Well, this is something of an oddity. This was an idea originally derived from my pure Final Fantasy VIII fic, La Vita Nuova (and eagle-eyed readers will note that I copied and pasted a lot from that story, along with Anchor of Ultimecia). What happened was that long-time reader DalkonCledwin wanted to do their own take on the story, but after they couldn't get it going, they formulated a challenge which, with their permission, I posted on DZ2 and whitetigerwolf's challenge forums.

I decided to try my hand at the challenge because I wanted to try my hand at doing a Haphne (Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass) fic. Let's face it, Daphne Greengrass is one of those background characters in the series ripe for development, and while I prefer doing Harmony or Luna-shipping (or Lunar Harmony), I'm not averse to trying new things if it interests me. Doing a pure Potterverse fic with Haphne didn't appeal to me, frankly. But I eventually decided to give the challenge a go. In a way, it's revisiting one of my old, abandoned stories, and giving it new life.

Incidentally, I am posting this in both The Cauldron and my Final Fantasy fic compilation Final Fantasy Files. Have fun...

KNIGHT AND SORCERESS REBORN

CHAPTER 1:

REBORN

Ultimecia had never had the luxury of a proper childhood. SeeD's persecution murdered her childhood as effectively as they wished to murder her. They had embarked on their pogroms with little heed to what pain they caused others. They had even robbed her of her first and only Knight, Ramza(1).

Which was why Ultimecia was embarking on the beginnings of an audacious plan. To compress time, bring the power of all Sorceresses in history into herself, along with all of time and space, and rule as a Goddess over all creation, denying existence to all who would do her harm. Which, to her mind, meant all of humanity in general, and SeeD in particular. She didn't care whether she was Goddess over an empty and small universe, as long as she didn't have to feel pain anymore. As long as she had the power to decide her own fate.

As part of her plan, she had obtained a Junction Machine Ellone device, a device that could send her consciousness back in time. Amongst other things, she needed to find the very girl that the machine was named for, the girl who possessed the same powers, who would be key to her plan.

Ultimecia never considered the fact that her plan, borne out of hurt and desperation that twisted her heart and soul into the most extreme misanthropy, would in fact perpetuate a cycle that would bring the very persecution she attempted to halt into existence. She would have dismissed the possibility out of hand: it was not she who was the author of her own persecution, but the SeeDs.

In a perverse way, though she would never know it, she was right. Memories and well-meant warnings about Ultimecia twisted and distorted, and along with it, the mission and ethos of SeeD. The well-intentioned dream of Cid and Edea Kramer, embodied by Squall Leonhart and his friends, was twisted into fanatical hatred. The Kramers, Leonhart, and his friends were all but deified, and Sorceresses, save for Edea and Rinoa, were demonised. The creed of SeeD became like a religion, and not of a kind and moral sort, but of fanaticism and blinkeredness and hatred, determined to stop Ultimecia from emerging by any means necessary. It took centuries to happen, but it still did.

Once, Ultimecia loathed her powers. Now, she embraced them. And why shouldn't she? Power was all she had left. Not love, not friendship, and not acceptance. All of those had been dangled in front of her, and torn ruthlessly away.

Ultimecia took the Junction Machine Ellone into her art gallery. It was a risk, given that SeeDs tried daily to infiltrate her castle and murder her. But she wanted to be surrounded by her beloved artwork, and trusted to her monstrous minion Trauma to protect her if she was attacked.

Sadly, it was a mistake. As she used the machine to project her consciousness centuries into the past, looking for potential candidates to control, SeeD mercenaries broke in. Trauma fought valiantly, but was unable to save his mistress when one SeeD managed to shoot her, while her consciousness was still in the past.

As Ultimecia slumped, blood drooling from her mouth, her chest a crimson ruin that matched her habitual crimson robe, cries of elation erupted from the SeeDs, and a cry of woe erupted from Trauma. Sorceress Ultimecia was dead! The world, past and present, was safe!

That may have been true, save for the fact that killing someone while their consciousness was junctioned to someone in the past had unforeseen consequences. At the time, Ultimecia was searching for Edea Kramer, whom she thought was uniquely placed to start her plan. However, the bullets that had robbed her of her life had also hit the machine. Her consciousness was sent not back or forth in time…but sideways.

But as Ultimecia was torn away from her body, screaming as she was sucked into a foetus, she never knew she was going to get a chance the child, and herself, never got. A childhood. A gift of immeasurable value.

She didn't know it, but fate would conspire to give her an even greater gift: her lover and knight would be reborn too. And they would be brought together once more…

Daphne Greengrass was a strange child, to say the least. When she was born, Lord Cyrus Greengrass almost immediately demanded a paternity test. He had believed his wife to have had an affair, and even when the paternity test came up in his favour (that is, he was indisputably the father of Daphne), their relationship was strained for some months afterwards, not helped by the demands of parenthood.

Of course, it wasn't without reason that he had such suspicion. His daughter had been born with silvery hair, far more different than the blonde of his lineage. And her eyes had a distinctive baleful ring of gold around the pupil, in the centre of pale blue irises. After several more paternity tests, and the doctors putting the strange features to a random mutation, Cyrus Greengrass reluctantly accepted the girl as his own.

Daphne was often a quiet, pensive, even sullen child. Not actually spoilt, but she seemed preoccupied at times, and sometimes lost her temper at the oddest of stimuli. That being said, she seemed at her happiest around her mother, as well as at play. She liked going to the theatre and to operas and to art galleries, and she seemed to love that. And her parents did try to indulge her. Not so often as to spoil her. Oddly enough, she didn't actually throw that many temper tantrums when she didn't get her own way, and even bore some refusals with a sort of adult resignation. It was merely some pet peeves that ignited her temper, not a lack of indulgence.

She also seemed obsessed with horology, even having a minor hobby collecting clocks and watches. It was as if she was obsessed with time, making sure she could use it to her own advantage. Punctuality certainly was something she was obsessed with, as if she wanted every second to count.

And then, there were the nightmares. Nightmares that sometimes had her bolt upright in bed, screaming. Nightmares she refused to speak of.

And then, after third year, Daphne had come back changed. Whether it was for better or for worse, few could tell…

The girl ran through the rain, trying not to slip on the slick ground. Tears ran from her eyes, mingling with the rain, the irises a baleful gold, showing hurt and betrayal and anger and fear. Long silver hair framed her face, which had strange markings not unlike tattoos. Yet despite the oddities of her appearance, she was actually quite beautiful, though she was clearly in her mid-teens. Her black jacket over a red shirt and jeans was the only thing keeping the rain off her form, and it wasn't doing it very well. Her hands had talon-like nails, and her feet, exposed to the elements, were bestial paws. A pair of black feathered wings protruded from her back, sodden in the weather.

She had just been betrayed by her best friend, or rather, someone she had thought a best friend. Her second Knight, who had come after her first, Ramza, had been murdered by SeeD. But Delita turned out to be a SeeD agent in disguise.

Suddenly, a burning pain in her leg, followed shortly thereafter by the report of a gun. The girl screamed in agony as she fell, skidding to a halt, her face scraping painfully along the ground. With a whimper of pain, she rolled onto her back, and gathered her concentration to heal the bullet wound in her leg. It was hard to do: something in the bullet was sapping her magic, but she barely managed to heal the wound.

But even as she did so, someone, followed by a dozen others, appeared, surrounding her. Standing over her was Delita, looking down at her with a contemptuous sneer. His handsome face was marred by the utter disdain on his face. "Well, looky here. We finally have the Sorceress right where we want her."

"Delita…" the Sorceress moaned. "Why? I…trusted you."

"Then it only goes to show you were a stupid little bitch!" Delita sneered. "Then again, you were on the rebound after I iced Ramza. Oh yes, that was me." He petted the long, phallic-substitute rifle he was holding like it was an animal. "The ultimate in anti-Sorceress weaponry, courtesy of the Odine Corporation. That's why your filthy Sorceress powers aren't working. That's why I'm better than that fame-hungry shit Leonhart! I don't have a famous name to fall back on like that attention-seeking brat! But I have brains, and I have the guts to do what is necessary!"

"But what have I done wrong?!" the Sorceress demanded. "What in Hyne's name have I done to deserve this? Everyone speaks of a Sorceress from the future, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Sorceresses are an abomination upon the world anyway, the last remnants of an evil and twisted god," Delita spat. "Besides, you match the description of the Sorceress we must destroy. You even have a twisted version of her name…don't you, Artemisia3? But I know you are truly Ultimecia. For the future, and for the past, you must die!"

Artemisia, for that was the name her mother gave her, before SeeD slaughtered her family, glared. "Curse you all," she snarled. "I will NOT die here today!" Calling upon as much of her power as she could, she sent them flying. But even as they sprawled on the ground, she knew that it may not be enough.

Please…if the Great Hyne, or any deity watching from above has any inkling of mercy…please…I need help. Send me a Knight, a new Knight, a true Knight… She prayed with all her might, not knowing if it would be answered.

But nobody came…

Daphne sat bolt upright, struggling not to scream. She had tried to avoid doing that whenever she had the nightmares, of being a Sorceress named Ultimecia, pursued by SeeD just for existing. But sometimes, despite her attempts to stop doing so for her family's sake (or her dorm-mates, whenever she was at Hogwarts), she couldn't help it. She had gotten around this by using a special ward to muffle noises around her bed.

The teenager shook the last remnants of the nightmare from her mind. It felt too real to be merely a nightmare, but even so, that's what it remained. No belligerent SeeDs stood around her bed, ready to skewer her, burn her to ashes and salt her remains.

Then, she remembered. It was no nightmare. It was a memory.

The first time Daphne became aware that her nightmares were memories were when those damned Dementors were posted around Hogwarts, thanks to that moron Fudge overreacting to Sirius Black's escape. After all, the Dementors only fed on worst memories, not nightmares. Boggarts fed on worst fears, ridiculous or not.

That being said, it wasn't until the holidays after her third year that Daphne came to an epiphany about those memories. And that was because she had begun to discover powers. Powers beyond that of another wizard or witch. True, the ability to pluck any memory she chose from someone's mind could have been an unusually powerful talent of Legilimency. But the ability to slow, or even stop, time? And with ridiculous ease? Well, that was NOT a normal talent. And yet, Ultimecia had it. And so too did Daphne.

What was more, she began to be able to use spells beyond those known in Magical Britain, or indeed anywhere on Earth. Mostly offensive spells, but there were healing spells as well. From the simplest Fire spell all the way up to Apocalypse. She could use them all.

But for what?

Daphne was still pondering this as she got up from her bed. Her father had obtained tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, and had insisted on bringing her along. Quidditch bored her. But she was obligated to make appearances with her father at certain public gatherings. All for the sake of appearances.

Daphne sighed quietly as she went to have a shower and get dressed. She needed a Knight, soon, she knew. A Knight acted to protect a Sorceress from all dangers. Even if, ultimately, she herself is that very danger, if she ever succumbed to evil, so the Knight must end her life. Frequently, they were consorts and lovers. In times of yore, the life of a Knight was seen as a glamorous, even romantic one. But in her time back on her old world, thanks to the accursed SeeDs, Knights were seen as traitors to humanity.

But even as she vowed never to try and find a Knight, not after Delita's treachery, part of her now yearned for it. Though it would be too much to hope for another Ramza.

"You never know."

The voice was deep and resonant. Daphne resisted the urge to jump in the air, but she whirled upon the source of the voice, thankful she had finished dressing. There was a man standing in the corner of her bedroom, tall, thin, with dark hair and piercing ice-blue eyes. "Who are you?" she demanded. "How did you get here?!"

"Come now, Daphne Greengrass…or should I say, Artemisia? While it is somewhat much to expect you to know who I am on sight…you are one of my descendants. I am Hyne."

Daphne blinked in astonishment. "Hyne?"

"Indeed. The progenitor of Sorceresses," the man claiming to be Hyne said. "The people of your world, Mondas, wondered where I went. Admittedly, the legends that sprang up around me after my disappearance were…false. While I am a deity, I am not a creator deity. However, I was nearly forced to give some of my power to humanity. I merely gave it to the Sorceresses…and what a mess I made when it all went wrong." Hyne sighed quietly. "In a way, your departure from Mondas was for the best. The time loop you and the SeeDs were caught up in has been broken. No longer will the Sorceresses of Mondas be persecuted, not to the degree that they were."

"Am I supposed to be glad about that?" Daphne asked sharply.

"I suppose not, my descendant. But when I saw what happened, of your being pulled into this world…I made an intercession with the goddess of death, to grant you a boon. Your Knight, your first, true Knight, has been reborn on this world."

Now, that was something of a shock. Ramza had been reborn? She couldn't dare hope that it was true. "And how can I find him?" she asked archly.

Hyne smiled thinly. "You'll see him soon enough. In a way, he has been right under your nose for a long time. The Dementors also unlocked his memories, memories he is only now coming to terms with."

"Don't be coy! For all I know, you are merely a hallucination of my mind, engaged in wishful thinking! Tell me his name."

She half-expected Hyne to rail against her, or something along those lines. She never expected tenebrous rumbles of amusement. "As you wish. But you will find it somewhat unbelievable."

"I don't care. What is his name?"

Hyne smirked. And then he declared an impossible name, a name that shouldn't have been the reincarnation of her beloved Ramza. And yet, when she came to think of it later, it was so obvious in hindsight. It couldn't have been anyone else. But now, she couldn't believe the four syllables Hyne spoke. Syllables that would turn her world, and that of Magical Britain, upside down.

"Harry Potter."

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

Well, there's a turn-up for the books, isn't it?

Now, a lot of this chapter, as some eagle-eyed readers will have noted, has been copied and pasted from La Vita Nuova, along with an extract from Anchor of Ultimecia. Many of the concepts I am using in this story have been recycled from those two stories, along with my other Potterverse crossovers with Final Fantasy VIII: Ultimecia's Knight, and Mnemosyne's Son. Mondas is my fanon name for the world of Final Fantasy VIII (a naughty little nod to the Cybermen's original homeworld from Doctor Who, and a derivation of mundas, a Latin name for the world), and we'll see more as the fic goes by.

Incidentally, Hyne's appearance and voice is based on Benedict Cumberbatch's.

1. Ramza (and later in the chapter, Delita) were named for the characters from Final Fantasy Tactics. I used those names for Anchor of Ultimecia.