Golden opportunities 2

(Harry James Potter)

October 15th, 2001

Things were strange in the magical world. People seemed to lack common sense, and do things needlessly complicated or in a completely retarded way. Harry was happy to have found people who truly wanted to help him, not those fanboys and girls who wanted to use him for his fame; a fame that he thinks that he doesn’t truly deserve. He was pretty certain that his mother had protected him from the so-called Killing Curse with some kind of new magic but because his mother was a ‘muggleborn’ the fame that she deserved was passed onto him. Harry found that name was stupid and what's worse? It was a slur as well.

After a lot of questioning performed on his peers, Harry has discovered that it was Albus Dumbledore who announced that he somehow survived this curse. Everything that was wrong in Harry’s life seemed to be connected to Dumbledore, the man had placed him with the Dursleys, his torturers; his vault key had been in the possession of the man as well, and the wizard was his magical guardian.

Triss, bless her soul, had been the one to tell him to not trust the old man nor any of his supporters. Now that he looked back, Harry remembered how some people acted around him, they always asked probing questions that they didn’t have any right to ask; oftentime, it was Triss or Tracey who shielded him from the attention of his fans. He was disgusted by their behavior…

Harry liked to study in peace, he had finished the book 'An Introduction To The Wizarding World’ and what he learned about the Ministry, the Pureblood movement and the people wasn’t flattering. In Britain, you obtained a job thanks to your blood status and the rich pureblood arseholes on the Wizengamot kept voting for laws that robbed people of their freedom and rights; no wonder every new blood since the books from Joseph Robinson had been published decided to move to France or other countries for better opportunities.

After he and Hermione had finished the book, Triss started to debate the situation in Britain; The economy was in shambles, there were less and less people to take jobs the pureblooded arseholes didn’t want to do. Any dream of working in the Wizarding World that he or Hermione had died strangled by the tight grip reality had on the two children.

Hermione's faith in authority shattered at that point, once she realized that McGonagall had lied by omission. Once Harry shared his living situation with Hermione, the brown haired girl realized that she couldn't trust some of the professors to have her well-being in mind. Harry and she had seen how the bullying problem in Hogwarts wasn't addressed at all; Gryffindor and Slytherin were problem houses and Harry didn't think it could get any worse.

They were having dinner right now and Raven and Triss were speaking low enough that Harry couldn't hear them. The two girls were apparently family, and lived together with Raven’s mom as their guardian. The woman, Angela Roth, sent them sweets and periodic letters each week to keep them informed of what’s happening in their home city. Harry wished he had such a caring mother as well; he often imagined that Lily, his mother, was like Raven’s mom.

Harry’s attention focused back on Triss and Raven who were looking at the turbaned menace called Quirinus Quirrell. The redheaded girl was frowning at the D.A.D.A professor, Harry looked at her clear green eyes and noticed how they seemed to glow for an instant; then with a serious expression on her face she did something unanticipated, Triss raised one of her hand discretely and and a second later the turban on the professor’s head shot of the man’s head.

“What?!” The purple clothed man gasped and jumped on his feet with a surprised expression on his face.

“Professor Quirrell?” Dumbledore blinked as he turned to the other professor just before a scream was heard. Lisa Turpin screamed when she saw a face on the back of the Quirrel’s head; the purple wearing professor tried to hide the other face but stopped when he realized that it was too late. Many students and a few teachers had already seen the face on the back of his head.

“You Idiot!” The face on the back of Quirrel’s head angrily hissed. The face looked wrathful, it looked scary with his beady glowing red eyes.

“He-who-must-not-be-named!” McGonagall gasped in shock, everyone reacted badly at her calling out the name of Harry’s hated enemy.

“Quirrell, you useless dunce!” The now identified Voldemort shouted at the one he was possessing.

Triss stood up and raised her hand and arcs of lightning appeared from her palm and she threw it toward Quirrel. The powerful blast of lightning hit Quirrell and the man seized as the lightning went through his body. Black smoke exited Quirrell’s body through his mouth and flew up into the air. “You’ll pay little girl!” Voldemort’s voice shouted from the smoke at Triss.

But before it could flee, Triss’ voice rang in the great hall “Greater Turn Undead!!!” and with a flash of white light, a blast of pure energy engulfed the red eyed man in the smoke.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” Voldemort screeched in pain as the spell hit him.

Triss started to waver on her feet and fell; only for Raven and Harry to catch her. But she continued to channel her spell until only a mote of smoke was left and which fled from the high window near the professor’s table.

“Bloody Hell, I thought I had him…” Triss said before going slack in Raven and Harry’s arms.

“Professors! Please take the students back to their common rooms and someone get Miss Merigold to Poppy!” Dumbledore quickly spoke.

Harry couldn’t believe it, the shade of Voldemort was amongst them and Dumbledore didn’t see it? He was calling bullshit.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Albus Dumbledore)

Headmaster’s tower
Headmaster’s office
20 minutes later

The Headmaster's office itself was a large circular room with many windows and many portraits of old Headmasters and Headmistresses. Dumbledore was at his office thinking deeply at what had happened.

He had expected Voldemort to be there, but not in the way he had been revealed. A wraith, a wraith who was possessing one of his employees. Dumbledore couldn’t believe that all that happened was because children decided to pull a prank by levitating Quirrel’s turban; something he would expect from the Weasley twins, but the fact that it was a Ravenclaw firstie who did it was surprising.

So many plans were in shambles, the tests he had created for young Harry were now useless; the philosopher's stone being here as bait didn't serve any purpose; Albus had wanted for young Harry to meet Tom in a controlled environment and start to shape the boy into a hero, and a martyr and reap the credit for having trained him and directed a great figure. He would have milked Harry's posthumous fame to reshape the Britain Wizarding World as he saw fit.

However, everything had fallen apart when Harry Potter reached Hogwarts; Ronald Weasley was supposed to influence Harry to go to Gryffindor on the train, but the fool boy didn’t find him at all on the way. Then to add insult to injury, Harry joined Ravenclaw and was surrounded by friends he made who were all children from the Gray faction. The Merigold, the Greengrass and the Davis were part of the Gray faction of the Wizengamot and had been a thorn in the Light faction's side; the obstruction the Light faction faced in the Wizengamot due to the previously passive neutral houses had become rather strong. Any 'progressive' laws Dumbledore had been trying to get passed lately had been blocked by the Gray and the Dark; Marcus Greengrass was at the front to explain in simple words to the sheep why the Light’s laws were a bad idea.

Then there was this restoration project to reintroduce the eight sabbats to Britain; something that he had made illegal. Dumbledore wasn’t an idiot, with the eight sabbats coming back, rituals for them would be practiced again. He had been steadily taking those away to weaken the magic of the wizards and witches of Greater Britain; Dumbledore needed to do something about the Gray.

Then there was this magic that Triss of House Merigold used to hurt the wraith of Voldemort, Dumbledore decided that he had to obtain it; though he was sure that it was going to be a matter of family magic. He remembered how House Merigold was a Germanic line of Wizards and Witches worshiping the Norse gods… it was always those houses connected to gods who had the more dangerous magic.

Albus felt a group of people facing the gargoyle guarding his office, he felt the statue shift through the wards and give way. The door to his sanctum opened and Minerva, Flitwick, Snape and Pomona entered.

“Albus, I have called the DMLE and they should be here right away.” Minerva said all business as she looked at her pocket watch hanging from her neck.

Albus looked disappointed at this revelation. “Minerva, I had hoped that you wouldn’t do that; I wanted to keep tonight’s events quiet.”

Everyone who wasn't Snape looked at the man incredulously. “Do you listen to yourself, Albus? There was a death and you-know-who was in this school!”

Snape rolled his eyes, the potion master was already aware of Albus' methods; they couldn't let anyone know what happened today. Too much rode on the elimination of Voldemort.

Flitwick growled at the headmaster. “Even if you wanted to keep it quiet, Headmaster, it’s impossible; the children would write to their parents right away.”

Albus could see that he was losing the respect of the staff by doing what he did. Even more so for what he had already done. “Oh, I already blocked the mail from leaving Hogwarts.”

Linking his fingers together, he waited for the inevitable explosion of Minerva. “YOU WHAT?!”

He raised a hand and tried to convince his deputy headmistress. “Hear me out…”

Minerva shook her head and looked coldly into his eyes. “No Albus, what you did is illegal! I already called the DMLE through the Floo!”

*Ah, the light through the tunnel; I’m happy to have anticipated this and placed an Order member who monitors Hogwarts. They won’t tell a soul what happened.*

“It pains me to do this…” Albus took his wand, but before he could obliviate the three professors. A fire bird appeared, screeched and grabbed Albus by the beard. The Headmaster was flamed away from the office by Fawkes under the shocked gaze of the others.

Next Albus appeared away from the castle; hovering five feet over the black lake, a landlocked freshwater lake located to the south of Hogwarts Castle. The Phoenix let go of Albus who dropped straight into the water while also ripping several strands of his beard and there was a big splash that elicited a grunt from the old man.

Albus began sinking into its depth until he apparated back before the ward line of Hogwarts facing its fenced iron gates. Completely wet and miserable, Albus swore, yet again the Phoenix was foiling his plan! He didn't know who undid the binding and control anchor that he had keyed on Fawkes, but he would get them.

He opened the gates with a swish of his wand that was still in his hand and walked decisively toward the entrance. Not being able to teleport without his bound Phoenix was a huge problem!

~~~ G.O ~~~

Hospital Wing
40 minutes later

I woke up, laid on a bed with Poppy Pomfrey hovering over me. She was recognizable because of her red and white mediwitch outfit. The middle aged woman smiled at me as she noticed that my eyes were open. "Ah Miss Merigold, you're awake."

Holding on to the blue hospital bed sheet covering my body, I looked around again realizing that I was in the hospital wing. "Healer Pomfrey? Where… oh, now I remember."

Memories rushed into my mind, about defeating Voldemort’s shade with a spell from Dungeons & Dragons™. I remember feeling my body burning and passing out; was trying to hurt the Dark Lord with my divine magic too much for my body?

As if echoing my thoughts, Healer Pomfrey said as she patted my right arm, "You have severe magical exhaustion, no… that's not right, it's better to say that your magic core is still completely full but your body can't channel all the power you possess. How peculiar… but please don't do that again, you might burn or explode."

I couldn't promise that the world of Harry Potter was dangerous, even more so now that it is an extent of the New 52 DC one. I already met Raven and her mom, and I've seen bizarre stuff happening such as elementals gallivanting from their realms into the material world or Vampires. I really hate Vampires from DC; they come from the Darklands and fortunately for me they all had the classical weaknesses: daylight, an aversion to garlic and religious symbols. They can also be slain by wooden stakes through their hearts. Why do I hate them you ask? They love mage blood, it's like candy to them.

Anyway, I nodded at Healer Pomfrey. "I will try, Ma’am."

The woman didn’t seem to like my answer and scowled at me. "You need rest, young lady. No magic for three days, is that understood?"

At this moment, this woman looked terrifying! Even more so than mum Angela! Despite myself I nodded vigorously. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

Healer Pomfrey’s face lines softened and she bopped me on the nose. "Don't be so cheeky."

Then the Mediwitch took a crystal cup from the hospital table at my side, it was filled with emerald-green liquid. I looked at the cup with sudden wariness. “What is this?”

“This is my own creation, I call it Pick-Me-Up.” Healer Pomfrey said with a smile.

My eyes moved from the cup to the woman’s face. “No offense but, I’m going to analyze this.”

Pomfrey scowled again. “I said no magic.”

I raised a hand in placation. “Don’t worry it’s not magic, it’s a potion analyzer.” I apported one of my enchanted mithril chopsticks and placed it into the crystal cup. I waited for five seconds and the runes engraved at the end glowed white and blue. “Ah this is a healing potion, not poison or prank potion, excellent.”

If it had been poison it would have glowed a sick green, prank potions glow red. Taking the chopstick out, I drank the healing potion. While I did that, Healer Pomfrey clicked her tongue. “You’re paranoid, girl.”

I raised a finger as I finished swallowing the healing potion that tasted bitter. I gave the cup back to Healer Pomfrey and said, “Not really, I had three attempts on my life in the last six years. It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.”

With wide eyes, the middle aged woman exclaimed, “Oh my dear, that is horrible!” She had almost let go of the cup in her hand at my announcement.

“I know, right?”

It was the hard way that I learned that my parents in this world had a lot of enemies; House Merigold is a really old and powerful Gray family. Everything Triss Merigold could do in the Witcher games? My ancestors could as well, some were even Archpriest for the Norse God Baldr or The Chief God Odin; lobbing lightning and fire at people they didn’t like aka Dark or Light aligned houses. The two extreme ends of the spectrum between Chaos and Order always caused problems for everyone.

So it was no wonder when my parents died in 1991 that I, a Orphan of House Merigold, would be targeted to end my lineage forever; some of my enemies were here in Britain, often them being old decrepit families full of Death Eaters or Homo Magi families from all over. I couldn’t wait to deal with them once and for all.

Healer Pomfrey, tucked me in bed and went to her office at the entrance of the hospital ward. She was the only person inside; something odd if you want my opinion. There were 400 students in Hogwarts. I felt a sudden perturbation in space around me and a flame-wreathed majestic bird appeared on the headboard leg of my hospital bed.

"Fawkes!" I exclaimed.

The Phoenix trilled quietly reminding me that he was here incognito. I put a hand on my mouth and looked sufficiently apologetic. Then he spoke through our familiar bond, <Ready yourself child, Dumbledore and his pet Potion master are coming for you now.>

I cringed, I had expected that they wouldn't confront me right away and let me sleep. "Ah, I knew it would happen but not that fast. Thanks for the tip!"

Fawkes thrilled again. <This is what a familiar should do to protect their contractor, call on me if they try to hurt you.>

The Phoenix puffed up his chest, making himself look bigger as he declared that he would protect me. I really liked him, and I haven't regretted a moment since I freed him. "Very well, Fawkes; but I doubt it will be needed. Raven should have already called the cavalry with her cellphone."

Technology not working in magical places was a lie; it was the outdated wards that the Wizarding World of Great Britain had that interfered with electronics. MACUSA, Japan and Homo-Magi enclaves have developed a solution since 1950 to be able to enjoy modern life. Britain was a backwater compared to those more enlightened countries.

Mum, Angela, Raven and I went to the US and obtained magic phones from the Homo Magi enclaves, they were long range, warded to be waterproof and made to be near indestructible. *Viva Nokia.*

Our mother was really worried about our safety and made us text her to tell her what we did each week; we only use letters to give the impression that we are good little witches.

<Be careful, the faker is more unhinged than usual due to my recent actions.> The Phoenix warned.

“Okay.” I nodded and readied myself; the confrontation would set me up as an enemy to those two people running amok in the school. At worst, we could get pulled out of the school and go to Beauxbatons. When I say we, it's all the Gray Faction children of course. That’s how united we’ve become to stop the slow destruction of this society.

FWOOSH!! The Phoenix flamed out of the Hospital Wing by opening his wings.

I guess that some would ask me how Fawkes became my familiar? Well it was a surprise for me as well, remember how my second wish was to have the power of Dimensional Manipulation? Well it started like this…

***

(Flashback)

September 19th, 2001

During my downtime at night, I toured Hogwarts as much as I could. With one Greater Invisibility spell, I explored the castle and its grounds. Mostly, I followed the Weasley Twins and counter pranked them, and oh… I also stole the Marauders map from them. They have become less effective as of late and get caught by Filch a lot.

Then I went to the third floor and discovered the trapdoor under the cerberus who was easily pacified with an Animal Friendship spell to influence it. I really loved D&D spells. I bypassed every trial and trap thanks to my dimensional manipulation and my ‘Arcane Eye’ spell that created an invisible, magical eye within range that hovers in the air to act as a scout for me that essentially gave me remote vision that allowed me to teleport and cross all the obstacles that would have normally stopped me; combined with my dimensional manipulation, it permitted me to ignore any wards and enchantments placed by Dumbledore and the teaching staff. None of those could stop a determined sorcerer or high level Wizard; if I needed proof that Dumbledore was barmy, I had it.

After avoiding leaving any clues that I was there, I finally teleported into the underground chambers containing the Mirror of Erised. The place was quite glum and spooky, but I boldly walked to the gold framed mirror and looked into it.

An image took form, but it became nebulous until it settled on something; I was seeing my and Raven’s adult self holding hands with our friends and family members, behind them was a background filled with stars while we were traveling the multiverse. Now I understood why this mirror was so dangerous, it somehow reached for my innermost desire and dreams; but I shrugged off its effect, my mental defenses were powerful and crafted through the methods and techniques of Circe herself.

My reflection smiled at me, kissed Raven, then she took a ruby-red stone from her utility belt and placed it… in mine. I didn’t want to think of what it meant that I wanted to kiss my adoptive sister who was barely a preteen right now.

Well that was that, time to skedaddle to analyze the damn stone. I teleported away and found myself in my room in Ravenclaw tower; I sat on the bed and took out the red stone and looked at it with my Mage-sight.

And what a disappointment it was, I got excited over nothing; this stone could do everything but create the Elixir of life. This was an Odin damned fake. I had a lot of expertise in Alchemy from my knowledge as Triss and I could make one, but I wasn’t crazy enough to sacrifice a vital magical node from a Ley line to get more gold and the limited immortality offered by Flamel’s work. A philosopher’s stone was liquid magic, proof of why the stone was somewhat malleable in my hand.

“I need to see if Dumbledore has the real one.” I said as I put the stone in my vault dimension; I needed to declutter the thing, it must be bursting with artifacts at this point.

Looking at my wristwatch, I saw that it was getting late, 11 PM. I conjured a dimensional window and… scryed Dumbledore’s office. The man had a problem with collecting other people’s things, he didn’t respect the laws on family magic and didn’t mind stealing magical tomes or heirlooms. Looking at the cluttered hell that is Dumbledore’s office, I looked for his presence and… he wasn’t there. Cool, I used Greater Invisibility and Arcane Eye to be able to scout the place for traps and teleported inside the office.

Already, I was seeing some alarm spells in the shelves on the walls; I could see the distinctive family mark made out of mana on certain books. It was a way for families to mark their possessions, heirlooms and books were often blood locked or cursed so that only a member of that family could open or access them.

I didn’t touch anything, at least not yet. Suddenly I heard a trill behind me and turned to see that Dumbledore’s red and gold pet Phoenix was there perched on a bird stand. “Bloody Hell!”

I almost teleported out, but the look Fawkes gave me told me that he would follow me. I clicked my tongue and walked toward him. Sighing, I cast ‘Comprehend Languages’ on myself and said to the Phoenix, “Is there a way that we could negotiate?”

<You understand me, Child?> His voice was masculine and beautiful just like him.

“Yes, I do. That's what the spell was for.” It was one of the spells I used to understand magical creatures or people in asian countries. This one didn't last for more than one hour though.

<Good spell… really clever. In any case, there won’t be a price for my silence. What I want from you, child of Baldr, is help to give me freedom. I shall reward you decently if you do this.>

My patron Deities had told me when I made the pact with them how other creatures and beings would easily discern to whom I was allied… this is proof. Then I reacted to the bomb Fawkes casually dropped on me, “Wait, I thought that you were Dumbledore’s Phoenix and that you chose him because he was a light wizard!”

With an impressive roll of his eyes, the Phoenix replied, <Child, please. The man is an evil manipulator and an opportunist. The most successful Dark Lord that your people have ever produced; I am a Phoenix, I know these things.>

He started grooming under his right wing with his beak as I digested those facts. So I was in a HP world with a really evil Dumbledore… “Okay… so how did he get you, Fawkes?”

<He caught me on my burning day, bound me with a ritual to him and I can’t disobey him. I have been in his thrall for a long time now, he uses me to appear like a Light Wizard, and result? The sheep listen to him, you can’t even imagine the number of atrocities and evil deeds I’ve seen him do ‘For the Greater Good’.> Fawkes spat.

*Bloody Hell, the bird really hates Dumbledore.* I remarked in my innermost thoughts.

I chuckled at this. “His own good, right?”

This was a cliche evil Dumbledore who must have been all about supporting Grindelwald from the shadows and giving everyone the illusion that they didn't get along or some shit. I needed to do more research on Dumbles' assets and connections.

With a fond tone, Fawkes voice rang as he said, <Smart child.>

It was a given that I would save Fawkes, he was a Phoenix and they were a species of good beings, though I heard some could be really prideful when they lived too long; that's why I found myself asking, “What type of Binding ritual did he use on you, Fawkes? I need to know.”

Still, how does he know that I can help free him? Was it some kind of precognition or did he take a gamble?

Fawkes looked me in the eyes and opened his wing and showed me his abdomen. Hidden behind some of his feathers, I could see a sickly green network of runes on his flesh. <A truly dark one, he forcefully drew on my essence to boost his own magic. It’s a really old ritual that brute forces a bond between two beings.>

I recognized Roman magic when I saw it. It was heavily influenced by Mithraism and other religions that had been absorbed due to the expansion of the Roman Empire. The ritual that Dumbledore performed on Fawkes was shamanic in substance. Shamanic magic was loaded with intent from the caster and symbolism to perform a ritual, then mix everything with runes and voila. This smells of evil, no wonder Dumbledore looked so spry for his age, he sustained his health with Fawkes'.

Looking into the firebird's eye, I said with as much conviction as I could, “I can help you, this bond was forced unwillingly on you. A Divine spell might help to break the binding on you. But first I need to know something, Fawkes.”

The Phoenix nodded his head. <What do you want to know?>

I showed him the philosopher's stone, he looked gobsmacked for an instant then Fawkes started to laugh. He must be happy that one of Dumbledore’s plans failed already. “The Philosopher’s stone, is it the real one?”

The Phoenix scratched his perch and looked disdainfully at the ruby-red stone. <No, it’s not. Nicolas Flamel duped Dumbledore.>

I chuckled. “Phew, that’s good to know.”

While I joked my eyes fell onto an open box and on the velvet cushion inside was a Celtic style octagon star necklace two inches in width and height; set in its middle was a ruby.

“Huh what’s that?” I almost reached for it as if it was screaming at me to take it.

<Don’t touch anything, child! Everything has an alarm on it keyed only to dumbledore.> Fawkes warned.

I used my Mage-sight to analyze it. Inside the ruby was something that made me recoil. “A soul gem on a pendant and it… is filled.”

As if to tempt her even more, the emblem of house Merigold briefly appeared inside the ruby as if lit by an inner glow. The memory of seeing this exact amulet came to the forefront of my mind, it was worn by a beautiful redheaded woman with darker green eyes than mine. “This is an Heirloom from my House! Dumbledore, he looted the corpse of my parents when they were helping Lily Potter…”

Fawkes trilled sadly. <I’m so sorry child, if you want I can help you bring him to justice.>

Nothing was said at this moment, until a decision settled into my mind. I didn't want to cause any waves yet, but now things have changed and Dumbledore has just become a major enemy of mine. For now Dumbles was too strong, but I know a saying: If you can’t kill your enemy, weaken him. If you can’t cut off his head, take his heart.

Fawkes trilled worriedly until I looked at him and said, “Oh, believe me, Dumbledore will pay, not today, but he eventually will… Okay, let’s free you.”

Fawkes readied himself by hunching himself on his perch. Then I linked my hands together for a moment, prayed to Baldr and at the same time I traced a URUZ rune in the air with my magic. It glowed with an intense blue into the poorly lit office.

“Hail Bright One of Asgard,

Favorite Son who came to ashes.

You who fled your destiny

Only to see it come true,

Help me free this poor being

As you were freed from Hel.”

The Freedom rune shrank and hit Fawkes who screeched as if I was really hurting him, but it was done with when the sickly rune simply disappeared, erased by divine magic. I felt a bit drained by this like always when I channeled the powers of one of my patrons. The rune dissipated into Fawkes body and then as if in triumph the Phoenix screeched in joy.

<Thank you little one! Like I told you, I would reward you.> Fawkes said and he landed on my shoulder and… I felt as if he connected himself to my magic.

"Did you just become my familiar?" I asked.

The Phoenix nodded and crooned against my head. Well now I guess I have another bird to care for beyond my owl… Fawkes then looked toward the door, I felt through our bond a spike of panic. <We need to leave, the faker is arriving.>

"Huh, Fawkes it's time to leg it!" I said and before I could focus on teleporting, the Phoenix flamed me out of the office.

(Flashback End)

***

And that is how I got myself a new familiar. After those brief adventures I wrote a letter to Nicolas Flamel and placed his fake Philosopher’s stone in a box and sent it back to him telling him about what his student had done with it. I advised him to change identity and leave Europe or go take refuge in a Magi enclave because Dumbledore thought that the stone was the real deal.

Dumbledore couldn’t know that Fawkes was my friend and partner now, despite Healer Pomfrey's warning, I would put him and his pet death eater down if he tried to do anything.

Looking at the entrance and seeing no one yet, I decided to briefly close my eyes and waited for the two clowns to arrive.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Severus Snape)

Hospital Wing

This school year hadn’t started like he had expected. After dealing with an excessive amount of paperwork and passing a handful of Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to their NEWT class in June, Snape had prepared for the time Potter would come to Hogwarts and the Headmaster’s plan would start to ferret Voldemort out.

When the boy had walked to the sorting hat at the start of September, Severus had seen a carbon copy of his hated nemesis, James Potter, the only thing he had of Lily were her eyes. Severus could already see James' boy become a Gryffindor and showing his true colors by bullying everyone in the form of distasteful pranks. But fate made an arse of him as the sorting hat loudly declared that the boy would be a Ravenclaw.

He had followed Harry with his eyes until he met a little young lady with red hair and green eyes looking strikingly like his lost love. No, it was better to say that Miss Merigold was a carbon copy of his Lily and seeing her being affectionate with Potter reinforced the bitter feelings Severus had felt when his childhood friend had been taken away by that brute, James Potter.

Snape had hoped to test those two students but fate denied him again; Having heard of his reputation and of his standards, Miss Merigold had chosen to use the rules of the school and its charter to her advantage by hiring private tutors to teach her and her friends Potions and other subjects. This was a loss of face for everyone of the Professors concerned; Quirrell hadn’t said anything but he looked darkly at Potter and Merigold when they were in the Great Hall (but now that he knew that he had been possessed his judgment may be faulty), Binns the ghost doesn't join the weekly meeting for the lower and higher years that the teaching staff often have. The tutors joined the meeting though, and they kept showing off how smart and attentive their charges were.

Andromeda Tonks looked particularly smug about Miss Merigold and her three friends already being OWL level students in Potions who assisted her in her lessons. That act had almost made Severus throw a wobbly at the woman.

Snape understood that the girl was smart and savvy. *Just like Lily.* But there were differences, the girl child was versed in political maneuvers and acted more like a Slytherin holding court in the Snake pit. Triss Merigold helped other students even if they were older than her. A strange trend had also developed as well, all the muggleborn seemed to migrate to an old classroom; Merigold had started giving them lessons by forming a giant study group that seemed to accept every house. Snape had been impressed that they had chosen to do it with supervision and divide their time between practical and theoretical work.

The Potions Master followed his employer and slave master to the first floor of the castle; after descending the moving stairs, Dumbledore walked briskly toward the brown colored door leading to the the hospital wing. Dumbledore opened the double door leading to Madam Pomfrey’s office and they saw the woman sitting at her desk and writing a report.

The old man walked up to the Healer’s desk and said with solemnity, “Evening Poppy, it pains me to ask this but… we need to speak with Miss Merigold.”

Snape no longer believed in the grandfather act that Dumbledore seemed to perform with everyone; he had fallen for it and was now in his current position. But it seemed that others were already seeing behind his facade; Madam Pomfrey stood her ground, squared her shoulder and told him with an annoyed and reproachful tone, “Headmaster, the poor girl has suffered a lot tonight and she needs her rest; she almost burned herself out trying to kill that abomination in the great hall.”

Dumbledore sighed and put a hand on the Healer’s desk and leaned over the woman. "And this is exactly why I need to question her, her actions created this situation, Poppy…"

The woman scowled at the Headmaster and growled, "Yes and you'll have to ask them tomorrow, Headmaster. The girl needs rest."

"I'm afraid that I must insist, Poppy." Dumbledore lamented as he stepped back from the desk, back straight.

Pomfrey looked exasperated. "Fine, I will ask her if she wants to entertain you. If she doesn't, I am going to ask you to leave."

“Very well, Poppy.” Dumbledore said with a nod and a jovial tone.

Severus Snape looked at the man he had learned to hate and respect at the same time, the man must have used a compulsion on the Healer to make her comply. *He is used to getting his way, one day it is going to bite him in the arse when someone flips the board on him.*

Poppy left and entered the hospital complex through the door behind her. The two men waited for over three minutes before the Healer came back, with an annoyed tone she told them, "She said she will talk to you Headmaster, you have ten minutes."

“Thank you, Poppy.” The Headmaster then walked to the door linking the office to the hospital.

Snape followed the old man, swishing his cape at the same time; Poppy glared at him and made him feel that it wasn’t his place to be here. The potions master wholeheartedly agreed, he didn’t want to meet Miss Merigold at all; something in him told him that she didn’t like him.

They walked till they saw the girl on the third bed on the right; she didn’t smile at them and looked pretty tired. She opened her mouth and said neutrally, "Good evening Headmaster, Healer Pomfrey said that you wanted to talk to me."

Snape immediately understood the score when the cold and clear verdant eyes of the redhead fixed him. She didn't even acknowledge him when her eyes slid back to the Headmaster.

“Hello and yes, my dear. We’ve come to ask you some questions about tonight.” The headmaster said in a soothing tone.

Snape doubted that the girl would be cooperative; he could see it in her demeanor, she didn't like any of them. With a magnanimous and queenly tone, the girl waved her hand. “Oh, then ask away, Headmaster. However, I don't guarantee… that I can tell you everything.”

The Headmaster seemed to catch on that this wasn't going to be an easy interrogation; the usual awe and respect that children had for him wasn't present when he spoke to the Merigold girl. Snape crossed his arms and looked at the scene, he shouldn't be here, he should be reassuring the members of his house about the danger being eliminated. But he had seen the wraith of his ex-master flee, at least part of it.

Snape thought that it may be time to ready a go bag to be able to bolt at any moment. The Headmaster smiled as he straightened his glasses on his nose. “Fair enough, my girl. Can you tell me in your own words how you discovered that Professor Quirrel was possessed?”

The little redhead looked exactly like a little devil with the two buns on her head that looked like horns. Merigold made it look like she was thinking about what to say and replied, “That I can tell you.”

She didn't look into the Headmaster's eyes as she spoke, the girl clearly knew things about the old man. “This all started when Professor Quirrell began to glare at Harry and I for no reason; as you must know, my house is really spiritual and connected to the Norse Pantheon, I can actually detect when maleficent intent from undead or magical creatures is aimed at me.”

Merigold looked at the Headmaster’s colorful robe and smirked at it; also Snape didn't like the girl's story, it drew a situation that might be bad for them. People like spiritually attuned mages or seers were difficult to speak to as they could see through lies and magic Linking others. Merigold looked at him and the Headmaster, as if she could see the slaving bond between them.

The little redhead smirked at him as if she had seen something interesting. The Headmaster nodded, touching his beard as he thought, “Oh, so that means that you’ve got some magical extra sensory perception, do you have Mage-sight?”

Merigold shrugged. “I do, that's how I know that the wraith inhabiting professor Quirrel was possessing him. It was a disgusting thing, a magic so black that it oozed evil, like a blot on the tapestry of magic.”

The little girl looked nauseous and disgusted as she recalled the events. Snape could understand, the Snake like face and the red eyes in the black smoke floating in the great hall had been terrifying to look at.

Dumbledore seemed to think that Merigold would tell him more and tried to placate her with his grandfatherly act. “I see, I see. But why my dear,  didn’t you report this to the staff, or to me?”

Snape was never going to forget the icy glare that drilled into Dumbledore at this instant as the girl quit trying to be respectful and cooperative. “Headmaster… how should I take the fact that a possessed man was able to enter through the so-called impregnable wards of Hogwarts? How could that thing not be discovered right away? Could it have been a plot from the Death Eater behind you or their current head on the board of governor, Lucius Malfoy? Tell me how am I supposed to trust this school after discovering that you didn’t even see the threat? From my side of things, your… vaulted legend seems to be overinflated.”

Her eyes blazed with anger and ridicule toward the two men. Snape was right, meeting this little hell-cat was a mistake; her eyes glowed with confidence and knowledge of what she was saying. It was clear now why she didn't want to learn from him at school, she considered him an enemy, someone to be cut down. Snape's mind slowly clouded with anger…

*This little girl…how dare she talk about me like that?* The potions master thought as he let his arms fall at his sides, turning his hands into fist as he glared at the child.

Dumbledore’s shoulders shook, and he took some time to not speak; a sure sign that he was angry. The old man theatrically sighed, looking almost genuinely saddened.

“I am sorry that you feel that way, my girl; that you couldn't come to the staff because of your trust… issues and your doubt about the integrity of my employees. Still I hope that events like this won't happen again… and to answer your questions and recriminations, I think that it's by hook or crook that the late Professor Quirrel and You-know-who penetrated the school defenses. Not every stronghold is totally secure; in ancient history, Troy was taken by a ruse and it truly might have happened to the school as well. This situation showed us that we need to fill in the holes in Hogwarts' defenses.”

“Right, good luck with that.” The girl mumbled with an incredulous smile.

Dumbledore looked a bit frustrated but he continued his speech. “That's why, Miss Merigold, might I ask how it is you hurt the wraith of Voldemort? I know of no spell capable of harming spiritual entities.”

“Easily.” She answered and didn't say anything more.

With a frozen smile on his face, Dumbledore pretended to still be in control of the situation.  “Could you elaborate, my dear girl?” The old man asked.

Only to be slapped on the face by the little girl again. “I refuse, must I tell you how to be able to harm a spirit as well? To me that’s the basics of magic; Shamanic and Druidic or simple spiritual magic should do the job. You know all ritualistic fields of magic…” The little redhead laughed, then took on a surprised expression. “But oh wait! Any of those forms of magic has become banned by the ministry, laws that your faction in the Wizengamot has enacted if I am not wrong. Shouldn’t you know that? Aren’t you the all powerful and knowing Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?”

There was a lot of bitterness and loathing under all that venomous speech. Snape finally saw Dumbledore enact the second part of his act and look like a disappointed old man who found out one his grandkids made a big mistake. “You seem to be rather hostile toward me, Miss Merigold. I assure you that you have no reason to feel that way. And those dangerous magical practices… They were banned for a reason, my dear. They are highly corrupting and seducing for the laymen who-”

And it didn't work, Dumbledore didn't seem to understand that this child was in no way impressed with him or interested in pleasing him. Triss Merigold reminded Snape of Amelia Bones, the woman was similarly not interested in entertaining Dumbledore’s fancies and utopian goals.

Miss Merigold interrupted him and looked at him with a bored expression. “I hear you, and I understand more and more why your pet death eater follows you around, you are yourself a snake, a well hidden one.”

And just like that, Dumbledore stepped back from the young lady's bed, anger etched on his face as he scowled at her. “Young Lady-”

She interrupted his rant with a wave of her hand. “I wasn’t finished; Headmaster, you spit on our people's traditions and weaken us, and now you have the gall to ask me how I took care of the problem you created? I say nay, you won’t get anything from me. The magic I used is a family secret anyway.”

Snape realized that they wouldn't get anything from Miss Merigold and he should just take the information from her head. He looked into her eyes, the windows to her soul and reached her mind with his Legilimency; only to be stopped by a glowing purple shield covered by a complex and elaborated network of Norse runes. It was beautiful and looked powerful.

But what happened next defied logic as his mental probe was captured and repelled mentally and physically.

“YOU GET OUT OF MY MIND!! NOW!!” Merigold shouted, and at the same time Severus Snape found himself projected to the wall behind him with great force.

THUMP!! He bounced on the wall once and was made to hit the wall again, stuck spread eagle on the stone surface and kept here by an immense pressure. Dumbledore turned and looked at Snape with surprise and a bit of fear on his face.

Then the old man turned back to the little girl who was somehow still keeping Snape glued to the wall. Dumbledore took his wand from his arm holster and darkly said, “How dare you attack my staff?!”

The only answer Dumbledore received was in the form of an eerie and highly condensed black wave of energy slashing toward him. The old man was spry and fast enough to roll on the side and evade it. Snape saw the wave coming toward him and he almost pissed himself as it nearly reached him but was dampened by the fact that Dumbledore moved a bed in the way. Said bed was bisected in two. Snap!! Clang!!

Snape looked at the dangerous child, and realized that they had made a mistake thinking that she was just that, 'a child' but no this girl was a little monster. Dumbledore was furious, he almost died to a 'child'. “I will make you pay, you little wildling!”

Dumbledore pointed his wand at Merigold and Snape doubted that he would send a simple stunner at the little girl.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Angela Roth)

October 15th, 2001
Hogwarts

She knew it! She should have sent her baby girls to Salem in the USA or BeauxBatons in France, nothing good ever came out of this country. Those blood bigots and their inane laws on blood purity and blatant exploitation of the newcomers in their communities was appalling. If it wasn't for the Greengrass, the Davis and Lovegood families… Angela would have moved back to the US or France.

Angela liked France, there was none of that blood purist shit going on and the food was better than the British fair; those people were obsessed with pudding!

Ha! She was proud of her little Triss, she dealt the Ministry a completely irrecoverable blow by telling the truth to everyone about their two-faced actions and to their practices of basically lying to the newcomers about the defective magical British society they entered.

Angela loved them to bits and was proud of her girls, despite how they were both introduced into her life; eleven years ago, she got pregnant with Raven when, through a demonic ritual, she was raped by the big demon honcho of the cult she had tentatively joined. Then the next thing she knew, everyone in the cult got killed by a man wearing a golden hooded cloak as he appeared in the middle of the ceremony, banishing Trigon from this plane of existence and offering her a job.

That she accepted because she was scared and felt filthy for being impregnated by a demon. The next thing Angela knew, she found herself in a room in England with two people hovering over her, and suddenly they began battling against black caped and masked assailants. Angela remembered as time slowed down to a crawl and being told by the one who sent her there that she had powerful magic now and that she could help those two people. So, Angela listened and lobbed fireballs and lasers at the attackers just like an effing magical girl from one of those Japanese cartoons she saw in the orphanage she grew up in.

She killed the black robbed slime balls with the couple and then… They had a drink. Geralt and Sonya Merigold were the ones she had helped survive an assault on their Manor by the Death Eaters, twenty dark wizards against the three of them, it was almost unfair for the Death Eaters who only knew how to fire the killing curse and a few other dark magic curses; it was clear that they had all been grunts.

Time passed and Angela was made to stay with the Merigold couple when Geralt learned that she was pregnant as well. The three of them became more than friends… Sonya pulled her into her relationship with Geralt who kept saying that he couldn't handle the two of them but was glad he had two beauties in his arms. Next Angela was made into Triss' godmother when she was born three months before Raven.

The ravenette saw the golden idiot who sent her to England when she went into labor and slapped a seal on Raven when she was born to cut her connection to Trigon forever, denying him entry into this world other than by summoning and he had thoroughly cleansed Earth of his cult. At least that's what he had told her; as a result, Angela could raise her daughter in peace without fearing any demonic incursion or the end of the world. The man then explained to her what her job would be; it was to help raise Triss basically.

She remembered asking for clarification, and all she got was a "it all will be clear in time" answer from the man. Since then she hadn't heard from him. A year later disaster struck, her lovers were killed while trying to help a long lost relative, but at least they got the bastard and she had to raise two children alone.

Triss and Raven were peculiar babies, they were silent and observant; Angela guessed that they would be smarter than normal babies as they only bothered her when it was time for breastfeeding or cleaning their diapers. They loved music and listening to Angela's voice. When they were a year old, they became sensitive to the absence of Triss' parents and for a long time Triss was inconsolable; Angela knew that the toddler was somehow aware that her parents were dead. As a consequence she latched even more onto Angela and Raven and didn't let them out of her sight.

To Angela it was eerie and… adorable. As Triss grew up that protective streak of hers only grew; the little redhead started to harness her magic at the age of four and use it to move things she wanted or animate her toys, it didn't take long for Raven to mimic her sister. Angela had to participate in their magical exploration as a game as the girls started to experiment; fortunately, they obeyed her when she asked them to not do anything too destructive.

Then Angela was pulled all around the Wizarding World by her daughters and forced to meet people as they visited. She met Marcus Greengrass and his wife Melina; their daughter, Daphne, quickly became friends with Raven and Triss and it cascaded from there. Triss built her own network of allies and friends over the years; Angela just had to be a reasonable adult to save her adoptive daughter from her mistakes.

Triss hated the British magical world, but strangely not the people; the problem was the people in power and she had started to convince Angela to invest in her dastardly plans to take down those blood bigots from their position of power. Triss was intelligent, determined and skillful in magic and politics; since she was eight years old, she had started to develop her own spells and wrote books under a male alias that was suddenly the talk of most magical countries.

Angela had cajoled and pleaded for Triss and Raven to go to Beauxbatons, their friends were even ready to follow them there; but no, Triss had to insist that she would go to Hogwarts despite how low of an opinion she had of the place. Now here they were, barely one month since they joined the school and a half and something bad already happened.

She arrived in Hogsmeade by teleporting there just in time to see Madam Bones from the DMLE apparating with a squad of her men, amongst them Alastor Moody. Ignoring them, she quickly used a spell to fly toward the castle.

"Madam Roth! Wait!" Angela heard Amelia Bones call out to her, the haze of purple magic of her flight spell attracting the attention of Moody and Amelia at the same time, they quickly followed her on foot.

Angela followed the road leading to the entrance of the castle, knowing that there was a rule about not allowing flight if you tried to fly over the walls surrounding the castle's ground. It was idiotic to Angela but she wasn't about to break it with the DMLE on her tail. She landed before the gates that were already open and could already guess that someone had opened them forcefully. Looking behind her, Angela noticed how the Aurors were halfway there, shrugged and started for the castle, but something told her to hurry up so she used Triss' custom movement technique by infusing her body with magical energy and instantly expelled it, making her move at high speed.

Angela passed the Gamekeeper’s hut and the whomping willow. Quickly enough she found herself before the castle’s gate and entered; she was received by the ghosts who tried to stop her, but she quickly explained that she was Triss’ mother and that she wanted to see her. A female ghost called the Grey Lady led her to the Hospital wing on the first floor. At the same time they heard a commotion behind them; it seemed that the DMLE was quicker on their feet than Angela had thought.

Once she arrived before the double doors of the Hospital Wing, Angela was confronted by the Healer in charge. “Who are you and do you have any idea of how late it is?”

“I came here for my daughter, Triss. My other Daughter, Rachel, told me what happened, is she wounded? Does she need to go to Saint Mungo?”

“Ah, can you show me proof that you’re-”

Angela showed her signet ring, the one showing that she was affiliated with house Merigold. The Healer looked at it and nodded. She opened the door next to her desk, only to hear a crash coming from the hospital room.

The Healer was the first inside, quickly followed by Angela who saw something she hadn’t expected to see. Albus Dumbledore pointing his pointy wand toward Triss. “I will make you pay, you little wildling!”

Before he could even launch a spell at her daughter, Angela blasted the old wizard with a wave of magic; taking him out, he landed on the tiled floor five meters away. “Argh.”

“Triss, are you okay?” Angela quickly turned to the little redhead, while the Healer looked at both the Headmaster and the man stuck on the wall and screamed at them to get out of her Hospital room.

So focused was she on her little girl that she didn’t notice the Headmaster standing up and pointing his wand at Angela.

“Mum, careful!” But Triss did and in rapid succession fired two spells at Dumbledore who was taken by surprise.

Zap! Zap! A scarlet and red light showing that the first was a disarming charm and the second a stunner.

The old man fell on the ground face first, letting go of his wand that disappeared in a mist of black light and appeared in Triss' hand. The strangely shaped wand simply disappeared again from her hand in a haze of black flames. The man stuck on the wall was finally let go when Triss looked tiredly at him and he fell on the floor in the ruin of a sliced bed.

Obviously, it was at this instant that the DMLE and Madam Bones chose to finally appear. “What the bloody hell happened in here?!”

The monocled woman looked at all the actors in the room, her gaze settling on the unconscious form of Dumbledore. “Everyone better have an explanation.”

# # #

A/N: I really like to blast canon and burn it to shreds.