A/N: Hello to all, I know some of you people probably skip these notes to start the story, but I am giving away a PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or 200 dollars for this Valentine's Day (02/14/2024). I do giveaways for my discord community every 3 months and you could win. For Christmas, I gave away Hogwarts: Legacy for PC as requested. Join my discord with invite code: c6MdX5dx
Now onto the story:
Snape was very much in a good mood, why would he not? Potter had gone home for the summer, and Dumbledore had allowed him to venture out to collect some of the rarer potions' ingredients. Of course, there was his favorite part of the summer breaks, the lack of children. This is why he was taken aback when a blonde young woman came sprinting out of the bank in Diagon Alley and slammed into him, sending his body crashing to the ground. He rolled over to land on his right hip, protecting the shrunken vials containing the ingredients that he had come to the Alley to retrieve from breaking.
Sorry Mister spat the girl over her shoulder, her breathy words spoken in heavily accented English were nearly lost to his ears, but years of teaching had given him super hearing and his ears picked it up all the same.
She had in her hast, dropped a package on the ground. Snape rose to his feet and drew his wand, flicking it to summon the box. His magic washed over the box, and he searched for anything abnormal about the package. There was nothing that concerned him, no hidden dark intent or spikes of malicious magic flowing from the box.
With practiced ease, Snape's magic folded carefully as he maintained the spell holding the box up but also changed the spell to open the box as well. Inside was a pale wand, a pulse of strong magic was coming off it in waves. The owner of the wand was clearly a rather powerful wizard, yet the magic felt wild and less refined than an adult's would. Perhaps the girl was some kind of mage in training or just had really potent magic that she was affiliated with.
It was not uncommon for witches and wizards of a certain tier of strength to have their magic take on an imprint of their best skill. For Dumbledore, that was transfiguration, and for the Dark Lord, that had been the Dark Arts. This meant that spells of their best skill had more control with less magic wasted to power the spell.
It was what had made them so formidable in a battle, it was why nobody dared to challenge either of them in an open battle. It was why the Dark Lord had managed to wrestle absolute power over his followers. Nobody had dared openly question Voldemort and nobody had been able to betray him without suffering.
Even Snape's betrayal had not been total, he had straddled the fence, a man with two masters and loyal to none. The pressure of having two people that he had to answer to, two people who demanded nothing but the absolute truth from him, allowed Snape to develop his control over magic to an extent that he had never thought possible for himself. One such ability was the ability to trace magic. It came in handy more than anyone would be able to count, Dumbledore and the Dark Lord, both had this presence about them during their peaks that felt like a tsunami was threatening to consume them just by existing.
It was as if there was a fine thread connected to the wand that was slowly pulling it back towards the owner of the wand. And it was all Snape could do to simply follow the gentle tug, the man growing more curious as the wand grew hotter by the second, heating with a desire to be reconnected with its owner. Snape was led through the Alley, various former students moving out of his way. The summer interns were something that Snape, himself, had loved greatly before the war broke out and everything went to absolute shite.
It had been a much more simpler time, She had been there at his side. Teasing him for his dedication to studying potions as her red hair that she could not tame, even with magic. They had been there as well, their leader alive and full of himself. Snape was not certain how the encounter really played out for him, it was none of his business. But he knew that he had zero chance of survival on that day, she did though. Snape had personally asked him to spare her and he knows that he would have spared her.
She was just too stubborn to get out of the way
That is how Hagrid had found her, standing directly in front of her child's crib, the baby crying out for parents who would never hear the screams despite being close.
I am going to burn in hell for all of eternity for what I've done, I just hope that I get to drag some of these bastards with me
Snape stopped as he arrived at an apartment building, but he didn't get to enter before the same foreign girl who had previously run into or rather over him, exited the building. She let out a blur of quickly spoken French as she snatched the wand from his magical grasp and walked back into the building. Snape could feel the muscles in his right eyebrow spasm as he was once again reminded of the fact that seemingly dominated his life over the most recent years.
I fucking hate children
And with that, Snape whirled around causing his cloak to flutter in the created breeze as he had seen to the return of the wand and was done with whatever side quest this might have been. He was not here to deal with foreign French young ladies, he was here for a higher purpose, potion ingredients.
I've got to get out more if that is really what is passing through my mind. Severus, you might not be better than this. But you can at least try to be better than this.
His thoughts were full of self-questioning as he marched back through the Alley and towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley where he would be able to get his hands on some of the less legal stuff.
With Dumbledore:
He was not in the best mood as he started at the runes showing the massive decay in the wards that protect Harry's family home. Dumbledore did not care all that much for Harry's muggle family, they were simply a means to an end. That end being the relative safety of Harry himself.
Dumbledore was not unaware of the general lack of quality living that Harry suffered living there, but he also made sure that it never crossed a line. Harry didn't need to live a life of luxury, just as he didn't need to be abused and broken. A normal stern life was perfectly fine to Dumbledore, even if he was uncertain about how much of their behavior was to be tolerated.
It was why he had spoken with Vernon before he picked Harry up from the train station. He had been rather hands off, but if Harry's end of the year outburst had been anything to go by, Dumbledore needed to make sure that Harry was being better taken care of.
Speaking of the end of the year, the young man's mention of Tom Riddle had brought up rather strong feelings from his past.
Tom Riddle had opened the Chamber of Secrets during his Sixth Year, however before then, Tom had been the perfect student.
"Honestly Tom, you should ... no you need to put more effort into your schoolwork" tsk'd a much younger Dumbledore as he held back a 15-year-old Tom Riddle
"What do you mean Professor? I got the spell right on my first try" questioned Tom
"Yes after 10 minutes of looking bored in the back of the classroom, you attempted the spell and got a passable attempt Mr. Riddle" admitted Dumbledore, "But there is more to magic than simply casting a spell and getting a desired result"
"Is there?" challenged Tom
"Yes, one day you will leave this castle and have to venture out into the real world, Tom. And if you are not careful, the world will dismiss you" warned Albus, his blue eyes locked onto Tom's guarded face.
"I don't want to leave Hogwarts," said Tom
"My boy, you are already nearing the end of your 5th year, you have barely 2 years left here before you have to embrace the next chapter of your life"
"Surely there has to be a way that I could stay here?" asked Tom
"Faculty can remain in the school, but students may not Tom," said Dumbledore
"There is no way that a student could get a pass? Is there anything that I can do to avoid going back to the muggle word over the summer?" asked Tom
"You are a year too young for your internship, Tom" started Dumbledore, "I'm afraid that you will have to go back to the Orphanage"
"I thought that you cared about me" challenged Tom
"I do, but this is not up for discussion" said Albus sternly
Tom opened his mouth and Albus cut him off, "You will go back or I will personally put you back there and you will not be welcomed back at Hogwarts"
"Then I shall become a teacher" pivoted Tom
"You're meant for more than that Tom, you are smart and charming, you could be Minister"
"I don't want to"
"I am going to become headmaster next year Tom, I do not see myself hiring a 16 or 17-year-old as a professor"
"Then I'll come back when I'm 20 then"
"I look forward to it, Tom"
Tom turned to leave Albus' classroom and he glanced back over his shoulder once more at Dumbledore, his eyes hardening, "You know, you don't have to pretend to care about me. I much rather you tell me that you don't care about me upfront than to lie to my face"
The door slammed behind him and Albus was left alone, his chest tightening as he saw Tom Riddle for the last time. The next time that he would see that young man, Lord Voldemort would be taking his place.
Albus shivered as he finished his trip down memory lane, he would always regret his manner of 'dealing' with Tom. It was among his biggest failures, one that he was eager never to repeat again.
With Fleur:
She felt panic when she realized that she had lost Harry's wand, but when could she have lost it? Before she could retrace her steps, the man who she had bumped into had found her and returned the wand to her.
Fleur's magic washed over the wand, and she could feel the disgust flooding out from the magic in the wand as if the man who had held it with his magic was someone the magic in the wand didn't like.
Magic is funny like that, it was not just some energy to be used to cast spells. It was its own living thing, something that pulsed with intent. It was why emotions were known to supercharge some spells while also rendering some spells completely useless in some instances.
But Fleur's magic seemed to be well accepted by the wand. However, that made sense to her, because Fleur in her own humble opinion, was everyone's type. Maybe it was the way that her magic flowed, maybe it was the way she was physically attractive, maybe it was a combination of both. She was universally liked, as the myths that Veela being so disliked were something out of bad storytelling from the past.
Women liked her and her Veela sisters because it created a system where Veela women did not hurt their friends by accepting attention from the men that their friends liked. Men liked them because they were pretty, and their magic was so compatible with everyone else's.
She walked up the stairs, making her way to Harry's apartment, Fleur knocked on the door and found herself greeted by an older man at the door.
She found herself questioning who the man was. She had lived here for the entire summer so far, she could not remember seeing him. She pulled on the feel of the magic surrounding him and she found that he was tense and protective, as if he was afraid that she might pose a threat to Harry.
She mentally paused as that honestly made a bunch of sense. Harry had to have a guardian. Because everyone had parents even if they were orphaned, someone had to take care of them up until they were of age. Was this man the person who was supposed to be looking after Harry?
"Who are you?" asked Fleur
"You don't know who I am?" asked the man.
She stopped to look over the man, he looked well-aged beyond that of a man in his thirties as the dad of Harry might have been. He had a gaunt, sunken face, waxy skin, yellow teeth, and long, matted hair. He looked like he had just gotten over being sick, he was terribly thin. He also looked vaguely familiar and not because he looked like Harry, although she could see the British Pureblood features in both of them.
She was so uncertain of what to make of this man, why was he here all of a sudden?
"Harry is sleeping if you want to wait for him" offered the man, his ears twitched and Fleur could feel the nervous rush of magic come spirally out of him.
"Okay, thank you," said Fleur as he moved back from the door to allow her in, the room door was open down the hall and Fleur could see the glimpse of Harry wrapped up in a blanket sleeping soundly.
"How do you know Harry?" asked the man as he led the way to the living room, the house being cleaner than she would have expected with two men living in the apartment.
"I met him at the ice cream shop, I helped him with some runes research" admitted Fleur, "Well actually I met him outside the apartment building and told him my name so that he could mutter it to himself when he wanked to the image of me later"
Fleur blushed heavily as the man let out a laugh that seemed akin to a series of barks, the man coughed roughly as he struggled to breathe.
"James would have loved that, I can imagine Harry's face turning red as James laughed at his little mini-me struggling to get a word out," said the man after he recovered
"James?" asked Fleur
The man's face grew sad for a second, but also more serious, "James was Harry's father, he passed away years ago"
Fleur winced, "Sorry to hear that, I should have figured"
"No, you're fine" waved off the man, his eyes slipping down to the ground, "I wish I could forget that Harry grew up without his dad as well. I wish I could have done so many things better, been better myself"
Fleur could feel the truth of his words in his magic, the energy coiling inside the man, biting into his core, as if trying to punish the man for something. But as pained as he seemed, she also could feel how honest he was with everything and how he wanted to be better.
"You know, it's never too late to be better," said Fleur, "You'll find that it's never too late to make a change in life. My papa told me that"
He smiled at Fleur, and the smile made him look younger than before, his once handsome features shining as he nodded his head, "Your father is a wise man"
"I would tell him, but that compliment will go straight to his head" joked Fleur, "His ego is already big enough as is"
The man chuckled, "My father was one of those types of guys too. He was so smart, savvy, and confident in all aspects of life. I miss him more and more with every day that passes"
Fleur felt the regret in his magic flare once more, the man was different than most people. She allowed her magic to sift out of her body slowly, her Veela magic reaching out and slowly mixing with his. This could be used to cause him to be attracted to her, that is what most people think that her magic did. It was only part of what she could do, she could use it like a magnet and draw people to her. But she could also use it to calm people down, one of the reasons that Veela were able to become great healers.
She was not expecting his magic to blast her magic back with a force that she had never encountered before, her shock evident on her face.
"You will find that my magic and I are completely in tune sweetie," said the man with a wolfish grin, "You are not the first Veela that I have come across in my travels nor will you be the last. I want you to know that was not personal, but nobody enters my mind, and nobody messes with my magic"
Fleur nodded, some people were overly sensitive to their magic or mind being embraced by foreign magic. This man could have easily been one of them, but something told Fleur that there was more to the store.
"So, tell me, what is Harry like?" asked the man
"You can ask me that question yourself," said the boy who was the topic of the question from the entryway to the room, his eyes taking in Fleur but still focused on the man.
Wiltshire, England:
He sat at the head of the table, his eyes bouncing from member to member of the gathered guests in his manor. His eyes washed over the several empty spots, his brothers and sisters who were not free. Trapped like wild animals in that prison, tortured by the nasty foul soul-sucking beings.
There used to be 15 of them, the 15 pillars of the inner circle, but there were only 9 of them gathered here today.
"Why have you called us here today Midas" asked one of the nine
Midas was the owner of the Manor, the codename given to him by the Dark Lord. It was a name of status and truth to his abilities.
"Because Orion, there have been murmurs of our dear lord drifting along the continent for the last couple of years" claimed Midas
"The Dark Lord lives?" questioned Spectre
"Yes" answered Midas, "If there is even a sliver of truth to the claim, then we must take action once more"
"What of our brother Chiron, he is not here?" asked Ares
Midas frowned, "He has spent too much time with the enemy, his loyalty will have to be confirmed before we bring him into anything"
"Are we going to reclaim Castor, Pollux, and Flidais from Azkaban?" asked Dolos, his voice as silky as his name suggested
"Perhaps, I've heard of someone recently escaping from the prison," said Prometheus, "I believe that it was the cousin of your wife Midas"
Midas nodded, "Yes, we have two brothers and a sister left in that prison, we should be seeking to have them return to the family sooner than later. If my extended family's biggest fuck up can escape, then we should be able to spring them from the prison ourselves"
Lugh nodded, "I've heard whispers in the ministry, that Loki lives"
Midas's face twisted into one of deep surprise, "Loki lives? Do tell"
"His father is not as sly as he thinks he is," said Lugh and Prometheus nodded in confirmation, "He leaves his house elf to tend to the boy, while he keeps him under the imperius curse all day"
"Loki managed to escape prison and now fights his father for control of his mind every single day? He is truly more powerful than we ever gave him credit for" commented Midas, "Ares, you shall tail Crouch Sr until he leads us to Loki and free him at once"
Ares nodded, "He will be liberated faster than you than you believe"
Ankou cut in, "Do you wish for me to get rid of Senior along the way of Loki's liberation? It could do it for us"
Midas stroked his chin, unsure of what would be the best course of option, "We cannot have Crouch Sr simply going missing. No, we shall stalk our pray for as long as we can before we move in and strike. If we capture Senior first, we can use his hair to potion into him and hide in plain sight"
Ankou nodded with a soft smile, "We could have Loki pose as his father. Junior replacing Senior would be rather poetic, don't you think?"
Ares smirked as he agreed, "Yeah, Loki would be one of the best men to take the place of his father"
Midas hummed in consideration, "We will make a proper decision on that front when we arrive at that fork in the road. But it would be a good test to give Chiron to see where his loyalty really lies after all these years"
Stryga yawned as he stretched out his large form, "You mentioned the Dark Lord being alive, where is the proof?"
Midas ignored the rude bluntness of his long term friend, "The proof is in the fact that Harry Potter has faced him when he was hanging off the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's head two years ago and fought his shade last year once more"
Stryga looked at Ancile who nodded and said, "So the rumors of the Chamber of Secrets being reopened once more were true"
"Yes" admitted Midas, "Believe it or not, but for once our spoiled sons were not being dramatic. I slipped an artifact into a young girls belongings, an artifact that belonged to our Dark Lord. The mere sliver of power that the artifact possessed allowed for him to basically take over the school and out Dumbledore"
Midas' words hung in the air, the power of the Dark Lord was not something anyone would forget. He was not regarded as the most powerful Dark Lord to ever exist because he was some random man. No, the fact that his artifact had brought Hogwarts to a halt was not that surprising to anyone in the room. No, the more surprising fact was that Harry Potter was still alive.
How powerful was that boy? What were they teaching that boy? How much of a threat would he be at this moment to their plans? And if they didn't deal with him soon, how much of a threat would he become as he reached his magical maturity?
"Midas, you've met the boy right? What can you tell us of him?" asked Prometheus
"He had just defeated a basilisk in battle with a sword, yet also had the where with all to hide a sock in a book and trick me into freeing my house elf" admitted Midas
"Perhaps he is what the Dark Lord had assumed all those years ago" suggested Ares
"And what is that?" asked Ankou
"Harry Potter may very well be more powerful than any other 12-year-old in the world, he may very well be a proper rival to the Dark Lord" answered Midas
"Is that how he survived the Dark Lord all those years ago?" asked Spectre
"It may very well be" suggested Lugh, "Who knows what pure brutal magical might could accomplish in the right situation"
"Harry Potter might be as powerful as anyone who ever has existed, but he is not a match for the Dark Lord" hissed Orion, "None of you are to forget the vow that we took when we became members of the inner circle"
A hush fell over the room as all 9 members of the Inner Circle present were reminded what it took to get into the inner circle, what they had vowed upon joining: complete faith in the Dark Lord's plan, strength, and devotion to his cause.
"Harry Potter is not the one who will bring down the Dark Lord, not today and not ever" said Midas, "Orion, you will go where the rumblings have started in the forests of Albania"
Orion nodded and Midas stood up, his long blond locks swaying as he did so.
"This meeting is concluded, we will regroup here in a month. We all have our assignments, I will make sure that when the time comes, our gold flows with a consistency and strength that has never been seen before" said Midas as he dismissed the rest of the Inner Circle.
This might be a mistake, but this is the best way to make sure that the Dark Lord takes it easy on us thought Midas as he retired that title for the day and moved back to being Lucius Malfoy.
A/n: That's all I got for yall today. It's early in the morning about 1 AM and I wanted to get this chapter out to yall.
Join the discord and get a free console or 200 dollars. Plus the people there are dope.
Until next time, HighKey_Mars out