Harry Potter: Charter Mage

Wingcat

Disclaimer:

This is a Harry Potter crossover with Garth Nix's Abhorsen series.

I do not own anything, except for the idea to write such a crossover.

The characters belong to J.K Rowling and Garth Nix, I am just playing with their lives. I will try to keep them all in character, but, I have my own unique writing style, so I cannot be exactly what you want which is another story from both Authors. Important Note: This story (even this chapter) contains spoilers for Abhorsen, and for the Harry Potter Books.

In the Beginning

In the Beginning there were the Nine. I know, I know, you may not believe in them, since everyone knows their own faith, which is different from everyone else's. Yet, in this story, I am in charge, and I know you will bear with me and pretend that everything I say is true, or you will stop reading. So, in the Beginning there were the Nine. They created the Universe. The Ninth, called the Destroyer, who was aptly named, destroyed it. His actual name was Orannis, but, we will get to that part later. The Nine recreated the Universe, and again he destroyed it. This happened again and again. On the Seventh Universe, the rest of the Nine decided to keep it, and tried to stop Orannis.

Seven decided to form what is now called the Charter, from which comes most of the organized magic in the world. The Eighth refused to take sides and remained neutral. The Nine all had names, and in order are called: Ranna, Mosrael, Kibeth, Dyrim, Belgaer, Saraneth, Astarael, Yrael, and Orannis. The ones who formed the Charter were able to bind Orannis in two hemispheres of an unknown metal, buried beneath the ground, and guarded by many Charter spelled materials, even bone. For Millennia he stayed there, as the Eighth, Yrael was bound to the Charter and as the Seven dwindled into what they are today.

Only a short while ago, Orannis was unleashed, and would have destroyed the Universe again, starting with two countries known as Ancelstierre, and The Old Kingdom. The Old Kingdom was where the hemispheres had been buried, and Ancelstierre was where they came together in order to unleash Orannis. However representatives of the Seven, who had special bloodlines, the Royal, Clayr, and Wallmaker, used the same ritual to bind him again. They almost failed, even with the representative of Kibeth being her own dwindled self. One of them realized that the free magic creature that had been bound to his family for generations, was actually Yrael, and freed him, telling him to choose wisely. Mogget, which is the name Yrael had been called, chose to side with the Charter at last, and together they bound the Destroyer.

In what is known as an alternate universe, but was actually no such thing, a young man named Harry, who had a predefined destiny, slept. In this 'alternate universe' The Charter did exist, but in a different form. Magic users, though their magic came from the Charter, did not know it. They used magic wands and said long complicated incantations in order to cast spells. No one could see the charter marks glowing in those spells, because no one had the mark on their foreheads which allowed them to access the charter the way it is used in the Old Kingdom.

Many magic users came from old bloodlines, they were known as purebloods, because they did not interbreed with people from 'common' and 'nonmagical' families. They did this because they believed they conserved magical power that way, kept it in the family.

They were half right. No, I am not saying people who do not come from old bloodlines and magical families are inferior to purebloods in any way. They may even be stronger in the physical and magical sense, because they are not inbred. No, the reason why the purebloods are partly right is that magic can be passed down through families, and a person from a pureblooded family has a higher percent chance of inheriting magic. The strength of one's magic or connection to the Charter is based on the strength of the individual, although if someone has strongly magical parents, they are more likely to be closer to the Charter than others. If someone is descended from an old bloodline, but people from other bloodlines have married into their family, they do not have any less of a percent chance to be strongly talented at magic. In fact, they may even have a better chance of being powerful than others. Harry Potter was such a person.

He was born from strongly talented parents, though his mother was considered a 'muggle born' someone who has access to magic, though their parents don't. His father was one of the purebloods, and as a result Harry had a good chance of being a powerful Wizard, which is what people in this universe call male magic users.

Harry was a powerful child, and his control over magic manifested at an early age. By the age of one year he was already floating himself and his toys, and could create light whenever he wanted to. He took great delight in surprising his parents and their friends with his magic tricks. One of his favorites was to hang upside down from the ceiling until he was noticed, upon which time there would be frantic racing around trying to keep him from falling off the ceiling, Harry laughing all the while.

Unfortunately, just as there are corrupted Charter Mages and Necromancers in The Old Kingdom, so there are corrupted Wizards and Witches, evil people who enjoy hurting and killing others. One such Wizard was a bitter old man, who was not so old as Wizards go, but was obsessed with immortality and purebloods. He hated nonmagic folk, for his father had been one and had left his wife and abandoned his unborn child when he discovered his wife was a witch. Voldemort, which was the name he took for himself because it sounded more sinister than his own name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, actually had his name changed legally by 'muggle' law, even though he hated nonmagic folk so much he wanted to wipe them out, to exterminate them, to kill them all. He also hated people who had magic from the old blood lines, but still chose to marry nonmagic folk or the magical children of nonmagic folk. Lily and James Potter, Harry's parents were against Voldemort for obvious reasons. Voldemort was still able to gather a formidable army of followers, whom he called his loyal (and not so loyal) Death Eaters. The Death Eaters were mostly pureblood fanatics who hated muggles as much as Lord Voldemort did, (he also gave himself the title of Dark Lord) or wanted power. Voldemort started a 'reign of terror' in which he came to power, and as a result got more followers who wanted power.

Then a woman who had long been considered a fraud, but who claimed to be a 'true seer' actually made what appeared to be a true prophecy. It stated in not so very straight forward words, that a child word be born at the end of July, who "would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord", and who, after being "marked as his equal" would "have the power the Dark Lord knows not." This applied to young Harry, who though there was someone else who was born at the end of July to parents, who had defied the Dark Lord, was definitely marked by Lord Voldemort that Halloween.

Voldemort, self proclaimed Dark Lord, had heard of this prophecy, and had decided that this child could not be a threat to him after he killed it, after figuring out which child was the one in the prophecy, with help from one of the Death Eaters, who was a traitorous rat, who sold out his best friends to the Dark Lord and then framed his other best friend for it. Such were the type of people Voldemort attracted to his cause. On Halloween the most evil wizard in the land of Britain at the time attacked the Potter Family, killed James and Lily, then tried to kill Harry. Have you ever heard of self fulfilling Prophecies? I said tried because he did not succeed in killing Harry.

In the Old Kingdom, I had mentioned evil necromancers, and a necromancer is someone who casts spells to raise reawaken or reanimate the dead. This would only be possible if when something died it did not go to its final rest immediately. Consequently, 'Death' is nine gates which someone or something that has died must pass through before they reach their final resting places. Anything that is in Death, but has not passed on can be called back by a necromancer. However to truly bring back the dead, so that someone who died is alive again, is near impossible, and can only happen if the person has a charter mark on their forehead. In the Old Kingdom, the Charter is not only a way to access magic, but also a religion; so many babies are baptized and given Charter marks at a very young age.

As I said before, no one in the universe or dimension alternate or not, that is home to Harry Potter, has a Charter mark on their forehead. This is probably because of two reasons. The first is that no one knows about the Nine, and the Charter was something made by seven of them, so therefore no one knows about the Charter. The second reason is that there are a multitude of religions on earth, and almost everyone believes in one of them, and they do not want to have the religious mark of one religion on them if it is not their religion. Most faiths teach that their religion is the one true way, and so to be following one while bearing another religion's icon on one's forehead is blasphemous. As most magic users in Britain are Christian, no one would wear a Charter mark even if they knew about them.

As Voldemort cast the killing curse on Harry, the force of the magic Voldemort put into it proved to be his undoing. If it had been some other curse that Voldemort had used to kill Harry, Harry would be dead; Voldemort would no longer have to worry about the Prophecy, and Voldemort could have continued taking over. However the killing curse, with the incantation of Avada Kedavra, and pointing a wand at the target, along with wanting to kill him or her, separates the spirit from the body cleanly and painlessly and sends it into death. It is not the worst way to die, it is actually quite comfortable, compared to the others, and I ought to know. The sheer force needed to perform the spell prevents it from being used too frequently, as it usually tires the caster out. However Voldemort had had lots of practice with this spell, and even though he had already cast it twice already that night, he was still strong enough to cast it a few more times before he was tired. The reason Voldemort liked to kill people with this particular spell and not a more painful one is that it is unstoppable, and he likes to see his victim's face as they realize they can do nothing to stop their deaths.

Harry however, did not think or realize anything of the sort. That was why as the emerald green light sped towards him; he just looked at it with curiosity. Voldemort was angry, as Harry actually reached out toward the pretty green light, which Harry had seen a few minutes before but had not been able to look at properly, as his mother had moved him out of the way too fast. The nerve of that child, thought Voldemort as he watched his latest victim be enveloped by the green light; its no fun killing little children with that curse, they don't know they are about to die. Voldemort made a note to think up something that would make even little babies frightened. He patiently waited for Harry's death, for Harry to fall down dead like his parents, as the green light vanished. The light didn't vanish, it grew brighter. The light grew so bright the Dark Lord had to shield his eyes, which had recently turned red, with slit pupils which were very good at seeing in the dark, but were sensitive to bright light. There was a small cry from Harry, as the magic from Voldemort's spell hit him and he slumped over. As Voldemort started his maniacal laugh, which he always gave after a successful mission without his followers, the light turned white, and rebounded on Voldemort, who was cut off in the middle of his harsh laugh, and sent into death right along with his latest victim.

Both Harry and Voldemort had entered death. As they passed beyond the first gate, and into the second, shunted along by the current, Voldemort began struggling madly to escape. So did Harry. Harry didn't like the cold, wet, dark river, and he wanted to go back to the light and warmth.

The reason Voldemort had been dragged into death along with Harry, was that the killing curse had free magic in it as well as Charter magic. If someone from the Old Kingdom could hear the spell as it passed through the air, they would know that it sounded with the low, deep tolling of a bell. Not just any bell, but the bell that shared its name with one of the Seven, Astarael, the sorrowful. The bell was nicknamed the weeper, and it sent all who heard it into death, sometimes even the wielder. This had never happened to Voldemort before, but he had been distracted by the tiny child reaching towards the spell, as though he was welcoming death.

Even then, it would not have happened except that he had killed the child's mother just before, and she had died to keep her child alive. The power of love was a strong protection. Still it should not have happened. He had killed many parents who had died to protect their child, and never had something like this happened. And in this there was something special about Harry himself. I do not know what caused it, but as he saw the spell streaking towards him, he could see little flashes of golden light inside it. As many little children are, he was greedy, and he wanted them. That was why he put out his hand. In the Old Kingdom, Charter mages often use their hands to draw Charter marks in the air. Harry inadvertently did this. He was tracing the lines of the marks in the spell and accidentally sent them at Voldemort. Because of the factors I had mentioned before, Voldemort himself was thrown into death.

As the two were swept down the river, deeper into death, swift figures moved to intercept them. The lesser dead, attracted to the remnants of life remaining, clinging to them, had decided that they were easy prey. So fresh from life were they that they still seemed alive. It took about fifteen minutes for the taint of life to wear off. Voldemort had put too much effort into trying to achieve immortality to die now. Already, because of the dark rituals he had performed, his spirit was less human, more serpent like, and as the dead surrounded him, he whipped around, sinking his elongating teeth into the dead shadow flesh. Harry on the other hand was a big boy, and so he refused to cry. Even though he was now dead, he remembered life with a longing, and unlike many other dead creatures, he had magic. He remembered his favorite game, and levitated himself out of the river.

Now he was floating, and the dead didn't seem to be able to get him. Better yet, he was no longer being pulled where he didn't want to go. Harry decided he wanted it to be light, so as he so often did he cupped his hands and focused on making a glowing ball, or at least making his hands glow. No light shone from his hands. Harry realized that this dark place didn't allow light, but as he looked around, he saw that there was more light coming from the way he had come. He followed the light, until when he was back in the first part of death, closer to life, he was distracted by a somewhat familiar face.

"Padfoot!" he cried happily, and reached out his arms to the big dog, recognizing a friend. As he got closer, he realized that the dog wasn't his uncle Sirius in dog form. It wasn't entirely black, and she was thinner.

"Sorry, little one, I'm not Padfoot, I'm the Disreputable Dog. How come you're floating? If you are trying to get back to life, you can't get out that way by yourself you know!" The Disreputable Dog, for it was indeed she, looked at Harry curiously. He was in death, and he was dead, but she didn't smell the scent of death on him. He didn't smell of free magic either, just Charter magic, and he didn't have a Charter mark! Harry pondered her questions, he was only eighteen months old after all, and though he was smart for his age he didn't understand all the words she said. She meanwhile continued studying him. She wouldn't be able to tell for certain if he was as innocent as he appeared unless she gave him a Charter mark and tested it. That was the other odd thing. He was entirely in death, not just his spirit, but his body too. She was bored, and dogs always need something to do. She decided that if he was untainted, he would be her new charge. Lirael no longer needed her, and even if she missed her, she couldn't go back. The Dog couldn't walk out of death yet, she had only just gotten there. However, she could meddle with things that needed to be put right. No human child should enter death wholly, mind and body.

The Disreputable Dog sniffed his hair, and Harry giggled. "Good, silly Dog, I like flying! Why can't I go back?" The Dog sighed softly, and grew taller in order to look at the floating child in the face. "Maybe you can, just wait a few minutes." Harry yawned tiredly and asked how long that was. The Dog licked his forehead, and then felt the new made Charter mark with the end of her nose. It was pure and untainted. Harry giggled again, and remarked on the tickling sensation he felt. The Disreputable Dog grinned, and whuffed his hair. "Not very long; let's get you back into the land of the living before you fall asleep." She realized that he had somehow managed to snuggle on top of her and was indeed falling asleep in death now that he felt safe. She wondered for a minute if she should be doing this, then with her tail held high, half dragged the small sleepy floating boy towards life. She gently deposited him in the river, and gave a soft bark. Sleepily, the now non-floating boy, walked back into life, mumbling, almost to himself, "G'bye Dog"

Thus Harry Potter received a Charter mark and reentered life. He became known as the Boy Who Lived, the child who defeated Voldemort. He did not remember his experiences in Death, but he was so tired that when Rubeus Hagrid took him from his ruined house on a flying motorcycle, he "fell asleep flying over Bristol." Many people remarked on the strange mark on his forehead, but it was concluded that it was the result of being hit with the killing curse and surviving.

Harry Potter was then left on the doorstep of his relatives, muggles, who despised magic. As a result Harry no longer practiced his magic as often, only when he was alone or in extreme emotional distress. Still, he never tired of watching the golden Charter marks within the magic, and learned how to manipulate them. When Harry received an invitation to a magical school, he tried to enroll; his relatives prevented his reply until someone came and personally convinced his relatives to let him go. Gradually, Harry learned to cast magic the way everyone else did, with a wand, but, knowing nothing of the wizarding world, blindly assumed everyone could see the Charter marks, and never mentioned them to anyone. If he had, well, that would be another story.