Into the Darkness
By: Krystal Lily Potter
Chapter One: A Twisted Past
Summary: History was rewritten and a much darker world is in place. With only a dying Order standing against the darkness, hope is hard to find for the light. Harry Potter is sent on a mission out in the muggle world, to recruit muggleborn witches and wizards, but what happens when he meets a particular brown haired know-it-all? In a world where it’s impossible to see the lines between right and wrong, can the light prevail, or has darkness already won?
Warning: This story contains more mature and darker themes than my last stories. I try to touch on some real issues to make them relevant to the story.

Note: This isn't exactly what you'd call H/Hr. You'll understand later on.

Listen closely, listen carefully, because I don’t want to repeat myself, and this story is too complicated to take time to explain things more than once. My name is Harry James Potter, and there’s more to me than beats the eye. I’ve been through a lot in my life, more than anyone my age should have. I’ve realized that, when you’re trying to fight for light in a world where neither side actually is light, you’re vision of what is right and wrong becomes blurred, and you become a danger to everyone, even yourself.

I’ve heard stories from the muggle world about magic, and either the story goes that magic uses are worshipers of the devil and must be destroyed, or that they’re peaceful people who love the earth. Unfortunately our world actually consists of not devil worshipers, but worshipers of the darkness itself. It wasn’t always this way though. No…this darkness took over just over a thousand years ago…

The forest was silent aside from the rustling of leaves as a light late-night breeze and the occasional ‘who’ of an owl. The crickets chirped, but it was peaceful, not disturbing. Everything seemed still for a moment in time, but that peace was soon shattered at the rapidly approaching galloping of a horse.

The stallion in question appeared through the brush and continued its journey, its rider urging it to go faster to get to his destination on time. The young man felt a wave of relief shoot through his body as he rounded a bend and the towers of a castle appeared silhouetted against the full moon.

He stopped his steed for only a second before attempting to start galloping again, but his rest was far too long. The man heard an odd sound to his right and looked around, only to find a liquid spattering over his eyes. He yelled in pain and fell backwards off the horse, which neighed in fright before continuing it’s course, leaving the man behind.

He withered in pain on the ground, and terror filled his body as he heard the hissing of a great snake. He attempted to open his eyes, but still, he couldn’t see. The hissing was right by his ear, and he could feel the snake’s tongue flicker at his ear.

A low chuckling was heard with the sound of approaching horses. The man knew who it was by him before the person could even speak; he had heard it for many years on end until two years ago. Still the memory was fresh in his mind.

“I am disappointed in you Marius, I expected more,” a low menacing voice hisses.

Marius opened his eyes, which were now a sickly-white color and said, “Turn back, or you will die on this day. I warn you.”

The man laughed, causing Marius to shiver, before he said, “Oh you believe so? I know what is being celebrated this day, remember I too once resided here. They have no forces to combat me, and now that you are gone, no warning as well. Goodbye Marius,” the man said, and with a quick flick of the wand and the end of his hand, a bright green light appeared and struck Marius. When the light cleared his blank eyes were staring forward, and his mouth was opened in a silent scream. He was only eighteen years of age when he died.

“Come men, tonight we make history,” the man said, his evil green eyes staring at the men that followed him. They all silently headed towards the castle in the distance, and as they passed from the shadows and under the moonlight, it was revealed that some of them weren’t human at all.

Vampires glided effortlessly behind the man, large trolls stomped as quietly as possible, all carrying large crates with poisonous snakes in it, and several other deformed creatures.

Yes, the man thought, this would be his finest hour.

He would make his three former friends pay for what they had done to him, because he, Salazar Slytherin, was not a forgiving man.

Laughter echoed through the air as people danced around a large bonfire. Many people were singing, and those who were sitting down were enjoying the celebration just as much. Young children ran around with masks of dragons, unicorns and phoenixes on them, while the elderly clapped to the tune from their seats.

A middle-aged man with dark brown hair and the clearest of blue eyes laughed merrily at a joke he had been told, but his eyes were not fixed on the person speaking to him. Instead they were directed at a young woman who was dancing happily with her three-year-old son. She turned to the man in the scarlet and gold robes, shooting him a smile as she continued to dance with the little boy who was dressed like a lion.

“Having fun Godric?”

Godric Gryffindor slowly tore his eyes away from his wife and looked at the woman who sat down beside him. She had the deepest of red hair, dark brown eyes that held a large amount of knowledge in them, and she was dressed in dark blue and bronze robes.

”Rowena, yes this has been one of the most enjoyable celebrations yet,” he said to Rowena Ravenclaw as he turned his eyes back to the mother and son.

“He grows stronger every day,” Rowena said, her eyes focused on his son. “Soon he will be too fast for his old father to keep up with.”

“I believe that your son already outruns you,” he replied playfully.

Rowena smiled at the mention of her young son, who was already of age and would be returning from their summer home that night. She did miss the days when her little boy would run around the fire with an eagle mask, but those days were gone. Instead her young daughter, who was only seven, ran around with her friends.

“Dare I suggest that both of you are getting sluggish?” a soft, yet strong feminine voice said.

“Of course Helga, my dear, if you were willing to take the fall as well,” Godric replied as Helga Hufflepuff appeared at Rowena’s side.

”Oh but of course,” she said quickly. “It’s is painfully obvious, especially next to my beautiful daughter.” She motioned to the 14-year-old who was speaking to a few of her friends at the edge of the fire. The young woman looked at her mother and smiled before turning back to the conversation.

Godric sighed happily as he leaned back in his chair, staring at the clear, starry sky above him. Slowly he closed his eyes and blocked out all of the sounds to simply sit and bask in the feeling of peace and happiness that radiated around him.

But that peace was quickly shattered as he heard the terrified whining of an approaching horse. His eyes snapped open, and he sat up. Rowena and Helga stopped talking, both watching him with slightly surprised looks.

Godric stood up and turned to stare at the woods. Nothing happened for a moment, before a great stallion exploded from the bushes. There were a few startled cries as the crowd went silent, staring at the creature.

Godric felt the bottom of his stomach drop out as he realized whose horse it was. A started gasp from behind him told him that Rowena too had realized what it was: her son’s horse.

Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff quickly crossed the distance between their spot and the horse. Helga quickly grabbed the reigns and calmed the beast down, but as she did she took a sharp intake of breath.

“What’s the matter?” Rowena asked as she walked around to the other side of the horse. Her brown eyes landed on what her friend was looking at, and a terrified cry escaped her mouth; there were the burns of poison on the horse’s body. And if it was on the horses body then…

“No,” she gasped. “No, Marius! My son!”

Helga’s daughter slowly approached, clutching the young Ravenclaw girl’s hand. A few moments later Godric’s wife carefully approached, with their son holding on to the bottom of her robes. The celebration had stopped, and all eyes were on Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

“Godric,” Helga said hesitantly. “There’s only one type of snake this particular venom is found in, and that snake isn’t native to Britain.”

“Marius,” Rowena sobbed, ignoring the whispering around her. “Gone! Just like his father!”

“Rowena, we don’t know if anything happened to him, perhaps he rolled off the horse before the beast struck,” Helga said as she knelt down next to her friend.

“No,” she said softly. “I can feel it. He’s gone. Godric, only one person could have controlled such a beast!”

Godric looked at the ground for a moment before saying, “Get everyone back into the castle!”

At the same moment those words left his lips there was an explosion. Screams echoed through the clearing, and those that were still in the castle rushed to windows and doors to see what was happening.

An eerie, loud chanting filled the air, and suddenly hundreds of black cloaked men and creatures appeared from the forest. No one was quiet sure what had happened, a moment ago they were celebrating, and now children were screaming, running towards the castle, while other people were slumped to the ground, dead.

There was a loud explosion and a fire erupted, burning the only exit away from the grounds. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff quickly rushed towards the source of the destruction, along with the other adults that were there. The older children were herding the younger ones into the castle.

Suddenly the masked invaders stopped moving. They stood in a solid line opposite of the teachers and adults defending Hogwarts. The men in the black robes slowly started to part and a figure in a dark, regal robe stepped into view. Godric, Rowena and Helga knew him well, as he had been their accomplice at one point of time.

”My old friends,” Salazar Slytherin said, while those in the front row of the masked men chuckled at his words. “It has been far too long.”

“You have no business being here Slytherin,” Godric snapped angrily at him.

“Oh but I do Godric,” Slytherin said with a twisted grin on his face. “This is my home as well, and as you’ve always pointed out, I was the greedy one between the four of us. As such, I wish to claim it, for my own.”

Before anyone could move Slytherin pulled out his wand, and with a quick slashing movement bright purple flames erupted from the tip of it, slashing Godric across the chest. He yelled out in pain as he was thrown backwards and onto the ground.

“You see Godric, I have acquired several new tricks in my absence, and now here I am again, to teach these tricks to the deserving ones,” Slytherin hissed, but his smirk had yet to leave his face.

Rowena made a strangled, gasping sound as a large snake slithered out from the crowd of masked men and slide itself around Slytherin’s feet. Her eyes lingered on the monstrous creature, and it looked back at her, allowing her to see the thick layer of blood that surrounded it’s mouth as it hissed.

Slytherin grinned at her before motioning his arm and saying, “Yes I believe I have something that belongs to you Rowena.”

She let out a terrified yell as the body of his son, mangled and with eyes a sickly white, was thrown in front of her. Snake bites adored most of his visible body, and in some spots there were large chunks of flesh missing.

“Sorry about the mess, Septan was rather hungry from the long trip here and I have very little control over him. You know out of the three of you traitors I have a liking for you and your family the most Rowena, you have a cunning knowledge to you all that could be proven useful in the future,” Slytherin said, although his tone was anything but sincere.

She glared at him but Helga beat her to the punch. The yellow clad witch quickly shot a spell at Slytherin, catching him off guard. One of the men behind Salazar gave a loud, shout of angry and threw himself in front of his master. The servants eyes rolled to the back of his head from the force of the spell and he fell to the ground, dead.

“My dear Helga, I didn’t know you had it in you,” Slytherin said as he started to approach them. Several other of the three founder’s friends started to raise their wands but with a quick flick of his wand Slytherin had Helga hanging in the air, clawing at her neck while gasping for hair. “Put your wands away.”

They all followed his instructions, fear littering their eyes as their wands vanished. Slytherin did not, however, release Hufflepuff. Her face slowly started to turn a purplish red hue, and Rowena covered her eyes, unable to look.

Godric let out a loud yell from his place on the ground, as after a moment his lifelong friend was dropped to the ground, dead. Despite the pain he was in he launched himself at Slytherin, pulling his ruby encrusted sword out and swinging it at the evil founder’s head.

With a flash of brilliant green light, Gryffindor fell to the earth with a loud, heavy thump. Rowena looked at her two friends before saying, “You’re a monster Salazar, that’s all you’ve ever been and all you will be. Know this, tyrants create there own enemies, and in time the one who will defeat you will rise.” While she was speaking her hands started to glow a vibrant shade of blue and with her last word she slammed her hands together over her head.

Everyone was thrown backwards from the sheer force of the spell. Everyone watching could clearly see the last pure founder of Hogwarts fall to the ground as the last of her energy left her, but when the light vanish none of their bodies, nor Marius’s dead form, were there.

Slytherin pushed himself off the ground and yelled with anger at what he saw. All of the true followers of the light had vanishd with the bodies of the founders, the only ones left were his loyal soldiers and his spies that had dressed up as muggle-lovers.

Slytherin soon discovered that it was the same all through the castle. He wasn’t sure what Rowena had done, and he cursed himself for not killing her first, after all she was the cleverest witch he had ever known. There was nothing that could be done about that as it was. He wasn’t satisfied with his rather quick and gore less victory, he had been looking forward to slaughtering all of the muggle-lovers. Still, he was satisfied with the position he had gotten, he alone was the ruler of Hogwarts now, and he alone held the gateway to learning magic.

“Morgana,” he said slowly and a woman appeared at his side quickly. “Prepare the gallows with those magical bindings that amuse me so much. And spread the word, a new dawn has come for the magical world…”

“Of course, your highness,” she replied with a deep bow, a matching evil grin on her face.

Day by day, place by place, Slytherin’s evil presence took hold of the magical world, changing the outcome of history as we know it. The stories told in modern days tell of how Slytherin fought a bloody battle against the other three, cruel, founders of Hogwarts, freeing the world from the poisoning of muggles; only a few know the true story.

Those who do know the story, however, never did find out exactly what Rowena Ravenclaw did that night, or what happened to all those that vanished. The only traces of survivors from the group of people that vanished were the bloodlines from the actual founders that showed up in later years, proving that all of their children did indeed survive. Only a select few knows whose blood possesses the magical lines in the modern times, and even fewer still speak of them.

As for Slytherin’s bloodline, heirs were created and his legacy still lives on today. The Slytherin era is still amongst us, the family still ruling us, and there are only a few people truly fighting for the light in these days.

Some people have wondered how, exactly, taking over a school could cause so much long term damage, such as taking over the wizarding world for over a thousand years, but it’s simple really: if you control the leaders of tomorrow, then you control the outcomes of the future.”

Now, a thousand year later, a new hope for those fighting to remove the Slytherin dynasty from control have a new hope, they’re just looking in the wrong place for it.

I am Harry James Potter, and everything I say is completely true, unaltered to my biased, because in the position I am in, I cannot be biased to either side, yet I must remain loyal to both all the same…

Krystal Lily Potter