Chapter 1 Feels Like the First time

Three months later ( Topside time), and Harry was panting as he finished pulling some of the boulders around for Silverstrike. That mother fucker was goddamn slave driver if there ever was one! Silverstrike laughed from atop his podium overlooking the blockades, " Well done Potter! I think you might just be ready for that equipment now!"

Harry muttered, " Damn straight I am. Hell, I feel like Dudley, just with muscle."

He wasn't lying either. In the three months Topside time, felt more like three years, he'd been basically weight training like crazy. Goblins knew how to weight train, and they made sure you got everything you could out of it. Thus, in the what felt like three years, Harry had bulked up from being the scrawny sewer rat, as Silverstrike called him, to being a man people could look up to.

If anything, Silverstrike said he could pass as Godric Gryffindor coming out of the story books. According to Silver, Gryffindor had been one of the last wizards to actually partake in real physical fitness, mostly because he doubled as a Muggle Warrior. Harry may have been a descendant of Gryffindor, but the Scots would certainly better remember one of Gryffindor's other descendants through his daughter, William Wallace. Funnily enough, it was that same side of the family that McGonagall was descendent from Gryffindor.

Silver shouted, " Alright Lord Potter. Let's go grab us some weaponry shall we? Trust me, no one ever feels safe without a weapon in their close persona."

Harry could attest to that. It felt strange walking around without his wand, he was always paying more attention to everything, expecting a Death Eater to attack him at every turn. Didn't help that Silver would sometimes commission Goblin Warriors to ambush him to test his skill with hand to hand combat now.

Silver led him to the Armory, which he was quite familiar with now. One of Silver's Muscle Builders had been blacksmithing. So Harry now knew his way around the Hammer and Anvil amongst other things. The goblin blacksmiths looked up, with the head shouting, " Hail Lord Potter! Here for your equipment?"

" Indeed, Smith Lockjaw."

The blacksmith pulled out a large crate. He said, " Everything you need is in there, Lord Potter. You've been given special made, Double Proof, plate armor and chain mail. A full set of Knight's armor for you. The helm is open faced, but you can form a visor by tapping the sides. Your sword is 36 inches, well balanced, double edged, thrice forged steel with silver suffused within. You can name the blade yourself. It's enchanted with self cleaners, self sharpeners, and you can add additional enchantments via runes at anytime. Simply request the runes you want and we shall add them. Your shield is in the Targe format. I took the liberty of adding a nice spike to the center, so you will be able to kill with Shield bashes and the such now. If you survive, bring it back to us, and we will give it anti-magic enchantments. For now, it simply has your House Symbol on it."

Harry knew that his house symbol was a large emerald P surrounded by blue lightning bolts, something surprising that the goblins had told him not long ago. He'd always thought that his family's colors were the same as Gryffindor's, but apparently, that was only a recent thing that spawned from his parents. While his family had been Light affiliated for centuries, their affection for the colors of green and blue had been around longer than that. Well, he preferred red and gold, so he would just have to change them when he got out.

" Alright Lord Potter. Get that armor on, and we'll get down to the real business."

After thirty minutes, Harry walked back out in his silver armor. The helmet was open visor, just like the Goblin smith had said, but it had dragon's wings on the side, and right over his forehead was a small ruby. His sword was basically a copy of Godric Gryffindor's, only that the hilt was made of silver, and that it was emerald encrusted. The blade of the sword had some runes that he figured he could rearrange into a name. But he didn't know runes, though Silver said that he intended for Harry to learn them err he left for the Topside.

Silver slapped Harry on the back, " Now there's a good looking man right there! Remember though, the Creatures have very sharp claws. The one's with the blades can take down armor. Use your shield well, and you be fine. Now, I wanted to give you some happy news!"

Harry frowned, " Oh, what could that possibly be?"

Silverstrike smirked, " Cheeky bastard. You coming down to the Roads with me boys. By the way, there's a few boys I need to introduce to you. Come."

Harry followed the Goblin Commander into a large tower that served as the barracks. Sitting on a crate carrying a submachine gun of the AUG variety, was a Russian looking man slugging a bottle of Vodka like water. He grunted out, " Vhat is this? New guy?"

Silver frowned, " Yeah, this is Harry Potter. He's your commander, Nikolai, so you better get used to taking his commands."

The Russian growled faintly, and turned to Harry, " My number one rule is: Stay away from my Vodka!"

Harry chuckled, but knew the man was serious as all get out. A woman with plaited black hair and wearing a short skirt walked in, " Is Nikolai bothering you two about his Vodka again, Commander Silverstrike?"

The Goblin smirked, " No he isn't, Isilde. I was only showing Lord Potter around."

She looked at Harry with a frown, " Boy-Who-Lived is our commander? We're fucked."

Harry felt anger rising, but bit his tongue in favor for, " Titles mean nothing hear, woman."

She smirked, " You might have a chance yet."

Silver cut in, " Strife amongst teammates is great and all, but you guys need to cut it out or you going to die. There's just one man left for you to meet Lord Potter. He's been very interested in you."

" Is that so? Who is he?"

Silver smirked, " You'll see."

The Goblin led him into a larger room. Harry gasped. Sitting at a desk with several strange looking skulls on it, was a giant of a man. His long, brownish blonde hair fell to the shoulders of his heavy armor. His armor bore a large golden eagle, just like that buildings around Khazad did. He looked up, " Mr. Potter, Commander Silverstrike. Good to see you. Salute."

Harry nodded, " Good evening?"

The man sat up, " Same to you . Name's Lazarus. I'm the Knight Commander I guess would be the title."

Silver explained, " He's the commander of the Human forces we keep stationed down here."

Lazarus laughed, " I'm also the guy who has to fill out all the paperwork for the hundreds who die down here every day too. Anyway, I'm a special type of wizard who can use magic without well, using magic. But that doesn't mean I don't like the front lines."

Harry raised an eyebrow, " Can you teach me?"

Lazarus looked at Harry inquisitively, " Of course, but those who passed your sentence were quite insistent that you not use magic during your fights. I can, however, let you use magic to make you better passively. Auras and the such."

Harry looked at him, " So that means I can use magic, just not stuff like Avada Kedavra, Stupefy, and Expelliarmus?"

" Exactly. You need to learn some passive magic, and maybe some triggered auras. I've been to a lot of places as an emissary of the Goblins, and I'm a lot older than I look, ignoring my scars of course, thus, I know a lot of magic and martial arts. I can teach."

Harry took a look at one of Lazarus' tomes, " You said you've been to a lot of places? What do you mean?"

Lazarus chortled, " The goblins never told you how they get so many people to come down here to fight?"

He nodded that they hadn't told him, and noticed that Silverstrike had paled slightly. Silver hastily answered, " Uh, Lord Potter. Nothing you see down here should change your opinion of us."

" That sounds like a bad attempt to CYA Commander Silverstrike."

Lazarus broke back in, " Because it is. The Goblins use special Mirrors crafted by the Dwarves to travel between Alternate and Parallel universes. Whilst there, they kidnap various warriors they think will be able to fight down here in the Dark Roads. But the Mirrors are One Way trips, so a lot of the kidnapped warriors just want to go home. Just the other day, I had to file the report on the previous commander of your squad's death. Ezra or Erza, or something like that was her name. Just hurled herself right into a giant horde because she was tired of fighting."

Harry was treated to a sight that most living beings have never seen. A nervous, embarrassed goblin. Silver was flustered under the gaze of the human commander. Harry commented, " Well, I guess that desperate times call for desperate measures. No matter how wrong they are."

Silver looked a tad relieved that Harry took it better than he thought he would. Lazarus frowned slightly, " Either way, I offer to teach you some passive magics so you don't get yourself killed down there. We've had a few wizards come through here before, and not being able to cast active spells really has a big effect on them."

" I gladly accept."

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( Light Response)

Albus was calling a meeting of his Braintrust. Sitting next to him, were Minerva McGonagall, and Alastor Moody, his top commanders. Sitting next to them, were Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt, respectively. The meeting was kind of docile. But everyone was a little on edge.

Dumbledore said, gravely, " My people, Harry Potter has not been taken to Azkaban."

Those who had been there weren't surprised, but people like McGonagall exclaimed, " What? I thought his guilt was beyond proof?"

" It was, but his sentence was not issued by us. It was issued by the Goblins. Harry will serve one year in the Dark Roads as part of the Legion of the Damned."

The silence was broken by Fillus Flitwick falling out of his chair, and then running out of the room crying. Minerva gapped, " What was that about?"

" The Dark Roads are a virtual death sentence to those sent to them. Apparently, excess magic from Wizards is funneled through the Earth. Underground, it coalesces and becomes these dark monsters. The Goblins have always lived in danger, thus, they are allied with their close brothers, the Dwarves."

Remus was aghast, " And you allowed this? Are you insane? Haven't you always said that Harry had to defeat Voldemort?"

"Unfortunately, it was beyond my ability to contain. Minister Fudge invoked some little known charters and handed the sentencing over to the Goblins, who seemed extremely eager to take over. I shudder at what young Harry might be going through right now."

Lupin glared, " I don't know why, considering this is all your fault anyway."

Hermione Granger bristled, " Quiet, Remus. This is not of your concern."

With a small flicker of her wrist, she placed a Silencing Charm on the werewolf, thoroughly pissing him off in the process. Dumbledore smiled at his best apprentice. Ms. Granger had been hard to convince, but once Dumbledore had gotten her to see the Light, she had proven invaluable with information that would damn Harry if he ever moved against Dumbledore. Assuming Harry lived through his ordeal that is. She also had a wealth of useful spell information that she could pull from her almost photographic memory at will.

Hermione turned to Dumbledore, " Now that that has been taken care of, would you like to continue, Albus?"

Dumbledore smiled. He may have lost Harry, but he gained someone more valuable in the long run. What was Harry anyway? A weapon? No, he was too weak for that. A public head? Nope, he hated his fame too much. Money? Not anymore. Why had he kept Harry around anyway? Just ditch the Horcrux in him by sending him on a suicide mission. Lord knows that he used to trust Dumbledore way too much anyway.

" We need to start grooming Neville Longbottom to be the Chosen one instead."

Hermione sneered in a way that reminded Dumbledore of Snape, " I know Longbottom's better with a wand that might actually do something, but he's still a borderline squib! Plus, his house is a Vassal House of House Potter. If Harry comes back and declares war on you, then Longbottom will be forced upon pain of death to fight for him against YOU."

" Well, would you like to take the duties instead? I mean, we still need a Chosen One, but you can be the brains behind the throne. Kind of like me and whatever Minister there is at the time."

Hermione smirked, " Gladly."

Dumbledore smiled, but on the inside, he was frowning. It would be bad amongst Pureblood circles if they found out a Muggleborn was doing the heavy lifting behind the downfall of the Dark Lord. Dumbledore figured he needed to step up and make sure Longbottom was a capable replacement for Potter. Of course, anyone who knew the Prophecy knew that there wasn't any doubt in who the Chosen One really was. It was only a suitable coincidence that both Harry and Neville had been born within minutes of each other.

Remus Lupin was suitably pissed right now. He stomped out of the meeting early, and fervently ignored all requests for him to wait. He threw his Order Amulet down, crushed it with his boots, and hustled out. He needed to go vent some anger. Maybe he would run across something interesting?

A/N: I'm very aware of how OOC Hermione is, but given her tendencies towards Authority Figures, I think that it's perfectly possible for her to act this way. I'm also tracking with the cliché that Hermione almost never stands up for Harry in when he ends up arrested, if anything, I'm going DobbyElfLord ( HP: Mercenary and HP: Hit Wizard particularly) on you all and making her an antihero of sorts. It should also be obvious that she won't be paired with Ron, thought they'll stay friends, if she even survives the war( undecided on that) . She's incompatible with him to begin with, and even more so in this story.

Dumbledore: He's NOT the Archdemon in this story, but he isn't the Grey Warden who sacrifices himself to save the world either ( apt analogy I might say given how Dumbledore is generally portrayed on this site).