Chapter Text
It was a rare sunny day in Little Whinging, Surrey, England. And yet, young Harry Potter was in the yard of #4 Privet Drive gardening. Gardening was hard work for an eight-year-old who wasn’t allowed to use the good tools.
He sighed and wiped his brow. Glancing up he spotted something that should’ve been impossible. There was a new door on the side of the house. It was yellow with a black doorknob, and when Harry tried to pin down the exact shade of yellow that the door was, the shade shifted to a different one.
Harry was curious, but he knew that he’d be in trouble with Aunt Petunia either way. Either he would be caught slacking or Aunt Petunia would blame him for the new and abnormal door. It shouldn’t take too long to verify that there was nothing there in the first place, though.
So, with that thought in mind, Harry walked over, opened the door and walked inside.
Harry immediately was confused. He was in an impossible hallway of twists and fractals, and the door he’d come in through was gone. That is when he realized that he would be in a huge amount of trouble when he was found, no matter how much he didn’t mean to just disappear. Harry immediately started panicking and he continued panicking like this for some time until he heard a voice.
“What is this? Someone who appears to be unafraid of these wonderous hallways and yet very afraid of something else. What an intriguing individual.”
Harry looked up and up at an inhumanly tall figure with a thin, limp body and pointed hands the size of its torso. The figure had a round face and really long and really curly blond hair that seemed to sway as if under water.
“Who’re you?”
“You may call me Michael.”
The being or Micheal stared down at the small child. The Spiral wasn’t against taking children, it just usually didn’t, since they were much more likely to just accept weirdness, unlike adults, who were much more set in their ways and therefore more likely to freak out in a scenario that should be impossible. The child looked up at Michael with tears in their eyes.
“Um, I’m Harry, Harry Potter.”
“Okay Harry. What are you so scared of that is not these hallways?”
“Um, my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are going to be really really mad that I disappeared while I was supposed to be gardening.” That set off the beginning of an alarm in Micheal's brain. It didn’t have any proof yet, just a hunch, but…
“Harry…are your Aunt and Uncle mean to you?”
At that Harry’s eyes blew wide with fear.
“Please don’t say anything to them!”
“That’s a yes, then.”
The being that is Michael sighed and folded up into a sitting position in front of the small child. “Harry, I can take you away from them. I won’t even tell anyone. You can just leave with me.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Thank you! I promise I’ll do all the chores and-”
“You don’t have to.” Michael cut him off. “I live in these hallways. There’s nothing you need to do here. What chores did your Aunt and Uncle make you do?”
“Um...I had to do all the cleaning and gardening, and I had to cook all the meals.”
“Well, you won’t have to do any of that here. Is there anything you want to keep before we set off?”
“No, there wasn’t much room in my cupboard even if I had anything.”
“That’s ok.”
“Um, what about school? If I go back, they’ll make me go back to the Dursleys.”
“I have a friend who should be able to homeschool you, even if you’ll be spending most of your time with me. And if he says no, I have a couple of other friends who should be able to help too, they just aren’t my first choice. Now then, let’s go ask that friend if he’ll homeschool you.”
It took some convincing, but eventually James Wright agreed to homeschool Harry in all the areas that mattered. Still, James insisted that Michael teach him about the Dread Entities and what it means to be an avatar and acolyte of the Fourteen Fears.
And so, Harry began his journey into the avatarhood of the Spiral. He learned many things about the world and was a quick study. He spent most of his time outside the hallways with either James or Peter Lukas, who surprisingly enjoyed the little ones’ company, but Harry always slept in the hallways to be near Michael.
Harry spent his nineth birthday at The Magnus Institute playing games with James, Peter and Michael. His favourite game to play is Twister because it allows him to twist about like a spiral. The being that is Michael likes that game too.
It was between games when James actually had to do his work that Harry ran into a boy around his age in the lobby.
“Hello. My name is Harry. What’s your name?”
“Um, it’s Gerard. But I like Gerry better,” this was said by a small blond with brown eyes and pale skin. The boy was wearing all black.
“Well, Gerry, would you like to play with me?”
Gerry blushed. “I would like to play with you.”
And play they did. During which time Harry learned that Gerry was only a year younger than him and he frequently came by The Institute with his mother, Mary Keay. Mary was obsessed with Leitner books, which are cursed books that have “From the Library of Jurgen Leitner” stamped in the cover. Harry and Gerry became best friends after the many times Gerry visited The Magnus Institute with Mary.
Two more years passed, and it wasn’t long before Harry turned eleven. On such occation, he woke up to Michael standing over him with a wide grin.
“Happy birthday, Little Spiral!”
Harry immediately got up from his nest of blankets and pillows within the hallways. He wasn’t yet a full avatar of the Spiral, but he was about as close as one could get without Becoming. And that wouldn’t happen for a while yet. Not that it matters all that much as he is learning to gaslight and deceive and his figure has started to slightly distort from time spent in the hallways.
It is while Harry and Micheal are walking down the street towards The Magnus Institute, as they have just finished Harry’s birthday breakfast, that an owl swoops down and drops a letter at Harry’s feet. After a brief moment of confusion, he picked it up and opened it. He just skims the letter before handing it over to Michael.
Mr. H. Potter
The Hallways
“Interesting.”
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Michael hums in amusement.
“I think we should ask for more information,” Harry states, “The owl’s still over there.”
“Alright, but we should also ask James if he Knows anything about this wizard school.”
“Hmmm. Beholding tells me that our Harry here is famous to these…wizards. Something about not dying when he should have. It would seem a wizard by the name of Tom Riddle wants him dead due to a prophecy. I would also advise to be weary of Albus Dumbledore.”
“Thank you, Uncle James!”
James smiled. “You are most welcome, Little Spiral.”
Minerva McGonagall had to do a double take at the letter she just read.
Ms. McGonagall,
I am writing to you to ask you to meet me and my guardians at The Magnus Institute to answer the questions that we have about your world. Please meet us at your earliest convenience.
Harry Potter
That was odd, she could have sworn Petunia would have been less willing to meet with wizardkind. And what’s with The Magnus Institute? Wouldn’t it be easier to meet at #4 Privet Drive? Well, there is only one way to find out.
Minerva McGonagall checked the address once again before walking into the lobby of The Magnus Institute. She went up to the front desk.
“Excuse me. I’m McGonagall, I’ve been told that Harry Potter is waiting for me?” The woman at the desk nodded with a smile.
“Of course, right this way.” Minerva was led up some stairs to an office that said “James Wright, Head of The Magnus Institute” and she walked in to see the receiver of so much of her worry and his guardians, which were not the Dursleys. One Harry Potter sat next to a desk which had a man sat behind it, he looked to be in his late forties with brown hair in an old-fashioned haircut and cold grey eyes. On the other side of the desk stood a very tall man of approximately 6’6” with a round face and shoulder length curly blond hair. That man unsettled her for some unknown reason.
“Hello. I’m Harry and these are my guardians. My main guardian, Michael, is the one standing and my secondary guardian is James Wright.” That makes the location of the meeting make more sense.
“As you know, I’m Minerva McGonagall, professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And I must say, it’s wonderful to see you, Harry. We were actually expecting you to be with the Dursleys, but I can see that that is not the case.”
“So, you all were the ones to put Harry with those…people?” James said in a carefully controlled tone, and Minerva got the feeling she’d mis-stepped.
“Not me personally. Headmaster Dumbledore was the one who placed Harry with his relatives.” Something about Michael seemed to shift, but Minerva couldn’t put her finger on what. So, she dismissed it. Michael glanced at James and then at Harry, something Minerva couldn’t read in its eyes. They both nodded, and then she had the attention of all three back on her. Something that unnerved her greatly.
“How much do you trust this…headmaster of yours?”