Two Tales – The Seventh Son and The Wolfmother
by TimeLoopedPowerGamer
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
2014/10/28 quick fix, got the wrong version uploaded initially. Cleans up some issues with that version.
See below for notes.
The Seventh Son
Giacobbe Arthur Weasley grew up under the shadow of his six older brothers. He was born the seventh son, and that meant a lot in pure-blood circles. Seven is a powerful number. Amazing things are expected of him.
Jake, which he prefers, is not, however, an amazing wizard. He can somehow sense this, even before getting his wand. But his hero Harry Potter is amazing.
He is brave, true, and kind – all the books say so. He's everything Jake's smirking, arrogant, teasing brothers aren't.
When he sees Harry for the first time, though, Jake's guts clench. Something is wrong. Very wrong. Harry should stand tall and proud, but instead he looks like a lost puppy.
During his hero's visit to the Weasley house, Jake is unable to look directly at the older boy for fear he'll blurt out something stupid like "who hurt you?" or "what's wrong with you?" After The Incident that results in Harry's visit, the twins say something odd in passing about rescuing him and his bedroom window, but they clam up when Jake corners them about it.
The twins were always causing trouble and making up stories to trick him, so he ignores it. They found his hero worship hilarious, and were probably already coming up with new mean things to say. After that fake Ministry arranged-marriage betrothal certificate they'd forged (between "Mssrs. Harry James Potter and Giacobbe Arthur Potter né Weasley") he hadn't spoken to them for a month. Maybe that was still the best policy.
When Jake finds an extra book in his things after the shopping trip, he assumes it must be a low-key gift from his father. Never playing favorites, his dad still seems to understand what Jake's going through and the pressure he's under.
Dad hadn't said anything, but you don't wave around special favors in a huge family, after all. It is a used book, of course, as like his clothes those first-year books are all hand-me-downs this year. His clothes aren't tent-like ugly things, like Harry's, but still. And most of the books have changed from last year, so at least he's getting "new" used ones.
Jake intends to use the blank book to plan how to become Harry's best bud – his brother Ron is a plonker, and doesn't deserve the position. Though he's only an "ickle firstie", Jake wants to do whatever he can to help his hero.
And then the book starts writing back.
It's smart. Very, very smart, especially for a book. And it has some very interesting ideas on how to become Harry's best friend: by defeating all of Harry's foes and proving Jake's strength as a wizard.
Everything, in short, Jake has ever wanted. Some of the spells it shows Jake are a little questionable, but if they were truly dark, would they have been selling the book in Diagon Alley? It says it's some training guide for poncy pure-bloods, but that means it is only right that Jake use it for its intended purpose.
The book tells him about a special room in Hogwarts castle that can give him everything he wants. A room for special people like him. Jake blows through his class material with the help of the book, and spends his spare time alone in the special room away from his annoying brothers, practicing his powerful new spells. Some day soon, he'll be strong enough to stand by Harry Potter's side.
Still, he might be pushing it too hard, as he keep blacking out...
The Wolfmother
When the three boys discovered Romola Lupin was a werewolf in second year, she thought her life was over. She'd heard...stories. Things pure-bloods did with those women literally cursed to the lowest rung in magical society. Those who were as low as possible without being cast out, like squibs.
Maybe it would have been better to live like a squib, but Headmaster Dumbledore had made her an offer. One too good to pass up: get a wand and attend Hogwarts in secret, and learn magic like a normal witch. She'd pounced on it like a starving wolf with a bone. And now, that dream was over because of the three pranksters.
Only, it wasn't.
They took her in and made her their sister. Instead of abasement and abuse, they gave her love and support like she hadn't known since before becoming a monster. Because she was more interested in her studies than in pranking, they slowly eased back on their insane stunts and instead invested that time in their own magical studies. And she loosened up some herself, and helped in some guerrilla actions against those pure-blood bigots who harassed the other students with such impunity.
And then a year later, her brothers in all but blood joined her in her changes, by learning and perfecting the hardest and most dangerous magic of which she'd ever heard. All because they loved her.
James had said later that, if it hadn't been for her, Lily wouldn't have gone out with him at all. They got together in fifth year and married immediately after school. Then Harry was born and the den mother in Romola roared to life. She was made Harry's godmother, but all she remembered later was blurred snapshots of a tiny little pink face, bright green eyes, and dark hair.
Then, like happened eventually to everything good in her life, it was ripped from her. Her friends in hiding. She couldn't see Harry anymore. There was a mole in the Order. She was a werewolf, so obviously the first suspect.
Then the Marauders, slowly falling apart, were instead shattered in an instant. Martyred, murdered, and a malicious malefactor. A disaster which left only the monster. And her godson.
The Headmaster had told her something about protections and her status as a Dark creature. As if she were a child. Seconds after hearing of the events of that night, it had all become clear. She knew she would never have custody of Harry. That did not mean she could not watch over him.
Strange things happened around the Potter boy. His much larger cousin's clothes seemed to fit unusually well, and seemed less...worn somehow once he was given them. His glasses would break often as his cousin liked to roughhouse, but before he could find his aunt to tell her he would always find a spare pair that looked exactly the same.
And for some reason, whenever he suggested storing something like the vacuum in the cupboard under the stairs, his aunt turned pale and left the room. He tried the door once, and the handle seemed oddly stuck and he felt a prickly sensation in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to try it again after that.
So instead, he kept some of the cleaning supplies up in his small bedroom closet, as caring for the house and gardens and making things neat was his chore. He had to attend to both every weekend without fail.
Sometimes, now that he was ten, he got to help with the cooking and even got to use the mower on the lawn. But it always made his aunt nervous for some reason. She never let him try it alone, always hovering and supervising him closely, as if something horrible was going to happen if she took her eyes off him for one second.
And sometimes, when he was out walking, he thought he felt someone watching him. But when he turned around, there was never anyone there.
Then, on his eleventh birthday, the oddest thing happened. A woman with a brutally scarred but very kind face delivered a letter.
Notes: Presented here without initial comment, two story seeds. I might write them up one day into longer one-shots. Maybe a full-length for the Lupin one. Both need good conflict and endings for a longer story, something I don't have yet.
The original reason I wrote these was someone asking what the most interesting characters in Harry Potter would be to have different genders (other than Harry). This was my answer, one for each gender direction change.
I think I'm right, of course.
I'm posting a lot of shorts and story ideas recently. Maybe I too should make an "ideas" story to dump them all into. Maybe not. We'll see. For now, I'm opening a forum section for my other stories. Click on my name to get to my Profile page for details.