MischiefManaged!

Right, I blame the following fics for the thrice-damned Plot Bunny that caused me to write this:

'Dark as Night' by LavenderStorm

'Harry Lokison the Trickster's son' by dglsprincess105

'Loki' by bob-the-blue

'Beyond the Pale' by Araceil

Not necessarily in that order. The opening is heavily based, if somewhat changed, on 'The Boy Who Fell, A HP Starwars Crossover ' by Darth Marr. If you have read any of these fics and notice similarities, excluding the beginning of course, know its because they inspired the fic but not that I'm deliberately ripping them off.

Right well, on with the show!

Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling.

The Norse Gods belong to, em the Norse?

XXX

It was raining as though the heavens themselves wept for the poor, innocent child being buried. At least that's what Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore thought to himself as he listened to the minister conducting the sermon. Dumbledore felt sick. It was his fault this was happening. No, he had not been the one to actually kill the boy. But it had been on his recommendation that he ended up in that house. He remembered the events that had led to that recommendation all too clearly.

X-FLASHBACK-X

It was 1 November 1981, and Dumbledore was still trying to understand what had occurred the night before. It seemed Tom had decided that it was the Potters the prophecy referred too. Thankfully all four had survived the attack that had cost Tom his life, if what the man had could still be called life.

"Lets see." He spoke aloud to the mostly empty room, trying to organise his thoughts. "James went down first, he was banished into a wall and rendered unconscious. That was in the sitting room. Than Tom confronted Lily in the nursery. She said she pleaded with him and he seemed reluctant to kill her, in the end just stunning her... Most likely due to his promise to Severus." Here he stopped again, took a lemon drop from the bowl on his desk and popped in into his mouth. "From here it becomes guesswork. Young Harry seems unharmed, if unusually tired. Darren on the other hand, shows traces of the Killing Curse and some kind of ancient protection. Both focused on the small, almost stylised cut on his forehead. He was struck, clearly marked, and has powerful magic protecting him... Yes, Darren is the child mentioned in the prophecy. Lily had been examining old texts relating to protection and sacrifice, could her willingness to die for the boys have shielded them... Why? Why would such an act do that? Could it be? Could the power Tom knows not really be, really be love?" Here Dumbledore turned to face the other occupant of his office.

Fawkes looked at the blathering twit. It was a burning day and he wasn't in the mood to think about those boys. Even if it wasn't a burning day he wouldn't be in the mood to think about them. Something seemed off about the older one. Like he know the boy from somewhere and should be worried about the boy recognising him. Hell, the only reason he hung around was the castle was because it was the most warded place on this wretched island. Fawkes only hoped it was enough to shield his location from Him. Great, the old man wanted an answer.

Fawkes chirped once. Dumbledore took it as a sign of agreement. He left to meet with the Potters, who were currently being cared for by Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing.

X

It was 19 February 1985, and Dumbledore was sitting in the kitchen of the house the Potters had bought to replace the cottage in Gordric's Hollow. James was worried about young Harry, since the attack he had shown no sign of any magical ability. When Dumbledore pointed out the boy was still young James had countered with the fact that Harry's first burst of accidental magic was when he had been only a week old. James was now worried that something was wrong with him. Dumbledore agreed to look into it, he needed to keep on the potter's good side if he wished to guide young Darren down the path of Light.

X

After several standard exams and getting permission to use on old magical ability identifier, something he hadn't wished to use as it tended to hurt the person it was cast on a lot. Dumbledore found himself explaining to Lily and James that, despite the early magic, Harry was a squib.

"In fact, the spells results point towards him being completely muggle, as squibs at least have small traces of magic that allows them to resist muggle repelling charms and such." He explained. "Harry however seems to lack even that low level. I don;t know what to say. This is worrying news however, I assume the threats are still coming?"

"Yes, not as frequent but those that arrive are even worse than previous ones." Lily answered. "What should we do Professor?"

"I am worried. The threats focused at Darren are horrible, but the ones aimed at yourselves and Harry trouble me greatly. Especially the ones for Harry now that this has been discovered." His voice was grave as he spoke. "Perhaps it would be best if you left Britain for a time. Let the Ministry deal with whoever is sending them. You may also want to consider finding someone to keep Harry safe while you are gone."

"What?" Lily shrieked. "Why won't we be taking Harry?"

"His magical levels are too low to safely travel by port-key or floo." Dumbledore told her. "To even try could cause serious damage to him. It's the same reason children under a certain age shouldn't be transported using them."

"Well Padfoot or Moony would be glad to look after him." James spoke up, although his tone displayed his unease with the idea.

"I feel that leaving Harry in a less magical environment would be better, that way wards to block the owls delivering the threats won't interfere with his guardian's daily life. It would also help him in the long term to see people coping without magic are able to lead happy lives." Dumbledore replied.

"I guess we could ask Petunia. I mean, It won't be for that long will it?" Lily said.

X-FLASHBACK END-X

That had been the last time Dumbledore had seen young Harry alive. Dumbledore looked over at the Potters who stood across the grave from him. James had one hand on Darren's shoulder, the other around Lily. If it to comfort her or help keep her upright, he didn't know. Little Jennifer, born only a few weeks ago, was in her mother's arms. The Potter's were flanked by Sirius Black, to Dumbledore's left, and Remus Lupin, to Dumbledore's right. Both held umbrellas over the grief stricken family. Dumbledore looked away as the minister finished and coffin was slowly lowered into the grave. As much as he wished he could stop them, the memories continued to come.

X-FLASHBACK-X

27 December 1988, the date a sweet, innocent and kind boy died. When Dumbledore had created the wards around the Dursley home, he included several that would alert him if Harry– or anyone in the house- was in mortal danger. These spells triggered , but no one was there to alert Dumbledore. Fawkes had gone through a premature burning day and so was in no state to contact him. It wasn't until Dumbledore arrived back to his office and the collapse of the wards occurred that he realised what was happening. He rushed to the fire and flooed to little old Arabella Figg's home, she lived in the area and allowed him to pass through if needs be. Calling out for her to contact the authorities and send them to No.4 he rushed out the front door. From there Dumbledore reached the Dursley home in under a minute. What he found would haunt him for the rest of his life. Petunia screaming at her husband who was standing over the lifeless body of young Harry, holding a fire-poker that was stained with blood.

"What have you done?" Dumbledore roared.

"He, he attacked Dudley. He... I couldn't let him hurt my boy." Vernon spluttered out, deathly afraid of the raging wizard before him. He then made the mistake of meeting the aged headmaster's eye. Dumbledore's Legilimency showed that really happened. Vernon had been cleaning out the fireplace when Harry entered the room to tidy. Dudley, who had been sitting on the couch at the time, had started calling Harry names and mocking how his parents didn't love him. As Harry passed Dudley kicked him and Harry kicked back. The boy had screamed and cried, prompting Vernon to turn and lash out blindly at Harry. The hook at the end of the poker had caught the boy on the neck, causing a deep gash on the. Dudley screamed at the sight of the blood and this brought Petunia downstairs. She spotted the boy and started screaming at Vernon, not even trying to check on the bleeding child. They had continued to scream at each other until Dumbledore burst through the front door. Dumbledore heard the sound of approaching sirens and withdrew his wand. A few quick charms that forced the Dursley's to tell the truth of what happened without revealing the magical world and then he apparated away.

X-FLASHBACK END-X

That had been nearly two weeks ago. The muggle aurors, the police, Hadn't released the body for several days after the death and then there had been the questioning of the Potters when they had arrived to collect it. The police believed James' claim that he and Lily travelled for business so much and had left Harry with Petunia so he could have some level of stability.

The grave diggers had just finished filling in the grave when Dumbledore approached the Potters, he offered his condolences and told them if they needed anything to just ask. They thanked him for his words and left by car, Jennifer being too young to be exposed to magical travel.

Dumbledore approached the gravestone. "Oh Harry, how I failed you. I'm... I'm sorry." Dumbledore said with a stricken voice. He did not bother with any spells to repel the rain. Nor with an umbrella to shield him from the never ending downpour. Rather, he let the cold water soak through his long hair and beard. His outlandish violet robes with the moving moon and stars dulled and became still. Dumbledore stood there for several minutes reflecting on on the innocents he had failed in his life, before he too left that little cemetery in Godric's Hollow. What he, and everyone else failed to notice was the eight year old boy, wearing old and overly large clothing, watching from afar. A boy with a nasty mark across his neck.

XXX

Glad I got that out of my system. Now maybe I can get the next chapter of Hunter's Moon finished. To anyone actually reading this, don't expect anything like regular updates. I'm just doing this to get it out of my head.

The humour is coming, it'll just be the kind of sick and twisted humour only a few can truely appreciate. It will be dark and more in line with a mythical figure who once tricked a blind man into killing his own brother or set out to cheat a builder of his rightfully earned pay.

If you've read any of the fics mentioned above, have fun looking for the bits I've based on them. If you've written any of the above fics, you are a much better writer than I.

This is Highvalour saying bye and thanks for reading.