Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Magia Iudicium / Magic's Judgement (Working Title)

Posted Date: December 12 2024

Inspiration: Terminator

Tags: Military Harry, Technomancy, Golem Magic

Possible Challenges: Bad Goblins, Harry not going to Hogwarts, Britain's Downfall, Good / Misguided Dumbledore

It was a cold night of November 2, 1981 near the outskirts of London. There was a fair bit of commotion that went on during the day where people were wondering about the huge number of owls that appeared in the sky, followed by fireworks appearing in different parts of Britain when there were no actual holidays going on. Police had responded to calls of disturbance from what appeared to be groups of people celebrating something that made no sense, and there were tabloid sightings of people on broomsticks of all things. Most would just ignore those, figuring that people had been drinking or smoking high-grade weed for that.

It certainly did not matter to the dog that had wandered into the alley after having scourged for food by the nearby bin. It was at least able to get some food from the oddly dressed people and was content to sleep the remainder of the night. It took a while but the dog found a spot that had a box to keep it warm and to block out the wind that was blowing, and more importantly it was quiet with no living being to bother it.

The dog's ears twitched before it opened an eye, then both went wide as it lifted its head to look out to the alley. Something was making its instincts go wild and it did not like it a lot. A light wind started to flow about the area only to turn into a gust that got the dog scrambling to its legs and growling at the impending danger, its senses screaming at the possible danger coming. The alley started to light up from the arcs of electricity that travelled about the piping and setting loose papers alight, before a sphere appeared in the air and expanded quickly to take up part of the floor and some of the walls. The sphere of light seemingly solidified into one made of silvery liquid before it flashed brightly to scare off the dog and sent it running to get away from the place. It lasted for a while before subsiding, leaving behind a ruined alleyway.

And a person squatting with clenched fists on a patch of hot glass made from the superheated sphere heating the ground.

Slowly, the person got up from that position and stood upright, the dim lighting showing that it was a man with a military cut hair and a physique that would have other men envious and women swooning with the six-pack, strong arms and a well-endowed package below, all of which was shown off in his naked glory. He had an angular face that was set in a stern expression, and the eyes were as cold as the night sky itself. Said eyes moved from side to side, with the head following shortly after, much like that of a camera moving on its hinges. After a while, the man started to move out of the alley, uncaring of his feet crunching on the broken glass that was still hot to the touch.

He paused at the exit point, his eyes looking about the place and noted no one was around, and then at the clock nearest to him at least one block away. He continued forth without caring for the fact he was still naked and would likely be arrested for indecent exposure if found. Or it would if not for his body starting to shimmer and seemingly blend into the surroundings like a chameleon.

He had a place to get to and was running late.

~ooOOoo~

(1 hour later)

"Albus, you cannot be serious!"

Minerva McGonagall looked at her mentor and boss Albus Dumbledore with a flabbergasted expression as the two stood outside the residence of Number 4, Privet Drive, Surrey, having been instructed by him to spy on the folks there for some reason. And what she had seen thus far did not endear her to the family living there. She had seen the boy kicking the mother while whining at the top of his voice, and the brief period she watched what had to be the fattest muggle in her life act brutally to the neighbours did not make it easier to stomach what she was just told.

"I have been watching them the whole day as you have asked. Petunia is as far a relation as I would have never anticipated to be in regards to Lily, to the point I am questioning if either her or Lily was actually adopted. Her husband is a bully in need of weight and anger management who likes to throw his weight around. And do not get me started on their spoiled brat of a child!" Minerva shuddered at this point. "The boy kept complaining and demanding from Petunia at every chance he could get, and throwing tantrums if not done quickly enough. Albus, you must reconsider! These people are the worst sort of muggles I have ever met in my life! They are!"

"The only family he has left." The solemn voice of her mentor cut through her words as the owner looked at the bundle in his arms while they moved towards a house with a giant of a man following behind in the suburbs of Surrey. The lights were off from the inside as expected since it was late at night, but the man named Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was grateful that he had temporarily removed the lights from the other lamps in the area to ensure secrecy. They made their way to the door where he gently laid the bundle in a wicker basket, revealing the bundle to be a young boy barely a year old who was asleep and sporting a rather nasty scar in the form of a lightning bolt on his forehead.

"Is that where?" Minerva paused in her query, uncertain of the sensitivity of the question.

"Yes, he will have that scar forever." The older man answered.

"Why haven't you removed it?" Minerva asked as she considered some options from her history.

"Admittedly, Poppy and I have tried earlier to do so. I suspect that the leftover magic from the attack had infected it and stopped most of our healing. We would need to research more before attempting it since his magic is quite low from the incident." He paused before continuing. "Even if I could fix it in the near future, I probably wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground."

Before she could push for more actual information, the giant let out a wail of pain and sadness.

"Hagrid!" Minerva hissed while looking about the area.

"I am sorry!" The giant took out what appeared to be a table-cloth and loudly blew on it, making Minerva grateful that she placed silencing charms about the block. "He is just a little tyke! He would never get to know his parents! WAAAA!" Minerva was really grateful she used the extra strong versions for this evening.

"I understand your sorrow, Hagrid. We can only hope to do what is right for the boy." Albus let out a sad sigh and made to place the boy down on the steps. The child fussed slightly from the loss of heat before settling when Albus cast a heating spell.

"Are you certain of this course of action?" Minerva had to ask again, her emotions moving like she was on a Gringotts cart set to the highest speed. The news that two of her favourite students had perished because of a mad man tore her old Scottish heart, and hearing that their precious baby boy was the only known survivor reminded her of her own life, how she had lost her husband during the previous war. And the young one would not be able to know why his parents were not around.

"It is the only way to keep him safe." Albus stated again. "While Voldemort appears to have been defeated somehow, his followers are still at large." As one, Hagrid and Minerva winced when Albus said his name. While he was fine with it and kept encouraging others to do the same since "to fear the name is to fear him", they were still having to deal with the Taboo that was placed on the Dark Lord's name. Everytime someone said it, Death Eaters would appear to attack them at the exact location, and that was considered lucky if someone did not have Voldemort lead them personally to attack.

"Albus, please." Minerva pleaded with the man. "Let's not tempt our luck." She was not normally so jumpy, but these past few weeks had been particularly stressful for her, and for whatever reason, she had been feeling the presence of something in the area that made her Animagus form a little nervous and hissing in random directions.

Albus was going to answer but decided to not push the matter. The incident was too close to their hearts. The group looked at the child a little longer before the group separated one by one to leave on their own way. Albus, being the last to leave, placed a letter on the basket for the residents to read later, and then pressed his lighter to release the balls of light he had captured earlier, each one going back to the lampposts, before he turned back to the baby once more.

"Good luck, Harry Potter." With that, the wizard popped away, leaving the baby alone on the doorstep with no one in sight to have seen the drop off.

At least, no one that was visible for that matter.

A bush moved and wet footsteps were heard before the space outside of the house got distorted to reveal the mysterious man who had arrived earlier and kept watch on the residence. The man stayed silent as he kept his eyes on the wizard, the witch and the half-giant discussing the matter regarding the child they had just placed there. He could tell that of the trio, the witch had suspicions that they were being watched but he made sure his presence was not noticeable and purposely kept downwind to avoid possible scents despite placing spells to remove said scents. The man stayed still for a bit longer after the trio left before coming out of cover to look at the child in question.

It would have been a questionable and concerning sight to see a naked man standing over a baby in a basket, but then someone higher up decided to up the creep factor with the lights from the nearby lampposts starting to flicker due to the interference from Dumbledore, throwing the area in shadows at odd intervals. That meant the left side of the man's face would be in the shadows as well, which made the red glow in the eye more prominent as he hunched forward to grab the basket.

By the next morning, when Petunia Dursley was collecting the milk, she would not have realised about a baby that would have been forced onto her to raise in the family. And it would be a month later, when the wizard, who had left the baby there and been busy with other tasks like finding out the mysterious deaths of those who recently pleaded the Imperious Defence, finally decided to check on the child, only to realise he was no longer there.

And no one would know yet how much the future would change from this event.

And how doing so would affect Judgement Day for the wizards and witches.

Author's Notes:

I got a recommended video on YouTube featuring the Governator with the music theme following shortly after, and I thought "why not?". It is a quick idea so I don't know how it would develop in the future.

I will be holding off story ideas for a while, I need to get my other stories updated for FF and AO3 before the end of the year. Until then...

"Takes off glasses to reveal a glowing red eye" I'LL BE BACK!