4 4 Train Me!

"What do you mean?" James asked.

Harry sighed, taking a sip of his drink.

"Voldemort, or less commonly known as Tom Marvolo Riddle was a half-blood born of a squib mother and muggle father. His mother being Merope Gaunt."

"Really!" James yelled, excitement building at the revelation.

Harry gave James an unimpressed stare, and James sheepishly laughed, running his hand through his hair. Sighing Harry waved his hand.

Floating ice formed the words TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE, which then rearranged itself to I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. James's mouth fell open in shock.

"A fucking anagram."

"Yup."

"The most terrifying wizard of the generation created his name using an anagram."

"Mhm."

"What kind of school yard idea is that? What is he twelve?"

Harry laughed.

"He might have been twelve when he first made it. I know when he was fifteen he had decided on the name."

"So… what did Dumbledore do about- er- Tom?"

Really? The Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, first name was Tom? Maybe it made sense that he decided on Voldemort, but then again why create a new name just to decide to punish those who said it?

"Tom was raised in an orphanage after his mother died at birth. Quite frankly he was always a little demon of a kid, torturing his bullies and killing their pets. But Dumbledore, when he heard about this, about how manipulative the little shit could be, saw not Grindelwald in him, but himself."

"Dumbledore killed other kids' pets?"

"Uh, I don't think so."?

"Then why did he see himself?"

"Because Tom Riddle was a natural genius at magic, and didn't care for others. And he quite frankly fumbled when dealing with him. Instead of kindness, he showed the boy who only lived by receiving and giving power, fear. Dumbledore never trusted Riddle, and Riddle was never able to feel care from the only other person who could match him in talent. Isolated Riddle only became worse. Eventually opening the Chamber of Secrets and killing Myrtle Warren, blaming it on Hagrid."

James's mouth opened in shock again and Harry rolled his eyes.

"So then came the birth of Voldemort, who Dumbledore knows the identity of, but doesn't spread it for whatever reason. He blames himself for Voldemort, as he should, and while he does react to Voldemorts attacks, he doesn't do too much to prevent them. So here we are, and one day Voldemort kills more than half the total magicals in Britain, and a decade and a half later brings war to the wider world. Dumbledore until the very end, only ever did one thing to proactively go against Voldemort, just like when he dealt with Grindelwald, because he can't trust himself to act."

Half. HALF of the total magical population of the country? Thats insane. What kind of psychopath would do that? And Dumbledore…

"What did he do," James asked.

"Me."

"Ew! What?!" James shrieked, recoiling in disgust.

"Huh?! Ugh, gross. No, I was prophesied to defeat Voldemort. Said I would have the power he knew not and would be his equal. Welp Dumbledore, being the paranoid in-activist that he is, decided that because I was prophesied to defeat him, then I didn't need to be particularly powerful. He took me, placed me with muggles that hated magic, who abused me for the first portion of my life, and pretty much stopped me from ever trying to be a good wizard. Like Dumbledore, Voldemort and Grindelwald, I am a once in a century talent. Though that is really a shitty anecdote as Voldemort was born in the same century as me. So while I was magically powerful I was not able to bring that power to full. I still defeated Voldemort in the end, and once the wider war took place I had to play catch up."

"But now you're as powerful as him?"

"Quite frankly I could beat Voldemort and Dumbeldore at the same time, add Grindelwald and it would be a fifty fifty. Well, if my body wasn't so weak I could at least. Lets say thirty years ago I could have," Harry said smugly.

"And you think if you train me then I'd be on par with Voldemort and Dumbledore?" James said, surprised.

"Hmm, no. Not in the way you're thinking. You are definitely a natural talent, especially in Transfiguration if the rumors were true. But not only do you not have the natural magical power of them, you also don't apply yourself properly."

"But I can," James cut in, completely serious. "Just like how you said you played catch up."

Harry gave a lopsided grin, a hint of pride at how James wasn't joking around.

"Hmm maybe, but I want to be clear James. I don't want you to rely solely on the combat training that I will give you. I want you to take my knowledge of the future, and bend it to your will for the best outcome. This will mainly be focused on the war with Voldemort, but I thankfully also have some things in incase the Statute of Secrecy fails again."

Harry reached into his apron, and pulled a necklace over his head, tossing it onto the table.

It was a simple silver piece on a leather strap, but the silver was in the same shape as the lightning bolt scar on Harry's head.

"In this necklace are a dozen books that my late wife wrote on how the war could have been prevented. Put a drop of blood on it."

"What?" James said in disgust, holding the necklace.

Harry rolled his eyes and flicked his finger. A small cut appeared on James's palm, the blood seeping into the necklace.

"Ow!"

"Oh shut it. Now the necklace is keyed to you. It will summon those books as needed, not now obviously. The first three books are dealing with Voldemort and wizarding Britain in a bunch of different ways. By the way I'm sorry for the large amount of chapters dedicated to house-elves. Kind of a huge thing for my wife. The other nine are about the wider magical world, the muggle world, and them mixing without ending up in death for everyone."

"Y-your wife wrote these? All of them?" James said, looking at the necklace with a bit of fear.

He didn't hate reading, just not technical books. He loved things like Frankenstein and Lord of the Rings. Not that he'd ever let anyone outside the Marauders see him read one of those, he had a reputation to uphold.

"Trust me I know how you feel, and yes she did."

James shook his head in wonder. Whoever Harry's wife had been was a crazy woman. They must have been a perfect couple then. He looked up and saw a soft smile that was filled with so much love and pain it hurt to see.

"So James, do you want to save the world?"

The fear that had been with him since he first met the old man was still there, but now there was more. Because James Fleamont Potter was a Gryffindor, the house of the brave. And bravery was not the lack of fear, but the action in spite of the fear.

"Yes… And I want to save Peter too."

Harry didn't look disappointed at all, in fact he had a fond smile on his face.

"Just as I thought you would."

—

Harry watched as James, his father! Wrote a letter to his parents. He had planned to have James write it yesterday when he first kidna- left with James, but then his father, his father! Had gone and passed out in the snow.

Harry knew that the letter wouldn't change the fear and worry of his grandparents. They would no doubt still spend the next weeks scared and everything, but this was better. Harry couldn't get comfortable, and he couldn't waste time getting every person to trust him. He only needed James to.

James finished writing it, and handed it over to Harry, who read it a few times, checking for any codes before casting a half-dozen detection spells. Some targeted magically hidden script, while others looked for tracking charms, and then spells to look for non-magical hidden script. You couldn't go through a world war in the muggle world without gaining a healthy amount of respect for them.

Surprised to find nothing, Harry looked at James, only to see a barely hidden smirk.

"Alright, let's send this off."

James picked up the envelope on the table, but Harry rolled his eyes and, for the first time in two days, took out his Holly and Phoenix feather wand. He pressed it to the paper.

"Portus Potentia."

It was his own version of the portkey spell, and would go straight through any of the wards on the Potter Manor.

Harry tossed the letter into the air and it activated, zipping away. It was one of the few spells that was able to work with muggle technology, and Harry had used it to teleport bombs into enemy strongholds before they blew up.

James gaped at the now missing letter.

"Nice try, what spells did you use on the envelope?"

James scowled and stuck his tongue out at Harry.

Merlin, what it was like to see his father.

"Alright lets get to training."

-

10 more Chapters up on my P@ treon

P@ tre on.c om/BronzeTurtle