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Chapter Text

The fifteen year old panted as he raced through the atrium, ducking as curse after curse whizzed and screamed overhead. Coming to the Department of Mysteries had been a horrible decision, he knew that now. As it was, he could only hope that he and his friends would survive until help arrived.

A lull. Harry ducked into a cabinet in order to catch his breath, but he knew that he couldn't stay for long. This place would only be good enough for him to rest before racing back out into the fray. He turned, only to gasp at the sight of the walls. The place was covered in weapons! Long ones, wide ones, thin ones. Staffs and staves and spears and throwing weapons, and glowing orbs and even what appeared to be the almagation of a gun with an oversized bayonet, enlarged to the size of a sword blade.

The sight of one of those swords up on the wall made the young mage back away fearfully. It was a large blade made from a matte black metal, taller than him and wider as well, with lines in the blade that led up to the hilt, where two holes were in the metal.

He had told no one about his dreams. About the long, shadowy corridor that he now knew led to the Hall of Prophecies. And he had told no one about the other dreams. Dreams of green light, of fire and death, and a high insane cackling. At first, he thought they were only the shreds of memory he still had of the night the Dark Lord had attacked and killed his family. The incidents with the Dementors back in his third year had seemed to confirm this belief. It was only this year that they had evolved, to include clashing metal, a green dragon in the middle of the rain, a burning town, and a long thin sword clashing with this same hunk of metal before his eyes as he fought with one of two people; a tall violet-eyed man with spiky black hair, or a shorter blond with glowing blue eyes, both wielding that sword, with the screams of '-and I trusted you!' ringing in is his ears upon awakening.

He shook his head as he backed away, hand groping behind himself to try and lean against the wall. Only to flinch at the touch of cold metal under his hand. Turning, he hissed as he accidentally cut his palm on the razor-sharp blade, red blood bright against the silver shine of the highly polished metal. The blade was beautiful, and he blinked as he suddenly recognized it from his dreams. It was long, thin, and as dangerous as it was beautiful. He felt drawn to it for some reason as he stared, the green of his eyes reflecting against the silver, as if glowing in the dim light. He didn't notice the cut on his palm sealing over, or the bright smear of blood slowly shrinking, as if being absorbed into the blade. Nor did he notice when he leaned back, his other hand plunging into a box of the glowing orbs, many of them lighting up under his touch. Only when one lit up under his fingers with the tingle of electricity did he look down, curiously pulling up a quad of the orbs, two green, a red, and a rich purple. They were all the size of large marbles, and glowed with an inner light as he stared into their depths.

A noise. The Death Eaters had finally caught up. As Harry moved to the door to sneak out behind them, he didn't notice his absent-mindedly placing the orbs in his pockets, or the glint of light that reflected off the sword as he ran out into the fray.

Just in time for Sirius to die, one of the last people he had to tie him to his family.

Chapter Text

He didn't think about the sword again for a few weeks. The loss of his Godfather had shaken the boy, even without it being his fault. The only thing that helped pull him out of his depression was the dreams. They had evolved from fire and death, to fighting and magic and other soldiers. Two were at the forefront, a tall broad man with the same sword over his shoulder, but unlike the other two, Harry felt no true fear from him. The other was a thin red-haired and clad man, with intelligent green eyes and a love of fire. And in every dream, he would catch a glimpse of himself, in mirrors or windows or the bright mirror-polish of that beautiful sword. A glimpse of silver and green eyes and high cheekbones.

Harry gasped as he awoke, jolting so hard out of the dream that he felt himself jumping on the crappy mattress. The dreams this time was a more pleasant one, a dream of flying. Strange thing was, that he couldn't tell what was keeping him in the air. He hadn't seen a broom, or the familiar shape of a helicopter. But for some reason, his right shoulder ached, like he had been exercising the muscles on that side.

He rubbed his eyes as he sat up, groaning at the early morning heat. At least his 'family' was mostly leaving him alone this summer, which was a mixed blessing. For one, no harassing comments or being called a freak. On the other hand, he would have liked something to do to take his mind off of his dreams, both the good and the bad.

He shook his head as he rummaged through his trunk, pulling up a shirt and pair of pants. Only to pause at the bloodstains on the jeans. It was the same pair he'd worn in the Department of Mysteries. Curious, he held the pair, only to blink at the weight in the pocket. He reached in, only to gasp lightly at the disorienting sensations that flooded him at the touch of the orbs. Of shrinking and growing and a crackling dry heat and the snap of breaking ice and a familiar song of life and flame and strength ringing in his ears.

The orbs clattered noisily as he dropped them to the floor, Harry shaking his head to clear the songs from his ears. Green and red and purple twinkled innocently up at him from the wooden floor, but the young man knew better now. These things were obviously magic, and had been in the Department of Mysteries for a reason. Slowly, he reached for one of the green orbs, tee shirt wrapped around his hand as he picked it up. This seemed to be enough of a barrier, because the song was silent this time as he head it up to eye level.

It seemed like a normal green marble, same size as one too, even with the inner light that seemed to dance within the orb. Curious, he looked into the other green orb, noting that the light seemed to flicker like it was coming through a sheen of ice or frost. Gingerly, he rolled the second onto the bed so he could examine the first one, the one with fire dancing within it. The dance was hypnotizing, and slowly, his hand drifted up to gently touch bare crystal again.

The song was less overbearing this time, a quieter refrain of heat and crackling and life. It was soothing, and Harry smiled as he allowed the shirt to fall to his lap, marble directly against his skin now. It was a comforting sound, a memory of quiet nights alone in the Gryffindor Common Room. Coupled with the second green orb that he grabbed after a minute, it was the sounds of a quiet night during a snow storm.

Slowly, he forced himself to put the orbs down, smiling now. These two seemed harmless enough. Next to fall under his curious eye was the purple one, the more confusing-sounding of the quad. It was less of a song and more of the sensation of growing and shrinking. 'Is this like an early form of a shrinking charm?' he wondered. Curious, he pointed his hand at the broken shelf up on the wall, trying to focus on the thought of making one of the books shrink. He doubted it would work, it had taken him a week to figure out the normal shrinking charm while at Hogwarts.

It was to his complete surprise that the book immediately shrank to the size of a size of a matchbook. It was only afterwards that he panicked. Misuse of Magic! No magic during the summer! And he had already gotten in trouble about that a few summers ago!

It was only after the passing of a few tense hours and no owl appearing on the horizon that Harry relaxed. Did the Ministry not know how to follow this type of magic? Or were the tracking spells placed on his wand only? But that can't be it, because Dobby'd gotten him in trouble second year, and that was Elf magic, not wizard-based magic. It must be whatever the magic that the orbs were based on that they couldn't follow.

A grin slowly spread over his face. This needed more testing! For Science!

Chapter Text

Harry smirked as he strolled down the streets of Privet Drive. This summer had been interesting, to say the least. The young man was more confident now, fingers absently touching the bracelet on his right arm. A pair of pliers and the fire orb had helped him fashion a pair of bracers out of scrap iron from the small playground that was starting to fall apart from disuse. The orbs seemed to be immune to fire like most normal crystals, so he had used them to mold the depressions they were now nestled in.

As it was, that was the most normal thing about the crystals. The more he used them in the small wooded area outside of the community, where he had followed the song of a new orb, this one with the tingle of lightning, the easier it was to call up spells, and the stronger they started to feel. They needed skin contact to be used, so he had left small circles out of the bottom of the bracers so they were always in contact with his arms. And strangest of all, while he could sense there was something special about the red crystal, he had yet to be able to get it to work. It felt like he needed more strength to use it, strength he was gaining every time he shrank a tree, or set the couch on fire.

That was a nice change. Having magic the Ministry couldn't trace meant he now had the upper hand on the Dursleys. A few hours after the iron bangles had cooled, he'd frozen the refrigerator closed, and informed the trio that "The Ministry can't trace this. So the name of the Game is, Make Harry Happy, Or Harry Ruins Your 'Normal' Life."

He wasn't unreasonable with them, mostly make sure he had a portion of dinner ready for him instead of scraps of leftovers or a single banana or anything. He hated them as much as they hated him, so he wasn't about to sit and eat with them. But he refused to stoop to their level and act like a bastard. The only other large demand was that they leave him alone, especially when he wandered the neighborhood.

This doesn't mean he didn't keep them on their toes. It was his pleasure to remind them not to mess with him whenever they slipped up. Usually the one slipping up was Vernon. Dudley was strangely quiet this summer, and Petunia plain knew better. And the more he 'played' with his Walrus of an Uncle, the more control he had over the Magic.

The young man smirked again as he headed out of the area. He was heading into the local area, towards the tube station. He had found that he enjoyed the rides, something familiar in the underground that he attributed to his dreams again. There were a lot of new habits of his that he had picked up from what he was starting to see as something closer to memories than fights of fancy. One such habit was more of an evolution of his love of flight. He found himself looking for high-up places to perch himself and think. Another was his periodic touching of the iron bangles on his arms, long fingers caressing the marbles, enjoying the songs they quietly whispered in his head.

They were nicer companions than the other occupant in his mind. Voldemort had decided that since the Ministry knew about him, that the kid gloves were off. Every night, if he wasn't looking through the eyes of a warrior, he was looking through the eyes of a Dark Lord. But this was where one of his new habits was coming in handy. He couldn't block the bastard yet, but through the 'memories,' he'd picked up the skill of meditation. It helped him stay calm, kept him from flying off the handle whenever the Dark Tosser taunted him. Part of him wondered if this was what Snape had meant by 'clearing his mind.'

Harry met his own eyes in the dark mirror of a window. With the steady amount of food this summer, he had put on another few inches. He felt that he should be worried about the new arch to his bangs as they feathered over his brow, or maybe the silver showing up in his hair should have had him concerned. The features just felt natural to him.

They felt like him.

He flicked a finger through the feathering of his bangs as he came up on the tube station, flicking his card over the scanner for the turnstyle. His memories still hadn't given him a clear view of his face, but the hints all showed his bangs arching over his forehead like how they were starting to grow in as. The rest of his hair was still just as wild, but had started to gain some length. As long as it didn't turn the pure silver of his memories, he wasn't going to worry.

Part of him wondered what his friends were doing as he grabbed the pole in the center of the train, swaying with the train as it left the station. Thing is, he wasn't sure which set of friends he was thinking of, Hermione and Ron or the three main faces from his dreams. Still, if he was gaining memories of an old life (And what else could it be?), maybe the other Soldiers would too some day.

Soldier. That was another word that felt so familiar to him. No, not soldier, SOLDIER. Something about that word was important to him, almost as important as his urge to run and fight and the tug at his mind of something calling him. The urge to reach out his hand and grasp something. He shook his head. He was going insane, the fact that he wasn't worried about that should have been an issue.

He sighed as he ducked out of the train at the next stop, only to blink at the familiar figure waiting for him across the platform. "Headmaster."

Dumbledore smiled benignly at the young man, refusing to react to the changes in him. The stress of the war effected everyone in different ways, and he doubted the young mage was getting a full night's sleep. The gray starting to thread through the wild mane should not be that much of a surprise. "Harry, I trust you've been having a nice summer?"

A slow smirk. "Nicer than last year at any rate," he offered.

"I'm sure you've been enjoying giving your guardians the slip, but I must ask you for a favor."

"Oh? What could you possibly need?"

The young mage smirked as Dumbledore Apparated to a very nice neighborhood. He could read between the lines. He was the bait. The man they were trying to find 'collected' up and coming talent, and would see him, the Boy-Who-Lived, as the pinnacle of his collection. To be able to brag and say he'd taught The Harry Potter, who could resist?

Turns out he was very close to his mark on the man. Slughorn was a tubby older man who made Harry blink in memory of two others. He would have said three, but Horace didn't have the mental strength of one of the men in his head, while he clearly had many of the traits of the other two, including the weirdly-faint scent of, lard?

The young man shook his head a few minutes later, outside the Weasley kitchen door. Dumbledore had said that he'd stay there for the last few days of the summer before returning to Hogwarts. Dreams or not, he was already looking forward to it. 'Thank goodness the Mini spell will last as long as I need it to', he thought, hand patting the shrunken trunk in his pocket.

Hermione and Ron were sitting at the kitchen table, obviously waiting up for him, though Ron was helping himself to a second helping of dinner while he waited. Neither noticed him in the doorway. "I still don' shee te fun o' tha' book," Ron slurred.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Ron, it's unbecoming," Hermione intoned. Harry was intrigued to see streaks of crimson in her chestnut hair. Did it bleach in the sun, or did she feel like adding hair dye? "And it's interesting, a poem, a play, a prophecy. It matters how you want to read into it." Her voice took on a sing song tone as she recited. The lines were a familiar shot to the heart. "When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end, the Goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and dark spread afar. She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting."

"…Loveless, the Prologue."

Hermione's head came up, eyes flashing as she turned slowly to the young man. "You, remember?"

A slow smile. How can I not, when you've beaten it into my head?" he asked, tapping at his temple slowly. Both teens ignored Ron's muttering of 'stupid poetry,' a familiar energy building between them. "Welcome back."

Chapter Text

Hermione growled as she pulled the young wizard after her, annoyed at the teasing grin on his face. "You!" she exclaimed, barely managing to keep her voice down as she forced him into the sitting room with her. "How are you here?"

"You mean you don't know? Well Hermione, once upon a time, my parents loved each other very much-"

Hermione blinked. It was Harry's humor in the General's bland tone. Talk about a mind-fuck. "You moron! I mean, how long have you known?"

The young man shrugged at this. "Since most of Fifth Year. I started having dreams. I mean, I always had the dreams of green light and that high-pitched cackle, but these were more."

Hermione smiled at the confused look on Harry's face. "Oh Harry, why didn't you tell me? Or the Headmaster?" she asked, hand on his arm.

The teen shrugged again. "Dumbledore was avoiding me. And part of me thought it was just Voldemort trying to drive me insane." He sighed as he looked down at his hands, absently touching the magic on his arms. "I thought I was going insane anyways." He smiled up at the muggle-born witch. "Kinda glad I'm not, if you are having the same dreams."

"They're not dreams Harry, they're memories."

"Pretty sure I've never fought with anyone on top of a cannon before."

The witch flinched at this, hand drifting up to cup her shoulder. That memory was still vivid, as she had seen it just the night before. "Harry, during times of great danger, sometimes the soul will dig deep for strength found in more than one lifetime. Wizards just see it more often because our magic gives us help with this. Many wizard legends mention this."

"I didn't know the Wizarding World had more legends than that of Merlin," Harry joked. True though, Merlin was the one that they heard about almost a hundred percent of the time.

"Of course they do. The three Brothers, the Gem of Four Souls, the winged dresses of the angels, the No-Life King, the Journey to the West, the Chinese Gods of Nature, and their hatred for Humanity." Her voice lowered. "The Calamity from the Skies is not well known anymore, but neither is it completely lost to the ages."

The young man shook his head, fingers slowly caressing the bangles on his wrists. "It just, seems so strange that I'm not the only one for once. And you," his eyes were twinkling with humor, but his voice had a distinctively steely tone, "you are to get me a copy of the Calamity legend. I wish to see how much as changed in the story since Meteorfall."

"Yes, my General," she chirped, a sarcastically sincere look in her eyes, only for it to dissolve as those sharp eyes picked out the glint of the metal and crystal on his wrists. "What's this?" she asked, grabbing his arm to get a closer look.

"Oh yeah, I was hoping you'd know. I found the orbs in the Ministry, made the bangles over the summer break." A slow smirk. "Found out the Ministry can't track this magic."

"General, I can't believe you don't remember about Materia! The Lifeblood of the Planet, and wisdom of the Cetra!" Hermione exclaimed lowly.

"I don't even remember why you're calling me General! What was I?"

Hermione blinked, hand still wrapped around the bangle on his left wrist. "We were SOLDIERS. I was your Commander, you were the General of the army from the Calamity legend. I remembered my name almost from the beginning. You cannot tell me you do not know yours?"

Harry shook his head slowly, silver-shot bangs brushing over his eyes. "I haven't even gotten a good look at my face. Just green eyes and silver hair."

Hermione blushed. She had loved the striking looks of the general from her memories, and it seems that the old her had been jealous of the attention the man had gained from the women of the old city, even if he barely seemed to notice. She drew herself up proudly resisting the urge to go into a parade rest. "I am Hermione Granger, sixth year witch of Hogwarts, and I am Genesis Rhapsodos, Commander of the Shin-ra Army and second-in-command to General Sephiroth. And YOU," she yanked his arm up, "are changing the subject. You found these in the Ministry?"

"These four yeah. I found a fifth in the forest near the Dursley's. Surprise no one found it before, it was in a small depression and surrounded by green crystals."

"…Keep an eye on the spot, you may have found a natural Mako Spring. They're rare these days, but have become a bit more common since Meteorfall." She shook her head with a fond look on her face. "Only you Harry, only you. But the Ministry has more?"

Harry nodded. "A whole box full. And weapons."

A smirk, her eyes holding a familiar gleam in them. "We need to get in there again."

And that was how they found themselves sneaking through the Department of Mysteries. Again. They had asked Mr. Weasley if they could join him in order to look something up in the archives, and the pleasant man had agreed to help them out. The story was that they were looking into an old trial, letting him think it was about Sirius. So when they had separated from the man, they had ducked under Harry's cloak as they rode the elevator down into the bowels of the Ministry. Never before had the pair been more glad for the incompetence of the Ministry, for the Department was as empty as it was the night of the attack. After all, who would be stupid enough to try and sneak into the Department of Mysteries in broad daylight? Again?

Harry humpthed under his breath. "Lazy. Why are there no guards?"

"Do we truly care?"

"What if someone tried to get in to more important areas? I am tempted to take over and fix this."

Sigh. "Harry, do it legal, or not at all. Besides, they won't listen to us, we're just kids to them."

"So, as long as I get voted in, you'll support me?"

Hermione shook her head, running fingers through red-shot hair as she threw the cloak off. "I'm glad that that's what you picked up from that little conversation. Yes, as long as there's no assassinations on your way to the top. Now where is the Materia?"

The young man chuckled. "Greedy little Red Mage. They were over here," he offered, the old nickname falling unconsciously from his lips as he lead her into the locker from before. Hermione's eyes lit up at the sight of all the glowing orbs, hands plunging into the magic. Harry joined her after a second. The weapons on the wall were still of interest to the young man, but to his dismay, the silver one, the beautiful one from his memories was gone. He frowned, wondering of someone was testing it, before turning to the Materia box.

Pulling one out, Hermione frowned as she listened to its song. "I've never seen this type before. Any clue Harry?" she asked, passing the Materia back to her friend.

Harry frowned as he listened. "A new type of Heal maybe?" he offered after a minute, prying the fire out of his right bangle. Carefully, he pushed the strange green orb into the slot before aiming his arm out of the locker in the direction of the Veil.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm testing it. If it's offensive then at least it won't hit anything this way," he explained shortly before activating the spell. Green wisps of light shot out from his hand, wrapping around the Veil before fading away, a song of light and life ringing in his ears. He sighed when nothing else happened. "Worthless," he sneered, turning away to help Hermione again.

"Ah, I'm crushed General! You've called me a lot of things, but never worthless!"

The kids froze. Harry's breath caught in his throat, tears forming in his eyes. It couldn't be…

The familiar face sauntering down to them was grinning widely, black spikes bobbing, a few pieces brushing against a pair of scars on his jaw. Bright blue eyes were laughing at the younger pair, strong arms crossed in front a shredded familiar robe. "Anyone miss me?"

"Zack?"

"Sirius?"

Chapter Text

The young SOLDIER grinned as he waltzed over to the pair, shredded remains of the old robes fluttering around his feet. "I'm hurt Harry, no welcome back hug?" he asked, head cocked to the side in that cheerfully familiar way. Hermione bit her lip, not sure what the General would do, but Harry just smiled as he trotted over, happily allowing himself to be embraced. She'd been worried because she remembered Sephiroth being touch-shy, and Harry was not much better. This was Zack though, the man who had a tendency to puppy-glomp at the drop of a hat, and once he'd gotten used to him, his Commanding Officer had been included in that list.

"How are you here? I mean, where did you come from?" Harry asked, pulling back enough to look up into the SOLDIER's eyes. Familiar pale blue eyes.

"Well, you know how Angeal always called me a Puppy?" The man laughed sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, that apparently carries over into new lives."

"Holy, you were Sirius!" Hermione exclaimed.

Zack squinted at the girl, only to burst out laughing. "Shiva's Glowing-"

"Oi!"

"-I was gonna say eyes. But this is rich! Genesis Rhapsodos, heart-throb of the women of Midgar, reincarnated as a woman!"

Hermione's eyes flashed angrily, hand groping against the wall of the locker. "And no matter what life you're leading, you will always be a dog!" she growled, pulling a familiar red-bladed sword off the wall and chasing after the older man.

At once, the keen eyes of the young General could see an issue. They had the memories, but not the muscles or experience. The young woman was trying to move like she remembered, and was pulling it off with some of the simpler moves. But she kept stumbling as she tried to pull off the more advanced moves, and was in danger of hurting herself as much as Zack who was cackling as he dodged away, the traitor.

Even as he noted this, Hermione stumbled, tripping over the raised step leading up to the Veil, much to Harry's heart-stopping fear. Without thinking, he snapped off a spell, tapping into the strength of the Materia.

"harry! what did you do?"

A sigh of relief. The mini spell had activated just in time. His memories gave him the analytical skill to see that if she hadn't shrunk, she would have fallen far enough to have hit the Veil. The thought of losing her like he had Sirius made him feel like crying. "I just saved your life Hermione," he offered, picking her up. The spell had shrunk her to about the size of a mouse. She fit in the palm of his hand, and the Rapier had changed to the size of a toothpick. "You would have hit the Veil. And I'm still not sure how we managed to bring Zack back."

"Oh that's an easy one!" the SOLDIER chirped, picking up the Materia Harry had dropped in his haste to rescue his friend. "This is a Revive Materia!"

"i've never seen that type of materia," Hermione squeaked. "heard of it, but never seen it."

"Well, they were rare, even during our time. This might be one of the last ones in existence." He rolled it in his hand thoughtfully. "It might be why I look like this as it is."

"yeah, i was wondering why you look like that when you were Sirius a few months ago."

Zack got a thoughtful look as his hand slid down to pat at his own rear. "Well, I still have that mole on my-"

"hey!"

"-I was gonna say hip! Geez, when did you become such a prude? As I was SAYING, the mole was from Sirius. And I can still feel some of the scars on my arms from his life as well. I'm not Zack, I'm both of us." He ran a hand through those wild spikes, and Harry could now see some of the style Sirius' had, especially in the bangs. "I'm just, blended together now. Like, a stew instead of a parfait."

"only you would compare this to food."

"Ok, seriously? When did you stop being so cool Genesis? I remember you used to be our bro! You used to be the fun SOLDIER." Until he went insane a defected hung in the air. The trio of fighters ignored it.

"it's called reincarnation, and i see it didn't change you at all, puppy."

"Ok, Hermione? Give me a second to reverse the spell, this is just weird sounding."

"Hey, at least this means I still have the personality that the girls loved! I'm gonna have some fun!"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, only to stop as Harry recast the Mini spell. She got a thoughtful look once full sized, tapping the Rapier against the combat boots she must have bought in the Muggle world. "Interesting. Shrinking not only changes the size of the form, but increases the aggression of the person in question." She turned away, muttering to herself about dead wizards and muggle scientists, and something about Crichton having it surprisingly close to right.

Harry shook his head fondly as his Commander wandered off, trying to figure out the science behind the magic. "Zack, Sirius, I'm glad you're back," he offered, smiling up at the taller man. Those green eyes stared up at him. "And we could use you as it is."

"What'cha got in mind, General?"

"Well for one, no one knows you're alive. You can spy for us."

"On the Death Eaters I'm guessing?"

"Them and the Order." He held up a hand when the Wizard seemed to be ready to argue the point. "Dumbledore has been keeping secrets from us, and this stops now. He hands out information like those lemon drops of his, and if we want to win this war, we need to know whatever it is that he knows. Whenever you learn something, you tell us, and we figure out what to do with it." He bit his lip for a second. "We're also gonna need a way to relearn how to fight, and I suspect you need the same practice that we do."

"Just, one flaw General." His eyes were laughing at this. "You want me to spy, but how am I gonna get out of here? I can't Apparate out of here, and I doubt I'll fit under that cloak of yours anymore."

"I got it!" The boys turned at this, Hermione emerging from the Materia box. In her hands were a pair of yellow orbs, and she grinned as she passed one to the older SOLDIER. "Paired Exit Materia! We hold onto the Mastered one, and later tonight, you activate yours and meet us at the Burrow!"

"Will it work that way?"

"These two are paired together, so it will." She rolled the Mastered one in her hand thoughtfully, and Harry could see the inner light was more crystallized compared to the clearer sheen in his Fire. "The person who had this pair must have been a thief or something," she murmured.

"Maybe a Turk," Harry offered, sauntering to the locker, Zack following curiously, only to grin at the sight of the hunk of dark metal up on the wall. "Holy Odin, the Buster Sword!" he said with an oath, pulling it off the wall. "It's even in good condition too!" he offered before twirling it over his shoulder and trying to hitch it onto his back. Only to laugh at himself. "I forgot, no harness. Hey Harry, think they got any in there?"

Only to pause at the look on the younger man's face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Harry shook his head. "I just, have too many bad memories of that sword. Some with your face in them," he explained, turning away.

"You, I thought you remembered…?"

Harry turned back, a red Materia from the box rolling over his fingers. This one sang of power and justice, and righteous fury. "I AM remembering, just slower than you and Hermione seem to be. Most of my memories of that sword are connected with you and some small blond."

"He didn't even know his name, or his old face until I told him myself," Hermione offered, turning from where she was scanning a shelf of armlets and bangles and rings. Her hands, finger, and belt were already coated in metal. "It's strange. From everything I've found, he should be remembering faster than I am, he's under far more stress and peril. But as it is, his memories are coming back slowly and in pieces."

Sirius shrugged, balancing the Buster over his shoulder. "Don't look at me, I sure as heck don't understand this." He shivered, looking down at his shredded robes. "hey, did anyone grab my wand? I'm feeling a bit of a draft, and I don't really like it."

Harry shook his had as he turned away from the swords again. "Sorry, I think it went through the Veil with you. You're just gonna have to wait."

Hermione grinned evilly as she tossed a star-shaped pendant at Harry. "Tough it out SOLDIER, you've been out in colder wearing less."

"WHAT? WHO TOLD!"

Chapter Text

Harry sighed as he leaned back against the plush seat of the cabin. The Hogwarts Express rocked slightly in a comfortingly familiar motion as it sped towards the castle. He grinned as he glanced up at the trunk. A trunk stuffed full of Materia. He and Hermione had cleaned out the Ministry almost completely, leaving behind only the weapons (except for the Rapier, Buster Sword, and a Standard Broadsword) and a handful of newly birthed Materia they already had higher level samples of. They had left an Exit Materia in the box though, just in case they wanted to go back to grab anything. They were also left behind to check, just in case the silver sword from before would show back up.

Between the three of them, they had grabbed all the rest of the Magic, every last bangle, armlet, ring, and a handful of magical items that would come in handy later. His own rough iron bangles had been switched out for a pair of dragon-scaled armlets, with his Fire, Ice, Mini and Summon singing softly against his skin, a Star Pendant was dangling against his hip, and a shiny new Jem ring was resting on his hand. He had plenty more slots for Materia, but he was gonna wait till later to sort through what they had and find better matches. The magic sang against his skin, almost drowning out the sense of something in the back of his mind, hovering over his shoulder, waiting...

"Hey Harry."

Those green eyes snapped open at the new person at the door. It was Hermione, back from Prefect duties. He grinned, straightening up to give her room. "Welcome back. Ron behind you?"

"He's still finishing up his patrol." She scoffed as she flipped her hair away from her eyes in a familiar gesture. "I believe he got sidetracked by Justin and Ernie, something about a rare card." She pursed her lips as she gracefully sunk into the seat. "Strange though, Padma said that the Slytherins were acting strange."

"Strange how?"

"Draco was showing them something on his arm." She shook her head, running a hand through her hair. A Shinra Beta Armlet peeked through her robe sleeves, green and purple and red winking out at him, a full complement of Materia already chosen and slotted. "I believe, he may have taken the Oath over the summer."

The young General smirked as he stood up, opening the cabin door a few inches. "Only one way to find out," he offered, activating the new spell in his Mini.

A frog could see well enough, but the main impairment was that his hearing was muffled. Harry didn't need to hear though, because his vision was all he really needed. The new height was disconcerting, and he made a note to find out who the Ravenclaw that tried to step on him was, but strong legs propelled him down towards the Slytherin's in question.

Draco. The pointy-faced little weasel, had his normal pack of cronies seated around him, Pansy simpering over him, like a king holding court. A wash of voices fell over him as they talked, the low rumbling of Vincent and Crabbe, the higher squeak of Pansy, and the more neutral tones of Draco and Blaise. Harry's goggly eyes rolled as he tried to look up; a dark smudge was on Draco's arm, a dark shape that enveloped much of his inner forearm, but he couldn't get a good look from the floor.

A screech. The train was stopping. Worried about being stepped on, Harry jumped under a table, staring out at the sea of legs and feet as the train slowly emptied. He moved to exit, only to pause at a single pair of feet gently pacing towards him.

"Well hello under there. You ready to come out?"

A female voice. Carefully, the frog inched out, bulbous eyes looking up at pale hair and-whoa! Harry flinched as he was scooped up, only to groan with a human voice as he suddenly popped back into a normal form. "Oh, that was disorientating," he groaned, leaning back against the door frame of a cabin. He glanced up after a second, forcing the world to stop spinning. "Luna? What did you do?"

"A Maiden's Kiss to break a Toad spell. The Wrackspurts don't like to swarm around normal toads, but they like you Harry," she intoned in an airy voice. A pair of what would be considered 3-D glasses in the Muggle world were perched on her nose, and she smiled brightly. "Would the Prince like to escort me off the train now?"

A grin. "My Lady," he offered, holding out his arm playfully. With a giggle, the younger woman latched on, pulling them off the train.

"I've known you before."

The older Wizard glanced down at the strange little Witch. "In a previous life maybe?" he offered, ignoring the frisson of anxiety inching up his spine. "Maybe I really was your Prince, and you were the Princess locked in her tower?"

"Or maybe you were the handsome General, and me the last of an old line?"

The anxiety zinged in his chest, bright and shocking. "Oh? Was I tall and dark and handsome?"

A surprisingly sober look from the young woman. "You were tall and handsome, but the only part of you that was dark was a Dark Legacy that was never of your choice. The green calls to us, it whispers in our dreams, tells us who we are and who we were."

"And who were you?"

And now the airy look was back. "I've been many things. I've been a Summoner who was willing to give her life for the sins of the world. I've been a princess who asked her thief to kidnap her. I've been a young woman who was threatened by her own magic and surrounded by the Seeds of potential. I was a child of the gods and one of the only people to be able to tap into magic. And at the core of everything, I was a gardener, a Mage, and one who sacrificed herself so the planet could hear our prayer."

Sacrifice. Harry flinched at the sudden flash of dropping from the ceiling, of a young woman beneath him, that same blonde man looking on in horror-He shook his head as the vision vanished as quickly as it came, their feet having taken them unconsciously to the Thestral-drawn carriages. Luna smiled at him, hopping into the carriage after giving the Thestral-he thought it was the one named Fluffy- a quick pat.

"It was never you." Harry looked up suddenly from his seat. "It was a Calamity that wore your form."

"Why do I still feel like I should apologize though?"

A quiet smile. For some reason, he saw a young woman with a pink ribbon in her hair sharing the same smile. "Because you are a good person Harry." She peered over his shoulder. "You have something following you."

"What? Is it a Wrackspurt again?"

Luna smiled as the carriage pulled up to the castle. "You found something precious to you recently. You just need to remember how to call it to you."

The feast that night had been amazing as usual, but Harry was contemplative as he relaxed in his bed. The sensation of something pulling at the back of his mind was strong again, something bright and keen that sang to him like the Materia had. Absently, he held his hand out, glad the curtains were pulled closed, even if the others in his room were asleep. The song crescendoed, almost to the point of pain, a single shining note of vibrating magic and metal. 'Come.'

With a final ring, the sword from the Ministry appeared, a shining length of star-bright metal in his hand. Smiling, the young mage dismissed it, letting it fall back into the magic that safely held it, letting it settle in the back of his mind. "Something precious, huh?" he muttered.

Only to blush at the sight of the curtains. The seven feet of sword metal had ripped right through. "Oops. Hope the House Elves won't be too mad at that."

Chapter Text

"You know Harry, we do have homework already. Should we really be here?"

The young man smirked as he paced in front of the blank wall, hands clasped behind his back. "Don't you want to get back into fighting trim?" he asked, glancing at the young genius with a tilt of the head, longer strands of his bangs falling across his eyes. It was a hauntingly familiar look to the young witch. It was pure Sephiroth.

"Of course I do. I know that it was my fault I almost hurt myself before," she acknowledged, tapping the flat of the red blade against her leg. "I'm just saying, that we could chose a better time for this!"

"No worries," he offered as the door appeared. "I know we don't have a time turner, but a Haste might be useful if we run low on time for homework."

"…Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione muttered as they entered the room.

Now, this was familiar. A simple box that wasn't that simple. The blue glow of electricity, or at least as close as the room was going to create, a pair of small phones on the floor, and a familiar red logo on the back wall. It was one of the Shinra training rooms! Harry smirked as he picked up the phones, tossing one to Hermione as he flipped his open with an unconsciously practiced movement. He scrolled through the magical construct, ignoring Hermione's sputtering over how it 'Shouldn't work here, Hogwarts can't support Electronics!'

"Training begins now," he interjected with a smirk, selecting the first 'mission' on the list.

"What are we doing?" Hermione asked as the background dissolved into being. It was a barren wasteland, the ground bare but for a few dying strands of grass that struggled to grow, a straggly tree in the distance that was bare of leaves. Off in the background were the tall matte-black metal walls of Midgar. They were in the wastelands outside the city.

"So, what's the plan?" Hermione asked, flipping her hair out of her eyes. "And what are you going to fight with? That Shinra Broadsword we grabbed may have been just short of a useless hunk of metal, but it was better than bare-handed."

"Just low-level monsters. As for my weapon?" Harry smirked, holding his hand out. He'd practiced last night, after finding a larger room first of course, and the Masamune appeared with a small chime of magic and metal. "I think I'm fine with this."

"Harry! How did you find that?" Hermione yelped, leaning in closer to get a better look at the blade.

"No time. Here comes the first wave," he called, pointing out into the waste. Indeed, the first of the monsters had pixilated into being as they were talking, tiny Mandragora that were only as tall as their knees, but a good first monster to start to re-polish their skills.

And they needed to work on it. The size of the castle and all of the staircases kept them in pretty good shape, but as Harry had noticed before, they didn't have the muscle memory needed to actually use the swords yet. He overreached and almost threw himself on his face at one point, impaling the monster on the Masamune, and Hermione choked back a giggle. Until she tripped herself, falling over another plant-monster. She did kill it though, slicing it on her way down.

Ten minutes later and they were panting as the last Mandragora died under the Rapier, chopped plant matter scattered around the pair. "We, done yet?" Hermione asked, rubbing a sore shoulder.

"Almost, I think it's just the boss now," he offered, rotating his wrists to get the cramps out. He had found him using his left hand more than his right as he was fighting. It had been strangely awkward to use his right hand, and he'd unconsciously switched after a few tries. He flicked his lengthening bangs out of his face. "There's gotta be a better way to do this," he muttered.

"Only a trainer, and the trainer is in our heads for this."

"Look out!" Harry suddenly yelped, pushing Hermione out of the way from the shadow growing in size behind her. A slash, and the creature staggered back with a roar, giving the pair a chance to regroup. It was one of the Anti-SOLDIER monsters that Wutai had bred for the war, and it was pissed as it nursed the slash on its paw of a hand.

Gaia! This was only a low level scenario! This was a monster that First Class SOLDIERs used to have trouble with. At once, instinct kicked in and the pair fanned out, each taking a different side to try and rote the creature. Harry prayed as they tagged and slashed at the creature that a second one wouldn't show up. They would be ok together, but he didn't want to run the risk of exactly how realistic the Room would make the training. He didn't want to know if this could kill them or not, or if it would just boot them from the program like the old VR room had.

As it is, Hermione suddenly screamed as she was clipped by the monster's axe, falling back hard, hand cupping her shoulder. The world seemed to pause. That same shoulder… With a yell, he charged, Masamune singing in his hand as he swiped and thrust and cut, the thick hide of the creature splitting under the shining metal.

As he backed up, Hermione yelled, blue aura flaming and writhing around her, gathering higher and stronger until it exploded outwards in a sea of blue and green and streaks of red. With a groan, the monster collapsed, slowly dissipating into nothing more than wisps of green.

The pair panted as the room dissolved back into the blue steel of the original room. Hermione groaned as she leaned back against the wall. "That, hurt. What was that?"

"A Limit Break? Looked like Ultima threaded with Flare or Laser."

"I'd rather not do that again."

A shaky laugh as Harry poured his magic into his Cure, the fear in his heart easing as the gash closed. "For a moment, I was so worried, that you-"

"What? Would degrade? That's impossible now," she offered, shaking her head as the wound sealed over. It would be tender for a while, but at least it was fully healed. "The reason I degraded before was the Jenova cells. Deepground had all of the information on Hollander and Hojo's work. My cells were dead, so when they died they wouldn't reform like yours did. But these," she gestured at herself, "are new bodies, new lives. No Jenova cells, no Mako, nothing. We're stable now." She shrugged. "It's going to be hard to work back up to the levels our combat skills were, and without Mako we'll never be as physically strong, but it could be worse."

The young wizard shook his head, bangs draping over emerald-bright eyes. "I just, thought you… I don't want to lose you. Not again."

She smiled as she wrapped an arm around thin shoulders. The heat from his muscles was radiating up through the robes as they slowly cooled from the fight. "And you won't. Even if the morrow is barren of promise, nothing shall forstall my return."

"Loveless?"

"Good for any occasion."

"Harry? Hermione?"

The pair looked up to see Susan at the door, the young woman looking around curiously. Hermione blushed slightly as she stood, pulling away from the wizard. She had a good idea why Susan was here; The Daily Prophet had announced the death of her Aunt a few weeks ago. She just offered a hand to the younger woman. "Want to join us?"

"What are you two doing in here? This doesn't look like the normal training room."

Hermione just smiled knowingly as the room shimmered and a red oversized shuriken appeared. Harry's eyebrow raised at the familiar Turk weapon. "Magic is strengthened by the strength of the body. Care to get stronger with us?"

Harry just smirked as he flipped the phone open again, Susan picking up the shuriken like it was meant for her hand. The young woman's eyes were steely as the room dissolved into the plains again. "Let's dance."

Chapter Text

The world sang to her in green hymns of sparkling ribbons.

Luna had known she was different, even as a little girl, when at the age of five the green first spoke to her directly. History had repeated itself, only in this case, she had lost her mother to accident instead of malicious design. Ever since, when the green spoke to her it was in two voices. Her mother's, and the voice of a giggly auburn-haired woman who for some reason made her look out the corners of her eyes for flashes of pink.

It showed her the truth. It showed a strong-willed brunette fighting in the shadows of her best friend, and she mourned for the phantom in her first year when it was beaten down for a time by the teen in the diary. The first time Luna met Malfoy, she was distracted by the angry blond behind him, her eyes tracing over the diagonal scar that ran over the bridge of his nose. As Hermione studied in the library over the years, she loved watching the Nargles dancing around the fiery Soldier in red as he sat by her side.

Yes, the green enveloped her world. She had wondered for a time if the phantoms were daemons, like the ones from a muggle book series she'd read years before. (She had laughed at the description of other worlds, and wondered if the writer was a Seer to have it so close.) But not everyone had one, and those that did rarely seemed to know that they were there. Only in the older crowd did anyone seem to hear their whispers. Her second year, she had loved to watch Professor Lupin when his broad-shouldered shadow spoke to him. He had always seemed quieter at those times, as if reflecting upon his actions, wondering if perhaps there was a better way to do things.

His shadow always seemed to be chattier around the full moon.

She tried to stay away from Professor Dumbledore. The angry-looking shadow of his always seemed to be plotting, stroking a blond moustache as he stared out at the world with avarice in his eyes. Those beady eyes gleamed at the sight of certain students, and he whispered in Dumbledore's ear at the sight of Harry, his greed gleaming as bright at spun silver.

The same spun silver that flowed from the head of Potter's phantom. Harry was a mystery to Luna. The spirits that danced and spun and sang in the green whispered to her in many voices, most of them women, all of them heroes in their own right. Auburn and pink was the loudest at the sight of Harry, both stories of a strong and honorable man, and whispers of warning, of a flash of pain. Pain that felt like it threatened to split her from spine to breastbone. But for all the warnings, all of the pain, she felt sad for the tall and silent Soldier, who was shrouded in the same darkness the little brunette fighter from their first year had been under, shrouded and slow and completely silent. There were times he seemed to come alive, pacing like a jungle cat, hands flexing with the urge to do Something, but it was only Harry who limped away from his adventures, wounded and alone in his head.

Oh yes, Luna knew she was special. Her soul was truly Ancient, and it allowed her a different view of the world. The green sang, the green swirled, the green danced, and she just smiled as she danced with it.

Chapter Text

"The children seem, different this year."

Pomona blinked sleepily over her morning cup of tea at Minerva, holding back a yawn at the early hour. "What do you mean Minnie? I mean they are all growing up. They're bound to change a little."

"No, this is different. I half expected Miss Granger to be frantic this year, but she's acting more like, a primadonna or something. Almost like Parkinson or the Patil twins. She's getting the work done, but something about her attitude is so strange this year."

"Ms. Granger's not the only one," Filius offered, pulling himself up into a chair next to his fellow teachers. "I've noticed that a lot of the children are a little strange this year. Ms. Bones is very quiet, although with what happened to her poor Aunt, I'm not too surprised. Mr. Thomas has gotten very quiet as well, although it seems to be helping him with his silent casting."

McGonagall shook her head. "Severus doesn't know this, but I was in his class when he was teaching Mr. Potter's group. I was worried my Gryffindors would do something, drastic. But it was disturbing, how calm some of them were when Severus pulled out the pictures of Dark Curses and the Inferi. Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter almost looked like, they had seen it before."

~~~.~~~.~~~.~~~

"You've see one zombie movie, you have seen them all."

"I've never seen a zombie movie. I was thinking of the G clones."

"Oh Harry, you poor depraved child. We are going to have to fix this eventually." Hermione grinned, ignoring the Clones crack, and it was Genesis shining through. "Let's just say, it's a good thing you relocated the Masamune."

"Why?"

"Either decapitate the creatures, or kill it with fire."

"Kill it with fire?"

Solemn nod. "Kill it with fire."

Harry grinned softly, holding up a hand, Fire dancing over his fingers. "I think I can do that."

"Hey, that's my trick!"

"I don't see your name written in the flames," the young man joked, releasing the magic gently.

"So, think you've learned a few new parlor tricks, Potter?"

Harry just looked over at Hermione. "Did you hear something?"

Draco fumed as the pair ignored him. "The wind sails over the water's surface, quietly but surely. Well, not as quiet as it could be I guess."

"Oh wind? I thought I smelled something foul."

Draco sneered at the pair, wand dropping into his hand. "Do not ignore me! Or else I'll give the Mudblood a scar to match your own, Scar-head."

Green eyes were steely as Harry stared the blond down. Hermione was just as stoic as she flanked the young man, hand tapping against her hip in a now familiar gesture. She wanted the Rapier in her hands, wanted to cut this boy back down to size. "You so much as touch us, and I'm sure the Ministry would love to hear about your own little Mark. Tell me, did it hurt like a real tattoo, or did he make it feel like the Cruciatus Curse?"

"You can't prove a thi-"

"Can I?" Harry smirked as the blond quieted, wand slowly lowering. "That's what I thought. Now, leave."

A snap back to his normal antagonistic self. "And what makes you think you can order me around?"

At this, Hermione grabbed Harry by the arm, pulling him away. "Ignore him, he's a waste of flesh," she sneered, arm glowing softly. Harry was the only one who caught the glow, as it was hidden by his own body.

The blond sneered as the pair tried to walk off. "Reducto!"

Only for nothing to happen. Hermione smirked innocently over her shoulder as the blond frantically tried to curse the pair. "what's the matter Draco. Having, difficulties? Can't get it, up?"

"Hermione, so foul!" Harry held back a smirk. "It's not his fault he's so inbred. It's his parents fault for marrying cousins. Tell me Drake," he had the evilest look at this point. "Do you have a family tree, a family bush, or is it a family holiday wreathe?"

The pair struggled to keep straight faces at the foul look on Draco's own face. His anger was painted all over his face in unpleasant red splotches. "Wish you better luck next time Draco!" Hermione snickered as the SOLDIER pair wandered off as fast as they could and still look nonchalant.

Only for them to both break down as soon as they passed the corner. "What, what did you do to him?" Harry gasped.

Hermione snickered as she pulled back her sleeve, revealing the Seal Materia on the Shinra Beta, the yellow crystal winking happily at him. "I Silenced him. It'll wear off in a few days, but until then, he's impotent!"

Harry winced minutely at the 'I' word, but grinned nonetheless. "Hermione, you are just scary brilliant," he offered as she pulled the sleeve of her robe back over the armlet.

"I do try."

"Mr. Potter?"

The pair looked up at the sound of McGonagall's voice, trying to keep straight faces as they overheard Draco's angry wailing from around the corner. "Yes Ma'am?"

The woman had a severe look on her face, but the pair could see the twinkle in her eyes at the melodramatic wailing from the Slytherin. "The Headmaster wishes to speak to you."

"We didn't do it!"

The stern woman was opening smiling now at the chorus. "No, it is something else, not Mr. Malfoy's little issue."

The pair relaxed, Harry nodding. "I'll be right up, thank you."

"You'll be right up?" Hermione asked as their Transfiguration Teacher walked off, going to check up on the angry Slytherin. "And what, Mr. Potter, makes you think I'm just leaving you after hearing that?"

The young man blinked, but smiled after a second. "Of course you're coming. My best Commander cannot be left out of the war meeting."

"Do you know what this is about?" she asked as they headed towards the Gargoyle statue.

"Not sure. But I have an idea." Harry offered, fire dancing gently around his fingers again as he played with his new technique. He could feel his control over his magic improving every time he tapped in to the Materia, even for something as trivial as this. "I told you and Ron about the Prophecy last year, remember? I'm hoping he's finally giving me information about our enemy that we desperately need." The Fire dissipated with a wisp of smoke. "And if he is, I want you with me. I'd want Ron too, but I don't know where he is right now." He nodded to her as they reached the Headmaster's gargoyle. "I don't care what I have to do according to this Prophecy, I'm going to need help. And I remember you were a good strategist." He grinned as the gargoyle moved to the side, Dumbledore obviously knew they were there. "So, are you going to come? Or do I have to fill you in later?"

Hermione just grinned as they headed up the spiral staircase. "And what makes you think I'm going to let you out of my sight? Knowing you, you'll go off on another adventure, and leave the rest of us behind. Again."

Chapter Text

"Harry my boy, the invitation was only for you."

Harry stood firm, staring the old man down. Thing is, he knew better than to look him in the eye anymore. His gaze was fixed on his nose. "Anything you tell me, I'm going to tell her anyway."

Dumbledore stared for a moment, as if testing their resolve, before nodding at turning to a niche in the wall. "All right, if you are sure about this. A new perspective might be of use." Only to blink as he turned back, Harry helping himself to a lemon drop from his desk.

The young man shrugged apologetically when Hermione elbowed him. "Sorry, I've just been craving sugar lately, I could not tell you why," he offered, slurring just a little around the hard drop his mouth.

Hermione shook her head at the young SOLDIER before turning to the Headmaster. Sephiroth had always had a hidden sweet tooth. "You mentioned a new perspective Headmaster. What are we going to be discussing?"

The older Wizard turned back to the niche, a glass vial in his hand. "Not discuss young Lady, but observe. Harry, do you remember what these are?"

"Memories. About Voldemort I'm guessing?"

"Indeed. This first one," he offered, pouring the silvery strand of memory into the Pensieve, "is the memory of one Bob Odgen, a Ministry worker. If you will?" he offered with a withered hand. Carefully, the pair grabbed each others hand, before diving into the memory.

The memory was dark and smudged, as if being viewed through an ink drawing that had been left out in the rain. The hut that the Ministry worker was walking towards was the largest in the nearby area, but so badly run down that it seemed to be held together with nothing more than luck and magic. A snake was nailed to the front door, and Hermione recoiled from the dead serpent, dried blood staining the ancient wood.

"Hermione? Any ideas?" Harry whispered as Parseltongue drifted through the air. Harry could understand the rude words of unwelcome, and considering Dumbledore could speak 300 languages, he highly suspected that he could as well. Hermione was the only one he knew for sure was in the dark.

The fiery young woman pursed her lips as the memories argued and bickered. "I think, that the inbreeding has reached a point of no return. They are completely insane." Her eyes narrowed as Morfin struck the sister, who was far from a beauty. "I wish to see more, but I believe that they are little more than Squibs at this point, and it's driving them to the brink from the anger."

"And you would be correct Miss. Granger," Dumbledore offered as the woman crumbled under the abuse from her family, gold locket glinting dully in the faint light. "After this, Marvolo and Morfin were sentenced to Azkaban, where Morfin's mind collapsed under the strain the Dementors induced, leaving Merope," he nodded towards the young woman, who was being strangled by Marvolo as they continued to watch, "free to pursue the man she loved. A young Muggle Lord."

"Tom Riddle," Harry offered as they exited the memory, the night of the graveyard coming to mind. Bone of the Father, with the name on the tombstone being one Tom Riddle.

"Indeed. From what I was able to gather, she fed him Love Potions in order to make him pay her any attention. When she eventually found herself to be pregnant, she stopped, hoping he had fallen for her by himself and would now stay, if only for the child."

"I'm guessing he didn't."

"You would guess correctly Harry. Riddle abandoned her immediately, denouncing her for the Witch she was in truth, and returned home. Merope was left alone, disowned by the only family she had left. She lived only long enough to give birth to a son and name him for his father and grandfather. Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Do you have more memories we could observe Headmaster?" Hermione asked, finger tapping on her chin as she contemplated.

"Not tonight Miss Granger," Dumbledore said mildly, scooping the memory back into its vial, the thick gold ring glinting on his withered hand. "Everything in moderation and all."

"Bullshit."

Dumbledore jerked back at the angry snap from Harry. "Mr. Potter-"

"No. We are in the middle of a war. We cannot waste time waiting for you to hand out information in small pieces. A man who knows everything about his enemy will survive compared to the man who only knows rumors." Cool peridot eyes stared the old man down. "Please, another one."

Something flickered in those blue eyes. Hermione and Harry would later agree that it was an odd mix of annoyance and pride. But for the moment, the old wizard nodded as he poured in a new memory. "This one, you may see on your own. I will answer any questions you will have at the end."

Again, the world formed around them in splashes of ink, a rainy London day forming. A younger Dumbledore was marching past them, and they could see thin streaks of color still in his beard and hair. Strange to think that the old man they both knew might have once been a blond.

"If I had grown up in a place like this, I would be hateful too," Hermione muttered as the memory of Dumbledore was led through the orphanage, the Matron grumbling and gossiping nervously as she led them to a single room. "I do not like what I'm hearing here," she offered.

Harry raised an eyebrow as Dumbledore's memory was left alone with the young Tom. "Which part? The bullying of the other kids, or the killing of the helpless animals?"

"All of it." She nodded her head towards the stoic young man sitting on the corner of the cot, dark eyes cool as the Professor introduced him to Magical World. "He's showing some rather disturbing signs. Namely, sociopathic tendencies. He obviously does not care about the pain he has inflicted on his fellow orphans, and has already killed something, just to get a point across."

"I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do things without training them. I can make bad things happen to people I don't like. Make them hurt. If I like."

The pair flinched at this. "Oh yeah. Like THAT wasn't a big enough clue that this child might be going around the bend…" Hermione muttered, and it was pure Genesis slipping through. "Never did think Dumbledore was the brightest Mako bulb on the string."

Another small flinch as the cabinet went up in flames, and both soldiers watched as young Tom did not flinch away or search for water, but only grinned as he stalked clumsily up to the flames. He'd only been using his magic for smaller things, destructive, but smaller. He know knew that there was more, more destructive things he could learn as he pulled out the small trophies of his conquests. "Does he really think a simple warning is gonna make him stop stealing?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Apparently, yes."

The smarter student shook her head as they came out again, her mind racing over the information they had just recently seen. "There was no warning to you about this child?" she shot at the Headmaster. "No little voice in your head that would say that this child might need extra monitoring, or coaching?"

"Do you mean, did I know at the time that I had just introduced the newest Dark Lord to our world?" The old man shook his head. "No, I did not. If anything, I knew he was destined for great things, that he would bring changes to our world."

"Just not the changes you were hoping for."

A few minutes later found the pair all but kicked out, the man dismissing them for the night with the assurance that he would contact Harry for the next session. The pair took the wording though, that he would only extend the invitation to Harry, and not the both of them. They walked quietly together for a few minutes, before finding that their feet had brought them to the seventh floor.

"Up for a workout Hermione?"

"Of course, but should you get some extra sleep? I mean, you have tryouts for the Quidditch team tomorrow morning."

The young man shrugged as Hermione paced in front of the Room of Requirement's wall. "I don't know. I mean, considering everything that's starting to happen, I've been thinking about giving it up. Maybe letting Ginny take it over."

The young woman shook her head at this as the door appeared. "Harry, you know my opinion of flying."

"It's not high."

"Very funny. But everyone needs a way to relax, and for you, it's flying."

"Not sure why anymore, I've been having too many memories of helicopter crashes lately."

"Too be fair, half of those were probably caused by Wutai, and the other half by the idiot Turks who were at the wheel."

"Turks?"

"You'll remember them eventually. And won't Big Brother Turk be happy about that if we find him. But anyway, flying is for you what reading is for me. And the last thing we want is for a SOLDIER to get so wound up that he starts making mistakes." She grinned as she grabbed a dumbbell. The room had changed into a muggle-style gym, sans the treadmills. Seemed that Hermione still had issues with remembering that the Room could fake Muggle things so that they worked with magic. "So stay with the team. If you don't, I'm gonna have to cut you off from the sugar to keep you from being jittery."

"You are, a very cruel, cruel woman."

Chapter Text

Harry gasped awake the next morning, blushing madly. The dreams tonight, were strange, all movement and leather and sounds and red. He blushed harder at the wet spot in the sheets, stripping them away for the House Elves to clean.

Why did it look like the red-haired man, Genesis? And WHY was he having dreams of him, like that? Harry was straight!…as far as he knew anyway.

It's not like he was attracted to the other boys in the school, he thought. Just his memories of Genesis. He wasn't all that attracted to the other girls either though, Cho had betrayed them and therefore shattered any attraction he may have had for her. And Ginny was more of a sister than a potential girlfriend. True, Katie and Alicia were both very pretty, and Luna was a sweetheart. But they all had people that liked them, and personally he was looking forward to seeing Aerith and Zack's reunion.

He held back a sigh as he pulled up his jeans, getting ready to head down. Now was not the time to dwell on his lack-of-a-love life. Quidditch tryouts were today, and he needed to get his rear in gear and down to the pitch.

Ron was beyond nervous as he clutched his broom, the swarm of other hopefuls washing over him in a noisy sea of hormones and high-emotions. Oh Merlin, he couldn't believe he was doing this! Charlie was amazing, Bill was amazing, the twins were amazing. Who the hell was he? Just the youngest member of the Weasley males, nothing special about him other than the fact that he was the last boy.

"Ron. Time to mount up."

The redhead flinched as the silver-shot teen startled him out of his thoughts. Harry was stoic, but his eyes softened long enough to give him an encouraging smile. "I'm not gonna let you on the team unless I think you're the best. Can you show me that you're the best?"

"Heh, Bill always was the best flier, even if he kept crashing when he first started learning," Ron chuckled, eyes staring off into the distance. Absently, he scratched at his cheekbone up next to his eye, before taking a deep breath and swinging himself up onto the broom and into the air.

Harry grinned faintly as he watched the fliers, flipping the hair out of his eyes. It had grown just past his ears, and his bangs were falling in his eyes. Even with the natural arch in his bangs, the fact that they were long enough to get in his way was a monument to how fast the hair was growing.

Emerald eyes turned back to the field, only to blink in surprise at Ron. The nerves seemed to have melted away, and the young man was not just flying, he was dominating! He was blocking the Quaffle with minimal movements, a cocky grin growing with every ball tossed back into play. Something about the Weasley was familiar, and he couldn't tell if it was the flying, the Evil Knieval grin, or the way he was tapping the Beater's bat against his shoulder. The only person who was able to get even one shot past him was Ginny, and that was only because she knew him well enough to fake him out and aim for a different hoop.

He smirked as he ascended into the air, enjoying the rush of air and sped that never failed to invigorate him. He's been leaning towards Ron as Keeper because he was his friend, but seeing his moves in the air made him feel better about his choice. This, was a man who was born to fly.

A flash of black caught his eye at the edge of the forest. Harry turned back to the tryouts a split second after verifying the sight, but nodded to himself as he rolled in midair to dodge a Bludger. Seems that information had come in.

~~~…~~~…~~~

"Puppy, do you have anything for me?"

"Really, do you have to use that nickname every time?"

"Yes. Stop stalling."

The SOLDIER sighed dramatically, body slouching into the motion. "Oh alright." He straightened into parade rest as he started the report, ignoring the dangerous look in the younger man's eyes. "First contact with the enemy has been made."

"Oh Zack, you didn't-"

"No, Voldemort has no idea I even exist yet. I contacted a handful of the Death Eaters, offering myself as a possible ally. I'm finding more names as I talk more with the other Death Eaters."

"Like who?"

"Lucius Malfoy for one, though you have no idea how hard it is not to slug him every time I see him. Through him, I've seen a handful of Ministry workers in almost every level of our Government."

"Alright. And the other?"

"You were right, Dumbledore's been keeping something from you. He's been searching for something on the coastline."

"The coastline?"

"He's searching for the shards." The pair turned at the sound of the new voice, Harry the first one to relax at the sight of Luna walking up silently, a straight stick in her hands. They would later find out that she had been practicing with it, drawing from the memories of two different lives for the staff work. Her eyes went wide at the sight of Zack, and the staff fell from her hand. "You…"

Zack blinked at the sight of the young woman, whose blond hair didn't seem to know what to try and change into, black, auburn, or copper. "Wait, do I…"

"You were an angel that fell through my roof, remember?"

"Aerith! Odin Above!" He gasped as he swept her up in his arms, blue eyes bright as he took in the sight of the much younger girl. A laugh escaped him as he squeezed, the air squeaking from her lungs. "Gods Above, I've missed you so much."

Small arms wrapped around the scarred muscle of the taller SOLDIER. "I have too. I've missed you throughout the ages," she offered. She grinned as she ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. "I've missed this, though you were pretty as a blond."

"What?"

"The Nargles. They're dancing over you two, that's how I knew you were here."

"The Nargles just seem to like us." The pair turned to look at Harry, who was trying not to smirk openly at the pair. The pair flushed bright red as Zack put her back on the ground, and it was interesting to see Luna blush. "Luna, you were saying something about the shards?" he offered, trying to bring them back to order.

"The shards are important. They're shards of him, like the one from my first year." she offered, eyes bright as she slipped her hand down into Zack's. "The busy bee is looking for one, but he refuses to tell you about them."

"Well, that'll be one of the thing's I ask about the next time I see the meddlesome old man," Harry muttered, dismissing the now distracted Zack before marching off in a tiff. Seems that the teenager was still enough to overpower the General.

"I missed you."

"I won't leave you again Aerith. Death can't separate us again this time."

A sad smile as she looked away. "You're old enough to be my father though, it's amoral."

"I don't care!" The young man barked, wrapping his her hands in his. "You'll grow, and we're wizards this time around! By the time you hit your mid-twenties it won't matter anymore. And I," he kneeled in front of her, love smiling in those bright blue eyes, "will wait for you. For a thousand years if you ask of me, I will wait."

Chapter Text

Fire was a constant for the young SOLDIER now. Fire in her soul, in her heart, in her magic. Fire sparkled throughout the school in the magic that kept the old stones up and stable. There was fire in the other students, although it was stronger in the stronger students and weaker in others. Neville's was surprisingly strong, and had a hint of earth and wind for some reason. He was like the tall mountains, cold and strong and proud as the wind whistles through the craggy peaks. Ron was fire and metal, he was mako-lit streets and secret maneuvers in the dark.

Harry was special. Her dear friend was fire and wind and power, and bright as a star in her eyes. The fire that blazed in his heart grew stronger daily, and she could feel the heat and warmth of it, and allowed herself to draw closer to it. The young man couldn't tell yet, but she was not the only one who could sense his new strength. The other students were just as drawn to him as she was.

Fire was a play thing. The Rapier grew more confident in her hands by the day, as did the Materia that sang from her wrists and sword. Bahamut Neo, Flare, a Mastered Fire and Wind pair, each with Alls paired to them and growing stronger with each use. A Time and an Exit to round out her normal Magic, and all sang to her with voices of fire and power and wisdom. Wizard magic was only a plaything to her now compared to the Ancient wisdom in the round little marbles. Oh she still took it seriously, even a simple prank-based spell could help to spell out her doom, but her heart was now tied to the Materia she had loved in her previous life.

Hermione blinked as she looked down at herself. That was still weird. Sixteen years as a woman compared to almost thirty years worth of memories as a man were very strange. It was a phantom sensation of something missing, of a different center of gravity, and it made her sword practice than much more dangerous as memory tried to compensate for an older balance and not the one she had now. But when it clicked, when everything came together in a beautiful fluid dance of motion and rhythm, she could feel her heart sing, the fire in her eyes rising in triumph as she danced. She could feel that this was her calling, this was the truth in her magic. This is what she was meant to become.

"Hermione! Ready to go?"

The young woman smiled quietly at the young ginger, his hair shining fire red in the torch lights of the Great Hall. The DA was being reformed, and she and Harry were curious to see if anyone else would should familiar aptitude for old weapons and swords. "Am I ready to join the random masses, many of which are about to pick up a sword for the first time? To become the dew that quenches the land, to spare the sands, the seas, the skies, I offer thee a silent sacrifice."

"'cept you're never that silent anymore yo, you never go down silent."

"Ron, don't make me embarrass you in front of the younger students."

Sigh. "Yes ma'am."

The grin only grew as the pair went to join Harry. The fire of the castle blazed around her, and Hermione could only sigh happily as she allowed it to envelope her in it's warm embrace.

Chapter Text

The young man flinched at the shadows that stretched out at him from the corridors. His dreams last night had left him rattled, more blood and pain and green light now than they had been in a while. The scary part of them, more so than the pain and the familiar shade of glowing green, was the feeling of helplessness, us being unable to move, to fight back, as if someone was pulling the strings behind his limbs. He would almost say it felt like the Imperious, but for the screeching voices in his heed, the duality of male and female, young and old, human and other.

"Harry? You don't look so good."

The young man flinched as he looked back at girl. "I'm alright," he offered, stopping to lean against the wall. The DA was going to be interesting tonight, as they were planning to introduce weapons to see if anyone else showed an aptitude. After all, it seemed that they weren't the only pair that was regaining old memories, as seen by Susan and Ron and Luna. Although they weren't sure if Susan or Ron knew what was happening to them like Luna and Sirius did. But it would be interesting to see any other results amongst their generation.

"It's just, you look pale. You going to be alright tonight?"

"I'll be fine, just bad dreams lately. Or, bad memories anyway."

The girl nodded, nonchalant in her stance, but worry flashing in her eyes. Stress and near-death experiences should mean that Harry would remember life as the General faster than her mere brushes with Death, but for some reason, be it some kind of magic or his own stubborn nature, Harry was only remembering very slowly. She already had most of Genesis' life lodged in her brain, with only a few gaps left that were rapidly filling with time and training. As such, she had a good idea as to what Harry was dreaming of. And just because it was from a previous life did not stop the strange wave of guilt. Genesis was the one who made Sephiroth curious enough to read the books in the Mansion Library. Without his influence in the Reactor, he would have probably dismissed them as the poorly researched ramblings of a Walking Mass of Complexes. But her, his, Genesis' remarks made him take the journals seriously, and then give JENOVA the chance to get her hooks into his mind.

"Hermione." She looked up at the sharp voice, but Harry was smiling at her despite the tone he'd used to get her attention. "Ready to pay attention tonight? I'm going to be relying on you to help everyone stay in one piece."

"Of course. The better question is," she smirked, as they opened the door to the Room of Requirement, "are they ready for us?"

Inside, they were pleased to note that most of the original group from last year were back. It seemed that most everyone had kept hold of the coins they'd used to signal the session. A handful of people were missing though, including Cho Chang and her friends. Marietta would not have been welcome back anyway, but the other Claws that had followed the Seeker had abstained from the new year for the club.

Still, Harry smiled at the group, eyes flicking over to Ron and Ginny over at the side. "Welcome back everyone. I'm glad to see that you are all ready to learn more this year."

"It's more fun here than with the Greasy Bat!"

The young man chuckled as the room burst into laughter. "True, but what we're going to be doing tonight, will eventually help us later with his classes anyway." The group blinked, then gasped and started murmuring to each other as weapons of all types appeared on the walls. "I know what some of you are probably thinking. What will Muggle weapons do for me? How will this help our magic in any way? Well, to answer that, I turn the floor to Hermione, so that she may explain tonight's exercise."

"Thank you Harry," Hermione offered as she gracefully took center stage, so to speak. Every inch of her posture screamed warrior, and she turned to look everyone in the eye as she started. "Many of you may not know this, but the strength of magic is tied very closely to our will power and out physical strength. And nothing exercises both like combat training. The Aurors undergo similar training. Now," she waved her hand to the weapons up on the wall, ignoring Harry as he pulled down a Shinra Broadsword to use for tonight. He didn't want to give away his use of the Masamune just yet. "While these weapons are all blunted and lighter than a true copy of a live weapon, we can still hurt each other by accident if you do not pay attention. The first person we catch playing around with any of these is kicked out for the night, and any other nights we pull these off the walls."

"Not to say people won't get bruises, but these are not toys. Treat them like you would your wands, and we will have no issues," Harry barked out, passing Hermione the Rapier. Luckily enough for the young woman, her true weapon was normal enough that she could get away with using it, at least compared to Harry's 7-foot monstrosity.

"So, what do we do Harry?"

"Yeah! What do we take for tonight!"

The young General nodded at the Creevy brothers. "Pick one that speaks to you. There is no right or wrong answer; if you find you don't like it, you can choose something different later." With these instructions in mind, the group descended on the wall, only for Hermione to stop Susan.

"Here. The Room gave you a copy of this one last time, so I think the real thing will suit you very well," she offered, handing the girl one of the giant Shuriken they had found in the Department of Mysteries. "This is a training version like the ones that the others are going to be using, but it is a real one you can take from this room, so if you want to practice later, it's yours."

The girl shook her head at this, even as her hands wrapped around the blunted weapon, the red enamel throwing her reflection back at her. "I can't-"

"Take it." Hermione's eyes were dancing as she buffed a smudge off of the Rapier, nonchalant. "When you get good, we'll trade you for an upgrade. You think you could hurt someone with that thing? You're more likely to make them laugh at it. That's when you pay them back for what ever reason you like."

Finally, Susan nodded and rejoined the ranks as the other students started trickling back into the lines. It was a strange motley arrangement of weapons, mostly the crappy Shinra Broadswords like what Harry had. But a handful had spread out, including Ron with a training Electro Magnetic Rod, Dean and Ginny with brass-knuckled leather gloves, and Neville with a larger broadsword, almost a Buster size blade. Strangely enough, the over-sized hunk of metal looked almost, too simple in the young man's grip, though he was wielding it easily enough. He would later admit that he'd picked up some muscle over the summer wrestling with some of the larger plants in the greenhouse on his grandmother's estate.

Ron frowned as he thumbed the button on his Rod, only to jump as weak electricity arced over the metal. "Hey, I thought muggle things don't work in Hogwarts!" he yelled out.

"They don't. However, this isn't muggle," Hermione conjectured, pulling the EMR from his grasp for a second. "This is powered with a shard of Lightning Magic, with an Magic Barrier around the handle to keep you from getting shocked yourself. It's very simple. The button to turn it on simply finished the circuit, allowing the magic to flow."

"And what's this? A Mudblood trying to pass a Muggle piece of crap off as magic? I'd say 50 points from Gryffindor for that!"

The room turned as a whole to see Draco leaning against the door, evil smirk spreading oily across his face. "And, another 50 points for illegal club."

"Actually," Hermione smirked as she held her hand out to Ginny, who was equally pleased with herself as she pulled a scroll out from her robes. "This is no longer illegal. First off, all of the rules from last year have been repealed, including the one about forming or reforming clubs and sports teams. Second of all," and here she flicked open the scroll, McGonagall's scrawling signature on the bottom. "Second of all, we took the liberty to gain Professor McGonagall's permission to reform the DA, under a new name though. Dumbledore's Army was only to thumb our noses at the Ministry, so it is only the Defense Association now."

"So Bugger off already, you're still not allowed to take points from your fellow Prefects!" Ginny barked, pulling the black leather gloves tight over her hands, the creaking of the material a soft, familiar refrain.

The young dragon laughed rudely at Ginny. "A Blood traitor who thinks she can tell me what to do when she still wears a bra, even though she has nothing to put in it!" he leered down at her.

Harry scowled foully, the Shinra Broadsword floating up to rest on his shoulder. "And yet you still wear pants, so what does that say about you?"

A five second pause to get the joke before Draco went blood red. His teeth were bared as he stalked clumsily into the room, pale eyes flashing. "Tell me Potter, what's it like living in a perpetual haze of stupidity?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"It must be fun to know that you're the reason the rest of the Wizarding World lives in fear."

"I've heard that tattoos rot and fall off if not done right." A sniff at the air. "You have something to confess, or have you just not taken a bath for a few days?"

A growl as the blond grabbed a sword from the wall, one of the large modified bayonet-gun blades, clumsily lunging at the other wizard. With a flash of silver, Harry disarmed him, the gun blade flying off to hit the wall, the crappy Broadsword holding stock still against the bridge of Draco's nose. "I suggest you back off, before I give you a nice scar to call your own," the young man offered in a silky voice, tracing the blunted tip down across the other boy's face. Behind him, Luna blinked at the familiar line that was being scratched into the Slytherin's face.

As Draco staggered off, Hermione looked back at the class. "We have just witnessed a classic example of what is often called 'misdirected rage.' I believe the technical term is 'being an arse.'" Her eyes glowed as the class erupted in laughter, but she was curious as to why Draco had gone for the gunblade. It had been one of the weapons some of Genesis' clones had used, but she was pretty sure they would be some of the last things to be reborn.

"Are you gonna teach us stuff like that?" Ron yelped, the EMR swinging in his grasp.

"Only if you're willing to stick to the training," Harry ordered, stalking back up to the front of the room. "Now, all together now, first form is this for swords, and this for hand weapons."

Chapter Text

The young man grinned to himself as he stalked after his target. The alley was dark, the shadows reaching out with black-purple fingers that made his cloak and hair fade away into the darkness. Eyes glowing, he was the night, he was stealth, he was-

Completely lost.

Zack shook his head as he kept an idea on Fletcher. He knew how to stalk, but his sense of direction was still as bad as it was during both lives. If Mundungus Apparated out of the alley, he'd be in trouble.

Bright eyes narrowed as the man ducked into the a store. Borgin's was well known for selling dark items, and according to an absentminded comment from Malfoy, he knew the man was holding something that would be important for his son's mission from the Dark Lord. Fletcher was only in there for a few minutes before leaving, counting out the coins in his hand.

Curious, the SOLDIER slunk in, footsteps quiet as he glanced around the store. Borgin had ducked back into the back of the store, but he had left something on the counter. The young man was surprised to see that it was a familiar piece of jewelry, the locket from his house that no one had been able to open. But now that he had been reborn as a SOLDIER, he could sense something from this piece of metal. Something dark and malevolent.

He glanced around. Borgin was still in the back, but for how long? At it was his anyway, he never said Mundungus could sell it. "I do so claim this item in the name of the Shinra Electric Company Army," he whispered, palming the locket. Quickly and quietly, he ducked back out of the store, not sure if the man had put anti-theft charms on the new acquisitions yet, and not wanting to take that chance.

He stared down at the locket, his skin crawling at the darkness that seemed to whisper to him the longer he looked. "I gotta show this to the General," he muttered, slipping it into his pocket.

~~~...~~~...~~~...~~~

Neville was the first to awaken. The whimpers and gasps coming from Harry's bed would be screams from anyone else, and he was worried about his friend. He had lived in the dorm room with him long enough to know that this was a nightmare and not a vision. Quietly, he padded out of bed, going to awaken the other boy.

Silver and green and red flashed, a dance of blood and magic and death. Harry grimaced as Wutaiin after Wutaiin attacked. His thoughts were blank as he cut them down one after the other, the blood flying up salty and bitter against his lips.

He was young. He could feel the lingering gangly-ness in his limbs from childhood. This was only his second time in combat. The first time had been only a skirmish, this was a full-out assault.

"Tea, cemjan vnayg!" one screamed, a massively-long sword in his hands as he charged, a contingent of four others right behind him, and Harry began to panic. All he had was some basic Materia and a Shinra Broadsword, and this man had the reach on him, and he was only fourteen, he didn't want to die!

"Harry, wake up!"

With a yell, the young man jolted up, fire blossoming at his fingertips at the feel of someone's hand on him. "Wutai, tea!" he yelled, the fire arcing out to envelop his target.

Neville yelped as the fire barely missed him, taking out the curtains. At once, instinct kicked in, and the pair reached for their wands to put out the flames. Neville chuckled nervously, the pair ignoring the eyes of the other boys who had been awaken by the yelling. Everyone but Ron though, and Dean was shaking him awake. "Tea? Um, I don't think we want to make it that way," he tried to joke, hands trembling from nerves.

Harry just went pale as the blood drained from his face. "No." He scrambled out of the bed, thin sheet shredding under his hands as he pulled it away. The room was a blur as he raced out, the sleepy protests of the Fat Lady a distant note in his ears as he ran, legs pounding against the floor, heat building in his muscles, an ache forming in his shoulder.

Habit told him to get somewhere high. Instinct urged him to find the wind. Fear of his reactions told him to stay away from the other dorms. These three combined found him up in the parapets of the Astronomy Tower, head buried in his knees, hand absently massaging the phantom ache in his shoulder. 'I was so close. I almost…'

"Odin, I'm such a freak."

"Hey, who ever said you were a freak, yo?"

Harry turned back to see Ron and Hermione poking their heads out of the trap door of the tower, Hermione rubbing a bleary eye as the pair joined him. They flanked the young man, offering the silent support of friends, but only Hermione noticed the faint trembling in the hand that dug into a shoulder blade.

"…is Neville alright?"

Ron nodded, holding back a yawn. It was about four in the morning, so he couldn't be blamed. "He's a little shaken up, but he's perfectly fine. The better question, is are you ok?"

"I just, freaked I guess."

Hermione pursed her lips. She'd heard what Neville had heard him say when he'd awoken. "Y meddma suna dryh dryd Harry, oui ymsucd pinhat tufh dra tuns."

"No, they had the flames under control pretty quick," Ron offered offhandedly. Then he blinked. "How did I understand you?"

"We'll explain later. Harry, you're not the only one having nightmares," the young woman offered, carefully and slowly leaning against the teen. "You remember my history, right? My room mates think I'm turning into a priss because there are times where I wake up and I have to check myself in the mirror to make sure my face isn't cracking."

Ron bit his lip, turning his head away for a second. "I've been having weird dreams too. About, killing people, and the sky falling, and destroying something, and knowing that I," he paused, shaking his head.

Harry huffed a quiet laugh. "We're just a messed up trio, aren't we," he offered, relaxing a touch now.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Hermione chirped, leaning back on her hands.

"Well, would it kill you guys to explain what's happening? Since you seem to be in the know?"

Harry and Hermione grinned at each other before turning to Ron. "Alright, you're going to remember it all eventually anyway."

Chapter Text

"So, you guys are telling me that these weird dreams are memories of a previous life in which you believe I was an assassin for a power company that got too big for their boots?"

"You know Ron, anything sounds stupid when you say it like that."

The ginger shook his head, wand tapping against a shoulder. "This is what's been happening to you guys?"

Harry smirked slowly, green eyes pinned on his friend. "It's not all bad. It just means we have a new way to look at the war with Vol-"

"Harry, don't sa-"

"Voldemort! Shiva's Glory, he's not half as scary as I was to the Wutaiins by the end of that war," Harry huffed, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"That's just 'cause you didn't grow up on stories of how he would come to get bad little witches and wizards in the night. Harry," and the young man was serious now, "everyone may have hoped, but no one ever truly believed he was dead for good. You have no idea how many times that monster should have been killed but was back to the slaughter a few days later. He became the embodiment of all the fears we had, and we were always worried that you would turn around, and he would be there with the killing curse on his lips." He paused, lips pursed in thought. "Actually, it was very similar to what Reno went through during Meteorfall."

"What YOU went through during Meteorfall," Hermione insisted.

"Thanks for the reminder," Harry grumbled, leaning back against the wall of the Astronomy tower.

Ron took all of two seconds before wincing. "Sorry General," he offered, absently tugging at the small rat tail he was growing. That ginger red hair had always been a brilliant shade of red, but under the light of the dawn sun, the SOLDIER pair could see the streaks of blood red crimson threading through copper and fire. The effect was the illusion that his head was on fire, especially with the backdrop of sunlight. It blended in so well with the rest of his hair that the pair hadn't noticed until just now. "So, now what?"

"Now what what?"

Ron rolled his eyes. Now he remembered why Turks and SOLDIERs didn't get along. "What do we do now?"

"Cry havoc and let loose the hounds of war?"

"That just sounds like you," Harry grinned. He then shrugged. "We're not the only ones to be remembering. Luna remembers at least five different lives. Susan Bones might be remembering something, Ginny and Neville seem familiar, but I couldn't tell you who Draco was."

"The gun blade he picked up was used by a handful of my clones, I wonder if he was one of the SOLDIERs that defected with me."

"He couldn't have been yo." The SOLDIER pair turned to stare at Ron, who was rubbing his forehead as he stared out towards the morning sun. "I remember, we went through all the files in Shinra after Deepground. After your time," he offered when both of his friends were obviously confused. "Anyway, we wanted to make sure the scientists hadn't left any more surprises for us. One of the things we found, was information about Genesis and Project G. Hojo may not have had anything to do with your creation, but when Hollander defected he stole all of his notes and made his own conclusions." Ron's eyes were completely blank now, the ginger diving into his own patchy memories. "Genesis was made with dead cells. Angeal as well. So when he remade the SOLDIERs into G Clones, he injected them with more of the inactive cells from Hollander's lab. Those that were strong enough to become high-level clones, were with the handful that were present during reunion. They had to have been part of the Geostigma a few years later, and therefor purified." His eyes came back into focus as Ron turned back to his friends. "Draco can't be a clone yo, they were purified, the souls stripped from the Lifestream."

"Well, there goes that theory," Harry offered, sitting up in order to lean against the parapets, stretching out his legs. "Maybe we just never met him." His eyes glazed as he stared off to the side for a second. "Although why do I feel the need to slash him right between those beady little eyes of his..."

Only for his musings to be interrupted by a dull roar. Ron flushed as the pair turned to stare at him. "What? It's 'bout time for breakfast," he argued.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but smiled as she stood, Harry straightening next to her. "Talk more after breakfast?"

"Thank Odin it's a Saturday," Harry griped, stretching as he offered Ron a hand up to his feet.

"Sleep is for the dead and lesser mortals," Hermione trilled, tossing her head. "You owe me a sparing session later today as it is, General."

Those green eyes were bright as the wizard playfully bowed. "You're wish is my command, Commander."

~~~...~~~...~~~...~~~

Sadly, they would have to wait for that match. They had been caught by Professor Flitwick right after breakfast, the small man cheerfully informing them that Harry had been summoned up to Dumbledore's office. Ron had been ready to move off at that point, but Harry and Hermione had just looked at each other before grabbing Ron by the collar and pulling him after him. "He's been trying to separate us Ron," Harry explained as the trio headed up to the stairs. "Even with what I'm remembering, I'm still not as smart as Hermione is, and she's been helping me put together the information we've been getting out of the Headmaster."

"We're hoping you'll be able to give use a Wizard's perspective Ron," Hermione offered as Harry gave the password to the gargoyle. "We know some of Riddle's past, we know he collects trophies, and that he shows all the classical signs of a budding sociopath."

"Soci-what?"

"What Tseng used to call you in your many moments of pure crazy? Now, imagine that, but he doesn't care if he hurts anyone. Most sociopaths can't feel emotions in general, happiness or love, fear or guilt."

"...Scary."

Dumbledore had a bit of a scary look on his face for a second too, as if he was about ready to send both of the other Gryffindors out of his office. Only for him to sigh quietly at the determined looks on Harry and Hermione's faces as they crossed their arms and stared down the older man. "Are you sure you wish to share with Mr Weasley here?" he asked, eyes twinkling as he nodded to the young ginger.

Of course, Ron took offense. "And what is that supposed to mean, yo? Do you think me about to go running down the halls screaming about what I might learn?"

"Only that you have shown in the past that you may not stay true to your friends during tough times."

Everyone flinched at this. Ron had been a flake yes, but Reno had stayed truly loyal to the Turks throughout his lifetime. Reno had killed people for implying less about his loyalty. Course, Reno had also dropped a man from a mountain for kidnapping and hitting on a coworker, the man had killed at the drop of a cigarette. As such, the SOLDIER pair were braced to grab the pure-blood if he charged the older wizard. "That, was a different life, old man. My loyalty is to my friends and family." Hazel eyes flashed green as he smirked. "So whatever is bringing the end of the world, lay it on us."

Chapter Text

The snow falling outside of the dorm's window was a peaceful sight to the young wizard. Bright green eyes all but glowed in the dim light, the embers of the common room fire crackling and snapping as they slowly died.

Harry may look awake, but he was meditating, trying to clear his mind, tap into his magic, shove out the soft sounds of Voldemort's whispers. It was going slowly. Not so much the first two, but no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn't get rid of the the final lingering hisses from the corner of his mind. It was disconcerting, and his brow furrowed as he pushed at the voice, too tired now to use finesse. Finesse wasn't working before, so now he was mentally bashing at the sounds, with all the subtlety of a hammer.

He sighed after a few minutes, eyes coming back into focus. No use, and he groaned as he fell back against the stone wall, hand against his face. Only to blink at the curious whisper of a new magic, tapping gently against his core, as if to say hi.

Harry's brow furrowed as he felt that strange little brush, a bird's wing fluttering against his magic. "Hello there?" he offered softly, hand coming up to rest against the stone wall, smoothed down by a thousand years worth of students.

The magic fluttered again, happy that Harry had noticed it. The tapping again, as if asking if he could come out and play, though it took the wizard a minute to figure out what it was trying to convey. He blinked, debating to wisdom of this idea, but slowly brought down the shields he had over his magic, green eyes glowing as his own energies rose to the forefront.

Those green eyes widened as they connected. A sudden wave of information flooded into his mind, he knew, he could see everything! The trio of Ravenclaws making out and groping each other up on the Astronomy Tower, Snape brewing a batch of Blood Replenishers down in the dungeon. Hermione was polishing her armlets and bangles up in her dorm, Ron was snoring away in his own bed. And up in his office, Dumbledore was pacing over the floor, head bowed and arms held behind him as Fawkes snoozed on his perch.

Harry blinked a second later, sprawled out on the floor. He'd instinctively pushed himself away from the connection to the castle, his body falling from the windowsill where he'd been seated to the red rug on the floor. And it was the castle he'd been connected to. Over a thousand years of wizards and witches passing through it's halls had left an imprint from all the magic. The enchantments the Founders had left upon the castle had gained strength, and magic itself had gained a type of sentience. Until now, no one had found this out, but it was the inevitable Potter Luck that had kicked in when he managed to connect to the castle.

He was much more timid as he reconnected, but the castle seemed gentle, as if sorry that it had scared Harry before. "No no, it's ok," he soothed, never noticing his voice dropping down into Sephiroth's timber. "It just startled me, just a lot to take in all at once," he offered, fingers rubbing the stone floor, as if comforting the building. He grinned after a second, curious as to what the castle could do. His eyes landed on the embers of the fireplace. And before he could voice his request, the fire leaped back up into life, new wood appearing to feed the conflagration.

Green eyes were jewel bright now as he watched the fire. This. This explained much about the castle. It explained how the Room of Requirement knew whenever someone needed something new. And this had so much potential. His mind wasn't even on the thought of pranks or trivial things. Sephiroth's training as a General was thinking of how he could potentially use this to help protect the castle and the people within it.

The rest of the night was spent learning how to talk to each other. The castle had been without a friendly voice for centuries, and was eager to communicate. It was to be a long night for the young wizard in training.

Chapter Text

Harry's eyes glowed in the lights of the party, unamused at the gaiety of the rest of the Slug Club. Yes, a little fun is good to keep people from going insane during war time, but this wasn't really fun, this was the man trying to recruit new people to brag about to the world later. The tower had been decked out to the nines, filmy drapery, petrified icicles decorating the ceiling, and a handful of other students acting as waiters for the Slug children.

"Pretentious, isn't it young General?"

The young man sighed lightly as he looked down at his younger date. "Reminds me of those stupid balls that President Shinra would throw. With me as the main attraction." He rolled his eyes, mind on the past as he started inching away from the Professor in a way he'd perfected in a previous life. Luna was grinning as she watched the stealthy retreat to the curtains, remembering another young man who had to be pulled out onto the dance floor.

Only for the young man to be suddenly pulled away by a whirling dervish in red. "Why did I ever bring that boy with me? My friends, the fates are cruel!" Hermione groaned as they ducked behind the curtains that separated the rest of the tower from the balcony. It was cold out tonight, but none of them truly cared. As it was, Luna had a newly-birthed Fire in an unknown ring type, and had it activated just enough to radiate warm. Harry and Hermione were dressed just warmly enough for a while outside.

"Who did you bring?" Harry asked, curious now. He and Hermione had left the dorms at different times, so he had not seen her leave.

"McLaggen, the pig! He asked me to introduce him to Slughorn, and now he's refusing to leave me alone," she griped, gritting her teeth and pacing in disgust. "He's pretty, but such a jerk, thinks he's the Goddess' gift to women."

"Want me to put the fear of Sephiroth in him?"

Before Hermione could shoot him down, (or not, she really was that frustrated with the other boy,) one of the waiters stuck his head out of the curtains. "Dragon balls?" he offered with a grin. Tasty little things, but the name was beyond amusing. Harry took one, but Hermione waved him away. "Just as well, they give you horrible garlic breath," the young man mentioned off-handedly, turning to move away.

"Oh give me a few, might help drive that rat off," the young red mage muttered, grabbing a trio of the things. Harry just grinned around a mouthful of finely chopped meat, Luna giggling at Hermione's attempts to drive the older Gryffindor away. "Harry, if I ever do something this stupid again, please slap me out of it."

"Don't you mean snap you out of it?"

"I think Genesis knows what she said."

The trio were suddenly interrupted by the sound of Filch calling for Slughorn, and the annoying whining of a well known ferret. Luna had her head popped out of the curtains, fingers twirling a strand of auburn hair as she watched the drama, Harry and Hermione right next to her. "This boy said he had an invite when I caught him skulking about the door."

Slughorn frowned, his face contorting around all the layers of blubber. "He certainly did not," he exclaimed.

"That's what I thought. Off with you, back down to your dorm," Filch grated, face gleeful at the thought of dragging the boy away. Literally.

"Now now, there's no need for that, the more the merrier-"

"That, will not be necessary." The room went completely quiet as Snape glided in, scowl on his face as he took Draco's collar in his hand. "This young man has a previous engagement he obviously forgot about, isn't that right Draco?" Dark eyes glared down at the Pureblood, who blushed as he looked away.

Harry's eyes narrowed as the pair left, Snape marching the Slytherin out the door. Not a week before, Katie Bell had been hurt by a cursed necklace, one that had been in a package they had seen Draco with. Hermione had later told them that the curse had lasted on the necklace for so long because it had been 'stored' in the opals, gems that were often used to amplify long-lasting enchantments. And the opal would have gained strength with every life the curse had taken, so Katie had been very lucky to have survived. He was suspicious of the other boy, and carefully sneaked out after them, Materia starting to glow on his wrist.

"I thought I told you to keep a low profile!" Snape hissed, pushing the other boy upright and against the stone wall of the staircase. "Trying to sneak into a party is NOT keeping a low profile."

"It wasn't worth it anyway," Draco sulked, arms folded and head turned away.

"No, it WASN'T!" Snape took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm before turning back to the young man. "I've been covering for you for the sake of not only you, but your mother. Do remember that her life hangs in the balance before you do anything truly stupid again."

The young blonde was contrite at this, almost guilty as if he'd forgotten that someone else was counting on him. "I'll stay low," he offered, voice quiet as he closed his eyes.

The corridor was quiet as the pair slowly walked off, leaving it abandoned. Or so it looked anyway. They had been gone for a few minutes before there was a low pop, Harry returning to full size. Green eyes seemed to glow as he stared after the pair, mind racing as he considered what to do about the possible traitors. 'Leave them alone for right now, but the second I catch him attempting anything...' his mind drifted off from that thought, fingers brushing against the marbles that twinkled up at him from his wrist.

Chapter Text

"Harry, I truly believe you're obsessed with that bloody book."

The young man raised an eyebrow at Hermione over this, just staring at her for a few minutes. "Really Genesis? Really? Are we kettle, or pot today?" he drawled, wand twirling idly as he reviewed some of the handwritten notes tucked in the margins of the book. Shinra had never known, but Sephiroth had concentrated better with something in his hands. He'd just gotten very good at hiding it; Hojo had not approved of 'useless twiddling, so stop that boy!'

"You're the one who can recite LOVELESS, in its entirety, from back to front." Literally. It had been a drunken bet, Angeal had won a nice chunk of gil off of his friend.

"Hmpth. You just can't understand the subtle meanings and flowing beauty of-"

"Hermione, we get it yo!" Ron moaned, staring down at her from his perch on his bed. The young Turk had climbed the posts of his bed in a fit of boredom and curiosity, just to see if he still could. He still could. He was currently wrapped around the spire of the post, gangly limbs monkey-like as they anchored him in place.

The young ex-Commander huffed again as she crossed her arms, turning her nose up at Ron. "I still think you should tell a teacher about that book. You don't know what those noted may do if you're not careful, they may change a perfectly helpful potion into a shower of explosive acid."

"And you would just be disappointed you couldn't make it yourself yo."

A smear of red on her cheekbones. Both boys had noticed that the normally calm and careful young woman had gotten a tad more reckless as she embraced the memories of her previous incarnation. Harry held up a hand, wand pointed down towards his wrist, to let her off the hook. "I promise, I will not try any spells without first showing them to someone who knows Latin. But the potions hints have all done nothing but improve said potions. I'll keep those."

The young woman was obviously still annoyed, but she nodded as the young General turned back to the book, wand dancing in his hand as he started concentrating again. She rolled her eyes before turning back to Ron. "Come on Red, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Ron was understandably wary as he slid down from his perch, following after her anyway.

"The Room. I'm feeling antsy."

The Pureblood groaned, following her anyway. "As long as it isn't Fire Dodgeball."

"Thank you Ron, I'd forgotten all about that little game of mine."

Harry grinned at the groan of anguish as the pair left, putting his wand down in order to practice the pronunciation of one of the spells in the margins. "Lavicorpus. Levicorpus. Levicorpus." He grinned at this one. The Latin was simple enough, with levi meaning levitate and corpus meaning body. Easy enough.

He yawned a few minutes later. 'Bored. Bored, bored, bored. Don't really feel up to dancing with Fire though. ' He pulled out the Marauder's Map, opening it and absently looking for Luna or Neville. Snape was prowling around the fourth floor, and a trio of Hufflepuffs he recognized as second years broke ranks and raced away as he stalked up to them. Green eyes narrowed at the sight of Draco's name in Myrtle's bathroom, near where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was. 'Now, what is he doing in there?' he wondered, pulling a shield ring on his finger as he hid the map back in his trunk.

The castle was quiet. Most everyone was outside, taking advantage of the first day of nice weather since Christmas. Most of the teachers were outside as well, those that weren't taking care of paperwork. And Snape, of course. It was a little strange for the castle to be so quiet, but the young General was taking advantage of the lack of witnesses in order to take the quiet way down the stairs. This basically meant jumping over the rails and swinging down flights at a time, an enormous grin on his face at the rush of air and the thrill of what might happen if he hits the ground.

The third floor came up faster than he may have liked, the young man enjoying himself to much as he swung up and landed on the stone floor. An eyebrow raised as his eyes noticed the wall where the Heir messages had once been painted. It had taken Filch two years, but the paint was finally all down. He opened the door to Myrtle's backroom, pacing in as silently as a cat, already hearing someone talking inside.

"I, I just don't want to do this anymore," Draco was saying, face pale as a sheet of paper.

A giggle. "Why don't you go to Dumbledore? You know he can help you." That sounded like Myrtle, and Harry could see her silvery back above the sinks.

"I can't! I told you, he's my assignment!"

"Oh really? I wonder if he knows anything about this," Harry offered, circling around to face the other boy.

At once, Draco pulled out his wand as he twirled to face him, gray eyes hard as he raised the length of hawthorn. "Cru-"

"Levicorpus!" The incantation came out of his mouth so fast that he almost tripped over his tongue, but it worked. The other boy was yanked up towards the ceiling by the wrist, mouth snapping shut and biting his tongue. "Accio Wand!" Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Draco's wand snapped into his hand, the young man disarmed. "Alright, you are now going to tell me everything I should know."

Draco stopped struggling, glaring at the other boy. "I'll give you shit, Potter!"

"But you will." The young man grinned, eyes flashing as he stalked around the other wizard, the Materia on his wrist twinkling as his magic rose. "You remember when you couldn't perform any spells for a few days back in Autumn?"

"Morrigan above! I knew that was you!"

"Oh no, it wasn't me. But I know how to do it again. Or worse." A silver-streaked eyebrow raised as he stopped in front of the slowly swinging boy. "I wonder what you would look like as a frog?"

"You wouldn't dare. And even if you did, the other teachers could easily reverse it." He still looked nervous though, wondering if the young man in front of him really would do it. The teachers had not been the only ones to notice the differences in Harry and a handful of other students.

"Only if they find you. And the frog is only to nicest thing I could do to you. Do you really want to test me?" Those green eyes were hard as he stared down the other boy, his school-long rival. "Tell me what I want to know, and I will do whatever you ask in return."

Gray eyes were suddenly sharp as he turned to look the other boy straight in the face. "Anything?"

"Within reason, of course."

Draco turned away, biting his lower lip, ignoring Myrtle's nods of encouragement as he debated. If the Dark Lord found out about this, he and his mother would both die. But there was no way he could kill Dumbledore, so he was dead anyway.

He swallowed slowly. "He, he has my mother."

Harry blinked, his Sephiroth mask dropping at this. No wonder Draco looked like crap, he was fighting to save his family. Sephiroth never had family, or at least family he wanted to claim, but Harry understood. He would fight to world to protect the Weasley family, as well as his friends. He turned away for a second, mind racing. "If we could get her out, would she mind staying with her sister until we found someplace better?"

"No, Aunt Bellatrix is the worse person for her to be with right now!"

"Not her. You have another aunt, one who was disowned when she married a Muggleborn."

Draco blinked at this, but nodded after a minute. "I think she will just be happy to be safe."

Harry smiled, extending a hand. "A Wizard's Oath then. I promise, to get the Lady Malfoy to a safe house, for as long as she is willing to be under the protection of the House of Potter, if you promise to divulge all and any information you have about the Dark Lord and whatever task he may have given to you."

The Scion of the House of Malfoy stared at that hand for a moment, then hung his head. "I have no choice. I accept your offer, and swear to offer all any information within my knowledge. Now," he sneered as he shook Harry's hand. "Thing you could let me down from here?"

A nervous chuckle. "I, don't know the counter-spell?"

Chapter Text

"So, Draco's defected?"

"Like the ferrety little rat he is, yo!"

Harry frowned at Ron, upset at this. Hermione needed to chase him around with fire and pointy things more often, help him regain more memories. "It took a lot of courage for him to do that, even with me threatening him, I checked, he's been marked, and we don't know if Voldemort can only call, or if he can do more to his followers through those brands."

"And he only agreed to the safety of his mother." Hermione bit her lip in thought. "He never agreed to anything about himself. We may be able to use him as a personal spy. Nothing against Zack, it will just take a long time for him to get anywhere near the inner circle. Plus, he's SOLDIER, he was never trained to be a spy, Reno was!" The young Turk nodded, and Harry had to concede the point. Zack had never been very stealthy, and Sirius had been no better.

"Draco can get us information straight from the snake's den, information Zack won't be able to get."

"'Draco,' is still right here, you crazy buggers!" The trio turned to stare at the fuming blonde, his hands tied in front of him. While harry didn't think it was needed, Ron insisted, not trusting him in the least. Hermione had finally gotten him down from the levicorpus spell. It wasn't the counterspell, but the Finite worked just as well, if a little rougher.

The young blond frowned, ignoring the blush spreading over Hermione's cheekbones. She had forgotten about him. "And who are Zack and Reno? Sound like a pair of American wankers," he sneered, sprawled out over the cold tile of the bathroom floor.

Harry grinned at Hermione as Ron sputtered at the American jab. "Oui vunkadvim silr?"

"Oui vunkud duu!"

"Dnia. Pid ajah cu, fryd tu oui drehg?"

"What the Hell are they saying?"

"E drehg fa ryja yh ubbundihedo rana. Caht rec sudran du Andromeda. Keja Draco du Zack."

"They're wonderin' if ferret is better prepared grilled, or fried."

"Symm fa mad res uvv dra ruug, Kahanym?"

"Sekrd yc famm, Ron's nemehk res ib. No worries Draco, you're far too thin to eat anyway. And Zack and Reno are, allies of ours. If you want sanctuary for yourself, you'll be working under him. As it is, you will probably meet him over the summer anyway." Harry's eyes hardened, the General coming to the forefront. "I will warn you now though. Turn on us, and no force under the sun will save you."

Draco blanched at the look on the other boy's face. "What happened to you? You were never this, resolved before."

Green eyes were bright, and Draco could have sworn he saw the pupils flick into slits for half a second before resettling back to their normal round. "I'm playing for keeps now. It's more than just me, or you, or the school. It's our entire world that's at stake."

Hermione bowed her head at this, hazel eyes misting over blue for a second in her sorrow. All three of them had been involved with destruction in their past lives. All had seen what happened when someone with power went insane, and they didn't want to see it happen again. Her fingers reached for her wrist, the Materia singing to her, and she smiled grimly at the roaring purr from one of her rarest, that malevolent red gleaming up at her from the armlet. This time, she would be by her friend as they changed the world. She refused to be the traitor again.

Draco sighed slightly, covering it up with a sneer. "You never told me what your allies are. Surely you're not pathetic enough to need help from Americans?"

"No, they're British Wizards like us. They were just, neutral during the last war." Hermione sneered at the blonde, fire suddenly dancing over her fingertips in boredom. "If you're nice to Zack, he may teach you a few new tricks."

"Fryd?! Mega Ramm fa fyhd res du pa suna tyhkanuic, yo!"

"As I SAID," Hermione glared at Ron, fire balling up in threat. "it will be up to Zack to teach him, if he teaches him anything." As Ron held up his hands in surrender, she relaxed, the flames loosening back down into happy waves of heat. She grinned after a second. "E caa oui'na nasaspanehk suna uv ouin umt meva. Syopa E cruimt drnaydah oui suna," she joked.

"No thanks, I chose life."

"Can you three stop with the gobbledeegook and speak the Queen's English?"

"Gobbledeegook? I can promise you, we're not speaking Goblin."

"Oh, you're just a riot, Potter." The blonde sneered, managing to look in control despite the fact that he was tied up. "So, are we going to get my mother to safety? Or should I just start praying to the Morrigan for a quick death?"

Harry smirked, and it was pure Sephiroth in those thin lips. "I think," he pulled a small mirror out of his robes inner pocket, "that you're going to meet Zack earlier than you may have liked."

"Yo! I heard my name!"

Harry grinned at the mirror. He'd been lucky that he'd saved all the mirror shards from his meltdown at the end of 5th year. Zack had been able to fix it for him recently. "Puppy, just the person I wanted to see."

"Puppy?"

Genesis grinned, letting the flames dissipate. "Fair is bouncy."

"Eternal optimist, yo."

"General, are you ever gonna left that nickname die?"

"When pigs fly. We need to ask you a favor."

"Do I get to save the world and get the girl this time around?"

"Well, it does involve a woman. We need you to get the Lady Malfoy out of harms way, and it needs to look like an accident."

"Want me to solve world hunger too while I'm at it?"

Draco scowled at the flippant tone from the man, leaning in to try and get a peek at the mirror. Bright blue eyes were peering up from the silvery surface, a young, intelligent face that was framed by wild black spikes. "Relative of yours, Potter?" was the first thing that popped out of his mouth.

"Nope! He's just the General. Course, just wait till his hair goes completely silver."

"Lt. Fair!" The young man in the mirror obviously snapped to attention at the sharp tone. "Draco here, has offered to defect to our cause for the safety of his mother. We need you, to break into Malfoy Manor, grab the Lady, and leave enough evidence to make it look like she was either kidnapped, or took her own life."

Blue eyes were focused now. "Time limit?"

"No earlier than a week, no later than end of term."

"Destination?"

"Andromeda Tonks, or Black Manor. If the latter, make sure she cannot order the House Elf around and give information to the enemy." A smirk. "Outside of the mission parameters, indulge yourself."

"Understood. You always say the nicest things, General! I will be coming to visit the grounds in two weeks regardless. Zack, over and out."

Draco blinked at the swift conversation as Harry put the mirror away. "Why a week?"

"Do you trust her enough to warn her to be ready to leave?"

The Slytherin suddenly blinked. He wasn't just betting his own life, he was betting his mother's as well. However, they had developed a code among the family years ago, one she'd been using frequently in her letters to him this years. He was fairly sure that she would not only be willing to leave, but she would grab as much treasure and useful items to take with her when she left, and he told the trio such.

Hermione nodded, understanding where Harry was going with the inquiry. "Send her a message now. Tell her to be on her guard, and that help will be coming for her very soon."

The young man nodded, before holding up his hands. "Any chance you could let me loose first though?"

~~~...~~~...~~~

The old man was quiet as be brooded in his office, fingers slowly rubbing over the cursed flesh of his hand. Harry Potter, he was acting so strange this year, almost out of character for him. He was quieter, but also stronger, more combative in a way. It was the way he was bucking the older man's advise, the way his charge, his property (property? He's just my student) was fighting him. Dumbledore truly knew what was best for the boy, so why was he trying to throw off his chains?

Fawkes warbled at him from his perch, his nest of aromatic herbs charring slightly under him. While the song lifted his heart, the purity of it made the curse in his hand twinge, the pain strong enough to make him wince. A slight wisp of smoke floated up from the Phoenix, hanging delicately in the air around the office as the bird made himself comfortable for the night. It was a comforting scent, and the old man put his head down a little as his mind returned to the silver-streaked mystery that was Harry Potter.

The boy needed to be brought back under his control! (Control? He's not a puppet, and I'm dying as it is...) For the Greater Good, he needed to be shown the right way to defeat Voldemort. (He had always hated that phrase, the Greater Good, when Grindlewald said it.) The boy may have been listening to his lectures about Riddle's past, but he had to bring his friends in, and with them around thwarting his plans, he couldn't feed him the right information.

In the falling darkness of the office, the Headmaster plotted, smoke wreathing around his head as he tried to figure out how to put things back on the right course. He plotted, blue eyes shining in the darkness.

Chapter Text

This time, he knew what he was doing, unlike the time in the Alley. Blue eyes were moon bright as he scanned the property, looking for any sign of inhabitants or magic. Yes, there were wards around the property, the chances of them NOT being there were higher then them being there in the first place. His previous incarnation as Sirius had quite a few useful memories on the subject of the Malfoy wards. They had one big flaw; in order for them to recognize Narcissa as being a member of the family, the blood and magic of her family had been added to the rune sets that anchored the protective magic. Blood and magic that he was still a part of, despite the difference in his appearance now. With any luck, he should be able to slip in and snatch his target without anyone knowing until the last minute.

And that minute would be all that the SOLDIER would need as he raced forward, nothing more than a dark shadow cast over the grim fingers of the towering hedges and statuary that inhabited the lawn. Malfoy Manor was dark and quiet, light only pouring out of a few areas. One was the kitchens, where the house elves were already working on breakfast for the morning that was only an hour away. The other was a window up on the third floor, where a cheery fire must have been roaring in the flue, because the flickering lights were the happier colors of yellow and oranges. Only for them to suddenly show a flash of purple, and those blue eyes narrowed in triumph, looking forward to the hunt ahead, short as it was likely to be. The purple was the signal, making that window his target.

He crouched, fingers brushing against the dewy grass for half a second before he launched himself forward, his momentum enough to propel him up the wall far enough for him to grab a hold of the windowsill on the second floor before he had to stop or fall off. Thing is, his target was the next floor up.

Zack rolled his eyes as the moonlight illuminated the rom he was peering in. Judging by the crib in the corner and all of the cute little onesies, this was Draco's old nursery. He shook his head as he turned his attention upwards again, boots finding purchase underneath him. While he was no where near as flexible as Reno had been or could be again, sometimes pure strength was enough to make up for a number of sins. With a soft grunt, he swung up, grasping at the cracks and lines in the stone wall, no matter how small, until he reached the third floor window.

Narcissa was pacing in her room, wand in hand as she stared blankly around her, body all but vibrating with nerves. Her son had sent her a letter a week back. Perfectly normal and innocent to and outsider's eyes, it had been filled to the brim with the secret code that mother and son had perfected over the years. Usually Draco just used it when he had personal questions that he didn't want his father to know about but this time, it had been filled with so much deadly promise. A promise to get her safely out of the clutches of an arranged marriage to a man that distrusted her family name, and promise that they may yet survive the war that the Dark Lord seemed intent on starting.

And so, she waited, setting the signal that would call in her kidnapper every night for a week, and by this point in time, the tension was enough to practically kill her if nothing happened.

A tapping at her window was the only warning she got before the glass seemed to explode inwards to her shrieks of fear. A blur raced in amongst the glass, threw her over its shoulder and jumped out of the window again. Another scream ripped out of her throat as the wind rushed passed her, and then there was the sudden hard thump of the landing on the lawn. Then off again, her upper body bouncing off of the man's (and she could tell it was a man now) back and what seemed to be a large slab of metal that the man had strapped to his shoulders. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he started to slow down, and even bouncing like she was, she could tell that they were clear of the lawn and ward lines.

A few more minutes found then thoroughly within the trees, and she felt his shoulders shake with a laugh as he swung her down onto the ground again. "Before you can scream again, Shinra Soldiers Save."

Narcissa HAD been gearing up for another scream, but the password that Draco had given her was enough to force her into calm. Her eyebrows went up as she looked the man up and down, moonlight peeking through the trees just enough to give her a good look at the cocky young man. "And who are you?"

A cocky grin, hands perched on his hips. "Lieutenant Zackary Fair, at your service Lady Malfoy." Those blue eyes suddenly turned to the manor, something in them hardening as a hand drifted towards the handle of the metal slab, which turned out to be a sword now that she had a good look at it. "Oops, 'ppears we've been noticed," he chirped, voice deceptively calm as nimble fingers popped a small yellow orb from somewhere on the handle of the broadsword.

She couldn't help it, she was curious. "What is that?"

A grin from the tall man. "W-materia. It's going to solve our little problem with the hounds." He passed it to the woman, who while skeptical, still took it in hand. "Ok, now try to push some magic in it, and think about yourself. If you do it right, we'll have a copy of you to throw off the others."

"A What?!" But the exclamation came a little late, as with a pop and a touch of glittering light, she found herself facing herself! It was a perfect copy, down to the wand in her hand, the only thing missing was the little orb. And it was the copy that was suddenly cut down by an oversized slab of metal.

"No time to freak! Let's go," Zack urged, the sword going back over his shoulders as he grabbed Narcissa's wrist with his free hand. "It's a good copy, but it won't work if they find us!"

Her eyes were wide as she raced after him, free hand holding up her evening robes to keep them from tangling around her legs. "You, you killed me," she muttered, mind racing as fast as her feet.

"No, it was a copy! A pile of mindless flesh that just looks like you! But if they catch us, then it won't work!" Zack yelled lowly, dragging her behind him, boots eating the ground as he veered to the side, swinging her up into his arms, pushing her face into his shoulder for a minute to muffle her shrieks at the sudden movement.

Ice-colored eyes went wide as the young woman noticed their destination. "Sir, what are you doing?"

"Hoping the Blacks taught you how to swim."

"I can't swim in a dress!"

"Then I hope you can hold your breath," he barked, right as he jumped into the small lake, the February weather only recently thawing enough for there to be a hole in the ice. A few minutes later, a handful of the Death Eaters that Malfoy had been boarding n the mansion came racing up, following the tracks in the mud and grass of the few areas they could see. Zack had been carrying the Lady Malfoy at the points where slippered feet would have left marks distinctive from his own boots. One inched closer to one of the holes in the ice, only for all of them to turn back towards the mansion at the sudden bellowing cry of pain and anger. Lucius had just found the 'body' of his late wife.

Under the ice, the Buster Sword had dragged the pair straight down. Narcissa was panicking, hands over her mouth to try and keep in the gulp of air she had managed, never noticing the soft glows of a pair of Materia on Zack's wrist. She finally breathed out, resigned to her fate as she gulped in icy water, only for an elegant brow to go up as she felt warm air filling her lungs.

She turned to the SOLDIER, who was grinning unrepentantly as he held up his wrist. Her eyes went wide after a moment when she recognized the orbs as similar to the one that had created a copy of her, and she hit him across the chest as best as she could. She would later learn that the pair were an underwater materia, and a Fire to keep them warm. Rage flamed in her eyes, she did not like being made a fool of! Muffled yells echoed from her mouth, nothing that could be understood, but Zack got the idea even as he reclined back as best as he could. They had quite a wait ahead of them before they could head out of the water and towards his cousin's house.

Chapter Text

Green eyes were laser bright as the young man glared at the Headmaster's back. The old man had ambushed him, all but ordering the young man to accompany him the one time he had let down his guard and traversed the castle without his friends by his side. He hadn't been given a choice to protest as the old man whisked him off the castle grounds, talking about how he hoped Harry had remembered everything he'd been shown from the memories.

Apparition led them to a small island right off a stormy stretch of beach, an island that was pulled straight from the memory of one of the orphans. Another crack found them on the island itself, Harry stumbling as the rocky shore shifted under his trainers. "Now listen closely Harry, this is very important. If I order you to do something, you are to do it. If I order you to run, you run. If I order you to hide, you hide. And if I order you to kill me, you do so. Do you understand, Harry?"

Green eyes were serious as the young man nodded, drawing his wand from his pocket. The part of him that didn't truly trust the old man anymore was hoping to be able to take his pound of flesh, but the General was coming to the forefront. This wasn't a game, or a training exercise, this was real life, and he needed to be fully aware of his surroundings if he wanted to get out of this alive. Luckily, while he had been caught off guard away from his friends, none of them went anywhere without at least an armlet on, with a full set of Materia. Fire, Lightning, the Summon he first found, a pair of All Materia, various others, including a Seal, Steal, and Throw that he was trying to level. When it came to his favorite Magic, Harry was armed to the teeth.

Dumbledore turned to the young man for a second before nodding at the resolve in green eyes. Old blue eyes scanned the rock wall, picking out carved runes that were encrusted with salt. "Ah. One of Tom's tricks," he muttered before drawing the tip of his wand over his palm, letting blood pool on his hand. "Better me than you Harry," he offered as he smeared the liquid over the runes, wrapping his hand as soon as the rock began to rumble and crack open.

The trip across the lake was silent, which didn't help how very eerie the place was to Harry. Faces were glaring up at him from the water, and never had he wished harder for a mess of Phoenix Downs than he did now, even as the boat scraped against the bottom of the rocky shore to the island in the middle of the lake. And as he was pouring that unknown potion down the Headmaster's throat, the feeling of malice seemed to grow, as if the corpses were drifting closer, preparing to pounce on the weakened old man.

His mistake was panicking when the old man asked for water, the locket from the bottom of the fountain in his pocket, even as he reached for water from the lake. It was only his training that allowed him him to dodge the fleshless hand reaching up from the water, reflex that threw a handful of flames at the offender as he danced back.

Suddenly, the water was frothing with the creatures, and the only thing that ran through his mind was what Hermione had said earlier in the year; cut off the head, or kill it with fire. As if summoned, the Masamune sang as it came into his hand, and Harry's face went cold and still as he went to work, fire in one hand and death in the other.

But the swarm was becoming too much. Desperately, he reached for the magic of the red Materia, figuring that if he ever needed a summon, now was the time. Song seemed to rise in his ears, and a voice almost whispered, 'are you sure?' With a final push, sweat beading on his brow from both sword and magic, Harry pulled forth the first summon seen in over a millennium.

Phoenix across in a flash of fire, bright and pure and cleansing in its wrath against the Inferi. It had evolved slightly since the time of Meteorfall, into something that looker more like a larger version of Fawkes. And Harry could hear Dumbledore mumbling the name of his loyal familiar, the wizard starting to come around from the pain of the potion. With a piercing cry, the summon went to work, fire flying from its' wingtips as it began to destroy the creatures, one by one. Finally, as the last one fell, Harry was dismayed to hear the musical chime of shattering glass, and he looked down in time to see the small red summon shatter into red dust. They would later hypothesize that the summons were just too old, and compared to the other regular Materia, had been used only rarely. Any that might be found fresh grown in mako springs, like the lightning he had found over the summer, would be stronger. The trick was finding them.

He shook his head, saddened at the lost of the summon, but he pushed it the side as he raced back to Dumbledore's side, a small part of him hoping the man was lucid enough to ask for his death again. But no, the old man pulled out a small amulet, withered hand surprisingly strong as he held on to the boy and whispered the activation phrase. The Masamune fell from his hand as he felt the hook behind his navel of a portkey, and before he could blink, the men both landed in the Astronomy Tower, Dumbledore stumbling from the pain and poison while Harry silently cheered at his landing on his feet for the first time.

Dumbledore ordered him to hide as the pair heard the sound of someone racing up the stairs, as if frantic. The young man glared, but dove into a shadowed alcove of the stairwell, green eyes all but glowing as he stared down the old wizard. He was about to come back out when he saw that it was Draco, but the frantic young man disarmed the Headmaster, his grey eyes wild as his wand trembled in his hand. "Are you going to kill me now, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I, I should. I have to!"

"There is always another way."

"You don't understand! I'm his!" he barked, revealing his forearm to the Headmaster. The old man only shook his head sadly, as if saddened by his apparent failure with the boy.

Before Draco could do anything, or Harry could come out of the shadows, they were joined by others. Snape was at the head of the pack, but they could hear more coming up the stairs behind him. "Severus. Please," the old man pleaded.

The man's eyes hardened, wand sliding down into his hand. Just as the party behind him came up onto the landing, he did it. Dumbledore was dead as he tumbled down through the window.

Bellatrix was cackling, saying the Dark Lord would be pleased either way now that Dumbledore was dead. Harry just carefully backed up farther into the shadows, knowing when he was outnumbered and outgunned, even with Materia and the Masamune. As they ushered Draco out with him, he carefully activated one of the orbs, using it in an unconventional way. He Threw his voice to the young man. "Remember. Shinra SOLDIERs Save. Hang back at the end of the pack, we will extract you," he whispered, eyes starting to cloud over with a blue-green light from his anger as he ran after the Death Eaters. He was pissed, for multiple reasons. One, a small part of him had wanted to finish off the old man since his memories started to return, the old man had rubbed him the wrong way. The rest he felt to be justified hatred for Snape, the man who had just killed a defenseless old man with seemingly no remorse.

The Masamune returned to his hand as he exited the doors of the castle. "Snape!" he bellowed into the night, trying to catch not only the Wizard's attention, but the possible attention of someone who might be in the forest already. A Levicorpus was snapped from his wand, but Snape deflected it easily, crowing that Potter was stupid for trying to use one of HIS spells against him.

Green eyes were mako-bright as the blue-green swirled around him. "Oh no, I was just trying to slow you down," he offered silkily, the magic rising even as the other Death Eaters came closer, Bella drawing her wand on the SOLDIER. The magic that flowed from him was the same Limit Break from the time in the Room of Requirement, the sea of green-blue surrounding the Death Eaters as the red of the Laser struck them, one by one. He smiled. "Magic's Glory," he whispered, even as the lights faded and he fell to his knees, exhausted, his shoulderblade-length hair falling over his face.

Luckily for him, the Death Eaters were in no shape to retaliate, especially with Hermione, Ron, and a handful of the DA racing up to join the tired wizard. They had seen the Dark Mark in the sky, and Hermione and Ron had used the Map to quickly figure out where Harry was in order to join him. Most everyone had their wands drawn on the Death Eaters, Hermione holding a handful of dark flames in one hand, and the Rapier in the other, while Ron was gripping both EMR and wand with death grips. But Harry held them back as the Death Eaters retreated faster, Bella calling out for Draco, whom had disappeared the second he hit the treeline. "Look for any who may have been hurt," he barked, sending the majority of the group back inside. Only Hermione and Ron stayed with him as he staggered to his feet and silently walked down the hill to the tree line.

Draco was a few yards into the forest in Zack's arms, a hand pressed against his mouth to keep him quiet. The SOLDIER had been in the forest for a few hours, having called Harry right before Dumbledore had spirited him away. In fact, it was the reason he'd been alone to begin with, as the young man had been on his way to meet up with the fighter. "Draco, we upheld our end of the bargain. It's time you held yours," he intoned quietly, motioning for Zack to relax his hold. "You will be staying with Zackary here. He will train you, give you a way to stay in contact, and then send you back to your father. You will spy for us. Oh, and Zack," he grinned slightly as he pulled the locket out of his pocket. "This look familiar to you?"

"The locket I got back from Borgins!" the man exclaimed. "But, what is it then, to be important enough for Voldie to have a copy?"

"This one IS the copy," Harry offered, hefting the locket. "The diary and the ring that Dumbledore was wearing? Both had a feeling of darkness, this thing does not. I had a theory, that your locket will."

He sighed as he turned to his friends. "I fear this was my last year at Hogwarts," he muttered, thumb rubbing over the locket.

Hermione sighed as she and Ron flanked the other boy, the young woman tugging gently on a silver-black lock. "You can be quite thick at times General. Three Friends go to war. We are in this together."

"We'll meet up again before you know it, yo."

A snorting laugh, and the thin lips curled up into a half-smile as he leaned into his friends. "No matter how the winds may blow, nothing shall forstall my return."

Chapter Text

Everything in life was balance, and the balance was broken. The trio were dancing on the edge of a knife as they tried to gain balance. But it was Harry that was the most confused.

He barely balanced anything in his head anymore. He was having trouble, dancing on the edge of a knife as be tried to find balance between his sixteen years as a Wizard, or the twenty five plus years as Sephiroth. He would find himself torn between different actions even as he trained in the woods around Privet Drive, silver-black hair swirling around him as he worked with steel and magic. His hair, still growing like a weed, was down past his shoulders now, and heading towards the length he remembered from his dreams, more and more silver streaks showing up weekly. At this rate, he figured that he'd be completely silver by the time he turned eighteen, if not sooner.

He stopped his practicing, breathing out slowly in the backyard of the Dursley's home. Part of him didn't fit in his own skin anymore, even as he casually flicked the Masamune through the air before un-summoning it. 'Glad I figured out that little trick,' he thought, eyes glancing back to the window, where the curtains had just fallen back, like someone had been watching him. Vernon, after last summer, still hated the very air he breathed, so it was likely either Dudley or Petunia.

Not that any part of him cared. Harry was pulling away on purpose to protect them, and Sephiroth was only worried about if they would get out of the house before the wards fell. No matter what Wutai had said about him, he had never killed non-combatants, and he was no about to start now, even if this was a new life.

Harry shook his head, hand pressing against the scar, trying to slip back into his own mind and ease the low-level throbbing that had become a constant this summer. But then, what was his own mind anymore? Hermione and Ron didn't seem to have this sort of problem, but Harry sometimes felt like he was losing himself in what was and old memories of blood and death and green and puppet...

"Harry?"

The young man blinked, never knowing that his pupils were going from slits back to a normal round, looking back at the door to see Dudley tentatively offering what seemed to be a glass of water. "I, thought you might, need it," the bigger boy offered. Granted, the diet seemed to have finally kicked in, and instead of baby whale, he was now only the size of a small bear. Still big, but getting better.

He tilted his head at his cousin slightly, wondering what was going through his mind, but accepted the glass after a minute. It was ice cold in his hand, and he could already feel the beading of water building up on the outside. He wasn't sure what to say, but the General seemed to take over long enough to offer the other boy a curt nod. Dudley seemed to smile for half a second before ducking back into the house in order to sit in front of one of the fans.

Damn. He hadn't meant to act like that! Harry breathed out hard through his teeth, sitting down on the stoop, glass pressed against his forehead for a moment in order to savor the coolness against his skin. He took a deep quaff, savoring the feeling of it rushing down his throat and hitting his stomach, before setting it down next to him and crossing his legs. Meditation had become easy after all the time he had spent on it this year, and now, he was going to use it to try and separate the memories of his two lives instead of diving for more.

But everything in his mind was in shades of green and gold, red and silver, and a siren's song of quick power, if he would only take to time to follow that last little tickle of a Legacy that seemed so familiar in the back of his mind.

The glass of water would slowly evaporate in the hot summer sun as the young man struggled to find balance.

Chapter Text

Green eyes surveyed the grounds below as the tents and tables were set up, popping into the air like magical mushrooms. It had taken a few days, and he finally had his emotions back under control, if not his memories. More continued to pop up in his dreams, meditation had not helped that. But, he had a core sense of self, a small mental refuge of 'this is me' set up in his head. Yes, he was Harry Potter, seventeen-year old wizard of England. And yes, he had been Sephiroth, General of the Shinra Electric Company SOLDIER division. He was a child of Prophecy, both as the savior, and as the calamity. He was strong, he had a destiny, and it was not going to wait for him to get over an existential crisis.

The Weasley Clan was looking forward to this wedding. After everything that had happened when they and the rest of the order had come to retrieve him last night, they needed the happy memories that this would create. His Aunt, Uncle, and cousin had left earlier that morning. Dudley had surprised him by offering a handshake to his cousin before getting into the car. The Order had shown up a few hours later. Half of the group had taken Polyjuice with his hair (it had turned a bright gold with a highlight of green, and was apparently tastier than the shots he and Ron had taken back in Third year) and split up in groups in case they were being watched by Death Eaters.

They had been. Harry was beyond relieved that he'd asked Hedwig to wait for a few hours in the trees next to the old playground before finding him. With all the spells that had been flying through the air, he had a horrible feeling in his heart that she would have gotten hit. As it was, they'd lost Mad-eye, and George had lost an ear.

They'd been very lucky they hadn't lost more people.

"Harry?"

He turned at the soft sound of Ginny calling for him. She had her back turned to him, the door to her room open so he could see her from his perch at the hallway window. "Could you zip me up?" she asked, hands arching up around her back to try and reach the zipper herself. He was proud to see the familiar pair of leather gloves next to her wand in a small clutch purse she was planning to use. Even with this being a wedding, she and the other members of the DA were staying prepared to fight if need be.

"Sure," he offered just as quietly, his footsteps light as he moved behind her. "Did you keep up with your training during the summer?" he asked as he pulled the zipper all the way up. It was a lovely dress in a green that flattered her eyes and hair, something that Genesis or Hermione could have told him was hard to do with a redhead.

Brown eyes were hard as she nodded, turning to stare the older man in the eye. "Of course. I've been using one of the old trees in the orchard that doesn't produce anymore to toughen up my knuckles." She held up a hand, making a fist to show off the calluses and scars that were starting to form. "I saved a few jars of bruise balm from Potions class to keep mum from noticing."

"Heh, smart." Harry offered, eyes flashing a bit as he backed away a few feet. As Ginny moved, he noticed a discreet slit had been placed in the dress that went up to her thigh, the fabric thick enough and falling in the right way to hide it from all but the most observant eye. Most would see it as just making it easier for her to dance, but Harry saw the flash of dark material, the spandex pants she had gotten used to wearing during training in the Room of Requirement. The modification to the dress was not for dancing, but in case she needed to use her legs for defense. Even her heels, normally unpractical for fighting, had an extra strap that secured them to her ankles, and if she didn't have an unbreakable charm on the leather, then he was a lowly cadet.

He rolled his shoulders to loosen up his muscles a little before holding his hands up to her in a defensive pattern. "Show me."

Ginny smiled, before one of those heels came flying up at his face, the older mage blocking her with ease. A flurry of punches and low kicks this time followed, the young witch driving him back towards the stairs. She moved for one final strike to the face, only to stumble as he ducked away. She flailed as she started to fall down the stairs, but Harry pulled her back just in time. Ginny pouted a little as she firmly planted her feet back on the ground. "I almost had you," she said, arms crossing in front of her chest.

"Almost, but not quite," he said, smiling gently at her. "You are getting good, keep up the training if you can," he ordered gently, before moving for the stairs himself. "I'm going to go help, I'll meet you outside," he called as he descended, Ginny offering him a nod.

Outside, he joined Hermione, the young SOLDIER in a sleek red dress of her own, an elaborately beaded red clutch purse in hand. Her hair, with the red streaks in it getting brighter and wider like the silver in his own, was pulled up in a bun similar to Professor McGonagall's, and like Ginny, her own shoes were reinforced, though in her case it was more for running than fighting. Something about the girl was sad though, even as she tried to hide it. "Hermione? Are you alright?"

She let out a deep breath, just a hair short of a sigh. "I, had to send my parents away. I'm well known, even if only as your friend. They would have been targets."

"That was the only thing you could have done. You'll be able to find them again after the war."

"No I can't!" she cried, turning on the boy. "I wiped their minds! They have no memories of me anymore! Even if I were to track them down, they wouldn't be my parents anymore!" She was practically crying now, biting her lip in a desperate attempt to hold back the tears.

"SOLDIER!" That familiar bark snapped her out of feeling sorry for herself as she looked up at the young General. "This is not the time to be upset. Yes, they will not remember you, but that does not mean you cannot build a new relationship with them afterwards. And besides," he raised a silver-streaked eyebrow at the young commander. "Why didn't you just use a Seal on them? You were the one clever enough to learn how to Seal away memories before, and that could have been lifted later."

She blinked, eyes going cross as she tried to search her memories for that specific knowledge. She frowned after a minute. "Why didn't I remember that myself?" she muttered, carefully wiping at her eyes. Harry could see that she already had makeup on, and she was trying not to smear any of it. "Harry," she murmured as the ushers (all members of the Weasley Clan) started directing the guests to their seats. "I'm, it feels like the night before first going to Wutai," was the best way she could describe the apprehension she had at the upcoming war.

"Well, what was that quote you used before, yo? Three friends go to war or whatever?" Ron asked as he came up behind them, hair pulled back smartly, obviously the work of Charlie, as it was much neater than what he'd been doing in school. "No matter what, we'll stick together in this."

Hermione could only smile at this, a hint of Genesis' smirk on her lips at she reached out for both of her friends. "You both know we cannot stay after the wedding. Are you both ready?"

Ron nodded with Harry. The ginger wizard had his own set of Materia now in a Shinra Alpha, including the ever useful Mini, his own being an old manufactured one with just the one spell in it. He and Harry had shrunk their trunks, everything in the world they owned or cared about the size of a matchbox in their pockets. Harry also patted his arm over the armlets on his wrists, a new pair of Crystal Armlets they had found at the very bottom of the pile. His wand was nestled in the bottom of the armlet, the wood pressed against his forearm tightly enough to remind him that it was there. Ron's wand was sticking out of his boot. Hermione actually patted the clutch purse, opening the snap long enough to pull out the pommel of a very familiar sword.

"Ifrit's Hellfire! How did you get that to work, yo?" Ron gasped.

Hermione almost blushed as she pushed the Rapier back down into the purse. "I turned seventeen before either on you. I've been working on this all summer. I've filled this thing with everything we may ever need."

Harry just shook his head at his friend as the music began. "Well, I guess this is it."

"Onward, into the fray."

"Guys? It's just a wedding."

~...~...~...~

Just a wedding indeed! Harry stumbled as they came out of the apparation, rolling through the grass in order to lurch straight up to his feet. Shacklebolt had sent the reception a frantic Patronus, warning them of a few things. Voldemort had chosen this night to take the Ministry. Rufus, who had given them their items willed to them by Dumbledore just earlier that day, had survived the attack but was badly injured. What had truly broken up the party was the warning that they were coming.

He looked around, eyes sharp as he surveyed their landing pad. It appeared to be a field of grass within stone walls, but he could hear the distant chatter of people just beyond the pale stones. "Commander! What is our location?" he snapped quietly.

"The Tower of London, just to the side of the Raven's yard." Hermione offered at once, shucking her heels for a more useful pair of flats from her clutch. She relaxed a touch when no guards came into sight to inspect the source of the loud pop from their entrance. "I came here years ago with my class. I knew it would be deserted at this time of night."

Ron blinked as the young woman pulled out a few vials of potions, multiple weapons, a tent, and a second pair of shoes that looked like they'd fit Harry before she could find a spare set of clothes for herself. "Odin above, you've got everything but the kitchen in there, don't ya?"

"Actually, I have a sink in here with a magical supply of fresh water."

"Quiet!" Harry suddenly snapped, head tilted towards the tower. "Don't you two hear that?" he asked after a second.

It was quiet, a refrain of male voices at the very edge of their hearing. They edged towards the tower, the voices getting louder. "Ieyui...Pray to us...Nobo...meno...Dream of Fayth...Renmiri...Forever...Yoju...yogo...for you...Hasate...kanae...Bring to Us...Kuta...mae...A final peace..."

"It's gettin' louder over here," Ron offered, edging towards a stone outcropping next to the tower. Only for the trio to stop, a feeling of overwhelming malice hitting them like a hammer. The Tower of London was one of the most cursed locations in England, and many of the ghosts had suffered violent deaths. Those who had been entrapped within had left layers of ill will over the years that formed strong wards against anything, though those with magic were the only ones who could feel them.

Harry was all but sure that the song was a new Materia, and this was a strong one that they had not found before. "Genesis, Reno, cover me," he barked, not even truly noticing his use of their old names, but the pair complied, Hermione casting a strong Barrier, and Ron taking care of the Magic Barrier. It was barely enough, but Harry pressed on through the malice, as if moving through thigh deep water.

The song was coming from a deep crevasse within the rocks, a tiny Mako Spring that was all but dead, the green retreating back into the earth. Left within it's wake, well hidden from the eyes of visitors to the Tower was a bright red orb, the song coming from the summon. And it was a summon, if a strange one. Sephiroth had not come across any summons that involved what sounded to be at least twelve different voices coming from it's signature. At least, not one that Harry could remember.

As his hands closed around the orb, the song faded, as if happy that it had caught the attention of someone willing and able to use it. Harry smiled back at his friends, only to stagger as the malice of the Tower hit him, even through the Barriers. He could vaguely hear his friends calling for him to hurry, but his legs were weak as he inched his way away from the Tower.

"Get, us out of here," he ordered as Ron grabbed him, pulling the young man out of the range of the tower wards. With a twist, the trio popped out again, leaving the haunted tower as dead as it's residents.

Chapter Text

The trio collapsed to the floor a few hours later, panting from their run through the streets. After getting out from the Tower of London, they had stopped at a cafe near the main street that had still been open in order to change from their wedding outfits. While they were trying to plot out their next move, (cups of coffee in hand to make sure the owner wouldn't kick them out,) a pair of men had entered, and started throwing magic around. The trio had been lucky that the first thing they reached for was the Materia instead of their wands in hindsight. They didn't want the Ministry pulling a fast one and still tracking them for a few days longer. A few rounds of Lightning was enough to overwhelm the two Death Eaters.

"Well, look at what the Hippogryff dragged in," Zack joked lightly from the door to the kitchen, arms crossed in front of his chest as he stared down at the trio. Old Grimmauld Place was finally starting to look livable, a large part of that from Zack having lost his patience with his mother's portrait and burning it off the wall. It hadn't helped him make friends with Kreacher, but the old elf was under control thanks to another guest.

"Hard to believe that these are the best hope of the Wizarding world," Draco drawled from his perch on the stairs, sleeves rolled up and hair slicked back, longer already after a few weeks without a trim to keep it perfect. A few small pieces of his bangs had gotten loose from the gel and were draping over his forehead, but it was a good look for him all together, if not somewhat familiar.

Harry rolled his eyes up to the top of his head, not moving from were he was laid out on the floor. Luckily it was cleaner than last year. "So, how's the new recruit?"

Zack shrugged even as he moved to 'at ease.' "Getting better. He hasn't shown any real talent with Materia, but his stealth and sword training is coming along nicely."

A bright green eye narrowed as he looked over at the Pure-blood. "And how much does he know?"

A smirk. "Oh, I know enough, General." A laugh this time. "So, you're modelling yourselves after the characters from the Meteorfall legend? And choosing the villain? Tsk tsk Potter."

Harry laughed low in his chest as he rolled over onto his elbows, silver-streaked hair falling over his eyes. "You and I both know he wasn't always evil," he offered, raising an eyebrow at Zack. The older male shrugged minutely, mouthing, 'I had to tell him something,' to the young mage. "If it makes you uncomfortable, you could always just call me S."

"Would that make me G?" Hermione asked from were she was slumped against the foot of the stairs.

"Argh, but that leaves me stuck with R!" Ron groused as he lurched to his feet, wandering slowly in the direction of the kitchen. "Or could I be T for Turk?" he called out hopefully.

"Sorry! But I think we may have found Tseng and some of the others, so no!"

"We have?" Harry's eyes snapped back to Zack as he climbed to his feet, all business now. "Who?"

Zack grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. "It seems that most of the Weasley family 'wants in,' and not just Ron." An eyebrow raised as he dropped the bomb. "Think Bill fits Tseng best, with the twins as Rod and Guns, don'tcha think?"

Message Received. Harry smirked at the thought that all of the Weasley children seemed to have been someone before, all they needed was for Percy and Charlie to trot up with new personalities. Maybe Lazard the Traitor for Percy and if it weren't for Ron and Susan, Charlie would fit any of the daredevils amongst the Turks. Maybe he used to be a SOLDIER?

"Anyways, it's about time you got here!" Zack snarked as he brushed back the young General. "Do you know how much that stupid locket has been creeping me out? And then Kreacher caught a glimpse of it and you wouldn't believe the drama here!"

A silver eyebrow raised. "Drama?"

The older SOLDIER nodded, opening a safe that had been hidden behind a painting next to the parlor. "Drama. My brother, he died in the Light. He defected, and stole the locket beforehand to try and destroy it. HE didn't like that." A sigh, eyes glued to the heavy gold locket in his hand. "The Dark Lord killed him, but he must not have known about this thing, 'cause he never came for it."

"It's a Horucrux."

"I know." At the strangled gasp from the young wizard Zack shrugged and grinned. "I went through the Black Library. Took a while, but I found the info."

"Odin Above, and I have to drug myself and trick a professor!"

"You proll'y had the easier time of it. Took me months."

Harry shook his head as he looked at the shard of metal and evil. "So, did your books say how to destroy it?"

The SOLDIER shrugged, the locket shifting in his grasp until it was dangling from his fingertips by the chain. "It mentioned only some of the most powerful magics. FiendFyre was one, but that's beyond difficult to control. The Death Curse might work, but that's still being monitored."

"I can control FiendFyre." The pair turned to stare at Draco, who was listening in on their conversation.

Harry nodded after a second. "We'll keep that open as an option." His brow furrowed. "Zack, did the book you found have any information on what a Horucrux can do?" When the older man gave him a curious look, Harry nodded towards the heavy gold locket. "This thing is whispering to me, but I'm thinking of something else. The diary from my second year." Draco leaned in at this, curious. No one else but Harry, Ron, and Ginny had gotten any information on the events of that year, and Harry was the only one who knew the whole story. "It had possessed Ginny, and when I found it in the Chamber of Secrets, it had formed a shade. It said it was Tom Riddle from when he was 16, maybe 17, and it was killed when I stabbed the Diary."

"You think the Diary was a Horucrux too?"

"Dumbledore said it was a memory sealed in the Diary. And when we were discussing the Horucruxes over the school year, he mentioned the Diary again."

"Well Potter, how did you destroy the Diary then? If you were only a Second year, if may be a safer way."

"I pierced it with a Basilisk fang."

"WHAT?"

"It wasn't that hard..."

"What, compared to a Zolom? Or maybe a dragon?"

"Potter, you scare me."

"Not as much as that Basilisk scared me. And then there's Vol-"

"DON'T SAY HIS NAME!"

Harry's eyes narrowed at the frantic yelling from the other boy, Hermione and Ron sticking their heads out of the kitchen at the exclamation. "And why not? Do you know something we do not, Draco? Did you learn something?"

The blond ran a hand through gelled hair, more of the strands breaking away from the gel and falling freely around his face. "Look, I was at the last meeting, and Macnair said that the first thing they were going to do after taking over the Ministry was to put a Taboo of the Dark Lord's name. Only the members under Dumbledore's command would use his name, so as soon as the Taboo is triggered, they'll be rounded up."

Hermione nodded slowly, a Materia in her hand as she absently played with it. The Summon from the Tower had calmed down from its frantic song, and now was a chorus of male voices, echoing freedom, honor, and strength. "That would explain why those men jumped us at the cafe while we were talking," she offered. "We'll have to be more careful then."

"You 'specilly General. You're bad about that."

A grin. Reno shuddered minutely. He could see where Yazoo had gotten his smile from back before the General had gone off the deep end. "I thought fear of a name only increases fear of the person himself?" he asked, hair drifting over his eyes as he tilted his head back to stare directly at Hermione.

"In this case? Discretion is the better part of valor."

"So!" Zack clapped his hands together, the locket back in the safe. "All we need to do is sneak back into the Castle, get into the Chamber of Secrets, and retrieve a fang from a monstrous snake in order to destroy the fragments of a soul of pure evil. Did I miss anything?"

"Snape's going to be the Headmaster there now."

"Look yo, you're only with us every two weeks, you need to tell us this sooner!"

Zack laughed. "Actually, he already told me." His eyes went hard and serious now. "If you're up to it, we leave in the morning."

"Should I be hearing this? I think I should not be hearing this."

"No worries Draco. A Somber Morn may await you, but as long as you don't look HIM in the eyes, you'll be perfectly fine."

Chapter Text

"Not that I'm truly complaining, but what are you doing?"

Harry thought this was a legitimate question, as Hermione was buried in the Materia chest, hips sticking up in the air as she dug through the last of the orbs in the deep chest.

The girl held back a blush, but levered herself out, holding up a red Materia. "Just sorting the last of our stock, as it were," she offered, tossing him the orb. Its song was calm, a quiet dirge as he played with it, with a hint of the fragility that the Phoenix had, indicating that this one would be a one use only Summon. "I think we should transfer everything to my bag and leave the trunk here, but we need to know what we have, and I haven't had a chance to catalogue everything yet," she admitted, resting back on her knees. "So far, I've found over fifty elementals, including a Comet," she glared playfully at the other Wizard. "I've already claimed that one for me, thanks," she said, laughing at the pout on Harry's face. "There is also about thirty support types, three other Summons, not counting the Tower one, a dozen commands, including an Octoslash, and a handful of Independents, including the Underwater that Zack gave back to use from when he rescued the Lady Malfoy."

The young General frowned after a second. "I can see some of these birthing naturally, but not all of them," he said. All three of the Golden Trio had noticed that their Materia seemed to grow almost by themselves while they were in a magically rich area like the school. "So where did the Ministry find so many?" he wondered, picking up the other two summons. One was a song of rushing water, while the other was a familiar choir of bird song. Very familiar, very large birds.

Hermione chuckled at him, playing with a Fire. Harry would later learn that what she was doing was called contact juggling, but at the moment, all he knew was that the young Commander tended to set the Materia dancing whenever she needed a chance to think. And he couldn't help but find the contrast of green magic and the red in her hair to be...exciting? "They must have been collecting these for generations," she mused after a moment. "Maybe some of them were heirlooms, or they found a Materia spring like the one at the Tower, or the one you found in the woods last year. And obviously some had to have been Birthed there, but I wonder if the Ministry knows more about the Meteorfall 'legend' than we thought," she concluded, flipping the Materia into the air one last time and catching it with a snap.

"I think, that when this is all over, we're going to have some questions for the Unspeakables," Harry nodded, running a hand over the orbs, smiling lightly when they lit up under his touch. He tilted his head out of curiosity as a yellow command type all but jumped into his hand, the song a chime of multiple animals. "What's this?" he wondered out loud as he picked it up. Outside of the basics, Sephiroth hadn't been a Materia expert. That title he had willingly given to Genesis.

Truth be told, he hadn't even been the best sword fighter, Angeal had. His prodigious strength and unearthly speed had made up for his technique.

The young woman grinned, as if laughing at a private joke as she looked up from her sorting. "That, is proof that the gods are on our side," she declared, pairing a Final Attack with a Revive off to the side. She was working on rebuilding Sephiroth's old combination from what she could remember. "What you are holding is a rare Materia known as an Enemy Skill, and you can 'hear' that the previous owners were rather busy." She took the orb from his grasp, eyes going out of focus as she mentally categorized the various songs. "We have such skills as White Wind, Laser, Beta," Harry blinked at that one, the memory of fighting a giant serpent flashing before his eyes. Too many parallels between his two lives! "Magic Hammer, Shadow Flare, but we may have hit a jackpot that could fix our Horucrux problem." That grin evolved into a full-blown smile as her eyes came back into focus. "Whomever had this before the Unspeakables, managed to copy Death Sentence."

Green eyes lit up after a second. They had already tried various magic to try and destroy the Locket, leaving FiendFyre for a last-case option, but nothing had so much as scratched it. But the death-based magic of a Boundfat in Materia form might actually do something this time. "I'll meet you downstairs," he chirped, snatching the Command Materia from her hands as he sprinted for the door. Hermoine could only grin as she heard him muttering, "Now how do I use this one?"

~~~...~~~...~~~

It didn't work.

The Locket had shuddered violently as the dark skull had appeared, Hermione having cast the surprisingly complicated magic, but the heavy gold had resisted the attack, and the attempt had taken a lot out of the young commander. There had to be a way to get through and destroy the foul piece of soul, but they would have to hold onto it until then.

Ron scowled as he glared at the locket, Hermione sitting at the piano in the corner as she tried to catch her breath. The magic itself hadn't been that hard, it was the fact that it continued until she had to abort it, and both the energy used and the backlash had hurt. "So now what?" he asked.

Harry could only shake his head. "We can't stay here. We've got to find the other pieces. Malfoy," he started, turning to the blond in the corner. The young man was a touch shaken from the sight of the death magic, but he came to attention unconsciously at the snap in the other man's voice. "We need you to keep an ear out. Anything that sounds important, any attack or artifact, you find a way to tell Zack."

"Right. But then what will you be doing Potter?" the young blond asked, only to blink as Hermione started tapping out a simple tune.

"We, will looking ourselves." The General shook his head. "Things out there in the real world will go to shit very fast. If we can do even a little good, then we should." He grinned as he grabbed the red beaded bag that Hermione had left on the table. "And we need to be outfitted properly in order to do this. That means new armor, bangles, weapons, the works."

"And before we leave, I have something I need to do," Hermione stated, smirking evilly as she pulled a weapon out of the bag that Harry recognized to be conductive to Materia leveling. She reached into her pockets and slapped their only Comet into a slot, followed closely behind by a Heal and a Poison. "Zack was kind enough to 'volunteer' to be my guine- I mean, my helper for something." The evil gleam in hazel eyes made Harry flinch in sympathy for his once-SiC. He doubted that it was the Heal or the Poison she wanted to level, and if she was going to do what he thought she was, Zack was in for a very rough night.

Chapter Text

"Be careful Harry."

The young General offered Sirius a smile, knowing that the older man was worried. He knew that being with them right now was taking a lot out of him, the SOLDIER still not fully recovered from helping Hermione leveling her Materia. The end result of three days work though was worth the pain: eight new Comets to spread amongst them, and while Hermione had taken most of them for some sort of Materia combo, Harry and Zack had both been given a newly birthed each for their very own. Harry vaguely remembered the combination the young woman was attempting, but he remembered it used with Fire instead of Comet. If she could pull it off, she could clear a battlefield by herself.

Draco had been sent back to his family the night before, his cover that he was trying to break into Grimmauld Place. As one of the only possible heirs after Sirius' death, he had the best chance to take it away from Harry, or at least that would be his story. His father, a broken man after Azkaban, would believe him. He just had to make sure he didn't go before the Dark Lord. Just in case though, Zack had taught him how to use the one Materia they'd given him, an Exit. The SOLDIER had taken to stashing the newly birthed Exits at different locations, including Grimmauld, the Burrow, Hogsmeade, and a few other places. They had all figured out how to hone in on the unpaired Exits, though that had taken a few days practice.

"How careful can we be, yo?" The others blinked as Ron chimed in, the red head sporting a cynical look on his face. "We're goin' looking for danger. Best we can do is hope to get lucky."

The older man frowned at this, leaning against the stairwell. "Then just try not to take too many obvious risks," he offered.

"I can only promise to try."

"Harry, we should get moving," Hermione urged, eyes narrowed as she glanced out of the cracked-open door. "Something doesn't feel right," she whispered, staring into every shadow that crept up towards the house suspiciously. Even as early in the morning as it was, it was far too quiet out there.

On alert now, the trio peaked out, slowly edging their way out into the street together, fanning out only enough to keep them from all being hit if someone was aiming for them. SOLDIER senses used to be so finely tuned that everything put together created what could almost be called a sixth sense. They didn't have that now, but every instinct was screaming that something was about to bite them. Something with teeth.

They relaxed a bit after a minute, Hermione frowning. "Maybe I was wron-" She was cut off by a curse, the red light screaming past them by bare inches. The trio went on the offense at once, diving away from each other to make sure they had room, wands and swords coming out to play as a swarm of dark robes and silver masks emerged from the shadows. Harry cursed under his breathe as he rolled away from a spell, sword singing out and slicing almost delicately across the throat of the nearest Death Eater. They hadn't said Voldemort. Was something else Taboo now that they missed? Death Eaters, or Malfoy or something? He didn't know, but with fire and death flying about, he didn't have time to wonder.

They would later be surprised to find that Ron had tallied almost as many 'kills' as the SOLDIER pair, the young red head a whirling dervish of magic and metal, spells flying even as he bashed the Death Eaters with his EMR. Five bodies were already on the ground, still twitching from the electricity that flowed through their bodies. Compared to the limbs that were scattered about, Ron's victims got off light. Minor calcification of the joints can be fixed by the healers, but a missing arm was forever.

"Get back inside Sirius!" Hermione yelled, hair flying as she twirled around, blocking a spell with the Rapier even as she tried to inch closer to her allies. "We need to get out of here," she snapped, back to back to Harry, the popping in the bushes signalling more fighters approaching. "Ron, hurry!" Acting on instinct, the Turk dove towards them, grabbing Hermione's hand. With a pop of their own, the trio were gone, off on an adventure of their own design.

In the door to Grimmauld place, just within the wards of the Fidelius, Sirius sighed, relaxing his grip from where he had splintered the wood of the door frame. "Good Luck, SOLDIERs," he offered quietly before slipping inside. It would be a few hours before he could leave himself, with the enemy scattered about, picking of their arms and allies.

~~~...~~~...~~~

"So, you've been busy Hermione."

The young woman blushed but didn't stop her work as she partially buried a Shield Materia into the ground, the magical wards that should hide them already up. This configuration was an old Wutain design, allowing the ring of Shields and M Shields to sustain themselves once activated. "It's been a long summer," she offered in explanation, dusting her hands off as she stood back up. Considering how complicated the know of Materia and metal and magic was, that was all the explanation needed. A twist of will and magic, and the Materia ring flickered to life, a seemingly fragile bubble of magic that shielded them from the rest of the world.

The General smiled, impressed with her work, his memories reminding him as to how long it had taken Genesis to learn this set. But once learned, it had helped to secure their camps, and had given his SOLDIERs the extra few minutes they needed during a camp raid to retaliate. "Come inside, we have planning to do," he ordered gently, holding open the flap of the tent for her. The woman had truly outdone herself in preparing for this trip, her red bag stuffed with everything they'd ever need.

Inside, their ginger friend was already setting up a map of England over the kitchen table, a radio playing softly in the background. The Ministry was rattling off names of witches and wizards already captured. Harry clenched his jaw as he recognized one as a young Muggleborn from Ravenclaw. There was nothing they could do at the time, but it didn't make it any less galling.

Any idea where they might be holding them?" he asked after the list stopped playing.

Ron shook his head after a second. "There are a few places, like the holding cells in the Ministry itself, but that would be suicide to try and crack, yo."

"Suicide or not, we may need to make a plan to get in." Harry held up a hand as the pair started to protest. "We need information. Vo- He may have ordered more than just His name to be Tabooed. And if we could free those already captured, it would a blow to Death Eater's pride." he frowned as he stared at the map, fingers tracing over the circled areas where they knew held wizarding homes or settlements. "I suspect that, the Headmaster's name may be Tabooed as well, or someone else that we don't know at the moment. How else could they have known to ambush us when we were under the Fidelius?"

"You have a good point, but getting into the Ministry will be tricky." A delicate finger traced over the known entrances to the Ministry, hazel eyes narrowing. "We know of the entrance here," the telephone box, "and here," the broken window with the dummies, "and I suspect this one here," a public bathroom, "but they will all be heavily guarded."

A sly grin. The other too held back a shudder and how much it transformed his face into that of Sephiroth's. "Any chance you have Polyjuice in that Bag of Holding?"

Hermione laughed, and her friends were equally startled as to how similar she sounded to Genesis. Though Ron had a flash of a willowy clone attacking a helicopter with a motorcycle as well. "No, but I think we have something better." She heft the bag up, burying her arm into it up to her shoulder. "May I present, a new evolution in Materia over the centuries, the Disguise Materia?"

Grins all around. "Well, I think we can work with this."

Chapter Text

The disguise Materia felt rather delicate, that sharp brittleness of a dying materia singing in their minds, but every time they practiced with it, it seemed to sound a little stronger. But they weren't sure if it was close to birthing a new sphere, or if it was leveling. Still, with any luck, it would last long enough for them to get in and out of the Ministry.

"I don't remember this type," Harry said off handedly a day later as they stalked a trio of potential marks through the streets of London.

Ron's eyes went out of focus as he delved into ancient memories. "It was rare even in Midgar," he offered after a second. "It was a mutated Manipulate to begin with, and the Turks had the only copies." He ignored the pout from Hermione; Genesis would have loved to play with something as rare as this, not to mention how useful it would have been after he'd defected. Sephiroth would have gotten good use out of it too, especially for those rare times the man had wanted to get away from Shinra Tower. It would have been easier than trying to hide all that hair up in a hat or hood every time he wanted a chance to breathe. "After Meteorfall, we never had a chance to level up any pieces so we could offer them to the rest of the world. The WRO had the only pieces that survived."

The young General blinked, staring at the orb in his bracer. It explained how fragile the little orb felt, it was either from that time period or birthed not long after it. The last person to have used it would have been a historical figure, Yuffie or Valentine or one of the Turks. No wonder it was so delicate, and he and Hermione glanced at each other, the same thought running through their minds. Either they would treat this one like glass, or they would get the best use out of it for as long as they could.

And Hermione prayed that if it had to shatter that it would birth a new one beforehand.

Their marks ducked around a corner, and seeing that no one else was down the alley, the trio pounced, baton and sword hilts smacking against skulls almost in unison, catching the now unconscious wizards as they fell to the ground.

IDs were swiped, along with wands, and eyes were checked and weapons were tucked away. They had found that the Disguise Materia would change everything except for eye color, so they would have to do their best to match up eyes as close as they possibly could. Two had brown, and while the other didn't have Harry's green, the hazel would have to be close enough. One by one, the Materia activated, bright green swirls that changed Ron into a frumpy and grizzled looking older man, bent over himself. Hermione turned into a haggard looking young man, brown hair and brown eyes and the short sleeves of her robes that ended at her elbows, indicating a janitorial position. And Harry became a young man, also in short sleeved robes, but with the fresher face of someone straight out of Hogwarts.

Ron nodded, the Turk in him coming to the forefront. "Alright, no one notices the help," he muttered, the trio dragging the bodies into a building. They had chosen well, it was an old abandoned factory. With any luck, no one would come across them. And with Hermione casting sleep on them, they wouldn't wake up for hours. "As long as we act like we know what we're doing and keep our heads down, it should be easy enough to get to the archives and pull the information we need."

"Try not to get separated," Harry ordered as they exited the factory, heading towards the restroom entrance. "Don't forget, this magic will only last a hour before it needs a fresh casting."

Hermione's eyes were fixed on the line ahead of them, the trio slowing down so they wouldn't have to join immediately. "And if we get caught?"

"I'll hit you with a new disguise. Trust me, you'll know."

They went silent as the line shuffled forward, each of them taking a different stall to try and look natural. Harry took a deep breathe a few minutes later, climbing on top of the toilet. This was going to be stressful as hell, the three of them deep in enemy territory.

With any luck, they would be in and out before anyone knew.

~~~...~~~...~~~...~~~

"They're muggles," Hermione whispered in disgust, staring at the statue that had taken the place of the original fountain. Her eyes went hard, though she ducked her head so that someone would see. "There is no dream, no honor remains! If we have to escape, I'm changing that thing beforehand."

"Keep calm," Harry whispered, but his own eyes were flashing with anger at the throne crushing the vacant-faced people. The only reason Ron didn't say anything was because he was keeping himself wrapped in old memories, Turk professionality at the forefront. A goofy bastard Reno might have been, but there was a reason he has one of the few Turk Survivors of Meteorfall.

They slunk by the statue, heading for the elevators, Ron pressing the button for the archive floor. As crazy fast as the box was, they refused to make a peep, swaying with the jolts and stops. They had been lucky so far, slinking by the wand station un-noticed and having a box by themselves. On the wall was a poster, and they were quiet as they read it. They were expecting this, but to see Harry's face under the title of Undesirable No. 1 was still a bit of a shock, though they noticed it was an older picture, back when his hair was still mostly black and only starting to grow out.

What was a true surprise when they exited the elevator was the other posters on the walls of the floor. Hermione and Ron had their own posters, as well as the Order including Remus and Tonks as well as a handful of Muggleborn students that they knew had gone into hiding instead of risking Hogwarts. As dire a situation as this was, the part of Hermione that whispered in Genesis' voice was rather flattered that they would consider her to be as much of a threat as Harry. Reno just plain didn't care.

The Archives were quiet, except for a rustling deeper within the level, and while Hermione and Ron started looking for the newest files, Harry ducked back, grabbing a broom that was leaning against the corner to pretend to be cleaning his way towards the noise. It took all of his training and mental discipline not to freeze at the sight of the rows on rows of young women, working on posters like robots, with Umbridge marching up and down the isles with that vile little smile on her froggish face. His lips thinned under the Disguise. especially when she cast some sort of stinging hex on one woman who was a half second slower than the others, only for him to sink fully into the persona of the General at the sight of Moody's eye on what had to be the door to Umbridge's office.

This bitch. The absolute gall of her! The only way she could have that eye is if she had been part of the attack that night. If she hadn't been a Death Eater back in Fifth Year, she certainly was one now, and therefor a target to the young man. Carefully he slunk backwards, still pretending to sweep until he was well out of the sight of the hall, joining the pair behind him. Hermione and Ron had found the information they needed, copies placed in both their pockets, but they paused at the look on Harry's face. Even through the Disguise they could see Sephiroth's glare, fit to set the room on fire.

"We are not leaving quietly," was all that Harry said, his voice dropping unconsciously into a baritone as he glared back in the direction of the Toad. The pair could feel the anger rolling off of the wizard, and they carefully peeked around the corner, only to drop back immediately when they saw who was there. "G, do we have anything that can inflict Blind?"

Hermione shook her head even as she plunged her arm into her bag, tactical mind already seeing where he was going with the request. "The only Materia that did that were the artificial ones, and they were so fragile to begin with that none survived the centuries. However," and she pulled out the familiar Enemy Skill, "we do have Bad Breath in here, and if they're confused they won't be able to report back accurately anyway."

"And everyone will get at least two ailments with that, yo."

A terse nod as Harry gently took the orb, switching it out with a Fire, and paired up with an All. "As soon as I cast, if she isn't one already then make sure to Toad the toad. We will not leave without her, and as far as I am concerned, she will not last the night." They all nodded as one, Ron switching out a few Materia to make sure he had a Seal and Mini ready for this operation. This would have to be fast and quiet, and they would have to head for the exit as soon as they were done.

The air was still as they crouched next to the opening to the hall, the air growing tense as Harry silently held up a hand, counting down three, two... one!

With a flash of magic the hall erupted into chaos, the three dozen women all being inflicted at once. Some had become Toads or miniatures of themselves, some were trying to use their wands to reverse the affects on themselves and the others to no avail, and most were spinning in confusion, the world shifting and bouncing about wildly as they tried to fix their vision.

Umbridge had been Silenced and Confused, and Ron snapped out one of his fastest castings at her, smirking in triumph as she shrank down into the form of a warty little Toad. She had been close to the trio, and Harry scooped her up as Hermione quickly pried the eye out of the door. As fast as the attack started they were moving again, heading for the elevator, praying that they would get out before someone managed to raise the alarm. The Toad squirmed in Harry's pocket, and the young man slapped a hand against her roughly, stunning her as they exited back into the Atrium.

"Hey, you! you're not supposed to be down here!" The trio paused, turning to stare at the man barking at them, his stance and clothes marking him as a Pureblood. "Get back to your post, Halfblood," he sneered, looking straight at Harry.

A smirk. That was the only warning they got before the young man decided to test out his newest Materia. Comets rained down in the Atrium, smoke and fire filling the air even as the trio started running for the Apparition Points, Hermione's wand springing into her hand as she fulfilled her earlier vow.

Using the Materia had strengthened their magic and control, and as they dived for the Apparition point, the foul throne on the broken bodies of Muggles changed into a Trio of Men, tall and handsome and armed with swords, marble flowing into the images of the Three First Class SOLDIERS of the old Meteorfall Legend, a plaque reading Nothing Shall Forestall Our Return. With a pop, the three were gone, leaving behind broken bodies and a story that would spread to the oppressed with the speed of gossip through the mouths of the survivors of this attack.

Chapter Text

"Hey, did you hear?"

"I did, but only a little."

"I did, I did!"

"The statue is locked in that shape, they can't change it back to normal."

"Oh my, whomever transfigured it must be very powerful."

"They say they were dressed as custodians, that's how they got so far into the Ministry."

"Custodians?"

"Like Filch."

"Does anyone know what the statue said again?"

"I heard that it keeps changing! It started as Nothing Shall Forestall Our Return, but it keeps cycling through a few other phrases."

"Oh, like what?"

"Something like, The Turks Are always Watching?"

"I heard it said something about Shin-ra!"

"Yeah, Shin-ra SOLDIERs Save."

"Don't you guys get the reference?"

"We're Muggleborn or Raised, you're a Halfblood."

"Shin-ra is from an old legend, the Calamity From The Skies, or Meteorfall."

"You mean there're more legends than just Merlin?"

"We have a lot of them! But Shin-ra, and SOLDIERs, were from the Meteorfall story."

"What happened?"

"Shin-ra basically took over the world, and SOLDIER was their magic program. Many of them were considered Heroes, until the General went crazy."

"Scary."

"He called down a Meteor to try and destroy the planet, but an avalanche stopped him in the end."

"So why are these people using the SOLDIERs as their mark? I heard the three figures on the statue are supposed to be the three Elites from the Legend, including the General."

"They were Heroes before the General turned on the world, maybe they want that strength."

"And the first quote? You and I both know where that came from."

"The Loveless story, yes."

"I went to double check, but it's been removed from the library. Madam Pinch was so angry about it."

"Wait, removed and not checked out?"

"The Carrow siblings destroyed the only copy she had."

"I remember enough about the play to know that it's also a prophecy."

"Really Abbott? Can you tell us?"

"It's a play in the Muggle world too. Three Friends Go To War. One is captured, One Takes Flight, and The Last Stays To Become A Hero. I think that's how it went."

"Wasn't one of the Elite SOLDIERs supposed to have been a scholar of that play?"

"The Dark one maybe?"

"You have to tell us these stories!"

"Later tonight before curfew. Spread the world, we're coming to The Room tonight."

"You got in trouble?"

"Alecto caught me looking for the Loveless copy, she tried to put me in detention."

"I spread the word to the others, we'll be there."

~~~...~~~...~~~

"Did you know?"

"Did you know?"

"Did you hear Umbridge is missing?"

"Hah! Couldn't have happened to a nicer witch."

"I hope the SOLDIERs got her."

"I think they did, she went missing about the same time as the Ministry attack."

"Wonder what'll happen to her."

"Wonder if anyone will care?"

"Outside of hoping it bloody hurts anyway. I still have the scars on my hand."

"Mine too. I Will Not Talk Down To My Superiors."

"Me too."

"She got to you too? But you're just a third year!"

sniffle. "I wanna go home!"

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. But even with the Carrows, Hogwarts is still safer than out there in the real world."

~~~...~~~...~~~

"Do you have news?"

"The Carrows were talking to each other. They got more news from Him."

"Tell us!"

"You can't keep us in the dark!"

"Alright, settle down. He, is in a rage because he can't Taboo SOLDIER or Shin-ra. They tried, and kept getting pings from Muggle army bases!"

"Hah! Bet that didn't end well for the Snatchers!"

"Indeed, most of them got chewed up by those Muggle weapons. Guns I think they said?"

"On an army base? A gun if they're just lucky! My uncle's a soldier, he loves his assault rifle... it fires a lot of little pellets of metal really really REALLY fast."

"Well, that would be a bad day."

"Oh yes. Where did Shin-ra send them?"

"Somewhere in Japan I heard. And because of how far away it is, they kept splinching themselves from magical exhaustion."

"Ouch. So they can't Taboo those words cause they're too general?"

"Seems that way. Those guys from the Ministry got lucky in that regard."

~~~...~~~...~~~

"Hey, did you hear the McGonagall rumor?"

"That old one? It's so old it has a layer of dust on it!"

"The thought of her as a wild one as a girl? It's hard to imagine."

"Yeah, but this one is that she used to fight people just to learn new magic from them."

Eyes rolled in the darkness. "Come on, next you're gonna say that she used to be a ninja during World War Two. It's just a rumor."

~~~...~~~...~~~

"Did you get the news?"

"Yes, I'm one of the first victims. The Carrows are using the Cruciatus on the students in detention."

"I'll spread the word to the others. Can you do the same? Anyone threatened with detention with them is to go to The Room."

"Happily. I'd also like to mention that Madam Pomfrey is running interference if they're looking for you while in the hospital wing."

~~~...~~~...~~~

"I got news! There's another SOLDIER out there fighting!"

"What? Tell us Creevy!"

"It's a tall man with black hair and a broad sword as wide as me! He's going out into wooded areas and purposefully tripping the Taboo to attack the Snatchers!"

"Is he supposed to be the Dark one from the Meteorfall legend?"

"Or maybe his son. There were three people who held the sword Creevy's talking about."

"They said he was laughing as he fought, dancing between the spells!"

"That sounds like the son. The Hero from the Mountain Village, the second one to hold that broad sword."

"It seems like all sorts of legends are crawling out of the past."

~~~...~~~...~~~

"Did you hear? The statue attacked a Death Eater when he tried to destroy it!"

"I think that one's just a rumor."

"But what if it's true? What if those SOLDIERs were that strong that they could animate it from outside the Ministry?"

"Well, if it's true or not, they've shown themselves to be very strong. I think we might have a chance of surviving this war."

Chapter Text

The trio were huddled together inside the tent, trying to stay warm as much as comforting each other as best as they could. The past twenty four hours had been stressful, with the raid of the ministry and the subsequent 'trial' of Umbridge. It had taken a lot out of the three, especially the one who had to wield the blade at the end...

~~~...~~~...~~~

Green eyes were dark with steely promise as they congregated within the Materia bubble, Hermione having put it and the wards back up as soon as they had jumped far enough for them to be safe from anyone pursuing them. The cliffs of Dover were their temporary home for now, the white chalk of old Albion a whisper of home as they circled around one another, Harry pulling the stunned Toad from his pocket. She seemed a little squished, but was still breathing, for now.

"Do it," he ordered, and Hermione nodded, casting Heal from her sword. At once, the toad popped, Umbridge staggering from the sudden shift of gravity as she came back to her normal shape and size. She shook her head, trying to clear the stars from her eyes, snapping at the trio imperiously. "Who in Merlin's name are you?! I demand that you take me back at once! As soon as I find the fiends responsible for this, they will be Kissed immediately!"

"Look no further," Ron drawled, eyes serious even as his body language went loose, the same stance that the SOLDIERs recognized from Reno about to get serious about a fight. The EMR in his hand tapped a steady rhythm against his shoulder, and Hermione was similarly tapping the tip of the Rapier against the leather of her boots. Both warriors were very angry indeed.

"Tell us, how did you escape Azkaban after what you did in Hogwarts?" Harry intoned, voice calm and even. "We looked them up," or at least Hermione had, "Blood Quills, outside of contracts, are illegal. You tortured dozens of innocent kids, for what? The sick pleasure of it?"

She must not have recognized them yet, their hair and facial structures had been changing for almost fourteen months now, from both age and memories of ages past. But they couldn't depend on this holding forever. "They were horrid little brats who needed to be put into their place, including the Potter brat! Speaking against my dear Fudge, getting him thrown out of his position! They all deserved to be put back in their place."

"You didn't answer our question," Hermione said now, causing the nasty little woman to spin around to look at her. And now the piece of work noticed the weapons in their hands as a danger, and she reached for her wand, only for Hermione to dart out, pricking her in the arm just hard enough for her to yelp and drop the little stick, Ron scooping it up. "How, did you stay out of Azkaban? Every last student you tortured was inspected by Madam Pomfrey, and I know she sent all the names and information to the Ministry."

A haughty look as the woman straightened up, hand clasped over the trickle of blood staining her pink sleeve. "Fudge pardoned me before leaving his office," she sneered, a smile on her squat face. "He at least, understood that everything I did for him was for his good."

"And threatening the Cruciatus Curse? Was that for the 'Greater Good'?"

Those froggy eyes blinked, only to narrow as she finally recognized the eyes of the young man. His cheeks had thinned, making his cheek bones seem sharper, and his hair was down to his shoulder blades now and streaked liberally with gray and silver, but those eyes. "Potter?" The smirk on his face was all the confirmation she needed. "Potter, when I get out of here, I will have you core bound! You'll be Kissed for this! And your friends!"

"Who says you will get out of here alive?"

A gasp, low and quiet, and Hermione shook her head, slipping into Wutain. "Harry fyed, dryd'c duu vyn! Fa lyh'd dyga dra myf ehdu uin ufh ryhtc!" (Wait, that's too far! We can't take the law into our own hands!)

"Fuimt drec fusyh ajan navuns? Lyh fa dyga dra necg dryd cra lyh pnehk udranc pylg yvdan ic?" (Would this woman ever reform? Can we take the risk that she can bring others back after us?) He shook his head as he switched back to english, Ron nodding in quiet agreement. "No Hermione, we cannot take that risk."

The young Red Mage frowned, lips pulled tight in anguish, but she nodded after a minute, straightening her shoulders back as she shifted to Attention. "Then do it," she said quietly, metaphorically washing her hands of the role as executioner. "She is guilty of torture, at least one Unforgivable, and of being an ally to the Death Eaters. Do it then, put the Half Blood out of her misery," she ordered, a slight taunt in her voice. They had likely killed before during the flight from Grimmauld Place, but to strike down an unarmed woman in cold blood was something completely different.

"Half Blood? I am a Pureblooded daughter of the Selwyn line! How dare you insult me!" Umbridge snapped, moving as if to slap the younger woman, only to back pedal as the mage raised her sword in warning. She looked around at the trio frantically, too panicked to consider Apparition at the moment, and even if she had tried, she likely would have lost an arm at the least. She started hyperventilating at the stony looks on the faces of the trio, seeing the deadly promise in eyes too old for their forms. "You, you can't do this! They' they will be looking for me! I have powerful allies!"

"Like Vo-"

"General! You know better, yo!"

Harry blinked, noting the fresh anguish on their prisoner's face. "That was your plan? To trick one of us into saying the name and hoping his scum you call allies don't kill you too when they come?" he asked, stalking closer to her, eyes glowing from repressed magic and anger. He smirked suddenly, holding up his right hand, turning it so that she could see the scars, 'I Will Not Tell Lies.' "I'll be honest, it almost worked. And that's why we can't just knock you out, or Toad you until the war is over."

"But you're too dangerous to be left on your own," Ron drawled, the Materia in his bracer starting to glow a little brighter as he closed in, keeping the gaps in their formation as small as they could. "Hey Commander, you gotta quote for this bitch to take with her to Hel?" he asked.

She was stoic, quiet, and withdrawn, not liking the inevitable conclusion Umbridge had forced herself into. If she had been calmer, more rational, they may have taken the chance to just Toad her and keep her in a cage somewhere. But Harry and Ron were right, she was too dangerous. A slow nod. "I have the perfect one." Hazel eyes glared at the woman that was forcing them to destroy the last of their innocence in this war. There was no turning back now.

"Suffer Not A Witch To Live."

The cut was swift, fast enough to be practically painless, and the Masamune was sharp enough to completely sever the bones in her neck, leaving only a small piece of skin connecting her head to her breastbone so that it wouldn't go rolling. It spoke of the time and effort the young wizard had gone through to retrain his skills, but the wizard himself was un-naturally quiet as the witch collapsed, dead before her mind even knew what had happened. He was buried in the memories of Sephiroth, taking refuge in the knowledge that that was far from the first time he'd had to do something like this. The memories included a few specimens of Hojo's that he'd put out their misery if they managed to get loose from the labs, and spies that the troops had located while in Wutai. They too, had preferred to take their own lives if possible, and a few had requested at the end of the war for him to be their second as they cut their stomachs. This grisly business was far too familiar to the young man, but at least Sephiroth had the mental fortitude to endure it without losing his mind, and Harry leaned on the memories of that strength now, trying to claim it as his own.

They were all quiet, following the instructions of old memories as they Cured her, forcing the wound to close even if it wouldn't revive her. Ron lead the operation, grinding the chalk of the cliffs into her shoes and hands before they pushed her off the cliff itself. The tide was going out, and she disappeared quickly, her body heading across the Channel towards France. The Turks used to frame many of their assassinations on accidents, and with the white chalk under her nails and caked in the treads of her boots, if she washed up in France they would have to assume that she slipped off the Cliffs and drowned.

~~~...~~~...~~~

Hermione shook her head as the sunlight faded, the walls of the enchanted tent lighting up in the deep reds of the fading light as she extracted herself from the pile of grieving magicals. She sighed heavily, leaning back against the pair without any true conscious thought before forcing herself to her feet, grabbing the red beaded bag that she had tossed onto the table. "We really should go over the information he found," she ordered softly, her tone enough to rouse the boys out of their memory diving. Slowly, the pair joined her at the table as she reached for the files, arm buried up to her shoulder as she rooted around for the right item.

"Draco informed us that His name is most likely been Tabooed, but with how fast they jumped us after leaving the Fidelius, something else must have triggered it," she hypothesized as she finally pulled out the right scroll, frowning as the Locket was pulled out as well, the chain hooked around part of the scroll. She left it out for the moment though; they would look at it afterwards to see if they could figure out how to finally destroy it. She unrolled the parchment, and the trio huddled around her as they read the spiky calligraphy over her shoulder.

Dumbledore's name had been Tabooed, as well as Voldemort as they expected. In fact, a small list of names had been Tabooed, including Alastair Moody and Sirius, which explained how they had tripped the Taboo before. They would have to use code names for so many of their friends. Luckily Sirius came with his own build in code name now.

The Unforgivables had been Tabooed before, but they now had a list of names under them. Seeing as they included many known Death Eaters, the trio correctly assumed that they were there as an exemption from the Taboo, as they were most likely the ones to use them. Horucrux was on the list as well, and a few rituals that the trio knew nothing about.

Hermione shook her head, eyes hardening as they read over the list again, Ron turning on the radio to listen in on the listings of witches and wizards being taken in by the Snatchers. It was a shorter list today, repeating only a dozen names or so, and he breathed a silent sigh of relief to not hear any of his family. "This, will get a lot of people in trouble," she finally said after a minute. "If we had a way to get the information to Hogwarts I'd send it in a heart beat. But Hedwig," and she turned to look at the faithful owl perched on a limb outside of the tent. She had shown up an hour ago, having finally tracked them down. "Hedwig is too flashy. I'd hate for her to get hurt if we asked that of her."

"Would the Disguise work on her?" Ron asked after a second.

"It likely would, but it only lasts for an hour before it needs to be cast again. And as amazing as she is, I do not think we could teach her how to cast it herself."

Harry smirked after a second, and it was Sephiroth leaking through as he pulled a mirror out of his pocket. "Why can't we ask the Puppy to relay the information for us?" he asked. That telling smirk grew as Hermione slapped a hand against her forehead.

His eyes turned back to the Locket even as he called for Zack to 'pick up the phone.' Something about it was feeling off, like the magic in it was shaking, losing it's grip. Only for the trio to stumble away from the table with a synchronized yelp as black smoke started to pour out of the heavy gold. It screamed at them, taking the form of a skull as it tried to reattach itself to the metal, writhing and fighting it's fate with everything in it's foul form. Not a single person took a full breath until it finally dissipated, the heavy feeling of black magic slowly clearing with the smoke as a fresh sea breeze flowed through the canvas of the enchanted tent.

"What in the name of the Undead Icy Tits of Hela was that?!"

Well. Zack seemed to have picked up his mirror at the right time. Harry took an unsteady breath as he picked up the mirror from where he had dropped it on the table, staying away from the now quiet locket. "I have no earthly clue," he finally admitted. "It almost looked like the Death Sentence finally kicked in, but it should have done that back when we cast it to begin with."

"Maybe it was too strong before?" Hermione offered as she picked herself up off the ground. "If the Journal was the first one, this might have been the second, maybe the third at worst. If they hold half of his remaining soul in each, then it would still be pretty strong."

"Then why didn't it die a few days ago?" Ron wondered, recovering from tripping over his chair in his haste to back away. "Did ya put stasis charms on your bag or something?"

"Actually," she looked down at the red bag in question. "I did. I thought it would be useful for keeping our food fresh." She blinked after a second, ignoring Harry showing Zack the Taboo list through the mirror. "It must have delayed the magic while it was in there, like a Time magic."

"Well, all we need now is to find the other four."

"Three," Harry interjected. "We can safely assume that Nagini is one. It's the other three we have to find."

Ron laughed, a cocky grin on his face. "Well, then I guess we're half way done already!"

Chapter Text

Liz was bored as heck as she leaned against the counter. Cheddar was very quiet in late November, when most of the kids were away at school, and the only people who came into the grocery store tended to be the older ladies grabbing an item or two for dinner, oblivious to how dull their idle gossip was about who was sleeping with whom or which wife had just gotten a hair cut or which ever.

Gag her with a spoon.

Liz sighed heavily, poking through a trashy magazine. She couldn't wait to get out of this town, college was looking very attractive right now. The only thing to happen to them was that the parish was to get a new priest soon, and the older residents were looking forward to meeting the man.

Footsteps alerted her to someone approaching the counter, and she straightened up as she placed the magazine to the side. Only for her jaw to drop at the sight of the trio. They were gorgeous! Tall, stately, thinly muscled with piercing eyes. Green and hazel eyes were jewel bright as they emptied baskets onto the counter, eggs and bread and milk and other basic and not so basic items.

The lanky redhead frowned at the bag of shrimp, a look of disgust on his face, the tattoos over his cheekbones moving as he grimaced. "Gen yo, are you sure you need this?" he asked.

The other redhead was more of a fiery auburn shade compared to the firetruck red of his companion, and his hazel eyes rolled as he placed a bottle of cooking oil on the counter. "You'll like it Reno, and if not, Seph and I will eat all of it," he stated in a regal manner.

"At least we got normal things too," Reno grumbled, still not sure about the strange looking crustaceans.

The last man grinned shallowly, and it lit up his face. Liz sighed lightly as she absently scanned and bagged their groceries. "You'll like it Reno, promise," he offered softly. Long silver hair was pulled back in a low tail as he turned to Liz, who was all but drooling as she packed away the last of the food.

"A-are you moving to Cheddar?" Liz managed to stutter out, swiping the credit card that 'Gen' had passed to her.

But to her disappointment, the tallest member just shook his head, silver hair flowing in a metallic stream over his shoulders. "No, we are just passing through," he offered as the trio grabbed all the bags. He offered her a smile as they headed for the door, and Liz could feel the blush spreading over her cheeks. "Have a good day miss."

She took it all back. She loved her job! And now SHE had the fresh gossip!

~~~...~~~...~~~

Disguise Materia was worth not it's weight in gold, but Harry's weight in gold. Without a way to get into the city, they would have been forced to stay hidden in the woods behind their wards, and it would have drove them insane. And they would have run out of fresh food, even with the charms on the red bag keeping everything they had fresh. A body got tired of the same thing over and over.

Hermione, no longer in the guise of her former self, grinned as she inhaled the scent of cooking shrimp over the campfire, the creatures speared through and roasting over the flames. A pot next to the fire was bubbling merrily, the rice coming along nicely, and on a clean flat rock, chopped fresh vegetables were ready to be added to dinner. Thank God she had opened a normal bank account before this adventure, it was proving to be useful. It had been a month since they attacked the Ministry, and the trio were bored, having no luck figuring out were another Horucrux might be. They had narrowed it down to the Inner Circle, so their next target would be stored in a Manor or Gringotts, if they were lucky. But since most of the Estates were Unplottable, it was impossible to find them, let alone the Horucrux in question.

The only clue they had was from Draco. The young man had mentioned last time he had checked in that his Aunt Bellatrix had mentioned offhand that she needed to check on something in her vault. But without any more information, for all they knew, she was growing Ashwinders in there!

Harry sighed as he leaned against the back of his chair, straddling it as he watched Hermione cooking. This was driving them insane, not knowing what to about their enemy. "Any idea on what to do tomorrow?" he asked absently.

"I actually noticed something interesting in the book Du- the Headmaster willed me," Hermione mentioned, stumbling as she remembered that Dumbledore's name had been Tabooed. "I was planning to review it tonight after dinner."

"Wait, you'd be reading something besides LOVELESS?" Ron joked, coming back up to the group with an arm load of wood for the fire pit.

An even look of 'not amused.' "Yes Ron, I'll be reading something besides LOVELESS," she uttered, rotating the shrimp absently as she shook her head at the boy. She looked up to Harry after a second, a grin on her lips. "Why don't we go into Cheddar proper tomorrow? Even if only to find a newspaper, or stretch our legs."

"Sounds good to me. And Zack mentioned that he's been 'bear-baiting' the Death Eaters. Going out, tripping a Taboo and then 'indulging himself,' as he so eloquently put it." Harry rolled his eyes at the older SOLDIER, but he noted the sudden interest in his friends. "Under certain conditions, we could try as well."

"We'll talk about that later. For now, dinner's ready."

~~~...~~~...~~~

Back in Disguise the next day, the trio wandered through the small town, talking in the sights, Genesis peeking into windows as they past by the different shops. They had already agreed before that when Disguised they shouldn't use their real names. They had also decided that using their old uniforms stood out too much, ran too much of a risk that anyone who had studied the old Legend might recognize. As such, they were all in khakis and simple shirts, black for Sephiroth, Genesis in a rich blue, and Reno in a red that didn't clash too badly with his hair.

Even trying to keep a low profile, they were just too attractive to stay inconspicuous for long. The various women of Cheddar were giggling at they watched them, talking to one another from behind their hands. Reno just preened, but Seph and Genesis tried to look away, uncomfortable with the attention. Reincarnation of a man who craved attention or not, Genesis was still a woman this time around. And Sephiroth had never liked the attention, in either life.

They took a break in front of the town church, Seph looking through the paper they had bought earlier. Depression seemed to had become an epidemic in the larger cities, a sign that the Dementors were still active, and a small village to the south of Nottingham had been attacked.

Only for them to some to attention as Genesis perked up suddenly, watching someone intently across the square. Following the Commander's gaze, the others went completely focused, a glare in Sephiroth's eyes.

He was hunched over in on himself, with a hat over his eyes and wearing mismatched clothes. But they would forever recognize that face, the weak chin of the man in front of them. As one, the trio rose, quietly stalking the man.

Fudge was alive.