Harry Potter: Rise of an Empire.
Disclaimer: If you recognize anything in this story, I don't own it.
"Text." - Speech.
'Text.' - Thoughts.
'Text.' - Salem.
Chapter 5: Goa'uld
When three days pass without any encounters of the magical kind, I decide that I've successfully escaped Dumbledore and his group. Since I don't have to worry about being tracked for now, I decide to head to my next location; Giza, Egypt.
Egypt is a nice, warm country, a good place to spend some time. It's also quite far from Japan and Britain, which is what I want right now.
I do have two other reasons for coming to Egypt though, other than avoiding the English wizarding community. First off, many of the Pyramids here contain some of the oldest glyphs and runes known to wizarding kind, as well as information on long forgotten rituals and spells. Many of the runes written within these pyramids are the original form of the runes now in use, studying them would help my knowledge of the art.
The second reason I'm here, is the wide open space of the desert. It's the perfect place to create, practice and master a few of my new techniques, many of which are quite destructive in nature but that's to be expected seeing as they're based on techniques used in Japanese manga, they're not exactly known for being subtle when it comes to such things. With no one around for miles, I can freely try my new technique ideas, something I can't do in more populated areas.
I'm looking forward to it.
-Three Days Later-
Happily stalking through a sealed off portion of the pyramid, I keep my eyes peeled for traps as I examine the lines of runes dotting the walls, there are quite a few of them. This section of the pyramid has been sealed away for many centuries, layers and layers of magic serving to keep it hidden from the muggle world.
As I turn the corner, I'm met with a bit of a surprise, there's a small group of Goblins ahead of me studying the walls, one of which that I actually recognize.
"Fishclaw?" I ask in surprise, staring at the familiar Goblin.
The Goblin in question turns to face me and his face lights up with recognition.
"Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?" Fishclaw asks, stepping away from his comrades and walking over.
"Learning from these ancient runes and glyphs, you?" I ask in reply.
"I was recently promoted to Head of the London Curse-Breaking department, this pyramid serves as a training ground for new curse-breakers to practice in." He answers, waving a hand at his small team of younger looking goblins. "Would you like to accompany us? You might pick up some useful knowledge."
I give him a grin in reply, Goblins being one of the few beings that I like enough to lower my mask around.
"Sure, I would love to." I reply happily. "Congratulations on the promotion by the way."
"Thank you." He says in reply before turning his attention back to his team as they work on the protections.
Watching the Goblins work is quite a treat, even though they're trainees, they seem to be quite experienced in the art. I watch as they tear down the first layer of curses and traps with relative ease, they're very skillful. While curse-breaking seems to be an interesting branch of magic, it's one that I have no use for so I haven't bothered to learn it yet.
Having run into my first set of ancient protections two days ago, I made sure to find away past them, it didn't take me all that long. Now, all I have to do when I encounter such dangerous curses and wards is pump extra magic into my blood ward and I'm able to walk right through, it drains a lot of power but it's highly efficient.
Besides, if I ever come across a curse or barrier that I need removed, I can just will it away and let my magic handle it, it might be cheating but I don't really care about playing fair.
After roughly four hours of trial and error, the final ward is torn down and the traps are all dismantled, allowing us to enter the final chamber of the pyramid. It's a small room with dozens of different runes carved into the walls, none of which are active anymore. There are several piles of dusty junk lying around the room, objects that have likely been here of hundreds of years and were probably searched through and discarded by tomb raiders over the years.
At the back of the room is the newest addition to this pyramid, a polished iron door.
"Where does the door lead?" I ask Fishclaw, before he can wander over to his Goblin team.
He glances at the door and grins, or frowns, I still cant tell.
"It leads to the tunnels, which leads to Gringotts, Giza branch." he answers, pointing to a series of runes above the door that I hadn't noticed. "Once we've erected a new layer of protections for the next batch of trainees, it will be our only exit from this room."
I nod and continue gazing around the room, allowing him to return to his duties, supervising a bunch of trainees as they erect new traps and protections.
As I'm gazing around the small room, my attention is drawn to a small jar atop one of the junk piles. It's a small, ancient looking, ceramic jar covered in dirt and grime. At first glance, there's nothing of interest about this jar but there's something about it that calls to me, a feeling that I'm very familiar with. The jar in question gives off the same feeling that I've come to associate with my necklace and stolen wand, inside that jar is an object made of the same metal substance.
Drawing my new wand, mostly for show since I have yet to show off my full wandless abilities to the Goblins, I check the jar for traps, curses or wards. It comes back clean so I silently summon the jar to my hand, holding it up when the Goblins look over.
"Anyone mind if I take this?" I ask, holding it so they can better see it.
The Goblins all share a look, and some muttered comments in their native tongue, before shaking their heads and returning to their work. I grin to myself, glad that I don't have to steal from my only allies, and tuck the jar into my pouch for perusal at a later time. Seeing nothing else of interest, I make my way to the iron door, standing by the exit and watching the Goblins work.
A few minutes pass before they're finished, the runes on the walls lighting up with power as they're reactivated. With their work completed, the Goblins begin leaving, shuffling past me on their way out. A few give me a respectful nod in acknowledgement as they know my name well, having provided them with such a fine delicacy as Nundu meat.
"It seems that this has been quite a waste of time, four hours is far too long for such a simple task." Fishclaw grumbles, stopping beside me.
I smile and pat his shoulder.
"They'll do better next time, the practice is good for them." I reply, trying to cheer him up. I think it works since his frown looks less pronounced, I still haven't learned how to read these guys, their emotional faces are harder to read than my emotionless masks.
"Indeed, I hope the experience was very knowledgeable for you as well Mr. Potter." Fishclaw replies, walking through the doorway.
I follow behind him, ignoring the sound of the door magically closing behind me.
"Oh yes, it was quite interesting to watch and I memorized some of those older runes to reference later." I reply, remembering the few runes in the pyramid that weren't mentioned in my books. "Thank you for letting me join by the way."
"It was no problem all, it was the least I could do." He replies, grinning broadly. "After all, it was my association with you and Supervisor Ranglow that earned me this promotion."
He must be really, really pleased with me if his expression is so blatantly obvious, I can actually tell that its a happy grin.
"Don't mention it." I reply, glad to have another Goblin that owes me one.
After a pit stop at my hotel room to both eat and feed Salem, I head off to my isolated spot in the desert for some practice. Placing some charms to both hide my location and protect from the heat and sun, I sit down on a conjured blanket and pull out the jar.
In the light of the sun, it's as grimy and old as I first thought, although I do notice that the original material seems to be white in color and the lid appears to be sealed with wax. With a thought, the wax melts away, allowing me to open the jar, I'm quite surprised with what I find inside. Stored within the jar is a large snake, coiled around many times to fit within the smaller jar. The strange thing however is that not only is the metal I'm sensing coming from the snake itself, but the snake is also alive.
Huh.
What to do? This is a hundred (or more) year old snake right here, yet it's still alive, although it appears to be sleeping. The only serpents known to live for so long are Basilisks and those are prone to growing to enormous sizes after that much time. That means that this is some sort of magical serpent but not one that I've ever seen before, and considering the fact that I've memorized entire tomes on magical creatures, that comes as a bit of a shock.
I'm also caught off guard by the feeling I receive from the snake, the same feeling as my (stolen) wand and necklace. Either it's eaten one of those metal balls or it's sleeping on one, I can't tell which. While I'm already powerful enough, I'm not going to pass up this chance at more power, that would be a dumb thing to do, especially considering the fact that this metal appears to be quite rare. I know for a fact that it's not a naturally occurring metal, otherwise the muggles would have already gotten their grubby hands on it.
I want the metal ball in this jar but is it inside or under the snake?
I'm not all that sure what to do with the snake either, so I do what comes to mind first.
I poke it.
Yes, yes, I know how stupid that is but honestly what do I have to fear? The worst it can do is bite me and I'm immune to all sorts of toxins so there's no chance of it actually killing me.
What I don't expect however, is for its eyes to snap open, glowing yellow pits meeting my emerald and gold gaze for an instant, before the creature strikes. The snake leaps at me from within the jar, moving far too fast for me to react. Rather than bite me however, it does something strange and unexpected, it dives into my mouth. My eyes are wide in shock and horror as I actually feel the creature slither into my throat, its sharpened beak carving through the back of my mouth and latching onto my spine. Strangely enough, this is a painless act and as far as I can tell, the wound is already healing itself.
That doesn't change the fact that this thing is inside of me, wrapped dangerously around my spine, and it takes all of my mental control not to panic as the strange creature touches my brain, both physically and mentally. I can feel it within my mindscape, striking against my mental defenses in an attempt to break through to my mind.
I can't allow that to happen, who knows what else this thing can do.
"Why do you resist child, you can not win. Bow before your god and I shall show you mercy!"
Within my mind the representation of the creature, a similar serpent but over eighty feet long, is assaulting my defenses. It's main method of attack involves slamming its body against the metal orb of my mind over and over again, causing the metal orb to shudder, before rearing back and attacking once more.
"You can not win mortal, you are nothing before the might of a god."
This happens a total of five times, to little effect, before my defenses retaliate. As the giant serpent rears back for another strike, hundreds of silvery tendrils are launched from the sphere, moving too fast for it to dodge, and begin restraining it. Wrapped within the metallic tendrils, the serpent begins to struggle, flailing about in an attempt to escape but the tendrils hold on tight.
"What trickery is this? Desist at once mortal or I shall make you suffer!"
Almost in slow motion, the ends of the tendrils that are still connected to my sphere begin to grow in size, forming large metal orbs. Soon, the large balls of liquid metal start moving along the tendrils, slowly making their way towards the flailing creature. The creature, seemingly sensing the danger it's in, strikes back in a different fashion, physically.
"Very well! Suffer for your insolence!"
In the real world, the creature begins to stimulate my nerve centers, causing me to feel immense pain like nothing I've ever felt before. This however, lasts all of one millisecond before I shut down my pain receptors, a simple task considering that I'm already deep within my mind, fighting against the invading creature.
"How is this possible! No mere human can resist a God! Filthy creature, you are not one of the Tau'ri!"
With its second attack rendered a failure, the serpent returns to its attempts to escape my mental assault, it's far too late however. By this time, the balls have reached it and they begin spreading out across its form, coating it in a thin film of metal.
"No! No! Release me at one! Obey your God!"
Normally, I'd have released him already, my strategy involves first defending my mind, then attacking fast and pushing the invader out. This creature however, is not only inside of my mind but inside of my body as well, there's no way I'm letting it go. So, I choose to absorb it instead, I'll trap it within my mind and drain everything I can from it. After all, I am quite interested in just what exactly it is, it's most definitely not a regular snake that's for sure and believing it's claims as a god is just plain laughable.
"No! Stop this! Stop this at once!"
By this point, only the creature's head remains uncovered, the rest of its body is trapped within liquid metal. It's at this point that it attempts another strike, its last resort.
"Die filth! Feel the wrath of your God!"
The strangest feeling passes over me as I feel the creature inject some sort of toxin into my system, this is its final resort? Killing me and escaping once it has the chance? I almost laugh as the ritual magic within me surges forward, hunting down and destroying the toxin with ease, completely wiping it from my system.
So much for that plan.
"What!? Impossible! This is impossible! I am a God! You can't do this! No! No! Noooooo!"
The look of shock on its face is one of the funniest things I've ever seen, too bad it gets swallowed up before it can hear my laughter. Just like that I've won, the serpent is trapped and all that's left is to drain it's memories and destroy it's consciousness.
That seems simple enough.
Tendrils of golden power erupt from within the metal sphere of my mind and wrap around the metal serpent, tightly constricting around it. Moments later, the giant serpent explodes into thousands of small shards, all of which are drawn towards my sphere and absorbed into my mind. With its task completed, the golden light of my magic retreats into the sphere, leaving my mindscape clear of all sign of intrusion.
'Finally! I thought he would never shut up.' Salem's deep tones echo from the representation of our link, a cat shaped indent on the surface of the sphere.
'Same here.' I reply, feeling my eye twitch as I realize that my familiar has been here all along. 'Thanks for the help by the way.'
My tone is heavy with sarcasm and annoyance, yet he still replies cheerily.
'You're welcome.'
'Gah! Just leave me alone so I can absorb these memories in peace.'
'Fine but bring me something tasty to eat when you're done.'
I'm starting to hate that cat.
As it turns out, I greatly underestimated the mind of this strange creature. Despite it's intelligence, I had expected nothing more than a flow of primal memories, feelings and thoughts. I had brushed off its claims of godhood as nothing more than mere words used to lower the defense of its weak minded hosts and prey, which is why I'm incredibly surprised by the memories I receive from its mind.
Believe it or not, the creature I'd just absorbed was not any type of magical serpent, it's actually an alien parasite, a member of a race known as the Goa'uld. The Goa'uld, as it turns out, are parasitic creatures that require human hosts in order to survive outside their natural environment. They also happen to be galactic scale, meglomaniacal warlords.
The Goa'uld, using their more advanced technology and superior intelligence, have managed to enslave billions of people on thousands of worlds, styling themselves as gods and using their subjects as slave labor in their quest for universal domination.
The strangest thing about this situation and the Goa'uld however, is that all of this is occurring in an entirely different universe.
Over nine centuries ago, this particular Goa'uld conquered a race of people known as the Camil, a race of xeno-archaeologists and scholars. It was on that little planet that it discovered a device known as a Quantum Mirror, a machine created by an ancient race that serves as a gateway to alternate realities.
Thinking like most its kind do, this Goa'uld made a plan to travel to one such reality with a small strike force and collect slaves to increase its own empire, allowing it to overthrow the other Goa'uld with its superior numbers. It was a well thought out plan as well, as even a small task force would be able to capture and ferry hundreds of slaves at a time and should anyone take note, they could simply blame one of the Goa'uld that already existed in that particular reality.
The problem however, came when it used the mirror itself.
Having no idea of the coordinates of realities other than its own, which was etched onto the top section of the mirror, it had no choice but to choose at random. So with one fully stocked scouting vessel, the Goa'uld set out through the Quantum Mirror, heading out on a quick and simple scouting mission. Normally, only its enslaved warriors would be sent on such a simple scouting mission but this task was far too important to leave to another so the Goa'uld had joined them.
Unfortunately, out of the countless realities in existence, it chose one that was completely saturated with magic, the antithesis to technology.
Connecting the dots with my own memories and knowledge, I'm able to make an educated guess on what happened next. While muggle technology short-circuits in highly magical areas, it still works in this reality, simply because the base materials are already saturated in the free floating magic of the planet.
The Goa'uld however, coming from a reality that is completely void of magic, soon found it's ships systems shutting down from the effects of the ambient magic. Parts of its ship, made from the same material as my metal ball, Naquadah as it's called, were able to absorb, adapt to and amplify the magic in the air. Other parts of the ship however, being made of less adaptable materials, were unable to handle it.
The ships computers overloaded and forced it and its men to crash land.
Luckily, the planet they crash landed on was the alternate version of Tau'ri, the main human world in the Goa'ulds' reality, it was also the location of this realities Quantum Mirror.
Unfortunately for the Goa'uld, it soon discovered that it was trapped in this reality, unable to return to its home universe or even find transport off the planet. The Quantum Mirror of this reality is a thing of magic, requiring both magic and the proper knowledge to activate it, the Goa'uld had no magic of its own. Given time to explore the world and learn, it might have come across a suitable host, one that could wield magic and activate the mirror.
It was unfortunate then, that the crash landing of the vessel attracted plenty of unwanted attention.
It wasn't long until it and its remaining soldiers, its most loyal warriors, found themselves under attack by the inhabitants of the planet. They had expected an easy win, seeing as the forces they faced were only twenty strong and none had any technology whatsoever, they were wrong. It didn't take long for a group of Egyptian wizards, under the command of the reigning Dark Lord of the time, to wipe out the soldiers and critically wound the Goa'uld's host.
Leaving the host for dead, the Dark wizards raided the remains of the scouting vessel and fled, taking everything of value that wasn't bolted down.
As it's host lay dying, with no viable hosts in the area and its vessel stripped of all valuable materials by the raiders, the Goa'uld had no option but to enter a nearby stasis jar, resting and waiting until a new host could come along. Unfortunately for the serpent, similar looking jars were usually used to store the organs of the dead in ancient Egypt, so not many were willing to open it or desecrate the dead, this led to a very long hibernation for the Goa'uld.
Years passed, the remains of the vessel eventually being stripped apart by looters and the jar was found, passing through many hands until it eventually ended up inside the small pyramid where I had found it. Throughout all this, the Goa'uld slept, hibernating and waiting for it's opportunity.
A hibernation that lasted well over nine centuries, until I opened the jar and awakened the creature.
-General P.O.V-
Once the basic knowledge and recent history was absorbed, Harry found himself forced to sit back and watch in horror as countless scenes of rape, torture, and murder, the legacy of the Goa'uld race, was directly inserted into his mind. Thousands of years of the Goa'uld's genetic memory flowed into his mind, not only the memory of the Goa'uld he had just absorbed but also that of the thousands that came before it. There were far too many memories to block, even his Occlumency skills couldn't help him here, he could only handle a few years worth of memories at one time.
In a way, the Goa'uld had won.
While he might have destroyed its consciousness and shredded its mind, he had also made a grave error by absorbing its memories. Despite his power and skill, Harry was still just an eleven year old boy, meaning that he only had eleven years worth of memories. The Goa'uld on the other hand, had well over thirty thousand years of memories on it's own, not to mention the memories belonging to its ancestors.
All this and more had just been absorbed by one little boy.
It should come as no surprise that the older memories were able to easily shunt Harry's aside and claim dominance, he literally stood no chance. While the Goa'uld was defeated, it had cost Harry his sense of self. While he was still Harry Potter: Human Wizard, he was also Harry Potter: Goa'uld Parasite.
Unfortunately, he was now more Goa'uld than he was human.
(A.N: Since I know that this bothered a lot of readers last time this story was up, I want to mention that Harry will eventually get back to normal, the Goa'uld mentality is only temporary.)
-Harry's P.O.V-
I wake several hours later with a groan, the cold wind of the desert stinging my skin with its intensity. My eyes flash gold as I sit up, the collection of foreign memories clear in my mind. Despite knowing otherwise, I feel like I've lived all thirty thousand years as a Goa'uld, the eleven years as Harry Potter are simply the newest memories in my long existence.
'Oi! Brat.' Salem's voice echoes through my mind, causing my head to ache. 'You zoned out for quite a while there, are you okay?'
Normally, such an insult would call for the torture and death of the offender, Salem is quite lucky that he's my familiar, an extension of my being, otherwise I would have flayed him alive without hesitation.
'Indeed Salem, I am fine.' I reply, resisting the urge to strike at him through the link. 'Just give me a moment.'
A snort is my only reply, followed by a disconnection of the mind link. Now free to think, I take inventory of my being, starting with my mind.
My mental defenses are still in place, in fact they are far stronger than ever before, reinforced by my countless experiences as a Goa'uld. I also find that I can now split my mind into two parts, one part controlling my human body and magic while the other part controls the symbiote within me. It's quite a strange experience, something that has never happened to any Goa'uld before.
Somehow, I'm able to exist as both the host and the symbiote, it's an interesting feeling.
My body itself is far better than ever before, the symbiote within me has provided me with a powerful healing factor, one that can heal all but the most fatal of wounds given enough time, it not immortality but it's a good start. The symbiote has also increased my physical capabilities, making me stronger and faster than the average human and coupled with my magically enhanced bones, I'm likely to be as strong as a troll and as fast as a unicorn. While the gap will be small, I'll be slightly stronger and faster than the average Goa'uld host.
The last change is my magic, which has also grown more powerful. When the Goa'uld symbiote entered my body, it automatically released small amounts of Naquadah directly into my bloodstream, something normally done to allow the host to properly use Goa'uld technology. While I may not have any Goa'uld tech to use, the material in my bloodstream serves to amplify the magic flowing through me, making me stronger than ever before.
I'm not sure what effect this will have on blood magic and rituals but my best guess is that their power will be increased, among other things. This also means that I no longer require my little necklace or wand, Naquadah flows through my blood and I have no need of little trinkets to control my power. I do plan to keep keep them however, as they still serve to boost and focus my magic when used.
All in all, everything has been greatly improved.
'With access to this magic, I can now open the Quantum Mirror and return home, I wonder what has happened to my territories in my absence.' I ponder, tearing down my wards and flickering away.
'Perhaps it would be best to stay in this reality and build a new empire.' I muse, stalking through the streets of Diagon Alley. 'Perhaps not, the inhabitants of this world are nowhere near advanced enough to build a proper spacecraft, it would be better to return home and reclaim my territory. Besides, the rules of combat will allow me to easily recoup my manpower instead of having to build up a power base on this backwater planet.'
A dark grin spreads across my face as I imagine the look on the faces of the other Goa'uld when I reveal my magical powers and crush them beneath my heel, it promises to be a glorious image.
'Yes, that is the better choice. With this power, I am beyond the others, I can become a true god while they continue relying on their technology.' I chuckle at the thought, imagining my ascendancy as a true god. 'Given time, I can amass enough territory and manpower to replace Ra as Supreme System Lord.'
That seems like an entertaining plan, replacing Ra would make me to strongest of all Goa'uld, ruler of the other System Lords and minor Goa'uld. I'll need to build a mighty army and expand my territory first however, because magic or no magic, I don't think I can survive an orbital bombardment, which is Ra's usual method of dealing with usurpers.
Besides, I've been gone for a long time, I will need to reclaim my old territory and expand if I want the others to bow down before me. Without the territory and numbers to overpower their own forces, they would keep fighting and sending their men at me, even then they might still fight before I can crush them.
"How can I assist you today Mr. Potter," a goblin asks, drawing me from my thoughts.
I look up with a frown, upset at the interruption from such a lowly creature but a deep breath allows me to calm myself. It wouldn't do to make enemies of the Goblin Nation at this time, filthy vermin they may be but they are still powerful allies to have on my side.
On that note, I also make a note to meditate later tonight and every night following, my one month with the monks is no match for over thirty thousand years of Goa'uld emotions and I find myself growing angry at the littlest provocation. It will take some time to recover my state of inner peace and regain my skill at hiding my emotions, I cant have them flying out of control at the wrong time.
At least we Goa'uld are master manipulators, so I'm well experienced at manipulating emotions, I'm just not very good at hiding them.
Pulling out a scrap of paper, I scribble a short message on it and hand it to the Goblin.
"I require a team to excavate and clear this location, they will be searching for ruins that have been buried and hidden for roughly a thousand years." I reply, waving the note impatiently.
The Goblin raises a brow in question and takes the note.
"Such an excavation will cost quite a hefty price." He comments after a moment.
"I don't care how much it costs, just have the location excavated." I reply, snorting in annoyance.
Money isn't much of an issue for me right now, with the sale of my Nundu parts over the last few months, I have well over two million galleons in my vault.
"Very well, it will be done." he replies, his eyes gleaming greedily.
Filthy creature.
"Oh and Goblin." I whisper conspiratorially, causing him to lean forward to hear me. "It would be best if the team sent was... expendable."
He seems to catch my drift and nods in understanding.
"Very well, one of our human teams will begin work on the excavation by tomorrow morning, can I assist you with anything else?" He asks.
"No, that is all." I answer, spinning on my heel and walking away.
As I exit the bank, striding confidently through the doors and down the marble steps, I'm caught off guard as a bolt of red light slams into my side, causing me to stumble. The spell however, has no effect as it washes off my Nundu hide coat, that doesn't change the fact that someone actually has the audacity to attack me.
With a snarl, I turn to the source of the attack, one Severus Snape, who is staring at me with wide eyes, surprised that his sneak attack has failed.
"Snape." I grind out, my tone cold and murderous.
After the day I've had, I'm just looking for someone to take my anger out on, Salem is off limits as are the Goblins, Snape however...
"Potter," he replies, wiping away his shocked expression. "You must be very arrogant or very foolish to stroll through Diagon Alley after what you did."
Ah, I forgot my disguise, no wonder people were shooting me looks the entire way here. No matter now, I have no reason to hide, Harry Potter may have abhorred drawing attention but the Goa'uld in me revels in it.
"You must be very stupid to attack me once again, in public no less." I growl, drawing my (stolen) wand, I don't really need it but I don't want people knowing about my wandless abilities just yet.
Snape smirks smugly but I can see the grip on his wand tightening, he's learned not to underestimate me. By this time, our little confrontation has drawn an audience, most wanting to know why a Hogwarts professor is attacking the Boy-Who-Lived. This is both good and bad, on the one hand I can't kill or maim Snape, that will be quite bad for my PR and while most Goa'uld choose to rule through fear and terror, I'm not trying to claim this world, not yet anyways.
On the other hand, I can use this to discredit Snape, maybe even get him arrested, wouldn't that just be a treat?
Oh! Snape is talking, I should probably pay attention and stop scheming.
"-as such, Hogwarts professors are allowed to use any means necessary to return wayward students to school grounds." Snape finishes smugly. "No matter whether said student believes them self to be above the rules or not."
Ah, he's making it seem like I'm just an unruly student out on a lark, trying to get the crowd on his side, bravo Snape.
However, two can play at this game.
"Except Severus," I sneer the name hatefully, eyes narrowing in anger. "I am not a Hogwarts student, if you try hard enough, I'm sure you'll remember my refusal to attend. It was roughly before you assaulted me and the headmaster attempted to kidnap me."
Let's see how he deals with that.
"Arrogant brat." He snarls, sparks shooting from the tip of his wand. "Just like your father, thinking you're above the rules and now spreading your filthy lies."
The clear denial approach, that seems to convince a few people but most of them clearly dislike Snape, its only Dumbledores involvement that's keeping him bolstered.
I have to thank him for the comment about my father though, what a great setup.
"I ask that you please refrain from insulting my father, he was a hero who died protecting his family." I reply, playing the sympathy card.
It seems to work as most of the audience has turned against Snape. Still, they just stand around gossiping, no one trying to assist in any way, useless pissants.
"Besides Severus, which one of us just attacked a minor from behind?" I ask with a raised brow. "You obviously believe yourself to be above the law, such arrogance."
That seems to be the last straw him, his nostrils flare in anger and his wand begins moving. He's quite fast, for a human, but I'm much faster.
As Snape launches his first spell, a sickly orange hex, I'm already dodging and retaliating. He dodges the wave of golden energy I send his way and launches a slew of spells, none of which are mild in nature. I duck under what looks like a Bone-Breaker based on it's appearance, sidestep an Eye-Gouger and hop over a Knee-Reversal hex.
With my enhanced speed, it's an easy task to avoid every one of his spells but I do tone it down to average levels for the audience, just in case. Another Bone-Breaker whizzes by my head, blowing my hair up with its speed, Snape's aiming to hurt, wonderful.
Dumbledore must have told him not to underestimate me so he's giving it his best, it also helps that he seems to hate both my father and I, this is far too easy.
"Move, move!"
"Look out!"
"Ah!"
Boom!
"Hey! Watch it!"
Oh, that's another strike for him, a few of his curses have come dangerously close to striking members of the audience, that's not winning him any support.
I reply with another round of weak, slow bursts of magic, nothing too dangerous. As far as the audience, my witnesses, will recall, I'm only using weak, low level spells while Snape is aiming to seriously hurt me. They'll also remember my skill level as being mildly higher than that of my age mates, as expected from the Boy-Who-Lived. I may not be aiming to rule this world but it wont hurt to impress, you never know when good propaganda might be needed.
Having positioned myself so my back is to the audience, I give Snape a snide grin and deliberately step into the path of a Bone-Breaker, avoiding a borderline dark, Skin-Flaying curse at the same time. The spell hits and I make sure to scream extra loudly as my shoulder breaks, blood seeping down my arm as the bones jut out of my back.
That was a tricky bit of work right there, faking my own injury like that.
Snape's spell was far too weak to affect me through my coat, so I had to break the bone myself, just a simple matter of asking my magic to replicate the effects of a proper Bone-Breaker. Everyone can see how badly I'm injured but only Snape can see the triumphant glimmer in my eyes, his eyes widen as he realizes what has just happened but he only has time to throw up a weak shield before scores of spells fly from the audience.
It's about damn time, it's pathetic how these worms actually wait until I'm wounded to step in, useless filth the lot of them. My negative thoughts are pushed away when I hear Snape shriek in pain as his shield fails and he's sent flying back, rocketing towards the thick walls of the bank. He slams against the wall and crumples to the ground, unconscious, Deja Vu anyone?
The worms seem to have actually hurt him badly, as he's bleeding from a cut above his eye, spewing out slugs and his legs seem to be bent the in the wrong direction.
Ah, what a joyful day.
At this time, there are a series of loud cracks and red robed figures begin making their way through the crowd, rounding up as many people as they can, these must be the vaunted Aurors I've heard so much about. I decide that now is a good time to leave, as I want to be nowhere near the ministry or Dumbledore, and begin making my way towards the bank's doors, playing my injury for all its worth.
However, when a hand clamps down hard on my injured shoulder, I can't help but release an actual wince in pain. I should have shut down my pain receptors, they're only on because the painful grimaces helped to make my act more believable.
"I'll need you to come to the ministry with me Mr. Potter, you have some explaining to do." A voice growls from behind me.
I turn around and seeing that it's one of the red robed figures, I punch him in the balls, hard. His squeals of pain draw attention from the mob, his coworkers reaching for their wands.
I make sure to place an appropriately angry look on my face as I prepare myself for yet another bit of manipulation.
"Not only do I get attacked for the second time in four days, by the same person no less, but you have to audacity to try and arrest me after aggravating my wounds?" I growl, speaking up just loud enough for the worms to hear, they being gossiping once more.
He glares at me from the ground, his eyes filled with hate and pain, that doesn't seem quite right.
Ah, that explains it.
There on his arm, I can see a spot of faded ink, most of it hidden by his robes. One of those escaped Death Eaters I've heard so much about, this is why governments are such failures, I would have just executed the lot of them.
"It's bad enough that I have to deal with Snape, but now I have Death Eater Aurors trying to hurt me too?" I sneer, the look on his face and gasps from the audience almost cause me to break character, it's just that funny. "It's because of people like you and Snape that I'm not attending Hogwarts, in fact after this fiasco, I don't think I'll ever set foot in Britain again!"
With that I turn and storm off, entering the now empty bank as most of the clients have moved outside to check out the commotion. The Goblins are kind enough to close and seal the doors behind me and a smug looking Ranglow is waiting for me in the center of the main hall.
"As entertaining as ever Mr. Potter." Ranglow greets with a slight nod. "Do you require medical assistance?"
Another Goblin steps forward at that, a healer I presume.
I shake my head and swing my arm around in its socket, its already been healed by my symbiote and magic.
"That won't be necessary Ranglow, do you have a back door around here somewhere?" I ask, stopping a few feet from him.
He gives me a raised brow in surprise but doesn't question it, after a moment of silence he nods in reply to my request.
"Right this way." He comments, striding off.
While I can just flicker away, it's probably not a good idea to let the Goblins know that I can pass through their protections and charms. Allies or not, they're still a bank and will likely act on that information.
Passing through the bank, I notice a few Goblins scurrying about busily, more so than usual. Some others are scratching runes into the walls, reinforcing their current layers of protection.
Ranglow seems to sense my curiosity as he begins speaking unasked.
"We suffered a break in a few days ago, on your birthday to be exact." He comments, passing through the halls. "Luckily for our reputation, nothing was stolen although one of the vault doors was completely destroyed, the vault in question had been emptied earlier that day. Most are upset that the perpetrator managed to escape, so we are upgrading the protections in order to prevent another such occurrence."
I whistle in appreciation at that, the fact that someone managed to make it through the protections and escape is quite impressive. Then again, I can do the same so there's a high chance that they simply bypassed the wards the same way I could, it's not too far a stretch.
"Any idea what they were after?" I ask curiously, if the vault was emptied the same day then that means that it wasn't stocked with gold but something far more valuable.
"No, we were not informed of what was within the vault, just that it was stored there by Albus Dumbledore." he answers, the name is spoken hatefully and I can't help but chuckle at that, it's good to see that there are others that hate the old man as much as I do. "Of course, this goes against Gringotts policy as we require information on all items stored within the bank but the Chief Warlock felt it was 'for the best' if we didn't know the contents of the vault."
Despite his assurances the last time we met, Dumbledore just tickled me the wrong way, he may have had the best intentions with his actions but they sure as hell weren't for my benefit.
The old man has plans, plans involving me, there's no way I'm going to cooperate.
"And of course what Dumbledore wants, he gets, no surprise there." I reply with a grin. "The old mans a bit of a prick."
Ranglow actually grins, a noticeable one at that.
"Indeed."
We soon reach the back door and Ranglow let's me out with a muttered farewell, striding away as the door shuts in my face. Shortly after the door is closed, I flicker home, pleased with the way the day ended.
'Did you bring me a snack?'
I sigh in annoyance, I think I may have liked it better when he couldn't talk.
'Come along then, I'll take you somewhere nice for dinner.' I sigh, picking him up. 'Maybe Africa again and you can hunt down some Gazelle.'
He's quick to accept and we flicker away, he may annoy me sometimes but he's still my familiar, it won't hurt to spoil him from time to time.
Much to my delight, the Goblins are quick to deliver on their promise. By noon the very next day, a small excavation team is sent to the dig site, prepared and willing to excavate the 'ruins' beneath the sand.
They team in question is comprised of seven individuals, all of whom are newly graduated from their various schools. The first of the team is a trio of males, each with some skill in excavation and preservation spells. Next is a single male curse-breaker, a precaution in case of curses and protections on the dig site. After that is a female linguist, one versed in ancient languages and writings. Lastly are a pair of duelists, a male and female duo, to serve as bodyguards.
While I'm know that they introduced themselves to me when we first met, I barely bothered to remember their names. This is a standard Gringotts excavation team, except that the roles are usually a mix of human and Goblin and they're never made up of brand new graduates. As far as the team knows, I'm just too poor to afford a more experienced team, they have no idea that the Goblins have sold me their lives for two hundred thousand galleons.
While the team is working hard, hoping to impress on their first real excavation, I'm seated comfortably within my climate controlled wizarding tent, stroking Salem with one hand while reading with the other. I see no need to assist with the excavation, after all, I am paying for their services and it is far beneath one such as I to do such plebeian work.
Instead, I spend my time in my extravagant tent, the only tent in this camp that no one else is allowed to enter.
While I used to enjoy a humble lifestyle, getting by on the bare necessities as I've been doing all my life, I don't care for it anymore, the Goa'uld aren't exactly known for their humble lifestyles. We Goa'uld prefer to live lavish lifestyles, wearing hundreds of pieces of extravagant jewelry, decorating our ships with gold and other precious metals, as well as having slaves to serve our every need, just to name a few.
It is for this reason that when the time came to purchase a camping tent, something I require if I want to keep a close eye on my team, I went all out on my selection. The tent I chose is decked out with all the best money could by, it's pretty much a manor inside of a cloth pavilion. The entire place is carved from white marble, with hundreds of expensive decorations such as silver chandeliers, gold banisters, and copies of famous painting. I won't even go into detail on the number of rooms it contains, none of which I have much need for but still requested.
It's an interesting object, one that cost me close to half my vault and I plan to make great use of it, maybe I can find a way to remove the manor from within the tent and build an actual home around it, it's worth a shot.
Until then, I'll enjoy myself in this wonderful place until the excavation is complete.
-One Week Later-
Shouts from the dig site draw me from my book, after a full week of digging the team seems to have found something. I place Salem on my shoulder and head for the front door, his claws are digging into my skin but I pay It no mind, it'll heal. With my current disguise in place, I quickly exit my tent, filled with excitement at what I just might find.
Sure enough, I can see that my hired team has discovered the Quantum Mirror, buried in a hole roughly a hundred meters deep. They've already begun levitating the mirror, and the rune covered platform it's attached to, out of the pit. The mirror is an oddly shaped, stone gateway, a mix between an oval and a pentagon, with a ten by ten square of runes carved into the stone on the left side. A large metallic mirror is inserted in the the center of the gateway, yet it reflects nothing. Despite its small size, roughly seven feel tall and three wide, the mirror is able to easily fit objects a million times its size, it's a strange and inexplicable artifact even in the Goa'ulds home reality.
With my assistance, the mirror is soon placed on solid ground and the excavation wizards begin climbing out of the pit. The linguist is already beside the mirror, a note book and quill in had, trying to read the engravings on it's surface. The words are written in the language of the ancients, some of which I can translate, others I'll require a computer for.
Luckily, this is a phrase that I already know, it reads: Quantum Mirror, followed by a series of symbols which are the address of this reality. The ancients of this reality must have had quite an influence on the Tau'ri, because the girl is able to recognize some of the language.
"I think it says 'The Mirror of Time', the dialect is a bit strange." She explains with a pout. With silvery, blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she's quite a beauty, especially when she pouts.
"A mirror?" the female duelist asks, making her way over. "Like Erised? That's quite a find."
The linguist nods and turns to me.
"This is a really big discovery sir, it must be thousands of years old. This could date back all the way to the founders, maybe even Merlin himself." Her eyes are glazed and her expression gleeful.
The curse-breaker has made his way over as well, the second duelist behind him.
"This will definitely end up in one of the great museums, we'll be so famous for finding it." He says cheerfully with a thick Scottish accent.
I nod sagely, stepping closer to the mirror and they respectfully part to allow me access. My current disguise is that of an eighty year old man, with grey hair and milky green eyes. It's very frail looking and unassuming, so it comes as quite a shock to them when my hand flies out and grabs the linguist by the throat, her eyes are still glazed and her expression gleeful when I snap her neck like a twig.
The other three are stunned with shock by this but the two duelists recover quickly, not quick enough as my hands fly out and my magic spikes.
Following my will, the sand around them surges upwards, covering the two duelists in a thick cocoon, this of course is another technique stolen from one of my manga. Another force of will activates the next part of the technique, the two are unable to even scream as the sand contracts, reducing them to a messy pulp.
"What the fuck are you doing!" The curse-breaker shouts, he's taken the time to draw his wand and aim but his mistake is not attacking when he had the chance.
A flick of my finger sends a wave of sand towards him, which he easily knocks aside with a gust of conjured wind, however the large cat behind the sand isn't as easy to brush aside. The horse-sized cat manages to bowl the kid over and land on his chest, hard. The curse-breaker screams shrilly as his chest caves in, thankfully his shrill screams end when Salem rips his throat out; good thing about cats, they're amoral predators so Salem doesn't even care to ask why I'm killing these people, he just backs me up as his master.
"Oi! What's going on up there?" A voice calls from the pit, idiotic children.
Salem seems to agree as he snorts and swats the curse-breakers corpse towards the hole, there's some shouting and cursing as the excavators realize 'what's going on' up here. I flick my finger to the side and another wave of sand rises up, carrying the one corpse and two meaty pulps with it into the hole. Walking over, I look down into the pit and grin darkly at the faces looking up at me, eyes wide with fear and shock.
Two of the excavators are halfway up their ladders, hanging on for dear life, while the third seems to have fallen off thanks to my sand wave as he is lying amidst the corpses, a few bones look broken but he's unconscious so I guess it doesn't really matter.
"I thank you for your time gentlemen." I call to the two males, grinning at their fearful expressions. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid that I have to terminate our contract."
"Y-you can't do this." One stutters out, growing bold as he continues. "The Goblins won't let you get away with this!"
I laugh darkly and raise my hand, causing a ball of black fire to flicker into existence in my palm, this particular technique is a variation of my own, a mixture of Fiendfyre and the Amaterasu technique from the Naruto manga. The result is an extremely hot and semi-sentient flame that can burn indefinitely unless told otherwise by the user, it also requires far more power to extinguish than a simple Fiendfyre curse, meaning that only the most powerful of water spells stand a chance against it; I call it Darkfyre, not the most original of names but what do I care.
"Of course they will." I reply with a chuckle, the ball of fire in my hand morphing into a serpentine form, one similar to that of a Goa'uld symbiote. "Why else would they send me a team of inexperienced graduates?"
Their eyes widen in shock and my grin widens.
"Ta ta." I grin, tipping my hand over. The Darkfyre serpent drops from my hand and descends into the pit, growing in size as it drops.
The screams of the two males are cut off as the powerful flames consume the corpses and surge upwards in search of more food, a massive serpent of black flames rising from within the depths of the pit. Seconds later, the flames die down, the serpent shrinking and reforming into a small ball of fire, which flies to my waiting hand. With a force of will and a closed fist, I extinguish the flame, hissing as its struggle to live burns my fingers.
Within the pit, there is nothing but sand and three ladders to show that there had ever been seven people there, not even their ashes survive the heat of the flames. The useful thing about sentient techniques, is that they only do what they're commanded, it was quite simple to order the flames to burn only the bodies in the pit, leaving everything else untouched.
Another force of my will causes the pit to refill, the surrounding sand rising at my bidding and flowing into the deep pit.
'I'm gonna miss them, the blond one knew the best places to scratch and the black haired one always had the best treats.' Salem sighs, sounding disappointed.
I snort and turn my attention to the mirror, its surface gleaming entrancingly.
'Well, I'll have to make it up to you then.' I reply with a chuckle. 'Once we're through the mirror, I'll get you hundreds of slaves, their sole purpose being to wait on you hand and foot.'
'Sort of like you then?'
I can almost feel a facial tic forming.