AN: I know I said I was going to include the animagus forms in this chapter, but that was before I got to 8500 words. Plus there's a natural stopping point. I PROMISE though, next chapter for sure! :D
Harry and Blaise were having a quick breakfast in the Room of Requirement before going to meet Tracey in front of the one-eyed witch. "So Harry," Blaise asked casually, "when you were telling Astoria yesterday about the Threstrals, I saw Weasley and Neville giving each other a look. What was that about?"
Harry met Blaise's eyes briefly before dropping them to his plate, "well I didn't exactly ride it around the school like I led Astoria to believe, it's how we got to the Ministry last year." Harry told him before taking another bite of his breakfast.
"Oh," replied Blaise softly, "you know, I actually hadn't given that any real thought? I kind of assumed you flooed."
Harry grinned a little, "yeah well that would have been easier for the others, only Neville, Luna and I could see them."
Blaise looked thoughtful, "that would have been very strange, I suppose it's a bit personal to ask but?" he said looking at Harry with a half curious, half apologetic expression.
Harry looked at him for a moment before shrugging, "Neville saw his grandfather pass away, Luna's mum died when she was nine in a potions accident. I didn't start seeing them until the start of last year after I watched Pettigrew kill Cedric during the tournament." Blaise reached over and squeezed Harry's hand gently, Harry gave him a half smile in return and they finished up their meals, thoughts turning pensieve. Harry grabbed his bag and his cloak and flung it over himself. They left the room and made their way to the third floor where the passageway was located.
Tracey was standing there waiting for them and Blaise greeted her as Harry quickly checked the area to make sure no-one was around. "Where's Harry?" Tracey asked Blaise.
"Right here," Harry said from directly behind her, dragging off his cloak. Tracey jumped and screamed, before sighing exasperatedly at Harry.
"Don't DO that!" she exclaimed. Harry smirked at her and started running his hand over the back of the statue, tapping his wand on her hump he said the password "dissendium´and when the opening appeared he stepped through, beckoning the two Slytherins to follow him. Once Blaise had shadowed Tracey through, the opening closed behind them and Harry lit a lumos maxima so that they could easily see where they were going. "Wow," Tracey breathed as she took in the tunnel, "this is so cool!"
Harry exchanged a grin with Blaise and said, "come on, we better get a move on." It took them almost an hour to reach Hogsmeade and during that time they discussed the various things that Harry would be talking about with Tracey's dad. When they finally reached the trap door Harry put his finger to his lips, "Okay, we're about to enter the Honeydukes cellar, do either of you know how to do a disillusionment charm?"
Tracey nodded and Blaise grimaced, "I know how, but I'm not very good at them," Blaise told Harry.
"That's okay," replied Harry, who cast the charm on Blaise while Tracey did the same for herself. "I'm going to wear my cloak, now I'll open the doors and you guys go through them first okay? Blaise, why don't you hold Tracey's hand so you guys don't lose each other?" There was the sound of fumbling and a giggle from Tracey as they did as Harry suggested. "Okay, ready?" Harry asked them, when they replied in the affirmative, Harry nudged open the trapdoor slightly. Not seeing anyone in the cellar he opened it all the way and clambered out. The two Slytherins following him, Blaise letting him know when he was out. Harry softly closed the door and they made their way to the shop, thankfully, being early Sunday morning only Mr Flume, was in the shop, he appeared to doze a little over a hot cup of coffee, obviously not a morning person. Harry went to the front door and cast a silencing charm on the bell before opening it, he opened it slowly so not to alert the shopkeeper and when he heard Blaise and Tracey outside, cautiously closed it again.
Now that they were on the street, Harry hissed at the two to avoid the patches of dirt and to stick to the cobbled streets. They made their way up the street and Harry breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw the two front doors of the Three Broomsticks were open. They quickly went inside and up the stairs, Blaise and Tracey dropping the disillusionment charms now they were out of sight, quickly Tracey checked the rooms and after opening the second one walked inside crying, "Daddy!"
Harry followed Blaise through the door and silently cast silencing charms and anti-eavesdropping spells around the room. Harry looked over to where Tracey was hugging a tall sandy-haired man. When they pulled away from each other Harry saw that he was wearing a well-tailored suit underneath his expensive wizarding robes. "Hey, pumpkin, Good Morning Blaise," he said jovially greeting his daughter and her friend. Then more seriously he added, "now do you want to tell me what this is all about? You said in your letter that a friend of yours needed my help but you couldn't be any more specific? Is it you?" He asked Blaise, "are you in some kind of trouble?"
"No, Mr Davis, it's not me," Blaise hesitated, looking over to where he could sense Harry.
"It's me, Sir," spoke Harry as he removed the cloak.
Tracey squealed again, "Harry! You need to stop doing that!"
Mr Davis's jaw dropped and he worked it open and closed for a few moments, before saying weakly to his daughter, "you never told me you were friends with Harry Potter, pumpkin."
"It's a recent development Dad, Blaise and Harry started dating and we've become quite good friends this year," Tracey told her father leading him over to the table. Harry and Blaise followed sitting down on one side, Harry in front of Mr Davis, and Blaise across from Tracey.
Harry rushed to reassure the man, "no-one knows we're friends, it's safe for Tracey, but I can't say that it will stay that way for sure if you decide to take up my cause. I can offer you protection though, a safe house if you need it."
Mr Davis waved him off, "we are more than protected at our house, ever since my wife and I became lawyers we placed our premise under a fidelus charm. It is a standard that my practice demands." Mr Davis had seemed to put aside his shock and was now all business, "I'm sorry for my unprofessionalism it was quite a shock as Tracey has never mentioned you before. Now, what can I do for you, Mr Potter? Did you ask to see me because I work for the firm your family retains?"
Harry gave the man a puzzled look, "Nooo," he drew out slowly, "Tracey told me you believed in doing the right thing and that you were an excellent lawyer. I don't know anything about my family and your firm?" Harry told the man.
Now it was Mr Davis's turn to look puzzled, "the Potter family has been a long-standing client of Blishwick and Hopkins for many generations. Your family pays a retainer to us monthly for any services needed," he explained.
"Oh, so I wouldn't need to pay you? I'm already your client?" Harry questioned.
"Yes, surely someone had mentioned this to you before? The goblins perhaps?" he asked. Harry shook his head, his thoughts now that here was yet again something else he didn't know about him and his family.
"Dad," Tracey began, with a sidelong look at Harry who nodded, "Harry grew up with his muggle relatives, they don't know anything about the wizarding world so they could never have told him. And, well one of the things we came to see you about.."
Harry straightened then and took over for her, "I only just found out about my status here in the wizarding world, I mean apart from the whole boy-who-lived thing." Harry told him waving a hand in a dismissive gesture, "I have discovered that I've been obliviated of any memories pertaining to my family's history or the fact that I am going to one day be Lord Potter."
Mr Davis sucked in a long breath, and then let it out in a rush, "that is very serious Mr Potter, very serious indeed." He rubbed his jaw for a moment, "do you know who has done this? How did you find out?"
"Please call me Harry," the Gryffindor replied.
"John, then," Mr Davis said, and so Harry preceded to tell John how Blaise how told him about his impending Lordship, how he had spoken with his friends who told him all the conversations they'd had with him about it. How he didn't remember at all and then he performed the memory spell in front of him, so he could see for himself that Harry wasn't lying.
"Merlin's beard," John whispered, "right well there are several avenues we can go down for this, unfortunately, none that we can take without knowing the culprit."
"I'm working on it," Harry said grimly.
"You know or at least suspect someone don't you?" the lawyer asked.
Harry nodded, "but I won't drag you into it until I have proof," Harry told him.
The older man nodded, "now, are you sure you want me as your representative from the firm? It's just something I need to ask before we go any further. I can tell you about my colleagues if you would prefer someone else? A more senior member of the firm perhaps? I believe it was the now late Mr Hopkins was the last lawyer for your family, as we have not been contacted since your grandfather passed, no-one has been assigned your file."
Harry shook his head, "no, I'm happy to have you, Tracey speaks very highly of you," Harry told him as Tracey blushed under her father's amused gaze.
Turning back to Harry he said, "Right, well you said that was one of the things you wanted to speak to me about. What else would you like to discuss?"
Harry gave a nervous laugh, "I'm not really sure where to start, there's so much."
"Well, let me get a pen and pad," said John, pulling the mentioned items from his bag. At Harry's lifted brow he said, "my wife is muggleborn and introduced these to me, they make like so much easier," he replied. Harry chuckled and nodded. "Right, now just start wherever you want."
So Harry started with Umbridge, he told Mr Davis all about how much of a bitch she had been last year, he showed him the scars on the back of his hand and Tracey gave her father the list of students that they knew had also served those detentions with the foul woman. "This is very serious stuff Harry, also are you sure you want to open it to a class suit?" John said as he frowned over the notes he had made.
"Yeah, I'm not the only one who had to put up with her, and I'm sure there were kids that were more affected by her than me. They deserve the same chance at justice, besides the more kids you can get a hold of, the more we can get out of the Ministry and that will be a big, screw you, to Fudge. I want everyone to know he foisted her on us as well."
John nodded, "I can do that, I'll need to get in touch with these children's parents for their permission, it will take a while, but we can do it easily enough. The interviews with the children will need to be done at Hogwarts but I can do that without anyone knowing why." Harry let out the breath he'd been holding. "Ok, was there anything else?" he asked looking at the young man in front of him.
Harry ducked his head in affirmation, "yeah, I want to sue the pants off the Prophet too, for anything they've said about me that is untrue. I want them to print a retraction listing every single article and lie they've told. I want Rita Skeeter personally sued for deliberately misquoting me in the Tournament and I want her fired. If you can somehow manage to make it so she can never publish anything about anyone again that would be awesome. I don't really care about making money, but I want everyone to know that I'm serious about this, so whatever you think is an acceptable amount I'm happy with."
John was busy scribbling as Harry spoke. When Harry had finished, he spoke, "again, this is time-consuming but easily done. What about the other wizarding publications? Like Witch Weekly, the Quibbler and the Harry Potter Adventure books?"
Harry frowned, "same goes for Witch Weekly and whoever else you can find. Leave the Quibbler alone, they're the only ones who ever printed a true story about me. Hermione blackmailed Rita Skeeter into writing the truth in that article, she's an illegal beetle animagus. That's how she gets all her gossip." Harry told John.
The older Davis's eyebrows flew into his hairline, and Tracey giggled, "see Dad? I told you this was going to be worth your while, and I didn't even know that!" she told her father. Harry smiled at her and glanced at Blaise who was hiding his amusement behind his hand. Crinkled eyes giving him away.
"What's this Harry Potter Adventure stuff though?" Harry asked them.
It was Blaise who answered Harry, "there's a series of kids books detailing various adventures that you had growing up away from the wizarding world. Things like Harry Potter and the Mermaid Council, Harry Potter and the Queen, Harry Potter and the time he met a Giant etc. They're very popular and written as fact not fiction, it's part of why people react to you the way they do, they believe it's all real."
Harry found himself growing angry, "and what about you? Do you believe them?"
"I never read them," Blaise told him honestly, "Mother said that you were living with your mother's family not off gallivanting the world. She told me they were just fiction pretending to be fact." Harry's ire deflated a little, but still stood up to pace, no wonder the wizarding world thought so highly of him sometimes, not only had he defeated Voldemort as a baby, but they thought he was off doing all these wonderful things as a child. When in reality he was stuck in Privet Drive, being beaten for accidental magic and made to do every chore imaginable on little sleep and an even smaller amount of food. Absently he felt his magic rising, but he paid no attention to it until he heard the shattering of glass. Looking up he saw the worried expressions on the faces of his companions and shards of glass covering the floor from where the windows had shattered.
Feeling contrite he said, "shit, sorry," he waved his hand and the windows flew back together. He came back over to the table and sat back down, Blaise took his hand with a questioning look, Harry nodded and let him soothe his fervent anger. Brain clearing he looked up at John with a fire in his eyes. "I have never given my endorsement or allowed anyone to use my name so they could make money. If they had never done this in the first place, perhaps I wouldn't have had such a hard time fitting in. Take them to the cleaners."
John nodded, still awed by the display of accidental and then wandless magic from the boy. Harry straightened suddenly as if he forgotten something, "Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, they are the only ones exempt from this for now. Not that I think they're using my name anyway. But I'm their financial backer. I gave them my Tri-Wizard earnings to start the shop."
John cleared his throat, "right well that is quite a few more things for me to do then, as there are many businesses that have made money off your name saying that you use their products etc. I'll compile a list and send it to you so you can go over it before we officially do anything but Harry, you're going to come out of this quite wealthy," he told the boy with a grin, he was surprised though when Harry only shrugged.
"I don't care about the money, John. I just care about the truth and my privacy. I'm sick of people using me." Blaise squeezed his hand in sympathy.
"Okay, so we've got: options for your obliviation, sue Umbridge/Ministry, sue the Daily Prophet and anyone else falsely using your name. Anything else?" John asked, thinking that they'd covered it all now.
"Yeah," Harry said drawing a menu to him and ordering a tray of tea and cakes, "I want to be emancipated."
John nearly dropped the cupcake he had picked up from the tray that had appeared, Harry noting it was the same flavour his daughter favoured. "Emancipated? Why?"
Harry shrugged, "like I said before I'm tired of being used and I don't trust my magical guardian to do the right thing by me anymore. My parents are dead, my godfather is presumed dead. I am the last Heir to the Potter line and I just realised something. In the Tri-Wizard Tournament, only those of age were allowed to compete, but when my name was drawn, I was forced to compete as well, by my magical guardian and also the Ministry. Is that grounds for emancipation?"
John looked at Harry with astonishment before he broke into a laugh, "Oh Harry, I think you and I are going to get along very well! Yes, you are absolutely correct. With all of that, I could probably have you emancipated within a fortnight! There needs to be a small hearing done with a certain number of Wizengamot members present for it to be legal. But give me a bit of time and I can suss out who is likely to be on your side and we'll make sure they're present."
"I want to keep this as quiet as possible. No-one can know," Harry told him seriously.
"Attorney-client privilege Harry, all the members of staff at our law firm must take a magical oath not to reveal our client's information or details to anyone outside the firm unless it is strictly necessary for a case, such as actually presenting in court, filing papers etc." Harry showed he understood and they discussed what being emancipated would mean for him as well as the process.
Harry cast a tempus and saw that it was nearing eleven o'clock, they still had some time but he needed to wrap this up soon. "Okay I only have two more things for today John, but first I need to ask you something."
"Fire away," John said as he refilled his tea.
"What would you do if you found out there was someone in Azkaban who never received a trial?" Harry asked him seriously.
John looked at Harry sharply, "well, I don't see how that could happen, but in the hypothetical case that it did, I would ensure that person received their trial. It's only fair after all. Even if they do deserve to be in there, it may only be for a certain time, which has to be decided by the Wizengamot. You can't just lock people up and throw away the key without judgement."
Harry smiled at him, "well then, I think I'm about to make you a senior member of the law firm," Harry teased. "I want you to take on my godfather's case, you see he was wrongfully imprisoned in 1981, and he escaped a few years ago in '94. He was framed by his friend, I can give you pensieve memories of how I obtained this knowledge as proof."
"Who's your godfather Harry?" John had a feeling he knew who the young man was going to name, but it couldn't be true could it? He couldn't possibly be innocent and never received a trial?
"Sirius Black," Harry said, and he went on to tell the story of his third year when he had found out, neglecting to mention the full moon as he didn't want to get Remus in trouble. Harry drew out the memories from the shack in which they confronted Peter Pettigrew, and a shortened version of seeing Pettigrew alive at the end of fourth year. Placing them in phials and sealing them unbreakable he handed them to John, who took them and placed them in his case.
"Harry," he began, "even if we were to exonerate him, it wouldn't bring him back, only clear his name. Are you sure you want to do this now? We can wait and push it through at a later date?"
"No it has to be now, for one thing, it proves Pettigrew is alive and strengthens my claims against Voldemort. For another," he looked at Tracey and Blaise, who both gave him an encouraging nod, Blaise squeezing his hand again. "Sirius is alive, I'm working on bringing him back as we speak, it might take me a while, but I don't intend to leave him where he is for long, I'd like him to be a free man when he gets out." John looked at Harry a little disbelieving so Harry untangled his hand from Blaise's and pulled the mirror from his pocket. He always had it on him, just in case Sirius needed him. Looking into the mirror he said "Padfoot."
Waiting for Sirius to answer took a few moments, in which time Harry grew extremely worried, this was the first time Harry had spoken to him since he'd found out he was alive, what if something had gone wrong? Or he'd hallucinated the whole thing? Suddenly Sirius's face appeared. "Pup! Hello! How are you? Is everything okay?" asked Sirius in rapid succession.
"Hi Sirius, I'm well, and yes everything's okay, it's just I'm meeting with my lawyer at the moment, and he's going to get you exonerated. But he doesn't believe me that you're alive." Harry explained, glancing at the dumbfounded expression on said lawyers face.
Sirius barked his rough laugh, "well then, spin me around so I can see the poor fellow." Harry obeyed and Sirius cried out, "Johnny boy? Is that you?" When John just nodded Sirius laughed again, "well as you can see I'm quite alive, but go on ask me something."
"Er.. who did I catch you behind the broomshed with, in sixth year?" John asked.
Sirius barked his laugh, "let's see.. I believe it was Marlene McKinnon? Or was it Deborah Bones?"
John laughed, "it was both actually, you dog."
Sirius barked a laugh again, "well what can I say? The ladies loved me."
"For about two weeks," teased John with a smile, "right, well, this changes things, Harry. I'll get this set in motion right away as well."
Harry turned the mirror around to see Sirius again, "how are you doing Sirius?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm fine Pup, glad to see you're getting yourself some representation, did you talk to him about the Prophet?"
Harry nodded, "yeah and getting emancipated and a bunch of other things."
"Good, good, I'm proud of you Pup, I'm doing fine here, my magic seems to work at least, and I think I'm heading in the right direction. I've been hearing growling for a while now."
Harry grinned, "that's great news! I'll call you again tomorrow, I think we'll have some information for you." He saw Tracey nodding vigorously out of the corner of his eye.
"Right you are Prongslet, I'll talk to you then, I love you," Sirius said.
Harry's throat closed over with emotion, but he managed to choke out, "love you too Padfoot," and the connection closed.
Harry ducked his head to hide the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes, quickly rubbing at his face with his sleeves, he pocketed the mirror once more. He felt Blaise's hand on his knee and he looked up to give him a brief smile, looking at John, he said, "you went to school with Sirius? And my Dad?"
John bobbed his head in acknowledgement, "I did, they were the year below me," he replied. "I could tell you some stories if you would like?" he said hesitantly.
Harry gave him a wavering smile, "that would be great, but now is probably not the best time."
"You're right, we can have that discussion another time. So before you told me about Sirius, you said there were two more things you wanted to talk about? What's the last one?" John asked, getting them back on track.
"Mail wards," Harry stated, "I think I have some, but I never put them there and I don't know how to go about removing them, or if I should?"
John's eyes widened again, "well the only person who can place mail wards on someone else is their parents or magical guardians and that's only while you're underage. The magic won't take otherwise."
Harry went quiet as he considered the possibilities, Blaise spoke softly, "I can't see it being your parents Harry, you were a baby, and you weren't famous then. There's no reason for them to have done it." Harry nodded in agreement.
"Well, that only leaves two other people. Sirius as my godfather, and he would have asked me before he did anything and.." Harry trailed off.
"And?" John prompted.
"Dumbledore," Harry said quietly, looking the older man squarely in the eye.
John visibly started, "are you suggesting what I think you are?" he whispered.
Harry shrugged, "Depends, if you think I'm suggesting that he's a manipulative bastard who would do anything for the greater good over the good of an individual, than yes. That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Harry could feel Blaise and Tracey staring at him.
"Harry.." said John.
"Look, you don't have to believe me, but he's my only other magical guardian because I was muggle-raised. I have years' worth of proof that he isn't quite the kindly old man everyone thinks he is." Harry said, still locking eyes with his lawyer.
"What kind of proof?" Blaise asked in a sharp tone, that Harry knew wasn't directed at him, but still managed to feel accusatory.
"Well," Harry started, "I know that he was the Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot and didn't ensure that Sirius received a trial, even though Sirius was a part of his Order of the Phoenix. There's the fact he hid the Philosophers Stone in Hogwarts during our first year, deliberately to draw Voldemort out. There's the fact that he never sent anyone home for their own safety, in second year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, at the very least he should have sent the muggleborns away. How about how he hired Lockhart, who was a massive fraud. And what about the kids who were petrified? Why did we have to wait for the school's mandrakes to mature when they could have brought some to restore the Colin, Justin, Penelope and Hermione? Why did they have to miss months of school? In third year, he didn't adjust the school wards to keep out Dementors, allowing them to come onto the grounds on two occasions, and into the castle on another. He also left, unguarded, secret passageways into the school that he knew about because he made them. He also knew Sirius knew about them, and even though we all know now, that Sirius is innocent, he didn't know then. He sent me and Hermione back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius, even though I'm glad we were able to, it's just irresponsible, why couldn't he borrow Hermione's Time Turner and do it himself? In fourth year, he forced me to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament even though the rules state that anyone, or their magical guardian, may withdraw from the competition within the first 24 hours. In fifth year, he allowed Umbridge to physically punish students, he had to have known about it as Headmaster. Then there's the fact that he keeps on Snape, who is a bully to students, even some within his own house and what about Binns? You can't tell me that there isn't another history teacher with better qualifications out there somewhere? Especially seeing as all Binns talks about are Goblin rebellions and witch burnings, surely there's more to wizarding history? And what about Trelawney? Who predicts a student's death every year and mine every time she sees me? What about sending first-year students into the Forbidden Forest to track down something evil enough to kill unicorns? Even if he didn't set the detention himself, the Headmaster is made aware of all detentions and has final say in how they are to be administered. How about the nest of Acromantula in the forest? Aragog's decent enough but his hundreds of kids sure aren't." Harry had really worked himself into a rant by this stage, "and then there's the fact that I've told him the Dursleys are awful and he still sends me there every summer, even though the blood wards don't work anymore and this summer he took me to a bloody lake filled with Inferi!"
Harry's chest was heaving with the exertion he had put into his speech. It suddenly dawned on him what he let slip at the end there, but he hoped it would go unnoticed. Harry hadn't realised at the time, but the pen that John had bewitched to write for him, had taken down everything he said. Still trying to get his breathing under control Harry reached for a glass of water and drained it noisily. He waited for someone to say something, but they were all looking at him rather shocked. Harry suddenly felt self-conscious and unsure, "er.. anyway."
This seemed to shake Blaise out of his stupor at least because suddenly he had pulled Harry into his lap and was hugging as tightly as he could, which, with his larger frame and well-developed muscles was pretty tight. "uh, Blaise," Harry coughed, "I need to breathe." Blaise slackened his hold slightly but didn't let go. Not allowing Harry to leave his lap and only letting him turn around to face John when the lawyer cleared his throat.
"Harry," said John concerned, "that's an awful lot of accusations to level at Dumbledore. You've clearly given this a lot of thought." Harry shrugged, privately thinking that when you spent all your summer holed up with no-one to talk to you, there wasn't a hell of a lot else to do, except tend his wounds.
"I'm going to need some time to process all of this, as to your original questions about mail wards, you can break the spell yourself and recast any that you want. I can have a book sent to you on them if you like?"
Harry nodded and they all started as the cuckoo clock in the corner chimed twelve. "We better go," Harry told Tracey and Blaise, taking Blaise's hand in his left, he stood. He held out his right hand to John, "Thank you, for agreeing to all this." He said with grateful appreciation.
John shook his hand, "the pleasure is all mine, Harry. It's an honour to meet you, at last, I see know that rumours of you being a great wizard are true. I'll owl you with I get together as soon as I can."
"You should probably send it to Tracey, that way it won't be obvious it's coming to me and we can bypass the mail wards that way," Harry told him. John agreed and Harry left some galleons on the table for the hire of the room and the tea service. Throwing his cloak over himself one-handed was a bit hard, but Blaise refused to let go of his other hand. Harry disillusioned Blaise again and Tracey hugged her father goodbye before doing the same. It was a very quiet group that made their way back through the Honeydukes tunnel.
Part way through though Tracey spoke up, "you know Harry, I never realised how powerful you were before, you sort of downplay it don't you? Is that deliberate as well? Like your grades?"
Harry looked at her puzzled, "I don't know what you mean Tracey, I'm not any more powerful than the average witch or wizard."
Tracey looked at him like he was crazy, "Harry, that bit of wandless magic you did in the Three Broomsticks was powerful, the scale let alone the spell. Most wizards can't even cast a lumos spell wandlessly."
Harry looked at her shocked, "no I didn't do that wandlessly," seeming to rethink he asked, "did I?"
Tracey nodded fervently, "you did, have you done other wandless magic before?" Harry bit his lip, thinking hard, he realised he had, he'd been summoning things to himself, putting out fires and doing various other things all year. He looked at Tracey with a look akin to awe on his face and she giggled, "well, maybe it's something else you need to practice." Harry groaned good-naturedly and the topic turned to when Tracey expected to hear from her dad.
Blaise had tuned out Harry and Tracey's conversation because inside Blaise was furious, a lake of Inferi? Just what the hell had Dumbledore been playing at taking Harry to a place like that? Not to mention even half of the other things Harry had mentioned. Laid out like that, Blaise was hard put trying to control his protective instincts that just wanted to march right up to Dumbledore and rip his stupidly long beard off of his face and shove it..
"Blaise?" came Harry's voice. Blaise blinked a few times, getting his anger under control he looked at Harry and realised that they had made it to the end of the tunnel. Harry seemed to be looking at him worriedly. Stopping Blaise drew Harry into a snug embrace, burying his nose in Harry's neck he just held onto the Gryffindor. "You were growling," Harry told him.
"You said a lake full of Inferi," snapped Blaise, Harry sighed. It figured Blaise wouldn't let that go.
"Can we talk about it later? I have Quidditch, and we need to get out of here unseen, for that I need to get my map out of my bag." Blaise reluctantly let go and drew back a little to give Harry some room.
"Map?" asked Tracey with a curious expression on her face.
Harry smirked at her, "yeah, you'll love this. My father and his friends made it." Pulling the Marauders Map out of his pocket, he unfolded it, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he recited, the map coming to life underneath his wand tip. Ink spreading out from where he had tapped it. Blaise and Tracey both leant in to look at it. Upon realising exactly what Harry held they both swore softly.
"So that's how you knew where to find us that day in the library!" exclaimed Tracey.
"And the day on top of the Western Parapet?" Blaise asked eyebrow raised. Harry nodded at the both, he unfolded the map some more until he found them standing in the tunnel. Looking at the corridor they were about to enter, there were two third year Ravenclaws heading away from them, they all watched as they turned the corner and then Harry opened ran his hands over the spot where the opening should be, a smooth round rock fell away from a ledge and into Harry's hand, looking at it for a moment before tossing it in the air and catching it. He put it in his pocket before opening the witch. Blaise gave him a questioning look at his action, but Harry just shrugged, not wanting to ruin the surprise. Climbing out, Tracey went to stand near the end of the hallway to give them a moment of privacy. Harry rubbed a hand through his hair, "look, I promise to tell you about it later, okay? But I won't be able to see you again until tonight, there's gonna be a big party in the Gryffindor Common Room this afternoon," Harry said with a confident grin.
Blaise just shook his head wryly at him, "Okay, meet you after dinner?" Harry nodded.
"About eightish. The potion will be done by then, so make sure you bring the girls." Blaise sighed lightly and stepped closer to Harry, taking the risk at being caught in the open he gave him a soft chaste kiss, just a bare press of lips.
"I'd like to have some time for just the two of us soon," Blaise told him softly, "I know that we spend the night together, but we do just sleep. I realise how unlikely that is, with everything that's going on and I don't want to pull you in yet another direction. But I can't help feeling that way, especially after what you said about Dumbledore today, part of me just wants to take you away from here."
Harry looked at Blaise with wide eyes, slightly shocked, "you do?" he breathed. Only Sirius had ever said he'd wanted to do that. Harry found it kind of hard to believe that Blaise felt the same.
Blaise lifted a shoulder, but nodded seriously, "part of it's the Rukar side of me, screaming, to make sure you're safe and not in danger like that again and the wizard in me wholeheartedly agrees, my inner Slytherin though, is saying the smart thing to do would be to continue playing this as we have been at least for now. Get Mr Davis to do his job and get you to Gringotts as soon as possible."
Harry was just looking at Blaise in wonder, it felt amazing that Blaise cared that much to whisk him away from anything that might want to directly or indirectly harm him. Harry was so lost in his thoughts and the warm knowledge of wanting to be protected, cared for, that he jumped when the bell rang signalling the end of the lunch period. "Shit," he swore, "I have to go, I'll see you later okay?" Leaning up he kissed Blaise firmly and then thrust his cloak into Blaise's hands, "look after this?" Blaise nodded and Harry quickly took off jogging down the hall, calling goodbye to Tracey as he passed her, she gave him a knowing little grin and waved as he disappeared down the corridor. He tore down to the Quidditch Pitch and was relieved to find he was the first of his team there. He wasn't too late at least, grabbing his gear he headed to a shower stall to change.
Harry was drifting on the breeze, high above the Quidditch Pitch, he was scanning the field for the snitch, glancing at Cho, he could see her getting frustrated. Grinning, he looked at the scoreboard again, it was 170 to 30, Gryffindors way, Cho needed to catch the Snitch soon if Ravenclaw were going to win. Scanning again he saw the telltale glint of gold close to the Ravenclaw goalposts. There was a cheer from the Gryffindor stands and using that as a fake, he put on a small burst of speed and did a few loop de loops to celebrate the goal. Putting him closer to the fluttering snitch but also Cho, she was much closer to the snitch than he was. Pulling out of the last loop, Harry shot forwards. His trajectory was better than Cho's he knew he would get to it before her, when suddenly she was side on in front of him, blocking his way. Snarling he pulled upwards to avoid a collision, just barely avoiding her, and headed straight into the speeding path of a bludger. The bludger slammed into his upper arm, snapping the bone, the impact was hard enough it nearly unseated him. Grimly holding on, he yelled at his team to continue. "I'm fine! Don't worry about me! Get your arses moving!"
Seamus, who had the Quaffle immediately started flying again. Harry adjusted himself into a sitting position and one eye on Cho, who looked slightly guilty, he placed his hand on his arm. Well if Tracey thought he could do stuff wandlessly, now was a good a time as any to try. Muttering the spell to fix bones under his breath he felt the painful shifting and mending of bone. Jaw dropping open in surprise, he grinned a second later, he could get used to this. Resuming a flying position he started to hunt for the Snitch again. A few goals to Gryffindor later and Harry saw it, fluttering a few feet from the ground, Cho was at the other end of the field and there was no way she could catch him on his Firebolt.
He flipped his broom and headed into a steep dive, just slightly off centre from the snitch, he would use its natural escape tendencies to manoeuvre his stunt. Building up speed he didn't hear the hush that had befallen the crowd, he didn't realise that even the two teams had stopped their plays to watch his dive, however, he was dimly aware of Cho trying to catch up to him. Revelling in the feeling of wind through his hair and the knowledge that he was one with his broom, he flattened himself further, urging the broom to go even faster, the snitch hadn't moved yet, still fluttering in the same position.
Harry was meters away from the ground, when the Snitch sensed him and pulled away, he smirked when it went in the direction he had anticipated. He pulled sharply on the broom and rolled with the movement, upside down, he sped after the snitch, the ground so close to his head he could feel the grass as it brushed his hair. Stretching his arm in front of him, he closed his fingers around the little golden ball, careful not to crush the wings. Pushing on his broom, he shot back into the air, arm raised above his head. There was a sudden thundering noise from the stands, particularly the Gryffindors. Harry heard Lee Jordan shouting over the microphone that Gryffindor had won 450 points to 30. Harry was suddenly slammed into by his teammates and was trapped in a midair group hug, Harry saw his chance to use the hug as a distraction and took it. Glancing across the field he saw the Ravenclaws looking dejected. But the sadness on their faces couldn't deter Harry from the happiness and exhilaration he felt at the moment. He laughing pulled away from his team and they flew towards the change rooms, Demelza and Jimmy letting off loop de loop along the way. Boisterously they let themselves into the change rooms and when they had finally calmed down enough, Ron punched Harry lightly on the arm. "Blimey Harry! I think that's the most amazing I have ever seen anyone fly! Even Krum couldn't do that!" There was a round of agreement and whooping from his team.
Harry flushed, "it was nothing," he said, trying to downplay it, "but can someone explain how we got 450 points? I thought the score was 200 when I was aiming for the snitch?"
There were a few sniggers from the chasers, "it was, but the Ravenclaws were so distracted by your dive, that we had a nice friendly game of catch," answered Dean.
Harry stared at them and then burst out laughing, this soon had the rest of the team in stitches, "right, well I'm gonna hit the showers, then we're going back to the dorm, I've got butterbeer for everyone." There was another cheer and Harry gathered up the things he would need for a shower and to change. He walked towards his usual cubicle and noticed that the door opened for him, pausing slightly but walking in, he felt someone crowd in behind him. Catching a whiff of familiar scent, he shut the door and hissed, "Blaise," but before he could get any further, the cloak was falling away to reveal his Slytherin who cast a silencing spell on the cubicle, and pushed Harry against the wall. His lips came crushing down on Harry's, it was a kiss filled with need and desperation. Harry moaned unintentionally into his mouth. Blaise's hands roamed over Harry's body, feeling for injury or hurt. Reaching down, Blaise pulled on Harry's thighs, Harry instinctively allowing Blaise to pull him up, wrapped his legs around Blaise's waist and held onto his biceps tightly. Blaise had Harry pressed securely onto the wall so that their bodies were crushed together. The kiss hot and frantic, as their tongues slid wetly across one another. Soon they were both breathless and panting, Blaise drew his lips back and rested his forehead against Harry's. Looking into Harry's emerald eyes he said, "you foolish, reckless, idiotically, brave Gryffindor."
Harry grinned lopsidedly at Blaise, "didn't you like my flying?" he asked innocently.
Blaise growled softly and tightened his grip on Harry's thighs, before kissing him again. When they managed to pull themselves away again, mainly because of a need to breathe, he said, "that wasn't flying, that was how to give your boyfriend a heart attack 101."
Harry laughed bright and happy, Blaise smiled at the lightness in Harry's voice for once. "I got you something," Harry said, attempting to get down but Blaise wasn't letting him go, so he dug awkwardly into his pocket. His fingers closing around his prize he held out his closed fist to Blaise. Blaise raised an eyebrow at Harry, but shifted his weight so he could support Harry one handed, he held out his palm. Harry dropped the Snitch into it. It sat there, glinting and lazily fluttering its wings.
Blaise chuckled, "you caught the snitch for me? How did you manage to sneak it past Hooch?"
"I transfigured a rock," Harry replied, "gave her that one."
"She won't find out it was you?" Blaise asked, suddenly understanding why Harry had pocketed the rock in the secret passage. Warmth spreading through him at Harry's forethought.
"Nah, heaps of people will have had access to it by then. She'll just buy a new one. Besides, it's better if it's a new one every game instead of a reset one, they start to slow down after a while."
"We can't have that now, can we?" teased Blaise.
"Nope," said Harry, popping the p, "now come on, you better get out of here. I gotta take a shower still and get up the tower before anyone starts to wonder what's taking me so long."
"Mmm, I could always stay?" said Blaise huskily, pressing harder against Harry, kissing the seekers neck softly, he murmured, "help you wash your back?" Instead of receiving a laugh or a breathless moan in response, as he expected, he felt Harry go tense and force himself out of Blaise's hold. Blaise let him go, unsure what had brought about the sudden change.
Harry didn't look at Blaise as he tried to summon some levity into his voice, "I think I know how to do that, now shoo. I'll see you tonight okay?" Harry moved away from Blaise to sit on the small bench provided and started unlacing his Quidditch boots. He tensed when he saw Blaise kneel down in front of him, Blaise's hands stilling his own.
"Harry?" Blaise asked, "I'm sorry if you thought I was asking for something that you're not ready for. I only meant it lightheartedly, I wasn't expecting anything from you or pushing for anything."
Harry was suddenly angry, why did Blaise have to be so Merlin damned perfect? It made him feel inadequate and like he was in the wrong. He hated that he felt like that, hated what the Dursleys had done to him that he couldn't enjoy a normal relationship like any other teenager. He hated his scars and that he had to hide them from his boyfriend, and everyone else, and he was irrationally angry at Blaise for misinterpreting that Harry didn't want to do things any normal sixteen-year-old boy would, especially as Blaise had to have felt how much Harry had wanted him earlier. In his anger he lashed out at the Slytherin, "just go Blaise, you shouldn't even be here," he snapped.
"Harry," Blaise began.
"GO!" Harry yelled, "just, get OUT!" He could see the hurt written on Blaise's face and reflected in his eyes as he yelled at him, but he didn't know what to do. Didn't know what he was supposed to do to make this right. Didn't know how to make it better. Blaise set his mouth in a firm line and gathering up the cloak, slipped out of the Gryffindors change rooms.
Harry slid to the floor of his cubicle and started to sob, throwing his glasses onto the bench he pressed his hands over his eyes as he tried to hold back the flood of tears.
AN: *hides under blankets* squeaks out, "please don't hate me!"
tentatively asks for a review?