The Years Before (The remake)

Disclaimer : This is an AU. Which means that it won't be like the original series (of either books). It is also a crossover between Harry Potter and Demon Diary. And also a little quick story from the back of Demon Diary ( the first book ). If you actually read this, you would know that only the plot is mine. If I make any original characters, I will put up a notice before the chapter officially starts. I really doubt that I will, though. Also, this is a re-make! I didn't like the old version. There was so much more I could have done with everything. And I think I ended it rather weird.. But I like the ending, who doesn't? But anyway! Dear readers, this is a remake, and it'll have new stuff! It'll be vital to the re-make of the sequel I've already started making. So go ahead and reeaadd..

And I may decide to change a few little things, if you suggest.

Prelude

Ancient Legend holds... That whoever posses the Crystal Heart... Posses pure happiness itself. But true happiness comes with a price of someone else always wanting it. True happiness is what all beings, humans, demons, elves, gnomes, and goblins, its what they want. All things want happiness.

A race of beings made by the God. They were born like us, human and alive. There was no true distinction between humans and this humanoid race. Their appearances were the same. Their emotions were the same.

They even bled when they were cut.

But these beings, as they grew and learned of the ones they loved. The ones that they would give anything for, about the person that they want to be happy. Forever. And as they grow with these people or person, their heart crystallizes from the powerful emotions of love that this being feels. And in an offer of their gratitude, they reach within, and pull out the treasure that resides in their chest. And present the ultimate form of happiness, to the one they want to be happy forever..

The giving of their hearts is a test. It was a test of loyalty, and a test of the love they held for that person. If the one whom the heart is given to, truly loves these beings, they will put the heart back in and give life back to the giver. The test was the ultimate form of trust and love, completed by both parties. If the person presented with the crystallized heart was undeserving, their emotions shall rise up and they will take it, leaving their once-love to waste away and die with their loved one gone.

The heart was never thought of a curse by those who wanted it. But by those who carried it the heart within their bodies. They never knew that they possessed a Crystal Heart, only after they had already pulled it out and by then it is too late. For most of them.

And thus, the story goes.

An ebony furred cat walked down the street. Each stride the cat took was done with a flowing grace. Like that of a person who was far too used to the task.

The street the cat was strolling down had houses on either side, each the same as the ones before. All of the buildings were two story high, with bleached looking, white washed walls. Pristine white, garden fences that separated the fake looking grass. Each house had a flowerbed in front of the front window. Most of the flowers were a plain white, and sometimes yellow. In each driveway was some ebony colored car. Clean from being washed constantly. The sign above the street had the words ' Privet Drive.'

If the cat had a human face, one could hold no doubt that it would have a twitching eyebrow. The cat itself was rather odd looking in appearance. Being that it had two silver lines of fur on it's back. Like it was getting old age and showing it. And on the back of it's left ear was a golden crescent moon that stood out against the pitch colored fur on the rest of the cat.

The cat walked by the first house of Privet Drive stiffly, looking briefly from side to side, eyes narrowed in some form of concentration. It had to be looking for something important, maybe it was looking for it's next meal, or someone sucker enough to feed it. The cat didn't have a collar, so it obviously had no owner, unless the collar had fallen off. Though, by now the smooth grace the cat had walked with before, was now gone. Each muscle bunched up under its fur, like it was walking to a suicidal war mission.

There went Privet Drive, houses two and three. It walked straight by those numbers. It was early in the morning. It was early enough for most adults to be awake and in the process of waking their children for the day. The early morning hours were the hardest to tell apart from the position of the shadows or the sun. But the cat suspected it was between the hours of six or seven. Maybe closer to one or the other but it was of little consequence for a cat. And thus, no one was paying attention to the outside world to see the peculiar cat strolling down the street, too busy in the morning ritual of waking up.

The cat moved on, slowly starting to pass number four, of Privet drive, before it froze completely. Muscles halting and stilling with unwanted movement. Maybe it let out a small yowl as it froze, but the sound was lost to the air around it as a small breeze sifted through the neighborhood.

The cat's ears flattened onto the back of it's head, lowering it's body closer to the ground as it backed out of the driveway with slow, cautious steps. Once it was out of there, the cat was up and leaping, taking refuge behind the other side of the garden fence, peering around it at the still front door.

With an eerie calmness, the cat sat and waited. Much akin to what a serpent would do for it's prey. A cold-blooded creature such as a snake could wait for hours before initiating the attack.

Time passed slowly, the sun creeping just a little farther up, and the sun banishing the morning chill away. Only then, did the door finally opened. Out stepped an extremely heavyset man. His loud thundering footsteps slapping the concrete of the walkway and the driveway as he moved to the car. Loud enough to almost sound like thunder claps and loud enough to make the cat flinch and tense.

The man was tall, as well as huge. His hair was a dirty blond with gray strands just now working through it. He wore a custom made suit, since no normal shop would carry anything for his size and bulk. On his face was a thick handlebar mustache that was already fully gray. The man's black, beady eyes darted back and forth on the driveway, before moving to his car.

The.. thing, that followed after could be considered human, after thinking for a few minutes. The.. child was like a baby whale, his peach white skin had no sign of weather or tan. His dirty blond hair was gelled to lie smooth on his head, looking rather more like a wig then well groomed hair. But who in their right minds would put a pig in a wig?

The child had a neon yellow pack on his back. With some design favored by children in the era they were in. The child's watery blue eyes were glued to the passenger side of the car as he waddled over to it. His footsteps weren't nearly as heavy as his father's. But they were still pretty awful.

Even though the child was so.. big boned, it.. he only looked to be in Preschool.

Eventually, the father and his pig of a son drove away.

After the car was out of sight, the door opened once more, and an extremely scrawny boy was shoved out of the door. With the door slamming shut behind him. The boy stumbled foreword, arms pin wheeling. Sadly, in his left hand looked to be a heavy plastic bag, which smacked the boy in the back of his head as he frantically waved his arms.

The ending effect was his glasses flying away and thankfully onto the grass as the boy landed flat on his face. The boy laid still for a moment, before he groaned and pushed himself up.

The boy was pale skinned, but it looked like a natural tone of his skin. His eyes were a vibrant, emerald color that did take up a large portion of his face. On his forehead, to the left side that was hidden mostly by bangs, was a lightning shaped scar, he looked to be around 5, to six years old.

The boy brushed himself off, and made sure there had been no damaged done to his bag, before he set it down. He moved back onto his hands and knees and cautiously scurried around, reaching out and feeling around for the dropped glasses.

The boy, known none other than Harry Potter frowned to himself, left hand flat on the ground with his right hand outstretched as he reached around. His glasses shuddered, before they levitated a centimeter or two off of the ground, and flew straight into his out stretched hand.

Harry smiled brilliantly, shoving the glasses back onto his face. He couldn't see a thing without these cursed, yet blessed object. The thick, black, oval frames easily hid away the color of his eyes but they allowed him to clearly see the world around himself. Harry's short, messy hair flopped to the side as the kid stood again, and he snagged his bag from where he had left it.

The boy was wearing a faded, too large shirt that almost reached his knees. The elbows on both sleeves of the shirt were worn out, leaving small holes. The front of the shirt was pinned shut with a decorative little button pin his Aunt had showed him how to make, so nothing fell off his shoulders. He was wearing a pair of warn, gray colored jeans and what had to be a belt hidden under that shirt.

The boy rubbed the bottom of his chin with the back of his left hand as he moved, rushing his short legs as he walked down the driveway. He hadn't skidded when he had made himself fall over, so there were no scrapes upon his person. He had just suffered from a bit of lack of breath. His feet were practically silent. The only sounds came from the broken soles of his trainers slapping against the ground. Harry really did need new shoes.

And Harry walked with an ease of a person who had done this often. And the black cat trailed after the boy with the ease of an animal that was used to stalking things. The long, black cats tail swishing in the air as it followed along.

Suddenly, the cat darted foreword, circling around Harry's feet with a yowl. Harry gasped in surprise at the sudden appearance. Harry jumped back and almost stepped on the cat as he ran around the back of his legs. Harry regained his posture as he stared down at the black cat, which was now rubbing itself against his legs.

Harry looked down the street in the general direction of his destination, and back to Privet Drive number four. Seeing that on one was around to scold him, Harry quickly set his bag down and crouched down where he was standing. Harry's hands reached out and threaded themselves through the somewhat long strands of black fur on the cat's body.

"Good morning Mister kitty.." Spoke Harry quietly, tugging gently on the cat's two ears. Harry grinned when the cat let out some kind of meow. Before he removed his hands, standing up and moving so he could continue on. The cat yowled loudly, moving to sit on one of Harry's shoes, claws sinking in to one of the legs of Harry's pants.

Harry looked down at the cat with a look of surprise as he said "mister kitty, I don't have any food, and you shouldn't sit there, I need to be going.." Harry spoke to the cat, almost as if it was a human being. But after 'speaking' with a little garden snake he had found (the thing had /nodded/ to him before it had slithered off!), Harry assumed that all creatures understood humans. He hadn't encountered anything that spoke against this claim.

But then again there weren't that many animals to talk to either.

The cat stayed still, keeping to where it had attached itself. Harry sighed, and grumbled to himself as he started foreword, dragging his left leg after himself (it was the one the blasted cat was sitting on), he didn't want to step on the cat's tail. That would be like.. someone stepping on his hand. With a lot of force considering how easy it was to hurt a cat's tail compared to stepping on a human's hand.

After a few minutes of this nonsense, and until Harry finally walked around the curb onto another street, only then did Harry finally stop walking and he plopped onto the floor. Harry set his bag next to himself, grumbling faintly. "I don't want to be late, Mister Kitty, what do you want..?"

The cat, whenever the word 'mister' was mentioned, it would flatten its ears on top of his head. Looking very crossed, if that would be the proper word to describe it. Harry shook his own head when the cat didn't bother to answer back. Harry reached foreword, his hands going to where the cat's nails had sunk into his pants leg. From there, Harry started to work on pulling the claws out and he spoke quietly.

"Wow.. where do cats hide their nails, anyway? All I see are big fur puffs. You know, I bet you must be hungry, why else would you attach yourself to someone? You have an owner, right..?" Harry paused in his verbal rambles and removing the claws from their current position. Harry let go of the cat's feet, swift fingers reaching for the cat's neck, and they gently combed through the fur, looking for a sign of a collar.

Harry frowned to himself as he absently patted the cat on top of the head. "Lost your collar, then?" Harry didn't wait for an answer, instead he just hauled the cat off of his foot and onto his lap and getting an annoyed yowl for his hard work.

"Gah.. I'm sorry Mister kitty! You're heavy!" Said Harry automatically. It wasn't too much of his fault that he had picked up the cat the wrong way and had hurt it. His arms were pretty small and the cat was so big compared to them. The cat itself let out a little vexed hiss.

".. You're a really vocal cat.." Commented Harry, scratching the cat's ears, getting a little meow in return..

"I really wish I could keep you." Mumbled Harry absently. It would be wonderful to have a friend hanging around him all the time. Then he wouldn't really have to bother with his evil cousin and his bullocks for rumors. Who would honestly believe he would set fire to a dog?

Harry tilted his head back, looking up to the sky, before down at the cat. Harry blinked when he caught sight of the cat's vivid purple colored eyes. "Eh.." Mumbled Harry, eyebrows rising up. That was rather unnerving..

Harry felt a small smile grow across his face as he reached out, grasping the cat's front paws with both of his hands and shaking them up and down like a human handshake. "'Ello, I'm Harry James Raenef Potter. A pleasure, I'm sure." Said Harry, finishing his little introduction with a grin, Harry personally liked his rather long name. More so for the fact that if he ever got a real friend, he'd have them call him 'Rae'. Because Rae would end up being a bloody fabulous name, and Harry didn't really want to be called 'Potter'.

His Uncle usually called him 'Potter' or 'Boy', and both names always sounded so angry.

Harry froze though, when a rather deep, and adult sounding voice responded to his little introduction.

"And I am Eclipse."

Harry gasped, jumping slightly from where he was sitting on the ground. Almost upsetting the cat from his lap completely as he turned his head back and forth violently. Looking around for the adult that had snuck up on him.

After a moment, Harry stopped looking around, and he whispered to himself "did I just imagine that..?" Harry mentally smacked himself over the head, here he was, talking to himself again. That was hardly a good thing, his mental health was already in question due to his.. 'family'. The neighborhood had insisted that they took him to a mental doctor and had even made a little charity for it some time back. His Aunt had been informed that there was almost enough to send him to a really experienced Doctor. But he didn't need anyone to see him acting like this.

"Down here.."

The voice called again, and almost against his own will, Harry tilted his head down, looking to the cat that was sitting in his lap. Staring up at Harry with an expecting and all too human look in the cat's eyes. Harry suppressed a twitch as he stared down at the cat, waiting for its mouth to open and let out another yowl. Like cats were supposed to. That's how the world worked!

".. Why are you looking so pale, Master?"

Harry fainted as the cat broke the rules of the world.