Crossworlds 1 - Harry Potter

by gothicjedi666

The start of another series that I have planned out using a CYOA I found randomly online. It doesn't start off that well, as there's too much info-dumping, but it does get better so you might just want to skim them. I require a beta reader for some proofreading and to try to improve the chapters. Drop by my patron page for draft chapters. Waring some early chapters are info dumps.

39. Chapter 39

Reviews

Alan

Thank you.

Michae1ange1o

I hoped that people would figure out the crossover that I have planned.

shinigami101505

Thanks

Gon Freaks

I don't have anyone to proofread for me and my dyslexia makes spotting my own mistakes somewhat difficult.

frankieu

I don't have any plans for Hermione to find her birth mother so it can be anyone you like.

Mugen-Muse

No, he's just helping Hagrid out so as to give the impression that's he a good student.

The Fidelius Charm didn't work on Kol or Cortana because they got their knowledge of Grimmulad Place from reading the Order of the Phoenix book, or the MC's memory of reading it. As such Dumbledore shared the secret with them indirectly before the spell was ever cast. A loophole which only makes sense because it's magic.

Wentley

Kol has no interest in the dark arts and he has access to the Hogwarts library as well as all the books left in the Room of Requirement. He already has hundreds of books stashed away and the money to buy more if he desired them. He doesn't since he's busy creating new spells and he's learning duelling from Flitwick.

Crossworld 1 - Harry Potter

Part 39

The Mountains. The Wizarding World.

Once you left the grounds of the school and went past the great lake, and then beyond the forbidden forest, you could reach the mountain range that dominates the geography of this area. These were parts of the Scottish Highlands, a region encompassing the northwest of Scotland, that no hiker or photographer from the National Geographic would ever get too close to powerful charms would prevent them from doing so. Those without magic who did somehow venture this far into the wilderness would see Hogwarts as an unwelcoming ruin and the magical protections would prevent them from getting closer.

Which was good for the muggles as these mountains were riddled with caves that were home to many magical creatures that didn't make their home in the forest and a lot of them were very dangerous. Many a troll lived here and there were rumours that vampires could be found lurking in the caves. Which was why I'd ventured out here during the day, and why I avoided going inside the caves. I'd never faced a vampire and I didn't know much about them other than they avoided daylight.

Since vampires weren't truly living things, although there was some debate on that, I didn't know if I could ever take the form of one, and even if I could I saw no reason ever to. I had no desire to drink blood to risk myself getting burnt up in the daylight. Not when I had so many other forms I could take that were either more powerful or harder to detect.

My thinking was that it was actually rather unlikely that I would find a vampire out here as there were no humans to pray upon and not much in the way of prey animals either, and with the lack of shelter it would be too easy for one of them to get caught out in the open when the sun began to rise, but still, I was being careful to stay with the light.

There were different kinds of trolls living in this area so by coming here I gave myself the chance to see them in the flesh and once I did I'd be able to take their form if I ever pleased. Sure I had other much more powerful forms I could take, but people thought trolls to be stupid, and while they were right, it could lead to them greatly underestimating me should I ever choose to fight when in such a form.

The last of the giant spiders who'd lived in the forest had retreated up here according to Hagrid who had mentioned it to me rather casual. Since the spiders would dine upon me or any other human they came across if given the chance, I felt no guilt in hunting them. They were still close to a school full of children for my liking.

Not only could get some more XP by hunting the massive spider, but I could also get some of their venom which was quite rare. The venom could be used in some potions that I would brew and then store away for later use, and the venom was a good way to butter up Horace Slughorn who might be quite useful to keep in my good books.

For reasons that were no doubt valid to him the Potion's Master had offered to tutor me in his academic field. Perhaps Dumbledore had asked his fellow teacher to keep a closer eye on me, or maybe Slughorn was making more of an effort to bring me into his club so as properly collect me.

Despite the fact that the tutoring sessions with both Flitwick and Slughorn were eating into my time was something I didn't mind because Tom Hiddleston needed to keep his dead down for a while and working closely with my teachers drew suspicion away from John Hiddleston. That's why I still helped younger students to study even if my time might be better spent looking for the remaining Death Eaters. Not that I knew where any Death Eaters were and

There were other reasons for me to venture out this far from the school. Once I had magically mapped all the caves I could find I'd gain the ability to keep an eye on them in the future without actually having to come out here. Should any enemy decide to scout out Hogwarts for some reason they might set up a camp around here. It wasn't likely, but I was taking a day off from my studies and it was good to get some fresh air.

I'd spent the afternoon blasting spiders with conjured lightning, which came easily to me thanks to the rituals I'd performed under the instruction of the spirit of Salazar, once a spider was stunned I could milk its venom, something I needed to take calming drafts for so as to combat the revulsion. Such potions were easy to make and Slughorn was happy to supply me with the materials required.

Once I was done gathering the venom, I got to practise creating fiendfyre and so far I'd managed not to horribly burn myself to death. This all got me some nice XP and the chance to learn how to harness dangerous spells in a place where I couldn't do much damage.

While I wasn't paying as much attention to my surroundings right now as perhaps would be wise I wasn't worried as Cortana would warn me in a way only could hear if anyone was about as she could use my senses to gather information. This gave me some time to admire the view of the mountains as the sun began to set.

"Someone's out here," said a voice.

I'd been teleporting myself around the area, trying to find caves that could hide the last of the spiders or any other creature that I was willing to kill should I stumble across them as such I'd covered a lot of ground and ended up close to the school.

"Come out" a man who looked homeless was saying as he came out of his well-hidden cave "I can smell you".

My ability to move amount unseen with an illusion had its limits and I knew that I hadn't been able to completely fool this werewolf's sense. I knew that he was a werewolf because a normal human wouldn't be able to detect me and like some of Greyback's pack this cursed man seemed a little inhuman. His eyes were wrong in some way I couldn't quite identify and he was excessively hairy. I normally wasn't one to judge a person based only on their physical appearance, but something felt wrong about this person.

"I'm surprised you can smell anything other than your own filth," I said.

By dropping the illusion that kept me hidden by fooling the senses of living creatures, for the most part, I let the werewolf see Kol the Red Mage in all his glory. I wore my coat, my boots, my chainmail, and I carried my dwarven-made sword slung over my back. My face was covered by my latest attempt to create a scary death mask, and most importantly my wand was already pointed at the cursed human.

I paralysed the werewolf and then bound him with conjured roped before he could do more than snarl at me, showing off his yellow teeth.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

He couldn't answer me verbally and I didn't require him to. I was reaching inside his mind as I spoke the question that had been meant to make him think about his purpose here. I saw memories and how they linked to each other. There were gaps in the memories and they didn't come in order, but a master of the mind arts like myself was capable of understanding such jumbled messes. I ignored the feelings involved, the aggression and loneliness brought about by the curse.

The pack that this man belonged to had been planning to come to Britain because they'd been hearing rumblings about things changing here in the UK even before Death Eaters had started dying. They believed that Voldemort was on the rise again and punishing those who had denounced the Dark Lord when he fell. Greyback had been planning to reach out to the Death Eaters so as to find out more about what was going on. They'd never known that Voldemort had little to do with recent events.

This man, if he could be called that, worked for Greyback who had been hiding out over in Europe when I'd found him. Connor, I got his name from the memory of a conversation with Greyback, had been sent by the leader of the pack to scout out Hogwarts for Fenir as that monster specialised in targeting children. With no Dementors around they might have succeeded in grabbing a child or two.

"You sick bastard" I muttered.

Connor had to be wanted by the Ministry and I could wipe his recent memory before handing him over. No doubt the Minister would like that as he could use me bringing in a troublemaker in order to make himself look good by claiming that the Ministry had me working with them.

I soon surmised that had I not dealt with Fenrir Greyback over the summer, something Connor wasn't aware of since he was out of contact with the pack, then a werewolf attack on Hogwarts would have been this year's big event. Something that Dumbledore would have allowed to happen in order to test Harry Potter. No doubt there would have been a few clues and maybe a student or two going missing from Hogsmede to hint at what was to come.

There was no chance of that happening now and while I wouldn't mind the credit I'd get from the Ministry I really did need to keep gathering XP so I did what needed to be done and killed the werewolf who would have attacked the students if given the chance. I drove my goblin-silver dagger into the cursed man's chest and he died very quickly.

"It needed to be done," I told myself.

Cortana made an effort to soothe me. I wasn't used to killing, I didn't like it, and that was a good thing as otherwise, I could end up like Voldemort.

"Perhaps you should spend some time as Tom Hiddleston and go after criminals the Ministry hasn't been able to find" advised my AI once I had dealt the body "You don't need the money sure, but you could track down criminals easily as a phoenix, and create a positive image for yourself with the public".

I gave the idea some thought as I went into the camp the werewolf had set up and removed any trace that he'd ever been here.

"Let me think it over," I said to the person only I could see or hear.

I might have some free time over the Christmas and Easter holidays.

(Line Break)

The Great Hall. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After my Sunday spent exploring the mountains it was the start of another week full of lessons and tutoring. My time spent at this school seemed to be passing by far more quickly than it used to be.

"Would you like to be a part of S.P.A.M?" I was asked by Hermione Granger as we sat down for breakfast.

Since I hadn't fully woken up yet I wasn't sure how to respond to this.

"Do I want to be part of some processed meat?" I asked back.

Hermione looked annoyed at my words.

"Not spam, S.P.A.M" she corrected "It stands for the Society for the Promotion and Advancement of Muggle-borns".

I had thought that she relaxed about her studies because she'd realised that devoting herself to schoolwork was rather pointless if it wasn't going to pay off later. As it turned out she was refocusing her efforts and creating S.P.E.W a year early. Okay so this had nothing to do with House Elves, but it was still totally pointless. Not that House Elves didn't deserve to have a group watching over them it was just that without great social upheaval, like Harry defeating Voldemort, this culture wasn't going to change.

"What does membership involve?" I asked.

Hermione opened up a box and showed me what was inside. There were some badges and what looked to be leaflets.

"Should you join you get a badge to wear proudly" I was informed "And membership involves weekly meetings. I'm planning on gathering all of the Muggle-borns in the school along with anyone who supports us and we're going to protest the unfair ways that Muggle-borns are treated. You were right about muggle-borns having poor employment options. There are no Muggle-born teachers here at Hogwarts and while there have been in the past they were Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors who didn't last more than one year".

Hermione Granger must not believe in the curse on the job due to not having been around to see one defence teacher after another being replaced. If she'd checked the records of muggle-borns hired for the job, blood status was part of many forms within the wizarding world, it might have looked like muggle-borns were being driven out of the job.

"The Ministry also discriminates against Muggle-borns" Hermione was now needlessly telling me "The highest-ranking Muggle-born within the Ministry is Dirk Cresswell who has been working at the Ministry of Magic since he left Hogwarts, he works as the Head of the Goblin Liaison Office, but it's rumoured that he only got that job because no Pureblood wanted to have to deal with the goblins".

She wasn't telling me anything I didn't know.

"This club could be dangerous" I warned Hermione "There are Purebloods who aren't afraid to throw curses around if they think you'll threaten their way of life and the Headmaster won't do anything about them".

The young witch didn't agree.

"Dumbledore supports the rights of Muggle-borns" she insisted "I know his past isn't squeaky clean, but he's...".

I stopped her there.

"Dumbledore has had massive influence within this society since he defeated Grindlewald," I reminded Granger "So why hasn't he been using this influence to help Muggleborns? Slughorn has done more for Muggleborns than the Headmaster as I know for a fact he helped Dirk Cresswell move up in the Ministry".

Hermione bit her lower lip something I knew did when worried about something.

"I'll talk to the Headmaster I'm sure he'll join S.P.A.M," she said.

She was so wrong about that.

"He won't," I told her "He'll make some excuse about favouritism and fairness, but that will just be an excuse because he actually did do anything to help Muggleborns he'd lose the support of the purebloods who make up the Wizengamot".

Hermione went up to the head table and return soon with a frown on her face.

"It was just like you predicted" she informed "He told me that he can't support my group without it looking as if he was going against the pureblood students".

I patted her on the shoulder it seemed the thing to do.

"Sorry to be mean, but I told you so," I said "There's a reason why I'm leaving Magical Britain as soon as I turned 17".

Okay, so I'd have to come back for Luna and Hermione who would be stuck in this country for about a year once I was gone but other than I saw no reason why I shouldn't be off studying magic all over the world.

"I just thought that I could still try to make a difference" she confessed "I mean someone has to try".

This wasn't exactly pure SJW rubbish as Muggle-borns were an oppressed group. Hermione was bound to ruffle some feathers and it might be a good idea to keep an eye on her.

"Sign me up," I said "I'd like to join and make a large donation. My family owns a printing press in Hogsmede so if you need posters and pamphlets making I'll make sure they get done for free".

I hadn't really done much with the press and while I thought this S.P.A.M. to be a waste of time in the long run that would accomplish nothing, it would help Hermione to help understand how pointless it was to try to change things around here, and if it did change a few minds that might mean something.

"You should write a manifesto" I suggested to Granger.

Luna came over to join us and I noticed that she already wore her S.P.A.M. badge. She also wore a necklace made from bottlecaps so I didn't anyone would think much of it.

"What's a manifesto?" she asked.

I thought about how to explain the term.

"It's a document that lists all the goals of a group and why those goals need to be archived," I told the young witch "For example you could mention that Muggle-borns aren't represented in the Wizengamot and they don't hold many positions in the Ministry, so why should Muggle-borns pay taxes to support a government that they have no say in".

Hermione seemed invigorated all of a sudden.

"No taxation without representation," she said "I saw that in a documentary once about the American's war for independence".

I'd always found that odd since the colonies had the Continental Congress before their war for independence so they did have representation.

"Let me write something up and you can make some copies for me" Hermione decided before she left the breakfast table.

Granger headed off to the library as the owls brought in the mail including my new custom-made firebolt, which had cost about as much as a sports car in the muggle world. If I wasn't so insanely rich this would be a massive waste of money.

As I unwrapped my new broom I heard some of the guys express their envy while a few of the girls made comments about boys and their toys.

"That's a big broom, are you compensating for something" I heard Cho Chang say in a snide tone of voice.

She wasn't the only one with something spitful to say.

"Are you going to polish it later, Hiddlestone?" joked Edgecomb "I bet you do that a lot when you're off alone".

Chang had quickly realised that my ownership of a brand new Firebolt threatened her spot as Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch and in a twisted way her friend was just trying to support her.

"Are you going to polish your broom, John?" asked Luna, who managed to look totally innocent while speaking "Can I help you polish your big broom?".

I was too used to Luna to find her words to be embarrassing.

"We should wait until you're older," I said.

Luna looked at me with a quizzical expression.

"Really because Madam Hooch says that our brooms all need a good polishing every now and again," she said "I want to help look after your big broom".

I could hear some of the boys in the older years sniggering into their breakfasts. They were doing a very poor job of hiding their mirth.

"My goodness is that a firebolt?" asked Professor Flitwick.

Indeed it was my custom-made Firebolt. Built to handle my weight and size along with the ability to adjust itself as I grew. This was the kind of thing Victor Krum would fly during next year's world cup.

"Yes, sir" I answered, "I'm ready to fly should the Quidditch team need me".

For that to happen Cho would either have to step down or Davis the team captain would have to reinstate me as the team's Seeker, or maybe put me in a new position.

"I'll talk to him" promised Flictwick "If we're going to have any chance of taking the cup this year we need you on that broom".

That wouldn't be a good idea. Among other things, it might lead to members of the house resenting me for getting special attention and I didn't want to have to deal with that as it would be a distraction if nothing else.

"Sir that would only undermine Davis's position as captain and I'd rather have the Seeker position because I earned not because I got a fancy new broom".

Flitwick couldn't argue with that and excused himself after we exchanged a few details about my tutoring of Luna in duelling. Most likely he wanted to go and discuss my purchase with Madam Hooch. As for me, I placed the broom inside my mokeskin pouch, which reminded me of when Mary Poppins take a hatstand out of her handbag, only in reverse as I was putting the broom in the bag.

"Hiddleston!" a voice called out.

I turned to see Roger Davis was rapidly heading my way. I considered leaving as I was done eating, but I decided to stay and hear about what he wanted.

"Someone just told me that you have a brand new Firebolt," he said.

The Hogwarts rumour mill wasn't known for its accuracy yet when it came to disrupting new information it was very speedy.

"Yes, my custom broom just arrived" I confirmed.

I wouldn't have been shocked to see Davis drooling if I'd kept the broom out in the open.

"We can't let you waste that broom as reverse Seeker" Davis insisted "I want to make you a Chaser. If we can't stop Potter from catching the Snitch then we'll have to win the cup by scoring as goals as possible".

That was a way to win since it was the points added up from every match that mattered and while Potter hadn't missed a match so far he was prone to getting into trouble. Not that I wished trouble upon him, but I wasn't working behind the scenes as much for him anymore.

(Line Break)

Hogsmede Village. Wizarding Britain.

Overall my fourth year at Hogwarts was proving to be as dull as hoped. I'd dealt with the Sirius Black situation a long time ago and while he was at the school he was there as a teacher. As such there were no Dementors to worry about, no Aurors sweeping the castle for signs of an escapee from Azkaban, and no bunking down in the Great Hall.

I wasn't even devoting much time to studying the mind arts these days as I'd started using up more of my time with training to win this year's duelling contest and tutoring Luna who I wanted to win the Junior Divison just as I had won it last year. Hermione might win as she represented the third-year students for Ravenclaw but there was no harm in both of them doing their best to ensure that Ravenclaw house kept its claim on the trophy I'd secured last during the school's last duelling tournament.

The duelling was something I would get back to later for now I really needed to focus on the fact that I was on a date with Hermione Granger who looked like the cat who'd gotten the creme. I assumed it had something to do with dating one of the more desirable boys in the school. I was the heir to a very wealthy family, an important member of the Quidditch team, and the winner of a few duelling contests.

"Oh there's Diggory and Chang" commented my date.

Those two had apparently started dating despite them both being Seekers who would have to face other in the future while playing Quidditch. They'd already done that once and Diggory had beaten his new love interest to the Snitch, but Cho didn't seem to mind, and since all I had to worry about was scoring goals while avoiding getting knocked off my broom I didn't think it my concern. I was easily able to outfly the Chasers of other teams and score plenty of goals.

"Yes there are people here," I said.

I'd never understood when other people's romances are of any concern to strangers. I also didn't get what it was about Diggory and Chang that got everyone got so interested in them when there were other couples for people to chatter about. Chang wasn't anything special, her school marks were average, and she wasn't as good as me when it came to being a Seeker, sure she was pretty, but there were plenty of pretty girls around. Cedric being the centre of attention made some sense as he was talented at magic, decent on a broom, and got along easily with everyone. Chang by contrast could be mean and petty.

"Sorry if I'm ignoring you" apologised Hermione "I just didn't think I'd be here on a date".

I'd made it clear that this was just a date and that we might have more in the future that didn't mean we were a couple. She was only fourteen and I didn't think she should be dating seriously for a couple of more years, or at least I didn't intend to seriously date her until then. I doubted that we'd ever do more than a bit of kissing while we were still at school as I still saw her as little more than a child.

"So where do you want to go first?" I asked, ignoring her apology and redirecting her attention "Do you need any new quills and ink?".

There was a book store here in Hogsmede. Of no interest to me as I had a collection of hundreds of books taken from the Room of Requirement and I'd only gone through a small fraction of them. There was no point in adding to a collection that I was going to finish for many years.

Anyway, there wasn't much new in the Wizarding World so I wasn't bothering to update my library. I was learning duelling from a master and I spent time finding new ways to use magic. Soon I could be writing books on magic. Perhaps I would pen a text of the use of wandless magic.

While we wandered around and Granger nattered on about things I already knew and didn't care about I thought back to the werewolf I'd encountered earlier in the term. Had I not wiped out Greyback and his pack then they might at this very moment be planning to be pick off some poor third-year student who had wandered off alone.

"John," said Hermione as she nudged me "Did you hear me?".

I had not.

"Sorry I was lost in thought" I admitted "What did you want to ask me".

Hermione frowned at me.

"I wanted to know what you had planned over the holidays," she said.

Since it was December 18th it seemed a little late to be making plans now.

"I'm just going to go home and relax" I mentioned to Hermione "I don't celebrate Christmas, and Godric's Hollow is peaceful at this time of year".

Plus you can put up Muggle-repelling charms to keep away the carol singers.

"I still mean to pick up a few presents," I said.

Hermione bit her lower lip. I'd noticed before that she did that when she feeling nervous.

"I don't want to go home and see my parents" she admitted.

Had I not gotten involved in events this would have been the Xmas when Potter gets a Firebolt and Hermione informs a teacher about it because she was concerned that Siruis Black had sent it, which he did, and that it could be cursed, which it wasn't. This results in a falling out within the golden trio and it's never explained why Hermione stays in the castle. Perhaps she was just there to keep an eye on Harry or to catch up with work she'd fallen behind with due to taking so many classes, and she needed access to the library.

In this timeline, Hermione wasn't even taking two electives because she'd accepted my argument about how pointless that would be and instead she was focusing on her Muggle-born right movement which so far people seemed content to ignore as they had done with S.P.E.W. I was happy that no Purebloods had gone after Hermione, I'd been keeping track of her on my magical map just in case, but that could change so I would not drop my guard. I'd not planned for it but the bookworm had found her way into my heart and I'd be rather upset if something bad happened to her.

Perhaps no one bothered her because it was clear that Granger was under my protection, or maybe the snakes knew that they couldn't get away with their bullying without Snape around to cover for them. Hermione was a member of the Slugclub and as such Slughorn would side with her.

"I can imagine that things would be awkward at the Granger residence," I said.

She didn't need to actually request an invite. I knew what she was fishing for and I didn't really feel like doing much this Christmas anyway. I might go visit Luna like I had done during the summer and take Hermione with me.

"You can stay at mine" I offered "No sense leaving you all alone. Not if you don't mind missing out on all the decorations and the feast".

Hearing and seeing Hermione Granger squeal like an overexcited teenage girl could be known to do was a sight that would remain with me for some time.

"We can have our fancy dinner," said my fellow Ravenclaw student "I'll cook for you, or I can try to cook. I've not had much practice"

Somehow I figured that I'd end up doing most of the work.

"I plan to visit the Potters" I mentioned "You should come with me. I forgot to go when you were over during the summer".

She gave me a look of confusion.

"You mean Harry's parents?" she asked "I know that they lived in Godric's Hollow, but none of the books told me where they are buried".

Not odd as history focuses on the Boy-Who-Lived and people ignore the fact that it had to be Lily Potter who did something that protected her son.

"I like to go every now and again to pay my respects," I told Hermione "They are buried close to my house".

For a moment I felt sure that I had mentioned this to her before, I'd have to check with Cortana later. It was hard to keep track of everything.

"I promised Luna that I'd stop off at Honeydukes and bring her back a bit of everything" I mentioned.

My betrothed was easy to appease and didn't bat an eyelid when I mentioned I was coming here with Hermione. She'd only asked for me to bring back goodies from the sweet shop. How that girl handled so much sugar I had no idea. I dreaded the day that she got access to coffee. She might end up vibrating out of this dimension.