AN: I know what happened to the Canon Blacks but this is fanfiction, so stuff it. Thank you to my reviewers! You make updates happen :D
Chapter 10
The next day, Harry barely managed his classes. But no one noticed. Harry had long ago learned how to bury his exhaustion, fear, anger, and frustration with unteachable students. There were days where he wished he would take a page out of Snape's book.
"Do not hold your wand backward," Harry said to his first years as two, not one, but two students were holding each other's wands. They were laughing madly and had created a loop of tickling charms. If Lockhart didn't prove that not all Ravenclaws were inclined towards intelligence these two made an excellent example.
"Let go of each other's wands," Harry said coming to loom over the two hyenas. The rest of the class was laughing too, excluding a couple students from magical families. The two Ravenclaws, one brown haired girl, and one sandy-haired boy ignored Harry and kept giggling. Tickling charms were great, touching another students wand -much less the end of someone else's wands... "Fifty points from Ravenclaw," Harry said.
Which ended the laughter in the room. The two Ravenclaws hands slackened and Harry snatched both their wands. Harry stormed back to his desk, even he had his limits. "Notebooks and quills, out."
"But professor we only have a minute left of class," said a too sweet Hufflepuff girl that Harry had picked out as one of the students who would be polite and adorable in order to manipulate people into giving her what she wanted.
"If you do not learn this lesson, it will be a week of detention for the class," Harry said, flicking his wand at the board.
"But we didn't do anything wrong, Professor," the Ravenclaw girl said.
"Yeah, it was just the giggling charm," the sandy haired boy said, "You have to give us our wands back."
"Fifty points from Ravenclaw," Harry said, he pointed to the board which now read, Never, ever, ever grab a wand from the wrong end, least of all someone else's wand. "Can anyone tell me why grabbing the wrong end of a wand is bad, most especially someone else's?"
A Slytherin girl raised her hand.
"Ms. Zeller," Harry called.
"It's stupid," she said.
Harry couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yes, but why?"
"Because you can be hit directly with a spell with no protection."
"Five points to Slytherin," Harry said, "Can anyone else explain the other reason we don't grab the wrong end of a wand or someone else's wand?" A hand went up, "Mr. Abercrombie."
"The wand can backfire and if it isn't yours the wand can reject you," he said, voice timid.
"Ten points to Gryffindor, for two answered questions. You and Ms. Zeller are exactly right. Holding a wand backward means you have no protection from the magic that comes out of it and it is very likely to misfire if you were to put energy into it. Grabbing another witch's or wizard's wand backward heightens that probability. Remember that the wand chooses the witch or wizard, therefore the wand is capable of acting out, and if the master of that wand is still holding it, or so help you if two magical beings push their magic into the same wand, the effects can be catastrophic."
The bell rang but no one stood to leave.
"I would like you all to keep in mind the killing curse is far from the only way you can be killed by magic. There are many, many things that can do you permanent harm. If you but use some common sense and not treat your magic, your gifts, and your wands as toys you will avoid a great deal of pointless suffering. You may leave once you have copied what's on the board into your notes."
The class left in silent mass, far too solum for a group of students who'd been crying from getting tickled not fifteen minutes ago. The two Ravenclaw students remained behind. Shamefaced and heads down they asked for their wands back.
"Wait," Harry said, writing his own notes down about the class. After about ten minutes he led the two Ravenclaws to Professor Flitwick's office. It was the last period of the day and most people were headed to the great hall for dinner but Filius was still in his classroom looking over some essays. Harry knocked on the door frame.
Filius looked up and smiled at Harry, "Hello, Harry, come in. Mr. Dorbis and Ms. Pinwoods?"
Harry handed Filius the two student wands and had the students explain what they had done. "Detention," Filius said after he had heard the story. Harry saw the same shadows in Filius' eyes as Harry knew lurked in his own. The students might only be first years, but Filius and Harry had both witnessed the danger of accidental wand-driven magic, the results of which often were not reversible.
"I said three weeks," Harry said.
"They will be serving it with me," Filius stated.
Harry nodded. The students left on the verge of tears. Harry sighed, and sat on the edge of one of the desks facing Filius. "I know we are supposed to be there to teach them but there are some mistakes that we can't afford them to learn from experience."
Filius rubbed his nose, "It is no wonder Severus loses his temper so often."
Harry smirked, "Severus, temper? Surely not."
Filius chuckled, "He does care about the students, no matter how it seems."
Harry's face softened, "I know that. Merlin knows, he saved my butt enough times. He's always cared more about our safety, even if he never liked us."
"It is not always necessary to like a person to protect them," Filius agreed. "I just wish there was a way we could protect the students from themselves."
"When I taught in Ilvermorny, I would always take my students on a field trip the magical hospital."
Filius' eyes brightened, his gaze sharpening on Harry, "Did it help?"
"It did, especially for the students from non-magical families who had never been exposed to magic outside of the school. If we did it here we would have to plan for small groups, St. Mungo's is too busy to have a large group come through."
"I'll talk it over with the other heads of houses," Filius said.
"Not Albus?"
"We will ask him last, I think. Things tend to work smoother if we give him a form that he checks yes or no on. Minerva is the one with a head for planning."
"She is the Assistant Headmistress."
"She'll make a great Headmistress when the time comes," Filius said with a smile.
"Yes, she did. She almost convinced me to come back to work for her," Harry said.
Filius' smile fell, "Albus didn't retire did he?"
Harry shook his head, "We all die Filius, it is the way of things."
Harry skipped dinner that night, taking the potion Ted had left him. Harry was rewarded with twelve hours of sleep. As it so happened the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years had a block of there Friday afternoons off. Harry invited them to his class for extra credit.
Every student, from all four houses, from all four years, showed up. When the doors opened they were greeted with an obstacle course, with clear walls, rock walls, pools of water, and a few odd noises echoing in the shadows. Harry was holding up his hand, grinning. He counted off with his fingers, "Spell one, Aguamenti, spell two Cantis, spell three Orchideous, spell four Glacius, and spell five Finite Incantatem are the only five spells you are allowed to use. The point of the game is to use the objects in the room as shields. Often the best defense is getting out of the way. The game ends when every team member on a single team is singing or has ice on their head. Slytherin and Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."
"That isn't fair!" Finch-Fletchley said, "Both their houses are better at offense than either my house or Ravenclaw."
Harry snorted, "That's not what I see in classes, but as it happens I'm betting on Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seeing as you're less likely to turn on your own teammates."
The students all gave each other wary looks. Harry transfigured the colors of their ties and the image on their cloaks. Maroon red and olive green vs. cornflower blue and pumpkin orange. A silver horse with a tail vs. a copper lion-like-creature with a stinger on its tail.
"Why do they get a lion?" Seamus asked.
"It's not a lion, it is a manticore. Manticores vs. Kelpies, try not eat each other," Harry said.
What ensued after the game started, was the most chaotic game of magical tag played in the last century. Harry kept watch, refereed, and kept score from the vantage point of the chandelier. He didn't time out cheaters, he dumped a small waterfall of ice water over their heads and shielded their victims. The girls stopped cheating first, but it took a Chantis from Harry, to teach Crabbe to stop cheating. Crabbe sang opera for about thirty minutes before Draco could get to him and successfully undo the spell.
The Weasley twins took to the game like fish to water, leaping across objects and ducking behind walls like a scary combination of jungle cats with the mentality of two crazy monkeys. The spells were easy enough and harmless enough that everyone was using them. The better casters of Cantis could get their victims to sing love songs and rock classics or whatever type of music they preferred. Girls like Cho Chang and Lavender Brown took vengeance on the poor fools who drenched them in water. Ginny kept up with her twin brothers like an evil shadow. Luna Lovegood, however, was the unparalleled victor. No one could hit her and she must have hit a two dozen students on the Kelpie team. From Harry's vantage point he knew it was because she was the only student to figure out that not only were there see-through walls but walls with mirrors -that if you stood in a certain spot, you would project your image across the room. Luna used the mirrors to pop in and out of view as well hit her opponents from behind. The Greengrass sisters caught onto this but couldn't find where the trail of mirrors led without being hit with spells.
As Harry had predicted Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, or the Manticores won. It took most of the game for the Slytherins and Gryffindors to figure out how to set traps together and watch each other's backs. It was too late to win by the time they started working together.
Despite there being a losing and a winning side both the Kelpie and the Manticore teams left smiling, laughing, joking, teasing, exhausted, soaking wet, and with a type of unity that was rarely seen at Hogwarts. The Sorting Hat would be proud.
Harry had talked to Dromeda and Teddy. Teddy had agreed to stay the weekend with his Grandmother at Hogwarts. Harry would be back from Grimmauld place Sunday night. After dinner, Harry went down to the Chamber of Secrets to grab a Basilisk fang before going to the Room of Requirement.
The stupid diadem tried to rip his arm off, but he was able to kill it. His mental shields holding up to the black mist. Harry left for Grimmauld Place and found Sirius asleep with Buckbeak. In the kitchen, Harry called, "Kreacher."
Pop. "Worthless Master calls Kreacher."
Harry didn't try to sweet talk the elf. "Master Regulus wasn't worthless, was he?"
The elf's eyes filled with true ire, "Master Regulus was worth more than the likes of you could ever imagine, putrid filth."
"Master Regulus betrayed the Dark Lord. Died trying to shield a no-maj family, didn't he? He couldn't stomach killing children?"
"Master Regulus was strong."
Harry nodded, "He was. He was also clever. Finding the Dark Lord's hiding spot for Slytherin's Locket. You saved him from that cave, without you, he would have never made it out alive. He never found a way to destroy it though, did he? And when the Dark Lord executed him for standing up for the no-maj children, you kept trying to find a way to finish that last task, didn't you?"
Kreacher didn't say a word. He stared at Harry with a mixture of fear and hatred, a slave belonging to unknown but powerful master.
"I know how to destroy it, Kreacher, I brought a Basilisk fang with me. Its venom can destroy a horcrux."
"Kreacher does not believe you."
"Then let me prove it to you. Please Kreacher, bring me the locket. I am a parselmouth, I can open Slytherin's locks."
Kreacher hesitated, shifting from foot to foot. He was scared of trusting a wizard, but then this master had asked, not ordered. Only Regulus had ever said 'please' to him. A Basilisk fang. A parselmouth. Kreacher had failed on his own, what did he have to lose now?
Pop. Pop.
With shaking, long-fingered hands, Kreacher handed his most cherished, most loathed item over to Harry.
Harry took it by the chain. "Thank you, Kreacher," he said, kindly.
The shaking in the elf's hands spread to his entire body.
Harry set up a shield ward between himself and the elf. Harry pulled out the fang, holding it was a leather wrap so the poison on the fang wouldn't touch his skin. He laid the locket on the floor.
"Open," he hissed and stabbed it the moment the hinge snapped opened.
An unholy wail filled Grimmauld Place, the black smoke writhing, shrieking, bleeding black ink, before dissipating and fading into nothingness. Harry cleansed the locked with a few words. Hissed it closed and handed it back to the elf.
Sirius and Buckbeak were startled from slumber by wailing, like some cursed baby, though if it was a baby, it wasn't a human one.
By the time he got down the steps his mother had been shut up and Harry was making tea in the kitchen.
"Hello Godfather," Harry greeted with a smile, dipping his tea bag into his mug.
"I heard screaming," Sirius said between gasps of air.
"A lot of things in this house scream," Harry remarked.
Seeing that Harry was calm, Sirius sunk into a chair at the table, "Yeah, my cousin, Narcissa being one of them. You should have put them in separate cells."
Harry smirked, "Well, I always did doubt Narcissa stayed with Lucius just for the money."
Sirius groaned, "You wouldn't have found that amusing at fifteen."
Harry set the second cup of tea down before Sirius, taking the seat next to Sirius for himself. "Course not, I was a virgin teenager."
Sirius brightened a bit on this topic, "You're not a virgin now though, are you? Dromeda made it sound like you didn't get much action in America."
"I am not a virgin."
"You have to give me more than that."
"One girl from Hogwarts and a couple of no-majs from America. Nothing that lasted though, nothing I wanted to last."
"Did you even try with relationships?"
"No," Harry sighed. "There were some nights I couldn't sleep. I told Dromeda I was going out for a walk after Teddy was in bed. I would apparate to New York City. Hit a couple dance clubs, got a hotel room for a night, sometimes I'd be invited over to a woman's apartment. I'd be gone before the sun rose. Don't tell Dromeda that, she may skin me, I was always able to sneak back in to take a shower and make breakfast for everyone."
Sirius frowned, "It was your own home, you should not have needed to sneak around."
Harry shrugged, "Teddy's hearing is incredible, Sirius. I didn't want to get his hopes up that I was in a relationship. Because trust me, those nights were not about hearts and flowers."
"I'd say you sound like James, but Prongs only had eyes for Lils. You sound like me," Sirius said.
"You make that sound like a bad thing."
"Harry, I am an escaped convict hiding in my hated parents' house, sleeping in a room I haven't seen since I was sixteen. You don't want to end up like me."
"Well, I don't think I would fit in the Dursley's cupboard anymore and my parent's house is a pile of ash or is it still a memorial, so I'm not going to end up like you," Harry said, his tone almost flippant.
"Cupboard?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows pinching together. Before understanding clicked in. "She put you in a cupboard!? Lily's horse-faced, skeletal sister Petunia, put my godson in a cupboard!?"
"I got my cousin's second room when the Hogwarts letters first arrived."
Sirius was seeing red and was trying to breathe evenly, "Letters?"
"Uncle Vernon tried really hard to have me not sent to Hogwarts, he sealed off the letter grate, the windows, the doors, he forgot the fireplace though. He ended up taking us to some random shack in the middle of nowhere. Hagrid broke the door down. I was a fool not opening that first letter in the hall."
There was so much wrong with what Harry had just said Sirius could barely process it.
Harry twilled his spoon in his drink. "Hey, Sirius…"
"Yes, Harry?" Sirius answered through his teeth. Barely able to contain himself.
"How would you like to go on a field trip? I think you should find something extra wizardry to wear."
Petunia Dursley was just serving up dinner when three solid knocks resounded on the front door.
"Who's that, now?" Vernon Dursley asked. "No decent folk call at dinner."
Dudley Dursley eyed the food with loving anticipation. He had gained enough muscle that his 'diet' had been lifted. While he still had to eat more greens, pasta and desserts were back on the menu.
"Duddikins wait for me to get the door, it could be someone important," Petunia said, before going to the door.
She was at a loss for words when she opened the door. A figure dressed in black robes with emerald fringe stood on the front step. Her eyes went up and up and she gasped at the features that smiled at her. For a moment all she saw were her sister's beautiful eyes before she registered that they were shielded by a pair of spectacles, and then she saw her handsome brother-in-law's face. She had only met James a few times and hated him instantly because he was everything her husband was not. Noble, beautiful, rich, talented, and kind. By the looks of the man before her, he was the same.
It hit her then that this man was her nephew.
She gasped, a hand going to her lips as she took a step back.
"How kind of you to let us in," the man/her nephew said, stepping into the house.
Only then did she see the man behind her nephew. She recognized him too. He was much older than last time they'd met at the wedding. He had been the best man, the godfather. Ice filled her veins at that realization. Both of these people were wizards and they could destroy Petunia's entire life, her son's life with a flick of a twig.
"Get out," she whispered.
"No," the best-man said, "No, I think we will stay for dinner. I want to get know the people who raised my godson."
"Petunia, who is it?" Vernon yelled.
Petunia ran wide-eyed into the dining room, "It's-"
"Sirius Black and your nephew, Harry Potter, who have come over to share a family dinner," Sirius said, pulling his wand to summon two more chairs to the table.
"Oh, sit down, Aunt Petunia," Harry said, "I can serve dinner. Merlin knows this is the last time I'll choose to return here."
"You're the murder!" Vernon yelled, rising to his feet, knocking his chair over.
"Sit down. We've already disabled your phone lines, there is no one who can get here in time to stop up from using magic, we are after all Merlin blessed wizards," Harry said, emphasizing every forbidden word. This was a lie, of course, Harry had warded the place from outside attack but the phone lines were quite intact. Harry potioned out the food. Not leaving any leftovers he put the most on his and Sirius' plate, then Aunt Petunia's, then Dudley's, and lastly -with the smallest amount on Vernun's plate. Harry snatched the wine off the table and poured it down the sink. He got the water out of fridge and poured that instead.
"You're older," Dudley said into the glare-down at the table.
"Time travel, and before you ask, no that isn't normal even for magical people," Harry answered his cousin civilly as he sat down across from him, Petunia on his left. Sirius sat between Harry and Vernon.
"How'd it happen?" Dudley asked, for once, his parents didn't stop him from asking about Harry's Freakish world.
"Magical fire bird."
"Did it hurt and what's wrong with your words? You're talkin' funny," Dudley said around a mouth full of food.
"It hurt a bit, been through worse though. I talk funny, because I've lived the last seven years in America," Harry said.
"Why?" Dudley asked.
"I needed a job and I needed out of this country. My parents' killer came back -as you learned this summer, and he started another war."
"Did you get married?" Dudley asked, knowing full well that his father was about to stop them from talking any moment now.
"No, but I do have a godson, his name Teddy. He's the best and brightest thing in my life."
Vernon finally broke, "Like a freak like you could possibly raise a son!"
Which set Sirius off. Harry ate his meal, enjoying the shouting match between his Uncle and Godfather. Sirius didn't draw his wand, never got out of his chair put he still cowered the whale of man that was Uncle Vernon.
"A cupboard? When I first saw him he had barely enough to eat, sunburnt from working in the garden. I saw him cook your meals! You were given a child to care and love and you shoved him in under some dirty old steps, treated him like a prisoner, a servant-"
"He is a good for nothing, lazy-"
"Says a man the size of hippo! With his own son practically breaking the chair with his rolls of fat! Lazy! You dare call my godson lazy!? You have no idea what he went through at school, do you? You don't know him at all. And for a child to clean, to cook, to bake, to slave for two capable adults is a type cruelty that you should be jailed for," Sirius snarled.
Harry got up to serve out dessert to himself and Dudley, seeing as they were the only ones eating.
"Chores were the only way to give him a chance, seeing as your freak world is nothing but a shame!" Vernon yelled into Sirius' face, spittle coming out his mouth.
Harry noted that Uncle Vernon sorta had point, Wizarding Britain hadn't lived up to Harry's hopes and baking, cooking, cleaning, and gardening had all come in handy. Actual, being able to work on next to no sleep or food had been useful too. But Harry wasn't fool enough to point that out to Sirius. The only reason those extremes had been needed, was because the adults in his life had failed to keep him safe. If Teddy ever told Harry that he was 'fine' going three days without a meal, Harry's heart would shatter.
"And has your precious son ever done a chore in his life!? As he ever worked for the scraps of bare necessity like you made Harry do?"
"The boy-"
"I am not a boy," Harry snapped, for the first time that night catching Vernon's gaze. His Uncle seemed to deflate into his chair. "My Godfather is right. You are awful parents. Sirius was on the run for the entire three years I knew him, yet he was still able to show me more love and care than either of you did. And you weren't just awful parents to me, you hurt Dudley, too. Giving him everything he wants, praising him for poor grades and his mean behavior. You turned him into a monster of a person, with no real friends, poor health, and no concept of how to function in the real world. I mean sure, he takes over your drill business, Uncle Vernon, at twenty because you die of a heartattack in your forties. But he never moves out his mother's house and the women he had a shotgun wedding with is dumber than a sack of rocks. Your poor granddaughter, sickly baby girl, she's not at the level physical or mental she should have been at for age. Something about drinking while pregnant."
There was cavernous silence at the end of Harry's little speech. Petunia was shuddering in her seat, tears falling down her bony cheeks.
"You're lying," Vernon stuttered, "You are lying!"
Harry finished the last bite of chocolate cake, put his fork down, whipped his mouth with a napkin, and stood. Harry pulled an envelope out of his inner robe pocket. "This should be enough money to buy you a new house. You don't have to sell this one, but don't come back until Hedwig, my white owl, gives you a letter saying the war is over and it's safe to come back."
"We aren't moving," Vernon declared.
"Shut up, Vernon," Petunia said, voice hollow.
"Petunia?" Vernon asked, shocked.
Petunia went to take the envelope but Harry didn't let go, "I didn't know my mother well. But I remember that night. Remembered her giving her life for mine. I can say I forgive you for the hell you put me through, for the lies you told me about her and my dad, but even if I say it, I don't think I could ever possibly mean it. When I hear stories of her I know why you disliked her. You hated her because she was everything you weren't and everything you wanted to be. Her friend, Alice told me so many stories, but what I realized to be the biggest difference between you and my mum, is that she would never have taken her hurt feelings out on your son. In your jealousy, you ensured you'd never be the person you wanted to be. I hope that you are capable change, I hope you stay safe in the future, but I am grateful I will never be forced to pretend to be your family again. Goodbye, Petunia, Vernon, Dudley."
Harry left without looking back. Sirius grabbed hold of his hand as they stepped into the streets.
"It wasn't like that the last time I said goodbye," Harry said. "I never got to say any of that before. Dumbledore said what you said, but he wasn't angry. He wasn't angry because he had known, always known, practically engineered it." Harry looked at his godfather, standing in the street where they had met in his third year. "You care, you actually care about what happened to me and will happen to me," Harry's tone made it a half question.
"Of course, I care, Harry, I love you," Sirius said, "I've always loved. Since that day I saw you in that silly muggle machine, kicking against Lil's stomach. How could I not love you?"
"Don't die this time," Harry told him. "Please, Sirius? Please don't die on me again? I don't think I could live through it a second time."
Sirius squeezed his hand tight, "We're going to do better this time, Harry. You're not alone this time."
Harry felt as though he were diving in the air in his animagus form with his eyes closed. He didn't know where the ground was, and all of a sudden he wasn't a kestrel and there were no wings to protect him from this impact. He really couldn't survive this alone. Sure, if the people who died the last time died again, and he and Teddy were still alive, Harry would go on. But he would be a living ghost, the broken pieces in him now, the pieces he'd spent seven years puzzling back together would be broken beyond repair. Harry clung to Sirius' hand as they left the dreary streets of Surry behind them.
AN: So I am the type of writer who lets the characters decide what they want to do and I wasn't expecting to visit the Dursleys. Let me know what you think?