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Story: [Worlds and Betrayal]
Summary: Betrayed by the Light side, Harry flees into another world. But how far will his paranoia drive him? No matter how wonderful a paradise, how can you know it to be such, if you refuse to see it?
Genre: Crime, and a bit of Horror
XXX
Betrayal is complicated in that you can never know the full extent of any betrayal.
Sure, you could interrogate the traitor, but what truths could you possibly expect from the mouth of someone who has already betrayed you once before?
No, there's no true way of knowing the full extent of a betrayal. But it's possible to do some level of approximation to just how far it goes.
For example, even if the deceitful traitor heartlessly ate the last of the chocolate crispies, that doesn't necessarily equate to them sleeping with your parental figure. In the opposite direction however, a person who'd sleep with your parental figure, might very well be the heartless criminal mastermind who'd eat the last of the chocolate crispies.
So, again, figuring out the full extent of a betrayal is a very long and complicated process.
In Harry's case however, the problem came in the simple fact that he couldn't find a place where a betrayal hadn't happened.
There were no impartial witnesses, no reluctant participants, and certainly not any outright allies who'd tried to defend him.
He was alone, and everyone he knew of had happily joined in on the idea of screwing him over. This included the people that he'd called friends, the people that he'd called family, the people he'd called role-models, the people he'd called acquaintances, and the people he'd called loyal.
There was a certain amount of morbid fascination to realizing that even Dobby had been cheerfully recruited into turning his life into a living hell.
It all came down to one simple fact however. Dumbledore had screwed him over.
He'd in fact screwed him over so thoroughly and so often, that Harry could – quite unfortunately so – probably get away with calling himself no longer a virgin, despite never having even gotten quite into the snogging-state of dating.
And he was actually feeling rather pleased with not having gone any further, because that would've allowed Dumbledore to screw him over quite a few more times, in new and inventive ways that Harry was fairly convinced should have clauses against them in the Geneva Convention. Not that such a thing would've really mattered, considering just how much pull Dumbledore actually had on the government.
Basically, Harry was alone. He would remain alone, and he would never be able to extract justice.
Voldemort and his gang of merry madmen were unfortunately too far off the deep end to consider viable as potential allies, and since the 'Light' side of the fight were quite possibly some of the worst specimen of humanity that Harry had ever had the misfortune to step in, this pretty much meant that he had two choices available to him.
Either he could kill everyone, or he could get the hell away.
Now, killing everyone did have a certain orgasmic appeal of vengeance associated to it, but it was highly improbable that a single boy – who hadn't even graduated from Hogwarts yet – could wipe out the entire magical world. Which was kind of what he would have to do, for that option to stick. And yes, that included any sentient magical species, as it turned out that they'd been more than happy to screw him over too – though goblins would understandably screw over anyone, if given the chance, so at least he didn't feel personally offended from that side.
This left him with the idea of 'escaping'.
However, he couldn't exactly leave the country, because leaving the country meant that everyone would search him out and bitch about it until he was forced to attempt going with option 'kill everyone', where he'd most likely die.
This meant that he had to escape in a manner that made it impossible for anyone tracking him to find him again.
Which was why he was currently drawing a very advanced set of runes, using his own blood, whilst chanting in a language that wasn't exactly very nice – it seemed to have been developed entirely around the concept of sacrificing people to horrible monsters.
As for why that particular language was used... well...
Harry glanced over at the struggling forms to his left.
Even traitors could be useful for something, right? And it wasn't as if anyone would be missing these. There were far more than enough Weasleys crawling around the place already, certainly a handful of them wouldn't be missed?
Still, he needed something to get the 'horrible monsters' to grant him passage through their realm, in a way that wouldn't fracture his psyche. Which, in this case, meant that he'd be using up the 'sanity' of these helpful little easy-to-capture traitors. Of course, their life-force would be the driving power in twisting the fabric of reality enough that he'd be able to 'slip through the gaps' and into another world entirely.
And if this allowed him to go with the option of 'kill at least someone', to go along with his 'escape' option, then that was just kind of a bonus, wasn't it?
XXX
His arrival was... unremarkable.
Well, at least in location. It was understandable hard for him to know if there'd been something that looked extremely flashy from the other side as he appeared out of thin air into a world where 'Harry Potter' had never existed.
He was in the middle of nowhere, a forest from the looks of things. Unfortunately, he was also fairly sure that he was still in Britain. He'd been hoping that the spell would also geographically displace him, preferably as far away from Magical Britain as absolutely possible.
Considering that he wasn't sure what the Potter-family would be like in this world – and knowing that it was highly likely that, if they were alive, they were so deep into Dumbledore's camp that they would have to be classified as enemies by default – he wasn't sure to what extent he ought to use his name.
'Potter' was right out, 'James' would probably raise a few too many eyebrows if 'James Potter' had been born in this world – since Harry looked a lot like him – and he wasn't entirely sure how much of a clue 'Harry' would be to anyone trying to investigate his origin.
Sure, 'Harry' was a common enough name, but it was entirely possible that he'd been named in honor of a relative, and it had been a name that both Lily and James had agreed on. This meant that it was entirely possible that it was a name that they'd considered for their children, and that meant that they could potentially connect that consideration to his appearance, which would again land him in direct contact with two people that he didn't want anything to do with.
It was one thing that he might be passively pushed by people towards either side of the war – until he managed to get the hell out of the country, at least – but it was a completely different thing for the 'people' to be people that he had a blood-relation with.
Blood-relations had a tendency to get right nasty when it came to who was allowed guardianship over who. And considering the magical world, it was more than plausible that – if a connection were to be found between him and two people that were clearly involved in the war – there wouldn't be a chance for him to skip country.
Either, his 'parents' would be trying to recruit him into fighting Voldemort – or whatever bad guy was present in this world – or the resident bad guy would be trying to use him as a hostage against them.
Considering the fact that – again, if they were to find irrevocable proof of his biological relation to Lily and James – it was highly doubtful that he would have any chance of 'legally' leaving the country without getting tangled up in Dumbledore and his schemes, and that he knew from personal experience that getting out of Dumbledore's schemes was a near-impossible thing to do, getting caught was a very very bad thing.
He needed to remain perfectly anonymous, not get involved in either side of the war, not show either side anything that they could find useful to have on their side, and get out of the country as fast as possible without immediately getting deported back to Britain.
The first part was all about remaining off the radar, and the last part was all about faking papers that would hold up under scrutiny.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any papers, and – since the Black Market was built around trust, and he had nobody to vouch for him – no way of illegally acquiring said papers, this left him with acquiring said papers in a fully legalized manner.
The problem with this was really that if he dropped into the muggle-world they'd simply treat him as a runaway teen, and promptly call in social services, who'd make a lot of bluster and dump him in a home somewhere – unless he got dropped in a cell, for whatever charge they decided to levy against him.
Notably, none of this would get him out of the country. In fact, it was likely that this course of action would lead to being actively contained in the country.
This left him with two other options.
One, he could try stowing away on a ship, and hope that he'd be able to get some decent papers when he arrived wherever said ship was heading to. Unfortunately, he hadn't exactly been able to take his Invisibility Cloak with him when he jumped worlds, and any magic that he made would likely land him in trouble with the Ministry.
And since getting into trouble with the Ministry would be even worse than being treated like a runaway by the muggles, this meant that he would have to sneak on board without using any magic. And sneaky though he could be, Harry wasn't exactly confident that he'd be able to pull it off. Also, not being sneaky enough would surely land him in the same position as trying to get identification papers from the muggles in the first place.
The second possible option was to basically show up at some public wizard-place, get an identity of some sort established, and then buy a portkey out of the country. After that, the plan would obviously be to acquire muggle-identification from the Ministry of whatever country he'd landed himself in, and then disappear forever.
Understandably, Harry wasn't exactly thrilled with his options. Especially since it seemed that in trying to avoid the Ministry, he'd have to virtually march straight into it and smile about it.
Any plan where avoiding something started off with getting involved in that same something, sounded like a bad plan to Harry's ears.
However, all of the other plans were pretty much worse.
Sighing heavily and gritting his teeth, Harry climbed to his feet.
Today was going to be a long day.
XXX
In hindsight, he should've figured that someone would comment on his age.
Bloody stupid wizards and their bloody stupid compulsory schooling.
Harry was back in Hogwarts. The one place that he'd been hoping to avoid most of all. Because Hogwarts was of interest to people. People cared about what happened in the school, and that meant that if he made even the tiniest splash, people would find him.
And being physically dragged into school to become a new student at an age that was clearly beyond eleven?
Yeah, there was no way in hell that he hadn't already made a splash. And now people would know who he was, and that would mean that they'd try and force him into a role.
Either a Death Eater, a sympathizer, or a muggle-lover.
Harry was neither. He hated all of humanity in equal amounts, and was perfectly willing to commit himself to a genocide of pretty much anyone – as long as it would help him, and he could get away with doing it without extreme risk on his own part.
But the crux of the matter was that he didn't have any fancy magic trick that would allow him to wreck havoc upon his enemies. He didn't have any special skills that would let him slip through the warring sides' recruitment-net undetected. And he had developed a ruthlessness that could easily lead him to murder from a very early age.
The fact that recently that ruthlessness had been sharpened by a curious mix of vengeance, hate, and an absolute lack of faith in humanity... well, it really hadn't surprised him at all when the Sorting Hat exclaimed "Slytherin!" this time around.
XXX
"So how is our newest student doing?" Albus asked the boy's Head of House curiously.
Horace Slughorn considered this for a long moment, before sighing. "He's certainly not making any friends."
That drew the eyes of most professors present, if for no other reason than that they all enjoyed the chance for a bit of gossip.
"Well, a lot of the students tend to stick with the ones they already have, and he is new." Albus admitted, not entirely happy about it, but willing to accept that the child wouldn't immediately become the best of friends with anyone.
Horace frowned. "That's-... That's not quite what I was getting at." He admitted. "There have been those who've approached him, but... he seems to be... 'reclusive'."
"That sounds an awful lot like you're dodging the question, Horace." Minerva pointed out, looking like she wasn't sure whether to be amused or annoyed at having caught the man.
Horace sighed again. "The last one who tried to 'befriend' him, had his kneecaps shattered."
There were outraged gasps all around.
"Yes, it has been dealt with. Yes, there have been attempts for vengeance from the other students. And yes, they have all failed. His retaliation to those attempts is the reason why Madam Pomfrey is currently considering sending four of my students to St Mungos." Horace grumbled, making a face as if the whole sequence of events still left him with a dreadful headache.
"And you didn't inform us before this, why?" Minerva hissed at the potions Professor, apparently not taking too kindly to the thought of having a violent student running around the school without her knowledge.
"Minerva, he was sent here to us because he wasn't in school. The laws state that they should've taken his wand since he shouldn't have one considering he'd never graduated and wasn't enrolled in any school. However, they gave up trying and enrolled him here instead, because the first one to try it was very nearly castrated." Horace explained with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure that it shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone, that his disposition wouldn't suddenly be miraculously improved upon being enrolled here."
Albus frowned heavily. "I believe I should've at least been informed of any violence in between students that reaches that grade of violence." He reminded the Head of House.
Horace blinked. "I was only informed by Madam Pomfrey of the situation on said students a few hours ago." He admitted, looking slightly sheepish.
"Who was the original student that was injured?" Filius asked.
"Ah, that would've been young Mr Nott."
XXX
Of course the Death Eaters would've tried to recruit him the moment that he entered Slytherin House.
It wasn't a blatant attempt – which probably said more about Snape's disgusting teaching-methods, than about anything else – but it had definitely been implied. If you knew what to look for.
So Harry had shattered the other boy's knees, told him bluntly that he wanted nothing to do with any of the crap going on in Britain, and then continued on his way.
That some kid had nearly been strangled to death when they'd tried breaching his bed's curtains later that night... well, he'd used that spell deliberately in order to achieve that effect, so he didn't actually give a damn.
What had surprised him was that a total of six attempts were made on his person. And that all of them were pathetic.
His only guess was that they trying to lull him into a false sense of security by pretending to be inept – or by sending the ones who truly were inept after him first.
It never occurred to Harry that most Hogwarts students weren't capable of bringing down wards, or removing curses at all. And that the way he was setting things up seemed more inclined to keeping Voldemort thoroughly distracted for a few minutes before he broke them, than on being used as an 'alarm system' to warn him of a few teenagers' attempts on his person.
Basically, it was such a horrifyingly extreme defense that it could've left professional warders scratching their heads. And he was using it, not to keep himself safe, but to make sure that nobody would sneak up on him.
It was a bit like chaining a dragon to stand behind him, in order to have it tell him that someone was coming. Anyone who knew anything about dragons could tell you that you'd know that someone was coming, but that it would most likely be because of the would-be-attacker's agonized screams as they died.
So, instead of actually considering himself 'safe' behind his wards, Harry continued to improve on his 'alarm system'.
He didn't like the attention this was getting him, but he hated Death Eaters just as much as he hated Dumbledore, and he'd much rather stay alive and be noticed, than die in an unmarked grave.
So he kept a wary eye on his Slytherin classmates, and he kept an even warier eye on the rest of the student-body.
It was one thing to be a Death Eater, because they tended to be stupid and blatant about how they went about things. It was an entirely different thing to be on the 'Light' side of things, because they would cheerfully stab you in the back for no reason whatsoever. Except of course to proclaim that it was 'for the Greater Good'.
Harry could honestly say that he'd be moving to Antarctica on first available opportunity. Simply so that he could get away from humanity.
XXX
Flitwick shook his head. "I've never even heard of people his age at this level of proficiency." He admitted with a certain kind of numb awe.
"So he must've had good teachers?" Albus asked the smaller man curiously, silently wondering if he could find and recruit those same teachers for the Order.
Flitwick blinked, then turned to stare at the Headmaster.
"No. This isn't-..." He paused, visibly searching for words. "This is beyond me." He finally settled on. "He's not even out of his teens, and he's beyond my level. Albus, at the risk of sounding prideful, I'm good. And this boy is better." He paused again, visibly frustrated. "And I don't think he's even aware of it!"
Albus couldn't help but draw parallels between the young man and a former student of his. A student who'd grown up Dark. Well, no, actually. He started trying to draw parallels between the two of them, but the more he tried the more implausibly twisted the connection seemed.
Tom Riddle was loved by all of the students, by all of the professors, and by anyone else he came into contact with. He was charming, and he wielded that charm with deadly proficiency. He was skilled with magic, and used that magic to boost his standing in the eyes of those surrounding him.
Harry Dursley was actively avoided by most everyone, professors included. He was more than willing to curse first, and then settle for interrogating them if they happened to survive the assault. He was so clearly a veteran fighter that it was almost painful to watch him. His eyes would seek out threats, exits, and locations for cover, from the moment he entered a room. He was ruthless, he was talented, and he was a loner by every stretch of the word.
Tom Riddle would've tried to play the righteous Slytherin, the young man that everyone could turn to for help.
Harry Dursley played the unapproachable Neutral, who'd retaliate without hesitation or mercy to any attempt to force him to join either side of the current conflict.
The young man seemed to hate the Light side just as much as he hated the Dark one, and had reacted to most all attempts on his person, by sending the attackers to St Mungos.
It was bad enough that Albus was starting to wonder if maybe he should be actively working on getting the boy expelled, just so that he wouldn't have to deal with having the explosive student around for others to target.
The Marauders had quickly learned to stay out of his way – though Mr Black would probably walk with a limp for the rest of the year – and even young Miss Evans seemed very uncomfortable with the thought of confronting him about the violence that he reacted with upon provocation.
Tom Riddle had ruled through charm. Harry Dursley ruled through fear.
That his 'rule' was tempered through his own apathy to others was Albus's sole relief in this situation, because it meant that he wouldn't actively seek out people to attack. He would simply respond to all attacks with overwhelmingly ruthless force, and classified any attempt to get him to pick sides as an 'attack' without hesitation.
He was an extremely dangerous individual, but he seemed fine with being ignored, so they all did their best to do so.
The fact that his talent with charms left Flitwick in bewildered awe? Well, in Albus's eyes, that was just another sign not to provoke the young man.
XXX
Harry wasn't entirely sure why nobody seemed willing to confront him.
His best guess was that the junior Death Eaters had received orders from higher up about observing him quietly. But the Light side generally tended to be somewhat rebellious about such orders – mostly because they were naturally inclined to being obnoxiously loud – so he wasn't sure why they weren't trying to pick a fight with 'the slimy Slytherin'.
Now, the problem that he was currently faced with was that it was only a matter of time until the Dark Lord finally decided to get his pawns moving on a more serious level, because Voldemort had never been the kind of person to simply let a potential resource go. And when they finally moved, he was going to have to deal with whatever they'd had hidden up their sleeves all this time.
As for the 'Light' side, Harry knew that Dumbledore would be switching on the grandfatherly charm any day now, and when he failed to react to that, the old man would try to go over his head and force compliance out of him. Probably through laws of some sort.
All of which meant that Harry had to get better. Fast. And he still needed to figure out a way to get out of the country without triggering any immigration-laws that would get him sent back to this hellhole.
So, Harry continued to study, he continued to practice, and he continued to sleep lightly in his warded bed.
XXX
To most everyone who could be bothered to look, it was obvious that Harry Dursley wasn't doing very well.
Oh sure, he passed his classes with flying colors, he continued to beat away any attempt on his person with extreme prejudice, and everything continued on as normal.
But it was clear to anyone watching that the young man was tiring.
However, instead of growing lax in his exhaustion, the young man instead went the other way around and became even more insistent on keeping his back to the wall, on keeping an eye on all people in the vicinity, and to memorize the layout of any room he entered.
Harry Dursley was tiring, and through his exhaustion, a certain degree of paranoid madness was beginning to leak through the cracks.
For Albus, who was a good friend of resident paranoid-maniac Mad-Eye Moody, it was more obvious than usual. And it tore at his heart, because any attempt to get the young man to relax, would only serve to force his guard up even higher, and it was clear that he wouldn't be able to fight on indefinitely.
XXX
It was getting more and more obvious that the two sides in the civil war were playing the waiting game.
Hoping that in due time, Harry would be forced to lower his guard.
It was a good strategy, and Harry found himself grudgingly approving of their patience. However, it also meant that now more than ever, he couldn't allow himself to lower his guard.
It wasn't as if he really needed to sleep eight hours a day, and he'd been eating much worse things when he'd lived at the Dursleys.
There were of course magics that allowed a person to check for potions in their food, but it could theoretically be bypassed without much issue, so he currently lived on a diet of bland enough food that it would've been hopelessly obvious to his taste-buds if anyone had tampered with it.
Still, for some reason he was getting a bit more twitchy lately. He supposed that the pressure was starting to make him restless. He'd never been much for patience.
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A/n: From the very beginning, I knew that this wasn't something I'd be very good at writing (the idea was too misery-inducing), but the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so here we are.
Basically, the idea is that everyone on the Light side wants to help him, but Harry thinks that they're just trying to deceive him (because of his bad experiences with the same people in his old world). This then continues going on, until Harry begins to fray around the edges, and then these people are forced to watch as this young boy slowly slips deeper and deeper into the true horror that is paranoia.
The idea was based around the argument of "paranoia is a mental disease, and it should be treated like one", because a lot of stories make paranoia something good, something that helps them become better people, but in reality it's actually pretty damn awful, and sometimes it's a good idea to remind people of things like that.