Outsider Chronicles: Thats So Wrong
Getting reborn into the world of Harry Potter is...interesting. I'm sure that many reading would think that it'd be great, but what if you were Harry's sibling in a WBWL story? Yeah, thats me. Now I have to deal with annoying parents, gold diggers and annoying 'friends'. Still, its not all bad. At least all I need to do is make a Deal with a Devil.
And we are back! Before we begin, you lot should know that I've made my decision and Hermione lovers can breathe a sigh of relief as she won't be bashed! Well, after getting a good kick to the authority worship that is. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
After the Troll incident, things mostly calmed down for the rest of the year. I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore kept trying to steer me towards either the room with the Mirror in or the Third Floor corridor due to the sheer number of times I somehow ended up in the vicinity of the latter due to the stairs moving and the fact I somehow ended up in the mirror room after a days studying at the library. Admittedly, I was a little curious as to what I'd see in the mirror anyway, so I decided to take a peek when I did arrive.
Looking back at me from the enchanted glass was an older version of me wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a pool cue in one hand and a pint in the other while on the other side of the projected pool table, an older looking Harry was lining up his shot. Both adults were clearly talking and laughing, although there was no sound. I snorted. Interesting image, but it got the idea across. My greatest desire was to be able to reconcile and actually build a relationship with Harry. I'm not entirely sure why the mirror depicted that as us playing pool at a bar though.
I shook my head and left the room, ignoring the slight shimmer that was near the door. Dumbledore could pull the strings however he wanted, but I'd already severed mine. I wouldn't dance to his tune unless it benefited me and going after the stone was one thing I wouldn't be doing. Ever.
Unfortunately, some people were making it rather hard to keep to that intent. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but Ron seemed insistent on trying to figure out what Fluffy was guarding. Apparently the idiot had ended up in the mutts room after nearly getting caught by Filch after stumbling into the Forbidden Corridor. It didn't help that he was also trying to convince me to help him get rid of Norbert the Dragon. Hermione wasn't helping matters as she was insistent on trying to figure out who Flamel was and kept asking for my help. Eventually, I just told her who he was, resulting in Ron and Hermione pooling their knowledge and coming to the conclusion that someone was trying to steal the Stone and that it was hidden on the Third Floor. Ron tried to convince me that we should go and stop whoever it was, but I decided to go talk to Flitwick instead.
I would have gone to Mcgonagall, but she was likely to brush us off and not listen. Flitwick at least heard us out and agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry, especially since we managed to figure it out based on the clues provided. With my good deed for the day done, I went to sleep with my curtains charmed to shock anyone who tried to open them before sun up. Considering Ron's hair was stood on end the next day and he kept glaring at me, I have a feeling that he might have tried to wake me up at some point.
In other news, apparently Flitwick had cranked up the defences without telling Dumbledore and, as a result, had caught the big fish, resulting in Voldies shade fleeing and leaving Quirril to die a horrible and painful death.
And with that, the first year came to an end with me acing most of the exams, with the exception of Potions and History, but that wasn't really that big a loss. I did have to wonder how much my refusal to dance to Dumbles tune had annoyed the old geezer though…
Third Person POV, Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore was annoyed. After all his hard work, all of his plans for this year had fallen apart and it was all thanks to the person who was supposed to be his greatest pawn. Brandon Potter was incredibly savvy, far more so than he should have been considering the lack of education James should have given him, and somehow managed to avoid moving like he was supposed to at every turn. The old man had planned to force a confrontation between Brandon and Tom in the forest by using a detention as an excuse, but the brat refused to do anything that would warrant such a punishment! Hell, he was practically a model student! This wasn't how the son of James Potter was supposed to act!
He was supposed to be just like his Father, irreverent, charismatic and always getting into trouble, not attentive and antisocial! Hell, he didn't even take the bait and go after the Stone like Dumbledore had expected, instead choosing to go to the one person on the staff who could have changed the traps without alerting him. Dumbledore wasn't very pleased about what Flitwick had done, but the half Goblin had completely ignored his disappointed Grandfather routine and instead had told him that if he wanted to keep a dangerous items in a school, hed better make damned sure that they were properly secured. To make matters worse, it appeared that Flitwick had written to Flamal and the old Alchemist had shown up in a towering rage that Dumbledore would take the Stone and stick it in a school of all places. Yeah, the old man never did get permission to move the Stone, but since when had that stopped Dumbledore? It was for the Greater Good after all.
So yeah, now Dumbledore was down a Philosopher's Stone, his plans for first year was in tatters and he still had to find a new DADA professor for next year. It was safe to say that he was not a happy bunny.
Back to Bran
Finally, the summer had arrived and with it, a chance to get well away from Ron and Hermione for a bit. Now, don't get me wrong, Hermione at least had enough brains in her skull to realize I absolutely hated my fame, but she was annoying for entirely different reasons, mainly her study habits and the fact she put far too much stock in books and authority figures for my liking. Plus, for some reason they were under the impression that we always needed to be together and tended to get upset whenever I disappeared to do my own thing, usually a run around the Great Lake to keep in shape. Plus, it meant that I could get back to my favourite hobby, fencing.
Yep, I was a fencer and a pretty good one too. At some point in the past, one of the Potter family heads had been a keen Fencer and had set up a room for it, complete with padded floors, mirrored walls and enchanted dummies to serve as opponents with settings that ran the gambit from beginner to what had to be Olympic level fencing, along with more combat ready settings to teach how to use a sword in real combat. It also helps that fencing skills carry over into Dueling with wands. As an added bonus, over time, the room had been upgraded to hold a multitude of other weapons and settings for the dummies, allowing me to learn how to use everything from a Fencing Foil to a spear.
I'd stumbled on the room when I was five during a boredom induced exploration of the extensive Potter mansion and had been using it ever since to blow off steam. It helped that my Father and Sirius had no idea it even existed. Yeah, the Potter mansion was that bloody large.
Anyway, I spent a lot of time in my little hide away that summer, both to avoid my Father, who seemed rather put out by something, and to ensure that my skills with a sword were up to scratch. I'd need them this year after all. Yes, I did indeed plan to deal with the Basilisk, even if Ginny did end up being the one snatched. Why? For the same reason I helped Hermione, despite finding her annoying. Shes a kid. Until I find concrete proof that I'm being potioned or something and she knows about it, I'm not going to leave her to die in a hole.
Of course, it would be nice if I could prevent it in the first place, but that was basically impossible. I had no real way of getting at the Diary at the moment since, even if I were to swallow my pride and visit the Weasleys, I'd have no reason to go snooping around Ginny's room. Hell, we even went to the Alley at different times, mostly due to the fact that my Father was busy with work on the day that Lockhart was there and the Weasleys would be going. Besides, even if I could get my hands on the Diary, what would I do with it? I wasn't powerful enough to cast Fiendfyre and even if I was, I wasn't dumb enough to try, and I was fresh out of Basilisk Venom. I suppose I could hand it over to the Unspeakables, but I really didn't want to go anywhere near those nutjobs. If they found out I was a reincarnated soul, they'd have me on a dissection slab before you can as Vivisection. With that in mind, I really didn't have a choice but to wait it out and go into the Chamber prepared and ready. Well, just as soon as I figured out how to enter it without being able to speak Parseltongue.
Moving on, the next interesting thing that happened was when I went shopping for my Second Year supplies and ran into Luna. It was...rather odd to say the least.
I was enjoying an icecream at Fortescue's after finishing my shopping and let go by Father to do my own thing, when someone plonked a large bowl of pudding flavored ice cream down across from me and plunked themselves down in the seat. I looked up with a raised eyebrow to see none other than Luna Lovegood sat across from me.
"Hello Brandon Potter," she said in a dreamy voice.
"Errrr, can I help you?" I asked, feeling rather confused about this state of affairs.
I'd never actually met Luna in person before, both because she was a year younger and because the Lovegoods had switched to the Gray block after Selene Lovegood nearly died in an accident, resulting in Father throwing a temper tantrum and cutting off all ties with them. It really didn't help that the Lovegood reputation of being completely and utterly around the twist was even worse with three of them.
"Oh, my boss wanted to know what I thought of you, so I thought I should get to know you," said Luna airily as she dug into her ice cream.
"Um, and your boss is who exactly?" I asked.
"Hmm, you'll see," she said.
My eye twitched. Oh, it was one of THOSE Luna's.
"So, what do you think of me?" I asked.
"Hmm, I'm not sure," said Luna, "I think I need to observe more. I'll see you at school."
She stood and skipped away with her ice cream, leaving me with a pounding head and a twitching eye. Something tells me shes going to be a pain this year…
After my encounter with Luna, nothing much happened for a while. Dobby never showed up and, as a result, no one got stuck outside the Barrier, so that was relatively boring. When we got to Hogwarts, classes started up, including Lockharts unfortunately. The man was nauseating to be around at best and I regularly found myself contemplating figuring out a way to feed him to the Basilisk.
Speaking of the oversized garden snake, Halloween rolled around before I knew it, bringing with it the petrification of Mrs Norris...which I was nowhere near, thank god. Frankly, I'd like to see anyone try to pin the Heir of Slytherin title on me considering I couldn't speak Parseltongue.
After that, the next big event was the Dueling club, which I only attended because A, Hermione wouldn't shut up about it (she'd been driving me barmy gushing over the ponce all year up until that point) and I really, really wanted to show off some. Sure, I may not like the fame of being the BWL (fake as it was), but one thing I was aiming for was the title of Duelist Champion once I became old enough to enter.
As I said before, Wizard Duels and Fencing were very similar, so similar in fact that they actually had a common ancestor. Back in the Founders Era and up until the Renaissance, it wasn't at all uncommon for Wizarding Nobles and those who fought to use specially designed swords that held their wands and acted as both a weapon and a focus for magic, even providing a boost in the speed and accuracy behind certain spells. They'd fallen out of use in recent years, but they were still very much allowed in the professional dueling circuit and I fully intended to make use of that and the high quality Wizard Saber I'd found in the fencing room back at the manor.
"Whats in the box Bran?" asked Hermione she and Ron entered the Hall and walked up to me where I was leaning against the wall waiting for the 'lesson' to begin.
The box in question was the length of my arm and made of black, lacquered wood with the Potter crest on the lid. It had also been garnering a lot of curious looks from the gathered students, although no one had asked about it yet. I smiled at the question and patted the top of the box.
"Oh, you'll see," I said.
Hermione looked like she was going to push, but Ron cut her off.
"So, who do you think will be running it?" he asked.
"Preferably Flitwick since hes an actual professional Duelist, but I have a feeling its gonna be…" I said, before I was cut off by the squeals of girls as Lockhart flounced onto the strip, grinning widely, "Yep, him."
Lockhart waved an arm for silence.
"Gather round, gather round!" he called, "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works."
He gave a blinding smile and I rolled my eyes in disgust. I could already see some people heading for the door.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile, "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in my ear.
I nodded absently in agreement, more interested in analyzing the stances of the two Duelists. I'd learnt Dueling from one of the Paintings of my ancestors, specifically the man who was responsible for creating the Dueling room, Lord Salvatori Potter. He was an...interesting fellow, a complete and utter idiot in just about everything short of Dueling. In his day, he had been the top Duelist in the world and he'd taught me a lot. Those lessons were coming in handy now as I examined the two teachers. Right off the bat I could tell that neither of them were actual Duelists and both would be creamed in moments on the Circuit. However, Snape was clearly an experienced fighter, as indicated from the tensing of his muscles and the way he was watching Lockharts every movement. Lockhart on the other hand...well, his stance was flashy, there was way too many wasted movements and he was practically shouting his first move to the rafters. In short, exactly like I was expecting.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart said and I immediately stifled a snort.
That stance would see him laughed out of the little league Dueling Circuit.
"On the count of three, we will cast our first spells," continued the ponce, "Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"I wouldn't bet on that," I muttered, watching Snape baring his teeth.
"One — two — three —"
Both of teachers (and I use the term very loosly) swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent.
An instant later, there was a flash of light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hermione was dancing on tiptoes, as were a number of other girls.
"Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.
I was too busy grumbling about the lack of proper Dueling wards to respond. Seriously, if you're going to teach us how to duel, at least do it properly!
"Well, there you have it!" said Lockhart, tottering back onto the platform, "That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ."
He trailed off when he caught Snapes murderous glare. Apparently he wasn't totally without survival instincts.
"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students how to block unfriendly spells," sneered Snape.
"A-ah yes, an excellent idea," said Lockhart, "Lets have a volunteer pair...Potter, Weasley, come on up."
"Forgive me Professor, but I feel that it would be best to chose someone who actually knows which end of the wand is which," said Snape, making Ron glare at him, "May I suggest someone from my own house? Malfoy for instance?"
He turned away and indicated for Malfoy to clamber up onto the stage as I did the same with my box in hand.
"Potter, what do you have there?" sneered Snape, "You only need your wand."
"Hold your horses Professor," I said as I opened the box and pulled out the sword contained within.
It was an Italian style broadsword made of a mixture of silver and titanium, which was an excellent magical conductor and had been used by Magicals for far longer than Muggles, although for far fewer and more expensive items. They also had a different name for it. Mithril. Yep, the legendary magical material is the same stuff we use to make jets and replacement hips. Isn't realty grand? The basket hilt of the sword was composed of the same material and painted gold, with the Potter family crest stamped onto the top of the guard with the blade emerging out of the center.
At the sight of the sword, Malfoy let out a scoff.
"A sword Potter?" he sneered, "Aren't you Wizard enough to take me with your wand?"
"Of course I am Malfoy," I said cheerfully, "This is a Wizard Saber designed for dueling. I slot my wand in here…"
I slid my wand into the hollow hilt of the sword and closed the pommel. The moment it snapped into place, a shower of gold and red sparks shot up the blade of the sword and flew out the end.
"And the sword becomes my wand," I finished as I straightened and stepped fully onto the dueling strip.
A low murmur erupted from the crowd and both Snape and Malfoy looked like they'd just eaten something sour. As a Pureblood, Malfoy knew exactly what Magic Sabers were and that they were permitted on the strip unless specifically banned and Snape likely knew the same.
"Do you even know how to use that thing?" asked Malfoy.
"Would I risk using it if I didn't?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Alright, thats enough you two," said Lockhart, "Lets begin. Wands at the ready!"
Malfoy and I both saluted, although mine looked so much more impressive thanks to the highly polished blade.
"When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to dis-
arm them — we don't want any accidents — one . . . two . . .three —"
I flicked my sword, deflecting the spell Malfoy had sent my way on two and responded with my own with a second flick. A bolt of crimson light shot out with the speed of a bullet and caught Malfoy full in the face, sending him shooting back up the other end of the strip as his wand went in the other direction.
"Impressive, you cheated and still couldn't hit me," I drawled as I leant on my sword.
Malfoy scowled and snatched his wand back from Snape as he scrambled to his feet.
"Serpensortia!"
The end of his wand exploded and I stilled as a large, gray snake erupted from the tip. The snake hissed angrily as it hit the floor with a thud and raised itself up. As it did, I caught sight of the inside of its mouth and paled.
"Are you mad!?" I spluttered, "Of all the snakes you could have conjured, you went with a Black Mamba?!"
Malfoy's face lit up at the slight tremor in my tone.
"Whats the matter Potter, scared?" he sneered.
"As a matter of fact, I am," I said, keeping very still as I kept both eyes on the angry snake.
I also noticed that a lot of Muggleborns and halfbloods looked equally wary.
"The Black Mamba is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world," I continued, "And I'm including Magical snakes in there as well. Its fast, aggressive and with a venom so potent that if it bit someone in this room, I highly doubt that they'd survive long enough to get treatment."
"I find that hard to believe Potter," sneered Snape, "I have plenty of antidotes available."
"You really want to risk it?" I asked.
There was a moment's silence, before Snape gave a jerky nod.
"Very well Potter, you've made your point," he said, almost spitting the words as if they tasted sour, "I'll get rid of it…"
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart.
He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang as it flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged and hissing furiously, it coiled itself up and launched itself at the nearest student.
Without thinking, I darted forwards and planted myself between the snake and the Slytherin, just in time to catch the snake on my forearm. However, instead of penetrating my skin, there was a rush of energy and the sound of a bell being struck as the snakes momentum was abruptly reversed and its fangs were somehow shot straight through the back of its head to embed themselves in the floor next to Malfoy's feet.
The mangled body fell to the floor with a soft thump as I turned to the snakes would-be target to make sure they were alright. Much to my surprise, I found myself looking into the misty eyes of Luna Lovegood, who was eyeing me with some amusement.
"I think I've made my decision," said the odd girl, "I think you'll make an excellent addition to our group."
Before I could ask what in the hell she was talking about, the dotty girl turned and skipped towards the doors, humming quietly to herself as if she hadn't just nearly had a close encounter with an angry snake.
And you know what? I'm gonna end this here. I hope you liked this entry and the introduction of Luna. Yes, shes a half baked Seer and her Mother is still very much alive. I think you can probably guess how that happened and who Luna's boss is.
Oh, before I forget, Harry and Brandon's Sacred Gears are original, although they are based on a certain pair of estranged Demonic brothers. And no, they are not from either Inuyasha or DMC.
Not entirely sure why Bran saw him and Harry in a bar for his desire of reconciliation, but it may have something to do with the fact thats what I think of when I think camradory. Strange considering I can't play pool and I don't drink.
Little bit from Dumbledores point of view. Hes a MoB, no surprises there.
Yes, Bran's skills with a sword and other weapons will play a part later and you'll probably be able to guess what Piece he'll have. However, I bet no one will be able to guess what swords I plan to give Harry and Bran. Heres some clues. They are sister swords, belong to rival Knights in the anime their from and Harry's possesses a form that is perfect considering its previous owner. Oh, and both have forms that Devils should NOT be able to use. Final clue, they also appear in another fic I've recently been working on. Get them right and I'll give you a shout out in the next chapter and you can provide some OC's that Bran can duel in the Tornament Arc coming up in the Third Year.
Magic Sabers will be making another appearance in the Third year since I'll have to come up with something to happen. As such, it will be the first proper arc involving a Dueling tournament. Should be fun.
The Mithril as Titanium thing was mostly done on a whim and means little in the long run. Its just one of those things that I think makes the Wizarding World seem that little bit more real. Basically, Titanium is extremely receptive to magic, allowing it to be heavily enchanted to the point where its nearly indestructible. Naturally, only the Goblins really know how to do that, but Wizards can still work with it to make things like Wizard Sabers.
And with that, I am done. Please leave a review on the way out!