back. "Hey, this looks like the Don's mansion. I'll go take a look. I'll tell Tifa about you," she whispered.
"No! You can't!" Cloud protested.
"Why not?"
"You DO know what kind of place... this is, don't you?" the spiky blonde asked.
"Then what do you want me to do? You want to go in with me?"
Cloud crossed his arms. "Well, being a man, that'll be pretty hard."
"And if we bust in there, it'll cause too much commotion," Harry remarked.
Harry could barely hear Aerith giggling over Cloud's hushed speech. "But, we can't let Aerith go in there alone. Oh man... first, we need to find out if Tifa's alright..." He finally noticed the flower girl's hysterical giggling, "What's so funny, Aerith!?"
"Cloud, Harry, why don't you two dress up like girls? It's the only way."
"WHAT!?" Cloud and Harry both shrieked in protest, their voices going unnaturally high.
Aerith ignored them and turned to the doorman. "Just wait, I have a couple of friends I want to bring."
"Aerith!" Harry hissed.
"I can't..." Cloud protested, but Aerith cut him off.
"You ARE worried about Tifa, aren't you? Then come on, hurry!"
"Aerith, you are completely off your rocker," Harry grumbled as she pulled them rather forcefully toward a clothes shop they had seen on their way to the mansion.
Cloud was in agreement. Both boys just knew that this experience was going to be a wild one.
If you are confused... in the HP world, Harry committed suicide at age sixteen. He awakes in Gaia at the same age... one year goes and he's seventeen and leaving the village he was temporarily living at (bet you can't guess, even though I had laid out some clues), living a new life and going to see the world. A year later his "island home" sunk via an earth quake as he travels to Midgar. Currently, he is eighteen. Now, Hermione... she dies from the assault of Death Eaters terrorizing the muggles of Europe. She is eighteen, because (Final Fantasy Wiki has more info if you wish to know who Minerva is). It was her that had brought Harry to this new world, granting him another chance at life, and, to also grant the planet a higher chance of survival against the future calamity that would be brought upon it. Hermione would join Harry, because of how I made her to be; attached to Harry in the bonds of a brother and sister type. In her and his renewed life, all granted by Minerva... Harry and Hermione are siblings.
I would have tried to make a HarryxHermione pairing, however I got something planned for Harry (and even if some want HarryxHermione, as they will be siblings in this story... I really don't feel like writing out incest parts for this story), and it involves a spunky kunoichi from Wutai. If there's going to be Harry Potter elements, let there be Hermione. She's one of my favorite female characters aside Daphne Greengrass, Luna Lovegood, and Nymphadora Tonks. Some edits were made though, so excuse me. :P Now the question is: What is Mione's characteristic fighting style? You have until the gang reaches the Gold Saucer to make choices via voting on my Author page.
