Harry has a different reaction to his near death experience at age nearly seven and become a right little Machiavellian Prince and, as his relatives tell everyone he's a hooligan, he starts bringing their falsehoods to life.
I don't own or derive any material benefit out of Harry Potter or Stargate. This story is not a crossover, though it will feature a certain general from Texas.
Not being American, I know nothing about San Antonio and may get things wrong, a lot. The school is real; the events portrayed are not. Harry has his own views about religion. He's 7, now 8, so may not be correct. That doesn't mean he'll change his views. He is rather stubborn. Harry turn 9 in this chapter.
Special guest appearance from the death dealers from Underworld. I don't own anything to do with Underworld, either.
Thanks to Alix33 for revealing that hyphens and I do not get along.
Harry Potter had committed the wizards and witches of the USA to war against the Vampires. He was now in the same company as Gellert Grindelwald, who was distinctly unpopular in the USA. There had been talk about changing the law so that a single individual who had been attacked by Vampires couldn't invoke the law to commit MACUSA to war against the vampires, but talk was all it had remained. Had they known it was all because Hermione Granger had given Harry a very useful gift about the laws governing MACUSA, they'd have been very upset. There'd have been an international incident.
Harry didn't care. He'd be killing vampires with his werewolf friends. They'd given him cool leather gear to wear. It was all the vampires' fault anyway. All they had had to do was to stop attacking him. They hadn't. Now, they'd have to surrender a Vampire Elder to end the war. That Elder would then be destroyed, after all its memories had been extracted.
Harry could not explain why he had spared Selene. He'd liked her. Was it mere personal whim? Harry didn't know. He did know he wouldn't kill her. He hoped the feeling was mutual.
The Vampire Nation opened its offensive by wiping out a small muggle/no-Maj city of 2000 people. People ran around screaming, "Vampires" but no help arrived in time. Help did arrive in the form of 1000 hit wizards. MACUSA had made the term Vampires a taboo word. It had taken time to assemble the thousand. That was the cause of the delay. They had then arrived and destroyed the vampires and those who had been turned. Since vampires were demonic in origin, taking their memories required a certain mental strength.
Harry was known as James Hammond and his schoolwork would suffer at San Antonio School. The war would take up a great deal of his time. The first thing Harry did was acquire his own wand. He'd need it for summer school at Ilvermorny. His was a 9-and-three-quarter-inch redwood wand with a tail feather from a Thunderbird at its core.
In fact, Harry was hardly at school over the next 10 weeks. When he was in, it was to, angrily, face down the principal, telling him on more than one occasion that he was fighting the enemy of humanity. When the principal made to really get angry, his office would begin to vibrate and he could sense the energy pouring off James. Harry was usually in his leathers and out with his werewolf biker friends. He had vampires to kill. Lots of them.
As Grindelwald had, Harry attacked the vampires during the day. Their human familiars defended them. Harry killed them as eagerly as he killed the vampires. He did stop the werewolves going wolf a number of times. Had they done so they'd have charged into silver bullets. Even so, Harry lost 6 of his werewolf friends. They died at the hands of witches and wizards who had been turned to vampirism. Harry worked hard to hone his duelling skills. Not yet 9, he didn't have the stamina to fight long duels. Harry soon found Expelliarmus was his most useful spell. Most wizards lacked his ability to shoot off accidental magic, when they had their wands taken from them.
In a week, Harry had cleansed Texas of its 10000 vampires. Harry didn't count the familiars, normal breathing humans he'd killed and vanished. Cleansed sounded so much better than murdered in cold blood. Harry wasn't looting the vampire lairs. Fiendfyre destroyed it all.
The operation was much the same, whether there were familiars armed with guns defending. The werewolves would deal with them or the dogs and then harry would unleash fiendfyre. If there was a wizard or witch present, Harry would distract them, getting in an expelliarmus before a werewolf went for the throat.
Harry did 10 states including Texas in the ten-week period. Then the Vampires surrendered one of their Western Elders. That ended the war. Only ten of the fifty states retained their vampires. Alaska, California, Hawaii, Pennsylvania and six states in New England. The Vampires were only able to have 100000 now, the same number as werewolves. That marked the first time the lycans had numerical equality.
Fred and Claudette had not noticed any change in James from the numbers of vamps he had fried. They could tell he was tired, very tired and drawn. They knew he was very behind in his school work. They would not discover the number of 100000 that he had killed using his magic until some time later. As for their James, he seemed tired, they knew and otherwise alright. They still worried.
As for Harry, he was grateful his parents (adopted) were there for him. He was eight years old and had done what he had had to do. He felt nothing for the vampires he had killed. They had attacked him, contrary to their Treaty with MACUSA and he had responded. His werewolf friends had lost 6 of their number. They now numbered 30. Their stock was high amongst their kind. They minimised what Harry or James as they knew him had done. They were the ones credited with the kills of their hated Vampire foes. They were feted.
Fred and Claudette did a lot of soul searching and hand-wringing about allowing their adopted son to participate in the war. Children didn't belong in war and especially not on the front lines. As they learnt about the true involvement of James their horror at what they had allowed increased markedly. They were proud at how fiercely determined their little boy was. He did not talk about what he had done though. James got back into his school work and reconnected with his friends.
Harry wrote to his friends in England and told them about the ten-week Vampire war. He said that he had been involved in defending local magicals. He didn't exactly lie, but he did not explain the role he had played. MACUSA was reluctant to admit that the war had been brought about by an 8 year-old boy who had proceeded to slaughter 100000 Vampires, lots of dogs and familiars in the company of werewolves. The boy they knew as James Hammond had killed a quarter of all Vampires killed. Some 2000 Magicals had been killed. The number of No-Majs killed was of no concern to MACUSA and not recorded.
Over in Magical Britain, Lord Arcturus Black was determined to find out the truth. Black Inc gave him a good base to start his enquiries. Hermione Granger was all of nine years old, but she was determined to find out the real story. She knew James was leaving a lot out. She set about getting hold of the official reports. Her study group looked at the MACUSA-Vampire War January-April 1989.
Harry threw himself back into his schoolwork and spent time with his friends. He did get a letter from Hermione, just as the school holidays were happening. The school was catholic and big on the Easter story. Harry decided to attend. He'd already racked up enough demi merits that he would be expelled, if he didn't attend. The school believed that it had finally got through to him. He did take the opportunity to pray about what he had done. Harry didn't expect an answer. Harry had asked, if God thought what he had done had been justified. Harry thought he had been. He was also struggling with the answer he should give Hermione. He didn't want to lie. She had called him on being evasive. Harry thought she would work out the deaths, knowing how determined she could be. She'd get help from Lord Black. Harry didn't know it, but he had risen above Grindelwald in the list of enemies of the Vampire Nation. If they could work out a way to kill him and not get caught it , they'd take it.
Harry did not answer Hermione's letter. He had his schoolwork to catch up with. He hoped she wouldn't think he'd abandoned her. As it happened, Lord Black did check up on him. He told Hermione that James had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on and he had thrown himself into doing that. Hermione huffed, but continued with her research. Other members of the Study group had their own sources of MACUSA and Muggle affairs. They pieced together the casualty figures. They discovered that 400000 Vampires had been destroyed, a quarter by James Hammond. Vampires had lost the right to be in 40 States of the Union. Some 160000 dogs had been killed. Upwards of 40000 familiars were also dead. Another 15000 Muggles had died. MACUSA admitted to losing 2500 Magicals. Some 500 of those had been lost to someone named Selene. MACUSA only admitted to 2000 Magicals killed to those within territory controlled by MACUSA.
Harry didn't neglect his magic. There were potions that could restore his health, if he could brew them. So brew them he did. His mother's notes helped him get them right. He found he had inherited the Potter genius for potions. He soon had the potions all lined up. He had made potions during his fight with the Vampires. They had not been quite right. His first batch of potions had to first put right what was wrong with him. He didn't quite start having organs failing on him, but he realised he'd sailed quite close to the wind. He had made Fred take him sailing on a lake a couple of times and play catch with him. Fred didn't take much persuading.
Missy visited one weekend and they caught up. Harry had described how he'd felt at the end of the war. Missy had been the one to tell him that his body had almost shut down on him. She'd experienced more than a few men do that after she'd taken too much of their life force. She had eventually learnt how to give back enough of that life force so they didn't die on her. She didn't need an autopsy done by a MACUSA medical examiner. Missy was keeping everything running smoothly, she told Harry, and Potter Inc was doing very well. Harry told her that if Harry Potter were around, he'd be very pleased and grateful to her.
Harry had sorted everything out with the Catholic Church. That was just as well since one of the Vatican's more esoteric organisations had almost decided to investigate him. His adoptive parents had been concerned about him, but he spent time with them and laughed and joked around like any other little boy. He'd caught up at school. His school friends had tried to make him tell them where he'd been. Harry swore them all to secrecy and told them that a biker gang had 'adopted' him and he'd had to go around with them. Since he still had the leathers that was one story that was easy to sell.
One relationship he was losing was Hermione. She'd written him another letter asking him why he hadn't written. She'd suggested he'd need therapy to come to terms with what he had done. Harry wrote Hermione a letter. Not one he really wanted to write.
Dear Hermione,
Thank you for your letters. I didn't reply because I didn't know what to say to you. How could I? I'll understand, if you don't want to be friends with me anymore. This isn't the sort of thing that letters can fix. Ilvermorny holds a summer school and there's a place for you, if you want to come. Just write the school and tell them you'll be able to attend. This not a bribe or a peace offering. I know you'll get a lot out of it. I do need you to keep it secret from everyone else. Your parents can't tell anyone, either. Sorry. If you can't do this, it's okay.
Your friend,
James Hammond
Harry sent the letter off. He sent another off to Ilvermorny stating they'd have a Magical born, Hermione Granger, of Magical Britain, to no-Majs attending this year's Summer School, and she'd need a wand as he, James, would. The No-Majs would require a holiday cabin for the duration. All charges to be met by the discretionary fund. Ilvermorny approved/accepted Harry's instruction. Hermione didn't receive the letter until shortly before school broke up for summer.
Hermione's parents had noticed that Hermione had been distracted and down, but couldn't get her to explain why. Hermione has shrieked with joy as she read James' letter and rushed to show her parents. They knew that James had access to funds normal young boys did not. They changed their plans so that Hermione could attend this summer school. They had noticed how happy Hermione seemed. France could wait. There was this winter ski trip they'd always wanted to go on. Hermione could learn to ski. Hermione researched a quicker way to deliver her response. MACUSA maintained a small store on Knockturn Alley. Newt Scamander had used their services to slip in an out of Magical USA in the 1920s. As the location of their premises suggested, it wasn't entirely legal since it avoided Magical Britain and MACUSA strict entry laws concerning muggles and magical creatures. You did need proof of sponsorship in the target country. They also used muggle currency. Magical currency had a trace on it. Just in case it went missing, of course.
Hermione's parents found out that they couldn't get visa applications done quickly enough. They weren't looking forward to using what they regarded as an illegal way to enter the US. Since they didn't have US Visas, they could not use the currency exchanges to acquire US currency. They would do pretty much anything to keep their daughter happy. They hadn't planned on being international fugitives, potentially, whilst doing this. They almost breathed a sigh of relief, when an Ilvermorny teacher showed up at their door. Ilvermorny never got British Magicals to come. The chance to be able to compare a British Muggleborn with the American equivalent was just one gift horse the school wasn't going to pass up. They did sneak Canadians across the border and the odd Mexican, who usually preferred schools closer to home. Ilvermorny had former alumni working in No-Maj departments that dealt with Visas and short stay events like Summer School. The visas would cover the family. The Ilvermorny teacher would come collect them from this address, portkey to the shop in Knockturn Alley and take and international portkey to Ilvermorny no-Maj entrance. The return would be exactly the same, in reverse order. The Grangers were much relieved. The date was set. The Grangers had some clothes to buy.
Hermione hadn't found out as much about Ilvermorny as she'd hoped. She also thought that as much as James had said it wasn't a bribe, she thought it kind of was. She did want him as a friend. She didn't have enough friends to throw one away and she was getting an experience. She was very excited. She found it difficult to keep the secret about where she would be spending her summer holiday. Everyone noticed how she glowed. They thought her parents were taking her to a place she had always wanted to go and visit. They were right, just not in the way that they thought.
Harry was determined to greet Hermione, when she arrived. He was travelling up with Peter and Paul. Peter hadn't stopped talking about Ilvermorny. He was enjoying learning magic there so much. He thought all his teachers were great. There was a school in Japan and one in Australia that competed with Ilvermorny as the top school for wizards and witches in the world. Peter didn't mention Magical Britain, once. Harry was thankful for that. Paul couldn't wait until he, too, started at Ilvermorny. He was so thankful to James. James was making it possible for both Peter and Paul to attend. Harry made a note to check on the size of the discretionary funds via his lawyers. It would not do to come up short one year for either of his friends.
The Grangers, senior, did not like portkey travel. Hermione loved it. She saw James and hurried towards him and launched into a hug. James liked her hugs. There were ten other magical children present in the No-Maj entrance. They saw two children hugging, just like they did. Perfectly normal. The Grangers waited for their daughter to untangle herself. They greeted James, once she did. They did remember him. He remembered them. They were escorted to their cabin, along with the rest of the No-Maj parents. The children were escorted to their rooms.
Harry heard back from his lawyers. There was a lot of money in the discretionary fund. He could easily fund 10 child Magicals to attend, if he wished to. He thought that it was something he could think about doing in the future. He looked around the at the children who were attending the Summer School. There were 100 children aged 9. There were a dozen older children, who would be looking after the younger ones. Harry had Paul and Hermione with him in his group. And 22 others. Peter was one of 3 older counsellors.
The first order of business was getting wands. 100 9-year-old kids all getting wands at the same time was nobody's idea of fun. The wand masters managed. They did this every year. They let the kids try the wands. If the wand and child clicked, the kid had found a match – potential match. They liked kids to find 4 or 5 wands that were potential matches. Then they'd work with the kids to narrow the choice of wands down to one. They were wizards and were quite capable of putting right any damage the kids might have done with stray magic coming off the wands.
Harry picked up 4 wands that reacted to him. The wizard in charge smiled. The kid had picked up 4 redwood wands all between 9 and 10 inches with one of each of the big four. The wood and approximate length was determined. Was he a dragon, feathered serpent, water serpent or firebird, otherwise known as the Thunderbird? He suggested the boy cast a water spell. The reaction he got from each wand was about the same, except for the one with the dragon feather that was the weakest of the four. One down and 3 to go. He had Harry perform a battle chain. A simple one. Protego, expelliarmus. The feathered serpent core did a passable shield, but only a light yank for the disarming spell. The water serpent core gave good results for both. It didn't force the wand in the hand of the supervisory wizard to leave the hand. Harry did the shield charm with the Thunderbird tail feather core and got a very nice shield. Harry threw himself into the disarming spell and turned and faced the rest of his bunkmates. "Expelliamus," he yelled. 24 wands sailed towards him. He followed up what he'd done with an arresto momentum to bring the wands to a halt. Harry used the hover charm to make the wands stay where they were, whilst the others in his group got their wands back. His wand was 9-and three-quarter inches long. Harry hugged it. The wizard had been shocked at the results of the spell. He made sure to note it down. The school would be fascinated to know.
Hermione picked a 10 -and three-quarter inches long vine wand with a dragon heartstring. It was the only Garrick Ollivander wand present. It was picked by the only Magical British witch present. Harry's friend Paul also picked a vine wand with a water serpent core. It was only 7 inches long. The other children laughed at such a small wand. For Paul, his wand was easy to control and was extremely quick to cast spells. He struggled to control himself laughing as he watched one kid try to control a 12-inch monster wand.
The staff at Ilvermorny looked over the class and reviewed the acquisition of wands ceremony. It was a good fun-filled way to start things off. They noted that the British witch picked up the only Ollivander wand. They made sure the trace was disabled. They noted the effect James Hammond had with a simple spell chain. After his reported antics during the Vampire War, this surprised nobody. MACUSA hadn't actually stated how many Vampires that James had killed. The only one who did, other than Harry, was Hermione Granger. She had the full casualty list.
Day two of summer school was all about wand care and all the class was given a wand holster – a belt with wand holder and each child was given personal attention as to how the wand was put in the holster. Each child picked up a wand care kit and had wand care demonstrated. The first week was all about wands. This included lectures on wand making from the wand makers who had remained on site. The kids were shown the basic wand movements for spells. Poor wand movement accounted for 85% of failed spells and nearly 30% of accidents to the spell caster during the casting of spells. Harry realised that he'd been winging it with his spell casting. He thought his spells would be even more effective with accurate wand movements.
Harry had his birthday during that first week. James Hammond had his birthday on 3rd August – proving his definitely wasn't Harry Potter. The school hadn't let on that James Hammond owned the school. Once again, Hermione Granger was the only one of those kids invited, who knew. He had a good party. There was cake, too. He got to do some cooking, as well. Harry was very happy.
Harry's happiness was not to last. Hermione cornered him.
"James, how could you have done such a thing?"
"What thing, Hermione?"
"Killed 100000 Vampires. I checked the figures carefully."
"It needed doing, Hermione. I did what I had to do. There wasn't anyone else who could have done it."
"Don't you feel any remorse, James?"
"No."
"That makes you a monster, James. Some 2500 magical died. That's on your head, too. How many orphans did your war make?"
"I'm not a monster, Hermione." Harry struggled to keep his voice from going high pitched. "A war made me an orphan. I'm with good parents who adopted me. Our friend Susan was made an orphan in the same war. Another friend, Neville, was made as good as an orphan, with what happened to his parents."
"You're talked about in the same breath as Grindelwald, James. That's not good company."
"He took the war to the Vampires. I did that. Before you say I started the war, I did not. I was attacked. My parents were attacked. I couldn't do anything for my birth parents, but I wasn't going to lose them as well. Of course, I fought. You'd have done the same. They were breaking the Treaty. You think we should have turned a blind eye as Vampires attacked magicals and non-magicals alike? How many would have to die before you'd have agreed that a war was being waged against us? How many, Hermione?"
"James, you've changed."
"That's a good thing, Hermione. I'm through being the victim. Someone attacks me, I'll strike back with everything I've got."
"You're not the same boy I became friends with." Hermione had tears forming as she said this. Their argument had attracted quite a crowd.
"I am the same boy you became friends with." Harry spoke quietly. His voice, soothing. Unfortunately, Hermione had been affected by the large numbers of ordinary people who had died, as well.
"All these people dead. Ordinary people who weren't magical. How can you look their surviving relatives in the eye?"
"Those who Vampires turn kill their own relatives. Those who front for them deserve no mercy."
"What of forgiveness, James?" Hermione pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
"Forgiveness?" Harry almost laughed. "Hermione, you are so innocent and protected from horrors that you believe forgiveness would move these fiends. Would that it could!" Harry pushed away the feelings of camaraderie he'd felt from Selene. She'd been, still was, an unusual Vampire. This was New England and the Vampires were still here. Hermione would run into trouble with her sense of morals. Vampires could still hunt and feed on mortals in this area. Harry had a sense of foreboding.
Hermione turned on her heels and fled the scene. She was sure that James wouldn't want anything to do with her. She was surprised when he and three other boys joined her. She recognized James and Paul. The third introduced himself as Henry Wompupax, a Lakotan. They were doing potions. Hermione corrected herself. They were learning about the preparations necessary before starting to make potions.
Ilvermorny provided all their students with cauldrons. They'd had too many faulty ones explode with potential dangers to students. Others had given some students unfair advantages over other students who couldn't afford the later and better ones. The school did expect its pupils to buy the cauldron cleaning kit and the potion knife set. By the end of the week, the pupils had learnt how to clean their cauldrons and use the knives. They learnt a lot about the various cutting methods and picked up a fair bit of herbology, without realising it. Hermione thrived on learning new stuff and dragged her group along with her. It was hard for the boys not to get caught up in her enthusiasms.
Harry had to fend off questions about the number of vampires he'd killed. He eventually said that he was part of a group that had indeed killed, if that was the right term for the undead, 10000 Vampires. He did get some grief from those pupils who had been made orphans. He said being made an orphan sucked and hoped they were with relatives who treated them well, unlike his experience. Harry made a list of their names and sent it off to his lawyers for them to check up on their circumstances.
That weekend Hermione and her parents went into Boston. Harry didn't know the place. He got lost following Hermione's directions to the MacDonalds at which they were eating. Harry did find several eating establishments, which he noted down in his notebook, as they looked interesting. He found a couple that were owned by werewolves. They gave him a hearty wave.
He did eventually find them and saw they were talking with someone. Harry recognized the someone. He made sure his wand was accessible and began the preparations for a fiendfyre. He'd gotten so good with the spell that he was getting the flames to adopt shapes. He'd read Lord of the Rings and made the flames take the shape of the Riders of Rohan as they swept across the Field of Pellenor. Harry doubted the Vampires had the same appreciation that he had.
Hermione greeted him, "You got lost, didn't you?"
"I found many interesting places where we can eat in future. Who is your friend?"
Dr Granger (Mr) replied. "This is Selene. She's promised to show us the sights of Boston."
"Nice to meet you, Selene. Hermione, you are aware of this Selene."
Hermione started to reply and then realised who this Selene must be. She got quite nervous.
"These are friends of mine, Selene."
"Who might you be?" Selene asked. She knew very well who he was.
"My name is James, James Hammond." Harry said this more loudly that he should, for the benefit of other Vampires in the area. It also attracted the lycans, too. Harry hoped a full-scale battle wasn't about to erupt. There were far too many no-Majs around for use of the magic he liked to employ.
"Nice, to meet you, James Hammond," Selene said. Harry was aware his next words would determine, if this encounter would end peacefully or not.
"It's nice to meet you, Selene," Harry said. That was true, he did like Selene. He was sure the Grangers could have no better guide, if they explored Boston, at night. There was no-one they'd be safer with.
"If you'd like to go on one of my tours to see Boston at night, you can reach me on this number," Selene gave Dr Granger (Mrs) her card. She left. Harry watched her go. His attention was brought back to his immediate surrounding as he became aware the Mrs Granger was speaking to him.
"She's one of those things, a Vampire isn't she?"
"Yes, she is. You would, however, be very safe with her. Her friends, though, probably not so much."
There wasn't much to say after that and the four enjoyed their meal. Harry walked with them back their hire car. He saw Missy. That caused him to do a double take. He said he'd walk back. He knew he could apparate, if he had to. He watched them go. He'd have liked their company a little longer.
Missy and Harry hugged and found a seat.
"I know Boston well. Too well. Local police still have my picture hanging around. I had to come and find you. You've never asked me for anything, except to spy on your company's managers."
"Hey that's not fair," Harry responded. "I asked you to keep an eye on what they were doing, if you wanted to."
"Your company Potter Inc had a great year last year. Your revenue quadrupled from $200m to $800. A lot of that was driven by those 5 San Antonio companies you bought. You know at first your senior managers didn't like you for removing all their shares. The owners of the companies didn't like you for what you'd done to their kids. Now, they like you for letting them get on with their jobs."
"Great. First, they hate me and then they like me," Harry said. "I'll have to work on them not hating me in future."
"There's your Annual General Meeting coming up in a fortnight. You have to be there. I'm here to measure you for your suit and the rest of your outfit that your lawyers will have made for you."
Harry would have to attend this meeting. He knew he'd have to make a speech. He'd thought he'd smoothed things over with Hermione. He could not be sure. He wrote a letter to Fred and Claudette, when he got back. He did think the Vampires in the East would want a piece of him. He hoped Selene would be able to talk them out of that. If she didn't, they would regret it, was Harry's grim thought. He chuckled. He now had two identical redwood wands.