Hey, I worked really hard to pump this chapter, not only for you all, but also because I love to write this story, I merely have a hard time actually finding time to write between my team for Smite, School and work. Anyway, at the end of the chapter I responded to all of the reviews that were actually answerable. Also, I will be posting a small rant at the end, but don't worry, it's just me getting it off my chest. Enjoy! Also, am posting a poll for the crossover sequel as that will heavily influence the way this story goes.
Albus Dumbledore was in shock. He just watched a fifteen year old boy incapacitate a dragon with magic that he had only seen from two people.
Nicholas and Perenell Flamel, not even Voldemort found any books on Sorcery in Hogwarts or after. Even to date, he had only seen Wizardry from the man.
That was something he had not been expecting to see from a child still in his fourth year, let alone one he was trying to keep ignorant.
Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and flicked his wand to send up his score, a ten of course. School pride and all that tosh.
Hecate watched her champion-to-be with pride as he faced the great beast. Aged fifteen, facing one of the greatest magical beasts, besides the Basilisk and the Nundu, with not fear but confidence.
She truly couldn't have been prouder.
She would have to direct him the direction that would guide him to strength, as was befitting of her champion. Sure, she could allow him to stick with magics of Wizardry and Sorcery, but he has the potential for some much more, such as Warlock or even Shamanism.
She giggled at the thought of her mortal champion using Warlock magic. Such strength he would gain from it.
She might even reward her soon-to-be champion for his impressive performance in the task.
But what with…
Fleur watched from the sidelines as Harry leapt from rock to rock, approaching the dragon with a height advantage.
She knew that Harry was strong, she had felt his unrestrained magic during the ritual, and was still trying to comprehend that a minor could be so powerful.
She, Viktor and Cedric had all gone through the main magical maturation, and barely scraped half of his immature strength. It was terrifying to consider his strength after his maturity.
She shivered as she realised something after watching Harry's magnificent piece of magic.
'He's not even slightly winded'
As Harry walked from the arena, his eyes flicked to the side to see his scores. Five ten's, as expected, despite the reluctance showed on the face of Igor Karkaroff.
Snorting mentally, he walked into the medical tent to get Madam Pomfrey's fussing out of the way, so he could go and continue his private education.
Harry sat on the bed, tuning out Poppy's rant about 'forcing children to fight dragons' and 'the barbarianism of it all' while thinking about the book he had received from Hecate after the ritual.
It had been filled with the greatest magical theory he had ever read, which was unsurprising given that the book was written by the goddess of magic herself. What confused Harry, however, was why she had given the notebook to him in the first place.
He knew he was powerful, as well as skilled. While it sounded arrogant, he was likely the most skilled student at Hogwarts, and definitely the most powerful. Harry knew he was dedicated, determined and ambitious, but he still didn't see why she would give him something like that.
After reading through the book several dozen times, and putting into use what he learned from the magical theory of a goddess, his spells used much less magic than they used to. The earth sorcery he used in the arena would have winded him before, and could have only used it once more before running on fumes, but now he could do so roughly a dozen times before collapsing.
Harry was knocked from his thoughts when Madam Pomfrey spoke. "You're free to go, Potter. I don't want you in my hospital wing at all this year, got it?" She said seriously, but still friendly.
Harry snorted and looked dryly at another of the few people he could tolerate in the world, magical or muggle. "I'll try, but I don't think I'll be able to stay away from the beauty that is Poppy Pomfrey." Harry said jokingly, ducking under that swat of her clipboard and walking from the tent, his staff thumping at his side.
Having escaped from the tent and task, Harry made his way back to his little office in the room of requirement. He really needed to begin using a new room in the castle, because eventually someone would find his office setting the room of requirement.
Harry would spend the next week and a half looking around the castle for a suitable location for his office/library combination, and would likely make it similar, if not identical to the one he possessed in the room of requirement.
Eventually, he decided on a classroom at the end of a disused corridor on the fourth floor. Choosing the classroom at the end of the corridor was a simple decision for Harry, but he also needed to do some renovations to the corridor.
Walking into the end room, he thumped his staff softly onto the worn stone, and sunk his magic through the bricks. With Harry's magic saturating the entire corridor, he began his renovations.
First, he dropped the walls between the classrooms, leaving one very large u shaped classroom, with seven doors to enter, which was promptly fixed and replaced with stone.
Second, Harry sunk more magic into the castle, and moved all the furniture from the classrooms into the room of requirement through the plumbing of the castle, and then summoned all of his books, notes and journals from the room the same way, leaving a pile of over seven thousand books behind him.
Third, seeing as the only way into the large office was now a single door, he decided to reinforce the security around the room. Changing the structure of the door and stones around the door, he created a rather unique lock. The door could only be opened by sinking the gem atop Harry's staff deep into the stone, until the prongs were half way in as well, then twisting ninety degrees counter-clockwise. While the security may seem a few touches beyond necessary, this office contained a book written by the goddess of magic herself, as well as four three and a half years of in-depth research. Better safe than sorry.
Harry had just finished renovating the rooms, and was about to begin placing furniture when there was a bright flash of light behind him, and smooth voice interrupted his work.
"Hello Harry." Spoke a voice that was smooth, soft and powerful, all at once. Harry knew immediately who it was.
Turning around, he consumed her form with his eyes for the most brief of moments, and replied "Lady Hecate, to what do I owe the pleasure?" in his usual dry tone.
Cocking an eyebrow, Hecate responded "Straight to the chase then, eh Harry? Very well then." While speaking, Hecate had what could be classed as a small grin on her face.
While he wouldn't admit it, he was both unnerved and turned on by it. What? He was a teenage boy, he had hormones.
"Should you win this tournament, you would have proven to me that you have potential and are worth investing my time into." Slight lie, Hecate thought to herself, she was already planning to invest much time into Harry, but there is nothing wrong with a bit of extra motivation. "As a reward for your winning of the tournament, I will name you my champion to both the magical world, as well as the mythical one. You would carry my name with pride and honour, just as I would yours. Do you accept this offer, Harry?" She asked in a casual tone, but Harry could hear the undercurrents of her hope.
While Harry was a prodigally smart child, beyond all those whom he had met due to both his motivation for learning and instinctual knowledge of the way the world worked.
However, to say that Harry could have predicted something like this, would be like saying that a seven year old with no legs could outrun Usain Bolt. It just wouldn't happen.
So when Hecate offered, he was silent for a few moments, just gaping at her. Well, his mouth was slightly open and eyes wide.
When his facilities finally returned to him, Harry nodded and replied with a solemn and serious "I accept your offer, Lady Hecate." He said with a slight bow of his head. While Harry may have been a disrespectful little shit, he knew when to be honoured and respectful. This was one of those times.
Hecate smiled, but in her head she was squealing with joy. Her plan worked, she would have her champion, and she would make him even stronger, creating more respect for her and she would eventually be on the Olympian council, as a goddess of her age and domains deserve. She hated the Olympians, but she wasn't going to go and join the titan army, as she remembered the days under Kronos, unlike many of her fellow gods and goddesses.
"I hope you will work hard, Mr. Potter, as the last champion I had was named Myrddin Emrys, and you do bare a striking resemblance to him." She spoke honestly, as she recalled his facial features. "But that is beside the point. Due to you accepting my offer, I will give you a slight head start and teach you one aspect of magic you wish to learn, personally. Your choices are as follows.
"First is Shamanism, which is control of naturally occurring elements. If someone set a forest fire, you could take control of the flames. If you were about to be struck by lightning, you could take control of it and change the path of the bolt. If you were drowning in the ocean, you could take control of the water and move yourself to the surface. However, if someone cast highly magical flames, such as gubraithian fire or fiendfire, you could not take control until you were a master of the art, which would take a minimum of forty years.
"Your second choice is druidism. Druidism is becoming one with nature, allowing it to flourish under your control, as you will under the influence of nature. You will become one with the trees, leaves, grass and dirt. They do your bidding, so long as you do theirs. The stronger and healthier they are, the more powerful they will be when they come to your aid.
"The third and final choice is the path of the Warlock. This is the most dangerous of all the paths, as Warlocks became dementors. A Warlock is one who uses the power of souls to both strengthen themselves, and torture others, similar to dementors. The more souls they possess, the stronger they become as the can augment themselves with the strength of souls, both physically and magically. For example, have you even heard of the video game 'World of Warcraft' Harry?" Hecate asks.
Harry is silent, processing everything he was told before nodding to the question.
Nodding, Hecate continued "Then it is pretty much the powers of Gul'dan, and once you get to higher levels of skill, you could probably use the fel magic."
Harry blinked and raised his eyebrows. Warlock magic sounded perfect, but Shamanism sounded great too. He reviewed his choices for a few minutes, before thinking back to the start of the conversation. 'I will give you a slight head start and teach you one aspect of magic you wish to learn, personally.' To Harry, this meant that he would be able to learn all three.
Harry continued to think about his decision for a few moments, before coming to another conclusion. Warlock magic would be the hardest to learn without help. He could already do rudimentary Shamanism by sinking his magic into elements, and could probably do the same for Druidism, but Warlock magic would be completely unique.
Making up his mind, he looks at Hecate and replies "I choose Warlock." With certainty which he didn't feel.
Hecate grinned. Everything was looking up.
The Goddess was in a dreadful mood. The artefact that she had looked for to give to her champion-to-be was hidden very well, and defended even better.
When she finally got past the defences, which were impressive enough to make her need to dismantle them, she grabbed the object and froze. It had been defiled. Defiled by the boy. The boy that she had watched cut a path of blood and fear through Britain. The boy who took her champion-to-be's family away from him.
Hecate was furious, and the wrath of an ancient goddess such as Hecate is not something to consider idly.
God and Mortal alike quiver in fear at the slightest sign of irritation from her, and this mortal had just singlehandedly drawn the entirety of her ire.
Yet, Hecate restrained herself with naught but titanic force of will. This mortal would end at the hands of the one whom he wrong most severely. His fall would be slow and agonising with the knowledge of its coming, yet unable to do anything but watch.
Yes, Hecate was furious, but she could wait. A most vengeful goddess indeed.
Hecate and Harry sat in the practical testing area of his office while Hecate explained how to acquire hold of a soul.
"Now Harry, sink your magic into this rabbit, further than you have ever been, until you are the rabbit, you control it and feel through its senses. This is rudimentary possession, but we need to go further. Instead of sinking you magic into the rabbit and a single spear, separate it into eight and pierce the rabbit with them all in different places. Go just as deep as you did with possession, but instead of sinking in; wrap your magic around the rabbit and tug." Hecate said calmly while watching the control Harry had over his magic. It was really quite awe inspiring; a fifteen year old boy possessed more magical control than most adults.
Harry, following Hecate's instructions, tugged on the soul of the rabbit. Suddenly, a thin yet visible white vapour began to be drawn from the rabbit's body, and as quickly as the vapour began, it stopped. The rabbit was slumped over, struggling to breath and was almost transparent, as its fur was falling off in thick clumps.
He blinked as he gazed at the small transparent rabbit in his hand, before shrugging and eating it.
As he swallowed the soul, the body of the rabbit stopped breathing.
Harry suddenly felt cold and powerful.
Very cold. Very powerful.
Hecate watched her champion-to-be devour his first soul. It may have only been the soul of a bunny rabbit, but it was a soul none the less.
Ah, children, they grow up so fast.
It was the week after the first task when Hecate finally went to do a task she needed to complete, before she could offer the artefact to her champion-to-be.
Sinking into the underworld via the entrance atop Olympus, Hecate requested an audience with Hades.
Entering his throne room, as magnificent and beautiful and it was, had become a trivial experience for the goddess due to how often she had visited.
Well, not so much visited as passed through the room most of the time due to her close friendship with Thanatos, also known as Death. Alas, today she was visiting the lord of the underworld with a request.
Bowing to Hades, who possessed a higher rank than herself, she greeted the man. "Lord Hades, how fares the underworld?" She greeted kindly yet seriously, showing her mood.
Hades lips upturned slightly, showing the most emotion he showed anyone outside of his wife, Persephone, daughter, Melinoe, colleague, Thanatos or any of his demigod children. What? You try being banished to the underworld, prevented from leaving for over four thousand years and see if you are still a bright and bubbly person. That place is depressing, man.
"Busy, as per usual, but slowing down thanks to the end of the cold war, the soviet war as well as the Iran-Iraq war. How have your magical communities been, Lady Hecate?" Hades asked curiously. He had been involved in the magical communities a few times, but not as often other deities such as Hecate and Tyche.
Hecate sighed and rubbed her face in frustration, giving Hades much of the answer he needed. "It's gone to shit, but there is a redeeming light among them." She responded, sounding tired and frustrated.
Hades raised an eyebrow at the 'redeeming light' statement. "Oh, and who is this redeeming light you speak of?" He asked curiously.
Hecate grinned and bounced on her toes, surprising Hades, and then said "Oh, just Harry Potter. Anyway, enough about the magical communities, I need a favour from you." She spoke, starting happily, but becoming serious at the end.
"Of course Hecate, what do you need, and what will you do in return?" Hades asked seriously. A favour from Hecate was a serious deal.
As a response, Hecate summoned the artefact to her hand and passed it to Hades.
Hades gazed at the artefact, before letting out a slight 'ah' to mask his shock and fury. It had been defiled.
Someone had torn their essence and soul, mutilated their spirit and being, and placed a piece of themselves inside one of the three relics of his subordinate, Thanatos.
"I presume you wish for the shard to be removed, maintaining the powers of the stone?" Hades questioned rhetorically. He stroked the side of the stone and pulled a black wraith from the stone, despite its struggling. When it finally was pulled from the stone, Hades jammed it down his pants and onto his underwear, as was the place for betrayers and defilers.
Hecate snorted in amusement and just said "I owe you a favour now, Hades, don't waste it." She left after that.
While Hecate was getting the artefact cleansed, Harry was unaware of what she was doing and decided to continue practicing his Warlock abilities.
He had summoned a half dozen snakes, using the 'Serpensortia' spell, and immobilized them to begin his practice.
Harry would draw out their souls, slowly, but instead of eating them he would direct them into his limbs, strengthening them beyond all expectations of his.
Deciding to do something risky, he withdrew a portion of the soul from a snake and drew it into his eyes.
It was a bad idea. You were expecting him to see the future, or in slow motion of something like that, right? Wrong.
It burned. Harry's eyes felt like they were burning out of their sockets, melting into goo and dripping into a tub of basilisk venom.
Harry quickly pulled the soul shard from his eyes when he detected something else. Well, two things really.
The first was that an extremely small soul shard was jammed into his forehead.
The second was that he couldn't see anything. He had just blinded himself out of curiosity.
"Well… Fuck." Harry said in irritation. While he didn't need his eyes, they were rather important to him. You know, to see.
As Harry began to panic he paused for a moment. Surely there were rituals that required a human eyeball, right?
Following that train of thought, Harry began cackling madly. He may be unable to see, but he was far from blind!
Conjuring himself a knife of stainless steel, Harry took to slicing his eyes out at the top of the optical nerve.
Once they had both been removed, Harry calmly conjured a glass jar with preservation runes engraved on the sides, filled the jar with water and dropped his eyes inside.
Putting the jar to the side, Harry spread an extremely thin layer of his magic around him, and upon ensuring that there was no sentient presence nearby, he summoned on of his ritual books from the bookshelf and placed a thin plate of his magic on each page to read the book and find a ritual to use his eyes in.
You may be wondering why Harry didn't use this technique all the time, well that's simple and has two reasons. The first is that the author is coming up with this as he writes it. The second is that manipulating such a high quantity of raw magic to such a precise degree is exhausting.
Upon finding a ritual that suited his needs, he thumped his staff on the floor of his practice area, using a heavily overpowered 'Flangrate' spell to sear the runes into the old stone. Thumping his staff once more, he manipulated the magic of the castle and brought the rest of the ingredients required for the ritual to his room through the plumbing, much like he did to bring his books and notes to his office.
Once his ingredients arrived, Harry summoned a pair of silver ingots which he kept for just such an occasion, and moulded them into strange looking candle stands, but instead of a flat top, they possessed a small indentation the perfect size for an eye.
Levitating the ingredients to their required places, and his eyeballs facing upwards in the candle stands, he began to chant.
This ritual was like one he had never used, and only had one chance to use it. This ritual would follow his mental patterns and gaze into different planes of existence to find something that would either match or compliment who he is as a person.
As such, he began to seek among the higher echelons of existence.
In all higher planes of existence, every matured being felt a call they had never felt before, yet very few knew what the call was, and what to do about it.
The first person was the Queen of the Fae, none of her people had been seen by the human race for thousands of years, and had faded into lore and myth as a result.
While the Fae were a long lived race, she was the only one who remembered the days when they would interfere in mortal affairs due to her raw power stretching her life even further.
Upon feeling the call, she deliberated for a few moments whether or not to go, but she made her choice.
In yet a further echelon of what could be called a parody of life was a large house with twenty bedrooms, three kitchens, five bathrooms and a single living room.
In this house, seventeen godlike beings lived. Each of them currently were in their own bedrooms. Yet these bedrooms were rather odd, compared to bedrooms on Earth.
For example, one bedroom was filled with lava, spikes, volcanos and explosions. Also, it stretched further than the eye could see, that might be rather different.
Another room, the oddest of them all, was made of strange black liquid, bone-like material and books strewn all throughout the room. The room also contained beasts from the nightmares of children, all formed from the black liquid.
The habitants of all seventeen bedrooms felt the call and rushed to the living room, each looking rather shocked. If one were to look upon their forms, they would likely collapse in terror from the grotesque appearance's.
"Did we all feel that?" One who appeared to be a spider questioned.
"I believe we did, sister, what do we do about it?" Answered one who looked like a dragon.
The one who appeared a tentacle monster among them hummed before answering its fellows. "I believe we should all go and investigate this disturbance." It spoke.
Looking around to each other for disagreement, the all nodded and disappeared.
Hecate, too, had felt the call of her soon-to-be champion, and flashed to his side.
When she arrived, what she was one of the most bizarre things she had ever seen.
There were eighteen other beings in the room along with her champion-to-be and herself.
Over half of them appeared bestial in some way, while the other half were all relatively humanoid.
When she gazed upon her champion-to-be, she reconsidered her offer to make him her champion when she saw him.
His eyes were missing, with his optical nerves just dangling freely from his eye sockets. Blood was running down his face in rivulets, yet he seemed perfectly calm.
Sighing, she rubbed her forehead and stepped forward to greet everyone, when all of their heads snapped towards her.
"Ah, Hello everyone." She said nervously.
What the fuck was her champion-to-be doing this time.
FORSHADOWING, MY FRIENDS.
Yeah, I'm starting to take a lot of ideas from other stories as well as video games & movies, but it won't end this chapter, No Sir.
I will finally do responses to reviews starting from the first review of this story.
Autumngold: Thanks, I write the stories I would love to read, and this is my favourite so far. IM glad other people feel the same.
Zellior: I appreciate your constructive criticism, but I have already decided on my ideas for his Animagus form, but please note that it won't play a major role in the story at the current time.
Alice22: It was a thought I had, but due to how I wrote Harry I like to think that he tried going into Harry's head first/second year, and went 'NOPE NOPE NOPE'
Kairan1979: I plan to focus on a few of his out of Hogwarts relationships during break between fourth and fifth year, but he doesn't really have many due to his cold, borderline rude attitude and condescension. Exactly, I write what I like, and if others don't like it, they don't have to read it.
ObsessedWithHPFanFic: Which items do you mean? The ones for the rune book? If so, artefacts such as time turners, the goblet of fire and the room of requirement would be some good examples.
Sanbeegoldiewhitey: Well guess what? You don't have to read the story; no one is forcing you to. Fuck off.
SortingHat: Agreed, I enjoy making my own assumptions and coming to different conclusions, even if they are wrong.
Robin000: when I finish this story, it will either go one of two ways for the sequel, and one of those is Percy Jackson, as is stated in the poll.
Frankieu: That was a hard scene to write, but I was looking forward to it as well.
Djberneman: I did think about it, but I really wanted to showcase some of the sorcery he has been learning, but I did also write about half of the T-Rex vs Dragon scene.
Harlancarter69: I enjoy my twisted mind too, so thank you.
Autumngold: I fully agree, it's kind of like being stabbed, falling over then taking their hand to help you stand up again, only to be stabbed once more and being shocked about it.
Remzal Von Enili: Fully, I love Luna/Harry stories, but they are either very well done or terrible and I don't want to risk failing.
Rant time: Im getting really fucking frustrated with the lack of Vampire!Harry where he isn't gay, or turned by Snape. Dark Lord stories where either Harry dies or bitches out. WBWL Stories where it had James+Lily Bashing, but the author bitches out with the 'Dumbledore used compulsion charms and potions' on us. If you start something like that, don't bitch out.
On the flip side, if someone has managed to find a WorldConquering!Harry that doesn't bitch out or die, isn't gay, and is well written, please name it in a review.
I loved Paid in Blood, but I think zaterra02 ruined it with the ending.
I recommend reading everything written by DelayedInspiration, as he is such an incredible writer, both in ideas and actually writing.