IMPORTANT: This is the old version of Harry's Familiars! This story has been adopted by the wonderful Darksurvivor, so head on over to his profile to find the new story.
Chester wasn't going to become a Familiar. He was happily sitting inside of the tepee with no problems. Jinx and Hedwig stepped (well, slithered and flew) back to give Harry and Kane room. They stood with a few feet between them looking directly at each other, gazes unwavering. Harry closed his eyes and felt for his magic.
He felt nothing. He continued to search. He imagined a glowing ball of power, floating in an immense empty blackness. He imagined himself reaching out to the ball of magic. He grasped it in his hand and pulled a tendril out of it. He kept one end connected to the imaginary orb and gently moved the tendril of power into a rope-like shape.
He stilled for a moment. He imagined a glowing orb of a different type of power. He filled it with all the thoughts and memories he had of Kane. He filled it with the fun memories, the sad ones, the loving ones, and finally, the ones that made them family. He reached out for the orb. It didn't do anything for a long moment. Another tendril came out of it, seemingly looking around its surroundings. The blackness surrounding it was caving in, trying to bury the light in its darkness. The light only grew brighter.
The tips of the Tendril's meet. The one Harry imagined he was holding radiated warmth and family and comfort. The other one didn't hesitate. They entwined, tightening around each other before they seemed to sink into each other, forming a rope where you could not tell where one tether ends and the other begins.
All of this was imagined in Harry's mind in startling clarity. He opened his eyes. He heard a voice. "Did it work? It feels like it worked." Harry looked around, but found only Kane, who was looking at him intently. "Kane? Did you just…?" Harry trailed off. "Harry! Can you understand me now?" Kane took a step forward to nudge him with his head. "This is amazing! I've always wished you could understand me! And now that you can, I don't know what to say." Kane started running around him in circles, tossing his head back and neighing out his excitement.
"Let's celebrate after everyone can understand each other, okay buddy? I still have to complete the bond with Jinx and Hedwig. You haven't been able to understand Jinx all this time, have you? That must have been hard…" Harry tried to calm him. "I don't know how long that took us; I was standing there for a long before I could feel anything happening. I'm going to munch on this grass while you attempt to bond with them. Good luck, now I'm hungry." Kane snorted and began ignoring him. Truthfully, Kane was still trying to wrap his head around everything that was happening. Slowly chewing on grass while Harry did whatever he was doing gave him plenty of time to clear his head.
Harry laughed at Kane's dismissal and looked for Jinx. Her red scales were not the best camouflage in the bright green of the forest, and he found her easily. She hissed at him, annoyed that he had been doing nothing for so long. "Sorry we took so long, Jinx. But it worked! I can understand Kane now! Are you ready to bond with me?" he asked. "Yes, what do I do? It better not involve sitting here for hours like you had Kane to do!" she replied. "It shouldn't take as long now that I know what to do, Jinx. Open your heart to me and I will do the same for you." Harry tried to sooth her.
She rose up on the bottom half of her body, coiling it below her like she was about to strike. Harry showed no fear and their eyes met. He knew that she was testing him and raising her body so that their eyes could meet at the same time. A smile could be seen on both their faces as another unbreakable bond was formed. Kane came over, feeling as if he was just pulled towards them.
He acted on instinct and completed his part of the bond by tying just a little bit of his 'rope' of power onto it. When Harry imagined the glowing orbs of power to bond with Jinx, this time he imagined his orb and the line connecting his and Kane's orb, along with Jinx's orb floating off to the side.
He formed the rope between him and Jinx much the same way he did with Kane. This time, before the bond fully formed and solidified, a tiny rope came from Kane's orb and latched onto a bit of Jinx's side of the rope. It seemed to approve the bond before everything settled down. The three of them were fully connected now.
Now the only creature left was the patiently waiting Hedwig. She hooted, unsure. Her eyes were troubled, and Harry took a guess at what was wrong. "You have just met me a few hours ago, haven't you? You are a very intelligent bird. I can tell. I won't force you into this. Take as long as you need to, okay?" Harry stood up and walked over to her, his head still a foot or two below the branch she was sitting on. Jinx hissed her agreement.
Hedwig affectionately landed on Harry's shoulder, nibbling his ear in a show of agreement. "I am going to go check the traps while you two hunt, okay? Hedwig, we don't want creatures to actively avoid this area, so would you mind traveling a little further away to hunt? Jinx knows what to do already." She took off silently, causing Harry to once again almost buckle under the unfamiliar weight. Jinx slithered off just as Harry jumped onto Kane's back.
"The usual route, buddy?" Harry asked. Kane snorted, "I heard the whole conversation. I don't even think you needed to ask. Why don't we go for a speed run?" Kane was rearing to run after a whole nights rest with good food in his belly. Harry patted his neck and they were off, racing between the trees on a familiar path through the forest. The rush and happiness was exhilarating. They were moving as one ducking and moving and jumping together, never missing a beat. The connection between them had increased on a far greater level then just verbal communication.
A thought would filter through Harry's mind, and Kane would hear it. Kane would think, if only for a split second, about jumping over a fallen tree, and Harry would hear the thought and cheer him on. The run through the forest was simply fun. They almost forgot to stop and check the traps. The first few ones were empty, but by the time they finished checking all of them, a few hours had passed and they had a good amount of food for the next day or so.
Returning to the camp, they both had a vague idea that Jinx was almost back with a full stomach. When she returned, her belly fat with a mouse slowly digesting inside, neither were surprised. The bond had made all of them aware of each other on a much higher level than ever before. It would take practice to master everything involved in the bond, but they were all in such high spirits, none of the work or confusion bothered them. Chester silent the entire time, not at all bothered by sitting still after the long walk he took to get back to the camp from Diagon Alley.
Hedwig soon returned and began preening over the fact that she had caught a partially fat vole. Harry had about a month before he went to Hogwarts left, and he planned to spend it preparing. He had no doubt that he would be at a disadvantage compared to the other kids. Not only had he not brushed up on any basic skills a normal kid would learn in school in years, but he had most likely forgotten some social skills at this point. He wasn't particularly gross, and he made a point not to eat completely like an animal, but having only animals instead of humans as your only companions wouldn't help anyone learn the best social skills. Not to mention when he had conversed with humans for any length of time, almost none of it could be considered friendly.
Talking to Griphook and the other Goblins hadn't been a problem. He asked the few questions, and they answered them, simple as that. They asked a few questions, and he gave them a straightforward answer. Talking to people he barely knows will be a problem. Still, getting a book that teaches communication and social skills might be overkill. He still loved books just as much as he did when he still lived with the Dursley's, that won't ever change.
He read more of the book about Familiar's and attempted one of the exercises recommended in it. He sat by his fire, cross legged and closed his eyes. Jinx was attempting to lift a rock with her flexible tail. Harry could sense both of his Familiar's in the corner of his mind. He focused on Jinx's presence and sent the first broadcasted the first thing that came to mind, "What is the point of trying to lift a rock with your tail, exactly?" His eyes popped open when he heard an almost instantaneous verbal replay coming from Jinx.
"So I have a stronger tail for whipping people that annoy me when biting isn't an option or is just a little to cruel at the moment." She looked at him, noticing his lack of response. "Do you even notice that I wasn't speaking aloud?" Harry asked. "I noticed. I just didn't feel like trying to respond with thought. It would take effort, distracting me! I might as well attempt it, it should be useful if you ever get into trouble and need me to bite someone for you." She flippantly replied as she picked a thought and sent it to him. "I'm going back to my tail strengthening exercise now."
Harry jerked back in surprise at the quick statement flashing through his mind. Well, that was much easier than he had thought it would be. He tried again with Kane. It seemed even easier. "Are you up for going back to Diagon Alley for a quick shopping trip a few days from now? We need to pick up a book bag and some blank notebooks. And we just may grab a few more books. But that's all, I promise!" Kane's head swiveled towards him and snorted. "That's kind of cool! I could hear your entire conversation with Jinx, you know! I'm always up for a run! But you better be right about the fact that it will be a quick trip, waiting outside all of those stores was not fun!" Harry sent another thought to Kane. "You should try and send a thought to me. You both should try to send thoughts to each other, too!"
They began playing around with talking to each other through their minds. The next week was spent practicing connecting to each other's minds. During that week, a trip to Diagon Alley was made, a quick stop to get a few blank, leather bound notebooks and a cross body book bag that hug at his hip with a charm on it that made it extremely light no matter how much stuff you put in it. The charm was apparently called the feather-light charm. He read more and more of his books as time passed, throwing in the first few chapters of his Occlumency book. It had him doing a meditative exercise each night to organize his mind.
He managed to read all of the most important information from each of his school textbooks, but he took almost no notes on them, planning on going over them again in more depth in class. He took notes on his non-coursework books, not wanting to forget any important information in his self-studies.