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of-the-Mind-ORIGINAL
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The Power of the Mind ORIGINAL
By: trc007
THIS HAS BEEN REWRITTEN AND IS BEING POSTED NOW. CHECK OUT
MY PROFILE TO READ THE, HOPEFULLY, IMPROVED VERSION. What if
instead of running to the Leaky Cauldron after blowing up Marge, Harry
had elected to stay in Muggle London for the summer. How does one
change make a difference? Features an Independent and Powerful Harry.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure - Harry P., Daphne G. - Chapters:
29 - Words: 96,280 - Reviews: 1,262 - Favs: 3,406 - Follows: 2,645 -
Updated: 18.05.2013, 13:26:12 - Published: 06.10.2011, 16:43:43 -
Status: Complete - id: 7441197
1. Chapter 1
Standard Disclaimer : I don't own anything you recognise. JK does
along with the respective owners of anything else you might
recognise that isn't from the Potterverse. I don't like writing one of
these at the beginning of every chapter so this one covers the whole
story ok lawyer people? Just a quick note this is all shifted forwards
so that instead of being in 1993 this is happening now, with all
modern technology etc available. Read and review but most
importantly enjoy. Comments, suggestions, ideas, whatever most
welcome. Enough of my babble, on to the story!
Chapter One
Harry Potter could feel the blood pounding in his ears. He didn't think he
had ever been this angry before in his life. It was as if every little bit of
frustration and torment that had been inflicted upon him had built up
and was finally released. He watched as the already sizable frame of his
Aunt Marge continued to inflate as it worked its way out of the house,
bouncing off the ceiling, before it reached the open conservatory door.
He felt no regrets. He knew he should, but he simply didn't. He tore
through the house towards his pitiful excuse for a room, intent on
grabbing his few possessions and getting the hell out of this bloody
house. He grabbed the few clothes that vaguely fit him and stuffed them
into his trunk. Then came his most important items, hidden under a loose
floorboard; the invisibility cloak that was his father's and the photo
album given to him by Hagrid. They were the only connections he had to
his long since departed parents and therefore highly treasured by him. All
that was left was his various magical equipment; luckily the majority of
this was permanently in his trunk so that his paranoid and magic phobic
uncle wouldn't confiscate it.
Once it was all packed away with the exception of his wand which he
tucked in his pocket before thinking better of it and holding it out in
front of him. He headed downstairs cautiously, expecting Vernon to have
some sort of nasty surprise for him. He wasn't disappointed as when he
turned the corner from the bottom step he spotted a meaty fist heading
towards him from out the corner of his eye so he promptly ducked. The
bellow of rage mixed with the crunching impact told him that while he
had escaped, the wall had not been so lucky.
"You put her back; you put her back this instant." Vernon screamed at
him through the pain, spittle hitting Harry in the face.
Bringing his wand up so that it was pointing in Vernon's face he let loose
some more of his anger. "No she deserved it, she deserves that and more
now if you don't want me to curse you, you are going to get the hell out
of my way right now."
Vernon cringed at the sight of the wand and the mental dilemma was
clear to see, he desperately wanted to hurt Harry but he didn't want to
risk getting hit by any 'freakish spell'. Before any decision could be
reached Harry stormed out of the house into the clear night sky and
started walking, or rather marching, as far as he could from Number 4
Privet Drive.
It was only once he reached the play park that he started to cool off a bit
and began to wonder what kind of situation he had got himself into this
time. Looking at it objectively, he had little to no money on him, no
place to stay and carrying a trunk and a bloody great birdcage with a
Snowy Owl in wasn't exactly inconspicuous either. The lessons of the last
two years had been learnt the hard way and Harry now knew that
rushing in without a plan was the way to get yourself killed. In fact if
hadn't been for Fawkes, the events in the Chamber of Secrets would have
killed him. After his experiences with the Ministry last year where
Dobby's hover charm caused him to get a letter about underage magic, he
was sure that this time he was no going to be expelled even if he didn't
use a wand.
Mentally shaking himself out of the dark thoughts that were threatening
to engulf him at the prospect of being expelled from the only place he
had ever been able to call home. First things first he needed a place to
stay, for that he needed money. He had some; probably enough for one
night somewhere giving him the chance to get to Gringott's to take out
some more money from his vault. He did consider going to the Leaky
Cauldron but dismissed that almost immediately as he would very
quickly be recognised there and he turned into the Ministry. No he was
much better off going into Muggle London, it would be cheaper and there
was far less chance of him being recognised. Decision made however that
did leave the slight problem of how he was going to get to London in the
first place. A noise behind him made him turn sharply with his wand
raised, just as he was about to scan the undergrowth for any threat there
was a bang behind him that caused him to topple over his trunk.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus emergency transport for the stranded witch
or wizard, I am your conductor, Stan Shunpike." Harry stood up and
looked at the pimply and gangly youth in front of him.
"Can this go anywhere?" he asked.
"Sure can, sept for underwater, can't do nuffing underwater."
"Can you take me to the Strand in London please" Harry remembered one
of the roads that led off of Charing Cross where the Leaky Cauldron was.
He figured this was close enough to the entrance to Diagon Alley as to be
easy but far enough away that he was still unlikely to be recognised.
"That'll be 12 sickles please, 14 if you want a toofbrush. What did you say
your name was?"
"I didn't" said Harry as he handed over the 12 sickles and headed towards
a seat.
The journey was quite possibly one of the most unpleasant of Harry's
short life. The bus weaved and dodged through traffic at blinding speed
with no seeming concern for the passengers. They were all thrown
around so that when they finally reached Harry's stop he was covered in
bruises. How on earth that woman had slept through the ordeal he would
never know. Thanking his lucky stars that he had made it to his
destination in pretty much one piece, he exited the death trap and gave
an incredibly false farewell to Stan. However Stan didn't seem to
understand that Harry would happily never see him or his dam bus again.
Stepping out into the clear night air, Harry breathed in deeply, the sense
of freedom hitting him for the first time. He knew full well he still had a
long way to go to properly attain that status but he had made a positive
step towards it. Thinking about it made him feel good, he had always
been self reliant, having had no choice in the matter thanks to the
Dursley's, but this was a whole other level. Ah well first thing's first he
thought, somewhere to stay for the night. To this end he started walking
up The Strand, scanning each side of the road for any suspicious people
that could be magical as well as somewhere cheap to stay.
After a five minute walk he spotted what he was after, a small and
slightly dirty looking building with a flashing sign outside that read
'vacancies'. Several of the letters didn't work and the whole place looked
thoroughly unappealing but Harry figured it was for one night only and
he was only going to sleep so what the hell. He walked in purposefully,
with far more confidence than he actually felt, and headed to the front
desk that was currently occupied by a bored looking teenage girl with
large headphones, blue hair and a nose ring. Harry had never seen
anything like this, the magical world being conservative to say the least,
and he was intrigued. So much so in fact that he realised he had been
staring at the nose ring and not paying attention to the girl.
"Oi are you listening to me runt? Do you want a room or not?" her voice
was sharp but not exactly harsh.
"Sorry, spaced out for a minute there. How much is a room?"
"£15 a night for a single. That don't include breakfast or any of that crap
mind you."
Harry looked in his wallet and assessed the contents. "I'll take a room for
two nights please." He figured this would give him more than enough
time to consolidate his position and visit Gringott's to get some more
money and move in somewhere slightly more appealing.
"Here you go squirt." She said handing him a key with a number three on
it. "By the way nice owl." She smirked obviously hoping to embarrass
him.
Harry simply smiled back, took the key and replied "nice nose ring."
Feeling he had done quite well out of the exchange he turned away
without seeing the girls reaction and started walking in the direction of a
sign directing him to room number three. It was only a short walk and on
finding the room he opened the door and walked in.
A polite way of describing it would be basic. However Harry really wasn't
expecting anything different and as far as he was concerned it was a
pretty nice room, a darn sight bigger than his old cupboard. The day's
exertion's catching up with him he dumped his trunk, let Hedwig out and
collapsed on the bed, quickly falling asleep with all his clothes still on.
2. Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Waking the next day Harry stretched out his stiff muscles. It seemed £15
a night didn't get you a particularly comfortable bed; thinking about it
sleeping with all his clothes including his shoes still on couldn't have
helped matters. He looked at the old digital clock next to the bed, seeing
it read 8.26am. Or at least that's how he interpreted the number; it had
several bars missing in some of the numbers.
Harry walked over to the sink, a bathroom also outside the realms of a
£15 room, and splashed water onto his face. He looked up into the mirror
and this is where a problem hit him. While he had got away with Stan
not recognising the night before, it was clear for all to see that Stan
wasn't exactly the pinnacle of intelligence and there was no way Harry
could make it all way through Diagon Alley to Gringott's without some
interfering busybody recognising him. He stared at his reflection trying to
find a way around this problem before a brainwave hit him.
He headed to the front desk hoping that this would work. He breathed a
sigh of relief when he saw the same blue haired girl lounging at the desk
with her headphones on. Walking up to her he waited for her to remove
her headphones and took a deep breath.
"I have a slight problem and I was wondering if you could help me? It's
going to sound a little bit odd but I hope you will be able to help." She
simply quirked an eyebrow at him waiting for him to continue. He
swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'd like you to dye my hair, something
bright that isn't black and..." he paused steeling himself, the idea had
seemed such a good one in his room "I'd like to borrow some of your
clothes." Her mouth had dropped open fully now and Harry could see
exactly what she was thinking, before she could unleash the verbal tirade
that was building he carried on quickly. "No, not like that, I mean just
some clothes that could pass for boy's clothes. I'm not explaining myself
very well am I?"
"Not even slightly squirt so you better get explaining and quickly before I
get angry and, guest or not, you really don't want to see me angry."
"Well you see I've kind of run away from my Aunt and Uncle's house and
I need to go get more money. I have a bank account you see from when
my parents died but I don't want to be recognised by anyone. My Aunt
and Uncle have a lot of friends around here so if I get spotted they will
try and take me back and that's not going to happen." Not bad he thought
I almost believed some of that, maybe because most of it was true in a
twisted sort of way.
She looked at him suspiciously "I know that isn't the whole truth but you
know what I don't really care. Oh I believe you're a runaway, seen
enough of them come through here to recognise that but there's more.
Don't worry I said I'd help you, plus I'm training to be a hairdresser so
any willing victim is welcome." Her eyes glinted at this making Harry
wonder what on earth he had let himself in for.
Looking around and seeing nobody she hollered "MUM I'm helping a
guest so I can't watch the front desk you will have to do it." Hearing a
faint response she shrugged and grabbed his hand and dragged him out
the back to the staff area, plonking him down in a chair. "I'm Rachael,
your hairdresser for the day and what can I do for you today sir?" She
curtseyed mockingly.
Fighting back a laugh Harry replied "I'm Harry and well I don't really
know what I want, definitely need to dye the hair to a different colour
but other than that I'm tempted to leave it up to you although I'm not
sure I trust you" he said the last part with false suspicion.
Rachael laughed, "don't worry I won't do anything too bad. Now how do
you feel about Mohicans?" Seeing his face she laughed again, a rich
throaty sound, "I'm kidding, now if we want to hide you we are going to
need to cover up that scar, while it is pretty awesome it's also very
distinctive."
"Don't I just know it" Harry muttered.
"Ok I have the perfect idea but we will deal with colour first. Now since
you have such dark hair we are going to have to bleach it blonde first.
We leave that for a little while and then we dye over the top of that with
whatever colour you want. May I suggest a bright green to draw
attention away from those lovely eyes of yours?" Harry blushed and
nodded his acquiescence. "Excellent I'll get started then."
The next few hours passed in a blur for Harry, chatting to Rachael about
everything and nothing, as well as a lot of time about music. Rachael was
scandalised when Harry couldn't name his favourite band or even anyone
he liked so she had taken it upon herself to educate him. Her taste was
wide and varied, everything from the mellow and relaxing reggae of Bob
Marley to some speed and death metal bands whose names quite frankly
scared him. I mean what sort of band calls themselves Cannibal Corpse
for Merlin's sake? Harry found that he did actually enjoy quite a lot of it,
particularly some of the less extreme metal bands, and came away with a
new appreciation.
Throughout the whole process Harry found he was forbidden from
looking in the mirror, he had tried to argue against this but found that
Rachael never seemed to really listen. Therefore once Rachael announced
she was done butterflies were well and truly making a nuisance of
themselves in his stomach. "OK Rach I'm ready let's have it." With a
flourish she revealed the mirror and Harry was gobsmacked, the image
before him looked nothing like it had this morning. It was for one thing a
toxic green colour and sort of spiked up all around apart from the front
where it was slicked down, sweeping over one eye and coincidentally, or
maybe not, right over his scar.
"Its a bit of an emo style but to be honest with the slicked down bit over
one eye its perfect to cover you up. All you need now are a few different
clothes and nobody would have a clue who you are. What do you think
of it?"
"I like it, I love the colour. It's certainly different, nobody would
recognise me now." He turned to Rachael, "Thank you so much you're an
excellent hairdresser, so can I borrow some of your blokey clothes?"
"Yeah come on let's see what we can find."
Reaching her room Harry paused at the door not sure if he was allowed
in. "Come on you daft sod I can't let you borrow any of my clothes if you
don't come inside." Harry laughed and walked in eying the messy room
with all the walls covered in posters of bands that he had heard just this
morning as well as one entire wall filled with CD's.
Rachael was already over at the closet flicking through and muttering to
herself. Every so often something would be thrown in the general
direction of the bed. Harry simply sat down to wait, knowing already it
was pointless to try and interrupt her.
Finally there was a pile that Rachael deemed sufficient and she walked
purposefully over to him and started eying him up and down. "I don't
think I have any jeans that would fit you so unless you're up for wearing
a skirt..." Harry shook his head vigorously, no. "Well then do those jeans
you have on have any sentimental value? Because if they don't our best
bet is to rip them off at the knees, get you a big old pair of boots, a band
tshirt and stick a hoody on top. Sound like a plan?"
Harry nodded his agreement and soon found himself with his already
tatty and ripped jeans even more ripped, just below his knees. He had put
a Parkway Drive tshirt on after making Rachael turn around, having
really got into their music downstairs and was left choosing between a
Metallica hoody and a Pantera one.
"Just pick one, what are you a girl?" Rachael had clearly lost patience
with the clothes selection process. Harry grabbed the Metallica one and
picked up the biker boots that had been presented to him. They were a
bit big so he let Rach know he was going to his room to pick up another
pair of socks to fill the inside of the boots out a bit more.
Once he reached his room he went straight to his trunk and rummaged
around for a pair that wasn't too foul when he came across something
that made him laugh out loud. His invisibility cloak. He could have just
worn that and not had to go through all this effort. He silently cursed
himself for being a daft sod again. But once he thought about it he
realised he had had more fun this morning than in a long time so it was
by no means wasted time. Plus he would have had to have taken it off in
Gringott's in order to talk to a goblin. Knowing his luck that would have
been when all the Aurors on duty for the day just happened to be inside
the bank. An acceptable pair of socks was found and so the boots were on
and the ensemble completed. Harry looked at himself in the mirror,
assessing his new look. He liked it, he wasn't sure about the hairstyle but
he liked the clothes and the new colour of his hair. He resolved to try if
possible to stay in Muggle London so that he could get away with doing
something that didn't have something over half his face.
He made his way downstairs after putting his wand in the baggy pocket
at the front of the hoody to say goodbye to Rach for the day. She was at
the front desk with an older woman Harry assumed was her mother.
"Alright Rach I'm off out now I'll probably see you later on if you're still
around." Turning abruptly he exited the front door hearing Rachael's
mother ask her if Harry was her boyfriend, shutting the door just in time
to hear her indignant squawk.
Chuckling to himself he ambled down the street in the direction of the
Leaky Cauldron, ignoring with practised ease the stares and looks he was
getting from passersby. He even laughed out loud when a middle aged
couple walking towards him took one look and crossed to the other side
of the road. This was the life he thought, the easiest way to be left alone.
Course I still get the stares but this is far more entertaining than the hero
worship I normally get.
The Leaky Cauldron itself looked just the same as it had when Hagrid had
brought him there in first year. Walking purposefully through the door he
ignored everyone in there including Tom the barman, he didn't want to
take any chance of anyone recognising him, and made his way to the
entrance to Diagon Alley. Tapping the bricks in the right order with his
wand he watched as the Alley revealed itself with all its hustle and
bustle. As it wasn't so new Harry wasn't staring around at everything like
a gawking child but there were still a few things that captured his
interest such as the large crowd of people around Quality Quidditch
Supplies. Shaking off the urge to go and have a look himself he snaked
through the crowds towards Gringott's.
3. Chapter 3
AN - Thank you all so much for your response so far, it has been
pretty overwhelming. Special thanks to everyone who reviewed,
particularly those who offered me suggestions some of which
improved on my ideas and have been implemented in later
chapters. Hopefully this chapter will start to show you the direction
in which this story is going. Once again cheers for reading - hope
you enjoy the new chapter and remember to review if you feel like
it, if not no worries I wont hold it against you.
Chapter 3
The entrance was still one of the most impressive things Harry had seen
in the wizarding world including the warning poem on the doors.
Striding to an open teller Harry waited until the goblin looked up.
"Greetings I would like to make a withdrawal from my vault however I
don't have my key. Is there a way I can confirm my identity in private?"
The goblin looked at him over the desk, suspicion etched onto his face.
"And why would I want to do that?"
Harry looked around him and saw nobody close or watching him so he
discreetly shifted his hair to reveal his scar. The goblin's eyes widened
slightly "hmm interesting, know this young sir, if you are lying about
your identity, the goblins will take great pleasure in punishing you." His
eyes shone maliciously at this.
"Agreed sir."
"OK then follow me." The goblin, Snagtooth as he introduced himself, led
Harry to an office.
As Harry walked in he spotted a goblin behind the desk he recognised
"Griphook it's good to see you again."
Griphook looked confused at this "do I know you?"
Before Harry could respond Snagtooth cut in "that is what we are here to
determine Account Manager. This boy claims to be Harry Potter and
asked me to verify his identity in private. He accepted that if he wasn't
who he said he was that the goblins could punish him.
Where Griphook's face showed confusion before it now held disbelief "Mr
Potter is that really you?" Harry nodded. "Well you certainly have
changed haven't you? Well to confirm your identity all you need to do is
to prick your finger with this knife and let a droplet of blood fall onto
this parchment." Harry looked fascinated by this and did not hesitate to
let a drop fall onto the parchment.
After a few seconds the blood started to writhe around like a snake and
formed first into letters and finally into coherent words.
Name - Harry James Potter
Parents – James Charlus Potter and Lily Marie Evans
"So it is indeed you what can I do for you Mr Potter? That will be all
Snagtooth I will call if you are required." Snagtooth bowed and retreated
from the room.
"Well firstly please call me Harry, Mr Potter makes me think I'm about to
get in trouble." Griphook nodded for him to continue. "Well let me give
you a bit of background, I trust this will all stay confidential?"
Griphook nodded again "Certainly Harry we at Gringott's are bound to
keep our customer's dealings secret."
"Excellent. Yesterday I left the care of my Aunt and Uncle after I
somewhat inflated another Aunt so that she may have ever so slightly
floated away." Griphook burst into laughter at this, it wasn't a pleasant
sound but Harry figured it was better than silence. "Having already had
dealings with the Department of Underage Magic for something that
wasn't my fault I decided it was better to get out of there before I did
something slightly worse and got expelled. I am assuming from the fact
that I didn't receive a letter straight away that I haven't been expelled.
Last time the letter arrived immediately."
"I believe that is correct Harry, if you did not receive a letter then we
must assume you are not expelled however I sense there is more to the
story."
"Yes well I don't really want to be found by anyone, if they do they will
just send me back to the Dursley's" he shuddered at this "I hate it there
and after Aunt Marge, well I think I'll be lucky to reach Hogwarts alive."
"Surely you exaggerate a little bit, they can't be that bad Harry?"
Harry didn't say anything; he simply looked at Griphook, weighing the
options up. Coming to a decision he removed first the hoody and then the
tshirt before slowly turning around to reveal his back.
Goblins are a warrior race and as such Griphook had seen a lot of wounds
that resulted in impressive scars however he had never seen anything like
the back of Harry before. It was a rippling mass of white and shining
scars that crisscrossed and layered on top of each other so much in places
it was raised by over a centimetre.
"My Uncle started off with a belt but after the age of six he figured it
wasn't making enough of a point so he moved onto something that I
believe is called a cat of nine tails. A leather whip with nine cords of
leather, all knotted to cause maximum damage. One stroke will take the
skin off; it takes maybe ten before you reach bone. Trust me I know this
from experience." Harry was emotionless during this; his normally
shining emerald eyes were dead and lifeless.
Griphook half raised a hand as if he wanted to touch the scars before
putting it down quickly realising that the gesture could be
misinterpreted. "I can't believe it, I would like to ask if those were real
but that's more because I don't want to believe they are. How can this
have happened? Even amongst goblins you are famous how could you
have been treated this way?" Harry simply shrugged and started to put
his shirt back on. "Harry" Griphook's voice was soft, almost
compassionate, "I will talk to my Chief about this, I may be able to
persuade him to get some of our top healers involved. If all goes well
they will be able to remove all of those from your back. I make no
promises but I will do everything in power does that sound good to you?"
Harry raised his eyes from the floor for the first time "you would do that
for me?"
"Certainly. Now if only we had access to your parent's wills then we
would know for sure but I can't imagine they would have wanted you to
go to your Aunt and Uncle's if that was the result."
"What do you mean my parent's wills?"
"Well Harry since Halloween when you defeated Voldemort the wills of
your parents have been sealed by the Ministry. No goblin knows why or
who exactly did it and we lack the power to gain access to them. All I can
tell you is that you have access to your trust vault and there is the family
vault you can usually access at age 17. In the absence of wills we assume
that everything goes to the next of kin which is you so whatever bequests
that your parents made have been ignored. This is not necessarily a bad
thing for you as it may mean you get more than you would have before
although this does mean that your parent's final wishes are not being
observed." Griphook shrugged "there is no legal onus on you to do so but
should you gain access to the will, which you should be able to at 17,
you can still carry out the bequests as stated by your parents."
Harry nodded to this "in regards to my family vault. You said usually at
17 would it be possible for me to access it now or at the very least take a
look around it?"
"There are special provisions set up if you are the last member of a family
line, which you are. These state that you can access your family vault
from 11 but you can't take any of the money until you are 17. This means
that you can take any of the books, paintings, furniture or heirlooms that
you wish."
"Can I go and look at them now?" Harry's voice trembled at the prospect
of seeing if there was anything from his parents in the family vault.
"You can indeed Harry and while you are doing that I will talk to my
Chief about you visiting our healers."
"Thank you Griphook I don't know how to repay you for your help."
"It is unnecessary Harry, now Snagtooth will take you down to your
family vault and then to your trust vault."
Harry followed the goblin from the room, leaving Griphook trying to
shake himself from his thoughts. It was only a short walk from the office
to where the infamous Gringott's carts were kept and the trip was made
in a slightly awkward silence. Harry felt like he ought to make
conversation, even if it was inane platitudes, but he couldn't think of
anything. The trip itself was very similar to Harry's first experience, with
many twists and turns, far too many to count. Compared to the location
of his trust vault, the cart seemed to be taking them deeper into the
cavernous expanse that was the Gringott's labyrinth.
Finally the uncomfortable journey came to an end in front of a pair of
large double doors. It looked to Harry a bit like the blast doors he had
seen when he had snuck a look at the television when Dudley was
watching the original Star Wars. The unlikely duo paused in front of the
doors, both looking at the other expectantly. Harry realised at this point
that he was supposed to be doing something but he had absolutely no
idea what.
"Umm am I supposed to be doing something Snagtooth?"
"Ah I apologise Mr Potter I forgot that you have never done this before.
This is one of our more secure vaults, more secure than your trust vault
and as such no key is needed. To unlock the door you must put your
hand into the recess there" he said gesturing to an area on the left hand
door.
"What will it do?" Harry enquired.
"Well once you put your hand inside, a small needle will release and
prick your palm, allowing several droplets of your blood to be recognised
by the door. The door itself is attuned to the Potter family and it will be
able to recognise if you are worthy of entering the vault. It is purely
based on family line so as the last of the line you will have no problems
entering."
Harry shrugged and walked towards the door, confidently placing his
hand in the recess. He gasped slightly in shock as the needle shot into his
palm before retracting along with some of his blood. He removed his
hand and watched in amazement as the small hole in his palm closed
over. He shook his head ruefully; he really should stop being amazed by
magic by now. His attention snapped to the doors as they creaked and
groaned, as some sort of locking mechanism that had lain dormant for
years released, allowing the doors to swing open.
Harry's heart was beating a brutal tattoo in his chest, he couldn't believe
he could well be about to see something from his parents. He held his
breath in trepidation as the doors slowly unlocked. What was revealed
was a large open expanse of rocky room, interspersed with piles of
Galleons, there wasn't really much else. Harry couldn't help but be
slightly disappointed by the lack of variety of the contents of the vault
the list given by Griphook of furniture, heirlooms, books or paintings. He
realised that he had been hoping that somewhere there would have been
paintings of his parents like the ones of the former Heads of Hogwarts in
the Headmaster's office. Money he expected although there probably
wasn't as much as was in his trust vault, maybe three quarters that
amount. Snagtooth looked a little shocked by this as well.
Seeing his mask slip for an instant, Harry turned to the goblin. "What is it
Snagtooth? Why are you shocked by this?"
The goblin grimaced slightly muttering about dam observant humans "it
is not that I am shocked exactly Harry, but I expected there to be more in
the vault. You see the Potter's are an Ancient and Noble House and as
such would have accumulated a large number of heirlooms, at the very
least jewellery. Traditionally the Potter's have always been a warrior
family and so I would have expected there to be armour and weapons in
here as well. Why this isn't the case I have no idea. Perhaps the
reputation does not meet up with reality, without looking at the actual
accounts I have no idea."
"Would it be possible for you to do that then? Look at the accounts I
mean? I realise there should be enough money in here to last me a
lifetime but from what I've heard from some of my classmates it seems
like there should be more. I'm just not sure I trust the Ministry not to
have plundered something."
"I can't look at the accounts Harry; I am not senior enough however
Griphook should be able to. In fact the Potter's should have their own
Account Manager but at the moment I'm not entirely sure who that is. I
can find out for you though."
"That sounds good" said Harry absently, beginning to wander around the
vault. He stopped in front of a trunk that looked worn but still expensive.
It had some sort of crest on the lid but Harry couldn't make out what it
was. "Can I look in here Snagtooth?"
"Of course you can Harry, it's your vault after all."
Harry nodded and knelt to open the lid. Inside was a collection of
leather-bound books. Picking one at random, he looked at the cover to
see if there was a title. There wasn't so he opened it to the first page and
on the inside cover there in elegant script was his father's name and
under that was written "journal year 5." Harry sucked in a deep breath,
there were 30 of these books in the trunk, were they all his father's?
Deciding that whoever had written them they would be well worth
investigating, he replaced the book where he had pulled it from. He stood
up, trying to work out how he was going to get the trunk all the way
back to his hotel. Snagtooth provided the solution though.
"I believe if you touch your wand to the crest it will shrink the trunk to a
manageable size, small enough to fit in your pocket and will cause no
damage to the contents. Do not worry about being underage, this is not
actually doing magic, it is an inbuilt function of the trunk."
Harry nodded gratefully and shrunk the trunk before placing in it in his
pocket. "Can we go to my trust vault now? Unless there is some way of
getting money out without having to physically cart all the money
around with me?" Harry looked questioningly at his guide.
"Well Gringott's does make pouches available to customers, for a fee of
course. These pouches link directly to a vault and allow you to withdraw
however much you desire in either muggle money or Galleons, providing
of course it does not exceed the total available in the vault."
"That sounds great, how much will it be for one of those?"
"You will have to discuss that with Griphook. If there is nothing else do
you wish to return to his office now?"
"That would be great, thank you Snagtooth"
"Not at all Harry" surprise once more flitted across the goblin's face at
receiving thanks. "I believe that you are going to do great things for the
magical world." Harry looked taken aback by this statement before
smiling genuinely at Snagtooth.
The journey back to Griphook's office seemed much quicker to Harry for
some reason, perhaps it was his imagination. Walking slightly unsteadily
from the cart's speed, they made their way into the office through one
door just as Griphook came through the other. "Ah excellent timing
Harry. You will be pleased to hear that I have spoken to my Chief,
Ragnok, and he has agreed that you need to be seen by a healer and
under the current circumstances it would be best if you saw a goblin one.
Is this alright with you?"
"That's fantastic Griphook, it's so much better than merely alright." His
eyes shone with pure delight.
Griphook chuckled "if only all of your kind was as trusting towards us as
you. Most wizards would never consent to having 'filthy animals' use
their magic on them."
It was Harry's turn to laugh "well I think we can safely say I am not most
wizards. When would I be able to visit the healer?"
"An appointment has been set up for you tomorrow morning at 9am, who
knows how long it will take to heal you properly so it would be best to
have as much of the day as possible. Simply come up to the desk and ask
for me and I will escort you inside. Was there anything else Harry?"
"Yes actually Snagtooth mentioned about pouches you provide that are
linked to a vault. Would it be possible for me to get one of those?"
"I think we should be able to manage that Harry, it will however be 10
Galleons." Harry nodded his agreement to this and so Griphook reached
into his desk pulling out a handsome black pouch. "I need for you to put
a drop of blood onto the pouch just here so that I can tie it to you and
you alone."
While he was in the process of letting a drop of his blood fall on the
pouch Harry spoke up again. "Snagtooth also mentioned that the Potter
account should have its own manager, do you know who this is?"
"Unfortunately I do not however I can make enquiries if you wish?"
"Would it be possible for you to take over from whoever it was? It's just
that you are someone I know and trust whereas I've never met whoever
the manager is at the moment."
"That is certainly possible Harry and I must say I am honoured that you
have chosen me."
Harry waved away his thanks embarrassedly "it's nothing Griphook; I
think you are the best person for the job. Would it be possible for you to
have a look through the accounts and see if everything is in order?
Snagtooth seemed surprised at the lack of content in the family vault so
could you look into that please?"
"I will do just that Harry and should have everything ready for you by the
time you return tomorrow morning. All I need from you is your signature
here, authorising me as your new Account Manager. This is a blood quill
so it will hurt when you sign but will heal almost immediately so there is
no need to worry."
Harry signed the parchment happily, grimacing slightly when the quill
cut into his own skin. He fervently hoped he wouldn't have to use that
dam thing too many more times. "Thank you for all your help today
Griphook and I'll see you tomorrow morning at 9."
"The pleasure was mine Harry, until tomorrow."
Harry slid the pouch into his pocket alongside his trunk and made his
way out of Gringott's. He was tempted to go shopping in the Alley but his
curiosity over what the journals contained won out and so he made his
way through the crowd, ignoring the stares, back through the Leaky
Cauldron and to the hotel.
Just as he was coming through the entrance he heard a scream from his
left and the sound of a breaking glass. He whirled immediately, wand
pointing towards the possible threat.
4. Chapter 4
AN - A nice quick update for you, I have been thoroughly motivated
by the response and the positive reviews (hint hint) so thank you all
very much for that. Enjoy.
Chapter 4
"What the hell is Harry Potter doing here in my hotel?" The voice came
from an older woman who was walking out from the back office by
reception.
"How do you know who I am?" Harry shouted back, not lowering his
wand at all.
"You were messing with your hair and I could see the scar. Nobody else
has a scar like that"
Harry had to admit that this was probably true, it was a distinctive scar
and she sounded very scared. Far too much so for her to be a Death Eater
or anything similar, so he lowered his wand slightly. "Are you a witch
then?"
The woman shook her head and was about to speak when she was
interrupted by the arrival of Rachael. "What was that scream Mum? What
the bloody hell is that stick in your hand squirt?"
Harry looked at the woman, waiting for her to answer.
"To answer your question Harry no I am not a witch, I am a squib. Could
you please lower your wand, I promise I mean you no harm."
"Mum what are you on about? What is a squib?" the woman sighed at
this.
"Why don't we all head out back, I can put on some tea and explain this
in relative comfort rather than stood around here." The two teenagers
agreed and followed the woman, who introduced herself to Harry as
Julie, into the kitchen.
There followed a crash course for Rachael, all about the magical world
and Harry's status within it.
"So why did you run away then?" having absorbed all the information
and eventually accepted it Rachael had turned her attention to Harry
again.
"I must say I am curious about that as well" added Julie.
Harry therefore launched into his own story, telling them about how he
lived with his relatives who disliked him and about the incidents of the
previous day.
"Why do you not just go back to them?" asked Julie "I'm sure they will
have calmed down by now and your aunt will have been put back by
now."
"I'm afraid you don't understand Julie, they will kill me for this. I don't
think I can ever go back there."
Both Julie and Rachael looked sceptical at this and so with a sigh Harry
prepared to show them his back as well. It was amazing how the simple
act of admitting it to one person, well goblin, had freed him up to talk
about it or perhaps it was the prospect that he could be free of the scars
by this time tomorrow. Either way it was definitely easier to tell the story
this time.
The two women couldn't believe anything like this had happened,
certainly not to the well mannered young man in front of them. They
both had tears in their eyes and Julie was scurrying to a cupboard,
grabbing a bottle of whiskey. She neglected the glass and took a pull
straight from the bottle.
"How is this possible?" she whispered after she had finished coughing.
Harry simply shrugged and said "I may have understated how much my
relatives dislike me." He found himself enveloped in a hug from both
sides, both women weeping slightly. Harry found himself in the unusual
position of trying to comfort them, his mind registered that this wasn't
exactly the way it was supposed to be, but he had long since shed his last
tear over his cursed relatives. "Its ok, I'm off to Gringott's tomorrow
morning to visit a goblin healer and they are hopeful that they will be
able to do something about the scars."
"How are you so calm about all this?" Rachael asked in wonder.
"Don't really know, I guess it's just something I'm kind of used to now.
Once you have had something for the majority of your life you begin to
accept it." He shrugged again "it's just the way it is."
"Harry," Rachael looked at him with her eyes shining from tears, "I want
to help you." She paused here, collecting herself "I've always wanted a
little brother." She looked away a little embarrassed "well I had one but
he died when he was only young. I guess that's why I helped you so
readily the other day, you reminded me a little of how he could have
turned out. Anyway what I'm trying to say is if you have any problems or
need any help I'll be here for you."
Harry was truly touched "I'd like that Rach. I've never really had anyone I
could call family, at least not that I remember." He took a deep breath
"thank you. For everything. Now I'm sure you two have a fair bit to talk
about and I'm pretty knackered so I'm going to take a nap for a bit and
then have a look at some of the journals I picked up. I'll see you later."
With that he stood up and walked to his room, suddenly feeling mentally
drained. A nap sounds perfect right about now he thought and so he did
just that.
He awoke a couple of hours later feeling hungry so he decided to go to
the McDonalds he passed on his way to the Leaky Cauldron earlier on.
One Big Mac later he was ready to start on the journals. A quick look at
the inside cover of each showed that of the 28 journals, 18 were his
father's and 10 his mother's. Of James' there was one for each year at
Hogwarts, four from his pre- Hogwarts days, three detailing the
Marauder's pranks and the remaining four were James' notes on the
subjects that Harry assumed had interested him namely Transfiguration,
DADA and warding as well as an Animagus journal. His mother's
collection also had one journal for each year as well as three for Potions,
Charms and an extensive one on Ancient Runes. Harry had absolutely no
idea where to start and so after some deliberation he put aside the
pranking ones as well as James' pre-Hogwarts volumes. Deciding that the
subject journals might be a little advanced for him he started on the
Hogwart's journals, his Dad's first year first followed by his Mum's first
and so on. He settled back, making himself comfortable and lost himself
in his parent's world. In fact he got so engrossed that by the time he was
a third of the way into his Mum's first year and he looked across at the
clock, it read midnight. Knowing he had a big day tomorrow, he set his
alarm and settled down to sleep.
He awoke after one of the best night's sleep he had managed in years. He
got up washed and dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. Making a
mental note to buy some of his own clothes so that he didn't have to keep
borrowing Rachael's, he walked downstairs pausing only at the front desk
to book his room for another week with Julie at the front desk. Assuring
her that he would be perfectly fine making his way to Gringott's on his
own took a bit longer than he would have hoped but at the same time it
gave him a warm feeling inside to know that someone cared. Stopping
again at McDonalds for a breakfast he realised that these were not as nice
as the normal fare. Another mental note made to find somewhere slightly
more healthy to eat, particularly around breakfast time, he continued his
walk to Gringott's.
Being still early in the morning, the lines at the tellers were still low and
so Harry had no difficulty in walking up to an empty one, asking for
Griphook. He was slightly early so he mentioned to the teller that if
Griphook wasn't ready for him, he would be sat over on one of the
available waiting benches. The goblin looked at him strangely when he
said this but he shook it off. He may not have looked it but inside Harry
was in turmoil with nervousness. All his doubts were surfacing in the
form of questions running through his mind. What if they couldn't heal
it? What if they refused to do it? What if they laughed at him?
It took Griphook three attempts to break Harry from his dark thoughts.
Harry looked up apologetically "sorry Griphook, just a little bit nervous."
"That's quite alright sir, if you would come right this way."
Harry looked at him questioningly as to why he had slipped back into
formal address, before Griphook subtly indicated the surrounding people.
Harry nodded in understanding and smiled his thanks before following
the goblin.
Instead of going to the office like yesterday, Griphook was leading them
into the medical office that was towards the rear of the bank. Very few
humans ever went this far into the bank and those that did were usually
on their way to something unpleasant, never to return.
"First of all I am taking you to have a scan done on you so we can assess
any and all damage that you have incurred over your life." Griphook said
by way of explanation on their journey "after that depending on the
results you may be treated then or there may be things we need to
prepare before you can be treated appropriately."
Harry nodded mechanically, paused before the door that Griphook had
walked through, took a deep breath to steel himself and walked inside.
After all the dark grey rock of the previous parts of the bank, it was a
shock to be in a white and sterile room, it could have been a part of any
hospital with its stainless steel and white contents. There were two
goblins stood around a low bed, one obviously the assistant of the other.
"Ah Mr Potter if you would be so kind as to remove all of your clothes
apart from your underwear and lie on the bed then we can get started."
The elder goblin's tone was firm and one that brooked no argument.
Harry wondered idly what it was that bred healers to all be such no
nonsense individuals, Madame Pomfrey was the same. He complied
without comment, hissing slightly as the cold of the bed hit his naked
back. "Now I am going to cast some diagnostic spells so that we can fully
assess you and what needs to be done. Don't move, it will only throw the
results off."
Harry lay motionless and silent for what seemed like an eternity as the
wizened goblin chanted in a low guttural tongue and moved in his hands
in a complicated pattern. The young wizard was getting thoroughly
uncomfortable as his healer seemed to be getting more and more angry, a
snarl plastered across his face. It was therefore no surprise that Harry
flinched horrendously when the goblin turned abruptly and started
shouting what could only have been swearwords in whatever language
he was speaking, before throwing a tray of instruments against one of the
pristine walls. The assistant gaped at his superior while Harry was
recovering his composure.
"What is it Master Healer? What's wrong with me?" Harry's voice was
quiet and seeped in nerves.
"It is barbaric and they say we are animals! How can this have been done
to anyone, especially a child?" The goblin continued to rant before seeing
that his patient was shrinking back into the bed with every sentence.
Modifying his tone to something more calm he turned to his patient "you
have had several blocks placed on you and your magical core from a
young age. Alone these would have limited you to around 15% of your
total power, not to mention blocking some of your abilities entirely.
However this is not all. The scar you have on your forehead is much
more than just a scar, it is a portion of Voldemort's soul and is acting as a
leech on your powers. With you already down to a mere 15% this leech
has caused your core to compensate by growing exponentially in order to
fuel both you and the leech. To put it mildly it has supercharged you so
that now, even with the blocks, you are one of the more powerful
wizards. Perhaps more powerful than most adults, with growing still to
do however you would never get close to either Voldemort or
Dumbledore. It could well be that once the blocks are removed you will
be the most powerful wizard since Merlin, if not more powerful. It is very
hard to know if this is the case though. Aside from the binds on your
core, your intelligence has been curbed and you have an eidetic memory
that has also been suppressed." Seeing Harry's look of confusion he
explained "that means that if you read or hear something once you will
remember it. Also you have some metamorph talents that have been
blocked. That is the ability to change your appearance at will. It is very
difficult to know how talented you are at this without some
experimentation on your part. Some metamorphs can change everything
about themselves from hair colour and length to height and weight, while
others may only be able to change their eye colour. What we are going to
do then is take you down to the ritual room and remove the leech as well
as all the blocks on you and your abilities. This will make your core
unstable for a while as it readjusts to having much more power available
to it. Therefore you will not be able to cast any form of magic for at least
a month."
Harry had been listening enraptured and responded for the first time by
shrugging, "that's ok I can't use magic until I got back to Hogwarts in
September anyway. Will I be able to practise the metamorph thing
though?"
The healer nodded. "I would suggest you do so. Control can only be
achieved through practise. Are you staying somewhere where you can do
this in privacy?"
"I am. The people I'm staying with know about me and magic, or at least
they do now, so it won't be a problem."
"Ok then well if you're ready Mr Potter we can move this to the ritual
room and get started. Once the ritual is done I will give you some potions
that will correct all the damage from malnutrition. Between the potions
and removing the leech, your vision should also be corrected."
Harry couldn't believe that all of this was really happening, so much so
that he actually did pinch himself while they were walking to the ritual
room before laughing at his own stupidity. The ritual room itself was a
circular chamber with a stone altar in the centre, surrounded by a
multitude of circles filled with various runes. He was directed to the altar
and told to lie on it, face up.
"Now Mr Potter this is going to be an unpleasant experience for you, I
know you are no stranger to pain but nonetheless you will not enjoy
this." Harry simply gritted his teeth. "First we are going to remove the
leech because that is the hardest part and once that is done, it will be
easier to correct the other issues."
The healer waved forward six other goblins dressed in cloaks from the
shadows. They began a dirge like chant that ululated, rising in volume
before falling in a repeating cycle. As the chanting reached a fever pitch
Harry began to writhe uncontrollably on the altar, by all rights he should
have fallen off, but some invisible force was keeping him there. Harry felt
as though he was going to split in two, that whatever the goblins were
doing was going to tear him apart. The pain was agonising, it was
constant rippling waves of fire passing through every muscle, every bone,
every single cell of his body. Just when he thought it couldn't get any
worse, it felt like a hammer blow hit him directly on his famous scar. His
mouth tore open, wordless screams filling the chamber but still the
goblins continued their own chanting, the tempo increasing. Had Harry
been able to, he would have seen the skin around his scar bubbling as a
black mist began seeping out. The mist was collecting inside a ball of
pure white light. It wasn't going without a fight though, it was almost as
if it knew that destruction was imminent. First it tried to return to its
host, when this failed it made a move towards one of the goblins, intent
on survival by any means necessary. Slowly but surely it was being
defeated though, shepherded into the orb that was floating over Harry.
As each tendril wormed its way into the orb, it flashed briefly as the mist
was neutralised.
As the ritual progressed the orb grew brighter with each part of the mist
that entered it. By the time the final strand entered, the orb was pulsating
with a glare so bright that it hurt your eyes to look anywhere near it.
Harry's throat had long since screamed itself hoarse but there was no
abatement, to pause now would be disastrous. With a final flash that
temporarily blinded everyone in the room and a wave of magic that
knocked all the goblins present over, the orb disappeared, leaving Harry
free of its cancerous effects. Had he been conscious at this point Harry
would have begged for a respite before continuing, however he was
currently dead to the world. With only a brief pause for the goblins to
ingest whatever the goblin equivalent of a pepper-up potion they were
back to it.
The chanting was different this time, more rhythmic, almost tribal. Harry
was no longer twisting and writhing but rather was perfectly still as a soft
blue light encompassed him, spiralling, caressing. Soon the air began to
fill with the crackle of raw, untamed magic as the bindings were forced
to relinquish their hold. Harry's new hair abruptly changed colour again
to a deep red this time, before turning to purple and lengthening, then
turquoise before cycling too fast through colours and lengths to keep
track of. The scars all over his thin frame began to wriggle like snakes,
slowly burrowing back into the body they adorned. The only one that
was unaffected was the remnant of the hole where the basilisk fang
pierced his arm in the Chamber of Secrets. His body also began to
lengthen; the height lost thanks to the lack of food in his childhood was
beginning to return. Also the thin frame was no longer quite so thin; it
was wiry now with a hint of muscle. The ribs had a covering of muscle
and fat and were no longer visible. Externally nothing was happening to
Harry's eyes but internally was another story. The blue light was
repairing the ravages of a childhood spent in the dark and wearing
glasses that weren't prescribed, forcing the eyes to strain. As one the
goblins finished their chanting, the rituals having healed as much as they
were able to. The exhausted boy was still unconscious and would remain
so for several hours yet before awakening ready to start a new chapter in
his life.
5. Chapter 5
AN – Thank you once again for all the reviews, particularly Othala
and ubetiburn who both gave some very good and helpful
suggestions. Sorry if I dont use all of them but some have already
made their way into the story. One thing I would like to make clear
was that when Harry was reading he only read James' first year and
some of Lily's, no more than that. Sorry if that was unclear anyway
onwards and upwards!
Chapter 5
It was in fact almost four hours before Harry woke again. His muscles
rebelled as he tried to stretch the aches and cramp out of them. While he
was doing this he took in his surroundings. It seemed as though he was
back in the white room he was taken to first. He was all alone. However
just as he was making to sit up, the door opened and in marched the
goblin healer. Curses foiled again he thought and made to lie back like a
good little patient.
The healer must have followed his train of thought "can you get up Mr
Potter?" Harry shrugged slightly before nodding. "Well do so then. I don't
want you cluttering up my room." This was unexpected; Harry wasn't
sure how to deal with a healer that wanted him to get up as soon as he
was ready. This was an alien concept compared to everything he had
experienced previously. Deciding that it was what he wanted anyway so
why was he complaining he dutifully sat up, wincing a little as his body
protested. "Good, now Griphook wants to see you so if you will put your
clothes back on and the return to his office when you're ready. You do
remember the way don't you?" Harry fully appreciated that 'when you're
ready' meant at least ten minutes ago and so he hurriedly got dressed and
left the room after thanking the goblin profusely.
The hallways were deserted and so it took very little time at all for Harry
to reach Griphook's office, even if he was feeling stiff and walking was
still a bit awkward. Knocking once he entered and gratefully sat in the
chair he was offered. "You wanted to see me Griphook?"
"I did indeed Harry. I went through the Potter accounts as you requested
and it seems I have an answer as to why they are in their current state.
Prior to your father taking over the Lordship there were indeed a great
number of heirlooms such as jewellery and armour in the vault as well as
substantially more in the way of liquid capital. However with your
father's ascension in the year after he graduated Hogwarts he began
selling off the majority of the contents. This money was then funded into
something called the Order of the Phoenix. Do you know what this is
Harry?" Harry shook his head. "Well it is an organisation set up by Albus
Dumbledore in order to combat Voldemort. In fact it would appear that it
was almost entirely bankrolled by your parents, from what I have seen of
its account there are very few, if any, other contributors. It is thanks to
this that the Potter account is now at perhaps a twentieth of its previous
valuation. Payments have continued every year, large amounts even
though Voldemort has disappeared. It seems that there is some form of
document that allows Dumbledore to remove, and I quote, 'any amount
of money he deems necessary' from the main Potter vault. Your trust
vault is unaffected."
"That cant be right, how is this possible the war ended on that bloody
Halloween? Is there any way of getting it back? How can Dumbledore be
stealing from me?"
Griphook shook his head grimly "I'm sorry Harry while it was incredibly
financially irresponsible of your parents to allow access in this way.
There is absolutely no way of reclaiming any of the money, property or
heirlooms."
"Wait property?"
Griphook's face took on an even more sour look. "Yes Potter manor was
sold to one Elphias Doge. However it burned down shortly after." Harry
was about to interrupt again when Griphook held up a hand to forestall
him. "In terms of all the heirlooms, Dumbledore either sold them and
deposited the gold into the Order account or merely removed the item to
the Order account. Again there is no way of reclaiming any of the value
or items, as what was done was perfectly legal. However I do find it hard
to believe that your parents would be so careless as to allow what has
basically amounted to outright plundering of their, and by extension
your, accounts. Perhaps they were trusting of the wrong man; it would
certainly appear that the so called 'Leader of the Light' is not as light as
he would have himself known to be."
The revelations were getting to be too much for Harry, he had to get up
and walk around to escape the crushing weight that had settled on him.
"Let me guess, this Elphias Doge is an old friend of Dumbledore's and he
paid a lot less than market value for Potter Manor?" Griphook nodded.
"And this fire, I'm going to guess that it was not very long at all after,
perhaps within a week? Then insurance was claimed because of course it
was one of the rampaging hordes of Death Eaters that burnt it down?"
This last was said with utmost scorn. "Of course nobody would question it
if the great Dumbledore says it's so, even though I'm betting there isn't a
single other pureblood manor that was even attacked let alone burnt to
the ground by the pureblood bigots that make up the Death Eaters. It
wouldn't make sense to do that; it would alienate their prime support.
Am I able to block Dumbledore's access to the vault, or do I have to be an
adult?"
"Unfortunately your suspicion is correct; there is nothing you can do until
you are emancipated. Dumbledore has tied this up very well and
unfortunately for you, perfectly legally."
"And I am guessing again that the only person who can allow me to be
emancipated early is Dumbles. How am I doing so far Griphook?"
"I would say that all sounds fairly likely so far, of course nothing can be
proved about all his wrongdoings."
"Oh I appreciate that. There is however a solution."
"And what is that may I ask Harry?"
"I'm going to destroy Albus Dumbledore" Harry said in a calm voice. It
had the sound of an ominous resolution and Griphook couldn't help but
think that this moment would go down in the history books as the
moment that changed the wizarding world forever. Of course in these
histories there would be crackling lightning behind Harry Potter along
with rolling thunder so not everything could be taken entirely seriously.
"Well if that is indeed the case I have a suggestion. In order to make
optimum use of your new memory skills and intelligence, it would be
best for you to learn a branch of magic called Occlumency. It is a way of
organising your memories into a more efficient system allowing far easier
access and better recall. With your memory and intelligence unlocked,
this is the best way of easing the transition. In fact if you don't do it, you
could find yourself getting overwhelmed by your own mind. I'm willing
to bet that you already have the beginnings of a headache already from
just the increased speed at which you can think."
Harry just nodded "it is a little bit overwhelming. Will I be able to pick
these books up in Flourish and Bott's or are they more specialised?"
"There will be some books in that shop but not a very wide selection.
However it should be enough for you to rein your mind in until you can
pick up some more in depth books."
Again Harry nodded, "I have another question though. Is there such a
thing in the magical world as a public library, you know one where you
borrow the books for a specific length of time and then return them?"
"In the magical world there isn't such a thing, that would allow
knowledge to fall into just anyone's hands and the purebloods don't want
that. However I believe that some enterprising muggleborns created a
magical wing in the British Library right here in London. I don't know
how good a collection it is, as for obvious reasons I have not visited but it
is better than nothing."
"Indeed it is, I think I will be spending a lot of time there over the
summer. How do I get in to the magical part of the library?"
"I'm not sure but I would guess that there would be signs that are
charmed so muggles can't see them, much like the Leaky Cauldron is."
Before Harry could respond in any way there was a knock at the door
and a harassed looking goblin walked in holding three vials of different
coloured liquids. Griphook took them from the underling without a word
and dismissed him with a gesture. "These are your potions that will
correct the remaining damage from your relative's treatment of you. Take
the blue one first thing in the morning and the red and green ones just
before you go to bed. The vials are charmed to be unbreakable and will
refill on their own for the required 30 doses. After those 30 doses you
should be back to your optimum condition. If there is nothing else
Harry?"
"That's more than enough, thank you for all your help Griphook and
could you pass on my thanks to all those who participated in the rituals I
would be most obliged." Harry took the vials from Griphook before
giving him a small bow and made his farewells, leaving the office and
bank.
As his headache was only getting worse, Harry decided that the
Occlumency books were his number one priority and to that end he
weaved through the other shoppers, towards Flourish and Bott's. The
shop itself was relatively empty for which Harry was eternally grateful
because it meant he had pretty much free reign to locate the books
required and browse a few others that looked interesting. He had already
decided that apart from the Occlumency ones, he wasn't going to buy any
books before he was able to go and see the selection at the British
Library.
It took him longer than he felt it should have to find the books he was
after and when he did, he was a little disappointed with the lack of
choice. In fact there were only three books. Remembering how much
importance Griphook had placed on learning this branch of magic he
decided to purchase all three. It couldn't hurt to get as wide a range of
views about the subject as possible, besides it had sounded incredibly
interesting and useful when Griphook had mentioned it. He did idly
wonder whether he would be able to do a 'Hermione' now and recall
specific lines of the text on demand, the goblins seemed to think so. She
would be pleased; she was always nagging him to put more effort in with
his studies. Perhaps he would even read Hogwarts a History so she
wouldn't feel like the only one. Definitely something to look into once he
could get to the library.
The teller at the desk was obviously bored with his job and didn't even
look at Harry when he asked for the money for his purchases. Harry
tucked the books under his arm and walked calmly from the shop intent
on making it back to the hotel and getting started on reading them in
order to stop his infernal headache. By the time he reached the front desk
he was in no mood to deal with questions from Rach and her mother so
he tore past them on the front desk, saying that he was fine and he would
explain everything tomorrow.
It was only once he reached his room that he realised this had been
incredibly rude and unfair on two of the only people to actually care
about his well-being. However he felt it was too late to go back now, he
would just apologise profusely tomorrow and explain. Priorities first
though and that meant reading the books Occlumency. He examined all
three titles and decided which one was going to be the best introduction.
Not really knowing he ended up with the tried and tested method of
picking randomly and hoping for the best. His head was now almost
splitting but despite this he still found that he could read and understand
the book far quicker than he had ever been able to before. Previously it
would not have been uncommon for him to have to read a paragraph
three or even four times before it sunk in and even then he could turn the
page and completely forget whatever was on the prior page. Now
however the words were seamlessly flowing into his mind and lodging
there quite comfortably.
After finishing the first chapter in record time he had a basic grasp of
how to begin to meditate in order to find his inner mindscape. This was
the area inside his own mind in which his consciousness was stored,
everything that made him, him. This involved taking deep calming
breaths, withdrawing and blocking out all external influences, focusing
internally. This was no easy task with his head throbbing perpetually but
with a little difficulty he eventually managed it. He knew the next step
was to create a mental construct in order to house all of his memories. It
had to be somewhere familiar, somewhere he felt safe. In fact he needed
to be more than familiar with it; he needed to know it intimately, inside
and out. Harry's first thought was Hogwarts however he dismissed this
quickly as after all that had happened there, safe wasn't exactly how he
would describe it. The solution came to him in a flash, it was simple he
berated himself for not thinking of it before. It was in fact already a
construct within his mind, it was his dream home. He had created it
during the long and lonely nights in his cupboard, somewhere he could
escape from the pain, the suffering and the anguish.
Unlike most dream homes it was not a gigantic mansion with endless
grounds; it was a simple two storey cottage with a comfortable sized
garden. Rather than being large and ostentatious, it had a quiet elegance
about it that immediately showed to any onlookers that it was the home
of a wealthy person, but one who appreciated that understatement was
better than trashy and flashy. Harry had from a very young age been
exposed to his Aunt and Uncle's manoeuvrings towards being considered
rich and powerful. Everything they both did was concentrated on status
and the perception of others. Because of this, when the property market
started to boom and there was an explosion of property programmes on
the television, Petunia in particular became obsessed with them. Not only
did she religiously watch every programme she could, she also subscribed
to every magazine she could, leaving them conspicuously on the coffee
table so that any visitor would be sure to see them. Thanks to this Harry
had every opportunity to read them and absorb all their tips, and so he
was actually very in tune with all of the latest trends in property fashion.
At first he did it merely as an escape from the reality of his life but as the
years passed he found he quite enjoyed the whole process and he took
great pleasure in retreating to his mental sanctuary to plan every room
right down to the smallest detail.
All of this made his dream house perfect for the purpose, he knew it
perfectly, of course he did having created every aspect of it, and more
importantly its very reason for existence was to provide safety and
comfort for him. Satisfied with his decision, Harry pulled the house and
its garden into his mindscape and bedded it in, laying strong foundations.
This was as far as he had got in the book so it was time to return to
reality and continue reading. The first thing that struck him was that his
headache had diminished to a dull ache rather than the all-encompassing
pain it had been before, so far so good he thought. The next realisation
hit him like a train when he started reading and found he was reading
whole pages in seconds. He pushed the book away from him in shock and
a tiny bit of fear. This couldn't be possible, it just couldn't. On closer
inspection it appeared it very much could be possible, Harry could recall
every last word on a page that he had read in less than four seconds.
Somewhere in the back of his mind a line crept up from a programme he
had watched on television once. Something about the conscious mind
being able to process sixteen pieces of information a second while
unconscious could process eleven million. If he remembered correctly the
character that had said that could read something crazy like twenty
thousand words a minute so maybe it wasn't quite as scary as he thought
it was. The rational part of his mind was telling him that he was taking
comfort from a fictional programme about what was possible and this
was stupid but this was quashed by the rest of him that recalled the
programme being almost entirely based on scientific facts. Shutting off
this mental debate before it got truly started Harry decided to continue
his study of the Occlumency books.
He had finished the first book and was well on his way to finishing the
second when he yawned widely. Looking at the clock and realising it was
after midnight, Harry wisely decided to get some sleep and so he downed
his two potions, stripped and got into bed. Besides according to what he
had read so far he could continue working on his mental construct and
organising all his memories within during his sleep. From what he
understood he needed to create a system within to store and categorise
his memories. It was an incredibly personal choice and varied from
person to person but Harry had chosen to arrange his in the form of
books that were kept in the library on the second floor, looking out over
the garden. There would be books for his subjects, books for good
memories, books about specific people and of course books for the bad
memories. These would be tucked away on the top shelf for the time
being. He had of course read about the ability to create mental defences
so that nobody but him could access his memories but this did not seem
to be a huge priority at the moment, arranging his mind into a well oiled
machine was the first step. He knew for anything that if the first step was
not done properly then anything added later would not be as effective.
Take a house for example, no matter how wonderful and strong the walls
were, if the foundations were weak then the walls would crumble
eventually. However on a strong base, even weak walls would stand a
much better chance against whatever could be thrown at them, be that
the elements or simply the ravages of time. It was with this thought in
mind that Harry went to sleep, determined that he would base his life on
strong foundations from now on.
6. Chapter 6
AN – Hello once again this chapter has been giving me a lot of
trouble, I've written and rewritten the thing but I'm still not really
happy with it. So to make up for it I thought I would upload 2
chapters instead to distract you all! Thanks again – read, review,
enjoy.
Chapter 6
Upon waking Harry felt a sense of peace washing over him, caressing his
mind. All trace of yesterday's headache was gone for which Harry was
extremely grateful. He grimaced slightly as his stomach rumbled loudly,
he had been so caught up in his Occlumency work he had forgotten to eat
again, good thing the Dursley's had taught him to survive on very little
food he thought ruefully. The flickering clock in his room read just after
9am as he downed his morning potion. Harry caught sight of himself in
the mirror and admired his new, scar-free body. In his haste to quell the
pain in his head he had almost forgotten that he was a healed man now.
Tears threatened to leak from his eyes as he ran his hands over the now
smooth areas of his back that he could reach. The scars had been there so
long, he could barely remember a time when he had been able to do this
and not feel roughness. He examined every inch of his body that was
exposed, he was still skinny but there were no longer ribs poking out and
he had started to gain muscle tone. From his body type, Harry assumed
he was never going to be one of those bulky, muscle bound giants unless
he was in the gym all day every day and he certainly had no desire for
that. However he did think that the effects of the ritual and the potions
regimen should allow him to gain a pretty lithe and muscled body thanks
to his years of manual labour and now Quidditch training. Progress was
already being made on that and the world was more and more in focus
with his glasses on. At first he had thought this incredibly strange as the
healer had said that the ritual and potions should improve his vision.
However he had now worked out that his glasses prescription had been
so bad that the improvements were taking him towards his prescription,
before hopefully healing his eyes completely.
He pushed aside his hair to check on the most famous of his scars and his
mouth dropped open in shock. It was scabbing over as if it was a fresh
cut that was healing. Maybe this meant that it would finally heal fully so
he wouldn't have to walk round with people gawping at his forehead all
the time. That would certainly be a relief.
He pulled on the clothes from Rach for the third day in a row scowling at
the thought, realising that he really needed to go shopping. Seeing as he
had no clue about things like that he immediately wondered whether
Rach would be interested in showing him some good places to go.
Probably not he thought, why would a 17 year old girl want to hang out
with an almost 13 year old boy? Well it was worth a try even if it didn't
work out. To that end he wandered the now familiar corridor towards the
main reception, hoping she would be around.
It wasn't Rachael but rather Julie at the front desk when he arrived. "Hi
Julie sorry I was so abrupt with you both yesterday. Is Rach around?"
"She is but don't think you're getting away that easily, you promised us
answers today and I am going to hold you to it." Julie's voice was filled
with concern but with an underlying tone of steel, she was not going to
be deterred in this matter.
Harry sighed good-naturedly "ok if you find her I'll explain to you both,
I'd rather not do it any more times than I have to."
In short order they were all sat in the kitchen with cups of tea, the bottle
of whiskey, unopened, but within arm's reach of Julie should it be
required. Harry quirked an eyebrow at the bottle.
"Hush you, what you said yesterday nearly finished me off, I don't want
to have anything happen again without appropriate medicine in reach."
Harry laughed at this "you should be alright today Julie, there were no
major revelations this time. In fact there were a few things I almost
expected." And so after gentle prompting from both ladies he began. He
explained all about the ritual, the leech and its effects. This elicited gasps
and Julie's hand twitching towards the bottle. However they calmed once
he had confirmed that all trace of it and the blocks had gone.
Dumbledore and his legalised plundering came next. Calming them down
this time took rather longer than previous, as Harry explained "sure they
were technically my things but I look at it this way it gives me the
motivation to go out and make something for myself, I can't just sit back
on previous members of my family's accomplishments. This way when I
become one of the most successful people in the world, I'll know that I
earned it, nobody else and not for having my parents die while I
survived. No it will be from my talent and the sweat off my back. Plus it
will make my destruction of the meddling old thief all the more sweet."
Finally Harry explained his new mental abilities and why he had run
from them both last night rather than explain what had happened.
This all done he leant back in his chair waiting for the onslaught of
questions. It never came. This confused Harry slightly; in his experience
anything like this would have bred hundreds, if not thousands, of
questions from Hermione and Ron. "Umm do you guys have any
questions?"
It was Rachael who answered "no not really, all seemed pretty clear to
me. So long as all the medical issues are all sorted now, they are all
sorted aren't they Harry?" Her voice promised a lengthy 'discussion' if he
had been anything less than truthful. He smiled slightly.
Wordlessly he stood up and removed his shirt to present his cleared back,
hearing gasps from over his shoulder. "Magic really is a wonderful thing"
said Julie "really makes me wish I had been born with it. It's so
frustrating to live on the outside of it, knowing such wonders are possible
and that your family can do them but by some quirk of nature you can't."
This gave Harry pause for thought, was this how it was for Petunia? Was
she jealous of her sister? Is that why she treated him the way she had?
Well he would never know now, he certainly had no intention of ever
seeing the Dursley's again. "I'm sorry Julie it must be hard for you."
"It is" she replied "but you get used to it, to be honest most of the time
you forget about it, it's only very rarely that it comes up in my life."
Harry was feeling decidedly uncomfortable now "you know I can find
another place..."
"Of course not dear, don't be silly" she admonished him lightly.
"Honestly it's no bother."
"You will do no such thing young man. I'd never hear the end of it from
my daughter but more importantly we like having you here. It's good for
me; I have to learn to accept that magic is something I will never be able
to do. I should have got over this long ago." Her tone of voice brooked no
argument and her eyes were flashing at Harry, daring him to continue
arguing.
"Well in that case would it be possible for me to reserve my room for the
rest of the summer? I'll need to leave on the morning of the 1st of
September so from now until then, is that ok?"
Julie's face broke into a rather large smile, only eclipsed by that on the
face of her daughter. "I think that would be great, we would love to have
you."
"Excellent that's me sorted for the rest of the summer, definitely a weight
off my mind." He abruptly changed tack as he remembered why he had
come downstairs in the first place. "Hey Rach you know I can't keep
stealing your clothes and as all mine are about three times too big I was
wondering if you would maybe want to, I dunno, go shopping with me? I
mean I know nothing about clothes and where to get them so I could use
your help. Course I'm sure your busy and everything..."
"Harry, you had me at shopping." Seeing his look of incomprehension she
sighed, "It's from a film, never mind. I really am going to have to train
you in pop culture; we are making progress with music, the important
question is what do you know about comics?"
"Umm not much, I know of Batman but that's about it."
Rachael's jaw fell at this latest news "well we can't have that, but we will
deal with that later. Come on! It's shopping time" she shouted this last
part as she grabbed Harry's arm dragging him from the room.
Harry had just enough time to see Julie's amused grin before he was
forcibly removed from the kitchen. "What the bloody hell have I let
myself in for" he muttered.
"The best day of your life" she called over her shoulder, he rolled his
eyes.
As it turned out it wasn't exactly the best day of Harry's life, although he
did enjoy it. No the day achieved a different title, that of the most tiring
day of his life. Who knew shopping would be such an epic task? Harry
certainly didn't. When they finally returned to the hotel lobby after the
marathon session that had lasted a whole day, Harry probably had
enough clothes to last him for the rest of his life. Throughout the day
Rachael had helped him to create his own style of dress based on what he
liked. Of course some of the things that he had liked he was told in no
uncertain terms that he was very wrong and he didn't in fact like the
item. Harry soon found in these instances it was best to just agree, on
several occasions he almost slipped into the stock phrase that most men
need to learn for these situations 'yes dear, whatever you think is right'.
Rachael seemed to sense this and had remarked on more than one
occasion that he was becoming very well trained, Harry wasn't entirely
sure whether this was a compliment or not but decided to hope for the
best and guess it was good. Harry's new style was a bit of an odd mix
between similar things to those he had borrowed from Rach and a surfer/
skater type set of clothes. So he had bought a lot of band tshirts, mostly
heavy metal bands, some more brightly coloured tshirts from surf brands,
several pairs of jeans, two different pairs of Converses and some skater
shoes. His favourite purchase was a toss up between one of the several
pairs of rather loud and brightly coloured board shorts he had bought or
the leather jacket that had set him back quite a lot but he couldn't help
but be drawn to.
Harry dumped all of the bags on the floor and flopped onto the bed,
exhausted. The fact that he would unpack tomorrow was his last thought
before he fell completely asleep.
7. Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The next day became the first incarnation of Harry's new routine. He
awoke, downed his potion, had a shower in the communal bathroom
along the corridor, dressed, wandered downstairs, said good morning to
whoever was on the front desk and had breakfast at a little cafe three
doors down on the other side of the street. It was a small, simple place
but they did excellent food and the staff were friendly and happy to help.
Breakfast done, Harry would return to his room and start to read. Today's
task was to finish the Occlumency books and get started on his mental
defences. This was completed successfully by mid afternoon, his mind
now protected from most intrusions, at least he hoped so, there was no
real way of testing it. He would like to see anyone try and get through
the layers of traps, blind alleys, fake walls and magical guardians he had
installed though; it would be an entertaining experience.
The important job completed Harry was free to return to his parent's
journals. Part of him knew that he should be disappointed in his parents
for allowing Dumbledore's whole scale destruction of their legacy but he
couldn't, in his heart he believed that Dumbledore had manipulated
them, just as he had Harry. The journals certainly contained some eye
openers, who would have thought from his treatment, Snape had been
one of his mother's closest friends. Snape had never given any indication
that he held Harry in anything less than utter contempt so what had
happened to make him this way? Sure his father had pranked Snape a lot
but these had been retaliations for the bullying Snape had done to those
weaker than him. Harry was pleased that his father had struck back at
bullies rather than becoming one himself as it would have been very
possible for him to be.
The answer to this mystery came during his parents fifth year, he read all
about how his mother had tried to save Snape after his father had caught
him in a prank and been thanked by being called a mudblood. Harry
didn't initially know what this was but his mother had explained it in her
journal and Harry felt a rage at Snape as Lily's hurt and pain spilled out
of the pages. It was after this that Lily started to become closer to James
before they eventually started going out at the beginning of seventh year.
He had to laugh at the love struck ramblings about how great Lily would
be as a girlfriend that James had wrote all the way from first year until
he eventually got together with her. It then changed to how great it was
to have as a girlfriend. It was abundantly clear that his parents loved
each other very much, what was also interesting is that both of his
parents were incredibly good students. James was not the textbook
definition of a great student of course, he put in hardly any effort but he
was blessed with a natural talent that allowed him to understand the
work very quickly, particularly the practical work. James' written work
was apparently not quite to as high of a standard but this was more than
made up for by Lily's written work. Just reading at the amount of effort
she put in on background reading was more than equal to Hermione's.
His father could when he was motivated, for example his work on
becoming an Animagus with his friends. This was obviously not a simple
process judging from the amount of work mentioned in the journals.
It was after finishing all the journals for the Hogwarts years that Harry
decided one of the best ways of honouring his parents would to be the
best student he could possibly be. He was sure that had his mother lived,
she would not have been satisfied with the results he was currently
achieving. He also realised that his option choices were not the best for
any future. Lily had spoken fondly about Ancient Runes classes and also
Arithmancy while James had enjoyed Runes and Care of Magical
Creatures. Harry was currently down to do COMC and divination and so
he resolved to owl Professor McGonagall to see if she would change his
Divination to Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. He had no interest in doing
Muggle Studies as, judging from prior experience of wizarding knowledge
of muggles, it was likely to be woefully out of date and a waste of time to
someone raised in the muggle world. It took hardly any time to write out
the short note but when Harry looked to Hedwig's cage he found she
wasn't there, having not returned from the nights hunting. However at
that very moment a large white object appeared through the window,
looking at Harry expectantly.
"Well aren't you a clever girl, you know it's almost like you could sense
that I needed you." Hedwig just cocked her head at him and held out her
leg for him to attach the note. Harry laughed, gave her feathers a quick
rub and tied it on. The Snowy Owl hooted gratefully for the scratch, took
a quick drink of water from her bowl and flew out of the window into the
early night sky.
Remembering his promise from the other day to build strong foundations
first, Harry realised that if he was going to do the best that he could do
he needed to go over his books from the first two years so that he could
be sure he understood everything in them before getting started on the
next years work. It was this therefore that dominated his next day as he
reread, or in some cases read for the first time, his textbooks from the
previous years. He was only interrupted by a rather strange letter from
Professor McGonagall.
Dear Mr Potter
I have received your letter about your wish to change your electives and
confirm that this will indeed be permitted. I'm glad to see that you are going to
take your studies more seriously and I look forward to seeing the results in my
own class, your parents would be most proud of you.
On a more personal note I wish to enquire as to your whereabouts as the
Headmaster has been trying to contact you for almost a week now. All his
attempts at sending letters and locating you have failed as the owls simply fly
around confused for brief period before returning to Hogwarts. I know he
wishes you to return to Privet Drive however I feel that so long as you are
prudent it would be better for you remain away from them. I know you do not
enjoy your time with them and as for safety if the Headmaster cannot find you
then it seems just as likely that he-who-must-not-be-named will be similarly
rebuffed. However I will again caution you to be sensible wherever you are
and do not take any risks. I would very much like to know where you are but
should you choose not to let me know I will trust in your judgement. I am
putting a lot of faith in you Mr Potter as I feel you have earned it over the last
two years but do not make me regret my decision. If you need any help do not
hesitate to send me an owl.
Yours sincerely
Professor McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts.
Harry sat for a long time digesting this letter. What was it that made it so
important for Harry to return to the Dursley's? According to Dumbledore
it was the blood wards, the things that protected him at Privet Drive, but
surely they should have protected him from the Dursleys as well. Why
didn't they? Protection for one person against anything that seeks to
harm them is indiscriminate. If they were unable to protect him from his
'family' then who's to say they would protect him from Voldemort or any
of his followers. There had to be some other reason for it but for life of
him Harry could not see it. After the discoveries at Gringott's Harry now
appreciated that not everything Dumbles did in relation to him was for
Harry's benefit. He tried to look at it logically, what does Dumbledore
stand to gain from having me at Privet Drive? Well if I'm there I have no
access to the wizarding world that is not allowed by him. This means no
access to Gringott's and therefore no discovery of his theft from me. Is
that all though? Surely I would have found out about it all when I hit
seventeen anyway so he would have needed another plan at that time.
Unless of course I wasn't supposed to last that long. Harry laughed to
himself at this. But then he thought about it for a moment and the
laughter died on his lips. Could that be the endgame for Dumbledore? A
miserable childhood for ten years until the wise old grandfather swoops
in and rescues me in order to introduce me to a whole new world. A
world that I am famous in. A world where I am liked and treated well for
the most part. A completely opposite world to the muggle world.
The whole setup seems to be working towards making me feel indebted
to him, even the supposedly anonymous return of my father's invisibility
cloak, but why? Ok wait back up start again. I feel in debt to Dumbledore
so what do I do? Harry paused here, thinking, well I guess I do whatever
he wants, that feeling of obedience that came from the Dursley's where
anything and everything was punished would help here. So it's a case of
making me do whatever he says, possibly leading to me dying before
seventeen. And why would he want to remove me young? Well the
normal reason for something like that would be that I was some kind of
threat, either to him or his way of life. Would I be a threat? Well yes
actually thinking about it, Dumbledore's fame and power is based around
his defeat of Grindelwald. As Voldemort is obviously after me for some
reason it stands to reason that I am going to be the one expected to beat
him. Harry briefly wondered why this would be but dismissed the
thought for the moment. Assuming I did defeat Voldemort I would have
the same level of fame as Dumbles as the vanquisher of a dark wizard but
mine would be the more recent, within the majority of the population's
living memory. The public are a fickle bunch and so Dumbles popularity
would be transferred for the most part to me. Could it really be as simple
as that? A popularity contest? No there must be more, popularity equals
power, combine that with my apparent status as a Lord of an Ancient and
Noble House and I would be a major threat to Dumbles retaining his own
power.
But wait I was also blocked magically, could that have been him as well?
Harry snorted, who else could it have been, its unlikely to have been my
parents and nobody else has had access to me for any length of time.
That bastard must have done it right after my parents were killed. We
live in a society where magical power is a determinant of social standing
along with parentage, people with more magical power are treated better
than those that don't, its almost like an unconscious hierarchy. Those that
are more powerful are listened to more freely and their suggestions taken
more seriously by everyone else.
So that's it I'm a threat to Dumbledore for three separate reasons, one I
am likely to be the figurehead of the defeat of Voldemort if not the actual
defeater, two I am a high status Lord and three I have a lot of magical
power. Combine all these together and I would likely be the figurehead
of the English magical world for decades if not longer. I wonder how that
translates to the rest of the world? Harry made a mental note to do some
research on other countries to see how they fit into the magical world.
Now the question is what I do with this idea, while I do have some facts,
the rest is supposition. First I need to keep away from Dumbles as much
as possible, even if he is not responsible for all of this he has definitely
stolen from me and that is enough for me to cut him out. Secondly I need
to find out exactly who placed the blocks on me and who suppressed my
parent's wills. And finally I need to train myself so that I can take
advantage of the opportunity that my status and power presents me,
perhaps I can even drag this world kicking and screaming into the 21st
Century.
Harry then redoubled his efforts at studying and so it took him only
another day before he had finished, including his parents notes on the
various subjects they had been interested in. He didn't understand
everything they would write about but that was understandable as they
were often discussing and analysing sixth or seventh year spells if not
higher. However he did understand the concepts they were talking about.
He had already got the impression that they were both smart individuals,
now he knew that his parents were both geniuses. His mother in
particular had been incredible; her Ancient Runes journal was an
absolute goldmine of possibilities. It appeared that before she had been
killed she was working on a way to use runes to power muggle items and
allow them to work in magic rich environments like Hogwarts or even
the average wizard's house. Harry knew that any electronic item that was
around magic, even background magic, would eventually fry, its circuits
exploding. The possibilities for anyone who could actually manage to
make muggle electronics work in the magical world were huge; he
immediately resolved to pursue this as a tribute to his mother. Of course
the massive potential for commercial gains was a slight motivation as
well.
Harry pondered how he should reply to McGonagall, if at all. Should he
tell her everything? No, too much chance of Dumbledore getting hold of
the information somehow. He did feel that he should tell her something,
she could be a very useful ally to help him gain total control over his life.
She had made the first step in trusting him, in fact Harry realised she was
the first adult to do anything even remotely like that. He decided that
would write back but he would not reveal everything.
Dear Professor McGonagall
I apologise for running away as I did however I am safe, far safer than I have
ever been before. I am very grateful that you trust my judgement. That really
means a lot to me however I am not going to tell you where I am. While I trust
you, I unfortunately do not trust others around you and I am afraid that they
may not have intentions for me as good as your own.
I'm afraid I have no idea why none of his letters have reached me. I have not
received any letters at all since I left the Dursleys apart from your own,
perhaps only Hedwig is able to find me, I don't know. If you have any thoughts
on the matter I would like to hear them.
I was also wondering if it would be possible for me to get a copy of the list for
the third and fourth year books early. I would like to read ahead and push
myself as much as possible over the summer. Don't worry I am not doing any
practical magic; I simply want to get a good handle on the theory before I get
to Hogwarts. I would also very much appreciate if you had any suggestions for
other books that were not on the list of required books but would help me
understand each subject in greater depth.
Many thanks
Harry Potter
He looked over the letter satisfied that it fit his purpose. It told her a
little information as well as seeding a few small doubts. The careful
flattery was a rather good touch as well if he said so himself and the
book list alone would be a valuable addition to him even if she didn't
mention any additional books. He gave it to Hedwig and sent her on her
way again.
Judging by the previous reply, he would get her return letter during the
night so having completed his nightly routine including potions, he went
to sleep. Hoping that he would be able to go to the British Library the
next day and that its selection would be large.
As it turned out he was correct, McGonagall had indeed replied during
the night. She had included the lists all the way up to seventh year with a
note "to push yourself as much you can, Lily was an exceptional student and
James could have been if he had put more effort in. He was merely an
excellent student." The rest of the letter contained a few basic ideas as to
why the owls were being diverted but none of them seemed to be very
likely. There was also a long list of books for each subject, including his
electives, which were not on the booklists. Harry smirked as he saw that
Transfiguration had almost double the number of books as the others.
Before unlocking his mind he would have struggled to read all of those
books in ten years, now he felt confident that he could read these and
many more before he returned to Hogwarts. There was however one
more part of the letter that contained important information.
"I do not know if you are aware but the wizarding world is currently in
turmoil over the escape of one Sirius Black from Azkaban prison. Again you
may not be aware of this and I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I
feel it is right that you know. He was a close friend of your parents throughout
school, so much so that he was named your godfather, and when they went
into hiding it was Sirius that was given the key to keeping them safe. You see
Dumbledore cast a charm called the Fidelius which makes one person the
Keeper of a secret. They, and only they, may reveal the secret to others. The
secret in this case was the location that parents were hiding. As is obvious,
Sirius revealed the secret to his master and so he-who-must-not-be-named
came to Godric's Hollow to kill you. Sirius was later confronted by another of
your parent's friends, Peter Pettigrew, however Sirius killed him and twelve
muggles, landing him in Azkaban. Nobody knows how he escaped but I tell
you this not so that you will go out looking for him but so that you are aware
of the dangers. Stay safe Harry."
Harry couldn't believe it, he felt numb all over. How could Padfoot have
done that, after all they went through as the Marauders? There must have
been some mistake. Harry rushed to his father's post-Hogwarts journal
and flicked towards the end, scanning faster than he had ever done
before. Somewhere it must say what the hell happened because it
couldn't have been Padfoot, it just couldn't have been.
After a frantic three minutes of reading Harry spotted something that
made his heart leap for joy. His parents hadn't used Padfoot; they had
used him as a decoy and used Wormtail thinking that nobody would
suspect him. Harry was delighted, until he thought of the implications;
Sirius had spent twelve years in Azkaban even though he was innocent.
That wasn't possible McGonagall said that Dumbledore had cast the spell
so he must have known who the secret keeper was why hadn't he done
something? Harry slapped himself on the forehead and berated himself
for being an idiot. Of course he knew, he deliberately let Sirius rot in that
hellhole because otherwise Harry would have been able to live with him,
free of the Dursleys. If he had been free of the Dursleys then he would
not have been downtrodden and looking for a saviour and Dumbles plan
would not have worked.
This was the final straw for Harry, he had disliked Dumbledore before for
his theft and manoeuvrings, but now he hated him. He snatched a quill
and parchment and tore through a letter explaining what he had found in
his parent's journals, how Sirius had to be innocent and it was Pettigrew
who was secret keeper not Sirius. On a spur of inspiration he asked if
McGonagall had been at the trial. He had a sneaky suspicion that
Dumbledore under his guise as 'Leader of the Light' would have rushed
through a vague trial or not given Sirius one at all in order to ensure an
innocent man's imprisonment. Perhaps this would make her dig a little
deeper in the whole affair and get over the innate trust in Dumbles that
the whole country seemed to be cursed with. He wouldn't hold his breath
for that though and sent the letter off with Hedwig once more.
8. Chapter 8
AN – Hi all been a bit of a wait sorry about that, I was feeling
nostalgic and so I bought a cheap ps2 and a few games so that has
dominated quite a lot of my time. My bad, I'll get back to writing
now I've got that out my system a bit. Here's the latest chapter for
you as usual read, review, enjoy. As was pointed out to me by a
reviewer I did say at the beginning that this was set in the present
day rather than canon time period but in case that wasn't clear or
you forgot I'll say it again now. Cheers for pointing that out to me
tumshie, I hadn't thought of it.
Chapter 8
With the letter sent off to McGonagall there was nothing he could do to
help Sirius other than to wait for a reply. Well actually there was, he
could see what he could find out about the magical legal system, if there
was one that wasn't whoever bribes the most wins. To do this he needed
the British Library, and so praying that it would have what he needed he
took the now empty trunk that he had taken from the vault and shrunk it
so he would have somewhere to put any books he would borrow. Then
he began to walk the short distance through central London. His clothes
and hair ensured that he was given a wide berth, not that his clothes
were that shocking today, a Pantera tshirt and a pair of jeans with his
skater shoes, admittedly his hair was bright green but still. He was going
to wear his leather jacket but it was too lovely a day for that and he
couldn't justify looking cool over being at a comfortable temperature,
besides in his opinion he looked pretty cool anyway. This was proved to
him when a couple girls who looked about fifteen smiled at him and
giggled, from out of nowhere he flashed a smile back and was pleasantly
surprised when the giggling renewed. That was a nice stroke to the ego,
he thought.
It took less than 30 minutes to reach the front of the Library, it was hard
to miss the massive red building. The inside was even more impressive
than the exterior, filled with masses of computers and rack after rack of
books on floor to ceiling shelves. Harry looked around, mouth open wide
at what he could see. It was a hive of activity, how on earth was he going
to find his way around here?
This was actually less challenging than he had first believed, the library
was well signposted and just as Griphook had suggested, there was a
section marked for magical books. The signposts led to a rather
ramshackle door set into a wall that was being ignored by everyone else.
Harry walked up to it confidently and opened it to reveal an absolute
treasure trove. It was huge, there must have been thousands of books
here maybe even as many as the Hogwarts library. He walked up to the
desk where a white haired witch was snoring lightly. Looking around for
a polite way to wake her other than shouting at her, he spotted a small
bell and rang it. The witch jumped up, looking around frantically.
"Merlin's beard young man you gave me quite a shock there. You here for
some books?" Harry nodded that he was indeed. "Well you have come to
the right place then" she said chuckling. "Don't get many people in here,
that's why I was sleeping. Sorry about that. Now what are you after,
anything in particular?"
"Yes I was wondering if you had some books on Wizarding Politics and
Law?"
She looked him up and down appraisingly "what's your name young
man?"
Casting around desperately for inspiration Harry mumbled, before a
name hit him "Darrell. Darrell Abbott." On one hand Harry was quite
pleased with himself for thinking of a name relatively quickly but on the
other he was furious with himself for not anticipating that he would need
a false name.
"How old are you dearie? It's just we don't get many children come in
here, let alone for books like that."
"I'm 14" he lied, "I'm interested in this stuff because my dad is a lawyer
and I want to know about what he does and surprise him with what I
know." He smiled at her winningly.
Despite his pauses, the woman seemed to accept that this was indeed his
name and his reason for wanting the books and so directed him to a
section of the book cases that held some very thick and ancient looking
tomes.
"Was there any particular one you would recommend as a good
introduction?"
The woman looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds before pulling a
book from the middle shelf and handing it to Harry "this book by Teague
is probably the best, it might be a little complicated though will that be
ok?"
Harry waved off her concerns politely and took the book. "Is it possible
for me to borrow books and then return them at a later date?"
"Of course it is dear. Do you have a library card?" Harry shook his head
negatively. "Not to worry we can soon sort that out. Now all I need is a
few details from you and we can set one up for you."
Harry obliged with a set of invented details that were fairly close to the
truth but not entirely accurate. "Is there a limit to how many books I can
take and how long I can keep them for?"
"You may take a maximum of 12 books for a period of three weeks. Once
you return those books you may take a different 12 for another three
weeks and so on."
"And will this allow me to take books from the muggle side of the library
as well?"
"Indeed it will, you may take another 12 books from the other side at the
same time as magical books, again for a three week period."
Once more Harry's eyes lit up at this, he would be able to get started on
understanding muggle electronics so that he could finish his mother's
work. He decided to get muggle books first, then bring them into the
magical section so that he could unshrink his trunk and put them in,
away from muggle eyes. The librarian was quite happy to hold onto the
law book while he went to satisfy his muggle book needs.
This ended up taking longer than he would have hoped as there was just
so much choice on what to get. If the magical library was large, it was
utterly dwarfed by the muggle side, with millions of books just waiting to
be read. Harry didn't know how long it would take him to read the 12
books he had picked as some were quite technical but he thought that by
the time they were finished he would understand the physics of
electricity and the way electronics work. He had also picked up two
books on programming for computers, figuring that a laptop that worked
around magic would be very useful indeed and the ability to design his
own programmes for it would be invaluable.
Carrying all the books was difficult but eventually Harry made it back to
the magical section, put the books into his trunk and shrunk it again.
After getting the law book from the librarian he wandered into the maze
of shelves and began his search amongst the magical section. This was
rather quicker than the muggle area because Harry was currently more
interested in only one section rather than many. That's not to say that he
wasn't interested in many topics, nothing could be further from the truth,
however he had his priorities at the moment, namely Sirius and getting
him cleared. The only thing that distracted him from this goal was a book
on Metemorphagi that he simply couldn't pass up on.
He returned to the librarian, he learnt her name was Sheila, and
presented his selection for her to scan with her wand. Harry looked on
with interest as each book's information appeared in a large leather
bound ledger on the desk after every time she scanned it with a date in
three weeks time next to the title and his name in the borrower column.
Thanking her gratefully he put the books into his trunk, shrunk it and
returned home. He almost stumbled at this, when did he begin thinking
of the hotel as home? He had only been there for a week. Shows how
highly I viewed Privet Drive doesn't it, he thought disdainfully.
Adding lunch to his routine was simple as there was a wonderful pub that
served food on the route back from the library. It was a matter of seconds
to walk into the bathroom and remove one of the muggle books from his
trunk so that he could read while his order was being cooked. He was
always careful to read muggle books in the pub and not any of the
magical ones, today's was a textbook about physics.
Returning to the hotel he would spend a few minutes talking to either
Julie or Rachael before cocooning himself in his room, reading as fast as
he could, absorbing everything. If he had thought he was reading fast
when he first started after unlocking his mind, it had nothing on him
now. He powered through all 24 of the books by the next morning.
Admittedly he had barely stopped at any stage, including toilet breaks
and eating breakfast at the cafe over the road but even so this was an
impressive feat.
And so from that day on that was how his days would go. Wake up,
breakfast at the cafe, read some more, walk to the library, drop off books,
pick up new ones, large lunch at the pub, yet more reading until he
would eventually go to sleep and then repeat. Harry had found that
eating a good sized breakfast and then a large lunch at around 2-2.30pm
was more than enough to see him through the day comfortably.
Harry had begun to practise his metamorph abilities but it was hard
going. The books weren't really much help as it was a non
metamorphagus that had written most of them and the one he did find by
a metamorph was rather vague, the instructions boiled down to one
word, concentrate. However Harry persevered and could now change his
eye colour, hair colour and length. Therefore he had decided that the
hairstyle he wanted was a fairly long one, coming down to his shoulders.
This length somehow managed to overcome the standard Potter trait of
untameable hair, it was now fairly straight but not perfectly so. Harry
quite liked it, there was also the added benefit that he could change the
colour back to black as his famous scar was almost fully healed. At the
moment it was still visible slightly and so Harry wore a bandana which
covered his forehead but allowed his hair to fall down his neck out of the
back. When he wore his leather jacket Harry thought he looked a bit like
one of the motorbike riders he had seen riding through London
sometimes. All he needed was some tattoos to complete the look, he
thought, maybe some time in the future he would get some.
It had been nearly four days before Hedwig returned once more with
McGonagall's reply. Harry had been starting to get worried about her
safety, terrible thoughts had been flying around his mind like
Dumbledore trying to place a tracking charm on her to find him and her
being killed in the process or even Dumbles killing her in frustration or to
hurt him. Thankfully none of this had happened; it appeared McGonagall
had kept her away from the Owlery. Her letter was encouraging as well.
It started off by wishing him well and a happy birthday for the next day
but then the important things started. It would seem that his professor
had taken what he had written to heart and begun some digging of her
own. Harry had indeed been correct in that Sirius had never received a
trial or at least not one that McGonagall had been able to find in her
extensive search. She had contacted Madam Bones who was the Head of
the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and neither had been able
to find any record. Harry wondered if this Madam Bones was a
trustworthy person, he guessed she would have to be if McGonagall
trusted her. If she was then she could end up being incredibly useful,
Harry decided to take a bit of a gamble and write to her explaining what
he knew from his parent's journals. He knew from his extensive law
reading that if she wanted as Head of the DMLE she could call anyone to
a retrial or in this case trial providing there was enough evidence to
make reasonable doubt on any previous decisions. This could be Sirius'
ticket to freedom and there would be little Dumbles could do to stop it,
providing veritaserum was used to ensure truthfulness. Again this was
within her right as Head of the DMLE to demand. He would mention that
in his letter even though she probably already knew but better safe than
sorry. He sent off the letter before returning to McGonagall's letter.
It continued wishing him the best and hoping that the list of books she
had provided had been useful. They certainly had, Harry had gone into
Diagon Alley and purchased this years and next year's books and had
already finished them. One of the Ancient Runes books had been a
dictionary of Norse Runes and Harry had discovered that just by reading
the dictionary and the pronunciation guide he was fluent in the language.
Curious he had tried this with French to see if the skill translated to
muggle languages. It did and Harry's next trip to the library was
definitely going to include some dictionaries and language guides from
all the major muggle languages. Harry thought that the ability to speak
all of these languages would be a massive help for his rather ambitious
business plans.
Already he had worked his way through university level physics as well
as a huge amount of electronics. His computer programming knowledge
was also high but he needed a computer to actually be able to practise
and try out some ideas. This was going to be his birthday present to
himself tomorrow. He went to sleep reading a book on Egyptian
hieroglyphs, his mind working through the many possibilities his
thirteenth year would hold.
Harry's plans for his birthday were based on his experience of the day,
namely that nobody knew it existed and so nothing would happen.
However Julie and Rachael had other ideas. They were lying in wait
when he walked down the stairs and jumped out on him shouting "Happy
Birthday", nearly giving him a heart attack. They then took him over to
the cafe over the road, insisting that they bought him breakfast. It was
without doubt the best birthday of Harry's life already and it wasn't even
midday yet.
"So what are your plans for the day squirt?" Rachael enquired as they
were just finishing their hearty fry up.
"Well I was going to go into the city centre and buy myself a decent
computer and maybe a few other electronic goodies. I must admit I don't
really know what's good out there though."
"Well speaking as your educator in all things music you should get an
iPod, it stores thousands of songs that you can listen to at any time just
like this one" she said pulling her iPod from her pocket.
"Also you have to get an iPhone. It's possibly the best thing out at the
moment, it's a mobile phone but it does so much more than just making
phone calls. You can go on the internet and it's got all these cool app
things, you should definitely get one of them." Rachael's face was lighting
up with excitement about the whole thing, Harry had to admit it did
sound pretty cool.
"Alright I might get one of those then, it sounds useful."
"Of course it is, if you get one and can make it work around magic then
you can text me while you're at school and not have to use Hedwig.
Because you are going to keep in contact aren't you?" her voice had taken
on the threatening tone that Harry had begun to know very well. It was
one that left him absolutely no choice but to agree.
"Of course I'm going to keep in contact, hand on heart" he said as Julie
smiled knowingly at him.
"Like you had a choice" she said laughing as her daughter fake pouted.
Harry smiled at her, "of course I didn't have a choice but that doesn't
mean I wouldn't have kept in contact anyway, you guys have become like
family to me. You are probably the first people since my parents to
actually care about me for me, not for being some celebrity and for that I
am forever in your debt, so thank you from the bottom of my heart." His
eyes were moistening but he was holding himself in check far better than
the two women who both had tears rolling down their cheeks.
"You've become like family to us as well Harry, it's going to be very odd
not having you around when you go back to school in September."
"Yeah we're going to miss you, promise you will visit?" Rachael looked on
hopefully.
"I will, you can count on that. Now a shopping spree awaits so I will see
you lovely ladies later on. Thanks again for breakfast" and with a hug
from each of them he set off into town.
His first port of call was a phone shop, Rachael's enthusiasm had really
rubbed off on him and so he was going to get himself the latest iPhone.
However once he saw the price he realised that if he was going to
experiment on a phone it had better be a cheaper one than that.
Therefore he ended up buying two cheap and cheerful phones that he
could experiment on so that they would work around magic as well as
the latest iPhone.
It was a similar story in the computer shop where he ended up buying a
cheap laptop and the best one they had in stock. The store assistant was
practically jumping around in glee when Harry had walked in saying he
wanted the absolute best laptop that money could buy. Harry's eyes
widened so much when the assistant went through the laptop's
performance stats that he thought his eyes were going to fall out. It was
an easy decision and he only winced slightly at how much it was going to
cost. The assistant also threw in a portable hard drive and a few
accessories such as a wireless mouse as the purchase was so large.
Harry's final stop was at the Apple store where he bought a small iPod
shuffle and a 160gb Classic. Spree completed he raced home eager to
start on modifying them all to be able to work around magic. He already
had a fair idea how to charge the batteries with runes alone thanks to a
few experiments with a television remote. It was going to be the
shielding that was going to be the challenge. He wasn't worried though,
he knew he could get it done.
9. Chapter 9
AN – Hey everyone well it would appear I'm back been a while –
sorry about that! Here is a new chapter for you hopefully with more
to follow soon. I did have a laugh at one review telling me off for
providing free advertising for Apple – personally I agree but they
are the most well known of the type of electronics I am including
and so as a lazy shortcut I just said they were Apple products rather
than actually describing them figuring everyone would know what I
meant. I will say this one more time so everyone is clear after a few
reviews saying I've included electronics that are far too advanced
for the canon timeline. I know, I have said several times, and I want
to make this very clear –
THIS IS SET IN MODERN TIMES I AM NOT FOLLOWING THE CANON
TIMELINE
Thankyou for your attention and your words of praise and
encouragement - much love.
Chapter 9
Despite Harry's confidence in his abilities it took longer than he had
hoped before he had a breakthrough in his quest to magic proof muggle
electronics. By the end of his birthday he had successfully manipulated
carving the rune clusters so that they created the power for all of his new
toys without the need for electricity. However after this early success he
hit a brick wall on how to shield the insides. It would seem that the more
runes that needed to be carved, the more complicated it was and the
more accurate you had to be. In fact it took another two weeks and two
trips to the phone shop to buy cheap phones (the cheapest of the
electronics he was working on) and a grand total of 14 fried phones
before he finally managed to make them workable. The big test was
whether he could take his latest prototype into Diagon Alley and still
have it work in there.
It was this he was doing now; he had Rach's number inputted ready to
text her to check everything was in working order as he walked through
the Leaky Cauldron. Anyone who had been watching him would have
been suspicious of this school child in brightly coloured surf shorts and a
band tshirt staring intently at a small object in his hand. They would
have been even more suspicious, if not outright shocked, when the object
made a buzzing noise and the child let out a huge whoop of triumph
before rushing out the exit of the Alley, back into muggle London.
Throughout his engineering of the phones Harry had kept up his reading,
dividing his day between reading in the morning and working on his
project in the afternoon and evening. He now considered himself to be
well versed in all of his subjects for the year, having read all of the
suggested books on McGonagall's list as well as his textbooks up to fifth
year. He was tempted to go further but his priority at the moment was on
his projects, magic could wait another fortnight until he was back at
Hogwarts. He had also finished a fair amount of the politics and law
books in the library, most of what he was reading now just repeated
themselves. He had paid particular attention to business related law and
how things were copyrighted in the magical world. It was a difficult
process and by no means a perfect one. As he didn't have much faith that
these laws would be enforced if enough money changed hands he had
taken it upon himself to build a runic cluster that would destroy all traces
of his work on the inside of his electronics if it was tampered with. This
should prevent anyone being able to copy them the old fashioned way
and there was also an anti-duplication cluster that prevented a spell
doing it. Harry hoped that this would ensure that no competitor would be
able to copy his work and nobody would be able to buy one and then
duplicate it to sell it themselves. The market should be entirely cornered
and ripe for plucking.
He had also continued to read from the muggle side of the library
extensively. He was now proficient, if not fluent, in French, Spanish,
Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Portuguese and Italian. He
thought that between those and English he would be able to
communicate with the vast majority of the world's population. Perhaps
the most useful language he had learnt was in fact one that nobody
speaks any more, Latin. It was the basis for several of the modern
languages he had studied, but more than that it was the route of the
majority of the incantations for spells. Harry fully expected knowing
Latin to benefit him hugely once he returned to Hogwarts. Many
engineering books had also been absorbed, everything from computing to
mechanical. These had given him even more, spectacular ideas that he
wished he had the capital to pursue. The idea of improving magical
transportation was high in his mind but he lacked both the funds and the
space to experiment with this.
He had not received a reply from Madam Bones of the DMLE and, as he
assumed no owls were able to find him, he decided to send a quick note
to her to check if there was any progress. If there was Hedwig would be
able to bring the reply back to him. Hedwig had been getting rather
bored with just waiting around in the centre of London so she was glad
for the chance to send a message, nipping his fingers affectionately.
Task completed he returned to improving his test laptop. At the moment
it worked but it could only be kept on for an hour at a time before it
needed to be shut down to stop it exploding. So Harry was checking and
rechecking the runes to see if he had made a mistake. He didn't think that
he had but there must be something wrong, perhaps the chemical
makeup of the battery was different from the phone batteries he had
been modifying and this would have an effect on the runes. He lost
himself in the work until he was interrupted by Hedwig's return. He
reached over and took the letter from her, giving her an owl treat.
Dear Mr Potter
Thank you for your letter, I have been trying to contact you for the previous
week. Minerva told me that no owl could find you but I wasn't convinced until
five separate owls failed to deliver a letter. In relation to Sirius Black and his
escape, he has not been sighted however I am confident that he will eventually
be captured so that he can be brought to trial. I have tried to find ways of
contacting him to convince him to turn himself into my custody.
I would also ask if it was possible for us to meet so that I can view your
parent's journals as some of the main evidence in this case. I know that you
are avoiding the clutches of Albus Dumbledore and to that end I am willing to
give my Witch's Oath that I will not reveal your presence to him, or any of his
agents, or that we were meeting.
I eagerly await your owl's return and hope that we will be able to meet and
bring aid to Sirius. Any suggestions you may have we will be most welcome.
Regards Amelia Bones
Head of the DMLE
This was a big decision for Harry to make; did he trust Madam Bones to
keep her word? Her offer to give a Witch's Oath would suggest that she
would be trustworthy; of course this could be a bluff to make him think
so. In the end it came down to whether or not he trusted his gut feeling,
his gut was telling him that she was trustworthy and so he decided to
reply in the affirmative. He would be prepared to leave quickly though,
at any sign of danger. He would take his invisibility cloak and be ready
to throw it on and disappear. If she proved herself then he would try and
help her get in contact with Sirius, Hedwig had never yet failed to deliver
a letter and hopefully Padfoot would read a letter from him. He also
thought it best to meet her in the muggle part of London, there he would
hold the advantage of being able to blend in far better and knowing his
way around much better as well. Harry thought long and hard about
where would be best before eventually settling on Trafalgar Square. It
was perfect. It was busy, which would make it difficult for Madam Bones
to capture him if she was being false, and it was also far enough away
from the Leaky Cauldron to be outside of her comfort zone. The letter
said that he would meet her alone at midday the next day but Harry
knew he would be there at least half an hour earlier to observe and check
for any potential traps or other people meeting. In preparation Harry got
out the appropriate journal and put a book mark on the relevant page
before going back to working on his laptop for the rest of the day. He
eventually slumping into bed mentally exhausted as throughout his work,
he was running through scenarios in his mind of what could go wrong
and how he would counter them.
Therefore it was a highly prepared Harry that emerged the next morning,
his subconscious had worked overdrive through the night analysing
potential problems and solutions. This was another benefit of his
Occlumency work; he could now physically sleep yet leave his mental
faculties working on problems. One would think that this would stop the
body getting proper rest however it seemed to Harry that he was
channelling his mind so that instead of dreaming it was working. He did
appreciate that he couldn't do this all the time as his mind would need to
rest as well, to keep in top condition. However if there was a problem
that was really bugging him or, like today, a situation that required deep
thought then he would leave his mind 'on' so to speak.
Harry's potion regimen was almost finished and he was now at an above
average height of 5 foot 7. It was amazing what years of neglect had
done to his body, before he had been one of the shortest and overall
smallest in his year, but now Harry thought he would probably be the
tallest. Another major change from the potions was that all of his hard
manual work in the garden at Privet Drive had paid off in spades, he was
now quite muscled. Not a body builder by any stretch of the imagination,
but he certainly had a well toned and lithe body, like a spring coiled for
action. However the biggest improvement of all was that of his vision, it
was now nearly perfect. He was sure that the final four days of potions
would correct what little blurriness there was. He was already doing
without his glasses all the time now and couldn't wait for the entire
world to be completely in focus, for perhaps the first time in his life.
Despite all his planning and running through scenarios, Harry was still
nervous as he set out for Trafalgar Square. There were so many things
that could go wrong that he couldn't have anticipated, he just hoped that
he had done enough. He took up position on the steps above the actual
Square because this would give him a good view of the whole area with
very few blind spots. The letter had said to meet Madam Bones by the
fountain to the left of Nelson's Column, the huge structure that
dominated the Square. As far as Harry could see there was nobody else
staking out the area, nobody that didn't blend in to the hustle and bustle
of tourists. There was also no distinct shimmering effect that came from
anyone using a disillusionment charm or a poor version of his own
invisibility cloak.
Madam Bones herself arrived at ten minutes to midday and walked
purposefully to the fountain and sat on the edge. To a casual observer she
seemed a normal tourist having a rest from the day's exertions, however
Harry could see that she was aware of all her surroundings, constantly
searching for threats. He watched her carefully for any sign that she was
in contact with anyone else around the Square, if she was then they
weren't making any form of direct contact. At precisely midday Harry left
his lookout post and casually sauntered through the crowd towards
Madam Bones. He sat down next to her and stretched.
"Madam Bones, I'm glad you decided to come alone however I would be
very grateful if you would make your Witch's Oath as we discussed." He
had expected her to be a little surprised but her reaction was far beyond
simple surprise, she nearly fell backwards into the fountain. In fact she
would have done so had Harry not grabbed he arm to steady her.
"Merlin, don't do that again, you scared the magic out of me!" she hissed
at him. Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself laughing at her
indignant expression. "How did you sneak up on me anyway? You aren't
using magic are you?"
"I am not, however I must insist of the Oath before this conversation
continues."
She nodded and removed her wand slightly "I Amelia Bones swear on my
magic that I will not knowingly betray Harry Potter to Albus Dumbledore
or any of his supporters. I also swear not to reveal anything said to me
unless given permission by Harry Potter." The tip of her wand glowed
briefly showing that the Oath had been successful.
"Excellent, now we have that out of the way how about lunch? I know
I'm hungry." She again nodded her agreement and they walked to a
nearby restaurant.
They took a table and Harry immediately got down to business, removing
the journal and flicking to the bookmarked page. "Here is the page that I
mentioned where my parents say that it was Pettigrew rather than Sirius
that was to be secret keeper. I know in itself this is not proof that Sirius
was innocent, nor that he is innocent of killing Pettigrew however if he
didn't have a trial originally then it is possible that he could be innocent
of all charges and I want to make sure. There is however a problem, you
are aware that I do not want to be found by Dumbledore but you do not
know why." He then went on to explain about Dumbledore placing him
at the Dursleys, the will suppression, his wholesale destruction of Potter
assets and his manipulations at Hogwarts all while eating a pleasant
meal. "So you see I am sure he has a plan for me, one that almost
certainly involves my death, but I can neither prove it nor work out
exactly what it is or his reasoning."
Amelia Bones had seen and heard a lot throughout her career as an Auror
and then Head of the DMLE however this was uncharted waters for her.
She had never trusted Albus Dumbledore, believing that defeat of one
dark wizard did not mean that you were qualified to take up the mantle
as the country's political and social compass. This was a completely
different ball game to taking up roles that he was unsuited for, this was
active manipulation of an entire country to fit his own ends, all centred
around the boy, no young man, that sat in front of her. She made the
distinction because her own niece Susan was the same age and rather
mature for it, but she was made to seem childish by the level of maturity
displayed by Harry Potter. She had been sceptical about meeting him,
thinking him too young to be able to have a real or worthwhile opinion.
The first shock to this view was him sneaking up on her; nobody had
done this in years. You don't live long as an Auror, particularly not in
wartime, if you cannot detect people sneaking up on you.
The second shock to her viewpoint was his outright maturity and refusal
to discuss anything without her offered Oath; she thought that he would
have left had she refused. Then there was his story, it all made sense in a
twisted way and he had no reason to lie to her. He had offered to take an
Oath himself on its truth but she had stopped him before he set off the
underage magic detectors. During his tale little things that had always
bugged her began to make sense such as how did anyone know what
happened that Halloween night if only Harry, his parents and Voldemort
were present and three of these were dead and the fourth couldn't
remember. The answer was that someone must have released the details
and the only person who could have done this was Dumbledore. Had he
not done so Harry would have been perfectly able to live in relative
obscurity in the wizarding world, safe from reprisals. Dumbledore had
created the very situation that he sought to 'protect' Harry from.
She sensed that there were details he was not sharing with her such as
how he looked so different from Susan's many descriptions. She had
always commented on his small and skinny frame, tatty clothes and
unfashionable glasses. The Harry in front of her was tall for his age and
she could see muscle definition when he moved his arms, he had no
glasses and his clothes were different but looked to be new. The two
images did not match up and so obviously something had happened to
him over these summer months.
"Harry have you thought of any way of convincing Sirius to come in
peacefully? That is at the moment the main problem we are having."
Harry considered briefly "I can send him a letter, my owl has never failed
to deliver a letter, she doesn't need an address. From what my parent's
journals say his natural curiosity will not allow him to leave the letter
unopened. I will not trick him however by putting a portkey in there or
anything similar. I will tell him to present himself at your home if that is
agreeable? I know you are trustworthy and it is better if he is in contact
with as few wand happy Aurors that could be loyal to Dumbles as
possible. Is this agreeable?"
Amelia gave her consent and her address for Harry to pass on. "I will
contact you when I have a reply from Sirius, it may take a while though,
I do not know where he is or what sort of state he will be in after eleven
years in Azkaban." Amelia privately agreed with this as a problem, she
had seen what even a month in that prison could do to a person's mind.
Merlin only knew how sane Sirius would be, from what she remembered
he had never been the most balanced of individuals.
Harry was impressed with Madam Bones, or Amelia as she had insisted
he call her. She was an intelligent woman who thought through all the
possibilities and what was most in her favour, she had treated him as an
adult, listened to him and gave his opinions equal weight to her own. Yes
she was definitely going to be a valuable addition to his cause. After
paying for the meal he made his polite farewell, saying that he wanted to
send the letter as soon as possible to his godfather.
10. Chapter 10
AN - Had another chapter, considered making you wait, decided I
may as well post it - aren't I lovely! Anyway enjoy the return to
Hogwarts
Chapter 10
Dear Padfoot
I, Son of Prongs, do solemnly swear that I am up to no good and that all I am
about to write comes under the Marauder's Oath of Truth amongst Brothers. I
have read my parent's journals and so I believe that you were not my parent's
secret keeper, of course I don't know if you killed Wormtail or not, even if he
did deserve it. I am also sure that you never had a trial and so I have spoke to
Amelia Bones who is now the Head of the DMLE and she has given her Oath
that if you turn yourself over to her at her home at Bones Manor in Norfolk
she will guarantee you a fair trial, away from Dumbledore's influence and
with veritaserum.
If you do not reply to this letter then I will be forced to assume that you are
guilty of all offences and as much as it pains me to do so I will cut contact
with you. There is so much I want to say to you but I do not want to get too
involved only to be disappointed, I hope that you will present yourself to
Madam Bones so that we can get to know each other and be the family we
were supposed to be.
Yours Harry Potter
Son of Prongs
Sirius Black could not believe it as he looked at the Snowy Owl that was
perched just inside the cave he was currently hiding in. It was a letter
from Harry. This was enough to send him into raptures, an actual letter
from his godson, but even more than that it was a letter that said he
believed Sirius to be innocent. Harry must have been being cautious
because for all he knew Sirius could still have killed the rat and all those
muggles. Sirius accepted this, he would have been cautious in Harry's
position too, but under all the formality there was a palpable sense of
hope. The line about being a family tore at Sirius' heart; it was something
he too desperately wanted.
His godson was obviously a smart kid because he had thoughtfully
included a piece of parchment and a muggle biro for Sirius to reply with.
The owl was still regarding him with slightly distrustful eyes as Sirius
grabbed the pen hungrily to reply, feeling for the first time in many years
a sense of hope filling his emaciated frame as he wrote his brief reply.
It was a shouting and cursing Harry that Hedwig returned to with her
precious cargo, he just couldn't get the laptop to work properly.
Everything he tried seemed to fail for some unfathomable reason. He
looked up at Hedwig's announcing hoot and blanched slightly at her
accusatory stare.
"Sorry girl I'll keep my language under control." She gave a satisfied hoot
and stuck her leg out for him to remove the letter. Harry did just that and
scanned it quickly. It was short and to the point, Sirius claimed innocence
and was on his way now to Amelia's to present himself for a trial. He
obviously didn't want to let himself get too attached either, in case he
was sent back to Azkaban. Harry's cynicism fully appreciated that actual
innocence or guilt was not necessarily a factor in the findings of the
Wizemagot with its unfortunate levels of corruption and nepotism and it
would seem that Sirius knew this as well. Quite sensibly Sirius had not
given any indication as to where he was and so Harry had no idea how
long it would take him to get to Amelia's house in Norfolk.
The final two weeks before Harry was due to return to Hogwarts passed
remarkably quickly. Harry still had no news on Sirius; however he
dismissed most of his worry about this. Had he been caught it would
have been all over the news, he must just have been further away from
Norfolk than Harry had anticipated. He had continued his reading at
great pace and had finally got the laptop to work after much swearing
and many false starts. He had begun the design process for a few
programs that would help with his study of magic. The main problem
that would require his immediate attention at Hogwarts was to find a
way to build some sort of magical wifi receiver as he was sure that
Hogwarts would be outside the range of every wifi and without this he
wouldn't be able to connect to the internet. Again he had some ideas on
how to get this done but he needed to be able to use magic to be able to
transfigure some materials so that they could form the receiver.
The night before the 1st Julie and Rachael insisted that they all go out for
a meal together to celebrate the new and improved Harry's re-entry into
the magical world. He could tell that both women were worried for his
safety and it was a new feeling that constricted his chest when he
thought about this. It certainly was nice to have people who care about
you. He presented an entirely confident and unconcerned visage to the
both of them but inside he was worried about how people were going to
react to the new version of Harry Potter and what Dumbles had up his
garish sleeves. He had been furiously plotting over the last two days of
how he could take the first steps towards removing Dumble's influence
from the Hogwarts students. It was by no means an easy task but Harry
had several ideas depending on whether Dumbles tried anything at the
Sorting Feast which was the most likely time. He would be in for a nasty
surprise if he tried Legillimency on Harry, he had made his defences nigh
on impenetrable, or at least he thought so. The standard magical defences
that he had created previously had been ably augmented with a
combination of muggle technology and some of the things he had read in
some of Rach's collection of comic books. For instance adamantium was
now used liberally as a barrier and there were no less than three Iron
Man suits patrolling the outer areas of his mental construct. Should any
magical get through these defences, as unlikely as this was, they would
still be required to have an intimate knowledge of how computers work.
For that was where his memories now were, hidden behind layers of
protection and code within a super computer in his internal library.
He was certain that he could defend against mental intrusion however he
was worried that Dumbles would corner him somehow and reapply the
blocks along with liberal use of a memory charm. He had however
discovered a method in one the Occlumency books he got from the
library. It was a way to create what was effectively a backup of all of a
person's memories within a separate part of the mind, one that could not
be touched by the standard memory charm. Ideally these memories were
updated daily and had a safe word that released them back into the
consciousness. Harry's newfound sense of paranoia meant that he
religiously updated his backup and said the Parseltongue password at
least three times a day. Of course with no way of testing this short of
actually being obliviated he had no real idea if it would work so he
resolved to try and avoid any potential situation where this could be a
problem. Fundamentally this meant making sure that he was never alone
with just Dumbles. More of his overall plan needed to go into action
before he could even consider himself able to risk this. Therefore he
resolved that if Dumbles ever called for a meeting, he had two choices,
refuse to attend or to make sure McGonagall was present at the very
least, if not a few other teachers. Hopefully this would be enough to
counter Dumbles mind control techniques but Harry wasn't going to
count on it. He had learnt that caution was a trait he needed to develop,
while there was a time and a place for the rash Gryffindor response of
rushing in, it was not all the time. Harry had to develop the Slytherin
side of his conscious, in fact he needed to cherry pick the best virtues
from each house and amalgamate them into a well rounded and balanced
individual. This would be the key to success for the future.
The meal itself was a wonderful time filled with laughter and joking,
proving just how far Harry had come in the short time with his new
friends. Part of him wanted to call them family but he didn't think that
either side were really at that stage. Harry did try and pay for his own
meal at the very least but he was quickly shot down in tones that
brooked absolutely no argument, he knew by now it was worthless even
trying. The three of them walked home in the late summer evening
chatting casually, trying to avoid the big goodbye that was looming on
the horizon. In fact they put it off completely until the next morning,
both sides making excuses. Harry that he needed to pack still (true) and
Julie and Rachael that they had much to do for the next day at the hotel
(not so true). However they all knew that tomorrow they would have to
finally swallow their emotions and say goodbye for the year.
Packing was easy for Harry with the aid of his new trunk and the use of
his old one as well. His clothes, the majority of his school things and less
important items went into his old trunk as usual, while his electronics
collection and associated tool kits, along with his invisibility cloak, photo
album and various journals went into the new shrunken trunk. This could
then go into his pocket with the money pouch, his ever present iPhone
and his rapidly filling iPod. He had taken Rach's music instruction to
heart and had put all of her cds onto the iPod and had started
downloading a few other bits and pieces, he wasn't sure whether his
favourite band was In Flames or Parkway Drive but Machine Head's
newest album was certainly making them a challenge for top spot. His
taste had developed so that he was listening to songs and bands that were
laden with guitar riffs and solos. In fact he was unconsciously trying to
play along with them, pretty much all the time, with his trusty air guitar.
He intended to build himself a guitar when he got to Hogwarts as a little
side project to blow off some steam when one of his other projects got
too frustrating.
Everything was packed with plenty of time to spare and so he went to
sleep at a sensible hour, unusually he didn't fall asleep with a book in his
hands. Thanks to this he woke up fresh on the morning of September 1st,
allowing more than enough time to go and make a proper farewell to two
of the most important people in his life downstairs. The goodbyes
themselves were tearful and heartfelt and Harry was forced to promise
more times than he could count that he would call, text or email
whenever he could. He tried to point out that he wouldn't be able to
email for a while as he wouldn't be able to access the internet until he
built his wifi receiver but it fell on deaf ears. He shook his head ruefully
and chuckled at how both women had a fantastic ability to ignore
statements they didn't want to hear.
The journey to Kings Cross was uneventful; he treated himself to a taxi
rather than his usual walk because he couldn't be bothered to lug his
trunk the whole way. He had sent Hedwig on this morning and shrunk
her cage into his new trunk, thus avoiding the usual stares that
accompanied the journeys of Hogwarts students. The station itself was
busy as usual and he weaved through the crowd towards the platform.
The barrier looked less daunting this year; he just hoped that Dobby
wasn't interfering like last year, that would be annoying. He wasn't and
the trip through was easy, almost casual. He walked purposefully to the
train and unloaded his trunk; he wasn't given a second glance by the
families saying their goodbyes. As usual this raised a bitter taste to his
mouth as he thought on all he had missed out on throughout his life but
he ruthlessly quelled this as he found an as yet unused carriage. He
stored his trunk, removed a book, put his iPod in and began to read.
The peace and tranquillity was briefly interrupted by a few people poking
their heads into the carriage but none of them stayed until the familiar
bushy hair of Hermione appeared. She too was about to remove herself
when Harry, looking on amusedly, decided to speak up.
"Alright Hermione how's things?"
She let out a little shriek before launching herself at him, speaking at her
customary hundred miles an hour. "Harry! Where have you been? We
have been so worried? Why haven't you replied to any of our letters? Or
sent any to us? It was very foolish of you to go running away like that
without telling anyone where you were. You could have been hurt or
killed or had to sleep in a ditch. Dumbledore has been out of his mind
with worry, we all have. You look so different what have you done to
your hair? And why are you wearing those ridiculous clothes?"
Harry was taken aback by the onslaught although one part he did
manage to digest, he hadn't sent any letters to his best friends. He had
taken for granted that none of their letters would be able to reach him
but he could still have sent a note or two to them with Hedwig. He hadn't
even considered doing so, even more interestingly, now that he thought
about it, he hadn't really missed them like he usually did. The detached
part of his mind guessed that this was because he was for the first time
enjoying a sense of independence on his own but another wondered if
there might be more to it than that. He was saved from having to reply
by the entry of Ron to the carriage.
"There you are mate. Where have you been, Mum's been going spare?
What in Merlin's name are you wearing mate?"
"Well I went shopping over the summer, found some clothes that I
actually like for once."
Ron looked sceptical at this, as if nobody could like things like Harry was
wearing. "What's a Pantera when its at home then?"
"Its the Spanish word for a Panther" retorted Hermione automatically,
Ron still looked confused. "Its a big black cat but what that has to do
with Cowboys from Hell, I have no idea." This last part was almost
painful to her if her voice was any guide.
Harry snorted "It does mean that literally, means that in Italian as well in
case you were interested, but more importantly it's also a muggle band,
an awesome one actually and Cowboys from Hell is the title of one of
their albums, here have a listen." He handed over an earphone after
flicking to the title track on his iPod. Hermione looked flabbergasted for
some reason and Ron still looked confused, eying the headphone with no
clue what it was.
"You can't listen to music here, any electronic won't work around magic"
she finished in a superior tone.
With a shrug Harry simply pushed the headphone closer, "mine do. I've
got loads of stuff that works around magic, here check this out" he said
tossing his iPhone over.
"Bu...bu...but that's not possible. Electricity doesn't work around magic."
"Ah but it does my dear Hermione if you know how to fix it so that it
will. I've got a laptop in my trunk that will work perfectly, even connect
to the internet if I can work out how to fix it up." He smiled at her.
"Harry James Potter you will tell me this instant how you are doing this
and who you stole these from." Hermione threw the earphone whose
music was so offensive to her back at Harry.
"Why do you assume I stole them?" Harry was starting to get annoyed
here; while he liked Hermione, he wasn't going to tell her how he had
managed to do it after weeks of hard work just because she demanded it.
"Well these are expensive things and you couldn't have bought them, you
don't have enough money. Plus there's no way you could have done this
on your own, you must have had help and then taken them from whoever
did the work. I should report you."
"And why would I not be able to do this on my own?" Harry's voice had
taken on a dangerous edge now.
"Well you just couldn't, I mean you aren't very smart are you? Without
me, you and Ron would have struggled to get all of your work done last
year."
Harry stood up, eyes blazing "Is that what you really think? That without
you, I'm nothing, too stupid to tie my own shoe." Hermione said nothing
which was damning enough in Harry's eyes. "Get out" he shouted "get the
hell out of the compartment before I show you some of the curses this
idiot can manage to perform."
"What's going on?" Ron murmured.
"Quiet Ronald, can't you see that Harry has become a thief, taking credit
for other peoples work. First whoever actually made those electronics
and then me for all the work I did for the pair of you over the last two
years." She screeched viciously, standing up and taking Ron's arm,
dragging him from the compartment.
Harry was raging now, his wand was out and he was running through
curses in his mind. "Fine, both of you get out, if that's what you want you
crazy egomaniac bitch. I'll show you this year just how smart I actually
am and then you'll be sorry Miss 'supposed smartest witch of her
generation'. And when you come crawling back you better have a bloody
good apology. Are you going Ron? You have to make a choice, it's me or
her, stay or leave, I don't care which but do it now."
"Come on Ron let's leave this idiot and see how well he does without us
to drag him out of every mess he gets himself into." Ron looked back and
forth between his best friend and the girl he was starting to become a bit
interested in, silently debating. In the end as is usual with teenage boys,
one organ comfortably outvoted the other and he shrugged and followed
Hermione from the compartment.
It took some time for Harry's rage to dissipate; his hands were shaking in
anger, knuckles clenched, ready for a fight. At this point he had two
choices, he could listen to some relaxing music to calm himself or he
could put the heaviest stuff he had on his iPod on and embrace the anger.
It is perhaps highly fortunate for Malfoy that Harry chose the first option.
It was inevitable that Malfoy would make his customary visit to bait
Harry and his friends. Malfoy's first clue that all was not normal came
when Harry was sat alone, he knew that the Weasel and the Mudblood
would have had time to find Potty by now and so he was taken aback.
However he wasn't one to fail to take advantage of a situation where he
outnumbered his target three to one.
"Alright Potty, sat here all alone are we? Where are the Weasel and the
Mudblood?" Draco drawled.
Harry said nothing, he didn't even react, he just sat there swaying slightly
in a lazy rhythm with his eyes closed. Draco was highly perturbed by this
turn of events, he was used to everyone paying him the attention he
commanded and deserved. Even more disconcerting was the fact that he
could see some strange string things coming from Potter's ears. What the
hell was going on?
"Oi Potty I'm talking to you!" he tried again but still absolutely no
reaction, Draco simply didn't understand. He then decided to try a less
subtle approach, quite a difficult thing as it happened, as despite Draco's
pride in his Slytherin heritage, he had about as much cunning and
understanding of subtlety as a brick thrown through a window. He pulled
out his wand and mentally ran through a select few interesting curses,
trying to decide which to use first, however he was interrupted before he
could begin.
"Must we always do this Draco, why can't we just agree to leave each
other alone? Surely you have better things to do than to wander into
every train carriage until you find me before insulting me, rather poorly I
must add, before we eventually fight? It doesn't benefit either of us. So
how about it, can we agree to just leave each other alone?" Harry took
one earphone out to wait for the reply from Draco, he really hoped his
answer would be favourable however he held very little hope that it
would. This was quickly proved accurate as Draco raised his wand to let
loose a curse. Harry sighed and flicked his own wand while saying
expelliarmus, disarming Draco. Crabbe and Goyle stood there foolishly,
awaiting instructions and so Harry took advantage, throwing Draco's
wand into the hallway. The two trolls followed it as if they were chasing
a stick, allowing Harry to close the carriage door and practise one of the
wards he found in his dad's journal. It was a very basic one that would be
broken in less than a second by anyone who knew anything about wards,
however Harry was fairly certain that apart from a few sixth and seventh
years no other students would be able to. Perhaps now I'll be left in peace
for the journey he thought.
11. Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Harry was staring blankly out the window of his compartment as the
train began to slow, running through some more ideas for his projects.
They could only be about five minutes from Hogsmede Station and so he
quickly put his robes on and waited patiently for the train to come to a
halt.
He left his old trunk in the compartment where it would be collected as
usual but he kept his new trunk in his pocket, he wasn't about to let that
leave his sight. He walked with the crowd towards the horseless
carriages, stopping briefly to wave to Hagrid who cheerfully waved back.
Harry wasn't entirely sure Hagrid had recognised him but was pleased
nonetheless. Normally at this point he would share with Ron and
Hermione; however this wasn't an option as he caught sight of the two of
them. Hermione was obviously in full flow at Ron, who was nodding
along dumbly.
There was a carriage near him that only had two occupants and so he
decided that was probably his best option. He had to meet some new
people soon. This gave him a shock to the system, have I really been that
isolated that without those two I have nobody I can call a friend in the
whole school? Bloody hell it is, that's ridiculous, definitely need to do
something about that, starting with these two.
He climbed into the carriage and saw two girls in front of him, one
blonde and one brunette. "What the hell are you doing in here Potter?"
the blonde sneered at him.
"Er well I thought I would take a carriage up to the school, I saw there
was only the two of you in here and hey presto, here I am." He attempted
a winning smile but this was coldly ignored. He noticed now that both
girls had Slytherin robes on. Ah, he thought, this may be why there is a
problem, stupid house system.
"I am aware that there are two of us here, why are you not with your
little Gryffindor friends?" the blonde was staring at him intently now.
Harry grimaced at the mention of his 'friends'. "Let's just say we are
having some problems, ones that I don't really want to get into but I
think they could well be permanent. I have recently come to the
conclusion that I have been severely isolated with those two and so I am
trying to branch out and meet some new people. Lucky for you, you both
get to be my first attempt."
The brunette giggled before a glare from the blonde silenced her. "Let's
start at the beginning, my name is Harry Potter, pleased to meet you" he
said extending his hand towards the blonde. She looked at it disdainfully.
"But you are a Gryffindor and we are Slytherin's, we can't be friends, why
are you talking to us?"
"Can I let you both into a little secret" he said motioning them forward
before glancing around furtively. Despite themselves the Slytherin's
leaned forward, "the house system is bullshit" he smiled at their outraged
expressions.
"How can you say that about centuries of tradition?" Blondie said.
"Quite easily, it is fair to say that the house system makes everyone have
certain preconceptions about anyone from a house as soon as they hear
which one. For example the stereotype is that all Slytherin's are evil. Now
this cannot be true, you aren't evil are you Miss...?"
She ignored his question about her name "Of course I'm not evil."
"Yet you are in Slytherin so by rights you should be if we believe the
house traits and stereotypes. Also have you heard of a self fulfilling
prophecy? It applies here because if you tell a bunch of eleven year olds
that if you are in Ravenclaw you will be a bookworm, then even if they
wouldn't have been before then they will be more likely to turn into one.
Same principle with the Hufflepuff's and loyalty. I'm willing to bet that
they aren't all loyal to each other but because they are in Hufflepuff, they
feel like they should be, so they begin to be so. That is why the house
system is bullshit." He leaned back contentedly as the two seemed to be
trying to digest what he had just said, perhaps he had actually had an
impact, he certainly hoped so.
"So what about you? You are the Gryffindor Golden Boy, you fit the
stereotype of your house perfectly. You are reckless and foolish, you don't
think anything through, you just go charging in."
"Hmm" Harry considered how best to answer this, "that's completely true
and it has taken me two years to work that out. I think it's probably
because I knew so very little about my parents, apart from how I looked
like them and that they were both in Gryffindor. I guess I clung to this
and tried to be the absolute perfect Gryffindor I could be, as a way of
getting a bit closer to them." He stared into space, lost in his own
thoughts for a moment and therefore missed the hastily whispered
conversation between the other occupants of the carriage. He was jerked
from his deliberations by a hesitant voice.
"My name is Tracey Davis and this scowling girl is Daphne Greengrass" it
was the brunette who spoke and Daphne was indeed scowling, although
not at Harry but at Tracey.
"Pleasure to meet you both. You shouldn't scowl like that Miss
Greengrass, it will create lines that would spoil your pretty face." Harry
cringed mentally at this, what the hell was he saying, where did it come
from? This wasn't going to end well he thought.
However the expected explosion didn't materialise, Daphne stopped
scowling immediately and turned an expressionless mask towards him.
Tracey, on the other hand, giggled behind her hand and gave Daphne a
not so subtle elbow to the ribs which earned her a brief glare.
"I've been telling her that for years but she never seems to listen to me,
maybe you have some sort of special gift Potter."
"Please call me Harry, surnames seem so formal and I hope we can be
friends, or at the very least acquaintances that are happy to stop and
have a chat every now and then. That sound agreeable to you two?"
The girls exchanged a look that seemed to contain a whole conversation,
Harry idly wondered how girls did that, before they both nodded at him
with only slight reluctance from Daphne.
The carriage chose this moment to pull up at the large wooden doors that
marked the threshold of Hogwarts "excellent, I look forward to getting to
know you both better sometime soon however now the feast calls to me
and I must answer its summons." He swiftly exited the carriage with an
impressive swirl of his robe, he thought it was impressive anyway, he
would swear blind he had seen Daphne roll her eyes though. Putting this
from his mind he ambled through the doors, towards the Gryffindor
table.
His improved mood was soon ruined by his former friends who were sat
in their customary place, glaring at him. Harry didn't give them the
satisfaction of retorting, he would show them both how wrong they were
about him. He simply went to a different part of the table, one that
happened to contain the only other people he knew well in Gryffindor;
his Quidditch teammates.
"Alright troops how's it going?" Silence greeted his jaunty question as he
plonked himself down next to Oliver Wood the Captain and opposite the
three chasers who as usual seemed to be attached at the hip. It was
Angelina, the centre of the six legged chaser machine, who broke the
silence.
"Umm Harry why are you sitting over here with us? You don't normally,
not that we mind of course, we're just a bit curious" she said hurriedly.
Harry grimaced "I've had enough of those two idiots down there," he said
indicating Ron and Hermione, "they severely hold me back, I mean I've
played on the same team as all of you for the past two years and I know
barely anything about any of you. It's ridiculous and so I've decided that
I'm going to branch out and get some real friends, ones that don't doubt
my word or are self righteous little bitches."
"Finally caught on have you." Everyone turned to stare at the usually
mild mannered Alicia. "What? You were all thinking it."
"Yeah I know we were Leesh but you're normally so nice to everyone,
they must have really pissed you off for you to say that." Katie's mouth
twitched into a little smirk as she said this.
"Yeah they really do, they are always going on about how much better
they are at everything than everyone else, especially you Harry. I don't
know how you stayed friends with them as long as you have."
"Hmm to be honest I didn't know about that, although now you say it I
can definitely believe it. It seems that, horror of all horrors, Malfoy was
actually right that first day on the train." The team looked at him
sceptically, the Weasley twins with outright shock so Harry endeavoured
to explain. "He said to me that I should be very careful on who I make
friends with, that some wizards are better than others. Now admittedly
he was talking about purity of blood and that crap but in terms of
character Ron and Hermione were probably the worst people I could
associate with." He grimaced here and looked to the twins, "I'm sorry
guys I know he's your brother but…"
Harry didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Fred cut him off "it's ok
we're pretty sure he was adopted anyway or maybe dropped on his head
a few too many times"
"Yeah he needs to do a lot of growing up before he's worthy of the noble
Weasley name" George continued, striking, what he must have
considered, a thoroughly noble pose. Fred of course copied him before
both were given a quick punch to the ribs from the collective chasers and
told in no uncertain terms to sit themselves down. They did so with a
quick grin towards Harry who briefly wondered why it was that women
seemed to take it upon themselves to ensure that any male within sight
'behaved'. He mentally shrugged before settling down to wait for the
sorting to begin making idle chat with his teammates about their
summer's, he didn't really say anything about his own other than it "was
alright" causing the girls to roll their eyes.
As usual Harry could feel a fair amount of pairs of eyes trained on him
throughout the sorting however he studiously ignored them all,
particularly as he strongly suspected one of them to be Dumble's. There
were no noteworthy students included in the sorting however Harry had
resolved to keep an eye on all of them and at the very least learn the
names of all the Gryffindor first years. This was for completely selfish
reasons as the simple act of remembering someone's name endeared you
to them more than many other actions, it was a trick he picked up from
reading of muggle politicians.
The feast itself was as enjoyable as ever however this year it was not as
much of a relief to Harry as it had been previously. It certainly was
amazing what one summer of healthy eating and the goblin's potion
regime could do for an adolescent body. This was proved midway
through the feast when Katie turned to him hesitantly, as though wanting
to ask something but not really sure how.
"What is it Katie? You obviously want to ask something so spit it out" he
asked teasingly.
"Its just that, you have changed so much over the summer I hardly
believe its you." She blushed slightly "I'm not saying they are bad
changes, you just seem so much happier and healthier than before."
Harry took a deep breath in and Katie looked at him nervously, "I'm sorry
I've offended you, ignore me."
"No I should have expected it really, there have indeed been a lot of
changes and I'm not going to go into how they all came about but
basically it boils down to me finding out a bit more about myself, my life
and my most of all my parents. After I found out all of these things I've
made a conscious effort to live up to their expectations and live my life to
the fullest. Maybe someday I'll tell you all about it but I'm sure you
would end up quite bored." The team nodded their agreement and talk
quickly turned to Quidditch. This was something Harry could definitely
get used to, people who simply accepted when he wanted to stop talking
about something. Ron and particularly Hermione would never allow him
this basic right and would constantly badger him until he told them
everything.
After a thoroughly enjoyable meal including two helpings of his favourite
treacle tart, Harry leant back in contentment to wait for Dumbledore's
inane rambling so he could go to bed. As expected the announcements
from the Headmaster were meaningless platitudes that Harry comfortably
ignored until he heard two words that made him sit bolt upright
"Professor Lupin". Could it be? Harry looked along the line of teachers
and saw a prematurely aging man that fit his father's descriptions of
Moony, albeit one aged by a good twenty years. His furry little problem
must be taking more of a toll than before, Harry thought. This was good
news, hopefully within the year he would have a good relationship with
both of the remaining Marauders and so for the first time he was really
looking forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Interrupting his thoughts was the scraping of benches that signalled the
mass exodus of students to the common rooms. Ambling along
comfortably alongside Oliver Wood, Harry spent the time trying to
convince his Captain that practises five times a week was a little
excessive even if it was his last chance to win the Quidditch Cup. By the
time they reached the common room Harry was hopeful that it would be
limited to four times a week maybe even three if they were really lucky.
Shaking his head at the obsessed boy he walked to his own dorm, took
out his trunk, unshrunk it and put it at the end of his bed. He was
beginning to think that this year would be one of the best of his short
school career when such thoughts were quickly dashed by the entrance of
one Ron Weasley.
"Alright mate what was up with you on the train? You made Hermione so
mad I've had to listen to her rant for ages so you owe me one." Ron made
his way over to Harry before his eyes rested upon Harry's new trunk
sitting next to his old one. "What's that? Is that another trunk you have
got there?" Harry nodded affirmatively not wanting to get into an
argument over something so petty, however it was too late for that. The
danger sign that was Ron's ears going red was already there and Harry
sighed in annoyance. "Where did you get that from then? One trunk not
good enough for you is that it?"
"Ron I will say this once and once only, you are not my parent, you
cannot decide what I own or how I spend my own money. If I want to
buy a new trunk for myself then I will do so. As it happens I didn't buy it,
it was my parent's trunk but even so this is none of your concern."
However Ron was past the point of listening he just launched into a rant
that involved some words that Mrs Weasley would have severely
punished. Harry sighed again and simply silenced the redheaded fool
with a wave of his wand and a muttered Silencio before turning away to
go to bed. It was only his Quidditch reflexes and ones honed by years of
avoiding his Uncle's fists that allowed him to dodge the ginger bullet that
came towards him. Ron had his wand out but since he had been silenced
he couldn't cast any spells so he opted for the physical approach. Had this
happened last year then the much taller and stronger red head would
have beaten Harry comfortably however things were different now, if
anything Harry was taller than Ron and he was certainly stronger. Even
more than that Harry had spent years being the punching bag of large
groups of boys much bigger than him, thanks to this he had a very good
appreciation of fighting however he had always lacked the size and
strength to overturn such overwhelming odds. But this wasn't him against
six or seven bigger kids, this was him against one person, one who was
smaller and weaker than him.
If there had been a professional fighting instructor watching Harry's
response, he would have been disappointed and bemoaned a lack of
technique and control. However if there had been someone who had been
in street fights as opposed to controlled bouts he would have been
impressed with the savagery and economy of movement displayed by the
dark haired boy. Every action was calculated to cause maximum pain
with the least amount of effort, there was no honour in Harry's approach
he just knew to put Ron down hard and fast. Within five seconds Harry
had broken several of Ron's fingers, ruptured a kidney and knocked him
unconscious with a brutal head butt.
There was silence throughout the third year boy's dorm and Harry shook
his head a little bewildered. "I'm sorry Ron I didn't want to do that but
you left me no choice, you should know by now not to attack me from
behind." He turned to his frozen dorm mates "don't worry guys I'm not
going to hurt any of you I just wanted him to leave me alone. A few
things have changed and it seems I was very much mistaken when I put
all of my trust into that git and the harpy. I know I've pretty much
ignored you all since I got here and I'm really sorry for that I would like
to get to know you all a bit and make up for lost time. I hate to ask this
but could one of you take him to the hospital wing? I would but it would
create some awkward questions, I didn't mean to hurt him so badly I just
had a bit of a flashback to a less than pleasant time."
Neville was the one who stepped forward and picked Ron up to deposit
at the hospital wing "don't worry Harry we all saw you were just
defending yourself, it was him who threw the first punch."
Seamus was nodding along and Dean was looking at him with a mixture
of fear and awe. "Where did you learn to fight like that Harry? It was
incredible" asked the dark skinned boy.
"Well I will say that's the first fight I've ever won. Every time before this
it's always been my cousin and a few of his mates ganging up on me. I've
never been in a fair fight before, seems they are a lot easier if you're used
to trying to defend yourself from six or seven at a time."
Dean snorted at this "remind me never to get on your bad side" he
muttered.
"Duly noted" Harry grinned "now if you will excuse me I'm going to go to
bed, I'll see you guys in the morning. Goodnight." A few basic wards on
his trunks and bed curtains later and he was led in bed mentally going
over his Occlumency work in preparation for whatever the next day
might throw at him.
12. Chapter 12
AN - Hello all sorry its been a while I got distracted by a plot bunny
that wouldn't leave me alone so I have started another story
however I am not intending to post it until it is completed. What are
people's thoughts do you want me to post what I have so far and
update whenever I finish another chapter? Or would you prefer it
all up completed even if thats ages away? Or do you not care at all
and think I should shut up and get on with the new chapter?
Whatever your thoughts I would be delighted to hear them, as
always read, review, enjoy
Chapter 12
The fallout from Harry's actions the previous night hit him rather sooner
than he personally would have wished. The first thing that happened
came in the form of a screaming banshee with frizzy hair that screeched
at him about how he was going dark and was a nasty little liar, a vicious
boy and she was going to tell McGonagall on him. Harry calmly ignored
her saying "Hermione I do not need to justify myself to you, I was
defending myself, he attacked me while my back was turned. Now if
there is nothing more I'd quite like to go have some breakfast."
Continuing to ignore her furious tirade he exited through the portrait
alongside Neville who looked shocked at his presence. "Neville I meant it
last night when I said I wanted to get to know you all a bit better, I hope
we can become friends. It's something that should have happened at least
two years ago but hopefully we can make up for lost time, why don't you
tell me a bit about yourself I know hardly anything."
Slowly and hesitantly Neville started to open up about himself and his
life. It took a lot of coaxing from Harry but by the time McGonagall
started handing out the year's schedules after breakfast, Neville seemed
to be growing in confidence a little. "Mr Potter I want a word with you.
What's this I hear about you putting Weasley in the hospital wing?"
Harry rubbed his temples, "would it be possible for me to talk to you in
private Professor McGonagall? I promise I will explain but the
explanation will involve a few things I would rather remain private."
McGonagall looked at him sceptically "alright Potter meet me in my
office directly."
Harry nodded, looked at his schedule and groaned that it read History of
Magic first up followed by Potions with the Slytherins. He told Neville to
save him a seat in both and that he would meet him as soon as he could.
Neville nodded as he watched the enigma that was Harry Potter make his
way out of the Great Hall.
After a brief pause to pick up his potions things, Harry stood outside
McGonagall's office. He was sorely tempted to wait inside but thought
that might be pushing his luck a little bit so he leant against the wall to
await his Head of House. He didn't have to wait long as he spotted her
marching towards him and beckoned him inside with a crook of the
finger. He followed her inside and sat down in the offered chair.
"Explain." One word. That's all she said but it held a threat of so much
more. He took a deep breath and began explaining a little of his home
life, skipping the worst of it just giving her enough detail to make her
understand. He explained Dudley and his gang's torments ending rather
lamely with "and I was just kind of back with all of them when Ron
attacked me and I sort of lost it. I only hit him twice but I guess it was a
bit harder than I should have done."
Professor McGonagall was just sat there, lips held in a tight white line,
hands quivering in fury. Harry recognising the danger signs started
edging away, looking for an escape before she exploded, however he
wasn't quick enough. "That bastard! I told him they were the worst kind
of muggles but did he listen? Of course not, he never bloody does!" She
visibly took a large breath to calm herself before continuing in a more
normal tone "I'm sure that's only half the story as well, don't worry I don't
want to know. To be honest I'd rather live in ignorance of how badly you
were treated so that I don't go down there myself and curse them all into
oblivion followed swiftly by Albus bloody Dumbledore."
Harry panicked at this "no don't do that. I am fully aware of all things he
has done to me and is still doing but he is far too crafty and too powerful
to attack in a front on manner."
"There's more?" McGonagall roared.
Harry winced and nodded. "Before I tell you I'm going to need your
Witch's Oath to never reveal anything I tell you unless I give permission
and that you will do nothing about it unless I say so. That means no
charging off to curse Dumbles. I know this is a lot to ask but trust me it is
necessary and having you attack him immediately in your anger will
serve no purpose."
McGonagall looked at him as if seeing him for the first time, what had
happened to the sweet, innocent boy she had first met two years ago?
There was a hard edge to him now, one that commanded, no demanded
respect. She couldn't believe she was doing it but before she had time to
think it through clearly she was making an Oath very similar to the one
Amelia Bones had made. In return Harry took out his wand and made his
own Oath that everything he was about to say was true to the best of his
knowledge. Ignoring her shocked look he then explained his summer so
far particularly everything he had found out at Gringott's about the state
of his health and Dumbledore's manipulations of his accounts. He showed
his metamorphic abilities and explained his new mental faculties as well
saying that in terms of theory he was easily up to fifth year. Finally he
showed her his new electronics that he had modified. Having finished he
leant back watching for his Professor's reaction.
There was none, she was sat in a stunned silence. She shook herself "so
you are saying there was a bit of he-who-must-not-be-named in your
scar? And that it was leeching off your core? As well as the most
extensive set of blocks I have ever heard of? And Albus is the one who
cast the blocks?" Harry had been nodding along to every question but the
last.
"I have no proof it was him but honestly I can't think of anyone else who
would have done it. It is possible that my parents would have bound my
metamorphagus ability until I was older but the rest they would not have
done. More to the point there was no mention of any form of bindings
being placed on me in either of my parent's journals and believe me I
have studied them extensively and damn near everything else was
written about."
She couldn't deny that everything pointed towards this being an accurate
assessment of events. She definitely understood now why he had asked
for her Oath to not charge off and attack Albus, although at the moment
she was far too shocked to do much of anything at the moment. "Ok
Harry I think its best if you go to class now I need to digest everything
you have told me before we decide what the best course of action to take
is." He looked up surprised at this. "Yes that is correct I did say we. You
have proven yourself a capable young man and after all it is your life we
are talking about now get yourself off to History, although I doubt
Cuthbert will have noticed your absence."
Harry grinned and left to go suffer through the rest of Binns' deathly
boring lecture, luckily he had missed almost half of it so it wasn't as bad
as it could have been. He thought that the visit to McGonagall went quite
well, in fact now he thought about it she hadn't even punished him for
beating Ron to a pulp, she must have been too shocked by everything. He
shrugged if she punished him fine, he deserved it for his slightly
disproportionate response but he certainly wasn't going to remind her.
She was also right when she said that Binns wouldn't have even noticed
him not being there and so he walked in and casually sat down next to
Neville, ignoring the death glares emanating from a newly healed Ron
and Hermione. He leaned over to Neville and muttered "wake me up
when this ends" and winked at him before putting his head down on his
desk, promptly falling into a deep meditative state.
He was awoken by a tentative poke that could only have come from
Neville, deciding to have a bit of fun he moaned "five more minutes" and
was rewarded with some chuckling. "Alright fine I'm up honest." He
couldn't help but be intrigued with how this next class would go. Of
course, Snape would still hate him, hell had not frozen over, but he was
now far more prepared and knew the next three years worth of the
potions syllabus inside out as well as a great many little hints and tips he
had picked up from his mother's journal. Hopefully this would give Snape
far less ammunition to punish him, only time would tell.
The lesson began in customary fashion with Snape sweeping in before
flicking his wand at the board where instructions for the potion appeared
and Snape barked out "begin." However after this it all started to take a
trip to the surreal, at least for Harry anyway. Snape was gliding around
the dungeon on his normal route, taking points from Gryffindor's and
giving them to Slytherin's when he reached Harry's cauldron. Due to the
odd number of students in the class Harry had ended up working alone
and so when Snape swept past he was expecting the worst but it never
came, Snape merely nodded and continued. Harry was nonplussed, this
had never happened before. He was so shaken he nearly forgot to take his
cauldron off the fire at the appropriate time but luckily he had just
enough wits about him to manage it. The lesson progressed and Harry
felt he was doing well, his potion was the correct shade of pale blue,
obviously his mother's tips were working well. It came to the end of the
class and time for them to hand in their completed work in vials. Snape
came round to collect them and uttered one word when he collected
Harry's effort. One word that shattered Harry's current grip on reality.
One simple word. "Good." He nearly dropped the vial in his shock. He
packed up his things on auto pilot and walked mechanically to the Great
Hall for lunch. It was midway through his second sandwich that he
finally absorbed what had happened. Clearly everybody else in the class
had been too busy concentrating on their own work to notice the
terrifying events that had taken place at Harry's work station. Something
needed to be done to correct this and so Harry went to the only place he
could think of, McGonagall's office to see his Head of House for the
second time in the day.
He knocked and heard a gruff "enter".
"Umm Professor McGonagall I think something is terribly wrong."
"What? What are you talking about Potter?"
Harry noted the return to Potter from Harry this morning. "Well its going
to sound a bit odd but its Snape."
"Professor Snape."
"Yes well I'm not sure it is. I've just had potions and he didn't shout at me,
he didn't take points and worst of all he actually complimented me. Now
this may not sound like much to you but I would have happily laid all of
my worldly possessions in a bet that the apocalypse would happen before
Snape complimented me. And no before you say anything I am not
exaggerating in the slightest, since I first met him he has belittled me,
abused me, tormented and mocked me all because I look like my father.
Today, nothing. Either it is not him and its an impostor or more
worryingly he has had a complete personality transplant." Harry paused
here, his mind in overdrive. "Or perhaps this is actually his personality
and he has reverted, I don't know but something is definitely wrong.
Please just come with me you will see what I mean."
"I know I'm going to regret this but alright lead on Potter."
"Thank you Professor you will see what I mean I promise." The journey to
the dungeons was stilted and held in complete silence, neither party
really knowing what to say. "Here we are watch this" Harry said as he
walked into the office next to the dungeon that was Snape's. "Professor
Snape sir I have a question?"
"Yes Potter what is it?" Snape's tone was mildly irritated but that was just
his normal tone. Harry made a face at McGonagall as if to say 'see what I
mean'.
"Well I was just wondering if anything happened to you over the summer,
its just you seem different sir?"
"Not that I am aware of" he said sarcastically "but you on the other hand,
you have obviously worked hard over the summer. You appear to be
finally living up to your mother's ability that was a good potion you
brewed today."
At this Harry nearly collapsed to the floor, he had been complimented
twice by Snape, this was definitely not a dream. He muttered his
Occlumency safe word in an attempt to reassure himself that his was
really happening.
"Oh bloody hell I wonder if that's it? Time to find out if it really works I
suppose. Yes I think it must be that, it would fit in with his
manipulations. Now Professor Snape I'm fairly sure you can do
Occlumency am I right?" Snape nodded confused but a little intrigued.
"Right, good, you are the studious type so think very carefully did you
create a mental backup with a safe word in case your memory was ever
tampered with?"
Harry's only clue that he was on the right track was the widening of
Snape's eyes before he muttered a word to himself too quietly for anyone
else to hear. McGonagall looked utterly confused at the direction
proceedings were taking.
"Oh Merlin what have I done?" Snape cried out before following Harry to
the floor, curling up in a ball weeping.
"What the hell?" Harry looked to McGonagall for guidance but found
nothing helpful coming from the older woman. "Sir? What is it sir?"
"Oh god Lily I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I didn't want to, he
made me do it."
Always a man of action Harry bolted to the store, grabbed a calming
draught and brought it back to Snape. "Here Sir drink this, its just a
calming draught." Snape didn't move so Harry poured it down his
unresponsive throat. The change was immediate, his whole body relaxed
and the weeping stilled to almost nothing.
"Thank you for that Harry I needed it although I'm sure you will wish you
hadn't given it to me soon."
"Why is that then Sir?"
"Because I was the one that told the Dark Lord the prophecy. The
prophecy that led him to attack you and kill the best friend I ever had."
He sighed, lost in memories. "There's so much I need to tell you, to
explain but first Minerva could you check to see if I have any spells on
me to influence the way I feel about people, I now remember Albus
putting some on me but not what they were."
McGonagall nodded and moved her wand in a complicated pattern before
gasping "You have multiple spells on you tied to certain magical
signatures including the largest loyalty charm I have ever seen, keyed to
Albus. There is also a hatred charm with what seems to be Harry's
magical signature." She frowned "but it isn't, not anymore. Mr Potter,
somehow your magical signature has changed any ideas how this could
have happened?"
Harry thought about it "I have two possible reasons or perhaps a
combination of the two. Firstly the ritual at Gringott's that removed all
the blocks and more importantly the leech from my scar. Secondly the
events of the Chamber of Secrets at the end of last year. While I was
down there I was first bitten by the Basilisk," both Professors gasped at
this and McGonagall nearly had a heart attack when he showed her the
scar, "this was then neutralised by Phoenix tears courtesy of Fawkes.
Perhaps this combination of two immensely potent magical liquids
entering my bloodstream had an effect? Tests would need to be done but
that is of little importance at the moment."
"Agreed Mr Potter although I would very much like a sample of your
blood for testing at some point." Snape appeared to be collecting himself
more and more as the seconds ticked on.
Harry nodded his assent "now Professor, why don't you tell us your
story?"
Snape took a deep intake of breath, visibly steeled himself and began.
"There are so many things that nobody knows, so much that has been
changed. How much do you know about the relationship I had with both
of your parents Harry?"
"Well as I know it you were my mother's first magical friend, this lasted
until a certain incident in fifth year where she stopped an overzealous
prank from my father and you called her a mudblood. From there the
relationship fell apart and as far as I'm aware was never repaired or
renewed. In terms of my father you had an intense rivalry with him
based almost entirely on jealousy on both sides and competition for my
mother's affections. This spilt over onto the rest of the Marauders and
lasted for the entire of your school life. As my father describes it, you
were both very talented, much as it pained him to admit it, and you were
one of the few that could actually give him a challenge in terms of
duelling even if he didn't approve of some of the curses and hexes you
would fire. Personally on this I marginally disagree with him, as far as I
can see there is no light or dark, only intention matters. You can kill
someone just as easily with a first year charm, Wingardium Leviosa, by
dropping them out a window as you can with the killing curse, but that's
beside the point really. Again as far as I know you had no contact with
either of them after graduation. Is this about right?"
"There are accurate parts in that version of events. Indeed we did have a
fierce rivalry that was based on mutual jealousy and the great friendship
with your mother did indeed end with that shameful incident in fifth
year. However where it changes from the generally accepted timeline is
that I finally managed to apologise to your mother just before we
graduated and we began to rebuild our friendship. Nobody knew about it
because Lily wasn't sure how James would react so we told nobody.
When your mother got engaged she wanted me to come to the wedding
and so she told James, he insisted we meet to clear the air, all of us. Me,
Lily and the Marauders. We met just before their wedding and it was a
promising meeting, we had all matured greatly from our school days and
I think there was a genuine chance we could have become friends, maybe
even good friends in time. However this is when Dumbledore found out
about our burgeoning friendship and began his cursed manipulations.
The day before the wedding he cornered me and obliviated the meeting
and all the progress we had made. It appears he must have also
implanted some suggestions that caused me to commit my second most
shameful mistake, I joined the Death Eaters." He rolled up his sleeve to
show the tattoo, grimacing when he saw it. "Now that I have my correct
memories back I know that I would never have joined, I'm a half-blood
myself for Merlin's sake. I didn't go to the wedding and I would guess
that His Royal Dumbleness must have obliviated your parents and the
Marauders so they didn't recognise my absence. Next on my list of crimes
is perhaps my greatest, there was a prophecy made. I am doubtful that it
is a real one, it is far too convenient. Albus implanted it in my mind and
made me take it to the Dark Lord, it talked about the one person who
could defeat the Dark Lord. It read 'The one with the power to vanquish the
Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the
seventh month dies..' This is what made the Dark Lord attack your parents,
to get to you. It's my fault they're dead." He broke down again here and
started shuddering.
Harry didn't know what to do, he had very little experience of how to
deal with anyone crying let alone his emotionless potions professor. So he
did the only thing he could think of, he walked over to the sobbing man
and hugged him. Snape stiffened at first before he began clinging onto
Harry as if he was a tree branch in a maelstrom, the only thing that could
keep him afloat.
"It's ok Sir, I don't blame you. Had you tried to tell me any of this last
year I would never have believed you but I have seen Dumble's
manipulations for myself now. I did think that nothing more would
surprise me when it came to what he was willing to do to suit his own
ends but it seems I was wrong."
13. Chapter 13
A/N Hey all not sure if I'm really happy with the second half of this
chapter, has been a bit of a sod to write the way I want it to. I'm
sure many people will have questions and say it doesn't make sense
but never fear I have a plan! Yes that is right I finally have a plan
for all that I'm going to write rather than just a few basic events and
no idea how to get from one to the next. Hopefully this should
improve the fluency and increase the speed of updates but I make
no promises. Anyhow as always read, review and enjoy.
Chapter 13
Harry wasn't sure how long he sat with Snape but it was nearly the end
of lunch by the time he left the dungeons. They had decided that to avoid
tipping off Dumbles, Snape had to continue in his previous torment of
Harry in public. McGonagall didn't like this one bit now she had heard
from both sides the level of antagonism but eventually agreed. Just
before leaving for his afternoon class of Runes he had one request for the
two professors "could you visit Lupin this evening in private so that he
can get his memories back and then fill him in on what has happened? I'd
tell him myself but I've no idea how he would react without being able to
check him for Dumble's spells, plus I don't really want to go through it all
again. You can fill in Professor Snape at the same time if that's ok?"
McGonagall nodded her assent and watched the remarkable young man
depart the classroom, having once more shattered her perceptions about
the world. That made twice in one day, this was becoming a bit too much
of a habit for her liking.
The young man in question was digesting the turn of events for himself
as he walked to the Ancient Runes classroom on the fourth floor. He
wondered how many people were going to be in the class, it didn't look
like it was a particularly popular subject judging from the lack of books
in Flourish and Blotts. Never mind, he had more than enough access to
many more books at the magical part of the British Library not to
mention his practical experience already.
As it turned out he was correct in his assumption that it wasn't going to
be a well attended class. There were only seven others present.
Unsurprisingly Hermione was one of these which was unfortunate but
aside from her there were three Ravenclaws, Padma Patil, Terry Boot and
a little Asian girl he wasn't entirely sure he had ever seen before. There
were no Hufflepuffs and the class was rounded out by the two Slytherin
girls he had met earlier along with a final Slytherin, the haughty and
proud dark skinned boy, Blaise Zabini. The desks in the class were
grouped in pairs and Harry was immediately disturbed that he might end
up sitting with Hermione if he didn't take action. He had already met two
of the three Slytherins and so he walked over to them, having rather
cleverly worked out that there were three of them and this was an odd
number so he could sit next to one of them. The Slytherins watched him
approach, Tracey and Blaise glanced at each other, smirked and then
rushed to a table leaving Daphne on her own. She scowled at them which
only incited them to smile back sweetly.
"Now Daphne what did I say before about scowling" Harry said teasingly.
Seeing her glare turn to him he quickly modified his tone to one of
utmost politeness. "Would you do me the honour of sitting at a table with
me Miss Greengrass?"
She glanced around helplessly, looking for any other option but none was
forthcoming so she sighed and reluctantly sat.
"There that wasn't so bad was it?" she glared at Harry's attempt to make
light of the situation. "Look I'll be good I promise, I just hope this class is
interesting."
Despite herself Daphne was intrigued, Potter had shown no inclination
towards schoolwork that she had ever seen before. "How come you are in
here anyway? I would have expected you to take the easy options like
divination and muggle studies."
Harry snorted. "That was old Harry, this is new and improved Harry 2.0"
he answered.
"2.0? What in Merlin's name does that mean?"
Harry's attempt to explain naming conventions for computer
programming was interrupted by the entry of the Ancient Runes
Professor, Bathsheba Babbling. Babbling was a middle aged woman with
a kindly face and an abundance of laughter lines.
"Welcome class to Ancient Runes. This is one of the most demanding
subjects that you will study at Hogwarts and one of the most under
appreciated. Runes can be used for many different purposes and are the
basic component of all wards as well as many enchanted objects. As there
are so few of you I expect you to ask any questions you may have,
whenever you feel you need clarification. Now as we are an even
number, the person you sat next to now will become your study partner. I
expect you to work together throughout this year and help each other as
needed." Daphne groaned at this while Harry chuckled to himself. "This
year we will be primarily focused on understanding the primary runic
language of Nordic and will be working on translations. Next year will
include Ancient Greek and Hieroglyphics as well as beginning your
practical work. In fifth year we will be doing a project in pairs where I
will expect you to draw your own runic cluster in order to achieve an
effect."
It was now Harry's turn to groan. Daphne turned to him "what's the
matter Potter all of it sounding too difficult for you? Wishing you had
taken an easier class I bet" she said scornfully.
"Quite the contrast Daphne this is going to be so easy, it's going to be
incredibly boring."
Babbling obviously caught the end of his statement as she whirled to fix
Harry with a stare. "Oh boring you say?"
"Unfortunately Professor yes it will. You see I worked quite a lot on
Runes over the summer and I feel I might be a bit in advance of your
plan."
"Harry James Potter sit down and stop interrupting the teacher you little
liar." The spite in Hermione's tone made everyone in the classroom stare
at her in shock. The friendship between the two and Ron was legendary
even if some didn't understand it.
"Ooh all three names, consider me suitably chastised now" Harry retorted
sarcastically garnering a laugh from his classmates. "The fact remains
Professor if that's all we're doing I can probably do fifth year now."
Babbling looked sceptical to this fact. "Ok Professor, you don't believe
me, that's fair enough, draw a rune, any rune and I'll translate it for you."
She did just that and Harry confidently asserted that it was the rune for
strength. The process was repeated several times with Harry answering
every question correctly until Babbling drew a final rune.
"Now Professor that wasn't very nice, that isn't even a Nordic rune, that is
Sumerian and it means hope with the accent on the upward flick
meaning that it translates to a hope for future knowledge."
By this point the entire class was looking at him in awe and Babbling
seemed shell shocked. "Yes… um… well that is absolutely correct take 30
points for Gryffindor Mr Potter" she replied absently before handing out a
worksheet for everyone. "Use your dictionary to translate as many of
these runes as you can until the end of the lesson. I'll be… I need to think
for a bit" she finished lamely.
As soon as Babbling turned away to sit at her desk, Harry was fixed with
a steely eyed glare causing him to gulp slightly. "Yes Daphne something I
can help you with?"
"Don't you give me that. How did you know all of that stuff?"
"Well I worked hard over the summer once I decided which subjects I was
going to be taking. I may have read a few extra books here and there."
She snorted disbelievingly "fine but you are going to help me with this
worksheet. We are partners remember."
Harry burst into laughter "oh so now we're partners, before you couldn't
wait to get away from me."
"I don't know what you're talking about Potter now what does this one
mean?" There was the tiniest hint of amusement dancing behind her
violet eyes.
It turned out to be an enjoyable lesson for Harry, surprisingly he found
he enjoyed Daphne's company when she wasn't insulting him. Even then
he took it with a pinch of salt because now he had begun to notice the
signs, he could she was one of those people who didn't really mean
everything insulting she said, she just found it amusing and took it upon
herself to make sure he didn't get a big head. In fact by the end Harry
was fairly sure that he was going to enjoy the class for the year, Daphne
was very intelligent and picked things up quickly but unlike certain
others in his acquaintance didn't feel the need to crow about it. She
pushed herself throughout the class and they were easily the first pair to
finish the exercise. Professor Babbling hadn't returned to the world of the
living and was still hunched blankly over her desk so the class took it
upon themselves to leave once time was up.
And so that was it for day one of classes for Harry 2.0 as he had
christened himself. It had gone well but had been interrupted so it had
really only been Runes where he had the opportunity to fully flex his
wings. He reflected at dinner that it had been a good day as he sat back
observing the banter between the Weasley twins and the chasers. He took
advantage of the homework free evening to text Rach to update her on
the happenings. He was of course roundly scolded for taking so long to
contact her but after she had got that out of her system they settled back
for a good natured argument about whether or not Metallica had sold out
or not since their original albums. Harry maintained that they had
evolved over the years and this was perfectly acceptable in a band but
Rach would have none of it and asserted that they needed to be shot for
inflicting the travesty that was the St Anger album on the public. It was
quite amazing in fact that such a simple difference of opinion could
descend into such a debate and so it was that Harry didn't actually get to
sleep until past midnight after he had learnt a very important skill in
arguing with women. Sometimes it is much easier to just agree, even if
you knew you were in the right.
Harry was yawning at the breakfast table when a note suddenly appeared
on his plate. He recognised the ornate, looping script immediately;
Dumbledore. This was what he had feared, with some trepidation he took
the note and began to read. It was only a short note saying that
Dumbledore wished to see him that evening at 7.30 in his office. Harry's
mind immediately went into overdrive thinking about how he was going
to play this. His first thought was to refuse to go but that would almost
certainly tip Dumbledore off that Harry was aware of his manipulations.
The balance needed to be struck between being safe from Dumbledore
modifying his mind but not tipping the old man off. McGonagall was
probably his best option here as she was his Head of House as well as
Deputy Head so had a legitimate reason to be there as well as the power
to back it up, not to mention she was staunchly on his side. Mentally
scanning his timetable he found to his delight that he had Transfiguration
after lunch giving him the perfect opportunity to enlist her aid. Before
that though he had Herbology, knowing how good Neville was at the
subject he resolved to work with him in the greenhouse.
This proved to be a wise move as Neville was full of useful little hints and
tips that could only have come from an instinctive grasp of the subject
matter and a love of plants. Harry wondered why Neville wasn't better in
Potions because a large amount of the ingredients used were plant based
and so Neville should know what they would do. Was he really so lacking
in confidence that Snape's berating cause him to forget all of this
instinctive knowledge? Perhaps Snape would tone that down now he was
free of the mind manipulations of Dumbledore, however similar to Harry
he had to keep up some of the act with Neville, it would be too
suspicious otherwise.
Transfiguration was easy as expected, a firm grasp of all the theory
allowed Harry to turn his pebble into a snail on the very first attempt
earning 10 points and a rare smile from McGonagall. It had been
incredibly amusing to watch the look of absolute hatred on Hermione's
face as he was awarded the points and to watch her increasing frustration
as she couldn't do the spell herself. The final straw came when her ire
overflowed and caused the pebble to explode earning herself a nasty
looking cut to the forehead from a shard as well as 5 points lost and a
detention. Harry gained a sharp look from McGonagall when he outright
laughed at Hermione's crestfallen face after she had earned the detention
but he was not punished. Harry returned to helping Neville, who was
having difficulty controlling the power of his attempts.
At the end of the lesson Harry hung back to talk to McGonagall and to
strategise for the meeting.
"I don't know if you have heard Professor but Dumbledore sent me a note
this morning at breakfast to meet in his office at 7.30 this evening. No
doubt he wants to know where I was over the summer but I'm worried
about what he might try. I was wondering if you would be free to join me
for the meeting to try and make it run smoothly?"
"That sounds like a sensible idea, it shouldn't be too difficult to explain to
him why I'm there. We will have to be wary of him attempting mind
manipulation though. How are you going to explain your absence from
the Dursleys to him?"
"I was thinking of playing the scared, naïve orphan card. The less he
learns about my newfound desire for educational prowess or mental
capabilities the better."
McGonagall nodded her head thoughtfully "that does indeed seem to be
the best course of action. What if he does try anything?"
"I have faith in my shields but perhaps we should arrange a visit to Snape
so that he could counter any spells placed on us without our knowledge.
Dumbledore doesn't know about Snape breaking free and would never
think that he would aid us."
"True, true, in fact I barely credit it myself and I was there. I will enlist
the aid of Severus and I'll meet you outside my office at 7.20 we can
make the journey to Dumbledore together."
"Damn I hadn't thought of that, we would be vulnerable on the walk
there. In fact we would be vulnerable all the time just walking around
the halls, maybe we should set up these meetings daily to make sure we
aren't under any spells." Harry was becoming more frantic as he
continued, his mind inventing all sorts of horrific potential scenarios.
McGonagall chuckled lightly to herself, 'it was nice to see there was still
some hint of a child within the boy'. "You are becoming as paranoid as
Alastor Moody."
"Who? And it's not paranoia if they are really out to get you."
"Never mind it's not important maybe I'll introduce you someday and
you'll see what I mean. I don't think daily meetings will be necessary Mr
Potter. Dumbledore rarely leaves his office, if he was to be spotted in the
halls it would be commented on by all around and that would
immediately put us on our guard. No, the only way he has access would
be in private meetings or at meal times when there is the entire school as
a witness."
Harry was unconvinced but had to concede that she made a valid point;
most students would never see Dumbledore with the exception of meals.
All that remained now was to wait and see what would happen at the
meeting later on.
As 7.30 rolled around Harry was becoming noticeably nervous, so much
so that he had to do some calming exercises to get his pounding heart
under control. He looked to McGonagall next to him as she muttered
'Jelly Slugs' which was apparently the password to Dumbledore's office.
She seemed calm on the surface but he couldn't help but wonder if she
too was petrified underneath her mask. The gargoyle moved aside
revealing the spiral staircase.
"Ah Harry my boy come on in and Professor McGonagall as well what a
delightful surprise."
Harry had to admire the old man's acting skills; there was no hint of
sarcasm beneath his words.
"To what do I owe the pleasure Minerva?" his tone was lightly
interrogating, demanding an answer.
"I was coming to drop off some paperwork when I met Mr Potter and he
invited me to tag along for this meeting. I hope that's alright Albus."
Despite her words, it was clear that she was going to stay whether
Dumbledore wished it or not.
"That's quite alright Minerva. Now Harry I'm sure you have guessed the
reason I have asked you here this evening. It was very dangerous of you
to run away from your relatives as you did this summer, we were very
worried about you."
Harry took a deep breath, 'here goes nothing' he thought. "I know sir it's
just that they were so horrible to me and I couldn't take any more. I
wasn't really thinking when I ran away I just needed to get away and
then when I found out about Sirius Black being on the loose I knew I had
to hide. He sounds like a dangerous man and if he was Voldemort's right
hand man he would probably come after me." Harry thought it was a
masterful performance, eyes slightly downcast, the slight hitch in his
voice every now and then. He just had to hope Dumbledore was
convinced.
Dumbledore steepled his hands and peered over his half moon glasses. "I
understand Harry, I really do, but it is very important that you stay with
your relatives, it is for your protection." Harry almost snorted aloud at
this but managed to maintain control. "I must admit I am curious as to
where you stayed over the summer, will you satisfy an old man's
curiosity?"
"I'm sorry sir but they say the fewer people who know a secret the better,
what if I needed to go there again? If it stays secret it makes a good place
for me to hide from people like Voldemort who want to hurt me." Harry
wondered if he'd overdone it slightly with the subtle dig at the
Headmaster but it appeared not.
With a sigh Dumbledore replied "well I can see you aren't going to tell me
but remember Harry it would be a poor way to honour your parent's
sacrifice, if you were to do something dangerous that got you killed.
Something that could so easily be avoided if you were at your relative's
house. I hope that one day you feel you are able to share the secret with
me." His whole demeanour screamed out to trust him, especially his
twinkling eyes.
Harry made an indistinct noise that could have been interpreted in many
different ways. "If that's all sir can I go?"
"Certainly my boy" he dismissed him indulgently.
"I'll take my leave as well Albus, goodnight" added McGonagall already
on her way out before Dumbledore could reply.
"Well that was strange" Harry broke the silence as the pair walked to
Snape's office for him to check them out. "He didn't seem to want
anything; I can't believe he gave up so easily on where I was, it doesn't
make sense."
McGonagall nodded pensively "you are right. I'm not sure I approve of his
attempt at using guilt to make you behave but other than that his actions
really did seem like someone who was trying to protect you. Perhaps we
are missing something. We may know more once Professor Snape has
checked for any charms on us."
As it turned out they knew even less after Snape had run the diagnostic
charms three times because they hadn't believed the results. Nothing.
Absolutely nothing had been done to them. It just didn't make sense what
was Dumbledore's game? He hadn't tried Legillimency, at least not so
either had noticed, and Harry felt confident that he would be able to
notice an attack even if he couldn't necessarily defend against it. There
were no charms on them. Dumbledore hadn't even pushed Harry to tell
him everything. It was a conundrum, make no mistake.
14. Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Halloween. Harry hated Halloween. Nothing good ever happened to him
on the cursed day. He wondered what awful thing was going to occur this
year. He looked back over the last two months, it had been mostly good,
certainly two of the best months he had ever had at Hogwarts so he was
about due a turn of bad luck. He had managed reconnect with Remus
Lupin his Defence against the Dark Arts Professor also known as Moony
and one of only two remaining Marauders. Moony had told him a lot of
stories about his parents and it was nice to find out a bit more about
them than he had previously known. He had also been in contact with
Padfoot through Hedwig. Padfoot had made it to Madame Bones' house
and was currently staying in one of the guest rooms, recovering from his
long imprisonment in Azkaban followed by months on the run, living
rough. They didn't speak often as Sirius was on a fairly extreme regimen
of potions and a great deal of rest. Harry could tell from his letters that
he was beginning to grow impatient to escape the clutches of the healer
Madam Bones had brought in to care for him, under strict oath of course.
They were hopeful that he would be well enough to have a trial before
Christmas and that Madam Bones would be able to complete the required
political manoeuvring to get it done by then as well. Apparently she had
already struck a blow against Fudge during the summer as the idiot had
tried to get dementors placed at the school. Thanks to her efforts though
this had been blocked. Harry shuddered to think what might have
happened had those foul creatures been around a school full of
defenceless children.
He had managed to make friends with people from all around the school.
He had in fact gone from someone with only two friends, and he used
that term in its loosest possible sense, to someone with many different
friends of different ages and houses. Hufflepuff had been the easiest to
begin his quest for new friendships and it had been Neville of all people
who had introduced him to Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones in
Herbology. He of course recognised Susan's surname and made the
connection that Madam Bones was her Aunt. Both girls were shy at first
but once coaxed out of their shell were good fun and Susan's temper
could be incredibly amusing on the rare occasions that she did unleash it.
From there he had made friends with the other Hufflepuffs in his year
with exception of one called Zacharias Smith, the boy's arrogance having
thoroughly put Harry off. An older Hufflepuff called Cedric Diggory had
also become a friend, well perhaps more of an older brother. Cedric often
came and made sure that the Hufflepuffs were doing ok and that they
didn't need any help and Harry had been extended the same offer. Harry
had taken this to heart and offered himself in a similar role to the
younger Gryffindors.
The Ravenclaws had taken a little bit more time to crack but once they
had realised Harry's performance in class had not been a fluke, they
hadn't been able to contain their curiosity. Harry now took part in a
study group with a few of the Ravenclaws such as Terry Boot, Anthony
Goldstein, Padma Patil and the quiet Chinese girl who Harry now knew
was called Su Li. The group met two nights a week and they helped each
other out with whatever work needed completing at the time. It was a
productive arrangement for all involved and Harry enjoyed the
experience of having people he could bounce ideas off of.
However Harry was most proud of the progress he had made with the
Slytherins. He and Daphne made a very good team as it turned out. After
their initial success in Ancient Runes it had been Daphne that had taken
the initiative in Arithmancy and joined him at a desk making them
partners in that as well. While Harry was still far ahead of everyone in
Runes, Daphne was catching up rapidly with his help. The opposite was
true in Arithmancy where Daphne was an absolute prodigy and it was
with her help that Harry was the one catching up. They also met up once
a week along with Blaise Zabini and Tracey Davies in their own mini
study group that concentrated on those two subjects. While all three of
the Slytherins were still more reserved than Harry was used to, their
barriers had started to break down. Harry found that Daphne was most
reserved of the trio until you learned to read her, particularly her eyes;
they were where her true emotions could be discerned with practise.
Tracey was far more free, always willing to laugh and always had
something to say. Blaise, on the other hand, was much more reticent but
possessed an incredibly dry wit along with a sarcastic and cynical view of
life.
Progress had even been made with Malfoy. After the incident on the train
Malfoy seemed to have take Harry's advice to leave each other alone to
heart. This was further increased in the very first Care of Magical
Creatures lesson where Hagrid had introduced them to hippogriffs, a
strange creature that was a cross between an eagle and a horse. They
were very proud animals and Hagrid had warned the class against
insulting them. Malfoy however had not been listening and had managed
to insult the hippogriff he was working with. It was only thanks to
Harry's quick reactions that allowed him to summon Draco out of the
way before Buckbeak's talons could connect. Malfoy had even gone so far
as to give Harry a nod of thanks. Since then both teenagers stayed out of
each other's way and were happier for it. However this didn't stop Malfoy
from continuing his sniping towards Ron and Hermione. In fact now
Harry could view it as an outsider he could fully appreciate how childish
it was. Harry did feel that it was actually Ron who was the main cause of
the arguments as Malfoy had already proven an ability to ignore if
prompted, a skill Ron lacked in every conceivable way.
While Harry had been steadily accumulating new friends, his old friends
had steadily become pariahs within the school. Without Harry as a
buffer, Hermione had become more and more isolated thanks to her
insistence that she knew best. She had tried to force her way in to several
conversations while Harry was present, breaking just about every social
convention in existence, however this had not worked well at all. It was
unfortunate for Hermione that she had tried to barge into a conversation
that Harry was having with Susan just after Harry had explained
Hermione's reaction to him on the train in. Needless to say Hermione's
show of disloyalty to her friend had not sat well with the fiery Hufflepuff
and Hermione had forced into a very painful trip to the hospital wing.
Hermione was also far from flavour of the month with her dorm mates
after a huge argument about the merits of divination. Harry privately
agreed with her that divination was a bit of a waste of time as a lesson as
you either had the gift or you didn't. However he could just imagine the
superior tone in which Hermione had delivered her opinion and it was
frankly bad manners to belittle something that someone else enjoys,
especially to their face. For all Hermione delighted in berating Ron for
his lack of tact it was actually her that was far worse.
Ron had supported Hermione throughout and had tried to turn the
Gryffindor boys against Harry due to him consorting with the enemy,
namely the Slytherins, however they were having none of it. Neville in
particular had become a firm friend of Harry and his staunchest
advocate. He knew Daphne and Blaise from the Pureblood social
gatherings that his Grandmother had taken him to and he thought the
two Slytherins were alright, even if he had little contact with them. It
was amazing to see the progress Neville was making thanks to Harry
giving him a little encouragement and help when he needed it. Harry
wasn't as close with Dean and Seamus but they had a few games of
Gobstones together and Harry had also been a part of Dean's disastrous
attempt to teach them Poker. It probably would have been more
successful had Dean actually been able to remember the ranking of the
hands rather than making it up on the fly. So after one too many
inconsistencies in which hand was the winner for Seamus to take, it had
descended into a boisterous pillow war.
The Gryffindor Quidditch team had become closer as well and Harry had
even been able to influence Oliver enough so that one of their four
practices per week was a team building one rather than a traditional
training session. Despite what Wood liked to maintain it was not really a
practise but rather all of the team meeting up and talking, playing games,
whatever took their fancy. The results had been clear to see in training as
all the members in the team seemed to be able to instinctively know
where everyone else would be at any one time thanks to their new
closeness. Wood was practically skipping with glee at how well the
practices were going and none of them could wait to showcase their
superior teamwork in the first game against Slytherin.
However it wasn't all working on his social life, oh no Harry 2.0 was still
plugging away at his school work. It was obvious to all of his professors
that Harry was far in advance of his peers but he wasn't boastful about it,
he was quite happy to sit back and allow others the opportunity to
answer any questions. He found himself acting as a teaching assistant as
he finished the assigned work so quickly that he would be drafted in by
his friends to help them. Harry didn't mind this at all; in fact he rather
enjoyed it as he found immense satisfaction in being able to help one of
his friends achieve something they had been struggling with. Not to
mention being asked to explain something to someone else really helped
him to get it clear within his own mind. The professors had at first been
wary of this but after a few lessons they felt Harry had proved himself
and were happy to let him continue. In a bid to stretch him they would
sometimes set him different homework to the rest of the class or suggest
additional reading or even a spell from later years for him to work on, on
his own. The exception to this was potions where Snape still put Harry in
numerous detentions but these were not punishments but rather
opportunities for Snape to push Harry's potions knowledge and push him
he did. Snape demanded excellence from the work and Harry had to
really work himself to meet the standards but he was improving in leaps
and bounds. The relationship between the two was also improving as
both put the past behind them and developed a healthy respect for each
other. Harry was also delighted to hear many stories from Snape about
his mother, something that the Marauders didn't focus on so much.
Thinking of Lily was still painful for Snape but he found that talking
about her and sharing his memories allowed her to live on and this
dulled the loss he felt.
Harry hadn't really been focusing on his personal projects but that's not
to say he hadn't made decent progress. He had managed to build the wifi
receiver that Rach had been bullying him to get done and so was able to
speak to her online using his laptops inbuilt webcam. He had begun
building a program on there to manage his money so that he could track
his income and outgoings as well as analyse the muggle stock market to
see if there was a company he should invest in. This was exceedingly
difficult and there were so many permutations to consider that he had
been forced to develop a stress relief method. First he had experimented
with transfiguration in order to build himself the perfect guitar. Next he
had tested out many charms in order to keep the guitar in tune and keep
it in good condition. He desperately wanted an amp and pedals so he
could use an electric guitar however he had no way of getting hold of
them and the transfiguration was beyond him at the moment so he stuck
with an acoustic guitar until he could pick up the required materials.
There were plenty of videos available on the internet to teach him how to
play and he found just strumming away very calming, almost hypnotic.
His mental abilities helped him a great deal because he could memorise
the chord patterns easily and after hearing a song once or twice and
seeing the notes written out he could usually replicate it. It was much
more difficult for him to create his own music so when he wasn't playing
a song written by someone else he would just strum chords rhythmically.
It appeared that Harry's fears for the day were well founded as at the
Halloween feast he was presented with a note from Dumbledore once
again calling Harry to his office. Harry swore bitterly, drawing a
reproachful glare from the chasers, particularly Angelina the unofficial
mother hen of the trio. He apologised briefly but did not elaborate on
what had upset him. The feast was almost over and Harry's bad luck was
in full effect as McGonagall had already departed, leaving him no way of
reaching before the meeting. The note had stressed 'straight after the
feast'. This was bad, very bad indeed. He couldn't go to Snape and
McGonagall was out of reach. Moony, of course how could he have been
so stupid as to forget his other ally within the school? He scanned the
staff table once again but Moony wasn't there. He let loose a torrent of
curses that had Angelina reach over and smack him round the head.
Tonight was a full moon; of course Moony wouldn't be there. It was like
the planets had aligned for him to have the absolute worst day. The worst
thing was he couldn't find a way out of his predicament, not without
making it so obvious that a blind chicken could spot that he was no
longer toeing the party line.
The feast was, to all intents and purposes, finished as the last dregs of the
student body filtered out of the hall. He sucked in a fortifying breath and
made his way cautiously to Dumbledore's office.
"Enter" Dumbledore's voice reverberated through the spiral stone
staircase.
Harry walked in, his eyes flicking around the office as if curious as to
what was there. He noticed Fawkes was conspicuously absent from his
perch. "You wanted to see me sir?" he asked with a slight questioning lilt
in his voice.
"Yes I did Harry. Sit down." Harry did so but he kept up his study of his
surroundings, keeping track of the old man with the corner of his eye.
"Now Harry are you ready to tell me where you were over the summer? I
think I have waited long enough for you to come to your senses and stop
this foolish notion of keeping a secret."
Harry shook himself; this was a different tactic from Dumbledore that's
for sure. "Um no sir, I don't think I am." There was a flash of something in
Dumbledore's eyes and it wasn't the standard twinkle. No this was
something different, something Harry had never seen there before. Was it
anger? Perhaps, but the old man's body betrayed no other sign of it.
"Now Harry I think we can both agree that it is for the greater good that I
am made aware of your plans. How else am I supposed to keep you safe,
as I did all those years ago?" Harry fought to keep his expression neutral
but in his hyper aware state he noticed a slight tightening around the
eyes of Dumbledore as he said 'safe'. It was so brief that Harry thought he
might have imagined it but he had learnt not to dismiss his instincts over
the years.
"I'm sorry sir but I'd really rather not" he replied flatly. It was now that he
felt a slight pressure on his Occlumency shields. He broke the marginal
eye contact quickly and stood up, not caring that he had revealed his
hand, he just knew he had to get out of there sharpish. "If that's all sir I
have a lot of homework to do." He got up and made to leave. He got half
way to the door.
"Sit down boy I haven't finished with you yet." There was steel laced
throughout the command from Dumbledore. Harry ignored it and
decided that time was up so he turned tail and bolted from the office,
dodging the closing gargoyle statue.
He ran to McGonagall's office as fast as he could and started pounding on
the door. It opened to reveal an irate McGonagall but her expression
softened as she saw the panic on Harry's face, morphing in to one of
concern.
"Well Potter what is it? What's happened?"
"I had a meeting with Dumbledore. Check me for spells." Her eyes
widened as she did so, finding nothing, as the whole story came spilling
out, about the demand for information.
"He was so different, just because you weren't there. I can't believe it."
"It was very foolish of you to go in there alone Potter."
"I know, I know. I thought I could handle it and get away without
alerting him that I knew about him. I was stupid and overconfident but at
least my Occlumency shields held. It's just so strange. It was only tiny
little things, so small I almost thought I'd imagined them but even his
mannerisms were different." McGonagall turned to him sharply. "Yeah,
I've never seen his eyes do anything other than twinkle before but they
did today."
"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked.
Harry grimaced slightly "I can't be one hundred percent but it's close to
that. Something to keep an eye on, perhaps?"
"Perhaps indeed Mr Potter, I shall let the others know. I must say it's not
something I've ever noticed before but then if the signs are as slight as
you say, we have never had reason to look for them before. Anyway off
to bed with you Potter."
"Thanks professor, for everything, not just this. I really am grateful you
know, that you saw fit to trust me all those months ago." With a final
smile he closed the door behind him and returned to the Gryffindor
tower and to bed.
15. Chapter 15
AN – Hello all sorry about the wait for this one but I have been
ridiculously busy finishing off my degree and studying for my exams
however these are all over now, finally four years of uni done!
Hopefully that will leave me more time to do some writing but as I
am starting a new job who knows when my next update will be.
Now as for the last chapter some things I have noticed in reviews
and in the fanfic universe in general that slightly confuse me. Why
is it that every single character in the Harry Potter universe can be
'bashed' or whatever it is called but it seems that Hermione cannot?
This is not a criticism of people who don't like it, that's fine you're
all entitled to your own opinion, I just don't see why she is
considered to be some sort of saint in pretty much all of the fanfics I
have read. Even the ones where she does betray Harry it is never
her fault. I'm not really expecting an answer here, it is merely my
rhetorical rambling so feel free to ignore my rubbish and continue
with the story. As always – read, review, enjoy.
Chapter 15
The first Quidditch match of the season always drew great attention from
the inhabitants of Hogwarts. Not only was it the start, but it was also the
game between the two biggest rivals in the school. Gryffindor and
Slytherin never really had a friendly relationship between them
throughout the year but in the weeks leading up to the game, it became
positively murderous. Hexes were exchanged regularly between the more
militant supporters within each house. However despite all of this Harry
managed to maintain a cordial relationship with the majority of
Slytherins in his year. This may be because Daphne had absolutely no
interest in the sport of Quidditch and Blaise tolerated it even if he didn't
particularly enjoy it. Tracey was the only one of Harry's Slytherin friends
that actually enjoyed the sport but she insisted that Malfoy's incessant
boasting in the common room made her want him to lose. Well she had
actually launched into a diatribe that had Blaise sniggering and Daphne
primly turning up her nose at some of the more violent suggestions
Tracey put forth. Harry found it all amusing but was privately very glad
that they felt that way. He really enjoyed their company and felt
disappointed in himself for ignoring them as potential friends for the first
two years of his Hogwarts career.
Malfoy may have been boasting in his common room but he didn't do so
in front of Harry. In fact Harry barely saw the blonde boy as he seemed
to be taking extra care lest they bump into one another. The same
courtesy was not extended to Ron however and Malfoy seemed to take
great pleasure in engineering situations where he would provoke the
ginger fool within the range of Snape. Thus when Ron inevitably lost his
temper, Snape was immediately able to put him in detention. Harry
shook his head, bemused, after Ron had fallen for the same trick for the
third time within the space of a week. For all his vaunted chess skill, he
had no idea how to avoid such a simple ploy; it was almost like taking
sweets from a baby.
The morning of the match was grey and cloudy but the sun was trying to
force the clouds away with a limited amount of success. The nerves Harry
used to feel before every match were almost gone, now that he was
beginning his third season as a starter. Wood was still hovering around
the breakfast table insisting that every member of the team eat, all the
while refusing to touch anything himself. The Weasley twins were
cracking jokes and making the chasers laugh. It was a familiar routine, a
comfortable one and it bred confidence in the team. They all knew what
was expected of them and had worked hard to make sure they would
achieve it. They walked to the changing rooms together amidst cheers
from the Gryffindor table. It was almost as if the door to the changing
room was the border where jokes were left the other side. Each team
member grew silent as they walked in, focused on what they were going
to do. Harry had put his iPod in with some thrash metal on. It was
working well as he could feel himself psyching up for the match to come.
The silence was only broken by the cheers from the rapidly filling stands
as the spectators got into it up as well. Wood touched Harry on the
shoulder making him remove his headphones.
"Alright team. You all know what the plan is; you don't need me to go
over it again. We are the best team and we deserve to win. We have had
some bad luck but that's in the past, doesn't matter one jot. All that
matters is this match. Today. Today we win and give every other team
something to fear for when we play them. This is the one so hands in the
middle. On three. One. Two." Wood's three was drowned out by a
wordless cheer from the other six members of the team. They jumped
onto their brooms and burst out onto the pitch, doing a quick lap in
formation before going to their starting positions.
What followed would be talked about at Hogwarts for many a month as
one of the most impressive performances by a school team in memory.
The Weasleys had the Slytherins under phenomenal pressure from the
beginning as launched bludger after bludger with impunity. The
Slytherins simply couldn't withstand the onslaught and were forced into
whatever area of the pitch that the twins desired. The almost telepathic
connection between the Gryffindor chasers had always been a big part of
their success but this was at an almost unbelievable level during the
match. They didn't need to look where they were passing and it was done
at such speed that the poor Slytherin keeper had no idea which one of
them had the quaffle most of the time let alone be able to stop it. Harry
had been working with the girls in training and he too would join in on
some of their plays. Wood had instructed him only to do this if they were
over 150 points up or if the opposition seeker was otherwise occupied. In
this game both were quickly true as Malfoy was in an almost constant
evasion of bludgers, leaving him no time to breathe. Such was the
domination that the scoreboard very soon read well over 300 points in
Gryffindors favour before Harry was barked at by his captain to find the
snitch. It took him only another 15 minutes before he spotted a flash of
gold which he quickly chased down, making a simple catch unopposed to
bring the final score to 520 – 30. It was an absolute whitewash and the
Gryffindor supporters cheered themselves hoarse as they celebrated their
team.
The party went on long into the night in the common room and was
marred only slightly by an ugly scene involving Ron. He was quite
obviously consumed with jealousy at Harry's popularity within the house.
Harry was laughing along with Lavender and Parvati when it happened.
The seeker was a little uncomfortable as they kept leaning in and using
any opportunity to touch him but not uncomfortable enough to move
away. It was perhaps this that sent Ron over the edge as he stormed over
and forcefully put his arm around Lavender. The disgust was clear on her
face as she tried to remove his arm but couldn't.
"What are you doing Ron? Let go of her." There was a pause in the
festivities as almost everyone turned to watch what was going on, Harry's
loud pronouncement drawing their attention.
"I'm not doing anything she doesn't want. Look at her all over you like
some scarlet woman."
"She clearly isn't interested Ron so let go before I make you" said Harry
firmly but with menace.
"Oh so that's how it is, famous Harry Potter is allowed as many girls as he
wants but the rest of us don't get a look in." Ron had a sneer Malfoy
would have been proud of fixed on his face.
"You know that's not the case you prat. These aren't 'my girls' or anyone
else's, they are their own people" he answered incredulously.
"Come away Ron you idiot you're embarrassing yourself and more
importantly us" shouted George, moving towards his younger brother.
During this exchange Ron's hand had been steadily moving southwards
down Lavender's back until it reached an area that drew an indignant
squeal from the blonde girl. With an expression of thunder she turned
and drew her knee back before shooting it forward aimed at a very
sensitive area. It connected with the target area and Ron crumpled with a
groan. There was absolutely no sympathy forthcoming from any person
present and the twins grabbed a foot each of their brother and hauled
him off for a quiet little chat, one which Ron certainly wasn't going to
enjoy. The twins may have been pranksters but they were gentlemen at
heart, to women at any rate, thanks to extensive 'lessons' from the
chasers.
With a shrug at his former friend's fate Harry resumed his talk with the
girls and they were soon joined by Dean and Seamus allowing the
conversation to flow, long into the night.
Harry had Runes again on the Monday following the Quidditch and as
was now customary he met the Slytherins outside the classroom. Of
course Tracey was the first to congratulate him on his team's
performance.
"Oh Harry it was sooo impressive" she said fluttering her eyelids
comically. "Seriously though some of those moves your team pulled off
were professional level and the chasers, those girls were awesome. I still
don't see why girls aren't allowed to try out for the Slytherin team. It's a
traves…"
"We know Tracey you talk about it all the time. You know if you really
wanted to change it why didn't you try out?" Blaise asked her slyly.
"Because they wouldn't let me anywhere near the team so what would be
the point in trying out" Tracey replied a little flustered.
"Of course that's the reason" the dark haired boy answered snidely.
Sensing that Tracey was going to fly into a rage again thanks to Blaise's
prodding, Daphne interrupted. "It was nice flying Potter."
This pulled everyone up short. "Daph are you feeling alright? I don't think
I've ever heard you compliment Harry." Tracey asked her friend with
mock concern, holding a hand to Daphne's forehead.
"More to the point can't I just once have you call me by my name instead
of Potter, I've finally managed to get Tracey and Blaise to do it so why
won't you?" Harry tried the puppy dog look but it failed miserably.
"You should be happy that I talk to you at all Potter, I'm still not sure you
are worth my time of day." This statement led to much eye rolling from
the other three as they walked into the Runes classroom, heading to their
customary seats.
As usual Hermione was already there and was currently talking the ear
off of her partner Su Li. Harry felt exceedingly sorry for the quiet girl, she
had drawn the short straw as someone had to sit next to the bossy
Gryffindor. At the study group with the Ravenclaws Harry heard Su
repeatedly complain about her Runes partner but she didn't have the
confidence to say anything during class. Harry was working on improving
this; he had even got her to swear once although you could have heated a
room with the force of the girl's blush afterwards. Su looked over to
Harry with a plaintive look on her face, Harry shrugged and mouthed
'sorry'.
Professor Babbling launched into her planned lesson, Harry didn't really
pay attention though. He knew Daphne would and that Babbling would
likely come to them after she had finished setting the rest of the class a
task. As expected she did just that leaning against the desk of her two
favourite students.
"Now I know you weren't listening Harry" Daphne glared at her partner,
"but I can assure you that it was a task both of you are perfectly capable
of already. So in light of that I'm going to ask you both to work on these
Celtic runes, translate them and then suggest what this cluster could be
designed to do." Professor Babbling deposited a sheet of parchment in
front of the pair with a complicated array of symbols on it.
The pair worked together comfortably, arguing good naturedly as well as
sniping at each other all the time. If anyone who didn't know them, heard
the things they were saying, they would assume the two hated each other
but in reality this was their way of encouraging each other. As they
progressed towards the end of lesson it was clear that even this extra
work was too easy for the pair of them and so Harry made a decision.
"Hey Daphne I've got something I want to show you later on" she quirked
her eyebrow, "no nothing like that. Get your mind out of the gutter! It's
something you will be interested in though I promise; meet me at 4 after
classes in the usual place and I will explain all."
"This had better be worth my valuable time Potter or I'll hurt you."
Harry rolled his eyes at the threat "yeah yeah sure Daph see you later."
"Don't call me Daph you imbecile" came her shouted reply as they left the
classroom, going in different directions.
Harry chuckled as he walked to Charms, unfortunately a presence made
itself known, breaking his good mood.
"Are you ready to apologise to me yet?"
"What on earth are you on about Granger? Why would I need to
apologise to you?"
"For all the rude things you have said to me and about me. However
luckily for you I am willing to forgive you so long as you promise to stop
copying other people and taking credit for their work" she finished
magnanimously.
"Are you really so deluded? I don't copy anyone; it's all my own work. Is
it so difficult for you to believe that someone might be smarter than
you?" he said scathingly.
"But I'm the smartest witch of our generation, everyone says so, I've
heard the teachers calling me it" she said confidently.
Harry scoffed "even if that was true, which I doubt, it may have escaped
your notice as you were too busy living in a complete fantasy world but I
am a bloke." Confusion marred Hermione's face. "Let me put it in simple
terms so you can understand. You could be the smartest witch in our
generation, however that makes no mention of wizards does it? Every
single wizard in the world could easily be smarter than you. Well perhaps
not Ron or Crabbe and Goyle, but everyone else."
The bushy haired girl reeled as if she had been slapped "but…but…"
"But nothing. If you can't accept that I am smarter than you then fine, it
makes no difference to me. Sure I needed your help in first and second
year but I was an emotionally stunted child and you were a socially
retarded bookworm, we suited each other well. However I've grown up
now, you obviously haven't; you are a crutch I've long since outgrown.
Perhaps if you grow up and quit living in a world of your own creation
we can work to rebuilding our friendship. But until then you will
continue to be alone, disliked by everyone else in our year, a social
pariah. Think about it." He turned and walked away. He hoped this
would provide a wakeup call but somehow he doubted it, she was too
stubborn, trapped in her own belief of omniscience.
She didn't follow him to Charms, in fact she didn't turn up at all to the
class but Harry hardly noticed. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but he
was nervous over the meeting with Daphne later. The plan was to tell her
about some of the work he had done on the electronics and see if she was
willing to help him or had any ideas. Hopefully she wouldn't laugh at
him.
Charms passed in a blur for Harry as he went to the usual place for
meeting the Slytherins, just outside the library. Daphne was already
there.
"Hey Daphne if you'd like to follow me I'll take you where we are going."
"Where are we going? I thought we were going to the library."
"No we will be too loud in there and I don't like too many people
knowing what I'm up to."
Daphne's curiosity was definitely piqued now and she followed Harry to
an abandoned classroom along the corridor. She struggled to maintain
her neutral mask when Harry removed a shrunken trunk from his pocket
and enlarged it. The items he removed further increased her confusion,
she knew a little about the muggle world but not enough to identify
them. However her eyes soon widened and the mask slipped entirely
once Harry began to explain what all of them did and how he had
enchanted them to run without electricity as well as shielding them from
magic. Her mind was in turmoil as she put a headphone in her ear
cautiously. She recoiled quickly when some sort of music blasted from it
suddenly making Harry burst into laughter earning him a patented death
glare. The thing that excited her most was the laptop and the programs
Harry was in the process of creating. The potential was unbelievable and
she already had ideas fighting for attention in her mind.
"This is amazing Harry. I can't believe you have done this, it's going to
revolutionise the magical world."
"Ha you called me Harry" he said childishly, doing a little dance.
"That's what you took from what I said? Prat" she replied aiming a swipe
at him which he dodged easily.
"Of course. I've been trying to get you to call me that for ages now.
Seriously though I'm glad you didn't laugh at me, I half expected you to,
you know."
"Normally I would but this is incredible. I think you might even have
earned the use of your first name providing of course that you keep me
involved" she fixed him with a hard stare.
"Of course, I wouldn't have told you otherwise. I'd like your help with
this money program I'm writing. You were trained to take over
management of your family's finances weren't you?"
She nodded affirmatively and so began a productive few hours where the
two went over what Harry had completed already and worked out the
kinks as well as improving it. It proved to be a wise move on Harry's part
to include Daphne as she was full of ideas, picked up on problems he
didn't even know existed and made suggestions he would never have
thought of. As she had absolutely no idea what was possible on a
computer and what wasn't, she had no limits placed on her imagination.
Her best, in Harry's opinion, was to first create a database of every
potential potions ingredient as well as its effect on a potion using
Arithmancy. Then to input how different ways of stirring and the actual
brewing process affected the potion. They had already learnt in
Arithmancy that every potion could be broken down into pure numbers
to analyse it. However it was very complicated and time consuming and
so it was rarely done. Harry could immediately see the potential to create
a program that would analyse these variables to improve every potion to
its purest, most effective form. However Daphne was thinking far more
ambitiously than this, her idea was that the program could invent an
entirely new and perfect potion based on what the desired result was.
Harry was shell shocked. Theoretically, if done right, this could mean
that every potion possible in existence would be contained within a
program of their creation. They stayed up long into the night, well past
curfew, flushed with the possibilities of their ideas.
16. Chapter 16
AN – Just a quick notice, while reviews are always appreciated,
flames are not. If you don't like my story fine, I couldn't care less
but stop reading it. Don't harp on to me about how I'm just writing
clichés and I suck as a writer. If you think you can do better, write
your own damn story. Anyway rant over, enjoy.
Chapter 16
After their lengthy initial meeting, Daphne and Harry continued to meet
regularly in order to refine their ideas. Before they could start on the
potions project, Harry wanted to get his money manager program
finished and he used the opportunity to teach Daphne some of how he
went about enchanting the objects. He didn't tell her everything and he
wouldn't unless they had some sort of formal agreement to become
partners. This was looking more and more likely though, one could
almost say they were already but it went unspoken that they wanted to
wait a bit before committing formally. Both Blaise and Tracey had
commented on the fact that they were spending more time together but
their probing was ignored by Harry and Daphne.
Aside from this little of note had happened at Hogwarts, Harry's guess
that Hermione would be too stubborn to change was proved correct as
she returned to classes acting exactly as she had before. Maybe someday
she would change but it would likely be too late by the time she was
shocked into action and Harry regretted this. That didn't mean he was
going to force her to change though, no if she wanted to be miserable
then he would let her do so.
Classes continued on with Harry working further and further ahead,
garnering much praise and many house points for his efforts. Hufflepuff
had played Ravenclaw in the second Quidditch game of the year and the
Ravens came away with a close victory. It was a tentative performance
from teams, though, as both had one eye on their upcoming match with
the rampant Gryffindor team.
The only thing to break the comfortable monotony was a letter Harry
received from Sirius telling him to expect a summons in the not too
distant future ready for his trial. The intention was to keep the trial a
secret from Dumbledore until the actual day. Harry was going to be the
only witness called so he wouldn't be surprised when the summons
arrived out of the blue. Harry couldn't wait; the prospect of a free
Godfather that he could live with was the cause of major excitement.
Sirius hadn't outright said it yet, not wanting to tempt fate, but it was
perfectly obvious from his not so subtle hints that he wanted Harry to
live with him as soon as he was cleared. He just hoped that the
Wizemagot would do the right thing and clear Sirius.
Harry had avoided Dumbledore as much as he possibly could since their
previous meeting and so the day when the eagerly anticipated summons
did arrive at the end of breakfast, was almost the first time he had looked
at the Headmaster. Dumbledore received the message at the same time as
Harry. He didn't betray much, just a slight contemplative frown as he
read it. Looking round he spied Harry with the same official looking
letter and nodded to himself.
He left his chair and walked over to Harry, who tensed at his approach.
"I take it you are going to be present at this trial my boy?" He didn't wait
for Harry to reply. "Well then I wish you the very best of luck and I hope
the right result is achieved."
He didn't seem disturbed at all by the news and this worried Harry
greatly, had the old man found out and already put in place a plan to
block or disrupt the trial? Well there was nothing for it now but to go
and hope that whatever measures Madam Bones had put in place would
do their job.
Immediately following breakfast he followed McGonagall to her office
where he was due to take the floo from.
"Well good luck Mr Potter, you are excused from all of your classes today,
let's hope the result is favourable."
"Thanks Professor, I'll be back later" he said throwing the floo powder
into the fire.
The Ministry atrium, where the floo fireplaces were housed, was a
cavernous, grey expanse and it was dominated at one end by a large
statue. Before Harry could see what it was though he was greeted by an
imposing, ebony skinned man.
"Greetings Mr Potter, my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt and I have been
sent here by Madam Bones to escort you to the courtroom for the trial."
He had a deep calming voice that harry couldn't help but feel relaxed by.
"Hello Mr Shacklebolt, I take it you are an Auror?" Kingsley nodded in
confirmation. "Well lead on then sir, do you know how long it will be
until the trial begins?"
"They should be starting about now Mr Potter."
The rest of the journey was made in silence and the tall Auror bought
Harry to a waiting room, gave a quick bow of the head and left him there
to wait. All of Harry's nervousness came to the fore again as he was left
with time to ponder. He wasn't allowed into the court room for the trial
itself only for his stint as a witness.
It was almost an hour before Shacklebolt returned to lead him into the
witness stand.
"You are Harry James Potter?" came the business like tone of Madam
Bones.
"I am" Harry replied.
"You are of the belief that Sirius Orion Black is innocent of the crimes he
is accused of, could you explain to the court briefly why this is?"
So Harry explained what he had found in his parents journals about them
changing the secret keeper to Pettigrew and using Sirius as a decoy. He
answered the questions as simply and concisely as he could and in short
order was escorted from the court room. It was very frustrating, he still
had no idea whether Sirius was going to be cleared or not. He settled
down to wait again for the result, his nerves jangling.
One hour passed then a second before Auror Shacklebolt exited the door
again, causing Harry to leap from his slumped position.
"What happened? Is he free?"
Shacklebolt smiled briefly, "why don't you ask him yourself?"
"Sirius" Harry shouted charging towards the man.
"Harry" Sirius managed to choke out from Harry's arms wrapped tightly
around his neck. "Harry you gotta let go, I can't breathe." Harry released
him instantly and looked at him in concern.
Sirius was a tall man with long black hair and steel grey eyes. He was
skinny, like he had just recovered from a long term illness, which Harry
supposed Azkaban was.
"What happened? Tell me everything," Harry demanded.
Sirius chuckled lightly, muttering "just like your mother" before taking a
deep breath, steeling himself. "Well the good news is that I'm free, the
baboons of the Wizemagot gave me Veritaserum, truth potion, and while
under that I told them the story about how we switched secret keepers.
Also about when I confronted the dirty rat and the bastard shouted that
I'd betrayed Lily and James before blowing up the street and killing those
muggles before the bugger transformed and ran into the sewer."
"Why did it all take so long then? I've been sat out here for hours."
"Yes well you know politicians, never say one word where ten will do.
But the longest part came when I explained the rat was at Hogwarts."
Harry gasped. "Yeah that's why I escaped, I saw him in a picture in the
Prophet on a Weasley's shoulder. They were going to Egypt or
something."
"Scabbers? Scabbers is Pettigrew? Oh for the love of Merlin I've been
sharing a room with that traitor for three years. Did they catch him?"
Sirius shook his head "they tried, several Aurors went to Hogwarts but
through a combination of standard Ministry incompetence and the
Weasley boy being a moron the rat was able to escape" Sirius spat the last
word out as if it was the foulest word in the English language.
"Ron let the traitor escape? I'll kill him." Fire blazed in Harry's eyes, so
much so that Sirius almost took a step back.
"You know this Ron?"
"Thought I did. He was my best mate but I've finally realised he's a
jealous idiot with the idea set in his mind that the world owes him."
Sirius looked about to say something and was hovering on the edge of it
but Harry interrupted him. "Doesn't matter I'm shot of him now, killing
him won't solve anything. What are your plans now you're free? Where
are you going to live?"
"Well I haven't wanted to think about it too much, didn't want to jinx the
trial. I guess I'll go to Gringotts and find out whether or not my darling
mother disowned me or not. Actually she should be dead by now" he
visibly brightened at this thought before seeing Harry looking at him
curiously. "You must understand Harry I hated her with all of her talk of
blood purity and prejudice, and she hated me as much as her black heart
would allow to feel anything. Anyway until I go see the goblins I don't
really know, I guess I'll have to find somewhere to stay."
"I have the perfect place so long as you don't want ridiculous levels of
luxury."
"Depends how you define luxury. At the moment I define a window as
luxury" Sirius replied wryly.
Harry was torn between hugging his Godfather again and laughing, a
very strange combination of feelings. "Well its where I stayed over the
summer, it's in the muggle world so you should be able to avoid the
sheep of the public until they get it clear in their mind that you are
innocent. Julie and Rach will be delighted to have you and its right next
to the entrance to Diagon so you can sort out your living arrangements
from there."
"That sounds great, well once I get on my feet and get a house sorted do
you? You know? Want to…live with me?" Sirius' face was such a mixture
of pitiful hope that Harry couldn't help but laugh.
"Of course I do you daft sod." It was the relief on Sirius' face that made
Harry break down into laughter this time. "Come on I'll take you to the
hotel and introduce you."
And so they went to the hotel and Sirius watched bemused as Julie and
Rachael attacked Harry, pulling him into strangling hugs. His smirk was
quickly dashed when Harry explained to the two women that Sirius was
very important to him and needed a lot of looking after having been ill,
to get him back to full health. The looks the two gave Sirius made him
think of Madam Pomfrey on her most interfering day and this didn't bode
well for his freedom.
"Now see here," he shouted "I'm not sick. Let go of me woman! Damn it!
Harry! You little bugger come back here and get me out of this mess."
Harry just laughed at his Godfather's predicament and said his goodbyes
to the retreating forms, promising to keep in touch, as they dragged
Sirius to a room to get him set up and nursed to full health.
Harry flooed back to Hogwarts from the Leaky Cauldron, still chuckling
at Sirius' indignation at being manhandled to a room. It wasn't until he
got into bed that night that he thought about Dumbledore and whether
or not he had tried to block Sirius' trial. In his excitement to have his
Godfather free he had forgotten to ask Sirius what had happened.
"Where were you yesterday? I almost had to sit next to Granger in Runes"
Daphne's accusatory tone broke Harry from his inner thoughts, trying to
plot Dumbledore's next move.
"I was… well I was out. I'll explain later. I'm sure you have a lot of
questions that you have been dying to ask me." He looked into her violet
eyes earnestly. "I trust you Daph; you deserve to have some answers.
Meet me in the usual place again after classes today."
She nodded her acquiescence and they began the lesson of the day,
studying the magical properties of the date they were born on.
Harry took a deep breath. This was a big step for him, telling someone
about his life, all of it. Not even Ron or Hermione knew everything about
what happened over the last two years at school, let alone his home life.
'Well no time like the present' he thought.
He began with a brief overview of his time spent with the Dursleys,
leaving out the worst of the abuse. Daphne's normally stoical mask
cracked at the revelations, she couldn't believe things like that happened
and certainly not to Harry Potter. She listened enraptured as he told her
about the Philosopher's Stone and his confrontation with Voldemort.
Sympathising, when he confessed that he was briefly tempted to see if
Voldemort really could bring his parents back before he regained his
senses. She almost reached out to hug him when he told of his guilt over
killing Quirrell. Her heart ached when he was patted on the head like a
good little minion and sent back to a literal prison during the summer,
with nobody to help him deal with that guilt. She heard his worries, his
sense of self loathing when nobody would believe that he wasn't the heir
of Slytherin in second year. She wanted to curse Granger and the Weasel
then, why hadn't they helped him? Supported him? Anything? Then she
was truly gobsmacked when he told her how he went into the Chamber
of Secrets knowing full well there was an ancient basilisk in there. She
half admired him and half wanted to berate him for being so damn
foolish. The revelation that Voldemort was Tom Marvolo Riddle, a half
blood born to a near squib and a muggle made her laugh out loud. The
pure delicious irony, that the Death Eaters that preached blood purity
above all else followed a half blood with a muggle father, was almost too
much for her to take. Her amusement was soon quashed as he told her of
his battle with the basilisk including the part where he should be dead if
it wasn't for the phoenix. She reached out and pulled up his sleeve to
reveal the scar dominating both sides of his forearm. Lightly running her
fingers over it she marvelled at how he had managed to survive at only
12 years old. She never even noticed the light shiver that her gentle
ministrations caused. Lost in her own thoughts she abruptly returned to
reality with a light blush covering her normally pale cheeks. In a bid to
deflect notice from this she blurted out the first thing that came to her
mind.
"Are you telling me there is currently an ancient basilisk corpse lying
under the school doing nothing but rotting?"
Harry shrugged "I guess so, can't imagine anyone else can get in there.
Why?"
She hit him lightly on the arm. "You dolt. Have you any idea how rare
they are let alone all the wonderful potions ingredients you can get from
a corpse and its all yours."
"All mine?" he frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I am, it's the right of conquest, 'he who slays the beast, owns
the beast' is the actual wording I think. Can we go look at it? Please?"
Harry laughed at her bright eyed enthusiasm, "alright but it's not very
nice down there and I can't imagine it smells particularly good either."
"Seriously a girl's bathroom?" Daphne was incredulous that the most
searched for place in all of Hogwarts had its entrance in a girl's
bathroom.
Harry opened the chute using Parseltongue and was about to jump down
before Daphne stopped him.
"Don't you think it's a little odd that the great Salazar Slytherin would
have a giant slide as the entrance? Try some other Parseltongue words to
get a ladder or something."
"As you wish milady" Harry gave a mocking bow and dodged her swipe
at him easily. It turned out that 'Stairs' was the word required for an easy
way down to the Chamber leaving Daphne with a smug look on her face
as she cast lumos and began to walk down.
The expected smell wasn't there when they walked into the Chamber
proper. In fact it looked exactly as it had those months ago, with the
basilisk lying dead and the scars of the battle evident on the stonework
around the Chamber. Daphne gasped seeing the basilisk itself, it looked
to be sleeping rather than dead. It looked in perfect condition. It was
violently proved not to be asleep when Harry walked up to it and without
ceremony kicked it in the side of the head. She nearly strangled him for
that and her temper wasn't improved by him ignoring her threats and
giving her that ridiculous lopsided grin.
"So what now you've seen my dead basilisk?"
"Well it is called the Chamber of Secrets" Harry looked at her blankly.
"Secrets as in plural, more than one. Honestly for a smart guy you can be
incredibly stupid. Let's have a look round and see if there is anything else
interesting down here."
So began a search of the Chamber that turned up nothing until Daphne
made Harry open the statue that the basilisk emerged from. Daphne
poked her head in cautiously and started to cast all sorts of basic
diagnostic spells while Harry looked on getting more impatient by the
minute. So much so that he slipped past her and started muttering 'open'
in Parseltongue around the walls until a doorway opened about halfway
down the passage. He grinned at Daphne and received a lecture for
rushing in like a headless moron, which he calmly ignored. He was
getting rather good at doing this he noted.
The revealed room was very dusty and looked like nobody had used it for
centuries. This boded well as it was unlikely Riddle had found it. The
exploring duo were jerked from their study of the room and jumped a
mile when they heard a voice from the blackness.
"Well it's about time one of my heirs managed to find me in here."
"Holy shit a ghost" Harry swore.
"I'm not a ghost you slack jawed inbred I hope you're not my heir if you
can't tell the obvious difference between a portrait and a ghost."
"S'dark" Harry mumbled as if to justify himself.
Daphne rolled her eyes and increased the power in her lumos spell,
lighting the entire room. It was a spacious potions lab for the most part
with two doors at the far end, behind assorted potions equipment and a
multitude of jars. On the left hand wall was an 18" by 12" portrait of a
man with long black hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked to be
working at a copy of the potions laboratory they were in now.
"Well then let's have a look at you both, which one of you is my heir?"
Daphne and Harry exchanged a glance before Harry replied, "well I guess
I'm the closest. I'm not actually your heir; at least I don't think I am. I got
the ability to speak Parseltongue as a 'gift' from your heir, or the person
who is claiming to be your heir anyway."
Salazar Slytherin looked at him bemused. "You had better start from the
beginning."
17. Chapter 17
AN- Two chapters in one day, I am spoiling you! I probably don't say
it enough but thank you for the wonderful reviews, they really do
help. Makes all the effort worthwhile when you hear that somebody
enjoys your work so thank you all.
Chapter 17
The talk with Salazar was interesting for several reasons. Firstly, and
most importantly for Daphne, was the information that the history of
Slytherin House was fatally flawed. It was not purity of blood but rather
purity of heart that was prized by its founder. In fact Salazar was
disgusted by the stories Daphne told him of the state of his house. It
appeared to physically pain him when he heard of Riddle's quest for the
culling of muggleborns. Salazar insisted that he was not prejudiced in this
way, rather that the muggleborn population in his time were a burden as
they required teaching, not only to read and write, but also basic English
and hygiene at its most fundamental level. Presumably the stories of
Salazar 'hating' muggleborns extrapolated from here, as time twisted the
original story. The thing Harry found most interesting in the long
conversation with Salazar was the sheer variety and complexity of
swearing in Parseltongue. Salazar was already a highly creative curser in
Standard English but when Parseltongue became involved it was almost
an art form. This was best demonstrated when Harry called Salazar Sal
for the first and only time. The diatribe launched at him left Daphne open
mouthed at the filth pouring from Salazar's mouth let alone once the
Parseltongue started. All in all Harry was suitably chastised and Salazar's
name was never shortened again.
Exploration of Salazar's laboratory, now referred to simply as the lab by
Harry and Daphne, took some time as they had to wade through
centuries of dirt and mess. Of the two doors at the end of the lab the first
led to a living complex with a bedroom with en suite and a sitting room/
study with a huge collection of dusty tomes in the library area. Harry
practically drooled at the prospect of all the knowledge contained in
these ancient books. The other door led to a compact duelling area with a
collection of dusty swords and slightly battered armour. This was going
to be useful as a place for Harry to practise all the spells he had read
about, in private, away from prying eyes. In fact the whole place was an
absolute goldmine of a find. It was perfect as a base that nobody but
Harry and those he allowed could get in. It had excellent facilities, so
much so he barely needed to leave.
The problem with this over the following weeks was that he would often
lose track of time, absorbed in one of the many books or arguing with
Salazar about some forgotten aspect of magic. He would end up staying
in the lab so late that by the time he noticed the time he was too lazy to
go back to the Gryffindor tower and so would just kip in the lab's
bedroom. The only thing that the lab lacked was a supply of food.
Daphne privately thought that it was a very good thing that the lab did
lack this; otherwise Harry would never leave its confines. It wasn't only
Daphne that noticed Harry's conspicuous absence from a normal
timetable outside of lessons. On a rare occasion that Harry spent in his
own dorm Neville confronted him, albeit very hesitantly.
"Um Harry. I was wondering, you know, where it is exactly that you go
all the time? I mean you hardly ever seem to spend the night here
anymore. Or if you do you come in so late and are up by the time we all
wake up. You don't have to tell me but I just wondered and wanted to
make sure you were alright."
Harry thought about it briefly, he didn't really want to share the lab's
existence with anyone but Neville deserved an answer. "I appreciate your
concern Neville, but I'm just off studying, nothing exciting. I have a mild
case of insomnia so I find it hard to sleep. So instead of lying in bed
awake I figured I may as well do something a bit productive."
Neville nodded his understanding. "So long as you're ok and not doing
anything too dangerous, Merlin knows you get in enough trouble as it is."
Harry pouted comically "now Nev that's hardly fair. I don't go looking for
trouble I just seem to attract it a little bit. Goodnight Neville, I'm going to
try and get a decent night's sleep tonight."
Under Salazar's direction Daphne and Harry got a crash course in how to
rend a large magical animal for potions parts. Much as it pained Salazar
to admit it, he wasn't too angry with Harry for killing his pet. As soon as
he found out what his previous heir had used her for his ire switched
away from Harry and he was forgiven. Salazar taught them both how to
put ingredients under stasis like all of the bottles and jars were in the lab.
The skin would apparently make high quality armour as it was
marginally more magically resistant than dragon hide but was far lighter
and more flexible, allowing a much larger range of movement. However
growth charms couldn't be applied to it so Salazar recommended that
Harry wait until he had finished growing before having any of it made
into armour if he didn't want any going to waste. The meat was packed
into trunks, according to Salazar the goblins liked magical meat and so
harry was going to try and sell it to them. The organs were so big they
had to be put into barrels rather than jars and Salazar and Daphne were
bouncing with glee at the prospect of experimenting with such large
specimens. Never before had a basilisk this large been harvested and so
they were entering unknown territory, not knowing the full possibilities
of what some of its parts could do.
Most nights Harry would talk with Sirius through his webcam and Sirius
would use Rach's computer. Harry still teased his Godfather about the
first time he had tried to use the laptop and the girlish scream he had
unleashed at Harry appearing in the screen. Between laughs Rach and
Harry tried to explain but it was easier to just allow Sirius to call it magic
and leave it at that. The news that the infamous Sirius Black was
innocent produced shockwaves throughout the wizarding world but most
people seemed to blame Barty Crouch as opposed to Dumbledore, leaving
Harry to curse the inability for anything to stick to the old man. Of
course he had been properly apologetic to both Sirius and Harry,
claiming that he had only done what he thought was best. Harry didn't
believe it for a second but he had to admire the twinkly bastard's acting
skills.
Despite his many vehement protests that he hated being trapped in the
hotel under the care of Julie and Rachael, Sirius had made no real effort
to leave the hotel. He had been to Gringotts, under supervision of course,
and was apparently the last surviving male member of the Black family
and so was to become Lord Black of the Most Ancient and Noble House of
Black. Sirius wasn't particularly keen on this idea but was steadily being
bullied into accepting it by Harry. 'Merlin knows I need an ally on the
Wizemagot' Harry thought. He had also inherited the Black family house
at 12 Grimauld Place but Sirius was leery of returning to his hated
childhood home. It had been Julie that brought him round to the idea of
living there. She explained that if he hated it so much in its current state
then why didn't he change it to whatever he personally liked? Sirius got
an unholy gleam in his eye at the prospect of destroying every last snake
motif and painting everything red and gold. It appeared Sirius hadn't
really matured at all since the end of Harry's parents journals. He still
loved pranks and practically the first thing he had wanted to hear from
Harry was whether or not he had managed to play any good ones. Harry
hated to disappoint the man-child but he had been a bit too busy to delve
into the Marauder legacy properly. He did however want to get hold of
the Marauder's Map that he had read about in the journals. Having not
been able to find it anywhere Harry had toyed with remaking it but
hadn't got round to it yet. According to Sirius, though, it was in Filch's
office after he confiscated it in their final year. Harry wasn't entirely sure
how he was going to get in there so figured he needed to bring in some
expert advice.
"Fred, George I find myself in need of some help. Would either of you
two fine gentlemen be interested in helping me out?"
"Sure Harrikins what do you need from the great."
"And noble."
"Pranksters extraordinaire."
"The Weasley twins."
"Guys what did we talk about before? No twin speak. I need to get into
Filch's office; there is a particular item in his confiscated drawer that I
want."
Both twins fixed Harry with deadly serious looks now. "What sort of an
item would this be Harry?"
Harry hesitated, he didn't really want to share with the twins after all it
was his father that had made the map but if they were going to help him
they needed to know.
"It's a map. You know that Sirius Black was really good friends with my
dad right? Well the two of them and a couple of their friends made a map
of Hogwarts while they were at school. It shows all the secret passages
and everyone is labelled on the map as well."
There were now identical expressions of shock and awe on the twin's
faces now. "Your father and Sirius Black were part of the Marauders?"
"How do you…? You found the map didn't you? Why am I even
surprised? How long have you had it? Where is it?"
"Patience Harry." With utmost reverence, Fred or possibly George pulled
a slightly tattered piece of parchment from his pocket and presented it to
Harry.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good" intoned Harry, placing the point of
his wand against the parchment. Lines immediately began to snake across
the surface, forming into a perfect plan of the school grounds. A wide
smile broke across Harry's face.
"How much do you want for it?"
Fred and George shared a quick look before Fred spoke "it's yours. It's a
family heirloom; all that we ask is the chance to meet Sirius. Which one
is he anyway?"
"Padfoot. Sirius is Padfoot, my father was Prongs. You know Moony
already, he's Professor Lupin. Please try not to bug him too much. I tell
you what, why don't you both come round sometime over Christmas, I'll
be with Sirius and I'm sure Moony will visit quite a lot."
Looking like all their Christmas' had come at once, the twins happily
agreed and practically skipped away to cause some unknown mayhem.
It wasn't just the twins that Harry invited to visit over Christmas. With
Sirius' permission Harry called somewhat of a war council with Professors
McGonagall and Snape as well as Madam Bones. Remus was of course
spending most of the holiday with them as well under the insistence of
Sirius. Harry was really looking forward to seeing what Sirius had done
to Grimauld Place, his new home he thought excitedly. Dumbledore had
not made his feelings known either way at Harry leaving at Christmas
which was a little surprising but as time went on Harry found he cared
less and less what the old man thought. The meeting itself was set for the
first Saturday after they left Hogwarts.
Harry was desperate to see Sirius again so instead of taking the train all
the way back to London, he had bullied Remus into side along apparating
him to Grimauld Place. The place finally being judged habitable enough
to move into the day before Hogwarts let out. The place was apparently
under the very best wards that magical Britain had to offer, courtesy of
the ever paranoid Blacks. Harry packed his trunks and appeared at
Remus' door at 9am sharp, the time Remus had said they would leave.
"Alright there Harry? What can I do for you this morning?" Remus
pretended casual confusion at Harry's arrival.
"Don't toy with me Moony! Get a move on I want to see my Godfather."
Remus chuckled and they walked to the outskirts of Hogsmede where the
wards ended, allowing Remus to apparate. The feeling of apparition was
highly unpleasant for Harry, particularly as baggage but all thoughts of
hexing Remus left his mind as he saw Sirius burst from the doors of a
large terraced house.
"Harry!"
"Sirius!" They leapt into a crushing hug with Remus looking on fondly
until he was beckoned in by Sirius, joining the three way hug.
"Come in, come in. See what wonders I have achieved with this filthy old
house." Sirius swept them in grandly through the double doors.
The interior was anything but filthy, it was bright and airy and decorated
tastefully in a variety of complementary creams and whites with gold
highlights and every so often a red accent like the curtains.
"Bloody hell Padfoot did Azkaban magically give you some sort of taste in
decorating?" exclaimed Remus.
Sirius looked a little sheepish, rubbing the back of his head. "Well I might
have had a little bit of help. I was going to do everything red and gold
but I was talked out of it. After I saw one room that she decorated I just
let her get on with it. But there is still some red and gold so all is not
lost." He brightened at the thought.
"Who helped you?" Remus asked.
Harry interrupted Sirius' reply "It was Julie wasn't it?"
"Might have been" mumbled Sirius.
Remus looked delighted before what Harry had come to call the
Marauder glint appeared in his eye. "Padfoot's got a girlfriend, Padfoot's
got a girlfriend" he chanted childishly.
"I do not. She was just helping out."
And so began a day and evening of much hilarity and playful mocking.
Stories were exchanged and drink flowed, although it was Butterbeer in
Harry's case with the exception of a glass or two of mead after the
evening meal. The meal itself was a veritable feast, simple fare but
delicious. However it was served by the surliest waiter in the world.
Kreacher the house elf was the polar opposite of the hyperactive Dobby,
constantly muttering about blood traitors and something about a portrait
that Harry didn't understand.
When he asked Sirius about it, the older man gave a deep belly laugh and
explained that his mother had put a portrait of herself in the entrance
hall with a permanent sticking charm. It resisted every single attempt to
get rid of it until Julie lost her temper at being called 'a useless squib
waste of space' one too many times and grabbed a nearby sledgehammer,
smashing the portrait in the face. She then proceeded to knock down the
entire wall with the portrait still attached and screaming at her with
Sirius looking on in amazement. Needless to say Sirius was slightly more
mindful of not upsetting Julie from that day forth.
The next morning Harry emerged from his brand new room, one that was
at least three times the size of the one he had at the Dursleys. It was a
little blank at the moment but Sirius insisted that this was so he could
decorate it however he wanted and thoughts were already flying through
Harry's mind about putting a huge television in, if he could work out how
to shield it from the ambient magic of course.
The kitchen revealed a very bleary and hungover Sirius along with a
worryingly chipper Remus. Considering he had drunk just as much as
Sirius, perhaps a little more, Harry had been expecting an equally
hungover teacher. However it seemed that being a werewolf had one
definite advantage, you could still get as drunk as a normal person but
the metabolism was such that the poison of the alcohol was absorbed
before morning hence no hangovers. This was a useful skill and Harry
wondered if it would be possible to recreate this somehow, he would
definitely need it later on in life if Sirius' half baked plans from the night
before came to pass.
"How about we explore the house a little bit? I've only seen a bit and
there looks to be loads" Harry asked.
"Yeah Sirius I've only seen a bit as well, I want to see what Julie did to
the place" Remus mocked.
"Alright, alright let's go" Sirius mumbled.
Sirius soon forgot his discomfort as he launched into being a tour guide
with typical vigour and many flourishes. The house itself had five floors
including a converted attic as well as a large basement that was full of
junk at the moment. Sirius claimed that it was junk anyway but Harry
had the feeling that some of it was probably quite valuable. The first
floor was the formal entertaining area with a massive formal dining area
with a long table that could seat over 150 people. On the other side of
the large entrance hall was the ballroom for dances and balls, a
Pureblood tradition according to Sirius. The second floor started the
actual living area, it contained a large kitchen and the small dining room.
Small was a bit of a subjective word here as the room was large enough
to comfortably sit twenty. There was also a sitting area and a room that
had very little in it apart from some portraits and a large tapestry
showing the family tree. Sirius didn't know what to do with this room so
had left it empty. The third floor held the impressive Black family library,
one that was almost as large as Hogwarts by the look of it and had both
Remus and Harry salivating. It also marked the beginning of the guest
rooms with three decent sized rooms present. The fourth floor was
entirely guest rooms with nine of varying sizes and opulence, most
having en suites. Finally the fifth floor was for family with Harry's room
along with a permanent 'guest' room for Remus. The floor was dominated
by the master bedroom with bathroom and next to it was the Head of the
Family study that contained all the financial information of the assets
held by the Blacks. Sirius hadn't gone through everything yet, in fact he
hadn't even begun and quite clearly wanted to put it off indefinitely.
Harry however saw a golden opportunity to test his new financial
management program. Sirius was sceptical until he found you had to
input information once and then the program worked everything from
then on. The idea of doing less work sold Padfoot immediately and so
they went to buy a top of the range PC for the study.
It was a good job they took Remus along to the computer shop as Sirius
was a nightmare to keep under control, much like a hyperactive toddler
he was everywhere at once, touching everything and playing with it.
Seeing the manager beginning to lose patience Remus calmly explained
that Sirius was a little bit 'special' and was hard work but it did him good
to be out in public. The manager nodded understandingly and after the
purchase had been made presented an incredibly bemused Sirius with a
lollipop. Only once Remus explained over a cackling Harry, exactly why
Sirius had received the lolly did the Animagus get angry but it was soon
abated as he realised he had a free lollipop and it was orange flavour so
he didn't really care.
Sirius and Remus looked on in fascination as Harry began his
modification of the PC using runes to shield it and recreate electricity
magically. Remus could follow some of what was going on and began to
understand more as Harry explained. Sirius however was lost and soon
gave up and disappeared mysteriously for several hours while the work
was being completed.
He returned eventually and categorically refused to answer any questions
as to where he had been which of course only made Remus and Harry
more suspicious. Allowing Sirius to think he had pulled the wool over
their eyes, they began to sort some of the financial information. Sirius
actually proved to be very knowledgeable about it all as he had been
groomed from a young age to take over the lordship. With Sirius and
Remus working through the paper and Harry inputting the data onto his
program, installed from a USB stick onto the PC, they made good
progress. Sirius did insist after three hours that they stopped and had
some fun as he refused to work for any longer than that causing Remus to
shake his head fondly at the stubborn old dog.
That evening Harry lay in bed, worn out but happy. Life was good.
18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
War Council might have been a rather excessive way of describing the
meeting that was to take place over lunch, but it certainly had that
feeling. Remus had made sure that Sirius had any memory blocks
removed and charms pertaining to loyalty to Dumbledore removed from
him as soon as he was free from Azkaban. Of course Sirius and Snape still
argued a lot but it was much better natured, in fact Harry thought that
insults were actually the only way the two could communicate. Sirius
was particularly fond of alliteration and took great pleasure in forming
long and complicated phrases to hurl at Snape. Unfortunately the concept
of the sentence actually making sense was often sacrificed in order to add
as many alliterative words as possible. Snape, meanwhile, would attempt
to make as cutting a statement as possible with the fewer words the
better. McGonagall gamely struggled to keep the two under control and
focused on task but she was outmatched, particularly once Remus joined
in with a too innocent face.
Surprisingly it was only really Harry who could keep everyone in line
and prevent the bickering. Firstly, to make sure everyone was on the
same page, Harry explained all that he had discovered at Gringotts, the
leech being removed as well as the blocks and all the happenings at
Hogwarts since he got there. Sirius had to be physically restrained from
going to curse the Dursleys or Dumbledore; he wasn't too sure which he
wanted to hex first. Madam Bones dropped her monocle from her eye
during the telling of the story causing snickers around the table before
the formidable witch quelled them with a glare. Once everything had
been explained and everyone was up to date Harry opened up the floor to
anyone.
McGonagall was the first to speak. "After Harry's second meeting with
Dumbledore this year I have kept a much closer watch on him. I must
admit, for the most part there is absolutely no indication that he is
capable of any of the things we have talked about. Now before you say
anything Harry I do not doubt you, I fully believe you, it's just that Albus
seems to be exactly what we know him as; the slightly eccentric, old man
who wants the best for everyone. However very, very occasionally there
is something else there, his speech patterns are very slightly different, for
example he always calls me 'my dear' yet there was one time he didn't
call me it once. This was the time when he wanted to marginally adjust
some of the changes we were due to make to the running of the school.
What was really strange was that he wanted to change something that he
had been so keen on when we had met previously. I can't make head nor
tail of it and I would never have noticed it if Harry hadn't mentioned
about it before."
Harry nodded thoughtfully "he always calls me 'my boy' yet the time he
tried Legillimency on me, he didn't say it once. I agree Professor, there's
something very odd going on here but I can't work it out. Does anyone
else have any thoughts?"
They did. Back and forth the discussion went for hours with many
theories, some sensible others patently not, until Madam Bones made her
excuses saying she had paperwork to catch up on. McGonagall and Snape
followed soon after leaving Harry, Remus and Sirius alone.
"Well we have worked very hard today, what do we want to do for fun?"
"Padfoot we haven't really worked, we sat around eating and talking
while you and Severus sat there sniping at each other" Remus attempted
to explain but Sirius was having none of it.
"Let's go to Diagon Alley, I'm sure Harry needs to buy some presents
particularly for a certain Miss Greengrass" he nudged Harry in the ribs
very unsubtly while winking at him.
"Shut up Sirius. But for once you are right I do need to buy some presents
but obviously not for mangy mutts who can't keep their nose out of
other's business."
Sirius maturely stuck his tongue out at Harry and dashed off to get a coat
and some shoes for the trip. Harry looked at Remus.
"Are you sure what you said in the computer shop isn't actually true? I've
never met a bigger man-child." Remus' response was simply to laugh and
shrug.
"Alright before we go shopping I need to stop at Gringotts. I've got some
business with the goblins" said Harry patting his jacket pocket where
there were currently five trunks shrunk filled with basilisk meat. He kept
one full trunk and a part one for himself for experimenting on in the
potions lab, although he did have to admit that he was extremely curious
what basilisk meat tasted like.
"Fine fine, Remus you had better go with him make sure he doesn't get
into trouble. I have a few things I need to do quickly. I'll meet you in the
alley at some point."Sirius shrugged, "don't really know when but it's not
a very big place so shouldn't be too difficult to meet up again." With that
he was gone, apparating somewhere known only to himself.
"I wonder about him, I really do" said Remus, shaking his head. "Come on
let's sell some stuff to the goblins."
They walked up to the desk and Harry waited for them to be beckoned
forward by a clawed finger. "Hello I'm Harry Potter I have some business
with Griphook my Account Manager, is it possible to meet with him?"
The goblin looked up briefly, weighing and measuring Harry before
calling for a goblin to take them to Griphook.
"Good morning Harry what can I do for you today?" asked Griphook as
they were ushered into his office by the harried goblin escorting them.
"Morning Griphook, I hear from a reliable source that goblins have a taste
for rare magical meat. I happen to have a rather large supply of some
exceptionally rare meat and was wondering if you were at all interested?"
"You have piqued my curiosity Harry what sort of meat are you talking
about?"
Instead of answering, Harry pulled one of the trunks from him pocket,
enlarged it and showed it to Griphook.
"Interesting it is not any kind of meat I recognise by sight or smell. Might
I be permitted to taste a sliver?"
"Sure go ahead." Griphook took out a wicked looking curved blade from a
desk drawer and shaved off a thin slice of the meat. He smelt it, held it
up to the light, all the while muttering to himself, before finally taking a
bite. A look of pure ecstasy came across his face along with a widening of
his eyes.
"Well Harry I don't know what it is but it's delicious. The flavour is
delicate yet has a hint of maturity; one can almost taste the magic. What
is it?"
"Basilisk. Probably about a thousand years old, give or take a bit. Killed it
in the Chamber of Secrets."
Griphook was astonished, "you killed a thousand year old basilisk at the
age of 12? It must have been huge?"
"Probably closer to 70 feet than 60" Harry answered casually.
"And you say you wish to sell us some of the meat. May I enquire as to
how much?"
"Well each trunk holds 275 cubic feet and I have six full ones and a part
full one. I wish to sell five of the full ones at this time, if you want them
that is?"
"We most certainly do want to buy all of it as well as first refusal on any
of the rest of the meat should you choose to sell it. I need to talk to the
Manager to see how much we can offer you for it. I am confident we will
want it all and more. If you would wait five minutes I will have an
answer for you."
Then totally breaking every Gringotts policy, the excited goblin rushed
off leaving Harry and Remus alone in the office.
"That went well I thought. I wonder how much they will give me for it"
Harry remarked dryly.
"Judging by Griphook's reaction I would imagine a hefty amount."
They passed the time waiting by discussing what they were going to get
Sirius for Christmas until a slightly flustered Griphook returned.
"Ah good you're still here. I shouldn't have left you here but I was so
excited" Griphook blushed slightly, not a pleasant sight at all, highly
disconcerting in fact. "The Manager has authorised me to offer you 5000
Galleons."
"Is that per trunk? So that's 25000 Galleons?" Harry said working it out
quickly in his head.
"No, no you misunderstand me Harry that's 5000 Galleons per cubic foot."
Harry whistled appreciatively while Remus' eyes goggled. "So that's 275
cubic feet per trunk, 5 trunks, 1375 cubic feet total. Bloody hell that's
6,875,000 Galleons! That's like £35 million. Well £34,375,000 to be
precise."
"Indeed. We would also like to offer a further 125,000 Galleons to secure
the option to buy any more of the meat you wish to sell before anyone
else has the opportunity. We will of course pay the same price for any of
that meat that we buy."
Harry thought about it very briefly, it seemed like a good deal to him.
The goblins were probably taking advantage slightly but Harry accepted
that, it was still a lot of money and went a long way to beginning the
repair of the Potter accounts.
"Alright Griphook you've got a deal. I trust that the Galleons will be
deposited in my Trust vault as opposed to the Main Potter vault so his
Royal Dumbleness can't get his filthy hands on it?"
"Of course Harry I will see that the transfer is done immediately."
"Excellent, well I suppose you will be wanting these then" Harry said,
removing the other four trunks from his pocket, enlarging them and
presenting them to Griphook. He chuckled at the greedy glint in the
goblin's eye.
"Yes indeed. As always Harry, a pleasure doing business with you."
"Well that settles the argument we were having anyway. I now have more
than enough money to get all that stuff for Sirius."
Remus nodded, "I guess you do indeed. I'm still not sure it's entirely a
good idea though, I mean from what you have told me I can see Sirius
getting hooked very easily."
"Ah come on Remus it's just an Xbox and flat screen television, what can
possibly go wrong? Come on lets go get that now and get it delivered,
electronics don't cope well with being shrunk. Actually now that I think
about it there's a big electronics shop not far from Grimauld Place. Do
you reckon you can use your super werewolf muscles and carry it from
there?"
"Super werewolf muscles? Did you really just call them that?"
"Look Moony stop being a pansy, can you carry it or not? It's a yes or no
question."
"Yeah alright I can carry it, with my super werewolf muscles. I swear you
and Sirius are spending too much time together you know."
Harry shrugged the abuse off and soon was the proud owner of a 60 inch
flat screen TV which Remus carried easily back to the house and stashed
it in Harry's room. A quick trip to the game shop yielded quite a selection
of games including something called Guitar Hero which looked pretty
fun. Remus counselled buying only a few but Harry was having none of it
and bought twenty games that looked good, as well as the Xbox 360
itself. To most people this would seem like wildly excessive generosity
however Harry fully intended to be playing these games as often, if not
more, than Sirius so it all worked out in the end.
Harry sent Remus on a wild goose chase looking for a left handed
screwdriver, which he insisted he needed to fix the TV, while he bought a
top of the range phone for the belligerent werewolf and one for Sirius as
well. His purchase was complete by the time a swearing and cursing
Remus returned having been laughed out of several shops.
"Come on Remus lets go get a few more presents in Diagon Alley. I need
some for a few people at school."
The girls were easy to buy for they just got assorted jewellery but Harry's
male friends were slightly more difficult. The twins got an assortment of
pranking items from Zonko's; Neville got some rare seeds of various
plants for his extensive greenhouses at Longbottom Manor, Cedric and
Wood got vouchers for Quality Quidditch Supplies, the Ravenclaw boys
got Flourish and Blotts vouchers of course and Blaise got several rare
books on magical creatures as that was his favoured subject. Harry
thought about buying for Snape and McGonagall but he really had no
idea what to get them so he left it.
Hedwig was kept exceptionally busy in the days leading up to Christmas,
delivering presents to Harry's friends and waiting for their gifts to him.
Harry was building quite a collection of gifts but he still had no idea
what Sirius was getting him, or what Remus was for that matter. There
was nothing for it but to wait until Christmas.
The days did pass eventually, even if they did seem to take twice as long
as they should. Harry was bouncing off the walls with excitement, for the
first time in his memory he was going to have Christmas with people who
cared about him, a real family. Sirius wasn't much better and Remus had
to force him to go to bed on Christmas Eve otherwise he would have
stayed up all night.
Harry planned on sneaking out of his room in the morning to wake
Remus and Sirius up exceptionally early, however he had not counted on
his Godfather having exactly the same idea. They met in the hallway,
each moving covertly to the others room, and both burst into laughter on
spotting the other. By unspoken agreement they both moved to Remus'
room and eased open the door. Harry lobbed a couple of fireworks in and
Sirius conjured a bucket of water to fall on the unaware Remus. It
worked perfectly, the fireworks startling Remus out of sleep so he stared
wildly around the room panicking, just in time to receive a full face of ice
cold water. The torrent of curses from Remus' mouth would have made
Salazar nod approvingly as the immature pranksters fled, giggling.
"Good morning Moony. Good to see you had a bath; it's nice that you
want to look your best for presents."
"Shut up Sirius, just remember it's the full moon in a couple days and I'll
get you back then."
Sirius' smirk rapidly faded at this prospect leading Harry to wonder what
exactly those two got up to on full moon nights. Shrugging it off, he
moved to the stack of presents and began the rather impressive task of
handing out and unwrapping the multitude.
Harry received all sorts of gifts from his friends everything from
chocolate (Hannah) to new seeker arm guards (the collective Gryffindor
chasers). The twins gave him some prank items but these looked to be
homemade, the note insisted they were safe but Harry was unconvinced
and resolved to wait until he spoke to them. Blaise and Tracey had
clubbed together and got him a professional potioneers knife kit. From
almost everyone else he received books about a wide variety of topics,
some of which looked very rare so Harry couldn't wait to dive into them.
The two surprises came first from Susan who gave him a silver ring that
fit perfectly on his thumb. It was about a cm wide and had snitches
engraved on it, Harry loved it. His other surprise came from Daphne and
was a necklace made of leather with a single tooth hanging from it as a
pendant. The accompanying note said that it was the smallest fang from
the very back of the Basilisk's mouth that had all of its poison removed
and was shaped and polished. It was beautiful and Harry put it on
immediately.
Remus gave him his next present, Harry looked at it slightly confused, it
was a thick leather jacket with the Marauder's logo on the back. However
where there had once been a rat, there was a lily taking its place. It
wasn't until Harry opened his first present from Sirius that it became a bit
clearer, it was a helmet.
Sirius looked at him apologetically "I didn't really want to get you a
helmet, but apparently it's the law to wear one now. Anyway you need a
reason to wear that silly thing and here it is."
He produced a package from behind his back and with a dramatic
flourish unshrunk it. Harry opened it at lightning pace to reveal a
beautiful chrome and black motorbike.
"Sirius, wow, that's awesome! Aren't I a little young though?"
"Nonsense it has all the top of the range charms on it, anti-lock braking,
super sensory, never tip etc. You would have to try really hard to fall off
of it, believe me I tried. Now for my best invention yet, well slightly your
mothers as well, but it was my idea. When you ride this nobody will
question that you aren't old enough to do so, it's a modified notice-me-
not charm so that they still see the bike but don't see the rider. I had one
on my bike when I first got it when I was 14 but I don't really need it
now so I took it off once I got it back from Hagrid."
"Wait does that mean this one flies as well?" Harry asked excitedly.
"Of course it does! What sort of use is a motorbike that doesn't fly?" Sirius
scoffed.
"Sirius this is brilliant, we can go riding together and everything. Now it's
time for your present. You know the room you never go in? The tapestry
room? Well I have found a use for it, follow me."
Needless to say Sirius was gobsmacked by the TV and Xbox in there.
Harry patiently explained what it all was and what it could do leaving
Sirius wide eyed in wonderment. He quite clearly wanted nothing more
than to dive right in and start playing but with a magnificent effort he
turned away.
"Come on Harry I have a couple more presents for you. Now I heard some
dreadful rumours that Draco Malfoy bought his way onto the Slytherin
Quidditch team last year with the best broom on the market. Of course
this is wrong on so many levels, a Malfoy spawn will not have a better
broom than my Godson so I got you this."
"Bloody hell Sirius that's a Firebolt, it's an international broom."
Sirius shrugged "Moony has seen you fly, he says you're better than your
dad and he could have played for England if the war hadn't screwed
everything up. I'm sure you can handle it, I'm looking forward to coming
to see your next game. Now I have one more present for you, to be
honest it's just as much a present to me but still." He handed Harry an
official looking envelope, Harry looked at it curiously and opened it. "Its
Guardianship papers signed by Fudge himself. Nobody and I mean
absolutely nobody can overturn them now. Harry? Are you alright?"
Harry was utterly blank. He should have expected this of course but this
was official, someone wanted him, Sirius actually wanted him, wanted
them to be a family. He leaped up and grabbed Sirius in a tight hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Shh it's alright, come on Kreacher can get us breakfast and then I can
destroy you at box thingy."
19. Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The rest of the holidays passed without too many incidents.
Unfortunately Remus was right and Sirius was well and truly addicted to
Xbox within a couple of days. It was incredibly amusing for Harry to sit
and watch the utter concentration on his Godfather's face as he slowly
worked out how to use the console and control the characters. The
Animagus got really involved in the games, so much so that he leant
which way he wanted the car to go in racing games, he ducked and said
'ow' when he was shot at in the shooting games and danced around the
room like a lunatic when he was playing Guitar Hero. Harry tried to
teach him to play real guitar on the one he made but it was a lost cause
as Sirius did not possess anywhere near the patience required.
"Yeah but I can play a whole song straight away on the Xbox why would
I want to spend ages practising?"
Harry despaired sometimes. At least he too was getting to play, in fact
him and Sirius made a particularly good team on the shooting games
when they decided to play co-op. At least until Sirius got bored of
teamwork and shot him in the back.
The twins visited and got on famously with Sirius and Remus, once he
was outside of Professor mode. It turned out that the homemade joke
items were made by the twins themselves, Sirius was very impressed.
Remus was as well until he questioned them as to how they were capable
of such impressive magic yet still managed average grades. The twins
were utterly unrepentant and claimed they could probably pass their
NEWT practical's now with flying colours and the theory with average
marks. It was just that school work didn't really interest them, it was
pranks and more specifically inventing them that did. Even Remus had to
admit that it was some highly impressive magic and the four began to
bounce ideas off of each other with occasional input from Harry.
Sirius took Harry out on his bike for the first time, an experience they
both thoroughly enjoyed even if they did have to stop twice to ring
Remus to reassure him that they weren't dead in a ditch. Their ringing
and vibrating pockets had annoyed both of them. Speaking of over
protective parental figures they also visited Julie and Rachael where
Harry had to endure many questions about whether he was eating
properly and had all his homework done. Harry rolled his eyes but dealt
with it in good humour before he disappeared to Rach's room to see her
new cds and to show off his guitar playing ability a little bit. Harry
expected Sirius at the very least to follow him rather than sit and talk like
a real grown up but he didn't. In fact during dinner Sirius was acting very
bizarrely, not once did he fling any sort of food at Harry, he hardly swore
and he only had one glass of wine before switching to soft drinks. Harry
couldn't make head nor tail of it and Remus refused to answer when he
asked about it.
The one blot on their perfect holiday was the discovery of a locket in one
of the rooms. It had obviously been hidden and Sirius was about to throw
it out as it had a snake on the front. However before he had the chance to
Kreacher came in screaming about 'Master Regulus'. Regulus was
apparently Sirius' younger brother who joined the Death Eaters and died
during his service. Kreacher had a different view of events though and
slowly the true story began to emerge with Regulus going to a lake
somewhere and swapping this locket with a fake. Kreacher wasn't too
clear on what it was but one thing was obvious that whatever it was, it
was incredibly important to Voldemort. They had no idea what it could
be, other than it emanated dark magic, nor who to ask until Harry
remembered Salazar. Surely the founder of Slytherin would be able to
identify it.
All too soon it was time to return to Hogwarts, this time Harry was going
to have to take the train, much to his consternation. With trunk shrunk in
his pocket, Harry and Sirius rode their bikes to Kings Cross. Harry had
wanted to take his bike to Hogwarts but even Sirius had put his foot
down at this idea. It was hard to know whether Harry or Sirius was more
shocked at this turn of events. With a manly hug and much backslapping
the two parted ways with Harry walking to the train, waving over his
shoulder.
Harry soon found a compartment that was empty and settled himself in
for the long and boring journey. His peace and quiet was soon
interrupted by the arrival of a furiously blushing Susan who wanted to
thank him for the bracelet he sent her. She proudly showed that she was
wearing it at the moment and wrapped Harry in a tight hug when she
saw he was wearing the ring she sent before fleeing the compartment.
Harry quickly came to the conclusion that girls were all mildly insane
and returned to his quiet contemplation.
This was soon dashed once more as Harry's Slytherin friends bundled
their way into the compartment . He sighed deeply knowing that with
Tracey present all hope of quiet was gone. As expected she launched into
a monologue about everything that happened over Christmas, asking
everyone questions but giving them no real time to answer. She did
eventually pause for breath long enough for Blaise to speak.
"Yes. Yes. No. Maybe. Italy to see my grandparents. Was ok. Yes thank
you. No. Yesterday. Glad you liked it. Yes. No. If only."
Tracey looked at him nonplussed "What?"
"The answers to all of your questions. You finally gave me a chance to
answer them so I thought I had better do so in a block to make sure I got
them out."
Daphne was trying desperately to hide a smirk at Tracey's blush; Harry
on the other hand wasn't even trying and was openly laughing at her.
Tracey pouted. "Fine if you're all going to be like that I won't say
anything, not a word. Absolute silence."
"Tracey, shut up" Blaise had lost patience and sent the brunette into a
sulk.
Seeing that it was about to descend into bickering again Daphne turned
to Harry. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Harry nodded and
put up a quick privacy ward, grinning apologetically at Tracey and
Blaise. The good thing about Slytherin's was that they didn't even
question it. He motioned for Daphne to begin. "I've been thinking a lot
about the program idea. It might be too big a project for just the two of
us. We need some people with expertise outside of our own areas. You
bring the computer knowledge, I bring the Arithmancy but we need
Potions and ingredients knowledge."
Harry found himself nodding along in agreement, "I suppose you have
some people in mind?"
"Of course. Tracey is the best in our year at Potions despite what Malfoy
would like to believe and Blaise's speciality is magical creatures. Both of
them are trustworthy and know how to keep secrets."
"Makes sense, two things to add though. First I'd like to bring Neville in
on this as well, his knowledge of Herbology is second to none and I trust
him as well. Secondly I'd like to formalise our little arrangement. I'm
thinking 35% control for each of us and 10% for each of those we bring
in as well as a binding agreement to never share the knowledge unless
there is a majority vote in favour. What do you think?"
Daphne looked pensive. "I agree it probably is time to formalise it all and
nobody can deny Longbottom's skill. What about the electronics side of
it?"
"Well I thought a separate agreement for that 70:30 in my favour as the
majority is my work however I am open to negotiations. Again a non
disclosure clause included, there is also a patent filed and the runic
cluster that destroys the item if it is tampered with to prevent any
unauthorised copying. I've been thinking a lot recently about whether to
sell them or not. The market is certainly there but I don't really want to
give up our advantage of having the stuff when nobody else does."
"Hm I agree. I think it is better to wait several years until we are ready
produce the phones and such in large numbers. Let's be honest at the
moment we could modify, what 20 a day between us if we work without
stopping? That's nowhere near enough to meet expected demand. Then
we need to consider distribution networks and where to sell them.
Realistically I think we are several years away from being able to market
the idea properly."
"That's true, we should look into setting up a company, how much capital
we need and so forth."
"Indeed. I'm sure we can do some research into that. So shall we interrupt
those two before they start fighting again?"
"Yeah I guess so. Might take a long time to explain it all to them. Tell you
what I'll go grab Neville so we only have to explain once."
"Agreed off you go then, chop chop." Harry gave a mock salute and left
the compartment to search for Neville.
He returned shortly with a rather confused Neville in tow and proceeded
to ward the door and put up some anti eavesdropping spells once
everyone was inside. Daphne had very kindly allowed him to explain so
as he sat down, Harry found himself looking into three sets of confused
eyes and one rather smug violet pair. He sighed and began the long
explanation.
Once the initiates got over the idea that a muggle invention could be
used for magic, all three were very interested in joining the project.
Harry shouldn't really have been surprised at their initial reluctance; they
still gave him very odd looks whenever they saw him listening to his
iPod. It wasn't long before they all waxed lyrical about the potential for
what could be done with the information collated, even Neville began to
grow in confidence after initial reluctance to join in. Tracey in particular
seemed fascinated by the possibility of improving existing recipes or
substituting ingredients to make them as efficient as possible. The
journey flew by in a blaze of creativity and planning. It was determined
that each would research a different aspect, Blaise and Neville would
research animals and plants respectively and their use in potions. Tracey
would focus on the potions themselves, Daphne would concentrate on the
Arithmatic analysis of potions and Harry would begin designing the
program itself. They would reconvene at a later date and share their
findings.
Harry was eager to reach Hogwarts so he could talk to Salazar about the
locket currently hidden in his trunk, carefully wrapped up. On arrival at
Hogsmede Station he dawdled as they exited the compartment, telling
Daphne to meet him after the feast so they could go down to the lab. She
readily agreed and they joined a horseless carriage with the others.
At the feast for those returning, Harry was thanked multiple times for the
presents he had sent out and he returned their thanks warmly. It seemed
that he had chosen well for everybody and this gave him a warm feeling
in the pit of his stomach. This was only added to as the feast began in
earnest and he attacked the delicious food with gusto.
Daphne was surreptitiously waiting for him outside the hall, clinging to
the shadows. Using a shortcut Harry had discovered on the map they
quickly made their way to the Chamber and began the familiar routine of
entering it. They had reinforced the roof along the passageway at the
bottom of the stairs and Salazar had shown them how to activate a rune
array that bathed the entire area in light. As opposed to the slightly
creepy grey-blue mist that permeated the Chamber before it was now
filled with a warm and inviting light so that you could see the vastness of
the architecture.
After greeting Salazar and exchanging short pleasantries, Harry moved to
the important part of the conversation.
"Salazar, I was wondering if you might be able to help me? You see over
the holidays I found this locket in my Godfather's house." He continued to
outline the story gleaned from Kreacher about its theft by Regulus from
Voldemort and the fact that nobody could tell what it was other than it
gave off an exceptionally dark aura and magic.
Salazar was nodding along, "let me see this locket, I may be able to shed
some light on it."
Harry removed his trunk from his pocket, resized it and removed the
locket from its protective covering. As soon as it was unwrapped Salazar
hissed in recognition before swearing mightily.
"That filth, that cur, that evil, jumped up little mongrel. I'll castrate him,
I'll crucify him." And so it went on, leaving Harry and Daphne open
mouthed, wondering what could have set him off this way.
It was some time before Salazar regained the power of coherent
conversation. He looked out imperiously from his portrait at the two
curious faces looking up at him.
"Harry would you be so kind as to cast the revealing spell I taught you
before Christmas."
Harry did so and a plume of black smoke appeared over the locket,
forming into strange symbols Harry did not recognise. Judging by
Salazar's frown he didn't recognise them either.
"Er Salazar what is it? Why did you react so strongly?"
Salazar took a deep breath "I did so because that is my locket, it was
made for me by my wife. It was the last present she gave me before she
died of Dragon Pox. I had it enchanted so that only someone who spoke
Parseltongue could open it." Seeing Harry was about to do exactly that he
screamed "Stop! You do not know what that animal has done to my
locket. Neither do I for that matter but it is dark, dark magic, the
blackest. Those symbols are like nothing I have ever come across before
but at a guess I would say the locket has some relation to necromancy.
Really we need to speak to Godric, he was always better at these sort of
things than me."
"Godric Gryffindor?" Harry exclaimed loudly, shocked to the core.
"Of course what other Godric would I be speaking about you halfwit?" he
replied dryly.
"There's no need to be rude" Harry grumbled while Daphne snickered.
"It's just we wouldn't have thought Godric Gryffindor would have
involved himself in dark magic, it doesn't fit his image."
Daphne sniggered, "oh this is priceless, imagine the faces of your
housemates if we ever told them that the 'most evil snake' himself needed
to ask the bastion of all things light Godric Gryffindor for advice about a
dark object because Godric had far more knowledge and experience." She
even used the air quotes gesture and looked at Salazar apologetically
when she referred to him as the most evil snake.
He glared at her half-heartedly before replying. "I don't see why you're so
surprised considering how different the stories are of me compared to the
reality. Why should Godric or any of the other founders be any
different?"
Ever the practical one Harry interrupted before Daphne could begin
plotting how to break this information to the Gryffindors. "Well then we
need to speak to Godric, does he have a portrait or a secret room like
you?"
Salazar looked thoughtful, "he may have his own secret area however it is
by very definition secret so I wouldn't know about it. However I think
your best bet is likely the Room of Requirement. Now clearly there are no
known portraits of any of us around the school but we all had one made.
This leads me to believe that someone hid them, after I put my portrait
here in the lab, and the best place for that is the Room of Requirement,
sometimes known as the Room of Hidden Things. It is a room on the
seventh floor, in the third corridor, West Wing. To access it you must
walk along the corridor three times while thinking of the room you
require. In your case you would want the room where things are kept
hidden. A door will appear in the wall and this leads to the room itself.
There is no telling what sort of state the room will be in or how much
stuff is in there. You should be aware that due to the magic of that
particular configuration of the room, summoning charms will not work.
Therefore you will have to do the searching the old fashioned way, by
hand, the possibilities of what you may find in there are endless though."
Harry looked over at Daphne to see a look of utmost excitement that he
was sure mirrored his own. As if communicating silently they both turned
saying hasty goodbyes to Salazar and practically charged from the room,
leaving the founder to grumble to himself, his eyes fixed on the locket
lying abandoned on the table.
They raced to the seventh floor finding the correct corridor. It was short
and contained very little apart from a tapestry of someone that looked to
be trying to teach trolls to dance. It was Harry who began to pace up and
down in order to reveal the room. They waited with bated breath as a
door appeared, hesitantly they stepped towards it and Daphne opened it
cautiously. Through the gap they could see a huge Cathedral like room,
filled to the brim with piles and piles of stuff. It was ever so slightly
arranged as it appeared to have several different corridors through the
chaos, each row balancing precariously with a gap wide enough for three
people to walk comfortably abreast between each one. The rows went on
and on, stretching out either side of the main entrance and extending a
long way back, so far in fact that the two explorers couldn't see their end.
The implications of the find were just starting to hit Harry, this was over
a millennia's worth of stuff that for one reason or another people wished
to keep hidden. There was no way of knowing what treasures could be
here, thought lost for all time, waiting for them to discover. Of course by
the same token there could be some incredibly dangerous items hidden
within the mass of junk.
Harry could already see Daphne's mind churning at a frightening pace
and was suddenly very glad that the train returned them to Hogwarts on
a Friday so they would have the weekend to get back into the swing of
the castle before lessons resumed on Monday. It was clear that Harry was
getting very little free time this weekend, at least until this room was
thoroughly explored. The slightly maniacal glint in Daphne's eye
promised that.
20. Chapter 20
Chapter 20
It took all of Harry's considerable ability to convince Daphne that they
didn't need to immediately start exploring everything. So after a cursory
examination of the room they both returned to their dorms with the
promise to meet again in the corridor at 6 the following morning. Harry
sank into his bed and fell asleep calculating how long he could survive
Daphne working him to the bone over the weekend before he keeled over
from exhaustion.
"Look Daphne I know you're keen to start cataloguing all of the stuff in
here but I think our priority is to find the portraits if we can. Once that is
done we can work on everything else. It's been here for hundreds of
years, it's hardly going to run away if we don't finish it all this weekend."
Reluctantly Daphne agreed and they started planning various ways of
finding the portraits. Unfortunately Daphne had a habit of
overcomplicating things and so was advocating going to the library to
find a spell that would search for the portraits for them. It wasn't until
Harry suggested that they simply walk up and down each column
shouting for the Founders and see if their portraits replied. The Slytherin
looked at him unconvinced when he advocated this but he soldiered on.
Starting at the left hand most row they began walking down it calling out
for the three Founders but mostly Godric. By the fifth row Daphne was
glaring at Harry, by the twelfth he was sure the glare was going to burn a
hole through his skull. By the time they reached the seventeenth row
Daphne looked ready to commit murder until her homicidal thoughts
were interrupted by a deep voice from somewhere to their right.
Suppressing his smug look Harry walked towards the voice, calling out
occasionally to it.
"Is that you Godric? Where are you?"
"Yes it's me, we're over here somewhere, there's a sheet over us."
"Ok well keep shouting we're almost there. Is the sheet white?"
"I don't know you plebeian its covering us completely so funnily enough
it's a bit too dark to actually see the colour."
"I can see why he got on so well with Salazar" Harry muttered to himself
and began shifting items carefully from the area where the noise was
emanating. A tatty and dirty white sheet was covering something that
looked to be the same size as Salazar's portrait. That had to be it.
Daphne was sulking as again Harry's simple idea had worked better than
her complicated one and so she refused to help him move things,
claiming she was supervising. Harry didn't really mind though, it was
easier with only one person trying to move things. Eventually enough of
the surrounding items had been cleared that Harry could remove the
sheet covered package from its resting place.
With a flourish he whipped the sheet off of the portraits revealing three
gilded frames of an equal size with Salazar's. Harry leant each one
carefully against the row of stuff under the watchful eyes of the frame's
occupants.
"Greetings my name is Harry Potter and this is my companion Daphne
Greengrass. We were told about this place by a companion of yours, one
Salazar Slytherin." Bowing slightly he stepped back taking the
opportunity to study the portraits.
On the left was a man, obviously Godric, dressed in full armour with a
sword Harry recognised strapped to his back. His brown hair fell just
below his neck and a short beard adorned his face along with an ugly
scar that ran from above his left eye, over the bridge of his nose and onto
his right cheek. In his painting Godric was standing at the top of a tower,
leaning on the ramparts with the Gryffindor emblem on a flag flapping
lazily in a breeze. All things considered he was a far more intimidating
sight than Salazar and Harry hadn't thought that was possible.
The middle painting was of a regal woman in a library. Harry guessed
from this that it was Rowena Ravenclaw. She was a statuesque woman
with wavy black hair and beak of a nose that looked slightly too large for
her face. That's not to say she was ugly, in fact she was very attractive
once you looked at the whole face rather than just concentrating on the
nose. Her brown eyes had a depth and wisdom to them and her long
eyelashes seemed to exist solely to make sure those eyes caught every
single detail.
The final painting was of a large woman with honey coloured curls
arranged artfully, presumably Helga Hufflepuff. On first glance she
appeared fat but on a closer look she was merely big in every respect.
Taller than Rowena and with an ample bosom she looked a giant even in
a 12" by 18" frame. She was situated in what looked to be a basic copy of
the infirmary with a bed and various potions. Harry shuddered at the
thought of this woman nursing anyone back to health; at least with
Madam Pomfrey he could talk his way out of confinement for bed rest
eventually, he didn't think anyone could escape Helga so easily.
"How have you spoken to Salazar?" Rowena demanded.
"He left a portrait in the Chamber of Secrets ma'am."
"Indeed, I take it that you are his heir then, he would have made it so
only direct descendants could enter, no doubt with Parseltongue."
Harry shook his head negatively, "no I am not his heir however I can
speak Parseltongue. I gained the gift when I defeated Salazar's last heir
when I was a baby."
"How is this possible?"interrupted Helga.
Harry shrugged, "not entirely sure, I think my mother did some kind of
ritual so that upon her death I would be protected. When I was hit by the
killing curse it reflected back at the caster and some part of him broke off
from him and attached itself to my head in the form of a scar. It was
leeching from my magic to fuel itself and in return I gained some of his
abilities as well as a connection to him."
"You speak as though he is not dead" Godric questioned thoughtfully.
"He is not. I have fought him twice since that night in differing forms, he
is a disembodied spirit. We were hoping that you might be able to help
us here Godric, Salazar said that you were a dark magic expert." He
nodded. "Well we found a locket that was apparently very important to
Voldemort, Salazar's heir, and it oozes dark magic but we have no idea
what it is."
"Where is this item?"
"Down in the lab in the Chamber. If we shrink you, you won't be
damaged will you?"
"Not immediately however staying in shrunken form damages the
inherent magic in the portrait after a long period of time." Rowena
replied, slipping into lecturing mode.
"Ah well it's only down to the second floor then I'll enlarge you again."
The portraits agreed and avoiding the students leaving from a late
breakfast Harry and Daphne walked casually to the lab. If Daphne was
curious to find out what exactly the locket was then it was nothing
compared to Harry's burning desire to know. To be perfectly honest he
was expecting an impatient wait while the three newly found portraits
caught up with Salazar but that was not the case.
Salazar gave a curt nod and greeted the arrivals, one which they returned
just as shortly. Seeing the confusion on the student's faces, Rowena
endeavoured to explain.
"You must understand that while it has been a very long time since we
saw each other in reality, the magic of the portrait means that we also
remember it being only yesterday that we saw each other. The passing of
time within these gilded confines is a very odd beast, not at all linear. It
would make a fascinating study for someone."
Harry nodded his understanding and turned to the locket to show it to
Godric. He picked it up from its resting place, feeling the same sense of
unease he did the first time he handled it.
"This is the locket Godric; could you tell me what it is?"
Godric was frowning as he looked at the locket. "Isn't that your locket
Salazar?" Salazar nodded tightly. "Hmm do you know the Revelio charm
Harry? Well could you cast it on the locket then?"
Harry did so and the same symbols rose from the locket eliciting
puzzlement from everyone except Godric who had an expression of
growing horror on his scarred face.
"No it can't be possible. To make more than one breaks the tenets of
magic." He shook himself lightly and turned his attention to Harry's
confused visage. "This object has been turned into a Horcrux. Put simply,
a Horcrux is an object that works as a container for a portion of the soul.
Theoretically so long as the object exists, its owner cannot die. However
the theory is fatally flawed, it does not prolong life beyond its natural
span therefore the caster will still die of old age naturally. Its real
disadvantage is that once a portion of the soul leaves the body, it takes
with it an equal portion of the creator's sanity and humanity. The real
problem is that this Voldemort character has created more than one of
these items. You see magic is a semi sentient force, which is why intent is
so important for spells, and as such it has balances and checks to keep its
users in line. To make one Horcrux is frowned upon to put it mildly but
in all my research I never found a way to manipulate magic so that more
than one could be made."
"Does that mean that you made one Godric?" Daphne asked hesitantly.
"I did indeed. As a magical exercise it was a fascinating experience
however not one that I would choose to repeat." Harry was staring at the
Founder with something akin to disgust on his face. "Oh don't look at me
like that. If you are fighting the Dark Arts and evil in general you must be
prepared to make sacrifices. Quite clearly it doesn't stop you dying of old
age otherwise I would still be alive now wouldn't I? You aren't one of
those idiotic people who believe everyone deserves a second chance?
That you should never kill, not even in defence of your own life?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know. I never said never kill but surely a line
must be drawn otherwise you are just as bad as they are."
"Now listen here you foolish little boy." Godric was truly angry now, his
face twisting with rage, "just because a person kills does not make them
evil. It is war. People die. There is a vast difference between killing
someone before they can kill you or hurt an innocent and actively
torturing someone for the fun of it or raping a family for pleasure."
"You've killed. Are you evil?" Salazar fixed a stare on Harry.
"What are you talking about I haven't killed anyone" Harry answered.
"Quirrell" Salazar simply replied.
"That was an accident" Harry said unconvincingly.
"No it wasn't and you know it wasn't. When you told me about that night
I could see that you knew exactly what you were doing when you
grabbed his face. Yes it was self defence but it was done with the
intention to kill and until you admit that to yourself you will not rest
easy."
"Fine. Now you said he made more than one of these objects, how
many?"
"I know you're changing the subject but think about what Salazar said,
he's right you know. In terms of the number of Horcruxes it is impossible
to tell. They can be anything, the only real way of telling that an object
might be one is that it gives off a dark aura. In themselves they are not
dangerous to anyone unless you are in prolonged contact with one. If that
happens then the soul piece can assert itself over the person and begin to
take their body for their own."
Daphne gasped "Harry, the diary."
Harry cocked his head, "do you think that was one?"
Daphne nodded, "think about it, you said it possessed the Weasley girl
after she spent time writing in it and in the Chamber the memory itself
said it was draining her."
"Merlin you're right. Well that's good news I've already destroyed one,
could that be the 'other' the symbols showed?"
"No the symbols show that there is currently at least one other Horcrux
currently in existence in the world. He must have made at least three in
total."
"Ah well at least we know about them now. Daphne where did you put
the basilisk fangs so I can destroy this one?"
"No!" screamed Godric and Salazar as one.
It was Salazar who spoke first. "Don't you dare destroy my locket, there
must be a way of removing the soul piece without hurting the container.
Godric rode right over the top of Salazar's concerns "If you destroy it then
we have no link to the others. It does not matter if the soul is split, it is
still inherently linked. It should be possible to perform a ritual that will
destroy all of the Horcruxes at once. It won't however kill the final piece
but if we design the ritual properly then it should prevent the remaining
piece from severing his tattered soul any further."
"Design?"
"This is unknown areas of magic, as I said it shouldn't be possible to make
more than one of them. He must have delved incredibly deeply into the
Dark Arts therefore there will be no ritual in existence capable of doing
what we need it to. Congratulations you get to learn about rituals from
me and Rowena but not now though. Now we want a talk with our
brother here so off you go, we have several centuries to make up for."
"Ok. Thank you for all your help, we'll see you soon." Harry may as well
have been speaking to a wall as the Founders completely ignored him,
lost in their own conversation.
Shaking his head Harry followed Daphne out of the Chamber and up the
stairs. "So, back to the Room of Requirement?"
Daphne eagerly agreed and they returned to the room which somehow
looked even more intimidating in size now.
"How do you want to do this Daph? There's so much stuff in here."
"I think it's best if we start at one end and work methodically, organising
as we go. I think the real question is whether we try and sort it all here
or move it somewhere else."
"What all of it?" Harry said incredulously.
"Perhaps eventually. The problem is a lot of the stuff is broken so it
would be easy to ignore but it could be very valuable if we could repair
it. I think we need to sort it here in a very basic way and then send it
somewhere else where we can do it more thoroughly. What do you
think?"
"I know just the person to help us out. Hang on let me give him a call,
hopefully he will pick up. It's ringing" he said for Daphne's benefit.
"Ah so its that button, I always get confused with that cheers Jules" Sirius'
voice came in faintly, apparently he still needed someone to answer his
phone for him. "Hello Sirius Black speaking. Marauder, wrongfully
imprisoned hero, legend throughout the known world and all around
fantastic person. How may I help you?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Sirius I need you to do me a favour. Can you get a
hold of a load of trunks with expansion charms on the inside. They have
to be able to shrink without damaging any of the contents as well."
"Why do you need any of those? You already have a trunk" Sirius asked
curiously.
So Harry explained the events since he got back to Hogwarts with the
discovery of the Room of Requirement and the Founder's portraits as well
as Godric's revelation that the locket was a Horcrux and all that entailed.
By the end Sirius was silent, processing the information dump he
received.
"Sirius? You alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine just a bit of a shock really hearing the lengths people will
go to for immortality. I'll go get you a few trunks now and send them to
you, once you have filled a few send them back to me and I can unload
them in the basement."
"No don't do that, there's far too much stuff to fit in the whole house let
alone the basement. How about you go and rent a cheap warehouse
somewhere, might even be better to buy one if the price is right. What
we really need is an expert to go through everything and see what's
worth keeping and what isn't because to be honest we haven't a clue
about most of it."
"I'll see what I can do, I'll go talk to Griphook now, see if he has any ideas
whether it's better to buy or rent. Don't worry I won't tell him why we
want it."
"Actually hold on let me talk to Daphne a minute I'll call you back in a
minute. What do you think Daph?"
"I think that might actually work, the warehouse that is. We definitely
need at least one person who is an expert to go through this stuff. Some
of this furniture could be incredibly valuable or it could be tat and I
wouldn't know the difference. I'm inclined to let the goblins, or rather
Griphook, know what you want it all for. He may be able to suggest
someone to do the assessing. No doubt he will try and get a Gringotts
employee to be involved but we are better off hiring our own person to
avoid Gringotts getting commission on everything we sell" she responded
thoughtfully.
"Plus having property to our name can only help for our plans for the
future."
"Our name?"
"Yeah well I think it's time for our company to begin properly. I've been
thinking about the electronics side of the idea, at the moment we are
basically taking someone else's work and customising so it works with
magic. Wouldn't it be better to take the basic idea and make our own
design and manufacture it eventually? That way we will wholly own the
process and product meaning we can charge whatever we like. Also I
think I've identified a potential goldmine in the magical world. Currently
there are no factories, mass producing items, everything is done in small
artisan type operations. I was reading a muggle book on economics over
the summer and they have this concept called economies of scale,
basically this means the more of an item you produce, the cheaper each
item will cost to produce. If we could find a way to mass produce magical
items we could undercut every other producer out there and still make a
massive profit. In fact we could supply the whole magical world. Things
like wands we couldn't do because they need to be handcrafted but
potions, books and ingredients we could do, not to mention our own
electronics as well."
"Wow you have really thought about this haven't you?"
Harry blushed slightly, "yeah there is so much potential out there and I
don't want any of it to go to waste."
"So buy a warehouse if we can and we can begin to grow from there."
"Yes the question is where do we want to set up a base. We want
everything to be relatively close otherwise it increases transportation
costs."
Daphne looked thoughtful, "not necessarily. We could use House Elves.
Distance is no object to them so it wouldn't make any difference where
the items needed to go. The problem will be getting hold of enough elves
to be able to use them effectively. You must understand Harry that House
Elves have been a jealously guarded status symbol for the pure-blooded
elite. Very few exist outside the bond with a family and if they do they
wont last for long."
"What! Why is that?"
Daphne looked confused at his reaction but shook it off, "House Elves are
parasites for want of a better word. They can only live by siphoning off
some of our magic through the bond. Without the bond a strong elf will
survive maybe five years, perhaps ten in a magic rich environment.
However they are good parasites as the relationship is more symbiotic,
they gain magic from us and we gain a devoted and powerful servant that
wants nothing more than to please us."
"So Dobby is going to die then? What have I done?"
"Who is Dobby?"
"Lucius Malfoy's former House Elf, I helped free him after the Chamber of
Secrets incident, he threw Malfoy 20 feet when he was about to curse
me" Harry chuckled at the memory.
"Interesting. House Elf magic is a fickle thing. I think this Dobby will
have a tentative bond with you now and should you choose to complete
the bond you will have your own House Elf. Try calling him and see what
happens, if I'm right he will appear here."
"Ok Dobby are you out there?"
Immediately there was a pop and the odd little creature that Harry
remembered well from last year appeared in front of them, bouncing
with typical excitement.
"Great Harry Potter calls for Dobby. What can Dobby do to help?" his
squeaky voice at an even higher pitch than usual.
"Calm down Dobby, Daphne here just explained that House Elves need a
bond to survive and that you might have formed a tentative bond with
me when you were freed is this right?"
Dobby didn't need to speak to confirm that this was the case, his head
was down and he was shuffling a foot absentmindedly, the very picture
of a naughty schoolboy caught red-handed. Harry got down on one knee
so he was level with the elf.
"It's alright Dobby, I'm not angry. In fact would you like to complete the
bond so you would be my House Elf for real?"
Dobby looked up, hope shining on his countenance. "Dobby would like
that very much. I, Dobby, pledges his life and magical core to the service
of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter" he intoned formally
before looking up at Harry expectantly.
Not really knowing what he was supposed to say Harry guessed, "I, Harry
James Potter, do accept the pledge of Dobby and in return offer my own
life and magical core in friendship to Dobby the House Elf."
There was a gasp from Daphne, apparently Harry had done something
wrong. Dobby, on the other hand, was wide eyed and had begun
glowing. The bright white nimbus surrounded the elf, forcing Harry and
Daphne to look away. While they were shielding their eyes they heard a
deep chuckle that sounded altogether nothing like Dobby. They looked
back and their mouths dropped open.
Where Dobby had been almost three feet in height and skinny he was
now a little over four feet tall and heavily muscled. He practically glowed
with vitality and his body coiled like a crushed spring, waiting to be
unleashed. Instead of the unsightly rags he was dressed in before he had
a pair of neat trousers and a sleeveless vest top, both in black.
"Dobby you look, different. How do you feel?"
"I feel good, thank you Harry." Instead of the high, squeaky voice the elf
now possessed a deep bass rumble.
Daphne was still shell shocked at Dobby's change and it seemed the
change in voice was all too much for her and she slumped to the floor,
sitting dazedly.
"How come you have changed so much?" Harry asked curiously.
"When you pledged your life and core to me, magic changed and
improved me to my optimum condition. It also allowed me to understand
your wants and desires, hence why I call you Harry instead of Master,
because I know that is what you would prefer."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, "makes sense to me. Daphne are you alright?"
She nodded mutely but made no attempt to get up. "fair enough. Dobby
do you think you would be able to take all of the stuff in this room
somewhere else if we found somewhere to take it?"
"Dependant on the distance it could take as little as a day to transport it
all however the further it needs to go the less I can take per trip which
would push the total time upwards."
"I'll give Sirius a call and get him started on buying a warehouse to store
all this stuff. Er Dobby what exactly do you all the time?"
"Don't worry Harry I will be able to find something that will benefit you,
if you need me just call me and I'll pop to you." And with an almost silent
pop he disappeared leaving a rather bemused Harry to make a phone call
to his Godfather.
21. Chapter 21
AN – Hi all sorry this update has been so long in coming, I've been
working 12 hour night shifts. While this leaves me plenty of
opportunity to think up new ideas for plots and stuff, it leaves
hardly any time at all when I have the inclination to do much other
than sleep let alone write! If anyone was interested I have three new
story ideas, one where Harry reads about the Spartans at primary
school and rationalises his abuse to mean that he is in the Spartan
school, another which is a mild sort of crossover with Anita Blake
but one that doesn't use any of the characters just the world and
some of the concepts in that universe and a final one where Harry
loses the plot and turns very dark not to mention many ideas for the
sequel to this. However I have tried to restrain myself from starting
any other projects until this story is finally finished, it shouldn't be
too long we are coming towards the end now it is just a case of
finding the time and motivation to put the ideas onto paper.
Anyhow enough of this rubbish on with the story, as ever read,
review, enjoy.
Chapter 21
After the phone call was done, Daphne had recovered enough to explain
to him in great detail exactly what was wrong about what he had done.
Apparently he should have just pledged his magic as opposed to his
magical core. When Harry mentioned that he didn't really see what the
difference was he was treated to a good twenty minutes of berating from
Daphne. It turns out that in witches and wizards, magic was something
akin to blood, necessary for survival and should said magical person lose
a lot of it very quickly then they could be in serious danger. However
magic would regenerate relatively quickly, enough to get the magical
back on their feet. On the other hand the magical core was more like the
heart or perhaps something even more important as any damage to the
core could be catastrophic. A strong magical could survive some damage
to their core and if the initial shock didn't kill them then they would
eventually heal even if it did take years.
Therefore should Dobby die, the portion of Harry's core could well die
with him, of course thanks to Harry's core Dobby was much stronger and
thus harder to kill. Daphne wasn't 100% sure what would happen really
but the risk was certainly high enough and so he was made to promise
never to do anything like this again and to pledge his magic as opposed
to his core. As much as Harry would like an army of super powered
House Elves it was far too dangerous to do so, at least without numerous
experiments, experiments Harry was sure he wouldn't be allowed to do.
Despite this slight hiccup the newly formed company, Marauders Inc,
took off at an impressive rate. Sirius spoke to Griphook and between the
two of them they located an abandoned warehouse in London, near the
docks. It required a bit of fixing up and so Dobby was deployed to sort it
out. Warders were also contracted to increase security and to hide any
traces of the magic inside from reaching any surrounding muggles.
The search for employees was a success as well, in fact the first was a
goblin who had been part of the team of warders working on the
warehouse. Ripfang had started his career for Gringotts as a curse
breaker working on the ancient ruins in South America before
transferring to the more prestigious area of the Valley of the Kings in
Egypt. He had later returned to the London branch to work as a warder
however he had recently become disillusioned with the lack of
excitement within his current job and was looking for a new challenge.
His experience in all types of ancient artefacts not to mention his curse
breaking abilities would be invaluable and Harry was happy to have him
aboard.
The next employee found was a twenty-something Muggleborn witch
called Jess. She had fallen victim to the rampant prejudice within the
magical world as she had been rejected several times by the ministry.
This was despite the fact that Jess knew very well that they had hired
several of her Pureblood classmates after she had applied and every one
of them had much poorer grades than her. She also had the distinction of
being the only student in the last fifty years who had taken the History of
Magic NEWT and achieved an O grade on it. She loved books with a
passion but was very knowledgeable about all different types of antiques
and historical items so this would be incredibly useful and anything she
didn't know, she would happily look up.
The final member of the team was another Muggleborn called Steve.
While Jess had taken the legitimate route after leaving Hogwarts, Steve
had taken a slightly different path. Griphook claimed that he was a
'salesman' and was very good at what he did. He had this uncanny ability
to make anyone believe that they honestly and truthfully had to have
whatever it was that Steve was selling and to eke out the best possible
price for any item. Harry still didn't really know what it was Steve had
spent his career after Hogwarts selling but he got the impression that it
was very rarely an item that actually belonged to Steve or to the people
he was selling it for. Harry was initially leery of trusting Steve but
Griphook insisted that his oath would prevent Steve from acting in a way
that wouldn't benefit Harry and that was good enough for Harry.
Over the course of a week Dobby transported all the items from the
Room of Requirement to the refurbished warehouse and set it in some
semblance of order for the trio working there. Every so often one of them
would call Harry with an update on their progress. Jess was banned from
giving these updates as she tended to get very distracted by whatever
item she had just been working on and completely forget about
everything else. Her enthusiasm was good though and made a useful
counterpoint to the cold businesslike manner of Ripfang and the
mercenary practicality of Steve. Between them Harry was confident that
the unlikely trio would make sure that everything that could be saved
would be, everything that they might want to keep would be kept and
everything else would be sold for the absolute best price.
Now that Harry was excused having to clear the Room of Requirement he
had plenty more opportunity to work on the Potions Analyser Program.
He was making good progress on forming the basic outline for the
database, with the appropriate parameters inputted it was just a case of
linking this to the actual analysis portion that he was struggling with. He
hadn't actually put in any of the ingredients information yet as he was
relying on the other members of the development team for that. He
probably could do it but it made sense to play to the strengths of
everyone involved now that they were included.
The headache the program was causing was minimal in comparison to
that which a certain Hufflepuff witch was creating. Susan Bones had
taken to spending a lot of time with Harry, sitting with him at mealtimes
at the Gryffindor table and next to him in the classes Gryffindor shared
with Hufflepuff. This wasn't entirely a new thing nor was it what was
confusing Harry though, no what made no sense was that whenever he
would say anything remotely funny Susan would laugh. Now Harry had
no illusions, he knew he was on occasion funny, but not that funny. In
fact some of the things she laughed at even he didn't think were amusing.
She had often sat with him before but never with this amount of
regularity or quite as closely. He did briefly consider phoning Sirius to
ask him what on earth was going on but he quickly rejected that notion
as Sirius would either mock him mercilessly or confuse matters even
more, perhaps even a combination of the two if Harry was particularly
lucky. What he needed was someone who could translate the strange
actions into something he could understand. Then the answer came to
him, it was so simple he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier.
Daphne was also a teenage girl surely she would be able to interpret the
madness perpetrated by a member of her own species.
The opportunity to speak to her came when they were doing some
especially difficult Transfiguration homework in a tucked away corner of
the lab, away from the bickering Founders portraits. For some reason
Harry was incredibly nervous and didn't know how to bring up the topic.
He was saved by Daphne outright demanding to know what it was that
was wrong with him. He explained the situation with Susan as best he
could before leaning back and looking at her expectantly. She didn't say
anything immediately and so he said "well?" impatiently.
"It sounds to me like she likes you."
"What?"
Daphne rolled her eyes, "she likes you, finds you attractive, maybe thinks
you're boyfriend material."
"Oh."
"Oh? That's all you have to say for yourself?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know, it's not really something I've thought
much about."
Daphne hesitated slightly, "well do you like her?" It came out in a rush,
like pulling a plaster off quickly.
Harry shrugged again, "don't know. How do you know if you like
someone?"
"Well I'm not completely sure but I would imagine that you want to be
with them all the time, feel happier when they are around, feel swooping
feelings in your stomach around them." She blushed lightly but Harry
wasn't watching her, he was staring at the wall blankly.
"But that's how I feel about you" he mumbled before his eyes snapped to
Daphne to see if it had been quiet enough to escape notice.
Judging by her wide eyed expression it hadn't escaped her sharp hearing.
"Do you mean it? Do you really mean it?"
Harry rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, "well yeah, I mean
look at you, you're beautiful. Not just that though, you're smart, witty,
great to talk to" he trailed off. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I
didn't mean to, it just came out."
"Harry shut up and kiss me you fool."
Mouth hanging wide open he took a deep breath to steady his jangling
nerves. Harry summoned every ounce of his Gryffindor courage and
leaned towards Daphne. She met him half way and they kissed. Her lips
were like nothing he had imagined before, they were soft, velvety almost,
and they tasted slightly of the perfume she always wore, the scent he
associated as uniquely Daphne. It was only a light chaste kiss but as
Harry began to pull away he felt a jolt run through his body. It was not
an unpleasant feeling but it certainly was a surprise. It was followed by a
warmth rushing through every cell of his body; it reminded him of the
first time he held his wand. He leaned back to see if Daphne had felt it
too and he hadn't imagined it.
She looked as confused as Harry felt, "what was that?" she asked.
"I don't know, is it supposed to happen?"
"I don't think so, was certainly odd though. Come here and let's see if it
happens again." She had a mischievous glint in her eye that Harry wasn't
sure he had spotted before but he obligingly leaned in again.
This time this kiss was slightly deeper and lingered a touch more as both
became more comfortable. There was no jolt this time but there was a
pleasant warmth, almost like the remembrance of the hot sun beating
down or sitting in front of a warm fire on a winters evening.
Reluctantly Harry pulled back, "much as I would like to carry on, maybe
we should find out if that warmth thing was normal?"
Daphne pouted a little but resumed her seat. "Who do you want to ask?"
Harry pondered this, 'did he want to ask Sirius and risk confusing
information and a whole heap of mocking? Hmm no probably not. How
about a teacher? No that's a stupid idea. Well what about the Founders
portraits? Likely still get mocked there but at least the information would
likely be accurate. Yes that's the best course of action.'
"Ask the Founders they will probably know and they will be discrete
about it."
Daphne nodded agreeing with his logic so they stood up and entered the
main part of the lab where the portraits were now set up. Said portraits
were currently in the middle of another argument about something or
other, frankly Harry didn't want to know what.
"Um guys I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
Always the more helpful of the four, Helga turned to him. "What is it
dear?"
"Yes dear what is it?" Salazar asked mockingly before quieting at a
formidable glare from Helga.
Suddenly with all four staring at him, asking the Founders for help
seemed like a very poor idea to Harry but he couldn't back down now.
"Well you see the thing is me and Daphne kissed."
"Finally" interrupted Rowena.
"Say what?" Harry was utterly bemused.
"You two have been dancing around each other for weeks that we have
seen and I don't doubt that you had been for months before that. What
brought this rather surprising moment of clarity for the pair of you?"
"Um well I was actually asking her for help about a different girl"
All four burst into laughter, Godric had almost fallen over he was
laughing so hard.
Rowena looked at him with a half smile playing on her lips, "only you,
Harry, could go to a girl asking for advice about another girl and end up
kissing the first."
"I'm not even sure if that's an insult or not" Harry grumbled before
shooting a light glare at a conspicuously silent Daphne. "That's not the
point. The point is that when we kissed we both felt a weird jolt thing."
Suddenly the Founders were serious, Rowena fixing them with a gimlet
eye. "Describe it" she commanded.
"Well it was kind of like how it felt when I first held my wand." Daphne
nodded in agreement with Harry's description.
Rowena smiled, something had obviously been confirmed to her,
"congratulations."
"Um why are you congratulating us?" Harry asked. He couldn't help but
feel a hint of nervousness as he awaited her answer.
"Magic itself has blessed your union, you should be very proud it is an
extremely rare gift."
"What like a soul bond?" Daphne blurted out, breaking her silence. "I
thought they were only in stories?"
"Of course not, don't be a fool. Magic cannot suddenly join your soul with
another's just from one measly kiss. Oh stop scowling Harry you're a
teenager, trust me it wasn't that good a kiss. You will get better but not
yet. No what it means is that the magic in each of you is highly
compatible with the other. It is rare in the sense that you two have found
each other, however every single person has at least one person out there
who they are compatible with. Normally however these two people never
meet and those that do, have often gotten married soon after. This leads
to the stories about so called soul bonds resulting in unbreakable
marriage between the two. It is perfectly possible that there may be
several other witches or wizards out there for each of you. This gift does
not guarantee that you are absolutely perfect for each other and that you
will spend the rest of your life together, just that it is far more likely that
you will be happy together than it is for a normal couple."
"Hang on Rowena you said that I could be compatible with another witch
or wizard but I only like girls. I'm not gay." He blushed.
Rowena shrugged, "so? You may not like other males but that makes
absolutely no difference to what your magic is compatible with. Magic is
genderless. That's probably another reason why such blessings are rare."
"That makes sense. Is there anything else we should know about the
link?" Harry asked.
Rowena thought about it briefly before replying, "not really. Just
remember that while the link is rare and makes you more compatible, it
is not the be all and end all. Do not allow it to dominate your lives, allow
your relationship to develop naturally."
Both teenagers nodded at the advice before Harry decided to change the
direction of the conversation. "While we are here has there been any
progress with the ritual design for Voldemort's Horcruxes Godric,
Salazar?"
Salazar looked to Godric to answer who dutifully did so. "There has been
a bit of a stumbling block I'm afraid. While we have almost worked out
how to invoke the links between each of the separate soul pieces, we are
a long way from being able to destroy them. It would be helpful if we
knew the exact number we were looking for but as that is impossible we
are making do with the information we have. I am hopeful that we will
have a completed ritual ready to perform before you leave the castle at
the end of the year."
"That's good to know, at least we are making progress. Daphne, now that
small interruption has been cleared up, how about we continue on from
where we left off?"
The reactions to Harry and Daphne beginning to date were remarkably
similar to the Founder's, disconcertingly so. Had everyone seen that they
liked each other apart from themselves? Blaise certainly thought so and it
was hard to tell Tracey's view as she appeared only able to communicate
by squeals, much to Blaise's chagrin. The others that Harry spoke to
regularly seemed pleased for him and congratulated them on finally
opening their eyes to see what was clear for everyone else. The Weasley
twins took it one stage further, of course, and began referring to the
couple as 'Milord and Milady' along with deep and over elaborate bows.
They threatened to begin curtseying but a glare from Daphne made them
stick to bowing.
Even Harry, with his pretty poor appreciation of the emotions behind
people's actions, could tell that Susan was slightly hurt by the turn of
events. However after a day or so of moping she suddenly brightened and
came over and congratulated the two of them. Harry wasn't sure how to
act around her so he asked Daphne and was told to just act normally. He
was also rewarded with a kiss on the cheek, he wasn't sure why though
and when he asked Daphne just chuckled and replied, "for being you."
This cleared up nothing but Harry decided it wasn't worth worrying
about, frankly there were other things occupying his mind at the
moment.
22. Chapter 22
AN – Hey sorry for the delay been busy at work but I've got a week
off so hopefully I will finish Harry's third year by the end of the
week. Anyhow on we go.
Chapter 22
Very little actually changed in the dynamic between Harry and Daphne,
now that they were officially dating. Harry began to understand why
everyone had thought they were blind for not seeing it, as the only real
change was that they often held hands and occasionally kissed. The
Hogwarts community was also surprisingly tolerant of a relationship
between its most famous Gryffindor and a Slytherin. Perhaps Harry's
work at reaching out to people in different houses was starting to
overcome decades of barriers. All things considered Harry was the
happiest he had been in memory, topping even the excellent Christmas
he had.
Ravenclaw played Slytherin in the first Quidditch match of the New Year
and the Ravens narrowly defeated the Snakes thanks to an excellent catch
by Cho Chang from right under Malfoy's nose. However the majority of
the school had only watched this with half an eye as they were eagerly
awaiting the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Frankly nobody
expected anything other than an absolute blowout in favour of
Gryffindor, not even the Hufflepuff team.
After Transfiguration on a surprisingly crisp late February morning,
McGonagall asked Harry to stay back briefly.
"What is it Professor?" Harry asked curiously.
"In our meeting over Christmas you bought up certain concerns over the
Headmaster's behaviour, inconsistencies you might say. Well I just
thought you ought to know that I have been keeping an eye on him and I
have to conclude that you are absolutely correct. More so I believe he is
becoming more erratic. He called me to his office the other day but when
I got there he didn't seem to know why I was there. Oh he tried to hide it
but I could see through his bluster. In fact last week he sent me a note
saying he wanted to remove a specific clause from the Hogwart's Charter.
A clause that he worked long and hard to get added not six months ago."
Harry frowned, "it doesn't make sense Professor. There seems to be no
discernable pattern, no end game to his actions. What is he aiming
towards? What does he hope to gain?"
"I don't know, I wish I did but I just can't work him out anymore. I'm
sorry I can't be more help."
Harry waved her apologies off, "it's ok Professor, it's good information to
know, even if I don't really understand it."
Daphne didn't understand it either when he updated her later that
evening but he could tell she was running it through that fabulous mind
of hers, looking at every single angle. While he may not be able to spot
something, if there was any hint of an end game he had faith that
Daphne would pick it up. With Daphne keeping the Dumbledore situation
in hand, Harry redoubled his efforts to finish off the potions program. It
took him several days of near constant effort over a weekend but finally
he pronounced it 'done'. All that was needed was for the others to input
all their Arithmatic data about the ingredients and potion creation
processes.
This too was completed in shifts once Harry sat everyone down and
explained exactly what they had to do. He found it interesting that
despite being purebloods with no experience of technology prior to him
introducing it to them; they managed to pick it up very quickly. Slowly
but surely they added all the necessary data, it was no mean feat to
include every ingredient not to mention the different methods of
preparing each one. It was deadly tedious work, even if it was necessary.
So much so that Harry found himself thankful, for the first time, for the
fanaticism of Wood when it came to Quidditch. The Gryffindor Hufflepuff
game was drawing near and despite being overwhelming favourites
Wood would not allow any of them to even contemplate becoming
complacent. The four or five times a week practices gave Harry a much
welcomed excuse not to spend his free time incessantly typing although
he couldn't get out of it completely unfortunately.
It was the day before Harry's Quidditch match that Daphne sent Dobby to
collect Harry to announce that the last bit of data had been entered.
Harry excitedly through down his half finished Herbology essay and
prepared himself for Dobby to pop him down to the workshop. Everyone
else was already there and there was a palpable air of excitement in the
room.
"It's all done then?" Harry asked.
Blaise nodded and gestured towards the empty seat in front of the
computer. "Well get on with it then" he said hiding a grin.
Harry flashed a crooked smile and took the offered seat. "What potion
shall we test first then?" he enquired to the room.
As usual Tracey was first off the mark, "try something simple like the Boil
Cure potion that we made in first year."
Harry nodded and tapped away at the keyboard briefly before hitting
enter. A small progress bar appeared on screen along with the word
'Analysing'. They waited impatiently, watching the bar creep towards
100% before it flashed once and a small menu appeared offering three
options. First was 'most efficient brew', second was 'most effective brew'
and finally was 'cheapest brew'. He clicked 'most effective' and a recipe
appeared on screen. He looked to Tracey to see her reaction to the recipe
and was rewarded with a gasp followed by feverish murmuring.
"No porcupine quills…stabilises without the need for a base…anti
clockwise after the initial simmering."
Ever the practical one Blaise looked towards the end to see the cost per
litre. He blinked once and looked again to make sure he hadn't imagined
it. "Bloody hell 74 Galleons a litre for 100% effectiveness."
This pulled everyone up short, the normal brew would cost around 2
Sickles at most for the same volume. Tracey pursed her lips thoughtfully.
"It's the Moonglow petal" Neville said, "it's an extremely rare plant from
the Congo jungle. A whole flower would easily cost 500 Galleons."
In response Harry clicked the 'cheapest brew' option. The recipe changed
slightly leading to a cost of 3 Knuts per litre but an effectiveness of only
68%. Not a bad score by any means but not as impressive as 100%. Harry
then tried 'most efficient' this came out at 4 Sickles per litre but had a
rating of 94%. This led to an evening of playing with the sliders and
many different recipes to see the differences. Tracey couldn't contain
herself and had set a cauldron up to begin testing some of the recipes to
make sure they worked in reality as opposed to just on a screen. It was
midnight before Harry begged off to get some sleep before the game
tomorrow, leaving the others to their playing.
The predicted blowout over Hufflepuff came to fruition in resounding
fashion. Rumours of a professional scout drove Wood to new heights of
keeping. Despite a fairly impressive Chaser trio for Hufflepuff, Wood
refused to let a single goal in. Harry privately believed that Wood simply
needed to glare at the approaching Quaffle for it to decide not to trouble
his hoops let alone save it. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker, had
obviously attempted to practise joining in with the Chaser plays as Harry
had done against Slytherin but he didn't have the same knack that Harry
had so it fell a little flat. Deciding to push his Firebolt to its absolute limit
for its maiden match, Harry led poor Cedric on a breakneck tour of the
field in a series of feints and dives. In fact Harry was having so much fun
that he almost forgot about actually looking for the Snitch. So much so
that it was only blind luck that the little golden ball popped up in front of
him as the Gryffindor Chasers took the score just past 700. Laughing in
delight he whipped a hand out in a flash and snared the tricky little ball
to bring the game to a slightly anticlimactic end.
The ensuing party lasted long into the night in the Gryffindor Common
Room with dancing and an impressive amount of contraband alcohol that
had been smuggled in. The twins tried to get Harry to take what they
thought would be his first shot of firewhiskey. However they had not
counted on the fact that Harry had spent almost a month with potentially
the most lackadaisical guardian about these matters, Sirius. He had
already experienced his first shot or two of firewhiskey and would no
longer be surprised by its potency. So with a wink he took the proffered
shot, downed it and held it out for another one showing no effects at all.
Harry had never seen both twins gobsmacked before but he was treated
to the sight now until he was dragged away to dance by Katie. Despite
his vehement protests he spent most of the night dancing with the
various girls he knew in the tower, only escaping late on. Harry
thoroughly enjoyed the party although he did wish that Daphne could
have been there as well.
He met up with his girlfriend the next day in the Great Hall after a lazy
Sunday morning breakfast. He swept her into his arms and planted a kiss
on her lips causing her to lean into him and giggle slightly.
"So Daph, what do you want to do today?"
"I don't know Harry, how about a walk around the lake?"
He quickly agreed and they left hand in hand. They spent most of the
journey until they were half way around the lake in companionable
silence, enjoying the early spring sunshine and the signs of new life
surrounding them. They came to a stop under their favourite tree and by
unspoken agreement sat down, Harry leaning against the gnarled trunk
and Daphne leaning against him with his arms wrapped around her.
They talked mostly of inconsequential things until Harry began fishing
for compliments.
"And what did you think of my spectacular Quidditch performance
yesterday?" he said with a grin.
Daphne rolled her eyes, "oh it was fantastic of course but it was a little
bit difficult to keep up with."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked interestedly as despite playing the
game it was rare that he watched it from a fans perspective. In fact even
the school games he mostly just watched the Seekers and ignored the
rest.
"Well there's so much going on at once. Say for example you're off in one
of your crazy dives over one side of the pitch but on the other the
Chasers are doing some intricate passing move and in the middle the
Beaters could be whacking a bludger. It's very difficult to keep up with it
all at the same time."
"Sounds like they need replays."
"What? What's a replay?"
"In Muggle sports that are on TV, if something interesting happens they
show it again, sometimes at a slower speed. Actually…hold on a second."
His face twisted into an expression of deep thought, one that Daphne
knew was pointless to interrupt.
After several minutes of obviously deep thought from her boyfriend, with
his lips moving soundlessly, Daphne lost patience and elbowed him in the
ribs.
"Ow what was that for?"
"For ignoring your girlfriend. Now what set your mind off?"
He took a deep breath, marshalling his thoughts. "Well first I was
thinking about whether it would be difficult to make a wizarding version
of television. In itself that shouldn't be too difficult just a case of building
the sets and modifying the signal that the Wizarding Wireless Network
sends out so that it sends pictures instead of just sound. Then that got me
thinking of what would be shown on there. Now, in the Muggle world,
sports are a huge industry. Hundreds of millions of people sat down to
watch the last World Cup Final for football. Some club teams have an
annual turnover of hundreds of millions of Galleons so I was wondering
how that would translate to Quidditch. I'll be honest despite playing the
game I know hardly anything about the leagues around the world."
"Well the British and Irish League is the oldest and most prestigious in
the world I know that much. However the standard is actually not that
high as is evidenced by the England team being rubbish, they might not
qualify for the World Cup this summer. The Irish are pretty good though,
they might actually have a shot at winning the Cup. The problem is that
the British teams only allow British players to play for them. The owners
are all old Pureblood families that believe in the Pureblood supremacy
malarkey and by their estimation foreigners are only slightly above
Muggleborns."
Harry's eyes positively lit up at this. "So what would happen if someone,
say the last remaining heir to an old Pureblood family wanted to buy one
of these teams and would allow the best foreign players from all over the
world to play for them? How would the Quidditch fans take this?"
"Well I think the fans would love it, they want to see the very best
players play for their team. The British players would hate it because
they would no longer be able to coast by and receive adulation while
playing poorly however the foreign players would love it. The reputation
of the British League is so high, pretty much every player around the
world would chew their arm off to get to play in the League but they
know they would never be allowed to. But Harry what's the point? Sure it
would be fun to own a team but it would be a colossal waste of money."
"Ah but that's where you're wrong my dear Daphne, all you need is a
large range of merchandise and a worldwide presence. That combined
with winning a lot equals a huge amount of profit. Come on we need to
talk to some experts."
"These two? These are the experts?" Daphne looked sceptically at the
wrestling pair of Seamus and Dean rolling around on the floor
pummelling each other.
"Trust me. Oi you two quit cuddling I need to talk to you."
Seamus looked up and Dean took the opportunity land a solid punch to
the Irish boy's ribs. Dean stood up while Seamus was led on the floor
wheezing.
"What do you need to talk to us for Harry?" Dean asked.
"Yeah what for?" said Seamus as he stood up and promptly stamped on
Dean's foot while rubbing his ribs.
"Will you two stop fighting for one minute" Daphne glared at the pair of
them, promising real pain if they didn't.
Seamus and Dean snapped into identical poses of attention and saluted
"Sir, Yes Sir."
Harry merely rolled his eyes knowing the two best friends were almost as
difficult as the twins to control. "I want to speak to you both because
between the two of you, you know pretty much everything about
Quidditch and Football. Now Daphne informs me that the British League
won't allow foreign players to play for their teams is this about right?"
Seamus nodded "yeah the owners hate foreigners, won't let 'em near the
League."
"Interesting now Quidditch has transfers I assume? How much is the most
expensive player sold?"
Seamus wracked his brain for a bit, "that would be Aiden Lynch, Irish
Seeker, signed for the Tornadoes for 85,000 Galleons last year."
Harry frowned "doesn't sound like much." Daphne and Seamus looked at
him aghast but Dean just looked thoughtful.
"It's not when you consider Ronaldo went to Madrid for £80 million a few
years ago" Dean said to looks of utter shock.
Doing a quick conversion in her head, Daphne's mouth dropped open,
"that's 16 million Galleons" she exclaimed.
"Bloody hell you could buy every team in the League and still have plenty
of change left over with that."
"So in your professional opinion Seamus if someone bought an old team
in the League and transferred in the best players from around the world,
would they win the League and more importantly would they be
accepted by the fans?"
"The fans would love it and if you could get the players then they would
destroy every team in the League at the moment."
Dean looked at Harry shrewdly, "at first I thought you were trying to do
an Abramovic and buy success but that's not it is it? No you're trying to
create a wizarding version of Man United or Real Madrid aren't you?"
Harry smiled "Dean my friend you have hit the nail on the head. From
what I know of Quidditch teams around they have very little in the way
of infrastructure, just think if I could build a set up like United or Madrid
with Reserve teams and Youth teams."
Dean's eyes widened now, "they would dominate for decades. Couple of
preseason tours to America and the Far East, change of kit every year and
the owner would be loaded."
"One final thing Seamus, of the teams in the League which is the one with
the best worldwide reputation? Doesn't matter if they haven't won
anything in ages."
"Well Puddlemere is the eldest, formed in 1163 and they probably have
the best reputation around the world. They had a lot of success in the
19th Century and some in the 40's but very little since. Actually thinking
about it they are owned by the Wilkes family and if rumour is to be
believed they would be happy to unload the team. The current Head
hates Quidditch by all accounts."
"Perfect" Harry smiled a remarkably feral smile, "now if you will excuse
me gentlemen I need to call my Account Manager. Keep this quiet and I
may well have a job for the pair of you if all goes well."
"Yeah Griphook that's fine I'll send Dobby along in a minute to pick up
the papers. Oh I have to come myself? Ok well I'll get Dobby to pop me
to Gringotts and I'll sign the papers. Yeah it's no problem so long as
nobody finds out I can leave Hogwarts. Thanks for getting this all sorted
so quickly over the last few days. Well I'm sure the Wilkes' will be kicking
themselves for letting it go so cheaply in a couple years. Ok see you in a
minute." Harry pressed the hang up button on his phone and spotted
Daphne looking at him amusedly. "What?"
"Nothing Harry you go off and have fun, I can't believe you bought
Puddlemere for only 200,000 Galleons. Go on shoo."
"Yes Ma'am" he said playfully and called for Dobby.
A routine trip of an hour later including a few papers to sign and an
update for Griphook, Harry returned the proud owner of Puddlemere
United. He decided to leave things as they were for the remainder of the
season which ended in May and begin to make the ambitious changes
over the summer.
He was updating the immensely excited duo of Seamus and Dean over
dinner when they were distracted by the sound of steadily rising voices
from the Staff table.
"He left today, I know he did."
"Control yourself Headmaster" McGonagall shouted.
"He is the one that must be controlled; it is for the Greater Good. I cannot
allow this attitude to continue." Dumbledore was practically foaming at
the mouth, his eyes darting along the Gryffindor table wildly.
"Mr Potter did not leave the school premises, now sit down" McGonagall's
Scottish blood was heating up rapidly.
Harry tried to shrink down to avoid the open mouthed stares of about
half the school, the other half were firmly fixed on the raging form of the
Headmaster.
"I know the little brat did, where are you Harry Potter? Come out, come
out wherever you are." By now Dumbledore had drawn his wand.
"Albus Dumbledore put your wand away this instant!" McGonagall
screeched.
"Albus Dumbledore? I am not Albus Dumbledore. I am Gellert
Grindelwald!" and with an insane cackle he began flinging spells.
AN – So how do you like my little twist? To be perfectly honest I
have most of the next chapter written but I'm going to be evil and
wait at least a few days to post it because frankly I'm interested to
hear what your thoughts are how many of you guessed that one?
23. Chapter 23
AN – I know I said I would wait a couple days but I got caught up in
all the reviews and felt a little mean when I had a perfectly nice
chapter sitting ready for you so enjoy.
Chapter 23
With a speed born of desperation Harry dived backwards to avoid a
sickly yellow looking curse that impacted with the table. Everyone
around the room was frozen in a combination of fear and shock that the
great Albus Dumbledore was no more, but rather the most feared Dark
Lord prior to Voldemort. They had all grown up hearing of the famous
battle between the two but apparently the stories had been wrong.
Flitwick was the first to recover, proving that he was once a World
Duelling Champion. He flicked his wand out and began launching a many
coloured chain of spells at the Headmaster who almost absentmindedly
batted them away with no more concern than he would a fly. By now
McGonagall had recovered from her shock and was screaming in Gaelic
as she began transfiguring any item close by into wolves, lions, bears, any
animal with a predator's instinct and layered with the compulsion to
attack Albus, Gellert, whoever it was. Remus was not far behind and he
was flinging spells with a dangerous look in his eyes. The wolf inside him
was begging to be unleashed; thankfully the full moon was almost two
weeks away. Snape too had begun to launch curses that looked almost as
dark as some of those coming from the Headmaster
Almost all the students were cowering under the sturdy forms of the
house tables, shielded from the worst of the spellfire. With contemptuous
ease the Headmaster was duelling the four teachers and keeping them all
on the back foot while still hurling curses at Harry who was using every
ounce of concentration and his lightning reactions to prevent himself
from dying what would be a very painful death judging by the colour of
the curses.
However not all the students were cowering, some had stood up and
began to fire their own spells at the Headmaster. Neville was at the
forefront of this with a grim determination etched onto his face as he
threw the most powerful spells he knew over and over again.
Dumbledore was still laughing, his eyes no longer twinkling but rather
shining with anger and the desire to hurt and kill. It was clear to see why
he had long been known as the most powerful wizard and the only one
Voldemort feared. Remus was hit with a blasting curse as Dumbledore
began a methodical assault on the teachers. The werewolf launching
backwards into the wall before coming to a rest, still.
Then Harry knew anger. He too began to join the attack, standing
shoulder to shoulder with Neville, flexing his monstrous magical core.
The students looked on in wonder as Harry began firing spells twice the
size of Dumbledore's at the old man. The old man belied his years as he
dodged or shielded everything that was coming towards him, all the time
returning fire. Harry knew he didn't have anywhere near the knowledge
or skill to beat Dumbledore but what he lacked in finesse, he more than
made up for in raw power, enough to keep him occupied.
Daphne too was standing up, hatred on her countenance as she attacked,
her hair whipping back from her face. 'Merlin she's beautiful' Harry
thought as he snuck a glance over towards her.
Dumbledore spotted this and followed his glance towards Daphne. With a
triumphant smile he flicked a deep purple spell at her, catching her
unawares.
Time stood still for Harry as he watched everything in slow motion. The
curse flew at Daphne and he willed her with every fibre of his being to
move or shield or something. But she didn't. Surprise now covered her
beautiful face as she sank to the ground in a heap.
Harry screamed at her to get up but she didn't stir. Now Harry knew
rage. Magic crackled in the air as he lost all sense of self and threw
himself at the smug face of Dumbledore.
Wand forgotten he surprised the old man by charging straight at him.
Dumbledore reacted instinctively and a hail of arrows flew at the enraged
boy. Three struck him in the chest but he didn't even flinch, just carried
on charging, rage clouding any pain. Dumbledore raised his wand again
to fire a darker curse but it was too late the boy was on him.
Blows rained down upon the Headmaster as he desperately attempted to
defend himself. He tried to bring his wand to bear but one of Harry's
backswings knocked it from his hand. 40 or maybe 50 years ago he
would have still been able to beat the boy in a physical contest but time
is the enemy no man can conquer and it had worn him down. Combine
that with the adrenaline coursing through Harry's body, not to mention
the rage. The oh so beautiful rage, seeping into every cell, strengthening
it. Every hurt, every crack of the whip across his back, every beating
from Dudley and his gang was channelled into the punches. Harry didn't
even register that the spells had stopped flying but he did notice that
someone had their arms around his waist and was bodily lifting him from
the unconscious form of the Headmaster. Instinct took over, someone was
trying to stop him and that couldn't be allowed so he head butted his
attacker, causing the arms to loosen enough for him to escape and return
to the object of his rage.
Harry's hands were covered in blood now, some from the cuts in his
knuckles but most from pounding the bloody ruin that was formally the
face of the Headmaster. As each blow hit more blood splashed onto his
shirt and up onto his snarling face. His arms were getting tired now but
he wasn't going to stop. Then the world went dark.
"I had to stun him Black; he was going to beat a man to a pulp in front of
hundreds of witnesses. Don't look at me like that mutt, I don't care how
deserved it was, it would still be murder."
"Shut it Snivelly you're just bitter because he broke your nose."
Harry cracked an eye open to see his Godfather squaring off with Snape.
"What happened?" he croaked out. Instantly both men stopped fighting
and Sirius rushed to the bedside.
"Well you stopped Dumbledore or Grindelwald or whatever. How much
do you remember?" concern tinged Sirius' normally boisterous voice.
"We were sat eating and then I dodged a spell. Dodged lots of spells and
then…Daphne! Where is she? Is she alright?"
"Calm down Harry, getting all agitated isn't going to help her" Sirius
replied calmly.
Harry, however, was not so calm. An expression of utter defeat was
plastered on him. "You didn't say 'she's fine' first. People always say she's
fine unless they are really hurt or dead." He looked up into Sirius' steel
grey eyes. "Please tell me she isn't dead at the very least."
"She's not dead Harry. But you're right; she's in a bad way. She's in St
Mungo's with her parents by her side. Before you even think about saying
anything you are not going to see her yet. Not until Madam Pomfrey has
checked you over and made sure those arrows have done no permanent
damage."
"What arrows?" Harry asked stupidly.
Snape snorted, "what arrows he says, the three arrows that were
embedded in your chest and sticking out the other side, remember
them?"
Harry shook his head, eliciting another snort from Snape.
"Be that as it may" said Sirius with a sideways glare at Snape, "you were
very hurt and Madam Pomfrey needs to check they were just normal
arrows rather than ones coated in poison or Merlin knows what else. It's
best if you rest Harry, take some of this Dreamless Sleep potion, I'll see
you in the morning."
Harry obediently took the vial and knocked it back, happy to escape his
own morbid thoughts.
The Infirmary was bathed in pale, early morning sunshine when Harry
opened his eyes again. Everything ached and the bandages around his
chest were tight and constricting. Turning to the side was even an effort
but he was rewarded with the sight of Sirius draped over a chair at his
bedside, a line of drool escaping the Animagus' mouth. This caused a
chuckle to rise unbidden to Harry's lips but it was soon stifled as it hurt
too much to laugh, physically and mentally. As if his body knew what a
supreme effort it had been to simply turn over, Harry felt his eyes
growing heavy once more and he settled down to sleep. However, free
from potions, this time his sleep was no longer dreamless. He woke
briefly to Sirius holding his thrashing form down as he screamed
wordlessly and Madam Pomfrey tried to force another vial down his
throat.
It was dark when Harry woke again; he dimly noticed that his chest was
free from bandages. He wondered how long he had been out of it. The
scabs on his bruised form looked like they were days old at least, but by
his reckoning it would only be 24 hours. He shifted gingerly and was
pleased to note that it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as before. He
took a deep breath and forced himself upwards into a sitting position. It
was times like this that he was glad he no longer wore glasses as he
would have had to spend the last minute, fumbling awkwardly to be able
to see. He looked around to see if Madam Pomfrey was around, hunger
was gnawing at his stomach and he would quite like to correct that. She
was nowhere to be seen, however, so Harry called for Dobby.
"Harry, how are you?" the elf asked.
Harry shrugged minimally, "not really sure Dobby, its all a little fuzzy at
the moment. I am hungry though so could you get me something light to
eat? I'm not even sure what I would like, so make it a surprise for me
please."
Dobby nodded and bowed slightly, "of course Harry." He paused briefly
before speaking again, "its good to see you awake Harry" and with that
he popped away.
He returned quickly with a covered tray. "I was tempted to bring you
soup as that's no doubt what Madam Pomfrey would give you, however I
know how much you hate it. So instead I bought a little bit of antipasti.
Lush ripe tomatoes, several different slices of ham, fresh ciabatta and a
few other little bits and pieces. Eat what you can and then say 'done' and
it will change into a bowl with any leftovers turning to soup. We
wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the Demon Matron now would
we?" Dobby winked and popped away to Harry's chuckles.
True to Dobby's word the tray did indeed turn into a bowl of what looked
like tomato soup to Harry once he had finished eating the delicious food.
It also had the benefit of being food you had to concentrate on and make
yourself, thus drawing Harry's focus away from worrying about Daphne.
But the meal was done now and Harry's worries returned full force, she
just had to be ok, he didn't know what he would do if she wasn't. He
couldn't sleep anymore so he sat up running through his ideas and plans
in his mind. He had to occupy himself somehow and this seemed the best
way.
Dawn was peeking through the drawn curtains when Madam Pomfrey
made an appearance. Seeing him awake she immediately hustled over to
his bed and began running some diagnostic charms. He waited for her to
finish before speaking, she didn't take well to interruptions.
"Well Mr Potter, I'm happy to say you're a lot better. You should be ready
to leave sometime this morning."
Harry looked at her doubtfully, "this seems a little sudden for you
Poppy."
"How many times have I told you not to call me that? Anyway it isn't
sudden, you were unconscious for 4 days."
"Why was I out that long? It was only a few arrows and I'd woken up
once already."
She looked faintly embarrassed now, "ah well as to that, we kept you
stunned so you could heal without the pain of nightmares." She laid her
hand gently on his shoulder, "there's only so much Dreamless Sleep can
do before it stops becoming effective. I'm sorry Harry but it was for the
best."
Harry visibly steeled himself, "and Daphne? How is she?"
Madam Pomfrey sighed, "she is in St Mungo's. The curse that hit her was
a modified Bone Withering curse." She hesitated before seeming to come
to a decision, "I know you're strong Harry so I'm going to tell you exactly
what is happening, please don't interrupt me." Harry nodded his assent,
his heart in his mouth. "The Bone Withering curse is a nasty one but this
modified one is especially bad, it eats away at the bones and once they
are dust it spreads to the flesh. To prevent its spread the healers have
dosed Daphne with the Draught of Living Death and put her in stasis.
They will then proceed to vanish a small number of her bones at a time
before re-growing them with Skele-gro. Once these are re-grown they will
move on to the next group of bones. It is a long and arduous process that
requires pinpoint precision. However I will not lie to you, even that may
not cure her and even if it does she only has an even chance of waking
up from the Draught of Living Death. I'm sorry Mr Potter, Harry, but the
team at St Mungo's are doing everything they can."
Again Harry nodded, his heart not really in it. "Can I go and see her?"
"Certainly, Sirius should be here soon and I can let you go into his care.
The new Headmistress has decided that you are excused class for at least
a week, but take as long as you need. I believe her exact words were 'he's
so far ahead of everyone anyway he could not bother coming back until
6th year and still be ahead.'" She smiled tightly at him.
"So what happened to Dumbledore?"
"A story for another time, he's in custody and won't be hurting anyone
ever again. Don't you think on it, you concentrate on getting yourself
fully healthy again."
Feeling a little better now that he knew Dumbledore was neutralised
Harry sat back to wait impatiently for Sirius to arrive. In reality it was
less than half an hour until he poked his head around the door, but to
Harry it felt like days.
"Ah Harry you're awake, Madam Pomfrey says you're ok to leave."
"Sirius thank Merlin you're here finally. Come on we need to go to St
Mungo's and see Daphne."
"I know calm down. I bought some clothes for you, unless of course you
fancy running into her room in just your underwear?" Sirius waggled his
eyebrows.
Harry blushed and held out his hand for the clothes. Ignoring Sirius'
smirk he snatched them and went behind a screen to change. They were
not his normal clothes, they were the ones Rach forced him to buy as
'good' clothes. Designer label jeans and a fitted shirt that he rolled the
sleeves up on and left the top two buttons undone. He looked around for
his trainers but Sirius instead threw the polished black Italian leather
shoes at him.
"Why the fancy gear Sirius? Where are my normal clothes?"
"Well young Harry as you are likely to be meeting the parents of your
girlfriend then I thought it best for you to make a half decent impression.
Of course I can always go and get your ripped jeans and Slayer tshirt, I'm
sure that will make an excellent impression."
"No, no that's alright, these will do fine. Stop laughing or I will help
Moony get you neutered."
Sirius stopped laughing.
Despite his many injuries over the years Harry had never actually been to
St Mungo's so he was surprised that once you got past the charmed
entrance to hide it, it looked remarkably similar to every other hospital
he'd ever seen on TV or otherwise. Somehow he had expected it to be
really different to so called normal hospitals. The receptionist directed
them the Spells and Curses department on the third floor. Daphne had a
private room and Harry stood outside the closed door, internally
panicking. Sirius saw his nervousness and put a fatherly hand on his
shoulder. Harry drew comfort from the simple gesture and knocked on
the door. A feminine voice called for him to enter from inside.
He tentatively opened the door and immediately spotted the woman who
could only be Daphne's mother. They looked almost identical, they could
be twins let alone sisters. His eyes swept to Daphne, lying in the bed. She
looked so pale and peaceful she could almost be dead. He supposed she
was in a way, in a state of living death.
"Ah you must be Harry, my daughter has spoken often of you." The lilt of
Mrs Greengrass broke through Harry's despairing thoughts and he forced
himself to look at the woman.
"Yes I am, pleased to meet you Ma'am, though I wish the circumstances
could be better."
"Nonsense and don't call me Ma'am, makes me feel old. You must call me
Anastasia." Her smile took any of the sting out of her words.
Harry smiled back tightly and moved towards the bed, "How is she?"
Anastasia sighed "getting there. The Healers are making progress, they
have finished re-growing her lower legs and her upper legs are currently
half grown. They believe it will take another two weeks at least before
they can begin to think about bringing her out of her sleep. Now come on
tell me about yourself, I want to know about the person so captivated by
my daughter and the one who has stolen her heart."
Harry blushed and began his story. Helped along by Anastasia's gentle
questioning, they talked long into the day, each occasionally glancing at
the still form of Daphne.
Sirius hadn't entered the room with Harry, not that Harry noticed. He left
to get an update on the Dumbledore situation and returned in the
evening to find Harry and Anastasia sharing a simple meal, likely
courtesy of Dobby, still talking.
"Sorry for interrupting but we really should be getting back otherwise
Poppy will be after my blood."
Harry stood up and held out a hand to Anastasia, "it was a pleasure to
meet you Ana, thank you for the talk. I'm sure I will see you again soon
and meet Cyrus and Astoria as well."
Anastasia ignored his hand and pulled him into a light hug. "It was good
to meet you too Harry. I'll see you soon, look after yourself."
Sirius apparated them back to Hogwarts and led Harry to the
Headmaster's, no Headmistress', office Harry corrected himself. Sirius
mumbled a password that harry wasn't paying enough attention to catch,
lost in his own thoughts.
"Harry, how are you doing?" asked temporary Headmistress McGonagall,
although most believed it only a formality that she would confirmed to
the position permanently.
Harry shrugged eloquently and sat in the offered seat in front of the desk.
"Well that's to be expected. Now Sirius you have been to see my
predecessor today, what have you learnt?"
Sirius took a deep breath and noted Harry perking up to hear his story.
"It is a difficult one to explain. As you know he is in St Barnabus', the
mental hospital near Manchester. The staff there have been assessing him
near enough nonstop since he woke up there. He is kept in magic
suppressing cuffs at all times and is on a heavy regimen of potions. One
of these potions allows the barriers around the mind to fall away to a
trained Legillimens as well as making the patient compliant to
questioning. Through this they have begun to piece together the story. To
do so you need to go back to Albus' childhood. He has a younger brother
and also a younger sister, Ariana. Ariana was the youngest and before she
went to Hogwarts some local Muggle children found her doing accidental
magic and tried to force more out of her. When she couldn't they turned
on her and set upon her leaving her a danger to everyone else. Her mind
rejected magic and she couldn't control it, she needed constant
supervision. Fast forward the story to the summer after Albus graduated,
another young man came to Godric's Hollow, Gellert Grindelwald. They
spent the summer together and became the closest of friends however
towards the end there was an argument and Grindelwald used the
Cruciatus on Aberforth, Albus' brother. Presumably Ariana heard the
commotion and came to investigate. It would appear she tried to help but
she couldn't control her magic properly and became dangerous to the
other three. It becomes unclear here but we know that Ariana died a
painful death when a spell from somebody hit her and reacted poorly
with her swelling magic. Now we need to skip forwards again to the
events of the duel between Albus and Grindelwald. All eyewitnesses
agree that it was an epic duel but what they didn't know is that right at
the end once Albus had disarmed Grindelwald and forced him to the
ground, Grindelwald swore on his magic that it was Albus who killed his
own sister."
"Did he?" Harry interrupted, hanging on tenterhooks.
Sirius shrugged, "maybe, maybe not. Grindelwald didn't do any more
spells to prove he still had access to his magic and Albus killed him
straight after anyway. An Oath on his magic lost him nothing, he knew
he was going to die anyway, yet it was one last spit in the face of his
conqueror. Anyway the Healers believe that the belief that he was
responsible for his sister's death along with the trauma of staring into his
best friend's eyes as he killed him caused his mind to fracture. To
rationalise the crushing guilt his mind created a separate personality,
Grindelwald, which was responsible for all those actions. The Healers
have spoken to both sides of Albus and agree that they interact in very
distinct ways. It would appear that the Dumbledore side has no
knowledge of what the Grindelwald side does when it is in control.
However the Grindelwald side has access to the Dumbledore side's
memories."
"So it was the Grindelwald side that did all those things to me and the
Dumbledore side was good? Is that what you're saying?" Harry asked
again.
Sirius repeated his shrug. "Who knows, it is clear that times of trauma
and stress weaken the barriers between the two and allow Grindelwald
more control. However that is not to say that every 'bad' action was
Grindelwald and every 'good' was Dumbledore. The line is very blurred,
we may never know where one ended and the other began. At least this
does explain why there seems to be very little consistency in Albus'
actions."
"So why now? Why did the Grindelwald side act on Harry in such an
unsubtle way?" asked McGonagall.
"Ah well as to that; remember what I said about stress weakening the
barriers? Well Albus has been suffering from Dementia for a while now
which further weakened them on a permanent basis, hence why he has
become more erratic all year, even under the control of the Dumbledore
side."
Harry leaned back in his chair, trying to digest what he had just heard. It
was strange, despite it all, he still had no idea why Albus had acted as he
had. In fact more questions were added, no longer was it simply trying to
work out the motivations but trying to decipher which personality was in
control. It was enough to give anyone a headache.
"So basically just to cope with the guilt and whatever, his mind created a
whole entire different personality." Sirius nodded in answer to Harry's
question. "Wow, the mind is a scarily powerful thing."
AN – Well there you go, I never said last chapter was the only twist!
I have to say I'm very happy that there was such confusion over the
Dumbledore/Grindelwald situation although a few of you clever
souls did guess what was happening. Hopefully this part at the end
clears up all that confusion though if you have any questions don't
hesitate to ask and I will do my best to answer. Cheers for your
support, it means a lot. Next chapter shouldn't be too far off.
24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Harry was still trying to process all the information when he went to bed
that evening, so much so that it kept him awake. He wasn't entirely sure
if this was a bad thing or not. On the one hand he felt terrible having not
slept at all. All of his aches and pains seemed magnified in his still
weakened body. However, by not sleeping, he had avoided the dreams
that seemed to plague him after the fight. He was too proud to go and
ask Madam Pomfrey for a Dreamless Sleep potion and anyway the
Matron had insinuated that they were becoming less effective on him as
it was. Harry presumed this was due to prolonged use over the years after
his fight with Quirrell in first year and the Chamber of Secrets last year.
He carefully picked his way through his still sleeping dorm mates and
headed for the shower in an attempt to wash some life into his haggard
appearance. The hot water soothed his aches and holding his head under
the stream of water made him forget everything apart from the rhythmic
pounding on his skull. It had a hypnotic quality that Harry had always
enjoyed.
Feeling marginally more human he emerged and mechanically dressed. It
was still only 6.15 in the morning, far too early for breakfast in the Great
Hall so he went to the Lab to busy himself with work to keep his mind
occupied. During his long night of contemplation he thought he had
found a way to build a wizarding version of a television but he roughly
pushed this aside. What was the point of it? Who cared if he could build
something that would increase his finances? That wouldn't keep him, or
anyone he cared for, safe. No, he had neglected that side of his studies in
favour of pointless things. At the moment it appeared Dumbledore was
out of the picture, but what if he escaped? Never underestimate the
power of magicals to screw even the simplest of tasks up. And then there
was Voldemort to consider. Battling him twice in his first three years of
school was certainly enough to prove to Harry that he was still out there
and would not rest until someone put him down for good, like the rabid
dog he was.
So he delved into his collected Defence Against the Dark Arts books as
well as a few found in Salazar's library that were slightly more Dark Arts
than Defence Against. He moved into the chamber proper and conjured
several vaguely human shaped targets and set to with a will. He knew he
had the raw power to trouble anyone in a duel, the other day had proved
that. What he lacked was the repertoire of spells and the ability to
channel that power. He resolved to ask Professor Flitwick how he
managed to that chain effect on his spells, but first he needed to learn
some more curses and to work on his control. So he threw spell after spell
at the targets.
Time meant nothing to him, only the burning desire to be better than he
was before, to be able to protect his loved ones. Sweat poured down his
muscled form, he ditched his shirt after it became sodden and interfered
with his casting. Dimly he heard his phone going off in the pile of
discarded items. He blocked it out; all that mattered was his wand and
the targets.
He didn't notice it at first but his wand seemed off somehow. At first he
passed it off as his imagination or just the feeling of doing new spells, but
as time went on he was more certain that his wand felt different
somehow. Frowning at the offending item he walked to his abandoned
shirt, legs feeling surprisingly unsteady now he had stopped casting. He
idly glanced at his watch as he slipped it on, only 8.30. Just over two
hours and he felt weak already, well that would have to change as well.
He checked his phone and frowned again, 23 missed calls what the hell?
All of them were from Sirius. What could he possibly want him that
badly for within two hours? Then he noticed the 24 hour clock in the
corner of the screen, 20.30. Ah, not just over two hours then but just over
fourteen. That would explain it.
Putting his shirt on he left the Chamber to search for Sirius. He didn't
have to look far as waiting outside the entrance was an irate Sirius with a
similarly angry Remus.
"Where the hell have you been?" Sirius growled.
"In the Chamber, obviously."
"Don't you get smart with me, do you have any idea how worried we've
been?"
"I am getting smart as it happens. I've been stupid for too long now,
wasting time on pointless things."
"What are you talking about Harry?" asked a marginally calmer Remus.
"Everything, I've been wasting time on stuff that doesn't matter. Wasting
time playing Xbox with you two or making stupid potions programs
when I should have been getting stronger, maybe then I would have been
able to protect Daphne. Hell, I even spent a whole day doing nothing but
watching the Star Wars films back to back with you. What bloody good
did that do anyone?" Harry was shouting by the end of the tirade.
"Well if that isn't the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my whole life, I
don't know what would be." Sirius upped his volume to beat Harry's.
"I'm glad you mentioned Star Wars, there's a quote that you should
remember. 'Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger
leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.' In your case it is fear of losing
someone close to you. You cannot let it consume you or you will tread a
very dark path." Remus spoke softly, eyes fixed on Harry.
Harry rounded on him. "Oh and what would you know about it?"
Amber eyes flashed. "What would I know about it? Let's think about it
shall we? Me, a dark creature, treated with fear and disgust by the
population. At Hogwarts I find a few people who don't care about my
curse, my first friends. And you think I know nothing of the fear of
abandonment, that despite it all they would shun me for what I am?
You've had a hard life to be sure, but you do not hold a monopoly on
shitty childhoods. Even my own parents hated me, were afraid of me.
Their only son and they flinched when they looked at me."
"And my parents used the Cruciatus to express their displeasure at my
actions. A curse that causes unimaginable pain, cast on a four year old
because he wouldn't kick a Muggle child. Cast out by my own family but
still mistrusted by everyone else because of my hated surname. Do you
think I never feared that I too would be abandoned again? And then to
top it all, twelve years in Azkaban with nothing but my fears and very
worst memories for company."
Harry looked stricken, his anger fading as quickly as it had risen. "I…I
didn't…"
"Of course you didn't. You didn't think. Everyone has fears, everyone
makes mistakes, not that I think you did make a mistake. Look, Daphne
got hurt, there was nothing you could have done to stop it. You cannot
blame yourself. The only person to blame is Albus. Nobody else." Sirius,
too, had quelled his anger. "Now could you please tell me what you have
been up to all day, as if I couldn't already guess."
"Training down in the Chamber." He sighed deeply. "I just felt so helpless
in the hospital looking at her lying on the bed, looking like she was dead.
I couldn't sleep last night, kept thinking I should have been quicker,
should have done better. There was something weird though. My wand
feels different, I thought it was because I was casting new spells but even
when I cast ones I've done a hundred times they felt a bit off."
Remus and Sirius shared an unreadable look before Remus replied. "Off
in what way?"
Harry thought briefly, trying to find the right words to describe it. "Sort
of like I was using someone else's wand. It worked alright but I needed to
force it a little bit to get it to do what I wanted."
"Come with me, we needed to visit Minerva anyway but I think I may
have the solution to your wand issues" said Remus.
"Ah good evening Sirius, Remus and Harry, please sit down."
Already McGonagall had begun to make the office her own. Gone were
the strange silver instruments that littered Dumbledore's office and in its
place were shelves and shelves of books. Harry spotted the stand that he
had seen Fawkes on before in second year but as before the Phoenix was
elsewhere. He briefly wondered what had happened to the bird but drew
his attention back to the conversation between Remus and McGonagall.
"So we think that when he disarmed Albus something happened with
Albus' wand, do you still have it here?"
"I do indeed, here it is."
Remus turned to Harry, "here you go, hold onto this and see if it feels
better than your own wand."
Harry looked at him sceptically but reached out and took Dumbledore's
wand from his grasp. Immediately a rush, of what Harry now recognised
as magic, swept through his tired body. It revitalised him, its power a
seemingly infinite well, pooling underneath his skin, aching to be
unleashed. It begged to be used, with this he could level mountains, he
could do anything. His train of thought was broken by Sirius' hand on his
shoulder.
"Since we have already done one movie quote today, I think another is
appropriate here, 'with great power comes great responsibility'."
"What's happening? This is Dumbledore's wand isn't it? So why does it
feel like it's mine now?"
Sirius answered this, "it would appear that this is no mere wand but
rather the Elder Wand, the famed Deathstick. Supposedly one of the
Deathly Hallows along with the Stone of Resurrection and the Cloak of
Invisibility, presented to three brothers as gifts from Death himself. I
always thought the story a myth, a fairy tale told to children but perhaps
not."
"So you're telling me that this is the most powerful wand in the world?"
"Maybe, but I'm inclined to think that it just channels the magic of the
person that it has given its allegiance to, better than any other wand. It is
simply an object, no more powerful on its own than a rock or a leaf. It is
its wielder that gives it power, nothing else." Remus said thoughtfully.
Harry looked at it in wonder. He looked up at McGonagall, "Remus
mentioned that you wanted to see me anyway, aside from the wand thing
I mean."
"Indeed Harry, I wanted to make you an offer. I thought it prudent to see
if you wanted to stop going to classes until after Easter. As you know it's
only two weeks until the holidays and frankly you're so far ahead anyway
it makes little difference if you missed the time. It gives you the
opportunity to get your head straight and spend some time with Miss
Greengrass. What do you think?"
"That would be… good Professor, thank you. Would I stay here or could I
go with Sirius?" Harry asked gratefully.
"The choice is yours, personally I would suggest Sirius' as it would get
you away from the inevitable questioning and rumours in the school."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, "when can I go?"
McGonagall chuckled, "whenever you wish Mr Potter. Give my best
wishes to Miss Greengrass when you see her and I shall see you after the
Easter break."
Harry smiled for the first time since he had woken up. "Thank you
Professor. Come on Padfoot let's get out of here."
Dobby was dispatched to fetch Harry's trunk and things from his room
and they flooed out from McGonagall's office to Grimauld Place. It was
only once they landed that Harry realised just how hungry he was, hardly
surprising as he hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours. Luckily Kreacher had
prepared a delicious meal for them and Harry set to with abandon.
Thoroughly full he pushed his plate away and made his excuses, moving
up to his room and falling onto the bed, exhausted. He slept poorly but at
least he did manage some sleep.
The next morning he wandered downstairs at around 9 having given up
trying to sleep. Sirius was already at the breakfast table tucking into a
Full English. Harry excused himself from that and ended up with a couple
of poached eggs and toast courtesy of Kreacher once more.
"Sirius can we go and see Daphne again today?"
"Sure thing Harry" Sirius mumbled through a mouthful of bacon. "Let me
finish this up first and then we can go once you're changed. Remember
wear something respectable" he smirked mockingly.
"Yeah, yeah whatever" said Harry going to shower and get dressed.
As it happened there was no need to get dressed up as there were no
other visitors to Daphne's room when they arrived. Sirius left to give a
little privacy and Harry began to talk to Daphne's still form. She couldn't
hear of course but it was cathartic for Harry to release all his worries. He
held her hand and told her how sorry he was for letting her down, all the
while imagining her berating him for saying such things.
It was this scene that the Greengrass family walked in on. Harry hadn't
heard the door open and so he jumped out of his skin when Anastasia
said "Hello Harry."
He held a hand to his pumping heart and took a deep breath to calm
himself. "Hello Anastasia. And this must Mr Greengrass and Astoria." He
thought about calling the tall man Cyrus as his wife had instructed him to
do but thought it better err on the side of caution. Truth be told he was
also a little intimidated, for Cyrus Greengrass was well over six feet tall
and just generally big. He wasn't fat and nor did he look particularly
muscled but he was obviously one of those people who are just naturally
large. He had piercing blue eyes that seemed to be weighing and
measuring Harry at the moment. Harry stepped forward and offered his
hand nervously. Cyrus studied it briefly before enveloping it in his own
giant paw. Harry fought the urge not to wince from the man's grip.
"Call me Cyrus." He had a deep voice and his tone gave nothing away as
to his feelings for Harry.
Harry nodded in recognition but still backed away slightly nervously.
Anastasia spotted this and aimed a swipe at her husband.
"Be nice! Don't you dare go pulling the overprotective father routine."
Cyrus turned a level gaze to his wife. "Of course dear."
She snorted and turned back to Harry and her daughter. "How is she?"
Harry sighed, "no change really. They are making progress with the
potions regimen but its slow going. I just…" his voice broke here and he
lowered his head, emerald eyes glistening with tears. "I'm so sorry."
"Nonsense, I thought we went over this last time. It was not your fault
and never will be. You cannot blame yourself. Now come here."
It was a measure of how lost Harry was feeling that he went to her arms
without protest, tears that had been threatening to fall now came in
earnest as he clung to her like a branch in a maelstrom.
Cyrus Greengrass was in a quandary. Despite his wife's opinion that the
Potter boy was good for Daphne, he did not think so. She was his baby
girl and nobody would be worthy of her affections. Add to this the more
vicious and vindictive aspect of his personality believed that it was this
boy who had failed her, put her in this state. Yet here he was sat next to
her bed, looking every inch the broken man echoing those same opinions.
Even a blind man could see that Harry cared a great deal for Daphne and
was struggling with the guilt. Whether this guilt was deserved or not was
of a lesser concern. The point was how he dealt with this and whether
the two of them could make a life together. Several things that his wife
had let slip made him think that there was more to the story than he was
being told. It would be highly unusual for the very first relationship two
people got into would turn out to be the one and they would end up
married, particularly at this young age. He himself had dated quite a few
different girls before Ana and he knew she had been quite the wild child,
abhorrent to the idea of settling down before they got together. Yet his
wife seemed to be perfectly content for the two teenagers to be a couple
from here on out. It didn't fit with his current understanding of the
situation so he must have missed something in one of those secretive
conversations his wife and eldest daughter had held by letter. It still
smarted that he wasn't allowed to read a letter from his own daughter in
his house.
He looked back to the sobbing boy and decided to wait and see how he
dealt with the situation from here on. As much as he wanted to forbid his
daughter from ever seeing the Potter boy again, he knew his wife would
never allow it. That's not even considering how angry Daphne would be
with him. As Harry leaned back from his wife he took a good look at him.
It was difficult to judge as he was sat down, but he looked to be healthy
and taller than average. He sighed, he was going to have to give the boy
a chance.
"I'm sorry for being such a pain" Harry said embarrassedly as he pulled
away from Anastasia, his tears subsiding.
"You are not a pain dear, so don't even begin to think that."
Harry nodded but he clearly doubted her sincerity. "Well I'll just leave
you here with Daph, I should be going anyway and I don't want to get in
your way."
Anastasia glared at Cyrus who looked on bemusedly, trying to interpret
her unspoken demand. Obviously there was something he was supposed
to do here but he wasn't sure what. Deciding to take a shot in the dark he
looked up to rapidly retreating boy, "stay. I'd like to get to know the
young man who thinks he's good enough for my daughter."
He looked to his wife and her expression was one of approval but tinged
with irritation. Presumably he had got most of his task right but done
something slightly wrong; women were a pain he decided.
"You're wrong. I don't think I'm good enough for your daughter. Never
have and probably never will but she's got it into her head that I am and
frankly I can't argue with her. She gets this stubborn set to her shoulders
and I know I've lost whatever the argument was. Course she doesn't call it
an argument, it's a 'discussion'."
Despite himself Cyrus snorted. "She gets that from her mother. I don't
think we have had an argument since we were married but we have had
plenty of 'discussions'. One day I hope to win one of them." He smiled
wryly, which only increased when he saw his wife's crooked eyebrow. It
looked like there would be another discussion later on when they got
home. He looked forward to it.
25. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
After the initial awkwardness was dealt with between Harry and Cyrus,
they slowly came to enjoy their conversations together. Harry respected
Cyrus' opinions and ideas about the magical world. He was a Pureblood
but not a supremacist, from an old family but not one with a title. It was
an interesting perspective on some of Harry's ideas for example his plans
for the expansion of his new Quidditch team. Cyrus couldn't believe what
a huge industry sports were in the Muggle world, far outstripping all the
magical industries combined on its own.
It crept up on Cyrus but he came to respect Harry. He was a young man
with supreme drive and intelligence. It pained him to admit it but he had
been wrong, here was someone who would be perfect for his little girl.
Sure he had faults, but they were balanced perfectly by Daphne and her
faults in turn were balanced by him.
Daphne was progressing well, or so the healers said anyway. The
majority of her bones had been vanished and replaced; it was only her
neck and skull left. Her skull was the most difficult part of the whole
treatment because it had to be done in sections, requiring supreme
control on the part of the healer. Harry was still visiting every day,
although for less time as Sirius was making it his mission to distract
Harry from sitting and moping at her bed all day, every day. It was a
difficult balance for Sirius to strike, he needed to let Harry visit her and
get over his guilt but he also needed to prepare him ever so gently for the
possibility that she may never wake up from the Draught of Living Death.
Harry wasn't much like Sirius, so he couldn't go with his normal plan for
distraction; alcohol and debauchery. Harry was far more driven and so
with a few suggestions from Remus, Sirius set about distracting Harry
with work and learning more magic.
The acquisition of the Elder Wand threw Harry's control over his magic
right out of the window when he first started using it. Sirius had already
been impressed by Harry's power but now, quite frankly, he was in awe
of it. Harry was overpowering every single spell he was using and didn't
seem to be able to stop. While this may be useful in a duel situation it
was useless for day to day living. For example he levitated a feather
through three floors with a simple Wingardium Leviosa. Sirius took him
right back to the beginning of Hogwart's education and with much
patience set to controlling the flow of magic. It was difficult but in the
long run would be invaluable for Harry. Varying the power of spells was
something not usually taught at Hogwarts. It only came up if you went
on to a Mastery, so Harry was once again learning something far beyond
his age range, albeit enforced this time as opposed to through curiosity.
Having a goal distracted Harry from drowning in thoughts of Daphne
lying in her hospital bed. He was grateful to Sirius for taking the time out
to help him and for not trying to force him to take a break and have fun
too often. They still had fun together, watching a film or playing Xbox,
but after an hour or so Harry began to get antsy and distracted. Sirius
recognised this and would move them back to working on spells.
The one distraction that Sirius planned that didn't work out was taking
Harry to visit Ripfang and the others sorting through the Room of
Requirement stuff. Rather than be interested in all the fascinating items
the trio had discovered, Harry couldn't help but think about how Daphne
would react to everything, how excited she would be. He lasted less than
half an hour before he ended up storming out of the warehouse. Sirius
found him nearly an hour later leaning against some railings, watching
the boats travelling up and down the Thames. Knowing it was pointless
to do anything else he took Harry to see Daphne in St Mungo's straight
after so he could work through his feelings. Privately Sirius worried what
would happen if Daphne didn't wake up; visions of Harry tearing the
country apart in a bid to escape his grief filled his thoughts. The worst
thing was he had no idea what he could do to help avoid this, beyond
hoping the situation never arose.
It was today, D-Day, the day they tried to wake Daphne up. Her
treatment had been a success, all her cursed bones replaced with brand
new ones, even her skull. To say Harry was nervous would be an
understatement of epic proportions. Sirius had given up trying to calm
him and let him work his nervous energy off by pacing up and down.
They were waiting for 9am so they could go to St Mungo's and be first on
the scene for her waking, or not as the case may be.
They apparated at 8.58 when Harry couldn't wait any more. He was so
distracted he didn't even complain about the feeling of side along
apparition as he normally did. Barely pausing, he weaved through the
people in reception, following the well trodden path to Daphne's room.
Cyrus and Ana were already waiting outside the room when Harry
arrived. They greeted each other quickly but all were distracted, lost in
their own thoughts. Some time later, a healer poked her head around the
door, interrupting the silence, and Harry's heart flew into his mouth. This
was it. The woman wasn't smiling, was this good or bad?
"If you would like to come in, she's just waking up now. Try not to
overwhelm her, she could still be a little dazed and confused."
A broad smile worked its way onto Harry's face and he slumped against
the wall, steadily sinking down in it in pure relief. Cyrus and Ana entered
the room to see their daughter but Harry hung back, wanting to give
them some privacy. Cyrus looked to have been expecting this and
frogmarched Harry into the room. Ana was crying tears of joy at seeing
her daughter awake. She hugged Daphne gently as if frightened she
would break. Ana eventually let go and Cyrus moved in wrapping
Daphne in an enveloping embrace before he too stepped back. Harry was
frozen; he didn't know how to cope with this. There were so many things
he wanted to say, needed to say, but they had flown his mind as he gazed
at the beautiful girl in front of him. Cyrus gave him a light push in the
back and he stumbled towards her before catching himself and clutching
her tightly.
"I'm so, so sorry" he whispered in her ear as he held her.
She pushed him back, fire in her eyes. "And what are you sorry for?"
"Well, it's my fault, you know…" He flinched as she pushed him back and
punched him squarely in the chest.
"Now you listen here you bloody idiot, it is not your fault. And if you say
it is again, so help me, I will curse you to within an inch of your life. I
will talk to Godric and get him to teach me the most painful curses he
knows. If you even dream of treating me any different, treating me like
glass, I will hurt you so badly your worst nightmare will seem like a fond
memory."
At this stage, old Harry would have nodded in agreement but not really
meant it. He would have done exactly what she warned him against,
treated her like glass. He would have tried to protect her and by doing so,
by trying to cage her, he would have lost her. However this was new and
improved Harry, one who had grown physically but most of all mentally
and emotionally over the last year. New Harry now just about accepted
that it really wasn't his fault, that sometimes bad things happen. And so
rather than nodding without meaning it, he pulled his girlfriend into a
searing kiss. He didn't care that her parents were in the room, he was
practically drunk on the joy of her being awake and back in his life.
They were interrupted by a cough from Cyrus. He may approve of Harry
but that didn't mean he wanted to see things like that. He wanted to be
able to live in a fantasy land where she wouldn't do anything like that
until she was at least 40. Anastasia, on the other hand, was positively
beaming in delight. Before she could say anything though, the chief
healer bustled into the room.
"Right that's enough, she needs rest. Go on, get out and let me treat my
patient." He ushered the Greengrass parents and Harry towards the door.
Clearly bedside manner was not a requirement of being the chief healer
and identical expressions of anger adorned Cyrus and Harry's faces.
Before they could release some of their anger, Ana grabbed them both
and escorted them out.
"Don't you go looking at me with that face of thunder, either of you. He
may be on odious little man but he is right, she has only just woken up
and needs rest. We can come back later." Her tone brooked no argument
whatsoever.
Harry's anger faded as quickly as it had risen. "Makes sense. I think I
might wait until tomorrow to come visit again. Make sure she's rested up
enough and to give you two some time alone with her." He held up a
hand to stall their objections. "I know you don't think it's necessary but
I'd feel better if it worked out that way. I feel so much better just seeing
her up and shouting at me again that I don't think I'd be able to sit with
her for any length of time anyway. I need to go and burn some energy
off. Cyrus, Ana, always a pleasure." He gave a slight incline of the head,
the merest hint of a bow, and walked off whistling a jaunty tune.
Cyrus looked at Ana, slightly bemused by the turn of events. She just
stood there, a knowing smile playing across her lips.
"Come on husband, let's go and tell Astoria the good news. She will be
dying to visit her sister now that she is awake."
The entire day Harry felt as though he was walking on the clouds. As if to
rejoice along with him the sun was beaming down with unseasonably hot
weather. He couldn't remember but he would swear that it was grey and
dull this morning before he walked into St Mungo's. Now everything
seemed brighter, colours were sharper and he could hear birds chirping
over the sound of the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Sirius was standing
just outside the exit of the hospital, leaning against a lamppost. He didn't
need to ask how everything had gone, Harry's expression told him
everything he needed to know.
"She's up and about then?" he asked conversationally. Harry's smile only
grew, so much so that it looked as if his face may split in two. "Needs her
rest I suppose. How about we take the bikes for a spin around the
countryside somewhere and get some decent lunch in a pub somewhere?
Relax a little, enjoy the sunshine?"
"Sounds good Padfoot, maybe go to the coast? It seems like a day to see
the sea."
"Now you're talking" Sirius whooped and clapped Harry on the back.
"Come on let's get going, today is a day of celebration."
It certainly was a day of celebration. They did indeed take their bikes to
the South coast and spent an enjoyable morning whipping through the
lanes and along the coastal roads all the way down to Cornwall. Caught
up in the thrill of life, they pushed their bikes close to the limit through
the sunshine. It was only thanks to the numerous safety charms that the
bikes actually managed to make some of the corners at the speeds they
were travelling. Around 1pm they came to a country pub and a quick
application of glamour to Harry made him look 18 so that the two of
them could share a meal and a pint. The steaks were cooked to perfection
and the local cider had a kick to it that had even Sirius wide eyed at its
potency. One pint quickly became two and by the time they had finished
their meal, they were in no condition to ride anywhere so Sirius simply
apparated them back to Grimauld Place. They then sent Dobby out for
supplies and started a marathon Xbox session all the while continuing to
polish off more of their store of alcohol. Sirius refused to start a bottle of
firewhiskey, claiming that was only for when you wanted to get
absolutely hammered. In his, self proclaimed, expert opinion muggle
alcohol was far better for a night out as it wasn't as powerful. Harry
agreed, it was certainly a lot more pleasant to take the occasional drink
from a bottle of beer than to down a shot of throat-burning spirit.
It was soon evident to Harry that drinking alcohol adversely affected a
person's coordination (who knew?) as both his and Sirius' ability to play
Xbox suffered. Giving up they started watching films while Dobby served
them a surprisingly junk food laden meal. Chicken wings, ribs and a giant
pizza as well as sides and a continuing flow of alcohol. Unbeknownst to
either though, Dobby had started to sneak in the occasional alcohol free
beer for the pair. As the night wore on the ratio of alcoholic beer to non
alcoholic altered so that by 10pm, they were only getting alcohol free.
Dobby watched them both fondly from the doorway, as they both
cheered at Rambo taking on a whole army by himself, spilling copious
amounts of beer in the process. It was good to see Harry acting like a
child, well perhaps child wasn't the right word. It was good to see Harry
having fun. It was after midnight when the inebriated pair dragged
themselves off to bed.
Harry's first ever hangover was nowhere near as much fun as his first
drinking session. Stumbling down the stairs towards the kitchen, he
silently vowed never to touch a drop of alcohol ever again, no matter
how special the occasion was. Sirius was already at the kitchen table,
bleary eyes fixed on his greasy fry up. Harry plonked himself down
opposite and grunted in response to Sirius' muttered 'morning'.
His stomach rebelled at the mere thought of food but he knew he really
ought to eat something. He was interrupted from his thoughts by the
arrival of Dobby, carrying a pale blue vial.
"Morning Harry, feeling a little fragile are we? Here you go this ought to
clear you up straight away." Dobby had the ghost of a smile playing
across his face.
"Make…better?" Harry croaked out and at Dobby's nod, he grabbed the
vial and drank it. Amazingly it quelled his stomach, the thumping in his
head faded to nothing and his dry mouth disappeared. "Wow that's
amazing Dobby, what was it?"
"Hangover cure Harry."
"Where's mine then?" Sirius looked indignantly at the elf.
"You however, are old enough to know better. So no cure for you until at
least midday. What was that Sirius? I didn't quite catch that. Nothing?
Excellent because I could always allow you to recover naturally."
"You know I think I prefer normal House Elves, they are more eager to
please and less of an annoyance" Sirius grouched.
Harry laughed at his Godfather's discomfort and got started on his newly
arrived fry up with a will.
He was halfway through when Sirius suddenly looked up from his
breakfast, face adorned with what Harry called 'the Marauder look'. As
quickly as it appeared, it faded to a look of such over the top innocence,
that anyone would be suspicious.
"Oh Dobby. How about if I have something really important to talk to my
Godson about? You wouldn't want me to get some of the details wrong
because I have this easily cured, little teensy headache would you?"
"And this is something so important that it couldn't possibly wait until
after midday?" Dobby asked with a straight face.
Sirius scowled briefly before remembering he was being innocent and the
wide eyed look reappeared. "Oh it is vital, would I lie to you?"
Dobby tapped his chin in an exaggeratedly thoughtful manner. "Well if it
is that important I suppose you should have the hangover cure as well.
But just remember next time I won't be so easily swayed." He handed
over a second pale blue vial which Sirius grabbed and drank greedily.
As soon as Dobby turned his back Sirius began doing a dance to celebrate
his success. Harry rolled his eyes at how easy it was to fool his Godfather,
despite him being a 'legendary prankster'.
"So, Harry. Don't really know how to start this but the sooner I let you
know, the more time you have to think about it."
Harry looked up in surprise. "You mean you actually do have something
important to talk to me about?"
"Of course I do, I've been putting it off for a while but now is as good a
time as any really. You see Harry, I can't have children. The years in
Azkaban combined with the fact my parents were first cousins has left
me…sterile." He forced the last out with grimace.
Harry was confused "ok, while that is terrible, what does it have to do
with me? Wait that sounds really harsh I didn't mean it like that."
"It's ok Harry that is the right question to ask. Given the choice I wouldn't
have told you, far too bloody embarrassing. Anyway, you see the Blacks
are an Ancient and Noble family like the Potters and as such they have a
lordship. Because I am…well you know…I can't become Lord Black, even
though I am the next in line. Therefore it will pass to you, my heir when
you come of age. Now here's the interesting part. As your guardian I can
get you emancipated on your 14th birthday. This means that you would
be wholly in control of your own finances, you could choose where you
live, be free to do magic whenever and so on. I could emancipate you for
the Black title and this would automatically gain you the Potter title as
well. Now before you start jumping around with excitement there are
issues with this. Firstly you personally would be liable for any debts you
would incur or either family has already incurred. Personally I doubt this
will be a problem as I know the Blacks aren't in debt and the fact there
was any money in the Potter vault suggests that neither are they.
However by becoming emancipated you would become eligible for any
marriage contracts that are currently dormant. Again I'm fairly certain
that the Blacks don't have any contracts that haven't been fulfilled
because otherwise I'd have had to marry, and I know your parents
wouldn't have signed one. However that doesn't take into account the
decade or so that Albus was your guardian for all intents and purposes. I
wouldn't put it past him to have signed one for you, although Merlin
knows what he would get out of it."
Harry was deep in thought, "can't we just ask the goblins if there are any
debts or contracts? Surely they would know."
"That would be the easy route however they aren't allowed to reveal the
status of debts or marriage contracts to anyone other than the Head of
the family. So you can't find out until you become the Head and by then
it's too late, they already apply."
"So if I agree to this Albus might have set up a contract with some
random girl and I'd have to marry her straight after my 14th birthday?"
"That's not to mention the clauses and stuff that could be in the contract,
hell it's possible that you would have to take her surname. However fear
not your rather smart and incredibly attractive Godfather has a way out
of it. It is possible to write a marriage contract that supersedes any others
that may exist. It requires a rather unique set of circumstances though,
for example that the person must the last remaining member of an
Ancient and Noble House, so far so good. Also the person that signed the
possible other contracts on your behalf must be either dead or
incapacitated, again fine as Albus being thrown in the Loony Bin counts
as incapacitated. Now all you need is to find a girl, and thanks to our
Ministry's arcane laws she needs to be a pureblood. Now where oh where
could you possibly find a girl like that?" Sirius smirked at his rapidly
thinking Godson.
"Wow, so basically there might not be any contracts but if there is and I
don't do this I will have to abide by them. If I do sign a contract with
Daphne then I will have to marry her what, straight away?"
Sirius shook his head, "likely within a year of the signing so basically
some time before your 15th birthday."
"I'll have to talk to Daphne about it before I even begin to think about it
for myself." He got up from the table and went to shower muttering,
"what a conversation that's going to be."
'What a conversation indeed' Sirius thought, 'don't think I'll stay for that
one, who knows how violent it could get.'
26. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
It is perhaps surprising that Sirius was quite correct in his assessment of
how the conversation would go in terms of violence. However the actual
aspect of the violence was a long way from the mark. Harry too, had
been expecting to dodge one of Daphne's impressive right hooks and so
after he finished explaining the situation to a stone-faced Daphne, he
unconsciously edged backwards. He turned to flee when he saw her
rising from her hospital bed but he wasn't quick enough to escape. She
grabbed him, flipped him to face her and pulled him into a toe curling
kiss. Harry tensed at first but was soon overwhelmed by the feelings,
allowing himself to sink into the kiss.
It could have been seconds or even hours before they finally broke apart,
leaving Harry fighting to regain his breath.
"Er what were we talking about again?" Harry asked sheepishly.
Daphne giggled, "You were asking to marry me. Although I must say you
need to work on your delivery, it was certainly lacking in romance."
"And you're fine with this?" Harry spoke cautiously, it seemed as though
he was in the clear but he'd been wrong before.
"Of course I am you idiot. Would I have kissed you if I wasn't more than
fine with it?"
Harry shrugged eloquently causing Daphne to shake her head in
exasperation.
"Look Harry we have spent the last six months or so spending near
enough every day together. Of course we argue and all of that stuff but
we get along really well, we even share compatible magic for Merlin's
sake. This will work, we will make it work. I know we're young but I…"
she trailed off.
Harry looked deep into her eyes, "I love you Daph."
She eyes shimmered with tears and she pulled him into another
breathtaking kiss, releasing him eventually and hugging him tightly.
"I love you too" she whispered in his ear.
They pulled apart but not too far and they remained holding hands. "I
spoke to the Healers before I came in to see you and they think you're
ready to leave the hospital. So I flooed your parents to ask if they would
let me take you out of here and spend the day together, there are a few
things I want to show you. They are fine with it so come on let's get out
of this place, hospitals give me the creeps."
"Where are we going?" Daphne was very confused as Harry led her
straight past the fireplaces in the entrance hall of St Mungo's.
"Trust me, it will be fun."
Daphne looked at him sceptically as he walked into a nearby alley, took
something out of his pocket and enlarged it.
"You expect me to get on that with you?"
"It's only a motorbike Daph, I'm a good rider honestly. Here just put this
helmet on and hold on, it's nearly impossible to fall off believe me I
tried."
He pouted at her until she gave in and took the proffered helmet, pulling
it onto her head. She swung her leg onto the bike, behind Harry, and
held onto him for dear life.
"Not so tight Daph, I'm not going to go fast. Just sit back and enjoy the
ride."
Against her better judgement, she did just that. Harry guided the bike
away at a sedate pace to get her used to the feeling and moved into the
traffic.
A twenty minute journey later Daphne was slightly disappointed that
Harry seemed to be slowing down. She wouldn't say it outright but she
had thoroughly enjoyed being on the back of the bike and had silently
been urging him to go a bit faster. They pulled up outside a nondescript
looking building near the Thames. It was surrounded by a wire fence that
looked to be in slightly better condition than the fences around any of the
other nearby buildings.
Harry unlocked the gate with a key from his pocket and grabbed her
hand to pull her inside.
"Welcome to the first official business site of Marauder's Inc. This is the
building where all of the stuff from the Room of Requirement is currently
in storage and is being sorted." He had a mischievous gleam in his eye as
he watched Daphne's eyes light up in understanding and her start to
fidget as she itched to go exploring. Laughing lightly at her, he beckoned
her inside.
The outside may have looked a little rough but the inside was a different
story. The entire area was well lit by huge lamps on the ceiling as well as
standing lamps that could be moved to where they were needed. Near the
entrance there were three large desks arranged in a U shape facing
towards each other. Each desk was distinctly different in its contents,
with papers, books and other curious items covering their surface.
However each did have a large swivel chair on wheels and a computer
set up.
Currently only one of these chairs was occupied. Peering intently at his
computer screen, Ripfang didn't even hear the two enter the warehouse.
Harry lightly coughed causing the goblin to jump slightly. He hid it well
though and calmly spun his chair to face the intruders, not quite able to
stop the slight smile as he did so.
"Morning Rip, good to see you're still enjoying the spinning chair. How is
it going in here today?" Harry asked, desperately trying to keep from
laughing at the stern look he was now on the receiving end of. Any other
goblin looking at him like that and he would be worried but he knew
Ripfang well enough now to know when he was actually angry as
opposed to his normal grouchy.
"That girl has got to go" he exclaimed, throwing his arms skyward.
"Ah" said Harry, deciding to push his luck a little, "and which girl would
this be then Rip?"
"You know full well who I mean. She flits around like an overactive cave
fly. It's impossible to get anything done while she's making a racket and
interrupting everyone's thinking."
Harry nodded solemnly. "I'll talk to her. Found anything interesting
lately?"
Ripfang's annoyed expression disappeared and was replaced with a
slightly creepy smile. "We have come across an axe that may be the long
lost weapon of the Great Goblin Zagrod. I need to do some tests to make
completely sure but I am hopeful. If it is indeed the legendary weapon,
Skullcleaver, then the Goblins will pay handsomely for its return.
Alternately if you gifted it back then you would gain vast amounts of
favour with the Goblin Nation. The choice will of course be yours. How it
came to end up at Hogwarts I have no idea, the last we know of Zagrod is
that he was fighting the Dwarves somewhere in Scandinavia."
"Sounds interesting Rip, keep me updated if you confirm that it is indeed
that axe. I'll go and talk to Jess. See you later."
Daphne was slightly bemused by the whole situation. Seeing a goblin on
a spinning office chair and using a computer had temporarily thrown her.
Seeing said goblin then proceed to glare at her boyfriend, but him
completely ignore it, had only added to her current confusion.
As they got around the corner, out of earshot, she turned to Harry. "Why
weren't you worried when he glared at you like that? Goblins can be
incredibly dangerous."
Harry shrugged it off, "Nah it's just Rip, he's always like that. Same thing
with Jess. He complains bitterly about her every single time I speak to
him but if I actually did fire her, as he constantly suggests, he would be
livid with me. He's very protective of her; it's almost like an exasperated
father with an incredibly precocious child. Come on lets go find her, see
what she's done to annoy him this time."
They wandered through the maze of different items. According to Harry
there was a system in place, at least he was told there was, but it just
looked a mess to Daphne. All around them were different things, you
never know what you would see next as you turned a corner. There
might be an antique cupboard, an abandoned trunk, potions vials or a
hundred other things that Daphne couldn't even begin to recognise.
Finally they reached an area that actually looked to be vaguely
organised, or at least more so than the rest of the warehouse. There were
bookcases stretching right around a twenty square metre area. There
were some books on the cases but most seemed to be stacked on the floor
inside the square.
"This is Jess' domain. She is currently trying to organise the thousands of
books into some sort of order. I'll let her explain. Hey Jess you got a
second?"
A blonde head poked around an especially large and dusty pile of books.
She pushed her glasses back onto her nose as they had slipped down
again and walked over, giving Harry a hug.
"Harry so good to see you and this must be the lovely Daphne. Hi I'm
Jess, Chief Librarian of this dusty little corner. Oh you must come and see
this book I've just found, it seems to be the original, handwritten notes
from Yarlington, detailing his trip through the Amazon rainforest
studying the plants there. It must be 300 years old at least but it's in
remarkable condition and the diagrams are beautiful."
She looked to be about to explain more about the book but Harry held up
his hand to stem the flow. "Jess, what have you done to upset Rip this
time?"
She shrugged and wrinkled her nose, "nothing as far as I know. We were
having such fun yesterday, he found a scroll written by a contemporary
of Ptolemy and we were looking through it together."
"Well can you try not to annoy him, you know how he gets."
"Of course" she scoffed, "but I'm always careful not to interrupt him now,
especially after the telescope incident."
Harry rolled his eyes, it was nearly impossible to keep the two of them
from arguing or coming into conflict. They simply saw the world in two
completely different ways.
"Anyway Jess do you want to explain to me and Daph how you're getting
on here?"
She smiled radiantly and rolled up her sleeves. "Of course. So, I've
managed to collect most of the books into this one area now, although
there are a few dotted around here and there. At the moment I'm going
through each individual book and categorising it by subject. Each
bookcase here has a clever bit of magic that we discovered that allows
the books on it to be stored in a pocket dimension. This increases the
capacity of each bookcase by about one hundred times but doesn't
change the size of the bookcase at all. This gets over the major drawback
of space expansion charms. Each bookcase is now a different subject
although some, like charms, have been further divided into different
areas like duelling and so forth. There are books going back hundreds of
years but there is quite a lot that are the same. For example there is
usually at least five of any book that was a core textbook for more than a
year. That's not to mention something like Hogwarts a History, there
must be 150 copies of that around. Interestingly though different editions
say different things, it's only in the last century or so that Slytherin has
begun to get such a horrible reputation in the book. Before that the books
were essentially fair although usually a little biased to one Founder over
another. You can track the different authors or editors throughout the
years if you want. For example the editions from 1643 to 1692 are
favourable towards Gryffindor, and then they change and for the next 84
years are more favourable to Hufflepuff. It is a fascinating study of the
different things each author chooses to emphasise over another."
"I should very much like to read these different versions sometime" said
Daphne.
"Of course, after all they are your books. I'm just glad I have the chance
to play around with them, even for a short while." Her face fell here
before she forced a smile again.
"What is it Jess?" Harry asked.
"Oh its nothing, I'm being silly."
"Jess."
"Oh it's just you're going to sell all of these wonderful books and I won't
get a chance to read them all."
"Jess, while we are going to sell some of the books, we are only intending
to sell the duplicates. Everything else is going to form the start of the
Potter Library. A library that it is likely you will have full access to, if not
be in charge of. You heard Daphne, she is just as excited as you to look at
the different editions of Hogwarts a History and I can't wait to read some
books that have been thought lost for centuries." His tone was gentle but
it was clear he was not going to be dissuaded from this course.
"You really mean it?" Jess asked plaintively.
"Of course" answered Daphne and she was immediately grabbed in a
fierce hug by the blonde. She might only have been small but she had
some strength to her.
After a few seconds Jess let go with a horrified look on her face, "oh God
you have just come out of the hospital, I haven't hurt you have I?"
Daphne laughed, "No, I'm fine. I got the all clear today; after we have
finished here I'm going home."
Jess, too, laughed in relief and grabbed Daphne's hand to lead her off to
some wonder in the library. Harry chortled at the sight. "Will you be
alright here for a while Daph? I'm going to go look for Steve."
Daphne waved her hand absently; too engrossed in the tattered book she
was being shown. Harry knew he might as well be invisible for a while
now and so swiftly took his leave.
Steve was in the process of directing Dobby to move different items as
they were currently in a tangle. His ever present cigarette was tucked
behind one ear while another one hung from the corner of his mouth as
he gesticulated wildly. If Ripfang and Jess made an amusing pair then
that was nothing compared to the double act formed by Dobby and Steve.
"What are you doing you long eared cretin? I said move the red thing not
the blue." Steve shouted in the direction of a pile of junk.
There was no verbal response from the pile but an elf shaped hand
emerged with one particular finger raised in salute in Steve's direction.
Steve was about to respond when he spotted the arrival of Harry. "Alright
Boss?" he asked, flicking the ash from his current cigarette.
This was another quirk of Steve's; he refused to call Harry, or anyone
else, by their actual name. It was always 'Boss' or 'Sunshine' or most
confusingly 'Dave'. When asked why this was, Steve merely shrugged and
answered 'don't rightly know Dave'. Harry had given up and learnt to
accept it although he did still laugh whenever Ripfang was referred to as
'Sunshine'.
"Not too bad Steve, how are things coming along down here?"
He was about to reply when his attention snapped back to Dobby, "left, I
said take it to the left Dave."
"That is the left, cant you tell left from right? Want me to write it on your
hand so you can tell the difference?" Dobby shouted back.
"Well I want you to take it to the other left then Shorty." Steve responded
before looking back to Harry. "It's going alright, could do with a bit more
intelligent help but I can make do with Dave over there. Pretty much
everything is nearly sorted now into different sections. Not a lot more I
can do then until I get some stuff from the other two to sell. Probably be
years before that happens though, they take ages to look at every single
little thing rather than say it's a chair and move on."
"That's because they are actually interested in the historical value of each
item and not the monetary value like certain mercenary scumbags like
you" said Dobby as he returned from depositing whatever it was that he
was carrying.
Steve looked thoughtful, "you're probably right Dave." He flicked his
cigarette again, "now come on, this time actually move the red one."
Harry left them to it. They might only be able to communicate through
abuse but they made a very effective team and were very good friends
underneath the bluster. Already they had saved each other's lives in their
time working together. Dobby had pulled a cursed ring off of Steve after
it caused him to light on fire and Steve had tackled Dobby out of the way
of a falling cabinet from an unstable pile of stuff. Of course neither had
ever thanked the other for this but Harry knew for a fact that Steve had
found a bottle of 25 year old single malt whiskey on his desk the next
day and Dobby had found a brand new pair of high quality dragon hide
gloves.
He walked back at leisurely pace to where he had left Daphne in Jess'
slightly erratic care. He meandered through the piles of stuff, pausing
now and then to look at something that had caught his eye. He might not
be too interested in the furniture at the moment but it would come in
handy in the future when he got a place of his own. He caught sight of a
gilded corner of a picture frame and idly wondered if there was anyone
as interesting as the Founders in the liberated painting. Daphne and Jess
were hunched over a pile of books, talking excitedly. He looked on in
amusement before clearing his throat slightly, startling the pair.
"How are you getting on?" he asked.
"Oh it's wonderful; there are so many wonderful books here. Some have
been thought lost for centuries, it's so exciting. I could stay here and look
through them all for hours."
Harry grimaced slightly, "I don't think that will be possible. I promised
your parents I'd have you home this afternoon." He saw her face fall so he
added quickly, "but we can come back tomorrow if it's ok with them.
That will give the guys here a chance to organise a proper tour to show
us the most interesting things and we can begin deciding what we want
to keep and what to sell."
She looked about to argue but then seemed to agree with Harry's idea.
"Fine, but we are definitely coming back tomorrow."
"Of course, come on let's get going before your Dad hunts me down."
They were about to leave when Ripfang stopped them. "Harry I have
been wondering what exactly your plans are for this facility and us, once
we have finished sorting these items?"
Harry paused thoughtfully. "At the moment I have no particular plans,
surely that is quite a long way off though isn't it?"
Ripfang nodded, "in a way yes but also no. I have been considering this
problem and I may have come up with a solution. Despite our differences
we work well together here and this has been a most satisfying few
months. However at our current rate we are almost certain to finish
before the end of this year. I believe that with a few additional staff and
some investment, this could become the premier organisation to deal
with ancient artefacts and antiques. The use of Muggle technology
already gives us a huge advantage over the likes of Gringotts when it
comes to research and cataloguing. However with a little work on your
part you could adapt some more Muggle technology to allow us to
actively search for more ruins. For example I have been reading of a
Muggle technique called Geophysical Surveying. This allows them to find
structures far below the ground so that they know where to dig. With
some modification this could search for wards or magical traces and
could be the key to finding long lost places like Atlantis."
Harry goggled, "really? Atlantis?"
Ripfang shrugged lightly, "it is well documented that such a place existed
however we have no real idea where it could be other than under the sea,
nor what wards could be hiding it. Gringotts has been searching for
centuries but has come up blank. Atlantis is merely the tip of the iceberg,
who knows what else could be out there that we currently have no idea
exists?" His eyes lit up at the prospect of all the hidden treasures.
Harry whistled, his mind too running through possibilities. "Rip, this
sounds like a fantastic idea but I'm not sure I currently have the capital
on hand to invest in this. However, and you must keep this a secret, I will
be taking up my Lordship on my birthday at the end of July. This will
give me full access to the Potter accounts, such as they are, but more
importantly the Black accounts. This will provide in influx of capital that
I can use to develop a few ideas I have and begin making some more
money. I tell you what, why don't you begin a little research on how we
could set this all up. I'm talking the full works; potential costing, an idea
of staffing, projections for how long it would take to get up and running,
everything. I would be less concerned about monetary returns on this
project as the potential for gains in knowledge outweighs it. However
that does not mean that I would want the project to be a black hole that
keeps sucking in money with no benefit."
"I will begin right away. Progress in here should increase now that you
can visit, as we will have a little more guidance as to what we are
keeping and what we are selling."
"Sounds good to me, we'll see you tomorrow Rip." He held out his hand
which the goblin took and shook firmly.
27. Chapter 27
AN – Hey everybody sorry for the long wait I've been crazy busy
with work but I've finally finished this book. One more chapter
which I will upload later today and that's it. I must say I am very
proud to have finished and thank you all for waiting while I've
messed around trying to finish up chapters. Frankly I'm not happy
with it all, there are parts where I know I've been lazy and skipped
things I wanted to write to flesh out certain characters in order to
progress the story quicker. Also I read back the beginning now and
it seems poor so I have decided that in conjunction with writing the
sequel (yes there is a sequel in the pipeline!) I will be rewriting this
story however while I do this I will leave this story up. In fact I will
probably leave it up even after I've rewritten it just to keep some of
your lovely comments! Anyhow as I said thanks for sticking with me
and enjoy the rest of the story.
Chapter 27
"I talked to my parents about the marriage contract."
"You did what?" Harry spluttered.
Daphne looked at him scathingly, "well I had to do it at some point. If
you want to get it all set up before your birthday we need to begin soon,
it is only four months away."
Harry mentally counted off the time on his fingers, perhaps it was four
months. Still that seemed like a long time. "Yeah I guess, how did they
take it?"
"Once I explained it all to them they were ok with it. Well Mother was
over the moon as soon as I mentioned it; she didn't particularly care
about the reasons. Father took a bit longer to come around to the idea
but then that's not too surprising as he didn't know about the whole
compatible magic thing. I assumed Mother had told him but apparently
not. Once he heard all the reasons and had repeatedly asked me if I was
sure it was what I wanted, he seemed fine with it."
"So what happens now, do I go and see them?"
"Definitely not," Daphne looked scandalised. "That would be the height of
bad form. Negotiations have to take place between guardians. You or I
being involved would be a huge breach of etiquette."
As with the majority of Pureblood social conventions, Harry was left
confused but he decided not to voice his bewilderment. Daphne saw right
through it though and launched into an explanation that served only to
further confuse him. Something about Heads of House and division of
status.
"Don't worry, my parents and Sirius will have it sorted and then there
will be a formal dinner between the families to confirm it."
Harry sincerely doubted it would be that easy, it never was when he was
involved. They were currently having lunch, taking a break from going
through legions of items. For some reason Daphne seemed a little
hesitant about something that Harry couldn't place.
"Daph what is it? You look like you have something on your mind."
She fixed him with a stare, internal debate raging inside. The silence
stretched on for several seconds before she spilled out in a rush, "where
are we going to live when we are married?"
Harry was taken aback. This was not something he had even remotely
considered although he supposed he probably should have. "I don't really
know." He wanted to ask her what she thought but he sensed that she
really wanted his opinion. "I guess I would like for us to live together but
where exactly I don't know. I mean there would be space at Grimauld
Place but I think I'd prefer a place of our own." He offered the suggestion
hesitantly, not at all sure how Daphne would receive it.
She beamed at him, "I would like that, Sirius doesn't need us underfoot
whenever he finally brings that girl home. Will you inherit any properties
once you become emancipated?"
Ignoring the first question, "I don't think they are still together, I haven't
seen him disappear off anywhere like he was over Christmas. I don't want
to ask him about it though." She glared at him and remembering the
second part of the question he continued. "No, the only residential
property in the Black portfolio is Grimauld Place and although it looks
good I don't think I'd like to live there. In terms of the Potter inheritance,
Dumbledore sold off Potter Manor to one of his cronies and then it
'mysteriously' burnt down within a week and they collected the
insurance." Daphne patted his arm but he barely noticed. "Even if it is
only ruins I would still like the land back, it's my heritage" he murmured.
"Well why don't we get it back and rebuild Potter Manor on the grounds?
That way we would stay true to your heritage and we can have a place of
our very own." She chuckled to herself, "if nothing else it would give us
somewhere to put all that damn furniture we have collected."
"At the moment we have lots of outgoings and very little coming in. Even
more so with all the plans we have in the pipeline. I know I have the
Basilisk money and there will be more coming in from the inheritances,
but we need to assess that before we start any more projects off. We
should start getting some income from the sales of the Room of
Requirement items that we don't want but that might only fund the
Quidditch team initial setup. If we are going to build, or rather rebuild,
Potter Manor I want to do it justice and for it to have room for a family."
He blushed at Daphne's look of surprise before she too blushed at the
implications and gained a slightly dreamy smile.
"You're right, if we're going to do something we need to do it right. I'm
sure Sirius won't mind us staying at Grimauld once we are married and if
we need a few years to rebuild our capital before we can afford to build a
house." She leaned over the table and planted a kiss on him, "doesn't
mean we can't start planning what we want though and putting aside
some things to go in it."
Harry smiled, stood up and took her hand in his as they walked back to
the warehouse to do just that.
There was only a week left before they finally returned to Hogwarts and
the duo spent the majority of each day in the warehouse, deciding what
they wanted to keep and what Steve could sell. Steve was ecstatic; he had
been looking forward to getting his hands on some of these items since
he first started. The challenge of selling things for the maximum possible
return always excited him. As he had little idea what the value of each
individual item was, Ripfang had helpfully provided a list of guide prices
for what each item would be expected to fetch as a minimum. Steve, of
course, took this as a direct challenge and aimed for at least half again as
his personal minimum goal.
Harry and Daphne had looked at Ripfang's list of minimums too, and
were astounded at how much some of these items were worth. A vase
that both considered hideous and gaudy was labelled with 1.15 million
Galleons as a minimum as it was a mint condition example of Pierre
Pottery from 15th Century France. This was by no means the most
valuable piece either and if Steve could back up his level of confidence
then they would very quickly have enough to build the biggest Manor in
the entire world. Of course they didn't want anything like that but they
didn't intend to scrimp on what would be their home for the rest of their
lives.
Over the course of the week the warehouse began to take a more
organised look. Where before Harry had to be told that it had been
sorted, he could now tell that it had been. He could even work out what
the system was and negotiate his way through the maze fairly easily. Jess
continued with her books and left it to Steve and Ripfang to escort Harry
and Daphne from place to place. Ripfang would explain each item or say
if it needed more research, the couple would then decide if they wanted
to keep or sell. If it was to be kept it would be moved to the storage area
and if it was to be sold, it would be moved to Steve's newly set up area.
Slowly but surely the area became clearer and it became easier to see
what still needed looking at.
With only a few days to go Steve had a surprisingly good idea. They
really needed another person, someone who had knowledge of muggle
antiques and muggle auctions. This was currently a gap in the team's
knowledge as Ripfang knew magical artefacts, Jess was knowledgeable
about magical books and antiques and Steve knew how to sell things to
magicals. It could well be that something they were passing straight over
because they didn't recognise it as being made by a magical could be
incredibly valuable in the muggle world. Steve only knew the channels to
sell to other magicals, legitimately anyway, and so they needed someone
to help them with this. Steve was dispatched to the internet to research
and try to recruit someone. It was doubtful they would find someone
immediately so they would have to delay any sales until they could find
anyone. This didn't particularly worry Harry as he knew it was more
important to maximise the value of each item.
That evening Harry mentioned to Sirius that he was looking into the idea
of getting back the land that Potter Manor had been on and asked if he
had any thoughts. Sirius knew nothing other than it was sold by
Dumbledore to Elphias Doge and was located in the rolling Yorkshire
Dales. Sirius didn't offer any suggestions but said he would have a think
about it and see what he could do. Harry was a little frustrated at Sirius'
lack of help but was soon distracted when it was mentioned that the
Marriage contract had been finalised and would be officially signed at
dinner at the Greengrass' on the Sunday before their return to Hogwarts.
This drove all thoughts apart from panic from Harry's mind. He wasn't
even sure why exactly he was panicking, he loved Daphne and he
thought she loved him. He certainly had no problem with the idea of
spending the rest of their life together and raising a family. He supposed
at a mere 13, albeit nearly 14, years old he was a bit young to be
thinking like that. However it made sense to him, he had always wanted
a family to call his own for as long as he could remember. Cyrus and
Sirius were providing the father figure he craved and Ana was definitely
taking up the role of mother figure. Remus was also a favoured uncle and
Daphne was his partner in all things, his other half. He guessed in a way
he would be glad once the contract was signed as that would make it all
definite and practically irreversible. Perhaps it was just the waiting that
was making him panic, the fear that somehow it would all fall apart.
Watching this internal debate in his Godson with half an eye, Sirius too
was deep in thought. He needed to do something to help Harry out;
perhaps it was time to finally accept his family name and embrace all
that came with it.
Despite Harry's nerves about the whole event, the formal dinner went off
without a hitch. He finally got to meet Daphne's little sister, Astoria, who
was a miniature clone of Daphne. She veered between bouts of
uncontrollable shyness in the presence of Harry and Sirius and moments
of pure cheek. Cyrus and Ana tried to tell her off for these moments but
they were undone by Sirius laughing hysterically and him encouraging
her from then on. Harry expected the Greengrass parents to scold Sirius
but apparently they knew him from their school days and so understood
that to do so would only encourage him. With Sirius' gentle coaxing,
Astoria emerged from her shell and showed herself to be an intelligent
young girl. She was due to start Hogwarts in September and Harry made
a mental note to keep her well away from the Weasley twins, that's if
Sirius didn't manage to corrupt her enough on his own. Her wicked sense
of humour and innocent looking face would be a deadly combination
with Fred and George's knowledge of magic and creativity.
They left Greengrass Manor with their bellies full and with Harry looking
forward to returning to Hogwarts the next day. He had missed the place
and definitely missed seeing his friends. It made quite a change from
previous years as he had only missed Ron and Hermione, now the list
was far longer. In fact his former best friends had almost dropped out of
his thoughts; he barely saw them anymore, despite sharing a room with
one of them. Well in reality he didn't spend every night in his dorm room
as he still slept in the Lab quite often but even so. He assumed they were
still in the same classes as him but then again he didn't pay a whole lot of
attention as he was always far ahead of what was being taught.
He met Daphne at the platform as arranged and they said goodbye to
their respective guardians before walking to the train hand in hand.
There were not many people on the train as the vast majority of students
chose to stay at the school for the Easter holidays so they had a
compartment completely to themselves. Daphne took out her notebook
that she had been working on since their conversation about houses.
They had begun to think about what they would want in a house and the
very loosest of plans was steadily taking shape in their minds. Of course
this was only basic thoughts at the moment as the location wasn't even
secured yet.
As they pulled up to Hogsmeade station they left the train, intending to
walk slowly up to the school, enjoying the early April sunshine in the
evening. However this was not to be, as soon as they stepped off the train
they were assaulted.
"Where the bloody hell have you two been? Have you any idea how
worried we have been about you morons? Don't even think about
speaking, I'm not done with either of you. How dare you just disappear
without saying anything to us. We knew Daph was hurt but nobody
would tell us anything, we tried to get in contact with you Potter and not
a single bloody owl would go to you. We thought you were dead Daph
and you didn't even have the common courtesy to let us know otherwise."
Tracey paused for breath, eyes aflame with rage while Blaise stood
behind her, arms crossed and a look of extreme disapproval on his face.
"Trace… we…" Harry wasn't allowed to finish.
"Did you ever stop to think about anyone else? All we know is that
Dumbledore goes mental and attacks you, you beat him to a pulp and
Daph gets cursed. She disappears almost immediately without a by your
leave and then you go sometime after. We tried to get into the Lab to see
if you were there but of course we couldn't get in. Eventually we hear
that Daphne is in a coma with some curse on her so the obvious answer is
to use the potions program that we have spent months developing but we
can't bloody get in to look at it." Tracey was screeching by the end of this
current tirade.
Harry's eyes were downcast, "I'm sorry Trace I didn't even think about the
potions program."
"Of course you didn't" she screamed in his face. Daphne was in tears at
how remiss they had been in not informing their friends they were ok.
Blaise put his hand on Tracey's shoulder, disapproval still etched on his
countenance as he looked at Harry and Daphne. "That's enough Tracey,
let them explain then I can decide how badly to curse the pair of them."
And explain they did. Well Harry more than Daphne as she was in no
condition to explain anything. Half way through the story it appeared
Tracey forgave them or perhaps forgot her anger, as she threw herself
into Daphne's arms and the two wept. Harry took this as a cue to make
the journey to the school as it was getting rather dark. He led the way to
the Lab and after quickly saying hello to the Founders, got everyone
settled to continue the explanation. Blaise decided in the end not to curse
either of them but it was a close run thing. After much crying Tracey and
Daphne came to agreement and forgave each other and Harry had a
lesson that he no longer had to rely on himself all the time, sometimes
others out there have good ideas that can help. His resolve to stop
blaming himself was also tested strongly but it came through in the end.
Leaving Blaise to oversee the continuing conversation between Tracey
and Daphne, Harry went to Salazar and began the laborious process of
changing the password away from Parseltongue to something anyone
could use. They discussed in depth the best way of doing this. Rowena's
suggestion of wards that would recognise an individual's intent and
magical signature was shot down as impractical causing her to turn her
back in a huff and refuse to help any more. Harry didn't notice the others
leaving as he continued to work at making the entrance accessible to
people other than just him. He finally finished at nearly three in the
morning, having just enough energy to crawl to the bed and crash out
unconscious.
He awoke just in time to run to breakfast before he was due to start his
lessons for the day. However as he was sat down tearing through a full
plate of food he was interrupted by the looming shadow of McGonagall.
He swallowed his mouthful, "Morning Professor."
"Good morning Mr Potter, I would be much obliged if you and Miss
Greengrass would join me in my office following breakfast. Do not worry
about your first lesson it has already been cleared."
Harry nodded his agreement and caught Daphne's eye across the Great
Hall. She shrugged indicating she didn't know what it was about either.
They finished at almost the same time and walked to the Headmistress'
office, speculating as to what it was about. They came to the conclusion
that it had to be something to do with the Marriage contract but they had
assumed that they would be keeping that quiet.
"Sit down Mr Potter, Miss Greengrass. Over the holidays I have been
talking to the collective Professors and it is clear for us to see that
currently you are far and away ahead of your peers. Therefore I have
several potential options for you. Firstly we do nothing and you continue
to work ahead at your own pace, leaving you to graduate at the normal
time. The second option is to accelerate you both so that you do your
OWLs next year as opposed to your fifth and to do your NEWTS the year
after that. This would then leave you two years where you would act as
an Assistant to the other teachers while studying for one or more
Masteries. The final option available to you is much the same as the
second except instead of working for Masteries after you have done your
NEWTs in fifth year, you would be allowed to graduate. Of course one of
you could take one option and the other a different, although somehow I
doubt this." She gave a wry smile. "Either way the choice is yours, we
will be happy to support the pair of you whichever option you choose."
"Do we need to decide right now?" Daphne asked.
"Of course not. Whatever you decide you will still have to take your
normal third year exams at the end of this year which I have no doubt
you will both achieve extremely good results in. I will need a decision
from you by the end of the year though. Now off you go the pair of you."
They left McGonagall's office deep in thought; both had immediately
discounted the first option but were unsure whether the second or third
choice was the better. They resolved to meet after classes and discuss it
in the Lab. Harry escorted Daphne to her class and left her with Tracey
and Blaise but not before giving them a bit of parchment with a single
phrase written on it, 'son of Prongs'. This was the new password to get
into the Lab and it had taken him ages to think of one suitable. It needed
to be something memorable but something that nobody else was likely to
guess. To be honest he still wasn't happy but frankly by three in the
morning he had given up and decided that would do. He could always
change it if somebody thought of something better.
The day passed slowly for Harry who only had half his attention on the
lessons at most. He was thinking about the options offered by
McGonagall. By the middle of his final class he had decided that he
favoured the third option. His reasoning was that he had so many plans
that required his attention that graduating and leaving school early
would be preferable. He didn't need a piece of paper to say he had a
Mastery in something, he could just learn on his own. If the mood took
him later in life he could always come back and take one or two. He
wasn't sure what Daphne would think, he had a slight feeling that she
would favour getting Masteries but it could go either way.
It turned out he was wrong, she had come into the Lab clearly prepared
to argue her case for the second option. She had expected him to want to
take the Mastery route. They laughed easily at how each had been wrong
about the other causing Blaise to mock them briefly. They took no notice
and once Neville arrived he joined Blaise and Tracey in testing out the
limitations of the potions program. Neville and Blaise would work the
program while Tracey had at least three cauldrons on the go at any one
time. Clearly they had been itching to do this for a while and Harry felt
extremely guilty that through simple oversight he had denied them this.
While they were doing this Harry took Daphne to one side and they
began plotting how they were going to approach their Quidditch venture
with Puddlemere. Daphne knew a little about Quidditch but not a great
deal, actually neither did Harry when it came down to it. To correct this
Harry wanted to involve Dean and Seamus on a more permanent basis
but Daphne was sceptical. Of course it wasn't like they were going to put
the two in charge of the team but they needed a starting point. The most
important thing would be to get a manager on board who agreed with
their vision. Once this was achieved the rest should become a lot easier.
Daphne vaguely remembered a coach from a few years ago who left the
Arrows in a fairly spectacular way. She couldn't remember exactly but
she thought he had been Muggleborn and had once again fallen foul of
the Pureblood prejudices. They talked for about an hour before working
on some of their studies. Eventually Daphne conceded that they needed
some help on who would be the best to approach for this and so Harry
would talk to the sport nuts in his dorm when he got back. He kissed her
goodnight and left her, Neville and Tracey working in the Lab. Blaise had
gone back to his dorm earlier, citing homework.
He found the two he wanted in a corner of the Common Room,
unsurprisingly in the middle of a heated argument. "Right you two, quiet.
Remember I said before about my ideas for Quidditch?" Two nods. "Well
they are a go and I would like to hire the two of you as consultants. First
thing I would like you to do is to give me a ranked list of the best five
people you can think of to be the Manager. Remember they have to
embrace the muggle methods we are planning on introducing so no
Pureblood traditionalist, no matter how successful they have been." Two
more nods. "After that I want the greatest fantasy team you can think of,
with at least two people for each position. Your only restriction for this is
that they have to be currently playing for a team somewhere in the
world. Money is no object. With me so far?" A further two nods. "Right if
you can get this to me by the end of the week I'll give you 10 Galleons
each. Remember I want a thorough job, not just putting down the first
names you think of."
"Don't worry Harry we won't let you down" said Seamus.
"Does it need to be two players for each position or can there be more?
It's just that we will never agree and it could take weeks before we
whittled it down to just two" asked Dean thoughtfully.
"Fair point" said Harry, "as long as you can justify each person I'm happy,
remember I said at least two. That doesn't mean to say I want a list of a
hundred people for each position, I'm talking the very best in the world
here."
"Right you are, we'll get right on it" saluted Seamus.
Harry rolled his eyes but he knew it was money well spent, the two
would be extremely thorough and Dean had very quickly grasped what
Harry was after and he would keep Seamus on task.
28. Chapter 28
Chapter 28
After the excitement prior to Easter, the days settled into a comfortable
routine for Harry and Daphne. They let McGonagall know of their
decision to accelerate their schooling but not continue onto Mastery. She
was slightly disappointed but not at all surprised with their choice. She
knew very well that they had ambitious plans that would require a great
deal of attention. The pair of them were given a blanket option to miss
any class they wanted in order to self study, which they took advantage
of regularly. They didn't do it all the time as they liked to be with their
friends. Also with some classes like Herbology and Care of Magical
Creatures they needed to be there for the practical element. Others like
Charms and Transfiguration they barely attended, checking in
occasionally with McGonagall and Flitwick to make sure they were on
the right track.
This gave them plenty of time to work ahead, their plan was to be
competent with all the spells up to at least the end of fourth year before
the year ended. This would give them a good start on their course load
next year. In certain subjects like Runes they were already far beyond
this and had been working on NEWT level problems since February. As
well as working ahead the continued their work on creating a fully
magical mobile phone as opposed to taking a muggle phone and adapting
it to run on magic. When they hit a brick wall in this work they added to
their basic plan for Potter Manor as they were already calling their
prospective house, no matter where it would end up being built.
Steve had found himself a partner in the selling business, a squib, Peter
Bishop. Pete had been working in the antiques trade for nearly 40 years,
working as a valuator for Sotheby's and Christie's before moving away
from those and setting up his own business. He had recently sold his
business for a healthy profit and was looking for a new challenge; all in
all he was perfect for the position. He and Steve were working overtime
to plan out their schedule for what they would put on sale, where they
would sell it and when. It was not so simple as to put everything on for
sale at once, the idea was to trickle the items into the market so that they
did not saturate it and drive prices down.
The final Quidditch match was also drawing near, driving Wood into a
frenzy as usual. Harry was enjoying the training though, as it was a
physical drain rather than the mental one he had been experiencing
recently. The team was working exceptionally well together, as they had
been all season. While the Twins had always enjoyed a near psychic
connection, this now extended to the rest of the squad. Even Oliver found
it difficult to pick on things to criticise after each practise; this didn't stop
him from trying of course. Harry had been thinking about it for a while
and was debating whether or not to attempt to recruit Oliver for
Puddlemere. On one hand there was absolutely no way Oliver was the
best keeper in the world but on the other he was young, dedicated and
was easily the best at Hogwarts, the premier school in Britain. He asked
his resident Quidditch consultants and according to Seamus, Oliver was
good, very good. He was not ready to be a starter yet but in a few years
would be pushing for international representation, assuming of course he
worked hard at it. Harry had snorted at this; there was very little chance
of the fanatic inside Wood to do anything other than work exceptionally
hard.
With one final practise before the match the next day Oliver called them
all in early from their game. He gave a rousing speech aimed at inspiring
them to greater heights of play. In his own way Oliver was a supreme
motivator, he wasn't particularly a shouter but his calmly delivered
words held a passion few could match. The team left together talking
quietly before retiring to bed early. The Common Room was surprisingly
quiet as the Quidditch mad Gryffindor house tip toed around to avoid
disturbing the team.
Waking in the morning Harry felt the familiar mix of nerves and
excitement settle in his stomach. The ratio had changed from his very
first game where it was almost entirely nerves and the barest breath of
excitement. Now it was confidently leaning towards excitement. He ate a
basic breakfast under Oliver's watchful eye. In the changing room they
moved mechanically, getting ready like a well oiled machine. They all
knew their jobs and would go out and do them to the best of their ability.
Outside in the Stadium there was an expectant hush as the teams were
announced, ready for the game to begin. Sitting in the Teachers box
alongside Moony, Sirius had never experienced an atmosphere like it at a
school game.
"You must remember Sirius, Gryffindor have absolutely destroyed
Slytherin and Hufflepuff in their first two games. Ravenclaw need an
absolute miracle to come even close. Combine that with the fact that it's
the Gryffindor captain's last game and he will have them fired up. I am
not exaggerating when I say that this Gryffindor team could give any
British Pro team a hell of a close game right now, let alone when they
fully develop."
Sirius looked at Remus sceptically; he knew Harry was good but really,
play against professionals?
As the match progressed Sirius was extremely glad that he hadn't voiced
his doubt out loud. Never mind match the Pro teams, they could bloody
well beat them. He stared open mouthed as Harry broke up play after
play by the Ravenclaw chasers and still managed to lead the opposing
seeker on a merry dance. That duel ended abruptly when he caused her
to plough straight into a stand after Harry feinted and pulled up his
broom at an impossible angle for the suicidal speeds he was travelling. It
wasn't like it was just Harry that was playing incredibly either. The
chaser trio for Gryffindor were scoring with consummate ease; quite how
one of them had managed to put curl on one of her shots, Sirius would
never know. Wood had little to do but he showed off the key attribute of
a great keeper, one that can do very little for long amounts of time but
still come up with the big save when required. Combine that with the
Twins playing like demons and the result was never in doubt. How Sirius
laughed when the red heads played ping pong with the two bludgers at
the same time for over a minute, before suddenly launching them both at
a gaping Ravenclaw beater. The poor guy didn't stand a chance; he
dodged one but caught the other flush on the shoulder, ending his game.
Mercifully Harry too decided this was the signal for the end and within
five minutes he had swiped the snitch from directly beneath the broom of
a thoroughly petrified Ravenclaw chaser.
1020 – 0. It was hardly fair really. So many records were set that poor
Lee Jordan couldn't keep up with trying to announce them all as the
game ended. Highest score ever, largest margin of victory, individual top
scorer for Angelina, most assists for Katie, the list went on. For perhaps
the first time after a Hogwarts Quidditch match, every single supporter
rose to their feet and cheered the Gryffindor victory. They knew they had
seen something special today, something that would be talked about for
years and years to come.
Riding the wave of euphoria, the party went deep into the early hours of
the morning in the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry excused himself
around two in the morning, knowing that he was due to meet Daphne the
next morning and she would have his hide if he was late.
They had been intending to revise for their rapidly approaching exams
but this plan was dashed as they entered the Lab.
"It's ready" shouted Godric from across the room. They dropped what
they were doing and walked to the portraits. "The ritual is finished,
although as expected it will not kill the pieces, only locate them all."
"When can we do it?" Harry asked, struggling to keep his excitement from
overwhelming him.
Clearly he failed as Salazar smirked at him. "Whenever you're ready."
"Excellent" Daphne too had a broad grin fixed on her face. "What do we
need to do?"
"It's actually surprisingly simple, all you need to do is draw these symbols
around a circle exactly 13 inches in diameter. Show them the paper
Salazar."
Salazar held up a piece of paper with a complicated set of designs on it.
Daphne looked at him confused.
"How are you able to do that within your portrait? The magic should
constrain you from being able to change your surroundings."
Salazar drew himself up pompously, "I am the great Salazar Slytherin, do
you really think I would be tied down by such pitiful concerns?" He
conspicuously ignored the sniggering Godric in the background.
Elbowing Daphne lightly to shut her up, Harry answered. "Of course not,
we should really stop being surprised by the wonders you can achieve."
He said this with a completely straight face that quite obviously didn't
fool any of the Founders, apart from Salazar who seemed to consider it
his due.
All morning they drew and redrew the circle and symbols until finally
everyone was satisfied with them. The next stage was to put the locket in
the exact centre which was frankly easier said than done. After this a
compass was placed between the locket and the bottom of the circle. The
idea of the ritual was that it would take the information from the linked
soul parts and transfer them to the compass. Then someone would be
able to pinpoint the exact locations through this. To help this, the user
could tap the bottom of the compass with their wand to cycle through the
different soul pieces. Also the user could tap the top of the compass with
their wand to get an exact distance to the current soul piece it was
pointing to. The ritual would not be able to provide a map or anything
like that but Harry was quite happy with what would be available to
them. The final step was a long and complicated string of Latin that
needed to be chanted three times. Salazar held up another piece of paper
for them to copy down and went through it so many times that Harry
thought he could probably do it without the script in front of him, not
that he would risk it.
Finally after a full day's work they were ready to start the ritual.
Everything was in place and both Harry and Daphne knew their task.
Godric in particular looked on keenly, searching for even the slightest
hint that something wasn't quite right as they began rhythmically
chanting the Latin. The first time through the sequence they were a bit
nervous but everything appeared to be going perfectly and so they both
gained confidence. By the time it was over they were fairly flying
through the chant. As they finished the last word they looked expectantly
at the compass. But nothing happened. They exchanged a glance, clearly
both had thought there would be some sort of flash of light or something
like that.
"So is that it? Is it done?" Harry asked Godric hesitantly.
"Pick up the compass and see" came the reply.
Harry did just that and looked at the bronze compass expectantly.
Nothing happened. He looked down in disappointment before he was
interrupted by Daphne.
"Maybe you need to tap the bottom with your wand to activate it for the
first time?"
The Elder Wand snapped to his hand from its holster and lightly tapped
the bottom. To everyone else's eyes still nothing happened but to Harry's
there was suddenly a set of eerily glowing numbers, floating above the
dial. Daphne couldn't see anything but the change in Harry's expression
was enough to tell her that something positive had occurred.
"What's happening Harry?"
"It worked" he said with a smile that lit up his face. "Let's see how many
of these cursed things there are then." He tapped the bottom of the
compass again after memorising the current set of numbers. A brief pause
and he tapped again, and again. Daphne looked on with bated breath as
Harry got a face of utmost disgust on his face as the tapping continued.
"So how many then?" asked Godric.
"If you include the Diary that is already destroyed and the locket here,
then six in total. Combine that with the part of his soul that still had to
remain in his body and he split himself into seven parts, I wonder if that
has some special significance. After all seven is a very powerful magical
number, all primes are."
Godric nodded in agreement. "I wonder if he had that in mind from the
beginning. The traditional Horcrux creation method splits the soul
exactly in half. Therefore it would follow that each time he split his soul,
the remaining part would become a progressively smaller percentage of
the original. For example the first time he would have half in his mortal
body and half in the horcrux. However by the second he would only have
a quarter of the original in his body, a quarter in the second Horcrux and
the remaining half in the first Horcrux. Do that enough to have seven
separate parts and the amount in his original body would be tiny."
"0.015625" said Harry distractedly. "I wonder if that's how I 'vanquished'
him. His body was already so unstable and when he tried to curse me, it
backfired somehow?"
Godric was doubtful this was the case but kept his opinions to himself.
Daphne merely shrugged, "doesn't really matter in the long run. The
important thing is we know he has these Horcruxes that are still out there
and they need to be destroyed."
"Yeah you're right, as usual. I'm just getting distracted over nothing.
When do we go looking then?"
"We?" Daphne asked dangerously.
"Yeah we, it needs to be done and who else is going to do it?"
She neglected to give a verbal answer, just pummelled him on the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Because, you moron, you are 13 years old how do you expect to beat the
protections put on these by one of the most powerful Dark Lords of all
time? Not to mention his fifty years minimum extra experience. We will
hire a professional to do it, someone with experience and knowledge.
And if you try and go along with them, so help me I will tie you down
myself and leave you somewhere inconvenient."
Harry looked about to argue but then he caught sight of her steely
determination and resigned himself to a lost argument. "Fine, but they
better be good." With that he stalked off.
"Leave him be Lass." Salazar interrupted Daphne before she went to
follow. "From what I understand of his life, he is used to relying solely on
himself. It is a bit of a shock to the system when you realise you don't
have to do this anymore." He gave a sidelong glance to his fellow
Founder's portraits. "It can take some time for a person to break the
habit, even when they do have people to help them."
He said nothing more but Daphne understood.
As far as Daphne could see, Harry completely disappeared off the face of
the earth for the rest of that day and the one after. She didn't go looking
for him, trusting that he would come back when he was ready but she
was sorely tested.
Finally, on the third morning, he was waiting for her in one of his secret
passages along the route from the Slytherin dorms to the Great Hall. He
stepped out as she was walking past. After her heart had returned to its
proper placement after trying to leap from her mouth, he pulled her into
a deep hug. No words were spoken but it meant almost as much to her as
the first time he told her he loved her. They walked to the Hall hand in
hand and both felt an even deeper connection to the other.
Although they were beyond the third year syllabus, this did not stop
either from studying almost constantly for the upcoming exams. There
were no more distractions to keep them from their work. Of course just
because they were taking the third year exams, didn't necessarily mean
that they were studying third year material. Their subjects varied on a
whim and as usual the Founders were an invaluable aid whenever they
wanted to discuss some esoteric branch of magic. It was a fair bet that
one of the four would know a little something about it, if not be an
expert. Very occasionally Harry felt slightly bad about hoarding all this
knowledge for himself, but only for a short period of time before he
shook it off.
The exam schedule for the school had been a bone of contention for
generations. The Exam Board set it so that the fifth years and seventh
years took their exams first. Their reasoning was that this gave them
enough time to mark them and have the results ready for soon after the
time the seventh years graduated. The rest of the school would then take
their exams after the more important ones were out of the way. This
seemed like an eminently sensible idea to Harry as the graduating
seventh years needed to know their results as soon as possible for any job
they wanted to take after they had finished school. However the teachers
and the majority of the fifth and seventh years did not agree. The
students wanted as much time as possible to cram before the exams
themselves and the teachers bemoaned the fact that they lost almost a
month of teaching time in the most important schooling years. There was
no way to satisfy everyone and judging from what Harry observed so far,
tradition would win out in the end. Take the dates of the school year for
example. The year always started on 1st September, broke for Christmas
on 20th December. They returned on 10th January, broke for Easter 25th
March and came back again 10th April. Without fail the year would then
end on 31st May leaving them exactly three months of Summer holidays.
This system paid absolutely no attention to which day each of these dates
fell upon, nor where Easter weekend was that year. It was not unusual for
Easter weekend to fall well outside of the actual Easter holiday but it was
a quirk that was barely thought about by the magical world.
At first, Harry had thought this lack of attention to Easter was because
magicals did not pay any mind to Christianity. However, despite the
many conflicts with the Catholic Church, there were a great many
magicals that would call themselves Christian, even if they didn't
necessarily practise the religion. Amongst the older families the general
consensus was one of scorn for the 'upstart religion'. They still
worshipped the old Pagan Gods as they claimed their ancestors had for
thousands of years before them.
This was something Harry was interested in, he had a slight theory that
some of the early 'Gods' were in fact Witches or Wizards taking advantage
of impressionable muggles but of course he had no proof. In their quest
for normalcy the Dursleys had taken great pleasure in announcing to
anyone who would listen that they went to Church every Sunday. This
association tainted the religion for Harry because if they could act as they
had towards him and claim to be Christian he didn't want to have
anything to do with it. Realistically he knew the Dursleys were not a
representative example of anything but it was something he couldn't get
over.
Harry took a perverse kind of pleasure in seeing some of the less
academically inclined members of the school panic over the upcoming
exams. Well in reality, mainly a certain ginger boy he shared a dorm with
who was badgering an increasingly frazzled Hermione to get her do his
work for him. It kicked off one night in the Common Room as Ron made
another attempt and Hermione snapped, letting fly with a string of
decidedly unpleasant curses. Ron was carried to the Hospital Wing as
Hermione was dragged out by the new Head of Gryffindor, Professor
Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher.
When she returned almost an hour later, Harry watched her walk to her
dorm, really looked at her for the first time in months. She had been
crying but aside from that she looked ill. She looked haggard, as if she
barely slept in months. Where before this would have been a great cause
of concern for him, he now felt nothing except a mild curiosity over what
could be causing her to be looking like that. He reflected briefly on how
much things could change in less than a year before shrugging and
returning to his Transfiguration book.
As expected, exams were an absolute breeze for Harry and Daphne. Less
so for their close friends but with the help of the couple, they too found it
relatively straight forward. The confidence Neville was displaying was
translated into less panic about the exams. Harry remembered in first
year, a profusely sweating Neville, eyes wide with fear, waiting to go in
for their Charms exam. This year's Charms exam saw the same boy
leaning casually against the wall, talking quietly with Tracey as they
waited to go into the Hall.
Their final exam was History of Magic, which Harry thought was
unnecessarily cruel as they were all itching to finish and it was easily the
most boring of the exams. The weather too was mocking them, as it was
scorching hot outside and the finished fifth and seventh years had taken
up residence around the lake. Every single minute of the two hour exam
seemed to crawl by and when McGonagall finally called time there was a
spontaneous cheer from the students. As one they rose and sped from the
Hall, to try and claim what space they could in the sunshine. Harry and
Daphne spent the remainder of the day led on the grass together, talking
about inconsequential things and watching the occasional wisp of cloud
crawl over their heads.
And that was how the remaining week of the term went, lazing around in
the sun and generally relaxing and recharging. It made a bit of a change
as normally neither of the two could go for any length of time without
working on their projects at the very least. This was a fact that Blaise
took great pleasure in pointing out, expecting a reaction. However
Daphne ignored him and Harry merely shrugged, saying that they would
be very busy over the summer holidays and so this was effectively their
summer vacation. Needless to say Blaise and Tracey were incredulous, as
was everyone else who was told. Even the hardworking Hufflepuff
contingent of Susan, Hannah and Cedric were surprised at the dedication
of the pair. Unsurprisingly at the final feast, Gryffindor won the House
Cup and the Quidditch Cup had been effectively theirs since before
Christmas.
It was the morning before they were due to take the Hogwarts Express to
London when there was a rather rare event, Harry received a letter.
Hedwig swooped down and dropped off a thick envelope with a delicate,
calligraphy address. Harry didn't quite know what to make of it until he
spotted the Gringotts seal on the back. He tore it open and quickly
scanned through the letter. Confusion painted itself onto his face, this
couldn't be right.
Dear Mr Potter,
It is my duty to inform you that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
passed away last night. In his will he names you as his heir and the sole
benefactor of all his estate. Please present yourself at Gringotts London Branch
at your earliest convenience. Failure to arrive within seven days of receipt of
this letter will result in total forfeiture of all bequests to Gringotts Bank.
Regards Twinblade
Head of Inheritance Department
Why on earth would Dumbledore leave everything to him? The one
person who had done more to hurt Harry than any other was suddenly
being nice? It simply didn't make sense. His breakfast lay forgotten as he
contemplated what was going on here, was it another trap? He was so
deep in thought that he didn't notice everyone else start to leave until
Neville tapped him on the shoulder.
"You alright there mate?" he asked concerned.
Harry shook himself, "yeah fine mate, just some strange news."
Neville didn't pry, something Harry was very happy about as they walked
to the Dorm to pick up their things. They were just about to enter when
Harry felt a vibrating in his pocket, his phone was ringing.
"You go on ahead Nev I'll be with you in a minute, just need to take this.
Hello? Sirius?"
"Hey Harry, how are you doing?"
"Not too bad, a little confused, but good. There's nothing wrong is there?"
"No nothing like that. Did you by any chance get a letter this morning?"
"How did you…Sirius. What did you do?"
"Me? Nothing. I'm hurt that you would even consider that I could be
responsible for…"
Harry cut his over the top protestations off. "Yeah I'm sure. So what did
you do?"
"Later. I'll tell you later in private."
"Ok Sirius, I'll see you later. You picking me up at the station?"
"Yeah I'll be there, see you later."
Harry hung up thoughtfully. Sirius had obviously done something and
from the sounds of it, something morally questionable, if not outright
illegal. Strangely this didn't bother him in the slightest. Perhaps it would
if it was anyone other than Dumbledore but then again perhaps not.
He collected his belongings and followed the crowd down to the
carriages. He met Daphne along the way and tried his best to answer her
immediate barrage of questions.
"Daph, let's get on the train first before you give me the Spanish
Inquisition."
She huffed but said nothing more until they were onto the train. She cast
a privacy charm and fixed him with a demanding stare.
Harry explained as best he could what the situation was, unfortunately
he didn't know very much. Aside from a few basic facts everything was
supposition. There were many varied theories before Harry called an end
to the brainstorming as the latter ideas had become a touch ridiculous.
The rest of the journey was passed more pleasantly as they discussed
summer plans with Neville, Tracey, Blaise, Susan and Hannah. They had
made the decision to send the potions program back with Tracey as her
house was the easiest for Neville and Blaise to get to. They wanted to
continue their experimentation and try out some new theories. Frankly
with all they had planned, Harry and Daphne were perfectly happy to
delegate some of the research to the trio. They all arranged to meet up
over the holidays and Harry promised to get a phone for each of them to
make it easier to keep in touch.
The train pulled into the station with Harry in a contemplative mood.
This time last year he had been a young boy, still traumatised by the
events at the end of the year. He had no support network and all he had
to look forward to over the summer was pain and abuse. What a
difference a change in attitude could bring.
He looked around the platform and spotted Sirius standing with Cyrus
and Ana. He felt Daphne reach out and take his hand as they walked over
together.
"So Sirius, would you care to explain?"
29. AN
I normally hate these non chapters so I apologise in advance. As you
may have noticed this story has been quiet for a long time. Part of
this was a major writers block and a loss of enthusiasm. However
the majority was because I was rewriting the story to change some
of the things I didn't really like about the original, making a few
things clearer and generally cleaning the whole thing up. If you
fancy you can check out my profile and read the rewrite.
Cheers Tom
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