Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series in its print, e-book, audio book, or film versions. The Harry Potter series belongs to its respective author (J.K. Rowling), publishing company (Scholastic and its divisions), and film company (Warner Bros.). I am not making any monetary or other equivalent profit from this. Everything that is not recognizable as belonging to the aforementioned is mine, please respect that.
Source: the base of this story is drawn from this text-
Rowling, J K, and Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 1998. Print.
and this film-
Heyman, David, Steven Kloves, Chris Columbus, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, John Cleese, Robbie Coltrane, Richard Griffiths, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Julie Walters, John Seale, Richard Francis-Bruce, John Williams, Mark Radcliffe, Michael Barnathan, Duncan Henderson, and J K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Burbank, Calif: Warner Home Video, 2002.
Summary: AU. Harry Potter is not the Boy-Who-Lived, but his life isn't dull. The Potter Family has big problems; Voldemort and his cronies keep attacking his friend Neville, the Boy-Who-Lived; his other friendships are often troubled, and his schoolwork and other studies are difficult. Not to mention that he has Gryffindor Quidditch at school and International Youth Quidditch Camp in the summer. Yeah, Harry's life is never dull. Oh, and he might have discovered a cult in Hogwarts.
A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter two! If you didn't read it before, you might want to check out the Important Notes in chapter one's A/N. Otherwise, enjoy the story! Special thanks to MissMintCoffeeMocha for looking over this for me :). And another special thanks to Elizabeth Stanley for being this story's first reviewer! Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing :)
The Curator Chronicles:
Year I – Cracking the Pot
By: HowlingRain
Chapter 2: Spells and Lies
Harry spent the rest of the summer reading his schoolbooks and becoming acquainted with his owl, he'd named her Hedwig after a witch from out of his schoolbooks, and his wand.
Neither of his parents returned home the day he went shopping in Diagon Alley. Pips told him that his mother had returned for a short time, but that after getting a letter from James telling her that he would be away for a while on Auror duty, she took off to visit friends again.
Harry didn't mind. Being one of the people in the running to become the next Head Auror, James was away for special missions at least once a month. During those times, Lily was usually away as well. Harry was used to it. After all this time, it was almost relaxing really. He didn't have to worry about accidently revealing that his mum wasn't around all day to his dad during the evening meal.
Harry never got lonely either. The house elves weren't much for conversation, although they did let him help in the kitchen if he badgered them enough, but when Harry wanted to be around another living creature he now had Hedwig, he could floo to Diagon Alley for ice cream, or he could go out to the stables.
Potter Manor had always had stables, two small stone buildings with enough room to house a total of ten horses, but they had remained empty for some years before Charlus Potter, Harry's great-grandfather, had seen fit to buy a trio of winged horses to race his friends with. The Aethonan horses were old now. Their once lustrous chestnut coats had turned white and silver along much of their bodies, their feathers were dull, and they'd lost the strength to fly or carry a rider over the past two years.
Harry loved them regardless.
He usually spent an hour or two with them everyday, but when both of his parents were gone for an uncertain amount of time, Harry would sometimes spend the entire day with them. He'd wash them, brush and curry their coats, clip broken feathers and smooth others, bring them treats, and read to them. They each had their own fancy name that Harry's grandfather had given them years ago, but to Harry they were the good old boys Ace, Dash, and Blaze.
Today had been one of those days.
After bathing, combing, and fixing their feathers, Harry had read to them out of Hogwarts: A History. Even though he thought he was reading a very interesting section about the castle, seeing as it talked about the possibility of the founders having built secret rooms, rumors of a cult that wandered its halls, and suspicions about dark magic classrooms being hidden in a maze under the dungeons, the winged horses slept through most of his reading. The sleepy horses gave Harry an idea though.
He rummaged in the messenger bag he'd taken to carrying almost everywhere with him, and pulled out The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk. There was a spell inside known as the softening charm, and Harry wanted to try it to see if he could soften the old horses' bedding so that they'd be more comfortable on the rare occasions that they didn't sleep standing up.
It took Harry a few tries, but on his fourth time, Harry did the wand movements correctly while carefully pronouncing spongify and imagining what he wanted to happen, and the bail of hay he was aiming at for practice became soft and rubbery just like the book said. Which meant it was time to test how bouncy it was. With a whoop, Harry leapt onto the bail and found himself bouncing up high enough to touch the rafters. It might have been a low building, but that was, unfortunately, much too bouncy to cast on the horses' bedding.
Still, Harry was pleased with the fact that he'd successfully cast his first spell, and with his wonderful wand, no less! He wondered if he should write Mr. Ollivander about it, but seeing as the charm worked like normal he thought it would be silly to bother him. The only issue now was that he didn't know how to undo it. Luckily, Pips did know when Harry called for him, and the bail of hay was put back to rights quickly. After that, Harry lay back on the hay under an old saddle blanket with the schoolbook and tried to teach himself the wand-lighting charm. After a few tries Harry successfully cast this spell as well and his wand emitted a startlingly bright white light. Thankfully the book also told him the counter-charm, which turned out to be even easier to manage than the spell it countered.
It wasn't long before Harry was muttering, "Lumos" to read more of Hogwarts: A History to the winged horses as it got darker. About half an hour later, Harry fell asleep in the hay and the light went out by itself.
••••••••
The next day, Harry woke up to a call of his name and a shake of his shoulder. He jolted up amongst the hay to see his godfather, Sirius Black, looking at him with a crooked grin on his face.
"What's this, Harry?" Sirius asked with a familiar and comforting joking tone to his voice. "Sleeping in the hay like a stable hand, reading and casting spells for the horses' entertainment?"
"Padfoot!" Harry gasped. He threw himself at the man and hugged him firmly. With little hesitation, Sirius returned the hug, and Harry felt a little something click inside of him that told him he was safe. It was a feeling he only got when he was around his dad, Sirius, and Remus. A happy sense of contentment came over him, and he bound to his feet. "What are you doing here? Guess what? I got my wand and other school supplies now, and I even cast two spells and a counter-charm!"
"Two spells and a counter-charm? Really? That's great, Harry," Sirius said with a wide grin, "but you'd better be careful you know. You're not really supposed to practice magic outside of school. When you do they send big, bad Aurors like me."
Harry instantly grasped why his godfather was here and why he was wearing his burgundy Auror robes. He hung his head. "That's why you're here?"
"Yup, sorry, Bambi. I don't think they caught that you cast more than one spell though, they just have the softening charm down on the list, and I only came because I was curious as to why it showed up on the list at all."
"But, if I cast magic I wasn't supposed to, why wouldn't it show up on the list?" Harry asked.
"Well, let me tell you a little secret," Sirius whispered conspiratorially. "The Trace that keeps track of if kids cast magic they aren't supposed to only works when the kid's the only one at a place that can cast magic. You could cast a spell with me here and the Trace wouldn't be able to tell if it was me casting it or you, so you can cast magic when adults are nearby."
Harry didn't respond. His brain was already shooting along paths the Trace opened. His magic wouldn't end up on the list if an adult were near when he cast it, but it had ended up on the list because there weren't any adults home when he cast it, so Sirius would be wondering why he was home alone.
"Where is Lily anyway, Harry? I asked the house elves, but all they'd tell me was that she wasn't home."
Sirius was watching him closely so Harry bent down to retrieve his books while he answered, hiding any expression that might give him away. "She went to visit friends," Harry told him. It wasn't a lie.
"And she left you alone all night? That spell was cast late yesterday afternoon," Sirius said with slight surprise.
"It was an emergency," Harry lied, then added, "and I am elven years old you know. I can take care of myself."
"I never said you couldn't," Sirius laughed, then his voice turned curious, "Do you know when she'll be back?"
Harry shrugged and went with the best thing he could think of. "It was an emergency, she left in kind of a rush."
"Ah," Sirius said, "Well then, I'm sure she'll be back before James gets home. He should be back before supper if he finishes all his paperwork in time. In the meantime, what do you say to some Quidditch?"
"Dad's coming home?"
Sirius frowned. "Well, yeah, he sent a letter a few days ago saying he'd be back sometime today."
"Oh, Mother must have forgotten to tell me about it," Harry lied smoothly, knowing his mother hadn't simply 'forgotten', then took off jogging for the manor. "I'll meet you at the shed once I put my books away!"
"Sure!" Sirius called back with a confused tone to his voice.
••••••••
Somehow, Harry managed to steer Sirius clear of the topic of Lily's whereabouts all day. However he couldn't stop his godfather for making fun of his 'hay hair' due to his night in the stables or from asking why he'd ordered the elves to let him sleep there if he fell asleep there. Apparently his answer that it was calming was silly because Sirius just laughed at him.
After a few hours of playing seeker's games with the new practice Snitch Dad had bought for his birthday, a bit of midair catch with the Quaffle, and Sirius teaching him a few moves his dad wouldn't, they had lunch, and Harry showed him all of his school stuff and chattered on about what he'd learned from Hogwarts: A History before Sirius chimed in with information of his own that wasn't in the book. They had progressed to Harry showing Sirius the spells he'd learned out on the lawn with Sirius critiquing them and going on to teach him a charm to change things different colors when Lily returned home.
Harry could feel the tension crackling in her magic as she strode out of the manor and onto the lawn in fine green robes that brought out the color of her eyes and made her reddish hair look like fire. He knew that was a bad sign, but he tried to pretend that everything was all right. "Mother!" Harry called, "Look! Uncle Sirius is teaching me spells!" He prided himself on the fact that his voice didn't waver.
Lily's own voice wasn't quite as smooth. "Sirius, what are you doing teaching the boy magic outside of school? Isn't underage magic illegal, Mr. Auror?" Lily scolded with a slight quaver.
"Aw, Lils, it's fine," Sirius said. He smiled rakishly at her. "He's with me, after all."
"Right," Lily said uncertainly, "and what are you doing here?"
"Just thought I'd stop by to hang out with Harry until James got home. I didn't expect to find him home alone though. Is everything alright?"
Lily stilled slightly. "Oh yes, everything's fine. I just had to help a friend with something." She was facing Sirius, but her eyes were on Harry as she spoke.
Harry shrunk slightly under her gaze, but kept his head up and a smile on. He feverishly wished for Sirius to say the right thing.
"Ah, well that's good. Harry said you got called away for some kind of emergency?"
There was a brief flash of relief in Lily's eyes at the provided context. "Yes, Mrs. Hutchinson bought one of those new breeds of vampiric plants and it kept attacking her cats. It took a bit of work, but we finally managed to charm it not to," Lily lied.
Harry blinked at her in astonishment. Mother had come up with some rather interesting reasons for her occasional absences in the past, but vampiric plants was the wildest yet. Harry glanced at Sirius to see if he believed it.
There was a distance in Sirius's expression, but Lily didn't seem to notice it with how she was looking at Harry from the corner of her eyes. Then Sirius let out a low whistle. "Wow, Lils, tangling with vampiric plants to rescue kitties in distress, sounds like a real adventure."
Lily forced a laugh. "I suppose it was. Now I guess I'll go see what the house elves have in mind for supper." She leveled a stern look at Sirius and Harry. "You two don't get into any trouble. Especially you, Sirius."
"Me?" Sirius affected a look of wide-eyed innocence. "When have I ever gotten into trouble?"
Lily rolled her eyes and walked away, "Whatever you say, Sirius. Oh, and no more spells! That's what Hogwarts is for!"
Harry watched his mother carefully as she left. Her initial anger had dissipated. He could tell by how her magic had calmed. She was still tense though, and would likely round on him with demands to know everything he'd told Sirius whenever she managed to get him alone.
"No more spells," Sirius sighed once Lily was out of earshot, "but they're so fun!" He smiled his crooked smile down at Harry, and Harry felt some genuineness return to his own smile. "Guess we'll just have to do something else then!"
An idea came to mind and Harry grabbed ahold of Sirius's hand and pulled him towards the shed. "Come on! I know exactly what we can do!"
••••••••
After several rather spectacular crashes and some interesting color changes, Harry and Sirius managed to get their kites to stay in the air for longer than two seconds. Harry had used the color changing charm Sirius had shown him to turn Sirius's kite pink. The spell didn't quite work correctly though, and it ended up being pink with orange polka dots. Sirius had gotten his revenge by transfiguring Harry's kite to look like a constipated owl.
Pips popped onto the lawn to inform them of James's return just in time for the poor house elf to be nosedived by Harry's constipated owl kite. Pips ducked just in time for it to miss his head and crash in front of him. Sirius laughed uproariously, while Harry shouted an apology and asked if Pips was hurt. Thankfully he wasn't, and Pips put the kites away while Harry and Sirius ran up to the manor to welcome James home.
"Dad! You're back!" Harry shouted when he ran into the kitchen and saw James Potter standing by the sink in his shirtsleeves, his Auror robe thrown over the back of one of the kitchen chairs, and no sign of injury.
"Harry!" James quickly set down his glass of water and kneeled down to catch Harry in a hug. "I missed you! What've you been up to? Did you get your school supplies?"
Still in the circle of James's arms, Harry looked up at his dad's bright hazel eyes and slightly scruffy face. His eyes were clear of any pain or weariness, much to Harry's relief, and so Harry gave him a big smile. "I did! I even got to do spells with my wand! Padfoot taught me!"
"Padfoot taught you, eh?" James raised his gaze to where Sirius was leaning in the kitchen doorway. "Spells already, Sirius? What are you doing here?"
"What? Does a man need a reason to hang out with his godson?" Sirius huffed indignantly.
Harry hadn't realized he'd tensed at the question until he'd relaxed after Sirius's response. He didn't want to be in trouble with his dad for casting magic, and he didn't want more attention than necessary to be drawn to the incident since Sirius hadn't mentioned it to Lily.
"You know, Prongs," Sirius continued, and made a quick motion with his hand that Harry thought seemed rather familiar, but couldn't place. "I think our little Bambi could be a master duelist if being a Quidditch star doesn't work out. He's already mastered three charms and a counter-charm."
Harry looked up to see his dad's reaction and watched James blink dumbly at Sirius in apparent surprise. "Four spells? And mastered them, you say?"
"Well, his color changing charm still needs a little work," Sirius grinned his crooked grin, "but I would call the others mastered."
James opened his mouth to respond, but Harry didn't get to hear what his dad thought of his spellwork because Lily walked into the kitchen at that moment. She wasn't wearing the fine green robes anymore. Rather, she wore a simple green and white dress that cried out 'pretty housewife' and 'young stay-at-home mum'.
"Supper's ready," she told them. She was wearing a demure smile that Harry only ever saw when Dad was home. "I've set a place for you too, Sirius."
"Thanks, Lils," Sirius said before heading for the dining room.
James gave another light squeeze before he released Harry from his hug and walked over to his wife. He wrapped an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Let's go, Lily-blossom."
Harry quickly skirted past them and went after Sirius. It was weird seeing his parents act lovey-dovey like that.
The dining room was just across the hall from the kitchen. It was a rectangular space with a bay of windows across one of the short sides that looked out over the pasture and provided a distant view of a pond filled with blooming water lilies. Two of the dining room's other three walls held tapestries of vibrant feasts, while they wall opposite the windows was home to a china hutch that contained old examples of Potter family pottery that had faint wisps of magic hovering about them. The table was of a warm brown wood when it wasn't covered by a tablecloth, and could hold a dozen people. Everyone sat at the end closest to the window to look out while they ate.
Harry was, admittedly, always a bit nervous about this part of the day. Evening meals were generally considered 'family time', where they would catch up on each other's day, or days if James had been on a trip, and it was also the time where Harry often had to practice his skills at lying. He didn't like lying to his dad, and he was always worried he'd slip up and say something that would make Lily mad. As such, he never ate much at supper. His stomach was in too many knots due to his apprehension about the production, particularly this production. There were so many things that could go wrong.
The meal went smoothly at first. James and Sirius discussed the basics of James's Auror mission, which was a combined effort with the French Ministry to catch a rising illegal potions dealer that was selling to children and went off without a hitch. Harry chattered for a bit about the horses, the art book Remus gave him, and how excited he was to do magic with his new wand. He carefully avoided talking about the trip to Diagon Alley itself, although it was hard. He really wanted to tell his dad about how special his wand was, but knew from past experience that getting into specifics when his mother hadn't been somewhere she should have been was a bad idea. Then Lily spoke about how her days went in the brief, unexciting manner she'd perfected over the years.
It seemed like everything was going smoothly. Harry finally started to relax and actually enjoy the delightful Potter Family Secret Recipe Stew when Sirius brought up something Harry'd hoped he'd forgotten.
"Aww, come on Lils, I'm sure it wasn't that dull," Sirius said, "what about your adventure with the vampire plant?"
"A vampire plant," James queried.
Harry looked to his mother. Lily had lost a touch of the color in her face, and if it weren't for the fact that this could make or break his next experience alone with her, Harry would have taken the moment to ponder how someone with as many tells as his mother could hide her continued absence from the house to visit friends from his dad. As it were, he gulped and tried to keep an interested look on his face.
"Oh, yes, I nearly forgot," Lily chuckled a trifle weakly. Then she wove her story. "Mrs. Hutchinson floo'ed me in a state of panic yesterday evening. She'd accidently purchased one of those new vampiric plants that are on the market; not realizing it was a blood-drinker. She got it home, and it started attacking her cats. The poor dear was terrified and at a loss of what to do, so I floo'ed over and helped her deal with it." Lily frowned, but Harry could tell even without knowing the truth that it was fake. "The poor tabbies were terrified. It took a good deal of work to get them all rounded up and shut in her bedroom before we could come up with a solution for the plant." She paused.
"What did you do," Sirius asked, leaning forward in anticipation. He was always interested in a story.
Harry wondered what she was going to say. Even though her acting skills left something to be desired, in Harry's eyes at least, he couldn't deny that she knew how to tell a good story, once she got going. It was a skill she was well practiced in. Even her pause was designed both to increase suspense and give her time to come up with a good idea.
"Well," Lily continued, "I have to say that I have never met a more stubborn plant. It wouldn't take a single spell. We spent most of the night trying to figure out what to do. In the end, we didn't get a spell to stick to it at all. Instead, I cast a variation of the disillusionment charm on each of the cats and it seemed to work. We could still see them, but the plant couldn't sense them." She ended with one of her best smiles.
James clapped. "Bravo! You've still got it Lily-flower. Smart as ever!" The brilliant smile his dad wore was difficult for Harry to see, and he glanced down at his stew to avoid it.
"What do you think, Harry? Is your mum great or what?"
Harry looked up at Sirius. He was sitting across from him, next to Lily, and had an expression on his face Harry wasn't sure how to describe. It was sort of curious, but in a strange way. Quickly schooling his features, Harry looked at his mother and dad and said, "Can we get a vampire plant?"
"What would you do with one of those?" James laughed.
Letting his imagination run wild, Harry came up with his response. "I would dress it up like Dracula from that muggle book, with a dark cloak around its pot and a cool amulet. Maybe a top hat too. It could have a bunch of little vampire plant babies and it could be a vampire master with its army of minions."
Everyone blinked at him for a moment before the image that would make seemed to register in their minds and Sirius and James broke in deep, breath-stealing laugher. Lily had a sort of dumbfounded expression on her face at first, but couldn't seem to stop herself from snickering as James and Sirius continued to laugh heartily. Harry, on the other hand, flushed so red in embarrassment that the color spread down his neck and quite possibly reached as far down as his chest.
To Harry it felt like they laughed forever before they finally calmed down. Of course, Sirius instantly began plotting this vampire-plant uprising of Harry's and the mood was kept light and fun for the remainder of the evening.
••••••••
Not long after Harry went to bed that night, the door opened slightly, causing a stream of light from the hall to fall across the scarlet bedcover and awake the dragons on Harry's Quidditch poster for the England National Team. Harry sat up and put on his glasses to see James standing there, looking a bit sheepish. "Dad?"
"Sorry, didn't mean to bother you," James said.
"That's okay, what is it?"
James walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, leaving the door cracked open to allow a bit of light in, but not much. "Just wanted to tell you goodnight," James said softly. He had a gentle smile on his face, and he lifted a hand to run through Harry's hair.
Harry sighed, melting into the touch. His scalp was very sensitive, though James seemed to be the only one who'd discovered that. The touch was immensely relaxing. However, Harry wasn't sure why, but something seemed different about his dad all of a sudden. He fought back against the mushiness his thoughts wanted to turn into thanks to his dad's loving hands in his locks. "Is everything all right?"
The smile James wore didn't falter, but something in his eyes seemed to flicker. "Yeah, everything's ok. I just wanted to see you. I don't get to much with how busy work is these days."
Though he wouldn't have been sure how to explain it, Harry could tell without a doubt that everything was not all right. The flow of James's magic gave it away. Without knowing what was wrong though, Harry didn't know what to do to fix it. Instead he asked, "Do you want to see my wand?"
"Yeah, what does it look like? Did you find it right away at the store or did you have to try a few out first?"
"I had to try loads!" Harry said cheerfully while reaching over to his nightstand to grab it. "I was starting to think I wouldn't ever find one and even Moony was looking worried before I finally found one that wanted me." Harry missed the expression of confusion that crossed James's face as he looked down at his wand holster while he pulled his wand out of it. "See! Isn't it cool?" Harry said, looking up again and holding the wand for his dad to see as he spun it around slowly. "What do you think of the dragon carving? Cool, right?" Harry said, quickly bouncing back. "Mr. Ollivander said it's one from when he used to experiment. It's made of larch wood, phoenix feather, and the dark coating is dragon's blood!"
James's startled eyes were wide now. "Wow, that's really something, son."
Harry smiled. "I can do the wand-lighting charm, do you wanna see?"
Chuckling, James answered, "No, not anymore tonight, Bambi. It's time for sleep now."
"Aww," Harry sighed, but put his wand away.
James took his glasses off for him and set them on the nightstand next to his wand. He ran a hand through Harry's hair again after he'd lain down and planted a kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight, Dad." James got up and walked to the door. Before he could leave, Harry let some of the words that had been festering in him all night out. "Dad?"
"Yeah," James said, stopping gin the doorway.
"I missed you." Harry could feel the weight of the words as he spoke them, and he wondered if his dad could too.
"I missed you, too." James paused. "I love you, Harry."
"I love you, Dad. Goodnight." Harry snuggled down into the bed.
"Goodnight," James said, stepped out, and closed the door.
Without the light from the hall, everything in his room was dampened with silver by the full moonlight filtering in through the window. Harry took a deep breath and sighed as he let it out. He looked out at the moon. Books he'd read about werewolves said the moon was not only part of their curse but also part of their gift. With a thought to Remus, Harry asked that it keep his Moony safe tonight. Then he drifted off to sleep.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If anyone's wondering when Harry's going to get to Hogwarts, that will happen in chapter four, so we'll be there soon. There's just a little of summer left for Harry, and it's pretty important. Anyway, constructive criticism is welcome and so are smiley or frowny faces! Let me know if there are any spelling, grammar, or formatting errors as well so I can fix them.
Thanks for reading! :) ~ HowlingRain