Chapter 10
AN: (Sigh) Okay, I just want to rant for a second here. Do you people NOT read the entire chapter before you review? I clearly added Strange's dialogue at the end to avoid any misunderstandings. Harry's greatest desire IS TO BE AVERAGE. What he saw was a representation of what he wanted same as Wanda. Like for Ron in the books. Ron didn't want to be Head Boy or Quidditch Captain, he wanted ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Those positions were just representations of that because those were the only positions he knew that would give it to him. Wanda saw herself married to Harry because he's the only one she can currently imagine herself being married to and raising a family with. It DOESN'T mean that she wants to marry him right that second. Just that he was the best representation of who could be her husband due to her crush on him. Her deepest desire is to be at peace, with no problems with her powers, and having a loving family. What she saw is just the best representation of that with her current knowledge. The appearance of Magneto was a nod to the fact that in the books, it showed canon Harry his grandparents and ancestors even though he had never seen them. He KNOWS they existed but doesn't know how they look like. In that vein, I added Magneto because Wanda subconsciously knows her adoptive father isn't her real father and so the Mirror revealed her real one even if she doesn't know it.
Now as to Harry...(sigh). Canon Harry saw the Potter family because they represented his idea of family. Note that canon Harry didn't see Vernon or Petunia because he didn't consider them family despite him supposedly not wishing them harm. Now, my Harry saw his parents and siblings not because he wishes for their love but because he wished the night he was marked NEVER HAPPENED. He blames that night for everything that happened afterwards and in the deepest part of his heart, wishes he was average and NORMAL. This is the innermost part of Harry that makes him who he is. He isn't arrogant and he's humble about his skills. Note that despite having Caliburn, he doesn't consider himself the King like most would but just considers himself lucky.
Now back to the Mirror. He saw them because that is what he imagines his life would be like if that night had never happened. He would be an average wizard with two younger siblings to grow up with and his parents would never have left him with his relatives. Does he rage about the fact that his parents basically abandoned him? Yes. But the mirror wasn't to represent that because as some people pointed out, he loves Wanda, Jean and his adoptive father. If that was what he wanted then they would have shown up in the mirror as well. I purposefully left them out to give you a clue and added Strange's dialogue at the end in case that clue wasn't good enough.
Now, to answer the concerns of some people... does he hate his parents? Meh, yes and no. When he hears their reasons for doing what they did, will he understand? Yes. Does that mean he will forgive them? No. Something that this story plants is that you have to live with the consequences of your choices. His parents didn't abandon him because they thought him a burden. They also didn't even suspect his relatives would abuse him. They reluctantly left him with people who they thought would love him and raise him because he wouldn't be safe if he stayed with them. The ward only covers THREE people related by blood. Rose was an exception because she was born under it. Despite wanting to raise him themselves, they knew that living a life constantly looking over their shoulders was no way to live, especially if they didn't even feel safe in their own home. No child can be raised in that environment. So, they made the choice they made thinking he would still be raised in love and they would see him one day. They didn't send Nathan away because he was the number one target and sending him away would just result in him being attacked where his parents wouldn't be there to defend him. Harry was thought to not be the Boy-Who-Lived so the Death Eaters wouldn't even think about him until he got older.
For those wondering about Madam Pomphrey, she wasn't ACTUALLY there at the birth. She firecalled and coached James and Lily through it. Since she wasn't PHYSICALLY there, the wards didn't cover her and she could coach Lily and James through it. That's why they consider to have delivered Rose.
James and Lily convinced themselves not to contact Harry through letters because they thought a one year old would not remember them and therefore didn't want to torture him with the knowledge that his parents were out there but couldn't visit him. Did they know he would be abused? No. Did they know he had eidetic memory and would therefore remember them? No. However, does that excuse the effects of their actions? NO! Despite Harry knowing that logically they had no blame for what happened to him, the heart feels what it feels. He won't be able to forgive them for not contacting him because in truth, they were only saving themselves the heartache of contacting him but not being able to see him or hold him. They didn't contact him more for their benefit than his, even if it was unconsciously. While not contacting him may have sounded like a sound idea in their minds, ask yourself whether you would prefer that your parents, I don't know, went to war and never contacted you until they returned or if they wrote you every day to see how you were and to tell you they still loved you. Understand? Logically, the former sounds best from their point of view. But the heart isn't logical and while he'll understand their reasons, he'll NEVER view them as his parents though he'll regain a sibling relationship with his twin and his younger sister.
Okay, rant over.
Newboy: Yes, you can take ideas from either of my stories for yours but next time log in before reviewing so I can answer you properly. If you don't have an account, just open one.
For those saying that you don't see why I say Harry's going to be powerful... next chapter will have a sort of exhibition fight so you can see how powerful all three of them are.
With that done, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. All other concepts and ideas from other books or stories belong to their respective authors. No copyright infringement is intended.
May 29th, 1994, Hogwarts, Nathan's POV
Nathan was tense as he walked through the Corridor of Secrets alone.
Nathan was currently in his third year in Hogwarts and so far, it was his worst since he started. He should have expected as much when a house-elf named Dobby ambushed him Flourish and Blotts in order to warn him not to go to Hogwarts for his own safety. However, Nathan was too stubborn to listen and refused to pay head to the frantic house-elf's pleas. Dobby had responded by attempting to get him in trouble by causing all the books within the store to catch on fire while mimicking his magical signature which caused mass panic within the store.
Luckily, his parents had believed him when he said a house-elf did it and simply paid for the damages so the owner wouldn't report who it was that caused it. Luckily only a few books had been damaged beyond repair so it didn't cost that much. Seeing what Dobby did in order to implicate him made Nathan wonder how their magic was able to be tracked and his parents explained it had to do with unique signature a wand-caster gave off when they used magic. It was unique to wand-users and only highly advanced magical beings could replicate it.
Oh, Nathan knew about the other magic-using factions. Despite wizards wishing they were the only magic-users in the world, they weren't. Magus were fairly well-known among wizardkind due to Nicholas Flamel being a famous magus and the leader of Clock Tower. Despite Voldemort supporters saying different, magus were far more powerful than most wizards. Their ability to wield Noble Phantasms and change how reality through the use of Reality Marbles (and that's not counting rumors of them being able to resurrect famous heroes) put them a step above most wizards. Only wizards at the same level as Dumbledore and Voldemort could really stand a chance against the higher level magi.
Magicians were next in line and the only thing known about them was that most used a staff instead of a wand for a focus and that they were the "police" of all magic-users. Basically, magicians were the ones who arrested anyone who broke the seven laws. The only reason they hadn't interfered in the fight against Voldemort the last time around was because it was considered a civil war and outside their jurisdiction. If Voldemort had attempted to extend beyond Britain like Grindelwald then he would have been quickly crushed by the White Council's response. They had learned their lesson from Grindelwald.
The average wizard hated magicians due to their naming their leader the Merlin. They thought it an affront to the real one and refused to address the leader as such. Nathan himself was indifferent beyond feeling angry that they didn't help in the war against Voldemort. It probably would have ended with less deaths if they had. Most wizards also hated magicians for, according to them, having the gall to pass judgement on them. Nathan didn't really see the problem. The laws were fairly straightforward and each had a good reason for existed. It was just regular wizarding arrogance that think they had the right to do whatever they want.
Last but certainly not least were the sorcerers. Sorcerers were only whispered about amongst wizards, as if even mentioning them would summon their anger upon them. They had reason to be fearful. After all, the Sorcerer Supreme was the leader of all magic-users and was basically emperor of them all.
Hermione had been beside herself when she found out that they lived in what was basically an empire and ranted long and hard about democracy and things like that. However, it took only mentioning the fact that the Sorcerer Supreme was chosen by Magic itself to shut her up. The idea that the closest thing to God to wizards chooses the Sorcerer Supreme shut up all her complaints. However, Nathan didn't doubt that she'd voice them to the Sorcerer Supreme if she ever met him.
Nathan really hoped he would be there if that ever happened.
Nathan turned a corner only to see the path reaching its end and his accomplice waiting for him in front of the door.
His accomplice was a ghost he had met during Nicholas's Deathday party. It was female knight that Nick said was from King Arthur's Court. Excited to meet a real Knight of the Round Table, a female one to boot, Nathan and Hermione, who had been convinced to go with him along with Ron, ran up to meet her.
However, the female knight had been rude, standoffish and refused to speak to "lowly peasants" like them. Hermione had been put off by her attitude and left quickly but Nathan was a Potter and they were very stubborn.
Nathan had spent the rest of the year saying hi to the female knight whenever he saw her, which was a surprisingly large number of times, and slowly got through her icy demeanor.
She refused to say her name but Nathan managed to get out that she was part of the group that turned against the King in that fabled final Battle of Camlann. She refused to go into detail but she always insisted that she still loved her King and that the battle was a mistake due to one knight's stupidity in drawing his sword to kill a snake.
Another thing he had learned was to never mention Morgan le Fay around her. The name of the witch alone drew her ghostly anger like nothing else and while, logically, he knew she couldn't harm him, he was still wary of the female's anger.
Years of watching his mother basically make his father her bitch does that.
"Did you see anyone?" asked Nathan as he walked up to the female knight as she floated in front of a large stone door with stone snakes engraved upon it.
The ghostly knight shook her head. "No. I have seen none pass through these halls. This door has some sort of enchantment upon it to keep me from passing through. This is why I'm waiting for you here. Are you ready for what lies ahead?"
As she asked that, Nathan thought back on his last two and a half years of schooling.
His first year had been fairly normal. He had quickly been sorted into Gryffindor to the cheers of his mother, who was the Muggle Studies Professor, as well as all of Gryffindor House. His childhood friend, Ron, had been sorted there as well and Nathan had been ecstatic to have his best friend with him. The Sorting Hat had briefly considered putting Nathan in Hufflepuff for his loyalty to his family but ultimately decided on Gryffindor.
The year would have been fairly normal if one ignored the gawking and pointed whispers that surrounded him whenever he left the common room. However, the news about Nathan's absent twin had finally come out and it had been in the news for weeks after the Sorting.
They had managed to keep it quiet ever since they found out 5 years ago. It wasn't that hard since Nathan himself was barely seen outside of his house and he was impossible to reach through normal means of communication due to the wards. It had made Nathan having a normal childhood with playmates his age very hard.
He hadn't even gone to normal muggle elementary school like his mother had originally planned for her children and so the only friends Nathan had as a child were the Weasleys, Luna and Neville. While Nathan liked Neville, he was always too shy for an exuberant boy like Nathan and Luna was strange even before her mother's death.
The Weasleys were nice enough but Nathan was always annoyed at the way Mrs. Weasley acted like she was his mother. He already had a mother, thank you very much, and didn't need another. It had become worse when Mrs. Weasley always commented how much he and Ginny looked like his mother and father. She had even gone so far as try to spell his hair completely black once his red streaks started coming out.
That had been the straw that broke the camel's back for his mother and she refused to leave him alone with the Weasleys after that. It hadn't helped that this was only a week after they found out his twin was missing.
Anyway, his first year had started out with people he never met before walking up to him for either autographs or to ask where his twin was as if they had a right to know. This caused Nathan to put up a mask in order to hide his true feelings.
In order to hide his insecurities and shyness as well as anger for the way some people simply expected him to tell them everything, Nathan had acted a bit like an arrogant git during his first year. This was to hide the fact that he didn't feel like he lived up to his fame as well as hide his shyness from not having many friends as a child. This only worked against him though since it turned off all but the most die-hard of fans from him, leaving with a very small group of friends.
Therefore his first year was mostly spent studying (at his mother's insistence) or playing with Ron or Neville. He barely made any other friends and they were more acquaintances that true friends.
However, that all changed on Halloween of his second year.
Ron had been his typical rude self (something that secretly annoyed the hell out of Nathan) when Hermione, who had been partnered with him, tried to help him in Charms class. Nathan never really paid much attention to Hermione in his first year due to her bossy demeanor and tendency to always ask him if it was true he was trained by Dumbledore. He denied it but she didn't believe it since he always tended to get spells before her when it came to the practical portion of the class.
During that Charms class, Ron had started to become even surlier than normal and ignored her help and demanded for her to do better. When she cast the charm perfectly, Ron had been livid and spent the rest of the class grumbling under his breath. What was worse was that when they left and Hermione tried to offer to help him practice, he had blown up and called her a buck-toothed know-it-all with no friends.
Now, Nathan was still in his slightly cocky and arrogant phase but even he would not be so cruel to say that to someone in their face. Hermione had quickly teared up and left to cry in the girl's bathroom.
That would have been bad enough. However, it got worse when that year's defense professor, Professor Quirrell, alerted them to a troll in the dungeons during the Halloween feast.
Realizing that Hermione would not know the danger, Nathan had quickly run after her with Neville following since he and Hermione were sorta friends. Ron had washed his hands of it, saying while he was sorry for what he said he wasn't going to risk his neck for her. That was the first time Nathan saw a glimpse of the kind of person Ron really was.
Nathan and Neville had quickly reached the girl's bathroom in time to see the troll enter it before them. Without thinking of the consequences, Nathan had rushed in with Neville right behind him once he heard Hermione's scream.
Even now, that fight was a bit of a blur as all he remembered was sending spell after spell at the troll and only managing to enrage it more. They finally managed to get Hermione away from the troll before the three ran from the troll as fast as their feet could take them.
Unfortunately, the troll was faster and had quickly caught up to them. They only managed to survive because they had jumped onto a moving staircase before the troll could smash them into paste. The troll, idiot that it was, tried to follow only to fall down the stairways and down the 5 floors before smashing into the ground floor.
Resistant it might be but not even a troll could stay conscious after a fall like that while smashing into every staircase along the way.
Hermione had quickly become one of his best friends after that and Nathan was extremely glad for it. She managed to break him of his phase and hidden shyness before it became a permanent fixture.
The rest of the year had been a whirlwind of mystery and adventure as they discovered that the third corridor held Flamel's fabled Philosopher's (incorrectly called Sorcerer's by wizards) Stone. They had been convinced that Snape was after it after they saw he was bit by the three-headed dog, Fluffy, during Halloween and supposedly cursed Nathan's broom during his first ever Quidditch match.
They were completely wrong.
It turned out to be none other than Quirrell who was the would-be thief and Nathan confronted him and his master, Voldemort, in the Mirror Room.
The Mirror of Erised.
Nathan partially wondered where it could be now but knew better than to dwell on it. The Mirror had shown what he truly desired: his family, complete with his twin Harry.
Harry.
Nathan hadn't really thought a lot about his twin before they found out he was missing. His parents had always told him about Harry, of course, but only rarely due to how much they missed their firstborn. Being only a child, Nathan had at first been jealous of this mysterious boy he could barely remember that seemed to make his parents all quiet whenever he was mentioned. He was envious of him having a normal life with his aunt and uncle while he was trapped in his house with only his parents and sister for company. He would be especially jealous of the fact that his parents seemed to miss him so much that they rarely spoke of him.
Nathan's birthdays (and later Rose's) had always been celebrated at Padfoot's house so that people could actually come visit. He had always wondered why there was always an empty chair put right next to him each year but always shrugged it off due to the excitement of his birthday. He wondered why his parents' eyes lingered on the empty chair at times and their eyes seemed to glaze over as if seeing something only they could see.
Now, he knew that they were imagining his twin celebrating with them as it should be. However, they had contented themselves imagining that he was probably celebrating his birthday as well with his relatives and was probably just as happy as him.
Then they found out about how Harry had lived.
His parents had been distraught for months afterwards and his father had been especially quick to anger during that time. During those few months, his mother would sometimes shut herself in what should have been Harry's room and cry into his old baby blanket. They would rarely go visit his uncle Moony and Padfoot during that time due to them always doing "errands" which he now understood meant they were looking for Harry whenever his father wasn't.
Nathan himself had been confused until it finally hit him a few weeks later.
His brother was missing.
The brother he had been jealous of for having a perfect life when the truth was far more horrifying.
In that moment, he had finally understood just what he may have lost. He had always been secretly jealous of the way Fred and George seemed to just connect. They were close that they sometimes finished each other's sentences (they finally mastered how to do that a year later).
While Nathan didn't want a connection that close, the idea of not only having a brother who understood him but also an older brother was a good one. To have someone who would always have his back no matter the circumstances was something he fervently wished for.
His parents had raised him telling him why he was famous and that it was only by luck that he survived. Nathan had always been secretly scared of the way some people seemed to expect things from him as if he was some kind of reincarnation of Merlin. He had hid it behind his arrogant attitude but it was always there, beneath the surface.
However, Nathan wondered how different things would have been if his older twin had been there. Would he have had to hide himself behind a cocky mask if he had a twin who understood him to help ease his insecurities? Would he have applied himself harder if he had a brother to strive to emulate?
Nathan didn't know.
There were times, however, that he wished his brother was there. Like this year.
Dobby's antics had only been the start of the troubles of the year. Dobby had quickly found out that his first plan to keep him from Hogwarts didn't work and tried to keep him from going by locking the portal to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. Nathan was forced to wait until his parents appeared so they could apparate him to Hogwarts. At least he hadn't listened to Ron who had tried to convince him to fly his dad's car to Hogwarts. Ron was still in trouble over that stunt.
With no other alternative, Dumbledore had been forced to hire Gilderoy Lockhart as Defense Professor. Lockhart acted like the sun shined out of his ass and constantly reminded people of the many rewards he had won in what he probably thought was a subtle manner. Worse yet, was that he somehow thought Nathan was his sort -of protege and constantly followed him around to give "advice". Nathan could only shiver in terror when Neville pointed out that Lockhart was acting sort of like he was during his first year.
Nathan had never been so happy for Hermione breaking him out of that phase.
While Lockhart was bad, the year became worse with the opening of the Chamber of Secrets on Halloween, christened by the petrification of Mrs. Norris under a warning written in blood. Nathan was seriously starting to consider Halloween a cursed day since every bad thing to have happened to him always started on freaking Halloween.
Nathan and Ron were convinced that Malfoy but his mother quickly shot them down by saying that the last Heir of Slytherin was none other than Voldemort himself. So unless Malfoy was secretly Voldemort's bastard child, then he couldn't be the Heir. A prick Malfoy may be but son of that monster he wasn't. Just him standing beside his father was proof enough that they were father and son. That and the idea of Voldemort reproducing with ANY woman much less Mrs. Malfoy was enough to make them hurl.
This didn't help Nathan's nerves since without anything to distract him, the paranoia in the castle was slowly getting to him.
This was made worse by the fact that Dobby's third attempt to "save" him resulted in him losing all the bones in his right arm due to a combination of Dobby's psychotic Bludger and Lockhart's idiocy. Nathan swore that someday he'd beat the stupid out of Lockhart if it was the last thing he did.
In order to distract himself, Nathan had attended the dueling club with Ron, Hermione and Neville in hopes of learning something that would help him defend himself. Sadly, the club was headed by none other than Lockhart and the only things he'd learned was the Disarming Charm and the fact that he was a parseltongue.
That started the downhill path of the year as people started to believe he was behind the attacks and that he was the Heir of Slytherin. The worst rumors were that he had sacrificed his twin in a dark ritual to gain power and that that was why he wasn't attending Hogwarts.
Idiots, the lot of them.
His mother and Hermione tried to calm him down but unfortunately, Nathan had his father's temper and the rumors and pointed whispers were fraying on his nerves by December.
The rest of the year since had been a time of frayed nerves due to people actively avoiding him and the slow dissolution of his and Ron's friendship. Nathan had decided to research parseltongue to see if he could identify any other speakers as well as to see its sues in combat. He had found that parseltongue was good in healing but little else since it was the "common tongue" of snakes unlike the "noble" serpent tongue that could allow one to speak to all reptiles and gave one a masterful ability in breaking down and creating wards and barriers.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Ron insisted that parseltongue was a dark art and that he should be ashamed of having it. Nathan quickly became angry at his friend's bigotry to anything he didn't understand. Ron was like much of the wizarding world that labeled anything it didn't understand as "dark".
Sure, some things actually were dark in nature. However, Nathan's mother had taught him that "dark" wasn't the same as "evil". The dark arts DID tempt you and they tended to depend on the darker emotions to be cast. Someone who relied only on the dark arts meant that they constantly channeled darker emotions rather than happy ones and anyone would become twisted if they constantly thought that way.
By February, Nathan and Ron's friendship was hanging by a thread and it didn't help that Ron's sister Ginny had basically abandoned Nathan's sister, Rose, even though she had promised to watch out for her. Nathan's growing reputation as a dark wizard meant she hardly made any friends amongst her year despite being sorted into Hufflepuff, the supposed "House of the loyal". The only friend she had outside of Nathan's group was a quirky Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood. She might be weird but Nathan considered Luna a true friend and would gladly put up with hours of her seemingly insane lectures in thanks for her loyalty.
Despite this, Rose seemed to start to put up a bitchy and tough persona that looked so out of place on her previously bubbly sister's face and more like Tracey's friend Daphne's Ice Queen persona. She only reverted to her old self when around him and even then it was only when there was no one else around.
As his and Ron's friendship deteriorated, Nathan reconnected with another old childhood friend, Tracey Davis. Being a halfblood, the blond girl only had two friends within Slytherin House, Daphne Greengrass, also known as the Ice Queen, and Blaise Zabini, whose mother still starred in many teenage boys fantasies even though she was in her 50s.
Tracey had at first been wary of reconnecting with Nathan since he hadn't exactly been the best friend in the world ever since she was sorted into Slytherin. Sure, he had never picked on her or anything but he also hadn't defended her despite suspecting she was having a bad time being a half-blood in Slytherin. However, he had eventually gotten her forgiveness and the two old friends had reconnected over Arithmancy and how hard it was as well as how stupid some people were to believe the rumors about Nathan.
Nathan was glad he had chosen to take Arithmancy instead of Divination like Ron wanted. While Runes sounded nice, he had no talent for memorizing all those runes and wizards only studied Egyptian and Nordic runes anyway. All the others were ignored due to the difficulty it takes in even understanding them much less teaching them to other that it was considered post-graduate study.
Hermione had barely been convinced from trying to take all the electives by taking classes every day including the weekends. Luckily, Nathan's mother had spoken to Hermione and explained that her class only explained Muggle developments up to the 17th century before OWLS and only entered "recent" developments afterwards. Even that much was only due to his mother being the Professor and updating the curriculum. Before her, they only studied up to Arthur's time in their seventh year!
Around April, a journal by Tom Riddle which Nathan found in January was stolen in his own room. He quickly came to the conclusion that it was the Heir's doing due to fear of the journal revealing their identity. Tom had already shown him a memory of him catching Hagrid as the culprit but Nathan didn't believe it. While the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher was a little overenthusiastic when it came to dangerous magical creatures, he was too kind to attack anyone much less kill. Tracey had agreed with him but also pointed out that it could have only have been a Gryffindor who stole the journal since only Gryffindors knew the password. She also pointed out that maybe Hagrid opened the Chamber unknowingly since she also doubted he did it on purpose.
Either way, Nathan had gone to him with Hermione and Tracey in order to see what he knew only to get a cryptic suggestion to follow the spiders and watch the corruption of the Ministry send an innocent man to Hell on Earth, otherwise known as Azkaban, and sack Dumbledore who was the best chance they had of catching the Heir.
Nathan and Tracey had followed Hagrid's advice five days ago only to almost be killed by the acromantulas when they decided he was looking especially tasty. It was only thanks to the now-wild car of Mr. Weasley coming to his rescue that he survived.
These altogether gave Hermione the insight needed to identify the monster in the Chamber just in time to be petrified before she could tell Nathan. Nathan and Neville had been distraught and Ron's tactlessness in regards to her health had been the last straw and completely broken Nathan's friendship with him.
Today was supposed to be a good day as the ones petrified were supposed to be fed the antidote only for an announcement to be made about someone being taken to the Chamber itself. Nathan had gone to visit Hermione when the announcement sounded and found out that the beast was none other than a Basilik thanks to Hermione writing it down. The Basilisk using the plumbing certainly explained the strange voices in the walls he'd been hearing all year. When Nathan had found out that it was Ron's sister Ginny, he had acted quickly and followed the clues to Moaning Myrtle. He had found her, along with the ghostly female knight who, after hearing Myrtle's story, decided to help Nathan avenge Myrtle's murder.
Now here they were, in the Chamber of Secrets itself about to face the Heir.
Nathan set his shoulders and held onto his courage. "As ready as I'll ever be. Thank you for coming with me, female knight."
The female knight eyed him before speaking. "Modred. If we are going into battle together then you deserve to know my name is Modred."
Nathan quickly started at the revelation but held any questions he had for after the battle. 'If there was an "after the battle",' thought Nathan fearfully.
Nathan hissed 'open' in parseltongue and watched the doors open before stepping inside.
One hour later, Headmaster's office, Hogwarts; Lily's POV
Lily was working herself into a panic as she wore a ditch into the Headmaster's rug with her pacing. Luckily, James knew better than to try to convince her to sit and simply stayed quiet as he and the Weasleys waited for news on their children. Rose was sitting beside James looking just as concerned as Lily but luckily, stopped herself from mimicking her mother and pacing. Professor McGonagall was also nervous but hid it behind a stern facade as she sat across from the headmaster.
It had been an hour since the Headmaster returned to Hogwarts after the governors reinstated him. While glad he had returned, Lily became frantic once the ghost known as Moaning Myrtle had informed them that Nathan had entered the Chamber alone to face the Heir.
James had appeared once he heard and Head Auror quickly interrogated the ghost on where the entrance was as well as how they entered. After a half hour of failed attempts of entering, James and Lily had followed Dumbledore to his office where the elder Weasleys were waiting for news on their missing daughter.
Lily looked in the direction of the elder Weasleys and despite her animosity with the Weasley matriarch, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her as she cried into her husband's shoulder. She knew how it felt to have one's child missing and she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy.
Harry.
Lily's heart wept every time she thought of her eldest and even now she had to stop herself from breaking into tears. Even though almost five years had passed since his disappearance, no news had been found as to his whereabouts. His Hogwarts letter had been returned unopened with no signs of having been tampered with.
Lily had been heartbroken yet again by the news as she had at least hoped that the ancient and powerful magics that allowed Hogwarts to find its students would find her son only for it to fail. The only way that could have happened would be if the recipient was dead or if they had magically changed their name. Neither option was appealing to the Potters and they secretly feared it was the former.
Thinking of the way she lost one child made her that much more determined not to lose another and she decided to start training Nathan this summer. Rose was still too young for any real training but Lily decided to start teaching her other things such as runes and potions. Both didn't require a lot of magic but both could be deadly in the hands of a master. Lily refused to entertain the thought that her son might not come back.
Lily thought back at all their attempts of finding Harry only to end up in failure. They had been barred entry in the U.S. due to the increasing number of attacks from dark sorcerers. There had also been rumors of muggles being born with abilities that defied even magical description that threatened the secrecy of the magical world. Until it had been resolved they couldn't risk anyone entering the country and worsening the situation.
Logically, Lily understood but the mother in her wanted to ignore all warnings and charge into the country to find her baby. It wasn't fair! She had lost so many years with her eldest in order to protect him only to find out he was not protected at all and find out he was missing! She had to be the worst mother in the world. What mother would leave her child where he would be abused?!
Lily looked at James to see him getting more and more distressed as time passed.
James had been a wreck since Harry's disappearance was made known to them. He had sometimes spent weeks on vacation with the family just to make sure they wouldn't disappear as well. Whenever a case into the States came up he insisted (i.e. threatened) into going along. However, each time he would return alone and more depressed than before despite Lily's best efforts to keep up a brave front. Inside both parents' hearts were bleeding as the hole that their eldest once occupied laid empty. They could only hope they would someday find their eldest and explain their actions were done with his safety in mind. They would never willingly and knowingly put their child into danger.
Just then, there was a flash of fire in the center of the room and Dumbledore's phoenix appeared with a bloody Nathan carrying a sword in his right hand and a distraught Ginny holding onto his left arm. She took in his haggard appearance as well as the way he gripped the sword (which for some reason looked familiar) within a second before reacting to his presence.
Lily quickly ran forward and brought her son into a fierce hug even as she cried tears of joy. From the corner of her eye, Lily saw Molly do the same to Ginny. Then Lily stood back and started casting diagnostic charms on Nathan to see if he was fine or not. He looked as if he had gotten into a fight with a Cerberus and barely survived (and considering his adventures with Fluffy last year it was a distinct possibility).
Nathan seemed to realize what she was doing and shook his head. "I'm fine mom. The blood's mine but Fawkes healed me before bringing us here."
Lily became alarmed at his admittance of the blood being his. There was an awful lot and she couldn't imagine what wound could have caused it, especially since the majority seemed to be around his torn right sleeve. "What? How did you get wounded that Fawkes had to heal you. Phoenix tears are only for emergencies due to their rarity!"
Nathan winced and shuffled his feet a bit. "I sorta... gotbitbytheBasilisk."
Years of being around pranksters who tried to hide their deeds allowed Lily to decipher her son's fast-speech. "YOU GOT BIT BY A BASILISK?!"
Nathan winced at his mother's high pitch tone and Lily was about to demand him to explain himself but Dumbledore cleared his throat before speaking in a consoling tone. "Perhaps we should allow young Nathan to sit and explain it to us from the beginning. That way we can understand his reasoning better."
Lily reluctantly allowed it as she led Nathan to a conjured chair in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk while Ginny stayed with her parents. Professor McGonagall looked as if she was going to have a stroke when she took in how Nathan looked as well as the bloody sword in his grip. Lily tried to take the sword from his grip only for Nathan to grip it tighter like a lifeline and she decided to let it go for now.
For the next hour, Nathan explained everything that happened that year, from Dobby's warning to hearing voices in the walls and the clues that led to him discovering the Chamber of Secrets and its monster.
Lily had to stop herself from either hugging Nathan to assure herself that he was fine or smacking him for not coming to her once he knew where it was. She simply contented herself with hugging him while whispering in his ear that she would get him back for worrying her over the summer.
After gulping at the promise in her words, Nathan continued up till he entered the Chamber. "Well, after we entered Modred-"
"Modred?!" asked James interrupted forcefully. Up until now he had been quiet but it seemed the revelation of the ghost's identity was the last straw. "You mean that bloody female ghost knight was the same Modred from Arthurian legend?!"
"Indeed."
From the doorway, Modred floated through with a neutral look on her face, as if James' outburst was expected. Which is possible since Modred's infamy as a traitor was well-known even a millennia later.
Lily watch James glare at the ghost as if she had personally offended him. "I don't think I like my son spending his time around a well-known traitor." He said traitor as if it was the worst insult possible and considering their history with traitors, it was to be expected. Lily would never forgive Peter for his betrayal and the effects of it. Her youngest son was cursed with a prophecy he could not escape even if he didn't know it yet and her eldest was missing. Betrayal was now the one thing she could never forgive.
However, Modred simply blinked as if James was an annoying fly. "And I don't care what a peasant thinks about who and what I do with my time. Especially since he knows nothing about me beyond legends and hearsay. If you follow the legends, I should be male. Typical males thinking only they can do anything of consequence."
Lily privately agreed with the sentiment because even after a millennia the wizarding world was still slightly anti-feminist.
James flushed red in anger and embarrassment and looked like he was about to retort before Nathan intervened. "Dad, she's a friend. I don't care about what she did in her past and I'm sure spending 1,000 years contemplating her mistakes is punishment enough. I trust her. If it wasn't for her, I would probably be in worse condition."
James seemed to bite his tongue at his son's words and Lily watched in amusement as he seemed to struggle with himself before subsiding. She was glad to see that he cared more about his son's happiness than his own bigotry. She had heard from her son about his falling out with Ron and while she wished differently if only for her son's sake, she was glad that her son didn't allow bigotry and a friend's influence to affect his decisions. Personally, she didn't like the idea of her son being friends Modred anymore than James but if Nathan trusted her then she would give Modred the benefit of the doubt.
Deciding to take advantage of the silence Modred turned to Nathan. "I just came by to tell you my opinion on your fight with the Basilisk."
Nathan looked up at Modred with an embarrassed look on his face as if expecting her to praise him. If that was what he was expecting, he was about to be rudely disappointed.
"You were amateurish, sloppy and I've seen stable boys who can wield a butter knife with more skill than you do that blade." said Modred in a deadpan tone.
Nathan instantly deflated and despite her own outrage at her callous statement, Lily had to fight down a laugh at the look of dejection on his face. He looked so much like a kicked puppy that she just wanted to hug him to death for his cuteness alone.
"Still," continued Modred, "you're alive while those stable boys would have died so that means you have some talent. If you want to learn how to wield a sword properly come find me next year and I'll arrange lessons to teach you."
At this, James had to interrupt. "I'll have you know that he doesn't need your help. Potters have a long history of being master fencers and I can teach him if he truly wants to learn." Lily discreetly rolled her eyes at that. She knew for a fact that James never learned how to fence and tended to poke himself with a sword more than the enemy.
Modred just gave him a deadpan look with a hint of mischievousness in her ghostly eye. "Fencing? No matter wizards nowadays look so fat and effeminate." Ignoring James outburst of anger, Modred turned to Nathan who was trying to hide his laughter. "If you want to learn how to wield a real sword, I'm available next year." Modred gave a self-deprecating smile. "After all, I have nothing but time now."
With that final comment, Modred turned and phased right through the floor.
Seeing that James was still too angry at Modred's taunts to speak, Dumbledore spoke. "Perhaps you should continue, my boy."
Nathan nodded and continued. "As I was saying, Modred entered first since nothing could really hurt her and if the Basilisk was there then she would just be petrified. She gave me the all-clear and I ran in to see Ginny unconscious on the floor."
At that, Molly hugged Ginny to her tighter as if assuring herself that Ginny was fine. Lily was slightly amused to see that Ginny seemed to be embarrassed about her mother's actions in front of her "hero". Unfortunately for Ginny, her hero seemed to be getting closer to his old childhood friend Tracey Davis ever since he gave Ron the boot. Before he would only talk to her occasionally since she was a Slytherin and Ron was sure she was "evil" now. Without Ron however, it seemed her dream of getting Tracey as a daughter-in-law was coming closer to fruition. Of course, they might need a bit of a push so she should invite her over the summer now that that oppressive ward that kept them from getting visitors was down...
Lily internally cackled an evil laugh that would have caused even Voldemort to piss himself in fear as she plotted ways to get those two together.
For some reason completely unrelated to the cold, Nathan shivered as if someone had walked over his grave.
Nathan coughed and continued his story. "Then the ghost of Tom Riddle appeared and revealed he had been possessing Ginny most of the year in order to open the Chamber himself. It turned out that Tom Marvolo Riddle is none other than Lord Voldemort."
That caused gasps to come from those that didn't know about it, which was everyone but Nathan and Dumbledore. James was the first to speak what they were all probably thinking. "But... that means that the man who led the pureblood movement... was actually a half-blood?!"
Nathan shrugged and nodded as Dumbledore spoke. "Tom always hated his muggle heritage even as a teenager. It brought great shame to him to share a muggle's surname which is why he crafted his Voldemort moniker."
Lily turned to Dumbledore in surprise. "You knew?!"
Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "Yes but I had no proof. I knew and Tom knew that I knew but by the time he had come out as Voldemort, he had physically changed so much that no one would believe me. After all, who would believe that the hero who stopped the attacks last time turned into the monster we know as Voldemort?"
Lily begrudgingly had to agree. People would never believe it without proof since Tom Riddle was so long ago that he probably slipped through their minds.
Nathan continued his story once he saw that they had finished speaking. "Anyway, Modred then attacked Voldemort since they were ghost-like. It actually worked since her sword cut him but as time passed he became more solid and her attacks stopped affecting him as much."
"Then he summoned the Basilisk and things got hairy. I couldn't look at it due to its eyes so I had run away. I hid behind a pillar while Modred tried to get its attention and my spells just bounced off it hide. I prayed for help and that's when Fawkes appeared with the Sorting Hat."
From his robes, Nathan pulled out the bedraggled Sorting Hat and what could only be the journal that started this mess with a hole through its center. "I managed to pull the Sword of Gryffindor from the Hat while Fawkes managed to blind the Basilisk. With the sword, I believed I had a better chance."
Nathan winced as if from a bad memory. "I idiotically tried to charge the Basilisk only to get thrown. If Modred hadn't distracted it, I would have been killed. That gave me an idea and while the Basilisk was distracted I sneaked up to the top of the Salazar statue and jumped onto the Basilisk's head."
Lily let out a moan of dismay at that image.
"Then, somehow the sword was suddenly wreathed in flames and I started stabbing it. Unfortunately, it didn't do much and I was thrown off. It tried to bite down on me and I raised the sword up and managed to impale it through the roof of its mouth. In its death throes, it bit down and a fang pierced my right arm."
Nathan shivered as if remembering a bad memory. "The venom was...agonizing. Fortunately, Modred distracted Riddle long enough for me to get the fang that bit me and impale the journal with it. Riddle sort of died once I did that and Fawkes healed me with his tears soon after. After Ginny woke up, Modred said she would meet me here while Fawkes flamed us here. And here we are."
All was silent until Dumbledore spoke. "First, I want to tell you how proud I am of you. You must have shown remarkable courage and fortitude in the face of overwhelming odds to summon Fawkes to you. While people think he is my familiar, he really is not. He simply is my companion due to his wanting to. Phoenixes are attracted to people who resemble fire's cleansing properties. Brushfires burn away that which doesn't work, leaving only healthy and strong trees behind. In that way, phoenixes attack corrupted and evil since it weakens the whole. That is why they are considered 'light'."
Nathan blushed at the praise and mumbled that it was nothing under his breath.
Dumbledore smiled amusedly. "Second, I wish to ask you what it is that is bothering you. I sense Tom said something that unsettles you."
Nathan bit his lip before blurting out. "He said that he and I are a lot alike. We were both parseltongues, we break the rules and we even looked somewhat alike. Strange likenesses..."
"You speak parseltongue because Voldemort, who is the last living descendant of Slytherin, speaks parseltongue. I believe that that night when he attacked you and your brother he left you with an echo of his power. In you, it gave you the ability of parseltongue and I believe your descendants will inherit it as well."
Nathan looked thoughtful and nodded before hesitantly speaking. For some reasons, Lily sensed this was what was truly bothering him. "There's another thing. When the blade was wreathed in flames it felt...like it came from me. Not the sword. It felt the same as when I burned Quirrell last year."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful before speaking. "You could have an affinity for fire that manifests itself in stressful situations. I have even heard rumors of muggles with similar abilities appearing though I doubt it's true. Why, there are even rumors of some with the ability to read out minds despite us having Occlumency shields. No, I suspect it was simply your magic reacting to the situation and giving you the best defense possible."
Nathan looked doubtful and Lily felt the same but he nodded hesitantly. Lily was about to ask Albus more about Nathan's apparent skill with fire when Lucius barged into the room.
A few minutes later, Headmaster's office, Hogwarts; Dumbledore's POV
Dumbledore smiled slightly as Nathan left to free Dobby from Lucius's control. Lily and James followed him once he told him what he was planning to make sure Lucius didn't try to get revenge. He was certain Dobby would protect his savior but a little extra protection never hurt.
Dumbledore internally winced at his thoughts as he remembered a missing boy who he thought needed to be protected more than he needed to be with his family. Young Harry paid for the folly of his arrogance and to this day, he still could not forgive himself for that fact that a child had to pay for it.
Albus plastered a smile on his face as he turned to the Weasleys and Minerva who were still sitting in his office. "I'm sure young Ginevra is tired from her experiences. Do not feel discouraged my dear. Older and wiser witches and wizards have fallen for his charms before. The fact that you did does not mean you are weak. Now, Minerva, can you take them to a guest room to spend the night? I doubt young Ginevra will want to be alone tonight."
Minerva shook herself from the shock she had entered from Nathan's tale and led the Weasleys from his office. Once he was alone, Albus sighed as he felt the weight of his years land on him.
Albus stood up and locked his office down and blocked his floo before stepping into his study that was connected to the office by way of a hidden door behind his desk. Albus sighed as he moved over to the far wall where a map in 6 different shades of color with red pins was hanging.
The map was a representation of the political and social influence of each of the 4 factions. Each country was colored in with the color of the faction with the most influence in that particular country. It was white for wizards, violet for magus, blue for magicians and yellow for sorcerers. There was also green for countries where none of the factions had any or very little influence and brown for the Church which, luckily, only had a lot of influence in Italy. The red pins were general locations of people of importance in both the political and social arena and when touched by a wand, gave a brief overview of the person's political stance, opinions on major matters and probable long-term goals.
Albus's eyes softened in regret as they landed on a particular pin located over New York City. With a tap of his wand, the pin recited the known information in a monotone voice.
"Name: Harry Potter, last known location: New York City, status: unknown, political stance: unknown, goals: unknown."
Albus sighed as he was reminded of one of his greatest failures. He had thought that leaving young Harry with his relatives was what was best for all involved. Harry would grow up a normal childhood away from the pressures of being the Boy-Who-Lived's brother and be safe all at once. By the time he would attend Hogwarts, Harry would hopefully be mature enough to understand that it was necessary and while Albus knew he would probably be angry at his parents, he hoped he would be there for his brother for the trials ahead.
Albus never imagined that his own relatives would treat him like the Malfoys treated their house-elves. No, they treated worse than that. At least house-elves found joy in their work. Young Harry did not have even that.
Albus couldn't help but sense the similarities in how young Harry was treated with his relatives to how another young boy was treated at his orphanage. Long investigation into the Dursleys memories showed him that young Harry was slowly gaining conscious control of his powers. This was both surprising and not so surprising. Albus well remembered some of the feats young Harry did with his accidental magic when he was still with his parents. Some of them didn't seem accidental at all.
Albus rubbed his temples as pondered on young Harry's status.
When and if he appeared, he would have a lot of influence over his brother's thoughts. They were, after all, twins and bonds like that are hard to break. No doubt that Nathan would be more than willing to listen to his brother's thoughts. Nathan had already shown himself willing to break childhood friendships in order to stand up for what he believed in.
While Albus was proud of Nathan for his standing up for himself and agreed in his thoughts that parseltongue was just another language and was not inherently dark, it set a bad precedent. Especially if young Harry turned out to be anything like Tom when he was a teenager. If Harry was like Tom and managed to influence Nathan into his beliefs...
No. No, he couldn't let it happen. He need to find Harry in order to guide on the right path. But if that wasn't possible and if young Harry turned out to be anything like Tom...then he would have to take care of him no matter how much it broke his heart. He didn't have much time left in his life and he refused to leave the world with another dark lord waiting in the wings. It would destroy both the elder Potters and young Nathan if Harry turned into another version of Tom. The world was bad enough as it is.
Dumbledore turned his eyes from New York to Italy, which was colored brown, where the Church was based to the small floating circle that represented the White Council in Alexandria in Egypt, which was painted blue.
There was once a time where Albus believed that uniting the four factions was one of Merlin's greatest works. By uniting the four factions together, he had created a sort of magical empire that was ruled by the Sorcerer Supreme and allowed the magical world to live in secrecy while still keeping up with the times.
Then his sister's accident happened.
Albus both blamed and didn't blame the Muggle boys for happened afterwards. His sister should have had someone watching her to make sure something like that didn't happen but at the same time, the idea of children being so cruel to each other was anathema in that day and age.
Albus didn't blame his father for his reaction and even understood it to a certain extent. Ariana was his only daughter and his little princess. Any parent would have reacted the same in his shoes.
That didn't matter to the White Council, however. His father had not only murdered one of the children using magic but also risked the secrecy of magic. Children, due to their young age, are the hardest to obliviate due to their still developing minds. Traumatic or strong memories are almost impossible to erase for that very reason. Since the surviving children's memories couldn't be erased and one was the child of a powerful politician, the Council had to arrange the deaths of them and their immediate family in the form of "accidents" in order to maintain magic's secrecy. The Ministry allowed it since they couldn't do it themselves or else risk breaking the laws of magic themselves.
However, this wasn't what truly caused Albus's ire. While he was disgusted by the Council's casual killing of innocent people in order to maintain the laws, he could have understood it in time.
No, what truly angered Albus was what happened to his father afterwards.
At that time, his father would have gotten off for his actions with a heavy fine and perhaps a day or two in Azkaban. However, this wasn't enough for the White Council and insisted on his public execution in order to send the message that the secrecy of magic was more important than vengeance no matter what the circumstances. In order to placate both sides, the Ministry voted on giving his father life in Azkaban. This was basically a death sentence and placated the Council while saving Albus's family from the shame of a public execution. The Ministry covered up the Council's presence by saying that his father had used the Avada Kedavra to kill the muggle child and so by the law, needed to spend life in Azkaban.
To this day, Albus still could not forgive the White Council for their hand in his father's disgrace and death. Because of them, his mother Kendra was forced to watch over his now sick sister by herself which led to her becoming bitter and hard instead of the kind and loving woman she was before. This also later led to her death due to one of his sister's tantrums and Albus subsequently having to take care of herself himself.
Perhaps if his father had been alive, Albus wouldn't have fallen in with young Gellert when he arrived. Then his sister wouldn't have died during his three-way duel with him and his brother Aberforth. Then he wouldn't have such an estranged relationship with his only living family.
Albus shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts. He would never know. However, Albus had lived his life trying to rid the Wizarding World of the White Council's influence. The cold way they killed anyone who broke their laws without even any other verdict available attacked Dumbledore's sensibilities. He always believed in the good in people and liked to give them a chance to redeem themselves. Severus and Modred were perfect examples of people who had managed to change their ways despite their past crimes and if the White Council had their way they would have executed him on the spot. Modred would probably have been banished to Oblivion for her crimes in life despite her probably having spent the last millennia regretting them. He personally considered her having helped young Nathan as her redemption and so allowed her to continue to socialize with Nathan. Her experience would only help Nathan in the coming years.
It had taken most of his life but the White Council was sufficiently bogged down in political red tape to not be aware of the going ons of the Wizarding World beyond what was reported by the ICW. Albus justified himself by using the first war against Voldemort as an example. Rather than help, Albus knew that the White Council had sat back and waited for them to kill themselves in order for them to take back control of the Wizarding World. This only proved that the White Council were all corrupt and evil men who were all too willing to allow innocent people to die as long as they kept their power.
Albus had successfully hid many violations of the laws through technicalities. Before Albus, Legilimency was about to be banned but he managed to circumvent that by saying it didn't overtly invade someone's mind, rather it picked up surface thoughts. He always found it offensive how sorcerers were an exception to the rule supposedly because they needed the ability to communicate with their patrons. He did the same with their study into Time. He simply said they were trying to find a way to view time, not travel through it. This wasn't a violation and therefore, they couldn't be banned from studying the effects of time and magic. He kept the existence of Time Turners a secret from them since they were useful to people like him who had too much to do and little time to do it. After all, what harm could traveling back in time and hour or two do? Sorcerers were permitted to travel in time due to their duties so why shouldn't they be able to in order to catch an hour or two more of sleep or study?
Albus's eyes transferred to the small tower hovering over Germany, which was colored mostly violet, which represented the Clock Tower and the Magus Association.
Albus had thought to gain the magus' backing in his plan to take away most of the White Council's control. For this reason, Albus had won an apprenticeship under Nicholas Flamel himself in an effort to gain the favor of the Mage's Association's leader.
He had been dreadfully naïve.
The Mage's Association pioneers the usage of magic in all it forms and at first, the Clock Tower seemed like a marvel of magical study. However, as time passed Albus realized that the Clock Tower encouraged the pioneering of magic, outside of moral and ethical boundaries.
An example was when Albus managed to discover the twelve used of dragon blood. One of those uses was a magical amplifier and when used in certain rituals, increased the magical circuits or size of a wizard's core.
Albus had been horrified when he saw his master Nicholas using dragon's blood in a ritual to pass a dead magus's crest onto his eleven year old son. The dragon's blood amplified the amount of circuits that would given to the boy as well as gave the ritual much more of a chance to succeed.
To this day, Albus could hear the boy's screams as the crest was grafted onto his body.
Albus didn't try to listen to his master's explanations that the boy had asked for the ritual to take place. In his mind, no eleven year old was mature enough to make that sort of decision and they had basically forced him. The fact that they were basically ripping out the magic of their recently dead comrade's body made it all the more horrifying in his eyes.
Albus had decided that the Mage's Association needed to be sidelined as well. The fact that they laid claim to his discoveries in dragon's blood and continued to use them in their dark rituals only cemented Albus's belief.
Albus had stopped them from laying claim to any more wizarding discoveries by claiming them to be family magic and therefore, outside their jurisdiction to claim. He had encouraged everyone to do the same whenever they discovered something in order to block the Mage's Association's attempts. The fact that they were laying claim to another's hard work made it easy to convince others.
This had the side effect of souring the previously good relations between the Mage's Association and the Wizarding World. Due tot his, the relations between the four factions were at an all-time low but Albus considered it a regrettable result of people not understanding his goals. History would show him to be a man of vision that led the Wizarding World to its deserved independence. It was for the Greater Good after all.
Albus's eyes landed on the Americas which was almost entirely colored yellow to show the sorcerer's influence there was prevalent, especially in North America.
The sorcerers were the one faction that Albus had no idea how to deal with. He found it offensive that the leader of the Magical World was always chosen from just that faction and refused to believe that only a sorcerer could be chosen. In his mind, the sorcerers were just trying to maintain the status quo of them being the most powerful.
After all, he was a wizard and yet he was match for most Nicholas himself who was possible second only to Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Albus doubted that the old vampire truly had the power to stop the moon from dropping but he did admit he was stronger than him. How couldn't he be after living for longer than even Nicholas.
Albus rubbed his temples as he remembered his latest talk with Nicholas three years ago.
Albus had originally planned to bring in Nicholas's Philosopher's Stone to Hogwarts during Nathan's first year. Despite what people thought, he didn't wish to test Nathan, that was just a happy coincidence. No, he knew that Nathan's reentry into their world would attract Tom's attention. In order to confirm Tom's existence and a theory he had, he had wished to bring the Stone in order to bait Tom into coming for it. He would, of course, never allow him to gain it but would instead set a trap for him in order to see how powerful he still was.
However, things were pushed back a year when Nicholas outright refused to listen to Albus's plan of using his Stone as bait. He suspected, rightfully so, that Albus would not return it if he did.
Albus, of course, never planned on returning the Stone once he had it. He would destroy it and say it was destroyed in the struggle against Tom and that Nicholas was already old anyway and should be glad for a chance to rest.
This would allow him to get rid of a major player in the Mage's Association, thereby weakening further, and get rid of something Albus considered an abomination. The fact that the Stone allowed one to bypass Equivalent Exchange should prove that it was against nature. After all, Equivalent Exchange was what stopped people from being able to have the power of true resurrection. The idea of the Stone falling into Tom's hands or someone like him and that person simply resurrecting his men every time they died was a horrifying thought. No, destroying the Stone would be for the Greater Good.
However, Nicholas didn't agree and outright refused to give up the Stone. He even had the gall of calling Albus a control freak that was getting too big for his britches. When Albus tried to insist, Nicholas handily defeated him and thereby proving that while Albus may technically be equal to him in terms of power, the Philosopher's Stone and his centuries of experience would always give him the edge.
Albus had been forced to spend most of Nathan's first year, rather than try to help him fit in with his peers after years of isolation, recreating a cheap copy of the Stone that gave off the same aura as the real on in order to lure Tom in during Nathan's second year. Thankfully, with the exception of the real Stone's destruction, everything else had gone as planned and he had even gotten the chance to see Nathan in action.
Albus was sure that Nathan's burning of Quirrell's body was due to the residual protection left over from that night. He had at first thought that it was due to the fact that Nathan's scar was a horcrux but that was quickly discarded when Albus checked him over afterwards. His scar, while a curse scar, was no horcrux. Harry's scar was also not a horcux because Albus remembered that his scar had no dark magic radiating from it. As the journal that Nathan brought proved, horcruxes radiated dark magic in waves that could be sensed by those trained in sensing magic.
Therefore, Albus could only theorize that Nathan ability to love was so strong that it manifested in his power over flames. In made sense in his mind since love was always described as passionate and fiery. Albus could only hope that Nathan never lost that characteristic.
Albus's eyes landed on another red pin in New York City, this one showing the location of the probable future Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Stephen Strange.
Albus had tried many times to have a meeting with Dr. Strange in order to feel him out and see if he could influence him into his way of thinking. However, all attempts had been rebuffed. Initially it had been due to how new he was to his responsibilities and he didn't have the time. Albus could understand that since he remembered when he first started as Headmaster as well as Supreme Mugwump and later Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot that it took him a decade to get used to everything.
However, lately he had explained that he had no time due to him taking on an apprentice. Albus had been curious to his apprentice's identity but every time at finding out was met with failure. Albus hoped to convince this young apprentice to his way of thinking and through him, influence Dr. Strange. However, this turned out to be a failure and Albus gave up.
Not that it mattered much. The sorcerers always kept to themselves and rarely entered into their affairs. Albus was content to leave well enough alone.
Giving Harry's pin one last glance, Albus turned and walked to his bed to get some rest.
He just hoped that young Harry didn't believe differently than him. It would be a shame to have to get rid of someone he once considered his pseudo-grandson.
1st year Hufflepuff girl's dorm, Hogwarts; Rose's POV
Rose tossed and turned as she tried to get to sleep in her pink nightgown to no avail.
Her brother's latest exploit had terrified her and given her very real fear of becoming an only child. It was bad enough that the eldest, Harry was missing but she couldn't bear it if something happened to her remaining brother.
Rose never believed that Harry was dead like she knew her parents and brother believed even if it was subconsciously. She knew that her brother was a Potter and Potters were well-known for their stubbornness. If Nathan, who once cried when he skinned his knee, could take on and kill a Basilisk then Harry, who survived her horrible relatives, could survive on his own. He was the eldest after all.
Rose sighed as she gave up on trying to go to sleep and, after casting a Silencing Charm around her bed, pulled out a photo album she had made.
Her mother was always possessive of the few pictures she had of Harry and it had taken a lot of hard work and studying ahead to learned the Duplication Charm and make copied of the few photos she had of Harry. Using that, Rose had made her own photo album in order to show Harry when he returned. It was her way of showing him that she had thought of him even when he was missing. She knew he would probably be angry at their parents but she hoped that by showing him the album he would see that they still thought of him.
The photo album has some family photos of good times but most of them were of Harry when he was a baby or of Nathan's birthday parties where she made sure to highlight the fact that they always left a chair open for him. She wanted to show him that the family loved him despite whatever those...people had said to the contrary.
Don't get her wrong, she loved Nathan a lot. However, Nathan was always a prankster at heart and constantly having to watch her back whenever he was around got tiring. When he wasn't pranking her, he was too overprotective to the point that he got angry at any boy that spent too much time with her. Seriously, it was like she was the eldest at times! She didn't even try to ask him for help this year knowing he would overreact if he knew how the other kids picked on her. She didn't want him to be expelled after all.
Rose always had a bit of a fantasy image of how Harry would be like. He would be protective but would allow her to do things on her own. He would be smart, handsome, wise and kind to everyone. He would be just and fair to everyone regardless of his relationship with him unlike some Potion teachers that was biased against everyone not Slytherin. She liked to think that since he was Nathan's twin and Nathan was a lot like Dad then Harry would be more like Mum. He wouldn't make fun of her for spending so much time in the snow and even spend hours with her if that was what she wanted. He would listen to her when she complained about being seen as the Boy-Who-Lived's baby sister and useless due to being sorted into Hufflepuff...
Rose sniffed as tears came to her eyes before she hastily wiped them away.
Rose had always been smart for her age and if she had gone to Durmstrang, would probably have tested into third year. She had known that being Nathan's sister would be hard but always hoped she would make some friends at least. She had originally made friends with her dorm mates and even Susan Bones in third year but that had changed after it came out that Nathan was a parseltongue. Even Susan had been standoffish with her since.
She loved magic in all its forms and was especially fascinated by ice elemental spells. Winter had always been her favorite season (it had nothing to do with Christmas, honest!) and she always loved to roll around in the snow. As time passed, she had found herself liking it more and more as she felt the cold less and less. She simply shrugged it off as her magic getting used to the cold and protecting her from it.
Rose was especially good with illusions and found them to be unappreciated. What does it matter if you can cast a powerful spell when you can't find your target? In that vein, Rose decided to base her dueling style around distract, flank and incapacitate.
Rose giggled as she remembered all the times she got Nathan with a prank by using those very tactics. Nathan was way too straightforward at times.
Rose had only entered Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw because she believed in hard work and loyalty to the family above everything. The Sorting Hat had praised her for her loyalty and told her she would need it in the coming years, especially with Nathan and Harry as her brothers. He had sorted her into Hufflepuff before she had a chance to ask him what he meant in regards to Harry.
Rose looked up when she heard the clock chime midnight and decided it was time to go to bed. Closing the album with a soft smile, Rose hid it under her strongest illusion under her bed before climbing under the covers.
Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was thoughts about Harry returning and wiping out the sadness behind her parent's eyes whenever they looked at her and Nathan.
AN: And there's chapter 10!
As you can see this chapter was to summarize what's been happening to the Potters till now as well as some divergences from canon. Modred has an important part to play later on which is why I included her and yes, Modred is female in the Nasuverse and since I prefer the female version to the Marvel one I'm using that one.
For those wondering why the White Council never interfered before you have your answer. Dumbledore's experiences with them when he was young made him biased against them and he spent his life finding ways to destroy their influence. The same happened with the magus and so you have the magical world nowadays. Dumbledore isn't evil or manipulative, he truly thinks he's doing what's best for wizards. He just doesn't think of things from other people's point of view and refuses to listen to other people's opinions. This has caused the magical world to be as it is today.
Dumbledore doesn't want to get rid of Harry for any evil reason. He's understandably afraid of Harry turning out like Voldemort due to their similar experiences with non-magical people. Therefore, he plans to take steps to neutralize Harry as a threat if he thinks he's like Voldemort when he was a kid.
To sum it up, Dumbledore is a paranoid fanatic. He's sure in the rightness of his beliefs and won't listen to other's opinions while always being paranoid of the other factions. So when Harry appears as the representative of the Sorcerer Supreme... yeah, you get the picture.
As for the relationship between the Mage's Association and the white Council... it's sort of like the relationship between the Science branch of the U.S. government and the military branch. They're cordial and respectful but the magus think the White Council are a bunch of overgrown brutes without a single creative idea while the White Council thinks the magus are a bunch of weak fiddlers who sometimes risk breaking the laws with their ways but have never actually broken a law... unlike the wizards. Basically its a kind of cold cordiality and begrudging respect for each other.
Next chapter will show all those wondering just how strong Harry is at the present time. He's still not at his peak but he'll be VERY powerful and creative with his many skill sets. I'll also show how strong Jean and Wanda are as well.
As always, read and review.