AN: Well, first off, it looks like there will be one more chapter after this one before they're all home and cosy. I didn't mean to write as much as I did but it happened anyway, that shouldn't be a problem with the next chapter though as that is simply the trial really and nothing more, little adventures aside. Now, there are another two stories aside from Mahou Shoujo Kaleido Amethyst by Kijin666 that are spinoffs of this one. Fate's Gamble: Kaleidoscopic Residue by The JP and another story that looks like it will be called Zero Gamble written by Xamusel - Gamma 11 which hasn't yet been posted but there's a link to google docs in the 'Messages to the Author' thread on my forum.
I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Forum link on profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/
Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN
Chapter 53 – Conversation
"What sort of questions do you want to ask?" Harry asks uncertainly, what are you supposed to talk about with yourself from a parallel world? Black Wing, and Harry was finding it difficult to think of him as another 'Harry', just kept silent for a moment before replying.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure. I mean, I want to know about the events that have occurred to you over the past two years, but I don't know how useful that would be to me. As can be seen from our differing appearances, there are bound to be discrepancies between our two worlds." Black Wing tapped his chin for a moment.
"A summary would probably be most helpful right now, I suppose. First year, what kind of interesting things happened then? You tell me your version and I'll tell you what was different, that should work best for now." Black Wing then conjured up chairs for them all and sat himself on one of them.
Harry blinked for a moment before summarising what had happened in his first year, Black Wing seemed rather amused by how much they had assumed it was Snape behind the whole thing. When Black Wing, with help from the younger Hermione, explained their first year, and how well he got along with his world's Snape, his amusement became more understandable.
Harry was having trouble understanding how the greasy git in his world could seem and act so different to his alternate. Ron was worse though, he seemed to think that getting along well with Snape was a sign of Black Wing being a bad person. While Harry hadn't spent long with Black Wing, he had gotten the feeling that he was the sort of person to do what he decided to do, regardless of what anyone else might say and, while not necessarily a bad person, he would have no qualms about doing 'bad' things.
Harry was also more than a little jealous of Black Wing. Aside from things like actually having a duel with Malfoy and winning against him, Black Wing had people he called family. Harry knew that they weren't the family he was born with but it still rankled that he was stuck with the Dursleys.
He had also realised that he was comparing himself to Black Wing, he kind of wished he wasn't though. Apart from the whole thing of Black Wing having a family that cared about him and being sorted into different houses, there were still numerous differences between them.
Harry was a little bit ashamed of himself, Black Wing had a serious amount of self-motivation that Harry found incredibly enviable. Whereas he was always messing about with Ron or something, Black Wing had multiple projects of his own going on at once. Of course, Harry seemed to have an easier time with his human friends as Black Wing seemed incapable of understanding a regular human's mind.
As they began to discuss their second year, Black Wing was having his previous impression of Harry altered. While what he said was at least a little true, the way they viewed Hogwarts was completely different. For Black Wing, Hogwarts was just somewhere to learn Wizardcraft and where Holly had come from as well as Elestia and others. The castle itself, ignoring his bond with Holly for a moment, didn't actually mean very much to him.
Harry was different though. Hogwarts for him was somewhere he could be away from the Dursleys and make an attempt at just being a regular kid. While the whole boy-who-lived thing meant he would never actually be just another face in the crowd, he could at least emulate it somewhat. Playing games with friends, socialising a little, arguing and making up again, all sorts of things that anyone else would take for granted.
It was things like these, especially after a decade of the Dursleys, that Harry craved. Sure, he went on adventures every year, solved a mystery, confronted the bad guy, saved another student, whatever! The point is, his time at Hogwarts was the most normal he'd ever had. He had been denied a childhood by his aunt and uncle and was only now experiencing a little of what that was like.
Black Wing, despite not feeling that way himself, could understand that. It didn't mean he liked it, he really didn't, but he could at least understand it. The problem was that Harry couldn't live a normal relatively carefree life, not without taking care of a certain dark lord first.
He might not really respect Harry, but Black Wing would give him what help he could. He was by no means going to do anything for him, he would merely give him the tools by which he could do so himself. The training lessons he was giving everyone anyway, copies of those booklets he had made for DADA, a list of spells it would be a good idea for him to learn, directing him to a part of the Black library that could help him with Occlumency, things like that he would do. Whether Harry made use of them or not, well, that was up to him.
Black Wing's attention was certainly grabbed when Harry started talking about fourth year and the Tri-wizard Tournament. He knew that there was something going on in his world that required a lot of Dumbledore's time, something that could well be a tournament of their own, but that wasn't the part that interested him. The bit that he focused on was the ritual at the end, the one to return Voldemort to a body. If that wasn't the most golden opportunity to off the bastard, which Voldemort actually was amusingly enough, then he didn't know what else would be.
Black Wing frowned, if he achieved his Masteries at the end of this academic year, which he hopefully would, then that would free up a lot of time for next year. Seeing how he liked to study ahead in class, which could only go as fast as the slowest member, then it wouldn't be beyond reason that he could pass sixth year exams in addition to his OWLs when they came around.
If he did that as well as offing Voldemort, then he could count his fourth year as his final one at Hogwarts. He agreed with Zelretch on one point at least, staying there and following such a mundane routine was doing him no favours. Black Wing was getting so bored and restless while he was at Hogwarts that it simply wasn't funny, he didn't exactly have many connections there that were too significant to him, and it wouldn't be a hardship if he left that reality entirely.
Black Wing had never planned to stay in the wizarding world permanently, the Clock Tower, Fuyuki city, the Shapeless Isle, and the rest of that world was where his heart and his home was. He wouldn't be able to stay there permanently either though, he was too restless. While that would be his home, and somewhere he would often return, he thought that he would be much happier drifting from one world to the next, see what adventures he encountered along the way.
He was broken out of his musings before long though when Molly Weasley's strident voice screeched throughout the house, setting off the portrait of Mrs. Black in the process. Black Wing had to hold in a chuckle at that, seeing how the disturbance was his fault.
He had wanted to speak to Dumbledore regarding the blood wards around Privet Drive and had asked Len to prevent him from leaving in any manner she could. Len had taken this as an opportunity to steal Dumbledore's wand and race off upstairs with it in her mouth.
While everyone was distracted, Black Wing sneakily cast an anti-summoning charm on the wand as Len flew past the open doorway. He mentally told her to take it somewhere out of the way so that their best means of retrieving it was to ask him to get his 'cat' to give it back.
It worked, it worked well. When people realised that, yes, that gap was too small for even a house elf to fit and, no, summoning charms weren't working, they had called in Black Wing to try and coax her back out again. Moody had probably realised that he had had her do this for a reason and, after a twitch of the head in Dumbledore's direction, had gotten all but Black Wing and Dumbledore back down into the kitchen.
When it was just him and the headmaster, Black Wing spoke up. "You know, I took a look at the wards around Privet Drive while I was there." He said casually as he reached towards Len with one hand, pretending to try and get her attention. "I was quite surprised to find blood wards up though, aren't they classified as dark magic? Well, anyway, I did try and calculate how much blood would be necessary to cover the property. It turns out to be approximately the same amount that a human body contains, fancy that. Of course, wards like were constructed there require fresh and untainted blood to work properly. That means no replenishing it with potions, making more of it with a spell, not even being able to use magic to extract it from the body."
Black Wing glanced up at Dumbledore, not that he could tell due to the blindfold. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is why? Why do that? Why mutilate a corpse for such a flawed ward system?" He looked at Dumbledore who seemed surprised to hear Harry declare that ward system as flawed.
"What do you mean? Blood wards, despite being classified as dark magic, are some of the most powerful in existence. Why did you call them flawed?" Dumbledore asked. He seemed to realise that Black Wing actually didn't have an issue with the mutilation itself, no, it was simply doing so without any particular reason that got to him.
Snorting, Black Wing replied. "Do you actually know anything about blood magic? Currently, there are three major holes in the wards that I can think of off the top of my head!" Dumbledore looked curiously at Black Wing, if not a little alarmed at what he was implying.
"First, they only cover the property. If he set so much as a single foot outside of the wards, which didn't even fully cover the garden, then he's fair game for anyone or anything that sees him. Second, Voldemort now has Harry's blood which renders them ineffective against him, even if no-one else. Third, it only stops people that have harming Harry as their primary intention. If someone was thinking of it as 'removing an obstacle from Voldemort's path' which had a side effect of 'Oh dear, Harry's dead' then the wards would do nothing against them! They wouldn't work on insane people or magical constructs, come to think of it, and someone could simply let a wild magical animal loose nearby and give it his scent." Black Wing explained to a rapidly paling Dumbledore.
"I didn't know. Blood magic is, while also being considered rather dark, a rather untouched upon subject. That and soul magic are two things that wizards only know a bit about, that they are both banned makes researching them rather difficult as well. It doesn't help that both of them are primarily used for some of the most horrific things that the wizarding world does its best to hide." He replied to which Black Wing nodded.
"Yeah, I know a fair bit about both subjects actually. Also, in relation to the soul magic part, there's a few other things I'd like to ask you. Do you, or do you not, know what is inside of Harry's scar?" Searching his old face, Black Wing saw minute traces of sorrow there. It was well hidden but his sharp eyes managed to see the emotions that Dumbledore was trying to hide.
"I had my suspicions but no way of proving or disproving them. Given what you just said, regarding your skill in soul magic, I now fear that what I suspected is so. Harry is a horcrux, is he not? There is only one way to get rid of them too, to destroy the vessel. That is a fate I would wish on no one, especially one so young." Dumbledore was rather surprised when Black Wing started laughing, there was nothing funny about what he had just said.
"Good, you actually do care at least a little about Harry then." Black Wing said. "That means that I have no hesitation in telling you that it is possible to remove a horcrux from an object, for me at least. I know how to do it and I shall do so as soon as possible, probably tomorrow so he can at least get settled in for a night."
Black Wing didn't tell him that he'd already managed to do so with the other horcrux in this house, the locket, he would save that for later. "I also wanted to speak to you regarding Harry's trial. I've had a look and this smear campaign is only really targeting Harry because you are a more difficult target and always support him, right?"
Dumbledore nodded a little. "That is true. I intended to handle the trial myself as, unfortunate as it may be, I am the only one familiar enough with the law to know how to go about the case. Of course, it will be something of a mockery of a trial rather than what should happen, I have no doubt of that. Why do you ask?"
Black Wing grinned, his wickedly sharp fangs gleaming in what little evening light still shone through the dirty windows and, with how the shadows fell on him, he made for a most sinister sight. "Well, I do have a more than passing knowledge of law myself." He told the headmaster, referring to the vast amounts of Law books he'd read in regards to that marriage contract that Stheno had accidentally ended up in. "While this form may be too young to act as a defendant, 'Amy' wouldn't have the same problem. If you go and get them to drop the charges, it would be seen as you bailing him out of trouble, but..."
Dumbledore continued that line of thought. "If someone completely unrelated to me were to defend him then he wouldn't face anything nearly as bad, especially if said defendant were to express a little disdain for me during said trial." His eyes sharpened and he focused on Black Wing. "I will be testing you on just how well you know your law and how you intend to go about refuting the charges, you'll also have to talk to Harry himself about this."
Black Wing nodded. "I intend to. I also intend to take him out and get him some proper robes because appearances really do matter, especially with the more traditional families, and have a talk with him in regards to his temper, etiquette, attitude and presentation. That and a few other things should make my job far easier."
"Well dearie me!" Dumbledore chuckled. "You are the little manipulator. I say, if I didn't know better then I would say that you and your cat planned this confrontation. I mean, it is so strange that no one has been able to summon my wand since I can't recall ever putting an anti-summon charm on it."
xxxxx
Black Wing and Dumbledore soon headed downstairs after that, the latter thinking about what the former had said about just how many holes there were in the blood wards he had erected around Privet Drive. Dumbledore knew that no ward was perfect, that was simply impossible, but he had overestimated the blood wards if this alternate Harry was to be believed.
It was true that he didn't actually know all that much about blood magic because, aside from it being classified as dark and therefore difficult to find books on, it was a mostly unknown branch of magic. He had relied on that though, if he couldn't find much information on them then it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to find out more and have that lead them to a way around them.
Perhaps it was a good idea to remove Harry from Privet Drive, seeing as he was the secret keeper then the fidelius around Grimmauld place was probably a better protection than the blood wards were right now. Both Harry himself and Sirius would be far happier too and, while happiness took a second place to safety, it was still important.
They came downstairs to find that Molly Weasley had already laid out food for the meal. Dumbledore decided that he should probably leave for now and think about what to do about Harry. He had heard that Black Wing was working on a way to return both himself and the younger Hermione to their reality, and had achieved some success, so he knew that there was the possibility of sending Harry to another reality.
That option wasn't particularly practical though, despite it being possibly the safest place for him to be, because he himself had absolutely no idea how such a thing would be done. Things that weren't understood, not even to the level of his understanding in blood magic, tended to have 'surprises' that could cause numerous issues. Perhaps, yes, perhaps letting Harry stay at Grimmauld place with Sirius really was for the best.
While all of this was going on, Black Wing was lost in his own thoughts. He barely paid attention when Sirius asked Harry why he wasn't asking questions, when Molly Weasley tried to chivvy everyone out of the room, when she completely failed to remove him, when she actually managed to get Ginny and the younger Hermione out of the room.
He didn't pay any attention when Harry started shouting about wanting to join the Order of the phoenix himself, nor when he was denied. He only came back to them long enough to tell Harry to come by his room the next day, that was when he was going to remove the horcrux from his alternate's head.
He didn't tell them what he was going to do, just that he was going to talk to Harry. They would no doubt notice when the scar began to fade and heal, which it would do without the horcrux being there, and Black Wing would probably give them some sort of an explanation.
Telling them about horcruxes was not going to happen, simply knowing about them was dangerous. If Voldemort found out that someone knew about his horcruxes then he would stop at nothing to kill all those who held that information, and the Order would tip him off if they began searching for them as well as they weren't exactly stealthy.
He might tell Dumbledore and Harry, those two he would almost certainly tell. He didn't quite think it fair though, he hadn't had the same level of assistance when he was looking for them. While it was true that his element and origin made it easier for him to recognise the soul fragments for what they were, the searching had all been directed by him.
xxxxx
The next day, at around one o'clock, Harry knocked on the door that apparently led to the room Black Wing had claimed for himself. He wondered just what the other him wanted to talk about, he hadn't been given so much as a clue what it could be.
A few moments later, the door opened and allowed him in. He looked around as he went in and the first thing that caught his attention was the dozen or so garden snakes that were flying around the room with small black wings. He blinked and rubbed his eyes but they were still there, flying around as if it was the most natural thing ever.
He looked around the room and was surprised by just how much stuff was in there. Apart from the bed, drawers and wardrobe which he'd expected, there was also several desks with things strewn all over them. One desk held the staff Black Wing used, Prismakreuz, and it seemed to be connected to a laptop by a wire. That laptop seemed to be doing... something, Harry hadn't a clue what exactly that was.
Another table had that bow that Harry had seen before, Prismakante, and there was a sheaf of parchment with stuff on it next to the bow. What was written made as much sense to him as what the laptop was doing, none at all. At least it showed Harry that the staff and bow didn't transform into each other, like he'd thought they might.
There were also several also things scattered cross the tables, from a bag which had several coloured marbles spilling out of it to a pile of metal plates that were in the process of being assembled into a suit of armour. Harry touched one of the things on the table, a short metal rod which was about six inches long and an inch in diameter that was covered in runes.
He picked it up and tried to cast with it as if it was a wand. He let out a yelp when a stream of fire came out of the end, forming itself into a whip several metres long. He quickly cut off the flow of magic to the enchanted bit of metal and dropped it back on the table.
"You know, the flame whip spell is one of the few that I actually like as it is." Black Wing's voice spoke up. Harry whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. When he did see Black Wing, partially hidden in the shadows as he usually was, Harry thought he might throw up.
Sitting there in a chair, Black Wing had cut one of his arms open right to the bone and was doing something to it. There was what Harry assumed was blood everywhere, it was purple and black in colour like everything else about Black Wing, but he didn't seem to be paying it any attention.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, his voice higher in pitch and volume than he had meant it to be, he was really thrown by what he was looking at. It looked like Black Wing was operating on himself, either that or he was trying to alter himself magically.
"Hmm? Oh, this? I'm etching runes into my bones and then wrapping them in mithril wire. The runes should strengthen and enhance them, making them more difficult to break and more resistant to damage, while the mithril works very well as a shock-absorber. That as a 'core' and the bones themselves as a stabiliser will make them into a rather crude, but possibly effective, magical focus." Black Wing explained casually, as if the flesh of his arm wasn't pinned back while he was operating on his arm in some form of magical surgery.
"O-Okay. Erm, what was that thing by the way?" Harry's mind had been wiped completely blank after seeing that and clawing for things to talk about had latched onto the flame whip that he'd been messing with a moment ago. "Was that some kind of wand that you made or something?"
Black Wing chuckled. "It is based off of the predecessor to a wand. As you might be able to guess, wands as you know them had to come from somewhere. Magic can be channelled through all sorts of substances, what are known as magical conductors, but some are better than others and most of them have a speciality as it were. Mahogany wood tends towards transfiguration and alchemy, the physical alteration of an object, willow is good for charms, manipulating how something acts or interacts with other things. Originally, before wands existed, that was how witches and wizards channelled their magic, using a large number of catalysts for different effects. The runes and arithmancy that I used to create that will only allow it to use one spell, the flame whip. Of course, because I made it specialise so much, it can cast a more powerful and more efficient spell than a general magical focus like a wand does." He paused in what he was doing and pointed the tool he was using to etch runes at Harry. "I'm guessing that there are other things you want to know as well though, why I asked to talk to you for example."
Harry nodded his head. He had been told that Black Wing usually only appeared for the evening meal and at the two times of day when he did his little teaching thing, between half ten and lunch on a morning and eight till nine in the evening, and as such no one really knew anything about him. They'd tried asking the younger Hermione but, when asked, she found she really didn't know all that much about Harry herself.
One of the snakes that were flying around the room landed on Black Wing's hand and he stroked it under the chin, being careful not to get any of his blood on it. Latching on to something else to talk about, Harry asked about the snakes and everything else he could see in the room.
"The snakes are a proof of concept." Black Wing told Harry. "Now, in this world, you killed the basilisk in your second year. You were ridiculously lucky to do so, lucky to survive as well. In my world, that didn't happen. We managed to remove the threat that the diary posed and Sasha, that's the basilisk, became my familiar. She expressed a wish to be able to fly, that's what led me to what you see flying around this room. When myself and Hermione return home, I will be fully prepared to grant her the ability to fly."
"Can something that big really fly? I mean, dragons must be heavy too, so how does anything that big fly? It seems physically impossible to me." Harry interrupted, remembering the size and weight of the Hungarian Horntail he'd faced in the first task.
"Correct, it is physically impossible. What actually happens involves magic and that is how I will get Sasha to fly. You must have noticed that there are impossible things that become possible by an animal's natural magic, have you not? Unicorns, phoenixes, thestrals, nifflers, and so many other creatures are capable of doing things that muggle biology says should be impossible." That was also how Black Wing could fly so well with his crow wings. While the wings actually could lift him off the ground and make him fly, with a fair amount of effort, the magic that he had entwined with them made it so much easier, more efficient and more practical.
"As for other projects I'm working on, well, there's my staff, my bow, that flame whip you almost killed yourself with, my self-augmentation, the armour, a fair few things if I'm honest." Harry's eyes then looked back at the armour he had looked at earlier and ran a hand over it, surprised by how light it was.
"Why do wizards wear duelling robes instead of armour?" He asked. "I mean, I know that robes are easier to move in, even if it's really easy to trip in them, but does armour work as a better defence against magic?" He looked at the armour plates again and saw that they were lined on the inside with some kind of leathery material.
"Duelling robes tend to be made out of dragon hide, a material that is magic resistant. Most metals are minor conductors of magic, not a good thing when people are going to be casting spells at you. That armour that you are looking at is made of mithril, a metal that is extremely strong and physically damage resistant but is also a really good magical conductor. The inside is lined with basilisk skin, one of the most magic resistant materials in the world. There are better magical insulators, but they tend to be heavy stone and are rather impractical for use in armour." Black Wing explained. The mithril plate armour that Harry was looking at had been tinted a midnight blue using mundane methods, seeing as magical ones wouldn't work, and once Aoko had strengthened it with her magic it would be all but indestructible. The basilisk hide it was lined with would take care of any spells cast at him, lending him a rather impressive resistance to magic too when it was worn.
Black Wing was also working on making a regular set of clothes that he could wear at all times, and underneath his armour when he wore it, that was created by threading mithril fibres into clothes made from refined basilisk hide. Sasha's cast off skins were proving rather useful, but the resistance such clothing would give would be a fraction of what the armour could.
"The glove on the table next to you is similar to the flame whip you were looking at before, it is made based on the concept of a wand's predecessor too. It essentially conjures something into the vague shape of a javelin, like this." Black Wing summoned the glove across to him and put it on the hand that wasn't currently cut open. He raised it in the air and an icicle appeared in his palm, one about four feet long and pointed at both ends with the widest part of it being right in the middle.
Dismissing the icicle, Black Wing shook the glove off. That glove was going to be part of his Rider class imitation, it would allow him to not have to be too close to his opponent in order to use it. Black Wing had already nearly perfected his Assassin imitation, Caster imitation and Archer imitation, the others were still in the process of being created.
Black Wing's Assassin imitation consisted of the illusion he'd already crafted, his origin gauntlets as they were being called, his poisoned daggers, and a belt full of potions with various effects, from hallucinogenics to acids to lethal poisons. That was a relatively simple class to imitate, what with it being the physically weakest, but the hardest part had been emulating presence concealment. That had only been made possible with an Aura illusion, one that was now complete and ready for use.
Black Wing's Caster imitation had an illusion of an old man with a beard, reminiscent of Dumbledore really, and an old and ragged cloak. There would be an illusion on Prismakreuz as well, that and it would be in silent mode. Black Wing had already thought up three primary and three secondary spells that his Caster imitation could be shown to favour, spells that Black Wing himself did not normally use. For offence, he would use a generic magic blast, probably using wind or ether. He would also make use of fiendfyre, a spell that he was practising with when he could, as well as lightning blasts. As long as he only used a single spell at once, he could use Prismakreuz's full processing power to amplify its power exponentially, making it extremely powerful and deadly.
For secondary spells, his Caster imitation would create elemental golems, primarily from earth and fire, to serve as cannon fodder and distractions. Traps were also things that he would make judicious use of, mixing in a little bit of physical traps such as trip wires and pressure ignition should make them more difficult to detect. That and his increasing knowledge of wizarding wards would prove very useful if he got a chance to use them. He had also learnt several more theatrical spells that would give him an edge, conjuring a fog, darkening the light levels, illusions and the like would be as useful to him in the Grail War as they were in magical plays.
His Archer class imitation was almost complete as well. For this one, he had decided to use a female illusion to throw people even further off his scent. The bow he would use was obviously Prismakante but that would be under an illusion to look like it was made of wood instead of metal. The armour for this form was the reverse of the Saber armour he was making, basilisk hide on the outside with small and thin plates of mithril on the inside.
His Rider class imitation was also coming along nicely. With this glove that acted as a magical focus to create javelins and possibly a whip of some kind if he decided to make one for this class, probably from mithril, he should have sufficient weaponry and maybe add a buckler or something for token defence. The more powerful part of his Rider imitation, the part that would make him actually seem like the class, was his modified Patronuses that looked rather demonic. If he put a saddle on one of them then he could designate that one his own private mount and add a few more alterations to it but it was the others that he was rather focused on.
Tonks had already seen and commented on it the other day in the library, but what he hadn't shown her were the other modified Patronuses. He had altered some other Patronuses to take on a vaguely bipedal form and had modified their appearance until they looked rather similar to the four legged Patronuses he had already modified. With them as other riders, he could field about two hundred, maybe three hundred, mounted troops that couldn't be killed by purely physical damage.
For Lancer, he had Prismakreuz that would be under an illusion with his [Black Lance] spell that he'd made based off of Severus' Sectumsempra curse. The interesting thing about the way he had that spell set up was that he could alter the length of the 'lance head' in an instant which would likely catch people off guard, they might even think it is the special ability of his 'Noble Phantasm'. The armour for that would be mithril with an inner basilisk hide lining like the Saber armour, but he would tint this one forest green instead of midnight blue, and he would also make it less like plate armour and more like the lorica segmentata of Roman infantry.
For Saber, aside from the armour that Harry had been looking at, Black Wing didn't exactly have much. He would either add the fire whip to this class's arsenal or use it for Rider, but he was mostly relying on whatever sword Zelretch had in mind for him and the shield that Aoko was preparing for him. His Saber imitation, it seemed, was mostly defensive in nature rather than the offensive or balanced style one would expect of it.
For Berserker, well, Black Wing really had no idea what to do here. The problem with emulating a Berserker was that they used no skill, relying on raw power and endurance which Black Wing obviously lacked. Without whatever skills he could scrape together, he really didn't stand a chance of even lasting a minute against a Servant never mind emulating or imitating a class like Berserker!
Of course, Black Wing was well aware of how inferior he was to a Servant. No matter how much more physically capable he was compared to a human, or even a regular magi, he was still a fair way below the quality of fighters he was likely to face in the Grail War, so he compensated.
Carving runes into his bones and wrapping them in mithril to act as a shock-absorber was just one method that he would employ to squeeze out every bit of potential from his body that he could. He'd already looked into alchemically altering the composition of his bones and muscles, having taken care of his nervous system by augmenting it with Ether Lite already. Obviously, he hadn't had much luck and the best results he had gotten so far was by attempting a partial transformation for his muscles only that replaced them with the muscles of an animal stronger than a human. This was fraught with problems though and Harry had decided to postpone research on it for now.
Harry's clothes, the ones he was going to wear under his armour, were also made with improving his body in mind. In addition to the physical and magical defences inherent in the materials he was creating it from, he was also making use of his vast reserves of prana. He had made arrays at the joints and along the arms that would release a 'burst' of prana in a direction.
What this meant was that his body would suddenly be accelerated and put under great stress, but would hopefully give his blows just that little bit more power behind them to make them matter. It was a rather inefficient and prana intensive method, but Harry had the prana to waste and would work on improving its efficiency and power. If only he had an example of someone doing this, he could make so much more progress.
Black Wing, lost in his thoughts of the Grail War to come, hadn't noticed how Harry was standing there awkwardly in front of him, waiting for Black Wing to say something else. He had actually enjoyed hearing Black Wing talk about all of his creations and was seriously impressed, if he was more like this then maybe Voldemort wouldn't be as big of a problem when it came down to the two of them fighting again, as it always seemed to do.
"Erm, Black Wing, why did you actually ask me to come and see you up here?" Harry asked, hoping to bring his alternate's attention back to the world around him. It worked, he stopped thinking about whatever he had been thinking about and did focus back onto the reason for him being there.
"Oh, that. Three things really, the first of which is these." He handed a small stack of books and notes to Harry. "There's books in there about several things you should learn: Occlumency, silent casting and things like that. The notes are spells that you should learn as well, ones useful for a battle if it ever comes to it. Secondly is your trial on the twelfth, specifically your defence. Now, I know a fair bit about magical law due to events in the past and seeing as they are attacking you to get to Dumbledore indirectly, he and anyone that is linked to him are bad choices in terns of defendants. This will only happen if you want me as your defence, we'll talk more about that in a moment. The third thing is your scar, if you want then I can get rid of it for you." Black Wing said in a serious tone of voice and Harry didn't know what to think.
"You mean that you can actually get rid of it, really?" He asked, surprised that anyone would be able to do so. He had read somewhere that injuries caused by dark magic tended not to heal. Harry didn't know that Black Wing was relying on that fact when he came up with his more potent spells to use during the Grail War. "But, injuries caused by dark magic can't heal, isn't that so?"
Black Wing nodded his head. "For the most part, yes, but that scar isn't dark magic. It is what is in the scar that prevents it from healing and that I can remove. It will probably be better for you if you're unconscious for this, I've never actually done this on a live subject before but it shouldn't prove problematic, still, it's better to over do something than under do it."
Harry gave his agreement and was almost instantly knocked out by a spell from Black Wing, he remained aware long enough to see his alternate conjure up a table on which he would lay but after that there was nothing.
xxxxx
Black Wing caught Harry before he hit the ground and picked him up easily only to lay him on the table he'd just conjured. Deciding that he might as well get a good look at his alternate while he had the chance, he cast what diagnostic spells he knew on him as well as using Structural Analysis on his body.
He went to lay a hand on his forehead, where the scar was, and only then took notice of the fact that the flesh on his arm was still pinned back. He clicked his tongue, chiding himself for the oversight, before conjuring bandages to loosely wrap around it so he wouldn't get any of his toxic blood on Harry.
"So you're just going to take it out, just like that?" Black Wing looked up, even though he already knew who it was, to see Holly sat on a high shelf on which there was a bed in her size as well as a desk and chair. She'd been watching everything that went on since Harry had entered the room, an extra set of eyes and ears for him.
"Yeah," Black Wing replied. "Aside from what benefits removing it will have for this guy and the rest of this world, I can interrogate it for information on the other horcruxes that came before it and, hopefully, they'll match up with the other world. From what I got out of the Locket I retrieved they're so far the same, but who knows about the rest of them."
"You did more than simply check if it was a horcrux with those scans, what did you find out?" She asked curiously. While she was infinitely grateful that it was Black Wing that had made contact with her and not this alternate of him, she still didn't like the thought of innocents being injured.
"Well there are some brittle bones, some nutritional deficiencies and other things that I'll make a list of later for him. There's also a small amount of basilisk venom and phoenix tears in his blood still, though that will be gone within another year or two. His eyesight is pretty crap, goodness knows how he makes a good seeker with his vision. There is some muscle definition, not a lot, but I suppose that is from Oliver Wood's fanatical quidditch training. All of that aside, he's fairly normal really, nothing like me. Obviously he's nothing like me, my nature was altered by my dead apostle and divine heritage so I shouldn't really make a note of those differences." Black Wing told her.
Holly watched on in interest as Black Wing lightly traced the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead before he placed his palm flat against his skin. He took a breath and then began to feel for the two souls within the body, that of Harry and that of Voldemort.
He found them both but focused on the fragment rather than the whole and tried to get a grip on it. Unlike all of the previous horcruxes, this one had been constantly fed Harry's magic for a decade and a half almost and had a much more firm grip on its host.
It fought him but Black Wing, unintentionally, clenched his fist and was rather surprised when his hand sank into Harry's flesh as if it wasn't there. Now, with his hand around the foreign soul piece, he could wrench it out with force rather than trying to pull it like he had with the others and it was soon in the palm of his hand.
He quickly stuffed the soul piece into one of the orbs that he kept all of the other pieces in to interrogate and study later. Right then, he was examining his hand and remembering the sensation as it sank into Harry's flesh without resistance. He focused on that sensation again and his body began to tingle.
Seeing if the first time was a fluke, Black Wing stuck his arm into the still out of it Harry and reached through him and the table on which he lay. Pulling his arm out, Black Wing then tried to step into the table and met, once again, with no resistance. He looked up at Holly who was looking at what he was doing with interest.
"Huh, it seems that I don't actually need that ridiculously complex rune array to become immaterial. I'll test this some more but it looks like I can now cut the most complex part of the array out and work on the invisibility illusion and the Aura illusion primarily now." Black Wing mused, still focused on his apparently still immaterial arm.
He looked at Harry who's forehead was leaking some black residue and vanished it, then ran his wand over his forehead and watched as the flesh around lighting bolt scar knitted together and faded, leaving nothing but slightly pink skin behind. He wondered how people would react to it when they found out the 'famous scar' of Harry Potter was no more.
Black Wing casually hit Harry with an Ennervate to wake him up and watched as Harry slowly came to. He sat back down on the chair he'd been sitting on when his alternate came in and went back to etching runes back into his bones and then wrapping them in mithril wire.
The mithril, in addition to being a good shock-absorber, was also a good enough magical conductor to work as a general magical focusing core. A wand was made of two materials, the focusing core and the stabiliser, this was usual a part of a magical animal and the wand wood itself. Bone could act as a stabiliser and with the mithril that meant that he would, with some practise, do what most would mistake for wandless magic. That would be another good ace to have, almost literally, up his sleeve.
"Is it gone?" Harry asked, putting a hand to his head and finding only smooth skin. Black Wing conjured up a mirror to show him and he could see the happiness in Harry's eyes. Who would have thought that getting rid of that horcrux would please him so much?
"Yes, it's gone. Tell me, how do you feel now? Is anything different?" Black Wing was curious just what having that horcrux in his head for over a decade had done to Harry and what differences there would be now. For one, he knew that with it no longer feeding off his magic he should be a bit more magically powerful at least.
"I feel better, it's like a headache I didn't know I had is gone!" Harry said happily. "I feel like I can do more, like I have more energy to burn." Black Wing took note of the wide grin that had spread across Harry's face, slightly insane looking really, and wondered if the horcrux had had some sort of effect on Harry's emotions as well as everything else.
"Alright, I guess that's good at least. Now, about your trial and the defence. You're being charged with breaking the Statute of Secrecy and the Reasonable Restriction for Under-age Magic, that really shouldn't be difficult to disprove but that is only part of the whole." Black Wing said and Harry was instantly serious.
"I was defending myself from dementors! That's all there is to it, what else could there be to this trial? Once they know that then they surely can't do anything to me, right?" Harry asked exasperatedly. Black Wing shook his head, it was really not that simple.
"The dementors are supposed to be under Ministry control and, because they're denying the return of Voldemort, there'll probably be no record of them being sent out. No, this wasn't done by chance but an attack, one that is unlikely to have left any evidence behind. What we can do is make it so that you didn't actually do magic illegally, thus rendering the charge null and void. The Statute of Secrecy one is easy because the only muggle who say anything was Dudley Dursley, your cousin, who is already aware of magic." Black Wing explained to Harry.
"Okay, so that leaves me with how I'm supposed to be legally allowed to do magic. I don't think that I can just become emancipated at the drop of the hat, how am I supposed to get this to work?" He asked, wondering what sort of answer Black Wing would be able to give him.
"That's easier than you might think actually. As the last member of the House of Potter, you can become emancipated at fifteen rather than being declared an adult at seventeen. We can go to Gringotts and claim your inheritance now if you really want to, it's not dated either so they can't prove you didn't have it prior to the incident. There's also the Tri-wizard Tournament to consider, that was limited to off age students only and, seeing as you actually did compete, that means the organisers agreed you were off age. Seeing as the ones that organised the tournament included two heads of department and Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, then that's rather valid grounds to have you declared an adult. It would be even more so if they decided to try you with the full Wizengamot rather than a regular under-age hearing but they wouldn't do that, not unless the one who calls for it is an idiot that wants to make a spectacle of your trial." Black Wing shrugged his shoulders, careful not to mess up the runes he was still carving into his bones.
"So you can get all of this dropped easily then?" Harry asked, sounding incredibly hopeful right then. It was rather odd that this unusual looking boy who had winged garden snakes flying around the room and had cut his body arm in order to carve runes into his bones seemed to have all of the answers. "Wait, aren't you a little young to defend me in a court of law? I mean, while you might know what you are talking about, you are still only thirteen."
Black Wing chuckled. "Don't worry about that, it's easily sorted. You haven't actually met Amy yet, have you? No, there's a fair bit to do before then though so don't relax just yet. The Wizengamot is made up of the old families and the heads of the original departments from the Ministry of Magic, this means that there are a fair number of traditionalists amongst them. We are going to go out, before the day of the trial, and get you some proper and official looking robes and some sensible black footwear so we can make the best impression we can, impressions are important after all."
Harry grimaced. "Is that really necessary? I mean, if the evidence actually proves guilt or innocence then what does it mean what I wear?" Black Wing raised an eyebrow, it seemed that Harry was a little uncomfortable with the concept of new clothes. Either that or he wasn't comfortable in an official situations, it could be that he was simply more comfortable with people his own age too.
"Yes, it is necessary. Like I said, there will be traditional families there and there will be those who are influenced more by how you conduct yourself than whether you actually are innocent or guilty. We don't want to offend people either, politics can be an absolute minefield for those who can't read other people and especially those who don't know proper etiquette." Black Wing told a completely unamused Harry.
"Fine, fine, we'll get the robes so we can dress properly. Is there anything else I need to do to 'make the proper impression' on these people?" Harry grumbled, not at all pleased about dressing up nice just to impress a bunch of old people who liked their traditions.
"Yes, your attitude for one. Do not speak out of turn, do not interrupt people, do not look weak, do not try and dominate anyone, don't shout, remain calm and keep a civil tongue in your head regardless of who you are speaking to. It's nearly an art form to insult someone while sounding polite and I don't think you know it." Black Wing said. "Also, don't mention Riddle at all, this trial actually has nothing to do with him and if you start going on about him it will only cause damage to both the case and your reputation."
"But he is back!" Harry retorted. "Just because the Ministry keeps denying it doesn't make it any less true, we have to warn people! Why don't you want me to talk about it? I'm sure that he's the one who sent the dementors after me, who else would?"
"The world isn't spilt into good people and death eaters, you know, there are a number of people who may or may not wish you harm. Also, we don't know for certain if he did send them after you, it doesn't seem like his style at all. Oh, he would take advantage of it, but he wouldn't rely on just two dementors when he knows you can drive off a far greater number of them easily." Black Wing replied. "Besides, the more you shout about Riddle, the less people who will pay attention to you and the more vulnerable they'll be. The wizarding world needs more than your say-so and Dumbledore's backing before it will be willing to prepare for those dark times again."
"So I've got to dress up nicely and then just sit there, is that what you're saying? I'm not allowed to reply if I'm being insulted and act nice with people like Malfoy?" Harry asked incredulously, not believing what he was hearing at all.
Black Wing growled at Harry, low and threatening. "I have much more reason to hate the Malfoys than you, don't think your schoolboy grudge should have any effect on how you act! And no, the Malfoys don't actually have a Wizengamot seat of their own. Even if it does come to a full trial rather than just a small hearing, you should be prepared for some of the darker families though."
"You mean there are evil people in the government? Why? I mean, shouldn't they have gotten rid of them? Why would they trust someone who is dark?" Harry asked incredulously. Black Wing sighed and slowly counted to ten in his mind before replying.
"Dark does not mean evil, just as Light does not mean good. The two sides merely have a difference in opinion about certain things, one wants integration with muggles while the other wants complete separation. There are good and bad things about both of those, neither one is perfect, so just drop it." Black Wing told him firmly.
Harry did drop it, right then and there. He didn't know what it was, but for some reason he found Black Wing a lot scarier than Voldemort in that one instant. Voldemort would torture then kill him, making an 'example' of him as it were. He didn't know what Black Wing would do if he actually did manage to get on his bad side but he doubted it would be pretty.
"Next on the things you need to learn is etiquette. We don't have the time to go into detail so we'll keep it simple, how not to offend someone without looking weak and subservient. You will come here every day until your trial after lunch where I will tell you how not to make an ass of yourself in the wizarding world. While your status as the boy-who-lived will shield you from some of it, you have far more riding on your interactions with your peers than I do and therefore should know how to deal with those from older and more traditional families." Black Wing told him to which Harry just nodded.
"I'll help!" Holly called down from her high shelf and Harry, who hadn't seen her since he had entered the room, almost gave himself whiplash with the speed at which he turned to look at her. "I've been around long enough that I know all the different ways that you can insult someone and what the consequences could be. That also means that I know just how you are supposed to act as well, I can help with that."
Harry nodded his head slowly, not sure why the little fairy girl would know about wizarding etiquette but willing to listen to what she said regardless. His only real memory of fairy like creatures was Lockhart's lesson on Cornish pixies and that, to put it lightly, had not endeared them to him nor had it been anything less than a catastrophe.
xxxxx
For the rest of the time until Harry's trial, he, his two best friends and the younger Hermione were all kept busy by trying to clean the house. This was much easier said than done because, unlike in muggle houses, there were some very nasty magical pests that needed particular ways to get rid of them. There were a lot of doxies, small and venomous creatures that had infested a lot of curtains throughout the house. Molly Weasley did ask Black Wing how he had gotten rid of the ones in his room and his casual reply of just burning the curtains with fiendfyre wasn't particularly well received.
Harry had enjoyed the twice daily sessions of training that Black Wing had them doing, it was also one of the few times during the day that Mrs. Weasley let them off cleaning the house because even members of the Order, Tonks and Sirius for example, did go to the sessions as well. Harry actually wondered if Tonks was developing a crush on Black Wing as creepy as that sounded, she was something like nine years older than him despite how mature Black Wing acted.
He did go to Gringotts with Black Wing as a guard too, in order to retrieve his Head of House ring, and then to Twillfit's and Tatting's, to get appropriate robes. Of course, he was under glamour charms when he was in the alley, aside from Gringotts, so no one recognised him. It was also the first time he had seen Amy, the combined form of Black Wing and Holly.
To be honest, Amy made Harry a little uncomfortable. Every time he saw her, and noticed how physically attractive she was, there was one small part of his mind that kept thinking about the fact that a part of her was another version of himself. He found it incredibly weird that someone who spent most of his time as a male would be so comfortable in the form of a female and not just because of the physical differences.
People treated girls differently to how they treated guys and whenever someone went to smack her arse or pinch it, Amy would just act unconcerned and avoid it as she whacked them with her staff. Harry had been a bit green at those points, mentally thinking that someone was pinching his arse and he kept trying to rid himself of those thoughts.
On the day of the hearing, Harry was actually rather confident that everything would work out. He was up early, even earlier than Mr. Weasley who worked at the Ministry of Magic, and Amy was there too, dressed in formal robes with her hair plaited down her back. They were going to go early to give a good impression, they were going very early because Amy said that there was something that she needed to do there.
Harry had tried asking what that thing was, but he hadn't gotten an answer at all. Amy also said that there was something that Black Wing was going to talk to him and the headmaster about later, something else important, but wouldn't say what that was either.
Harry wondered if it had anything to do with his now missing scar that he was so grateful for, that thing had been a menace ever since he had entered the wizarding world. Of course, everyone else had noticed it was missing and had asked about what had happened. Only the younger Hermione had been unsurprised when he told them that it was Black Wing who had healed it.
"Well, shall we get going then?" Amy asked Harry. He nodded to her and wondered how they were going to get wherever they were going before the world around him shifted and a moment later they were in an alley. Amy then led Harry out of the Alley and towards an old-fashioned phone booth. "Welcome, to the Ministry of Magic visitor's entrance."
