A Hero's Past Part I

Welcome to the rewrite of Phoenix From the Ashes! I just wanted to start out by saying that I've taken a lot of the constructive criticism I received and will try to implement them in this refresh. This is the only time I will rewrite this story. I'm not in the habit of starting over more than once. Whatever happens will happen. My only goal is to write a story that I enjoy writing, that will hopefully be enjoyed by others.

Feel free to comment. There will be some tropes and cliches. Get over it. Not every fanfic is a peerless work of original ideas. This one most certainly won't be one, though I will attempt to not make it stale and forgettable. That being said, know that the story is still being written in my head. I've worked out a general idea of the plot, but it may change if I find a direction I like better.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter other than my OCs. A big thanks to Jo Rowling for giving me a sandbox to play in. No I will not bother with repeating this in future chapters.

Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, laid dying in a pool of his blood. Just a few feet away from him, laid the mangled corpse of his fated arch-nemesis, the Dark Lord Voldemort. After years of war, he found himself tired of it all. Everyone he had ever cared about had died, and he was honestly looking forward to seeing them in the afterlife.

His life's story was filled with hardship and suffering. He was born the son of James and Lily Potter on July 31st, 1980 in St. Mungo's Hospital. His birth came at a time of great strife and turmoil.

The Blood War of the 1970's had killed many people in the British magical community. An up and coming Dark Lord and his followers had made it their mission to eradicate those who they deemed to be of "impure blood".

Harry's birth fell under the bounds of a prophecy that determined him to be a candidate to end the Dark Lord's crusade once and for all. The seer who delivered it, an alcoholic named Sybil Trelawney, had been interviewing for the position of Divination Professor at Hogwarts School of the Witchcraft and Wizardry. The same school his parents had attended for 7 years.

She had gone into a trance and shared the prophecy with Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts. He had latched onto the words and attempted his utmost to determine who the "child of prophecy" was. Incidentally, the Dark Lord Voldemort ultimately did that for him.

A spy had been listening in on the interview and managed to hear the first half of the prophecy. The spy had subsequently informed Voldemort, and the hunt had begun.

His parents, worried for his safety, had gone into hiding. They had used a Fidelius Charm, a charm that utilized a Secret Keeper to keep the knowledge of their location safe from their enemies. Sadly, they had trusted the wrong person. Peter Pettigrew, one of his father's best friends, betrayed them and gave up the secret to Voldemort.

The hunt for the child of prophecy had ended when Voldemort attacked Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow on Halloween 1981. His mother and father sacrificed themselves to protect him, and for some reason unknown to everyone, he managed to survive the Killing Curse and "destroy" Voldemort. This feat earned him the title of "The Boy-Who-Lived".

'Wasn't that just a load of grade-A bullshit.' Harry thought as he snorted in disdain.

He winced at the amount of pain the action brought. A couple of ribs had punctured his lung, which was probably why it was getting so hard to breath. Damn what he wouldn't give for a quicker death at this point.

That was the official story that everyone had been disseminated to the public. The one all of his peers had been brought up reading stories about. However, they never realized the truly insidious manipulations of the man they all looked up to. Albus Dumbledore had been so desperate to end the war that he had concocted a false prophecy.

Harry had met with Fate herself a while back and had been blown away by the revelations she had shared. The magic of prophecy was something that was treated as sacrosanct by all magicals and for good reason. Every word uttered by a seer was imbued with the magic and power of Fate herself.

When Dumbledore created a false prophecy and forced a seer to utter it, he committed a grave sin. In his hubris, he had meddled in magic he couldn't possibly understand, and the Potters had paid the price for his actions. To even out the scales, Fate had personally intervened and imbued her power into the false prophecy changing it into a true prophecy.

With the way it had been phrased, Harry was gifted with greater potential magical strength and talent than the Dark Lord Voldemort. This action led to a series of events that had doomed not only his life but the entire world and everyone in it.

After the death of his parents, Dumbledore had placed him with his closest family, the Dursleys. Petunia Dursley was his mother's sister, a vicious banshee with a vindictive streak a mile wide. He justified the placement by mentioning that his mother's loving sacrifice had imbued a powerful protection on him.

The love between Harry and his new family would strengthen the blood wards he had erected around the Dursley's house, thereby ensuring his safety. Despite Dumbledore's frequent claims of him being raised in a loving environment, Harry had been brought up in a physically and emotionally abusive household.

'Love is the greatest magic of all, my ass. Dumblefuck did everything he could to keep me weak and submissive. Those assholes had been in on it the entire time. I wish I could have killed them myself.'

This was something that Harry had come to realize as he grew older. Due to Fate's intervention, Dumbledore had wanted to keep him as weak as possible, to be the perfect sacrifice to end Voldemort's life.

His torturous upbringing had turned him into an introverted, socially inept boy who did everything he could to gain the affection of others. He became a weak and submissive puppet to those who knew how to pull his strings. It was something the old goat capitalized on when Harry was reintroduced to the world of magic at the age of 11.

'Who would have thought that abusing a child and preventing him from forming any meaningful connections with his peers would monumentally fuck up his development? Surely such a child would become a perfectly well-adjusted adult who could properly contribute to society and not a psychopathic murderer.'

He briefly wondered when exactly he had become such a jaded cynic. After more than a decade of war, he felt that life wasn't worth living anymore. He had walked over a mountain of corpses to get to this point. The insanity and terrifying strength of his opponent had spurred him to delve into the Darkest of magics in an attempt to fight back.

Looking back on his Hogwarts years, the most frequent question he found himself asking was 'how the hell did I survive?'.

Dumbledore's behind the scenes machinations was often the answer to that question. The man had made his school life a literal living hell with the various types of torture he faced on an annual basis. These frustrating and demoralizing experiences were meant to persuade him to embrace death at Voldemort's hand to save his loved ones in an act of martyrdom.

A tired smirk came onto Harry's face.

'Most of the bastards didn't deserve it anyway, but here I am. Talked into dying at the hand of old Tommy boy to protect the remaining people on Earth.'

The irony of his current situation was not lost on him.

His first year had been the best, even though he had faced off against his parent's murderer and burned a man to death with his bare hands at the end of the year. The wonders of magic and all the possibilities had enchanted him. He dreamed of all the things he could do that would improve his lot in life and allow him to find the happiness he desperately sought.

The fact that he had killed a man at 11 was never addressed. No therapy or counseling for him, no sir! He was the Boy-Who-Lived after all. A legendary hero who fought dragons and saved princesses. What was a little homicide in comparison?

His second year had been much worse, as his ability to speak to snakes was taken as confirmation of him being a rising Dark Lord. To clear his name, he had fought a basilisk, one of the deadliest magical creatures in existence, to rescue his best friend's sister. He had been bitten and laid dying, much like he was now, only to be saved by the headmaster's phoenix, Fawkes.

'I killed a fucking basilisk with a sword to clear my name, and it still wasn't enough for those ingrates. I should have just died. At least then, none of the shit that happened afterward would have been my problem.'

His third year had been an interesting one. Sirius Black, an insane mass murderer who sought his death, turned out to be his godfather and innocent of his crimes. The one person who could have taken him in and given him a decent childhood had been illegally sent to prison for 12 goddamn years.

After attempting and failing to catch the real betrayer, Peter Pettigrew, Harry thought he could free Sirius through his witness testimony. He had dreamed of leaving the Dursleys once and for all, only to have reality kick him in the teeth due to Dumbledore and the Minister's actions.

Snape, the petulant, greasy dungeon bat had poisoned the well and convinced the Minister that Sirius was guilty despite knowing that Pettigrew was alive. Dumbledore had backed up his lackey, and all his hopes were dashed to the ground.

That was not at all mentioning the soul-sucking demons that were sent to "protect" him, only to try and kill him every chance they got. Despite all of it, he found someone who truly cared about him, and that had given him hope for a better future.

Then came the worst year he had ever experienced. The year of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The ancient and deadly tournament had been revived at Dumbledore's behest to "improve international relations". In actuality, it was another one of Dumbledore's schemes to allow the resurrection of Voldemort to continue the fulfillment of the prophecy.

He had been entered into the tournament against his will and struggled in the aftermath. His friends and his entire House had all but abandoned him. The teachers had done nothing to prevent him from being harassed and hurt.

Nearly everyone in the school save for a couple of people had turned against him. The ostracization had hurt him deeply. All the people he had thought would be on his side were nowhere to be found. Coincidentally, this led to one of the best things that ever happened to him. Seeking a private haven away from the rest of the school, he had gone back into Salazar Slytherin's fabled Chamber of Secrets.

Tucked away atop the basilisk's nest was a study with a joined bedroom. In the study, overlooking the desk was a portrait of a handsome sleeping man with a snake lazily draped around his neck. He had been intimidated by the portrait and unsure of how to approach it.

After half an hour of hemming and hawing, he finally worked up the nerve to wake the man up.

Harry felt tears pool in his eyes.

'Salazar. I'm so sorry I couldn't keep my promise.'

He closed his eyes as he reminisced on their first conversation. It felt like ancient history at this point.

"§Well, you seem much saner than the last boy. What's your name, child?§"

Harry gulped as the man's piercing green eyes bore into his.

"§My name is Harry, sir. Harry Potter. Are you Salazar Slytherin?§"

He had not expected the sarcastic response that followed.

"§No, I'm Godric Gryffindor. My portrait just happens to be placed in the secretive, private chamber of Salazar Slytherin. What an idiotic question. How can you be my descendant?§"

That had brought Harry out his daze quickly. He would never tolerate being called the descendant of a Dark Wizard the likes of Salazar Slytherin. Not after how much trouble that association earned him in his second year.

"§I'm not your descendant. Your descendant is Tom Riddle, though he goes by the name Lord Voldemort nowadays.��"

Salazar gained a pensive look on his face upon hearing Harry's answer.

"§Tom Riddle. It has been a long time since I last heard that name. I see his silly little anagram has gained the notoriety he so desperately craved all those years ago. However, I am quite certain you are my descendant, Harry Potter. Otherwise, you would not have been able to enter my chamber.§"

"§How exactly does being able to enter your chamber make me your descendant?§"

"§There are several ways to get into the chamber, but all of them require a Parseltongue password. Parseltongue is a magical language that is unique to the Slytherin family. Anyone who isn't a descendant will never be able to speak it.§"

Harry shook his head while responding.

"§I was attacked by Tom Riddle as a baby and somehow managed to survive the Killing Curse. Headmaster Dumbledore says that connected us in a way that allowed me to inherit Voldemort's ability to speak Parseltongue.§"

Salazar looked incensed by Harry's words.

"§Then your Headmaster Dumbledore is a fool who doesn't know what he's talking about. Take it from the man who made it possible for his family to speak the noble language of the serpents. You are my descendant, and after hearing your story, I believe I know exactly how you survived the Killing Curse.§"

Salazar started to explain about the Slytherin family history and shed some light on Harry's unique situation. It turned out that he was a child from the main line of the Slytherin family through his mother. The reason he had survived the Killing Curse that fateful night was because of the Slytherin family magic's intervention.

One of Salazar's daughters married into the Gaunt family. She was a selfish and spoiled girl who coveted the family fortune, so Salazar took precautions to protect his main line from her scheming.

He conducted a ritual that protected every male member of the main line from any person in the branch line. Any member of the branch line who attempted to harm a male of the main line would suffer the backlash of the family magic.

Voldemort, being a descendant from the branch line from the Gaunt family, fell prey to the family magic when he tried harming Harry, the true Heir Slytherin. Ironically, the sheep had been right all along when they accused him of being the Heir during his second year.

From then on, Salazar became Harry's best friend and mentor. The first thing they had done was to start working on fixing Harry's fundamentals. All the problems that Harry had faced every academic year had taken a toll on his education.

Salazar had taken an old school approach to Harry's education. It involved lecturing on magical theory and then having his enchanted security golem beat the lessons into him until he understood them. Harry had taken to the lessons like a fish to water.

Within a month, he had conditioned himself both physically and magically to his limit. That was when Salazar introduced the most critical subject he would learn. Rituals.

Under Salazar's supervision, Harry underwent several rituals to improve his body and magic. He secured ingredients by Apparating from the Chamber to Diagon Alley. The Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards that covered Hogwarts did not affect the Chamber, which was treated as a separate entity from the castle through Salazar's unique warding scheme.

Surviving each life-threatening task by the skin of his teeth, he had become thoroughly disillusioned by the British magical world. One day, they loved him, the next day, he was a Dark Lord in training. Their bipolar attitude towards him had alienated most of them from him permanently.

After venting his frustrations to Salazar one day, he had received a piece of wisdom he treasured for the rest of his life. Friends and allies are advantageous to have, but the only thing a wizard can rely on is himself and his magic.

Voldemort was an evil bastard, but nobody could deny the man's intelligence and power. Even without his Death Eaters, he was a force to reckon with. He stood out as a magical titan among wizards, at a level where few could ever hope to match him.

Harry had felt hopeless about his chances of victory until Salazar had reminded him, even the Dark Lord Voldemort started as Hogwarts student Tom Riddle. With enough time and practice, Harry could work his way up to become his equal, a position that was occupied solely by Albus Dumbledore. With that helpful pep talk, Harry had gone into the final task fired up to prove himself.

Near the end of the final task, he was portkeyed to a graveyard and ambushed. Peter Pettigrew had forced him to give his blood for a ritual to resurrect Voldemort. He came back holding the corpse of his fellow Hogwarts competitor, Cedric Diggory, crying about the return of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

'Looking back, that probably wasn't the best way to signify the return of the British Magical society's boogeyman.'

Hindsight was 20/20 in this case. His dramatic reveal of Voldemort's return had caused then Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge to stick his head in the sand, and fervently deny any claims that things were not alright.

Over the summer, a pair of Dementors were sent after him. After defending himself and his idiot cousin from having their souls sucked out, he was summoned and tried in front of a kangaroo court at the Ministry.

As usual, he had been overwhelmed and under-prepared. Inevitably, Dumbledore had swooped in at the last moment to save the day. The worrying part was that the man refused to even look at him, citing security concerns.

Fudge had not been happy that Harry had escaped from being sentenced. The man invested a lot of time and money into a smear campaign that tarred and feathered both Harry and Dumbledore as fear mongers.

In essence, by the time Harry returned to Hogwarts for his fifth year, he was being treated by almost everyone as "The Boy Who Cried Voldemort". Yet again, he was ostracized by the vast majority of Hogwarts, which was content to listen to the Ministry narrative.

The man had gone so far as to appoint Dolores Umbridge, his fixer, to the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. She had gone out of her way to make Harry's life a living hell through both physical and mental torture.

Everything from forcing him to write with a blood quill during their many detentions, to banning him from Quidditch for life. Whatever she could do to hamper his influence and power base was done.

The woman also refused to allow students to learn the spells to pass the class. Citing bogus Ministry guidelines, they were only allowed to learn the theory behind the spells and not use them. It was all but certain that the fifth years would fail their DADA O.W.L. exams.

That year pushed him to his limits. Put under immense strain, his willpower was tested and forged to withstand absolute agony. The crucible had been fruitful, as one of the main reasons for his survival against the demons was his ability to ignore and override pain. In a way, Dolores Umbridge had taught him a crucial skill necessary for the war against Voldemort.

The entire student population, save for the Slytherins, had shared a mutual dislike for the woman. This led to the formation of the Defense Association, colloquially known as Dumbledore's Army. A group of students led by Harry who practiced DADA spells and important combat spells to learn to defend themselves for the upcoming war.

It was a huge success, and a few of the people Harry taught ended up joining his resistance group to fight back against the Death Eaters in the future. Everything was going well, and even with the torture Umbridge was putting him through, he felt satisfaction. That all came crashing down at the end of the year.

He received a vision from Voldemort after a disastrous Occlumency lesson with Severus Snape. His godfather had been captured and was being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. Gathering his closest friends, they rode Thestrals to London and broke into the Department of Mysteries.

After being ambushed and fighting back, they were able to stall long enough for the Order to arrive. They were confident of surviving the attack when tragedy struck. His godfather had come rushing to his rescue and had taken a spell that threw him into the Veil of Death.

In a fit of anger, Harry had chased his godfather's murderer, Bellatrix Lestrange, to the Ministry lobby. There, he met Lord Voldemort himself. Just as he was about to be killed, Dumbledore showed up to protect him. Their subsequent duel showed a mastery of magic that Harry had never seen before.

As he was being pushed back, Voldemort decided to attack Harry. The attack was purely mental, as Voldemort used the soul fragment contained within Harry as a bridge to assault his mind. He endeavored to destroy Harry's soul in an attempt to possess his body and kill Dumbledore, knowing he would never retaliate against a student.

Being the stubborn young boy he was, Harry had fought him at every step. With great effort, he was able to expel Voldemort from his head. However, this action had consequences that would change Harry's life as he knew it.

After successfully fighting Voldemort off, memories that Harry didn't recall poured into his mind. He realized after a couple of minutes of disorienting flashes that they were Voldemort's memories. The revelations didn't stop there.

Unknowingly, by repelling Voldemort's attempted possession, he had absorbed the soul fragment within him. This had resulted in him gaining all of Voldemort's knowledge up until the day he attempted to murder him.

Upon freeing himself of the soul fragment, Harry had discovered something that had chilled his heart. He had been Obliviated repeatedly from a young age. The man behind the spelling? Albus Dumbledore. Yet he alone was not responsible for all of them. Ron, Hermione, Molly, and Snape all had a hand in erasing his memories.

Every single time his magic had fought back against the Dursley's abuse, Dumbledore had shown up with Pomphrey, healed everyone, erased their memories, and left. What little bouts of accidental magic he could remember doing, were the few events that Dumbledore allowed him to remember, to prepare him for his reentry into the world of magic.

He had caught Molly informing Ginny of the plan to potion him into marrying her so she would become the Lady Potter. She had caught him in a Body-Bind and Obliviated him to keep him ignorant of his station as the Heir Potter.

Ron had made several slip-ups being the jealous moron he was and had to Obliviate Harry numerous times whenever information about his family came up.

When he had found out about potions that could cure his scrawny frame and gone to Pomphrey about them, she had directed him to Snape. Snape had promptly wiped his mind of all the knowledge and then put strong compulsions on him to not proactively approach anyone for medical help.

Hermione had been the one that had hurt the most. She had been tasked by Dumbledore to make sure that Harry passed his subjects with average grades and ensure that he does not excel in any subject save for DADA. She was the counterbalance to Ron, who had no academic drive whatsoever.

Harry had shown a gift for Transfiguration, Charms, Runes, and Potions; all the fields his parents were known to be extremely talented in. He was so gifted in the subjects that he could have been called a prodigy. This had not sat well with Hermione, who felt she had studied harder than him to succeed.

She had gladly wiped his memories of academic success with a smile on her face, probably laughing at his stupidity for trusting her. It explained why the subjects had come so naturally to him when he was studying with Salazar. They had been through thick and thin together, so her betrayal had forever broken his trusting nature.

Dumbledore had seen and wiped everything that Harry had learned in the Chamber from Salazar. He used compulsions to make sure he wouldn't seek Salazar's tutelage when that was what he needed to prepare for the war.

All the knowledge of spells he had learned and rituals that he had undergone came flooding back to him. He remembered the full fight between him and Voldemort in the graveyard. Dumbledore had selectively erased the parts of the battle that showed Harry pushing Voldemort back with particularly lethal Dark curses. Although it was probably due to him being freshly revived that Harry had been able to drive him to a stalemate.

With all that knowledge forcefully being recalled all at once, Harry had fainted and woken up in the Hogwarts infirmary. He had been summoned to Dumbledore's office where he was told the prophecy in its entirety.

In summary, it was either Harry or Voldemort who had to die and they would inevitably be pushed into a confrontation. Dumbledore also revealed that he knew the abuse Harry had gone through as he mentioned dooming Harry to "ten dark years" at the Dursleys.

Harry had made his displeasure known by angrily pulsing his magic, destroying most of the delicate silver gizmos on Dumbledore's desk. After throwing his tantrum, he was packed back onto the Hogwarts Express being sent back to his prison cell in Durzkaban.

He was depressed the entire summer as he was worked to the bone and fed table scraps. Sirius' death had weighed heavily on him and had him crying himself to a fitful sleep every night. Vernon and Petunia had shown no appreciation for him saving Dudley, going so far as to blame him for everything going wrong in their lives.

It was decided that he had to "earn his keep", so Vernon had marketed him as a delinquent who needed to be disciplined through hard work to the entire neighborhood. His clients had paid him pitiful amounts of money for doing their laborious yard work, and all his hard-earned cash was taken by Vernon after he returned home.

With the Ministry finally getting their heads out of their asses, Fudge had been unceremoniously ousted from his position as Minister and Madam Amelia Bones had been a good prospect to take over. She had been attacked and killed over the summer, supposedly by Voldemort himself. The Ministry started panicking and elected the closest equivalent to Bones, Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour.

The man turned out to be a shrewd politician, using Percy Weasley to connect with the Weasley family and access Harry through them. Harry had refused to play the man's game and had gotten a harsh reminder that despite the current situation, the Ministry held a lot of power and they could make his life difficult.

Dumbledore had "rescued" him by taking him to The Burrow after his birthday. It was a good thing that he had stocked up on antidotes before leaving the previous year. While there, he discovered that not only had they upped his doses of Amortentia, but Ginny had been instructed to make more passes at him.

When he had gone school supply shopping with the traitors, he had spotted Draco Malfoy slipping into Borgin and Burkes. Harry had postulated that he had become a marked Death Eater over the summer and made his suspicions known.

He had been summarily dismissed by everyone, saying that Malfoy couldn't possibly be up to anything harmful. Harry was doubtful of their claims and the revelations of their betrayal made him loath to argue anymore.

During the first week back, he had been certain that Malfoy was up to something, so he kept a close eye on the Marauder's Map. He was tailing Malfoy one day when he had lost him and discovered a passageway on the map he had never seen before.

Following the map, he found himself back in the Chamber, coming out of one of the numerous pipes that encircled the main structure. He rushed to the study and found Salazar resting in his portrait. He had called out to him, waking him up.

To say that Salazar was unhappy would have been an understatement. He was extremely resentful about Harry not visiting him for an entire year. Harry had explained all that had happened, and Salazar had been outraged at the way his descendant had been treated.

Together, they had come up with an accelerated study plan that would go into NEWT level topics. They had chosen to use Harry's "obsession" with Draco Malfoy's secret activities as a cover for him not being there.

It had been a good plan, as neither Ron nor Hermione were aware of what he was doing when he was "tailing Malfoy". Salazar had become a harsher instructor, demanding the best out of him as he drilled the fundamentals of advanced magic into his brain.

They didn't stick to only magic, having the occasional lessons in economics, politics, and warfare. Harry had extensively studied the last war to gain any information that could be used to his advantage in the upcoming one.

Slytherin was a shrewd debater who could skillfully persuade his opponents to come around to his point of view. It was a trait that Voldemort had in spades as he built up his support base among the Purebloods.

He had given them a cause to unite against Muggleborns and Halfbloods. Combined with his magical power and infamous heritage, it wasn't hard to see why many Pureblood families were willing to pledge themselves to him despite their talk of honor and dignity.

Dumbledore seemed unwilling to confront the enemy, opting for passivity and reactionary tactics, despite that giving the enemy a significant advantage. Hence, Harry had to find and unite the fighters that would be able to bring the war to the Death Eaters.

Even though he was a mere Hogwarts student, he was an influential figure that could affect the outcome of the war. With that damned prophecy in play, he would have no choice but to fight even if he didn't want to.

One day, he was studying in the Chamber when Salazar had come rushing back into his portrait.

"§Harry, your friends were just summoned to the Headmaster's office. There's a passageway behind the main tower, second one from the right that leads to a room where you can spy on the meeting. Tap your wand once on the wall. It's enchanted to be a one-way mirror and silenced, so they can't see or hear you.§"

Harry had listened to him and followed the path to a small alcove left of the Headmaster's desk. He tapped his wand as instructed, and the wall in front of him turned crystal clear, allowing him to see inside.

He saw Dumbledore call in Ron and Hermione, and they came in and delivered a status report. It mainly detailed his suspicions about Malfoy and how he was using his free time to tail him. Dumbledore's response had surprised him with even more details that he hadn't thought to check.

"Excellent work you two. However, we must be diligent and not lower our guards. There is too much riding on the plan for us to fail. Ronald, how has Harry's potion regimen been coming along?"

Ron had responded with a sneer that would have made Snape proud. "It's going great, Professor. He has no idea we've been slipping him the potions since the tournament and we've been careful with the dosages. He won't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Along with the Loyalty Potions, Wit Dulling, and Amortentia, Mum's been thinking of adding an Impotence Draught. With the current dosages, the Amortentia won't take hold until the beginning of his seventh year.

Even if by some miracle he gets with a girl, he won't be able to get it up. She says we could counter this with a Lust Potion keyed only towards Ginny. He would only be able to get it up with her, making him think she's the only one for him."

He had frozen as he listened to the intricate details of their little conspiracy against him. They had been potioning him for nearly two years while he had eaten in Hogwarts and the Burrow. He felt sick as he heard Dumbledore's response.

"Wonderful. Tell Molly she has my permission to start the dosage of Impotence Draught as soon as possible. The boy destroyed most of the blood monitors I had last year, save two before he left. Hence, I haven't been able to ascertain the status of the spells on his person or his possessions. I need you to especially keep track of his cloak. I could never cast any of the necessary spells on it due to its unique properties.

I will call him into my office periodically to show him some critical information he will need for the Hunt. When he's here, I can check and refresh the charms I've placed on him and his belongings as necessary. Thank you both for your efforts. Remember the end goal."

Ron had a malicious smile on his face when he asked "You promise that we'll be getting half of the Potter family fortune? As far as I know, only Lord Potter would be able to access the main family vault. We haven't come this far only to be stiffed at the last second by the goblins."

'Of course, Ron is in it for money. Greedy bastard.' Harry wasn't surprised at Ron's motivations.

Up until that point, he hadn't even known that there was a "Potter family fortune". He had been to Gringotts only a single time when he first came to get school supplies for Hogwarts. He had entrusted his vault key to Mrs. Weasley so she could buy his school supplies for him.

It made sense why they didn't want him going to Gringotts. If he realized the true wealth his family had left behind, he might have become aware of his station. This was something that the traitors did not want to happen at any cost.

Dumbledore had calmly replied to his concerns by reassuring him. "Do not worry Ronald. You and your family will be well provided for. I have, in my possession, the Potter Lord ring and a signed will that leaves half to the Weasleys and the other half to the Order.

I wrote it up and disguised it as standard paperwork for Harry to sign, so his signature and the magic within is authentic. The goblins will not be able to interfere with the Last Will and Testament of the Lord Potter. It would be seen as a violation of the treaty."

Not wanting to be left out, Hermione had piped up and asked about her reward.

"Professor Dumbledore, I hope you remembered that I get the entire Potter and Black libraries along with their grimoires. It was what we agreed upon when I started, and I too want some assurances."

This had thrown Harry for a loop. When did he have a library? Moreover, how was she demanding the Black library? Last he checked it belonged to the Black family, not him. His questions were answered by Dumbledore soon after.

"Of course, Ms. Granger. I have put in the necessary bequests in Harry's will, however, unless Harry takes up the Black Lordship that Sirius left him in his will, it won't hold up legally for any property of the Blacks.

As of right now, the Order has unfettered access to the library at Grimmauld Place. Surely, we can find a way for Harry to take the lordship, and then when the plan is complete, both libraries will belong to you. Keep up the great work in your academics and I guarantee that you will become Head Girl next year."

Satisfied with his response, Ron and Hermione had left the office, presumably to go find him.

Harry's head had been spinning at all the things they had hidden from him. He was entitled to the lordship of the Potter family. He had no idea what the title entailed, but it had to be significant from the way they had been talking about it. Sirius had designated him as the next Lord Black in his will, the reading of which Harry had not received an invitation.

He had stumbled back to the Chamber, desperately hoping to talk to Salazar about what he had heard. The conversation they had shared had been peppered with colorful swears as Salazar marveled at the depths of the conspiracy against his sole descendant.

Their political lessons had not yet touched upon Lordships, so he had given Harry a brief overview. It was at that point that Harry effectively stopped feeling anything for his former friends. Earlier, he would have felt anger or sadness at the lengths they went to, but now all he felt was cold indifference. Salazar had noticed and immediately complimented Harry on his breakthrough in his Occlumency practice.

Harry had been confused until Salazar had explained that he had retreated behind his barriers moments ago when he was recalling Ron and Hermione's actions over the years. Their talk took a detour as they revisited the principles of Occlumency and Legilimency.

It turned out that Harry had great potential in both, seeing as Mind Arts was a specialty of the Slytherin family. Having a soul parasite inside him was not conducive to learning the Mind Arts, but once he was free of it, he took to them like a fish to water. They dedicated some practice time in his schedule and Harry got back into his routines with a vengeance.

It turned out to be extremely helpful in the long run, as it improved Harry's ability to recall information. The downside was the foundation of Occlumency was all about sorting through one's memories. It helped with processing information and new memories as they would all be categorized and stored separately with barriers guarding them.

With Voldemort's nearly fifty-five years' worth of memories forcefully occupying space in his mind, all the memories were piled in a big heap. This made Harry's task of sorting through his memories difficult as he had to first sort out which memories were his own and partition it separately from Voldemort's.

If he wasn't careful and mixed up their memories, his sense of self would be irreparably damaged. It didn't help that he was sorting through the memories of a psychopath who inflicted an immeasurable amount of pain and death to allies and enemies alike.

It had taken him almost two months just to split the pile, but he had steadily progressed from there on, sorting out all his memories in three weeks of daily practice. Then came the tricky part. Voldemort's memories were traumatizing, to say the least, but Harry knew that being able to access his skills and knowledge could help in the war.

So, he dedicated his Occlumency practice for the rest of his sixth year going through the memories while stripping them of their emotional context. It was a technique that Salazar had taught him to prevent the inevitable trauma caused by viewing thousands of gruesome murders and crimes against humanity.

It was through this sorting that Harry had stumbled upon the information of Horcruxes. Voldemort had been obsessed with making seven of them, because of the innate magical properties and stability of the number seven in Arithmancy.

The process involved tearing out pieces of his soul and storing them inside magical objects. The concept had been stolen by Herpo the Foul from the ancient Egyptian pharaohs and their practice of creating phylacteries.

The difference is that while the pharaohs chose to put their entire soul into the object, Herpo took it one step further by designing a ritual that only cleaved part of the soul. This would help keep the physical body stable, while also grounding the user to the physical plane.

Even if their body was destroyed, a Horcrux could potentially be used to preserve their soul in the form of a wraith. It explained exactly how Voldemort had survived that night and his form when Harry had confronted him during his first year.

He had a chilling realization that he had inadvertently been made into a pseudo-Horcrux, as Voldemort's final memory indicated that he wanted to use Harry's murder to create his last Horcrux. The ritual itself demanded that the caster murder in cold blood by utilizing the Killing Curse and then use the residual soul magic of the curse to split off a piece of their soul and guide it into a vessel.

It was theoretically impossible for a human being to become a Horcrux, as another soul couldn't take up residence in a body with a complete soul. No matter how small the piece, it would fight with the host soul and either take over or be exorcised. There was no possible way for the fragment to have remained in his head for so long unless there was some other influence involved.

It had taken him the better part of two years to figure out why that had been the case. Dumbledore had tied the blood wards around 4 Privet Drive to himself and himself alone. The part of the mother's blood dwelling turned out to be complete bullshit, as he discovered that Petunia and Lily were not blood-related. The necessary power for the blood wards came from him and the rest of his magic was tied up fixing the abuse those animals inflicted upon his body.

With most of his magic preoccupied, there was only enough left to contain the soul fragment, but not actively fight it. As Harry's magic grew, Dumbledore sealed it annually to prevent it from maturing enough to expel the soul parasite.

The only reason he had been able to absorb the fragment was because of Voldemort's attempted possession. Having been inundated with his magic and buried in his mind for so long, the fragment had become quite compatible with him. It was why his soul hadn't fought back when it merged with him.

To counter their potions regimen, Salazar instructed Harry on the brewing of a Flushing Potion. It was a rarely used healing potion that stripped out all potions in a person's bloodstream. The side effect was the agonizing vomiting and the strain it put on the stomach and throat.

Harry had gone to the Room of Requirement, drank it, and spent the next 24 hours puking his guts out. Although it was painful to go through, the potion worked as intended and he had never felt more clear-headed in his life.

He had Salazar teach him spells to check for potions in his food and drinks as well as how to brew their respective antidotes. Every day, he non-verbally and wandlessly cast the spells on the meals he consumed and without fail, they came back positive.

Harry had taken to drinking the antidotes before he drank or ate anything, which allayed any doubts the traitors might have had. He decided to unleash his inner Slytherin and keep up appearances while countering their efforts to control him covertly.

In addition to all his studies, Harry made sure to Apparate to Gringotts and get updated on Sirius' will and what he had bequeathed him. Sirius had emancipated him as his magical guardian, which allowed him to officially claim his place as Lord Black.

To take up the Black lordship, the goblins informed Harry he would have to undergo a blood adoption ritual. This would effectively make Sirius his father by blood and magic, allowing him to claim the lordship due to direct line inheritance.

Otherwise, the Malfoys could make the case that Draco was more closely related and therefore had primacy. With Lucius "donating" enough money, the Wizengamot might have chosen to grant them the title and seat. He would be damned if he allowed the Black family fortune along with the priceless books and artifacts to go into Voldemort's war chest.

He imbibed the potion that contained Sirius' blood and was formally adopted into the Black family. His hair became softer and gained some luster. His facial structure became more angular with his cheekbones elevating to give an aristocratic countenance. The biggest change occurred in his bones, giving him a bit more than four inches of height.

By the end of the hour, he was reborn as Lord Harrison James Potter-Black. He had found out his real name was Harrison and not Harry. One more thing nobody had bothered to tell him.

This was a huge problem as he didn't want others to know about his ascension to lordship. After the potion's effects were complete, he signed some paperwork and was presented with the Black family ring by the Black Account Manager, Fistslam.

It was a stylized B on the seal and three ravens with rubies for eyes all on a silver band. When he had slipped the ring on, a cold breeze had flown through his very being. It was for a fleeting moment that Harry felt like something was looking through his soul and seeing all his secrets. After a moment, it resized to fit his finger, and warmth emanated from it as a raven flew out of the ring and landed on his shoulder. It bowed its head and flew into him.

He started recalling knowledge he didn't know he had. All the Black family properties, family rituals, certain spells from the grimoire, and other relevant information. It was slightly disorienting, but Harry managed to keep his wits about him. After he claimed the lordship, he was recognized as an adult in the eyes of the Ministry, and Magic itself.

At this time, he felt something odd within him. It made him feel weak and tired. He had fallen to his knees and Fistslam had gotten worried. He was taken to the medical ward where a goblin Healer had come in and conducted some tests. They found that a large part of his magic had been blocked from a very young age.

The first was a temporary block that was placed by one of his parents. Alongside the first one, starting from age 11, his magic had been suppressed annually. The magical signature behind the blocks was traced back to Albus Dumbledore.

The goblins immediately took him to a ritual room where they were able to remove the temporary block his parents had put on him. He automatically felt better, and they made appointments to get rid of the other blocks over time so his magic wouldn't overwhelm him.

Along with taking up the Black Lordship, he insisted on also taking an inheritance test. Fistslam gave him one and was shocked by the result. Other than Potter and Black, Harry was also the Heir to the Slytherin and Peverell families.

The Peverell family was self-explanatory, as the last daughter of the family married into the Potter family, but the Slytherin family was unexpected. He had been guided to Branch Manager Ragnok, who heard about his inheritances and explained the background of both families.

The Slytherin Lord's ring was not at Gringotts and the goblins felt it would be at Hogwarts. Harry had a good idea where it was, and told them. The goblins had been surprised that he had fought and slain a 1000-year-old basilisk and survived being bit when he was just 12.

Harry negotiated with the goblins to buy the basilisk corpse and make him armor from its hide and some components for himself. After a long and hard negotiation, they came to an accord and Harry left feeling satisfied with the deal.

For a small fee of 300 Galleons, Harry was able to get his glasses enchanted with a Goblin blood glamour that would mask his new appearance. When he had given them for enchanting, the goblins had found multiple charms on them that negatively affected Harry.

A Befuddling Charm that caused brief bouts of confusion and disorientation in visual acuity. A Repair-Resistance Charm that prevented the frame from being repaired fully. The list kept going on and on. It explained so many things that he had experienced during his time at Hogwarts.

He would often suffer brief bouts of dyslexia during a test or while completing an assignment. Potions ingredients would be blurry and the consistency of his preparation would be off because he couldn't see his mistakes.

It also didn't help that Ron and Hermione, the people who were spying on him were the only ones he could talk to about his problems. They no doubt reported back to Dumbledore on the success of the charms while telling him that everything was normal.

His lack of friends had left him vulnerable. That was probably the reason why no one else approached him. His "friends" had made sure to keep him isolated among their peers. With how far-reaching the conspiracy against him was, he would not be surprised if they had done so on Dumbledore's explicit orders.

Needless to say, Harry had been pissed. This feeling was shared by the goblins, who saw this as an attack against one of their richest clients. Harry explained the conspiracy against him and secured their help in subverting it.

They knew that the ruse of ignorance was necessary to survive the insidious plan others had for him. They were a warrior race that preferred open combat due to reasons of honor, but that didn't mean those same principles were upheld for non-goblins.

They were able to allow Harry the ability to turn the charms on and off at his leisure. When he visited Dumbledore, the old man would check and see them still working. Outside of his office, Harry could deactivate the charms with no one the wiser. Also, he had the glasses enchanted to be Anti-Summoning and Obliviation-proof. He would never be caught off guard and have his memories erased ever again.

He Apparated back to the chamber and learned how to create a portkey from Salazar before sending one to Fistslam the next day. Within a couple of hours, a whole team of Goblin Beast Hunters portkeyed into the chamber. They were greeted by the sight of a humongous dead basilisk decorating the center of the chamber. Taking a few moments to marvel at the size of the beast, they got to work.

After 4 hours of effort, the entire corpse had been rendered down to all of its different parts. The previously shed skin was also collected and properly cut. Not a single scrap was wasted, which left Harry was extremely appreciative of their efficiency.

He commissioned several sets of leather armor in different sizes, as he knew he would have to outfit a small resistance group, mainly the members of the Order along with Neville and Luna, possibly his only actual friends at Hogwarts. Along with the armor, he kept a tenth of the poison, along with the tooth that had been stabbed into his shoulder out of sentimental value.

After they were finished, he had asked Salazar about the Slytherin Lord Ring. Salazar's portrait had swiveled outwards on a hidden hinge, presenting a small space behind. Inside, were a few tomes along with Salazar's wand and the most important, a silver ring that had a basilisk motif with emeralds for eyes.

Slipping the ring on, he felt the same feeling as he did when he had been tested by the Black Lord ring. Within seconds, the ring had resized to fit his finger, and he had officially become the Lord Slytherin. Salazar mentioned that his wealth had all been stored at his cottage. Harry decided to leave it alone unless necessary, seeing as he had plenty of gold to spare.

True to the plan, Dumbledore called him up to give him special information about Voldemort. He pretended like he was preparing Harry for the war by constantly emphasizing how crucial it was for Harry to learn and understand Voldemort's past.

He even went as far as to give him a "mission" to coax some information out of Horace Slughorn, the new Potions Professor they had convinced to come out of retirement over the summer. Said information was "critical in the fight against Voldemort".

With the context of the memories he had experienced, Harry knew exactly what Dumbledore was after. He didn't know how many Horcruxes Voldemort had made. He had correctly guessed that Harry counted as one, along with some other special items the memories hinted at. Harry knew them all, as he had viewed them through Voldemort's memories.

Later that week, he had been called once more into Dumbledore's office for their lessons on Voldemort. It had been an entirely pointless exercise where they viewed memory after memory in a Pensieve. Harry had been bored out of his mind and wanted to learn some magic, but Dumbledore had told him that the focus of their lessons would be learning about Voldemort's past. Harry had been on his guard every moment he spent in the presence of Dumbledore and never slipped up even once.

He had been tasked with acquiring a specific memory from Slughorn. He had accomplished this task rather easily as he worked his charm by excelling in Potions using modified recipes he had found in an old textbook previously owned by a person nicknamed the "Half Blood Prince". With a sip of Felix Felicis, aka liquid luck, he had completed his task and retrieved the memory from Slughorn.

It had been a big revelation for Dumbledore as he finally got the information he had been after. Along with Harry's visions, they deduced that Voldemort's familiar Nagini was a Horcrux as well. Harry, on the other hand, was bored and disappointed by the pointlessness of it all.

He already knew the locations of the Horcruxes Voldemort himself hid. He had taken the initiative to destroy Ravenclaw's Diadem after learning it had been hidden in the Room of Requirements. A quick splash of basilisk venom and the soul fragment had been destroyed without a fuss.

Throughout the course of their meetings, Harry noticed the blackening of Dumbledore's hand and how the man seemed to get progressively weaker as the days passed. With the memories of the various protections in his head, he had ascertained that Dumbledore had gone after the Gaunt ring and fallen prey to the Withering Curse that was placed on it. With how much power Voldemort had put into the curse, Dumbledore's days were numbered.

It was probably why he had started entrusting Harry with more responsibilities and getting him prepped to go on a scavenger hunt for the Horcruxes. He stressed that he couldn't do it alone, indicating he take his traitorous friends with him. No doubt to ensure that his master plan was carried out to the letter, even after his passing.

In a bid to secure Slytherin's locket, Dumbledore had taken him along to the cliffside cave next to Wool's Orphanage, Voldemort's residence for the first 17 years of his life. They had passed through the protections to get to the stone basin that protected the Horcrux.

Inside was a truly vicious potion called Dementor's Draught. It was an insidious poison that mimicked the effects of the Dementors. When drunk, it would cause the drinker to suffer agonizing pain while showing them their worst nightmares.

Dumbledore convinced him to go along with his plan and force the potion down his throat. Harry tried to act hesitant while cheering on the inside. He had gained a bit of a sadistic streak after assimilating Voldemort's memories. It also helped that the old man had ruined his life and was willing to suffer the pain.

Going ahead with the plan, he dutifully forced Dumbledore to imbibe the poison and retrieved the locket from the basin. He immediately knew something was wrong when he didn't feel the same evil magic he felt when he was touching the diadem.

To relieve the man of his suffering, he filled a cup with water from the lake, which triggered the Inferi underneath to start attacking them. Having slightly recovered, Dumbledore cast spell that created a tornado of fire around their position, which swiftly dispatched all of them.

Getting out of the cave, they Disapparated to Hogsmeade, where they saw the Dark Mark floating in the sky above the Astronomy Tower. Borrowing brooms from Rosmerta, they flew to the Astronomy tower and what happened next had profound consequences for the Light side.

Harry did not expect the Body-Bind Curse and Stickfast Hex that hit him in the back. Dumbledore apologized and draped Harry's invisibility cloak over him. Harry watched as Draco Malfoy burst in and disarmed Dumbledore.

In what Harry could only construe as an act of senile dementia, Dumbledore tried to convince the ferret, who openly admitted to being a Death Eater, to join the Light so he could "be saved". Hearing the soft voice of Dumbledore trying to push his "everyone can be redeemed" Hippogriff shit made Harry almost break the Body Bind just so he could gag.

The Dark Mark wasn't some fancy tattoo that Voldemort handed out. It was a brand that was gained through a ritual that involved the r*pe, torture, and murder of an innocent. You could not be coerced into taking the Dark Mark as the final part of the ritual involved a pledge of loyalty, where the individual had to be willing.

In the early days, the Death Eaters would kidnap Muggleborns to conduct the initiation, but Draco had probably used a Muggle. The fact that he had that mark and blatantly rubbed it in Dumbledore's face proved that the ferret was no longer an innocent in the fight, and had chosen his side.

Malfoy started the traditional evil villain monologue where he explained how he had snuck the Death Eaters into the castle by fixing the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement. He had also tried multiple times to assassinate Dumbledore but seemingly couldn't get to him.

As he was bragging about getting one over the "great Albus Dumbledore", he was soon joined by multiple senior Death Eaters who encouraged Draco to finish the job. It turned out that Malfoy was still as pathetic as ever, as he was unable to kill an unarmed, defenseless old man.

Harry had felt a small amount of pity towards how incompetent Draco was. For all his masterful planning and execution, he just didn't have the guts to "pull the trigger", as the Muggles would say. As he was struggling, the greasy dungeon bat himself had come to the front of the group. Dumbledore had turned towards him and pleaded, to which Snape replied with a Killing Curse to the face.

Dumbledore's body flew back and fell over the railing of the tower. Harry heard the low whistling as his body feels through the air and landed with a muted thump down below. After a few seconds, the spells on Harry were weakened enough for him to dispel, so he sprung into action.

The Death Eaters were retreating and causing chaos to cover their escape, attacking anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way. Harry had run after them using his cloak to maneuver into the best position to attack them. They had hit a straight corridor that led to the exit near the greenhouses when Harry struck.

He conjured metal javelins and sent them hurtling towards the retreating Death Eaters. Rowle and Gibbon hadn't been paying attention and paid the price with their lives as the spikes pierced through their bodies. Carrow had been critically wounded along with Malfoy taking a spike to the leg, as he fell in pain. He raised his wand to shield, but Harry had been quicker and disarmed him.

Snape had turned around and sent multiple Dark Curses towards Harry's general direction. Harry had swerved out of the way and retaliated with even more lethal Dark Curses, one of which was Sectumsempra, a Dark Cutting Curse he had found in the potions book.

Severus had recognized the curse and deflected it, announcing his title as the Half-Blood Prince, the creator of the curse. With a quick Exploding Charm, he had used the debris and smoke as cover to rush Draco out of the wards and Disapparated.

Harry had been disappointed that he had managed to kill neither Snape nor Malfoy. At least that way he could have avenged the murderer of Dumbledore. He had disliked the man a lot, as Albus Dumbledore had knowingly dropped him into an abusive home and manipulated his life, but the people would want him avenged.

Had he not met Salazar, Harry had no doubt he would've regarded the man's words as gospel and willingly chosen to sacrifice his life for the "Greater Good", to end Voldemort once and for all. Now, he did not doubt that everyone would turn to him to lead them in the fight. The Ministry was still as corrupt and incompetent as ever, so the people would logically choose him as their figurehead with Dumbledore gone.

He found Dumbledore's corpse and cleaned it up a bit, to give him some dignity. Even if he hated the man's guts, it would be bad optics to be seen desecrating his corpse. To everyone in Hogwarts, with how frequently they met, they all assumed that Harry was his apprentice.

That couldn't have been further from the truth, but he wasn't about to correct their mistake. Even when dead, Dumbledore held influence as he had spent nearly half of his life networking and worming his way into the hearts of the British Wizarding public. Harry could potentially use some of that influence to his advantage in preparation for the upcoming conflict with Voldemort.

He removed the locket Horcrux that they had retrieved only to find out that it was a fake, switched out by someone with the initials R.A.B. Harry got flashes but didn't know what to make of them. They showed a handsome young man and a house-elf at the cave they had gone to.

Someone had stolen the locket, which meant that should old Voldy check, he'd realize that it was missing and attempt to recollect the others. This meant that Harry had a limited amount of time to hunt down the real locket Horcrux and the remaining two.