Darkness Is My Ally: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters; all copyright belongs to JK Rowling; I do own any OC spells explained at the end of a chapter;

Plot: Dumbledore's worst nightmare seems to have come to pass: finding Harry at Wool's Orphanage and then seeing him in Slytherin, the headmaster is faced with the prospect of another Tom Riddle, but the real truth about Harry is darker than he could ever imagine.

Author's Note: Now, before I get onto this story, I can take a guess at what you're thinking: DZ2, where did THIS come from?

The answer to that is that, lately, I've been working on Supernatural-themed stories and so, with a bit of imagination, I decided to complete what I call the dark trinity of Supernatural characters: Vampire, Werewolf and now…well, you'll see when I write it. Beyond that, I only hope my readers enjoy the story and enjoy how I add to my dark repertoire.

As always, I'm not going to rant this time, but if you don't like it then DON'T READ IT!

Dedication: I'd like to dedicate this story to my friend Winged Seer Wolf, who has always encouraged my dark side to show itself; my recommended reads are Demon Contract by 9foxgrl, Hadrian Potter, Darkness Rising by AvatarVecna and The Rise of A Dark Lord by Little Miss Xanda; three amazing Dark Harry stories.

AN: As a warning, in case anyone's wondering about my idea for possible pairings, I should point out that Hadrian WILL be anti-Light completely, so our favourite FFN pairing is a definite NO! Also, there WILL be some bashing of our not-so-favourite Troll Brain as well as Hermione – YES, I DO MEAN THAT – and some displays of leadership between Hadrian and his new Housemates;

All Pairings TBC

Normal Speech

'Thought'

'Shadow Speech'

/Parseltongue/

Chapter 1: His Worst Nightmare

On the night that Lord Voldemort was destroyed, there were many different reactions from many different people;

The faithful to the light and its ways of justice and hope celebrated as an infant child was hailed as the Boy-Who-Lived, the slayer of Lord Voldemort and the Saviour of Good.

The faithful to the other side, the side of darkness, on the other hand all ran and hid in fear and spirits of building rages as they wondered just how this baby had managed to destroy their Master. Some of the more faithful actually allowed themselves to be captured and sent to Azkaban Prison while the members of the faithful who believed their own version of the Greater Good could be used to aid their Master's return pleaded about being under the Imperius Curse and managed to get off scot-free.

As for this saviour, this infant child who had no idea of the ways that fate and destiny were about to work for him, he was left on a doorstep of a house in Surrey, peacefully sleeping through the night as those who left him there parted for their own ways.

Within the street in Little Whinging, Surrey, Harry James Potter turned over in his sleep and seemed to ignore the cold that bit at his skin, his tuft of jet-black hair blowing in a non-existent breeze revealing a small lightning-bolt scar. It was this scar that would be the only remnant that Harry would have to draw on whenever he thought of his parents.

But, unbeknownst to the baby as he slept through the night, it would also be this marking that opened the floodgates and let the forces of destiny work with him to bring Harry to a future that he would love and cherish;

His future…

Darkness Is My Ally

Albus Dumbledore sat down within Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office, unsticking two sherbet lemons before he popped one of them in his mouth, his face as apathetic as the world's greatest liar as he considered his actions of this night.

He had known that it would only be a matter of time before his compelled suggestion for James to switch Sirius and Peter as Secret Keepers came back to bite the now-deceased Potter Lord on his ass: Pettigrew wasn't exactly the pinnacle of loyalty, not when it mattered that he could get something out of it. Of course, Albus had also known that the rat-faced man was a member of Voldemort's circle, which was why it was essential that the hands of fate work in his favour.

Hearing Sybil provide that prophecy when Dumbledore was certain that she was as much of a Seer as he was had changed Dumbledore's priorities: for nearly fifty years, he had fought tooth and nail to put an end to Tom Riddle's reign of terror and now, according to her, it would fall to some…child to destroy him with powers the world knew not. A quick Obliviate spell had taken care of the often-drunken witch remembering that she'd given the prophecy and, after that, Dumbledore had gone to work on making sure things went about for this so-called Chosen One.

So James had needed to die for Lily to become desperate enough to enact the Ancient Magics and protect her son with self-sacrifice?

So Sirius was now on his way to Azkaban screaming about his innocence?

So Harry would now spend the next ten years living with Muggles who hated magic as much as the Salem Witch Hunters of old?

So what?

In the end, it would all be for the Greater Good;

Albus knew that Tom had prepared for his worst-case scenario and created Horcruxes, which meant that he'd be coming back and, when he did, he'd meet the ready-to-die saviour and soldier that was Harry Potter.

And, in the event that Harry actually destroyed Tom before it was his time:

Well, wasn't that what Azkaban was created for?

In the end, there was only room for one true scion of good in the world;

And his name was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore…

Darkness Is My Ally

Little did Dumbledore know just how wrong he was going to be proven;

For, in the same moment that the world finished their celebrations of the fall of the Dark Lord and at the same time that a loud scream from the resident of Number Four, Privet Drive tore baby Harry from his sleep, in an undisclosed location, within a chamber that was decorated with runes and lined with walls that seemed to sing with magic, a figure in black lifted her head, revealing a tired, weary-eyed face and cold electric-blue eyes behind a wrinkled face that had officially reached her end of days.

As the woman looked around the room, her eyes seemed to glow with a bright white light that, in the midst of the magical surge that passed through her withered body, then turned a bloody shade of red before becoming two glowing black orbs.

Then, with a gasp that was more like the rattle of death himself, the woman began to speak in a hauntingly-cold voice, her words echoing in the room around her:

Into this generation shall come a truly malevolent child

One whom shall tame the darkness and work with chaotic forces so wild

A child blessed with powers beyond the human mind

A boy who will bridge a gap between human and demon-kind

But when the child returns to his world and the hands of fate shall turn

Then the shadows shall rise and fires of vengeance burn

Tis then the Black Kaiser's empowered form will sit upon his throne

And chaos and demons shall descend on those who robbed him of his home

Then, with another rattling gasp, the woman fell forwards, her eyes closing as the last desperate breath of life escaped her with a final sigh;

At the same time, the door to this mysterious chamber opened and another figure in black entered with a stride to him that was both empowering and commanding; seeing the woman lying there, the figure let out a sigh of his own before he spoke with a voice tinged with rage and fire;

"Goodbye, my dear Cassandra; your death shall herald the life of my child…but first, I must find him."

Darkness Is My Ally

Ten Years Later…

Albus Dumbledore had only one thing to say with his current situation: he must have been having a nightmare!

Yes, it was the only explanation: he was fast asleep in his office, waiting for the day when his young pawn and martyr would come to Hogwarts to act as his perfect little weapon and, any minute now, Minerva would enter his office and tell him they still hadn't heard back from the little weapon.

This would then force Dumbledore to send someone he knew would lead the boy astray and set him on a path to light, goodness and, best of all, his own death: he wouldn't have an ordinary childhood; no, he'd spend year after year in challenges to test his resolve and decide he was ready, the first of which would be his Sorting and the Stone.

There was no way on earth that Dumbledore was actually standing here, now, his locator charm directing him to his weapon and finding him…here!

He wasn't here;

Not him.

Not this place.

Not again.

"Are we going in, Headmaster?"

Looking to his left-hand side, Dumbledore adopted a look of concern and unspoken agreement as he looked upon the dark-robed, dark-haired form of Severus Snape, his Potions Master, his spy and his second-best weapon. It had also been Severus that had actually been the one to tell Dumbledore that the letter that had been sent to Privet Drive had been returned with an injured owl and a declaration: THE FREAK IS NOT HERE! DO NOT CONTACT US AGAIN!

Just seeing the apathetic resolve in Severus' eyes told Dumbledore that this was no dream: the charm hadn't lied and they were really standing in the one place where they'd find Harry Potter.

Wool's Orphanage!

The exact same place where, over fifty years before, a younger Albus Dumbledore had greeted a boy that would become the darkest wizard of the twentieth century: Tom Marvolo Riddle.

With a resigned sigh, Dumbledore looked to Severus before he spoke with an apparently-comforting tone, "Remember, Severus: we don't know what we're about to see. Try to remain neutral with your thoughts about young Harry."

"I am not making any promises," Severus replied, following Dumbledore through the wrought-iron gates and into the olden-days building;

Whether it was an omen or just sheer coincidence, neither man could say, but, at the exact moment that the doors to the orphanage closed behind them, a clap of thunder filled the air followed by a heavy downpour of rain.

Inside, the place seemed just as foreboding as Dumbledore remembered it from years back: dark-coloured walls and a feeling of dread and hopelessness surrounded them as they walked through the building, their path guided by a young woman who introduced herself as Sara Walker, the new head matron of the orphanage after the previous one passed about ten years back.

The dates, which seemed almost too coincidental, put a shiver inside Dumbledore that he had to fight to remain hidden while, at his side, Severus' eyebrows lifted in shock as his years as a spy and Death Eater allowed him to feel the presence of a very familiar magical signature. Even after all these years, it still clung to the walls like a virus that refused to be cleansed and, as the Potions Master followed Dumbledore and Ms Walker, he then understood what it was that had made Dumbledore hesitate so badly.

This place was the same place that the Dark Lord had been raised in both before and during his time at Hogwarts.

If Harry James Potter was here…it didn't bear thinking about.

As they followed the middle-aged woman up towards the upper floors of the orphanage, Severus and Dumbledore both listened as Ms Walker explained, "I must admit to some confusion upon receiving your letter, Mr Dumbledore; in all the years he's been here, Hadrian's never had a family visitor."

Once again, Dumbledore had to fight the urge not to show shock: this was almost the same situation from fifty years back: surely things hadn't been that bad?

And who was Hadrian?

He was here to speak to Harry.

When they stopped at the end of a corridor that, to the fright of the Headmaster and the suspicion of the Potions Master, led down to a room that a certain boy had stayed in before – Severus being able to tell because the signature was stronger here – Ms Walker turned to Dumbledore and Snape before she explained, "As long as I've known him, Hadrian's preferred the company of himself and him alone: we tried to change that when he was a toddler, but…there were incidents with the other children: nasty things."

"Can you, perhaps, tell me about these things?" asked Dumbledore, sharing a look of unspoken dread with Severus as he listened to Ms Walker's explanation.

"Well," answered the head matron, "When he was brought here, he was only a year-and-a-half and there were no people around to claim that they were leaving him here. It was like he was nothing more than a parcel being delivered and yet, despite this, he did not cry, he did not ask questions and he has never once spoken about any memories before that time. For a long while, he didn't speak to anyone and then, when he was three, we began teaching the children to read and write and…I can't explain why, exactly, but Hadrian wrote his name as perfectly as a secondary school student."

"Did he write Harry or Hadrian?" asked Dumbledore, earning a look from the woman as he then explained, "His parents named him Harry, you see, and I have often wondered if they meant one way or the other."

"I didn't ask," Ms Walker explained, "When he wrote it down, he wrote it as Hadrian and kept it that way, even when we tried to enrol him in primary school, he wouldn't accept anything less than that for a name. But, the strangest thing was, when he wasn't writing, he was reading: studying, he called it…and he seemed to find solace in being alone."

"Did the other children ever try to befriend him?" asked Severus, a feeling of dread working its way into his heart as he added, "Did he, perhaps, have a little gang of friends or ever terrorise them?"

"No," Ms Walker answered, a little shocked at the man's hostility with his question, "We tried to get him to open up to friends, but…the other children targeted them and…and that was when the strange things began to happen."

"Like what?"

"Well," continued the head matron, "When Hadrian was six, we took them to the London Zoo for the day and it began to rain: we sought shelter in the reptile house and one of the boys that Hadrian had allowed to get close to him was taken by an older boy, James McCoy, and nearly thrown into the crocodile den. He was removed from our home after that, but, when it happened…it's the strangest thing: Hadrian just walked over to James and, I…I don't know how, exactly, but…he just grabbed his hand and…it was like James got sick. He said he felt ill and hot and went to walk outside when, just as he opened the door…he was struck by lightning!"

Dumbledore and Severus both felt shock and disbelief enter their hearts as they listened, the Potions Master then asking the bigger question, "You said you removed him…was he dead?"

"No," Sara answered, looking down to the door at the end of the corridor, "Thankfully, he survived…but he never did return to the orphanage after that and, when I asked Hadrian about it, he just said that James got sick from the heat of the room and that all he was doing was helping the weaker boy."

"Did this other boy have a name?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes," Sara nodded, closing her eyes for a moment before she explained, "His Mother…she was a friend of mine before they moved and that's why he spent most of his time here, but…the name…it's like a…temperature thing: Ice…Haze…Raze…no, Blaise; that was it: Blaise Zabini."

Now Severus was shocked: Zabini was a wizard child who was also on the list of new students for September First: he remembered how the boy's Mother had a knack for finding the right husband for her son's new Father and, because of that, the rejects usually wound up meeting mysterious accidents.

If he'd somehow managed to get close to Potter…once again, it didn't really bear thinking about.

"Anything else?" asked Dumbledore, keen to learn more about Harry's magical potential.

"Nothing I would ever care to repeat, Mr Dumbledore," Sara replied, looking to Severus as she explained, "Blaise left shortly before Hadrian's seventh birthday and we never saw him again: some of the children used to tease him that his only friend had not wanted to get sick from being around him. Strangely, we had this unusual run of bed-wetting cases and some of our older residents wouldn't even go to sleep without the lights on. That was when Hadrian moved to the room up here, which was unusual because it's been empty for about fifty-odd years now, since my grandmother's time."

"I see," Dumbledore mused, looking down the corridor before he asked, "Would it be all right if we saw young Harry…sorry, Hadrian now?"

"Yes, of course," Sara replied, walking down the corridor with the two gentlemen in tow, the only difference between the last time Dumbledore was here and this time was the way his blood ran cold at the thought of what Harry could do.

And why in the name of all that was sane was he calling himself Hadrian?

Stopping outside the door, Ms Walker knocked three times before she spoke to the room beyond, "Excuse me, Hadrian: but you have a visitor."

Stepping aside, the woman watched as Dumbledore and Severus looked into the room, the eyes of the Headmaster taking in the same sized areas as before as well as a small number of books and what looked like an array of clothes just thrown about. Or at least, they were thrown about before the figure that Dumbledore wanted to see came into view.

He was fairly tall for his age, which really confused Dumbledore as he'd thought that Harry would be a short lad; his skin was as pale as…well, as the man at his side and his jet-black hair was brushed low over his fringe, hiding his forehead and almost framing the cold emerald-green eyes that looked to the door before they returned to the floor as he picked up his clothes and hung them in the wardrobe.

"Again?" asked Sara, noticing this before she asked, "Who was it this time?"

"No-one that won't learn their lesson," Hadrian replied, his voice as cold as death before he asked, "Who are you?"

"How do you do, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, stepping into the room as he explained, "I'm Albus Dumbledore and this is my colleague, Severus Snape: we'd like to have a word with you if that's all right."

The cold green eyes of the young boy-wizard looked at both Dumbledore and Severus before he turned and seemed to make his bed up, before moving to the window of the room where he stared out at the view and the rain beyond with an almost calming fondness for it.

"I'll just…leave you to it," Sara remarked, allowing Severus inside before she added, "Give us a call when you're done, okay?"

"Thank you, Sara," Hadrian replied, but with his cold demeanour and his icy persona, he may as well have been commenting on the weather.

Once the head matron was gone, Hadrian lifted his head once before he asked, "So, are you two wizards or are you just here to mess me around like everyone else?"

"You know of wizards?" asked Dumbledore, earning a slight motion from Hadrian's head that may have been a nod.

"Ever since my only friend was taken from me," Hadrian answered, catching sight of Severus looking at some of the books; with a hardened glare, he hissed icily, "Don't touch those…I'm not done reading them yet."

As Dumbledore turned to face Severus with a warning glance, the headmaster's eyes widened as, for a moment, it looked as though Severus had reacted to the familiar pain etched into the burning of his Dark Mark.

"Perhaps…you can tell us what you know then, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, but when he turned to look back at Hadrian, he only saw the boy's cold green eyes and a thin, almost lipless snarl.

"Mr Dumbledore," Hadrian whispered, his eyes boring into Dumbledore's skull, "I don't know if you heard, but I prefer to be called Hadrian: Harry is not who I am and never will be. He was a weakling and a broken child whom nobody could love: from his ashes, Hadrian, me, I rose up and took his place. If you want me to answer your questions, I suggest you use the right name for the right people."

"Just like your Father," Severus muttered, but, as soon as he did, he found himself looking into those cold green eyes himself, the centre of those eyes glowing with incredible levels of magic.

"I didn't know my Father, Mr Snape," Hadrian retorted, his magic touching Severus and the pain he'd felt once before, "Compare me to him again and I'll break you in two."

"I'm sure Professor Snape meant nothing by that remark, Hadrian," Dumbledore insisted, though he could feel the magic in the room reacting to the rage of the young wizard: how he did this, Dumbledore didn't know, but, for the Greater Good, it couldn't last.

"Professor?" asked Hadrian, now turning his eyes on Dumbledore before he asked, "Professor of where, exactly?"

Sensing the common ground, Dumbledore answered Hadrian's question, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; a school of magic where you can be taught how to focus these…incredible, but perhaps unbelievable moments in your life. As you know of us, Hadrian, we know of you: for instance, you can do things, can't you, my boy? Things other children can't?"

"My friend could," Hadrian remarked, before he returned his attention to the rainstorm outside as he explained, "But yes…I can make things move without touching them; I can make animals do what I want without training them; I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me or anyone near me. I can make them hurt, if I want: I've made it so that those who think they have the right to terrorise the young, the weak and the different remember their place…and never, ever turn out the light."

Dumbledore's sense of déjà vu was now stronger than ever: this was almost exactly what Tom Riddle had said over fifty years ago, but, unlike Tom, it seemed that Hadrian wasn't afraid to show his liking for these things. His defensive streak seemed to have journeyed to a place that Dumbledore couldn't let him go to and yet, at the same time, with such amazing magical feats at his command, Harry could be ready sooner than anticipated.

"Who exactly are you?" Hadrian then asked, his words edged with ice as he asked, "I know you're wizards, but who are you exactly? I've never had family visitors and my only true relatives had restraining orders put against me just because they didn't want anything to do with me."

"I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts," Dumbledore explained, looking now to the books that lay on Hadrian's bed: one or two, to his surprise, the man recognised as magical tomes.

Was it possible that Hadrian…Harry…whatever he was calling himself had already seen the magical world?

"Professor Snape here is one of your mentors," Dumbledore added, "And we'd like to invite you to join our school, Hadrian: you see, though you may not know this, your parents were amongst our finest students and your name has been on our enrolment lists since birth. At Hogwarts, you'll be taught not only how to use magic, but how to control it…"

'Before you die trying to save the world,' he added in thought, noticing a look of interest on the boy's face as he added, "You can make the kinds of friends who you will admire and maybe even allow close to you without fear of indifference or discrimination. At Hogwarts, you will not only be recognised for having your magical talents, but you'll be admired by some and perhaps even able to form your own private group of friends…whom you can trust no matter what."

Hadrian just stared while Dumbledore tipped an invisible hat and, moving to the door, he stopped only once as he explained, "On July 31st, a friend of mine will come back here and take you to a place where you can gather your things for school: any more questions you have can be answered then. For now, see you in September, Hadrian…and good luck."

He turned on his heel, but Hadrian's retort stopped both Dumbledore and Severus dead;

"I can speak to snakes too," Hadrian explained, both men looking at him with disbelief as he explained, "They find me, protect me…tell me about things others wouldn't want me to know about: so tell me, Mr Dumbledore…is that normal for someone like me?"

"No," Dumbledore answered, missing the hidden meaning as he now felt like he was indeed looking at a young Tom Riddle, "But it can be normal for you alone, Hadrian: it would be beneficial for you to keep that to yourself…just for now."

Hadrian said nothing as he returned his attention to the window, leaving Dumbledore and Severus to return to Hogwarts, saying their goodbyes on the way out to Ms Walker.

Upon reaching Hogwarts, the two mentors had different opinions about the boy they'd met:

Dumbledore felt fear and dread at a rate that was a thousand times worse than the last time he'd visited that place: Harry – not Hadrian – was too strong and too self-involved to be a martyr. He was too confident in his abilities and knew way more about magic than an ordinary eleven year old should know.

That had to change…for the Greater Good.

However, as for Severus, he practically fled through the dungeons, locked and sealed his chambers and, rolling up his sleeve, he eyed the Dark Mark with a look of horror in his eyes. The design was now as clear as ever: it was usually a sign that the Dark Lord had returned, but this…it wasn't the Dark Lord.

After all, the Mark may appear as clear as day, but the skin around it was never as red or enflamed as it was at that precise moment, Severus' eyes as wide as saucers as he knew why it was so enflamed, but he couldn't explain the how behind it. For when Hadrian Potter had told him not to spy on the books that had been on the bed, a magical pulse had touched Severus' Dark Mark and burned it with an intensity that was ten times as bad as the Dark Lord's magic.

Whoever it was that Severus had just met with Albus, one thing was clear to the Potions Master:

It wasn't James Potter's son.

Darkness Is My Ally

Back in Wool's Orphanage, Hadrian had watched as the two men had left the orphanage from his bedroom window before he'd moved to his bed and, putting his books away, a smile had touched his lips as he thought about how easy it had been. Frightening Albus Dumbledore had been an interesting development, but it had also been fun to tease and play with the dark strands of magic that were tied around Severus Snape's soul and linked to that marking on his arm.

Seeing the horror in Dumbledore had also been fun and, try as he might, Hadrian couldn't help but wait with an expectant air for the first day of his new school experience.

The old man must have wanted him to think of the headmaster as his superior, but the very thought made Hadrian laugh: there was only one force in the world that he answered to and it wasn't Albus Dumbledore or his biased notions of the Greater Good.

Replacing his books on the shelf within his wardrobe, Hadrian closed the door before another smirk crossed his face as he felt an icy presence behind him; without turning around, he asked, "How did I do?"

"Pretty interesting," Sara Walker answered, stepping from the darkness outside Hadrian's room before she added, "Your Father is very proud of you, Hadrian: you kept them on their toes while displaying the confidence that you would expect to show to your enemies."

"Father was right," Hadrian agreed, closing the doors to his wardrobe and his bedroom before he added, "Making Dumbledore believe he was seeing another Tom Riddle while showing him that this weapon wasn't his weapon made for quite the mind game. And now, with Hogwarts beckoning, it seems only fair that I continue to play our little game with Dumbledore, wouldn't you say?"

Turning to face the woman behind him, Hadrian's cold demeanour seemed to fall as he found himself looking not at the white-haired forty-something woman Sara Walker, but a wild-haired woman with pale, smooth skin and eyes that shone with a dark liking and a madness that was reserved for Hadrian and his magical tuition.

"I think I'll enjoy this game, little Master," replied the once-recognised Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange, "And I know your Father will want to see how you play with your new toys."

Hadrian's cold smile seemed to warm her once-cold heart as she saw him return his attention to the storm outside, his thoughts spoken only to himself:

'Hogwarts wants a hero? Wait until they get a load of me!'

And there it is: Chapter 1 of my newest Dark Harry and I've gone with an idea I once had for a very old story: how is it that Hadrian is now raised and knows Bellatrix Lestrange and why does she call him her 'little Master?'

Also, who is this mysterious being that Hadrian calls Father and what games is he playing with the manipulative old goat?

Keep Reading to Find Out…

Next Chapter: Platform 9 ¾ and Hadrian is reunited with his only friend and makes new ones, but with friends, there must come enemies: plus, the Sorting and our dark hero seems to find something about what happens to him amusing;

Please Read and Review…

AN: The backstories that are yet to be shown – how Hadrian met Bella, who his 'Father' is and how he knows so much – won't be revealed for a while, but I hope you enjoy the story nonetheless;

AN 2: As for pairings, I'm not doing anything with them yet as it's only the first year for now; I do have my own idea set out, but any ideas/suggestions are welcome,