Heracles woke up in an unfamiliar bed, in a room that smelled like a hospital. She groaned. Her head was killing her, and she had been having a rather nice dream. She was at her party in Savanaclaw again, with Jack and Ruggie and Leona and Grimm, and everything was alright. But the girl realized, as she became aware that she was in a place for the sick and injured, that everything was most definitely not alright.
Heracles sat up slowly and took in her surroundings. She was in the Hogwarts infirmary, with a pile of wizarding sweets and 'get well soon' cards stacked high on a medical trolley at the foot of her bed. Heracles stared at the sweets and cards blankly. Who would give her all this stuff and why? She hadn't done anything to-
Then the memories came flooding back. The traps, Quirrell, Voldemort, the sword, Jamil in the mirror. All of it flashed in her mind like some twisted movie. When it was over, Heracles made a low groaning sound and brought her knees up to her chest as she buried her face in them. She felt like she was going to throw up. The word murderer flashed in her mind several times, and Heracles suddenly felt utterly disgusted with herself.
Fighting Overblots was one thing. She never did any permanent damage when she was saving her friends from themselves. At most, she caused a few bruises and black eyes. The troll was self defense. If she hadn't killed the creature, it wouldn't have stayed down and would have kept trying to kill her. Quirrell... Quirrell was another thing entirely.
Quirrell hadn't been much of a threat. Heracles could have just stunned him and carted him off to Dumbledore when she got the drop on him, but instead she hit him with a spell she knew was lethal from the latin used in it. And then she used the sword she had stolen and finished what she had started with her own two hands. She could have stopped. She could have just left him and gotten Dumbledore. But she kept going. She killed the man who helped the... the thing that killed her parents (because Voldemort stopped being a person when he lost his body, and with it, what was left of his humanity), and likely released Voldemort back into spirit form as a result.
And worse yet, Heracles realized as she felt her throat close with some burning emotion she couldn't identify, she felt no remorse. She didn't feel guilty for what happened to Quirrell. She had felt that he had it coming in her fit of rage, and now that she was safe and had a clear head, she still felt he had it coming. The man got what he deserved, and it felt sweet when she gave it to him. Revenge hadn't been served cold with her. It had been served red-hot like her rage, and Heracles had eagerly consumed every bit of it. The only thing she felt guilty for, Heracles realized, was that in the process of killing Quirrell, she had broken a promise she made to Lilia one dark, dark night after she had faced Idia.
"Heracles, in the world we now live in, violence has grown to have no place. Diplomats have replaced legions. The pen has replaced the sword. People like me... we're part of a bygone era. We aren't needed anymore, and for that I am grateful. So please, please little one, don't be like me. Don't be a soldier. Don't be a killer. Don't throw away your humanity to be something the world no longer needs.", Lilia had told her, his eyes looking more ancient than they had ever. He had just been informed about the mess at S.T.Y.X and had come to visit Heracles in a fit of worry at Ramshackle a few days after the incident. All Heracles had been able to do was nod as she stared at his face with big, innocent eyes.
"I won't, Lilia. I promise.", Heracles had said. She had been so naive back then. Lilia gave her a soft, relieved smile.
"Thank you, Beasty."
Heracles felt sounds bubble out of her throat as she thought of the promise she had made Lilia. It took her a moment to realize that those sounds weren't sobs or groans, and that the emotion that had made her throat tight wasn't anger or sadness. She was laughing with dark glee.
'I'm sorry, Lilia. But you were wrong, my friend. So, so very wrong. The sword does still have a place in the world; in my hand and in the chest of my enemy.', Heracles thought as her giggles devolved into mad cackling.
Her guilt had vanished the second she reconciled with Lilia's memory. She vowed to properly apologize to him when she finally saw him in person again. Oh, she would still be plagued by her actions, Heracles was certain. She would have nightmares and wake up thrashing around her bed because of what she had done to Quirrell, but the guilt was no longer there. All that was left was the anger she felt towards her victim, and the joy she felt at causing him suffering.
Eventually, the cackling died down, and Heracles went quiet. Plans and worries filled her head. Now that Quirrell was dead, what would happen to her? Would she be charged with murder and sent to Azkaban? That wouldn't be good for her research. Heracles knew she could probably play the innocent child if she was taken to court, but she would need to get rid of any evidence if she wanted to-
"Good morning, Miss Potter.", Dumbledore's voice said. Heracles looked up. The old man was standing near the infirmary entrance. He looked severe. If it wasn't for the fact that he was alone and visibly wandless, Heracles would have thought he was there to arrest her. Heracles gave him a grin she knew looked crazy and wondered if he had heard her cackling. Her hair was wild from sleep, and her eyes were wide and dilated. She looked mad as a hatter, just like the murderer she was sure he knew she was.
'Good.', Heracles thought viciously. Maybe scaring him a little would bring her some amusement. She could definitely use it.
"Good morning, Headmaster. Might I ask what all this is about?", Heracles responded in a dark voice as she gestured to her sweets and cards. It was the first time she had ever called him by his title to his face. Dumbledore merely stared at her, his expression unchanging.
"I think you and I both know what 'all this' is about.", Dumbledore said. Heracles rolled her eyes. She had a feeling that the candies and cards were from a mix of her friends and random well-wishers after her stunt with the Philosopher's Stone became school-wide knowledge, but she wanted to throw the man off a little.
"Yeah, but I wanted to see how much I could make you squirm. So, how long until a team of Auror's comes to tote me off to Azkaban and throw me into the same cell as godfather dearest?", Heracles asked as she laid back in bed, placing her hands behind her head with a wide grin. Dumbledore gave her a sad look.
"I'm afraid there will be no team of Auror's, Miss Potter, because there was no crime. It seems that Professor Quirrell merely vanished into the night after you managed to stumble upon him attempting to steal the stone, and after you fought him off in self defense when he attacked you. The Auror's Office has already sent out a dispatch to search for him in Albania. It was rumored he was planning on returning there for another research trip once the term was over.", Dumbledore informed her calmly. Heracles chuckled.
"Well I'll be damned. The great Albus Dumbledore covered up a murder on my behalf? Deciding to aid me in my life of crime, huh? And here I thought you were so certain I wouldn't end up like your ex-flame... ", Heracles trailed off, sounding carefree but watching Dumbledore's reaction carefully. Dumbledore sighed and gave her a stern look.
"Oh, I am still very certain that you will remain a good soul, Miss Potter. What you did to Professor Quirrell was done under duress. You had no choice- ", Dumbledore started to say, but Heracles glared at him fiercely.
"Wrong. I did have a choice. I had a choice between stunning the fool and leaving him for you to deal with, or killing him where he stood. And it would seem I woke up and chose violence yesterday, because I chose option B. Or rather, I woke up and chose violence at an unspecified date, because I have no idea how long I've been unconscious for.", Heracles refuted, before getting sidetracked about the date. Dumbledore sighed again.
"You have been unconscious for nearly a week. It is the last day of term. The end of term feast is tonight, and the Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow morning.", Dumbledore revealed. Heracles gaped at him.
"Nearly a week?! I wasn't even injured that badly! How the hell was I knocked out for so long?!", Heracles asked urgently. She had lost valuable time! She still needed to pack her things and clean out her lab! Dumbledore gave her a flat look.
"Yes, but your sheer lack of good health even without your injuries made it so you all but shut down when your stress levels reached their tipping point. You were, if the infirmary report I have read is to be believed, malnourished, sleep deprived, underweight for your age and you had several vitamin deficiencies. We also found near-overdose levels of Dreamless Sleep and Pepper-up potions in your bloodstream. Madam Pomfrey had to work around the clock to bring you back up to standard. You're the first student in nearly a decade that has driven that woman to drink due to sheer frustration, worry and stress.", Dumbledore elaborated.
Heracles froze. She had no idea she was that unhealthy, or that she had been taking almost enough of her daily potions to OD. She knew she was a bit worse for wear, but this was... Heracles shook her head. She had no time to lament about her health. She had to deal with Dumbledore and clean out her lab ASAP. Quirrell may not have managed to find it, but some other member of staff might when she left for the summer, and she couldn't have that. Heracles glared at Dumbledore defiantly.
"I don't care if I'm healthy or not, none of that matters right now. So has Quirrell's body been taken care of or not? You said the story was he ran away. That cover-up won't work if he's still in the castle getting rigor mortis.", Heracles bit out. If Dumbledore was going to execute a cover-up, then Heracles would make damn sure it was a good one. Azul and the Tweels had taught her how to do that much. Dumbledore gained a dark look.
"There was no body to take care of, Miss Potter. Shortly after his death, it seems that Professor Quirrell simply... turned to dust. This was likely the result of being possessed by Voldemort before his untimely demise.", Dumbledore explained. Heracles, instead of reacting with some semblance of horror like the man expected, grinned darkly.
"Motherfucker, I'm a natural! Dust crumbled him so there's not even a body for people to ask questions about! Hades, I'm eleven years old and I'm already a professional at murder!", Heracles yelled with pride as she laughed. She still didn't feel guilty about what she had done; in fact, she was starting to feel something even more than joy. Pride. Heracles felt pride that she had harmed her parent's murderer. Dumbledore gave her a weary, worried look as she laughed. She really was like Grindelwald, wasn't she?
"This is no laughing matter, Miss Potter.", Dumblebdore told the redhead. Heracles's grin turned sharp and she stared down the old man with intent green eyes.
"I beg to differ, Headmaster. But I digress. You've answered most of the questions I had about Quirrell, so now I just have a few more. The first one being, what happened to the Philosopher's Stone?", Heracles questioned. Dumbldedore sighed at Heracles's blatant attempt to change the subject, but said nothing about it.
Dumbledore then went on about how the stone had been taken from her pocket, and that it had been sent back to Nicolas Flamel for him to destroy it so Voldemort could never use it to return. Heracles didn't believe a word he was saying. Why go to such lengths to protect something from someone when it could be destroyed, especially with such apparent ease? It was a mess of contradictions. Heracles glared at Dumbledore fiercely.
"I call bullshit, old man. Why would Flamel agree to destroy the one thing keeping him alive? On what? The whim of an old headmaster and in case of the slight chance Voldemort ever goes after the stone again? I doubt he's in any state to track down the rock again, let alone try to steal it. And even if he does try to steal it again, his top minions have tried to steal it before during the height of his power and failed miserably, and that was before the stone was carted off to the so-called 'safest place on earth', which I have nearly died at several times by the way so that's a total fucking lie, but again I digress. Voldemort's not gonna try to steal the rock again.", Heracles refuted, rambling on about all the reasons the headmaster had to be lying to her. Dumbledore gave the girl a stern look.
"Voldemort is not a man to disregard, Miss Potter. He is deadly, even in his weakened state.", Dumbledore scolded. Heracles glared at the man even harder than she already had been and sneered. She looked just like Jamil did when he verbally teared into Kalim before his Overblot.
"Forgive me for not fearing a man who spent ten years possessing squirrels in Albania, Dumbledore. To me, Voldemort is about as threatening as a goddamn dog. Sure, it can still bite me and cause some damage if I'm not careful, but really all I have to get rid of the fucker is outsmart it and goad it into killing itself with it's own stupidity.", Heracles hissed. Dumbledore looked at her in shock for her words, and then shook his head. He had never met a person so utterly unconcerned with the Dark Lord's agenda as Heracles Potter.
"Think what you will about the Dark Lord, Miss Potter, but you cannot deny he is still alive in some twisted form, and he will be after you, both for what happened with the stone and what happened all those years ago. You will be his first target when he strikes again.", Dumbledore warned. Heracles scoffed.
"Yeah, no shit. But I'm assuming you know that because you plan for it to happen, right? Just like you planned for Quirrell to try to steal the stone, and just like you planned for me to be the one to stop him.", Heracles said dangerously. The infirmary went deathly silent after that accusation. Dumbledore looked at her with guarded eyes through his half-moon spectacles.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Potter?", the old man asked slowly, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Heracles's dangerous look intensified.
"Don't play dumb with me. You're the one that vets every applicant for every job in this school, and you mean to tell me that you, a seasoned wizard that helped defeat Grindelwald and led the war against Voldemort, did not see that there was something seriously wrong with Quirrell? You didn't see the signs? He was the one that brought the troll into the school, and he was the one that showed up after the troll was defeated with a leg injury, despite never fighting the beast. I warned you about him, Dumbledore. I warned you to keep a close eye on your staff, but you didn't. He was an obvious suspect, but you never investigated him. You're not dumb, Dumbledore. I know that much. That only leaves one conclusion... you let Quirrell keep attempting to steal the stone.", Heracles elaborated. Dumbledore gave her a level look.
"That is a very serious accusation you're making, Miss Potter.", Dumbledore said in response, not confirming or denying her claims. Heracles continued speaking, her voice cold and analytical as she presented her evidence.
"But it's true, isn't it? You set this whole situation up; you told everyone at the welcome feast not to go to the third floor corridor, knowing that it would pique everyone's curiosity. You knew that every spell and trap protecting the stone could be counteracted by things first years learn in their classes. You knew I was the only one other than you that knew what Quirrell was up to, and you knew that because of that, I would feel obligated to deal with him personally.", Heracles argued, and Dumbledore remained silent. Eventually, Heracles smirked.
"You were clever, Dumbledore. You were subtle enough that your plan was unnoticeable to the untrained eye. You played the game well, old man... but the thing is, I play the game better. Always have, always will.", Heracles said confidently, and Dumbledore finally let out a heavy sigh, another one of several others he had let out that day.
"Very well, I confess; you are correct, Miss Potter. I did plan your adventure with Professor Quirrell, though I will say that the troll was a genuine accident on my part.", Dumbledore admitted. Heracles's smirk faded and she glared at the old headmaster with burning rage.
"Why then?! Why put me through all that?! What reason could you possibly have for making me nearly die numerous times?!", Heracles screamed. She felt angry, angrier than she had felt in a while. Dumbledore sighed again and shook his head.
"You would not have died, Miss Potter. Those traps were engineered specifically with the skills you have learned this year in mind. At worst, you would have sustained a cut or two.", Dumbledore assured her, but Heracles didn't believe him.
"You didn't answer my question.", the girl spat. Dumbledore gave her a tired look.
"It was a test.", the man finally revealed. Heracles scoffed harshly.
"A test? A test?! A test of what?! My malleability?! My willingness to solve your problems for you?!", Heracles yelled with wide, wild eyes as she snarled and gripped the sheets of her bed with white knuckles. She was having flashbacks to her days of dealing with Crowley, and she didn't like it. She knew she couldn't trust Dumbledore, she had always known it. That wasn't what was making her angry. What was making her angry was that he was acting dangerously like Crowley. That was a trip down memory lane she was in no mood to take. Dumbledore gave Heracles a calculating look.
"It was a test of your skills. Voldemort is out there, Miss Potter. He has been out there since even after you destroyed his body. I have always known he will come back. He will never stop trying to do so, and you... you are who he considers his greatest enemy. He will always come after you, so when he does, you must be ready. I prepared that test to make sure of that.", Dumbledore explained, and Heracles felt her rage begin to overflow.
"Why must I be prepared?! Why not you, or the other staff at school?! Why can't you do your job and protect me?! I'm your student! My well-being is your responsibility! It shouldn't be an eleven year old's job to deal with a Dark Lord! Why can't you deal with him?!", Heracles said in a demanding voice. Dumbledore shook his head yet again.
"It cannot be me that defeats the Dark Lord. It must be you, Miss Potter. That is why you must face these challenges. I would rather you face obstacles in a semi-controlled environment so that you will be prepared for the future, than have you be killed by the Dark Lord. It is for the greater good, Heracles.". Dumbledore went on, not catching his slip up at the end, and Heracles froze at the familiar phrase. She looked at Dumbledore with icy eyes.
"'For the greater good', huh? That was Grindelwald's rallying cry. Why are you of all people using it?", Heracles inquired. Dumbledore froze as he realized his blunder. Heracles narrowed her eyes.
"... He was the man you loved, wasn't he?", she said, her question sounding more like a statement. Dumbledore gave a slow, barely perceivable nod.
"Yes. Yes he was.", Dumbledore answered. Heracles snarled at him.
"I'm not like him, you know. I'm not like your wizard-Hitler of an ex-boyfriend.", Heracles spat out, reminding the headmaster of what she had insisted when they spoke in front of the Mirror of Erised. Dumbledore nodded again.
"I know. But that doesn't stop his memory from haunting me through you.", the bearded man said. Heracles scoffed callously.
"You can stop with the sentimental bullshit, old man. It won't make me trust you. Don't you remember what I told you all those months ago in front of the Mirror of Erised?", Heracles asked. Dumbledore gave her a small smile.
"Yes, I remember. I don't think I'll ever forget. I've never seen an eleven year old look so sure about not trusting any one person in my life.", the blue eyed man remarked. Heracles gave him a barren look.
"Yeah, well now she's even more sure.", Heracles jabbed, and Dumbledore gave her a sad look. There was a moment of silence. Then, Heracles took a deep breath and spoke again.
"I get the feeling you're not gonna change your mind about what the 'greater good' means for me, but the least you can do is tell me why Voldemort will continue to come back and uphold our previous agreement about the classes I've been skipping.", Heracles huffed, finally relenting slightly out of annoyance... at least, that was how it seemed to an outsider. Internally, Heracles was thinking on her feet, carefully weighing all her options as she tried to decide what course her fate should take for the rest of her time at Hogwarts.
Heracles wasn't stupid. She knew that Dumbledore genuinely thought what he was doing was best for everyone, but Heracles knew it was wrong. But there would be no convincing the Headmaster of that. He was too set in his ways. If she kept openly fighting him on such matters, she may lose his favor, which would make her teachers start trying to make her go to class again, which would hinder her research. She couldn't have that. As much as it pained and inconvenienced her, Heracles was going to have to go along with the Headmaster's insane whims. She could deal with it, of course. She had dealt with seven Overblots in the span of a year, she could deal with a yearly quest that was supposedly 'for her own sake'.
'Life really is full of tough choices, huh Azul?', Heracles thought tiredly as she recalled the words of her Mer friend; "Life's full of tough choices, isn't it Angelfish?", Azul had told her mockingly just before she sighed her first and only contract with him. Heracles snorted bitterly at the memory, and at how true the words rang in her current situation.
The trials to come would be annoying, but she could endure them, and any trauma she obtained would be promptly shoved into the back of her mind with the majority of her time at the orphanage and Quirrell. Because if there was one thing she refused to do, it was confront her demons. Her mental ones, at least.
As Heracles thought about all of this, Dumbledore gave her a sad smile. He didn't want to put the girl through more than she had already been through, but in his mind there was no choice. Heracles had to be through all of this, for the sake of her own survival.
"If that is your wish, then I will tell you. Years ago, everything began with a prophecy, something called a horcrux, and a boy named Tom."
—--------------------------------------------------
Heracles dragged herself to the Hogwarts express, feeling weighed down by her weary body and the knowledge she held. Dumbledore had told her everything; how there was a prophecy stating that only she could kill Voldemort (now exclusively known as Tom to her, because from Dumbledore's information she new that the Dark Lord hated his birth name more than anything, and Heracles wanted to spite the bastard in any way possible), the true reason why her parents had been murdered, that Snape was a double agent for him, Voldemort's origins, his horcruxes, everything. Heracles left the infirmary three hours after having all this revealed to her, feeling heavier than she had in a while.
Dumbledore hadn't been lying to her, that much Heracles had seen in his sad blue eyes. The old man wanted to put her through his 'trials' so that she could fulfill her destiny. Heracles scoffed as she got closer to the train. She wasn't one to put much stock in things like 'destiny', but she knew that divination was real, as it was practiced seriously in Twisted Wonderland. Thinking about the line 'neither can live while the other survives' made her feel sick to her stomach, even more so that she had when she woke up in the infirmary with the memory of Quirrell's murder floating around her head.
The whole prophecy situation was damning for her. It meant that not only did Heracles have to kill Tom all on her own (which she was honestly probably going to do anyway in vengeance for her parents), she also had to destroy his damn-near indestructible horcruxes and she couldn't go home until everything was done. She refused to drag her friends from Twisted Wonderland into her mess and endanger them, regardless of how much they could potentially help her achieve her goals. The same went for her earth friends. She would be damned before any of them got hurt because of Tom the Noseless.
The end of term feast came and went. Heracles attended after cleaning out her lab, mostly just because she wanted to see her friends again. Neville and the twins asked her frantic questions, trying to figure out if she was truly alright, and if the story that had been told by the professors about what had happened to her was actually true. Heracles had brushed off all of their questioning, which just made them even more worried. After that, the boys rarely left her side, and the only reason Heracles was currently alone was because the trio was busy loading their and Heracles's luggage onto the train. Heracles came to a stop on the platform and stared up at the clear blue sky tiredly.
The next few years of her school life at Hogwarts were going to be filled with horcrux hunting, mirror research and trying not to die because of Dumbledore's misguided attempts to 'keep her on her toes' and 'keep her alive'. The only thing that old man was going to keep her was paranoid and constantly pissed off.
Heracles scoffed. And she thought the Overblots were bad. At least they never tried to outright kill her.
Heracles was just about to get on the train and find a nice, quiet compartment to spend the next several minutes screaming her head off in frustration, when Hedwig swooped down from above, carrying something in her claws. Hedwig dispensed the thing into Heracles's hand and landed on her shoulder. Heracles looked at her feathered friend in confusion.
"What's this?", Heracles asked. Hedwig just shrugged.
"I have no idea. Some strange owl I've never seen before found me and told me to give it to you. Said it was urgent. Then he flew off without a word.", Hedwig explained. Heracles observed the object in her hand. It was a small parcel, wrapped in plain brown paper. It looked rather innocuous, aside from a note tied to the package with a piece of brown twine. Heracles flipped over the note and carefully read the neat, cursive words on it. Everything was written in handwriting she did not recognise.
I couldn't bring myself to destroy it. I worked too hard to make it. I've created enough elixir to last me and my wife a very long time. Keep it. I can make another one. I would give it to Albus, but I don't trust him with it anymore. Consider this compensation for keeping my possession safe.
There was no name signed to indicate who had sent it. Heracles read the note over and over again, until she put together what the context of the note implied. With wide eyes, the girl ripped open the parcel's packaging. The brown paper tore away to reveal a familiar red stone. Heracles gasped.
'This is... ', the girl trailed off mentally. Then she grinned wickedly. She could think of countless uses for the stone in her hand, the most important of all being for her research. Heracles grasped the infamous Philosopher's Stone in her hand tightly.
"Talk about a plot twist.", Heracles mumbled to herself. Then she boarded the train, Hedwig still on her shoulder, and a wicked grin still on her face.
Sorry this chapter took so long, my winter break started a few days ago and I took a break from writing. And so concludes year one. The next chapter may take another few days to come out, since I need to do some serious plot planning for year two. I'm sure most of you really don't like Dumbledore after this chapter, and I wouldn't like him either honestly. But I see this as in line with his canon character; he's a man who was kind to Harry during his early school days, but who planned for him to die so the horcrux within him could be destroyed. He's a man who worked for the good of the wizarding world at large, but screwed over quite a few individuals to get there. He's not infallible, and it shows when Heracles, a literal child, points out the obvious flaws in his logic. The Philosopher's Stone probably won't be a super important plot device, btw. Heracles will probably just use it to turn metals into other metals for her research, especially since the Elixer of Life doesn't stop the aging process, it just keeps people from dying. Next time, summer break!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.