AN : 16th November, 2015 - Under gone revision and is now beta'ed!

Disclaimer : I Don't Own Harry Potter

Chapter 4 - A Familiar Bond

Chapter 4

There was no need for this, Aunt Petunia," said Harry bashfully. He looked around the Dursleys' living room. It was spotlessly clean and the table was set with a few different delicacies and a small, cream layered birthday cake. The Dursleys' or more clearly, his Aunt and cousin, were celebrating his birthday for the first time.

"'Course there was, Harry," countered Dudley entering the room with two wrapped presents and putting them on the already filled table.

"Thanks, Dud."

(2 Days ago)

Ron and Hermione hurried back to their rooms after the meeting ended. It had been a very heated discussion, and both Snape and Sirius had left the room with the proverbial thunder cloud above their heads. They had immediately penned a note to Harry, explaining what happened in the meeting and sent it via Dobby.

"Why didn't you tell Dumbledore when You-Know-Who would attack?" asked Ron curiously.[SR1]

"I will tell him," replied Hermione, "just not right now. There's a long time for the attack to take place. He's already keeping us out of the loop, now we too have some information. Maybe now he'll start letting us in the meetings."

"I don't think so, Hermione. I'm not sure he'll do that for one little piece of information."

"For one piece of information? No. But now that he knows that we've been talking with Harry for [SR2] a long time, he will think that this is not the only thing that Harry knows."

"Maybe," said Ron uncertainly,

"True, maybe. It's a shot in the dark. Let's see."

They sat quietly for a while before Ron said, "He's going to stay at the greasy git's house!"

"Ron!"

"What? He is a greasy git. And he hates Harry!"

"I know," she sighed, "at least Sirius will be with him. And we'll still be able to talk to him with Dobby's help, won't we?"

"Yeah."

They once again lapsed into a comfortable silence before Hermione remembered her decision to research the different types of Pureblood Families. She pulled Ron out of the room and towards the Black Library.

"Help me look, Ron. Find any and all books on Wizarding Culture and Pureblood politics."

"Hermione, there's bound to be about a dozen books on it in here. Massive tomes of it! Are you really going to read all of it?" Ron asked aghast.

"Of course not!"

Ron sighed in relief. Hermione smirked.

"You're going to read half of them."

At that, Ron groaned loudly.

(Present: 31st July)

A dark haired man, clad in black, strode down the road to Privet Drive. A huge, grisly black dog, walked alongside the man – more like it ran in front of him and then doubled back to loop around him. The dog's tongue lolled about, dripping with slobber; his eyes alight with happiness as the strong wind ruffled his fur.

The man's annoyance continued to rise as he watched the dog's antics. When they reached the driveway of number four, they could hear the slight sound of laughter coming from within. The huge black dog gave a bark and scratched at the front door with his paws. The man sneered, and instead rang the doorbell.

A sudden silence indicated that they had heard the bell. Short clipped steps approached the door, before it was opened ajar by barely a few inches. Petunia's gaze first fell on the huge beast and barely managed to stifle a surprised scream. But when she saw the man, she couldn't stop from exclaiming, "You!"

At his aunt's shout, Harry hurried towards the door to see who it was, his hand unconsciously going to his sleeve to check for his wand. At seeing the man, he too couldn't stop himself, "Professor Snape!"

"Good to see your mental faculties are well, Potter," Snape sneered. "Now, if you're done announcing our presence to the whole neighbourhood, we should continue this conversation inside," he inclined his head at Petunia. "Quietly."

Sirius, the Grim, barked his consent. Harry grinned at the dog and turned to his aunt. Petunia was looking at both of the visitors with distaste.

"Aunt, come with me for a moment please." He put his hand under her elbow and led her into the house and into a corner. The wizards took this opportunity to enter the house and close the door. Sirius immediately shifted back into his human form. Petunia gave a small gasp. Harry looked right at Sirius and motioned for them to move to the sitting room, blatantly ignoring Snape.

"Why are they here?" his aunt asked him, cross, "one of them is an escaped convict! And – and I don't want Snape in my house."

"He's my godfather," he said, but at his aunt's expression, he quickly continued, "not Snape! Sirius – he is my god father. He won't do anything. And Snape is a school professor. Dumbledore sent them. I told you about the letter I got from him, didn't I?"

"They've come to take you to some place safe? Today? It's your birthday!" For the first time she looked indignant at someone interrupting his birthday. "And they are uninvited guests. They should have sent prior notice before coming."

"Dumbledore had mentioned that someone would come to pick me up – soon. Apparently, for him, three weeks after sending a letter is soon."

Inside the sitting room, Uncle Vernon and Dudley were sitting quietly across from the wizards; their sudden entrance had surprised them. Sirius had of course taken one glance at the well set table and bound over to take a look. There was a cake, with Harry's name on it, and a couple of gifts beside it.

An owl, the snowy Hedwig, sat on the backrest of a chair. As Sirius looked over the party things, she cocked her head to the side and looked inquisitively at them. Her Harry sent messages to this dog-man many times, but the other man, whose scent was primarily of plants, she was seeing for the first time. But she had felt his magical signature somewhere.

Of course, normal owls couldn't feel magical signatures, but she was special. Her Harry and she had formed a special bond – that of a Familiar and Master. This gave her a lot of new abilities.

Hedwig gave a startled hoot as she realised that the plant-man was none other than her Harry's Potions Professor. She had not heard many good things about him from Harry, so what was he doing here? Were they planning to take Harry away from Privet Drive? Even though her Harry's Aunt had changed her views, she still did not like the way she had treated her Master before. She turned her head to see Harry and his aunt talking quietly; well if Harry did not decide quickly, she would!

Harry turned around when Hedwig gave an especially loud hoot and took off from the backrest of the chair and landed on Sirius's shoulder.

"What?" he asked her irritably, while his Aunt looked at him quizzically. Hedwig gave another hoot.

Sirius covertly put a hand over his mouth to cover a grin. He had heard such a type of conversation before, it usually sounded like a hilarious one-sided conversation to the listeners. Familiar bonds were very rare and could be made only with powerful wizards who had great respect for magic and all different kinds of magical races. Not many could recognise a familiar bond, only those who had a proper pureblood childhood education growing up could. And Sirius was blessed to have seen two familiar bonds in his lifetime, now he was getting to see another. The first two were between Albus Dumbledore and Fawkes, and Voldemort and Nagini.

...

Severus had to admit that, for the first time in his life, he was confused. Utterly and totally confused. He had heard the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, continuously complain over how thin and waif-like Harry Potter had always looked at the beginning of every year. She told them that it was only after slipping nutrient potions into his food for the first couple of months that he looked normal for his age.

From her words, he had gradually taken to admit that he might be wrong, and Harry Potter may not have had the very best of childhoods as he had imagined. Even the insistent pleadings of his friends to get him out of his aunt's house pointed to the same thing. But it seemed that Petunia was not starving her nephew at all, if one went by the birthday cake and delicacies spread on the table.

He scowled – he couldn't believe that spoilt Potter would go to such lengths to enjoy the pity and compassion of others.

...

Meanwhile Harry had realised what Hedwig meant, "Patience Hed, wait for a few minutes, will you?"

She made to take off from his godfather's shoulder, and he quickly hissed, "No! It's too heavy! You stay here. I'll get it in some time."

Sirius guffawed. He immediately shut his mouth under the twin glares of his godson and his owl – no – Familiar. Harry looked at Hedwig, knowing that if he didn't wrap up the explanation he was giving his aunt quickly, she herself would go upstairs and fly down with his trunk in order to leave quickly. He looked at his aunt, and she sighed quietly.

"Go get your things," she instructed quietly, "I'll pack your gifts and some cake too."

He nodded and turned to Sirius to give him a proper welcome before hurrying up to get his trunk. At the same time, Severus barked, "Don't dally around Potter, we haven't got all day! We need to vacate this house as fast as we can, before the Dark Lord realises that taking your blood gives him free access into your home."

Hedwig screeched indignantly at that. If it was only a matter of blood wards, Voldemort would have stormed the house a long time ago. But due to the magic between a familiar and Master, a new, different kind of ward settled around the house her Master stayed in.

It made it impossible for those to enter who wished her master harm. There was a reason no one could raid Voldemort's base, a reason why Hogwarts was regarded the safest under Dumbledore's headmastership. Due to the presence of their Familiars, the place where they resided would be the safest possible place for them.

Harry, not knowing this, took his Professor's word for granted. He just gave a nod to Sirius and bounded up the stairs.

Sirius shook his head. Severus Snape may belong to the Noble and Ancient House of Prince, and even have the pride and potions skill they were well known for, but he didn't have the necessary pureblood education that would give him respect for it. That was what made people look down on him.

Even though his power was above average and blood line, ancient, he did not have the right to speak to anyone with contempt, disregarding their social status. That was what separated the purebloods from others – they had class. And dignity that they always maintained, no matter the situation.

Harry had already packed all of his school stuff inside his trunk. This time he did not have to even pick up pieces of parchment from around the room as he had finished most of his homework early. The only thing that was different was his clothes. His aunt had apologised again and taken him shopping. For the first time he had some decent muggle casuals to wear. His wizarding robes were already stocked, and had no need for new ones. His old hand-me-downs were promptly burned after he got new clothes.

The interior of his room had also changed. The old, nearly broken furniture was replaced and the walls now had a few picture frames of himself and his aunt and cousin. His uncle was not yet seen among them, and probably would not be seen for a long time. And finally there was a moving, wizarding photo of his parents, the only one his aunt owned, that was placed on his bedside table.

As he removed his clothes from the cupboard and put them in his trunk, he thought that for the first time he might actually miss his relatives and Privet Drive. No, not relatives – they were family now. He smiled softly as he shut the lid of the trunk and ran a hand over it to lock it. That was a new locking system; the trunk could only be opened by those who had their magical signatures keyed into it. In fact, the trunk itself was new. It was a gift from Sirius last year. It was the same trunk he had used when he went to school, a trunk from the Black Family's stores.

When Sirius had named him his Heir, quietly, at the end of his third year, in the presence of Ron and Hermione only, he had started paying more attention to books. His education as a Pureblood Family's Heir had begun. Not many knew about his Heir status of course; in fact, apart from Ron and Hermione, only Remus was in the know. Harry had changed his behaviour considerably since then. He needed to reflect a good image of his House.

He realised that wherever they were going today, it certainly would not be The Burrow. So he donned a simple shirt and dark trousers, and over it a simple over robe and with a belt tied around his waist. He looked like a normal wizard, but those who knew about such things would notice that the material of the robe was of a rare and soft fabric. It fit him snugly at the chest and flared down from the waist. That would signify that he was a duellist and hence required free movement of his legs. His muggle clothes underneath would give the message that he believed in equality despite being a part of a Pureblood House. It would also tell that he preferred comfort over the norm of wearing wizarding clothes under wizarding robes.

He did not have the Heir rings of either House (Potter or Black), as the official age for receiving the Heir rings was 15.

Satisfied, he picked up his trunk and walked downstairs. Sirius glanced at his attire and gave an approving nod. Professor Snape barely spared him a glance and looked out of the window at the setting sun.

Harry looked like a proper pureblood in these robes of his. Sirius rushed over to him and gave a big hug. He pretended to sniffle, "My little boy is so grown up! Fifteen! My little boy is fifteen!" He ruffled his hair. Harry made a sound of protest but that was totally ignored.

"By the way," said Sirius normally, as Harry tried to arrange his ruffled hair neatly, "Happy Birthday!"

Dudley snickered at the pair's antics. "Leave it Harry, you hair's not going to stay flat."

Harry mock glowered at him as his aunt re-entered the room with a small carry bag. "I've put in your gifts and a small box of cake. Perhaps you can share it with your friends?"

He nodded and called Hedwig. She flew over from the window sill, where she had relocated herself to, and perched upon his head.

"Hey!" said Harry indignantly. "Just because they call my hair a birds' nest, you don't have to treat it like one!" Hedwig just gave a content hoot. As Harry had discarded the cage after coming home from his fourth year, claiming that his special girl deserved more than a gilded cage, she had taken to using his bed post or his shoulder as a perch till he bought her, her own perch.

Snape turned around to face them. Seeing everyone ready, he motioned them to move outside.

At the door, he stopped to wave good-bye to his aunt and cousin. "Write to me Harry?" asked Dudley. "You still haven't told me all about your world and I still need to hear more about those twin red-heads that slipped me that toffee last year." Snape scowled at the mention of the devil twins ...er...Weasley twins and Sirius transformed back into his animagus form.

"Of course!" Harry assured him with a grin.

He turned to his aunt, and understanding what he wanted to do, Hedwig took off from his head. Harry gave his aunt a hug and whispered in her ear, "I forgive you for everything, Aunt Petunia."

She smiled at him, a sad and happy smile.

And the three wizards and owl disappeared with the pop of a portkey.

AN: Sorry for taking so much time...i've got no excuse. but i was out of town and couldn't access my account. I'll try to post the next chapter faster...but no guarentees.

please review guys! for all those silent readers - please leave a review. even a small word of acknowledgement will make me happy!