Apparently it was considered bad form to cheer for the Sith, but a few Notice-Me-Not charms let Harry and Sirius cheer and laugh and provide commentary as they watched the fascinating film over and over.
Who knew muggles could be so inventive? They were both pretty sure no one else could perform wandless magic with as much ease as Harry and the sisters, and Sirius too by this point, so the muggles must have thought it up themselves.
The fourth time they watched the film was devoted to mimicking, and then 'improving' the battles. Small conjured 'TIE-fighters' and 'X-wings' hovered and flew after each other, spurting red and green flickers of fire to blow each other up. They had tried using light charms but they simply couldn't do more than make pretty flashes, so the two boys always defaulted back to somewhat controlled fire.
By now the theatre was officially closed, but a few little charms and curses had the friendly staff replaying the film and it's predecessors for them however they liked. Little replica ships now flew by the dozen around the whole theatre spitting fire and destroying each other in what was the most complicated and fun conjuration of Harry's life so far. He and Sirius cheered and mocked and groaned in turn as the battles raged and ebbed.
Then the real fun began. Taking a stance, Sirius solemnly held up his wand like it was a hilt, and silently called up ruby red fire before shaping it into a thin, solid beam. A flame-freezing charm eliminated any risk save fits of laughter from the tickling sensation it would induce. Harry mimicked him but with an emerald green 'blade' of fire. They matched the weapons from the film fairly well, save for the flickering candle-like ends, and the fact that their blades could be manipulated at will.
They had agreed to keep them consistently sized and in the fixed blade shape, but between a fully fledged Marauder and one in training, it was all but a lost cause. At least neither of them made more than one blade; both were saving it for next time.
Though Sirius always cheered for the Rebels and Sith whenever he felt like it, he couldn't fathom why red was the 'Sith' colour and green was for the good guys. To him it was as if the world had turned upside down. Griffindor red, evil? Slytherin green, good? What on earth were the muggles smoking? Actually he had a rather good idea of exactly what they were high on, but he wasn't going to say that to his young godson. Even if the little devil had more likely than not already viewed those particular memories. Oh well.
Harry meanwhile liked the crimson blade better, which was why he liked fighting against it so he could stare at it more often. He had to admit though, in the back of his mind, that he knew the vivid green colour of his own 'fire-saber', as they had dubbed them, set off his bright emerald eyes beautifully. If there was one thing he was particularly vain about, it was his pretty green eyes. He had been horrified to learn his father along with most of the male Potters had needed to wear glasses, but thankfully that need was not passed onto him. It had absolutely nothing to do with certain rituals he had performed in secret.
A small bow and a formal flick of their fiery weapons, and then they were charging at each other with matching expressions of delighted glee. Crimson and emerald clashed over and over as they sometimes held their ground, other times leapt back and all over the place. Wandless banishing charms launched first random furniture and then themselves foes each other as they grew more involved in emulating the abilities shown in the films. After the first attempted choking, though, they had quickly agreed to leave that and the more lethal lightning for another time and place.
Such was their concentration that they failed to notice their new audience.
Bellatrix and Narcissa appeared with a small cracking noise that was lost amidst the clashing of fires and the whoops of boyish fun. They had long since placed tracking spells on both males but this was the first time they had really truly worried about their little Harry. He had been gone almost a full day!
They knew all about his little adventures in the muggle world, both the ones he thought they knew about and the ones they were supposedly ignorant about. But never before had he stayed away for so long. And to find him on the other side of the world playing sword games with fire in some kind of muggle stadium!
"What the hell is this?"
Bella's sudden question broke both combatants' concentration resulting in what would have been a double decapitation, but turned out to merely induce two fits of laughter as the charmed fire sent tickling sensations over their skin.
"Bella! Cissy! You're both just in time to see the lightning in the film! Come on, come on sit down and watch this! The muggles really have some clever ideas you know. Shh! Just watch!"
Both sisters soon found themselves silenced and bound to the edge of their chairs, though without the magic they were familiar with. They watched spellbound as the last of the movie played before them, only to demand answers as to the various characters and plots, as well as what exactly they had just witnessed.
So it was that almost the whole surviving Black Family sat and watched the decidedly muggle Star Wars trilogy in a marathon session. The muggles working behind the scenes were long since exhausted, having been catering to the boys' whims all day, so Dobby was called to learn whatever strange muggle art it was that keep the pictures moving and relieve them of their compelled duties. And wipe their memories, naturally.
Sirius eventually fell asleep after all his rough housing and rather impressive magical feats, but the sisters didn't even notice. Harry napped on and off as well, feeding from the sisters in every intermission they called, and drawing on Sirius' magic as well.
That had taken quite a long time to get used to. Narcissa had given him the project of learning how to 'feed' using his hands instead of his lips, and from contact other than their nipples. Both he and Bella had protested this idea at first; Bella not liking the idea of no longer breast feeding Harry, and Harry not liking the idea of no longer drinking from their rather lovely breasts. But, he had eventually conceded the point that it was not always practical, and that he might at some point need to feed from a man and he was certainly not putting his lips anywhere near one of them.
Deep down in his mind, Harry had been relieved. Given how hungry he had been lately, and his hunger was only growing, it seemed clear to his unusual intelligence that he would soon have to feed from more sources. As much as Bella's and Cissy's magic was growing under his lips, it was not fast enough to sustain his growing requirements. He feared that eventually he might slip and drink deeper, robbing them of their power altogether somehow and depriving him of his loves. A seemingly baseless fear, but one nonetheless.
Harry had started off on some nameless prisoner, a rather weak one who would be no loss if he messed something up. It had taken a while for him to connect with their flow of magic with only hand contact but he had managed well enough. It did not flow so naturally to him, he had to actually try to draw it into himself and submerge it into his own flow. He had finally felt like he was nearing the finishing point, feeling more full than he had for a long time, when he realised he had utterly drained the man of all his magic.
Instead of growing it as he had with the sisters, he had simply drawn it in straight and left nothing behind, as he had feared. It took several days for the prisoner to exhibit any sign of his magic returning, and weeks after that the man was still less powerful than he had been. Meanwhile he had moved on to other prisoners, or playthings as Bella liked to call them, and was working on his little problem. It relieved him more than he cared to show when the prisoner's loss of magic was not permanent, simply magical exhaustion.
He practiced this new skill as often as he could, growing more and more proficient and at ease with the counterintuitive nature of imbibing magic through his hands.
So by the end of the month he had complete control of his feeding by hand. He could take as much or little as he liked, or take and grow as he did with the sisters, though never quite so easily as when he drank properly. It seemed the nature of forcing the connection through his fingertips or palms allowed him greater access to draw upon the other's magic. This let him could feed far more quickly, but no matter how he practiced he could never come close to matching the scope at which he could cultivate the other's magical potential by nursing from them.
Still, Harry kept practicing. Sometimes it was convenient or necessary to have rushed meals, even if they resulted in less growth for the sisters. His hands and mouth were so far the only places he could establish the connection, but he was working on that, too.
He could even simply interact with the flow of magic, neither giving nor taking but simply making his presence known or observing in some way. Cissy liked it when he made her magic glow with a rush of 'warmth' inside and around her, it made her smile sleepily. Bella on the other hand preferred it to run in 'sparks' down her spine and to her limbs, making her shiver.
Oh how he had loved making them feel good.
Harry had asked the sisters if he should grow Sirius' magic, and after some discussion they had agreed that he should, as Sirius would be more useful to them with more power, though he should never increase it as much as he did theirs. Just in case.
He could even feel the full Imperius Curse clinging to his godfather's magic, much to Bella's glee. She had asked him to examine it and see if he could learn to replicate the feat more easily, but he had not yet made any progress. Still, she had high hopes.
So every other day Harry saw Padfoot he would pat his back or hold his hand and subtly feed on and grow the unsuspecting wizard's power. Apparently the clueless man thought it was a result of his extra training, and the wandless magic a nifty trick given by his Black blood that the sisters were honing. It was surprising that he had not truly noticed anything, but then Harry half suspected Bella had ordered him not to notice or ask questions about it.
It was not often Harry remembered that his godfather was under the Imperius, but it was necessary and he wouldn't give up his uncle Padfoot for something so small as free will. Not when everything was fine just the way it was.
Thoughts turned dreams running to happy places, Harry drifted to sleep between two beloved beautiful women to the sound of the Imperial March.
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"Come on, Cissy! 'Darth' would make a fantastic middle name!"
Narcissa rolled her eyes and made a sound of something between an exasperated sigh and a scoff, while Harry looked on in amused silence, gaze switching between sisters as they traded shots back and forth.
"We will not name our little Harry after some character from a drug-inspired muggle film! We agree that he should keep a first name that can be shortened to 'Harry', but his middle name at least should follow Black tradition!"
"But 'Hadrian Darth Black' would have them cowering in their boots!"
Another choked sound.
"You know full well he will be keeping the name 'Potter' for years to come! Either one of the noble constellations, or 'Black' which could be later swapped with 'Potter', making it 'Hadrian Potter Black'. Then later still it could be dropped for a proper middle name. Besides, I for one am not yet sold on 'Hadrian' in the first place."
Green eyes turned back to Bella for the rebuttal.
"But Cissy!" Bella tried again with her puppy eyes brimming with unshed tears that affected no one in the room. She saw the writing on the wall in the firm set of her sister's back, and gave up. "...fine. I still say 'Darth Black' would be amazing. But fine. Maybe 'Sith'...?"
Narcissa arched her eyebrow. Bellatrix pouted. Harry hid his snicker by biting his lips.
"...So, Harry. What do you think of 'Hadrian Black Potter'? After we are ready to be acknowledged as your guardians, of course."
Glad to finally be part of the discussion about changing his own name, Harry had his say.
"Umm, sure. I mean I get the whole Roman leader, wall, and dark thing. But it just looks so weirdly long. What about 'Hadyn'? With the 'Y' and no 'E'. Or maybe that could be short for 'Hadrian'. Either way I think it would be ok to change that first. And for the middle name, there's only really one I like."
Harry tried not to shift his gaze to Cissy, but it happened anyway. Bella's eyes followed his, before she looked away.
Narcissa bore up with it perfectly though. Not so much as a flicker of pain, no reaction at all, not even the telltale forced stillness. Then she sighed.
"It's ok, Bella."
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After the first Cruciatus Curse her beloved Harry successfully cast and maintained, Bellatrix had been thinking of him as her little dragon. The dark glint in his eyes, the snarled incantation as he summoned up his hatred, the fierce yet satisfied expression as the pleasure trailed up into him even as he drank in his victim's screaming.
He was no mere serpent to be bound to the ground, sneaking and waiting and hissing and biting. He was more. He had fire, and claws and wings and he would rule to sky and all beneath it!
But her little sister had a son, named Draco. Her own little dragon, and he was lost to her. Every so often she would find her looking at photos of him and fighting back tears. Granted not often, and far less so recently, but still.
So Bella had fought against using this particular nickname, biting it back every time it tried to escape out past her lips. It had even worked for almost a week.
Then she had slipped. But at least Cissy wasn't there to hear it, and her Harry had loved it. From then on it had become their little secret nickname. Harry knew why it was secret and agreed with her reasons, even if he loathed it. That Draco was standing between him and Narcissa's full heart. Her ex-husband was a bastard who would be put down, but this Draco...
This Draco was in his way.
He could feel it every time he drank from her magic; Cissy was not his. Not entirely. At first he had thought it was just something different, then that it was some remnant of Lucius, but now he knew the truth.
It had taken all his self control, backed by countless Occlumency lessons, to avoid lashing out in his childish rage and jealousy.
Cissy was meant to be his. No one else could have her.
But he knew his reaction was childish. Knew it would make them think him young and petty. He was young and petty, but he didn't want them to see him like that. So he bit back his anger and buried it deep down where they would not see it.
It was actually his first truly perfect use of Occlumency.
Bella was gifted in the mind arts. Not truly exceptional, but gifted all the same. She could shield herself perfectly, allowing no other access to her mind, but any attempt would know she was aware and blocking. Her gift did not extend to subtly hiding thoughts, nor drawing the enemy into traps. Likewise her Legilimency was strong and direct but lacked the delicate touch to delve into trained thoughts without prompting awareness and defense.
But she was perfect with what she had, and she was an excellent teacher.
Narcissa had some skill, but it was lesser and slowly learned. She focused entirely on defending her thoughts both actively and passively, and gleaning the basic intent of the surface thoughts of others. She could shield her thoughts, but also bury certain memories where any onlooker would have great difficulty finding them. She could even create false memories that held up under all but the closest scrutiny. More of a political use than her sister's battle-ready skills.
So Bellatrix was Harry's main teacher in the mind arts. He had some small amount of subtle talent to begin with, but his main advantage lay in brute, overwhelming willpower. Which was also rather useful for the Imperius Curse, too. Both with resisting it and casting it. He could quickly detect overt legilimency and throw the connection back with such speed and force that any attacker would be quickly on the defensive, and badly loosing ground.
He could tear through defences like a dragon of old would through wooden forts, ripping and burning and smashing as he went, causing pain and devastation, or piercing through memories at speed. Subtlety in his deep attacks would have to be learned later.
Thus Harry learned that his beautiful Bella felt almost exactly as he did, and he loved her all the more for it. It also confirmed his fears, knowing that she shared the same concerns, if not quite the same jealousy.
But Harry could not allow her or more importantly Cissy to know how he felt about that Draco, so he buried his feelings on the matter deep, deep down inside his mind. Behind layers of defences and even more layers of camouflage. He learned to hide memories and thoughts without overtly blocking them. Granted he could not do so for any great length in her presence as it would constantly try to bubble to the surface, but it was a start that he continuously built on. Next would be more subtle deep legilimency, which was more difficult for him.
Dragons could do patient and scheming, but once active it was rather hard for them to do subtle. And ever since Bella had first whispered in that breathless voice, "my little dragon", he had felt very connected to the symbolism. It just fit. More than that, he had wanted to be her dragon. Dragons were strong, dragons ruled, dragons protected what was theirs with fang and claw and fire. He was theirs. Bella was his.
But Cissy wasn't his. Not fully. Not yet.
Oh how it galled him. But he held back and did all he could to win her over. It had seemed to work over time as the years passed. Slowly but surely he gained more ground in her heart, though always that last little niggle remain, taunting him.
Somehow, one day Bella suddenly got it into her mind that she should discuss her new pet name for him with her sister. Ask her feelings on the matter, put old wounds to rest, or something. Harry didn't know why, and he didn't really care. All he knew was that soon afterwards Bella was upset, mostly with herself, and Cissy was pensive and detached.
The next few months were delicate and some of the worst of his life so far. Which wasn't saying much, Harry knew for a fact he had it far better than the sisters and Sirius. Things were tense. Training sessions grew less fun, lessons happened more and more in the pensieve and conversations were stilted. It would get better, then worsen when Cissy would overhear Bella use that loaded nickname. Or more often, when she could tell Bella had caught herself and stopped just short.
Eventually things had settled down until almost back to normal. Mostly due to the fact that Bella had actually cursed her tongue to heat in warning every time she thought of crooning 'my little dragon'. At least in her sister's presence. Outside of that, it was their little secret.
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So it was with with no small amount of swallowed anger that Harry cleared his throat and asked Cissy softly if she was sure.
She replied just as quietly. "Yes, sweety, it's ok. I agree, it is a good name and the only one to fit you properly. I have been thinking myself that it is the most apt. I– It's just... He is my son. I will always miss him and the years stolen from us. Had things been different, you might have called him brother."
In which case it would have been easier to have the brat fall victim to a horribly tragic fatal accident. Oh, if only.
A few deep breaths and and a moment of concentration later, Harry had locked away all negative emotion and tried to enjoy the creation of his new name. A name to wear proudly when he was ready to take on the world. It would not do to rush things, names held very powerful, subtle magicks after all.
Would it be "Hadrian 'Hadyn' Draco Black"? Maybe. They still had some years to work on it yet.
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Quick questions: What do you think should happen with Andromeda Tonks?
I will not be excessively bashing any characters in this story. No one will be undeservedly stupid or hurtful. Ted Tonks is a lovely young man who was nice and clever enough to woo Andromeda Black into marrying him, a muggleborn, inspite of the wrath of her family. I will not have him or anybody else randomly die, be uncharacteristically abusive, or impotent. The sisters and/or Harry cursing him to die 'accidentally', become abusive or impotent, however, is entirely possible hehe.
I'm just not sure why they would want to, or if they should, or how they would go about wooing their estranged sister back. Or maybe they should just try to be friends once more? How would their interactions begin, and how would they go from there? Once again, why would they bother?
What do you think?
Reviews are food for my muse!
