The Cooper Clan

by Venquine1990

Harry has lived his entire youth traveling through many periods of time and he has learned things he now - in the Tri-Wizard Tournament decides to use. But when old ancestors and friends drop by to bring terribly worrying news, what else is our young Cooper boy to do, but go with them to save his brother? And what's this? Potters are Master Thieves?

6. Lovers Bond and Ancestral Surprises

Chapter 06
Lovers Bond and Ancestral Surprises

Sly's POV

"You really should keep a little tab on that mouth of your little brother." Carmelita tells me, her heart sending me a small bit of good humor and I laugh as I say: "No, Harry did that on purpose. He saw my worried look and got the others out so – I could talk to you in private." My beautiful love looks at me confused and I grab her hand as I say:
"Carmelita, I have to be sure this is what you want. Ever since I met you, I've been dreaming about stealing your heart and getting you the most beautiful proposal and most amazing wedding I could get my hands on. To know I bonded myself to you only because of a pain Le Paradox indirectly caused me – I have to be sure you want this."

My lovely Carmelita smiles at me, her love flowing into my heart and shocking me as she says: "Sly, you could get me the biggest, most exclusive and most amazingly decorated wedding in the history of mankind and it would pale compared to what we've just been through. Our bonding is better than any wedding I could have ever wished for."
I smile at her and ask: "Are you sure? You know about the Cooper Vault, I could easily –." But she lies her finger on my lips and says: "Sly, to feel your emotions and hear your thoughts? That is something no wedding can get me. I feel closer to you now than I ever could if I just simply married you. I'm perfectly content with this."
I smile and hug her close, whispering: "How did a guy like me get a girl like you?" And Carmelita makes me tremble a little as she says: "After those 7 years in Egypt? You deserve it, Sly. You more than deserve it." She then looks at me and says: "And besides, the fact that you remembered me of all things?"

I smile at her and then my heart overflows with joy as she happily kisses me on the lips. I wrap my arms around her and pull her close as I feel her love streaming into my heart, while trying with all my might to let her feel the love, adoration and respect that I feel for her and the happiness she gives me by being here with me.
We part ways and Carmelita happily lies her head on my shoulder, while I let a single hand go through that long blue mane of hair that I always wanted to touch and caress whenever I ran away from her. Apparently am I thinking that very thought out loud in my mind as Carmelita asks: "Do you really like caressing my hair that much?"

Deciding to be honest with her – mostly because she would probably be able to read the truth in my mind – I say: "It's so beautiful, I can't keep my eyes off of it. I lost count of how many times your amazing looks almost made me make a mistake that could have helped you catch me." The girl laughs and asks:
"Really, when did you lost count then?" And I answer: "After that heist in Rio over that Gigantic Asian Ruby. And I think I was on near miss number 143 or something." The girl looks shocked and says: "I was only trying to catch you for 2 months by the time of that heist. Did my looks really distract you that much?"
I run a hand over her hair and down her back, causing a small shiver of pleasure to run down her spine and say: "How can they not? You're beautiful, Carmelita, and it would be my pleasure to tell you that and remind you of it every day for the rest of our lives." Carmelita smiles, her eyes closed and her hands on my chest.

Feeling like we're back in Paris, I suddenly wonder something and ask: "Won't you miss it?" She looks up and I ask: "Interpol? You won't be Head Inspector if you apply for the job here. You'll have to start back from scratch." Carmelita smiles at me and says: "I was more thinking of becoming Harry's personal officer.
To help him when criminals try to mess with him. He is still a young boy, you know, and he does need all the help he can get." I smile at the brilliant idea of my lovely bonded one and with my mind try to tell her how brilliant I think she is. She must have heard my thoughts as she blushes and looks away, but then I grab my chance.
Grabbing her chin like she had grabbed mine in Egypt, I pull her face up to mine and softly kiss her lips, feeling like I can keep kissing her for the rest of my life. A little bit of embarrassment and a heavy dose of happy relief flow into my heart and I smile in the kiss, returning the gesture by sending her another dose of my love.

We part yet again and I whisper: "If it wasn't for oxygen, I don't think I'd be able to keep my lips off of yours, Carmelita. I've been wanting to hug and kiss and hold you since that day I saw you standing in the Paris Opera House with your chief, officer Barkley and that crazy opera lady – Mss. Tuskinanny was her name right?"
I see her eyes widen at my confession and she asks: "You mean, when we first met and you helped me stop Pierre from stealing the Diva Diamond?" I nod and she whisper: "Wow, it really must have been a soul bond. For a thief like you to fall for a cop like me by a single look." I laugh and look her in the eyes as I ask:

"Oh Carmelita, how many times do I have to remind you how beautiful you are? Your looks, your talents, your character. All of it is just so amazing. I don't care what others think, I'll love you no matter what." I see her smile, but also feel her need to challenge me and smirk, ready for the challenge as she asks:
"Really, so even if I wore rags like those of the Egyptian slaves and would stay to live in the sewers for a month, you'd still want me?" And I easily answer: "You'd still be the most amazing and powerful woman I've ever met and that power would only make me fall all the harder for you, Carmelita."

The girl shakes her head and sighs as she says: "Fine, you win. Although I really wonder one little thing." And I ask: "And what's that?" She taps my nose and answers: "What will happen if I show you the annual department picture." I shake my head and ask: "Annual department picture?" She laughs and says:
"Every year officer Barkley has us take a picture together, the girl teams and the boy teams. I try to dress and prep the best I can, better than I sometimes did for those parties we went to together, but I was always voted one of the least beautiful of the group. The photographer after all put the least prettiest at the front of the picture."
I shake my head and say: "That photographer needs to get his eyes checked. He should be putting you up top, not down below. Besides, who's to say he doesn't do that for a different reason?" She looks at me and asks: "Like what?" I shrug and say: "I don't know. Maybe he thinks working in the field so much affects how you look."
Carmelita looks shocked and says: "I never thought of that. You could very well be right, Sly. He always puts Amelia up top and she works at a desk job twenty-four seven." I smile and say: "You see, it's not your looks. He just bases his idea of beauty on how much someone works in the field and how much that person works at a desk."

Carmelita smiles and says: "Thanks, Ringtail. That annual picture has been bugging me since the second time it was taken." I softly caress her beautiful cheek and say: "No problem. Now can I see that picture? I want to see just how a desk job officer can look prettier than you. I don't believe that idea until I see it."
I feel her doubt leaking into my heart and say: "For her heart to be filled with your love, remember? That is one of the vows I took when I accepted you as my bonded mate. No picture can change that, Carmelita, don't worry." She smiles at me, the amount of worry she seems to be feeling lessening slightly and she hands me the picture.

Instantly my eyes are drawn to the front of the picture where a beautiful Carmelita Fox is standing shyly and with an embarrassed blush hidden inside her cheek hairs. The girl has her hair running free and has some of it flowing over her left eye down to her shoulders causing the entire left side of her face to be covered in shadows.
She wears the beautiful Bordeaux red dress she had on when I met her at Rajan's party, along with the black chain necklace tying her dress around her neck. Her wrists have several golden bands around them and there is a beautiful red nail polish on each and every one of her nails. My eyes widen as I see the beauty that is my bonded.

Carmelita's POV

I see Sly's eyes widen and feel his heart overflowing with love and adoration. Instantly I feel like our bond is over, but then notice how his gaze seems aimed at the bottom of the picture, not the top where Amelia is standing. Moving myself to sit next to him, I follow his gaze and my own eyes widen as I realize – he's looking at me!
I look from the picture to Sly, wondering how he could keep his eyes on my picture when Amelia is only a few inches higher and ask: "Sly?" And the Raccoon answers: "Yep, that photographer is definitely a blind bat." Shocking me, but then Sly pulls me close against his side and whispers: "You look beautiful, Carmelita.
You do now and you did then." To which I ask: "Did you even look at who's at the top row?" And Sly makes my cheeks turn red as he says: "Nope, I couldn't. My eyes were instantly drawn to your beautiful form." I sigh and say: "Take a look. Top row. Then tell me if you can still look at me when you see Amelia."

I see Sly looking at the amazing person that is Amelia Robeheart, who wears a strapless blue dress with skinny material wrapped around her waist in thin rings and with a high split on her left leg, which is standing towards the camera. Sly's eyes widen and he says: "Well, now I understand why she was always chosen."
I sigh and get ready for him to tell me how amazing and beautiful Amelia is, when Sly shocks the crap out of me and says: "She's the photographer's girlfriend." I turn to Sly and ask: "His what?" Sly nods and says: "That strapless dress? Obviously a gift of a lover to show how much he appreciates his girlfriend's body.
And the way that girl poses, with her leg standing out like that and that slit having been turned to the inside of the hip. She's obviously doing the photographer to make sure she stays chosen the prettiest of them all." I look shocked and ask: "The Photographer is – is being coerced into picking Amelia as prettiest female cop?"

Sly nods and says: "I have no doubt that if you put a different photographer up there, he would instantly pick you as prettiest of them all." I look at the ringtail in pure shock, having never even guessed that the photographer could be seeing – much less doing – Amelia or that Amelia is doing him to get chosen as prettiest every year.
But turning the idea over in my head together with my memories of all those annual picture days makes me realize that the ringtail is right. Every year Amelia is chosen as prettiest girl of the corps and every year her dresses become more and more showing, an obvious sign someone is trying to make her look better than she does.
Finally all my doubts about my looks and all my inner needs to make myself look beautiful even when I'm in the middle of a case vanish in thin air and I kiss Sly wildly, thanking him with heart and soul for proving me wrong on my self-doubt. I shock Sly deeply, I can tell this by the fact that he doesn't hug me close, but I don't care.

I kiss him and hug him close, feeling another need to cry as Sly really is the most amazing Cooper I have ever met. Tennessee might have been charming and handsome and Gallath might have had a good heart, but they truly pale when it comes to the charming loyalty and truthful loving nature of their Heir Sly.

Sly's POV

I don't know what I did, but it must have been good as Carmelita almost pushes us both off the bed with the ferocity of her kiss and I feel her grabbing the front of my shirt tightly. I react to the kiss a little too late, but am still rewarded as Carmelita cuddles up to my chest and sides and happily seems to growl at me lovingly.
Wondering what on earth I did that caused this wonderful reaction, not to mention the amazing happiness that almost made me have a heart attack, I caress Carmelita's hair and ask: "And I get this much love from you, because –?" Carmelita doesn't leave her spot on my chest, but does look up and tells me:
"I've been doubting my looks and feeling the need to show more and more of my body for so long, Sly. Amelia getting picked every year no matter how hard I tried to make myself look good really made me doubt myself. I just pushed myself onto my job so much in order not to let those thoughts and doubts get to me."

I feel for my mate and pull her face up and ask: "Carmelita, if you want it, I will tell you every morning when we wake and every night before bed just how beautiful you truly are to me. I want to help you and if you doubt your amazing beautiful looks and character then I want to do everything I can to stop that."
I then silently think: "A beautiful girl like you deserves better than to be with a filthy thief like me." But don't voice this as my family is my everything and instead I say: "I love you, Carmelita, and like I said before. I don't care what happens to you, I will prove whoever thinks you not pretty just how wrong they actually are."
Carmelita smiles at me and then she reminds me of the mind-reading as she closes her eyes again and says: "You're not a filthy thief, Sly. You're a Master Thief and good one at that. You fight for justice just like I do and I've long since accepted that we do that on opposite sides of the law. I'm proud of you for that and I love you for it. "

I smile at her and then suddenly my thief's eye spots something. Grabbing my cane, which shockingly enough is still on my back, I swing the cane a little and let it reach out to a few windows to the right of me. Wrapping the head around my target, I make a small motion with my cane before pulling it back, target in place.
I put the cane back on my back, careful not to let Carmelita fall off my front and then present her with the target, a beautiful small flock of pure white flowers with golden pollen and an almost golden glow around the edge of the petals. Carmelita looks shocked and I say: "I don't know what they are, but they pale compared to you."
She looks at me and I say: "Sorry, just had to prove how beautiful I think you truly are." She smiles and I happily stick the small set of flowers behind her ear, wrapping the stem around a few of her beautiful locks. I then look at her and make her laugh as I ask: "So, think you're ready to have a little brother like Harry?"

Rioichi's POV

Harry may have led us away from my second favorite heir, that didn't mean I hadn't seen the way Sly had looked at Carmelita before the young boy had done so, nor that Harry knew everything – not even about himself. Harry's job was to learn how to unite all our techniques inside him and the boy had been able to accomplish this.
Having done so, he can now change into the Cooper Raccoon form, but I can already tell that Harry does not realize this himself and so it is up to me and my honorable ancestors to remind the young boy. I walk with him for many staircases and when we are about to reach an enormous hall with long tables, I stop him and say:

"Harry, young one, you seem to have forgotten something important." Harry looks at me and I say: "You have accomplished your task, Harry. Do you not remember what that means?" And instantly I can see the shock and realization light up in the green emeralds that are his eyes, before they light up with joy and excitement.
Harry closes his eyes and sits down in the very crossed-leg formation I have taught him, his hand palms facing upward and his right hand over his left. I smile as I sense him going deep into meditation and before my eyes and those of my fellow proud ancestors and the shocked eyes of the crowd in the large room does my heir transform.
Fur grows all over his body, clothes changing into fur along with the skin on his face and the hair on top of his head. The black of his hair gets replaced for soft hazel brown fur that grows all over, except for on some of the rings on his tail, his paws and hands and on the fur around his eyes, creating the famous Raccoon mask.
Large thin ears grow out of his head and the tail slowly grows to the same length as his upper body and neck. His legs thin out and shrink only down to the size of his lower legs and his shoes fall off as thin tree-toed feet with dark red cushions on the downside of the toes and heel appear. Finally my heir is a Master Thief.

Tennessee's POV

"Well what daya know. That kid pulled it off. And at the young age of 14 no less. Weehoow, this sure is a wonderful sight to see!" I shout, pulling out my gun like cane and lying the end of it over my shoulder. And that only slightly describes the pride I feel as I see that little teenage Raccoon grow out before my very eyes.

Gallath's POV

"Forsooth he has done it! I knew he would be a worthy heir and a worthy apprentice. He has truly proven the valor of the Cooper name." I continue Tennessee's speech to prove my own pride at my youngster's transformation. Glad to know that Harry is now truly a member of the Cooper clan, I know this will make things much easier for the lad.

Bob's POV

"That's my little climber! My little trainee! I knew he'd do it! He makes me so proud! I want to steal eggs for him!" I happily shout, using my cane to hit on the ground. Unfortunately does this cause for quite the trembling of the lands and I hear Harry's Raccoon-like squealing. Looking up, I see him clawing his paws into the floor.

I stop quickly as his fur proves I must have jostled him out of his focus and say: "Oops, sorry." But Harry just smiles at me and then a strict looking lady runs in and shouts: "What on earth is going on here?" And luckily enough, because she doesn't wear a small ear plug, does the white beard man take her along to explain things.

Salim's POV

"And I thought I couldn't feel prouder when I saw how Sly kept up our family line. By Allah, this Cooper member is a boy of miracles I tell you. A genie in the making!" I happily shout, jumping up and down and making summersaults, not just to keep on my feet while Bob thumbs the ground, but to show my happiness for the boy's succession.

Harry's POV

I'm not exactly sure what the others are all going on about – even if I have a slight hunch – and while Dumbledore takes McGonagall away to explain her about why Bob was causing that earthquake with his cane, do I look down at myself, beyond pleased when I see the hazel-colored fur, the tail and the three-toed, black-furred feet.
I jump up, feeling lighter and stronger than ever before and say: "This is incredible. Do you always feel this light-footed and strong?" My ancestors nod and I say: "Wow, no wonder the Coopers are known as Master Thieves. Being this light-weight would make it easy for anyone to run, jump and move quicker than the wind."

"Indeed, but now, we must start your training all over again. In the past you learned your skills the hard way, because your form made it harder for you to learn them. Now we must make sure you are still capable of doing them, while remaining your balance and strength." I hear Uncle Rioichi say and this makes me cringe as I say:
"Uncle Rioichi, I can't leave now. I'll lose my magic. The Goblet of Fire will see my departure as an attempt to escape the Tournament. I can't go with you guys." But then Uncle Tennessee leans on his cane and asks: "Who said anything about leaving?" I look at him shocked and Uncle Gallath brings me great comfort as he says:

"Harry, your magic can duplicate even the largest of trophies and make their replica's as valuable and antique as the original. Surely, with some practice – you can learn to do the same to us and our replicas can take our place in time, while we – we stay here with you."

He ends his speech while lying a hand on my shoulder and I can barely believe my luck. Ever since Sirius had to escape have I again given up on the idea of ever having a family of my own and now the people who I almost consider my fathers are saying they are willing to give up their lives in their own timeframes for me.
Happy with the fact that Uncle Rioichi, Tennessee and Gallath are all standing next to each other, I quickly run over and pull them all in a hug, feeling happier, more grateful and more loved than I have felt since I left my uncle Otto. All 3 happily hug me back and with Bob pulling Salim and Otto along we happily share a family group-hug.

Then suddenly, thinking back on Sirius, I feel stupider than I have felt in my entire life and I let go of my family to hit myself on the head, causing Hermione and my family to look at me in confusion. I look around and spotting the maroon robe and green bowler hat, I quickly run over and shout: "Minister Fudge, wait a second!"
The man seems shocked at my looks, but asks: "Do I know you?" And I show him my cane, making his eyes widen as he says: "Harry Potter, but – but how?" And I answer: "A long story, and I don't really have time to explain, Minister. I just wanted to let you know I remembered something that concerns the Potter and Black families."
The man seems intrigued and I turn to my family as I say: "A few years after Sir Gallath started the Cooper Order, he took an apprentice named Cadillac Black. The two had been rivals their whole lives, but when Sir Cadillac joined the order, they became close friends. Since then that bond has been family tradition.
It's in the Potter and Black genes that Blacks and Potters can be friends first and rivals after or rivals first and friends later, but the genes also prevent the Potters and the Blacks from coming up against each other in a war. Meaning that Sirius Black could have never betrayed my parents to Voldemort, because his genes would have stopped him."

Fudge seems shocked and Uncle Gallath comes over, asking: "What is this I hear about the Heir of my most wondrous friend?" And I answer: "The Ministry send him to Azkaban while he was innocent of the charges he was sentenced for. One of them was even impossible for him to be guilty of, because of the Potter-Black gene bond."
The Knight looks shocked and asks: "And what is this crime my friend's Heir was so rudely thrown in the gutter for?" And I answer: "Betraying my father to a man who was out to kill me.""Impossible! The Potter-Black genes keep us from betraying each other's deepest secrets. We can never be enemies or join each other's enemies for that matter."
The Knight shouts and Fudge sputters, but then I smirk and say: "I sure wonder what Rita Skeeter would say when she hears that Minister Fudge allowed for Interpol Inspector Carmelita Fox to set justice to the wrongful imprisonment of the Boy-Who-Lived's Godfather." The man looks at me shocked and I glare at him as I say:

"I don't like you, Minister, and I don't think I ever will with how you allow for that fiend to slander a mere minor, only because of a Tournament that was your idea, but a Cooper will always get what he wants and I want my Godfather's freedom. Like my Ancestors before me I will even fight alongside my enemy to get my goals accomplished."
"Yeehaw! You're talking like a real Cooper, alright. I'm loving it!" Uncle Tennessee shouts, hugging me with one arm and smiling at me widely, while swirling his cane with his other hand. I smile at my uncle and look at the Minister with an up-raised eyebrow as I ask: "So Minister Fudge, have we come to an agreement?" And the man nods.