!DISCONTINUED! Guardian of Death [A Harry Potter Fanfiction]

1. A spark of hope

  With silent calculated steps, Harry traversed the creaky floorboards of the dreadful house that had haunted many of his nightmares in his youth. He allowed himself to be guided by the soft whimpers of what he was certain was little Hannah Linian Potter, until he reached the kitchen, where a small child lay among shards of glass, tears pouring down her cheeks while a few of the broken remains of what Harry assumed had been a glass dug into the flesh of her knees and bare feet. He cringed at the all too familiar situation, remembering to his destain when he himself had stood in the same place, taking shards out of his legs one by one. Shaking off the grim reminder off, the man silently came closer to the girl, lowering himself to her level and offering a gentle smile. With a fluid flick of his hand, he used his magic to take the shards out of her skin and heal the cuts and bruises.

Her sobbing stopped, and she stared up at him in awe, despite the tears still rolling down her pale cheeks. It was painfully obvious the girl was malnourished, and the clothes that hung on her little frame did nothing to hide it, never mind the fact they belonged to Dudley, who was quite a large boy.

"Who-who are you?", her voice broke when she spoke, or rather squeaked the question. There was no denying she was scared, but Harry was almost impressed with the brave facade she managed to put on despite being confronted with a man twice her size that had just demonstrated miraculous abilities, which she had been told all of her life, were nothing but lies.

"I am Harry, your parents and I knew each other", he lied flawlessly helping the four-year-old up as gently as he could. "I am here with an offer for you Hannah." His metallic green eyes did not miss her shoulders suddenly tensing up as he spoke her name, but now was not the time to take things slow and easy, as time was fairly limited. Explanations could come later, he told himself repairing the glass with wandless magic before placing it back on the kitchen counter and taking a seat at the table. The twisted story he would be telling her would have to suffice for now!

"I know you probably have no idea who I am, but I was a good friend of your father, James, and your mother, Lily. Only recently did I come to learn that they had a will in which they entrusted you to me", he now understood why the hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin, he was perfect when it came to bullshitting things on the spot. "I had been out of the country up until a few months ago, so I didn't even know where to find you, but now that I did I would wish to take custody of you. As you may or may not know -I am unsure of how much Petunia has told you - you hail from a family of whiches and wizards and are yourself a witch."

Harry waited patiently for the girl to process the information and was almost jealous of how much more composed she was than his younger self had. He then abided by her request to prove his words by once more demonstrating magic and reminding her of her own strange and inexplicable occurrences when she had been scared or angry. At the end of his explanation, the girl seemed to accept her newly discovered ancestries and abilities. Now came the tricky part! Harry didn't like toying with the girl's emotions, but he had to be sure she was ready for what was to come.

"Now if we could take a moment to return to our previous conversation.", he spoke, leaning forward on his chair and letting a small smile etch at the corner of his lips, noticing just how much attention Hannah was paying to his words. "I am aware you may desire to remain here with your relatives, and if that is the case I will not force you to choose otherwise, but should you wish to learn more about magic and yourself I am open to taking you in, and even adopting you. My financial situation is stable and I can assure you that I can provide-"

"Please! I'd love to go with you!", she cut him off, tears brimming at the corners of her bright green eyes, so much brighter and full of life than his own. Of course, Harry had known from the beginning that this would be her answer, and almost regretted praying on her desperation, until he remembered the suffering he had to put up with at the hands of the Dursleys, and his heart ached. There was no way, by Merlin, that he would let this little girl take the same torment he had taken and become subservient and eager to please for Dumb-as-a-door to manipulate better later! He would make sure of that.

Minutes later they found themselves out on the street, walking side by side behind a corner before Harry apparated them both into Diagon Alley. The man, made a mental note to buy himself a new wand, as wandless magic was much more exhausting and much less precise than he would have preferred.

Hannah let out a small squeak as she was picked up by the man she had come to see as her savior, and buried her face in his dark elegant robes (courtesy of Death) to hide her flushed face. She cuddled deeper into his arms, trying to get as much warmth as possible because her current attire, made from one of Dudley's old shirts and a pair of sweat pants, did little against the cold British wind. Harry took note of this and hurried up his pace, maneuvering through the crowd towards the white building of the bank. He was painfully aware there would be much to do now that he had the child in his possession, and that he would surely be hounded by Dumbledore's and the Ministry's lackeys alike, but he was determined to succeed.

The first thing on his list would be to claim his lordships and Hannah's heirships and find a suitable home for the two of them, preferably outside of the UK. Besides, he always had wanted to visit the world as a child, and now was the perfect chance.