(August 10, 1991)
(General POV)
Sitting at the desk in his office, Albus Dumbledore was flipping through documents and trying to make sense of what happened a little over a month ago on July 7. The Book of Admittance had received four names from the Quill of Acceptance, the date of birth showing July 7 for all four children, and that they were born 11 years ago, meaning they would be attending Hogwarts this year.
He had been shocked when he read the names, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin, and ever since he had seen them in the book a feeling of dread had been hovering over him.
Still, he wrote out the letters for them, and even placed a tracking charm on the letters in hopes of finding where they were, however before he even sent the letters they had disappeared. The tracking charms had proved useless, for he could not find them anywhere.
He had gone to the Ministry of Magic and using his status as Chief Warlock, he checked over any documented child born in the last 11 years, but none had been born with such names. He knew it was no coincidence that all four of them were born on the same day, nor the fact that they all had those names, but for the life of him he had no idea what to make of it, and he couldn't tell anyone about it either.
He knew that at the start of the new school year on the first of September he would be able to meet them, but would he want them to attend Hogwarts? They might mess up all of his plans, not just for Harry Potter, but for Voldemort as well.
On his perch next to him, his faithful phoenix, Fawkes was sleeping soundly, his bright red and gold feathers looking magnificent as they always were. As he finished looking over the last document that was as unhelpful as every other one he had looked over, Fawkes suddenly let out a shrill cry as he began to violently flap his wings, only for some reason he didn't seem to rise into the air like he had done so many times before.
Dumbledore shot to his feet with his wand appearing in his hand, however before he had the chance to figure out what was wrong it was too late. A shadowy being appeared in front of him, one he had never seen before that seemed to look into his very soul.
Had he been able to look around the room, Albus might have realized that the portraits of the previous Headmasters of Hogwarts were all frozen, as if they were merely pictures hung upon the wall. Sadly, none of the portraits would know what happened today, and would think nothing had happened at all.
"You have failed this school and all those who have walked its halls. You have failed this country and this world. Worst of all, you have failed magic itself. For these crimes you are hereby sentenced to death." A deep voice coming from the shadowy figure said before the world seemed to still for the briefest of moments, then all he knew was pain.
Seeing Dumbledore trapped in his own mind as he experienced pain beyond imagination, Savrin turned his attention to the squawking bird flapping its wings near the desk.
"HA! I haven't seen one of you in ages!" He cried excitedly as he moved towards the bird that began to flap its wings even harder. Without preamble, Savrin wrapped his fingers around the bird's long neck before he quickly stuffed it into his mouth, whole. Less than a second after he swallowed it, the top of his head burst into flames.
"Hmmm…. They're not as spicy as I remember them being." He mumbled disappointedly as he licked his lips to savor the flavor. After less than five minutes of just standing there, the flames atop Savrin's head disappeared and he seemed to relax slightly.
Ever since the first time he had tried the flaming chickens he had grown a great liking for them, though not enough to actually go looking for them. It was like finding a delicious burger in a small town you would only drive through once a year, and each year you would stop at the joint to buy that burger in particular.
Sometimes you reminisced about it, but not enough to make the trip solely for that burger. Savrin would eat the birds anytime he happened to find them, but he wasn't about to waste his time devoting his life to finding them.
Thinking back to the first time he tried one of the birds, Savrin couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips as he remembered how funny it had all been. Back in Genesis before the time when the magical creatures were being purged from the world, he had found some weirdly colored eggs atop a mountain peak, and, ignorantly thinking they were decorative pieces of chocolate, something he rather enjoyed, he munched one down without a second thought.
He remembered the first one well because when the smoke started coming out of his nose he thought he had turned into one of the overgrown lizards he so despised, something that actually would have terrified him. To be turned into one of those weak creatures compared to the true monster he was… it was not a pleasant thought.
The sweet taste with the burning of his insides made him all tingly, and after he calmed down he decided he rather enjoyed it. Eating another of the eggs, Savrin experienced the same flavor, and the spicy sensation lasted just as long, making it a rather pleasant snack.
After eating the first two eggs, Savrin wanted to eat the third and final egg, but after wondering what they would taste like when they hatched, he decided to wait. It only took a few months of waiting for the bird to hatch, at which point he promptly stuffed it into his mouth and his whole body was set ablaze.
He remembered coughing smoke rings for a whole hour after he managed to put himself out, and he even cried tears, which was odd because he didn't know he could cry tears.
Shaking his head, Savrin came back from his jaunt down memory lane. Focusing back on the room he was in and what he came here to do, Savrin moved to the man who was trapped in his own mind.
"Let's see exactly what secrets you hold." Savrin said to the dying man who couldn't even hear him. Cupping both sides of the man's head, Savrin ripped into his mind. The memories were all over the place and were coming and going in fragments, and though most of them were hard to make sense of or just completely useless, Savrin learned a great deal from them.
Most of the intact memories of Dumbledore's life were discarded as worthless trash that meant nothing to Savrin, but there were a few instances that were actually worth paying attention to.
------
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
------
It was a prophecy that was frequently seen in the man's mind, which drew Savrin's attention to it. After digging deeper into what it was and who it was about, Savrin frowned as he focused more intently on the man at death's door.
"To blindly follow a path because you believe it can't be changed is foolish, for the future is never set in stone." He grumbled as he pushed even further back into the man's mind.
Savrin had dealings with seers in the past, and needless to say, but he didn't like them. Too often they misinterpreted what they were seeing, or something happened that completely changed the prophecy entirely.
For instance, it was once prophesied that the daughter of some mage would end the war between the mages and the humans, however, upon learning such a thing, the humans not only killed the mage's daughter, but they killed him and anyone who shared his blood.
It took both sides being completely eradicated for the war to end, but it was centuries after the prophecy had been foretold, and not because of some 'chosen one' who was destined to win.
Looking at what Dumbledore did to this, Harry Potter to make the prophecy fulfill itself was proof that prophecies only happened when people made them happen.
'To put him with those people… the man wanted the boy to suffer.' Savrin concluded, finding no other excuse for why Dumbledore would place Harry with his aunt and uncle when it was obvious that they were cruel to him.
Savrin knew Dumbledore knew about it because he literally watched the memory of Dumbledore checking in with some squib lady across the street from him.
When he got memories about a man named Tom Riddle, it took only a few seconds for Savrin to see that the man was actually none other than Voldemort, which was odd considering no one else knew the man's identity, at least not that Savrin had been able to find in the papers or books.
If it was written somewhere, it wasn't in the archives in the Ministry or anywhere at Hogwarts. Savrin would know because he had combed through both places a lot in the last month as he helped the four tiny founders gather information, and nowhere did it show that Tom Riddle was Voldemort.
In fact, there were documents that speculated the man's identity, but none that were actually confirmed.
Glimpsing through memories, Savrin noticed a number of people that he felt might be important, but he would leave that up to Rowena and the others. For now he simply agreed to help them with things they wouldn't be able to achieve in their current states.
He of course could have refused them and let them fail, but he was rather curious himself to see how they would play things out, and it was only for ten years. That was a drop in a bucket compared to the years he had been alive, plus it could be fun playing on easy mode rather than the ultra easy mode that would only take him a day or two. Three tops if he was concerned about witnesses.
Despite the fact that Zetrics mostly preferred to laze around and do nothing, Savrin was essentially creating more work for himself by going a long with the deal he had made with the four children, however he was striving to be different from what he had been.
If the Zetrics had intervened more in the world and saw what was happening they might have been able to save Genesis, but their unwillingness to hear people out had doomed them. Savrin would do things differently this time.
Besides, that was what the voice had hinted at when it had sent him to this new world, and the fact that whatever sent him here hadn't punished him or spoke to him, led him to believe that he was on the right track.
The more recent memories belonging to Dumbledore proved he was a scheming cunt-hole, because he had literally set plans in motion for a little boy to go through to test him. To say that the man deserved to die was like saying a disease was not good for the body, and Savrin would no sooner have mourned for his death than he would wished for magic to be gone from the world.
After getting every useful thing he could gather from the man's mind, Savrin released Dumbledore's head before taking a step back. Staring emotionlessly towards the man, he made a squeezing motion with his hands and seconds later the life had left his eyes.
Briefly checking with his magic, Savrin confirmed he was in fact completely and utterly dead. Having one's soul ripped out of their body would do that.
"To be able to snuff out the life of the man considered to have been the greatest wizard of modern times with a simple grasp, truly, this world is pathetic." He spoke quietly before he looked down to the stick that was held tightly in the man's hand.
Knowing exactly what it was from the man's memories, Savrin took the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's hand, then gave it a wave.
The wand had been very important to Dumbledore, so he had seen a number of memory fragments about it. "Said to be the most powerful wand to ever exist… These humans and their sticks are truly useless." Savrin mumbled, finding the fabled wand to be pointless to him.
He himself didn't understand the usage of wands, but he came to realize that most every witch and wizard in this world used them. Even the four founders used wands back in the day, though according to them, the wands they used were quite a bit different.
Given how most every wand these days was made of wood, and how Salazar's wand had been made from the fang of a basilisk, Savrin realized that the witches and wizards of the present were much more lazy than the mages of old.
To Savrin, wands were like a crutch. Casting magic without a wand took great control and true skill, whereas casting with a wand made it so any fool that waved a stick could cast magic. However in doing so it would make them reliant on the wand to the point where it would be truly difficult to do magic without it.
Savrin was already teaching the four tiny founders how to manipulate the magic of this world without their wands, but because using a wand was so ingrained into their minds already, they were nowhere close to the young mages of Genesis.
Savrin debated whether or not to try and correct this world's idiotic thinking on how to use magic, but then thought better about it. It would do well for them to be reliant on the creatures for their wand cores, and it would make so they were not as powerful as they could be, making it so they would be handicapped without them.
It would make so the 'muggles' as they were called here, had more of an advantage, and make so Savrin could cripple the world simply by stealing the wands if it came down to it. It wouldn't do well to kill everyone in the world, given how he was trying to save it.
Back to the wand in his hand, Savrin concluded that it was a bit more special than the few normal wands he happened to come across since being in this world, but it wasn't something that would be the deciding factor in any battle.
'I sincerely doubt it was created by Death.' He decided, finding that there was nothing divine about the stick. Savrin couldn't be sure, but he bet the popular stick was created by the Peverell guy that supposedly got it from Death, and that he created the rumors of its origins to spread its fame. 'Humans and their vanity.' He grumbled, wondering how the wizards of this world could be so stupid.
Walking over to a shelf in the office, Savrin found the 'Cloak of Invisibility' that Dumbledore had borrowed from James Potter. From viewing the man's memories, Savrin knew he had been obsessed over the thing for some time, but ultimately had given up his research when he failed to figure out how it was made.
Looking at the cloak, Savrin picked it up before spreading it out and putting it over his shoulders. Looking down he could see the lower portion of his body disappear, giving him a thoughtful pause.
"At least it lives up to its name.' He thought with a smile. The cloak itself was actually one of the more intricate items he had found in this world, and Savrin had to give credit where credit was due.
'Ignotus Peverell was truly gifted.' He thought, believing the three Peverell brothers had in fact created the 'Deathly Hallows' for which they claimed were gifts from Death.
Admiring the cloak, Savrin was able to confirm a few of his own theories, one which gave some semblance of truth to the story about the 'Deathly Hallows', but also made it a bit more dark in nature.
After a simple test, Savrin realized the cloak was made from the hide of a rather unique creature, one that he had seen even in Genesis, though they were called Thestrals here. The Thestrals were a breed of winged horse with a skeletal body, face with reptilian features, and wide, leathery wings that resemble a bat's.
Their fleshless, lustrous bodies were covered with a translucent and glossy coat. This smooth and dark skin was a bit slippery and so thin that Thestrals bones were clearly defined through the entire extension of their sleek bodies. These eerie horses had long black manes, as well as a large tail, either with flowing black hair, like horses or ending in a tuft, like zebras. Another distinction was their sharp fangs used to seize and slash their prey.
Given how the Elder Wand was made with the Thestral tail hair for its core, and that the Cloak of Invisibility was made from the hide of a Thestral, Savrin figured the 'Resurrection Stone' might have something to do with a Thestral as well. Probably it's eye, given how it would allow one to see the dead.
What this also meant, was the three brothers had probably killed a creature that was intrinsically tied to Death, thus the story about Death granting them the three Hollows made a bit more sense, at least when he looked at it from that point of view.
With his information now gathered, Savrin tossed the wand and the cloak into his storage space, however before he could turn away from the shelf where the cloak had been, he couldn't help but notice a variety of strange silver instruments. They made constant whirring noises and occasionally emitted puffs of smoke, but the magic they gave off made Savrin curious.
He knew from the memories that these were devices used to monitor one, Harry James Potter, but they seemed weird to him for some reason. Looking closely, Savrin could see that one of them had a small glob of red swirling about inside of it, and given how intimate he was with the substance, he knew it could be nothing but blood.
'The fool really did use blood magic on the boy…' he thought tiredly, losing himself for a moment as he just stared at the objects. Without realizing it, Savrin let out a burst of magic that destroyed every item, as well as every drop of blood related to the boy. For some reason it annoyed him to see them, and rather than leave them for someone else to find, he simply got rid of them.
After shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Savrin turned away from the shelf and walked back over to the body of Albus Dumbledore. There wasn't anything else he needed to do here at the moment, but he knew that he would be back soon. Very soon in fact. The four tiny founders had come up with the first step of their plan to right the world, and unsurprisingly, it involved him.
With one of the main obstacles dealt with, Savrin moved to the next step of the plan to clear out the rest of the obstacles in his path. Looking down at the corpse, Savrin let a blue orb of mana wrap around the corpse before it returned back to his waiting hand, where upon touching him he began to change.
It took only three seconds for him to be a perfect copy of Albus Dumbledore, down to the last hair on his long beard. Even his clothes were the same, though that would only be temporary if he could help it.
Not bothering to check over his appearance, for he knew it was perfect already, he waved his hand at the corpse, making it seemingly vanish into thin air, though really it was just stored away inside his storage dimension.
Once the corpse was gone, Savrin looked at the mess of objects he had destroyed in the room, then got rid of them with another wave of his hand. After everything was cleaned up, Savrin, now Savledore, turned to one of the walls before pulsing a wave of magic towards it.
"I thought you learned not to follow me like that." He spoke calmly, to the wall, and moments later the figure of a young woman appeared. "You killed him… why?" She asked sadly as what looked to be tears fell from her eyes.
She had watched everything from the moment he entered the castle, so there was no point in trying to hide the fact that he was an imposter pretending to be the Headmaster. Still, she had not tried to intervene, when he knew full well that she could after the transformation, but he suspected she knew how pointless it would be to try and stop him.
"He was destroying this world. Of course I probably would have killed him even if he hadn't been harming magic." Savrin told her, not trying to make excuses as he told her the truth.
"It hurts… To feel the life disappear inside of me." She said, most likely referring to the pain of feeling Dumbledore dying inside the castle, not the actual life attached to her, leave.
That wasn't possible unless certain conditions were met, but as long as she had control of the wards, Savrin doubted any witch or wizard in this world could destroy her. Unless of course she refused to fight back, like he suspected she would. Goody peace loving people/ spirits were a pain that way.
"I won't try to justify taking his life by saying that he sent a child to be tortured, or that he let an innocent man be sent to prison. I wanted him dead, so I took his life." Savrin told her, then walked towards the window.
"I'll be seeing you again soon." He added, then before her very eyes, he vanished.
-------
Back in the treehouse in the Forbidden forest, Rowena and Salazar were each reading different books about 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', and the great things he was already accomplishing at his young age.
"Lies! The only thing in this book that could possibly be true was that the boy ate food! Everything else is complete nonsense!" Salazar barked out as he threw the book to the ground, unable to force himself to finish it.
"I understand what you mean. After all, who would believe a child younger than 11 was capable of fighting a giant?" Rowena said in disbelief as she carefully placed her book on the table.
"Fighting a giant? My book said he tamed and rode a dragon!" Salazar said in surprise. "Only fools would believe these stories." Godric chimed in from across the room. He had given up on his book almost an hour ago and had been making food ever since.
"So every witch and wizard in Albion- er, I mean Britain believes them then." Helga said, not having a lot of faith in the witches and wizards of her country. Not if even a quarter of the things they read about were true.
"I say we find the boy and see what he's like for ourselves. If there's even the slightest truth to these stories, I would very much like to meet him." Salazar suggested. Even though he knew the stories were ridiculous, he himself would be a fool if he didn't at least consider the power that magic could provide even to those too young to use it properly.
"He'll be attending Hogwarts with us at the start of this year. We can meet him then and see what he's like, and see if there is any semblance of truth to these stories." Rowena reminded them.
They had all received letters from Hogwarts a week after they were given these forms, and all of them were quite excited to see Hogwarts again, and this time they would get to experience it just like the students they used to teach.
"Oh, I'm so excited!!" Helga cried, almost jumping for joy at the thought.
"About school, the letters said we needed to get a number of things before the start of the year. I know Savrin told us we could get it all in Diagon Alley, but he never actually told us when he would take us to get it. It's already the tenth of August, which means we only have three weeks to get everything. We should really get on that before it's too late." Salazar said, reminding them all that they only had so long before they had to depart.
"What is it we need again?" Godric mumbled as fished out his letter from under a stack of books.
Uniform
First-year students will require:
Three sets of plain work robes (Black)
One plain and pointed hat (Black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves (dragonhide or similar)
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
"You do realize needing the hat is entirely your fault, right?" Salazar said, finding the idea of wearing a hat similar to the one Godric wore a thousand years ago to be revolting.
"Oh shut it, Sally! That hat was brilliant!" Godric stated, defending his prized hat.
"I still can't believe every child gets dragonhide gloves. Not just anyone could defeat a dragon back in the day, so I'm actually impressed that they're able to supply so many to children. I do hope they're not super expensive." Helga said.
They didn't need to read over the course books again, for each of them already had a set of the first year books, complementary of Savrin. He hadn't told them how he had gotten them, but they knew he had most likely stolen them from whatever bookstore sold them.
For how often he was able to stroll through the Ministry of Magic undetected and steal their records, stealing from a bookstore would be Child's play. They would never learn of it, but Savrin hadn't in fact stolen the books from a bookstore, but in fact he had stolen them from a little boy starting his first year.
The little boy's father had had to buy five sets of books before they finally stopped disappearing, but it served the little brat right. He had threatened a different little boy in Diagon Alley for minding his own business, so Savrin decided to mess with him a bit.
Based on the tongue lashing the boy's mother had given him, he thought it was justice well served, and given how the boy's mother had shouted, "Your father will hear about this!" Savrin hoped the father would give him a tongue lashing as well.
"Where do you think we'll get the wands?" Godric asked the others. "I'm not too sure. Augustus is surely dead by now, but maybe one of his descendants still makes wands. We'll have to ask around." Rowena said, sounding a little sad at the thought of the old wand maker who had blessed her with her first wand being gone from the world.
"Ha! That old goat was teaching his son and grandson how to make wands when we first founded Hogwarts, so I'll wager everything I have that his family is still around making wands today!" Godric stated, not doubting his words in the least.
"You don't own anything. Everything in this place belongs to Savrin." Salazar remarked, reminding Godric that he was poor.
"What do you think the letter means when it says, 'PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS'? Why would we need broomsticks? Surely we could just use magic to clean the floors if we needed to, right?" Helga asked, not being able to make sense of the last thing on their list.
"Who knows, I guess we'll just have to wait until we get there to find out." Godric answered. Like her, he couldn't understand the desire for broomsticks, but it wasn't important considering they weren't even allowed them in their first year, which meant they had a whole year to figure it out.
Before any of them had the chance to bring up another topic that would cause an argument, an old man suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, startling them all.
"Greetings, boys and girls. I am Albus Dumbledore." He spoke warmly as he stared at them over the rims of his half moon spectacles.
They gawked at him for a few seconds before Helga spoke, "Savrin? Is that you?" She sounded so confused and unsure, but she couldn't understand how Albus Dumbledore was standing before them.
"Savrin? Who is this Savrin you speak of? Surely someone with such a strong name could never be as old, frail, and weak as I appear. Surely this Savrin would never stoop so low as to-" That was as far as he got before the four of them relaxed and stared at him with blank expressions.
Knowing they had seen right through him, he said, "Of course it's me. Did you honestly think I would lose to someone so weak?" It was insulting to think, but for a moment he had seen looks of fear on their faces as though they believed him to have messed up in some way.
"More like we hoped you would." Godric said as a joke, though Savrin could tell there was some bit of truth to his words, but he wasn't going to get angry. He did, after all, threaten to kill every single magical individual in ten years time if they couldn't succeed in the task he had given them.
Taking the time to revert back to his much younger humanoid form, Savrin brushed away imaginary dirt from his pants as he relished no longer being in those awful bright blue sparkly robes.
"Much better." He mumbled as he moved towards the table they had all gathered around. "Some new information has come to light after killing the old cunt." Savrin said after taking a seat.
"There is a prophecy regarding a boy, one Harry James Potter, and Dumbledore spent a great deal of time organizing his life. It would seem the boy's life and the life of Voldemort are intertwined, and with this new information, I can only assume Voldemort is still alive." Savrin said calmly.
Normally the news that a Dark Lord was alive would be a bad thing, however the wide ear-to-ear grin on Savrin's face told that he was anything but upset. On the contrary, he looked rather excited.
"Do you know what this means?" He asked, to no one in particular as he began to softly laugh, then he laughed louder and louder until he was roaring with laughter. "It means! I GET TO KILL HIM MYSELF!" He finished cruelly, causing each of the four children to take a step away from him.
It was funny. In the past these four were some of the greatest, most powerful mages of their time, yet standing before the monster that was Savrin Kincade, they knew that even if they were at the strength they once were, they would never measure up to him.
Even as they were they could feel the magic washing around him, and combined with the impossible things they had seen him do already, well… if they didn't complete their task, magical Britain would be no more.
When he finally calmed down his maniacal laughter, Rowena cleared her throat to get his attention before asking, "What is this about a prophecy regarding the boy?"
In accordance with their deal, Savrin would give them any and all information he could find that was pertinent for their success.
Of course he only told them things regarding this new world called Earth, as that was their right. Anything relating to his life or Genesis was his alone, or if in some cases he decided to share it. Until then, he would simply give them anything he could find out regarding this world.
Savrin repeated the prophecy, and even showed them certain events that he had ripped from Dumbledore's mind. The information was truly helpful, but it also was eye opening.
"To think the Headmaster of Hogwarts would do that to a child…" Helga said quietly as tears ran down her cheek. Of the four of them, she was by far the most sympathetic and compassionate towards anyone suffering under hardship, and would never turn a blind eye to a child's suffering.
The fact that Dumbledore was trying to raise him as some sacrificial lamb before letting him be slaughtered was unthinkable, and though she was not one to inflict harm on anyone if she could help it, she would gladly see the man suffer if she could. She was truly thankful Savrin had killed him before he could continue his sick machinations.
"How that man became Headmaster of Hogwarts is beyond me, and I'm glad he's dead!" Salazar stated, finding no loss in the death of the man.
"We need to look into the Board of Governors and the other teachers of the school. Clearly they have all forgotten the oaths required of their positions." Godric said, adding one more thing to the ever growing list of things they needed to accomplish.
"I am curious about this prophecy and why the boy is linked to it. We need to go see him if we are to fully understand the situation." Rowena explained, focusing more on why the boy was so important to Dumbledore than what Dumbledore had done to him.
After a brief discussion between the four of them, they came to a decision that they were obligated to help the boy. Someone in charge of their school had wronged him, and they would set it right.
There were only three short weeks until the start of the school year, at which point they would get to meet Harry Potter themselves and make sure he was alright and cared for. Had Savrin not told them that the boy's living conditions had gotten better in the last few days, the four of them would have gone to Privet Drive and slaughtered the Dursleys that very night.
A few more things were discussed over the next hour before the subject of their robes, equipment, and of course their wands were brought up, at which point Savrin told them they would go to Diagon Alley the following day to get everything they needed.
When Rowena asked how they were going to buy everything, Savrin smiled widely before saying, "We'll have to go to the bank!"