Here's the next chapter for all those people out there.
Disclaimer- I own nothing seen here, except for maybe the plot
The chirping of the birds just outside the window didn't disturb the sleep of Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Ron's snoring echoed off of the walls as Harry started to toss and turn in his sleep, a crash at the foot of his bed caused him to fall off his bed with a swear. He hit the wooden floor with a loud thump, knocking his forehead right on his scar on the floor.
"Son of a-" He groaned and tried to unwrap his blanket from his legs so he could stand. He threw his blanket off and stood to his feet to look toward the foot of his bed. Standing there, using a black cane with a silver skull top to hold up a pair of boxes from the floor, was Mephisto wearing a pair of red tinted sunglasses.
"Teenagers are so disgusting." He flicked his cane sending the underwear flying towards Ron's bed, causing them to land on his face. Harry was confused as he looked to Ron, who didn't even react, it was at that moment Harry realized he couldn't hear Ron's snoring.
"What the hell is going on?" Mephisto snorted and moved to sit down on nothing, a dark red throne formed under him as he sat back.
"I have stopped time around you and me for a few moments so I can give you the rundown on your responsibilities as the Ghost Rider, and a little history lesson. Please take a seat." He gestured with his cane and a straight back chair with dark red cushions formed in front of him, and between them formed a tea table topped with scones butter and tray with a teapot and teacups. Harry took his own seat hesitatingly, and reached for a cup. The teapot started to float in midair along with the milk and sugar. "Milk?"
"Yes Please." First the milk poured into the cup then the tea.
"One Lump or Two?" Asked Mephisto.
"Two please." Harry watched as two cubes of sugar plopped into the cup as a spoon raised into the air and started stirring the tea. When finished the spoon plinked itself on the cup removing the excess before floating down to the table, and the cup slowly sailed into the hand of Harry. As he took a sip his eyes widened and he removed the cup from his lips to exhale a bright red flame. He turned to Mephisto who now had his own cup and was smirking into as he a took a sip. Mephisto released a darker flame from his mouth after he removed the cup.
"A special brew made in the pit using hellfire and leaves grown using the blood of sinners." Harry, who was taking another sip at the time, spit up the tea along with another flame. Mephisto started to laugh. "Don't worry no blood is actually in the tea, just used to grow the leaves as a fertilizer. I find it gives the tea the necessary kick I enjoy." He sipped and breathed out another flame, he set his cup down on a saucer and clasped his hands together. "Now to understand what you are, you have to understand the demon I sealed inside you." He lifted his hand and with a gesture a window of magic formed before them, and just like an old movie reel a countdown started up on the screen. The scene revealed showed a great battle between two armies on a flame covered battlefield.
"Zarathos was a powerful demon lord with legions of worshipers under his command, and fallen angels corrupted by his power." Mephisto's voice was almost reverent as he spoke. "He was one of my greatest enemies, a rival you can say. We fought, but each time he was victorious, so I had to be sneaky, I had to trick him." The scene changed to a more demonic Mephisto with red skin, glowing yellow eyes, and horns standing over a kneeling red clothed and masked figure. "So I created Centurious, a mage who sold his soul for immortality." Centurious stood to his feet to show his blank face and eyes. "Zarathos' power effects souls, and since Centurious is soulless he can fight Zarathos without fear."
The scene changed to show Centurious fighting a human sized skeletal demon engulfed in bright blue fire and clothed in dark purple robe. The demon was launching streams of hellfire at Centurious but he was unaffected by the flames. Centurious launched beams of pure magic at Zarathos weakening the demon and knocking him back into a bare rock face. Centurious waved his hands and black chains wrapped around the demon before anchoring him to the rock face. Mephisto appeared before Zarathos and placed his hands on the chains covering the struggling demon.
"Zarathos didn't stand a chance once he was captured." The chains started to glow bright red, and started to constrict and Zarathos to shrink. "Once I had Zarathos I sealed him away and used him as a bounty hunter to track down escapees from the Pit." The scene shifted as the chains had completely concealed Zarathos who had begun to scream. "Over the years there were many Ghost Riders, each one a human who had sold their soul for power, immortality, riches, etc. Didn't matter what they sold their souls for, all that mattered was that once I had their soul I could do what I want with the person. So I made them work for me." The window flickered showing multiple image of different types of Ghost Riders through time until it came to modern times. The image was of the hellfire engulfed skull of a biker on a motorcycle, this caused Mephisto to frown in anger.
"Recently in the last thousand years I noticed that many of my Ghost Riders had started to become a little lippy, and insubordinate. I suspected it was the influence of Zarathos that was contaminating my Ghost Rider's." He took a sip of his tea, and breathed flame once more, Harry followed suit and released his own bright red flame. "So I created another Ghost Rider line using a seal, I tore out a chunk of Zarathos and used it to create a more controllable version. Then I sent it into a village where I knew the Black Family had set themselves up." The window shifted once more to show a great black skeletal hellfire covered demon killing peasants left and right. When an armored covered wizard struck out with a spell the demon would strike them down with a twisted spear tipped chain. "Hundreds of years ago the Black Family were an incredible family of Demon Hunters, feared by every single dark soul. I knew they were the perfect candidates for a Ghost Rider Line."
"Wait," The Screen stopped to show Zarathos lifting an armored man to his mouth. Harry turned from the screen to Mephisto who removed his sunglasses and placed them on the tea table. "The Black Family were demon hunters?" Mephisto nodded. "Then why were they a family of Dark Magic Users?" Mephisto smirked.
"Because of me, When they sealed my Zarathos clone I placed a curse on the seal, whoever uses the power of Zarathos through that seal will be tainted by the darkness, and the children born from that point on will be tainted as well." Harry's face paled, and he almost collapsed back into his chair. "Before you ask, yes. You are already tainted, and the more you use the power the more darkness will seep into your soul until finally, you are the perfect amoral killer I need." Harry just sat there staring blankly ahead. "I think were going to stop the history lesson here for now. Now for the rules and duties of the Ghost Rider." The Screen became black and words of fire appeared.
"One, You will only change at night or in the presence of evil." The words changed. "Two, you tell any of your friends, they lose their protection and they will die." Harry looked up at Mephisto with anger in his eyes, and the word changed again. "Three, When I come to you with orders you hop to it and follow them or all of them lose their protection." Flickering fire appeared in Harry's eyes. "Four, attack me and they lose their protection." Harry restrained himself, and the fire died down to smoldering intensity. "And Five, From time to time I'll need you to collect souls for me, and when you do so you will bring those souls straight to me, or I collect early on yours and all of your friends and family. Capiche?"
Harry looked at Mephisto in anger, full intending to tear him apart. But as the realization set in his eyes blanked out again, and he collapsed like a beaten dog and nodded meekly. Mephisto made the screen disappear and stood, grasping his sunglasses, causing his throne to disappear. Harry stood with him, his own chair and the tea table disappearing, and sat on his bed with a broken expression. Mephisto slid his sunglasses on as he looked Harry over.
"Buck up little trooper." Harry looked up at the demon lord with blank eyes, Mephisto pulled out a pair or red leather gloves and started to pull them on "You may lose yourself to the darkness, but you'll be protecting your friends and fighting bad guys for the rest of your life. You always wanted to be an Auror, now you'll be something greater." With that he snapped his fingers with his free hand as he lifted his cane to his head in the other. He disappeared into red smoke as time resumed around Harry, birds began to chirp and Ron continued to snore into his boxers.
All the while Harry contemplated the dark future ahead of him.
Tell me what you think, read and review people.