Child of Prophecy
Chapter 1 - Lady Fate and Mother Magic
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the copyrights to the Harry Potter series. I use the series' characters to create my own FanFiction stories not associated with the main series created by J.K Rowling and her publishers/associates in any way. Additionally my story has some mature themes not intended for children. Reader discretion is advised. Enjoy reading and don't forget to review!
It was a bright and early morning in Little Whinging, Surrey. It was July 31st, 1990 and young Harry Potter's 10th birthday. It was a Saturday like any other on the exceedingly normal suburban street of Privet Drive. Neighbors were leaving for work and children were meeting up to spend their Saturday morning together. There was however one abnormality at #4 Privet Drive.
Harry Potter had just turned 10 years old. Harry's parents had seemingly died in a car crash when Harry was 1 leaving him orphaned. He was then unceremoniously dumped on the doorstep of his maternal aunt and uncle's house. Harry was a small and scrawny lad who was malnourished because he was underfed and overworked. Harry has wild and untamable raven hair and mesmerizing green eyes that have a grave haunted look to them even at such a young age. However, Harry's most noticeable feature was a small lightning bolt shaped scar just above his right eyebrow.
For the past 10 years Harry had to learn to adapt to survive his relatives' tender mercies. By the time Harry was 4 he had learned what to do and what not to do when it came to his relatives. Even though he was young, Harry had to become unnaturally mature and intelligent out of necessity and dire need.
Harry lives with his Aunt Petunia, his mother's sister, who is very skinny and the exact definition of a horse-faced bitch. She has a pointy hook nose, saggy skin and lots of wrinkles. There was also his Uncle Vernon, a morbidly obese man with a thick mustache, very little blood circulation, and a heinous temper. Finally there was his Cousin Dudley, he was basically a clone of his father in terms of obesity and blood circulation except Dudley is a daft brute who picks on smaller kids.
Harry woke up to incessant banging on the door to his bedroom which just so happened to be the boot cupboard under the stairs. His aunt was shrilly shouting at him to wake up and cook breakfast. Harry reached overhead to the small shelf where he kept his glasses that his aunt bought second hand at a garage sale. Ever since he was 4 Harry had been slaving away for the Dursleys. He would cook for them, do all the chores, and was given just enough food and water to get by.
Harry didn't even learn his own name until he started primary school in September after he turned 4. Until he started going to school he thought his name was Freak because that's all his aunt and uncle would refer to him as. When the teacher thought he was ridiculous for not knowing his own name she had punished him with a timeout on his first day which made him angry at her. When all the children in the class started giggling he had noticed his teacher's hair had turned an alarming shade of blue.
When Harry got home that day and Dudley told his parents that Harry used his freakishness to turn the teachers hair blue, Vernon exploded with anger and beat Harry worse than ever before and locked him in his cupboard with no food for 2 days. Harry never understood why bad things suddenly happened when he was angry or scared. He would say it was like magic which made his Uncle Vernon even angrier.
Harry got out of his cupboard and made his way into the kitchen to start making his relatives their breakfast. He brought some tea over for his aunt and coffee over for his uncle before starting on extra large portions of eggs and sausages for his uncle and cousin. His aunt was the only one on a diet despite being the only person not needing to diet so she settled for a single piece of jam on toast.
After he was done with breakfast he waited patiently for his relatives to finish so he could clear the dishes before he got to work on his list of chores. His aunt always made sure he was busy with chores even if she had to invent something needing to be done. After his relatives were finished with their food he worked on the dishes while his aunt drew up a list of chores for him. He was expected to have them completed before his uncle came home from work in the evenings or he knew he was asking for trouble.
Harry's aunt handed him the list with a satisfied smirk when she saw his face pale at how much work he needed to get done in a couple of hours. A great way to spend his birthday. His list of chores included; mowing the lawn, maintaining the gardens, vacuuming and mopping the floors, dusting the house, cleaning the loo, doing the laundry, organizing the garage, clearing out the junk in the attic, and carrying the rubbish to the end of the driveway.
"If you can't get that done by the time Vernon comes home I'm going to ensure he takes the belt to you boy!" Petunia shrilled nastily at her nephew.
"Yes Aunt Petunia…" Harry cringed.
Harry immediately prioritized his work and set out to logically complete his tasks. Harry thought about his tasks and put on a load of laundry right away so he could use his time wisely, remembering to come back for another load every 50 minutes. He then proceeded to take the bins from the rooms in the house and empty them into a larger one before making his way into the attic to get anything that needed to be discarded along with the rest of the rubbish before taking it out to the end of the driveway.
After spending a few hours making the house sparkle inside and out he was just finishing up the lawns and gardens when his uncle came home looking grumpy and a little bit tipsy if the way he stumbled up the single step to the porch was any indication. Harry did not look forward to going back inside. After emptying the mower bag and placing the clippings at the end of the driveway Harry snuck a big drink of water from the hose and went inside. His uncle was grumbling on the couch angrily flipping channels on the telly with the remote.
Harry had considered just going into his cupboard for the rest of the night without any food for the day when his stomach grumbled loudly and he decided he would risk asking his aunt for some food since he hadn't had any food since breakfast yesterday and it was only a slightly browning apple.
Harry walked up to his aunt who was sitting at the dining table reading one of her trashy romance novels and asked shyly, "Aunt Petunia I'm done with all my chores. Can I please have some food?"
His aunt pretended not to notice him even though she definitely heard him. She was probably hoping he would keep bothering her and set off his uncle while he was in a bad mood. Harry wanted to ask again but thought better of it and made his way to his cupboard dejectedly hoping she would allow him to eat something for breakfast tomorrow.
On his way to his cupboard he gave a huge sigh thinking about what a horrible birthday it turned out to be. Harry lost his balance due to the fatigue from not eating enough and accidentally knocked over a vase that shattered when it hit the floor on his way to his cupboard. His aunt shrieked at him and demanded Vernon do something. Vernon was already in a bad mood because he had gotten fired from his job working as a senior manager at a factory that produced drills after internal affairs had received a number of complaints against him from young women for sexual harassment.
After Vernon got fired he went to a bar and got drunk and came home to an immaculate house. Finding little reason to punish his nephew he decided on grumbling angrily while watching the telly. After his wife demanded he punish the little freak he grinned maliciously.
"You worthless good for nothing freak! We put a roof over your head, give you the food off our table, the clothes on your back and you repay us by vandalizing our things?" Vernon said angrily, approaching his nephew while unbuckling his belt.
Harry stared down at the vase he broke then looked back at his enraged uncle who was waddling toward him and pleaded for his safety, "Please uncle I'll be quiet! I promise I won't bother you for the rest of the day!"
Harry's pleas fell on deaf ears and his uncle tore through his shirt and kicked him down and started whipping him on his back and kicking him in the side over and over again. Harry's screams too fell on deaf ears as Petunia didn't even look up from her poor vase as she bent down to pick up the pieces. Mean while Dudley was out of the house bullying and terrorizing the neighborhood kids with his gang of friends.
After Vernon got his jollies whipping and kicking his nephew who now laid unconscious and bloodied on the floor, Vernon was afraid he might have killed the freak. Vernon picked up Harry and made his way out of the house and down the street towards the park on the corner, wary of any neighbors who might be watching and dumped him in the bush.
Vernon wiped his hands on the back of his trousers as if he thought holding his nephew made his hands filthy and roared, "Don't come back to our house you filthy freak! We never wanted you! You hear me?"
Harry groaned in response as he started to come to and his Uncle Vernon simply walked off hoping the boy wouldn't come back. His Aunt Petunia would probably be very angry over the loss of Harry because now that he was gone she would have to start doing the chores again. Harry felt so much pain in his back that he couldn't even turn over as the soft grass covered in dew felt better than moving, so he closed his eyes and began crying.
Harry wept softly as he thought how terrible a life he had lived and wondered what it would be like if his parents hadn't died in a car crash or if someone would come and rescue him from his abusive relatives. As if the heavens themselves understood his plight they too wept for him softly as it started to rain. The sadness and pity he felt for himself slowly started boiling his blood and turning to a searing anger and hatred for his relatives. What Harry didn't know is that he was a wizard and the storm was actually caused by his emotions.
Rain soon turned to thunder and thunder into lightning. Soon enough the magically charged storm was raging all around him as his blood boiled thinking of his relatives. If he were to open his eyes right now they would be glowing an Avada Kedavra green. The fervent little boy didn't realize the danger he was in until a huge bang of thunder and a crack of lightning landed right next to him which scared him.
In a combination of his emotions, the fear, the anger, the sadness Harry started shouting at the heavens, "Why me huh? Why did you choose me to suffer like this! If you're going to let me die out here please strike me now…"
The heavens, Lady Fate, and Mother Magic decided to help a wayward soul and instead of being struck down by lightning the storm clouds opened up and what could only be described as an avian deity descended down from the storm and landed on its giant talons in front of the now frightened little boy. Harry genuinely believed he was going to die and was just resigned to let it happen so he closed his eyes once more and willed himself calm.
A giant eagle-like bird between the size of a horse and an elephant with two humongous wings that stretched out nearly 40 feet long and two smaller pairs of wings for added mobility landed on the soft grass and stared down at the tiny human judging his worth while the storm raged on around them. The giant bird crooned softly as it took in the sad state in which its familiar found himself in. The giant bird leaned down to press its forehead to its new familiars, forging a familiar bond that encompassed the two in a silver mist that glowed eerily.
Harry felt a tickle in the back of his mind and thought nothing of it. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of candescent golden eyes gazing back into his own searching his soul before it gently nudged his cheek with its beak. The magnificent beast that stared at him with equal emotion trying to let Harry know it meant to help not harm.
"Wow!" exclaimed Harry in child-like wonder, forgetting all about the pain in his back and the terror he felt as he thought he was about to die.
"Wow indeed fledgling!" a baritone voice echoed in the back of Harry's mind.
Harry looked around for the voice when it suddenly appeared in his mind again, "What are you looking for fledgling?"
"I'm looking for the person who said that? Where are you?" Harry said out loud once more, not noticing the manner of speech in which the voice talked.
Harry didn't think that animals could talk nor did he know that the voice was only in his head as he continued to look for the person who was speaking. The giant bird drew himself back up slightly before tilting his head to the side and back in confusion. The bird too looked around for a moment before turning back to his new familiar.
"Fledgling there is no other human here. I'm the one communicating to you with telepathy through our familiar bond." The voice echoed again
Harry looked back up at the giant bird which drew itself back up to its impressive height around fifteen feet tall.
"So you're the one talking to me?" Harry asked the giant bird.
"Yes fledgling, I'm the one communicating with you." The bird replied back.
Harry had a million thoughts running through his mind right now and so many questions but the first one that came to his mind is, "What is telepathy?"
The giant bird chuckled lightly at his familiar's naivety and calmly answered his burning question, "Telepathy is a form of mental communication that doesn't need to be spoken out loud to be heard.
The giant bird silently waited for his familiar's next question. Harry thought about all his questions and asked another one, "What is a familiar bond?"
The giant bird tilted his head to the side in intrigue and replied, "A familiar bond is the bond created between a Wizard and animal that binds them together to form an everlasting connection."
Harry heard the word wizard and almost shouted his standard spiel about magic not existing drilled into him by his uncle but decided against it seeing as the amazing bird standing in front of him couldn't be anything but magical.
Harry then asked what he thought he knew from what the bird had said, "You said we bonded and that the familiar bond was between wizard and animal right? So does that make me a Wizard?
"Yes fledgling. You are a wizard of great power for Mother Magic herself to call me to you."
Harry looked thoughtful for a moment and decided to forget about logic and maybe pinch himself a couple of times to ensure he wasn't dreaming.. Harry wanted to ask more questions but thought it was rude not to introduce himself and ask the bird for his name. He could also sneak in one of his questions and ask what kind of bird he was.
"My name is Harry Potter. What's your name?" Harry said, faintly smiling up at the bird as the storm calmed around them.
"I am known to all as Garuda, fledgling Harry" Garuda spoke softly.
"It's just Harry not fledgling Harry." Harry corrected the bird.
"Do you know what kind of bird you are? I've never seen a bird like you before." Harry asked shyly hoping he wasn't being too invasive seeing as he had been raised to not talk or even ask questions.
Garuda tilted his head to the other side and back to center before puffing out his plumage and stating proudly, "I am a magical bird known far and wide as a Thunderbird."
"Cool…" Harry said, completely starstruck by his familiar, "So you came from the storm then?"
Garuda shook his head and calmly explained, "No just Harry. I came from the mountains surrounding your family's ancestral home at Potter Manor. Lady Fate and Mother Magic sent me here to you in your time of need."
Harry also calmly explained to the Thunderbird that it was Harry, not just Harry or fledgling Harry before realizing what Garuda actually said and nearly freaking out.
"Wait! Did you say my family owns a manor? You know my father's family?" Harry shouted begging for answers.
The bird looked like it was chuckling with its eyes before shaking its head exasperatedly and replied, "Yes to both questions Harry. The Potter family are one of the oldest magical families predating magical Britain coming from magical Rome over a millennia ago. I have lived in the mountains surrounding your manor for a couple of centuries."
Harry listened in rapt attention, hearing that Garuda knew of his father's family and could tell him about them was one of the many things he wished for on his birthdays. Harry always thought he was special in some way even though his relatives, the Dursleys, thought he was just a freak but it turns out he was a wizard. Now he understood all of the times his uncle beat him for his freakishness when he accidentally performed magic. He just then all of a sudden realized he was talking to a magical bird in the middle of a public park but realized the storm around them was keeping people away and decided to think nothing of it.
"Was my family's manor magical too? Was my father also a wizard." asked Harry, still not believing if he was dreaming or not, deciding to pinch himself some more even though the pain in his back was definitely very real.
Garuda looked to be deep in thought for a moment before carefully wording his reply, "Yes your father was a wizard and your mother a witch. Potter Manor itself isn't inherently magical but it sits on the intersection of multiple magical ley lines. These ley lines feed magical energy into the environment around the manor and strengthen its protective wards."
"What are wards?" asked Harry, now grinning at the huge Thunderbird.
"Wards are a complex branch of magical protective enchantments that can encircle an area like a house or manor." replied Garuda.
Harry thought deeply about what Garuda had said and came up with his next question, "So we get magic from these ley lines created by some woman named Mother Magic then?"
Garuda was surprised by the speed in which his fledgling wizard picked things up and decided to correct him on his simple mistake, "Not entirely Harry. All magical beings blessed by Mother Magic have magic in their biology; it's just enhanced around the magical ley lines that encompass the globe."
"Cool…" Harry said now that he finally understood the answer, "Do you know how to get food for yourself because I don't know if I can feed you let alone myself for that matter."
"I know how to hunt but I'm usually fed by the Potter family house elves at Potter Manor. When you're done asking questions I am going to fly you there so you can meet them." Garuda replied sadly looking at the sad state of his familiar.
"Wait… You're going to take me away from my relatives to my family's manor?" asked Harry in shocked bewilderment, constantly pinching his arm despite the very real pain in his back which he seemed to have forgotten.
"Do you not want to live in your family's ancestral home?" Garuda asked confusedly.
Harry hesitated for a moment but replied anyway, "I do but if I leave will my relatives be able to find me? I don't think they would want to give up their personal slave and if they find me the will hurt me badly for trying to escape."
Garuda looked downcast at the sad life his new familiar suffered at the mercy of his abusive relatives but tried to placate him, "Don't worry Harry. Where we're going no one will be able to find us."
Harry hesitated for a moment before he shook off his bad feelings and happily agreed to go to Potter Manor with Garuda. As Harry stood up he had but one last question before they departed, "I forgot to ask…what's a house elf?"
Garuda chuckled in Harry's mind before replying theatrically trying to elicit happiness or a laugh from his familiar, "All in good time Harry. Now, Climb aboard my back and we'll take to the skies on our way to the one true home of the Potters, past, present, and future!"
Harry didn't need to be told twice as Garuda lowered himself allowing a tiny Harry to climb onto his back and settle himself just below the wing joint. Garuda and Harry soared into the night sky after a couple large flaps of Garuda's giant wings. They rose into the storm clouds above that hid them from the view of all the normal people. As they flew into the warm night breeze Harry slowly started to fall asleep holding steadfast to his familiar sent to him by Lady Fate and Mother Magic. He drifted off thinking of all the things to come with his new found freedom.
Falling into his first peaceful sleep in a long time he mumbled to himself, "I'm a wizard…"
Author's Note: Hey there! My name is Meteormancy but you can call me Connor. This is my first attempt at writing a FanFiction, I hope you like it! Sorry for taking it down last week I was having an issue with something. It's all good now. I know it's kind of cliché but I hope I can still do it justice. The beginning to this story is heavily inspired by Harry Potter and the Lightning Lord by colt01 so be sure to check out that story. Just so you know something about me I enjoy pleasant reviews and good criticism but flames and hate make me less motivated to keep writing so please think twice before making a snide or hurtful review.
