THE FOUR ACES

CHAPTER 1: A NEW WORLD


London

It was a bright and sunny day outside, a rarity in London when Harry Potter woke up in his one-bedroom apartment located near St Mungo's Wizarding Hospital. Harry was currently working as a Healer in the spell damage ward of the hospital.

He was about to get ready for another hectic day at the hospital when he saw the fireplace in his room flare-up in bright green flames and out stepped a blonde woman wearing a light blue robe.

"Harry, Get up, I need your opinion on a certain curse. I can't get late for my meeting" the woman ordered Harry with an impatient voice.

"Good morning to you to Daphne. What curse, I am not your personal encyclopaedia, you work as a Curse Breaker for Merlin's sake, know your stuff, witch." Harry replied annoyed at Daphne's intrusion.

Daphne Greengrass was his classmate during his time at Hogwarts and his girlfriend for only a brief period, but both of them still shared a friendly relationship, even if Daphne always ended up giving him a massive headache with her lazy and vain attitude.

"Don't get angry Potter, I forgot about the meeting, okay, so cut me some slack and just explain what are the symptoms of a person suffering from Vanishing sickness, as one of my new clients wants to incorporate that nasty piece of magic in his new security wards which he is getting installed," Daphne said giving Harry her best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

In Harry's opinion that expression looked ridiculous on Daphne as her icy blue eyes could never pull off that look, but in the end he conceded, it better he gives in early would save him the trouble later.

"Daphne, it is impossible to integrate that into the wards as the sickness is caused by a magical bug and not a curse, even if your client wants that in his security wards, he needs to import the bugs of that particular variety from Argentina but that is prohibited under ICW law."

"Oh, I know that already Potter but the idiot who has put this outrageous demand does not, so my boss at Gringott's wants me to describe the origin and symptoms of the damned disease to the dunderhead." Daphne indignantly replied.

Before Harry could answer, he heard his apartment door open, and Harry knew it could be only one person who had a spare key to his apartment and would disturb him this early like Daphne, Hermione Granger.

"Good morning Harry, Daphne, I brought breakfast, Mrs Weasley cooked it and then she ordered me to bring it to you, honestly that woman loves you more than her biological children." The brunette greeted the two of them with a pleasant smile on her face.

Hermione Granger was Harry's confidant and his only female friend that he had not dated but loved like a sister that he never had. They had been there for each other through thick and thin.

"Mione, It's good to see you unlike some people" Harry replied while pointing at Daphne.

"Please spare me, Hermione bought you Breakfast, so what, next time I will get you my mother's Muffins you like so much you gluttonous pig, and I thought Weasel was the one who had a large appetite," Daphne said while rolling her eyes at Harry.

Hermione, Harry noticed was about to say something to calm the both of them down when Harry's Fireplace roared again, and out stepped out the last person Harry wanted to see today, Blaise Zabini, a Rune Master specialising in the Runic language of Atlantis one of the rarest magical scripts in the world.

He only came to Harry when he injured himself on an expedition and treated Harry as a personal Healer ever since Harry had healed his right index finger which Blaise broke while playing Quidditch when they were just twelve-year-old kids at Hogwarts.

"Potter my left leg needs some work; it was hit by a cutting curse by one of the raiders who was following our crew in the Atlantic Sea," Blaise said with pain clear in his voice as he limped and collapsed near Harry's bed.

Harry immediately went into Healer mode and started giving commands to the other two witches in the room. "Hermione get my medical potions kit, it is lying near the dining table, Daphne help me with lifting Blaise as we have to do this without magic, we don't know how severe the cutting curse damage is and what type was used."

Within seconds, Blaise was lying on Harry's bed and Hermione was back with the kit, both of the witches gasped when they saw the mangled state of the limb, the cutting curse had left a large gash which was now infected evident by the yellow puss.

"Idiot, he should have gone directly to St Mungo's, Hermione check his clothes if he has any magical items on him they need to be removed, Daphne hand me the Dittany solution, he is lucky the curse did not reach his bone otherwise he would need Skele-Gro."

"Tergeo, Episkey" Harry used the cleaning spell to clear off the caked blood and puss and then poured quite a lot power in the second spell to seal the open wound shut. His effort paid off as the wound closed and some portion which was still visible he told Daphne to apply Dittany on it.

After anxiously waiting for ten minutes, all three of them breathed a sigh of relief when Blaise finally opened his eyes and croaked out, "Thanks Potter, Daphie and Mione." Harry was about to chew Blaise out for his reckless behaviour when he heard Blaise's panicked cry, "Has anyone seen a large gold medallion with a cloverleaf on it."

"You mean this necklace," Hermione said holding up a circular gold medallion inscribed with a black four-leaf clover and attached to a string of magnificent Atlantic Black Pearls. "Thank Merlin, I thought I dropped it" Blaise gave out a sigh of relief.

Harry was about to ask Zabini what was so important about the necklace when he heard Hermione say, "There is something written on its back it,

'Spade, Clover, Diamond, Heart,

An ace of each from Worlds apart,

Fire, Earth, Wind and Water,

Would come to the kingdom of the Clover

Shall unite the land divided by Class,

The Five leaf clover shall rest at last.'

As soon as Hermione read the last line, a black hole like a portal opened up on the sealing of Harry's room and all four of the occupants were sucked by a heavy cyclone before any of them could react.


Unknown Location

"Wake up aces, I have waited so long for this moment" A squeaky and shrilly voice woke up Harry and the others.

When Harry rubbed his eyes open, he could only see white space everywhere with Hermione, Daphne and Blaise trying to get up from the floor, he helped Daphne and Hermione up. He also supported Blaise by slinging his arm across his as Blaise was still struggling to stand up with his leg sore from the healing spells.

"Good all of you are up" Harry turned his attention to the person who spoke those words and was shocked to see it was not a human but a pixie-like creature with rainbow hair, small wings and a very cute face.

Then Harry heard Daphne scream at the pixie, "What the fuck is going on, and who or what in the Bloody hell are you?" Harry knew Daphne had a short temper as how that girl was a pureblood Slytherin heiress was still a mystery to him.

"No need to be so rude, I am Katarina, the spirit of the Rainbow, guardian of the gates between your world and mine." Katarina the pixie said with an angry pout, while Harry and the others blankly stared at the fairy creature.

"Let me explain Miss Granger, recited the words of the ancient prophecy written behind the sacred Medallion, so that is why you all are here and I am here to guide you," Katarina said.

It took Harry a few a seconds to realise that Blaise and Hermione were responsible for this mess and was about to berate them when Blaise asked, "The medallion was found in a cave on a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic sea, there is no way it is capable of this kind of dimensional magic, right?"

"You are wrong Mr Zabini, a Great mage from our world who was capable of dimensional magic placed it there in the hope that someday it will help bring the Four Aces or simply put the Four champions who would bring a new era of prosperity and unity to his world."

After Katarina answered Blaise's question, Daphne said, "Prophecies are not my cup of tea that is more Potter's type of work, can you please send me back."

"Sorry Miss Greengrass, I can't do that you all can only go back to your home after you fulfil your destined role in my world."

At this, all four of them started shouting at the same time.

Katarina stuck her fingers in her Elf like long ears, then she gave out a shrill scream, "Stop it all of you!"

"You all were chosen for a reason, to become an Ace of Magic, Like Mr Potter here is known throughout your Wizarding World as the Boy Who lived or the Man Who Conquered, a born leader and a natural Healer but now stuck in a mundane dull routine with no excitement and thrill of his school days."

"Miss Granger the brightest witch of her generation, a fighter and survivor, the youngest woman to head the British Magical Law enforcement but still can't help change the mindset of society towards Muggleborn, Centaurs, House-Elves and other sentient beings for which she entered the law profession in the first place."

"Mr Zabini, travelling around the world discovering and studying Runes at far off places, trying to establish your name and helping stem new uses of Runic Magic but even after all that you are unable to shake off your reputation as the ex-follower of a horrendous man or as the boy who has a Black Widow for a Mother."

"Miss Greengrass, the youngest witch ever to be selected as a Chief Curse Breaker to handle the Curse Breaking affairs of the main branch of the Goblin led bank in your magical world. You have constantly tried to change your family and general public's perception of girls born to pureblood homes as prim and proper purebred wives but your Father despite your best efforts wants to force your hand in an arranged marriage."

Harry had to give it to the fairy or spirit or whatever, she had done her homework on all of them and had hit some pain buttons, so he said regaining his composure after a minute of uneasy silence,

"You know so much about us and our world and yet we know nothing about the place you want us to save by becoming, what you called it a, yes an Ace or champion, at least tell us more about that before you manipulate us into your bull shit world peace scheme."

Before he heard Katarina's answer, Blaise whispered in Harry's ear, "Potter, that little bug is going to paint a very rosy picture of her homeland and will try to feed all the rubbish we want to hear so that she can get a yes from us, so if we are going to do this we should at least get a better deal out of it,"

Katarina then sweetly said, "My world is a single continent, divided into four kingdoms named as Spade, Diamond, Clover and Heart. Magic is so common that one's who can't use it are very rare. It is different than your world where Wands are used here Grimoires are bestowed on every child at a special ceremony at the age of fifteen, and the source of magic is more primal and in tune with nature."

"The four basic elements Fire, Earth, Wind and Water are the forms of magic from which all other magical attributes are derived from, for example, Smoke Magic is a form of Wind Magic and so on, there a thousands of types magic in this world but no one can use more than two forms like a person born with Fire magic cannot use Earth and vice-versa."

"Mana is the term used to tell the amount of magic in a person, each kingdom has a different system which they use to categorise people according to the level of their magic."

Harry noticed that the others were just as interested in Katarina's description of this other dimension world as he, the spirit was about to continue with her lecture when she was interrupted by Hermione, "I take it the Kingdoms don't see eye to eye and there might be a huge disparity between the Nobility and common man?"

The spirit now looked uncomfortable and skittish, which meant that Hermione had spotted the knot at the get-go, so Katarina said with a meek tone, "Yes, most of them are either at war or have a called in a truce and formed an alliance."

Harry was about to ask her to elaborate further but he was beaten by Daphne, "Seems like you are hiding something, anyway, tell us about how we fit in this, four unknown wizards and witches or as you call them mages, No one, neither royalty nor commoner is going to give a rat arse about us, as it would be clear from the start that we don't belong there?"

Katarina, to Harry's surprise, perked up at Daphne's astute query, "I have come up with a solution for this, as when you reach there, each of you would be de-aged to the age of seven and you would be blessed by your element, you can use any attribute of your element an ability which the others who were born in my world lack. I have decided to keep you together for now and each of you will receive your respective the kingdom Grimoire when you reach the age of fifteen."

Harry's as soon he heard the word de-age, his mind started to come up with different scenarios, so he said, "How do you expect four seven-year-old children to survive with or without magic and no background to support themselves in a foreign land, we don't even know the language, let alone no access to money for the necessities like food, shelter and clothing? Even if we all are young adults stuck in a child's body the physical barriers are just too much"

Katarina instead of looking dejected, gave him a delighted smile, "Mr Potter do not worry, I have already constructed a plausible background for all of you, as each of you in my world belongs to a dead, highly respected Royal line in each of the kingdoms, like Potter in the Clover Kingdom, Zabini in the Spade kingdom, Granger in Diamond and lastly Greengrass in Heart.

"All of you at first would be a group orphan who banded together and made their way to the local orphanage at the Hage village a very remote place on the outskirts of Clover Kingdom there you will meet two baby boys Asta and Yuno, who are going to play a pivotal role in your life there and would help you in the journey back to your homeland, so look out for them. You would all go your separate ways at the age of fourteen to your assigned kingdom and receive your Grimoires there, no need to worry about the basic needs as they will be fulfilled by the orphanage, I will provide you with one set of clothing and an heirloom of your family which will support your claim to house inheritance when you come of age. Language barriers would be nonexistent as my magic would enable you to speak read and write the languages of all the four kingdoms."

Blaise then interrupted Katarina by saying, "That is all well and good but according to you we would have to separate at fourteen, how are we going to get back together?"

"It is a good question Mr Zabini, you need to be accustomed to the land of which you are an ace, and you would all end up joining Mr Potter in the Clover Kingdom at one point of time but that all depends on how things turn out."

Hermione than asked before Blaise could reply, "What about our world it will change so much when we return?"

"Miss Granger as soon as you entered the portal, your dimension is now in a time freeze, you all will return to that particular time when you left so nothing is going to change." Katarina chirped.

Harry was getting a bit annoyed, this all seemed a little too convenient and he could see the other felt the same from their expressions, then Daphne said, "Call me vain all you want, but I still want to be as beautiful as I am right now, after I hit puberty again, If you make me ugly, I will squeeze your tiny body till it is completely crushed."

Harry rolled his eyes like Hermione and Blaise at Daphne's statement, but Katarina had sweat building on her forehead after hearing Daphne's not so subtle threat, "Miss Greengrass need not worry, you all our children of Noble blood in my world, you would all grow up to look like gods and goddesses and nothing less I assure you, Mr Potter would not even need his glasses, I will grant him a perfect vision."

Harry wanted to say he was sold on this foolish Prophecy induced adventure, just to get rid of his thick spectacles, when Blaise started snickering beside him and said, "I am in, I think this is not going turn out well but who cares, this is something refreshing, a new experience, I miss the adrenaline high."

Hermione then berated Blaise by saying, "Blaise, Don't take this as a joke, this a long term commitment to a cause that is not even related to us."

Daphne then gave Hermione a side hug, to Harry's growing amusement, "Hermione, nothing is going to change when we get back, why not give this a shot, it is not every day someone asks you to play an overpowered rich hero in an unknown land. Plus the poor fairy put so much effort in convincing us,"

Harry then smirked and said, "Hermione the snakes are right, be a lion don't' let these slimy Slytherins show bravery, I want this and I know you do too. You very well know how I feel about Prophecies but here at least I know I am a part of the Prophecy beforehand so it's not so bad."

Hermione frowned but when she faced Katarina who was listening intently to the ongoing conversation, Hermione gave her a bright smile, and said, "These dunderheads, I know very well are going to regret this as soon as we reach the destitute village orphanage but I can't help it, I am in, someone with a brain needs to be there,"

Katarina started doing a happy dance and cheerfully said before snapping her fingers, "Thank you, I wish you well, Good-Bye."

All of them felt the white room turn pitch black before they got a feeling that they were being squeezed through a tight tube.


Outskirts of Hage Village

Harry felt a massive headache when he woke up in the middle of what seemed like a small forest. Somehow he managed to stir the others awake as they were lying unconscious near him. Harry noticed Katarina came through as all them looked like seven-year-old kids, while Blaise and he were dressed in a plain pant and shirt, the girls were wearing a shirt with a long skirt.

Hermione was the first to say something, "Check your pockets and surroundings for the heirlooms which Katarina was talking about." Everyone then started emptying their pockets and Harry was surprised to see a blue string fall out of his right trouser pocket, a four-leaf clover-shaped pendant studded with small diamonds and a large ruby was attached to the string.

The others then started showing their items, Blaise had a spade-shaped obsidian earring with a single bright blue sapphire in the middle. Hermione had gotten a platinum ring with a one of the most beautiful and large diamond, Harry had ever seen and then there was Daphne who had a golden Heart-shaped Brooch which was filled with emeralds in her hands.

"I see the bug was not stingy with the jewellery, but keeping this safe is going to be a hard job, after all, any wandering thief would find a small kid a very easy target." Blaise said, to which Daphne replied, "Why not hide them for now, we can always come and check on them once in a while and take them with us when we journey to the Kingdom we are responsible for."

Hermione rubbed her chin before responding, "It can be done but we can't use any security wards as wands are useless and my magic feels like it is ready to burst at any minute."

Harry completely agreed with Hermione on the feeling part while other two also nodded, then he said, "Daphne is right about hiding them, we are in a forest which I believe serves as a source of firewood for the village, people would frequent this place and may stumble upon our stuff, there has to be another way."

Blaise then suggested something, "The bug was going on about being blessed with our element, let's try using it to protect our stuff, Even if we don't have a Grimoire, we can use an unrefined form of that magic."

Daphne was the first one who got her magic to work, as she conjured a large water jet spray with just her right index finger, Hermione was next as the earth beneath her shook to form a huge rock boulder, now she was screaming about how to get down. While Harry and Daphne were trying to help her down Blaise had managed to summon a whirlwind which uprooted the nearby tree. Blaise also was able to manipulate the wind to cushion Hermione's landing.

Harry still could not make his elemental magic work, until he decided a different approach, he let the fiery magic seep deep into his veins, and then a bright led flame seemed to erupt from his right hand. He only opened his eyes when he heard Daphne shout, "Potter no need to start a forest fire, stop it now" that had an immediate effect, the flames subsided but Harry felt exhaustion, while others also were panting.

"We would not be able to keep this up for much longer; these little bodies don't have that much stamina to cope up with this much amount of Mana," Hermione said as she tried to catch her breath.

"We need to find a different strategy to hide the items; we do have a lot of magic and our elements are pretty clear, what the fuck is that?" Daphne shouted mid-sentence while pointing at Harry's back. Harry turned out to see what had caused Daphne such distress; it was a huge shock for Harry to see a humongous Skull of some kind of demon lying behind him.

"How come any of us not noticed that?" Blaise asked as he gasped at the unusual site,

"We were too busy admiring our Heirlooms and practising our new magic, so we did not pay much attention. This skull certainly has some back-story behind it why not go check it out? Maybe this could be the hiding spot we are looking for?" Harry said as he moved towards the skull.

He felt the other follow him even if a bit hesitantly, the inside of the skull was filled with greenery as much as the outside, at the centre was a small raised platform, Harry thought it was right spot to hide their things as the place was bare of Human touch and nature had overtaken it completely.

"It is going to be dark soon; we should get this over with and enter the village," Blaise said, so taking his lead everyone started finding a place for their precious object. After about ten minutes they all met at the entrance of the demon skull form where the village was perfectly visible at a short distance, some farmers even working in the fields right now.

"We could ask those men for directions to the orphanage," Hermione said, but Daphne pointed out a glaring challenge with sarcasm obvious in her words, "How are we going to approach them, Hello sir we four orphans were just dropped here from the sky by some rainbow fairy and were told to find the Hage village Orphanage, can you point out which way to go, we would be seriously inviting a lot of suspicious looks."

"Why not invent a sob story that we all lived together in another orphanage in a faraway village but runaway due to mistreatment and abuse there by a cruel matron" Blaise offered, to which Harry added, "Blaise is right, we should sell the story by dirty clothes and some bruises and scrapes, everyone has a bleeding heart for small hurt kids and it helps we are not ugly children."

With that they tore and dirtied each other's clothes just enough to make them look worn for a long time, gave some superficial cuts and viola when the first Farmer spotted them, he came rushing towards them with his companion.

"Are you kids okay?" the tall farmer asked with sympathy and concern emanating in his voice, his companion was giving them a similar look, now Hermione and Daphne needed to do their part as men melt easily for little girls, their protective instinct kicks in fast, "Sir can you please help us find the nearby orphanage?" Hermione said with sad eyes and Daphne then sealed with a tear running down her right cheek, "We have been travelling for days without food, our orphanage matron threw us out as she said we were old enough to live on our own."

In Harry's opinion, both of them deserved a Muggle Oscar for that performance, as now both men had rage in their eyes but immense pity also could be seen on their face, "Do not worry kids, Father Orsi and Sister Lily just received two babies yesterday on the doorstep of the Church orphanage located in the middle of the village, I am sure they both would be very happy to take you guys in, follow us we will take you there."


Hage Church

"That was rather easy and quick" Blaise whispered in Harry's ear. All of them soon came across a worn-out church building which had seen better days in Harry's opinion, the Farmer who had guided them there started speaking to Father Orsi who seemed to be in his late twenties and a young blond nun who was just a teenager in Harry's opinion.

The Father then approached the three of them, "Welcome to Hage Village children, I am Father Orsi Orfai, and I treat every child who stays here as my own, though we are low on rations right now, I will do my best to provide you with everything you need. You might even enjoy the company of two very cute babies Asta and Yuno who were just found yesterday on the doorstep" Orsi said with a gentle and kind smile on his face.

"This was not just easy, but it's bloody convenient, these people are too naïve and trust easily" Harry whispered back as the four them followed the man into the Church premises for a start of a new life.


Disclaimer: I don't own Black Clover or Harry Potter

P.S: This is just an on the whim story I created as my other fic was nearing its end, I will only continue with this if readers show interest in the idea. So please do leave a review.