Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

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Muggle-Raised Champion

Chapter 25 – A Game of Runes

2:10pm

Sunday, 5 March 1995

Harry's Quarters, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

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"Sirius! I didn't know you were coming today. What are you doing here?" Harry exclaimed as he opened the door to his quarters.

The old Marauder grinned at him. "Can't a Godfather come to see his Godson every now and again?"

"I guess so," Harry replied, not that he'd ever really thought about it.

In actual fact, Harry was still getting used to the idea of having a Godfather, let alone a person, an adult no less, who was interested in him and voluntarily wanted to spend time with him.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" Sirius asked.

"Of course," Harry replied quickly, opening the door wide.

"How've you been, Harry?" Sirius asked as he gave him a brief hug.

"Good," Harry replied automatically.

Sirius' grey eyes stared at him searchingly.

"Really? 'Cause I had a visit from Amelia Bones the other day and she thought that you could use someone to talk to," Sirius stated.

Harry looked away. Madam Bones and his friends had had a long talk about everything that had been going on with the Tournament and, while he'd hidden a lot of what he was thinking, he guessed that it wouldn't have taken the head of magical police much to read whatever vibes he was putting out.

Glancing back, he saw that Sirius was watching him intently, evidently waiting for an answer to his question. In the end, the only way that Harry knew how to answer was to shrug, so that's what he did.

"How've your lessons been going?" Sirius asked.

Harry appreciated the blatant change of topic and latched on to it greedily.

"Okay. Good, I think," he replied. "Professor Flitwick's been pushing me pretty hard. He says that I've got all the first year Charms spells down now and has started teaching me a mixture of second and third year spells. I'm not quite as far as that in Transfiguration, but close. At least, I think so. Madam Walker says that I'm adequate with my Potions, whatever that means. And all the rest seem to be going okay."

"That's great, Harry," Sirius beamed. "At this rate, you'll be caught up to your year-mates in no time."

That was painfully close to what he'd been wrestling with for the past week.

"I'm actually working on my end-of-year Ancient Runes project at the moment," Harry said, having desperately sought for something to say to get away from the other topic. "Would you like to see it?"

"I'd love to," Sirius exclaimed.

"You know," he continued as Harry led him down into his workshop, "I took Ancient Runes when I went here. It was interesting but not really my bottle of butterbeer. Remus, now, he loved that sort of thing. Lily, too. I think it was in her top three favourite subjects, along with Potions and Charms."

Harry led his Godfather to the workbench in the centre of the room and allowed the man a chance to look it all over before he started explaining what he was doing.

The workbench was a mess of pieces of wood, sheets of paper and tools. In the very centre was a large piece of pine, a meter long by half that wide. Drawn on it in pencil were a series of lines, each one corresponding to where a piece of wood would be eventually be attached to it.

"What exactly is the project that you've been given?" Sirius asked.

"Seeing as how I'm supposed to be being pushed to catch up with the others my age, Professor Babbling wants me to produce a unique way of using a minimum of five different runic arrays all carved into a medium of my choice," Harry explained.

"Okay," Sirius said slowly, his eyes roving over the table.

"I'm guessing that these are the arrays that you're going to use?" he continued, pointing to a sheet of paper to the side of the bench.

"Yep," Harry replied.

"Let me see," Sirius said, taking up the sheet and beginning to squint at it, his head turning this way and that. "These four are colour changing runes – yellow, green, blue and … red?"

Harry nodded, a smile on his face. Seeing that, Sirius turned back to scrutinize the others.

"Hmm. I think these two are for speed. Fast and slow?" he questioned. At Harry's grin, he continued. "That one's a cancelling rune. But the last two? Nope, no idea."

"It took me a bit to look them up and to get them right as well," Harry admitted. He pointed to each runic array as he explained them to his Godfather. "This one will make an object glow. And this one duplicates objects, as in, if an object touches it, then a copy of it will be made, giving you two of it."

Sirius nodded. "Like the gemino charm."

Harry looked at him, his head askew.

"Does the same thing; duplicates objects," Sirius explained. "Exactly how are you going to use all of these arrays?"

Harry grinned at him. "I'm making a … a game, I guess."

Here he started to snatch pieces of wood from the bench and arrange them so that they were leaning against each other on the pencil-drawn lines on the large pine piece in the centre of the bench.

"You see, I'll attach these pieces like this and add in sides and a clear plastic top, leaving a small opening at the top and bottom," he explained. "The runic arrays will be carved in the wood throughout the wooden maze. Then, you drop a ball into the top and move the whole box from side to side to get it to go where you want. The aim is to get it to come out the bottom. Where the arrays come in is that they're going to be carved into the wood throughout the maze for the ball to pass over on its journey."

Sirius' nod began slow before quickly increasing in pace, matching the growing grin on his face.

"And the ball will change depending on which arrays it touches!" he exclaimed in understanding.

"Exactly!" Harry agreed. "I'll put the rune to make the ball glow right near the top so that you can even play it in the dark and spread the others – colour change, increase or decrease speed and duplicate – throughout the maze. And just before the hole where the ball exits, I'll put the cancelling charm so that the ball comes out the same as it did going in."

"That's … that's amazing, Harry! You came up with it all by yourself?" Sirius asked.

"Yep, it's all mine," he replied.

"You could easily sell something like that," Sirius said excitedly. "Kids'd snap it up in an instant. Merlin, adults would buy it! Not to mention people like Professor Babbling who could use it to help teach runic arrays."

Harry blinked at his Godfather's enthusiasm.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"I know so," Sirius stated emphatically.

"Well, that's something to think about, I suppose," Harry replied. "Assuming that it works the way I'm imagining."

"It will," Sirius said confidently. "And when it does, I'll help you market the thing, if you like. I'd even back you financially, if you need it. Not that you would – the Potters were old money, you've probably got tons of gold lying around your vault doing nothing."

Harry froze. Sirius' enthusiasm hit him hard. This man was his Godfather. He would turn up unexpectedly at the castle just to see him, to offer an ear if he needed to talk while at the same time being okay with just spending time not talking if that's what Harry needed. And in all of his decision-making of what to do next year and the years after that, Harry had never once thought about his Godfather. Daphne, Hermione, Neville and Susan, yes, but Sirius, no.

"Uh, Sirius," he began nervously, snagging one of the stools and dropping onto it. "Can we talk about … something?"

Instantly, Sirius changed from his excited puppy mode into something a lot more, well, serious. He, too, grabbed a stool and sat upon it facing Harry.

"Sure, Pup. What's up?" he asked.

"How much … how much do you know of what my life's been like?" Harry asked nervously. "Here in the castle and … and before?"

"I know bits and pieces and guessed a bit more," Sirius replied. "How about you just tell me what you're comfortable with?"

Harry nodded. "My life back at Privet Drive wasn't … wasn't great. I've been working my butt off for my relatives since I could walk. And then Uncle Vernon made me start working at Keating's when I was eleven. Terry and the other guys did what they could for me: they taught me woodworking and acted all mean and nasty towards me when Uncle Vernon was around. They told me that they figured that if they didn't, Vernon'd just find somewhere else for me to work, somewhere where it'd be a lot worse for me. Yes, they gave all the wages that I earnt to Uncle Vernon, but they gave me something even more precious, the skills that I'd need to eventually earn my own living away from the Dursleys. And when I left, they gave me these tools and this wood.

"That's why I jumped at the chance to leave Privet Drive when it was offered to me," Harry explained. "I knew that it wasn't a great situation, but one year of being stuck in this Tournament in exchange for my emancipation, my freedom? Sounded like a brilliant deal to me. Not to mention getting to learn magic and make some new friends away from my cousin.

"But it hasn't been that great here. Yeah, I've been learning magic. But the bigotry that I've encountered, just based on who someone's parents are, is ridiculous. Or on someone's skills, like my ability to talk to snakes. It's completely harmless, and yet the entire country seems to think that I'm some dangerous psychopath that's destined to kill them all. There's only a few people here that've ignored it and wanted to be my friends.

"And then there's all the garbage that's been going on with this Tournament," he continued. "Pitting kids against dragons. Sticking people at the bottom of a Lake in the middle of winter. Having someone's name come out a goblet that magically binds them into a deadly contract. It's all ridiculous! And all perfectly legal, thank you very much, because of some archaic laws that the rest of the world threw out centuries ago!"

"You've had it rough," Sirius said quietly, reaching out to place a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder after he finished ranting.

"I know," he replied, his body still heaving with the emotions that had been pouring out of him. "I know and that's … that's why I sent off a letter last week."

"A letter?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I sent a letter to Charlie Weasley. He works at the Romanian Dragon Reserve. They invited me to work there. As a consultant. Apparently being able to talk to snakes and dragons and other reptiles is a really big deal in other parts of the world. Actually, they weren't the only ones to offer me a job. Every single dragon reserve in the world send me a job invitation after the First Task."

"That's … that's good, Harry," Sirius said hesitantly. "I'm glad that there's some, at least, who can see the value in your skills."

"Yeah. Yeah. That's why I sent Charlie the letter," Harry replied.

"What did you say in this letter?" Sirius asked carefully.

"I asked him about the job offer," Harry replied. "Exactly what it would entail and what the possibility would be that I'd be able to continue my magical education over there if I accepted a job with them."

Sirius' jaw dropped and be blinked hard at Harry.

"You'd leave Britain?" he finally asked.

Harry nodded slowly. "Apart from you and Daphne, Neville, Hermine and Susan, there really isn't anyone that I'd miss here. Oh, and maybe Professor Flitwick."

"But what about Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not a student here," Harry replied. "And frankly, after seeing what the Headmaster is allowed to get away with, I don't want to be."

Harry watched Sirius process these revelations. He could see that it was a big deal for the man and something that he was having a hard time accepting.

"If this is what will make you happy," Sirius eventually said, "then I'm behind you one hundred percent."

"R-really?" Harry asked.

"Really. I just want you to be happy, Harry. And if that means moving somewhere else, then so be it," Sirius replied. "Just so long as we stay in touch and I can come visit you, then we're all good."

Harry launched himself from his stool to grab his Godfather in a hug.

"Thank you," he murmured into Sirius' neck.

"Anytime, kiddo," Sirius said back. "Now, if there's a possibility of you leaving sometime, then I'd better start making up for the thirteen Christmases and birthdays that I've missed."

Harry pulled back and stared curiously at the man. But before he could ask anything, Sirius pulled a small package out of his pocket, enlarged it with a tap of his wand and presented it to him.

"But it's not my birthday!" Harry protested, "nor Christmas."

"I know that," Sirius replied, prodding Harry with the gift until he took it. "Can't a Godfather do something nice for his Godson without it being a special day? I saw this and thought of you. So, here you are."

"Okay, okay, thank you," Harry said.

As he did with his Christmas gifts, Harry made sure to unwrap it carefully. When the paper had finally fallen away, he found a book: Magical Woodworking Tips and Tricks. His eyes bulged and he looked up at Sirius, a massive smile on his face before his eyes quickly dropped back to the book.

Flipping through it, he found an array of spells and charms for use in woodworking. There were ones to transfigure a block of wood into planks; others for boring holes into wood; some to change one type of wood into another; and even a whole host of ones designed for shaping wood into different shapes and patterns.

"Wow, Sirius! This is brilliant! Thank you so much!" Harry exclaimed.

"I'm glad you like it," Sirius replied. "How about we try some of them out?"

In reply, Harry dashed across the room and grabbed a handful of offcuts out of one of the bins in the corner.

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7:35am

Thursday, 9 March 1995

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

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An unexpected jerk had Harry grasping at the handle of his broom, his knuckles almost turning white with the death grip that he'd taken. Once the broom had levelled off once more and his heart-rate had returned to normal, he ever so slowly released his grip.

For a few moments, his hands hovered just above the wood, waiting, testing the way the broom was hovering, guided only by his knees. When he felt comfortable enough with it, he lifted his hands higher and sat up straighter.

Thankfully, there hadn't been much wind that morning and what there had been was light, barely enough to cause the broom to sway about. The unexpected jerk that he'd just experienced had actually been the very first gust of stronger wind that he'd felt.

Which was all to the good. It seemed that he'd picked the perfect morning for this particular activity.

Since he'd arrived at Hogwarts, he'd hardly taken the time to fly his Nimbus, something that he was currently regretting. Being up here, in the peace and calm, was incredibly relaxing. There was no one about to bother him; he could simply fly about without a care in the world. He suspected that Hedwig would have joined him if she hadn't been off delivering a letter, which would have been a bonus – she was another that he hadn't spent as much time with as he should have recently.

Not that he was actually flying about at the moment. That would actually defeat the purpose of his morning flight. No, what Harry was doing was floating high above Hogwarts, positioned slightly to the west of the castle where he could see not only the magnificent school, but also a large chunk of its grounds, including the lake and the Forbidden Forest. And stuck to his broom with a conveniently named 'sticking charm' was a board with a sheet of paper on top of it.

Currently, the sketch that he was working on of the Hogwarts campus was mostly done. There were one or two areas that he wanted to touch up, like the Astronomy Tower, the Clock Tower and Ravenclaw Tower, but he was more focussed on capturing notes on the colours that the rising sun were shining upon the scene.

Knowing that there was a high possibility that he had less than two months left of his time here, Harry wanted something to remember Hogwarts by and he thought that a painting would be perfect. But painting from this high in the air was impossible, thus, the sketch that he was doing in preparation for the upcoming painting.

Really, when Harry thought about it, the fact that he'd come to the realisation that he didn't have to stay here and become a full-time student next year had released a fair amount of tension. Not that he was positive exactly what was going to happen.

Yes, he'd sent off a letter to Romania, but that had been to ask about the possibility of getting an education there in addition to his consulting job with the dragons. There was, however, no guarantee that they'd say 'yes', regardless of what he'd indicated to Sirius. The good thing was that they weren't the only dragon reserve in the world who'd offered him a job. And, if none of them were willing for him to gain his education alongside a job with them, then there were always other magical schools or even tutors.

The thought of tutors had Harry quickly checking the time. He had Potions with Madam Walker that morning and it wouldn't do to be late. While he'd learnt an amazing amount with her, she was a stickler for details and that included punctuality.

Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, Harry stuffed his pencil into his pocket, gripped his Nimbus properly and angled his body downwards and accelerated away.