He Is Not One of Us
Disclaimer/Plot/Challenge Information/Author's Note: SEE FIRST CHAPTER
Dedication: I'd like to dedicate this story to everyone who has responded to this challenge: my recommended reads are The Forsaken Child by ACI100, Prodigious Sin by Triple D aka Dark Demon, Who Dares Wins by OlegGunnarsson, Fueled Anger by Kaitabi, Beautiful, Broken, Deadly by ifYouDieInCanada, Small Changes by KnightCarter007, Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin by The Sinister Man, Harry Potter and the Shadowed Light by itshanniee and Antithesis by Oceanbreeze7
Key Pairing: Harry/Gabrielle;
Other Pairings: Neville/Ginny; Lily/James; Others TBD
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
/Parseltongue/
Review Answers:
Winged Seer Wolf: What can I say? For all their follies, the Dursleys never raised no fool;
PrimeMegalodon: Well, Harry is about to set foot in the lair of the darkest, most-positively-and -negatively-renowned family in magic…you never know what he might find in there;
Hmason: I have to admit, so did I, especially the idea of only the worthy may pass;
Nodding towards the door, Harry hissed in a low voice, "Now, I suggest you run, little buck…run back to the stag and tell him to get ready…"
"For what?" hissed Jason, but in response, Harry smiled before, without any mercy whatsoever, he head-butted Jason hard, the force of the impact breaking his nose, sending a few flecks of his blood over Harry's face in the process as the Black Heir backed off.
While Hermione rushed to Jason's side, Harry brushed the blood flecks from his skin and, licking them, he smiled wolfishly as he looked down at his ex-brother and, from her attitude, his soon-to-be ex-friend;
"Let the hunt begin…"
Chapter 4: Payback's a Bitch
Unsurprisingly, Harry and Ron were left alone after the unsuccessful attempt on Jason Potter's part to manipulate the Black Scion back into the fold.
This was good, as far as Ron was concerned, because, even though he would never abandon his best mate and brother-in-all-but-blood, he had a bad feeling about how Hermione's defection would have hit Harry really hard and left him in an unpredictable state of mind.
After all, when Ron had jumped ship, Hermione had been there.
When Sirius had needed a way to escape his grim fate, Hermione had been there.
When Harry needed a reason to keep fighting after Ron's sacrifice in the chess game back in their first year, Hermione had been there – yes, Ron knew all about that meeting, and what she'd said to Harry, hence why he had a strong suspicion that Harry was hurting more than he might admit.
And whether it was Harry himself or the Slytherin he'd recently become, the point still stood that being unpredictable made him dangerous.
So, rather than try to weather the storm and deal with his friend's emotional turmoil, Ron left Harry to his thoughts.
Thankfully, with what little time they had left on the journey back to King's Cross Station, Harry seemed content to sit in silence and wait it out, his gaze lingering on the window all the way while he only moved if he had to or felt the need to. However, as Ron observed, this was usually to flex his fingers, run a hand through his hair or, on more than one occasion, tap the scar on his left-hand side.
Finally, as the outskirts of London started to pass them by, Harry broke his silence as he drew in a slow, but audible breath, before he spoke to his companion, "Before we get off the train, I want you to know something, Ron."
"What?" asked Ron, a part of him both relieved and unnerved to hear the deathly-calm tone of Harry's voice, suggesting he was back to whatever passed for normal these days with him.
However, as someone who'd been through the wars with him and, recently, watched from the side-lines as Harry went through the same war all on his own, Ron had a sneaking suspicion he was anything but all right, much less whatever passed for being in a normal state of mind with him.
Tearing his gaze away from the window, Harry locked eyes with his best friend as drew himself up to his full height before he explained, "I know what some people might think I'm going to do now I'm no longer the Golden Boy I never even wanted to be, but the truth is, this summer, I'm going to do everything in my power to get stronger. Being a Black gives me the resources to learn everything I want on how to do that and having Sirius as a real Dad means I know, or at least, I hope he won't stop me from doing it. I also have Draco as a friend and, hopefully, you and your siblings, meaning the Twins and Ginny, can accept that."
"As long as he means what he says, I'm fine with it…but only because you believe him, more than anything," argued Ron, earning a faint smile from Harry before he nodded.
"Good, because while I'm getting stronger, I'm going to invite Draco to do the same, so he can stand up to Lucius and the snake-faced wanker he bends the knee to. So, what I'm trying to say is…if you can keep your rivalry with him at school where it belongs, you're welcome to join us."
Hearing this, Ron's eyes widened in disbelief while Harry heaved a sigh as he explained, "I'm going to tell Draco the same thing when I see him, but I'm not doing this for them or because I still want to be the hero. On the contrary, my hope is I can take down Riddle personally and then, just for fun, remind Potter and his family just who the fuck I am!"
"But why?" asked Ron, a note of curiosity as well as amused disbelief in his voice as he asked, "Why get involved with…him at all anymore? Why not let Mr Big Shot and his bastard Daddy deal with the prick?"
"This started with me and him," said Harry matter-of-factly, his eyes glowing like the Killing Curse, which unnerved and awed Ron, as he added, "It makes more sense than you might think for me to try and make sure we finish it the way we started it…together…and, if somewhere down the line, I get to make Potters Senior and Junior realise, too little too late, what happens to those they think of as nothing more than pawns? Bonus!"
Here, Ron smiled weakly before he cleared his throat as he asked, "And if not? If you take out him and they're still breathing?"
With a cold smile that reminded Ron exactly what sort of wizard Harry had now become as a result of the betrayals of blood, the emerald-eyed Black Heir chuckled darkly before he answered the redhead;
"I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it…won't we?"
Not One of Us
Stepping off the Hogwarts Express, Harry breathed in his first real scent of the freedom he'd gained by becoming Harry Black while his gaze swept across the platform as his peers and others reunited with their families.
As he stepped off the train, however, Harry felt his sense of delight fade away when a familiar voice snapped, "You!"
"And…here we go," muttered Harry, looking to the left where he saw a very angry James Potter cutting through the crowds, a stunned Lily and a smug, but still-hurt Jason with him. As the Potter Lord made his way towards his former son, Harry gestured for Ron to get off the train before he told him, "Go…I can handle this."
"You sure?" asked Ron, but when he saw Harry give him a wink that would have made Sirius proud, the redhead nodded with understanding.
And, speaking of Sirius…
As James reached Harry, he was cut off from going for the confident-minded youth he used to call his son when the body of the Black Lord seemed to suddenly materialise out of thin air, putting himself between James and Harry, though the lesser of the two didn't seem willing to accept this as he snapped, "Get out of my way, Sirius: this is family business."
"And Harry, lest you forget, Lord Potter, is my son now," argued Sirius, looking once to Jason before he drew in a sharp breath as he asked, "Ouch; that nose looks painful…I wonder how that might have happened."
"I head-butted him," said Harry in a matter-of-fact voice, earning a snort of amusement from Sirius before the Black Heir added, "But that's nothing less than he deserved for trying to prank your son, Padfoot. Although I have to admit, I did nearly fall for the whole reconciliation shtick…let me guess, this was your idea, Prongs?"
"Don't you dare speak that name as though you know what it means, you little traitor," hissed James, earning a raised eyebrow from Harry as he saw the man's hand edge towards his wand.
However, before James could make a move, Sirius cleared his throat before he asked, "Look…cooler heads will prevail here, and I'm sure you won't want to portray the wrong image, Prongs; so why don't we go through the barrier, go and have a nice cup of tea and we can talk about this civilly? Without the need for wands and words we'll later regret."
"He's right," agreed Lily, earning a scoff from Harry; trust her to think they would be safe on the Muggle side of the world.
As he thought this, and Lily went on with insisting that her husband use his head and not his rage for once, Harry suddenly smirked when he began to wonder if something he thought might have happened before now had happened at all. If they passed through the barrier, it would give him the chance to find out and…oh…if his theory was right…
If they were there…
'Time to return the favour, Prongslet,' thought Harry, sneering at Jason before, drawing himself to his full height, he asked, "Look; we're all meant to be grownups here, aren't we? All of us are heirs and heads of the two most-powerful, and oldest, magical families? So why don't we act like it and take this somewhere a little more…more-neutral and we can talk about some sort of recompense for this? That is, unless you'd like to put it down to just a little banter between Marauder Heirs, Prongs?"
"Move," growled James, earning a curt nod from Harry as he turned and walked towards the barrier.
As he moved alongside his son, as if giving Harry a shield between him and the narrow-minded nitwit known as James Potter, Sirius gently tapped Harry on the shoulder before he muttered under his breath, "You're up to something, pup…just tell me it's not anything you'll get in trouble for later."
"Let's just say…I'm returning the favour," said Harry, looking back once before, returning his attention to his Father, he asked, "I mean…I'm not sure about them, but…did you happen to send any sort of message to a certain Thick-Headed Mutant Trio that I wouldn't need them to come and pick me up this summer, Dad?"
Suddenly, Sirius' eyes shone as they reached the barrier before, as Harry went to pass through it, he snorted as he muttered, "Damn…I knew there was something I'd forgotten to do…and if they don't know what we know…"
"That's what I'm counting on," agreed Harry, passing through the barrier as he smiled wolfishly, gripping the head of his cane as he did so.
As the Potters appeared behind them, Harry feigned politeness as he turned before he added, "Now, if you'd be so kind as to follow me, James, we can get this over with. But let's not waste time: I've got more important things to do than polish your ego…and, for the record, I'm not sorry either."
"What?"
Before Harry could answer, his smile widened when he heard a gasp of horror from Lily before, as he'd expected, he heard the stunned redhead whisper, "J…J…James…"
"What's the matter?" asked Harry, turning to face the direction Lily was looking in.
As he'd expected, he found himself staring at a familiar, and just as unwelcome trio as the Potters, one of whom looked so pale, she might have died from a heart attack there and then. As for the others, the much-larger of them looked just as pale and sickly when he saw not only Lily and James, but Harry and Sirius all standing there, the sight of the former prisoner of Azkaban just as terrifying to them as the sight of two people whom were supposed to be dead.
"Damn," scoffed Sirius, mirroring his earlier mood as he drawled, "I knew there was something I'd forgotten to do."
"I'll say," replied Harry, casually walking away from the barrier, as well as his former family before, reaching the spot where the Dursleys stood, he added, "Wow, who knew you could go that pale, Vernon? Anyone would think you were looking at a ghost!"
As the fat man opened and closed his mouth like the world's ugliest fish, Harry turned to Petunia as he added, "Didn't you get my owl, Petunia? I'm no longer staying with your lot and my new, adoptive Dad, Sirius Black, is now a free man and proven innocent…oh, and your sister's still alive and as much of a vile, selfish bitch as you claimed, but that's the only time you'll hear me say you were right. Now, we've got to be going; places to go, stuff to do, lives to live, a vast fortune to spoil myself on; you know how it is…toodles."
While Sirius roared with laughter at the casual demeanour of his son and heir, Harry counted to three in his head before James gained more attention than he probably should as he thundered, "You bastard! You set us up!"
This also seemed to be the cue for Petunia to scream at the sight of her sister standing there, alive and well, which only fuelled the confusion and alarm of the Muggles around them.
"Mischief Managed, Potter!" sneered Harry, letting out a low whistle as he looked around, taking note of the Muggles pointing and asking questions about the loud man and the way he'd suddenly sworn as loud as he had done.
"Oh dear, we need to go, Dad…we're starting to draw attention to ourselves…now I wonder why anyone would want to do something like that?"
Sirius was still laughing when Harry left both his former families in the lurch, instead choosing to leave with his real family as they headed for a private area where, seconds later, Harry got his first taste of Apparition as he left King's Cross behind.
And, with it, he officially said goodbye to whatever ties he had to his old identity once and for all…
Not One of Us
When Sirius released Harry from the Apparition, the Black Lord looked once to his son before, unable to hold it in, he sputtered out a loud laugh as he asked, "Did…did you see their faces? Oh…honestly, Harry; even I couldn't have come up with such a delicious means of evening the score and I caused some of our more-infamous scenarios."
"Just living up to the name, Padfoot," argued Harry, shrugging ruefully before he looked around, his eyes narrowing in curiosity, as he asked, "Now, where exactly are we? Being a Black, I'd have thought you'd have some grandly-decorated mansion or a remote, Unplottable island estate and grounds or something…but this? This looks like a suburban terrace of a house."
"That's because it is a suburban terrace of a house," argued Sirius, a note of amusement in his voice as he explained, "This is still London…though, to be precise, it's the street of Grimmauld Place, Harry; location of the olden-days homestead of our family, which is Number Twelve: although, I confess, I once swore…thankfully without magic, I'd never come back here if I could help it."
"So why have you?"
"Because you are the heir now," replied Sirius, indicating his son as he told him, "And I might not know what your goals are, apart from showing up James and his ilk even more, but despite my own personal feelings, I won't deny you a home…or the power you rightly deserve as a Black."
While Harry nodded his thanks, Sirius scoffed suddenly as he added, "Mind you, if, for whatever reason, you decide you'd rather go somewhere else, I do have an island property that's much more-comfortable and remote than this place…not to mention a place he can't get to you, mostly because I never told him or any of them about it."
"So where did you go when you…you swore you'd never come back here if you could help it?" asked Harry, walking across the street towards Number Twelve, which looked like just another building, though as he got closer, Harry felt like he could sense the lingering magic, as well as the humour of hiding in plain sight.
It definitely sounded like something any blood relatives of Sirius' could come up with.
Smiling at the air of wonder and acceptance his son seemed to have with the place, Sirius cleared his throat as he explained, "Ironically, I stayed with James, Charles and Dorea; thanks to my being a relative of Dorea's, who was, herself, a Black, I was always welcome at the Potters. Mind you, I hope that isn't the case now, no matter what plans people have come up with."
"Plans?" asked Harry, a part of him not liking how Sirius had put that.
Nudging his son forwards, Sirius swallowed down his worries and instead, he put on a fatherly air as he explained, "Inside…we can talk about that and other stuff over dinner."
Again, Harry did not like how he said that.
Chapter 4 and it looks like payback's a bitch, but now Harry's had his fun, what will he do as he gets down to some serious training in preparation for the path he's set himself on?
Also, what is the bad news Sirius had to give him about others' plans for the future of our lone wolf?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: Enraged by the turn of events, Harry seeks revenge and, unfortunately for his enemies, he's still Padfoot's Heir, so he puts that to good use; also, speaking of Marauders, the last of them finally shows his face…and Harry shows him why he should be running;
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