Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Hunter x Hunter universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Shueisha Inc. (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye – as if that wasn't already obvious since I swapped a few genders), angst, drama, some mild character bashing, and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Dark x Wizard x Hunter
Chapter One: Ticket x to x Nowhere

Harriet Azalea Potter, better known as Azalea to those she called friends, stared unseeingly out the car window as her uncle drove them home. Her thoughts twisted round and round as they endlessly chased a single fleeting thought; neither can live while the other survives. Kill or be killed; that was what her entire life boiled down to. She had to kill Voldemort or Voldemort would kill her. Of course, Voldemort wouldn't stop at just killing Azalea; no, the Dark Lord would kill anyone that got in his way as well as killing anyone that didn't match up to his twisted standards. The soon to be sixteen year old witch was drawn out of her introspection at that point by the loud, whiny voice of her cousin.

"But daaad, I want to be a Hunter," Dahlia whined with a petulance that Azalea hadn't heard in years. "I want to travel the world looking for treasure and be famous! Couch Steiner said I have a real chance at passing the exam! I could get all the extra boxing training I needed for free once I get my Hunter's License."

"Absolutely not! No daughter of mine will be mixed up with those lawless heathens! Unnatural, I tell you, gallivanting all over the world living on the tax-payer's dollar and chasing after fairy tales! Why, they'd take advantage of you in a heartbeat and ruin you completely! There are days when I wonder how on earth I let that man talk me into allowing my little princess to participate in a sport as violent as boxing but I have to draw the line somewhere. My answer is; no. End of discussion."

"Couch Steiner already booked me passage to the exam site and the boat leaves tomorrow morning from Portsmouth; I'm already packed."

"I said no! You'll not be going. It's bad enough we we're saddled with one freak in the family; I'll not let anyone turn my daughter into a second."

Azalea tuned out the rest of the argument and sat back in her seat, her mind running a mile a minute as she remembered the long ago dream she'd had to be a Hunter; to travel the world searching for the elusive unknown. She'd buried that dream when she'd learned about her magic thinking that she'd found something even better. Now, she wished she'd stuck to her original goals; maybe then she would not have gotten her godfather and Cedric killed and the rest of her friends seriously injured.

'Training,' Azalea thought as her vibrant emerald eyes returned to watching the passing scenery once more. 'I could use some serious training; free or not. Dumbledore isn't going to give it to me though, despite what he promised the other day; I could see it in his eyes. If he was truly going to train me, he'd have started training me years ago. If anything, the old goat plans to sit me down and tell me all about Voldemort's tragic past over crumpets and tea in order for me to better understand my enemy and feel sorry for him instead of teaching me how to kick his arse. No, if I want any real training, then I'll have to get it myself; just like I've always done.'

Azalea sat up straighter as she realized she'd just been given the perfect opportunity to recapture her childhood dream and get herself the training she needed to defeat Voldemort. All she had to do was convince Dahlia to part with her boarding pass and then she could go in her cousin's place to take the Hunter's Exam. Better yet, if she could steal the boarding pass out from under her cousin's nose, then Dahlia would think Uncle Vernon had taken the boarding pass and thrown it out. All she had to do was avoid getting caught taking the boarding pass and then she'd be gone in a heartbeat and free to get the training she needed.

Thoughts of Ron Weasley, Horatio Granger, and Ginny Weasley (her best friends) crowded into Azalea's mind at that point and she felt a rush of sadness, regret, and guilt pour through her as she recalled how seriously they'd been injured all because she hadn't listened to Horatio. She should have known he was right; he was always right. Instead, she had to be her usual pigheaded self and she'd dragged them all into a dangerous trap that had nearly killed Ron and Horatio and seriously injured Ginny, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood (the latter being a relatively new friend that she'd made during the previous school term).

As much as she wanted all of her friends by her side, she knew she couldn't drag them into potentially worse danger than she already had; it wouldn't be fair to them or their families.

Once they arrived home, Azalea carried her things up to her room and promptly locked herself inside of her room before she dumped out the contents of her trunk onto her bed. She then began carefully sorting through everything in order to figure out what she needed and what she could leave behind. All of her robes were folded up and tucked back into the trunk; she would have no use for them in the muggle world. Her winter cloak was set aside since it was normal enough looking that no one would question her using it. The hand knitted sweaters Mrs. Weasley had given her and the bulk of her hand-me-down clothes were also packed back into her trunk.

Her invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map, her Firebolt, the exquisite ruby jewelry set that Sirius had given her on her fifteenth birthday (because she didn't dare leave something that valuable behind), the photo album Hagrid had given her in her first year, and the shards of the two-way mirror she'd broken a few days earlier were quickly set aside to take as well (the shards carefully tucked into a sock in the hopes she might be able to repair the mirror at some point). Next she carefully sorted through the books she'd purchased or been given through the years; carefully choosing only those that would be useful (such as Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts that Sirius and Remus had given her for Christmas this past year).

The only other equipment that Azalea kept from her school supplies was her silver potions knife, her writing supplies, and her book bag; the rest of it pretty useless outside of class in Azalea's mind. The last thing Azalea tucked into her old trunk was Hedwig's cage, after letting the owl out. Azalea then locked the trunk and dragged it back downstairs where she was soon cornered by her suspicious uncle.

"What are you doing then, girl?"

"I wanted to lock up my trunk," Azalea stated politely as she gestured towards the piece of luggage in question. "I know you don't feel comfortable with my things out in the open and I thought I'd save you a trip up to my room and the usual fight and bring it down myself this time."

"Why would you do that? What are you planning?"

Azalea did some fast thinking as she stood there; she knew that she'd only make things worse if she said the wrong thing. She thought again of the boarding pass that Dahlia had been given and she recalled what her uncle had said about one freak in the family being more than enough. Nodding her head slowly, Azalea offered her uncle the truth and crossed her fingers that it wouldn't get her locked in her room for the rest of the summer.

"I'm leaving. I need to be trained and the adults like me aren't going to help me," Azalea stated as she steadily met her uncle's gaze. "You don't want Dahlia to enter the Hunter Exams and I need to. If you give me her boarding pass, it will solve all of our problems; I'll be out of your hair for the rest of the summer, Dahlia won't be able to sneak off in the middle of the night, and I'll be getting the training I need. If the wizards show up looking for me, you can tell them the truth; that I left to train of my own free will."

Uncle Vernon glared at Azalea for a full five minutes before he pursed his lips and muttered, "Deal. I'll get you the damn boarding pass right now but you better find your own way to the boat."

"Not a problem, I'll leave just as soon as I finish packing the things I'll need to take with me."

Azalea didn't wait around to see her uncle toss her trunk into the cupboard under the stairs as she hurried back up to finish her packing. Ten minutes later, her uncle handed her the boarding pass while Dahlia glared down at them from the stairs. Azalea thanked her uncle before she slipped her invisibility cloak on over her winter cloak (the witch wearing the bulky garment because there hadn't been room for it in her bag) and slipped out the backdoor. As she slipped out of the backyard, she prayed that Mad-eye wasn't on Potter Watch for the evening since he would easily see through Azalea's cloak. Hedwig had been sent on ahead so she wouldn't draw any attention to her and so the owl wouldn't have to suffer through a trip on the Knight Bus.

She walked through the streets for an hour and constantly checked her back trail for anyone following her before she determined that she'd gone far enough. Pulling off her cloak, she tucked it under her shirt and pulled up the hood on her winter cloak in order to hide her face so that she wouldn't be recognized as she brought out her wand and summoned the Knight Bus. The triple tiered purple bus appeared with a loud bang two minutes later and Azalea climbed up inside after paying the eleven sickle fare; her first destination, Diagon Alley.

The ride was as jarring as it had been the first time she rode the magically enhanced bus just before her third year and Azalea nearly kissed the ground in relief when she stepped down off the nightmarish mode of transportation. She'd never understand why most forms of magical travel had to be vomit-inducing; flying brooms the only notable exception she'd encountered to date. Shaking off her nausea, Azalea entered the Leaky Cauldron and made her way through to the alley out back so she could open the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Her first stop was Gringotts where she withdrew three thousand galleons and exchanged two thousand of it for pounds sterling. She ended up signing several documents the moment the goblins had recognized her through her vault key and promptly informed her that her godfather had left her everything upon his death. That had been a hard blow to Azalea's already bruised heart but she soldiered through it. She then promptly shoved her loss to the back of her mind as she made out a will of her own to keep that money out of Death Eater hands in the event that she died (either during the Hunter's Exam or later when she faced Voldemort).

Her next stop had been the luggage store to purchase a larger book bag because her things barely fit inside of the book bag she had and she still wanted to buy some foodstuffs and ready made healing potions to have on hand. She ended up paying for her current book bag to be upgraded with several nifty charms instead of buying a new one; an undetectable Extension Charm (so the bag would hold far more), an Impervius Charm (to make the bag waterproof), an Indestructible Charm (to prevent the bag from being damaged), a Featherweight Charm (so weight would not be an issue), and an Anti-Theft Charm to prevent anyone from stealing anything out of her bag.

Azalea had then visited a handful of other stores to purchase a few more books with useful spells (including a rare tome on wandless magic from a junk shop), a Home Healer's Kit (the wizarding equivalent of a first aide kit), a penknife that was exactly like the one Sirius had given her (which she had first ruined and subsequently lost in the Department of Mysteries), basic camping supplies, a used one-bedroom magical tent (fully furnished), and a fully stocked magical stasis box (for the tent). After a short internal debate, the young witch purchased several changes of clothes from the men's section of a second hand robe shop (ones that could pass for muggle wear and that were layered with an assortment of spells that made them more comfortable and more durable) so that she could pass herself off as a boy in order to avoid unwanted attention from unscrupulous men.

Next she bought a dragon-hide cloak that would provide better protection than her old winter cloak, two pairs of dragon-hide gloves, and a pair of dragon-hide boots (all of them made from the skin of a Hungarian Horntail). She also stocked up on owl treats, bottled water, butterbeer, pumpkin juice, healthy snacks, plenty of fresh ingredients so she could cook for herself when needed, and tons of wizarding candy. Her last stop of the day was the future location of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes where she was given a ton of prank supplies after Fred and George wheedled her plans out of her the moment they discovered her peering through the windows of their newly rented shop.

That was when Azalea learned that no known witch or wizard had ever before taken and passed the Hunter's Exam; the identical wizards telling her that magicals feared Hunters almost as much as they feared dark lords because the Hunters were known to hunt magicals. Azalea was a little skeptical about the validity of their claim but thanked them for the warning. The two of them then swore an oath not to betray her plans to anyone and promised to watch over the others (Ron, Horatio, Ginny, Luna, and Neville) for her while she was gone. The two of them also wished her good luck and let her know that the Trace on all underage magicals could not track her or any magic she performed once she was fifty feet out from the shore.

Supplies set, Azalea changed into a set of her new clothes before she headed to Kings Cross Station on foot in order to catch a train down to Portsmouth; the fifteen year old witch had no desire to take the Knight Bus a second time in one night. She made only one stop on the way to the train station, and that was to buy a black leather fedora that had caught her attention as she walked passed a hat store. A glance in the mirror on her way out of the store had Azalea thinking that all she needed was a pair of pistols slung around her waist and she'd look like a cowboy straight out of the American Old West or an Indiana Jones look-a-like if she had a whip and stood eight or ten inches taller.

She was wearing a pair of tan canvas pants, a black t-shirt under a red cotton dress shirt with the top three buttons undone (her undersized breasts bound flat with tightly wrapped bandages in order to hide them), and her new boots. She wore her new dragon-hide cloak unbuttoned overtop of that and the way it hung down to the middle of her calves and framed her slender frame made it look more like an old fashioned leather trench coat. The sleeves of the cloak were extra long so that they easily covered the back of both hands and therefore hid the scars on the back of her right hand from sight.

Lastly, the hat helped hide both her hair (which was cut short because her aunt couldn't stand the fact that Azalea's hair was thick and luxuriant while Dahlia's was thin and stringy) and her scar in addition to shading her eyes and making it harder to see what color they were. All it all, her new outfit made her look distinctly male and far older than she was despite the fact that she was still so short.

Chuckling to herself over her silent comparisons to one of television's greatest action heroes, Azalea hurried on her way to the train station and soon found herself ensconced on a passenger train headed south to Hampshire and ultimately, Portsmouth. In her pocket was the boarding pass that she prayed would set her on the path to finding the skills she knew she would need in order to defeat Voldemort once and for all.

Several hours later, Azalea was walking through the darkened ship yard looking for the dock listed on the boarding pass in her hand; hoping and praying that this hadn't just been one huge joke by the Dursleys in an effort to make her look like a buffoon. She was beginning to grow frustrated when she finally found her ship. As she stared up at the ancient looking wooden vessel, she wondered if it would really carry her to the location of the Hunter's Exam or if it would sink half way there. Azalea tilted her head to one side as she reconsidered her first impression of the ship; her mind recalling the slightly decrepit state of the Durmstrang's ship during her fourth year (though that ship had had magic to offset it's unseaworthy appearance).

Seeing that the gang plank had been withdrawn for the night (it was well after midnight after all), Azalea settled herself on top of a few shipping crates that were stacked on the dock beside the ship and, after carefully scanning the area to make certain that there was no one watching her, she pulled her invisibility cloak over her in order to prevent anyone from noticing her. She then closed her eyes to get a few hours of rest while she waited for the sun to rise.

It was the sound of a heavy wooden gang plank slamming down onto the dock that woke Azalea early the next morning and the teenaged witch nearly fell off her temporary perch into the water when she jerked upright. She took a moment to calm her racing heart before she glanced upwards to see an old man with the bulbous red nose of a career alcoholic, a white bristle beard and mustache that covered half of his face, and a pipe with a smoking cigarette stuffed in the bowl in one hand. The man was wearing gray pants, a red vest trimmed with black and white checkers over a white canvas shirt with a bronze stripe around the neckline, and a captain's hat.

Azalea studied him for a minute longer before she slipped off to an out of the way corner of the dock to remove her invisibility cloak where no one would see her appearing out of thin air. She then boldly walked up to the gang plank and fished her second hand boarding pass out of her pocket as she walked right up to the man that she assumed was the captain of the ship. Trying not to show her nervousness, Azalea waited patiently as the man scrutinized both her and the boarding pass before giving her permission to board the ship. Azalea politely thanked the man and made her way onto the deck.

The teen spent another two hours curiously exploring the ship while doing her best not to get in the way of the crew; this was her first time on a ship (the row boats she'd ridden in on a couple of occasions didn't count). During that time, another twelve people bound for the Hunter's Exam boarded the ship and Azalea studied them from the corner of her eye. They were her competition, after all, and they were potential obstacles in the path of her goal; to become a Hunter so that she could find the strength to destroy Voldemort.

Just before they set sail, one of the other passengers asked the captain where they were headed and how long it would take them to get there. The captain had laughingly replied that their destination was everywhere and nowhere and that it would take months to get there. The ornery old seaman then warned them that it was not to late to abandon ship if the unknown frightened them.

Azalea clenched her jaw tightly and pressed her lips tightly together as she stared out at the open sea while the crew laughed and jeered at the other now nervous passengers. She wouldn't give up; not now, not ever, and not for any reason.

10-30-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.