Harry looked around. His previous vision which had been full of an empty blackness and the sensation of nothing was now being filled with beautiful scenery once more. He was back in the plains though something was wrong. For one, there was no sound at all. There was a slight soft wind blowing through the tall grass and the leaves of a nearby tree but no sounds of animals or insect.
The next thing he noticed was the sky. It looked to be an unnatural purple color mixed with shades of blue to create a captivating image that could not be mimicked anywhere else on Earth. Come to think of it, this was probably not Earth at all. In fact, he was pretty sure he was dead.
The last thing he noticed, which was ironic since it was huge and directly in front of him was the giant panther figure looking down at him. When he said giant too, he didn't mean Nala giant, he meant this panther was the size of a two-story house. Seeing that he finally noticed it, the giant panther spoke.
"Harry Potter." The giant panther greeted. Harry noticed the voice spoke in his head and not out loud. He also noticed the panther was talking to him. Both things didn't match with anything logic told him.
"And… you are who?" Harry asked with reservation. He wasn't exactly trusting of panthers that names weren't Nala. This was definitely not her.
"I am Bast." The Panther said. Harry took a moment to process that.
"Bast… as in the Egyptian goddess of cats?" Harry asked the big cat.
"That is one of my titles. I have many. Here in Wakanda, I am Bast, the goddess of panthers." The now identified goddess said. Harry just looked at her.
"Let me guess… you were the reason I was in the body of an annoying child and the reason I randomly woke up in some random African jungle right?" Harry asked barely keeping the annoyance from his voice.
"I was." Was all she said in response.
"Well damn, it must be nice being a powerful immortal being. Apparently, it somehow gives you the right to interfere and play with people's lives without their permission. If that's all, I would like to go back to being dead, thank you." Harry shot out with barely concealed venom. If there was one thing Harry hated, it was being played with and used.
"I apologize if my actions offended you. I saw an opportunity through you and I could not pass it up. You are quite the powerful being and things are about to happen in this world that I wish you to be a part of." Bast said to him.
"No." was all Harry said in response. He had no desire to get caught up in a god's problems.
"I am afraid it is too late. You will be part of them no matter what. Whether you choose to do something will be entirely up to you. I chose you because I saw someone who could do a lot of good yet who was also tired of his own existence. A person who wandered aimlessly over his world looking for a purpose that he had once had. It is my hope that you will find your purpose here as well as manage the situation I speak of. Killing two birds with one stone as you mortals say." The giant panther said to him.
"No, fuck you. Just let me die." Harry snapped back in anger. Was it too much to ask to do something on his own terms for once? Why did everyone feel the need to dictate how he lived his life. Even when this goddess phrased it like he would have a choice, he doubted he actually would. She was putting him in a situation where his morals would force him to act. She was definitely playing with him.
"I have no control over life and death so I cannot grant you either. Besides, I believe one of my children would be rather upset if you died." Bast said down to him. Harry thought about that statement.
"Nala? She lives?" He asked with high anticipation. His last memory of life was holding her close as they both faded into oblivion.
"She does, she watches over you as you recover even now. She would be most upset if you simply let yourself go." Bast told him. Harry grit his teeth at that. There it was, pushing him into a decision that his morals would make for him.
"I fucking hate you." Harry said before turning and walking away.
"We will see each other again Harry Potter. I hope you find a purpose in this new world. Your new home." Was the last thing he heard before his vision faded once more into nothing.
This time, the darkness around him felt different than before. It seemed almost… less dark for some reason. Not only that but he could think and form thoughts again. One of the first things he thought was how much he felt like he ached in his torso. That didn't seem right, why was his torso hurting?
Of course, he remembered the panther attack but why was it hurting now? Didn't he not have a body anymore. No wait that wasn't right either. A panther, something about a giant panther. He got the feeling he didn't like the panther. That's right, Bast. Fucking Bast, a goddess was real and messing around with his life.
She had mentioned something about him recovering, didn't she? Where was he recovering though? Were they no longer in the jungle? Had somebody found their bodies as they lay dying?
It was at this point his hearing returned and almost immediately wished it hadn't. There was a high-pitched beeping noise going off every few seconds and a string of sounds that he didn't recognize along with it. When his brain finally booted up enough, he started to recognize the strange sounds as a language. It wasn't one he understood but then again, he only knew a few languages and none of the African ones.
He cracked an eye and immediately squashed it closed to block out the blinding light that came through it. He waited and opened it as slowly as possible to try and adjust to the light. With that, he opened the other eye and tried to look around and get a feel of his surroundings.
He was in a hospital clearly. The blinding white walls, smell of sterilization chemicals, and medical equipment around him was telling. That's where the normalcy ended though. Harry had been in a few muggle hospitals on occasion but they could not compare to the things he was seeing. There was a digital board with all sort of medical information on it as well as a diagram of a human body that he suspected was him. There were also all sorts of sensors showing different types of information about him but he could read none of it. He looked down to see he was laying on a giant bed. He had never seen a king-sized hospital bed before.
At the foot of his bed laid what looked like a huge black pillow which confused Harry. It was only when the pillow twitched did his brain finally catch up with his eyes.
"Nala." He said barely above a whisper. Immediately the curled-up ball of fur sprang up to its feet and looked at him. Harry smiled at seeing her alive.
"Hey girl. You look… alive." Harry said. Immediately the big cat pounced on him as carefully as a big cat has ever pounced on a human before, taking special care to clearly not actually land on him. His face was then assaulted by a wet tongue that licked him like he was an ice cream.
"Bleh! Oi, get off me you damn house cat, I'm still injured." Harry said still rather quietly as his voice was rough from disuse. Apparently, he was loud enough though as the talking he heard from the other side of one of his room's walls stopped and two African men and an African woman walked out. The two men wore rather dissimilar clothing. One was wearing what Harry imagined was a typical hospital gown while the other wore what looked like some form of African formal robes. The woman stood off to the formal looking mans side in a red garb that clearly marked her as some sort of warrior, well that and the big metal spear she was carrying.
The man in the hospital gown seemed to go over to the advanced looking digital board and look at something before saying something to the man dressed in black. The man nodded and made a motion of dismissal to the hospital worker. Harry said nothing as he watched him go. By then, Nala was laying on her stomach watching the two remaining figures wearily. The man smiled kindly at him before speaking.
"A lovely creature you have found. She has refused to leave your side since she awoke from her own healing. We actually had to move you to a bigger bed because she kept trying to hop on your old one and lay on top of you protectively." The man said with a deep accent and amusement clear in his voice.
"Yes well… we've had a rough few days. I thank you for taking care of my wounds and Nala's but I am afraid I do not have much to pay you back for the kindness." Harry said politely back. He was still in the body of a small child and would be expected to act like it to an extent.
"Do not worry child. We expect nothing for helping you but we do have some questions we would like to ask you if you feel up to it." The man said to him. Although he phrased it like a choice, Harry was smart enough to know it wasn't.
"Sure. What do you need to know?" Harry asked. He was already thinking of ways to hide who he was.
"Good. First, we would like to know how you ended up in the jungle alone in the first place. When we found you, it looked as if you had been there for a while." The man stated. Harry screwed up his face in a look of thought.
"I'm not really sure either to be honest. I have no memory of anything before two weeks ago. I woke up naked and confused on the forest floor. I know things that don't relate to myself personally but whenever I try to think of anything about my memories, all I can remember is a name, Hadrian." Harry told the man.
"No memory of anything?" the man seemed concerned and a little suspicious. Harry nodded.
"Nothing of myself. I mean I knew I was in some sort of jungle and that I should be wearing clothes so I still seem to have basic knowledge but nothing relating to me. I can't even remember how old I am." Harry said sadly to really sell it. The man's eyes softened.
"Well, how about we move on to a different topic. How is it you came across your friend here?" The man asked as he looked at Nala and she looked back.
"Nala? She found me. When I awoke, I started heading in a direction to look for food or water of some kind. I walked for a day and found nothing. When night came, I slept on a tree branch and when I awoke, she was laying on the same branch and was staring at me intently. Scared me so much I fell out of the tree and landed on my face. She didn't seem interested in attacking me so I started talking to her. I asked her if she could lead me to water since at that point I was parched. She jumped off the tree and started leading me to a river. At some point I even passed out and she carried me the rest of the way. After that, the rest is history." Harry said as he smiled at Nala who licked his face in response.
"A fantastic story. I have never seen a creature with such a connection to a human before. I suspect this to be a sign from Bast herself." The man said almost to himself. Harry said nothing but gave a look of confusion at the words. He would not under any circumstances reveal his relationship with Bast, especially considering he did not like her.
As the man seemed to be lost in thought, Harry took this time to observe him. He was quite handsome with short, thick, curly hair and a regal round face. He had a goatee with a patch of silver going down the middle.
The woman next to him was straight faced and looking forward. She was bald and her face seemed to scream, 'Don't mess with me'.
"Do you know of anyone who we can get in contact to send you to? Parents or guardians perhaps." The man asked. Harry just shook his head.
"Nothing I can remember." Harry said. The man nodded as if he expected this.
"Well, we will try to see if we can find some trace of you somewhere and see if we can contact somewhere for you. Until then you are welcome here." The man told him kindly. The woman seemed to stiffen at those words but said nothing. Harry could tell this was a controversial decision.
"Thank you, er… where exactly am I, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked the man.
"You are in Wakanda." The man said to him. Now, Harry was confused. He was pretty sure Bast had said that too but he knew of no African country called Wakanda.
"I'm sorry I don't really know where that is. I've never heard of a place called Wakanda before." Harry said hoping to not offend.
"That is alright, Wakanda is a small country in east Africa. Hmm, I have not introduced myself. My name is T'Chaka. I am the current king of Wakanda." The man introduced himself. Harry's eyes widened at that.
"Wow, didn't think I would warrant an appearance from such an important figure." Harry said in shock. King's didn't usually come to visit random people in the hospital. Something was up but he wasn't quite sure what it was.
"Yes, well these are strange circumstances. Wakanda is not known for having many guests or visitors, in fact, we've had a closed border policy ever since we have established ourselves as a country." The man explained. Okay that wasn't good news for him.
"Are you telling me I illegally crossed into your country when wandering though the wild?" Harry asked in disbelief. The now identified King smiled at his panic.
"Do not worry young one. You are not in trouble. While we work on seeing if we can find where you are from, you just focus on getting better." With that the man stood and gave him one last smile before leaving with the woman.
Harry watched them leaved before looking around. They were definitely monitoring his every move, he would need to make sure to say nothing that could get him in trouble or do something that would get him in trouble.
He looked to his shoulder and saw it covered in some sort of white cloth. He lifted the blankets on him and looked at his side to see it also covered in the same white cloth. He dropped it and looked up at Nala.
"Well, looks like we lived girl. How you doing? They patch you up right?" Harry asked as he scratched behind her ear. Nala made a purring noise and looked at him to put his mind at rest. Harry smiled.
"Good. Don't worry about me, soon I'll be up and about soon good as new. It's also nice to be wearing clothes again. I bet I'll even be able to get three meals a day. Speaking of meals, what are they feeding you? I hope it's tasty and not like kibbles and bits or something. You're a growing cat after all." Harry said as he looked over her to try and check where she was wounded. She had some scars but it looked like she had healed well. He was rather surprised she healed so well already. He must have been out for a while. Oh well, he was just glad she was okay.
T'Chaka POV:
T'Chaka was sitting on his throne deep in thought. The cause of his thoughts was the little white child in one of the private medical wings. He had found nothing on the boy since he had arrived. He pulled out all the stops to find any hint of this child. Even fingerprints and his blood revealed nothing no matter how many government databases he checked through. He now had some men working to narrow their search to a boy named Hadrian but he already had a feeling he knew what the result would be.
Around him, his clan advisory council were arguing over said boy. Many wanted him to throw the boy out and let him figure his own way back home. Some wanted to have him leave but in a more helpful manner by finding possible family or place of origin and sending him there. They all, however, seemed in agreement that they wished him to be gone to not risk Wakanda. Because of this, he knew they would not like his decision.
"Silence." He said. Soon almost all noise in the room came to a stop. He looked around for a moment before speaking.
"I have come to a decision. After meeting the boy, myself and evaluating how he came to be in our land, it is my decision that if his home cannot be found, I will offer him a place here in Wakanda." T'Chaka said. Immediately the whole room was yelling and it was all directed at him.
"SILENCE!" T'Chaka yelled and the council seemed to remember that he was the king here.
"The boy was led here by a panther. A panther unlike any I have ever seen. It is the biggest and most intelligent panther I have ever witnessed. This is clearly a sign from Bast and I will not ignore it. She has led the boy here for a reason and until I know why, he will have a place here." T'Chaka said to them. It was at this point the council all looked like they were sucking on lemons. Clearly, they still wanted to say something about the matter but bringing up Bast into his decision had them moving carefully on what he said next.
"And how do you expect him to stay here? Who do you think would be willing to take care of him, or do you mean to force him on someone, my king?" T'Chaka looked at his general and confidant Amuya. She had been against even bringing the boy to the medical facilities. She had advised to send him to one of their neighbors and let the boy be their problem. T'Chaka had refused though once he had seen the severity of the boys injuries.
"I will force him on no one. He can stay here with me and my family and I will provide for him." T'Chaka said. The river clan representative spoke next.
"My king, is it your intention to make this boy a citizen of Wakanda?" The man asked him. At this, the entire council looked intently at him.
"For now,… he will be considered my personal guest. That is the last we will speak of this today." T'Chaka said as he stood up to indicate the meeting was over. The rest of the council stood and bowed to him before slowly exiting the room. All that remained was him and Amuya.
"I know you are not happy with this decision, but I truly believe that this is a sign from the goddess. I fear if we turn this boy loose, we will one day regret it." T'Chaka said to her.
"You are the king. It is your decision to make." Amuya said to him. T'Chaka made an annoyed click in the back of his throat.
"There you go with that tone again. Well, I suppose I should go inform the queen of the arrangements I have made, T'Challa as well." T'Chaka said. He hoped his son would be able to get along with this boy and perhaps befriend him.
Harry's POV:
If Harry's vision was not betraying him, there was a small child peaking at him from the doorway of his room. He blinked to get the sleep out of his eyes before looking again. Yep, there was definitely a small boy peeking at him from behind the door frame. He looked rather young and was probably near the same age as Harry himself now was. He gave a smile and a small wave at the child and that seemed to be the only encourage the boy needed to walk into the room.
The boy seemed to be staring at Nala intently with a look of wonderment. Harry smiled at the look the boy was sporting. He looked at Nala and gave her a nudge.
"Nala, looks like you have an admirer. Why don't you say hello?" Harry asked with amusement. Nala looked at the child and yawned in his direction which sounded almost like a quiet roar due to how big she was. The boy took a step back in fright before regaining his courage and coming up to the bed and looking at Nala. He brought his hand up slowly and reached for her. Nala just looked in amusement at the boy which in turn amused Harry. Eventually, the boy touched her fur and looked like Christmas had come early. Nala preened under the attention she was getting and Harry let out an audible chuckle at seeing it. The boy looked at him and a look of confusion was on his face.
"Who… you?" The boy asked. Clearly English wasn't his first language but Harry was grateful either way as he had no idea the native language here.
"Hadrian. You?" Harry asked him. The boy pointed at himself.
"T'Challa." The boy said to him. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Any relation to King T'Chaka?" Harry asked him. The boy scrunched his face in thought and looked to be going over Harry's words in his head before answering.
"My father." T'Challa answered him. So, this kid was actually a prince then.
"Oh yeah? I guess that means you're the prince of this place. Does your dad know your down here?" Harry asked the boy. Suddenly the boy seemed rather bashful. Harry just raised an eyebrow at the look.
"I'll take that as a no."
"Well, I do now." Harry turned to see King T'Chaka enter the room and gave his son a look. He then said something to him in a different language. Although he couldn't understand the words, he didn't need to, to be able to tell he was being gently scolded by his father. T'Challa ducked his head down in embarrassment before T'Chaka shook his head and turned to him.
"How are you feeling young Hadrian?" He asked kindly.
"Better than yesterday I suppose. I can feel the pain if I move my arm too much but it's not too bad right now. Thank you for asking King T'Chaka." Harry responded kindly to the man. T'Chaka nodded and seemed pleased by the news.
"That is good to hear." T'Chaka said before looking back at his son with a serious look. He said a few words and T'Challa left with a pout. The man then turned back to him.
"Hadrian, as I said yesterday, we have tried to find anyone from your past but have had no luck. We are not even sure of your country of origin though based on your slight accent, I would say it was somewhere in Europe. Possibly Britain." The man said. Harry nodded at the information not really expecting the man to find anything. The magical world didn't really have any interaction with the muggle after all.
"With that being said, I wished to extend an invitation for you to stay here in Wakanda as a guest of me and my family." T'Chaka said to him. Harry looked at him with shock.
"You want me to stay here? Why?" Harry asked immediately. If T'Chaka was a king then it fell within reason that he wanted Harry around for some reason that benefitted him.
"Normally, Wakanda accepts no outsiders into its border, however, it is my sincere belief that you have been sent here for a reason by Bast, the goddess we worship. I can think of no other way you would befriend a panther that would then lead you here. I know it may seem strange to you but here, I would have to be a fool to ignore such a clear sign." T'Chaka explained calmly. Harry looked at him with what he knew was an odd expression.
"Is it that easy? Don't you need to contact someone before you can just invite me to stay here?" Harry asked trying not to panic. In truth, he did not particularly want to stay in Wakanda. He had nothing here and he would like to get back to Britain as soon as possible to see if there was a way to get rid of this annoying body. He also needed a new wand. That being said, he had some other concerns too.
When he had spoken with Bast, she had mentioned something about a different world. Harry was concerned with the extent of how different this world was. He was almost positive there was no country know as Wakanda in Africa, especially not one that was so advanced. What else had changed? The nearest magical center was in South Africa if it even existed here.
How was he going to get to any of these places though? He had no money on him, no way of traveling unless T'Chaka gave him something. And how would he even explain why he was leaving to certain places? He had told the man he retained no memories of his past and he did not want to have the man think him a liar. Perhaps he could stay here for a time and do some reconnaissance of this world. If this truly was a country then Wakanda should have some sort of magical population even if it was a small one. It would at least help him find out how similar this world was to his.
Another thought struck Harry. Even if the world ended up being similar to his, and that was a big if, what were the odds that he even existed in this world. If he did exist then he would still have no access to his resources as they would no longer be his. It struck him how precarious his situation truly was. All his resources would most likely be inaccessible.
So, if these conclusions he made were accurate, then what would be the point of going back to Britain? It would most likely either get him in trouble for masquerading as himself or be a complete waste of time. So, a really bad situation or a bad situation. Of course, if he existed in this world already and was also famous then there would be a huge problem if it was discovered there was a child version of him wandering around. They would want to know how and probably wouldn't accept that he didn't know how to explain it.
Maybe a stay in Wakanda was a blessing in disguise. It had closed borders so not many if anybody would know he was here. He would be the guest of a king so he would probably be well taken care of which would be nice. T'Chaka was rather quick to offer him lodgings though, Harry suspected that had to do with slight interference from Bast. It annoyed him that she continued to influence situations around him even if a tiny part was grateful, she was trying to help him. Of course, she was probably trying to help him because she wanted him to stay here for some reason. Fucking gods.
At this moment, Harry realized T'Chaka was looking at him expectantly. Harry realized he asked the man and then rudely got lost in his own thoughts.
"I'm sorry can you repeat what you said, I got lost in thought." Harry said to him apologetically. T'Chaka smiled patiently at him.
"I said that our searches could find nothing about your history or origins and no database has you listed as a civilian. Due to this, it would be no problem for Wakanda to take you in as a guest." T'Chaka told him. Harry noticed he kept saying guest and not citizen but chose not to comment. He could think of a few reasons for this but a normal four-year-old probably wouldn't be able to think of such reasons. Come to think of it, he was probably already pushing the limits of what a four-year-old should be able to say. T'Chaka probably passed it off as a high intelligence as he didn't make a comment on it which benefitted him.
"Well, I suppose I don't really have anywhere else to go and living as the guest of a king can't be too bad… Unless you secretly mean as a prisoner in which case I think I'll take my chances in the jungle." Harry told him as an attempted joke which T'Chaka seemed to be able to understand as he let out a chuckle.
"Have no fear young Hadrian. You will be my personal guest and treated as such as long as you remain in Wakanda, this I promise. It sounds like you agree to staying here. I will now go and make preparations for your accommodations. T'Challa, come. Leave our guest to rest." T'Chaka said as he finished his explanation and looked at his young son who had been silently petting Nala throughout the conversation after he had snuck back into the room. At his father's words, T'Challa let out a little pout before nodding and waving goodbye to both him and Nala. Harry smiled and waved back at him.
"Good night young Hadrian… and welcome to Wakanda." T'Chaka said with a kind smile as he moved outside the room and closed the door behind him.
As they left the room, Harry took the time to slowly collect his thoughts. He would need to reestablish his occlumency and legilimency since they were probably the only two magics he could actually work on with any result right now. He looked at Nala who just stared back at him.
"Well… this will be fine I'm sure."