Harry Potter: Otherworld
Necessary Sacrifices
***No own no sue. ***
*Twitter for updates, Angelslayer135
I will keep a running list of male to female names as characters are introduced at the end of each chapter.
***HP:O ***
It would get worse before it got better.
With the removal of Dumbledore as Headmistress an opportunity had arisen for multiple individuals and groups to try and seize authority and power over Hogwarts, all claiming to do so for the best interest of the students of course.
None of the staff believed such lies but were powerless to stop them.
Snape was appointed Head of Slytherin, although deep down she wondered if this was due to her own skills and achievements or because of her ousting the former administration. Defense Against the Dark Arts was split between multiple instructors until a permanent replacement could be found. Serena, naturally, had put in her own application but the fact remained that her skill with Potions exceeded that of defense.
As for the administration side of the school, well that had become a mess in and of its own rights. At first it seemed as though the Minister of Magic would take it upon herself to fill the role, but none expected it to last long.
Running the Ministry was far more important, and time consuming, than Hogwarts.
Rumors had also emerged that the Undersecretary might take up the position.
Finally, there had been numerous members of the school board and other interested parties, both parents and those without children, vying for the title.
Nothing had been confirmed though, and the rank of Headmistress went without a permanent replacement.
***HP:O ***
"Wotcher Harry, how's school been?"
The boy stared at her, currently prone, form before snorting and helping her up. Watching the 'trained Auror' enter the room then promptly trip and fall on her face was both warmly reminiscent and a bit painful to see. "It's… been a year."
Giving a nod of understanding, the witch managed to sit before having another accident and waited as he took one on the opposite side of the desk. "I heard, so the Aurors are talking to all the students, making sure you feel safe and all that. You got stuck with me since we're practically family, I'm Andromeda's daughter by the way, and the DMLE figured it would make the talk a bit easier."
"Okay"
The frown was noticeable on her face, probably expecting more of a reaction but she said nothing, instead pulling out some paper and a quill. "I guess you are a bit upset about Professor Riddle being removed."
"And Dumbledore's dismissal," he added with a nod and a blank expression.
Now there was discomfort in her posture, and she shifted a bit in place, "Yeah… so uh you were pretty close to the professor, right?"
That earned a full reaction and the way Harry focused in on her made the discomfort even more obvious. Seconds, or was it hours, passed with the boy staring and the grown woman trying to find anywhere but him to look at.
"This wasn't my idea…" she finally muttered, knowing fully well when she was beaten.
"And what wasn't your idea?"
Tonks flinched slightly at the accusation, at the bite of anger in his voice. She had never been scolded by a twelve-year-old before but in that moment, she swore the roles were reversed, that Harry was the adult Auror, and she was the timid young student. "My boss, Amelia Bones, she wanted me to ask you about Riddle. Rumor is she was mentoring you."
More staring, more uncomfortable silence until Harry let out a sigh. If it had been anyone else, he likely would have told them where to shove their questions, but this was Tonks. He trusted her just as he had before, just as Sirius did.
She was family.
"Yeah, she met with me and my parents last summer to talk about that. We thought it would be good to get a head start on lessons."
The quill went to paper but made no motion after that. Nymphadora bit her lip, eyes moving between it and the boy seated across from her.
She was debating.
"Do you think she was involved?"
Harry shook his head, "No".
"It all points towards her."
"I know"
Another moment passes and the woman lets out an overly dramatic sigh before tossing the quill onto the table, the parchment still blank. "Any reasoning why?"
What could he say? 'I've met an evil version of her and was tortured by him, so I know how evil sociopathic monsters look and act, but she isn't one of them'? Instead, he shrugged, "Slytherin gut instinct, I guess. It's too obvious, too perfect that it has to be her."
The Auror nodded, "Honestly, I don't think it's her either. I mean she has no motive. She's been an established teacher here for decades, takes on an apprentice, then starts attacking students? Why?" Tonks let out a groan, tilting back in her seat until she stared straight up at the ceiling. "The problem is that you two are the only ones connected to the attacks."
"Right"
Slowly, almost painfully, she corrected her posture, "Any chance your 'Slytherin gut' has a suspect in mind?"
His eyes darted back and forth for a few moments, "I had some, but nothing more than coincidence and bad feelings. Pandora Malfoy is… well sort of stalking me."
"She's what!?"
Harry shrugged, "You know, sending me love letters, taking creepy pictures of me, that kind of stuff. No threats though and when I asked her, she didn't seem to have any answers either. I think she would've at least hinted she had been behind it all."
Nymphadora Tonks stared at him, both concerned and fearful, before almost deflating before his eyes, "Buggering shite, have you told anyone? Your parents, a teacher, bloody Dumbledore?"
"I don't exactly have a good history with adults taking care of problems." At least he hadn't needed to lie about that one, even if she looked at his history in the new world it would have been enough evidence.
Tonks ended up writing nothing down from their interview, and when asked later by her boss she would shrug and say that Harry hadn't given her any information they didn't already know.
***HP:O ***
It had happened when the boy-who-lived was making his way back to the Common Room. In fact, if the hallway hadn't been so quiet, the students so terrified they flinched at any sound, he likely wouldn't have even heard it.
A whisper that seemed to echo, but more importantly one with a hiss.
"Just one more"
Harry froze, spinning in place and searching for anyone or anything out of place. There was nothing and for a second, he believed himself to be going crazy. But then he remembered, he remembered his own second year, remembered how he had dismissed the voices in the walls, dismissed all the terrible feelings and suspicions.
Suddenly, it was all so clear. He had made a mistake and then continued making it as time went on, continued ignoring the evidence and the truth.
He had trusted the adults to handle the problem.
Despite its differences this universe was the same, deep down it was all the same. Minor things were altered, sure, but the incompetency of generations was still just as prevalent as where he had come from, perhaps more so since there weren't any excuses this time around.
His friends had been hurt and his sister petrified along with others all because he had made the wrong choice.
"Potter, catch up." An older student, one leading them between classes, demanded, and he did as requested to avoid any further suspicions.
He knew time was short, and every attempt thus far had failed. It left him very few options.
***HP:O ***
One of the many, many problems now facing the boy-who-lived was the simple of a lack of privacy. Students couldn't wander about the halls during the day, couldn't talk to a professor outside of very strict time periods. It made his only plan of action that much more difficult.
And humiliating
"Professor, I was wondering if I could talk to you about setting up some private lessons." The words tasted worse than any of the Bertie Bott's Beans he had tried, worse than the Petunia's cooking, worse than anything he could imagine.
But to save lives he would suffer the disgust, and the embarrassment.
Lockhart's eyes lit up with poorly concealed glee at his words, and the stares given to him by the other professors in the Great Hall made him want to crawl into a hole. What was he supposed to do though? Stand by like before and hope everything just 'worked itself out', this time without Dumbledore or Riddle as potential buffers?
He saw, everyone probably saw, the way the woman glanced over to Snape for a moment with an intentional, victorious, smirk before looking back to him. "Of course, Harry I would be delighted to give you private tutoring. How does this weekend sound? I'm sure we could find time Saturday."
No, he needed it sooner rather than later. Time was of the essence after all.
"Actually, I was hoping for something during the week. I don't to be out of practice."
Again, the woman glanced to the side, but this time he followed her gaze and noticed the death glare she was receiving from Snape. "Eager to begin I see. Well, I am happy to oblige you, Harry. Let's plan for an evening session, say two days from now?"
It would have to do, and the boy-who-lived promptly ignored the furious glare from a certain potion professor before nodding in agreement and returning to his seat.
***HP:O ***
"What was that?"
Harry looked up from where he had been studying to see his new Head of House borderline glaring down at him. He blinked, confused for a moment, and then playing dumb when he realized what she was referring to. "What was what?"
Her eyes narrowed, and he could tell she was forcing herself not to make an angry comment. "That display at dinner."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing as if in deep concentration. In reality, he was just drawing out the moment. Pissing off Snape had always been therapeutic and now that he was in her favorite house he could do so without retaliation.
"I don't know what you…"
The response earned him a growled interruption, "Do not act dumb with me Harry. You know what I am speaking of, your conversation with Lockhart."
It appeared she wanted to cut right to it, fine, he could do that as well. "I don't have class with Professor Lockhart and with the curfew in place there wasn't any other time I could approach her."
"There are other instructors at Hogwarts you could have gone to, those more convenient and skilled in your strengths."
He stared back at her, knowing exactly what she wanted him to say. She wanted acknowledgement, for him to mention her as the best choice.
She was going to be very disappointed. "Well, my previous mentor was arrested for something she didn't do, and Dumbledore has been removed as well. That leaves me with very few options. Lockhart is the best option with her worldly travels and experience. Plus, she was an instructor of a dueling club."
"And yet she is a poor excuse of a duelist. If you recall, I defeated her handedly."
His shrug did nothing to ease her building frustration, "And if you recall I wasn't impressed in the least. I don't like bullies or those who think its impressive to show off by hurting someone. Besides I can already duel, I need an instructor with a wider range of experience."
The look he received in return almost made up for having to speak with the fraud.
***HP:O ***
Azkaban
If ever there was a 'Hell on Earth' it was there. A solid fortress in the middle of the North Sea, constantly battered by freezing winds and water, nothing but desolation in all directions. All of this not taking into account the other occupants. Everything from murderers to the crazed filled each cell.
Then there were the Dementors.
It was designed to break the wills of those who inhabited it, to take the worst of society and twist them into shells of their former selves so damaged as to no longer be a threat even if they were to be set free. The prison was to be her final destination, pending a trial, and a continuous looming threat for the future.
For Grace Riddle, however, it was one of the lesser concerns that haunted her dreams. Whoever, or whatever, was behind the attacks was still active at Hogwarts, was still a threat to the students and more importantly Harry.
Even from her temporary holding cell, in a much nicer but still awful place, she overheard gossip. Dumbledore had been forced to vacate Hogwarts, which meant that there was little protection for those that remained.
Despite her best efforts she couldn't blindly believe that her own arrest would halt the attacks, that maybe everyone would be safer without her present. What if the next attack killed someone? What if the injuries continued to escalate? What if Harry decided to ignore their pleadings and commands and take matters into his own hands as he had before?
What if that was what the maniac wanted? No one else knew where the Chamber was, and few would have the magical ability to access it. Would Harry simply disappear and never be seen or heard of again? Would his body lay in the Chamber for the rest of time?
No, no there had to be another option, had to be something she could do to prevent it. The problem was that even with her decades of experience she could not come up with a single plan that would work.
***HP:O ***
Even with the two days between his request and initiation of his plan Harry wasn't quite sure how to proceed. Yes, the first steps had gone well, Lockhart was just as prideful as before and manipulating her to the course he wanted was a simple task. The remaining issue was how to get what he wanted from there.
An evening training session would ensure that the hallways were empty, minimizing the risk of him running into another group of students or staff member. Gordana could likely be convinced to escort him back to Slytherin directly rather than having Snape do so.
But that still put him back in an inescapable position. What he needed was a distraction or excuse to make the final part of the journey by himself, to remove all 'adult presence' from the equation as it were.
In those couple of days, he hadn't come up with a good solution, and with the memories of those hissed words in the back of his mind he knew there likely wouldn't be time for a second attempt.
Maybe stun her and make a break for it? Hope no one checked in on them? It was a long shot, and with everything that had happened he couldn't even be sure there wasn't some sort of alarm should an attack occur.
To simplify the process Harry had followed Lockhart following dinner. Luckily, it wasn't to a building separate from Hogwarts, as Hagrid would have done, but back to the chamber they had used as a previous dueling room.
It gave him a good idea of how far it would take him, what path to choose, and the timing and distances for his eventual journey. What it did not do was give him any ideas on how to accomplish the trip alone.
"We will examine your stance and style and then do some movement training." She immediately slipped off her out robe and began to take off the sweater underneath while Harry stared in disbelief.
"Uhm, professor?"
She turned back for a second, "Well come along then, we don't want to keep you out all night. We will skip the traditional dueling uniforms, but the rest will still make it difficult to move or instruct."
Harry doubted that he doubted it very much but arguing with the creep would probably make his plan harder. Besides, if most of their uniforms stayed on it wouldn't matter.
Within minutes he was on the dueling platform, wearing only his white shirt and black pants. "Right, stand as you would during a duel."
He did as requested, earning a tsk of disapproval. "Such an unsightly way to start."
"It's efficient." He protested, earning a shake of the woman's head.
"Lesson one, dueling is about more than just 'efficiency' Harry. It is about pride and appearance. What would be the point of victory if you looked improper while achieving it?" Briskly walking over, she put her hands on his shoulder's moving and repositioning him before doing the same with his arms. "There, that is better."
Harry didn't like it. Didn't like the way she had put her hands on him without asking, didn't like how she had moved him as if his opinion didn't matter, and certainly didn't like how he felt as though he were moving backwards rather than forwards in the one thing that she was supposed to teach him.
"Now, cast a stunner."
It was awkward, not just because he was standing uncomfortably but also it went against what he had taught himself during his first time at Hogwarts. Still, he could accomplish the simple task given to him.
After the spell impacted the far wall, he glanced back and noticed the frown on the witch's face. "No, no no, remember what I told you Harry? It is about presentation. You must flow with grace and flourish! The art of the duel is not just victory or defeat, it is impressing one's opponent and judges."
To Harry Potter there were no judges in a duel and impressing one's opponent meant impressing a raging sociopath hell-bent on murdering him.
They went through a few more 'instructional poses' and moves before Lockhart called it for the evening. "We will pick up tomorrow night where we left off Harry. Just think, a few more weeks and you will be nearing 'blue ribbon' levels!"
He wasn't sure what that meant but nodded anyway. His time was running short and he either needed to make his move or think of some kind of excuse on the way back to the Slytherin commons.
After they redressed and began their journey towards the dungeon, however, fate seemed to take his side. At night, with so no one else in the corridors, each shadow seemed to shift and move with eerie silence. Every noise, every creek, and bump in the night startled the woman.
The duo barely made it to within a few hallways before she was practically shaking. "Professor, perhaps you should head back to your room and get a good night's sleep. My room is only a few hallways away."
She looked uncertain for a moment, but another loud thump had her almost jumping in place. "Yes, of course Harry. One must always get a good night's rest after all so do be sure to keep in mind what you learned today, and we will pick up tomorrow then." With that she practically ran down the opposing hallway, back towards her room where she would undoubtedly be locking the door for the night.
Harry merely stared after her for a second, before shaking his head with a snort, steeling his resolve with a deep breath, then moving with intent towards his new destination.
***HP:O ***
Serena Snape let out an aggravated sigh. Things had been both better and worse since the removal of Riddle. Sure, she had been promoted to the Head of Slytherin, something she would admit to coveting for quite a few years, but without a proper replacement for Potions the Defense position was being temporarily filled by several staff members, including herself.
What resulted was an absolute mess of a curriculum. Lockhart was just as incompetent as she assumed he would be, Filius focused on the spellwork, McGonagall on theory, and she spent most of the class trying to figure out where the students were in terms of preparation for testing and real-world knowledge.
It certainly was not helping the seventh years with their N.E.W.T's work, and more than a few had begun seeking outside tutoring from previous students.
Then there was her own class, dealing with the fears and concerns still plaguing the student body, and keeping up with the club she pseudo inherited. Not to mention the added irritation of having a certain raven-haired boy going to a certain useless professor for 'mentoring'.
It was all becoming too much and more than ever the woman felt the need to take a long vacation. Even as she headed back from escorting a student back to their common room from a well-deserved detention.
"Perhaps somewhere warm and…" she trailed off as she noticed a student walking past the entrance to Slytherin. At that point it was beyond strange to have any student out past curfew, but most telling was their size, clearly a younger student, along with the messy black hair… "Mister Potter?"
Her voice slowed him for a moment, and the boy turned back for just a split second, but in that split second, she saw everything she needed.
Anger, acceptance, and an overwhelming amount of determination.
He was going to the Chamber.
She shook her head even as he turned and continued, "No, Potter no!" Her own steps became hurried, leading into a run, exhaustion forgotten as she attempted to catch up to him. But his destination, it seemed, was already there and he stepped into the nearby bathroom without a moment of delay.
Snape barged through the door a few seconds later, but she could already see it was too late. The center of the room had slid back, creating an opening in the floor, one that a certain boy was already stepping into.
"Harry no!"
He barely glanced back before hissing and ducking under as the tiles and stonework rearranged to prevent access. Even as the woman pulled her Wand and began trying various spells to force it open, she knew it would be pointless.
Only a Parselmouth could gain access. She hesitated for only a second long before turning and running from the room.
***HP:O ***
Not much had changed from what he remembered of his own journey. The tunnel was just as dark and abandoned, the doorway at the end etched with the same symbols. It wasn't surprising, really, even if Slytherin had been a woman she would have likely had the same interests as the male version.
The moment he stepped inside the chamber his body tensed up, memories resurfacing despite his best efforts. He had almost died down here. Ginny had almost died down here.
But there was no redhead lying on the cold, wet floor, in fact there wasn't anyone in the Chamber save for himself.
Had he been wrong? Or maybe he had arrived before them? Either way there had to be some sort of evidence, and if not, he would wait until they returned and ambush whoever was responsible for everything.
Hopefully the Basilisk was still locked up and hadn't been unleashed yet.
There wasn't much in terms of hiding locations or cover to use for protection and Harry had begun debating about whether to make his own when movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
It was a snake, a rather large one but nothing compared to that of the monstrosity lurking inside of the giant stone statue nearby. Its tongue flicked out as it slowly curled around a pillar, every movement watched by the wizard. Just as he was being watched by it.
The realization was so obvious it felt like someone should have smacked him in the back of the head. "Animagus, clever." It didn't move, didn't so much as blink and he let out a sigh, "I think we can stop the charade now. You're the only other living thing down here and there's no way a normal snake was trapped and lived this long."
Another few moments passed and for a moment Harry doubted himself but then the creature began to shift and change. Up it rose, body expanding, colors changing, until instead of a snake there stood a rather pretty woman wearing a black dress.
Her face twitched into an expression of annoyance, "How did you get down here?"
"Better question, who the hell are you and why are you attacking people!?"
She sneered, before pacing back and forth, ignoring the boy and the Wand he now had pointed at her. "Did she never mention me? Of course not, trying to hide her past like always, trying to look so perfect like always. My name is Nagini, and she loved me. Did you know that? We were in love!"
Nagini!?
Harry's brain almost shut down for a moment. Voldemort's pet snake was a person!? Had it been one in his world as well? Maybe where he came from the sociopath had used magic to force someone to doing his bidding. Regardless, it didn't take a genius to figure out who the deranged woman was speaking of. "Riddle…" he whispered, finally bringing the woman's attention back onto him, "You were in love with her? Then why do all of this?"
"BECAUSE SHE ABANDONED ME!" the woman screeched in hysteria, "She told me she loved me! I gave myself to her, my body, my future! Then she left! She left saying it didn't mean anything, that I didn't mean anything!"
His head spun, it really wasn't about him, it had all been about his Head of House. "So, you framed her."
The woman's rage seemed to settle into something closer to pride, "I tried to tell her, tried to win her back you know. I even found the Chamber of Secrets, the one thing she had been searching for her entire life, and do you know what she said when I told her? She laughed. Laughed in my face and called me a liar. Told me there was 'no possibility someone like you could have found it.' She treated me like an object, like something to be used when it was convenient then discarded when I was no longer wanted. Well now who's unwanted? Stripped of her precious titles, of her freedom. Now she's the one who is worth nothing."
"And those you hurt?" Harry growled, "my friends, my sisters."
She waved off his concerns, "I made sure they weren't seriously harmed or killed. You don't think the petrification was by coincidence, do you?"
"And the last target? You said, 'only one more'."
This had her pause, before glancing over at him with a sickening light in her eyes, "That is the grand finale. All the research I did throughout the year, overhearing rumors through the walls and in the bathrooms, planning every attack, every injury perfectly timed out to point to only one possible conclusion, and with you providing Snape the Basilisk information… well there really only could be one responsible. As for my finale, just imagine how devastated Grace will be when her newest toy disappears, never to be seen again. Originally, I was going to have them find your body, not petrified but lifeless. One last victim to the woman whose mind was twisted, and hate filled. Either she ends up with The Kiss, or rots away in Azkaban with the guilt that it was all her fault."
He saw her go for her Wand, but his was already out, and he had been waiting, anger building as her sick plot came to light. If he had just investigated at the start of the year, or after any of the attacks, none of this would have happened.
"Fulmen!"
His Wand lit up as the emotion pulsed in his veins, a bolt of lightning filling the room with a bright light as it burned across the expanse, striking the wide-eyed woman with lethal accuracy.
She screamed as electricity coursed through her body, causing it to spasm and spark. Her body, oddly enough, began to partially shift one body part at a time, as if the transformation was linked more to her muscles than her magic.
Still, it gave her enough time that she hissed out a command, and he didn't just hear, but felt, the shifting of stone and a much louder hiss as the Basilisk slithered from its home.
***HP:O ***
It was the moment he had been fearing, terrified of, and at the same time thrilled by. How many hours had the boy-who-lived put into strategizing and research, how many spells had he practiced and memorized just for that one situation?
Countless, at least in his mind, and it was because of all that preparation that he moved almost on instinct. His eyes closed, head turning away even as his Wand was raised.
Then, he brought forth the Sun.
"Ardenti Lux"
The Chamber of Secrets, once dark and mysterious was filled with a blinding, almost scorching light. Shadows were burned away, water shined in ways it never had, and a horrific screech fills the air as a creature's eyes gazed upon a star created by a mere child.
Even with his face turned, even with his eyes closed Harry had to blink a few times after the spell ended. Looking over he saw that Nagini was still rolling on the floor in agony, but now there was something large flailing about as well.
He chanced it, and his risk paid off as the two burned remains of the serpent's eyes were obvious.
Step one complete, but that certainly did not defeat the creature. It was still immensely dangerous, and he had to kill it then and there. The problem was accomplishing the task.
A flurry of thrown spells did not but splash off its skin, everything from blasting curses to elemental incantations failed to do more than bother the creature and reveal his location to its remaining senses. It lunged forward, jaws wide to try and swallow him whole.
Luckily, he had been anticipating the retaliation, and dove out of danger just in time. Still, he didn't have an answer to its defenses that didn't involve magic swords.
For a moment a thought crossed his head that perhaps the eyes were still a weak spot, but this theory was proven wrong when a handful of curses right to its face as it turned around for another pass did nothing but splash like water upon rocks.
A thousand-year-old Basilisk… even the beasts he had read about which took entire teams to were only a century or two. This was stronger, faster, more dangerous.
Frankly, he was surprised his original idea to blind it worked as well as it did.
Another attack by the Basilisk, another narrow dodge and failed retaliation and Harry began to get desperate. There was only so many times he could narrowly avoid the strikes, only so long that Nagini would be out of commission, only so long until his luck ran out.
He needed a plan or failing that a ridiculously stupid idea that might get him killed but might not. Then, one popped into his head.
It was stupid, reckless, and the chances of it backfiring were so high it could probably be classified as 'suicidal'.
Then again what other options did he have?
He fell back, as quietly as possible, so that when the next time his enemy turns there existed a larger gap between them.
Then he began to gather his magic.
He focused as much as he could, the way Riddle had mentioned during class, the way he read about in books, the way he felt while training for elemental spells. It surged into his wand, building until it was nearly visible.
When the Basilisk snapped forward, mouth open as before Harry didn't dodge. All his attention on his magic, on his Wand, and the spell that had been so ludicrously overpowered it felt almost solid.
He waited until the last moment, then threw it forward.
The boy-who-lived's plan worked. A blasting curse, perfectly aimed, shot directly into the serpent's jaw, before exploding.
Blood and organs splattered, yet the explosion was mostly contained due to the scales. What was not contained were the fangs, and Harry became aware of one that had been launched like shrapnel into his arm a moment later, earning a wince as the pain surged through his body.
"So much for the Potter luck…" he mumbled, before his legs gave out and he fell to the ground, darkness consuming him.
***HP:O ***
Previous Name**************New Name
Tom Riddle*****************Grace Riddle
Albus Dumbledore***********Augustina Dumbledore
Draco Malfoy***************Cleopatra (Cleo) Malfoy
-*************************Harriet Potter
-*************************Amaryllis (Amy) Potter
-*************************Pandora Malfoy
Blaise Zabini****************Bliss Zabini
Theodore Nott**************Theresa Nott
Severus Snape**************Serena Snape
-*************************Marie Rosier
Percy Weasley**************Paisley Weasley
Bill Weasley****************Billie Weasley
Charlie Weasley*************Charlene Weasley
Fred Weasley***************Frankie Weasley
George Weasley*************Georgie Weasley
Remus Lupin***************Remi Lupin
-************************Sylvie Rosier
Gilderoy Lockhart**********Gordana Lockhart
Oliver Wood***************Olivia Wood
Marcus Flint***************Marcia Flint
