Previously on Defiance...
"Sirius, what happened why did you-" Harry began as he stepped towards the older man, his eyes capturing the vision that had locked Sirius's eyes. "-Stop-"
There on the right wall, stood a huge portrait, as large as Arcturus's portrait had been. This one however, looked muggle. That however, was not the important thing. Harry and Sirius stared blankly as they looked at the huge portrait of a person wearing regal blue robes, with a very familiar wand in his hand. The man had unruly jet-black hair, a handsome face and a very, very familiar pair of eyes, just that they were gray instead of green. The duo stood shell-shocked as they stared at the portrait of...
Harry Potter.
"Bloody Hell!" Sirius muttered.
Harry just stood in awe at the painting. "This is... Me?"
Pause.
Sirius somehow gained control over his shock and looked at the painting. There was something written at one edge of the painting. Sirius wiped the dust of the edges as the writing became more distinct.
Ceffyl o farwolaeth
"What does it mean?" Harry asked. Sirius thought for a moment, before it hit him. This wasn't Latin, it was Welsh. "I think... I think it means," he paused, as he tried to remember the pronunciations of old Welsh that his father had taught him in his childhood. It hit him, as he looked up at the painting, "The horse of death."
Pause.
"The horse of death..." Harry repeated numbly. "What does that mean?"
Sirius thought about it, and the more he pondered over it, the more it made sense. "Harry, your Patronus. When did it change?"
"The previous day, the previous day morning." He stammered.
"And when did you last try to cast the Patronus before that?"
Harry thought hard. "I think, I think it was during the third task. There were a couple of Lethifolds and I drove them away."
"Was it a stag then?"
Harry nodded.
"Then it is safe to assume that your Patronus changed after you were hit by the killing curse." Sirius deduced, trying his level best to look at the event from an emotionless academic perspective. "Show me your Patronus, again."
"What's that got to do with-? - never mind..." Harry raised his palm, not caring to use his wand and whispered. "Expecto Patronum." The dazzling white thestral galloped out of his palm, inundating the entire room with white light. Sirius actually had to cover his eyes with his hands because it was too bright to see.
"Is that usually this bright?"
"No." Harry muttered in surprise, "the last time I tried it, it was bright but not as much as it is now."
"Well something must have changed, but I digress. This thestral of yours, and now this portrait, it can't just be a mere coincidence."
"You mean to say that the thestral is a horse of death?"
Sirius stared at his godson with a scrutinizing expression. "What exactly do you know about thestrals, Harry?"
Harry shrugged. "Nothing, They are skeletal horses on wings?"
Sirius shook his head. "Much more than that. They look like skeletons of horses, dark as the color of death. They have large grayish wings and have unsurmountable strength and speed. Most importantly however, they can only be seen by those who have seen Death."
Harry's eyes widened at the last phrase as he looked up at the painting. "The Horse of Death," he mused, "Where do you find them?" Harry asked out of vain curiosity.
"Why Hogwarts, of course." Sirius exclaimed with a flourish, "What else do you think pulls the carriages?"
"The carriages move on their own. Nothing pulls them." Sirius fixed him with a taunting stare. "-or perhaps something invisible pulls them." Harry receded.
"Yes, thestrals are invisible to all but those who have seen Death. Perhaps thestrals might be a link in understanding who this person was, and why does my grandfather hold a painting of him." Sirius remarked, "Though, we should finish what we came for. The wardstones."
"What do I need to do?"
Sirius snuck out a dagger underneath his robes and threw it at him. Harry caught it.
"Slice your palm, and then hold it over the largest crystal. Let your blood flow into them. You will know what to do after that."
"For someone who hated his family, you are awfully knowledgeable about your family rites and rituals." Harry remarked. Sirius looked at him despondently. "I hated my family, not my grandfather. After all, he was the only one who looked after me, until I got James and the Potters in my life. Besides, your grandfather Charlus was great friends with mine, so you have that there. Grandfather always made sure that as the heir, I know about the rites and rituals of the family, though he knew very well that I rebelled against the family magic."
"Odd."
"Yes, very. Grandfather teaching me the rites without any reason, I mean, he could have chosen Regulus to be the heir easily since the family magic worked fine in his hand, but he chose me, the rebel of the family. And now I handed the magic over to you, and am able to teach you the rituals he taught me, and now... this painting... I don't know what to think of it anymore."
"Let's finish up with the wardstones." Harry suggested, not wanting to stay in the room any longer. The more he thought about it, the more it boggled the mind. He sliced his palm with the dagger and then gripped the largest crystal at the top with his bloodied palm. He could feel his fresh blood seep down into the crystal as the crystals changed into a multitude of colors, golden, red, green, maroon, black, and finally into gray before a humongous flow of energy surged from within into Harry himself as he let out a scream.
His hand was still on top of the crystal. Harry could feel the energy surging through his nerves. He could feel the Black magic in his blood surging out and falling back again like the tides of the ocean. With that came in an influx of knowledge about the wards all over and around the Black Townhouse, along with its secrets, its roots and its ambient magics.
He screamed again.
Down in the main Hall, the Weasleys and Hermione were busy cleaning the entire house. They had finished up with a couple of rooms on the ground floor, but it seemed that the huge mansion inhibited their every effort. They would clean one room, and move to the other, only to find that the former has shifted back into its dilapidated state. They would clean out the desks and drawers, and the next day they would be infested with doxies and bundimuns all over again. It was almost as if the Townhouse did not want to be cleaned in the first place.
"Hermione dear, please come here. I want you to spray the doxicide over here as I petrify them. Ready?" Molly asked. Hermione nodded, holding the doxicide ready for spray.
"Three, two-"
And then it happened.
A huge wave of magical energy flowed into the room, throwing the entire Weasley brood on the floor. Hermione was thrown to the wall, and held there tightly by the humongous force that had forced its way into the house. The pressure of the magic was so great that it was almost impossible to breathe. In one flash, the entire swarm of doxies were vaporized to dust, as were the bundimuns, at least those that could not escape the lash of energy inside it. The walls shook, throwing the grime and dirt down on the ground as the ground shook with the ripples of magical energy that were forming tiny waves on the wooden floor. There were sounds of the wooden planks cracking and tweaking, and bending all over, and then it suddenly stopped.
"What—what happened?" Ron yelled.
"Shut it Ronnie," George yelled back, "something is wrong with the house. Everyone okay?"
Everyone whispered back.
"Do you think it's gone- whatever it was?" Hermione asked. Her tone proved how frightened she really was.
"I don't know." Ron exclaimed.
"I will get to the Floo. Need to contact Dumble-"
Perhaps it was the wrong thing to say, perhaps not. However, the magical flux returned with a vengeance, and this time from the insides. It lifted everyone off their feet and blew them off, throwing them out into the courtyard. The doors barged open as they flew and landed on their arses, (a few resounding Oww's were heard) as the doors closed back with a bang. They watched with a mixture of surprise, shock, and horror as the great Townhouse seemed to come alive, ripping off from the ground and renovating its self. The planks of wood seemed to break and fix themselves up by their own as entire layers of mud and grime seemed to be blown out from the compound. The walls and pillars shook by their own, breaking and rearranging. They could hear the portrait of Walburga Black shouting her lungs out though Kreacher was nowhere to be seen. They watched with wonder as the entire house reshaped itself into the form of a formidable stone fortress from the outside instead of the squarish building it was so far. The door shifted and enlarged itself in size, as the gates extended and elongated to become more curvy and fashionable. The grass stopped being full of weeds and after a couple of moments, the Black house was no longer even recognizable.
The winds stopped and everything stood still for a moment. There was absolutely pin drop silence.
"what was it?" Molly spoke in hushed, fearful tones. Then suddenly the front door opened with a bang as she shrieked out in fright.
"Molly!"
"Mrs. Weasley, it is us."
Molly held her bosom tightly, feeling as if her heart would break out of it, as she stared at Harry Potter and Sirius Black standing at the door.
"Are you- are you all right?" she addressed Harry.
"We are good," Harry explained, "to be honest, we didn't really expect all this to happen, so we are a little shaken, I guess." Harry replied sheepishly.
"Hold on," Hermione growled, "all of this was your doing? You are dead, Harry Potter." Harry tried to look calm but the excitement was hard to contain. Once he had allowed his blood to seep into the wardstones, the entire house and its wards and ambient magics had awakened to his command, cleaning itself out of a decade of grime and dust. He had expected the wards to activate but had not foreseen the extent of the effects a surprise activation might have caused.
"Uh, I can explain."
"Actually,-" Everyone turned back as they saw Albus Dumbledore, Snape and the rest of the Order standing outside the courtyard on the road as they strode towards the compound. They must have sensed something wrong with the wards and apparated.
"—we all would like to know what you two have been up to."
Harry and Sirius darted quick glances at each other.
"To the drawing room, then?" Harry offered.
"It completely boggles my mind how you could be so dumb to try such a stupid task by yourself. Taking control of the wardstones of this building? Seriously? Have you forgotten that you are a Potter? Not a Black?"
"What else can you expect, Minerva. He is a Potter." Snape sneered, the spit of his mouth spraying outward with his statement.
"I am very disappointed in-" Dumbledore began but Sirius cut him off. "All right, all right, you have made your point." He turned towards the other two. "Minerva has expressed her mind, and Severus has thrown his filthy spit all around again," he continued with a straight face, ignoring the chuckling among the children and Harry's snort. Severus looked like he would want nothing better than to strange Black with his bare hands.
"Let's answer it then, shall we?" Sirius asked, but without waiting for an answer, he began, "firstly, I believe old age is catching up with you, Minerva. Dorea Black, your friend and Harry's grandmother, was a Black. Therefore, he does have Black blood in him." He looked snottily at her before turning to the others animatedly. "Second, I made Harry my heir in magic and blood, making him the new Heir of Black, and that makes this his house. He can do whatever he wants with this, including taking control over the wardstones." He stuck his tongue out maturely at Albus and continued, "Third, this is none of your fucking business." The last sentence was dripping with so much venom that Albus almost recoiled.
"It seems Azkaban had addled your brains, Black." Severus sneered, "Potter is a half-blood. He cannot take control of the Black family."
"Severus, do me a favor and shut your mouth. It's spraying spit all over the floor." Sirius snapped. "I made Harry my heir, by magic, by oath, Annnd," he paused for a moment, "by blood."
"Impossible." Shrieked Molly Weasley. "He is not your child. He is a Potter, not a Black."
"He is my godson, he is my family."
"No he is not. I have seen this coming since long, Black. Azkaban has addled your brain. I have seen the way you talk about him; it is as if you got your old friend back. He is not James, Sirius." She screeched.
"I know perfectly well who he is." Sirius snapped coldly.
"No, you don't. I raised him, not you. You were away shackled up in Azkaban while I was the one-"
"ENOUGH!"
A huge wave of magical energy inundated all over the room as Harry's aura flared brightly. The huge grayish aura hung like a cloak all over him, as energy poured down him in waves. The pressure of the energy increased as it became distinctly uncomfortable for everyone to breathe.
Harry walked down the stairs. Every step he made, the energy flowed down through him, seeping down from his skin while the aura hung to him like a cloak. "You did not raise me, Mrs. Weasley. I only spent a couple of weeks in my second year at your place. While I am grateful to you for your efforts, it does not give you any right to deny Sirius's role and his importance in my life. Sirius Black is my godfather. He is more family to me than anyone here is- including you. Do not make me choose, because I will choose him. Every. Single. Time."
"Harry, I believe you are simply-"
"Ah, Dumbledore, how nice of you to finally acknowledge my presence. Even now you seem to hide your eyes away from me." Harry did not know from where the vitriol was coming from, but he continued. The truth was- Dumbledore was actually shielding his eyes away, not looking at him directly in the eye. It annoyed him further.
"This is my house, and I am the Lord Black," he revealed his Lord ring which glinted for everyone to see, "and Lord Potter, so I want to make it clear for everyone, do not try to control me. You will not like it."
Dumbledore seemed thoughtful for a moment. "My boy," he began, "I am merely disappointed in you that you hid the facts from me. You could have told me, and I would have helped you do it the correct way."
"Just like you have helped keeping me away from my heritage? Like you kept me in the prison house at privet drive to be tortured all through my childhood? As if you wanted to take away the contents of my family vaults only so that you could fund your piss-poor group of retired farts? No Dumbledore, I am done with you. With you and your blasted Order of the Farts."
"I am afraid it is your anger speaking, Harry." Dumbledore tried.
"Is it? Is that why you-"
"Harry," Sirius gripped his shoulder, "it is enough. Calm down." Surprisingly, Harry did calm down, as he sighed and walked up the stairs. Sirius gave a cold look towards everyone, especially towards Dumbledore. He completely ignored the filthy look that Snape gave him. "So rules are thus. Harry is Lord Black, and this is his house. You guys can carry out your dealings in the drawing room if you must, and I am going to continue being in the Order as I was."
"We can always throw you out from the Order." Snape sneered.
"And I can always throw you out of the house; right on the streets where a cur like you belongs." Sirius countered.
"Why you filthy mongrel-"
"And you are the ex-death eater who licks the old man's arse to save your pitiable self from Azkaban."
Snape snarled at him.
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore intervened. "Sirius, Severus, both of you control yourself. Severus, Sirius is a part of the order as much as you are. Sirius, please do not bring Severus's past into the topic. It is unwanted."
Sirius shrugged.
"Am I correct in guessing that Harry wants to be a part of the Order?"
"No."
"Excuse me?" Albus could not believe his ears.
"Harry is, to quote his own words, done with Magical Britain, its hypocrisy and Voldemort. All he desires is to be simply left alone to study for himself, like a child of his age should. Wasn't that was what you were professing the previous day?" Sirius taunted.
"I—yes, I mean, yes of course, he is a child and a student. This is not his war." Dumbledore stammered uncharacteristically.
"Then I am sure you will not mind if he dedicates long hours to his own education in hi family magics? Plus, as I have heard, his years at Hogwarts have had indecent and underqualified teachers lately." He ignored the snarl that Snape gave out. "I am sure you will agree that he deserves to be left alone, studying in peace."
"I can study with him," Hermione suggested eagerly.
"I am sorry, Hermione, but you can't. You are not family, and what he is learning is family magic that belongs to only and only the Potter and Black families. Since you are from neither, you aren't allowed." Sirius snapped.
"But that's- that's unfair and-" she noticed the blank stares everyone was giving her, before falling back silent.
"Very well, so do we have an accord?"
"Yes," Dumbledore grounded out. "We do."
"Great." Sirius exclaimed cheerfully. He turned back and climbed a few steps, and then stopped as he turned back again, "for the record, the kitchen belongs to Kreacher. Molly will have to make do with some other room. Thank you, everyone." he even did a funny little bowing as he ascended the stairs.
"Bloody hell." Ron grunted at last, holding a piece of bacon that he was eating since the cleaning had started.
ONE WEEK LATER.
The Black Townhouse looked completely different. Instead of the sprawling bush of weeds, and the doxy-infested building, the house of Black was now a majestic, fortified building with a sprawling lawn on every side. The rooms were spotlessly clean and the surfaces shone. In fact, it could be said that Molly Weasley had a hard time making sure that the surfaces did not get dusty from her kitchen activities. After all, she did not care to wash the grime off in her own kitchen at the burrow, since the grime had faded into the color of the wood. Here though, it was different and she had a hard job maintaining it.
The Weasleys had been granted rooms on the ground floor, with Bill having his own rooms while the twins and Ron shared one large room. Ginny and Hermione banked up in another while the elder Weasleys had one to themselves. There was another room reserved for kitchen. While Molly had interacted with Harry after the incident, they had a forced feeling in them. Molly did not like how Sirius was being given first preference in Harry's life, and Harry had no qualms about proving the point straight up to her face. Ron had taken his mother's stance, causing another dent in the already rifted friendship the two friends had. Bill and the twins remained friendly with him, Bill being an honorary elder brother who taught him some little things about ward breaking from time to time, while the twins... well they went on as they usually did. The first floor was mostly deserted since Harry and Sirius lived on the third floor. Harry had taken to living in Regulus' room, much to Kreacher's liking, while Sirius found his old room quite accommodating. Much to Hermione's protests, Harry had not permitted her into the family library, citing that she was not family and thus, was not allowed. It had led to another of their quarrels, leading to Harry losing his cool, and stopping her with a silencing-and-petrifying hex, something he had newly learnt.
Dumbledore and the rest of the Order still met, and Sirius still attended every session, though all he did was hear about the news about what everyone had seen and heard. He would get bored from hearing what Dogbreath Doge and Emmeline Vance had heard from their social parties, and there were moments when Remus had to shove an elbow to wake him up. Speaking of Remus, the older man had taken up quarters at the Black house, living on the ground floor with the rest of the Weasleys, since it was clear that Sirius had clearly not forgiven him for not taking care of Harry in his absence. The fact that Remus had cited Dumbledore's reasoning as his excuse did not help matters either.
Morning came, and everyone descended to the drawing room where breakfast was to be served. Today, Dumbledore and the rest of the Order had joined them, because Molly had all but forced a big, happy gathering for lunch. Merlin knew the woman was obsessed with feeding everyone. Harry had taken the chair on one end, while Sirius had taken the other, making it effectively clear who was in control. The rest, including Dumbledore, had to settle for the other chairs.
"I wonder when the newspaper will come." Alastor grunted, as he smelt his pork. Within seconds of his uttering, there was a hoot as an owl flew in and dropped three of the Daily Prophet newspaper on the table. Alastor gathered one, while Harry took the other. The other children shared the third. Dumbledore continued to eat his breakfast slowly.
"So, anything special on today's paper?" he asked slowly, as he bit into his bread.
Silence.
Dumbledore lifted his head and found everyone staring at the paper with something like disbelief. Quickly, he edged towards Alastor and quickly read the contents.
BOY-WHO-LIVED ATTACKED BY DEMENTORS!
HAS THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE BOY-WHO-LIVED AND MINISTER FUDGE TURNED TO A BLOODBATH?
Nine days ago, two rogue dementors attacked Harry Potter's family. Luckily, the boy-who-lived had been away at the moment but his family did not share his luck. The two dementors fed on the muggles, leaving them soulless husks as they vanished from sight. It took us some time to get this information and verify it because for some apparent reason, Minister Fudge has classified the investigation as a state secret. Given the way, the Ministry has been defaming Harry Potter since the Triwizard tournament ended, one wonders if there might have been some foul play involved.
We inquired over the matter and ended up with the following questions.
Why did the Dementors attack Harry Potter?
How did the dementors under Ministry control turn rogue, and even if they did, why travel hundreds of miles to kill one Harry Potter?
If the dementors were not rogues, then was someone high up in the Ministry responsible for sending them to kill Harry Potter? Why?
Is this the Minister's way of ending all kinds of opposition?
Earlier this year, Harry Potter proclaimed that you-know-who was back, a statement that was later seconded by Albus Dumbledore himself. There had been rumors about Barty Crouch Senior been killed and Barty Crouch Junior being alive. The Minister has been extremely tightlipped about the events and has declared the happenings under the Official Secrets Act.
Why is the Minister so tightlipped about all this?
Everyone turned to Harry. Including Sirius.
"What?" Harry muttered out uncomfortably.
"My boy," Dumbledore exclaimed, "Did you have anything to do with this?"
Harry shook his head.
"Well then," the headmaster mused, "this certainly bodes well for us anyway. I never thought that the media could be spun on our side in this fashion, but whoever is responsible for this endeavor, has helped our side a lot."
"It could be Madam Bones." Kinglsey muttered.
"Indeed?" Albus's eyes were twinkling madly. "Please expound on that."
Kinglsey swallowed. "The Director knows about our activities, and disagrees with our methods. She thinks that we are simply a nuisance and nothing more." The statement was met with angry hissing (from Molly and surprisingly, Snape) to silence (Moody) to open snorting (Harry and Sirius) to anxious mutterings (the rest of the order).
"Silence, please." Albus pleaded, "What else can you say?"
Kinglsey gathered his thoughts. "She thinks that we do not have any positive outcome to the impeding war, and she believes that You-know-who is back. When I submitted the report about the dementors, she said that she would try to do something productive with it."
"Interesting, I believe Madam Bones can be a useful ally."
Harry snorted but did not say anything.
"I wonder though, why she allowed this report to publish after this long." Emmeline wondered. Alastor chortled. "Because it puts blame off her head, idiot." Emmeline flushed but said nothing. "That girl has a good head upon her shoulders."
"Well, I am done with my breakfast, so I am going to return to my study. See you guys, later." Harry replied as he got up.
"My boy," Albus stopped him midway, "I was wondering if I could ask you about your studies. More precisely, the fields of your study."
"I think I already told you that, Headmaster." Harry replied, not even looking back at him. "I am studying family magic."
"My boy, given how Tom is back, I believe it is time that I take an active part in your education." Harry stopped as he waited for the next words to come. "I have arranged it with Professor Snape to instruct you in the arts of Occlumency."
Sirius chortled. "Very funny joke, you almost got me there." Then, he paused, as realization dawned upon him. "You are actually serious. Aren't you?"
Dumbledore smiled benignly.
Sirius looked at him for a moment, before his glance shifted to Harry and then back to him. "Have you finally gone off your rocker?"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, have you finally turned as senile as the Daily prophet claims you to be? Occlumency requires complete trust between student and teacher. You want Snivellus, to teach Occlumency to the very person he hates with every fiber of his being?"
"Sirius, I am sure Harry and Professor Snape can mend their-"
"Not interested."
Dumbledore turned towards Harry who had finally spoken.
"What?"
"Not interested."
"Harry, my boy, it is imminent that you learn it, lest Tom mentally manipulates your mind."
"Then why don't you teach him yourself?" Sirius challenged.
"I- It is not possible for me to teach Harry, because of some private reasons."
"I see." Harry remarked. "It is not possible for me to be tutored by Snape."
"But my boy, that will cause a great problem and-"
"The problem is yours. Solve it yourself. I will see you later." He ended decisively, leaving no room for argument. He ascended the stairs, leaving a very thoughtful Albus Dumbledore behind.