Disclaimer: Dodgy Headmasters manipulated me into writing this, don't blame me.
Chapter Eight:
Finding out about Dumbledore's plans. Detention with Hagrid.
There is no good or evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.
Lord Voldemort: Book One; Harry Potter.
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Harry curiously walked the shadows in Dumbledore's office when he saw Fudge walk through the Great Hall, hitching a ride on the two Auror's shadows as they passed by to see what the Minister of Magic was doing at the school "Cornelius, I need you to tell the American Ministry that they have to refuse Harry Potter's citizenry to the American Magical world and say that he has a new adoptive parent in the magical world and the Muggle world"
Fudge looked at him curiously and said, "While you know I am always willing to help you, I must ask, why do you want to control him so much?"
"Cornelius, it is for the greater good, I can assure you that Harry Potter will receive the utmost care in the families I have chosen for him, it will secure his lifestyle and help him live his life to the fullest" Dumbledore said in that infuriatingly false grandfatherly tone.
Fudge thought for a second while shifting uncertainly "I would have to speak to Harry Potter and…" he started.
"Mr Potter has already agreed to be adopted into a family of my choosing, he has also accepted that he would prefer to live with Muggles during his stay over the holidays away from Hogwarts" Dumbledore said with, in Harry's opinion, that stupid and annoying twinkle in his eyes.
Harry didn't have to listen any more and quickly exited the office and went own to the Great Hall, shifting into solid form as he came to the doors and pushing them open, looking around quickly, Harry found Hermione and walked hurriedly towards her, he sat down next to her and whispered "Hermione, Dumbledore has started to make a move against me, he has told Fudge that I agreed to be adopted by a Muggle or Wizarding family of his choosing, he will most likely send me to Longbottom Manor with Neville and wait until I make one screw up so he can get his hands on me, I need to ask your parents if they would adopt me, I can go to Gringotts and have them forge papers saying that, without Sirius's willing consent without persuasion, I would not be able to get magically adopted by anyone, can you get your parents to adopt me in a period of a week?"
Hermione frowned slightly and pulled out some parchment, Harry, understanding what she wanted, looked around quickly and dropped a fork under the table, transformed into a large black Phoenix with blood red eyes and plucked a tail feather out before quickly transforming again and handing her the feather as she finished the letter, she sealed the parchment with a small bit of wax and Harry pressed the Potter Family Crest onto the wax, held it for a moment then placed the feather onto it, Hermione set it onto the bench and closed his eyes to concentrate, he pictured Hermione's parents, specifically her father as he had contacts within the justice department and felt a small brush of heat against his hand, Harry looked down and smirked slightly before Hermione pulled out another piece of parchment and handed him her Phoenix feather quill, Harry took it and wrote a quick note before sealing it with all six crests on the opening which would make it a higher priority than many other different letters and possibly go straight to the Head Goblin or even the Manager of the British branch of Gringotts, taking a breath, Harry held up his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill blasting whistle that shattered a few goblets in that instant, Hedwig came flying down and circled for a bit before landing on the table in front of him, Harry raised an eyebrow and muttered "take this letter to Gringotts, no lower than the Head Goblin, wait for a reply, if they tell you to go away, peck and scratch them until they get the point, if you don't do this, I will Transfigure you into a Mouse for a week"
Hedwig's eyes widened and Harry tied the letter to her leg and she flew off with speed he had never seen before, sighing softly, Harry looked at Hermione and smiled at her softly and kissed her on the lips before a flush of heat alerted them to his received letter, Harry groaned softly and looked down where his letter was waiting from the Grangers, not bothering to open it, Harry stuffed it into Hermione's robes while coping a feel of her bum as he moved his hand along her lower back where she occasionally got back pains "mmm, just to the left Harry" Hermione moaned softly.
Harry rubbed tentatively and smiled at her lovingly "so Hermione, I was wondering, since we have Wednesday afternoons off, do you wanna go down to the lake for some snogging?"
She laughed softly and nodded as he relieved some muscles in her back from their tensions "you got good Potter" she commented lightly.
Harry smiled as he continued rubbing "maybe so love, but you forget, I had to study healing, I had to learn muscle groups left right and centre, plus, it helps that I can change into a girl and know that girls have similar back problems, though with you, I should be more careful, you carry that god awful book bag of yours"
Hermione slapped him lightly on the shoulder and leaned on him "Harry, if my parents adopt you, that means that legally, I am your sister"
"Legally, yes, but in the morals of Muggle society, it may be wrong in a sense, but in the Wizarding World, people could care less if you went and knocked up your own mother or even your own daughter, there is too much inbreeding to really have any of those morals any more, besides, we are not related by blood, so we can bonk till we drop" Harry smiled at her as he said this causing her to blush madly.
Harry held her hand as he stopped rubbing her back eliciting a disappointed moan from Hermione, he leaned his head on her shoulder as he looked at the book she had in front of her which lay forgotten "Wards dear? Aren't you a little, you know… ambitious?"
She nodded and growled "I am determined to be able to cast a Ward by the end of the summer and nothing is going to stop me"
Harry chuckled "let's see your Rune book then Hermione" he said lightly, Hermione looked at him sharply, Rune Books being a very personal thing for a person, Harry having three and under heavy enchantments and not showing anyone, not even herself, the contents of the books.
"Harry, why do you…" she started but was interrupted by Harry who pulled out a black leather bound book with a lightning bolt in the top left hand corner, a small pair of symbols on the clasp that stopped anyone but him from opening it and in the middle of the book was a trident shape on top of the Norse Rune Feriwahz, Hermione looked at it and Harry touched the lightning bolt then the Norse Rune which glowed and the lock unclasped itself, Hermione made to grasp it but he moved it away.
Harry looked at Hermione with a steady look in his eyes and she sighed, "guess I won't win, will I?" she questioned.
Harry shook his head and said smugly "a Potter always wins in the end"
Hermione raised an eyebrow and Harry hugged her tightly and whispered, "I won the love of my life in the game of chance that is life haven't I?"
She nodded and pulled out her book and set it on the table, Harry looked at the blank cover and clasp which either meant she had placed nothing inside it or she used the Brinwhar Rune to hide the castings of Runes from sight, Harry placed his hand over Hermione's and she greedily took his and opened it to a series of complex calculations with Arithmancy, Runes, Charms, Defence and Black Magic that many people would be hard pressed to understand, Harry meanwhile was trying to crack open the book before he gave an exasperated sigh and said "this is useless" Harry pulled out his wand and cast a silent Unlocking Charm.
The lock snapped open and Harry smirked at Hermione's wide eyes "one thing you learn from being an active partner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is that you start to think outside the box, I just thought you would use something more complex, knowing you"
She smirked slightly "that is why nobody but me could have opened the diary before you"
Harry nodded and they both read each other's work, suggesting corrections and generally living in peace for a while, however brief the moment was, it was a time to relax and act like they once did back when they had no troubles in the last time period.
(Scene Break)
Having convinced Neville to help him with Norbert and bring his Invisibility Cloak, the purpose of having given it to him done, Harry had taken it back when Neville had left it in the Astronomy Tower, despite him, Malfoy and Neville having to do a detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, which he knew because of the letter he had gotten that morning and it was the exact same day that he had done it so as to keep things together, gaining thirty six phials of Norwegian Ridgeback venom which was going at four hundred Galleons an ounce, he could use those phials alone to retire on despite his massive fortunes in the crystals that situated in his invisible rings, it would basically ensure a full life with himself and Hermione and he would hardly need to touch his Family Vaults or his Trust Fund, he looked at the bane of his problems, Neville Longbottom, and frowned slightly, turning to Malfoy, he grimaced slightly when he saw that he was shaking slightly which meant that he was terrified, smirking to himself, Harry watched Neville and Malfoy glare at each other hatefully then turn away with a huff, Harry sighed and looked at the area around him, manipulating both his Metamorphmagus abilities and the Vampyr blood to see perfectly within the night world of the Forbidden Forest as if it were day time, Harry took off his glasses, Hagrid looked at him curiously and Harry said by way of explanation "I have near perfect eyesight during the night time and I only have trouble with close distances which is what the glasses are for"
They all accepted this and Harry folded the glasses into his pocket and patted them, looking through the trees, Harry spotted the trail of blood, but he had smelled it first "I think you will find a trail of blood about three hundred metres ahead"
Harry stopped and sniffed the air "also, you will find more than one Unicorn has been injured this night" Harry gave a sharp and shrill whistle that pierced the night air and, after a few seconds, Harry let out a series of whistles in the sounds of a Songbird, he stopped after thirty seconds and waited calmly.
After two minutes of impatient waiting, Malfoy moaned, "what are we waiting here for Potter? We should go find whatever this thing is, kill it and be done with it"
Harry opened his eyes from his searching the forest with his senses, magical, mental and normal "shut it Malfoy, never disturb the peace of the forest, it will get you killed" he murmured quietly earning an impatient snort from Neville and Malfoy.
Another minute passed and a soft twang of a bow string that no human would have ever heard echoed in Harry's ears and he opened his eyes to see a black arrow, he calculated the trajectory and pushed Malfoy to the side without a word, the arrow landing where his head was just seconds ago, Harry turned and yanked it from the tree he was leaning on and took the brown parchment off and read aloud "humans, you have come into the forest, disturbing the peace, you call us by our ways for help, tell us why we should help you"
Harry snorted slightly and looked into the sky "Mars is bright this night" Harry called out "and Venus has been bright alongside Mars which has not happened in many years, Jupiter is fading and Pluto is coming into dominance, Charon is also bright this night as well which is quite unusual, betrayal is in the air and darkness stinks the area around us like a foul corroding stench"
A pair of Centaurs came trotting out and Harry greeted them by going down on one knee "thank you honourable Centaur, I ask for your forgiveness in my calling you, but I must ask, have you word of what causes death to those of the silver blood?" Harry looked up and saw Bane with Firenze who he did not want to see.
Bane looked into the sky "Mars is unusually bright, is it not human?"
Harry looked up as he stood "yes, very bright tonight, but with Jupiter fading and Pluto coming into dominance, there is a darkness looming ahead, one which Venus and Mercury have seen many times before"
Bane and Firenze gave him a surprised look as did Hagrid "tell me young human" said Bane "how is it you know of such things?"
Harry thought for a moment before casting a look at the three that had accompanied him "ahh, I see, well, may we perhaps join you in the hunt for this being you quarry for?" Firenze asked, getting the idea that Harry did not want to speak in the open.
Harry bowed his head and walked off with Bane, Hagrid taking Neville and Malfoy along the trail, once out of the way, Harry changed into his Unicorn body and trotted the ground, grinding his hooves into the ground before changing back "I am of the Silver Blooded ones Centaurs, I know your ways because of the Firenze, he has taught me the ways of the Centaur"
Bane looked at Firenze with a scathing glare "is this human's statement true Firenze?" he asked in a hot tone.
Firenze shook his head while looking at Harry "no, indeed not, I have heard of Mr Potter, but I have never seen him before now"
Harry smiled slightly and said "I am not talking about the before, I am talking about the after, the time yet to come"
Both Bane and Firenze stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him with wide eyes "I only ask that you keep this from the hearing of others Master Centaurs, I have much to gain and even more to lose should I slip one way or the other off the sharp sword I tread" Harry said softly, looking at the Centaurs, he knew that he had impressed them greatly 'good, one species down, another four hundred odd species left to go' he thought bitterly.
Turning to leave, Bane placed his hand on Harry's shoulder "should ever you need help from the Centaur tribe of this forest, just call out to us, we shall hear and come to your aid" Harry nodded and the two Centaur walked off and he heard a scream, Harry rolled his eyes and changed into his Unicorn self then started running at full speed to where he found only darkness.
Harry reared up and let he inner light of the Unicorn come out, making the dark cloaked figure of Quirrel screech in rage and run away, Harry looked at Neville who was unconscious, Harry snorted and raised up on his hind legs then came down with a large thump and shattered his left leg, hoping that he could finally beat some sense into him, Harry cantered away and transformed when he was sure nobody was around, he watched Hagrid walk up and give a horrified look at him before picking him up bodily and running in the direction of the castle, Harry made sure to silently run ahead, killing a few creatures that were going to attack Hagrid, he didn't really care about Neville honestly, the ponce was a sure fire Death Eater in the making, Harry knew that Neville was about to turn over to the Death Eaters before he was tortured and killed with Luna Lovegood who was trying to talk him out of it, he shook his head from those thoughts and frowned slightly "next year is when Ginny gets Tommy boys old diary" he muttered with disdain "and I have to go through the halls with those lost little sheep saying I am evil and the Heir of… wait a minute, I am the Heir of Slytherin, wow, I guess they were all right, I may have to hand them credit for being so observant"
Harry chuckled slightly and watched as Hagrid left the forest, Quirrel following behind, dark cloak swirling around behind him, gliding against the floor in a majestic manner 'I wonder how Snape and Voldemort actually do that, I always did want to know, even Malfoy has part of it down' he thought with a laugh before heading up to the castle, not noticing a pair of cold red eyes watching him from the shadows.
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Authors Note: Love it? Hate it? Got suggestions?
All Reviews are read and respected.
