Damian Drake: The Boy-Who-Returned
Disclaimer/Plot/Challenge Information/Author's Note/Dedication: SEE FIRST CHAPTER
Dedication: Knight Errant by ArlyssTolero, Damaged Raven and Apex by JustBored21, Harry Potter and the Hidden Truth by KingFatMan25, The Rise of the Last Potter by HPfanfictioner66, Harry Potter and the Ashes of Chaos by ACI100, Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin by The Sinister Man, Crashing Into Darkness by Sectumus Prince, Kill me if you can by PercyPendragon3, Potters Against the World by Temporal Knight and Harry Potter and the Power of Two by Colt01
Key Pairing: Damian/Hermione
Other Pairings: Lily/James; Sirius/Amelia; Neville/Rose
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
/Parseltongue/
Review Answers:
WhiteElfElder: Well, there's probably a good reason for that;
The Other Side of Darkness: I imagine a lot of people are expecting some of the usual stuff with the pairing, so it'll be my pleasure to surprise them and probably piss one or two of them off in the process;
ArlyssTolero: Thanks: I admit, a lot of that I sort of based off of Arrow, but, at the same time, I hoped to put a spin on things, starting with what's coming up in this chapter; also, the DE was taken out by Sirius' Animagus form: sorry, I forgot to put that in;
Winged Seer Wolf: A riddle for you, brother-mine: when is a kidnapper not a kidnapper?
"What else is there?"
"Well…" repeated Wilson, clearing his throat several times before he explained, "According to…to my scans…and…and you must understand, Lord Potter, I checked them seven times over, using the same diagnoses charms and confirmation methods…"
"What is it?" asked Rose.
Again, Wilson seemed nervous, if not confused, as he looked up to the Potters before he answered them.
"According to my scans, that young man in there…the young man calling himself Damian Drake is…he's seventeen years old!"
Chapter 2: Impossible, But True
"What…what did you just say, Wilson?"
"He's seventeen, Lord Potter," replied Healer Wilson, earning surprised, disbelieving looks all round from the Potters, while the Healer indicated the ward where Harry…or Damian, as he seemed to be calling himself, was still sat on his bed, not even noticing, or possibly taking notice of the fact that they were talking about him. "I…I've checked the results over and over again, using different kinds of analysis charms and age-verification spells and…and I swear to you, Lord Potter; that boy…your son…he's seventeen years…and less than a month old."
"But…but he's my twin!" gasped Rose, earning a slow nod from Wilson.
"Yes, as strange as it sounds, one of my scans did still register that connection, Miss Potter; however…well, for obvious reasons, I didn't dare pry any deeper. He's my patient, yes, but it's not my business to go looking where I'm neither permitted nor welcome."
"Thank you," said James, running a hand through his hair before he cleared his throat as he asked, "Can we…may we talk to him?"
"Of course," said Wilson.
As he did so, however, James' eyes narrowed when he saw Rose break from her parents' embrace, "Rosie?"
"I…someone should tell Uncle Sirius…he deserves to…to know we…we've found Harry…Damian…again," explained the Potter Heiress, though, as she did so, James' eyes softened, while Lily didn't know whether to smile proudly, sadly or just share her daughter's pain as the two of them saw the tears she was threatening to shed.
"Good idea, Rose," replied Lily, crouching down before she patted her daughter's shoulder softly as she explained, "You go with Healer Wilson and get that old dog and your Aunt Amelia here; if…given what we've heard, I…I think we're going to need some legal protections and assurances anyway…but you come straight back with them, you hear me, young lady?"
Even though she wasn't a Legilimens or even a psychic, Rose still managed to translate that into, "I've lost one child; I won't lose another so quickly. I know it hurts, but we have to do this as a family."
Hugging her Mum, Rose whispered her promise to come back before she was escorted away by Wilson; Lily and James, meanwhile, clasped each other's hands before James walked to the door into Damian's room; knocking twice, if only to show a neutral, civil, if not friendly and supportive air, James saw his wayward son's oddly-coloured eyes look in their direction before, to his relief, the young man jerked his head, inviting them in.
"Try not to spook him, Lily-flower," whispered James, earning a shaky, but understanding nod of compliance from Lily as they opened the door to the medical room. Apart from the lean form of the boy now calling himself Damian Drake, the room was empty, save for several folded pieces of parchment on the table next to the bed where Damian was seated, as well as a bunch of fresh flowers, which provided a soothing smell that filled the air with its relaxing aroma.
Lily could also feel a ward that seemed to be aimed at keeping those in the room as calm as the smell made her feel – which also made her wonder if the ward was tied to said flowers – while, as they walked into the room, James noticed Damian was supping lightly from a glass of clear water.
Once the door was closed behind them, if only until Sirius, Rose and Amelia joined them in the room, James gulped hard before, clearing his throat, he asked, "Ha…Damian?"
He didn't say it aloud, but James actually hated having to use another name, apart from the one that he'd given his son when he was born, but, as Healer Wilson had said, the boy's mentality seemed focused on identifying himself by this name, so, for the time being, James would play along and placate any nerves or fears his lost child might have about returning.
"Hello, Lord Potter."
As Wilson had said it, so too did both Lily and James shiver when they heard the cold, dangerously-apathetic tone of voice that spoke from the lips of the young man before them; it was like listening to the death-following rattle of a rattlesnake's tail, coupled with the world's deadliest scorpions ready to stick their venomous tails into a fresh, live prey.
In fact, Lily wouldn't even blame James for thinking that they were in the presence of a dragon that had just been woken from its slumber by a tickling intruder, but the dragon was not yet fully awake or prepared to burn them to ashes…
Well…not yet, anyway.
"Do…" asked James, choosing his words very carefully, especially in light of what Damian had done for Rose, while he also had to be very careful not to risk angering the half-asleep dragon further. "Don't you…do you know who we really are, Damian?"
"Yes."
Again, Lily shivered, while James, switching into Auror-mode, drew on his professional experiences as he asked, "Don't…don't you want to know us by those titles, son?"
"I'm not your son."
That hit Lily hard and fast, so much so that James had to whip out his wand and conjure a chair for her; as Lily fell into the chair, the tears she'd been holding back, ever since Wilson gave his diagnosis, finally showed themselves as she sobbed into her husband's embrace.
Damian, meanwhile, didn't seem to notice or acknowledge the full effect of what he'd just said.
Instead, he drew in a slow, calm breath before he continued, "Where is your daughter?"
"She…she is calling on some…some friends of ours to…to come and meet you, D…D…Damian," said Lily, choking out the words, as well as the name, as she wept tears of hurt and pain while she continued, "Now…now you…you're…you're back…"
"I'm not."
"Damian, we understand you must be confused…" James began, but as he went to say the next part, the words died in his throat as he saw Damian glare daggers at him, his heterochromic eyes burning with raw emotion and fire that, again, made the Potters think of the sleeping dragon tickled…albeit literally in this case.
"I am not confused, Lord Potter," growled Damian, his voice sounding even-more dangerous than before as he explained, "I am disappointed."
He didn't raise his voice.
That was, perhaps, the scariest thing about Damian's tone as he addressed Lily and James, the lesser of whom frowned through her tears as she asked him, "Dis…disappointed? Why…why are you disappointed, Damian?"
"Because," replied Damian, once again turning his head away from the Potters as he explained, "I acted like a fool! Jumping in headfirst, without so much as a counter set-up to combat that curse's magic, or any thought of what might happen to me. And then, allowing myself to not only be caught without my weapons, but to then require the aid of…outsiders…and betray every lesson I've been taught…"
"Outsiders?" asked Lily.
"Lesson?" asked James.
"I've been taught," finished Damian, the very slight drawl in his words suggesting he was being sarcastic, even as he continued, "I want you to both understand something: I was not there to be a hero or even to expose myself like I did. In fact, you were not supposed to know I was there…not until the coming year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"What?" asked James.
"Why?" asked Lily.
"I was to accompany the delegates from Durmstrang," replied Damian, earning a horrified look from Lily, while James' eyes darkened in their sockets as he realised what Damian was implying.
"You mean you…you…you've been taught by…by Karkaroff?"
"Not by choice, I assure you, Lord Potter," replied Damian, sniffing once before he explained, "However, in case the Healer's analysis of my condition didn't give you any inside information, I'll say it now: there is one man whom I owe everything I am today to, and it is not some former prankster who thought it was funny to humiliate and endanger the life of another man."
"Snivellus?" asked James, earning a sharp smack to the back from Lily.
"He is just one of your victims, Lord Potter," argued Damian, keeping his voice as cold and stony as before as he explained, "There are so many others I could name: Fabian and Gideon Prewitt, Regulus Black, Edgar and Zoe Bones, Marlene McKinnon, Benjy Fenwick, Cadaroc Dearborn, Dorcas Meadows…and, let's not forget, Remus Lupin and Harry James Potter."
Once again, Lily felt her heart freeze and shatter in her chest as she heard Damian recite the list of names, many of whom – McKinnon, Bones, Prewitt and, of course, Lupin – were friends of theirs back during the War, not to mention…
Suddenly, Lily's eyes widened as she asked, "D…Damian: are…are you saying you…you hold us responsible for…for the casualties suffered by…by the Order of the Phoenix?"
"I'm sorry," said Damian, once again turning his eyes on the Potters, taking a long swig from his glass as he did so, before he asked, "But are you, or are you not the Lord and Lady of the greatest, sole-surviving warrior household to come out of Albion since Godric Gryffindor himself?"
"Well, what does that have to do with it?" asked James.
"Let me put it this way, Lord Potter," replied Damian, draining the last of the water in his glass before he actually sneered at James as he spoke in a voice so cold, neither Lily nor James would have been surprised to see frost forming on the glass window as Damian spoke to them.
"Charles and Dorea Potter, as well as Fleamont and Euphemia, must be spinning in their graves to see what a coward their heir has become!"
Suddenly, James leapt to his feet, a look of pure rage and venom in his eyes as he snarled, "Take that back, Damian! I don't care what hardships you have suffered; I will not have you badmouthing your family like this. For Merlin's sake; don't you even care about how hard we've spent the past seven years trying to find you?"
"You obviously didn't look hard enough," said Damian, still somehow speaking in that same matter-of-fact voice as he continued, "Not that it would have mattered, mind you. As I learned myself: the only way to find where I have been raised and transformed into what you see before you is if you are welcome there. So, you can imagine the Lord's surprise when he discovered a seven-year-old infant half-dead and magically-exhausted out in the cold, in a place he was sure he'd never seen before."
"But…" gasped Lily, a note of alarm in her voice as she exclaimed, "You…you were kidnapped, Damian! Don't…don't you remember?"
"I don't know who spun you that yarn, Lady Potter," replied Damian, once again sneering in dark amusement as he shook his head, "But I can assure you that, what happened to me, that night seven years ago, it was no kidnapping."
As James' eyes widened in alarm, disbelief and no small amount of Auror-mode-driven suspicion, Damian sighed deeply before he rose from the bed as he added, "But I'm not telling you anything more than that, so, if you'll both excuse me, I have to be going."
"No, you don't," argued James, earning a raised eyebrow from Damian.
"I know you're clearly insulted by my choice of words, Lord Potter, but, make no mistake: try and stop me and you will be the one requiring a hospital bed…and that's only because of my gratitude towards you helping to make sure I did not die out there in the fields."
"I…I can't let you leave, Damian," explained James, licking his lips slowly before he drew himself to his full height as he continued, "I…I understand you…you can't…you won't accept that…that we have…we've risked so much trying to…to get you back, but…but seeing as how you're basically admitting to…to the use of…of suspicious-level magic and…and associating with…"
"Are you done?"
Suddenly, James gasped as Damian stared him down, his arms folded and his eyes as cold and empty as the grave as he stared at James.
"What?"
"You seem to be under the impression that your authority means anything to me, Lord Potter…or should I say…Vice-Director, Auror-Captain Potter?" asked Damian, earning a shocked look from James, before Damian's eyes flicked to the door to the room. "And that would be your boss, Director Black, and her husband and your daughter, am I right?"
When Lily and James turned to look, they saw a white-faced Sirius, as well as a speechless Amelia, and Rose too, standing outside the door.
"Damian, you…" James began.
However, when he looked back to Damian, the Potter Lord's eyes widened with disbelief when he saw that Damian had vanished!
"What? Where? Why? How…who…"
"Prongs?"
Turning to the door again, James saw Sirius now standing in the room, his expression one of horrified disbelief, even as Amelia and Rose brought up the rear, while the Black Lord pointed to the empty spot.
"Tell me…please…tell me that wasn't who…who Rose says it…it was!"
"I…I wish I could, Sirius," said James, looking again to the empty spot before he felt his age catch up with him as he found himself unable to do anything about what he was seeing, and what had happened, and what was going on in that room.
"But…I know it's impossible, but…but, somehow, Harry's back…but he's not Harry anymore; he's Damian Drake."
"Drake?"
Suddenly, Lily and James turned as Amelia joined her husband; Rose, meanwhile, stood in the doorway, holding onto the hand of a small boy with caramel-blond hair that had several shaggy, black streaks and a pair of cool, observant grey eyes.
This was Romulus Remus Black, Sirius and Amelia's soon-to-be-seven-year-old son, who looked at the room with abject confusion and bewilderment, even as his godfather and honorary aunt – Sirius and Amelia had asked Minerva McGonagall to be Romulus' godmother – looked to the boy's Mother in likewise-confused states.
"Do…do you know the name, Amelia?" asked James, earning a slow nod from Amelia.
"I…I do, and…and if it's the same one…James; please tell me you didn't try and exert any authority over…Damian?"
James blushed, even as his boss scowled before she hissed, "You idiot! If the wrong ears take this the wrong way, you…you might just end up dooming us all!"
"What do you mean?" asked Lily, now looking to Amelia with confusion and alarm, "Who…who is it, Amie? I…I'm sure I've heard the name myself, but…but it keeps escaping me…"
"And with good reason, Lily," said Amelia, clearing her throat before she closed the door, if only so the children wouldn't hear, as she faced the Potters, as well as her worried, uneasy-looking husband.
"The House…or Clan, as they prefer to be labelled, of Drake, meaning the Dragon, is the premier force and command structure behind one of the most-dangerous Hit-Wizard and Mercenary Guilds on Earth: one so deadly, as well as feared and revered that even Grindelwald himself feared them. So much so that he was willing to offer them amnesty and freedom in his New World Order…"
"Merlin's beard!" gasped Sirius.
Lily, meanwhile, suddenly looked like she'd been hit by a bolt out of the blue.
"You…you're talking about Libra, aren't you?"
"Libra?" asked James, earning a nod from Lily.
"Also known as the League of Shadows, the Guardians and Knights of Balance and, even among the Unspeakables, the goblins themselves and your old mentor, James, they are both respected and feared because of how they only get involved in anything outside their ranks in the direst of circumstances…and even then…like Magic itself, there is always a price!"
"And you just tried to cage a guy who shares the surname of their Commander-in-Chief?" asked Sirius, a mixture of annoyance and amused disbelief lacing his words as he shook his head.
"If I were you, Prongs, I'd pray that you never see that guy again…"
"But we will," retorted James, earning a raised eyebrow from Sirius, while Lily choked back a sob as she looked to Amelia.
"Damian…he's going to be at Hogwarts for the Tournament…with Durmstrang!"
"Fuck me…" whispered Sirius, running his hands over his face before he looked to James with a more-stern air about him.
"Prongs, my old friend, you might want to start learning how to ask for forgiveness…especially if…if Harry has…has become one of…them!"
Chapter 2 and, yikes, talk about shooting yourself in the foot…with a cannon!
But, can James bring himself to pull his own ass out of the fire, preferably before this apparent Son of Libra decides that James needs an example of why they're so feared?
Also, exactly how or why did Damian end up with such dangerous company in the first place, especially since it sounds like the old fool has done what he's done best…and lied?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: It's off to Hogwarts and, sure enough, the announcement of the Tournament brings dread back for the Potters, though not as much as when the prodigal son returns…with a bang!
Please Read and Review
AN: Libra
Also, those of you who remember V1 of this idea will also recall how 'Libra' was originally created by my good friend JustBored21, who gave me permission to use the organisation for this story; all rights to that brilliant writer.
Also, if you want a little more info on the organisation, go and read Damaged Raven by JustBored21 and you'll see what sort of madness and fun is still to come;
AN2: Portrayal
Romulus Black: Iain Armitage