The Bells Tolls for Thee. . . Or Not
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, it would have been pure Harmony. I don't own Star Wars in any way; if I did I would have a ton of money. OOC and AU but not a true Crossover.
Author's note: Sorry about all the exposition, it just wouldn't come out any other way for this chapter. Next chapter is TRAINING. This is now the third reposting of this one chapter. I really needed to wait until I had a friend review it. I get extremely picky about my own grammar. If you can spot the three changes that were made not counting the addition of this part of the author's note and the break I used underneath thisM, you will be my hero.
The idea of Phoenixes being temporally omniscient is from Seel'vor's Quantum Leap. I liked the idea better than it "showing Harry's loyalty" to Bumbles for why Fawkes came.
~TBTFTOR~
"Grigori, my old friend, how are you?" Sorer asked once he had found the man he was looking for. Standing in front of him, glaring down his nose at Sorer was one Grigori Rasputin, healer for a Tsar or Tsarina of Russia. The name of that person escaped him though; too many living and dead people to keep track of everyone's names. He looked good, considering all the hell he had been through on Earth. Although most people don't choose to look like they did right when they died for the rest of eternity so inevitably they regressed to an age they felt the most confident with in the case of looks. Grigori looked to be in his 20's and had a well groomed goatee. His brown hair was kept short and neat but his eyes seemed to be able to stare through you and know what you've done. Sorer had a growing feeling of inadequacy that he had to shake off right as the man spoke.
"Sorer, to what do I owe this atrocity?" Rasputin spat annoyed that the death angel had the audacity to come to him for help. I'm dead after all, he thought, what more does this place want from me?
"Shut up you old goat. I have a slight problem, as I'm sure you've heard, with one of my 'clients'. We're finally sending him back with more training and no memory wipe. He'll be sent to the summer before his fourth year and will hopefully not be so stupid as to let that meddling bastard Dumbledore let Crouch Jr. be a teacher at the school." Sorer said almost grindingly before shaking his head and rubbing his temples; he had a headache forming already from all the crap Bumbles had pulled and was hoping to not have to tell Harry about it so he could figure it out on his own.
"Let me meet the dumb Gryffindor before I teach him. I really don't mind teaching him, as long as he isn't going to be a prat about it." Rasputin sighed, knowing full well how much work he had cut out for himself if he taught the BWDTM. He berated Harry in his head. The kid can't plan to save his life. He barely does enough research to get by and he apparently has a ton of cunning just no idea how to use it besides foolish Gryffindor things.
"Great Grigori, I really needed this. Thanks for the help. Jim will inevitably reward you down the road once this kid actually lives past killing off Voldemort." Sorer was relieved that Grigori didn't refuse out right even though he was well within his bounds to. "Come by my office after a while. He's currently 'sleeping'. Death takes a lot out of everyone."
Rasputin nodded before turning away from the frazzled death angel and proceeded to stalk away. I may be dead, but I still have a social life he thought. Merlin is going to be angry with me for being late. Late, he laughed, that is such a human concept, since time really has no meaning up here. We only recognize that when look in upon the mortals still running around on whatever planet they are from. He sighed before opening a door with runes carved along the outside edge and the name "Merlin" shining in red letters. I wonder what it is today, he thought. Always some kind of muggle game, scrabble last week, battleship the week before, what is it today. With that thought he entered and could hear his name being called sharply and winced as he knew a rebuke was coming.
"Grigori Rasputin where in the name of Jim have you been, I have been waiting for you?" Merlin nearly shouted at him. While Grigori had chosen to look like he was in his 20's, Merlin had chosen to change his appearance to the way those damnable chocolate frogs depicted him. He had originally looked athletic, his black hair falling across his face. He looked like a true warrior wizard when he first learned he could choose what he looked like. It was imposing just being near him. Now no one cared. He looked like a kindly old grandfather, just like that manipulative headmaster that was the cause for much of Harry's problems. That useless manipulative old coot couldn't even teach the students decent offensive magic, hamstringing not only Harry, but all the students who went through that school. No, couldn't have anyone looking better than him, useless git.
"Sorer Fenrir had to talk to me Merlin and please don't yell, I'm not deaf. What useless muggle game are we playing today?" Grigori asked almost instantly sorry he had.
"Scrabble, it's such a wonderful game don't you think?" Merlin chimed gleefully while Grigori groaned. Merlin always seemed to win simply because no one but Jim could prove that the words he used were made up.
Harry groaned as he rolled over on the cot that had appeared once he entered the side room of Sorer's office. It wasn't really a cot at all. It looked like the only thing it was made of was solid light. But unlike light, it didn't shine and it hadn't kept him awake. This was certainly a strange place, Harry thought to himself. The lights are bright but don't blind you no matter how long you stare at them, the floor can disappear at Sorer's will and I'm guessing other death angels and, Jim's as well. Sorer said we had a conversation about Jim being a crazy name for a creator, maybe I can find him and ask what that conversation entailed. Before telling himself he had to listen to Sorer and stay put until the room waked him, the lights came on and Harry heard a voice seeming to come from the air in front of him tell him his eight hours were up and to get out into the office. It didn't sound like Sorer's voice but either way, he wasn't going to ignore it and suffer the consequences.
Harry slowly rolled up to sitting on the edge of the cot and set his feet upon the floor. Harry laughed to himself as he put on shows realizing that any kind of clothing or accessory was just for show here. He stood up, stretching and hearing his back pop satisfyingly, and walked to the wall. As he reached it a door appeared and he walked through. Sorer was sitting in his desk, music playing in the background. Harry didn't bother to even try to identify it as it most likely wasn't something he was going to be tested on. He looked up and saw Sorer bobbing his head to it and sat down to wait until the song ended. Sorer started drumming on the air as the song finished up. Sorer then spun around not even caring that Harry had seen him being immature and completely goofing off while waiting to talk and began the conversation.
"I found you a teacher. He will teach you to be like all the founders, not just a stupid foolish Gryffindor. You'll be cunning and sly like a Slytherin. You'll learn to research before jumping headlong into an impossible situation just like a Ravenclaw, and you already have loyalty down so Hufflepuff is covered." Sorer said, smiling like the cat that just ate the canary, while laughing a little when Harry grimaced at learning to be like a Slytherin.
"Who is it?" Harry asked, wondering who would honestly volunteer to teach a screw up like him.
"Me" said a voice from behind Harry causing him to jump. He looked back seeing a man that he thought meeting in an alley, whether dark or not, was not a good thing. He could feel the power ebbing off the man. "Am I startling you boy-who-dies-too-much?"
"No sir." Harry said before realizing what he was just called. "Hey that wasn't fair. It's not my fault fate thinks of me as her bitch."
"Karen? She does not think you're her bitch. She is rather fond of you. Voldemort had to be stopped and she chose someone who she knew could do it. That says a lot Harry. I am Grigori Rasputin. I will be teaching you offensive and defensive magic. I will also be teaching other things, should we find out if you have the gift for them. I won't say now because I really don't want to tell you I will teach you something and you not be unable to learn it."
"Grigori Rasputin? You were the healer for the ruler of Russia, weren't you? I didn't know you were a wizard." Harry looked astonished. Although he shouldn't have been surprised, someone able to survive that much lethality from non-magicals had to be a wizard. He thought the cyanide could have been rendered harmless by a wizard who regularly took a neutralizing potion for those sorts of things. Someone's own magic core can help heal so the bullet wounds wouldn't have been so bad but the drowning would probably have finished it off. All in all, Harry thought it would be a pretty horrible way to go.
"Yes and I know where your thoughts have gone. It did suck. At least you're not as thick as most Gryffindors seem to be." Grigori grimly smiles while noting the look of embarrassment on Harry's face. He pulls a small medallion out of his pocket. Inscribed upon the gold surface were three over-lapping circles. The lines inside from the overlaps create what some people call a trinity knot. It didn't matter to Rasputin. "This coin will glow before your training each day and you will only have time to train while you are here. There may be the odd day off occasionally but do not expect anything except time to 'sleep'. You are to be trained before we send you back so the timeline gets how it should be. Until it glows entertain Sorer. Your training begins tomorrow."
Harry groaned while he thought of the long days of training he had coming. He knew he would be at least learning Occlumency, if nothing else. He wondered how Grigori was going to learn what gifts Harry possessed to learn but let it go. Training was 'tomorrow' and Sorer had already thrown a pen at Harry to recapture his attention. "What?"
"I have a few things. Firstly, Grigori is doing this as a personal favor to me. You might not like how he teaches. You might not like what he teaches. But you damn well better learn it." Sorer said demanding Harry to learn what was expected of him. "You are being given this last chance to put things right. Don't waste it."
Harry grimaced realizing the gravity of the situation. He knew he had to make things right. He had to help Ron realize how lucky he is with the family he has or if Ron didn't care, Harry wouldn't waste more than one try on it. If Ron was jealous and petty after the Goblet of Fire incident again, Harry was going to cut all ties with the ignorant boy. "What do I do about Ron?"
"Do? Cut him out. I already said that in another universe, he got over himself. This universe he never will. The most you could do would be keeping him from going dark and considering he sold you out to Voldemort himself this last time you died he should be dealt with as soon as possible. I'm not saying kill him. Just if he gets a dark mark, expose it. I don't think he would, but keep an eye on Percy. That is all I will say on that." Sorer smiled almost sadistically and from someone who was an old Jedi, it was just unnerving.
"But Ron has been my friend since I met him on the train to school. I can't just cut him out." Harry tried to plead, not wanting to think that Ron had no chance of redemption no matter when he was sent back to.
"Harry, let me ask a question. How many people do you think were on the Hogwarts' express? Think about it. If it were full, Neville would have found his toad right away. There wouldn't have been a need to go looking compartment to compartment. Someone would have said something right away." Sorer said, almost pleading with Harry, his eyes full of hope that something would sink in.
"So Ron was told to sit with me? But the only person who would do that would be . . . Dumbledore. I was never told how to get on the platform. Then Molly showed up and had to be reminded of the platform number. She went to Hogwarts. Bill and Charlie went. Percy. Fred. George. Ron. I was meant to latch onto them." Harry suddenly realized as he understood some of the manipulation Dumbledore had done. "Was I meant to end up with Ginny as well? Was that the reason for the love potions?"
Sorer smiled as he suddenly understood why the Sorting Hat had a hard time placing this boy. He chuckled grimly before responding to Harry. "No, Dumbledore never would have condoned the use of love potions. That was all Molly and Ginny. Ginny had to have the boy-who-lived. Molly had to have her little girl happy. So in her mind, like I had said before, no one would be hurt since she and Arthur got together because of a love potion and so it romanticized the idea. You would at least have a family that cared and loved you. Ginny would get her BWL, not 'Just Harry', and you would at least have cared about Ginny."
"What else did Dumbledore manipulate? Let me guess first Sorer, then tell me if I'm right or wrong." Harry grumbled almost seething that Dumbledore could be so callous towards him. He had no right to manipulate Harry in any way, regardless of the prophecy.
"First year, Quirrell with Voldemort in his head gets hired. Dumbledore should have realized that. If he didn't, it means he didn't check well enough. However if he did, and I am guessing he did and didn't do anything about it, that means he knew that bringing the stone here was going to put it in danger because of that. He has a floo in his office. He shouldn't have had to take a broom to the ministry. He was planning on being gone a while. The defences around the stone were such that three first years could get past them and not pose much to Voldemort. It was a test of me?" Harry's head hurt from the thought that went into Dumbledore's elaborate scheme there.
"One for one so far Harry, keep going and we'll see how much you can actually figure out." Sorer was already smiling. Harry was far smarter than he let on. Sorer thought he could bet it all on the Dursleys and their hatred for him and being better at anything than Dudley. They beat him if he got a higher grade so he hid his intelligence. This kid would be a potent force if he just learned to not care what others thought of him.
"Second year was the Chamber of Secrets. Wards at Hogwarts must have been screaming at him because of the Horcrux being brought through the wards. He made no attempt to find it. He knew Voldemort was the heir of Slytherin. He could have stopped the ridicule and shunning of me if he wanted to. He let the basilisk roam the school petrifying students and hired a crap defense teacher who anyone could see was a fraud. You can't kill a ghoul with a Reducto, since they are incorporeal. Somehow, Fawkes 'knew' to bring me the Sorting Hate which contained Gryffindors sword somehow in it." Harry stopped to ponder more for a moment, receiving a chuckle from Sorer as he acknowledged that Harry was again correct.
"My guess is that Phoenixes exist at all points temporally and it wasn't a test of my loyalty to Dumbledore. Fawkes knew I needed it because he had already done it and would do it, which if you think about it is confusing in itself. Dumbledore should have known Hagrid's pet couldn't have killed or petrified anyone by stare fifty years ago. So why did he let that little information go and save Hagrid? One more thing I can ponder later. I kill a basilisk, once again passing some sort of test. I can assume I am correct again?" Harry was growing more and more agitated by the second and was ready to find Dumbledore's soul on this plane and eradicate it for all the trouble he had caused.
"Correct and now that you see that, give me a short summary of your third through sixth years. We don't need to cover more than the basics." Sorer sighed, this boy had been Ravenclaw material all along. He would have sure as hell learned a lot more. Ron Weasel wouldn't have been a problem and he wouldn't have died so often.
"Third year, Dumbledore knew Sirius wasn't the secret keeper but let him go to Azkaban without a trial 12 years prior. Therefore he already knew I was safe. Dementors weren't needed and he let Fudge do it, presumably as a test to me to see if I could learn a powerful spell. Fourth year, he could have declared the tournament a draw and redone the Goblet of Fire to pick three champions and presumably would have only been Fleur, Cedric, and Krum. He didn't and it worked well to test me again. He let Crouch Jr. teach while most likely knowing something was off. Fifth year was Umbridge and the ministry. Dumbledore didn't talk to me much at all. So I am to assume it was a test of my independence and leadership. Fifth year I was to be 'taught' Occlumency. All that happened was I was repeatedly assaulted and only told to clear my mind which left me open to more visions from Voldemort. Sixth year was the abominable lessons with Dumbledore on Voldemort's past that could have all been done in one night with a lot less useless information. The only thing I really learned was Voldemort was a pack rat. Good enough summary?" Harry asked, the rage in him burning in his eyes.
"You are correct on all accounts Harry." Sorer said quietly afraid of the fire he saw in the boy's eyes. It was a fire that could see a planet burn from it. "Dumbledore believed he had to control everything for the greater good. He never saw 'just Harry'. He thought only he knew what had to be done. He was misguided and lost sight of the little people. He would make a better friend than enemy when you go back but it's your choice Harry. Tomorrow you will start training with Grigori and I. The first few hours will be with me and learning actual Occlumency. The rest of the day will be with Grigori learning magic and most likely what gifts you are able to use. Get some sleep."
Sorer very loudly sighed as the door to "Harry's room" in his office opened. Harry walked in and Sorer could feel the anger pouring off the man. He was no longer a boy. That boy died the moment Harry had realized how much of his life had been manipulated. Sorer was sure this time would be different, even if Harry received no training and was just sent back with the knowledge of the future, things would be radically different. He grabbed a piece of paper off his desk and quickly wrote a note to Grigori detailing what Harry had figured out. He also made sure to include how much fire he had in him.
"Kim," Sorer called out to his secretary. As she materialized next to him, Sorer jumped. He never got used to the instant transportation that was used around here when you really needed someone. It was just crazy.
"Yes Sorer?" Kim asked him, worrying what Harry could have done up here.
"Take this to Grigori; make sure he understands Harry is going to be very motivated to learn everything he can. That young man will burn his planet to ashes if something on this level of manipulation occurs to him again. Make sure Grigori knows we're going to have to definitely work on emotion control" Sorer shuddered as the thought of what Harry could do to Dumbledore if they sent him back without him having full control of his emotions. It would be utter devastation. Harry was a great person and had impeccable morals but he would no doubt be feeling so much confusion and hurt right now that it needed to be worked on as soon as possible before those same feelings ate him away.
"Yes Sorer, I'll make sure Grigori gets it." Kim said worried at how Sorer was reacted and just as quickly as she appeared she disappeared.
Grigori was pacing his "quarters" when Kim materialized next to him. He had almost hexed the spot she appeared before he realized who it was.
"Grigori, Sorer wanted me to give it to you. He also said to make sure I told you Harry is going to need emotion control taught and will be very motivated to learn. I need to get back to my desk." She spewed out before handing Grigori the paper and disappearing to her desk.
As Rasputin opened it, he almost fell over in shock. He hoped Sorer was right about this boy, no man, and made certain that he would have everything ready by tomorrow.