Harry Potter: Rise of an Empire

Disclaimer: If you recognize anything in this story, I don't own it.

"Text" - Speech.

'Text' - Thoughts.

Chapter 4: Journey.

Kneeling in one of the ritual chambers of Gringotts London, I take a breath as I prepare for the first of the many rituals I'll be undertaking today. As a major branch of Gringotts, this institution contains a wide variety of ritual chambers, most of which are often used by the pureblood families during certain seasons and holidays.

The room I've chosen for my rituals, is circular in shape with thousands of small runes carved into the stone walls and roof. In the center of the room there's a separate series of runes, written in the form of a circle, within a circle, within a circle, within a square. These runes are, of course, written in blood, my blood to be exact.

Due to the use of blood in these rituals, they are technically blood magic, hence illegal in the eyes of the Ministry of Magic. I'm just glad that the Goblin Nation is sworn to keep my secretes, otherwise I could be looking at ten years in Azkaban, Boy-Who-Lived or not.

Taking another breath in preparation, and taking a moment to triple check the runes for errors, I stand from the floor, naked as the day I was born. Carefully watching where I step, I make my way into center of the runic array and carve a smaller set of runes into my chest with a silver blade.

God that stings.

With that done, I summon the items required for this ritual, a bone, some flesh, a vial of toxin and an eyeball. As far as ritual requirements go, the items could have come from any creature at all but the stronger the offering, the more effective the rituals will be. A Nundu is the strongest creature I can think of, so this ritual should be at its most effective, it had better be worth the risk.

I place the Nundu tooth, the strongest bone in the beast's body, on a specific rune on the first circle. This particular ritual is a two-parter, it will first repair all the damage done to my bones over the years, from either beatings or malnutrition, healing all damage and making my bones good as new. Following that, it'll strengthen or weaken my bones until they are of the same strength as the offering.

Many before me have used this ritual to make their bones either as strong as a giants, as flexible as a cats or as fragile as a birds, allowing for increased strength, speed or even flight for those so inclined, it's a very versatile ritual. I'm not aiming for strength, speed or flight however, I'm aiming for resilience. The bones of a Nundu, especially those of the teeth, are some of the strongest bones in existence. They are nigh unbreakable and it was only the hundreds of reinforcement runes on my weapons that allowed me to cleave through the material.

The small chunk of Nundu flesh is placed on the second runic circle, the offering for this ritual makes no difference as long as it's flesh of some kind, I simply went with what I had on hand. This ritual is a dark version of the purifying ritual, except rather than purifying magic, it purifies the body. It would repair the damage years of starvation and beatings have done to my body, bringing me to the healthiest someone my age can be.

With this and the previous ritual, I'll have a great chance of growing to a respectable height, no more being shorter than kids two years my junior.

The Nundu breath is poured on a specific rune on the third runic circle, an almost transparent bubble of magic appearing to contain the toxic substance. For this ritual, Nundu breath is one of the best offerings available. This ritual will make me immune to all diseases, poisons and toxins that are weaker than the offering and with Nundu breath being one of the deadliest toxins on the planet, I'll be pretty much immune to every dangerous substance know to man. The only thing that could cause me any worry is Basilisk venom, no one has ever compared it with Nundu breath to see which is deadlier.

Finally, the Nundu eyeball is placed on the runic square, the last of my body improvement rituals. This ritual will repair and improve my own vision, using the offering as a basic template. While the ritual is usually performed with the eyes of an avian creature, I want the improved night vision of a feline more than the enhanced zoom feature of an avian. The fact that my eyes will now glow in the dark is also a great bonus.

So here I am, ready to perform four major rituals at the same time, I just know this is going to hurt like a bitch.

'Well, it's too late to back out now.' I sigh, drawing on my magic.

My power surges through me and into the blood on the floor, the red giving way to gold as the golden glow of my power illuminates the room, there's no turning back now. I grin, a sign of false bravado, as the magic in the room swirls around me.

The ritual is starting.

Then the pain hits.

Two hours, it takes two hours of screaming myself raw for the rituals to finally finish and the pain to end. Those were the longest two hours of my life, the pain had been beyond belief, even with my Occlumency to suppress most of it.

I hear footsteps shuffling around me and then someone touches my shoulder, pain ripples through me once more and I cry out. At some point during the ritual, I fell to the floor and I'm still laying there, curled up in a ball of painful nerves. It's things like this that make me wish I'd killed the Dursleys rather than memory charming them, the ritual would have been less painful if there hadn't been so much damage to fix.

There's something at my mouth now, a vial of some kind and I'm unable to resist as its contents are poured down my throat. I just lay there in pain... wait, the pain is vanishing, it's being washed away as a flood of numbness passes through me. Finally, I'm able to move and open my eyes, I do so and smile weakly as I see Ranglow standing nearby, an empty potion vial in his hand. Pain-relief potion I'm guessing, seeing as I'm no longer a gooey mess of nerves on the floor.

"Thank you Ranglow." I say, my voice is hoarse, probably from all the screaming.

"No problem Mr. Potter, do you require further assistance?" He asks, a worried frown on his face. I hope its a frown, I would hate for my new ally to be sadistic enough to grin at my pain.

"No, I should be fine." I reply, making an effort to stand. "The pain was the only side effect, thanks for the potion."

He nods and backs out of the room, with all the dark magic hanging thickly in the air I don't blame him for feeling uncomfortable.

I look around the chamber, it looks just like it did when I started except the blood runes are gone, the sign of a successful ritual. I grin in satisfaction at this. Despite the numbness filling me and the slight twitches from phantom pains, I'm happy.

Now to inspect my reward, I would hate to have gone through all that pain for no reason.

A wave of my hand conjures a full length mirror and I take a moment to examine my new appearance, honestly there aren't many changes.

My body looks pretty much the same, just slightly fuller and a few inches taller. While I'd been beaten a lot at the Dursleys, my magic had always healed most of my obvious wounds, leaving no marks behind except for fading bruises. The bodily changes are nothing overly impressive but I'm now an average height and weight for my age, all the signs of malnutrition and abuse are gone. My head is where the most changes have occurred, other than my bones but those can't really be seen.

My lightning bolt scar, which had been slowly fading for some time, is completely gone now, leaving flat unmarked skin in its place. My eyes, which have always been a bright shade of emerald, are now ringed with gold, reminiscent of the Nundu's eyes. Lastly my canine teeth are slightly elongated and my pupils have narrowed into slits, they're barely noticeable but they wouldn't pass a close inspection.

All in all, the changes are pretty minor in the case of my body and pretty cool in the case of my eyes. I smile at my reflection and vanish the mirror with a thought, another thought sends a pulse of clean energy through the entire room.

I'm prepared for the next ritual.

As if sensing my thoughts, Salem saunters into the room, not bothered in the slightest by the thick aura of dark magic in the air.

I pick him up and hug him to my chest.

"Hey boy, were you worried about me?"

He meows in response and I set him down, sitting down before him. The cold floor reminds me that I'm still naked and I wave my hand, conjuring temporary robes on my form.

Salem sits quietly as I cut my thumb and smear a patch of blood on his face, he does hiss however when I cut his own paw and do the same to my forehead.

The ritual I'm now attempting is known as the Familiar Bonding Ritual, it would basically bond Salem and I as partners for life. As my familiar, he would gain an increase in intelligence, lifespan and magic. We would also gain a magical connection, allowing us to speak mentally and share each of our five senses. Basically, I would be able to see through his eyes or hear through his ears, if I so choose.

Frankly, the benefits of having a familiar are far too great to pass up, that's probably why the ritual is restricted to adults only by the Ministry.

So, with the blood connection in place, I move onto the second part of the ritual, the oath. The oath requires that I swear my intentions with my chosen familiar while using my full name and titles, as it would be a magically binding oath on the scale of the Unbreakable Vow. The name and titles had taken me a while to find but the Goblins were very helpful in that regard, they had all of my information in their ledgers.

"I, Harrison James Potter, publicly proclaimed Boy-who-lived, heir to the House of Potter by blood and magic and heir to the House of Black by blood and magic, do hereby claim Salem Saberhagen as my one true familiar. I swear to stand beside him so long as he does me, and to always care for and protect him to the best of my ability. All this I do swear on my magic, my blood and my life." The words echo throughout the chamber, growing in intensity as magic swirls around my chosen familiar and I. "So mote it be."

The thick aura of magic crashes down around us and I feel a connection as my magic latches onto Salem, asking his permission to continue. Salem seems to accept as the feeble thread of magic strengthens immediately and connects our minds. Thoughts and feelings that are not my own pour into my mind but I manage to put up my barriers before I'm overwhelmed. As a familiar, Salem has his own barriers that prevent him from hearing my every thought, we'll still be able to communicate by focusing on the link however.

'Well, that was mildly discomforting.' A deep, lazy voice echo's through my mind.

'Salem?' I ask in surprise, the voice is that of an older male.

'No, the other being you have a mental connection with.' He replies sarcastically.

I grin down at the small cat that's staring back at me lazily, he rolls his eyes at my grin, which is a strange sight to see coming from a cat.

'This is kind of cool.' I say, excited beyond belief.

Salem snorts.

'I suppose so, at least now I can answer when you ask stupid questions.'

'Hey! I don't as stupid questions.' I reply indignantly.

He rolls his eyes again and yawns.

'Do you have another one of these things to do or can we go home, I'm hungry.'

I'm a bit caught off guard by the rapid change in subjects but its to be expected, cats aren't exactly known for their focus and one track minds.

"Yeah, just one more." I say out loud, standing up.

I concentrate on the image in the books and wave my hand, causing a circle of runes to carve themselves into the floor surrounding the black cat.

'Stay inside the circle.' I tell him, stepping back and away.

'Whatever, just hurry it up.' He replies in the lazy tone I'm coming to associate as my familiars.

I start chanting a series of Latin words, I don't know what they all mean but they're required for the ritual. This ritual, the third and final, is a variation of the post owl ritual. The original ritual, when used on an owl, would apply a powerful and permanent Point-Me charm as well as a Feather-Light charm to the selected owl. This allows post owls to easily find anyone they seek, as well as carry heavy parcels over large distances.

My variation replaces the Feather-Light charm with a Size-Changing charm, this will give Salem not only the ability to find people, like a post owl, but he will also have the ability to grow and shrink at will.

I'm pulling out all the stops for my familiar.

A flash of light and a pulse of magic signifies the end of the ritual, the runes have also vanished, leaving Salem sitting alone on the featureless floor.

'Did it work?' I ask, seeing no changes in his appearance.

Salem leaps off the ground, shrinking midair until he's the size of a small kitten, and lands on my shoulders.

'That answers that.' I smirk, reaching up to pet his head.

'Indeed, maybe you are pretty useful, for a human.' Salem replies, brushing against my hand. 'Can we get some food now?'

'Soon, I need to make one more stop.'

'I take back what I said, you're still pretty useless.'

Why did I think this was a good idea again?

"Hello sir, how may I help you today?" Madam Malkin asks as I enter her store, disguised in my twenty year old form.

"Hello Madam, I'd like to commission a set of battle robes please, muggle acceptable." I reply, walking up to the counter.

She nods and writes the information on a note pad.

Muggle acceptable robes are robes that can be worn in the muggle world without drawing too much attention, basically they're trench coats with slight differences.

"How many robes and what color?" She asks.

"Six, two in black with red accents, two in dark-green with silver accents and the last two in dark-blue with black accents."

She nods and writes it down.

"Size?"

"Small, magically adjustable." I reply after a moment.

This will make it so that the robes shrink and grow to size the wearer, to a certain degree at least.

"Material?" She asks.

I grin and pull out several rolls of tanned Nundu hide, enough to make quite a few outfits. It had taken me several hours to apply the tanning charm to the hide, the magical resistance of the material makes it so that every spell cast on it requires more power than usual. Even a killing curse would need to be overpowered slightly to punch through this hide, although I'm not planning on getting hit with one of those anytime soon. Normally, my magic would have no effect on the hide at all, but thanks to my lovely necklace I'm able to easily overpower the required spell.

"Nundu hide." I answer.

Her eyes widen and she stares at the material in shock, like I said before, there's more than enough hide there to make several outfits.

"N-nundu hide?" She gasps, looking at me in a new light. In her mind, someone with that much Nundu hide has to be filthy rich.

I just smile and nod, neither confirming or denying my wealth.

She nods absently and writes it down.

I pass her enough hide for the clothes with some extra left over and put the rest back in my pouch.

"Anything else sir?" She asks after a few moments, her shock seems to be fading and she's more composed now.

"Yeah, can I get six dress shirts please, all of them made of Acromantula silk and equally divided into green, silver and black. Also add three vests and six ties, the same colors as the robes and made of Dragonhide."

She nods and marks it down.

"Is that all sir?"

"Yes, how long will it take?" I ask.

"Uh.. about a week or so, it will take me and my girls some time to work with such resistant hide." Madam Malkin says after a few moments contemplating.

It'll probably take her and her assistants hours of continuous casting to work the hide into an appropriate form, at least they've had some practice with Dragonhide, they should be able to handle this.

I nod in reply.

"Very well, I'll be back in a weeks time." I reply, making my way to the exit.

With my business in the alley completed, I return to my little side alley and flicker back to the hotel room. Salem is quick to find his meal bowl and I leave him to it while I flop down onto the bed, today has been quite taxing and I want nothing more than to lay down and rest.

Seconds later, the world goes dark as I fall asleep.

-One Week Later-

I walk out of Madam Malkins with my package in hand, she and her girls have done an excellent job, one which earned them a very generous tip.

Once the coast is clear, I flicker back to my newest hotel room, located somewhere in New York city, and place the new sets of clothes with my other robes and wizarding clothes. In addition to the six coats, six shirts, six ties and three vests, I also bought six black dress pants, made of ordinary fabric, as well as two sets of Dragonhide boots, both in black.

Altogether, the outfit looks like a mix between formal and street, not too bad a mix.

'Well, look who's back, here for another annoying visit?'

I jump in surprise and turn to where I now sense my familiar, having missed him before. I'm actually surprised he's still awake since its really late here in the States, there's also the fact that he's quite the lazy feline. Salem lays curled up on a nearby chair, his glowing eyes staring at me in the darkness of the room. I chuckle and stare back, knowing that the golden rings in my eyes are glowing as well. Even in the darkness of the room, I can see quite clearly and I marvel at how useful a felines eyes are in the dark.

'Hey Salem, sorry I can't stay this time, I've got to be up early and I only stopped by to drop off these packages.'

He snorts and his eyes close, guess I woke him then.

'Whatever, bring me a tasty snack next time or I'll eat you.'

I chuckle once more and flicker away, leaving him to his rest.

While I may have a hotel room rented out for the next few months, I don't actually stay there overnight. Nope, my days and nights are now spent in what I cheerfully refer to as hell on earth. For some strange reason, I'd thought it a great idea to join the army, you know, to pick up some useful skills, get into decent shape and learn about muggle weaponry.

It all sounded like a great idea at the time.

Of course, with the States having one of the best armies on the planet, I decided to enlist there. It also helps that they're currently in the middle of a war and don't seem to care all that much if I have any official documents or not. Apparently, they get a lot of applicants that have spent most of their lives on the streets so it isn't a far stretch for me to play the runaway orphan role.

The main problem however, is that rather than signing up for basic academy training, I'd somehow managed to accidentally join the United States Ranger School, a school well known for having the toughest combat course in the world. Coupled with the current war in Kuwait and I now find myself being tortured on a daily basis, metaphorically speaking of course. My first week at this place has been hell, especially since I have to do all this training in a ten year old body while constantly holding up the illusion of an eighteen year old.

Yeah, it's killer.

The only good news is that after a week of this, I've not only gotten into better shape and started to gain some muscle, but I've also learned quite a bit of combat information and my magic is getting stronger and stronger each day. It turns out that magic is like a muscle as well, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. The increase in power isn't too significant but it is noticeable, it will take a few months of hard work to get anywhere significant but I'm sure I can do it.

Regardless of the benefits, this training is a pain. One week was tough enough, I don't think I can last until the end, it's going to be a long two months.

-Two Months later. General P.O.V-

When asked about Private Harrison Potts, most would give a mixed reply.

To some he was a fun guy to hang out with, usually the life of the party with his quick wit and weird sense of humor, he was good friends with many who knew him and they all had nothing but good things to say about him.

To others he was a useless soldier, one who had nearly failed his Ranger training.

The kid had been thin and gangly when he'd signed up, his blonde hair cut short and his blue eyes filled with nervousness. Not many thought he would last through the training, not many thought he should have finished. While Private Pots was able to complete many of the daily exercises, a few in record time even, he was a failure at direct combat.

Sure, the kid could take a hit and he had some of the strongest bones to ever come through the place but he was an absolute failure on the offensive. The kid was small and lithe, built for speed and athletics, as was usually the case with most street rats. The problem was that even after weeks of combat training, he just wasn't improving. In fact, all of his peers were able to easily overpower him, even the ones that were much smaller than him.

It was like he had the strength of a much younger child.

At first, his instructors had wanted to give him the boot after his abysmal results in combat, there was no place for the weak in the US Rangers. That opinion changed the second the kid was given a gun. The boy had perfect eyesight and exceptional aim, something not usually found with street orphans. Once he got used to a weapon, Potts could hit any target with ease. He scored one hundred percent on all the range courses, even the night missions.

Frankly, the kid had excellent night vision, above average even. Given time, he would become an expert marksman, a sniper of great repute even.

It was such a pity he died so young.

After completing the 61 day course of Ranger training, Potts had immediately been shipped off to Kuwait as every soldier was needed if they were going to win the Gulf war. Sadly the boy didn't even last a week, although he died quite the hero, sacrificing himself so his unit could escape.

Potts had been posthumously awarded various medals for service, more than any low ranked Private in recent history. After all, he had single handedly distracted and killed over two hundred of the enemy forces and saved the lives of over forty men.

It was a pity his body had been lost in the explosion.

-Harry's P.O.V-

I huff as I flop onto the bed, allowing my illusion to fade away, I still have my army fatigues on but I'm just too drained to care, faking your own death does tend to do that.

On that note, my mind turns to the two hundred men I'd just killed, two hundred enemy soldiers that had the misfortune to cross my path. Strangely enough, I don't really care about the fact that I'd just murdered two hundred men with magic, just so I could fake my own death.

It just doesn't seem to bother me.

Not a surprise considering the efforts the army went to in order to desensitize the lot of us, still, I should be feeling something shouldn't I?

'Why?' A part of my mind asks, the same part that had reveled in the dark arts and the power it provided. 'They were weak, you were strong, it was your right to eliminate them.'

"They were still people." I sigh, now actively arguing with myself.

'They were muggles, Iraqi muggles, inferior even amoungst their own kind. Do you really think they would have cared if it was the other way around? Do you think they would have cared if they had killed you? It was a war, they would have killed you without hesitation or regret.'

(A.N: The views expressed by Dark Harry do not represent those of the author.)

I didn't really have a reply to that, it was true after all. They may have been people but they were still muggles, just like the Dursleys, they were weak and beneath me. Why should I care about their deaths? I may not be a huge fan of killing but I prefer being the killer over being the victim.

'You are strong, you will never be the victim. Never again'

"Yes, I am strong. I refuse to be a victim again, I refuse to die."

The last couple of months in the army have really brought me face to face with my own mortality, the men I had spent the last few weeks with were all killers or training to be killers. I was soundly crushed in every combat exercise, if that had been a real battle I would have surely died. Even still, if they had wanted to, any one of them could have easily killed me. They could have snapped my neck in training or shot me while I was distracted, it was hard to trust any of them when they could have stabbed me in the back at any moment.

The army had brought back my time with the Nundu, staring into those eyes and seeing only death.

I hated it, I hated my mortality. I'm supposed to be superior, I can't afford any weakness, not even death.

"I don't want to die..." I mumble sleepily, finally succumbing to my exhaustion. 'Someway, somehow, I'll find a way to live forever.'

I refuse to die.

After spending all of that time with the army and the day before thinking about my own mortality, I'm up for a change of pace. I skim through my list, looking for something that is both spiritual and low in physical demand. While it isn't perfect, the body I've built up with my training is a work of art. I had to be the only ten year old in the world with a budding six pack, I worked hard the last two months and it shows.

Unlike my muggle peers however, I won't need to constantly exercise to keep my figure, I can easily burn any excess fat and calories away with my magic, my body is mostly muscle now and I plan on keeping it that way.

While the list I've compiled is short but concrete, It still takes me a few minutes to find an activity that suits my demands. It has to be something spiritual to deal with my problems with death and mortality, yet at the same time it couldn't be too physically intensive, I'm still young and I need time to rest after two months of straight exercise.

Despite the specific requirements, I manage to choose my next destination with relative ease, the place is a small monastery situated on Mount Hiei in Japan and it also serves as a home to a small group of monks. My plan is to spend the next month or two learning meditation from true monks, a relatively stress free task.

While I already know plenty about the mind arts and meditation, there is always room for improvement and who better to teach me than monks that have been doing so all their lives. There is also the fact that I haven't had anyone test my mental defenses yet, so I don't quite know how strong they are, this is an opportunity to improve them just in case.

'Salem, I'm off to the mountains next, want to come?' I ask my familiar, he wasn't able to join me at the Ranger school so I'm making sure to ask first this time.

'Get bent.'

I snort and hold in a laugh, my familiar could be quite rude at times. Then again, I should know better than to wake him up so late at night.

'Alright then, see you later buddy.'

'Bring some food with you.'

He's also a bit of a lazy glutton.

I flicker into being on a small ledge close to my target, it had taken me a quite a while to find a picture of a close enough location but I'd managed it. The internet is such a useful tool, it's just a pity that the closest location is halfway down the mountain. With a sigh, I start climbing the hundreds of steps leading to the top of the mountain, my newest disguise falling into place with each step.

I'm going disguised as yet another orphan, Japanese this time and definitely a street urchin. I don't have to do much for my looks, other than a change in skin tone and minor facial feature, my regular hair is fine and all it takes is a small glamour over my eyes to make them black in color. My biggest concern is the language barrier as I don't know the language and while I'd learned a nifty translation charm, I had yet to test it out so I don't know whether it will work or not.

Well here comes the moment of truth, I'm nearing the mountaintop and there is a man waiting for me, he's clearly a monk from his shaved head and orange robes.

"What do you want here young one?" He asks in Japanese, well now I know that the charm works.

His voice comes out slightly monotone and his face remains completely blank of emotion, even his eyes reveal nothing. I'm definitely in the right place, even with my skill at the mind arts, I don't have this level of emotional control. Then again, I find that I'm more suited to Legilimency than Occlumency, its sort of a weird trade off, I'm offensive mentally and defensive physically.

"Greetings honorable monk." I reply, also in perfect Japanese. "I have come seeking guidance and spiritual peace."

The Japanese enjoy their titles and flowery language quite a bit, they're almost as bad as the British purebloods in that regard, except most Japanese actually work to earn their titles while the purebloods live off of their ancestors work, just another strike against the magical world.

"Indeed?" He asks, showing no sign of curiosity or emotion. "And how do I know you haven't come to steal from us while we sleep? You wouldn't be the first."

I put on a shocked expression and my eyes begin to water, I may lack his control at hiding emotions but I'm very good at projecting emotions.

"I am sorry that such criminals have mistreated your generosity sir," I say in a defeated tone, turning to leave. "I merely sought spiritual guidance but I see you do not trust me, you are not the first, nor will you be the last."

That's right, I threw his words back at him, suck on that you bald asshole.

"Very well young one, enter and receive guidance." He says after a few seconds, I grin widely and follow behind, playing the role of an eager student.

People are just too easy to manipulate sometimes, then again I do have an unfair advantage. After all, once you've read the minds of several hundred people, it not hard to learn what buttons to push.

Besides, no one can resist a cute and adorable orphan, no one.

-Two Months Later-

I wave at a few of the passing monks as I leave the large monastery behind, having found spiritual guidance, I have no reason to remain here.

Or so I tell them.

It hadn't been too hard to gain the trust of a few of the monks with my cute orphan routine, after that I just showed them how much of a sponge I was and the rest just fell into place. Having mastered basic meditation ages ago, I was able to easily breeze through their exercises, much to the shock of my fellow initiates.

After that, it just took some arguing, and the odd compulsion charm, to get one of the older monks to teach me the more advanced techniques.

It was quite the experience.

The techniques the monks employ have allowed me to reach a whole new level of tranquility, diving deeper into my mind than ever before. It was something I had never experienced before, having my entire being at peace for those few moments.

I'd loved it.

Choosing to learn from these monks was a great idea, I've never been so calm and composed in my entire life. They had so much to teach about the mind and soul, so much to teach about the world itself. I learned the value of patience, the value of perseverance and the worth of calmness. I also discovered a whole new level of mental defense and offense, being able to dive deeper into my mind than before gave me far greater control over my mindscape, it also gave me a greater understanding of the human mind which improved my Legilimency skills.

The best part of all this however, was the chance to face my fears head on. I no longer fear death or weakness, they have no sway over me anymore. Death and weakness are just concepts to me now, concepts I plan to one day surpass and crush beneath my heel.

While I no longer fear death, I don't want to face it either, the thought of one day dying and vanishing into nothingness disagrees with me.

But I not afraid of it and that's what counts.

As for my weakness, well... I'm already dealing with that aren't I? That's what this entire trip is about after all, to become stronger.

With these few teachings, everything seems to fall into place for me, I'm no longer ruled by my emotions, no longer controlled by my fear.

I'm in control now.

All in all, this trip was well worth it, I'm now rested and refreshed, both mentally and physically.

-Next Day-

Salem and I flicker into existence inside of our newest hotel room, located somewhere in downtown Kyoto. I'd loved my time at the monastery so much that I decided to extend my time in Japan, it's a beautiful country after all and there are other items on my list that require me to stay in this country. The fact that hundreds of my favorite manga are sold just down the street may have also helped with that decision, despite my unnatural maturity I'm still a kid at heart.

Regardless of my manga obsession, I have two reasons for my long term trip to Japan. The first being said manga obsession, except I have a logical reason for it. The Japanese manga, as well as the odd Korean and Chinese manga, are chock full of techniques and spells that I have no problem stealing. They have so many creative techniques to supplement my spells, that it would take me ages to learn them all. I chose to learn just a few handfuls at a time, mostly just the ones that catch my eye.

The second, more important, reason is to learn martial arts. After my abysmal time in the army and reflecting at the monastery, I realize that I'm weak physically. It's to be expected though, since no child my age could hope to defeat a full grown man in combat, not without cheating of course. While I could increase my strength with rituals of the dark sort, those usually involve live sacrifices and that's a bridge I have no plans of crossing yet. Besides, I'm sure the Goblins would be really peeved if I used their chambers like that.

On that note however, I'm working on a spell to temporarily increase my physical strength, sort of like the ninjas in the Naruto manga.

It's still a work in progress.

Since I currently lack the strength and ability for most forms of close combat, I chose one that would suit me best. It works well for small and fast builds, requires little physical strength and is mostly defensive in nature, all of which suits me just fine.

I'm going to learn Aikido.

-Seven Months Later-

I grin cheekily as I flip Master Saito onto his back once more with hardly any movement on my part, this is getting to be far too easy, even for me.

When I'd signed up for the class over half a year ago, Master Saito had told me that it would be a long and arduous process, one that would take many years to fully master.

I surpassed him in five months.

Well, I may have cheated to a degree, the fact that I have Legilimency was a huge bonus seeing as I could just take a peek into Master Saito's mind and copy his knowledge. I only did this once in a while however, since I needed the time to master the few bits that I did copy. Still, it didn't really slow me down all that much, after all, I only need four hours of meditation a day to be fully refreshed. This allows me twenty hours in the day to practice and that's just what I did, I spent countless hours simply practicing the art, stopping only to eat or meditate.

I trained for six days each week and allowed my body to rest on the seventh day, taking the time off to read and compile new techniques to learn. With that type of schedule, I was able to fit several decades worth of training into just seven months. It also helped that I was already physically fit from my army days and mentally prepared from my time as a monk, I started the training at my best and could only go up from there.

With such quick progress, it was no wonder Master Saito thought I was some sort of prodigy, after all he only instructed me three times a week for two hours at a time. In his mind, I was doing some self-study, learning the art as a hobby through a book and only coming to him to refine my technique. To him, I only had a few hours a day to practice, after all kids my age had to go to school during the day and study at night. With all that put together, it wasn't hard for him to consider me a prodigy, someone with a natural affinity for the art and was able to grasp the concepts easily.

If only he knew the real amount of hard work I put into this training, the hours spent in constant practice, focused on just one goal.

To get stronger.

While I no longer fear being weak, I still don't like it. My physical failures are a weakness and I would do anything to stomp out that weakness, especially if it just cost me a few short months of my time.

The major contribution to my mastery of the art however, is the fact that Aikido is perfect for me. The art involves blending with the motion of an attacker and redirecting the force of their attack rather than meeting it head-on. Because of this, it requires very little strength but plenty of speed, as well as the ability to anticipate your opponents movements in order to counter properly.

Legilimency helped a lot in that regard.

With my skill in that branch of the mind arts, I'm able to not only know my opponents movements the second they think of it but I can also control them minutely, allowing their movements to work in my favor.

It pissed Master Saito off immensely since he could never figure out how I did it, his best guess was that I was controlling him through my own movements, forcing him to act in a way that was in my favor. If only he knew I was actually controlling him by inserting my own thoughts into his mind, making him think they were his own ideas until it was too late and he had already acted on them.

The Jedi mind trick was such a useful skill, I just couldn't help but steal it.

Anyways, back to my awesome martial arts skill.

With my speed, reflexes and Legilimency, I was able to claim an Aikido mastery in just seven short months. I was so good that many expected me to go far, I was expected to win countless martial arts tournaments and spread the glory of Aikido to the rest of the martial arts community.

It was such a pity that I died so young.

Akashi Kwan, the martial arts prodigy, the one expected to raise Aikido to new heights, gunned down in some back alley, his body torn apart by dogs and other animals until it was barely recognizable.

Such a pity, no one saw it coming.

Frankly I'm getting far too used to faking my own death, it's a bit weird considering my past fear of the subject. However, one of my main weaknesses had been defeated, it was time to move onto the next one.

Now, how am I going to cheat death?

-One Week Later-

'This is boring.'

'I know it is but if it works, you'll be thanking me a thousand years from now.'

'Assuming you're less useless then, I probably might.'

I sigh in slight annoyance and turn back to my book, I've spent this past week researching immortality, flipping through hundreds of books in search for an answer.

It's not going well.

Currently, the magical world has three different forms of immortality.

The first is Vampirism, something I'd come across in many popular manga and while it was certainly interesting in the manga, that couldn't be any farther from the truth in life. Real vampires are pretty much soulless, mindless zombies with a taste for blood, rather than brains. They barely have any of the strengths of fictional vampires but all of the weaknesses, worst of all is that any magical that gets turned into a vampire losses their magic.

The second option is an item known as the Philosophers Stone, an object able to brew the elixir of life and turn any metal into gold. The drawback is that the stone is currently protected by its six hundred year old creator, Nicolas Flamel and his wife. The man has managed to protect the stone for well over five hundred years, there's no way I'm going to get it from him without a fight. There's also the fact that one needs to drink the elixir on a constant basis to stay alive and it only grants a sort of pseudo-immortality, keeping the user young but not protecting them from other forms of death.

The last option is something called a Horcrux, a soul container of some sort that ties its creator to the mortal world, preventing them from fading to the afterlife. The problem is that I have pretty much no clue how to make one, finding books on the subject is pretty much impossible, with only the barest mention of them appearing in the books I'd bought. It was like someone had set out to systematically destroy every bit information on the topic, probably someone who didn't want the information becoming widespread.

Without an idea on how a Horcrux is made, I can't attempt to make one of my own. Well, I can but I just don't feel comfortable performing experiments on my soul like that.

With all known magical options blocked for me, I turned to my biggest avenue of new ideas, the world of fantasy and fiction. Fantasy books are chock full of this sort of thing and if I could somehow emulate them, I could create a brand new form of magical immortality, I just have to take an idea from one of these books and make it reality.

How exciting.

Unfortunately, a majority of these ideas seem to stem from the same three things, vampirism or some kind of undead infection, an elixir or potion of some kind, and lastly experimenting with the soul in some form. Since vampirism is out and most of the potions and elixirs are just made up fantasy bullshit, that left me with limited options.

A few such options involved leaving my mortal body behind and existing purely as energy, basically I would be ascending to some form of godhood. I crossed that off as impractical and near impossible, I like my mortal form and existing as pure energy would be tiresome.

Another idea was transferring my consciousness into some form of machine, living on as a human/machine hybrid. Luckily, humanities technological skill isn't at that stage yet and even if I could build such a machine on my own I wouldn't, its not a very viable form of immortality and I don't much like giving up my flesh and blood.

One option I really considered was the body switching option, being able to jump to another body before death is a marvelous thought. I had to discount it however, because it involves dangerous experiments with my soul and I don't much feel like giving up on my body after all the hard work I put into it.

The best option overall, is to create some form of healing factor, one that could fully regenerate my entire body as long as a single cell survives. That idea is far too difficult to accomplish however, to create a ritual for a healing factor that powerful would take more magical power than any person could generate. My best option is practically impossible to accomplish, not unless I want to pass out from magical exhaustion and implode my magical core, effectively killing myself in the end.

The last few options are really far stretches, some are even impossible to fathom. They include things like becoming a god, being cursed with eternal life by a more powerful being, rejecting or cutting out my own heart and devouring souls to continue living.

In the end, I spend over a week searching for some form of immortality I could successfully emulate. I was so engrossed in my work that I missed the passing of my eleventh birthday, if I hadn't then I might have found it strange that I didn't receive my Hogwarts letter.

It was the knock on my door that broke through my scholarly haze.

-General P.O.V-

As he opened the door, Harry was quite surprised at the odd collection of individuals that greeted him.

The first is an elderly woman with the strictest expression on her face that he'd ever seen, as if she'd never had a moment of carefree joy in her life. The second is an elderly man, far older than the woman, with hair and a beard so long that they almost touched the floor. The last is a much younger man, with a sour expression on his face as he glanced over Harry.

Oh! They were also dressed in long robes, very colorful robes in the case of the old man, and pointed hats in the case of the old woman.

The magical world had finally tracked him down, joy.

"Yes?" Harry asked in Japanese, a single brow raised while keeping his face void of emotion.

"Are you Harry Potter?" The old man asks in surprisingly good Japanese, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" Harry asks again, staring back.

"Albus, are you sure you have the right place?" The woman whispers in English, not low enough however. "The Potters were English, the boy looks completely Japanese."

Albus huh? That means the old man is Albus Dumbledore, how... interesting. He hadn't really expected the great Albus Dumbledore to be so flamboyant looking, he was like a colorful Gandalf and what was with the twinkling eyes? It was just creepy.

"Oh, my bad." Harry interrupted in clear English, dissolving his disguise at the same time.

They'd already tracked him down, so there was no point trying to hide right now, maybe after he found out how they'd tracked him but until then he would cooperate.

Two gasps met his change, from the old couple, while the younger man narrowed his eyes.

"You're a Metamorphmagus?" The old woman asks in a shocked tone.

Harry chose to just shrug, let them think what they want.

"What happened to your eyes?" Dumbledore asks, his twinkle gone and his eyes looking focused.

"That looks like the effect of the Occulastis Ritual." The younger man replies with a slight smirk. "Looks like Potter has been dabbling in the Dark arts."

Harry chose to turn turn his attention to the younger man, raising one brow in question.

Somehow he recognized this guy, but how?

"The ritual isn't dark Severus, despite what the ministry says." Dumbledore says in an admonishing tone. "Madam Hooch has employed it once before and she raves about its usefulness, especially that hawk like vision of hers."

"You're Severus Snape." Harry said in an even tone, interrupting once more.

This seems to startle Snape, although he keeps it well hidden.

"How do you know that? I don't believe we've met before Potter." He asks with a sneer.

"You were featured in 'Wizarding Today's Top 100 Witches and Wizards of the Century', the youngest Potions Master in history I believe." Harry replied before turning to the other two. "As were you Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall, Master Transfigurators."

Dumbledore seems a tad upset at this show of knowledge while McGonagall smiles kindly and Snape preens.

"Indeed, I am glad to see that you know of us my boy and of our world," Dumbledore says, looking every bit the opposite of his comment. "Now, may we please enter and speak to your guardian?"

Harry simply cocked his head to the side, pretending to think while glancing them over, he was sure he knew why they were here but should he allow them in? Might as well, he wouldn't be staying in this hotel or country much longer after this and he still needed to know how they'd found him.

"Very well," he said, stepping away from the door and allowing them access to the spacious hotel room. "However, I have no guardian, I've been on my own for the last year or so."

Dumbledore looks skeptical at that but doesn't say anything, he simply takes a seat, smiling benignly and with his twinkle on full blast. McGonagall joins the old man at the table while Snape chooses to lean against a wall, well away from the group. Harry chose one of the empty seats, making sure to keep them all in his sight.

"Surely someone had been taking care of you my boy, whoever removed you from your relatives home must have afforded you some kind of care." Dumbledore says, looking around the room, it is a high class room after all.

Harry's eyes narrow at him and he allows first bit of emotion to show, a hateful sneer.

"First off Mr. Dumbledore, I am not your anything, you will address me by my name or not at all." He announced, keeping his tone even despite his hateful expression.

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall gasps, looking affronted. "The headmaster has done nothing to deserve such disrespect, I would think you would have the manners to make such a request in a more polite manner."

Snape snorts and mumbles something to himself, the words Arrogant, Spawn and Potter make their way to the table.

The teens eyes narrow to slits as he turns his attention to McGonagall.

"This man has done nothing to earn my respect, only my ire." He replied, keeping his tone even and his expression blank. "He did after all, leave me unannounced on a doorstep with nothing but a note and a thin blanket to protect me from the elements."

Dumbledore blanches at this, his twinkling eyes focusing once more. Snape's eyes narrow in turn, glancing at the older man. McGonagall however continues to glare.

"I'll have you know that I applied a warming charm and a Notice-Me-Not on your form that night, you were perfectly safe." She grounds out.

-Harry's P.O.V-

'So, she was there too? Interesting. By the look on his face, Snape wasn't there that night though.' I think to myself, glancing at the expressions of the three before me. 'Now, I have two people to blame, Dumbledore and McGonagall.'

"Is that so?" I ask, turning my head at an angle. "And what's your reason for leaving me with a pair of magic hating muggles? Or that you didn't bother to remove the highly dangerous and near fatal curse attached to my scar? You must have known about it, seeing as you placed the wards that attempted to keep the curse at bay, at the cost of my own magic."

Her eyes widen and she turns to look at Dumbledore, who now has a grim expression on his face.

"Oh, you didn't know? Did the wise and mighty headmaster not tell you?" I ask, adding some mockery to my tone. "Which reminds me Dumbledore, who was it that you sacrificed to erect those blood wards? Must have been someone close to me, based on their power."

Dumbledore sighs tiredly but I can practically see his mind racing, connecting dots and planning.

"You know much Mr. Potter, far more than I'm comfortable with." He says after a moment. "However, the answer's to your questions all stem from one point, your mother."

My face remains blank but I motion for him to continue.

"You know of the attack when you were young? The one that lead to your fame in the magical world?" He asks.

I simply nod.

"It was during this very attack that you gained that scar and the curse that came with it." Dumbledore explains. "It was also during this attack that your mother sacrificed herself to protect you, I didn't erect the blood words as you believe, I simply expanded them around your home to protect you and your family."

I'm silent for a few moments.

"And the Dursley's? What reason did you have to leave me with them? They hate magic." I ask, my anger has cooled to some degree but I still don't like this man.

Dumbledore sighs once more, looking very tired.

"The wards required that you live with someone of your mothers blood, her sister was the only one that fit." He explains. "I had no other choice than to leave you with her, for your own protection."

"That is a lie." I ground out, glaring at him hatefully for a moment before my mask is back in place.

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore asks, looking shocked.

"That is a lie and you know it." I repeat, ignoring McGonagall's stern glare or Snape's sneer. "The wards would have protected me no matter where I was housed, they only extended to the Dursley's after you messed around with them."

Dumbledore looks like he's struck dumb as he stares at me, a moment later he pulls himself together.

"I assure you Mr. Potter that I did no such thing." He begins.

"Liar." I mutter, interrupting once more. "How else do you explain the wards extending to Vernon? He wasn't of my mothers blood, yet he was still protected. Or how about the fact that the wards are still active and strong even after a year away from my relatives? That's why you couldn't find me before now isn't it? The wards stopped you from tracking me."

He doesn't have an explanation for that, he seems caught off guard by my knowledge and even the two with him appear stunned.

"Never mind that, what I want to know is how you managed to track me down." I say after a few seconds of silence.

Dumbledore seems to startle and only regains his bearings when McGonangall places a thick envelope on the table.

'Ah, my Hogwarts letter.' I realize, slapping my self mentally. 'The enchantments on the Book of Names are powerful enough to find me through the wards, I should have considered that when I was skimming Hogwarts: A History.'

The Book of Names is one of the few artifacts powerful enough to pierce through my blood wards, it is capable of finding anyone that meets the criteria programmed into the book no matter where they are located or what wards they are hiding beneath, I really should have considered it beforehand. While they can't actively control the book, as it's considered lost magic from the time of the founders, it would still provide them with my information when my Hogwarts letter is sent out.

Luckily, there is a way around it.

"Oh, my Hogwarts letter, thank you." I say, taking the letter and breaking the seal.

I grin inwardly as a pulse of magic is released from the envelope, informing the book that I've received my letter and that I no longer need to be tracked.

"Yes, your letter." Dumbledore says, sending McGonagall a sideways glance, he knows what just happened as well.

"Since you already have information on the magical world, I won't need to provide you with a muggleborn package." McGonagall says, ignoring Dumbledore's look. She seems angry at him, I wonder why. "If you are ready to leave, I can escort you to Diagon Alley today for your supplies and..."

I place the opened envelope on the table, not bothering to look at the papers within.

"There's no need for that professor." I say, interrupting her. "I won't be attending Hogwarts."

She seems to startle at that while Dumbledore's eyes narrow in thought. Snape on the other hand, seems to grin widely, not a pretty sight.

"Not attending?" She asks in a shocked tone. "Surely you want to learn magic, just like your mother and father. Hogwarts is the best school in magical Britain, your parents would have wanted you to attend."

I roll my eyes at her poor attempt at manipulation.

"First off, Hogwarts is the only magical school in Britain so you have nothing to compare it with." I reply evenly, knowing that most of the other magical schools in Britain were closed over the years as Hogwarts began to accept more and more students regardless of background. "Also, my parents are dead and thanks to you, all I've heard about them growing up is how they were lazy good for nothings, so frankly, I don't much care what they would have wanted."

She seems very angry at that last part, luckily a majority of it seems to be directed at Dumbledore.

"I take it you will be attending the Sakura Academy here in Japan then?" Dumbledore asks with a strange gleam in his eyes, I can already tell he's scheming something.

I snort and shake my head, the Sakura Academy might be better then Hogwarts but not by much. If I need a decent magical education then I would head for Madam Maples in Canada or the Salem Institute in the United States, both offer a more diverse course than Hogwarts.

"I don't plan to attend any magical schools, I've already learned all I need about magic, my time is better spent acquiring other skills."

None of them look convinced.

"Indeed?" Dumbledore asks. "I take it that you acquired some knowledge from your guardian then?"

I roll my eyes again at the manipulation attempt.

"I already told you Dumbledore, I don't have a guardian, I'm self taught."

He nods, stroking his beard as his eyes begin twinkling once more.

"Surely there is more you can learn, magic is always changing and one can not learn it all on their own."

I snort at that.

"Magic may always be changing but your community is not, you haven't changed for over two hundred years so I think I'm fine." I reply curtly

That seems to piss off Snape who has been slowly getting angrier and angrier in his self-imposed exile, he'd been pleased when I denied my acceptance but it seems like my attitude has changed his opinion.

"Typical Potter arrogance," he growls, striding over to the table. "You think you know everything don't you? That you're better than us lowly mortals huh? Can't bother to bless us with your presence?"

I turn and look him straight in the eyes, his filled with anger and mine blank.

"Yes." I reply with a shrug.

He's mostly correct anyways, I do think myself better than them, with everything I know about their world it's hard not to think so.

It's at that moment that Snape struck.

"Legilimens!" he snarls, a wand appearing in his hand.

Dumbledore must have seen it coming because he has a moment to say-

"Severus don't..."

-before the world around me vanishes.

I'm actually happy when I feel Snape's Legilimency probe forcefully tearing its way into my mind, searching for my thoughts and memories, this is a perfect chance to test my defenses.

I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

The mental representation of Snape's assault appears within my void, standing roughly twenty meters from the metal sphere that protects my mind. The representation of a person's metal probe is usually a weapon of some sort, something they know to be powerful.

Snape's form is that of himself, much younger, crackling with power and wielding a wand.

"So, you know Occlumency Potter." He snarls into the void as he examined the sphere. "A metal orb, that's the best you can do? Pathetic."

With that, he began throwing spells.

Blasting curses, piercing hexes, and cutting curses fly from his wand, his speed is all based on his mind so it's no surprise when over a hundred spells are released in a single burst.

Snape grins as his spells strike my defenses, only for his grin to vanish as the spells sink into the liquid quicksilver.

My mental defenses are based on what I know of my small metal ball, it's good at amplifying and directing energy. For a magical assault like Snape's, it's the perfect defense. He doesn't even have time to react as all one hundred spells, collapsed into one massive wave of magical power, are shot back at him at twice the speed.

In the real world, only a second has passed from Snape's uttered spell before the man is sent flying back, crashing into the hotel wall and collapsing unconsciously.

"Severus!" Dumbledore shouts in a worried tone, jumping to his feet with his wand in hand.

"Severus!" McGonagall shouts, also jumping to her feet with her wand drawn, the difference however is the anger that tinges her tone as she glares at the crumpled form of her colleague.

"Minerva, not now." Dumbledore shouts, making his way over to Snape.

"Not now? Not Now? He tried to use Legilimency on a minor Albus, the Boy-Who-Lived no less!" She shouts back, waving a hand over where I sat.

"And Mr. Potter has proven that he can protect his own mind." Dumbledore replies, standing up after making sure Snape is well.

"That's not the point!" McGonagall counters, winding up for a tirade.

"While this is interesting enough, I would prefer it if the two of you left." I interrupt once more, eyes narrowed at the wand Dumbledore has pointed at me.

"I'm afraid we can't do that Mr. Potter, not after this." He said in a low tone, all pretense of a kindly grandfather gone. "You will be returning with us and we will find out who kidnapped you, what they have taught you and what they are planning."

I raise a single brow, my only sign of annoyance.

'Salem, a little assistance please.' I say mentally, sending an image to my familiar.

I don't receive a reply but I hope he understands what's at risk, namely his food source.

"So, you're going to kidnap me in order to find out who kidnapped me?" I ask, stalling for time. "Despite the fact that I've told you, twice already, that I ran away on my own?"

"Albus, you can't mean to do this, the boy has done nothing wrong." McGonagall says, trying to talk some sense into the old man.

"I must Minerva, for the greater good." Dumbledore replies, flicking his wand. "Stupe-"

"MRAWR!"

-only to get bowled over by a house cat the size of a horse.

The old man flew to the ground from Salem's attack but with speed far beyond his years, Dumbledore rolls with the momentum and jumps back to his feet, his wand targeting the giant cat.

'Seems like someone's been using strengthening rituals.' I muse, taking aim with my hand.

Wooosh!

A pulse of pure power flies from my hand and strikes a distracted Dumbledore before he can react, his attention having been focused on my familiar. My overpowered banisher sends Dumbledore flying, slamming him against the wall violently and he crumples to the floor much like Snape before him.

Throughout all this, McGonagall stares in shock, her eyes wide as they dart from my familiar to my open, wand free hand, then to Dumbledore's wand as it flies through the air and into my hand.

"H-how? That was wandless magic, that's impossible." She squeaks, her wand darting from me to the cat.

Oh dear, it looks like her colleagues' actions and my reaction have drained the last of her composure away, pity that.

"Apparently not, now I ask that you stop pointing that wand at my familiar and I, or we may have to hurt you." I say in a bland tone, waving Dumbledore's wand carelessly.

She aims her wand away but stays prepared.

"Familiar? You're far too young for a familiar." She replies, glancing over Salem's form, which causes her to startle as he shrinks down to a kitten.

"Apparently not." I repeat, amused at the look on her face. "Now then, when Dumbledore wakes up pass on a message for me please. Tell him that he shouldn't have underestimated me, I know he can cast his spells wordlessly, he should have done so rather than giving me the time to retaliate."

She nods, still looking somewhat out of sorts.

"Also, let him know that the next time we meet, I won't hold back. If he attacks me again, I will kill him." I add, sounding as dangerous as I can at the end. "Oh, and do thank him for the wand, it was a thoughtful birthday gift."

With that I stun her, striking faster than she can react in her current state.

As McGonagall drops to the ground, I take the time to look at the wand in my hand, it is quite a strange object.

For starters, when I banished him, Dumbledore dropped the wand. Dropped, not threw. Yet somehow it went flying across the room and into my hand, that shouldn't have happened as I hadn't summoned it. Secondly, the moment I touched the wand, I felt my power flow into it, sucked away by the wand itself. Moments later, that power was returned at ten times the amount. The wand, unlike most regular wands, has somehow amplified my power, amplified it far more than my little necklace has ever done.

With no one around to see, I pull out my necklace and hold it next to the strange wand, they both give off the same feeling. The wand is roughly ten inches long, with five little balls spaced out across its length. The thing that draws my attention however, are the tiny holes pressed into the balls, or at least the slivers of metal I can see through these holes, familiar looking metal.

'Oh wow.' I whistle in awe.

This wand contains five of these metal balls, no wonder it's so powerful. Where did Dumbledore get it? Most wands use only organic materials, where did he get such a unique and powerful wand?

'Oh well, it's mine now.' I chuckle, tucking it into my pocket. 'Finders keepers.'

'Oi! Brat. You owe me for saving your ass, now get me a box of those little cookies that I like.'

'Yeah, yeah. Will do.'

Sigh, back to this now, maybe I should have gone to Hogwarts, then the house elves could deal with him.

-General P.O.V-

When the Hogwarts three woke twenty minutes later, it was to a completely empty hotel room, with no sign of Harry Potter.

Albus Dumbledore was angry.

Not only had he lost The Elder Wand but he had lost Harry Potter, again, he hadn't even discovered who had kidnapped and taught the boy. He couldn't even track the boy anymore since the Book of Names had received a confirmation, things were not going according to plan, not at all.

Severus Snape was angry.

He had lost against the spawn of James Potter in a mental battle. Him, one of the three most powerful Legilimens in Britain, had lost to a mere child. Albus was never going to let him forget this, curse those bloody Potters.

Minerva McGonagall was Furious.

First Severus had attacked the Boy-Who-Lived, an attack that could have mentally damaged the boy, then Albus had tried to kidnap the child against his will. When had her mentor and colleague changed so much, she wasn't going to let this go, they would both be hearing more from her.

It was three angry and defeated Hogwarts professors that trudged home that day.

Meanwhile Harry Potter was having a lovely time in his new hotel, taking a break before his next trip.

Salem the cat was having an even better time, peacefully munching away at his snack.