October 31st, 1981. To most in the magical community of Great Britain, they would say it was a day to celebrate. They had just received news to say that the dark lord that had been plaguing them for the last decade was gone. Defeated, somehow, by a child. The-Boy-Who-Lived they called him. For he had survived where no other had. He had survived the un-survivable. The Killing curse, an aptly named spell that would kill all living beings it touched.
All except one.
Harry potter.
It was not all good that night though. as while the country was sleeping, the young boy in question was being left upon the doorstep of what would become his own personal hell for five years. He would not know his own name till he was five. Nor would he be treated with anything but scorn and contempt from the inhabitants of the house. Such was his fate. Such was why he was now watching the place from across the road, as his 'family', and he used that word loosely, were hauled away by the police ranting and screaming.
Yet here he stood, five years on, on all hallows eve, with quite possibly the one chance he had at a normal(ish) life. To most observers, the tall well-proportioned blonde stood by him holding his hand was akin to an angel. He had met her about a year ago in the park. Just sat watching as life went by. She had interfered when she had spotted him being chased by Dudley and his gang in one of their favorite pastimes. Harry hunting. After she had chased them off, she had treated him to literally the first bit of ice-cream he remembered ever having. He had clammed up however when she had asked about why they were chasing him.
He had met her again about a month and a half later when she appeared in his school, acting as his new English teacher Named Miss Hunt. In the ten months of her being there, he had been bullied no less more than three times. All within the first three months. Somehow, she had been in just the right place at just the right time to always catch Dudley and his gang. It was her threat to take it to the papers, about how the school was allowing bullying to run rampant and were doing nothing to curb it that it tapered off. It seemed that she had a certain presence about her that just made people listen.
After school had finished for the year however, things changed. His relatives had taken the opportunity to push him harder and had resorted to physical beatings for the smallest infraction.
As she had moved in next door, however, when a window had been left open erroneously, she had heard and called it in. Within ten minutes she had bust the front door open and intervened. Showing surprising strength for a woman of her stature she had broken Vernon's nose and pulled harry away from the rotund man. By the time he had gotten over the pain of his nose being broken the police had arrived. Seeing the scarred, bruised and bloody body of Harry, they didn't need to be told what had happened.
After that it was a bit of a blur as he was taken outside by his teacher, Miss Hunt. There she held him as his relatives were hauled off.
"we will need to speak to the boy later Miss hunt. Could you bring him down to the station tomorrow?" the chief inspector had come over while harry had been reviewing how events had happened to him.
"that is fine. Thank you for coming so quickly. I knew I had to act quickly after I called. I wasn't sure if id be able to do much" she certainly played her part well. Her statement had had just the right amount of emotion and a hint of fear of repercussion to make it believable. "Harry is one of my favorite students. Always willing to learn more. Knowing that he was being abused by such a brute. I just couldn't do nothing" she crouched down and pulled Harry into a gentle hug. He flinched slightly; he had never been hugged before. He kind of liked it if he had to be honest.
"Does he have any relatives he can stay with?" the chief asked.
"Not that I know of, no. from what I understand, his aunt is his only living blood relative left. And his aunt on his Uncles side is unfit to look after a goldfish"
"she breeds attack dogs" Harry supplied helpfully. In a sort of childish innocent tone that had begun to show from his interaction with Miss Hunt. He also wanted to ensure he never saw any of the Dursleys again. "the scar on my leg is from her favorite, Ripper. She sets him on those who 'Trespass on her property', meaning anyone who gets within three hundred feet" he added afterward. The chief looked shocked at first before his eyes hardened.
"I'll have someone look into that" he began before sighing and running his hand through his hair.
"If it's alright, I can look after him for now" Miss Hunt spoke up. "if anything, I should take responsibility for my actions tonight"
"Alright, ill have it marked down for social services to pay a visit in the next week while we deal with all this" with that he returned to the house to direct the forensics after learning of Harry's home life. Harry had pointed out his 'Room' when asked. That had turned it from just simple child abuse, to possible long-term slavery. In other words, one hell of a mess.
To harry, the next few days were quite possibly the best he had ever had. Dealing with the police and Social services aside. Harry had been given his own room, an actual room not a cupboard under the stairs, and Miss Hunt had quickly proven herself to care about his wellbeing. The crowning moment was when he came down for breakfast, to find Miss Hunt waiting for him at the kitchen table, with fostering papers regarding him. His smile that followed didn't disappear for days.
Once harry had been officially fostered by his teacher, she had surprised him by revealing herself as a Gynoid. A Female Android specifically. Specifically, A Gynoid whose sole purpose was to support and protect him. And she was not the only one, only that the others were currently out securing their position in society as part of their cover and to gain experience with their professions. Rachel Hunt, a name she had chosen when she had awoken, had proven to be an incredible guardian. She had taught him how to defend himself, science, Maths, engineering, multiple languages, and most importantly. She had taught him how to be himself.
The stories she had told him of her past were terrifying and enthralling. From them, he had come to understand that with great power, came great responsibility. She had asked him about what he would do in certain situations, and he had come away from it with an appreciation of both logic and compromise. In between his lessons, he had taken up swordsmanship, something that Rachel found amusing.
Harry did not meet the others until his Eighth birthday. If anything, Harry took more to 2b, or 'Alice' Hunt as she now went by, both did not feel like they fit in with anyone. The two could frequently be found together when at home. Alice had after they had all finished forging their identities, gone to college and begun working in the Security industry. Her exotic looks had gotten her a lot of attention both good and bad, though she had pushed through it and gone on to run security for the tech company run by A2, now known as Tara, with Devola and Popola acting as both HR and Accounting.
They had moved from Surry out to the Midlands, so they were close to the Company HQ. with it being a relatively new start-up, they didn't have much in the way of employees, but already they were making some turnaround on their jobs. The first thing they had made was an 'ancient' CPU, by their standards, but to the late eighties, it was cutting edge. Their goal was to essentially improve the world, one product at a time. Something they had Harry to thank for as it was his idea after hearing of their stories.
In truth, they were glad for having a goal to achieve. With nothing to work towards, they were left with no focus. No focus meant they were basically idle. Aside from their shared task of protecting Harry as he grew, they wanted and needed something to keep them active. And Horizon Industries was just that. An outlet for their energy, and considering they didn't really need sleep, they could continue pushing out 'New' technology on a yearly basis.
Harry's Education was, if anything, far more advanced than his peers. By the age of Ten he had already completed his GCSE's with straight A's and was already well into his A-Levels via the 'Open University'. It did mean he had very few friends, but he enjoyed learning as much as he enjoyed being around his new 'family'.
This was how life would continue for him until his Eleventh birthday.
The four Gynoids had learned quite quickly that they could actually consume food for energy, their bodies had changed during their transition, giving them a more Synthetic body as opposed to their old more mechanical ones. It made them less durable, but it meant they could hide more easily amongst humanity. Popola had decided quite quickly to handle all the cooking for their group. Especially after she had witnessed Harry cooking. something an eight-year-old should not be doing. Good at it or not. Or at least, not alone anyway.
As it were, It was now Harry's Eleventh birthday, and while he had few friends, with those he has all being older than him by several years, he was happy. He had received a few gifts, a book on Astrophysics from a friend he had made amongst the Horizon staff, and another one on advanced engineering from their daughter.
And Right now? He was enjoying watching a film with his family. What film? Star Wars Return of the Jedi. And for the third time. He enjoyed the series enough that he could watch them repeatedly. And since it gave them ideas for new technologies, it wasn't really an issue for the girls. They had just gotten to the part of the rebel fleet jumping into the Endor system when there was a knock at the door. Groaning, Rachel sighed as she left to answer their unannounced visitor. Unannounced in that none of the warning sensors on the front gate had been set off. Alice also followed her, though not visibly armed, she could draw her Katana in a split second from their arming system.
Opening the door to possibly one of the strangest sights they had ever seen, they were met with the odd visage of an elderly gentleman in possibly the most flamboyant attire that could only be a robe. A beard that looked like he was trying to emulate Myrridin from legend, and almost sparkling blue eyes behind a pair of wiry half-moon glasses. So yes, one of the strangest sights they had seen in this world so far.
"Yes?" Rachel asked him after a second of evaluating the odd human.
"Ah, my apologies for disturbing you so late" he began. "am I right in understanding that a Mr. Harry Potter lives here?" while his smile was genial, an android can see far better than a human, and therefore can see the subtle twitches, and carefully hidden movements of humans. Especially the one in front of them. A quick, silent message to Alice behind her told the former Android turn synthetic Gynoid to be on guard.
"Before I answer that, who are you?" her counter question caught him off guard slightly, not being used to dealing with those who do not know who he is. "it is late, as you said, and tonight is a special occasion"
"Ah yes, my name is Professor Albus Dumbledore" his response certainly caught her attention.
'Alice, that was the name of the one on the letter, yes?' Rachel asked via the cognitive link the four Gynoids had.
'It was. I thought it was weird as the only magic we are aware of, was from the original dimension. The dragon incident'
'indeed. Return to the others, keep Harry out of sight for now' Alice wasted no time in doing just that while Rachel made a show of inviting the elderly professor inside.
"the one from the letter I presume? You may as well come inside then" she gave the man an unimpressed stare before stepping to the side. After entering, she closed the door and led him towards the living room, where the movie was now showing the memorable fight between Luke and Vader. "you caught us in the middle of family time" she motioned for him to take a seat as she took her place across from him in the rather tasteful room.
It was rather Utilitarian in its design, using white walls accented with birch wood to give the room a rather light look. It was an open-plan space with the dining room towards the back with an open arch to the kitchen. There were tasteful landscapes in both photo and painted forms on the walls, and a few houseplants to give the room some life.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, however when we received no response from the acceptance letter, we became worried" there it was his best grandfatherly tone, poise and all.
"you expect me to believe that Magic is real? That I would send our Harry off to some school that does not exist in the school records system?" Rachels tone was not of a gentle mother like she usually used with harry, but of the hardened commander that she was prior to her arrival. "believe me I did my homework regarding this 'Hogwarts'? apparently it is synonymous with a lot of children disappearing from society and not reappearing"
Alarmed by her sudden change in tone, and by the information, he was presented with, Dumbledore was caught off guard again. He was rather shocked that such information was so accessible. It would not do for people to find out that some muggle-borns were not returning home due to the Purebloods deciding that one was in the way. Not at all. Wondering just how the information was found, he tried to probe the mind of the woman in front of him. Emphasis on tried.
'She has no mind?!' were his shocking thoughts. Never in his one hundred and fifteen years had he met a person with no mind. Or able to protect theirs to the extent that it seemed as such. And especially not a muggle.
"I see. Well, magic is indeed real" he began. Trying to cover his slight panic by going through the whole introduction that was usually required for Muggleborns. It was quite disconcerting for the man. "indeed, many things that are believed to be myth or fantasy is, in fact, quite real" a quick flick of his wrist had his wand appear before another turned the empty glass on the coffee table into a puppy.
Rachel blinked as her core programming became confused at what she was seeing. Advanced energy manipulation and matter manipulation. From a biological being.
"Well, that's new" reaching forward she poked the now quite active puppy, noting that it indeed felt quite real. "Energy manipulation as well as Matter to energy to matter conversion? Interesting" her muttered response was not what Dumbledore expected. "And Harry is capable of the same thing? That certainly puts a few things into perspective. And certainly explains a few things from over the years"
"indeed? More than likely bouts of what we call Accidental magic. It happens during times of duress or emotional excitement amongst magical children" Rachels golden eyes, how had he not noticed that before? fixed on him for a moment before she nodded to herself. "It is that emotional discharge that makes untrained Magical dangerous. As they could easily cause serious harm to those around them in instances of extreme duress"
"I see. And what about the school itself? Hogwarts was it? What sort of school is it? With no information to go off, how can we be sure that it is the best choice for our Harry?" Rachel asked in quick succession. "If magic is so prevalent, there are bound to be other schools, correct?"
Her questions were not something he wanted to answer. Harry Potter could not go to another school. It was out of the question. He could not allow it. A quick silent confundus would solve the issue though. it had in the past with difficult parents. And once Harry was under his care, he could have their memories of the boy removed. There was still a chance to fix things for his plans.
Rachel felt something wash over her, not too dissimilar to the corruption she had experienced by the machines. Frowning she shook her head slightly.
'Morganas tits, it didn't work?' Dumbledore exclaimed in his mind, careful to keep his shock off his face. 'that was the elder wand too! It should not be possible'
"Hogwarts is the Premiere school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Europe". Dumbledore began to hide his actions. "it has existed for one thousand years, and due to the Statute of secrecy information of the school is strictly regulated so as not to reveal magic to the wider world" he added. He just could not fathom how a muggle could wash off one of his spells. It was simply not possible. "And while there are other schools, they do not exist in the United Kingdom"
"Statute of secrecy?" Rachel asked. Still confused by the unknown attempt on her system programming.
"It was created to protect us during the times of the Salem Witch Trials, and has existed ever since"
"And what of uniform? Stationary? Other requirements? Where would we get such things? And how much will this cost us?" her rapid-fire questions were a tactic to throw Dumbledore off. And to his detriment, it was working.
'Dear Merlin, I've never dealt with anyone so frustrating!' he thought to himself. 'I'll let Minerva handle taking them to Diagon, with how inquisitive they are, im afraid Hagrid will say something he shouldn't'
"All that can be dealt with at Diagon alley in London. You can exchange pounds for Galleons at Gringotts bank. Everything else is specified in the equipment list sent with the acceptance letter" he finally told the blonde. He had never, even when dealing with particularly difficult people like Molly Weasley, had to deal with anyone quite like the woman in front of him.
"I see. And just how would we get there?"
"I will arrange an escort for you. One of the professors perhaps?" his right eye twitched slightly. He needed to re-evaluate things. The inability to affect this woman with magic was unsettling.
"That would be helpful yes" the Rachel replied. She leaned back in the chair, her hands steepled in front of her as she leveled a rather unimpressed stare at the aged professor. So far, he had been rather uninformative about Magic, or Hogwarts and the hidden society of magicals. There was so much she wanted to know. "when can we expect them?"
"Would tomorrow at nine o'clock suffice?"
"that would be fine" Rachel replied evenly. For dumbledore, the woman was an enigma. He could not decipher her body language at all. Nor could he get anything from her expression. It was like dealing with a perfect Slytherin.
"very well then I shall take my leave. May I apparate from here?"
"Apparate?"
"I believe the word you would understand would be teleport" another twinkle that was becoming rather annoying to her.
"I suppose it would be fine" she responded. If anything, the faster he was gone, the faster they could all discuss what the game plan was. She had maintained a cognitive link to the others throughout their conversation, and the twins had trained their not so insignificant sensors on the area around both Rachel and Dumbledore. As soon as he had mentioned teleportation, they knew that such an avenue of transportation provided a rather significant tactical advantage, or in their case a vulnerability.
"Well then, I bid you goodnight" and with that, he made the motion to turn around. As he did so it was like he was being sucked into a wormhole, or being sucked down a drain, and with a muffled pop, he was gone.
As the others entered the living room after his departure, she couldn't help but think that things were going to be changing rapidly from then on.
For dumbledore. It was not until he sat down at his desk in his office that he realised that he had neither learned the woman's name, nor had he even seen young Harry aside from the numerous pictures of him with several women. Two of which looked surprisingly like Lily.
So the true chapter 01 of this new adventure. not exactly sure as to how i want to take this, but I'm taking it one day at a time with this. I have a rough plan mapped out, but a lot is still subject to change.
the basic premise is somewhat inspired by 'Stargatesg1fan1' and his 'beginning a new path' series. however, as I don't want to visit the same universes most of mine will be in-game, anime, and book universes. so, if in the rather small chance he sees this? Kudos to you good sir, I have enjoyed the series quite a lot.
Anyway, these updates will be sporadic and unscheduled. Harry will become more prominent in the chapters following this one as I wanted to focus on other things, for now, just to set the scene really. not that I'm any good at that.
Constructive criticisms are welcome. hope you all like it so far.