AN: Okay, first off, someone in a review asked how Necromancy caused necrosis in the last chapter. Remember that Necromancy is the giving and taking of life, and that includes things on the cellular level. The shadow bolt, when it hit the tree, simultaneously ripped the life out of it and forced it in, resulting in a bit of it 'dying', hence necrosis. The unstable remaining energy caused a small, concussive explosion, which is responsible for the dent, the physical damage. Now, moving on, things are heating up now that they're heading back to Hogwarts. The first part of this 'year' will be rather political, and I hope I can pull it off, but any advice is very welcome. The second half of this 'year', should be, if my plans don't change, something rather different to normal, which means a lot of work. I hope I can do a good job of it, but this is new water for me, and there's not many fics with similar happenings in them for me to be inspired by. With that said, please enjoy the chapter.
Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN
Chapter 9 – On the Train
When Bathsheda Babbling awoke, she found herself tangled up with her best friend in one of the guest rooms in Harry's home. Naturally, she shrugged this off, not much caring about the position she was in. It wasn't the first time her and Septima had shared a bed, and it was unlikely to be the last.
Septima came to shortly afterwards, her rest being disturbed by Beth getting up herself. After giving said woman a half-hearted glare for knocking her out of her slumber, she also got up and began to get dressed.
Once both of them were ready for the day, even if Septima did look a little sleepy still, they set off to see about breakfast. Also, they would see if Harry and company were up, and if so, what their plans were for today.
They found both at once when they entered the kitchen. Harry himself was sat at the table with a stack of toast in front of him. Off to the side, several more stacks of toast and various jams stood, all under heating and preservation charms to keep it fresh.
Beth swiped two stacks of toast, as well as the raspberry jam for herself and the marmalade for Septima. Her friend, however, was rather curious about what Harry was doing, as he sat there with his Tome of Shadows open, searching through it for something.
Beth, seeing her friends curiosity, decided to ask what was going on in her own blunt way.
"What's up, Harry? You look rather focused there." She said, earning a mild, admonishing look from Septima.
Harry briefly considered telling them the situation, before deciding that if he was going to trust any adult witches and wizards, it'd be these two. He summarised the events he was aware of, in addition to his own speculation, though he did leave out a few things, his exploration of necromancy being one.
"So, you see, I'm trying to be as prepared as I can be." Harry finished with a sigh. "One of the main things James has over me is that he knows that I can't be human, because he and Lily were the ones to turn my dead body into a magical bomb. Hogwarts only accepts human students, so if – or more likely when – that comes out, I need a back-up plan."
"I know Beauxbatons in France accepts near and part humans." Septima commented. "Durmstrang only accepts humans, and I think Salem does too. Where were you planning on going if it did happen like that?"
"Either Germany or Japan, mainly because I know those two languages." Harry replied.
Septima winced. "You don't want to go to Germany, believe me, that can be quite the nasty place, and it is still full of prejudice too."
Harry nodded. "I know, but that leaves Mahoutokoro in Japan, and that is a very different place to Hogwarts. For one, Hogwarts barely has three hundred students, and while in its heyday, it had roughly a thousand, Mahoutokoro has over three and a half thousand students, primarily because they accept all sapient magical races."
"And I can imagine the curriculum is quite different to what you know, right?" Beth asked, slightly muffled as she was munching on some toast.
"Exactly." Harry dryly agreed. "It's one of the reasons I'm looking through mind magic right now. I was thinking that if I plant some sort of recording spells on a golem, and then have it transfer the memories to me, I'd be able to learn things a lot faster, but..."
"Yeah, most mind magic can't help you there." Beth said, before tapping her chin in thought. "Actually, there might be a spell you could use, though it's classed as minor dark magic. It's not illegal, but it is immoral if performed on an unwilling person."
"What spell?" Harry asked.
"It's used to put false memories into someone else's mind, usually after erasing what was already there. If you use it without first getting rid of memories though, it'd do what you want it to." Beth told him. "You'd have to rework your Occlumency though, so it doesn't wreck your mind."
"Okay, I can use that. Now, how to install recording spells into a golem. I suppose a rune array could act as an anchor, but I'd have to make each one by hand then, and that'd take so much time." Harry mused aloud.
"What about anchoring the spells to a tangible illusion?" Septima asked. "They're not too difficult to do, if you already know the basics of illusions that is, which, if I remember right, you do."
"Tangible illusions? You can make them solid?" Harry responded.
Septima laughed. "Yes. There's a magical circus on every year during the summer, just outside London, though I haven't been to it in a few years. There's these mimes that use magic in their performances, so when they're pretending to lasso someone or build a wall, it actually happens."
Harry searched his book for magical mimes, and came across four entries. He wondered who had added them to the tome, as he didn't recall doing so himself. It was probably Reinforce, she'd added a lot to this book herself, most of it in fact.
"Huh, I see." Harry said, as he looked over the Arithmancy formula for the spells.
Septima, seeing what he was doing, pulled a pencil and some paper out of her pockets, of which she had many, and quickly scribbled out the formula, circling several bits of it.
"This bit of the spell is what keeps everything invisible." She indicated one part of the formula. "This part here is the important bit, it's what makes it solid. Now, do you have the formula for the Reflection Illusion in there?" Harry flipped to the appropriate page. "Right, you want all of this, as it'll make your 'clone' look like you, and it's a good, stable base for the spell."
Septima then scribbled the fragment of the old formula onto the illusion, but pointed her pencil at it in an insistent manner.
"It's unbalanced." Harry realised what she was getting at. "If I left the spell like that, it would fail."
"Well done." Septima, ever the teacher, said to him. "Anyway, the recording spells being added here would balance the formula out. If you add the memory bit to this section here, it would mean they'd be sent back to you when the 'clone' fails and dispels."
"Don't forget to add loyalty and obedience bits in there." Beth chimed in. "You don't want the 'clone' doing whatever it wants after all."
"I was getting to that." Septima grumbled. "Anyway, luckily for us, those parts will balance out the equation after the memory section unbalanced it again."
Harry looked at the scribble Septima had drawn out, and he had to wonder if spell-crafting was as easy as that, which he proceeded to ask about. He didn't expect Septima to laugh at him for an answer though.
"Creating a spell from nothing is difficult, just as making anything new is. We didn't do that though, we just stole bits and pieces from already existing spells, which is far easier to do, with far more predictable results." She told him. "Now comes the hard bit for us though, the incantation and wand movements for the spell. In truth, both are no more than ways of focusing yourself, but casting spells is always easier with them."
"Before that, we should at least test the spell, no?" Beth asked, scribbling something out on a scrap of paper, before handing it to Harry. "Here, try using this to cast it. Let go of it straight away though, ordinary paper's not really the best material to use for magic."
Looking at it, Harry saw that the piece of paper Beth had given him had a rather complicated array drawn on it. He took a moment to appreciate just how good his Runes professor must be to be able to convert an Arithmancy formula into a runic equation and draw it out as quickly as she did.
"Here goes." Harry said, before channelling his mana into the piece of paper.
A small flash of light later, from the excess mana that the paper couldn't handle, a duplicate of Harry appeared in front of him, before collapsing to the floor.
Harry nudged his copy with a foot, but it was completely unresponsive. Rolling it over, he saw that it looked right from the front as well, but its eyes looked... dead, or at least empty.
"It's not doing anything." Harry observed.
Beth muffled a snicker, as she explained the problem. "It doesn't have any intelligence. Your golems all share the AI in your bracers, but that 'clone' isn't connected to that, you'll have to control it yourself."
Harry closed his eyes for a moment and focused on his double. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his clone had gotten to its feet, like he'd meant it to. He looked at Beth and Septima.
"Could you make a design that links into my AI like the golems do, so they can act by themselves?" He asked.
"Easily." Septima replied.
Beth nodded as well. "I can have the design done in minutes."
"It'll be a nice addition to our repertoire." Loki's voice made them jump, before turning around to see him leaning against the doorway. "Now, shall we finish this test?"
Loki walked up to the clone, before whispering something in its ear, too quiet for the others to hear. He then stabbed the clone with his device.
"AAARGH!" Harry cried out, clutching at his side, once again making the others jump, especially when his knees gave way from under him.
"Harry. Harry, are you okay? Harry, what's the matter?" Septima asked with worry.
"I'm... okay." Harry breathed heavily. "It seems the spell worked, better than expected as well. I just felt what it was like to be stabbed through the chest, and I've gotta say, it hurts. As for your question, Loki, I am so not answering that."
Loki stepped forward, his expression worried. Pulling Harry's arms away from his side, he lifted up his shirt to see where on Harry that Loki had stabbed his clone. Very faintly, as in almost impossible to see, there was a slight red line corresponding to where Loki had stabbed Fenrir into the clone.
"Okay, so that's not going to be a combat technique." Loki commented dryly, before suddenly asking a question. "Can your duplicates use magic themselves?"
Septima, once she was sure that Harry was okay, answered the raven familiar. "They should be able to. Their reserves won't recharge like a living person, but they can make use of whatever excess mana was used when making them."
"Useful, very useful." Loki remarked. "For now though, I think that's enough experimentation."
Harry, it seemed, agreed, as he collected together the now empty plates to wash them. Loki grabbed his own stack of toast before leaving, claiming that he had something to check up on.
"Harry!" Beth called out as said boy stood in front of the sink. "About the Potter thing, know that we're behind you, okay? In fact, I'm pretty sure Jacob Aylett's wife owes Septima a favour."
Septima blinked in surprise, before her eyes widened in realisation. "She did say she owed me one because of, well... something, but that was almost fifteen years ago, do you really think she'll remember that?"
"She should." Beth said.
Septima looked to Harry, and her eyes hardened as she gave a firm nod. "I'll ask her if she's willing to talk with her husband about your issue. If I remember right, Jacob is one of the moderates, so his support could help a lot if others follow his lead."
Harry gave the two of them a smile.
"Thank you." He said.
xxxxx
Sirius Black looked up as he heard footsteps heading his way.
Getting out of Azkaban had done him a world of good, and actually being clean was a wonderful feeling for him. However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows for him, as he'd been made aware of the fact that James and Lily were still alive, and that they actually had two children he wasn't even aware of.
He remembered when James had asked him to be a godfather for his son, and he'd been ecstatic. The problem was his memory wasn't as clear as it used to be, and when he searched around in his own head, he couldn't even remember the child's name. Had it been Brian, or had it been Harry?
He'd ask the man himself soon enough, along with what the heck he'd been thinking doing what he had. The Wizengamot met the first Sunday of every month, with the next one being the fifth of September. It was there that Sirius' own incarceration, without trial at that, would be brought up.
With the right spin to it, Amelia would be able to gain immense political power, especially as Sirius stood to inherit the entire Black estate, or at least what was left of it. People would be scrambling all over themselves to forge connections, and to see which way he would vote, and the public support he could get having managed to last through Azkaban with his sanity intact, even if his memories had taken a hit, was also something to consider.
The whole 'Harry is some sort of living Voldemort zombie' thing, that had been a bit harder to work out, and he still wasn't really sure what he thought of it all. On one hand, if Harry really was Voldemort, then things were bad. On the other, well, if Harry wasn't Voldemort, things were just weird.
Being told that the Unspeakables had confirmed Harry was not Voldemort had eased his mind, but the fact was that Harry was... well, from what he could work out, Harry seemed to be some form of Lich, with this 'Reinforce' girl as his phylactery, which was weird in its own way.
Sirius would at least like to meet Harry himself before he made a decision one way or the other though.
"Good morning, Lord Black." The person who came through the door said.
Sirius squinted at him for a moment. "Harry?" He asked, hesitantly. "Is that... is that you?"
"Harry Ritter, at your service." Harry bowed his head. "Oh, and I have a little gift for you as well."
Out of Harry's sleeve crawled a rather large spider, about the size of his clenched fist, dragging a rat bound in webbing.
Sirius ignored the arachnid for a moment, his eyes glued to the unconscious rat the spider gave to him. He recognised it, he would recognise that rat anywhere! By Merlin, he could even see the missing toe clearly, where the traitorous bastard had cut it off.
"This is Peter, isn't it?" Sirius asked in a quiet voice.
"It is, and it wasn't easy to get hold of him either. I had to track down the Weasley family in Egypt, have my insects infiltrate the place they were staying, and avoid the pest wards as much as they could. He's currently out of it due to the poison a few of my insects possess, but he's alive, I've made sure of that." Harry explained.
The reason Harry had done this, aside from it being a peace offering to someone who may or may not side with James Potter and his side, was because Madam Bones couldn't legally get to Pettigrew without the proper warrant, which would likely give the rat enough time to flee. However, if Harry just so 'happened' to come across him after he'd heard her 'ranting' about it, that was a different matter.
Harry's spider, one of his newest zombie creations, crawled back into his sleeve and into a pocket he'd sewn in there. The pocket had an undetectable expansion charm cast on it, and half of his zombified creepy crawlies 'lived' in there, while the other half lived in the pocket on his other sleeve.
"I'm... holding the proof of my innocence in my hand." Sirius spoke, though Harry was unsure if he was meant to be hearing it or not. "The DMLE could get a confession out of him, so why... why do I want nothing more than to wring the bastard's neck?!"
"He's the reason you spent twelve years in Azkaban, it's only natural that you'd want revenge for that." Harry replied softly.
"What would you do in my place?" Sirius asked, looking at Harry with red eyes, on the verge of crying. "Would you give him up, or would you finish it yourself?"
Harry shuffled awkwardly in place for a moment. "Do you want the appropriate answer, or an honest one?"
"Honest." Sirius immediately responded. "Just... tell me what you would do."
"I would hand him over to the DMLE." Harry replied. "However... I'd also leave behind a little something extra, a delayed trap that would activate a few months down the line. What that trap would do, I don't really know, but I wouldn't settle for anything less than what he deserved."
"So you'd prove your innocence and have your revenge, huh?" Sirius breathed heavily. "You know, I think I could get behind such a plan, but I don't know how I'd pull it off."
His eyes sharpened as he refocused on Harry. "Before that though, I want to know something. I want to know who you are... and I want to know what you are." He stood up, Pettigrew clenched firmly in one hand. Sirius looked at Harry with such intensity that he felt like the older man could almost see through him, like an x-ray or something.
"My name is Harry Ritter, formerly Potter." Harry replied. "I am a child of about thirteen years, and I am a wizard. I lived with Petunia and Vernon Dursley for ten years, believing my parents dead in a drunken car accident, and then an entire world of magic opened itself up to me. What am I? I don't know what answer you expect, and all I can say is that I'm what you see before you."
Sirius fell back into his chair with a sigh. "You lived with Petunia and her husband? I remember them, at least a little, from Lily and James' wedding day. I remember an argument, but I can't remember what it was about, but I think Petunia ended up slapping Lily, and I'm pretty sure she said something about 'freaks' too."
"Really, on their wedding day?" Harry asked.
Sirius frowned as he tried to remember that day, though it was still blurry.
"Yeah, I think Lily had promised her parents that she'd try and get along with her sister or something, and that's why she invited them. I think James went along with it because it was Lily asking... or did he argue against it? I can't actually remember." Sirius started getting a little distressed as he tried as hard as he could to remember the details, but they kept slipping away from him.
Harry sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. They're not my parents, not now I've officially been kicked out of the family anyway, and it wasn't like we were family before that." Not that it didn't hurt Harry regardless, being rejected like that wasn't easy, and as much as his friends and familiars comforted him, that didn't stop the sadness.
"Amelia told me about that." Sirius acknowledged him. "So, you're not a Potter, and it turns out that I'm not your godfather either, but Brian's."
"Don't sound so down." Harry tried to comfort Sirius in his own way. "When I found out about all of this, I checked up on them, and the kids don't seem too bad. Sure, Rose seems a bit of an oddball, but she's cheerful and friendly. Brian seems to have gotten all of his parents' positive traits too, and I'm sure you can get along with him."
"What can you tell me about them?" Sirius asked. He was rather nervous as these were kids he hadn't seen at all, or if he had, his memories were so messed up he might as well not have anyway.
So, for the next two hours, Harry talked with Sirius, discussing what little he knew about Brian and Rose Potter. Eventually, they ended up talking about themselves and each other as well, and little by little Sirius calmed down, and became far more at ease than he had since before he had gone into Azkaban.
All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend an afternoon.
xxxxx
The sun shone brightly on the first of September in Japan. Harry was awake early, as he usually was, and began the day like normally did, with a 'spar' against Loki. Every time they did this, the matches became more and more exciting, as neither of them were content to simple remain as they were, and were in a constant race to improve and expand their skills.
Loki's speed, while not equal to that of Fate when she went as fast as she could, was certainly creeping up there. Add in his teleporting trick, and he turned into a very mobile opponent, his hit and run tactics only serving to make him that bit more frustrating.
Harry, on the other hand, had focused more on his illusion skills recently. That meant it was almost impossible to tell if you were really fighting Harry, or merely thought you were. The fact he was using more and more tangible illusions just made it that bit more difficult to make the distinction, and his hordes of summoned and transfigured creatures were very difficult to counter, if only due to the wide variety of things he could make.
The slight bits of necromancy he slipped in there added an interesting new dynamic to the fights too. It was really quite something to see swarms of flying insects, and even small birds, erupt from his sleeves and follow his will. With them, you could never be sure whether you had truly put them down or not, as their zombie regeneration ability did trip Loki up more than once, making him curse them out.
Occasionally, one or more of the others would join in the spars, and their own skills were coming along nicely. Isis' ability to create barriers was getting better, both in how fast she could put them up, and how strong she could make them. Reinforce was the most unchanged, tending towards the role of magical artillery, like a 'standard' Mid-Childan mage. Bast's own abilities were growing too, as she learned how to predict an opponent's attack and read their body language. She also began incorporating locks and throws from various martial arts into her fighting style, making use of her body's flexibility.
Teamwork exercises were less common, but they still showed progress there. The handful of times that the five of them had gone up against the Wolkenritter and Hayate, they'd almost always lost, and it gave all of them a healthy respect for the sheer amount of experience that the knights possessed, as well as the skills they had.
That respect didn't stop Harry from pranking Zafira into a playboy bunny outfit though, and he had the pictures to prove it.
Anyway, once Harry and Loki had finished their morning spar, they returned indoors. Harry began cooking breakfast for everybody, while Loki made sure that everything they needed was packed away. He also double-checked the golem they'd put together to look after the house while they were gone was in working order.
Harry idly wondered if he should make some sort of guards for his home, though zombie acromantula were probably too far across the line, especially if anyone with arachnophobia ever decided to visit him. Suddenly, he had the image of Ron Weasley running away from an acromantula in a pink apron holding a dress flash through his mind, and he had absolutely no idea why, though it did make him laugh a little.
Several hours later, the Uminari group turned up at Harry's place with all of their luggage. Zafira was going with Hayate as her pet, in puppy mode at least, but the other Wolkenritter looked rather uncomfortable being separated from Hayate for long periods of time.
Harry pulled out a pair of mirrors. Sirius had talked about them, and it wasn't that hard to figure out how to make them, especially with Beth and Septima's help. He handed one to Signum, one to Lindy, and one to Nanoha's parents who were there to see her off.
Seeing their confused looks, he explained. "Speak the name of the person who has the other one, and you can see and talk with each other. There's also, interestingly enough, no limit on distance, so you could even use one from Mid-Childa to here. The small jewel in the Takamachis' mirror gathers ambient mana, and so can be used by someone without magic. I have the others in my luggage, and I'll hand them out when we get to Hogwarts."
Signum gave Harry a smile "Thank you, this alleviates some of my worry. Please, keep each other safe while you are away, and we will see you again at Christmas."
The others chimed in with their farewells too, and Harry was about to say something when he realised what time it was.
"Bugger, I forgot about the time difference." He mumbled. "We don't actually have to be on the train until seven this evening, Japan time."
Lindy palmed her face. "I really should have remembered that myself." Her voice was muffled by her hand.
"Well, in that case, I think I'll go brew a potion to help us adjust to the time difference, seeing as I have the time." Harry said, before disappearing to do just that.
"Well now, we pretty much have a free day, anyone up for a spar?" Loki asked, getting several agreements from the others.
xxxxx
Eight hours later, Harry and the rest of them teleported to an empty alley a few minutes away from King's Cross station. It didn't take long to get them all sorted, and as Harry had used a feather-light charm on all of the trunks, it didn't take too much effort to carry them to the station, though the group must have looked more than a little unusual.
Harry's sharp eyes and ears caught the whispers and looks from those that read the Daily Prophet, or one of the few other magical newspapers, and tried to get a feel for how people felt about him. He couldn't get much, but what little he did manage to hear painted a picture of confusion more than anything, so that wasn't too bad.
They managed to get onto platform Nine and Three-quarters without much hassle, though once there, it was a lot more difficult to remain unnoticed. He did catch sight of the Potters, and rather than confront them, kept out of the way for now, and got on the train straight away.
He did manage to get a compartment with a window that looked towards the Potters, and with it open, he heard a few things, though nothing of substance. Brian and Rose were both looking rather uncomfortable with all of the attention they were getting, and appeared to be dreading the coming year quite a bit.
Lily was fussing over her kids, making sure they had everything they needed, and that they knew she loved them, and all of the other little things mothers did when sending their children off to boarding school for three and a bit months, if not the entire year round.
James was stood tall, possibly trying to look unconcerned by everything, but the way he was constantly looking around was telling. Perhaps he was looking for those who he thought might support him in the upcoming Wizengamot meeting that Sunday, or perhaps he was trying to catch sight of Harry himself, who could say?
Harry's wand fell into his hand, and he quietly cast a space expansion charm on the compartment, making it bigger. If someone wanted to come and see him, well, it was best to listen to them and then cut down any negative opinions of himself as soon as possible.
Two small insects also fell out of Harry's sleeve, before they flew out of the window, and over to the Potter children. It might be considered a breach of privacy, but Harry would feel a lot better if he knew what was going on, and those two were part of what was happening. He'd call his shade and ask for a report later that night too, to see if anything new had come up.
Harry pulled out his Tome of Shadows, and began to breathe slowly. He focused, calming his nerves, and re-worked some of his Occlumency to deal with the 'magic clones' he was now making to read up and practise magic if, or more likely when, it proved necessary to change schools.
Currently, he could only handle two sets of new memories at a time, but he hoped to improve that to at least five, if not ten, by Christmas. As the Japanese school year began in April, that gave him enough time to sort himself out if that was when things came to a head.
It looked like this was going to be one stressful school year.