Chapter Text
Chapter One- Starting of the Dance
There was something hiding in Hogwarts; something unnatural and it definitely wasn’t supposed to be in the castle.
Students said it wasn’t alone and that it wasn’t really an it either. One girl claimed that it was a boy who walked with a blond girl.
Another said it was shadows that crept along the walls as you walked past the girls' lavatory.
But whenever the professors tried to search for it they would find nothing out of the ordinary. Many who encountered this unknown thing said that it hadn’t tried to hurt them. A first had even claimed that they had helped him find his class after getting displaced by the moving stairs.
Whatever it was; it clearly meant the students no harm. But there was something else that was strange about the entire situation that seemed to plague the school.
This thing kept screaming. No, not screaming per say, it sounded like wails. Loud grieving cries of someone mourning.
Each time this creature cried, the attacks that followed were brutal. Witches and wizards falling by Grindelwald's men. The war outside was spreading fast and it seemed that this thing knew exactly how fast it was moving to the isles.
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Harry was no stranger to the screams of the dead. In fact he was one of the things that led them into their songs, the one who made them know it was their time to join him and the others across the river.
He was a bit confused though, he was uncertain what had led Death in sending him to the past. He had yet to gain a corporal body. He had woken in the middle of Hogwarts floating over the great hall.
He had been dazed as he floated across the castle looking for people, only to find out that the new school year had not yet started and only the professors were currently here prepping for the upcoming school semester.
Seeing as he had no reason to walk around he did not focus on becoming solid. He had instead chosen to find a hallway to nap in and when he had woken. The students were suddenly in school and had been noticing his shadows flickering whenever he had begun to get restless in his sleep.
A few weeks into the start of the school term Luna had appeared beside Harry. Sporting her wings and clutching her black umbrella while smiling at him.
Harry had inquired why she was here with him and all he had gotten was a soft smile and a whisper of “Death sent me, said the nargles were hatching soon.”
He had decided to just leave it at that and so the two of them had been floating around Hogwarts for a while but over time the students had begun to notice them a bit more often and soon word was going around about the mysterious thing that was hiding in Hogwarts.
And his screams had not made it easy for him and Luna to hide for much longer.
“Do you suppose it's time for us to join them my dear?” Questioned Harry.
He watched the student speculate as to what was haunting the corridors of the castle. There were silly conspires being thrown around, such as a new ghost forming or even a creature being loose in the castle.
He turned to look at Luna who was gazing at the Slytherin table with a clouded look in her eyes. And there sitting at the head of the table was none other than Tom Riddle surrounded by people who Harry knew he called the Knights of Walpurgis.
“Dearest,” Harry touched her shoulders, “What are you seeing?”
“His soul is splitting.” She turned. “No, it's falling apart, just like before.”
They turned as one to look at the man–no boy who sat like a king ruling his kingdom. There was something flickering around him, and while Harry could not see the souls of the living as clearly as Luna could, he knew that Tom Riddle was living with a frayed soul.
“Shall we help him then, My darling moon?” he questioned, “while he still lives and the war races outside its bonds?”
She smiled, “Yes, let’s show him what it means to live.”
And just like that the decision was made. The two would be joining this world to shake things to its very core and the chess pieces were slowly moving in a direction that nobody could control.
“Students or professors, dearest?” Harry inquired.
They had to find a way to blend in after all, it would be unwise to just appear without a solid backstory. Humans were curious creatures afterall.
“I think being students will suit this endeavor just perfectly, Harry.” She smiled and began to float out of the great hall.
Harry laughed, “Well then, it's decided let the dance begin my dear.”
Laughing he followed her from the great hall and into the corridors. Harry wondered how the next few months would play out and he knew just which house he’ll pick this time round.
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The shadows were gone now but the feeling of something else was now haunting the castle. Like the feeling of something that was yet to come.
Chess pieces were being set but the players of the game were not aware that the rules of the game were about to be changed. Pawns who wanted to move were about to be turned over and knights were going to be shifting.
Yes, the game was changing and the dance was about to be started by something that nobody had expected.