THREE TIMES SHALL I FLAME GREEN
Harry Potter stood alone in his vault. His eyes fixed in the strange oil lamp resting on a small plint.
It was shaped like the old images of Aladdin's Lamp, the legendary artifact that housed an all-powerful djinn inside, bound to the wishes of whomever owned the lamp and called him fort by rubbing the metal as if to clean it.
Sadly, Harry had stopped believing in fairy tales at a too early an age, thanks to the influence of his hated relatives.
On a whim, Harry picked the lamp up, and examined it closely. The lamp was made from a strange material. At first sight, it looked like metal, then like some kind of stone, back to metal. He shrugged and dismissed the material as simply some kind of magical alloy.
Still… there was something both familiar and disquieting in that lamp. Harry felt like he had seen it before. A very long time before. On an impulse, he took the lamp in his hands, and a green, pulsing light filled the vault, covering each inch of it it an impossibly bright green light.
He felt dizzy for a moment, and suddenly, he was back at Godric's Hollow. He felt a voice in his head, "REMEMBER." It said, "REMEMBAR AND CHOOSE."
"Oh, no." Harry mumbled, the place looked exactly like he imagined since he was told about his parents' last stand.
A man who couldn't be other than James Potter, his father, sat by a desk, examining the green lamp with enchanted glasses. "Lily? This thing doesn't look like anything I've ever seen on this Earth."
"The lamp belonged to my father?" Harry asked in a hush. He noticed he was immaterial, just like a ghost, but unseen.
"Of course not, James. It was made from a meteor! My father found the meteor back when I was a girl, and brought it home. For some reason, he worked the metal into that old Arab style oil lamp. He said it was really easy, almost as if the metal wanted to be turned into a lamp. All he used was a hammer and a small anvil. Didn't even have to heat it."
"It was Mum's…" Harry whispered. Almost the only things he knew about her were the lies the Dursleys told about her, that she was very smart and loving, but with a dangerous temper, and that he had inherited her eyes. Knowing the lamp had belonged to her was a link to her; without realizing it, he cradled the lamp to his chest.
"Well…. Wanna know something strange? If you put oil in it, and lit the sick, the flame burns green!" James scratched his head.
"Yeah, we thought it was some kind of copper residue. But never managed to clean it. He left it to me in his will, and it has been with me ever since. I used to do my homework with it lit on my desk. I can concentrate better when I have it near."
Suddenly, James Potter raised his head, as of listening. "The wards just got hit by something."
Lily looked around, "It's him! He is here!" She grabbed the lamp and ran towards the nursery.
Harry was forced to watch as Voldemort himself invaded the house and killed first his father, who bravely tried to face that monster. Then his mother, who put herself between Voldemort and the crib, offering her life for his.
Voldemort didn't care. His shrill laughter growing with each killing spell. However, for some reason, Voldemort offered to spare her life if she allowed him to kill the baby. Why? She refused, time and again, until Voldemort's patience ran dry.
Lily still had the lamp in her hand as she fell to the floor. Voldemort didn't even spare a look at the object.
The Dark Lord loomed over the crib, and still laughing, shot an Avada Kedabra at the crying baby on the crib. The small body fell on the mattress, eyes wide open.
The lamp lit itself, a small green flame that grew until it filled the room. An other worldly voice, almost feminine in pitch, yet full of unknown power, spoke. The flame pulsed with each word, pushing the shadows back. Time itself slowed to a crawl.
"THREE TIMES I SHALL FLAME GREEN!" It said, "THE FIRST, TO BRING DEATH!"
The green flames enveloped the murderer's body, reducing it to still screaming ashes. Somehow, the wand, and even the clothes had been spared by the magical fire, and fell down on the floor.
"THE SECOND, TO BRING LIFE!"
The ball of green fire condensed itself into a flashing pinpoint of blinding light. The light floated over the baby's body, entering through the open mouth. A moment later, the baby's eyes closed and opened, and he began to cry again. Mourning the loss of his parents.
"THE THIRD, TO BRING POWER!"
The flame snuffed itself at this point. The darkness filled the room once more.
Harry fell down on his knees, weeping uncontrollably. He almost missed the parade of familiar faces, Wormtail, Snape, Sirius, Hagrid.
Wormtail entered the room scurrying like the rat he was, took Voldemort's wand and ran away.
Seeing Snape stepping over his Dad's corpse filled him with fury, watching the greasy bat weeping over his Mum's still body surprised him, but his words condemned the Potion Master, as it was clear then why Voldemort had offered mercy to her.
Snape fled the scene when he heard Sirius arrival. Harry's heart broke at seeing his godfather weep openly for his two friends murdered, and he understood his need to avenge them. Naively, he put Harry in Hagrid's hands, believing he would return later for the baby.
The green light pulsed again. Harry was back in his vault, the green oil lamp warm in his hands.
Harry knew then what to do.
He ripped a piece of metal from the lamp, and put it in his pocket. As his mother had said, it was as if the lamp itself wanted to be changed.
Harry returned to an empty Grimmauld's Place. He ordered Kreacher to not bother him as he worked. He conjured tools, a hammer, tongs, and an anvil.
Somehow, he knew how to fashion the lamp into the shape it wanted to be.
Despite an almost complete lack of knowledge, two days of work yielded an old fashioned railroad lamp, and a ring with that same lamp in its face, both made of the mysterious green metal.
"AND NOW," the booming voice and pulsing green light filled the dingy room, "TO YOU, I BRING FULFILLMENT OF THE THIRD PROPHECY: POWER!"
Entranced, Harry put the ring in his left middle finger.
"I, WHO AM GREEN AS THE PLANTS, THE GROWING THINGS, GIVE YOU THIS POWER TO SHED OVER THE DARK EVIL THINGS. FOR THE DARK EVIL THINGS CANNOT STAND THE LIGHT."
Harry raised his fist, holding it in front of his face, the ring level with his eyes.
"MY POWER SHALL BE YOURS, IF YOU HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF. LOSE THAT FAITH AND YOU'LL LOSE THAT POWER, FOR WILLPOWER IS THE FLAME OF THE GREEN LANTERN!"
Harry put the ring against the lantern's focus, and felt himself burning with energy, fulling himself with unheard power.
"YOU HAVE USED A PART OF ME TO FASHION A RING OF POWER. A RING WHICH MUST TOUCH THE GREEN LANTERN ONCE EVERY TWENTY-FOUR HOURS."
The light receded into the lantern, and Harry felt the tugs of a special destiny, one that wouldn't let him go back to being a mere wizard hiding from the world. For the first time, the words that sealed that destiny were heard.
"And I shall shed my light over dark evil, for the dark evil things cannot stand the light. The light of the GREEN LANTERN!" His voice changed into an adult's voice, a baritone voice much alike his Father had.
Harry felt himself compelled to fashion strange garments, that would serve to make himself a memorable man of mystery and power. An outlandish identity to strike fear into monsters and light hope into the innocent.
A red tunic, green pants, and a purple hooded cloak that would hide his scar in shadows and a mask to hide his eyes. He felt himself levitating a few inches over the floor, making himself look taller.
The tunic and the cloak added volume to his scrawny body.
No one would know who was behind the mask.
Harry smiled to himself. Voldemort And his cronies would not know what hit them.
Author notes.
My muse was very insistent on this scene. I have a soft spot in my heart for the original 1940s Green Lantern. Unlike his better known counterpart, Hal Jordan, created in the late 1950s, Alan Scott's powers are magical, instead of technological.
And there are no other Green Lanterns like him. He was unique.
The Green Lantern debuted in All-American Comics, Issue 16 (Jul, 1940). This story was based on the updated, Post-Crisis version, from Secret Origins issue 18 (Sept, 1987).