Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or FF7, they are the property of Square Enix and J.K Rowling. The only thing I own is my OC for this story.
A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope those who read it enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Chapter 6: The Meeting Continues
Reincarnation Confusion
The inhabitants of Malfoy Manor were treated to a rare sight that morning.
A disheveled Aurora came into the dining room and plopped down into her normal seat with a distinct lack of grace, evidently still half asleep. From his seat at the head of the table, Lucius watched her stifle a yawn with one hand as she blinked rapidly, fighting to remain awake.
It made him chuckle a bit. It was good to know that some things hadn't changed. As he caught his wife's gaze, they shared an amused look. He realized that they had been worried for nothing.
Certainly things were different now that their wizarding parents knew their secrets but at their core, they were people they knew and loved. They wouldn't have to treat them any differently.
"Good morning Aurora"
Lucius said to the sleep deprived girl.
He got a mumbled "good morning" in reply. He saw that her hair, while all mussed up since she had evidently not taken the time to brush her hair before coming down to breakfast this morning. Was now a honey brown color with a slight wave to it as opposed to pin-straight raven black. Her eyes, which had been smokey gray with flecks of cerulean blue, were now golden. They were not the yellow-gold of a were-wolf but a molten gold that seemed to glow faintly.
'This must be what she looked like in her past life', He thought, since he recalled her saying they had regained their former appearances along with their memories. They must have been using complex glamours and possibly magical hair dye in order to hide the changes.
His daughter, while not bad looking before, was now exotically attractive with her new coloring.
He idly wondered what changes there were to Draco's appearance while waiting for his son to appear for breakfast.
Moments after he finished that thought, Draco arrived with much the same aplomb as his sister had just minutes earlier. The Malfoy patriarch drank in the slight changes to his son's features, easily cataloging them.
They weren't as extensive as his daughter's had been, the only major feature that had changed were his eyes.
They were now a deep sapphire blue rather than a mercurial silvery gray. While his hair was still blond, it was a darker golden shade. It had also grown down to his shoulders.
As soon as Draco sat in his seat the morning meal appeared and the two teens seemed to perk up the moment the scent of coffee reached their noses. They eagerly began to drink their caffeinated beverages. Breakfast was a quiet affair, as it was most mornings in the manor, and was eaten in comfortable silence as opposed to the awkward silence of the previous evening's meal. Each person seemed to enjoy the peace before the day truly began, and they would have to get back to work.
The meal finished and they all went their separate ways for the moment, though the two teens would be meeting up with Him and Severus as soon as they were dressed and presentable. His Lord was expecting them.
Thirty minutes later everyone met in the entrance hall to depart for Slytherin Manor.
Lucius, curious about the shadow traveling ability his daughter had used, asked if they could be transported via the shadows. To which his daughter replied affirmatively.
Before they departed, Severus sincerely apologized for his unbecoming behavior the night before and expressed his resolve to not let his previous impressions color his interactions with the Potter Heir from now on. Aurora, seeing his genuine remorse, accepted the apology but sternly warned the Potions Master that should he step out of line again she would have no qualms with frying him to a crisp.
Lucius took his daughter's right hand as Draco took her left, Severus placing his hand on her shoulder. She warned them not to let go no matter what, as if she were their portkey, before the world melted away into swirls of gray and black.
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Whatever he had expected when traveling through the shadows it did not compare to actually experiencing it.
It was cold, though thankfully not as cold as Scottish winters in the highlands or the dungeons of Hogwarts, and he was grateful he had chosen to wear a cloak with temperature regulating charms.
The shadow realm seemed to leech the color out of everything, leaving the world dyed in shades of gray and black as they traveled in a blur. Lucius could not make heads or tails of where they were or where they were going but trusted his daughter to get them to their destination.
As soon as it had begun, the party of four stepped out of the shadow realm into the entrance hall of Slytherin Manor. While slightly disoriented, though he was far less so than with side-along apparition, floo, or portkey, he decided that this was his new favorite magical means of transportation.
He said as much to his daughter, who shot him an amused look since most people she had transported via the shadows were unnerved by the lack of color, the chill and surreal quality of the shadow realm.
She and Draco looked around curiously. He let them take in their surroundings for a moment before leading them in the direction of his Lord's study.
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It seemed they were the first to arrive. After Lucius came Severus then Draco and Aurora, who had bowed and curtsied respectively.
Draco took the seat his sister had sat in the day before. Aurora herself took a position standing directly behind and to his left much like a bodyguard would.
He found that intriguing, and so did his Lord by the gleam in his eyes. He didn't have much time to ponder the significance however because that was when the others began to arrive.
They swept their eyes over the two reincarnates, briefly taking in the differences in their appearances as they were no longer hiding it. They each greeted their Lord and took their places around the desk at which he was seated. Once everyone was settled, their lord recommenced the meeting.
"Thank you all for coming. I know that the information shared yesterday was rather upsetting, but I have faith that we can overcome this and see the benefits."
Aurora knew that a few of her fellow reincarnates had no doubt been interrogated as she had yesterday by their own families. At least the ones that had Death Eater parents anyway.
"In light of this, I will turn this meeting over to our resident reincarnates who no doubt have even more information to share with us."
"Our thanks, Lord Slytherin." Draco said politely, speaking for both of them
"Aurora informed me of all that she imparted to you yesterday, so I will continue from where she left off."
"First, since she didn't finish answering Fenrir's question"
Here the were-wolf perked up, looking eager.
"Aurora, and others, have been enhanced by a substance called mako."
Here both reincarnations got a very serious look on their faces, knowing that whatever they said next was a very serious matter. Everyone waited attentively for what the Malfoy heir would say next.
"Now, mako is, and this is no joke, the lifeblood of the Earth itself"
The gaping, wide-eyed expressions of their faces at that announcement were priceless, and Draco so wanted to cackle with glee but refrained (barely) from doing so. This was a serious meeting and a serious matter being discussed after all. This didn't stop him from making a note to rewatch this moment in a pensieve later.
"In our previous lives, Aurora and the others had mako injected into their bodies, and it caused them to gain supernatural speed, reflexes, stamina, healing factor and senses. Mako is, in essence, 'liquid or crystalized' life itself, and most human bodies aren't made to handle such a potent substance. Most people would end up poisoned and dying a very slow and painful death."
Severus looked intrigued. As a potions master he knew his poisons, both mundane and magical. To find a new one he had not heard of before was a rare occurrence.
"However some have an affinity for Mako and are able to incorporate it into their bodies and gain great benefits as I've already mentioned. However, they do have to endure a great deal of pain as their bodies adjust. The easiest way to tell if someone has been enhanced by mako is their eyes. All mako-enhanced individuals' eyes glow faintly."
The assembled group looked from one teen to the other. While Draco's eyes did not glow, Aurora's did. It was rather eerie when combined with the liquid gold shade of her eyes in all honesty.
"As my father can attest, the strength of those enhanced by mako is nothing to sneeze at, considering Aurora ripped a magically reinforced door right off its hinges yesterday evening while in his presence."
They all looked to the Malfoy Lord with raised brows at that proclamation, who gave a nod to show that he was telling the truth.
"He speaks the truth. Her strength is incredible."
That brought into question just why she had done so. Only their Lord noticed the guilty look on his potions master's face and he resolved to find out what the dour man had done to make her angry.
Severus, having caught the look in his Lord's eyes, acknowledged that he would be questioned later. He was glad he had already resolved the issue, otherwise it would be much worse for him.
"As I mentioned before, mako can also be crystallized. While some of it is just plain mako which the people of Atlantis learned to harness as a power source, much like modern day electricity, sometimes it was infused with a certain power and became what we in Atlantis called materia."
"Wait, your people used mako as a power source?" Both Severus and Narcissa exclaimed in alarm.
Being trained in healing, they'd caught the implications of using mako as a power source more quickly than the rest, though they were all beginning to look equally alarmed.
"I'm afraid so, and it is as much as you might imagine. The people of Atlantis were killing the planet with their excessive use of mako, and only a handful realized it. An even smaller number cared to do anything about it."
Stunned silence completely devoid of any emotion met that statement. Both reincarnates had a fire burning in their eyes at the disregard their people had shown their world that none in the room wanted to test. If they hadn't known them to be dangerous before, especially the golden eyed woman, they would have now.
It made a few of them shiver unconsciously, glad that the reincarnated teens were allies and not enemies. They got the distinct impression that they would lose badly if they had been.
They watched in silence as the golden haired Malfoy heir and his brunette companion composed themselves before continuing from where he left off:
"Materia are how we in Atlantis cast magic back in the day. Materia came in different colors that denoted their type. Green resembles the magic you are more familiar with, such as elemental and healing magic. Yellow was for command materia, such as w-magic which allows the user to cast two spells at the same time. It is also sometimes referred to as a dual cast materia.
Blue was a support materia, which worked in conjunction with other materia to increase or add to their overall effect. A very useful materia to have when fighting enemies with a large magical core or a magical creature.
And finally the rarest and most powerful of all the materia; Red materia was used to summon beings to fight by your side in battle. A good example of this is Ramuh, who is a lightning aligned summons and Aurora's favorite."
She smirked at this and just for show summoned a bit of lightning to dance over her gloved hands.
"Summoning materia are also the hardest to control as they generally cause the most damage when used. So they are a last resort generally.
Materia can be either manufactured or found in natural mako springs where it has bubbled up to the surface."
As they took in this information, most were in awe and eager to learn how to use this new magic themselves. They hoped to see it in action in the near future. After all, it would be an advantage over their enemies using a magic they knew nothing about.
At the same time, the Inner Circle was disgusted with the people of Atlantis for the disregard they showed the world they lived in.
Aurora, who had come wearing a mythril armlet held out her arm at Draco's motion to do so, and they could see two faintly glowing green crystalline orbs and one blue one slotted into the metal armlet.
"These materia", he gestured to the three glowing orbs, "were acquired about a year ago from the Department of Mysteries."
Aurora who had been silent up until this point let out a slight snort of laughter at that.
"Yeah it was funny we were there to raid the department for anything useful. They were just sitting there in the corner of a storeroom, in a box gathering dust with some notes from one unspeakable or another noting that they held immense power. Idiots couldn't figure out how to use them so they chucked them in a corner deeming them a lost cause, and didn't even realize just what they had in their possession. Lucky for us."
"Wait, you raided the Department of Mysteries and weren't caught?" Dolov asked incredulously.
And why shouldn't he be incredulous, he had worked for the DOM before he was ousted as a spy, so he knew just how paranoid the unspeakables were. The fact that someone had managed to breach their (frankly ridiculously) powerful protections without being unspeakables themselves was a mind blowing prospect.
"The unspeakables apparently didn't take into account a magical animagus whose form gave them the ability to travel through shadows where their protections were concerned." Aurora said with no little smugness.
And she had every right to be breaking into the Department of Mysteries and not getting caught was no easy feat, even for a witch or wizard with years of experience. That she had done it as a teenager, even with memories from a previous life aiding her, was quite remarkable.
Voldemort and everyone else looked intrigued at the mention of her having an animagus form, though he had to admit to being curious himself.
"What is your animagus form if you don't mind me asking?" Lord Slytherin enquired.
"I don't mind at all. My animagus form is that of a shadow wolf." Dolov let out a low whistle at that.
Shadow wolves had been extinct for centuries. When they had been alive they were very elusive creatures, thanks to their ability to travel through the shadows, which is what earned them their name.
Not much was known about them and his inner scholar was itching to ask her questions. The opportunity to study an extinct magical species didn't come about every day after all. He held back however, knowing he would more than likely get a chance to ask her later.
"I knew there was something familiar about your scent. I just couldn't put my finger on it until now." Fenrir said with a predatory smile curving his lips, matched by the equally predatory smile that the female reincarnate sent in his direction.
Fenrir chuckled, already liking her immensely just from the fact that she was a fellow wolf. Even if it was only her animagus form, some of the wolf carried over into the human form much like with werewolves. He looked forward to sparring with her sometime. Based on what he had heard so far she could probably give him a run for his money.
Draco broke up the little staring contest between the two alpha wolves with a cough.
Aurora blushed faintly and ducked her head much to the amusement of everyone else.
"Back to our discussion. We will of course be teaching all of the Inner Circle and yourself how to use materia Lord Slytherin. In fact, the materia Aurora brought to the meeting today are for you."
At that, Aurora gently unclasped the armlet and wordlessly passed it over to their Lord who clasped it around his own arm. He felt the warm power that the three crystals possessed as they touched his skin, and he was in awe. They felt like nothing he had ever encountered before.
He gave a grateful nod to the two reincarnates for the gift.
"The armlet itself is made with high quality mythril, and I chose the materia slotted into the armlet for you personally."
Their Lord shot her a surprised look.
"The three materia I have given you are a fire materia, an imp materia and a cure materia."
"Imp?" he asked curiously
"An imp materia, as its name implies, can turn anyone that gets hit with its magic into an imp. Your opponent can't do you much harm if they are not only smaller and weaker than you, but are also unable to access their magic until the transformation is reversed. Of course, there is the amusement factor to consider as well."
She snickered a bit before she elaborated.
"Watching your enemies waddle around all uncoordinated, squawking angry protests at the humiliation of being turned into short, bald, web footed creatures that wouldn't look out of place in a swamp. Funniest thing ever."
They all shared laughs at the mental images that were invoked, and they could already see their Lord plotting to use that particular materia on some unsuspecting enemies, and perhaps even a few of the more annoying lower level Death Eaters.
"The cure materia can heal physical wounds, torn muscle, cuts and abrasions, broken bones etc. I don't think I need to explain what the fire materia does, its name is rather self explanatory."
Tom could see the value in her choices of materia since he was a beginner in using them. What she had given him was basically a beginner's set.
"You actually have an advantage over most of your followers in learning how to use materia, Lord Slytherin." He gave her a curious look, silently asking her to elaborate.
"You have mastered the fiendfyre spell. Fiendfyre, as I'm sure everyone in this room is aware, is living magic with a mind of its own which is why it's so devastating if the caster loses control of the spell. It is much the same with materia, since it is just crystalized mako which has taken on certain properties."
"Your mastery of fiendfyre is the reason I chose a fire materia for you, since you seem to be more familiar with it than ice or lightning which are the other two starter elemental materia."
Draco then spoke up, changing the subject.
"Moving on from materia, I now wish to speak of the events which led up to Atlantis' fall."
Not much was known of how the ancient civilization fell, only that it had and that its fall caused shockwaves across the planet. Most muggles believed Plato's version was simply an allegory.
"The events that led to Atlantis' destruction, although back then it was called Midgar, and no before you ask none of us reincarnates know the reason for the name change or how it came about. Anyway the events that led to the fall started about 2,000 years before, when a meteorite crash landed into the northernmost region.
Unbeknownst to all, until a people known as the Centra sent some of their own to investigate, the meteorite had carried with it an entity from another world that would later be called Genova."
Those assembled knew other worlds existed of course but they hadn't realized that Alanteans had discovered this fact way back then. They were intrigued until the next words he spoke.
"The Centra just called her a calamity, and that was truly what she was. She was a parasitic being who craved destruction, death and chaos. The Centra were a peaceful, nomadic people who were unaccustomed to violence. Though most of them had basic combat training, they were completely unprepared to deal with a being like Genova."
"Especially since she could mimic the Centra's special gift, which allowed them to communicate directly with the planet itself and hear her voice." Aurora spoke up a look of such sorrow and loss on her face that they knew this was personal for her.
"For the Centra were the planet's sacred people, more favored than any other, and given the task of caring for the Earth. Which is why they were able to communicate with her and why they were nomadic, they needed to travel in order to complete their work. While our planet is for the most part self-sufficient, even it sometimes needs a little bit of help which is where the Centra came in. Genova knew the instant that the party of Centra came upon her crash site that they were a large threat to her designs. Using her ability to mimic the voice of the planet, she turned the peaceful centra upon one another."
"After years of brutal, bloody war, the Centra finally realized they had been tricked, and in one final conflict were able to seal Genova away."
"It was a bittersweet victory, for the Centra had been almost completely wiped out, and were now more separate and scattered than they had ever been."
"They could no longer perform their duties to the planet, because there weren't enough of them left, and they had yet to find a way to destroy Genova."
"What had been forgotten until much later was a special materia called Holy that had been gifted to the Centra by the planet that had the power to destroy Genova permanently."
"The Centra eventually faded into obscurity, becoming known as the Ancients, slowly forgetting who they had once been, but for the handful that maintained Genova's seal."
Draco continued.
"And even they had forgotten much of their heritage in the intervening millennia, especially since many of their records had been destroyed in the fighting."
"2,000 years later Genova's resting place was discovered by a team of scientists. They thought she was a Centra, so they excavated her and broke the Centra's seal. She laid in wait, quietly corrupting the hearts of the scientists which led to them using her blood to conduct experiments on their fellow humans in an effort to create the 'perfect being'. Genova used the experiments to find the perfect vessel for herself, so that she could attempt to conquer the world once more."
"She did not expect the people that survived the experiments to be so strong willed, and had to wait many years before one such experiment lost its mind and allowed the whispers he had been hearing all of his life to take hold."
"Harry."
Came the shocked whisper of realization from Narcissa.
No one missed the way Aurora's entire body tensed as if readying to fight, her hands curled into fists so tightly her nails would have been digging into her palms and no doubt causing her pain if she hadn't been wearing gloves.
Aurora nodded her face a picture of righteous fury.
"In his past lives, Harry was subsequently killed and revived twice, each time trying to fulfill the mad whispers of Genova until he was taken out permanently in his third life."
He had regained his sanity by then, and he just wanted nothing more than to rest."
All of them, even those who had heard parts of the story before sat in shocked horrified silence at these new revelations, and sat contemplating the mental and emotional strength of the reincarnated teen who had once been a thorn in their Lord's side.
Meanwhile, the Dark Lord had a new respect for his once nemesis. To have gone through so much and be able to regain your sanity at the last moment, all on your own without help, was nothing short of astounding.
To remember such things in a new life and not go insane again, even with others going through the same experience supporting you, was humbling. He realized that the Potter Heir was far stronger than anyone had given him credit for.
Aurora began speaking again:
"After Harry died, those that were left began picking up the pieces of their shattered lives and things eventually returned to a semblance of normal. However the things that allowed for Genova to gain a foothold in the first place were still there, and hadn't changed despite the best efforts of those who had lived through her terror."
"The planet could not risk another calamity happening. Sure Genova might have been completely purified from the world thanks to Holy, but that didn't mean something or someone equally as horrible wouldn't eventually take her place. If things were left the way they were with the people content to forget the horrors they had suffered, especially now that none of the heroes who had fought Genova lived anymore, and were not there to remind the people. A second Calamity occurring was far too huge a possibility to ignore."
"The planet decided to sink Atlantis to the bottom of the sea so that her children could start over, and so that her holy land where most of her power was concentrated would never again be abused at the hands of mortals."
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At that point Lord Slytherin ordered a house elf to bring some tea and light snacks since it was still too early for lunch at that point.
They all were lost in thought, still processing all they had been told both today and yesterday, as they idly nibbled on the food that had been set on the coffee table near the fireplace.
Madam Zabini quietly observed the two teens in their midst, who stood leaning against the fireplace seemingly bored though she could see they were actually observing the others in the room with them curiously. Finally having the chance to truly see them and the changes they had undergone.
The biggest outward change was in Aurora. She had always been quiet, finding peace in silence rather than idle chatter. Now her quietness was a watchful, knowing silence, as if aware of more than most would ever know.
Draco had always been confident but now had an accompanying air of command, as if he was used to giving orders and having them followed.
The Zabini matriarch, unlike her fellows, had known something had changed within her own son Blaise since nearly two years ago.
She was her Lord's best assassin, situational awareness was her bread and butter. An assassin who wasn't aware of their surroundings and everything in them was a dead assassin.
She had not pried because she trusted her son. He would eventually come to her with whatever it was when he was ready. Though even she had been blindsided by the fact that her son was a reincarnation.
She had gone home yesterday after the meeting and quietly talked to Blaise while sitting on her favorite chaise lounge, as she hadn't in nearly two years. She found it quite ironic that he had been a master spy and assassin in his past life, and had been born as her son in this one.
He had as well, and they shared a laugh over the fact he had been born to an assassin in his current life.
Other than his features becoming more asiatic instead of the clear italian features he inherited from her, and his hair growing to shoulder length, her son looked mostly the same as before. Though he now had an air of command much like the Malfoy heir.
Blaise had always shown a great loyalty to the Malfoy scion, they had been friends since they were little so it was not really surprising.
What was surprising was that her son had told her flat out that if he ever had to choose between the Dark Lord and Draco he would choose Draco every time despite his mother's loyalty to the man.
Now as she watched the man that held her son's unwavering loyalty, she could see why her son had given his loyalty to him. He was a good leader, silently commanding without being overwhelming. Someone you would follow unconsciously without realizing it at first, and then continue to follow.
Her thoughts paused as she looked more closely and the two reincarnated teens, something about the way they were standing had been puzzling her, and was now finally starting to make more sense.
'There' Ms. Zabini thought with intrigue, the most minute of twitches of the head from the blond Malfoy heir that most people wouldn't notice. His companion responded with an equally minute shifting of her elbow.
How interesting, it appeared the reincarnates had their own silent language.
She laughed mentally at the ingenuity and how everyone else in the room was oblivious to the silent conversation happening right in front of them, even Severus, her Lord's best spy. Then she wondered if they wouldn't mind teaching her (it would be amusing to be able to silently insult people with them none the wiser) and what they were talking about.
She might have been able to tell they were communicating silently. That didn't mean that she could understand what they were saying however.
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Draco and Aurora had just finished a conversation about inviting the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle to their headquarters, intent on showing them the impressive facilities. Aurora wanted to give them a demonstration of materia and of the VR training rooms that Shinra Manor was equipped with. She also thought it was a good idea to introduce them to Vincent as soon as possible.
He had to agree with her on that, and he wanted to hit himself over the head for forgetting the vessel of Chaos and his part in the past events. The former TURK had been around a lot in the last two years, trying to get to know his former son so introducing him should have been on the list.
Draco and Aurora noticed the Zabini matriarch's scrutiny of them right away but were unconcerned. She wouldn't do anything to hurt Blaise and had likely already realized that doing anything to hurt any of the reincarnations, especially Draco, would harm her son. They had nothing to fear from her.
In fact they might just have another protector watching their backs as the Black Widow was a formidable adversary that few would be willing to face.
Their amusement grew as they watched comprehension dawn on her face after some minutes of scrutinizing them. It seems Blaise's assessment of his mother's skills was spot on.
Comprehension soon turned to intrigue and Draco got the feeling they would be teaching the Zabini matriarch more than just materia use. It would be interesting teaching someone from the modern age their silent language. Wasn't like it was hard to understand, just so subtle that it was hard to recognize unless you knew what to look for. He would probably leave the task of teaching the Zabini matriarch to her son.
By that point most everyone had finished their snacks, so he turned his mind to finishing up this meeting so that they could move on to the materia demonstration that Aurora wanted to give them.
Draco cleared his throat.
"I know this meeting has been long already so I will try to wrap up our tale quickly. The last thing on the agenda to cover is two of our associates, who you will meet at some point. Their names are Nanaki and Vincent Valentine.
Nanaki appears as a cross between a canine and a feline. He has red fur and a lion-like tail, only the end is on fire. One eye is scarred, the other is ochre and he typically wears a headdress made of beads and feathers with bangles adorning his legs. You don't need to be afraid of him, unless you mean to harm him or those under his protection."
"You make him sound like he is sentient?" Dolov said, sounding as confused as the others looked.
"That's because he is, and he has no qualms about making his displeasure verbally known if you treat him like an unintelligent animal. And no we don't know what exactly he is and he has never enlightened us. To us he is just Nanaki. Nothing more, nothing less.
He is actually a great conversationalist and we have had quite a few debates over the last two years." Aurora said with mischievous humor in her voice.
The Dark Lord and his Inner Circle just decided to take her word for it. Even for the wizarding world, an animal with a human level of sentience that could speak was strange. Animal hybrids, such as centaurs, were a different matter so they didn't count.
"The last of our associates, Vincent Valentine, is actually Harry Potter's father from his past life."
All thought processes stopped at that point as every person in the room looked at them with blank incomprehension.
"Yes you heard right, Harry's father from his past life is still alive. You see Vincent was experimented on after Hojo nearly killed him when he tried to stop the experiments being done on Harry. Back then Vincent didn't know Harry was his, only that he was born from the woman he loved.
Anyway, after Vincent was left for dead by Hojo, Harry's mother in the past, a scientist named Lucrecia Crescent, implanted a unique Materia into Vincent allowing him to survive. What he didn't learn until later was that said Materia, in addition to giving him another voice in his head to contend with, made him one of the Planet's WEAPONs, which made him immortal."
Finding amusement in the fact that they still wore looks of blank incomprehension, he finished up his explanation.
"WEAPONs were created by the Planet to defend itself, although they failed to do so when it came to Genova. Just a side note, you do not ever want to fight a WEAPON. Even the weakest of them is so monstrously powerful they could easily level mountains.
The only reason why Vincent cannot replicate the feats of his bigger brethren is because he is limited by his very human and thus more fragile body.
WEAPONs are easily recognizable by not only their incredible size but the fact that most of them appear as very large machines in various animal forms."
Draco waited for them to digest that bit of information. Incomprehension soon turned to wariness and everyone made a note to never mess with the man that harbored such a monster inside him. While he might not be as strong as his fellows, they had no doubt in their minds that he could be incredibly dangerous if he wanted to be.
They also made a note to run if they ever encountered anything even remotely resembling the description of these WEAPONs. They liked living, thank you very much.
The Dark Lord coughed a little bit.
"Right, is there anything else?"
He sounded like he was asking out of politeness and not because he actually wanted there to be another matter that the reincarnates wanted to discuss. They threw him a bone, knowing that what they had discussed had been a lot. Thankfully, all the major matters had been gotten out of the way.
"No, Lord Slytherin. If any other matters come up they will more than likely be minor and of the non-earth shattering variety."
That startled a laugh out of everyone in the room, easing up the tension they had unconsciously accumulated.
"What we do have for you is a demonstration of how to use Materia, if you are up for it."
Excited murmuring broke out. They had been itching to see just what Materia could do since it had been mentioned earlier (the sparks of lightning that Aurora had conjured earlier didn't count. They were child's play). The summoning Materia especially intrigued the Dark Wizards and Witches.
"I think that I speak for everyone here when I say that we would all very much like to see that." Lord Slytherin said the eager gleam in his eyes brighter than anyone else's in the room.
"Also I think I can safely say that we would be fools to turn down the alliance you offer us, and happily welcome your help."
"Very good."
Both reincarnates had satisfied looks on their faces, shaking the Slytherin Lord's hand and firmly solidifying the alliance.
"It would be best to use the practice rooms at Shinra Manor, since they are built to withstand the intense damage that can be done with Materia."
That did nothing to dissuade them. In fact it just made them want to see it all the more.
Here Draco felt the need to elaborate a bit on the VR rooms abilities so they had an idea of what to expect.
"The VR or virtual reality training rooms at Shinra Manor are something like the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, for those of you who have heard of the Room."
This was followed by a quick murmured discussion on the Room and its properties as those who knew of it filled in those that did not.
"The rooms at Shinra Manor were made with technology rather than magic. The only difference from the versions of these rooms that we used in the past is that they don't run on Mako."
Finished with their explanations, the two reincarnates gave everyone the floo password for Shinra Manor. Taking a pinch of floo powder, they went on ahead of the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle, turning around to face the fireplace and throwing the powder into it. They wanted to make sure everything was set for their demonstration.
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When the world stopped spinning, Voldemort was able to take in the Shinra Estate's entrance hall. His mouth dropped open in utter shock. He barely managed to step out the way as Lucius and Narcissa came through the floo. He sensed their own shock, not that he could blame them. The foyer alone seemed fit for a palace rather than a mere manor.
It was made of polished white marble with veins of rich crimson red. The vaulted ceiling soared high above them for what seemed like hundreds of feet, his eyes moving upwards towards one of the most beautiful mosaics he had ever seen with a crystal and silver chandelier in the center.
The ceiling was supported by silver-gray marble pillars of doric design. Each pillar had an elegant bronze sconce attached to it, lighting the entrance hall with magical light, giving the room an almost ethereal and ancient atmosphere. As if you had just stepped into one of the temples in Greece.
The huge fireplace they had stepped out of was adjacent to a set of large double doors on the left, which were ten feet wide and made of wine red glass. They seemed to lead onto the manor grounds.
To the right of the fireplace were twin staircases made of black marble with veins of the same silver gray as the pillars, with what looked like a wrought iron railing, though the Slytherin Lord couldn't tell from this distance.
In between the pillars on either side of the room were floor to ceiling glass windows made of the clearest glass he had ever seen, letting in plenty of sunlight framed by silk drapes the color of fresh cream with gold stitching in the form of what appeared to be oak leaves.
All in all it was stunning and obviously built to impress, which it did effortlessly.
He was brought out of his appreciative staring by giggles coming from the direction of the stairs. He glared at the one responsible, which turned out to be Aurora although he could see the Malfoy heir concealing a smug smirk.
A thought brought him to a halt and he had to ask.
"Just out of curiosity, who is the new Lord Shinra and who was the old?"
Both reincarnations looked at eachother surprised.
"We didn't tell you?"
The Dark Lord shook his head.
"Oh well as it turns out Lily Evans Potter was of Shinra descent, so Harry ended up being the Lord Shinra for a short amount of time before he gave the title to Draco."
They thought about it for a moment, reviewing all the facts they had been told and wanted to hit themselves for not figuring it out. In their defense they had been given a lot of information over the past two days.
Severus was especially surprised. In all the time he'd known Lily and her family, he'd never known she had magical blood in her, much less a house as ancient and revered as Shinra.
He watched as Aurora got an annoyed look on her face before a knife sailed through the air into one of the only shadowy corners of the room. Someone tumbled out into the open with a yelp, barely dodging the thrown weapon which sank hilt deep into the white marble flooring.
She moved towards the person with predatory steps
"Just what do you think you were doing Ron?" She asked in a voice full of saccharine sweetness that no one bought it for a second.
They observed who they now knew to be Ronald Weasley hastily try and explain himself to the irate looking Aurora. They wouldn't have been able to tell he was Ronald Weasley right away at first glance, since like the other reincarnates he looked completely different.
His hair was short and slightly spiked on the top and in the back, it was also blue-black rather than the Weasley fire red. His eyes were a deep indigo color that no one had seen on anyone before, instead of the teal-blue sported by most of the Weasley. Like Aurora, they glowed faintly.
They watched in amusement as she grabbed his ear, dragged him to where her knife had landed, yanked it out of the flooring, sheathed it and began moving towards the right hand staircase, still dragging the protesting Weasley with her.
"We had better follow her. I know I for one don't want to miss the show. She is probably taking him straight to Neville or Harry,depending on which of them is here at the moment. Those two will probably be quite displeased at the stunt he just tried to pull. Since he was more than likely planning to prank someone."
That comment had them wondering how the Potter Heir managed to get away from his muggle relatives without the old meddler knowing about it.
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They moved up the right hand staircase for three floors and down a hall to the end, which featured a room that looked more technologically advanced than the rest of the Manor they had seen thus far.
Outside of the room stood a silver haired young man with acid green cat-like eyes, a red haired young women with aqua colored eyes, a well built young man with brown hair and brown eyes, and another young man with asiatic features and his hair partly pulled back with the rest falling straight to his shoulders. The first three had eyes that faintly glowed.
They'd just caught up with Aurora in time to hear her exclaim to the well built young man:
"Neville, do something with your former apprentice before I do! He nearly pranked our guests, and right after the alliance was solidified too."
She was looking more and more steamed by the second.
"I swear if he tries something like this again I will string him up by his ankles from the ceiling in the entrance hall with his hands tied behind his back by reinforced magic canceling cuffs, confiscate all magical foci and gag him then leave him there for a few days as punishment."
His Inner Circle found her rant highly amusing especially with how descriptive she was being in her ire, and inwardly Voldemort was just as amused as they were. Especially because she sounded very serious about her threat.
The young man identified as Neville Longbottom just sighed and told the asiatic man next to him, who he identified as Blaise Zabini, to do with the idiot what he would.
The young Weasley male made an undignified squeaking noise at that and began begging Longbottom to reconsider but the Longbottom heir was unmoving in his decision. He was dragged off once again, this time by the Zabini heir, who began whistling a cheery tune with an evil look on his face as he dragged the heavily protesting male off.
He nodded at his mother on his way past her.
Meanwhile the other two just snickered silently at the others' misfortune, having been on the receiving end of the former head of the TURKS tender mercies before themselves. They had no sympathy for anyone who did something stupid enough to warrant being dragged off by the Zabini heir as punishment.
After a moment, they all regained their composure and the other two teens were introduced. The young man with the long silver hair to his knees was actually Harry Potter himself, and the young lady with short red hair was Hermione Granger.
Aurora inquired about why the other four were there.
They had replied that they had wanted to do some sparring together like old times. They hadn't known about the materia demonstration at all.
Aurora got a thoughtful look on her face before proposing with a wicked smile:
"We have sparred against each other before but I don't think we have ever had a four on four free-for-all."
The other three now had thoughtful looks on their faces, considering her idea.
She tried to entice them into agreeing to her idea.
"Think of it this way, we will be giving them an incredible show."
"No holds barred?"
Harry asked eagerly after a moment, a slow predatory smile working its way onto his face.
The other two, who had been looking hesitant up until that point, started to get more into the idea at that question.
"No holds barred" she agreed.
"I'm in" said Harry
"I think we are all in agreement" agreed Neville
"Besides, it will be fun to see who comes out on top," said Miss Granger with a feral smile, which was mirrored by her fellow reincarnates.
Draco, seeing the visions of the destruction that this 'sparring session' would cause, began mentally listing the replacement parts they had available for the VR training rooms, estimating how many more they were likely to need and tallying how much replacing the damaged technology was going to cost.
"Draco, do you mind monitoring things from here?"
The other teen just gave her a bland look.
"I'm not going to be able to dissuade you four from this am I?"
He questioned pointlessly he already knew the answer was a resounding no but had to try anyway.
"Nope," the other four said in sync, grinning.
Draco just moved over to the attached control/viewing room to start booting up a holographic program for them. He motioned for the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle to follow him since this little sparring match/demonstration was for their benefit.
"Why were you so set against the four of them sparring together?"
His curiosity getting the better of him, Severus just had to ask
His godson winced at the question "Besides the fact that they will likely get carried away, knowing them, the VR training room will most likely end up completely destroyed and in need of serious repair by the time they're done 'sparring'." He said this all in deadpan monotone
"I thought you said the training rooms were built to handle such things?"
The Dark Lord questioned, failing to see why the Shinra Lord would think the room couldn't handle the 'sparring match'.
"They are, but not when they are trying to contain the powers of four insanely strong individuals, both magically and physically, who make even you look like an average Wizard in comparison. When two or more of our insane powerhouses go at it with no restraint, the rooms don't stand a chance of holding up."
The Dark Lord raised a disbelieving eyebrow at that.
Draco almost snorted. The other Lord would soon learn.
He began typing things into the system and selecting settings. He chose a remake of the top of Sister Ray in Junon Harbor in Midgar and set safeties to maximum, and hoped the systems would be able to hold out long enough for them to get the need to spar out of their systems.
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Meanwhile, the other four reincarnates were selecting the Materia that they would use for this little 'sparring match'.
As soon as they stepped into the room they had to hold back a snort at the irony of the location Draco had chosen, as it had been a spar like the one they planned in this exact location that started the downward spiral in the past. Draco must have been really peeved at them if he was being mean enough to choose this particular location.
That didn't stop them for long however, and they were soon spread out equidistant from each other and summoned their respective weapons into their hands, holding them at the ready. On some unknown signal the four reincarnates moved with breathtaking speed to attack.
Aurora clashed with Neville briefly, their swords giving off sparks with a sound of metal grating on metal as they locked blades despite the size difference between their weapons.
Before she disengaged, swiftly dodging to the left away from a thrust from Hermione and backflipping over a horizontal slash from Harry that would have taken her head off had she been even a fraction slower to react.
Masamune's Blade missed her by centimeters.
Unfazed, Harry turned to Harmione and Neville who were now trading blows at a rapid pace and thrust Masamune between both blades, neatly parrying both of their strikes.
Turning half a step he caught Aurora's blade with the hilt of Masamune, pushing her away with some force causing her to stumble for a moment. He maneuvered his blade behind his back just in time to catch the dual overhand strike from Hermione and Neville.
The battle shifted then to three on one in a wordless exchange between Hermione, Neville and Aurora. All three hammered away at Harry, trying to find a hole in his defense but hitting nothing but air. Harry wielded Masamune like an extension of himself, blocking every blow that came his way.
This continued for several minutes before the battle shifted again to two on one with Aurora and Harry vs Hermione and Neville, each pair straining to land even a single blow on the other.
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Back in the control room the Dark Lord and his Inner Circle watched with awe, barely able to keep up with the speed at which the blows were being dealt. This was incredible they thought and they hadn't even started using magic yet, just their raw physical ability.
They watched as Aurora jumped much higher into the air than should have been possible, almost appearing to fly without the aid of a broom. Hermione followed suit, the two females began to fight in midair while their male teammates continued their own deadly dance on the ground.
The battle in the air suddenly took on a new dimension when Hermione brought up a glowing hand and thrust it at Aurora, unleashing several volleys of fireballs in her direction.
She began to cut through and deflect them with ease when suddenly a dozen of the fireballs changed course and surrounded her, battering at her from all sides. There was a surge of heat and light as the fireballs detonated only for the smoke to clear and reveal a completely unharmed Aurora.
A barrier of wind had sprung up to protect her from the blast a split second before the fireballs hit.
Aurora gave a feral smile before retaliating by sending several volleys of lightning bolts surging at Hermione.
Having anticipated her retaliation, she swept her hand down the blade of her rapier causing it to be wreathed in flame, the runes inscribed on it lighting up with a radiance as fierce as the swordswoman who wielded it. She cut through the bolts of lightning that were sent her way with ease.
The two men on the ground paused when they sensed magic being used and glanced upward only to see some stray lightning bolts that Hermione had missed heading in their direction. They broke apart and promptly dodged the blasts which left small smoking craters where they hit.
They shared a look and then surged into the air to join the aerial battle.
Neville, in a surprising show of violence, angled his sword so the flat of the blade was facing his erstwhile friend. Using it like a baseball bat he sent the unsuspecting Hermione careening downwards, where she created a nice crater in the metal of the cannon they had been fighting atop just moments ago.
She shakily got to her feet with a moan. That had hurt, she never expected the normally peaceful Neville attack so savagely. She cast a cura spell on herself, feeling the pain in her aching body lessen to a more bearable level. She was so grateful for the enhancements of mako sometimes. She then moved to pick up her rapier from where it had landed.
Just in time too because the other three landed where she had been standing moments later, knocking her off her feet with the shockwave they caused and creating yet another crater. She had managed to get to her feet only to be knocked over again by Aurora slamming into her. They skidded a bit before landing in a tangle of limbs a good ten feet away from the two fighting males.
As soon as she and Aurora had managed to untangle themselves, they shared an intense look before preparing one of their limit break attacks. If the males wanted to play it that way then they would retaliate with prejudice. Hermione chose Apocalypse and Arora chose Storm Strike. There was a clinking sound like a key unlocking a bolt as wind began swirling visibly around Silver Wing and fire began to do the same around Rapier.
Moments later the power around the two females had built up to such intensity it would have been hard for a normal person to remain standing in close proximity to them at that two females brought their blades down in a sharp slashing motion a tornado erupted from Silver Wing while a corona of fire surged from rapier. The two elemental attacks merged into one, heading straight for the boys.
Sensing the danger, they managed to dodge the majority of the dual attack but were still slightly sliced by wind and burnt by fire. They didn't see the follow up attacks, however, and were consequently hit by a Rasp spell. They felt a good portion of their remaining magic drain from them, only to be caught in a Gravaga spell and brutally smashed into the floor.
They thanked their lucky stars they hadn't still been in the air, otherwise that spell would have hurt a lot more.
They laid groaning and disoriented. Before they could get their wits about them, they were bound in a Stop spell and an Incarcerous spell for good measure, ending the match.
The two females high fived before going to tend to their injured friends, casting cura spells on them until they were good as new, even though their clothes were still a bit singed. Not that the girls were any better off.
At that moment the virtual environment around them shattered and warning sirens began blaring as they took in the damage they had managed to inflict on the VR training room. Burnt and broken wires poked out with twisted and melted reinforced metal paneling which was also marred by deep gauges from Aurora's Storm Strike.
They winced and began mentally preparing what they were going to say to Draco in apology, they may have gotten a little carried away in their sparring. Again.
End Chapter
Next Chapter: Bill and Charlie have a very painful conversation with their father and Harry takes a calculated risk.
