362Price to be Paid
Disclaimer; I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own Covenant. They belong to their respective owners e.t.c..
Warning; For those that haven't caught on yet…this will be Slash. In fact, for a change, the major point of this story will be slash but for those that don't like that there will be plenty of actual storyline to follow.
A/N; Yes, I know. Another story, but I couldn't resist. I just love this film. Let me know what you think. I will try to explain everything that is relevant to the story but I suggest you all go watch the film because it is awesome. Enjoy.
Chapter 1; The Conners
Harry supposed it all started for him with his father, and his father's father, and his father before him. A powerful legacy passed down through the eldest son through every generation. It had started on his thirteenth birthday with a nightmare and continued when his anger had directed the legacy against his Aunt Marge.
He instantly covered it under the pretence of accidental magic but he wasn't a fool. The magic his mother had had and that which he'd used until that birthday was gone as if it had only meant to be temporary. He adapted as he always had, using his newfound magic to cover his lack of normal magic though he used it sparingly. His wand was little more than a decorative prop for a brilliant show of power that his very body seemed to thrum with.
Answers had come when Sirius had been returned to him. Harry had never been a Wizard. The rest of the Potters were Wizards but the eldest sons were always something else entirely. Warlocks of a different magic. Sirius told him the Covenant stories passed onto him by James Potter when they were boys. Secrecy was everything if Harry wanted to be free. Dumbledore had known what he was and was simply waiting for it to show himself before he moulded Harry into the perfect weapon. The secret was so important that James had never told anybody by Sirius and Lily what he was.
Sirius and Harry had planned. Sirius had taken advantage of Harry's obsession of learning normal school subjects and during the summers before fourth and fifth year he'd had him tested and ranked in the normal world so that whenever Harry decided to leave the Wizarding World he could. With Voldemort's return after fourth year and Sirius' death during fifth year the time had arrived for Harry to leave.
He'd lost more the night he'd chosen to leave. He'd made a single mistake that had branded him a Dark Wizard. His mistake had been to tell Hermione and Ron that he was leaving. He'd expected tears or anger but not determination and violence. They'd disarmed him with practiced ease and tried to restrain him so that they could call Dumbledore but Harry had released his own magic on them.
There was no going back now, by the time he'd caught a plane to New York City every Auror in Britain was on the look out for their Saviour turned Dark Wizard. The Wizard who's eyes turned black when he unleashed his evil on the world.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
A year and two months later
Harry sat on the railing of his third floor balcony window watching the cars arrive one after the other along the winding drive through the gardens filled with fountains, mazes, ponds and gazebo covered patios. It was the yearly Covenant Ball. Harry had arrived here a few months before the last one the September 1st after he'd escaped England and travelled across to America and he hadn't really enjoyed that one either.
He'd set himself up in New York City using the Potter accounts but he'd only managed to use a few bits of magic before a man had appeared in the middle of his apartment and demanded information from him. Harry's magic hadn't even had an effect on the man but the man's response had been all he needed. His own use of the magic had been like a map to Harry leading him back to his own kind. He'd told the man everything about him and then been driven out into the country to meet others.
The family that had taken him in had been descendents of the original British settlers that had come to the Americas. They were ridiculously rich but the father of the family was also the Grand Master of the Covenant. The most influential of the Warlocks of America. At least the kind that used powers like Harry did. The Conner family took him in and he instantly fell into the crowd. They taught him how to be a proper citizen that would blend in with their crowd and he grew close to the second eldest boy, the younger brother to Geoffrey who had been the man who had collected him from the City.
Josh became a brother to him and he was the first boy in Harry's life that he'd ever really been himself with. Ron and Hermione had been friends of convenience and although Harry had been sincerer in the friendship than they had he'd never told them the truth about his powers. Josh though was a boy that Harry could be completely free with. They were born on the same day and spent almost every waking moment together. Josh taught him more about how to be a child than anybody else had. It was he that Harry learnt to snowboard with.
Geoffrey, who barely used his powers, told him that it would be good for Harry since as the second eldest son, Josh would never have powers of his own. It kept Harry from getting addicted to the powers especially at this time where it could have been so easy to fall into that trap. It took serious over use of magic to cause a serious effect but it was still something to be very careful about. Since getting to know Josh, Harry had never felt the need to use magic over much but he knew how to use it from his younger years.
He and Josh went to a private school together, they partied together, they learnt the types of magic together and they snowboarded together. The only thing they didn't do together was date. Harry had more male interests compared to Josh's more heterosexual nature but only Josh knew that Harry was gay. Being gay was really frowned on in the Covenant and though it was never against the rules it wasn't accepted in the first son since it meant the lack of continuation of the magical part of the family.
"Harry!" Josh's voice called from inside Harry's bedrooms. "Mom's flipping out. You're supposed to be downstairs to greet guests."
"Why do I have to?" Harry whined as he stepped back onto the balcony without a care. A three story fall couldn't hurt him if he used his magic. Josh laughed at him and moved forwards to tidy Harry's suit up. He pulled his loosened tie tighter and ignored Harry's glare with faked obliviousness.
"Because you are the Head of the Potter family. The entire Covenant knows you're here with us and they expect to see you." Josh grinned at him. He felt just as Harry did. His mother had actually had to threaten them both to make them swear not to slip out for a drive in Harry's Audi R8.
"Head of the Potter family?" Harry stared at him in horror. "I am the Potter family!"
"Precisely." Josh smirked at him.
"Fine!" Harry huffed before grabbing his arm and yanking him from the room and out into the richly decorated hallway of the wing that he and Josh shared with Josh's two younger brothers, Phillip and Maxwell. "But you're enduring this with me."
"Oh come on, Harry. Nobody expects me until dinner." Josh whined and tried to break Harry's grip.
"Oh no." Harry shook his head. "If I have to force a smile for an hour so do you."
"Evil bastard." Josh hissed but straightened his clothing imperiously and drew himself up. Harry grinned at him in gratitude and Josh caved and smiled back.
Harry spent hours putting up with overly courteous guests and insipid girls whose mothers all declared that it was of the utmost importance to keep the Potter line alive. Luckily Harry was good at diverting these attempts from his childhood fame and even got a compliment from Marigold, his adoptive mother, for his skill in not insulting any of them.
The mass introduction eventually moved into the dining hall where they were joined by Josh's two younger brothers and two younger sisters, Evangeline and Penelope. They sat down for a long three hour meal where Harry spent the majority of his time trying to keep Phillip and Maxwell out of trouble and glaring at Josh for pushing them to make more trouble.
It was these events though that showed Harry just how powerful he was. He didn't stand a chance in hell of taking on any of the first born adults in the room. Those that had Ascended but he was more powerful than all of the other seventeen year olds. As soon as you got your taster at thirteen your powers grew steadily until the instant of your eighteenth birthday when your body Ascended and your powers exploded in power. Power levels differed between families and nobody could remember how strong the Potters had been before they moved back to England but until Harry used his magic for a powerful spell they had no way of guessing that. Unless they attacked him straight out but that was against the Covenant laws and even without that Geoffrey and the Grand Master, Keegan Conner, would retaliate.
Harry slipped out of the gathering at the earliest convenience which happened to be when he and Josh snuck out in Harry's Audi to go find a party to join. And with every time they did this they got into trouble. Or more precisely Harry's penchant for attracting trouble came into play. They were driving through the country after the party when they were caught speeding.
"Again, Harry?" Josh sighed over the sound of the engine without the hood up over the seats.
"I don't do it on purpose!" Harry retorted without even changing his speed or driving style. It wasn't entirely his fault he sped, he was as safe at a hundred miles an hour as he was at thirty and he never risked anybody else but he had a thing for going fast. Whenever he went fast he could imagine that nothing could catch up to him. It meant he could escape the nightmares he always had of the Wizarding World catching up to him.
Harry decided that a 'black and white' really didn't have any chance of catching his Audi and he pressed his foot further onto the accelerator. The car leapt forwards like a cheetah smelling a new, tastier, prey and the police car screamed as it tried to match the speed.
Harry swerved around the corners with practiced ease enjoying the thrill of the chase as he kept to a speed that the police car could just about keep up with. "Harry! Mom's gonna kill me if you keep this up!"
"You're a real killjoy, Josh!" Harry looked over and grinned cheekily at him. Josh glanced around at the chasing police car almost fifty yards behind as Harry turned back to the front. "Fuck!"
Standing not thirty metres in front of him was one of the dreaded figures from his nightmares. He slammed on his breaks and the car screamed as if in pain as it slewed out of control. In all the commotion Harry heard the sound of disapparition a moment before the side of the car crashed over where the Death Eater had been standing in his black cloak and white mask.
"Harry!" Josh's hands clutched desperately as the left side of the car lifted from the floor. Harry tried to recover but it was too late. The right side of the car hit the side of the road and the car flipped. Harry delved into his magic with practiced ease thrusting it into everything around him in panic fuelled desperation.
The car flipped into mid air and smashed through the forest as it tore itself apart until it came to a final stop two hundred metres down the slope. Without a scratch. Harry sagged into his chair with sweat covering every inch of his body. Josh was sitting in stunned silence gasping in air.
"Josh?" Harry hissed out scrambling with his hand to find his best friend's hand clutching the side of the seat. Josh came alive in an instant and grabbed at Harry.
"What the hell was that?" Josh cried.
"I'm sorry. I had to." Harry gasped. "Your dad is gonna kill me!"
"Harry! Who the hell was that!?" Josh suddenly rounded on him with wide eyes.
Harry looked at him tiredly having trouble staying awake. He could here men rushing down through the torn up forest and could see the flashing blue lights on the trees around them. "You saw him? Please tell me I didn't imagine him!"
"A man with a white skull for a head?" Josh asked with an edge of panic. "He vanished! He just disappeared."
Harry heard a thump as one of the policeman used the side of the car next to him to halt his run. A hand grabbed at his shoulder. The men probably thought they were injured and probably hadn't even noticed the perfect condition of the car.
"Can you…?" The man started trying to get Harry's attention, panic touching his voice, but he and his partner froze and collapsed back onto the ground as Harry's eyes went black with a flash of fire.
"Can you get the car back onto the road?" Josh asked as he looked between the policeman on his own side and to Harry.
"I don't think I can stand up right now, let alone translocate a car." Harry managed as he let his head fall against the head rest. Josh leant over and cut the engine before grabbing his cell phone from his pocket. "Your mom is so going to kill me!"
Josh managed a groan as he selected a speed dial to ring. "I'm just glad you saved us. That was cool."
"Oh yes. Reintegration of a car and two humans is very cool." Harry grunted with sarcasm.
"When you put it like that…" Josh laughed before yelling into his phone as whoever he was calling picked up. "Geoffrey! We've got a problem. Route eight. Look for the police car. Yes, that was Harry. No, we're fine. Hurry alright, Harry's dead on his feet."
"Geoffrey?" Harry asked as his best friend hung up and cracked open his door.
"He felt the Reintegration spell. Dad did too. I think they're more scared for us at the moment than angry." Josh told him.
"For now." Harry groaned and cracked open his own door. He leaned on the car as Josh darted around and snaked an arm around under Harry's shoulders to lift his weight. Together they made their way up the hill back to the side of the road where Harry let himself fall to the floor. Josh sat beside him and before Harry knew it he'd let himself slip away.
He'd used more magic than he really should have. Reintegration took a lot more power than translocation purely because your magic had to keep all the parts in contact with each other for as long as it needed to. In this case it was the car and two people, including himself, through two hundred metres of woodland while crashing at over a hundred miles an hour.
He was awakened after what felt like only a second but found his face cupped by Marigold as she brought him out of sleep. "Harry!"
"Wha…?" Harry moaned. "I'm up!"
Marigold sighed with relief and let him go. Josh pulled Harry up to his feet and Harry looked around. They were still at the side of the road by the police car but now Harry's Audi sat innocently at the side of the road. The only sign that something had happened was the tears through the trees.
"That's impressive, Harry." Geoffrey whistled in appreciation. "Don't think I could have done that when I was only just seventeen."
"But you wouldn't have been running from the police!" Marigold snapped.
"Now dear. Let's just get this cleared up and get Harry home safely." Keegan spoke soothingly. "It's not like you to lose control of your car like that, Harry."
"And on a straight." Geoffrey added looking back down the road.
"There was a man in the road!" Josh argued. "He appeared out of nowhere! And vanished again!"
"Translocated?" Keegan asked with a frown. "It's impossible to translocate a human, are you sure he didn't just move faster than normal."
"Not translocation." Harry shook his head. "Apparition."
"Apparition?" Marigold gasped. "As in a Wizard?"
"Death Eater." Harry told her with fear in his eyes. "They've found me. He appeared in front of the car to drive me off the road. To try to kill me."
"Or test you." Geoffrey frowned and looked around them at the trees. "I think we should get out of here. We don't know if they could still be watching."
"I think you can count on it." Keegan grumbled. "I'll drive Harry's car. Just get back to the Estate."
Harry fidgeted the entire way back in the car. He knew that one Death Eater meant more and soon the Aurors would catch on and follow them over. Marigold kept peering back at him from the passenger seat in concern while Geoffrey drove carefully through the streets watching out in case a Death Eater tried something again. Josh sat at Harry's side in the back seat keeping an eye on Harry.
It was late when they arrived home but it seemed that both Keegan and Marigold had opted to deal with this now. Harry sat on the chair feeling a bit more alive now that he was back home again. Josh sat at his side looking more scared of his parents than anything else. Geoffrey stood in front of the fireplace staring at the fire.
Josh's parents stood in the middle of the room until Marigold turned on Harry. "What were you thinking sneaking out in the middle of the party? What were you thinking speeding or running from the police?"
"I'm sorry." Harry looked down at his lap meekly. He hated it when she was angry at him.
"You're sure it was a Death Eater?" Keegan asked.
"I didn't have much time to check. I was too busy reintegrating the car, Josh and me." Harry sighed. "I thought it was just my nightmares."
Marigold softened immediately. "Josh?"
"I saw it too. A man in a black hooded robe with a skull for a face." Josh told her earnestly. "He didn't imagine it."
"They've found me." Harry shivered and lifted his feet up onto the chair and was almost surprised when Marigold didn't reprimand him for it. He hugged his knees as Marigold sat at his side. The slender woman hugged him gently.
"I think it's time Harry went somewhere a little quieter." Keegan sighed. "I could make a few calls and he could be enrolled in Spencer Academy by morning."
"Ipswich?" Geoffrey snorted. "Those families are a bit reclusive."
"Harry doesn't have to have anything to do with the four families if he doesn't want to." Keegan pointed out. "He can stay in the Spencer dorms. It'll take another year for those backwater Wizards to find him and by then they won't have a chance in hell of forcing him into anything."
"What about all of you?" Harry was on his feet in an instant. He knew the best thing was for him to run and hide and he did need to finish his schooling but he didn't like the idea of leaving his surrogate family behind especially if the Death Eaters had already connected him with them.
"If the Wizards think they can attack us here then they'll have the entire Covenant come down on them." Keegan growled out. "We've kicked them out of America before, we'll do it again."
"Just be careful." Harry told them. "I can't lose you all as well."
"And you won't." Marigold promised him. "You leave within the hour. Geoffrey will take you to the airport and put you on a plane."
Harry nodded at her and turned to leave the room. She caught him and pulled him into a hug letting her head land on his shoulder leaving all etiquette behind. "Please, Harry. You're like another son to me. Stay safe."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
End Chapter