The Next Lord of Kobol

Chapter 1 – Shall We Depart?

(Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft March 29th, 1996. Approximately eleven years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies)

-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Well Harry, I suppose we must make preparations to leave now," Albus Dumbledore said looking at the stunned bodies in his office. Fudge and Umbridge, along with the aurors brought to arrest the headmaster of Hogwarts, littered the floor.

Fawkes trilled and the phoenix flexed its wings. The ageless professor chuckled at his familiar and said, "Yes, I can see you're eager to get out and see the world again. Minerva, please see to the others."

"You're taking me with you?" Harry asked, unsure of what to make of the sudden turn of events as his Head of House walked by in a brisk manner. Dumbledore had all but ignored him through the year and only paid attention after Arthur Weasley had been attacked after Christmas.

"Naturally," the headmaster said. "When I learned of what the undersecretary was doing to you in detentions, I knew that her vendetta would not simply vanish were I removed from the picture. We can discuss this in greater detail, but there is much to be done. I have an elf collecting your belongings as we speak. Though I must ask, do you wish to come with me? The path we set upon will be fraught with danger. I will ask you to risk your life soon, perhaps even before this night ends. Can you do that Harry?"

Harry sucked in a deep breath and said, "Yes, I can."

"I never doubted you for a second, Harry."

Dumbledore clapped his hands together and a pair of trunks appeared along with two elves. As he gestured to various shelves containing books from his library and his collection of odd devices, the elves scurried to pack them.

Meanwhile, the ancient wizard stopped by the prone form of Marietta Edgecombe and removed the painful blisters from her forehead. "It seems Miss Granger is a witch that I would not care to cross when she reaches her full potential. I suspect the headmistress of New Salem has no idea what is coming."

"Hermione's leaving? Am I going to New Salem as well?"

"Yes to your first question and, I'm afraid, no to your second. Given my druthers, I would send you with them, but there are complications that force me down this regrettable path. Your friends, along with Arthur and Molly's children are withdrawing and transferring. I believe that constitutes my last official act in this office. Just as Cornelius would attempt to use you as leverage against me, I fear the people pulling this sad excuse for a leader's strings would not hesitate to use your friends against you,"

"Why?"

"I do not doubt that your friends will one day make their mark on society, but I cannot in good conscience ask children to wage war. Given my choice, I would not want you involved, but circumstances often dictate we do things we'd rather not."

To Harry the line of reasoning made sense, but it didn't make him happy. His friends were going into exile for no other reason than their association with Harry Potter. Then again, the quality of instruction at the school was a sore point for an eager witch like Hermione. Compared to Umbridge, Binns, Snape, and Trewlaney, New Salem should be a step up even if they miss out on teachers like Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall. The instruction here tended to be either exceptionally good or dreadfully poor. There was precious little middle ground.

"Ron?" Harry thought, "He'll get by. He's always going spare over being compared to all his brothers or me. A fresh start where he can be his own man might do wonders for his self-worth."

Harry didn't know what to think about Ginny. Ginny had lots of friends, but not too many close ones. He supposed that was due to Riddle's diary. The ever present rumors of romance between the two of them were becoming more difficult to dismiss as the girl had gotten older. Truth be told, after his disaster with Cho, Harry had started thinking about Ron's sister in a different light. Naturally, what might happen was a moot point now.

"It doesn't sound like I'll have time for a girlfriend anyway," he thought.

There was a lull where the soon-to-be fugitive tried his best to digest everything that had just happened. It didn't go down very easily.

"Where will we go?" Harry asked, thinking he should be doing something right now.

"Places and destinations, my good boy. At the moment, I am not at liberty to say," Dumbledore answered while gesturing to all the portraits no longer pretending to sleep.

The next few minutes passed in a virtual whirlwind for Harry. Dumbledore paused long enough to modify the memories of Fudge and Umbridge along with destroying the DA roster. With a conspiratorial grin, he said, "They will remember the list, but none of the names. Paranoia and uncertainty are two of the most terrible taskmasters for those clinging to power."

An elf Harry recognized as Dobby appeared with his trunk. Moments later, Winky arrived clutching Harry's firebolt and Hedwig in her cage.

"The Great and Powerful Harry Potter is to be leaving Hogwarts?"

"Yes I am," Harry replied, letting the feeling sink in.

"Dobby only works at Hogwarts to serve Harry Potter. Without Harry Potter, Dobby no longer wishes to be here. Dobby is quitting!"

"Would you like to come with us?" Harry asked.

The elf was so overwhelmed that he practically tackled Harry. With Dobby hugging him, Harry saw a slight look of disapproval on the Headmaster's face.

"What is it, sir?"

"Your friend's enthusiasm is commendable, but the ministry has methods of tracking a free elf that could allow them to find us."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Dobby."

Dobby clutched Harry tighter and proclaimed, "Then Dobby must become Harry Potter's elf! That is the way it must be!"

The Gryffindor looked to his headmaster for assistance, but the man simply said, "It would allow him to come with us, and it would make our meals considerably more enjoyable, but the choice is yours."

He thought about Hermione and what her reaction would be, but he also considered who would probably be doing the cooking and cleaning on this expedition. The conclusion was obvious.

"Alright Dobby, I'll do it."

Dobby's screech of joy might have been audible all the way down in the Slytherin dormitory. Harry was still rubbing his ear when there was a tug on his pant leg. The female elf stared up at him with her ears flat against her head and watery eyes.

"Winky would like to serve Harry Potter as well. Winky cares for Dobby and would miss him. Winky hates being a free elf and knows Harry Potter would be a kind master who would never separate Winky from Dobby."

He sighed. "In for a penny, in for a pound I suppose."

The Headmaster nodded, retrieving Godric's sword and strapped the blade and scabbard around his waist before saying, "Indeed. I'll instruct you on how to properly claim your elves later and I'll give you fair warning that should Peeves ask, you should tell him no in the most certain terms possible. Although, I dare say his talents will be on display once we depart."

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Harry laughed, imagining the unrestrained antics of the school's resident poltergeist.

Dumbledore leaned over his desk and scribbled a few final words on a piece of parchment before instructing one of the other elves to take it to McGonagall. The wizard withdrew a box from inside the desk drawer and tucked it under his arm before standing tall. His gaze moved around the room committing the details to memory.

Sighing deeply, Dumbledore rapped the desk with his knuckles and turned toward Harry, extending his hand. "The time for nostalgia is over. The next great adventure awaits us both. Fawkes, if you would?"

-x-x-x-x-x

Their first stop on this journey was The Ancient and Noble House of Black where Sirius was waiting for them with his own bags packed and a tent similar to the one Arthur Weasley used when they attended the World Cup.

As Harry embraced his godfather, Black said, "The Headmaster decided to call in an expert in living life on the run. Here lad, you'll need this."

Sirius handed Harry a wand. He felt a similar rush of magic, though it was just a smidge weaker than his current wand.

When Harry gave a questioning look, Sirius said, "Custom crafted phoenix feather and holly wand with no trace applied. I was planning on giving it to you at the end of the year, so you'd have it for summer, but nothing wrong with giving presents early."

"It's brilliant! But isn't that against the law?" Harry asked, feigning shock.

"Technically, just using it makes you a criminal now, but I think Fudge and his lackeys decided you were one some time ago. I say we might as well take full advantage of that."

"Can't you remove the trace on my wand?"

"Certainly, but you never know when we might need to use it to let the Ministry find us."

It took a second before Harry realized what the Animagus meant. "Oh, I get it, now."

His godfather slapped his back and said, "Congratulations on enrolling in the Sirius Black School for Exceptional Lawbreaking. Our expectations are high, our adherence to rules is nonexistent, and I'm both your lead instructor as well as the school mascot."

Harry couldn't mask his excitement.

"Calm down there, Harry," Sirius said solemnly. "There is an unpleasant matter to attend to. You still have to pass the entrance exam and initiation."

Harry laughed and said, "I can't even hazard a guess at what you are planning for me."

A chill went up his spine when he realized that neither Sirius nor Dumbledore were laughing.

Dumbledore placed his hand on Harry shoulder. There was no twinkle in his eye.

"Remember what I said to you in my office earlier? The time for jokes is over, Harry. What happened at Christmas confirmed our fears that you have a piece of Voldemort connected to you. It's right where that scar of yours is. We're going to set that straight tonight. There is a significant risk to your life involved but, short of engineering a situation where Tom Riddle strikes you with a killing curse, I can see no other way."

"I have him in my head!" Harry exclaimed and looked back to Sirius, who confirmed it with a nod. It was the sum of all his fears since the moment he got the first headache from his first year Defense teacher.

"Okay," he said slowly. "What are we going to do about it?"

"We're going to let a dementor kiss your scar," Sirius said. "Voldemort has created several objects called horcruxes. They house pieces of his soul. The diary from your second year was one. My brother, Regulus. stole another from where it was hidden and gave it to Kreacher to destroy before he was killed. It was hidden here all along."

Sirius fished a locket out from under his shirt. "This locket belonged to Salazaar Slytherin. We used a dementor to remove the soul piece from it and it left the magic intact. That very same dementor has agreed to help us with you."

"Are you sure it won't get me as well? I thought they were just waiting for Riddle to say the word." Harry asked, frustrated at the quavering in his voice. He sounded like a blasted twelve year old.

There was a pause before Dumbledore said, "The world is made up of individuals. Assigning a single motive to an entire race is a very simplified way of looking at things. Suffice to say they have the capacity to be every bit as complex as we are. In this case, the dementor was one of the two that attacked you at Privet Drive. It sensed the wrongness in you, Harry."

"It did? How did it even tell you?"

"Legilmency is the basis for communicating with them," Dumbledore answered. "I can only say that this one does not currently intend to harm you at the moment."

"It has a funny way of showing it," Sirius added and Harry quickly came to the impression that his godfather wasn't fully onboard with this plan.

"It will work, Sirius. We will be there to monitor it every step of the way."

"I know the dementors better than anyone, Dumbledore. You can't trust them."

"The prophecy will protect Harry."

"You'd better hope so, Dumbledore. You're pinning his life to a bunch of delusional rantings."

"What prophecy? What are you talking about?"

"Once your connection to Tom Riddle is severed, I will tell you all. But it must be done before you can learn the true meaning of that which we speak. My only other recourse is to wipe this memory from your mind and return you to the castle."

The boy knew he was at a pivotal juncture in his short life. To refuse meant going back to Umbridge and her methods of instruction.

"I'm as good as dead if I go back there. I'll do it."

Sirius led Harry into the next room and got him comfortable. Harry even received his first glasses of firewhiskey. His godfather said it was an essential component in the liquid courage potion. A few minutes after downing the contents, Harry felt like the room was spinning and getting a bit cold.

-x-x-x-x-x

"You gave us quite a scare there, boyo."

"C'mon," the voice continued. "Open those green eyes for Padfoot."

Harry's body was a tangled mess of throbbing pain mixed with numbness in certain spots. For better or worse, his connection with Voldemort was gone...yanked out of his head like a badly performed tooth extraction. Instead of some calming muzak and anesthetics, he was treated to the death screams of his parents. Plus, he was fairly certain that he had a hangover.

Still, the analogy seemed to fit, like whenever Harry had actually lost a tooth, he would run his tongue over the voided depression and search for the missing object. Mentally, he did the same thing with his bandaged forehead and swore off drinking for the foreseeable future.

"Trust me, Harry," his godfather said looking a bit ashen even though six hours had passed. "Growing up as a Black, I saw some truly revolting rituals happen in that house. With Merlin as my witness, they all paled on comparison with what just happened in there. Your scar split wide open and this dark ichor started spraying everywhere. If I'd known that was going to happen, we could have done it in the hallway by my mother's painting. When some of that slime got on me, I could really feel the malevolence."

"So, it's gone?" Harry asked, just wanting to be sure. He barely remembered any of it and what little he did was the stuff of nightmares.

"It most certainly is! At some point, Lily's blood magic kicked in and started attacking the dementor. Everyone says that nothing can destroy one of them, but your mum came pretty damn close to it last night. Albus and I huddled inside of a protective circle while the backlash took most of the house with it. Dumbledore says no magic for you for a week. You need to heal."

The boy looked around the dimly lit room. Things were rather blurry and he'd assumed they were in still in Grimauld place.

"Where are we?"

"Hestia Jones' house in Hogsmeade. She's one of the Order members. Don't know if you've ever met her before, but she's an apprentice healer at St. Mungo's and not too bad on the eyes either, if I do say so myself."

Despite the irritable pain, Harry laughed hard until it gave way to a hacking cough.

Finally he croaked, "Hogsmeade?"

"Naturally, who would look for us right next to the castle?"

Harry coughed again and it was getting painful.

"Easy there, Harry" Sirius said holding a cup of water to his lips and forcing some liquid down his raw throat. "We're going to lay low here for a while so you can recuperate. Dumbledore is borrowing Tonks and she is pretending to be you. The two of them will be seen in magical areas of Switzerland and Germany. That should keep things quiet here in England long enough for you to get on your feet."

"Guess I should feel bad about your house," Harry offered half-heartedly. Sure the place was a hellhole, but it was something that belonged to the Black family and there might have been something in there that he cared about.

"Well if you were, that'd make one person in the world," Sirius answered. "Actually, probably the only thing I do regret is agreeing to Kreacher's terms. He struck a bargain and took me and Albus to the cave where my brother died in exchange for me killing him there. Can't say I liked the miserable beast, but he was just as loyal to Reggie as that elf Dobby is to you. Dumbledore had to stun both him and the female elf to stop them from trying to attack the dementor."

After taking a moment to reflect on what his godfather just said, Harry asked, "What happened at the cave?"

"Not too much. We layered a few traps of our own on top of Riddle's handiwork. As soon as he realizes what we're doing, he'll send someone there to check on it. Maybe he'll even do it himself. Let's just say that we left a few nasty surprises for the next person who visits."

"Do you think I'll be more powerful now that his soul fragment is gone?"

"Dumbledore is probably a better person to ask. As far as we can tell, you're the only person this has ever happened to. Albus thinks that Riddle's soul has been an anchor on you this whole time and you'll be much stronger without it. Still, it could just as easily go the other way and you could find yourself struggling."

With an unintended yawn Harry said, "I could do a quick spell, just something from first year, and find out."

"Don't give me that look, Harry. No magic for one week and I'm keeping both your wands on me until then. Once all of us agree that you're ready, we'll start slowly and see what happens. Hestia's shift at St. Mungo's ends in one hour, so she'll check on you and then while you go back to sleep, I'll check on her."

"You're awful, Sirius," Harry replied and laughed until the coughs came again.

"Fate cursed me with being a rogue," the man answered and tilted his head in a pose. "I must not tempt fate."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hello everyone. It's been a couple of years since I posted anything and I've been working on my original novels, still I missed the fun and the feedback that comes from fanfic. I'm sure some of you are asking why I'm not just doing the sequel to The Lie I've Lived or finishing The Inner Eye of Harry Potter? I intend to do both, but I wanted to do something different and I've never done a crossover before. I've got the first four chapters completed and plan to update weekly.

Visit my profile for information regarding my original works.