Harry Potter: Demon Hunter
A/N due to the scene involved some dialogue is very similar to PoA pages 9 and 12 in an effort to get this scene similar to canon. You'll know which parts.
Chapter 2:
I gingerly brushed myself off and mentally prepared for the downhill slant the rest of my day was sure to take. The fire department had to be called to get me down from the roof much to my chagrin. The awkward questions about how I got up there when the building had no roof access combined with the call to emergency services meant that my incident would likely make the local news.
My whopping Cornucopia of options now involved going home to a beating for drawing attention to myself, or stay away from the house as long as possible, which would only make Uncle Vernon even more livid. Flinching at the thought I wandered down more important mental pathways. I wondered when Dudley got so fast, why he smelled faintly of burning matches. At the thought, A sharp pain pierced my scar.
Images began to fill my vision, things I was sure I had never seen before, yet seemed so familiar. A dark haired man who looked almost identical to me held a grim expression as the solid oak door rattled in its frame after a thunderous boom. I realized this must have been the night my parents died.
"Lily, it's him! Take Harry and go, run I'll hold him off," the dark haired man exclaimed. His tone brokered no argument, yet the red haired woman holding me hesitated. Mum, I supposed. A Stern look from the dark haired man who I assume was my father sent her running up the stairs. We entered a nursery, and Mum put me in my crib then turned towards the closed door shielding me from view.
Over the next thirty seconds, the house shakes and strange words are being shouted. One phrase sounds oddly like Abracadabra, then the house is silent except for Mum quietly sobbing. She turned towards me with tear filled eyes.
"Harry, my precious baby boy, remember no matter what happens, your father and I will always love you." She gave me a light kiss on my forehead and turned back toward the door, drawing a long stick as she pivoted. The door buckled with a crack and heavy footsteps entered the room
"Not Harry," my Mum begged this stranger, "Not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside you silly girl, stand aside now!" A cold voice. Something in that voice just didn't sound natural.
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead. Not Harry! Please...have mercy...have mercy!" Mum was still sobbing as she begged, but from my view she stood straight and defiant, her body language in strong in direct counter to how distraught she sounded. A chilling laugh answered her pleading.
"Avada Kedavra!" Ah, so it wasn't abracadabra after all. There was a rushing sound, a flash of green and Mum hit the floor. Heavy footsteps drew closer and the stranger peered into my crib. A tall man, with aristocratic features and a thick mane of dark hair, some might consider this man handsome, but lying just beneath the surface was an aura of darkness. Something about this man was just...wrong. The overwhelming smell of burnt matches embodied the sheer wrongness of this man, and my infant self began to cry.
"Avada Kedavra!" As the man pointed his odd looking stick at me, uttering those hateful words I could have sworn I saw his eyes change from dark brown to pure white. I was then overtaken by that green light and a rushing sound. Everything went black.
I awoke in what appeared to be a hospital room. It smelled strongly of antiseptics and was almost blindingly white. I cursed the Dursleys with my first coherent thought. How dare they lie to me about how my parents died! Those visions were far too vivid to have been a product of whatever caused that pain in my scar.
My cursing was interrupted but a nurse entering the room. A pretty enough woman, her face was marred with worry. I glanced around wondering how she was concerned over and remembered I was the only other person in the room.
"Mr. Potter," She glanced at the clipboard in her her hands and sat down in the chair next to my bed, " How much do you remember about why you are here?"
"Let's see," I said running over the last twenty fours hours in my head, "I was running from my cousin, I suddenly ended up on the roof of my school, the fire department came and got me down. Then I felt a sharp pain in my forehead. That's the last I remember." This nurse seemed nice enough but if I was going to get out of this situation intact I decided not to mention the visions.
Before the nurse could respond an older man in a lab coat entered. He wore half-moon glasses, and his light blue eyes seem to twinkle. All things considered he would have been the spitting image of a kindly old doctor if not for the fact that his snow white hair and beard reached his waist easily. He drew a spindly stick from the waistband of his slack and pointed it at the nurse. My eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Obliviate!" The nurse's eye lost focus for a moment, and she glanced up at the old man. "Don't you have other patients to see to, Nurse Roberts?"
"Of course, Doctor, I'll just be on my way." After the door closed behind her the old man, he took the seat she had vacated.
"Mr. Potter, I'm sure you have many questions. This will probably seem unbelievable, but let me begin by introducing myself. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Well that explained the odd sticks in my vision. They must be a magic wand of some sort.
"Normally you would not receive this letter until your eleventh birthday but after the events that occurred today, I believed it prudent to pay you a person visit," He glanced at the name badge on his lab coat and chuckled," a house call as it were."
" Sir if I may be honest with you, if it weren't for the things I saw today, I'd have already yelled for security to remove you. Judging by whatever you did with that wand of yours to make the nurse leave, I imagine that would have little to no effect."
"Very observant, Mr. Potter," the man's eyes began to twinkle even more. Considering all the things I'd seen today a lot was beginning to make sense, like the time I grew my hair back after my Aunt gave me an atrocious haircut.
"Sir if you don;t mind I think I may be able to get a more succinct explanation from this letter you mentioned."
"Of course, Mr. Potter." The headmaster reached into his lab coat and withdrew a letter written on some sort of old fashioned paper, with very formal looking hand writing. I read it over, my eyes narrowing where the address said 'Cupboard under the stairs.' This man was somehow complicit in my being left by the Dursleys after my parents were murdered. Even if he wasn't, the extremely specific address meant that someone on his staff was privy to my treatment on at least the basic level. I was going to have to be wary around this man.
"Things are beginning to make a bit more sense, Sir. I'm going to be plain with you. Judging by the address on my envelope, you or someone on you staff is aware of my treatment and the circumstances that led to the events of earlier this morning. Am I correct?" The older man's eyes lost their twinkle and became profoundly sad.
"Unfortunately Mr. Potter I was not made aware of your circumstances until I received word of your accidental apparition." I thought this man was withholding something from me, but what he said piqued my attention.
"Apparition, Sir?"
"Instantaneous travel from one location to another. It's advanced magic and not normally taught until your sixth year of schooling but you performed it under duress in much the same way that someone finds great strength when trying to save a loved one." Instantaneous travel. Basically teleporting, definitely going to file that tidbit away for later.
"Since you were honest with me Mr. Potter allow me to return the favor," I sincerely doubted that but allowed him to continue.
"Even getting your letter early is highly unusual, but in light of the circumstances I would like you to accompany me to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer. I will deal with your relatives and work out your lodging for next summer. That is of course, if you choose to attend. Think it over for a moment and we shall depart."
"Of course I would like to attend, Sir. This is something I would like to learn control over." I doubted that I had much of a choice. Besides, this man was offering to teach me magic, including teleportation and mind control. He was clearly hiding something, but being removed from the Dursleys is a godsend, and you know what they say about keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer. Two birds with one stone as far as I'm concerned.
"Very well, Mr. Potter, then let us depart." He held out his hand I took it, and I got my second taste of the tight squeezing sensation that accompanied this apparition.