Harry Potter: Chosen's Angel

Chapter 3: Fell Tidings and Vigorous Meetings

The sun beat down as the endings of summer still brought the infernal heat. Overlooking a local playground at Privet Drive, Harry lay under a tree. A cool breeze and the shade were the only thing that kept the dark clad youth cool. Off in the distance, Damien hung from the swing bar upside down, his legs wrapped around it like an octopus would a fish. Shaking his head at his cousin's less than sound idea, Harry was about to doze off. That was until he heard the telltale sound of Dudley's annoying voice. 

"What are you doing, Potter? Thinking about your freak friends back at your freak school?" his fat cousin's annoying voice asked smugly.

"You really have a short memory, don't you Dudley?" Harry sardonically answered, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"What did you say!?" Dudley demanded, his temper getting the better of him.

"Simply reminding you of the last time you decided to deal with my 'freaky side'." Harry answered him.

"Oinkity, oink, oink!" Damien, still upside down, called out with a chuckle.

Dudley clenched his hand into a fist as his friends looked at him in surprise. "You're not gonna let them get away with that, are you Big D?" one of them asked.

"Big D? What's big about it?" Harry chuckled, which made Dudley's face red with rage.

"Nothing when we were kids. Mum had us bathe together to save money. I can say personally that it ain't big at all." Damien commented with a grin in his voice.

Punching a fist into his palm and cracking his knuckles, Dudley approached his two male family members. "You two think you're so tough? Why don't we settle this like men!? Or are you too scared?" he tauntingly shot back.

"Not if you're gonna sit on me. With Harry's private school, we can't afford your fat arse breaking my spine." Damien retorted as he flipped off the bar, landing between the swings and fumbling slightly.

"That does it! You're going first, little brother!" Dudley roared out, bellowing at his younger sibling like a rampaging bull.

"Please, ladies first. I mean, they are bigger than mum's, after all." Damien said with a mock bow.

With a roar of fury, Dudley charged in like a rhino as he raised his fist and threw a wild haymaker. To his surprise, Damien bent backwards to easily dodge the hit. One of Dudley's friends rushed in and tried to kick Damien with a sweeping kick only for the younger Dursley to go into a handstand to dodge before pushing off into a backflip. Landing on his feet, Damien bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet like a boxer, using a thumb to swipe the side of his nose with a grin on his face.

With a roar, Dudley charged in with a wild right straight in an attempt to hit Damien. However, the younger Dursley simply slid aside his older sibling's punch before sliding his hand up his fat brother's arm to backhand smack him in the face. Staggering back, Dudley shook his head as one of his friends tried to kick Damien in the back, only for the thin Dursley boy to spin around the kick and bump his butt against the unbalanced bully's back to knock him flat on his face. Snickering, Damien continued to bounce back and forth on the ball of his heels before making a hand motion for the bullies to come at him.

Snarling, the third boy tried to leap at Damien to tackle him to the ground only for the thin Dursley boy to jump over him and springboard himself off the older boy's back with a hand. Flipping, Damien landed on his feet again and continued bouncing on his feet, a grin on his face as he swiped the side of his nose with his thumb before putting up his dukes.

"Come on, 'Mini D'! Is that all you and your mates got?" Damien taunted his brother and his friends.

"I'll show you who's a Mini D, Blubber Brain!" Dudley scowled as he lunged forward at his brother.

Going for a wild haymaker, Dudley tried to clock his brother right in the nose. However, Dudley misjudged his speed and position as Damien just spun around the hit, causing Dudley to trip and fall face first into the metal frame of the swing set. With a loud kabong, Dudley's head hit the swing set as the impact knocked him out. Putting his hands up like a matador, Damien grinned.

"Olé!" he called out with a showmanship bow, snickering a bit as Harry gave his favorite cousin a round of applause.

Meanwhile at the Dursley household

Like nearly every day during the middle of the day, the Dursley house was near empty, save for one. Petunia sighed as she worked hard cleaning up the dishes. As she did this monotonous task that she had performed for so many years, her mind would wander and stew on many things. On this day, however, it went to a very unpleasant one. One that related to her own youth.

"Lily would have loved how well Damien and Harry get along…" Petunia stated, her mind going back to an ill-fated day. "If it wasn't for that greasy haired git…"

Meanwhile, in Diagon Alley

If there was ever a more active and bustling hive of wizarding activity, one would be hard pressed to top Diagon Alley. Its cobblestone streets, well cut and set by craftsmen of yore, continued to withstand the endless trampling of wizardly and other mystical feet in its cramped streets. The ancient homes and shops stood as they had for time immemorial. Or at least to all those who were currently living. And this time of year was especially busy, as all the students heading back to Hogwarts had to get their supplies.

One such student was a boy of about twelve years old. He was a bit on the short side for his age with bronze-tan skin, wavy deep brown hair with matching eyes, and a slightly toned build for his age, indicating that the young wizard exercised regularly. He also had a scar from a cut on his right cheek. The boy's deep brown eyes looked over his surroundings, seemingly looking for someone.

"Alejandro? Is something wrong, mijo?" a woman with an accent that sounded like a strange mix of British and Hispanic asked the distracted young wizard.

"No, mamá. Nothing's wrong. Just wondering why I've still yet to see Harry come to Diagon Alley." the boy, now known as Alejandro, told his mother.

The woman identified as Alejandro's mother shook her head with a smile. "Honestly, mijo. You truly are a Hufflepuff. You worry too much. Maybe your mate Harry decided to have his school supplies delivered to his home this year, wanting to avoid having to sign autographs." Alejandro's mother replied as she patted his head.

Alejandro blushed in embarrassment at the gesture. "Mami. Not in public, please…" he replied, pushing her hand away.

Alejandro's mother frowned at her son at this. "Alejandro Rey Guerrero de Garcia!" she sternly said, making her son flinch.

"But mami…" Alejandro tried to say.

"No buts, mijo! You are still five years off from being a legal adult in the wizarding world! You are still a child, my child, and I will treat you as such!" Alejandro's mother sternly told him.

Alejandro sighed and nodded. "Sí, mami. Lo siento." he apologetically told her in Spanish.

Alejandro's mother nodded and kissed the top of his head. "Apology accepted, mijo. Now where have your sister and papi gotten off to?" she said with a smile, looking around.

As he rounded a corner, Alejandro then ran into someone, sending both him and the other person spiraling to the ground in a flurry of black robes. Rubbing his rear from falling on cobblestone, Alejandro's eyes widened as he saw a distinctive shade of light blonde.

"Hijo de puta! What are you doing here, Malfoy!?" Alejandro demanded, getting slapped upside the head by his mother.

"Alejandro! Watch your language, mijo!" she told her boy.

"Have either of you seen a girl about yay high blonde, constantly talking nonsense?" Draco asked, impatiently tapping his foot.

Alejandro, rubbing the back of his head, glared at Malfoy. However, seeing his mother reach for her slipper, he decided to at least try to be cordial. "No, we haven't. Why? Is she a friend of yours?" he asked, trying to be helpful.

"Disgusting! The idea of being friends with a crazy girl!" Draco said in a tone that made the line feel rehearsed.

Alejandro was surprised but shrugged. "I can help you look for her if you want. Mami, do you mind looking for papi and Rosa without me?" he asked his mother.

Alejandro's mother smiled at that. "Of course, mijo. You go help your little friend find this girl while we shop for Rosa." she told her son.

"Making a lot of assumptions right now." the two boys said in response as Alejandro's mother left to go find her husband and daughter.

"Let's just go and find the kid." Draco said in a pushy tone.

"Trust me. The less time I spend around you, the better, burro." Alejandro replied in an equally pushy tone.

The two boys were then off like a broomstick. Weaving and jostling through the streets and alleys, they began the arduous task of searching for Draco's target. This search did allow for some searches inside the various shops, and inside shops neither of them have been in before. Yet it was when they walked past the pet shop, Draco stopped dead in his tracks, which caused Alejandro to run into him.

"Oi, bastardo! Why did you stop so suddenly!?" Alejandro demanded, looking in the direction Draco was looking in.

In his view was a girl with waist-length dirty-blonde hair, pale eyebrows, and misty eyes. With a faraway look in her eyes. Currently following a butterfly down the road, a little way from the pet shop.

"Girl!" Draco called out, trying to get the blonde's attention.

"Honestly, Malfoy. At least try to learn someone's name when you first meet them." Alejandro rolled his eyes as the girl looked at them.

"Oh, hello there." the blonde girl said, hearing the conversation. "What are you doing?"

"Helping the bastardo here look for you, miss…?" Alejandro replied, having not gotten her name.

"Was I lost? I think I know where I am, though." the blonde responds "I went off to look for nargles. I told Draco this earlier."

Alejandro raised an eyebrow. "Right. My name is Alejandro Rey Guerrero de Garcia. But my friends call me 'Al.' And you are?" Alejandro replied.

"My name is Luna." the now named Luna responded with a wave.

Alejandro smiled a bit. "What a lovely name. It is a pleasure to meet you, Luna." Alejandro replied with a gentlemanly bow.

"So, why were you looking for me again? Have we met before?" Luna asks the pair.

"I was simply helping Malfoy here look for you." Alejandro explained.

"Oh yeah. My dad asked him to escort me around the shops while he and his dad talked. I think I remember hearing something about his dad wanting to buy his son's way on a team or something." Luna says the comment making Draco visibly uncomfortable with the idea.

Alejandro raised an eyebrow at Draco before nodding. "I see. Well, since mami is looking for papi and my sister Rosa, I suppose I can stomach being in Malfoy's presence long enough to help you find your way around. Shall we, señorita?" he asked with a smile.

"My name's Luna." she responds in confusion.

Alejandro rolled his eyes a bit as Draco snickered, leading to Alejandro smacking him upside the head.

Back at the Dursley Lair

Vernon sighed as he parked the car. Turning off the car, he got out as normal and headed for the door. Yet every single part of him knew something had happened today with his family. Whether it was the potter boy or not, something, something always bloody happened. Turning the key, he opened the door to see the three boys in the living room being surprisingly civil. Though Dudley held an ice pack on his head. Raising his eyebrow as he walked in, he got closer to inspect. Much to his surprise, he saw that Dudley had a swollen, purple welt on his forehead the size of a small grapefruit.

"Alright, which one of you boys put a lump on Dudley's head?" Vernon asked with a sigh.

"None of us, dad. Dudley decided to bang his head into a pole." Damien said unapologetically.

"You caused me to run into it, Damien! You should've just stood still and taken your own lumps instead of causing me to get one!" Dudley shot back, flinching and hissing in pain as he pressed the ice pack back to the welt on his forehead.

"If they were mine, why are they on you?" Damien asked in mock curiosity.

"Least Potter didn't do anything this time. And that we didn't have to take you to the hospital again, Dudley." Vernon sighed, a hint of relief in his voice.

"He applauded my matador skills. But, other than that, yeah. Harry wasn't involved." Damien boasted.

"Dudley, you've got two eyes, boy. Use them, please. Petunia! I'm home! What's for dinner!?" Vernon said to his injured son, before immediately turning to the more pressing matter on the Muggle's mind.

"Cottage Pie!" Petunia called back.

"Haven't had that a while. 'Bout time something goes right around here. Boys, clean yourselves up before dinner." Vernon said as he took off his coat and put away his work suitcase.

Far to the North at Hogwarts

"Thank you, Minvera, for your investigation into the leak in the Gryffindor House roof. Severus, I trust that you will curb such unsafe tampering with school property from now on?" Dumbledore asked, leaning forward on a chair as he looked into the very soul of the Potion's Master and head of House Slytherin.

"Of course, Headmaster Dumbledore." Severus Snape drolled out.

"Of course he will. Just like he will curb all the other forms of childish and barbaric practices he allows that den of snakes he calls a House to get away with." Minerva McGonagall scowled, looking across the giant round table at her "peer." All the other professors went silent at the giant roundtable, as the serpent and lion were about to clash. Again.

Snape looked at McGonagall sternly. "Do you have a problem with how I run my House, Minerva?" he asked, as if daring her to respond.

"Not at all, Severus. Merely your medieval ideology of favoring those from prominent families over other students." McGonagall replied, glaring back at her colleague.

"I merely favor those who don't actively and knowingly break the rules and cause trouble. Unlike your Gryffindors, especially three in particular." Snape pointed out, glaring back at the cat Animagus.

"A Gryffindor fights for what they know is right, even if it is against the rules themselves, for they are bad rules. The only thing you favor is an elitist attitude that grooms the members of your House into little hellions no better than the dark wizards they are supposed to fight against!" she roared back, the passion in her voice rattling the table before them nearly to splinters.

Snape grit his teeth, ready to fire back with an insult of his own. However, before he could, Dumbledore thankfully intervened. "Now, now. We are here to discuss things civilly and work out this year's curriculum. Not to sling mud at each other's methods of running their Houses." Dumbledore pointed out the two, subtly telling them both to act like adults.

At that moment, a house elf slipped in, carrying a message. Tugging on Dumbledore's robes lightly to get his attention, he gingerly took the message from the elf's bony fingers and read it silently. He then immediately stood up from his chair.

"I have another matter to attend to. We will postpone the rest of this meeting until tomorrow. Dismissed." Dumbledore said before hurriedly rushing off, likely to his office.

As the other professors and staff made their way out, Snape sat in his chair stewing. Every year McGonagall made a muggle monkey out of him in these meetings, and it made him want to shatter his own teeth in anger. However, he felt a chill enter the room as an eerily familiar voice spoke in a rich, yet plain tone.

"A mighty good thrashing you got there, Severus. Then again, you've never been the best with witty comebacks, have you? Least not when it mattered most." the voice said, as Snape turned to look at its owner.

He was an average looking man, bald of head and a thick, near pudgy skull. His large nose and ever so slightly pointed ears, to those who may have cared, may have pointed to some non-human ancestry. A strong jaw and chin clad in black stubble, holding aloft lips curved in a smile. The rest of his body was covered up by a typical professor's uniform of a decidedly old fashion. Though, as he walked towards him, he could hear what were likely traveling boots clattering against the stone floor.

Snape stiffened up at the sight of the man. "Gaunter. Why are you here…?" he asked, a bit concerned about the man's presence, which never spelled anything good for him.

"Who else in all of Hogwarts would bring me here?" the man asked as he walked behind him, putting his hands on his chair.

Snape sighed. "Let's continue this discussion in my office, please." he replied, hoping to keep this conversation private.

"Of course, of course. We wouldn't want Albus knowing too much about the royal buggery you're going to bring to this school, now, would we? Isn't that right, Death Eater?" Gaunter said, in an almost cheerful and whimsical way. The whole thing sickened Snape.

Snape frowned. "Former Death Eater and you know it. I abandoned the Dark Lord's side long ago. The moment when she died…" he replied sorrowfully.

"You really still think you have an ephemeral chance of getting out of our deal because of her, don't you?" Gaunter asked, walking to the right side of Snape and looking away.

Snape grew a bit pale at that and shook his head. "Of course not, Gaunter. There is no magic in this world that can resurrect the dead. At least, none that can be cast by any living witch or wizard." he replied, both nervously and sadly.

"You are correct. No mere hocus pocus can. But what if I were to tell you there was a way, even if indirectly." the man answered, his voice trailing off as if to make a dramatic effect.

Snape's eyes immediately widened in disbelief. If there was a way, then… no. This had to be a trick. An attempt to ensnare him even further.

"What do you say, Severus? After all, you know my price." Gaunter said, walking over and sitting in Dumbledore's chair before crossing his legs.

Snape took a deep breath. "What do you want in exchange…?" he asked, trying to gauge what he would have to pay in exchange for this deal.

At that, Gaunter smiled ominously in the pale light of the room's candles. "Oh Severus, master of the dark arts. You know what my price is. You just don't want to admit it." Gaunter replied, a Cheshire grin across his face.

Snape looked down at that, contemplating it. The last deal had cost him greatly. It had made him cost himself his chance with Lily. To have her back in the world of the living… what price would he have to pay for that…? He looked up to see the look on Gaunter's face, as if he already knew what the man was to say, before it was to leave his lips.

"Tell me, Severus Snape of the Snape Family… shall we make a deal?" Gaunter asked him, his words hitting Snape greater than any curse ever could.

Taking a deep breath, Snape slowly let it out as he looked up at the… "man" before him. "What would you have me do…?" he asked as Gaunter's Cheshire grin gained a sinister edge to it.