Unspoken
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
After breakfast the following morning, Rebecca arrived to take Harry with her.
"Harry, are you sure that you want to accompany me to the Unspeakables' Office?" She cast him a sharp look. "You can see if you like it and, if not, return home at any time. I just want you to know in advance that training with the Unspeakables is really hard. Moreover, if you decide to become an Unspeakable, no one but your immediate family may know about it. Even the Unspeakables from other teams are not aware of our real identity. They only know our Unspeakable names. Croaker, the head Unspeakable, is the only person who knows everyone."
Harry nodded in understanding, recalling that Rebecca and Artemis had promised that he could take Lucy with him.
"Are you ready to leave?"
Harry jumped from his chair, his eyes shining with excitement. "Yes please. Lucy, are you coming?"
To his relief, the canine obeyed immediately, making him recall a conversation between the adults if Lucy would need a leash before going to Diagon Alley the other day. Regina had asked about the leash; however, Rebecca had informed her that in spite of her young age, Lucy was already trained to a certain degree and was a very well-behaved doggy. Harry had not understood the details, just that there was a difference between magical and muggle dogs and that Lucy would not need a leash, especially as she was bonded to him. 'Does the bond make her stay close to me in any case?' Harry wondered, before he became distracted, when Rebecca reached out for his hand and Lucy's paw. An instant later, the kitchen of his new home vanished from the sight.
HP
When the world stopped spinning and he could make out his surroundings, he found himself in a small office, where Artemis and another wizard were talking animatedly. A dog of about Lucy's size seemed to be asleep on the other wizard's feet; however, he jumped up and dashed over to them to eagerly greet Lucy before turning to Rebecca and him.
"Good morning, Archie and Whisker. Archie, these are Harry and Lucy, our new Mini Unspeakables in spe."
"Good morning, Felina and Paws. How delightful to have someone so young join our team."
"Paws?" Rebecca chuckled. "That might be a good Unspeakable name for you, Harry. What do you think?"
"I like it," Harry replied, smiling, still marvelling at what Archie had said. 'He doesn't look exactly old,' he thought in surprise.
Artemis chuckled. "Archie, I believe that you might have confused Paws, considering that you don't look much older than us."
Harry gave the older wizard a small nod.
"Ah, not everything is what it seems, child. I am 602 years old."
Harry merely stared at the older wizard, wide-eyed.
"My real name is Nicholas, by the way. Nicholas Flamel. I am a master of Alchemy. You probably haven't heard of it, considering what Felina and Whisker told me about your upbringing with muggles who despise magic."
Harry shook his head. "No, sir."
"In the fine art of Alchemy, we use several kinds of materials to magically make things. We can, for example, make a proper wand for you, or a broomstick."
Harry's eyes widened at the idea.
"One of my inventions is the so-called Philosopher's Stone. It is a red stone, and using it, I can brew the elixir of life. My wife Perenelle and I have been taking a dose once a month for almost six hundred years, which is why we're still alive without looking old."
"Wow." Harry stared at the old wizard in amazement.
"I shall teach you if you're interested and the others let me."
"Yes please."
"Before we will take you to Croaker, let me shortly explain what else we do in Team 13. Just like Archie, we research several topics, but our current main interest lies on two issues, one being the invention of a time travel method and the other being a possibility of enhancing a Squib's magic to make him or her a wizard or witch…"
'Oh, it would be cool if they could give Regina magic,' Harry thought in excitement.
"… Before you'll be able to work in our team, you must undergo some training. As you're so young, you'll probably not only have training with Devil, our trainer, but also with all kinds of species, such as goblins, elves, dwarves, giants as well as researchers like Archie. Of course, it will depend on where your interests lie."
Archie let out a small snort. "I've made the experience that the more you learn about one specific subject, the more you're going to like it."
'I can't believe it,' Harry thought in happiness. 'So many fields of study and everyone is willing to teach me. That's totally cool.'
"Anyway," Rebecca continued, "we will ask Croaker to get you for our team, which means that you may discuss anything with us, such as what you learned, what interests you, what you'd like to study next and so on. You will also study with us and be able to help with our research."
"Thank you," Harry replied, smiling happily.
"Our team has one more member, Ninja," Whisker explained. "He's a goblin, and right now, he's working at Gringotts. He will only join us in the early evening."
Felina nodded. "Archie and I are the only team members, who are working here full-time."
HP
Croaker was as friendly as the members of Team 13. Harry noticed in amazement, however, that his office seemed to be chaotic, as it was cramped with piles of parchments from the floor to the ceiling. The head Unspeakable merely moved two piles of parchments from two chairs for Felina and him to be able to sit down. The only empty part on the walls, which were not covered by shelves, were the parts above the door and the windows, and they accommodated several kinds of decorations from what Harry thought had to be various materials and construction methods, probably from different cultures.
Apparently following Harry's gaze to the decorations, Croaker informed him that the Unspeakables employed all kinds of creatures, not only humans. "Are you interested in learning all kinds of things?"
Harry nodded eagerly. "Yes sir."
Felina let out a scoff. "Harry would be willing to learn anything, as so far, his relatives haven't taught anything but cooking and house cleaning with muggle methods."
"Is that so?" Croaker cast Harry an intense look, and Harry felt as if the head Unspeakable was able to look right through him.
"Yes sir."
"Very well then, Felina informed me that we have two weeks, before the primary school is going to commence. I suggest that during this time, you will have training with Devil in the mornings. Don't worry, Felina, I'll tell him to go soft on Paws, considering his age. He will teach him easy magic, Charms and whatever. During the hour before lunch, I would like all the creatures to take turns teaching him. I will make appointments for him for eleven o'clock and tell everyone to fetch him from your team room. I trust that you'll show Paws around. After lunch, Team 13 is free to have him for the rest of the afternoon, or let me say as long as Harry wants. A whole day might be too long for a five-year-old."
HP
The following two weeks were the most interesting that Harry had ever experienced.
'Training with Devil is hard' was Harry's first impression on this Monday morning. Unaware of the fact that Harry was in the possession of a children's wand, the trainer taught him 'easy magic' as he called it using his right hand. The thought 'Perhaps, he even knows but doesn't care,' crossed Harry's mind; however, noticing that he could simply use his hand to cast the Lumos spell, he realised that he did not care either.
Afterwards, Devil instructed him to summon Lucy's ball from her, and Harry noticed soon that it was much more difficult. It took him a long time, before he finally managed to make her ball float over to him, only for her to fetch it back, so that he could try again. Somehow, playing with Lucy that way, Harry and Lucy both enjoyed themselves greatly.
However, while he could now easily summon her ball, making a dog treat float over to where she was sitting, staring at the teat with growing impatience, was simply impossible.
"Not all kinds of magic are easy. You must practise every waking minute." With that, Devil dismissed him with the instruction to return to his team room.
'He seems very grumpy, but I still like him, and the treat was nice,' Lucy informed him on their way back through the corridor.
'Sorry, you were only able to get the one he gave you,' Harry replied, feeling truly sorry for his familiar. 'I'll really need to practise.'
'You'll manage soon,' Lucy thought back, giving him a gentle nudge.
tbc...?
Thank you so much for the kind reviews for the last chapter. Are you still interested? Please tell me what you think and what you would like to see in this story. My muse appreciates it.