Edited 2/18/2012.
Beta'd by Jueru2003 7/27/2011.

Summary: Harry swears he'll bring Sirius back from the Veil, even if he has to go to a new school, learn the dark arts, make deals with other-worldly beings, and raise the dead. He'll make deals with demons, be stalked by vampires, kidnapped by werewolves, and snubbed by elves. He'll encounter assassins, stumble upon thieves, find deities, befriend death, and undertake deadly quests for weapons of ancient power. He'd even die if it would do any good. Harry's determined that no matter what, Sirius will live again; he swore it on his soul.

Warning: Slash, het, sex, mentions of rape, violence, death, gore, torture, pain, necromancy, summoning, blood magic, mythology, multiple belief systems, species discrimination, demons, angels, vampire biting, sex rituals, imprisonment, foreign languages, kidnapping, traitors, revenge, abuse, abandonment, and banishment.

Note: More warnings will be added as the story progresses.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the affiliated people, objects, spells, or inventions included therein. They are being used here for non-profit purposes and purely for fun.

All other spells, people, races, abilities, artifacts, abilities, rituals, and other such objects/ideas that you are not familiar with are most likely inventions of my imagination. Don't use them without permission. Most of the aforementioned concepts are based on mythology or foreign cultures, but may not appear exactly as they are traditionally known.

I'm writing this mostly for myself, because if I don't get this idea out of my head, I'm going to go insane. Comments and criticisms are appreciated; flames are not and will be ignored. If you didn't read the warnings, then it's on your head.

Note: This goes AU from the end of OtP and ignores or changes much of the content in HBP and DH.

==o0o==

Piercing the Veil
Warring Minds, Book 1
By Moirae Ma'at

==o0o==

Chapter 1: Waking from a Dream

The third Saturday of June dawned bright and beautiful as the sun painted the awaiting clouds in shimmering hues of pink and gold. Slivers of sunlight slowly crept over the battlements of Hogwarts and infiltrated the crowded room that housed a small, sleeping boy and piles of books. His cheek was resting on an open book and black hair was spread across the pages, as if he had fallen asleep while still studying. The boy was silently screaming in the grip of a nightmare by the time the sunlight filtered across his eyelids. Harry awoke with a start, his arm outstretched, the image of his godfather falling through the Veil branded before his eyes, and a denial tumbling from his lips.

"No! Sirius!"

His eyes slowly refocused on the world around him and he remembered that he was in the Room of Requirement. He had fled here yesterday morning in order to release some of his anger after Dumbledore had revealed the prophecy to him. His rage at the Wizarding World's stupidity and his own prophesized fate had driven him to destroy everything around him for almost four hours straight before his grief at Sirius' death had caught up with him and he had collapsed to the floor in silent tears. The teen and his Godfather had been exchanging letters since Harry had helped Sirius escape at the end of third year, and the older wizard had been the only person to consistently believe in Harry throughout the Triwizard Tournament. The older man's letters had been sources of comfort for Harry during that time, although Sirius' unique sense of humor and irreverent attitude had taken some getting used to.

As he was sitting there in sorrow, he kept picturing Sirius falling through the Veil until that image was all he could see. After three or four hours of staring at the scene of his Godfather's death and trying to find a way that he could have stopped it from occurring, Harry finally noticed that the stone arch from which the Veil hung seemed to subtly light up as Sirius fell through. Seeing the intricate pattern covering the stone had shocked him out of his grief because he recognized one of the larger symbols on the stone from some of Hermione's scratch paper last year. He remembered the bushy-haired girl muttering under her breath about "perfect runes" the night before he found that particular piece of scratch paper crumpled into a ball on the common room table.

Harry had rather desperately latched onto the idea that runes could help him free his Godfather from the Veil and had asked the Room of Requirements for any books it had that dealt with the subject of Runes. The teen had no idea where to start looking for information on the Veil and the runes he thought he saw there – most of it was likely trapped somewhere back in the Department of Mysteries – but it would be more trouble than it would be worth to go back to his dorm, get his invisibility cloak, and then sneak into the library to riffle through the Restricted Section. He was sure there would be teachers patrolling the halls after six students had slipped out of Hogwarts and invaded the Ministry of Magic. Without his cloak there was no way that he'd be able to get to his trunk without getting caught and with his luck it would be Snape who found him.

The young wizard had almost been buried in the stack of books that appeared at his very open request, but had quickly gotten to his feet and snatched a book off the top of one of the stacks surrounding him. He approached a chair and table that were suddenly in the corner of the room and frantically began leafing through the book for anything that had to do with the Veil.

When he'd glanced up after setting aside that first book, the piles of books he'd seen earlier had somehow shrunk in size and migrated closer to the desk he was sitting at. Harry simply shrugged and decided it was a feature of the Room of Requirement before picking up a new book to look through.

Harry remembered going through several books on runes before his eyes had begun to slip closed and he had fallen asleep looking at the list of recommended books in The Student Index of Runes. Now that he was awake again, he directed his eyes back to the book he had just been sleeping on and finished reading the list of recommendations he'd found there. He decided to take a look at Runes and their Uses, but first he had to find the book in the mess surrounding him. In reaction to his reading of the book's title, the Room of Requirement shifted for a moment and Harry found the book he was looking for sitting right in front of him. Well, that made life a lot easier, Harry thought with a smile.

He had just started to flick through Runes and their Uses when two owls flew into the Room of Requirement and settled on his table. The smaller owl hooted imperiously as he lifted his leg, his large ear tufts and ochre red eyes startling feral against his chocolate and caramel plumage. Harry barely had time to remove the envelope before the smaller owl took off and the larger owl twitched its feathers impatiently. The dark-haired boy turned towards the black and gold owl that was staring at him with piercing orange eyes and reached towards the parchment on his leg slowly. Harry carefully removed the envelope and watched as the second owl flew out the window as well.

Looking down at the letter in his hands, Harry noticed it was from Gringotts and addressed to Heir Apparent Harry James Potter.

Since when was he an Heir Apparent? And what in the world was an Heir Apparent anyway, Harry wondered as he opened the wax seal holding the letter closed and began to read.

.~.~.~.

Heir Apparent Potter,

Gringotts offers its sincere condolences for the death of your Godfather Sirius Orion Black. We are writing to inform you that you will need to be present at Gringotts within the next sevenday in order to receive your inheritance according to your Godfather's Will before the Will becomes invalid due to Ministry regulations.

We await your visit,

Spearback, Head of the Goblin Office of Wills
Bloodburn, Head of the Goblin Inheritance Office

.~.~.~.

Harry froze his reaction to the reminder that his Godfather was probably dead before making a mental note that he needed to go to Gringotts within the next week. He had no idea how he'd get there after being dumped with the Dursleys for the summer, but he'd find a way somehow.

The young wizard moved onto the letter the feral-looking owl had delivered and slowly opened it. He watched dumbfounded as a thick book fell out of the thin parchment and onto the table, before carefully shaking the letter to see if anything else was going to fall out. When nothing else happened, Harry tipped the letter right-side up and finally started to read what was written on the parchment.

.~.~.~.

Dear Prospective Student,

You are hereby invited to attend K'ver, Magical Academy of the Lost Arts. Enclosed is a book that contains information about the school. If you would like to attend, please remove the last page from the book and follow the directions written there.

- The K'ver Staff

.~.~.~.

Harry looked at the letter skeptically before refolding it, slipping it inside of the book, and placing the book to the side so he could return to researching the Veil. Why would he want to go to another school when he had everything he wanted here at Hogwarts?

"Now where was that book he had seen mentioned in Runes and their Uses? Wasn't it called Olde World Rhunes? Hmmm, it should be around here somewhere…" Harry muttered absently as he looked down at the list, double checking the name of the new book he was looking for.

Harry looked down to find Olde World Rhunes resting near his hand on the table and opened it to the table of contents. There was a long list of topics, but he was only interested in the fifth chapter, "Rhunik Kaumbinations". He found a list of books at the back of that chapter that was accompanied by a multitude of written notes in the margins. The majority of the scribbling said something along the lines of Stupidest book I ever read and Time better spent sleeping, which encouraged Harry to ignore those particular books. Someone else had absently written Not worth the money – Morgan recommended Merging the Green Hills and the Ice Fields: Using Norse and Celtic Runes, 1648 besides one of the titles that he was interested in, so Harry was off on a new search to find Merging the Green Hills and the Ice Fields. Thankfully the Room of Requirement happened to have the book and promptly provided it when Harry asked for the title by name.

.~.~.~.

Merging the Green Hills and the Ice Fields: Using Norse and Celtic Runes

Throughout history Norse Runes and Celtic Runes have been used together in a series of experiments to form containers and prisons. The most famous application of this unique experimentation is the prison known as Trichardg, (for more information see Treasures of the Runic World by Exmar K. Thespot) and is held up as a superb example of blended magicks. It is a sad fact of life that modern wizards have been unable to duplicate the successes of their forefathers, although…

.~.~.~.

"Treasures of the Runic World, please."

Harry had to wait for several minutes before the small volume finally appeared on the table. The teen immediately opened it to "Chapter 8: Trichardg" and began to read.

.~.~.~.

Trichardg: The Cage of the Northern Skies

The infamous prison of Trichardg is a beautiful blend of magical protections. The outer magical defenses are a combination of runic magic, wards, curses and traps, while the highest security cells in the prison are found within the Veil of the North. This high-security area can supposedly be opened through a combination of runic magic and the forbidden arts, but the process of doing so has been lost to time. The prison itself was invaded in 1240 and the British Ministry of Magic appropriated the Veil of the North for further study; it has not been seen since.

Thankfully the prison wards are still active and have been studied for centuries from every angle imaginable. They have been added to over time, although the interaction…

.~.~.~.

The Veil of the North had to be the Veil that Sirius fell into! It just had to be. There were no other veils mentioned in any of the texts he had looked at and he was sure that the Veil was covered in runes. It made sense that the Ministry of Magic would dump the Veil of the North in the Department of Mysteries if they couldn't figure out how to make it work. It was just like the Ministry to leave dangerous things lying around in unprotected places; after all, they considered it perfectly acceptable to keep life-altering prophecies, mutant brains, and dangerous projects so poorly protected that a full-out fire-fight had to happen before the wards reacted to strangers. Harry rolled his eyes. It was official; the Ministry of Magic was full of idiots, but the one who took the crown had to be Fudge. He tried a kid in a full court for the magical equivalent of a misdemeanor and appointed Umbridge as a teacher. The previous minister had to be pretty lacking as well not to give Sirius a fair trial in open court. Maybe a lack of common sense and fair play was a qualification for being Minister of Magic?

Harry hauled his thoughts back from their tangent on the Ministry of Magic's stupidity over the years and took another look at the passage in Treasures of the Runic World. It mentioned the forbidden arts, but Harry had no idea what those were, so he asked the Room of Requirements for any materials that mentioned the forbidden arts.

Harry was disappointed when a single, yellowed piece of parchment appeared on the desk in front of him twenty minutes later, but began to read anyway.

.~.~.~.

Essay on the Forbidden Arts, by M.J. Douglin, History of Magic, 1876

The forbidden arts, often called the lost arts due to the ban on their practice within the British Wizarding World, generally include blood magic, necromancy, summoning, thread magic, soul magic, and other similar branches of magic. It is common for those who have talent in the lost arts to apprentice to Masters of the Guilds, although very few would-be apprentices are ever accepted without having already had basic training in the subject.

As of 1250, the lost arts were taught in six schools across the world, but by 1532 the only school still teaching the lost arts was Kashien Vershlunt Ergenmier Risuellmptsu. Kashien, often known as K'ver, selects only the best in the world to attend and does not accept applications or transfers.

Most schools stopped offering the forbidden arts in 1389 after a student accidentally released a horde of zombies and killed her whole graduating class. This incident…

.~.~.~.

Harry paused and looked back at the word K'ver, knowing he'd seen it somewhere recently. He jerked upright as he realized that it had been on the letter he'd looked at and promptly discarded earlier. Didn't it say K'ver, Academy of the Lost Arts? He had to find it! Harry immediately began to search through the stacks surrounding him, his shout echoing around the Room of Requirements.

"Where's that letter!"