So I have a new method to my madness… Sorta.
I've decided that regardless of any little flashbacks that will show up within a chapter I'll be putting one big one at the beginning.
The flashback might not have anything to do with what's currently going on in the story, but it will give you more insight into the Black family's past.
Most of them will be Harry's flashbacks. But some will be the others.
I might make up a basic timeline in a few chapters that I will alter every couple of chapters so you have a better idea of exactly when these things are happening.
I realized while writing this that I would have to change a little more of HP canon than I had originally thought, but oh well.
I want to thank everybody who has reviewed thus far. We've made it past the 100 mark! Woot woot! I have replied to a lot of your reviews and I intend to keep doing so. Thank you all so much!
Okay. So this is the part where I usually ask your guy's opinion on something, and this chapter is no different.
Actually it is.
Harry's animagus form will be revealed in a few chapters. I want you guys to guess what it is.
Whoever gets it first will win a prize.
I will write a one-shot and post it for that person.
It can be a lemon, non lemon. Angst, happy, sad, ect. Any pairing for any characters. Even crossover. So long as I am familiar with both characters. Het, Slash, FemSlash. You name it.
So go ahead and guess. You will have until Harry's form is revealed. If no one gets it, which I doubt, there will be no one-shot.
You can only guess once. If you put more than one in your guess I will not count it. Guesses from anonymous reviewers do not count either, Sorry.
If more than one person manages to get it I apologize, only the first person to do so will count.
Also, make sure you have the PM feature on your account turned on. Not just for the contest either. If I can't PM you, I can't reply to your reviews! (Like Naru-Tenchi, I would be happy to reply to your awesome review, but I can't.)
If someone gets it by the next chapter, then I will say so in next chapter's author's note.
So, that settled, I welcome you to the new chapter. Enjoy.
Disclaimer- Fuck this shit. I'm not doing this anymore.
~HPT~
Chapter 9- Cracks in the Mirror
He had been sitting on his small bed at the burrow. Looking out the window at the rain. He would be in third year once school started. He sighed. He loved Hogwarts. But so far he couldn't decide which was more dangerous.
Hogwarts or Privet Drive.
Merlin knows both had endangered his life.
"Harry."
He looked up. Bill's dark blue eyes looking down on him. He sucked in a breath; he could get lost looking into those eyes.
"Yes Bill?"
The older male sat down next to him on the bed. Harry shared this room with Ron. But Ron had gone with Mrs. Weasley and the others to pick up things for school. Harry had opted to stay behind, claiming he felt sick.
He had met the handsome 23 year old just before Second Year began. He had been at the station when they got out; wanting to surprise his family.
Apparently he had gotten a promotion at Gringotts. One that allowed for much more time off. He had brought Ron and the twins to see Harry during that summer from time to time. And again this summer.
Uncle Vernon had been furious.
Harry liked Bill.
Maybe too much for someone so much older than him.
Harry absently noticed that the door was shut. Had Bill closed it? Was he so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed?
"We need to talk Harry."
He swallowed nervously; the room suddenly felt too hot. "A-about what?"
Bill smiled, the expression almost teasing, and Harry's stomach did loops. "About this little crush you have on me, Harry."
Harry paled. How did he find out? No one knew. No one. Harry had never told a soul that he fancied Bill.
He'd never told a soul he fancied blokes at all.
He swallowed again, wringing his hands in the blanket beneath him. "I-I don't know wh-what you…"
Bill chuckled. "Don't bother lying Harry. You and I both know how you feel about me. I'm not in here to yell at you about it or anything."
Harry turned his head down, looking up at Bill through his fringe, and wrapped his arms around himself for comfort. "Then why…?"
Bill leaned towards him, causing Harry to lean back; his shoulders hitting the wall.
Had he been that close to the wall before?
"I fancy you too Harry."
Harry gasped. He looked up at the curse-breaker with shocked, innocent green eyes.
Eyes that only grew wider when Bill leaned down and kissed him.
~HPT~
Jacob stared, eyes wide, jaw open.
It was a rather hilarious look on a wolf.
He and Paul had started their patrol. He had thought I was odd how Paul was thinking about everything that they passed in so much detail. He had realized that Paul was hiding something.
He was curious of course. And that curiosity showed in his thoughts.
At first Paul had tried to ignore him. Jacob knew he was ignoring him and it only made him more and more curious.
Eventually he had caught sight of bright green eyes in Paul's thoughts before the older shifter had handed the wheel over to the wolf. With the wolf in charge things were simpler. Wolves had thoughts. Just like humans. But their thoughts were very basic. Hunt, kill, eat, track, danger, mate, ect.
The wolf was almost a separate entity from the shifter, but not quite. It was more like a part of them made almost entirely out of instinct that had branched off a bit from their main consciousness. So the wolf was still the shifter. Just different.
At first the dark grey wolf that was Paul had chosen to ignore him in the same way. It had focused on the territory lines. Tracking and sniffing and checking. Making sure that nothing had entered Quileute territory.
But he had gotten distracted once and those green eyes had popped back into his mind.
Jacob had thought who's that?
And the grey wolf, still not thinking like a human, still only running on instinct, had replied in its usual manner with a one word answer.
An answer that had made Jacob freeze in his tracks and stare.
An answer that had the man within the wolf panicking and coming back to the forefront; inadvertently giving more information away.
Mate.
Then, instead of just green-eyes, the entire face had popped into Paul's mind's eye. A face Jacob recognized. A face he had seen almost every day for a week.
Harry.
~HPT~
Harry smiled as he worked on dinner, Dobby on a stool next to him chopping vegetables. Things here were finally looking up for them. For all of them.
He, Luna, Blaise, and Hermione had found their soul mates. Each had decided on their own to pursue them too. Since none of them had anyone. At least not in that sense.
Draco seemed more mellow here n Forks than usual. He was still a little… Pompous maybe? But he wasn't nearly as bad as he had been.
Neville seemed incredibly excited about his soon-to-be Flower Shop. At least that was all it would be to the muggles. He didn't even seem to mind that they would have to fix the place up by hand instead of with magic so as not to attract attention.
Ron, while maybe a little jealous of him and the others for finding their soul mates, seemed happy as well. He had been spending most of his days in Seattle; searching for a proper storefront to turn into the first American branch of WWW. He hadn't come home yet tonight however, and Harry wondered if he had perhaps found one and was busy hunting down the owner.
He would need to find workers to hire too. As would Neville.
I suppose though that I could help them out on the weekends…
He wondered what they would all do once they no longer had to go to school.
He started a bit at the sound of knocking.
"I got it!" He saw his dad run past the opening to the kitchen. He was wearing jeans and a black button up today. His hair falling all around his face. Harry thought it suited him better than the prim and proper dress Draco forced him into when he was left the house.
He heard the door open and then talking. The other voice was a bit deeper that Sirius' voice. He didn't bother to pay much attention though. The only ones capable of making it to the front door without setting off any wards were muggles.
He did, however, take notice of the slight flare of magic he felt. He stared at the kitchen entrance a moment before turning back to the pot in front of him.
Well what do ya know…?
~HPT~
Draco looked around at the attic. It was a room all itself. A spacious area with a slanted ceiling. He could just barely stand against the walls where the ceiling was lowest. He intended to turn it into a music room.
Granted only he, Blaise, and perhaps Luna knew how to play anything… But he planned to rectify that soon enough. Everyone should know how to play at least one instrument and speak two languages.
At least that's what his mother had taught him.
So he planned to make sure his family adhered to those rules. He wouldn't bother Sirius or Harry with the second languages though. He knew his pseudo father knew how to speak French like he and his mamam. And Harry had his parstletongue; which he supposed counted as a second language. Hermione and Blaise probably knew at least one other language as well.
Regardless. Most of this family was made up of Lords, and Lady, to powerful Wizarding Houses. He would damn well make sure they knew how to act like it.
Especially considering their seats on the Wizengamot.
As much as they wanted to completely leave England and the European Wizarding World behind, they couldn't completely do that.
The full Wizengamot was not called often. But when it was, those with seats were expected to be there. There were also the various estates and fortunes and artifacts they had control over as a result of their various heritages. Thus far the goblins had been taking care of everything. But he knew there were some things that they would have to deal with themselves.
He and Blaise were familiar with the subtle political games. He imagined that Sirius and Neville both had experience in those matters as well. The others, however, were hopeless.
He would rectify that soon enough.
He sighed in slight irritation. He had better get started on this attic. He would worry about the political issues later.
It had all been so much easier before the war.
Or at least before they switched sides.
He had been reading, unaware that anything was amiss until he heard his mother's voice.
"Draco, où êtes-vous?"
He looked up from his book to reply. "In the library, Mamam."
She came in and he was immediately on his feet and by her side. She wore no jewelry today, which was unusual for her. But that was not what had him worried. Her cloak was ripped, and there were bruises on her face; a split lip dripping blood onto her clothes. Her usually beautiful countenance was marred by her injures.
"Nous devons quitter cette chambre." She told him, but her barely heard her; still staring in horror at the blood dripping from her mouth.
"Ce qui s'est passé pour vous?" He asked her; his voice quieter than usual.
"Votre père."
"What?" He knew the man was not kind, but he had never thought he would raise a hand to Narcissa. His surprise was quickly morphing into poorly disguised rage.
"Hurry child! Rassemblez vos choses!" Only now did he recognize how panicked she seemed. He nodded; immediately rushing to get his things.
They were out of the manor within an hour.
They never came back.
At least, not by choice…
~HPT~
He didn't even try to hide how pissed off he was this time. He let the wolf have control again and outright snarled; muzzle curling back over dangerous teeth that were sharp enough to rip through the stone-like skin of a vampire like butter. His ears were flat against his head, his tail in the air, whole body filled with muscles tense and ready like a coiled spring.
He was just waiting for one more thought from the black wolf in front of him to set him off. He didn't care whether the others would interfere or not.
Pau wanted to rip Sam apart right now.
And Sam had just realized that.
Jacob had been shocked at the realization that Paul had imprinted on a boy.
Paul had panicked, trying to push back his thoughts of Harry and make Jake swear to keep it secret at the same time.
In the chaos, neither noticed when the thoughts drifting between them went from the thoughts of two shifters, to the thoughts of three.
Likewise, neither noticed when the thoughts went back to two.
But they did notice when the thoughts became four; one of the other two being Sam, and a loud, long howl went out from him. A howl that all the shifters would hear. And know. A howl that said to come. Immediately.
Paul winced.
Shit.
He had let the wolf take over again and lead him to their Alpha. Jake following along behind him.
One by one, the others had come and shifted. Seth having to drop his chores. Leah having to leave the store she worked at. Quill and Embry came away from lunch with friends of theirs.
One by one they each latched onto the thoughts of Sam, Jared, and Jacob and became aware of what was happening.
They became aware that Paul had supposedly imprinted on a boy.
Paul himself was quiet through the rage of different thoughts, barely making any sense with the way they twisted and meshed together in his head. Instead he left the wolf in control, and listened intently to Sam's thoughts without any of his own.
Sam was shocked. At first he seemed to be wondering how such a thing was possible. It had never happened before right? Then he seemed to think it wasn't possible. That it was a mistake.
Paul couldn't have imprinted on a male. It goes against everything we know about the imprint. It's not possible. Just a crush. Not real. Not an imprint.
The wolf in him was enraged. Harry was HIS. His imprint. His MATE. How dare this fool say otherwise?
The grey wolf growled low. But the sound and new train of it's and Paul's thoughts was lost in the noise as Leah jumped up to defend him. Accidentally revealing her own imprint hat she had kept hidden.
Paul was deaf to what was going on around him. His wolf was pissed. He was pissed. Then something changed.
There was always a vague line that separated the two parts of a shifter's mind. One part held the human thoughts; the other was the wolf instincts and basic thoughts that went along with them. Emotions crossed the line from and tow both sides. But the line was there.
Until suddenly, it wasn't.
Paul felt no line at that moment. He was the wolf and the wolf was him. And he, it, they, were furious.
Which led to the current moment in time.
With the Paul wolf snarling and growling and snapping his jaws at Sam. Everyone finally aware of him, of what he was feeling; of how he wanted to sink his teeth into Sam's hide and snap his jaws tight around Sam's throat.
They called out to him, trying to calm him down, trying to understand what was going on; why he had suddenly (to them at least) snapped.
But their thoughts felt so far away to him in his current state. Muffled and murky. Like he was underwater.
His thoughts took on no words. There were images and impressions that brought words to mind. But no actual words. It was strange, but he was too mad at Sam to take much notice of the odd change.
He forced his memory of that day in Bella's house that felt much longer ago than it had been to the forefront of his thoughts. He practically threw it at them.
Paul had been sitting near the window when everyone rushed to it. So it hadn't been difficult to stand up and peak out along with them. He watched almost bored as the cars drove up and disappeared into the garage; rolling his eyes at how everyone else waited with baited breath for them to come out.
He watched almost bored as they emerged from the side door one by one.
Until he caught sight of the boy with black hair.
He stiffened in shock and hope, confusion and happiness; a million other emotions.
He felt as the world around him upturned itself, twisting around while the only thing he could see was the short boy with black hair and green eyes. Then the world righted itself again. Though now gravity no longer held him here. Instead he was bound by powerful steel cables that twisted tight around his very soul and latched themselves onto the black haired boy.
His imprint.
His mate.
The Paul wolf snarled louder as the memory finished itself. He stalked forward.
He could hear the muffled sounds of thoughts from the others again. Though they were slightly louder this time.
But before he could pounce on the black wolf he recognized at this moment as Prey rather than Alpha, another wolf stood in front of him.
It was a smallish grey wolf with narrow eyes.
He snarled at it and it bared it's neck to him. The wolf whimpered and shook it's head in the direction of the forest. After a moment he calmed. The wolf side saw this one as pack. Not an enemy. It recognized that the wolf was deferring to him in terms of power. The human in him understood that it was trying to lead him away before he did something he would regret.
He gave a consenting growl and followed the smaller wolf into the trees.
He barely noticed that as he ran, the thoughts of the others disappeared.
~HPT~
Seth watched the whole spectacle with a mix of confusion and shock.
Unlike the others he had noticed right away when something changed. He had been trying to speak to Paul through the other thoughts but to no avail.
So he had noticed when something inside Paul's mind changed. It was like a rubber band had snapped. Something was so different so suddenly and then Paul's entire thought process changed.
It was his own panic as he watched the big grey wolf begin to snarl and move towards Sam that alerted the others to what was happening.
They heard nothing from Paul. But they could see him imagining ripping Sam apart the way he ripped apart rouge vampires.
When he suddenly thrust forward his memory of imprinting Seth winced. His thoughts were so… loud. The replay of the memory drowned out everyone else's thoughts. Even his own. It was like there was nothing but the memory. Then it was over and Paul was stalking forward again.
He started in fright when Leah jumped in front of him, fearing for his sister's safety. She had brought her wolf closer to the front, not quite letting it take over but using it's instincts. He was surprised to see Paul back down.
He was almost completely calm again when Leah began to lead Paul away.
At least until he realized that while he could hear their paws hitting the ground as they ran, he could no longer hear their thoughts.
He wanted to go after them. But he wanted to stay near Jacob as well. He was loyal to his sister. But he worried what would happen to him, what Sam would do, if he tried to go with them.
Sam moved to follow them. Jake jumped in front of him.
Seth only watched as when Sam tried to use his 'Alpha-voice' to get the russet wolf to move, Jake didn't even flinch.
And when it looked as though a confrontation would occur, he went to stand near Jake.
~HPT~
There you go loves. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was kind of fun to write.
Good luck with my little mini contest.
The next chapter will be up soon enough but I'll give you lot a couple days first. I'm very happy about the reception this story has received so far.
Review please!