Scion of Sorcery: Phase One: Potter-Strange?

Disclaimer: SEE FIRST CHAPTER

Plot: Strange Things Response: When Lily was pregnant with Harry, she knew that he would grow up to be someone special in the world of the mystic ones. But then again, why wouldn't he? After all, his Father is the Sorcerer Supreme!

Author's Note: So, admittedly, I'm 'dusting off' a former idea and altering it in places to work with the challenge with this one, but what can I say? I couldn't resist the chance to have some fun with the challenge and use someone that is, without a shadow of a doubt, my ALL-TIME FAVOURITE Marvel character be it comic, animation or the FANTASTIC movie, so let's see what sort of fun we can have.

And, as always, if you don't like it, then don't read it.

Dedication: I'd like to dedicate this story to everyone that continues to support and encourage my ideas; my recommended reads are Harry Potter and the Lightning Lord and Harry Potter and the Power of Two by Colt01, Master Potter of Kamar-Taj by Ryuko monogatari, Agamotto's Eyes by Otsutsuki no Yami, Harry Strange: Sorcerer Supreme by VexingFate, More Than Equal by Ordinarily Prudent and Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin by The Sinister Man;

Key Pairing: Stephen/Christine;

Normal Speech

'Thoughts'

'Telepathy'

/Parseltongue/

Review Answers:

Sunsethill: Well, the truth is that they have a much bigger impact to play on the story than you might think;

Magical fan18: As a certain someone loved to point out: the magical world don't really have an ounce of logic;

'I wanted to surprise you with it and, given your worries of your inevitable meeting with your former friend and your honorary sibling's Father, I thought this would cheer you up.'

"You were right," whispered Harry, petting Mana's feathers as he asked, "Can we fly together more often, girl?"

'Whenever you need it or want it, little one,'

Chapter 19: The Marauders' Reunion

Early the next morning, Harry woke in his dorm in the Slytherin Dungeons and, after using magic and a bit of personal care to ensure he looked his best, he smirked slyly as he opened a Sling Portal that took him straight into the Gryffindor Common Room, which was empty given that it was a Saturday and hardly anyone was here.

Stretching up as he looked around the well-lit Common Room, Harry took a deep breath, steadying himself as he made himself remember that this was the same Common Room, the same surroundings and the same colours that his Mother had worn when she was a student.

Although he was a Slytherin, Harry couldn't help but smile while he brushed a tear from his eyes as he thought about how much fun and how much work she must have put into her life to make it work for her; and the result of that life was Harry himself.

As he looked around the Common Room, Harry was then aware of a weird prickling on the back of his neck: a feeling of great and powerful magic, almost like the pull of a relic to its respective master, was surrounding him as he stood in the Common Room, the pull moving through him until it brushed against his heart.

While Harry tried his best to shut out the feeling, as today was a day of different dilemmas and tasks at hand than his power, he heard footsteps walking down a set of stairs at the far end of the Common Room.

Trying to push the feeling away for now, Harry smiled as he saw a tired, but definitely-excited Neville walk into the Common Room, but when he saw Harry there, his eyes widened before he laughed, "Okay, how did you get in here without the portrait's password?"

"Being me has its privileges, Neville," laughed Harry, earning a scoff from Neville as he asked, "Where are we meeting Sirius?"

"The only place I thought appropriate for your…your reunion," answered Neville, swallowing hard before he added, "Godric's Hollow."

For a moment, Harry's expression darkened before he took a breath as he said, "I haven't been there in ten years, Neville, not since the night that the combined powers of my Father and the Decree of Blood set down by my mentor took me from the home on Halloween Night. I hope you're not doing this out of some hope that I'll actually accept and admit I am who this lot want me to be?"

"No," replied Neville, although he looked a little worried at the dark look in Harry's eyes as he added, "I…I suggested to…to Sirius to meet us there because, in a way, it…it's kind of like closing the circle: it all started there and, even if you choose to be Harry Strange rather than going by your adopted title, you can't deny that the place might give you some closure too, right?"

"I suppose," sighed Harry, rubbing the back of his neck before he added, "You did tell Sirius that I won't answer to that name, didn't you?"

"I warned him, but he might let slip once or twice," replied Neville, heaving a sigh as he explained, "No matter who you are, he is your godfather, Harry, so surely you can allow him some leeway, right?"

Harry just hummed in response before, holding out his hand to Neville, he asked, "Shall we go, then?"

"Yeah," answered Neville, taking his friend's hand before he asked, "But how do we get out of here without alerting others?"

"Weren't you listening, my dear brother-in-all-but-blood?" asked Harry, smiling like Tony Stark when he was about to do something he shouldn't.

"Being me has its privileges."

Scion of Sorcery

When Neville felt the ground touch his feet again, he gasped and heaved, albeit with awe and disbelief rather than nausea or disorientation, as he looked over to Harry, who'd just transported them out of Gryffindor Tower and straight to the edge of the graveyard in the quiet, sparsely-occupied street of Godric's Hollow's main road.

As Neville coughed and gasped, he noticed Harry's eyes flash silver for a brief moment before the other boy remarked, "There; that should keep any snoops off our backs. Now, where do we meet Sirius?"

"The…the…" Neville began, taking several deep breaths before he asked, "Harry…how did you do…that?"

"As I'm sure I've said a few times this week, Nev," answered Harry, moving to his friend before he gently soothed Neville's shock with a massage to his back, helping him breathe clearly while Harry added, "You have no idea what I'm capable of and, try though they might to limit my powers, I've got all the rights in the Multiverse to use my power as I wish, when I wish for whatever purposes may suit the task at hand and if they don't like it? Well that's tough because, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, I'm not changing for anyone."

Neville blinked in surprise and awe while Harry smiled softly as he asked, "Now, where are we meeting Sirius?"

"The place you haven't been to in ten years," answered Neville, indicating the graveyard as he explained, "Your Mum's gravesite."

Once again, Harry's expression darkened before, waving his hands, the young sorcerer changed his casual clothes into a dark-blue pinstripe suit complete with tie and black dress shoes. While Neville stared in awe, Harry snapped his fingers, conjuring a bouquet of roses before he turned and walked through the gate, into the cemetery.

Following his friend's footsteps, Neville gulped before he asked, "Why…what's with the change in attire, Harry?"

"Like you said," Harry reminded him, his voice frighteningly-apathetic and near-silent as he explained, "I haven't been here in ten years…give or take a month, so if this is my first visit in all that time, then I'm going to pay my respects here just like I have done every year on Samhain at home."

"Don't you mean Halloween?" asked Neville, earning a snort from Harry.

"Tricks and treats don't matter to me," argued the junior sorcerer, his eyes never leaving the path as he added, "My Father and even my adoptive Mother call it Samhain as do those outside Britain's magical community, so I do too, especially since the meaning of the night is more honourable than the casual No-Maj title."

Neville blinked in surprise while Harry stopped at the far end of the path, turning once before he walked towards a pair of grey headstones that had two names engraved on their stones. Laying the roses at the base of the stones, Harry bowed his head once before he rose up and, unseen by Neville, Harry's eyes flashed silver as he invoked the power of the Eyes.

What Neville did see, however, was the thin, red beam that flew from Harry's eyes, the light and the thickness of the beam so minute that it was more like the sight of a laser-scope aiming at its target. While he was shocked by the power of his friend, Neville looked to the stones and, as he did so, his eyes widened as he saw Harry carving the same message into both headstones.

May Magic Bless and Keep You Safe on the Next Great Adventure

"Harry…" whispered Neville, watching as the beam vanished – Harry's eyes returning to normal – before the young sorcerer rose from the ground, his eyes filled with hurt, pain and a hint of dark emotion that reminded Neville of the day before when Harry had gone off on his own for a few hours.

"I just want to say this now…here and now…to you…if you can hear me," said Harry, intentionally pausing as though getting his words out was harder than he'd made it look.

Looking to the grave with James Potter's name written on the stone, Harry took a breath as he explained, "You might not have raised me, but you made me the sorcerer I am today with the powers of your bloodline and your love for Mum: there, James Potter, I honour and respect you, but like everyone else here, I want you to know that I am always who I am: the blood son of Stephen Strange."

Bowing his head, Harry went on in a softer voice, "I thank you for your love, your sacrifice and your protections in the time you had with me, but I refuse to be someone I'm not. Even when I take the mantle of the Head of your Family, I will enact the Rite of Rechristening and the legacy of the Potter Family will forever be joined with the House of Strange, just like many of your predecessors and other old, often-targeted families would do to protect their descendants."

Behind him, Neville gulped as he realised now why Harry had always been so insistent about who he was: it was because this was his plan all along: to bring the legacy of the Potters, the legacy that existed in his blood and his alone, into the family and magic of the Strange Family, who may be a Muggle family as far as Magical Britain were concerned, but given that the current patriarch was a powerful sorcerer, it made it a big risk to go after them in any case.

As for Harry, who would become heir and head of that family in due course, he was clearly the most-powerful sorcerer in Magical Britain and, unless you had a death wish, you didn't want to find yourself in his way.

While Neville felt a little awed and even a bit guilty about how he'd been wondering what Harry was thinking for the better part of the week with his desire to forget the Potter name, the Longbottom heir saw his friend look to Lily Potter nee Evans grave before he sniffed sadly as he went on.

"Mum…I want you to know that your last wish for me is what's happened," said Harry, his hands trembling while Neville also noticed the air grew thick with magical essence as Harry showed his emotions for the moment for perhaps the first time all week, if not the first time in his life.

"I'm safe," whispered Harry, clutching the band around his neck that held the rings of his family future lordships as he added, "I'm strong and I am definitely loved by both Dad and M…Christine: she's said time and time again that she's not there to replace you and I know she never will. You were willing to give your life in exchange for mine and…and I remember what happened next…and I just…I just want to say I…I will never forget that or what you did for me."

Putting two fingers to his lips, Harry placed them atop the headstone, which rippled with magic before Neville gasped as a crystal rose seemed to form on top of Lily's grave, its roots fixed to the stone as Harry went on, "You and Dad…you've given life to the one who will make this world see the Light, even if it means being everything they hate."

He then looked to James' grave before he added, "But to do that, I can't be the Harry Potter everyone wants me to be, which means that, to fulfil my destiny, I need to dishonour your memory. That's why I'm going to do what I am going to do, so that the name of James Potter is still respected, even if it means people think he gave his blood, his legacy and his family to someone who doesn't care, but, at the end of the day, Prongs, I do that because I choose to do it; even if your spirits saw me, I know what this is and I know this much…"

Looking to Neville, who looked like he was going to faint from the magical essence that swarmed Harry with the release of his emotions, the junior Sorcerer Supreme added, "Dead people don't want anything of anyone; it's one of the perks of being dead."

Giving a last bow of respect, Harry whispered one last phrase to the graves, "Rest in peace…and know that you can yell at me when we reunite."

Even Neville smiled as Harry stepped back from the graves before, lifting his head as though staring off into the distance, he surprised Neville as he asked, "How long have you been skulking there in the shadows, Sirius?"

Turning to a nearby tree, Neville's eyes widened while Harry didn't move or react as a handsome man with short-cut, but wild-styled dark hair and grey eyes stepped out into the light, his eyes slightly reddened from crying. At the same time, Neville was surprised to notice that Sirius wasn't alone: with him was a middle-aged man with copper-brown hair and eyes that were a pale shade of green with similar red marks that showed he too had been crying, most-likely listening to what Harry was saying.

As the two men walked towards them, however, Neville's eyes widened as the other man, whom he recognised as Sirius' close friend and his honorary godfather, Remus Lupin, stopped several paces from Harry before he dropped to one knee and bore his throat to the emerald-eyed boy.

Harry, however, looked back while Sirius seemed just as surprised as Neville before the young boy asked, "You know my scent, Lycanthrope?"

"I know it would be foolish of me to challenge it, Mr Strange," answered Remus, his voice low and almost-submissive as he added, "Your scent is ripe with power that would make the Great Alpha himself submit to you, but since he's not here, I suppose I'll have to do."

"Get up," Harry told him, earning another stunned look from Neville as Remus obeyed while Harry, looking to Sirius, blinked once before he asked the older man, "So how much did you hear?"

"Enough," answered Sirius, swallowing hard as he explained, "I know who your Father is, Harry, we both do: Remus and I were told by Lily and James so that we'd understand more about who and what you really are, but when you vanished, presumably because of your real Father, I also knew you'd be something more than that adorable little pup of a boy I first saw in your home on the day you were born."

Harry blinked again before Sirius cleared his throat as he went on, "I don't want to make you something you're not, Harry: for as long as I've known you, I have respected the wishes of both Lily and James to let you be whatever you want to be. However, hearing what you plan on doing out of respect for James and what he gave you, I realise now that you're honouring them in your own way."

"I might not accept the Potter name, but I'm not heartless," drawled Harry, looking back to the graves as he added, "I just can't allow myself to be the face of a world because of something as stupid as a title they have no idea what it's cost me. Being the son of the Sorcerer Supreme allows me to take control of that name and that legacy in my own way: unfortunately, as of right now, you, Remus, Neville and the Headmaster are the only ones who understand that, Sirius."

Here, he looked back to Sirius as he said, "As for naming me your heir as I've heard you want to, I don't want it and I flat-out refuse to accept it: I have more than enough power and, yes, even wealth and influence under my belt already, but if you want a worthy heir, then Neville here is who I would nominate for that right because, as a friend, he's easily my most-trusted one and, as my honorary brother, he's someone I'd be proud to have standing by my side as I do what I can for the sake of this world in the name of Magic."

Needless to say that Sirius was shocked by Harry's confession while, next to him, Neville's jaw dropped as Harry took a deep breath before he added in an amused voice, "Now, as much as I like the thought of a clandestine meeting in an almost-empty graveyard, could we go somewhere a bit cheerier? Something tells me we've all got some catching up to do."

Sirius' eyes widened before he laughed as he asked, "There's my pup…how do you do that so well, Harry?"

"Thank Tony Stark," replied Harry, earning a bemused look from Sirius and Remus, which had Neville laughing.

"Don't worry, Sirius," explained Neville, indicating Harry as he added, "You get used to that."

"Why?" asked Remus, earning a smirk from Harry with his next words;

"We know who Tony Stark is, Neville."

THE END OF PHASE ONE