Humanity's Inhumanity

Harry glided swiftly across the land, or he seemed to as he sprinted back to the cave, bow in hand. It was just like any other day, the shadow being that was his mentor kicked his sorry behind around in the cave, before making him hunt for their meal. Why should today be different from any other day?

The answer to that question laid in the form of two robed people, one elderly woman, the other a hook-nosed male. They trampled their way through the forest, muttering foul curses, or well the male did, the woman just looked as if she had tasted something sour.

They had said something about a "Potter" which had caused Harry to run back to the hideout in panic.

They're onto us

His heart hammered in his chest, palms sweaty and his forehead was dripping sweat as he rushed through the forest. Breaths came out in ragged pants as he forced himself to run even faster. Pushing beyond his limits. He almost dived into the cave opening, grazing his knees and cutting open his hands.

"SHADOW!"

Rapid footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Faster. Louder. Closer. The shadowy being ran into view of Harry. His normally unperturbed features crinkled in an unpleasant expression. Ruby eyes looked over in… concern? At the panicked child in front of him?

"What happened?" His voice washed over Harry like a waterfall. A calming, peaceful waterfall, which succeeded in calming him down.

"It's these 'wizards.' They found us."

The pale shadow could only smirk in a malicious sort of glee. He brushed his white hair back with his gloved hand, his eyes lighting up with a red fire. "Well let's go and meet these…. 'Wizards'."

Minerva McGonagall cursed. Yes, cursed. She cursed this blasted forest and all the roots and trees in it. Her robe was in tatters, only so many repairing charms could fix it until the spell stopped working, her hair was out of its bun and messy, and she lost one of her shoes in a bit of quicksand a while back. The untouched greasy haired professor beside her didn't help her mood any either.

Severus Snape looked like his usual daunting self. Greasy hair, hooked nose, pasty looking skin as if he didn't go outside at all. That is, until a blade found its way across his neck.

"Hello wizard." A voice breathed behind him. Severus snapped his head around, only to be prevented from doing so as the blade resting on his throat pressed harder.

"It would be a shame if I let my sword… slip, wouldn't it?" The shadow questioned. He stood at an equal level to himself, Severus noted. He was obviously dangerous, if the blade at his throat wasn't an indication.

'I didn't even hear him get behind me, or at all!'

Minerva had flicked her wand to her hand as soon as the shadow had made himself known. Pointing at the being in front of her she snapped furiously.

"Put the sword down!"

A thin line of blood trailed down Severus' neck.

"Ah ah ah. You wouldn't want your friend here to… become…. Incapacitated would you?" A smirk traced the shadows lips as he mocked the woman in front of him.

Minerva blustered in frustration at the situation she found herself in. The elderly witch lowered her wand and gritted her teeth at the man in front of her. He was spotlessly clean just like her co-worker with a sword pressed up against his neck, which only served to fuel her frustration.

He wore a plain black tunic and a brown belt wrapped around his waist, a steel buckle held the strap together. Dark brown covered his hands and feet in the form of finger-less gloves and plain boots. A black cap that barely reached his chest rested on his shoulder, barely covering the strange white hair of his. The assailant looked over to her with a dark mirth dancing in his crimson- no, ruby eyes. His eyes pierced right through her own green ones.

"What do you want?" A simple question.

Minerva straightened her tattered ivory green robes and sent back her own piercing gaze. She drew her lips into a thin line and responded with a simple answer.

"Harry Potter." Upon the shadows questioning gaze she elaborated.

"Mr. Potter was enrolled at birth to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A letter was sent to him and was promptly destroyed upon receiving it. The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, sent us to find young Mr. Potter and give him an introductory of sorts to the world of Magic."

"He's not going."

A look of surprise flashed across Minerva's face. This man knew Harry Potter? Was he his kidnapper? His caretaker maybe? Or did he rescue poor Harry from those awful muggles she observed years ago? Deciding to voice some of the thoughts running rampant in her mind, she asked.

"How do you know Mr. Potter, and what is your relationship with him?"

"That's none of your business woman."

Minerva opened her mouth to say something, only to snap it shut as a trickle of blood dripped down Severus' throat. The shadow being held a firm glare on the elder as the dug the sword into his neck.

"I will let the wizard go on one conditions Pass your sticks- wands- whatever, to me." He really didn't feel like going through the hassle of fighting these magic users and showing them how hopeless their situation was.

Minerva sent a piercing glare at the unperturbed being before her, before she tossed her wand at the man's feet. He roughly threw the professor in his hands against a tree and roughly patted him down before snatching his wand out of his holster. The scowling greasy haired professor clambered up to his feet and massaged his throat as he glowered at the shadow man. What right did this… this ruffian have to threaten him like that!

"Now tell me what you want of my charge." Shadowy tendrils burst from Shadow's feet, wavering in an intimidating manner. When he was satisfied with the reactions of the two magic-users in front of him he let the tendrils disappear, almost. They flickered at his feet waiting for his call of command.

Minerva started up "We would like to take young Mr. Potter to Hogwarts, where upon arriving, he will learn the magic of our world."

"And what, pray tell, can you do with your magic? Combat? If that's all then I believe you would be sorely… mistaken, if you believed my charge would accompany you to your school." The black clothed man sneered before sitting down on a felled tree. "He will learn the combat skills I teach him, and that will be sufficient to his needs."

"Not only would he learn combat magics, admittedly in the higher years, but he would learn simple household charms that would help with taking care of the house. He would also learn how to change the mass and composition of different materials while transfiguring their shape."

"Heh, no." Shadow scoffed. "While it's interesting, I don't see how much of a help changing the composition of an object will be in combat."

A devious look crossed Minerva's face before quickly vanishing. "If I can prove to you that it can be useful in combat, will you let Mr. Potter become a student at our school?"

The shadow took on a thoughtful expression. What would changing the materials of an object get her in combat? Could they dare say, turn plastic into metal? If they could, he would send Harry to Hogwarts to learn of their magic.

"And you yourself, would become one of our staff members. I daresay we need a new History teacher."

The shadow twitched ever so slightly. "Fine." He threw the woman's wand at her and motioned for her to get up. He crossed over to the other side of the small clearing they found themselves in. The Hero's shadow drew his sword and formed his shield.

Minerva snatched her wand off the ground and wiped the dust away with her tattered robes. She stood up tall, nose pointed high in the air as a scowl formed itself across her face.

"You, slime ball. You start the match between us. Count it off." Snape's scowl deepened at his commands but proceeded to count the match off anyways.

At Snape's count, Shadow rushed forwards in a burst of speed. Minerva was stunned for but a second and managed to transfigure a small bush in front of her into a thorny trap, ready to latch onto him. Shadow jumped over the waving spiked branches and slashed at the professor who managed to transfigure a portion of her watch into half a shield. Shadow smirked slightly. This magic was useful. There was only one last thing he wanted to test it with.

Shadow raised his right arm as black flames, darker than anything either of the professors had ever seen before, engulfed his arm. Shadow's ruby red eyes twinkled in sadistic glee as he threw the flames right at the elderly professor.

She widened her eyes in an unholy shock and quickly transfigured the ground in front of her to become a wall. The ground began to rise up, it rose up far slower than Minerva wanted.

"Faster!" She screamed in a panic. "Faster, rise faster!" The wall was almost complete… just a few more inches… Yes! The wall rose high enough to block the blackened flames. She took a better look at the flames when she stood straight back up, transfiguring a wall straight from the ground took a lot out of you. The flames were, quite literally, eating the wall away.

She looked up to the shadowed being who was, until a few moments ago, attacking her. He was hunched over gasping for breath as he held his side in obvious pain.

"You win. We'll go." He managed to say in between his gasps for air. It was painful for him to breathe. Every breath felt like knives where ripping their way down his throat. It also didn't help that he could feel the muscles in his arm writhing in agony and jolts of pain shot through it.

Minerva gave a soft chuckle towards the downed man. "It didn't feel like I won."

The shadow entity gave a resigned sigh as he leaned against the wall. He and his young charge had spent the better half of the day in this weird alley, Diagonal alley or something like that. At first it was fine, get some money from the wizarding bank Gringotts, what kind of self-respecting bank had a name like that? Mind you the bank was run by Goblins. They got their robes from Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. The shadow and mismatched-haired boy went to the apothecary and bought their potions supplies. It was when Harry and Shadow entered the bookstore that things went to complete crap, in the dark realm dwellers' opinion. The black and white haired shot off as soon as the duo stepped through the doors to the Din-dammed place.

Apparently Harry had a thing for books. No, it wasn't just a thing, it was an obsession. The eleven year old bought several other books along with his school ones. A few of the titles were Occlumency for Beginners: How to Protect Yourself Against the Mind Magicks and a so called fiction book, Elemental Flames and their Meaning.

The storekeep had been confused upon Harry's selection of books until the shadow made himself apparent as Harry's guardian. They had quickly paid for the books before Shadow led his charge into a small alley nearby.

"Don't you ever take that long in a store again, we were in there for five fucking hours!" Shadow all but silently screamed at him, making the pale boy bow his head in shame, for annoying his caretaker and wasting his time. Harry nodded sullenly.

"Let's go. We only have to get your wand."

Back to present, Shadow sighed again, the bland wall of this bland wand shop was uncomfortable. He was not impressed with the wand shop at all. The entire place was in disarray, wands left everywhere, empty boxes littered the floor, and behind the wizened old man, who was far older than he looked, there were boxes that were left pulled out, and some were empty while others held wands.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, dare I say welcome back to the Wizarding World? Though it feels like you've had encounters with magic already. Hold out your hand, no not both, your dominant one, yes there you go." Ollivander prattled on as he turned away from the black-clad boy and hurried off down the rows of shelves behind the counter. A tape measure flew off the desk with a wave of the eccentric man's hand. It was measuring between his nostrils when he came back holding a wand delicately.

"Holly wood, phoenix feather, 11 inches." Was all the man would say as he handed it gently to the young boy. "Be careful with this wand Mr. Potter, there's no other like it in this world."

As soon as the wand made contact with Harry's hand, it shocked the young wizard and sprung itself out and onto the floor. Ollivander had a frown mar his wrinkled features. "Curiouser and curiouser, by my calculations, this wand should be perfect; no other wand will work like that wind will for you. Something is rejecting the bond that would make you weapon and wielder."

Harry shook his hand as smoke from the shock rose off of his hand. "What's curious?" The wand maker only ignored him as he took a thoughtful expression.

"Ahah! That's the perfect solution!" He wrapped his spindly fingers around Harry's wrist and pulled him behind the counter. "You come along too Mr. Shadow!"

One staircase later and the three found themselves in what looked like to be some sort of laboratory. Rows upon rows of jars filled with various plants, ingredients and who knows what else made up half of the room. The other half looked like what you'd find in an old school Frankenstein laboratory.

Ollivander stopped at the base of the stairs and held his arms spread out. "Welcome to my wand creating station. You are my customer, and I shall find you the perfect wand, and if I can't find it I'll simply make it!" He laughed cheerily and plopped himself down on a chair with wheels after donning a lab coat.

"Go through the shelves on the right with the wood. Hold your eyes shut and feel for the pull guiding you to a select ingredient."

Harry did what he was told and closed his eyes. He felt deep inside himself, just like the first time years before.

Here

He could feel it within himself. The perfect wood.

Closer

Harry stepped towards the shelf. His hand reaching out, farther. Farther. There, he had it.

"Ah, Picea Mariana, also known as Black Spruce. It's a tough and hearty wood that can weather extreme cold and extreme heat, it has to be for it resides in the Boreal Forest that dwells within Canada. It's a perfect wand for one who is durable and will perform excellently with transfiguration and defensive spells, especially defensive spells." Ollivander said more to himself than the two presences in his shop.

"Now go to the other side and do the same process. This time we're looking for the core of your wand." Harry once again walked to the side of the room instructed and closed his eyes.

Nothing spoke to him. None of the cores in front of him called out to him. He was about to open his eyes when he felt it.

H..re…

There it was. It was coming from… Shadow?

"Shadow." Shadow raised an eyebrow in questioning as Harry's eyes snapped open, a frosty green pierced through the dark world spawn like a knife, though he'd never tell him that.

"Give me your pouch." He shrugged and casually tossed a brown pouch at the possessed looking child's feet. Harry snapped the top button off and shoved his entire into it. Ollivander looked on in amusement and curiosity as Harry rummaged through the pouch looking for something. The moment Harry found what he was looking for he pulled it out, a massive claw came out tip first.

"A Manticore's claw…" Ollivander could only whisper in amazement.

And here's chapter four. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Okay guys, I have some news for you. When I first started this story I had no idea where I wanted to take it, I put up a poll to help me decide. Well I'm sorry to say I'm taking the poll down. I might put one up again where you get to decide the general direction the story goes, but for now I have the main plot-line down. And oh my, I'm quite proud of it. I came up with it and talked to a certain someone about it and we managed to hammer out a few things and these will be the only hints I will give:

It involves elements from a Legend of Zelda game.

A person who isn't mentioned a lot in LoZ will be used more frequently here.

I don't think this has been done before.

And one more thing! Look forward to an OC appearing next chapter. His name is Shawn Helprin and I'd like it if you guys and gals were kind to him.

Well… Tata for now!

Rate & Review... It makes me happy!