First his eyes fluttered, but his eyelids felt so heavy that his eyes immediately closed again. Then, he tried to force his eyes open, but to no avail. Finally, on the third try, Harry opened his eyes and forced his unconscious slumber away. Sitting up, Harry rubbed his eyes and subconsciously reached for his glasses to the right of his bed when he realized two things. One, his glasses weren't on his right like they'd normally be. Two, he can see without his glasses. He can see without his glasses. Gawking, Harry looked around and rubbed his eyes just to make sure. Opening his eyes again, Harry found that he can see perfectly clearly without his glasses now.
Laughing with delight, Harry observed an entirely new world around him and wondered if he was dreaming. He lay in a nice bed, with nice bed covers, and immediately Harry felt welcome upon brushing his hands along the inconsistent pattern of cloths and fabric. Harry looked out and saw that he is in a relatively large tent, with different wooden trays and glass bottles lying around. Harry moved to the edge of his bed and saw that there were other beds in the tent separated by large fabric sheets in between. To Harry, it looked like a sort of hospital for gypsies. Harry didn't exactly know what gypsies were, but since he took a glimpse at them from that one Disney movie he peeked at over cousin Dudley's shoulder one morning, he figured it was an accurate comparison.
Stretching his arms, Harry winced upon feeling the dormant pain wake up in his left shoulder, forcing Harry to recall the night he was bitten by the werewolf. What was going to happen to him now? Will he have to live in the wild, cold and hungry, like an animal? Getting out of his bed and looking around the hospital more, Harry decided that living on his own like an animal might not be likely. But if he's not going to live on his own then who will he live with? Other werewolves?
Suddenly, Harry stopped in his tracks. Halfway across the room, Harry almost fell over in complete surprise. Werewolves are real. Werewolves are real. He remembered hearing about them in classes whenever the kids played a game other than Harry Hunting, but to him and everyone else, they were just fantasy. Something that doesn't (and shouldn't) exist. Yet now that he was bitten, and undoubtedly now a werewolf, Harry tried to think...what else could be out there? Sirens? Witches? Wizards?
Harry almost opened the tent flap lost in his paranoid thoughts when he suddenly heard voices coming from the other side of the flap. Panicked, Harry looked around the room, not wanting to get caught, and ran over to a dark corner to hide. Sure enough, in came a man and a woman, talking amongst themselves. The man, who stood in front of Harry's hiding spot, smelt of plants and black tea, which was odd to Harry, seeing as he can't smell anything this powerfully (unless you count Uncle Vernon's occasional cigar burns). Was this a part of the werewolf bite? His vision too, for that matter?
"And what exactly are we going to do about his scar? There's powerful Dark magic behind that scar, and it sure as Hell won't be easy to get rid of," said the man, snapping Harry back to the present. The boy continued watching from the shadows as the woman, running her fingers through her dark red hair as if she's lost in thought, replies,
"Perhaps there's some kind of potion that will add Light magic to the area? Balance it out, maybe?" The man only shrugged and replied, "If there is, I've never heard of it. I'll look into it, but I'm thinking a more direct approach. Somehow drawing all that Dark magic out of him."
"Strange how such a Light wizard as Harry Potter would have a mark like that on him," the woman noted. Harry Potter? Could they be talking about him? But he's just Harry. And what do they mean by Light magic and Dark magic? The man looked towards Harry's bed and asked in a surprised tone,
"Speaking of, where is the boy?" The woman looked to Harry's empty bed at this and Harry saw her eyes grow a little wider before calming down. She glanced around the room and sniffed the air (which also looked odd to Harry), before claiming, "His scent's recent. He couldn't have gone far. Oh, poor boy, I'm sure he must have loads of questions." The man walked towards the bed and sniffed the air around it before replying, "Well then, let's find him so we can answer them."
At this, Harry stiffened and tried to hold his breath so they wouldn't find him, but about five minutes into the search, the woman looked into Harry's hiding spot, smiled, and Harry knew he was caught. She looked to the man and claimed, "Richmond, I found him." The man soon joined the woman and now both were looking straight at Harry, despite the almost black shadow surrounding him. Frightened to death, Harry did his best to try to hide even further, but that didn't escape the adults' notice.
"It's all right, little one," the woman called softly. "We're not going to hurt you." She smiled warmly at Harry, giving him the impression of a mother, but he wouldn't be fooled. After all, didn't he live with Aunt Petunia for the first eight years of his life? The man also smiled at Harry, although somewhat awkwardly, but his smile wasn't what surprised Harry. Green eyes met green eyes, and for the first time in his life, Harry didn't feel so alone anymore. The woman noticed Harry staring at the man, and seemed to elbow him, prompting him to say something.
At this, the man's smile became more earnest, and he reached his hand out to Harry. "It's alright. You're safe here," whispered the man. Harry was very hesitant, but finally he accepted the man's hand and the man gently pulled him into the light. Both the man and the woman smiled down at Harry as they led him to some chairs nearby and Harry started to smile back.
"My name is Penny Stidolph," the woman introduced, then she gestured to the man, "and the teddy bear over there is Richmond Stidolph, my husband." Richmond glared at his nickname for a few moments before asking Harry, "How do you feel? Werewolf bites are tough to get through at first, so if you feel nauseous or anything, it's normal, but let us know." Harry frowned a bit at that, seeing as he hadn't felt better in years, and answered his feelings.
"That's not particularly normal, but it's not completely unusual either," explained Richmond, "Some humans are so sickly or so broken that the disease actually does more good than bad."
"So I was sick?" Harry asked, his face paling. Penny nodded sadly and reported, "Not just sick. Multiple broken ribs that had badly repaired themselves, not to mention other things. But the disease cured all that, so there's nothing to worry about!" Harry gave a sigh of relief. He really didn't want to bother these adults, especially when they were being so nice to him.
"Harry..." started Penny but she was interrupted by the boy, "How do you know my name?" Both adults looked at each other for a moment, as if in shock, before Richmond answered, "Perhaps we should explain from the beginning. Harry, what do you know of magic?"
Harry thought for a while, before answering, "Sorry, sir, I don't know much." Harry heard Penny mumble an 'Unbelievable' and turned to her, confused. Penny smiled at Harry in apology and said, "Magic is a force or sorts. You can use it to power yourself, others, or even the environment around you. It lives inside some people, and those people are witches and wizards. Richmond is a wizard." Harry looked back at Richmond in awe at that. Richmond cleared his throat nervously at the twinkling admiration in the boy's eyes and asked, "Harry, have you ever made things happen? Things you can't really explain?"
Harry was about to say no when the memories of Dudley's cake came to him, as well as other times when everything was his fault simply because he was a freak. The thought of being called a 'freak' again disturbed him, so Harry cautiously nodded yes. To his surprise, both Richmond and Penny smiled and Penny said, "Congratulations, Harry. You're a wizard."
Stunned, Harry looked to the both of them before he lost himself in thought. Wasn't he a freak? A terrible burden on the house of the Dursleys in Little Whinging, Surrey. The scape goat of the entire neighborhood. An outcast with a funny looking scar and too thin for his own good. The beating bag for Dudley's gang. The end of Uncle Vernon's beatings. Harry didn't even realize he was crying from the memories until Penny had swooped in and began hugging him. Richmond now stood with a look of concern on his face. Harry soon reciprocated the hug and realized that perhaps these adults were good.
After Harry was done pouring out his bottled up tears, Penny wordlessly invited Harry to sit on her lap which he accepted and Richmond sat on a chair close to Penny and Harry. After a few moments of silence, Richmond asked Harry, "Harry, would you like to learn more about magic?"
"Well, since I'm a wizard, I don't really have much choice, do I?" Harry replied. But then he added, "I would like to, though, I really would. Who will be teaching me?" From behind Harry's head, Penny answered, "All of us will teach you, Harry. You were bitten by a werewolf of the Lunae Tristitiam Tribe." Harry looked back to Penny, confused, before Richmond answered, "Lunae Tristitiam is latin for 'Sorrowful Moon'. We're all werewolves, despite our magic or lack thereof. All other qualities in a human being, be it religion, race, gender, or the like, mean nothing to us."
"In other words," Penny added, "We're all one big family by bond. Do you understand us thus far, Harry?" Harry took a while before nodding and asked, "But how do you know my name?" Richmond and Penny looked at each other uncomfortably before Penny answered, "Harry, you must understand that, while magic is wonderful and presents numerous opportunities, there are some who take wrong opportunities rather than the right ones."
"Magic branches off into two main branches: Light and Dark. Light magic draws its power from your core and is easier to understand. That's why you'll find many wizards and witches of this world are Light. Dark magic is just as important," explained Richmond.
"Is it evil?"
"Of course not," replied the man, "Dark magic relies on the manipulation of the elements around us, and is harder to control. Both branches of magic are vital. But those who use either branch of magic can, in fact, turn very evil. Magic isn't evil. People can be." Harry nodded again and Richmond continued,
"Not too long ago, before you were born in fact, there was a terrible war between Light magic and Dark magic. The leader of the Light branch was, and still is, one Albus Dumbledore. The leader of the Dark branch was known as Lord Voldemort. Voldemort planned to..." Richmond hesitated at this as if doubting whether to finish the sentence or not, but soon made up his mind and finished, "Voldemort planned to kill non-magical folk, people who can't use magic. We like to call them Muggles. Voldemort also wanted to rid the world of the magical children of Muggles, called Muggleborns or Mudbloods. Albus Dumbledore, on the other hand, wanted to not only protect the Muggles and the Muggleborns, but also foolproof magic so that it eventually becomes nothing more than parlour tricks."
Harry scrunched up his face at that and remarked, "Neither of those sound good to me." Richmond nodded in understanding and replied,
"It's not hard to understand why they were at a stalemate for years. On Halloween night one year, Voldemort visited a family in Godric's Hollow. Why he went, nobody knows. He blasted himself into the home, killed the mother and father, and almost killed the only child. A one year old boy. But somehow, the baby wizard managed to defeat the evil wizard. That baby," Richmond pointed to the lightning shaped scar on Harry's forehead, "was you, Harry. Harry James Potter: the boy who lived."
If Harry didn't have the proof on his forehead, he wouldn't have believed it. But as Richmond gazed at Harry expectantly, waiting for a reply, Harry admitted that he would have to accept it for now. Penny took off where Richmond left off:
"But now that you are one of us, Harry, you have a choice. You don't have to be Harry Potter if you don't want to be." Harry turned back and asked Penny, "Why not?" Penny smiled and replied cautiously, as if afraid she might say something the wrong way, "Harry, some of the so-called Light wizards are not good at all. Being Harry Potter, you are a beacon for the Light. They'll be fighting over you like rabid wolves would over a freshly cooked ham." Before Harry could say any more, Richmond added,
"Being a part of this Tribe means thinking for everyone, not just yourself. I would understand if you want to keep your name just for your parents' sake, but the safety of our family would be in incredible peril." Frightened at the thought, a panicked Harry asked,
"What can I do?" Penny's smile grew bigger and she replied, "We could adopt you."
Harry looked back at Penny again, his eyes big as saucers. Adopted? Having a mother and a father to look after him? Harry felt his smile reached the moon and he eagerly nodded in acceptance. Triumphant, Richmond stood from his seat and said something about paperwork before leaving the tent. Not long after that, someone else came into the tent, a man much younger than Richmond. He smiled as he saw young Harry still in Penny's lap and said,
"Glad to see someone's awake." Penny smiled at the young man and introduced, "Harry, this is our Beta Male, Charlie. Charlie, Harry's agreed to be our adopted son." At this, Charlie's smile slightly fell and he replied, "That's...wonderful." Harry got off of Penny's lap and dumbly asked,
"Beta Male?" Charlie gave Harry a forced smile as he guided the young boy back to his hospital bed and clarified, "I'm next in line to become Alpha Male as well as the main Healer of the tribe." Harry looked more confused, but after Penny promised him to explain more during the adoption process, he wisely decided to drop it.
Charlie then began giving the final examination, just to see if Harry was well enough to leave the hospital tent. It was definitely not the standard one Harry had to take back at primary school. Unlike the one in primary school, Charlie tested Harry's jumps, leaps, stretches, and even his kicks. "Here in our Tribe, you need to learn how to fight physically as well as magically and intellectually. I'm just seeing how well you do now so that I know where to start with your fighting lessons," Charlie explained as Harry recovered from doing his last kick. Then there was the regular health examination: blood pressure, pupil check, etc. before Charlie finally gave the o.k. for Harry to go.
Penny guided Harry to the Alpha tent while she explained how the rankings in the Tribe work just as night was beginning to fall. When they went inside the Alpha tent, Harry was astounded. It looked so small from the outside, but once you step inside it's tremendously larger! There was enough room for at least 2 rooms, not counting the master's room, as well as a kitchen with a copper burner and a copper stove and refrigerator. There was a living room directly in front of Harry that held what looked to be a muggle TV set facing two loveseats, and far off to the right, Harry could smell different plants growing (one of which made his nose so sore that Harry was sure it would bleed). He could also hear distinct murmuring from inside that room and was hesitant to go inside but Penny soon guided him towards the mysterious room with the terrible smell.
Inside was Richmond and another, very dark man. They were currently standing near a desk of some kind, but all around the room was much stranger. Rows and rows of long garden pots lined the room, and it took Harry a few minutes to recover from all the different smells before he felt liquid running down his nose. In an instant, Penny was near him with tissues, and Harry was very grateful because of that. The man looked at Harry and said, "Ah, good. We're all here, then?" Both Richmond and Penny nodded and Harry followed the Stidolphs' lead. The mysterious man smiled like a maniac would and soon began casting spells around the room.
"Why is he doing that?" Harry whispered to Richmond. "It's a normal procedure for this kind of adoption process. Werewolves can't adopt legally, therefore the gentleman," Richmond said the word as if it was an insult to call him that, "here tonight will help us get what we need with the results we want. This, of course, entails transferring actual guardianship as well as magical guardianship. But since it's highly illegal to do this, the man is casting protective wards so that nobody, physically or magically, can interfere. It's a good habit to learn. You'll need to learn it soon." Harry nodded, trying to process all this information, before the man finished with his wards and said in a delightful voice,
"Alrighty, let's get started!"
Late that night, Albus Dumbledore felt a sharp pain in his magical core wake him up from his slumber. It was a pain unlike anything he felt before, as if something was ripping his core from someone else's. Gasping for air, Dumbledore struggled to reach his Deluminator, but as soon as his fingers grazed the trusty object, the pain was gone. Dumbledore hurriedly turned on his lights and pushed his covers off to stand. As he now stood next to his bed, Dumbledore tried to process what had just happened. Did someone attempt to kill him? If they did, then they failed miserably.
Quickly, Dumbledore rushed to check his wards, but when the protection wards turned out fine, Dumbledore only became more confused. Nobody was here, nobody tried to kill him. There was no poison in his system, of that he could be sure. He would have noticed by now. So, if nobody was trying to kill him, then what had happened? Processing exactly where the pain came from, Dumbledore could only speculate that something had attempted to damage his magical core, and perhaps instead settled for one of his magical links? Possibly, but which one? There were so many wizarding orphans for whom he was their magical guardian in all of Great Britain, after all.
Albus then realized...what if the now broken link was of that to Harry Potter? Dumbledore began rushing to check on the boy, but instead caught himself. Harry is supposed to have no contact with the magical world whatsoever until his eleventh birthday, under no circumstances. Should he break that rule now, just to see if his magical guardianship was still intact? Dumbledore shook his head and muttered to himself,
"Don't be ridiculous. The boy is fine. The plan is fine. Nothing could possibly go wrong."
"It'll take about two weeks for the transfer of magical guardianship to become complete. However, due to our discrepancy, nobody will truly have to know of Harry Stidolph until you choose the best time to introduce him to the world," the man explained happily as Richmond grudgingly handed over the two hundred galleon payment. "Thank you, sir," Penny said, exhausted from the multiple rituals all three of them had to undertake, including the one to get rid of Harry's scar. The man nodded in acknowledgement to the Alpha Female before he continued, "In the meantime, I advise not to leave this tent until the two week deadline. I also advise not to allow anyone into the tent until the magic has settled down. You have your business taken care of beforehand, I presume?" Both the Alphas nodded yes and the man smiled a crooked smile. "Enjoy your son!" he shouted before apparating away.
Poor Harry was magically exhausted, but thank goodness he was already asleep. Richmond easily lifted the tiny boy and carried him to his new room, one that seemed bare, but was guaranteed to hold a lifetime of memories. Drained of all energy, Richmond and Penny didn't even talk as they crashed onto their master bed and fell fast asleep.
A/N:
Finally, that dreadful chapter is done! Pop the champagne! This chapter was a nightmare to deal with! Fortunately, this chapter has others to follow that I already wrote beforehand so more updates can be expected in the near future! Special shoutout to whats up with jeremiah for helping me out with this chapter. If it weren't for your ideas, I wouldn't have finished this chapter for the next thousand years! Once again, please R&R, and the Harry Potter world doesn't belong to me, but to the glorious J.K. Rowling. Cheers!