This is a Fate/Apocrypha HP cross. Enjoy!
If one were to observe the room where the Greater Grail was held, they would see one of the castle homunculi carrying a strange item. It was a tube filled with familiar green liquid, the contents of which happened to be a body. Specifically that of a young male between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, thought it was difficult to tell.
The male had distinct European features, wild black hair, pale skin that was rather hard to make out due to the liquid inside the canister, and several rather interesting scars. He was also rather skinny for his age, and there were a few ribs that could be seen, mostly due to the fact he was only in a pale of plain white boxers that only protected his modesty by the thinnest of margins.
The female homunculus had a look of apathetic purpose on her face as she wheeled the canister deeper into the castle, until she reached the room of the Greater Grail.
Because she was a castle homunculus, and because they were created solely to assist the human Magi in whatever depraved experiments they were doing next, no one questioned what she was doing with the canister or where she was going.
If they had known the truth, it was likely quite a few people...particularly the Magus responsible for the homunculi being in the castle to begin with... would have done everything in their power to stop her.
As it was, she was left entirely to her own devices, as the Magi were all too busy summoning their Servants for the Greater Grail War.
Her focus was entirely on the contents of the canister...to be more specific, in hopefully re-purposing the body within and getting some revenge on that fat bastard for what he did to the teen inside of it.
Why would a mere homunculus care about the fate of a single boy? Much less go so far as to steal the canister he was trapped in, despite the fact that it would almost certainly result in their immiment demise in short order once discovered?
The answer was simple really.
The homunculus wasn't just another servant who did all the chores in the castle.
They held the mind and soul of the male inside the cannister, and he was pissed at what had transpired.
Especially the part about being stuck in a female body, when he had spent the past 15.2 years as a guy. It had taken a considerable amount of effort not to break down the day he woke up in his new body and realized he not only had breasts, but that a familiar piece of equipment between his legs was now missing.
Harry James Potter was not a happy wizard, and he planned to make that fat pig of a Magus pay for what he did to him.
Unfortunately he had learned very quickly that his original body was now beyond saving... something in the experiments Gordes had performed on him caused his core to become unstable to the point that it could only survive now in the canister, where the liquid forced it to remain inert.
The fat Magus had been forced to abandon his experiments when the body kept dissolving into a thick black mist from which no light could enter, unless he wanted to lose the best wizard specimen that he had managed to get his hands on.
But not before he managed to create seven homunculi out of the materials he gathered from the body, of which the one Harry's mind and soul inhabited was the only survivor. The others self destructed at some point whenever any form of magic was used, and the one he inhabited had been designated to household tasks because it contained 'flawed' magic circuits.
Harry wanted to scoff at that.
There was nothing wrong with the body he was inhabiting. He just wasn't going to fight in their name after what they did to him. Better to bide his time as a household servant so he could escape during the worst of this big ritual they were performing than end up dead!
Finally he reached the room, and looked at this 'greater grail'. It was impressive, but creepy as hell.
First Harry set the canister down, and began to draw a circle made of blood. It was fortunate that the Black family came from a long line of powerful druids, otherwise this might not have worked.
Once he was done inscribing the circle in an out of the way corner where no one would immediately notice him, he carefully hit the release valve for the liquid within.
It was set to drain slowly, to give him time to start the ritual he was about to use to hopefully set things right. Or at least fix the body he was in now... from what he understood, these homunculi weren't designed to last more than a couple of years at best. They were made to be heavy hitters with short life spans, which were perfect for large scale magical battles like the ones the Magi in the castle above were planning.
The liquid was draining away from the circle, which was what he wanted.
Using a clean knife, Harry cut both of his wrists in a way that would cause a lot of problems if it wasn't healed in time. He would bleed out, but not so quickly that he wouldn't have a chance to save himself.
He placed a hand in the center of the circle, right as the black mist slowly began to emerge from the release valve.
He could only pray the ritual he had planned would work. He had only seen a few pages about it in a book in Grimmauld place. The last few pages had been damaged by something, so he had no idea what it did.
Normally the thought of that house would lead him into a depressed state, but he had more important things to think about now. Like the fact the mist was getting thicker.
Silver and Iron to the Origin.
Gem and the Archduke of Contracts to the Cornerstone.
The Ancestor is my Great Master Schweinorg.
The Alighted Wind becomes a Wall.
The Gates in the four directions close,
coming from the Crown,
the three-forked road that leads to the Kingdom circulate.
Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill). Shut (Fill).
Repeat every five times.
Simply, shatter once filled.
I announce.
Your self is under me,
my fate (doom) is in your sword.
In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail,
if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.
Here is my Oath.
I am the one who becomes all the good in the World of the Dead,
I am the one who becomes all of the evils in the World of the Dead.
You, Seven Heavens clad in three words of Power,
arrive from the ring of deterrence,
O Keeper of the Balance!
The mist went from a pitch black like deepest night, full of anger and malevolent intent whose only purpose was to strike at whatever was causing the pain in an effort to make it stop, to a familiar silver the color of moonlight.
A great stag formed, looking like condensed night and starlight and stared at him. It felt as though it was seeking something in his very soul, and for a moment time itself stood still.
Then it charged at him, and he was unable to move as the ritual circle pinned him in place.
The moment it touched the homunculus' body, Harry felt as though he was being put through the cruciatus on overdrive. Every nerve ending in his body was on fire, burning like nothing ever before. More importantly he could feel the limited magical core he had before surge with such power that it took everything he had to stay conscious.
As if that wasn't enough, something felt like it was being branded against his back, as a great power descended from an unknown source and the greater grail seemed to hum nearby.
Eternity flew by, and all he could concentrate was not passing out from the pain. It was a good thing he was used to being in agony, because this would have likely killed a lesser man.
Finally, finally something within his soul clicked into place, and he very nearly passed out.
The mist was gone, as was his original body.
However the body he was currently in felt more...complete...for lack of a better term, than it had before.
Did not change the fact he...no, she felt like complete and utter shit at the moment.
In another part of Trifas...
Amber eyes opened to reveal...an empty forest.
He had been summoned, and yet he had no idea where his Master was.
All he got was that it was in a certain direction, and that things were considerably different than what he was normally used to.
For one thing, he was getting the sensation of two different sets of Servants, on opposing sides.
It took him a moment to realize that one, this wasn't the normal Grail War he was used to. This was a Great Grail War, and that things were almost certainly going to be messy.
On the plus side, he hadn't been summoned by Alaya, which meant he wasn't here to perform a massive clean-up. That was always a bonus.
In the castle
It was a good thing her particular duties kept her away from the Magi. Harry had come to terms with the fact he was now stuck as a she, since the ritual didn't actually fix that particular problem.
Annoying, but far from the worst thing to happen to her. She still didn't know what the ritual did, just that afterwards her magical core had finally been fixed and that for some unfathomable reason her original body had disappeared entirely and she was now stuck in this one.
Though strangely, her body felt more...alive and healthy than it had before. The sudden burst of energy she got once she could move again was very surprising.
Fortunately none of the other homunculi asked what she had been doing or why she had been missing for the better part of six hours.
Then again it wasn't unusual for them to be stuck doing some task for the Magus in the castle for several hours and therefor be unable.
Harry kept up her usual tasks, very glad that she wasn't slated for active combat. Still, she couldn't help but feel she had unleashed a headache for later with that ritual.
Harry took one look at Astolfo, or "Rider" carrying the homunculus boy on his back and stared.
Right, there was only one way to respond to this sort of scenario.
"Do you require assistance in carrying him?" asked Harry with a pleasant smile on her face.
Anything that pissed off those damn Magus was okay in her book!
Astolfo brightened at the question.
"Yes please!" he said cheerfully.
Harry easily got on the other side of the homunculus and easily lifted up the body on her back, with the arms on either side of her neck. Astolfo lead them to one of the smaller rooms below, where another "Servant" was waiting.
She had trouble believing this was actually Chiron, the legendary Centaur. Still, he did have a weird horse's tail.
"Thanks for your help!" said Astolfo.
"If you require assistance, I can usually be found in the kitchens. Excuse me," she said with a bow.
She wondered if that was a good move, considering Astolfo actually came to the kitchens for snacks and recognized her immediately.
At least she had a willing volunteer for her experiments when it came to dessert. The 'head' homunculus wouldn't let her share them with the "masters", since they weren't supposed to have any imagination or personality at all.
It was probably for the best. She likely would have poisoned every one of them in revenge by this point if they had tried anything she made.
"You're pretty interesting. Do you have a name?" asked Astolfo with his usual bright smile.
Harry made a point to discreetly check for listeners. There wasn't much point in listening in to the homunculi, and the Magi were all busy with matters outside the castle.
"Homunculi are not given names," said Harry tonelessly. Though you could hear her irritation about that. "After all, what's the point of naming 'people' you intend to use as disposable cannon fodder or nameless servants anyway?"
Astolfo blinked.
"That's really sad."
Harry didn't respond.
"I know! I'll give you a name!" said Astolfo.
Harry smiled at the childish spirit. He had an enthusiasm she found rather refreshing to a point. Besides, it was rather silly to keep using the name she had a guy.
She might as well use this to make a clean break.
"Let's see... what should I call you... Come to think of it, that guy probably doesn't have a name either," said Astolfo, trying to think of a name.
He must mean the homunculus she had carried to the small room.
"Do you require anything?" she asked politely.
"Not really! I just wanted to make sure you didn't get in trouble for helping!" said Astolfo.
"I was merely following orders," lied Harry.
Astolfo could totally see through that one, but he wasn't going to call her on it. Clearly she had more spirit than the other homunculi in the castle, and he wasn't about to alert any of the Magus about that.
Besides, she looked like an interesting person to hold a conversation with.
This war was...interesting. Though nothing threw him more than seeing Saber's double walking around, and acting nothing like her. If it wasn't for the brief glimpse he caught of the sword that the knight carried, he might have mistaken her for his Saber.
'So Mordred was summoned as a Saber class in this war? Talk about amusing,' thought Archer. He wondered how the Knight of Betrayal would react if he knew there was someone in love with their 'father' and had even slept with them, considering Arturia's marriage to Genevieve was nothing more than a political move.
Still, it looked like he wouldn't be bored at least.
He still hadn't found his master, but from what he could tell they were likely in the castle where the Black faction resided. He could vaguely sense there were two other Archers, so he had the feeling that he wasn't supposed to be part of the official war. He was an extra summoned by accident or in an attempt to add an extra advantage.
Though he did wonder why he wasn't summoned close to his Master. He already had to travel twenty miles just to get this close to them, and he still could only just sense that they were in this area.