Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. This fill also has references to canon child abuse (including starvation) & abuse of authority. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: So I love Sentinel/Guide AUs, and there's just not enough of them, especially for HPverse. I realize that this trope is more popular on AO3, so I'm supplying a quick & dirty explanation of trope specific things. (Tho' honestly, there's soooooo many great S/G stories out there!)
AU Trope Specifics (Quick & Dirty): Sentinels have enhanced physical senses & physical abilities (strength/dexterity kind of thing). Guides have enhanced metaphysical senses like empathy & telepathy. Sensitive is a collective term for both Sentinels & Guides, with Sensitivity being a collective term for both sets of enhancements. Most Sensitives do not have their abilities become active until adulthood, unless something traumatic forces the activation as a survival instinct. The Center for Sensitive Services is an organization dedicated to fulfilling the needs of Sensitives, including things like training and seeing to their unique medical needs. Spirit animals are metaphysical guardians & companions of Sensitives and are only visible to Sensitives. Sensitives are territorially protective over what they view as their Tribe, which often leads them to drift naturally into social groups similar to wolves or large cats. A pack is a family group including at least one Sensitive; a pride is a much larger group and often occurs when there's several Sensitives within the same workplace. Blessed Protector is when a Sensitive (most commonly a Sentinel) goes deep into their instincts where all they can focus on is protecting someone/something.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC; Ravenclaw MC (x2); Magical MC (x4); Shifter MC; Tiny Terror (Y); Gender Bender (Y); Ship Sails (Y); Hold the Mayo (Y); Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); The 3rd Rule (Y); Ethnic & Present (Y); Lovely Triangle (Y); Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Companions (Y); Long Haul; Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 7
Subject (Task No.): Aquatic Studies (Task#4: Write about someone being self conscious about their size.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [02](Learn); 365 [130](Guide); All is Ours Day [H03](Remus Lupin); Gwen's Candy Shop [Bowl 2](Anxiety)(Autistic Harry Potter); Herbology Club [Individual]("Tell me I'm wrong."); Days of the Year [March 21](Piecing something together, figuratively or literally); Spring Challenge [10](Gentle); Color Prompts [07](Cinnamon); Birthstones [05]("You're wrong."/"I'm always wrong."); Flower Prompts [04](Meeting a stranger); Tarot Cards [03](Tradition); Earth Element [05](Coarse); Well Behaved Women (fem Harry Potter)(Sentinel/Guide AU)(Poly Ship); Hufflepuff Themed Prompts [T05](Kind); Spring Astrology [May 6](Features an aquatic creature);
Other MC4A Challenges: Sp Bingo [2C](Frog/Tadpole); Tr Bingo [](Alpha Bitch); Hunt [Sp Writing DIversity](Jewish Character); Ship [Sp Micro 1](Fusion with Another Fandom); Chim [Family/Friendship; "Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man; Baked Goods]
Representation(s): fem Harry Potter; Jewish Marlene McKinnon; Marlene McKinnon/OFC/Remus Lupin
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Found Family; Nontraditional; Fizzy Lemonade; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Second Verse (Bechdel Test; Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi); Demo (Clio's Conclusion; Trickster's Union; Most Human Bean; Corvid Brain; Shiver & Shake; Easy Zephyr); Demo (Delicious Lie; A Long Day; Creature Feature; Some Beach; Gingersnap)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Tether); SN (Rail; Ameliorate)
Word Count: 3973
(^^)
Leap of Faith
(^^)
Harini only relaxed when she finally felt Aunt Petunia drop off to sleep. She curled more tightly into a ball within the nest of discarded clothes and blankets. The cupboard was far enough away from the bedrooms upstairs that she didn't feel any of the Dursleys once they were asleep, even if it was no protection while they were awake. The small cupboard also did nothing to ease the persistent feeling of exposure she had, the one that made her heart pound worse than anticipating a punishment from Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia.
She wasn't as stupid as Dudley. She knew that what she experienced was not as normal as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon wanted. She also knew that everything was getting worse ever since her birthday last year. The noise she got from other people had been getting harder to block out, and the tiredness that had been her companion when she was little was now back, making it increasingly more difficult to get her chores done. It didn't help that she struggled with some things because she was so much smaller than other kids her age.
Harini had heard the other kids in her year talking about the recent visit of a bonded Sentinel and Guide to their class. She hadn't been there, of course. She had still been locked up from the weird incident at the zoo on Dudley's birthday. She was always on an extended punishment whenever those kinds of visits happen. It was obvious by now that it was not a coincidence, even if Harini couldn't figure out the reason why it would be deliberate.
For all the things that she could research in either the school library or the public one, there was not even a general description of what the Center for Sensitive Services was or about the Sentinels and Guides it served. There wasn't even a local branch of the Center to ask, and if there were any Sentinels or Guides in Little Whinging, Harini couldn't find them. The random people who felt different were either gone before Harini could think of asking any questions (often because they approached while she was out shopping with Aunt Petunia) or had no clue about feeling other people's emotions (like Mrs. Figg who had a muted spark to her but had laughed at the idea of it).
So she was left with only a few data points that didn't seem to connect even though her gut screamed that they did. Her aunt did not want her interacting with the representatives from the Center, all of whom had to be not normal. Harini herself was also distinctly not normal in just about every way. She read too fast, learned too quickly, and saw too much. She could feel what other people did (both physically and emotionally) and strange things tended to happen around her. She was also much browner than the Dursleys, even if she wasn't as dark as the Tysons a few blocks over on Magnolia Crescent, and like a flower growing in the shade, she was so much smaller than other children her own age.
Her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she had failed to get her chores done in time to earn supper that day. She curled around it. Then, too exhausted to make sense of anything and too alone to care, she fell into a fitful sleep.
She completely missed the small frog that slid off her skin before hopping off through the closed door.
But then again, spirit animals were invisible to most people anyway.
(^^)
Marlene McKinnon paced the length of the hotel room restlessly. The trailing end of her tichel swished through the air behind her like the tail of a kite. Distantly, she could hear the disrupted pattering of water that meant someone was taking a shower. Closer, the hum of an allegedly Sentinel grade noise canceling device crackled like it had a short. She wanted to stalk through the streets of the little town that she and her bond partners had been sent to tour. Something was driving her instincts up the wall, and she didn't like it.
"You need to calm down," Rhiannon muttered from the bed. She did not bother opening her eyes or breaking her meditative pose. "You know that if Remus sees you tied up like this, that it's going to rile his wolf up more than it already is just from being in this town."
"I should have gone out with him," Marlene replied as she continued to pace. "Something is not right in Surrey."
"Beyond the fact that the way they name things, you mean," Rhiannon countered. Marlene spun to face the Guide just in time to catch the smirk gracing her dark face. "There does not seem to be an overwhelming number of whiners to me."
"Well, there was that Dursley kid." Marlene waved the topic away, despite how Rhiannon still hadn't opened her eyes. "Tell me I'm wrong."
"You're wrong," Rhiannon said compliantly. She opened one eye to look at her bondmate, the cinnamon iris twinkling with mischief.
"I'm always wrong," Marlene agreed, "but I really don't think I am in this. Remus has sensed it for years, or at least his wolf self has. Whatever it is, it is truly horrid this time. If I didn't know any better—"
"If you did not know any better?" Rhiannon asked in a gentle tone. Normally, that would be enough to soothe Marlene, but right then, it dragged across her skin like coarse wool. "If you didn't know better, you would say that there is an activating Sensitive leaking distressed pheromones all over the place, particularly the primary school?"
"Wait," Marlene argued, as Remus entered the hotel room in a burst of outside noise, "you told me that I was wrong about there being something wrong in Little Whinging!"
"You told me to, love," Rhiannon countered. Gracefully, she rose to her feet to greet Remus with a kiss that turned into nuzzling his neck while the werewolf clung to her. She hummed in pleasure. "What did you find, love?"
"I think," Remus started hesitantly. He licked his lips and met Marlene's gaze with eyes that were more lupine gold than his human brown. In all the years that Marlene had known him, the wolf had only bled over that much a handful of times—and all of them had been tied to someone the wolf saw as pack being in danger. "I think I found Harini."
"You found little Harry?" Marlene asked. Unable to stop herself, she pressed close to her bondmates. Her heart was racing both with fear and adrenaline. It seemed like too much to even hope that they had stumbled upon the girl after so many years of searching with all of the resources of the Center and the McKinnon family at their disposal. Dumbledore had successfully blocked them at every turn, or so it had seemed.
Then again, if Harini was here, in this utterly mundane town, it would also explain everything. Her instincts would be picking up on the traces of scent from their lost packmate—oh, and since Sensitivity was as inheritable as magic was, it made sense that Harini was either a Sentinel like her mother or a Guide like her father. Marlene frowned. Harini would be a little young to be active.
"I think I did," Remus repeated. He sounded only marginally more confident than he had a moment ago. "At least, I found somewhere she's likely to be, though the scent was already several days old."
"Where?" Marlene demanded, already impatient to have their lost cub back with them. Lily and James had been as much her friends as they had been Remus'. Their pack had been small during the war—just the four Marauders, Lily, Alice, and herself—but they had had each other's backs. Alice had been vicious enough to rival even a Sentinel stuck in Blessed Protector mode, despite her lack of Sensitivity.
Whoever said that Hufflepuffs were harmless had clearly never realized that their mascot was a badger for a reason.
"There's a park at the corner of Wisteria Way and Privet Drive," Remus answered dutifully. Rhiannon turned him so that he was pressed between them. Marlene buried her nose in his tawny hair, letting the scent of tea and canine ground her rioting senses. With a tilt of her head, she could also smell the cocoa butter that Rhiannon used as conditioner for her hair. "What I don't understand is why she would be here of all places. You'd think Dumbledore would have hidden behind the strongest wards possible after all his excuses about potential retaliation from Death Eaters and making sure she was safe. But the only house in the entire town with any kind of wards belongs to a Squib."
"We can figure that out later," Marlene dismissed. "Once we have Harry back with us, we'll make sure she's safe, just like we should have been doing from the very start."
"You know James always hated when you called Harini that," Remus murmured into Rhiannon's curls. For once it sounded like the memory of the late Potters wasn't rubbing salt into the wound that their loss had left behind. "Said you'd confuse the poor girl by calling her a boy's name. Then—"
Remus cut himself off, and Marlene didn't even pretend to not understand why.
"Then Sirius would always say that there's no such thing," Marlene finished. "And he would know, wouldn't he? A name is just a name, and gender is just made up."
Her heart ached in confused rage at the reminder of Sirius in particular. No one would have predicted that Sirius would have betrayed the Potters. He was a Black, yes, but that actually worked in his favor because Blacks always loved with as much of their beings as they fought. Anyone with eyes could see just how much Sirius had loved both James and Lily. His betrayal, as much as evidence pointed toward it actually happening, hadn't made any sense.
None of this made sense, but at least now they had a lead of sorts.
With her face buried in her lovers' hair, Marlene missed the frog disappearing through the wall between the dresser and the bathroom door.
(^^)
Harini hid in the bushes behind the sandbox, contemplating if she could seek off to the library without getting into too much trouble. It was only her first day out of the cupboard for longer than it took to go to the bathroom and fix breakfast, after all, and she was already certain that Aunt Petunia wouldn't have even brought her along to the park visit if the neighbors hadn't started to talk about Harini's absence. Aunt Petunia had made a show of bringing her along with Dudley to the park. After being seen, Harini had retreated to her hiding place and current internal debate.
A prickle along her senses, sharper than even the clashing noise for the children and parents in the park, had her turning her head towards the tree beside her bush. A dark-colored frog peeked out of an even darker patch of wood. The yellow rim of its eyes gleamed damply in a stray beam of sunlight that managed to break through the leaves when a breeze made them flutter. It suddenly launched itself into the air, its bright purple belly distinctive even in the dimness.
Harini barely got her hands up in time to catch the thing.
"Aren't you a pretty thing?" she whispered to it, careful to not draw attention to her hiding spot. The tiny frog blinked at her. Then it crawled a bit towards her. The movement made the splotches of purple on its back look like they were floating on waves. "You're a long way from home, aren't you, pretty? Were you someone's pet? There's really not any blackwater streams for you nearby, even if we ignore the temperature difference. England is much colder than South America."
The frog curled one of its hands around Harini's thumb just as she felt another bit of prickling along her senses. It drew her attention to adults who had just entered the park carrying a basket. They didn't have any kids with them, but that wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that none of them looked like they belonged in Little Whinging. One woman was black just like the Tysons, and her springy curls had been dyed purple of all colors. The other woman had skin the same color of Harini's own and a headscarf that matched the other woman's hair. The man who was with them might have fit in, except for the small ponytail he wore.
All three appeared to be looking for something. Harini tensed when the purple-haired woman pointed towards her hiding spot. Then she forced herself to relax. The bare space between the sandbox and her bushes was the perfect place to set up for a picnic, and it wasn't like anyone was currently in the sandbox. The frog shuffled on her palm, turning as if to look at the approaching strangers.
Her heart was beating so hard that she was certain that the group could hear it as they set out their picnic stuff. The blackberry muffins that the man was unloading made her mouth water, even through the scent of damp soil and rotting leaves that surrounded her. The dry toast that she had gotten for breakfast never did last very long, but at least it was better than nothing.
"No!" Harini hissed as the frog jumped from her hands. She lurched after it, hoping to catch the creature before it distrubed the picnickers. She failed, and in the process, she fell out of the bushes practically in strangers' laps. The frog landed on top of one of the muffins. Harini looked up at the three adults with wide eyes and a closed throat.
"Harry?" the woman in headscarf asked. She was frowning in the same pinched way that Aunt Petunia got whenever she was trying not to yell (and therefore draw even more attention to something that was very not normal). Harini hunched her shoulders.
The frog decided to wave one of its bright purple feet at the woman. Like water running down a rain chain, something white and glowing rippled down her arm before puddling into an arctic fox. The fox's black-tipped ears perked forward as it sniffed at the tiny, purple and black frog sitting atop its muffin throne. Harini froze, torn between the urge to save the frog from potentially being eaten and not setting off the fox. Unaware of Harini's internal turmoil, a pied raven burst from the purple-haired woman's chest. It flew in a tight circle before landing on the fox's back to examine the frog.
"It's okay," the man said. "Jasper and Trinity aren't going to eat your friend." His brown eyes had a golden cast to them as he looked over at his companions. Harini caught the purple-haired woman mouthing something at him. "Does your frog have a name?"
"He's not my frog," Harini said. She winced when the adults seemed to share a look and the woman with a headscarf frowned even deeper. "I found him. I think he's someone's pet that got loose. How did—"
"Jasper is a part of me," the purple-haired woman said after Harini had cut herself off. "He is also a dramatic little shit, like most corvids. Hence the chest bursting. Not that Trinity is any less dramatic."
"Did she do the drip thing again?" the man asked, as if he hadn't just watched it happen. She focused on the smile he was sending in her direction, rather than risk getting caught in his eyes again. "She does that just to mess with people, I think. But we haven't introduced ourselves, have we? My name is Remus Lupin. This is my bondmates, Marlene McKinnon—" The woman with the headscarf waggled her fingers at Harini. "—and Rhiannon Selwyn."
"They're Sensitives," Harini blurted before she could stop herself. The frog hopped onto the fox's nose. Then it wrapped its tiny fingers around the raven's beak. "They really won't eat him?"
"Oh, no," Rhiannon reassured her, "they don't need to eat at all, ducky. Besides, frogs that brightly colored are usually bad for eating."
"Harlequin frogs are only mildly poisonous," Harini said. She swallowed hard but none of the adults seemed upset that she knew that. "He's got to be someone's pet. They're indigenous to South America and some parts of Central America. They live in the blackwater rivers there, and we don't have any local. I haven't read about any being purple like this, though."
"Do you like to read?" Remus asked gently. Harini shook her head frantically. She knew better than to admit how much she liked reading, especially about weird things like tropical aquatic creatures. The man made a disapproving sound. "That's too bad, because I would love someone to talk about creatures with."
"He really would," Rhiannon commented, "and it would be such a boon for us, too. He needs someone to keep him company while Marlene and I are working."
"It would be like babysitting," Marlene quipped, "only with less diapers. You'll love it, Harry!"
"Uh, that's not my name," Harini said as quietly as possible. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hated whenever she corrected them on anything. So far these strangers had been nice, but there was no telling how they would react to her backtalk. "I'm just Harini."
"Don't mind Marlene," Rhiannon interjected. As if in agreement, the frog leaped into the air towards Harini. A burst of joy went through her the moment the frog was back in her hands. "She likes to leap into things much like your little friend here. Would you like a muffin? Remus made them using his mother's recipe, and no one bakes quite like Hope did."
"Did?" Harini asked as she transferred the frog to her shoulder so that she could take the offered muffin. She looked at the man through her eyelashes. "Is your mother gone, too?"
"Yeah," Remus said. Harini felt his sorrow like an achy tooth. It stole her breath, despite it not being her own grief. If she had known her parents, would she feel like that about losing them? "She passed away a few years ago. What about your mother?"
"I don't remember her," Harini answered. She knew her tone was flat in the way that always annoyed Aunt Petunia, but she couldn't help it. "I don't remember my father either. They died when I was a baby. I live with my aunt and uncle."
"He sent you to Petunia?" Marlene asked, sounding like an offended cat and feeling like Aunt Petunia always did when she was about to start swinging. "What the bloody hell was he thinking?"
"Oh," Rhiannon whispered as Jasper began flapping his wings in agitation. He flew from the fox's back to the arched handle of the picnic basket. Harini hunched over her muffin, readying herself to take whatever blows were about to come her way even as she hoped that she would be able to keep the muffin. "Oh, you're not activating." The woman was staring at Harini. "You're already active and have been for a long time."
"That's not possible," Marlene argued. "We would have sensed her!"
"Didn't we?" Remus asked. He shifted closer to Harini, only hesitating a beat when she flinched. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She barely breathed as she soaked in the offered comfort. "This town has been nagging at us, and any other Sensitives sent here, for years. No one could ever find anything, but despite the traditional visits to Year Six classes, was anyone honestly looking for a child as the source?"
"Of course not," Marlene confirmed. "Children don't active unless there's some kind of traumatic event—"
"Like nearly dying?" Rhiannon interrupted. Her earnestness has a spicy bite to it. Harini shivered and curled against Remus' side. The frog mimicked her, pressing its cool skin against her neck. "Like watching a parent die?"
"You think she's been active that long?"
"Harini," Rhiannon said instead of answering, "do you often hear or smell things that no one else seems to?" Harini shook her head just as frantically as she had denied her love of reading. Rhiannon hummed thoughtfully. "How about feeling what other people are feeling? Like their emotions?"
"I don't mean to," Harini muttered guiltily. "I know it's rude."
"Oh, ducky," Rhiannon said, "yeah, it would be rude, if you could help it, which I don't think you can." She smiled like she was sad. "At least, very much. I bet it's hard to sleep, too." She frowned. "Is it hard to eat, too? Is that why you're so small?"
"I'm not that small," Harini protested, reminded suddenly of Dudley's teasing about her getting lost in a crack or blown away in a breeze. It didn't help that she was still certain that the latter had actually happened. The frog chirped loudly in her ear as if agreeing with her. The adults chuckled in unison.
"HARINI!" Aunt Petunia screeched from across the play park. Harini froze as terror washed through her. The frog gave a warbling sound of distress. Marlene stood up like she was going to war.
"You two take care of Harry-berry," she ordered. Her toothy grin was mirrored by the fox who looked ready to pounce on prey. "I'll take care of Tuney."
"I don't think Aunt Petunia would like to be called that," Harini said in shock as Marlene marched off with Trinity racing alongside her. Jasper gave a cawing laugh. Rhiannon just grinned while Remus tightened his one-armed hug.
"I think she's going to like what Marlene has to say a lot more," Remus commented. "I think she's still mad about what happened at James and Lily's wedding."
"Who's James and Lily?" Harini dared to ask. Remus stiffened beside her. Harini hurried to apologize, hoping that she was quick enough to avoid punishment for asking questions. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
"Those are the names of your parents, ducky," Rhiannon said carefully. Jasper flared his wings. The white undersides flashed in the sunlight. "James Potter and Lily Evans Potter. Did your aunt never mention them?"
"Only that they died in a car crash," Harini whispered, "because they were drinking to drown out the memory of being stuck with me."
"Oh, ducky," Rhiannon replied. Harini could feel something bubbling up in her like water from a spring. "What a horrible lie you've been told. Your parents loved you so very much, and they wouldn't have wanted you to live with it."
"You talk like you know them," Harini said.
"We did," Remus confirmed. Harini pulled away just enough to look at his face. His eyes were far more gold than they had been prior. Instead of that worrying her, it felt comforting. "In fact, we were supposed to raise you if something happened to them." He cupped her cheek like he was holding a precious jewel or one of Aunt Petunia's fine china teacups. "We have been looking for you for a very long time, cubling. And now that we've found you, we will never let you go."
"Promise?" Harini asked, feeling desperate in a way that she never had before, not even when Uncle Vernon had been so mad about the zoo. "Promise that I can go with you? Please?"
"I promise," Remus said, overriding a lifetime of lessons about what Harini deserved. He barely caught the girl as she leapt into his arms. Hugging her with equal desperation, he repeated the words into her inky curls like it was a mantra.
Neither noticed when the frog sank back into Harini's skin, its mission completed.