Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This plot is an original work. Any resemblance to a real-life person or story is purely coincidental.

The serpent stopped before James and raised its head to meet James's eyes. He noticed at the last moment that this was a King Cobra.  It opened its moved and lunged...

James looked at the serpent and thought, 'This is it.'

He was utterly surprised a spell appeared but bounced off a shield. It was before he could figure out whom cast the spell, when a sharp hissing sound came from his right, stopping the cobra in its track. He had totally forgotten about Harry. James turned and stunned, Harry, the exchange student from Soviet Union was speaking Parseltongue.

{Stop!} Harry hissed without thinking. Harry watched with grim satisfaction as the humongous serpent jerked back from its intended target or, rather, targets.  The snake turned its unblinking reptilian eyes towards Harry.

{You spoke my tongue. Who are you?}

{Who I am is not important. Tell me who sent you here to kill my parents?}

{Your parents?}

{Answer my question and I will answer yours.}

{He, who walks the Dark Path, Voldemort, sent me to gather information about this habitat and the creatures that resides here.} 

{I'm Harry James Potter, He who walks the Path of Light. Taking a walk back in time.}

{You claimed to walk the path of Light, Harry James Potter, prove it.}

Harry rolled up his right sleeves and showed the serpent the Mark of the Lord of Light. The serpent looked at the mark and nodded its head.

{Indeed,} the snake bowed before Harry and continued. {What do you wish of me? I grant only one boon to both the Light and Darkness. Choose whatever it may be.}

{Leave my parents be.}

{So be it, my lord. My purpose in this world is over.}

The snake bowed once more and disappeared in a puff of emerald smoke. James and Lily both looked at Harry stunned. Harry suddenly remembered that he had spoken in Parseltongue.

"My god!" Lily whispered.

"This is not what you think it seems to be..." Harry began but James pulled out his wand and shouted a curse. Harry brought up a shield with much ease, deflecting the curse. Without a word, Harry held up his hand and his fingers began to glow with a mystical light. Then with swift and precise movement, he wove together a rune. Then with a flick of his wrist, Harry sent the rune towards James and Lily. Immediately, James and Lily felt a warm glow enveloped them before it ended.

"WHAT HAD YOU DONE TO US?"

"Merely a security purpose. I can't have you two go around talking about my secret, so I place the Secrecy Rune on you. This allows you to talk people about what happened but, no one will believe you when you say that I spoke in Parseltongue."

"Harry, had you truly turned to, You-Know-Who?" Lily asked, with tears in her eyes.

Harry turned around and spat, "Voldemort?"

Harry laughed. James and Lily flinched at the sound.

"Why would I join him when I discovered that he killed my parents? And Lily, have you forgotten what I had with me on the train?"

"What?" James asked feeling rather left out. He hated not knowing things especially when they were talking about it in front of him

"A phoenix..." whispered Lily. "Of course, no phoenix will choose to be near one who turned to the Dark Path..."

"But the mark!" spat James.

"You mean this?" Harry said as he held up his hand and concentrated. 'I hope that this works.'

Harry felt the mark moving down from arm to the back of his hand. He heard James gasped in surprise.

"What in the name of Merlin is that?"

"That is the mark of Merlin..."

"No."

Harry's eyes snapped open. That voice can only belong to one person, Merlin.

"That is the Mark of the Lord of Light, James Potter, and Lily Evans."

The mentioned teens turned around and saw Merlin walking into the blank portrait, which hung, by the lamp.

Greeting, Lord of Light, father of Modern Magic,Harry said intone, I, Harry Potter, greets thee.

James and Lily turned towards Harry, surprised by the melodious sound.

I, Merlin, greet thee, as an equal.

They turned to the portrait again at the voice. This was getting weirder by the minute as they two watched the two talk.

"Well," Merlin said as he sat down on the rock at the background, "I must admit that I am surprise that you bear the mark, young Harry. It is very heavy responsibility that very few can bear even after years of experience."

"I had no choice, Merlin."

"Alas, how true it was for us born as the beacon of hope in the dark. Very rare do we have choice when it came to our life."

Harry shook his head and replied, "True, but we are not pieces of chess to be played by Light and Darkness..."

"Often, the higher powers forgot about us being sentient. We do affect the battle in certain ways, either checkmating our opponent or being checkmated by our enemy, by our choices and the path we choose to walk."

"How true that statement is, Lord Merlin," said Harry, shaking his head. "Nevertheless, we must strive to defend any that threats the mass."

"I fully agree with you, Lord Harry. Peace can only be achieved when we truly prepare for war..."

"But alas, we wizards, unlike Muggles, had became rather conceited by our ability to do magic. We tend to take everything for granted and we became lax. This was the reason why Tom Riddle was able to rise so fast as a dark lord. Wizards had refused to see beyond their tiny world of magic. Philosophy to wizards is nothing more than empty words. Their call to maintain the purity of blood is no use for they can only marry within a few selected families. This will result in the weakening of their magical power. Soon, they will become like Filch, a squib."

Merlin shook his head and replied, "True as it maybe, there is little we can do. However, I had wasted enough time of your time, Lord Harry. I bid thee farewell."

With that, he walked out of the portrait.

"Who are you really, Harry?" asked Lily.

"I'm an enigma."

With that, Harry disappeared. Leaving behind him was two confused teenagers who were still trying to assimilate the information they suddenly received.

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Deep in the Forbidden Forest, a solitary figure could be seen moving with the grace of panther. Suddenly, he paused. Without a warning, a pair of throwing knives appeared in his hands. He spun around and threw them. A scream of pain echoed throughout the forest. The man turned back, smirking, and resumed his journey, leaving behind a dead centaur with a knife sticking in her head and chest. He stopped up a hill and looked out. At the distance, the Castle of Hogwarts School and Witchcraft and Wizardry blazed with all the glory and magnificent possible for the millennium. He fingered his knives loving and whispered to himself, "Soon."

With a swish of his cloak, the man disappeared, leaving behind very faint traces of his presence.

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"Today, we will be studying one of the creature which provides the core for our wand," said Professor Kettleburn as he looked around at the assortment of students who now stands around him. "The phoenix."

Lily and James turned their head and stared at Harry who promptly ignored the look.

"Can anyone tell me anything about phoenix?"

Lily raised her hand and began reciting. Harry immediately phrased out. He knew everything about phoenix, so why should he listen to Lily's recite? He was just about to fall asleep when Professor Kettleburn snapped at him, "Mr. Arroua Dora, can you tell me more about the phoenix?"

"What?"

"Mr. Arroua Dora, you are to tell me everything you know about phoenix. For each point missed, one mark will be deduced from Gryffindor house."

Harry blinked owlish and began, "Phoenix is a magical powerful creature. Phoenix burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes. The time when they die and reborn are termed as Burning Day by the wizards. They can carry immensely heavy loads. Their tears have healing power and can cure almost any external injuries and poisons. Phoenixes can reach about Mach 2 or Mach 3 at their fastest flight. That is about 2,920 km/h or in imperial term 1,825 mile per hour. Their feathers are used as wand core due to their ability to focus magic. Phoenixes are also immune to the Death look of the king of Serpent, basilisk. Not only that, phoenix are embodiment of Light. Anyone who was corrupted by evil will be shunned by phoenix or even to the extent of attacking him or her. They make highly faithful pets, too."

The class was speechless. Some of the things they haven't even read about in their textbook.

"Then can phoenix tears cure basilisk's poison?" Professor Kettleburn sneered.

"Yes."

"Impossible!"

"Then you are looking at a dead person, for I had been cured by phoenix tears after being bitten by twenty feet long basilisk."

"Liar! If you had seen a twenty feet long basilisk, you would be dead! Twenty points off Gryffin..."

Anything he wanted to say was cut off when a midnight black phoenix landed on Harry's shoulder. The arrival of the phoenix caused much shock amongst the student and teacher.

"This is my phoenix, Dark Flare. It isn't just any phoenix. Dark Flare is classified by wizards under the Emperor Night Phoenix species. They are one of the rarest species amongst the phoenix," Harry said as he stroke Dark Flare. He glanced at his dumbstruck classmates.

"You have a phoenix?" said Professor Kettleburn, thunderstruck.

"It is obvious," Harry replied, deadpanned.

"But...you are so young!"

Harry closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A habit he still hadn't broken since he stopped wearing his spectacles last year due to the corrective potion he applied to his eyes. Instantaneously, his other senses leapt to life to replace his sight. It is strange that the training in China was much better than Max's when it came to combat and constant vigilance, Harry mused. A sound came from the forest caught his attention. A sound he heard in his first year when Hagrid took them to the Forbidden Forest. The sound of a crossbow being loaded. His eyes snapped open. He slammed his hand down on the ground and requested the earth element and the wood element to bind anyone at the edge of the forest who is not of a student of Hogwarts.

Go protect my parents, Dark Flare.

The phoenix gave a trill of agreement and took fight. Harry drew out the Sword of Gryffindor and ran towards the forest. With a few chosen words, Harry greatly enhanced his speed. As he moved, the Earth Element conveyed that she had done as he wished but the target had escaped. The target is currently heading towards the unicorn glade in the forest. Harry stopped and sworn.  The unicorn glade was protected by ancient magic. The magic prevents any male from entering the glade. Even the male elves can't enter the glade. He sighed and turned back. Although he is the current Lord of Light with near unlimited powers at his fingertips, he doesn't think he was strong enough to counter the ancient magic that protects the glade. The element of wood gently whispered into Harry's ear, telling him that she still held on to the weapon that the target held. Harry smiled and moved swiftly towards the place where the person had last stood.

He looked at the crossbow the person had dropped. He was lucky that the person had managed to load the bolt but not the time to aim and fire.  He scarcely noticed his classmate came up behind him. He pulled out his wand and muttered a few chosen Latin words. The crossbow floated up into midair. Harry looked at the position and calculated that the person was about 1.6 meter tall. All of the sudden, the crossbow burst into flames.

"A timed self-destruction charm," Harry muttered. "Damn! The bastard had thought of every eventuality."

"What in the name of Merlin is happening?" Professor Kettleburn snapped.

"A murder attempt" Harry said absent-mindedly as he started tracing the ground with his wand. "A crossbow was aimed at James. But fortunately, something had caused the person to get cold feet at the last moment. But I don't think that we had seen the last of this person. I believe that Lord Voldemort" everyone flinched, "No, don't be afraid to speak of his name. A wise man once told me, I quote, 'Fear for a name increase the fear for the thing itself.' Unquote. Lord Voldemort" they flinched again, "will target every young pureblood whose parents actively opposed him."

"Just who are you?"

Harry ignored the question and straightened up. He looked around at his classmates and sighed. He held up his wand and began tracing an intricate rune. The students watched with fascination as the strange rune glowed with a mystical light. Then with a sharp movement of his wrist, the rune disappeared. Slowly, a smoky figure appeared and solidified. Harry looked at the figure grimly as it reenacted its living counterpart's movement. Harry gave the figure another tap and words of fire appeared above its head.

Name: Cornelius Fudge

Age:    ???

Harry looked at the figure and spat, "I should have known. That idiot will give everything to rise in political world. Now the one million galleon question is how can the idiot enter the unicorn glade?"

Other questions nagged Harry's mind as he spoke aloud.

How ever did the ex- Minister of Magic travel back in time? And how did he evade the elements of Wood and Earth? And worst of all, how can he be skilled in muggle weaponries?

Perhaps it is time to call in reinforcement. Harry smiled inwardly. Many will shock by the unconventional approach but desperate time calls for desperate measures. It is time to pay a visit to Mirso Monastery at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains at Romania, sanctuary of all vampires.

TBC...

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Haha! Another chapter completed! But first, I would like to apologies about the lack of updates. Despite the fact I'm not working now, I have this tendency to procrastinate, along with my lazy nature...therefore the slow update. I would also like to acknowledge the use of information about Phoenix's speed from Midnight Duel, Midday Love by Draco664. So tell me what you think about it! Please read and reviews! I want reviews! Please! I beg all of you! I want to thank all the reviewers of my previous chapter! They are:

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IamInsane: touches head gingerly I like my head very much, thank you. I don't think that the mace would be much of a use now. I have updated! YAH! And the spelling is eerily.

Phoenixfeather6988: Here, Have more!

Gaul1: Thank man! Have more!

Harry Potter 101: Harry was too used to the fact that Dumbledore trusted him without having to prove anything. Remember the first year... It's kind of hard to accept...

Athenkitty: Grins!

Kemenran: Thanks! Have more!

Nphipps:  Yes...

darkangelgep: Yes, yes. The classic Harry-save-Parents-from-snake-and-reveal-that-he-is-a-Parselmouth-and-then wipe-their-memory-away...:P Who am I to rock that damn ship? I would capsize thousands of Harry-Potter-Travels-Back-In-Time-Fanfics... --;; and he did try to blast the snake but too bad, the snake was immune to spell because it was summoned to get something done.

Mr. Happy Java Man: This story will have slight Ootp spoilers...I mean, come on, since JKR had revealed something about James Potter, I should use it. Haha! I love it when I leave cliffies for you guys to hang on! And about that, I'm sorry, I forgotten about that earlier.  Yes! I Thank you, thank you! As for The Betrayal, you have to wait for I got one damn writer block the size of a galaxy struck up my head.

Aalikane: Grins! same here, same here.

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That's all folks!

So long!

Yours truly

BloodRedSword