Fate: Damnit
Harry Potter/ Fate Stay Night
III
There were two figures standing in the middle of the room. One was clad in bronze and a unique style of chain mail. How Harry, recognised it as Celtic chain-mail he didn't know "Servant Saber, has answered your summons. Are you my Master?" The newly named Saber asked curiously. The man was a literal giant, Harry was a respectable 5'10 but looked shorter and rather skinny, in comparison Saber had another six to seven inches on him and wouldn't look out of place in any true historic re-enactment drama or Gaelic History show.
"I, Dudley Dursley, am your Master. My Cousin is maintaining your mana. The pact is made."
"I, Saber, accept you as my Master, on the condition there is something to drink around here." Saber retorted, with a very thick and distinguished Irish lilt to his tone.
It was the sword that Harry realised who Saber was "Your Grace; I was not expecting the Grail to summon such a…noble person such as yourself."
Saber turned "You, recognise me?" As he spoke, his hand went for the sword at his hilt.
"Aye, that sword…that sword is the Sword of Truth, Sword of Retribution, Sword of Whispers, Fragarach. You can only be Lugh, The King of the Tuatha De Danann." Harry replied.
Lugh chuckled "So, so, close; aye my sword is indeed Fragarach. But I am no King."
Dudley snorted and turned to his dumbstruck cousin "Yeah, legends mess a lot of things up. Arthur is actually Artoria, Mordred is still Mordred but a woman."
Harry shook his head "We should have some mead or ale, nothing like the true mead that Her Grace is used to but we have some."
"Fear not, Blood of my Master, the Grail has supplied us with modern day concepts. What you call lager would suffice, although chicken would be nice." Lugh replied.
"We can find something, Your Grace."
Harry turned to the remaining figure. This one looked eerily familiar, he was around Harry's height and wore a deep hood, then with a pair of bone thin and slender fingers dropped the hood.
Harry stared as his reflection stared back "Now, how the fuck did this happen?"
The Harry that had been summoned giggled "Not, Harry. Hailey Potter, yes brother, the Throne of Heroes is a colossal bitch…Now, where's Hermione?"
"Wait, what…"
Hailey giggled again "From my timeline, I got married to Hermione…you're about to have a meltdown. In fact, the various renditions of you around the Throne of Heroes tend to bet on what class you end up being."
"Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider and Saber; correct?"
Hailey nodded "Yup. You're definitely one of the quicker ones. You're normally a Caster, a few Assassin types, a few Sabers and three Riders: One you use Hedwig as your steed, one is Buckbeak and the other a Dragon."
Hermione took the fact Lugh was present in Grimmauld Place with a shrug. She was definitely not surprised at that, however her eyes widened when Harry and a practically identical version of her best friend appeared; she was dressed in all black akin to Harry all the way down to the boots. However, the counterpart wore clothing that was most definitely revealing of her well-developed figure "Harry, what the fuck happened?"
"Mione, Harry…in fact all of Harry's incarnations have an 'E' in Luck. I, fall under the class of Caster with some considerable skill as a Lancer and Saber."
"How? I mean, if you're a version of Harry Potter then how are you able to triple-class?"
Hailey grinned at Hermione "In my series of events, Sirius was able to capture Peter and got the traitor kissed for his betrayal. He took me in and raised slash trained me; He also managed to rally the surviving elder echelons of the Black Family, specifically Arcturus Black III. Anyways, I was taught both Black and Potter magics and ways of life. The Black Family were known to wield staves, pikes and spears and the Potters wielded a sword when they were forced to martial duels."
Harry nodded, the breath being driven from his lungs, how had he not known this. "Dumbledore, Hadrian James. Despite, what you may think of him, did not; does not and will not nor shall he ever have delusions of grandeur and despised anyone whom he might have to share the spotlight with, or anyone who might surpass him and damn that Incubus Gadfly for becoming so popular."
Hermione, paused and then spoke "Hailey…who exactly ARE you. Why are you here? I have so many questions."
Hailey turned and there was a faint blush on her cheeks "Okay, there is a realm; there are arguments about calling it a realm but for the sake of it, it's a realm. This realm is isolated from space and time and is known collectively as 'The Throne of Heroes', anyone pre-20th century can be found there, the rules on becoming a hero are really, really vague; so vague that it is not unheard for 20th century well known people to appear there; Lawrence of Arabia and Mad Jack Churchill are two that spring to mind. Furthermore, things get even more convoluted when you add in 'Alters'; these are alter-egos of well-known heroes. Each person appearing at the Throne of Heroes, falls under a category as explained earlier Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider and Saber all of which are self-explanatory. Unfortunately, these are not the only classes of 'Hero' in the Realm of Thrones there are also secondary classes of: Alter Ego/ Alter; Avenger, Faker, Foreigner, Gunner, Saver and Shielder. There are others but everything that is required to activate them across the multiverse…that's a thing, it's easier to accept that the Realm of Heroes and the Multiverse are both real it makes things much simpler when it comes to explain Realm of Heroes. Are you both following?"
Harry nodded slowly "Realm of Heroes and Multiverse is a thing. There are seven 'core' Servant Classes with a multitude of other classes with seven being more common than the rest…I'm following. Hermione?"
Hermione nodded "I am."
Dudley nodded "Makes sense. Why haven't we seen things like Gatekeeper and Watcher or the stranger classes?"
"Because Master, if we encounter those then the Servants of Alaya have seriously screwed up." Lugh commented.
"Servants of Alaya?" Harry and Hermione asked.
"A different kettle of fish. They are clock-work mass murdering janitors who prevent the extinction of the human race. They oppose the Servants of Gaia, it's complicated and messed up." Hailey replied shuddering.
"So, how does this relate to Harry?" Hermione asked.
Hailey giggled "Finally the crux of the matter! Harry and you, Hermione, in any of your forms both male or female and there are others; are known as 'specials' no-matter what part of the Multiverse, there are always a version of the pair of you. Anyway, whatever happens to Hermione, Harry more or less sends you in a spiral with a collision course with the Realm of Heroes. There are a few where you both survive; heck…in one Harry, you're dating Medusa due to you being the manifestation of Thanatos (1). In another you're half-crazed due to the Disaster of Magic and summoned Jeanne d'Arc as an Avenger (2), there are a few where you end up with Artoria Pendragon (3)…sorry, Arthur Pendragon. Spoilers, quite a few 'male' figures in history are actually female."
Hermione and Harry were dumbstruck "Are people either blind or seriously stupid to not work this stuff out?" Hermione asked.
"Where am I heading, Hailey, this time if it's inevitable that I'm ending up in the Realm of Heroes?"
Hailey cocked her head "You've not had any martial training. You still have your Firebolt?"
"Destroyed. Six people became a copy of me and Death Eaters came after us moment I turned Seventeen."
"That's…pretty damn cool. You killed Tom Riddle? Did he get you with the AK?"
"Yup. You?"
"No, one our Black Family removed the horcrux from my scar when I was…eight or nine. I'd knocked myself out in the training room…You getting receiving the AK from Tom is normally a requisite for becoming a Caster or Counter-Force Caster. I only dodged Caster class because I'd been training with a sword and spear before I was casting magic…Did you know that if any of your ancestors are summoned, and try to use their Phantasms on you or near you on someone you can cancel it…something you should know. Anyway, how'd you kill Tom?"
"Disarming charm, I know, everyone says I should stay away from it…"
Hailey nodded "It's useful, even when disarming it hits people like a truck? Try Durus Pulsus, think of it as the bigger heavier hitting brother of Expelliarmus, personal favourite. Anyway, you still in the auror office?"
"No, my 'seniors' tried to make me comply. Three are in Hospital and the other is dead. Scary thing, I'm not all that fussed about it."
"Dawlish?" Harry nodded, Hailey grinned "Don't worry, most Caster-Harrys and three or four of the Assassin variants of you, kill Dawlish as your trial run. In fact, all your Assassin variants kill Dawlish. I killed him, kinda hit his alimentary canal and channelled a piercing charm into the spear and went vertical."
The three teens turned green slightly and Lugh looked at Hailey with a raised eyebrow "Surely, you could have used a more…dignified way to kill him?"
"Considering he was conspiring to help overthrow the Government in my time and no-one could acquire decent hemp rope to hang the man."
Lugh nodded "That is fair. My Master, do you know where this Holy Grail War will be taken place?"
Dudley shook his head "I only know of two places; Fuyuki or Trifas. Both of which were two very different sets of circumstances for the Grail. The Fuyuki Grail Wars was a Seven-Masters and Servants in a free-for-all slaughter and the Trifas Wars consisted of Two teams of seven masters fighting for the Grail."
It was then a knock on the front door was heard. Harry turned to his counter-part, who winked; grabbed a packet of biscuits and dematerialised, not before running her finger-tips over Hermione's shoulder causing the bushy-brunette to shiver.
Grasping their wands, or in Harry's case one of the spare spear fragments and inadvertently pulsing his magic into it. The fragment shifted into a beautiful spear, it felt right in Harry's hand and Dudley answered the door. "Mr. Dursley, I am Lord El-Melloi II, this is my assistant Gray, may we come in?"
Dudley nodded "I can welcome you in, my Cousin is Head of the House. Lord Potter-Black, Lord El-Melloi II is here to speak with us."
"Welcome, Lord El-Melloi II, sorry about the reception." Harry said as he placed the spear against the wall. Lord El-Melloi II was a tall skinny man, with shoulder length black hair; he wore a black long-sleeved shirt, skinny leg cut trousers that seemed to resembled leather, but due to the lack of squeak when he moved; Harry quickly deduced that they were made to look like leather but they weren't. He also wore a black blazer with a red scarf.
Gray on the other hand, was a typical school girl with what would be a school uniform. However, she wore a dark grey hood with the hood up.
El-Melloi II looked around the kitchen "Not the safest place to conduct magic."
Harry snorted and waved his hand "Detection and muffling spells, you can speak freely and openly. Lord El-Melloi II, Tea? Coffee? And for your assistant? Also may I take your scarf and cloak?"
"Tea would be lovely." El-Melloi said.
"I prefer to keep my hood on. I don't like people seeing my face."
Harry nodded "As you wish. Drink?"
"Hot chocolate if you have it."
Harry chuckled "Right-o."
Soon enough a pot of tea had been prepared as had a cup of hot chocolate. El-Melloi looked at the red spear "It's been a while since I've seen the Gae Dearg: Crimson Rose of Exorcism."
Harry grinned "One of my ancestors found a trove of artifacts or catalysts. Turns out I'm related to someone who wielded Gae Dearg; I find it hard to believe only one person wielded it. Anyway, Lord El-Melloi…"
"The Second." Groused El-Melloi.
"You came to us, knocked on my door…" Harry replied.
"That is true. Alright, you two…" He indicated to Harry and Dudley "…Have been selected for the Holy Grail War. This Holy Grail War, is surprisingly occurring in Greece and is working in a similar format to the Trifas Grail War of Teams of Seven; however from the intelligence gathered all members of the teams are more like individual mercenary squads."
Harry sighed "Here comes the sales pitch to join the Clock Tower Team of Magi…How are they going to cope with Caster and Saber already taken; coupled with quite possibly a small squad of blundering wanded wizards wading into the mess for nothing more than shits and giggles."
Lord El-Melloi sighed and looked at them "If you can reduce the numbers of blundering idiots, that would be magnificent. I…am the 'Leader' you could say of the Magus Association Team attending this Grail War on the pretence that I survived the Fourth Fuyuki Grail War. I am intending to summon the Rider Class Servant, there is a Necromancer I know who will gladly summon an Assassin, one of my students will be participating and will summon a Lancer."
Harry clicked his fingers, spoke into thin air and bags were rapidly filling in the hallway. Harry summoned the Gae Dearg to his hand and placed it in a case "You point me the apprentice and I'll give the Gae Dearg."
Gray took the spear, and in that moment Harry and Gray looked each other in the eye. Harry, had seen the images of Arthur or Artoria Pendragon. He realised what had been done to her "I'm…so sorry, for whoever did this to you." He wanted to say more but he shut his mouth.
"We have Caster, Saber, Lancer, Rider and Assassin sorted. We still need an Archer and a Berserker."
Lord El-Melloi grinned "I know of a few mages, that'll be willing to fulfil those roles…even a specialist magus."
Harry sighed "You, mean Lord El-Melloi, you're willing to lead a bunch of Teens into this shitstorm. There's you, and your necromancer friend as adults with three? Of your own students and two loose cannons…"
"That's what war is, Lord Potter-Black…unless you're scared."
Harry's eyes flashed temporarily going from green to yellow and back again. Lord El-Melloi suddenly felt the sudden pressure of the young mans power "Since the other teams haven't been fully assembled yet, I have the opportunity to train the three of you in magecraft."
"In return we'll help you with your wand craft. There are very few wanded magecraft practioner hybrids." Harry countered as Hailey and Lugh finally shimmered into existence.
"We have a deal."