A.N.: Well here it is Year 3, and counting! Lol So much to do so little time! Hope you like it enough to leave a review and tell me your thoughts!
The vast universal suffering feel as thine:
Thou must bear the sorrow that thou claimst to heal;
The day-bringer must walk in darkest night.
He who would save the world must share its pain.
If he knows not grief, how shall he find grief's cure?
-Sri Aurobindo
Chapter 4: The Dogfather
~Loki~
Loki held his son's face in his hands, studying the slow changes, the tiny differences that had developed from his last visit until now. The way his eyes seemed just a bit bigger, the way his body while taller was still so lean, the faded pink of the scar on his arm and the length of his hair. He took it all in and reveled in it as much as he felt the growing horror of it all.
Harry had taken a good week to wake up from his magical coma and it had been the scariest week of Loki's entire existence. Loki had gotten a taste of what it would have been like to lose his son, and he never, never, wanted to experience such a thing again. So he had upped his son's training, it was the only thing he could do and hoped Harry would be strong enough to survive any more confrontation with his enemy.
His son hadn't gotten off completely free of his encounter with the Basilisk, the conflict with the venom and the tears from the phoenix had forced his immortal blood into more activity. Where before his blood was only about .02% active, messing with his son's growth hormones and making it almost impossible for him to reach puberty in tandem with his mortal peers. Now it was .05% active making him a bit stronger than a normal mortal, allowing him a greater access to magic and allowing him to sleep a bit less than a normal mortal would have needed.
However, it was not all in his son's benefit. While before Loki thought he could expect his son to experience puberty in his late teens, now Loki didn't expect Harry would experience it until his early twenties. While this wouldn't really be harmful to his son, it meant that his son's body would not get the hormones it needed to shape his son's body as it would have normally.
Things like the deepening of his voice, gaining more masculine features, and other such things hormones normally drive in boys during this time of his son's development would not be there. Harry's development would be very different, he would not gain the stronger jaw, the deeper voice, and instead his development would be decidedly feminine.
His features would be soft, almost childish, but definitely more feminine then most boys would care for. Loki expected that when he was grown his son would be almost entirely androgynous and it would be hard for people to tell if he was a male or a female. Loki didn't really care about that, and after careful long discussion with Harry, his son didn't much care about it either. However, Loki knew from experience what other males were like to males they viewed as 'un-masculine' and he didn't want Harry to suffer that.
So he was teaching him careful illusions, how to craft an illusion so carefully that to everyone else it was reality. It helped that his son had already taken to disguising his own features by wearing fake glasses in an effort to make people associate his looks to James Potter. His son was progressing well; soon he would even be able to fool Thor with his clones. Though Loki suspected there would never be a time when Thor didn't fall for his illusion clones.
There was an escaped convict after his son at least that was what the magical mortals of this world believed. However, Loki was taking no chances; he almost lost his son once he would not allow his son to get that close to death again. Combat training Harry was hard for Loki, since he didn't want to hurt his boy but needed to in order for him to learn. Still it was hard. Harry smiled at him through his hands allowing Loki to study him with no fuss.
~Harry~
Harry felt the magic as it sped towards his back making him duck and stood a quick binding spell along with a disarming hex as he went down. Professor Lupin went down bound from mouth to foot with rope, his wand was firmly in Harry's hand and Harry levitated him beside Sirius Black who was also bound next to the rat Pettigrew. He handed the wand to Hermione who already had the two wands that they had taken from Pettigrew and Ron laid with a broken leg not far from her clutching his own wand tightly to his chest.
Sirius Black had taken it at one point so Ron was a bit paranoid at the moment. Harry stepped just to the side of the doorway as he felt the magical presence of yet another unexpected guest. After Snape was bound and his wand was added to Hermione's growing collection Harry simply sat staring at them all for a bit.
The year had been the most confusing year for him, the guilt, the confliction, and finally this incident. It had been one incident after the other, blowing up Marge, the dementor on the train, the fat lady's portrait being slashed; the whispers about what Black had done, learning the patronus while Lupin told him about his parents, and this. It was all too much he wasn't sure what he was feeling.
He had never really given his mother much thought and he certainly hadn't thought about the man everyone thought was his father. He had his Daddy, what use was it to think of people who were long dead and had little to do with him. Before all he had heard was how everyone thought he looked just like James Potter with Lily Potter's eyes. Harry had known that wasn't true he was almost the spitting image of his Daddy, with a bit softer features, and that had been all there was to it.
All those people were wrong, he was all his Daddy's and his Daddy was all the parent he needed. He had asked about his mother when he was curious when he was younger, and had then not thought much of her. Other than the fact he had wished his mortal hadn't been mortal so he wouldn't be so burdened with her blood. This entire year it seemed everyone wanted to tell him something new about his supposed parents.
They all expected him to be so angry about Black, to be so…vengeful…but all Harry had felt was indifference. Sure he had been a bit upset about how disloyal the man had been on principle but not enough to seek him out for revenge. The more people looked to him to be upset, the guiltier he felt about the fact that he wasn't upset. It made him listen to the stories, to try to picture what it could have been like growing up with the Potters, and it had made him very sad.
Now sitting here staring at the one responsible for the betrayal, the true culprit, Harry felt more upset about the injustice of Sirius' sentence than he had about his own mother's death. What did that make him? Was there something wrong with him? Harry looked up when he heard the sound of Pettigrew struggling against his bounds. He narrowed his eyes realizing that he didn't have the time to wallow in pity right now, he needed to see justice done and that is what mattered.
He strode over to the bound rat and dragged him a bit away from the others placing him against the wall. Harry stared in his eyes cause the man to whimper pathetically. "Here is what is going to happen," Harry said lowly, "you have two options available to you now. The first option is that I let Mr. Black, and Mr. Lupin out of their bounds. Then they will kill you in, I think, the most gruesome imaginative way possible." Harry continued as Pettigrew paled and started shaking very hard looking to be about a moment away from wetting himself.
"The second option is that you give me an unbreakable vow that within the next two hours you will turn yourself in, confess all your crimes, swear never to take your animigus transformation again, and that you will never serve the Dark Lord again. If you try to escape taking the vow then I will kill you because there is no place in the entire world, in all the realms, that I cannot find you." Harry said seriously. The look in his eye struck deep, and Pettigrew believed that he could.
Harry spelled the gag out of his mouth, and Pettigrew said, "I'll vow." Harry nodded solemnly and nodded to Hermione to come be their binder paying no attention to the three pair of eyes that tracked her on the floor. Snape was glaring at them all, Sirius Black's eyes were wide looking slightly crazed and Mr. Lupin eyes looked shifted making him look nervous.
Harry allowed Pettigrew one hand to be released from his bound form, but he kept his hand in his own firmly as Pettigrew trembled beneath his unusually firm grip. Harry stared him down, not allowing Pettigrew to look away as he said, "Do you vow to turn yourself in to the Ministry within the next two hours, confessing all your crimes honestly and without slant to paint yourself in a favorable light." Harry's grip on the rat's hand tightened making it quite a painful experience.
"Yes, I do so vow," Pettigrew answered after a particularly painful squeeze.
"Do you vow to never again to take animal form, voluntarily or otherwise," Harry said seriously.
"Yes, I do so vow," Pettigrew answered as he began to sweat bullets. The golden binding light of the vow bound their hands together more tightly.
"Do you vow never again to serve the man now known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, otherwise known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, in any capacity voluntarily or otherwise, to never again help his cause in any fashion direct or indirect, or do anything in any way that would otherwise be done to assist him." Harry said harshly.
"Yes, I do so vow," Pettigrew said in resignation pale as a corpse.
"So mote it be," Harry said unsympathetically binding the vow in a flash of light. Pettigrew slumped in defeat not even protesting to being bound up to his mouth once more. Hermione looked a mix of curious, disgusted, and considering as she stepped back nervous eyes on the bound adults in the room.
Harry looked at the three of them wondering what he was going to do now that Pettigrew was taken care of, and sighed. He unbound Lupin and Black though both stayed on the ground seeming to be in shock. "Ok this is how this is going to work, Lupin will stay here with Black, Hermione will get Ron to the Hospital wing, and I will bring Snape and the rat back to the Castle. I will let Snape free, so that he may escort the rat back, the hero for uncovering an injustice." Harry said decisively.
Before Lupin could protest Harry continued, "In case you forgot Mr. Lupin, tonight is the full moon it is safer for everyone that you stay here with Black." Harry said. Lupin paled horribly. "This also means we should move quickly before Lupin transforms and no longer has the ability to distinguish friend from foe." Harry continued as everyone else in the room paled horribly and Snape began to struggle viscously against his bounds.
Hermione hurried ahead with Ron who was complaining loudly about having to be levitated out of there. Harry was quick to follow behind them with Snape and the rat floating before him. He wasn't too careful with them preferring speed to caution and Harry felt a bit of satisfaction at Snape's rough treatment particularly as retribution for the man's ill treatment of him. When they got out of the passage and away from the whoppling willow Hermione stopped abruptly growing pale.
Harry turned to see what had drawn her attention and grew pale seeing over a hundred dementors swooping down on them. He began to feel the effects immediately, faintly he heard his mother screaming, and Harry steeled his nerves forcing himself to focus. This is what he had been preparing for the last year for, so he could fight these monsters honorably and not dishonor his father by fainting.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled and with a great flash of light his patronus leaped from his wand glowing beautiful white. The patronus leaped, and roared chasing every single dementor away from the school. It strutted up back to Harry when it was finished looking very satisfied. It looked like a great panther with something like his Daddy's war helmet attached its head giving it the illusion of curled horns. It brushed up against him making Harry grin at the warmth before it dispersed.
The small grin stayed firmly on his face as they made their way back to Hogwarts. Harry had thought of all the moments he had with his Daddy when he cast the spell, and his patronus reminded him of his Daddy as a consequence. Even when his Daddy wasn't there the memory of him was enough to protect him.
~Loki~
Loki wasn't sure what to make of this development, Black had been cleared of all charges but he hadn't been cleared to obtain Harry as his ward. No the man would have to go through at least a year of medical treatment and see a whole team of mind healers before that could happen. He looked at his son that was staring at him expectantly, and sighed.
"It might not be a bad thing to go live with your godfather," Loki began.
"But I already have a god father, you, I don't need another one!" Harry interrupted.
Loki smirked and tasseled his son's hair making it even more wild than normal, "You know that it not what I meant. Stop being coy, as long as he frees you from these atrocious mortals then it matters not what he calls himself." Loki said patiently.
"But Daddy!" Harry began.
"No Harald, you must give this man a chance," Loki said firmly.
Harry nodded resigned, and then shyly handed Loki an envelope that had Daddy scrawled fancily across it. "What's this?" Loki asked as he took it from his son's hand. Opening it he found a magical picture of Harry smiling and waving at him. Warmth spread through him looking at his son smiling so happily at him from both the picture and beside him.
"I thought that I would get you another picture, I know you only have that one of me as a baby and well…" Harry said blushing.
Loki smiled, and gathered up his son in his arms, "Thank you," he said as he held him close to his heart.
Harry wiggled from his grasp after a moment to retrieve something from his trunk before he ran back into his Daddy's arms eagerly. It was a book, Tales of the Beedle Bard, and Loki glanced at his son curiously. "I was wondering if you would read to me, these are some of the bedtime stories the other magical mortals are told," Harry said as he snuggled into his Daddy's arms.
Loki's warmed at the action and he smiled indulgently, "As you wish my little prince," Loki said as he leaned back cracking open the book as he did so. "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot…" Loki began to read as his son sat content in his arms.