The days after their introduction had, to be honest, gone quite well. Harry seemed relaxed despite the divine being resting in his mind, Akatosh was just glad to not be muttering to himself anymore.

'Mister Akatosh, why are you in my head?' Harry didn't even think to ask that until a couple days after the fact as he was picking weeds from his Aunt's garden. This was always his least favorite job, it was messy and it hurt his hands even with gloves but Mister Akatosh did his best to help protect his hands.

'An excellent question, child.' The dragon rumbled in the boy's mindscape, formed from the divine influence of the Dragon-God. Though he mostly used the mindscape to lounge and focus on assisting his young charge. 'Your Mother summoned me, evidently. In her desperation to protect you.'

Harry stopped, his brow furrowing. He didn't know much about his Mother, only what Aunt Petunia would tell him. 'But... Wasn't she a drunk? How could she summon something?' Petunia was very vocal in her disdain for her sister, calling her a 'drunk freak' at the best of times and a 'jealous whore' at the worst.

'You should know better than to listen to the ramblings of angry mortals, my child.'

Harry felt his head lower instinctively at the admonishing tone of Mister Akatosh, though the dragon did quietly send out some light feelings of calm to the boy's mind. Combating the anxiety and the other damaging effects of a neglectful and abusive environment was difficult but the Dragon-God was not about to be beaten by some mortals over this.

'Your Mother appeared to be a Mage, of some sort, along with your Father. I believe they used terms like 'Wizard', ah if only they bothered to speak more around you. Regardless, that gift for Magic allowed her to reach though the seas of Oblivion to me. It is quite remarkable really, in the world I helped build no mortal could ever successfully-'

Mister Akatosh continued to ramble on about the mysterious of Magicka and how impressive the act was. Harry tuned him out as he focused back on his work. Akatosh was like that sometimes, he'd ramble on about concepts far beyond a simple eight year old's mind.

All Harry cared about was the simple truth that his Mother had cared about him. She didn't abandon him to the Dursley's, she did everything she could to protect him and evidently, that meant even petitioning a God to do it.

'Mister Akatosh, will you protect me?' The question cut through the Dragon's ramblings making the divine being pause in contemplation. 'You are of my blood, child. Though you do not show signs of it just yet, I can feel it in your very veins and in the hum of the magic dancing about in your head. Even if you were not of my blood, your Mother's wishes are not easy to ignore. I have never been one to ignore my followers.'

Harry honestly had no idea what he was on about again, though he did pick up that yes Akatosh will protect him. That was frankly good enough for Harry, so with a smile he gathered up the weeds and rush off to dump them into the dumpster.

-x-

One night, Akatosh felt something odd at the edge of his consciousness. Something tickling at the borders of the property. 'Mrm...?' He tiredly raised his head, making sure to not rouse his charge as he reached out to feel for what it was.

A man in a dark cloak was approaching the house, fastening on a silver mask with a dark wand in one hand. 'What bizarre visitor is this?' Akatosh raised his head to watch him carefully as he approached the house.

"Prepare to die, Harry Potter. Fiendfyre!" He raised up the wand, as he intoned a dark incantation under his breath as a burst of unnatural fire came from the tip of his wand in a stream of death.

'No.' A golden shield burst around the building, halting the fire in it's place before it was twisted back forcefully to wrap around the dark mage. With the shield crushing around him to silence his scream before with a flick of his mind, the wizard and the spell vanished into the seas of Oblivion.

'Oh, my boy... You will have quite the interesting life.'

Akatosh would only have to turn away one other attempt upon his life before they seemed to give up.

-x-

"Oh, have mercy..." Harry whined into his pillow as his cousin furiously stomped down the stairs forcing the boy awake from the thunderous shakes of the house. Akatosh gave a quiet rumble of agreement as he was forced awake along side his Avatar.

'Sanguine has truly cursed his household with it's gluttony.' Harry mumbled his agreement though he wasn't sure what Akatosh was talking about but he was certain it was an insult to the Dursleys which he was always behind.

"Get up, Freak!" Came the grouchy cousin's voice as he banged on the cupboard door. "Dudders, no! You'll hurt your hand!" Came the fussing voice of the oh-so-loving Aunt as she guided the boy away and firmly unlocked the cupboard. "Out. Now!"

Quiet Harry crawled himself out, his head lowering submissively as Aunt Petunia pointed her bony finger imperiously to the kitchen. "Get to work on breakfast, boy. You better not burn it a bit on Duddikins birthday!"

Obediently Harry went to work, trying desperately to ignore the nasty growl of jealousy deep in his chest at the happy family behind him giggling over the mountain of presents piled up.

"Thirty-six?! That's two less than last year!" Harry's hand tightened against the spatula, his knuckles whitening against the tool before the rumbling voice of the Dragon-God filled his mind. 'Calm, Harry, calm. Tempting as it would be, the Divines frown upon kinslaying.'

It may have been a joke but Akatosh did see the dark corners of Harry's mind that not even he knew of, twisted thoughts massing in a small and insignificant corner of the mind. He's done his best to keep them locked away, to keep his avatar safe from his uncontrolled darkside.

'Would the other Divines like me?' Harry did not really have any friends outside of Akatosh, what with Dudley chasing any off who'd try to befriend him in various ways along with the neighborhood parents telling their children that he was deranged and dangerous. Quickly the approval of the voice in his head became something Harry sought, when Akatosh spoke a lesson Harry took it to heart.

'Julianos would have adored your mind, you take to lessons well even if you let your education slip due to fear.' A small sacrifice, Akatosh had to grant, in order to avoid further attempts to whip him with a belt. 'Mara would have taken you to her bosom and embraced you as a lost child, in all honesty she'd rip you from me in a heartbeat if she could.'

The Dragon-God seemed to find this amusing, a low rumbling chuckle echoing in Harry's mind. 'Were you close to her?' Harry could feel the Dragon tilt his head in contemplation. 'Very. Perhaps more than any other Divine, she and I walked together in Aetherius often as we build Nirn. In the mortal sense, she was my wife but to us it was simply that were meant to be side-by-side.'

Harry nodded, his eyes turning to Vernon and Petunia argue about something involving Mrs. Figg. He really didn't know what a wife was meant to be or a husband, looking at his Aunt and Uncle, he supposed they had a happy enough marriage. It was really hard to tell, Vernon would just do what he wished and Petunia would go along for the ride. That didn't feel right to him, it felt like it should be more equal... Maybe.

Akatosh simply listened to the boy's mental ramblings with amusement, the mind of a child is more sharp than most would realize; They pick up on things that even adults may fail to see. Particularly when it comes to relationships and love, Children were always favored by Mara in that sense.

"Listen, Freak." Harry jerked a bit, his eyes shooting up to his Aunt fearfully as she looked down at him with a pinched expression. "You'll be coming with us to the zoo. You'll keep quiet, keep your head down and not make any trouble. Am I clear?" Silently Harry nodded with Akatosh giving a faint sigh.

He was going to have to do something today, wasn't he?

-x-

'And they say the gift of foresight comes from Azura.' Akatosh mused sarcastically as his charge was thrown into his cupboard by his raging Uncle who had just been forcefully calmed by Akatosh's influence.

The longer the family lived around his Avatar, the more he could influence them at least in some ways. They were not worshippers of his, it made it difficult to exert himself into this world.

The trip to the zoo had started just fine, Harry obediently kept his head down and watched the animals and tried to avoid his cousin and friend's cruel jabs. The reptile house was something both of them had been looking forward to, Harry finding himself drawn in particular to the jungle lizards of the trees whilst Akatosh simply mused himself with the sight of his tiny children.

At least, the reptile house was enjoyable until they came to the snakes. At first, Akatosh was prepared to chalk up the snake's clear speech as just a bizarre mutation of Magicka. It wasn't unheard of and perhaps the zoo was unknowingly built upon a font of it but as the Dragon-God reached out to confirm that suspicion he found absolutely nothing except the source of Magicka he was currently residing in.

Searching around Harry's mind, he did eventually find the source. That dark insignificant corner of his mind throbbed dangerously as Harry conversed with the snake with bizarre hissing sounds. That was not the language of dragons, whatever it was made Akatosh's scales itch.

His eyes focused back on the dark manifestation in Harry's mind, breathing out a dark breath he raised his claw and slammed down upon it. He ignored it's cries as he wrapped it in a golden orb. Almost immediately, Harry could no longer understand the snake but his cousin shoved him out of the way to the ground to look at the boa as it raised it's head to speak to Harry.

As Akatosh was inspecting the dark mass, he jerked a bit as he felt a sudden explosion of Magicka followed by a muffled scream. Turning his head to look out the eyes of his host he witnessed the glass of the boa's cage vanish and the noisy mortal child fall in as the boa slipped out.

'Oh, goodness.' Akatosh looked at the dark glob with a baleful expression. 'Cursed spawn of Sithis, I will deal with you later.' This thing -was- Harry... Kind of. It was a part of his soul, disgusting as that may be, but it was also clearly not him and wasn't there when Akatosh first arrived.

So for now, he tossed it to the darkest corner of Harry's mind in it's protective shell to ensure it will stay nice and out of his way. He will need to think on how to remove this parasite, perhaps the Mages of this world were more advanced with soul shards.

Back in the present, Harry curled up on the mattress with his arms wrapped around himself. 'A-Akatosh...' The boy clenched his eyes shut tightly, the salty liquid staining the thin mattress. 'Am I a freak? Like they say... I made that glass disappear, I could talk to that snake.'

Akatosh rumbled, filling the boy's mind with his calming presence. 'You are a wonderful child with a brilliant young mind. 'Freak' is just what they chose to call something they fear, are jealous of. Family is meant to watch over family, as the Divines say. They have failed in that task whilst you have not, the child is not to be blamed for the follies of adults.'

Akatosh raised his head, huffing as he focused on Harry's core of Magicka. He focused on it, letting it's power radiate through Harry's body, the boy let out a sharp gasp as he felt like electricity zoomed through him with the small objects around him faintly levitating before dropping down.

'That was you, Harry. That was your power, something your family does not have. You, blood of my blood, are a Mage and that should be respected, I do not know how this world treats those with your gift but in the world I had built you would have been treated kindly and taught from childhood.'

Again, Akatosh searched through the boy's young memories seeking -anything- to get a clue on why it wasn't the case. Finally, he did find something; The Mother had taken the boy with her to some large building with tiny wrinkly creatures to set up a 'trust fund' for schooling, for 'Hogwarts' that the boy could access at eleven.

'Eleven is late... Far too late. Hrmph.' He rumbled in irritation before reaching out to Harry again. 'My child, how would you like to learn a spell?' He was no Julianos, he was not a master of magic but he was knowledgeable from countless centuries of worship by the Aldmer as Auri-El and further on by the races of Man as Akatosh.

He was not a Master of Magic but when he felt that burst of overwhelming excitement from his charge, he resolved that he was make his avatar one. After all, it is only fitting of Dragonborn.