Chapter 53: The Life Debt

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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12 March 1992, Hogwarts

The following day, Harry woke up early and left a note for Blaise to tell him that he was going to the Great Hall for breakfast. After practising his daily Occlumency practice in the Room of Requirements, he made his way to the Great Hall to grab a bite to eat, he was immediately accosted in a corridor by Neville Longbottom of all people.

Harry suppressed sighing in exasperation at the sight of the boy who lived. The Longbottom scion called out to him, "Hey, Potter, we need to talk."

The Potter scion groaned in exasperation. Why wouldn't Longbottom just leave him be for once? The boy just kept going after him again and again. He had saved his life in that damn forest because of a detention that the Gryffindor caused, and the idiot just wouldn't let him be.

Harry simply took a deep calming breath and answered back, "What is it, Longbottom?"

"You saved my life in the forest," he stated.

Harry shrugged, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You can never know what could have been without it actually occurring. Magic is very unpredictable. You can never know the outcome. You're living proof of that, after all."

He was just bullshitting, to be honest. Truth be told, Harry was angry at me for getting involved with Longbottom's messes. He wasn't the boy who lived. He wasn't the Gryffindor golden boy. He was a Slytherin; he was defined by his ambition and cunning, not his nobility and bravery. Being forced to join one of Longbottom's adventures was a sobering experience. Yeah, Harry wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, and for good reason.

"Just stop it, Potter. I know you like to save vague things to distract people," Longbottom exclaimed, "just for once in your life can you be serious in a conversation with me? I'm not really asking for much."

Harry pretended to look away and then looked back, "Hm, did you say something? Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention."

The young Gryffindor palmed his face and released an audible scream of frustration. Serves him right for almost getting them killed for no reason. Honestly, Harry knew that he was a bit too mature to mess with Longbottom like this, but damn, wasn't it satisfying.

The pudgy boy just glared at him once more, "Potter be serious for once."

"Be serious about what exactly?" Harry retorted, "Do you want me to talk about how for some forsaken reason we were sent to the FORBIDDEN forest for a detention? Just to put that in perspective, people get detentions when they're caught alone in the forest, and they just made us do the same for detention of all things. But that's not the worst of it, we were sent to look for something that killed a unicorn. You have no idea how abominable that act really is, and yet someone thought it was a good idea to go after something willing to do it, something with nothing to lose. But no, that's not enough, you had to scream like a madman the moment we saw the creature, almost getting us killed. Believe me when I say that you don't want to be serious right now."

"I know that you're angry, Potter, but we have something to settle here," Longbottom protested.

"No, we don't. Just stay away from me. I don't want anything to do with you," the Potter scion stated.

Yeah, it was a scummy thing to say, but Harry had enough. He didn't want to get entangled with Longbottom's shit all the time. He was now on Dumbledore and Voldemort's radar and that was terrifying. He was a curiosity before, but now, he was under the spotlight. Being vastly outclassed in the forest was a wake-up call. He wasn't close to being ready to be involved in this mess. He needed to focus on battle magic. It was out of self-preservation. An academic he might be, Harry still treasured his life.

"Where the hell do you come from, judging me? I am the boy who lived…" the Gryffindor started.

Only for Harry to finish for him, "and that means absolutely nothing and it's sad that you think it does. You survived the killing curse, that was true, but don't think for one second that it was your doing. A baby, no matter how powerful, doesn't have enough magic to block a stinging hex, let alone a killing curse. What happened on Samhain was your parents' doing, no matter what the general public wants to believe. Even if you were Merlin reborn, you wouldn't have had the power to block any spell. I have no idea how they did it, and they most likely sacrificed themselves to power whatever protection against the killing curse you had, but you weren't involved at all."

The boy completely froze while Harry finished his rant. He just stayed silent for what felt like a minute, "so, I didn't stop the killing curse?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Of course, you didn't. You were still wearing diapers back then. Your parents protected you and killed off the dark lord. I don't know why it was published that you were the one who stopped him. Maybe it was to inspire hope in the nation and make you a figurehead after the war. After all, a heroic child is better than two martyrs to the public. It intimidated Death Eaters into submission. They lost all hope when their lord was defeated by a child of all things. Yet, anyone with a good understanding of Alchemy, Healing, and magical theory would have realized the hoax."

Yeah, he was laying it a bit thick here. Harry didn't know why the entirety of magical Britain took the words of the Daily Prophet as gospel, and they were on average not really educated in Alchemy and Healing. Barely a couple of students per year even took these classes. Harry had read enough to have some basic knowledge. At least to know that it was impossible for a child under the age of seven to have enough magic to project any magic and that the law of Equivalent Exchange had to be applied in the Samhain incident. Yeah, it really sounded like an alchemy-based ritual. Two lives were sacrificed for protection against their killer.

Harry didn't know the specifics, but it did seem possible somewhat, at least as a basis for the ritual. There had to be a lot of arithmancy involved and a lot of magical knowledge that Harry simply hadn't covered yet.

As for magical theory, it wasn't even a class in Hogwarts anymore. Professors only covered the theoretical aspect of their own classes, not magic as a whole, outside of the bare basics, of course. And since it wasn't, only people studying for their masteries really focused on it, no matter how critical it may be. That practically guaranteed that the only people that had a theory on how Longbottom achieved this were academics, and they didn't really have the political ambition or even influence to contradict the ministry. Even then, the attraction of having a magical messiah probably blinded a few of them too.

Maybe Harry was being a little too harsh, and a lot of people knew the truth and either didn't care or just thought it would be better to not rock the boat. Maybe they were silenced by the ministry of Dumbledore. This was pure speculation on Harry's part. But the average wizard wasn't really an expert in all things magical. They were just citizens that want to feed their families. They went to school, got their diplomas, and worked a regular jobs, only with a little magic involved. Just like the common muggle didn't have knowledge of medicine besides a few basics, and didn't have the knowledge of physics, outside of what they covered in high school, the average wizard wasn't attracted to things like Alchemy, Healing, or Advanced Magical Theories.

Back to Longbottom, he looked shocked by his explanation. It had probably shattered his entire world. It was probably a mistake telling him all of this, but if it stopped him from harassing Harry then it was worth it. Harry simply didn't care anymore. He had almost been killed because of that damn detention.

Damn, he didn't realize how much that detention had shaken him. He had never been in a life-threatening situation before. The troll didn't really count since Harry was confident enough in his abilities to deal with the beast. The interaction with the Cerberus was strangely relaxing all things considered. But this was the first time it had sunk in that he almost died, and that it was his magical crest that had saved him. A crest that he had no control over, a crest that he simply didn't understand.

Harry repressed the urge to hyperventilate as he started to remember the utter helplessness he felt in the face of an overwhelming enemy. Even when the crest had taken over, he was still at the whims of something that was completely unknown. He had trusted his ancestors' crest, and it had paid off, yet the fear was real. It was done out of affection but desperation. A single act of desperation had saved his life. Was this what trauma felt like? From what he could remember, his previous life was empty but not traumatic. He was a broken being with no ambitions nor goals, but he had never been close to personally dying until he actually died that is. Just seeing Longbottom made him react erratically. It had brought back everything he was doing his best to repress ever since he woke up.

Harry slowly took another calming breath. He was using his Occlumency exercises to calm himself. Longbottom must have noticed something was wrong because he gave Harry a worrying look, "Are you alright, Potter."

Ashamed that he had almost freaked out in front of Longbottom of all people, Harry gave him a strained smile and answered, "Of course I am. Now with that done, I'm kinda hungry and I don't want to miss breakfast."

"For Merlin's sake, Potter, we need to talk about my Life Debt to you."

Harry froze before bursting into laughter, "You think there's a life debt between us?"

The Potter scion did his best to use his Arcane Hearing to look for any connection between him and Longbottom. There was none, not that it was possible. But you never know with Longbottom. In the stories, the boy who lived had done some pretty impossible crap, and well, Harry wanted to cover all his bases.

The Longbottom heir grimaced, "Of course, you saved my life."

Harry snorted, "Do you even know anything about life debts? I know it's sort of obscure, but you had to have looked it up before coming to see me. Please tell me that you didn't believe the crap from fiction stories about a complex magical event."

"What is so obscure about them? You save someone, they owe you a life debt. That's it."

"Look, Longbottom, this isn't an adventure story. First of all, children can't have life debts. I mean that magically. Before the age of thirteen, your magic will be too unstable for it to bind you in any way. Magical contracts, vows, and debts just wouldn't work. And even if we were both adults, what happened in the forest wouldn't have been enough. A life debt is far more severe than you understand. It is binding. First of all, both people need to consider themselves to be enemies, and there has to be a conscious decision to either risk your own life or spare someone who had wronged you massively. It's very wild, very chaotic, very severe, and you would know it deep inside your soul, inside your magic. It can be unpredictable, but if it worked the way it did, then healers would have conquered magical Britain a long time ago. And well, Aurors would have been indebted to each other all the time."

Yeah, Harry had read up on magical contracts. It was out of boredom, mostly, but he was curious about how the Goblet of Fire worked. In the end, the book was about most forms of legal magical bindings, and it was surprisingly interesting. There was nothing on how the Goblet of Fire worked, nor on its origins, which was a shame. It was only stated that the names that came out were bound to compete.

Longbottom's eyes widened, "So, I'm not indebted to you."

"No, so can we ignore this uncomfortable conversation and pretend it never happened," Harry retorted.

Before he could leave, Longbottom grabbed his hand, "Look Potter, even if I don't you a life debt, you still saved my life. Thank you."

Harry nodded but he was too distracted by what he had felt when Longbottom touched him. It had never happened before, but he could somehow hear Longbottom's magic when they touched. His Arcane magic had activated by reflex, and Harry could detect the main emotions of the boy who lived. At his core was something that scared Harry. There were many layers to him of course, like any person, but the constant rage was always there brewing, heating up, ready to explode at a moment's notice. Who knew that the boy who lived was a ball of negativity and anger, wrapped up with tons of insecurities? It did explain how he acted in public. But what could possibly have made him so angry?

Yeah, Harry was right in his decision to stay the fuck away from that boy. He was a disaster waiting to happen.

Harry nodded and decided to go to the great hall. This little encounter had ruined his appetite. He did his best to push back any thoughts of his detention and Longbottom. He was excited to come back to class, especially with the duelling club session in the evening.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.