Chapter Text
CHAPTER ONE.
Harry Potter had always knew that he was completely different from all the other eight-year-olds he knew. His relatives liked to remember him.
Freak. Waste of space. Troublemaker.
And Harry couldn't even blame them completely.
Because his clothes were threadbare and five sizes too big, unlike the colourful, fun clothes all his classmates wore. His hands were constantly cold and shaking because he spent more time washing up dishes and colthes than playing. And his skin was deathly pale, making his dark circles stand out all the more. Harry tried not to think about how his pale skin also highlighted the scars and bruises all over his frail body, the only gifts Vernon had ever given him.
But that wasn't all.
Sometimes strange things happened to him. Like his hair regrowing when Petunia almost scalped him, the broken vase fixing itself under Vernon's irate gaze. Snakes whispered to him. He tried to not answer the animals, or else his relatives would have called him crazy too other than freak.
From his hiding place in the tallest tree in the school playground, Harry watched his classmates running about, laughing and chatting animatedly with one another during lunch break.
Harry ignored the twinge in his heart at the thought of being alone like he ignored the cramp in his stomach from lack of food. Because no matter how hard Harry had tried to befriend his classmates, it only took a few pointed words from his cousin for them to start hating him.
Leaning forward on the sturdy branch, shadowed by its leaves, Harry saw Dudley being his normal hateful self. His cousin just pushed a little boy to the ground, scraping his knees, because he hadn’t immediately handed over the toy he was playing with. Dudley didn't even say sorry, he just snatched the toy and left the poor boy crying.
Harry sighed sadly for the boy, and swinged his legs off the branch, ready to jump down because he wanted to console him, when a soft voice reached his ears.
"Are you having fun up there?"
Harry almost lost his grip on the branch he was trying to get down from and looked in the direction of the voice anxiously, fearing that a teacher had found him.
But a different sight met him.
A boy with hazel eyes and dark hair curlier than his own was watching him with amusement from the base of the tree. The orange jumper he was wearing was so bright that Harry had to shield his eyes to get a better look, it had a strange black symbols on it that he never saw, Harry wanted to study them. But the boy’s smile didn’t waver for a moment as Harry studied him suspiciously. Harry shrugged in response to his earlier question because it was rude not answer, and the boy's smile grew larger before his eyes.
“I’m Oleander Lefkó, I started school today, we are in the same class. My friends at home call me Ollie,” said quickly Oleander, smiling warmly at Harry while leaning against the tree trunk. Harry was still trying to figure out his intentions.
"Why are you talking to me?" asked Harry, it was better to be direct he thought, climbing down from the branch and putting some distance between himself and Oleander. "If Dudley and his gang see you, they’ll pick on you too. After all, no one’s allowed to talk to the freak." Harry didn’t notice the flash of anger and disgust in Oleander’s eyes, he was too busy keeping an eye on Dudley to notice the other boy’s indignation.
Watching Dudley warily, he was still playing with the stolen toy, Harry tried to figure out what Oleander wanted from him. Nobody approached the freak unless it was for a dare or a beating.
But Oleander didn’t seem like a bully like the rest of his classmates, his smile was kind as his eyes, but Harry had to remember that neither his classmates seemed like bullies and they still bullied him.
Clenching his fists Harry came to a conclusion that didn't have to end with him bleeding. He started to walk away, because it wouldn’t do either of them any good if he stayed around the new kid and Dudley noticed him. Harry knew his cousin too well, but Oleander’s firm words made him stop.
“No one can tell me what to do, especially an horrible bully like him.” Said Oleander, smiling kindly at Harry with a finality that nobody ever showed to him. Oleander then sat down on the grassy ground and pulled an orange and black thermos out of the bag slung over his shoulder, sparking hope in Harry’s heart for the first time.
Maybe Oleander won’t be like all the others.
Harry cast one last worried glance at Dudley before sitting down beside Oleander, a small smile spreading across his face as he hoped to find a friend in the hazel-eyed boy. “My name’s Harry. Dudley, unfortunately, is my cousin.”
Oleander shot Dudley a dirty look that promised revenge, before pulling two colourful plastic containers full of food out of his brown bag, handing one to Harry, who blushed bright red before accepting it with a quiet thank you. The two boys ate whilst chatting quietly, talking about this and that, as Harry’s smile grew wider with every new thing he discovered about his new friend. The bud of hope was rapidly blossoming into reality before his very eyes, Harry had never been so happy.
Full as he was of food for the first time in weeks, Harry started to doze off, almost leaning on Oleander's shoulder, when an extremely loud clap of thunder rumbled in the distance startling him.
Harry looked up at the sky in alarm, to cover his embarrassment for almost falling asleep on his new friend, but there wasn’t a single cloud to obscure the sun. Still red Harry turned to Oleander to ask if he’d heard the thunder too, only to find him staring at him with such intensity that it made Harry feel awkward.
Worried he’d offended Oleander because he was falling asleep, Harry tried not to take Oleander’s silence to heart, maybe he was tired too.
Staring sadly at the tips of his shoes, Harry noticed something odd that made all his preoccupations fly away, because there was something moving amongst the wide folds of his trousers. A tiny snake with black scales and a yellow-speckled head was climbing up the fabric with the determination of an expert climber, bringing the smile back to Harry’s face.
“What are you doing?” asked Harry, laughing and startling the little snake that flicked its dark tongue quickly towards him.
“I’m climbing, speaker, it’s a great adventure,” hissed the small snake all serious, “are you and the goat friends?” She flicked her tongue in Oleander’s direction without taking her eyes off Harry. The boy tilted his head in confusion at the snake’s words, not because the reptile had answered him, but because of what she had called Oleander.
"What do you mean? Oleander’s a little boy just like me, he’s not a goat, he doesn't have hooves." Harry watched as the snake reared up further on his knee. Her dark head, ringed with yellow scales, glinted in the daylight before she flicked her forked tongue at Oleander, who was watching the scene with his mouth agape.
"Goat-boy," said the little snake before slithering contentedly towards Harry’s hand, coiling happily around the wrist of the boy who didn’t know what to do. She hadn't been very informative.
"Harry, can you talk to snakes?"
Oleander’s confused and slightly frightened voice was like a bucket of cold water for Harry. An ugly return to reality.
Oleander had only just become his friend, Harry couldn’t ruin everything so soon just because he was a freak and could talk to snakes.
Harry clenched his hands into the folds of his worn jumper as the pressure in his chest grew, squeezing his lungs and preventing him from answering. Avoiding Oleander’s gaze, Harry tried to buy himself some time, attempting to calm down as Aunt Arabella had taught him, but it was all in vain. His eyes fell on the orange and black thermos and, before Oleander could stop him, he grabbed it and took a long swig of the liquid inside.
Harry was shaken by a full body shiver, as a sensation of warmth spread throughout him, like when Aunt Arabella wrapped a warm blanket around him. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Harry felt no pain.
He sat up and glanced furtively at Oleander, who was looking at him with a strange glint of triumph in his eyes, before plucking up the courage to answer his question.
“Yes, I can talk to snakes,” said Harry, casting a distracted glance at the little snake that had fallen asleep on his wrist. “She told me you’re a goat-boy. What does that mean? And what was in that flask? It tasted like Aunt Arabella’s cake, and now I don’t feel any pain. Not even my shoulder hurts anymore.”
Harry waited patiently for Oleander’s reply, the fact that his friend wasn't running away screaming was progress. Oleander had started fidgeting nervously with the strap of his bag, casting worried glances between Harry and the sky. Harry kept waiting, after all, if Oleander hadn’t called him a freak when he’d heard him talking to the snake, perhaps he too had some special secret, just like Harry.
After a few seconds, Oleander seemed to finally have made up his mind and began to speak under Harry’s anxious gaze.
“Where shall I start?” Unfortunately, before Oleander could tell him anything, the ground shook beneath their feet and a shadow obscured the sun filtering through the tree branches, causing the two children to stiffen.
“Freak, you know perfectly well you shouldn't speak to others, or they’ll be infected by your freakishness.” Dudley’s voice was full of triumph, as well as breathlessness, and Harry bit his tongue, trying not to let his insufferable cousin notice the last one. He didn't want to get hurt now that he was feeling good.
"I can decide for myself whether or not to be friends with Harry, so don’t try to threaten me you big bully!" Oleander stood up from the grass as he spoke, towering a good head taller than Dudley and forcing him to take a step back to look him in the face.
It was the first time Dudley had come across someone who stood up to him, and Harry smiled at his cousin’s flustered, almost petulant expression. Dudley was so used to everyone doing what he wanted when he demanded it, that when he found someone who didn’t obey him immediately he didn’t know what to do. Harry chuckled at the thought, but regretted it straight away, because Dudley’s blue eyes, brimming with hatred, shifted to him, before lighting up with a malevolent glint.
“I’m going to tell Mum and Dad,” his cousin sing-sang cruelly. Harry's laugh died in his throat as cold dread moved up his spine, causing Dudley’s smile to widen under Oleander’s bewildered gaze. “I wonder what they’ll do to you this time? You’ve infected the new boy. I hope Dad uses the belt on you and that they don’t let you out of your cupboard for a week.”
Harry had started to tremble as his eyes filled with tears at his cousin’s words. It wasn't fair. He’d seen Oleander stiffen beside him, and he was sure his new friend would abandon him now that he knew the ugly truth about his life.
Instead, Oleander did something that made Harry stop crying almost immediately. The boy had looked at Dudley with such disgust that even his cousin recoiled a bit. Before Dudley could hit him or scream Oleander took a deep breath and snapped his fingers with a dull click, moving his hands towards Dudley in a shooing motion. His cousin continued to stare dumbly at them, but his eyes had become glassy, as if he couldn’t actually see them.
"Harry, I’ll answer all your questions, i swear, but first I want to know one thing after all I've heard. Do you still want to go home to those monsters?"
Harry stared at Oleander open-mouthed. Not for his words, sometimes he thought about his relatives with even worse words, he couldn't fault Oleander at that.
No, it was something different.
Because Harry was certain his new friend had used magic on his cousin. Even if his relatives had always claimed that magic didn’t exist, often whilst punishing him for some strange occurrence happening around him. Once those pathetic excuses for humans had Harry repeat that magic didn't exist until he fainted. They were the worst.
Harry shook his head to bury again his awful memories, and thought back to the question Oleander had asked him.
He didn’t want to go back to Privet Drive. He didn’t want to be screamed at and punished by Vernon for making a friend, or to go back to doing the endless chores Petunia assigned him every day. He wanted to be with Oleander, even though Harry had just met him, he knew he could trust him. He’d given him food, he had not freaked out when he talked to the snake and then he stayed by his side after all the horrible things Dudley had said. He’d even cast a spell on his cousin!
“I… No, I don’t want to go back to Privet Drive. It’s not my home, they’re not my family. They never have been.” As Harry spoke those last words, something shifted in the air, something very important.
His ears popped, and the air around him changed completely, like something was unravelling and dissipating into the wind. Harry stood spellbound, watching the tiny golden particles sparkle fly away from him, under Oleander’s gaze.
In an office high up in a tower of a Scottish castle, two silver trinkets trembled, attracting a man's attention. One glowed with a resplendent golden light, while the other just fell dully to the floor and crumbled.
“Harry, are you all right?” Oleander approached him with concern as Harry swayed on the spot, suddenly incredibly tired. He leaned gratefully on Oleander's shoulder.
“I don’t know, Oleander… It’s as if I had something heavy weighing me down, but now it’s gone,” said Harry in a trembling but relieved voice, as he started unconsciously following Oleander towards the low wall leading to the street outside.
“Oleander, stop, where are we going?” Harry faltered, noticing that his friend was leading him towards the street outside even though lessons hadn’t finished yet.
“We’re going where we can contact Chiron, he’ll be able to help us. As for your cousin, I’ve simply manipulated the Mist around his eyes and his mind, making him believe what he wanted to believe. He’s trapped in an illusion, but it won’t last long.” Oleander clasped tightly his hand around Harry’s wrist, but Harry flinched and pulled his arm away from his grip.
“Who are you really?” said Harry, staring at Oleander warily. He knew he could trust him, he was a good person, but suddenly Harry felt afraid.
The things Oleander was saying weren't making any sense. Sure he suspected magic, but the Mist? And who was Chiron? Even if Harry trusted Oleander he wanted to know the truth before follow him blindly. He crossed his arms, swaying again, but fixed Oleander with a gaze that said 'talk or else'.
Aunt Arabella would be so proud of him.
The little snake, which had woken up because of the sudden movement, had sensed Harry’s fear and determination and had begun to hiss menacingly at Oleander. Harry’s fear subsided slightly as he stifled a laugh at the little reptile’s threats, she wanted to eat him whole, she was adorable and little like his hand.
Harry watched as Oleander first glanced over his shoulder at Dudley, then ran a hand through his hair in a nervous tick. Oleander seemed to make up his mind and turned decisively towards Harry. Finally.
“My name is Oleander Lefkó and I’m a satyr, which is why that snake calls me ‘goat-boy’. I was sent to England along with other satyrs by the Half-Blood Camp to find the half-blood our Oracle spoke of." Oleander paused with an actor’s dramatic tension and Harry smiled at him, before he said, "You are that half-blood, Harry."
Now Harry was terribly confused. "I don’t understand..." He said, unconsciously rubbing the scar on his forehead.
Harry vaguely remembered Aunt Arabella telling him about satyrs, but he could hardly remember anything particular about them, only that they were part of Greek mythology. What he remembered from his Aunt's tales were the terrible fates of the protagonists, it made Harry feel less bad about his own life.
Maybe an half-blood was a demigod? Like the ones from the stories? Harry didn’t know what Oleander was talking about, he was sure that he was missing some vital information, but he knew he’d never get another chance like this to escape from Privet Drive. So he spoke honestly to Oleander.
“I don’t understand, I don’t know what satyrs or half-bloods are, but I want to trust you, Ollie.” Said Harry smiling happily at him, “You’re my first friend and the only person who’s ever stood up for me against Dudley. Let’s go to Half-Blood Camp together.”
Ollie had told him that before going to the Camp they had to contact the director, and that to do so they had to go to the park first.
Harry had wondered to himself why, when they could simply have used a phone to call him. In any case, it was all too easy for Harry and Oleander to slip out of the school playground, but they encountered their first problem as they turned the corner of the street that would lead them to the park.
Harry’s limbs froze when his eyes fell on a traffic warden a few metres away from them. The man was busily writing a ticket on a car when he looked up and spotted them, striding towards them with a friendly expression.
“Children, what are you doing outside school?” The man asked kindly, crouching down to Harry’s height and looking at him with incredible attention. He wanted to help them, but he was making him feel intimidated.
Harry looked at Ollie to see if he had a plan, maybe his friend would do magic with the Mist again. But Ollie had a frightened expression, completely different from when he’d faced Dudley. In that moment, Harry realised that he would have to be the one to save them both. Or else the kind man would call his house and then his escape plan would be thwarted.
Harry calmed himself and smiled at the officer, who had begun to look at them suspiciously from their lack of answer s, and put all the persuasion he possessed into his words. The more he repeated them in his mind, the more real he felt that they became.
Everything was fine, he didn’t need to worry, he hadn’t seen them.
"It’s all right, officer. My brother and I are on our way home. Don’t worry about it, just forget you even saw us." The more Harry spoke, the heavier his words felt on his tongue, like cotton in his mouth. A tingling wave of warmth washed over him before he realised that the officer was staring at him with a glassy expression.
"It’s all right, I didn’t see you." The man’s gentle voice had become monotonous, and Harry looked at him with concern before the man rose mechanically from his position and went back to writing out fines, ignoring the two of them as if they didn’t exist.
This time it was Oleander’s turn to look at Harry with a bewildered expression. Well it was his fault that Harry now had done something freakish, so Harry didn’t answer the myriad of questions Ollie seemed ready to ask him. He just squeezed his hand and started running towards the park, praying it would be deserted.
Neither of them heard the crack that echoed behind them.
Luckily, the park was completely empty and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to use the new power he’d used on the officer again on someone else, it made him terribly uncomfortable.
The trees and the benches were lined up perfectly around the large white marble fountain of the park, even the bushes between the benches were perfect squares. The park was sterile, unsettling, that was why Harry had never gone there before, the park reminded him too much of Privet Drive and his relatives. Obsessed with perfection but completely imperfect themselves.
Harry watched Ollie look in every direction, he wanted to help him but convincing the officer had sapped him completely of his energy, so he just kept watching his friend jump around. Ollie looked almost lost before exclaiming that he found what he was looking for, a small section of the marble fountain was damaged, and the spray of water created a beautiful rainbow that brought colour to the dreary fountain.
Ollie motioned for him to follow, and Harry didn’t need to be told twice. The sooner they got moving, the better.
The little snake, who had introduced herself as Trix, looked around curiously from the neck of Harry’s jumper. Ollie rummaged in his bag before pulling out a black pouch with a triumphant sound. Grinning at Harry, Ollie opened the black pouch and took out a large gold coin that glinted in the sunlight. Harry looked at it with awe, while Trix wanted to use it like a pillow, she reasoned that the coin would be very warm. Shaking his head Harry turned to Ollie, because his friend started to talk.
“Harry, now I’ll show you how we communicate even over long distances without using those infernal contraptions called telephones,” said Ollie, puffing out his chest under Harry’s admiring gaze. “Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show us Chiron at Half-Blood Camp.”
Harry watched with open wonder as Oleander tossed the gold coin into the rainbow, and his surprise grew even greater when the coin vanished amongst the colours in a brilliant golden drizzle. The colours of the rainbow swirled for a few seconds under his eyes, before transforming into the image of a man with long brown hair and dark eyes who was playing cards.
“Good evening, Oleander. Though from what I can see, it’s still afternoon in England,” said the man, Chiron, smiling kindly at the two children. “I suppose you’re calling us because your mission has been successful. What’s your name?” Chiron continued, fixing his deep brown eyes on Harry’s frightened ones.
“I’m Harry Potter, sir. Ollie saved me,” Harry said, not noticing the blush on his new friend’s cheeks.
“Oh, a Potter. I should have guessed,” said an annoyed voice from the other side of the Iris message. Harry stared astonished at the man in the garishest Hawaiian shirt he’d ever seen, who had appeared at Chiron’s side and was staring at him from over the sunglasses perched on his nose.
The man’s violet-irised eyes widened slightly before looking at him suspiciously, and Harry couldn’t help but notice the man whispering something to Chiron, who flinched and cleared his throat before speaking to the two boys again.
“Harry, this is Mr D, the head of Half-Blood Camp.” After Harry had greeted him politely, Chiron continued. “Oleander, did you explain everything to Harry’s family before revealing to him that he is a half-blood?”
Harry saw Ollie lower his gaze and blush fiercely under the two men’s probing stares, it wasn't Ollie's fault that his relatives were horrible people. Harry stepped forward, covering Ollie’s body with one hand as he tried to stifle the fear that threatened to rob him of his words under the men's eyes.
“There was no need for Oleander to speak to my ‘family’. They’ll be more than happy to have got rid of the freak. I was a waste of space for them, they never wanted me.” Harry said bitterly, whilst Trix popped her head out from the neck of his jumper again, hissing that she would gladly eat those ungrateful lot for him, making him smile involuntarily.
Chiron and Mr D exchanged a loaded glance under Oleander’s frightened eyes. “All right, Harry, if you want to talk about it when you get to the Camp, I’ll be more than happy to listen. In any case, I'm sorry to say this, but you must find another way to get back to America. Unfortunately, the person who accompanied Oleander is no longer available, so you’ll have to manage on your own.”
Harry tried not to completely lose heart at Chiron’s words. Because they would never make it to America without money or an adult, Harry was sure of it. Harry was listening to Ollie's pleas to Chiron and Mr D, when a movement to his right caught his attention.
The park was empty of people, but still someone was rapidly approaching them. Someone wearing a long black cloak and a white skull-shaped mask over their face. Harry shivered at the sight, something was very wrong, but before Harry could say anything, the hooded figure pulled a wand from the sleeve of his robe and a green beam shot from its tip, heading towards the boys.
With a choked cry, Harry lunged at Oleander, pulling him down behind the fountain with him. Whilst the green beam sizzling with death passed over their heads, crashing into a tree and causing it to collapse, burnt and blackened. Chiron exclaimed something from the Iris message, but Harry’s ears were ringing violently, his head felt like it was splitting, and his breaths came out in stuttered gasps.
Because Harry knew that light.
That green light tormented him in his nightmares, accompanied by an evil high laugh that froze the blood in his veins.
Harry clutched Ollie to him as if he were the only thing anchoring him to reality, whilst a woman’s scream mingled with Chiron’s screams, he was shouting something from the Iris message.
Harry didn't know what was real and what was from his nightmares.
Harry’s vision started to blur, as his head split in two from the pain and the tears flowed copiously from his eyes, transforming Ollie’s frightened face into the glassy-eyed visage of a red-haired woman. Harry was vaguely aware that Ollie and Trix were trying to speak to him, but he could hear nothing beyond the ragged beating of his own heart.
Harry had only been this scared a couples of times in his short life. Usually it was after one of his awful nightmares, but last time it was when Vernon threw a knife at him, cutting his cheek and nipping his ear. He still had the scars.
Harry's jumbled thoughts were interrupted when a menacing shadow loomed over their heads, causing Harry to stiffen further.
"This is for the Dark Lord, Potter. When word gets out that I was the one who killed you, the other Death Eaters won’t think I’m mad anymore." The voice behind the mask was shaky, uncontrolled. It raised Harry's hairs in terror, "I’ve studied you, I’ve stolen your magical signature, and when you used magic against that silly Muggle, I found you and followed you. And now I, Walden Macnair, will kill you."
Harry was terrified and disgusted. He didn’t understand who the hooded man was referring to, but he understood that the man was a crazy stalker that wanted to kill him.
Ollie’s grip had tightened into a vice on his arms with every word the man uttered and Harry was glad for his grounding presence, but still he didn't want Ollie to hurt himself for him. Harry could hear Chiron’s voice in the distance asking after them but, before they could reply, the man turned towards the fountain and with a flick of his wand blew it to smithereens.
Oleander released his grip on Harry’s arms to shield his head as best he could, or else Harry would have been severely hurt. Several shards of marble embedded themselves in his hands and arms, making Ollie scream in pain.
The man kept raving madly at them, all of the ugly disgusting things that he woul do to them, and Harry knew that they had to get out of there or they would both die.
Harry felt something warm running down his face, whilst the metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils and Macnair’s maniacal laughter made his skin crawl.
Harry opened his eyes and Oleander’s face contorted with pain was the first thing he saw, inevitably transforming something inside him. A warmth he was learning to recognise completely permeated Harry’s body, accompanied this time by a strong tingling sensation.
He would save both of them and take Ollie as far away as possible from that madman who had hurt him.
Harry didn’t notice the cracks around him, nor that the hooded man was about to cast the green light at them again. Harry was focused only on Ollie and the one place where they could be safe at that moment.
Harry focused on the only one person who, before Ollie, had ever helped him.
The last thing they both saw were four people dressed in red lunging at the hooded man, before the world around them went completely black.