AN: Holy tapdancing Christ. I'm seriously sorry this took so long. Real life got in the way again…
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The following Saturday, at eight in the evening, a large, black dog padded into the Shrieking Shack. There was already someone there, leaning against the wall. The lithe, dark haired Slytherin girl smirked as the dog came into the room.
"Hello, Sirius Black." The dog morphed and changed, and within moments, a dark haired man stood in its place. He had a wistful, almost amazed expression on his face.
"Harriet…is that really you? You've grown so much…" Harriet's smirk spread into a grin as she felt a warmth spread in her chest.
"People do tend to grow in twelve years." The young witch sighed, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, Sirius, this meeting is not the time to play catch-up. Aurors will be here in less than half an hour, and I really must be gone before they get here. They have no idea I'm involved at all, you see, and if they question me I'll likely end up in Azkaban myself for all the laws I broke in the last several months. So, let's try to keep this to questions you need answered immediately.
"And, on that note, I do have unfortunate news. By all accounts, the Auror force seems to be incompetent. And, due to that incompetence, Pettigrew escaped as he was transported to Azkaban." Harriet saw her godfather's eyes narrow. She held her hands up, palms out, and cut him off. "Yes, I know. I want to hunt down the rat and kill him just as much as you do. Unfortunately for us both, neither of us can. You need to stay right here, and turn yourself into the Aurors in about twenty minutes. And I need to stay here and finish my school year. So the rat has to get away this time. Now, all of that being said, the DMLE still has Pettigrew's confession on file. I have been assured by Madam Bones herself that getting your name cleared should go off without a hitch, provided you come quietly and are as innocent as I think you are." Harriet let the end of her sentence hang in the air, questioning.
Sirius blinked slowly, and shook his head.
"The only thing I ever did was break out of Azkaban. You're…you're so different from Lily and James…" The young witch's smile faded into a scowl.
"Of course I am. I would certainly hope I'm not like my Gryffindor parents. I would never survive in Slytherin. Let me make a couple things clear before I have to go, Mr. Black. The only memory I have of my birth parents is my mother's death. The closest thing I have to parents are the Dursleys. I don't take well to the mention of my parents, especially being compared to them. Secondly, I legitimately trust exactly three people in the world. They have proven themselves to me. I hope that, one day, I could trust you too. But, before that can happen, I have to understand you, and you have to prove to me that you can keep my secrets.
"Peter Pettigrew ruined both of our lives. I got him caught so you could have the same chance I had when I came to Hogwarts, to rebuild. I've had nearly three years of rebuilding. I am who I am. You can accept that, or you can't. It's your choice." There was a long moment of silence in the Shrieking Shack. Sirius just stared at his goddaughter with an incredulous expression. Harriet just held the elder wizard's gaze.
After over a minute of silence, there was an indistinct ringing sound. Sirius looked around, confused. Harriet merely blinked for the first time since she ended her speech, and reached into her satchel, removing the Invisibility Cloak.
"That was my five minute warning. I was serious earlier, if I'm still here when the Aurors arrive, it both hurts your case, and gets me sent to Azkaban for several decades. I must go. I shall be in contact once you're a free man, Sirius Black." Without another word, Harriet pulled the cloak over her. Sirius could barely hear her footsteps as she walked to the door and opened it. Before the door could close again, he called out.
"Harriet, wait. I…thank you. You're nothing like what I expected, but you're still my goddaughter, and I will still do anything for you. I shall await your letter." There was no response, but, in retrospect, Sirius wasn't expecting one. The door merely closed, leaving Sirius alone in the Shrieking Shack. Through a dusty window, Sirius stared back at the castle, knowing full well that his goddaughter wouldn't be visible.
Suddenly, movement caught his attention, black shapes moving against the night. An instant later, there was a large pop as Aurors portkeyed into the Shrieking Shack. Sirius spun to face them.
"The dementors are swarming someone on Hogwarts grounds! They need help." The Aurors looked at each other. The lead Auror cleared his throat.
"Sorry, Black. We have a very limited time frame to get you back to the Ministry so Fudge doesn't have you kissed on sight. If the dementors are swarming, the Professors can help them. Are you coming quietly?" Looking back out the window, saw flashes of fire in the darkness. He sighed deeply, and nodded.
Handcuffs were clamped on his wrists, and a Portkey pressed into his hands.
The last thing Sirius saw before the Portkey activated was the flames disappear, obscured by the floating, dark forms.
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As Harriet climbed out from under the Whomping Willow, she glanced down at the small snake coiled around a certain knot on the tree.
"Once I'm away from the tree, you may go. I have no further orders for you." As she walked away from the tree, she caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her vision. Turning, she froze on the spot as her heart fell.
From nearly every direction, the dementors were coming. Self-preservation instincts kicked in. Within moments, the Invisibility Cloak was stowed away, her wand was in her hand, and her back was against a wall. Harriet tore off her glasses and pointed her wand at the nearest dementor as everything Professor Lupin had said over eight months of private lessons.
"Dementors are creatures of fear, isolation, and cold. The Patronus Charm is a witch or wizard's greatest weapon against them, as it is their antithesis, magic borne of warmth, hope, and light. But it is an incredibly tricky bit of magic, most adults cannot preform it. However, dementors have a second, lesser fear: fire. Fire can hurt them, and drive them back temporarily, whereas the Patronus Charm will drive them off completely."
Already, Harriet could feel the dementor's influence clawing at her mind, dredging up her terror, multiplied exponentially by the horde approaching her. So Harriet surrendered to the snake hiding in the back of her mind.
The nearest group of dementors exploded into flames. Another group followed quickly, then another, and another. Before long, Harriet was standing in a veritable ring of flame from where the Hogwarts lawn caught ablaze.
But the Dementors continued to come. Harriet knew she had but one chance to make it back into the school with her soul intact. She searched her mind for the one thing she had been struggling with for eight months.
She had to find a memory happy enough to fuel a proper Patronus Charm.
Before Christmas, she had realized that her victorious glee of success in Slytherin politics wouldn't work. By March, she had ruled out simple pleasures, such as her first broom flight, or the exhilaration of her Firebolt. She needed something…sentimental and pure.
In any other situation, the notion would have made her scoff. Harriet Potter was a lot of things, but sentimental or pure she was not.
The swarm of dementors closed in. Harriet felt her wand drop to her side. Cold sunk into every part of her being. The closest dementor grabbed her robes, and slowly reached up to its own hood. Harriet closed her eyes, yielding to the inevitable. Unbidden, against the background of her mother's final screams, a series of memories enveloped Harriet's mind.
She was standing in a wooden shack on the ocean as Hagrid broke down the door, and told her the truth for the first time in her life.
She was on the Hogwarts Express, alone in a compartment, and Blaise Zabini stepped through the door and into her life as her first ever friend.
She was standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, and for a moment, she could pretend she had parents who loved her for who she was.
She was waking up in the Hospital Wing, surrounded by her friends, and their reaction was nothing short of joy.
She was stumbling into the Leaky Cauldron, battered and broken, and Tom stopped everything to help her for free.
She spun from the fireplace into the Davis's home, and found only acceptance.
She was stepping into the Chamber of Secrets for the first time, ready to sacrifice herself if it meant her friends would be safe.
She was standing in the Headmaster's office as the entire Weasley family showered her in affection and gratitude.
She was on her bed on Christmas morning, and she found out she had a godfather.
She was stumbling into an empty classroom after Pettigrew's confession, and allowed Daphne to pull her into an embrace and let her feel safe again, no evidence of judgment on her face, despite her recent use of an Unforgivable Curse.
Harriet snapped her eyes open, and stared horror in the face. She jabbed her wand into its chest, and clung with all her might to the spark of warmth in her chest.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Unlike every other time she had cast the spell, her wand did not issue a vague, silver mist. There was a great burst of light, and the dementors around her began to scream and flee. Behind them, chasing them away, was the spectral image of her familiar, very nearly life sized.
Harriet fell back against the wall behind her, suddenly exhausted. Subconsciously, she replaced her glasses as she sat against the wall, watching her Patronus scatter the horde of dementors. She felt a prickling, crawling, yet soothing sensation along the scar on her left forearm. Harriet flicked her tongue through the air, then whispered in Parseltongue.
"Thank you, my pet."
A few moments later, the dementors properly chased off, her Patronus dissipated. After several deep breaths, Harriet found her way to her feet, and headed back into the castle.
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The next day, after lunch, Harriet walked into the Defense classroom. As usual, Remus Lupin was already there, at his desk. The werewolf just watched as the Slytherin girl put up privacy wards, as usual. However, he was not expecting what she did next.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The silver mist only existed for a moment, before coalescing into spectral snake nearly three meters long.
It took Remus nearly a minute to find his voice.
"A snake Patronus…of course. And larger than most Patroni, as well. So, Miss Potter, what changed? Just last week you couldn't do much better than a strong mist." The dark haired girl smirked.
"I've been trying all year to find one single memory to use as the focus. Well, I'm fairly certain I don't have any single memories capable of producing a real Patronus. So, under duress, I made a slight innovation. I use a chain of small memories, linked together only by the feelings they inspire." Remus scowled.
"Wait, under duress? How could you…wait. Last night, there was a rumor that the dementors were swarming someone on the grounds. They were swarming you, weren't they?" Harriet merely nodded.
"They were. Why, I couldn't tell you. And if that Patronus is larger than most, you would have been really impressed last night. You see, I don't just have a snake Patronus. It's a basilisk, my basilisk to be precise. You've never exactly seen her, but you saw her shed skin outside the Chamber. Last night, my Patronus was very close to life sized." Remus just stared incredulously. Harriet rolled her eyes. "That being said, it did very nearly completely exhaust my magic. Now then, since I've mastered the base technique, I have heard that the Patronus Charm can be adapted to be a messenger spell?" Remus blinked several times, then shook his head. With a sigh, he got to his feet, and removed his wand from his pocket.
"Indeed, you can. A corporeal Patronus can be used to deliver messages. To do it, you must develop a sort of dual mental focus, as you must keep the Patronus memory, the message to be delivered, and the recipient in mind." Harriet nodded, and closed her eyes in concentration, only to snap them open a few moments later.
"Expecto Patronum!" There was a burst of white light, followed by a silvery shape racing away and passing through the wall. Harriet turned to face her incredulous Defense teacher, looking decidedly smug.
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In an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor, Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey were quietly doing their homework, waiting for Harriet to be finished with her weekly meeting with their Defense Professor. Daphne was perched on a desk, reading her Transfiguration text. Blaise and Tracey had commandeered the teacher's desk while they worked together on an Arithmacy assignment.
The calm was shattered when a spectral snake flew through the wall. The snake looked at each student in turn, then spoke in Harriet's voice.
"As you've likely gathered by now, I figured the Patronus Charm out. I'll be up there in a few minutes."
There was a collective moment of silence as the snake faded from view. Blaise slowly reached into his robes, and pulled out a small Muggle notebook. After flipping through the pages for a moment, the dark skinned boy made a short notation before replacing the notebook within his robes. He met Tracey's raised eyebrow with a sigh.
"Yes, I keep notes of everything. I would have thought you would have noticed that by now, Tracey."
Halfway across the room, Daphne just shook her head and returned to her reading.
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Wednesday morning, the news broke that Sirius Black was officially innocent. All day, the student body, and most of the teachers, spent its time trying to guess what had happened. Sure, the DMLE had found Peter Pettigrew alive, and he had confessed to committing the crimes thought to have been caused by Sirius Black, but Sirius had no way to find that out on his own, what with the persisting order to have his soul removed by dementors on sight from the Minister of Magic.
There were six people in Hogwarts that actually knew, and another two that could guess. But none of them said anything.
The four Slytherins had known all along the plan was to never advertise their involvement.
The Hufflepuff had found a small pouch filled with Galleons in her book bag just after breakfast that she knew she hadn't had before, along with a note thanking her for her discretion.
The Professor and former Gryffindor had, after a talk with a third year outside the Headmaster's office a number of weeks before, had almost unconsciously fell back into step behind a certain girl, and wasn't going to act until he was told.
The two that could guess were twins, the best known twins in the school. And they knew well enough that as long as they stayed in line behind Harriet Potter, they would be able to see their dream realized.
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The last weekend in May was the final Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Harriet Potter and Sirius Black had been in a private room in the Three Broomsticks for over an hour.
Harriet sighed into her Butterbeer, and broke the prevailing silence of several minutes.
"This isn't working. You, almost instinctively, hate and can't trust Slytherins. I can't trust people in general. Moreover, you expected me to be my parent's daughter. I never got to know them, and was raised to be something completely different. I appreciate the offer, Sirius, but I don't think me moving in with you over the summer would work, not right now." The dark haired girl stood, placing a small sack of coins on the table. "Owl Moony. He doesn't necessarily know what to do with a Slytherin Potter either, but he knows me better. He'll be able to shed some light on things. At the very least, Sirius, I shall see you at the World Cup finals in August. I'm given to understand the Minister provided you a ticket for his box, and I took the liberty of purchasing a few of my own. Good day." Sirius just watched as the young witch left the room.
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When Harriet Potter wasn't at dinner, her friends became concerned. Since Harriet had the map locked away, the three Slytherins settled on a divide and conquer plan. After an hour of wandering the castle, Blaise found her at the top of the Astronomy Tower. The dark skinned boy just leaned against a wall a couple meters away and cleared his throat, leaving Harriet her space. She didn't turn around.
"My godfather has no idea what to do with me. He wants to like me, maybe even love me, but that's just because of who my parents were. The actual me is basically everything he hates. The end result is that we spent months getting his name cleared, and he can only barely tolerate me. The only real positive side to all of this is that it got the Dementors away from the castle." Despite her back being turned towards him, Blaise shook his head.
"That isn't strictly true, Harri. You also made significant inroads with both Madam Bones and the future Lady Bones. Wormtail also proved to be a wealth of information. You mastered the Patronus Charm, and now you're teaching the three of us. You've trained Daphne to be a perfectly adequate body double. We've had far too many successes to label the year a failure." Finally, Harriet turned to regard her friend.
"Thanks, Blaise. You keep my head on straight, and prevent my Gryffindor side from running amok. Maybe…I did what I could, but it just wasn't meant to be." Blaise nodded, a smirk forming on his face.
"That seems likely. After all, Harriet, the man did spend twelve years in Azkaban. Finding out you were the complete opposite of what he expected seems to be more than he can handle at the moment. And frankly, that doesn't surprise me." Blaise studied his friend's face for a moment, then continued. "Look, Harriet, being a Gryffindor about this isn't going to get you anywhere. Just look at this like a Slytherin, I know that isn't hard for you." Harriet concentrated for a moment, then pulled her wand and muttered a spell. Blaise raised an eyebrow as a bolt of silver flew through the wall.
"I assume we're back in business?" Harriet glared halfheartedly at the dark skinned boy.
"We were never out of business, Blaise. You should know that better than most. I may have had a minor personal crisis, but I just needed a friend to talk me out of it. And you know me, my first thought is very rarely to go to someone else for help. Now, Daphne and Tracey will meet you in the second location shortly, I'm heading down to location zero for a few hours. I'll see you guys in the morning."
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The rest of term passed quickly, and relatively without incident. Soon enough, four Slytherins sequestered themselves in the rearmost compartment of the Hogwarts Express, headed back to London after their third year. Conversation quickly turned to plans for the summer. Before long, Harriet smirked wickedly.
"But you see, you all are actually quite wrong. The Quidditch World Cup Finals are in England this year, and I happen to have a few tickets." Her three friends stared at her for a long moment, before Blaise whistled low.
"You know, Harri, I don't think I've told you today how much I appreciate the fact my best mate is incredibly wealthy." Harriet's smirk just intensified.
"Did I mention that these tickets happen to be in the Top Box with the Minister of Magic and his personal guests?" Blaise actually dropped the quill he was holding. Tracey's eyes unfocused. Daphne very nearly fell over. Tracey managed to speak first.
"But…Harri, you can't just buy those tickets…" Harriet rolled her eyes.
"Of course you can. How do you think the Malfoys are going to be there? However, I suppose you have a point. I didn't but them directly. I bought them from another family that had them already. You see, somehow, Arthur Weasley somehow to get Top Box tickets for the entire Weasley family. Not clear how, actually. In fact, Blaise, if you could look into that for me?" The young wizard nodded slowly. "Regardless, I had already purchased a few tickets, just in a couple boxes down. So I owled Arthur, and offered him his yearly salary to exchange tickets with me. So now I have nine tickets in the Top Box." Blaise, being excellent with numbers and highly perceptive, put it together first.
"Wait, nine tickets? Who else will be there?" Harriet nodded slowly.
"Nine, Blaise. We make four. So I thought I would be a nice person for a change. Trace, I'll formally invite your parents once we arrive at your house. Daph, Hedwig is already on her way to your home, bearing invitations to your parents and Astoria. Blaise, I would have found a tenth, but I imagine your mother already has plans to be there, likely with her newest future ex-husband. In addition, I've already arranged three rather nice tent plots close to the stadium, and the tents to go on them."
All three of the rather shell shocked Slytherins briefly contemplated doing the math on how much gold Harriet had spent on this adventure, but realized that down that path lay only madness and forgot about it.
As far as Harriet was concerned, the gold had already paid itself off in entertainment value, and she hadn't gotten reactions from even half of the affected yet, much less gotten to the actual Quidditch match.
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As far as reactions were concerned, the elder Davis family did not fail to disappoint either. Johanna quite nearly fell over, and only just barely made it to a chair. Richard completely froze in place, and it took him nearly a minute to find words of gratitude. Words that Harriet immediately waved off, as though the whole affair was a mere trifle.
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That night, just passed two in the morning, Harriet sat bolt upright in bed, panting slightly and trying to come to grips with what she had just seen. She knew instinctively that it had been no mere dream, although she did not know why her famous scar was throbbing so badly.
Voldemort had acquired some wretched physical form. And he was being attended by none other than Peter Pettigrew. Although, the second person warranted further investigation. "Crouch…he must have helped Pettigrew escape…the question, then, is why? And what was that bit about Crouch's father?"
Her whispered words were lost against the crackling of the fire, and no answers came from the empty room.
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The summer passed quickly for the Davis household. Thankfully, Harriet had avoided any more strange dreams about Voldemort that made her scar throb. Almost before she knew it, she was emerging from the Floo into the Leaky Cauldron on the morning prior to the start of the Quidditch World Cup Final. Passing through to Diagon Alley, Harriet set off with a purpose. As it was still an hour before dawn, the Alley was very close to deserted. Thankful for the absence of watchful eyes, Harriet ducked into Knockturn Alley. Taking an empty side path, she drew her wand, and altered her Glamour Charms. Taking off her glasses, the lithe girl checked her new appearance in a small mirror. Her famous scar was quite invisible, and her eyes back to her natural snakelike yellow. With a small smirk, Harriet swept further into the ominous alley. Stopping at an unmarked door, she rapped her knuckles against the wood in a short pattern. A slit, previously invisible, opened in the door, revealing a pair of glaring, charcoal eyes.
"Little girl, you seem to be lost." Harriet looked up to meet the wizard's gaze, narrowing her vertical pupils. She flicked her forked tongue through the air in irritation.
"No, I am not. You have a delivery for me that has already been paid for. I am here to collect it." To the man's credit, he barely flinched. He slid the panel closed, and Harriet hear footsteps walking away. Moments later, the footsteps returned, and the door opened. The tall wizard for before was holding out a large duffel bag.
"Your…delivery, Miss Potter." Taking the bag, Harriet merely smirked.
"Thank you, Mr. Rhodes." Despite the fact the canvas bag was nearly as large as she was, Harriet calmly placed the strap over a shoulder and walked away. With a brief stop just inside the alley to change her Glamours back to her "normal" appearance, Harriet headed back into the Leaky Cauldron, and then out into Muggle London. A cab and a train later, the dark haired girl walked into a secluded park in the suburbs of London, only a few kilometers from Little Whinging. She picked up a rather old shoe from the ground, and sat down against a tree to wait.
Ten minutes later, the shoe began to glow softly. There was a feeling of being hooked from behind her navel and a swirl of color. Rather abruptly, Harriet was deposited on the ground in the middle of a wood. Within moments, she was approached by a harried looking Muggle man.
Ten minutes later, Harriet finally escaped the man and made it to her camp site. With a shrug, she let the large bag fall to the ground. 'That man has been Obliviated far too many times already…'
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An hour and a half later, the Greengrass family, led by Daphne, headed towards the pitch. Her father, Cyrus, glanced around apprehensively.
"Daphne, are you sure your friend told you to come all the way up here? I understand these plots are quite expensive." Daphne nodded, but her younger sister spoke first.
"Yup. I was there when the silver snake flew through the wall and spoke to Daphne." Daphne shot Astoria a warning look, but it was ignored. "It said our tent is already here, and within sight of the pitch. And it was talking in Harriet's voice, too." Daphne, just barely, resisted the urge to groan aloud, and settled for a sigh.
Any further conversation was stopped when they family came around a bend in the trees, and the giant Quidditch Pitch was revealed. From the side, a whistle caught the family's attention. They turned, and saw Harriet Potter, calmly sitting in front of a shabby looking canvas tent, drinking tea.
"Ah, good, you're here. Your tent is the one two to my left, your right, and please, don't judge it by the outside. As I don't know who you're supporting this afternoon, there is both Ireland and Bulgaria paraphernalia inside your tent." Daphne raised an eyebrow at the flags hanging around her friend's tent.
"Really, Harriet? Bulgaria?" The dark haired girl just shrugged.
"I'm a Seeker, Daphne. I can't not cheer for the best Seeker in the League. And now that you've made your leanings plain, the Ireland gear is in the closet on your left, just inside the door." Daphne rolled her eyes, and led her family into their designated tent.
As he stooped to get through the flap, Cyrus Greengrass was prepared to be disappointed. What he saw instead took his breath away. The entry hall he was now standing in wouldn't be out of place in a middle class home in London. Looking deeper into the supposed tent, he could see a sitting room, a dining room, a full kitchen, and a stately staircase leading up to a second level.
As per usual, Astoria spoke first.
"Wow…Daphne, how much did Harriet spend on today?" The blonde shook her head.
"First of all, Astoria, that is a very rude question. Secondly, I have no idea, and the more I see, the less I want to know a real answer."
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A half hour later, Daphne extricated herself from her family, and left the tent. Turning towards her friend's tent, she saw that the Davis family had arrived, judging by the Ireland flags now around the center tent. In addition, Blaise was sitting at Harriet's table. The dark haired girl, herself, was no longer there. Blaise nodded at her approach.
"Harriet's just inside, she said she wanted to change her clothes before we head to the stadium." Whatever response Daphne had was cut off by Harriet exiting the tent. Daphne found herself at a loss for words.
Harriet was wearing an obviously used Vraska Vultures jersey. Victor Krum's, to be precise. Except, on Harriet's not quite 150 centimeter tall frame, the jersey was actually a knee-length dress. Blaise raised a rather incredulous eyebrow.
"You own one of Krum's Quidditch jerseys." The statement was flat, and clearly not a question. Harriet nodded.
"From his first year in the league. There was an auction for one charity or another after the World Cup teams were announced. I sent a proxy with 2000 galleons and instructions that this was his only priority. I even got half my gold back. I was told that the second highest bidder was Lucius Malfoy, likely at the behest of his son. I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing Draco today."
Daphne and Blaise simultaneously lowered their faces into their hands and sighed. Harriet just kept smirking.
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AN: And another chapter, in the books, so to speak. Now, allow me to indulge myself for a bit.
Thank you all, really. Despite it being so long since I've updated, I can hardly go a day without more emails from FFN, reminding me that, for some reason, people actually enjoy this thing I'm writing. My life has been legitimately insane for the last couple months, but everything should be mostly calmed down now.
Also, the poll I put up with the last chapter has certainly done its job, and we have a clear winner, one who has had a consistent 50% majority. Now, I made the poll blind for a reason. I'll be taking it down right after this goes up, so while Harriet's love life is now set, I believe it shall remain a mystery until it develops.
Anyway, as always, questions, comments, cries of anguish, pleas for more, aspirations you may wish to cast upon the legitimacy of my birth, recommendations for items to add to this list, poorly formatted profanities, heartwarming sonnets extolling my virtues, and painstakingly crafted hate mail (as applicable) may be submitted directly to me via the big box below.
~ExaltedChaos