Book One of the Heritage Series:

Harry Potter and the Return of Heritage

Chapter Forty Three

Arrow in the Forest

The day after the feast the entire student body finished packing the remainder of their belongings, their trunks were closed and locked at the end of their beds, the night stands were empty and the beds made.

The students were dressed is muggle clothes and were milling around the castle saying goodbyes and making arrangements for the summer, the professors were also in high spirits as they were allowed some holiday time before the start of the next school year.

Eventually it was time for the students to make the walk down to the Hogsmeade Station for the long journey back to London.

It was on this walk that Harry was engaged in a surprise conversation with Daphne Greengrass who had seemed to appear out of nowhere on the walk, Cameron Du Vant and Tracey Davis also fell into step with Harry and Neville.

"We need to talk" Cameron said.

"I thought you were keeping your distance form us" Neville asked confused by their bold actions.

"Worry not little Longbottom" Tracey replied rolling her eyes "we are capable of going un noticed to those who we choose."

"What did you come to tell us?" Harry inserted to draw attention away from the looks between his friend and Tracey.

"Be on your guard, Goyle and Crabbe are up to something" Cameron said with a disgusted look at the mention of his house mates.

Harry was surprised by the warning, he couldn't imagine that the two of them had the brain capacity to string a sentence longer than five syllables together "what are they planning?"

"We're not sure, but they approached Theo, and they have shunned Malfoy" Daphne said with a smirk "it seems that the little dragon has fallen out of favour"

"That is to be expected with Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban." Harry replied with a smug smile, which then faltered "it won't be for long but it will show the community that he is scum."

"That is true, but I would not count Draco out of this mess," Daphne pointed out "He may have lost his false standing due to his father, but Draco will not be down for long, he will seek his revenge."

Harry raised a questioning eyebrow at the comment

"No I do not think that he will come after you" she said rolling her eyes, "I do not know what the fall out will be, but I would warn your friends."

"Why wouldn't he target me?" Harry asked surprised by here reasoning.

"You are his family, albeit distantly" Cameron said with a smirk, "it may not count much to you, but it does to Malfoy. He hates Weasley and Granger, but he has become rather mute in regards to you."

"It has made a change to hearing your name spat out like a something on the bottom of a shoe." Tracey added reminiscently.

Harry shook his head "I do not know why he has changed his opinion of me, I have done nothing."

"Nothing you would believe notable, but in our way of life you have" Neville said pointedly looking at Daphne.

"You have called him Draco all year, you have not argued with him or traded insults. You have treated him with something akin respect." Daphne explained "I do not know why there was such bad blood between you both, to my knowledge the Potters and Malfoys have no feud just a difference in political agenda."

"I will keep an eye on him as often as I can spare." Harry agreed, he wasn't entirely sure why his opinion of Draco had changed, he could see something in the boy that gave him some hope, it was fleeting and just out of reach."

"Well good day" Tracey said and she walked away at a brisk pace, their conversation was at an end.

"I will see you for dinner towards the end of summer" Harry said to Cameron and Daphne.

Cameron smirked at him "only if you survive you trip to the Black Lodge"

"What do you mean" Harry asked quite startled.

Cameron and Daphne both laughed and left Harry and Neville on the path leading to the train.

"What did he mean?" Harry said turning to Neville.

"Well you must know about the Lodge?" Neville said with a knowing smile, but seeing Harry's confused look he let out an uncontrollable fit of laughter

"Neville!"

"You really don't know do you?" he said surprised.

"Well in case you have forgotten I am a new member of the Black Family," Snapped Harry.

"The Black Lodge in Bulgaria was once a place of summer retreat for the wealthier families, it was built for hunting." Neville explained, "Gran told me about it once, we have stuffed Dagenfu Stags head mounted in the house."

Harry was surprised he had read about the magical animal, it had antlers as large at two feet in length. The Antlers changed depending on the season, as too did the stags coat, it allowed the creature to blend in with surroundings and they were near impossible to find.

"My great grandfather caught the creature in a Hunt when he was young, the hunt has been closed for many years. I think Arcturus closed it at the behest of his wife." Neville explained further, "but the estate is huge with s forests, mountains and lakes, but the beauty is not without danger the Blacks introduced many different magical animals into area, I can only image what creatures now call the Lodge home."

"I doubt that Sirius is intending for us to spend the weeks hunting" Harry stated thinking about what Sirius had said about training and what Neville had enlightened him on.

"Perhaps not, but I have seen drawings of the Lodge, it is a creepy place" Neville said with a shiver "it is built high on a ravine, and overlooks the entire estate, it is a castle that is smaller than Hogwarts, but it has five tall spires and its only has three floors. It was built to be beautiful by a Bulgarian wizard, but the Blacks acquired it and changed it, it looks deadly and haunted now."

Harry found himself smiling, which Neville noticed

"Well I can see that your sense of adventure has won over fear of the unknown. I do not know how you can still seek adventure after everything that happens to you."

"I do not know" Harry said running his hand through his hair and looking up at the sunny day, "but sometimes I feel that if I didn't have adventure I would be incredibly bored."

"Sometimes I have wondered what it would be like at Hogwarts without something happening to keep you busy."

"I think perhaps that it I would go stir crazy and become a bibliophile" Harry stated and looked down the small lane and saw Hermione and Ron Sheparding the first years onto the platform

"I do prefer this walk down to the platform in the sun" Neville said

"I miss the carriages" said a dreamy voice from behind them "and the thestrals like the exercise."

Turning they saw that Luna was behind them, she was reading an edition of the Quibbler as she walked, she was dressed in muggle attire, but even though Harry could see she dressed better than most purebloods in muggle clothing, she still had the sense of oddness, with her butterbeer cork necklace and homemade bracelets and ring in the shape of small creatures.

"Hello Luna" Harry said smiling at her "did you find all of you things."

"Oh yes, they were all in my trunk this morning" she said brightly, she looked up and looked surprised "Hello Harrison and Neville, I didn't realise it was you."

"What are you doing this summer Luna" Neville asked politely

"Daddy is taking me out to Europe we are searching for a number of creatures that daddy is researching." She said "he wrote to tell me that he has a number of leads on the location of a migrating heard of Crumble horned Snorcaks."

"Well I hope that you find them." Neville said

"They are highly secretive creatures, we may only be able to find their tracks" she said and hummed a tune which they took to mean that the conversation was over, Harry couldn't help but think that the chances of Luna finding this creature were relatively small, he was nearly certain they didn't exist.

When they arrived at the village of Hogsmeade they made their way to the station and were met by Hermione and Ron

"We have place our trunks in the compartment four up from the rear" Hermione called "you can't miss Crookshanks basket or Pigs owl cage."

"If that trolley comes grab pasties!" Ron shouted over to them

"First years onto the train please" Hermione called "Ron! Help them with their trunks!" she added sternly as Ron was standing there watching a small first year girl struggled to get her trunk onto the train whilst holding her own cat basket.

They walked down the train until they reached the compartment which had a small excitable pygmy owl and a growling basket. Once he was settled Harry leant against the side of the compartment and looked out of the window up at the castle, many students looked at him through the windows as the passed but he paid them no attention.

Eventually he grew restless of watching the castle so he pulled out books from his bag and began to write his own journal, he had started it two days previously and it had become somewhat a book of all magic, from spells that he had learnt, to spells that he wanted to learn, and spells that were unknown to him that he found in reference material. It also contained a number of potions details inside it, as well as details ingredient list and he had begun to add detailed drawings.

In his hand he had a pencil in his hand and a book of Runic schemes and circles open next to him and he wanted to create a scheme that he thought would be of help. He had found it challenging, more challenging that he thought it would be.

All he had been able to find was a master rune but writing a configuration was proving a challenge as the runes had to work together and if one rune was wrong or did not fit correctly any magic channelled into them could be dangerous and have unforeseen consequences.

He was drawing a new configuration when the train gave a shrill whistle and pulled out of Hogsmeade station, he was halfway through the rune scheme, it was only a small scheme with a simple purpose but he was being careful and alert to all possible errors. he knew that drawing existing schemes was easier due to the witchlight but he wanted to create his own.

He was so infused on his work and the many versions of his scheme that he didn't notice that Hermione and Ron had joined them until he went to check something in one of his books and realised that it wasn't there, when he looked up from his scribing he saw that Hermione had it in her hands and was looking through it intently

"Oh didn't realise that you were here" He said lamely looking at her.

"What do you think you're doing Harry?" she asked concerned over the book "this book gives instruction for runic magic, we have not learnt enough to use such magic, it takes years of study to reach levels such as this"

"Maybe for your level" Harry pointed out "but I do not think this scheme that I am writing is advance, it is just a simple in its working as the witchlight."

"Professor Babbling warned us about scribing runes and imbuing them with magic, you have had less than a year's tutoring in these Harry!" protested Hermione "there is a reason that we do not learn to create our own schemes until the end of seventh year."

"As you can see I am not scribing these runes anywhere," Harry said "I am still attempting to write them."

"What are you trying to accomplish with the scheme?" she asked trying to get a glimpse at his writing, but he changed the page.

"That is something that I would rather keep to myself for now, as I am not done and I want to do it alone" Harry said with a small smile, looking around the compartment he was surprised to see that Ron was playing chess with Luna and it looked like she was good as she was playing whilst reading the Quibbler.

Ginny and Neville were talking about their summer plans and Hermione chose to join the conversation and Harry listened to them talking and realised that even though each of them knew that the magical world was now at war they were continuing their lives.

But what could he do, they were going to be enjoying their summers with their family, but Harry had a trip to Bulgaria to look forward to and he was going to be trained to fight. It was a not unlike his entire life, outside normalcy, different from other people.

He looked down at his journal and put it and his other books away, and pulled out another book, a book that he had begun to learn Bulgarian from and it was taking long time he was struggling with the basics. Instead he pulled out another book that was a book that he had borrowed from Remus.

Dire Lupus: The Myths Legends and theories.

A book that discussed Dire Wolves and the many stories that had revolved around them for centuries from myths and legends to folk story and beliefs.

Remus had told him that it would help his transformation if he learnt about the animal and its history. The history was rather vague but the author seemed to have discovered many references to them in many cultures and many of them agreed, the Dire wolf had somehow created the man wolf or skin changer

"What's the book Harry?" Hermione asked with interest looking at the title.

"A book on the origins of the lycanthrope" Harry said "I was wondering about its origins and Remus showed me this book."

"Daddy said that werewolves were created to be the protectors of the Ancient Greek nobles." Luna said "but they also tried to use them as weapons against Roman invaders."

"I read a number of books regarding the possible creation legends," Hermione said " and most theorists agree that it was the Greeks, but they cannot agree how or why they were created."

"What do you expect with ancient history" Ron said "and who really cares?"

"Knowing how something was created could find a way to undo something that you did not create yourself" Neville said "although in this case it could help with a cure."

"Or create a new monster" Ginny said quietly.

The entire compartment looked at her, but she had not looked at any of them but out at the passing scenery looking incredibly pale

"Why do you say that?" Ron asked his sister with concern, a look that Harry knew was reserved for his closest sibling.

Ginny didn't say a word for the longest time but she turned and there was a look that Harry had never seen before

"Riddle will use any weapon he can to control us, I fear for us if he found a way to create werewolves anew, and what changes he could make to them." She said "I had him in my mind, even as a student he thought like a chess player always looking for the next move or something he could use."

"I doubt he had changed since he was at school, if anything he would have gotten better" Harry said "with the knowledge he now has, and the experience he will be able to predict outcomes easier."

"But how can he predict what people will do, there are too many variables." Hermione stated "many number of possible outcomes mean he could never be sure what will happen with any move he makes."

"Not necessarily, many little things could change but if you plan a move correctly you can still end up with a good victory, with only a few pawns lost." Ron said "We have discussed this before, if you make a move, you have to account for everything that can go wrong, yes something unplanned could happen but you still end up doing what you set out to do."

The Department of Mysteries had proved that something unpredicted could ruin a plan, Harry was now certain that Voldemort had ordered the Death Eaters to infiltrate the ministry and attempt to obtain it and if they had been unable to summon him and he would take it himself without having to reveal himself.

Harry and his friends arriving was not part of the plan, as Harry could take the ball from its stand, as could have Neville possibly. It was an action that couldn't have been factored in and it had cost Voldemort information, but Dumbledore's ailment had countered that in Harry's eyes.

There was a loud thump from outside which made the entire compartment fall silent and look out, there stood Crabbe and Goyle looking menacingly into their compartment. They raised their fists and punched the door and to Harry's surprise the door shook, the protective magic that he had placed on the door to prevent unwelcome visitors flared and broke. They pulled open the door and glared at them all and suddenly their wands were pointed at Harry.

"Can I help?" Harry asked whilst flicking his own wand out subtly

"You will now pay" Goyle snarled.

"We want our reward" Crabbe said.

Harry didn't get the chance to reply as suddenly five stunning spells shot from the wands surrounding him, but that was not what shocked him, the spells hit the two thugs but it didn't stop them. The red energy was absorbed by their body and they moved again and they shot their own spells, a dark purple curse shot from Goyle's wand and Crabbe shot a fire from his own wand.

Harry created the most powerful shield charm that he could and it managed to block the spells, but he received a shock when the heat of the fire burnt through the shield and burnt him.

Crabbe and Goyle looked victorious when the saw his red hands, but their victory was short lived as his friends shot stunners at them again along with curses and hexes of their own. The first two stunners were absorbed into their skin like before but the remainder hit them and they received spell damage as the spells mixed, their skin now showed their veins pulsing under them erratically, they lost all their hair and their eyes now pure white.

"Everything alright in here" said a pompous voice.

Looking up from the unconscious bodies Harry saw Ernie, Terry, Susan and Justin standing in the aisle.

"Everything is fine now" Hermione said looking at the bodies with distaste.

"Well we saw everything from our compartment next door." Justin said with a grim smile and put his wand away, "you would think that these two would want to keep a low profile."

"Well they are brawn, not brain." Susan said looking around "where is Malfoy?"

"I don't know" Harry said surprised he hadn't actually noticed his absence, "but he knows when to keep quite occasionally, now I want to know how the hell they managed to take those stunners."

"I have never seen anything like it" Hermione said "but I would guess that it was some dark magic or something, Harry your hands!"

Harry looked down at them, and saw that they had now gone bright red and blistered badly, it was only after seeing the extent of the damage that the pain registered

"Ah, I hadn't realised it had burnt me so badly." He said as Hermione conjured a bowl of water and filled it with water, he managed to open his trunk painfully and extract two vials of potion and began a painful and relieving process of nursing his hand back to health.

The remainder of the trip had been uneventful, and they had spent the trip talking about the fun they had had that year at school and the many highlights of Umbridge. Harry had managed to reduce the damage to his hands to a slight raw pink, he had coated his hands in a light bandage which he applied a concealment charm to so that Sirius wouldn't see them.

As they pulled into the station they put away their things and got ready to disembark, they made their way across the platform towards Mr and Mrs Weasley with the twins where they stood beaming.

Mrs Weasley gave them big hugs and said "It is so good to see you all up and about, Harry dear where is Sirius?"

Harry looked around and couldn't see him, and he felt his stomach sink for a moment, he couldn't have forgotten him.

"I don't know." He said placing his trunk down.

"Well if he doesn't turn up, Arthur can drop you off" Mrs Weasley said with concern.

"I am sure it will be fine Mrs Weasley." Harry said, but he was spared any more of her concern as Hermione's parents had approached them and they were saying their goodbyes.

Turning Harry saw that the twins stood shoulder to shoulder wearing the brightest green dragon skin that Harry had ever seen.

"How is the shop doing?" he asked George whilst Fred was trying to explain to Ron the value of fashion statements.

"Well, especially with the gold with have had from the goblins." He said and gave Harry a very suspicious look "which you would know nothing about I assume."

"I would not, however I would like to see what my investment has paid for" Harry said smirking at him "are you open now?"

"The shop is open but we are still developing most of our newest products and stock" he said plunging his hands into his pocket, "we are bringing in the gold, but for now we are channelling that into development of new products and more lucrative profit lines."

"Well I hope I get the opportunity to come see the shop, I'm supposed to be leaving for Bulgaria today." Harry said and he jumped out of his skin when there was a crack from behind him and he spun with his wand pointed at the origin of the noise.

"Master Harrison's luggage?" said a croaking voice of a small house elf wearing the Black family dress, what surprised Harry was the elf's accent.

"Yes of course" Harry said setting down his trunk "thank you Tilvar, where is Lord Black?"

"Master Black is be here soon" the elf said and he grabbed hold of the trunk and disappeared with a crack.

"What elf was that Harry?" Ginny asked looking at the spot he had just disappeared.

"That was Tilvar, from the Black residence in Moscow." Harry replied

"Harry, we are off" said Neville coming up behind him with Augusta Longbottom following

"Well have a good summer Neville; I just hope I survive my own." Harry replied laughing lightly

"Don't be so eager to venture to the Black Hunting Lodge Harrison, there are great dangers hiding in those forests, I would add they are more dangerous and populate that the forbidden forest at Hogwarts." Augusta said with a warning tone before adding "I wish you luck in your trip Harrison, when you are back you are welcome at Hemlock Hall, I am sure that Neville would be please for the company over the summer. Otherwise he will spend all his time in our greenhouses"

They left Harry and the Weasley's standing there for a further ten minutes, they became some the last people on the platform, Mrs Weasley was beginning to worry a great deal and offered to take him to Black House.

"Harry dear, Sirius must be running late we will take you back to our house." She said kindly.

"That is not necessary Molly" said a voice from behind them, they turned but saw nobody.

"Sirius?" Harry asked recognising the voice

"Of course" Sirius said and Harry felt a hand grip him tightly on the arm

"Sirius what –"Harry began but he couldn't finish his sentence as Sirius twisted away from him and suddenly he was being apparated away, it was longer that his previous experiences and the pressure was far greater but after what felt like many minutes Harry felt himself released and thrown forwards.

Opening his eyes he saw that he was in a forest, and it was old by what he could see and it felt incredibly foreboding, Sirius was standing in front of him and he wasn't smiling.

"What is going on?" Harry asked

"This is where your training begins, this is the Black Lodge" he said gesturing around, "the Lodge is there, but you are barred all entry, the elves will also not respond to your summons and I have told Dobby not to respond, you will have to survive on your own skills and you will have to develop them yourself."

"Right so what is the first lesson?" Harry asked understanding what Sirius was saying.

Pulling out his wand Sirius smiled dangerously, "survival, you are to live around the lodge, you will need to find shelter, food and water. All that time you will have to protect yourself from the many creatures what roam this forest."

Harry raised his brow in surprise this was not the training he had expected

"I should also warn you that I will be tracking your movements, and I will not go easy on you, if I find you it will be painful and I would suggest you try not to be caught." Sirius said and suddenly his wand was pointed at him and he froze and then Sirius shot a spell at him

Harry dived out of the way but more spells were flying at him and he ran as fast as he could into the trees, one of the spells hit him in the leg and he was forced to limp his way away from Sirius he cast his own spells on himself for concealment and he made his way as deep as he could into the forest.

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