Fables and Future Fantasy

by PhillyCh3zSt3ak

Contained within is a repository of random one-shots and pilot chapters on a myriad of different standalone stories and crossovers of different series. Rated M for safety, true ratings and notable content included with each individual chapter. Formerly "Phil's Random Pilots and One-Shots."

12. HP x Halo: Original Wizard from Tribute

(Please note that what you're about to read is a reposting of my original chapter for "The Wizard from Tribute". Before you ask why I would waste my time reposting the entire chapter, I do have a reason. You see I had to make several decisions regarding the story and I had to scrap those ideas, as you'll see towards the end of this chapter. That had to happen as I decided to take a different route from what I originally decided to do. Instead of allowing these chapters to rot for eternity on my laptop's hard drive, I decided to post what I had here in my repository so that you guys could all see where I might have been going with this to begin with.)

Some specific notes that need to be addressed are that I am an American trying to write with a British "accent" so there will be times when I may use "color" instead of "colour" or "center" instead of "centre." In the case of the last one it will be a case by case basis as I may say "the center of the galaxy" while in the same general area saying "Centres for Disease Control" or something along those lines as I associate the latter with a specific location while the former as a generalized location. Also, my computer's word processor has autocorrect so there's that too. Listed below are a series of specific character triggers.

Smart/Logical/Semi-Jaded!Harry – As there will be a series of events that will happen in this pilot, Harry will not be stupid and desperate for friends that he is in the actual books and movies. I mean who would WILLINGLY be friends with Ron after he almost gets Hermione killed because he decides to be a jackass to a girl who has JUST ENTERED THE MAGICAL WORLD? Let's not get started with Ron's attitude during the Triwizard tourney, he's his alleged best friend and he writes him off as a seeker of glory though he knows that Harry hates being in the spotlight. Personality-wise he won't be in anyone's face about being smart like Hermione is with her know-it-all type attitude, he lets his work speak for itself, acta non verba and all that. He will be influenced by his mentor as well as his adoptive parents and his actions will reflect that. As for his jadedness, he's not one to be fooled by the rose colored glasses that the rest of magical Britain has on. He's also not one to trust anyone immediately based on his early life prior to 2552.

Manipulative/Greater Good/Meddling!Dumbledore – As we read in the final book, Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore says, more or less, that hell is paved with good intentions. I believe that this is what spawned the whole fanfiction trope of a manipulative or evil Dumbledore who has been manipulating Harry from the very start either from a "I need a weapon willing to die for the Greater Good" or "I am the guy that defeated Grindelwald so, therefore, I am the guy who should control wizarding kind." There's also the evil version of that may or may not include Dumbledore ruling alongside Grindelwald as they were lovers back in the day, but I digress. In this specific fic he will be the guy that says "I am the smartest man in the world, I killed the last major Dark Lord, listen to what I say and do what I say because I have a great plan after all that might mean many of you die but it's for the Greater Good and I know best." In other words, he does have the best interests of the Wizarding World at heart, but he is going about it the wrong way. Though whether or not I'll go farther than that have yet to be seen. Harry and his allies will NOT see eye to eye with him. Whether or not he'll become evil has yet to be seen.

Gray!Riddle – Now as we all know by canon Tom Riddle was a half-blood born to a squib mother and a mundane (please remember that term as it will constantly come up) father. He's an orphan and once he gets into the wizarding world he sees things that are just wrong by modern (relative to his age) standards. Now note that I said "Riddle" and not "Voldemort" as this will be important. He, in his youth, wanted to change the wizarding world for the better, however, the ones in power don't want it to change as they like it the way that it is. He also goes the Dumbledore route, but instead of going the manipulative politics route that could take decades, he goes for the more direct route: a revolution under the guise of Pureblood Supremacy, if he were to kill off the bigots then the ones that could really change the world could then stand up. Or at least that's how it started. It went downhill once he made his first Horcrux, I mean you really aren't the same, or sane, when you split your soul in two. I'm not going to go into psychobabble but let's shorten it to this: he started to believe what he had started initially as a setup to eliminate the ones that made his life hell in school. This will be reflected in the diary Horcrux.

Idiot!Purebloods – Let's be honest, the purebloods are idiots when it comes to the outer world. I mean the only one that's even got a lick of even some sense is Arthur Weasley, I mean he has to have things explained to him, but at least he's trying. I mean they don't even bother to even try to blend in, I mean they're so secretive that they literally mind-rape people who do in fact see them. I mean if the international community caught wind of that they'd strike back, or at least put pressure on the British monarchy (as I've always loved that plot point in fanfiction) to get them under control. The documented magical society (the British one at least) is so backward that in the late 90's they're still stuck in the sixteenth century tops. I mean in this setting they're in the twenty-sixth century, a good thousand years' difference. Do note that there are few documented pureblood families that are shown, so I'm claiming creative freedom. There may be a few families that use 26th-century tech or even have property on other colonies pre-Covenant assaults, but we'll see. But more to the point, the Purebloods like Malfoy and the others that like their cloistered society are ignorant of humanity colonizing other worlds like Reach, Harvest, New Harmony, etc. as well as the Covenant onslaught, so when February of 2552 comes around they're in for quite the shock. In fact, those who didn't directly come into contact with any of the Covenant species during the Battle for Earth are still deluded that it was a "muggle urban legend" or a "mudblood lie" depending on their alliances. If that wasn't enough to really tick off their mundane-born or half-blood counterparts, they don't have even basic schooling pre-Hogwarts so they have little critical thinking skills other than what their parents have taught them or through private tutors. In comparison, a freshly graduated student of any high school in the world would be as smart as Catherine Halsey to them. You could call it another reason that they're so threatened by the half-blood and mundane-born children even though they haven't said or done anything yet.

Evil!Arrogant!Voldemort – For a man raised in the mundane world that has lived through the Insurrectionist movement how can he not believe that if the head of the UNSCDF (which for the record during Halo 2 was Lord Terrence Hood) wouldn't put a MAC round into his compound to end his slaughter of mundanes and magicals alike then he'd be wrong, dead wrong. Sure you might be able to confound electronic devices and guided missiles, that isn't going to do much to several hundred tons of ferric mass hurdling at you at close to 30k meters per second (before adding in variables like wind resistance and atmospheric friction) leaving the barrel of a Paris-class frigate in high to low orbit. He's also arrogant that the British Ministry of Magic will be able, with the use of Malfoy and the others' money as bribes as well as magic, to keep any word from getting to the UEG about their activities.

Molly, Ron, Ginny (initially), Hermione (initially), Dumbledore, Voldemort, Ministry of Magic, most Purebloods, Death Eater, OoTP!Bashing – The characters and groups that I have listed will be bashed to an extent. Note that Ginny and Hermione will be initially bashed, e.g. when their characters and personalities of said characters are introduced. For example, Hermione is a know it all, Harry is going to call her out on that when it comes up. Then Ginny with her obsession with Harry that her mother has instilled in her since she could comprehend the stories told to her by her mother. And so on and so forth. Saying anything more on that would be spoiling the story or at least the fun I'll have bashing groups and specific characters, also the list is subject to change. Please note that "bashing" in my book is an outsider calling BS on something that is completely stupid.

Pairings – Undecided at this point in time. There are so many possibilities, I could go with Harry/Ginny or Harry/Hermione, or I could even do some other obscure pairing. I dunno, I'll leave it up in the air for now. Maybe I'll do a poll on who he should end up with in the end.

Master of Death – No idea how I'm going to work that in, or if it'll be in at all. At least the legend of the Three Brothers will still exist, so there's that.

Technomancy – Based on the fact that this is a good thousand years in the future from where the normal plot of Harry Potter would take place it wouldn't be a surprise that certain groups of magicals have managed to make a symbiotic relationship with magic and technology. This term will come up assuming that this pilot chapter goes well.

Rating – Please note that the rating is T for safety reasons as I still have no idea what else is going to go into this story but that is merely a precaution for now. Should I decide to split this off into multiple stories, one for each of Harry's magic schooling years, I'll adjust the rating appropriately if anything changes rating-wise like sexual content, blood, and gore, etc.

Disclaimers: I own nothing. Halo belongs to Microsoft, 343 Industries, and Bungie (they still officially own Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach apparently according to what I was able to dig up). Harry Potter is owned by Warner Brothers and the mistress of magic herself, JK Rowling. I only own original plotlines and original characters, anything recognizable belongs to the appropriate parties. This fic is not for profit so if anyone is making a profit off of it, shame on them.

XxXxXxX

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

*Messages displayed on HUDs or on monitors/screens/holographic displays*

[Specific event start/stop]

{Optional music prompt for a scene}

XxXxXxX

Chapter 1

{Opening Suite, Halo: CE Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell}

A long time ago, before humanity was even the proverbial sparkle in the eye of its progenitor there was a species that achieved the top tier of civilization, Level 0. This species? They would be later renamed the Precursors. They remained on top of the galactic food chain for millions of years while they defended younger, weaker species at the same time as raising them up. At a point, their hierarchy noticed the decline in their society that would eventually lead to their extinction, so they did what any being would do when planning their eventual demise: they needed an heir to their 'fortune'. Their choices were narrowed down to two species, the Humans from Erde-Tyrene and the species that would later rename themselves as the Forerunners from Ghibalb. After centuries of deliberations, the Precursors decided that Humanity should lead the species of the galaxy and protect it through the Mantle of Responsibility. The Precursors gifted their new heirs a gift to perform actions that defied their logic and known physics. This ability was called extrasensory perception, or ESP.

The Forerunners, angry that the beings they looked up to as gods passed over them for their just as technologically advanced but more fragile galactic neighbors, struck back and went to war for millennia with the Precursors, to which the Forerunners won. Later they would enter war with Humanity as well over a misunderstanding, to which the Forerunners would win due to Humanity having to fight a war on two fronts, one with the Forerunners and the other with the Flood, an enemy that would later decimate the Forerunners ensuring their extinction as well. When the human Lord of Admirals surrendered, the gene that allowed humans to perform ESP was suppressed, never to be seen again in mass for over fifty thousand years.

After the Forerunner Halo array was fired and civilizations were restored through samples collected by the Librarian, communities on the newly renamed planet Earth consisted of tribes that all had at least a shaman or witch who would predict the future or give sage advice that could influence their survival. These people were the first of the reemergence of those with ESP, that those with lesser minds would simplify as magic. Eventually clans became villages and villages became cities, meanwhile, the number of magic users increased. Then came organized religion. Two primary religions contributed to the reason why magic users hid themselves, Islam and Roman Catholicism. Both of the aforementioned religions punished advanced humans just for being able to do things that few others could, things they considered Satanic or ungodly. They hid away until the man named Merlin met Arthur Pendragon and forged a friendship that would stand the sands of time as the sorcerer was made Arthur's advisor when he became king. Together they built the now mythical city of Avalon where magicians and normal people lived in harmony.

However, this project was doomed to fail due to Arthur's son taking the throne after Arthur's death. Once again the magical populace went into hiding, secluding themselves in isolationism, not meddling in the affairs of those they deemed "muggles." It would be centuries before they secretly made moves in the shadows during the Second World War in the 1940's, primarily when a wizard preached Pureblood Supremacy and allied himself with Hitler. While the Pureblood Supremacy movement was stopped thanks to a brave few, thanks to events like the Salem Witch Trials and other faux trials in the name of "God," the society became more cloistered until the point where their highest "technology" would be considered inferior by modern standards.

Then the Covenant came, sweeping through human colonies burning the planets they were on to glass. Many wizards and witches on many worlds their ancestors had spread to over humanity's expansion to the stars saw the call to arms and joined up with the UNSC to fight against annihilation. However, there were some that dismissed the claims of homicidal extraterrestrials and hid in ignorance like they had done for centuries. It wouldn't be until the Covenant were at humanity's doorstep that they would realize the truth. Or at least those who were willing to open their eyes would see the truth.

XxXxXxX

October 2547. Surrey, England.

It was once said by George Santayana "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," or as most people paraphrase it "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." This could be well said about the famous wizard Albus Dumbledore. He defeated the infamous dark wizard Grindelwald in 2490 when he decided to instigate a Hitler-style cleansing that instigated the origins of Pureblood Supremacy. Yes, the political origins existed hundreds of years prior, but Grindelwald was the first to openly support and enforce it in the political sphere. When the Wizengamot didn't accept his laws, due to the others in the Wizengamot reasoning that without new blood in the family lines their families would die out magically in a few generations time, he retaliated with war. For years in plain sight, those on the side of the Dark would pit themselves against the Light. It wasn't until a three-way Mexican standoff happened between Albus, Grindelwald, and Aberforth which resulted in Ariana, the only girl in the Dumbledore family, dying at the hands of someone's curse. The three never worked out who killed her.

More years would pass before Albus would confront Grindelwald and defeat him in a duel for the ages that would go down in the history books as legendary as the duel that was once held between Merlin and Morgan Le Fay. Albus would emerge victorious that day and according to all media outlets in the wizarding world, Grindelwald was dead. However, he was still being held in a secretive prison only known to the two for unknown reasons.

It would be years later when another dark lord rose and took up the mantle again of Pureblood Supremacy, a man who would go by the name Voldemort. The boy was idealistic and wanted change in a world he thought was slighting him and many others that shared his situation when it came to birth. He went from political activist to cold blooded murderer. Another shadow war began, which while it ended with a much lower death toll, was just as devastating to many families like the Weasleys, Bones, Greengrass, and a few others. However, the endgame had an even more traumatic toll on two families in particular: the Potter and Longbottom families.

Voldemort, through the use of his spies, got wind of a prophecy that would end him. Ironically it was a self-fulfilling prophecy that he set in motion by hearing it. Six months later the boys Hadrian "Harry" James Potter and Neville Longbottom would be born one day apart. A month before the end of the war Lily Potter nee Evans would learn of her father's demise in the muggle world. Under a Notice-Me-Not charm, she attended his funeral, which was a closed casket funeral as there was no body to bury, which was odd in Dumbledore's mind, but he dismissed it. On All Hallows Eve Voldemort attacked the home that Dumbledore himself placed the Fidelius charm upon. All adults were killed within, James and Lily were both killed with a Killing Curse while several Death Eaters were killed by muggle weaponry found by James' body as well as other myriads of curses and hexes cast by him. He died a warrior's death. The only living occupant of the destroyed house was little Harry Potter, who had a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead just above at the hairline.

"Albus, I must protest," said an elderly cat-turned-woman. "These are the worst sort of muggles. Even Lily told me they hate anything having to do with magic."

"Minerva, you must see that this is the only way to keep little Harry safe," Dumbledore replied, wandlessly casting a mild Confundus charm on her. "The blood wards that I've erected will keep those who would wish to harm him away. Petunia is the only one alive of his family that shares his blood that we could tie the wards to."

"Fine," she spat in forced agreement. "But know that I disapprove."

Albus knew that Lily's sister hated magic, it all had to do with their childhood and Severus Snape. Both Lily and Petunia came from a 'good' Catholic family. He was shocked how many people were turning to religion these days. The last time that any of the previous professors remembered this high amount of people in any place of faith was the times around great catastrophes or war. But last he checked there was no fighting that wasn't quelled by local police forces. He heard rumors of aliens, but as he had never seen any he dismissed it as a 'muggle urban legend'. Lily had excluded her sister as the Statute would only allow immediate family to know the most basic things about the magical world.

Albus left Harry wrapped in a blanket in a basket with a few warming charms with a note. What he didn't know was though his deluminator extinguished all the lights on the street, he was still being watched. But the individual in question was not an individual, but the supercity of London's artificial intelligence unit.

*WARNING: All street lights on Privet Drive have been deactivated.*

*Initiating remote restart…*

*…*

*Remote restart failed. Contacting Public Works. Inputting repair request.*

*Abnormality: Four heat signatures detected late at night. Size ratios depict three adults and one infant. Running faces through Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.*

*…*

*No matches detected. Running a search through international and interplanetary databases. The eldest of the three is leaving the child in a basket on the doorstep with a letter on… parchment? The three have disappeared into thin air, no heat signatures detected. Accessing #4's door records. Doorbell was not activated. Alerting local authorities and homeowners.*

*…*

*Done.*

While the Dursleys were in fact contacted to the presence of their nephew, the police never arrived. The AI noted that the boy would be seen over the next five years picking weeds even in the rain or appearing with bruises from beatings. It contacted the police as per the protocols laid out by its programmers; however, no matter how many times it contacted the authorities they always came and went, like something was controlling them. This would go on for years where it seemed as though the child went through systematic abuse and neglect until February of 2552.

XxXxXxX

February 2552.

A month ago Harry's life had been routine. He'd get up in the morning and make his fat, lazy relatives breakfast. Which was saying something since most foods were genetically modified to prevent diseases like obesity and diabetes, however, Dudley and Vernon Dursley had somehow managed to circumvent the system and still became well overweight. Food health scientists had come to them with offers to study them to see how they had managed such a borderline impossible feat. After breakfast, he'd make the lunches that Vernon and Dudley would take to work and school. If he was lucky he'd get a glass of milk for his troubles, otherwise he'd get nothing. He'd get the lunch provided by his school, but he'd only be able to eat a piece of fruit as that's the only thing that Dudley wouldn't take or eat. He would do mediocre in class as to not anger his uncle, though he always knew all the answers to all the questions that the teacher asked.

After a long day of evading Dudley and his cronies while doing mediocre homework assignments to keep the teacher from asking questions, he'd make dinner then immediately be thrown back in his cupboard to sleep. They never let him out of the house to do anything other than doing chores. The one time they had to was for a school field trip to London's Orbital Defense Platform. He loved seeing all the stars, he thought they were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, well besides the images of a red haired woman that'd appear in his dreams every so often. He had heard the rumors of what the fortress world of Reach looked like when you got out of the cities, as well as the images of Harvest before it was destroyed. But by far the most beautiful thing in his book was the stars.

But that was a month ago, not now. Now he was cowering in his cupboard not making a sound while his aunt, uncle, and cousin were slaughtered by the Brutes of the Covenant. They had stormed in and as the three tried to escape they were caught by the peculiar weapons used by the Brutes, the Spikers. They would impale their victim's bodies while leaving their flesh mostly intact, unlike the plasma weaponry that the rest of the Covenant tended to use that vaporized whatever it hit and left charred wounds. Dudley and Petunia were killed mercifully as Spiker rounds went straight into their brains, killing them instantly. Vernon, on the other hand, was not so lucky as he had been gut shot before the animals ate him while he was still alive; the other two Dursleys spared that horror by being very dead.

While most of the pack of Brutes were devouring the last of Harry's family, one started sniffing the door of his cupboard. He knew that this was the end of the line, he would be just as dead as his despised relatives. He prayed to every deity that he could think of from reading in the public library to spare him. His prayer was answered but in a very interesting way.

"KILL THE BRUTES FOR THEIR TREACHERY!" came the mangled English of another outside, followed by plasma weapon fire and energy swords igniting. The smell of charred flesh could be smelled, even in the cupboard.

"Is that all of them?" the same voice as before asked.

"Indeed, Leader. The Brutes in this structure are dead," another replied. Harry reasoned that this was the leader's subordinate.

{Sacred Icon Suite, Halo 2: Original Soundtrack Volume 2, Martin O'Donnell}

"Motion trackers are picking up one more life sign, much smaller than any Brute," another said affirmatively. Harry started to panic, all reasoning left him. He was about to die again. The door opened to reveal an Elite pointing a plasma rifle at him. Harry's life flashed before his eyes, what little of a life there was. When no plasma bolt entered his chest, or the acrid smell of charred flesh filled his lungs, he opened his eyes to see that the Elite had holstered his rifle on his thigh. "It is just a human child, Leader. It appears he hid under here while the others in the house were slaughtered."

Another appeared in the doorway, his energy sword lighting up the small space under the stairs. "No, Minor. This is where the child slept. Based on the fact it was locked from the outside tells me that it was not consensual," the leader said with a growl.

"What shall we do with him?"

"Call a Phantom and contact the London resistance group, tell them we have a survivor for them to tend to."

Harry was lead outside, but not at gunpoint, but with a clawed hand leading the way. One of the Covenant's dropships arrived, just as the leader said and hovered over them. A door opened on the bottom of the craft where a beam of purple light was activated. The first Elite stepped into it, then the one behind Harry gestured to it. He walked into it and he was pulled straight into the dropship. He felt weightless while gently pulled into the ship. When the one behind Harry had also entered the ship the door closed and the Phantom started to move.

The one beside him made Harry think he was a mind reader, "You have questions, child?"

"Why did you help me, you could have just killed me?" Harry asked.

"Not many humans know, but the belief that we had in the Great Journey was a lie. The Hierarchs lied to us for generations. The Brutes murdered our brothers on the Sacred Ring, all under the Prophets' orders. They are going to exterminate us like they wish to exterminate your species."

A realization came to Harry, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"An apt way of saying it, yes. The Swords of Sanghelios are loyal to the Arbiter, who is befriending humanity. Now it is I who has a question for you, how did the Brutes not find your home for close to a month? Your home was the only one without massive damage."

Harry was puzzled. Was this the reason why none of the Dursleys left the house for the last month? Why he didn't go to school, why he went close to a month without any food? "I don't know," Harry finally replied.

The rest of the flight was carried in silence as the Phantom flew into the supercity of London. They landed close to an underground terminal location. Inside were humans in UNSC battle dress manning heavy machine guns. The crews looked relieved as the identities of the Arbiter's men was established. They took a long ride in a cargo Warthog after Harry said 'thank you' to the Elites that saved him. They arrived in an abandoned line that hadn't been used in close to six hundred years as it was directly under the old Parliament building.

The next few days blurred past for Harry as they doted on him medically. He caught glimpses of the looks that the medics had on their faces as they looked at his charts. He could tell that they were not happy with his past injuries. It would be another two weeks before word came that the Human-Covenant war was over. The Master Chief along with Miranda Keyes, the Arbiter, and Sgt. Avery Johnson had killed the Prophet of Truth on a Forerunner installation called the Ark. Only the Arbiter made it back on the forward half of the frigate Forward Unto Dawn. There were still skirmishes as the rest of the non-Sangheili forces were routed from cities around the globe.

Months would pass before Harry would leave the refugee camp he had received medical attention in and arrived at a newly built orphanage. He made a few friends while in the camp, including a girl named Hermione and her mother. Apparently, her father was out in the city helping to fight the Covenant forces. Before he left he never found out if her father was still alive.

XxXxXxX

September 1, 2554. London.

It had been two years since the Battle of Earth as some were calling it. In fact, it was two months before Armistice Day, the official day that Lord Terrance Hood along with the Arbiter signed the ceasefire agreement between the Swords of Sanghelios and the UNSC. Harry had spent the first few months mourning the deaths of his only relatives, mainly because they were the last of his blood alive. Every day after that he poured into his studies getting top marks in every non-physical assignment given. When not studying for assignments or tests he read all the classics available on the net as well as some of the battle doctrine of the Marines as well as naval maneuvers like the Keyes maneuver and the Cole Protocol. In a gesture of goodwill, there was even a copy of Sangheili battle doctrine that was translated into English available on the net that he found interesting. Though this was well above the reading and comprehension level of an eight-year-old, he found it interesting.

As for the orphanage, adoptions were slowly being done as people were still trying to rebuild their lives. Harry wondered if he would be adopted at all, but part of him didn't care anymore. He had lived close to six years without parents, to begin with, as long as he had interesting books to read he would be happy.

He was currently reading about the Battle of Hastings when there was a knock on his doorframe. "Harry, would you please come to my office? There's a couple that wants to speak with you," the middle-aged man in charge of the orphanage said. "I'll give you a few minutes to freshen up," he said before leaving Harry alone.

Harry got excited, someone wanted to adopt him, or at least meet with him. He quickly put away his things away and made his way towards the overseer's office. The question became 'who was the one that wanted to adopt him?' He wasn't special by anyone's standards. Or at least he didn't stand out like some of the other children did. Some of the children in his wing were more athletic than he was, playing in city league football, cricket, and other sports. He was content to read his books. Maybe that's what the couple was looking for, a quiet child? He slowly made his way up towards the office, which was on the lower level as that's where the administration levels were, as well as rooms made available for visits with psychologists, especially for children like Harry who saw their family members killed and eaten by Brutes. Or killed by the Elites before the Great Schism as it was being called.

Harry stopped at the door and took a deep breath before knocking. "Come in," came the overseer's voice from the other side. Harry opened the door to see the overseer in his chair away from his desk. Sitting on the couch they use for one-on-one interviews was the couple. The man was average height with brown hair and blue eyes. His facial features depicted him to be of Caucasian decent, if his white, yet slightly tanned, skin wasn't enough to depict that. The one thing that really set him apart was he was in full UNSC dress uniform, cap included. The woman beside him was a bit on the shorter side, she had short black hair and almond colored eyes. She looked to be of Asian descent, but with how humanity had expanded the last five hundred years it was hard to tell. "Harry I would like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, they are interested in adopting you."

Mr. Dorian stood up and shook his hand in a firm grip. It was callous from years of training. "Hello Harry, my name is John but hopefully if everything works out you can call me dad," John said with a smile.

Mrs. Dorian took his hand next, hers was soft and more feminine yet had some rough patches. "And I am Madeline, but hopefully you can call me mom," she too said with a smile.

"I see that you are looking at my uniform, you're curious aren't you?" Harry nodded. "Well as you can tell I am in the Marines, specifically the ODSTs," he said as he pointed to a medal on his uniform. "My wife here is an elementary school teacher. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

XxXxXxX

[Flashback]

August 7, 2554.

"Are you sure you want to do this Maddie?" John asked as his wife's naked form laid on top of his chest, his hands running through her short hair.

She crawled up John and took his face in her hands, "Of course." She then kissed him passionately. She broke the kiss only to tap him on the nose childishly. "You know what the doctors said, that gas from a Covenant Carbine magazine being ejected makes it extremely difficult to have kids of our own."

"So what age group were you looking at?" he asked as his hands trailed lightly down her back.

"Maybe kindergarten and older? I mean what if you're randomly deployed and something happens. Even if I did get pregnant the district will only give me so much time before they want me back teaching again, I want him or her to be semi-autonomous but still be able to learn from us."

"That's reasonable, I mean there's rumors that there are some cells of Brutes still operating in human territory. And knowing that Mrs. Naval Intelligence might pull my squad into one of her famous shenanigans at any time and how Romeo almost died, yeah really reasonable." They laid in silence for a while. "I'll tell you what, orphanages put files on the net for prospective adoptees. We'll look through files and see if there's any that you'd like to meet."

[Flashback end]

XxXxXxX

November 5, 2554. Evening.

"And just sign here, here, and here." There were sounds of a stylus on a tablet. "It seems as though all the paperwork is in order. Ironic that we call this paperwork when there's no paper involved anymore. Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, congratulations you are now the parents of Hadrian James Potter or Hadrian James Dorian, you can change his last name if you wish. I do believe that appropriate for his new parents to tell him the good news," the overseer said before launching one of the addicting game apps topping the charts on the net.

Meanwhile, Harry was in his room reading a book on anatomy physiology. He didn't know how he always knew, but he could feel the presence of someone at his door. He lowered the book to see the Dorians, the couple he had met with last month. "Mr. and Mrs. Dorian, how can I help you?" Harry asked.

"Well Mr. Potter, we came to happily inform you that Maddie and I have finalized your adoption papers. Welcome to the Dorian family. By the way, ever heard of the world Tribute?" John asked.

XxXxXxX

Twelve hours later, London Station ODP. High orbit.

{The Maw, Halo: Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell}

Harry Potter, now Dorian, stood on the Orbital Defense Platform stationed above London. He had traveled up the space elevator along with John and Madeline and were now waiting for their transport to Tribute to the dock. John and Madeline only had a duffle bag with them as their things were already moved to their home on the outskirts of New Casbah, Harry, on the other hand, had a full suitcase beside him as Madeline had insisted that they buy him a new wardrobe. Most of the city was destroyed and Tribute was one of the few colony worlds that the Covenant didn't glass. There was a four-year plan ratified the previous year to recolonize the world.

Hours passed as many ships, both military and civilian, docked and left the station. Finally, their time came. Harry and his new parents entered the ship and the suite they'd be in for the next few months. Normally people would go into cryosleep, but Madeline thought that this would be a perfect time for the new family to connect. John, learning that Harry had never been off-world before, brought him up to the forward observation deck.

"John, why are we here?" Harry asked.

"There's one thing that you should see at least once before you die at any age, just watch," John replied.

The transport disconnected from the port, backed up, and turned around from the station. "All hands and passengers, stand by for Slipspace jump," came a voice over the intercom. A few minutes later, pointed in between the Earth and the moon a vortex of purple ringed blackness appeared. Slowly the ship moved inside of it until there was a white nebula in front of them and complete blackness on all sides.

"Wow," Harry said with his eyes wide in complete awe.

"I thought you might think that," John replied with an amused chuckle.

XxXxXxX

Meanwhile at Hogwarts…

Headmaster Dumbledore was having quite a wonderful day, or at least the start of a good day. He was counting the years to the day that Harry Potter would come through the castle doors and study at his esteemed school. That and the day that he would start grooming him to be the Boy-Who-Lived, the one to finally kill Voldemort as the prophecy foretold. He would have to shape the boy to suit his needs. The old manipulator was planning everything down to a T. The boy would need a strong moral compass from a friend's mother, Molly Weasley would do perfectly and young Ronald would be the perfect friend and spy as they would be in the same year. He would need another friend, one to keep him on track for the most part. Dumbledore couldn't think of anyone at the moment, but he had five years to smooth that plan out.

He sipped at his morning tea when he noticed that the device that monitored Harry's position relative to London and health monitors were acting up. The first time had been when Harry had gone on a field trip with his class to one of those muggle skyscrapers in the city. Today was the second time. Then the strangest thing happened, the marker said that he was one hundred kilometers above London and continued to climb. Then, according to his health monitor, his heart rate increased in excitement before the distance monitor's numbers began to climb rapidly, as in hundreds of thousands of kilometers per second and climbing. The monitor finally reached its breaking point, exploding. Only one thought came to mind:

"What happened to Harry Potter?" Albus said aloud.

XxXxXxX

Author's Notes:

And there we have it, chapter 1. That was quite interesting now, wasn't it? Dumbledore has no idea what happened to Harry. I mean he's just as ignorant as the other Purebloods out there. They still think that magic is the bee's knees when people have been traveling to other planets, even the moon, for at least two to three hundred years now. Now as for why Dumbledore has been completely unaware of Harry's condition for close to two years that would be because the blood wards failed from the get-go, so he had no way to really keep track of where Harry was other than London in general as Surrey would have been part of the London supercity. As for not being notified of the Dursleys deaths, that would be because Arabella Figg is also dead. In this universe, she didn't have any wards around her home so when the Covenant invaded other cities after Mombasa they found her and killed her before she could even alert Dumbledore. Which is something that Dumbledore will find out soon. John Dorian is the fictional name of a certain ODST whose initials are JD. Now if you do your research the only known ODST that we've been aware of the initials JD are the Rookie from Halo 3: ODST. So guess what? Prepare for some cameo appearances of the others in the Rookie's squad. There are some that may ask this so I'll get this out of the way ahead of time; accidental magic, this was something that didn't come up until it was an afterthought. However, I'm going to reason it as so: The reason Harry's magic didn't react to the Elites was because I like the belief that Magic is semi-sentient and because it felt no ill will from them, unlike the Brutes, hence why they were unable to find him, Magic hid his scent and signature from them and their scanners while allowing the Elites to find him. One final note before I take off is why James had "muggle" weaponry on him. He's lived with Lily long enough to know that the Covenant are a threat and the off chance that they found Earth he would need any and all kinds of protection for him and his family, after all, he has no idea if magic-based attacks will even harm Covenant forces, especially ones with shielding like the Elites and Brutes.

As for the chapter, what did you think? Interesting enough to continue? Got any constructive criticisms? Shoot them at me. That's what that review section is for. No flames as they will be deleted. Also before I sign off I want to ask you all who wish for me to continue this to go on over to my profile where I have a massive poll on what plotbunnies I should release first based on future/current reader interest.

Until next time everybody!

EDIT: After watching the cutscene from Halo 3 where Lord Hood does his speech on the Barren Hillside Memorial the date on the, what I assume to be, a Pelican alerion foil says March 3, 2552. I changed the date to a month before that final battle on the Ark for when Harry is rescued by the Elite patrol.

XxXxXxX

Chapter 2

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – Upper Scotland; November 5, 2554 – Noon

Headmaster Albus-too-many-names-and-titles Dumbledore was in a frenzy after his monitor on Harry Potter had exploded in his face. The shrapnel bounced away by a silently cast Protego charm, however, the immediate worry was not the Headmaster's health, but the location of Harry.

"Fawkes!" Albus yelled out, despite the fact that said phoenix was perched right next to him. "Find Harry," he commanded once the bird appeared in front of him. It disappeared in a flash of fire. Fawkes disappeared for a longer time than he ever had before. Usually the bird disappeared for moments, flashing to where he had wanted him to go and coming back. Never taking more than a minute or two. But time slowly kept crawling on. Minutes crawled into an hour before he started getting worried. Eventually the bird did reappear close to an hour and fifteen minutes later. "Fawkes, where did you go?"

The bird squawked a few times. "Where? A void? Stars? What are you going on about?" Albus asked. There were more squawks. "You tried to follow several times, but whenever you arrived they were long gone. You tried several times, but you eventually reached a point of no return and came home?" The headmaster slumped down in his chair sulking. "Oh Harry, what happened to you?"

All of his plans would have to change if he could not find the boy. But the boy was still alive according to the health monitoring monitor the boy was fine, in fact he was excited if what he knew of human physiology and the human heart was correct. The boy was alright, now he just needed to get him back with his relatives. Speaking of which, a thought had crossed his mind.

'Why didn't Arabella floo me when Harry left his relatives' house?' Albus thought. 'I shall floo her and find out.'

Albus moved over to his personal floo. Throwing in the powder he call out, "Arabella Figg!" There was the flash of sparks and green flame. He stuck his face inside the floo but when he did he saw absolutely nothing. The connection to Arabella's floo had been completely severed. Worried that something had happened to his friend and spy on Harry he called out to Fawkes, "Take me to Arabella Figg's house post haste!" he commanded. He disappeared in a flash of flames and reappeared in front of Arabella's residence, however when he looked closer it wasn't Arabella's house at all but another house in its place. It looked new, if Albus had to guess no more than two years old at the most.

He walked up to the door and knocked. In the place of what would have been Arabella, there was a young woman holding an infant. "Hello, might I help you?" she asked as she eyed his clothing choice.

"Ah, yes. My name is Albus Dumbledore, I was wondering if an Arabella Figg lives here, would she happen to?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any Arabella Figg." She looked back into the house and shouted, "Dear, do we know of an Arabella Figg that used to live here?"

A young man that looked to be a year or so older than the woman who was drying a mug with a towel. "I don't know about any Arabella Figg. I do know that we are the first buyers of this house since this development was rebuilt two years ago," he replied.

"I'm sorry, I must seem like I am intruding, but what happened that would cause an entire city to need to redevelop the land here?" Albus asked, he himself being very confused.

"Have you been living under a rock for the last twenty-seven years? The Covenant completely tore this entire city up along with several major cities around the world. Paris, New York, Cleveland of all places, Tokyo, and a few dozen others. In fact, the two cities of New Mombasa and Voi were completely glassed and wiped off the face of the Earth."

"I'm sorry, the Covenant? Glassed?"

"Sir, are you sure you are alright? Do you have Alzheimer's? Do you need us to call you an ambulance?" the woman asked.

"No my dear that is not required," Albus said with a slight Confundus charm to avoid Muggle authorities.

"Alright then. Well if you're looking for this Arabella lady either she was killed by the Covenant when they invaded or she went to one of the refugee camps and relocated. We used to live in Paris before all this, my wife and I," the man said. "The things we witnessed during the invasion, we couldn't stay there anymore. The nightmares came every night. While this area was just as affected, the nightmares stopped for both of us. If the person you're looking for was anything like us, and she's alive, she most likely won't be in London anymore."

"Thank you for your assistance. One last thing though before I leave, Obliviate," Albus casted the charm as he implanted a false memory of a door-to-door salesman came to interest them in a product he was selling. They turned him away and went on with their afternoon. 'Yes that will do nicely. Door-to-door salesmen are still a thing, right?' he thought to himself proudly. He knew that Arabella was dead. If she wasn't she would have come to him if she was in danger. That would explain everything. She had taken a magical oath to watch him, as squibs did have enough magic to make oaths, see though muggle-repelling charms and wards, and make magical potions; though the Pureblood faction dedicated to Voldemort would like to stamp that out.

He turned to the Dursley residence across the street and saw that it was in a similar state. After talking to the elderly couple that lived there that gave an identical story that the young couple did he made the following conclusions: Harry's family had been either killed by this homicidal alien homogeny (assuming that it wasn't a huge muggle conspiracy) or they moved away as non-magical muggles were not easy to track, he had been taken to an orphanage or had been living in the streets, and now he was far away from his clutches as well as Voldemort's followers.

'Perhaps this will be for the best for now. Harry is far from those who would wish to kill him before he can complete the prophecy,' Albus thought. 'It will be harder to get him to sacrifice himself willingly for the Greater Good however. I will have to do some careful manipulation on my part to ensure I mould him into the perfect weapon, possibly disposable, but a weapon none the less. Perhaps I should Obliviate his new guardians and have them abandon Harry and have him live with the Weasleys while he heals from his emotional pain. Perhaps. But I will have to wait until his Hogwarts letter is sent, then I shall know his location.'

While Dumbledore was plotting as he walked, as he forgot he could apparate and plot back at Hogwarts, he didn't notice a mechanical being watching him, like he was watched seven years prior.

*Abnormal energy influx detected.*

*NOTE: Person of interest spotted. Facial search match found. Records from seven years ago place this man at this location as noted by previous AI that served the city before me. Filing for further investigation.*

XxXxXxX

Meanwhile in Slipspace

For no reason at all at the same time Harry and his parents sneezed at the same time. "You know," Maddie said. "In Japanese culture it said that if you sneeze for no reason at all and you're not sick or running a fever, it means that someone is talking about you. If we're all sneezing at the same time I'd say it's the same person."

"Well that can't be good, now can it?" John rhetorically asked.

XxXxXxX

Two years later (March 3, 2556) – Tribute, New Casbah; 0500 hours

"But mum, I don't want to go hunting with dad and his marine buddies," Harry complained as he stood dressed in camouflage hunting gear.

"I thought you said you wanted to go hunting?" Madeline asked.

"Yes, but with dad and not with his squad mates," he pouted. "All they're going to do is drink and tell stories about missions they've been on. In and of itself that wouldn't be that bad but-."

"Romeo?"

"Romeo."

"You know that he acts that way to sound better than he is," Maddie tried to comfort her son. "Just try to make the best of it, maybe you'll be the one bringing home the catch of the hunt."

"I doubt it. Romeo's the designated marksman of the squad. I'm sure he'll be the one getting the kill like he always does, apparently."

"Tell that to your father, I heard he had quite a few interesting ones back during that night in Mombasa four years ago. Some that even trump Romeo's kills if what he's told you and me is anything to go by," she said with a wry grin.

"Fine, I'll try. But I feel as though dad owes me one for some reason."

"Atta boy. Now why don't you help your dad get the rest of the stuff in the 'hog," she said handing Harry his bag with enough clothes for the trip along with some spares.

Harry went into the garage to see his father putting coolers and bags inside the Warthog including the tent as the others would be bringing their own tents. The final things that John was placing in the bed of the transport Warthog were two hard cases.

"What's inside the cases?" Harry asked.

John placed one of the cases on its side and opened it and held the unloaded rifle aloft. "I have here two modified M395 DMR rifles. They fire only semi-automatically with 7.62x51mm rounds but instead of the normal three times electronic optic sight they have a more traditional 6x-12x rifle scope and no digital ammunition counter display. Do you know why?" John asked.

"Because animals are sensitive to the electromagnetic frequencies given off by electronically enhanced sights?"

"So you do remember that from the Hunter's Safety class you took," John said with a smirk before putting the rifle back inside the hard case.

"Well, you wouldn't let me come on the trip unless I did."

"That is true." John took Harry's bag and placed it in the Warthog. "Now we need to pick up the guys from the base then we can go head up north to the campsite that I staked out months ago. Double check that you've got everything and say goodbye to your mom, we've got to get on the road."

Harry said goodbye to his adoptive mother and got into the 'shotgun' seat of the Warthog. John gives his wife, still in a bathrobe which covered her more-revealing-than-a-child-should-see sleepwear, a kiss. "Don't do anything stupid," said Maddie.

"It's not me or Harry that you have to worry about," John said.

"Yep, just all the animals of the wild. And Romeo."

"Yeah, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, you know how he can get sometimes."

XxXxXxX

Two days later, Rookwood Forest

"Do you see it?" one whispered.

"Yeah, about one hundred meters away," another stated.

"Take a deep breath, slowly exhale and squeeze the trigger slowly. Don't jerk it." The rifle's safety was switched off and the sound of metal slowly making contact with pistol grip of the rifle was met resulting in a loud gunshot. One hundred meters away a deer-like animal fell over as the bullet entered its ribcage, piercing its heart. "Good shot, kid."

Harry lowered the rifle and switched the safety back on. "You know Romeo if you didn't boast all the time and attempt to hit on all the ladies-."

"What do you mean 'attempt'?"

"You wouldn't be bad company," Harry finished.

"Thanks. I think. Why don't we climb down and see that kill of yours." They climbed down from the blind and slowly walked over to the newly hunted game. "You know for a kid on your first hunt, you didn't hesitate to shoot. Most kids do. Hell, even my first hunt I hesitated to squeeze the trigger."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because it wasn't human. I could never see myself intentionally murdering another in cold blood. Self-defense, sure. But not cold blood."

"Well as long as you're not torturing small animals."

XxXxXxX

A few hours later – camp

"You did well, Harry. Six-point buck. No pun intended, sir," John said the last part directed at Buck.

"Not a bad shot either," Romeo complimented.

"Coming from you Romeo that's quite a compliment," Mickey said before taking a drink of his beer.

"Just complimenting on talent when I see it. You may have a future sniper on your hands, Rook," Romeo said with a chuckle.

"Well as long as he doesn't end up a womanizer like you," John retorted with a chuckle to which the entire squad laughed at as well. The rest of the evening went on, stories being told for Harry's sake. One of which was one being told by Dutch.

"And then I said, 'Lord, I'm not a pilot. Please tell me that I have no more flying to do today.' Then a drone fighter crashed into one of those fancy modern art statues behind me. I then asked, 'Is that a yes or a no then?' The Ghost I had been riding exploded to which I could only say, 'Amen!'" Dutch finished his story of the time he escaped Uplift Reserve.

Everyone laughed before Buck stared at a branch just lit by the campfire. "Am I seeing things or is that a Barn Owl?" Buck asked.

"Don't be stupid, they went on the endangered list a few centuries ago. Last I checked they've stagnated at a one to one birth/death ratio," Mickey stated.

"When did you become an expert on avian species on the endangered list?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Downtime can get really boring when you've caught up on all those games, books, and movies you've put on backlog because of the war. Then no one's making anything new since the war just ended and the post-war depression is still going on so no real new media going out there. I read old articles on the net and a few aviation manuals. Born to fly, trained to blow stuff up," Mickey shrugged.

"That still doesn't change the fact that a freakin' Barn Owl is just sitting there on a branch," Buck pointed to said owl.

"Is it just me or is there a letter attached to its leg?" Harry asked pointing out the letter in the owl's claws. It flew down and landed next to Harry. "Uh guys, it's addressed to me." Harry took it and read the envelope. "'Mr. Harry James Potter, Fuckin' Middle of Nowhere, Rookwood Forest, Tribute'." Everyone stared at Dutch.

"What? That's where we are, aren't we?" Dutch asked.

Mickey took the envelope, much to the owl's squawking. He ran his ungloved fingers over it. "It's parchment. Old feeling even." He then took a whiff of the ink used. "Iron-based ink. Who still uses this for writing anymore? Only packages are still sent snail-mail, all letters and communiques are sent via email and the net."

"Perhaps reading the contents will tell is just who send an owl to someone a long way from its home," Buck stated.

Mickey opened the envelope and handed it to Harry. Harry unfolded it to read, "'Dear Mr. Potter, You've been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' Wait a second I skipped a line. 'Headmaster Albus Percival Brian Dumbledore. Order of Merlin, First Class. Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. Chief Warlock of the Wizgamot'."

"And here I thought Lord Hood had a lot of titles behind him," Romeo commented.

As Harry read the letter John got more suspicious, especially when he got to the supplies portion. "Harry we should really get this checked out. This is beyond odd," John stated.

"And I think I know the right person to help us with this," Buck interrupted. "A certain Spook we all know and love."

XxXxXxX

Omake: The Great Journey of Fred the Barn Owl

February 3, 2556; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Headmaster's office

Albus Dumbledore was not a hard man to please. All you had to do was what he said when he said it. However, for the past two years and then some the boy known as Harry Potter had been impossible to find. Fawkes had been unable to find him anywhere on Earth, regardless of the fact that said phoenix would argue in its own tongue that Harry was somewhere in the Great Void.

Then after over seven hundred days it came to him, "Of course! The official Hogwarts register!" The owls would always find their recipient, even if they changed locations. He quickly activated the charm tied to sending out the official letters and sent Harry's out four months early. Dumbledore leaned back in his high-backed chair and folded his hands, tapping the index fingers together. 'Soon,' he thought.

Meanwhile, the journey to end all journeys for owls would begin for the owl named Fred. He had the traditional Hogwarts letter attached to his leg and told to find and deliver the letter to Harry Potter. His instincts told him to fly to London through the sudden blizzard that had whipped up a few hours earlier. He flew through the snow and sleet until he arrived at the largest structure in the entire city: the London space elevator tether. It flew inside the terminal and waited on top of a chair while a plethora of people stared at the bird while giving it a wide berth.

"Is that an owl?" one man asked his wife in a whisper. "Should we call animal control?"

"Let's just leave it, maybe it'll just leave," the wife replied.

The doors to the elevator opened and the bird flew inside while the rest of the car was filled with people ready to leave on their journeys as well. When the elevator reached orbit the owl felt his instincts pull towards the passenger transport ship bound for the world of Tribute. Fred nestled himself in the cargo bay for a long sleep as his instincts told him that it would at least be a few weeks before he would be moving again.

Two weeks passed as the magic produced by carrier owls kept it from going hungry or thirsty. Finally, the ship arrived in the world of Tribute. It flew immediately out of the hatch straight to the elevator to the surface. It stopped and the owl flew through the lobby straight outdoors towards one of the large forests that surrounded the largely rebuilt city. Fred finally arrived in the middle of nowhere where a group of five men was around a campfire with his intended recipient.

"Am I seeing things or is that a Barn Owl?"

XxXxXxX

Chapter 3: Exposition, decisions, a visitor, and shopping

Two days later, Tribute, 2554

"Sergeant Edward Buck," a woman said from the other side of the comm line. "For what reason did you think that calling me at four in the morning was a good idea?" she borderline growled.

"Come on, Veronica. I just need a favor to ask of you; or well the Rookie has a favor to ask of you," Buck replied.

"And that would be?" Veronica Dare asked.

John moved into the frame of the video call. "I need you to look up an institution for me. A 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'. Part of me thinks that someone is fucking with us," John stated.

"And the other part?"

"They're completely serious. They knew my son's name prior to the adoption, I made sure to have that sealed for his privacy. No one needs to know what he went through prior to Earth's invasion."

"And you can't look up this elusive school from Tribute because…?"

"Apparently it doesn't exist. I did net inquiries and found nothing. There were a few forum posts from back in the early 2000's, but nothing new. I even talked to our resident data miner who looked into the deep net, nothing."

"And you thought I could use my ONI clearance to get information that eludes you?" John nodded. "Well, you're lucky since this is Level One clearance related. You and your squad were cleared for Level One ONI clearance while we were working with Virgil." Dare pressed several keys sending data over the secure link. "Hogwarts is a school that studies the form of energy called 'magic.'"

"Are you seriously telling us that magic exists?" Romeo scoffed out of frame.

"What is 'magic' but science that has yet to be understood? If we took our Paris-class frigates and a few Shivas back to the stone age they'd call us gods with magic," Dare retorted. "This school has existed for close to two thousand years as a formal intuition to study 'magic.' There are other institutions world-wide prior to our expansion to the rest of the solar system before founding a planet inside of UEG controlled space, yet autonomously run called New Avalon. It was one of the few colonies to go under the radar from the Covenant. Most if not all of the magic institutions have adapted to the times flawlessly, except for two because of their shadow governments."

"Shadow governments?" Buck asked.

"Prior to the UEG being founded these societies, with some exceptions, were extremely reclusive. The Witch Trials back during the United States founding as well as the Hunts in the Europe didn't help. With the fall of King Arthur's court which was liaised by the king as well as his best friend Merlin in keeping the peace between the magical and mundane worlds the remaining magical population receded back into the shadows, only the myths and legends of witches and wizards remained. Fear spread by the Roman Catholic Church made them recede further. Each major country founded a council of elders which would write rules and regulations like the Statute of Secrecy."

"The Statute of Secrecy?" Mickey chimed in, finally walking into Buck's study with a beer.

"Before the Treaty of 2170 before the Interplanetary War it was considered close to high treason in the magical community to talk about anything on their side of the fence. They could wipe your mind of all traces leaving you a mentally unstable persona non grata, and if you were magical you could be 'squibbed' where your internal magical coil is sealed off. Prior to the treaty some governments like in Japan, Russia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, French, and Germans all made soft breaches allowed so long as it was to people who could keep secrets or were direct family members. Other governments run by other countries, primarily the English and Bulgarians, stayed completely in the late fifteenth century making little advances in either technology or social structure. For close to fifteen hundred years their governments are still corrupt and run by the 'old boys club' where women have little to no rights and are expected to be housewives and mothers at an early age, earlier than normal that is.

"The more money you have the more power you have. Officially, but ignored by the 'Ministry of Magic' in England, the current Queen of England has absolute say in what they may or may not do as declared by Queen Victoria I in the treaty that would keep the mundane side out of their affairs and theirs out of mundane affairs. She had agents that would be her eyes, ears, mouth, and hand that would keep an eye on things. This has been the way it is ever since. When the Treaty of 2170 was signed the Queen relinquished control of the English magicals to a subsidiary committee of the UEG and UNSCDF. In fact prior to the Human-Covenant war most new ONI agents were required to take a six month deep cover mission inside of the still reclusive magical communities as the others were transparent with their doings.

"Hogwarts is a very prestigious boarding school where only the elite and powerful echelons in England are allowed. Their registration book has the names of the children that will attend the day that they're born based on who their parents were. Your Harry, whose last name used to be Potter, came from a very prestigious family on his father's side going back well back to the English magical community's founding. His mother was your average mundane born woman. Those not of 'noble blood' or even 'half-blooded', which Harry is, are treated similarly in a way that scarily similar to the way that racism was in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In fact if you are 'muggle born' you have to go through a rigorous screening process of which still very secretive. Those that are accepted pay higher than normal tuition fees as well as they pretty much disappear off the grid until they finish their seventh year. Most mundane-born children tend to have to go to community colleges to get their high school GED after retaking classes that they should have taken years prior."

"So you're pretty much saying that the English kids that go to Hogwarts are pretty much stupid when it comes to any knowledge outside of their school?" John asked.

"Indeed," Dare replied. "While the other schools globally, intersystem, and on other colonies try to integrate their students with the rest of the galaxy and the affairs in it, the English and select European schools to teach their students to become recluses from their friends and families that are not inside of the magical community."

"So if Harry has in fact been invited he'll most likely face blood-based racism, intellectual stunting, and backward sociological standards?"

"Yes and no." Everyone in the room looked confused. "Ten years ago there was this terrorist running around killing mundanes and mundane-born children alike because of blood purity. According to our records, the Blood Purity movement has existed since the 1700's, but it had always been political only, they never actually did anything to cause the deaths of people born or belonging to the mundane side of things."

"And ten years ago that changed," Buck stated.

Dare nodded. "Ten years ago a man came to power called Voldemort, which we in ONI have known since day one that it was an alias, gathered a lot of followers and one day started killing off mundanes, mundane-born, and even purebloods that disagreed with them."

"You said that the UNSC and UEG were now in official control over these societies. Why didn't we do anything?" John asked.

"At the time the Covenant and Insurrectionist movements were taking up all of our resources. Their Minister of Magic promised that they had it under control, but he was lying. Over the next ten years people died for no explained reason in the officially released autopsy reports, those registered with the UEG census and John and Jane Does alike. Finally on December 31, 2544 the killing stopped. An ONI agent who was in deep cover reported that after an attack on the Potter residence the Dark Lord known as Voldemort was killed in an explosion, the only survivor was your son," Dare said as she pointed to John. "The English magical community celebrated for days, driving the local police forces insane dealing with drunk and disorderly arrests as well as those without firework licenses; all of which disappeared from the 'drunk tank' the following day." She sent over another file, this time of a newspaper clipping with a completely abstract formatting. "That was the newspaper released on the magical side on November 1, 2544. 'Boy-who-lived slays He-who-must-not-be-named.'" She let that sink in, "Your son is pretty much considered a national hero."

"Then why was he left with those abusive relatives of his? If he was a national hero like you said surely someone would have willingly taken him in," said Dutch.

"An official press release stated that the current head of the Wizgamot, sort of like wizard Parliament, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards named Albus way-too-many-names Dumbledore said that Harry would be kept safely away from those that would seek to harm him and trained by himself personally."

"Fat load of shit that was," Romeo chimed in finally. "What? We're all thinking it. If this guy's definition of safe is an abusive household and trained is being a servant to fat bastards I'd hate to see what he considers unsafe."

"That does bring up a point, though, why say that?" Buck asked.

There was silence which Dare broke, "They had just fought an opponent of which a good few thousand people died from directly or indirectly and this Dumbledore guy set up Harry as a celebrity or an icon to look up to." That sank in before she continued. "But why?"

"If he is setting up my son for something then when I'm done with him he'll find out the reason why we're called Helljumpers," John said firmly.

"Oorah," Mickey, Dutch, and Romeo replied. No one fucks with one of theirs, and Harry was like a cute younger brother. Or mascot. Or both.

"If anything happens to Harry, they'll regret it," Buck stated.

XxXxXxX

Meanwhile in Scotland, Hogwarts

Dumbledore felt a shiver of fear run down his spine for no inexplicable reason to him. He reached over to his bowl of spiked lemon drops and ate one, feeling the Relaxation potion laced candy kicking in.

XxXxXxX

Evening. New Casbah, Tribute

"Harry, could you come into the kitchen? Your father and I would like to have a word with you," Madeline said through the video call on Harry's augmented reality glasses.

"Sure, I'll be down in a minute," Harry replied as he saved his place in the eBook he was reading on his tablet. He walked into the kitchen to find his adoptive parents sitting at the kitchen table, his father with a mug of coffee and his mother with a cup of tea. "Am I in trouble?"

"Of course not, dear," Madeline replied.

"We just want to talk to you about your potential scholastic future," said John. "Remember that odd letter you got on the trip?" Harry nodded. "Well, it turns out that it is I fact an invitation to an exclusive magic school that your birth parents enrolled you in shortly after you were born. However there are some things about this school that doesn't sit quite right with us, but as it is your invitation we wanted to talk to you about it first. What do you think about it so far?"

"I don't know, it seems so far-fetched," Harry replied. "Does magic even exist?"

"It does and the society that this school is based in is very reclusive. So much so their society resembles one from the Dark Ages, as well as their technological level."

"You say that as if there are other societies out there," Harry phrased that not as a question, but a statement.

"There are several other schools on Earth all around the globe as well as one on Mars, and one on Ganymede. That's just in Sol and there's a planet in the colonies called New Avalon, a planet full of magic using humans and beings as well as people like your mother and me who all manage to live in harmony."

"How come I've never heard of New Avalon?"

"After humanity started colonized other planets, the system-wide Magical Congress petitioned the UEG to allow them to colonize a world consisting of both magical and mundane citizens, the catch would be that all of the mundane colonists would be allowed to know about magic. They wanted to recreate what King Arthur had when he was in power: Avalon, a place where magic and mundane peoples would co-exist with one another in harmony. The UEG green lit it under a social experiment. A thousand magicals and a thousand carefully selected mundanes were chosen based on their open-mindedness. They got equal thirds of skeptics, neutrals, and those that would be easy to convince. The one boon requested for the new colony would that it would be autonomous with any unneeded outside interferences. They managed to accomplish this goal and have been living peacefully with one another for the last few hundred years."

"Why didn't the government say anything then if it was a success?" Harry asked.

"The war with the Covenant happened. The top brass decided that the big reveal would happen at the end of the war, they just didn't expect the war to take twenty)seven years to do so. The new people in charge now are still debating on what to do about the reveal."

"Your Aunt Veronica said that she could make some calls to see if you can enroll in one of their schools next year. Otherwise, if you want to stay close to home we can see if we can find a full-time tutor," said Madeline.

Harry thought long and hard. Something inside him was pulling toward the English school, even if it was backward compared to the rest of the galaxy. There was also the fact that his birth parents had gone there. 'Perhaps I can find something out about them,' he thought to himself. "I want to give this Hogwarts school a try. I know it may not be all that glamorous but I'd be willing to give it a try for one year. My birth parents went there, maybe I'll learn some more about them there."

His parents both smiled but were inwardly frowning. They knew that Harry didn't know anything about his birth parents. Not even UEG censuses could tell where the Potters were buried as it was required by law to report when people died. Harry's mind was set, though the school and society still rubbed him the wrong way. 'I think a message needs to be sent,' John thought.

XxXxXxX

Three weeks later. April 13, 2554. Hogwarts.

There was an air of fear in the air around Hogwarts' pureblood students and the teachers. No it wasn't the Dark Lord or his followers, it was a green flying beast. But to those that were born into the 'Muggle' world or those that were half-bloods that were brought up the same way were treated to the sight of a D79H-TC, or the more commonly known under the misnomer of 'Pelican.' It circled the castle before activating its VTOL jets and landed in the massive courtyard with a whine as the engines shut down. Students and teachers gathered around the craft, the elder students and teachers had their wands drawn. The back hatch opened up to the sight of three men, well one was a man in his late twenties to early thirties in white military dress uniform, of the other two gender was indiscernible as their armor and polarized visors obscured any recognition.

The two armored soldiers were part of the infamous division of the UNSC marines, the Helljumpers, or ODSTs. The one on the man's right was holding a BR55 Battle Rifle at parade rest while on its right hip was a M7 submachine gun and on its other hip was a M6/SOCOM sidearm. The other had a MA5C Assault Rifle at parade rest and on its hip was also a M6/SOCOM but also a more exotic weapon it took away from the Human-Covenant war: the hilt of a deactivated Sangheili Type-1 Energy Sword. The white clad man only had a M6G holstered on his hip. He placed his Navy officer's hat on his head before stepping off the Pelican, the two ODSTs following in his wake.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the witch named Minerva McGonagall asked, ready to stun the men.

"My security escort and I come in peace. I've always wanted to say this, take me to your leader," the man said in a deep baritone voice. When the magicals, the man assumed were the teachers, did nothing but stare at him he added, "An old friend of my father's asked me to personally deliver a message for him in his stead."

Minerva paused, looking at Severus as well as charms professor who were looking at her as well. She looked over the two highly armed soldiers and she realized that while they were armed, they weren't aiming their weapons at them at all. She only nodded before she started to walk towards the main gates, the military men in tow. As Minerva lead the trio away from the drop ship all of the students wondered why a decorated officer and two highly trained soldiers were here to deliver a message to the Headmaster himself of all things.

The trio marched in rhythm with each other, the footsteps of the armored ODSTs echoed through the murmuring halls. While the students and other teachers couldn't see it, but the duo kept their eyes watching the crowd, ready to dispatch any people who would wish their superior harm. They finally arrived at the enchanted entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Twinkies," the old witch said to the gargoyle door guardian. It moved aside allowing access to the stairs. They all walked up to the elaborate door before it opened to them automatically. "Professor, sorry to disturb you, but these men wish to relay a message to you. This is Mr.-." Her mind drew a blank as she realized she never got a name.

"Of course, of course. Please, my boy, what is your name? And your escorts?" Dumbledore asked forcefully, attempting to prod against their minds only to be momentarily lost inside an elaborate maze of ones and zeroes.

"Our names are not important, however, our message is," the uniformed man replied.

"But of course. What is your message?"

"I come on the behalf of John Dorian and his son whom you know as Harry Potter." Albus perked up at the name of the boy. "Harry has decided to attend your magical academy-."

"Excellent! Now of you'd be so kind as to leave, I do have things-."

"However there are some caveats," the officer interrupted. "First his last name is to be Dorian as that is what he and his family have decided as he would like a relatively normal schooling experience. Second, please inform any staff that have issues with his birth and/or adoptive parents to keep it to themselves and not to let their prejudices not come to light or there will be legal implications. Third, he will be allowed to bring any communication methods to contact his adoptive parents as they may be off world. They wanted to make it especially known that if Harry wishes to transfer for another magic institution, for whatever reason and at any time, you will respect his wishes and not approach him. Are we understood?" the marine said, leaning in on the headmaster.

"Nonsense. Hogwarts is the finest institution of magic in the world, young Harry will not wish to go to any other school."

"I know of at least three hundred schools that would be willing to debate that with you, and as you said 'in the world'," the marine said with a wry knowing grin.

"You said that as if humans have expanded to other worlds," Dumbledore said in disbelief.

"I didn't say anything, but I am asking if we're understood. Are we?"

"Yes. Of course. Anything for young Harry," Dumbledore said with a grandfatherly smile.

"Then we have an agreement." The three soldiers turned to leave when the man turned around in the doorway. "Also, we know that you tried to mentally probe us. This was your only by, old man. Next time you try that on any UNSCDF personnel will be met with deadly force. See to that it doesn't happen again."

All Dumbledore could do as the soldiers left his office and flew away was stare at the door in shock. The only thing going through his mind was, 'How did he know?'

XxXxXxX

1000 hours. June 29, 2554. Old London, Earth, Sol.

Harry was excited to get his school supplies for Hogwarts. He and his parents had spent the past month touring the solar system. The moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. Olympus Mons on Mars, which was a ski resort. They then moved on to Earth where they spent a few days in each of the major cities with historical places like the Eifel tower and Arc de Triumph in Paris, the historical sites in Kyoto Japan, the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, the Opera Hall of Sydney and the UNSC high command center in Sydney, the Vatican, the Coliseum in Rome, historic Washington D.C., and finally they arrived in London and visited many locations they could that weren't destroyed by the Covenant.

Now he was with his parents in front of a dingy old pub that looked like something straight out of the 1600's called the Leaky Cauldron. Harry had decided to wear a t-shirt with the words 'This is the worst shirt ever. Of all time.' written on it with the image of a Brute spike grenade on the back of the shirt. He also wore tan cargo shorts along with skate style shoes that were coming back into style again. He also wore a ball cap to hide the scar that would identify him as the boy who lived instead of a patron trying to get his school supplies.

"So this is the entrance to the magical world?" Harry asked no one in particular. "I'm not impressed."

"Maybe it'll be better once we get inside, you know how magicals in these isles are reclusive and don't like mundanes like your mother and I stumbling across them," John replied.

Harry shrugged as the family crossed the busy Old London street and entered the dingy pub. As they entered the inside of the establishment was just as dark and filthy as the outside was. The one constant thing that all the patrons of the pub had in common was that they were staring at the family. John walked up to the older and middle-aged man behind the bar, he was more than likely the owner based on his age.

"Can I help you?" the older man asked.

"Yes, you can. My son is to begin his schooling at Hogwarts and we need some assistance in getting into the alley," John replied.

"Ah, of course! Newcomers to the wonderful world of magic! Jane, please watch the bar for a moment, I will be back shortly. Please follow me. My name is Tom, owner of the establishment," the old man, now named Tom, said as he held out his hand.

John took and shook the man's hand, "John. It's a pleasure," he replied. The innkeeper led them into what could be described as a beer garden-like area. He tapped four stones in a particular pattern on the wall, a moment later the wall opened to reveal the alley beyond it. "Thank you for your assistance. Would you mind telling me where the bank is?"

He pointed down the alley. "Just follow the main road here and you'll see a great white building. You can't miss it," Tom replied.

As the family walked down the narrow street that was suitable for bicycle or motorcycle traffic they were looked at strangely by the inhabitants but was quickly ignored as they too had come to the conclusion that this was a family taking their child on a shopping trip for Hogwarts supplies. The trio walked to the bank doors which had two goblins in battle armor and spears ready to deal with any threat. John honestly wondered how they'd do against an Elite. The heavy doors had a warning written in both Gobbledygook and English for those who intended to take what was not theirs from the bank.

Walking inside they saw several lines of people waiting to be attended to. Another kiosk opened and the family quickly walked over before another could get in front of them. Those that were behind them were grumbling complaints.

"NEXT!" the teller cried. The Dorians approached. "How might I assist you?" it asked with an annoyed tone, not even looking up from its parchment.

"My son would like to make a withdrawal from his account," John stated respectfully as one could.

"Key," it replied holding out a hand.

John paused. He didn't know that Harry needed a key. "My apologies, I was unaware that a key was needed. We don't have one."

The goblin looked up from his parchment and set the quill he was using down. "There is another way for the child to access his account. This will require a blood test."

"That will be fine."

The goblin's now worn smile crept everyone who saw it out, "However if he fails not only will he be punished to fullest extent of the law, but you will as well. I hear that keelhauling is the new fad for executioners."

"I'll do it," Harry spoke up confidently. "I am the true owner of the account so I have nothing to fear."

"You show confidence that the other thieves over the years have not. Of that I commend you. GRIPHOOK! Take these three to the Account Testing Chamber." Another goblin came forwards and gestured for them to follow him. "May whatever deity you believe in have mercy upon you if the test comes up false. Have a nice day."

"Well he's a big ol' ball of sunshine," Harry quipped.

The family walked into a room with guards at all the exits deep within the bank. The only things inside the very Spartan room was an aristocratic wooden desk with another goblin sitting at it with a piece of parchment and a black knife sitting on the desk.

(Incomplete due to story changes outlined in an AN in the original "Wizard from Tribute")

XxXxXxX

Please note that again this was the original story that I wanted to publish but due to votes on polls that I put up saying that they wanted me to have the story resume during Year 4 and the Triwizard Tournament as well as a vote determining whether or not the Rookie would survive; add on to that a bunch of other plot points that I was looking in to and this original plot is now null and void except for the first chapter itself which shall remain untouched by me.

This chapter is only to show what could have been, nothing more.