A/n: ok, this is in response to Blackest Grim's challenge.
Never fear! Insane Dreams will not be left to rot! I just couldn't help myself. Not to mention Grim has oh so kindly written a response to my own challenge.
Please enjoy and review!
WARNINGS: slash (femslash as well being as Grim insists, but I'm not to sure how it'll come out. never written femslash before), dark-ish!Harry, bad!Dumbledore, character death (kinda), and time travel.
Any of the above not your cuppa? Be-gone! Flames will be used to keep me warm in my damn cold room where I write.
The Cap'n's guide to her writing--
"C is for cookie, and that's good enough for me!" -Talking
C is for cookie, and that's good enough for me!. -Thoughts
/C is for cookie, and that's good enough for me!\\-Parsletongue
C is for cookie, and that's good enough for me! – book text
C is for cookie, and that's good enough for me!" –Memories/Dreams
Chapter: I
All consuming pain, white-hot and ripping through his small body. Then, it slipped from his weary bones like it was never there.
With a groan Harry Potter sat up and brought his hand to his face, moving his glasses aside, rubbing his sore eyes. Slowly he opened his eyes and let out a panicked screech as he caught sight of the transparent appendage. Several deep calming breaths later, he checked his hand once more. Nothing had changed in the past five seconds. His hand was still reminiscent of a fogged window. Panicking once more, he reached for his wand, but got another nasty surprise as he discovered it was missing.
"What the hell? Damn it, I need a mirror or something!" Another shrill sound of distress slipped through his lips as a large full body mirror came careening at him.
"Dear, there is no need to be so twitchy or noisy." A soft voice chided him gently, laughter present in the gentle scold. "The muggles will hear."
Harry started to get to his feet, but found himself floating towards the ceiling. A startled gasp left his lips before he closed his eyes and tried to get down. When he opened his eyes once more he was on the floor once more, toes dipping into flagstones. "Who's there?" he called out once more, blushing at his horrid dealings with the situation.
"Right in front of you dear." The gentle voice called once more, laughter still present.
Harry looked at the mirror with wide eyes, "How did I summon you? I don't have a wand, and I'm not even corporeal."
A motherly face appeared on the smooth surface of the glass. She offered a kind smile. "You are a spirit love. One of great power at that. You can even do magic still!"
"No," Harry collapsed to the ground in a heap as realization hit him, eyes wide in shock. "How did…who…why am I…"
"Dead?" the mirror gently finished for him. "I know it's hard for you to accept this, but it's true."
Harry looked into the aged face the mirror produced of herself and he saw not pity as he suspected, but understanding. "Why am I dead?"
"Young one, I know not how you came to be here, or what happened to cause your current state. But I always find that thinking back to the beginning of a mess always helps."
Harry looked at the glossy surface blankly for a moment before looking down into his transparent, silvery hands, trying to remember. As he remembered, pearly tears started to rain down his cheeks.
Harry stood looking at the Gargoyle statue in front of him. Dumbledore had called him and was very important as said in his note given to him by an awe-shocked first year Hufflepuff. He felt his patience thin as remembered why the Hufflepuff was so in awe of him.
He had finally defeated Lord Voldemort at the end of his seventh year, but at the cost of many loved ones' lives. The first to go down had been Remus Lupin at the silver hand of Wormtail. Harry had tried to hold back Tonks as she tried to rush towards the dead werewolf she had fallen in love with. He had not been able to hold back the grief stricken woman. She soon became the second death, soon to be followed by everyone in the DA and many Order members. It had been a hard battle, but he had soon discovered that the Death Eaters were ordered to not attack him. Tom wanted him to himself.
Dumbledore had done nothing to stop the deaths of many innocents. He didn't even try to stop a Death Eater from killing the head of Gryffindor who had been the man's wife.
Harry had lost it when a Death Eater had killed his lover, Draco. The Death Eater did not survive the blast of raw magic that had left Harry's wand in his grief.
Harry had a nasty shock in his seventh year when it was discovered that Tom was his father. They were never become a family. Too much in their pasts and futures prevented them. The death of his parents, a prophecy- later discovered as fake-, and a scheming old man. He completed the fake prophecy.
Harry never trusted anyone after the war was over. Not even the man he had once thought as his grandfather. But the old man had offered him a home and a job. Harry went back to Hogwarts.
He had now been working at the great castle for nearly five years. Though he loved his job, Hogwarts seemed empty without people he knew from his year still alive to liven his day. He turned into a shell. His eyes loosing what little light they had had after all the years of abuse and war.
-
Shaken out of his revere by some Gryffindors running past him, he smiled as they ran into a cushioned wall that had sprouted from the flagstones. Harry walked over to them, forcing his face to stay in a scowl as the younger boys gulped at they caught sight of their Head of House.
"What have I told you about running in the halls?" He said this in a calm but stern voice he had inherited from the head before him.
The three 4th years stared in shock at him, before one of them, Mr. Young, answered, "We're sorry sir, but we're late to the Defense Club meeting."
The Slytherin Heir frowned at them, "Three points off for each of you for rule breaking, and hurry up and get to your meeting; I would hate to have Professor Smith come to me about lateness."
Harry smiled at the eager nods before the children dashed off once more. How he loved his students. Shaking his head Harry remembered the reason he was in this wing of the castle. Once again he stood in front of the statue and spoke the password, "Chocolate covered Espresso Beans", and made his way up the spiraled staircase. Before he could even knock he heard the voice of the old headmaster telling him to enter.
Harry would later learn that he should just have ignored the small note as he battled against the old man for his life. Dumbledore had called him to kill him, saying that Harry had too much power. That the power would consume him, bringing forth a darkness not yet ever seen. The old fool had said Harry should thank him for saving the lives that Harry had given so much to save.
They were now fighting high above Hogwarts in their animagus forms, Harry a large black griffin, Dumbledore a grey Horntail Dragon. While they were evenly matched in power, the older wizard had more experience in battling then Harry did. Soon Harry was tiring, struggling to move out of the way from attacks. An attack from the world's most trusted wizard, and he was in a spiral fall towards one of the towers, to tired to remain a griffin, morphing into a human on the way down.
The last thing Harry remembered was the satisfied glint in Albus Dumbledore's eyes, and the warm power of the castle wrapping around him, and an immense pain in his back before darkness covered his vision.
He had fallen one hundred feet onto thespire of his beloved House's Tower.
Harry gasped, pearly tears once more traveling down his cheeks, gently touching his fingers along the gaping hole and bloodied garments he was left with after his death. Albus Dumbledore had betrayed him because the old man had grown insecure in his standings. Yes, Harry had never been the lightest wizard available, but there had been no danger of him attacking anybody. He knew he should have seen it coming by the way the old man looked at him at meals, but never in his wildest dreams had he suspected this. Now he was dead and in a place he didn't recognize.
"Dear, will you be ok?" the concerned voice of the mirror called to him.
Harry quickly whipped his ghostly tears away and tore his hand away from his ruined chest, mad at himself for showing weakness, "I don't know if I'll ever be fine,"
The mirror gave him a sad smile. "My name is Monica. What's yours? I'm sure you don't want to be called love or dear constantly."
Harry smiled at the kind mirror; it had been a while since anyone had spoken with true kindness in their voice to him. "My name is Harold Riddle, you can call me Griffin or Harry if you wish, that's what my friends called me."
"Why did they call you Griffin, Dear?"
"I'm a griffin animagus."
Surprise and excitement appeared on her face, "Oh, can I see? Animagus around here aren't very common."
Harry's brows knitted, "I'll change if I can, if you tell me where I am."
"We're in a castle use by muggle thieves at the moment. Sadly, they stole me from my ancestors house."
"Sorry to hear that." He mumbled as he gazed about the room once more. "How long have you been here?"
"A few weeks I think. My family will be here to get me soon though. I have to much information about the family and magic for them to abandon me here." She quipped before raising her eyebrows expectantly at him.
Smiling at the expectant look Monica gave him, he took a deep breath and concentrated on his inner animal. "Well here goes nothing."
A few seconds later Harry opened his eyes after feeling his bones crack and rearrange themselves, to see shock on Monica's face. Opening his beak, a few high-pitched whistles and clicks were aimed at the mirror. He hasn't been in this form since before the battle with Dumbledore. Harry looked into the mirror to look at him self; a large ghostly silver Griffin stood where he once did, ragged hole and blood still present. Harry quickly transformed back to the sound of excited talk.
"That was fantastic! I've only ever seen four others with an animagus forms, but none of theirs were as great as yours!"
"Thanks." He said with a smile. "Who are the four you talk of, Monica?"
"One of my daughter's granddaughters and her three friends. Such talent they have." The mirror said with a smile of pride.
Harry smiled, "What are their names?"
"Helga Hufflepuff, her friends Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Funny how she makes friends with people who are nothing like her. Godric for instance-" She stopped as she caught sight of the look on Harry's face, "You all right dear?"
"The founders of Hogwarts, Monica?" Harry felt lightheaded, amazed that he could still be shocked to the point that even his ghostly functions quit and that he was in the founder's time period.
Monica looked confused for a moment before she spoke, "Oh, dear they haven't founded anything yet, but they are planning on founding a school as soon as they find the right place. Now that I think on it, this castle would be rather nice once cleaned up and the muggles dealt with. But anyway! How did you know?"
And that's when Harry finally fainted.
"Harry! Come on boy! Wake up!" Monica whispered to the ghost floating above the floor. "Harry, the muggles are coming! They can't see you!" the mirror begged.
He came to slowly, to the frantic words of Monica. "Muggles?" he mumbled as he came to, blinking up at the mirror.
"Yes muggles! If they see you, who knows what will happen!"
"If they see me maybe they'll leave us be." Harry grumbled as he slowly floated upright, shaking his head.
Monica's face twisted in thought and she smiled slowly. "What all can you do?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked warily, arching an eyebrow at the scheming object.
"You're idea is perfect! If we scare the muggles off, this castle can become the school Helga and her friends want to start so badly!"
Harry blinked rather dumbly at the mirror. "Let me get this straight. You want me to scare the shit out of these muggles, so that we can steal their castle?"
"Yes! Oh do hurry up and hide somewhere! They're almost here!" she whispered, grinning before allowing her face to fade from the surface of the mirror.
"God only knows why I'm doing this," he mumbled before he swiftly floated to the rafters of the room.
"You're hearing things, Eric." A rough voice sounded as the door opened.
"No I'm not! I swear, I heard voices!" Eric replied rather indignantly.
"Well then, who's yapping away up here? That mirror we stole? Or is it the mites?" the other man asked scathingly.
"Orson, I just want to check. This castle is huge. God only knows what all could get in here without us noticing."
"Like me maybe?" Harry screeched as he dropped from the rafters, a maniacal grin stretching his ghostly face.
Eric and Orson paled parchment white and then screamed as one. They both turned and tore out of the room, hearing the ghost following them, still laughing and screaming at them. They reached the entrance hall of the great castle and threw their bodies against the heavy oak doors, flinging them open and running into the night.
"NEVER ENTER MY CASTLE AGAIN!" Harry screamed after them, face twisted into a mask of anger. When the two were well out of sight, he started laughing. First it was a chuckle, then a snigger, and then great rolling laughs were pushing up from his stomach and out of his mouth. Still grinning, he floated back to where he had left Monica. "I think they're gone for good." He said with a grin.
"You needed that I think." She said wisely, wizened face grinning as well.
"Probably." He agreed. "Is there any way that we can speed up the process of the others finding you?"
"I did that yesterday. They should have located me by now and will be here within the hour."
"I see," Harry mumbled.
"You don't seem pleased with that?" she questioned, sure that the young ghost had been excited about meeting other wizards and witches, even if he was dead and they weren't.
"I'm going to explore." He murmured as he took off. "I'll show up sometime. Don't worry about me. I'm already dead." He said with a wry grin before he finally slipped through the wall.
"Poor thing," Monica whispered as she stared at the spot where he had disappeared. "He's trying to pretend he's accepted he's dead. But he really hasn't."
"MONICA!" Helga cried into the echoing corridors of the castle that the mirror's magic had led them to.
"There could be other people here you know." A voice snapped waspishly to her left.
"Leave her be Salazar. We did readings on the building. All that they showed was some magic in the masonry. Big wow." Godric growled.
"Both of you shut up and help us look." Rowena demanded angrily.
Sulking, the two men closed their mouths and pulled out long wands and twitched them. "This way," they said at one, going to a corridor to the left, following the pointing of their wands.
Harry had heard the cry for Monica and had started to head back to where the mirror was, wanting to watch the founders when they found the mirror. Whilst he had been sliding through the walls, he had come to gripes with his death. There were ways he could bring himself back to life yes, but that required his body. And he very much doubted it had followed him through to whatever time warp he had been thrown in. But he was sure that if he delved further into the dark arts, he could create a spell or ritual or something that would give him a life back. The hard part was finding a wizard willing to help him that was strong enough.
He reached the room where Monica was and floated in, silent as the grave, and ascended to the ceiling rafters once more. He saw Monica give him a look out of the corner of her frame and gave a small wave before secreting himself in the shadows.
The door gave a shudder as it was thrown open violently, a slightly plump witch hurrying forward. "Monica!" she called happily, rushing to the mirror.
"What if someone had been in here?" Godric yelled as he and Salazar pushed roughly into the room, jostling with each other. "What if you had just gotten hacked to pieces by some mad man?" He roughly shoved Salazar to the floor. The thinner man glared venomously upward and hissed a soft spell that had the burlier man toppling over, stiff, frown still firmly in place.
"Children!" Rowena barked at the two men, eyes flashing. She had opened her mouth to yell further when she was interrupted.
"No need to worry about that dear." Monica said to the fuming men. "Harold took care of the muggles."
Harry hadfound he had to struggle not to laugh at the two men. He continued to watch from his lofty vantage point, ghostly eyes gleaming with laughter. But when Monica anounced his prescence, his eyes widenedand all laughter fell from his face, hisghostly complexion paling even more.
"Who's Harold, what did he do to get rid of them, where is he?" Salazar demanded, getting up and releasing Godric from the spell, Rowena and Helga looking sharply at the mirror.
"I'm Harold. I just gave them, a little scare." He said with a twisted grin as he floated down in front of them, Monica's face smiling at them through the hole in his chest, framed by his silver blood.
that's all folks. for now at least. do review and tell me oh so kindly what can be done to improve on this. oh and uh, don't expect huge chapters like this ever again. sadly, i cannot write long chapters. and yes, Grim knows i have tweaked the origonal required first chapter. i just hope she doesn't mind the amount of tweaking it underwent...
Cheers!
The Cap'n