Trail of Secrets

Chapter 1

November 24, 1965

Harry rose to his feet ashes falling from his body as a chill wind whipped around his naked form. His emerald eyes flicked around the clearing, taking in the flickering lines of the pentagram he stood in the center of.

He raised his right hand, scratching at the Auburn hair sprouting from his scalp. He took a step forward, dry leaves and soft dirt giving under his barefoot. Cool night air burned his lungs as he inhaled carrying with it the scent of charred earth and a smell like cooked pork.

He swayed at the end of the step, memories and experiences not his own bounced around inside his skull.

'Where was he? How did he get here?'

He moved forward again, steadier this time. Shapes lay on the ground just off to his left. Making his way towards them, he stopped at the feet of a partially burned human body, his mouth watered unpleasantly as he realized what he thought was cooked pork was actually human flesh.

Dropping into a crouch, he rested his arms on his knees staring at the woman. There was something familiar about her, he leaned forward.

She was short at 5'4". Her skin may have once been pale, but it was now grey. Her frame was stocky, her face was round and stern. There were wrinkles around her brown eyes. Her hands ended in stubby fingers.

"Alecto Carrow," he whispered without thought.

He paused, that was her name, but how did he know it? How did he know she was a magic researcher? How did he know that she lost her fiancé Rodolphus Lestrange at the age of 16? This drove her to hate mutants, but not enough to not take the powers offered to her.

He flipped over his hand, Alecto's body rose into the air, her carrot colored hair reaching towards the ground as she hovered under the powers he now possessed. Flicking his finger in a practice movement that wasn't his own, Alecto's robes flew from her body.

Curling his finger, he pulled them towards him, grimacing as he slipped them on. Tilting his head back, he sniffed the air, catching two more sense.

Moving to the left, he stopped before the body of Amycus Carrow.

Amycus was a tall man a little above average height at 5'9". His dark eyes were glassy, his head tilted off to the side staring at nothing. Part of his dark hair had been burned away by whatever happened here, leaving blackened skin in its wake, and like his sister his skin had a grey tinge to it.

Amycus was a shy man, he preferred to spend his time with animals, or in the library learning about animals, but he was loyal to his sister. When she lost her fiancé, he followed her down this path, afraid of losing her.

Where his sister had taken the telekinetic, and telepathic powers of a young boy named Carter Ghazikhanian. He had taken the abilities of Avril Davis, a telepath. Harry stared at the man, trying to figure out who gave them these abilities.

He came up with nothing, large swaths of memories were missing, the schooling was there, the relationships, but large portions of memories after tragic events were missing.

He was just about to turn away, when something on Amycus's forearm caught his attention. Kneeling down, he tore the cloth away from the greyed appendage.

There on his forearm, traveling from his wrist to his elbow was a basilisk tattoo. As he stared at it, images flashed through his mind.

A hand with stubby fingers grasped flesh, dark power and something else shone from the ring on his finger. His body tensed, a burning pain shooting through his body as the basilisk was carved into his skin.

He stepped back, his left thumb rubbing soothing circles into the skin of his forearm, he glanced down, finding his skin free of marks, he shook his head, moving to the next body.

This man was different than the others, not only was he tolerate 5'10", but he also had dark blue eyes the color of the night sky, and lean wiry muscle covered by a white button-down shirt, dark blue denim pants, and a leather vest.

Dark hair framed a narrow face with a thin nose.

Again, a name spilled from his lips, "Walden McNair." He was an animal executioner for the ministry of magic, until they found out he liked killing a little too much. They let him go, and he was approached by a man Harry couldn't remember instilled with the powers of mutant Saul Creed, which happened to be regenerative healing.

Sitting down on the ground, Harry crossed one leg over the other, thinking back.

–XX –

3 hours earlier.

Harry strode along the long tables positioned in the center of the room in the attic of Potter Manor. Technology glimmered on the tables, small runic lines still glowing with power.

Mitchell Evans, Harry's grandfather, traveled the world when he was younger. He found a cache of Asgardian technology. Shortly after finding this cash, he met Harry's grandmother, Selene Gallio, a mutant born 17,000 years before the fall of Atlantis.

Stopping before a podium at the back of the room, Harry ran his hand over a circular recess. Beams shot out, forming a rectangular holographic screen.

On it was Harry's family history.

Father: James Potter, abilities, DNA absorption.

Mother: Lily Potter, abilities, Spiritual Force Manipulation.

Paternal Grandfather: Henry Potter son of Julia Potter and Gideon, external, powers: sensory replication, and regenerative healing.

Paternal grandmother: Anne-Marie Reynolds, abilities, power absorption.

Paternal great-grandfather: Gideon, external, power mimicry, regenerative healing factor.

Paternal great-grandmother: Julia Potter adoptive daughter of Charlus and Doria Potter, biological daughter of Wanda Zatara, the white which, and the mutant Amazo a.k.a. Armen Ikarus. Abilities, magical replication (the ability to copy another's magical gifts.)

Maternal great grandmother: Beatrice Grey, abilities, psionics, telepathy, telekinesis, flight, Pyrokinesis

Maternal great grandfather: Stefan Rogers, pupil of Nathaniel Essex with the ability of science intuition. He developed a formula while traveling the circus that enhanced his body and opened his mind to the realm of magic, expanding his ability into magic intuition.

Maternal grandfather Mitchell Evans: son of Beatrice Grey and Stefan Rogers, abilities, death force manipulation. (The ability to draw strength from death.)

Maternal grandmother: Selene Galileo abilities, life force absorption.

Harry focused on the name Julia Potter.

Julia was born to a member of the Akkaba clan, Armen Ikarus and Gypsy sorceress, Wanda Zatara. She was given up for adoption by her biological parents because of their fight with the next dimensional demon Shuma-Gorath.

She was then adopted by Charlus and Doria Potter, who used family magic to transfer the line of succession over to her, creating a new branch of Potter's.

He shook his head, his gaze roaming over the bookcases that line the walls. Running a hand down his face, he turned his gaze to his hands, his ability was to absorb auras. He spent his time absorbing auras from the technology his grandfather brought back in his younger years. By doing that he gained knowledge about how the object was created and the person that created it.

During vacations, he spent his time here, learning how this ancient but advanced technology works in order to improve the family business. One day, he hoped to explore the world himself.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he made his way towards the staircase in the far corner of the room.

Halfway down the stairs, an explosion shook the house.

He froze, his grip tightening on the curved railing.

Shaking his head, he slunk down the staircase. Peeking his head around the corner, he froze.

Standing on the crimson rug in the center of his family living room surrounded by cream colored furniture were five cloaked figures.

His parents drifted apart, their posture tense, but their movements smooth with the ease of long practice. They were giving each other room to work.

Lily flexed her fingers, an aura of white blossoming around her body, before sinking into her flesh, leaving her skin with a luminescent glow. "Who are you, and what are you doing? Why have you broken into our home?"

One of the cloaked figures moved forward, the edge of his robes brushing against the curved corner of the coffee table sitting in the center of the room. "Lily, give us Potter, and the boy."

Lily's emerald eyes widened, "Severus," she breathed.

A shorter figure pushed past Severus, "Great going Snape."

A chair rose up behind Severus. Imploding inwards, the jagged pieces flew forward.

Lily pushed her hand forward, a pale translucent barrier springing up before her.

James moved to the left, crouching low.

He flexed his fingers, the ends transforming into claws. Sharp canines grew up from the top and bottom of his mouth, and his pupils transformed into vertical slits.

Pushing off with his toes, he launched himself forward, soaring over Snape and the shorter figure.

He froze halfway across, his body flying sideways. He slammed into the couch, flipping it over.

Lifting the couch, James twisted at the waste hurling the couch at Snape and the shorter figure.

The couch froze, splitting in half, stuffing and pieces of leather falling to the floor.

Leaping into the air, Lily ran across the half of the couch that was flung towards her. Crouching just as she reached the end, she leapt forward, her eyes locked on Snape.

Lily slammed into Snape, her hands glowing white as they impacted his robes.

Snape froze, his eyes wide with fear as they flicked back and forth in his skull.

Another figure stepped forward, "Carrows, find the boy, I'll handle the Potters."

Harry moved forward as his mother pulled her hand back, pulling a translucent copy of Snape from his body. She inhaled, the translucent copy flowing into her mouth like smoke. With each bit of the copy that disappeared, Snape's flesh greyed.

Lily rose to her feet, her eyes glowing white, her hand morphing into a curved sword, "You'll handle us huh, we'll see about that."

Black blades emerged from her new opponent's wrist.

Lily glanced at the shorter figure, "Alecto," she glanced at another one, "Amycus, Walden," her gaze focused on the figure before her, "Scabior."

Scabior lowered his hood, revealing shoulder-length dark hair, dark eyes, and a pale narrow face.

Harry pulled back around the corner, his hands curling into fists, he wanted to help so bad, but with limited space he would be in his parent's way. He had to do something, he shook his head, all this knowledge in his head and it was useless.

Suddenly, Harry swayed, his vision blurring.

"Alecto," Amycus shouted from beneath his hood, "I've got the boy."

Harry fell to his knees, his vision shrinking to pinpoints.

"Make us an exit."

"James," Lily shouted, never taking her eyes off her opponent.

James spun taking one step forward, before a blast of air caught him in the back, sending him flying across the room.

A telekinetic blast blew a hole in the roof, Harry felt his body rise upwards, in his periphery, he saw three figures forming a triangle around him.

–XX –

Voices filtered into Harry's ears.

"Can't you two move any faster?"

"Excuse me," Alecto snapped, "I'm levitating his body while working with Amycus to keep him unconscious. Not easy, his mental barriers are unlike anything I've ever seen before."

Amycus spoke up from his left, "We haven't been able to penetrate his mind, but we have kept him unconscious," after a moment of hesitation he continued, "Is this going to affect the ritual in anyway?"

"I don't see how it would."

Harry barely opened his eyes, stars twinkled in the sky above him. In his periphery, he could see trees. He took a small breath, the scent of pine filled his nose, along with churned earth.

He was in the forest, it was still dark, so he could have been out that long.

The trees suddenly gave way to a clearing, orange light shone from beneath him.

"Place him in the pit."

"Who are we going to transfer his powers to?"

"We'll place them in a crystal for now?"

"Should we even attempt the ritual without the others?"

Harry was lowered into a concrete rectangle.

"Stop worrying, the kid is still out."

Their voices faded as they moved further away.

Chanting filled the air.

Whatever light was surrounded the pit flared brighter.

Harry sat up, a glow coming into his eyes.

Three streamers of energy flowed towards him.

Runes on the side of the pit flared.

Harry stumbled forward, a pulling sensation throwing him off balance.

An emerald aura flared around him, it stretched out touching the red, yellow, and beige that flowed towards him. His back arched, memories and experiences flashing through his mind as the very energies that made up his captors mingled with his own.

The red aura belonged to Alecto, the yellow, to her brother, and the beige to Walden McNair.

Harry stood there floating in an ocean of memories and experiences that weren't his own. He felt a pull again and a little of his aura was pulled away from him, traveling down the auras connected to him.

They were trying to take his aura, his lips twisted. Reaching out, his aura formed a glove on his hand. Grabbing a hold of the three auras.

Three voices cried out as one.

His scowl spread into a smile. 'Let's see how they like having theirs taken.'

Pulling their auras into his body, strength, power, knowledge, and more rushed into his body.

Anguished cries once again broke the silence of the night, but this time it was followed by the thump of bodies hitting the ground.

–XX –

Opening his eyes, he looked around. A memory came to the forefront of his mind, a flaming pentagram settled over the burned out remains of reality.

Climbing to his feet, he stared at the three bodies laid out at the points of the pentagram before him. "When I absorbed their auras, I took the powers they stole, their magical knowledge, their lives. Did I eat their souls?" he shook his head, that wasn't important right now.

His parents were attacked, he rose into the air, using his new telekinetic power to simulate flight, he needed to get home. With a force of will, he shot forward leaving a trail behind him.