A man wearing a black shirt under a light grey jacket with blue jeans, American dog tags, and black combat boots walked the streets of London on October 31st, 1981. He'd been brought here by Fate, at least that's how he viewed it. He sighed as he ran a hand over his short white hair, technically unusual given his physical appearance of 25. It is even odder when his actual age is 45. In truth, he'd had this unusual hair, and equally unusual silver colored eyes, since he was born. This was Elijah Crowe. Last member and Heir of the Crowe Family, one of the oldest Wizarding families in the world and the last practitioners of their unique magic; Animamancy or Soul Magic. It is because of this magic that his features were the way they were. All his life he'd managed to convince the No-Maj populace that this was an extremely rare physical anomaly he possessed. A one in a billion genetic trait that his family alone seemed to have. If one did not outright believe the explanation, a quick glimpse of medical records as well as a simple spell to make one more susceptible to suggestions and willing to listen to his story always did the trick.
Why he was here was simple. His last living relative, his uncle Eobard Crowe, had just passed. He was now in London, England for the will reading, one that had brought him to tears as realization dawned on him. He was the last of a dying breed. Soul Magic would die with him. With the other 8 families lost to time, the Crowe's were the last. And now. One Crowe remained. He was wandering aimlessly, trying to see why he had been cursed with this existence. He'd long believed in the inner workings of Fate since he had graduated from the most esteemed magic school in America, Ilvermorny, and followed Fate's influence to join the Marines. Now, he was in the city where the secret war against the Dark Lord known as Voldemort was mostly fought, and he needed a reason to bring himself back to America and live out the rest of his life.
His answer came as a young woman with platinum hair walked to him and nudged him lightly. "Good evening, Mr. Crowe," she said. Elijah paused before turning to the woman and seeing storm grey eyes staring at him, almost as if at a distance.
"You're a Seer, aren't you," asked Elijah. "Either that or stoned out of your mind."
"If I were stoned, I wouldn't know your name, now would I?"
"Fair enough. How can I help you?"
"I think you'll find Fate driving you soon enough."
"And how do you…" Elijah paused as soon as he started talking. "Seer. Right."
"I hope your night remains pleasant, Mr. Crowe."
"Why even bother with that when you've already seen what's going to happen?"
"Because possibilities and sure things are two different things, Mr. Crowe. Farewell for now." Elijah stood in place for a moment before sighing as she turned around a corner. He ran his hand over his hair again and looked up as he noticed he was outside the entrance to the Wizarding Pub leading to the one and only Diagon Alley.
"Better than nothing, I suppose." The second he entered, he noticed it was rowdier than it usually would be and quirked an eyebrow. He looked at where the commotion was coming from and paused as he saw a head of long white hair framing scarlet red eyes and a flushed face who was leading a drunken singalong to a random drinking song and chuckled slightly. "I'll be damned…" Noticing a hand from one of the men surrounding the voluptuous woman his eyes had fallen on, he growled before Apparating to the table they were at and snapping the hand back before it could grab her breast.
"Ah," exclaimed the man. "You bloody bastard! What did you do that for?!"
"Trying to take advantage of my drunk friend. That puts you instantly on my shitlist, pal."
"Shut the hell up, Yank! I'll get you for that!" He aimed his wand, showing the infamous Dark Mark on his wrist as the woman stared at her savior and hiccoughed as she tried seeing who this was. "Avada Kedavra!" Elijah said nothing as a golden light appeared between the two men in the form of an intricate magical circle and the acidic green spell connected with it. The man grunted as he failed to end the spell, feeling his magic drain as the two spells clashed and his own seemed to be absorbed by the golden circle.
"E- *hic* Eli," slurred the woman as Elijah dropped his spell after he pulled out his sidearm, firing twice into the Death Eater's chest. The barkeep hid behind his counter at the noise as the woman groaned and covered her ears, slinking to the ground as the other men stood up and glared at the American who'd just killed their friend. A quick glance told him they were Death Eaters as well and he looked at them.
"You've got about three seconds to surrender," said Elijah. "Turn in your wands, and tell the Aurors everything you know. Or you'll end up just like your friend here." At once, five wands snapped towards him at the same time four shots were heard. Two of the Death Eaters dropped with holes in their chests as three spoke at once, a cutting curse, a blasting curse, and the Killing Curse, all shot at his position only to be blocked by the table they were at as Elijah kicked it up in the air to intercept the spells as the woman shook her head before looking at the men who were trying to kill the white haired man. With a growl, she grabbed the bottle she'd been drinking from and smashed it into the head of the one who casted the Killing Curse before yelling in anger and tackling him into a side room, startling the Death Eaters with strength they didn't know she had as a couple in the room scrambled out.
"I'm over here, guys!" They turned back to Elijah and one was smart enough to get to cover, seeing the Muggle weapon aimed at them again. The second wasn't as smart and dropped after the sound of two more gunshots echoed in the pub, making the residents of the rooms upstairs finally glance down to see just what was going on. The last Death Eater growled and lifted a keg from behind the bar before throwing it at the Marine who rolled to the side and found the man's wand in his face.
"Got ya," said the man.
"Not quite." Elijah blocked the incoming spell with another magic shield and tackled the man into the bar, knocking the air from his lungs before slamming his wrist to the wooden counter, forcing him to drop his wand.
"Gah!" The man grabbed hold of Elijah's neck before slamming him against the counter himself and kneeing him away. Elijah growled and wiped blood from his nose before turning to the man and seeing that he'd scrambled for Elijah's dropped sidearm. Elijah held his hands up as the man aimed the weapon at him. "Try blocking this!"
"I'd check the magazine and see how many shots were left before firing, asshole."
"What are you…" Growling, the man pulled the trigger, hearing only a click before looking at the weapon in his hand and seeing the top was extended out, the inside empty.
"Out of shots." The man snarled before throwing it at Elijah who caught the weapon before ducking behind the counter beside the barkeep to reload as the Death Eater went for his wand and pulled a woman from a nearby room before aiming his wand at her head.
"Come out, Yank! Or her death will be on your hands!" Elijah cursed before holstering his sidearm and coming out, hands raised above his head. That's when he noticed his friend slowly exiting the room, mouth and the front of her shirt covered in blood and hair tips dotted red. "That's a good Yank." Elijah stared the man down. "Too bad for you, she's gonna die anyways."
"You literally grabbed the wrong woman, just so you know."
"What are you on ab…" The man's words were cut short as the pale woman's hair shot out, impaling his head through his eyes and mouth before ripping upwards as she snarled, the tips of her hair coated in blood and hardened to blade-like proportions. Elijah lowered his hands as both women dropped to their knees, the one held captive crying and scrambling away from the corpses, and the scarlet-eyed woman slinking further to the ground as her drunken mind settled down, the alcohol in the blood she just drank making her even more tipsy than she already was. Elijah went to her and caught her as she almost fell into a puddle of blood.
"Never piss off a Dhampir," she slurred.
"Something I learned early on, Izzy," murmured Elijah as he picked her up.
"Eli…" Elijah went to bring her to one of the rooms before noticing a slip of parchment jutting out of the man's pocket within the robes. Elijah bent low and pulled out the parchment before turning to the barkeep.
"Need a room."
"S-second floor third door on the l-left," said the frightened man as he eyed the corpses on the ground. Elijah went upstairs and went to the room. He set Izzy down on the bed before looking at the parchment. On it was a single address with the instructions to burn after reading.
"Bastard must've been too drunk to realize he forgot about the note." He looked over the parchment before humming. "Godric's Hallow… Guess this is Fate, then." Elijah turned to Izzy and saw her passed out, finally, and snoring softly in her sleep. "Try not to buddy up to anymore bad guys, Izzy. I'll be back soon." Elijah Apparated to the address and ducked as a black smoke-like figure shot over his head from the house. Seeing it was a fractured soul, something that his uncle had told him was the result of an evil ritual that split your soul to create an object known as a Horcrux. That this specter was coming from the house in question suggested this was either one of the Death Eaters, or Voldemort himself.
Elijah channeled his magic into his eyesight, and looked at the specter, seeing it was indeed a torn soul, and a rather small one at that. "Insane asshole…" He turned back to the house and stopped as he saw a rat running from the house with the soul of a human and petrified it before levitating it behind him as he made his way to the house, noting the blown apart entrance and the failing spell work of a Fidelius Charm. He frowned before stepping inside and looking around. He knelt next to a man in his mid-twenties and staring up at the ceiling. He closed the man's eyes before turning to the rat, seeing the branding of a betrayer on its soul. "A Secret Keeper who betrayed the Secret… you deserve whatever is coming your way. A rat seems extremely fitting for you, Animagus." Elijah looked up as he heard crying and rushed upstairs, eyes still glowing as magic flowed into them with for his version of Mage Sight, Soul Sight. He paused as he saw the saddest sight in his life. A child, probably a year old, was shaking a woman Elijah could only guess was his mother who lay lifeless next to a ritual circle and a smoldering set of black robes.
"Harry," shouted a voice from the floor below. Elijah turned to the door as two sets of feet ran up the stairs. He almost dropped Soul Sight before he saw something that should've been impossible. A soul fragment had latched onto a wound in the boy's forehead but was held back by the effects of whatever ritual the mother had done. He turned to the two newcomers as they ran into the room, wands drawn and aimed at him.
"Hands in the air," shouted the red-haired woman beside the man who shouted previously who had scraggly black hair and a clean cut beard.
"Easy," said Elijah. "I came when I pulled this off some Death Eater corpses in the Leaky Cauldron." He held out the bloody parchment and kept his hands above his head. "My name is Elijah Crowe, teacher of Magical Theory and Enhancement at Ilvermorny Academy. I was in London for a will reading earlier today, Gringotts will confirm my presence there. I also think you'll want to interrogate that one there." He nodded to the rat as it seemed to register how screwed it was.
"Peter," growled the man. "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you for this!"
"Sirius, calm yourself," said the woman before she moved between him and the hovering rat. "What do you mean?"
"That's Peter, Amelia. He's an Animagus with a rat form. I'm a dog and James is..." Sirius closed his eyes in sorrow "…James was a stag."
"We'll talk about your unregistered status later. For now explain why Peter has gotten you so angry."
"I can answer that," said Elijah. "My Soul Sight showed me this house was once under a Fidelius Charm. Peter's soul bears the branding of a traitor."
"And what is Soul Sight?"
"Think an upgraded version of Mage Sight, allowing me to see one's soul as well as traces of magic. I found this rat trying to run away so I had to guess…"
"Peter was the Secret Keeper," whispered Sirius, glaring at the rat before seeing the baby reach out to him. "Oh, Harry!" He knelt down and picked up the boy, holding him close as Amelia reverted the rat to his human form, keeping him petrified and in the middle of a scurrying motion, eyes darting between the three people.
"You said this was on a corpse in the Leaky Cauldron," asked Amelia, holding up the parchment.
"Yes. My friend was being harassed by Death Eaters, I hurried to help her. They tried killing me, I responded in kind. And my parents said nothing good would come from being a Marine."
"How many Death Eaters?"
"I killed four of them, my friend killed two. Six dead in total." She sighed.
"Great. More paperwork for me…" She turned to him. "Why come here?"
"I figured if this wasn't a secret meeting place, it had to be the site of an attack. Either way, I'd probably help someone by taking out these assholes. I spent time fighting in Vietnam. Grew up directly after the Second World War, so assholes like them tend to piss me off. Just doing my civic duty and wiping them out. And if you're an Auror, don't give me the vigilante spiel. You're in the middle of a war. Less of their numbers means less trouble for you." Elijah looked at the boy before frowning. "His forehead…"
"I know a basic healing spell that can help with that," said Amelia.
"Don't. At least not yet. I saw something else with Soul Sight. Ever heard of a Horcrux?" The two shook their heads. "It's an evil ritual developed by Herpo the Foul. Commit an evil action, you split your soul. Herpo learned he could store the soul fragment in objects and doing so would extend his life, but leave you more cursed as your body starts to malform. It was based on Ancient Egyptian spells used by their Magi. The more you sever your soul, the weaker it gets and even the process of making Horcruxes would sheer off more of your soul than you were trying to originally. Something like that had happened now, a piece of a tarnished soul has latched onto Harry's wound."
"And how do you know so much?"
"Souls are my family business. More my familial magic. Soul Magic."
"That's a myth," said Sirius.
"You'd be surprised, sir." Elijah fished through his pockets before pulling out a small crystal. "Can you hold Harry still? This will hurt him, but only slightly." Sirius eyed Elijah, cautiously, holding his godson close. "If I don't do this, there's no telling what could happen later down the line. There's never been a recorded instance of a tarnished soul piece latching onto a living being."
"Sirius," said Amelia. "If there's any truth to what he's been saying, we need to trust him."
"How can we trust him," asked Sirius. "He was standing over Harry as we ran in!"
"I could've killed you both instantly if I wanted to," said Elijah. "Now, that's not a treat. It's an honest statement. I'm not going to give you a reason to trust me. Just say the word and I'm gone." Sirius continued to stare the man down before growling softly.
"Blast it all…" Sirius aimed his wand at the child in his arms, casting a sleeping charm. Harry yawned before he quickly fell asleep. "You better know what you're doing, Crowe."
"In theory, this should extract the soul piece without harming Harry's own."
"Should?!"
"My uncle was a Curse Breaker, not me. I've only heard him talk of this, not actually done it myself. And it was only used on artifacts not people. This is uncharted territory. And I'm the only one who can help because I can see what needs to be done."
"Sirius," said Amelia. "For now, I say we trust him."
"Amelia…" started Sirius.
"It's better than nothing." Sirius sighed before turning to Elijah.
"If anything happens to him…"
"I'll try my best not to hurt him," said Elijah.
"I need to report this in to Crouch," said Amelia. "I'll be right back. Don't do anything stupid, Sirius." The redhead, expecting his normal jovial response, frowned slightly as his complete focus was on his godson, his features tense and angry. Amelia Disapparated, leaving the two men alone as she brought Peter with her. Elijah started focusing on Harry's scar and held the crystal over it.
Sirius Black watched the mysterious man as his eyes started glowing silver. Elijah hesitated for a moment as he looked at the boy before proceeding. His godson lay sleeping in his arms and Sirius could do nothing but hold the boy still and hope the man in front of him was indeed trustworthy. He sat by as the crystal in Elijah's hand started glowing, attracting a black mist from Harry's cut. The boy whimpered in his sleep, the extraction a small amount of discomfort as the black mist started filling the crystal. After a few moments, Elijah moved the crystal away and slipped it into a small vial. "There," he muttered. "Removed and contained." Sirius stared grimly at the stoppered crystal before looking at Elijah.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"How did you two get here so fast? By that I mean how'd you know something happened?"
"I'm Harry's godfather, via the godfather ritual."
"So your magic alerted you."
"It did. I was about to leave my date with Amelia but…"
"But what?"
"She knew something was wrong. And insisted on coming along." Elijah frowned slightly as he looked around the room. "Looking for something?"
"More at something." Elijah stood up and looked around the room. "This is an extensive runic array. It was designed to manipulate and redirect magical energy in all forms, even the Unforgivable Curses."
"How?"
"An act of self-sacrifice. Whoever thought this up was a genius."
"Then it was likely Lily. Top of our class. No one could hold a candle to her in terms of intelligence."
"An old friend of mine might argue against that…" Elijah traced his hand over the remnants of a specific rune. "Speaking of… I might need her help deciphering this one. It's different from any runes I'm aware of."
"Well where is she?"
"Sleeping off alcohol in the Cauldron."
"You just left her there alone?! Didn't you fight Death Eaters there?!"
"She's a big girl. She can handle herself, even drunk. Especially since someone is going to hesitate when they see her covered in blood."
"Come again?!" The two men aimed wand and gun at the entrance as a man with greasy, black hair ran up the stairs to the bedroom, only to stop short as he saw the weapons aimed at him. "Snivelus?! What the bloody hell are you doing here?!"
"Friend of yours?"
"More enemy." The newcomer glanced at the woman at their feet and a look of guilt crossing his eyes before he adopted a cold expression.
"If you must know, Black," said 'Snivelus.' "I've been acting as a spy for Dumbledore. I came here when I learned my former compatriots were planning an attack."
"Bloody Death Eater! You think I'll believe that?!" Elijah looked the man over with his Soul Sight before lowering his gun and Sirius' arm.
"He's telling the truth," said Elijah. "Stand down." Sirius turned to him, angry, but still cautious with Harry in his arms. Amelia returned with Elijah's friend on her back.
"This is your friend, I take it," she asked. "She was being brought into the office as I reported in."
"Yeah… that's Izzy." He took the short woman from Amelia who registered the newcomer in the room.
"Severus Snape?"
"Amelia Bones…" drawled Severus.
"What are you doing here?"
"He was spying on the Death Eaters for Dumbledore," said Elijah, holstering his sidearm. "Soul Sight confirms it."
"Soul Sight," asked Severus.
"Long story I'm not at liberty to tell you." He crossed his arms. "We need to get the kid out of here. If one group of Death Eaters was tasked with coming, we can't slip on thoughts that more might as well."
"The Dark Lord only entrusted one group with coming here."
"And why should I believe you? I get you're working for Dumbledore, but it's not sound strategy to just send in one group of soldiers to attack an enemy. So unless Voldemort…" Elijah silently noted the winces from those in front of him, but continued on. "…Is a big fucking idiot? We should move now."
"The Taboo," cautioned Sirius, holding Harry in his arms.
"What about it? Just turn whatever ambushes they try against them." He looked up as they stared at him. "What? I was a soldier. Back in Nam, we had to worry about ambushes everywhere. It got to the point we just anticipated where they would come from and got the enemy into a kill box. What's stopping you from doing the same?"
"Magic," suggested Amelia. "They can Apparate as can most of the Wizarding World."
"And? Are they silent about it, or do they make a sound as they're coming and going? Is your back to a wall, or are you out in the open? Or in this case, is there only one way they could come from, because at the end of the day, everything falls on common sense."
"No such thing," muttered Izzy in his arms.
"Smartass…" He shook his head. "Look, even without that, I'm fine. Taboos don't work on me."
"Bullshit," said Sirius.
"You have a baby in your arms, try and watch your language, Sirius," said Amelia, rubbing her temples. "And he's right about leaving. Before I left for the Cauldron, I learned there was a simultaneous attack on Potter Manor." Sirius paled, almost dropping Harry as he held the boy. "We need to get back to the Ministry."
"The Ministry is not safe," said Severus. "The DMLE has been infiltrated. I do not know who."
"Hogwarts, then. As much as I don't trust that bearded bastard, better the devil you know, than the one you don't."
"You should leave Harry with me," said Elijah.
"Like hell," shouted Sirius.
"Think about it! I'm an unknown in all of this. Only Gringotts is aware of my being in Europe. I can take him with me to the States, leaving you an address to contact us."
"I'm not leaving him with a stranger!"
"You don't have much choice. The Horcrux wasn't the only thing I saw when I looked into his soul. I saw a magical lineage I thought died out a long time ago. One of eight other families like mine."
"Harry's descended from the Soul Magic families," asked Amelia, astounded.
"He is. And…" Elijah blinked before turning to the body of Lily on the ground. "…Hold on…" Elijah knelt beside the body and picked up a quartz crystal tied to a necklace.
"What is it," asked Sirius.
"Son of a bitch… I guess madness and genius go hand in hand."
"What are you on about?!"
"It's a long shot but… I think I can save your friend."
"There's no bringing back the dead," said Severus.
"Not unless you know the intricacies of how a soul fits into a body." Elijah pulled out his wand, for the first time in what felt like ages, and aimed it at the crystal. His eyes glowed with Soul Sight as he used his magic to extract the essence he saw in the crystal. Sirius, Amelia, and Severus watched as a silvery wisp, much like that of the memory strands used in a Pensieve, was pulled from the crystal before being taken into his mouth. He pinched Lily's nose before breathing the strand back into the body, mimicking mouth to mouth resuscitation. He then started chest compressions for a few seconds. After a few pumps on her body, Lily gasped as she shot up, clutching onto Elijah's arm as she clutched her chest.
"Lily," exclaimed Sirius and Amelia, Severus remaining stoic, but silently relieved.
"Fuck, that hurts," exclaimed Lily.
"Well you just had your soul torn from your body," said Elijah. "You're welcome, by the way. How did you expect someone to put your soul back in without knowing how it fits in your body?"
"What?" She breathed heavily. "What are you on about?"
"Isn't that why you were wearing the crystal?" Lily held up the quartz crystal with a quirked eyebrow.
"This? My friend Pandora gave it to me." Elijah blinked in surprise before chuckling softly.
"So what was all this Rune work?"
"It was meant to protect… Harry! Where…?!" She turned to Sirius before rushing up and taking her baby from her husband's best friend. As she held her child, her eyes shot open again and she turned to Sirius. "James is he…?" Sirius shook his head, sorrowful. Lily held Harry close and held back the tears threatening to fall.
"It might be best to start leaving," said Elijah. "We don't know if any other Death Eaters are on the move for this place, present company's assurance excluded." Lily turned to the last adult in the room and paused.
"S-Sev?"
"Lily…" droned Severus, trying to maintain his stoic nature. "I… apologize for my involvement in tonight. It is my fault the Dark Lord has been after you." Severus closed his eyes. Elijah looked out of the window and shook his head before picking up Izzy.
"Apologies later. We need to move. Now." They turned to the window and spotted several pillars of black smoke soaring for the house. "Everyone grab onto me! We can't fight here, not when we're trying to keep that baby safe!" Sirius, Amelia, and Lily all placed their hands on his back. Lily turned to Severus.
"Sev," she called. Severus Snape shook his head before Disapparating alone. Not long after, Elijah Apparated with them in tow, leaving behind a single black ant observing the situation before it too disappeared.
(Author's Notes)
Hey guys! Long time, huh? Sorry things have been slow but... burn out and grief tend to do that to a person. A week after I uploaded For Hearts and Souls, my grandmother passed away. I was already in a rut and had been trying to get out of it, but the added weight of my grief made it that much harder to do so. I'm doing better now, but it still hurts. I'm trying to get things back into a healthy cycle, but it's slow going. So, I decided to rework the first Harry Potter Story I uploaded on this site. I don't know whether or not I'll continue and finish the original Soul Magic. It was part of my burnout from weekly uploads for a year, so... it's a toss up. Let me know what you think of this reworked introduction chapter, and check out my other stories if you're interested. Until next time, Y'all!