The Chimera
Chapter 001 – Prologue
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A mixture that has never been done before in history has been done. The circumstances behind it mutated Harry, changing him; enhancing him. After being betrayed by a friend after he finds out about the consequences of the Basilisk Incident, Harry is dragged to the States by Sirius as a sort of therapy for them both. Unfortunately for Dicker, they started with Metroville.
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The Daily Prophet had given him the title of savior and 'Boy-Who-Lived' and then demonized him when he couldn't save them all, and like sheep, the witches and wizards of Britain had followed whatever the Prophet was saying, even if it changed sides overnight. They acted like he was a prince then blamed him for anything and everything wrong, even things he couldn't control or know about. It didn't matter to them that he was still in school, a child in their eyes (a lot of them were his own class-mates even), they still blamed him for all, the British Wizarding World's personal scapegoat.
It got even worse when his former friend had found out about what he had dubbed the 'Chimaera Abilities'. When, in the part of the giant Chamber Catastrophe that he privately called the 'Basilisk Incident', the Basilisk had bit him, a little of its blood from its ruined eyes and from the new stab wound in its head had gotten in the wound. This wouldn't have mattered much if not for the fact that stabbing the Diary from Hell with the fang that had been stuck in his arm had taken so much time that Fawkes' tears (as he later found out, Phoenix Tears are one of the strongest healing substances in the known history of the known world) didn't have much of an effect on the venom coursing through his body. Every time the Tears made a dent in the venom, it would just re-poison the healed part while the rest of the venom would spread.
Fawkes, however, hadn't wanted that particular mortal to die. He had remembered Harry from just a little baby in his mother's arms, and didn't want this to fade from the world. With this in mind, Fawkes did one of the most dangerous and risky things he could; force a Burning in hopes that, like he, Harry would be healed and cleansed of any harmful substances, in this case the venom.
This event, however, had several elements that on their own would be pretty much be useless against the Burning, but together would cause an incident that could not only ever be repeated, but would turn the entire world on its ear. These components; Basilisk venom and blood, Phoenix tears and blood (from Fawkes' near disembowelment from a cutting curse shot by Tom), along with the remains of an object known as a Horcrux in one hand and a second, still alive one tied to, but not into, his soul, right under his scar. These changed the first ever side-along Burning into something…else.
In one reality, Harry was saved with just the tears, at most adding a few years to his life and speeding up his metabolism and healing rate a just a bit. In another, Fawkes sit and weeps in sorrow as Ginny wakes up to find the now-baby phoenix sitting in a large pile of ash, along with the fragment of a stick of holly and a feather. In a third one, Harry is brought through the Burning and has a few decades added to his already long wizardly life (for wizards can live to be in their hundreds and some even make it to two and three-hundred), along with a faster-then-average metabolism and healing rate, alongside other things.
However, in this reality, with those components, along with others and some circumstances would combine and never be replicated, even in other dimensions, Harry James Potter would be changed into something not human, something…different. However Fawkes would know none of these things for years, and would never find out exactly what happened that night. At that moment, he was just concerned with getting through the night without killing a boy.
Somehow, the Phoenix had managed to not kill him via burning, and after Ginny had woken up to find a baby Fawkes sitting in a pile of ash on top of a nude Harry Potter, who was also on a pile of ashes, she had gone to get help. After a bit of time, Fawkes grew back to about his original size, and was able to carry them up and out of the pipe into the bathroom (though it had to be done one or two at a time).
A further five minutes and they were all in the hospital wing, all being being looked at and prodded by Madam Pomfrey while the Weasley siblings being smothered by the rest of their family and Dumbledore and McGonagall trying to question them (when Madame Pomfrey had seen a the newest Defense Professor, the youngest Weasley boy, the girl that was said to be kidnapped rushing her most seen patient into her wing, with Fawkes the phoenix in chick form in the Professor's hands, she had understandably Flooed Dumbledore, who happened to be in a meeting with the Weasley family and Professor McGonagall at the time).
Harry was unknown who told who what, but he had woken up in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey nearby, and no one else. According to her, she had found something that he thought might want to be private, so when he showed signs of waking, kicked everyone out. After he was fully awake with no signs of side-effects, Madame Pomfrey had broken to the youngest Potter what she had discovered in regards to his body.
According to her, his body had changed; his hair, including eyebrows and arm hair, were actually down feathers, like on a fledgling bird. Along the same line, his skin was actually scales, like a snake. Also, his bones had hollowed like a bird, and the content had slowly changed with Carbon and Iron moving around. His bones were lighter because of the hollowness, but were stronger than a human's. Not only that, but his top cuspids, or canine teeth, were now hollow with a duct that lead to a small gland that was growing under and behind his eyes. These glands produced a poison, and according to Madame Pomfrey, it was a mimicking poison, which meant whatever poison it came in contact with, it would copy. According to her, if he were to be exposed to a certain cobra's venom, his would mimic it, and the next poison he encountered, it would mimic that. If she was right, he would be able to choose what type of venom he wanted to use, making him in a way a combination of every snake. However, it would only work on natural venoms. Artificial/synthetic venoms would hurt like a bitch for a while depending on the amount, but while it wouldn't kill or cripple (unless it was super strong), he couldn't copy it.
Along with these, his tongue was now able to change from a normal one to a forked one. It didn't matter much; apparently he had some kind of organ called a Vomeronasal organ in his tongue, which is apparently what a snake used to taste scents. According to Madame Pomfrey, he could use the organ by licking his lips or sticking his tongue out like a snake, but it would work better using a forked tongue, since it would allow him to 'sense' the direction each smell was coming from, instead of just getting a general direction with his human tongue. The second to last thing she had found was that his lower jaw had become very flexible, the two halves of which were not rigidly attached, with numerous other joints in their skull. All this allowed him to open his jaw very widely, letting him do things like put his fist in his mouth and more. The last, and perhaps the least world-shaking, had been his core temperature had raised. His average was now about 41 Celsius, or 106 Fahrenheit. It was unknown at the time how hot he'd have to get to overheat. She had also said that there may be more things she hadn't found, so if anything new had occurred, that it may be just a late side-effect.
All that had been taken without yells or screams, which had shocked Madam Pomfrey at the time. She realized why when, after she was done, Harry had looked at her, smiled, and told her very politely that either she needed to stop drinking on the job, or that when she brewed potions, she needed to air out the room so the fumes wouldn't get her high.
After a few minutes of yelling between the two, in which she called him a young dunderhead who couldn't stay out of the hospital for more than a week, and him calling her a senile old bat, she was finally able to convince him by both showing him his charts and helping prove it with his jaw, venom, and a microscope spell on a hair-feather.
The next three or so minutes were spent with Madam Pomfrey trying to convince him that no, he wasn't a freak and no, it didn't matter that his body was changed, the fact he cared showed he had still had a soul. After she was able to calm him down, he tried to swear her to secrecy. After she had assured him of patient confidentiality, and that she only broke that when a life was at stake, of which his wasn't, she questioned him why he was so bent on keeping it a secret.
"Because," He told her, his eyes going blank, "think of how they treated me when they found out I could speak to snakes, I was practically lynched. Think how they'll react when they find out I'm not only partly human, if at all, but it was caused by Slytherin's beast and I'm part snake."
That was enough to keep her quiet.
After she cleared him to be able to get up, and if he was able to move alright, to leave, he went over to the mirror on the wall. He had sprouted a few inches, and his muscles were lither, more compact. His skin was a milky color; losing his tan and making him look like he didn't go outside much, without it being unhealthy looking. His hair was no longer a dark brown which appeared to be black, but an actual ink-black. However, it was still as messy as ever. His pupils looked normal, but in bright light would turn into slits, like a cat's eye. However, this was only noticeable if you looked real close.
After Madam Pomfrey had given him a magic Oath to keep the information to herself unless given permission, he had been released from the hospital wing, where he had a meeting with the eldest Malfoy, which ended with a freed House-Elf, and a grudge with said Malfoy. After this event, he had the psycho Elf stay at Hogwarts for an unofficial job until he was needed, before proceeding to head to the Great Hall, where he had the joy of having Hermione tear in about midnight, and Hagrid turning up at half past three, along with winning the House Cup for the second year in a row. Not only that, but exams were cancelled as well, to the joy of everyone but Hermione.
Stuff was more-or-less ok after that. The rest of the year was a blur, as was the train trip, and he was only at the Dursley's for one and a half of the two months of break before he spent the rest of his time at The Leaky Cauldron. That little change of scenery was as a result of accidently making his Aunt into a human balloon.
After wandering both Magical and Non-Magical London for a few days (and making a few purchases that may be useful if a Slytherin Heir event ever happened again), he met up with Hermione and the Weasleys before getting his regular school stuff, and Hermione obtaining a feline with a facial problem named Crookshanks. However, August Thirty-First, the night before he headed back to Hogwarts for his Third Year, he first learned about Sirius Black.
That year was both the most normal year he had to the date, yet the most important. He met the beings known as dementors for the first, but not last, time, along with Remus Lupin, the newest Defense Professor, who was not only a werewolf, but an old friend of his parents. He met the hippogriff known as Buckbeak, and attended the class of Divination, taught by Sybil Trelawney, a lady he and Hermione thought to be a hack, a thought that would be compounded throughout the year before violently proven wrong near the end of the year. Malfoy Jr. was injured by the aforementioned Buckbeak, almost getting the horse and bird looking chimera like entity executed, and Hagrid nearly sacked.
Some other events that happened that year were Sirius causing mass havoc throughout the year, him learning the Patronus Charm, and losing his Numbus. He also gained the wonderful device known as the Marauder's Map for a time before it was confiscated by Professor Lupin, along with the Firebolt…before it too was lost to him for a brief time as a result of Hermione's carefulness (even if it was to protect him).
Later on, near the end of the year, Trelawney gave the prophecy of Pettigrew being exposed and escaping, one that would turn out to be true. They later find Scabbers, who had disappeared earlier during the year, which had caused a rift between Hermione and Ron, the latter thinking that the former's pet had eaten his own. Just a bit later, after an event that proved to the Trio and Remus the innocence of Sirius, and Buckbeak and Sirius almost getting executed for their respective incidents, he and Hermione used a device called a time-turner, which is how she had been keeping up with her insane schedule, to travel back in time and save the two aforementioned pseudo-criminals.
It was after this that a number of tragedies struck. Firstly, Pettigrew escaped, taking Sirius' chances of freedom for the time being. Secondly, Remus was "accidently" revealed to be a werewolf by Snape, leading him to resign, and taking away the greatest Defense Professor they'd had yet, and one of the few ties to his parents. Thirdly and lastly, because of the events of that night, they found out the truth. When Professor Lupin had gone Werewolf and had tried to get The Trio, he was able to get past Sirius as Padfoot, and had charged strait at Harry. Harry, acting out of some primal instinct, had raised his hand in a way to block the incoming furry missile. This would have failed, if not for one of the things left over from his change into whatever the hell he was. Somehow, he had shot a ginormous fireball out of his hands and into Were-Remus, throwing him into Ron, which is how the redhead had been knocked out (personally, Harry was wondering how Ron, or any of them for that matter, avoided being bit).
Somehow, they had, in some impossible way, thought it was something else (Ron had thought it was a spell, and Hermione had thought she had imagined it in the heat of the moment). It was when Ron had brought it up a day or so later, hoping to learn a new spell that Hermione interjected, knowing that there were no spells like he had described that Third-Years could cast. Because of that, he had to spill the truth; he told them the events of the Chamber, and what Madame Pomfrey had told him (while keeping the details to himself for now), along with a little information he had found out about himself since then that was practically harmless.
Hermione was more-or-less her usual, machine gun questioning sort of way. He could tell that while she was a bit worried (for him or herself, he was unsure), and a bit nervous, she would get over that and would most likely join his "camp" of sorts; his side of the thought. Ron however…
He showed the truth of his ignorance and bigotry. Throughout Harry's five-minute speech, he had stared wide-eyed and gaping, his face cycling through various reds, whites, purples, and …greens. Half a minute after Harry finished talking, Ron finally got his wits collected, and proceeded to insert his feet into his mouth. He called Harry names that included imposter, monster, demon, slimy snake, Slytherin scum, and freak, along with more. He also called Hermione a traitor and a demon-lover, along with accusing Harry of brain-washing her and controlling her with his "demon powers".
Ron was in the middle of saying how the Ministry was "going to torture your demonic ass until you tell what you did to the real Harry" when Hermione hauled off and punched him out, before walking the near-catatonic Harry into the school. Luckily enough, Ron had run his mouth near the oak tree, so no one was nearby to hear.
Hermione spent the last few days, along with half the train-ride, taking care of his mind (cracked by finding out his Godfather was a criminal, then innocent, right before losing him. This was added to by losing Remus, one of the few ties to his parents, but a good friend, and Ron' betrayal did not help in the slightest). Just a few minutes after Hermione had fixed his mind up, they gained a new cabin-mate; a blond second-year by the name of Luna. Apparently, she'd been kicked out of her cabin by some older-classmen, and they were the only ones willing to let her in.
The remaining hours to get to the station were spent befriending the blonde, as well as Harry sharing a bit more of his abilities with Hermione and Luna (the latter had somehow figured out something had happened to Harry to change him both physically, and mentally. Therefore, he decided to go on a limb and share with her too). Right before they got to the station, Hermione gave him her phone number, as did Luna with him and Hermione (they were both surprised that a pure-blood had a phone, until she told them that her dad didn't have the same thought that non-magical people were any less human or "pure" like other pure-bloods and neither did she).
When they got to the station, Hermione said she was sorry, and she had to go, after which Luna dragged Harry off to meet her father. Her dad, Xenophilius "Just call me Xeno" Lovegood, was an…eccentric, but friendly man who was glad his daughter had made such a nice friend, Harry would have responded, but he was too busy staring in shock at Xeno's companion; a large, black, Grim-like dog who had tackled Harry to the ground and starting licking him to death. When he looked at Xeno with unasked questions dancing on his face, the older Lovegood had told him with a mysterious smile on his face that the dog, which he decided to nickname "Snuffles", had appeared a few minutes after he showed up at the station.
He proceeded to tell Harry that he had "good reason to believe that the Dursley family won't be showing up at the station", but he was sure that Harry would be fine that summer, and if he turned around to find both Harry and "Snuffles" gone, he wouldn't worry as long as Harry called at least over the school break or so "just to make sure that Mass Murderer Sirius Black didn't get you".
Harry had stood in shock for a few seconds, before grinning, thanking Mr. Lovegood, saying goodbye to both the Lovegoods, grabbing his stuff, and leading Snuffles over to an emptier part of the station. When Xenophilius "just so happened" to look over in that general direction a minute later, he saw that the boy and "dog" were, as he thought they would be, gone.
"Well", he muttered to himself as he grabbed his daughter's trunk, and started walking towards one of the public Floos, "I hope those two have a good summer; Merlin and God both know they both have had hardships and will likely have more over the next few years. Best they get a good break, and make some foreign friends."
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Harry sighed as another pothole in the road jerked him out of his memory. Right after they had used one of the public Floos to head to the Black Ancestral Manor, a 12 Grimmauld Place, in London, they headed into the cities' shopping district to pick up a few things needed for a cross-continent trip, before packing up whatever they could out of the Manor. All this took the rest of the day, and part of the next.
On the morning of that second day, Harry woke painfully (Sirius didn't trust to use the beds, so they just put down sleeping bags in the backyard) to find Sirius acting like a school-girl if the "bad boy" of the school had agreed to date her. The reason why, he found out a few seconds later, was because of a gift sent from Hagrid (one of the people, Harry had been told by Dumbledore before he left the ancient fortress, who knew of Sirius' innocence). Said gift was a 1959 Triumph Bonneville T120 motorcycle with a big red bow on top.
Apparently, the bike used to have been Sirius', but he had allowed Hagrid to use it to get Harry to the Dursely's all those years ago. However, apparently, a few days ago, Sirius had sent a letter to Hagrid asking him to send the bike, named Phoenix if he was reading the blood-red letters on the black paint correctly. Sirius had wanted it back, so that if anything ever happened, the Godfather and Godson would have an escape route.
A few hours later, about two in the afternoon, they were done packing up, and ready for their trip, be it in England, Europe, or World-Wide. That's how they got where they were now; traveling through the United States of America (the state in question at this time being the one called Colorado), heading towards their first stop, in an American car, which was a White 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe, hitting practically every pothole in the road there was, while Hedwig flew on above.
"Well pup, what do you think of this trip so far! Is it good? Is it great? Is it Siriusly awesome?"
"Well," Harry said dryly as he flinched at the pothole (or crater) that they had just gone over, "other than screwing up my back, and most likely destroying all the suspension in this Caddy, with all the holes in the road – that last one looked less like a pothole and more like a crater – we are making ground so far I believe. However, I want to know something. Where the bloody hell are we going?"
"Wellll…" Sirius drawled out as he took a right and turned off the highway they were on, "after finding out about your abilities, I looked around in some books, and called up some old friends, and figured out something. In this nation we are in, there are beings that call themselves Supers. These Supers are usually humans who have an advanced ability, like you do with your stuff. Some people can stretch themselves like taffy, or can fly without a broom. Heck, some of them can throw a tank over Hogwarts without hitting that ancient place. I figured, if you get yourself exposed, you could just pass yourself off as one of them. Smart, huh!"
"That's…actually pretty smart! I can't believe you thought up something so serious – and no Serious Sirius jokes, those got old quickly. However, what is the name of the city?"
"The name…" Sirius looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly, but I believe it was called…Metroville."
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Hey People! I told you I would have a chapter posted this week (posting somewhere near 10:30 PM, Central Time Zone) :). Hope you guys like it. If you see any flaws/typos/problems, let me know please, by either PM (which is open to Anonymous reviews) or just Review it in (along with constructive criticism if you could). Zoanzon out.
P.S – I have posted this on both in The Archives, and updated chapter 1 of "The Chimaera" with this, so you don't need to go to both.