It was by (depending on one's opinion) either extremely fortuitous luck or incredibly terrible luck that Dudley's birthday happened to fall on the weekend of a peculiar date - the summer solstice. Now any sane person would see that as a dangerous sign and decide against a venture into the thick woods so as to not find themselves turned into frogs, lured into gingerbread houses and eaten, or whatever unspeakable magics it was that those sorts of people did. But the Dursley family were normal folks and did not believe in nonsense. And Dudley Dursley was a terrible, spoiled brat and he wanted to go camping. It was almost his seventh birthday, and he had decided he was very big and very brave, and he wanted to do adult things like camping and punching people.
The date simply did not cross their minds. Astrology was for freaks with colored hair, odd piercings, and poor relationships with their fathers, and not for normal people like the Dursleys. And so, despite their hatred of all things abnormal, they headed out on a most magical night.
You see, Dudley's current favorite television program was a wilderness survival show where the group of characters bravely fought off wild animals like tigers and bears. It was graphic and exciting and he needed to experience it for himself. The problem had been that his usually agreeable parents wanted nothing to do with camping. Petunia Dursley thought camping was beneath them why rough it out under the stars when she had a perfectly good oven and a comfortable bed? And Vernon Dursley had no interest in the physical labor required with camping. They were both perfectly happy staying indoors, thank you very much. They reminded Dudley that there would be no television if they went camping, and they certainly would not encounter any wild tigers or bears. It would be boring! But Dudley insisted, and what Dudley wanted, Dudley got.
No matter the consequences.
That's how Harry found himself packing up their rented camper vehicle with supplies. The camper was a compromise. Nothing could convince the adult Dursleys to sleep outside like an animal. But Dudley could camp outside properly with a tent and a campfire and everything. Privately, the others had thoughts about how long Dudley's obsession with camping would last. Harry was certain he wouldn't make it a full night before giving up and sleeping on the pull-out bed.
Harry himself wasn't sure if he was excited or not. He knew that he would be in charge of collecting the firewood and setting up the tent and any other manual tasks. He would also be roughing it by sleeping on the floor without any food. Still, he had never been to the countryside before. He'd never slept anywhere except the dark confines of his cupboard. It could be fun...
They drove for several hours, the long streets of identical houses giving way to tall trees. The campground was filled with other families, little plots of tents and fires lined the clearing. The air smelled of barbeque and there was a loud hum of laughter coming from the happy families. Harry was promptly ordered to set up the tent while the others ate fast food burgers inside the safety and temperature-controlled bliss of the vehicle.
That night, Harry set up his own camp by spreading out some old jackets between him and the hard, cold earth. Dudley snored loudly from within the confines of his tent. Harry's entire body itched from bug bites and strange plants. He had so far not had any fun, gathering wood and watching the other children play. Не was exhausted, hungry and itchy. He did not like camping.
Despite all of this, he looked up at the beautiful stars and couldn't help but be pleased to be out of his cupboard. The gentle breeze tickled his nose and a wave of peacefulness washed over him. A shooting star blazed across the night sky. Harry closed his eyes and wished desperately that he would never have to spend another night in the dark, cramped cupboard again.
He was jolted awake by a low growl sounding just behind him. It sounded much deeper than a dog's growl. Frozen with fear, Harry did not move but hesitantly opened his eyes. Trying to stay as still and silent as possible, he watched with horror as large shadows swarmed around the camp, sweeping around the flames and snuffing them out. The shadows were pure black, not reflecting any light, thick like oil, and shaped like animals- dogs with limbs that stretched as tall as trees and birds with talons and claws pointed like knives. Besides the cacophony of whistling wind and growling, he didn't hear anything that would share where the animals actually were. No footsteps or leaves crunching gave away their position. It was as though they were being haunted by a menagerie of demented woodland creatures. The trees, which had looked innocent enough before, edged taller than the atmosphere, surrounded them in an
impenetrable wall of furled, twisted bark.
The full moon was no longer a comforting glow, painted red as blood and shining bright enough to hurt.
The child did not dare move his head for a more thorough look when the screaming began.
The shadows swarmed towards their tent, and large rips tore through the fabric like the claws of a large beast had attacked, although again, Harry could not see any physical creatures. From inside, Dudley screamed. Harry jolted out of his pile of jackets and got to his shaking feet. There was a great deal of thumping and rustling of the fabric as whatever had gone after Dudley threw him from the tent. Deep bite marks had torn through his neck. The boys made eve contact for one moment.
panicked eyes pleading at each other for some sort of explanation when Dudley's head was suddenly at the wrong angle.
His eyes glazed over but Harry could not look away.
The camper door banged open and Vernon stomped out in his underwear. He opened his mouth, staring down at the body of his son. Neither he nor Harry moved. Harry's limbs were shaking and weak like gelatin. The thought to flee did not register as he stared, stunned, at his cousin's corpse.
Then, the outline of the vicious shadow-wolf left Dudley with a final bite and barrelled into Vernon, sending the man crashing a few feet away from Harry. Scratches and bite marks appeared all over his body as the wolf lunged at him. Harry watched as the swarms attacked all the other tents screams of agony echoing into the night.
Adrenaline kicked in, his heart pounding so fast he wondered if he was having a heart attack. Numbness spread down his legs and Harry remembered their existence. He started to back away very quickly. It was definitely time to leave!
He made it no more than a dozen steps, crunches of leaves beneath his feet, eyes unwilling to leave the supernatural beast feasting on his uncle, when he was stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder. Spinning around, he faced a woman.
The first thing he noticed was her eyes - shining a vibrant, electric green that glowed against the near pitch-blackness of the forest. She was quite tall and slim, although the strength with which she held him implied she was stronger than she appeared. She was dressed in a simple black shirt and pants. Tattoos peeked out from under her clothes, odd symbols lining her knuckles, a geometric pattern crawling up her neck, and a small star sketched underneath one of her luminous eyes. She regarded Harry with a blank look which made her look rather mean; both of them silently sizing the other up.
She did not seem concerned about the frantic screaming in the background.
"A little wizard," the woman said calmly, her voice low and hoarse like Aunt Marge's after she smoked cigars. "And one touched by Death too. Magic blesses me."
"A wizard? What? We need to leave," he begged. Maybe this lady had a car they could escape in. He had the urge to run, but there was the shadow behind him still tearing into the flesh of his uncle, and the strange woman blocking his path in front. The woman produced a stick from her pocket and waved it around, silence immediately falling over the area. She bent down to his eye level. Harry was struck with the feeling that he was very unsafe, that this woman was behind all of this, somehow.
"What's your name?"
"H-harry Potter, ma'am." He stammered, praying that politeness would keep him safe.
"Potter? Potter - hmmm. The Potters trace back to the Peverells." She muttered, still studying his face. A finger reached over and prodded at his scar - it burned with pain. He gasped, grabbing at his forehead. "Oh dear. That's a bit much, even by my standards."
"What's happening? Who are you?" Harry demanded. His hand revealed fresh blood from the old wound.
"I am Alabasandria Adams - necromancer. And you! You're touched by Death," she repeated, as though that explained things. "A natural-born necromancer. I reckoned I was the last one. Great news for me, terrible news for your enemies and those foolish self-proclaimed 'Light' wizards who've claimed you - like Albus Dumbledore. What is our esteemed Boy-Who-Lived doing in a muggle campground anyway? Shouldn't you be watched a bit more thoroughly? Where are your guardians? I don't sense any other magical beings."
Harry gave a quick glance to said guardian - the prone form of Vernon Dursley - who, like all the other bodies strewn about, was laying deathly still, carved symbols bleeding into their flesh. Horrified, the child forced his attention back to Adams.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," he stuttered out. "I'm not sure what you're talking about at all. What does being touched by death mean? And what do you mean by enemies? I don't think I have any except for Dudley maybe. And who's watching me?"
The woman stared at him for a very long moment, before she burst into hoarse, cackling laughter that trickled down his spine like gooseflesh.
"They didn't tell you anything? Are you serious! Please, tell me you know that magic exists, correct?"
"Magic? What?" Well, that explained the odd shadow monsters, he thought, a bit overwhelmed with everything happening.
"What were they thinking?" she laughed. "Leaving you vulnerable like this. Absolute idiots, honestly! What if I had been working with Voldemort!"
"Please explain things," Harry cried, hysteria settling in his bones. "Or just kill me already, I-I don't- I don't understand!" He held back his tears.
"Shhh," she said. "It's alright, little Potter. I'm not going to hurt you. I'd rather keep the Ministry off my back. Surely they'd notice if you popped up dead! Or maybe not, I mean, look at you." She gave a deep, annoyed sigh at the situation.
Look, you're a wizard, you can do magic. I can also do magic. I mostly do necromancy - hence the dying people around us and you are very, very famous in our world. When you were an infant a dark lord killed your parents, tried to kill you and failed. No one knows what happened, most people think he's dead. He clearly isn't, based on the chunk of him in your scar." She paused for a moment her cold eyes focused on his face while Harry's brain ran in circles trying to process everything that was happening. The heady drum of fear disappeared a bit as he realized with excitement that he was a wizard. A wizard! Wicked!
The woman gave him a sharp, alarming grin. It stretched across her face to unnatural proportions, and she released another cackling giggle. The action promptly returned Harry to a state of fear.
"Through your ancestors, the Peverells, you were born with an affinity for necromancy and the Dark Arts, but it is because of the events of that Hallowe'en night that made you touched by Death. Everyone can do necromancy, to some extent. As a Peverell, you could naturally do quite a lot. But as a Peverell and a survivor of the Killing Curse? Really, you'd make for a perfect apprentice."
Harry stammered over what the strange woman told him.
"You aren't going to kill me?" he asked with hope. It was the main thing to focus on as most of the words she'd spoken sounded like nonsense.
"No. I wouldn't dare harm someone with a bloodline like yours. Besides, the gods brought me here for a reason and that reason has to be you. You have a gift, and I can teach you how to use it."
The necromancer was undoubtedly unhinged, but Harry didn't have an example of what a normal adult was supposed to be, and so far Adams had not hurt him, so that put her tentatively above the Dursleys for now. Plus, magic!