Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome to the disclaimer

That's right the disclaimer

This American apple pie institution

Known as parental discretion

Will cleanse any sense of innuendo or sarcasm

From the scenes that might actually make you think

And will also insult your intelligence at the same time

So protect your family.

This fic contains explicit depictions

Of things which are real.

These real things are commonly known as life.

So, if it sounds sarcastic, don't take it seriously.

If it sounds dangerous,

Do not try this at home or at all.

And if it offends you, just don't read it.

(Adaptation of the song Disclaimer, which completely belongs to The Offspring or whoever really owns it. Authors: Dexter Holland / Greg Kriesel / Kevin Wasserman / Ron Welty. Disclaimer © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Round Hill Music Big Loud Songs)

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and it's universe belongs to JK Rowling or whichever company really has it's legal rights. I just fool around with it's universe and characters.

CONTENT WARNING: This fic is bound to have mature content, not restricted to gore, violence, insults/language, innuendo/sex depictions and other sensitive stuff yet to be decided/determined/described. If you don't like it, don't agree with it or your parents won't allow you to read it, I invite you to scroll up and re-read the lyrics until you get the idea of what to do next.

PLOT WARNING: This fic will definitely be AU-OC, with minor introductions of foreign ideas/characters to Harry Potter's universe, originated from other fictional worlds yet to be disclosed.

GENRE: New Adult

PLOT: AU-OC. Harry is a Metamorphmagus bound for greatness who will garner the most uncommon allies in a journey of hardships, training and evolution before he is even ready to face some bad-ass Death Eaters and a frightening Voldemort. Ravenclaw!Harry, Grey!Harry, pairing TBD (Tonks/Hermione/Luna are the most likely candidates)

WORLD WARNING: Let me make this clear…

# Hogwarts begins at the age of 15 and I have moved the timeline for that to happen in 2005.

# Expect new elements and some rules to be altered/introduced.

AUTHOR WARNING: I'm open for suggestions, corrections or any subject you may want to politely discuss with me. But if you don't like it just because you don't share my own view of things and you just want me to change things simply because of that… fuck off.

A/N 00: I have the layout of things up to the seventh book, and a possible spin-off in the backburner. It feels like it will be the work of a lifetime, but I'm pretty confident I'll be able to carry it out much sooner than that as I've already written 40k words for it's initial seven chapters within the first three weeks of picking up the idea.

MC Zero

The wandering path of a Battlemage

############

CHAPTER 001

###########

Little Whinging, 1999

It was a chilly autumn morning in Little Whinging Elementary School, foreboding a cold winter. Children played on the schoolyard. Some were playing football, others chased each other around playing tag and only a few sat on the sun against the walls playing cards. Watching from aside amongst the shadows of the trees, there was a boy who wouldn't join the others.

He couldn't join those playing football, because his fat cousin and friends would disdain him and might even kick him off the field. The kids playing tag would never let him join, either because he was made to be the pariah of the school or out of fear to draw unwanted attention from Dudley's gang. The only group he could actually join for sure, was that of those playing cards under the sun. But what was the point of it? They were all playing a game called Magic: The Gathering, which required to your own deck. All he had was an old deck of poker cards with dull edges, most were bent and marked, worn out and ready to trash. This is actually from where he had salvaged them from.

His life was miserable. Harry's adoptive family, the Dursleys', made sure of that on a daily basis. His life at home consisted of two things mainly: chores and solitude. He has been forced to sweep, clean and do the dishes since he had any recollection of a memory. This late summer they had finally "taught" him to cook for the family and care for the garden. The rest of the day, if they so much heard a squeak from the floorboards under his feet, he would be dragged out and locked up in his room until the next task was available. "Room" what a wistful choice of words, that cupboard under the stairs with his old mattress could be anything but a room. As if it wasn't enough, his cousin, Dudley, and his friends were certain to ensure that his life would remain hopeless even at school.

'If only I could own a deck!' -Harry thought to himself- 'but they would never give me enough money to get one… or allow me to keep it if I ever did. All they'll ever let me have will be their gigantic worn clothes, their leftovers and whatever I can find in the trash or the dirt' -Harry kicked a lump of grass- 'Like this… Quartz...Yeah, like this quartz.'

Harry picked up the chipped lump of quartz and looked at it. It's light was a dull white but Harry found something mesmerizing about its center. There seemed to be some kind of energy trapped within and he found it to be the most intriguing thing he had ever seen. "Teacher said that sand was made of quartz and other smaller things. But this can't be it, it's too beautiful..." -Harry whispered to himself- 'Magic…' -He heard an echo amongst his thoughts.

Feeling like a puppet, he drew the poker deck from his pocket and held it tight against the quartz in his other hand. Harry closed his eyes and pictured in his mind a starter deck of Magic: The Gathering cards. He felt a rush of heat, of energy surging from his chest to his arms, then into his hands. Once it stopped he felt drained, but the feeling was quickly overcome upon inspecting his deck of cards. He still held his old deck of poker cards, but there was something different to them now. They were still worn, but they now had a new reflection on top of each of the cards. It was like having them underwater and having a second reflection on top of them on the surface of the water. A perfect reflection it was, of a deck of Magic cards, but he could still see through it. A part of him knew that this was just a trick, an illusion, but another part of him also knew that he could fool them with it, be able to join and use them against the other kids.

Entranced by the new possibility, he let go of the chipped lump of quartz and started walking towards the other kids. But no sooner had the quartz touched the ground that the reflection on the cards faded. Harry began to panic. He had finally found a way to join others and it was already gone. He pressed his hand hard against the deck, but nothing happened... His eyes! He closed his eyes and tried again, picturing in his mind the starter deck of Magic cards. But once more it was for naught. 'Was it my imagination?' -Harry thought desperately- 'Was it just an illusion? My mind playing tricks on me? Am I going insane already?!' He took a step back hyperventilating… And he felt it. Under his foot he found the chipped lump of quartz and quickly picked it up again. He stared at the crystal and spot that glimpse of energy within, remembering how he had pressed the deck of cards against the chipped quartz. He closed his eyes once more, picturing the starter deck of Magic on his mind and pressed the chipped quartz against the deck of cards. And he felt it. That rush of energy coursed through his anew.

He didn't know what was happening and still had doubts whether it was real, but he now had an idea of the how. He dropped the quartz to the ground and stared at his deck of cards. As soon as the quartz touched the ground, the deck shimmered back to its former self, losing the reflection upon it. He picked the quartz again and the deck remained unchanged. He closed his eyes, imagined what the starter deck of Magic and touched the poker deck with the quartz. He felt the energy flow once more. Feeling lightheaded he took a small step forward to stabilize himself and prevent from falling.

'So the rules are simple… I need the quartz for it to happen. I need to keep it with me or the reflection will fade. And whatever is going on, it is draining me' -Harry thought to himself- 'All there is left to do now, is to see whether the other kids can see it too.'

Harry collected his breath and began nervously walking towards the other kids playing cards. There were five of them at the moment, which was perfect for him as he would be able to try his luck right away, before he had any time for second thoughts and chicken out. "Hey… Umm… Can I play with you guys? I've got my own deck, see?" He blurted out feeling quite nervous, while showing them the poker deck with one hand while holding tight to the quartz on his other.

The five kids turned their heads and stared at him. The outcast of the school had approached them. The scrawny kid with shaggy hair covering that weird-ass lightning bolt scar over his left eye. Wearing his oversized old clothes that everyone knew had once being Dudley's. But today they found something different in him. His eyes felt different. It wasn't his old glasses, as they were still broken and held together with tape. But his eyes themselves… They were still that radiant emerald green colour, but today his left eye showed an outer ring on his iris that shone red as an ember.

They found that kind of unsettling. But they were an odd number, and with him no one would have to sit out any matches during the recess waiting to rotate and duel each other. Besides, his deck looked decent enough. A bit worse for wear, but it would work. As for his cousin… Dudley's gang already picked on them for being the geeks of the class, so having him along couldn't harm their popularity any worse, right?

Harry was ecstatic. Not only were they the first of his classmates to welcome him since his first week of school back when he was six, but the illusion on his deck of cards was proving to be real! He didn't know what or why it was happening, but that chipped lump of quartz had allowed him to join others in a game and that was all that mattered to him.

From then on, Harry joined Brian, Stewie, Nick, Tom and Jerry for the rest of the week to play Magic on every recess. He was finally making ways towards his very own first group of friends, until Friday came around.

Dudley had at last got wind that Harry wasn't a loner anymore. That he wasn't skulking about his freakishness, as Vernon would say, alone in the corner as he should be. And that wouldn't with any of the Dursley's, so Dudley felt compelled to intervene. Dudley and his gang rounded up the group of geeks on the Friday's last recess, shoving them around and demanding to know why they would be around Harry the Freak.

Upon hearing that Harry was joining them for matches of Magic, Dudley's violence gave way to his greed and jealousy. "WHAT?! He cannot have those! He probably stole Dad some money to buy them!" -Dudley raged- "Come here you freak and give 'em to me!" Dudley pulled Harry from his collar and checked his pockets for the deck of cards. Once he found them, he took them and shoved Harry to the ground, but once he inspected the deck he found that it was the same old deck of pocket cards he knew he had long ago recovered from the trash. He was furious now, demanding him to hand them over to no avail. He finally got tired of it and decided on beat him up while his gang kept the others away, not that they would be of any help. After few kicks on the ground to his stomach and ribs, Dudley got winded, threw the deck on his face and left along his friends having a good laugh. He would surely take his Magic deck of cards from him back at home, or even better, rat him out to his parents that he had been stealing money from them to buy the cards.

Harry's friends approached him and asked whether he was alright. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry, sometimes I get it worst." -answered Harry- "Are you guys ok?"

"Yeah, we are fine. They shoved us against the wall or pinned us to the ground, but only to hold us down" said Jerry.

"But what about your deck of Magic?" -asked Brian- "Why did he pull out that deck of poker from you?"

"Oh, that..." -Harry panicked.

'Lie… Hide…' -Harry heard from an echo within his mind.

"I had a feeling something was coming up, as Dudley kept staring at me during class."-Harry lied- "So I left them on my bag inside the classroom. There is no way I can get another deck if he takes it from me". Harry picked up his deck of cards and put them in his pockets. Discreetly making sure that he still had his quartz, he let go a sigh of relief.

"So why didn't you tell us!? We could have stayed close to a teacher!" -Stewie began to rant.

"Yes, and they would have waited for us after school, when there would be no one to stop them if things got too rough" - Harry replied- "I know. I'm sorry, I'll give you a heads up the next time"

"Our mums and dads would have stopped them, you know" -Stewie argued back- "And why did he call you a freak?"

The five of them stared at Harry with wary eyes, and just like that he knew it. They were assessing the risk of keeping him as part of the group. Judging him, deeming his worth. He could play it smooth, but it would barely take them a week to realize of that. Now that Dudley knew he had something to lose, he and his friends will double up their efforts to hunt him down. He could only hope to come clean with whatever they wanted to know and hope they wouldn't banish him, even if it were only so they wouldn't be an odd number again to play.

"I… I don't really know…" -Harry began- "They told me all my life that I'm a freak like my parents, but won't say why. And whenever I dare to ask they'll glimpse at my scar before sending me off or sometimes beating me down"

"So Dudley and his gang will keep on picking on you? Because of your scar?" - Nick inquired.

"Yeah… Probably" - Harry said as the bell rang, announcing it was time to get back to class.

The last period went as expected, with everyone eager to head back home. Everyone except Harry, who spent it bracing himself for an infernal weekend.

When Monday came around, Harry found that they wouldn't outright banish him. He would be allowed to join them for matches of Magic cards. But he would never be one of them; they would keep stealing a glance at his scar and never mention anything about it. They would scram whenever Dudley showed up and would never consider taking his side.

Nro 4 Privet Drive, 2005

Six years had gone by. He was still part of their group. He would still join them to play Magic: The Gathering cards during recess. About the age of 11, they had also started to gather at the local library to play Dungeons and Dragons.

He was part of the geek squad, but remained being the third wheel. They would never back him up against Dudley's gang or any other hardship. They were not his friends, of that he was certain.

Nonetheless, it hadn't been all that bad. He had eventually found a flawed quartz, which seemed to improve his ability to hide or change things through illusions. He now kept it with him at all times, hanging as a necklace under his clothes.

Harry had found that he could now hide his scar whenever he wished so. He had started trying after Dudley had gone overboard with the beating, and his geek squad wouldn't back him up anyway. They were always stealing glimpses at his scar, so he supposed that if he could get rid of it, or at least disguise it; that could change. That turned out to be wishful thinking. They watched him with skepticism at first due to the lack of scar, but he kept the ruse and they eventually relented. Though it didn't improve matters at all. Actually, it had backfired somewhat on him, as he had received the whipping of a lifetime a couple of days later when the Dursleys had finally taken notice of the change. They had been determined to beat the freakishness out of him as they had called it. He had learned that way that whatever he was accomplishing with his quartz, he should keep it hidden from his relatives for his own safety. Not that it would guard him from their hatred, but at least it wouldn't incite them.

So there he was, his fifteenth birthday had finally arrived and yet there was no one who would willingly visit him in order to wish him a happy birthday. He was stuck on his Sunday routine, preparing an oversized breakfast for his obese relatives, hoping it would be enough to choke them to death. Or at least to have enough leftovers for himself. There was a silver lining though, it was Sunday so that meant they would soon after depart for church and he would be alone in the house for a couple of hours at least. It definitely was one of the best birthday gifts he could ever receive. As for the afternoon, he would have to try to sneak out of the house and hope for a quiet day, clear of any Harry-hunting as Dudley liked to call it.

An hour later, the Dursleys were eventually gone. He had actually managed to overstuff them enough to secure a couple of toasts, some scraps of bacon and half an egg for himself. It was definitely worth all the extra cooking he had had to achieve. He just had to brew some tea for himself, from Petunia's "secret" stash for sure, and he would be able to enjoy the best part of his birthday.

Harry was about to dig in when he heard a flutter of… wings? He looked out the kitchen's window and there it was, a brownish owl staring directly at him. He found it peculiar, as it wasn't common to find them in the area, but decided to ignore the bird and enjoy his breakfast.

No sooner had he taken his first bite that the owl began pecking at the window. The owl seemed determined to gain his attention. Halfway through his breakfast, Harry went for the window determined to shoo the bird away, which apparently had other plans in mind.

As soon as he had opened the window, the owl took flight and landed on the kitchen's island, hooting impatiently. The owl started ruffling through his feathers and pulled out a… letter? "Ok, this is definitely getting weird" -said Harry.

The owl hooted indignantly and puffed his feathers, as it dropped the letter in front of him while watching him with narrowed eyes. It immediately turned around, stole all the bacon he had left and hurried out the window.

"Hey! That's… my breakfast…" -Harry complained disheartedly- "Bloody hell… what is the matter with all this mumbo jumbo? Did an owl just deliver me a letter?"

Harry took the letter and stared at it. Things were getting weirder by the minute. Not only had an owl delivered a letter and ran away with half of his breakfast, but said letter was actually addressed to him. And he never ever received anything, other than a beating. He turned it around and saw it was sealed with red wax, which had an H imprinted on it.

He opened the envelope and took the letter. It wasn't regular paper, it definitely felt stranger and older, as if it were some sort of parchment. He ignored the fact and read it.

###############

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

################

"Bloody hell… Witchcraft and Wizardry?" -Harry mumbled to himself- "And why am I so calm about it? Well… yeah… my life has been wacky all along and this would certainly explain it…" -He read through the list of required things and exclaimed- "Where on earth am I supposed to get a cauldron, a wand and a pair of fucking dragon hide gloves?!"

"Never mind that! How the hell am I going to afford it? There's no way I'm ever gonna convince either the walrus or Petunia to pay for it." -Harry thought out loud- "I'll have to sort it out by myself and trick them into accepting my departure no matter what. This a way out of this hell hole and there is no way I'm passing it up."

"We await your owl by no later than 31 July…" -He read the letter to himself- "Fan-freaking-tastic… They want their reply today! And by owl no less!"

Harry gathered his thoughts for a moment. There was no way he wouldn't fight for this chance, so he had to find a way. After a couple of minutes he decided to write a reply and hopefully a solution would present itself, or he would sort it out in the afternoon.

He drafted a quick reply accepting the offer and asked for further information about where he could acquire the necessary gear. He lastly required that any further contact to be constricted to Sunday mornings. Hopefully that wouldn't raise too many red flags.

No sooner had he sealed the letter in the envelope he had received, that he heard a tap on the window. That sneaky owl who had stolen his breakfast was back. Opening the window, he handed the envelope to the owl, who took it in his beak and hid it in between his feathers before taking off.

It was amazing, because he couldn't see any proof that the owl was actually carrying his letter. Maybe all this wizarding stuff could actually turn out to be true. And if it was, he would get out from this prison at last.

########################

A/N 01: I hope you liked it.