The next day Harry awoke not as Harry, but as a new being with memories from two lifetimes. In essense, he was Melkor, and he was also Harry. But while I'm here, I'll call myself Harry. It's less complicated that way. His first thought was to leave right now and go after Voldemort, but then he thought better of it. He wanted to draw this out, and so he would need a better base of operations than number 4 privet drive. A quick analysis of himself revealed that there were various tracking charms and devices monitoring his magic and his movements. Also there was a perimeter charm to prevent him leaving the house. He smirked. This would be so easy. He brought his index and middle finger up to his temples and concentrated. A few seconds later, a perfect copy of himself was standing across from him. and he quickly dissapeared, apparating away as his shadow clone was left behind to have fun with his relatives, which would alert the order and the ministry that he was using magic, and raise all hell. All the tracking charms had been subtly shifted to the clone. By the time the headmaster realized he wasn't dealing with the real Harry, (and he knew the headmaster was the only one strong enough to see through his illusion), he would be long gone.

The real Harry was now strolling through Diagon Alley heading straight for Gringotts. He had always enjoyed using a particular people's own skills and tools against them, so for now he would continue using wizard resources and abilities before resorting completely to his way of doing things. Currently he was cloaking himself to prevent anyone identifying him. He stopped in front of the doors to admire the inscription again:

"Enter, stranger, but take heed Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors A treasure that was never yours,
Theif, you have been warned, beware Of finding more than treasure there."

'I wonder how much I'll have to steal to accomplish my goals...' he thought to himself. He knew his own vault held a lot of gold, but not enough for what he had in mind...

He then casually walked up to one of the teller goblins at the bank and asked to be taken to his vault, handing over his key. The goblin, an older one by the name of Grinus, examined the key and smiled, showing off his dangerous looking teeth. "Mr. Potter, I presume." He said in a low voice so as not to attract attention. "Yes" Harry said, lacing his voice magically with a more powerful version of the imperious curse, "I have come to check up on a friend of mine's vaults. He wanted me to pick up his school things for him as I was going to come here anyway and he didn't have the time what with all the new things he has to deal with inheriting the Black family fortune and all. Will you take me to the vaults?" The Goblin blinked and shook himself as if clearing his head. Then he smiled. "Of course, sir. Right this way." Harry smirked as he followed the Goblin to the carts going down into the vaults.

A few minutes later Harry found himself standing before the Black family vaults. A quick magical scan confirmed that Draco had yet to attempt to become head of the Black Family, a very trying magical ceremony which could end in death or worse for one the magical core of a family rejects as it's head. He couldn't sense that Draco's sickly yellow aura had been anywhere near here yet. And so he decided then and there he would take back Sirius's property for himself, as he knew Sirius would have wanted it. Sirius himself had never undergone the ritual, mainly because he hated his family and the ideals they stood for. But that was just the last 16 generations or so. Harry knew that in the distant past the Blacks had been a very different people. And he doubted the core had accepted any of the family heads in a long time. Today Harry might be able to revive them again, as he planned to do for his own family's core next.

He reached out telepathically and contacted the core from outside the vault doors.

"Who dares disturb me." said an agitated voice. "Has another of my weakling offspring come to test themselves?"

"No, I am not of your blood. But Sirius would have wanted me to inherit as he had no blood heir."

"No blood of the family you say? Well, it matters not. You may be tested if you wish. You know the consequences."

"Yes. I will commit to the ceremony. Sirius would have wanted it."

"Yes, I know Sirius. He didn't want to accept his family history, but he didn't know all of it. It appears that you do, however."

"Yes, I do. I know many things now. A part of my soul from a past life has just rejoined me. We are strong. We can survive the ceremony."

"We shall see." said the voice. "You may enter."

The doors to the vault opened and Harry walked forward leaving an unconsious goblin behind him on the ground.

'Pity', Harry thought as he entered the treacherous challenge the vault would present him with. Goblin's were so wired against mind control or trickery that forcibly manipulating them as he had now often ended in the death of said goblin. Thankfully Melkor had known exactly how far to push without snapping the poor old creature's mind. He was merely going to be asleep for roughly a week or so.

The vault door closed, and one soul that had lived a thousand lifetimes, though he did not know it yet, stood alone, darkness now his only raimient, as he prepared to face what lay before him.

For a time, there was only darkness. No sound could be heard other than the slow steady pulse of his magic. A thousand techniques and transformations flitted through Harry's mind as he waited for an attack to begin, but none were forthcoming. Then he realized, with growing horror, what he was going to be pitted against. His own darkness. He immediately cast a light spell, bringing into focus a familiar sight. Some of his own creations. Balrogs.

Immediately they flared to life, one glowing with a cold light, another with green sickly fumes flowing in a cloud around it, and leading them, the strongest, glowed with fire he had given it. All three were saturated in darkness. Only he was now trapped in a mortal body, and if he didn't play this carefully he could be killed. He hadn't achieved his full power yet.

'Yes,' the core of the vault spoke finally, 'Now you see what you must prove. Prove that you can control your own darkness and move forward. Fail and die.'

The fiery balrog in front of him raised its enormous hand and a sword of flame formed in his grip, which he brought down towards Harry's small form with impossible speed. With less than a second to act, He did the first thing that popped into his head. He dove out of the way.

With nothing to hide behind, he whipped out his wand, and pointed it at the sword of flames, which had just scorched the ground where it had struck, and hoped he got this right.

"Glacius Totalis!" He roared and instantly the whole cavern was frozen solid.

The problem with this, as he suddenly realized to late, was that one of the balrogs was not frozen solid like the rest, but was rather right at home. And he was nowhere to be seen. He turned only to see the monstrous creature behind him, about to throw a great lance of rock solid ice right at him.

But no matter, one he could handle. After all, he thought. I 'am' the scariest thing in the darkness, why should I be afraid?

But even as he thought this, while dodging the ice, the others were starting to crack their way out of their prisons, and he realized, with Harry's frail body he couldn't smite these minions of his so easily, and it would be a while yet before that would change. His only chance was Harry's own power, and he would have to coax it out quickly if they were going to survive. He realized suddenly why no one had been able to fully claim this title in so long.

'My own power?' Harry asked incredulously. "Is this really the time to be focusing on me"
"Listen, boy, I can't destroy them completely on my own, for that we need light. Something that I don't really have immediate access too, and you do, I've seen your patronus, now you have to sharpen that steel into a blade! And fast!" He gave Harry the knowledge he needed to conjure weapons of pure energy and told him to focus the power of the patronus into the weapon. Harry was dumbfounded. 'Why the hell had never thought of this before?' Almost instantly a six foot long spear of light appeared in their hands, and they agreed Harry would focus on powering the spear and Melkor would actually be the one to use it, being the more experienced fighter by far.

It was exhausting for Harry, with every blow they landed, and every one they blocked it sapped more of his strength, and he had only his hope and his happier memories to aid him, which were few and far between, and some he invented on the spot which were pretty amusing. On the other hand it was frighteningly effective. Two of them were dead so far, rent to pieces. It was just that pesky one Harry had designated as 'bio-balrog' the one giving off the poisonous fumes still throwing waves of the stuff at them. They were going to have to risk it and throw the spear at him. If they were off even a little they'd have to conjure another one, and Harry didn't know how they'd manage that at this point.

Summoning the last of his strength, Harry gave the spear enough power to pierce the balrog's thick 'exterior', for lack of a better term, and Melkor hurled it with so much force that it went all the way through the balrog and it screamed as the spear embedded itself in the stone wall behind it. The only problem was that as it died the creature released a thick cloud of poison that they had to quickly get above somehow.

Considering their options quickly Melkor came to a somewhat rash decision. Suddenly and painfully, huge and thick leathery wings sprouted out of their back and he pushed what was left of his magic into the floor causing him to leap off the ground. Being used to pain, they were both able to stay conscious and glide above the gas cloud. Suddenly everything faded and an empty stone chamber was revealed, lit up by many torches and a man stood in the center. They landed, and studied their new wings, which were still covered in blood having just formed. Even Melkor wasn't sure they'd ever get rid of the damn things at this point, considering what he did to get them so quickly. The man clapped for them a few times.

"Very good. I'm impressed. You possess a great darkness within you, worthy of the name of Black. And more importantly, you are in control of that darkness, it doesn't control you. That is the truth at the heart of Black. Deep within the darkness, a light shines within. He smiled. "You are both cunning and wise for your age. I will accept you as the new head of this family, provided you discipline those of my blood that have gone astray.

Harry bowed, his wings folding behind him, "I will, great ancestor."

"Good. Now, rise." He took Harry by the hand. "There is much to show you. So much has been lying in wait here in this vault since my descendents strayed from the path I set down for them."

Harry couldn't believe how much knowledge was hidden here, a great legacy that probably rivaled his own family of Potter. An entire branch of magic had been virtually hidden from the world by one family. And for good reason, too. The secret of shadows was a terrifying one indeed. He finally understood how the Black's had gained their place in the world. And now that he knew it he would use it to his full ability to bring honor back to their name.

He also found out other things, bits of dark magic most people shied away from, some he would have to look into as he knew Voldemort had to have employed one or more of them to survive back when he was a baby. Knowing how the man thought, 'he's practically a carbon copy of that idiot Sauron', he assumed the man was using Horcruxes. Relegating a part of his spirit, the bulk of it probably into an item or items wasn't the brightest idea in his opinion. There were so many downsides to this that he'd never even considered it himself. But for someone like Voldemort it was more the romance of the thing. What a weirdo. He'd take what he needed from the vault and move on to his next task -- his father's family vault.