Title: Serpentine
Summary: Harry's relatives never raised him. In fact, they abandoned him the day they found him on their doorstep. It's going to be a very different Harry Potter than Albus Dumbledore expects who shows up at Hogwarts ten years later...
Warnings: 1. This is a SLASH fanfiction. It contains yaoi. Male/male relationships. People who dislike fanfics like that should press that lovely back button right now.
2. I can promise you that Harry is NOT a Griffindor here. Nor is he likely to leap before he looks. So sorry to disappoint.
3. Harry. Is. DARK. In. This. Fanfic. I don't care if you think he's OOC. He's supposed to be.
4. There will probably be character deaths. Please, do not flame me if your favorite character dies. You have been warned.
5. I'm not experienced in writing human characters. If you don't want your eyes burned out by massive OOCness and bad character writing, you'd probably be better off reading someone else's writing.
Disclaimer: Me? Own Harry Potter? HA! That's a laugh. If I owned HP, Snape wouldn't have died, but he DID, so obviously, I DON'T own HP.
OoOoO
Hana threw herself into Xavier's arms with a sob. "He's hurting, Xavier! I can feel him - he's hurting a lot!" He wrapped his arms around her tightly, trying to comfort her as much as he could when he could feel it too. One of the others' internal power had just awoken, and they were being hurt. Over and over again. It didn't matter that they couldn't tell which one. They were duty bound, as friends and comrades in past lives, to protect and stick with each other.
Stryker had folded in on herself and was hugging her knees to her chest, her face buried in them as she trembled. The strong young woman never showed such weakness. It must be really bad for her in particular. Deidrick was massaging his temples as if attempting to ease the pain. When the fire flared bright green, Xavier was the only one to turn his head.
A blonde-haired man was stepping from the fireplace.. A familiar blonde-haired man. Xavier nodded to him, attempting to soothe Hana by gently stroking her back. "Lucius," he greeted.
"Xavier, Hana, Deidrick...Stryker," Lucius said. "I apologize for being so hasty, and for showing up at an obviously bad time," he added as he brushed a few flecks of soot from his shoulder. "But a friend of mine asked me to ask you to help with a search."
"For what?" Xavier asked, as a surge of agony traveled through him from the newest bond. He couldn't quite stop his soft hiss of pain, and he held Hana closer when she flinched. Deidrick let out a groan and Stryker clutched at her head, uttering a soft cry.
"Are you all alright?" Lucius asked concernedly, his silver eyes meeting Xavier's cerulean.
"We are," Deidrick said, raising his head to look at the Malfoy. "But whichever of the other two that just woke up, is in a lot of pain right now."
OoOoO
Evan wished he could stop feeling. Just have every nerve cell in his body go numb when he wanted them to, so he wouldn't have to put up with this kind of pain ever again. He was well aware that he was screaming, and he was also aware that that bastard was enjoying his pain.
"Are you going to keep talking back, or do you need another dose?" Dumbledore asked coldly, the tip of his wand resting on Evan's temple. Twice now, he'd been hit with the weird "crucio" thing. It wasn't getting easier to stop himself from screaming. It was getting more difficult.
Crucio. It meant "to torture" in Latin. Evan found himself realizing, as he was hit with it yet again, that the phrase fit well even if Dumbledore wasn't using knives or lighters to frighten and harm. Magic, the man thought dimly. It's real, then. So...we're screwed.
As the curse - for Evan had no doubt it was a curse - was lifted again, the young man lay limp and breathing heavily on the floor. His throat felt raw, and when he began to cough, he tasted the coppery tang of blood on his tongue.
"Oh, look what you did," Dumbledore tisked. "You got blood on the floor. Still haven't learned respect, I see. Alright then. You leave me no choice."
Evan watched with growing apprehension as the crazed man stood and pulled him into a sitting position before leaning his back against the nearest wall. "This will hurt a bit, I'm afraid, but it's all for the greater good." He put a hand on Evan's knee, and before the younger male had time to wonder what was about to happen, a strange surge went through his calf muscle. Followed by a funny muffled pop.
Then the muscle spasmed quite violently, and the pain began. Evan clenched his teeth on a hiss. It felt like he'd been shot or hit very hard in the back of the leg. When Dumbledore tugged the leg of his pants up, he could see it was starting to swell. There would probably be bruising, too. And it hurt. It wasn't a come-and-go kind of pain - it was waves of agony traveling up and down his leg.
Evan looked up at Dumbledore, only to see a satisfied half-smile playing at the man's lips. Just what had that old bastard done to him?!
OoOoO
"Just one question," Lucius said after he'd given a rapid explanation. "Are you up to it?" He was aiming it at Stryker in particular, but she gave him a stubborn nod and snapped into an upright position. After the other three had given their agreement, he hissed, "Then go! Waste no time - every second is precious."
"Yes, Lucius," Xavier murmured. His eyes glowed brilliantly for a moment, and then he and the others were gone.
"Be swift, my friends," Lucius whispered into the silence that followed. "For I fear that we don't have much longer to find who we're looking for..."
OoOoO
Severus sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. He'd put Zephyr to sleep a while ago, after the child had exhausted himself crying. Now he was waiting for news from Lucius. He knew the blonde would let him know when they found Evan. No point in stressing himself over it until they found the young man and knew what his condition was.
He found his gaze straying to the room where the boy slept fitfully, occasionally crying out softly. No doubt Zephyr was dreaming of what might be happening to his brother. Slowly, he leaned back into his chair, attempting to get comfortable.
Once upon a time, he'd hated the child, but that had been before Zephyr had been born. Severus had seen the child as another loss to the man he hated. He'd lost the woman he'd loved to James Potter, and then he'd found out Lily was pregnant. He'd been bitter - he would not deny it.
Then Lily and James had come to the Dark Lord, saying they wanted to switch sides in the war. They wanted to protect their son from Dumbledore - they'd known how insane he was, apparently. Voldemort had been wary at first, unsure of why two such well-known Light supporters would suddenly change their allegiances...but he'd welcomed them and their unborn child after hearing that Dumbledore had planned to trick the boy into believing some prophecy was his destiny. The Death Eaters had been prepared to accept the Potters and their child. Had the switch stayed unheard of, things would have been different. Very different.
But somehow...one year after Zephyr had been born and the Potters had settled in, the news that they'd switched had leaked to Dumbledore, who had been furious. No one really knew what had happened next - only that James and Lily had been murdered, and that Voldemort had vanished while checking to make sure they were safe. The child had been dubbed the Boy-Who-Lived by Albus Dumbledore, left at the home of Lily's sister...and dropped off the face of the earth. Severus sighed softly and rubbed the faint Dark Mark on his left forearm.
After that, some of the Death Eaters changed. Bellatrix Lestrange, for one. She'd been frantic to find the Dark Lord - enough so to torture two innocent people into madness. Most of them quietly went back to their lives, waiting and hoping for the day that Tom - their friend and their Lord - would return. Severus was one of those not hoping, but praying that Tom was not dead - that he would come back.
He was snapped from his thoughts when Zephyr screamed his brother's name, and stood quickly to go calm the child. Please, Tom, he pleaded mentally, please be alive. Come back soon.
OoOoO
Xavier winced as the pain he was receiving increased steadily. "Keep sharp," he said quietly to Stryker. The other two were scouting the other half of the school. "I think we're getting pretty close..." He trailed off when he realized she wasn't listening. She'd paused, head cocked to the side, in front of a stretch of blank wall a few feet back. Her face was a mask of pain, but as he met her eyes he understood. They were close. Very close.
The newly awakened Elemental was just beyond that wall. The question was...how to get to him?
Stryker bit her lip and shook her head the tiniest bit. Xavier sighed, trying not to betray his frustration. They were so close! They couldn't give up now. They just...couldn't. All six Elementals were bound, body, mind, and soul, to protect and care for one another. If one was lost, all of them were lost until the next time they'd be reborn.
And that must not happen. They'd been reborn in this time period for a reason. They were needed.
The quietest breath was all the warning Xavier got before Hana's voice murmured, "We felt your distress. Have you found him?"
"Yeah," Stryker breathed. "He's here." She tapped the wall with an index finger. "But we don't know how to get to him."
"Spread out," Deidrick whispered, close to Xavier's ear. "See if there isn't a hidden door anywhere nearby. If not, regroup and try to figure out something else. Warning is 'scatter'." All of them flinched as they felt the next wave of pain. Then they began to follow Deidrick's orders, alert in case one of them sounded the alarm.
If they failed, they failed not only their fellow Elemental, but the world that needed them.
OoOoO
Zephyr stared into the mug he held between lightly trembling hands. The hot chocolate helped a bit with the nightmares...but he wanted his brother.
Today would've been the eleventh day they spent here together, locked up by Dumbledore. Three days until Zephyr turned eleven. He bit his lip. Just a few days ago Evan had been with him, joking lightly about the child's birthday. Now...Zephyr didn't know where his brother was. Only that he was hurting.
Big brother, he cried inwardly, taking a sip of the warm liquid to keep himself somewhat calm. Where are you?