Disclaimer - I do not own HP, nor will I ever. It belongs to JKR. Always.

Harry Potter and the Heir of Avalon

CHAPTER ONE

Halloween

Goblin Archives Vault

Deep underground

Hidden within a vault at Gringotts, so deep that it was perpetually warm, was a vault containing some of the wizarding world's most priceless, irreplaceable and even mythical treasures. It was here within this vault, that around seven pm on Halloween night, two of those long thought mythical, forgotten treasures started to emit a pulse, not of light, but of magic, of longing, of power.

The items were both made with goblin forged gold, steel and jewels, as well as other magical materials. One a sceptre, the other a crown, both atop bejeweled cushions, both extremely aged. The sceptre, once Merlin's; the crown, King Arthur's.

Never had these objects been seen emitting such a glow, in fact, many a goblin historian thought that any magic within them had long since bled off. But there they lay, waiting, to be reclaimed once again, by the new sovereign head of Camelot, and the wizarding world of Great Britain.

Hogslice, the current goblin historian, was alerted by an alarm sounding in his office, indicating that an artifact had awakened. He stood slowly, making his way over to the door connecting to the outside entrance to the vault. Perks of having the job allowed him to have an office far away from the main floor of the bank. He was taking his time, assuming that an Heir's ring had lit up, which wasn't that rare of an occurrence.

Upon slicing his palm and swiping his blood over the seemingly blank stretch of rock that hid the entrance to the vault, the rock shimmered and split down the middle. The residual wave that rushed out the opening was strong enough to make Hogslice stagger back a few paces.

This isn't normal, he thought.

Rushing back through to the vault, the historian felt his mouth drop open as he saw what had released the tidal wave of magic. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

The crown.

The sceptre.

They were awake.

Unbelievable.

Hogslice closed the entrance and retreated from the archives vault, hands shaking the entire walk back to his office, only stopping once he was seated at his desk. He knew that this had to be reported to his supervisor. With the strength of magic emanating from both artifacts, he knew that the heir of Merlin and Arthur would have felt the pulse, and would be heading towards the bank soon, as the call of Camelot had always been too strong to resist.

As he quilled a note to his superior, he remembered the date. Did this have anything to do with the Goblet of Fire at Hogwarts?

Hogwarts Great Hall

Halloween

"Harry Potter?

Harry groaned. Of course. Of course this would happen. Of course, his name would come out of the Goblet. Why wouldn't it? He honestly should have expected something like this to happen. Something ALWAYS happened on Halloween.

His head had landed on the table during his inner talk, and now he had a headache as well as a massive problem. Great.

"Harry Potter!"

Ugh, Dumbledore again. Harry could hear ugly whispers and snarky comments starting to circulate the hall, even coming from the Gryffindor table.

"Cheat!", "Glory hog!", "He's not even seventeen yet!"

"He lifted his head slowly, and he could see every pair of eyes on him, once again. Looking up at the top table, he could see Dumbledore with his face set, but still oddly having a twinkle in his eyes, almost like he was trying not to smile at Harry's name coming out of the Goblet.

Looking back at those closest to him, he saw a very odd and almost alarming array of facial expressions.

Neville was sat across from him, looking confused and seemingly upset for him, with a touch of fear in his eyes. The Weasley twins were actually silent for a change, looking uncharacteristically serious and solemn. Ginny, who was sitting further down next to the twins, had a slightly fangirlish look of admiration about her face, causing Harry to cringe away a bit. And Ron and Hermione…

Hermione had a look of disappointment and anger so intense it seemed like she had been taking lessons from Professor McGonagall. As for Ron… Harry turned to look beside himself on the bench. He moved back slightly on impulse when he realised how his 'best mate' was looking at him. Ronald was leaning back, pure, unadulterated disgust, jealousy and anger flitting over his face, one every few seconds, till Harry was forced to look away from him.

"HARRY POTTER!" Dumbledore roared.

Harry started shaking his head no, no it wasn't possible. Perhaps if he stayed put, it would go away?

"Potter!" Snape had joined in now, "Here, now!"

Apparently, it was real. Stumbling back over the bench and standing up, Harry opened his mouth, to say something, but before he could make any sound resembling speech, he was pushed from behind rather roughly, and ended up staggering a few steps away from the table.

This left him smack-bang in the middle of the hall, as one push became two, then more insults got thrown into the mix, until Harry was forced to make his way to the staff table in front of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore POV

Albus was trying to hide his delight behind a stern façade, as he watched the boy be roughly handled to the front of the Hall. He felt sure that this was Riddle's plan, and he was all too glad to guide the lad into the trap that was surely set for him.

As Potter reached him, Albus mutely passed him the slightly burnt parchment, which was obviously ripped from a piece of DADA homework, before adopting a disappointed tone.

"To the others, then, lad." He said, adding a slight head shake to go with his tone.

Harry POV

As Dumbledore told him where to go, Harry got a the feeling that there was something a little rehearsed in the Headmasters' response to Harry walking up to him.

Whatever, he thought, best get this over with.

The first thing that came to Harry's mind as he entered the antechamber, was that he was embarrassingly short compared to the true Champions. Sure, they were all adults, and he was only a fourth year, but come on.

Jolting out of his thoughts by the debate that had started behind him, his hope that he would be able to get out of this were soon dashed by Crouch and Dumbledore, when they both stated that he was bound by a magical contract and obligated to complete. He didn't know if it was a coincidence or not, but when Crouch told him he had to compete, and Dumbledore confirmed it. Harry felt a sharp jolt of magic rush through him, from his toes, to his fingers, to the tips of his hair.

Whatever the jolt was, apart from his hair going slightly crazier than it had been before, and the Delacour girl eyeing him oddly, the jolt was quickly forgotten in the aftermath of the decision that had been made for him.

The others filtered from the antechamber, the Heads of the visiting schools first with their respective Champions. Then Crouch and Bagman, followed by Harry's teachers, Headmaster and Cedric. As Moody was passing him to leave, Harry caught a glimpse of a slightly maniacal grin on the ex-auror's face, sending a shiver down Harry's spine. By the time the impromptu meeting had ended, the rest of the school had finished dinner and left to go to bed.

Catching up to Cedric and Dumbledore at the doors to the Great Hall, Dumbledore spoke to them.

"Well, my boys, I'm sure that your houses are eagerly awaiting your presences in your common rooms to celebrate! Enjoy your night!" and leisurely walked away from them, presumably going back to his office.

Cedric and Harry stood there awkwardly, until Harry broke the silence.

"Congrats Cedric. You'll make a great champion for Hogwarts. I hope you know that I never wanted this, right?" Harry said hopefully, holding out a hand for the older boy to shake. He waited with bated breath for the Hufflepuff's response.

Cedric looked at him for about half a minute, before sighing and shrugging.

"Yeah Harry, I realise that. You've always been a fair player, and I've heard about all the stuff that you've had to put up with over these past few years. Thanks for the vote of confidence." And with that he shook the smaller boy's hand, before wishing him goodnight and walking off to his common room.

Harry sighed. At least that's one person who doesn't hate me, he thought.

He was really not looking forward to going back to the tower. Based on everyone's reaction at the table, he was going to be facing a hostile mob of students if he went up there, all of whom would be asking him about how he got in, and why he cheated. No one would listen to what he would say, possibly save a few.

Looking around the Entrance Hall, Harry got an idea. He knew a place within the school that only he could enter, giving him the perfect place to escape to before he would have to face the reality of the situation that he found himself embroiled in. The Chamber of Secrets.

Confident in his new plan, Harry began to make his way to Myrtle's bathroom, before he then slowed to a halt. How was he going to be able to get his trunk and his things if he wasn't going back to the Tower? That got him thinking. How did the students' belongings get into the dorms at the start of term anyways? He then had to force himself not to facepalm. He hoped this worked.

"Dobby?" he called into the empty hallway.

There was instantly a muted crack, and all of a sudden Harry had an overexcited house elf bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of him.

"The Great Master Harry Potter Sir! The Great Master Harry Potter Sir called for Dobby? What can Dobby be doing for the Great Master Harry Potter Sir?"

This time Harry did actually facepalm. With his cheeks turning a pale pink from the elf's adoration, Harry groaned.

"Oh, uh, Dobby, please don't call me all that, it's rather embarrassing, and – wait." Harry gave the elf a stern look. "Did you just call me master?"

"Oh yes sir! When the Great Master Harry Potter Sir saved Dobby, he became Dobby's new master!" Here Dobby looked a little ashamed and embarrassed. "Unless the Great Master Harry Sir doesn't want Dobby?"

The elf looked so downcast as he asked this, that Harry just sighed.

"It's fine Dobby. I would like to be your new master, if you want me to be. However, please just call me Harry, or Master Harry if you can."

Dobby nodded happily as Harry continued.

"Also, no hurting yourself, under ANY circumstances. If you think you've done something you need to be punished for, discuss it with me and we'll figure out a suitable punishment, but I don't want you injured anymore. Understood?"

Again, Dobby nodded, slightly more subdued this time, but still with a grin.

"And finally," Harry said firmly, I will be paying you two sickles a week, and giving you one day off a month for yourself."

Dobby looked shocked at this, and Harry thought he may have possibly done something wrong. Until Dobby gave a happy shriek and threw himself at Harry' legs, almost toppling them both in the process.

"Thank you, Master Harry! Thank you for paying Dobby so much! Dobby promises to be the best elf ever for the best master ever!"

"Okay Dobby, please let go." Harry finally managed to peel the elf off of him and right himself.

"Right," Harry said, "Dobby, I am heading to the Chamber of Secrets for the night at least, so would you be able to gather my trunk and other belongings from the Gryffindor Tower and meet me in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"

Dobby nodded and said "Yes Master Harry. Dobby will meet you there." And disappeared with a snap.

Glad that was over with, Harry continued to the entrance to the Chamber. Reaching the bathroom, he entered and was glad to see that Myrtle was not around, as he didn't have the energy to deal with her that night.

Walking over the surprisingly dry floor to the hidden entrance, he looked for the snake motif that was etched into the sink. Upon locating it, he tilted his head slightly, imagining that the snake was moving, and then hissed the password.

~open~