So, here we are again. This is another story inspired by one of sakurademonalchemist's stories, a story she only published the first chapter to in her Short Story Drabbles. While it doesn't actually start in the same way, nor will it continue as such, it does take one key cue: Shirou Emiya from Fate/Stay Night is Harry Potter. In her story, Rebirth of Phoenix, Harry managed to arrange with the Goblins (who only agreed because they hoped it would kill him) to de-age himself and go back in time to start a new life. In my story, Harry is reincarnated as Shirou (along with other Potterverse characters: I think some people will be surprised at who I made for Sakura), but as it had similar principles, I thought I'd acknowledge my inspiration.

Incidentally, if you want to read the sole chapter of Rebirth of Phoenix, here it is:

s/9495509/42/Short-Story-Drabbles

I've been meaning to do a Harry/Sakura story for some time, and this, along with additional pairings (Arturia is a given, and Medusa another), is my answer to that. Also, because some of Harry's personality has bled through into Shirou, Shirou will be pretty OOC in this story. He still has his 'saving people thing' shared between them, but he's also much more cynical and less willing to save everybody, regardless of who they are. Plus, as we will detail later in the story, Shirou/Harry has managed to not only get most of the full story of the Fourth Grail War from Kiritsugu, but he's also managed to meet Illya long before the Fifth Grail War, though the von Einzberns don't believe him about Angra Mainyu.

Incidentally, I'm cross-posting this in The Cauldron.

NON OMNIS MORIAR

CHAPTER 1:

A NEW LIFE

Shirou sighed as he closed up the archery club. It might've taken him longer than that, had he not known a few tricks. Tricks he had to be careful of using, in case it triggered that Bounded Field he sensed earlier. Still, it gave him time to actually investigate the Bounded Field…as he had his suspicions about what had caused it.

Sneaking through the school was easy. He had something of a gift for stealth, and that was without going into his abilities. Abilities only two other people knew about, as far as he knew: his best friend, Sakura Matou, and his sister. The only other person to know, his adoptive father, was dead…and he had warned Shirou not to let anyone else know about said abilities, especially another Magus. Kiritsugu Emiya may have given up the career of an assassin by the time he adopted Shirou, but he certainly imbued a similar sense of reasonable paranoia. For some reason, the words 'constant vigilance' always came to mind around his father.

There were frequent odd flashes of half-remembered phrases and names in Shirou's mind. He had nightmares and dreams that seemed more like memories. Though they couldn't have been memories: Shirou may have lost his in the Fuyuki Fire, but he was older in those dreams, and had black hair and green eyes in them, not to mention British. So, given that he was Japanese, had red hair (unusual for a Japanese), and hazel eyes, it can't have been him…though it meant his grades in English classes were exemplary (not that Taiga would have it any other way).

He eventually reached the roof, and found what he was looking for fairly quickly. A magic circle was inscribed on the roof, and he scowled. He couldn't tell what it was for, but he was fairly sure it wasn't anything good.

The door to the roof opened, and Shirou looked up to find a fairly unwelcome face approaching. "You? What are you doing here?" the girl with the dark hair done up in twin ponytails demanded.

"Admiring someone else's handiwork. I hope this isn't yours, Tohsaka," Shirou said, a little more coldly than he intended. But he didn't like Rin Tohsaka for a number of reasons, not least of which that she didn't even try to reach out to her sister, beyond token efforts, and even if she didn't know what had happened to Sakura, it still felt like a betrayal to Shirou. That, and his father told him to be wary of her until he knew better: her father was a Magus, after all, and she may have inherited his elitist attitudes. Not to mention her guardian and mentor, Kirei Kotomine.

That, and Rin seemed to take umbrage to the fact that Shirou and Sakura were boyfriend and girlfriend. And that they were rumoured to be lovers. Rumour which was, oddly enough, true…though there were reasons behind that beyond love and lust.

The dark-haired girl seemed shocked and taken aback by Shirou's words, before a scowl came over her face. "And what do you mean by that?" she blustered.

"This is a Magus' handiwork," Shirou said, tapping the magic circle. "Someone set this up here. And I only know of four other Magi who live here off the top of my head…though that number's rising."

Rin, after a moment, decided to restrain her temper, and strode over to the magic circle. "I came here to investigate this myself. Still, I can't believe this. Another Magus…living here all this time. And who are the other three?"

"Sakura and that thing she has to call a grandfather of hers, along with that priest you're stuck with as a guardian and mentor," Shirou said.

"I see," Rin said, before blinking. "Thing?"

"Why should I tell you? You don't take much interest in Sakura," Shirou retorted. "If you did, you'd have helped her years ago. Your Uncle Kariya at least tried."

"How dare you?!" Rin snapped.

"I do dare. Now, do you know anything about this, Little Miss Magus?"

Rin growled, before she glared at the magic circle. "No, I don't recognise it. It's not my handiwork, and the inscriptions are in a language I'm not familiar with."

Shirou frowned. "Erase it?"

"Part of it," Rin said. "Whatever it is, it gives me the creeps, and while I may not be able to erase it all, I might be able to do enough to scupper the plans of whoever placed it here…"

"Now, where's the fun in that?"

The Irish drawl came from above, a man neither Shirou nor Rin noticed perched in the watertank on the roof. Shirou cursed himself for being more focused on Rin in his annoyance with her, or else he might have noticed earlier. The man was tall, lanky, dressed in a blue bodysuit. He had long blue hair tied in a ponytail, a handsome, sardonic face with red eyes, and slitted pupils. Most concerning, however, was the rather long, red spear he had in his hands. Though the vein-like markings had Shirou wondering…

"Are you compensating for something with that spear?"

Rin looked aghast at him, while the Irish man stared at him, before he laughed a barking laugh. "Oh, you know, while I've heard that one more than a few times in my lifetime, it's actually still quite funny. Now, given your conversations, I'm guessin' that you two are Junior Magi, right? Shouldn't you two kiddos be in bed?"

"Oh, you know, I was looking to be like Shinichi Kudo(1)," Shirou snarked, even as he thought of ways to get out of this. "Columbo(2) here was working the same case."

Rin, seeking to regain her authority on the matter, demanded, "Did you do this?"

"As if. It's Magi who do the dirty tricks, lass. Whereas me, well, I'm here to fight. I mean, surely you kids have heard of Servants?"

Shirou paled. It was a possibility he had considered since seeing the Irish man, especially after he met his sister the other night…but now he knew for certain… "Crap. Rin, please tell me you've summoned one by now and he or she can cover our retreat."

"Oh, so now we're on a first-name basis when we're threatened with being killed!" Rin snapped.

"I can get away just fine! But I don't know about you," Shirou said. "Have you?"

"Yes!"

The Irish man, whom Shirou was willing to bet was a Lancer (the big, penis-substitute spear was a fairly big clue), laughed. "You think you can get away from me, boyo?"

"Not normally," spoke a voice, seemingly out of thin air, before a man materialised next to Rin. "But I think I can buy them a little time. You sure you want to help a fellow Magus who might be your next enemy?" This last bit was addressed to Rin.

The man was tall, with tanned skin and snow white hair, dressed in black armour, with red trousers and a similarly-coloured item of clothing that was somewhere between a coat and a mantle. His features seemed oddly familiar to Shirou, though he couldn't understand why. His expression was stern, hard.

Rin scowled, or at least more than she was already, and said, "Be that as it may, we have a definite enemy in front of us. Buy us time until we can reach a better battlefield." She then looked at Shirou. "I hope you know Reinforcement, Emiya."

"And more," Shirou said. As they fled down the staircase and back into the school proper, Shirou used Reinforcement on his legs, and indeed the rest of his body, Rin doing the same. Their speed wasn't quite at Servant levels, but it was better than most.

They scrambled down the fire escape, before fleeing the school, just in time to find Lancer and Rin's Servant leaping down from the roof. They were soon joined in battle, and Shirou had to at least watch on in awe. Their fight was beyond human limits, at ridiculous speeds. Some of their blows sent shockwaves that blasted dust into the air.

"Merlin, I wish I had some popcorn," Shirou muttered. "Dad told me the stories, but…"

"Dad? So your name isn't a coincidence?" Rin demanded.

"If by that, you mean he was Kiritsugu Emiya, then no, it's not a coincidence. But why the hell is this starting up again so soon?" This last was spoken more quietly.

He'd known it was happening ever since he got the call from his big sister, and it had only been confirmed when he saw the markings on Sakura's hand…and on his own…a marking he had concealed with makeup. Sakura, to his knowledge, was yet to summon a Servant: they had agreed that they were going to collaborate during this Grail War, and they were going to do the summoning together if possible. His big sister was still on the fence: her family held considerable sway, and hadn't bought the warning he had given to them, courtesy of his father. But at least she wasn't going to kill him.

"You mean the Grail War?" Rin asked.

"Well, I wasn't talking about a Street Fighter tournament," Shirou snarked.

A chuckle came from Rin's Servant. "I like the cut of his jib," he said, as he deflected another blow from Lancer. Shirou frowned. While the man was using a pair of swords he had summoned through what was probably Projection, Shirou couldn't be sure that was a Saber. In fact, he hoped this man in red and black wasn't. Because that would prove problematic.

"I'm sure you do, Archer," Rin said acidly, answering that question.

"I'm glad one of us is amused," Lancer said with his own scowl. "But what kind of stupid bloody Archer fights with a pair of swords? Are you mockin' me?"

Archer merely smirked, ever-so-slightly, not quite confirming or denying the accusation.

"And are you gonna leave a witness around?" Lancer continued.

"Uh, actually, it's not against the rules for a non-Master to witness if they're a Magus," Shirou said.

Before Lancer could retort, there was a noise of chains clanking, and something like a nail or a dagger on a chain whipped out of the darkness, Lancer barely deflecting the blow. "Oh, what now?!" he snapped irritably.

Out of the darkness, a woman, inhumanly beautiful, with long purple hair and dressed in dark, somewhat fetishistic-looking black clothing, landed. Her eyes were covered by something like a rigid blindfold, only serving to make her look like something out of a BDSM wet dream. She wielded a pair of daggers that looked more like oversized nails chained together, the same thing that had attacked Lancer. "I am here to help this one," she said, her voice a lyrical hiss, indicating Shirou.

"By all means, bring it on! I'm all up for a threeway, even with another guy!" Lancer said, baring fang-like canines in a feral grin. Then, he suddenly scowled. "Oh, dammit! Stupid bloody…tch. Well, today's your lucky day. My Master doesn't want me to fight more than one person at a time, as much as I want to. Be seeing you!" And with that, he Astralized.

"…That just happened," Shirou muttered.

The purple-haired Servant turned to look at him, insomuch as she could do so without her eyes visible, and said, "My Master, Sakura, sent me. She is currently waiting at your house."

Now, what was surprising about what she said was what she said it in. Shirou had been surprised one day when his father took him to the zoo, and Shirou had struck up a conversation with some of the snakes in the reptile house. There was only one other person Shirou had entrusted with that knowledge…and this Servant had spoken in this snake language, claiming to have been sent by this person.

"She did?" Shirou replied, startled.

"Yes. Her grandfather forced her to summon me, and nearly handed me to the one called…Shinji."

That worm…the one who had managed to trick the other Archery Club members into having Shirou clean the Archery Club instead of him. And Shirou knew that little bit of selfish skiving was nothing compared to what he had been doing to his sister. Adoptive sister, yes, but thanks to what Zouken Matou did to Sakura, she was pretty much a Matou. Shirou was on the verge of murdering the blue-haired little fuck…if he could get away with it.

"She told me I was to bring you to the ritual circle in your Workshop to summon your Servant," the Servant said. "My Master had something happen to her during my summoning."

Shirou pulled out his phone. In all the excitement, he hadn't noticed it vibrating. An SMS showed, with it saying, Sent Rider to you. Need you to summon your Servant. ISSIAUTNG.

That last bit stood for I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good. It was a password of sorts, confirming trustworthiness, something that came from his dreams, and something he shared with Sakura. "Are you Rider?" Shirou asked, sending back 'MM' as an acknowledgement.

"I am."

"What the hell are you two hissing about? You sound like a pit of snakes!" Rin snapped.

"It's Parseltongue, girl," Rider said in Japanese. "The language of serpents. Do you wish to go now?"

This last was directed at Shirou, who nodded. "Hey, wait!" Rin said. "You're going to go with this Servant? She could kill you!"

"So could yours. Is he?"

"Depends on whether my Master orders it," Archer said with a shrug.

Rin, after a moment, huffed. "Fine then. But if you know about the Grail War, and you become a Master, know that we're enemies!"

Oh, I knew that already, Tohsaka, Shirou thought. I'm not going to kill you if I can help it, but even so, you'd be my enemy if you know what I had in mind for the Grail. And I'm sure as hell not going to go up to meet Kotomine. Dad may not have said much about him, but he said enough.

Out loud, he said to Rider, "Let's go."

The purple-haired woman nodded, before picking him up, and then leaping away, much to his astonishment…

Archer, aka the Counter Guardian EMIYA, watched him go. He was confused, admittedly...but something in him was heartened. This version of him was focused on helping Sakura, and while he wasn't enamoured with Rin, he also at least wanted to help her. But there was something about this version of him that seemed less…broken. Less…hollow. More cynical, and yet…it felt better.

Though how he became a Parseltongue, he had no idea. He certainly didn't have that ability…

It was odd, travelling by Servant, especially being carried in a near-bridal position in a reversal of usual gender roles. Not that Shirou actually minded. "So," he said as they neared his house, "Sakura's told you what I intend to do?"

"Away from that…thing she calls a grandfather, yes," Rider said. "I only hope that you are telling the truth…or at least that your father was."

They didn't talk the rest of the way, until Rider landed near the entrance to his house, and Shirou was put down. Sakura opened the door shortly before they reached it, and smiled. "Ha…I mean, Shirou."

Shirou frowned. Did she very nearly greet him with another name? There was something about the buxom girl with the violet hair that seemed…off. It was subtle, but it was there. "What's wrong?"

Sakura, after a moment, admitted, "Something happened when I was summoning Rider. Something changed in me. Zouken hasn't noticed it, or if he has, he didn't say anything. Shirou…I think the same thing will happen when you summon your Servant."

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked, worried.

"You know how you and I…we can use magic other than magecraft? And why we have those dreams?" she asked quietly. "I've found out why."

Yes, that was true. They had woken each other a couple of times at night, when they had shared the same bed, and had discussed having strangely similar dreams. And they had been able to use magic that was very different to magecraft.

"So, what is it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But…I summoned my Servant. It's about time you summoned yours."

A little uneasily, Shirou nodded, and went inside, hoping that he was still right, and Sakura wasn't going to betray him.

He was soon in front of the summoning circle, the one drawn up years ago, faded, but still useable. His father had, when Shirou had managed to winkle his past exploits out from him, had shown him this. And that had taken some pestering. Now, he was going to have to use this in earnest, despite his father claiming he would never have to. Sakura stood by, with Rider currently Astralized, to prevent his Servant from attacking.

After a moment, he began channelling mana into the circle, and began the ritual chant. "Heed my words. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning! I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world, that I shall defeat all evil in the world! Seventh Heaven clad, and the great words of power, come forth from the circle of bindings, Guardian of the Scales!"

And that's when it happened. Even as the circle dissolved into an actinic flare of light, he felt something within his mind burst, like a collapsing dam. And then…he remembered.

It hurt Sakura to see this happen to her beloved, as he clutched his head and emitted a strangled cry of pain. She was by his side in a flash as he sagged to his knees. And as the light faded away, she heard a regal voice ring out. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Sakura looked up, and beheld a strange apparition. It was a girl (or else a VERY androgynous boy), perhaps about their age, in her early twenties at most, with blonde hair framing regally beautiful features. Her green eyes, once set in a stern gaze, were now giving way to mild confusion. She was dressed in what looked like a blue armoured dress, complete with breastplate and gauntlets. Her bearing seemed older than her apparent age suggested. Her right hand was apparently clenched over little more than thin air, though ripples of air seemed to show around something she was holding.

"Your Master is feeling a little unwell," Sakura said, garnishing the truth a little. She held up Shirou's hand, showing the Command Seals.

The woman, after a moment, had her eyes flicker down to Sakura's own Command Seals. "Another Master aiding my own?" she asked, disbelief tinging her tone.

"Yes. Are you Saber?"

"Aye."

"Specifically…Arturia?"

Saber's eyes narrowed. "How could you possibly know such a thing?" she asked.

"It's a long story. The short version is, Shirou was adopted by your former Master. There are things we need to explain, but I'm allied with him."

Saber, or rather, Arturia, didn't seem convinced, but she didn't attack. And eventually, Shirou got to his feet. "Oh, Merlin, did anyone else get the number of the Hippogriff that ran me over?" He then looked at Sakura. "I see what you mean. You knew who I was, didn't you, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded. "I did. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Harry."

"Just…call me Shirou, please. But…who were you?"

Sakura smiled sadly. "Well, this time, you've got red hair, Harry…I mean, Shirou. But I knew you would come for me…just like you did in the Chamber of Secrets."

His eyes widened with shock. "No way…Ginny?"

Sakura nodded in acknowledgement. "After all this time…well, we're back together again."

Arturia, after a moment, cleared her throat slightly but pointedly. "My pardon for interrupting what appears to be a reunion of sorts, but I confess myself baffled. Especially as…Sakura, was it? She claimed you to be the adopted son of my former Master." Her green eyes, so much like those that Sakura had once adored in another life, narrowed at that.

"Kiritsugu Emiya, yes," Shirou said. "Look, it's a long story, and I know my dad…wasn't the best Master to you, to say the least. But please, promise to hear me out."

Eventually, Arturia said, "I shall listen."

"Good. Then let's go…"

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

So, that's why Shirou's acting OOC. He's Harry Potter's reincarnation…and Sakura is Ginny's.

Now, having Shirou being Harry's reincarnation came about as a direct consequence of adapting, albeit loosely, sakurademonalchemist's story Rebirth of Phoenix. Because Harry went through a lot, even without his memories (beyond some half-remembered dreams and nightmares), Shirou was still influenced by him. Shirou in this story is a fusion of the canon Shirou and a Harry who died during the Battle of Hogwarts, taking Voldemort with him, though this will be made clearer in the next chapter.

As for Sakura, I've been meaning to do a Harry/Sakura story for some time. The poor girl gets a pretty raw deal in Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night, and I try to rectify that. In Ex Umbra in Solem and Light the Blue Touch Paper and Run Like Hell, she gets rescued from the Matous by the protagonists during the events of Fate/Zero (Harry in the first, and Loki in the second), while in Gorgon and Thanatos, she is adopted out to Harry instead of Zouken. In Perils of Magical Investigative Journalism, Harry and Luna rescue her during the events of Fate/Stay Night.

So, why have her as the reincarnation of Ginny? Well, a few reasons. I felt uncomfortable about pairing a Shirou who had enough memories to effectively have the lifetime of an adult being paired with someone who still was only sixteen or thereabouts, so I decided to make her a reincarnation to make up for that. Another reason I chose Ginny was, well, Hermione didn't seem to suit Sakura. Luna might, at a stretch. But then, considering how enamoured Sakura is with Shirou, being a bit fangirly from my impression of Fate/Stay Night, well, I thought of Ginny. And if you think Sakura is nothing like Ginny, well, keep in mind that this is a Ginny who had to deal with being abandoned by a supposedly loving family and subjected to rape worms for a decade. Don't worry, we'll get to see her fire now that she has re-awakened her memories. Plus, I haven't done a Harry/Ginny pairing in ANY of my stories, save for a one-shot called HoneyMoon. Harry/Ginny, as it's a canon pairing, is somewhat boring. This, I hope, adds a bit of spice to the mix.

This is not a Ginny-bashing fic, either. This Ginny has gone through hell…and come out stronger for it. Okay, she is still somewhat broken, thanks to the Matous…but she's going to be Harry's most stalwart defender.

And if you think this is going to be a Rin-bashing fic…well, it might be, if only mildly so. I don't like Rin, though that's probably because I'm not fond of tsunderes. That, and, well, the distance she keeps from her sister, all for the sake of appearances, even when it's killing them both inside. She's certainly not part of the harem…though if you see the pairings of this story, Arturia and Medusa are.

Oh, and yes, there will be a few other reincarnations.

1. Aka the protagonist from Detective Conan, or Case Closed if you prefer.

2. Aka the protagonist from Columbo, as you should know. By basically comparing her to a shabby man in a mac, Shirou's having a jab at Rin's expense.