Previously on Defiance...
"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.
One month later...
"Ignis flagellum!" Sirius whispered throwing the fire whip towards Harry who elegantly jumped out of the way, as the whip slashed against the floor, creating a deep furrow. Harry spun around and fired three dark stunners at Sirius who put on a high-powered shield to stop them, giving Harry time to fire a flurry of silver arrows towards him. Sirius instantly dodged out of the way and threw an overpowered blasting curse at Harry. The blasting curse flew rapidly at him and hit him in the chest.
Harry Potter disintegrated into dust.
"NO!" Sirius cried out, losing his defensive posture instantly as he strode towards the now fallen dust when-
"Incarcerous!"
Thick ropes bound him all over, making him fall down on the ground. Harry walked up from behind him, his wand twirling in his hand as he did.
"Neat!" Sirius commented, "That illusion was perfect. I thought my curse hit you."
"No chance. I cast that illusion right after firing the arrows. I knew you would dodge and throw up a powerful offensive in return." Harry smirked.
"Figured me out, have you?"
"You bet." He extended his hand to Sirius as the ropes fell off. Sirius held his hand and lifted himself up. "Well done, Prongslet. I have finally taught you everything I knew about defense and offense."
Harry could not help but feel a bit disappointed. Sirius had been a great teacher. While Remus had been a good teacher, he had focused more on magical creatures and less on spells. Sirius had been completely focused on raw fighting and learning spells. It was preparing for battle, no more dillydallying with Lethifolds and boggarts.
"What now?"
Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. "You can continue your studies in family magic. The Black and Potter grimoire should be more than enough for that. I was thinking along the lines of something different, something that might give you an edge in a fight."
"What?"
"Tell me godson, what do you know about an animagus?"
Harry grinned.
A month had passed since the House of Black had seen the shift of power inside the household. Ever since Harry held the power over the wardstones, everyone paid heed to his words. After all, the entire house was now under his command and although Dumbledore was the secret keeper for the Fidelius under which the house was kept, the major wards were under Harry's control, which meant that he could as well throw Dumbledore and his cohorts out of the main gate and no one would be able to even defend himself or herself. Considering how the townhouse was layered with an overwhelming number of wards, most of which having their roots in blood and intent-based magic, no one tried to test the nature of the wards. As it was, Harry and Sirius found themselves working successfully on Harry's education in the upper floors of the house, irrespective of the fish-market that the ground floor was, courtesy to the Order's activities.
His relationship with Ron and Hermione had been on the verge of complete breakdown. It was not because of any severe quarrels or misunderstandings. Rather, the process was quite gradual, or at least seemed like it. With Harry spending more of his time with Sirius, chatting about stuff or practicing secret magic, Hermione and Ron had spent their time together- Hermione doing her homework and revising her texts, while Ron wasted in time either playing chess with one of his brothers or relaxing off languidly, much to her consternation. Ginny, well the girl was seen spending most of her time writing letters to someone and sending a flurry of letters. Hermione had even eavesdropped on one of her writing sessions to find that she was in fact, sending them to Dean Thomas, their year mate in Gryffindor. Knowing that it was none of her business (not that she was interested) she kept away from asking Ginny about it. Bill usually left for Gringotts every morning and returned home late, and was rarely seen except at dinner, that too when he did not dine up with some friends. The twins were busy inventing in their own world, making it a very boring household.
She had tried eavesdropping on Harry's private sessions, though Harry had told her off on the face, much to her consternation. She could swear that her friend was changing, becoming more heartless, cold and calculating. Ron might be lax about it all but Hermione was not. She noticed the changes and it worried her. Harry was turning out into exactly what Dumbledore had imagined. The books he carried and studied, Hermione had checked them out in passing glances and none of them looked anything less than sinister. She had confronted Harry about it, and received a not-interested glance in return. She had spent the entire night ranting about him to Ron, while that brat slept soundly on the third floor. It drove her mad.
"Hermione?"
She did not answer. Her mind was engaged in a tempest of questions related to Harry Potter, and whatever it was, he was studying so seriously.
"Hermione?"
"WHAT?" she snapped.
Ron looked at her with bleary eyes. "It's almost eleven. I am going to sleep. I think you should move to your room."
"I am worried about Harry, Ron. I am afraid those books are turning him dark. Remember what Dumbledore had said?"
Ron let out a loud yawn. "We will talk about it in the morning, Herm-ninny! It's late."
Hermione nudged him tightly with the elbow. Ron winced in pain as he sat up. "What's wrong with you?"
"I am going to look at the book he keeps on studying. I need to see it for myself what it is that is making Harry what he is."
Ron looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "The room is always locked, and you are not allowed to enter."
Hermione sneered at him. She was surprisingly good at it. "When has locked doors stopped us, Ron? Besides, don't you remember what Riddle's diary did to Ginny? What if the same thing is now happening with Harry?"
That got him thinking.
"You think you can break into his study room?" He asked finally. Hermione beamed.
"Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
"Aberto!"
Still nothing happened.
Hermione stopped. This was either some very powerful locking charm or else a ward that was protecting the door. Perhaps...
Her mind went back to her charms text, where she had studied about lock-picking charms. There was one powerful spell that overrode most of the locking charms, but the book said that it was illegal to cast it.
She waved her wand in a complex movement before muttering. "Confractus cincinno."
The lock broke open.
Hermione allowed herself to bask in her moment of triumph. For all of Harry's Lording around, she could still break his powerful locking charm. That itself spoke about who was more talented among them. Besides, what he was studying was something called family magic, something that was quite intricate and much more complicated than the magic everyone studied at Hogwarts. She knew Harry was at most, an above-average student. There was no way he would know more magic than her. Her mind went back to the Patronus charm, but then she told herself that she had never tried casting it, and Harry had over a year to practice it. It was almost a given that she could whip up a Patronus in her sleep given enough practice.
"Hermione, is it safe to enter?" Ron whispered from behind. They knew that Harry was sleeping in the next room, and any disturbance could wake him up. Hermione waved her wand and finding no obstacles in her way, stepped into the room and gestured him to follow. There, on the top of a stone pedestal, was the blasted tome that her friend always studied. She tiptoed all the way, until she was right in front of the tome, and the words BLACK FAMILY GRIMOIRE was distinctly visible to her. The tome looked ancient in every way, and the binding was nothing she had ever seen before.
She read the tiny inscription on the cover. It was strange.
Sal et sugar vultus amo
Even salt looks like sugar? What is that supposed to-?
WHAM!
A humongous force of air lifted her off her feet and banged her against the wall. Her head hit the wall and her temples started to bleed from the bruise.
"HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed as he ran towards her, and held her up. She somehow held her palm over her bleeding temples, as she looked up, her face scared as she observed someone standing right in front of her. She slowly tried to raise her wand. Ron looked at the direction she was pointing her wand and was shocked out of his wits. Standing in front of them, wand waving dangerously was a very, very angry Harry Potter.
"What the FUCK were you trying to do?" Harry asked, enraged. His eyes shone with a bright green sheen.
Ron however, seemed to have seen and heard enough. "YOU DARK WIZARD," he bellowed, as he slowly left Hermione on the wall and got up, "she was trying to save you from that accursed tome. Look what you did to her?"
Harry glared at Ron. "I saved her life."
Ron seemed to have had enough with his lies. "Sluggulus Eructo!" He yelled it as a brown jet of light flew out from his wand tip towards Harry who simply deflected it with his wand. "What are you doing?" He hissed angrily, his hissing bordering on Parseltongue.
That got Ron even madder. "Expelliarmus! Depulso! Petrificus Totalus!"
Harry's face remained expressionless as he simply deflected the spells with his wand. He had practiced the art of deflection for stronger spells and Ron's spells were second year level at maximum. It was child's play. Ron decided to forget that he was a wizard as he dropped his wand and ran towards Harry, wanting to pummel him with his bare hands.
A stream of blue shot out from behind and Ron fell on the ground, bound by the Incarcerous hex. Sirius walked into the room, still in his nightclothes, a confused expression on his face. The noise from the tiny battle had woken up most members, and everyone rushed in. Molly in particular, who was now at the doorway, rushed in to see her little Ronnie bound on the floor, struggling to get rid of the spell. She sat down and tried to help him up, but failing to do so, raised her wand at Sirius and snarled, "Free my son, Black, or I will kill you personally."
"He was attacking my godson." Sirius snarled back. "I just stopped him from getting hurt."
Molly did not seem to be satisfied with that. She glanced at Harry fiercely, observing the emotionless look on his face. "You have changed, Harry. Black has made you a dark wizard. Look at you. Hurting your best friend." She glanced at Hermione's wounded form, "what have you done to Hermione?"
"He threw her up against the wall." Ron yelled out for everyone to hear.
"Harry?" Bill asked tentatively.
"I saved her life." Harry replied simply. Turning to Bill, he explained, "Hermione broke into my study and was about to touch the Black Family Grimoire. She would have been cursed horrifically at best, and died at worst, if I did not hastily remove her away. She was just about to touch the grimoire. All I did was send a banishing charm towards her."
Bill stared at him, as he comprehended what he was saying. He turned towards the fallen girl and demanded. "Why the hell would you try to do such a stupid thing? Family grimoires are to be touched and handled by those of blood. Anyone else gets cursed horrifically."
"I—I didn't know that." Hermione stuttered.
"Of course you didn't. You just went up and did the only thing you could- decide what you know best and ignore everyone's views. You did the same with my Firebolt, and then with the house elves." Harry replied in harsh tones. "There is a reason why I kept the book to myself. I had told you all clearly; do not touch anything from the library."
Hermione seemed to be subdued. "I- I thought that the charms on the lock-"
Harry glared angrily and she stopped midway.
"Dint you have protections placed, Harry?" Bill asked.
Harry sighed. "As I said, I had told everyone clearly that no one was to enter the Lord's study. Even with that, I put on a basic locking charm and cast a proximity trigger on the door. When those two morons opened the door, it triggered the ward and woke me up. If I was a second late-" he left the words unfinished. Everyone stood in silence. "And then, that moron," Harry pointed at Ron, "lost his fucking mind and began to attack me mindlessly." His tone was scathing and filled with rage.
Ron mumbled something but it was incomprehensible. Harry sighed. "Look guys, I just wanted to be left alone where I could learn magic in peace. For Merlin's sake, there is a dark lord baying for my blood and Dumbledore would not lift a finger to help me. My only aid is my family magic so let me learn it in peace."
"That's unfair, Harry," Hermione began, "he arranged Occlumency classes with professor Snape."
Harry laughed mirthlessly.
"Do you even know what Occlumency is, Hermione? It is the art of protecting one's memories from intrusion. Learning it involves defending against repeated attacks on my mind and memories. Knowing that son of a bitch, he would rape my mind repeatedly, making me relive my worst memories and all of it in the pretext of teaching me. I would rather not learn Occlumency than learn it from that arsehole."
Hermione gaped at him in silence.
"Just leave me alone, all of you. I want to stay in peace. Go downstairs, just go." He whispered. Silently, everyone departed downstairs to their rooms, leaving Harry and Sirius alone.
"Harry, I observed that you did not in fact, mention how you discovered that you had natural occlumentic shields?"
"Why should I drop a perfectly fine deception, Sirius? After all, even salt looks like sugar." He cited the Black motto, making Sirius laugh.
Sometime in the next week...
It was breakfast. The entire brood was downstairs over the dining table. As usual, Harry and Sirius took to the opposite ends while everyone just fit in the middle. Mrs. Weasley had made Ron work for over two hours, helping her make breakfast as a result of which, Ron was whining on the dining table.
"I feel like a house-elf," grumbled Ron.
"Well, now that you understand what dreadful lives they lead, perhaps you'll be a bit more active in S.P.E.W.!" said Hermione hopefully, as Mrs. Weasley left them to it again. "You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to show people exactly how horrible it is to clean all the time — we could do a sponsored scrub of Gryffindor common room, all proceeds to S.P.E.W., it would raise awareness as well as funds —"
"I'll sponsor you to shut up about spew," Harry muttered irritably. Hermione turned towards him with a scowl. "I do not expect that from you, Harry. You yourself know how bad it is to do chores and-"
The spoon dropped with a clang.
Silence.
"I would thank you not to mention my childhood chores to me, Hermione. I have had enough of them, thank you very much. You should rather go and ask a house-elf instead whether they want to be free, instead of sitting here and biting my ears." Harry returned coldly.
Everyone drew his or her breaths in at the impeding fight but a sudden hoot dissolved the tense situation. "Booklists have arrived," Molly said, handling out one of the envelopes to Harry, who took his. "About time, I thought they'd forgotten- they usually come much earlier than this."
He then opened his letter: It contained two pieces of parchment, one the usual reminder that term started on the first of September, and the other telling him which books he would need for the coming year. "Only two new ones," he said, reading the list. "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, by Miranda Goshawk and Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert Slinkhard."
"Wonder who will be the Prefect this year?" Fred asked as George turned towards him. "Perhaps that Midgen girl?"
"nah."
"What's up with you, Ron?" asked Fred. "You seem too silent."
Ron did not answer. Harry looked around. Ron was standing very still with his mouth slightly open, gaping at his letter from Hogwarts.
"What's the matter?" said Fred impatiently, moving around Ron to look over his shoulder at the parchment. Fred's mouth fell open too.
"Prefect?" he said, staring incredulously at the letter. "Prefect?" George leapt forward, seized the envelope in Ron's other hand, and turned it upside down. Harry saw something scarlet and gold fall into George's palm.
"No way," said George in a hushed voice. "There's been a mistake," said Fred, snatching the letter out of Ron's grasp and holding it up to the light as though checking for a watermark. "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect..."
The twins' heads turned in unison and both of them stared at Harry.
"We thought you were a cert!" said Fred in a tone that suggested Harry had tricked them in some way. "We thought Dumbledore was bound to pick you!" said George indignantly. "I suppose all the mad stuff must've counted against him," said George to Fred.
"Yeah," said Fred slowly. "Yeah, you've caused too much trouble, mate. Well, at least one of you's got their priorities right." He strode over to Harry and clapped him on the back while giving Ron a scathing look. "Prefect... ickle Ronnie the prefect."
"Oh, Mum's going to be revolting," groaned George, thrusting the prefect badge back at Ron as though it might contaminate him. Ron, who still had not said a word, took the badge, stared at it for a moment, and then held it out to Harry as though asking mutely for confirmation that it was genuine. Harry took it. A large P was superimposed on the Gryffindor lion. He had seen a badge just like this on Percy's chest on his very first day at Hogwarts.
Harry turned towards Hermione, who looked as if Christmas had come early. She was staring at the prefect badge that had fallen out of her envelope. Hermione looked at her badge, and finally sure that it was not a dream, turned towards Ron. At first, it did not make any sense. No one in the right mind would make Ron a prefect, not when Harry was on the line anyway.
Then a thought flashed into her mind.
"Of course, I will see to it that none of your efforts go in vain. I understand and value your contributions for Magical Britain, and I will make sure to try and repay a little part of it back in due time."
The Headmaster had indicated towards this. This was the way he was trying to repay the contributions she and Ron were making for the country. Ron always wanted to have some spotlight, something that being Prefect would give him. Hermione always had a love for rules, and wanted to enforce them. Being a prefect would make that easy too. Besides, it would help her get access to the restricted section too.
Thank you, Headmaster.
It felt good to know that someone who paid attention to her efforts. After all, there was a reason why they were Professors, she uttered in her mind.
The breakfast followed with Molly Weasley shrieking with delight at her 'Ronnie made Prefect, that's practically everyone in the family', and the twins' indignant statements in return. It was almost funny, though a part of Harry also wished that someone would have noticed his efforts and considered him for the Prefect's position. After all, he had done a lot more things than 'little Ronnie', he thought bitterly.
They did not fight Quirrell with me. They did not take on Riddle and the basilisk. They did not get rid of all those dementors the night Sirius escaped. They were not in that graveyard with me, the night Voldemort returned. I've definitely done more," Harry thought indignantly. "I've done more than either of them!"
His mind gave him the answer.
Dumbledore. Dumbledore did not give me the badge because I did not stoop to play, as he wanted. I stopped being his little golden Gryffindor boy. Well, he made the wrong choice. Let them take the badges. I will take my triumph when I become the greatest wizard in the world.
Wait...
The greatest wizard in the world? Where did that thought come from? While he knew that he was ambitious, he had hid it well, and always worked to save everyone from the perils in the school.
Did you?
The voice sounded eerie. His mind spoke to him again.
Did you really fight Quirrel because he wanted the stone? Or did you do it because you wanted to stop Voldemort from killing you?
Did you really fight the basilisk for Ginny Weasley? Or was it because you were afraid that they would close the school and you would have to return to the Dursleys?
Did you fight the hundred dementors to save Sirius? Or did you do it because Sirius was your biggest hope to be away from the Dursleys?
Harry stayed silent.
I love Sirius.
Of course you do. However, that does not hide the fact that you are ambitious, Harry Potter. Use that ambition, and become the best-damned wizard that you can be. His mind returned.
The greatest wizard of the wizard... would being the most powerful be so bad? If I were powerful, then Voldemort would fear of me. If I were powerful, Dumbledore would not try to manipulate me. If I were powerful, morons like Fudge would be scared of me. If I am powerful, I can save Sirius and those I call my own.
I have to be powerful. The greatest wizard in the world.
His wand sparked powerfully, releasing grayish sparks as if it shared his emotions.
To Greatness.
He smiled.
September 1, 1995.
Finally, it was time to leave for Hogwarts. Harry stood inside his room, as Sirius double-checked everything for him.
"Broom?"
"Checked." Harry replied automatically. Sirius had given him a birthday gift in private, something that had shocked the minds of everyone. The Thunderbolt. The latest version of the Firebolt, which was much better than the Firebolt model. As it was, the broom was only available through personal order, and would reach the open market after a year. It had simply been amazing, though he had ignored the green look on Ron's face. A part of him felt glad, reminding him that he had felt something similar when Ron had gotten the Prefect's badge.
"Trunk?"
"Checked." This was another impulsive buy. After seeing Moody's seven-compartment trunk, this was one thing Harry had decided to buy. He had bought it the day Sirius had taken him to Gringotts for the Black inheritance. It was a standard four-compartment trunk with a wide variety of protections. It even had a small closet room to sleep in, but it seemed eerily similar to the Dursley cupboard for Harry to feel comfortable.
"Dagger belt?"
"Checked." It was another gift from Sirius. A belt that enabled him to hold a set of daggers, miniaturized using contraction charms, poisoned with venom. It was a Black family heirloom. Harry had gotten quite skilled at fighting with daggers, and had decided to keep it with himself. Besides, the entire thing was warded with a notice-me-not charm, making it out of sight for inquisitive people.
"Mirror?"
"Checked." This was the communication device that James and Sirius had created in their sixth year. It was a pair of enchanted mirrors with which they could converse with each other. Sirius had promised that he would keep Harry updated about everything and Harry had promised the same in return.
"Grimoires?"
"Checked." He had taken a decision to take the grimoires with him to school. Sirius had the entire library to himself if he wanted to have a read, and hence he did not have any problems with it.
"Harry Potter?"
"Checked." Harry smirked.
"Very well. Ready to go." Sirius hugged him, and Harry hugged him back. For the first time, it felt odd returning to Hogwarts. Perhaps because this was the first time he was leaving family and a home he called his own to go to Hogwarts. Minutely, he wondered if this was how others felt like when they left for Hogwarts at the age of eleven.
It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross by foot and nothing more eventful happened during that time than Sirius scaring a couple of cats for Harry's entertainment. Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through onto platform nine and three quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families. Harry inhaled the familiar smell and felt his spirits drop... it felt odd now that he was leaving Black Townhouse and moving to Hogwarts for a year. He wondered over his decision to make Sirius stay back at the house and not come with them to the station. He ignored the commotion, the rest of the Order members were causing, especially the fuss that Mrs. Weasley was causing with little Ronnie's prefect badge and his new trunk and everything. He could hear Moody telling everyone something along the lines of ... "don't forget, all of you — careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all." Harry tuned everything out as he found himself a compartment and took a window seat. This was going to be a very long journey.