An 8-year-old Harry Potter comes across a strange spider in his cupboard that sets in motion something that nobody expected for Harry. During a fun adventure with his new friend, he comes across a magical book that offers him something he has always wanted… Family. But nothing comes without a cost.
Elder Scrolls Dark Brotherhood themed story.
Dark!Harry but not Evil!Harry.
No original character bashing!
No slash!
Pairing comes much later.
Child Abuse
Drugs/Alcohol
A/N: I've been reading HPFF for years, but I'm new to writing. An artist has to start somewhere.
Chapter One: Adventure with Aster
His Uncle Vernon had been furious with him. He'd struck him hard in the face and Harry had fallen. Then Vernon had kicked him repeatedly in the ribs and finally in the head. Harry had blacked out and had awoken in his cupboard. He didn't know how long he had been out, but some of his bruises had already begun to fade. He checked the door and his suspicions were confirmed. He'd been locked in. Harry could have easily lost track of time, had it not been for his cousin Dudley stomping on the stairs each morning.
Using the number of times Dudley had stomped on his stairs, Harry had determined that it was the 6th day that Aster had appeared in his cupboard. She had fallen from her hiding place above him and landed on his stomach after a particularly violent stomp. Harry looked at her, her black body contrasting against his white skin.
And then she spoke, "This one has magic. He isn't like the others in this house."
Harry gasped. Eyes wide and mouth open in an "O" shape.
"Can you hear me, young one?"
"I - I can hear you." He responded, unsure.
"Unbelievable! This one has magic like no other. There hasn't been a spider speaker in eons. Boy, what is your name?"
"My name is Harry, Harry Potter." Harry reached down slowly and placed his hand near her, inviting her on.
The spider climbed on his hand and he brought her closer to his face to have a closer look. "You are quite beautiful, you know?" He said, smiling now. "Did you say I have magic?"
She didn't verbally respond to his compliment, but her eight eyes flashed in a way, and Harry interpreted that she was pleased. "You do have magic, Harry Potter. I can feel it on your skin."
"I don't understand. If I had magic, I wouldn't allow my uncle and cousin to harm me. I can't have magic." Harry said miserably.
"You are still young and untrained. Furthermore, you do not have a wand-"
Harry interrupted her, "A what?"
"A wand!" She responded irritably. "Don't interrupt me, child.
Harry looked down sheepishly and mumbled an apology.
The spider continued, "You do not have a wand… yet. How old are you Harry?"
"I'm 8 years old," Harry said holding up his hand. He then quickly asked, "What is your name?"
"I have no name, as of now. A name is a gift given to spiders, by witches and wizards after a bond is formed. But we're getting off track. Harry, you have magic. And as such, you will be receiving a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a few years. Once you have your letter, you can go and get a wand. You will be trained in magic! Do not doubt me, young one. I would never lie to a speaker. Haven't you ever done something... strange? Something you would have thought impossible?"
Harry remained silent, thinking. He remembered a few times running away from Dudley and his friends. He found himself cornered behind the school one moment, and upon the roof the next. And then there was that time his aunt had given him an awful haircut and when he'd woken up the next morning, it had grown back. Plus, at this very moment, he was speaking with a spider. A smile grew on his face. He was magic!
Looking again into the spider's eyes, Harry said, "Okay, I believe you."
" I must ask you… What are you willing to do to get out of this cupboard?"
"Anything!" Harry responded quickly.
"Eager little thing, aren't you? Are you sure that you know what you are saying? Would you truly do anything?" The spider said menacingly… "Even kill?"
Harry gasped. "I wouldn't want to kill anybody." Harry quickly rectified his statement. But I do want to get out of here. I need to eat."
"Hmm… too bad. I guess I misjudged you." The spider said out loud while thinking to herself that time would tell. "This is what we'll do then…" And they went about planning Harry's escape from the cupboard.
Late that night while Harry was asleep, the spider crept out underneath the cupboard door. She climbed up the wall and towards the second floor. She stopped first at the fat youngling's room… Harry said his name was Dudley… Stupid fat boy, she thought to herself, so plain compared to 'her' Harry. The spider stopped. Did I just call him 'my' Harry? I guess it was inevitable that I would begin to care for the boy. He had magic, but more importantly, he is the speaker. She moved on along the ceiling until she was just over the fat youngling. She attached some web to the ceiling and descended down, landing on the fat boy's neck. She wasted no time and bit into his flesh. She secreted her sleeping venom. Harry was insistent that nobody die. The boy was too soft. Too forgiving, in her opinion.
She ascended back to the ceiling and made her way out of the room. She grew bored and began to shoot webs along the ceiling, flinging herself like an acrobat. She loved swinging… even if it was a bit undignified. Her old age, for she was ancient (just don't tell her that,) demanded dignity, but gave her skills like no spider alive. She could jump, swing, and crawl at nearly lightning fast speeds. She was in the master bedroom within seconds. She quickly took care of the skinny bint and then moved on to the walrus-sized man next to her. She made sure to give Vernon an extra dose of her venom, barely managing to not 'accidentally' secrete her deadly venom into the fat man.
Her job done, she made her way down to Harry. She climbed back under the door and climbed up the thin mattress and onto his shoulder.
"Harry," she almost sang his name. "Harry, it's time to wake up."
Harry's eyes opened slowly and he turned to look at her. "Did you…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. Despite how horribly he'd been treated, he didn't want them harmed.
"I put them in a deep sleep. It should last the weekend. They might be a little disoriented and confused when they wake up, but we'll cross that road when we come to it."
"Alright, thank you. I don't know what I would have done without your help."
"You can thank me later. We still need to get you out of here Harry."
Harry laughed. She loved his laugh… it reminded her of her first companion. She wondered if they might be related. She had shamefully not kept track of her first companion's family as she should have.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as Harry asked "What do I need to do? You mentioned you had a way…"
"You are going to do magic, Harry. Put me on the top of your hand while holding the doorknob."
Harry followed her instructions. The hair on the back of his neck began to stand and he resisted the impulse to shiver.
"Now focus on your hand and on me. When you feel it, say alohomora."
Harry didn't know what she meant by 'when he felt it', but he obliged her. He took a deep breath and focused his thoughts on her and the doorknob. He focused on how they felt in his hand at first. The doorknob was cold in his palm and the places her legs met his skin on the top of his hand tickled slightly. His stomach growled, reminding him that he really needed to get out of here. With renewed determination, he thought about what he wanted, what he was seeking. Freedom… and food. He felt a warm pulse that began at his heart and extended down his hand towards his new friend and then the doorknob. He said the designated words and felt the click beneath his hand and turned the doorknob.
Harry stepped out of the cupboard and stretched. It felt good to fully extend himself again after all this time. He took a deep breath… and started to jump and dance around the hallway, his spider friend hanging on for dear life.
Harry heard a panicked voice "Harry! Stop! I can't…"
Harry stopped instantly and in a horrified voice said, "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine… just don't ever do that again. Please."
Harry moved onto the kitchen, turned on the lights. Everything was spotlessly clean as usual. Opening the fridge he noticed some Chinese takeout and a pizza. It seemed that without Harry to cook, the Dursleys had resorted to either dining out or ordering takeout for dinner. Typical, Harry thought in disgust. He pulled out the food and began piling on some of everything onto a plate.
His nameless friend thought he was going a little overboard. There was no way he could eat all of this food… but she kept quiet. Harry deserved this carefree moment of indulgence. During the planning, he had told her what his life was like with the Dursleys.
After eating, Harry made his way to the living room and put on a movie that Dudley had been given for his birthday. Normally, Harry wouldn't want to watch or do anything that his cousin was interested in… but Dudley didn't care for this movie. It had remained unopened in a pile of movies. He was engrossed in the movie immediately. The loud musical intro, the bright lights, and captivating story-line sucked him right in. Despite all this, he and his friend had fallen asleep on the couch, not waking until much later.
It was Saturday afternoon, the next day. Harry had just woken up. His new friend was still on his wrist.
"Good morning," he said to her.
"You mean good afternoon," she replied with humor in her voice.
Harry didn't think it was fair to give him a hard time about the hour of the day. He had stayed up rather late last night after all. He smiled at her joke and then remembered something she had said yesterday.
"Do you… Do you think you would…" Harry stumbled over his words. He didn't want to be rejected by his new friend.
"Go on, Harry. What is it?"
"I was just wondering if you wantedmetonameyou?" Harry spit out quickly.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" She had understood what he said but didn't want to get her hopes up. Being bonded to a speaker again would be truly wonderful.
"Sorry," Harry responded. "I was just wondering if you wanted me to name you? It's just that I really like you. You're my first and best friend. But I would understand if you didn't want to… what was it… bond with me."
She didn't know what to say. The irony that he, a speaker, was unsure if she would want to bond with him… It was just too much. She began to laugh.
Harry, thinking she was laughing at him because she would never want to be bonded to him, began to frown. It hurt.
"Harry, don't be upset. I don't mean to laugh… It's just… You're a speaker. Any spider would be foolish to deny a bond with you. And here you are doubting yourself." She sobered up a bit and said, "Harry I would be honored to be your familiar. You may name me."
Harry smiled. He didn't really understand all of this speaker stuff… he just wanted her to be 'his.' He thought for a while and finally said…"Aster. Your name is Aster."
The newly named Aster was stunned. Aster was a name she had been given before… long ago.
"I love it. Thank you, Harry."
Harry felt a warmth in his heart that was foreign to him. Aster felt it too, all though she knew it for what it was. Love. To commemorate the moment, her eight eyes flashed and became the same green as her newly bonded, Harry's.
In his happiness, Harry realized that he had the whole day to do whatever he wanted.
He wanted to leave the house immediately, but his spidery friend told him that it might be a good idea to get cleaned up first.
Harry enjoyed the next couple carefree hours doing as he pleased. On Sunday, he made his way into town after helping himself to some money from his Uncle's wallet. Harry was an unnaturally bright child and was quick to learn how to read and write. He'd been punished for it by his uncle for outperforming Dudley. All the same, Harry was smart.
He wandered into a used book store. He was perusing the poetry aisle, Aster was hidden up the sleeve of his sweater, when all of a sudden, she spoke. "Harry, there is something there. Something you have to get. I can feel it." Harry could feel it too. It was calling out to him, he just needed to pinpoint where it was. He ran his hand along the spines of the book. The feeling began to grow as he moved along the shelf. "There!" Aster exclaimed, "that one."
"A Kiss, Sweet Mother." Harry read aloud. "That's a strange title."
Aster told him to purchase the book, so he did.
After the book store, Aster told Harry that they needed to make one more stop pull off their plan. They stopped just around the corner from a liquor store. Aster told Harry to wait here for now.
She made up a web and it caught in the wind, pulling her towards the front door of the liquor store. She'd timed it just right and managed to fly towards the automatic doors just as someone was leaving the store. She swung herself up to the ceiling and took out everyone in the store with her sleeping venom. She'd have to wait a few weeks to build up her supply after this adventure, but it had been worth it to help 'her' Harry.
Harry had watched the people drop in the store and new it was safe to approach. He walked in and Aster dropped onto his hand once more. She then instructed him to grab a few bottles. He grabbed a few that he recognized as his Uncles favorites and they left the store.
They made their way home in silence. Each thinking about the strange book. Harry because of the feeling he got that lead him to the book, and Aster remembering something from long ago.
Once home, Harry cleaned up his mess. Under Aster's direction, he then placed a few emptied liquor bottles around the house. He made sure to put one each in the master bedroom and Dudley's as well. When his relatives woke up, they'd blame the liquor on their lack of memory of the weekend… and Dudley would be in trouble. Late Sunday night, Harry and Aster made their way back into the cupboard and locked the door.
**********End of Chapter**********
A/N: I would really love some feedback. The next chapter moves forward to when Harry is nearly 11. I'm curious if there is anything I need to fix/change before moving forward. Also wondering if I should leave Harry in Gryffindor or use a different house? I'm leaning towards Harry/Luna pairing later on because I love Luna. However, this is going to be a rather dark story and it might be too much out of character for her to still be the Luna that I love. We shall see.