Guild of Rogues

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

"Speaking"

Thoughts

"Gobble-de-gook"

"Beast-speak"

Prologue

On a damaged cot in the cupboard under the stairs at number 4 Privet Drive laid a four year old boy that had recently been beaten for the sole reason that it was his birthday. His uncle, Vernon, and cousin, Dudley, had punched, kicked, and slapped Harry until he dropped because of the pain. His aunt, Petunia, had screamed herself hoarse at Harry. She screamed that his parents were drunks that died in a car crash because they were stupid and never had a job. She yelled that Harry was no better and that he had better be grateful that she had given him a roof over his head.

Harry's only relief to the pain was the healing that his snake friend, Seth, could do. Seth repeatedly claimed that he was a magical snake and that was the reason he could heal Harry. Harry, however, had never believed that Seth was magical. The Dursleys had yelled at Harry and beat him when he asked about magic, or even said the word magic for that matter. Now, however, Harry believed Seth. Harry was in a lot of pain from the Dursley's repeated beatings. "Seth, if you can stop this pain, please. I can hardly feel my legs and arms because of it. Please help me, Seth," Harry pleaded.

Seth looked at Harry with a look that was the snake's equivalent of a look full of sorrow. "I am sssorry, Harry. I do not have the ssstrength or power to heal thessse woundsss, but I do have sssome friends that can help. I will need to go find them, but they will sssave you. When I return with them, pleassse do not be afraid." When Harry looked at Seth with a look, Seth did the snake's equivalent of a sign. "My friendsss are goblinsss, Harry. They will help you, but you will need to be calm when I bring them here. They look ssscary to a lot of young people. I will return sssoon."

Harry's pain got so bad that that he couldn't move at all. He was about as stiff as a board. I hope that Seth hurries. I don't think that I can hold out (yawn) much longer zzzzz. Harry thought as he fell asleep.

=====Time Break=====

Harry woke when he heard a door opening, but because of the pain, was instantly awake and whimpering a little. He did his best to move his head towards the door to look at who was there, and was rewarded with a sight of two creatures. As he remembered what Seth said before he left, Harry thought goblins. One of the goblins snapped his fingers. The first time he snapped his fingers, Harry felt no more pain. When he was about to thank him, the goblin snapped again and Harry new no more.

The two goblins grinned and carried Harry to a horse-drawn carriage. As soon as they were all on a seat, the carriage took off at a speed faster than any car. If anyone had been watching, they would have gone and had their eyes checked or thought that they were hallucinating. Not that anyone was watching. It was past midnight and everyone was in his or her bed asleep.

::::Else Where::::

In a room at a castle in Scotland, a man with a long beard was asleep. On one of his tables, an instrument was shooting out smoke. Had the man saw it, he would have been alarmed and went to find the cause of it. The instrument was connected to some wards around number 4 Privet Drive. That particular instrument was so that the sleeping man would know if Harry had left the Dursleys' house.

=====Time Break=====

"King Ragnok. We have saved the life of a boy the bears the mark of your banners upon his forehead," reported a goblin.

Ragnok gave a smile that would have sent shivers down the spine of many creatures. "So, it is true. I have a human grandson."

Chapter 1: Goblin Raised

About seven years after being rescued, a boy with dark black hair, emerald green eyes, and a scar on his forehead, was practicing his sword, dagger, and axe fighting. Being raised by goblins meant that you had to get strong and learn to fight with many weapons, magic included. The boy was currently practicing his defense with a sword. His opponent was a sword that he had bewitched to attack and harm, but not kill, him.

Suddenly, a goblin walked up and said, "Harry it is time to practice your wand-less magic. Go and put up your weapons." Harry jumped and got nicked by the bewitched sword. "Next time, pay more attention to your surroundings. Now hurry before your grandpa gets angry. We both know that you don't want to make him mad." The goblin turned and started walking back towards a majestic castle made out of reinforced marble, diamonds, emeralds, and lots of obsidian.

"Okay, Griphook. I'm coming. Race you back to the castle." With that, Harry took off towards the castle with griphook not far behind. As he ran, Harry thought about when he learned that he had magical powers.

-Flashback-

"Harry, as you are now five years old, your magic will begin to show itself. When it does, we will need to train you so that you can control it," said Harry's grandpa, Ragnok.

"Okay, grandpa. By the way, something odd happened yesterday. I was on my way to put my sword up and walked by a vase of flowers. The flowers in the shadows instantly bloomed while the flowers in the light wilted. What does this mean?" Harry asked.

Ragnok's eyes had grown very big for two good reasons. One, Harry's magic had already shown itself, meaning that Harry would be a very powerful wizard. Two, it is possible the his grandson is a shadow elementalist or a necromancer, or, and this scared him, both. A shadow elementalist and necromancer had not been seen for thousands of years. The last ones lived and fought with Merlin, a great wizard that was neither dark nor light. However, a combination of a shadow elementalist and necromancer in one person was terrifying because there had only been one. That one person started the infamous guild called Guild of Rogues. When the guild's leader disappeared, so did the guild.

Not one person, or creature for that matter, knew the name of the guild's leader. Ragnok did know that there was a vault in Gringotts that can only be accessed by a guild member. However, only the leader could remove things from the vault while all the members could put items inside. Ragnok also knew that, while their identities had been hidden, there were members of the guild actively putting things in the vault. The most recent visit by a guild member was three days ago, and he had a package that was wrapped in paper. The package looked like a rock, but Silvertooth did not question it when he took the man down to the guild's vauilt. After the man left, Silvertooth told Ragnok about it, as Ragnok told every goblin that went to the guild's vault to tell him when someone visited it.

=====Time Break=====

Four days later, Harry had gained a lot of control over his magic. He started to learn occlumency from a teacher that had been hired by Ragnok. Within two days, Harry had become a master Occlumens and his teacher began to teach him ligilmency. After another two days, Harry was a master in that as well.

-End Flashback-

As soon as he walked into the throne room of the castle to practice his magic with Ragnok, Harry was on full alert. His grandpa's favorite way of teaching was surprise attacks, and Harry had picked up almost every strategy that Ragnok used. When he saw movement on the other side of the room, Harry sent a stunner at the object, which exploded when the stunner hit it. As soon as he realized he had been tricked and his grandpa was behind him, Harry spun around just in time to see the red light of the stunner hit him and his grandpa grinning at him. He could not overcome the stunner and lost consciousness.

=====Time Break=====

After many hours of practice, Harry was able to do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day. He wanted to become an animagus like his father had. Ragnok told Harry many stories about James Potter's Hogwarts days and all about Hogwarts. Harry knew that he would get a Hogwarts letter as soon as he turned eleven. That was the reason he wanted to become an animagus before he went to Hogwarts. So, Ragnok hired a teacher for him that before seeing the student, had to swear an oath that they would not reveal to anyone who and what they had been teaching. Harry's animagus instructor, who turned out to be Professor Minerva McGonagal, was shocked that she was teaching Harry Potter how to become an animagus. However, she quickly got past that fact and started teaching him the theory and basics behind becoming an animagus, as well as showing him her form.

=====Time Break=====

"Harry, now that you have learned the theory, it is time for you to find your form. I have recently been informed that you know occlumency. This will make things quicker and easier. In order to find your form, you will need to enter your mind. If you are patient, then your form will come to you. It may take several days to find your form, and a few more after that to see it clearly, but once you can, we will continue with the next step. Any questions?" Minerva asked. They had the theory for three days and Harry had just passed the test with full marks.

"Yes. You keep saying form. Can you only have one form, or is it possible to have many forms?" Harry asked. He was hoping that he would have two, if not three, different forms.

"While it is possible to have more than one form, it is very rare. The last person to have several forms was Merlin, and he only had two forms," Minerva explained. Upon seeing Harry's downcast face, she continued. "However, considering your…other powers, it is very likely that you will have two forms. Now, if you have no other questions, go and try to find your form or forms."

"I have one more question. Is it possible to have a magical animagus form?" asked Harry. He had heard of phoenixes, and had even seen one, but he hoped that one of his animagus forms would be a phoenix.

"Well, there has never been a known magical animagus, but it is possible that you could be one, considering your ability combinations. Just, try not to get your hopes up. Now, hurry along and search for your forms." Minerva replied.

Harry grinned. "Thank you, Ms. McGonagal. I hope that I find my forms quickly. See you tomorrow. Did you know that tomorrow I turn eleven? I hope that I get to go to Hogwarts. Well, bye." With that, Harry ran off to his room.

Minerva sighed. Well, at least he isn't getting abused. When I get back to Hogwarts, I am going to get his letter and bring it to him in person. She smiled at that, then frowned. I know that he is happy here, but Albus might try to control Harry. With that final thought, she turned towards the goblin that was going to lead her out when she was finished. "Slobbertooth, can you please inform His Majesty that I would like to speak with him before I leave?"

Slobbertooth grinned. The sight unnerved Minerva. "Of coarse. I will return shortly, please wait here."

::::Elsewhere::::

Harry had arrived in his room and had sat in his favorite chair by the window. Out the window, he could see just about anything that happened in the goblin kingdom underneath Gringotts. After looking out the window for a few minutes, he closed his eyes and started to meditate. Upon entering his mindscape, Harry began walking towards the place that he found the most peace: a forest temple in the mountains. As he was walking by the bank, he stopped and went inside, looking for the memory of when he set up his mindscape. Soon finding it, he started to watch it.

-Flashback-

"Relax your mind, Harry. Think of nothing at all. Now, enter your mind and imagin what you want your mindscape to look like," said the fading voice of Harry's occlumency instructor.

In his mind, Harry saw an endless, flat plain with memory bubbles floating everywhere. He concentrated on changing the land to match all of the goblin territories with one place where all his memories would be stored. That place was the goblin town that Harry had visited with Ragnok. The reason that town was where he placed his memories was because of the mysterious forest temple that could be found near there. Harry had loved to visit the temple, and did so whenever he could. This village, like all goblin villages, had many buildings. One building did not have more than one purpose. For this reason, Harry stored his bad memories in the village jail, and the good and strong memories in the bank vaults. He did this for all of his memories, and even though anyone could find the memories, they need the password, which only Harry could say because the password was in his personal parsel-tounge/gobble-de-gook combination. As a result, no one alive could access his memories.

-End Flashback-

After finishing the memory, he continued on his journey. As he walked, he didn't notice the two animal like shadows that followed him. Entering the forest, Harry noticed that it was unnaturally quiet. Sure, it was his mindscape, but he had put many dangerous creatures in the forest, as well as many more harmless creatures that made lots of noise. This was Harry's first clue that something was wrong, however, he just ignored it and continued on his way. By doing that, he missed a few creatures that had started to follow him. Wanting to get to the temple quickly, Harry started to jog. He soon saw the forest edge and slowed to a walk.

Upon reaching the temple, Harry sat and waited. He closed his eyes and reached out with his magic. Using that magical searching power, Harry slowly searched the ground surrounding the temple, as well as the skies above it. He soon found that two creatures in the shadows, two creatures at the forest edge, and two creatures in the sky were waiting for him. Opening his eyes, he saw…