Harry Potter and the Veneficus Aura
* * * * * * * * * *
A/N: This is my first Harry Potter Fan fiction, and will be a full, novel sized story. I plan on having a new chapter posted every two weeks or so, but it depends on my workload. A little about the story, it takes place after OotP and picks up during the summer between fifth and sixth years. Harry is beginning to cope with the loss of Sirius and the revelations about the Prophecy about he and Voldemort. H/OC (but brief) followed by H/G, R/Hr, RL/NT. I will not follow anything from HBP, but may use some of the miscellaneous info from it. Alright, and here we go...
* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 1: Understanding
Harry Potter looked over at his desk in his hand-me-down room at Number 4 Privet Drive. His clock, brightly displaying the time, was a stark contrast to the black that was his world. 3:17a.m. He did not want to fall back to sleep, if you could even call it that. Every time that he closed his eyes, he woke up tangled in his bed sheets and drenched in a cold sweat no more than a few moments later. Since he had returned from Hogwart's three days ago, he relived the moment Sirius, his godfather, left him every second of his consciousness.
He had lost the rest of his family that night in the Department of Mysteries. First, there was his mum and dad, lost to him nearly fifteen years ago, now his godfather. He was alone. There were the Dursleys of course, but they were further from family than gnargles from truth. Then there were his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. Sure, he was extremely close to them, but they could not replace what he had had with Sirius.
He wanted to blame his godfather for it. Sirius was careless while he was dueling with Bellatrix Lestrange. If it were not for this mistake, Sirius wouldn't have been hit with a Stunner and fallen through the veil. Ultimately, he couldn't place the blame on Sirius; if there was someone to blame it was Harry. It was his fault that Voldemort was able to lure him out of the safety of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If he had only learned Occlumency Sirius would still be with him now and his friends wouldn't have been injured.
With that last thought Harry's eyes closed and he drifted off into a restless sleep.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Kill the spare!" Voldemort spat to Wormtail.
And he did just that. Blinding green light flew towards Cedric Diggory and, as the spell hit him, his life instantly dissipated.
* * * * * * * * * *
Sirius let his guard down for a second and Bellatrix made that second counted as she quickly fired a Stunner at him. The spell hit him right in the chest and Sirius fell through the veil from the strength of the curse.
* * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up screaming. He reached up to feel his scar and felt a warm liquid trickle down his face. Great, he thought to himself, not only is my sodding scar bleeding, Vernon will be in here at any moment.
Speak of the devil.
Thundering footsteps shook the entire upper floor as Uncle Vernon marched towards Harry's room. His door flew open as his Uncle stood glaring at him with all the hatred in the world.
"Boy! What do you think you're doing making all that racket in the middle of the night! Some people actually have things DO in the morning!" Uncle Vernon seethed at his freak of a nephew.
"Sorry Uncle Vernon. I'll try to keep it down." Harry barely muttered.
"Keep it down? You better not make another sound!" Vernon ordered. And with that, Vernon Dursley stomped out of Harry's room.
That was the first time he'd woken up screaming this summer, if fact, it was the first time Harry had actually fallen asleep and gotten some rest since he'd gotten back from school. It had been four days since Harry departed from his friends and the Order at King's Cross Station. Four whole days.
Damnit, Harry screamed silently, Dumbledore and the Order are going to kill me for forgetting to send them an update on the third day. Actually, the only person who can kill me is Voldemort, Harry thought cynically.
Harry quickly scrambled for a quill and a piece of parchment to jot down a note that he was just "fine", as he realized that Hedwig hadn't returned from her nightly hunt. He was just going to have to wait until the next morning, and still, it would take Hedwig at least a few hours to fly all the way to Order headquarters at Grimmauld Place. He was definitely going to be in for it, and the worst would be from the Dursleys when a wizard showed up knocking on their pristine home asking for none other than Harry Potter.
* * * * * * * * * *
Albus Dumbledore sat pensively at his comfortable chair in his Headmaster's Office at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was the morning of the fourth day since Harry returned to Privet Drive, and he was yet to receive any sort of notification from Harry that all was well. "Well" probably was not the best word to use, but at least that he was "fine". That's how Harry always was, whether he was actually fine or not. He could have just been under the Cruciatus Curse for a few minutes and he would still say that he was fine.
Dumbledore looked around his office. Everything was back to normal since he had told Harry about the Prophecy made by Professor Trelawney, and he was not at all surprised at how Harry reacted. He just lost his godfather and then was told that the fate of the wizarding world was now on his shoulders, shoulders already burdened by too much. Dumbledore didn't regret holding back the Prophecy from Harry for so long. He wanted Harry to have a happy childhood. One filled with friends, practical jokes, and teenage romances. But alas, that was not the case for poor Harry. He never had the opportunity to live a normal life with everything he had been through before and during his time at Hogwarts. No one boy should have to bear this burden.
Dumbledore was pulled from his thoughts as green flames erupted from his Floo and Remus Lupin stepped out of the fireplace.
Remus did not look to well himself. Sirius' death had taken a toll on him, Dumbledore mused. He looked unwell and his hair contained more grey than light brown now. His robes were still shabby and tattered in several places. But what stood out most were his eyes, it looked like he hadn't slept at all since Sirius' death, and it didn't help that the full moon was only a couple days ago.
"You wanted to see me Albus." Remus said in a defeated voice.
"Yes Remus, please take a seat. I have yet to hear from Harry, and he was supposed to be sending confirmation on how he was doing every three days. It has been four days since we have heard from him. Would you care to stop by Privet Drive today to make sure he is doing alright?" Albus asked Remus.
"Are you sure that is the best idea? For me to check on Harry?"
"Of course Remus, it would probably do Harry wonders to see you of all people. Someone who understands what he is going through at the moment." If Remus were paying attention, he would have noticed the twinkle in Albus' eyes as he said this.
"You don't think seeing me would cause him to bring up thoughts of that night?" Remus hesitated, referring to the night at the Department of Mysteries.
"Harry is probably thinking of Sirius enough as it is. I doubt that you showing up would worsen his state of grief any further."
Remus nodded, confirming to Dumbledore that he would check on Harry this afternoon.
"Good," Albus replied, "Use Arabella's Floo to get there. No need attracting any unwanted attention by Apparating into the middle of Privet Drive."
With that, Remus walked over to the fireplace and tossed some Floo powder down at his feet and disappeared in an instant.
Ah, Dumbledore thought, Remus and Harry will be good for each other in this time of their lives, to cope with the loss of a friend and godfather.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ron Weasley sat at his desk in his bedroom at the Burrow trying to read an article about his favorite team, the bright orange Chudley Cannons, in the latest edition of Quidditch Weekly. He'd been trying to distract himself from Harry and what he must be going through, but not even Quidditch could force himself to forget about his best friend's predicament. Harry was trapped in that hellhole of a house, grieving for the loss of the last connection to his real family.
Ron may be dense at times, but he knew what Sirius meant to Harry. He was Harry's only father figure, and he lost him. Ron knew Harry was blaming himself for the death of Sirius as well. He's probably thinking right now that if he didn't fall for Vol… You-Know-Who's trap, than Sirius would be alive right now. But how does Harry think he could have seen through the ruddy Dark Lord's trick? He's probably the most powerful wizard alive, even Dumbledore had a hard time matching him at the Ministry of Magic.
Thinking of Dumbledore led Ron to ponder the day following their battle at the Ministry. Harry had seemed even further away than he had been for most of their fifth year, and that was saying something. Sure, it was partially because of Harry's loss of Sirius, but there was something else there, a new weight that had been added to Harry's shoulders. Ron knew it had something to do with the meeting Harry had with Dumbledore in his office after the battle, but Harry wouldn't tell them a word of what happened in there.
Ron wished that Harry would tell them what occurred that night. He knew that Harry didn't like being pushed though. Hermione, Ron blushed every time he thought about her know, had been sending Ron owls daily pestering him about trying to find out what was bothering Harry, and Ron only knew half of it. He'd been owling Hermione, his cheeks started to flame up again, every day telling her that they should try and give him some space and let him work out his own feelings before butting in. But it had been four days and neither Hermione nor he had heard from Harry since their departure from the Hogwart's Express, and she thought it was time for them to try to get in touch with Harry.
Ron eventually gave in to the willpower of Hermione. Bloody hell why do I have to get all flustered when I think about her, and since when did I start using the word flustered. Her and her stupid know-it-all-ness must have rubbed off on me at some point in the past five years. He decided to write Harry a letter today, nothing to pressure him, just to let him know that he was there for his best mate. Thus, Ron began writing his note to Harry, informing him on how poorly the Cannons were doing, but he told him he had a feeling that they were going to make a run for the cup at the end of the season.
As Ron's stomach decided to rumble, he knew it was definitely time for lunch. He quickly finished his letter to Harry and left it on his desk as he ran out the room and tore down the steps to grab some lunch.
"Ronald Weasley, what do you think you are doing making all that noise in the house!" Mrs. Weasley scolded Ron.
"Sorry mum, I'm just hungry. You know, growing boy and all."
Ron was right on that point. Since the beginning of fifth year, he had shot up at least three more inches, officially making him the tallest member of the Weasley family. He just managed to beat the twins out by and inch or so, but the growth spurt left him very gangly. The twins hadn't let him hear the end of it since they stopped by the Burrow the other day, seeing him for the first time since Christmas.
"Oi, George, it looks like our dear brother of ours has finally outgrown us." Fred said.
"Yes, it does appear that way handsome brother of mine."
Ron puffed out his chest in pride after George's compliment.
"Oh," George laughed, "You think I were calling you handsome? No, not in the least bit. I was referring to the dazzling twin of mine."
"Handsome is definitely not the term I'd use to describe you ickle Ronniekins."
"No, you look more like an orangutan." George replied.
"Actually George, I wouldn't be surprised if our little Ron was an orangutan. Just picture one and put it in some Hogwart's school robes and you wouldn't know the difference." Fred teased at a fuming Ron.
"There would be one difference though, and that would be the orangutan not getting a grade of Troll on all of his OWLs."
Thinking of OWLs actually brought Ron to the thought that he could have actually done that poorly on his OWLs. He was dreading the day they would be getting them, but he had at least another two months of peace before he was going to be kicked out of Hogwart's for failing all of his classes.
Mrs. Weasley snapped Ron out of his thoughts and told him to go find Ginny and that lunch would be ready in about ten minutes.
Ron bounded up the stairs two at a time to check to see if Ginny was in her room. He called her name and peeked in her room, but she wasn't there. As he was starting to walk away, something caught his eye and he walked over to her desk. She had written a letter to Harry. It was in an unsealed envelope and had Harry's name on it, so he figured he'd seal it for her and send it with his. He grabbed the letter and went up to his room to grab his as well. He called Pigwidgeon down from the dresser in his room, tied the two letters to his leg and told him to bring them to Harry. Pig was more than happy to oblige and, after the tiny owl calmed down enough, he shot out the window to complete his delivery.
Ron headed back downstairs and quickly plopped himself down in a seat at the kitchen table, hungrily waiting for his lunch.
"Where's your sister?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot, she wasn't in her room." Ron quickly replied.
"Well, I see her now." Mrs. Weasley said while looking out the kitchen window.
Ginny walked into the kitchen and sat down across from Ron, waiting patiently for lunch. Mrs. Weasley set down a tray of sandwiches for the two of them, and they each tucked in while she left to attend to some chores.
"Oh, I sent that letter you had for Harry on your desk." Ron struggled out while eating at the same time.
"You did what!" Ginny screamed, standing up towering over Ron while he was seated.
"I thought I was doing you a favor sending out your letter for Harry." Ron said while quivering. Everyone knew not to get on the bad side of a Weasley woman.
"That wasn't meant for him really. It was private." Ginny said, her face crimson from anger and embarrassment.
"Maybe you shouldn't leave things out like that so they won't be mistaken for something else." Ron said, getting part of his voice back while standing up.
"And maybe you should quit being so nosey and stop snooping around my room, or at least ask before you do something like that, you bloody prat!" Ginny yelled while storming out of the room and up the stairs, slamming the door to her room closed.
"Mental that one is." Ron mumbled to himself.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ginny Weasley tried to calm herself down after the incident with her thickheaded brother. Stupid prick, she thought to herself.
Ginny knew there wasn't anything very private in the letter that Ron sent off without her permission. It was more of the fact that she still wasn't very close to Harry and it might be awkward for her to be sending a letter to him, especially during a very sensitive time in his life. How was she supposed to help him through a time where he lost Sirius, his only family? She had barely even talked to him at all last year. Actually, compared to her first three years she did say a lot more; but she still hadn't talked with him for more than five minutes all year.
Sure she had gotten over her fairytale crush over the famous Boy-Who-Lived. No longer did she put her elbows in butter dishes around him, and squeal and flee from the room. She had gotten over that period in her life. She had now dated another guy, Michael Corner, a Ravenclaw that was going into his sixth year. She dumped him because he sulked around after Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw in Quidditch. Now there was Dean Thomas, well not really. She just told Ron that to get a rise out of him, and that's exactly what she got. How did her brother think he could control who she dated, or even if she was allowed to date? It wasn't like she was sneaking around in broom cupboards snogging every guy she could get her hands on.
Plus, Harry wasn't that great of a catch nowadays. Of course, he had those striking green eyes and messy black hair, but who would want to be with someone who was always brooding over one thing or another? She had her fair share with Michael Corner, and she definitely knew she couldn't handle Harry.
Despite that, whenever she looked into his eyes, those deep pools of emerald green, her legs felt like they had been hit with a jelly legs jinx. His eyes held so much, and after the battle at the Ministry, they had held so much more. Beyond all the pain that she saw in them, deep down, there was a flicker of hope and defiance. And she wanted to be the one who set that flicker ablaze.
Snap out of it Ginny, she thought to herself. You need to get your feelings under control; you can't go falling for him again.
* * * * * * * * * *
It was early afternoon and Harry just woke up from another fitful nightmare. He quickly grabbed his trash bin next to his bed and retched. Great, he thought to himself, there goes the only food I've eaten in the past four days.
This was the umpteenth time he's had to relive Cedric's death at the graveyard in Little Hangleton, and once again, it was quickly followed by Sirius falling through the veil.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud knocking on the front door. Probably one of Aunt Petunia's "friends" stopping by to compliment her on one of the many pristine features of the house, Harry sarcastically thought. He was quickly surprised as he heard his Aunt shriek and someone trying to calm her down.
Harry quickly ran out of his room with his wand in hand and looked down the stairs to see none other than Professor Lupin. Harry was surprised by his presence, not by one of the Order members showing up to check on him, but by how horrible Lupin actually looked. Thinking quickly, Harry decided to walk down the stairs to intercept a shouting match that he knew Petunia was about to start.
"What is one of your kind doing in my house?" Petunia questioned Harry angrily. Her face was scowling, probably believing that Professor Lupin could dirty her house with magic just by being there.
But before Harry could start, Remus interjected, "As you well know from our meeting at King's Cross Station, we told you that we would be checking up on Harry periodically. And since we hadn't heard from him in four days, we thought it prudent to see how he was doing."
Petunia turned around and quickly stormed out of the front room towards the kitchen.
Harry couldn't help the smirk that came to his face due to Petunia being put in her place. Now that he thought about it, that was the first time he had smiled since the night at the Ministry of Magic. With that one thought, Harry's smirk became a scowl.
Remus looked over at Harry the moment he scowled and quickly thought he was the cause of it. Today couldn't have started out any better, Remus thought. Harry doesn't even want me here. I'll try to make it quick so I don't bother him too much. Just make sure the Dursley's are treating him right.
"Harry, I just came to check up on you. We hadn't received your owl telling us how you've been doing so I was sent to make sure you were doing all right," Remus shot out quickly and found something to look at in the room other than Harry.
"Oh, I'm just doing great. You know, lost my godfather and all; and to almost top that, I led five of my friends to near death."
This couldn't have started out any better, Remus thought to himself.
Harry quickly saw the pained expression that crossed Professor Lupin's face, "I'm sorry Professor, it has been a little rough for me the past few days. Sorry for letting it out on you, but you're the first contact I've had other than Hedwig and she flew off after I yelled at her."
"First off Harry, I'm not your Professor any longer. Just call me Remus. And don't worry about blowing up on me, I understand where you're coming from."
Harry quickly took in the fact that he was not the only one suffering from Sirius' death. He had been best friends with him, and was now the last Marauder remaining. Wormtail, Harry spat silently, was no where near being included with his father, Sirius, and Prof…Remus. That was going to take some getting used to.
"Sorry, I kinda forgot that I'm not the only one suffering from Sirius' loss," Harry said, eyes looking at his trainers.
"Do you want to go out for a walk, Harry?" Remus questioned quietly.
Harry thought this over for a moment, causing Remus to become slightly nervous. In the end, Harry agreed and they both walked out the door onto Privet Drive. Harry quickly squinted his eyes, not seeing the sun for days after being stuck in the darkness of his room made the world seem a lot brighter. He lead the way, as he knew where he was going, and walked in silence towards the park not far from the Dursley's home. When they arrived, Harry and Remus sat down on a bench overlooking the park and its occupants. Most of the parents scooted their children away from the two of them, throwing curious and warning glances their way due to their less than normal appearance.
Remus took this time to look over at Harry, and it was quite obvious he was suffering as well. His mother's eyes that normally shone a spectacular green were dulled down and seemed distant and haunted, the black rings surrounding them added to their deathlike appearance. It was clear he hadn't sleep peacefully in a while. He looked thinner too. Not even Dudley's hand me down clothes could hide that fact. Harry's overly large shirt hung on him like a potato sack and his pants were held up by a shoelace that had been tied around like a belt. The pants were also too short for him now, coming down to only mid-shin. Harry was almost as tall as Remus.
Remus decided it was time to break the silence. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Harry knew what the "it" meant, but couldn't bring himself to utter a single response. Every time he thought about "it", he would break down and cry. He tried to stay strong and not show this weakness in front of Remus, but a few tears escaped before he could wipe them away.
Remus saw the tears and wished he hadn't. How was he supposed to comfort Harry in his time of grief? He had no experience being a father figure. Now that he thought of it, neither did Sirius. How did Sirius learn to take the place of Harry's father? Sirius definitely had no experience in that department. After debating internally for a few moments, Remus became determined to help Harry through this rough time.
Remus put his arm around Harry's shoulders, and that was all that Harry needed. He latched on to Remus like his life depended on it, and the dam finally broke. Harry's eyes were overflowing with tears from the loss of Sirius and years of neglection and suffering. Remus put both of his arms around the young boy and held him just as tight.
After several minutes, Harry let go and pulled away from Remus, keeping his head down. "Sorry for breaking down on you and all," he muttered, "and for getting your shirt all wet too."
Remus placed is hand under Harry's chin and lifted it up. "You don't have to apologize for anything, Harry. It's not your fault."
"Not my fault. Of course it was my fault. It was my mistake, falling for Voldemort's trap, and my fault that Sirius died." Harry tried to pull his face away, but Remus wouldn't let him.
"Don't let me ever here you say that again. It was not your fault, no matter what you think. Sirius wouldn't want you to blame yourself at all. Hell, it was Voldemort's fault that Sirius died. It was Bellatrix Lestrange's fault that he died. You could say it was Sirius' goofing around that got him killed. But, whatever you might think, it was not your fault. The only thing you could ever possibly be at fault for is caring too much. You cannot blame yourself for this." Remus said sincerely while keeping contact with Harry's eyes.
"But if I hadn't…"
Remus interrupted, "If you hadn't what, gone to the Ministry to save Sirius? You checked to confirm that Sirius wasn't at Grimmauld Place, and Kreacher lied to you. You tried to make sure that Sirius wasn't kidnapped, but everything pointed that direction. If you didn't act on it and it actually was real, Sirius would have been dead anyway. You saw what happened to Arthur Weasley and related that to your vision that Voldemort implanted. It's not your fault, do you understand me?"
Harry quickly threw his arms around Remus, and he returned the gesture. It was at that moment that both of them realized it was going to be alright, that they would make it through all of this.
* * * * * * * * * *
A/N: So that's the end to the first chapter. I was never a fan of the moody, brooding Harry, so I wanted to try and resolve that quickly. Don't worry, Harry isn't so emotionally detached that Sirius' death doesn't still affect him. Remember, love is one of Harry's greatest abilities. Next chapter will begin to pick up the pace with a trip to Muggle London and Diagon Alley with Remus, Tonks, and Harry. Thanks, please R/R!