THE POTION: My Harry looks like Daniel Radcliffe in the movies now, which is different from what I imagined him to look in the books. The healing potion was more for bone density, skin health, and ability to hold fat. In other words a couple inches and healthier body more than a physical beauty upgrade.
Personally, I think healthy is sexy whether that is petite or full bodied so it wasn't meant to make him into a different person just healthier one. My Harry is somewhere between 5.7 to 5.11 and Andromeda 5.6 to 5.10 whatever floats your boat, but she is taller than him in heels.
AN: I don't know if there are other giants in other countries, I would think not because they seem like the type of creatures humans would just kill. Anyway, it will not affect this story because I will not be going outside Britain's borders.
"Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, bu' . . .' Hagrid sighed deeply."
Chapter 20, Order of the Phoenix.
Chapter 10 - Blood
"Where are you going?" Andromeda asked.
"Hogwarts," Harry said, hurriedly dressed into wizarding robes before he moved on to the kitchen so he could prepare lunch for both Andromeda and Teddy.
"We have dinner-"
"I'll be back in time," Harry snapped.
"What is wrong with you?"
Harry pulled the Daily Prophet, "It isn't me, I'm worried about Hagrid."
Andromeda's eyes sped over the headlines and her face paled, "Go, I'll take care of Teddy."
Harry nodded, walked around the table. He kissed her on the cheek and bent down to kiss Teddy on the head. Teddy threw a handful of cereal at him and squealed excitedly as the bits of cereal floated and returned to his hand before hitting the floor or Harry.
Harry smiled and kissed the top of Teddy's head again. "I'll be back before we need to leave for the Malfoys."
Harry appeared outside the gates of Hogwarts, and he made his way to Hagrid's as quickly as he could without running.
There was already a crowd when Harry reached Hagrid's Hut. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Hannah, and Luna were all seated around Hagrid.
"Shouldn't you lot be in class?" Harry said, trying to cheer up the heavy mood in the now small space. Hagrid's expression looked vacant, a half empty jug of rum in his hand.
"Harry!" Hermione cried out and ran forward to hug him.
She was crying, and Harry hugged her, rubbing her back as the tears turned to sobs. Not letting go of her, he asked over Hermione's shoulder, "Grawp?"
"He's alright," Ron said, "but-"
Hermione pulled back from Harry then and sniffled, "But they are gone, Harry. Grawp is the last full giant. Some people theorize that they exist in other countries, but Harry… they-"
Harry pulled her back into another hug, "I know 'Mione, I know."
Hannah spoke then, "The people who did this, they weren't just blood purists. There's an entire movement against anyone who isn't completely human."
"Harry?" Luna began, uncharacteristically hesitant.
"Yes, Luna."
"Is Teddy safe?"
Harry frowned, "Of course he is. I wouldn't be here if he weren't."
She looked at him sadly, "Remus Lupin was a known werewolf."
Harry stiffened, and tried to keep his tone even, knowing that Luna didn't mean her remark to sound like a threat. He only partially succeeded, "What of it?"
"He might be targeted," Luna said, meeting Harry's eyes with her luminous gaze.
Hagrid seemed to wake from his stupor with a sound that was caught somewhere between a wail and a whimper. "It was supposed to get better," he whispered to the floor, tears trailing into his bushy beard. "Why does it have to be so hard? Why couldn't we all just take care of each other?"
To that, no one had a good answer.
Harry made it back to the Tonks House at four and he was reasonably certain that Hagrid was being looked after between his friends and the other professors.
Andromeda had Teddy packed up, in his carrier and his baby bag ready to go.
"Change, quickly," she instructed.
Harry changed quickly.
She gave one speculative glance at his hair and frowned, "You know your grandfather added to the Potter fortune by inventing a popular hair care product."
Harry huffed a laugh, "No, that would be news to me."
She frowned harder, "You don't know much about the Potter Family do you?"
"Nope, but can we go? I feel like we are going to be late any minute."
Andromeda nodded and they walked out the back door and aparated together, Harry holding Teddy in his arms for the trip.
It was a very odd dinner.
Narcissa sat to Lucius's right, Andromeda beside her. While Draco sat to his father's left and Harry beside him with Teddy on his godfather's lap.
Teddy was the only one acting normal among them.
Draco looked worn, the full moon only a night away, and Lucius... looked pissed and also like he was afraid to give voice to his anger. Neither his freshly shaven face nor his blonde hair falling elegantly about his shoulders did anything to hide the shallowness in his cheek bones nor the dark circles under his eyes. He was alternating between glaring at his wife when she turned her gaze away from him and giving a blank face when she turned to glare back at him.
Harry found this rather entertaining. He would like to say he pitied Lucius, as Harry knew that he never wanted to have Andromeda angry with him, but Harry was not in the least secretive about his delight in Lucius's obvious fear of his beautiful wife.
However, Harry did keep his mouth shut unless he was asked a direct question.
Draco ate with gusto but did his best not to look at Harry, even when Teddy made squeaky noises and overreacted to every bit of food Harry passed to him.
With Lucius, Draco, and Harry staying quiet, it was up to Andromeda and Narcissa to hold the conversation but they weren't up to talking either. Instead, they all (excluding Draco) watched Harry feed Teddy and listened to Teddy's long winded babble.
Teddy really got into a grove with talking, he sounded like he was lecturing them all in a foreign language, only with an occasional giggle and the odd real English word that within Teddy's idea of context quickly lost its real meaning.
Teddy kept it up until the adults were having desert and he finally grew quiet, shortly before falling asleep in Harry's arms.
"Do you like that?" Draco asked, speaking for the first time.
"Like what?" Harry asked.
"Being a father?"
Harry nodded, "Teddy is the best thing to ever happen to me."
Lucius raised a brow and only with a slight note of sarcasm said, "So selfless."
Harry's lips thinned, "Being selfless is what it means to be a parent. But you know that already, don't you, Lucius?"
Lucius's eyes swung to Draco and for a moment, the shame and regret were painted in bold across his expression. His answer was remarkably honest when he said, "I suppose it is what it means to be a good parent."
Draco flushed, "Father, you're the best father anyone could have wished for."
Andromeda made a negative sound, "I think you could have done better."
Lucius said nothing.
Narcissa hissed at her sister, "Do not judge me in my own house."
"Like you judged me and my family, for how long?" Andromeda snapped back. "Hell, Cissa, you brought Bella home after fourteen year sentence in Azkaban. You do realize this is the first time I have ever met my only nephew?"
"I never met Nymphadora," Narcissa shot back.
"And how many inventions did you return to sender?" Andromeda asked.
"So Lucius," Harry redirected, thinking it would be in everyone's best interest to keep the heat on Lucius rather than let the Black sisters burn the manor down around them. "Do you have any jobs lined up?"
"I could ask you the same question?" Lucius said smoothly.
Harry shrugged, "I figured I would nanny for a few years."
"Your vaults have been emptied," Draco said with a slight smirk.
Harry smiled sweetly back, "Rumour has it so has yours. Do wizards have property tax? It would be a shame if you were evicted from your lair -I mean home."
Draco flushed.
"Cissa has enough money to keep Draco's great grandbabies fed and sheltered," Andromeda stated.
"How would you know anything about my standing?" Narcissa asked sharply.
"Because you were always the most paranoid out of the three of us, you may claim to have married for love, but I know you wouldn't trust my dearest brother-in-law with your slice of the inheritance. You have never truly trusted anyone, at least not when it comes to financial matters."
Narcissa didn't deny it.
"As we have finished our supper, I suggest we retire to the parlor," Lucius said and what he didn't say was just as clear, let's get on with this so you can leave sooner.
Harry lifted Teddy gently in his arms, careful not to wake the child whose energy levels had been heightened of late.
They followed Lucius into the parlor and Harry froze midway through the door and backed up. This room he recognized, with vivid clarity.
Draco sneered at him, "Scared, Potter?"
If Teddy hadn't been in his arms he would have hexed all of the Malfoys. Harry turned on his heel and made his way to the exit. The echoes of Hermione's tortured screams echoing in his mind.
He had to breathe slowly and remind himself that he had just held Hermione in a parting hug earlier today, that they had escaped this hell pit once and would never be trapped here again. He had to remind himself firmly that Hermione was okay, that she had healed from what Bellatrix Lestrange had done to her.
Even if she would always have white scars on her dark skin that spelled 'mudblood.'
"Harry?" Andromeda questioned, hand falling short of touching his elbow.
Harry gave her a look, he wasn't sure what was on his face but she turned back to her sister and said, "We're leaving."
"Thank Merlin," Draco said under his breath.
He received a sharp smack to the back of his head from his mother.
"Ow!" Draco said and took three steps back out of her reach.
Andromeda said politely, "Thank you for dinner."
"Of course," Narcissa said, her cold gaze tracking Harry where he waited for Andromeda on the threshold of freedom from this cursed place.
"It was our pleasure," Lucius lied.
Harry had enough of himself left to say, "You should come over to our home for dinner next time."
"We will see you next Saturday night, then," Narcissa answered, face unreadable.
Lucius and Draco had identical sour expressions on their pale complections.
It was almost enough to make Harry smile.
Almost.
Harry was restless when they got back.
Lucius should be in jail.
Harry should be a better friend to Hermione.
Anyone who dared to so much as think of hurting Teddy because Remus had been a werewolf should choke and die on their own stupidity.
He rubbed his temples. What was happening in the wizarding world that mass giant hunting became plausible?
Giants weren't exactly easy to kill. Their skin acted as natural magic repellents and they were huge. A giant's reach was scary and most witches and wizards couldn't strike powerful enough blows from afar. The hatred for werewolves was a bit strange too. Though, now that Harry thought about it, he realized that Voldemort had recruited a lot of werewolves by offering them rights.
Just as the giants had fought for him too.
It felt weird to agree with Voldemort on any issue, but Harry did think that werewolves, and giants, deserved rights.
Sighing and knowing he would not be able to sleep tonight anyway, he pulled a stack of Prophet papers out of the recycling bin. He settled into a seat on the kitchen table and read about all the things he had been ignoring since the end of the war.
It wasn't just werewolves and giants on the chopping block he soon discovered. Veela, dragons, vampires, centours, merpeople, and basically any magical creature that couldn't be considered a household pet. He knew about the Veela and werewolf issues, Partially because of Fleur and Bill, however, it still seemed extreme to him the level of animosity and assaults being taken by vigilante groups as well as the legal system.
Kingsley truly didn't have as much power as the prime ministers before him had had.
"Harry?" Andromeda asked standing behind him, "Harry, what's wrong?"
Harry turned to her, and realized that the temperature in the room had dropped, he could see her breath, his breath, it was that cold.
He closed his eyes and pulled his magic back into himself. Either dying had caused a spike in his magic or there was magical puberty when a witch or wizard entered adulthood because Harry could feel his magic roiling, like an ocean beneath the full moon just below his skin. It was a new sensation and it gave him perspective on how Voldemort and Dumbledore had been able to use magic on an elemental scale.
When Harry opened his eyes again, he met the concerned brown eyed gaze of Andromeda.
In a measured voice, he asked, "Have you been reading the papers?"
"Yes," she said evenly.
"And it hasn't bothered you?"
She sighed, "Harry, there is nothing in those papers I haven't seen before. There are reasons I left the wizarding world. Magic is grand but I don't always believe the price for it is worth it."
Harry frowned, "Teddy might be in danger."
She just looked at him.
"I have to do something," Harry said.
"What will you do? What difference do you think you could possibly make?"
"I don't know," he said, "But I can't stand the thought that if I do nothing- that, I mean if Teddy gets hurt… Isn't it our job to make sure he grows up into a world where he can be reasonably safe and happy."
Andromeda's eyes searched his face. "A long time ago I tried to do and say what was right. And no one listened and no one followed. I raised my daughter to be kind to everyone and fight for her beliefs. I supported her when she joined the Order of the Phoenix even though I didn't trust or much like Albus Dumbledore. I lost her, I lost my husband, and the world is the same dark and twisted place as it has always been."
Harry stared at her and understood her better than he would have before walking to his own death.
He had believed that one was always supposed to do the right thing, no matter what it cost them. And Harry had paid that cost, again and again. Outside of Teddy he could now see more bad than good in the world.
So he understood where Andromeda stood, even agreed with the logic behind it.
And yet… and yet Harry could not be other than he was. He was someone who did something, it wasn't always a choice, but at least this time it would be on his terms. He needed to do something before the tide turned on him and the people he loved.
"I am the Boy Who Lived and the Master of Death, if I speak people will listen," Harry said, hating it but knowing it to be true.
"Then be careful of your words," Andromeda warned, "because your meaning is prone to be lost in interpartion."
And that was perhaps the greatest truth of all.
AN: Thoughts, places you would like me to dig further into, or feedback, pretty please?