Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

Apologies if I've got the dates wrong in any of these chapters by the way regarding continuity, I recently fleshed out the timeline for the story so I'll be sticking to that from now on. Also, I know this chapter is filled with exposition and there are several shoutouts to other stuff like Batman: Year One in here, but I thought it'd be a good idea to get everyone up to speed on what stuff was like before the events in Goblet of Fire kicked off, and felt like this was the best way to do it.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Absolute Beginners

I.

The moment that the Hat declared what house Harry Potter would attend at eleven years old in 1989 changed his life forever. The words still echoed in his mind, several years on. "You have a bright future ahead of you. You know when to use your strength, far more tactical than any Gryffindor. But too noble and self-sacrificing for Slytherin. And too individualistic for Hufflepuff. A keen learner, too. I know exactly where to put you… RAVENCLAW."

Harry initially welcomed the challenge. A chance to get away from Gryffindors and meet new people, become friends with those that weren't necessarily like his parents. He immediately regretted that choice on the first night, when a shouting match with Roger Davis forced him to leave the common room without even getting a chance to get acquainted with his new bed. He wouldn't get a chance to sit in his own bed until the third night, when he brought the subject matter up with Flitwick, who intervened. Flitwick made it clear that he could not show favouritism to students and as a result, never became too active in Harry's life from that moment onwards, despite the clear signs of bullying. He always subscribed to the mantra of letting the students sort their own personal problems out, but given the age difference between Harry and Roger as well as the support that Roger had on his side at the time, in his peak years, sorting out their own personal problems was never going to happen.

The positivises to this was that it allowed Harry to get an understanding of everything around Hogwarts by the third night. Whilst most of his classmates were struggling to get to their lessons, getting lost in the building, Harry on the other hand was there, always a few seconds before the previous class left. He had had to endure a Howler on his first morning from his parents about how he was not sorted into Gryffindor, causing a minor scandal in the Daily Prophet, especially given that Harry was largely kept out of the press until this point, causing a few to even question whether or not he was a Potter at all. At least in the early years, he wished that he hadn't been. But part of him always came back to the family, the desire to be accepted. One day, he told himself, he would prove his parents wrong, and they would invite him back into the family with open arms. That was Harry's dream.

"You know, everyone around here thought that you'd be a Gryffindor," said Nearly Headless Nick on the second night, back when the ghosts were still talking to him. "I suppose you get that a lot, after all. You are a Potter."

"And here I thought I was going to last another day without being reminded of my family."

"Sorry," apologised Nick, meekly. "You know, just because you are in Ravenclaw, doesn't mean you can't go onto great things. I'm sure the Hat told you this, but I just wanted to remind you. Every year there is always at least one student destined for great things. You can be this year's."

"And do what? My family forget that I exist every other day of the week," said Harry. "Most of my classmates hate me. I can't even go to sleep without learning the detection spell to cast it first. This whole thing's a mess."

"It will get better," Nick said. "You can be better. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather the Gryffindors do well, of course, but I am not above helping another member of the school. You can do better than the divide between the houses, too. It has been around for far too long."

"So you're saying I should find a purpose?"

"Yes. Be whatever you want to be. A hero. A villain. A rogue. Their saviour. Or be none of it," said Nick. "Just do something. Although, for Merlin's sake, I'd prefer it if you didn't become a villain. The world has enough of those already."

Harry took Nick's advice to heart on the second night. The third night, he decided to do something about the bullying problem at Hogwarts, and found the then Seventh Years, Buster Davidson and Keats Williamson, beating up another first year whose name Harry didn't know, casting spells and humiliating him for the public to see. Not knowing much magic other than a simple Wingardium Leviosa, Harry was quickly put in his place by Buster and Keats, and left hanging up with the beaten student. The student ignored Harry despite his efforts to save him and Harry discovered the hard way that he wasn't invincible.

In order to be good, he had to train. He had to put in the hard work. One thing that he did find that the student had left behind was a muggle comic book, a classic Batman comic book that showed the man Bruce Wayne lose his parents, train hard, and return to his city to become a crime fighter. Despite the fact that both of his parents were still alive, Harry found that he had a lot in common with the Caped Crusader, and so when he found the Room of Requirement at Christmas, the first thing that he turned it into was the Batcave. He'd returned the comic to the student who had forgotten it of course, having only been given it by a parent shortly before coming, but Harry quickly found himself remembering every page to the letter.

'Yes Father, I Shall Become a Bat.'

At eleven years old, Harry may not have had the training that Bruce Wayne did, and neither did he have the League of Assassins for a mentor, but he was willing to put in the hard work, and mostly self-taught, his training as a result meant that by the time his brother arrived at Hogwarts in his third year, he was almost ready.

Thirteen years old, before his third year at Hogwarts, Harry discovered music for the first time. Proper, muggle, music. A small record store had opened up in Godric's Hollow and after exploring the town he quickly found himself stumbling into it. The man was a squib and recognised Harry almost instantly, and delighted to have a Potter in the house, gave him a free copy of something that Harry was sure he'd love. It was David Bowie's Absolute Beginners, the very first record that he owned.

I'm an absolute beginner
But I'm absolutely sane.

At thirteen years old in nineteen ninety-one, Harry was pretty sure he had found his first love. The year of 1991 passed Harry by largely unnoticed in the wizarding world however, and he soon found himself catching up on events that he had missed out on. The first Britain went up to space. Queen debuted their chart-topper Bohemian Rhapsody and Eurythmics released an album that contained their Greatest Hits. Terminator 2: Judgement Day topped the US Box Office Charts and by the end of the year, the Cold War officially came to an end with the dissolving of the USSR with the resignation of Mikael Gorbachev. Harry quickly found his favourite album, Sam Cooke's concert release Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, and a few days before he was due to go back to Hogwarts, Harry's record store closed. The owner was moving, his business a failure in a largely wizarding-run community, and apparently, decided to travel to America and couldn't take the leftover stock with him. What he couldn't take, he gave to Harry, and as a result, his record collection grew tenfold. He returned to Hogwarts with a Walkman and a bunch of tapes only to be bitterly disappointed that it didn't work, at least for now.

If Harry had thought his first two years were bad enough then his third year with Samuel Potter became insufferable. Despite Quidditch being excluded to second years and above he became Gryffindor's number one seeker after one simple feat that Professor McGonagall just happened to be watching. His dedication to his training in the Room of Requirement had seen him live a mostly friendless life, and had immediately seen himself ostracised by the school community even further. An outcast and a social pariah by the age of thirteen the only place that music worked was the Room of Requirement, so that was where he remained within lessons.

Halloween saw Harry's first chance to showcase his newfound training in action, and he was too busy training to notice anything wrong with his third Defence teacher, Professor Quirrell. A troll was unleashed into Hogwarts and almost killed Hermione Granger, but Harry's diversion brought enough time for her to escape from the bathroom after being bullied by Ron Weasley. She did not become friends with Weasley following this incident and neither did she become friends with Harry, instead turning to other students in Hufflepuff. Harry ended up in hospital and two weeks' worth of detention after stalling the troll long enough for Sam and Ron to arrive and take all the credit for its destruction, as he had been knocked unconscious by it just as they arrived. He had earned detention. They had earned several points for Gryffindor.

Nymphadora Tonks, a student who was a few years older than him and a Hufflepuff, visited him in the hospital with a card and a hot chocolate. She was the first one to notice Harry's troubles, having said, "Hermione told me about what happened to you. I thought I'd come and say hi, seeing as I noticed that nobody else bothered to. She says thanks, by the way."

Tonks and Harry became friends after that. Harry tried introducing Tonks to muggle music, but it didn't really catch on. Someone who was listening to their conversation however was Jason Samuels, who became fast friends with Harry when they bonded over their shared love of music. Jason's dedication to Duran Duran and A-Ha and The Jam kept Harry alive and beating during these years, and his conversations with Tonks and Jason remained the focal point of his sanity.

Unprepared, he tried to get past the Three Headed Dog when he saw something beneath it after investigating the third-floor corridor. He ended up getting surprised by Quirrell and knocked unconscious again, waking up a day later to find out that Quirrell had been revealed to be Voldemort and his brother had stopped him from getting the Philosopher's Stone. Gryffindor beat Slytherin to win the House Cup for the first time in many years, and Harry couldn't help but join in on the celebrations. He ended the year returning to his family, bruised and beaten, but at least he had something he hadn't before. Friends.

1992 came around quicker than before, and with it came the release of Jurassic Park in muggle theatres. Released in the summer of July it was Harry's first ever movie that he saw at the Cinema, and he loved it. Combining movies with music he quickly stumbled across his Mum's half buried, half ignored collection of VHS tapes and discovered her long lost love for French New Wave Cinema and American crime movies. He followed up Jurassic Park with a mixture of Jean-Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders and Alfred Hitchcock's classics Rear Window and Vertigo. Like all rebellious teenagers, he soon found himself sneaking into 18 rated movies, and first heard about a film that had been banned in the UK due to how violent it was. That film was Reservoir Dogs, and then, everything changed again for Harry, when he saw it for the first time at thirteen years old.

Five consecutive viewings later, He knew that he wanted to make a difference, and he knew that he wanted to do it in a Suit.

II.

Yes Father, I Shall Become A Bat.

If he thought his brother's first year was enough trouble then Harry couldn't have been more wrong. Samuel's second year saw the coming of Professor Lockhart as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was an instant charmer, but it appeared that he put too much charm into his work. Harry discovered that he was using his powers for ill after recognising one of his stories from a work of fiction, trying to con believers in to the fact that his tale of how he defeated a famous vampire known as Dracula was the truth. Digging into Lockhart further, Harry found out multiple reports of past incidents where the stories didn't match up with the facts, and in most cases, were exaggerated. He was a fraud, designed to sell his own books.

And then Slytherin's monster struck for the first time on Filch's cat. Enemies of the Heir, Beware. Harry potentially saw this as Lockhart tapping into the myths and legends of the castle as a diversion but when he knew that the man had no idea he realised that this was something else. Whilst his brother investigated Slytherin's monster, he helped look after his sister, Harper, keeping her out of trouble. She too had been sorted into Gryffindor like her more famous brother and made friends a little too easy, but at the same time, got on with hard work. Hermione Granger, Harry noted, made friends with Ginny Weasley, who became more and more distant as the years went on. Eventually, Harry found the book for the first time, cast aside by Ginny in a fit of despair. He talked to Riddle like Ginny had done, enough to figure out that Ginny was being used and went to Dumbledore to explain. However, Dumbledore had been arrested by Lucius Malfoy for charges of neglect and mistreatment after the fourth petrification, oddly enough, the only time Lucius Malfoy had cared about a muggleborn in his life. But if Lucius Malfoy saw an opportunity, he took it. Dumbledore got removed from office for only 24 hours, but it was enough to see the damage done.

Ginny Weasley was kidnapped by Slytherin's Monster. Her Body Will Lie in the Chamber Forever. It turned out that the book had been taken back by her having solved the riddle to Ravenclaw tower with the help of her friend Luna Lovegood, and ended up dragging herself to die. Unfortunately for Voldemort her plan to alert Samuel through a blood message succeeded, and Sam, following the clues laid down by Ginny, headed to the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry had followed a different route to discover the Chamber. He had gone with Harper to check on Hermione and had found a note that instructed him to follow the spiders. He did, with Harper, into the forest, and they were able to work out that the spiders were able to tell them that it was a basilisk. Returning to the castle, Harper rushed to tell her father at the Ministry with the help of McGonagall and the floo network, whilst Harry journeyed into the abyss to find his brother and Ron Weasley facing down the basilisk and a young Tom Riddle. Riddle struck first of course, but the two teamed up to eventually, with the help of Fawkes, the Phoenix, stop the basilisk for good. In the chaos, Harry stole the book, acquired a basilisk fang, and was able to stop the Riddle. But he also had been wounded by the basilisk in the process of stealing the fang, and missed another celebration of his brother's heroics. But this time, Fawkes was not a biased witness, and told Dumbledore about what had happened, earning Harry his first visit from the Headmaster.

Harry turned down the offer of an award for special services to the school, rejecting the award. He didn't like being honoured for a reward that he didn't feel he had earned, explaining that he felt that his brother and sister had done their fair share of the work as well. He also found out that he was a parselmouth in that year, a secret that he was able to keep hidden well, from mostly anyone who he came into contact with, only confessing to Remus Lupin in his fifth year. It was in the summer before his fifth year, having trained in physical combat, that Harry expanded into vigilante business outside of Hogwarts for the first time, his most notable occasion seeing a strange boy being involved in the takedown of a muggle pickpocket in a local Godric's Hollow newspaper. Small steps led to a slowly establishing connection with criminal activities, and his first Death Eater battle at 13 years old.

As expected lost horribly, and fleeing the village that they had struck, stumbled across somebody called Remus Lupin for the first time. Lupin, recognising him as Harry Potter, took him under his mentorship and trained him further in both magical and non-magical ways, teaching him tricks to avoid getting noticed by the Ministry and to disguise his face. Most of what he learned, he learned from Lupin, and as a result, excelled when he returned to Hogwarts in his fifth year, which soon proved to be his most important, because it was Nineteen Ninety Three, and Peter Pettigrew had escaped from Azkaban. It turned out that the traitor been an animagus all along, disguised as a rat, and came for Sam to finish his master's mission. In response, the Dementors came to Hogwarts, and Harry learned the patronous charm.

He also learned attacked the Death Eaters again following an increased activity outside Norwich, rumoured that they were hunting for something. That something turned out to be the Spear of Destiny, a device that had been imported into Europe. Despite contrasting rumours that the Spear was already in place, Harry went to investigate, wearing a suit for the first time. The mission went largely without a hitch, and as a result, several Death Eaters were left captured. One he helped escape however was a Severus Snape, recognising why Dumbledore had the man on the inside and proceeding to keep his identity a secret. It turned out that the rumours had been false, planted by Snape at the bequest from Dumbledore in an attempt to work out which Death Eaters were still active in the field. The Spear of Destiny was very much held in containment in the Department of Mysteries, kept under lock and key. However, Snape couldn't help but disclose this information when questioned by Lestrange and Voldemort's inner circle. Lestrange herself of course, had broken out of Azkaban several years earlier, leaving a bloody trail of bodies in her wake.

Harry was lucky that he had as long as he did to prepare for the attack by the Death Eaters, but then that showed their lack of a leadership structure without their commander, with constant infighting and power struggles.

To Harry's delight, Lupin became the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher even if by this point he knew it would only be for a year due to the curse. Lupin introduced Harry to a Boggart which showed him his greatest fear, the death of his family. No matter what they said to him he still loved them and viewed them as family, no matter what he said. He remembered them for what they were before Voldemort's attack, loving and caring, and hoped that one day they would return to that. His Boggart was dissolved by turning them into clowns, something which in turn frightened a certain Jason Samuels behind him, who had come to the class despite being older than Harry. Having read Stephen King's It at an age far younger than he should have done, he had grown up afraid of clowns, and as a result, he instantly had to come up with his spell to counter it almost immediately, betraying his worst fear. A world without music and laughter.

Peter Pettigrew attacked Gryffindor the very next day, having killed and disguised himself as Ron Weasley's pet rat. He kidnapped Samuel and pulled him out of the castle, but Lupin was waiting for him in the courtyard having been tipped off by the Marauder's Map, a device that Sam had been given by James. Pettigrew was easily defeated by Lupin that year, and Harry continued his vigilante business in secret, increasing his activities which began to earn himself increased notoriety in the wizarding world. Following Lupin's resignation from Hogwarts, Harry approached him with an offer to work as his Alfred to Harry's Bruce Wayne, and as a result, a new partnership was formed once more. Taking advantage of muggle security cameras to give him updates on wizards, Harry and Lupin became partners in crime-fighting like it was something that they should have done all their lives, and eventually, they gained a notoriety too. The Man in the Suit myth grew and grew, bringing Harry in a roundabout way to where he was today, in nineteen ninety four.

"And there you have it," said Harry, talking to Tonks on the balcony. It was well into the early morning, and several drinks later, he was exhausted from his story-telling. "That's more or less it. Why I became who I am."

"Because of a headless ghost and a muggle comic book?" Tonks almost snorted at the absurdity of the situation.

"Because I wanted to make a difference."

"And have you?"

"I'd say I have. The Death Eaters don't have the Spear, for one."

"Bellatrix Lestrange is captured, too," pointed out Tonks. "I guess I should thank you for luring her out, assuming that was you."

"It was," said Lupin. "But we have a more pressing matter at hand that we must address. The Cult of Mordred. That could threaten to undo everything that you've already done."

"Wait. Mordred? As in the man who killed King Arthur Mordred? The one who was Merlin's greatest enemy, Mordred?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "He's coming back. Apparently, that's what I keep hearing, anyway. And King Arthur might not be dead, if you believe all the legends, but that's beside the point. You remember that door?"

"I'm never going to forget it. It feels odd. Unnatural. Like it doesn't belong," Tonks had only seen it briefly, but anyone who even glanced at the door for a matter of seconds knew it was a sight they were never going to forget in their lifetime.

"The chances are highly likely that he's behind that, trying to escape." said Harry. "But what I don't get is why now. Why this year. Why not before. He could have influenced people at any time before."

"Because it has something to do with my school," said a voice from behind them, and Viktor Krum stood there next to Fleur Delacour, who had arrived. Both were tired but had recovered from their various exploits, Krum in particular, and were yawning. "Andrei Rosicky, he bought the cult over. He was, how you put it, Patient Zero."

"He was already infected by the time Krum arrived in Hogwarts," confirmed Fleur, and glancing at Harry's suit, added, "Nice suit by the way. It fits."

"Thanks," Harry said. Tonks frowned at this, glancing across to them.

"So you know he's the vigilante? Am I seriously the last person to find out?" Tonks said.

"I worked that out when he recruited us to investigate the school," said Fleur. "I think for where we're going next, you're going to need all the help you can get."

"Well that depends," said Harry. "Where are we going next?"

"Durmstrang," Krum said. "We're going to Durmstrang. Whatever Andrei was possessed by, he was attacked there."

"Well, I must say, I've never been to… what country's Durmstrang in again?"

"I have sworn a solemn vow not to tell outsiders without the permission of the Headmaster," said Krum. After a pause he added, "But there is no specification in the vow about taking outsiders to Durmstrang without telling them where it is. Technicalities."

"Well in that case, that seems like a big technicality." said Lupin with a smile. "Looks like we're going to need a ride."

"There is a boat," elaborated Krum. "A smaller one, inside the vessel that we used to travel here. It is very small, but can travel vast distances. With the fact that most of my school is either asleep or possessed, we will have to move quickly."

"Wait, hold on, we're doing this tonight?" Tonks asked, "But what about Hogwarts? Won't people realise we're missing?"

"Come on, Tonks, what's more important? Stopping Mordred from coming back or attendance? Besides, not like we won't be back before anyone realises we're gone. Three days at most including travel, especially over the weekend when everyone's at Hogsmeade..."

"Fine," said Tonks. "Not like I'm a student here anymore. But if this goes wrong, Harry…"

"It won't go wrong," said Harry, full of enthusiasm despite the subject matter at hand. "Come on. You're going with three champions to visit a friendly school to investigate the origin of a secret cult hell bent on destroying us all. What could possibly go wrong with that?"

TO BE CONTINUED….

Fanfic recommendation of the chapter: Kenya Starflight's The Stag and the Dragon. It's a Star Wars crossover that's actually pretty good, merging both universes surprisingly well all because Dumbledore decided that appointing Darth Vader as the Dark Arts teacher might be a good idea.

Film recommendation of the chapter: Colossal, starring Anne Hathaway. It's a unique take on the kaiju/giant monsters destroying cities genre that Pacific Rim or Godzilla fans will be used to and it's got a powerful, emotional performance at its core. I saw it today and can recommend it for sure.

Next Chapter: Durmstrang, and hopefully less exposition. Also, featuring a new fantasy monster, so start placing your bets now on what they're going up against. It won't necessarily be part of the Harry Potter universe already, but then it could well be. To say more would be spoilers.