Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 1 The Silent Savior

On October 31, 2023, Mo Ran committed suicide.

The reasons for suicide are simple for police officers and reporters: young people can't handle the pressure, and in a moment of despair, they die. But for Mo Ran, it's the deaths of his parents, who raised him for eighteen years, in a car accident; the high school crush he'd been pursuing for three years secretly working for a young punk; the cancellation of his student aid due to malicious rumors spread by a group of classmates; the back wages owed to him for tutoring middle school students; and the stolen takeout he had after a long day of work, when he wanted a good meal.

Sometimes, Mo Ran would have extreme thoughts of destroying the whole world. But more often, he was grateful to his roommate who brought him a grilled sausage, the high school teacher who helped him find a tutoring job, and everyone who had helped him in some way.

"What a pathetic death!"

These were the last words Mo Ran left behind before his death.

As for what he kept hidden in his heart and never said aloud...

"If there is a next life, let me experience a life like the protagonist."

……

On October 31, 1981, due to Peter Pettigrew's betrayal, the Fidelity Charm failed, and Voldemort found the Potter family hiding in Godric's Hollow. James Potter died protecting his wife and son. Subsequently, Lily Potter shielded Voldemort and Harry with her body, and as Voldemort killed her, she used the power of her life and love to cast an ancient and powerful protective charm on her son.

This protective charm flowed in Harry Potter's blood, causing Voldemort to suffer a spell backlash when he used the Killing Curse on Harry. Voldemort's body was instantly blasted to pieces, and even his soul was severely damaged. In this unexpected turn of events, a fragment of the Dark Lord's soul attached itself to the only living being in the room—Harry Potter—creating him into a Horcrux that even he himself was unaware of.

The intense pain made Mo Ran want to cry out, but no matter how much he cried out, his body just kept sobbing uncontrollably.

"Harry, Harry, you are so loved. So loved."

English? Who's speaking?

Mo Ran felt a chill run down his spine, but no matter how many times he tried, his body remained motionless, as if he were being paralyzed by a ghost.

"Harry, Mama loves you."

"Dada loves you."

"Harry, be safe. Be strong."

……

“AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Ahh!

The malicious chanting and the woman's heart-wrenching wails brought indescribable pain once more, like needles piercing her skin. Mo Ran forced herself to endure, repeatedly calling out in her mind:

"Open your eyes! Open your eyes!"

He desperately wanted to know what was going on.

Slowly, his body responded to Mo Ran's plea. But when he was finally able to see the world through his blurry, tear-filled eyes, all he saw was a scene of ruins. Immediately afterward, the baby's cries erupted, and even more tears and snot gushed out like a floodgate bursting open.

"Who is the woman on the ground? Why am I staring at her so intently? Was she the one who was just muttering 'Harry Harry'? And where am I? Oh right, didn't I just commit suicide?"

……

After an unknown amount of time, a black-haired man in a black robe stumbled into the room. His anxious expression froze the moment he saw Lily Potter. His mouth gaped open, unable to utter a sound, and he collapsed uncontrollably against the doorframe.

Mo Ran recognized the man in black, but still couldn't figure out the current situation.

This is the world of Harry Potter, and the time seems to be the night the boy who miraculously survived "defeated" the Dark Lord. After my suicide attempt, my soul transmigrated into Harry Potter's body, but now it seems I have absolutely no control over this body. And… the voices I just heard were definitely Lily Potter and Voldemort, but they didn't sound like I heard them with my own ears. If I had to describe it, it was more like a very vivid memory. What on earth is going on?

Trapped inside the infant's body, Mo Ran was having trouble concentrating. Not only did he have to watch with little Harry as a complete stranger embraced his mother and wept bitterly, but he also had to endure sudden, intense pain throughout his body from time to time.

Before long, Harry Potter cried himself to sleep. As an infant, he couldn't fully comprehend the deep sorrow that should have penetrated to the bone. After closing his eyes, a strong drowsiness carried Mo Ran's consciousness into his dreamland.

……

The deep roar of the engine and the occasional night wind brushing against his face woke Harry. With a jolt like an airplane landing, a pair of giant hands, larger than a baby's body, lifted Harry from his swaddling clothes.

"Hagrid."

An old man's voice rang out from afar, growing louder as it approached.

"You've finally arrived. Where did you get this motorcycle?"

Mo Ran, who had also woken up from his sleep, shivered upon hearing the old man's voice.

Is this Albus Dumbledore? The greatest white wizard in the original books, could he see something? If he mistakes me for a fragment of Voldemort's soul in this situation, I'm afraid I'll die right there in this first incarnation.

“Borrowed, Professor Dumbledore.”

Hagrid's voice made Mo Ran's ears ache. Judging from the giant's tone, he was trying very hard to control his voice.

"It was lent to me by Sirius Black."

“I brought him with me, sir.”

As he felt the baby being rocked more violently, Mo Ran's heart leaped into his throat. He knew that Hagrid had turned around, dismounted his motorcycle, and started walking towards Dumbledore.

"Did you run into any trouble?"

"No, sir."

“The houses there were almost all destroyed, and we carried him out before the Muggles came from all directions.”

"The little guy slept the whole way and was woken up when we landed."

Mo Ran hadn't read the original Harry Potter novels. Having only seen the movies once, he couldn't recall any details of the opening scene of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He desperately wanted to make young Harry close his eyes and go back to sleep, but unfortunately, Harry, who had just woken up, was quite interested in the old man in front of him with silver hair and a beard so long they could be tucked into his belt.

"Eeya~"

Through his half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore first looked at the scar on the baby's forehead with his deep blue eyes, then met Harry's innocent little gaze. Like the savior, our headmaster also developed a strong interest in young Potter. His face drew closer and closer until his long nose was almost poking Harry's face, before Professor McGonagall interrupted him with a verbal warning.

"Cough cough, this scar is..."

Dumbledore slightly raised his bent-over body and said slowly:

"Yes, this child will have to carry it with him for the rest of his life."

Professor McGonagall looked at Harry with a pained expression and continued to ask:

"Can't you think of a way, Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore couldn't help but glance at Harry a couple more times, then he made a joke about a London Underground map, declining Professor McGonagall's request. (The scar on Dumbledore's left knee is a map of the London Underground.)

"Even if there were a way, I wouldn't do it."

"Alright, Hagrid, give him to me. We have to get this done."

Watching Harry walk away in Dumbledore's arms, the giant, as massive as a small mountain, pleaded in an extremely sorrowful tone:

"Yes, sir, may I say goodbye to him?"

Dumbledore didn't let Hagrid bring his unkempt face close to Harry's little head; a scraggly kiss goodbye was clearly not what Harry needed right now.

He turned to Hagrid and comforted him:

"Alright, alright, Hagrid, this isn't goodbye for good. Harry will be taken care of."

……

On the steps of the Dursleys' house, Harry lay quietly beside a handwritten letter from Dumbledore. Through his eyes, Morton witnessed the motorcycle soaring into the night and disappearing, saw twelve fireballs fly onto the streetlights of Privet Drive, saw the tabby cat slipping away around the corner, and the white-bearded old man vanishing from the spot.

Privet Drive returned to silence under the cover of night, save for the occasional rustling of the treetops in the breeze. Mo Ran wasn't sure if Albus Dumbledore had noticed anything amiss, nor did he understand who Professor McGonagall was when she mentioned Dedalus Dego before leaving. Just as he couldn't figure out the nature of his relationship with Harry, this wizarding world, more in line with the novels, held far too many things he didn't understand.

What will become of him? Will Dumbledore return? And what will happen to the fragments of Voldemort's soul attached to Harry?

The various unanswerable problems tormented Mo Ran until Mrs. Dursley opened the door to put out the baby bottle, at which point he was rescued by her screams.

At that moment, none of the wizards and witches who were raising their glasses at the secret gathering to bless the boy who had miraculously survived, knew that their world was about to embark on a completely different journey with this rather unusual savior.

……

Ten years had passed since the Dursleys found their nephew on their front door steps. Although Harry hadn't done anything particularly unusual in those ten years, he still had strange dreams from time to time. These included owls flying around in broad daylight; strange men in cloaks wandering the streets; and meteor showers falling all over Britain.

Sunlight crept into the living room of the villa at No. 4 Privet Drive. The photographs arranged on the fireplace looked quite cozy, and anyone could see how much Dudley, the Dursleys' only son, was pampered. His ever-growing head and increasingly bloated body became the only traces left by the passage of time on the almost unchanging Privet Drive.

"Get up! Get out of bed! Hurry up!"

Petunia Dursley's scream, accompanied by loud banging, startled Harry awake; he touched his forehead, sat up, and muttered:

See you tonight.

The aunt outside the door seemed to have heard the noise from inside the cupboard and asked sternly:

"What did you say?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing..."

"Get up now! Go watch the bacon for me. It's Dali's birthday today. If you dare burn it, you'll be sorry!"

Aunt Petunia's footsteps faded into the distance. Harry straightened his bedding and put on his clothes and socks. The storage room under the stairs, though small, had been clean and tidy during the years he had lived there.

On his way from the hallway to the kitchen, Harry already saw a mountain of birthday presents. A new computer, a second television, a toy sports car… whatever Dudley and his parents had mentioned, the Dursleys had always made it happen. Harry had dreamt of having a birthday like this, but in reality, he hadn't received a single gift in all these years. Neither his birthday nor Christmas had it been.

Harry placed the frying pan on the stove and skillfully began making breakfast for the Dursleys; in all these years, he had only ever burned the bacon once when he first learned to cook, whereas Aunt Petunia was quite fond of dwelling on things from several years ago.

"Comb your hair! What kind of appearance is this, all filthy!"