THE LIGHTNING LORD

Chapter 5 : Preparation

Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his office at Hogwarts. Just yesterday his friend Ollivander had informed him that Harry Potter had come to his shop to acquire a wand, but wasn't the wand Albus had foreseen and was much more powerful. He had also looked at the address on Harry Potter's letter and it was written by a quill enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw. How did the boy end up in the Potter family's ancestral home? He felt like all his plans were crashing around his ears.

Albus had a beautiful plan. When Sybill Trelawney had given the prophecy that proclaimed the defeat of the Dark Lord at the hands of a baby in his office, he was stunned. But he began to think how he could use this information to his advantage and figured out a few months later, that there could only be two couples who fit the contents of the prophecy- the Potters and the Longbottoms. But first, he had to leak the prophecy so that Tom would act on it. It was amusing to him how easy it was. He used the Imperious curse on Trelawney and had Severus Snape hear the first half and relay it to his master. He even knew all along the Pettigrew was the traitor of course. Though the deaths of the members of the Order was sad, but it was all for the Greater Good. Unfortunately, the Potters were being quite stubborn in not moving from Potter Manor. From what little he had seen, the wards there were impressive and he didn't want them there. So he developed a cunning plan and used a few spells to make them move to a place in Godric's Hollow under the Fidelius Charm he had cast. He had placed a compulsion on James Potter and Sirius Black so that they would choose Pettigrew as the secret keeper. Remus Lupin was not an issue. The werewolf was very loyal to him and would obey him as a dog would its master. Sirius Black had acted just as Albus predicted and let his grief get the better of him which got himself arrested. Convincing Barty Crouch and Minister Bagnold not to give him a trial was simple. After all, Sirius was a Black and the family was dark. Of course, he had to do something about their will. Since he was a witness he couldn't just destroy it. Messing around with magical wills and contracts were dangerous and he didn't have a death wish. He used his influence as the Chief Warlock to seal the will citing protection. Alice Longbottom had to go too, as she was the godmother of Harry Potter. Besides, the other chosen one, Neville couldn't be allowed to grow up confident and powerful either. He placed young Harry with Petunia knowing how much she hated magic. But there was a problem. Harry was very powerful, even as a baby and he couldn't have that either. He was destined to die at the hand of Voldemort. So that once again, he could be proclaimed as the defeater of Dark Lords. He would be as famous as Merlin! If only the love of his life Gellert Grindelwald hadn't been so stubborn. Ruling a country by the use of terror never worked. There would always be people who would rise against you. But he knew the power of manipulation and deceit. After all, he had spent so many years working on his kind, grandfather persona. If they had been together, they both could have ruled the world.

But four years ago, when he came back to Hogwarts after an ICW conference, he found the instruments monitoring Harry Potter destroyed. Panicking, he immediately went to Private Drive. What he discovered angered him. He had really underestimated how much those muggles hated magic. And now Harry Potter could very well be badly injured and could not be traced. Never the less, he contacted the rest of the Order and organised a search secretly, with no luck. He had to make sure that the Ministry of Magic or the wizarding public ever get wind of this. He would probably lose all his influence and power if they knew that he had lost the Boy Who Lived, and worse, allowed him to be abused and almost murdered. He only knew he was alive because the boy's name still appeared in the Hogwarts Book of Admittance.

It was only more than a month later that he discovered that all the items he had taken from the Potter Cottage and not returned to Harry's vault had disappeared. Worse yet, the invisibility cloak he had stolen from the house had disappeared too. That cloak had been an important part of his plan. He planned on giving it to Harry as a Christmas gift during his first year. He also wanted to place several tracking and compulsion charms on it so that he could mold Harry into being the perfect martyr for the light. He popped a lemon drop which was laced with a mild calming draught. He was the great Albus Dumbledore, the Leader of the Light and no one escaped his clutches. His plans were disrupted but was convinced the brat would have no choice but to follow his role as a pawn. He would let things rest for now. He would always have control over the board, for he was the ultimate chess master. Hmm, saving the Philosopher's stone would prove to be a good test the boy would it not? He could also hide the stone later and tell Nicholas and Perenell Flamel that it was destroyed during the attack. After all, he worked for the greater good. It was HIM that needed to me immortal.

Though in Potter castle, Harry climbed up to the top of the tallest tower of Potter Castle and stood at the edge. He closed his eyes and felt his body transform. His body shrunk, and feathers sprouted and his hands transformed into large wings. Harry was an animagus and was since he was nine. He had looked through the books on animagus transformation in the Potter library and decided that the method suggested was elaborate and not necessary. The human transfiguration method took months or years to achieve. Harry achieved it by using advanced Occlumency and by connecting with his inner animal. The actual transformation was done by pure will and how much the wizard was in tune with his inner animal. Thanks to this, Harry also got some of the senses of his animal. He was a golden eagle, with some magical properties. No witch or wizard to transform into a magical animal, nor could they have more than one animagus form.

Harry took off from the tall tower and started flying. A few minutes later, he heard a rumble of thunder and saw an enormous bird flying next to him. He looked at Aquila, his thunderbird familiar and his heart swelled with emotion. The thunderbird was his only friend. The only one besides his loyal house elves he could count and depend on. Harry dived to the ground and transformed. Aquila too landed next to him. He looked deep into the bird's eyes and proceeded to hug his giant friend. The thunderbird nuzzled his beak into his human friend's body.

Harry remembered the incident as clear as day. When he had arrived at Potter Castle four years ago, the elves had taken him to meet the huge thunderbird which was resting on the grounds of the castle and was shocked to see such a large and scary creature until he heard a voice inside his mind.

********************FLASHBACK******************

"Hello, little one. Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you." Harry was startled to hear a voice inside his mind. But when he looked deep into the eyes of the bird, he felt that he could trust the creature. It was weird, and unnerving to him. But he gathered his courage and replied.

"Thank you for saving me. If you hadn't come at the right time, I probably would be dead. How is that you knew where to find me? Why did you save me? How is it that we are able to communicate?" he rambled.

The thunderbird explained to him that he sensed danger and that he felt a connection with him which had guided him to Private Drive, and brought him to a place he sensed had house elves bonded to him. The mighty creature had explained that Harry was an unusual wizard, and the bond between them was very strong, the proof was the fact that they could communicate, something which was alien to both the magical bird and the wizard. Harry then slowly approached the creature, to touch it and that was the start of a beautiful friendship between the two.

****************END OF FLASHBACK************

After that incident, Harry had then spoken to the elves and the portraits of his ancestors. They explained to him that the Potter family was very old, dating back to more than two thousand years. They explained about the various wars, about history and magic and Harry absorbed everything like a sponge. When the elves told him about the soul piece he had in his scar, he suddenly had a vision where he was pointing his wand at a baby. A green curse shot out of his wand, rebounded after touching a shield and ripped him in two.

This was when Harry realised that during the ritual, he had somehow accessed Voldemort's memories. They weren't active memories, but ingrained into his subconscious mind. He could perform spells and prepare potions after just learning them once as his subconscious mind had already assimilated all the knowledge. With Voldemort's memories in his subconscious mind and his advanced memory, Harry was very knowledge for his age. By the time he was eleven, Harry was almost finished with the third-year books on magic.

He was also taught pureblood culture and etiquette and the family history and finances by his painted ancestors. This was very important and Harry was the Heir Apparent of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and had to take his Wizengamot seat when he turned seventeen. He also decided to learn muggle martial arts under a Sensei in Nottingham. So as his eleventh birthday approached, Hadrian James Potter was ready to step into the wizarding world actively.